At first, Kion thought this was the end for him, but just as the painted dogs jaws could even touch the poor, frightened cub, a small group of buffalo began running by, causing the mutts to be temporarily distracted and keep their distance from the running bovines.

It was the perfect opportunity for Kion to run off with a quick spurt of speed. The other dogs soon noticed and saw him run off very fast like.

Growling, the leader said "After him!" Then he and the other wild dogs came bounding after the cub. Kion was being absolutely silent and camouflaged himself in the grass so the other dogs wouldn't see him.

"Did you find him, dear?" Asked a beautiful female voice.

"No, Veya." The leader admitted. "Let's look over near the tree, maybe he climbed up there."

"Good idea, Akilah." Said the female wild dog. It sounded like she was the mate of the alpha male and a co-ruler of this painted dog pose.

The cost was clear and Kion was trying to quietly sneak past them, but then, he unintentionally sneezed, causing the wild dogs's ears to perk up along with their heads, and looked behind them

"Ah ha! There you are, you clever lion." Said the leader. "Get him!"

Kion found himself running a tree full speed again, running for dear life. As fast as he was, the dogs were closing in on him, and tried with all his strength to go faster than them, but then he suddenly tripped and rolled into the dirt.

The alpha male pinned Kion to the ground on his chest with his paw. "I will not let you hurt my son, or my family." He Said. "You mess with my family, you mess with me." He barred his teeth at Kion and closed his mouth in to the cub's face.

The cub began screaming at the top of his lungs on terror, but then, he heard a voice. "Kion!" It was his father. "Kion?"

Simba, Nala, Kovu, Kiara, And Vitani Leto out of the grass and stood in a battle pose against the wild dogs. Simba himself let out a roar of warning at them, bearing his teeth menacingly, as did the other family members.

"Let go of my son!" Simba ordered. "I swear I will maul you all of you don't release him!"

The dogs and their leader were all stunned and surprised to see who they were face to face with. The leader of the pack immediately let Kion go, and run up to Nala, shaking with fear.

"King Simba?" Said the leader.

"Yes." He stated firmly. "And who are you?" He and the other lions gave them a cautious look just in case the mutts would trick or betray them.

"Do forgive us, your highness." Said Akilah. He, and the other wild dogs bowed to the lion king in complete respect. "We never mean any harm, I promise you."

"Then why were you going to kill and eat our own son?" Nala asked demandingly.

"Your son?" Said Veya in surprise. She and the other dogs looked at a Kion again, trying to hide behind his mother's paw. "We did not notice."

"How do you know about us?" Kovu asked suspiciously.

"Well, we come from a far away land, and a severe drought has destroyed our home." Said Akilah. "There was hardly enough food for all of us, and we had no choice but to leave our once glorious home, and we desperately ask of you for us to seek shelter here."

"After yoy tried to kill my own brother, why would we help you?" Kiara asked.

"We are very sorry about that. It's just that, our son, Okove, said that your son attacked him."

"No!" Kion said. "I wasn't trying to hurt your son. You see, my dad was just trying to teach me how to hunt, and I saw a duiker ripe for the picking. I thought you were a duiker. Listen Okove, I am really sorry I scared you. And, I didn't hurt him, just pounced on him."

The young pup walked up to Kion and said "i'm so sorry too, for almost getting you killed back there. I was just so scared at first, I didn't know what was going on."

"And some jackal told us about you, sweetie." Veya remarked to the lion cub.

"What jackal?" Asked Simba.

"She was a female, and had a big family." Said the leader.

All the lions looked at one another looking unamused, and they all said in unison "Reirei."

"Yeah, that's her name." Said Okove. "Do you know her?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Kovu said begrudgingly. "She and her family are all nothing but trouble."

"Yep, they manipulate, pull strings, they will do anything to get what they want, even if it means plying dirty.

"Look, I am nothing like Reirei said about me to you. Anything she will say about me are all lies." Kion noted. "They are a clever pack."

"You can say that again." Said one of the wild dogs.

"Kion, we are so sorry for scaring you and almost killing you." Said the leader. He, Veya, and their son went up to him and bowed their heads at them. "If you cannot forgive us, I understand."

