The Lion King One Shot
(Ahadi and Uru's reign)

"Never go past the border!"

"Steer clear of the north, kid. Hyenas reign there."

"Stay away from hyenas!"

"If you cross that border, you might as well be trampled by an elephant. It would be better than encountering those ruthless hyenas!"

Those were just a few of the warnings Penda had received when she asked why hyenas were so bad.

"If a hyena really wanted to be different, then couldn't he?" She mused.

But her kind thoughts were always received with laughs or jeers or someone telling her how crazy she was.

Penda was determined to find a Pridelander who had met a kind hyena, but such an animal didn't seem to exist.

Only after her beloved father asked her to stop, did she finally give up her quest.

Her father was relieved that his daughter had ceased like he'd requested because the king of the land threatened to show her how bad hyenas really were if she didn't quit her ridiculous rantings and searching.

But even though Penda had stopped searching, she never stopped wondering what was beyond the hard, menacing face of the canines that every Pridelander so dreaded. 

So one night, while all the other lions and lionesses were asleep, Penda snuck out of the den into the star lighted night. She trotted down the stone steps, leading to Priderock's base, and leaped down onto the dew covered grass.

As she raised her icy blue eyes to survey the land before her, she noticed the vast navy blue sky, dotted with little twinkling stars to light her way. She thought it was majestic, and it gave her courage to move forward.

She located an overgrown pathway that led to the northern border, where the elephant graveyard laid. Penda followed the path to the border, but when she reached it she hesitated.

What if all those things her friends and mentors said were true? If she crossed the border, would she make a friend or be torn to shreds?

With a deep breath, she stepped across the border line and saw the green mist and dusty ground of the elephant graveyard. As Penda walked among the large skulls, she examined the area for any signs of life.

Her eyes searched the foggy land for any animal, but her quick search by the border yielded nothing. So she stepped further into the graveyard. But her first sign of hyenas wasn't even inside the spooky looking graveyard.

It wasn't until she had almost reached the border on the other side of the graveyard that she heard the spine-tingling cackling of hyenas.

She swiveled around and ducked behind a skull, cowering down as low as she could.

"I could've sworn I smelled a gazelle," she heard a feminine voice say.

"Well, I promised not to help but. . ." A male voice trailed off.

Penda heard about two other hyenas walking with the first two. She also heard one of them inhale deeply, as to find a scent.

She bit her lip so she wouldn't make a sound. She knew if this sniffing canine was good enough, he could probably smell her easily.

"I smell a. . .(sniff sniff) lion cub," he growled.

"A lion cub! Oh no! What if it's bigger than us!! What if it is hungry!! We have to run before it hears us!!" One hyena called.

"Oh please," another one of the hyenas said. "There's four of us, I'm sure we'll be just fine."

Penda thought she heard the sniffing sound coming closer. She lifted her head and peeked slowly out from behind the skull, trying to see the hyenas.

But as soon as she did, the sniffing hyena spotted her and bared his sharp teeth.

"Come 'ere you!!" He exclaimed, sprinting forward to catch her.

Penda tried to run, but even though the hyena was only a bit larger than her, he was much faster and stronger. The hyena tackled her and brought her to the ground.

His sheathed, lethal claws dug into her brown fur and made her whimper.

"You trespasser!!" The hyena on top of her called.

The others snickered at her, drawing closer to the scene playing out. She kept her eye on all of them, making sure they were all amused. Her heart sank when she saw they all had a murderous glint in their eyes. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe all hyenas were bad.

"You tell her!"

"Can we eat it?"

"Kill it! Kill it!"

The more they said, the more afraid Penda became.

"Why are you here?" The one on top of her spat.

Penda gulped hard and brought her icy blue eyes to meet his dark, brown ones. She didn't answer because her mouth was too dry to speak.

"Answer me!" He exclaimed. "You know, my name is Thimba, little rat. Why is that important? Because one time, your little shaman baboon told the king what the name of the hyena's heir was. It was Thimba."

Penda began to shake in fear at his evil voice, as he dug his claws further into her shoulders with a smirk.

"The monkey also told the king what my name means. You know what it means, rat?" Thimba asked.

Penda whined and shook her head.

"It means, 'Hunter of Lions'. That's right, I'm a lion killer, sweetheart." Thimba spoke with a horrible grin of hate on his face. "So if you would prefer me to make your death painless, then I suggest you tell me why you're here."

