The Shinx Who Would Be King Chapter 2

That same day, while it was raining, Yujin was in his tree drawing a simple picture of a Shinx.

"Kimba." He said.
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The next morning, Kimba ran into the cave to wake up his parents, Raion and Messua.

"Your son's awake." Messua said.

"Before sunrise, he's your son." Raion replied. Kimba was biting his dad's tail and ear.

"Okay, I'm up." Raion said, letting out a big yawn. He walked out of the cave with Kimba and walked to the top of the rock they lived on.

"Everything the light touches is our home, Kimba." Said Raion. "A king's time as ruler rises and sets like the sun. One day, my sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you."

"Everything the light touches?" Kimba said. "What about that shadowy place?"

"That's beyond our borders." Raion answered. "You must never go there, Kimba."

"I thought a king gets to do whatever he wants." Said Kimba.

"Being a king is more than getting what you want all the time." Raion went on. "You see, everything we see exists together, and as King, you must respect all who live here, from the crawling Durant to the leaping Stantler."

"Don't we eat the Stantler, dad?"

"Kimba, let me explain. When we die, our bodies become grass, and the Stanter eat the grass, and thus, we are all connected in the big circle of life." Their moment was interrupted when Xazu flew in.

"Good morning, sire!" The Xatu said.

"Good morning, Xazu." Raion responded.

"Checking in with the morning report." Xazu said.

"Fire away." Said Raion.

"Well, the buzz from the Beedrill is that the Spinda are in a bit of a spot. The Mankey are going ape while the Girafarig are above it all..." While Xazu was rambling, Kimba noticed a Kricketot and tried to pounce on it.

"Kimba, what are you doing?" Raion asked.

"Pouncing." The Shinx said.

"Let an old pro show you how it's done." Said Raion. "Xazu, could you turn around?" The bird did so, but then he noticed that Raion was whispering to Kimba.

"Raion, what are you doing?" Xazu asked.

"Teaching Kimba a pouncing lesson." Raion responded.

"Oh, a pouncing lesson. How nice." Suddenly, Xazu realized that he was going to be used as a target! "Pouncing?! Oh no, sire, you can't be serious. This is so humiliating."

"Stay low to the ground." Raion whispered to Kimba.

"What are you telling him, Raion?" Xazu asked. Suddenly, he noticed that both Kimba and Raion have disappeared. It wasn't long until he was pounced by Kimba.

"That's very good." Raion chuckled. Then, Xazu noticed something else: a Drilbur popped out of the ground.

"Xazu, news from the underground." It said. The mole Pokémon told Xazu that Growlithe invaded the kingdom.

"Sire!" Xazu yelled. "Fire-types in the pride lands!"

"Stay here, Kimba." Raion said.

"Why don't I come with you?" Kimba asked.

"It's too dangerous." Answered Raion, before he went off to fight the Growlithe.

"I never get to go anywhere." Kimba complained.

"Don't worry, young master." Said Xazu. "One day, you'll chase those slobbering, mangy, stupid poachers from dawn until dusk."

Author's Note: I'm aware that Spinda is based on the Qinling panda, which lives in the Qin Mountains in China and not Africa, but there are only a handful of wildcat Pokemon.

The Shinx Who Would Be KIng Chapter 1

Pokemon © Nintendo and Game Freak.

The Lion King © Disney.

Songs courtesy of Elton John and Tim Rice.
When the words are in italic, in means the characters are singing.
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In memory of Satoru Iwata

Chief executive of Nintendo
1959-2015

In the vast pride lands of the Unova region, wild Pokémon from all over came to see a newborn Shinx. The kingdom was ruled by a Luxray named Raion. In the skies, a Xatu named Xazu, flew to the rock where the lion Pokémon lived and took a bow. Between two Stantler, there was a Simisage named Yujin. He held a stick that would normally be held by a Farfetch'd, but it had berries hanging from it. When he got to the top, Yujin hugged Raion and walked toward the newborn Shinx, cracked open a berry, and spread berry juice around the baby's head. Yujin then picked up the Shinx and held him up high. In the clouds, a figure of a yellowish tiger-like Pokémon appeared and struck the newborn Shinx. Thankfully, since Shinx is an Electric-type, it didn't get effected. All the other Pokémon bowed down in honor of the newborn, except for Raion's brother, a Persian named Kizuato, who decided not to come.
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Meanwhile, on the other side of the rock, a Pikachu emerged out of its hole, but got stopped by a Persian. That was Kizuato.

