Chapter Nine: Spotted Stranger
"So what exactly are we going to do for 'stealth training'," Jifunze said as he followed behind the Lion Guard.
"We'll be playing Hide and Seek," Kion responded, to both Fuli and Jifunze's surprise.
"Hide and Seek? I figured we were gonna do some stealth drills," Fuli remarked.
"I don't mind, Hide and Seek is pretty fun," Beshte said.
"At least it's something Jifunze can do as well," Bunga said, "I don't think you'd be able to keep up with stealth drills and the like."
Jifunze chuckled at Bunga's comment, though he kinda knew it was true.
"So, who's gonna be It first," Beshte asked.
"Ooh me! Me me me me," Bunga exclaimed as he jumped up and down excitedly.
"Um. Actually," Jifunze spoke up, nervously, "I was hoping I could be It first." Jifunze pawed at the ground, "I've never played before, but it sounds like being It is the most fun part."
Kion smiled as he responded, "Alright, Jifunze, you can be It first."
"Aww what?" Bunga sighed disappointedly, "But he doesn't even know how to play."
"Well, being It is the most fun," Kion said in response, "So it's best that Jifunze has the most fun the first time he plays."
"Fiiine," Bunga groaned, "But I get to be It second."
"Alright Bunga. You'll be It next," Kion replied with a chuckle.
"So, how does being It work, exactly," Jifunze asked with an embarrassed tone.
Beshte chuckled at Jifunze's question before responding, "All you gotta do is close your eyes, count to thirty, and then try and find us."
"And don't forget to announce 'Ready or not, here I come' when you start looking for us," Ono added, "That's a pretty important part of the game."
"Ok. I can do that," Jifunze responded, starting to get excited. The young leopard then lay down, covering his eyes with paws. As he started counting, Jifuzne heard the guard running off, all going in different directions. He could hear as bushes rustled and branches were swung out of the way.
"Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty! Ready or not, here I come," Jifunze shouted out as stood back up. He looked around excited to find wherever it was the guard was hiding.
Jifunze decided to first check some nearby bushes. Having heard them rustling earlier, Jifunze assumed that one of the members would be hiding there.
Jifunze felt himself giggling as he searched throughout the bushes, finding this game to be quite fun. He kept going along the tree line, figuring that at least one member of the guard would be around here. That was until Jifunze spotted something on the ground.
Jifunze felt his breath start to quicken, as his heart beat faster. It was something he couldn't believe he'd seen. It was a set of leopard tracks, and they weren't his.
"L-Lion Guard," Jifunze sputtered, barely louder than whisper. He couldn't speak, he was too scared. He knew it had to be his family, there wasn't anyone else it could be. Why would leopards be in the Pridelands if they weren't looking for him?
"L-Lion Guard," Jifunze said a bit louder than his normal speaking voice. He had to run, right? Hide away so his family wouldn't find him. But what if he ran into them? If he split from the guard they'd catch him for sure. He had to call the guard, he had to let them know before he ran.
"LION GUARD," Jifuzne shouted as loud as he could. Which was surprisingly loud, even to him. At his call most of the guard actually came rushing to him from their hiding spots, all but Beshte really.
"Jifunze? What's wrong," Fuli asked as she ran up.
"We heard you shout? Are you ok," Kion asked as he, Ono, and Bunga arrived soon after Fuli.
Jifunze didn't say a word, all he did was point to the tracks on the ground, his paw shaking. Kion, Fuli, and Ono look down at the ground worried, while Bunga seemed nonchalant about the whole thing.
"Psh. What's the matter? They're just tracks," Bunga said, not really understanding the problem.
"Bunga, those are leopard tracks," Fuli said, her tone quite serious.
"So? We got a leopard right here." Bunga leaned over and tapped Jifunze's shoulder.
"Bunga, those aren't Jifunze's tracks, they're too big," Ono said, pointing at the tracks.
"Oh," Bunga said, a look of confusion spread across his face, "And that's bad because?"
"Because it means that there's a strange leopard in the Pridelands," Kion replied, "One who probably isn't as nice as Jifunze."
"Oh, that is bad," Bunnrga said, a worried expression now spreading across his face.
"Are you sure it's just one, leopard," Jifunze asked, his voice a little shaky.
Kion and Fuli leaned over and began sniffing the tracks, "Yep. Just one," Kion said.
"I'm only picking up one scent as well," Fuli added.
Jifunze let out a small sigh of relief and muttered under his breath, "Thank goodness." He then looked around to see if the others had heard what he said, but it seemed they were distracted by other things.
"Hang on a second. Where's Beshte," Kion asked, looking for the hippo.
"He must still be hiding," Bunga replied.
"I'll go find him!" Jifunze then ran off from the guard to look for Beshte. He certainly wanted to try whatever he could to avoid even so much as seeing the strange leopard.
"Jifunze wait," Kion called out to the young leopard, but it was too late, Jifunze was already running off. Kion sighed before turning to Ono, "Ono, you find where that leopard is, then help Jifunze find Beshte."
