THE LION GUARD: BONGO THE SLYEST
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Today there was a total chaos in the Pride Lands.
The herd of mooing wildebeest were stampeding wildly in panic and kicking up the dust in the air, which was obscuring just about everything, giving the Lion Guard some trouble in calming them down and locating the culprits of this, the hyenas, while being careful not to get trampled themselves.
In the middle of all of it, Kion grunted as he tried his best to dodge the stampeding wildebeest, jumping out of the first one's way and ducking the next one.
"Kion!" Fuli called as she ran up to him, before the both felines flinched as they dodged another wildebeest. "How are we supposed to chase off the hyenas? We can't even see anything through all of this dust!"
"I'm sure it's all part of Janja's plan." Kion guessed with narrowed eyes.
"KION! FULI! LOOK OUT!" Bongo barged, before the wild dog pup tackled both his friends out of the way when the couple wildebeest were heading straight at them from behind the golden lion's back.
"You okay?" Bongo asked both Kion and Fuli as they dragged themselves back up.
"We're fine, Bongo. Thanks." Kion said gratefully.
"Hopefully you've already gotten some idea how we can both calm down the herd and get rid of the hyenas." Fuli hoped.
"Not going to be easy, Fuli. I tried to locate them by listening their chackling, but the hyenas are laying low." Bongo responded as he looked around. "And my focus is split due to being careful not to get trampled by the wildebeest myself."
"Kion, Bongo, Fuli!" Ono called out from above his friends. "Look out! Wildebeest coming right from your left!"
A wildebeest came charging towards the cubs, prompting Kion and Bongo to jump in one direction while Fuli ran in the other to get out of the wildebeest's way.
"Phew! That came a little too close." Bongo sighed with relief.
"You guys alright?" Ono asked as the egret swooped over their heads.
"We're okay." Kion assured. "Good eyes, Ono! Until Bongo comes up with something, keep your eyes peeled for Janja and his clan."
"Peeled eyes? Eww!" Ono recoiled with disgust before he flew above the dust cloud in search for the movements of Janja's clan, with his Mark flashing which sharpened his eyesight beyond its natural limits.
It didn't take long before Ono spotted two hyenas, Cheezi and Chungu, sneaking under the cover of the dust and some bushes, as they made their way towards a baby wildebeest, who had gotten lost from his mother during the stampede.
"Hapana! Bunga, Beshte, I see Cheezi and Chungu. They're behind that bush!" Ono reported down to the Strongest and the Bravest while floating above of the hyenas' hiding spot.
"Let's get'em, Beshte!" Bunga said before jumping on Beshte's back.
Sniggering, the hyenas then sprung out of the underbrush to attack the unaware baby wildebeest from behind.
"Twende Kiboko!" Beshte yelled as he came charging towards them, causing Cheezi and Chungu to halt before they could harm the baby wildebeest who fled the scene. The hyenas screamed as they ran in other direction with Beshte chasing after them.
"Zuka Zama!" Bunga cheered with the grin.
Seeing this, the Keenest of Sight chuckled. "Well, that takes care of those two." he commended before resuming to locating the rest of the hyenas.
While trying to avoid the wildebeest, Kion gasped in shock when one was coming right towards him. However, with his Mark flashing an the power surging through of him, Kion jumped up and onto the wildebeest's back before he jumped off, landing on his feet to the ground.
Fuli zigzagged past the wildebeests that came towards her from here and there in the midst of a cloud of dust, with the Fastest managing to avoid getting hit by most of them. But after managing to avoid the last one, she didn't notice the another wildebeest that came from her left, headbutting her and knocking her over.
"Ahh!" Fuli grunted as she flipped pretty roughly over to the ground and was left lying there stunned by the hit. "Ohh." the Fastest moaned.
"Fuli!" Bongo called upon seeing what had happened and galloped past the wildebeest towards Fuli.
The Slyest dodged the larger animals coming from left and right, though he had a couple of close calls with the couple of them that almost headbutted him over, with Bongo just narrowly avoiding them, before he dived from under the third wildebeest than galloped right in his way, until he finally reached to Fuli.
After quickly checking out their Fastest member for any injuries, with there being none any serious aside of the bruise, Bongo grabbed her from the scruff in her neck and dragged Fuli out of the harm's way, just in time before the couple of Wildebeest stampeded over the spot Fuli had been lying.
With Fuli out of the harm's way, Bongo let go of her scruff and allowed his cheetah friend to get back up on her own, shaking the dizziness off her head as she did.
"Thanks, Bongo. That was pretty close, sly dog." Fuli said gratefully.
Bongo nodding his head at her, before turning back to the dust cloud and the stampeding animals.
"Alright, that's it!" Bongo said, having had enough with this before he craned his neck up and looked up at Ono.
"Ono, look out for Janja!" the pup called out. "He's the mastermind of this whole thing! If we chase him off, the rest of the hyenas will go too."
"Affirmative!" Ono nodded before flying off to look for Janja.
"Fuli. Find Bunga and Beshte. Try to round up the wildebeest from outside of the dust cloud and keep an eye on the hyenas should they try to attack. I'll go look for Kion." Bongo said before the Slyest dashed into the dust cloud.
"You got it!" Fuli called after him and left the other direction to fulfill her task.
Meanwhile, deep within the dust cloud, Kion kept dodging the passing wildebeest... not knowing that Janja, along with Nne and another hyena, Sita, were slowly creeping up behind Kion through the dust, ready to attack him.
"Gotcha now, lion cub!" Janja snickered.
"Yeah." Nne snickered as well.
As Ono flew over the dust cloud, he gasped with dread upon seeing Janja and his minions stalking up on his leader. "Kion! Look out! Behind you!" he called.
Kion, alerted by Ono's warning, turned around just when Janja, letting out a snarl, pounced on him and caused them to flip over before the hyena leader pinned the lion cub down on his back, while Nne and Sita followed. Letting out the gasp, Ono flew away to search for help.
"JANJA!" Kion growled.
Janja snarled and went to bite Kion in his left shoulder.
"AGH!" Kion groaned in pain.
Afterwards, Kion's Mark then flashed, empowering the lion cub, before Kion pushed Janja off him.
"I thought I told you... to stay out... of the Pride Lands!" Kion reminded with the strained voice, as he rolled over and pinned Janja down.
"Did ya?" the hyena chuckled. "I must have forgotten," he cuffed Kion across the face with his clawed paw, knocking the lion cub off him.
At the same time, Nne grabbed a hold from Kion's tail with his teeth and pulled the Fiercest back, distracting Kion long enough for Janja to get back up and push the golden cub over to the ground. With Kion down, Janja, Nne and Sita piled on him, with Nne biting Kion on his right hinder leg, Sita biting him from his right fore leg and Janja biting him from his chest.
But as the hyenas were about to overpower Kion...
"TWENDE SASA!" came Bongo's voice, making Sita and Nne to cease their attacks on Kion and look up to see Bongo, as the wild dog pup ferociously, and empowered by his flashing Mark, head-butted into Sita, knocking him into Nne and both hyenas off Kion, leaving only Janja to pin Kion down.
Despite this, both Nne and Sita turned their attention to Bongo and surrounded the wild dog pup on either side of him, forcing him to fend them off from either side in turn, barking fiercely and snapping his teeth at them to keep them at bay.
"Kion! Bongo! Incoming!" Ono called out as he saw yet another wildebeest that was heading towards them.
A smirk plastered on both the lion cub's and the wild dog pup's faces as they came up with an idea.
"See ya, hyena!" Kion said as he put his hind legs against Janja's stomach before kicking the hyena leader off him and into the incoming wildebeest's way.
