The Lion Guard and Night Pride were gathered in the Lion Guard Lair.  They knew they needed a better plan, but they didn't know what.

"Kion?"  Rani asked.  "Can Baliyo and I speak to the group?  We want to tell them what happened to our parents."

"You don't have to," Kion said.  "I know how hard it is for you to remember.  But if you really want to, go ahead."

Rani nodded her thanks and roared to get the groups' attention.

"Baliyo and I want to tell you how we lost our parents," she said.  "It was in a similar situation to this."

"We were young cubs at the time," Baliyo said.  "But leading up to it was like this.  We all knew there was going to be a war."

Baliyo's voice started to crack at the end, so Rani continued.

"It was right at the end," she said, her voice cracking.  "The leader of the enemies knew we were watching him.  He made sure to make our parents' death as slow as possible.  Janna told us to stay where we were before running out to meet him.  It was the angriest I had ever seen her.  She returned the favour to the leader, killing him slowly."

Sira walked up to Rani and put his tail over her shoulders.  The lioness was working her claws into the ground, and clearly stopping her tail from lashing.

"Don't worry," he said.  "Everyone here will support you if you need it."

"He's right, Rani," Kion agreed.  "You don't have to relive it if you don't want to."

"Dhanyavaad, Kion, Sira," Rani thanked.  "I just was hoping this would help me take my mind off it."

"I'd do the same thing," Kion agreed.  He glanced at Kiara.  "I honestly don't know how I'd deal with the loss of my mom and dad without Kiara."

"Or the loss of all these Pride Landers," Kiara agreed.  "If we were alone, I don't think we'd want to do anything."

"But we're not," Kion said.  "And we need a plan now.  I don't know if I'd be able to fight any Pride Lander."

"We'll need both Roars," Kiara said.  "You being out has set that back."

"I don't think it has," Vitani said.  "I saw the Roar Kion unleashed on Scar.  He just needs to control it."

"I was planning on spending most of the time we have doing that," Kion agreed.  "If it gets stronger, I mind end up being worse than I was."

"We have just under a month," Kiara said.  "And Scar will probably attack before-"

"Lion Guard!  Queen Kiara!"  Ruka called from outside the Lair.

"Ruka?"  Kion called back.  "What's wrong?"

"Scar's attacking right now!"  Ruka exclaimed.

"Then we don't have time to waste," Kion said.  "Where is he?"

"Broken Rock," Ruka said.  He winced.  "Get out of  my head!"

"Ruka?"  Kion asked.  "You good?"

"I think," Ruka shook his head.  "Scar's been trying to get into my head to control me, but I can't let him.  You'll need as much help as you can get."

"Thank you, Ruka," Kion said.  "Don't hurt yourself.  This will get dangerous."

"I won't," Ruka assured as the group left the Lair.  They all increased their speed to a run as Ruka continued, "I'm surprised at how many animals Scar's managed to get."

"They don't think they're doing the right thing," Kion said.  "Scar's trying to control you.  He's done the same with the rest of the Pride Landers."

Vitani and her Lion Guard suddenly stopped running, causing the rest of the animals to stop.  Vitani winced before her face suddenly hardened and she turned on Kion.

"You're not getting any closer, Kion," she growled.  Her voice had gotten harder: the sign of being controlled by Scar.  Kion growled in response - not at Vitani herself, but at Scar.  He knew having a Roar user on his side would be useful, especially one Kion would refuse to hurt.

"We've already won," Vitani mocked.  "Give up and we'll let you live.  And keep your caracal friend."

Kion exchanged glances with Fuli and Rani.  If they wanted to win, they'd have to stay back.  Without Vitani, they'll lose.  But they couldn't just give in to Scar.  Kiara had walked up to Kion's side.

"We can't give in," she said quietly.

"We'll need to head right for the source," Kion matched his sister's volume.

"You go with your Guard and Imara," Kiara said.  "The Night Pride and Kovu and I can hold Vitani back."

Kion nodded and shared glances with his Lion Guard and Imara - the only one who hadn't been affected by Scar.  They all nodded.  Kion started running, but was immediately knocked down by Vitani.

"I should've known you were too stubborn to agree," she growled.  She drew a claw across Kion's foreleg, causing blood to start spilling out.  Bringing her paw up to her mouth, she licked the blood off it and smiled.  She reared down onto Kion's other foreleg to bite it, but he rolled away, causing her to bite his injured foreleg.

Vitani!  Vitani scolded herself.  She had lost all control of her body.  Fight it!  It was no use.  Scar's grip was too strong.

"I'll give you one more chance," she licked the blood off her lips.  "Surrender now, or we'll do worse."

Kion forced himself onto his paws, holding the injured one above the ground.  He looked at Fuli, then Rani, then Kiara.  They all agreed.

"Alright," Kion said.  "We'll head away from the Pride Lands."

