Episode 1: No-Mane

Episode 1: No-Mane is the first episode of My Pride.

It premiered worldwide on YouTube on February 16th, 2020.

Characters

 * Nothing
 * Fire
 * Spark
 * Sharptongue
 * Starmane
 * Powerstrike
 * Waterhunter
 * Quickmane
 * Lite (story)
 * Kyoga (story)
 * Karabi (story)

Content Warnings

 * Sudden Violence
 * Blood and Gore

Deaths

 * Starmane
 * Spark
 * Kyoga (legend)
 * Karabi (legend)

Summary

 * A family of lions is disturbed from discussing legends by an unwelcome visitor.

Detailed Summary

 * The episode begins with Sharptongue telling the story of how the Prides began. Before Prides, lions were either born in the Sun Kingdom, blessed by Sunce, the Moon Kingdom, blessed by Asra, or the Storm Kingdom, blessed by Cansu. Nothing, Spark, and Fire then interrupt the story, Nothing saying she wants to skip to the part with Kyoga and her true love, Spark wanting to hear how Lite kicked Karabi's butt, and Fire telling Spark that he wasn't correct and asked if he even listened at all. Sharptongue tells them all to be quiet or she won't be this story again, causing the three cubs to say 'Yes, Grandmother!' before she continued on. After generations of hatred between the Sun and Moon Kingdom, Kyoga, ruler of the Moon Kingdom, fell in love with the chosen one in the Sun Kingdom, Lite. All lions from both kingdom happily awaited their bonding day, where they can finally ensure peace amongst the two rivals. But moments before the ceremony was to begin, Karabi had stolen the Princess away to ensure that the day would never come. The jealous lioness took her away from her friends and loved ones, including her soon to be mate, Lite.


 * Powerstrike then appears, interrupting her mother's stories and teasing her about them. Sharptongue isn't impressed by her words, telling her that it was history, to which Spark and Nothing both agree with. Powerstrike, more serious, asks the Hunt Chief if she was ready for the hunt, to which Sharptongue confirms that supposed she is. The cubs begged her to stay and asked if she needed to go now, to which their father and ruler of the Pride, Starmane, comes in and joked to them not to get so sad that they have to hang out with their dad. The cubs are instantly glad for the change, and Powerstrike has a short conversation with Starmane about keeping the cubs safe before leaving for the hunt. After saying their goodbyes with their mother, Sparks starts playing with Nothing and tells Fire that he can be Kyoga and stand by a tree. Fire then says that he isn't being fair and tells his father that Spark was being a jerk again. When Starmane asks what they were arguing about, Spark told him how it was about how the Prides her formed, and Nothing says that she would finish the story.


 * When Lite realized that his soon-to-be mate was stolen away, he went to track her and Karabi down in an effort to save his one true love. However, when he finally reached them both, Karabi had already killed off Kyoga, causing Lite to attack the evil lioness. It was said that they had fought for days on end, and although Karabi was strong, Lite had the power of love on his side, and was able to defeat her in the end. Soon after the battle, due to the war having destroyed the kingdoms far beyond repair, Lite created Prides, along with Pride Laws to ensure that something like this would never happen again. Starmane remarks on how dark these stories were and said that he should have a talk with Sharptongue later about this. Spark and Nothing plead with their father not to, though Fire agrees, saying he doesn't like her stories either. Spark tells him that he doesn't like anything, causing Fire to seem hurt and defensively say that he likes some things, just not stories. Nothing tries to lighten the mood and attempt play fighting with Fire, though he openly says that he doesn't want to play with her because she is a lioness and that she is natural weak because of it. Nothing gets sad and Spark snaps at Fire that she was just trying to play with him and that he took everything way too seriously, even when their just trying to have fun. Before Fire could say anything back, a roar is heard in the distance, and Nothing recognized it as a No-Mane's roar.


