Koda/Synopsis

==Before the Series==
=== Early History ===
Koda was born and raised by his mother, who taught him so much about nature and the Great Spirits.
Koda's early years are full of experiences, which he deeply enjoys recanting to others. He had a bad experience trusting the sanitary status of snow colored yellow or green and learned "the hard way" that white snow is best to trek in. He spent his childhood at the Salmon Run, where he also had a friend named Bucky. They seemed to spend a lot of time together going out on adventures. Once Bucky had dared Koda to lick an iceberg, which another bear cub did and had his tongue peeled off. Another time, the two bear cubs found a large a pine nut.
== Brother Bear ==
===An Adventure in the Wilderness===
While Koda and his mother are on their way to the Salmon Run, they stumble upon a fallen basket of salmon, which belongs to a tribe of humans. Koda and his mother make off with the basket and eat the fish near a glacier, enjoying themselves. However, Koda's mother soon picks up a scent coming from someone. She quickly pushes Koda to the bushes and tells her son to be real quiet, stating that she smells something. Koda tries to sniff and notices that there is something in the woods running towards them, getting even closer. Out of nowhere, a hunter who was looking for the basket jumps on them. Koda remains hidden and frightened watches as his mother confronts the hunter, who tries to attack her, but she quickly doges and roars in anger for the human to go away, which frightens the young man, who falls on a ledge.
Just as it seems that they are safe, the man’s brothers find him and rush to his aid. Koda becomes very worried for his mom, when the other two men approach, and poke her with their spears and she tries to fight back, and makes sure they don’t find Koda. Koda watches as the fight unfolds, and after Koda’s mom gains the upper hand, she spares the hunters and goes to her son. However, the glacier breaks down after one of the hunters shatters it with his spear, fearing that the bear would attack his other two brothers. Terrified, Koda looks at how the glacier breaks apart and both his mom and Sitka fall into the lake beneath the glacier. Koda looks down the edge and fears the worst when he looks down for his mom who has been holding her breath underwater for too long. Fortunately, Koda’s mom survived and emerged from the water, much to Koda’s relief. But because she was too far away from him, Koda went out on his own to find his mother. But unfortunately he never managed to find her. Not knowing where to look for her, Koda goes on his own to the Salmon Run, hoping he will be reunited with his mother there.
The next day while on his way home, Koda notices a trap nearby, but keeps his distance from it. When another teen bear gets caught by the trap which holds him upside down on a tree with a rope, Koda walks around and hides between some rocks in darkness. When the bear swings near the rocks to reach a stick, Koda tries to get his attention while hidden and asks the older bear if the coast is clear. The bear gets confused by what he means, so Koda asks more specifically if there are any hunters around. The bear answers with a no, which gets Koda to jump out very excited to hear it and find another bear like. The bear cub’s sudden jump startles the caught bear, who hits the tree he is caught in. Koda finds it very funny that the older bear didn’t notice the trap, which the bear cub remarks that he saw it a mile away, and notes that he must be feeling pretty embarrassed. But Koda’s assures him not to worry, promising not to tell anyone about his silly predicament, which confuses the bear as to what he means.
Koda sees that the bear is trying to get down, and offers to help him instead by picking up the stick and tries to reach the rope that is holding the bear’s foot. The bear tries to stop him, knowing that the small cub wouldn’t be able to reach it on his own, but Koda doesn’t listen and hits the bear multiple times trying to get him down. The bear yells for him to stop before being hit again on the head, and Koda gives up seeing that it’s no use, and jokingly tells the bear that the only way for him to get down is for the bear to chew his own foot off.
Koda’s attempts of help gets into the bear’s nerves, who tells the cub that he doesn’t need his help, but only the stick. In full understanding, Koda’s tries to hand it over, but the bear refuses, wishing to do it by himself, and tells the cub to put the stick where he found it near the rock. Koda complies and questions if he put it right, and the bear confirms it. As the bear swings around to get the stick, Koda settles near a log and eats berries, while noting that the tree the bear is caught in is very strong. Koda begins to tell his stories on how ever since he was little, he loved to climb all sorts of trees, be they pine trees, oak trees, fig trees, maple trees, birch trees, willow trees and many more. Koda continues to talk as the sun is beginning to set and the bear is still struggling to get the stick. He finally ends his story by saying that he is more careful about what he licks, because of an accident in which his eyes were watering and his tongue was swollen. When the bear attempts to get the stick, Koda secretly nudges it near him, while he isn’t looking. The bear is relieved to see that he finally got the stick, much to Koda’s annoyance. When the bear tries to finally set himself free, he fails, getting his head banged on the ground, which Koda finds it painful, but also funny, and asks the bear to do it again. Fed up with the cub’s presence, the teen bear asks him, if he doesn’t have anywhere else to go to, and Koda answers that he wishes to go to the Salmon Run. Being reminded of that, Koda offers a deal, that after he gets the bear down, they go to the Salmon Run. The bear accepts that if the cub magically gets him down, he’ll go with him to that place, which Koda repeats it, calling it the Salmon Run. But the bear warns him that if he can’t he will turn around and walk away and never come back. Koda asks the bear if he swears on it, which he does. And to be absolutely sure that he is true to his promise, Koda’s asks for a pinkie swear, which the bear does with him. But regardless, the bear highly doubts that a small bear cub can unravel a human trap. Koda simply pushes the trap weight holder away with his foot, which sends the terrified bear up, and gets him after his weight breaks the branch that held him in suspension. Now that the bear is free, Koda comes to him and starts to explain their travel plan, suggesting that they travel by day and sleep by night, stating that his nap time is an hour after sunset. But before Koda can finish, he catches a scent and sees that one of the hunters that fought against his mother is right the trees. Koda quickly runs away scared and yells for the bear to do the same. After running away from the woods, Koda hides away in a glacier behind a huge chunk of ice.
When the bear that he freed from the trap enters the glacier to hide as well, Koda reveals himself to him and startles him when the cub asks if the hunter is gone. Koda continues to talk, but the bear holds him and keeps him from making another sound so the hunter, who is right above the glacier won’t find them. Once the hunter walks away, Koda, being squeezed by the frightened bear, tries to get his attention and tells him that he can’t breathe. The bear lets him go and Koda tries to catch his breath.