"I-I am here because. . .because," Penda stuttered.

"Yes?"

"Because I wanted to see if there was a good hyena!! You can't all be evil!" Penda cried.

Thimba backed off of her with a smirk.

"Mwuaji, take care of her." He demanded as he stood back to watch the female take his place.

The female hyena, Mwuaji, pounced upon Penda and held her face to the ground with one paw.

"Miss lion cub, you do realize that all of our names mean something, right?" Mwuaji asked in a kind voice as she pushed Penda's face into the dusty ground.

Penda squeaked.

"Well, being the future shaman of the hyenas, I happen to know the ancient language our names come from, dear. My name is Mwuaji, right? Mwuaji means, 'murder' or 'assassin'." She explained as she crushed Penda into the dirt

"My friend and future mate over there, his name, Kuua, means 'to kill'. Kuiba, his names means 'steal'." Mwuaji elaborated. "So do you still think there is such a thing as a 'good hyena' since you see all of our parents gave us names fit to dethrone or even exterminate your race?"

"Lay, off Mwuaji. Let's see what she has to say." Thimba directed.

Mwuaji growled loudly in her face before backing off of her.

Penda lifted her head and gasped for air, whimpering with each breath. She began to let her tears flow over onto her cheeks and down her fur.

"Well?" Thimba asked, stepping forward to her. "Do you still think good hyenas exist?"

The young cub summoned all her strength and courage and looked him in the eyes.

"I know for a fact that we, the young of our groups, are not our parents. All of our parents raised us to be like them, in belief, in morals, in stature, in tradition, in appearance, and even in likes and dislikes. Your parents taught you to hate us lions because of our past of hating you and hurting you. For banishing you and for sending you out here, where there are less food and water.

"My parents raised me to hate you because you killed our kind, you didn't respect or follow our beliefs, and you disliked us from the start.

"From when I first opened my eyes, I oddly saw everyone as good, or at least with the potential to be good. As you can see, this has gotten me into quite the pickle here and now. But somehow, sometime, I feel as though I can make a difference, and change our war into peace. But I cannot do that dead, now can I? I realized you don't care about my ridiculous dreams or fantasies, but at least you were kind enough to ask. And for that I thank you. 

"So there you go, I still believe you can be good or can change to good if you really wanted too." Penda finished her statement and prepared for the jeers and attacks from the hyenas.

"You're insane!" One of them cried.

"Loony lion!" another jeered.

They began to advance towards her, ready to tackle her and eat her for dinner. But before they could pounce her, Thimba called them off.

"Stand down," he said, somewhat quietly.

"What did you say?" Mwuaji asked.

"I said, stand down!!" Thimba called louder this time.

The other three stared at him curiously, but they back down and circled around to stand behind him.

Penda looked into his deep brown eyes and saw him look into her's for a split second. And in that second, she spotted it. Mercy. His eyes were filled with mercy.

"Go," Thimba demanded. "Go, and don't come back, ever!"

Penda hesitated, but then she turned with a thankful smile and bolted out of the graveyard, back to the Prideland's den.

"Why did you do that, Thimba? That was our dinner!" Mwuaji demanded, coming up beside him.

Thimba didn't answer, but lowered his eyes to the ground, staring in thought.

"Thimba!! If I would have killed her, I wouldn't have to work even harder to bring a measly rabbit back! I could've been finished with my training and become the shaman!" Mwuaji cried.

"I know very well what could've happened!" Thimba roared in her face, sending her stepping back. "But there is no point in pondering 'what ifs'. What is, is what is."

Thimba stepped forward and faced his friends.

"If any one of you ever tells a soul about what happened here today, then I will make sure you are either killed or exiled, got it?"

Everyone nodded. Mwuaji scowled and the others sneered, but no one fought back.

"Good, now we go home. We'll go back out tomorrow and find something else for you to kill, Mwuaji," Thimba stated, turning his back to head back to their dens.

Author's Note

If you are the artist behind either the image of the hyena or the lion cub, and you would like it off the media section, please comment and I will remove it, even though they are both astounding pieces of artwork.

I hope you enjoyed this!! I worked hard on it but it was super fun too!

Part two will be out who knows when and I'll probably have 2-3 parts total for this story.