Scene opens on Kurt's tree. He is doing a new picture of Kitty as she grows into adulthood.
"Oh, Xaivor... every day Kitty grows more beautiful, into a Queen that will someday make us all very proud." He paints a mane on Lance, next to Kitty. "But this cub Lance grows stronger. And Mystique fills his heart with hate. I am very worried, Xaivor. Things are not going well."
Wind blows, rattling Kurt's gourds.
"Hmm? You have a plan?"
One gourd falls, splitting in half. Kurt holds up the two halves against the painting of Kitty and Lance, and brings them together until they join.
"What? Lance... Kitty... together? This is the plan?" He sounds mystical then yells. "Are you crazy? This will never work! Oh, Xaivor, you been up there too long. Your head is in the clouds!"
Wind blows hard at Kurt pushing him off the tree.
"Ow." Kurt moans as he climbs back up. "Okay, okay, okay! Okay! All right-- okay! I don't think this is going to work... but I trust you. I just hope you know what you are doing!"
Scene shifts to Mystique's rocky home, where the grown Lance is sitting on a rock while Mystique slinks around him.
"You are ready!" She chuckles. "Nice... very nice. You have the same
blackness in your soul that Magneto had. What is your destiny?"
"I will avenge Magneto... take his place in the Pride Lands." He answered roboticly.
"Yes! What have I taught you?"
"That you're a mean spitful witch?"
"Yowch! Lance like, please don't go away from the script! Rahne found more...this time they're hardback!"
"Sorry Babe!" He called off stage. "Scott is the enemy."
"And what must you do?"
"I must kill him!" Lance replyed happily.
Lionesses roar in reply. Scene switches back to Pride Rock, where Kitty
is emerging to take part in her first hunt. Jean is walking towards
Scott, who is sitting at the end of the assembled lionesses. He looks
quite worried and sad, but he sighs gently and forces a smile when Jean
reaches him.
"Wow, her first hunt!" Amara grins.
"You must be so proud, Jean." Jubilee sighs.
"Here she is!" Danielle smiles serenly.
Kitty emerges from over a hill on the trail. She looks at Kurt, who is standing next to the path. She looks worried until Kurt speaks to her.
"Kitty."
Warren alights nearby. Bobby and Freddy embrace goofily.
"Good luck, Kitty!" Storm beemed.
"She'll be great." Jubilee assured.
"Her first hunt!" Amara nodded.
"You can do it!" Danielle said.
"It's your day, Kitty." Jubilee patted her back.
"My, how you've grown!" Storm remenised.
Jean and Kitty nuzzle and hoots from guys are heard off stage. Scott is looking vaguely glum.
"You'll do just fine." Jean smiled kindly.
"Daddy... you have to promise to let me do this on my own. Promise?" Kitty pouted at Scott.
Scott glances at Jean, who raises her eyebrows at him. He rolls his eyes upward acquiescently.
"All right... I promise."
They rub heads; Bobby and Freddy break into tears. Kitty looks back, and then runs off into the fields. Scott moves surreptitiously over to Bobby and Freddy.
"Make sure she doesn't get hurt." He whispers to them.
Bobby and Freddy begin humming in a show of nonchalance, and sidle away off the rock until they drop over the side and out of view.
Kitty is hunting. Trying to be quiet, she steps on a branch, which cracks and sends a herd of antelope running. Kitty runs frustratedly after them. Scene switches to a burst of steam; we are in the Elephant Graveyard. Pietro and Wanda are standing on a ledge.
"Yeecch. This place is even creepier since the hyenas ran off." Pietro shivers.
"Mmmh. Gee" Wanda mumbles hermouth full of kindling giving him a withering look.
"I'm not scared, okay?" Pietro replyed annoyed.
They jump down next to one of the spouts; Wanda drops the kindling against the edge.
"I just don't know why we have to be here, that's all. If Lance was so special, why does he need us?... I never even had a CHANCE!" he gets his butt burned by a jet of hot gas from the ground. "Yaaah!"
Wanda watches him with amusement, then her face lights up as the near spout bursts, lighting the sticks ablaze.
"That's it! Now come on... Kitty has started her hunt. We have to move quickly." Wanda smirked at him.
Pietro grabs his burning stick, and leans his head over the vent's edge; it goes off, scorching his face.
"Oooh! Fire!" He laughs crazily and bounds off after Wanda.
