Roar of Manipulation

Chapter 10 It's A Janja Hissy Fit!

The day after Janja fell in the pit, he woke Cheezi and Chungu up early. He told them that it was time to set the plan into motion. Cheezi and Chungu asked if they could get a quick bite to eat first, but Janja said no. The two groaned in disappointment and followed Janja into the Pride Lands, all the way back to the hole he had fallen in yesterday. When they arrived, he turned around to command Cheezi and Chungu.

"Alright boys, time for phase one of the plan. We need to gather some long, weak sticks to set across the hole and some large leaves to cover them up." Janja said.

Cheezi and Chungu nodded as they began to help Janja. Within the hour, the three had gathered up enough long, weak sticks and leaves.

"Good work boys, this should be plenty to set up my trap." Janja said.

Cheezi and Chungu watched as Janja began to lay the sticks over the hole. When Janja realized they weren't helping, he glared up at them.

"What are you two furbrains staring at, help me set this up." Janja demanded.

The two immediately grabbed a couple sticks in their mouths and began laying them over the hole.

"Hay, Janja," Cheezi began to curiously ask. "Why are we covering this hole up anyway?"

"It's part of phase two of my plan to capture someone so we can use them to force Jasiri to become my mate." Janja explained. "We cover this hole up with these sticks and than hide them with these large leaves we collected so that nobody will expect this to be a trap hole."

"And who are we capturing?" Cheezi asked.

"Vitani." Janja said.

"Vitani!?" Cheezi and Chungu gasped.

Cheezi and Chungu had never interacted with Vitani, but they had heard all about her and seen her from a distance. They knew how she was Zira's daughter, her best fighter, and most loyal lioness in her small pride, at least until she had a change of heart thanks to Kiara's speech during the final battle. They knew about her Lion Guard and how even though like Kion's, they respected the circle of life and protected the Pride Lands, but that they were more vicious and hardened because of their lives in the Outlands, Vitani more so than her fellow guard members. They also knew about how Vitani was given the Roar by Kion. All that topped with Vitani's, depending on your point of view, naturally intimidating face made her scare the crap out of Cheezi and Chungu.

She did doubly so now that Cheezi and Chungu knew she and her guard were looking for them every day from sun up to sun down and would find them if they went along with Janja's plan to lure her out to them. Janja didn't notice the scared tone in Cheezi and Chungu's voices or just didn't care, he just grinned at his own plan.

"Yeah, she's the sister of the future king of the Pride Lands and she's the leader of the Lion Guard. So, she's perfect to have in our little hostage situation. It'd send a strong, clear message to the Jasiri and everyone to show them I ain't playing nice." Janja explained. "And as a bonus, we'd have one less magical roaring lion to deal with."

"Okay, so we're gonna lure her out somehow and lead her to this hole to trap her?" Cheezi asked, thinking he got the plan.

"No, this trap hole is for her team member, Kasi, Fuli's little replacement." Janja said. "The plan is to lead Vitani and her guard into the Outlands. They may have lived there all their lives, but they always stayed in the deeper part of the Outlands and it's been over a year and a half since they've been there, so we'll have the advantage of being more familiar with our home turf, but first we need to get rid of that marathon runner of hers."

Cheezi and Chungu slowly nodded, beginning to understand as Janja continued to explain.

"Kasi is the fastest among them so is the most likely to catch us. When we lure Vitani's Guard out and they give chase, we'll come running this way and make sure Kasi falls into the hole. It's too deep for her to jump out or for her to jump up and have one of her team mates catch her and it's too steep for her to climb out. So, Vitani and her guard will have to leave her behind in order to try and catch us." Janja explained.