R U N

[Mega]

Everything was a blur to poor Mega but the one thing that did click in his brain was that the queen just attempted to kill her own child. Muscles coil and then release as the large male springs up the rocks aiming to tackle and pin the lioness with a roar of fury.

“You monster!”

~~~~~
“Kanzi!” Afua screams out their name in horror as they watch the teenage drop over the ledge. Full fledged horror flows through the teen only for the large alien to catch the young lion. Afua turns up as he hears Kopa screaming to his mother and he quickly rushes up towards him.

[Jasper]

Things had happened so quickly Jasper hardly had a second to breathe, his body had lurched forward in an attempt to snatch Kanzi from his demise only to collapse on the flat of Pride Rock with a thud. His eyes were wide and wild, heart thudding in his chest as he watched the Gourmand's attempt to catch his child fail. Eyes were shut, tightly, painfully. He couldn't breath. Beside him, Kiara reacted, throwing herself at her mother.

He gazed downward, expecting to see a shattered broken body but instead, he saw Zamora, and he felt his heart stop. Relief settled over him, tears stung his eyes. She had saved them. A gasping breath left the Freedom Fighters leader before he snarled, relief turning to violence within a snap. He had been docile but now, not so much. He broke the bindings that held his wrists together. His human form replaced with his tiger form. A loud snarl filled the air with the rest of the chaos, and his body readied to spring but Gourmand started to fire.

He would have to have a word with that man, but for now?

Kiara was the priority. She was screaming to have Nala arrested when the firing started, his body lurched again, snatching the Princess up by the scruff. His feet snagged at the ground below his feet, darting away from the onslaught and towards Kopa. His mind a mess but he knew one thing. Get the kids out of harm's way. As he approached Kopa, he slammed his body into him, tucking Kiara into his chest and causing the three of them to plummet to one of the lower levels of Pride Rock and away from the fire of Gourmand's guns.

He landed on his back, pain flaring but he hardly had the time to pay heed to it. As soon as he could get the air back on him, he was nudging Kiara off of his chest, and nudging Kopa onto his feet. "Get up, now, we need to leave!" He ordered harshly.

[Marahute]

Golden wings spread wide as Marahute soared towards Pride Rock, a wildebeest carcass clutched in her sharp talons. Now that the bandages that had kept her grounded while her wings healed after being hit by Perthmail's magic had been removed the great golden eagle was eager to return to her former strength and had immediately taken to the skies for a long overdue hunt.

Crimson hues settled on the crowd gathered beneath Pride Rock as Marahute drew closer and her feathers ruffled in unease as she picked up on the chaos that was bubbling ever closer to overflowing uncontrollably. Marahute let out a screech as she witnessed Nala shove Kanzi from the rock but she was too far away to even attempt catching the cub on her back but luckily Zamora intercepted Kanzi's descent. Anger boiled up inside of Marahute; how could Nala even dare attempt to kill her own blood?!

Everything quickly became a blur of furious responses to the attempted murder; Marahute's keen hearing easily picking up the sound of The Gourmand's weapons firing, even as the wind whistled loudly in Marahute's ears, Kiara's scream for order that went ignored, Kopa's enraged question--

Golden wings quickly tucked themselves against Marahute's body, talons releasing the wildebeest before extending towards anyone that dared to try and stop her from reaching Jasper as he snatched up Kiara and Kopa to get them out of the immediate danger zone, however, seeing that Jasper and the cubs were momentarily out of harms way Marahute quickly set her sights on the spot where Zamora and Kanzi now were and plummeted down towards the two of them instead. Clearly it was time to leave this sorry excuse of an army behind.

[Afua]

“Kopa! , Kopa!” Afua’s panicked cry leaves his maw as he continued to leap up the boulders before suddenly being slamming backwards more so shoved really by the ex leader and once Afua got his breath and senses back from the fall he quickly saw why as a gun was aimed at Nala as Jasper scoops up his best friend and then his sister taking them out of the blast range.

“What....no!” Afua could only sputter out as the crowd around him turned into chaos. In the back of the blonde’s minds he was thankful that the ex leader had saved his friend but another part was fearful of what was to come next.

