So… This is the first story I post here and it features characters from The Lion Guard. I personally don't hate it and I don't hate the characters (not even Bunga, surprisingly). The villains are okay, they're evil enough for a show aimed for toddlers, but still enjoyable, which is the reason why I felt the need to write about them. This is just a one-shot with Janja and Mzingo, the first villains to ever appear in the show.

I'm not an English-speaker, so I'm sorry for any errors.

Scrap of Meat

Scar's reign had brought a drought that had destroyed everything. An endless dry season. Animals starved to death, or were hunted by the greedy hyenas. The herds, the flocks, everyone started to leave, until there were only lions and hyenas in the Pride Lands, once the safest and most beautiful place to live in all Africa. Lions and hyenas were not doing so well either. They were starving, but their king did nothing. It was only a matter of time before everything fell apart for good.

But a few days ago, everything had changed.

Scar was defeated. His nephew Simba had returned, after years of being presumed dead. There was a confrontation at Pride Rock and in an unexpected turn of events, Scar confessed he had killed his brother and the previous king, Mufasa. The lionesses fought for Simba, the hyenas fought for Scar, but in the end, it was the hyenas who ended the tyrant's rule, mauling him to death.

There was no need for Simba to exile them himself, because they fled, with the rain washing the blood that covered them. They ran to the Outlands and never looked back; but they were not the only ones.

There was a pride of lionesses that had recently arrived at the Pride Lands, who despite being the only ones loyal to Scar, were not present at the Battle of Pride Rock – they were out hunting when their king needed them the most. Their leader, Zira, learned that the hard way, when she found Scar's mangled body at the bottom of Pride Rock. She refused to accept Simba as her king, because Scar already had an heir, her son, Kovu, whose position was declared illegitimate. In her rage, Zira tried to kill Simba right on the spot, but she failed, and was immediately exiled, alongside anyone loyal to her or Scar. Simba was surprised that her entire pride followed her, including several cubs that belonged to the lionesses. From that moment, he knew his problems were far from over.

But Simba was not the only one to face Zira's anger, he did not witness how dangerous she really was… the hyenas did. Zira made sure they would not get away with what they had done. Her pride attacked the hyenas in the Elephant Graveyard until there was almost none left. Only the cubs were left alive, as well as a few weak adults that knew better than to fight the lionesses. The rest were all slaughtered and the Outlands now belonged to Zira.

That was the story Mdomo the vulture told his committee after he saw the outcome of the greatest battle between lions and hyenas in years.

Mzingo, one of the members of the flock, raised his wing with confidence. "Mdomo, considering the situation regarding the aftermath of Scar's unfortunate demise, I suggest we remain in the Pride Lands to compensate for the months of food shortage."

"All in favor of settling in the Pride Lands permanently, raise their wing." Mdomo announced before raising his own wing. The rest of the vultures did the same.

With the motion approved, Mdomo kept talking of the procedures that would follow their meeting. Mzingo heard carefully, memorizing every detail of his superior's gestures, his movements, his way of speaking. He had longed for the position of leader since he was a chick, and he always knew that to gain it, he would have to prove himself to the rest of the flock. Vulture society did not work like that of most animals, based on strict hierarchy. Males ruled the lions, females ruled the hyenas and all leaders belonged to the same bloodline. Unlike them, vultures carefully chose their leader and in that way, they became one of the most well-organized species in the Pride Lands. They had always been proud of this custom and now that they knew about what had happened in the lion royal family, they were even more satisfied with it. Scar's reign was an example of the dysfunctions of monarchy.

Despite the vultures' sophisticated society –or that's how they called it– they were never fully respected, because they were scavengers. The fact that they were surrounded by death did not give them a good reputation. Every time there was a vulture circling in the sky, it meant someone had died, that there was a family mourning their loved one, or that a lone animal had left the world with no one to miss them. Mzingo found that particularly unfair. Whilst predators such as lions and cheetahs hunted every day, it was the vultures who were judged for eating the remains of the prey, even though they were not the ones that killed.

