~Episode nine: The Race to Tuliza~
(after events of Journey of Memories leading into The Race To Tuliza; continued)
Gold turned brighter as the sun's rays stretched down to create it's warmth again.
"*loud yawn* haahh! What a night!" Bunga groaned.
"Shh, Bunga!" Fuli hissed, then turning back to something amongst their friends, the honey badger leaned forward to peer past her at it.
Kion lay, somewhat, how and where they'd left him.. The only differences that were plainly evident, were the way he lay on his side with his top foreleg draped over his face to cover his eyes. The leaf from Makini's staff lay a short distance from his head, which the mandrill picked up to find it dry and secured it back onto her staff where it came from.
"You think he's ok?" Beshte wondered, softly.
"One way to find out, Beshte.." Fuli answered, turning to the hippo earnestly. "But,.. we'll know for sure when he wakes up.. on his own." The emphasis on this last part, shot a glance over to Bunga suggestively.
"What?" The honey badger shrugged, unaware of her meaning. But again, this thought was put on hold, when a groan from their leader encouraged their attention to return to him as he began to stir.
"Kion? Are you awake?" Ono addressed him softly, hopping quietly toward the young lion's head.
"Ugh.. am I?" Came a muffled response, as he pressed his eyes into his foreleg.
"Not very, I'll bet.." The egret guessed, running his wings over the corresponding shoulder. "Take your time.. How do your eyes feel? Better?"
"I.. think they're ok.." Kion replied uncertainly, holding his position.
"Ok, then slowly let some light shine on your face." Ono instructed. "So your eyes can adjust, then you can open them and tell us what you see." The young lion's paw began to drag off his face and as he did so his eyes remained closed, clenching tighter in response to the light shining on them.
After a time, Kion shifted his weight off his one side so that both paws braced to the ground, and his chin rested between his forepaws.
Another amount of time went by before, he became brave enough to try and open his eyes. And as the amber of his irises found the light in more detail, he realized that he actually registered the legs of feet, paws, and claws quite clearly.
"Woah!" He breathed, sitting up rather quickly which only threw himself off slightly, as a very small shock to his other systems of the abrupt action.
"You ok?" Fuli asked worriedly.
"Yeah,.." Kion answered, his gaze wandering down. "Better then ok.." He added with an optimistic smile coming back up to meet her gaze. "I can see.. better now."
"*deep sigh* Hoh,.. good." Ono sighed, pressing a wing to his own chest with a sigh. "I'm glad to hear that." He said, flapping up to hover at eye level with the Lion Guard leader.
"Yeah,.. and now we can keep going.." And they set off again, Kion leading the way as their journey continued across the dry, sandy earth that surrounded them. Though it wouldn't be long before, the beating heat would bring back that horrible effect on his vision. Which he knew now was, in this case, for another reason entirely..
XXXX
(during the Guard's conversation and after Kion's fall)
"Kion!" Fuli gasped, turning quickly toward her leader, as he sat where he'd landed in a daze, facing away from her.
*sigh* Heat,.. Again,.. His mind thought, through the heavy weight on the side of his face. So.. tired.. I wonder if,.. Maybe we could..
"Here, lemme help you." Makini offered, standing beside him.
"I don't need help!" Kion refused, pushing her away. "I'm fine. Let's just keep walking." He finished, quickly hurrying on forward.
"Looks like Kion could use some Tuliza." Fuli guessed coming over to Makini slowly. The young lion stopped to scratch his eye, when he sensed eyes staring at him from behind.
"What?! I said I'm fine." He snapped, turning to them abruptly then turning front to keep moving.
Why don't they get it?! His mind growled.
"See? He's fine." Bunga shrugged, gesturing to his friend easily; who didn't seem to hear.
"Makini?" Fuli implied openly.
"Tuliza, coming up." The mandrill answered, taking the cheetah's hint by reaching for the gourd above her shoulder. But when opening it up and shaking it, her 'oh' got Fuli's attention.