[Tarzan]

Tarzan at this point had saw enough. Angers flew and accusations thrown, the emotional storm that was pride rock had grown too uncontrolled. With everyone in the mood to spill blood, he had get to those who weren't looking to get outta Dodge. Tarzan looked for Flynn, who he knew was not in on the the raging emotions flying around. Once he found him, he went to Flynn's side and wispered "This is not going to end well for anyone. We need to leave now. Help me look for those who aren't looking to fight here. We need to go."

[Nala]

How dare they.

How DARE they!!

Nala's expression contorted into a snarl as Kanzi was snatched from the air, safe and sound and not burst open like a melon. Kanzi's fate was hers to decide -- the product of her dear demented husband and Jasper's weakness had been born to control the monstrous tiger. Kanzi's death was supposed to be part of Jasper's punishment, the price he had to pay for the hubris of defying his queen's wishes!! Teal eyes filled with murderous malice turned from face to face as accusations and cries for blood were voiced.

How dare they all!! She was their queen, their sovereign. The decision to rid her family of Jasper's whelped cub was squarely within her right! She could have all of their heads if she wished -- she would have all of their heads --

"THAT IS ENOUGH."

The muscles about Nala's eyes twitched like the legs of a hyperactive spider as Kiara practically screamed in her ear. A snarl ripped from her throat at the sheer audacity. Did her daughter really think that a few words and an overinflated ego could rip the crown from Nala's head so easily??

Then Kiara -- her dear, darling, idiot daughter -- turned her gaze away. Narrowing her eyes Nala lifted her paw again, claws unsheathed. Kiara wanted to play like a little rebel, did she? Then she would find out what happened to smart-mouthed little traitors.

Traitors paid in blood.

Click, click, click, click, whirrrr...

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Like her daughter Nala had momentarily forgotten the presence of the Gourmand before them, a mistake not likely to be repeated. The lioness froze with a clear question upon her face as his weapon pointed itself firmly upon those gathered. She was quicker to react than the rest though -- a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye alerted Nala to Mega's incoming tackle.

Leaving Kiara forgotten the grown queen turned to deflect and shield in one moment. Rearing up Nala seized Mega's forelegs with thorn-sharp claws and turned, letting his momentum push them both in a whirl that planted him firmly between herself and the Gourmand's weapon. Then she released. If Mega was quick maybe he could grab the stone beneath them and stop himself from careening off of the edge and towards the floating sea creature. If not... 

Well. The fall would take care of him well enough.

Shield aside Nala could not escape the scope of the Gourmand's gun. Searing heat punched its way into her side as the lioness' front paws began to descend, a bolthole erupting right between her ribs. With a strangled grunt Nala returned her paws to the stone, crumpled a bit about the red flower blossoming against her coat.

You know what? Maybe that was enough.

Teeth bared in a grimace Nala rose -- and fled, bounding around and over those in her path as she made a beeline for the paths leading to the back of Pride Rock.

[Shani]

Shani had been reduced to a little more than a shaking ball of anger and fear in Zamora's arms once the trial had started. She listened intently to the voices around her, her own jaws clamped firmly shut, simply so she wouldn't miss anything over the vibrato of her own voice in her chest.

Michi, also, was a puffed up ball of anger, though she feebly admitted she didn't have the size or skill to do much anything about it. She had simply sat at Nevada's feet, glaring up at the lioness on priderock with cold green eyes.

It of course, hadn't taken long for everything to turn to chaos. Shani was shocked, but not much at all surprised to find out Nala had a paw in Simba's death. Less so the more she listened to the words that spewed out of the lioness' mouth. With each outcry from the crowd below her, Nala's tone became more and more deranged, more angry, more desperate to keep control of the situation.

When she called for Kanzi, Shani's blood ran cold. Why on earth-?

The cries from the crowd around her, as well as the sudden jolt from Zam shoving her into Nevada's arms caused her nerves to spike, 
"What is going on!? What happened?" she asked frantically, wishing more than ever at that moment that she could see what was going on in front of her.
"Nala just tossed Kanzi off pride rock!" Michi told her.
"SHE WHAT?! Are they okay!?"
