Kion: Fall from Grace (A Dark Kion Story)

Chapter 17: The Darkest Valley

Kion and Vitani raced through the Outlands in a friendly competition, laughing the entire as they sped around corners, jumped over boulders, and ducked in and out of caves. Kion was surprised with Vitani's pace, even if he wasn't exhausted he figured he'd still have a hard time beating her consistently.

They eventually reached what Vitani had called an "Elephant Graveyard," the word graveyard didn't even begin to describe what he saw in front of him. For as far as he could see, skeletons of animals long-deceased lay in rest. The land was even more barren and destroyed then the Outlands, there were zero signs of life to be seen anywhere. He wondered what, or who, could and would cause all of this destruction, it was a somewhat frightening thought.

"What are we doing here, Vitani?" He asked as he continued to scan the massive amount of animals remains.

"We are here to have some fun, remember?" She said in her usual somewhat hostile tone.

"What kind of fun?"

"Fun fun, are you scared of a few bones?" She mocked.

"No, I just don't see what kind of fun we could have in an elephant graveyard," he replied.

"Well, Janja and his hyenas spend a lot of time around here, I'm not sure why but they do. I was thinking maybe we could scare them a little," Vitani snickered with a sinister grin.

"That could be pretty funny," he said with a smile. The image of Janja jumping around and crying out in fear and panic made him laugh mentally. "Ok, Vitani, lead the way."

She smiled as she jumped down into the valley, he followed close behind her as they maneuvered the many bones and large skeletons. It was like they were racing in the canyons again, each trying to outdo the other while throwing friendly insults, laughing the entire time.

Vitani decided it would be fun to use the height advantage she had to tackle Kion from above. The two rolled down the hill as they each struggled to overpower the other. They eventually reached the bottom, and Kion had emerged as the victor, pinning Vitani to the ground.

"Ha, looks I win," he boasted as Vitani shifted under his weight.

"Did you now..." she said as she quickly reversed the positions, firmly pinning Kion to the ground. "Cuz it looks like I won." Kion was impressed with her strength, most animals struggled much more than that to reserve his pins, but he knew Vitani wasn't ready for what was next.

"It looks like you won..." he replied as he used all the strength in his hind legs to flip Vitani over his head, using her momentum to flip himself, once again reversing the roles. "But that's because I let you pin me."

Vitani was about to try another trick but they both heard the laughter of a hyena. They quickly raced towards the noise and found none other Cheezi and Chungu with the rest of Janja's clan, but Janja was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Janja? He's been gone for like...a long time," Chungu complained.

"I know, he said he was meeting someone, but he didn't say it'd take him this long, and I'm getting hungry," Cheezi agreed.

"Maybe we should go get him," Chungu suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Janja said he'd be really angry, and I don't like him when he's angry," Cheezi reminded.

" I bet he's with Jasiri," Kion whispered.

"Why do you say that?" Vitani asked.

"I have my reasons," he replied confidently. "Think we should leave these guys alone and just go after Janja?"