As I wrote earlier, there would be a minor change in plot arrangement (I might change how the story begins). And I just did. I wrote a new beginning, safe enough to be posted permanently... because I'm still waiting, *scoff* "patiently", to see what The Lion Guard says about Kion's absence during The Lion King 2. I really hope he's with Rani, as I already changed my almost completed story... (more explanation on my profile)
So, I just deleted the previous "Chapter 1" and changed the story beginning with this new "Prologue", below. I'm sorry if, this might cause confusion. This "Prologue" below, is the (almost) fix beginning. There will be no more big changes for the beginning, (nothing more than changes in, e.g. typing errors). So you can start reading this, without getting... too upset.
*The evil hyenas featured here were few last twisted ones, they might be part of Janja's followers and might include Janja himself. I'd like to think that the good hyenas were lving in the Pridelands under Jasiri/Asante's leadership, or had moved somewhere else to live better (again, depends on Lion Guard haha).*
I'll leave the story here for some while... Anyway, the previous post of "Chapter 1" - that I deleted, will be posted again, later in the story. Same as before, so nothing is missing. For those who already read, just take it as a bonus spoiler of Simba's dream on what Zira did. And for those who might be wondering more about Kopa, those parts will have to wait... much longer. As the part is still quite far away (and I need to get through Kion's whereabouts before getting to that part). So, hope you enjoy this.
PROLOGUE
It was a strange, comforting realm of silence and darkness. The rogue was drifting, lulled by serenity as he suddenly felt a suffocating sensation that jerked him awake. He gasped for air, only to gulp a mouthful of water. Instantly the rogue knew, he was drowning! By instincts, he quickly swam his way up.
Soon, the rogue surfaced and gasped again, coughing water out of his lungs. After taking few deep breaths raggedly, he paid more attention to his surroundings. The rogue found himself in a river. A gently flowing one, as he could easily tread the water to stay afloat without having to fight the currents. The river was rather narrow, but apparently, deep.
He looked around, searching for ground and saw the riversides. On one side, there was a massive stone wall, all along the river. The rogue looked up but he couldn't see what's beyond it. Apparently the ground was a bottom of a rocky cliff. It was also covered with large rocks. Thinking it would be hard to climb his way through the steep boulders, the rogue decided to choose the ground on the other side, which was a rather heavily vegetated forest. He swam toward the ground and pulled himself out on a small clearing.
The rogue shook his body, sending drips of water flying off his fur. While doing so, he felt a stab of pain on his head. The rogue ran his front paw through the sore area and felt another sting, as he touched the swollen bruise on his head. Something must have hit his head badly to cause such a nasty bump.
He studied his surroundings again. The sun was at the highest point. The rogue started to walk slowly toward the forest, thinking. He was almost drowning in a river. Before that… There was a pitch black, then… The rogue's heart was starting beat faster in panic. There was nothing. Nothing. He remembered nothing else.
He stopped walking and froze. Dread filled his heart. He couldn't remember what happened. He remembered nothing. He couldn't remember why he was here, he couldn't remember where he came from. He couldn't even remember anything about himself. Not even his own name.
The rogue stood still. He didn't know what happened and didn't know what to do. He was alone and he was completely lost. He felt desperate. It was the worst thing that could happen to anyone.
Was it?
Hysterical laughter suddenly filled the air around him. The rogue looked around frantically and found at least six hyenas approaching him, surrounding him. At least he managed to know somehow... Those were hyenas, and if they greatly outnumbered their opponents, they became lethal threats.
He had to flee. The rogue saw an opening between two hyenas. He jumped through it, and bolted deeper into the forest. He ran as fast as he could through the thick forest trees, until he saw a vast swamp ahead, blocking all his escape routes. It was a dead end. The rogue couldn't turn to change his direction. The hyenas were too close, he got nowhere to run.
Just then, he saw a mound, surfacing on the swamp. He prepared himself in the nick of time and jumped. The tip of his hind paw narrowly slipped through the hyena's teeth.
The rogue landed on the mound. Some hyenas tried to chase him through the swamp, but they pulled their legs back to safety as soon as they stepped into the mud. The swamp was too deep for them to walk on, so the hyenas were being kept at bay, at least for now.
But the rogue had found another problem. He was trapped. Apparently, the mound was surrounded by a deep mud swamp. He couldn't see the land on the other side of the swamp clearly. It was too far away. He definitely couldn't swim his way across through such a long distance. He, more likely, would have gotten stuck during the process and drowned.
Time passed. At first, the rogue hoped that those hyenas would give up and leave. Unfortunately, they didn't. The longer he stayed and waited, the more hyenas to come. Now, there were at least ten hyenas, waiting for him on the other side. To escape, the rogue got no other choice but to face them.
