The sun was starting to shine in the Pridelands. All the animals were still sleeping, or waking up. Inside PrideRock, a golden lion cub was ready to play.

"Come on, Taka! The sun is already up!"

"Ughhhh… Mufasa…Go away…I want to sleep…"

"You are no fun!" Mufasa said rolling his eyes. He got close to Sarabi, and touched her with a paw, to see if she was awake. She murmured something. Mufasa was impatient and pinched her with a claw. Sarabi suddenly was awake, scared

"What happens?!"

"Do you want to play?" asked Mufasa smiling

"And you wake me up for that!?"

"Yes"

Sarabi pounced on him, and the two went rolling. They stopped at the feet of a much bigger lion. The two cubs stopped playing, suddenly scared.

"Good morning, my son. Good morning Sarabi" said Ahadi smiling.

"Good morning, Father!" screamed Mufasa, rubbing against his leg. Ahadi's smile grey bigger.

"Good morning, Your Majesty" said Sarabi with respect

"Seems we have two early birds" commented Ahadi petting his son's head. Then he looked to Taka, and his smile dissapeared.

Taka wasn't like Mufasa. Whereas Mufasa had a golden pelt and amber eyes, Taka had the bright green eyes of his father (seemingly, he only resembled him in that and in his bitterness)

He had a dark brown pelt, and he was thin and weak, while Mufasa was stronger and much better fighting.

Their personalities were totally opposite, too. While Mufasa was very loving, kind and caring, Taka was distant and usually cold. It wasn't he was bad. In fact, he was one of the most loyal friends, if you managed to get inside his cold outside. He was like that because he thought everyone wanted to harm him when they spoke to him. As his father, Mufasa and the rest of the pack did.

Ahadi barely moved his head and didn't say anyrhing to him. He then said, looking to the others:

"What are you going to do today?"

"We are gonna hunt a zebra!" screamed Mufasa, running to the exit of the cave, with Sarabi following close.

Taka silently dissapeared in his secret hideout. He could see everything that happened in the Pridelands, without being watched. He then changed his mind, and decided to have a drink in the waterhole. He slowly walked, submerged in his thoughts, when he collided with a soft, warm thing. The thing said:

"Ow! Look where you put your feet!"

Taka inmediately felt scared, as the thing happened to be a huge, black bird:

"Ssss sorry…"

"Nevermind. Can you help me? My wing is stuck in a spiky branch…"

"Sure" said Taka. He walked to her, and examined the wing. He unscathed a claw, and easily cut the bird free. She inmediately flapped her wings, but complained in pain:

"Thanks… Ow, that was a BAD landing…"

"What happened?" asked Taka.

"I was learning to fly, and an eagle attacked me. I dove to fast, and here I am!

Oh, excuse me! I'm Mbawa!

"I'm Taka" said the lion cub.

"Pleased to meet you, Taka! Do you mind if I ask you what species you are?"

"I'm a lion. And you?"

"I'm a bearded vulture" said Mbawa proudly.

"Cool… do you want to come with me to Pride Rock? I'm sure Rafiki can look after your wing."

"Where? Who?" asked the bird confused.

"Just follow me." said Taka.

He looked better at the strange birdwhile they walked She was mostly dark brown, except the belly, that was creamy brown. A red ring surrounded her eyes, and maybe the strangest thing she had was a tuft of feathers under the beak. Taka then understood why they were called bearded vultures.

No one was in Pride Rock at that moment. Ahadi was patrolling and the lionesses were hunting. The other cubs were playing. It was just Mbawa and Taka.

"Wish I could offer you something, but I only have bones…" said Taka.

Mbawa said happily:

"Do you have bones? I'm starving!"

After a weird look of Taka , she quickly explained:

"We mostly eat bones, we don't usually get any meat at all. We are the last ones to arrive at a 's see those bones!"

Taka leaded her to his hideout. He signaled her the pile of bones of his past meals.

Mbawa launched herself to the pile of bones, and started swallowing them whole. There were a few that she couldn't eat, but she was already full.

"You are very kind, Taka. Thank you!"

"This is legit the first time someone called me that."

The bird was left with no words… She adored the lion cub!

"Excuse me, Taka. Could I use that dry tree to sleep?

"Of course!"

"And, another favour… Don't call that Rafiki… Other animals don't like us at all…"

"Believe me… I excatly know how you feel."