"Life's not fair, isn't it?" He said to the electric mouse, holding it by its tail. "You see I, well I, shall never be king. And you shall never see the light of another day. Adieu." Before he was about to put the hapless Pikachu in his mouth, Kizuato got stopped by Xazu.

"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with your food?" Xazu asked.

"What do you want?" Kizuato asked in an annoyed tone, covering the Pikachu with his paws.

"I'm here to tell you that King Raion is on his way," Xazu answered. "So you better have a good excuse for missing the royal ceremony." The Pikachu escaped Kizuato's paws and went back into the hole.

"Now look what you did, Xazu." Said Kizuato. "You made me lose my lunch."

"You'll lose more than that when the king gets through with you." Xazu replied. "He's as mad as a Slowpoke with a hernia."

"Ooh, I quiver in fear." Said Kizuato sarcastically with a lustrous look on his face. He was ready to eat Xazu!

"Kizuato, don't look at me that way." Xazu pleaded. "Help!" Kizuato swallowed Xazu like a snake swallowing a mouse.

"Kizuato." A voice sounded. It was Raion. "Drop him."

"Impeccable timing, your majesty." Xazu said within the Persian's body before he regurgitated the bird Pokémon.

"Why, if it isn't my brother from up high to mingle with the commoners." Said Kizuato.

"Messua and I didn't see you at the presentation of Kimba." The Luxray said.

"That was today? Oh, I feel so awful..." Moaned Kizuato, scratching the rock wall. "Must've slipped my mind."

"As slippery as your mind is, as the king's brother, you should've been first in line." Said Xazu.

"I was first in line," Kizuato replied. "Until the little hairball was born."

"That hairball is my son." Said Raion. "And your future king."

"Perhaps I should practice my courtesy." Said Kizuato.

"Don't turn your back on me, Kizuato."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't turn your back on me."

"Is that a challenge?!" Raion roared.

"Temper, temper." Said Kizuato. "I wouldn't dream of challenging you."

"Pitty, why not?" Asked Xazu.

"When it comes to brains, I got the lion's share." Said Kizuato. "But when it comes to brute strength, I'm afraid I'm at the shallow end of the gene pool." After saying that, Kizuato walked away.

"There's one in every family, sire." Said Xazu. "Two in mine, actually, and they always manage to ruin those special occasions."

"I just don't know what I'm gonna do with him." Said Raion.
"Well, he would make a very handsome throw rug" Said Xazu. "And to just think, whenever he gets dirty, you could go outside and beat him." Raion couldn't help but chuckle.
Auther's Note: The yellowish tiger-like Pokemon in the sky is Raikou, one of the three Legendary Beasts. The other two are Entei, a Fire-type lion, and Suicune, a Water-type canine.

Story Announcement #3

In early 2008, when I was 11 years old, after hearing about a special Pokemon marathon coming soon, I sung "I Just Can't Wait To Be King". I even acted out part of The Lion King, but since at the time, there were only 493 species of Pokemon, I had to improvise. In 2012, after over 150 new species of Pokemon were introduced, I decided that I should write a Pokemon version of The Lion King, which I wrote a who's who list for in a red book I was supposed to use for school, but never found out what for.
Anyway, one rule I made for myself in this story was that there had to be no Fire-types allowed in the pride lands. However, since Emboar (which I made Pumbaa), a muscle-bound warthog with a fiery mane, is part Fire-type, I would allow him to stay.
 
For Timon, however, I made him a Mienfoo, which is based on the Indian relative of the meerkat, the mongoose. I know that Watchog is based on a meerkat, but its previous stage, Patrat, is based on a prairie dog, an American rodent who fears the coyote.
 
