Hello, my dear viewers! This will be a unique Lion King 2 AU unlike any you have ever seen! This is accredited to a great person here who gave me permission to make this story. Dee Rhymz is his/her penname here on Fanfiction. He or she has a wiki page which is called 'The Lion Queen and Hyena Prince', on VampireMeerkat wiki. That page is inspiration for everything that's on this chapter and all that follows, and I am so excited to show you all! So, please enjoy as you read on. Thank you! -Traveler.
(No P.O.V.)
Deep inside Africa, the day's shining upon a great icon of one famous lion territory; Pride Rock of the Pridelands, and around the Pridelands are several creatures having a peaceful, busy, and even chaotic day.
However, there is quite some places where the sun's hesitant to beam upon, and one of them is the Outlands. Right next door to the Elephant Graveyard, the Outlands is a place of termite mounds, dusty air, dry rock-like mazes, and brittle flora. Water and food is hard to find for the inhabitants of the Outlands for they are legendary enemies of the Prideland lions.
Hyenas is their species name, having spotted fur, sharp teeth, and the ability to fight in great numbers. Their groups of families are called clans, and there were quite some different clans who scattered off into the night of Scar's demise, and Simba's ascension to the title of King over the Pridelands.
One of those clans belonged to Shenzi and her brothers; Banzai and Ed, and upon the disappearance/'death' of Simba and Nala's firstborn cub, Kopa, the matriarch gathered her clan who had lived in the Elephant Graveyard, and has gone off into the desert to some far away place.
The second clan of hyenas were neutral, having lived in the Shadowlands that's on the left of the Elephant Graveyard's borders, actually respecting the Circle of Life unlike Shenzi's clan. One of their pups has actually befriended Kopa before his disappearance, and Asante, the pup, she was forced to go with her clan who saw that King Simba enforced the law that said that no hyenas is allowed in the Pridelands ever again, the clan moving off in another direction opposed to Shenzi's clan.
However, before she went with her clan, Asante confessed to the King and Queen that she was afraid for her life, somewhat witnessing what had happened to Kopa, thanks to another hyena who actually did the horrible deed, and that hyena was Zira.
Now, there is one remaining clan of hyenas, and that is Zira's clan. Many animals had wondered why she hadn't moved away after having done the deed, but Zira proclaimed strongly to her clan that she is determined to break Simba no matter what, even if that means living in the Outlands forever until she has a plan to overtake the Pridelands somehow.
And now on this day, on the border, a Pridelander cub is venturing into the Outlands for her curiosity is far stronger than her father's orders. This is Kiara, King Simba's daughter, secondborn cub, and heir to the throne for her brother Kopa is gone, unable to be a king like their father.
Golden peach fur, a cream underbelly, and a auburn brown tail tuft, her innocent ruby eyes is focused upon the Outlands, a wondrous expression on her chubby face, Kiara walked across the log that spanned the dark river that marked the borders between the Outlands and the Pridelands.
She mostly takes after her father in looks and personality, with her fur lighter than her father's golden brown fur, but darker than her mother's pale tan fur, and her stature is almost similar to her grandmother Sarabi's stature, having a dark pink nose.
When something off the side caught Kiara's attention, she wasn't looking the way she was walking, and upon the end of the log, she slipped, tumbled, and slapped into a dark body, yelps and grunts filling the silence, and when the dust settled, Kiara is able to make out what she tumbled into.
It's a hyena pup. Male, due to the scent she could smell, and he's a peculiar one with his hair tuft and eyes. Medium gray fur with random dark gray spots/muzzle here and there, with a tan underbelly, he has black socks upon his paws, black ears with dark pink inside, a black tail/mane with the hair tuft scruffy and slightly curly, and a black nose.
Like Kiara, his sclera in the eyes are golden, but his irises differ in color, being a soft emerald green. And when he saw Kiara, he leaped to action, growling defensively, and Kiara shrunk back, watching him warily.
The hyena pup snapped, "What are you doing here, cat?", stepping forward and growling at Kiara who kept watching him as she dodged and moved to side or side. The hyena pup blinked in confusion, "What are you doing?".
Kiara glared at him, "Father says hyenas can't be trusted, and that I ain't supposed to turn my back on a hyena!", and the hyena pup smirked, his eyebrows raised, "Is that right? Do you actually do what your daddy says?".