Once they are on dry land, the teen bear wonders why the hunter is chasing him, with Koda’s responding that it’s what humans do. Not understanding what he means by his statement that it’s not like that hunter’s character, Koda tries to lighten the mood, by saying that it’s lucky for the hunter himself that he didn’t find them, stating that in a fight he is raging ball of brown fur, as Koda moves around and pretends to be strong, by saying that he has his own fighting moves. The teen bear finds it quite the bluff from the cub, but to prove it, Koda shows off his moves one being "The Slasher" and another one being "Flying Fury of Death". Unimpressed, the teen bear tells Koda that the hunter is coming back, causing the cub to cower behind the older bear, who was just kidding and calling it a typical move on Koda. Koda titters that he can’t hide his fears from others, but is just glad that he’s not alone and when he starts to explain how they will handle the hunter next time. But the teen bear corrects him that they won’t be together, revealing that he has no intention to take him to the Salmon Run. Koda is shocked by this and reminds the older bear that he made a promise and pinky swore on it, but the bear simply states that it’s normal for things to change, and bids the cub farewell as he walks away. Scared and not knowing what to do, Koda asks for the bear to wait, which he does, and sadly confesses that he got separated from his mom, and being a small cub and all, feels very scared with the hunter in the woods. The bear tells Koda that he too has problems of his own to deal with, but Koda still begs for the bear to reconsider and for them to go together to the Salmon Run, talking about its perks, being a beautiful place with lots of bears like them, tons of fish for them to enjoy, and also adds that every night they see the beautiful lights touch the mountain there. Before Koda can continue, the bear asks what he just said, with Koda repeating the first two statements, but the bear is more interested in the last one about the lights, and asks the cub if he really knows where the lights touch the earth. Koda confirms that he does, being on top of a mountain right next to the Salmon Run. The bear thinks that he must be kidding around with him, but Koda assures him that they are very close to each other and he can show it to him and it will be great. Seeing that the teen bear was still unsure, Koda also promises to he will help him out of every trap he walks into, but the bear corrects him that he won’t be falling into anymore traps, but gets pulled down by the rope from the previous trap tied to an ice block. Koda bites the rope and frees the bear asking again for his help. The bear asks Koda for insurance, if he can really take him to the mountain where the lights touch the earth, and the cub assures him that it will be no problem for him. When the bear warns him, if Koda’s slows him down, Koda quickly interrupts and promises that he won’t. The bear accepts to accompany Koda, stating that they will go together in the morning. Koda is relieved to know that he won’t be alone on his journey, but still feels a little scared and nestles near the older bear for comfort, but he shoves Koda away and tells him to not be all that cuddly to him, referring to the cub as “kid”. Koda gets irritated, telling the bear that his name isn’t kid, but Koda. When the bear tries to take a nap, Koda does the same, but realizes that he doesn’t know the bear’s name yet and asks him what it is, but the bear simply covers his ears in annoyance.
===The Great Journey to the Salmon Run===
It’s assumed that after they woke up the next morning, the bear revealed his name to Koda, being Kenai. After the two bears woke up, they wondered through the glacier, with Koda playing around with his disfigured reflection on the ice, much to Kenai’s annoyance. Eventually they make it out of the glacier, where Koda again plays with his reflection looking fat with his head down and skinny with his up, repeating the movement constantly. The older bear reminds the cub, that he has to go the mountain, and tells him to stop fooling around referring to him as kid again. Irritated again, Koda reminds Kenai that his name is Koda and asks to repeat with him: “Ko…da”. The older bear responds by asking the cub if he maybe he got deliberately abandoned by his mom and intentionally misspells his name “Ko-duh”, which gets Koda angry at Kenai’s attitude.
When the two bears reach a grass field, Koda offers to tell Kenai how he got separated from his mom, being a story he wanted to save for the Salmon Run, but since Kenai is helping him, he wishes to share it with him. Koda starts by saying that at that it was probably the fifth or sixth coldest day in his entire life, but Kenai interrupts him, pretending to like how it begins and agrees with Koda that he should save his story for later. This delights Koda to hear, asking Kenai if he really means that, which he does, but also adds that he should share his story with his friends, which they’re not in Kenai’s opinion. Koda offers to tell another story, but before he can tell it, Kenai instead offers that they don’t talk at all. Koda accepts, and states that he’ll sing instead, which Kenai prefers even less. Regardless, Koda starts to sing, walking with his eyes closed, not paying attention to Kenai, who tells him to stop singing. An annoyed Kenai continues to hush the singing cub, and in the end puts him inside a hollow log, but Kenai can still listen to his annoying singing and walks away.
Koda manages to get off the log and happily emerges behind Kenai and walks next to him. Seeing that Kenai is displeased and doesn’t want to enjoy their time together, Koda imitates his frown, which Kenai notices and rolls his eyes, which Koda imitates as well. The older bear walks ahead and Koda happily follows him. While Kenai is struggling to hold berries with his claws, Koda jumps on his head and eats the berry bushes whole with his mouth. Annoyed Kenai throws him off his head and draws a line on the dirt for Koda to keep his distance. Koda happily draws a circle on the dirt around them, to show that he wants Kenai and himself to be together, which only gets Kenai more annoyed. On their way, Koda meets some forest animals and tells them stories, but before he can finish, a bored Kenai pulls Koda away, with the animals following them. As they journey further, Koda notices a field of dandelions nearby and runs through it to disperse all of the golden flowers in the air, and Kenai gets covered by them, with one on his nose causing him to sneeze and disperse those in his fur. When it’s night, Koda and Kenai sleep apart from each other, but Koda slowly gets closer to Kenai little by little and sleeps close to him, but Kenai wakes up and goes to the other side, not wanting to sleep with the small bear cub.
The next morning, the bears are walking in the rain, and Koda splashes his paws on Kenai’s larger tracks, and near a hill, Koda notices that there is a wind gust at the edge of the hill going upwards and uses it to hold himself in the air. The older bear notices that and joins Koda, enjoying their time together. But the wind gust suddenly stops, causing the two bears to fall down the hill, where they land in a mud puddle. When Kenai lifts his head, Koda bursts into laughter from his silly hairstyle caused from the mud, causing Kenai to give him too a silly hairstyle which they both find funny and run away from the mud puddle. This trip proves to form a connection between Koda and Kenai, from their growing attachment to each other.
While on their way, suddenly out of nowhere two moose appear, Rutt and Tuke, that happen to be acquainted with Kenai, and Koda quickly likes them. When they reveal that they think the hunter that followed the bears is after them as well, Kenai assures them that they lost the hunter back under the glacier, but Rutt points out the bears’ tracks to show that they might still be in danger, which gets Koda worried. The older bear thinks for a moment and tells the cub that he has an idea, being riding on mammoths. Koda finds the idea really weird for animals to ride on other animals, but he enjoys it. When other animals look surprised, Koda encourages them to come with them, which they excitedly do. Koda becomes a little nervous when the mammoths are about to cross a river, but the mammoth he’s riding points its trunk up for Koda to climb up so he doesn’t get wet. Koda likes the view, but asks to get a little higher for an even better view. Koda stands on his feet and looks as the other animals are also standing on top of the mammoths’ trunks and looks at Kenai, who also stands on his feet on the back of his mammoth, and Koda starts laughing and sings a little in the end, enjoying his trip with all the new friends he has made.
