chapter 9. From trio to fivio

He was seriously pondering wether he should just get rid of this weird black panther.

"Hey answer my question, don't you know it's rude to be rude to your elders!" She said with haughtiness in her tone. Her demeanour changed now that she knows that he is a baby.

"You... Are quite shameless aren't you." Asaf said, sounding exhausted.

She walked up to him and gave a slap on his back.

"Listen up kid, it seems like no one thought you manners, from now on you can call me teac... No, call me master, I'm going to teach you all I know!" She said with new found pride.

After all, she is the elder around here so she have to have the patience to overlook a child's misbehaving.

Asafa just stood there, with his mouth slightly agape... He couldn't fathom his this panther could be so shameless.

"Asafa, are you here?" suddenly Pumbas's voices was heard as he, Timon and Simba arrived.

Instinctively, Imani got ready to fight for her life as she thought that Asafa had really tricked her and that his pride had come to eat her.

"I knew it you tricked me... HUH? I didn't now there is food delivery here?" She changed her tone as she saw the fat and juicy Pumba arriving here with the side dish Timon.

Both Timon and Pumba felt instinctive fear for their lives as they layed eyes on the black panther that stood beside Asafa.

"They're not food, they're my friends!" Asafa said as his paw slapped her head to get her out of her predatory stare.

"A-a-asafa, who might this lovely, not hungry looking canine be?" Timon asked with a shaky voice.

"Maybe it was a bad idea to pick up two lions after all!" Pumba whispered with shaking legs."

"What an ugly lion!" Simba said.

"HOW RUDE, BRAT, SLAPPING YOUR MASTER! DO YOU WANT ME TO BEAT YOU UP!!?" Imani shouted in anger at Asafa.

"Jeez, calm down every one... This is Pumba, Timon and Simba, my family, and guys this is Imani, a strange stranger!" Asafa introduced so that there won't be a misunderstanding.

"Ah, so that's how it is!" Timon said as he came to realisation.

"He said family!" Pumba said with a tear in his eye.

Simba still looked unconcerned.

"We got worried about you kid, you were gone for a long time!" Pumba explained why they came searching for him.

"Sigh, let's return then." Asafa said and as they started walking back.

After walking a few meters, Pumba started getting the shivers. Looking back his heart almost stopped.

Behind them, the black panther was following.

"A-A-Asafa, your friend..." He couldn't continue because of instinctive fright.

"Hey, why are you still following me..." Asafa couldn't help but to let his annoyance be known.

"I'm you master now, so of course I need to follow you." She said while looking away.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Fine but if you try to eat us, Asafa and Simba will show you a lion's true might!" Timon said with guts!

"Eh you're also a lion? I thought you were a spotless leopard!" She said as she happily walked up to Simba to observe him.

"What's a leopong?" Simba asked.

"That's like a lion but with spots and things like that!" Timon used his rocket science to explain.

"Oh..."

For some reason, Imani also joined their group, and she was very adamant about being Asafa's master although he refused her every time.

In another two years, the lions had grown enough mane to show that they were young lions. Their group of 5, had become very family like. Whenever they slept under the big tree, Imani would climb up and sleep on one of the branches.

Asafa had found her climbing abilities very impressive so he started copying her and with his superior strength, his climbing abilities started rivaling her.

As for Simba, although he also copied, and could climb tree, his agility was a far cry from hers and couldn't climb as good.

"Huh where's Asafa?" Imani asked oneor omg as she woke up and found the trio having another contest.

"He gone for another week!" Simba answered.

"Eh, again? Why didn't he tell me!" She complained.

Asafa had started dissapearing for one week every month. This had been ongoing for 5 months now, and no one knew where he went.

"Tsk, it seems like I need to teach him more manners when he returns!" She said annoyed.

As for Asafa, he was on his way back to the pride lands. 5 months ago, his guilt felt so bad that he secretly return just to take a look. And things were getting bad. In just three years since they escaped, everything had fallen so low.

In anger, he secretly found a group of scouting hyenas and attacked them.

Although he hadn't fully grown, he still was as strong as a normal, adult male lion. Which made it possible to fight those five hyenas.

He got seriously harmed in that fight and gained a small scar on his arm, but in the end he killed the five hyenas before escaping.

When he returned home his companions got worried about him but he wouldn't tell them what happened.

Since then he went back to the pride lands to hunt hyenas, but he himself was unaware that this act was actually developing his hunting and fighting skills.

*Roaar*

"Another attack? How incompetent can you be!" Scar shouted at the lions and hyenas as they had gathered.

No one answered him as they knew answering would just make Scar even angrier.

"Did you at least find out who the attacker is..." Scar calmed down and asked the lionesses.

"It's a male lion from outside the pride lands, we don't know his identity..." Sarabi spoke out, she knew that if it was someone else, Scar might become even angrier.

"... Increase the amount of scouts. Make sure you guard this territory better." Scar spoke with an eerie calm.

"Yes my king!" The hyenas spoke.

As Asafa arrived in the pride lands, he was surprised to find the smell of lions not long after he enters the lands.

This was unusual as they usually weren't this far out to hunt.

Asafa took precaution and chose a longer path where he could more easily hid his traces.

As he got closer to he central pride lands, he started searching and hunting for hyenas.

But to his surprise, their groups had doubled in size. It seemed like they got wary of him.

Hiding on a tall tree, Asafa silently listened in on a passing group of hyenas.

"Ahhahahh Scar got soo angry, scary scary!" One hyena chuckled.

"The best part is... Did you see the faces of the lions gwahahha don't you just want to kill them all as you see their expressions."

Asafa just listened in on their banter as he silently watched them from above.

He closed his eyes and tried listening further to see if there were any more close by but he couldn't here anyone else.

Once he opened his eyes again, his predatory gaze didn't leave the biggest hyena.