This is the sequel to Scar's Samsara, a rational retelling of The Lion King in a time of magic and strife. If you haven't read it yet, go to my profile and check it out!

The idea of rational fiction is to rewrite a story from a rational character's point of view, and see what changes from there. So in this story, Kion (Simba's son) and the other major characters are much smarter and have far more agency in driving the story. The plot is roughly based on The Lion Guard, but you don't need to watch the show to understand what's happening, so jump right in and enjoy the story!

(The cover image is called "Race with the Elders", by Wickfield)

"He's not brave, he's fearless. There's a difference."

The blast crashed into the hyenas before Kion even knew what was happening: It was like his rage itself was lashing out at his enemies, burning them. There was a golden light pouring forth from somewhere, perhaps some hole in the cave's ceiling – but no. It was coming from him. He was radiating starlight.

He rose, ignoring the pain that flared in the side of his neck as he advanced towards Janja. There were several more hyenas opposing him, but he blasted them aside with bursts of wind and stone. All around the crippled hyena the corpses of his comrades lay scattered across the cave.

"Kion?" Janja struggled to get away, but it was no good – his paws had been scorched, and he dragged them uselessly across the ground, mewling pathetically. "Hey. Hey, stop, no more."

Worthless trash / kill him

"Hey, Kion. Come on." He grinned weakly. "It's me. You remember me, right Kion? Remember all the fun times we had together?" The grin slowly slipped from his face as Kion approached, only to be replaced with raw primordial terror. "Hey. Hey Kion. Come on. Hey."

One of the other hyenas was dragging itself over to Janja, trying to protect him. Wounded, half-burned and close to dying, but willing to shelter him with her body if need be.

Hate hyenas / so much

Kion opened his mouth and roared, one last time.

-One month earlier-

The Pridelands, various locations.

.

"Join the Lion Guard?" Fuli the cheetah idly licked her paws, taking pains not to look at Kion as she spoke. "You want me to hang out with a bunch of scruffy old lions? Now why would I want to do that?"

.

"Please, can I join the Lion Guard?" The grey honey badger prostrated himself before him, bowing low. "Come on, Kion, I'm your best friend, and I'm definitely the Pridelands' bravest! Please?"

"I already said yes, Bunga, so stop asking!"

.

"Ow wow, me, join the Lion Guard? Poa…" The excitement in the hippo's eyes slowly gave way for doubt. "But uh, wouldn't my old man do a better job? I mean, he's a lot wiser and stronger than me…"

"I don't think you literally have to be the strongest in the Pridelands," Kion said, shrinking away from the prospect of having some tired old has-been in the team. "It's more of an, uh, metaphorical thing."

"Oh wow," said Beshte, beaming with pride. "I've always wanted to be a metaphor."

.

"Why yes, I am the fastest animal in the Pridelands," said Fuli, no longer licking her paws but gazing idly into the distance. "What else are they saying about me? Just out of curiosity, mind you."

.

"For the last time Bunga, I already said yes! You can join the Guard!"

"It just doesn't sound very believable," said Bunga. "I mean, who in their right mind would let me join?"

.

The lone white heron looked at him with trepidation. "You're saying I'm the keenest of sight? But there are countless birds of prey who have better eyesight than me. Surely someone like Hadithi the Eagle would be a much better fit?"

"It's not so much about the eyesight," Kion said hastily, "and more that having someone to scout around for enemies from up high seems really, really useful."

"So what you're saying is you really want me for my aerial abilities," said Ono, who seemed to mull it over. "Shouldn't we change the title to be more logical, then?"

Kion rolled his eyes. "We could call you the flappiest of flight, if you prefer."

.

"But Kion, are you sure I'm really going to be a member of–"

"Bunga, if you say one more word, I'm kicking you out of the Lion Guard before you even officially join."

"Oh sweet," said the honey badger. "I bet I'd be setting some kind of new record!"

.

"I never said I wouldn't join," Fuli protested. "Just that I didn't like the idea of hanging out with a bunch of scruffy old lions." She gave the group a dubious look. "Which these guys are… clearly not."

The five guardsmen, Kion included, stood gathered at the entryway to Pride Rock for the very first time. Fuli the Fast, Beshte the Strong, Ono the Keen, and Bunga the Brave all stood at attention. Surely the occasion would go down in history as one of the Pridelands' finest moments.

