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One fateful night in the Pridelands, the Lion Guard, sworn to defend, chased a pack of hyenas back to the outlands. Little Kion delved deep within himself to the power of the Kings before him, and produced a mighty roar that blew the nasty interlopers rolling and whimpering straight into the barren outlands.

What Kion and the others couldn't know, at least until the next day or two, was that _these_hyenas were actually aardwolves, and no threat to anybody. Though they looked the part, aardwolves were smaller, with big, bushy tails, and they wouldn't hurt a fly. Now, a _termite_was another matter. A single aardwolf could eat 250,000 termites in a single night!

With the six aardwolves scared and alone in the Outlands, that left a million and more termites uneaten - every day. The Lion Guard quickly realized their mistake (or rather, _Kion's_mistake) and charged into the Outlands to rescue the aardwolves, but their job was harder than they imagined! When the striped canines saw the Lion Guard approaching, they ran, and hid.

They only managed to catch the aardwolves' leader, Mjomba.

The rest of the aardwolves, tired and dry and hungry, scattered even deeper into the Outlands, and scampered into a cave covered by dry, musty rocks.Just what an aardwolf liked.

Little did they know, their new neighbors, Reirei and Goigoi, knew all _about_aardwolves, for they were blackbacked jackals, and there was nothing quite so tasty to a jackal than an aardwolf!

Haya hopped around in their new hiding place, trying to be as optimistic as Ogopa always managed. With Mjomba gone (and assumedly eaten by the Lion Guard), his mate would be their leader. He couldn't say that he minded - he'd always admired Ogopa, and he couldn't help but notice that she was somewhat lacking in a mate. He swished his black tail and said, "Coming in here was a _great_idea! It's roomy, nice and dank, wall to wall dirt!"

"Nyagh. Too bad there's nothing here to eat..." Ogopa whined, collapsing to the ground. They had yet to see a single termite in the Outlands, much less a million-and-a-half. Well, now that Mjomba was gone, a million-and-one-quarter.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that..."

All ten aardwolf ears swivelled to the single cave entrance, where two figures stood in bright silhouette. The Lion Guard? They cowered together, eyes wide, knowing that they were surely doomed.

"We're the folks from next door."

"Howdy, neighbors!"

Two voices, kind and very unlike the Lion Guard met their swivelled ears, and Ogopa relaxed. Those voices belonged to some very friendly, grinning canines, though she couldn't say for the life of her what species they were. Something niggled at her mind though about their brown fur and dark-colored backs.

"Phew! You _scared_us for a second there," Haya explained, daring to step a few inches forward in greeting.

"We thought you were the Lion Guard," Ogopa said, relieved.

The male widened his eyes and looked around, gasping. "The Lion Guard! Where? Pardon me!Reirei made me do it!" he yelped, jumping into his mate's arms.

"Goigoi..." the female jackal groaned, lifting one simple hind leg and sending Goigoi rolling into the nearby rocks.

Haya found this quite reassuring. "Oh, you don't like them either. Well, don't worry. They'll never find us. We totally gave them the slip!" His confidence notwithstanding, the prudent aardwolf liked to hedge his bets. "I think."

"I see," Reirei said in a way that made none of the aardwolves think that there was a lot more to see here. With a charming flash of sharp teeth, she stepped forward and said, "Well now, set your minds at ease. We're the_furthest_ thing from the Lion Guard, believe you me. And, uh, _why_exactly were you running away from the Lion Guard?"

"Because they're mean. And they're scary."

"Say it, sister!" Reirei applauded, for there was nothing quite as scary to the jackal as the Lion Guard - always _guarding_everyone.

Haya circled around beside Ogopa and added, "But mainly because Kion's roar sent us flying out of the Pridelands!" Even if Kion's bark was worse than his bite, that left a _lot_of room for a pretty bad bite.

"And then they came after us here. You won't tell them where we are, will you?" Ogopa pleaded.

"Don't you worry about that. I promise the Lion Guard won't find hide nor hair of you," she said, and in a rare fit of truth-telling, she added sidelong to Goigoi. "Well, maybe a little hide."