"Don't tell me." She sighed, turning back toward the mjuzi-in-training.
"I really need to do a better job of keeping track of our Tuliza." Makini admitted, tying the gourd back onto her staff.
Not again. Fuli thought dryly as they trudged on.
XXXX
(Kion's struggle during the Guard's conversation after his fall)
Help… I don't need help. I'll be fine.. the Tree of Life is what I need. Ugh.. The sun is hot! Water sounds great, but.. the Tree of Life.. we're so close.. yet.. so not.. Why are they so worried right now?! We'll get there soon! I know it! What're we doing here? Wait.. oh.. my vision, no! Gotta stay focused… gotta.. keep going. Is my heart beating in slow motion?.. or am I just imagining things? Or is that sun hotter than it think? Ouh.. the headache! No!.. Gotta.. push through! Can't.. give up now…
"Kion!"
Uohg.. What now?!
"Kion, wanna see?"
"Rrah!.. Bunga." Kion growled, turning his way angrily.
"Woahwoahwoahwoahwoah,.. sorry." The honey badger surrendered, waving his hand up from where he'd fallen onto his back.
"Kion.. calm down." Fuli interjected gently. "Bunga was just fooling around." She told him with a tender smile.
Wait what? Kion's mind thought, as his right mind started to come back again.
"Yeah." Beshte's voice said, to draw his softened gaze back up to them. "It was just Bunga being Bunga." The hippo reasoned coming up next to the honey badger and cheetah.
"Sorry everybody." Kion sighed, sitting back in shame. "Sorry Bunga." He added, lowering his head sadly.
"Hakuna Matata." Bunga replied earnestly. "I am pretty good at being annoying." He said, while coming to place a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Yeah.." The Lion Guard leader agreed, rubbing his eye briefly. "Come on.. let's keep going." He finished with a calm voice and a smile, beginning to walk once more.
Too close. Fuli sighed. "*sigh* come on, Anga.. find us some Tuliza." She murmured to herself, while tracking the eagle's flight high about them.
XXXX
(After Anga's search for Tuliza)
"Anga, find any Tuliza?" Fuli called up to the Martial Eagle as she came soaring back down toward them.
xxxx
sigh* water.. Tuliza.. stone.. cold.. walking.. must keep.. sandy ground.. Heat.. follow the ground,.. don't look back,.. don't look up.. too bright. Ugh, that hurts! Can't stop.. so tired.. hot..
"Water!"
What? Kion looked up but a blur was all that phased in on his field of vision.
"Bunga!" Fuli's voice called, while he watched a fuzzy looking honey badger race off across the desert toward some rock formations.
So what now? But despite this question, his mind knew what.
"Guess we better go after him." Kion shrugged, heavily following after the Bravest member of the Guard.
XXXX
(After Fuli leaves)
"Now that's what I call relaxed." Bunga smiled, turning Kion around in the water quickly, which yielded no initial response. "Seriously, look at this.." Snapping by the young lion's face, he barely got a response to the sound.
"Poa." Beshte mused. "Whatever it did, he sure fell hard.. Hard on rest, I mean." He followed up to clear up any confusion he felt there might be from this statement.
"Indeed." Ono sighed. "Finally,.."
"Yup!" Bunga agreed, crossing his arms proudly. "Uhh, finally what?"
"Finally.. as in Kion can finally rest easy, while we wait for some more Tuliza to treat his scar." Ono explained in context to his statement.
"Oh yeah,.. Right!" Bunga realized, pointing a finger to the egret and winking; only making Ono groan.
"But I guess now, since Kion's feeling better,.." Makini began brightly. "He'll be totally fine until we can get that Tuliza for him. And then everything will be ok, and we can keep going so we can find the Tree of Life."
"You said it, Makini." Beshte agreed heartily. "I'm sure Fuli'll be there and back in no time. That's why she's the fastest in the Pridelands." Now falling silent, they all basked in the peaceful silence, lapping up the quiet given by the gentle waters that surrounded them.
