Quick note: This takes place in the same universe as the Zootopia movie. This means all characters are anthropomorphic, however, there will most likley be NO interactions between the characters from the two movies. I just thought this would be a fun take on our favorite Lion King characters. Like I said, This is just for fun!With that said, please enjoy the story!
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"...And it occurred to me, standing there in that bleak, cavernous space, that nobody is ever just one thing: villain or hero, dirtbag or prince. If the multiverse was about choices, and all possible choices were being made, then we might be all those things and everything in between."
- A.W. Hill,The Switch
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Prologue
Things were well in the thriving city of the Pridelands. After it turned out that King Simba was indeed alive and well, he returned with news that would shock the world. His uncle Scar had orchestrated the death of Simba's father Mufasa, and claimed his place as king when Simba fled in fear. But in doing so, the kingdom and city of the Pridelands struggled to maintain peace and order, and quickly crumbled under the tyrannical rule of Scar.
Gangs and mobs were fast to raid and trash the once beautiful city, leaving a war torn path of destruction in it's place. Hearing this inspired Simba to return home, and save his beloved city.
After conclusive evidence was found, assuring the world that this was the real Simba, the tyrant Scar was arrested by international police, and was sentenced to death for his numerous war crimes. Awaiting his sentence however, he was found murdered in his cell by a group of his loyalists.
Simba was later crowned the true King of the Pridelands, and with his best friend and newly wedded wife Nala, the two quickly rebuilt and repaired their home.
After almost two years of renaissance, the city grew to be one of the most beautiful and technologically advances cities in the world. But things would only get better for the two.
The couple soon gave birth to two royal cubs, one girl and one boy.
The eldest cub, a girl who they named Kiara, was destined to rule the Pridelands as queen when her time had come. She grew to be much like her mother with her looks, intelligence and cleverness. However, she was also much like her father as she had his same firery eyes and was just has energetic as her father was when he was a cub. She too couldn't wait to rule her kingdom. Everyday she payed close attention to her royal duties and always asked enthusiastically if she could learn more. She wanted to be the queen as fast as possible.
The younger male cub was named Kiongozi, but prefered to go by just Kion as he was growing up. He was much more quiet and layed back when compared to his older sister. Kion also looked very much like Simba, with the only exception being that his hair fell backwards neatly on top of his head, insted of forwards like his father. Much like Nala was when she was a cub, Kion acted very mature for his age showing that he could some what understand complicated concepts with little explination. But unlike his sister, Kion was never to thrilled at his destiny as the second eldest cub in a royal family. Due to his place in his family, Kion was fated to be the royal advisor of the queen.
Only second in command.
Kion saw no intrest in what his family wanted of him. He felt left out some how, like he had no say in anything. And all because of his postion in his family. Instead, Kion wanted to be like his grandfather Mufasa.
Like Kion, Mufasa wanted nothing to do with his royal responsibilities (which inturn only made his brother Scar even more angry). Instead Mufasa joined the military without his parents consent, where he served and protected for many years. He had no intention of returning home, until he was informed that his father had fallen very ill. It was then that he relized just how important his role was to this kimgdom. Mufasa resigned his time in the military, and took his rightful place as king. He ruled for a long time and was considered one of the greatest kings of the Pridelands, until his untimely demise that is.
When Kion had reached the age of a young adult, he too joined the military. Although his parents worried for him, they were quite understanding and accepted Kion's choice. And after years of searching, Kion had finally found something he loved.
Fighting.
Over the next six years, Kion quickly moved his way on up through the ranks, and later found himself appart of several special forces opeartions. He and his team were hailed as heros, and were gifted many rewards and medals throughout their service time.
Kion lay down on the guest room couch and closed his eyes as he reminisced about his time in service. He and his team managed to deafeat all odds, and he considered all of his missions to be a succes...
...All but one...
He closes his eyes, but insted of dreaming, he lay there, haunted by the memory of that day.
That one fateful day.
One Year Ago...
"Hey sleeping beauty! It's time to wake up." He heard through his communication headset. His eyes quickly flashed open and looked around the big, loud helicopter.
It was his best friend Bunga.
Ever since they were kids, they did every thing together. Even enlisting to the military together on the same day. You never saw just one of them, but instead the whole package.
Kion laughed. "What's up little B?" He teased his best friend. Bunga dissmissed the joke with short chuckle.
"HQ says that we're getting pretty close to the drop zone. Thought that I should wake you up before 'someone else' did." He laughed and winked at Fuli.
She too laughed and rolled her eyes. Everyone aboard the helicopter was well aware that Kion and Fuli had...other... feelings for eachother. They have even went as far as to sleep with eachother, yet...Kion never made his move on her. Everything in his life was perfect already. He didn't need or want anything to change.
"Two minutes till drop. Get ready everyone." came his friend Ono's voice.Beshte, kion's hippo friend, began strapping everything up. Kion and Bunga counted their magazines one last time, while Fuli and Ono waited patiently by the drop door.
