THE LION GUARD: BONGO THE SLYEST
RETURN OF THE ROAR P1.
A NEW MORNING IN THE PRIDE LANDS
The sun rises over the savannah of the Pride Lands, illuminating the sky above the kingdom with the rich colors of red, orange and gold. As the dawn's light touched the ground, it stirred all kinds of animals awake from their slumber and urged them to prepare for the next day.
The lights also hit to the Pride Rock, the majetic and beautiful giant rock formation standing in all of its glory in middle of the savannah, as the mark of the entire kingdom, where also lived a pride of lions that governed the whole country and its inhabitants, including the royal family, which consisted of King Simba, son of the late king Mufasa and queen Sarabi, his mate, queen and childhood friend, Nala, and their firstborn daughter, the princess of the Pride Lands and heir to the throne, Kiara.
Speaking of which, at this moment, Simba and Kiara (who was now six months old, five months older than she was in the first part of The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride) were sitting in the top of the peak of the Pride Rock, looking the sunrise and the kingdom before them.
"Look, Kiara. Everything the light touches is our kingdom, the Pride Lands." Simba told his daughter.
The king then took in a deep breath of the fresh morning air, before he continued, turning to Kiara.
"Ruling it is a big responsibility, Kiara. And someday, when you're queen..."
"Here comes! High one!"
"WHOOPS!"
"HEADS UP! INCOMING!"
The sudden voices interrupted Simba's lesson and he and Kiara turned to look what it was, only a seconds later a green baobab ball hit and bounced off Simba's head.
"Ugh!" Simba grunted, before he shook his head.
"Kion! Bongo!" Kiara said in annoyance.
The cubs in question soon dashed past Simba and Kiara towards the baobab ball lying right in front of them.
One was the five months old lion cub called Kion, who had a light golden pelt, paler golden paws, underbelly, and muzzle, a red hair tuft with a few bright red stripes and a bushy tail tip with the same color, orange-brown eyes with dark, thick eyebrows above them, a dark brown nose and whiskers and brown rims along the side of his light red-brown inner ears and black rims along the top.
Another one was African wild dog pup called Bongo, who had a brown pelt, darker underbelly, face, snout and stripe over his head with the lighter bordering lines. He had light orange spots with dark linings in the back and in the legs, bushy tail with light tawny tip and light tawly legs, chocolate brown eye circles, red nose, hazel-brown eyes, bushy cheeks and rounded dark brown ears with the massive missing chunk in his left ear.
Both Kion and Bongo looked nervously up at Simba and Kiara, as they both scowled down at them for interrupting the lesson.
"Sorry, dad." Kion apologized with the chuckle.
"Yeah, sorry, your majesty. Our bad." Bongo apologized as well.
"Me, Bongo and Bunga were playing Baobab Ball..." Kion tried to explain.
A seconds later, a young blue-gray furred honey badger with the white mane called Bunga dashed to the scene.
"And Bongo couldn't handle the pass!" Bunga chuckled as he took the baobab ball into his claws.
"What?!" Bongo barked. "You kicked it over my head! Even a giraffe couldn't handle it!" Bongo protested, nudging Bunga in the stomach with his paw.
"Yeah. You really have to make such of high passes?" Kion asked, before he snatched the baobab ball in his mouth.
"Kion!" Simba said, trying to get his son's attention.
"Like I said." Bunga said as he swatted Kion under his chin, making the baobab ball to fly out of his mouth before catching it. "Neither of you couldn't handle it!"
"I'll show you handling!" Bongo said, circling around Bunga before pouncing on him from behind, pinning him down and snatching the baobab ball from his claws into his mouth.
"Bunga? Bongo?" Simba said, starting to get annoyed.
However, his son and his friends were so caught up in their quarrel that neither of them heard him.
"In fact, you're both kinda sloppy: Bunga with his instincts and Kion with his paws. You can't handle yourself, guys." Bongo remarked, smugly walking away with the fruit.
"We'll see about that, Medium B!" Bunga said as he got up.
"Yeah! Try to handle this!" Kion challenged.
Both Kion and Bunga then pounched on Bongo, resulting them fighting over ball, growling and grunting as they pulled it to three directions.
"Hmph." Kiara sighed with the eye-roll at his little brother and his friends' antics.
"BOYS! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Simba ordered.
Kion and Bongo both let go of the ball, causing Bunga to fly away.
