Chapter 3: Bearing The Burden

Some time had passed after the incident with the panther, and since then young Simba had proven to be progressively experienced at luring in prey to Kaa at his will, leaving the python to only have to do half of the dirty work himself. No longer did he have to carefully sneak up on his prey without making a sound, for now he had an unsuspecting cub to do that for him. He was proving to be more useful than he had originally envisioned.

But still, Kaa was not entirely pleased just yet. For although he was glad that Simba was helping him, there was still the matter of having to strangle and constrict his prey once the cub led it to him. More often than not it would still be difficult to constrict them fully, especially with the larger animals Simba would antagonize.

One morning after a particularly successful kill thanks to Simba, the python simply rested inside the den and watched as the cub darted across the ground and swatted his paws at a fly from outside, coming close to striking it on a few occasions. Kaa found it strangely amusing to watch him try to do such a thing, but then the unexpected happened. Watching him swat at the fly with his underdeveloped claws unsheathed, he suddenly got it. His head rose up and his eyes widened in realization, inhaling loudly to himself. Only now did he realize that if he were to keep Simba as his slave for long enough, the cub would eventually grow to be a wholly developed lion who would be able to do all of the hunting for him. He smiled deviously at the cub now from inside the den. He had just thought of the way to make use of him for the rest of his natural life now.

Moving out into the sunlight, he slithered over to Simba which caught his attention rather quickly.

"Now then, lion cub," hissed Kaa coming out of the den. "I've just come up with a wonderful idea for the both of us. It's time we began your training."

The cub cocked his eyebrow. "What do you mean, Kaa?" he asked innocently as he sat before his master now.

"It will be soon time for you to go out hunting for yourself," explained Kaa. "I know you cannot simply lure animals towards us forever. For that, I believe it's necessary to toughen you up so you can hunt not only for me, but for yourself as well." This was partially the true as he also wanted to relieve some boredom with his pet.

"Ah, I don't need training," said Simba with cockiness. "I'm a lion. It comes naturally to me, like breathing."

Kaa smiled at Simba's youthful brashness and choice of words. "Funny you should say 'breathing,' lion cub," he hissed sinisterly as he abruptly began to coil around Simba's body. Unlike before however, the lion cub reacted less with fear and more with curiosity as he felt himself being wrapped up to his neck, his forearms pinned to himself tightly. "If you're so vicious like the other lions, then I'm sure you can withstand the pressure of my mighty constriction." He looked straight into Simba's eyes with a sadistic glint as he said this, lifting his body up off the ground.

Simba quickly donned a facade of confidence. "Hit me with your best shot."

"Be careful what you wish for," said Kaa as he started to meticulously tighten his coils around Simba's body. "That foolhardiness of your's just might cost you."

In the span of a second, Simba found it hard to breath as he wheezed more and more. The rest of his body was no better as the coils crushed him slowly but surely.

"Tenacious, aren't we?" hissed Kaa. "Let's kick it up a notch."

And with that, Kaa tightened his grip on Simba ever further, sending waves of pain to shoot throughout his body. The python certainly didn't intend to kill him this time, especially with the ingenious idea he had just formulated in his mind. But because of his pain, Simba had almost immediately forgotten about that matter.

"This... is... nothing!" He said with a cocky attitude in between breaths. "You've... done worse than this!"

"Oh, have I now?" Kaa asked with sarcasm glowing in his voice.

At this point he tightened his hold on him even more, listening intently on his futile gasps for air. At first, he expected Simba to give up and admit defeat as he had done beforehand. But despite what he would've wanted, the cub did something he had never attempted to do before: He unsheathed his small claws from within his slimy grasp and rapidly started to move them around, ripping at Kaa's skin. Being a cub, it didn't hurt him very much, but the python's eyes widened suddenly at his sudden determination now.

"You think you're... gonna win again?" Simba said forcefully and in between breaths. "N-not... this time!"

As fast as he could, he tried to wrestle his forearms free of the grasp on him, scratching against the python's thick skin with all his might. Even though it was like trying to drill through rock with a knife and Kaa could only feel mild discomfort from his claws, he nonetheless smiled at Simba's tenacity.

