AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello, everyone. I wish you all a warm-hearted welcome to my latest dramatic fanfic. My previous "Lion King" story has been a great success and I thank you all for reading it. The story you're about to read has a premise that might sound overused and predictable to some people; however this story centers around a serious issue that can happen to anyone, anywhere, at anytime, and must be stopped before it gets worse. Be advised that this story contains content that may disturb some readers. With all that said, let's begin our story.

DISCLAIMER: All characters and elements of "The Lion Guard" are property of Disney Television Animation; all other characters and elements of "The Lion King" are property of Walt Disney Animation Studios.

As every animal- from the gigantic elephant to the tiny ant -roamed the massive savanna that was part of their homeland, a great sense of tranquility came upon them all as it always did for countless years. Their home, known by all as the Pride Lands, had magnificent beauty as far as the eye could see. The grass was tall, green, and ripe for zebras and antelope to eat; the leaves on the trees were also green and ripe for the giraffes. The water that coursed through the rivers and made up the watering hole was blue and obtained its own beauty. There were other parts of the Pride Lands that had their distinct colors and purposes, and, altogether, they were what made the Pride Lands a marvelous place to live in.

However, despite its magnificent appearance and ability to sustain life for all of its inhabitants, there was a dark shadow that loomed over the Pride Lands. It could be traced back to a horrendous era that nearly wiped out all life in the great land.

A heartless and malicious lion named Scar murdered his brother, Mufasa, so he could become king of the Pride Lands. He also convinced Mufasa's son, Simba, that he was responsible for the murder and that he should flee the Pride Lands to avoid severe punishment. The cub complied and fled, never to return. After announcing the loss of Mufasa and Simba, Scar took the throne and allowed the hyenas, who were banished from the Pride Lands because of their wickedness and gluttony, to roam the land freely.

This ultimately led to a famine that would've brought the end of the Pride Lands upon everyone if Simba had not returned to confront Scar. Even though he persuaded everyone that it was his nephew who killed Mufasa, Scar eventually confessed to his atrocious crime, igniting a colossal battle that ended in a massive inferno and the deaths of Scar and a great amount of hyenas.

Even though the Pride Lands had regained its splendor years ago, there was still a threat to all the Pride Landers. The descendants of the hyenas who were most loyal to Scar were still at large. They lived in the Outlands, a remote gorge on the outskirts of the Pride Lands, and would constantly attempt to steal animals for food. However, the hyenas had a big problem when it came to their evil plans. A problem known by all as the Lion Guard.

Long ago, the Lion Guard was a small group of lions led by Scar. Each lion had a special ability- fierceness, speed, bravery, keen eyesight, and strength -and they all assisted those in need whenever possible. But, because of Scar's abuse of power, the Lion Guard was terminated and eventually forgotten. That changed when Kion, the youngest cub of King Simba and Queen Nala, suddenly obtained the paranormal ability to amit a powerful roar.

As it turned out, Kion had a super power called the Roar of the Elders, the predominant ability of the leader of the Lion Guard, and he was destined to be the leader of a new Guard. While he was determined to take his new responsibility seriously, his father was skeptical since he had asked his friends, who weren't lions, to be members of the Guard. Simba rejected Kion's proposal, but, after Kion and his friends saved Kiara, his older sister and future Queen of the Pride Lands, from a failed hyena attack, the lion king accepted his son and his friends as the new Lion Guard.

From that day forward, whenever there was trouble in the Pride Lands, whether it was an assault by the vicious hyenas or a simple dilemma that could worsen overtime, Kion and his friends- a rambunctious but brave honey badger named Bunga, a swift cheetah named Fuli, a sharp-eyed cattle egret named Ono, and a vigorous hippopotamus named Beshte -would be there to help out their friends and foil their enemy's plans. For the five of them, they were not only being heroes, they were contributing vast amounts of tranquility to keep the Pride Lands the greatest place to ever exist.

Unfortunately, there came a time when darkness fell upon the Lion Guard. Even though three of the Guard members were swallowed in deep hate, the following days and actions by those three animals would only allow the antipathy to spread, ultimately leading to calamity, and would plunge all of the Pride Lands into darkness once again.

Everything began on a clear, serene day. The colors of the Pride Lands were in full intensity thanks to the brightness of the sun's brilliant glow. As well as light, the sun also brought a strong sensation of heat that caused a lot of the animals to feel uncomfortable. Many of those animals went to the watering hole to cool themselves with a drink of water. The other fraction was staying out of the sun and remaining in shady spots like the ground under large trees. All in all, a majority of the Pride Lands' population was suffering from the severe heat.

