(A/N: hey, guys. Apologies for the late upload, I've been working on a presentation for Uni, my biggest one yet. Had to make sure I got that right, so I haven't had as much time or motivation to work on fanfics. I'll do my best to keep up with uploads in the future.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy!)

After a good morning meal and conversation, Fuli found herself bearing a wide smile on her face and a spring in her step as she made her way towards the Lair of the Guard, not even bothering to sprint there. Instead, she was taking her time, and to the eye of the passerby, it almost seemed like she was bouncing with each step she took, her head swaying slightly from side to side. She even hummed as she made her way toward Pride Rock, not seeing that Kion was making his way down it himself and had seen her. Noticing how upbeat his friend was acting, he raised an eyebrow hole he made his way over to her.

"Morning, Fuli," he greeted, getting her attention as they began to walk side by side.

"Morning, Kion!" She greeted back, her smile somehow growing even wider.

"You seem happy this morning."

"Well, duh, that's because I am."

He rolled his eyes before clarifying, "more so than usual. How come?"

"What, I can't be extra happy for once?"

"Of course you can, I'm just pleasantly surprised. To be honest, I… I like seeing you like this."

Her cheeks heated up, but not enough for it to show through her fur. "Thanks. But, yeah, I feel like today's gonna be a good day, and it's already started off pretty great."

"Oh, yeah?"

She nodded. "Me and Mama had a good time hunting, and it was nice to just spend time with her, just her and me. I haven't had that since I was a little cub… I didn't get many of those before she went away, so I'm glad I get to experience them now."

Kion nodded- while he hadn't had the same experiences as his cheetah friend, he could tell just how sincere she was in her words, and he could relate to them. 'I couldn't imagine having to spend that long without Mom,' he thought, before deciding to speak again. "Well, it's good to hear that you two are close again."

"Yeah… and, I know, it's not yet official, but I really feel like her and the rest of the tribe, they're going to get to stay for good."

"I can't think why they wouldn't. They've been kind to everyone, they've followed the rules, they care for the Circle of Life. They've shown that they are true Pride Landers, just like everyone else is." He then gave her a confident smirk. "Even if I can't promise it, I know things are going to work out. I just know it."

She returned his smirk in kind. "You sound kind of corny… but, yeah. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one."

"About time!" They heard a familiar voice call out, making them turn their heads to see that they had reached the Lair, and that the rest of the Lion Guard were waiting outside it for them, the honey badger of the group holding his arms in the air. "Kind of hard to go on patrol without the rest of the Guard, you know!"

Both felines rolled their eyes at the brash comments of their friend and teammate. "Bunga, you slept in the lair last night," Fuli pointed out. "Remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Guys, it's fine," Beshte interjected. "Besides, we've got all day to patrol the Pride Lands. What harm's a few minutes gonna do?"

"You're right, Beshte," Kion affirmed. "We still have the whole day ahead of us. Let's not start it by arguing, right?"

Fuli nodded, while Bunga held his hands behind his head and replied, "sure, I guess. So, where are we going first?"

"Well, the rhinoceroses are doing a sparring session today," Ono recalled. "They tend to get started early, and it's best if we don't interrupt that, as it can be dangerous if they get too competitive. Better if we avoid going there for now."

"Good to know, Ono," Kion told his winged ally. "In that case, we'll head by the water buffaloes' grazing grounds first, and figure out where to go from there. Let's go, Lion Guard."

"RIGHT!"


The early hours of the day melted away in the Savannah heat, with the cheetah tribe keeping themselves occupied by engaging in friendly competition- the majority of activities, of course, relating to speed, with races and fake hunts to keep everyone active. After having engaged in a small 'wrestling match' with Aliye, Kasi sat and watched on as Ukuu and Kubwa took part in a tug-of-war, using a dead tree branch to try and pull their 'opponent' over the line drawn in the sand. The other cheetahs cheered on the two males as they fought it out, and though she remained quiet, Kasi did find the ensuing action entertaining.

