Akito and Estelle in Simba's Pride

chapter 4

It was rather late and Atticus came through the front door and tried to shut the door, but winced as it creaked while he shut it, and he then turned an let out a gasp once he saw Mo staring at him for coming home late at night.

"Uh, hi honey," Atticus smiled nervously. "I am so sorry I'm home late."

"Where have you been...?" Mo asked. "I called Ruthie..."

"I was with Drell and I found out who else we'll be meeting in Africa." Atticus said.

"Drell..." Mo let out a long-suffering groan.

"I know, I know..." Atticus tried to calm her down.

"What did you find out?" Mo asked.

"Well, turns out we have another visitor in the Pridelands who's with the Jungle Emperor." Atticus said.

"Jungle Emperor?" Mo asked. "What's that?"

"That's the title of a white lion named Leo." Atticus said.

"Leo?" Mo asked.

"Come on, I think I have a book on it, or at least maybe Drell sent me a copy to explain to you and the kids." Atticus went to their bookshelf in the living room.

"Well, okay." Mo said.

Atticus tutted to himself as he then found the book and took it out. "Ah, The Jungle Emperor."

"So, it's basically like Mufasa and Simba as The Lion King?" Mo asked.

"Yeah, except this one has humans." Atticus said.

"Is that right?" Mo sat on the couch beside him as they looked through the book.

"Yeah," Atticus nodded. "And where it tells all about Leo's life before he became the Jungle Emperor."

"This should be interesting," Mo said. "The only white lions I've heard about were Siegfried and Roy's pets in Las Vegas."

"Anyway, his daughter's true love is Kopa." Atticus said.

"Kopa?" Mo asked.

"You know, if we're gonna do this faster, you're gonna have to stop repeating everything I say and start paying attention." Atticus said mysteriously.

"I'll try." Mo said.

Atticus and Mo then looked into the book to see the Jungle Emperor's origins and they saw a young white lion cub. And where they saw what the white lion cub went through and how he learned to speak Human. He was the son of Eliza and Panja. At some point, before the cub was born, the father was killed by hunters as he attempted to save his mate, but had not survived, obviously. He had a rival named Claw who wanted the throne which made Atticus and Mo think of Scar against Mufasa, but was not as successful, dark, or villainous as Scar was and had a panther for a sidekick instead of a group of hyenas.

"That's rather disappointing." Mo said.

"Claw seems to be dumber than Scar." Atticus chuckled at the darker lion's descriptions.

"You got that right." Mo giggled.

"Huh, he does have a couple of hyena minions," Atticus then saw. "Tom and Tab."

"Anything else?" Mo then asked about the white lion cub.

"Well, of course, eventually Leo ended up with Leah who was the niece of a spotted lion by the name of Specklerex," Atticus read. "They had two cubs, a son and a daughter."

"What were their names?" Mo asked.

"Rune and Ruki." Atticus said.

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Mo asked.