Chapter eleven: Tunnel Vision
"Kion, the fire spreading!" Fuli cried. "We won't be able to stop it, if it gets any more out of control!" Kion scanned the flames, the trees crackled and dropped branches feeding the flames; and the rocks stopped them.
"I've got it! Beshte, use that rock to push back the flames. Ono keep trying to catch those flaming branches. Fuli, Bunga, try and find a way to stop the flames until Beshte comes around with the rock."
"You got it, Kion!" Beshte responded.
"Affirmative!" Answered Ono.
"We're on it!" Fuli nodded. The flames glowed strangely again and the screaming briefly returned, but Kion shook it off and pressed on. Beshte grunted and strained as the rock began to move, he rounded it around the area of the flames, Fuli and Bunga doing their best to keep the flames back in the meantime. And Ono diving about catching as many branches as he could reach, as instructed.
"Fire breaks dug." Beshte reported. "That rock made it go a lot faster!"
"Great!! Everyone take cover! The caves in the canyon they'll protect you." Kion ordered.
"From what?" Bunga questioned curiously.
"Trust me." Kion's eyes hardened slightly. The team then turned and fled into the canyon below. Kion lifted his eyes from the fire to the skies, and focused himself, he fiercely growled and roared into the wind. The power from this roar was reflected of the lion-headed clouds forcing the air down over Kion and blew in all directions kicking up dust and scattering the flames to nothingness. Kion smiled when he saw that all that was left of the fire was scorch marks and ash. Then he turned and ran for the opening of the canyon.
"Guys? You can come out now." Kion told them. The four members of the Lion Guard peered out from where they hid. Kion smiled thankfully at them as he stepped toward them; when a crumbling noise came from above them, and they all looked up.
"Everybody move!" Kion exclaimed, waving a paw at them. Suddenly Kion was masked in a cloud of dust and rock.
"Kion!!" The team cried, the dust caught in their throats, and they couldn't resist the urge to cough. But as soon as the dust cleared they all ran forward, only to come face to face with nothing but rock.
"Kion?!" Fuli called, addressing the cub. Inside the rubble they heard a crumbling noise and a familiar cough, as Kion rose up from the rubble. The only way they saw him was through a hole in the rock pile, that they could vaguely tell, was an open pocket where the rocks had not fallen.
"Kion! Are you ok?!" Ono gasped hovering in front of the hole.
"I think so." The cub breathed hoarsely. "The canyon walls must have been weakened by The Roar." He paced about the small space, looking for some way out of it. "There's no space big enough for me to squeeze out of. Beshte, think you can move aside some rocks to make a way out?"
"I can try." The hippo decided confidently, stepping up to the challenge. Bracing himself against the rocks he began to push; but the rocks above Kion suddenly dropped, stopping short of him.
"Oh no!" Beshte gasped stepping back, feeling guilty for having made it worse.
"It's ok, Beshte." Kion breathed relaxing slightly. "I'm ok."
"Well that didn't work." Bunga shrugged sarcastically. Kion tried to push aside a rock from the inside, as another one to his right fell away exposing hallow darkness.
"Huh?"
"What is Kion?" Fuli asked, picking up on his confusion.
"I think I found a tunnel. It might be another one of those Nandembo Caverns." The cub guessed from the look of it. The cheetah studied his face through the opening.
"Oh no, do not even think about what I think your thinking." She growled, reading his mind.
"What other choice do we have?" Kion questioned, his eyes soft in his innocent statement. "We can't move these rocks without collapsing the whole thing on top of me. And we don't really have a lot of options here, Fuli." The cheetah sneered in defeat, flattening her ears and looking away.
"What's the kerbubble, Kion?" Beshte asked, trying to follow their train of thought.
"I'm gonna have to go through the tunnels to get out. It's too dangerous to try and move the rocks while I'm still in here." Kion stated. "The Nandembo caverns run all over the place. And I think the entrance to it is not far from here."
"And you're sure there's no other option?" Ono emphasized uneasily.
"Wish I could say there was a better option." Kion sighed earnestly. "I'll head that way toward the exit. Once I'm through you'll need to push the rocks out of the way to open up the canyon again."
"Ok, we got this. Go." Fuli said softly, her voice still a bit unsure as she added. "And Kion?..." the cub peered back at her through the crack. "Be careful." She finished, her green eyes gnawing into his.
"I will... I promise." Kion told her, then slipped into the damp darkness of the tunnel.
Once they were sure Kion was clearly out of the way, Beshte carefully plowed over the rocks; as Kion had asked.
"Ok, let's go get Kion." Fuli decided, as soon as they emerged from the, now, clear canyon.