"Especially me." Said the pup in complete shame. "Me and my family were out hunting, too."

"It's okay." Kion smiled warmly. "I forgive you." then he gently placed his paw on the pup's head, making Okove smile adorably.

"Well, listen." said Simba. "I can assure you that Kion meant your child no harm. He is correct, I was showing him how to hunt properly."

"We understand, your highness." said Akilah. "I hope I didn't scare you back there, Kion. I was just doing what any good father would do."

"It's fine. I've seen way scarier things than a bunch of painted dogs looking angry." The grownups could 't help but laugh amusingly at what Kion just stated.

"Perfect. So will you help us find shelter in these beautiful lands, king Simba?" Asked Veya. The other dogs behind the three family members all murmured and said Statements about wanting to live a better life."

"Hmmm, I think I can." The kind replied. "Perhaps we can form an extraordinary alliance between one another."

"Are you sure, dad?" Kion Asked him. "What if they all act like their jackal cousins?"

"Nomsense!" Said Akilah. "Rest assure you that we are nothing like those little poachers. We painted dogs respect the circle of life just as much as any other animal."

"Well, we'll find you shelter, we promise." Said Nala.

All of the painted dogs smiled and made squeaky noises from themselves, possibly showing a sigh of happiness and gratitude. "Wonderful!"

"I think I know a place." Vitani Said. "There's a small rock formation ten miles from here near a river. It is a pretty descent shelter for any rainy day."

"Excellent idea, sis." Said Kovu. "I think thst's perfect, too."

"We'll have to look into it." Said Veya. "But I think it's a wonderful idea."

"By the way, why would Reirei want to tell you all that Kion is an evil lion?" Asked Kiara curiously.

"Well, We honestly don't know." Akilah modestly stated. Just then, his eyes bolt and a thought suddenly came to his brain. "Wait a minute!" He shouted. He suddenly rushed back to the spot at where Kion met them on the wrong foot.

There was Reirei, and her troublesome family munching on what appears to be a hartebeest bull. "Hey! That's ours!" Okove said."

"Sorry, But finders keepers." Said the jackal with her eyes rolled to the right side. "Go get. Your own food."

"That is our food." Said Veya.

"You two-faced son of a jackal!" Said the alpha dog.

Kion suddenly felt his ears completely blocked of any sound. It was his mother's paws. "Oh my gosh, stop it! My son shouldn't be hearing that kind of language!" Nala scolded

"Mom," Kion groaned in embarrassment.

"sorry about that, Queen Nala." Said Akilah flatly. Turning back to the jackal, he threatened her and her family by saying. "Get out of here before I maul you all to shreds!"

"Oh no!" Said Reirei in mock terror. "I'm so scared!" Then she and her family all laughed at his idle threat.

"Kion, why don't you show them who's boss?" Kiara suggested.

"Excellent idea big sis." He made a pretty bold smile and cleared his throat and began performing the roar of the elders, causing the jackal pups to stumble back from the wind that suddenly came blowing very heavy-like as if it was a tornado.

Akilah, Veya, Okove, and the other painted dogs were all just as surprised and awe taken by Kion's special gift bestowed upon him. Just like that, Reirei began running away back to the Outlands, uttering high-pitched yelping noises.

"Hahaha! That should show them all what happens she. You try and steal someone else' food." Kion remarked triumphantly. He turned around and saw the wild dogs' jaw drop down to the ground.

"What was that?" Asked Okove

"That is the Roar of the Elders, Akilah." Kion stated simply. "It's a special power to perform the biggest roar a lion can ever do."

"Why would you need something like that?" Asked the female dog.

"Because I am a member of the Lion Guard."

"Lion Guard?" Asked Okove.

"Yes." Simba answered. "They are a special group of animals sworn to protect all animals around if need be, and keep the balance of the circle of life at bay."

"Really?" Said Akilah. "That does sound really useful and helpful. Maybe if there is trouble from us, then we'll call on you and this... Lion Guard."