Kiara shouted at him, "No!". The hyena pup laughed, "You are so! Daddy's girl, you are!". Kiara pouted at that, averting her ears, and the hyena pup chuckled, "A hyena doesn't need anybody.", walking off, and then skipping off into a rock in the river, rump down, finishing off, "And I can take care of myself.".
Kiara followed him, smiling as she walked across the rivers, unknowingly stepping on a eye, "Really?", and the hyena pup smirked, and Kiara grinned, "Cool!". The hyena pup smiled widely as he turned around, and then he gaped in horror, seeing a wide mouth of sharp teeth behind Kiara, "Ahhh!".
Kiara turned around to look, and gasp in horror, "Ah! Run!", leaping to join the hyena pup, and they ran across several rocks to a boulder, tensely watching out for the crocodiles that's gunning for them, and the hyena pup shouted, "This way!', hopping off the boulder, and Kiara joined him just as a crocodile narrowly missed her.
They made it to a tight area of rocks, panting heavily as they caught their breath, and the hyena pup smiled widely, "Boy, that sure was close.". Kiara grinned lightly with a giggle, "Yeah.", and then suddenly, the rocks rose, revealing not rocks, but more crocodiles!
The duo screamed in horror, and leaped out to any high spot of safety, with Kiara landing upon a tree, and the hyena pup jumping across backs of crocodiles, and Kiara shouted to him, "Hey, what about me?". The hyena pup shouted back, "I'll distract them! Run!".
The hyena pup kept running until he reached a dead end, and gasping as a crocodile's tail flipped out on him, and he went into the water, resurfaced under a sec, coughing for air. He then gasped as he saw a crocodile coming for him, and screamed loudly that grabbed the crocodiles at Kiara's tree, where she was swatting at one of them, and those crocodiles swarmed into the water, heading for the hyena pup.
Kiara screamed, "Look out!", and the hyena pup scrambled to swim to a nearby tree, but he was petrified not to move any more as a crocodile neared him, the teeth open wide, and he screamed, his mind scrambling through memories as the jaws got closer when suddenly, the mouth snapped close with a lioness cub landing harshly on it, revealing the cub as Kiara.
She shouted at him, "Move it!', startling the hyena pup into climbing the tree, and Kiara jumped after him, climbing up after him as the crocodile missed widely by her, and after some tense moments of the tree shaking, the young ones made it to the cliff that's on the border side of the Pridelands.
Panting and heaving for breath, the hyena pup glanced at Kiara, and then to the cliff edge, and he walked over with Kiara following, and they peeked over to see the crocodiles hissing and growling in frustration and anger. Kiara laughed, "I did it! We did it!", giving out a raspberry at the crocodiles, and turning around with the hyena pup smirking with a laugh in agreement, "Yeah!", disappearing off the edge to follow Kiara into the grasslands, stopping upon a clearing.
Smiling widely, Kiara whooped as she leaped around, facing the hyena pup, "Oh, man, did you see those teeth? They were going like 'Rrrrr!', and then you were so fast! They were so close that I bopped one of them on the head! We were a cool team! And you,...", glancing at the hyena pup, "You were really brave.".
The hyena pup sat with a smirk, "Really? Well, you were really brave too!", and Kiara smiled bashfully. The hyena pup chuckled softly, "Say, I haven't caught your name. Mine's Kudio, but everybody calls me Kovu.".
Kiara hummed thoughtfully, "Yeah? I think I like Kudio better. You can call me Kiara.", with a posture that shows slight flirt, and Kudio blushed, uncertain of what to make upon Kiara. Kiara then giggled softly, and went into a playing stance, "Wanna play?".
Kudio blinked in confusion, "Play what?", and Kiara grins lightly with a swift jab into Kudio's chest, "Tag, you're it!". Kudio frowns, looking bewildered by Kiara's behavior, and Kiara giggled softly, "Kudio, you're it! Tag!".
Kudio only sat there, and Kiara walks forward, a questioning look on her face, "You run, and I tag you. Get it?". Kudio blinked, "No.".
Kiara blinked, "Oh...Hey, what about this?", instantly drops into a crouch, leaping to side by side with playful growling. Kudio brightens up as he recognizes this game now, and at Kiara's giggle, Kudio crouches down, returning a playful growl.
Suddenly, a set of massive paws emerge out behind Kiara, and Kudio gasps in fright, looking up as another set of paws surround around Kudio as roars and snarls fill the air, with Kiara joining Kudio with her own gasp of fright.