A/N: Last chapter sparked some very interesting discussion on Kion's debate/argument with Jasiri. It's supposed to be Kion arguing for the superiority of his culture, while Jasiri is arguing that their truly fundamental values are the same regardless. Personally, I think Kion is more right than Jasiri (and am apparently one of the few!), as he is willing to grant Jasiri's point about fundamental values but Jasiri is unwilling to admit that Kion's point is more than just "I'm better than you". It's supposed to mirror contemporary debates of course, where the left tends to win the major cultural battles but the right still holds political power, and both sides are envious of what the other team has while taking their own power for granted.

But in story terms, it's more a case of both of them being stuck in a desert under a blazing sun, with Kion being hungry and afraid for his friends while Jasiri can't help but feel a bit resentful about him being a prince. Neither of them feels much like listening to the other in that moment - and that of course can be interpreted as commentary as well :p

"Kion? I'm scared."

"That lion," said Jasiri, "Is that…"

"Scar," said Kion, breathlessly. He stared at his granduncle, who sat silently in the maw of the cave. "How in the world…"

"Hello Kion. Jasiri." The aging lion inclined his head towards them as though it were the most normal thing in the world. As he did so, a string of crimson gourds peeked out from underneath his dark mane, clattering softly in the silence. "It's good that you made it here – though not unhurt, I see."

Kion's paw went to his forehead, unbidden. Even his headache and his hunger seemed unimportant in that moment. "Granduncle. What… what are you doing here in the Outlands?" The old lion was not strictly speaking an enemy, but he was still the most dangerous animal alive and everyone knew it. He was Scar the usurper, the slayer of kings. He had fought a god in single combat during the fight that had split Pride Rock in half, and the goddess of wrath was said to be at his back and call.

"I was banished from the Pridelands," the old legend said dryly. "By your father, in fact. Did he forget to mention that titbit to you?" His lips twisted into a sardonic smile. "But it's just as well. Here, I can conduct my labours undisturbed by… less enlightened folks."

"Labours?" Kion stared at him, still trying to gather his thoughts. "Wait, were you the one who…"

"Shenzi," Jasiri interrupted him, eyes wide. "Our matriarch went with you – is she here now?"

"Ah, so many questions. How I've missed having little ones around… like a bad toothache." Scar tilted his head in the direction of the cave. "Come, let's discuss everything inside. The sun out here is murder."

Kion nodded almost without thought, and followed him into the mouth of the cave. "You're the one who drew me here," he said, realizing. "Does that mean it was it your voice I heard, back on that hill?"

"It might have been." The former king gave a lazy shrug. "I drew on our familial connection: I sensed your growing power and thought you might be able to use some guidance from the Pridelands' wisest, seeing how your father never mastered his own abilities. Well, not that either Rafiki or I had much chance to teach him before I was banished, but that was really his own fault when you think about it."

"So you don't know where my friends are, either."

"I'm afraid I have no connection to the rest of your Guard, no. But that Roar of yours could be heard all the way from the Pridelands, so I expect you'll see a familiar face here rather soon."

Jasiri was still eyeing him apprehensively. "Scar…"

He sighed. "Yes, yes. You'll find what you're looking for further down below." The three of them ventured deeper into the cavern, but though the light from outside grew more dim with each step they took, the air almost seemed to be getting warmer somehow. Kion wondered faintly how that was even possible, yet there were more important things to consider.

"Granduncle Scar," he said, "those gourds around your neck: I've seen them before, during my training. They're used for gaining enlightenment, aren't they? Is that what you've been doing here all this time?"

"Smart boy. Yes, those are related to what I'm doing, though I assure you that enlightenment is something I mastered long ago. Ah, here we are." The trio was assailed by a wave of heat as the tunnel opened up into a wide chamber, and Kion's nostrils flared as they were filled with a pungent smell. In the center of the room rose a forbidding stone mound from which one could survey the rest of the chamber, around which yawned a dimly glowing chasm that vented strange fumes. It was only when Kion heard the bubbling that he realized in shock that it was lava supplying the cavern with light and heat: That chasm had to extend far further down than he initially thought.

In the centre of the room lay three hyenas, lounging in front of the stone peak amidst a sea of scattered bones. The female lying in front had a dark glint in her eyes, while the two males looked dully ahead, drooling and softly giggling to themselves.

The lead hyena gave them a weary look. "Jasiri. So you finally found me, huh?"

Jasiri stared back, defiant. "Shenzi. I thought – I thought Scar had taken you to the other side of the world, to find a solution to our problems. You were here in the Outlands all this time? Why?"

