Soon, with Leo and the others...

Langua had led the Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters to the tunnel that's located nearby the land of Langcomns. After going through the tunnels and following Langua in terms of direction, they finally made it to the kingdom of Afrikonkryk.

The Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters thanked Langua for help. They bid their goodbyes to her before they parted ways.

Right now, the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians admired the view of Afrikonkryk, especially nature areas.

"Wow! It's so beautiful here!" Amy exclaimed in awe.

"Mon ami, you're right! I have not seen anything like zis before," Antoine said.

"Ah could say the same, Sugah-'twan," said Bunnie, smiling at her husband. "Obviously, this kingdom is made of advanced technology."

A breeze flew past the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians. Once it flew past Sonic, his eyes closed and a smile appeared on his face. His spines took part of the wind's current, but they did not fly away from his body. "Sweet! I'd love to run around here, sometime."

Intellizo stepped beside Sonic on his left. He turned to him and his body bent slightly sideways "Um, I hate to interrupt, but we have to ask the king of Afrikonkryk about the cure made for Leo."

Sally stepped beside Sonic on the other side. She gave him a nice smile as she said, "Intellizo is right, Sonic. The kingdom of Afrikonkryk is beautiful, but it's best if we explore it later."

Sally turned to what's straight ahead. "Right now, all we have to do is give the king a visit. After he welcomes us, we'll inform him about his problems."

"I agree with you, Sally," Lariel said.

Everyone else, including Leo, nodded in agreement.

Just then, sounds of chanting rang in everyone's ears.

"Oh-wa, oh-wa, oh-wa, oh-wa."

Everyone turned to their surroundings. Fear somehow struck through them, but curiosity overtook them.

"Um... what was that?" Amy asked.

"I don't know for sure, Amy, but we have to be ready for it," answered Bashiri.

"Oh-wa, oh-wa, oh-wa, oh-wa."

The chanting became louder as multiple figures appeared to the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians. They looked like small blobs at first, but as they got closer, the shapes of multiple mobians came to place. All of them were panthers. Some were black and others were golden-brown in color. They each wore necklaces with silver and gold triangular-shaped beads hanging on them. Their strings were black.

For the females, a golden armor covered their upper bodies, their lower limbs and their feet. The bracelets were placed behind their elbows and on their wrists. They each held a spear.

For the males, they wore dark blue robes, covered with white polka dots. Under the robes, their black armor covered their hands, forearms, legs and feet. They each held a blade on their right and a shield on heir left.

"Oh-wa, oh-wa, oh-wa, oh-wa."

Once the panther mobians got close enough to the Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters, the chanting stopped. The female panthers headed front while the males stayed behind. The females pointed their spears at them as every panther glared at them suspiciously.

Antoine was struck in fear for a moment, but he managed to maintain his composure. The Royal Guardians and the rest of the Freedom Fighters were confused at first, but they remembered that they were new to the kingdom and its residents might be uneasy when they first meet with the strangers.

One of the panthers stepped out of the group. He went past the females and brought his own body close to Sally's.

"State your name and business," he told her in his African accent.

Sally bowed and made a formal introduction. "I am Princess Sally Acorn of Mobotropolis. We have come here because we're in the middle of crisis. A crisis that will one day, lead to big trouble."

"What crisis?" the panther asked her.

Sally raised her head back to her proper posture. She gestured to Leo. "A crisis that involves my friend, Leonir the Lion, king of the Leone Kingdom. He has been bitten by a high-classed cobra and the venom inside his body will turn him evil if it's not treated properly." She placed her hand to her side. "Which is why we came here to see if there's a cure that can heal Leo."

"Hmm..."

The panther slightly lowered his head as he closed his eyes tightly. His right thumb and index finger pinched his chin lightly. After a moment of deep thought, his eyes opened. He laid his hand on his side and told Sally, "I'll take you and your friends to see the king and see if he has something to do with your lion friend."

Sally and her friends bowed once again with a smile. "Thank you, sir. We really appreciate that," she said.

With that, the female panthers moved the spears away from the Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters and placed the bottom-most part on the floor.

Then, the panthers escorted the two heroic groups to the castle of Afrikonkryk, where they would stand before the king.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Later on, in the throne room...

Once the Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters entered the throne room, they were walking on a red carpet that led to a silver throne in the middle of the room. Covering almost the whole throne was a large black cloth. Under the red carpet was the dark gray, smooth and polished floor. The walls were also dark gray, but it had a white outline of diamond patterns on it. Further behind the throne were windows. If you look through it, you will see a view of a city that's similar to Station Square, except that the city was more technologically advanced.