The Lion Guard was also dealing with the heat. The group strolled through the savanna on their afternoon patrol. Because of the extreme heat, their movements appeared to be sluggish. All five members were displeased to be out on patrol in such unbearable conditions, but Bunga was the most unhappy. The poor honey badger dragged himself behind his friends and, when the others were far ahead of him, he would have to gain all of his strength and run to rejoin his friends.

"I hate when it gets this hot!" Bunga complained. "I'm sweating with every step I take!"

"You're not alone, Bunga!" Fuli grumbled.

"Then why are we still walking around?!" Bunga inquired. "Why don't we all go to Hakuna Matata Falls and cool off?!"

"Because, Bunga, we have to make sure Janja and the hyenas are not in the Pride Lands," Kion explained. "It's our duty; remember?"

"Oh yeah," said Bunga. "This heat is making me forget things."

Ono, who was riding on Beshte's head, wiped the sweat off his forehead with one of his wings. "How long until afternoon patrol is over?" he panted. "I'm dying in this weather."

"You'll know for sure when we head back to Pride Rock," Kion replied.

"That doesn't really help, Kion," said Beshte.

"I think we all want to go to Hakuna Matata Falls," said Fuli. "No one can stand this heat! Plus, Bunga's smelling worse than usual!"

Bunga was mad at first, but then he sniffed himself and realized she was being truthful. The sweat on his fur was giving off a foul scent that was far worse than any smell he had ever smelled. He figured that an evening bath would undoubtedly remove the awful scent from his body.

The Lion Guard continued on with their patrol. They entered a massive field where they saw a herd of antelope grazing peacefully. From what Kion, Fuli, Bunga, and Beshte could see, everything appeared to be normal. Ono, on the other hand, thought he had seen a bizarre-colored rock actually move. He flew up into the air to get a better look.

Using his keen eyesight, Ono saw more rocks just like the first. When he noticed that the rocks had limbs, ears, and tails, he quickly realized what those rocks really were.

"Hapana!" Ono gasped, grabbing the attention of the rest of the Guard. "The hyenas are about to attack the antelope!"

"I thought I smelled something different," Bunga said mockingly.

"Let's not waste any time!" Kion told his friends. "Let's try a sneak attack on Janja."

"A sneak attack?" Fuli asked. "How do we pull that off?"

"Just follow my lead," Kion replied.

No one asked their leader what they were going to do exactly. They followed the lion cub cautiously around the enormous herd and towards the hiding hyenas.

In the tall grass far from the grazing herd, Janja and his crew of vicious hyenas eyed the antelope as they in peace. The wicked predators grinned as they visualized themselves dining upon the animals in front of them. Their stomachs rumbled and their mouths began to salivate. They also felt their limbs shaking in anticipation. For the hyenas, this would be a grand feast.

Janja glanced over to the hyenas by his sides. To his left was Chungu, a tough but stupid hyena, and to his right was Cheezi, a hyena who was very jumpy at times. They were both idiotic but were exceedingly loyal to Janja, which was probably the reason why they were still in the high ranks. None of the other hyenas cared about that at the moment; all they wanted was all the food they could eat.

When he believed that the time was right, Janja spoke aloud. "Alright, everyone, this is it!" he said with immense pride. "This is the day we've all been waiting for! The Guard's not around to stop us! So, let's take this opportunity to get some dinner!"

"Yeah, let's do!" Cheezi cheered and bounced onto his feet and dash forward.

Just as Janja and the other hyenas got up and prepared to attack, they all heard a familiar voice call out: "Huwezi!"

Instantly, Fuli charged into Cheezi at full speed, knocking him to the ground who then rolled to a stop.

The rest of the Lion Guard joined Fuli and stood in front of the mob of hyenas.

"Just our luck!" Janja growled. "We were spotted!"

"Nice try, Janja!" said Kion. "You did your best sneaking your way here, but it didn't work! Now turn around and go home!"

"I don't think so!" Janja roared. He then shouted at his army: "Attack!"

The hyenas charged at the Lion Guard as fast as they could. The Guard was outnumbered but not one of them backed down.

Escaping the first wave of hyenas was tough, but the five animals managed to beat them with a great amount of strength. Then came the next wave. As the hyenas rapidly approached them, Kion turned to Beshte and said, "Beshte, take 'em down!"

"You got it, Kion!" Beshte replied. The hippo quickly rushed forward with his head bowed and cried, "Twende Kiboko!"

