The dark den was filled with the peaceful breaths of the Pridelands lions as they slept blissfully after a full day of hunting and exploring in the heat. Each one was exhausted and welcomed the wonderful feel of relaxing sleep.

But one lion cub wasn't enjoying the quietness of the cozy den. This cub was overly bored, as he was one of the younger cubs who weren't allowed to help hunt or explore yet.

This young cub's name was Badru. Badru wanted to get out of the boring cave and take his friends to go do their own exploring.

Badru carefully made his way over to his two best friends, who were resting next to their parents.

"Kia! Kia, wake up!" Badru whispered quietly into his friend's ear.

His friend, Kiania or "Kia" for short, slowly let her green eyes flutter open to see him. A soft smile crossed her sleepy face as she looked into his antsy eyes that obviously longed for adventure.

"Hey, Badru," she replied gently.

"Shh!" Badru cautioned, motioning to the mouth of the den.

She looked at the mouth and then back at him. She nodded and slowly began to stand up off her mother's paws and went to the den exit.

Badru located his other friend, Daudi, and made his move.

Within two minutes of Badru waking up, all three of the best friends, Daudi, Badru, and Kia, had all gathered at the cave mouth.

"What are we doing?" Daudi asked, sleepily blinking his chocolate brown eyes.

A sly smile crossed Badru's face.

"We're gonna go see how much trouble we can get into," he said, wiggling his black eyebrows mysteriously.

"Oh, no! We're gonna die, aren't we?" Daudi asked.

"Daudi, it's a Tuesday. I know how to restrain myself." Badru replied nonchalantly.

"You absolutely do not." Kia responded, rolling her forest green eyes.

"I do too! Besides, we are not going any where too bad tonight." he stated, shrugging.

"Oh yeah? Where are we going?" Kia asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"We are going to the jackal territory." Badru replied, holding his head up high in Pride at his idea.

"Those jackals will tear your brave little butt to shreds, boy." Sassy little Kia stated.

"Fine. Stay if you're too chicken, but Daudi and I are going." Badru responded, turning to leap down Priderock.

"Ugh," Daudi sighed, rolling his eyes but still following his best friend down the stairs, Kia on his tail.

The trio of cubs traveled quickly through the grasses, aiming for the outlands border, because that's were the jackals lived. Daudi didn't stop complaining about how they were heading for assured death. Kia rolled her eyes about a million times total on the trip. Badru ignored both of them as be was too excited about finding and watching the jackals.

Suddenly, Badru stopped short, causing his friends to almost plow into him.

"Look!" Daudi gasped.

Badru clapped his paw over Daudi's mouth as the three of them saw a rogue lion slink out of the grasses. The cubs hunkered down in the golden grasses and watched as the rogue glanced around, probably looking for food.

They silently laid there as the lion stopped and looked at the stars, then went off in the direction of the Jackals' Territory.

"He's going to the jackals!" Kia whispered.

"Why?" Badru mused, tilting his head. "Come on,"

He stood quietly and trailed the rogue, staying at a safe distance.

"I'm not following a rogue!" Daudi said, shaking his head as he took a step back.

"Suit yourself," Kia shrugged, taking off towards Badru.

"Kia!" Daudi whined. He made a whimpering noise and reluctantly followed his friends.

"Why is a rogue going to see jackals?" Kia asked.

"Maybe he's just going to the outlands," Badru suggested.

"Still, why?" Kia wondered.

"Shhh!"

They stopped again as the rogue adjusted his tracks, turning a bit to get the right direction.

Badru smiled mischieviously as he stalked forward.

"Should we let him know we're onto him?" Daudi whispered.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Badru asked.

"Where's the brains in that?" Kia asked to herself.

Daudi scowled at her. Badru took off again, following the lion to the outlands border. They watched as the lion entered a labyrinth of towering rocks.

"I've never seen this part of the outlands before," Badru stated.

"You shouldn't have seen any of it!" Daudi cried.

"Shh!" Kia cried. "Where did he go? We'll never find him in there!!"

"We can try!" Badru replied, trotting forward.

Kia hesitated. Daudi whined.

"I-I don't know, Badru. What if we get lost?" Kia asked.

