Yikes, it's been such a long time since I last updated, BUT! I swear I have a reason for that!

First off, if you remember what I said in the AN in the last chapter, I just wanted to let you know that my grandparents are doing great :3:3 :3 Thank you for your concerns and best wishes*huggles* Also, I want to take this moment to thank those who were kind enough to review the last chapter!


Jestalnaker94000: Thank you so much for that hun, I'm so glad that you're still enjoying the story! And thank you for your concern about my grandparents, they're both doing just fine :3

Guest Reviewer: Lol, I know right? It's about time! Thank you so much, and I'm sorry I'm so slow! XP I shall keep it up!

Steelcode: Aww, thank you so much for that hun, and I'm trying to get them all wrapped up so you can read them! And thanks a bunch for your well wishes, I really appreciate that! 3

Husker97: Thank you so much, I'm glad that you liked the chapter:D:D And my family is doing very well, thank you very, very much!

I-Love-Trunks1: Lol, I'll try and get these next chapters done and finished so you can find out XD Thank you soooo much!

JJChandler: Yes. Yes it is. O_O; *slowly ducks down to hide from the seriousness*

katmar1994: Thank you so much for that hun, I'm glad you like it so far :D:D And thank you for showing interest in my LBT story, I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update. There's a good reason for it, and once I finish up the chapter that I'm working currently working on, I'll be sure to explain myself hopefully sometime soon, but I make no promises.


I think that's it, thank you all so, so, SO much for your patience and continued support, lord knows I don't deserve any of you after making you wait so flipping long! XP

Okay, now it's time for my explanation...when I write a story, I typically write down a rough draft down in a regular note book before I type it out here and post it.

Well, airhead me lost the notebook I had this story in, the one that I keep my 'Adventure of a Lifetime' story in and a couple others and I seriously thought I lost them forever. Believe me, I tried to rewrite from scratch, but nothing I was writing seemed to look right and it totally killed my muse T_T.

But, I was cleaning the living the other day, and guess whaaat...I FOUND THEM! WOO-HOO! Yeah, apparently, it had fallen in the gap behind the couch(we have a long couch that curves slightly and there's a small space where a corner of the living room is behind it.) There was a blanket on top of my note books as my brother-in-law likes to sleep on the couch sometimes and he keeps a blanket of his in that gap when he needs it.

Holy muffins, these note books are never leaving my sight unless they are securely placed inside my art bag in the safety of my bedroom until they are done!

I'm sorry, I know I should have said something, but if any of you are anything like me, nothing grinds my gears more than to wait a long while and be excited to read what you think is a new chapter only to find out that it's just an authors note(Not that there's anything wrong with doing that, mind you, because it's very important to let readers know what's up and it's easier and faster to do it that way...but for me personally, it's just super disappointing and I would really rather not do that if I can help it XP).

Alrighty, now I know what you all really opened up this chapter for, and I'm finished with my boring explanation, so have at it you guys! I hope you enjoy! :D:D:D


...

...

...


Chapter 8: Back to the Pride Lands


...

...

...


"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Ryan angrily berated himself, coughing as his lungs burned and his eyes stung from the smoke as he had to take yet another hasty detour through the tall grasses when hot flames zoomed in front of him and blocked his path once again. "I'm such a moron!"

Fire, why did he think fire was a good idea? And in the middle of a dry season no less?!

Not only had he just endangered himself and the land around him with his poor decision, but he also put Kiaras' life in danger as well! But he couldn't focus on what he could have done differently, with the fire spreading as fast as it was and murderous animals tracking them down, the most important thing right now was getting Kiara out of this place and back in the Pridelands as quickly as he could!

Unfortunately for him, however, the poor little cub didn't know what to make of everything she was going through. With the terrible smell of smoke in the air and being jostled around from her place in Ryans' arms as he ran, all she really knew was that it terrified her and left her crying for her mother and father to come and save her from it.

Her cries were eventually going to lead Zira and the wild dogs right to them faster than he would be able to put distance between them, so deciding to make a quick stop, he ducked down under the tall grasses within a slight depression in the ground. This would be sure to hide them from sight for a bit, and they were able to breath a little easier as they were beneath the smoke.

However, Ryan knew that they couldn't stay here for long with the fire showing no signs of stopping, he just needed enough time to catch his breath and calm Kiara down.

"Shh, Kiara, I know you're scared, it'll be alright." Ryan began, he knew she couldn't really hear him, still, he tried to speak softly and hope that she would somehow understand. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

But his heart felt heavy when he suddenly noticed that frightened tears had beaded out from under her eyelids and were now trailing down in dark, wet lines down her furry cheeks.

"I'm right here, you're safe with me." He said, holding her close to him and gently resting his cheek upon her tiny head. "I won't let anything happen to you, and that's a promise!"

