Chapter 19

Mohatu could see the spirit lands just ahead. His heart raced as his paws beat the ground beneath him. He could hear the gunshots and it only made him run faster. This was all his fault and he knew it. If the spirit pride died he would never be forgiven. Kicku would hate him, his mother would disown him. The alliance he had formed with the Lone pride would be gone for it would be his fault if Taka died as well. Mohatu growled deep in his throat as he stretched out, running faster than he had before.
Tika raced past him with tears in her eyes. Mohatu only glanced at her. At least one of them was safe, but what about the others? He had now entered the spirit lands and not far ahead, at the big rock formation, he saw the humans, Tanu and Kacela, the spirit pride and Taka...

Taka had turned around after a minute and returned to fight the humans. Niya was fighting Kacela while Tanu crouched in the grass behind her. Taka pinned his ears and ran back. As Tanu pounced Taka pounced to. He roared and smashed into the younger lion. The two somersaulted a few times and then stopped with Taka pinning Tanu. Tanu was shocked and had the wind knocked from him so he stared up at Taka with scared, pleading eyes.
But rage had overtaken Taka now, his eyes blazed fire and he growled the most threatening growl he could come up with. "Look you little runt, I've had enough." Taka said. Tanu seemed to have gained some courage back. "Your pelt is the same as most lions, it won't be worth much, but I'm sure the boss will still want it." Taka roared and smacked the cub square across the face. The impact caused Tanu to roll a few feet. Tanu then sat with his paw over his face, whimpering.
One of the humans saw Tanu cringing and an angry Taka looming over him. The human took aim, the long narrow gun pointed directly at Taka...
With a mighty roar, King Mohatu arrived at the scene. He looked around and then roared, "NOOOOOOO!" and launched himself at the human. The shot fired just as Mohatu tackled the human.
Taka looked up and ducked just in time to miss being shot. Meanwhile Tanu got up and looked back at Taka. Three fresh scars were on his cheek, directly under his eye. Taka purred in satisfaction. He then roared and crouched down. Tanu pinned his ears and ran off. Taka then looked toward Mohatu, who was now mauling the human.
Niya had successfully chased off Kacela and now walked back over to Taka. The two looked around, and finally saw Crinu and Tania still circling the remaining two humans. Tania had knocked the guns from their hands and glared up at them now.
Taka and Niya ran over to them and joined in the circling. "F-f- frank?" one of them said. The other frowned, his eyes were colder than cold, but showed no fear of these lions. "What Joe?" Frank demanded. "What do we do now?" Frank scowled. "I've already beeped Chad, he'll bring the ranger by and these lions will be dead," a slow malicious smile spread across Frank's face. "You hear that you ugly beasts? I'm not playing games no more, you're dead!" Niya pinned her ears and lunged at him. But Frank had anticipated the move and ran through the small hole the lions had left and bolted for a nearby tree. Joe ran after him. The lions roared and gave chase, Crinu limping after them.
Frank climbed the tree as though he were a monkey and smiled as he saw the truck come around. He hopped into it and then pulled Joe in. "Start firing!" he ordered, grabbing a gun. Joe grabbed one to and together they started pulling the trigger as fast as they could, not paying attention to where the bullets were going, just shooting as much at they could.
The truck caused dust to rise and get in the way. Finally the lions heard the squeal of truck tires and it drove away. The dust settled and the lions slowly got up and looked around. Crinu was laying down, once again to weak to stand. Niya's paw had accidentally gotten run over, so now she held it up, whimpering slightly. Tania was staring off in the direction the truck had gone, not completely convinced it was gone for good. Taka sighed and then walked over to Niya and licked her paw.
A few minutes passed and then Mohatu limped over to them, triumphant that one human was dead. His shoulder had a slight gash and was bleeding. The spirit pride turned and looked at him with a mix of surprise and anger on their faces.
Mohatu sighed. He turned to Niya. "I am sorry. I overreacted. I should have never exiled you. We all make mistakes, I know that. I guess I just wasn't thinking when I sentenced you to exile." Mohatu paused and put his head down. A few teardrops rolled down his face. He looked back up at the pride. "Look what could've happened! It would have been my fault if we'd have lost you guys. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I was wrong, and I want you all to return to pride rock, where you belong." The pride exchanged glances. Taka walked over to where Mohatu was and sat beside him.
Niya looked up at him and then back at Crinu. He gave the smallest of nods to her. Niya turned back to Mohatu. Finally she sighed. "You're right, everyone makes mistakes," she said. She walked up to Taka and rubbed her head under his chin. Mohatu smiled, glad that Niya had accepted his apology. He then turned his attention to Crinu.
"Come on, let's go home and get Crinu back to Pantia." The pride nodded. "I have an idea, wait here!" Tania said, rushing off toward Sarsha's hideout. Anxiously the pride waited. Finally Tania came back carrying what appeared to be two gigantic leaves. She set them down near Crinu. "We can use these to carry him back." Tania said. Mohatu nodded. "Good idea," he said. Crinu got up a bit and with help from Niya and Taka got onto the leaves. Taka and Mohatu then picked up the stems of the leaves and lifted Crinu up. They then carefully carried Crinu back to Pride rock...

Ok I like this one better than chap. 17. Even though it did turn out to be a bit long, but that's ok, sometimes longer is better. What do you think C.a.b? We need more reviews people, plz review! Thanks, ttfn! Bambi