New World

***New World*** is the second chapter of the first volume of Star-Crossed.

## Summery

The chapter opens in the Bajelous Jungle during the night. Within the jungle, Dash is shown rushing through the jungle while being chased by a young white lion, Kimba. During the chase, Dash leaps across a river, Kimba following close behind until he trips over an exposed root, making him stumble into a tree. After this, Dash cheers in joy, revealing the two to have been in a race. Shortly afterwards, they both walk on home, Dash boasting about how she's the fastest animal in the jungle as Kimba humbles her by reminding her how she only raced him and no one else. Kimba then hears the wolf pack calling him, and he bids Dash goodnight, promising another race tomorrow morning. Kimba returns to the Wolf Den only to find nobody there, until he hears something nearby. Shortly after letting his guard down, Bhoot, Grey and Tango playfully jumped him, pretending to hunt him down and showing off their practice. As they play around, Alexander arrives and gets them to stop, telling Kimba that they wanted to show him their practice all day long. Alexander brings them all inside and shortly afterwards, they all go off to sleep.
The following morning, the Wolf Den is visited by Tabaqi, the Jackal. Tabaqi arrives right up to the den, asking for leftover scraps for breakfast, but this noise wakes up Bravo. Alexander gets Bravo to let him off easy, claiming that he's just hungry and is not a threat to any of them. Tabaqi is then offered the leftover meal in the cave, much to the discomfort of most of the others. Bravo asks to leave if Tabaqi is staying, to which she and the other children are then allowed to. As soon as they left, Raksha points out how worried Alexander is, and reassures him that they are in good hands thanks to Baloo. Alexander explains how much the world has changed, animals barely following the Law of the Jungle anymore, and so many new creatures appearing lately. Tabaqi, capitalizing off of his fear, tells Alexander about Shere Khan returning to their part of the jungle in search for "specific prey". Before he could reveal what, Raksha stomps on Tabaqi's tail, telling him to leave their den now that he's finished eating. Soon as he left, Raksha tells Alexander to not pay him any mind, and that they will take care of everything and to have some faith in their children.

Later in Farthing Wood, Kimba and Dash prepare their race, with both Bucky and Pauly in charge of the race. The race is decided to go from Fox's den over to a forest clearing. The race soon starts, numerous animals watching the race go by. During this, Fox laments on how he was once the fastest fox in the jungle, but due to his age has become the slowest. Vixen reminds fox that thanks to him and the other older animals, many of the animals in the bajelous (and the world) are alive and well, and how he saved them all from many dangers before. Fox agrees, and states that this year will be the best one their will have yet. Kimba and Dash start coming in close, Kimba ahead of Dash, but before they could finish, something in the nearby stream catches his eye long enough for Dash to win the race. A young antelope, Dodie, checks on Kimba along with Bucky and Pauly, and Kimba goes to check it out. He looks in the stream and finds that Peridot's gemstone was in it! Not sure of what it is, he shows it to the others and thinks the pups at the den would love to see it, though Pauly is quick to tell him how dangerous it could be. Kimba decides to show Fox it instead. Once he does though, Fox questions where he got it, and immediately tells him to get rid of it. Kimba tries finding out what it is, but Fox instead demands him to get rid of it regardless of if he knows or not. During the conversation, Dash touches the gemstone, causing it to come to life on them. Fox jumps in before the Gem could reform, Vixen quickly telling the others to get something to cover it. They all manage to get the gemstone covered up, and only then do they take it away without question.

They arrive out away from the jungle, and through a hollowhorn herd to find a good spot for it. The others are worried over the herd, Kimba saying that as long as they leave them alone, they shouldn't be a problem. Dash soon finds a good spot in form of a nearby plateau. Pauly agrees to fly the gemstone up to the top and leaves it there after checking the area. The rest wait for Pauly to come back, but soon a nearby hollowhorn makes a warning call, revealing to everyone of a huge Red Eye approaching from the sky. They all prepare to leave, but before they could go the Red Eye crashes into the plateau, leaving the group in the middle of a landslide as the hollowhorn herd races away in panic.

As the hollowhorn herd was running away, the herd is attacked by Shere Khan, who easily kills one of them as his calling card to the Bajelous. The chapter ends with him going to check on the crash site.

## Features

### Characters

* Dash
* Kimba
* Grey
* Tango
* Bhoot
* Alexander
* Raksha
* Baloo (mentioned)
* Tabaqi
* Bravo
* Sierra (unnamed)
* Shere Khan
* Pauly
* Bucky
* Dodie
* Fox
* Vixen
* Peridot (gemstone only)

### Locations

* Bajelous Jungle
	+ Wolf's Den
	+ Farthing Wood
	+ Savannah

## Trivia

* The original concept of the Crash scene was going to have the Human Zoo rather than the Red Eye, but was changed due to the sheer size being too big for what the artist wanted.