We've Gotta Get Her Back!

So worried about her pup. So worried about Tani's safety. So worried about Scamp and Angel. The dog had never once mentioned being worried about Mooch. This frustrated him, made him depressed but more determined than ever to bring his friend, the one who truly cared about him back. With Tani back he could finally have back the person who liked to play with him. Who noticed him and who...Mooch could even say loved him. Like a friend but it was still love.

He raised his eyebrows, annoyed and lowered his head. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." He raised his head. Difficult but he did it anyway. "Are we going or not, puffball?"

Angel nodded. She started out of the tent - then paused and leaned close to Scamp.
"We'll get her back, Tenderfoot. I promise." She held his gaze for a moment before leading the way out of the tent. The easiest way into the graveyard, she'd discovered, was the edge where it joined the Pridelands' outskirts. From what she'd heard, Scar hadn't posted guards there - although the area would still swarm with hyenas - because it was a pretty steep slope. Once they got in that way, they wouldn't be able to get back out the same way.*
Still, she had a few plans for getting out again - and 'Tani knew the graveyard and the Outlands. Once they'd freed her, she would surely know the safest way back out.
It would be safe to say that Angel didn't believe Scamp's assertion that 'Tani would be killed. Zira might want to... but Scar would know she could be too much of a useful asset to waste. Still, Angel didn't want to think how badly Zira might have beaten 'Tani. Some family. she thought sarcastically.

*(OOC: Yeah, I'm thinking of the route Simba and Nala entered the Graveyard in TLK - straight from the Pridelands' border)

Lady shivered as she left the tent behind Angel. Every fiber of he body was telling her this was a foolhardy and ridicules move. She walked behind the two pups, so she could keep an eye on both. She especially watched Angel. Noting how her adopted daughter moved with confidence. While the cocker padded along, head swishing side to side as if on alert, long ears fluttering nervously by the sides of her head.

The cocker was only slightly familiar with the Outlands. She had glanced over the area on her rail-maps before...only an old branch ran its way there, and Lady avoided it like it was the plague. The cocker fallowed the two dogs, getting further and further away from the camp. While she had traveled further before...it was in the shelter and speed of a locomtoive cab, and not on foot. Lady found herself getting the jitters slightly, thinking about what they where doing.

"Do you have a plan, or soemthing?" she asked inquisitively. "I don't think they would just let us sneak in."

"The graveyard border's the Pridelands." Angel explained. "I know that part of the graveyard also serves as their jail. The border between the Pridelands and the Graveyard is steep, but only guarded by the hyenas. They're none too smart." she explaied her thoughts briefly - that they could hopefully get in that way unnoticed, and 'Tani would, once they rescued her, be able to show them a safe way out.
"I'm still new to this planning stuff." she admitted once she'd finished, directing her question to Lady. "How does that sound to you?" She didn't bother asking Mooch - as far as she was concerned, he was simply along for the ride rather than a useful part of the team.

The cocker nodded her head slowly. Her mind tried to find any lose ends in Angel's plan. When none seemed to show themselves, she looked to Angel, and gave a polite smile.

"Well, it sounds workable to me, just get in, and get out. No trail, no fuss, no rukess. Heaven knows we're outnumbered."

Something didn't feel right to Lady, she wasn't sure what it was just yet....just, something. Perhaps it was she felt still that they should be awaiting for Shang. Perhaps she feared her daughter or Mooch getting themselves caught. She thought perhaps it would have been wise to let someone know...Cash at least...where they where going.

Still, she plodded on.

Mooch had stayed quiet for a reason. He wanted to get his friend back, but it seemed like the cocker spaniel and the puffball were ignoring him on purpose. The spaniel had never once acknowledged his presence. He wondered if she even knew he was there. His posture gave away his feelings, dragging his feet slowly through the dirt, head low, tail drooped and eyes wide. He couldn't even pay attention to the mission at hand. He was muttering under his breath. It didn't matter how much the dalmatians accepted him, he would have preferred a home like Scamp had. With a loving mother and father. Where he had only a couple of siblings so he could get the attention he so craved.

Sighing he walked aimlessly a little behind them. "Nobody asked me," he muttered, "With just the three of us, isn't it a little...well stupid to assume that Scar would only have hyenas guarding the jail. If it was a hero they had captured, maybe but that's the king's daughter, remember? They might have whole damn army on patrol." He grumbled under his breathe. "...Not that either of you care what i have to say..."

