In taking the lead to succeed his father as tribal chieftain, a young tiger consults various leaders for advice.

Elder Advice

“The reason I have gathered you together here is because I have an important goal to reach and an announcement to make - one day I will take over my father's place as tribal chief, and I am asking for advice. This is why I have gathered you here.” Although he is still young, Liach Dieagi has been entrusted with the responsibility of taking over his father's role as tribal chief. The young tiger is aware of this, which is why he sent for three advisory chiefs to seek out advice on how he can best rule his tribe.

The tribal tiger prince is seated inside of his tent with a small lantern fire going to keep some light going. Seated with him are three different tribal chiefs - River Tribe chieftain Juan Tivola, Loren chieftain Hildebrandt Bodega, and Nefaro chieftain Felix Vangarde. While initially curious, the tiger prince explained the situation to them, which greatly increased their resolve to help the young tiger prince settle into his future role so he wouldn't be so nervous.

The tiger heir surveys the white lion first, noting his powerful appearance. Amazed at the sight, Liach claims, “Surely, you are the most powerful chief out of the ones I have gathered today. Will you show me the best way to fight and rule?”

Juan gestures to Felix first and then Hildebrandt respectively, claiming, “Between lions and tigers, we’re equal in power and strength. The clouded leopards live in a very cold climate, so they'll assist you with camouflage and trapping. Hyenas, on the other hand, can assist you with defense and offense in fighting.”

When Felix and Hildebrandt stare at the white lion chief, the Maasai lion raises his hands, “Just saying; giving my input here. I'm not a know-it-all.”

Liach scratches his chin in thought and considers, “The white lion speaks well. He is wise for his age. May we do some practice fighting?”

Noticing this, Juan suspects, “You're going to use me as a punching bag? We're both completely different in terms of age and physical strength.”

Liach assures the white lion, “You are not a punching bag, sir. Since you're a powerful warrior, you could work with me in combat.”

“Combat, eh? Well in that case,” Juan stands up and proceeds to head outside to meet Liach to start the training immediately. He waves for Liach to come, mentioning, “we can begin on that right now. Please follow me.”

The young tiger hesitantly follows, but picks up the pace upon gaining a short boost of inner confidence. Once they head outside, Felix and Hildebrandt later emerge, just to spectate. They're tagging along just to not get left behind, but the initial training may open some door that they may have never considered.

Upon reaching a clearing in the territory, Juan turns to face Liach to instruct him when the tiger suddenly sends a fist to the lion’s abs to test his strength. The white lion gasps and raises his hands up in recoil. Then the young tiger Prince does it a second time, punching Juan's abs even harder.

“Oof!” Juan grabs his stomach upon recoil, quickly relaxing after the harder hit to which he comments, “For a young person, you can hit pretty good. Now for a bigger challenge, I want to see if you can knock me down once.”

Liach draws a deep breath and claims, “If it's to help me in my role becoming tribe leader, so be it.”

(🎵 Stealth Run- Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed OST)

“Oh-oh, looks like they're going at it!” Standing on the sidelines, Felix eagerly anticipates the practice fight to gauge Liach’s combat abilities.

“And we finally get to see what this young man is capable of.” Hildebrandt nods in agreement while folding his arms, clearly interested in surveying the battle session. Both he and Felix note Juan and Liach squaring off, but only for practice.

The white lion and the tiger size each other up while staring each other down. Offhandedly, Juan mentions, “If you manage to take me out once, you win! You have three attempts. Then after that, we will move on to archery. And then Felix will direct you in camouflage matters.”

“Got it. Read you loud and clear, Chief.” Liach nodded firmly in understanding.

The battle starts with the white lion and the tiger circling each other, matching each other move for move. Then Juan makes the first move, charging directly at Liach.

Seeing the white lion charge directly towards him, Liach quickly observes Juan cocking his right arm back for his first attack. Mistake number one - most enemies do this as their first move. And Liach has a general idea of where Juan is going to land his attack, so the tiger jumps into action.

Liach decides to knock Juan off balance, so once the white lion is within striking range, he goes on the offensive, initializing his counter with a swift leg sweep to trip the white lion up and following this up with a swift power kick to the stomach, dropping the white lion flat on his face.

Both Felix and Hildebrandt become wide-eyed upon seeing the tiger prince effortlessly drop the white lion chieftain, who simply picks himself up after a few seconds. But Liach isn't done yet.

