"He's over here Mom!" Kijana called.

As soon as Dogo had fainted, Kijana had taken off to fetch their mother Reirei. Their father Goigoi accompanied her as always. Throughout it all, Dogo had remained motionless, that thing still attached to his face. The minute Reirei noticed her son, she went over to him and began to shake him.

"Dogo sweetie are you okay?" She beckoned, but her son remained motionless.

"Can he breathe?" Goigoi asked with concern.

The adult male reached his jaws over towards the strange attachment to his son's face and began to pull. Yet try as he might it didn't budge.

"Goigoi be careful! You'll rip his face off!" Reirei snarled.

"I was just trying to get it off!" Goigoi retorted.

Suddenly, the creature released itself with a squelch. And as soon as Dogo's mouth was free, he let out a large gasp of air.

"Dogo!" Reirei nuzzled her son, "Thank goodness you're alright!"

The young jackal blearily blinked his eyes as he gazed around, "Mom?" He questioned. Slowly rising to his paws, Dogo looked around confused, "What happened.

"That thing came out of the egg and stuck to your face," Kijana explained.

Dogo looked down at the now-dead creature before him, "It did? I don't remember much."

"Nevermind that now Sugar, let's just get you home," Reirei assured her son.

"So can we eat this thing?" Goigoi asked.

Reirei looked hotly towards her mate and snapped, "Absolutely not! You don't know where it came from!"

"Aww come on Honey Paws, it's dead!" Goigoi whined.

"Goigoi! Not a nibble!" Reirei ordered.

Goigoi nearly opened his mouth to protest, but wisely said nothing. Reirei and Kijana led Dogo away, yet Goigoi stayed behind for a brief interval. The creature itself lay there lifeless, and Goigoi was alone. It was well known Goigoi was best suited for two things: sleeping and eating. And he figured what Reirei didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Reaching down, Goigoi was just about to take a nibble of the spider-like monster.

"GOIGOI!"

The shrill call of his wife's voice made Goigoi fall into a disappointed pout, "I'm a coming!" He said joining his family.

All the while the strange creature lay there dead upon the ground. But that made sense, considering it had fulfilled its duty. The host had been chosen, and now the incubation had begun.

XXX

The jackal family had returned to the rest of their pack without much incident. Though Goigoi had voiced concern about alerting Jasiri to their strange find, the matriarch had squashed that idea, noting that Dogo's health was most important. Goigoi did nothing to argue against his mate, knowing full well such a thing would be like talking to a rock. Whatever Reirei said, Goigoi simply had to follow along. After all, his wife was the brains of their little family.

Dogo seemed to recover quickly, though he noted he had an odd taste in his mouth. Of course, everyone reasoned that it was probably from having that thing on his face. He didn't remember much of what had happened. All he recalled was struggling to get that thing off of his face. But it was dead now, and he seemed no worse for wear. For the time being, his family went about their business. His father Goigoi was sleeping and sure enough, his mother walked over to him, giving him a swift kick.

"Ow!" Goigoi cried out, "What was that for Sugar Snout?"

"I want you to get off your lazy butt and grab some grub!" Reirei demanded.

"Aww honey just a couple more minutes," Goigoi pleaded.

Reirei let out a disgusted groan, "Typical, all you do is sleep!"

"Come on snookums, don't start," Goigoi whined.

"Honestly, I could have married any other jackal in the Outlands," Reirei loudly complained.

Dogo let out a sigh as he heard his parents argue. It had been like this since he was a little pup. In all honesty, he wondered why his parents remained together. It wasn't as if they were a loving couple. Well, his mother at least. Frankly, he didn't understand why Goigoi was so loyal to his wife, but Dogo supposed the old saying "love is blind" applied.

"You okay Dogo?"

Dogo turned to see his sister Kijana staring at him, "Kijana I told you I'm fine," Dogo answered, assuming his sister was referring to his earlier incident.

Kijana's face still furrowed with an audible look of concern, "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about you."

Dogo smiled at his sister. Out of all of his siblings, he was closest to his sister. After all, they were their mother's best students. Sure their past plans had failed spectacularly, especially one incident involving a game of "tag" with a young zebra foal, but his mother had taught him to never give up.

"Now come on that's not fair!" Goigoi called out.

Dogo could tell the argument was starting to rise. He found it, unlike his father for a brief moment. In the past, Goigoi had submitted to his wife's demands without much resistance.

But that was the least of Dogo's concerns. He was more concerned with the burning sensation in his chest.

The young jackal let out a tiny gasp, rubbing his chest. It felt hot as if he had heartburn, but this felt more than just a burn. It downright hurt.

