~Episode twenty: Return To The Pridelands~
~Part Four~
(AU; no Lion Guard competition; continued)
"*sigh* Too bad Utamu day can't be every day." Timon remarked, tossing another bug into his mouth. Allowing the loud crunch to soak in with the pleasure of the scrumptious taste.
He swallowed then picked up another.
"Otherwise, we'd be celebrating every day, to make up for all the ones you missed." He finished, glancing at the honey badger proudly.
"We weren't gone that long, Timon." Kion mentioned.
"Oh, yeah sure, get technical.." Timon quipped dryly. "But it was still forever!"
"Ooohh the horror!" Pumbaa wailed, as dramatically as he could sound. "A long while of no more Bunga!"
"Guys, relax!" Bunga scoffed. "I'm back now.. so we can all just sit back, relax and get back to normal." He snatched up another bug as he laid back, tossing the bug up and catching it in his mouth from where he reclined against the rocks of Hakuna Matata Falls.
"Well there's a great idea!" Timon exclaimed, pointing to him pridefully. "Let's all agree that this is just the end of a really bad nightmare.. and we can forget it ever happened."
Dust or something of the like blew into Kion's face and soon he found himself rubbing his eye, remembering the reason for which he used to do this for. And he couldn't help but frown in setting his paw down again, resisting the itch that still bugged him from the earlier disturbance.
xxxx
"Ugh! Kion.." Fuli's complaining tone was followed up by a shuddering shake. "What exactly is the plan here? These bees are everywhere!"
"How did they get so out of control?" Beshte wondered, everyone walking carefully through the swarm that buzzed around them.
"Indeed." Ono agreed, he hopped back from a cluster of bees and carefully flapped away from them. "Normally, we'd have Bunga move parts of the hive to try to get the bees to kinda stay spread out across the Pridelands. So they're not all swarming one part of it. There's nowhere for the Ellands to roam, with all the bees living here."
"You're right,.. both of you." Kion confirmed, pausing between statements. "But right now the Ellands need to get to their watering hole.. and we don't want them disturbing the bees. So let's split up. Anga, take Fuli and Bunga to divert the Ellands around the bee swarm. Beshte, Ono, stay here and help me find a way to safely deal with some of these bees so that we don't have this problem again."
"You got it, Kion."
"Affirmative!" Ono and Beshte responded.
"Right,.."
"With pleasure!" Bunga and Fuli answered.
"Yup!" Anga nodded, then turned to take off again. "Anga Lenga!"
Once everyone scattered to their jobs, Kion began to assess the field of numerous bee hives.
"Hmm.." he thought, scanning it more carefully.
"Ono,.. any ideas?" He asked after a moment, looking back at his two friends, the egret in particular.
"Well.. the best solution to start with is usually the obvious one.." Ono supposed. "Moving the bees worked before.. and.. I bet it would again. But we'll need Bunga to do it."
"Ok,.. I thought you might say that.." Kion nodded thoughtfully. "We'll wait for Anga, Fuli, and Bunga to return. For now, let's keep the bees happy by steering other animals clear of the hives."
"You know that's not a fix, right?"
Ugh, not again. Kion groaned.
"Vitani?.. what are you doing here?" Kion sighed, his dry curiosity betraying his question.
"Making sure you don't get into a jam again." The lioness returned, and she looked completely serious.
"What!?" Ono gasped.
"Vitani..-" some bees buzzed around Kion's face and he slowed to weave around them to pace towards her. "We have this under control.. you don't need to keep checking on us."
"You sure?" She asked, and Kion could sense something more behind her tone that he didn't like.
"Yes.." Kion asserted, taking another bold step towards her. Vitani didn't seem to appreciate his stance, as she raised her head more directly towards him, and squared her shoulders with his.
"We have handled things much more difficult than this, and did just fine doing it." Kion continued, when she didn't move or respond. "You don't need to be here, this isn't your job anymore." Vitani's face hardened and she lowered her head to turn around, and with the glance she shot over her shoulder as she walked away, Kion caught sight of it and stared hard after her until she was completely out of sight.
xxxx
"Finally the Edge of the Pridelands,.." Beshte sighed. "Feels like it's taken us forever to get all the way out here for our patrol today."
Kion slowed even as the others kept going, and he couldn't help but notice the dark undertone of the land across the break in the earth. Scanning down it slowly, a tall icon caught his eye, burning a memory back across his eyes like a visual tattoo.