Scene switches to the open fields, where Bobby and Freddy are following after Kitty. We see Freddy's tail sticking up above the grass. Bobby rises up next to it, sees the tail, yelps in surprise, and ducks back down. The two cross a clearing military-fashion, sniffing the air, and they dart from tree to tree with SWAT-team-style "Hup! Hup! Hup!" noises. Bobby leaps into a hollow log and gestures as though with a two-way radio.
"Tango-Charley-Alpha. What's your position?" Bobby says to Freddy.
"Uhhh... Upright..." He starts confused but then starts smiling. "Head turned slightly to the left... tail erect."
"Slashy." Kurt smirks from off stage.
"Why do I bother?" Bobby mutters as he scans the horizon, framing Kitty in his fingers. "Ah hah.."
Kitty is stalking the Jamie antelope again muttering sorrys to Jamie. She carefully steps over some stones with her front feet, but knocks them over with her hind feet, alerting the antelope into running yet again. She jumps up and gives chase as the herd turns and dashes away from her, directly toward Bobby and Freddy, who shriek in fright.
"This must be where the deer and the antelope play!" Bobby quipped.
The Jamie antelope pass; Bobby and Freddy shriek again when they turn and see Kitty standing there, panting. Bobby recovers and chuckles guiltily as Kitty recovers her breath, panting.
"Bobby...what are you doing here?" She asks sternly.
"Uh... shopping! We thought a nice pelt for the den... some throw
pillows," Freddy nods in the back ground. "A little potpourri..."
"And he says he's not gay!" Jubilee mutters to everyone and they all laugh.
"I AM STRAIGHT!"
"Like a roundabout." Ray adds.
"Guys!" Kitty winced as she is pelted with hard back copy of the
scripts. "Can we...ow...please...ow...get on wit...with the
script...ow! RAHNE!"
"Sorry! You can go...it's your line!"
"My father sent you. After he promised to let me do this on my own-- he lied!"
"No... he just doesn't want you to get hurt!" Bobby shrugged.
"I should have known he'd never give me a real chance."
Kitty runs past them, still breathing hard.
"I'll do this on my own. Away from the Pride Lands!"
"Hey! Wait! Come back! Oh... who can keep track of her? Kitty-- come
back!" Bobby hops up on Freddy, and they run after her-- but she's far
ahead already. "Oh... she's gone again! Somebody's gotta tie a
boomerang around her neck!"
"I don't get it!" Roberto said from off screen.
"See boomerangs, when thrown correctly are supposed to come back to
you!" John aka Pyro appears randomly in a ring of fire grinning
manically.
"Why are you hear John?" Wanda asks looked at him from her curled up
possition infront of a fire her and Kitty lie at when they're not
needed.
"Well...the author just happens to love me and think my accent is hot so she decided to put me in!"
"Oh...cool!" She looks upwards. "I owe you 30 bucks right?"
"35 with intrest!" Author nods.
She passes 35 bucks to a tall dark haired girl in green combats and a black tank.
"Thanks." She randomly dissapeared.
Scene switches to where Kitty has run, toward the edge of the Pride Lands. Pietro and Wanda are standing above, with their flaming sticks.
"Let's light fire!" Pietro grins as they run down the slope, Pietro
laughing madly. "Roasty toasty princess... roasty toasty princess..."
He lights the grass in several places, hopping around in circles. Soon
he is standing in the center of the circle of flames "Hey, is it hot in
here, or is that just me?" He realizes. "Fire! Yowww!" Pietro rockets
into the air and lands a good distance away, where he resumes laughing
maniacally
"That should so be me!" Pyro mutters. "I do a way better manical laugh."
"We know John, we know!" Gambit pats his shoulder sympathetically.
"WHY ARE THE ACOCOLYTES SHOWING UP IN MY STUDIO?" Rahne growled/yelled loudly.
"We got board." Piotr shrugged.
"Next thing you know-"
"BOW BEFORE ME!"
"He'll show up." Rahne muttered turning to Magneto. "Listen Buckethead
you have to go 'cause in this you dead." He doesn't seem to understand.
"Ehhhhh...dead, mort, tot?"
"Oh...oh sorry!" Magneto sighed and puts his head down, pouting. "Nobody wants me."
"Now now Erikk lets go get you an ice cream..." Sabertooth appeared leading him out of the set.
"Chocolate marshmallow swirl!" Magneto said hopefully.
"Ofcourse!" Sabertooth nods.
"Yey!" Magneto skipped ahead of him.
