Third Person View
All had been quiet and peaceful in the Pridelands for the past two weeks. The tribesmen had left in the morning like they had said, promising to send word to the man who lives with lions once they met with their tribe and send words to the other tribes in the area.
In the short time they spent in the lands though, DJ had spent most of it showing around the human guests while also telling them his story on how he ended up in the Pridelands. He also got their stories as well.
Turns out they were from a tribe of people called the Waziri who lived about 3 days walk to the north and their tribe had lived in Africa for thousands of years.
Like what they had said in the circle of lions, the Kaftar had began their activities in taking dogs and goats at first. Then they upgraded to cows and bullocks. Around that time, the village began setting traps for the 'lions' as they thought it was. But even then the kills continued to happen and no one had even seen the beasts.
And most recently, a woman who Basuli had become very close to in his life, was taken while she was collecting water in a nearby river.
Some other gathers had heard her scream once before everything went silent and they retreated to the village. Basuli and a few other warriors who were quick enough to keep up with him went to the river and tried to track the animals.
They followed the blood trail, holding out hope that the woman was still alive. However about a mile away they found her uneaten body.
Basuli had wanted to go after the animals there and then. And actually tried to. However he couldn't find a track as the body had been left on a hard rocky area so he had no choice but to simply carry the body back for burial.
After that he and his father went to the nearest large town and bought two rifles trading some animal pelts and some goats. They then searched the area around their village for lion tracks.
They had found them and followed them to where the lions were living and then the story from there on DJ knew.
Right now said human of the Pridelands was sitting in the shade of the cave with the rest of the pride, escaping the noon heat.
As DJ looked around the cave he smiled as his eyes found his grandcubs all chatting with one another and their friends. His eldest grandcub had gotten used to his crippled leg and was now moving a little bit faster.
His leg could straighten out now but he still couldn't put any pressure on it. But he could still move pretty fast for a three legged lion.
Kiara had been a little overwhelmed at first with the speed her lessons were going but Sarabi, DJ and even Kopa helped her learn and pick up stuff quicker. And she was getting so big, her solo hunt was coming up in a few days.
And finally Kion. His youngest grandcub hadn't really used the roar of the elders since Janja's banishment but that was okay as that meant he wasn't using it for any reason that was thrown his way.
He and the guard had kept up their training with DJ pretty good. At first even Fuli was exhausted after a day of training from the former king and guardian but after a while they got more used to to where they weren't panting at the end of the day.
Suddenly Zazu came flying into the den with a smile on his face.
"Sire, they're here" he said as DJ looked over at Simba and Chumvi and together the three smiled before they stood up and walked out of the den with the rest of the pride following, the younger members confused. DJ, Simba and Chumvi then got to the peak and looked over the lands.
Further in the Pridelands was a pride of lions moving towards the rock formation. The lead male, a bright golden yellow with a massive mane of black while the one beside him was golden as well but more Simba's colour than the other males and in his mane were two blue birds.
Simba and Chumvi smiled wide and almost ran down the steps as did many other lions of the pride. However just as DJ was about to follow, he smiled wickedly before he slunk off a different way.
"Tojo! Malka! Oh it's good to see you again" Simba said nuzzling his head against their's as did Chumvi while Tumaini went over to her mother and aunt with her cubs following, slightly hiding behind her as they did not know the strange lions.
"Oh it's good to see you both as well" Tojo said smiling.
"Yeah but where's DJ?" Malka asked making Simba and the rest of the pride turn. However their human was no where in sight.
Just as Simba turned back and was about to answer, DJ suddenly appeared from the side, hidden in some tall grass, and tackled Malka and the two were sent rolling over the small hill they were standing on.
A young male, about Kopa's age with Tama's fur colour and his Malka's mane, tensed up and went to help his father when he seen that his dad was laughing as he and the mysterious figured wrestled for dominance at the bottom of the hill. Most of his pride was also smiling and laughing as well so that only confused him more.
Suddenly his uncle ran down the hill, also with a huge smile, and joined in the fray, soon followed by Chumvi.
Simba smiled as well and took a few steps before he cleared his throat and tried to get rid of his smile, remembering he was the king and welcoming a pride into his lands.
Nala seen this and rolled her eyes before coming up to her mate.
"Go on. I'll get them all to Priderock" she said. He smiled and quickly nuzzled her before he ran down the hill.
DJ seen this and was already being overwhelmed by three lions so he quickly jumped out of the pile just as Simba jumped onto it.
"Retreat!" he yelled running away and was quickly followed by Chumvi, Tojo, Malka and Simba after they managed to untangle themselves.
"We're not seeing those five for a while, are we?" Kula said coming up to Nala with a smile on her face.
"I don't think so" she said shaking her head also with a smile as she watched the human dodge lunges while still running.
"Anyway come on, everyone. I imagine you're hungry, we have a few zebras at Priderock for you all" she said turning as both prides followed her.
It had been at least an hour since DJ and the other males took off into the Pridelands and since then, neither of the prides had seen them.