"My, we are rather persistent today, aren't we?" He said trying to sound sincere about it. Then, he decided to try something. In an effort to suddenly sound like he was in pain, he said in a fake tone,

"Oh! Oh dear, I'm in agony at your strength! Oh my, those claws are powerful!"

Kaa decided to finally loosen his grip on Simba to enhance his act, making him fall to the ground. When he did, Simba took a moment to catch his breath before looking up to Kaa with a cocky smile. Kaa put on his best pain face as Simba spoke.

"Ha! See? I told you you weren't going to win this time!"

The cub stood up and dusted himself off before Kaa leaned into him closely. With a hint of sarcasm, he said to his slave, "My word Simba, I had no idea those little claws of yours could be so painful. You truly are blessed with a gift, let me assure you."

The cub snickered. "See? I told you hunting comes naturally for me."

Then Kaa leaned in closer still and said in a low tone, "But it's a matter of knowing how to use them, lion cub."

Simba cocked an eyebrow before continuing. "If you were to let me train you to hunt, surely you could show the other animals of the jungle how powerful your claws are if they could hurt me. I've observed carnivorous animals use them in ways that you would hardly be able to comprehend. Between you and me, I've learned quite a few secrets on how to truly use them from that."

Had it not been for his tragic hypnosis, Simba would've gone against this for sure, knowing that something was up. In fact, his instincts right then were telling him that something wasn't right here. But his instincts were overpowered by his entrancement. He simply nodded to his master.

"Yes, Kaa." He said. "What kind of secrets are they?"

Kaa replied, "Oh, ones that I think we may find useful for our hunts in the future."

He cleared his throat before continuing. "Since you were able to outwit me for the first time, you may do as you wish for today, lion cub. Today is yours, but tomorrow your training intensifies..."

---

As more time had come to pass, Kaa had in fact shown Simba some techniques on how to hunt that he had observed from other predators he constricted in the past. The python started him off with catching and killing smaller animals like lizards or birds since he was so small. But over the duration of a year or so as his claws slowly developed more, he gradually moved on to larger kills.

Not only was the lion slowly getting better at killing larger prey, but he was also getting much older too. His mane was beginning to grow around his head, he grew larger and more robust in physical form, and his claws were already close to being fully developed. Kaa was nothing short of pleased with Simba's maturing form and his progressing strength which was helping immensely with the hunting. But then as time went on, Kaa decided that the time had come for Simba's first true test in his developing skills.

One morning as the sun's warm rays of light penetrated through the thick canopy once more, Kaa and his pet were awake and out in a clearing in the forest. The python slithered forth to Simba's left as the lion walked to his side. He looked down to his master for a moment.

"So... are we gonna start the next lesson?" He asked tiredly. Kaa shook his head.

"Oh no, Simba. Today we're trying something new."

Simba stopped walking. "But you said we were supposed to go over how to stalk prey now. What're we-?"

Kaa cut him off. "It's another technique I've seen predators do."

Simba sat down next to the python with a somewhat disappointed look on his face, for he was looking forward to being able to make another kill. Kaa cleared his throat.

"Now listen carefully, lion." He started while he slithered in circles around Simba. "You and I will scour the jungle for the largest animal we can find. When we do, I am going to constrict you. You are going to act as though you are in pain to get their attention, and scream as loud as you can. It will get the attention of the animal, and and they'll come running over to try and save you. When they do... I release you."

He came up to Simba and looked him into the eye for this last part. "When I hold him down to the ground... you go for the throat."

Simba eagerly shook his head. "Alright, I can do that." He answered. "Who'd you have in mind?"

Kaa gave him a devious smile. "Oh, someone I've had my eye on for food for quite some time now, lion. But he's too large for either of us to kill alone. If we were to work together however.."

He trailed off as Simba nodded, seeming to get the point. Maa used his body to motion him forth.

"Come, we must be cautious."

With that, Kaa led his pet forth through the forest, now treading through the thick of the wild bushes and enormous trees that seemed to stretch up to the sky. It took a few minutes for them to get where they wanted, but eventually Kaa stopped when they got to a large wall of bushes between a row of trees. Kaa suddenly turned back and went up to Simba.