There was silence in the studio. Birds tweet and crickets chirp. Some
one coughs. Everyone is frozen. Wanda is the first to move again.
"Grr... come on!" She pulls Pietro off set and thus everyone starts moving.
Scene switches to the antelope grazing in the valley, along with various birds. The antelope spook at something near Kitty, and they turn and begin to gallop off. Kitty gives chase. Soon, though, she notices the fire burning on the horizon, and the antelope turn and run back in her direction. She panics, turns, and begins to run back the way she came; antelope and birds follow her. Scene changes to a high knoll above the flames, where Mystique and Lance sit watching.
"The plan is in motion." Mystique pauses. "Go!"
Lance runs down the slope, toward Pride Rock. Scean switches to Pride Rock, where Scott is pacing with Warren several steps away.
"Don't worry, Scott. She'll be fine. What could happen?" Warren asks.
Scott looks up and gasps as he sees the smoke rising.
"No... no! Kitty!" He turns to Warren. "Warren! Fly ahead. Find her!"
Kitty is following a pair of Jamie zebras away from the flames, but finds herself trapped and hemmed in on all sides, choking on the thick smoke. She sees a high stone overhang above the flames; she leaps up and tries to climb up the side, but she falls unconscious upon reaching the top. Lance appears from the smoke and looms over her; she wakes for a moment and sees him baring his teeth down at her, then loses consciousness again. Lance grabs the nape of her neck and throws her body on top of his, and begins to carry her away from the fire. He leaps across chasms with flames roaring, and then tumbles with Kitty down a slope into a pool of water, where Kitty begins to sink. Lance dives for her and drags her to shore. Warren, flying overhead, watches the event.
"I must tell Scott!" Warren flys away like a good little messanger birdie.
Warren flies back to Pride Rock. Lance drags Kitty to shore, and she wakes up, gasping for breath.
"Where am i?"
"You're safe... in the Pride Lands."
"The Pride Lands... no! Why did you bring me here? Who do you think you are?" Shes bewildered at first then gets angry.
"I think I'm the one who just saved your life!"
"Look! I had everything under control!"
"Not from where I'm standing."
"Then move downwind."
The lions confront each other. Kitty begins jumping from side to side, as she had done in their earlier encounter as cubs. Soon Lance's interest is piqued.
"What are you doing?" He raises an eyebrow just like he did in the other chapter when he was a cub.
"Lance?" Kitty gasps reconising him.
"Kitty!" Scotts voice was heard off set.
Scott and the lionesses from Pride Rock arrive. Scott jumps in front of Kitty, snarling and growling.
"Kitty! You're all right." Jean sighs in relief.
"Father... how could you break your promise?"
"It's a good thing I did. I almost lost you. No more hunts for you; not ever!"
"But I was doing just fine! Even before Lance-"
"Lance!" Scott roars at him when he noticed him.
"Scott!" Jean frowns surprised at his ferocity.
Scott glares at her.
Kurt has arrived, and is standing on the hillside behind Scott.
"Hey! You! How dare you save the King's daughter?" He yells.
"You saved her? Why?" Scott asks suspisously.
"I humbly ask to join your pride." Lance say simply(joy ride much?)
"No! You were banished with the other Outsiders." Scott said immediately.
"I have left the Outsiders. I am a rogue."
"HEY! I'M THE ONLY ROGUE HEAR ASSHOLE!"
"Ouch! Rogue will you just SHUT UP!" Kitty screams as she gets hit with another book.
"Judge me now, for what I am... or am I to be blamed for a crime I didn't commit?" Lance shrugs making sense for once.
Scott snarls and paces around. Jean looks hard at him.
"Scott... you owe him your daughter's life."
"Whipped." A cough sound suspisiouly Cajin comes from off stage.
"Mmm... yes, sire. Clearly we are in his debt... and royal protocol
demands that all debts be paid. Though in this case you might want to
make an exception." Warren nods.
Scott paces a few moments more, then comes to a decision.
"Hmmm. My father's law will prevail. For now, I reserve judgment. We'll see who you really are."
Lance smiles inwardly and looks sidelong at Kitty, who smiles back at him. Warren turns his back on Lance.
"Hmph! Riffraff."
Warren flies off. All make their way back to Pride Rock, with Lance walking behind Scott and growling to himself.
"Cut!" Rahne grins but it flickers when she relises she has only
thrown a few scripts at Kitty. She shrugs and throws 5 at her.
"Heeeeeeeey! Stop it you freak!" Kitty yells at her.