Chapter 1- New Friend
In The Out Lands, Mid- Simba's Reign…
A tan colour lion cub yawned, stretched his paws, and shook out his mangled bed fur as he walked out into the sunrise.
He was 8 months old, an older cub, growing a tuft of dark ruffled black mane, with Outland-ish look to it, as per usual in his genetics.
He had deep blue eyes, the same blue eyes of his father, Ki.
He was going to run forward to play without his young adult Mom knowing, but the light brown lioness with hazel eyes and bangs woke and ran over to stop him.
"Wait Jabvah! Don't you run off to those Pride Lands! Those royal lions are crazy; they'll kill you with their bare hands!" Chali warned.
"Mom, stop nagging me." Jabvah groaned. "You are my son, my only son Jabvah. I can't just replace you like that. It's dangerous world out there for a young Out Lander. I can't have you running off like this." Chali tried making him understand.
Jabvah sighed. He always gave in to his mother. "Ok Mom. I love you too." Chali nuzzled her son affectionately.
A very young lioness cub, with yellow fur, hazel-green eyes, and a black tuft and bangs bounced happily outside, followed by a young adult male with creamy pale fur, a black mane like the one growing on Jabvah's head, and Jabvah's blue eyes too.
This was his young sister, Jaylah, and his father who passed down most of his looks, Ki. Jaylah was a cute little cub who was only 2 months old.
"Jabby! Let's arm wrestle!" Jaylah growled playfully and Jabvah extended his arm out to wrestle with his younger sister.
Jabvah was losing steadily, as he was just an average cub, while Jaylah had ripped muscles on her legs already. This was something she got from Dad.
After a few minutes, she managed to best him. "Yes! I win! Loser!" Jaylah poked her tongue out at Jabvah. "Jay, I let you win!" Jabvah growled in annoyance. He really hadn't.
"I saw that. She beat you fair in square, Jabby." A friendly voice called out teasingly. He turned around, to see the voice belonged to his best friend and pseudo brother, the russet furred, red eyed Leonie.
"Leo, I was gonna win! Just because you like Jay!" He jabbed at his friend.
The 4 month old blushed. "No, I don't." He murmured unconvincingly.
"Yes, you do." Jabvah ruffled his head with his paw. "Hey, stop that!" Leonie complained. "Never!" Leonie pounced on him and they wrestled playfully.
Jaylah rolled her eyes and broke the two apart with her bare arms. "Watching you two wrestle is boring. I wanna wrestle too!" She leapt in to the play fight and they wrestled while giggling away.
"Hey kids, stop making such a racket! I'm trying to train Kovu!" growled Zira.
Zira and Chali were neighbours, but Chali never really liked Zira.
She was the one who originally banished them, and although Chali went willing with her mother at the time, she didn't like the conditions they were struggling with in the Out Lands.
"Zira, mind your own business, won't you? They're just being cubs!" Chali argued.
"Bah! Cubhood. Children don't need such luxury. If they want to be the best they can be, they must start growing from an early age. I'm going back now, but for the record, I think you're too easy on these swines of yours." Zira growled crankily, and went off back to the chief cave.
"Did she get one of those spiny sticks stuck in her butt?" Jaylah giggled and got laughs out of Leonie and Jabvah for this comment.
"It seems she always has." Chali added humorously. The children laughed their mouths off at this.
"Miss Chali, can I go exploring with Jaylah and Jabvah?" Leonie asked.
"Sure, as long as it's ok with your Dad." Chali answered. "Dad, can I go play with Jabvah and Jaylah?" Leonie asked.
"Sure son. Be extra careful. Never play on the Pride Lands. You know what happened to your mother." Answered Lato, the russet furred lion with a blond mane and red eyes. "I miss Mom." sighed Leonie.
His mother had tragically died when a rogue lion killed her over an argument about a kill. He had only had a mother for about one month of his life.
Jaylah came over to comfort him. "She's with Scar now." She gave him a friendly hug. "Do you still want to go play?" asked Jabvah, knowing he had bad days were he couldn't stop remembering his mother. "Yeah, ok." Leonie cheered up a bit.