"We are here." He said quietly. "We have to move quickly. Just beyond these bushes sleeps what could be the largest and most satisfying kill we could ever get. But you must be silent."

He put special emphasis on those last three words, for he was in face sincere about wanting this kill. Simba nodded.

"Good." Kaa said approvingly.

And with that, they silently crawled through the bushes and stepped out into the clearing ahead. And there they saw it. Simba almost gasped when his eyes laid sight upon what was ahead of him: A massive, sleeping grey bear that was larger than himself. Its breathing was calm, but even so he could clearly hear the sounds of his growling from that distance as he breathed. Simba turned to Kaa.

"You've found a gold mine, you know that?" He said excitedly, not a trace of fear in his voice. The python shook his head.

"Not yet I haven't." He answered. "We must do this perfectly if we are to succeed."

He paused, glancing over to the massive sleeping bear. "Now Simba... get on the ground. You know what to do."

From there, Simba nodded eagerly and obliged, quietly laying himself against the ground on his side. Kaa smiled deviously and officially began to commence his plan. He slipped the end of his tail tightly beneath Simba's body, digging itself through to the other side of him. He wrapped it around the lion's body and immediately began wrapping it around him, steadily tightening his grip. By this point in his life Simba was very much used to being constricted in such ways by his master, so he no longer felt any fear knowing he was not going to die.

The python found the strength to lift Simba up off the ground and suspend him in the air although he was much heavier than before, constricting his slave with no remorse. And from there, Kaa whispered to him, "You know what to do, lion!"

And then, Simba's end of the plan could begin. He let out a fake scream of pain and made an effort to sound agonized, echoing across the jungle landscape. It took Kaa every ounce of self control he had not to laugh at his pet's false squeals of pain.

And when he looked over to his side, he already knew that everything was falling into place. The sleeping bear's eyes shot open immediately leaping to his feet, growling simultaneously at being so abruptly woken up. But when he look ahead, the look of anger on his face vanished when he saw the lion being constricted by the might of Kaa. Simba was doing a good job at making his bloodcurdling screams sound real, because the bear gasped in horror at the sight ahead of him, suddenly feeling the need to help this innocent soul.

Springing forth, the bear roared loudly as lurched forth and unsheathed his claws, his eyes angrily intent on Kaa. The bear leapt forth and moved his claws out in front of him, roaring loudly as he planned to save the suffering lion.

And it all fell into place from there.

"Now, Simba!" Kaa shouted as he immediately released Simba from his grip, making him fall to the ground in an instant. Kaa had just enough time to move out of the way of the bear's malicious path as he came crashing to the ground against where he once was. Dirt was thrown up in the air upon impact, and before the creature cold realize what was going on, Kaa whipped his tail forth and coiled the bear around his body, throwing him to the ground while he did so. The bear roared and swung its claws all around in an attempt to escape. But it did no good. As Kaa's grip on the bear strengthened much tighter than he had with Simba just before, its cried of pain were becoming more agonizing and it became instantly clear that the bear was suffering just from the constriction. But it was not yet enough.

Through gritted teeth, Kaa turned to Simba and said loudly, "Go! Do what you must!"

Nodding, he leapt forth to where the bear's head was, just barely avoiding getting slashed by his rapidly moving claws. He glared down at him for a moment. To make things easier, Kaa suddenly flipped the bear onto its back where it could face upwards so Simba could slash his throat.

"Do it Simba! Now!" Kaa urged.

The bear struggled and tragically tried to escape the python's slimy grip. But his sorrowful cries did no good. Simba raised his paw up into the air unsheathing his claws, and it was here that the poor bear figured out what his fate was going to be. He cried out in sadness only for no one besides the two of them to hear.

But as Simba's paw went into the air, a brief thought went through his mind. For the first time since his childhood, a trickle of his instinct could make it through his mind. It was a thought that said 'Spare this creature. This is wrong.'

Sadly this thought was short lived as his hypnosis took hold once more, and at last, Simba slashed his claws down to the throat.