KawaiiCutie12: Both Simba and 'Tani have it tough now, huh? Who knew things would get even worse for them?

Let's see what'll happen to them this time

+ExGeneration35: I don't either; parents really do that in the real world too, and it's bullshit😒

+Guest(s): Okay since u two basically said the same thing, I'm just gonna say this once; I agree with the part about Mufasa and Sarabi, but...was it really Nala and/or Tama that told on Simba? 👀

+HydroCOre: Same here, and yes, finally Tama has came to her senses. I'm not gonna lie, I do feel bad that she got poisoned too, but hopefully Rafiki will be able to cure her in time😌

Onto the story!

Chapter 16:

Humming, Rafiki was cleaning up his tree. He'd been meaning to do so for quite some time, but today he finally pushed himself to do so.

"Ah, de work is done," he told himself. "Now I can go about de rest of my day."

"Rafiki!"

The mandrill peered down to see Nala peering up with a barely conscious Tama. Climbing up, she raced around and placed Tama on a cot nearby.

"Rafiki, you gotta help Tama! She ate these poisonous berries and she's tossing everything up and she can barely talk and-"

"Slow down der, child!" Rafiki held a paw out.

Nala caught her breath while Rafiki watched her.

"Now, what is de problem, dear Nala?" he kindly asked.

"Vitani tried to poison Tama!" she cried. She sent someone to give her the berries, and now Tama's ill!"

Rafiki looked over to the ill lioness cub, who was holding her stomach and groaning.

"What did de berries look like?" Rafiki asked.

"T-They..."

The mandrill and light cream cub turned to see Tama trying to speak.

"T-They w-were...a...b-b-bright...r-red, and...shit-"

The two slightly grimaced as a vomit puddle formed right by the cot.

"S-Sorry," she stuttered out, before feeling her throat tighten again.

Rafiki turned to a petrified Nala. "You go find de girl's father, I shall stay here by her side."

Nala nodded, and blinked her tears away before racing down the tree and back towards Pride Rock.

The cubs were now seated by the waterhole, and Vitani kept her gaze down the whole time they walked back. The others frowned at the lack of spunk, and once they were seated, they began to interrogate her.

"Tani, what happened?" Simba asked.

"Yeah, you can tell us!" Kula reminded her.

"I...Nala, she..." Vitani didn't know what to say.

Beleco placed a paw on hers. "It's only us here."

Vitani sighed, and looked up at them all. "Someone's trying to frame me!" she shouted. "They told Tama that I was a friend of theirs, and they gave Tama blood berries saying that I sent them to her! Now she's super ill, and Nala hates me because they think I did it, when it wasn't me! I didn't do it!"

Vitani was enraged at this point. That emotion quickly crashed and morphed into sadness. "I didn't do it..."

Vitani let a few tears fall. The other cubs stared at her in shock. Vitani rarely cried; seeing her break down so easily gave them a heartache. Kula pulled her into a hug and licked her head.

"We believe you," she reassured her friend, "you're not that type of lioness."

The other cubs joined in and formed a group hug.

"We love you 'Tani, and we're right behind you," Beleco confirmed. "You guys have really become family to me, and if one of us falls then we all do!"

Vitani sniffled. "Thanks, guys."

They changed the subject, not only trying to cheer Vitani up, but to bring back the good vibes.

Everything was a blur. She could see Rafiki and Nala moving around her. Her head was spinning, her stomach was cramped up, there was still a nasty taste in her mouth, and to top it all off...her vision was now flashing.

"She said they were these bright, red berries," Nala explained to Rafiki, who was looking through his medicine.

"Bright, red berries..." Realization dawned on Rafiki. She must be talking about blood berries.

"Nala, I need you to listen," he stated.

Nodding her head, Nala listened to the mandrill.

"De berries Tama ate, are blood berries, " he told her. "While dey're not exactly poisonous, too many...dat can be fatal."

Nala turned to see Tama was now seated on the floor. Her face had now gone ghost white, her wheezing caused her chest to slam up and down, her forelegs were violently shaking under her weight, and her bloody vomit stunk of rotten meat.

"I take it you couldn't find de girl's father?" His voice broke through her thoughts.

Nala shook his head. "I told my mom to try and find him, and let him know the situation."

Rafiki nodded, and went to another part of the tree. "Keep an eye on de girl. I shall try and see what I can do.

Nala trotted back towards Tama, who was still hunched over and breathing heavily.

Moving her tuft out of her eyes, she tried to comfort her. "Rafiki knows what he's doing. He'll take great care of you, okay, Tam'?"

"N-Nala? Why do you sound so far?"

The blue-eyed cub turned to Tama, who noticed her eyes were uneven.

"Tama, can you hear me? Tama!"

Eyes rolling back into her head, she fainted. Had it not been for Nala, she would've fell face first into the mess she made.

Placing her back on the cot, she waited and waited, praying Waziri would come soon.

Despite playing a few games, Vitani was still wounded by what had taken place.

"Tani I know you're upset, but you can't let this little thing ruin everything!" Kula tried to reassure her.

"How can I not? She let some pretentious lioness cub ruin our friendship!" Vitani snapped back.

Kula recoiled at her sudden outburst, and Vitani immediately pinned her ears back. "Kula...I'm sorry, I-"

"No, I get it," Kula promised her, "Being framed for something sucks, but having someone you called a best friend for so long not believe you? Oh man, that's gotta be bad. That's gotta be the worst thing that'd ever happen to me. I mean, seriously, if like we were never even friends in the-"

"Kula," Malka stopped her. "I think you've made your point."

It went silent for a moment.

"Wait."

All eyes turned to Beleco.

"Did Tama tell Nala the cub's name?" she asked.

"I doubt it," Chumvi sighed.

All the cubs looked to one another. Suddenly, Malka looked up.

"We're gonna get to the bottom of this," Malka firmly stated.

"Malka's right. Something's off and we're not letting you take the blame for something you didn't do," Simba added.

"Yeah! Friends help each other out!" Kula tossed in.

"We got your back, Vitani," Tojo commented.

"Anything for my sister," Beleco smiled.

"Mhm!" Kiara, Kovu and Chumvi agreed in unison.

Vitani's heart swelled. Tears welled in her eyes, but not out of sadness. "I love you guys so much."

Kiara looked up. "The sun is still at its peak. We better hurry, before it gets late!"

And with that, the cubs split off into small teams, looking for anything suspicious.

KawaiiCutie12: Not to get all sappy or anything, but I wish I had friends that'd ride for me the way they ride for 'Tani (and even Beleco). We'll figure out what's gonna happen soo, but for now, hang tight!

As always, leave your opinions down below and follow and fave to keep up with the story. I'll see you guys next time!

KawaiiCutie12 signing off! 😚