"See ya, boys!" Bongo said as he caught Nne's tail in his mouth, making the hyena yelp in pain, before the Slyest swung him into Sita and knocked them both into Janja.
The three hyenas are hit by the wildebeest that sends them all flying a few feet away from the dust cloud, with Janja landing on his stomach, Nne on his rear end and Sita into awaiting Cheezi and Chungu.
"I've had enough." Janja muttered as he and his clan got up to their feet, before the hyena leader started leaving, "come on, fellas. Let's go."
Cheezi, watching his leader leaving, whimpered in confusion.
"We're leaving already? But we haven't got anything to take back home yet." Nne protested.
"Yeah. The dust is still making things hard to see." Chungu pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah. Dust don't matter when the Lion Guard has eyes in the sky." Janja said, rolling his eyes at his minions. "Now, move it!" he ordered.
The hyenas set to follow their leader back in the Outlands.
"That's right! Get out of here!" Fuli said as she ran towards them, making Chungu and Sita to stop on their way into the Outlands and turn to the Fastest.
Bongo then joined to Fuli's side. "Tails between your legs, and don't slow down till you're back where you belong!" the Slyest growled.
Chungu chungled nervously. "We're going! We're going!" he whimpered before he and Sita followed their fellow hyenas.
The rest of the Guard then regrouped with Fuli and Bongo.
"Keep going, Janja!" Kion called after the hyena leader. "All the way back to the Outlands!"
"And stay out!" Bunga followed.
"Nice job, everybody." Kion praised, glancing at each member of the Guard.
"But, Kion. You're wounded." Fuli said with concern, noticing the bite marks in Kion's left shoulder, in his right fore leg and the hin leg, and mouthful of fur ripped off his chest. They weren't pretty-looking but neither severe.
"Just a scratches." Kion assured. "They can be taken care of later after the hyenas are back where they belong." The fiercest then glanced up at Ono. "Follow them, Ono. Make sure they leave the Pride Lands."
"You got it, Kion." Ono saluted, before he took off after the hyenas. "You heard him! Keep going!" he called as he followed the hyenas as they climbed over the rocky ridge, with Chungu, who was in the rear, kicked up a few small rocks and dirt over the edge, which then hit the egret in the eye.
"OW! My eye! I'M HIT!" Ono winced as he started to fall backward.
"Oh, no!" Fuli, Beshte, and Bunga gasped.
"ONO!" Kion and Bongo yelled in unision.
"FULI!" Bongo, after thinking quickly, called as he turned to the Fastest.
"On it! Huwezi!" Fuli said as she rushed forward and leaped up towards Ono, managing to catch the egret into her mouth before he could've hit the ground.
"Bird down. Bird down." Ono half-grunted and half-whined as Fuli carefully put him down.
"OVER HERE!" she called for the rest of the team, who quickly gathered around of their team mate, each of them bearing a worried looks on their faces.
"Ono? Are you okay?" Bongo asked, seeing that Ono's left eye was shut.
"Bird down. Bird down." Ono kept whining.
"Don't worry, Ono." Kion reassured the egret. "we'll take you to Rafiki. He'll know what to do."
###
In the Lair of the Lion Guard, Rafiki was mumbling the tune to himself as he was making the paintings of the new Lion Guard's recent deeds.
"Asante sana Squash banana, Wewe nugu mimi hapana. Asante sana Squash banana, Wewe nugu mimi hapana." he mumbled as he was making the newest painting of the whole new Lion Guard as a team: with Kion in it and the smaller versions of Ono, Fuli, Bongo, Beshte and Bunga beneath him.
"Rafiki!" Kion called, making the old mandrill turn away from his painting to see the Lion Guard entering the Lair, with Beshte carrying Ono in his back.
"We need your help. Ono's hurt." the prince informed.
"Easy there, Ono." Beshte said as he bent himself down a bit.
"Ow! My eye." Ono groaned on the hippo's back.
Rafiki walked over and begins to inspect the egret's injured eye. "Hmm, yes. I can see that you can not see." the mandrill said and lightly chuckled. "Dirt in the eye! Not as bad as it looks."
"But it doesn't feel comfortable at all." Bongo pointed out as he put his own paw on his cheek, just above of his left eye.
Rafiki then hopped over to the flat rock and scooped up some leaves, making a bed out of them for Ono. "Now, bring him down here."
The guard went to a flat rock, where Beshte bent low enough for Fuli to carefully scoop Ono from the hippo's back onto her head, while Bongo supported Ono by his legs with his snout. The Fastest and Slyest carefully put Ono to rest on the leaves, making the poor egret to groan a bit, as Rafiki fetched some ingredients and split gourd's half.
"Okay, it's okay. Just a moment." Rafiki told to Ono before he turned to the Guard and motioned them to back up. "And a little space, please?."
As the Guard looked on with worry, Rafiki mashed some leaves together in his gourd. "Mmm. Yes, yes. Just enough." he muttered as he added some pink paste in it. "Now, hold still, Ono." Rafiki told him as he placed the leaf over the Keenest of Sight's injured eye and tied it around of his head with some ivy, before he lifted his hands up in triumph.
"Ah-ha! Yes! There. All finished." Rafiki laughed as he stepped back.
Ono sat up from the leaf bed with an eye patch made out of leaves and gulped "So, how does it look?" He asked his friends.
Bunga tapped his chin with his claw and looked away while Fuli was looking anywhere but at Ono, and Bongo rolled his eyes while trying to find his words.
"Well..." Fuli started, as she, Bunga and Bongo exchanged glances.
"Oh, is it that bad?" Ono asked, cowering with worry and embarassement.
"Oh, no, no, no! Not at all." Fuli assured with the smile as she regained her composure.
"There's nothing bad about it, Ono." Bongo assured, nodding his head.
"I like it. Green is your color." Beshte chimed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Bunga agreed as he walked up to Ono. "It totally brings out your eyes."
"Bunga!" Fuli and Bongo hissed at the same time, casting a narrow-eyed glares at the honey badger.
"Did I say your eyes?" Bunga asked, looking nervously to the left and right. "I mean, it brings out your one eye." Bunga rambled as he pointed at his own eye. "The one you've got left." the honey badger then began scratch the back of his head, trying to find the right words. "I mean, I know the other one's still there, but you can't see it. I mean, uh..." Bunga ended up facepalming himself and at his poor choice of words.
"Ugh! Siamini." Bongo sighed with the annoyed eye-roll.
Understanding the point behind of his friends' words, Ono sighed and lowered his eyes. "Oh, forget it!"
"Well, I think it's Poa." Beshte admitted. "And if I ever get dirt in my eye, I want one just like it."
"Yeah. Me too." Kion agreed.
"I Know it might be embarrassing to be a half-blind, given that you are the Keenest of Sight, Ono. But hey, it's okay. Take it from me, the dog pup that got most of his left ear missing." Bongo pointed out, gesturing with his paw at his left ear, which was missing a massive chunk. "When I lost most of my ear, I too felt pretty embarrassed and outright insecure because of it, until I eventually overcame it."
"So true." Kion remarked, as he and the dog pup high-pawed with each other.
"Well, it's easy for Bongo to say that. He wasn't named as the Pride Lands' Slyest because of his ears like I was named as the Pride Lands' Keenest of Sight because of my eye-sight." Ono complained, before the egret turned to Rafiki. "Speaking of which, am I going to be okay?"
"Yes, yes." Rafiki answered, waving his hand dismissively before he strided around Ono and leans his elbow on the rock next to him. "Your eye will be fine. Just wear this eye patch for three days...and no craziness. "
"Three days!?" Ono exclaimed, shocked.