It was better, he thought, than drowning in the mud or dying of starvation here. He looked across and searched, aiming for the best landing spot. He found one on the left side, there were no hyenas around.
The rogue suddenly leaped across the swamp, but without a decent preparation, his front claws barely reached the ground's edge. He slipped and landed on the mud instead. For few moments, he was completely submerged, but he could feel the swamp's solid bottom underneath.
The rogue quickly kicked his way up to the ground and pulled himself out. He finally managed to get out from the swamp. Not wasting time, not even to shake mud off his soaked fur, he bolted away from the hyenas again, back into the forest.
The hyenas were temporarily startled. Apparently, they were still trying to figure out a way to get the lion, or were simply enjoying themselves watching him trapped, when the very lion suddenly jumped into the mud. They definitely didn't expect that. As the lion got out and ran away, the hyenas were still staring at the scene and did nothing... Not for long, though.
Avoiding hyenas and the steep boulders on the riverside earlier, the rogue instinctively ran toward the higher area. He dashed through the forest. As he got higher, the forest became less and less covered with vegetation. The hyenas were still hot on his trail.
The rogue soon noticed the rocky wall on his far side. There was a gap between the wall and his running ground. The rogue guessed that he had been running alongside the river, upstream. Though the river was out of sight, he was sure that it was on the very bottom of this gap.
The rogue kept running through the uphill slope. Now, he could see the top of the rocky cliff far ahead. Seeing this gave him an idea. He might be able to flee the hyenas by jumping across to the cliff top's ground . The gap was quite wide, but the rogue hoped that the width was still within his jumping range. If it stayed like that, once the grounds on both sides were the same level, he would jump to the cliff top on the other side. The hyenas, hopefully couldn't jump that far. It was risky, but it was his best chance.
The rogue had put quite some distance with the hyenas behind him, and to his relief, both edges were now, the same level. He made a sharp turn and sprinted toward the cliff. At the very edge of the ground, he put more pressure on his hind legs and leaped with all his might. The rogue's paws landed on the cliff's ground. He managed to jump across the ravine safely.
The hyena pack stopped at the edge, growling. They couldn't jump across, but the rogue didn't waste his time. He kept running toward the sloping barren land ahead of him.
When the sun had finally set. The hyenas were no longer chasing behind him. The rogue slowed and stopped, catching his breath. His body ached, his head too. Now, that he was out of the life threatening situation, he started to feel the burden in his heart again. He still could remember nothing, from before the river incident. There was nothing that he could do, except to survive and wait his memories to come back. If ever... He thought despairingly.
He was reluctant to sleep, but the whole hyena chase had exhausted him, eventually forcing him to lie under the shades of a towering termite mound nearby. He fell asleep easier than he thought. But pity, not for long.
The rogue's rest was suddenly disrupted, when his ears caught some heart gripping, scurrying noises. He wasn't fully awoken yet and was still feeling fatigue, but his instincts kicked in again. He shot his eyes open, jumped to his paws and sprinted away.
Two hyenas suddenly jumped out from the shadows and gave the rogue a chase. These hyenas were lurking only a few steps away from him, when he suddenly started running. Now.. within less than a day, the rogue was forced to run for his life, again.
Soon enough, more than a dozen hyenas joined the first two. They somehow managed to find their way to get across the river. The rogue must have pissed them off badly, seeing that these hyenas really hunted him down with such determination. No one can really blame them anyway... Who wouldn't be pissed when their supposedly easy prey kept getting away from them, right after tempting them with a thought of enjoying such an irresistibly good meal.
As he ran deeper into the barren land, the rogue tried to fight the hyenas off. He bit a hyena's neck and threw it afar. The hyena whimpered and apparently gave up its chase. One down. But there were still so many of them, attacking him vigorously. The hyenas lunged at him, trying to bite any part of him that they could reach.
The rogue moved fast, avoiding the bites. He managed to seize few more hyenas and slammed them to the ground. He bit hard on some more, breaking their bones. There were clearly too many hyenas for him to handle. Soon some of them managed to jump on his back. The rogue threw them off quickly before they could bite him, but this distraction gave one hyena a chance to sink its teeth on his leg. The rogue bit the biting hyena and threw it off, before it caused too much damage. The bite drew blood, but the rogue didn't feel much pain. He forced himself to keep running.
The sun had fully risen and the rogue saw some lush stretch of green, far ahead. He felt extremely tired and his strength was draining fast. As he was fighting and running, the rogue couldn't prevent another dread from coming to his heart... He had less and less hope to make it out alive this time.