XXXX
(After flamingos arrival)
"This is not good." Anga said, flapping about the sea of pink nervously.
"Woah, they just keep coming!" Beshte gasped, looking about at the bright colors landing around them.
"What... is all this?" Kion wondered hazily.
"Relax, Kion, lay back and rest. Everything's fine." Makini answered soothingly. He would've protested further, but decided against it due to the sensation of water lapping lazily against his tired body. And the fuzziness of his sight reduced everything to a pink and yellow haze; stinging his amber pupils harshly.
XXXX
(Dealing with Kion after Flamingos arrive)
The squawking and splashing continued.
What is that? Louder splashes sounded and he was immediately showered with bright light and a dark figure.
"What's going on?" He wondered through his delusional state.
"Shh, nothing, Kion. Schwari, just close your eyes."
Was that Makini? Just the same, he closed them again, the squawking continuing. What is that?!
"Ok, but-" he began to protest.
"Don't worry, it's- it's all gonna be ok. Just think happy lion thoughts."
"Happy lion thoughts?" He echoed loosely.
What's she talking about? And where-.. did this darkness come from? Ih- and who's pulling my foot? Aohh.. not this again. His curiosity, however, was not finding himself curious enough to move in order to find out.
XXXX
(during and after song)
Splooshing.. could it be thunder? Or could it just be Beshte? But it sounds fast? Could it be Fuli? Maybe she's back already? Didn't know storms had voices, could there be a creature here instead? But then why don't I hear the Guard? But if that's the case, why is there a rhythm to all the noise? Still, couldn't they do this later? The darkness is still here, could it be night already? But what kind of creature likes fighting at night; to a steady, annoying beat that the Guard doesn't want to argue with the whole time. Someone's gotta put a stop to this headache! And that ear-splitting noise!
xxxx
The Guard ducked as a couple of flamingos whooped with excitement, when swooping down over them.
Why won't it end! He thought with an agitated groan.
"Don't pay any attention, Kion. It's allll gonna be alright."
xxxx
Who said that? He heard another sound resembling a voice, but couldn't hear what it said. What am I missing? They must know something that I don't, if I could just.. see it!
xxxx
"Take it easy, Ono." Anga encouraged the egret.
"We're losing him quickly!" Ono cried, watching Kion fidget through his hazy vision. "They're clearly irritating him, and they won't listen to us when we ask them to be quiet!"
"Easy Ono." Beshte piped up, clearly trying to sound calm. "Makini's got him pacified for the moment. We just need to keep trying to get them to quiet down some more."
XXXX
(after second Fuli race cutscene)
The flamingos only whooped and howled louder, diving about the sky over the team once again. Kion jerked, the water splashing up onto his face; Makini immediately placing her hand on his head.
"Hoh.. easy Kion.. Nothing to worry about right now." She sensitively soothed, successfully putting their leader to rest once again.
"Ugh, that was too close!" Ono breathed. "I need to do something!" He, then, took off from Beshte's back to fly over to seek out the same two flamingos from earlier.
"Everyone,.. please, listen!" He emphasized, addressing the whole group as best he could. "Your dance party has to stop! You're being too loud! And if you don't quiet down,.. we'll have a really angry lion on our hands!"
"Uhhh,.. what is a lion." One of the flamingos asked.
"Sounds cute!" The other one gushed. Ono stared at them for a moment in confusion.
"Ugh!" He groaned, finally circling back around to land on Beshte once more with an exasperated sigh.
"It was a good try, Ono." Beshte smiled apologetically, as his friend settled down on top of the hippo.
"Except for it didn't make any difference." The egret replied in defeat.
XXXX
(after Fuli's rescue cutscene)
Finally a break from all the noise. An itchy sensation tickled his paw, a high pitched voice gushed.
Ugh, not again! Wait,.. why does it seem lighter? And what's up with the extra heat closing in on me? Suddenly he found he could open his eyes again.
