The African Prairie

The African Prairie is a story that was written by Dustin Zhang.

See List of African Prairie Characters.

Plot
In the beginning, the animals gather at Emperor Rock to witness the presentation of Kiburi, the future king.

A month later, Kiburi gets up early, as usual, but he remembers that this will be a "special day." As he climbs up to Lookout Point, he recalls how the interior of Emperor Rock was always sheltered from the damp. A little later, Kiongozi climbs up the spiral path, and explains to Kiburi how the mind works.

Just then, Filimbi interrupts, perching in Kiburi's head. As he runs through his report of things all around the Prairielands, Kiburi gets irritated at Filimbi, because the latter's claws dug into his cranium. Finally, he lost control of his irritable temper, and flung Filimbi into the air to punish him. Kiburi's choice nearly led to an argument, but they were interrupted by the Jackals, whom Kiongozi start fighting.

As Kiburi and Filimbi descend back down, on Kiongozi's orders, the former complains that he never gets to participate in a real fight. Filimbi assures him that soon he will be king, and he can "chase those felons down there to and fro, and from sunup till sundown!"

Trivia

 * There are some major differences between the African prairie and the Lion King: Number One, the names are different; number two, in the Lion King, Mufasa takes Simba around the entire Pridelands, and in the African prairie, Kiburi and Kiongozi just stay at Emperor Rock; Number Three, Kiongozi and Mufasa tell Kiburi and Simba different things; Number Four, Kiburi, in contrast to Simba, flung Filimbi into the air instead of pouncing; Number five, in the African Prairie, the Jackals actually show themselves, and in the Lion King, Mufasa is warned about them, but the watcher doesn't see them on the screen.
 * In the African prairie, the cranium refers to the head, not the cranial bone.