Sun Rise Ch. 10

[Alright guys, this is a long one. The character Tombie does not belong to me, he belongs to my good friend, Hueyslinger]

The evening was silent and still. The sun once again was dipping, and the rhinos and crocs were beginning to take notice. Thimba was moving over to his spot in the shade, under a patch of trees with a rock face to his back. In the distance, the group of hyenas were readying themselves. The body of water was hugged by hills and patches of dense trees, elevated up into the air. It was located further to the East of Thimba's territory, and even further East they could barely see the Jungle line, where a think layer of forests and jungles guarded a mountain range. The particular section of land beside the reservoir was very steep and thin, thin enough that if someone set their mind to it, they could dig through it. Perfect to cut out an out-of-control fire.

Janja lay on the ground, staring in the direction of where the battle was about to take place. Tombie walked over towards him and laid down beside him.

"Are you anxious?" He asked.

"Kinda... what? No!" He said sitting up, trying to put on a confident and rugged exterior. Most of the time, Janja was good at hiding his emotions, keeping them built up inside of him. Like a rushing river being blocked by a cinderblock wall. The dam was tall and impenetrable, reinforced and chained up under lock and key.

Tombie put his paw on Janja's shoulder.

"Janja... it's ok to let you're feelings out..."

"Don't try and talk to me with that lovey-dovey crap." Janja snarled as he pulled back.

Tombie had gone through a lot in his days. The red hyena was rejected from his family at a young age, abandoned, left to die. He found a clan of his own pretty quickly though, and now is trying to show his only family he has left all the love he can. Janja was his brother, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Janja was never the best when it came to opening up to people, he could never figure out why though. You had to be just right with what you said to Janja, luckily Tombie knew how to do it.

"You know you're a lot like mom."

"Oh really now?" Janja replied.

That got his attention.

"Yeah you are. You remind me a lot of her... Shenzi."

"How so?" Janja asked. He didn't have many memories of his mother left. He tried his best to hold on to memories, the few good memories he had.

"The both of you are very greedy, selfish, sociopathic, you don't consider others and their lives at all, you break rules not because they're bad but because you don't want to listen to anyone. You-"

"Ok I get it! I'm not the best person in the world, and neither was mom..." Janja said, hanging his head down.

Tombie looked off into the distance. "But in the end, you both changed. I'm proud of you for siding with us Janja, but there's still something bothering you. What is it?"

Janja did not reply.

Tombie instead tried a different tactic. "Why do you think she acted that way?"

"I don't know, she was old and snobbish."

Tombie looked back at him, his green eyes piercing through Janja's rough exterior.

"So why are you like that?"

That red hyena was really starting to bug him. Janja was just about ready to snap.

"I don't know! Back off!"

Then Jasiri came over, having observed the scene. Janja freaked out, Jasiri was the only one who bared the key to the lock keeping his emotions chained down, and she didn't even know it. She could make or break him. Before she could even say anything, he shouted at everyone.

"OK look! Back away from me! I am doing perfectly fine!"

Jasiri backed away. Tombie didn't leave though. Somewhere, deep down, Janja was happy he didn't.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"All right everyone, let's change out for the night!" Kiburi commanded everyone, taking charge of the night shift. They never had this problem with Scar, he didn't need to sleep. His army did though, and they weren't given much time too. This was one thing he appreciated more about Thimba. Thimba understood the importance of keeping everyone well rested and taken care of, though it did put them at a bit of a disadvantage when it came to their numbers.

Mzingo and his Parliament were high in the skies, circling around as if to cast an omen of death upon the land. In the distance, Mzingo could kind of spot movement over the trench to the left of the watering hole and the Zebra.

The Lion Guard had made there way over to a large oblong

Boulder perched on the edge of the trench, Beshte had rolled it over there earlier that day. They all kept low (except for Beshte who couldn't) as to not be spotted. Beshte was mostly hidden behind some shrubs and dense plants.

"Alright Beshte, come out and do your thing." Kion whispered.