And as soon as this memory went flashing by, the flames in his eyes made him step back. Whether he made a sound or not, he didn't know,.. but his friends still stopped nonetheless and doubled back to their leader's side.
"Kion?" Fuli addressed him softly. They followed his gaze.
"Oh,.." she added softly.
"The only thing I seem to remember of the Outlands is the last time we were out there.." Kion said, his eyes unable to break their gaze.
"Kion,.." Fuli began again. Then Kion realized he was staring and shook himself out of it and turned away. His friends watching him all the while, as he turned his back on the volcano and the whole Outlands.
"Hey,.. listen,.." Fuli quickly went on, in hopping up next to him again. "I know the volcano reminds you of your worst moments here,.. but that no longer matters.. You're healed now,.. remember that."
He looked over at her with a slight look of doubt, sighed, then kept walking, and they all followed suit with a silence that none of them had the heart to break.
xxxx
Nearing Pride Rock, Kion still had a small lead on them, and coming to the top of the last hill before the Rock, Fuli stopped inclining the rest of them to do the same.
"Anyone still feel like Kion's,.. not been himself lately?" Fuli finally decided to say.
"Oh,.. I thought it was just me.." Beshte sighed unfortunately.
"Honestly, I'm not sure he really had much time to process all that has happened yet." Ono agreed, as Beshte continued walking under him.
"Well,.. Maybe there's a way to help him do that.." Fuli thought, falling back in step with them.
"I sure hope so.." Beshte thought.
xxxx
Green eyes tracked movement while coming from the upper cave, the younger of the two, arriving from below the majestic overhang, came up to his level with a deeply thoughtful look holding her gaze to the stony ground.
"Vitani? What's going on? Where have you been?" Kovu asked, sensing her thoughtful nature as if it were his own.
"Do you really think Kion knows what he's doing?" Vitani asked out of the blue, his own questions remaining unanswered.
"Uh-.. What?" Kovu answered, blinking between his words with the need to fully process what he thought she'd said.
"Do you think Kion knows what he's doing?" Vitani repeated more directly.
"Um,.. Kiara sure seems to think that he was a great leader before." Kovu reasoned. "I'd like to think that even now she's still right. I'm sure they wouldn't have come back if he wasn't ready to."
"Yeah,.. before.." his sister quoted, with far more confliction.
"Listen, no one is discounting the fact that you helped protect the Pridelands after you and the other Outsiders tried to destroy it while under Zira's tyranny." Kovu continued, stepping towards her. "But now it's time to let the true protectors of the Pridelands assume their roles where they're meant to be…"
Vitani's troubled gaze lifted to her brother's.
"Kiara's confident in Kion's abilities,.. and I'm willing to agree." He went on. "And if they ever need help, I'm sure you and your team will be there when they do. But for now,.. give them some space and let them get used to the new normal of the Pridelands.. After all, it has changed a little in their absence."
"Sure,.. right.." Vitani sighed, wandering into the cave past her brother. He watched her go and could tell she wasn't convinced, but hopped deeply that she would begin to, as he soon followed her to prepare for bed that night.
xxxx
Bunga's brows bent in strange ways as his head tilted one way then another.
"I don't get it,.." He said finally. "Seriously,.. how do Aardwolves get stuck in a hole in the rocks?"
"The same way, honey badgers, get into trouble.." Fuli returned dryly. "All the time.."
"Whatever the reason, we've gotta free them and get these guys back to their pack,.." Kion reasoned. "They're probably already looking for them."
"And.. how are we gonna do that?" Fuli asked. "They're all stuck in there together?" The three Aardwolves struggled and strained, all trying to escape the same hole, which they'd wedged themselves into. The freestanding wall, anchored to the ridge, stood just as tall as its root, with only the one small hole at the bottom where the small hyena-esk creatures were jammed.
"Remind me how this happened again?" Fuli asked, coming towards the trapped animals.
"Ihn,.. we were just tracking something that could've been our lunch, but it got away." one of the male Aardwolves began.
"*grunt* we tracked the animal here, when it got away in the rocks." the female aardwolf said. "And when we saw our pack moving on without us.."
"We.. kinda tried to leave all at once.." The other male aardwolf admitted.
"That unfortunately explains a lot." Ono sighed, both he and Anga looking vastly unimpressed.
"And you didn't think to, oh,.. I don't know,.. walk around the wall, versus trying to go through it?" Fuli mentioned, rolling her eyes slightly.
