Hila was cool. More than cool. Beyond cool, if such a thing were possible. No one was cooler. Anyone who said so was a liar. The biggest liar in the world. Hila had said so himself. Everyone listened to him. Everyone looked up to him like he was some kind of god. Which he believed he was, of course. Born to be a god. Born to be a hero. Born to be a king. A very cool, calm, confident and collected king. He truly believed that. And everyone from his home – the Sly Lands – believed that, too.

But, unfortunately for Hila, there was already a King of the Sly Lands – Hila's older brother, and he wasn't going to give up his kingdom any time soon. The kingdom wasn't that good, anyway. Hila knew that there were certainly much better places for a grand cub like himself to live in.

Such as the Pride Lands, for example. Oh, everyone talked about the Pride Lands. "It's the best place in the world to live," they'd say. "You'll never find anywhere better."

So it didn't take very long for Hila to put two and two together. He should go to the Pride Lands. He was going to go to the Pride Lands – and make himself the King. It wouldn't be too hard of a task. After all, he was a god.

Hila knew all about the Pride Lands, inside and out – particularly about its laws. The great and mighty kingdom – ruled by King Mufasa – had many, many laws; all of them devised by the King and his royal advisor. Each and every one of these laws ensured that the Pride Lands were safe, secure and fair.

That is, all except for one. There was one small, ancient, insignificant law that stood out like a giant elephant in the middle of an empty field. The law had been forgotten for years and years. It had first been devised by Mufasa's father – Ahadi – who wasn't exactly the best King to ever rule the Pride Lands.

The Pride Lands suffered bad times under his rule, and his two sons weren't exactly inspired by him either. Mufasa had strived to be a much better King than his father ever was. Taka – more commonly known as Scar – had suffered severe mental problems after being abused by his father, which resulted in him becoming one of the most feared enemies of the Pride Lands. Of course, the person who murdered Scar was even more feared…

And King Ahadi had created this one law, because he liked a challenge. He loved to make people think they could beat him. He thrived off of it. This one law was invented purely for his own entertainment, and had long since been forgotten.

However, the law had become so obscure that no one – not even the King – had decided to abolish it. It was lost – just waiting for someone to exploit it. Someone like Hila. He wanted to exploit this law, and make himself the King. The Prince would no longer become the King; instead, Hila would, fulfilling his own prophecy: that he would become a king.

Hila made his way into the Pride Lands, and inhaled the fresh air. It smelled a lot cleaner than the Sly Lands – not as much mud and dirt – and it took on a much more proud appearance. Particularly Pride Rock – there weren't any other prides with a landmark like that.

Everything looks so wonderful, Hila thought with a smile. And soon it'll all b e mine. I'll b e the King, and I'll get to pick a beautiful cub to b e my Queen. He grinned. This will b e easy. Too easy.

Hila chuckled to himself, and made his way towards the water hole. It was time that he found himself a few subjects for support…

"Simba, what are you doing?" Nala asked, upon seeing Simba doing some press-ups on the ground. "You look ridiculous."

"I'm exercising," Simba replied, continuing to do the press-ups. "You're right – I eat too much." He stood up, patting his stomach for added effect. "Like you said before – just look at that belly!"

"Nothing wrong with a big belly, Simba," Haiba commented, standing over the edge of the water hole, swishing the water around with his paw. "I always wanted to go out with a bit of a chubby cub." He shrugged. "Maybe there's some around here I can sniff out."

"Depends if you like them stupid or really stupid," Simba joked. "All the other cubs are complete idiots. Me and Nala tried to make friends with them, and they hated us both. Well, I did lie to them a little bit, but my Uncle Scar told me to! And how's he doing right now? Oh, yeah – he's dead!"

"Oh, I don't know…" Haiba muttered, as he stared across the water hole. "Looks like someone's making friends right now."

"What do you mean?" Nala asked, as she and Simba headed over to the edge of the water hole, following Haiba's gaze.

Across the water hole, a cub with golden-brown fur and sneaky green eyes was talking to some of the other cubs. They all seemed to be listening very intently to him. "Who the heck is that?" Simba asked, his eyes widening. "I've never seen him around here before."

"Please tell me we can investigate this," Haiba pleaded. "I'm just raring for some conflict around here. So far the day has been pretty boring, to say the least."

"You think we're not going to investigate a mysterious new cub?" said Simba, raising an eyebrow at Haiba. "What kind of heroes do you take us for?"

"Then let's get over there," said Nala, heading around the water hole to see what all the commotion was about. Whatever it was, it was sure to be interesting. New arrivals always sparked interest.

The three cubs ducked behind a low bush, their heads poking out over the top. "So who do you think it is?" Haiba whispered, his eyes fixed on the new cub.

"What's he saying?" Nala asked, trying to listen to the conversation this cub was having with all the others.

"… So then I decided to challenge the Prince for future rule of the kingdom," the cub told them all, sounding very full of himself. "I mean, he's a little jerk – it's sure to be easy."

"Yeah – that Simba guy is just a dummy," one cub agreed. "He's never done anything for any of us."

"What?" Simba exclaimed as he listened to their conversation. "You've got to be kidding me! I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!" Simba hopped over the bush, and started heading towards the cubs. "Hey, who are you calling a dummy?"

"This isn't going to end well," Haiba remarked, following Simba, with Nala walking alongside him.

"Hey, there!" the new cub greeted Simba, shaking him by the paw. "I shake you warmly by the paw. I like to be friendly towards members of the royal family I'm about to overthrow."

Three female cubs sighed deeply, staring at the new cub with smitten looks on their faces. "He's so dreamy…"

"Wait, wait," said Simba, waving his fore paws in the air. "Just what the heck are you all talking about?"

"Well – how rude of me – allow me to introduce myself," the cub said, smiling at Simba. "My name is Hila, and I'm here to take part in the challenge."

Nala raised an eyebrow at him. "Challenge?" she said, a confused look on her face. "What challenge?"

"The Royal Challenge."