Beshte slowly moved out from hiding, and started to press his weight against the boulder and push as quietly as he could. Mzingo flew a bit closer, and saw Ono give him a signal. He flew back to the direction of Kiburi.

"We got some intruders! Down towards the South!" He yelled down from above. The Guard was coming in through the North Western area.

"Who is it?!" Kiburi yelled back up.

"I don't know, but you might as well go check to see if it's the Guard! We'll stay here!"

"Alright. Come on crocs, let's get moving!"

The fierce killer croc crawled off with his brethren.

With Kiburi out of the way temporarily, and Thimba and his crash knocked out for the night, that only left the skinks to worry about.

Beshte pushed the boulder down. The top met with the ground on the other side of the trench, forming a bridge strong enough for a hippo to walk across. Unbeknownst to the Guard, two skinks were watching the whole thing play out. They turned to skitter off and warn Thimba of the incoming invaders, when they were met with the talon of a vulture pinning them to the ground.

"Not this time." He told them.

Kion and Fuli crept forward to the crowd of Zebra. Fuli told them, "Alright guys, quickly, but quietly, go over the bridge. Then run to the Pridelands, you'll be safe there."

The Zebra followed instructions, and started to file themselves across the bridge, funneling themselves into a large line of black and white stripes.

"Alright Bunga, you go and help them funnel across the Bridge." Kion told the honey badger resting on his back.

"Got it Kion!"

He leaped off and ran over to the bridge.

"Fuli, you go find Dhahabu. She has to be around here somewhere."

"Got it Kion!"

She bolted off, zipping around and trying to find her golden friend.

"Beshte, you come with me and we'll hold off the crocs until Ono can get here with the fire. Mzingo, you guys keep the skinks at bay, I know there's more around here somewhere."

They both said in unison, "On it." Beshte followed Kion to their positions, while Mzingo flew up to his Parliament in the skies to tell them the plan.

"Alright boys, let's show those skinks our appreciation for how much they've ratted us out!"

Left and right, a vulture swooped down from the darkness of the night sky, snatching up tiny colorful lizards. Then they returned to the darkness of the night.

Kion and Beshte readied themselves, the crocs would be back any minute now. They both stood there as observant as possible. Beshte decided to break the silence though.

"So Kion, why are we going to burn down this watering hole. Isn't that what Scar was trying to do back during the War?"

Beshte saw Kion's eyes move around for a little bit, but he never left his defensive stance.

"I don't know what you're implying."

"I'm saying, isn't what were doing a lot like Scar?"

Kion smiled.

"Beshte Beshte. Not at all! Scar was evil, we're not!"

"But we're doing the same thing that he would do, doesn't that make us evil?"

"No, he was doing it to us. We're doing it to the bad guys, we have a reason for it, it's controlled, so therefore it's good!"

Beshte rolled his eyes. Normally, he trusted Kion, but this time he didn't quite feel so right. He didn't quite believe Kion was thinking straight. At the same time though, he didn't want to tell his friend that he was wrong either, what if he offended Kion? He didn't want to do that. So, he kept his mouth shut.

Kiburi's voice echoed over the hill.

"They weren't there! What kinda game are you playing bird brain?"

He rounded to the top of the hill, coming face to face with an angry adult lion, and a fully grown hippo.

"Oh... ha ha. That was a good trick. Unlucky for you though."

He barred his teeth.

"I don't like tricks."

The croc charged head on at the lion, until the massive hippo rammed him from the side, launching him off into the distance.

"Thanks Beshte."

"Don't thank me just yet."

They turned around, only to be treated with a bunch of angry Crocodiles.

"Oh boy." The lion uttered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bunga was feeling a bit left out of the action. Why wouldn't Kion let him fight anyone? Why wouldn't he be the one to go and find Dhahabu? It wasn't fair. Then he looked to the side of him, and saw the herds of Zebra moving along, and remembered that he had a job to do.

"Come on hurry up! We need to get you guys out of here! Hey hey no shoving! Be nice!"

