Another Morning in the Pride Lands

The sun rises over the Pride Lands, illuminating the kingdom in rich gold colors. Animals all over awaken from their sleep to begin a new day. Down by the watering hole at the base of Pride Rock sat the Royal Mjuzi Rafiki, in his traditional meditation pose. Beside him sat a young lioness, slender in build with cream-colored fur, her eyes closed as she too was meditating alongside her guardian. She took a deep breath as a cool morning breeze blew past her, the mandrill doing the same. "You should duck my young cub." Rafiki spoke.

The lioness beside him opened her stormy-blue eyes, "What?" she questioned. No sooner did the word leave her mouth that a baobab fruit bounced off her head and rolled into the tall grass. A second later, a blue-grey furred honey badger jumped on her head before chasing after the fruit, "Sorry Nya!" he called through the air.

"Bunga?" the lioness blinked, her ears twitching. "Wait, baobab plus Bunga-" her eyes widened and she gasped. She turned her head just in time to see the prince slide down the hill and crash into her. The two cubs rolled a small ways before stopping. "Good morning to you too, my prince." she said, turning her head to look at the golden-furred cub on top of her.

Kion just smiled and rolled off his friend, "I'm sorry Nyota." he apologized, helping the lioness up. "Bunga and I are playing baobab ball."

"I noticed." Nyota rolled her eyes, shaking out her fur. "Oh, he went that way." she pointed her paw towards the grass patch.

"Thanks." Kion ran into the grass, calling out for the honey badger.

Rafiki walked to the young cub, "Papa Rafiki, can I go play baobab ball with Kion and Bunga?" Nyota asked, her tail swinging behind her. "Please?" she batted her eyes.

A smile crossed the mandrill's face and he nodded, "Alright my little star-" the lioness squealed and jumped in the air, licking his face before turning to chase after Kion and Bunga. "-but remember, stay in the Pride Lands!" Rafiki called after her.

Nyota faintly heard her guardian's warning, but she was more preoccupied with catching up to her friends. She saw the baobab fruit in the air and jumped to catch it, and missed, landing on an older male cub with copper-colored fur and a rust-red mane tuft.

"Sorry Shaba!" the lioness apologized, chasing her friends into a herd of giraffes.

Shaba rolled his green eyes, "Sisters." he sighed, shaking his head, though a small smile formed on his muzzle.

Bunga tossed the baobab fruit back to Kion, only to have it intercepted by Nyota, who giggled. She turned around the faced the boys, her tail swaying behind her, with her eyes saying 'catch me if you can', and she turned on her heels and ran. Nyota released the fruit and, using her head, knocked it up towards the sky, and over a giraffe's neck. The three friends continued to laugh as they tossed the large fruit between them. Until Bunga decided to grab it and run.

Kion glanced over at Nyota, who simply nodded. The two then took off after Bunga, charging right into a flock of egrets. The smallest of the group noticed the honey badger and two lions racing towards them, and alerted the rest of the flock to scatter. The egrets flew away hastily, a few of their feathers coming off, showering the animals below.

Continuing to race across the Pride Lands, the trio came across a watering hole. They crossed it easily by jumping onto the hippos who were in the water. The last animal was a crocodile who was asleep, but was awaken by Bunga jumping on his head. The croc turned around and growled, stopping the two lion cubs in their tracks. He leaned forward to snap, but they jumped over him and landed safely back on dry ground.

"Phew." Kion and Nyota sighed, their ears flat against their heads. The crocodile was still glaring at them, so they ran away from the watering hole as fast as they could.

As the two cubs raced down a dirt trail, a cloud of dust came from ahead of them. They skidded to a stop as a cheetah ran past them, with Bunga clinging to her fur. Once the cheetah realized a honey badger was on her, she halted and threw him off, sending him rolling down a hill.

Bunga brushed himself off, picking up the baobab fruit. Suddenly he was pounced on by Kion, the fruit getting knocked from his grasp. "Gotcha now, Bunga!" Kion gloated.

"And I've got this." Nyota giggled, grabbing the fruit in her mouth, grinning.

"Not yet!" Bunga wiggled out from under Kion and ran into Nyota, knocking her on her back. "Cheka, cheka, cheka!" he began tickling the underside of the lioness. Her laughter became too much and she spit out the fruit, her laughter louder.

"Bunga!" Nyota whined, rolling onto her stomach, trying to catch her breath.

