Thanks again to Nausicaa of the Spirits for reviewing! I can update this at pretty much any time, because I've typed up a lot of chapters for it, so don't worry about asking me to. I'm happy to continue

Disclaimer: I do not own Kenai or Koda. They are copywrite to Disney. I do not own Aika, Dania, Kodi or Aquene. They belong to my friends, Kenaiscub, KateSkyWalker, Jennifer and Jackie. I only own Kia, Cherokee and this fan fic.

Chapter 3: A Lesson Learned- The Hard Way

"Daddy, where are we going?" Dania asked as she, Kenai, Kia, and the other cubs walked down a path. Koda and Aika were walking farther behind.

Kenai smiled down at his daughter. "Crowberry Ridge." Was his answer.

Now Cherokee hurried over between her parents. "Crowberry what?" she asked, a puzzled frown on her face.

"Ridge." Kia said, giggling.

She glanced up ahead then, and gasped. Her son, Kodi was climbing into a log, pursuing a porcupine.

"Kodi! Leave that poor porcupine alone and come back here before you get hurt!"

Kodi poked his head out of the log. "Don't worry, Mama. I'll be careful!" he said and ducked back into the log.

"Kodi..please, listen to me!" Kia called, but the cub did not emerge from the log. The female grizzly sighed and turned back to her mate. "Kenai...Wait here with the cubs a minute..I've got to go get our mischievous son away from a porcupine."

Kenai nodded, chuckling. The cubs were barely a couple months old, and already they were a handful. Or should Kenai say, a pawful? Especially Kodi!

Dania, Cherokee and Aquene rolled their eyes. It seemed their brother, Kodi was always getting himself into big trouble!

Kia started toward the log she'd seen Kodi go in, but jumped back, as a fur raising cry rang out. "Yeeeooooowch!"

All of a sudden, she saw Kodi bolt from the log. He was not watching where he was going. The cub rammed himself into a tree, and just sat on the ground, momentarily dazed.

Kia hurried over to him. "Kodi, are you okay?!" she asked her son worriedly.

The white grizzly glanced over at the log behind them, just in time to see the porcupine peeking out, and shaking its paw at Kodi angrily. Kia flashed it an apologetic, toothy smile. "Sorry!" she called out.

"Alright, what did you do this time, Kodi?" she asked, while wondering what Kodi had done.

The cub smiled sheepishly at his mother, not answering her.
Kia heaved a long, low sigh.

Just last week, he had taunted a beehive until the angry bees had chased him away, stinging the cub as he ran. It had been a long time before the swelling on his face had gone down..

Then, just a couple of days ago, Kodi had convinced Dania to go exploring with him and they had stumbled up on a mother eagle's nest. Curious, the two cubs had climbed into the nest, and began to play with the newly hatched chicks. It had taken a long time for Kenai to convince the upset mother that Kodi and Dania meant no harm to her children.

"Well..I.." Kodi began, but was cut off as Kia gasped sharply.
"Kodi, give me your left paw." she said. The cub did as he was told, grinning sheepishly again.

Kia took his left paw and, to her dismay, realized she had not been seeing things. Her son's left paw had sharp porcupine quills stuck in it. "My poor Kodi.." she said sadly.

She sighed, and began to work on getting the quills out of her son's paw. It was a difficult process, because she kept jabbing herself in the face with them occasionally. But this mother would not give up just because of that. Oh no. She would just keep trying harder.

As his mother worked, Kodi explained what had happened. "I-I didn't do anything bad...ow..I just wanted to play. But that porcupine kept on ignoring me, ow! So I..I sorta pounced on him..."

The cub looked sheepishly at his mother, who had gotten all but one quill out by now. "Only..I sorta got poked...OW!" he hollered as Kia yanked on the last quill.

A few minutes later, she held it up in her mouth, triumphantly. "Got it!" Kodi flexed his paw, wincing.

