Back at Pride Rock after Kion's Roar...
"That was Kion's roar?" Nala questioned as she, Simba, and the Rafiki stood on a hill looking at the horizon.
"Yes, Nala, yes! He is ready! It is time!" Rafiki cried joyously.
Simba's eyes widened considerably at the primate's statement. "Eh, no, Rafiki. He can't possibly be ready! He's still a cub."
Rafiki shook his head. "Simba, Simba. You heard the Roar!"
"I heard it. It's just... It's a big responsibility," Simba frowned. "I need more time to prepare him."
"I think you've just run out of time Simba," Nala interjected, smirking at her mate. "You need to tell him."
"But, Nala..." Simba protested.
"Listen to Rafiki, Simba," Nala said pointedly.
The sun was beginning to set by the time that Kion, Bunga and I got back to Pride Rock. Simba was on the edge of the overlook as we reached the base of the rock formation. As we were about halfway up the rock ramp way, he turned around and began to head down towards us to meet us halfway. When he did reach us, he took one look at my hunched over body leaning against his son's shoulder and his eyes narrowed in suspicion at my back paw.
"She fell down off a cluster of high boulders when we were playing baobab ball," Kion came up with a cover story faster than I could even blink.
I let out a breath of relief that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Simba nodded once and looked back over his shoulder towards the colorful faced primate holding a stick. "Rafiki, if you would come here please?"
"What is it, Simba?" the baboon asked curiously, shuffling his way down the rock face.
He nudged his way past Simba and when his eyes laid upon me for the first time, it was safe to say that he hadn't been expecting me, an unknown "lion cub" to be present, nonetheless leaning on the shoulder of the king's son. His eyes widened at first in surprise and then narrowed as he took in the color of my fur and eyes and overall appearance. "Who is this lion cub, Simba?"
"Her name is Sauda!" Kion stated brightly. When he did he had slightly moved against me and caused me to shuffle some of my weight back onto my paw. I gasped lightly at the sharp but then tried to cover it up by smiling. It didn't work.
Rafiki noticed my poor attempt at covering my pain and immediately crouched down and grabbed my paw. As he inspected it, Simba cleared his throat. "She was found on the outskirts of the Pride Lands territory by one of the mothers of the elephant herd, Akina, I think it was."
"We were playing baobab ball in the fields and I fell off of a giant cluster of rocks because I wasn't paying attention to my grounding while trying to catch Bunga's pass," I explained.
Kion laughed lightly. "See Bunga, I told you not even a giraffe could catch one of your passes!"
Bunga frowned. "Yeah yeah, hardy har har..."
Rafiki took his finger and applied slight pressure to a section of tendons in the back of my paw. I grimaced.
"Hey, watch it! That hurts, y'know!" I cried.
Rafiki only nodded in response to my little outburst of pain. "It looks like she's only strained the muscles. I advise she stay off her feet for the night and she should be just fine in the morning."
"Now, back to the matter at hand Simba!" Rafiki changed the tone of the conversation, standing up. Simba's eyes widened in silent protest. Rafiki sternly looked at Simba and raised his wooden staff towards him. That caused Simba to square up for sure. No wonder, it did look like Rafiki had wacked him pretty good upside the head in the first movie. I don't doubt in my mind that the mandrill only used the "the past is in the past" life lesson as a cover story, and actually watched Simba on the head because he was acting like an arrogant and moody numbskull teen without a sense for responsibility.
"Kion is ready," Rafiki finalized. "It is time..."
Kion looked between the red maned monarch and the mandrill, "Time for what?"
"Dad? Rafiki?", Kion questioned almost worriedly. "What's going on?"
Simba cleared his throat before adopting a more serious tone, "Son, we need to talk..."
"Oh no..." Kion whined in protest. "Dad, we already had that talk!! 'Can you feel the love tonight...' Kion sang to prove his point. "I know all about that mushy stuff!"
I giggled to myself earning a stink glare from the cub beside me.
"How do you know that's what your dad wanted to talk about?" I smirked. "For all you know it could be about royal lessons or the fact you went you-know-where and he knows about it already...."
In my head I was laughing like crazy at the awkward moment between the father and son. I hadn't made it this far into the movie so everything past when I'd arrived here was unknown. I couldn't believe that Simba had told Kion about the song that played between himself and the young cub's mother.
Simba laughed awkwardly at Kion's outburst.
