Simba sat on Pride Rock, looking out over the Pride Lands, though his mind was not on his surroundings. He was instead concerned with the safety of his son and his friends. He had not stopped worrying since he had sent them on the mission.
'I had hoped they would be back already,' he told himself, his brow furrowing, before he shook his head wildly. 'Stop it, Simba! They'll be back before you know it, safe and sound. They have to be.' He sighed, looking down at his feet. 'Please let them be okay.'
"We're back, dad!" he heard Kiara call to him as she, her friends and Zazu came up towards him. Simba turned around, giving them a weak smile.
"How was the patrol?" he asked, but with little emotion.
"Everything was fine, sire," Zazu reported, "no quarrels to settle and no signs of hyenas."
"That's good to hear." His thoughts, however, contradicted this. 'Is that because they've all gone after Kion?'
"Excuse me, king Simba?" he heard Zuri ask. "We won't have to do that again, will we?"
"Zuri!" Tiifu hissed, before smiling at Simba. "She doesn't mean that, she-"
"It's fine, Zuri. The Guard should return soon, so you can relax for the rest of the day."
Zuri quickly bowed before leaving, with Tiifu and Kiara following shortly after. Zazu flew onto Simba's shoulder.
"I did come across Ono whilst on patrol," he explained, Simba turning his head in response, "he told me he was looking for an alternative route for the wildebeest, and that Kion had the situation under control."
Simba let out a relieved sigh, before looking outwards again. "I hope he does."
Back at the Gorge, about ten hyenas had now surrounded the Lion Guard and the wildebeest, with more ready to jump in and attack as well. They were laughing wildly, while Kion and Janja had eyes locked on each other.
"You know you can't win, Janja!" Kion growled. "As long as we defend the circle of life, we will beat those who seek to threaten it!"
"What I know is that you can't use your roar," Janja taunted, bearing his fangs, "or you'll bring the rocks down on top of ya! Without that roar, you've lost!"
"Why do you keep coming after us?" Fuli asked. "You will never win. We're smarter, faster, stronger!"
"You just don't get it! The old king kicked the hyenas out because of the actions of one, and when Scar promised to let us in, they helped him, only to be treated even worse. And what did Simba do when they stopped Scar? He kicked us even further out!"
"You ruined the Pride Lands!" Beshte argued. "You drained the water supply, depleted the food supply and drove many people out of their home! It took a good year to repair the damage you caused!"
"But even still the lions threaten us! Any food that is left in the Outlands, the lions take it from us!"
"Those aren't Pride Landers, they are Outlanders!" Kion reminded him.
"Well, it doesn't matter. I'm gonna make sure we deal with you for good."
"Don't count on it!"
With that, Janja's cronies began to attack. Kion quickly pinned one to the ground, before kicking it away. One tried to sink its teeth into a wildebeest, but Bunga jumped on its head, sending it into the ground. When two more tried to sneak up on the honey badger, Beshte slammed them into the wall. They quickly got up and jumped into the hippo, but he quickly shook them off. He looked over at the wildebeest, who were shaking in fear.
"You guys should get out of here!" he told them. "Head back where you were before and we'll come get you when it's safe!" They quickly heeded his warning. He then turned to see three more coming for him. "Twende kiboko!" He charged at them, sending them flying.
At the same time, Fuli saw two charging towards her- one from the front, one from behind. Smirking, she jumped on the one in front and sent it behind her, colliding head first with the other hyena. She then saw another heading after Kion, but quickly pounced on it. Kion turned around and saw this, then smiled at her.
"Thanks, Fuli!" She blushed at this, but played it cool.
At the top of the gorge, the next group of hyenas were about to jump down, but Janja signalled for them not to.
"It's over, Janja!" Kion shouted at his foe. "Take the hyenas and leave!"
"Why, when the show is just starting? I'm gonna do what my mom Shenzi couldn't, and make sure that you don't leave here ever!"
Kion was about to ask, but he heard Ono call his name. The egret flew towards the rest of the Guard, a panicked look in his eye.
"Kion, we need to get out of here! The hyenas, they-"
"Ono, relax!" Bunga told his friend, stood on the back of one of the hyena they had beaten. "We beat the hyenas!"
"No, you don't understand! They've started a stampede, the other wildebeest are headed this way right now!"
Kion's eyes went wide. It was then they started to hear and feel the tremors, which grew louder and stronger. Looking down the gorge, they could see a huge stampede of at least a hundred wildebeest, headed right for them. Looking up, they saw Janja and the hyena, laughing maniacally at them.
"It's a setup!" Kion shouted.
"We have to get out of here!" Fuli told them.
"But it's too fast for some of us!" Beshte told her, panicked. "Besides, the hyenas in the gorge will get caught in it."
"They've made their bed, they can lie in it!"
"Fuli!" Kion snapped at her. "The Lion Guard serves to protect the circle of life, no matter what and no matter who! We can't leave them here." She tried to argue, but realised that she couldn't.
"You're right. Of course you are. But what do we do?"
Kion looked around for a second, before facing the approaching stampede. "Get behind me!"
"Kion, the roar could bring down another rockfall!" Ono reminded him.
"It's a risk I have to take."
They all reluctantly nodded, getting behind him. Kion took a deep breath. Tensing his muscles and digging his claws into the ground, he unleashed the Roar of the Elders, slowing the stampede to a halt. The wildebeest then ran back to their roaming grounds. Looking around, Kion noticed a couple of rocks were shaking, and things seemed safe, so he smiled. He didn't smile for long, though, as one pile of rocks was about to fall. Looking down from it, he saw that Fuli was directly below it. Panicking, he knew there was only one option.
"FULI!" he yelled, racing towards the cheetah.
She looked at him as he said this, then looked up and gasped as she saw the incoming rockfall. Before she could react, she felt something knock into her, sending her flying out of the way as the rocks fell to the ground. Slowly, she got to her feet.
"Phew! That was close! Thanks, Ki-"
Her eyes went wide as she realised what that meant. Turning around, she looked at the pile of rocks that had fallen, and noticed Kion's tail sticking out from it. Everyone gasped in shock, while Fuli felt tears begin to flow from her eyes.
"KION!"
