Part 2 - The Journey carries on

[cheezeegriff]

Puffing and panting, Figgy erupted into the clearing with Karensha and Sefu, sticks and leaves crunching under his feet.
"Karensha!"
he said with concern, then moved up and stood flank-to flank, rubbing his cheek against hers.
"Are you ok? What happened? Why'd you run away? You worried me, you know, running into the clearing like that. I thought those two lions were going to tear up my pretty kitty!"
He licked her cheek, then looked about to her face to see if she really was alright.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Kali followed the group to the river, but when the stripey cub fell into the water she felt torn. Mother instinct compelled her to save the cub, but she had her own daughter to look after too.
"Come on,"
she hissed at Cat.
"Run with me, Cat. Lets see if we can help these foolish friends of yours. Again!"

[Lyonize]

Zoba could barely keep his head and the cubs head above the water. The current kept getting stronger as they went further down the river. He tried to get to the shore but the current was too strong. There weren't any rocks that he could hold on to.

Zoba looked back and forth for some way to get out of the river. He spotted the dark furred lion grabbing a log and pushing it into the rushing water. The lion jumped onto it and looked at Zoba. Zoba knew what he had to do. Stroke after weary stroke, he pushed himself through the water with the cub in his grasping jaws toward the floating, makeshift raft. When he finally reached the log, he lifted his head up to the dark lion.
Through his clenched teeth, he shouted "Take her!"

[magiccat]

Cat stuck close to her mums side. She doubted she'd be welcome with the others, like she doubted they had as mean a mum as she did. As Sanura fell in Cat was tempted to run ahead and help but when Kali told her to run with her and help Cat grinned. So they were going to give a helping paw!

"Off to the rescue once more" She whispered under her breath then checked to make sure her mum hadn't heard. The last thing she needed was to be told off as they helped save Sanura.

[blaqk.noise]

"Take her!"

Daylen took her by the nape of her neck, like the lion giving her to him had. Once he felt that he had a good hold on her, He ran across the log to it's edge and jumped off, landing on the riverside.

"Wait here." Daylen told her as he put her down.

He didn't think that the lion needed any help, but he didn't know for sure. He ran back to the log and jumped on. Daylen extended his paw to him as he dug his claws into the log, getting ready to pull him up.

[Lyonize]

When the dark lion took the cub and jumped onto the riverside, Zoba tried to get up onto the log. It was harder than he would have thought. Just then, he was hit by a large, submerged rock. The impact tore Zoba away from the log just as the other lion reached out to grab him. Zoba tumbled through the water and for a moment he thought "This is it. I'm done here."

He reached out with his right paw to grab something. Anything. Hoping that something or someone would be there to save him.

[Deleted]

Sanura felt herself slide and slide and then the cold water was covering her head. With her eyes wide open she could see all the old logs and stones on the river bed, slowly she sank and all she could think of was she was going to die like Meri. her body went limp and she didn't even bother to try and claw her way back up to the top to grab a breath, she just let the river do what it wanted.

Just as she closed her eyes she felt the fur on her neck being grabbed by sharp teeth and she could feel herself being hauled back up to light shining at her from up on top. All at once her top half was out of the water, and she took a gulp of air, coughing and spluttering. She couldn't turn around to see who it was that had saved her, she just closed her eyes again waiting to see what would happen.

The skin on her neck was throbbing, she felt like it was trying to rip away, opening her eyes once more as a wave washed over her. With water in her eyes, making it hard to see clearly, all she could see was big paws reaching out for her, and Sanura started to kick and struggle.
It's him, he killed Meri and now he's come for me, Karensha where are you, I need you, save me, help me.

The tiger cub felt herself leave the water and handed over to the big lion, her legs kicked and fought while she could hear her small voice scream.
" Don't you touch me, you're a murderer, you took Meri away, I hate you, I hate you."

[blaqk.noise]

"Awsome." Daylen thought sarcastically to himself.

The lion in the water had been hit by something beneath the surface and was knocked away from the log. Daylen thought about what he would do now to help him back on, but there weren't many options. He jumped in the water quickly grabbing the log again. He dug is claws back into the log with one of his paws, and used his other paw to reach out to the lion, hoping he would be able to grab it.