The black, orange, and pink that met him, however, sent his heart skipping ahead of his body; possibly even leaping out of his chest.
"Huah!"
Rolling himself up, water splashed in his face. A burning fire igniting upon it and in his chest.
"Hey! Get away! Leave me alone!" Kion snarled, at the pulsing blur of the long-legged birds surrounding him.
What's going on?! Where did all these pests come from? And what were they doing to me?!
"That's enough!" Kion growled savagely, his eye burning a hole into his skull. "I'm warning you, flamingos. Take off now, or I'll send you flying!"
"Like- what?! Send us flying?" Sniffed one flamingo.
"You can't fly, you don't even have wings." Argued another.
Kion seethed in a boiling growl.
"No, Kion! Don't roar!"
Beshte? Radiating heat singed his face more, almost enough to burn his skin. His chest becoming so hot, he could swear he'd burst into flames.
"Easy buddy, calm down!"
"The Tuliza's on its way!"
Tuliza?! The heat lessened slightly, turning more to an ache, now, that thumped on his face through his eye.
AAauugh!
"Kion!" He looked up to Anga, swooping down behind him. "Fuli's back!.."
Fuliza?.. Tuli?
"Perfect timing! Here Kion!" Purple petals rustled the air in front of his nose.
Tuliza?! One bite, and everything cooled down in an instant. Finally,.. relief!
"*sigh* Thanks, Makini." Kion said thankfully.
XXXX
(night after the episode still in the desert)
Kion lay sleeping a short distance away from them, his sigh drawing attention to himself as he snoozed on.
"Soo.. what took you so long to find the Tuliza?" Anga wondered innocently, turning to the cheetah.
"Well at first it was going fine." Fuli began slowly. "But then I got lost when I found Azaad, and he challenged me to a race in exchange for helping me find the Tuliza. I didn't have much of a choice, but we weren't exactly that friendly with each other at first.. until I rescued him during our second race. Only, then, did he finally decide to help me.. so where did all those flamingos come from?"
Everyone exchanged awkward glances all around.
"What?" The cheetah wondered in confusion.
"Well.. let's just say we got dangerously close to losing Kion's 'cool' today." Ono admitted.
"Everything was fine,.. until those birds showed up." Anga told her, thinking distastefully of their unwanted guests.
"I covered Kion's eyes with one of the leaves from my Bakora staff to try and keep him calm, but they were so noisy that they still seemed to bother him." Makini added. "And.. also.. I..kinda let him float away again. And.. they kinda, sorta woke him up."
"It's not your fault, Makini." Beshte reassured her. "Those flamingos weren't being very helpful either."
"I'm just glad we were able to talk him down again." Bunga stated thankfully.
"Right, and it was especially lucky that Fuli showed up when she did." Ono agreed.
Beshte looked over to find the troubled eyes of the thoughtful cheetah.
"Fuli? You ok?" The hippo asked gently.
"Yeah.." Fuli sighed, looking up again. "It's just that-.. Kion isn't getting any better. Instead.. his scar has been bugging him more and more, and oftener. Soon.. I'm not sure if even we can calm him down again. We almost didn't get to the Tuliza in time,.. any later and.. Kion would've completely lost it with those flamingos. He can't go without Tuliza for long periods of time like before; which is why we need to be extra careful in making sure we have some with us at all times. We never know when he'll need some to soothe his scar. After all, we still have a long way to go to get to the Tree of Life."
"Oh.. you're right, Fuli." Makini realized, lowering her head to press a knuckled finger to her mouth. "What are we gonna do if that happens again? What if we run out, because we can't find more Tuliza!"
"At least we had plenty to get us through the desert." Ono reasoned, fluffing his wings up in a shrug. "But, Makini's right.. the Tuliza is only a temporary fix. At best, it'll keep Kion docile enough until we can figure out a way to permanently cure him. But-.. you heard Rafiki, he said that if Ushari's venom stays inside him too long; he'll essentially lose his ability to think clearly and make right decisions."