When Juan wipes his face and turns to the tiger to attack, Liach begins pummeling him in the stomach with hard, heavy hooks, not even giving Juan a chance to fight back. However, Juan swats Liach in the face, stopping his barrage.

While the tiger prince wipes the slap away, Juan is left clutching his stomach, not ready to give up yet. On the sidelines, Felix and Hildebrandt are whispering amongst each other, betting on who will win this match.

“100 coins says Juan beats Liach to smithereens.” Felix mused in a hushed whisper.

“I am not a gambler but 500 coins with Liach dominating Juan.” Hildebrandt stated, his attention returning to the fight.

When Liach reveals his claws to the white lion, the River tribe chieftain resists the urge to do the same. Knowing this is a practice fight, Juan keeps his own claws retracted. If this was any other fight, they would be out now.

*WHAM!*

“!” Juan clutches his stomach once more from Liach delivering a powerful spin kick to his abs, leaving behind a trail of 4 tiny claw marks on his abs. The white lion shakes his head and straightens up. When he assumes his position again, Juan releases a powerful battle roar from his lungs, settling into a more aggressive stance.

The two men dive into each other, delivering a mixed flurry of attacks to each side. But when Juan opens up to deliver a high overhead attack, Liach uses this opportunity to evade and stun the white lion with a swift arc kick to the side as well as a left cross to the same area. Then the tiger starts to pummel Juan’s body once more before delivering a flying kick to the face to finally knock him down and out for the count.

Both Felix and Hildebrandt are left surprised at the final blow dealt to the white lion. And after going down, the three felines rush over to Juan’s side.

Despite his bruising, Juan only smiles and slowly stands up, hissing from the pain coursing through his stomach. With assistance from Liach and Felix, the white lion chieftain is able to stand up fully.

Having no ill will towards Liach, Juan turns and hugs the tiger prince as a thanks for a job well done. Liach, however, is initially surprised, knowing all too well of the vengeful attitude that some losers had in fights. But the white lion is different; this instance is different.

“Your fistfighting is excellent! Have you learned that from your father or is that your own technique?” Juan implied, awestruck at the young tiger.

Liach relates, “I've learned a lot from my dad, but I have gone to some self-defense classes of my own inside the tribe. I can't say I'm a skilled expert myself, though.”

“You're certainly skilled enough to take down an older and more powerful chief at your age, young man.” Felix and Hildebrandt make their way over to the duo, both of them equally impressed. They later head back to Liach's lair together with the tiger promising to patch Juan’s bruises.

~~~~~

Juan hisses in pain from Liach massaging and pressing down on his sore abs. The white lion chieftain is laid down on his back, flat on a cot and Liach is standing over him, massaging his bruises. But upon seeing the scratch marks, Liach hums in thought, “I think I know what to apply here. This may sting a little, but those scratches cannot under any circumstances get infected.”

Felix and Hildebrandt are sitting on velvet red pillows while Liach steps away to retrieve what he's searching for. While waiting, the clouded leopard mentions, “Well Hildebrandt, you were right - our boy just got his butt handed to him by a prince, a jungle king at that! That in itself is impressive!”

“Yeah well, there is more work to do with his overall training. We just started with the combat part, something which Juan excels in overall.” Hildebrandt recalled. “Each of us has a special skill in our role which is why Liach sought our assistance.”

While the clouded leopard and the striped Hyena are engrossed in conversation, Liach reappears with a small vial. Seconds later, they hear Juan hissing in pain from the liquid being poured on the cuts to his abs. The liquid is actually strong alcohol, used to deter infection in open wounds.

While Liach goes back to massaging Juan's sore body, the young tiger comments on the white lion’s appearance, “You're quite a handsome beast for a white lion. How tall are you, exactly? You must win a lot of attention for your overall looks, sir.”

“Please, call me–” Juan attempts to reason with Liach to use his personal name when he suddenly flinches and roars from a sensitive spot being hit. This makes Felix and Hildebrandt jump in recoil while Liach raises his hands and backs away, “My apologies! I didn't mean to hurt you further!”

Juan settles down at the apology and responds, “Young man, you're fine. I’ve dealt with worse injuries than this. It all comes with the role of being tribal chief. Just don't get any funny ideas.”

While Juan chuckles at the irony of the situation, Liach goes back to massaging Juan's body, only more gentler. The tiger prince wonders, “So what's next with my training? Archery? Swordfighting? What exactly?”

“Archery with me and then Felix will direct you in hunting and ambushing regarding camouflage. Then you and I will do some practice with handheld weapons.” Juan reported.

“I don't know how strong I will be but I would love to have your strength and size, Chief.” Liach dreamed.

“You’ll reach that point one day with a constant exercise routine.” Juan assured him. To prove his point, the muscular white lion chieftain shifts to a more comfortable position and flexes his left bicep for Liach to see.