[Lyonize]

Just when Zoba had lost all hope of surviving, his paw was met by another paw. He wasted no time in grabbing it. With this, he pulled himself up to the surface and gasped for the precious air that awaited him at the surface. In no time at all, he was grabbing the log once more trying to get up. Once he had focused enough, he used his massive strength to climb up on top of the log. Immediately, he turned around to help the dark lion who he just realized had saved him. Zoba reached out his paw to help the other lion.

Uriah continued to follow them by land still with an awestricken expression.

[Dakota]

Just as Karenhsa had turned to head back with Sefu, she nearly ran into Figgy who had come charging through some bushes, debris was still clinging to his portly body. Stopping herself she smiled at the sight of him, and nearly purred when he stroked her cheek and then ran his warm tongue across her skin as well.

"Sefu and I were just talking about previous events in our lives, he cared enough to come after me when Kali opened her foul mouth again and upset me."

Peering around him, she couldn't see any of the others. With her eyes widening Karensha felt a shiver run down her spine, a forewarning that she had invited trouble again.

"Figgy, where is Sanura and her new friend Daylen... and what about the two new ones Zoba and whats his name, the one with the blue stripes... WHERE ARE THEY FIGGY?"

[blaqk.noise]

Daylen grabbed the lions paw and used it to get himself back on top of the log.

"Thanks" he said quickly before jumping off the log.

He landed on the riverside and fell to the ground, trying to catch his breath. after lay there for a while, he got up and looked at the lion that had jumped in after Sanura.

"Well, that was fun, huh? He said half jokingly, "You okay?"

[Lyonize]

Zoba jumped with the dark lion and landed on the ground. He stumbled around for a bit and slumped to the ground, exhausted. He panted heavily and he was absolutely drained of his energy but all he could think about was the cub. He couldn't speak he was so tired.

"Well, that was fun, huh? You okay?"

Zoba ignored his question. Between deep breaths, he panted "Where... is she... Is she okay?"

Zoba stood up to go to her and make sure she was alright. Uriah put his head under his brothers neck to help him up. As soon as Zoba was on his feet, a sharp pain shot through his left hind leg.
"Gaaah!" Zoba yelled as he fell to the ground again. Uriah stood back.

"Zoba! What's wrong?" Uriah asked.

Zoba ignored his brother. "Where is she? Is she alright?" He said as he stood up again. The pain hammered at his leg but he didn't care. His leg protested with every step. The only thing on his mind was making sure the cub was ok.

[cheezeegriff]

Kali sighed with relief as the little cub was pulled from the water, but then frowned at what she had to say:

" Don't you touch me, you're a murderer, you took Meri away, I hate you, I hate you."

"See, Cat?"
she said to her daughter.
"That's what happens to people who spend too much time with their head in the clouds."

The cub was passed along until one of the lions placed her on the riverbank and kept running after the other lions and the log.

Kali slowed before the little cub, lying on the sand like a drowned rat. A short sprint away the other lions were struggling back to shore.

Sighing, she reached down and grabbed the cub's jaw, making her look into her eyes.

"Look at me,"
she barked into the cub's face, then said more softly,
"Nobody is here to hurt you, but because YOU were careless, one of those lions is hurt."
She turned the cub's face to make her look over at the trio of lions. Even at this distance, she could see one of them was limping, but couldn't hear what he was saying over the wind in the trees and the sound of running water.
"Now, I'm going to take you back to your mother, where you'll have some explaining to do. Up:"
With that she slapped the cub's bottom, not hard enough to hurt, and nudged her back into the forest. Before she disappeared from sight she waved over to the drowned trio and pointed at Sanura at her feet, indicating to them that she was safe.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Figgy, where is Sanura and her new friend Daylen... and what about the two new ones Zoba and whats his name, the one with the blue stripes... WHERE ARE THEY FIGGY?"

