Chapter 3: Wivu
After the sandstorm a few days earlier, Kion and the others almost welcomed the snowy tundra.
"Whooo hoooo!" Bunga screamed as he slid down a hill on his back, crashing into a pile of snow at the bottom and covered the others.
"...Bunga, snow is almost as bad as water." Fuli groaned, trying to shake it off her.
"I don't think it's that bad." Azaad chuckled, earning an annoyed glance from the female cheetah.
"I think it feels nice." Beshte said, stopping for a moment to rest his body in the snow.
"Really, alright then, have some more!" Bunga hurled a snowball into Beshte's face making him huff before nearly burying the honey badger in snow with his mouth.
"Ok, not bad, but how about this!"
Bunga threw another two snowballs, but both missed their intended targets, one hitting Ono and the other Anga.
"That's it!" Anga roared down and picked up some snow in her talons but felt another snowball strike her side, not from Bunga, but from a giggling Makini. With a fierce squawk, Anga hurled both her snowballs at Makini who ducked and weaved, eventually passing Fuli who took a hit.
"Grrrr! My turn!"
Fuli used her back legs to kick up snow into the air, with some of it landing on on Azaad.
"Ohh, don't start something you can't finish!" Azaad chuckled and quickly returned the favor. Before long all of them, save Kion, were embroiled in a spirited snowball fight, laughing all the while.
Ono squawked in frustration as snowball after snowball hit him and he couldn't even fight back with his vision still blurred.
"I'm going to hit someone!" The egret declared, balling up some snow in his wings and throwing it in a random direction. He ended up hitting someone, but ironically, the wrong one.
Ono's snowball struck Kion on the back of his head, halting him.
"Ha! Nice throw Ono!" Bunga laughed before he and the others saw fire in Kion's expression.
"Are you serious!? Our families think we're dead and all of you are messing around, look at what we have to get through today!" Kion snarled, emphasizing the snow covered mountain in front of them.
"They don't underssssstand your pain, they will keep you from reaching the Tree of Life."
"Grrraaww!" Kion rubbed his eye again.
"Easy, Kion. You just need some tuliza!" Makini raced over and took out a few of the purple flowers from her gourd.
"Freshly picked this morning."
The others nervously watched him eat the tuliza, particularly Azaad.
"He's not usually like this, it's the venom." Fuli said, more concerned than afraid.
"It's good we're taking him to the Tree of Life, I've never heard of venom that does this to someone."
"Ushari practiced dark magic, everything about him was corrupted."
Kion exhaled slightly after eating the herbs.
"Well?" Makini asked, backing up slightly.
"Yeah, feel better!" Bunga laughed while throwing a snowball into Kion's face.
"Bunga!" The others shouted. Makini trembled when she saw the fire reignite in Kion's eyes and he raised a paw, claws extended.
"Kion, no!" The prince brought his paw down and splashed a small wave of snow into Bunga, knocking him onto his back.
"And that's how you win a snowball fight." The rage subsided from Kion's face, falling into a playful aggressiveness.
"Oh yeah!" Bunga sprung up and hurled more snowballs Kion's way, the Prince now joining in, no longer hearing Ushari hissing in his ear.
Fuli chuckled, only for a snowball to hit the side of her head.
"What? The fight's back on." Azaad chuckled. Not a moment later, Fuli took their fight to the next level by pouncing onto Azaad. For the next several minutes, they continued the fight up the mountainside, allowing them to lose themselves to their fun. For Kion, it was an ever better sensation than tuliza or the tamaa.
Despite being new to the group and being around others in general, Azaad found himself increasingly enticed by the Lion Guard, and Fuli. He hadn't experienced anything quite like it before. However, as they got further up the mountain, the Guard's fun ended when they heard a terrified shriek nearby.
"What was that!?" Beshte muttered.
"Anga, can you see anything!?"
She nodded and flew up higher, using her keen sight to peer further up the mountain until she saw them. A family of snow monkeys huddled together inside a pool of water while the snow around them somehow seemed to shift on its own.