His attention was suddenly brought to something he didn't expect.

"Honey Badger!" He heard a mad, gargley voice yell.

"Oh no."

He turned around, seeing an angry monitor lizard charging straight towards him! Mouth open and ready to chomp down!

Bunga quickly jumped out of the way, dodging the attack.

"Well, looks like the little lizard grew a bit! Only a little though!" He teased.

Kenge did not like the insult. His eyes lit up with anger and frustration. Bunga could almost see him loose his green color and fade into a deep red from all the built up tension.

"My venom may not work on you, but I can still crush your skull!"

They charged at each other, locking on and tumbling across the ground.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Where fire was once their enemy, now it was their friend. Ono carried the blazing rod of wood in his beak and flew as fast as he could, but still carefull as to not cut it out in the wind. He soared high in the sky, making his way in the cover of darkness, drenched in the soft blue glow of the moonlight. The orange glow of the fire contrasted to this, as the heads of nocturnal animals of all kinds looked up to see the blazing hot light moving through the air overhead.

"Look, there he is!" Jasiri shouted.

The hyenas looked up to see the egret flying lower and lower, getting ready to drop the lit torch on to the scene.

Kion and Beshte were fending off crocs left and right. Giant 1,000 pound lizards decorated in impenetrable scales, and jaws lined with sharp teeth lunging at them left and right. Kion scratched and clawed all he could, but no matter how hard he tried, he did no damage. It seemed like the crocs were more ferocious than ever.

That's when they both noticed Ono flying back, the torch in his beak.

"Not yet Ono, only on my mark!" Kion yelled to the light above.

"Kion!" Beshte yelled.

"What?"

"All the Zebra have escaped!" Beshte yelled back.

Kion looked over, and sure enough, it was true. He also saw Bunga was a bit occupied with Kenge. Kion didn't even know Kenge was there.

"I hope Fuli has found Dhahabu by now." He said with a worried expression.

"Alright Ono, let's do this!"

Ono threw down the torch, hitting Kiburi right in the back. The searing pain that he felt as soon as the white hot flame touched his skin. The smell of his boiling flesh. He shook it off as fast as he could. As soon as the fire touched the ground, the grass caught fire and lit up.

"Sorry!" Ono yelled.

"I'll rip your entrails out for doing that!" Kiburi said with a hissing fire in his voice.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fuli had searched the entire area, but Dhahabu was no where to be found. She was getting worried, she could already see the flames in the distance sparking up on the other side of the watering hole. Where was that golden Zebra? Did she already get over the bridge? There was still one more area that she had not checked and it was risky.

With the sky being divided into a dark blue with the moonlight on one side, and burning orange with the power and rage of nature's destructive force, She treaded through Thimba's domain quietly, but quickly, trying not to awaken the sleeping beast. The area was littered with thick bushes and multiple trees scattered about, making it difficult to see what's two inches in front of you.

"Dhahabu?" She whispered.

Her face bumped into the blue snout of a massive creature instead. She looked up to see the massive horn stretching tall into the air above her. Thimba's voice whispered back.

"Nope. It's just me."

Fuli jumped around and sprinted out of the dense bushes, just as a stampede of rhinos exploded out of the plant life in all directions.

"Guys, help!" She yelled as loud as she could, pumping with her legs against the ground like she never had before. Dust sprang up from underneath her every step. The sharp end of a horn followed closely behind, but slowly fell back. Within a couple seconds, she had ran all the way to the other side of the small lake, meeting face to face with a bunch of crocs.

Ono swooped over head, quickly yelling, "Get to the bridge!"

Fuli looked back to see angry rhinos stampeding all over the place, followed by Thimba slowly making his way out of the underbrush, staring at them intently with death in his eyes. She then followed the egret to safety. She could swear though, that a red glint had sparkled in Thimba's eyes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

From the distance, the hyenas watched in awe as the red wall coated the area. The smoke rose up into the air, now completely blocking out the now blackened skies.

