Name: Rio

Age: Varies

Gender: Male

Parents: Unknown

Siblings: Deceased

Crush/mate: Robin (Killer Bee)

Cubs: None yet

Personality: Rio is a fun-loving, bubbly, friendly lion but he sometimes annoys people, although he doesn't mean to. He's always on the go, and if he wants to find out about something he will keep annoyinh people until he knows what it is. He believes that being miserable all the time about something will make your life worse, so no matter what life throws at him he will take it with a smile on his face. He is also quite a bit of a flirt but he means no harm.  His scars make him look tough, but he is a big softie at heart.

Likes: Robin, people being happy, helping people

Dislikes: Wars, evil, diseases, hunters, fire

Motto: A lifted spirit has a happy life, a lowered head has an early grave

History: Rio had five others at birth, one of which was a stillborn. His mother died giving birth to them and his father, even though he was supposed to look after the cubs, leapt off a cliff. A lioness was passing by and found five starving males and one already dead. Feeling sorry for them, she took them to her pride and looked after them. She raised the five brothers and told them about how their brother had died at birth. Since they didn't know him, they didn't care that much, and continued with life.

Unfortunately, one of the brothers died from a mysterious illness that no one had seen or heard of before. The poor cub was in agony, he said he ached all over, his head hurt and he was vomiting every hour or so. Eventually he died. The remaining four brother grieved over his death and vowed to remember him forever.

Then the humans moved in. They set fire to the lands and waited. Some were burnt alive, some died from all the smoke. Any that escaped the humans shot. Only three of the four brothers escaped alive. One had been shot and he had tumbled back into the flames where he was burnt alive. The three brothers could do nothing to save him, and could only watch in agony as they saw their brother being burnt alive, and heard his screams of pain and terror. In their own terror the three fled, even though they were only cubs, and lived their lives as rouges. But they still grieved over the fact that they had now lost three brothers.

One day, a rouge attacked them. Rio, one of the brothers, was attaked first. He was scratched on his chest, his front legs and his side. Before the rouge could attack him further the two other brothers came to help. They fought bravely but suddenly the rouge grabbed one of the cubs with his teeth and lifted him up. The young cub screamed in terror and anger, and shrieked with pain as the lion sank his teeth in. Then as the cub went limp, the lion put him down and tore his throat out. Rio and his remaining brother fled. They felt guilty about it, but they would have been next if they didn't.

Rio tried his his hardest to seem happy, his brother just slumped over, all depressed and upset. Whenever Rio tried to cheer him up he just glared at Rio and said "What is the use? Our four brothers are dead! Do you not care for your family?"  before marching off, head held high, and Rio would have to scramble madly after him.

One day Rio's brother turned to him. He looked like he'd been crying. "Rio, we can't travel together anymore." He told him. "Why not?" Rio asked. "I've figured out why everyone close to me has died. I'm cursed, bad luck, evil without knowing it." His brother sobbed. "And you will be next if you don't run away now!" Rio wouldn't hear of it. "I'm staying by your side even if it does kill me." He said firmly. And he said that every day when his brother insisted that he had to leave.

Eventually Rio's brother turned to him. "If you won't leave me, then I'll go instead." He snapped and bolted off to the nearest cliff. Rio was after him like a shot but wasn't quick enough. Rio's brother leapt off the cliff. He fell down to the ground far below.

Rio thought he was dead. He pounded after his brother down the path to the bottom of the cliff as fast as he could, but when he reached his brother there was a sad, small, furry huddle there. At first glance, Rio thought that he had lost his last brother, then saw a faint breathing. Rio had never been so thankful. His brother had broken one of his paws but that would heal. Rio took care of his brother on their journey to find a pride.

But one day, when Rio woke up, he saw his brother, dead. There were no scratches on him, no bites, no fur, no nothing. He had just died. Rio's heart broke for a minute. He had lost all of his family. Then he thought. His brother would never let go of the past, and he just died. He refused to try and move on. Rio did try, and he was still alive. It was then that Rio realised the truth, and so he lived by his new motto, a lifted spirit has a happy life, a lowered head has an early grave. Rio decided to move on, and not dwell on the past, although he did bury his brother in respect. He then continued on his journey to find a pride. As he travelled, he met many rouges who needed help, as they were upset, and Rio did help them. True, he annoyed them at first, but then they became more open and friendly, and didn't need Rio anymore.

As Rio grew, helping lions became his kind of job until he found a pride, and he did enjoy it. He loved helping people like this, as it made him so happy to see a once doubtful lion laughing and smiling, much more warm and open and friendly.

One day Rio came across a pride with a giant rock. He could just see it in the distance, so decided to ask if he could join. As he was walking along the savannah he saw a lioness, quite a pretty one at that. Grinning, he decided to ask her to take him to the king, but when he tried she was so cold. She was snappy, for one, and she wasn't ready to listen to him. Eventually after he pleaded with her (well, annoyed her) she took him to the rock. A lioness with a hair tuff took him to see the king, and he was accepted into the pride. The lioness, Robin, was chosen to show him around, and she wasn't pleased about it. So Rio annoyed her some more, and found out a bit more about her. When she said that she was a curse Rio knew that this lioness needed him now more than ever. He would show her what her life was really like, and he would start the next day by the water hole.

As time went by Rio grew to quite like Robin, although she did snap at him sometimes, and he did grumble about it when she made him take a nap, but Rio refused to give up on her. She was mainly calmest, Rio noticed, when they watched the stars together. Rio had also met Robin's adopted cubs, and he found it a tiny bit funny that Robin would be all sweet and kind with her cubs then when someone else spoke to her she immediately snapped at the lion, then went back to being sweet to her cubs again.

Eventually Rio realised that he was in love with Robin (well, Kovu told him when Rio asked) and, being the huge flirt he is, started to flirt with her some more. But over time he noticed that Robin only seemed to love him as a friend, nothing more. Heart-broken, Rio tried to move on and find someone new, so he started to flirt with other girls to try and find a new crush. He noticed that Robin seemed to get very jealous when he did this, and at first Rio wondered if she really did like him more than a friend after all. But as they spent more time together, and when Rio remembered her past behaviour towards him, Rio changed his mind and decided that she didn't love him. Then the question hit him, if she didn't love him, then why was she so jealous?

Relation to TLK: Lives in the pridelands

Base (C) WolfGirl50