The feast Mzingo was expecting was a disappointment. The flock did get to eat some of the bodies of those who had fallen in the battle, until the pride sent them away, to let the corpses feed the ground and restore the Circle of Life.

Nonsense. Mzingo thought as he left Pride Rock with his fellow vultures.

They returned to the cliffsides where they lived and tried to sleep in the rain that had started when Simba took over. Still hungry, Mzingo left his ledge to try to find some carrion. Likely he wouldn't; all the food was at Pride Rock. He stopped by a burrow near the northern border, where the Pride Lands ended and the Outlands started. The vulture tried to shake away the thought of the horrors that were occurring there. He had visited them a couple of times, but in a place so dangerous, his kind preferred to keep a low profile. If they ventured there, it was only to eat.

Mzingo looked inside the burrow and saw a dead mouse. It was thin, probably had starved in his home while hiding from the hyenas since there was no one else to be eaten. He tucked it out of the burrow with his beak and put it on the ground close to him, before taking the first bite. The flesh made an unpleasant sound as Mzingo pulled a chunk apart. When he swallowed it, he no longer felt he was alone. He saw movement at the corner of his eye and turned around, with his claws holding onto his meal. Mzingo recognized the form of a little male hyena, alone under the rain, looking for food. The little one was very thin and small, too young to be by himself in such a dangerous place. But then the vulture remembered that most of the hyena cubs were now orphans. Despite his weak state, the hyena looked determined to find something. He looked around frantically, as if he didn't want to be seen with a catch that could be stolen. It was pitiful to watch, even for a vulture, for someone who spent half of his life witnessing the cruelty of the world.

Mzingo grabbed the mouse with his beak and flew to a tree branch, close to where the hyena cub was. He noticed there were more cubs around, talking amongst themselves while their companion searched for food, he was the only one concerned for his safety.

By pure instinct, Mzingo landed and stood there cautiously. The hyena did not take long to notice his presence and stared at the mouse the vulture carried with sad, hungry eyes. Vultures always knew everything, so Mzingo knew this little hyena's name. Janja. He was the son of the matriarch, the one who worked closer to Scar, and the one who ordered his death… she was most certainly dead.

He deposited the mouse on the ground and made visual contact with Janja. The little one wanted to grab it, but held back from doing so. Mzingo made a gesture for him to come closer and pushed the mouse away forward with his claw. Then, Janja took away the mouse and ran behind some rocks where he started to devour it, completely ignoring the vulture's presence.

Mzingo would have expected the hyena to show him gratefulness, but not today. Like vultures, hyenas were not respected, not even during Scar's rule. And these hyenas would have a rough future in the Outlands even though they did nothing wrong while the real criminals had the easy way out. This was the least he could do.

Zira should have killed them all. He thought.

Then he flew away, with no intention to mention any of this to the committee.

What do you think? The first paragraphs can be tedious but I wanted to establish the full context of the story.

And we know what happens next, Janja and Mzingo eventually meet again and become allies after the vulture shows the hyena some kindness. I have never been interested in Mzingo to be honest, but I like his alliance with Janja and the way they interact in Return of the Roar.

I tried to give him and Janja some back story, as well as show a little more of vulture society. Here, a younger Mzingo, who is determined to become the next leader of the flock, finds cub Janja (who I made about 4 or 5 years old in hyena years) not long after Shenzi's clan was wiped out. The creator of TLG did say Janja's clan were descendants of the hyenas from the original movie, so I played with the idea of Shenzi being Janja's mother, which would also explain why there's a male leading the clan.

I also played with the idea of Zira's pride killing the hyenas, but I don't think it's impossible. She would not let the hyenas get away that easy, especially if they are weakened from the battle at Pride Rock. I think Zira knew perfectly well that the hyenas killed Scar, and she's not entirely wrong blaming Simba, after all he is the reason the hyenas turned on Scar. I know in LK2 she says it was Simba, but Zira tends to exaggerate, right? I just can't picture her being confused about that the whole movie, and that would also explain why she hates hyenas so much in TLG.

The name of Mzingo's predecessor, Mdomo, means 'beak' in Swahili (acording to the google translator XD).

Thanks for reading and have a good day! :D