"No craziness!?" Bunga exclaimed, spreading his arms wide.
"Like you weren't crazy already." Bongo mumbled with the eye-roll.
Kion stepped forward towards Ono, "Don't worry, Ono. The Guard can get by a couple of days without you." he told him. "You need to rest and get better."
"But I can still help the Guard!" Ono protested, getting up on his feet. "Besides, I can see just fine."
The Egret then turned around, only to run headlong right into a wall with a grunt. "Is that wall new?" he asked as he glanced at his friends over his shoulder.
"No." Fuli noted with the light chuckle, before looking up in the wall. "But those paintings are."
The Guard then looked at the paintings around the Guard's Lair, which depicted at least twelve Lion Guard teams from the Pride Lands' history, including Scar's Lion Guard. All of them were solely formed up from the six lions, and in every team, the paintings depicting the leaders of every team were the biggest while the other members' paintings were the smallest.
"Yes, yes. Every Lion Guard appears on the walls of the lair so everyone remembers who they are." Rafiki informed the young animals.
"And that's us, right after Scar's." Bongo noted, spotting easily the newest painting of Kion's Lion Guard from among them, for it had only one lion and five other species of animals.
"Indeed." Rafiki confirmed. "Today I must add all of you to the story of the Lion Guard."
"Poa." Beshte sighed. "So that's Kion." he saw the lion. "And there's Ono." the hippo added as he spotted the white egret by Kion's left. "That's Fuli." he spotted the cheetah under Ono. "That's Bongo." he spotted the wild dog. "And that's me." he spotted the hippo next to Bongo.
"And that's me!" Bunga exclaimed, pointing at his painting to Kion's right. "That's me! That's me! That's me! That's meeeeeeee!"
"Amazing!" Kion exclaimed, impressed.
"Amazing to you." Rafiki noted, pointing at Kion with his finger. "To me? Not so much." he admitted with the shake of his head. "But they do say that art is in the eye of the beholder."
"You got what in your eye?" Bunga questioned, puzzled.
""Eye of the beholder." In other words, it means everyone has a different way of looking at the things, or have their own opinion about what's good." Ono explained.
"Ono speaks the truth." Rafiki agreed with the smile, before he stared thoughtfully at the painting. "But this painting, it does not have the spirit of your Lion Guard." he said, tapping his chin.
"Not the spirit of our Lion Guard?" Bongo questioned. "Is that again because our Guard ain't like the previous Lion Guards? Lions? And here I thought that our Lion Guard's spirit is based on the combination of our respective species' strengths, our teamwork, friendship and the bond we all share."
Bongo then turned to Ono. "What do you think about the painting, Ono?"
"Middle B." Bunga whispered, standing beside the pup. "Ono can't see, remember."
"YES, I CAN!" Ono snapped at the honey badger, offended by his words, as he jumped up in the air, flapping his wings. "And I'm still the Keenest of Sight. Come on, I'll prove it!"
With that, Ono took off and fliew out of a hole in the ceiling.
"Ono!" Kion called after his avian friend.
"Hey, wait!" Bongo called after him.
"Be careful!" Beshte cautioned.
"Wait up!" Fuli called.
The Lion Guard then rushed out of the Lair to chase after the egret, leaving Rafiki at the wall to survey his paintings.
"Hmm. In my eye, it is not yet right." he said to himself.
###
Outside, Ono's flying across the savanna, while Kion, Bongo, Beshte, Bunga, and Fuli chased after him below.
"Ono!" Kion yelled at Ono. "You shouldn't be doing this!"
"Kion's right, Ono!" Bongo agreed with the Fiercest. "Didn't you hear what Rafiki said? You need to take it easy!"
"Flying is easy! I hurt my eye not my wings!" Ono rebuked stubbornly. "Just watch. You'll see I can still help the Guard, even with one eye!"
Ono then flew higher to get a better view of the savannah, including the rest of the team amongst the herds of zebras and elephants "See? I can see everything from up here."
"Even that vulture?!" Bongo called up at him.
"What vulture?" Ono asked, puzzled.
Suddenly, a wrinkled and fluffy vulture with dark grey feathers with lighter gray tips at the tip of his wings, a bald head with a few black hairs and black bushy eyebrows flew into Ono's view from his blind spot, causing the two birds to collide with each other.
"Oi! Watch where you're going!" the vulture said.
Ono fell towards the ground, dive-bombing at his friends. But while everybody got out of the wa, Bongo jumped up on his hind-legs and reached his fore legs up towards Ono.
"I GOT YOU! I GOT YOU! I GOT YOU!" the Slyest shouted, until Ono hit him in the chest, With Ono's speed and the force of the impact knocking the dog pup back.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" both Bongo and Ono screamed as they both rolled backwards along the ground, tangled with each other, until...
*BONK!* their rolling was cut short by the boulder as Bongo, taking the blow for Ono, crashed to it head-first.
*YELP!* "OW!" Bongo let out the whine in pain as he hit his head in the boulder and collapsed over on his back to the ground, dazed, while Ono lied flat on his back on his chest with the groan.
"Ono! Bongo! Are you two OK?" Beshte asked with worry as he and the rest of the Guard ran towards them.
"I'm good." Ono groaned, raising his wing weakly up before collapsing again.
Bongo let out a groan as he got up from the ground, carefully rolling over so that Ono would gently slid from his chest and land softly to the ground without hurting him more than this. And as he turned to the rest of the Guard, he revealed of having gotten a bump on top of his head.
Another terrible headache made him groan again and he lifted his paw over his head.
"Why it is always me who gets hurt like this?" he asked, half-dizzingly and half-annoyed.
As the Lion Guard gathered around Ono, the vulture whom Ono hand bumped into, flew overhead of the Guard and looked down at them with interest.
"Maybe you shouldn't be flying around with just one eye." Fuli noted.
"Fuli's right, Ono. I really think you should take a break." Kion advised.
"But doesn't the Guard need me?" Ono questioned weakly. "I'm the Keenest of Sight."
"You were the Keenest of Sight." Bunga muttered.
"Bunga." Bongo said with the stern look at the honey badger.
"Kion? Guys?" Ono looked desperately at his friends.
"Ono. Of course we need you, but your health is most important thing right now." Bongo assured him. "And we also do not want you to get hurt even worst than what you are right now."
"Bongo's right, Ono." Kion said. "You need to rest. You'll be back on duty in no time. But for now, let's get you back to the Lair."
Ono sighed dejectedly. "Okay. I'll rest." he said, looking down at his talons in sadness.
Bongo then picked Ono gently from the ground with his mouth and put him to rest between of his shoulder blades before the Guard started to make their way back to the Lair.
Above of them, the vulture chuckled to himself, having seen and heard everything, before he flew back towards the Outlands.
###
In the Outlands, Mzingo was standing on a dead tree branch with nine other vultures as they were having a meeting.
"And so on the question as to whether impala or reedbuck tastes better the parliament finds more deliberation is necessary." Mzingo, who was apparently the leader of the parliament, informed, tapping the feather tips of his wings like fingers.
"Mzingo!" the vulture who had watched the Guard called as he arrived, panting heavily. "Sorry I'm late."
Mzingo rolled his eyes at the fellow vulture. "Mwoga, Mwoga." he sighed with the shake of his head before turning to his parliament. "Motion to allow Mwoga to join the parliamentary procedure already in progress."
"Aye." majority of the parliament said as they lifted their wings up, along with their leader.
"Nay." the single bald-headed vulture said.
