The Usurper From the Wilds (Fanmade Rewrite)

Chapter 2

The sun rose above a great savannah, birds singing and animals making all sorts of noises as they slowly began to gather around a large cliff. The sunlight was stretching up said cliff, with a lion coming out of a cave, walking into the light. He bore a light tan pelt, as well as a scarlet mane, flowing in the wind, as his brown eyes surveyed the land. Many animals chittered amongst one another excitedly as a red-billed hornbill flew to the top of the rock, bowing to the lion. The lion then bowed his head back respectfully, and all chatters seemed to silence as a mandrill holding a staff slowly walked up the ramp to join the lion at the edge. They shared a friendly hug, before walking backwards towards the cave, out of sight. Only a few moments later, they walked back, the mandrill holding a small cub in his hands. He walked to the very edge of the cliff, which had now been fully coated in sunlight. The crowd watched with bated breath, not a sound emitting from a single one of them. The mandrill looked up to the skies, pausing as he smiled. He then thrust his arms up, presenting the new cub to the entirety of the animal kingdom. The animals began pounding their hooves and feet, roaring and chittering and making noise in joy for the presentation of the cub. A patch of light dispersed from the clouds, shining on the cub as if it were a spotlight. There was such a joyous celebration...but all the while, the lion could be seen looking among the crowd, almost looking...worried, or disappointed. What could this mean? What was all this for...?

"HEEEEEEE-MAYYYYYYYY!!!" A book was thrown to the girl's head, causing her to jolt awake and look angrily at the monster at the foot of her bed. "Heh. Usually, it's you tellin' ME to get up!! We're gonna be late to class, hench-human!!" 

Hime yawned, slowly sitting up and using her hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes...which then proceeded to fall back into place. "What time is it...?"

"Time for you to get a watch." Grim scoffed, counting his cans of tuna as Hime got out of bed and grabbed her school uniform. Essentially, it was just like all the other NRC school uniforms, with the exception of no magic pen and that the vest was gray. She then grabbed her bag and quickly began braiding her hair back, holding a ponytail holder and some bobby pins in her mouth. She nodded her head over to the door to tell Grim to get a move-on, and Grim groaned before scampering after her and jumping onto her shoulder. Hime then secured her braids and walked towards the mirror...mirror travel still made her motion-sick, but it's the main form of transport around here, so she just held her breath and walked in.

As they walked through the halls of the main campus building, Grim pawed a bit at her braids. "So, what were ya dreaming about last night?" He asked, tail twitching. "You were in a deep sleep..."

She thought to herself. Her memory was foggy of the night prior. "I...can't remember." What had she been dreaming of? Her thoughts of the night evaded her. 

"Huh. Weird. Well, I dreamed about my magic defeating Riddle! Then all of you started cheering, and the headmage presented me with all the tuna I could eat!! And I was pronounced the Great Grim, the best mage ever known! And then-!!"

"And then, Grim shut up because he realized that Trein will be staring daggers at him once we get in there if he doesn't!!" Ace laughed, coming up behind them and startling Grim. "Good morning, you two! How are ya feeling after the battle with Riddle a few weeks ago?"

"Morning, Ace." Hime smiled, yawning as Deuce joined them as well. "I'm still exhausted. How's he doing?"

"Riddle's doing better. He's been more lenient with rules lately. We're getting along great! I think he even started going to therapy!" 

Deuce knocked Ace over the head. "Way to give away someone's personal information, Nimrod."

"Don't call me Nimrod!" Ace fired back, shoving Deuce. Hime laughed softly at the two before they all filed into class.

Once they got to History of Magic, she sat in one of the columns with Grim sitting on the desk in front of her. He was asleep before she'd even taken out her quills. Shaking her head, she looked to the board for the subject of today, which happened to be on the King of Beasts. Evidently, he was known as the second-born prince of a vast African empire, centuries ago. A name was given to him, or at least the one documented, called him Taka, translating to the equivalent of "trash". He was constantly compared to his older brother, Mufasa, who bared the name of a king. From the start, he was destined to never have any sort of purpose in life but to be the second-born son. Professor Trein talked of the prince's brother ruling the kingdom too freely. He didn't have many rules, and was rather carefree. He banished the hyenas and even other groups of lions as outcasts, destined to inhabit the elephant graveyard, or the outskirts of the kingdom. Mufasa was loved by all, whereas Taka was looked down upon, despised, and shoved to the side. Turning the page in the textbook, Trein began to write on the board once again, of a group of hyenas that befriended the young prince, as well as a lioness of the outskirts. All the while...Hime couldn't help but begin to doodle the lions and hyenas on her parchment, one of her fingers tapping against the desk. This story was certainly interesting, but...not interesting enough to just stare at the blackboard for an hour. She needed something for her hands to do other than scribbling notes. 

Looking over at Ace, she saw that he'd run out of ink, and quietly pushed her jar over to him, receiving a nod of thanks. She then heard a small "Mrowwww..." And looked over at Deuce, confused. He was reciting to himself everything that had happened in class to help him remember, and that included the noise that Lucius made from the desk. Hime covered her mouth to keep in her giggle, when the bell rang. Trein looked at the clock and nodded.

"That is all for today. Make sure to review on your own." He said, closing the textbook. "Tomorrow, we will discuss the story behind the king of beast's scar. Dismissed."

Class A had lunch straight after first period, so as soon as Ace, Deuce, and Hime gathered their things,  Hime grabbed Grim by his ribbon and they made their way to the cafeteria.

"Mrah!! What did I miss...?" He asked sleepily, then yawned. 

"Oh not much, just the entire lecture." Deuce shrugged sarcastically, but then stopped as soon as they entered the cafeteria. "Woah...what's with all the chaos??"

The cafeteria was packed, people surrounding every inch. But especially around the food line. 

"Uhhh...are we missing some sort of holiday?" Ace asked, shoving past some third-years. Hime yipped as so many people were pressing against her, nearly shoving her out of the cafeteria. Deuce grabbed her arm, pulling her close as he and Ace continued moving through the crowd. Grim kept yowling, holding tight to Hime's shoulder. Hime looked around as her breaths increased a bit, keeping note of Deuce beside her and Grim on her shoulder as  Ace waved down one of the ghosts. "Hey! What gives with the crowd??" 

"Ah! The bakery from out of town has given us sweets and entrees to serve at the cafeteria!" The ghost said happily. "This only happens once a month! Get what you want before it's gone!!"

"All this for fancy bakery food?" Deuce asked, "But couldn't we just get Trey to-"

"MOVE IT, LOOSEY-DEUCEY!!" Grim shouted, leaping from Hime's shoulder and onto a third-year's tray, getting lasagna all over the third-year. "Gimme that deluxe Grilled Cheese!!!"

"Grim!!!" Hime said, going to grab him. But the third year already had him by his scruff, growling. Grim began to scratch at him. 

"Hey, drop me, PUNK!!!" 

"GRIM!!!" Ace yelled louder, cutting in front of line to snatch him away and getting ready to scold him. But it was too late...there was about to be a full-blown fight in the cafeteria. Over a sandwich. 

Deuce put up his fists. "This could get ugly..."