Sun Rise Ch. 3

Fuli had managed to escort Simba back to Priderock by nightfall. As soon as they got there, Nala was pacing back and forth in front of the main den up on the base of the perch. She immediately ran down towards Simba and Fuli once she saw them coming from a distance. Once she got to them she began pelting them with question upon question.

"You had me worried sick! What happened? Is he ok? What happened to the rest of the Guard? Is Thimba gone?"

"I don't know where the others are at, but it was an ambush. We got Simba out of there before things got too bad, and the others stayed behind to buy some time."

"What happened to Simba?" Another voice asked from up above on the perch. It was Kiara.

Timon and Pumbaa ran down. "Look at what they've done to my sweet baby boy!" Timon yelled, falling to his knees and pounding his fists on the ground.

"Who did this to you? I'll show them what for!" Pumbaa exclaimed.

"Thanks Pumbaa, but I don't think you could really do anything. That rhino hits hard. I think he broke something in my chest." Simba said with more sharp stabs into his ribcage, making it impossible for him to keep talking. His legs were starting to go numb, until finally they had given out. Fuli, Nala, and Pumbaa had caught him though, and dragged him up to the main den. Nala couldn't bare to see him in a state like this. For so long they had been together, and never once did Simba get this hurt, except for that time he was stung by a scorpion during the great Scar war.

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Kion, Bunga, and Ono tried their best to guide Besthe back to Makini and Rafiki, hoping that they would be able to help Beshte feel better. None of them said a single word as the hippo stumbled his way around like a drunken man in a bar. Beshte's head hurt, like he had just had the moon dropped on top of it, and that moon had backed up, and was dropped on him again, and again, and again. The throbbing pain was beating in his head like a drum, and that drum was his skull. It was so bad that his vision was fuzzy and loopy, almost like the way you get when you're halfway asleep, or when you sit down for too long and suddenly stand up, only worse. He hadn't encountered an animal that could pish him back in a long time, and never one that could do this to him. Probably the worst feeling of all though, was that he felt ashamed, like he had failed the guard. He tried his best to muster up words, but the pain in his head got worse when he did.

"G-guys, I-I'm sorry I couldn't take him."

"No, you did great Beshte. We wouldn't have been able to get out of there if it wasn't for you." Kion tried to comfort Beshte.

"T-thanks Kion."

He stumbled a little bit, and Kion and Bunga tried to help him up, "You can keep going buddy, we need to make it to Makini." Bunga told him.

Kion lowered his head. He felt more ashamed than Beshte. How could he had been so stupid? They shouldn't have come here.

"If I had just kept my stupid mouth shut, my dad wouldn't be hurt!"

Everyone was taken back by this, Ono turned to him, perched on Beshte's back, "Hey, you're not stupid."

"Yes I am. I put the king in danger."

No one said anything, and the silence that followed felt cruel. Kion's chest felt like it sank into the ground. He felt like he was going to cry, hot tears burning in his eyes.

Finally, Ono ended the torture. "Maybe we did screw up a bit."

Bunga looked at him confused.

"I'm not gonna deny it, we messed up. However, I will say that now we know what we're up against."

Bunga was still confused though, "Yeah, but how are we going to help that herd of Zebra! They still need our help!"

"I don't know, I guess they're just gonna have to wait for now. We need a plan if we want to head back." The egret responded.

"We couldn't even take down Thimba, we're not gonna be able to take down the entire crash, and worst of all, Beshte is out of order right now. We need more help." Kion said as he stopped to think.

Who was a close friend who could help out in a time like this?

"I know!" He exclaimed.

"Jasiri could help us! She would be glad too!"

"That's a good idea!" Ono replied.

"Ono, you go ahead and tell everyone back at Priderock our new plan. Thimba has declared war on the Pridelands, first we're gonna help get Beshte to Makini so that he can be healed up. Then I'm gonna go get the hyena resistance for help, I should be back this time tomorrow, Fuli can come along if she'd like, she knows where Jasiri's clan is."

"On it!" The white bird spread his wings, and flapped off into the air, racing to Priderock to spread the news.

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Makini had grown a lot within the past couple of years. Her training under Rafiki was complete for some time, and she was now a famous healer and shaman and in the Pridelands. Studying under Rafiki had made her wise, and she always knew exactly what to do. When Kion and Bunga had finally brought Beshte to Makini, Beshte had just about given out and completely collapsed to the ground.

"What happened to him?" She asked.

"It's a long story." Kion said. "Simba and Beshte got hurt pretty bad by that blue rhino. Simba should be around here some time tomorrow."

"The King!?" She said surprised.

Bunga jumped out of nowhere. "Yeah, it was a cool fight, you should have been there!"

He jumped around making exploding noises with his mouth. "And then Beshte was like 'Twin-de-ki-bo-ko!' And they rammed into each other and it was like" he slammed his claws together, "BAM, and they-"

Makini quickly covered his mouth with her finger to hush him.

"Bunga, I get it."

She walked back over to Beshte to get a closer look at him. Kion and Bunga followed.

"He took multiple bad blows to the head. I've never seen anyone hit that hard before, it knocked him clean out." Kion explained.

"I was hoping you could check him out and see if there's anything we could do to help him feel better."

"Good thing you brought him here. I'll see what I can do."

"Good, I need to head off on my way. If Beshte wakes back up and I'm not back, tell him I went to go get some help from the Hyena Resistance."

"Ok, got it." She responded.

Kion raced off.

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Ono had made it back to Priderock, and Kiara and Kovu immediately ran up to him on the perch.

"Finally, someone's back!" Kovu said.

Kiara asked, "Where's my younger brother?"

"He's fine, Bunga and him took Beshte to Makini to get looked at. He told me to come here and tell you that the war is going to start, and he's going to the hyena resistance to get some help. He should be back by tomorrow."

"Oh goodness, why didn't he come to me first, he had me worried sick." She said.

"Is Simba alright?" Ono asked, worried about the king.

"He's still alive, but his chest hurts pretty badly. We're gonna take him to see Makini tomorrow."

Fuli was starting to walk by at the moment, and Ono asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check up on Beshte. I need to see him."

And the cheetah bolted out into the night