A/N: For those of you wondering what has happened to Hard Times in Mozambique, it has been discontinued after the recent release of information regarding The Lion Guard. This can be considered a sort of updated version of that story, however, there are going to be some major differences.

In the vast African savannah, the sun was rising yet again on a new day. The Honey Badgers crawled up from their dens, the prey animals were back to grazing, and the lions were waking up from their slumber. For the lions of Pride Rock, however, this was not a typical day. It was a day that would be forever engrained in the minds of the entire pride, for this was the first full day that the Pridelands and the Outlands were formally allied, through Kovu and Kiara. The marriage, that happened only yesterday, was formalized by Rafiki, and the whole event was guarded by Simba's second child, Kion (who was now officially an adult), and his original guard, going all the way back to when Kiara and him were cubs. Of course, this was all groundbreaking, however, the day would consist of one other event. Something that would change the way all pridelanders thought. Something that stuck with the history of Simba's pride for ages. Something that nobody ever quite forgot.

Kovu and Kiara got a separate cave that night. Of course, this was standard tradition after marriage. So when Kovu woke up, he, naturally, roused his mate, despite his best attempts to leave without a sound. "Kovu, why are you up at this early hour" Kiara asked, still groggy and lying on the floor. Kovu sighed, turned around to Kiara, and stammered, "Uh… I have things to do. I have to talk to Simba, and go on morning patrol, and I still -" "Just lay down for a couple more moments, won't you? We still have to do all the dreamy stuff that new couples do" Kiara interrupted in a sarcastic tone. "Okay" Kovu laughed, turning around. "What kind of dreamy stuff did you have in mind, princess?" "That's queen, now, honey." Kiara replied. "Oh, right. I suppose that makes me King now, doesn't it?" Kiara opened her eyes as Kovu nuzzled her. "Not quite, Kovu."

"She's right, Kovu", said Simba, as he walked in, Kion in tow. "Since she's the one with royal blood, she's ultimately the leader. You can make small scale decisions, advise her on things, and settle disputes, but if she disagrees with you, her word is law." Kion chimed in, saying "And I intend to enforce the law to its fullest, you understand. Treat my sister with respect. You are less powerful than her." "Simba, Kion, couldn't you have sent some kind of warning? You barge in here, and have no idea what we could be doing" Kiara burst out. "Honey, I think they have a very good idea of what we could be doing" Kovu remarked, hoping to cheer up the mood. "Kovu!" Kiara spat back. "Sorry, Ki. Anyway, Kion, Simba, trust me when I tell you that I will treat Kiara with nothing but respect. I promise my life on that. And I'll give her the room she needs to rule the Kingdom. I just didn't know about this policy until now." Simba relaxed a bit, and gave Kovu a fatherly look, one that Kovu felt a bit of joy whenever he saw. "I trust you, Kovu. I'm just looking out for my daughter, that's all. Anyway, you don't have to go on patrol, Kovu. Kion, explain."

"Of course, dad. Kovu, as leader of the Lion Guard, I have arranged patrol routes three times a day with guard members. You and Kiara will be completely focused on creating and judging on the laws of the kingdom, while my guard and I are here to enforce." Kovu sighed in relief. "Hold on, Kovu. You haven't heard the second part of it" Kion added. "Oh, it shouldn't be anything I can't handle. Lay it on me" Kovu challenged. "Well, you and Kiara are going to have to settle whatever civil disputes there are" Kion replied. "That's it? That should be just fine!" With this remark, Simba muttered under his breath, "He has no idea."

"... and for every piece of my land that you dug tunnels under, you will lose that much land!" replied the Ibex, furious at the gopher that had tunnelled under his herd's supposedly designated land. "Why on earth are you so angry? We didn't tunnel up or anything! We only tunneled under your land!" Kovu sighed a bit as he listened to the petty squabble that he had to devote time to as if it were an actual problem. After two hours of hearing both sides of the argument, he finally got his say. "Listen, Mr…" he stammered for the name of the gopher. "Nchege" the gopher piped up. "Mr. Nchege, the land you tunneled under is property of the Ibexes". A small cheer broke out from the Ibex leader. "However…" Kovu continued, making the Ibex's face drop. "Mr. Nchege will not be losing any of his current land from this dispute." This made both animals groan a bit, complaining that they didn't get what they wanted, and that they were unsatisfied. "Guys, it's a compromise. None of you are supposed to get exactly what you want, the point is to come to a middle ground. Now I suggest you accept this compromise or I continue letting Mr. Nchege tunnel under your land." At this, the Ibex scoffed. "Of course. Why'd I expect an outlander to do a good job." Kovu tensed up, and unsheathed his claws for a moment while his back was turned to leave. "Case closed" he said through gritted teeth as he left to settle the next dispute.