"You guys should, and we all have a saying 'Till The Pride Lands end, Lion Guard will defend!"

The pack all became quite fascinated by this. "That sounds perfect!" Said the leader. "Well, Kion, why don't you and Okove play with eachother. I am pretty sure you two will get to know one another more."

both Lion cub, and wild dog pup smiled eagerly. "Okay daddy." Said Okove. They both played a game of tag and left the grownups alone to talk. Simba was certainly having the time of his life with Okove, and Okove was feeling the same thing as Kion.

Both of them honestly hoped that it would never have to end, and Kion already made a new friend in an instant.

"Tag, you're it!" Said Kion

"Ha Ha Ha! No, you're it, Kion. Just then, Kiara, Kovu, And Vitani decided to join them in this fun game.

"Uh oh, you can't do Tag backs, Kion!" Kiara Said playfully with a laugh emitted from herself. "Try and catch me if you can!"

"Watch out Kiara!" Said Kovu inna playful voice. "Now i'm It! You're next, Vitani!" Then Kovu darted after his big sister and he touched her in an instant with his paw.

"Darn it!" Vitani said in defeat. "You always were faster than me, bro."

Meanwhile, the lion pride and the wild dog pack were talking about shelter and how their relations would work.

Simba cleared his throat, and asked Akilah "Som you do all respect the circle of life?"

"Of course we do, my king." Akilah replied. "I can assure you that we are nothing like those jackals or hyenas, for they can be a problem to us, too."

"Painted dogs and lions are not so different from each other. We both fight to protect our family, and we both hunt as a family together and with teamwork." Veya reminded. "You probably seem how capable we are against our prey. Except, we're different species, and you lions tower over us obviously."

"Indeed. I have seen what painted dogs like you can do." Simba Said. "We all have families to protect, and you know how to hunt."

"Hunging is our gift, Simba," Akilah remarked. "We always know how to take down any prey we can eat out of. We painted dogs have a code to only eat what we need and not kill and eat excessively for pleasure."

The two lions and the wild dogs were already taking a liking to each other. Indeed, they both seem similar, except one side were cats. and the other side were dogs obviously. For Kion and Okove, they were having a blast already and quickly became good friends, despite getting off on the wrong foot the first time they encountered one another.

Simba And Nala even had a few good laughs with Akilah and Veya together. It turns out these two had some things in common too, for they love their kids very much, and their kind that they would do anything to protect them from any harm.

"Kion!" Called a voice. It was Kifaru, the young rhino calf from earlier. "Oh, hello."

Okove See,ed a little scared at first, but Kion reassured him by saying "It's okay. It's just one of my friends, Kifaru. He's a very friendly rhino."

"Yep! I just wanna play." Kifaru said boldly.

"Oh okay. Nice to meet you, Kifaru." Said Okove, Warming up to the rhino already.

"Same. Tag you're it!" The calf laughed.

and it was all so much fun playing their little game of tag, then Kiara, Kovu, And. It's I couldn't help but wrestle with a Kion just because, and playfully growl at him while wrestling.

"Oh come on guys. Give me a break!" Kion laughed.

"Come on, little brother, we're just having fun. Rawr rawr!" She teaslingly growled at him with a devious smile on her face.

"Well Akilah, I would be more than happy to form an alliance with you, and give you the shelter you and your family needs." Simba said.

"Thank you ever so much, my king." The leader bowed to him in respect.

"We'll see to it that we will begin a new friendship between lions and painted dogs." Veya added with a warm smile.

"Well, I guess I should get back to showing Kion how to hunt again after they are done it's their little fun." Simba muttered.

Kion, Kiara, Kovu, Vitani, Kifaru, and Okove all laid on the soft grass, and looked at the sky for any clouds in weird shapes.

"So Okove, have you met Timon and Pumbaa?" Asked Vitani curiously

"No, who are they?"

"A meerkat and a warthog that are... not the sharpest tools in the shed to say the least, but you'll love them." Then Vitani whispered in the pup's ear "just stay clear of Pumbaa when he farts, 'cause he really stinks."

All of them had a good laugh together and a new friendship was indeed beginning to arise.