"Affirmative." Ono agreed, "follow me, everyone." The egret flew off toward the cave entrance, and the other members hurried after him.
Kion crept through the darkness, his paws gingerly stepping on. The pads of his paws felt the coolness of the floor, which sent uneasy chills up his spine. Normally there wasn't anything to be afraid of; but after all the things that have happened recently, the Lion Guard leader couldn't help but feel a little on edge anyway. Maybe this was a trap. Maybe Scar set this up as a way to separate him from the team. But for what reason would he trap him down here? And what would he gain from it? Kion tensely ran these thoughts through his head; trying to put it together, but he couldn't seem to connect the dots. Something felt different here, something curious. He couldn't exactly pinpoint it; but could tell there was clearly a difference between this incident, and the ones he'd previously encountered recently. As he peered around another tunnel, he slowly strode down it; continuing to think. Maybe this was just an accident, just a very strange coincidence. Kion had learned to decipher what was coincidence.. and what wasn't, and he could do it quite well. And he was seriously leaning in one direction, for reasons, only he knew, as of yet. Ones that weren't fully justified, but made enough sense to be so. Peering around another corner, he edged out into it; he came to another intersection in a "T" shape going opposite directions. Turning left he watched the path behind him cautiously, as though waiting for something to come running from that direction at him from behind. But since he wasn't watching where he was going in front of him, he hit a wall. Shaking the shock from his head, a crumbling noise caught his ears. Kion realized that a wall stood in front of him and he darted back the way he'd come, but was cut off by rocks and he screeched to a halt. Coughing in the dust, he clenched his eyes closed to avoid getting the dust in them. Once he'd recovered from the coughing, he stared tensely at the cave in and then the rocky wall behind him. Trapped, he thought. But then, another sound beneath him made him lift a paw up and step back; as a small portion of dirt disappeared, releasing a tiny cloud of dust. And from this cloud, a small golden body emerged, one that Kion strangely recognized rather quickly.
"Kuchimba?" He raised an eyebrow at the little golden mole dusting himself off with his back to him. But as soon as he heard his name, he looked straight ahead, then turned it around toward the cub.
"What? Who's there?" The mole asked peering around, if he'd had eyes they'd likely be squinting to see whoever had just spoken to him.
"It's me, Kion." Kion told him. "We met a little while back when my sister; Kiara, her friends; Tifu and Zuri, and my friend; Bunga and I were trapped in the aardvark tunnels because of a fire."
"Kion? Oh yeah! I remember you!" Kuchimba realized, letting his guard down, stepping closer to Kion. "So what brings you back down into the underground caverns?"
"Nothing by choice.. again." Kion admitted, with an exasperated sigh.
"What happened this time?" The golden mole asked, crossing his arms sarcastically, half humorously.
"Rock slide." Kion returned flatly. "Didn't have a choice but to try and navigate the tunnels again. Lucky I ran into you though."
"Oh sure, I'd be happy to help you out!" Kuchimba said, catching on to the implied statement the cub was hinting at.
"Great! But.. we're kind trapped in here." Kion sighed, looking around the closed in pocket. "We're going to have to knock the rocks out of the way, if we're going to get anywhere."
"I'm sure we'll be able to." Kuchimba scoffed confidently. Heading to the rock wall, he put his claws to it; Kion placing his front paws up onto it too. "Ready?"
"Ready." Kion nodded.
"Go!" Kion and Kuchimba pushed, hoping their strength would be enough. But as they pushed the rocks jolted as Kion's paws slipped, and a squirt of something blurred his vision. Backing up a little Kion shook his head, drops of water scattering from his fiery red mane. A needle-point sting in one of his paws pierced the pad of his foot, and he lifted it to inspect it. Blood lightly oozed from a small cut across the pad of his paw, emanating the sting a bit more. Looking past his paw, he realized something else.
"The tunnel is filling up with water?!" Kion cried. "We've gotta get out of here! Now!!" He frantically tried to dig away anything that would free them.
"Water? Down here?! Not good." Kuchimba commented. Kion tried to push the rocks away again, but the sting of his paw cut this effort short. "I'll go get help!" The golden mole decided. He jumped up onto another rock, burrowed into the wall and was gone. Kion's attention turned from that, to the terror of the situation in which he was faced with, as he struggled in the rising waters and the lessening of empty, breathable space.
Hey guys finally got the next chapter. This story has been tough for some reasons and with all the other stories I have going on, I guess that may be part of why I haven't been working on this one. But, I hope you guys are still enjoying this. And I hope you're still interested in what's still to come! Enjoy!! Thx!!!