Figgy winced as Karensha shrieked in his face. A chill ran up his spine, the same chill he felt whenever Karensha was going to blame him for something. Still catching his breath from all this walking around, he huffed,
"I left them in the clearing... where they broke my trap! After all Daylen's with her, and Sanura knows how to climb a tree if any of the others cause trouble. Come on: why don't we head back there, grab Sanura and strike out on our own again?"
He grinned as he said the last, nudging Karensha in a way that suggested mischief, but also, he hoped, in a way that would reassure her. Then he turned around and headed into the woods, but his breathlessness was catching up with him.
"Run ahead... if you like,"
he panted before plonking on his ample bottom, tongue lulling out of his mouth.
"I'll be along shortly!"

[Lyonize]

Zoba saw that the cub was ok but still very wet. The lioness who he wasn't sure he could trust was talking to her and helping her to her feet. Maybe we can trust her. Zoba thought while he saw the mother-like way the lioness spoke to her and lifted her up. She did have her own cub after all.

Zoba slowly let himself back down to rest his throbbing leg. Just knowing that the cub was alright relieved some of the pain in his leg.

Uriah stood there with his jaw agape and looking at the ground back and forth as if trying to sort something out in his head.

(Woohoo! 100th post!

[epppe]

Sefu became irritated when he heard Figgy say he left Sanura with the strangers back there, but knew getting angry wouldn't help much. He thought the two would have known better from there last experience together.

"I guess I'm going ahead to find the others since Figgy can't take care of a single cub."

He passed by both Figgy and Karensha knowing that it would take them awhile to catch up in the shape that there in. It looked like both couldn't even hunt for their own food. Running to the last spot where they were all at, he saw that they were all gone so he tried to find their tracks. It wasn't hard to find them since there were so many of them together.


Following the tracks as closely as possible, Sefu was getting slightly angrier thinking about how Figgy just left Sanura alone. Passing through a bush he found a scene that replaced his anger with confusion. It was the group but some of them looked wet and one was hurt.

"Uhh.. what just happened here?" Sefu asked hoping to get some answers.

[Deleted]

Sanura lay there panting trying not to vomit, it felt like her tummy was filled with horrible dirty water, and she had panicked, she thought it was Rondea that was reaching out to grab her and push her back under the water to drown her.
Letting out small coughs, the cub finally opened her eyes to see the lioness moving in closer to her, then a paw came out and grabbed her face and squeezed.

"Look at me,"
"Nobody is here to hurt you, but because YOU were careless, one of those lions is hurt."

Sanura tried to turn her face so she could look at the other lions, she didn't mean to slip and fall in, they couldn't be hurt because of her, but she couldnt move.
Suddenly she was released but a paw came down and hit her on her rump, Sanura jumped to her paws and started growling, moving in she bought her paw down quick and sunk her teeth into the lioness leg and then quickly let go, still growling.

" YOU HIT ME... YOU HIT ME ."

[cheezeegriff]

"You DESERVE a lot worse than that!"
Kali growled, then leaned in dangerously close.
"Now, move, or ask Cat what I do to her when she misbehaves."

[blaqk.noise]

Daylen saw that the lioness he had seen before was taking Sanura. He felt that she was safe, so he let her go. This obviously wasn't a stranger to Sanura. He turned back to the injured lion.

"You must have got hit pretty hard in the water, how bad is it?"

He hoped that it was just hurting from being hit so hard and not actually injured at all.

[Lyonize]

"You must have got hit pretty hard in the water, how bad is it?"

Zoba tried to move his leg but when he did, the same sharp pain shot through his thigh. He groaned from the pain.

"I'll live. I won't be able to walk very fast. I'll just need to rest here for now."

Zoba laid his head down in the damp grass with his leg in the least painful position he could find.

Uriah was still dumbfounded. He didn't know what to say. Taking a few steps back to try and contemplate what had just happened, he looked down at the ground and then at Zoba back and forth.

[Deleted]

Sanura kept moving backwards growling and baring her teeth.
" I wont go with you anywhere, and if you touch me I'll get my friends to hit you back but harder, you are a mean nasty thing."

Tripping over something behind her the tiger cub rolled over, but jumped back on her paws just as quick and ran over to where Daylen and the other two were all laying.
Slowing down she stopped in front of the lion called Zoba and watched how his face had pain on it, and how his back leg was at a funny angle. Feeling sad that someone had got hurt, through her not being careful enough she leant down towards his face.

