Chapter 2:

It was a quiet evening in the pridelands. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, which resulted in the sky fading from a light blue into an orange tint. Out there were a couple of cubs just running around, not noticing the setting sun off in the distance, and just kept playing, not with a care in the world.

The cubs ran through the tall grass, jumping around trying to tackle each other. But then they froze when they heard growling in the distance. They stopped and looked around. They saw someone moving around the grass, and out of nowhere a Jackal jumped towards them.

The two cubz braced for what was to come, but when they looked they saw a Lion with brown fur coat pounced on the Jackal. The jackal pushed off the teenager and was ready to face him off, but once he noticed the two other lions standing beside him he ran off.

"Get back home, alright!" Yazid ordered. The cubs nodded and began to run back to Pride Rock.

Once the cubs were out of sight, the three teenagers began to walk towards a decent sized boulder. Once they arrived, the three worked together to push over the boulder to reveal some hidden paintings.

"Finally! What does it say?" Barack asked.

Jabari inspected the paintings trying to decode it, however he lost focus when someone interrupted his thought process. "Well well well, if it isn't the Lion Guard." The three teens turned around and saw an adult Jackal standing in front of them, along with a small group of other Jackals standing behind him.

"We're not part of the Guard anymore Giza!" Jabari spat back. Giza laughed back at them. "Apologies, after you messed with one of my own I thought maybe that you re-joined them."

"He was annoying us, that was all." Yazid responded.

"Well you know the rules, so you should know what's gonna happen now!" The Jackals behind him started to extend their claws, and were ready to pounce at the three teenage lions. "This should teach you a lesson."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yazid smirked. "After all we don't just sit on our asses in the outlands after all."

"No amount of training is going to let you escape!" Giza growled.

"Wanna bet?" Yazid quickly pounced at Giza, knocking him against the trunk of a nearby tree.

Barack and Jabari quickly joined in, knocking away the nearest Jackals to give them a chance to think up a strategy. Barack used his speed to quickly run around and knock down the Jackals, while Jabari would knock them away before they had the chance to recover.

Yazid clawed at Giza's face and bit down on his scruff, and tossed him away. Giza stood up and jumped back at the Lion. He tackled him to the round and extended his claws. He swatted at the teenager, aiming to cut his throat.

However Yazid quickly racted, and instead Giza cut his shoulder. However Giza want finished. He stood up and once again tried to pounce at Yazid, but this time he quickly reacted and jumped out of the way.

The two stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move, when out of nowhere, a loud roar was heard. Everyone turned their attention to Princess Ayanna, who stood on top of the boulder, with Zuberi and Zahour standing beside her. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" She asked in a commanding voice.

"This has nothing to do with you princess. Leave before you break a claw or get dirt on your fur!" Yazd remarked.

"Says the rouge who is trespassing. ALL of you get out before someone get's hurt!" Yazid turned to Barack and Jabari, and the two nodded at him. "Fine, we'll leave!" The three teenagers got up and ran off into the outlands.

"And what about you!" Ayanna said turning her attention towards the Jackals. "We'll be leaving, but know this princess, this wont be the last time we meet!" Giza signaled his clan to follow him as they ran out of the Pridelands also.

"Well that ended quickly!" Zuberi remarked as he jumped off the boulder.

"What do you think they were fighting over?" Zahour inquired.

"I don't know, but at least they are off our land...for now at least." Ayanna said as she turned around and began to walk back towards Pride Rock, with Zuberi and Zahour following close by.

"Maybe they were fighting over some food!" Zuberi suggested.

"I doubt it, the herds usually stay close towards the center of the kingdom at night to prevent being picked off when they are sleeping." Ayanna responded.

"Since when were you an expert on herds?" Zuberi remarked.

"Hello? I'm the future queen!"

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting."

The three approached Pride Rock and began to walk in, along with the other Lions as they were going to go get some rest for the next day.

"Hello princess!" Ayanna mentally groaned as she turned around and saw Niah, along with her friends Dalila and Shani. "What do you want Niah?" Ayanna responded.

"Just checking on you. Ever since you ditched us for this Lion Guard thing we don't get to talk much."

"I didn't ditch you guys, I just now have less time to hang out!"

"Whatever you say, Princess!"

Ayanna growled and started to bicker with Niah once again.

However Zahour turned over to Zuberi and noticed that he was tensed up and barley even moving at all. He looked to where Zuberi was looking and saw that he was staring at Shani. He waved his paw in front of his eyes, trying to get his attention. But he didn't respond.

"Whatever, c'mon girls!" Niah ordered as the trio began to walk into Pride Rock.

Finally Zahour smacked Zuberi in the back of the head, snapping him out of his trance. "OW! What was that for?"

"You looked like you saw a Ghost, so I thought I would snap you out of your little love-trance!" Zahour responded.

"What do you mean love-trance?"

"Yeah what are you talking about?" Ayanna asked.

"While you were bickering with Niah, Zuberi was over here going all lovey-dovey for Shari.

"I was NOT going lovey-dovey for her!"

"DENIAL!"

"I mean it dude!"

"Hey calm down, It's not a bad thing to like a girl. It's a part of life."

"Easy for you to say, almost every girl our age wants to be with you!"

"Ya just need a little confidence, it will go a long way!"

"Soooooo, did you manage to find out what the paintings meant?" Barack asked.

"No I didn't get the chance to read the whole thing. We have to go back." Jabari responded.

"Well lucky for us, we have all night, we just have to make sure the Guard doesn't know that we were ever there." Yazid responded.

"Yeah after our little squabble they would probably want to start doing night shifts. Do you really think going back is such a good idea?" Jabari asked.

"Well we need to find out where the next artifact is before the Guard or anyone else finds them. So we're going when the moon is at its peak." Yazid faced his team, and the two teenagers nodded in agreement. They would depart at midnight.

Giza walked past the other Jackals, who were all sleeping, exhausted from the fight earlier in the evening. He made sure not to wake any of them up as he walked passed them. Then he walked into the entrance of a cave that he ordered everyone not to enter at all. He turned around to make sure that no one was awake or following him.

Once he saw that everyone was in fact asleep, he walked into the cave. He navigated through the various turns and arrived in a room that had a bright green tint. Once he walked in, a giant glowing green walk was visible on the side of the cave wall. Another Jackal was standing there waiting for him. "Anything?" the Jackal asked.

"Unfortunately no, we were unable to re-create the powers that the Elementals had." The Jackal responded.

"Keep trying, Askari, and those Bozos from a few years back were able to do it, and so can we." Giza then turned to the entrance and began to exit, making his way into his own personal den for him to rest him.

But little did the two jackals know, there was a paw placed on the inside of the giant rock, almost as if someone was trapped in the rock.