Creech and Friends-A New Member

Chapter 16: Simba's Death

    The good guys were relieved. "Phew," Lightning sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead. "I honestly thought that this fight was never gonna stop."

    "Oh, thank GOODNESS!" Tom exclaimed, collapsing to the ground. "Man, I'm EXHAUSTED!"

    "So are the rest of us," Shanti Hyena replied, patting him gently on the shoulder.

    Meanwhile, Creech nervously looked from behind a large rock to see that the fight was over. Upon seeing her, Simba attempted to take a step forward, but ended up collapsing from his wounds. Creech gasped at the sight; Simba's entire right side was covered in horrific burns. His right eardrum was completely melted, and it was hard for him to breathe properly. "NOOOO!!! SIMBA!!!" Creech screamed, racing over. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP PLEASE!"

    Hearing her, everyone came running to where Simba was, only to be shocked at his current state. "Starlight! Somebody get Starlight!" Ariel yelled.

    Lightning raced off to do so. "Oh man! What on earth happened?" Aurora asked, petrified at her friend's state.
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    A few minutes later, Starlight was doing an X-ray on Simba while everyone else was anxiously waiting for the results. Starlight turned to the others-with a sad look in her eyes. "We don't have enough time to take him to the hospital," she said. "Simba's gotten radiation poisoning from the stones. I'm afraid to say this, but he's dying."

    Grief struck the whole group in an instant. Creech felt it the most however; the memory of her other family dying 10 years ago flashed through her head. "No," she muttered, voice getting louder as tears began filing her eyes. "It-It's not true. He can't be dying. He can't. He just can't! HE JUST CAN'T!" Finally breaking down into hysterical sobs, Creech sobbed as if her heart was breaking.

    Lightning, concerned for his friend, slowly and hesitantly placed a paw on her shoulder in comfort, only for Creech to quickly turn and hug him tightly. The ginger-orange cat was surprised, but hugged her back nonetheless. "I knew this would happen," Kovu groaned, his face behind his paw.

    Kiara nervously stepped forward, kneeling down until she was at her father's eye level. "Daddy?" she whispered. "If you can hear me right now, we won. You did it. And we're all so proud of you."

    Simba didn't respond, but a small smile on his face said everything. Tears filed Kiara's eyes as Kopa gently pulled her away. "I'm sorry, Daddy," the lioness finally whimpered as she turned and buried her face into Kopa's mane, sobbing quietly. Kopa just glanced at Simba, smiling in a way that said "thank-you" before wrapping a paw around his sister, a few tears spilling out of his own eyes in the process.

    Wallflower then approached and knelt down beside him. Feeling remorse, she gently stroke the unscorched part of his mane, causing him to look up at her. "Hey, Wallflower," he managed to say, voice weak but happy.

    "You did it, Simba," Wallflower replied as Twilight and Sunset came to either side of her. "It's all over. We're all gonna be okay. You can rest now."

    Simba smiled again. This time, it was bigger. "Heh. I knew that you had potential in you, kid. You just needed some encouragement to actually prove it."

    He sighed. "I know that I won't be around anymore," he added, "but all I know is that you're all gonna do great things someday. And I'm proud of you all."

    Sighing, the old lion looked up at the sky, which was now shining with the bright stars of nighttime. "And the rest of my family...they'd be proud of you, to."

    To him, the stars were shining brighter than ever as the others surrounded him. Still looking up at the heavens above, Simba drew his final breath...and died with a smile still on his face. Butch stood, starting wide-eyed at the dead lion before beginning to cry, hot tears rolling down his face. Even though he didn't get along with him in some cases, even he couldn't help but mourn over him. One by one, realization hit the rest of the group, and a deep sadness struck them all. After several minutes, Lightning looked around, noticing that a certain someone was missing. "Has anyone seen Matt anywhere?"

    At that, everyone looked around the area. "Matt!"

    "Matthew!"

    "Dude, where are you?"

    Flying overhead, Rainbow Dash suddenly spotted him. "Guys! Over there!" she exclaimed, pointing ahead.

    Anxiously, Creech raced ahead of everyone, getting to him first. In all the chaos, Matt had forgotten to take cover from the shockwave. Now as a result, he'd been thrown back by the blast and was now laying unconscious next to the sidewalk. Feeling worried for her brother, Creech knelt next to him and gently tapped his shoulder. Nothing. She shook him. Still nothing. "Matt? Matt, get up," she pleaded, shaking him again.

    Still, there was no reply. Fearing the worst had happened, Creech was beginning to get scared. Her chest felt like it was tightened up, and she felt a peculiar feeling rise up in her. She had no idea she was hyperventilating until she felt firm but gentle hands on her shoulders; Starlight and the others had just arrived. "Creech, I need you to calm down," Starlight said firmly.

    Reaching for her hand, she grabbed it and placed it on her chest. "Do you feel my breathing? Match yours to mine. Deep breaths."

    It took a while, but eventually Creech managed to calm down, though tears were now running her face. While Starlight then raced over to Matt, Butch came over alongside her. "You okay?" he asked, nervously placing a paw on her knee.

    Shaking her head was all Creech did before she started sobbing again. Confused, Butch glanced over at Matt's unmoving figure on the ground. Putting the pieces together rather quickly, Butch figured out what had happened. He put a paw on her back in silent comfort before Creech wrapped him up in a hug. Butch was taken back in surprise before returning the embrace. He knew how she felt; he loved Matt as a brother as much as she did. Starlight, meanwhile, had just brushed some dust off of Matt when she suddenly paused; she thought that she felt something, but just had to be sure. Slowly, she leaned down and placed an ear on Matt's chest. Sure enough, she heard and felt a faint "bum-bum". She suddenly sat up, excited. "AJ! Rainbow! Get him to a hospital! He's alive!"

    There was silence for a moment before with a loud whoop of joy, Applejack and Rainbow got Matt and zipped off to the hospital, leading to everyone else cheering as well. Lightning was jumping and cheering along when he got to Butch and Creech. "He's alive! Isn't it amazing?"

    Laughing, the three shared a trio hug together. Simba may be gone forever, but at least they still had each other to be with.