While little Kitwana was cute, he turned out to be quite… handful.

Though he stayed in the nest most of the time accompanied by Hodari, whenever Makuu was out of his sight he would start crying and calling out for him, much to the float's frustration, particularly Makuu's; this forced him to stay in the chick's sight if only to give his crocodiles a moment of tranquility.

Despite this, most of the others soon grew fond of the little one's antics, Akina and Hodari in particular had gotten attached to him. Sadly for them both, Kitwana's universe was centered on Makuu, whom he saw as his 'mama'.

As time passed, though, Makuu soon noticed Kitwana was starting to mimic the crocodiles' behavior. He'd lie down on his belly and 'hiss', yawn loudly and with his beak wide open, but overall he got into the water when he saw him going into the river.

Or rather, he tried to. The first time Kitwana witnessed his 'mama' going into the water, he tried to follow, but his long legs and short little wings prevented him from even staying afloat; Hodari's prompt intervention was the only thing that prevented Kitwana from drowning. But even after the experience, Kitwana still tried to follow into the water, until Makuu taught him to stay in the riverbank and away of the deeper parts. Even then, Kitwana would lay down unto his belly and submerge most of his body, except for his head, which he'd keep in the surface to breathe, mimicking the way the crocodiles floated in the surface of the water to nap.

And unfortunately for the crocodile leader, Kitwana had taken a liking to his throat pouch. He couldn't leave his mouth open near the chick or he'd come running and hop into it, leaving downy feathers stuck to his tongue. It took him about an hour to get rid of all the feathers.

On the other paw, little Kitwana was full of energy, and though it took him a while to run around with such long legs for his size, soon he was moving around the river's edge as he played with Hodari. However, he felt partly frustrated that neither his mama nor any of the others (except Hodari) seemed to want to play with him, at least not in the way he wanted. They would just lie down and sleep, or nap in the water, and barely moved if at all, except when he asked for food every ten minutes.

"I swear, if I had known bird chicks were this annoying…" Makuu muttered under his breath, bringing a cricket to Kitwana for his fifth lunch of the day. All he wanted to do was to bask peacefully, but it was hard when the chick was calling after him every five minutes.

"Food! Food!" Kitwana yelled, flapping his little wings.

"Okay, okay! I heard you, you can stop yelling!" Hopefully the cricket was soft enough for Kitwana to eat without having it chewed first, and he held it out for Kitwana to eat it. Kitwana did, but the way he snatched away from his caretaker was reminiscent of a crocodile hatchling. "Hey, chew it first or you'll choke!"

Too late. Kitwana was trying to swallow the cricket whole, but it got stuck in his throat. Grumbling in irritation, Makuu gingerly grabbed the cricket's leg and pulled it out of Kitwana's throat, watching as the chick gasped for oxygen. Despite the experience, however, Kitwana tried to grab the cricket once again; this time, however, Makuu held it out of reach with a frown.

"Chew and then swallow."

Tentatively, he lowered the cricket once again, but this time Kitwana did heed to his words and did not swallow it whole. Rather, he started pecking off little parts of the cricket and then chewing them before actually swallowing it. While Kitwana ate, Makuu started walking back towards Akina to bask; unfortunately, as he did so, Kitwana soon darted after him.

"Mama, I wanna play!" he said innocently.

"For the hundredth time, kiddo, I'm not your mama."

"I want to play, mama!"

That was it. "Okay, kiddo, it's time we establish some rules."

Kitwana tilted his head. "What are rules?"

"Rules are things that let you know what you can do and what you can't do." He took the following silence as a sign that he understood. "Rule number one, you don't call me mama."

"Why not?"

"Because 'mama' is a female term, and I'm certainly am not a female. Instead, you may call me Makuu."

Kitwana remained silent a few seconds, and then repeated. "Makuu."

The crocodile nodded approvingly. "That's right. Rule number two, stay in the nest unless I call you. Okay?"

Kitwana nodded.

"Rule number three: no hugging!"

"Why?"

"Crocodiles don't hug, or lick to show affection. That's a mammalian thing."

Kitwana got bored of the lecture, and asked. "Can we play now, Makuu?"

Makuu sighed. At least he understood the first rule. "Kitwana, crocodiles don't play."

Kitwana tilted his head again. "Why not?"

"First, it's a waste of calories and energy. Second, we need that energy for when the herds come to cross the river."

"Is that why you're always asleep?"

"In a way, yes."

"How come Hodari doesn't sleep that much?"

"Because he's a gecko, kid."

Kitwana whined. "I don't like sleeping all the time! It's boring!"

"You don't have to, you know. You can go… exploring around here, just as long as you are with Hodari and don't get too far away."

"But I wanted you to play with me!"

Grunting, Makuu thought for a moment and then said. "Tell you what: if you can find… blue flowers with red thorns I'll play with you."