During the night, Koda sits with Kenai on the trunk of a mammoth and starts storytelling about his experience in the snow while moving around, which the mammoths find it annoying, but Kenai puts up with it. Koda also tells Kenai about his friend Bucky and the iceberg dare, and even though Kenai finds it amusing, he still prefers that Koda stays quiet and shuts him up with his paws, while jokingly asking the cub if he ever stops talking. Koda notices in amazement the “night rainbow”, and tells Kenai that they can see the Spirits from there. The older bear is surprised to hear that Koda knows about the Great Spirits, and Koda reveals that his grandma is up there with the Spirits as well as his granddad. Koda explains to Kenai that he’s mom had told him that the Spirits make all the magical changes in the world, and gives a few examples like how the leaves change color, or the moon changes shapes or tadpoles change into frogs. An annoyed Kenai understands what he means, for he too knows about the Great Spirits, but comments that maybe Spirits should leave some things as they are, which confuses Koda as to what he means. The older bear sadly reveals that his brother is a spirit and that it’s because of him why he is taking this trip in the first place. Koda is surprised to learn that Kenai has brother that is also a Spirit, and asks Kenai what happened to him. The older bear first hesitates to answer, and tells Koda that he was killed by a monster. This makes Koda feel sympathy for Kenai, understanding that he must have felt great pain from losing someone he loves, and asks what’s his brother’s name, and Kenai answers that his name is Sitka. Koda thanks Sitka for whatever he did, being grateful that thanks to him he was able to meet Kenai, surprising the latter. Koda snuggles to Kenai and feels envious of him, expressing that he always wanted a brother and falls asleep.
The next morning, Koda accidentally falls on Kenai’s sleeping head, causing him to wake up. The older bear tries to wake Koda up, but the cub is dreaming and thinks Kenai is his mother and asks for two more months of sleep. But after Kenai gently puts him down, Koda begins to wake up, and Kenai asks the cub where they are. Still feeling sleepy, Koda slowly gets up and looks around the landscape. Koda becomes a little nervous when he looks at the scenery bewildered, realizing that they are way off track from their destination and doesn’t recognize their surroundings at all. When Kenai asks a nervous Koda which way they should be heading, the cub responds hesitantly stating that he thinks it’s on the left. The older bear questions one more time if Koda is sure of his statement, but it only makes Koda more nervous, and points to the right unsure. A vexed Kenai realizes that Koda has no idea where they are, and displeased tells Koda to come with him to make the rest of their journey on foot. Koda realizes that Kenai is frustrated with him, which makes him irked and reminds Kenai that the mammoths Kenai suggested that they rode brought got them off-track in the first place, before Koda thanks the mammoths for the ride nonetheless, and goes after Kenai. To lighten up Kenai, Koda assures him that he has been lost way worse than this before, and offers another story about his friend Bucky, but Kenai is too frustrated and fed up with Koda’s stories, angrily telling Koda that he doesn’t care at all what the cub did, even if he found the biggest pine cone ever, misspelling his friend’s name in the process to “Binky”. Koda also begins to lose his cool with Kenai’s temper, and corrects the angry bear that his friend’s name is Bucky, not Binky, and that they did found something big, but it wasn’t a pine cone, but a pine nut, which Koda claims and insults Kenai it was far bigger than Kenai’s “fat” head. As they walk ahead, Koda apologizes to Kenai for getting lost to make it up to him, but under his breath says that it’s mostly Kenai’s fault since it was his idea that got them lost, which the latter hears and becomes furious that Koda is pinning the blame on him. Agitated, Koda reminds Kenai that he owes him, since he was the one to get him down from the tree he was hanging upside down and could still be right now if he hadn’t helped, so Kenai has no right to get angry at him for the situation. The older bear rebuffs that claim, telling Koda that he’d prefer that situation than enduring Koda’s blabbering mouth, and begins to offend the cub in mocking tone about his previous statements, and finally lashes out, telling Koda to grow up. Koda becomes fed up with Kenai’s insults and mistreatment of him, after all he had ever done was trying to make friends with him and showed him only kindness, and infuriated tells Kenai that he will go home on his own, which the older bear accepts.
As Koda walks away, he becomes a little sad and depressed to see that Kenai doesn’t care for him and now he is all alone again. While he walks, Koda catches a scent and follows it, with Kenai going after him, regretting his outbursts on the poor cub. Koda ignores Kenai’s callings, and goes forward and the two bears stumble on a cave with human paintings, which wow Koda. When Kenai is drawn to a picture depicting a bear and a human hunter fighting it, Koda notices it and hides behind Kenai scared of the illustration, commenting that the humans he sees as monsters are very scary, especially when they’re holding sticks, which surprises Kenai to hear the little cub say. They take one more glance at the painting, and Kenai says that they leave. Having cooled off, Koda follows Kenai and rides on his back.
Once he walks a few miles, Kenai asks Koda if he recognizes anything yet, and jokes that maybe his fat head is blocking the cub’s view, which makes Koda laugh. The older bear asks seriously if the cub really thinks he has a fat head, but Koda jokes around that Kenai should just hunch his shoulders so it doesn’t look so big, which he happily does for the cub’s pleasure, making Koda very happy to see that Kenai has fun in himself as well. The two bears notice two rams brawling with each over, and suggests asking them for directions, but they get distracted by their own echoes, which Koda jokes that their horns are screwed to tight, which Kenai finds funny too.
Koda sniffs around, noticing something familiar. After getting off of Kenai’s back, Koda realizes where they are and happily remarks that fact to a relieved Kenai, saying that the Salmon Run isn’t far. Koda tells Kenai that their final step to get there, is by crossing over the lava field. Koda doesn’t get intimidated at all by the dangerous terrain, and gets confused by Kenai’s shocked look, who is horrified by the landscape.
Once they enter the Valley of Fire, Koda runs off ahead and assures to an uneasy Kenai that he knows where he is going and tells Kenai to follow him, before disappearing in the smoke. Unable to control his excitement, Koda uses Kenai’s discomfort to scare him by hiding without responding and jump on him from behind, which he succeeded and a spooked Kenai trips in a fallen tree next to him, causing Koda to burst into laughter that his prank worked. The older bear angrily tells Koda not to do that, which the cub takes it that he really did scare the older bear. The older bear remarks that there are times when people get scared and other times when they get surprised, and Koda concurs that Kenai was both and continues to laugh, much to Kenai’s annoyance. Suddenly Koda curiously glances at a giant molten rock resembling a skull. The older bear uses the opportunity to scare Koda while distracted with a roar, but the cub isn’t scared at all, having seen through Kenai’s attempt, telling him that it was a nice try, and also that he has a little spit on his lips.