"Good," Vitani said.  "Go before we do anything to you."

Kion, his Lion Guard, Kovu, Kiara, Ruka, and Imara walked to the Back Lands, Fuli making sure her mate was okay and not losing too much blood.  They found a set of caves, good for them to make a makeshift Pride Rock.  They walked into the largest one, something they thought would be a good replacement for the Lion Guard Lair.  Before they could settle in, a leopard stepped up.

"What are you doing here?"  he asked.

Kion immediately recognized the leopard.  He limped up to the front of the group, holding his tail in front of Kiara, who was growling.  The lioness stopped.

"Badili!"  Kion exclaimed.

"Kion?"  Badili asked.  "What happened?"

"Scar," Kion said.  "He's taken over the Pride Lands."

"How?"  a second leopard asked.

"He's managed to control almost everyone," Fuli explained.  "We're the only ones left."

Before Fuli could say anything else, she gagged.  Looking around, she found a pool of water.  She ran over to it and vomited in it.

"You good?"  Badili asked.

"Yeah," Fuli said.  "But that's also a problem.  The only females who aren't expecting in our group are Imara and Anga."

Fuli flicked her tail towards Imara to show who she is.

"Can you let us stay with you?"  Kion asked.

"Of course!"  Badili agreed.  "It's the least I can do.  We'll let them stay, right, Chui?"

"You're the leader," the leopard that asked how responded.  "But I can completely understand being expecting.  I'm Chui, by the way."

The Pride Landers introduced themselves.  They all got settled into the den, Fuli staying close to Kion.

"Oh, Fuli?"  Chui asked.

"Yeah?"  Fuli asked.

"Rani's mate is Sira, Kiara's mate is Kovu, and Bunga's mate is Binga, but I don't see any other cheetahs here," Chui responded.  "Who's your mate?"

"Well, for one thing, I've barely ever seen any cheetahs in my life," Fuli said.  Come on Fuli, Fuli told herself, it's not that hard to just say Kion's your mate.  "The only other one I've seen I don't think of as a mate.  My mate is right next to me."

Chui noticed that Kion and Fuli had lied down next to each other and intertwined their tails, like what her and Badili did often.

"It's surprising that you're expecting," Chui said.

"It surprised us, too," Kion said.  "But we don't know what our cubs are going to look like."

Chui looked down at her own stomach.

"I'm expecting Badili's cubs," she said.  "It gets annoying at times, with the vomiting and kicking and everything else, but I just think of the end result."

"Yeah," Fuli said.  Kion had to stifle a chuckle.  It was something he had known about her for a while: she had a soft spot for baby animals.  She would never admit it, but he knew she knew he knew about her soft spot.

"I haven't felt them kick yet," Fuli continued.  "But thanks for letting us stay.  And getting Kion healed."

"How is your leg feeling?"  Chui asked.

"Still hurts," Kion said.  "But it's feeling better."

"It was a violent attack," Kiara said.  "But I can almost guarantee Scar will come here eventually.  He's ruthless."

"How long do we have?"  Badili asked.

"I hope we have at least a year," Kiara said.  "I just hope Scar won't injure unborn animals."

"I doubt he has any compassion in him," Kion said.  "I don't even think this Scar we're fighting is Scar.  Because I doubt Scar himself would hurt unborn animals."

"Why do you think Scar isn't Scar?"  Kiara asked.

"Ever since I woke up, I've been having nightmares about what would happen if Scar took over," Kion explained.  He had told Fuli, and the nightmares had stopped for a little, him knowing that he had someone there to support him.  But they had started again the night before.

"They've been getting worse, too," Kion continued.  He felt Fuli's tail go over his shoulders.

"We're all here for you, Kion," she comforted.  "You can talk to any of us."

"I know," Kion said.  "I'm going to get some sleep now."

"The sun's setting," Chui agreed.  "Probably a good idea.  If you want to sleep with the leap, you can, or you can go into any of the other caves."

"What do you think, Fuuls?"  Kion asked.

"Let's just stay here," Fuli said.

[I'm too tired to move right now,] she admitted privately to Kion.  [Kinda worried about it.]

[It'll be fine,] Kion comforted.  [It's not the cubs.  We've had a long day.]

[But the cubs are probably contributing a little,] Fuli said.

[Not much,] Kion assured.  [You've only been expecting for a week.  We still have eleven more weeks.]

[Great,] Fuli responded.  [Seventy-seven days of this.  Not to mention I'll be getting bigger.]

[I know you like cubs,] Kion said.  [Just do what Chui does.  Think of the cubs.]

[How in the Pride Lands do you know that?]  Fuli asked.

[I've known you since we were cubs,] Kion responded.  [It's not that hard to see you have a soft spot for baby animals.]

[Just, don't tell anybody,] Fuli requested.

[No problem, Fuuls,] Kion promised.  [Good night.]

[Night,] Kion responded.