Hey there, and welcome back to the Lion King novel. I've decided not to do that extra Timon and Pumbaa chapter after all, but I'll reference it. Instead, we're going to be going back to Pride Rock, some time later.

And as you've seen the previous chapter, Bunga appears. But as a twist, this is not the same Bunga from The Lion Guard. This Bunga is more gruff and willing to fight dirty; in short, he's a crazy nasty boy, partly inspired by Randall's Crazy Nasty Honey Badger video. While the Bunga from The Lion Guard would be named after the first Bunga by Timon and Pumbaa.

Uploading Date: August 22, 2019

Enjoy!

...

Shadowland

Nala rested her head on her paws, looking around the desolate wasteland with disgust and despair. She had grown up over the years, knowing nothing but hunger and thirst and misery. While she grew up to be a skilled and slender huntress (though at this point, slender was pushing it, since she had become too skinny), her fur coat was dull, and her teal eyes no longer held laughter.

Life at the Pride Lands had become miserable ever since Scar took over as king. Where there was once fresh greenery and plentiful watering holes, there was now dust and bones. Animals, whether predator or prey, had started abandoning this once-fertile land, to move on to better grazing grounds. Those that stayed behind risked being hunted down by the army of hyenas led by Shenzi, and it was usually done without mercy. The Pride Lands ended up looking even more like the elephant graveyard, a shadow land.

And it was all because of Scar. Nala never realized she could hate anyone in her life, but Scar did certainly that. Scar was a terrible and selfish creature, not caring if the lions in his pride were on the brink of starvation. Things had quickly spiraled downhill once Scar became king. He had torn down everything that Mufasa and kings before him had built up. He even allowed the hyenas to overhunt their prey and sometimes even joined them in their poaching.

If Simba were here, he'd take his place as king and stop Scar, Nala thought, not for the first time ever. Indeed, she wished more than ever that her best friend was by her side again, just as they had always been. She even believed that he was still out there, still alive. Even the other lionesses prayed as well, prayed that the great kings were watching over them, to help them out of this nightmare.

Yet the pride's hope in the great kings started to vanish. Indeed, some lionesses even gave up all belief in the great kings, demanding why they weren't doing anything if they loved their descendants. Nala herself nearly felt it too, only she gave up hope in Simba being alive. Right now, she wanted to go out there and find someone - or at least something - to help the pride, and her wish to stop Scar feuled her dream to do so. But still, life around them got tougher, and even Sarabi gave up trying to inspire hope.

"Nala." Her mother Sarafina was looking at her with concern. She was trying to calm down a squealing cub they were babysitting, a cub that bore almost the same resemblance to Scar except with paler fur. "Come sit in the shade with us. It's too hot to stay out there."

Nala sighed and padded over to join them. The lionesses tried to avoid the heat of the dry season sun, their coats dull and their eyes full of hopelessness. As they took shelter, the sound of flapping wings made them look up. Zazu came flying down and landed right in front of Sarabi, just as he had done for Mufasa. He had refused to report to Scar and remained loyal to the queen, reporting to Sarabi only. Scar, however, decreed that he was to be sent away during the day and come home only at night.

"Hello, Zazu," Nala greeted the hornbill. "Where've you been?"

"I apologize, Nala. I came as quick as I could," Zazu responded. Then he bowed to Sarabi, who dipped her head in return.

"The morning report, Zazu," Sarabi commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty," responded Zazu, standing up. "The Pride Lands are in terrible danger. The hyenas are chasing off the last of the herds. Without those, what will you lionesses and your cubs eat?"

"We'll manage, Zazu," Sarabi reassured her late mate's advisor, touched by Zazu's concern for the royal family...or what was left. "Right now, are you all right?"

What he was about to say next was interrupted by a terrible cackle. Scar and his hyenas had returned from their hunt, a dead antelope in the jaws of two hyenas. Their muzzles were completely coated with blood, as if they had tortured the poor antelope before they killed it. When the hyenas spotted Zazu, their eyes glimmered.

"The bird's back!" Azizi announced.

"Get him!" Kamari shouted.

They darted over to snatch up the hornbill as their snack. Luckily for everyone else, Zazu took to the air, nearly avoiding their snapping teeth.

"Don't come back here until sundown, unless you wanna get eaten!" Kamari shouted up to Zazu as the majordomo took off.

The lionesses glared at the hyenas for this, but they said nothing as Scar sauntered by, green eyes glinting. "Good morning, ladies," he said with a smarmy grin. To his hyenas, he said, "Take the antelope to my den; I'll eat it later. And bring the buffalo to the edge of Pride Rock, for Zira and I."

