The Lion Guard Meets Selena Burns

Return of the Roar: The Lion Guard

Back at Pride Rock after Kion's Roar...

"That was Kion's roar?" Nala questioned as she, Simba, and the Rafiki stood on a hill looking at the horizon.

"Yes, Nala, yes! He is ready! It is time!" Rafiki cried joyously.

Simba's eyes widened considerably at the primate's statement. "Eh, no, Rafiki. He can't possibly be ready! He's still a cub."

Rafiki shook his head. "Simba, Simba. You heard the Roar!"

"I heard it. It's just... It's a big responsibility," Simba frowned. "I need more time to prepare him."

"I think you've just run out of time Simba," Nala interjected, smirking at her mate. "You need to tell him."

"But, Nala..." Simba protested.

"Listen to Rafiki, Simba," Nala said pointedly.

The sun was beginning to set by the time that Kion, Bunga and I got back to Pride Rock. Simba was on the edge of the overlook as we reached the base of the rock formation. As we were about halfway up the rock ramp way, he turned around and began to head down towards us to meet us halfway. When he did reach us, he took one look at my hunched over body leaning against his son's shoulder and his eyes narrowed in suspicion at my back paw.

"She fell down off a cluster of high boulders when we were playing baobab ball," Kion came up with a cover story faster than I could even blink.

I let out a breath of relief that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Simba nodded once and looked back over his shoulder towards the colorful faced primate holding a stick. "Rafiki, if you would come here please?"

"What is it, Simba?" the baboon asked curiously, shuffling his way down the rock face.

He nudged his way past Simba and when his eyes laid upon me for the first time, it was safe to say that he hadn't been expecting me, an unknown "lion cub" to be present, nonetheless leaning on the shoulder of the king's son. His eyes widened at first in surprise and then narrowed as he took in the color of my fur and eyes and overall appearance. "Who is this lion cub, Simba?"

"Her name is Sauda!" Kion stated brightly. When he did he had slightly moved against me and caused me to shuffle some of my weight back onto my paw. I gasped lightly at the sharp but then tried to cover it up by smiling. It didn't work.

Rafiki noticed my poor attempt at covering my pain and immediately crouched down and grabbed my paw. As he inspected it, Simba cleared his throat. "She was found on the outskirts of the Pride Lands territory by one of the mothers of the elephant herd, Akina, I think it was."

"We were playing baobab ball in the fields and I fell off of a giant cluster of rocks because I wasn't paying attention to my grounding while trying to catch Bunga's pass," I explained.

Kion laughed lightly. "See Bunga, I told you not even a giraffe could catch one of your passes!"

Bunga frowned. "Yeah yeah, hardy har har..."

Rafiki took his finger and applied slight pressure to a section of tendons in the back of my paw. I grimaced.

"Hey, watch it! That hurts, y'know!" I cried.

Rafiki only nodded in response to my little outburst of pain. "It looks like she's only strained the muscles. I advise she stay off her feet for the night and she should be just fine in the morning."

"Now, back to the matter at hand Simba!" Rafiki changed the tone of the conversation, standing up. Simba's eyes widened in silent protest. Rafiki sternly looked at Simba and raised his wooden staff towards him. That caused Simba to square up for sure. No wonder, it did look like Rafiki had wacked him pretty good upside the head in the first movie. I don't doubt in my mind that the mandrill only used the "the past is in the past" life lesson as a cover story, and actually watched Simba on the head because he was acting like an arrogant and moody numbskull teen without a sense for responsibility.