These three big cats looked intimidating and meant business towards Kion and his parents. Kion felt a little scared since they looked bigger than an average lion would he lik. even if they were only a few inches taller in height.
Of course, that wasn't what made Kion a little belittled. No, height was not everything. what also made these three felines stand out was; their thick bodies and protruding canine teeth.
Despite that, Kion was the leader of the Lion Guard and he had to be brave. Simba and Nala, even if they had been turned into cubs, also showed courage and bravery against these three brutes. Kion stood his ground, and readied his claws in case these three goons tried to do something funny or suspicious. "So," he said, "you're the big cats that i've heard about. What are you guys?"
"Us?" said the leader with his left eyebrow raised. "We're Ennedi cats, kid. Granted you guys have never seen guys like us before."
"We can see you're not from the Pride Lands." said Simba.
"No, you think kid?" asked the leader
"Hey! We're not kids!" said Nala
"Well then why do you sound like one?" asked the female one with a smug look on her face.
Simba and Nala wanted to argue with these brutes, but since they have been accidentally turned into kids by the magic pond, they realize that these Ennedi cats might think that they were just kids playing pretend. After all, most people wouldn't really take animals seriously. "Look, what do you want with our kingdom?" asked Simba
"Your kingdom?" asked the other male cat. "We're just drifters looking for some food and having some fun."
"Yeah, our home is a little too... barren to have a lot of food anymore." the female added. "We're doing the same as any other carnivore; surviving and eating as much as we can."
"From what i've heard, you guys are doing more killing than eating out here."
"Come on, we're just testing our strength, kid." said the leader. "But we should probably introduce ourselves." he cleared his throat before continuing: "Name's Aljabaar."
"Dahia is my name." the female introduced next.
"And call me Jashe." said the third cat.
"Looks like it's your turn." said Aljabaar. "What do they call you, kid?"
"My name is Kion. The leader of the Lion Guard," said he. "Why are you killing many animals like that?"
"Like he said." Dahia added. "We're testing our strength to see how strong we can get."
"But these are innocent animals you're killing!" Simba said.
"You hunt other animals too." said Jashe. "You eat antelope and zebras, and other hoofed animals."
"Yeah, but we only eat to survive." Nala protested. "We don't kill any animals just for the fun of it! We follow the circle of life and do what it tells us to eat. What you're doing is wrong!"
The three Ennedi cats made a burst of laughter from themselves. "The Circle of Life?" said Aljabaar, "You actually believe in that garbage? There is no such thing as the Circle of Life. That is just some stupid excuse to keep us in line to keep us from what we want to eat."
This made the three lions angrier than ever, and they growled, ready to tear these big cats apart. "there is such thing!" said Kion with a shout.
Simba and Nala went up next to him and Simba said: "easy Kion. Don't let them get under your skin."
"We're good at that." said Jashe. "Getting udner animals' skin."
"Got that right, honey." said Dahia.
"Where might you cubs be heading?" asked Aljabaar.
"Well, we're... just playing together out here." Nala lied in case these three felines would try to keep them from the matter at hand.
"Yep! what she said." Simba nodded his head.
"I see." said Aljabaar. "well, you kids are lions, right?"
"What about it?" Kion had his eyebrow raised.
The Ennedi cats smiled evily and looked at them. "No reason." said Dahia.
"We were just wondering... what lion cubs taste like." they bared their teeth and the three lions looked a little startled. poor Simba and Nala wished they were adults again.
However, they had almost forgotten about the Lantana in the crystal cave, and they needed to find it ASAP. "Look, you all need to leave the Pride Lands and never come back." said Kion in a serious tone. "or I'm going to have to bite your ears off!"
the three Ennedi cats laughed at what he said. "And exactly how are you going to do that, huh?"
"Yeah, we would love to see you try." said Jashe. "Just go ahead and try it."
Kion took a deep breath and emitted his Roar of the Elders at the three cats, as string as a typhoon or hurricane. All three Ennedis looked rather surprised at how a cub like Kion let out a humongous roar at them, and somehow got blown away by something so powerful into nearby rapids, floating them away.
"Nice job, Kion." Simba said.
"Thanks dad. come on, we need to find that plant."
"Right!" Nala said. The three lions hurried over to the cave many miles north of where they faced off those brutes. All three of them knew very well that those Ennedis were going to be raging mad once they get back on land to dry themselves off.
Once they reached the caves, they searched and searched high and low for this very rare plant to make Rafiki's elixir to turn Simba and Nala back to normal. Over the course of the search, they had no luck.
"Darn it!" Kion said. "I can't find that Lantana anywhere."
"We can't either." said Simba. Suddenly, while pacing to and fro, Nala accidentally tripped on something, like a vine, and let out a small scream, feeling startled.
"mom!" said Kion with he and his father rushing to her aid. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I think I stepped on something." the queen replied, looking at the ground. She saw a green vine that tripped her over and they all followed the vine to a large, green flower with green petals. They all smiled, knowing what this was. "We found it!" said Nala
"Yeah!" Simba said. "Now we just got to take this to Rafiki and turn me and your mother back into adults. But we gotta hurry."
"Right dad." said Kion. "Come on before we see those cats again! After this is over, we can deal with those three Ennedi cats."
"Absolutely!" said Nala. "They don't belong here, or the Outlands."
"We can talk a bout it later." said Simba. "Come on!" the three cubs all raced to Rafiki's baobab tree to tell him the good news. They were a few hundred feet away from the tree and were about to call Rafiki, but they were stopped by three angry faces who jumped right in front of the cubs, snarling and baring their sharp teeth. Aljabaar, Jashe, and Dahia still looked wet from trying to get out of the rapids from the river, and they were not happy one bit. They haven't known these cats for at least a whole day, and the Ennedi's had already become enemies with the royal family in an instant.
Snarling, Aljabaar said: "You kids are really in for it now. We hate the water! Now we're gonna return the favor by piercing your eyes with our teeth!"
"I'm there with you, boss!" said Dahia.
"Right behind you." Jashe narrowed his eyes. The three walked up to them, and the three lions, though kids, snarled, and readied themselves to fight. Simba couldn't help but try to roar, but it sounded like a cat roaring, something not so mighty. The three cats looked at one another and laughed at Simba.
"Really? That was it?" said Aljabaar. "Give me a break, kid."
"I'm not a kid!" Simba said. "This is embarrassing. Just like the elephant graveyard."
Suddenly, Rafiki came down from the tree with his staff and with a crane pose.