"Chicken," Badru called over his shoulder, disappearing behind a rock.

Kia growled at the stupidity of this whole endeavor as she went after Badru.

The three cubs looked around at the rocks as tall as giraffes. Worry seeped into their beings as they realized they were in a very dangerous spot.

"Which way did he go?" Kia asked, sniffing the air for a clue.

Badru looked around. "Well, judging by the direction of the wind, the broken sticks there, and the slight disturbance of the sand there,"

"Yeah?" Daudi asked as Badru looked around.

"I say he went that way," Badru suggested.

"Wow, you're good. Did you really figure all that out?" Daudi asked.

"No, you idiot, I saw him right there!" Badru pointed at a crack in the rocks where the jackal dens were.

The three of them peeked through and saw the rogue prowling around the dens, sniffing intensely. The pale lion leaped into one of the dens. There was a soft yelp and some scurrying.

The three gasped when they saw the lion pull the dead body of a jackal out of the den.

"This is bad," Badru stated quietly.

Daudi gulped and Kia frowned.

The rogue then proceeded to dig around the den and brought out the dead jackal's share of the leftover meal from the jackals' dinner. He took a few bites of the leftovers and drug the jackal out of the den area and out of the outlands.

When he had left, Badru leaped forward and ran up to the den. He warily entered the dark den, lit only by the star filled night.

He glanced around the den. A littler of three pups were whining in the corner. This was obviously a mother jackal without a mate.

"This is bad," Badru stated.

"You said that already." Kia said.

"I know, but it seemed worth repeating." Badru replied.

"Did that rogue kill the jackal?" Daudi asked meekly.

"I think so," Badru sighed.

Kia gasped.

"He killed a mother! With three pups!!" Kia cried, rushing towards the puppies with her eyes full of concern.

The three cubs looked at the pups and frowned.

"We have to take them back home, maybe our parents can help raise them or something." Kia said.

"I'm sure another female jackal will step in and help. We don't hafta take 'em." Badru replied.

"Yeah let's leave them with the bad guys so they will become evil too, great idea, Badru," Kia said sarcastically.

Badru shrugged. She was right.

Kia stepped forward and lifted one of the pups by their scruffs, gently taking him to the den exit. She looked back at the boys, willing them to follow her.

Badru looked at Kia standing at the exit, silhouetted by the night sky and framed by the cave mouth. He frowned and did as she had, lifting a pup and going over to her. Daudi whined but followed suit. The three cubs escaped the spine shivering outlands through the same rock labyrinth they had entered by.

The three didn't stop walking until they had reached the Pridelands den and had awoken Badru's mother.

They had explained what they had seen and told her about the pups. It took another hour until they had decided what to do because they had also awoken the king and queen, Mohatu and Asali.

The king and queen decided to let the pups sleep with their daughter, Princess Uru, until morning then they would decide further.

"Uru," King Mohatu nudged his daughter.

The young adult lioness opened her eyes and let them glance curiously around the den.

"What's wrong, dad?" Uru asked, standing to her paws and giving him a thorough examination.

Uru took her job of being the future queen very seriously, and when there was an issue in the Pridelands she wanted to know and was always eager to help.

"It's nothing that urgent," He said calmly, motioning for her to lay back down. "We've had an issue with a couple cubs, and I'm sure their mothers will deal with them later, but they found a rogue murderer and they witnessed him killing a single jackal mother with three pups. All I need is for you to kept the pups warm and watch over them carefully."

"Of course, daddy," Uru said as she laid back down, a smile spreading across her face. "Which cubs?"

"Badru, Kiania, and Daudi," the king replied, a disproving look entering his eyes.

Uru shook her head and smiled again at the thought of the rascals.

After the three jackal pups were cuddled in her paws, and the three mischievous cubs and their parents were resting once more, Uru looked at her sad with a concerned glint in her candy red eyes.

"If there's a rogue lion in the land, we have to change our plans." Uru said. "We'll have to set up often patrols and send the Guard to scout pass the borders-"

"-Just get some rest. We'll figure this out in the morning." Her dad told her.

"Alright," she reluctantly sighed.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," the king whispered gently, leaning over and kissing her on her forehead.

"Night, daddy,"