"Yaaay!" Kitwana ran off into the bushes to find said flowers.

When he was gone, the crocodile motioned Hodari to come closer, and whispered. "Think you could keep him away for a few hours so I can sleep?"

"No problem!" Hodari exclaimed confidently as he ran after Kitwana.

Akina had watched the whole conversation, and as soon as the chick and the gecko were gone, she frowned at her mate. "There are no such flowers here, he'll spend hours looking for them and he'll never find them!"

Makuu simply went to his basking spot, smirking. "Exactly."

"Blue flowers, red thorns. Blue flowers, red thorns…"

Kitwana looked around the small-forested area, looking into bushes and tree trunks, looking for said flowers mam-Makuu had told him about, but finding none. He did find a worm or two he could gobble up, but the only flowers he found were yellow or white, or in-between, and none had thorns. After a few more minutes of searching, he groaned in dismay and sat down at the feet of one of the trees.

Something gently touched his head, and as he shook it a blue petal floated down in front of him. Intrigued, he looked up and found a few blue-colored flowers growing on the upper branches of the tree.

"Yay!" Kitwana hopped to his feet. "Blue flowers!"

However, soon his excitement died down when he noted the tree was very high, and he had no way of climbing up there; crocodiles didn't climb trees, after all. Still, Kitwana was so bent on obtaining those flowers he would try. He jumped a few inches high and grabbed the trunk with his wings, but he slid down back to the ground. He stood up once again, took a few steps back to gain some impulse, and ran towards the tree once again. This time he did manage to jump a bit higher, but once again he slid down.

By then, Hodari had caught up to him, panting, and noticed what he was trying to do. "I don't think that will work out."

Kitwana shook his head and turned his head to see Hodari glancing at him amusingly. Makuu often told the gecko to look after him, but Kitwana often wondered why he was around if he was not a crocodile.

"Makuu said he'd play with me if I brought him blue flowers with red thorns." Kitwana explained.

"I'm afraid blue flowers usually don't have red thorns." Hodari said. Now he needed to find a way to keep him entertained for a few hours. "Do you need a paw? I could help you get the flowers."

"Could you? That would be nice!"

Hodari ran up to the branches where the blue flowers grew, and plucked only one, before climbing down the tree again to Kitwana.

"There are lots of more flowers there. Why only one?" the chick asked.

"There are lots of bugs and insects who feed on the nectar those flowers produce,." Hodari said, placing it down. "It wouldn't be fair if I plucked them all, they wouldn't have anything to eat themselves."

Kitwana examined the flower's stem, but much to his disappointment the thorns weren't red like he had hoped. "Aww, the thorns aren't red."

"We could keep looking for any, or we could play a bit."

At the word play, Kitwana's eyes lit up in excitement. "Yay! Can we play tag?"

Hodari touched his little body. "Tag! You're it!" he laughed and then sprinted away, followed by the excited chick.

The float had seen hard times before, but nothing compared to this. King Mufasa's brother had claimed the throne upon the death of both Mufasa and the young prince. Things for the inhabitants of the Pride Lands took a turn for the worse when the Hyenas were allowed into the kingdom, and crocodiles were no exception. Hyenas overhunted, reproduced uncontrollably and depleted the herbivore population considerably, leaving little for the rest of the predators, if any at all.

To make matters worse, not a single drop of rain had come when the Wet Season was supposed to arrive, and soon all the food, trees and plant life started to wither and die, leaving the herds nothing to eat. Eventually, driven by starvation and the hyena overpopulation, the herbivores left in search of greener terrains. Soon after, the rest of the carnivores-crocodiles included-followed suit, pursuing their food source.

Normally, by basking, cooling down in the water and saving energy, crocodiles could last even a whole year without a proper meal while a suitable prey arrived. But without food and water, crocodiles could only last for so long. Pua did the best he could, but every day that passed, one member of the float perished, either from overheat, dehydration or exhaustion.

One of the females perished that day from the first case. She left behind three hatchlings, two males and one female. Feeling responsible for the mother's passing, Pua took the three hatchlings under his 'wing', despite the father being among those who were still alive. However, since Pua's leadership duties often kept him busy, especially under such hard conditions, it befell on the eldest male of the three siblings to look after his younger brother and sister…

"Makuu, when will mama catch up to us?" his youngest sister, Ungwana, asked him one night, a few days after leaving their mother behind.

Makuu was going to say something when the middle brother, Ukuru, snapped at her. "She won't, you idiot! She's dead! The vultures probably ate her body by now!"

"Knock it off!" Makuu snapped at his younger brother.

But it was too late.

The damage was already done.

Ungwana stared at Ukuru with shrunk pupils, trembling.

"You're lying…" she whispered.

"Please! What do you think she's doing, taking a long bask?! She's gone!"

