After Kion and Fuli had recounted their earlier face off with the Outlanders, they headed off with the rest of the Lion Guard to resume their patrol, though not without saying goodbye to their respective parents first. It wasn't long after this, that the king and queen resumed the tour of the Pride Lands with Kasi, who couldn't help but smile as she walked alongside them, looking around and becoming familiar once again with the landscape.

"It's funny how, after so much time, it can feel like I've never left," the cheetah said to herself, the queen turning her head towards her upon hearing it. "When I visited Fuli a month ago, as I first got into the Pride Lands again, it felt like I was in a whole new land. This time, however, it's like I'm truly back home."

"That's good to hear," Nala told her with a smile of her own. "I know my mate here likely would never say it, but we want you to feel like this is your home, too."

"I'm certainly not opposed to it," Simba spoke up, raising an eyebrow to his mate.

"Like I said, he wouldn't ever tell you." The two females laughed, neither paying attention to the king's eye roll as response to their joke. "Still, I've enjoyed getting to know you, Kasi."

"The feeling is mutual, Nala. I hope we get to know each other better in the coming days."

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm," the king spoke once more, "we should first see what the rest of the herds have to say. We're about to arrive at Lake Matope, and I assure you that Makuu will not be wanting to get to know you."

"Don't discourage her, Simba." Nala shook her head at the male, before turning her head and facing forward. "We're here."

They walked towards the small lake, where the crocodiles were currently watching on as two members of the float engage in a sparring contest, the two crocodiles trying to bite at each other. While hearing the others cheer and chant as they watched, Makuu saw the approaching felines out of the corner of his eyes, so he walked into the middle of the lake. "Enough!" He declared, silencing all spectators and ending the sparring contest. "It seems we have guests."

The crocs all turned to face the approaching king, queen and cheetah, the first of whom suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. "Never one for subtlety, are you, Makuu?"

"It's not the crocodile way." He approached from out of the water, standing just in front of the group. "So, what brings you here?"

"Well," Nala chose you explain, "we decided it would be best if Kasi was able to introduce herself to the herds, so they could get to know her better."

"Pass. We're not really interested in any sob stories, so as long as they don't annoy us, we couldn't really care less."

"Oh… I see."

"Well," Simba said, him and his wife sharing a look that showed how awkward this felt, "in that case, I suppose that we'll-"

"You say that you aren't interested in a sob story," Kasi interrupted, her eyes locking on Makuu's. "Would you instead be interested in a sparring match?"

Every pair of eyes widened- the king and queen looked at her in shock, the crocodiles looked at her with disbelief, but Makuu was quite simply bemused. "You're challenging a crocodile to a sparring match? Everyone knows that my float are the best fighters in the Pride Lands. Ain't that right, boys?"

The rest of the float all gave an uproar of agreement, but Kasi never shifted her gaze, her smile curling slightly into a smirk. "Then you should have no problem proving it. Unless, of course, those words are empty."

Just like that, the uproar turned silent, and Makuu's grin dropped for a second. The crocodile and cheetah leaders became locked in a staring match, neither moving even a muscle for a matter of moments, both sizing each other up, until eventually, the crocodile's grin returned in full. "Alright. This should be a nice exhibition for the boys. You're on. Follow me."

As Makuu began to lead the way, Nala turned to Kasi and asked her, "are you sure about this?"

"Me and my tribe had to defend ourselves against many different herds, packs and groups back at Kushangaza. I can hold my own."

"I can see where Fuli gets her confidence from."

Kasi nodded. "And I'm proud of it."

So, they followed Makuu to a small clearing, where the ground was dry due to the dry season. Makuu stood in the middle of the clearing, with Kasi walking over to stand opposite him. The rest of the float and the lion king and queen gathered around them, forming the audience for the upcoming challenge.

"Alright!" Simba declared. "This sparring contest between Kasi and Makuu shall now take place. This shall be a non-lethal contest. Therefore, no fangs shall be used, but claws will be allowed, and this will be stopped either when one of you is successfully pinned for three seconds, or by my stoppage. Is that clear?" Makuu nodded first, not taking his eyes off his opponent as she gave a nod of her own. "Alright. In that case… begin."