They had spent the hour catching up with each other, eating and introducing cubs to their aunts, grandmothers and cousins.
Suddenly they heard the yell of their human member and turned to see him, drenched in sweat and panting, running towards Priderock with Simba and the others still behind him. Minus Malka.
Suddenly the missing lion rocketed out from the grass just before the steps of Priderock and tackled DJ to the ground.
Before he could get out from underneath, the other three quickly piled on, each one getting a groan out of the lion and human underneath them.
"Okay, okay truce. Now get off me before you crush my ribs" DJ wheezed out tapping the ground before they did just that.
"Whoa, you boys sure haven't been skipping your training. Or your meals" DJ said cracking his back as they laughed and followed him up the Priderock steps.
"Well you were the one who said we had to eat to grow big and strong" Malka said smiling as they got to the top.
"True. Oh it's good to see you two again" he said hugging Malka and Tojo's necks as they nuzzled him.
"It's good to see you as well. We meant to come and visit sooner but..." Malka said trailing off.
"It's alright, I understand that life gets in the way. It did for us here as well. Speaking of which-" DJ said waving over Ntoya and Mheetu who stood slightly behind their father even though they knew that these lions meant them no harm.
"Guys, this is Ntoya and Mheetu. My kids" DJ said as Malka and Tojo's eyes went wide.
"Wow, I didn't think with you two being different species you would be able to do it" Malka said as most of the pride began laughing at a blushing Sarafina and DJ.
"N-No, we adopted them when they were really young" he said petting both of their head while they purred.
"And by the way, the one you should be having a talk with about making cubs is that one" he said pointing at Simba who went silent from his laughter as did Nala while the rest of the pride erupted in it.
"well there is someone I want you to meet" Malka said gesturing for his son to come over which the young male did followed by another young lioness about the same age. She had Tojo's fur and her mother's eyes.
"DJ, this is my son, Jabari" Malka said as the young male lion bowed.
"It is an honor to meet you. My father has told me so many stories about you. But to be honest, for a little bit I didn't believe him" the young lion said.
"It's alright, I understand without seeing it for yourself. And I already knew you were Malka's son from the hill since I seen you tense up" he said confusing both father and son.
"I guess your father didn't tell you about the time when he first came to the lands and the first thing he did was try to attack me because he thought I was a threat to his mother" DJ said as Malka chuckled sheepishly while his mother laughed to herself.
"And this is?" he then asked turning to the other young lioness.
"DJ, this is Asha" Tojo said with a smile as the lioness bowed her head.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm just glad you look more like your mother than your father" DJ commented while the lioness laughed and blushed at that. Tojo also laughed before he tackled DJ and the two began wrestling once more.
After more eating, wrestling and getting to know each other, the Priderock pride decided to get to why they needed the mountain pride to visit.
"So anyway, guys, there is a reason that we needed you to come" Simba began as they all rested on the flat area of Priderock soaking up the last of day's sun.
"We figured there was a reason" Tojo said as Malka nodded.
"Anyway there is a new threat to not only us, but humans as well. As we found out the fun way" DJ said.
"Define 'fun way' " Malka said.
"Some humans who lost a fellow human to the threat thought that it was us and almost hurt our cubs and young lions as a result" Simba said.
"And let me guess, DJ saved them" Malka asked with a smile.
"Good guess" DJ said smirking.
"Anyway we figured out it was the new threat and found out it's a large breed of hyena thought to be wiped out long ago by the humans. However they weren't and the humans don't have the numbers to try again now" DJ said.
"So they need our help" Malka said.
"Exactly. Of course however it is your decision to make to join us. And think hard. You guys are the leaders of your own pride now, it is completely understandable if you say no" DJ said as the two male lions looked at each other for not even a second before turning back to the human.
"Yeah that's not gonna happen. First of all once they finish with you, what's to stop them from coming after us. Secondly, nobody threatens our family" Malka said as Tojo smiled and nodded.
"As long as you're all sure of this" DJ said addressing Malka's pride who all nodded without hesitation. They owed this human their lives and this would be a great way of repaying him.
"Then all we need to wait is for the humans to send word to us that their groups are gathered. Then me, Simba, and one of you two will go and we'll figure out a plan of attack" DJ then added.
"Sounds good" Malka said nodding.
"Hopefully it's not too soon because my grandcub has her first ever solo hunt in a few days" DJ then said as Kiara smiled sheepishly at that while the pride around her congratulated her.
However as they ate and talked, they didn't notice a vulture above them on a rock ledge was listening to their conversation and not just waiting for some leftovers.
Once he heard that piece of information, he smiled before he flapped his wings and lifted off into the sky. He then flew towards the Outlands but didn't stop at the volcano and instead kept heading past it.
He flew for another 10 minutes before he started going downwards until he came upon the termite mounds.
"Janja!" He called out as the hyena outcast came out groggy.
"What?" He asked annoyance in his voice as the vulture had woken him up from a nap.
"The princess of the Pridelands has her first solo hunt in a few days. Thought you might wanna know that she will be far away from Priderock. Alone" he said as the hyena smiled and chuckled.