Roar of Manipulation

Roar of Manipulation Epilogue Part 4 Bravery and Heart

Tomorrow had come too quickly for Janja. Hatari had woken everybody up early and they made their way into the Pride Lands. Hatari had the clan split up so that they'd be harder to spot and so that they could cover more ground. Hatari went with, Ulimi, Gereza, and Azizi's girlfriend, Mzizi while she sent Janja with her unlaughing, stern faced brother Gombo and Nyoka to keep an eye on him and much to Janja's dismay, Kamari and Azizi. When the groups split up, Kamari and Azizi made sure to harass Janja about finding Gozi, saying that if he failed this time than he should start learning how to run away from Hatari without any legs since she'd probably rip all of them off.

Janja told them to shut up and not to worry since he knew exactly where to look for Gozi. Janja led his four unwanted companions through the Pride Lands, dodging many animals to avoid being spotted. They soon arrived at Pride Rock, which Kamari, Azizi, Gombo, and Nyoka took a moment to marvel at, Azizi stating he always wanted a home like that while invading Kamari's personal space. Janja commanded them to stop sightseeing and lead them into the Lair of the Lion Guard, hoping to find Gozi in there. Gozi wasn't there however and they began to leave.

However, as they were leaving, Kion and Vitani were just walking in, having parted ways with Jasiri and Gozi a little bit ago. Janja and his group quickly hid so that they weren't spotted by the two Lion Guard leaders. As they hid, Janja overheard them talking about Gozi being with Jasiri and assembling his Lion Guard. Janja had to hold back his gasp when he heard that. If Gozi was assembling his Lion Guard than he had to find him quickly and finish him off, but with Jasiri being with him, it wouldn't be easy.

Janja and his group made a break for it out of the lair when Kion and Vitani's backs were turned. They made it back into the savannah and searched for Gozi for nearly three hours, but came up with nothing. Janja, beginning to think they'd never find Gozi, huffed and walked off into some tall grass, wishing he had a bird friend like Mzingo back in the day to help him find Gozi. As he did, he heard something up ahead. Curious about what it was, Janja continued forward to see what it was, he was surprised when he saw that it was Gozi and quickly backed up back into the tall grass before the cub could spot him.

Janja's group came up to him and asked what was going on, but he quickly shushed them and pointed towards Gozi. When the four other hyenas saw Gozi, Azizi suggested that they rush in and grab him, but Janja told not yet. He told Gombo and Nyoka to go and look for Hatari and the other groups and bring them back here so that they all could surround and capture Gozi. Nyoka only went, saying that Hatari would want at least him or Gombo to still be with Janja, which Janja had to begrudgingly relent to. As Nyoka went to look for Hatari and the others, Janja, Kamari, Azizi, and Gombo watched to make sure Gozi didn't leave where he was sitting.

As they did, they noticed that Gozi seemed sad about something from the way he was sitting and Kamari verbally pointed it out, Azizi wondering why. Janja said that he didn't care about whatever Gozi was sad about and commanded the two of them to take a page from Gombo's book and shut up. Janja continued to watch Gozi as he sat there until a few minutes later, a creature he had never seen before came and sat by the cub. It looked like a hyena, but it had stripes kinda like a zebra. It sat there in silence for a couple minutes before asking Gozi if he wanted to talk about something.

Gozi began to tell the strange creature about how he wasn't ready to lead the Lion Guard yet, but that he felt like he had to since everyone expected it of him. As he listened, Kamari tapped on Janja's shoulder and told him that Hatari was here. Janja looked to see Hatari and the rest of the clan a few feet away, walking towards them and as they were, Janja heard Gozi and the strange creature say something that if Hatari heard, would reveal his lie to her yesterday.

"It's tradition. Tradition for a new Lion Guard to start once a cub blessed with the Roar of Elders discovers it." Gozi said.

"Not to sound disrespectful to Pride Lands culture, but screw tradition. Discovering the Roar of Elders shouldn't automatically determine you're ready to lead the Lion Guard, it should be up to you to determine when you're ready Gozi." the strange creature said.