They went over to the creek as usual, with the Pride Lands stretched out in front of them, tempting them. "Woah, the Pride Lands." gasped Jabvah.
"Let's go!" Jaylah exclaimed, leaping forward. "No! We could be killed!" Leonie warned them.
"That just makes it even more fun. Don't be a chicken, Leo!" Jabvah playfully teased. Leonie gave in. "Alright. But if we get in trouble, we run straight away! Got it?" Leonie bargained.
"Ok." Jabvah and Jaylah chorused with a hint of annoyance in their voices. Then with Jabvah and Jaylah running directly into the Pride Lands, with Leonie running carefully after them, they left.
Meanwhile, behind the Pride Lands…
Shenzi and Banzai had searched the lands with their hyena pack, but it seemed elsewhere they were not welcomed.
No matter how much they tried, they couldn't find an area where they weren't infamous. They had only followed Scar, because Zira had brainwashed them into becoming evil, and she successfully made them her puppet along with the once nice, normal Taka. Scar was only a product of his father's hate and Zira's moulding.
Zira had demons of her own. For one, Mohatu years ago had killed her Great-Grandfather and Grandfather, the notorious warlords and Castecaust leaders in battle, and although she looked nothing like him as a result of her parents, she took after Jay Jay Nough and Nawvlee well.
A small hyena pup rubbed up against her mother's leg. "Hey, sweetypie." Shenzi smiled at her young 6 month old daughter, Kamal. "Mommy, are we there yet?" Kamal asked.
"I think we are. There's no one here. Men, women, drop the camp tools. We will stay in our old home, since we are not welcome anywhere else." Shenzi announced.
Banzai came up to Shenzi. "It's a shame we can't find a better home. Can't they see we've changed since Scar died?" Banzai asked.
"No, I guess not. People cling too much to the past in these lands." Shenzi said.
"Mommy, Daddy, who's Scar?" Kamal asked curiously.
"Scar was a lion that used to live here. He caused nothing but trouble to the royals on the rock. And we got caught in the middle. His brother was King, and his father treated him badly because he wasn't the heir. Then a lioness from the rock, Zira, tricked us and him into being evil." Banzai tried to explain. "Ok." Kamal was satisfied.
Then she snuck away from her parents, seeing the land outstretched before her that her parents forbade her to go. The Pride Lands. "Cool…" She slid down the rock and went to explore…
Back in the Pride Lands…
Kiara, now an adolescent, was practicing to hunt.
She was finally on her own, for once, but the only downside was that she couldn't go past the waterhole, that and she couldn't go into the Outlands.
It was no secret she loved Kovu, but she couldn't see him again. She stalked after an antelope, but as always, she sounded too excited and scared it away.
But as it leapt away, she saw something strange.
Three unknown cubs, one tan with a black mane patch, one yellow with a combination of black bangs and a tuft, and one with plain russet fur, hiding behind a mound of tall grass.
She stalked towards them quietly. "Oh my god! Please don't kill me!" cried Leonie as the unknown golden young lioness with red eyes approached.
"Why would I kill you, you're a cub!" Kiara exclaimed. "But you're a Pridelander, and I'm an Outlander! Please, my mom has already died, I'm all my father has left!" Leonie shivered and Jabvah and Jaylah rolled their eyes at his chicken antics.
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm not going to kill you. I have a friend that's an Outlander. His name is Kovu, and I wouldn't kill him, because, well…" Kiara trailed off blushing.
"Well what?" Jaylah asked innocently. "I'm in love with him." Kiara confessed.
"You're in love with Zira's son? No way, that's so dangerous!" Jabvah said.
"I know. What are your names?" asked Kiara.
"I'm Jabvah; this is my friend Leonie, the chicken, and my little sister Jaylah." Jabvah introduced.
"Ok. It might be a bit dangerous for you in the Pride Lands. But I know the feeling of being a cub. I'll show you around. Come on, on my back." Kiara lowered herself down to the cub's level.
Jaylah climbed on first, followed by Leonie and Jabvah was at the back, the order according to height. The kind lioness Kiara ran across the Pride Lands, and the cubs were shouting "Yeehaw! Yeeeeehaw!" as Kiara smiled at their preciousness.
