Adulthood

"I can't move" Miale replied "I can't"

"I will help you back" Twilight replied "Don't you worry" then he looked at Katai "Sooner we leave the better; he may return with friends"

"Thats the last thing I want to happen" Jasiri said sadly

"Yeah...the sooner the better..." Katai is weak and needs time to gain his strength back, however he stands up watching the blood drip from his muzzle. He leaves a trail of blood on the barren ground.
Guan coughs a little more, "...dad, my head hurts..." he cries a little in pain.
"Guan...don't worry, we'll sort it out when we return...Miale will need to be seen to too..." he lifts Guan up by the scruff of his neck.

"Yeah I know" Twilight replied picking Miale up by the scruff and looked at Katai; he motioned with his to paw to Jasiri to follow.
Jasiri nodded and padded away.

Miale breathing remained shallowed and Miale drifted off again into unconciousness.

Katai's reactions are now slower due to all the fighting and the injuries Myka gave him, "Dad..." Guan looks up to Katai coughing a little, "...what's...wrong?"
After crossing the border into the Pride Lands, Katai places Guan on the floor, "I'm a little worn...out, Guan." he collapses to the floor again.
A tear falls from Guan's eyes, "Dad...are you gonna be ok?"
Katai looks at Guan, "Yes Guan, I'll be fine. I'm a strong lion...it's okay." he licks Guan's head clean.

Twilight and Jasiri followed Katai back into the Pridelands. Seeing Katai collapse to the floor he rushed to his side and stood above him placing Miale soflty on the ground.
"We have to keep going Katai" Twilight said concerend before looking at Miale who had once again slipped into unconciousness; Twilight sighed sadly and nuzzled Miale trying to wake him up but getting no response. Another tear ran down his cheek and fell to the ground.
"Wake up Miale....wake up"

Jasiri sat down away from the group shaken up and lightly scratched seeing the images in his head about what just happened.

(Hehe, don't worry. I wasn't planning on any death anyways. =))

Katai rests after being carried on Reth's back. Guan closes his eyes too, not as much blood is pouring from his head now.

Twilight picks up Miale again by the scruff and follows the others padding as fast as he could to keep up with them.

Jasiri follows as well but lags behind still in shock.

Katai stirs a little, his right paw moves. He is still in a lot of pain with his injured muzzle but waits for Asha to come back. He rubs his muzzle with his paw looking at all the blood on his paw after he takes it off.

Twilight padded on with the others till they got back and placed the unconcious Miale on the ground once more; sighing slightly he lay down in front of him placing the cub on his paws.
"How you doing Katai?" Twilight questioned to Katai looking over at him concerened.

Miale opened his eyes once again his breathing had improved slightly but it still remained quite shallow. He tried to move his paws or some part of his body but it refused to do so.

"Not too good..." Katai pants a little, "...I'm...worn out...to be honest..." he looks up to Twilight, "...I'm just waiting...for Asha to...get back with Guan...so she can do something with this muzzle of...mine."

"You will be ok Katai" Twilight said looking at Katai smiling sadly at him "Your a good strong lion....you will be better in no time" he looked at Katai for a moment and averted his eyes away before looking at him again "I'm sorry about Guan...I know hes going to be ok; poor cubs are going to suffer for a little while because of what happened" he sighed looking down at Miale noticing that he was awake again.
"How do you feel Miale?" he asked concerned nuzzling his son.

"I can't feel anything still" Miale replied "I'm sorry about all the trouble.....we didn't mean for this to happen" he sighed slightly; a tear rolled down his cheek "We all paid in one way or the other" he said crying.

Katai scrunches his nose up and yawns. He rests his head on his front paws and watches the weak cubs. He sighs sadly and waits for the others to return.

Katai scrunches his face up when Asha smears the runny substance on his muzzle, he moans a little in pain but relaxes. After Asha does this he smiles a bit up to her, "Thanks Asha. You really have a gift for curing and sorting out injuries..." he then pauses, "Guan...cut his head though." he sighs sadly, his ears droop.

"Its not you fault Miale...its none of you fault" Twilight replied nuzzling the cub before looking over at Asha "Miale doesn't seem to have any cuts but he can't seem to move" he said looking worried "What you thinks wrong?" he questioned.

"Am I going to be alright?" Miale questioned looking about the den at Katai and Asha

"Miale, you're a strong cub...you'll be alright." Katai looks over to Miale before looking back to Guan and Asha.

"I sure hope so" Miale sighed closing his eyes sighing some more.