Goigoi was never one for subtlety. "And maybe a _little_hair."

"Huh?" Ogopa said, backing up.

"All we're trying to say is, as your new neighbors, we're going to be _such_good friends. And you know what friends do..." Reirei said, trying to recover.

Goigoi wasn't picking up on it, though. "Have each other for dinner!"

Another kick, and her mangy mate went flying again. "He means 'have each other _over_for dinner.'"

Then, before another nosy question from the aardwolves, and a riff from unseen guitar, Reirei broke into song. "This is your new home."

"And we're your new friends," Goigoi added in overdone spoken line.

"No need to keep running, your trip's at an end," she sang, smiling at the frightened aardwolves.

"We're here for you." Goigoi explained.

"We know how you feel. Just stay with us and we'll make you a meal!"

Ogopa didn't know what to think about that, and Reirei quickly reassured her. "You'll be safe inside."

"Inside our bellies!" Goigoi drooled.

"Goigoi!" And yet, despite such subtle hints at their real plan, the jackals had the aardwolves singing along in no time, until Ogopa and Haya were literally in Goigoi's arms, never realizing that a jackal's style was no bark and _all_bite.

Ogopa laughed at the end of the song. "Oh, that was fun, huh? We're so lucky we picked this cave to hide in."

"Uh, no honey," Reirei grinned. "_We're_the lucky ones."

But at that very moment, six figures were approaching the cave, and I'm not talking about money.

"Yep, they're hiding in that cave alright," Ono said, after taking a quick glance into the inky darkness.

"Okay, this time we need a good plan," Kion growled, remembering the last time when Bunga landed among the aardwolves and spooked them all.

"On it," declared Bunga. "I'll go in alone."

Beshte stepped forward, using his not-so-inconsiderable weight to block the black-and-white badger. "No! Sorry little B. Nothin' personal."

Kion finally came up with the brilliant plan to talk_to them, _this time with their ace in the hold. "Mjomba. Will you go in that cave, tell the other aardwolves we're not a threat?"

"Sure, I can do that," the pot-bellied leader of the aardwolves. He didn't seem especially enthusiastic until Kion spoke again.

"Just pop your head out when you know they won't run. Then we can all go back to the Pridelands."

Mjomba's eyes widened, remembering that the Pridelands were _swarming_with termites. "Then I can eat unlimited termite feast! Here I come!"

When Mjomba finally waddled into the delightfully dank and dark cave, he ventured forth with a careful, "Hello, any aardwolves at home?"

Goigoi always spoke before he thunk. "Private party..." he growled.

Reirei saw the intruder and quickly gushed, "Not at all, not at all. The more the merrier!"

"Mjomba, you escaped!" Haya gasped with mixed feelings. Now that their leader was back, Ogopa would return to him. "How smart, how brave!" Realizing who exactly he was talking about, Haya became suspicious. "Uh, it is really you, right?"

"Yeah, it's me," Mjomba replied helpfully. "I got good news! The Lion Guard are the good guys. They saved me!"

Ogopa was grinning at her mate's surprise entrance, but when she heard that, her eyes bugged out so wide, she was lucky no one mistook them for termites and ate them. "Good guys!? No way! They kicked us out of the Pridleands. Is this another...trick? Are they hiding behind you...?" she asked with a trembling hush.

"No, and they didn't mean to kick us out. They thought we were hyenas."

Haya blinked. "Hyenas!? That's ridicu -" He glanced at the others. "...okay, now I see it."

Mjomba shrugged, mouth watering. "Anyway, they want to take us back to the Pridelands. Since we left it's crawling with termites."

That was why Ogopa had fallen for the stocky canine. "Mmmm, termites...crawling with them?"

"Yeah! And we can eat 'em all. They _need_us to."

Haya was willing to forgive Mjomba's return once he heard about termites. "You hear that? We can go home and eat termites!"

"So let's go!" Mjomba declared, turning around and noticing the jackals for the first time. While they were talking about the most important thing in the world (termites), they had forgotten the second most important thing (be afraid of everything else).