Koda later becomes scared when he realizes that the hunter from the glacier is behind Kenai, but he thinks the cub is just messing with him again, but Koda is serious and tries to warn Kenai, and a spear lands near them much to the bears’ shock. When the hunter jumps in front of the bears, Koda runs away scared telling Kenai to do the same, but becomes lost while looking and crying out for Kenai scared and worried. When Koda notices a silhouette coming towards him, Koda thinks it may be the hunter and runs away, but it turns out to be Kenai, who has come to rescue Koda, and grabs the cub by his scruff and runs through the Valley of Fire, with geysers bursting out in all directions, with Koda trying to direct him through the landscape. The two bear make it to a fallen log that leads out of the Valley of Fire across the chasm beneath it, but Kenai accidentally slips, but luckily doesn’t fall. While Kenai is holding Koda by his scruff with his mouth, he slowly walks on the log to the other side, both bears being nervous. Koda sees the hunter coming to the end of the log and warns Kenai. The hunter moves the log, almost causing Kenai to drop Koda, and he tosses the cub to the other side of the log to bring him to safety. When the hunter manages to get one end of the log to topple down the chasm, Kenai rushes to the hunter, much to scared Koda’s relief.
Both bears are safe now, but Koda becomes confused when Kenai lingers near the gorge and implores the older bear to leave, fearing that they might still be in danger with the angry hunter in the other side. Koda and a saddened Kenai walk away from the gorge, but Kenai turns back when the hunter jumps across the chasm into the log. When the log begins to slip down the gorge, Kenai tries to hold it, but is unable to keep the log from falling down the river with the hunter. The log emerges from the river with the hunter unharmed, and Koda joins Kenai at the edge of the gorge and watches as the hunter is carried downstream by the current and is still confused by Kenai’s strange concerns over their attacker.
Back on their journey, this terrifying experience raises questions in Koda’s mind, and asks Kenai why they are hated by humans so much, with Kenai simply saying that their bears, confusing the cub as to why does that matter. The older bear tells Koda that bears are killers, which shocks Koda as to what bears he is referring to, and reminds Kenai that neither of them is like that. The older bear agrees with Koda that not all bears are dangerous and Koda is nice, but says that most bears would look for any excuse to attack the human. Koda is still confused as to where Kenai gets these ideas, reminding the older bear that the hunter provoked the fight in the first place. The older bear doesn’t know how to back up his claims anymore and simply tells Koda that when he is older he’ll understand what he means. Out of nowhere, a bird yelling “Fish”, flies towards the duo, and Koda sees it as a sign, realizing that they have finally made it to the Salmon Run. Koda quickly follows the bird, but Kenai becomes confused by Koda’s excitement.
===Home at Last===
Finally home, Koda has a delighted reunion with Tug, the leader of the bears, and happily hugs him. Koda asks the bear leader if he has seen his mon, but Tug informs him that he hasn’t. Koda then comments that he and Kenai have beaten her there, which surprises Tug that Koda is friends with Kenai, finding him rather odd. While the other bears surround Kenai, Koda shows his friend the mountain where the lights touch the earth, just like he promised, but comments that getting to the mountain will be a lot harder than riding mammoths, which surprises the other bears, finding it very weird.
Koda reveals that’s only the tip of the iceberg on Kenai’s part, because he does lots of weird stuff like the way he drinks water with a leaf, never sharpens his claws on a tree, never hibernated before and doesn’t know how to lick himself clean. This only embarrasses Kenai, who feels uncomfortable among the other bears, and pulls Koda away, while shutting him up, wishing to talk to the cub privately. Once they are alone, Kenai tells Koda that he has to leave since their journey is over. Koda doesn’t mind, being in full understanding, but hopes for Kenai to come back, wishing to do so much more with his new friend. But when Kenai reveals that he won’t be coming back, Koda becomes confused as to why he won’t see him again, having grown so attached to him now. The older bear has it hard to explain it to the young cub, not knowing how to tell him the truth about himself, but Tug was eavesdropping on them and asks the teen bear if he’s leaving, catching Kenai off guard. The older bear scarily denies, but quickly admits that he must, claiming he doesn’t belong in the Salmon Run, which confuses Tug who assures the teen bear that every bear belongs in the run, and encourages Kenai to have fun with them.
Koda becomes happy that the other bears are so welcoming of the newcomer and joins the bears with Kenai, wishing to show his friend all about the Salmon Run. Koda waves at Kenai to follow him and shows the entire home of the bears, being a beautiful place of many river streams and waterfalls where bears play around and fish. As the other bears run ahead, Koda encourages Kenai to follow them and look around the Salmon Run. When Koda loses sight of Kenai, the Croatian Bear points that he has fallen in the water and when he emerges, he has caught a stick, which both Koda and the Croatian Bear find it very funny and laugh hard. Later Koda teaches Kenai how to catch a salmon with his mouth, but the latter doesn’t catch anything. Both watch as some bear cubs make cannonballs near them. On top of a waterfall, Kenai watches in confusion as some bears jump on it and go with the stream. 
While he is distracted, Koda jumps on Kenai to push him down the river to see how fun it. While hanging onto Kenai’s shoulder, both Koda and Kenai slide through the waterfall like a water slide and both enjoy themselves, until they finally reach the end of the waterfall and dive in the lake and both happily emerge with Koda splashing Kenai. This entire fun and exciting experience helps Kenai to appreciate the life of a bear and gains a feeling of belonging in Koda’s home, no longer feeling any distress or anxiety, only happiness. Koda is seen with two other bear cubs watching the birds fly above them and Kenai. Later Koda excitedly watches Kenai running around the Salmon Run trying to catch a big salmon. Strangely, he appears in the end of a waterfall on a floating log enjoying his own salmon, and is surprised to see Kenai fall from the sky onto the log he was staying at, which sends the cub flying and lands on Kenai’s arm along with the big salmon Kenai was chasing. Koda grabs the salmon and with Kenai happily holding Koda up, and the cub shows the salmon to the other bears as Kenai first catch, and all laugh hard.
That evening, the bears gather to play their game of storytelling. Koda excitedly waits for his turn after three bears tell their stories. When the fish tail they use for stories is thrown high in the air, Koda tries to catch it, but slips. A lover bear takes it and tells his story on how he met his soulmate, and both lovers flirt. When the lover bear throws the fish tail, Koda jumps to catch it too late. The older bear manages to catch it, and offers it to Koda, but the cub declines saying that Kenai needs to tell his story, confusing the bear. Tug concurs with Koda, explaining that the bear who catches the salmon must tell their story. Koda finds it weird that Kenai doesn’t know how to play, and asks if he ever played this game when he was a cub. With the bears insisting and encouraging Kenai to not be shy and share his story, Kenai caves in and tells them about his trip through the wilderness to get to the Salmon Run, referring to it as the longest, hardest and most exhausting trip with Koda being “the biggest pain in the neck” he had ever met. At first, this comment hurts Koda’s feelings, thinking that after everything they’ve been through together, Kenai still doesn’t like him. But Kenai gives Koda a hug, to show that he was just joking around, and calls Koda his little brother. This makes Koda so happy to hear that Kenai finally loves him and the other bears coo at the lovely affection between the two.