Both Kion and Bongo then press their ears against the back of their skulls as they lower their heads down submissively, looking up at Simba.
"Kion, right now I need to talk to your sister. She'll be tracking gazelles with her friends today." Simba told to both his son and Bongo.
Kiara let out the chuckle, before she raised her head proudly up. "That's right, because I'm training to be..."
However, Kion cut her off and finished her sentence in the bored manner.
"...Queen of the Pride Lands. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know all about it, Kiara." Kion said with the scowl. "I do wonder what happened to that old Kiara who didn't even want to be the queen in the first place." he added sarcastically.
Kiara let out the scoff. "She outgrew that, that's what happened. Besides, I have my own life already figured out. What are you gonna grow up to be, little brother?" she asked teasingly.
"Well, I don't know... haaaappppyyyy?" Kion said with the sarcastic smirk as he got into his big sister's face. "Least I don't have to be pound to the responsibilities all day, unlike you, big sister."
Kiara scowled down at his little brother.
"All right you two, that's enough." Simba said, getting in between the quarrling siblings and pushing Kion aside with his head. "Kion, why don't you, Bongo and Bunga go play somewhere else?"
"Well, if your highness and my best friend's "all-important queen-sister..." Bongo said, waving his head left and right while saying those words in Kiara's face with taunting manner. "... require your privacy, perhaps we should go where we won't bother you."
Bongo earned another scowl from Kiara for his cheeky remark, while Simba nodded his head. "That's right, Bongo."
"YEAH!" Bunga said, as he dashed past the lions and wild dog to the top of the peak. "I know the perfect place!"
Bunga then held up the baobod vall over the edge of the peak, mimicking the Royal Mjuzi Rafiki's pose when presenting the newborn princes and princesses in the presentation ceremonies to the Pridelanders gathering below the Pride Rock.
"HEEEEEEEEYYYY, KIIIIOOOOOOOON! HEEEEEEEEYYYY, BONGOOOOOOOO!" Bunga let out, before he turned around towards his friends and began to dance and tease them with the sing-song voice, holding the baobob ball over his head.
"You'll never get the baobab fruit, NO! You'll never get the baobab fruit, NO! You'll never get the baobab fruit, NO!" he sung.
"Ha! You got nowhere to go, Bunga!" Kion said, cornering him to the edge with Bongo.
"Yeah!" Bongo agreed, before he hunched low and bared his teeth, going into hunting mode. "Ha! Bongo, the Pride Lands mighty hunter has cornered his prey."
"You'll never get the baobab fruit, NO!" Bunga kept singing.
Kion held his position while Bongo crawled slowly forward towards Bunga, preparing for the pounce. Letting out the low soft growl, Bongo pounched forward towards Bunga.
"GOT YOU!"
"Whoops!" Bunga said as he side-stepped over the edge of the peak and out of Bongo's reach.
"Missed me! ZUKA ZAMAAAAAAAA!" Bunga let out as he fell down to the ground below with the baobab ball in his calws, leaving Kion and Bongo to the edge to look down after him.
However, Bunga fell to the tree below the peak, which cut his fall short, and allowed him to land safely to the ground.
"Catch me if you can, guys!" Bunga yelled up to Kion and Bunga before he took off with the fruit.
"Hmph!" Bongo growled, slightly pissed off with Bunga for doing something so brave and stupid to avoid him. "And once I get you, I hope you'll enjoy to be my chewing toy, Bunga."
"The game is on." Kion declared, before he turned around and dashed after Bunga, with Bongo right behind him. "Later, Dad. Have fun tracking those gazelle, Kiara. I gotta get Bunga!"
"Yeah!" Bongo agreed. "Bye, your majesty! Bye, Kiara!"
"Have fun, boys." Simba called after them, before his voice turned serious. "And remember! Stay within the borders of the Pride Lands!"
"Don't worry! We will" both Kion and Bongo said as they ran away from the Pride Rock.
As the best friends dashed off, Kiara let out another sigh as he turned towards her dad. "I can't believe we're related."
"Kion will grow up someday. I hope." Simba simply said with the sigh.
###
Kion, Bongo and Bunga then ran across the Pride Lands, chasing each other for the baobab ball as the catchy music started to play in the air.