"Dogo? Is everything okay?" Kijana asked, the concern returning to her.

"Yeah...I'm okay...just feel a little hot," Dogo answered. But he was half-lying.

He felt the pain again, only this time it came in force.

"Ow!" Dogo let out a pained cry. Lout enough his parents ceased their argument and looked over towards their son.

The pain turned into a throbbing motion, but then it switched into a new sensation. It felt as if something was pushing against his chest. It came again, and again, growing more forceful with each thrust.

Suddenly, Dogo let out a cough, but no droplets of saliva came out, instead, it was a spurt of blood.

At last, Dogo let out an even louder cry and soon found himself turning over on his back.

"Dogo sugar what's the matter!?" Reirei cried in alarm.

"My chest...it hurts!" Dogo exclaimed. The jackal's cries turned into whimpers as more blood exited his mouth, "MOM IT HURTS!" Dogo screamed.

Reirei wanted to do something for her child and nearly ordered Goigoi to fetch Dogo some water if that would help. But there was no need, for Dogo's chest finally had given out. A great burst of blood spurted out like a geyser from Dogo's chest.

Every jackal present screamed as this happened, but it wasn't just them. As they called out, another cry rang alongside them. It was a loud shrill vocalization, like a screeching bird. Yet it wasn't like any other bird they had heard before.

Dogo's eyes grew wide as he stared at the thing he had just given "birth" to and then fell limply, all life fading from his eyes. All the jackals present stared at the thing that was before them. They didn't know quite what to make of it. The creature itself stared blankly. At least they assumed so. The creature itself had no eyes to speak of but instead remained motionless. A clicking noise erupted from its maw and then with a shriek it leaped out of Dogo's chest cavity. The creature took off on all fours, running down towards the canyon path.

Reirei stood motionless, mouth agape, body trembling with rage. Before long, she let out a snarl and cried, "Get it!"

The rest of the jackals took off after the creature. The small thing was fast, sprinting ahead, yet it was not fast enough for the speed of an enraged father.

Goigoi darted in front of the critter, "Gotcha!" He exclaimed.

But then per Goigoi's usual lack of success, the creature simply jumped upon his head, pushing him down with force and continuing on its way. The rest of the jackal clan snapped at the creature, hoping to halt it, but it dodged and weaved and before long was far off in the distance.

Goigoi rose to his paws, rubbing the spot where the creature had pushed him. But he cared little for his head but instead focused on his mate.

"Reirei!"

Goigoi darted over to where his mate was standing. She was looking over Dogo's corpse. Watching this Goigoi fought back tears as he gazed upon his dead son. He studied Reirei's expression. Normally his mate kept a devious visage of confidence, but now that visage was breaking apart.

"My baby," Reirei whimpered. She then let it all out, collapsing into a sobbing fit as she wept over her son's body, "My baby! My baby!".

Kijana did the same, joining her mother in mourning her brother's death. Goigoi felt the tears trickle down his face.

"I'll go get Jasiri," Was all he could say.

It was all they could do for now. The funeral would have to wait.

XXX

"Okay, hold on, what?" Janja asked incredulously.

Both he and Jasiri were surprised when Goigoi strolled up to their territory. They immediately noted how forlorn how the jackal looked, but more so at the tale, he had just told them. Jasiri was taking a moment to process what she had just heard, but Janja had his doubts.

"It's the truth!" Goigoi insisted.

"Look I ain't the smartest hyena," Janja admitted, a far cry from his time as a villain, back when he insisted he was the smartest hyena around, "But I know things don't just burst out of other animal's chests."

"I ain't fibbing! That's what happened," Goigoi continued.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard em all," Janja scoffed.

"Janja I think he's telling the truth," Jasiri suddenly blurted out.

"Come on Jasiri the whole story sounds crazy, especially about that thing latching onto his kid's face," Janja expressed his disbelief.

"Look at his face! No father could fake that!" Jasiri directed towards the jackal's face.

Janja observed his fellow Outlander and right away he noted the pain that had crept into Goigoi. For as unintelligent as the jackal was, one thing they couldn't deny was that he cared about his wife and children. That and what did Goigoi have to gain from this? The jackals hadn't caused any trouble since Scar was defeated. That and Janja trusted Jasiri's judgment.

"All right, but only because you believe him," Janja relented.

Jasiri took a step forward and spoke with a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I'll send out a search party for this creature," Then her smile turned into a frown, "And I'm deeply sorry about your loss."

Goigoi managed a weak smile, "Thanks, I'd help but Reirei didn't want to leave Dogo."

"As soon as we find anything, we'll send word," Jasiri reassured.

With nothing more to say, Goigoi nodded his thanks and went off to be with his family.

