The Lion Guard Season 4 Part Two: Divided and United

Episode 12: Change of Pace

A young lioness cub stared into the small flame that was on the twig. Something about the flame intrigued her. She held her paw out, and the flame drew closer to her. Mesmerized by the light, she touched the flame. "CHOMA!" The cub's mother called out, running to her cub.

Light surrounded her, and then everything became black.

The cub woke up, in a puddle of water, with her mother and father standing over her. "What happened?" The cub asked.

The two lions stared down at the young cub, not sure what to tell her, or how she could handle this information going forward. "Well..." The father started. "When you touched that flame, you were on fire."

Choma was confused. "But, it didn't hurt." She innocently responded.

"And that's the thing." Her mother replied. "You....have a gift. It's been one passed down for many generations."

"But, you have to be careful. One wrong move, and things will take a turn for the worst."

The cub continued to look up at her parents in confusion, tilting her head. "What's my gift?"

Her father took a deep breath. "You can control fire."

The sun began to emit a bright crimson glow as it slowly began to rise above the horizon. Vitani opened her eyes as she stood up and began to walk out of the den. While patrol would normally start early in the morning, Vitani prefered to wake up earlier than the rest of her teammates, and just have some time to herself.

She walked around the Pridelands, walking around thinking to herself. Ever since the incident with Kiara, the group had to double check and make sure that no elementals made their way into the Pridelands.

Vitani had faint memories of being in the Pridelands during her days of hanging out with Kopa as a cub. Albeit it was mostly from a distance as the two hung out near the border of the Pridelands.

Despite being broken up, Vitani would instinctively think Kopa would be right behind her whenever she would hear the grass ruffle behind her. She wasn't really comfortable with expressing her emotions, yet it didn't change the fact that she still felt them.

She thought back to her argument with Kopa. At first she justified her behavior as just her being the way she is, not much on expression. That being said, she couldn't help but shake the thought of how she could have handled it better. Maybe she shouldn't have pushed him away.

Eventually the sun began to rise higher as the sky turned into a light blue color, with the rest of the Pridelands waking up. Seeing that, Vitani made her way to the lair of the Lion Guard. On her way, she could see her Pridemates make their way out of the den, which included Kopa and the new lioness.

The two were laughing, smiling. It was an odd feeling for Vitani, to see him be happy. She just tried to shrug it off and made her way into the den.

There she waited for her teammates to show up, so they could begin patrol. During patrol her team was talkative, with her being quiet, just continuing to walk ahead of everyone else. The Guard didn't really bother to ask why, since they wouldn't even get an answer.

Eventually the Guard made their way to the area behind Pride Rock. Most of the group didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary, just business as usual, however Tazama noticed something in the distance.

She froze as she rubbed her eyes and shook her head, thinking it was just an illusion in her head. But nope, it was them. "Hey, look!" She shouted, pointing to the river at the border. The group stood up and looked in the same direction.

"I couldn't believe it!" Vitani muttered to herself. "Kasi! Go get the royal family!"

The lioness obeyed, as she ran back to pride rock, while the rest of the Guard made their way over to the figures at the border. As they got closer, they still couldn't believe what they were seeing. It should be impossible, but nope.

The Guard looked at the trio in disbelief. It was like seeing a Ghost. "Hey guys!" One of them said,

"Kion!" Vitani stuttered.

"How, you guys should be....." Tazama started

"DEAD!" Shabaha finished

"It's a long story." Bunga said.

Choma stared intensely at the flame. The teenage lioness tried her best to focus, and control the flame that was in front of her. She was able to do it before, however it was mostly random bursts of luck.

Everyone else in the Pride questioned her goals. What purpose did she have in trying to control her powers? She could easily just drop it and go back to living a normal life. There wasn't really much of a personal stake in her trying to control fire.

However there was one other lion that took an interest in her attempts. While it could just be explained as the boy having a crush on Choma, there was some form of genuine fascination with her power. "You were able to move the flame at least." The lion said, trying to be encouraging."

"Don't you have something else better to do Nuri?" Choma asked.

The teenage lion collapsed to the ground and looked up at Choma. "Nope!" He joyfully said.

Choma smiled, and continued on with her focusing on the spark in front of her. She wanted to do more than simply move the flame in one direction, she wanted it to grow. "Well, I heard the elders talk about how your power comes from your ancestors. Maybe try to focus on that and it could help." Nuri suggested, taking notice of Choma struggling.

The lioness took notice of her Pridemate's suggestion. She closed her eyes as she tried to connect to her family's ancestors. The more she concentrated, she could see brief outlines of their silhouettes. She tried to focus on them even more. For some figures she couldn't recognize them, but for others, she could make out her grandmother.

"Choma, CHOMA!" Nuri cried out.

Choma opened her eyes, and looked at the flame in front of her, it was larger and far more bright. A light smile grew on her face, proud of what she accomplished. "I did that." She whispered.

"Hell yeah!" Nuri cheered.

And now we're starting the second arc of the story. As you can see, there's a difference in the chapter's format. Along with a new opening and Cover.

Thanks for all the support you guys have given me, I appreciate it. And now we're over halfway done with this book as well. 

But the next chapter shouldn't be that far away.