It was a little bit of a long walk to the mountains, almost as hour as a matter of fact, but the humans, Kion, Kiara, Kovu, Rani, and the visiting human family made it to the Rwenzori peak, with the humans wearing garments that were more covering than their normal ones. That way; they could keep themselves warm in the cold. There was going to be snow up here. Lots and lots of snow.
"Wow, look at it up here." said Chris in awe. "All this snow."
"To think that we would see snow in a place like Africa." Tara took some pictures on her phone at the beautiful scenery.
Joel made a small, humble laugh, and he said: "Africa is the second largest piece of land in the world. There are just some things you need to find and look hard. Feels like winter back home already."
Persephone looked at the light flakes of snow falling on the mountianous terrain, and she even stuck her tongue out to taste the flakes. "This is really beautiful. And gorillas live here, Kion?"
"Yep." the male cub replied. "Majinuni and Hafifu live up here with their dad: Sokwe, who rules over this place."
"Nice, where do they live?" asked Chris
"Not far from here." Kiara replied. "There's a cave a little east of here the gorillas call their home."
"And i think they'll be happy to see us again." Kovu added
"Yeah, but what about us?" asked Chris. "I don't think they know what humans are."
"Perhaps not," said Kiara. "But don't worry, Chris. no one does peace speeches like Sokwe does."
"Simba even told us that Sokwe is like a gorilla version of Mufasa."
"We believe you on that." said Joel.
"You know," said Kion, "The mountains are very peaceful up here, Joel." He made a small frown. "Did you have to bring your rifle with you?"
"Absolutely." Joel nodded his head as he looked at his gun strapped behind him. "Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful out here, but we always gotta watch our step."
"Come on, dad." said Chris. "Can you put the gun away for one minute?"
"Well... I guess I can." he took his rifle off his back, and looked at it. "I'm just trying to protect you guys."
"Well you can trust our friends, can you dear?" asked Persephone.
"And gorillas are strong enough to break a crocodiles' back if get attacked by one." Tara added
"Well, I doubt crocodiles would survive up here in the cold, but I see your point." Joel smirked
"Here, why don't I have the rifle for safekeeping?" Persephone offered.
"Ok, honey." Joel gave up, and gently handed her his trusted gun. "You know how to handle that thing, right?"
"You worry too much, Joel."
"Well, someone has to look after you all."
"Well, come on." said Rani. "They'll be happy to see us." the group followed Kion to the cave in the east where Sokwe and his mischievous sons live in. The humans were impressed by the cave's exterior, but they'll be more surprised to see the interior of it.
"Sokwe," said Kovu. "It's us: Kovu, Kiara, Kion, and Rani. Are you in there?"
It was silent for a moment with no response from the inside of the cave. "Maybe they're not home?" asked Kiara, looking at her mate
"No, we're home." said a humble voice. The three large gorillas came out from inside their abode and they were surprised to see the humans like most of the animals were when they first met them.
"Whoa! what have we here?" asked Majinuni.
"A family of hairless chimpanzees?" Hafifu added.
Both gorilla brothers got close to the humans out of curiosity, kind of invading their personal space by sniffing them with there noses and Majinuni even picked up Chris with his two hands.
"Whoa! whoa!" Chris exclaimed as he felt his body being picked up by those big, beefy hands. Gorillas were very strong animals after all, and humans were nowhere near as powerful as their distant cousins in the animal kingdom.
Joel looked concerned for the safety of his son and tried to reach for his rifle, but Tara gently stopped him. "easy dad." said Tara.
"We haven't seen any animal like you before." said Majinuni to the human child, holding him upside down with a hand to his right ankle.
"And you're funny looking." Hafifu added, squishing the kid's face like clay.
"Boys! boys." Sokwe intervened. "That's enough. Put him down."
"Sorry, dad." both the brothers said before Majinuni placed the child back on the snowy ground (headfirst.)
"Ow." Cosaid. It was a good thing there was snow on the ground, or it would have hurt his head. His sister promptly helped him up in his feet.
"You ok?"
"I'm fine, Tara. I'm not hurt."
"So Kion, who might these... animals be?"
"They are humans." Kion explained. "They're visiting from another piece of land.
"My name is Chris."
"I'm Tara."
"Persephone."
"And I am Joel."
"A pleasure." said Hafifu with him shaking Persephone's hand in a rough manner, almost making her shake her whole body
Majinuni did the same with Tara, and she was lighter than her mother. "Name's Majinuni."
"Call me Hafifu."
"Nice to meet you all."
"I am Sokwe," said the leader. "The king of this mountain range. What brings you here with our friends?"
"They're visiting our home." said Kiara. "but mom and dad are too busy with royal stuff to be with us."
"So we're filling in for them instead." Kovu added. "And to make sure Kion doesn't get hurt."
"Well, feel free to make yourselves home here." said Sokwe.
"Hey Kion, wanna walk in the snow together after this?" asked Rani
"Sure, just let me show Chris around the place. Suddenly, Chris couldn't help but throw a Snowball at Kovu's face
Everyone looked surprised, and the child looked a little guilty while having his hands over his mouth. "Sorry. I'm sorry."
"Oh, it's like that huh?" asked Kovu with a sly look. "OK." he couldn't help but through a snowball back at the kid.
"Ooh, snowball fight!" Cody said. It erupted into snowy fun with a little classic snowball fight match at one another. But deep down, Rani was worried that she wasn't going to spend some time with Kion today. Who knows? She decided to not ruin it for him and realized that maybe she will have that chance with him. After all, Kion did say he would have some with her together up on these sparkling mountains.