King Simba cleared his throat. "Son, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Kion followed his father dutifully up the entryway. He had the sinking feeling that things were not about to go as they had in his imagination. Now that he looked down on the guardsmen from up high, even he had to admit that his troupe did not look quite as majestic as he had hoped.

The king waited until they reached the mouth of Pride Rock before speaking. "Son, I asked you to gather the strongest, bravest, fastest and keenest warriors in the Pridelands to serve as the Guard and protect the realm. I trusted you to complete this task without supervision, since as the second child it is your destiny to lead them. Instead, it looks like you simply asked all of your friends to join." The furrow of his brow only added to marks that had been burned into his forehead long before Kion had been born, and which seemed to give him a perpetual frown.

"That's not true," Kion protested, forcing himself to stare back. "Dad, I gathered my friends because I wanted companions I could trust. You said it yourself: I'll be spending the rest of my life with the Guard. It's much more important that I know I can rely on them than that they're strong and powerful fighters."

King Simba let out a long sigh. "It's not about that. I'm sure Beshte will grow to be a very strong Hippo. Fuli the cheetah is undoubtedly fast and Bunga… well, never mind about Bunga. The point is that the Lion Guard is supposed to be made up of lions. It is our duty to risk our lives to protect the Kingdom, just as it is the duty of the herd animals to serve and feed us in turn. We each have our part in the great Circle of Life."

Kion frowned. That sounded suspiciously like the same kind of prejudice that maintained that only carnivores were capable of advanced intelligence. Admittedly, two of his guard did eat insects, and Fuli was a carnivore while Beshte was the strongest rather than the brightest… but still. It did not seem right.

"Why, though?" He followed his father along the overhanging rock, the tip of which rested upon a small rocky outcrop as if to defy gravity, and which had been used to present him and his sister to the Pridelands when they were born. "You yourself use Zazu to fly ahead and bring you news, don't you? It only makes sense to make use of the skills of other animals instead of just relying on the fierceness of lions." Especially since there were no more male lions left in the kingdom apart from the two of them.

"I used to know someone else who said the same thing." His father stood at the very tip of Pride Rock, his own red mane tousled gently by the wind. "He believed that we weren't really so different, and that the Circle of Life was just a pleasing lie. But he didn't change much either, in the end. The fact is that the Pridelands have come to rely on that lie, and so in a way it has become true – if that makes any sense."

"No," said Kion, still frowning. "It doesn't."

King Simba motioned with his head, beckoning towards the vast savannah that stretched out beneath them, reaching further than even Ono's eyes could see. There were mountains and plains, forests and rivers and vast watering holes, and amongst it all were their subjects: Herds of giraffes, antelopes and zebras, and of course his own guardsmen who were still standing at attention near the entryway.

"All of this was ash once," said Simba. "The trees were black, the rivers dry. My uncle changed almost nothing and it still proved to be too much. He was the smartest animal in the Pridelands, yet all he achieved was to incur the wrath of the Spirit Kings and make everyone his enemy." He turned to regard Kion, the sternness of his expression at odds with the softness of his voice. "The more you change, the more resistance you meet. And if you change too much, even the Roar of the Elders may turn on you."

Scar. Kion swallowed. Everyone in the Pridelands knew that name, though he had only recently learned the secrets of the divine power that he now shared with his great-uncle. Even now he suspected that there was still much that his father was not saying, but it did not seem wise to press the issue.

"I won't become like Scar," he said. "I promise, dad."

King Simba looked at him with an expression of unbearable sadness, which Kion did not understand. "I know you won't, Kion. You're not like him, and neither am I. I only taught you about the spirits so you could learn to control the Roar – prevent it from controlling you, as it once did me."

Kion hesitated, expecting his father to continue, but the king said nothing else. There was only that strange sadness in his expression, which refused to go away. He shuffled uncomfortably on the spot.

"You can keep your Guard," Simba said at last. "Keep the friends you chose, and keep them close. Just be careful, Kion. Try not to do anything that would give your mother and I cause to worry."

"I won't," said Kion, but his father had already turned and was gazing across the savannah once more. After a moment's hesitation, he went back down the mountain to tell his friends the good news.

A/N: That's it for chapter 1! There'll be 23 chapters in total (The story is already mostly finished) so I'll be updating regularly each weekend, and possibly faster than that. If you like the story, or even if you don't, write a review and let me know what you think!