"On it, Kion," Ono said while giving Kion a salute with his wing. The young egret then took off into the sky in search of the strange leopard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jifunze was searching as fast as he could, pushing branches and bushes out of the way as quickly as possible. It felt like he had already done three sweeps of the area that he and Lion Guard were playing hide and seek in, even though he had barely begun to search.
"How did Beshte just disappear like this? He's a hippo! It's not that hard to spot him," Jifunze exclaimed, getting frustrated and worried. All he wanted to do was find Beshte, tell him about the leopard, then hide in his den for the rest of the day. So why was Beshte being so difficult!
"Need some help?" Ono swooped down, landing on a rock near Jifunze.
"Ono! Thank goodness." Jifunze sighed in relief, now that Ono was here this whole search would go a lot quicker, "Did you happen to spot Beshte from above?" Jifuzne gave Ono a hopeful look.
"Sorry but no," Ono said embarrassedly, "I'm pretty sure he isn't hiding around here anymore."
Jinfunze looked at Ono with distress, "What do you mean he's not here? Where could he have gone?"
"I'm not sure," Ono replied, obviously just as worried as Jifunze, "But if we keep looking we might find him in time, come on." Ono then took off into the air. Jifunze swiftly followed behind him, trying his best to keep up with the egret.
The two ran pretty far across the Pridelands before they finally stumbled upon Beshte, who had managed to wander surprisingly far away from where they were playing Hide and Seek earlier.
"Beshte!" Jifunze ran up to the hippo, panting heavily, "Finally. We've been. Looking everywhere. For you."
"Oh, Jifunze, it's great to see ya!" Beshte turned to Jifunze and smiled as he approached, "We were just talking about you."
"We, who's we," Ono asked as he landed next to Jifunze.
"Why me and Ajabu, of course," Beshte replied.
"Beshte, you're the only one here," Ono pointed out.
"Wait, what," Beshte said questioningly before turning around, "Oh. Ajabu probably hid when he saw Jifunze coming. He's kinda scared of leopards."
"What exactly does Ajabu look like," Ono asked.
"Well, he's an okapi-" Beshte started to reply, only for Jifunze to cut him off.
"An okapi!" Jifunze shouted, still struggling to breathe a little, "You saw. An okapi?!"
"Uh yeah. Why's that surprising," Beshte asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"I didn't. Think that. Okapi's even. Existed," Jifunze said as he continued to gasp for air.
"Oh that's right, okapi don't have great relationships with leopards," Beshte said with an awkward tone.
"Well that's kinda the reason we're here," Ono interjected.
What do you mean," Beshte asked, a worried look on his face.
"There's a strange leopard in the Pridelands," Jifunze bursted out, finally able to speak properly again.
"Oh no! That's probably the leopard that chased Ajabu here," Beshte exclaimed.
"Exactly, last I saw it was heading after a herd of impala before the rest of the guard went to deal with it," Ono replied.
"Right, let's meet up with the others then," Beshte said with an urgent tone.
"Right follow me!" Ono then took off once more, flying in the direction of the guard.
"And I'll go hide in my den," Jifunze muttered to himself as he ran off in what he figured was the direction of his den.
As Jifunze ran he started to panic again, worrying about what might happen if that other leopard happened to run into him. Jifunze tried his best not to think about it, but it was eating at his brain too much. Would the leopard recognize him? And if so, what would they do? Would they take him back to his parents, or would they just kill him on the spot.
He decided it was best to think of something else. Like how Beshte somehow found an okapi, and more than that, managed to have an extended conversation with one! It really surprised Jifunze that Beshte had managed to befriend an okapi, that hippo could probably befriend a rock if they could talk.
Jifunze was still surprised though, as he had never even seen an okapi. He was pretty sure they looked like a zebra, but also a giraffe, and an antelope all at the same time.
"Man, wish I could have seen them," Jifunze whispered to himself before spotting movement in the distance, "Hold on a second." Jifunze stopped in his tracks and peered far away, "Is that?" Jifunze couldn't believe it. It was an okapi! Probably the one Beshte was talking about too.
"Wait." Jifunze looked again and saw something much worse, it was the strange leopard. Thankfully, they looked nothing like Jifunze. The stranger had much smaller spots than Jifunze, and way more of them. And they were also much bigger and bulkier than him. But the part that probably set them apart the most was their fur. Jifunze had small tufts of fur sticking out from his body pretty much everywhere, though especially around his joints and jawline, whereas this other leopard's fur was smooth.
"That's odd it's like they're getting- Oh No!" Jifuzne swiftly dived into some nearby bushes as the leopard and Okapi came closer. "Should I help," Jifunze muttered to himself. That wouldn't be a good idea, right? This other leopard was way bigger and stronger than Jifunze, he couldn't take him on. But it looked like the leopard was gaining on the okapi, and Jifunze didn't really need to fight, he just needed to slow down the leopard.
Jifunze noticed how close they were getting, it was now or never. "I really hope I don't regret this," Jifunze muttered before diving out of the bushes directly onto the strange leopard.
"What the," the okapi said as he kept running, but Jifunze could barely hear him as he tackled the leopard.
It was really a short scuffle, nothing more than a tumble before Jifunze was thrown away as the strange leopard shouted, "Get off of me ya little brat!"