The float of crocodiles cheered on their leader as he and Kasi circled each other, neither letting the other out of their sights. The question of who would make the first move was quickly answered when Kasi attempted to pounce at Makuu, who sidestepped to one side. He tried to take her off her feet by whipping his tail at her, but she leapt over it and backed up. She then started to run around the crocodile, picking up speed as she ran while disorienting the croc.

"That's it?" He challenged, looking frantically around to try and see where she was. "Come on, fight me!"

"If you say so!" Before he could even register it, Kasi charged him head first, ducking her head and flipping him onto his back. She pressed her paws into his shoulders and held them down to the ground. She heard the king start to count, but when Makuu kicked at her back leg, she was sent back enough for him to get to his feet. He gave her a bit of a smirk, but stayed silent. He started to charge towards her, so she tried to leap at him, not knowing that he would roll to one side and whip his tail at her, connection with her side and knocking her down. The wind taken out of her, Kasi groaned as she felt Makuu walk over and pin her down. She heard the float getting rowdy as the king began his count, but she simply looked at Makuu and told him, "not so fast!"

Lifting her hind paws up to his chest, she kicked him away, sending him a good few feet into the air, and she quickly took advantage by leaping up and tackling him to the ground. This time, as the king counted, Makuu was not able to beat the count of three, which had has float stunned to silence.

"This contest is over!" Simba declared. "Kasi is the winner!"

As he finally got back to his feet, now that Kasi has gotten off, Makuu panted slightly as his eyes locked with hers once more, his gaze not hateful but not a happy one either. "That… that was…" He stopped for a few seconds, before a smile came to his face. "That was an interesting match. It wasn't the crocodile way, but you did what you had to win. I have to respect that."

Kasi smiled in kind. "You're not too bad yourself, Makuu. It's nice to have some friendly competition for once."

"I suppose. Just don't expect the same result next time."

She turned her smile into a smirk and told him, "I wouldn't dream of it."

Eventually, the sun began lowering in the sky, and after a full day of patrolling, the Lion Guard saw this as they came to a stop near the Watering Hole. "Well, everyone," Kion spoke, turning to his friends, "that should cover everything for today. You all did good, and we've managed to keep up with everything. I think we can call it a day, so make sure you get some rest tonight. We'll meet in the lair in the morning."

"Is it weird that we didn't have any trouble with getting back into the routine?" Beshte asked.

"Nah, Big B!" Bunga refuted, crossing his arms. "It just shows how awesome we are!"

While Beshte couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's bravado, the others rolled their eyes. "If you say so, Lil' B."

"Either way, we need to be prepared for anything that might happen tomorrow, so make sure you all sleep well tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll see you all in the morning."

"Uh, Kion?" Ono spoke up, the others turning and seeing that he was looking in the distance. "We might want to hang on for just a moment. It looks like Mjumbe is headed this way."

"He is?" The egret nodded to the lion, who then turned to the cheetah. "Do you know why he'd be coming to find us?"

"Not really," Fuli replied, "though I'm guessing that Mama sent him to find us, so she'll probably know better."

"Well, guess we're about to find out." The raven flew down towards them, landing just in front of the two felines. "Mjumbe? What's going on?"

"Greetings, Lion Guard," the gruff voiced avian greeted. "I've been asked by Kasi to tell you that she would like you to meet her at Big Springs."

"She's with my pod?" Beshte asked, to which Mjumbe nodded.

"Is everything okay?"

"Quite alright, Fuli. There's no danger or anything, she's just asked me to bring you there. I take it there's no issue with that?"

"Well… we did just finish patrol." She turned to her friends and asked, "what do you say?"

"Works for me," Kion answered first.

"Yeah, that sounds great!" Bunga added.

"I'm heading that way anyway, so sure!" Beshte also told the cheetah, while Ono simply gave a nod.

"Alright, then." She turned to Mjumbe once again. "Lead the way, Mjumbe."

"You've got it!"

As the raven took to the skies once more, Kion turned to his friends and said, "well, let's move."

They all nodded to each other, then began to walk in the direction that Mjumbe was leading them. "So, why do you think Kasi would be waiting for us at a Big Springs?" Ono decided to ask.

"I'm not sure, Ono," Fuli told him. "Any of you know?"

"Maybe that was their last stop for the tour Mom and Dad were giving her," Kion offered. "Basi is one of the herd leaders, after all."

"That's true. Maybe they need us there to talk about something?"