"But- we can stop it,.. right?" Bunga asked, worry beginning to come over him.
"Without the Tuliza or salt water around, Kion will continue to get even harder to calm down." Ono informed them sadly.
Bunga sighed in defeat, lowering his gaze sadly.
"And if we can't find more Tuliza, what'll we do then?" Makini wondered.
"Let's just hope that it doesn't." Fuli spoke up quickly. They all looked at Kion, as his scarred eye clenched tighter; shifting slightly to stay asleep.
XXXX
Stepping through the darkness of the rock formations, the continuity of its consistency brought recognition into his array of thoughts and emotions. Becoming more hesitant, he crept forward, dropping his head to avoid hitting it on a pointed rock hanging down in his path. Suddenly the path he took felt less open and more like a maze to climb through; a maze that he almost barely fit through.
'How is this possible?' His mind thought. 'Did the room just,.. shrink?'
Beginning to struggle in fitting through the awkward tunnel, he could swear that the room was closing in on him the more he moved. Suddenly the light at the end of the tunnel opened up and he was able to push through and drop foot into..
"The Caldera?" Glancing about in confusion, Kion strode forward. The eerie glow of the volcanic lifeblood of the mountainous Outlands stronghold, created a sense of insecurity that was nothing if not unsettling.
'Something's not right?' His mind thought. "This.. can't be real.. Can it?.."
"Tahahahahaaa!" Bellowed a voice he knew.
Suddenly,.. bursting from an uproar of flames came the head of their defeated enemy, once again standing before him,.. in a manner of speaking.
"What?" Kion gasped out loud.
"Hahahaa! I'm baack." Scar teased, snickering.
"No! You can't be back.. We defeated you!.." Kion shot back, lowering to a hostile prowl. "And the Outlands are ruled by Jasiri now.. You're not real!"
"I will always come back.. for you, Kion." Scar replied in his dynamically arrogant tone. "Because.. Sisi Ni Sawa."
Kion gasped, a bone chilling sensation running down his spine at the reminder of this.
"No,.. we're not the same.. We never will be!" Kion denied. Turning to run back to the tunnel, it closed up before his eyes as he approached it and he screeched to a halt in surprise.
"Tahahaha! Oh.. Good try, Kion-good try.." Scar mused. "But you can never get rid of me." His voice became sinister as a tongue of smoke, like a clawed finger came to turn the young lion to face the fiery face. "I.. will always be a part of you.. Always."
And as Scar began to sing his wretched version of the song, Kion could swear he felt his own thoughts fading away as his head swirled with other thoughts. The pain of his scar increased to a point he'd never felt before, and as he resisted to hear the voice of his evil great-uncle; he could feel his heart begin to race. And even while shielding his face to block out the sound, he felt as though he were hearing it inside his own mind.
'Sisi Ni Sawa means we're the same!'..
'Though you're made of flesh.. and I'm made of flame!'..
'At the end of the day, we are like Fire and Flame.'
'Sisi Ni Sawa.. we are the same!'
"NOOOOO!" Kion roared with all his might, sending his whole world swirling around him…
xxxx
Muscles contracted and suddenly..
ROAR!
The animals sleeping nearby awoke immediately, all stunned to find roaring clouds whipping the air opposite directions on either side of them, as a wind swirled around him and down from the heavens.
"What's going on?!" Makini gasped, as they all tried to shield themselves from the wind beating at them on all sides.
Fuli opened her eyes against the wind on her right and barely made out the golden shape topped with fiery red standing not far away.
"-ih,.. Kion?!" She called, but the wind persisted. "Kion, stop!"
"What's he roaring at?" Ono asked, then felt himself begin to drift. "..Hapana..!" Makini leapt up blindly and caught the egret's foot as she weighed him back down and held him close against her chest for cover.
