Adia

The sun fills the sky with its brilliance and a warm glow. When I opened my eyes, all I saw was the cloudless blue sky and the golden sun radiating down on my light golden fur. I am laying down behind Pride Rock on one of the large brown stones. My twin sister Chauna is some where playing around with our cousin Mosi. Our parents went with Uncle Kovu, Queen Kiara, and half of the Pride  to help search for a missing infant cub.

It seems like they have been gone for about an hour. I remember being half asleep when my parents told me they were leaving Pride Rock. Now, I am fully awake and my stomach starts to growl. I wonder if the hunting party had caught some breakfast before leaving to join the search with the rest of the Pride. I got up to investigate and hop down from the warm large stone that I was resting on. I walked over to our pride's hidden food stash.

There is nothing available but a few bones and small scraps of meat from last night's dinner. Last night we had feasted on wildebeest. Today I'm not really interested in eating leftovers. Perhaps, I rather hunt myself something fresh and small until my parents and the rest of the Pride members return home. I am still learning how to hunt. I haven't really had much time in practicing since most of my time has been loyal to my Lion Guard lessons with my dad.

I could use this free opportunity to practice my hunts and hopefully win myself a small breakfast as a reward. Liking the idea, I smile to myself and turn around walking to the front of Pride Rock. At the front I see my sister and cousin both at play wrestling one another. They stop their little game after seeing me walk pass them.

"Hey Adia, where ya headed too?" Mosi asks, after pinning down Chauna.

"To go practice my hunts and hopefully be lucky enough to win myself a small breakfast." I replied.

"Oh. Good luck sis!" Said Chauna, after pushing Mosi from off her and sat halfway up.

"Thank you. Be back in a few!"

After that, I disappear inside the tall grasses. My fur is perfectly camouflage. I am walking straight to the hunting grounds following one of our pride's marked paths. My dad always taught Chauna and I to always stay on the paths that are marked. It will help us get to our destination more safe. These marked paths have been walked on by many generations for years and have always been trustworthy.

When I made it to the hunting area, I admittedly take cover and crouch below the tall grass. I see a herd of impalas feasting on vegetation and minding their own business. I know I did say that I wanted to prey on something small. But I would love to try myself a challenge. Challenges are what makes you learn and grow much stronger. Each one gives you an important lesson as my mom would say.

I made a small growl while eyeing my target, a female impala. She is a little away from the herd which gives me a quick chance to make my surprising ambush move. I crawl on my belly forward. Each step I am careful to not make any sudden sounds that could scare them off. I thought the small hunting advice my mom had given me and try to put them into use. She said, "Step 1, have good posture. Step 2, eye your target and never lose focus. Other things can easily distract you. Step 3, stay hidden and quiet before you make the attack. Lastly step 4, surprise your prey and use your amazing running speed! This will require lots of strength and patience."

I am currently on step 3 moving my way up to step 4 as I approach very close to my target. The female impala is eating a small patch of grass. She has no idea that she is being clearly stalked by a predator.

3...2...1!

I was about to make my first attempt until something else appeared.

"Raaaaawwwrrrr!!!"

My ears twitch. I look confused and stood up revealing myself un-camouflaged. "Huh?"

The impalas, including my target are spooked. They run away and I frowned knowing that I just lost my easy chance in winning a meal. Who is responsible for this I wonder?

"We did it! We got them, are plan is working!!" Said a voice.

"Haha! The King will be pleased." Said another voice.

These two voices I do not recall. My curiosity drives me in as I step from out of the tall grasses following their sounds. I gave the air a sniff as the morning breeze blows in. Their scents are strong.

"Hmmm..."

I look down at the ground seeing freshly new paw-prints. They are definitely from a lion and it is bigger than mines, meaning that they could be males or just any full adult. I am still a cub, so everyone's paws are considered big to me.

I continue following the clues and each step I make becomes more interesting. My suspicion grows high. What are these two trespassers up to? Are they hunting freely in our land without my Uncle Kovu's approval? I will definitely get to the bottom of this. As future Lion Guard leader, it will be my duty soon to come across a dangerous situation like this to solve on my own and I am sure there will be more to come in the future. This will become my very first serious task independently without my father at my side. He would be very proud to have witness this.

"Yes, we have it cornered!" Said a voice.

"Let's hurry this up before we get caught by someone here." Said another voice.