"Maybe. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah, you're right." She decided to speak to Mjumbe now to try and pass the time a bit. "How is your wing feeling?"

"Pretty good, Fuli!" He called down as he flew overhead. "A little bit sore, but I'll tell ya, that monkey is the craziest animal I've ever met, but he's not a bad medic in the slightest."

She couldn't help but give a small laugh at this. "Yeah, that's Rafiki, alright. Still, I'm glad to know you're okay."

"You're too kind, Fuli."

"He's right, you know," Kion told her, to which she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She couldn't deny, though, that a smile remained on her face as she and the Guard continued to make their way towards the hippo pod's resting grounds, feeling like the whole Kushangaza experience had made her feel closer to her team, who had gone out of their way and travelled far from her home with her, just so that she could reunite with her mother. It reminded her why she considered them to be her family, and though she didn't mention it all that much, she appreciated everything they had done together. "So, what do you think are the terms your mom and dad will have so that Mama and everyone else can join?"

"I don't really know anything about that stuff. He's only ever really talked to Kiara and Mom about king stuff, so I couldn't say for sure. Though, I'd guess stuff to do with hunting, community, loyalty and all that stuff would probably be part of it. Respecting the Circle of Life."

"Maybe, yeah. Still, I trust that Mama will be able to handle all that. She's led that tribe for a while now, and from what I've gathered, I think they'll be okay with whatever the king has to say."

"Don't worry. Everything will work out how it's supposed to."

"I hope so." It didn't take long for the group to arrive at Big Springs, having not been too far from it when they finished their patrol. They could see the hippos swimming around in the water, while Kasi and her tribe were either swimming alongside them or resting on the water bank and the rocks beside it. As the Guard approached, Kasi turned her head in order to see them, and smiled as she got out of the water. "Hey, Mama."

"Hello, Mpenzi," she greeted, before looking up at the raven. "Thank you for bringing them here."

"No problem, ma'am," he told her, before flying over to a nearby tree.

"So, is everything okay, Kasi?" Kion asked.

"Yes, everything is absolutely fine."

"Then, how come you asked for us?" Ono asked next.

"Well, I was hoping that you would join us because I can only imagine how tiring patrol would be, and I thought you might want to relax a bit."

"Sounds good to me!" Bunga spoke, while Beshte and Ono both nodded.

"I'm sure Mom and Dad won't mind," Kion said as he too nodded, whereas Fuli gave a simple shrug and a "why not?"

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Without waiting for anyone to try and stop him, Bunga ran up to the largest stone by the water, climbed on top of it and yelled a might "ZUKA SAMA" as he cannonballed into the water, garnering a few laughs from some of the hippos around him. He resurfaced a few seconds later and looked at his friends. "Come on in, guys!"

Beshte and Kion quickly got in the water after him, while Ono flew up to one of the rocks to start preening his feathers. While she was going to join them in the water, Kasi saw that Fuli had chosen to sit on the grass near the edge instead. "Aren't you going to go in, Fuli?"

"Maybe in a bit, but I'm okay for now," the cub replied, stretching her back. "Besides, I'm not a fan of how my fur mattes in the water here."

"Hmm…" A somewhat mischievous grin came on her face as she looked around. "Well, then, why don't we sit over there? That way, the sun won't be in our eyes."

Fuli looked where her mother was suggesting, and she smiled. "Sure, that works." So, she got up and walked around the springs, her mother following closely behind her, until the sun was against her back. Just as she sat down, though, she felt Kasi use her teeth to gently grasp her by the back of her neck and lift her up. "Mama? What are you- no, wait, don't!" But, her pleas were for nought, as her mother ran with her, going up and over a rock before both plummeted into the water. They had drawn the attention of the others from this action, and when they resurfaced a few seconds later, Fuli gasping for air while Kasi was fine, the cub turned to her mother with wide eyes. "What was that?!"

"I thought you could use a bath," Kasi jokingly told her. "Plus, now you aren't worried about your fur."

Fuli was silent for a few seconds, eyes wide and jaw slacked… but slowly, a grin appeared on her face. "You know what? You're right… because I can't just let you get away with that."

With that, she swiped her paw to splash at her mother, who gave a scoff. "Is that all you've got, Mpenzi?" This started a splash war between the two, filling the air with the sounds of splashing water, and the joyous laughter of a mother and daughter.