A Change of Plans [PRIVATE: AC & The Whistlerify]

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga jumped as Uhuru pounced at his leg, before watching as she climbed up on Marini. "Hey! where did you...?" his question trailed off as he saw Marini's cheeky grin. "Oh, you cheeky little...alright, you got me good there, I'll give you that!" He then looked back up at Uhuru. "So...how was your first go at hide-and-seek, sis?" he asked. He felt wierd calling Uhuru 'sis'...but a smile pulled at his muzzle at the thought...he had a little sister, and he thought it was brilliant.

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru giggled at Tanga's reaction to Marini's grin, "It was fun!" she said, feeling completly okay with the fact that he called her sis

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga smiled at his sister, glad she enjoyed herself. "Good, I'm happy you had fun."

He then turned to look back towards where he knew the adults were still resting. "Come on, we should probably get back before they come looking for us, too." With that, he turned and slipped back through the bushes, once again trying to move carefully to avoid irritating his wounds against the foliage.

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru then protested, "What? So soon?" she asked, still on Marini's back as the group began walking back.

Marini then grinned and looked back at Tanga's little sister, "Tanga's just jealous." she said with a grin, loud enough for him to hear before speaking again, "But don't tell him that I told you this."

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga just shook his head at Marini's words, chuckling softly to himself as they made their way out. Almost as soon as Tanga was free of the bushes, he rubbed his wounds lightly in an attempt to stop the itching the bushes had produced. Not realising that Uhuru had yet to notice his half-amputated ear, Tanga pushed his mane aside to also get a mild scratch at that too, before looking up at his parents and Sarabi, noticing that their attention was fixed on them. "Come on," he said, "I think they want us back there now."

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Nala couldn't suppress a shudder as Tanga inadvertantly exposed his severed ear. The thought of the pain he must have gone through, and was probably still going through, because of it was enough to make Nala feel slightly ill. Leaning against Simba as they walked, drawing comfort from his fur, she was suddenly reminded of what Simba was going to have to go through regarding Scar.

"Simba..." she whispered softly. "When...when we all go back to the Pridelands...please be careful. I don't want to see you go through the same pain that Tanga has...or worse..." Feeling her thoughts starting to slip from her control as images of all the things that could possibly go wrong with Simba's retaking of the throne started to visualise themselves, Nala buried her head in Simba's reddish mane, drawing comfort from the soft hair that covered his head and neck.

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru then noticed Tanga's half missing ear for the first time. It looked really painful and it made her wonder wether he got that when he got the rest of his wounds.

Simba then looked at Nala and smiled at how she was always worried about him. "Don't worry about me... I'll be fine." he said in return before giving her a slight nuzzle. But he then began worrying about her the same way. Taking Pride Rock back would be dangerous for her, even though he would most likely be the main target. He sighed and decided not to think about it for now

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga slowly lead the others back to the adults, where Kali was quick to begin speaking up. "Welcome back...Uhuru, you have fun with these four?" she asked, mimicking Tanga's earlier question. But judging by the way she was perched on Marini's back, Kali believed she already knew the answer...and could see that Uhuru seemed to have found a new best friend, which brought a smile to the mother's muzzle. "Anyway...there's something we need to talk to all of you about...and I'm including you in this, too, Uhuru...unless your father deosn't want you to." Kali gave Busara a look, telling him that, since he was closest to Tanga right now, that he should be the one to take the lead on this discussion.

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru laughed as her mother spoke, "Yeah, it was real fun!" she said and smiled back at her mother.

Busara thought about what his mate had just said and looked at Uhuru. By the time they would go back to Pride Rock Uhuru would be around the same age as the other four were now, and she oculd help them. But he didn't know if he wanted his daughter to spend her cubhood training instead of playing like a normal cub should and then joining a battle which was most likely to be dangerous. But he didn't want to sound as if Uhuru was more important to him than Tanga. "Okay... All five of you." he said, answering his mate question at the same time. "Kali and I decided that..." he didn't know how to say it. "We want to help you. We want you to be ready when you go back to Pride Rock, so... If you'll accept out help, then Kali and I can teach you about fighting and healing."

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga stared as Busara explained their situation, looking between his mother and father with a shocked expression. "You mean...you'll teach us to fight better?" he asked.

That had always been one sore point with Tanga's encounter with the leopard. His fighting skills were minimal, and Tanga knew that he had gotten away from that encounter on sheer luck rather than his own skills, and that losing an ear, and nothing more, was the best result he could have asked for.

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Kali nodded as Tanga asked for clarification. "As you know, Busara has some knowledge of healing...and I was raised to be a warrior and know an awful lot of the finer points of fighting. When the lot of you return to Pride Rock, there is going to be an entire pack of hyenas waiting for you...and despite the fact that hyenas are not the smartest or strongest fighters, they work in groups, and can very easily overwhelm you if you are not careful. If you accept our offer, I can almost guarantee that you will be far stronger than you ever thought you could be."

"But I will warn you of this now, particularly you, Uhuru, since you're the youngest...the training you would go through will not be easy. Your bodies will be pushed to their very limits, and I will be giving practical demonstrations of fighting techniques. Under my training, you will be thrown around, beaten, and battered...but when you reach the end, you will be a warrior group the likes of which Scar will never see coming."

She then turned her attention solely to Uhuru. "Sweetie, if you don't want to do this, you don't have to at all. This will be very hard, and while you are beginning to grow up, you are still very young. This is meant to be for your friends, and your brother, so that they can take back their home from the bad lion that has become king."

She then raised her head once more. "The same goes for any of you...if there are any of you who do not want to do this, there is nothing stopping you from saying no. As I said, it will be very hard."

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba took everything in. Taking Scar down wasn't going to be easy at all. But it was his duty to take Pride Rock back, and he was going to go through the hardest type of training if he had to. "I'll do it." he said and nodded at Kali, before looking at his friends to see what they had to say in return.

Marini also thought about this. One of her goals on going back to Pride Rock was quite clear to her; avenge her mother. And she wanted to make sure that those three suffered. "I'm in as well." she said as Uhuru jumped off from her back.

Uhuru didn't know what exactly to say in response to this. Her mother said that the training will not be easy, and this time her mother didn't seem to be kidding around. But seeing the wounds her brother was carrying, she knew that this wouldn't have happend to him if they weren't exiled from their home. She was happy that she found out about her brother, and wanted him to to be able to go back to his homelands. She then looked at her mother, Let's do it." she said, this time her tone not playful, but also not serious.