KABOOM! The sound of thunder roared through the air...humid, and cold, it was a force to be reckoned with. Astounding, the rains pour, the lighting strikes, the thunder roars. Evil in it's won way, animals rejoice for the rain, but fear the power which comes before it. KABOOM! A lone cub...running from mudpile to mudpile, cries for his mother..."MOMMY! HELP!"

But it is too late...there is no response. In the rain..the downpours continue...the little lost cub looks up, with tears being washed away by the rain on his small and innocent face, the cub begins to stoop down and cry. "Mommy..."

The animals who take shelter notice the lonely sad and exhausted cub sitting in the middle of the rain...they do not know what to do, and watch hopelessly as the cub whimpers, with a fear of impending doom to end it's life.

Time passing slowly for the cub...he looks around nervous and frightened, knowing of the numerous and countless dangers that threaten his life. The rain stops, and the clouds disipate, to reveal a dark sapphire sky with stars glimmering from the heavens. The cub now sees an opportunity to move along, to find some way to protect himself...as short as his life seems to be now.

In the distance, a roar is heard. Laughing fills the air with evilish fear...the lonely cub looks around frantically...as begins to run...out of the darkness...packs of hyenas and jackals begin to chase the cub. "Hahahahaha!" laughs one of the hyenas, as he begins to chase the poor cub to oblivion. The cub runs with all of his might, but finds himself to be out of energy, and flops to his side. Two hyenas catch up to the cub and look down upon him. "So, whadaya wanna do with this one?" The hyena looks down at the cub, panting with his eyes shut and shaking. "I dunno. This isn't worth it. We have bigger things to chase anyway." The other hyena looks up. "WHAT?! Are you gonna let this opportunity pass you up?"

A loud growl is heard, it echos through the blackness. "SHUT UP!" The two hyenas quiver with fear as they stare into the darkness. "Get over here. You two are through." It was another hyena. But this one seemed to be the leader, because of his obvious size. "You imputent fools!" The bigger hyena smacks both of the other hyena's head together, knocking them unconcious. "You waste your energy chasing pathetic wimps such as this! I have no time to deal with such nonsense!"

The cub notices the arguement and takes advantage of the situation to flee. The tired cub now finds himself pushing it to the limit, as he runs into the distance...nowhere to go...

Later on in the night, the cub finds himself in an area of tall grass. Frightened, the little cub moves forward to find a water hole. Being as parched and as tired as he is, he drinks from the water hole, taking in as much as possible, to soothe his tired, dry throat. Satisfied...he pads off a few feet from the water hole and sits. "Why did this happen to me?" He thought. The cub was confused, alone, and tired. Once again, he looked up at the shiny stars, and he cried himself to sleep. The tears on his face slowly rolled down, and dropped onto the ground. He feared his end would be near.

The night passed slowly, the cub was weak and tired. It is a fact, that a cub would not live long out on his own without the protection of his mother or his aunts. Day finally broke...the little cub opened his eyes to behold the wonder of the sunlight overpowering the sapphire skies. He stood up...slowly...but surely, he got to his feet. He looked around...everything was somehow...different. The cub did not know of these lands, and was unsure of what to do. Scared, the cub lied down and waited...for what the cub was waiting for...could only be his death...for without the protection of his mother, his final days would be near.

A minute passed by...the cub heard rustling in the bush...and purring. The cub looked up and around and called, "Mommy?" But there was no response, he still heard purring...scared once again, he lied flat to the ground and shut his eyes. Breaking through the tall grasses, a lioness come through as sought the little cub. "Oh my goodness...Ahadi must know of this..."

The cub looked up to see a lioness. "Mommy?" The lioness replied softly "No..." As scared as the cub was he backed away and shouted for help. "HELP!!!!" The lioness, startled, stopped and pleaded forgiveness, "Honey, I'm not going to hurt you." The cub replied, "W-who are you?" The lioness then smiled and looked down upon the cub. "My name is Uru, young one. What is your name?" The cub was confused, as he didn't have a name...much less knew what a name was. The lioness, now known as Uru, came forward to the little cub. The cub backed away a bit farther, as he did not know her intentions. "I won't hurt you, darling." The cub looked up, confused. "Huh?" Uru picked up the cub by the nape of his neck and carried him off. "What are you going to do to me? Where are we going?" Uru chuckled as she tried to reply, barely getting the word out as she was carrying the cub in her mouth "We're going somewhere special."