Beshte slammed into the hyenas, sending them into midair before crashing onto the solid ground a few feet away.

Janja was furious to see his army shorten by each battle. The Lion Guard was taking the hyenas down fight by fight. When it only was him, Cheezi, Chungu, and about six hyenas left, Janja snarled at Kion; "Is that really the best you got?!"

"It's what we've always had!" Bunga said in a loud voice.

"Take my advice, Janja," Kion told the villainous hyena before him. "Stay out of places where you don't belong!"

"I'd never take a Pride Lander's advice!" said Janja. "You all think you can truly take me and my clan down?! We'll see if you really can!"

Janja jumped forward and Kion pounced towards him. The hyena suddenly sprinted to his right and Kion stopped in front of him. With a growl, Janja then turned around and ran towards his clan. Kion had a feeling that they weren't retreating to the Outlands. The hyenas were about to pull off one of their wicked tricks. The cub dashed after the hyenas and the Guard immediately followed him.

Janja led the hyenas and the Lion Guard on a furious chase. None of the hyenas knew where their leader was taking them or their enemies to, but they hoped that it would get the Guard off their backs for the day.

From behind the hyena stampede, Bunga yelled at Janja: "Where are you going, Janja?!"

"Relax!" Janja called back. "We're just taking a shortcut!"

The Lion Guard knew all-too well that Janja was leading them to the Outlands. It was their first and only guess, but it was the most logical. Despite getting extremely exhausted from the running they were enduring, the Guard pursued the hyenas with great speed.

Up ahead was the entrance to a massive gorge. It wasn't the Outlands, but somewhere that had a similar, menacing appearance. All around the animals were towering walls of earth. When Janja finally reached the end of the gorge, he saw a gigantic pile of rocks and boulders leading upwards. Perfect, he thought.

The hyenas and the Lion Guard stopped chasing each other and took a moment to catch their breath. Kion was the first to get air into his lungs. He then approached the hyenas with significant courage. "Alright, Janja," said Kion; "you led us down here; what are going to do now?"

"It's quite simple, really," Janja replied cunningly. "We're going to settle this properly."

"I don't believe you," Kion told the vile hyena.

"You shouldn't always believe everything you hear," Janja responded with a wide grin. "But today will be different!"

Almost immediately, Janja dashed to the rock pile and started to climb. Cheezi, Chungu, and three other hyenas closely followed their leader. The three hyenas remaining charged at the Lion Guard. Beshte defeated them with one powerful blow. Kion and Fuli ran to the rock pile and began to climb to confront Janja and the other hyenas.

Kion had no difficulty ascending the rocks; Fuli, however, often slipped and fell back because she grabbed and stepped on loose rocks. She got frustrated because of it, but didn't worry at all. She, Beshte, Bunga, and Ono knew that Kion would finish off the hyenas once he was at the top. The Roar of the Elders always overpowered the enemy.

Kion leapt onto a huge boulder and found Janja, Chungu, Cheezi, and the other three hyenas waiting for him. "It's about time you got up here, Kion!" Janja mocked.

"This is your last chance, Janja," Kion informed the hyenas with narrowed eyes. "You and your clan better leave now before you're flung out of here!"

"How about a fight first?" Janja offered. "That would be much fair; wouldn't it?"

Kion growled. A fight wouldn't do any good. A lion cub against six hyenas would definitely end badly for him. As anger grew inside him, so did a much powerful sensation. Kion had always known this odd sensation. He was about to use the Roar on the hyenas before him.

Fuli had successfully climbed her way up to the top of the scaling rock pile and was now behind the boulder Kion was standing on. She stopped for a moment to watch as the clouds above quickly formed to become one large mass. The Roar was ready to be used.

When Kion got himself into position, the hyenas took a step back in complete fear, ready to be blown back to their dismal homeland. But, when Kion had prepared himself to use the Roar, Janja, Chungu, and Cheezi saw the boulder underneath the cub move up and down. It was loose, balancing itself with the lion cub on it.

Janja glanced at Cheezi and Chungu and nodded at them, passing along a message to them by the simple movement of his head. Cheezi and Chungu understood their leader. They were immensely shocked and their facial expressions displayed how uneasy they were at their leader's plan, but they both knew that it had to be done.

At the moment Kion was about to amit the Roar of the Elders, Janja uttered, "Not this time", and he, Chungu, and Cheezi charged forward, worked their way under the boulder, and flipped it over. Kion realized what the hyenas had done but had no time to jump. All he could do was scream as he tumbled down the steep, rocky incline before landing on the ground with a hard thud and, all at once, the boulder fell onto his lower half.