Sitting on the throne was a male muscular mobian black panther. He had green eyes, dark grey muzzle, matching chest and inner ears, and the rest of the fur features were black. He wore pure black fingerless gloves with knee-length matching boots with gray soles. Above it was a black long-sleeved vest with golden buttons attached in the middle of it. It also had golden sparkly spiral patterns on the vest. He also wore pants.

The Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters assumed him as the king of Afrikonkryk.

Standing by the panther's side were two female panthers. One being the elder and another being younger than the male panther.

The elder panther had blue eyes. She had gray curly hair with the same fur features as the male panther. She wore a white dress that laid almost up until the surface. Her shoulders were also covered with the dress. She also had her golden bracelet on her right. Her footwear happened to be white sandals.

The younger panther also had blue eyes. She had maroon curly hair that was tied into a high bun and had the same fur features as the elder panther and the male panther. She wore a white, flowy dress that laid almost up until the surface. Her dress also covered her shoulders. She also wore white sandals.

Once the Royal Guardians, the Freedom Fighters and the same panther who talked to Sally came to a stop, the king spoke up first.

"What brings the guests here in Afrikonkryk?"

The male soldier who spoke to Sally earlier kneeled before him. "My king. The guests from the outside world came here because they're in the middle of crisis. A crisis that involves their lion friend."

The king turned to the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians. "We'll have our introductions first, then we'll talk about the crisis you've been in."

The male panther rose from the ground. The Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians also kneeled before the king while they each introduced themselves.

"I'm Princess Sally Acorn of Mobotropolis, daughter of King Nigel Acorn."

"My name's Nicole."

"I'm Miles Prower, but my friends call me 'Tails.'"

"My name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

"My name is Amy Rose."

"Bonjour, your highness. My name iz Antoine de'Coolette."

"The name's Bunnie de'Coolette. Ah'm the wife of Antoine."

"My name is Rotor the Walrus."

"My name's Billie Orson the Panda, chief of the kingdom of Kung-guó."

"My name is Bashiri the German Shepherd Dog, former resident of Shinōkoku and current resident of Kung-guó."

"My name is Intellizo the Corgi, sorcerer of the Leone Kingdom."

"I'm Lariel the Lioness, resident of the Leone Kingdom and future queen."

"My name is Leonir the Lion, son of Aldrich the Lion and king of the Leone Kingdom. My friends call me by the nickname, 'Leo.'"

"The name's Clifton the Crocodile. Adoptive son of Leonir and Lariel."

It was weird for Clifton to say the name "Leonir," but he had to do it for the sake of formal introductions.

"And my name's Rover the Lizard. Friend of Leonir the Lion."

Everyone who introduced themselves rose back to their standing positions. "We are known as the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians, protectors of the outside world of Mobius," Sally said.

"I see," the king said. "My name is King Kenzo Hudson, son of King Chanaka Hudson and current king of Afrikonkryk."

"My name is Rhonda Hudson, mother of King Kenzo Hudson and royal advisor," the elder panther said.

"And my name is Princess Shuzie, younger sister of King Kenzo," the younger sister said.

After a few moments of silence, the king known as Kenzo Hudson spoke again. "Now that we have our introductions, what is the crisis you have been in?"

Lariel was the first to take a few steps forward. Her eyes were on Kenzo's as she explained truthfully, "We have come before the throne, for we have trouble concerning Leonir the Lion. He was bitten by a cobra in the form of a rat when we were about to get married. Now, the venom is running through Leonir's veins and we need to find a medicine that will surely cure him. If we don't do something fast, Leonir will not be the one we all know."

Lariel kneeled to Kenzo again. "Please, King Kenzo. Help us. Help us find the cure to save Leo before it's too late!"

Kenzo and the Hudson Family were surprised at first. After a few moments of deep thought, Kenzo spoke for the third time. "Rise, Lariel the Lioness."

Lariel raised her head to Kenzo. Then, she rose back to her standing position.

"I know a place where we can heal the king of the Leone Kingdom," Kenzo said. Then, he turned to Shuzie. "Shuzie, can you take them to your laboratory?"

"Yes, my brother," Shuzie said with a nod.

With that, Shuzie escorted the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians to her own laboratory in the castle, but not before hearing Kenzo's words. "Let us agree to put aside our formalities, but only in private."

"Sure thing," Sonic said with a friendly wink.

"Agreed," Clifton said.

Once the doors closed behind Shuzie and the two heroic groups, Kenzo let out a chuckle.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Later on, in Shuzie's lab...

The lab's floor was also polished dark gray. The walls were gray with a white outline of diamond patterns. The ceiling was white with a black outline of diamond patterns. Tables full of tools, equipments, computers, holograms and other techology-related things were organized neatly, although some tend to be a bit messy some times.