"The ayes have it. Mwoga, you may rejoin the Parliament." Mzingo permitted, allowing the vulture, Mwoga, to land on a branch next to the vulture who voted against him. Mwonga then scooted closer to Mzingo, shoving the vulture out of his way to switch places with him.
"I trust you have a compelling reason for being late." Mzingo said.
"Indeed I do. it seems that Ono of the Lion Guard is no longer able to see out of one eye." Mwoga informed, conspiratorially holding one wing to the side of his head and peering through of his feathers.
"The Keenest of Sight can no longer see!" Mzingo exclaimed in surprise, before looking away thoughtfully. "hmm, that is interesting."
"I say we form a subcommittee to study the situation." Mwoga suggested, raising up his wing.
"Capital idea! Do I hear a second?" Mzingo asked from his parliament.
With that, Mwoga glared at the vulture beside him who had voted against him earlier, making him cower and swiftly raise up his wing.
"Aye!" the vulture said hastily.
"Very well then. The meeting to nominate subcommittee members to study the severity of Ono's loss of eyesight will go to the planning committee for a vote during the next session." Mzingo continued.
Little did the vultures know that one of Janja's cronies, Sita the hyena, was spying them from behind the rocks at the base of their tree, his head tilted to the side o he could eavesdrop what the vultures were discussing. After hearing about Ono being not able to see with his other eye from Mwonga, the hyena left his spot.
A little further away, Janja was pacing impatiently around while waiting for Sita to return from his scouting, while Nne, Cheezi and Chungu sat nearby.
"Can we go now? I'm hungry." Chungu asked, getting impatient of this waiting.
"Stuff it, furbrain!" Janja hissed. "We're not going anywhere till Sita comes back from spying Mzingo's meeting. For the vultures always know what's going on in the Pride Lands."
"Janja! Janja!" Sita's voice called as the aforementioned hyena ran down the rocky slope towards his fellow clanmates.
"Well? Report? What were the vultures discussing about?" Janja asked impatiently as Sita skidded to stop in front of his leader, with Chungu, Cheezi and Nne coming closer to listen.
"Mwonga just arrived late at Mzingo's parliament." the hyena informed. "And he said something about that Ono can no longer see... at least not with his one eye."
"Ono can't see?" Janja repeated, before the evil hyena smirked afterwards. "Hmmm. That's... just... great!"
Cheezi and Chungu turned to Nne with the puzzled looks on their faces, with Cheezi making noises at the hunched hyena
"Why it's great that Ono can't see?" Nne said, as if understanding what the crazy hyena was trying to say. "That's because Ono is the Guards' eyes in the sky."
"Exactly." Janja said as he turned to his other three minions. "And he's also been a real thorn in my side of late. Everytime I come up with a brilliant plan, Ono spots it and the Guard ruins it! But if he can't see anymore..." Janja snickered. "I fot an idea. Come on!" he began to make his way towards the Pride Lands, until paused and turned to his clan. "And, before you ask, yes, it involves food."
Sita followed after his leader, while Chungu, Cheezi and Nne lingered behind, with the large hyena turning to his two friends.
"How did he know we were thinking about food?" Chungu asked, with Cheezi making noises as he shook his head in "I dunno" manner.
Nne rolled his eyes at his two friends and groaned. "Because, that's what we're always thinking about, furbrain. The food."
"Oh, yeah!" Chungu laughed, before the three hyenas followed their leader and Sita. "Hey, hey, hey! Wait for us!"
As the music starts, the rest of the hyenas catch up with Janja.
"So, what's this new plot, Janja?" Nne asked as he walked by Janja's right.
"Tell us the plan! Tell us the plan!" Chungu pleaded.
"And how does it involve the food?" Sita asked as well.
Cheezi made the pleading noises.
"Easy, fellows. Easy." Janja calmed them down.
The hyenas then enter a grassy area on the border of the Outlands and the Pride Lands. And as Janja starts singing, Cheezi, Chungu, Nne and Sita began to bob their heads to the music.
JANJA
"Give me a sec to think things through"
"We need a plan for something new"
"I think I know just what to do"
"So that Guard won't have a clue!"
We zoom in on Janja's eye. Everything takes on a surrealist style. Ono flaps onscreen, but Janja blows him away.
"Without their eyes up in the sky"
"We'll trick them hiding way up high"
We zoom out to reveal Janja and his hyenas standing above of the Lion Guard as they crouch defensively before the hyenas slink away.
"We'll make our move, we'll be so sly"
"And then we can kiss the Guard goodbye"
The hyenas wave their paws or blow the kisses of goodbye at the "outwitted" Guard.
Cheezi
Haha!
Chungu
Bye bye!
Nne
See ya!
Sita
Toodles!
Janja
Oooh yeah!
Several animals ride along a river in leaves, with an oversized Janja picking up an oxen.
Janja
"Once the Lion Guard's outta the way"
"The Pride Lands will be our buffet"
An oversized Sita picks a goat and oversized Nne picks an ostrich.
"We'll eat all night, we'll eat all day"
An oversized Cheezi and Chungu eye hungrily at the zebra and began to fight over it, as the background turns night blue and then back to orange of the day.
"With the Lion Guard outta the way"
"Outta the way!"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Janja
"Outta the way!"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Janja
"Then we can feast on bird and beast"
A goose and the wildebeest hop up on either side of Janja.
Hyenas
"When they're outta the way!"
Sita, Cheezi and Nne dance in a spotlight before offscreen. Chungu appears, shaking his backside to the beat. Next, the hyenas are seen standing atop a gorge, with rock piles in front of them.
Janja
"We'll make a trap that they can't see"
"One they can't escape so easily"
Janja knocks the rock piles into the gorge, with one rock slide blocking the gorge behind the Lion Guard and another one blocks the gorge in front of them, trapping the Guard at the bottom.
"A rock slide or two in a narrow ravine"
"Can be just the trick, if you know what I mean"
"Hahaha!"
Nne and Sita nod their heads, but Cheezi and Chungu shake theirs, making Janja groan in annoyance.
Janja
Oh, fur brains!
Janja rolls on a rock over the Lion Guard.
Janja
"Once the Lion Guard's outta the way"
"The Pride Lands will be our buffet"
Janja, Cheezi, Chungu, Nne and Sita are floating down a river on leaves, their bellies comically full.
"We'll eat all night, we'll eat all day"
Chungu's chewing on a zebra leg while Sita's chewing on the antelope leg, as the background changes between blue to orange, while Janja emerges from behind the hyenas.
"With the Lion Guard outta the way"
"Outta the way!"
Sita, Cheezi and Nne dance in a spotlight.
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Janja
"Outta the way!"
A zebra jumps through the spotlight, and the hyenas jump after it.
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
The hyenas form a circle and glare into the screen with wide grins.
Hyenas
"Then we can feast on bird and beast"
"When they're outta the way!"
Janja dances with a zebra in a spotlight. He spins the zebra toward Cheezi, who throws the zebra into a river. The zebra lands in a leaf and floats toward a cave which snaps shut on the zebra, revealing it to be actually Janja's open mouth.
Next, Janja stands with his fore legs outspread in a circle of dancing zebras.
Janja
"Oh, outta the way!"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Janja
"Outta the way!"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
The hyenas lounge on the ground, their bellies comically full.
Janja
"Then we can feast on bird and beast"
Hyenas
"When they're outta the way!"
Janja
"One more time!"
"Outta the way!"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Janja
"Outta the way!"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne and Sita are ducking up and down to the beat.
Hyenas
"Then we can feast on bird and beast"
Janja emerged between the hyenas, Nne and Chungu on his left and Cheezi and Sita on his right.