"We'll need a way to get them out without collapsing the rocks or anything around the aardwolves.." Kion thought aloud. He searched up the rock wall and then down at the hole, in which they were wedged.
"Hmm.." Kion mused and he came a little closer. Looking carefully at the rocks and noticing how the aardwolves had gotten stuck a formulating plan began to surface.
"The aardwolves don't seem to be wedged too tightly," Kion mentioned, looking back over his shoulder at his friends. "We might be able to carefully slide them out the way they came in."
"Hm." Ono thought, hopping toward the aardwolves to take a closer look himself.
"Actually," he said, and he seemed more optimistic than he thought. "We might be able to pull one aardwolf through, and the other two back, and free them all at once."
"Great idea, Ono." Kion smiled. "Beshte, Fuli other side. Bunga?.. pull with me.." They came to the female aardwolf and took hold of her forelegs. Fuli and Beshte took places on the other side, gripping the remaining aardwolves by the tail.
"Ok.. on three, everyone." Ono delegated, watching both sides from above with Anga. "One,.. two,.. three,.. pull!" The four members pulled, the aardwolves feeling the tension, as they squirmed for a way out. And when they finally popped out, they landed on their respective rescuers, in a heaping pile. But looking up, a growing sound began to shift pebbles and dust down upon them.
"Watch out!" Kion cried. "Get back!"
A rock landed near Kion and he stepped aside just in time to avoid it, as Bunga and the aardwolf retreated; then followed suit.
Fuli and the other two aardwolves immediately turned and ran, but Beshte just looked up.
A large part of the rock wall came apart and landed a large stone in front of him, which gave him the idea he was looking for.
"Twende Kiboko!"
As soon as the group heard this, they turned around just as the hole in the wall was filled.
"Beshte?!" Kion gasped, unaware that the rocks had stopped crumbling.
"I'm good." The hippo said, peering around the wall after a time. "Looks like the wall is fixed."
"But how-.." Kion trailed, looking up, and finding that to be the truth.
"Great work, Beshte." He told his friend, and he almost sounded surprised.
"No problem, Kion." The hippo smiled.
"Is everyone alright?" Kion asked, his gaze landing on each member of the group.
"We're fine." Fuli nodded.
"Are you ok?" Ono asked the young leader. "That rock came pretty close."
"I'm ok." Kion confirmed. "Not a scratch."
"Glad to hear it." Beshte breathed.
"Yup." Anga agreed with a smile.
"So uh.." the guard's attention fell back on the aardwolves.
"Now that we're rescued, we should probably go find our pack." The female aardwolf said, as they all headed out around the wall to where the land opened up again. "Thank you so much for helping us!"
"Don't mention it." Kion smiled, "that's what we're here for."
The aardwolves returned a smile. The all three turned and scampered away across the open plains in the direction they had seen their friends disappear in.
When they were out of sight, Kion turned back toward the wall, then out around where they stood; as if expecting to find something.
"Uhh, Kion?" Bunga asked, upon noticing this behavior. "Lose something?"
"No,.. um.." Kion replied, turning back toward them so that the wall was behind him again. "I'm just a little surprised with.. how well things worked out today. Good thinking with that rock, Beshte.. you really came through for us back there."
"Awh,.. no worries." Beshte bashfully deflected. "It's what I'm here for."
"At least Vitani wasn't here to see it." Kion thought aloud.
"Puh! Like we need her here to see it." Bunga scoffed with a loose shrug, and Kion's frown returned softly to the ground.
"What's your deal with Vitani anyway, Kion?" Fuli wondered, sensing his slight annoyance. "Every time we see or discuss her you don't seem all that interested in it, but when she's not here it's like you're looking for her."
"Because she's been following us?" Kion answered, more abruptly than she was prepared for. "Haven't you noticed? Every time we've been on a mission since we got back, she's been there watching us."
The Guard just looked at one another.
"I've seen her." Kion emphasized. "Every rescue, like she's making sure we're doing our jobs.. and then she wants to tell us what we're doing wrong, when we handled it just fine."
"Some times." Fuli admitted.
"Every time." Kion corrected, and Fuli lifted her head in a slightly conflicted manner.
"She doesn't always come over, but I've seen her pretty much everywhere we've been, since we took back our duties as the Lion Guard." Kion continued. "It's like she's waiting for us to mess up so she can try to handle it herself. The way she thinks it should be done."