"Huh? It's a family of snow monkeys and they look like they're afraid of something, but I can't see what it is?"
"There must be something up there, which means there's animals in danger. We might not be in the pride lands anymore, but we're still the Lion Guard, come on!" Kion raced towards the hot spring first, invigorating his friends and Azaad immensely.
"There's our leader." Fuli said, racing after him with Azaad close behind.
Kion reached the hot spring and roared.
"Ahhh! A lion too!" One of the baby snow monkeys yelped, leaping into her mother's arms.
"Calm down, we're not here to hurt you."
"We?" The adult male asked nervously.
Fuli and Azaad reached them first, followed quickly by Makini.
"Cheetahs and an eagle!"
The four gave somewhat embarrassed looks.
"Calm down, we're not here to hurt you." Kion tried to assure them, but to no avail. The snow monkey father slowly lifted himself up but remained defensively in front of his family.
"Woooh hooo! The Lion Guard is here to save the day!" Bunga cried, splashing a bit of snow into the monkeys as he landed in front of them.
"A honey badger?"
"This is Bunga, I'm Prince Kion, leader of the Pride Rock Lion Guard."
"Lion Guard, really! I think I've heard of you before! Papa, maybe they could help us!" The adult female shouted while heer children climbed onto her in glee.
"That's what we do! Who's threatening you!?" Bunga growled and took a fighting stance.
"The Ghost of the Mountain." The adult male shuttered, his family doing the same.
"Ghost of the Mountain?" Kion and his companions each looked at each other with tilted heads.
"The Ghost of the Mountain has been stalking us for weeks. We can never see them, but we feel them hit us, bite us, scratch us." The adult female revealed a recently healed claw-mark on her arm.
"Huh, well I guess it can't be a ghost like Scar then." Beshte said.
"Ghost like Scar?" Azaad asked.
"I'll explain later." Fuli said.
Kion stared out at the mountainside with a fierce expression.
"We'll find them, if they can touch you, we can touch them. Anga keep your eyes peeled, Fuli, you and Azaad look around the surrounding area for tracks."
"No problem, try to keep up!" Fuli chuckled.
"Not this time!" He growled back, disappearing with Fuli.
Kion began pacing the hot springs with Bunga while Beshte took a defensive position and directly beside the water with Ono on his head.
"I have to admit, I never expected to find monkey's living up in a snow-covered mountain." Beshte said while watching the family bathe.
"Snow Monkeys can live in colder climates because of the hot springs. It's also how they socialize." Ono said, earning a nod from the parents.
"Finding this spring wasn't easy, all of the other ones anywhere near a food source were by treelines, and with that, predator birds." The mother shivered slightly thinking about it.
"We thought the Wivu springs would be safe, until the ghost showed up." The father added.
"Wivu?" Beshte asked.
"That's the name of the mountain."
Kion stopped for a moment and rubbed his scar.
"You ok, Kion?" Makini asked, opening her gourd.
"I'm fine, I just want to keep moving, but I won't let this ghost get them." Kion sighed. The pain in his foot pads was starting to irritate him almost as much as his scar. Lion's weren't meant to traverse such cold environments, and he'd been walking them for two days now.
Kion stared back at the hot springs with a longing expression.
"Why do they dessssserve the sssssspringssss. After everything you've done, have you not earned it." Ushari's voice continued to creep inside Kion's head, making him grit his teeth and close his eyes.
"Woah, Kion, easy. Just relax, maybe some snow will help your eye!" Bunga scooped some up and Makini moved to stop him, however, before she could, something unseen knocked him over.
"Huh?" Makini started before something hard and sharp struck her stomach, causing the madril to double-over in pain.
"What the!? Guys, there's something here, eyes open!" Kion took an aggressive stance and Beshte got up.
"It's the ghost!" The snow monkeys cried out in terror.