"It's a good day to have some fun to run and play"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Sun's so hot, it melts my worries all away"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"I'm gonna take it easy, got no reason to work all day"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
Laughing, the trio ran into the herd of galloping giraffes, running between their feet carefreely, before one giraffe lowers its head down above of the three friends.
Bunga first spins the baobab ball in the air before he tosses it to Kion, who caught the ball in his mouth before throwing it over the giraffe's neck to Bongo, who leaps up towards it, catches the fruit in his paws and tossed it back over the giraffe's neck.
"Oh, yeah!" Kion lets out as he leaps up and pushes the ball in the air with his head.
Bunga then swats the ball back up with his rear, until the giraffe catches it onto its neck, allowing the fruit to slid down onto its nose before nudging it up in the air. Both Kion and Bongo leap towards the baobab ball, until Bunga dives towards it and snatched it before they could, causing Kion and Bunga to crash into each other.
Shaking this off, and seeing that Bunga was making off with the fruit, the cub and pup shook this off and dashed after their friend.
I'm gonna keep on smiling, keep on riding all the way
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Come on, I'll tell ya"
"Ni siku njema"
"Matata yako mbali"
"Ni siku njema"
"Kimbia na furahi"
Leaving the giraffes behind, Kion, Bongo and Bunga run down the hill and charged towards the large flock of egrets. There, in middle of the flock, the smallest and youngest egret with orange head feathers, called Ono, was standing on one leg while still sleeping along with his fellow egrets.
"HEADS UP, EGRETS! HERE WE COME!" Bongo called out without slowing down his pace along with his friends.
Ono peeked between of his eye lids to the direction of the noise, until his eyes flew open and Ono led out the alarmed gasp when he saw Kion, Bongo and Bunga coming right towards them at high speed.
"EVERYONE! SCATTER!" Ono alarted.
Ono and his fellow egrets flew hastily off as the three animals nearly came crashing to them. And as the flock took off, few of their feathers came off and rained down on them.
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Come play with me and we'll run free"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Through the Pride Lands up to the highest tree"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
Bunga, Kion and Bongo then arrived to the large tree, where lived the Royal Mjuzi, Rafiki. Bunga then tossed the baobab fruit upwards as Kion and Bongo circled around him, causing the fruit to bounce off the Tree's trunk right below its branches, before Rafiki came out and stared laughing down at the children below.
Bongo then leaps up towards the fruit and catches it in his mouth, before he runs off with it, followed by Bunga and Kion.
"Gotta live for fun It's the only way"
"It's beautiful It's a beautiful day"
"Ni Siku Nzuri!"
"It's beautiful It's a beautiful day"
"Ni Siku Nzuri!"
Bongo runs up a steep hill with a hollow log resting on the edge of the top. When Bongo reached the top while Kion and Bunga were still halfway, Bongo jumped onto the log, which sets the log in motion and it begins to slide down the hillside like a sled with Bongo riding on top of it.
"WOHOO!" Bongo let out the muffled cheer as he slid down into a small bowl-shaped pit-like valley that was surrounded by small but steep hills, which called as Gome Pit (Bark in Swahili), on bottom of which was resting the pack of couple dozen wild dogs.
In middle of the pack was resting a quite large full-grown dog, who had a thick and bushy mane, dark brown coat, reddish-brown underbelly, face, snout and white-lined spots in the back, legs and a dark orange eyes. His name was Alfa (Alpha in Swahili) and he was this pack's apparent leader.
Next to him was resting an adolescent female dog with crimson eyes, chesnut brown coat, hazel-brown underbelly, face and snout and the white-lined markins on her face resembled the half blooming flower. She was called by the name Shauri (Ushauri. Councel in Swahili).
The two dogs were watching over the three playing, barking and yipping puppies, two females and one male, with smiles on their faces.
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Come play with me and we'll run free"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Through the Pride Lands up to the highest tree"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
However, Alfa's left ears stirred when it caught the sudden noise, making him to look up and to his left, seeing Bongo sliding towards them at high speed.
"PAPA! OUT OF WAY! HERE I COME!" Bongo yelled.
"Bongo?!" Alfa, who was Bongo's father, gasped, before he quickly turned to the puppies. "PUPPIES, OUT OF THE WAY!"
He and Shauri quickly sprinted into action, snatching the puppies up by their scruffs and pulling them out of the harm's way as Bongo slid through the pack to the other side of the Goma Pit, followed by Bunga and Kion who ran pass the pack and after their friend.