Jifunze let out a small grunt as he hit the ground. He felt weak, and like he was gonna throw up. Jifunze didn't understand why though, it wasn't even a fight, just a tackle and a toss, but he still felt sick to his stomach. But that strange feeling disappeared when he heard a certain voice called out.
"Don't you dare touch him, Makucha," Kion shouted as he jumped towards the strange leopard.
"Kion! What a surprise! This kid a friend of yours," Makucha asked sarcastically as he dodged Kion.
Suddenly Beshte ran up from behind Makucha and tossed him a short ways, "Yeah, and we won't let you hurt him!"
"A two on one, huh? I like those odds," Makucha said as he licked his lips.
"Try three," Fuli said as she ran in, flanking Makucha.
"Four," Ono announced as he swooped down and landed atop Beshte.
"Make that five," Bunga said as he grabbed Makucha's tail.
"Five on one huh," Makucha said, disappointedly, "Not even an okapi is worth this hassle." Makucha then turned and ran, heading back to the Backlands, and dragging Bunga behind him unknowingly.
"You can let go now Bunga," Fuli shouted to the honey badger.
"Oh! Ok," Bunga shouted back as he dropped Makucha's tail.
Kion then walked over to Jifunze, who was still lying on the ground, "Are you ok Jifunze?"
"I. I'm fine," Jifunze replied, standing up slowly and shakily, "Just a little shaken up."
"You sure," Kion asked with a concerned tone, "You were pretty shaken up about another leopard being in the Pridelands."
"I'm fine Kion, really," Jifunze said, trying his best to reassure the lion.
"Jifunze that was awesome," Bunga said as ran back up to the guard, "The way you tackled that jerk and slowed him down for us was Un-Bunga-Lievable!"
"Heh, thanks Bunga," Jifunze muttered somewhat embarrassedly.
"That was pretty great though," Fuli said, somewhat surprising Jifunze, "Thanks for that."
"No. No problem," Jifunze replied, not really sure how to respond to so much praise.
"Um. Excuse me," A strangely timid voice said, "I don't mean to be rude, but may I say something too?"
"Ajabu," Beshte exclaimed to the okapi who had suddenly appeared behind Fuli, "Of course you can buddy, what's up?"
"Well." Ajabu stepped around Fuli and up to Jifuzne, "I wanted to say. Thank you. If you hadn't tackled Makucha back there, he would've caught me for sure."
Jifunze chuckled nervously, "D-Don't mention it."
"Really though, that was quite brave. Considering Makucha is so much bigger than you," Ajabu said, visibly uncomfortable, "I've never met a leopard who would try and save an okapi. I take it, you're Jifunze?"
"Uh, yep. That's me," Jifunze said, equally as uncomfortable.
"Well. Thanks again Jifunze." Ajabu said awkwardly, "I'm not really sure what else to say."
"Well, how about we go see Simba," Beshte asked, "I'm sure he'd love to meet you, and we still need to talk to him about letting you stay here."
"Oh. Well. I don't know," Ajabu replied, "Do you really think he'd let me?"
"I'm sure he would," Bunga said, "Simba let Jifunze stay here because he had nowhere else to go. I'm sure he'd let you do the same."
"Well. Alright let's go," Ajabu said confidently.
As the rest of the Lion Guard made their way to Pride Rock with Ajabu, Kion stayed back for a second, "Hey, Jifunze, are you certain you're ok. You don't look too good, and you were really panicked when you found those leopard prints." Kion gave Jifunze a concerned look, "If there's something you wanna tell me, then I'll listen."
Jifunze looked up at Kion, with a slight sadness in his eyes. There was something that he wanted to tell him, there were so many things Jifuzne wanted to say, but he knew he couldn't. So he just replied with a halfhearted, "I'm fine Kion. Really. You should probably catch back up with the guard. I'm gonna head back to my den." And Jifunze turned away, walking back to his small home.
"Well. Ok Jifunze." Kion then turned towards the rest of the Lion Guard, and bounded away.
Author's Note: This chapter was kinda interesting. See, originally I wanted this chapter and last one to just be one chapter, but I found that it was getting to be too long, so I decided to split them up. I was also originally planning on taking this chapter in a whole different direction with a flashback scene early on during the game of Hide and Seek, but I found that I had kinda written myself into a corner and backed out of that storyline. Also this is the first time we get to see Makucha! Yay! Another thing I changed about this chapter was an ending scene after Makucha went back home, but I found that the story was already long enough, so I decided to cut that entirely. But I am pretty proud of this chapter and I hope you all like it as well.
Also this bit is only gonna be for those on . To the guy who keeps asking on all my stories if they are PG-13 or R, I have two things to say to you:
First. There is a rating system in the app that goes from K, to K, to T, and then to M. So maybe use some context clues and realize that the T stands for TEEN!
And Second. If you're gonna be asking me a question, maybe make an account so I can DM you the answer so I don't have to put my answer in the author's note! Or, better yet, DM me the question! Like I appreciate the small boost you're giving me in the weird algorithm by leaving these "reviews" but it's incredibly annoying!
Anyways, I'll see y'all later, whenever I update this story again. Bye!