[I do NOT own the characters Rookus, she is owned by Rookus_Hyena384.
aminoapps.com/p/vvpxua ]
Nabii did a good job in rounding everyone together. They were all there, the leaders of the Outlands. Reirei came from her pack, Rookus came from her clan, Nabii from hers, and Jasiri from hers, etc.
Nabii spoke to her fellow comrades, "Now I know what you're all thinking, 'Nabii, why did bring me here? You promised me food!', well relax, you'll get it."
Reirei broke Nabii's speech though. "Can we get to the point, I'm hungry!"
Rookus turned to her and said, "Hi hungry, I'm Rookus!"
Everyone turned to her with stern looks on their faces.
"Right" Nabii continued.
"So anyways, I brought you all down here because we have some big news! The Prince of the Pridelands, Kion, has now given us his seal of approval!"
Everyone began clapping their paws together, except for Reirei who just said "Yay" sarcastically.
"The Pridelands are about to go into a state of war, and right now are in great danger once again."
"Why should we care?" Reirei asked.
"Because my lovely Jackal, we live right next to them! If they're in danger, we're in danger. We just now started getting this place back up on it's feet again, we can't loose all of this hard work!" She said slamming her paw down on the ground.
"I still don't see what the big problem is." Reirei snarked.
Nabii stepped down and wrapped her paw around the jackal.
"Now I know you're still trying to adjust, and you haven't quite yet seen the light. Imagine what Scar was doing all that time ago. Now imagine being on the receiving end!"
"So?"
"A massive, monstrous psychopath runs free! The armies of darkness marching across the face of our beloved lands! Servants of evil destroy, take, and kill as they please, and no one can stop them! The skies are blackened and the grass stained red with blood of the innocent!"
"Nabii, stop!" Jasiri ordered, but the hyena leader didn't listen.
"Nights have become sleepless with the screaming of children and women getting brutally slaughtered or taken! You're home gets ignited and burned to a crisp because some mad man simply felt like it! You're pack is killed off one by one and you can't do anything about it! All until finally you get married off to a sloppy and sadistic drooling heathen for the rest of your life in an attempt to survive!"
"Nabii I said stop!"
This time she listened. Reirei was huddled back into a corner with a look of shock by this point.
"Ok... I get it."
Rookus was sweating profusely. She didn't know what to say. She had just become clan leader and Nabii was putting all of this responsibility on her shoulders.
"How do we stop that?" She desperately asked.
"We need a leader!" Nabii responded.
"Why?" Rookus asked.
"I mean look at us!" Nabii replied.
"We're never gonna be able to agree with one another! The way we have things will only lead to chaos! We need someone who can take charge when needed to, and who can settle debates with a final verdict when we can't agree on anything!"
"I guess that makes sense... but who will it be?"
They all looked around. Reirei's paw shot up.
"Ooo me, me me me me me me me!"
They all said "NO" in unison.
"Worth a shot." She replied, shrugging her paws.
Nabii added, "It should be, I don't know. Someone who is able to organize things and people, someone who has big ambitions for society, and someone who is intelligent and well kept." She flipped her hair.
"Any suggestions?"
They all looked back and forth at each other, then back at Nabii. They knew what she was implying.
"I'll let you all think about it. Anyways, in related news, we have our idea for what we're going to do. Jasiri, could you be a dear and take it from here?"
Nabii looked at her.
Jasiri walked up the front of the small group as Nabii stepped down.
"Guys." Jasiri spoke. "Kion has asked for us to help the Lion Guard in stopping Thimba."
"What can we possibly do to help?" Asked the confused Jackal.
"I'll tell you how. Janja, you can come in now." Jasiri said with a smile.
Janja slowly walked in, trying not to look at everyone.
Rookus smiled, "Janja! Looks like the big boy decided to come down!"
Reirei rolled her eyes, "I just can't seem to get away from you can I?"
Nabii had a look of utter disgust on her face. She slowly turned to Jasiri, her eyes were a mix of confusion and judgement.
"Excuse me?" She said.
"Really?"
"Oh come on Nabii!" Jasiri said, "Why can't you just learn to get along with him!"
"Why can't he learn to get along with us!" She yelled as Nabii stood up. She pointed at Janja and said, "I refuse to work with this, this heathen!"
"You won't have to Nabii. None of you will. I'll work with him for you all. Janja, please take a seat."
Janja shambled over to a spot next to Rookus and sat down.
"Jasiri, you better have a good explanation for this." Nabii said with a look of agitation.
"We could end this sooner than we thought! Janja knows Mzingo, and Mzingo lives in the Backlands! They could be spies!"
Rookus spoke up and said, "That sounds like a good idea."
Reirei looked at her and said, "I guess the bird brain is finally gonna be useful!"
Jasiri looked at Nabii and asked, "Do you have anything to say?"
"It sounds like a good idea... but I still don't see where Janja plays in this."
"Nabii, please just be nice to him." Jasiri said with a pleading tone in her voice.
