Chapter Seven: Jackal Attackal
It was another bright shining day in the Pridelands. Animals were rising from slumber all around, preparing for their daily duties of standing around and eating. Meanwhile at Jifunze's den, the young leopard finally crawled out, stretching as the morning sun welcomed him back to the waking world.
It was now Jifunze's fourth day in the Pridelands, and for the most part Jifunze had adjusted, though Kion insisted on checking up on him at the end each day, something about making sure Jifunze's injuries were healing well, and that Jifunze was adjusting well enough. Jifunze didn't really care, though he felt nice that Kion took interest in him.
But, nonetheless, Jifunze had managed to get a bit of a schedule going. He would spend his mornings and evenings searching for food, while he spent the rest of the day exploring his new home. And while he tried to get to know the locals, most seemed to avoid him. They weren't exactly kind about it either. Whenever Jifunze tried to approach one, they'd make an excuse to leave, or just swiftly vacate with even speaking to Jifunze.
And, of course, there were the things that the Pridelanders would say that they thought he wouldn't hear. Things like "A leopard? Don't see too many of those," and "Did Simba really allow something like him here?" and an occasional "Are we certain that he isn't dangerous? I've heard stories about leopards. None of which good," which certainly hurt.
But Jifunze didn't give up hope. As he knew the locals would get used to him, he only had to keep up what he was doing, spending time with the Lion Guard alongside other beloved Pridelanders, and soon enough most of the other animals would see that he wasn't a dangerous leopard, and then they would hopefully accept him.
And as Jifunze made his way into the Pridelands, he felt good about the upcoming day. He didn't quite know how, or why, but he knew that today was going to be one of his best ones yet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a small den, deep in the Outlands, Reirei was trying her best to wake her pack.
"Alright Kiddies it's to get moving! We got a lotta work to do today," Reirei shouted, trying her best to get everyone up.
And while her pups were swiftly rising from their slumber, Reirei's mate barely even rolled over in his sleep. So Reirei did what she knew would work best, she walked up to her mate, turned around, and kicked him hard enough to send the jackal flying, straight into the wall.
Goigoi snorted, startling awake, "I'm up," the jackal slipped out, his eyes still only half open.
"Good, because we're heading out on a hunt," Reirei announced, much to her pups' delight.
"Are we going after antelope mom," One of the pups asked while jumping up and down.
"No way, we're going for impala for sure," Another pup stated.
"Now, now Kiddies, there's no need to argue," Reirei said, causing her kids to shut up, "And besides, you're both wrong. We're going for galagos."
"Galagos," The two pups whined with disappointment.
"Why would we go for galagos dear," Goigoi asked as he finally became lucid.
"Because I found a trick that makes them easy picking," Reirei said as she made her way out of her den, "Now come on Kiddies, let's get a move on!"
As if on cue the rest of Reirei's pack followed behind her outside their den, making their way towards the Pridelands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Pridelands, Jifunze seems to have gotten slightly lost.
"Shouldn't I be there by now?" Jifunze clambered over another fallen log, confused how he could've gotten lost on his way to Mizimu grove.
"I guess I haven't been able to see Pride Rock, all these bushes and trees and stuff are getting in my way." Jifunze took a second to consider climbing one of the trees to get a better vantage point, but then swiftly dashed that notion.
"I wouldn't be able to see anything anyway, and by the time I could, the branches would be too weak to stand on."
So Jifunze decided to keep on going in the direction he was already heading in, trying his best to keep going in a straight line.
Eventually Jifunze made his way out of the grove he seemed to be stuck in, able to see Pride Rock once more, only to find that he went in entirely the wrong direction.
"Great, how in the world did I end up behind Pride Rock!" Jifunze decided it would be best if he just made his way towards Pride Rock and went from there. Though he didn't mind as it meant that he might get to see Tiifu and Zuri, or better yet, Kion. Or even better, the king himself.
However, before Jifunze could make his way to Pride Rock, his hearing sharpened, and he managed to make out a voice.
"Ok so we all know the plan," An older female voice said.
"Yep," A group of younger voices shouted.
Jifunze then heard the sound of someone getting the wind knocked out of them, and then a voice that said, "Sure do dear."
The older female voice then said, "Good, now let's get moving. We got some tasty galagos just waitin' for us to get our paws on them."
Jifunze then froze in fear as his hearing faded out. Those voices didn't sound like they had good intentions. But then again what could he do? Jifunze wasn't exactly the type to fight, but then again neither were the galagos, at least from what he heard. Jifunze just didn't know what he should do.
"What would the Lion Guard do? What would Kion do?" Jifunze stood there, thinking.
"He'd probably try to help the galagos," Jifunze said to himself. And so Jifunze made his way towards the voices he heard, making sure to hang back a ways as he tailed them so that he wouldn't be spotted.