I am very close to the voices now and sped up my walking pace. I find myself arriving at the gorge. I have never been here before, but I've heard many stories about what happened in this exact location long ago. This is where my great grandfather 'Mufasa' had died. My Aunt Kiara sometimes would come out here alone and pay her respects to grandfather Mufasa. She says it makes her feel more close to his amazing spirit and had only wished that she could have met him. Oddly, I felt chills run down my spine as I slowly walked into the gorge.

As I turn a slight right corner, I see two male lions ready to go in for the kill at a lonesome impala. The impala backs away slowly. It has its back pressed up against the gorge's rock wall. The impala whines realizing that there is no escape from the vicious predators.

"Back away from the impala now!" I bravely ordered.

The two male lions stopped growling at the impala and turned around puzzled.

"Who are you cub?" One asked.

"That is none of your concern!"

The impala sees that the predators are easily distracted and take this as it's chance to escape from them. It runs away quick. The male lions see that they have lost their breakfast and frowned.

"Hey, she made us lose the impala!" Said the second male.

The first male walks up to me with a growl. "Your gonna pay for this little girl!"

I reveal my claws and took one step back. "Don't come near me. I will call my Uncle if you dare try to hurt me." I threat.

"Your Uncle? Haha, like we're scared of him! Nice try kid." Said the second male. He walks up to the other male's side as they come up close.

I took another step backwards. "My Uncle is the King of these Lands. Trust me, if I told him that you two were caught hunting one of our impalas in our territory, you'd be in big trouble. This is a warning!"

The males keep coming close and almost have me cornered like how they did the impala. I can feel myself getting angry as I closed my eyes tight. I dug my claws inside the thick dirt. The sky is slowly turning dark and the clouds are turning into lions. I realize that I am about to use, "The Roar" but stopped. I try to think about my father to keep myself calm again. The sky returned light blue and the clouds have disappeared.

"No." I quietly told myself. "I can not use the roar in this situation. I'll accidentally kill someone or destroy something near by."

I look around and see there are a bunch of huge rocks stacked up on one another. If I had roared, they could have flew somewhere and hurt someone or even worse, fell on us. I have to protect and do what is right. I don't want to cause any more problems and upset my dad.

"Guys, leave her alone!" Said a third voice.

We all turn our heads to the huge rocks. Another lion carefully walks down from them. This lion looks smaller than these adult males and its a cub just like me. It is a male; he has mahogany color fur, colorless paws, bright pink nose, a growing brunt umber hair tuft on his head, with mysterious dark red eyes. Both of his ears are tipped black.

The two male lions backed away from me.

"Kizza, what are you doing out here away from the Pride? You should be back home with mother!" Said the first adult male.

So these three are related? Wow. I know this is the perfect chance for me to escape, but my curiosity once again has driven me in. Who are these lions? Where have they come from? And what do they want?

"Mom is sleeping still. I saw you both in a conversation with the King and then left the land. I was in suspense and wanted to see what you both were up to. Why are you both bothering this small lioness?" The cub, who name is 'Kizza' (meaning: born after twins in Swahili) had asked.

The second adult male lion rolled his eyes. "We weren't bothering her, she was bothering us! She made Ranako and I lose our prey for the King. He sent us to hunt him something and we've found this special land that has lots of food that could potentially feed our entire Pride for days!"

'Ranako' (meaning: Handsome in Swahili) who is the first adult male, had nodded his head. "Exactly, so we should all go back home and tell the King what we have discovered!"

"No!" I scowled. "Neither one of you or your Pride will be returning here anytime soon. I am Adia, one of the King's Lion Guard members. It is my job to keep everything inside of the kingdom and circle of life in delicate balance. If you do not leave now you will be reported!"

I looked very serious at them all. Kizza looks frightened and so does Ranako. The second adult male snickers at me, who appears to not be afraid at all.

"You two are seriously afraid of her?" He smirked.

"Come on Umi! Let's get out of here." Said Ranako.

I took a step forward and growled. My eyes glow up and I can feel myself beginning to use 'The Roar' again.

"Okay yeah you're right, we should definitely go!" Said the second male finally agreeing, who name is 'Umi', (meaning: Life in Swahili). He takes off running first exiting the gorge.

The other two brothers followed right behind his tail. I sigh after wiping my forehead feeling now relieved. The day is saved!

"That was a close one!" I said, to myself.

I turn around going opposite from them to head back to the Pride Lands. I can't believe that I just did all of that on my own back there. I smile proudly at the thought. I felt so brave and strong doing so. I did a good thing today. I protected not only the Impalas, but also my pride. I have to tell my parents this when they come back home and also report what I have witnessed to my Uncle Kovu and Aunt Kiara.

There is always trouble near the Pride Lands🙄...