Kion grunted, feeling a pair of claws rake the side of his body. He snapped his jaws in that direction, but only saw a small cloud of snow falling to the ground. The same feeling struck his other side and Kion furiously lashed out, trying desperately to hit their opponent, yet nothing was there.
"Come on, where are you!?" Bunga threw a few punches into the air with no results and was soon knocked back over.
Beshte felt a few blows, but luckily his thick hide proved too tough.
"Don't worry, I'm not afraid of a ghost!" The hippo huffed while standing in front of the snow monkeys, and now Makini, who climbed onto his back.
"Grrr, where are they!?" Kion's rage was burning inside him like an oven.
"Huwezi!" Fuli and Azaad came racing back, and sped across the entire area. However, even they couldn't seem to find the elusive ghost.
"Gaah!" Fuli snarled, feeling something bite her back leg.
"How is this possible? Are they moving faster than either of us?" Azaad said.
"Anga, tell me you see something!" Kion growled, more annoyed than afraid.
"Nothing! Just some bursts of snow and, footprints…."
Kion and the others made the same realization as Anga. Each of them observed the ground much closer and saw it, footprints forming and the snow shifting around them.
"Are they invisible?" Beshte huffed.
"It can't be a chameleon or something like that, but maybe they could have fur that blends in with the snow!" Ono squawked.
Kion grit his fangs when an idea came into his head.
"Bunga…...Do it."
Anga stayed high in the air, and the other members of the guard braced themselves.
"Cover your noses!" Makini shouted to the family of snow monkeys.
"Hey ghost! How do you like this!" Bunga filled the air with a thick cloud of vile stench that almost made Kion regret his decision. That was until the footsteps stopped and all of them heard something coughing in disgust.
"Gaah!? What is that!" A female voice growled.
"Got you!" Kion snarled and in a fury dashed towards the voice, body slamming the ghost into the snow, finally making them visible. Now, they all saw it was none other than a snow leopard.
"Who are you!?" Kion bore his fangs inches from the leopard's head.
"Hmp, I'm Chuulun, the Ghost of the Mountain." She growled, turning her eyes onto the springs with a look of desire and jealousy.
"And those springs will be mine!" Before Kion could react, Chuulun splashed a bit of snow into Kion's face, irritating him and giving her the opening to free herself.
Before the others could react, Chuulun rolled into the snow, making her practically invisible once again.
"Come on!" Fuli growled in annoyance, feeling Chuulun scratch her side while laughing sinisterly.
"You can't hit what you can't see!" Azaad, Kion, and Anga all suffered similar strikes but Bunga fought back.
"Eat this!" He cried, letting out more stink.
"That's not going to work twice!" Chuulun chuckled, avoiding the stench and knocking Bunga onto his stomach.
"You're fighting for othersssss when your family thinkssssss you're dead! Why hold back? Why not ssssshow her what the Lion Guard'sssss leader can do."
Kion opened his eyes, fangs clenched together.
Makini felt the wind pick up and frantically turned to Kion, seeing the fire in his eyes. Above them, the sky darkened as black clouds filled the air.
"Mama." One of the baby snow monkey's trembled.
"Kion, don't!" But it was too late, Kion arched his head back and unleashed the roar. However, unlike previous times, the Roar felt uncontrollable, and rather than guiding its power, he almost felt like an uncontrollable flood.
The blast hid Chuulun and sent her flying as she screamed in terror, but it also did more than he intended. Anga's eyes went wide when she saw the snow on Wivu mountain begin to break apart and plunge down like a tidal wave.
"Avalanche!"
Kion broke from his trance just in time to see what he'd done. The sense of guilt and shame was only matched by his sheer terror.
"Ahhh! What do we do!" The adult female cried.
"Everyone, get behind Beshte!"
Kion raced past his Hippo companion and faced down the approaching snow with a fierce expression.
"Kion, what are you doing!?" Anga squawked.
"Fixing my mistake." Arching his head back, Kion prepared to use the Roar again, however, this time, they noticed the clouds weren't dark.