"It's good to see that they've settled in," she said to herself, not noticing someone approach from her side. "

"Kasi?" The leader turned and saw Aliye. "It looks like we have visitors?"

Curious, she watched as Aliye turned to look the other way, following her gaze to see the king and queen of the Pride Lands approaching. She turned to Aliye again and told her, "I'll handle this for now." Once her friend nodded, Kasi put on a welcoming smile as she approached the two lions. "Good afternoon, your majesties."

"Good afternoon, Kasi," Simba greeted first.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Nala then stated, noticing the events going on behind the leader of the cheetah tribe. "They seem to be having fun."

"Yeah, they're just having some friendly competition. Honestly, it's the only way to stop them from running wild all the time."

Nala gave a chuckle as she recalled, "that sounds a lot like when Kiara was just a cub."

"Fuli, too." The two mothers both laughed for a moment at the memories of raising their cubs. "Good times… so, is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, if it's not too much to ask, we need to speak with your entire tribe," Simba explained, causing Kasi to trade her smile for a more serious expression.

"Not at all, just give me a second." She turned to face her tribe and shouted out, "everyone! Gather round!" The action and the cheering that surrounded it came to a standstill, with all eyes now falling on the two lions. Every single cheetah in the tribe made their way over and stood behind their leader, who told the king of the Pride Lands, "go ahead, your majesty."

"Thank you." He cleared his throat, before beginning his speech. "As you all know, when you first arrived in the Pride Lands just a few days ago, you were informed that two conditions needed to be met in order for you to become permanent members of the Pride Lands. The first one, that being a majority vote from the herd leaders, will take place this evening. The other is that you need to accept all conditions laid out for you, on my behalf as king. Kasi, did you explain to your tribe what those conditions were?"

"I did. We discussed them last evening, allowing everyone to speak their peace so their voice may be heard. I explained them exactly as you explained them to me."

"Then, do you have a decision?"

"We discussed it carefully, and we have accepted the conditions laid out for us. We have no qualms with any of the rules of the Pride Lands."

Simba nodded, then looked toward the group as a whole, rather than to its leader. "Are there any of you who do not agree with what Kasi has declared?" He gave a good few seconds for the followers to speak up, but none of them did, only shaking their heads. Once he was certain no one would speak, he smiled and concluded, "in that case, as king of the Pride Lands, I now give you my formal blessing- under the condition that the herd leaders vote in favour of you doing so, you will be welcomed as true members of the Pride Lands."

A small uproar came from the cheetahs in celebration of the news, while Kasi gave the king a thankful smile. "Asante, Simba."

"Don't thank me just yet. We still need to hear what the herd leaders have to-"

"KASI! KASIIII!"

They all turned to see Mjumbe flying over to them as fast as he could, able to see his frantic expression as he stopped in midair just near the tribe leader. "Mjumbe? What's the matter?"

"I was flying by the zebras, when I saw Mjinga! Him and his wild dogs were preparing to attack them!"

"What?!" This brought a similar reaction from the rest of the cheetahs. "Which way?"

"Straight North! I don't know how long they'll be willing to wait!"

"Kasi?" Nala asked. "What's going on?"

"Forgive me, your majesty," Kasi apologised, "but it seems an old enemy of ours has followed us here. Allow us to get rid of them for you."

"We'll help you out."

"No one comes to the Pride Lands and attacks our nerds in my watch," Simba affirmed.

"Then let's go." She turned to her followers and commanded, "TOGETHER! KWA KASI!"

"NA NGUVU!"


"Are you certain that's what you saw, Ono?!" Fuli called up, running alongside the rest of the Guard.

"Affirmative! Mjinga and his wild dogs were sneaking up on the zebra herd!" The egret called back. "They haven't yet began the attack, but… hang on… the zebras have spotted them, and they're starting to panic and run!"

"What else is new?" Bunga argued.