After a short while of tailing Jifunze could properly make out the attackers, though he didn't know what they were. They looked a bit like the wild dogs of the Backlands, but they were a lot bigger, not just in size but proportions. Bigger snouts and ears, bigger, fluffier tails, and (apparently) bigger appetites.
As Jifunze tailed the Jackals, he managed to make out a few bits and snippets of their conversation.
"Listen, Reirei, dear. Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, just yesterday we attacked some zebra's, and I have the feeling the Lion Guard isn't going to be very happy about us attacking galagos," the eldest male said with a concerned tone.
"Can it Goigoi. By the time the Lion Guard finds us, we'll have eaten the galagos and made our way back to the Outlands," Reirei responded, obviously quite annoyed.
"Well, alright dear," Goigoi responded.
"Alright now quiet, we're close," Reirei said, hushing her pack.
And Reirei was right, as the pack had finally arrived in Ndefu Grove, slowly approaching the tree that the galagos were currently residing in. Luckily one of the galagos managed to spot the pack of strange animals before they got too close.
"Laini! Laini," the galago that spotted the pack cried out running to another galago that Jifunze assumed was both Laini and their leader, "There's a problem, a big problem!"
"What is it? What's wrong," Laini asked before she looked down from her tree and saw the pack of strange animals approaching, "JACKALS," Laini screamed out, causing her entire troop to panic.
"Heh heh. Look at them go," Reirei said as the galagos scrambled about in their tree.
"They're more jumpy than a grasshopper with a sleeping leg," Goigoi added.
"Everyone calm down," Laini shouted after she managed to bring herself back to reality, "It's gonna be ok. Jackals can't climb trees, so as long as we're up here, we'll be safe."
"Oh that's what you think," Reirei said, "Alright Kiddies, time to do the thing we talked about!"
The whole of the jackal pack then ran up to the tree the galagos were in, they then worked together to cause the tree to violently shake. The galagos, who were not prepared for this eventuality, swiftly panicked, grabbing onto whatever was closest to them so they could avoid falling off of their tree.
Jifunze knew they wouldn't last long, as their grips were already starting to loosen, one of them nearly falling off. And while Jifunze wanted to help, he didn't know what to do. Just run away to find the Lion Guard and hope that the galagos would be alive when he got back? No way, if they perished he wouldn't be able to live with himself. So what could he do?
Suddenly a scream rang out as one of the galagos started to fall from the tree, only for Laini to catch them. However this only caused Laini's grip to loosen, eventually ending up with her hanging off the branch she was formerly on top of, with only one paw holding her up.
"Get ready Kiddies, looks like a pair of 'em are about to drop," Reirei said, licking her chops.
This was it. Now or never. Jifunze had to do something to help the galagos. And finally Jifunze made a decision.
Bursting out of the bushes he was hiding in, Jifunze shouted, "Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size."
"What the?" Reirei's gaze shot towards Jifunze, alongside the rest of her packs.
"A leopard," Goigoi shouted out in surprise, "I didn't know there was a leopard in the Pridelands!"
"Can it Goigoi," Reirei shouted at Goigoi, "He's just a little leopard, who's also all alone."
Jifunze the took a step back. What in the world was he doing? Jumping out, trying to intimidate a pack of jackals? Did he have some kinda death wish?
"Y'know what? Change of plans Kiddies! We'll be eating leopard instead of galago," Reirei said, causing her whole pack to turn their attention to Jifunze as they slowly started to approach.
Jifunze started to slowly back away, trying his best not to faint from the stress. He tried to say something, anything, but his mouth just wouldn't form the words. After a couple of seconds of backing up, Jifunze figured it best to just turn tail and book it towards Pride Rock. He figured that even if the Lion Guard wasn't there, at least one lioness would help fend off these attackers.
As Jifunze turned and ran he heard Reirei command her pack to chase after him, which only made Jifunze run harder.
The chase was tough on Jifunze, mostly because his bandages were causing some problems. Now that they had been on for a few days(and thus exposed to a lot of sun) the bandages started to dry out and harden making running a much more laborious task. The dried leaves also started to fray, making it so that they would get caught on things more often. And while this normally didn't give Jifunze much trouble, mostly because he didn't really run anywhere, in this case, Jifunze found that his bandages would get caught on things a lot, getting slightly torn up.
However, a real problem arose when Jifunze looked back at the pack of jackals chasing him, because even though he was forming a good distance between them and him, he didn't watch where he was going, and thusly got one of his hind paws caught on an exposed root, tripping Jifunze and causing the leopard to panic.
As Jifunze struggled to get his paw free, even trying and failing to bite the root as his bandages limited his mobility too much, he looked back to see that the jackals were closing in on him. This only caused Jifunze to panic more, which made it even harder to get his paw free. And as Jifunze tried and tried to get his paw loose, he heard the jackals laughing and celebrating his misfortune.