The honey badger held up the fruit in victory, "Oh yeah!"

Kion tackled his friend again, pinning him. "I got it!" Nyota chased after the baobab fruit, her paws reached out to grab it, "I-" Bunga jumped on her back, causing her to knock the fruit further away, "-don't got it." The fruit rolled off a ledge and out of their territory.

The three looked down over the ledge, "Aww. It rolled into the Outlands." Kion noted, his ears flat.

"Game over." Nyota sighed, her expression mirroring Kion's.

"Says who?" Bunga shrugged, "I'm not afraid of the Outlands."

"Neither am I!" Kion defended.

"That makes one of us." Nyota muttered under her breath.

"It's just...my dad!" Kion added, "He says we shouldn't..."

"Oh! Puh-leeze!" Bunga scoffed, "Simba's a big ol' scaredy cat when it comes to the Outlands. You know what my uncles always say!" he called, diving off the ledge and into enemy territory.

Kion and Nyota sighed in unison, "Hakuna matata."

Bunga's dive was cut short when his fur got caught on a branch. Seeing him dangling there made Nyota giggle, "Bunga?" she chuckled, "You look a little stuck."

"You kidding? It's just a tree branch." Bunga retorted, swinging his body, "Zuka Zama!" he flipped off the branch and landed on the stone ground with a loud grunt. He brushed some dirt from his fur, looking around his surroundings, "Now where did that baobab fruit go?"

Unbeknownst to Bunga, a clan of hyenas weren't too far from him. A pair of them approached him, which Kion and Nyota instantly saw.

"Heyvi kabisa." Kion gasped.

"Bunga! Heads up!" Nyota warned.

"Relax." Bunga called back up to the two cubs, tossing the fruit up in the air, "Remember? Hakuna..." He turned and was face to face with a hyena with a large, red nose and notched ears, that let out a snarl. "...Matata." the honey badger finished, catching the baobab fruit.

"Get outta there, Bunga!" Kion and Nyota yelled.

Bunga ignored their warning and stared down the crazy-eyed hyena. "Okay, hyena. You wanna see what this honey badger's made of?" he taunted, "I'll show you what I'm made of!" Before he could throw a punch, Bunga was picked up by a second hyena, more muscular in build than the other. "Lemme go so I can show that other guy what I'm made of!" Bunga fought against the grip of the hyena's jaw.

"Hyenas!" Kion called down, narrowing his eyes. "Put Bunga down! Pick on somebody your own size!"

"Kion!" the crazy-eyed hyena, Cheezi, mocked, addressed in a mocking tone. "You want the honey badger? Come and get him!" he cackled.

"Let him go! You hyenas don't want any trouble with my dad." the prince warned.

"Ooh. Like how you'd get into trouble if you came into the Outlands?" Cheezi laughed.

"Him and his girl-friend are too afraid to come down here." the muscular hyena, Chungu, said, still holding Bunga in his mouth.

"Yeah!" Cheezi agreed. Both hyena's then continued to taunt, " 'Fraidy cats! 'Fraidy cats!" Nyota's eyes narrowed and a low growl escaped her muzzle.

"Fun's over. Janja needs his lunch." Cheezi snickered.

"Lunch?" Bunga gulped, his eyes widening.

"No!" Kion's eyes narrowed as a strong wind blew past him and Nyota. The young lioness noticed this and backed up a few paces, looking up at Kion, who let out a loud roar. The large cloud above the two cubs, changed into four lion heads that appeared to be roaring with Kion. At the sight, Nyota's jaw fell slack, but her eyes shone with awe.

Down below, Cheezi and Chungu were also wide-eyed in shock at the sudden roar and the lions in the clouds. Chungu's jaw slacked, releasing Bunga, who shoved the baobab fruit in it. "See ya, hyena!" he called, using Cheezi's head as a springboard to jump onto a rock ledge. "Wouldn't wanna be ya!"

When his roar subsided, Kion blinked, wondering what prompted that roar and where it came from. "Heyvi kabisa! What was that?" he glanced up at the sky, but the cloud was looking as normal as usual.

All Nyota could say on the matter was, "Whoa."

A/N: So this is my first fanfic ever in regards to Disney films and television series'. Hope ya'll enjoy this first chapter, reviews are greatly appreciated. Any questions, feel free to leave them in reviews or message me via PM, and I'll try to answer. Plz no flames. I only my original characters (Nyota and Shaba).

{Cover image depicts Nyota and Kion.}