Kimba

***Kimba*** is a young white Lion, and one of the main protagonists of the Star-Crossed series. Although a lion and only biological son of Panja, he is also part of Alexander's family as his older adopted son.

## Appearance

Kimba is, in summary, a teenaged lion. Unlike most other lions, his fur is pure white, but he isn't a true albino animal as he still has black markings on both his ears and the tuff of fur on the tip of his tail, and blue eyes rather than red, his condition instead being a rare color mutation known as *Leucism*. He is also rather thin for a lion his age, with a slenderer body. On his head he has tuffs of fur along his cheeks, and some fur on his head that droops down to just above his eyes.

## Personality

Kimba is a kind-hearted individual with a high moral standing, willing to help others more so than towards himself. Although biologically a carnivore and a predator, he detests the idea of hunting other animals, and often tries to avoid doing so as much as possible, including prehistoric Beasts and Dinosaurs (with the only exception of either insects or fish). He hardly holds any grudges or prejudice towards others, and much like Steven Universe, would often do what he believes is right, even at the cost of his own safety as shown when he was willing to get attacked by a flock of Imps to save Dodie. He is more stubborn in his beliefs though and can easily be frustrated if he is pushed to go against his moral standings too much.

## History

### Volume 01. Arrival

Kimba first appears alongside Dash within the Bajelous Jungle during the night, both competing together in the middle of a race (one of which Kimba loses to after tripping over a tree root). On their way home afterwards, Kimba insists that he's getting faster and that he would've beaten her, despite Dash's insistence of being the fastest in the jungle. Before this could continue, he hears the howling coming from the Bajelous Wolf Pack, and he starts rushing back home, promising to do another race the following day. On getting to the Wolf Den, Kimba is soon met up by Grey, Bhoot, and Tango, who briefly play around with him and show how they've practiced their hunting skills. Kimba gladly plays along with them for a short while, only calming down after Alexander brings them back inside for the night.

The next day, Kimba meets up with Dash again for their secondary race, this time being within Farthing Wood. In this race, Kimba comes close to actually beating Dash in it, getting more than thrilled over it, but before he could actually finish, he spots something shining within the nearby stream, which was enough to make him slow down and stop altogether. Bewildered and curious, Kimba forgets about the race and asks if anyone else saw it, only to find nothing there. Kimba decides to go and investigate the stream, and actually finds the source in the form of Peridot's gemstone. Amazed, he shows the others it, and plans to show the others back at the den, but he is prompted by Pauly to have someone check it first (that being Fox and Vixen). He explains to them how he found it and asks what it is, given how old the foxes were, but only being told to take it away. Despite the instruction, Kimba tries to understand what it is and tries to make Fox tell him, but this all stops when the gemstone begins to reform (him being amazed as opposed to being scared like everyone else). Kimba quickly gets the others to help him restrain the gemstone, and once doing that, only then does he not ask questions and go out with it.

Following that sunset, Kimba and company bring the gemstone over towards the Savannah, namely over towards an isolated plateau. Seeing how long it would take to climb it, he volunteers Pauly to fly the gemstone up instead, him waiting with the rest as he goes to do so. He insists on them all waiting when they ask to just go home without Pauly. While waiting though, he and the others look to the sky, finding a Red Eye falling right towards them! Scared, he tells the others (after Pauly returns) that they finally dropped it off and they have to go now before it gets them. Unfortunately, they all end up caught in the debris of the Red Eye's crash, but they survive it while hidden underneath two large boulders. Kimba tries to investigate, but he gets struck in the head by some falling debris, Dash forcing him back into the safety of the makeshift cave. Soon though, he finds Dodie too scared to move, and finding that it was gonna be night soon, he ultimately decides to stay with her and keep her safe while the others venture back to the jungle, stating that it was partially his fault they were in danger in the first place.

He stays with Dodie throughout the night, keeping an eye on her and keeping her safe. During this, once Dodie wakes up, Kimba explains to her what's going on and that they'll head back home the next morning. While waiting through the night though, he hears commotion just outside, only to find that Imps had found them both. Kimba prepares to fight, not wanting any of them to hurt Dodie, and engages against the flock. During the fight, he gets severely bitten in both the torso and his neck, Kimba instructing Dodie to go without him while the imps are distracted with him. Luckily for him, he manages to hold them off long enough before something falls from the plateau and scares the flock away. Once the fight was fully over, he and Dodie check what fell, finding Steven Universe lying unconscious on the ground. He and Dodie agree to bring him back with them to keep him safe.