Now that he told his story, Koda gladly accepts the fish tail from Kenai, and Tug awaits to hear his story. To start his tale, which he had wanted to tell Kenai before, Koda coyly summarizes his mother's battle with the hunters when they were separated, calling it a life-and-death struggle, against all odds battling possibly, the most fiercest creature on the face of the earth. He pretends to be finished and asks whose turn it is. This piques the interest of the other bears and surprises Kenai as to what Koda is talking about. Tug tells Koda that they would all like to hear such a thrilling tale in more detail. Koda admits that that was exactly what he was expecting, wanting to allure the others with his tale for more attention. Koda starts his story the same way he started when he wanted to tell Kenai, claiming that it was the fifth or coldest day in his entire life. Koda tells everyone about his fun time with his mom earring fish, which turned into unexpected events when his mom told him to hide after catching a scent. Koda continues by saying in a frightening way that something in the woods was approaching, which gets a bear cub scared and Kenai amused. 
Koda then tells them that the mysterious creature was a hunter, getting everyone worried and Kenai shocked. Koda continues by telling everyone that his mother fought against the hunter in a glacier and even more hunters were approaching and the skirmish turned into a vicious fight, that Koda’s mother risked her own life to protect him. Koda explains how the fight reached its climax when the glacier fell apart and Koda’s mother survived. While all the bears are shocked to learn what happened to Koda’s mother, Koda notices that Kenai is panicking and asks his friend what’s wrong. Before he can get an answer, Koda’s attention is pulled by other bears, who ask the cub what happened next and if his mother was okay after such a terrifying incident. Koda assures everyone that his mother made it out of the water unharmed, but they were separated as a result, and right after that, he met his new friend Kenai, who helped him to get home. Being reminded of him, Koda calls out for Kenai, but realizes that he’s gone.
Koda stays with the other bears for a while and has fun, but later goes to look for Kenai. He manages to find him lying down on a rock alone, and the cub sees it as a good opportunity to scare the teen bear like before. He jumps on Kenai’s back with a roar, but the bear is too gloomy to react, and Koda asks him if he scared him again. The older bear emotionlessly answers with a yeah, and Koda realizes that Kenai isn’t feeling well and deduces that Kenai might be feeling a tummy ache from eating too much fish, and shares an advice his mother told him, that when that happens you should just lie down. The older bear reluctantly tries to tell Koda something, but before he can, he asks the latter about the story he told Kenai, which Koda remembers. The older bear reveals that he has a story for the cub, which gets Koda excited and asks Kenai what his story is about. The older bear tells Koda that his story is about a man and a bear, but mostly it’s about a monster who did something very bad. The older bear continues to explain his story with snow raining down and Koda becomes confused by the events of Kenai’s story. The older bear finally concludes that he did something very wrong, causing Koda to back away in fear, realizing that the story is actually about Kenai and his wrongdoings, and comments that he doesn’t like the story. When Kenai sadly tells Koda that his mother won’t return, the cub realizes that Kenai had killed his mother. 
Heartbroken and in tears, Koda refuses to believe it and runs away into the forest horrified. There he climbs a tree and sobs quietly over the loss of his mother, and how Kenai, who he loved so much was responsible. The older bear desperately calls out for Koda, but he doesn’t respond. Hoping that the cub could hear him, Kenai tries to explain how he wished he could undo his actions, but it only makes Koda feel worse. The older bear tries to tell him that he would give anything to fix his mistake, Koda stars to listen to Kenai’s pleas, but Kenai’s immense guilt makes it near impossible to get his words out and express his feelings. Understanding that not even all the apologizing in the world wouldn’t make up for the pain he had inflicted upon Koda, Kenai sadly apologizes to him, regretting everything he had done. With Koda no longer loving him, a guilt-stricken Kenai heads for the mountain, where the lights touch the earth. Koda climbs down the tree and watches as Kenai leaves, but looks away in sorrow.
===Love Reborn Anew===
Later, Koda continues to feel sorrow and sadness that now he is an orphan and has no family left. Koda is suddenly approached by the two moose, Rutt and Tuke, from before. The moose notice that the cub is feeling sad, and ask him what’s wrong. Not wanting to talk about it, Koda simply says that he’s okay. The two moose continue to bicker over Rutt losing an antler due to Tuke. Rutt tries to adopt Koda as his new brother, but Koda rejects him, asserting that he does not want any more brothers, having lost his faith on friendship. When their argument turns to their brotherly relationship, Koda becomes intrigued and listens to the two brothers arguing. When Koda hears Tuke apologize and confess his love for Rutt, with the latter admitting that he feels the same way, the two brothers reconcile, with Tuke promising to change for his brother. The two then bid Koda farewell and walk away. Recognizing similarities between their relationship and his own with Kenai, Koda remembers his journey with Kenai, and starts to feel that Kenai loves him the same way. Koda looks at Kenai’s tracks in the snow which lead to the mountain where the lights touch the earth, feeling unsure whether or not he should go after him. Realizing that Kenai loves him and despite his actions, he too loves Kenai, Koda heads to the mountain.
Once he reaches the mountain, Koda finds Kenai on top of the mountain, pinned down by the hunter from before. Just before the hunter can fatally stab Kenai, Koda knocks him aside, refusing to let Kenai die. The older bear is shocked to see Koda, who looks back at Kenai. When the hunter runs away, Koda realizes that he is going for his spear, and runs after it, much to Kenai’s horror. Koda seizes the spear in his jaws and drags it out of the hunter’s reach to buy Kenai time to get away, but Kenai goes after Koda and the hunter, ordering the latter to leave the cub alone. As Koda runs, he trips and loses his grip on the spear, which the hunter grabs. The older bear jumps toward the hunter, while yelling out for Koda, to stop him from hurting the cub. The hunter hoists the spear at Kenai’s direction, but before he can be impaled by it, Kenai is lifted in the sky by an eagle spirit, who saves the bear just in the nick of time.
As Kenai is put down, he transforms into a human. Confused and frightened, Koda cowers behind a rock, recognizing Kenai as the hunter who fought his mom from before. When Kenai approaches, Koda backs away scared, but Kenai assures the cub not to be afraid, since he is the same bear Koda cared about. Taking a closer look, Koda realizes that the human before him really is Kenai, and bounds into his arms. Koda cuddles to Kenai and the two look at each other eye to eye. Koda has forgiven Kenai for his actions and wishes to be with him. The eagle spirit, who took the form of a human, is Kenai’s brother, Sitka, who hands Kenai the Bear of Love Totem, and the hunter is also Kenai’s brother, Denahi, who finally finds out his brother was transformed into the bear he was trying to kill. Koda looks at the Bear of Love totem, and then looks at Kenai in confusion. Realizing that Koda loves him again, Kenai wishes to stay with the cub forever. When Kenai puts Koda down, the cub shocked to see the spirit of his mother right next to him. While Kenai embraces his brothers, Koda embraces his mother’s spirit, so happy that he see her again.