"Did he try to be nice to us when he worked for Scar?" Nabii responded.
"Nabii-"
"Jasiri you have no idea how much turmoil he caused my clan. Turmoil which I fixed. Just ask Sevaga, he'll vouch for me."
Jasiri turned to Janja. Everyone did. Janja did not want to be there. He would rather be anywhere but there, he would even rather be in the lava pit of the volcano. Jasiri talked him into it though, he was vulnerable and let her talk him into this.
"Janja, are there things about your life that we don't know about?" Jasiri asked.
He wanted to die, Janja just wanted a meteor to hit and kill him.
"I uh... yes... Jasiri, you're not the only hyena I tried to torment. If anything, Nabii got to see the worst of me." He said looking down at the ground, not trying to look any of them in the eyes, their harsh, judging eyes.
"And I would just like to say... I'm s-ssss-sor." He stopped, chuckled a bit at the awkwardness, and tried again.
"sss-sorr, sss-sorry."
He had waterfalls of sweat running down him.
Silence...
The silence was too long...
Nabii stood up again.
"Do you honestly think 'sorry' is going to cut it?"
He looked Nabii in the eyes. What he saw he couldn't quite explain. He saw the eyes of an angry hyena, the eyes of someone who never forgets. There was no forgiveness in her eyes.
Nabii looked over at Jasiri, and looked back at Janja. Suddenly her demeanor changed. She put on a smile and said in a happy tone, "Apology accepted."
Jasiri smiled.
"Good, now that we're all friends."
She was cut off by Reirei saying, "That's debatable."
Jasiri ignored her and continued, "We've all come so far guys. Even though some of you aren't willing to admit it, we're all friends now. We're all in this together, and we need to fight this battle."
"Are you sure Jasiri? Not even Scar could give the Guard that much of a beating! What makes you think we could beat Thimba?" Reirei asked.
"I just know we can do it! That overgrown rhino doesn't scare me!"
Nabii suddenly spoke up and said, "That's right! He doesn't scare me either!"
Rookus stood up with them, and said, "I'll claw his eyes out if he tries to hurt my home!"
Reirei stood up and said, "As soon as he steps into my territory, he's dead!"
Janja stood up too, "We'll teach him not to mess with the Outlands!"
Jasiri looked at everyone and said, "So then it's settled? The Outlands Reformal Project is complete, and we're joining the war against Thimba?"
"Heck yeah!" Rookus told her.
"Well you guys have fun with that!" Reirei said leaving.
"Reirei you're share is on the den to the right!" Jasiri yelled to the Jackal.
"Ok!"
There was a moment of silence.
Rookus broke it with, "Someone should probably make sure she doesn't take everything for herself." And ran out.
Nabii escorted Jasiri and Janja outside. She patted Jasiri on the back as they went out, a and gave Janja a cold stare.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It had been a week after the big fight with Thimba. Beshte was back up on his feet again. It was inspiring how well he pushed through the odds, like he always does. Simba wasn't doing as well though, he wasn't able to get up and walk now. Kovu and Kiara had to step up sometimes and take the lead in Simba's absence. The Guard still had no idea what to do though as well. Later that day, in the liar, ideas were being thrown all about, but none were landing.
"Can't we try the roar again?" Bunga asked.
"No, the roar didn't work last time, why would it work this time?" Kion told him.
"Roar harder!" The honey badger replied.
"If I roar any harder than I did, I'll destroy the Backlands!"
"We've gotta try something" Fuli spoke up, "Maybe we can form a distraction?"
"It's risky. We need more people for that, and we don't exactly have good numbers at the moment. Beshte just got back to us, and all five of us, including Simba, couldn't stop even one of them."
Then out of no where, a voice spoke out in a female Australian accent, "Then you can count us in."
They all turned their heads, and Jasiri was standing there with a large grin on her face.
"I've got an idea."
"Jasiri! You came!" Kion said rushing over.
"I didn't think you would come here!"
"Of course I would come. I'll help out any friend of mine Kion, you know this."
"I know, but it's just, what about the Outlands? Won't Thimba try to hurt your home knowing you're apart of this war?"
"Nabii got everyone together, and we worked it out. They want to help too. Most of them at least. We can protect ourselves." Jasiri assured him.
Kion smiled, "Well that's good. What's your plan?"
"Turns out, Mzingo's Parliament lives in the Backlands. I think we could recruit them as spies!"
"Mzingo!" Ono exclaimed.
"No way. After all the fighting we had been through?"
Fuli jumped in with, "Will Thimba is recruiting his own army. So far Kiburi's float is making a return in joining that, Ushari and his skinks were also spotted joining."
Kion added, "We need to catch Mzingo before anything else happens. That way we can have our eyes in the skies."
Ono asked, "Why can't I do it? I have better sight than them!"
Jasiri told him, "They would see you too and know we're spying. Mzingo though, we could get him to sneak in to the army and tell us how to defeat them from the inside out."