As the trio left from the pit, Alfa looked at them go with frown on his face, before he shook his head and sighed at his son's antics.
"Gotta live for fun It's the only way"
"It's beautiful It's a beautiful day"
"Ni Siku Nzuri!"
"It's beautiful It's a beautiful day"
"Ni Siku Nzuri!"
Bongo then arrives to the Watering Hole, where he jumps off the log as it slids over the edge into the water, and the puppy proceeded to hop over the pod of hippos along with Kion and Bunga. Most of the hippos didn't mind about them, though one rose his head up from the water and looked up at the trio with his blue eyes, offering them a kind smile.
"Bongo. Bunga, Kion." the hippo greeted.
"Hey, Beshte!" Kion greeted back as he kept hopping with Bunga after Bongo.
As Bongo reached to the end of the line, his eyes went wide when he noticed that the last animal between him and the other bank was a lone sleeping crocodile named Makuu in the water.
Not wanting to disturb the croc, Bongo tossed the baobab ball to the other bank and then carefully stepped from the hippo's back onto Makuu's back, tiptoeing along his back before hopping over him to the bank.
However, Bongo's cautiousness with Makuu allowed Bunga and Kion to gain on him and the former jumped onto the crocodile's head before bouncing off, awaking Makuu.
Irritated for being disturbed, Makuu turned around and growled at Kion's face, making the cub to halt in his tracks.
"Yow!" Kion gasped in alarm.
Makuu then opened his big jaws and leaned forward, but Kion jumped quickly over the croc's snapping jaws and landed safely to the dry ground in the bank.
"Phew!" Kion sighed with relief before running away from the Watering Hole and after his friends, leaving Makuu to glare angrily after him.
A little further ahead, Bongo had picked up the baobab ball and ran ahead, with Bunga right on his heels.
However, when Bongo glances behind him, he suddenly tripped over to the red Egyptian cobra named Ushari, who was lying sleeping in his path, causing him to fall over to the ground with Ushari's body tangled around his legs and drop the baobab ball from his mouth, allowing Bunga to snatch it back and ran off.
Bongo quickly untangles himself from Ushari and runs after Bunga, leaving the cobra maimed and tangled with himself.
Dizzied, Ushari looks behind him and gasps as he sees Kion coming, before he ducks down as Kion leaps over him after his friends.
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Come play with me and we'll run free"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
"Through the Pride Lands up to the highest tree"
"Whoa oh yeah oh"
Gotta live for fun It's the only way
"It's beautiful It's a beautiful day"
"Ni Siku Nzuri!"
Then, as Kion and Bongo kept chasing Bunga along the dirt trail, the three friends saw the cloud of dust coming right ahead of them, before the flash of vivid yellow furred king cheetah dashed very fast past of three friends before they could even blink their eyes.
But at the same time as cheetah passed them, Bunga suddenly disappeared from Kion and Bunga's sight, making the two to skid to stop.
"Wow!" Kion gasped as he turned to look to the direction the cheetah had gone.
"Hey!" Bongo yelped as he turned around as well. "No fair!"
As the dust cleared out, the boys saw Bunga waving his hand at them while riding on the back of the cheetah.
And the said cheetah wasn't just any cheetah. It was Fuli, another one of their friends who just simply liked to run as fast as she could across the savannas.
However, Fuli clearly didn't like hitchhikers when she noticed the honey badger on her back, so she halted and threw him off with the smirk, sending Bunga rolling down the hill and causing him to drop the baobab ball.
"It's beautiful It's a beautiful day"
"Ni Siku Nzuri!"
"It's beautiful It's a beautiful day"
"Ni Siku Nzuri!"
(Music ends)
When Bunga finally came to stop, lying on his back in the ground, both Kion and Bongo pounced on him, pinning him to the ground.
"Ha! Gotcha now, Bunga!" Kion boasted.
"You should know that Fuli doesn't really like hitchhikers, Bunga." Bongo cackled.
However, all three's attentions were then caught by the baobab ball as it rolled right next to him. Upon the sight of the fruit, Kion and Bongo gave each other challenging looks sideways, with the smug smirks on their muzzles... just before both of them made the mad dash towards the fruit.
"And now I got the baobab ball!" Kion exclaimed.