The lost matriarch shrugged. "Oh, he did take me around the world… and then we set up here, to finish what we started."

"Shenzi has been helping me teach the animals around here enlightenment," Scar explained. "She was one of my first students: I owed it to her because of… various reasons." He gave a meaningful glance towards one of the drooling hyenas in the back. "The plan is to eventually have an enlightened representative from every major species, each with the ability to control the elements – or what young Kion here would call the Roar of the Elders. With that kind of power in the hands of the wise, it would no longer be possible to ignore the needs of lesser species. There would be… equality, of a sort."

"Then why didn't you come back?" There was a desperation in Jasiri's eyes that looked wrong on her. "If you learned, like, Kion's magical powers or something, then come back and use them to defend us!"

Shenzi waved her paw dismissively. "Oh please, what use would I be to you? I'm old, Jasiri. Plus I got these two to take care of." She thumbed a paw at her two shadows. "We'd just eat your food and give you nothing of value in return. Nah, far better to just let you and little Janja run the show from now on."

"Little Janja is running his own show now," Jasiri said bitterly. "Shenzi, you have to come back! Our watering hole is running dry, and Janja is taking all the hunting grounds for himself. You have no idea how hard it's been since you left."

Kion looked at her in wonder. This was as serious as he had seen her in… had it really only been a few hours since they met? "I thought you said you and your clan were doing just fine."

"Well yeah." She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't about to confess all of our problems to a Pridelander."

Shenzi was shaking her head. "I can't be around to solve your problems forever, Jasiri – though if Scar's right I might be able to offer you a bit of advice now and then when I'm up there in the stars." She gave Jasiri a crooked grin. "You're just gonna have to settle matters between you and little Janja yourself, dearie."

"Wait," said Kion, realization dawning, "little Janja – you mean he's your son?"

"You shouldn't act so shocked," Shenzi said with half-lidded eyes. "Even bad boys have mommas."

"He's more than just a bad boy now," said Kion. "He's attacked the Pridelands and killed three wildebeests, and he tried to kill Jasiri and myself in the ravine. He needs to be dealt with."

Kion felt a paw tugging on his shoulder. "Come," said Scar. "Let's leave them to it, shall we? I'll show you around." Reluctantly, Kion allowed himself to be pulled away from the two hyenas, sensing that their conversation was not going to be a pleasant one.

"Granduncle, I don't have time for a tour. My friends…"

"…will be taken care of," Scar finished. "Help is on the way. In the meantime, you need to learn about what we have been doing here. You wield the power of the Roar just as we do, and that makes it our shared responsibility." He entered one of the side-caves, motioning Kion to follow him.

"All right," he said, "but I'm taking a risk in trusting you, granduncle. I…" He coughed. "What's that smell?"

"Hey guys, come on in!" Three blurry figures were lounging amidst a sea of crimson smoke, which Kion had thought at first to be volcanic fumes. His eyes stung and his vision blurred from the pungent gas.

"Yeah," said the second figure, who appeared to be… a pig? "The more the merrier, eh Timon?"

Scar sighed deeply. "It turns out that the crimson fruits can be used for a variety of effects, with different results depending on the user. Kion, meet Timon and Pumbaa. I'd have kicked them out a long time ago if I did not feel some shared responsibility for setting their previous master on fire."

"Eh, forget about it." The second figure waved his hand dismissively. The meerkat was lying spread out on the stone floor of the cavern, looking very relaxed indeed. "You gotta put the past behind you is what I always say. Isn't that right, Pumbaa?"

"Yeah," said Pumbaa, nodding enthusiastically. "The past is in the, that thing behind the thing with the… stuff." He rallied. "Besides, this way our boy's getting a royal education! I'm so proud."

"Your boy?" Kion blinked against the fumes, trying to make out the shape of the third figure. "What."

"Oh hey Kion! How's it going?" Bunga gave him a cheerful wave. "I didn't recognize you for a second there. So hey, meet my adoptive parents! They're really chill dudes. Oh, and Scar, I guess. He's cool too."

"Bunga, what are you doing here? How… why…" He pinched his eyes closed, trying to overcome the effects of the fumes that were working their way in through his nostrils. "Okay, look. I get that your parents hang out here and that's why you know about this place, but that doesn't explain how you're a part of all this and why did you never tell me about Scar?"

"I'm helping him with his secret plan to save the Pridelands!" He waved at Scar, who seemed to be experienced in suffering his antics. "I'm allowed to say that now, right? Great. So anyways, I was just visiting my dads' and apparently it turns out that I'm one of those super cool enlightened people who are able to control the elements! Bunga the Wise, they call me."