"When they're outta the way!"
"When they're outta the way!"
The hyenas go back to back.
"When they're outta the way!"
As the music stops, Janja lets out a laugh before he turns to his hyenas. "Do ya get it now?"
Out of all the four hyenas around them, Cheezi and Chungu shake their heads, implying that they didn't. In disbelief and annoyance, Janja buries his head in his paws, while Nne and Sita cringe at this.
###
The next day, Rafiki was humming to himself as he worked on revising the earlier painting of the Lion Guard.
"Hold still, Kion." Rafiki told Kion.
The prince was standing on the largest rock in the Lair, standing in a pose with a plastered grin on his face while Bongo, Bunga, Beshte, and Fuli were watching from below.
"How does it look?" Kion asked through of his teeth.
The old mandrill let out a groan. "It is still not right." he said, shaking his head, before he glances over one shoulder at Kion.
"Isn't the heroic pose a bit of an exaggeration?" Bongo asked from Rafiki. "I mean, no offense of course, Kion, but you look like you're in some very important event where you have to look... royally smooth... cool... elegant... confident... along with the forced smile." the Slyest listed.
"Really?" Kion asked, breaking the pose, with his grin dropping and switching into a frown as he looked down at the dog pup, with Bongo nodding his head.
"Why don't you try painting him in action." Bunga suggested. "Like this." he made a somewhat scary expression, and tried to make a growl *Growls!* which caused Bongo and Fuli to roll their eyes. "Now you try, Kion."
"Like this?" Kion said, changing the pose and imitated the growl. *Growls!*
Both Fuli and Bongo burst out in laughter, wrapping their paws over each others' shoulders to support each other as they kept laughing.
"What's so funny, guys?" Kion questioned.
"Sorry, Kion!" Bongo chuckled as he wiped the tear from his eye. "But that sounded a pretty ridiculous. It sounded like you got a sore throat or something."
Bunga then made his way up to Kion. "No, no, no. You need to look more like a lion." Bunga said, before making another scary face and growled. *Growls!*
"Eh, Bunga? Kion IS a lion." Bongo reminded.
"Yeah. How can Kion look more like a lion?" Fuli questioned.
"Like this." Bunga said, before the Bravest pushed the prince's paws onto a small stone and moved his left paw up in the air. Then he pulled his left leg slightly back and proceeded to push Kion's front side up as if he was in mid-pounce. "Now, put your chin up, like you mean it." Bunga said as he held his hand under Kion's chin and lifted it up a little.
"Bunga, your claws are tickling me." Kion chuckled.
"Hmm. "Kion, you're not looking very lion-y." Bunga noted as he observed his upright pose. He made a few more adjustions with Kion's paws and legs before stepping back. "Now, let's see."
However, the moment he let go of Kion, the prince began to wobble and then fell face-first onto the rock.
Bongo and Fuli burst into another fit of laughter at this.
"Was that... action enough... for you Rafiki?" Fuli questioned between of her giggles.
Rafiki groaned with frustration. "Yes." he said.
Bunga then came up with another idea. "Wait a minute. I know. Paint me in action." Bunga jumped down fron the rock and began to strike multiple poses and scary, or downright goofy-looking faces, before the honey badger stepped on a broken gourd, which flipped into the air and landed on his head. "But don't paint me like this."
Kion, Fuli and Bongo couldn't hold themselves back, but all three of them burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, with Kion collapsing down on the rock, Fuli collapsing on her stomach and Bongo rolling down on his back, flailing his hind legs as he held from his stomach with his paws.
"HAH! But that would be looking good on the wall, Bunga!" Bongo exclaimed as he kept laughing.
Then they all turned to look at Rafiki, who was giving all of them an unamused looks.
All three cubs then cleared their throats to suppress their laughter. "Sorry, Rafiki." Kion apologized and got back into his pose.
"No, no, no, no." Rafiki said, holding his hand up before waging his finger. "Thank you for the help. Now, please, no more help. I need to think in peace." Rafiki pleaded, before the old mandrill sat down in his traditional meditative position.
"Hey, you guys! I have some news!" Beshte called as he stomped into the Lair, wearing an excited look on his face.
Rafiki groaned again as he sagged out of his position. "No moment of peace here."
The rest of the Guard then gathered around of Beshte. "So, what's the news, Beshte?" Kion asked.
"Oh, it's really important. See, I was just down at the watering hole. And my friend Kulu? Her cousin overheard some buffalo talking about something his sister saw earlier today when she was over in the canyon near Chakula Plains." he informed. "Poa! I'm glad I was there to hear about it." Beshte told them.
The rest of the Guard stared at him in confusion. "And... what was it, Beshte?" Kion asked after the moment of silence.
Beshte blinked his eyes. "What was what?" he questioned.
"That your friend Kulu said that her cousin overhead the buffalo talking his sister about something she saw in the canyon near Chakula plains. What was it?" Bongo reminded him.
"What about it?" the Strongest asked with the shrug.
"Ohhh!" Fuli growled, irritated, and rolled her eyes at the hippo. "Don't tell me you forgot, again, what you were supposed to do on your patrol. What was it what your friend Kulu's cousin overheard the buffalo's sister say she saw from the canyon!" Fuli repeated, stamping her paw emphatically.
"Oh, yeah! Right, right, right!" Beshte said hastily, chuckling nervously of his forgetfulness. "I almost forgot the most important part. She saw Janja and his hyenas on the ledge overlooking the plains."
"Janja?" Kion questioned.
"Back in the Prie Lands?" Bongo said as well.
"He wouldn't come back unless he's planning something." Kion said as he began to pace around thoughtfully.
"But the question is what." Bongo added, putting his paw on his chin.
"OH!" Beshte then let out after a moment of silence. "Did I mention that Thruston's herd of zebra grazing there?"
"Zebras? So that's what Janja's up to! He's planning on attacking the zebras!" Bongo exclaimed in realization, before one thought hit to him. "Though the plain attack on the herd sounds a little too off from Janja's methods than usually."
"Doesn't matter, Bongo. Right now we have to get to Chakula plains! Come on!" Kion said and rushed out of the Lair, with the Lion Guard following right behind of him.
"Till the Prie Lands end..." Kion started.
"LION GUARD DEFEND!" the rest of the Guard followed.
"Most of the Lion Guard defend." Ono corrected from his nest, feeling helpless as he watched his friends leave to fight off hyenas.
Having finally gotten some peace and quiet, Rafiki went back to his painting, but the results were still frustrating him.
"Ah! Why? Why?" Rafiki exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the fit of frustration. "It is still not right!"
As Rafiki bounded away from his painting, Ono flew down from his nest to survey the paintings himself.
"It looks fine to me, Rafiki." Ono told the Mjuzi. "It looks just like all the other Lion Guard paintings."
"Well, that is the problem." Rafiki said and put a hand to his face thoughtfully. "The new Lion Guard, it is not like the others. Yet it should be simple. Their leader and those he leads."
"What about what Bongo said yesterday?" Ono questioned. "He did say something about that our Lion Guard's spirit is based on the combination of our respective species' strengths, our teamwork, friendship and the bond we all share."
Rafiki gave it a moment of thought, before he finally realized the meaning behind of those words and grinned.
Ha, ha! Yes! Kion! He does not just lead you because your're a team!" Rafiki laughed as he approached the painting of Kion's Lion Guard. "He leads you because you are all friends! Ha, ha, ha, haa! Yes! Yes! You all belong together!" Rafiki said as he turned to Ono. "That's your Lion Guard's spirit! You belonging together! Oh, how come this old manrill couldn't find the wisdom in that sly dog's words earlier?!"