"We gotta stop this wind, but how?!" Fuli cried.
"-We gotta.. Get.. Kion.. to stop.. Hang on." Beshte strained, squinting through the strong breeze. Step after step, the team shielded themselves from the wind behind Beshte, who worked his way over at as slow a pace as could be possible.
"*cough* Kion!?" Bunga cried, reaching up to touch his friend's shoulder, and as a result,.. the wind finally dropped and Kion's head lowered with a heavy grimace. Everyone released a gasp of a sigh as soon as the winds died, relief coming to them in recovering their breath.
"Hoo..oo!" Bunga gasped, stumbling backwards to plop flat on his back with another cough; as he's done before. "What was that about?"
Sitting up, the team all looked to their leader, as he was sitting down with his head lowered below his shoulders. And though it was hard to see because his left side was facing away from them, they could tell that he'd lifted a paw to his face to cover, and maybe even scratch, at his scarred eye.
"Kion?" Fuli addressed him softly.
"A..are.. you ok?" Beshte wondered worriedly.
Motion occurred, confirming their suspicion as his paw hit the sand once more. His amber eyes slowly lifted open, as he tried to recall what happened.
"Kion?" Bunga murmured, again.
"What?.. What are you talking about?" Kion wondered, mostly in confusion.
And the team looked to one another with strange looks then back to Kion.
"Are you ok?" Fuli asked again, stepping closer to him. "You were roaring at something in the dark.. don't you remember?"
"I.. I was?" The young lion asked, and they all exchanged looks again.
"Fuli?.. what's going on?" The Lion Guard leader asked more forwardly.
"I don't know.." The cheetah admitted. "But.. maybe it was just your scar making you do it again.. let's just try and get some rest. We'll need it when we continue our journey tomorrow." At first Kion's tense look remained, but then softened to one of despair.
"Oh.. ok." He said, laying down again. He lowered his head onto his paws, so his eyes remained on them; before closing them to snuggle down to sleep again. And Fuli looked up around at the others with concern, by the bend in her brows.
"Sooo..what.. just.. happened?" Bunga wondered in an unusually staccato manner.
"I'm not sure.." Fuli answered in a low whisper of a tone. "But that was really weird. Kion's never done that before, maybe this means his scar is making him worse than we thought."
"Well.. maybe, but.. what if he was just sleeping and something woke him up?" Beshte supposed. "I mean he'd roar at something that was bothering him when he could see it.. wouldn't be surprised if he'd do it when he couldn't."
"Hm.. maybe." Fuli thought.. sounding unconvinced.. but still deciding to lay down again, as they all settled down to try and sleep.
~The Race To Tuliza~
Hey guys! How's it going?! I just gotta say.. this episode was SOO fun to work through! There was so much potential here. And also.. it's one of my favorite episodes of the season(though that's hard to say since there were quite a few good ones this season!). XD
Anyway this episode had so much potential, in that they gave lots of things for me to add on to. And also.. LOVE the Kion focus here! This episode had sooo many things going for it. So many things I've always wanted to see in other shows that I didn't. Also I felt like at times there should have been more focus on his declining condition that we didn't quite get, but this season was still great anyway! ;)
But also one thought that came to MY mind while watching this season.. what 'what was going through Kion's mind during this time?' Especially the times we see him struggling.. it stands to reason that something had to be going through his mind, in those moments in particular. And hearing some of those thoughts would've been nice to me, but I understand why they didn't for.. reasons, I'll say. At different times we see that he's not thinking clearly.. so it stands to reason that what could have been going through his mind had to be there at many given times. And this one was a BIG ONE for that.
During the entire second half of the episode we see Kion is so relaxed he's practically null invoid the whole time. And it's only when the flamingos wake him up from that dream of a rest that he really comes out and responds. So I just HAD to make sure his thoughts during this whole thing made it in here somewhere. And BOY were there a lot of them! Can't wait to see what you guys think! And, as always.. enjoy! Thx!