Kion, who was occupied patrolling the border with Fuli, had other things on his mind. "So, Fuli…" The lion asked, trying to look for words to break the awkward silence that often came with patrolling around with this serious cheetah. "How is your family doing?" "They're just fine" Fuli replied, dismissing the question."Why do you ask?" Kion was verbally cornered for a moment. "No particular reason. I just want to… make sure all of my guard members are doing fine, that's all." That was half true. He did care for all of the members of the guard. However, Fuli in particular was the one he cared about more than the others. "I'm at the top of my game, Kion. Don't worry." Fuli replied. Kion stepped a bit closer to her as they walked forward. "Are you sure? Fuli, if there's ever something wrong, you can just-" "Yes, I understand, Kion! I'm fine, now can we please focus on the patrol." Kion dropped a bit, stammering out some words. "Look, Fuli, I- I mean, you and I- there's something-" Fuli interrupted him, mid sentence. "I smell something. Coming towards us fast." Kion, broken up from his speech, snapped immediately into guard leader mode. "What direction?" "East and…" Fuli sniffed again, "high." "High? Hold position, Fuli. We need to see what this is. I'll call in the Guard." Kion puffed out his chest and prepared to use his roar of the elders to call the rest of the guard members to his position. As he exhaled, a mighty roar broke out across the savannah, alerting Ono, Beshte, Bunga, and Ukatili, a snake who was new to the guard, to his position.

The entire guard was rallied up on Kion's position within five minutes. The lionesses and cubs were taken to Pride Rock swiftly, and the rest of the animals in the pridelands were prepared to take cover from any danger that was approaching. Kovu, Kiara, Simba, and Nala were all watching from Pride Rock, ready to run in if it were an invasion force.

"What have we got, Kion?" Bunga asked. "Something approaching fast from the east, flying." Kion explained. "Are you sure it's not just a flock of birds?" Ono replied. "No, this smells like something burning." Fuli explained. "Should I check it out?" Ono asked. "Yes" Kion replied. "Be careful."

Kovu and Kiara watched Ono take off and fly east. "What do you think it is?" Kiara asked. "I'm not sure, but I can smell it now. Smells like something burning. I hope your brother is okay." Kovu responded. Kiara came closer to Kovu, nuzzling him with a look of worry. "Me too, Kovu."

As Ono flew east, he could make out a flying object in the distance. He could tell already that it was not any sort of animal that he knew of, and the billowing smoke in the distance certainly signaled this. He could also tell it was approaching him very rapidly, and that he had to turn around and fly with the thing if he wanted to get a good look at it. Circling around and looking behind him, he watched the thing fly past him. What he saw shocked him. Some kind of shiny fake bird that was on fire. There was something spinning on the front of it, but what was more interesting was that there was some clear material on the front and sides which allowed him to look in. Inside the bird, there was something he had only heard about in legends. There was a human. It flew by him too quickly to get a good view of, but he could tell that the thing was descending rapidly, and it was probably going to land in the Pridelands. As quick as he could, he flew back.

"What did you see, Ono? I saw it fly past us, and it was going quite low, but was there anything you got a closer look at?" Kion asked as Ono landed. "There's a human in there!" The guard grew silent for a moment, before Bunga spoke up. "Kion, I can go check this thing out after it lands." "I'm going with you. Beshte and Ukatili, come with Bunga and I. Ono, you fly ahead to wherever this thing lands and warn us if something goes wrong before we get there. Fuli, quickly go to Queen Kiara and inform her of the human in this thing. Then, report back to wherever this thing lands." With that, all of the guard members quickly went about their assignments, Fuli running as fast as she could to Pride Rock.