"Not yet!" Bongo countered, before the wild dog pup caught Kion's tail between of his jaws and pulled him back, halting Kion in the mid-leap towards the fruit and causing him to fall to the ground.
"Hey!" Kion whined, before he used his claws to pull himself towards the fruit while Bongo kept pulling from his friends tail to prevent him from reaching the ball.
"Not before I get it first!" Bunga exclaimed as he hopped onto and bounced off from Bongo's head, making the wild dog let go of Kion's tail.
Once his tail was free, Kion leaped towards the baobab fruit and caught it in his mouth, until Bunga came from behind and tackled the lion cub onto his back to the ground.
"Cheka, cheka, cheka!" Bunga said as he started to tickle Kion from the underside. Kion squirmed and let out the muffled laughter, until his laughter became too much that he spat the baobab ball out of his mouth and laughed harder.
"Ah, ha ha ha ha ha haa! No, no, no! Bunga! Stop it! That tickles!" Kion pleaded.
Seeing the baobab ball out of Kion's grasp, Bunga dashed for it, letting Kion go.
"Bunga!" Kion whined, rolling onto his stomach, trying to catch his breath.
Bongo then ran pass Kion and after Bunga, as the honey badger chased the baobab ball towards the border of their territory.
Finally, Bunga caught the baobab ball. "I got it! I got it! I got it!" he cheered, holding out the fruit in victory.
"I don't think so, Bunga!" Bongo called as he ran towards the honey badger. "Now I'm gonna get you!"
Baring his teeth and letting out the growl, Bongo made the leap towards Bunga to tackle and pin him down, and then take the fruint back from him, but Bunga timely hopped out of the wild dog's way, causing Bongo to land onto his stomach to the ground, with Bunga landing onto his back.
"I got it! I got it! I got it!" Bunga kept cheering, helding the fruit up, as Bongo glared at him over his shoulder.
However, Kion them made the leap from the high grass towards Bunga and tackled him off Bongo's back and pinned him on his stomach to the ground. But this also caused the baobab ball to slip off Bunga's hands and bounce forward, leaving the three friends to watch it go.
"Oh, no! The baobab ball!" Bongo gasped, when the fruit rolled off the edge and fell to the deep ravines of the Outlands, the place where the light did not reach and where there were many dark caves, hollows, burrows and labyrinthine passages. The place had a bad reputation because it was filled with countless skeletons of unfortunate animals that have fallen there to their deaths and the place was swarming with scavengers and greedy predators.
Kion, Bunga and Bongo peered down into the dark ravine from the edge.
"Aww! It rolled into the Outlands." Kion whined, lowering his ears down.
"Ugh! game over I guess." Bongo sighed.
"Says who?" Bunga shrugged, turning to his friends. "I'm not afraid of the Outlands."
"Neither am I!" Kion defended, until the hesitation fell over his face. "It's just... My dad! He said we shouldn't go there."
"That makes two of us." Bongo agreed. "While I ain't afraid that place either, my papa has also said that we should stay clear from the Outlands, because that's a hyena territory."
"Oh! Puh-leeze!" Bunga scoffed. "Simba's a big ol' scaredy cat when it comes to the Outlands." Bunga added, before he turned to Bongo. "And what's the big deal if this place is the hyena territory, Bongo. That's not the reason not go down there to fetch the baobab fruint."
"Oh, my papa does have a good reason, Bunga. And so do I." Bongo said before lifting his left paw to his left ear, showing Bunga the massive chunk that was missing from it. "A hyena bit off the chunk from my ear when I was younger, remember. On the day when I... when I..."
Bongo couldn't finish his sentence about the subject, because it was just too haunting and distraughtful for him to bring it up, making him look down dejectedly.
Bunga, whether he noticed the depressed mood in Bongo's face or not, immediately changed his focus from that subject back to the matter at hand.
"Pfft! Come on, Bongo! Remember you two what my uncles always say when the world turns its back on you!" Bunga said, before he dived off the ledge and into the Outlands.
"You turn your back on the world and put your past behind your back." Bongo recalled with the eye-roll.
"And Hakuna Matata." Kion added with equal eye-roll.
However, in his mid-way down, Bunga's dive was cut short when his fur got caught in the branch, leaving him dangling there.
"Whoa! Huh?" Bunga gasped, looking up.
Seeing their friend's situation, both Kion and Bongo let out the chuckle in amusement.