~~~~~

Following Liach's successful victory in the fisticuffs section of his training, the team moves on to archery next. And Juan is the one taking the lead in this. Also on standby is Felix and Hildebrandt, also armed with their own bow and arrow.

Juan is taking the lead, directing Liach's aim towards the target, which happens to be a bullseye target stationed at least 100 ft away. After some practice with five arrows, Juan monitors Liach's progress and moves onto the next distance which is 200 yards away. This time, Juan directs Felix to showcase a perfect shot at the target, which the clouded leopard performs effortlessly.

Five tries later, Liach attempts the same, though not as nearly perfect as the last one. Four of five shots made the bullseye, which is still good for an upcoming archer. The target distance is increased further to 300 yards and this time, Hildebrandt takes the lead in directing a perfect shot to the target.

When Liach attempts to perfect his shots, he does manage to hit the target on all of them, but he only manages to land only 3 bullseye shots on the middle of the target. Seems like he can use more practice on those perfect shots. Then again, maybe not. While retrieving the arrows, Juan observes, “You’re a good shot, Liach. But not all your shots will be perfect. When it comes to fleeing targets, a single shot anywhere is enough to incapacitate or impale them, so you don't have to worry about perfection. You only need to worry about actually hitting the target.”

Liach draws a deep breath while having been tense this whole time. Juan's words echo in his mind, making a clear point to him. He didn't have to be perfect, which was worrying him this whole time. Realizing the source of his tenseness, Liach resolves with a mutter, “Maybe that's what's been holding me back… but not anymore…”

With the target distance now set 400 yards away, Juan attempts to demonstrate a perfect shot, just barely getting it directly in the middle of the bullseye. Then when he retrieves his arrow, it is Liach's turn next.

Liach just misses the target with his first shot, but with the next four shots, the tiger is able to make them count. With this done, Juan surveys the progress and announces, “Overall, Liach, you’ve done well. Though you missed only one shot, you did well.”

While Juan retrieves the four arrows and the missing fifth arrow, he jogs back to Liach and announces, “Okay Felix, it is your turn to teach Liach some lessons in camouflage.”

While Felix gives a curt nod, Liach gulps out of nervousness, unsure of whether he will be a good candidate for the camouflage routine.

~~~~~

Felix takes Liach to another part of the tiger tribe territory where the clouded leopard can use his own coloring pattern to his advantage in demonstrating this to Liach.

Taking the lead in this demonstration, Felix counsels Liach on how best to conduct his approach. “Since this is a grassy area, you’ll want to stay as close to the ground as possible when you're ambushing your prey or your enemies. You’ll have a better element of surprise that way. You may also want to use the trees to your advantage since you’ll literally get the drop on your target. Try it out on me.”

Using himself as bait, Felix begins to relocate to another part of the territory, leaving Liach to use the information given to carry out the attack. But with two options to choose from, Liach takes to the trees in bringing down his target.

Stealthily and quickly, Liach makes use of his agility to bounce along the treeline, catching up to Felix in no time. Then when he spots the clouded leopard below him, the tiger prince leaps from above and tackles him to the jungle floor, almost giving the clouded leopard chieftain a heart attack from surprise. Remembering the advice he gave to the tiger, Felix compliments Liach, “You catch on super fast! You're a smart kid! If you try that a few more times, you’ll be a bonafide expert in the trees!”

The young tiger only makes a chuffing noise out of gratitude as he hugs Felix and nuzzles him, “Thank you. So what is next? Hunting?”

“Hildebrandt and Juan will work with you together on defense with melee weapons but we will remain if you have any more questions before we leave.” Felix reported while hugging the young tiger back.

“When are you going to show me the hiding part during the hunting segment?” Liach recalled, “You were supposed to showcase that to me too!”

Felix points out to the tiger prince, “There is not enough room to do a full hunt due to lack of grassy plains in the area. Plus, you're already skilled in using the trees to your advantage, so why not just leave the hunting part out? Otherwise, we'd be continuing for no reason.”