"Kion, stop.." Fuli asserted and she earned his attention immediately.
"You don't need to worry about Vitani.." Fuli told him, softening her gaze. "All you need to do is focus on you and what you need to do as Leader of the Lion Guard. Not what anyone else thinks you should or shouldn't do. Vitani.. isn't the leader of the Lion Guard, you are.. don't worry about what she thinks.. you don't have to answer to anyone for the decisions you make. And you definitely don't have to prove anything to anyone that you can make these decisions."
"I know, bu-"
"Stop.. trying.. to justify the authority you've already earned." Fuli emphasized heavily. "You know how to be a good leader, and you don't need anyone to tell you whether or not you are. Especially not Vitani."
Kion just stared, trying to think of something to say.. but after a while the closing of his mouth told them he didn't have anything.
"That's what I thought." Fuli asserted with making her point. "Now come on,.." But as soon as they started to move on, another animal jumped out in front of them.
"Ah!" Bunga yelped, only briefly startled. "Wait,.. Jasiri?"
"Hey Bunga." The hyena greeted, smiling.
"Jasiri? What are you doing here?" Kion addressed her, when coming toward her through the group. "Is everything alright?"
"Just checking in.." Jasiri replied. "Wanted to see how you were all getting on since you returned."
"Oh,.." Kion said, taken aback by this response.
"So?.. how's it been?" The hyena Queen asked, when no further response came.
"It's.. been ok." Kion shrugged lightly. "A rough transition, but we're working through it."
"Something wrong?" Jasiri wondered, searching his slightly troubled face.
"No,..I..-" Kion's gaze wavered. "I'm handling it." he said, and Fuli's eyes closed in disappointment as she lowered and shook her head.
"I'm glad you're here." Kion told his friend after a while, forcing a smile. Then they came forward for a nuzzle of a greeting.
xxxx
"I can't imagine how difficult this must all have been for you,.." Jasiri was saying as they walked. The two friends completely synced in step, with the Guard trailing behind.
"The last thing we knew Scar was defeated,.. and you were collateral damage,.. as well as Ono."
"I know,.. seems like forever ago." Kion recalled thoughtfully.
"And yet it still hasn't seemed the same." Fuli murmured to the group.
"I know you must feel that way,.." Jasiri continued, hopping up onto a rock, where Kion joined her.
"But you don't know how true that is." She finished, gazing out over the scorched land below the Volcano that was now sheeted with magma and exploding steam vents.
Kion's eyes burned with fire that mixed the emotions of his internal being to where he couldn't even tell one feeling from another. The sting that clouded his amber eyes stung all the way to his very core and he couldn't stop staring.
"This place hasn't been the same since our last battle with Scar." Jasiri continued making Kion look her way. "The Outlands hasn't felt as empty as it used to be,.. but it certainly doesn't feel like the same home it once was either.."
Kion glanced back over his shoulder at Pride Rock far behind them.
"I.. can't imagine what that feels like." Kion answered softly after a moment.
"I wish I didn't either.." Jasiri sighed, her ears laying back as her head lowered slightly and her eyes closed. And when they opened again a small smile grew on her lips, so she could lift it to him.
"I'm glad we came to get you." She said,.. "Even though it was all for nothing,.. I'm relieved to have just one familiar face of hope to look to."
Kion blinked, nearly swearing he'd missed what she said.
"We all missed you here,.." Jasiri continued. "You and your friends?.. It hasn't been the same without you.." Kion shifted to face her more directly.
"The Outlands looks worse than when we left.." he said. "-At least part of it does.. And you say it hasn't been the same without us? We're the reason everything has changed."
"Be that as it may, it needed to happen.." Jasiri told him, also turning to face him now. "Life may never feel the same again, but that's why we adapt alongside it.. Even if it means changing our own lives to do it.." Kion's expression lightening was no surprise, but the reason why might have been.
And looking back toward home, the sudden feeling that fell over him pulled something from him that he hadn't noticed before, and it made him more aware of the feeling. Which he'd gotten not that long after returning, and has held on even till now..
~To be continued..~
A little shorter than I usually go,.. But for the purpose I have in mind it'll suffice. HUGE thx to BlueWolfBat for some of the ideas presented here.. could NOT have made it through this chapter and part of the last one without him!
Fortunately there's more yet to come and I am SOOO hoping it comes a lot more naturally than some of this forced creativity! Again thx Bluewolfbat, and everyone enjoy this new chapter! Thx!