"Hey, Bunga! I think you got a really big catch today! A Bunga-sized whopper!" Bongo called after him with his usual witty sarcasm.
"Yeah!" Kion scoffed in agreement. "You look a little stuck down there."
"You kidding? It's just a tree branch." Bunga retorned, before he swung his body backwards, took a foothold from the wall and then flipped off the branch. "ZUKA ZAMA!"
Bunga then landed to the bottom of the ravine with loud grunt, before he brushed some dirt off his fur. Then the honey badger started looking around.
"Now where did that baobab fruit go?" he asked from himself as he began to wander deeper into the Outlands, looking for the fruit.
Unbeknownst to Bunga, there was the dark cave nearby that was filled with the countless animal skeletons. There also was hiding the clan of nine hyenas.
Atop of the rock the hyenas were surrounding was resting a large, slender and mean-looking male hyena with the pointed ears with single notch in one of them and spiky black mane, some of which went over his head in mohawk-style. His name was Janja and he was leader of this clan despite being a male, as the hyena clans were usually led by the females.
Right below him stood three hyenas, two small and one large.
One had a long canines, large reddish nose, large (almost bulging) crossed eyes, quite skinny build with fewer spots, spiky mane with bangs over his head, thin and scruffy tail, heavily notched ears and his tongue stuck out of his mouth. His name was Cheezi, and he was more crazy than he looked.
Second hyena was the biggest hyena in the clan, even bigger than Janja, and he had a thick neck and a large, round jaw, and upwards curved cheeks. His name was Chungu, and he was strongest and toughest member of the clan, though he was not a very bright hyena.
Third hyena was slightly smaller than Cheezi or his other clan mates and he had a massive hump on his back. He also had a noticeable mask of dark fur that rises from his muzzle and circles his eyes. His name was Nne, and his small size hid behind it the pure vileness inside him.
The fifth hyena had a sloping body and longest forelegs in the clan, and he had a buckteeth and constantly narrowed eyes. His name was Tano, and he was the clan's fastest runner.
The sixth hyena had a freckled muzzle, small tuft of hair over his head, a snaggletooth producing from his lower jaw, furry cheeks and only three spots in each side of his neck. His name was Sita.
The sevent hyena was tough-looking, tall and well-built with the thinniest mohawk-styled mane over his head, three visible ribs on each side, three spots in each sides of his neck and rear, rounded face and blunt muzzle. His name was Saba, and he rivaled in size with Janja but was still left in Chungu's shadow
The eighth hyena was slender and bore near-identical appearance of Janja by physical and facial features and the spiky mohawk-styled mane, except that he had a round ears without notches and the pair of small canine-like snaggletooth coming out of the upper jaw. His name was Atisa.
The ninth and last hyena was a large and bulky, though he lacked the spots except a couple large ones in his back and largest mane in the whole clan which fell into bangs over his forehead. He also had a large pointed ears and a pair of snaggletooth too. His name was Nane.
Janja was at the moment gnawing on the bare bone from the hyenas latest meal, while the other hyenas were impatiently waiting for their turn to have some. Janja noticed the looks on their faces and stopped gnawing the bone to talk to them.
"Oh! 'Fraid there's no meat left for you boys." the hyena apologized sarcastically, as he had eaten all the meat by himself, leaving nothing left for his clan mates.
The hyenas lowered their ears/heads down and whined from hunger.
"Ugh! Not again." Nne whined, shaking his head.
Cheezi's head then perked up when he saw the baobab ball lying right in front of their cave. The crazy hyena then whined and barked at Chungu and Nne as he nodded his head and pointed his paw towards the entrance.
"What now, Cheezi?" Nne asked in bored manner and looked to the entrance, seeing the fruit. "A baobab fruit? What about it?"
Chungu turned his head and saw it too. The large hyena's ears perked up from interest as he turned back to Janja. "Let's eat it! I'm starvelated!" he suggested, rubbing his growling stomach with his paw.
"Have your brains left your head, Chungu?" Nne questioned with raised eyebrow. "We're carnivores. We don't eat fruits." the masked hyena reminded.
Janja couldn't agree more. "What do you take me for, a vegetarian? I want something nice and meaty for lunch! Something..." Janja was cut short when he saw a blue butterfly flying past his head. Janja lunged towards it, snapping his jaws at the flying insect few times to eat it, until it flew behind of Janja and disappeared from sight.