"You'll be ok son" Twilight replied nuzzling the cub "So will Guan and you Katai" he smiled slightly

"I'll live through this...it wasn't that bad of an injury so I should be fine..." Katai looks at Twilight and Miale sitting up slighty, still laying on his side.

"Could of been worse though" Twilight replied "Lucky so many came in support" he said looking out the cave "Very lucky" he said shivering slightly.

"Thank you Katai and dad" Miale said with his eyes still closed "I can't thank you enough"

"It's alright...I always like to be there for other pride members. Most importantly, I don't like to see any innocent lion killed by an outlander...or any lion for that matter. It's no problem, Miale. You, Guan and Jasiri are very lucky...if I never came you'd probably be dead now...if Twilight, Asha or Reth never came...it'd be worse for me too..." he looks up to Twilight, "Thanks, Twilight." he then turns to his mate and son, "Thanks, Asha...I couldn't thank you enough for all that you've done for me and fellow pride members..." he nuzzles her and then looks at Reth, "...thanks Reth...my son. You'll turn out to be an hell of a lion when you grow up to be fully grown...you've already shown that today." he smiles to Reth.

"No problem Katai" Twilight smiled "Anything to help a family member and a friend" he said nuzzling Miale again.

Miale opened his eyes and looked about again trying to move his paws but still couldn't making him sigh loadly once more.

"It's alright Reth...I'm glad you've proven yourself to be the strong and brave lion you'll always be..." Katai smiles and nuzzles Reth.

After Asha rubs the solution onto Guan's head, he smiles, "Thanks mum..."

"Yeah don't you worry I'll look after you" Twilight replied looking down at Miale "You will be better soon trust me" he said nuzzling the cub.

"I sure hope so" Miale sighed looking about at the others in the den.

Jasiri padded away from the group and sat at the entrance hanging his head and sighing; he was still in shock about what had actually happened.

"No" Jasiri replied "Just shocked and scared" he said shacking looking up at Asha "I'm scared" he said weeping slightly cuddling up to her paw.

Guan lays down on the floor, purring at ease now that his head is feeling better.

Twilight stroked Miale's fur with his paw and looked around the cave at the others.
"So I guess we are a little bit alright now huh?" Twilight questioned.

Miale felt a little feeling return to his paws but a small pain came to him making him mew in pain slightly and stoped moving.

Guan sits up, rubbing his head with his paw. "Mum, my head hurts..." he walks over and sits next to Katai, "Dad...my head hurts..."

"Give it some time to heal, Guan." Katai tells Guan, "My muzzle's hurting too..."

Jasiri continued to shake as Asha curled around him and burried his head in her fur weeping softly.

Guan sighs, "Darn outlander!" he growls a little before going to snuggle up to Asha.

Jasiri continued to shake snuggled up to Asha weeping still.

"It hurts" Miale replied trying to move his paws feeling some feeling coming back to him.

"You'll be ok Miale" Twilight replied nuzzling the cub smiling slightly

Guan begins to cry a little since his head is hurting, "Don't worry Guan...I got him back for you all." Katai looks over to Guan who is upset.

"Yeah but my head hurts...real bad." Guan wipes one of his tears away that's sliding down his face.

"Yeah we are ok here" Twilight replied placing Miale between his paws near his chest to keep him warm and nuzzled him once again.

"I'm sure I will be ok soon" Miale said getting his feeling back in his body but continued to mew slightly in pain.

Jasiri continued to weep snuggled up to Asha still scared.

Guan sighs, "I wish we never went there now..." he cries again sadly.

"Same" Jasiri said sobbing into Asha's paw

"I should of learnt from last time" Miale sighed closing his eyes snuggling up to his father.

"Well I really hope you learnt this time" Twilight sighed

"You shouldn't enter those lands alone...especially without an adult. You've really got yourselves to blame although the outlanders shouldn't be like that anyway." Katai looks at the cubs before rubbing his muzzle once more, "God, this is painful..." he moans a little in pain.

"I know" Miale sighed and closed his eyes in pain mewing once again.

"I never thought you would do what your sister did" Twilight sighed and nuzzled him once again.

Jasiri continued to weep into Asha's paw "He tryed to kill me...he had me pinned" he said shaking and stuttering

"I hope so...it hurts but at least you were here for us..." Katai smiles up to Asha, "I thank you for that."

"I know" Jasiri replied his voice slightly muffled as he continued to snuggle up tight to her fur "It doesn't feel like I am though" he said continuing to shake.

Guan's ears shoot up at the sound of other animals, he pads to the entrance of the den, looking out curiously.

Guan keeps a watch on the animals, "Mum, what are all these animals around for?" he looks back to Asha before looking out again.