~~~~~

Following the end of the session with Felix, Liach comes back to the main tent to witness Juan and Hildebrandt openly sparring in a light swordfight. But between the hyena and the lion, Juan is able to knock Hildebrandt’s sword away and send it flying from his hands.

While Hildebrandt is taken by surprise, Liach rushes over to the hyena in wonder and notices the sword lying on the grassy ground. When he turns to survey Juan, he can see the white lion already at the ready, sword tightly gripped in an upward offensive position.

Hildebrandt is unharmed, though he quickly removes himself to avoid further complications and injury. This gives Juan and Liach the space and maneuverability they need for their duel, but the moment Juan makes the initial charge at Liach, the tiger prince directs a kick to Juan's right kneecap to knock him off balance. But when the white lion ends up falling, he quickly rolls back up to his feet, still clutching the weapon.

This time, Liach rushes towards Juan, only for the white lion to swing at him in defense. They clash briefly, crashing their blades into each other. But after a swift slash at Juan's upper body, the white lion is able to cancel with a downward parry of his own. Suddenly, Liach withdraws and hesitates. He is actually looking for an opening to disarm his opponent.

Juan rushes into battle again, aiming a moderate downward slash at Liach's face. But the tiger prince ducks underneath and delivers a sudden uppercut to Juan's abs, causing him to reel. He nearly drops his sword but a heavy swing from the tiger sends the weapon flying from Juan’s hands. But the tiger prince isn't finished; he ditches his own sword and readies himself for Round 2.

When the white lion chieftain rushes forward, Liach suddenly somersaults forward and delivers a flying spin kick to Juan's face, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap. Disoriented, it takes a moment for Juan to regain focus and sit up, rubbing his head from the blow.

Juan is left even more impressed at the young tiger. He comments, “You're remarkably strong and resilient for a young tiger. How are you so quick to disarm me like that?”

Liach grins proudly and puffs his chest out, “Training with my father and adding my own technique to it. It pays off really well. Learning under my father has taught me a lot!”

“And your father will certainly be proud of you.” Juan noted with a beaming smile. “Let's head back to camp to review and then we will be leaving. It has been nice training you.”

~~~~~

Once the team makes it back to the main camp, Liach is hugging Juan, rubbing his head on him in amazement. He thanks the white lion for his help. “Juan, you are one of the biggest, strongest men I have ever met in my life. And I owe you a big thanks in helping me with my combat training. You and Hildebrandt have been the best.”

“I haven't done anything, to be honest.” Hildebrandt acknowledged, his ears twitching. “I was hoping I could make that sword session count.”

“You two have done enough for me and it fares well.” Liach replied gratefully. He admired the white lion for his leadership and initiative, as well as the clouded leopard and the hyena for their assistance. However, Liach still felt something was missing.

When Liach separates from Juan, he rubs his neck and addresses the trio, imploring them for further advice where he questions, “I still feel something isn't quite right. What must I do to become a good leader overall for my tribe?”

The response is immediate - Hildebrandt answers pointedly, “To be a good leader, you’ll have to put the needs of your people ahead of your own. You’ll do well to work on relations with other tribes, local governments, and your own clan. If you're a nice, humble, and modest chief, you’ll be successful. But if you're a tyrannical dictator, you won't last long.”

Liach could feel his heart sink at Hildebrandt’s advice and subsequent warning, turning the tiger speechless. After a moment, he finds his voice and murmurs, “Wow… I honestly never thought it could go that far. I will try my best to be a good leader.”

Juan pats his shoulder in reassurance, affirming the tiger prince of his role, “You will have nothing to worry about, Liach. You'll do well.”

“I hope so.” Liach murmured in worry. “I'm too young to die and I don't want to throw away what you and my father taught me.”

“If you get stuck on something, you can turn to your dad for help. He’ll assist you as much as he can for your new role.” Hildebrandt assured him.

“Well young tiger, this is goodbye for us; only temporary.” Felix hugs the young tiger in one last parting farewell before separating. And as Felix, Juan, and Hildebrandt all leave the cave, Liach is left alone to consider his future role as chieftain, reflecting on his training and advice from them and his father.

~~~~~

Liach Dieagi belongs to AzulunaStudio; Juan Tivola, Felix Vangarde, and Hildebrandt Bodega belong to me!