Much time had passed since the Lion Guard had been eagerly reformed by Kion, and with its less orthodox and more diverse composition, this new Guard had a unity and comradery the likes of which had never before been seen. Indeed, these days were those of a new era which had been hastily and effectively swept in by Simba following the chaos of his malevolent uncle's rule. The Guard was a symbol of change, a confirmation that the new golden age had started and a living example of the morals on which the Pridelands were founded in times immemorable. However, even in the age of the Lion Guard, there was a time in which all of these morals, and indeed the creatures that upheld them, were endangered by the ever present and ever persistent greed and cunning which bided its time in secrecy.

Morning had fallen on the savannah. A large sun had risen above the horizon, its golden glow bouncing off the crystal body of the Water Hole, while animals from the most insignificant fly to the unmissable goliath elephants sprung into action as if the whole Pridelands had simultaneously awoken. The Lion Guard had split up to patrol their usual routes which covered, in detail, the entirety of the kingdom. Kion patrolled with Bunga, Fuli with Beshte and, alone, Ono surveyed the land from above. Their morning had thus far been an uneventful one; things had unusually gone to plan. After listening to Bunga babble on about just about every concievable topic for conversation uninterrupted by a scream for help or suspicious activity, Kion was begining to feel on edge. The air was particularly heavy and there was a strange atmosphere of tension, almost like the entire land was waiting for something to happen... but what?

"It's far too peaceful, Bunga. Something's wrong, something's not right..." he said, cutting the honey badger's rambling about his favourite grubs short.

His friend's reply came in the charactaristic 'no worries' tone. "Don't worry about it, it just means we're doing our job well, right? Remember Jasiri? You weren't too sure about her at first either, but she turned out to be fine. Maybe you're just wrong again." Kion scowled at that remark, but considered Bunga's logic (which was surprisingly sometimes a valuable resource, even if by accident. It's probably safe to say that Bunga started about as many problems as he solved). Perhaps they were finally recieving the break they deserved.

Before midday the entire Guard had completed their patrols without hindrance and regrouped. Usually by this time they had already been whisked away on another responsibility that came with maintaining the Circle of Life, but with no immediate issues to adress Kion decided to consult his father, the king, to see if he needed assistance with anything.

As it happened, the Guard didn't find Simba on Pride Rock, nor did they see the rest of the royal family, which led Kion to assume they had left for a hunt. Taking to the sky, Ono scanned the landscape for signs indicating the direction of the king and acted as a guide in the shadow of which his companions followed. After a while, Ono's perceptive gaze finally located Simba, standing atop a vantage point, his lioness Nala close behind him. Both of them were carefully observing their daughter as she practised hunting. She was crouched low in tall, dry grass, slowly making her way towards the oblivious prey (impalas, in this case). With a sigh of relief, Ono took a mental note of their position and turned around to inform his teammates.

However, further back on the ground Kion was already receiving a report from several manic locals. "There was at least ten of them!" one zebra said, shaking. A leopard suggested that it was an even larger group which led to a wide range of numbers being thrown around. The prince silenced these exaggerations and, in a calming yet authoritative tone, asked where the intruders were. The animals all responded in synchronisation by pointing in the direction of a patch of tall, dry grass in the distance.

At this point, Ono dropped from the sky gracefully and saluted Kion (out of habit rather than conduct) before delivering the results of his reconnaissance through deep gasps. "Simba and Nala are both on that hill watching Kiara hunt" he told, holding a wing out to show where exactly he meant.

Realisation dawned on Kion even faster than Fuli runs (which is very fast), and he immediately sprinted toward his family, the Guard following shortly behind him. Ono was unprepared for the response of their leader and questioned him on it. "What is it, Kion, what's wrong?"

The lion's face slowly turned into a thousand yard scowl, his brows covering his orange eyes in shadow. He muttered one word, which was enough: "Hyenas".

Unbeknownst to her, the heir to the throne of the Pridelands was herself being stalked in that natural maze of foliage. Chosing her target, she drew closer, remaining unseen (or so she thought) until she was near enough. Then, she crouched lower and prepared to pounce, locked onto the prey. Mere moments before she leaped, the true hunters took their chance. Out of his hiding place, the hyena known as Janja burst through the grass, appearing right next to Kiara. After him, more hyenas copied that action, surrounding the young lion. Snarling, salivating and starved, they closed in, jaws snapping.

Meanwhile, from their elevated position, Simba and Nala had noticed the ambush below them. They sprung into action almost instantaneously, without even thinking, as they both simultaneously exclaimed their daughter's name. They thundered through the grass at top speed, fueled by testosterone and worry, and followed the sound of traumatised cries for help.

"Come closer, your majesty," Janja advanced on Kiara, speaking in his usual sarcastic rhetoric, emphasising words in a particularly sinister way (not unlike Scar), "we wouldn't want you getting hurt now, would we?" She tried to back away, but was prevented from doing so by a snap from another hyena behind her. Janja leaned uncomfortably close to her and grinned insanely, preparing a bite, only to be met by the lion cub's claws unceremoniously slapping him across the face. He shrieked in pain and backed away. He felt his wound, a deep gash across the cheek. "You drew blood first, princess. An eye for an eye, they say, except the eyes don't taste nearly as good as the rest of the lion..."

