After a brief walk down and around Pride Rock, the lion and cheetah cubs found their way into the Lair of the Guard, passing through the vines and entering the cave to see their friends/teammates relaxing- Ono was preening his feathers, Bunga and Beshte were chatting together while the honey badger munched on termites, and to their surprise, they also saw Rafiki painting a new picture on the walls, a new addition to what was already a mural full of the rich history of their Guard, and every Guard that came before them.

As the two felines entered further into the cave, the egret looked up and saw them. "Good morning, guys!" He greeted, alerting the others to their friends' presence.

"Hey, guys!" Beshte also greeted, giving his typically big smile.

"Took you long enough!" Bunga added, to which Fuli rolled her eyes.

"Bunga, we're right on time!" She pointed out. "It's not our fault you chose to be early for once!"

"Eh, what can I say? I missed this place."

Kion gave a chuckle, knowing that nothing would change his friend's attitude toward things. "Well, it's better to be early than late, I guess."

"Sometimes, yes," they overheard the mandrill say, turning to look at him while he painted the mural. "To be too late can mean a missed opportunity, but so can to be too early."

Bunga blinked, before turning to the others and asking, "any of you understand what he's saying?"

He felt a light whack on the head from the mjuzi's baobab stick. "Then perhaps you should not interrupt while I am speaking." The honey badger rubbed his head, though the mandrill simply ignored him. "What I am saying is, if you are too early, you may be finished and leave before something truly amazing can occur."

'That sounds familiar,' Fuli thought to herself, just as she remembered something. "How's Mjumbe's wing?"

"The scar is fading. It will be sore for a day or two, but he no longer needs the sling, and should be able to fly again."

"Actually, I think I saw him flying earlier," Ono recalled. "He seemed fine."

This brought a smile to the cheetah's face. "That's good to hear. Thank you, Rafiki."

"Think nothing of it, young one. It is my duty, after all."

Without another word, he returned to the wall where his paints sat and returned to his work. "Hey, Rafiki? What are you painting?"

He turned to the hippo, a grin on his face. "Ah, wanting to see your history painted down for all time?" He stepped aside, allowing the Guard to see what was painted- an image of them, heading towards a large rainforest. "Your journey to Kushangaza is a part of your journey as the Lion Guard, and will forever be a part of your history."

"I didn't know you knew Kushangaza," Fuli said to the monkey, who laughed.

"I don't!" The others looked to each other slightly confused, but Rafiki paid it no mind as he collected his paints. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see how Makini is fairing with her training."

"See you later, Rafiki," Kion said as the mandrill made his exit, before turning to his friends. "Okay, Lion Guard. It's time for patrol."

"It feels like it's been forever since you've said that," Beshte pointed out, to which everyone shared a laugh.

"Yeah, it has been a while, but we're back home now, and we need to resume our duties. We may have been gone for half a week, but we are still more than capable of protecting our home."

"Yeah, we are!" Bunga cheered, everyone donning a confident expression.

"And if anyone tries to get in our way, we won't let them get away with it," Fuli stated with pride. "This is our home, and we won't let anyone ruin that for us."

"Then, let's go. 'Til the Pride Lands end!"

"LION GUARD DEFENDS!"

Meanwhile, at Ndefu Grove, the elephants of Ma Tembo's herd were enjoying the beautiful weather, chatting amongst themselves while taking it easy. As she chatted with one of the other elephants, Ma Tembo looked past them for a moment and saw the king and queen of the Pride Lands approaching, as well as the recently arrived Kasi. "Excuse me for a second, Kujali," she told the other elephant, before walking away toward the approaching felines. "Greetings, your majesties."

"Greetings, Ma Tembo," Simba replied. "I hope we're not intruding."

"Not at all. How can I help you?"

"Well," Nala explained, "we're just going round with Kasi to meet the rest of the herds properly, so that you can all get to know her better."

"I hope that's alright," Kasi spoke up, to which Ma Tembo smiled.

"Of course it is." She turned around to face her herd. "Everyone! This is Kasi, the leader of the cheetah tribe that may be moving to the Pride Lands. She has come to introduce herself to you, so please come and say hello."

The elephants all approached, some more eagerly than others, and while there were a lot of them, Kasi felt okay with speaking to them. "Hello, everyone. As Ma Tembo has told you, my name is Kasi, and I am my tribe's leader. We've come from a distant rainforest known as Kushangaza, and though it is a beautiful place, the time came for us to leave it behind and move somewhere new."

"And why here?" Zito blurted out, receiving all eyes. "Why did it have to be the Pride Lands?"

"Zito!"

"It's okay, Ma Tembo," Kasi assured the elephant leader, before addressing the question. "The reason I wished for us to move here is because the Pride Lands used to be my home. They were my home before Scar's reign brought the lands to ruin, and also shortly after Simba took the throne. My mate and I settled down here again and had a cub, but… I had to leave her behind."

"I thought that you looked familiar," Kujali spoke, stepping forward slightly. "Your daughter is Fuli, isn't she?" Kasi nodded. "And you left her behind?"

The cheetah looked down, a bit of shame on her face. While Nala was about to speak, likely to scold the elephant for her question, Kasi spoke first. "It wasn't a choice that I made easily." She looked back up so her and Kujali could see eye to eye. "Are you a mother?"

"I am." She looked to the small group of younger elephants, particularly to the boy who was smiling widely. "Mtoto there is my son."

"And would you do anything for him?" A bit surprised by the question, Kujali nodded. "Then I hope you can understand why I left. My mate was killed by another pride of lions, those that live in the Outlands."