He returns home with Steven safe and sound, getting himself wrapped up and healing by the next morning when Steven himself wakes him up just as the family return with breakfast. By this point, Kimba is asked about what occurred yesterday, revealing that he left out the detail about the Red Eye itself, but did explain the imps and discovering Steven to them already. Kimba asks Steven about what the Red Eye was, but he decides to let it go on Steven's request. Kimba later explains what the Bajelous Tribe was about to Steven, and how lucky he was to be found by him on that night. Before they can talk any further on it, they hear a distant roar, and Kimba helps Steven to the back of the den for safety. As they were hiding, Kimba tells Steven what he knew of Shere Khan, and that they'll be alright as long as they stay there. Kimba makes sure to keep them quiet as best he could just long enough for Shere Khan to leave them alone.

For the next few days, Kimba promises Raksha to keep Steven's presence a secret, and to keep an eye out for any more Humans in the area to give Steven back. This all changed though during a fishing trip when he is visited by Dash. He promises her another race but only until he's fully healed, but during the chat, he learns that Farthing Wood had already learned of Steven's presence. Defeated, Kimba reveals it to be true, and tells her what happened after returning home. He tells Dash that in spite of this, he doesn't believe Steven deserves to be kicked out of the jungle as he's been a good friend to the wolves, even if he's technically still an outsider. Kimba then tells Dash Steven's name and what they were planning to do with him, only to find Dash running off on him. He races off to catch up with her, finding her at the edge of a small clearing and finding that she has heard the Crystal Gems going by looking for Steven. Seeing them and learning of this, Kimba decides to talk to them while Dash goes back to get Steven, not wanting her to get hurt by any of them and insisting that he'll be fine with them.

Soon as Dash leaves (and being called out by Garnet), Kimba walks out to them. Once things calm down slightly, Kimba tells them that he does indeed have Steven and that Dash is bringing them back there, him simply asking for them to wait until they get back. However, he is asked who Steven exactly was, and while he got his appearance right, he couldn't get his last name. This unfortunately results in a large fight between Kimba and the Gems, Kimba trying his hardest to dodge them and simply try to talk again until he becomes injured thanks to Envy. The attack left him passed out on the ground for a bit, waking up to find Fox's patrol out trying to protect him. Not wanting yet another fight, Kimba shouts at them that he's alright, and insists that they weren't trying to kill him in the first place. After everything finally relaxes, Kimba is carried by Garnet over towards the Savannah again where Steven and the wolf pack was at, although he insists that he can just walk there himself otherwise. Once there and explaining everything, only then does he finally see Steven off, saying that they're welcome to come back any time if they were to come by their way again.

Following that night, Kimba shares what happened to them with Bravo at the den, though the talk turns into a slight argument as Kimba thinks Steven can survive just fine while Bravo thinks otherwise. This is confirmed later on that night, Kimba waking up to Bravo attacking Peridot. For a brief moment, he almost recognizes Peridot from the gemstone, and he finds the rest of the gems there. After being told how little they truly knew of the world and what happened to their old home, Kimba asks Raksha to share the "Human's Folly" story with them, promising it'll be enough to catch them up with everything. However, seeing just how scared it made Steven, Kimba quickly tells him that humanity could still be alive somewhere and that he just has to wait and see. He admits later though that he only said this to not completely break them, and wanting to give them some hope for the future.

Few days later, he arrives with Raksha and the Gems to the springtime gathering, namely, to help with the Gems getting recruited into the Animalian Tribe officially. He does remain quiet throughout much of the time, though he does briefly question how the Gems know Hazel, and trying to keep them hopeful throughout the ordeal.

## Abilities

* **Lion Biology** - being born a lion in spite of his uniquely white fur, Kimba has the similar strengths and weaknesses of other African lions.
* **Agility** - Kimba is considered far faster and more agile than his biology would suggest, being shown to dodge others' attacks quite easily. In "The Crystal Gems", he dodges numerous attacks done onto him by Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Envy all at once, even in a considerably weaker state. This agility also extends to his speed, able to keep up with faster animals fairly well.
* **Fishing Capability** - Kimba is shown to have a high level of fishing skills compared to other cats in the jungle, being given the nickname of "Fisher Cat" thanks to this talent. This talent possibly extended from his lack of desire to hunt animals like true lions do.