As Uru carried the cub back to her lands, the cub looked wide eyed as he saw something so beautiful...something that appeared powerful. He saw ahead of him a giant rock formation, a platform, it appeared to be so, leaning up against a giant vertical stone, hundreds of feet high, he looked in awe. "Wow...where are we?" Uru didn't respond.

Getting ever closer to this giant vertical stone, the cub looed around, to see other lionesses staring at him. The little cub hid his eyes in fear...but another cub looked upon him and greeted him. He opened his eyes to see a female cub. His attention was taken away quickly as he was carried onto the giant vertical stone he saw before him.

Uru got on to the platform of this vertical rock, and slowly set the little cub down. "This...my young one...is Pride Rock. And these lands you see before you we call 'The Pridelands'. It is our home, and so it has been for thousands of generations. You are welcome here."

The cub looked around and began to smile...his fears were slowly disipating as he found a place of happiness. A heavy purr was heard inside the den of Pride Rock. The cub looked inside Pride Rock to see a large figure...a reddish-golden mane...a lion king...the cub looked back in fear. Uru stood up to greet the Lion King. Uru spoke to the lion. "I found him...near the water hole. He was alone, and weak. I felt sorry for him." The Lion King walked toward the cub, with a stern look on his face. Then he looked back at Uru. Uru spoke again, "What should we do with him?" The Lion King expressed himself. "Well now...who are you, my young friend?" His deep voice made the cub fearful. The cub shook and vibrated, suqealing a bit inaudibly. Uru spoke for the cub. "You're scaring him." The cub looked up and questioned him. "Who are you?" The Lion King stood erect...but the cub shouted in fear "Don't hurt me!" The Lion King relaxed his position, he had no intentions of hurting the cub. "My name is King Ahadi. This is my wife, Uru Akase. Where do you come from, young friend?" The cub was less nervous, and responded. "King? Uh...well..." The cub started to tear in pain, "...I was separated from my mother...the storm was powerful. I'm lost...and I don't know what to do...I'm so scared..." The cub was now weeping. Uru stepped to the cub with the relaxing mother-like attentiveness and licked away the cubs tear with her warm tougne. "Now now, don't be scared. We want you to be happy. You're with us now. We will take care of you." Ahadi ordered Uru to take the cub inside to have him meet with their other cubs, Prince Mufasa, and the Price Consort, Taka. Uru carefully picked up the little cub and took him inside.

Inside the cave, Taka and Mufasa were fighting. Mufasa exclaimed to Taka as he bit his ear "I'm bigger than you are!" Taka replied with a swift swipe to Mufasa's front paws, tripping him "I'm SMARTER that you are!" Uru placed the cub down a few feet from teh battling cubs and separated them. "The both of you, quiet!" Taka and Mufasa looked at their mother Uru and apologized. "We're sorry." Uru looked back upon the little cub. "We have a new visitor. Mufasa, Taka, look before me." Mufasa and Taka looked back the cub, whom was a bit scared, but not as scared to see cubs his own age. Mufasa was the first to greet the cub, and put out his paw. "My name's Mufasa. What's yours?" The cub looked up with a confused face, then looked down. "I-I...uh..don't have a name..." Mufasa then looked up at Uru, confused. Taka stared at the cub. Uru stepped in and made a decision. "I think I'll call you...um...Shisazen. it was the name of my great-grandfather." Taka looked a bit interested. :Shisazen, huh? My name is Taka, but everyone around here calls me Scar." The cub, whom is known as Shisazen, looks at Taka. "What happened to your eye?" Mufasa giggled. "That idiot went down a badger hole and got scratched!" Taka growed "Hey, shut up!" Uru growled a little bit and sneered into Mufasa's little cubby face. "That will be enough out of you." Mufasa's ears dropped, as he sat down. Shisazen looked at Taka again. "Does it hurt?" Taka replied "A little bit...but it's healing."

It is clear that the little cub known as Shisazen was being accepted into the Pridelands, as a part of the community. What the future holds for this cub, is unknown, but it is certain that along the way, there will be pain, happiness, fear, and hope. All of which will give the cub the knowledge he needs into his future to help him be on his own...but there is something about the Pridelands that makes him want to stay...

END OF PART ONE
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