Tau was knocked to the ground, not able to regain his stance in time before Safia put in the final blow, 'Is this the end?' he thought trying to find a way to escape from the situation he was in. "I won't let you hurt him!" A voice cried out snapping him out of his paralyzed state as he saw a blur of gray and purple swipe pass him knocking Safia to the ground away from him.
Safia shook off the dust getting up from that sudden surprise attack, "Who's the dead fo-" she started when she took notice of another hyena standing between Tau and her, "Jasiri." Both Tau and Safia with a different in their excitement in seeing her. Safia took a stance looking bold and with a smirk coming over her, "Came to save your precious lion?" she mocked.
Jasiri slowly came next to Tau while keeping a close eye on Safia, keeping low ready to pounce if needed while letting out a growl. Tau was starting to get back up after that breather, "What are you doing here Jasiri?" he asked her, happy to see her here but also wondering how she knew to come. She turned her attention to Tau, "Do you really need to ask? You never came by today and so I followed your scent." She explained; Tau giving a smile, "Thanks, I owe you for this." He said.
The two were glad to see each other, "I know how you can return the favor." Jasiri teased. Safia was starting to get annoyed at their little moment, "Yuck! Lovebirds." She made a puking noise. "I'll bring this fight to an end." She finished regaining the two's attention. Turning her attention to her brother Kuru who was lurking behind a pillar of rock "Kuru! Take care of Jasiri, I will not allow outsiders to interfere with our fight." She returned her attention back to Tau implying a personal grudge against him.
Kuru looked over at his sister in fear, "...bu-" he tried saying something when she snaps angerly at him, "YOU WILL DO WHAT I TELL YOU!" baring her teeth at him. Kuru came over by his sister submissively taking a stance to try and look ready to fight but anyone could tell he was nervously shaking; you would think the volcano was about to erupt. Tau looks over at Jasiri for a moment, "I'll be fine handling Safia now." He said reassuring to her.
Jasiri and Kuru started taking their fight away from the other two, "You'd better not lose Tau!" Jasiri said to which Tau responded back with a nod. "Now that she is out of the way, we can get back to me killing you." Safia said with satisfaction which Tau chuckles back confusing her.
"We'll see." He responded with a smile and for some reason that was making her angry.
[The other Group]
The other group in charged of collecting the Volcano Ashes were struggling with the female hyena keeping them on their paws, "Any last words?" she asks of them with a mockery. Nne, Tano, and Beshte were trying to knock her off her feet with Ono swiping pass trying to strike her with his beak. Makini was staying as far back from the fight holding tight to the gourd that contains the ashes they need.
Noticing the others were running out of energy to keep this going, "Getting tired already?" She said with a laughter knowing that once these three were out of the way then they would end up being her meal. A noise surprising her, "Huwezi!" turning her attention to where it came from the hyena was tackled to the ground by the cheetah. "Not so tough now?" Fuli taunted the hyena who was struggling to get her off.
"How did you win against Lora and Luna?" she asked shocked, "Them two? Who knows?" Fuli answered which irritated her, 'There's no way these Pridelanders could be a challenge.' Darting her attention to Janja she could find it even harder to believe that they would lose to him. So then how? Trying to make sense of this was not doing her any good.
Placing her back hind legs onto Fuli's belly and applying force causing the cheetah to roll off of her, "I don't know how you could beat them, but I won't make the same mistake as them." She proclaimed, Fuli was preparing to start fighting when Ono quickly took notice, "We're running out of time! We need to get the Volcanic Ashes back!"
Fuli looked over at where Makini was hiding; racing her way to where she is, "Get on!" she said to the mandrill who quickly responded by getting on. "There's no way I'm letting you leave!" the female hyena said trying to make her way to where the two were when Beshte, Nne, Tano, Bunga, and Janja surrounded her from advancing, "Five against One? That seems a little unfair, for you guys!" she mocks.
Fuli was about to voice her concern but she also knew that she was the only one who could make it back on time, racing her way to the exit. Ono's fly over to help aid Fuli and Makini to returning to the Pride Lands and made it away.