"Huh? Where'd it go?" confused Janja asked, turning to his clan mates... revealing that the butterfly was resting on his right ear, making it look like he was wearing a bow.
The humorous sight got the whole clan to burst out of laughter, leaving Janja confused.
"Huh? Wha-wha-wha-what? What's so funny?" Janja asked.
The hyenas kept laughing. Cheezi rolled onto his back and held his stomach with his paws, Chungu fell over his stomach and banged his right paw to the ground while Nne shook his head, making his large ears wiggle left and right.
"What are you laughing at? Tell me!" Janja demanded, until the hyena spotted something and hopped down from the rock. "Stuff it, fur brains! Look!"
The hyenas stopped laughing and looked to the entrance, seeing Bunga looking for the baobab ball.
"A honey badger." Janja said, licking his chops. "Now that's my idea of a delightful lunch!" he told his cronies, before he tossed his bone across the lair and towards his fellow hyenas.
"Here you go, fellas." Janja added, before Tano, Sita, Saba, Atisa and Nane lunged towards the bone and started to fight over it, each hyena wanting to whatever meat was left in it, before Janja turned to his three remaining hyenas. "Nne, Cheezi, Chungu. Bring it to me."
The three hyenas immediately went to fetch the honey badger for their leader.
Outside, Kion and Bongo were still looking down from the edge at Bunga, who was still looking for the baobab ball.
"Hurry up, Bunga! Let's go before we're discovered!" Bongo called down.
Eventually, Bunga found the baobab ball lying in front of the cave. "Ah ha! Found it!" Bunga announced as he held the fruit up and looked up to Kion and Bongo, unaware that the three hyenas were looking at him from the cave, their eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Great! Now get up here and let's go!" Kion ordered.
Bongo, howerer, perked his head up when he caught the scent from the air... a pretty familiar scent. He started to sniff the air for a moment, until his eyes went wide from horror.
Kion noticed this. "Bongo? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"Hyenas! Close! We've been spotted!" Bongo informed with dread.
"Hevi Kabisa!" Kion gasped in horror and worry, before he hurriedly looked down at Bunga. "Bunga! Heads up!" he warned.
"Relax, guys!" Bunga called back, starting to toss the baobab ball in the air. "Remember? HAKUNA...!"
However, when he turned, he found himself face-to-face with Cheezi and Nne, who had appeared out of nowhere and let out the snarls at the stunned honey badger's face.
"... matata." Bunga finished sheepishly, catching the fruit in his claws.
"Get out of there, Bunga!" Kion urged.
"Yeah! Quit playing with them and get up here! The hyenas are dangerous!" Bongo barked.
Bunga, however, ignored his friends and bravely got into the two hyenas' faces, poking Cheezi's red nose with his claw. "Okay, hyena. Back off unless you wanna see what this honey badger's made of. I'll show you what I'm made of!" the honey badger threatened.
However, Cheezi and Nne cackled at Bunga's face.
"Honey badgers. Brave maybe but easily distracted." Nne taunted.
Chungu then came from behind and picked Bunga up by his mane.
"Hey! Lemme go so I can show that other guy what I'm made of!" Bunga demanded, struggling against the grip of the muscular hyena's jaw.
"Sorry, honey badger, but you just got an invitation for dinner." Nne told the honey badger, before he turned to his fellow hyenas. "Let's go, guys."
"NNE! CHEEZI! CHUNGU! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Bongo Barked, making the hyenas stop in their tracks and look up to the cliff, seeing Kion and Bongo.
"Hyenas! Put Bunga down! Pick on somebody your own size!" Kion demanded.
"Yeah! Why don't you slobbery mangy stupid poachers go to pick on some jackals instead?!" Bongo suggested.
"Well, well, well, look who's up there!" Nne called, addressing the cub and the pup in the mocking tone. "Kion, son of Simba, and a half-eared mutt, Bongo!"
Chungu and Cheezi cackled behind him.
"You two want the honey badger?" Nne cackled. "Then why don't you two come down here and get him?"
"Let him go! You hyenas don't want any trouble with my dad." the prince warned.
"Yeah! King Simba will tear you three fleabags into pieces for this!" Bongo added.
"Ooh. Like how you'd get into trouble if you came into the Outlands?" Nne retorted.