Even if she couldn't understand what he was saying, the contact with him seemed to do the trick in soothing her as the tears ceased and her crying quieted down into slight hiccups. And letting out a quiet sigh of relief, Ryan began to rock her in his arms as he kept his ears open...listening for growls or padded footfalls along the ground.

Thankfully, all he could hear so far was the crackling sound of grass as it burned. Though as he listened harder, he suddenly picked up on the sound running water that made his heart leap with hope and elation.

It was the river, he must have been close!

Wasting no time, he placed Kiara on his knee before he shrugged off his pack and hoodie, rolling it up and flipping it over behind his head. And making sure that the hood was free, he tied the arms together tightly under his jaw and picked Kiara back up, placing her in the snug little space between the clothing and the back of his neck before he pulled the hood over her and his head and clicked his pack back into place.

He stopped when he suddenly heart something, this strange animal call sounded through the air in five short, single note bursts before it all went silent; save for the crackling of the fire. He had never heard anything like it before, but when he didn't hear it again, he figured that it must have been some kind of bird that was sounding an alarm before it flew away.

After he was sure that Kiara was secured and the straps were nice and tight on his pack, Ryan took the knotted sleeves of his hoodie and fasted them over his nose and mouth before he mustered up his courage and burst from the grasses, running full speed in the direction he could hear the water coming from. It was difficult to see with all the smoke that was accumulated in the air, but sure enough, he just barely managed to see that crack in the earth where a long, but thankfully shallow stretch of water was the only thing between him and the Pridelands.

Faster he ran, his hazel eyes glued to the path before him as while the pounding of his feet, as well as his heart, seemed to boom in his ears. So focused on he didn't even notice three figures zooming through the grasses on either side of him.

But he did slow his stride when he heard this familiar high-pitched squeaking, and cried out when the snarling faces of Buziba and his two pack mates suddenly blocked his view of the river; Which made him put on the brakes so suddenly that he slid down on his rear.

Ryans breath was coming in and out so ragged and fast that he was becoming light headed, his eyes wide with fear when the three lycaons slowly stepped out from the grass and stalked towards him. The murderous and angry light in their eyes making a tight knot form in his throat as he began to scoot himself backwards away from them as they advanced.

"And just where do you think you can go?" Buziba asked, his low, graveled voice sounding even more ominous along with fire that was burning around them. "You're all on your lonesome here, kid; nowhere to run, and no friends to save you."

Ryan glared up at him, but didn't answer as he quickly looked around, trying to find a way out or at the very least find something he could fight with.

"You're only making things harder on yourself." the lead dog continued when he noticed that Ryan was looking left and right in a desperate attempt to find a way to escape despite being caught. "I'll do it quickly if you just give it up and hand her over."

"Over my dead body, dog breath!" Ryan snapped defiantly, anger welling up inside of him as he refused to give them what they wanted even as Buziba bared his teeth and an annoyed growl rumbled out from his chest.

"That can be arranged!" he stated, lunging forward with bared fangs.

But his attack was stopped short when Ryan swung his arm around and pelted Buziba full on in the face with a fist full of dirt he had collected while they exchanged words. Making the painted dog let out a howl of pain and anger as it got in his eyes and effectively blinded him. Using this opportunity, Ryan was on his feet again and running as fast as he could to down the path to find another way across the river far from the wild dogs as Zuberi and Gamba looked at there leader with concern as he rubbed at his face with his paws

"Go!" Buziba finally ordered when he managed to open his eyes just enough to see his prey on the move. "Don't let them get away!"

With loud growls, they did as he commanded of them and took off after Ryan and the princess while Ryan just focused on putting one foot in front of the other as he prayed that he wouldn't trip.

He could feel Kiara squirming around, trying to get out from under his hood because it was most likely because getting hot with all the running he was doing. He slowed down as he reached up to still her and move her back to where she was on his neck, but that was a bad idea when he heard a loud snarling behind him, mere seconds before he felt a body knock into the back of his legs and send him falling to the ground on his front.

All Ryan could feel where clawed paws clambering around on his back before he suddenly felt tugging on the back of his hood, but at the same time, he also felt something long and solid under the palm of his hand. So without another thought, he grabbed it in a tight grip and whipped it around until he felt he heard a satisfying 'THWACK!' and a shrill yelp before the weight that was on him flew off.

He scrambled back to his feet, breathing hard as he readjusted his hoodie and stared down at the two wild dogs as the one known as Gamba was shaking himself off and the other, Zuberi was hunkered down and growling at him with his marbled fur bristled out. Tightening his hold on the weapon he had, which he now saw was a burning stick, he took a menacing step forward.

"Get back!" Ryan yelled, swinging the stick left and right so fast that it almost whistled through the air. "Get back!"

