Kion and Rani: Kion's Darkside

Chapter 17: Danger Is Lurking

Jabari and Rani made a plan. They would attack the lions helping to make the purple liquid known as shine.

Jabari was using his strength, while Rani was using the gems on her arms.

They slowly approached Queen Amirah's pride, but didn't enter, knowing it was too risky. That wasn't even where shine was being made anyway. They walked into a cave. At the back of the cave, there was a big hole that a lion could jump down. There was a ramp made of dirt. Rani jumped down first, silently sliding down underground. Jabari followed more cautiously.

They finally stopped sliding and looked around. The cave was huge. It was lit up by crystals on the stone walls. Rani shivered a bit at the cold and could see her breath in front of her.

There were small holes in the floor, each had a purple liquid in it. They both knew it was shine. Rani looked up and saw logs above them. Lions were walking across them, holding bundles of leaves in their jaws, walking from one side, to the next.

Rani and Jabari quickly hid behind a rock when they heard lions coming closer. They passed them and inspected the shine. After, they left.

Rani was about to stand, but Jabari stopped her. She could hear lions coming down the dirt ramp. It was lions from King Zako's pride.

Rani snarled, "They followed us!"

The lions quickly barged in and surrounded every lion in sight that was helping to make shine.

Rani and Jabari joined them, but when Jabari looked to his right for Rani, she was gone. He didn't care and got ready to fight.

King Zako's lion's advanced on the others, threatening them. One aggressively grabbed a cub. This cub wasn't very small, quite big actually. Almost a teen.

The cub looked back at the lion who was restraining him. He quickly roared, loudly. Louder than a normal lions roar, but not louder or powerful enough to be the Roar Of The Elders.

The Lion restraining him slammed him into the wall and snarled.

The crystals on the walls started glowing red. Jabari looked around, confused.

He looked ahead and spotted male lions. They all stood in a line with their eyes closed. A lioness walked up to them and stabbed a scorpion stinger into each one.

The lions roared in agony and their eyes glowed purple. They snarled like savages and attacked.

They ran swiftly and stealthily toward King Zako's lion's.

One lion was confused and looked around. He was suddenly grabbed by one of the males and his skull shattered.

Everyone gasped at the power of these lions. The lions from Queen Amirah's pride stayed back, knowing the males would take care of everything.

King Zako's pride tried attacking, but it was like these lions were immune. They each died quickly, but with the most pain possible.

Jabari's eyes widened as he looked around.

Jabari jumped onto a log, thinking he was safe, when two male lions, one on either side of him slowly started crossing the log, advancing toward him.

Jabari could hear an ear-splitting scratch above him, but ignored it because he refused to die from these two lions.

The lion behind him charged forward, Jabari had no time to react. But before the lion was even close to Jabari, a loud roar erupted through the cave. Jabari looked up and saw Rani jumped down heading straight for the lion intoxicated by shine.

The gems on her arms gave Rani a huge advantage. She roared again and punched the lion hard in the muzzle, keeping the pressure on it. She eventually pressed to hard that the lions muzzle shattered and he was thrown back and fell off the log onto the ground.

Rani landed safely on the log and watched as the lion she had just punched, die.

Jabari stared at her in shock. She looked back at him. She smirked and winked at him before turning around, getting ready to fight.

Jabari and Rani stood back to back, waiting for the perfect moment.

Rani made the first move. She roared and attacked the lion slowly advancing on her. Jabari attacked right after her, but on a different lion who was walking toward him.

Jabari grabbed the lion by its neck and threw him off the log before he could even do anything.

Rani punched the lion in the chest, hardly using any strength. The shine intoxicated lion snarled and threw attack after attack on her. Rani dodged every one. She roared and smashed him into the log, then kicked his dead body off.

Jabari defended himself from a lion who was being merciless. Jabari had no time to attack, and when he tried to dodge, the lion managed cut him on his muzzle. Jabari snarled in anger and punched the lion hard in the stomach. The lion fell off the log.

Jabari himself was being merciless now. He threw attack after attack on the lions trying to kill him, killing every one.

Rani dodged a punch from a lion. She smashed her paw on the ground and using the momentum from the gem, pushed herself up and twisted in the air, landing on her paws. This made it difficult for her opponent to react.

When Rani stood up, the lion regained himself and attacked her. Rani blocked his punch and dodged, but he threw another one at her. Rani kept dodging and blocking, but this lion was relentless. He roared and threw Rani into the air.

Rani landed on the log and in front of another lion. She roared and unsheathed her claws. The veins in her arms popped out more and the gems glowed brighter.

She punched the lion and without giving him time to react, landed a scratch on his muzzle. She continued punching him anywhere he left an opening.

Eventually, the lion was so bruised he collapsed and fell off the log onto the stone floor.

Jabari snarled in anger and attacked every lion in his sight. One tried to advance on him, but Jabari slammed him out of the way. Jabari was full of adrenaline and attacked the next lion in sight. But he didn't realize this lion was a cub untill it was too late.

The cub looked down at his chest. There was a hole where his heart should have been. The cubs eyes glazed over and he fell down off the log.

Jabari watched. It felt like forever watching that poor cub fall untill eventually, the cub slammed onto the ground.

Jabari and Rani slowly walked down to the cub. He had fallen all the way down to where the biggest supply of shine was.

They both stared down at the cub, who was somehow still alive, gasping for breath. Blood dripped down his muzzle as he stared back at them.

Jabari's eyes widened in disbelief. He gasped in shock at what he'd done to this poor cub.

The cub gasped and coughed, trying to get some kind of air. Eventually, it became too much and the cub went limp, eyes still open, slowly glazing over with death.

Jabari sighed and made a silent prayer. He looked above him and Rani and noticed many cubs being threatened with claws by King Zako's lion's. They were all so scared, but definitely not innocent.

Nandi stared at the back of her wall in the cave silently, remembering Rani. How could she just destroy their friendship like that?

Nandi walked out if her den to a lake. The blood from her cut started dripping down her leg. She sighed and kept thinking about Rani. She was the only friend Nandi had made in years, but Rani decided to throw it all away.

As Nandi continued to look at her reflexion, she noticed Scar's symbol in the water. The one Rani had told her about. She gasped, knowing Kion always made this symbol. Nandi stared at it, her eyes widened. Then, she started to feel a presence. A haunting one. She looked deeper into the water's reflection. And in it, bright purple eyes suddenly appeared. Nandi gasped and before she could react, a gold arm wrapped around her neck.

"Shhh go to sleep."

The voice. It was so familiar. Before Nandi could scream, the lion covered her muzzle with its paw, and Nandi inhaled the sleeping poison.