Kion and Bongo frowned down at them, hating to admit it to themselves that what Nne said was true. They'd end up a big trouble if their dads found out that they'd ventured into the Outlands against their wishes.
Cheezi and Chungu laughed again.
"They're both too afraid to come down here." Chungu said.
"Too bad, isn't it? 'Fraidy cat! Fraidy mutt!'" Nne taunted.
"'Fraidy cat! Fraidy mutt!' 'Fraidy cat! Fraidy mutt!' 'Fraidy cat! Fraidy mutt!'" all three hyenas taunted, swinging their heads left and right.
Kion narrowed his eyes and looked down, annoyed, while Bongo bared his teeth and let the growl escape from his muzzle as he glared down at the hyenas, hating to be called 'fraidy mutt'"
The hyenas kept taunting them until Nne finally called it off.
"All right, all right, yeah! Shut your traps, guys! Fun's over." Nne said to his friends, who immediately ceased taunting, before the small hyena turned back to Kion and Bongo, giving them victorious and menacing smirk. "Would love to make fun of you two little further but we gotta go. Janja's waiting for his lunch."
"Lunch?" Bunga gulped with wide eyes.
"Janja?!" Bongo gasped, knowing the hyena in question, who was well-known and feared by many as the sworn enemy of the Pride Lands.
"NO!" Kion yelled.
Kion then narrowed his eyes into fierce glare at the hyenas, as some strange force was building inside him and his eyes glow bright, without his notice.
Bongo felt the strong wind blowing past him and Kion, before he heard the thundering crumble behind them and looked up to the sky. The wild dog puppy raised his eyebrow when he saw the bright clouds in the sky gathering right above of them. Bongo then turned back to Kion, as the lion cub hunched low.
"Let... him... GOOOO! RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!" Kion let out, roaring in the sky.
However, his roar wasn't just the squeaking meow but the loud, super loud roar and more powerful than even ten full grown lions'. And what's more, the clouds above of them turned into seven heads of the roaring lions, four below and three above, which increased the strength of the wind to the strength of the hurricane.
Bongo jumped back, startled, surprised, shocked, astonished, his eyes went wide and his jaw hanging slack as he stared at Kion.
Down below, as the powerful wind shook the ground beneath the hyenas feet, pushing back bones and rocks, the three hyenas looked up at Kion in wide-eyed shock. Chungu's jaw went slack, releasing Bunga, who dropped down to his feet and looked up in Kion in equal shock and amazement.
As the Roar subsided and wind died down, Kion glared down at the hyenas with strong feel of superior and majestic authority. Then some golden light glowed in his left shoulder and the Llght orange Mark of the roaring lion appeared there.
"Siamini" Bongo awed. (I don't believe it! in Swahili)
Down below, Bunga took advantage of the hyenas' shocked state by showing the baobab fruit into Chungu's mouth, before he hopped onto and bounced off Cheezi's head. Nne saw Bunga getting away, but was still too shocked and confused of what had just happened to do anything about it.
"See ya, hyena! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" Bunga taunted, as he climbed up the rock wall.
Kion then snapped out of his trance and blinked his eyes in surprise. He couldn't believe that he had just roared like that! The golden cub looked up to the sky in wonderment and confusion as the clouds cleared off, leaving the sky normal as before like nothing had ever even happened.
"Hevi kabisa! What was that?" Kion wondered, as the Mark vanished from his shoulder.
Bunga then climbed to the edge and turned to his friend and the three friends left the Outlands behind. "Zuka Zama! Kion, how'd you do that?" the honey badger asked eagerly.
"Yeah! How in the Pride Lands can you roar like that?" Bongo asked as well as he walked by Kion's side.
Kion's didn't asnwer immediately. His head was just full of questions after what just happened, which needed answers. "I dunno, guys." the golden cub answered honestly, shaking his head. "Wish I did, though."
"Perhaps we should ask about it from your dad or Rafiki. Maybe they know something about it, unless they already do." Bongo suggested. "That Roar must have reached to Pride Rock already, maybe even all the way to the other side of the Pride lands. It can't be that no one else wouldn't have heard it."
"Yeah. Maybe we should." Kion agreed.
"Well, whatever it is and however you did it, it was UN-BUNGA-LIEVABLE!" Bunga let out enthusiastically.
The three friends then made their way towards the Pride Rock in far distance, determined to seek the answers to their questions.
TO BE CONTINUED...