Angel stopped dead in her tracks. 'Tani... was Scar's daughter? "What did you say?" she demanded uncertainly. She knew Vitani had been born an outlander - her own scars were enough of a reminder of that - but Scar's own daughter? "How do you know that?"
She sat abruptly, her head in a whirl. Vitani's parentage shouldn't make any difference to her, but...
Vitani hadn't told her that. Hadn't told anyone, as far as Angel was aware. How much else might she have been hiding?

Mooch lifted his head. Ah, he had information she didn't. Tani was his friend! She told him something she hadn't told anybody. He puffed his chest out and grinned, then lowered his head to the ground and sniffed as if he was tracking.

"Yeah, she's Scar's kid," he said, while sniffing, "She told me and Scamp that she ran away because she didn't agree with what they were doing over there. But yeah, Scar's her pop! Weird, huh?" He turned his head, tongue lolling out of his mouth. "Wonder why she didn't tell you though, puffball."

"He's right." Lady said, swooping around to face Mooch. The fact that Vitani was Scar's daughter actually had little effect on the cocker spaneil. She had already seen reformed villeins in the camp, heck...she was slolwy falling for one! She had yet to really meet the lioness, and so, she took the oddly shaped dog's words much lighter then Angel did. Only a slight inquisitive tilt of her head.

"But if thats so, she may not be in the jail at all. She may be with her family. No matter how much someone strays." she looked to Angel. "Family is family. Even if she is due to a punishment, they wouldn't just abandon her, no mother or father could!"

"That's what I'm worried about." Angel muttered. If Vitani wasn't in the jail, their mission became a lot more difficult. And who was to say that she'd even want to come back?
Angel took a deep breath. Still, she'd promised Scamp that she'd rescue 'Tani, so she was going to try her best to do that. Even if - for the second time since she'd joined the heroes - she wasn't sure just how far she could actually trust 'Tani.

Mooch snorted, scratching behind his ear. They understood the idea of Tani but they didn't understand the girl. Mooch knew her, Scamp knew her, but Scamp was not here.

"She's there," he said with a growl, "Tani doesn't hate her family but her heart is with me and Scamp and the heroes." His ears twitched, sticking his nose to the dirt again. What was he looking for? A scent. A lion cub's scent.Oh Tani... He thought, Why wasn't I there to save you?

"She basically told us all her family cared about was winning the war," he said, "They don't care about her. They're gonna discard her like a piece of trash and treat her like a real prisoner, not a daughter." He was hyper, the volume raising, his voice speeding up, whimpering slightly. "We gotta get her back!" He didn't mention that he felt she was the only one he felt cared for him.

Angel gritted her teeth, not sure if she really believed Mooch's words... How could any family treat their own daughter that way? But in spite of her uncertainty, Vitani WAS still a friend. And that meant Mooch was right, at least on one point. They had to get her back.

"Come on." she encouraged, fresh determination in her voice, as she led the way towards the northern border of the Pridelands.

(OOC: Just FYI, Kovu suggested that when we reach the Graveyard, we pick up the mission in Family Reunion, which is happening at the same time)

Lady padded along reluctantly. She looked back and forth across the two pups. She didn't like this idea one bit. She was the only adult in their little "Mission" and she knew the consequences of being caught. Both by Shang, or worse...the villains. Heaven knows she would rather face any punishment the generals could think up of then see Mooch and Angel fall into enemy hands. As much as she loved Angel, and cared for the well being of Mooch, she didn't think the golden pom had thought this plan out fully...not the usual pattern of the quick thinking canine. This really put the doubt into the corker's mind that Angel was not running on both her cylinders...that she was acting on emotion, rather then logic.

"Do excuse my questioning, but what if...we caused a distraction prior to entering the camp?" she said off handed. "It would be somewhat safer then just blundering into the camp."

she smiled silkily. "Perhaps if I had grabbed some dynamite before we left......."

Angel shook her head. She wasn't thinking cleary, and she knew it. She was still being driven by her guilt at the way she'd attacked Vitani at the waterhole. "That would work." she replied, wishing she'd taken more time to think through her 'plan' first. She ran a paw over her face. "Anything else I've missed?"

Lady shrugged. "Well, while you and Mooch find and release Your friend, I can set a fire, or topple soemthing over."

Listen to yourself...your getting bold! You really think you could get away with just walking into their camp, doing soemthing, and not being seen?

If it's to rescue the girl, and keep the pups safe...then I'll have to try

Lady internally argued with herself. She had to admit that while she wanted to do more with herself when she came to the war, she also had to relish that she was getting more and more confident, more bold, in her steps. perhaps...she was getting too confident. She told herself she needed to think things threw, farther, don't put herself in any unneeded danger.

"Well, its just a thought." she stuttered "Do you two have any ideas?"