"We do belong together. All of us." Ono repeated pensively, before he gained more confidence." You're right. Eye or no eye, my place is with the Guard. Thanks, Rafiki!" Ono said with the smile to the wise old mandrill, before he took off and flew out of the Lair. "I gotta get going if I'm gonna catch up with them!"
###
Meanwhile, Janja was overlooking the zebra herd down at Chakula Plains from the ledge, before he turned to his cronies, who were pushing some rocks into a piles that were build near the edge of the canyon.
"There." Nne said breathlessly after he and Cheezi had pushed the last rock into the pile.
Cheezi made the noises at the hunched hyena, who then looked back at the crazy hyena with the puzzled look.
"What do you mean "shall we start to eat them"?" Nne questioned. "Of course not, furbrain. We can't eat rocks."
The three hyenas then heard munching noise behind them and turned to see Chungu with the rock in his mouth, trying to eat it, while Sita was staring at the large hyena with the paffled and a bit disgusted look on his face.
Chungu soon realized that everybody were looking at him, making him to drop the rock from his mouth.
"What?" he asked.
Sita sat down and spread out his paws as he shrugged at the other hyenas, making Nne to roll his eyes at his friend.
Cheezi made again noises at Nne, as if trying to make him to see his point after seeing Chungu trying to eat rock.
"Forget it, Cheezi." Nne said with the eye-roll, before the hunched hyena turned to Janja. "This better be worth of all the trouble, Janja, before I'm starting to eat rocks too."
"Not to worry, Nne." Janja assured his clanmate. "Everything is going according to my plan."
"But were not eating zebras yet." Chungu pointed out as he and sita walked up beside of Nne and Cheezi.
"For the time being, the zebras are just the bait." Janja told him.
"For what? To catch bigger zebras?" Chungu asked, earning a confused looks from his comrades.
"No, fur-brain." Janja groaned. "We're using the zebras as the bait to lure the Lion Guard in the gorge so that we can trap them there."
"And then what? We eat the Lion Guard?" Chungu asked again.
"NO!" Janja snapped. "We're going to..."
However, he was cut off when Cheezi began to make noises at both Janja and his fellow clanmates.
"What now, Cheezi? What is it?" Janja asked.
As Cheezi continued making noises, he was pointing his left paw down in the gorge.
The hyenas followed the direction Cheez's paw pointed and spotted the Lion Guard running around the corner and then running through the narrow path through the canyons.
"Hmm. Good eye, Cheezi. Here they come now." Janja said, mildly impressed by Cheezi having spotted the Lion Guard's coming.
Cheezi was about to make a happy noises for the praise he earned from his leader, before Janja sushed at him.
"Hurry! This way! It's the fastest way to the zebras." Bongo informed as he ran beside Kion.
"Then hurry up! We gotta stop Janja and his hyenas from attacking the zebras!" Kion urged his team.
Janja snickered at this words. "Who's gonna stop whom from doing something?" he said.
The hyena leader followed closely the Lion Guard's going. "Just... little... closer... and... NOW!"
Nne and Cheezi then pushed their pile of Rocks off the cliff, causing the rock slide that blocked the Guard's path right in front of them, making them to skid to a halt as they were caught by the cloud of dust.
"Whatta...?!" Bongo said as he and the rest of the guard coughed until the dust settled.
"Now where did this rockslide come from?" Fuli questioned.
"Doesn't matter. We'll have to take the longer way round!" Kion said as they all turned back the way they came.
"That's what you think, lion cub." Janja said as he, along with Chungu and Sita, pushed the second pile of rocks off the cliff, causing another rockslide, which this time grew even bigger and bigger as the falling rocks dislodged even more and even bigger rocks off the canyon's walls.
"Look out!" Bongo let out a warning, as the rockslide blocked their way out.
"Not again!" Bunga exclaimed.
"TAKE COVER!" Kion ordered as more and more rocks came down, forcing the Lion Guard to dodge them at their best so that they would not get crushed.
A large slab fell towards them, which Beshte caught on his back and used it to block the other rocks falling on him, before Fuli ran under the stone for cover.
"Kion! Bongo! Bunga!" the cheetah called out.
The cub, honey badger and the dod pup ran towards her and the hippo seeking shelter from falling debris. A large rock then fell between of Kion, Bunga and Bongo, cutting the Slyest from the Fiercest and Bravest. Bongo let out a surprised yelp, before he jumped over the boulder, as more and more rocks fell onto him.
Kion and Bunga managed to dodge the rest of the rocks as they reached the rock Beshte was holding, seeking shelter from under it from the falling debris, with Bunga even chuckling as is the honey badger found dodging the falling rocks fun.
"Everybody okay?" Kion asked.
"Yep." Beshte nodded.
"I'm good." Fuli said, lightly shaken that they barely made it from the rain of the rocks.
"What about you, Bongo?" Kion asked.
However, there was no answer from the dog pup, as he wasn't even with them under the rock, which worried the rest of the Guard.
"Bongo? Bongo?!" Kion shouted.
The prince, Beshte, Fuli and Bunga looked around for their friend, fearing the worst that Bongo hadn't made it from the rockslide and reached under the rock for a shelter in time.
"He's over there!" Bunga said, pointing forward.
Beshte, Fuli and Kion looked at where Bunga was pointing at, and they all let out the gasp in shock.
"How bad it is?!" Bongo whined as he covered his eyes with his paws so that he won't see the injury he'd suffered from the rockslide.
The wild dog himself hadn't suffered the injury, but the slab of the rock had fallen on top of his tail.
"Ouch! That gotta hurt!" Fuli winced.
"Don't worry, Middle B. I'll get you out of there in no time." Bunga said confidently as he walked up to Bongo and grabbed from his tail, before the honey badger began to pull from it in order to get it out from under the rock, making the Slyest to whine in pain at each pull.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Bunga, that's... Ow! Not helping! Ow! My tail is... Ow! Stuck under the rock! Ow! Bunga, listen... Ow! Stop it! Ow! Will you just...? Ow! Listen to... Ow! BUNGA, STOP IT!" Bongo barked in Bunga's face.
"Okay, okay, okay! That's not helping!" Bunga said as he jumped back from Bongo, holding up his paws.
"Beshte?" Kion asked, turning to the Strongest.
"You got it." Beshte said as he put the rock down and walked up to Bongo. "Just stay still, Middle B, and I'll lift the rock off your tail.
Bongo nodded to the Strongest and braced himself, before Beshte used his snout to carefully lift the rock over and off from Bongo's tail, freeing the Slyest. The wild dog pup immediately sat down with his tail wrapped around of his legs and panickedly examined it for any serious injury, only to sigh with relief after discovering that there was none.
"Whew! Well, it could've been worse." Bongo admitted to himself as he stood up.
"You okay, Bongo?" Kion asked as he and Fuli walked up to him.
"Well, at least nothing happened to my tail." Bongo said, wagging his tail left and right. "But that was close call."
"I think that was fun! Let's do it again!" Bunga suggested. "Again! Again! Again! Again!"
However, this earned him the kick from the annoyed Bongo, which knocked Bunga flat on his back.
"In your craziest dreams, Bunga!" the wild dog snapped, before he sighed with the eye-roll. "Silly honey badger."
The Guard then observed their situation, seeing that they were stuck in between of two rock walls that blocked their way out of the gorge.
"Hevi kabisa." Kion gasped.
"Okay. What are the chances of two rockslides making two walls in one day with us in the middle?" Fuli asked.