Suddenly, a fierce and enraged growl followed by a powerful yet immature voice boomed from behind the leading hyena. "If you dare to lay a paw on my sister again you're going to regret it, Janja." Kion stood in front of the Guard, anger festering in his expression more so than anybody had ever before seen. He growled again, and many hyenas recoiled in the fear that he was using the Roar. Wavering, the encirclement began to widen, many of the ambushers considering fleeing.

Janja smirked and, with a paw already red with his own blood, clawed Kiara in the rear and pinned her to the floor. She let out a pained yelp, and Kion sounded an increasingly angered one of his own. The attacker stood over his victim, smiling. "Go ahead, use that little roar of yours and finish the job I started." He chuckled and his pack, reassured by his assertiveness, turned to the Lion Guard. "It was nice seeing you and your gang again Kion, but you might want to change the name. You didn't guard very well at all." He looked at Kiara and prepared to bite her neck with bone-crushing jaws and long, razor teeth.

Another growl was heard, this time far deeper and louder, and from out of seemingly nowhere Simba leaped onto Janja with his sharpened claws out, pushing him to the ground, digging deep holes into the hyena's torso. Nala was quick to act, jumping forward to protect her daughter from the remaining attackers.

Kion turned to the Guard. "They outnumber us, but that's never helped them before, and it won't help them now. We must protect Kiara at all costs! 'Till the Pridelands ends..."

"... Lion Guard defends!" They all finished their catch-phrase in unison as they charged into battle. They worked together to round up the hyenas into one large group, be it by pushing, shoving, biting, scratching or kicking.

Janja was still under Simba, wounded severely enough to struggle to talk, but not mortally. He was gasping for breath and quickly losing strength from fatigue and blood loss. Above him, the lion king growled a warning. "I promise, if you even consider touching my daughter again, I'll make you wish I had killed you here." The defeated hyena panicked and nodded, stuttering in an attempt to confirm his understanding of Simba's threat. Finding this response satisfactory, the king forced Janja toward the rest of his pack, which had now all formed a compact defensive circle. Everyone stepped away from the formation as the hyenas all turned to look at Kion.

The wind picked up slighty, disturbing the grass, while clouds swept over the sky and a shade fell upon the land. Kion closed his eyes and concentrated, the wind now picking up enough to rustle the grass, creating a storm-like sound. Then, in one moment, Kion unleashed the Roar of the Elders, loud and fierce enough to be heard for miles around, and strong enough to flatten the grass behind the intruders, who themselves were thrown violently into the air and landed harshly onto the dry ground with a thud, and above the son on Simba his ancestors roared with him in the sky. It goes without saying that the Roar was not just one of the most spectacular and glorious sights to see, but also one of the most terrifying. The hyenas, defeated and embarrassed, fled laughing and didn't stop running until they had crossed through the border of the Outlands.

Everybody surrounded Kiara, who was still on the ground, weeping. "Tell Rafiki what happened, we'll bring her to him as quickly as we can." Kion ordered Fuli, who darted off in a blink. Simba picked up his daughter with his teeth, and they all made haste behind their messenger.

During their journey, Kion thought hard about the ongoing feud with the hyenas, and although he may not have accepted it, a very deep hatred was now embedded in him. It went against his morals - the morals of the Pridelands - but it seemed out of his control. They had crossed the line, and all respect and mercy he possessed for them before had gone, replaced by a determination for revenge. He considered that, perhaps, next time Janja's life was in his paws he shouldn't allow the hyena ringleader to leave with it and finally bring peace to the land.

He turned to his father. "Why did this conflict between us and the hyenas even start?" Strangely, Kion didn't know about this is great detail, despite fighting the conflict in question for a while (he knew that the hyenas were enemies of the Circle of Life and terrorists, and that was enough reason for him to oppose them).

Simba thought for a bit, as if trying to remember the history himself, before answering. "After Scar was defeated, the hyenas were driven back into the Outlands. Most went willingly following the Battle of Pride Rock, but some lingered here as a consistent annoyance. We eventually chased them out as well, but many hyenas are still under the illusion that the Pridelands is rightfully theirs, as it was under Scar's rule, and they hold a grudge against us. They feel that they've been wronged and they want revenge, and that's not mentioning our history of tension along the borders due to their complete disregard for the Circle of Life, which is why they weren't and still aren't allowed in the Pridelands in the first place." He shook his head. "If they only stopped their violence and engaged in peaceful negotiations instead, it would benefit us all. Although, I know from experience that you can't trust the words of these kind of animals..."

They arrived at their destination and the old shaman took Kiara into his tree. Soon after, Ono informed the Lion Guard of trouble in the distance, and they left to go back to their job, but Kion returned whenever they had a break that day, and Simba and Nala both stayed at their daugher's side until she was remedied.