"You're a liar! Mama can't be gone!"

"Oh, what are you gonna do about it?! Cry like a little baby? That's all you know!"

"That's enough!" Pua growled gently but sternly at Ukuru, glaring at him. "Leave your sister alone! She's not to blame for what happened to you mother."

"No, she isn't! You are!"

"Ukuru!" Makuu growled, glancing in worry up at Pua, who simply had a neutral expression.

"You said we would be better if we followed the animals out of the Pride Lands, but we're even worse!"

"The lake dried up, and there was no water or prey available. Only those wicked hyenas. Would you have rather seen your mother being devoured by them than end her own Circle of Life peacefully?" Pua stated patiently. He knew the hatchling didn't mean what he said, he was so young he didn't know how to deal with so many emotions at the same time, plus the death of his mother. He wanted to blame somebody for it.

Ukuru didn't reply immediately, which let Makuu know his little brother had no defense against such argument. Rather than accepting defeat, Ukuru turned around and sprinted off, soon getting lost among the other crocodiles. Makuu wanted to go after him, but Pua stopped him by putting his tail in the way.

"Leave him be for now. He needs to be alone."

Ungwana had been silent during the whole argument, but once her brother was one she glanced at Pua with teary eyes. "Is it true what he said?" she asked silently. "Is m-mama…?"

The elder crocodile knew he had to tell her sooner or later what had really happened to her mother, but he didn't want to under such circumstances. He glanced down at her sadly. "I'm afraid so, little one. Your mother has completed her journey in the Circle of Life."

Makuu could say nothing to comfort his sister. He could only let her rub her head against his, looking for comfort as she cried…

...

"Makuu!"

Makuu started stirring awake when Akina nudged him awake with her snout; though irritated for being awakened, he was thankful she had woken him just when he was dreaming about… He quickly shook the memory out of his head and turned around to see his mate. "What is it?"

"It's been a few hours already, the sun's almost down. What's taking them so long?" Akina said with a worried expression. "I think we should go look for them."

"Surely they're just playing around."

"How can you be so calm when you were the one who sent him in that wild goose chase in the first place?"

"He's with Hodari, and that little Gecko is tougher than he looks. I'm certain he can handle a chick."

A few seconds later, Hodari walked out of the bushes, carrying a sleeping Kitwana on his back. Sadly, since Kitwana weighed more than what he let on, the poor gecko felt as if he were carrying a small rock. He advanced for a few more steps, before glancing at Makuu pleadingly. "A little help here…!"

Sighing, Makuu got back on his feet and walked over to Hodari, lowering his snout and having him place Kitwana on top of it. Once the chick was on his snout, he walked back to the makeshift nest and carefully placed Kitwana on top of it. The little chick let out an unconscious yawn, and snuggled against the grass and leaves.

Ono couldn't help but find the scene rather… heartwarming.

After watching for a few more moments just in case something happened, he took off and started flying around the area to make sure everything was okay in this area before going to report back to Kion and the others.

However, his keen eyes soon spotted something out of the ordinary: a lone baby zebra wandering around the savannah, seemingly crying. Alarmed, Ono flew down to meet the baby zebra, and realized she was crying, and her mother was nowhere in sight. She had probably gotten separated from her herd, and was afraid. It had happened before.

"Hello, little one!" he said, hovering just above her, and waited until she looked up at him with teary eyes. "Are you alright?"

The foal sniffed, and nodded with a trembling voice. "Y-Yes…"

"What happened? Where is your herd?" But as soon as he asked, the foal started crying again. "Whoa, calm down!" he flew down and landed on her back. "Don't worry, I'll help you. But I need to know where you last saw your herd."

The foal sniffed again, and then she spoke. "My m-mama and I got… separated from our h-herd when w were going through the backlands… But as we were heading back, we were attacked…"

That caught Ono's attention. "Attacked? Who attacked you?"

"I don't know…!" the foal said in despair. "We had never seen those animals before… They were large, and they chased us around the jungle… After a while we thought we lost them, but then mama's leg was caught in something! It was similar to the jaws of a crocodile, but black and unbreakable! The creatures were approaching, and mama told me to leave her and run…! T-Then…!" by then she couldn't even raise her head as she wailed. "One of those animals emerged from the larger ones… and pointed a black branch at us! It shot a black stone at mama and she… she…!"

Ono raised his head when she mentioned a 'black stone'. It was just like Makuu said had happened with Kitwana's mother. He needed to take this foal to King Simba, both to help her reunite with her herd, and so he could know about what had happened. "What's your name, little one?"

"S-Sikudhani…"

"Lets go to Pride Rock. I'm sure King Simba will be able to help you reunite with your herd."

Sobbing, Sikudhani followed after Ono when he took off to lead her towards Pride Rock in the distance, the latter pondering over the mysterious black stones.