ParaKopa contest version

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR PARANORMAN AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. AND SERIOUSLY, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, YOU DON'T WANT THIS MOVIE SPOILED FOR YOU.

is holding a contest. We're supposed to redraw a scene from a horror/thriller/suspense/Halloween related movie with lion king characters. Because I am a dork, I went a step further and wrote a story to go with it.

This is drawn from a scene from ParaNorman. The premise I came up with is, in her fanfic, when Mnyama finds Zira in the cave, he kills her before Akina and Mfausi have a chance to save her. The cub is so hateful and filled with rage when she dies, that her spirit sticks around, growing even more powerful as her rage grows. She lays a curse on the rogues (all of them, even Moyo and Mfausi), killing them instantly and dooming them to come back to life every year as rotting, decomposing zombies, so they can be feared and attacked just as she was. Only one of her bloodline can stop them from coming back, but one year, they don't manage to do so in time, and the four rogues are brought back to life. Young Prince Kopa of the Pride Lands is the only one who can communicate with the rogues, and manages to figure out who Zira is and why she's doing what she's doing.

And here's the story to go with this image, the big confrontation with Zira's ghost (turn back now for spoilers):

     Kopa was tired. The witch was powerful, and she kept fighting, kept throwing him about and sending pain blazing through him. But he wouldn't fight her, and he wouldn't leave.

     “I'm not leaving,” he called out to the witch. Her form crackled with fury and energy. He could see the hatred blazing in her eyes, but he kept inching forward, calling out to her. “Once upon a time, there was a little cub.”

     Her eyes narrowed. “What?” she demanded shrilly.

     “She had a mother, and a pride that loved her,” Kopa told her, trying to keep from trembling from exhaustion. “But then rogues came and killed the king, and her perfect life was torn away.”

     The witch seperated into multiple forms of herself. They prowled around Kopa, snarling and zapping with fierce energy. “I'm not listening!” the witch taunted. She cooed and snarled a taunting melody, swiping at Kopa with claws that burned like fire. But he stood still, and continued his story.

     “A lioness took her away and hid her so the rogues wouldn't find her. The rogues did terrible things to her pride. They hurt them, and kept them prisoner.” The various forms of the witch were moving faster now, becoming a whirlwind of yellow light and wind around him. Her face peered out from the raging whirl.

     Something twitched in the witch's face. “I don't like this story!” she wailed.

     “The little cub was left all alone in a cave, with only a lone lioness for company. She had to hide all the time. After a long time, she became lonely and bitter,” Kopa called out above the witch's voice.

     “Stop it!” the witch demanded in a terrible roar. A wave of crackling energy burst from the whirl, laying the tall grass and sparse bushes around them to waste. Only a lone, scraggly tree remaned standing, stripped of its bark. The witch rose from the ground, sparking with fury.

     Kopa knew how horrible the next part was, but she needed to hear this, and remember. “One day, a rogue found the lioness and the cub. And then he did something awful. He took the cub, and he killed her!”

     “No!” the witch screeched, fear and rage and pain in her eyes all at once. Her face contorted, twisting and writhing in odd shapes. She barely looked leonine anymore, but Kopa knew there was something left of her.

     “But even though she was dead, something in her came back,” Kopa continued. “Something made powerful by hate and rage. And this part of her wouldn't go away, not for years and years after she'd died...”

     “Shut up!” she cried desperately.

     Kopa pressed on, “And the longer she stayed, the less there was of the little cub.”

     The witch was shaking and convulsing, her expression growing even more terrible. Lightning zapped through the ground itself. The ground under Kopa's paws began to fall apart. It broke apart in pieces, floating eerily in space. Kopa managed to stay balanced on a floating bit of debris, his claws dug into the ground to keep him upright. “I'll make you suffer!” the wtich vowed in a furious screech. She was still floating where she had been, unmoved by the chaos around her.

     The young prince just stared at her evenly. “Why?” he asked tiredly. Ground began to crumble under his paws. He had to move fast to keep himself from falling; he dug his claws into the ground, hanging from his floating island.

     Something shifted in the witch's face. She looked smaller, more uncertain. “Because... because...” The witch trailed off. Kopa was starting to see more of the cub in her. There was still something leonine there.

     “Because you want everyone to hurt just as much as you are,” Kopa challenged. He managed to pull himself back up onto the floating island. “So whenever you wake up, you play this mean game. But you don't play fair!” He could see the tree floating just behind the witch. If he could reach it...

     Kopa took a running start and leapt at the tree. He managed to dig his claws into the roots of the tree and pull himself up. “They hurt me!” the witch howled, pain heavy in her tone.

     “So you hurt them back?” Kopa called out, trying to keep a steady hold on the tree.

     The witch growled. “I wanted everyone to see how rotten they were.”

     Kopa began to climb slowly up the tree, pulling himself up with what little strength he had left. “You're just like them, Zira!” he told her firmly.

     The witch's eyes widened. “No I'm not!” she insisted, sounding more leonine and desperate. She almost seemed afraid of the words.

     “You're a bully!”

     “No I'm not!” The tree started shaking. Before Kopa had a chance to move, it broke apart, splintering into pieces before reforming. Kopa was sent falling into the nothingness. He screamed in terror, but a force soon grabbed hold of him. It tossed him around like a piece of prey, slamming him into the tree, over and over. Pain seared through every part of him. Eventually, the force released him, and he slumped down onto one of the branches, barely conscious.

     After a few moments, he regained his strength enough to grab onto the bark of the tree and start climbing again. As he did, the tree began to tip to the side, allowing him to walk normally on it. The witch stayed where she was, staring at him, both with fury and fear. “They did something awful, but that doesn't mean you should too,” Kopa said desperately. “All that's left of you now is mean and horrible.”

     The witch shook her head, her voice shaking as she insisted, “That's not true.”

     “Then stop!” Kopa cried. “This is wrong, and you know it. You spent so long remembering the bad people that you forgot the good ones.” Something flickered in the witch's eyes. “There were lions that loved you. Your mother, Akina. Don't you remember them?”

     “Leave me alone!” the witch practically sobbed. Kopa was close enough to see she was shaking.

     He was so close now. Kopa inched forward, bit by bit. “But you're not alone. You have to remember.” The prince reached out a paw.

     The witch's eyes widened. “Keep away from me!” She tried to turn away, but Kopa was too close.

     “Remember!” He laid a paw on top of hers. The moment their paws touched, there was a rush of blinding light, and a fierce, howling wind. Then, nothing.