Koda’s mother bids his son farewell and returns to the spirit realm along with Sitka. As his mom vanishes into the aurora, Koda becomes depressed, but becomes elated to see Kenai back in his bear form, and jumps on him with great joy to have Kenai back. The two bears embrace each other as brothers and they playfully wrestle in the flower field the Great Spirits created in the mountain, with Denahi joining in.
The trio goes to Kenai’s village, where Koda sits along with the tribe’s children, happily watching Kenai place his paw print on the wall of his ancestors, to show that he had become a man by becoming a bear and Koda’s brother. After the ceremony, Koda embraces Kenai, and Denahi gives Koda an affectionate pet, with the tribe cheering. The bear brothers then go on to live at the Salmon Run together.
===Post Credits Scene===
After a few weeks, Koda engages in some fun experiences with his friends and family. Koda practices his moves in front of Rutt and Tuke, and offers to show Rutt one, when he asks. Rutt offers to be his sparring partner, finding the cub’s moves cute, but Koda swiftly knocks him down. Koda returns with Kenai to the cave they visited, where they draw their own pictures. While Kenai draws a simple moose in a wall and asks the cub how he is doing, Koda assures him that he is doing really good, having drawn a beautiful painting on the wall that depicted the hunter and the bear fighting, the calm painting.
Koda and Kenai then went to a glacier where they both play with their disfigured reflections, both laughing hard together. But when an ordinary reflection of a  handsome bear appears next to them, it surprises both Koda and Kenai, when he laughs. They both looked stunned when they see the bear himself, whose face looks very misshapen, but don’t say a word.
Finally, Koda breaks the 4th wall and assures the audience that no fish were harmed during the making of this film. But when a talking salmon is being chased by a hungry bear behind Koda, the fish yells out for help. Realizing that the audience was watching and they wouldn’t take his word seriously if they were to see the fish get eaten, Koda quietly asks and makes body gestures to cut the scene, but nothing happens. When the bear finally catches the salmon and eates it, the sight is too much for Koda, who looks away and covers the screen with his paws, and the bear burps.
== Brother Bear 2 ==
=== Living with his Brother ===
Koda and Kenai live together in a cave, and one time in the middle of the night, they were lost and the latter tried to find it hopelessly. One other time, the bear brothers were hunting for pine nuts, and Kenai stuck his head inside a hollow tree where somebody lived, and despite Koda’s protests of stopping Kenai from doing anything rash in the home of somebody else, the stubborn bear provoked a stinky skunk that sprayed him and Kenai smelled like that for a whole week. There have also been other incidents in which Kenai was facing stinky and embarrassing moments that Koda found very amusing. The two bears eventually entered their first hibernation together which lasted for months.
=== Together and Happier ===
Six months later, spring has awoken along with Koda and Kenai, who couldn’t be any closer. They set out to beat all the other bears to Crowberry Bridge, but first they head for the Salmon Run to greet everyone after so long. Koda happily runs ahead of Kenai, scaring a flock of geese much to their amusement. Kenai catches up to his little brother and passes him off while throwing a salmon above a deer and Koda catches, but the fish moves rapidly in Koda’s mouth, much to Kenai’s amusement. As they move through the rocks, Koda jumps on his older brother and runs off ahead with Kenai following him. Before they go on, the pair stops on top of a rock and look at a flock of birds flying up high. Koda runs off again and Kenai gives him a push up with his head to land on the fallen log. Koda walks on the log with his eyes closed, and encourages his brother to follow him, with Kenai happily looking at how much his little brother has grown. Although more skilled than before, Koda still falls upside down hanging on the log, but Kenai helps him down and embraces him with a laugh.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a frightened Rutt and Tuke approach the bear brothers and try to hide behind the bushes, much to Koda and Kenai’s confusion, and they pull the bears in with them. The moose brother’s were hiding from an angry female buffalo that was after them, and once she leaves, Koda is pulled out of the bushes by Kenai, who after warning the moose that their “girlfriend” is back, takes Koda on his back and runs away. After Kenai rolls down a hill and slides down the snow, Koda holds onto Kenai’s head, holding his brother’s eyes shut, enjoying his ride, while Kenai is terrified at being unable to see where he is going. Luckily the bears make it to the Salmon Run unharmed, and Koda swiftly slides in the frozen lake passing under Tug and crashing in a snow pile after a bear couple clears the way. Koda found it very fun and asks for Kenai they do it again.
Koda slides back at to Kenai and Tug who are talking about their plans, and the former catches the cub. Koda starts explaining to Tug that they plan to grab many berries in their destination and starts listing them: elderberries, salmonberries, raspberries, whortleberries, strawberries, huckleberries, crowberries. Tug slows him down, commenting that Koda is talking about too many berries. Koda assures the bear leader that there will be plenty more, and wishes for Tug to come with them. Suddenly Tug’s mate, Hoonah, calls out for him, causing Tug to turn down the cub, stating that the girls can’t be kept waiting. Koda is grossed out by it, stating that he and Kenai have all they need together on their own, with Kenai fully in agreement. 
Before they head off, Tug gives Kenai a small advice that he can’t run away from love, having its own way of tracking him down. After Tug leaves, Koda and Kenai simply laugh, and once they leave the Salmon Run and enter the woods alone, Koda starts joking around about Tug and his love statement, and Kenai starts laughing. With the moon rising, Kenai stops walking and tells Koda that it’s time to rest. The cub objects, reminding his brother that they have had all the rest they needed after 6 months of hibernating. When Kenai reminds Koda about their trip to Crowberry Ridge, Koda becomes excited and expresses his desire to enjoy the berries, which Kenai assures the cub that they will, if Koda promises to go to sleep. He snuggles to Kenai getting ready to sleep, however, before he does, Koda expresses his love for berries, which Kenai finds amusing and bids Koda good night. Still, the energetic cub asks Kenai what his thoughts on berries are, with the sleepy bear too tired to talk, bidding Koda good night again.
=== Meeting a New Friend ===
The next morning, Koda wakes up first and notices Kenai talking in his sleep and gets closer to make out what he’s saying, but all he can hear is Kenai repeating the name “Nita”. Once Kenai wakes up, Koda is sitting on him and asks his brother who this Nita is. Kenai becomes confused with Koda’s question, and the cub explains that he heard his brother talk in his sleep, and starts mimicking his moaning of the name “Nita” several times, and wonders who that is. Kenai explains that it’s a girl she used to know. Koda asks him what happened to her, but Kenai doesn’t know, simply guessing she must have grown up and walks away with Koda following him.