"Yeah, I think so," Michi's voice was next to Shani's head now, it seemed she had climbed up and perched herself on Nevada's shoulder,
"Yeah, Zam's got them. and... oh boy..."
"What?"
"It looks like The Gourmand is going to-" "BANG" "-shoot at Nala..."

Shani's worry only heightened, she needed to know what was going on with Jasper.
"What about Papa? What did they do to Papa?!"

Michi stretched on her tippy-paws as she tried to see over the sea of heads, the crowd now becoming an angry hive of movement and yelling, some trying to get away, some trying to get to Nala.
"I can't see him. Kiara and Kopa are gone too, but it's too chaotic up there, I can't make heads from tails."

Shani wiggled out of Nevada's arms, landing on the ground at his feet, before looking up in Michi's direction,
"We need to go find him!"
Michi nodded, hopping down onto Shani's shoulders,
"Right, I'll direct you, just start heading toward pride rock."

[Boso]

"I'm going with you."

Still shaken up by what he had just witnessed, Boso quickly sprang to Michi and Shani's side. "Now's our chance," he told them in a very grown-up voice, though his tail twitched nervously. "We have to find him before that bitch does." 

Boso was not allowed to cuss, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to the cadets. There was something very liberating about being able to say a swear, and besides, Nala was a bitch for what she tried to do to Kanzi. Good thing Zamora was there to catch them. Boso did not want to think about what would have happened to Kanzi had she not been there.

"Let's go!"

[Kiara]

Thank the stars that someone had the forethought to move. Kiara's gaze was fixed in a distant position as she was snatched from her frozen stance and carried bodily over the surface of Pride Rock, slamming about as she flopped in Jasper's oversized jaws. Feline instinct brought her paws and legs up close to her body as the princess scrunched her eyes shut with a grimace, trying to make herself as small a target as possible for any accidental mishaps. Sure, she was really much too big to be carried like this, but given Jasper's size it didn't really seem to be that much of an issue for the moment.

There was a moment of stomach-flipping weightlessness as the tiger's paws came around Kiara in a tight clutch, throwing the pair as well as her brother off of the throne of Pride Rock and out of immediate danger. A jolt as they returned to earth, finally opening Kiara's eyes to what was going on. 

Absolute chaos.

She heard the screams and cries of those struck by the gun just above them, a cacophony of pain and fear from those whose only crimes had been loyalty to their pride. Kiara felt her stomach fall again. Please let no one die... They were her pridesisters, her family. Abandoned to fate because she was too young, too weak to protect them.

Pressed back to her own four paws the young lioness craned her neck back to look Jasper in the eye for a brief moment. This wasn't the time to question what was happening -- he'd just saved their lives. Considering her mother's willingness to murder her own children, Kiara had to take Jasper's alliance at face value for the moment.

Knowing Kopa, however...

Kiara leaned into her brother and covered one of his paws with her own, silently pleading with him to listen to her just this once as she nodded at Jasper. "Lead the way."

[Nevada]

Every muscle in Nevada's body was tense; every instinct in him screaming for him to stop standing around and do something, anything to get Jasper away from this uncontrollable chaos but he couldn't move; memories of a chaotic scene similar to this one were flashing through his mind. The sound of The Gourmand's guns firing had him flinching, jaw gritting in an attempt to bite back the anguished scream that rose up in the back of his throat as images of his younger brother being shot by Flint tore through his mind.

He wanted to run, wanted to escape the memories this chaos was dredging up; memories he wished he could burn. The sensation of Shani wriggling free of his arms thankfully snapped Nevada out of his frozen state, bright green hues snapping down o the young cub and kitten at his feet as they prepared to bolt off into the crowd to find Jasper. He couldn't let them go, it wasn't safe. Boso's voice encouraging the other two cadets had Nevada cursing internally; snatching the two youngsters back up into his arms was no longer an option if Boso joined them. Green hues settled on Marahute and he got an idea; it would sap a lot of his strength and possibly render him unable to run with the rest when the time came but Jasper and Zamora were counting on him to protect their babies right now and so he poured his energy into shifting into an eagle that almost rivalled Marahute in size before he moved to carefully gather Shani, Michi and Boso beneath him, shielding them from the worsening chaos of the crowd.