~𝒯𝒽ℯ ℒ𝒾ℴ𝓃 𝒦𝒾𝓃ℊ: ℳ𝓎 𝒮𝓉ℴ𝓇𝓎~

~Chapter 53~ Be careful what you say

Season 4

~January 16th~

It was only 16 days until the war and the Southlanders were running out of time. Ever since the next day of accepting the war that was called the "SANW", the animals of the Southlands have been training day and night for it. And we still had a ton to do. The elephants were still terrible at looking down so that they wouldn't crush any of the Southlanders while we're in battle, the jaguars were still too self-centered to agree to train when they were supposed to let alone not even agreeing to fight to begin with, and Malaika... well... let's just say she's not a very skilled or experienced fighter...

By the training course, which was the 7th strategy Kabira and anyone else could think of, Malaika did terrible. As she ran the running course, Asha walked over next to Naju and asked with a whisper as she looked at me, Kabira, and Malaika, "What are they doing now?" "The simplest... training lesson they could think of... running." Naju answered not even looking at Asha and just still watching Malaika run the course. He had an uncomfortable and disappointed face that clearly said for him "I don't wanna be here". I had the same look. Malaika panted as she walked over to Kabira and me then, "How was that, princess?" "It, um... needs some improvement," I told her. Malaika looked down and said, "Of course it does," "No! You did amazing, it's just that you were kind of all over the running track. You weren't able to stay in one lane. Maybe it would work better if you had animals on the sides of you so that you wouldn't go wobbly all over the track. Make sense?" I told her. "Yeah, I guess that could work..." Malaika said lifting her head up. "Great!" I exclaimed.

So five minutes later, I got two cheetahs to run on the sides of Malaika. "OK, Malaika, whenever you're ready," I said. As Malaika was warming up or doing whatever the heck it was she was doing, I whispered to Kabira, "Surely she'll do better this time. There's no way she'll wobble when there's two built animals on the sides of her!" I had a good feeling about this this time. But faster than a blink of an eye, that strategy disappointed and failed. I looked over to see what all the ruckus was. I wanted to believe it was just the cheetahs panting because Malaika was too fast for them. But instead it was Malaika wobbling everywhere again. "But- how?!" I stuttered. How could that happen? I had two of the strongest cheetahs in the Southlands stay by Malaika's side no matter what! I didn't even see the cheetahs next to her when I looked to see what was going on. "Kia, it was a bad idea to have the fastest species in the world run alongside a lion. I mean leopard. I mean both. Well actually, leopards are supposed to be the second fastest to the cheetah." Kabira told me. "Right! It makes no sense! Naju and Asha, can you help out a friend and run with her? Heh... please?" I asked with a quick glance at Malaika. It was because I hoped she didn't know what I was thinking. Naju and Asha frowned at each other then walked to the sides of Malaika. Naju went to her left and Asha went to her right. But as she ran, she knocked into them both and they fell down. I groaned and walked away to see how the elephants were doing. I also left so that I wouldn't have to be present in that event.

So I helped the elephants run without squishing anyone. But my high hopes went low down after I yelled, "Alright! On your mark... get set... go!!!" The elephants ran but there were lots of animals panicking under them. I face palmed myself then yelled again, "STOP!!!" I rolled over to the animals and under the elephants trying not to get smashed myself in the process of saving them. Lucky for me, the animals in need of saving were small like weasels, rabbits, and meerkats. I grabbed them with my paws, back paws, and teeth. I threw them to the edge of a cliff and saw them struggling to stay on. "Dang it!" I groaned and jumped over to them and picked them up one by one. They all backed away from me scared as if I was the bad guy and then ran off as fast as their little legs would carry them. I fell off of the cliff and I was sure I was dead but one of the elephants I was training caught me with their tusks and trunk. I opened my eyes a little and just glared at it.

I came back to the training course and saw that Malaika was still failing miserably. I groaned and said, "Malaika! Maybe you can try jumping higher. That way you won't knock the hurdles over." I called out then ran over to the near end of the Southlands where the jaguars were.

~Near the end of the Southlands~

"Hey, guys! How's the attack lessons-" I started as I tried to use the most legit smile I could and looked over at the jaguars who were just laying there on their trees with their eyes closed. "Going..." I said as a I hung my head annoyed. "GUYS!" I yelled with anger. One jaguar woke up and then another did. There were at least six or seven of them. The one that woke up first jumped off of his tree and said with an intimidating voice, "Well, well. What a pleasant surprise. It's the princess of South Rock. To what do I owe the honor of this visit?" "Cut it, Ghadra. You know what you're supposed to be doing. Why are you just laying here?" I said calmly. Ghadra became normal and said, "What's it look like I'm doing, Kia? Resting. Not caring. Because- oh that's right! I don't care." "Ghadra, you might have gotten away with talking to me like that when I was a cub but not now! I didn't even talk to you nor see you in my teenage stage. But I'm not just ignoring your mean and offensive words and comments anymore! So get to work!" I snapped before I walked back to the elephants. Ugh. Ghadra. My second worst enemy. My own personal bully from when I was a cub. Anyway, as I walked back to the elephants, I thought at least Kesi would be there to help me make sure I wouldn't lose my temper, heh.

~By the elephants~

Once I made it to the elephants, I sat by Kesi with a desperate look and told her, "Pleaaase give me something to be happy about!" "Eh... well...-" Kesi started then got cut off by the sounds of screaming. Kesi and I quickly looked over with frightened faces to see what the commotion was about. "I'll let you save them... ugh," I said annoyed as I walked back to the training course.

~At the training course~

I sat by Naju with a tired, upset, disappointed, and annoyed look and only asked four words, "Do I wanna know?" Before Naju could answer, I looked over at Malaika annoyed and saw her knock into another hurdle. I didn't have anything else left in me and just rolled my eyes and walked away.

I went back to the jaguars who were still just sleeping. "That's it..." I  whispered to myself. I walked behind their tree and hopped up on my front paws, moved my hind legs in next to the side of my stomach where my underbelly was, and kicked out to shake the tree. But it did way better. It bumped the tree hard enough to knock all seven jaguars out of the tree and hard on the ground. "What the-" Ghadra started then I interuptted, "I'm done!!! Get up!!!" Then out of NOWHERE, and I mean NOWHERE, lighting hit and zapped my tail tuft. Once the Lion Guard heard me yelling at Ghadra, they ran over. Then my tail tuft lit up in flames. I didn't even pay attention to it though. As I twitched my eye madly, Ghadra blew the fire of my tail. I couldn't hold it in anymore and just screamed! "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ONE SIMPLE WAR! ONE SIMPLE WAR!! BUT THEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG! FROM THE ELEPHANTS TO THE JAGUARS RIGHT DOWN TO THE WORST FIGHTER IN THE WHOLE SAVANNAAAAAAA!!!!!!!" I yelled that all in one breath. I breathed heavily and then the Lion Guard gasped. I turned around to see what they were middling on about and then saw Malaika standing there. I gasped and lowered my ears quickly. She just walked away and I looked down.

Wow, Kia. Just wow. You sure lost your cool. Not that you had one... heh.

Quote for the chapter: Don't mix bad words with your bad mood. You'll have many opportunities to change a mood, but you'll never get the opportunity to change the words you spoke.