"I'm sorry Mr Zoba, I didn't mean to fall into the river, I didn't know you would get hurt and not be able to move, when Karensha comes she will look after you, and Figgy can bring you some food, and you wont have to move until you are better."

Bringing out her small pink tongue she licked his cheek carefully, stepped back and padded towards his back where she curled up pressing herself against his sore leg, not knowing what else to do.

[Lyonize]

"I'm sorry Mr Zoba, I didn't mean to fall into the river, I didn't know you would get hurt and not be able to move, when Karensha comes she will look after you, and Figgy can bring you some food, and you wont have to move until you are better."

The cub brushed her small, rough tongue on Zobas cheek. It was comforting to know that she was able to accept him in spite of her first reaction to him when she stuck out her tongue at him. She walked over to his side and nestled herself next to his injured leg. They were both still wet so the two of them could stay together to keep each other warm.

Zoba turned his head to look at her and smiled slightly.
"I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen."

He turned his head to the lioness who had told the cub off for causing the whole event. "Maybe you should just go get Karensha and Figgy. Ill stay here with her. Zoba turned his head back to look at the cub. He then realized that of all the cubs he had protected, this was the first one that he had ever saved without knowing her name.

"I don't think you've told me your name yet have you?"

[Dakota]

Karensha bit down on her lips so she wouldnt keep raising her voice to Figgy, Sanura was in her care, it should be herself and not Figgy who looked after the cub. Leaving him where he fell, she took to her paws after Sefu, not caring that branches and foliage were getting tangled in her fluffy purple tuft once more, pulling out small pieces as she ran.

Finally, she saw where Sefu had stopped in front of her and she came fast up to his flank, herself coming to a sharp stop.
Looking around at them all, she saw they were all wet and looking miserable except for the cub called cat and her mother, who was standing there with a look Karensha didn't like, whilst staring at Sanura.

Taking a few steps closer to the lioness, the snow leopard let out a growl.
"You again... and if you don't stop looking at Sanura like that you will find youself on the receiving end of something I should have done earlier."

Turning away from her, she moved closer to the one it seemed was hurt, and Sanura was pressed up hard against, her fur all wet and it looked like she was shaking as well.

"Well, Sefu asked a very good question and now we would like some answers please ?"

[blaqk.noise]

Daylen just kept sitting where he was as the rest of the group rushed over to where Sanura and the new lion where. Daylen wasn't hurt at all, just wet, so it wasn't like anyone would hurry to check him out, they all wanted to check the cub and the injured one.

"I think I've had enough swimming for today" Daylen thought to himself.

He watched as more people who were unknown to him continued to enter into the picture, untill Karensha.

"I wonder where Figgy is," he thought to himself.

[cheezeegriff]

"You again... and if you don't stop looking at Sanura like that you will find youself on the receiving end of something I should have done earlier."

Kali turned, and purposefully gave her the same whithering look she gave to the cub, Sanura, before her lips curled up in a cruel smile. Threats from this fluffy white fatcat sounded like threats from a cornered meerkat.

"Well, Sefu asked a very good question and now we would like some answers please ?"

"Gladly,"
she said.
"After you and your fat husband each had a hissy fit and abandoned your cub to us, she decided to lead us all to your den. Only instead she lost her way and slipped into a river."
She nodded over at the injured lion.
"They all pulled her out. That one hurt his leg."
Then she turned, and sat beside her daughter, Cat.
"It doesn't seem fair, does it, that they should suffer after shouldering your responsibilities? Perhaps it's time you teach your kitten how to survive for more than thirty seconds on her own. I'm sure Cat could give her a pointer or two,"
she said, looking down with a proud smile at her own daughter.

[Lyonize]

"It doesn't seem fair, does it, that they should suffer after shouldering your responsibilities? Perhaps it's time you teach your kitten how to survive for more than thirty seconds on her own. I'm sure Cat could give her a pointer or two,"

Zoba became more and more irritated with every word the lioness spoke.