While deep in the woods, Koda tells Kenai another one of his stories about his friend Bucky and how they were eating walnuts and they spilled them in ridiculous ways. When Kenai points out his brother’s talk about food, Koda understands what he means, for he too feels hungry and starts sniffing and searching for their meal. Suddenly he notices something beneath him, and the cub starts digging while accidentally hitting Kenai with snow. After Koda digs a little, Kenai pulls him out much to the cub’s surprise and pushes him away with his foot to show how a real bear hunts for food. But Koda claims that it’s easy for Kenai, because the former gave him a head start. Once Kenai discovers the root under the snow, it confirms Koda’s assumption and gloats about it and his killer instincts, which Kenai doesn’t take seriously. 
Suddenly, Koda catches another scent and becomes worried. While Kenai is digging, Koda warns him to get down while jumping on his head and tries to sniff out the scent. Both bears look at the woods in concern and they spot a human nearby armed with a spear, and assume that it must be a hunter. Kenai quickly pulls his little brother and puts him inside an empty log to hide. Koda looks around and listens at the footsteps approaching, and becomes scared when he sees through the log that the human is right in front of him. When the human walks on top of the log, Koda tries to move away, but accidentally makes a little noise and gets frightened. 
Before the human can find Koda, Kenai engages in a fight to protect his little brother, but stops after realizing that the human was a girl who can understand animals thanks to the Great Spirits and no hunter . While they are arguing together, Koda comes out of hiding, no longer afraid after realizing that the human was a friend of Kenai and becomes intrigued by their conversation and asks what they are talking about. Kenai introduces the girl to his little brother Koda, and Koda to the girl who happens to be the same person that they were talking about in the morning, Nita. Koda becomes very excited to meet his brother’s friend, and immediately tells her that Kenai was just dreaming about her, which Nita finds funny, but an embarrassed Kenai goes in denial. Koda starts mimicking how Kenai was mourning for her, calling Nita’s name several times, but Kenai shuts him up and pulls him away on his back. The older bear bids his old friend farewell refusing to help her, much to Koda’s confusion as to why they are parting ways after just meeting, but when Nita points out that Kenai might be turned into a human by the spirits if he doesn’t help her on her mission, it catches Koda’s interest and gets off of Kenai’s back and stops him, questioning his brother if the Spirits would really do that to Kenai. Even though Kenai assures the cub that it won’t happen, with Nita saying that he doesn’t know for sure, Koda becomes worried that Kenai might be turned into a human to get back to Nita and fears that they won’t be brothers afterwards. 
Kenai tries to convince him that it won’t happen, but after realizing that Nita might be right, Kenai accepts to help Nita in her mission to go to Hokani Falls to burn her amulet, and promises his brother that after that, they will race to Crowberry Ridge. This makes Koda very happy and asks Kenai if he Pinkie Swears on it, which he does and gets excited. When Nita interrupts them and asks that they begin their journey, an annoyed Kenai heads out in the wrong direction, but Nita corrects him to the right direction, which Kenai bluntly claims he knew, but Koda denies it. While they walk together, Koda and Nita start to get acquainted with each other as the cub explains how Kenai has a lousy sense of direction, which the older bear denies, but Koda goes on and tells Nita how at one time, Kenai hopelessly tried to find their cave in the middle of the night. The social cub goes on to tell his new friend more stories about Kenai.
Once they make it out the woods, Koda is still telling Nita stories about Kenai as they walk ahead of the annoyed bear. One story Koda tells her is the time when Kenai got sprayed by a stinky skunk and smelled like that for a whole month, which Nita jokingly marks as an improvement and they both laugh, much to Kenai’s frustration. Realizing that Kenai was no longer following them, both Koda and Nita turn back to find him talking with Rutt and Tuke, who are terrified at the sight of a human, mistaking her for a hunter. Koda assures the two cowardly moose that Nita is a friend of theirs, which relieves them both. Before they continue with their journey, Kenai wishes to help his moose friends by giving some romantic advice to impress the moosettes, which both Koda and Nita laugh hard, finding it very funny that Kenai thinks he knows anything about romance, and walks ahead, but waits for his brother, who doesn’t get bothered at all by their mocking and goes ahead with a plan to impress the moosettes by pretending to be a ferocious bear, and Rutt and Tuke pretend to save them. Although Nita tries to reason with Kenai that their mission takes priority and they can’t afford to waste time, Koda tells her that it’s no use trying to convince him, claiming that this is another one of those times the cub has experienced, when Kenai is too stubborn to listen to reason.
Koda sits next to Nita and they both watch as Kenai’s plan progresses in failure, which Koda finds funny and Nita remains unimpressed. When the moosettes beat Kenai up for his trick to scare them, both Koda and Nita look away. While Koda is distraught for his big brother getting his head stuck on a beaver dam, Nita finds it very funny that a bear like Kenai got beaten by a pair of female moose, and once the said moosettes leave, she jokes at how well Kenai’s plan went. 
=== An Unexpected Delay ===
Koda approaches Kenai along with Nita, who quietly asks the cub if his brother always ends up getting his head stuck on something because of his own plans, and Koda admits that most of them do, which Kenai hears, but Koda states that he’s simply being honest. Nita tries to break Kenai free while Koda watches as Kenai’s aches from her attempts and notes that it would be way easier if his big brother didn’t have such a fat head, which irritates Kenai. When both Nita and Kenai try to push hard, the former slips and causes Koda to fall inside the dam right in front of Kenai, whom he greets and so does the older bear unamused. The slip had also caused Nita to drop her bag with the amulet inside, and for some reason she didn’t grab it and her panic causes the beaver dam to start collapsing. 
Water begins to flow inside the dam, and while Kenai tries to hold his breath and break free, Koda tries to climb up his head, and finally the beaver dam is destroyed releasing Kenai, but at the same time releasing the water flow that drags Nita’s bag away, much to the Trio’s shock. Nita runs after the bag, with both Koda and Kenai following her, but they can’t reach it before it falls down a waterfall. This turn of events makes Koda speculate that this could count as an unexpected delay. Luckily the bag gets washed ashore, but unfortunately a raccoon finds the bag before the gang can get to it, and starts snooping around, much to Nita’s dismay. When the raccoon finds the amulet, Koda and Kenai remain quiet, while Nita warns the thief to leave her stuff alone, but the raccoon takes only the amulet and runs away.
Once the trio climbs down the waterfall, Nita starts to panic over the loss of the amulet, and Koda mocks the situation as hopeless and claims that there is no better thief than a raccoon and the amulet is as good as gone now, making Kenai feel uneasy at the situation, and unintentionally getting Nita very angry. When Nita starts blaming Kenai, Koda becomes surprised and concerned, as the two argue and blame each other for what happened. Once they end quarreling, Koda looks at Nita walking away in anger and turns to Kenai, who also feels upset. When Nita starts crying over her problems, it makes Koda feel bad for her, and when Kenai also wakes away in guilt, it makes Koda feel even worse for them both and regrets being so inconsiderate of how important their mission is to the two.