"That's a great idea Jasiri!" The lion exclaimed.
"But how are we going to convince him to do that?"
"Janja is how!"
The entire Guard was shocked, saying in unison, "Janja?!"
"Look, I know we've had our quarrels with him in the past, but he's changing I swear! He could help us!"
Kion thought about it for a moment. After everything that low down dirt bag had put them through, and she wants him to join? What kind of game is she playing?
"I don't know Jasiri. Are you sure he isn't going to back stab us?"
"Reirei has been changing as well. If she can, so can Janja."
Kion still wasn't convinced that Janja wasn't going to betray them in some way, but he was there best hope at the moment. Besides, if the dirty criminal even thought about trying anything, they would just have to betray him first.
"Ok, tell Janja that we are willing to give him a free pass for all of the crimes he has committed, if he helps us. Same thing with Mzingo. If that doesn't work, tell them we could find a place in the Pridelands for them if they want. Just do whatever to get them on our side!"
"Sure thing Kion!" Jasiri said.
"I'll go tell them immediately!"
The female hyena turned around, and bolted for the Outlands.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Kiara and Kovu tried there best to help Simba. They followed every one of Makini's orders, but Simba just kept getting worse and worse. Nala was getting desperate, telling him to take more time off and get some rest. Timon and Pumbaa also tried to help in any way they could. Simba could barely move anywhere without his chest forcing him back down. Kiara and Kovu were now having to take his place as leader of the Pridelands sometimes.
It was Kovu's first time being in charge of something this big. He stood out on the large perch on Priderock, the one that extended out far above the land. He remembered that his mother wanted so desperately for him to be king, but not in this way. His mother was a terrible person, but he couldn't help but feel somewhat bad for her. She never knew anything else besides her own twisted life style, and neither did his brother... Nuka. He was thankful that Vitani and him made it out of that mess in time, but he still wished that he could have helped his mother and older brother in some way.
Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind him.
"Hello Kovu."
He recognized it, his sister Vitani. He turned to see her. She was a dark peach lioness, with a very rugged and violent appearance, a result of their rough childhoods. She was always protective of him, and he loved his older sister very dearly.
"Hi Vitani." Kovu said to her.
With her voice starting to sound very gravelly, she asked him, "So what is the future king doing out this late?"
"Please, don't call me that just yet. It puts a lot of stress on me."
"Oh come on. Big strong lion like you? You can handle it!"
"No I can't! I, I don't know if I can. What if I'm not a good king? What if I can't juggle everyone's problems around and help fix them? What if-"
Vitani put her paw up and covered his mouth, shushing him.
"Stop talking." She said.
He stared at her as she put her paw down.
"You can do it. I know you can. You put up with mother, and you put up with me all these years. If you can do that, you can do anything. You've got a lot of love in you Kovu. Let that love shine, and you'll be a good king."
He smiled, "Thanks Vitani, that helped."
"And if anyone tries to hurt you, your big sister over here is going to rain down a revenge so despicable that the kings of old will punish me worse than Scar."
"Oh come on now sis, don't say that!" He said nudging her with his paw.
"I'm serious." She told him with a straight face.
He chuckled a bit.
"Looks like you've still got a lot of fight left in you."
"We're the only survivors of our original family, and I'm gonna make sure it stays that way." She said.
He smiled at the thought that his sister cared so much for him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mzingo was surprised when Jasiri had approached him about her idea.
"What?!" He squawked.
"You want me to help the Lion Guard?!"
"Mzingo, please. We really need you right now."
"Preposterous!" Yelled the British buzzard.
"Give me one good reason why I should help the Lion Guard!"
"We'll give you whatever you want! If you want to live in the Pridelands, so be it. Just please help us spy on Thimba!"
"No way." He said crossing his wings and closing his eyes in stubbornness. He turned away in a dignified manner.
"Mzingo you're being petty!" She told him.
He didn't listen. That's when Janja walked up to her and said, "I'll take this one."
She moved out of the way, and Janja walked over to the vulture. "Now look at me ya bird brain."
Mzingo finally moved to look at the hyena.
"Listen, me and you are buddies. We go back a long way."
"Yeah we do."
"Now this is the opportunity of a life time. We get our names cleared, and we get allowed into the Pridelands! Think of all the things we could do!"
Mzingo thought about it. The offer was very good. An opportunity for a new life.
"I'm listening." He said.
"And besides, if we don't do this. If we don't help them, when is Thimba gonna come after us? Will somebody help us then?"
Did Janja really just say that? Everyone, including him was shocked at what he just said. Did Janja really just take consequences into thought? Who was this hyena, and what did he do to Janja? Whoever it was, they did good, because Mzingo had considered it too.
"It wouldn't be very good for us, would it?"
"C'mon, do this for me buddy, do it for us."
"Ok fine. I'm in."
"That'a boy!"
Janja's paw caught Mzingo's wing as they said in unison, "Partners in Crime."
Jasiri chuckled at the sight.
"You two boys really are something special aren't you?"