How could her father think such cubs like these were evil? She crossed around the borders, starting by running past Rafiki's tree, near the Outlands, past the Eastern Border and then under Pride Rock.
"Thanks for the ride Kiara! You're alright!" Jabvah smiled at her as she turned her head back towards the cubs. "Yeah, thanks!" Jaylah and Leonie chorused.
"It's my pleasure." Kiara said, and they chatted away. Meanwhile, Kamal was running around under Pride Rock, flirting with danger, when she bumped into an adolescent lioness.
"Ahh!" She squeaked as she saw the lioness and the lion cubs. She was about to turn away when the lioness trapped her tail with her claws.
"Hey, what's hyena pup doing here? I thought you left the Pride Lands!" Kiara growled. "You're a big meany! Hyenas are nice now, if you could just see that—" Kamal barked back, and Kiara roared in her face, making her tremble.
"You almost killed my father!" Kiara growled at her. Jabvah frowned, and jumped in front of Kamal. "I thought you were nice! She's a pup, and she clearly wasn't in the fight! That's like calling all Outlanders Scar!" Jabvah tried to be democratic.
Kiara just roared at the youngster. "Maybe you are Scar, but these cubs on my back are ok! Come on Jaylah and Leonie, I'm taking you home." Kiara ran off with the cubs on her back, while Leonie and Jaylah waved bye to him.
Kamal smiled. "Thanks for standing up for me." Jabvah returned the smile. "No problem. She is a big meany. Just like those crazy royal lions." Kamal nodded in agreement.
"Yeah that Simba, who does he think he is?" Kamal rolled her eyes, and earned a laugh from Jabvah. "Wanna play?" Jabvah arched his back playfully.
"Sure! Tag your it!" The cub and the pup chased each other under the rock, and Kamal was a very fast runner, so Jabvah growled in frustration.
Then he saw a stray log, and tripped Kamal, making her fall backwards on her back, and he pounced on her. He smirked, and then his face softened as they made eye contact, and he felt butterflies in his stomach for a moment.
"Um, tag your it!" Jabvah shook the feeling off and quickly got back into the game. They played and laughed for hours, until they were exhausted.
"I'm Kamal. What's your name?" asked Kamal. "I'm Jabvah." answered Jabvah.
"I think we'll be good friends, Jabvah." Kamal and Jabvah blushed. "Me too." He said. "It's late afternoon, I've gotta get back before Mom freaks out. Bye." Kamal said.
"Bye." Jabvah said back, and he headed back to the Outlands on his lonesome.
Back at the Outlands, his sister and best friend had already returned.
Jaylah saw Kovu and Vitani sitting in the sun, arm wrestling. As always Vitani was winning. Jaylah often looked up Vitani, and she thought the adolescent lioness was really cool.
"Hey Vitani and Kovu." She greeted her neighbours. "Hi Jay." Kovu greeted. "Jay!" Vitani ruffled Jaylah's hair affectionately. "Um, I need to talk to Kovu." Jaylah had a plan in mind.
Vitani nodded and Kovu stayed with the cub.
He was a middle adolescent by this time and had mane fur growing around his shoulders, on his head, and a strip down his chest.
It was already bigger and thicker than his brother's, and more attractive to females in return. "What is it Jay?" asked Kovu. "Um, I met a lioness. I think you know her. Her name's Kiara." Jaylah smiled knowingly.
Kovu looked nervous and his breathe caught in his throat. "K-K-Kiara?" Kovu asked.
"Yeah that's the one. I think you should know something. I'm kind of being a gossip, but I think you should know this. Kiara loves you." Jaylah said.
"S-she loves me?" Kovu's face turned more affectionate then she had ever since on the often poker faced lion before.
"Thanks Jaylah. I think you should go back to your parents now, it's almost dinner." He ruffled her fur, and once Jaylah was away he did a crazy happy dance and smiled big. Jaylah didn't know it then, but she had set off a huge chain of events. Kovu from then on, pretended to be filled with hate, and brainwashed, so that he could be closer to Kiara, sooner.**