Chapter 49: The force is strong
Mohatu turned to his laughing brother.
"To think it would take me this long to realise how wise my eldest brother is, truly how foolish of me." Tukufu said in pure joy. The fact that he could understand such thing now, which he never could've before because of his arrogance, made him feel both refreshed and as a new person.
Asafa kept walking with his big smile, leaving the two brothers to speak alone. He trusted both of them.
When he returned he found unrest amongst the the lions. Zazu flew to him with panic.
"Zazu, before you say anything, why does it feel to me like you are the bearer of bad news? Your expression better be like that is like that because you are constipated." Asafa said while shaking his head.
Zazu halted with shock on his face.
He didn't know how to proceed, he had urgent but bad news, but his king's seemed tired of bad news.
Just as Asafa was about to tell Zazu to tell him the bad news, Zazu spoke up.
"Ah got it!" Zazu said happily.
"Huh?"
"Your majesty I have good news! A chance for you to prove your worth has come! The corocdiles that escaped last time came back with a new force of 50 crocodiles and 30 Hippopotamuses! This is your chance to become a hero and save your pride!" Zazu said with pride as he came with good news.
"Zazu... your punishment is to only eats snails for ten days!" Asafa said in a dead tone.
Soon, Mohatu and Tukufu returned, Laughing with each other. This surprised everyone in the pride, especially the siblings.
But no one spoke about it as important matter was at stake here.
Mohatu and Tukufu noticed the serious atmosphere and joined the pride.
"We have another attack!" Asafa said, gaining the gasp of those that got injured.
"The crocodiles that escaped somehow rallied up an even bigger force." He said, all the male lions stood up, ready to fight.
"I want all fo you to stand in formation on this pride rock, protecting it. Thee females should be last in line, protecting the young and elderly, as for the males you're up front." He said.
"I will be going ahead to try to speak with them." He continued, this statement gained the worry of everyone.
"No you can't go alone!" Nala was the first to speak out in worry
Asafa just rubbed his head against hers to show affection, but also to silence her.
She purred.
"Don't worry, they can't harm me, in fact, Im hoping for a fight with them!" Asafa said, trying to calm them down.
The truth is, lion cubs love playing as it is a way of simulating future fighting and hunting, which helps them train and prepare..
And when they're young adults, they love fighting as their energy is at its peak.
But as lions mature from that phase, they tend to become lazier and no longer enjoy fighting as they once did, and only do it when necessary.
Asafa was in that state, he didn't feel the need to find exciting fights. When he was younger, he had to control himself his need to fight. But now that he is older, he enjoys just sleeping and taking care of his pride. But... if someone seeks a fight with him, he would never deny that fight, after all, violence is in the blood of a lion.
Asafa halted when he realised that his father had once spoke about something similar. A wise king doesn't seek danger, but is ready to face it when it comes to him.
Asafa chuckled, Yes he lied to his pride, he told them that he wanted to fight to calm them down. But truthfully, he'd rather that no invaders came to his territory to begin with.
"There's a high risk that I will fight them, don't worry to much, no one can stop me if I decide to leave, I'll dwindle their forces until they reach this place." Asafa said. They all nodded.
Simba walked forward, ready to take up his position as the commander while Asafa was gone.
"No, not this time." Asafa denied him with a smile, then he turned to Mohatu.
Simba halted his steps, feeling awkward.
"Mohatu, you will take the lead while I'm gone, don't leave this place and make sure you protect everyone." When he said that, everyone got very surprised.
Ayana was about to protest, she didn't believe that her son was ready.
In fact, only Simba and Tukufu seemed completely calm about this.
"Father, it is wiser to let uncle Simba lead!" Mohatu spoke against his decision.
"No, it's decided, I trust you." Asada said before turning around.
Asafa ran down the pride rock and hurried toward the direction of the invaders.
The reason he chose to fight them head on, and alone was because this was a big force and the male lions hadn't recovered from the last fight. If they fight they might actually die this time.
So he wanted to eliminate as many enemies as possible before the battle reached the pride rock.
By that point, it wouldn't matter so much because the lions would have the advantage of being on the pride rock, so it would be an uphill battle for the invaders while being a downhill battle for the defenders.
While sprinting through the savannah, Asafa looked up and saw the clear sky with a burning sun.
He saw the different birds flying thought the sky, freely as if unburdened by all troubles that seemed to infect the land.
He saw giraffes walking in the distance and the elephants taking a cooling bath in a small lake on the other side.
He saw gazelles runing as they saw him, a lion.
Asafa took in calm breaths as he sprinted
He didn't feel tired at all by pushing his body like this. His stamina was really great, specially considerednthat he is a lion. They are not known for their stamina. Usually lions conserve energy by sleeping, and can sleep up to 21 hours if they need to.
Lions don't have the best stamina, so the fact that Asafa can sprint and barely feel it is a great testament towards his great stamina.
Soon he reached the battleground where he found a force of 50 crocodiles and 30 Hippopotamuses walking dowards him.
Both of the forces halted as they saw him.
The leading Hippopotamus looked at one of the crocodiles in a smirk.
"What you promised seems to be true." He said with his powerful voice.
One of the crocodiles stepped forward.
" I told you that we almost won the last battle. They're injured and not in a state to fight, that's why only one of them came. Don't forget our deal, we share the pride lands together after we conquer it!" The crocodile spit out.
"Fine fine.. don't worry, let's just focus on taking over the legendary pride lands. I can feel my blood boiling just thinking about it!" The leader of the Hippopotamuses said in excitement.
Asafa stepped forward with a frown, he heard what they've said so he understood that there wouldbbe no diplomatic outcome today.
"I am Asafa, the king of the pride lands, I warn you that if you continue, you will come to regret it."
"Just you? I've heard about your name puny lion king. I want to see the legends for my self. My name is Moto! " The Hippopotamus said with a grin.
"You 5, go deal with him!" He commanded 5 crocodiles.
The crocodiles were confused wether they should take the order from this Hippopotamus, so they looked at their crocodile leader that simply nodded.
5 crocodiles arrogantly ran towards Asafa ready to rip him to pieces.
Asafa looked at their slow speed, and when they closed by, he jumped towards the first one, stepping on his mouth, shouting it before he could biting him, then he jumped toward the last one and bit through his neck, instantly killing the crocodile.
Everyone was surprised by his agility, speed and powerful bite.
Before the could react, Asafa used the crocodiles slow turning ability to his advantage and slashed the head of another crocodile.
His claws went through the crocodiles head like a hot knife through butters. His crocodile brains was splashed forward.
Asafa continued and instantly killed five of the crocodiles.
All of them were startled and taken aback.
The Hippopotamuses leader had an ugly look on his face.
"Ten hippopotamuses stay back, and ten of you crocodiles stay back as well, the rest of us will attack and encricle him!" Moto commanded. He wanted to finish this as fast as possible before taking over these lands.
That was a force of 35 crocodiles and 20 Hippopotamuses that encircled Asafa.