They darted through the Outlands as fast as possible remembering the advices given by Tau on which paths to take, Fuli didn't want to admit it but she had to thank Tau for the advice given to allow a safe path through the Outlands and making their way back to the Pride Lands without any troubles.
[At Pride Rock]
Nala and Kiara were around Simba waiting for the hope that the other Pridelanders return with the Ashes before it's too late, Rafiki's working on more medicine to help with the pain even just a little but with each passing moment it was starting to have no effect. "They had better hurry." Rafiki hoped letting out a sigh.
Zazu came flying in through the cave entrance looking worn out of breath, "Your Highness! Great News!" he shouted in cheer catching their attention, "What is it Zazu?" Nala asked.
"On my watch for Makini and her companions I had caught sight of some dust coming here fast so I checked it out and I have confi-" Zazu started explaining when a cloud of dust followed through the entrance with a yellow with black spots feline standing proud with on her back a mandrill, "You've made it!"
Rafiki quickly came over to the group to get the gourd from his apprentice, "And you've got the ash!" he praised with glee for the miracle, Rafiki spent time on healing Simba now that he got his hands on the one thing they were missing but it was noticed something else was missing, "Where are the other two who were with you?" Nala asked Fuli and Makini.
Timon and Pumbaa grew worried that their little honey badger had yet to return, "I'm sure he's doing fine." Makini tried comforting the two as they cry at the worst things that could happen. "We've just got one of our boys back and we just lost another!" Timon complained and Fuli questioned if leaving them was the best choice.
The hyenas in the Volcano was more dangerous then they had originally thought, remembering that if it wasn't for the two hyenas that had her, Bunga, and the hyena Janja surrounded had gotten tackled by that other hyena they would have been in troubled.
The sun had finally set, and night had set in, and it felt like her friends' life had left with the day. Getting ready to leave hoping for something to happen a cry rang through the plains, "HHEEYYYYY!!" looking to see two figures moving slowly to Pride Rock.
[Back at the Volcano]
The group had all managed to escape from Safia and her clan, Luna and Lora were both exhausted trying to catch their breath and the other female hyena was laying away in disappointment losing, Kuru was laying low behind a pillar seeing his sister glance around the cave in annoyance at their defeat, "How could this have happened!" growling, she darted her attention to where her brother was hiding, "KURU!"
Kuru ducked lower in fear of his sister, shaking slightly as he left from his hiding place, "y-ye-ye-s?" he jittered trying to speak to her. An extended set of claws came swiping at the hyena sending him to the ground with marks on his cheek and some blood coming. Looming over the now down Kuru, Safia spoke with disgust, "You were useless, like always!" turning her attention away from him. She then took her attention to a cobra who was just laying there in waiting, "Ushari, care to explain why you did nothing while Tau and the others were here?" she asked him both confused and annoyed.
Ushari chuckled every so lightly, "Things might not have gone as expected, but I assure you this was nothing more then a minor inconvenience to the plan. Then we'll both get what we want from this."
Safia let out a sigh knowing she couldn't win an argument with this cunning cobra but her patient with him were slowly running thin. "I'm going to sleep, Kuru!" the sudden call of his name surprised him as he got back up to not disappoint her, "Get us something to eat, and it had better have meat still on it when I wake up." She finished.
Kuru let out a sigh of relief, "Yes sis." He said lowering himself almost to a bow and turning his attention to the cave exit. Leaving the cave, a question came to him he would want an answer to, whispering under his breath so that no one around him could hear, "Did we win, Tau?"
Author Note:
FINALLY! Glad to have this chapter done, fighting moments are still not my specialty. Getting close to Tau meeting the Royal Pridelanders and with each moment I get excited with how I planned it. I'll have one more chapter posted before I stop till after Valentine Day. (Working on a One-Shot of a Kion x Jasiri)
In the next chapter I will have explained how the others escaped so please do not say things like how I cut out part of the story just to avoid plot and stuff, reason being I wanted to cut it to Fuli's side of the event after they've escaped before telling the other side's experience after she left.
See you all sometime soon! And hope you like how things are going. (Have at least 3-4 Chapters before Tau meet his parents. And yes, I am excited that I might explode on publishing that one.)