The Adolescent Years

Scout: Now let's go home Ka......... I mean dad.

Ballard: Yeah, we better go home and make sure Mom is all right.

Scout: Yeah!

Scout was happy too cause now for the first time he could look up to Kago like he had a dad. Well he did have a dad before but his dad didn't act like much of how a dad was supposed to act. His dad just seemed so grumpy all the time toward him. How Scout imagined a dad was someone who was nice, always there for you, always caring about what you thought, and always there whenever the nights were cold. Kinda like how Kago was. In fact exactly how Kago was.

Ballard: Daddy,,,,I love you,

Scout was amazed he never heard his friend say that to anyone.

Kago got a warm, fuzzy feeling inside him as the cubs referred to him as dad. "I love you too you guys." Kago said as he went inside the cave and lied down next to Karifu who would be surprised if they called her mom.

Ballard walks up to her new dad her eyes full of surrow.

Ballard: Will mom be ok?

Scout: Yeah will she be Ok?

Scout and Ballard look up to their dad little tears starting to form in their eyes.

Scout and Ballard walk a bit closer to their dad.

"She'll be fine, don't worry, she's tired, I weigh a lot." Kago said as he watched the cubs from a distance. "Trust me." Kago remembered his mom..Just barely, but he remembered her.

The both let out a sigh of relief.

Ballard: Daddy, can we play outside?

Scout: Yeah, can we please play outside.

They both give their dad pleading looks.

Ballard: We promise to stay near the cave at all time.

Scout: Yeah Pinky Swear we won't run off.

"Alright, but be very careful, we wouldn't want you hurt." Kago said as he walked to Karifu and snuggled with her sleeping body. He loved her so much he wouldn't know what to do without her.

Scout and Ballard: [at same time] Thanks dad. They both give their dad a kiss on the cheek.

They run out of the cave laughing.

Ballard: So what do we do.

Scout: Well there's a lot of space between the path and our cave and as long as we stay close nothing could happen. How about a game of Tag?

Ballard: Sure, tag sounds like a lot of fun. But who's gonna be it.

Scout: I was it last time we played so I think you should be it.

Ballard: I think you should be it.

Scout: How about an arm wrestling match to see who's it? Loser has to be it.

Ballard: Oh, you know I could never resist a challenge you are so on Scout.

They shake paws fairly.

And then they link paws.

Scout puts up a struggle but Ballard pins his arm down.

Ballard: Ding, Ding, Ding, I win. So that means you have to be it Scout.

She sticks her tongue out at Scout.

Ballard: You can't get me.

Scout chases after Ballard.

Ballard as always was going really fast.

Scout didn't know if he could keep up.

Scout smiles evilly and with a sudden burst of energy gathers up enough speed and then he playfully pounces on Ballard.

Scout: Tag, you're it.

Kago laughs as he sees the cubs playing. He wished he could have had a friend as a cub, then he'd have played with him day and night. "Look at them." Kago whispered to himself.

Scout runs off laughing.

Ballard:[playfully] You're going to get it Scout. I'm gonna get you back for that.

She chases after him. They're both having a great time.

Scout: Hey Ballard. Wanna wrestle?

Ballard: Do I wanna wrestle? It just so happens I'm the best cub wrestler ever.

Scout cocks his right eye brow.

Scout: Oh really?

Ballard: Uh huh.

Scout: Think fast.

He playfully tackles Ballard down.

Scout and Ballard roll around laughing.

Ballard pins his arms down with a cocky smile.

Ballard: I win Scout I pinned ya.

Scout:[defensively] You just caught me off guard.

Ballard:[sarcastically] Sure I did Scout.

He playfully tackles her while she was too busy gloating.

For once Scout pins her paws down.

Scout smiles.

Scout: I pinned ya.

Ballard: Now what do you want to do?

Scout: Hey dad can we go swimming?

"Wait for me, I need to watch you guys." Kago said as he got up, left the cave, whiffed the fresh air, and followed the cubs to the water hole. The moment he got to the water hole, Kago dove into the water.

He made sure he brought Karifu with him as to not see her hurt again.

Ballard backs up a few spaces and runs at Scout and playfully tackles him into the water.

She playfully jumps on top of him dunking him into the water.

While Ballard was doing this Scout swam underneath causing her to flip over and land underwater.

Ballard playfully charges at Scout tackling him over again.

She playfully sits on his back and playfully grabs one of Scout's back paws.

Ballard: Say Uncle Scout.

Kago laughed from his position at one side of the water hole as he splashed them both. "Water fight!" Kago called as he splashed them.

Scout gets doused with water from Kago.

Scout:[playfully] Oh so you wanna play hardball well let's play.

He starts splashing Kago back.

A dose of water accidently gets onto Ballard.

Ballard: AHHHHHHHHHH, [playfully] Oh, you're really gonna get it now Scout.

She playfully starts splashing Scout as well.

Scout: This is so much fun too bad mom is missing out.

Ballard: Yeah!

They resume their water fight.

Kago laughs and splashes water at the same time. "Man you guys are good!" Kago called as his mane got soaked and made him look like an idiot.

Scout and Ballard couldn't help but laugh at how idiotic he looked.

Scout: You look like Cousin IT from that Addams family show

He joked.

Ballard: Nah, he looks more like a Bernese sheep dog.

She added with a laugh.

Ballard starts splashing Scout and then messes up his hair. Now it looked like Scout was some kind of Punk rock star because his hair looked like a Mohawk.

Kago looked up with a wry smile.."Just wait until you have a mane!" He called to Scout. "It's not that bad!" Kago laughed as he put the hair in his face behind his ears and splashed water back at Scout.

Scout was drenched from head to toe.

Scout: [playfully] ALl right that's it.

He playfully tackles his dad into the water.

Scout lies on his father's chest.

Scout: I never wanna get old I'll just stay a kid for the rest of my life.

Ballard floats on her back.

Ballard: Me too.

Quote:

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Originally posted by King Simba
"Cute looking cub you have there... or would he rather be called handsome and cool?" Katai smirks before looking back down to Kopa, "Pleased to meet you Kopa." He smiles.

---

"Same here sir...I mean...Katai!" he smiled to the new lion as he turned to hi sfather again "So youre going to the elephant graveyard? awesome!" he said as he started to pad there.

"Oh, but there's so much more to life than being a cub, for one Scout there are pretty lionesses like your mom, Ballard will find strong lions. You can venture farther and do more and see more. You can have cubs of your own to care for, and you can see how old your cubs get to be." Kago said as he got out of the water and shook his mane out which immediately puffed out.

Scout: Maybe I want to be an adult one day but right now I'm just happy with being a kid.

Seeing his father get out he got out too. He shakes himslf dry Unfortunately he shakes himself dry a bit too close to his father and gets him wet again.

Scout blushes nerously.

Scout: Opps sorry.

Ballard: Scout is right for now we're happy just being kids.

Scout: Yeah, I think it's a whole lot more fun.

Ballard: Yeah, totally.