"This" he siad with a growl in his voice "could have happened to any one of us. You cannot expect anyone to survive without making mistakes let alone a cub!" Uriah paused to look her in they eye. He calmed his voice and said "You may raise your cub the way you deem best. But as for this one," he said glancing down at Sanura "her guardian or parent has the responsibility to raise her in the way they think best."

Zoba didn't like speaking this way in his injured state.
Uriah walked over to stand next to his brother to support him. He stood tall as he glared at the lioness. He now saw why everyone here loathed her presence. Nothing she had said so far was edifying in any way. Uriah wondered if she even knew how to say anything to encourage someone to help build them up rather than break them down.

[cheezeegriff]

"If you're happy to have risked your life for that cub's lack of survival instinct, be my guest,"
Kali said, smiling thinly,
"But I, for one, would try and teach the cub something that may yet save her life."

[epppe]

Sefu just sat in the back while the rest of the group seemed to be getting angry at the lioness. He didn't want to get involved since it seemed there was enough people against Kali but decided to anyways.

"Maybe you should teach yourself to respect others kid," He said walking to the side of Karensha, "How long do you think you'll survive when you make the wrong lion mad."

Turning back around, he walked to the two lions that looked alike, "Thanks guys for taking care of the cub."

He then bent down towards the cub, "and you, you need to be a little more careful. I doubt Figgy and Karensha want to lose you. But I guess you can't help but to have some fun."

[blaqk.noise]

Daylen couldn't help but feel ignored. He watched as everyone got mad at this new lioness that showed up, he didn't want to get involved though. He watched as Sefu thanked to two look alike lions for taking care of the cub.

"Figures," he thought to himself, "The one that jumped into the water after the cub and got hurt gets the praise for saving her. I had to kick the log so that they didn't drown AND I had to save one of them after Sanura was safe because he lost his hold on the log."

He continued to watch as the group continued to argue with the lioness.

[Deleted]

The tiger cub, sat there, her head going back and forth between them all, trying to understand what they were all saying, in the end she just watched karensha to see what she was going to do the mean one.

Next thing she knew was that Sefu had come out from behind the snow leopard and had walked over to her and was smiling down. Looking up at him when he said "But I guess you can't help but to have some fun." she reached out and licked his nose, grinning back.
"I like having fun, and now I have all of you to p;lay with as well."

Getting to her paws, she went to pad over to Karensha, she wasn't sure if she was going to punish her, she hadn't said much after everyone else was talking, but when she saw Daylen, sitting all by himself, she moved over towards him.
"I'm sorry for making you get all wet and dirty, and, and I didn't mean to scream at you and call you a murderer, I thought you were someone else. When I came up out of the water I couldn't see properly and your paw looked the hugest thing ever and reminded me of Rondea, the one who took my friend Meri away, please forgive me, please stay with us, you were before all this happened."

[cheezeegriff]

"I like having fun, and now I have all of you to play with as well."

Kali rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation.
"I'm going to go kill something,"
she said, turning away.
"If anyone wants to come then be my guest. Cat, what do you want to do: watch the hunt or stay here?"
Normally, she'd make sure her daughter was darn-well paying attention to hunting technique, but they had only just joined up with this new group and she wasn't going to force her to leave just yet.

[Dakota]

KALI STOP !

Karensha left the side of those who had all saved Sanura, and walked around Sefu as well, till she was blocking the lioness route.

"Before you do or say anything about how or what I do to look after Sanura, you need to take a good look at yourself and how you treat your own daughter. Look at her, the only time I saw her smile was when you weren't around... you remember, when YOUR daughter ran away from YOU, and came to us. So don't ever say to me I don't look after Sanura. I look at her and see her laughing and smiling, and confident enough to make new friends and accept others whether they are 'perfect'or not, she can make mistakes, but she also knows shes loved enough that I will not hit her and yell at her, which I have seen you do to that cub sitting down beside you.
You need learn Kali... that for Cat to respect you , you have to respect her as well."

Stepping back the snow leopard walked over to the three felines that were totally drenched and looked them over.
"I don't know how to repay you, for saving Sanura, especially you Zoba seeing you have been hurt in the process, for now we will look after you, till you are able to get back on your feet."