Further ahead from the lab's entrance were convex-shaped windows. Each side had a white post on them. You could also see scientists, doctors and inventors working on certain tech and medicine in the lab.

"I spend most of my time here, in this lab, " Shuzie said, walking around the lab with the heroes following her. "We work on anything techology-related. From tiny drones to large planes. We also study rare herbs and make advanced medicine for others who are sick. And just in case you're wondering, I'm the assistant head of this lab. Everyone in this kingdom say that one day, I shall be hailed as the head."

A while later, Shuzie, the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians came across what it seemed like a white hospital bed with wheels at the bottom of it. Surrounding it on its left and behind it was a shelf filled with medical tools, a first aid kit and bottles of pills and liquid medicines.

Shuzie gestured to the hospital bed. "This is where the patient lies down for himself or herself to be checked out. And since we are all here for a cure to Leonir, he can lie down to be checked out if he pleases."

"Yes. Thank you, Shuzie, but please, let's put aside our formalities. You can call me 'Leo,'" Leonir said with a smile.

"Okay... Leo," Shuzie asked him with a mix of chuckle and laughter.

With that, Leo sat on his bed and laid himself down carefully. Once he did, Shuzie did a few examinations on his body. When she spotted the snakebite on Leo's right upper arm, she was horrified. Not openly, but she was horrified on the inside.

"Oh no," she muttered.

That's when Shuzie started examining the snakebite further, using the scanner applied on the medical computer beside the bed.

A while later, Shuzie started explaining her analysis. "The venom that is inside Leo's body is of a high-classed cobra. Whoever that cobra is might belong to the rare species with a population of about 100. This species can spread evil among others through their saliva."

"Um, I thought the venom can make anyone evil," Clifton said.

"According to what I've heard, a snake venom is a highly toxic saliva containing zootoxins that facilitates in the immobilization and digestion of prey," Intellizo said.

"Yes, you are right, Intellizo," Shuzie said.

Clifton's face lit up in realization. "Oh yeah!"

Shuzie turned to the heroes. "I will try all I can to make the medicine for Leo. If it's done, he should be healed in no time."

"Sweet! That's way past cool!" Sonic said, giving Shuzie a thumbs up. Then, his friendly expression turned into a confused one. "But what do we do while waiting for the meds you're making?"

"Hmm," Shuzie said, smiling. "You can explore the lands of Afrikonkryk. I wish I could send my brother to be your tour guide, but he's busy with his duties. So I'll just have my mother be your tour guide instead."

"That's great! We get to see all the wonders of Afrikonkryk!" Amy said happily.

"I agree. This will be a great time to take a break," said Sally, smiling.

"I agree with ze princess," Antoine said, agreeing with Sally.

Lariel slightly raised her hand. "I'll look after Leo if you don't mind."

"Yes, of course," Shuzie said.

"Sure, Lariel. Thank you," Leo said, quietly sighing in relief.

With that, Shuzie sent the Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians — minus Leo and Lariel — out of the lab and have Rhonda tour them around Afrikonkryk.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

The Freedom Fighters and the Royal Guardians were following behind Rhonda while she gave them a tour of Afrikonkryk. The first one was the whole castle.

Most walls were silver, white and dark gray with diamond patterns on certain walls. The floors were polished and dark-gray-colored. There was also a red carpet on the floors of the hallways.

Right now, the Freedom Fighters, the Royal Guardians and Rhonda were walking on the red carpet in one of the hallways. The walls were white. On their right wall were windows. They were shaped like a tall archway on top and at the bottom part it was horizontal. Each has a brown vertical line with a matching color of four horizontal lines.

On the left were pictures of Kenzo's ancestors. Those ancestors were the ones ruling the kingdom of Afrikonkryk in the past.

The heroes looked around the hallway with wonder and awe. Most especially the pictures.

"When you walk in this hallway, you will see the pictures of our ancestors. They rule the kingdom of Afrikonkryk from the past. Unfortunately, Kenzo's father was killed by his own brother because he wanted to take the throne for himself. Thankfully, Kenzo defeated him and was declared ruler of Afrikonkryk."

Later on, Rhonda led the heroes to the streets of the city of Afrikonkryk. This city surrounded the castle. Buildings were similar to Station Square, but was more technologically advanced than that. The streets were filled with mobian panthers walking around and travelling by cars and other vehicles. They were wearing robes with different patterns. Underneath them were modern-like outfits, but they seemed more traditional.

"This... is Wakanin, the capital city of Afrikonkryk," Rhonda said.