The group stood up. They all looked at each other and nodded, showing that they were all ready to advance.
"Dropping in three..." Ono began as he pressed a button. The drop door slowly opened just enough for the team to jump out.
"...Two..."
Kion and Fuli looked at eachother, entranced with eachothers gaze. Kion winked at her and smirked, wich warranted a bright red blush from Fuli.
"...One..."
The group jumped out of the helicopter and dived quickly down towards their drop point. Bunga screamed with excitement, while Kion laughed at his childishness. The fast winds whisped through Kion's hair, as he closed his eyes and smiled as he felt the sensation of sky-diving.
He loved this. The thrill of the hunt gave Kion an unfathomable hunger for a fight. Without the military, Kion didn't know what he would do or where he would be. He opened his eyes as he realized it was time to get to buisness.
Deploying their parachutes, the team slowly descened deep behind enemy lines. Luckily, they got this far undetected.
Kion held up his fist signifying to "wait." He scanned the area with his rifle before giving the okay. After confirming that they were in the clear, he gave the signal.
"Move out." He motioned. Fuli, Beshte and Bunga advanced forward while Kion and Ono stayed behind.
"You sure you'll be fine here by yourself Ono?" Kion asked before heading off with the rest of the team. Not only was Ono the team's eyes and ears, he was also their best sharp-shooter. Meaning he had to stay back and provide overwatch and ordinances. But Kion hated the idea of leaving a teamate behind.
"I'll be fine Kion, now go." He assured. You could always count on Ono's words.
Kion followed his team to the building complex they were storming. They crept close to a small room on the side of building, and his team quickly burst through the first door, guns drawn and their trigger fingers itching.
Nothing.
There was no one in the room. As a matter of fact, there was nothing at all in the room. No furniture, no decorations, no windows. Not even running electricity. Just an empty white box, filled with silence.
They continued to breach and clear the next room. Still nothing. The same with the third.
...And the fourth.
...And the fifth.
This pattern follwed for quite some time, even onto the second floor. Until they ventured up to floor three.
The pent house floor.
Floor three was vastly diffrent from the previous two floors. Unlike the dry, cracked, unpainted walls of the first two floors, the third floor was decorated with fancy, white, glossy marble floors and walls. The large hallway was spruced up with several medium sized plants and trees, and beautiful paintings of self portaits and landscapes where hung on the walls of the hallway. It was immaculate.
After quick examination, they walked to the end of the hallway. Kion and the team approached two big, heavy, bright red doors that had gold designs applied on the front of them. The waited patiently, listening for any noise at all.
Kion could hear nothing but his own fast paced heartbeat.
The lion moved his fist in a cricle, telling his team to fall in formation. Beshte at the front, and the rest would fall in line behind him. They slowly and quietly approched the door.
Kion counted down from three on his fingers, and the team burst through the doors.
Once again, they were greeted with the company of no one.
After entering, the team examimed the room. Unlike the previous rooms, this one came completely furnished with a queen sized bed, a nintey-inch flat screen television, a walk in shower, and a single large window at at the far end of the room. Although it came with more than the other floors combined, it too still felt...empty somehow.
"Odd... What's the move boss?" Fuli waited for their orders.
Kion let out a short growl of frustration. He was tired of coming up empty handed. "Search the room."
The team was quick to flip the entire room upon itself. They looked under desks, the bed, inside of drawers, and even hollow parts of the walls.
Still nothing.
Beshte punched the wall, leaving a massive dent that spider-webbed out with smaller cracks.
"They probably weren't even here. This was all for nothing." The hippo said angrily. He glared over at Kion, who met his gaze with an equally frustrated look.
Kion let out a sigh.
"It's possible, but maybe they are-"
"What do you mean it's possible? It's not possible, It's obvious." The Hippo interjected angirly.
"If you would have let me finished, I was going to tell you that maybe we are early. And you heard HQ during the briefing. They said their was a small chance that we would miss them. And yes, I know what that means for us ." Kion argued back.
Kion placed his finger on his ear-piece. "You see anything out there Ono?"
The egret was quick to resond. "Nothing on my end. I'll let you know If I see anything. Over."
"Over." Kion repeated. "In the mean time, I say we search the room one last time."
"No." Silence fillled the room as Kiom looked at his challenger.
"Excuse me?" he scoffed.
Beshte turned his around to face Kion. " I said No. I'm done taking orders from you. Look where it got us today." He held his arm out and pointed around the empty room.
Kion laughed at this, half mad, and half out of humor. He though it was funny that Beshte even dreamed of challenging him. "Did you forget that I am team leader? If you are to follow anyone's orders, It is most definitely mine."
"I said, I don't take orders from you, lion." Beshte challenged, he inched closer to Kion.
A moment of pure dreadful silince filled the room as Kion and Beshte glared at each other, itching for a fight.
Then, the unimaginable.
Beshte raised his pistol and pointed at Kion. Kion mirrored this action almost simultaneously. They held there postition, eyes and guns locked on eachother.