Ignoring the dull and lifeless eyes of the lionesses on him, he sauntered away. While they were thin and starving, he was more well-fed, even more so than when Mufasa was king. But it came at a cost: Scar had gotten greedy when it came to hunting, taking more prey than he should.

"I can't stand it anymore, Sarabi," Nala murmured once Scar and the hyenas were away, standing on her paws. "We have to do something. We have to fight."

To her utmost shock, Sarabi only shook her head. "No, Nala. Scar is our king."

Nala stepped away from her, aghast at this statement. "But you're the queen! We should leave before it's too late."

"While I do not like the idea of Scar being king, we must stay together and protect what's left of this land," Sarabi told Nala, her eyes tired. "The Pride Lands is our home for generations. We will not leave it when it is still needed."

"But this isn't the home I remember," responded Nala. She turned her attention back to the desolate land. "This isn't the Pride Lands I used to know."

Sarabi stepped forward and rested her nose on the younger lioness's head. "Don't worry, young one. Our time will come. Just be patient."

Easy for you to say, Nala thought rebelliously. Sarabi was an older and wiser lioness, having all the patience that she herself had not learned. Nala herself wanted to get off of her paws and do something, anything, to save her home.

"Hey you!" Shenzi stalked forward, eyes gleaming as she glared at Sarabi. She was flanked by the other hyenas in her army. "Scar's wantin' to talk to you."

Sarabi sighed. "Tell him I'll talk to him later," she said, turning away from the scavengers.

But as soon as she started to walk away, hyenas blocked her way. "Nah, I think he wants to talk now," growled Shenzi. "And if you're going too slow, then you better move faster."

"No, I think you should've said 'You better Mufasa!'" Banzai quiped with a laugh.

"I get it!" Azizi cackled along with Ed, sidling up to Kamari. "It's like 'move faster' only..."

"Yeah, we get it," Kamari grumbled. He shoved Azizi away and snapped, "And what did I say for the hundredth time?"

Sarabi growled, yet she couldn't pounce on them. She hated when they used Mufasa's name like that, as a joke. But all she did was bow her head and nod. There was no point in arguing with the hyenas; Scar always insisted that they were right in everything, and they had to accommodate them or else be accused of prejudice.

"Don't go with them," Nala pleaded.

"I am neither afraid of Scar nor the hyenas," she replied coolly. "I will be back."

Nala watched as the hyenas escorted Sarabi away. Her fur bristled, and her claws threatened to slide out and scrape the rock beneath her paws. She wasn't afraid of Scar or his hyenas, and they certainly did not deserve to be leaders.

...

Scar had pretty much forced the lionesses and their cubs to spend their time in the open, while he and the hyenas occupied the inside of Pride Rock. But this time, Scar had wanted to eat outside, perhaps - in Sarabi's opinion - to show off how much he could eat.

As Sarabi approached the king as he sat at the edge of Pride Rock, her nose crinkled at the smell of caked blood. His back to her and his head bent, Scar was helping himself to the buffalo that the lionesses killed, munching away. While the other lionesses watched from far away, starving and licking their chops, Scar only kept eating and ignoring their hungry gazes.

"I'm here, Scar," Sarabi growled. "What do you want?"

Scar lifted his head from the kill, along with a certain lioness. This made Sarabi want to bare her teeth in anger. It was Zira, having been established as Scar's favorite lioness due to following his every command. She hadn't always been friendly, but for some odd reason, she liked having Scar in charge of the pride and quickly sided with him on every opinion he had. It was small wonder that Scar had chosen her as his mate, though she had produced a sickly son in the process.

"Zira," growled Scar, rising from the carcass. He licked his lips, his muzzle coated in the buffalo's blood. "You may go out and take your pick of anything else that the lionesses caught. Just make sure that weak brat of yours gets something to eat."

"But Nuka is your son, is he not?" Sarabi asked, concerned for her nephew. Zira scoffed, and Sarabi believed that she blamed Nuka himself, a young cub, for being born during a terrible time.

Scar shook his head. "No. Any cub of my blood that is weak will never be mine. There is no chance that he'll be king after me."

Her brain pounding from memory, Sarabi had remembered hearing something like this before. Scar had said the same thing when Ahadi had apparently told him what he had just told her. But the thing was, as far as she saw and experienced, Ahadi had treated both sons well, only punishing Scar more due to his increasing rebellious behavior.

"That's pretty hypocritical, don't you think?" she pointed out. "You said your father treated you like trash, and yet here you are, treating your own son like trash. How are you not practicing what you've preached?"