"I... Well..." the king stammered before clearing his throat and adopting a more serious tone. "It's not that, Kion."
Rafiki then took the opportunity to cut into the conversation from next to me.
"No, no" Rafiki immediately interrupted, wagging his fingers at both father and son. "Most definitely not that."
The mandrill walked past me and stood next to Simba before he looked down at Kion with and grin.
"We have heard your Roar!" he cheered. "Yes, yes!"
Kion looked down in though before responding.
"Yeah," he remarked. "It was, uh....kinda different today."
"Different?" Rafiki shook with laughter. "Different you say? It is more than different."
"It is the Roar of the Elders!!" he exclaimed. "When you use it, the great lions of the Pride Lands' past roar with you."
Kion looked up at his father. "What?" he asked curiously. "You mean that's what happened to my roar?"
"And this 'Roar of the Elders' caused the huge surge of wind when Kion opened his mouth?" I questioned dryly.
"Yeah, lions in the sky!" Bunga stated excitedly. "I saw that!"
"I don't recall much since I was at the bottom of a gorge when it happened..." I trailed off. "All I remember was the sudden explosion of what sounded like a hundred lions roaring."
Simba sighed in slight frustration before explaining. "The Roar of the Elders is a great gift, Kion..."
"It will make you the fiercest animal in the Pride Lands," Simba proclaimed with a grin. "But..."
Kion had been watching his father in what looked to me like as sheer amazement, but the moment his words trailed off with that single dreaded word, the cub's wonder-filled expression turned worried. I could understand that Kion was probably thinking he had gained this awesome new power to help people until Simba's own worry and doubt about the situation changed that mindset in a split second. Personally I didn't want to think about the crushing pressure Kion must face a times for just being the son of the king. I couldn't even begin to imagine the added weight of being the leader of the Lion Guard was going to do to him.
"But what?" Kion's slightly worried tone broke me from my thoughts.
Simba looked at his Royal Mjuzi for help, however Rafiki was having none of Simba's protests.
"No, no, Simba," the elderly mandrill chastised. "It is you who must tell Kion about the Lion Guard!!"
Here it was the moment that was going to change Kion's view of the Circle of Life from this point onwards. Said cub looked up at the king in confusion, head tilted slightly.
"The Lion Guard?" he questioned curiously. "What's that?"
Playing along with Kion's curiosity I spoke up. "Yeah, what're you talking about King Simba?"
Both Kion and Bunga were staring at the adult lion, completely sucked into the words pouring out of his mouth. I giggled silently to myself at my new friends' reactions. Simba grinned at their expressions and the one that I'd plastered on my face, not that it was hard to look even more eager to learn more "Lion King Lore". Kion's father chuckled and smiled at us before he yanked his head in the direction of the rocks surrounding the base of Pride Rock.
"This way, Kion," Simba said simply, not revealing anything much to my disappointment.
"Uh, okay..." Kion replied, once again adopting a confused expression.
We moved to follow Simba down the rock scape towards the base of Pride Rock. Along the way I stayed next to Kion while Bunga and Rafiki trailed behind us. I looked over my shoulder at the two and chuckled at the sight behind us. Bunga was grilling the old Mandrill relentlessly for answers. I shoved Kion in the shoulder lightly as we walked behind his dad and he looked to me before I jerked my head backwards towards the cabooses' of the group. He laughed at the sight as I did and I smiled back at him.
"Oh, come on, Rafiki!!" Bunga whined impatiently. "You already know what it is, don'cha? Come on, tell me..."
Rafiki laughed lightly at the young honey badger's antics and shook his head. "In time all will be revealed, young one."
We reached the bottom of Pride Rock and Simba lead us around to the back of the giant, cliff-like rock formation that was the pride's home. When we came to stop behind the adult lion, I looked up and from what I could tell the sight before me was only the back of Pride Rock, covered in hanging vines. What was so important about it? That's when I saw it, the vines near the ground were slightly swaying, telling me that air was moving back and forth between the plants. There was a cave in the back of Pride Rock, holy shit!!
"Huh?" Kion said, looking at the vines in confusion.
"It's a bunch of vines?" Bunga questioned with a raised brow before looking at the King.
That's when I saw it, the vines near the ground were slightly swaying, telling me that air was moving back and forth between the plants. There was a cave in the back of Pride Rock, holy fucking shit!!
"No, Bunga," I corrected slowly, my breath leaving me at the realization.
"It's a cave...."
ns 15.158.61.16da2