Janja got flashbacks to Scar, and how he would be the one who always started the fires. Watching it happen from a distance, as an observer, it was a new experience. It amazed him, yet frightened him too, to see the real destructive power from a distance.

"What's going on over there?" Jasiri asked.

"Should we release the water?" Tombie asked.

"No." Janja replied.

"Not until we get a signal."

"This is very unlike Kion." Jasiri said.

"Do you wonder if the Tree of Life really helped him?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bunga battled with Kenge long and hard, but the dang lizard just wouldn't go away.

They stared at each other intensely, Kenge's eyes twitching, filled to the brim with bloodlust and extreme fury and wrath.

"You know Kenge, you kinda got a short temper, kinda like you're hight!"

"You're dead kid!" Kenge yelled as he charged at Bunga full force, with every intent to rip into the honey badger and tear his guts out piece by piece. When the wrathful reptile leaped on to Bunga and pushed him down, Bunga kicked upwards with his legs, launching Kenge over him and off the edge. Kenge fell far down into the darkness below, to the bottom of the trench, hitting the bottom with a loud thud.

"So that's him taken care of."

Bunga wiped his claws off, only to see Fuli running over, followed by Ono.

"Kion and Beshte are on the other side of the fire. They trapped the crocs on the other side." Ono exclaimed.

"That's good!" Bunga replied.

"Kion said to start digging below the rock and loosen it, let it fall and trap them in front of the flames."

"On it!" Bunga said as he immediately started to dig under the base of the massive stone bridge. Fuli turned around to see Thimba himself, standing in the distance with the orange glow behind his back.

"Game Over Lion Guard! You better give us our Zebra herd back, or we'll make a nice cooked meal out of ya!"

Thimba lowered his head and faced his horn at Fuli and Ono, ready to run directly at them.

"You know what they say about my horn here! It's charge can't be stopped by anything!"

"Where's Dhahabu!" Fuli yelled.

"You better tell me where my friend is right now you dirty, rotten, tiny man!"

"Oh Fuli, isn't it obvious? Those Crocs have to eat something you know?"

Fuli's world had just shattered. Her heart had just ripped itself out of her chest and murdered itself in front of everyone. First Rafiki, now Dhahabu? Ono could see in her eyes, the tidal wave of pain that had just crushed her. No. It was not true. They didn't. They couldn't!

"No... you're lying! Where is she!" Fuli yelled with tears running down her face, hotter than any fire that could be made by nature.

The fires grew larger in the background as the rhinos and crocs began to crowd in, ready to rush at the bridge any moment. Fuli, Ono, and Bunga saw what looked like the vague image of a massive and fiery bat form behind the fiends inside the flames. The grotesque image fleeted into dark shadows just as quickly as it came. Once again, Fuli saw the red glint in Thimba's eyes.

It was then that Fuli realised, Thimba was telling the truth.

Those Crocs got to her. The Lion Guard was too late.

"Bunga, we kinda have a problem up here!" Ono said, his voice trembling as he braced for an impact that would surely kill him.

Thimba broke ahead first. His horn leading a wall of teeth and horns, and thousands of sweaty pounds of fat and scales that would come down and crush everyone's bones into dust.

Suddenly though, it started raining Skinks. Everyone stopped at the peculiar sight. Thimba stopped right on the bridge, moments away from destroying the cheetah and egret.

Swooping down from above, Mzingo and the rest of the Vultures came down and sliced at the villains. Aiming for the eyes as to try and blind them, then quickly flying back up into the air.

"Mzingo you traitor scum!"

Thimba hissed.

Bunga crawled out from the ground, on the other side of the bridge base.

"Done!" He yelled, putting his arms up in the air.

The boulder shook, and finally the ground beneath it gave way. Thimba plummeted into the abyss down below, banished, vanishing into the Darkness of the void. Swept up into a black hole, the guard could not see them, nor the bottom of the pit for that matter.

Kenge slowly stood up, still trying to recover from the fall he took.