Jifunze continued to struggle as best he could, tugging at the root that held his ankle in place, but he just wasn't able to get himself free. And when Jifunze looked towards the jackals once more he saw that they were getting dangerously close, and soon enough Reirei dived towards him, only for a golden yellow blur to collide with her midair.
Suddenly the rest of the jackal pack skidded to a stop, as the Lion Guard emerged, standing between them and Jifunze, while Kion had Reirei pinned.
"Back off of the leopard, Reirei." Lion growled at the jackal.
"Oh, Kion! What a surprise," Reirei said, sounding quite scared, "I didn't know you defended leopards now."
"That's because that leopard is a Pridelander," Fuli angrily replied.
"Oh! Well then this is just a big misunderstanding," Reirei said, trying to get out of this situation mostly unharmed, "See, we were just trying to help you chase him out of the Pridelands, that's all." Reirei then gave Kion an extremely fake smile.
"Wait really? Then why didn't you say so," Bunga said, obviously extremely confused.
"B-because she's l-lying," Jifunze interjected, deciding that he should probably speak up, "She tr-tried to attack the g-galagos and then when I s-stood up for them, sh-she said she was gonna eat me!"
This statement only caused Kion to growl at Reirei once more, a slight bit more anger on his face.
"Get out of the Pridelands, Reirei," Kion hissed at the older jackal.
"No problem, Kion. But first could you?" Reirei then made a gesture implying that she wanted Kion to get off of her. Kion then slowly stepped back, allowing Reirei to get up.
Now out from underneath Kion Reirei turned to her pack and shouted, "Jackals! Move out!"
And with that, the jackals ran off, in what Jifunze assumed was the direction of the Outlands.
Kion then turned to Ono and asked, "Can you make sure they actually go back to the Outlands?"
"Of course, Kion," Ono replied before he took off into the sky.
And as Ono launched himself into the sky, Kion turned to Jifunze, "Are you ok Jifunze," Kion asked as he took a couple steps closer to the young leopard.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine," Jifunze replied, still a little shaken from the encounter.
"You sure? Those jackals are pretty quick," Beshte said, "And they aren't exactly fair fighters."
"Yeah, I know. They tried to attack the galagos by shaking their tree," Jifunze replied, "But I managed to keep my distance. Until I ran into this root and got my foot stuck." Jifunze then tugged at the root, trying to free his leg once again.
Bunga then scoffed, "What, that's easy to get out of, just bite the root apart."
"Um, I can't," Jifunze sheepishly said, "I can't bend over to the root because of my bandages."
"Oh. Well then I'll get you out." Bunga then walked up to Jifunze and took a look at his leg, "Yep it's tied up good. Don't worry though, you'll be free in a flash." Bunga proceeded to grab the root that held Jifunze in place and, in only a single bite, snapped it in twain.
"Hey thanks Bunga," Jifunze said as he properly stood up.
"Eh, not a problem," Bunga said as he waved off Jifunze's compliment.
"So, Jifunze, why were the jackals attacking you," Beshte asked.
"Well, I guess it's because I stood up for the galagos," Jifunze replied, somewhat unsure about the answer himself.
"But I thought you couldn't fight," Fuli said quite skeptically.
"Well. I 'guess stood up for' isn't quite accurate," Jifunze said as he became a bit more flustered, "More like, got their attention."
Fuli then prodded a bit further, "I see. Then why exactly were you in Ndefu grove? The galagos don't really like visitors."
That made Jifunze significantly more flustered, "Well, I got lost on my way to Mizimu grove, stumbled on the jackals, and decided to tail them to Ndefu grove. It was really just a stroke of luck."
"Well, at least you and the galagos are safe now," Kion said, trying to help lighten the conversation.
Ono then swooped back down, landing next to Jifunze, "The jackals have made their way back to the Outlands. But now we have another problem."
"What's the kerbubble," Beshte asked, tilting his slightly to the side.
"One of the rhinos got their horn stuck in a tree. And then uprooted the tree," Ono replied, sounding quite tired.
"Well, I guess we should go and help. Lead the way Ono," Kion requested.
"This way." Ono then took off more, leading the guard towards the rhino.
And as the guard left Jifunze went to head back on the path to Mizimu grove, but then had a sudden realization, "Wait, where even am I?"
Author's Note: Well this chapter took longer than expected. Honestly it took a lot longer than expected. I figured I'd get this out in like three days and it'd be easy but nope. Took me three weeks. Mostly because I decided to redo big chunks of this chapter, cuz I just didn't feel too good about them, and I thought I could do better. And even though I'm not the most proud of this final product, I still feel good enough to release it. Oh, I also should mention, I'm gonna be releasing this story over on AO3 over the next like, week ish and will be releasing subsequent chapters over there alongside the ones I drop over here, so if you prefer AO3 you can read it there.
Anyways, I'll see y'all later, whenever I update this story again. Bye!