The Prince Roared once again, but this time he controlled its power and blasted away any snow that would've buried his companions and the family of monkeys. However, this became increasingly difficult as more snow came down.
Fuli and the others grit their teeth with a feeling of helplessness as they could only watch.
"Ok, Kion, that's enough, I can endure the rest!" Beshte pleaded, but to no avail. Kion kept up the roar, ensuring their safety. That was until snow burst in from the side.
Beshte huffed, bracing himself against the wall of snow against his hide. Luckily he managed to remain standing and looked down at the others.
"It's ok, it's over."
"Whew, that was a close one." Makini exhaled.
"We're ok!" The snow monkey family embraced each other.
"Way to go Kion!" Bunga proclaimed. However, the Guard didn't hear anything.
"Kion?" Anga flew up first and saw no trace of him.
"I can't see him!"
"Kion!"
Further down the mountain, Kion emerged from the snow and groaned. It wasn't just his eye and feet that hurt, but his entire body ached with immense and cold pain.
"I guess I deserve this." Kion sighed, looking around at the avalanche's aftermath with shame.
"Grrrr! Look what you've done!" Kion narrowed his eyes in annoyance and slowly turned back to Chuulan who stood nearby covered in snow.
"Great, you're here." He groaned.
"What the heck was that!? My beautiful springs are probably buried now!"
"They're not, I made sure of it." Kion sighed, shaking some of the snow from his fur.
"Really! Well then." Chuluun grinned again.
"Why are you so obsessed with that one? There have to be other springs around here you can use." Kion protested.
"I live on the mountain and those stupid monkeys are in that spring all day!"
"They need to to survive."
"So I don't get any spring time? They get it and I don't! Even snow leopards can get cold!"
"Then why not ask them to share?"
"Why should I!? I have a right to take it, just like you." Kion's expression changed slightly and Chuluun's expression turned sinister again as she began to circle him.
"I can see it in your demeanor. You want to use that hot spring too, relax your aching body, and maybe soothe that scar. You could easily take it from them, make it yours, you could probably take anything you wanted."
Kion's scar flared up again and he grunted as Ushari's venom spread deeper, sheering his insides like a hot iron.
"You want that hot sssssspring, you want the pain to go away. Why not take it, why not make it yoursssssssssss." Kion felt himself wobble, resistance breaking apart in concert with the agony in his body screaming for remedy.
Chuluun saw her opening and tried to snap her jaws around Kion's neck, a disastrous mistake. Kion knocked the snow leopard aside with a single stroke of his paw, and with a feral expression, snapped his powerful jaws into her back, making the predator cry out in agony.
Kion didn't stop there, either. Drawing upon his great strength, the lion hurled Chuluun clear off the mountainside.
"Kion!" He turned to see the others in his party racing down the mountain towards him.
"Kion, are you ok!?" Ono squawked.
"I'm fine-" Kion started, almost falling over before Beshte caught him.
"Come on, we'll get you over the mountain." They eventually got back to the family of snow monkeys who splashed about in excitement.
"You actually made her go away!"
Kion nodded.
"She's not coming back any time soon." Kion assured them.
"Thank you! We're in your debt!" The adult male cried.
"Oh my, you look exhausted though. You should step into the springs." Before Kion realized what happened, the two adults pulled him into the warm water. After the initial shock, Kion felt the enriching sensation from the steaming water as it eased his muscles and soothed the scar on his face.
Elsewhere, Chuulun slowly emerged from a forest clearing, limping as she did so and growling at the mountain.
"Grrrr, I'll get you for this, Kion!" She proclaimed.
"Really? Doing so on your own is a death sentence." Chuluun shivered when she heard another voice and turned around to see a pair of figures staring at her.
"But you don't have to do so alone."
Author's note
Yes, I will be combining certain episodes and cutting others out mainly ones that I see as filler
I apologize if you like those episodes, but I did this for efficiency sake
So until next time,
Please review, comment, suggest, or ask (VIA PM)