He curled near the dead branch, where he used to sleep most nights. Mbawa was really tired because of what happened to her, and quicly hid her head under her wing. Then, both animals fell into a peaceful sleep.

Meanwhile, Mufasa and Sarabi had wondered away of the other cubs. They were speaking and telling jokes when they saw some zebras. Mufasa immediately crouched and started walking slwoly towards them. Sarabi said:

"Mufasa, I don't think this is a good idea…"

"Shut up! I'm hunting!" replied him.

Sarabi rolled her eyes in response. She sat on the top of a termite nest and started cleaning herself. At the same time, a leopard was looking for an easy meal, and he spotted a zebra colt. It was injured, and could barely walk. The leopard pounced on him quickly, and holded him until he was dead. The rest of the zebras panicked, and started running towards the lion cubs. Sarabi saw them, and said:

"Uhhh… Mufasa?"

"Can you shut up! They are gonna run away!"replied Mufasa angry.

"That's the point… They are running towards us!"

In that moment, a zebra jumped over Mufasa, that was suddenly terrified. He couldn't move from fear. Sarabi was safe, but still she was worried for her friend. She screamed for help on top of her lungs. Suddenly, a golden silhouette jumped between the zebras and picked up the cub. It was Ahadi! He saved Mufasa!

He asked his son for what happened, and why he was on the stampede. Mufasa was very afraid of him, and he saw Taka far away, having a drink at the waterhole. He had an idea!

"It was Taka… He wanted to practise hunting and scared the zebras…We nearly died, dad…" said Mufasa as innocent as possible.

"Taka! I knew it! " said Ahadi angered. He ran to the cub, and blocked his way.

"What have you done?!" he roared.

"What are you talking about?" said Taka confused.

"Oh, you perfectly know. You nearly killed your brother!"

"I did nothing!" screamed Taka.

"That's it! You are grounded for two months!"

"Oh, great…" muttered Taka.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

"Nothing…"

Ahadi walked away, and gave Mufasa a few comforting licks. He told him how brave he was, making Mufasa very proud.

"Dad, can we go to play?" he asked.

"Of course. But be careful" said Ahadi winking his son an eye. Ahadi went to pick Taka, that was still puzzled near the waterhole.

Mufasa and Sarabi stormed off, but instantly they stopped. They heard a voice, asking for help. They got near, and in a bush, there was a hornbill chick with a broken wing. A zebra stomped on him, and then he had crawled to the bush for safety.

"We have to take him to Rafiki" screamed Mufasa. He picked up the bird and ran to Rafiki's tree, with Sarabi following close.

Finally, they arrived, and Rafiki examined the hornbill, that was unconscious from the pain.

"He just has to be calm, and keep the wing still. I'm going to bandage it, and that's all. He will be OK"Rafiki reassured the kids.

"Yeah!"

"Thanks for saving him, you are the best! If it weren't for you, he would be dead!" he praised them.

"When will he wake up?" asked Mufasa.

"Come back tomorrow and we'll see"

Mufasa and Sarabi spent the day playing, and only came back at dusk, when the pack reunited to eat. Taka, on the contrary, had to endure a scolding from his father, and he was quickly sent to his den, where he spent the day speaking with Mbawa. They found they had more things in common than they thought. Both were hated without knowledge or reason, just because they were different.

When they were speaking about Mbawa's old nest,Taka heard steps. He told a golden cub irrumped in the scene.

"Taka, can you talk a minute?" said Mufasa quietly.

"Huh. What do you have to say? I'm grounded here, and I think you are the cause…" said Taka, getting closer with his teeth bared.

"Please,Taka, let me explain… I was hunting and the zebras…"

"It was a damn leopard! Not me! It was Kivuli, the old black leopard!"

"Taka, I'm truly sorry… I…"

"Why did you do it?" growled Taka, losing his patience.

"I didn't wanted to be grounded like you are, LOSER!" said Mufasa giggling.

Taka was going to jump, but Mbawa did instead. She pinned the cub to the ground. She holded him with a claw in the neck. Mufasa was going to scream, but she cut him before he could start:

"Listen, kitty, I have no time for nonsense. If you mess with my friends, you mess with me. And you messed with Taka." She said, looking powerful and menacing.

"Dddaa…"

"Oh no. You aren't gonna call that fool. Because if you do…"Mbawa looked menacingly to the cliff.

Mufasa's eyes grew wider. The bird was truly angry. Taka waited for the result of the scene, amused, with a grin on his face.