"Oh man, my leg feels like it's broken." He said as he lifted his front right leg.

He looked up to see a large black mass tumbling down towards him.

"Oh no..."

Kenge was crushed by the massive boulder, snapped like a twig and buried deep underground by it.

Thimba had survived the fall. He slowly got up, brushing it off.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ono flew back to Kion as quickly as he could.

"Everyone's over the bridge. Use the roar now!"

Kion opened his mouth.

In a blaze of glory, high speeds of wind swooped down from the dark smokey skies above, and blew the wall of white hot fire all over the watering hole and the area around it. Like a massive flamethrower, it torched the grass and all the trees and bushes. Ashes raining down upon the animals unfortunately caught in its destructive maw. The jaws of Hell opening up and swallowing the land whole in its inferno.

"Let's get out of her, their tryna roast us alive!" Kiburi yelled as him and his crocs, along with the rhinos and the skinks, made a mad dash for the jungles in the distance.

The fire was now erected into a tall, swirling tornado of flame and fury. A spectacle so mesmerizing and horrifying. A laser that annihilated everything in it's path. It chased the villains all the way to the jungle.

Kion collapsed to the ground, the deed finally done.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hours after the attack, the sun had risen once again, and they all walked through the charred remains of what once was Dhahabu's home. The place was black and scorched, and smelled of burnt crocodile flesh. The once crystal clear water, now tainted black and bubbling grey by the falling ash. A chemical that would surely kill you in one gulp. Any sign that there was possibly any life there was now gone. They tracked through the remains and piles of ash, looking at the remains of the bloody battle that they lead that previous night.

"Zuka Zama Kion." Bunga said.

"You think you could have done any more damage?"

What Kion had done to the place had even put everything Scar had done to shame.

The hyenas walked over to the mess. Jasiri immediately blurted out, "You guys were lucky that the fire died down on it's own and we didn't have to waste all that water over there!"

She stopped when she saw the sight. Janja was dumbfounded. He couldn't say anything.

"Kion... you did this?" Jasiri asked.

"I guess I did."

Was this what Janja had been facing up against all these years? Did Kion ever plan to do this to him? Did Kion ever plan to do this to his home? To his friends?

"Where's Dhahabu?" Tombie asked.

Fuli looked down, tears streaming down her face again. Bunga didn't even look at them, though they could tell he was crying as well. The looks on everyone's faces gave Tombie his answer. A look of grief and mourning. No one said a word as they all began to look at each other. Tombie broke the silence.

"We weren't quick enough..."

"The crocs got to her first." Kion explained.

The silence came back. They all crowded around each other.

"But we did it... we got them out of here..." Kion finished.

"But at what cost?" Jasiri finished.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thimba was not finished yet. The trench he fell into let them discover an entire network of tunnels and trenches that led throughout the Pridelands.

This gave him some ideas. Some horrible, twisted ideas.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Pridelands and the Outlands celebrated Thimba's defeat and the Backlands ragaining their lost soil. In the tragic loss of Dhahabu, a new leader for the Zebra herd was chosen. Jamal, a handsome Zebra that looked up to Dhahabu, was now going to take her place as herd leader and ruler of the western Backlands.

Simba and his Pride had a meeting with Nabii and the Outland leaders to work out a agreement of peace.

"I, Nabii, the current elected leader of the Outlands, am proud to announce that we will from now on, be seeking to make peace with the Pridelands!"

Simba followed it up with his straining voice, "And we will now be working together, to defeat the growing threat of Thimba and his forces, should they return."

The crowd applauded and cheered for the good news, but this all did not concern Kion.

Everything that had happened since the start of the year, it made him realize something.

The passing of Rafiki. His words, "Do your best for the Pridelands". The murder of Dhahabu. Simba getting badly wounded. The Outlands stepping up to the challenge and peacefully finding a good leader. Beshte getting knocked out in a fight. Part of the Backlands getting torched.

It all made something very clear to him in his mind.

The Pridelands was going to have to get tougher.