"The first rockslide may be a natural occurrence and the second one a result of the aftereffect. But like this, no chance. This is too coordinated to be a mere natural coincidence." Bongo calculated.
"Bongo is right. This is undoubtedly Janja's doing." Kion said.
"You got that right, Kion!" the Guard looked up and saw Janja, Cheezi, Chungu, Nne and Sita looking down at them. "You're trapped! I win!" Janja laughed tauntingly. "Looks like we're dining on zebra today. And you can't do anything to stop me."
"That's what you think, Janja!" Kion growled, hunching low with his claws out.
"I knew something about this smelled rotten here!" Bongo spat, glaring up at the hyenas.
"And in case you forgot, I can climb!" Kion added before he ran towards the barrier and jumped, digging his claws into the stones as he pulled himself up. The prince's hind legs found a small foothold, but when he put his weight on it to push himself up, the foothold gave away and caused him to fall back to the bottom, landing flat on his back with the grunt.
"Weren't the cats supposed to land on their feet?" Bunga questioned as he glanced at Bongo.
"Shut up, Bunga!" the wild dog shushed.
"How you gonna stop me, lion cub? You're all the way down there!" Janja taunted. "Aw, poor little Lion Guard. Protectors of the Pride Lands. Stuck behind a big ol' wall."
Sita, Chungu, Nne and Cheezi let out a shrieking laughter at the Lion Guard who could do nothing but glare up at them.
"You fell right into my trap. Or, more specifically, my trap fell onto you!" Janja laughed mockingly.
"Just you wait, Janja! He who laughs last laughs best!" Bongo countered. "And you do know that Kion can just use his Roar to blast us out of here?!"
"Well, he's all welcome to, if he doesn't mind of blasting the rocks on our buffet that's standing right in front of the canyon." Nne countered from next to Janja. "And with you being down there, what's the rush for us to go get our meals?"
"And by the time you're all clear to roar, Kion, it'll be already too late!" Janja added, before the hyenas walked away, continuing laughing mockingly at the Lion Guard.
"Come on, boys. All the zebra you can eat. And more." Janja declared as he led his clanmates away from the ledge of the gorge.
"Now you're talkin'." Chungu chuckled.
"Sounds delicious." Nne commented, licking his chops.
The five hyenas then began walking down the trail leading down to the Chakula Plains and towards the zebra herd and began to sing.
Janja
"Now that the Lion Guard's outta the way"
"The Pride Lands is now our buffet"
"We'll eat all night, we'll eat all day"
"While the Lion Guard's outta the way"
"Outta the way"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Janja
"Outta the way"
Cheezi, Chungu, Nne & Sita
"Outta the way!"
Hyenas
"Now we can feast on bird and beast"
"Now they're outta the way!"
"Now they're outta the way!"
"Now they're outta the way!"
From the canyon, the Guard faintly heard their singing.
"Huh and I thought they couldn't carry a tune," Fuli muttered.
"Well, they'll be soon singing a different tune once we get out of here." Bongo growled.
"Yeah! So what are you waiting for, Kion?"
"What are you waiting for, Kion?" Bunga asked their leader. "Use the Roar and blast that wall."
"I can't, Bunga. You heard what Nne said." Kion rebuked. "The zebras are right on the other side of the wall, and the rocks could fly out and hurt them."
"Wow." Bongo said in mild-surprise and -impressed. "And I though those guys as an idiots, and yet they took that detail of their plan into account quite well, as much as I hate to admit it."
"Oh right." the honey badger realized, "Then blast this wall." he pointed at the wall behind him and Fuli. "We can go the longer way to the zebras and then... oh right." Bunga sighed with the disappointed look on his face.
"It'll be too late." Fuli finished.
"Blast those Outlander trash!" Bongo cursed as he examined the rock pile blocking their way to the Chakula Plains. "There's gotta be some way to get these rocks out of our way without hurting the zebras."
"I think I can move this rock." Beshte suggested as he pointed at the big rock at the bottom of the pile. "Maybe it'll make an opening big enough for us to squeeze through."
"Right. Go for it, Beshte." Bongo agreed.
With his Mark flashing, Beshte then positioned himself next to the big rock. "Twende Kiboko!" he grunted as he began to push against the large boulder, putting all his weight and enpowered strength into it, until the few rocks on the top became loose and started to fall.
"Beshte! Watch out!" Kion called.
Seeing the rocks falling on him, Beshte moved hurriedly out of the way just in time before getting hurt.
"Are you OK, Beshte?" Kion asked.
"I'm OK." the hippo answered, before he looked at his friends apologetically. "Sorry that didn't work."
"Don't worry, Beshte. It was worth of try." Bongo reassured. "We just have to come up with something that will work. Just give me a moment and I'll try to come up with something."
"Guys! Guys!" the squawking voice of the Keenest of Sight got their attention.
"ONO?" all five members of the Guard gasped as they saw Ono landing on a boulder in front of them.
"I don't know if I can help, but I'm here." he said, reassuringly.
"You flew all the way here?" the Guard's Strongest questioned. "You must be feeling better."
"How's your eye, Ono?" Bongo questioned.
"Well, since it's my second day, I still can't see very well." the egret shrugged.
"It doesn't matter." the Guard's Fiercest shook his head. "You flew here regardless."
"Yeah. And you know what? That just gave me an idea." the Guard's Slyest said as he stepped forward and met eyes with the egret. "Ono? We really need Kion using the Roar to blast those rocks, but he can't do that since the zebras are in the range and might get hurt by them. Janja and his hyenas kinda made certain of that. So we need to get the Chakula Plains clear so that Kion can use his Roar without hurting anybody. So here's what I need you to do. Fly over to the zebras and get them to move away from the canyon." the Slyest instructed.
"That would be easy if it were any other zebra herd than Thruston's." Ono pointed out. "And you know how stubborn he can be sometimes."
"Yeah, but he's also a very easy to spook with anything. So if the persuasion doesn't work, try to spook him somehow on the move."
"Well, I'll see what I can do, Bongo." Ono said and took to the skies and flew over the rock wall.
"Do you think this plan would work, Bongo?" Fuli asked, turning to the dog pup.
"Well, right now, it's all we got, Fuli." Bongo told her.
###
In the Chakula Plains, Ono flew straight towards the zebra herd and floated right in front of them, with only Thruston glanzing up at the egret.
"Um, excuse me, but If you would, please follow me away from the canyon." Ono started nervously, floating over the herd before flying away. "Now, hurry. This way! Don't push!"
Thruston glanzed at his herd from both sides of him, and upon seeing that none of them wasn't moving from their spot, he shrugged and resumed eating.
Seeing that none of them were moving, Ono doubled back and landed in front of Thurston.
"Oh, come on! Perhaps I've failed to emphasize the importance of "follow me"." he said, sternly.
"We're eating here." Thurston stated annoyedly. "Can't you see that?"
"I can see!" Ono said, defensively. "I can see. But what you can't see is that the hyenas are coming!" he shouted, flapping his wings.
"Hyenas?" Thurston repeated as he lifted his head up and stared down at the egret. "But you guys chased them out of the Pride Lands yesterday."
"That's what we thought!" Ono exclaimed with tantrum. "Except when we were chasing them, I got sand in my eye. It made it hard to fly. I still tried, but I accidentally dive-bombed my friends, and they..." Ono cut himself off and realized what he had just said.
"They all had to run. That's it!" he gasped, recalling both the yesterday's incident and Bongo's instructions to spook the zebras to move if persuasion didn't work.
Knowing what to do to het the zebras to move, Ono turned back to Thruston. "Be right back." he said and flew off.