Scar started to growl, his lips peeled back to reveal yellow fangs. Zira gave him a lick on the cheek before turning to Sarabi. "You're upsetting your king, Sarabi, and you should be ashamed of yourself," she scolded the older lioness. "Scar is to be respected at all times and never questioned. You need to apologize and learn your place."

Instead of shaming Sarabi, it made the queen even angrier, baring her fangs at Zira. She was getting sick and tired of Zira lording over everyone about how "grand and ambitious" Scar was being, not to mention being neglectful towards Nuka. And how could Zira say that she should be ashamed when she was willingly working with Scar to destroy everything the light touched? But before a fight could break out, Scar stood between them.

"Ladies, ladies...that'll be enough," the king drawled. "Now Zira, go get that cub of yours something to eat. If you still want him alive instead of drowned, then you need to fatten him up."

Zira nodded. "Of course, my dearest."

And with that, Zira gave Sarabi a hard shove as she passed. You traitor, Sarabi thought angrily before the other lioness vanished.

"As for you, Sarabi, your timing couldn't have been more perfect," simpered Scar. "Do come over. I won't bite. And speaking of bite..." He stepped aside, letting her see the buffalo she and her lionesses had worked to kill, as if taunting her. "Care for a taste? There's plenty to go around."

Sarabi looked around at all the bones littering the surface of Pride Rock, flies buzzing around. The smell was enough to knock out an elephant, if it didn't choke on the flies first. After eating, the lions would usually bury the bones as a sign of respect to the animal that fed them. With Scar, however, he tossed the bones here and there as if expecting someone to come in and clean it up for him.

"You're overhunting, Scar," Sarabi said coolly.

"Overhunting is such a strong word," Scar replied with a smirk. "I've simply perfected the kill, with the help of the hyenas."

Before she could stop herself, Sarabi snarled, "Perfected? You're destroying the Pride Lands! You're bringing the Circle of Life to ruins!"

Scar did not grow angry at Sarabi's words. Instead, he laughed. "Don't you see?" he asked between chuckles. "There is no one who can challenge me. Together, we can finally take whatever we want. And if it means getting rid of the Circle of Life that you worship so much, then so be it."

But Sarabi didn't want to argue with Scar forever. "There's another reason you invited me here, when you just said 'we,'" Sarabi went on. "Let's get it over with."

Scar smiled, though it looked more sinister than happy. "Long ago, Mufasa and I came to propose to you. But you had chosen Mufasa over me."

"Because Mufasa and I loved each other," Sarabi retorted. "You even rejected Sarafina because of your attitude."

"But I am king now," Scar went on, overriding Sarabi's words. "I am your king. It's time you stopped being so selfish and started thinking of the future. Our future."

Far from alluring her to him, this further infuriated Sarabi. "You have no room to call anyone selfish here," she snapped, and she didn't bother keeping the disgust out of her tone. "You're the one being selfish. And what about Zira? She's your mate and the mother of your cub."

If Scar looked bothered by Sarabi calling him out, he didn't show it. "The other lionesses look up to you, you know," he wheedled her, putting on a persuasive tone. "As long as you reject me, they will keep defying me. Now as your king, I demand that you must do as I say. Take your place at my side, and we shall feast together!"

Sarabi looked down at the buffalo that Scar and Zira had feasted on. Her stomach roared louder than any lion could at the moment. It was getting harder and harder to say no. The lionesses were on the brink of starvation, and there was no way that Scar would willingly give up some of his food.

Then again, a horrible thought came to her: she could agree to be Scar's queen. If she did, then the lionesses would finally get to eat. Even if it meant that she would have to be Scar's mate, there would be a chance to convince him to turn things around.

But the horrible thought slipped away as soon as it appeared. There was no way she would ever agree to his demand.

"Never, Scar," she snarled. "I will never be your queen!"

Scar rose himself to his paws, looking down at Sarabi. Her response didn't seem to surprise him, but what he said next surprised her. "Then from now on, the hyenas get first rights to a fresh kill. That means that the lionesses and cubs will eat last."

Sarabi's fur along her spine bristled. "You're not seriously choosing them above your pride? They're behaving like revolting scavengers."

"Here at Pride Rock, all animals are equal...but some animals are more equal than others. I will not tolerate others calling my army 'revolting scavengers'. There is no room in the pride for such bigotry," Scar chided her, a cold smirk on his muzzle. "Now wait for your turn to eat. And be warned, my dear Sarabi, they don't leave much behind."

He stepped aside, and the buffalo he promised her went to the hyenas instead. At his command, the hyenas rushed forward and pounced on the carcass, chewing and cackling. Scar dismissed Sarabi, and she went on her way, shame and horror making her paws feel heavy.

What have I done?

To be continued...