 * Starmane notices this as well and demands his cubs to hide in the grass while he goes to investigate. Spark and Nothing follow his instructions, but Fire flees the scene. A moment later, Starmane crashes back into view, blood pouring down his back and from a wound on his shoulder, yelling to the cubs to run away and find their mother. The No-Mane, named Quickmane, comes into view, and Starmane and the No-Mane then begin battling. Quickmane easily takes the Mane down and bites the back of his neck, killing him within mere seconds. Quickmane then alerts the cubs by saying he knows that they're here and eventually finds then in under a minute. He goes for Spark, dragging him along the ground before crushing his skull with his own bare paw. Tears streaking down her face, Nothing is frozen in shock as Quickmane soon approaches her, telling the young lioness that she was going to join them soon. In a moment of fury, Nothing tells him that "Asra may take me down but you will never win," and clawed at his right eye while he was confused. He yowled in pain, slashing at her left eye and foreleg, calling her a 'demon' before managing to throw her off. She flipped into the air and crashed against a tree trunk, her injured paw crushed against the weight of her body and tree. She flopped onto the ground, her vision becoming blurry as she heard the sound of her mother came into view, crying out 'Starmane!' before going unconscious.


 * She wakes up running through a jungle, only stopping when on the rocky edge of the waterfall, looking down in shock and awe. Turning to her side, she spotted a young lion who looked around her age giving her a sad look. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She stared at him with a worried look before having been woken up by Fire, who was relieved that she was alright. Nothing stammered his name, shocked that he was alright, and Fire tells her that Quickmane never found him. When she asks if Spark is alright, he turns quiet for a moment before shaking his head. Nothing stare at the ground, now realizing that her joyful brother is now dead, though Fire tries to tell her that she's alive and that's what matters. Fire suggests that they go tell Mom about her awakening, and Nothing silently agrees. As she gets onto her paws, she winced as she rested her injured leg on the ground and put weight on it, which bore three long wounds, and fell over. Fire turns around, asking her what's wrong. She tells him that it hurts to walk on her left leg, and when he asks if she needs help, she denies it, saying it doesn't hurt if she doesn't walk on it. Fire appears on her side with a comforting smile, telling her that they should now go find Mother. Nothing smiles at him as the screen fades to black.


 * Fire and his sister appear hidden amongst the grass, watching Powerstrike as she rants on how they should kill Quickmane, as he was bested by a cub. Quickmane swore that he had won the battle honorable, saying that the Nothing cub had said something evil to him before 'it' attacked, and believed that she was possessed. Powerstrike roars that was her daughter he was talking about and that he would not refer to her as 'it', causing Quickmane to bristle in fear. Sharptongue then joins the conversation, saying that Pride Law says that if a No-Mane beats a Mane in fair combat, then he is to be the new Mane, and since Quickmane did the same, the Pride now belongs to him. Powerstrike growls, asking if they were really going to allow a Mane to rule them and kill off her other cubs just because he said he beat Starmane fairly. Quickmane defends himself once more, only to be shushed harshly by both lionesses. Sharptongue then states that she isn't saying they should do anything, and as Hunt Chief, she decides that the three should coexist. Powerstrike questions her, and Sharptongue explains; Quickmane bested Starmane in fair combat, and by Pride Law he is the new ruler of the Sisters Steppe. However, since Nothing bested him in combat, she has proven herself and her brother, Fire, have a right to the Pride as well. Powerstrike doubts that her plan will work, but Sharptongue says that if it was the will of the Sisters, then Quickmane will have to follow, as she doubts even the dumbest lion wouldn't dare to anger the Goddesses.


 * Just then, Fire calls out to his mother, saying that his sister is okay. Powerstrike gave a relieved smile before thanking the goddesses, though seemed instantly concerned when her daughter fell after stepping on her injured paw. She explained that it hurt to step on it, though Fire said that she was okay otherwise, and that hurt was better than dead. Powerstrike is quiet for a moment before wearily smiling and agreeing with her son, though she seems hesitant about it. Sharptongue gives a hard glare towards Quickmane, who nervously looks away. We then see Nothing leaving with Powerstrike and Fire, and hear an older sounding version of Nothing. She says that she now knows what her mother couldn't have told her back then; that her injury changed everything, and from that day forward, her life would never be the same again.

Trivia
Coming Soon