"Zira's pride?" Ma Tembo asked.

"The very same. After that, I did my best to raise her myself… but then I saw some of her lionesses again, and I grew worried that they would try and take Fuli from me as well. I didn't want to risk taking Fuli with me, because the Pride Lands were the best place for her, so I made a decision. I asked her to hide and I ran, leading the lionesses with me." She shook her head slowly, a sad sigh escaping her lips. "I am, by no means, proud of my choice… but I'm thankful that Fuli has done as well as she has without me."

The elephant mother didn't say anything for a moment, taking her time to fully take in what she had heard, before finally speaking. "Well… I can't say I agree with your choice. I couldn't imagine leaving Mtoto by himself… but I understand why you made that decision."

This brought a smile to Kasi's face. "Thank you. I appreciate that."

"Well, Kasi, I think it's lovely to make your acquaintance more properly," Ma Tembo spoke, then turned to her herd once again. "Is there anything anyone would like to ask Kasi?"

As Kasi began to answer and ask questions with the elephant herd, she couldn't help but smile. 'I think this is going well.'

The Lion Guard continued on their patrol, having just helped to calm down a stampede caused by Vuruga Vuruga's herd, and were heading towards the gazelles' territory. As he flew overhead, however, Ono caught sight of something. "Is that…" His sights narrowed in in some bushes on the Northeast side of the grazing grounds and saw something moving… something grey and furry. "Hapana!"

Hearing his friend's exclamation, Kion looked upward. "What's wrong, Ono?"

"It's Janja and his clan, they're trying to sneak up on the gazelles! They're approaching from the Northeast, and from what I can see, there's five of them."

"Five of them versus five of us?" Bunga acknowledged, before donning a grin. "If it was ten of them, it might be a fair fight."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Bunga," Fuli warned him. "There could be more on the way."

"Fuli's right. We need a plan." Turning to the cheetah, Kion told her, "Fuli, run ahead and intercept them. Don't let them get to the gazelles, no matter what." He looked back up to the egret. "Ono, fly ahead and find Swala, so she can lead her herd to safety." He then looked over his shoulder at the bravest and strongest members of the teams. "Once the herd is safe, we'll take care of the hyenas. Everyone ready?"

"GOT IT!"

"Then, let's go!"

So, they set to work, with the cheetah boosting her pace to speed ahead. Oblivious to all that the Guard were saying, the hyenas skulked towards their prey, hunger of multiple kinds on their minds. "C'mon, Janja, can't we just grab one already?" Cheezi complained, to which Janja snapped his head in his direction and shot him a harsh glare.

"Zip it, Furbrain!" He spat, gritting his teeth as he returned his gaze to the gazelles. "We go too quick and we'll spook them, which'll mean no lunch. No lunch means we've failed, and we've failed means…" He waited for a response, and when he didn't get one, he looked and saw them all looking at him with blank expressions. "Morons! It means Scar's gonna be mad!" The way their eyes lit up with realisation made him groan again. 'Why'd I have to get lumped with these idiots?' Shaking that thought off, he returned his sights to the gazelles once more, his patience running thin. "Alright, looks like it's time. On three… one... two…"

"HUWEZI!"

"Don't interrupt, furbrains!"

Cheezi and Chungu looked to each other, before the latter told their leader, "uh, I don't think that was us, Janja."

"Then who-"

He didn't even need to ask the question, the answer crashing into him at forty miles an hour, pinning him to the ground with a thud and a skid. After squinting from the initial pain, he opened his eyes and saw a familiar pair of green eyes staring down at him. "FULI!? What- what are- what are you-"

"What's the matter, Janja? Cat got your tongue?" She taunted with a confident grin. "Or did you just miss me?" She heard him growl, struggling to try and get free, but just as he was about to speak again, she interrupted him. "Yeah, while I'd love to catch up with all the ways you and your hyenas have failed to destroy the Circle of Life, I'm just waiting for Ono to clear the gazelles."

His eyes widening, Janja darted his stare towards the herd, and saw that they were making their exit, the keenest of sight guiding them away. "No!" He turned his head and saw that the rest of his hyenas were simply stood looking at him, which infuriated him even further. "Don't just stand there, furbrains! Get them!"

Not needing to be told twice, the pack began to run after the fleeing herd. They, however, didn't get far before another familiar cry was heard. "TWINDE KIBOKO!" Before any of them could brace themselves, they felt the colossal force of Beshte ram into them head first, knocking them to one side. Those that were fortunate enough to avoid the hippo's attack weren't as lucky when Bunga came in with a flying dropkick, sending them crashing into each other, with just one hyena able to escape. "We've got a runner!"

"I've got it!" Fuli declared, leaping off of Janja and running off after the runaway hyena. Realising that he now could, Janja got to his paws and- seeing that this was a losing battle- tried to escape.

As fate would have it, that wouldn't happen.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, for crying out-" the weight of Kion pinning him to the ground cut his sentence short, meaning he could only look up and snarl at the lion cub. "Seriously? You chose today to come back?"

"That's where you're wrong, Janja. We returned to the Pride Lands yesterday."

"You what?" He was going to say something else, suddenly surprised by the revelation, but instead snarled. "Whatever. One day or another, we're gonna take over this place, so you'd have been better off staying gone."

"That's where you're wrong, Janja. No matter where fate may take us, we will always find our way back home, and we will defend it 'til our last breath, for all of the animals that live and coexist here in peace and harmony. So when we send you back to the Outlands, make sure you all know one thing."

Kion donned a proud grin as he finished by saying, "the Lion Guard are back."