"Nobody calls him that," said Scar. "Rather, we found out in our research that enlightenment requires both clarity of purpose and a correspondingly singular focus toward one's goals. It turns out that the honey badger's bloody-minded dedication to the pursuit of fun foots the bill, as it were."

Bunga grinned widely. "Hey Kion, since we've got the same powers, does that mean we're equals now? I feel like it does. Heck, we're basically brothers!"

"That does it," said Kion. "I'm getting out of here before these fumes and all this weirdness melts my brain."

"Toss another fruit on the fire while you're out there. The air is getting clear in here!"

Kion followed Scar to the next chamber, still trying to suppress his growing headache. I swear, if this next inhabitant is just as stupid I am going to scream.

As he entered the room he stopped, taking in the sight before him. A red snake was coiled in the centre of the room, swaying silently on the spot as though in a trance, while four red pillars of smoke billowed from vents around him. The eruption of the vents occurred in an eerie synchronicity with the snake's movements, almost like a rhythmic dance, though it was hard to tell if the snake was merely responding to the eruptions or controlling them himself.

The snake opened one eye and glared at the entrance. "I told you not to dissturb me during my meditation, you blithering–" He blinked. "Master Scar! Pardon me, Your Highness. I mistook you for that insufferable honey badger."

"Oh, I quite sympathize," Scar said dryly. "Ushari, I want you to meet my nephew's son, Prince Kion, who has succeeded me as captain of the Lion Guard. Kion, meet Ushari, one of my most talented students."

"It iss my pleasure," said Ushari, bobbing his head.

Kion stared at him. "Hey – I remember you! You're that weird snake Bunga caught during patrol."

"He did not catch me, he violently and unlawfully assailed my person – and I am a king cobra, you dunderhead!" He flinched, seeming to remember himself. "Forgive me, my prince. It's – it's these fumes, they lower one's inhibition. I fear they bring out my worst qualities."

"No worries," said Kion. "I get it. I felt my brain leaking out of my ears after talking to Bunga for just a minute back there. Normally I can hold out for like half a day before that happens."

"It's supposed to make me more acerbic," said Scar, "though I've frankly never noticed a difference." He shrugged. "Ushari here is a visitor from a distant land where snakes once ruled as kings. He will be aiding our mission as representative for the reptiles."

Ushari bobbed his head. "The lizards and skinks of this land look to me for relief of their plight. It is my hope that one day I may secure a future where my kind is treated as the equal of mammals."

"Their plight?" Kion frowned. "I don't think I ever noticed anything about us oppressing reptiles."

"Well of course you wouldn't have noticed," Ushari hissed. "It's hardly something you do on a conscious basis!" He stopped himself, squeezing his eyes shut. "Forgive me, it's these fumes… I have not mastered them yet."

"Let's leave him to it," said Scar. "We still have much to discuss."

They returned to the central cavern, where Jasiri and the other hyenas were still talking in hushed voices at the foot of the stone mound. Judging by how distraught she looked, their talk was not going well.

"She's dying, isn't she? Shenzi, I mean."

"We're all dying," said Scar. "All of us, all the time – but it does not have to be that way." He clambered up onto the central mound, jumping from one protruding rock to the next to reach the top. "Through gaining enlightenment, you gain control of yourself as well as the world around you, allowing you to tap into the connection that we share with the universe. We are one, as my father would say – though at the time I had no idea it actually meant something." Kion scrambled up after him. When he arrived at the top he found that Scar was giving him an appraising look. "That same connection allows us to live on after death, as part of the world and the stars above us. Enlightenment could give us all eternal life."

"It wouldn't really be life though," Kion said uncertainly. "The Spirit Kings give us wisdom when we need it, but if they really were alive like we were, I think they'd take a more active role in things."

Scar shrugged. "True, those old curmudgeons would never give up their rule if they had a choice in the matter, even if it meant setting hunting quotas through carefully directed bursts of starlight. Old Ahadi certainly had a good go at securing a second term during my reign, for all the good it did him. Still, an eternity of dispensing wisdom to an adoring audience sounds far preferable to… not that." He examined Kion closely. "How about you, lad? Would you like to live forever?"

"I – I don't want to die right now," Kion said, not used to being questioned this way. "So I guess I probably won't want to die later, either, unless everyone around me still dies and I'm stuck up there all alone or something." A thought occurred to him. "Wait, can spirits talk to each other, or just to us?"

"We still don't know exactly what awaits us in the afterlife – that's a problem we soon hope to solve." Scar cast a meaningful look to the hyenas below. Jasiri appeared to have given up on arguing with her matriarch, and was now lying down in front of her, defeated. "Shenzi was my first student, but now we have many – each with the power to represent their own species here on earth, and then to guide them from the afterlife thereafter. Their wisdom will spread, until one day we achieve immortality for all."