"Well, we need to make sure that Mjinga and his pack don't harm any of the zebras, or any other animals!" Kion clarified. "Ono, how many of them are we looking at?"

"Well, including Mjinga himself, there seems to be about six of them. Weird, I thought there were more of them."

"Well, there may be others waiting for further commands, so let's stop them before those commands can be given. Fuli, run ahead and try to cut any of them off if they get too close to the zebras. Ono, try and lead some of the zebras away, and keep an eye out for any other wild dogs. Bunga, Beshte, with me. Let's take them down and send them packing. 'Til the Pride Lands End!"

"LION GUARD DEFENDS!"

So, they ran head on towards the canines terrorising the zebras. As one began trying to bite at the heels of one of the zebras, Fuli dashed in and lowered her head as she tackled him, throwing him to one side. While the zebra ran for safety, Fuli turned around and saw another wild dog attacking another zebra, but before she could try and help it, the wild dog that she had just dispatched of had gotten to his paws and tackled her, pinning her to the ground. "Hey there, little kitty!"

"Get off me!" She snarled, trying to wriggle free from his grasp.

"Hmm… Nah, I don't think-"

He was cut short as Bunga came in with a flying dropkick, sending him to the side as the honey badger landed on his feet. He looked at Fuli with a smirk and asked, "need some help?"

Though she rolled her eyes at the comment, she stood back up and gave him a quick "thanks" before rushing back into the battle, with Bunga doing the same. One of the other wild dogs saw them coming, so he tried running the other way to avoid them. Unfortunately, he didn't see the hippo member of the Guard coming at him from the other direction until it was too late, and the one known as the Strongest swatted him aside. As his cronies failed to make any sort of impact, Mjinga remained surprisingly calm, even when he felt Kion tackle and pin him to the ground.

"Mjinga! What are you doing here?"

"Heh. Long time no see, Kion," the wild dog taunted. "Bet you didn't think you'd be seeing us again, did you?"

"You shouldn't have come here."

"Yeah, but that's not your call is it?" He saw Kion getting angrier, and used this as his opportunity to sweep the lion cub off of his paws, quickly scrambling up to pin him down. "What's wrong, cub? Can't hang with the big dogs?"

"I'd think twice before saying that!"

Kion then lifted his hind paws up to Mjinga's chest, and used his strength to kick him away, sending the wild dog over to the rest of his pack. As he growled and got to his feet, standing with his canine allies against the Lion Guard, he saw Kasi and her tribe running over as well, which was when a smirk came to her face. "We were wondering when you were going to join us!"

Confusion spread across the faces of the Lion Guard, though they disappeared when Kasi made her way past Kion and Bunga, staring fiercely at her foe. "Mjinga!" She spat. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, hey, now! Is that any way to greet your old friend?"

"We are not friends, Mjinga! Now, I'll repeat this once- what are you doing here?"

"Well, when we couldn't find you at the rainforest, we had a look around, and found you here! Figured we'd join you!"

"What's going on?" Bunga whispered to Beshte, who gave his friend a shrug.

"Beats me, Lil B."

"You are insane, Mjinga!" Kasi roared, the rest of her tribe starting to step forward. "I don't know why you're here, but you had better leave. Why didn't you just take Kushangaza after we left?"

"Because it wouldn't be the same without our friends there! Now, would it?"

"I've heard enough!" They heard Simba shout as he stepped through the group. "As king of the Pride Lands, I must ask you to leave."

"Oh, so this is why you left! Didn't realise you had friends in such high places. Guess I'd better introduce myself."

Simba's scowl grew deeper. "Don't waste your breath! Now, I will not warn you again- leave now, or we will make you."

Mjinga gave a scoff. "Alright, I get the picture. Boys, time to leave." As the wild dogs made their retreat, Mjinga looked at Kasi and somewhat loudly told her, "good seeing you again, Kasi. Hope we can catch up again soon, my friend," before he and his pack were gone.