For the hyenas, many people would probably think I would choose Poochyena and Mightyena, but I felt like they are more like wolves. So instead, I made the hyenas Growlithe, even though that Pokemon has traits of a domestic dog.
 
For Zazu, I made him a Xatu, a bird Pokemon with creepy red eye-shaped markings on its chest.
 
For all the lion characters (except for Scar), I used Shinx, Luxio, and Luxray.
 
For Scar, I made him a Persian, the evolved form of Meowth, because it would be too confusing with so many characters of the same Pokemon species.
 
And finally, for Rafiki, I originally made him an Ambipom, an evolved form of the fan favorite Aipom with two tails. However, when I discovered that the 5th generation of Pokemon introduced three elemental monkeys, I changed Rafiki to a Simisage, the Grass-type monkey. I didn't choose Simisear, the Fire-type monkey, because I was afraid it would burn down the pride lands, and I didn't choose Simipour, the Water-type monkey, because Water-type Pokemon are weak against Electric-type attacks. If a Simipour tried picking up a Shinx, it could get electrocuted badly.
 
For all the other characters, I used many different Pokemon, but since this story will take place in Unova, the main location in Pokemon Black and White, there will be absolutely no Generation 6 Pokemon.
The names were probably the hardest part in making the story. It wasn't until I found out on the website TV Tropes that some of the characters in The Lion King were named after terms in Swahili. Simba means lion, Nala means gift, Pumbaa means simpleton, Rafiki means friend, Shenzi means savage, and Banzai means skulk. And so, I decided that the characters in The Shinx That Would Be King should be named after Japanese terms, since Pokemon itself is Japanese. I also renamed Simba Kimba, after the cult anime Kimba the White Lion. For everyone else, I will list their names down below.
Nala- Gifuto, which means 'gift' in Japanese
Mufasa- Raion, which means 'lion' in Japanese
Sarabi- Messua, named after Mowlgi's mother in The Jungle Book book
Scar- Kizuato, which means 'scar' in Japanese
Zazu- Xazu
Rafiki- Yujin, which means 'friend' in Japanese
Timon- Kyatto, derived from Miakyatto, which means 'meerkat' in Japanese
Pumbaa- Baka-sha, which means 'idiot' in Japanese
Shenzi- Yabani, derived from yaban, which means 'savage' in Japanese
Banzai- Akuto, derived from Akuma, which means 'devil' in Japanese
Ed- Oroka, which happens to mean 'stupid' in Japanese
Also, instead of saying 'Hakuna Matata', Kyatto and Baka-sha will say Shimpai Nai, which means 'no worries' in Japanese.
I wrote this story back in March 2015, and will start being posted on June 3rd.

Movie Review: April and the Extraordinary World

Movie Review: April and the Extraordinary World                                                                      5-14-16
 
This is the first hand-drawn animated movie I have seen in theaters since Curious George in 2006, though I went to see The Lion King when it was re-released in 2011. I unfortunately missed The Princess and the Frog in theaters because I felt like I was too old for it at the time, and now I wish I could've seen it in theaters. However, today, I got the chance to see a hand-drawn feature: The French-produced April and the Extraordinary World!
April and the Extraordinary World takes place in an alternate timeline in which the Industrial Revolution never happened, and humans relied on fossil fuels and chemistry instead of electricity. In 1931, scientist Paul Franklin is on a verge of discovering a formula that can make humans immortal. However, he was ambushed by Pizoni and separated from his daughter April. Ten years later, April blossomed into an intelligent and confident young woman, and now must embark on a quest with her talking cat Darwin and a street rat named Julius to reunite with her parents and give them the formula.
Now what do I think of the movie? Well, I enjoyed it! The version I saw was in French, but had English subtitles. The 2D animation is lush and beautiful, April is a great female role model, her cat Darwin is funny at times, and the villain is a complete unique surprise. The movie might be rated PG, but the film appeals more to adults than kids.
Rating: 4 and a half stars out of 5