Kia spit the porcupine quill out where no one would walk on it, then smiled at her son, glad that he was okay. But wait. She was the parent. She was supposed to teach a lesson out of this.

"Kodi, you really must be more careful, and obey me more, Kodi." she said, trying to look stern.

Kodi's ears drooped as he saw the angry look on his mother's face. He hated it when she was mad at him. It made him feel so bad, and very ashamed. "Sorry, mama.." the cub mumbled, his eyes on the ground in shame.

Kia's expression softened, seeing that the cub clearly felt bad about his mistake, and she nuzzled her son.

"It's okay, Kodi...I'm not mad at you..I just want you to listen better? I tell you no because I love you, not to take your fun away. Okay?"

Kodi's ears flicked back up, happy that his Mommy was no longer angry.

"Okay, Mama. I promise I'll try to do better." The small brown bear cub nose kissed his mother, then got up on all fours. However, when the cub put pressure on his left paw, he cried out in pain, and was forced to limp on three legs.

Kia examined his paw, concerned. There was a cut from where the porcupine quills had been.

As the white grizzly stood there, trying to think of a way to help Kodi, Kenai walked over with Dania, Cherokee and Aquene. Koda and Aika were still taking their sweet time, far behind them. "Is everything alright, Kia?" he asked.

"Kodi got stuck by a porcupine." Kia informed him quietly. Hearing this, the other cubs hurried over by Kodi.

"Oh my goodness...Does it hurt real badly?" Aquene asked.

"Well..It-" Kodi began, but was cut off by Dania. "Can you still walk?"

Actually, I c-"
"Maybe you should put it in some water." Cherokee suggested, always level headed in these situations.

She had gotten used to her brother's mischievous behavior a long time ago, and often acted like his "nurse". Before Kodi could answer her, Cherokee grabbed a leaf and soaked it in a small pool of water nearby, then hurried back to her brother and pressed it light against the bottom of his paw. Kodi winced, trying not to cry out from the pressure.

Kia laughed, touched that Kodi's sisters cared so much for their brother. "Okay girls, back up and give your brother a little space now." she ordered gently.

Giggling, the three female cubs did as they were told. Kia looked at her son.

"Well dear, it doesn't look like you are going to be able to walk. Not for awhile anyways. That porcupine got you pretty good. So...How about a ride?"

Kodi nodded with a small whimper. Kia picked him up by the scruff of his neck and gently placed him on her back.

"There you go.." she said warmly, and Kodi smiled at her.

"Hey!" Cherokee suddenly said, "I want a ride too, Mommy!"

"Me too!" Dania and Aquene chorused. The three cubs hurried over to Kia and began to climb up her back.

"Me first! No me! Nu uh, me first!" They all shouted, shoving one another.

One of them accidentally hit Kodi's injured paw, making him cry out. "Ouch! hey, watch it, girls! You hit my paw!"

Kia threw Kenai a look that plainly said "Help!"

Kenai nodded and spoke to the cubs. "Hey, who wants a ride on my back?"

"I do, I do!" Aquene and Dania shouted, immediately forgetting about wanting to ride on Kia's back. They jumped up onto their father's back.

Kenai laughed. "Okay..One at a time..I've got room for everyone!"

Kia smiled and licked his cheek. "Thank you." she whispered gratefully.

Kenai nuzzled his beautiful mate. "You're welcome." he whispered back.

Kia glanced back at Kodi, and was surprised to find Cherokee sitting with him.

"Cherokee..Don't you want to sit with your sisters?" Kia asked, confused.

Cherokee shook her head, and said with a smile, "I want to ride with my brother, Kodi."

Kia smiled warmly as Cherokee licked her brother's injured paw, cleaning the blood off. "Alright then." she said softly.

Kenai gently nudged her with his nose then. "Are we all ready to go now?" He asked.

Kia smiled at him. "Yeah, we're ready." she replied.

"Giddy up, Daddy!" Aquene said suddenly.

Kenai nodded, both him and Kia laughing as they continued on.