"That'll never work," Kion said without thinking. He flinched as Scar's eyes bored into him. "I mean… if everybody has equal power it only makes it more tempting for them to fight each other, doesn't it? The whole reason lions have been in charge all this time is because it stops everyone from having to worry about war and infighting and stuff. People don't really want equality; they just want to be able to go their own way without having to live in fear and uncertainty all the time."

"I see you've been talking to your father," Scar said dryly. "I swear, that boy is trying to become a clone of Mufasa, with all his talk of honour and tradition. Honestly, I thought I taught him better…"

Kion frowned. "What's wrong with honour and tradition? All our wisdom comes from our elders, like the wall paintings in the lair of the Lion Guard which the royal mjuzi used to record our history. Or the way the lessons from our past Kings is repeated in stories, passed down through the generations."

Scar snorted derisively. "Have you ever played a game of Whispers? Pass a message to your sister and have her repeat it to a friend, and keep it going in a circle until it comes back to you. See what remains of your original message." He swiped at some old bones that were lying around, sending them tumbling down the mound with a hollow clattering sound. "Behold: There lies your ancient wisdom."

Kion stared at the old lion, unnerved. It felt almost like he was talking to Jasiri again, the way his core beliefs were so casually mocked, except it was clear that Scar was much, much better at it. "I still don't think there's anything wrong with listening to your elders," he said carefully. "After all, you are an elder, granduncle, and it seems to me that you much enjoy being listened to."

Scar grinned widely, baring his teeth in a vicious sneer. "Oh ho. Then it seems to me that you make a good show of listening to what you already wish to be true, my good and noble prince. 'I ought to remain in charge because it is better for everyone if nothing changes.' Methinks your moral precepts are a tad too convenient for your own good, grandnephew."

He glared at him. "Yeah, well… maybe you wouldn't have so much trouble with authority if you weren't so convinced that you're smarter than everyone else. Or are you saying that the best way to resolve a dispute is by violently murdering the person you disagree with, right in front of their only son?"

Kion flinched as soon as he said it, realizing he had gone too far. Scar froze, the sneer on his face twisting into a rictus grin. The old legend stepped closer, teeth bared, and Kion tumbled and fell backwards, landing on his back with his paws in the air. The stench of rotten meat was on Scar's breath, so very much like the smell of those dead wildebeests, and he felt a primordial terror steal his breath away.

Alert / Danger!

The line to his stomach snapped taut, and the earth shuddered beneath him. All around them fumes roared up from the vents, and the hyenas scrambled away in a panic as magma suddenly spewed forth from the chasm behind them. Scar spun around, roaring at the erupting vents and forcing the lava back down into the earth. Then he turned to face Kion, his green eyes boring into him with undisguised fury.

"Fool boy! You'd use that power down here? Did you mean to kill yourself as well as the rest of us over a childish dispute? For someone who just called me out over my past misdeeds, you certainly seem eager to repeat them!"

Insolence / How dare he!

Kion recoiled at the injustice of the accusation, feeling a sudden wrath not unlike the lava he had inadvertently summoned. "It's not like I did it on purpose. Maybe you should know better than to corner the fiercest animal in the Pridelands… granduncle."

Good / Put him in his place

Scar pulled back, staring at him mutely for a few seconds. Then his lips tugged into a dangerous smile. "You know," he said, "I think I just might be starting to like you, boy. You have more brains than your grandfather at least, though I don't know who you could possibly have inherited that cheek from. Some of your mother's wilfulness perhaps, as well as your grandmother's smouldering ire…"

Kion clambered back to his feet, taking deep breaths in an attempt to regain his senses. Challenging Scar the kingslayer, captain of the old guard and the most dangerous animal alive… what in the world was I thinking?

"Come." Scar turned and headed up a nearby ridge, climbing ever higher until he reached a passage that seemed to lead back up to the surface. "We're going to need to teach you to control that power of yours. I don't know what Simba has been teaching you all this time, but it was clearly insufficient. Here."

Kion silently followed him up to the surface, and blinked against the sudden light. They had entered a small desert clearing, enclosed by a circular cliff that extended from either side of the cave's walls. The sun poured down from above and glistened off stone slabs that been scattered around the arena. Water trickled down from a crack in the cave's side, and steam hissed up from a chasm in the centre of it all.

Scar turned and smirked at him. "It's been a while since I faced another wielder of the Roar. What say you we have ourselves a spar, grandnephew? Show me what you can do!"