"We need to start searching immediately," Jasiri said.

"Even if this thing is real, how are we supposed to find it?" Janja asked.

"If it was just born it probably is still weak, so it might not have gotten far," Jasiri noted.

"Yeah but the Outlands is a big place, how are we supposed to find something that small?" Janja continued to ask, expressing his doubts.

"I don't know, we have to try though if there is a monster running around the Outlands, it's my responsibility to do something about it!" Jasiri declared.

Placing his paw upon Jasiri's, Janja replied, "It's our responsibility. Remember? We're all part of the same clan now."

Jasiri smiled back and replied, "Sisi ni Sawa."

And so the search party commenced. Jasiri gathered up the rest of their clan, and they broke off into groups. As usual, though, Janja was paired up with his old packmates, Cheezi and Chungu.

"All right you two, keep an eye out for whatever this monster is," Janja ordered.

"Hey Janja, how will we know a monster when we see one?" Cheezi asked.

"Yeah, what do monsters look like?" Chungu asked.

"Just look for anything you haven't seen before," Janja answered.

The two hyenas came to a halt, "Wait? So is "anything" we haven't seen before a monster?" Cheezi's innocently questioned.

"I haven't seen a leopard before! Does that mean leopards are monsters?" Chungu likewise innocently asked.

"Furbrains! I don't mean literally everything you haven't seen is a monster!" Janja snapped irritably.

Both hyenas looked toward their leader even more confused, "So then what do you mean?" Chungu asked.

Letting out a sigh, Janja clarified, "Just let me know if you find anything unusual."

Both hyenas brightened up right away, "Oh! We can do that!" Cheezi cheered.

The pair shot off and began to sniff around.

"Hello! Mr. monster! Where are you?" Chungu called.

"Please don't lay eggs in us!" Cheezi chimed in.

Janja could only shake his head. Though he may have been a kinder hyena, his friend's lack of intelligence still grated on him to a degree.

"Janja! Janja! We found something!" Cheezi called.

The hyena leader perked up his ears and headed towards his two friends, who were currently looking over something. Janja made his way through, but when he looked, all he saw was something pale and limp.

Suddenly Chungu let out a sob, "Oh no! The poor thing is dehydrolated!"

"What?" Janja flatly asked.

"You know? Dehadrolated," Chungu said again.

"What's that mean?" Cheezi asked.

"I think it means it didn't drink enough water," Chungu answered, uncertain of the meaning behind the word himself.

Janja slapped his paw to his face, "First off, the word is "dehydrated" and second, this is just old skin!"

Indeed what lay before the trio was dead skin.

"Yeah but it looks weird and you told us to tell you!" Cheezi excused.

"Janja!" The trio looked to see Jasiri running up to them, "Any luck on your end?"

"Well we found something," Janja then gestured to the skin, "I gotta admit, this ain't anything I've seen in the Outlands."

Jasiri stared down and remarked, "Is this, skin?"

"Yeah we thought it was a dhydro-dehidro-dedaloheri," Chungu attempted to pronounce the foreign word only for Cheezi to cut in.

"The word Janja said!" The smaller hyena blurted out.

Jasiri continued to stare down at the skin, a worried look appearing on her face all the more.

"What's wrong?" Janja asked.

"Some animals only shed their skin when they're growing," She remarked with horror.

Janja likewise looked horrified, "Well it ain't like it's growing to grow that big right? I mean the thing was just born today, how big can it get?"

As Janja finished that sentence, the only thought Jasiri held was that she didn't want to find that out.

XXX

Night fell upon the Outlands without much incident. The hyena clan searched as far as they could within the Outlands but found no trace of the creature beside the discarded skin it has cast. As the sun fell, they retired for the night, Jasiri herself feeling like a failure. Luckily, Janja was there to cheer her up.

As the hyenas entered into slumber, the skinks came out, skittering about to observe. That's all they could do after the war against Scar. They always kept a keen eye out for anything unusual.

And they certainly did.

The skinks scattered as something prowled upon the rocky terrain. They hid under rocks, within crevices, anything to get away from the horror of what they were witnessing. They made no sound, not sure about tangling with a creature such as the one they witnessed. The creature itself was silent in its movements, nary making noise and keeping a systematic pattern towards itself. Suddenly the creature came to a halt as it surveyed the land before it. Raising its head, the creature let out a terrible shriek, its first cry as an adult. The sound echoed throughout the rocky walls of the Outlands, and then with a snapping noise, the creature was off, heading into the distance it was staring at.

Crawling out of their hiding places, the skinks knew full well the direction it was going, for the shape of Pride Rock lay ahead.

It seems the Pride Lands would have a new guest.