Words like "Wow!", "Nice!", "That's so cool!", I wonder if I should study technology here.", "Fascinating." and "Cool!" were heard.

"Yes. This is where technology mostly resides. That's why our people living in this city were using phones, tablets and computers when needed. Most especially for the purposes of research, education and other important things."

Later on, Rhonda led the heroes to one of the villages. This village had a sandy surface with small houses made of sun-baked stone bricks. The streets and houses were filled with mobian panthers, who were busy with their household chores, their work in marketplaces and also trading items. They had cloth hats around their heads. Each had different colors. Some were orange, some were red, some were dark green, etc.

They also wore robes and clothing made of slightly neat rags. Their usual footwear were sandals.

The Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters were wiping their sweat with their sleeves because the sunlight was shining directly on the villages.

"Some of our people are not used to technology yet, so we let them live in villages. As you can see, the panthers here were having busy and beautiful days," Rhonda said.

You could hear the conversation between the mother panther and his son in front of an apple stand. The boy pointed at the apple while turning to his mother.

"Mama, can we buy the apple?"

"Yes, my son. Of course. We'll see if we have enough money ro buy it," the mother said.

"Thank you, Mama."

"You're welcome."

Billie and Bashiri let out chuckles.

"By the way, this village is called Kenkoyo," Rhonda said.

"Ah, I see," Antoine said.

Later on, Rhonda led the heroes to the large farm. Most grounds were full of grass. Fences formed at least seven squares to keep the farm animals from escaping. One square was occupied by cows. Another was occupied by pigs. The third was occupied by ducks. The fourth was occupied by sheep. The fifth was occupied by chickens. The sixth was occupied by turkeys while the seventh was occupied by goats.

There was also a wooden stable built for horses.

Several small houses were seen in the farms. Walls and doors were made of bamboo. Windows were made, but there was no glass. Instead, there were doors on the window. The roofs were made of straws (And no, I'm not talking about straws we use when we drink beverages).

The panthers in the farm had straw hats on their heads. They were wearing assorted-colored robes with different patterns on them. Most of them were also wearing straw hats. Like in the villages, their usual footwear were sandals, but they could also wear boots whenever it's raining.

The Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters were wiping sweat on their foreheads, but they did not have as much sweat as they had back in the villages.

"I thought Kung-guó is the only kingdom I know that has a farm," Billie said, smiling at the sight he's viewing. "It's bigger than the one back home."

"Indeed it is. This is the farm of Afrikonkryk," Rhonda said.

The breeze flew past Sonic's face again. Sonic breathed in the fresh air and exhaled in relaxation. "Sweet breeze! Makes me wanna run around the whole kingdom."

"You can, but you might get lost," Rhonda said to Sonic.

"Fun fact, your highness: I like running around. It makes feel like I'm free," Sonic said.

Rhonda chuckled lightly. "That's an interesting fact, Sonic. Thank you for sharing it with me."

Sonic gave Rhonda a thumbs up. "No prob."

With that, Rhonda, the Royal Guardians and the Freedom Fighters continued to walk around the farm.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

Meanwhile, in the Underworld...

Pound was lying on a rectangular stone. His hands were behind his head and his eyes closed as he tried to take his mind to his relaxing days.

Hyper was hanging on one of the stalactites with his tail. You could tell that he was laying upside down with his tongue sticking out with a wacky smile.

Venia was laying on her belly with her legs raised up. Her right hand laid on her cheek while her other hand played around with a mouse. The mouse seemed annoyed by Venia's tactics, but she didn't care. She had a smile on her face and her eyes were half opened.

Eclipse was leaning against one of the stone walls while playing around with the Dark Arms. For some reason, he had a dull expression on his face.

As the silence went on, Pound sighed in exasperation. "Ugh, I can't take it anymore!" he said as he rose onto his sitting position. His hands laid beside him on both sides as he said this.

Eclipse sighed in relief. "Finally! Someone else who thinks waiting here is bored."

"Of course, I'm bored!" Pound said, turning to Eclipse. "When will Leonir be mentally defeated?"

"Patience, Pound," a new voice joined in.

Pound turned to see the mysterious leader, standing nearby the group. His back was slightly turned on Pound. "He'll be mentally defeated very soon," the mysterious leader continued.

"How do we know for sure he'll be mentally defeated?" Venia asked, still playing with the mouse.

"Yeah, how do we know?!" Hyper asked.

"Because I have eyes on him," the mysterious leader answered with an evil smirk.

As the mysterious leader said this, a thought of another black-hooded person crossed his mind.

"My spy will inform me of Leonir's whereabouts and his health condition," he continued.

With that, themysterious leader let out evil laughs with the others joining in.