Kion screeched in unbearable pain. The worst sensation of agony he felt came from his left leg. When the boulder fell onto his lower half, he heard something crack beneath the gigantic rock and felt his leg twist a little, being forced into an unnatural position. Kion had no doubt that he had been terribly injured.

Bunga, Beshte, and Ono hurried to their leader's aid.

"Kion, are you okay?!" Bunga asked frantically.

"No!" Kion howled in pain. "I can't move my left leg! I think it's broken!"

A look of total horror came upon the faces of Bunga, Beshte, and Ono. Beshte and Bunga immediately and carefully removed the boulder off of Kion. They both made sure that it was done slowly so they wouldn't hurt their good friend any further. Once the boulder was off the lion cub, Ono did a close examination on the injuries their leader had received.

"How bad is it, Ono?" Bunga inquired the egret.

"Bad's not the word for," Ono replied. "This is terrible. Kion has indeed broke, and maybe even dislocated, his left leg."

Bunga and Beshte's jaws dropped simultaneously. They could scarcely comprehend the harrowing event that had occurred before their eyes. A moment ago, Kion was ready to send the hyenas flying back to the Outlands by means of the powerful Roar of the Elders. But now, Kion laid on the ground in front of them with one of his legs unable to function. In all of their fights with the hyenas, this was the most devastating attack of all.

"But how could this have happened?!" Bunga questioned Beshte and Ono. "Everything was going so well! How could've Kion just toppled over like that?!"

Ono turned to Kion and inquired, "What happened up there, Kion?"

"I don't know," Kion responded, the pain was still evident in his voice. "The last thing I remember before I fell was that the hyenas were cowering from me. They knew that the Roar was coming, so they braced for it."

"You didn't see anything else?" Beshte asked.

"No," said Kion. "All that happened was the front of the boulder went up and then I tumbled down the rocks, and now my leg's broken."

"Let's not worry about how this happened until we got back to Pride Rock," Ono advised his friends. "Come on, let's get Kion out of here."

Bunga and Beshte were able to lift Kion up, but they quickly realized that it would be hard to carry the injured cub if it would be difficult for him to avoid falling off and getting more hurt- something like that, they feared, would end up leaving Kion fully disabled and unable to continue his role as leader of the Lion Guard.

Then it came to them of who was to carry Kion back to the Pride Lands. Bunga, Beshte, and Ono looked around for Fuli. She wasn't on the ground with them. It occurred to them that Fuli had joined Kion in climbing up the rock pile to fight Janja. They looked up at the rocks to see the young cheetah slowly and cautiously making her way down the rock-slide.

The three animals were glad to see her for only a second. When they analyzed the calamity in their heads, they came to the conclusion that it was not a natural occurrence; Kion's injuries were the result of thoughtless act, and it was shocking to believe that the animal responsible was one they all had been a dear friend to for a long time and could always trust no matter what.

As Fuli walked over to them, Bunga, Beshte, and Ono pretended to not appear or act furious by her presence. When she saw Kion, Fuli became concerned. "Is Kion okay?" she inquired.

"I'm afraid he broke his leg," Ono said flatly. "We need to get him to Pride Rock immediately."

"Shouldn't we take him to Rafiki?" Fuli asked, referring to the wise mandrill who knew all about healing wounded animals.

"Let's just take him to Pride Rock," Bunga grumbled as he lifted one of Kion's paws.

Fuli laid down so Bunga and Beshte could load Kion onto her back much more easily. The lame cub moaned as he was placed on the cheetah's back. Everyone pitied their leader as he continued to suffer the pain from his unfortunate injury. Listening to Kion's soft sobs was heartbreaking. It was going to be tough explaining everything to his parents, but they all were aware that Simba and Nala needed to understand what had happened to their son so they wouldn't get too worried that they would blame any of them for the incident.

As the group walked out of the gorge and in the direction of Pride Rock, the home of all the lions in the Pride Lands, Fuli silently pondered to herself. She had noticed that Bunga, Beshte, and Ono looked a bit angry when they saw her, and, when she would speak, their replies to her questions and statements were rather harsh and cold. Their actions were very strange for her, considering what their normal characteristics were and weren't.

What's wrong with Bunga, Beshte, and Ono? Fuli thought, occasionally glancing at the three animal ahead of her. Are they mad at me? What did I even do?