Thruston looked at him go for a moment before shrugged again and resumed eating.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Ono screamed as he dive-bombed Thurston. "MOVE IT!"
Ono's echoing voice was enough to spook the zebras, and they did what they always do when they were spooked: They panicked and ran.
"Panic and run! Panic and run!" Thruston said repeatedly as he led his herd away, with Ono herding them far away from the canyon.
"I knew I could get you to move!" Ono lauged, proud of himself.
###
Janja and his clan were, meanwhile, still casually walking down the trail towards the plains, laughing triumphantly while still singing "Outta the way." However, the hyena clan stopped when they saw, much to their surprise, the zebra herd moving away from the plains.
"Hey, where's our lunch going?" Chungu asked.
"Yeah, who told them to move before we get to them?" Sita questioned.
"Doesn't matter!" Janja snapped, growling angrily. "C'mon, boys! After them!"
"Yeah! We worked so hard to earn our meal!" Nne growled. "We won't let it escape from our clutches that easily!"
The hyenas then rushed after the herd before it could get far from their reach.
###
Meanwhile, Bunga tried to peek through the cracks of the wall, chuckling, gasping, and wagging his tail.
"Do you see anything, Little B?" Beshte asked.
"Yeah." Bunga replied, turning to his friends.
"Really? Did Ono get the zebras to move?" Fuli questioned.
"Oh, I don't know." Bunga shrugged. "All I see are rocks."
"What?!" Bongo gasped in utter disbelief. "Then why are you trying to see through the cracks if you can't see anything besides rocks?!"
"Well, I was trying whether there is grubs crawling between these rocks." Bunga replied.
Beshte and Kion gapped at the honey badger in puzzlement, while Fuli and Bongo rolled their eyes in annoyance.
"Silly honey badger." Bongo growled.
"Easy, guys. We just have to wait for Ono to come back and tell did he manage to get the zebras move." Kion told his friends.
"A lot of time has passed already." the Fastest pointed out before she turned to the Slyest. "You still sure Ono can do it?"
"Have a faith, Fuli." Bongo said. "I'm sure Ono can do it."
"And I did! I did!" Ono called as he flew back to the Guard. "It worked, Bongo! The zebras are on the move! You're all clear to roar now, Kion!" the egret said breathlessly.
"See? What did I tell you?" Bongo said to Fuli.
"Ha, ha, haa! You're one sly dog, Bongo!" the cheetah said with the proud smile, giving her wild dog friend a friendly elbow in his right fore leg.
"Alright! Everyone, get behind me!" Kion warned as he got in the position.
The others did exactly as they were told and backed away to the other wall of rocks, with Ono perching himself on the boulder behind them, and braced themselves as Kion faced the wall in front of them.
The clouds gathered together above the canyon as Kion's Mark flashed and the power surged through of his body's every muscle. Then the prince inhaled one more time and opened his maw, letting out a tremendous roar.
RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!
The clouds above of them formed into the five roaring lions, increasing the Roar's power, and the winds generated by it hit the wall of rocks by its full force.
At the same time, in the other side of the wall, Janja's clan had reached to the bottom of the trail and stood in front of the wall of rocks they had created to trap the Lion Guard. But before they could go after the zebras, they heard the sound of the Roar, and turned to the rock wall, just as it was about to burst under the pressure of Kion's Roar.
"Uhhh, Nne? Didn't you say that Kion was unable to use his Roar just as long as the zebras weren't standing in front of the canyon?" Chungu asked.
"Yep." Nne said nervously.
"And now that the zebras have already moved away from the canyon, Kion is free to use Roar now to blast that wall, right?" Chungu asked again.
"Yeah. That's right." Nne confirmed with the gulp.
"Then... I guess I should be saying... Uh, oh." Chungu said.
"I guess so." Nne said.
Just then, the Roar blasted its way through the wall, destroying it and also sending the hyenas screaming flying away along with the unblocked rocks.
The shock wave of the Roar's power continued its way out of the narrow canyon and across of the Chakula Plains in the form of the massive cloud of dust, straight towards the zebra herd, until it died down and the dust cloud settled down, with the zebra herd standing safely out of its reach... while Janja and his cronies landed to the center of the plains.
"How's the plan working now, Janja?" Kion chuckled as he and the Guard ran towards the five hyenas.
"I've got plenty of plans, Kion!" Janja replied, narrowing his eyes at the Guard.
"Oh, really? Such as?" Bongo questioned.
"Well... I... uhh..." Janja struggled to answer, before he glanced at his subordinates. "New plan, fellas: RUN!" he ordered, running towards the Outlands with the tail between the legs.
The Lion Guard stopped and watched the hyenas fleeing.
"HAH! WHAT DID I TELL YOU, JANJA! HE WHO LAUGHS LAST LAUGHS BEST!" Bongo called after the hyena leader. "AND NOW IT'S US WHO LAUGH BEST!"
To demonstrate this, the whole Lion Guard burst into laughter as the hyenas vanished behind the hill, with only Janja lingering behind as he turned to the Lion Guard one last time.
"Laugh while you can, Lion Guard, but this ain't over yet!" he vowed. "You haven't seen the last of me!" he added before running after his clan.
The Lion Guard then looked up at Ono as he floated in the air in front of them.
"Great job, Ono." Kion praised the egret.
"Well, I think Bongo is the one to thank. After all, he was the one who came up with the plan." Ono said shyly.
"What are you talking about, Ono?" Bongo questioned as he stood forward towards the egret. "It may have been my plan, but it wouldn't have been possible without you. You're a hero, Ono."
Ono laughed sheepishly. "Well, I'm just glad to be back on the team." he said.
"You were always on the team, Ono." Kion assured.
"Yeah. With or without your eyesight, you're still a valuable member." Bongo added. "For not only you're the Pride Lands' Keenest of Sight, you're also the Pride Lands Smartest."
Touched by his two friends' words, Ono smiled at them warmly.
###
A few days later, back in the Lair of the Lion Guard, everyone, including Ono whose eye was now better, were looking at Rafiki as he finished the painting.
"There! Now it is right! The leader of the Lion Guard and his friends." Rafiki said, as he stepped back and allowed the Lion Guard to see the results.
This time, the painting depicted the front sides of each member of Kion's Lion Guard standing side by side in the row, starting from Ono from the left, continuing with Bunga, then Kion, then Bongo, then Beshte and ending with Fuli in the far right. And it differed from the other Lion Guard's paintings that the painting of Kion was the same size with the others instead of being bigger.
"It's perfect, Rafiki." Kion said with the smile, before he turned to Ono who stood by his side. "What do you think, Ono?"
"I think it's the best painting I've ever seen." Ono answered, smiling.
"That means a great deal to me. Coming from the Keenest of Sight." Rafiki said, pointing at Ono.
Ono smiled at Rafiki's compliment for him.
The Royal Mjuzi then picked up his Bakora Staff and turned to his painting, before he tapped it with his staff, bringing the painting to life. The images of the Guard's members started to move from the straight line and formed a pyramid-like structure, with Bunga's, Kion's and Bongo's images at the base, Fuli's and Beshte's images above of them and Ono's image right on the top of them.
The Lion Guard stared in awe at the painting.
"Fascinating!" Ono said.
"Poa!" Beshte said, wiggling his ears.
"Un-Bunga-livable!" Bunga exclaimed.
"Amazing." Kion smiled.
"Nice!" Fuli exclaimed.
"Siamini!" Bongo gasped.
"This Lion Guard is best together." Rafiki stated, staring at the painting on the wall of the Lair.
THE END.