Fuli gasped "Guys!"
"Woah! Woah!" Bunga cried. He stepped to the side of the two brawlers and put a hand on each of their guns. "Every one just calm down" he said reassuringly, as he slowly pushed both of their guns down. The two re-holstered their guns.
"There we go, see? Everything is alright."
The lion and the hippo did not blink as they glared at eachother.
Fuli intervened. "Look guys, I know we've all been just a little on edge latley, and I know you two haven't exactly been seeing eye to eye. Look, It's hot outside, it was rough night last night, and we haven't eaten since this morning. But we are still on the same team right? We are here cause we want to the same things. So lets put aside our differences for today, and get our job done.Then you two can work this out when we're done, Okay?"
"I agree" added Bunga.
After some more momentary silence, the two stepped away from eachother and apologized to one another for acting so out of line. They agreed that there were much bigger things at steak, and were willing to put aside their differences for now.
"Okay boss, what should we do" Beshte asked. He sounded apologectic and guilty.
"I still think we should search the room one last time, just to be safe. Look for anything that even looks suspicious.." Kion ordered.
The team commensed their final sweep.
Beshte came to the window and peered out of it. He knew something wasn't right. Ever since he jumped out of that helicopter, he has had a bad feeling about this mission
He saw something out of the corner of his eye.
A small piece of paper with neat hand writting printed in black ink. He picked it up and read it.
"Tag! Your it!" it read.
"What the..." he mumbled to himself. He raised his eyebrow in confusion. "Hey guys, come look at this."
He looked back up out through the window. He saw a quick shimer of something off in the distance.
It was too late before he even had time to react.
BANG!
Everyone hit the floor as fast as they could.
Everyone but Beshte.
"Beshte? Beshte get down!" Kion yelled.
Beshte looked frozen in place for an eternity. standing there, unmoved.
"Beshte?" Bunga questioned. He noticed his hippo friend's tan and green military shirt grow increasingly darker in near the middle of his chest.
Then, Beshte fell strait back... eyes wide open. Unmoving, in a pool of his own blood.
The team stared at the horrifying scene.
"Beshte?" Kion asked, denial and sadness setting in. He refused to accept the idea that one of his teamates was just killed in front of eyes. He too froze as he lay crouched behind a flipped table, unable to look away from the now deceased hippo.
Bunga got up and ran over to Kion. But if he wanted to make it to Kion, he would have to cross the view of the window."Bunga get back!" Kion yelled.
When all the sudden...
Present day
BANG!
Kion woke up from his nightmare, dripping with sweat and gasping for air. He looked over to where sound came from. But there was no one in his room, and nothing looked out of the ordinary. He looked around.
BANG!
"ouch!" He heard from the other side of the wall infront of him.
The sudden noise made him jump again. But once he heard that voice he knew exactly what was going on. He got off of the guest room couch, and walked down the long corridor of the Royal castle, until he came to the next closest room.
The ball room. Kion always called it the party room when he lived in the castle.
He slowly opened the door and saw the marvelous decorations set up. He gazed in awe.
Several red and yellow lights were strung throughout the enormous room, and beautiful red, yellow, and purple flowers were everywhere.
There was a large disco ball hanging from the middle of the ceiling that shined brighter then the stars at night. In the far left corner of the room, sat the instruments of what looked like a pop or rock band, while on the entire right side of the room lay tables of foods and refreshments. Clearly they were hosting some event, but what event that was, is a mystery to Kion.
He looked around and saw his older sister Kiara about fifteen feet in front of him, hanging up lights and decorations. She hit her head on the wall.
"Ouch! Again?" She said as she rubbed her head.
Kion laughed at his sister and entered the room.
"Need some help Sis?" he asked, still laughing at his sister's foolishness.
"Kion?" she gasped in excitment. She dropped her decorations, slid down the ladder, and ran to her little brother. She squeezed him tight. When she did, she relized that he wasn't so little anymore. Not only was he taller, but his muscles practically bulged through his pajama shirt.
He was glad to see his sister again, and couldn't wait to see the rest of his friends and family later tonight.
The two laughed and embraced eachother, as they were glad to finally be reuinted with one another.
"Kion?" she asked
"Yes?" he pulled away and looked at his sister in the eyes.
She paused and smiled at her brother. "I really missed you." she smiled as she embraced him again.
Kion playfully squeezed his sister till she was gasping for air, and then released her as the two shared a laugh.
"I really missed you too." he smiled.
He looked out the window and saw himself standing in the window. But he looked...different.
Instead of seeing his normal reflection, he saw himself in his military gear. His reflection stared at Kion with fists clenched, glaring at him.The mirrored version of Kion shook his head in disappointment, before slowly fading away, leaving Kion terrified and staring out the window that was now completley transparent.
"Is something wrong Kion?" he heard his sister say. She looked genuinely worried and concerned.
He shook his head and looked back at his sister. "I'm just glad to be home" he said smiling at his sister.
"I'm just glad to be home." he repeated in his head, questioning everything he stood for.