Gamba and Zuberi immediately took several paces back, but they didn't run off like Ryan hoped they would. Though before he could try and come up with a plan on what to do, there was a loud boom of thunder from above which made them all look up in surprise to see that dark clouds had rolled in at some point during the commotion before Ryan suddenly felt something cold and wet slap him on the nose.

Pretty soon, he found himself looking around in shock to see that fat raindrops were falling everywhere around them, heavy and fast and quickly turning the dirt to mud. It was still the dry season, it wasn't supposed to rain...at least not like this!

But he soon pulled himself out of his surprise when he saw that the fire on his means of defense was sizzling out under the rain until all he was holding in his hands was hardly anything more than a charred up stick. They all stood at a stand still for what seemed like forever until Gamba was the first to make a move, rage in his eyes as he wanted to get Ryan back for hitting him.

Ryan tried to whack him with the stick again, but the wild dog managed to catch it in his jaws and break it in half with his teeth while Zuberi leaped at him.

The young man managed to duck down and caused the dog to sail over his back, and as Ryan stood back up and saw what was left of the stick, he meagerly threw it at them before he turned and barreled through a wall of grass that was nearly as tall as he was. He knew it was a risk running in here, but he hoped that it would slow them down some.

Ryan looked back only once to see if he could see the grass rustling from the bodies of his two pursuers, but he let out a yelp of surprise when his left foot suddenly seemed to fall through the earth and his vision swam as he felt his body roll down a steep slope before he splashed down into shallow, muddy water. He sat up quickly, coughing and spitting out dirty water while Kiara was mewling loudly in his ear from the wet and jarring fall Ryan had taken, but otherwise okay and still wrapped up securely inside his hood.

So as he reached in with a hand to stroke her head and calm her, he looked around see where he had taken them.

Well, he was back at the river...but obviously in a different part of it as the waters were so shallow here, it looked like he was standing in a creek with tall bluffs on either side that would be extremely difficult to scale up even if it hadn't been raining. But down the way, he caught sight of a tree that was growing near the edge with winding roots that were growing out of the wall of wet earth.

If he had a running start, there was a good chance that he could reach them, then he would be back in the Pridelands!

Vicious snarls made him look back behind him to see Zuberi and Gamba thrust their heads out through the grasses he had fallen out of moments before, glaring at him before they quickly, but carefully made their way down the sloping crevasse. And with a determined expression on his face, Ryan re-tightened the arms of his hoodie as not to loose his precious cargo and he took off sprinting as fast as he could while he kept his eyes on those tree roots.

Kiara's crying, his own breathing and the growls and splashes of the lycaons running after him through the water seemed to muddle together as he summoned up every ounce of power he possessed as he jumped and reached up to grab the roots above him...

Letting out a loud triumphant cry as he had a secure hold of the roots and using the momentum he acquired from the jump to effortlessly climb up the roots just as Gamba and Zuberis' snapping jaws missed his heels by inches before he pulled himself over the edge. Panting hard while the rain pelted his back as he tried to calm his heart rate and regain his breath.

After a moment, he peeked back over the edge to see the two painted dogs, soaking wet and muddied as they stood back up to their feet and began to shake themselves. When they stopped, they raised their heads up and glowered up at him with looks that were positively radiating with hate and anger.

"Ha! Better luck next time, boys!" Ryan taunted with a jeering wave.

He knew doing that was in poor taste as he barely made it out of there by the skin of his teeth, but quite frankly, he didn't give a flying frak about taking the high road after getting chased all over by these homicidal mutts!

Ryan watched as they took off down the stream, mostly likely to regroup with their alpha and find an area down the way that was low enough for them to climb up to the other side. But lucky for Ryan and Kiara, that might take them a while as the towering wall of dirt seemed to stretch on for a good long distance.

After a short moment of rest, Ryan stood his feet, his legs wobbling and feeling a lot like jell-o from the hard running he did before. Though despite feeling tired and sore, he had to press on.

He may have gotten Kiara and himself back in the Pridelands, but they were far from out of the woods and the little princess wouldn't be safe until she was back home where her family could protect her. Lucky for him though, he had a clear direction as he could see the faint outline of Pride Rock along the horizon before him and swiftly began walking towards it.

The sooner he got Kiara home, the better off they would be!


...

...

...


Man, this chapter seemed so much longer written out in my notebook :/ sorry it was so short, guys, I hope the next chapter will be longer than this.

Also, on a completely different note, is it weird that when I write dialog for Buziba I always hear Steve Blum saying them in my head? O3O(voice actor for Spike from 'Cowboy Bebop', Wolverine and Makutcha for all you 'Lion Guard' fans X3).

Thank you so much for reading guys! be sure to let me know what you think, and tell me of any spelling or errors that I might have missed :)

And be on the look out for the next chapter to come up either tomorrow or the day after :3