Reirei was at the entrance, glowering at them. "Hold on a second. I thought we were going to have dinner here!"

Ever willing to compromise, Mjomba said, "Well, I dunno. You got any termites?"

Reirei licked her lips, grinning down at the cluster of aardwolves. "Oh trust me, none of you are leaving this_cave hungry. In fact, none of you are leaving at _all. Goigoi, push!"

With a heave of his strong legs, the male jackal kicked a huge stone over the entrance the to cave, blocking out all but the faintest sunlight. Finally understanding the nature of the jackals, the six aardwolves huddled together, yipping.

A hundred yards away, the Lion Guard waited for Mjomba to stick his head out. Instead, the cave was closed. Kion glanced at the others. "Something's not right. Why'd they do that?"

"Maybe they're still scared of us?" Fuli asked, cocking her head.

"You think they didn't believe Mjomba?" Beshte asked.

Kion wasn't sure. "We promised to help, but I don't want to scare them off again. If they need some time to trust us, then we'd better give it to them. Come on, let's go back to the Pridelands. We'll see if they have a change of heart tomorrow."

* * * * *

When Kion lead the Lion Guard to the cave the next day, they ran across an old friend. "Dogo?" Kion asked, noticing the blue-eyes jackal pup running across their path.

"Yip, yip, yip!" the adorable little pup replied. "I'm Fobi. Dogo's over that hill."

Bunga rolled his eyes and spoke to Fuli under his breath, "Is it just me or do they all look the same?"

"Well, Fobi," Kion said, glancing down at the distant cave. The rock had been rolled away, but he didn't see any sign of the aardwolves, and Ono had flown nearby but didn't see or hear anything either. "We're looking for a pack of aardwolves. Have you seen them?"

Fobi shook his head. "No, but mom may have! Follow me!"

Ono flitted beside Kion. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked, as Kion started to follow the jackal pup. "It's not like we're on the best of terms with Reirei."

"If she can tell us where the aardwolves went, I don't care what she's done in the past," Kion whispered.

Fobi stumbled over the hill, rolling down with a yip. Kion and the others emerged into the area just outside the jackal's den, and it was a hotbed of action. You had to feel sorry for Goigoi and Reirei, having to keep track of what seemed like _dozens_of jackal pups. The adults were basking in the sunlight in the middle of a pile of playful pups, pouncing and yipping and tugging on bones and hide.

"Oh, if it isn't the_Lion Guard_," Reirei said, tongue panting in the hot sun, but her voice was dripping with something that wasn't drool. "Lose your way?"

Kion looked the jackals over, noticing right away that they looked absolutely stuffed. Reirei and Goigoi were positively fat, barely able to move, and the little pups were all roly little puff-balls as well. They appeared to be doing very well for themselves. Two pups almost ran into Kion as they played tug-of-war with some sort of pink flesh.

"No, Reirei. We're just, uh, looking for someone. The aardwolves were hiding out in that cave over the hill, but they've moved on. I was hoping you saw where they went."

"Aardwolves?" Reirei said, blinking. "I think I _did_see where they went."

Goigoi grinned. "I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

Reirei glared at him. "Actually, I'm almost sure I - urrrp!" She clapped a paw to her mouth. "_Excuse_me! I swear I saw them slinking away further into the Outlands last night. Looked to me like they weren't interested in sticking around."

Kion cocked his head. "But I told Mjomba we wanted them back in the Pridelands."

Reirei licked her lips. "I'm afraid they're planning to stay here."

Bunga said, "Whelp, more termites for me."

The hippo looked less certain. "I don't think even _you_can keep up with the termites back home."

Kion flattened his ears. "I guess they didn't accept my apology. I don't want to tell Dad... Thanks for telling me, Reirei."

"Oh, it was our_pleasure_," she grinned, before burping again.

On the way home, Kion brooded. Ono flew low beside Fuli. "Is it just me, or did those jackals look _awfully_well fed?"

Fuli said, "Keep your voice down," in a hush. "We can't tell Kion. If he knew what_really_ happened..."

Ono kept his beak shut.