The trio settles close to the waterfall where they take a nap. Koda wakes up early in the night and goes after Kenai, who had woken up even earlier to find the raccoon who had stolen the amulet, and watches all night as Kenai tries to find the direction of the raccoon’s tracks which are tangled up, being very impressed at his brother’s determination. When Kenai finally finds the raccoon’s hideout, Koda goes back to the waterfall to tell Nita the good news. Just after Nita wakes up, Koda makes it to her and starts talking about Kenai’s accomplishment, but Nita can barely make out what Koda is talking about and asks the cub instead where Kenai is. Koda explains that that’s what he was trying to tell her, that Kenai found the river bandit’s hideout, getting Nita very excited.
==== Negotiating with a Thief ====
Koda leads Nita to where Kenai is, and once they make it to him, the cub jumps on his brother’s back, who is waiting for the raccoon’s to fall asleep to grab the amulet which is at the top of a tree close by. When Nita goes to get the amulet herself, Kenai goes after her, causing Koda to fall off his back and runs after the two. Both Koda and Kenai wait under the tree, with the latter trying to convince Nita, who is climbing the tree, to let him handle getting the amulet back instead while the former is worried. When Nita accidentally falls on two tree branches, it causes the cranky raccoon that stole the amulet to wake up. Kenai tries to buy Nita time by talking to the raccoon and indirectly asking for the raccoon to have the amulet back. When the raccoon plays dumb and states that if he really had what they are looking for, it remains his since he found it, which gets into Koda’s nerves, who accuses the raccoon that he didn’t find the amulet but stole it, and bluntly calls him a thief. The raccoon confesses that the small bear cub is right to call him that, and soon many raccoons come out of hiding to intimidate the bears. 
Although a little surprised, Koda tries to act tough by warning the raccoon gang that they don’t want to mess with Kenai, claiming that he’s big brother is a powerful bear that can easily do away with them and ferociously growls at them. When the raccoons start throwing pine cones at the bears, Koda quickly cowers behind Kenai, and continues to mock the raccoons to throw all they have on him. Kenai becomes confused as to why Koda is provoking them, and the cub explains that he’s trying to trick the raccoons to use all of their pine cones so they run out of ammo, which would make it easier for the bears to handle the raccoons. Kenai reminds the impulsive cub that they are in a pine cone forest, which Koda realizes that it will take a while, but Kenai only becomes more annoyed with the cub’s ignorance. Fed up getting hit by pine cones, Kenai offers a trade instead, which picks the raccoons’ leader attention who stops the gang. Koda tries to help Kenai to find something to trade, but all Kenai can offer is the pine cones that the raccoons threw at them, and Koda loses his previous confidence as he laughs nervously.
When Nita manages to retrieve the amulet, but accidentally gets exposed after a baby raccoon alerts the raccoons, Koda becomes very worried for his friend, who tries to flee from the chasing raccoons. After seeing how Nita manages to fend off the raccoons and manages to escape from them by jumping from tree to tree unharmed, Koda is very impressed at her skills. Koda becomes worried again for Nita, when the raccoons swarm the tree, but Kenai has an idea and follows him. Nita manages to get down off the tree with Kenai’s help, and both slide down the hill of snow, with Koda going after them. 
As soon as he finds them, Koda notices an awful smell and sniffs around to find where it’s coming from, with Kenai assuring the cub that it’s not coming from himself. Koda remarks that he is smelling the most disgusting thing ever, but wishes to check it out and both bear brothers laugh and go after the smell. The bear brothers eventually find the source of the smell being Rutt and Tuke talking a mud bath to attract the moosettes, much to the bears’ disgust. When Kenai offers another plan and Nita makes fun of him by reminding the former how his last plan turned out, Koda laughs hard, much to Kenai’s annoyance. Nita offers her help instead, when Kenai wishes to get back at their mission, and instructs Koda on his part in it.
==== A Better Plan ====
Koda runs to the moosettes and acts all cute and cuddly to them, which allures them into his charms, and pretends to be playing Hide n Seek with his friends. Koda hides behind one of moosettes and after Rutt and Tuke approach and the moosettes play dumb that they haven’t seen the bear cub they are looking for, Koda reveals himself and again acts cute when the moose brothers cuddle him. The plan partially works for Tuke, who gets both moosettes attention all for himself. Koda happily watches as the moose walk away, finding Tuke’s charm rather smooth and goes back to Kenai and Nita. Proud of his role in the plan, Koda starts to brag to Kenai and Nita, only for the two to walk off without him talking, confusing the cub at their negligence, but goes after them.
=== A Rift Between Brothers ===
The trio continues their journey to Hokani Falls, and Koda jumps from rock to rock on a river nearby. Nita feels uneasy with the cub’s recklessness, but Kenai assures her that Koda can handle himself since he was just looking for lunch. Koda concurs and assures Nita that he’s always careful before slipping after jumping on another rock and falls into the river, proving otherwise. Koda gets out of the water and dries himself as Kenai explains the path they’re talking that heads to the river, which will get them to Hokani Falls in time. Nita becomes worried and instead offers that they head to the mountains to avoid the river. Koda becomes confused by Nita’s statement with Kenai feeling the same way. When Nita states that her path makes more sense, Koda denies that claim, having no logic whatsoever since that path was too far away and they would be forced to climb too high up. Kenai still votes they take the path to the river, and Koda does the same. Since it’s majority rule, Koda runs ahead and goes to catch some fish for the group to eat. While Kenai and Nita are arguing about the direction they take and Nita’s hesitation to take the path to the river, Koda finds a salmon in the river and accidentally throws it at Nita, catching the girl by surprise and causing her to fall in the river. Once Nita emerges, Koda is confused by her terrified look and wonders if Nita is afraid of fish. When Nita still looks terrified, Koda laughs hard thinking that his assumption is correct finding it funny that Nita is afraid of something so harmless, and Kenai too laughs with the cub. 
Wanting to cheer Nita up, Koda plays around with another Salmon to get Nita to laugh and show that there is nothing to be afraid of, but his jokes don’t make her feel any better. When Kenai notices Nita’s discomfort and asks the cub to stop, Koda doesn’t pay any attention and continues joking. However, after Kenai becomes angry and yells at him, Koda drops the salmon and stops, but feels very scared and confused by his brother’s sudden temper. After a disappointed Kenai walks away without saying another word to Koda, the cub sadly watches as Kenai comforts Nita, who reveals that her real fear is the water, which is the reason she didn’t grab the bag before, but Kenai cheers her up by reminding Nita that they got the amulet together. Koda becomes jealous that Kenai is being more gentle with Nita than with him and slaps the salmon away in frustration with his mind in doubt. Having settled their problems, Kenai insists they take the path to the river and Nita decides to give it a chance, and all three walk ahead.
The trio continues their journey through many different landscape, where Kenai’s friendship with Nita becomes stronger, while Koda becomes more distant, indifferent and doubtful of their own brotherly bond. While they are walking through a tall grass field, Koda becomes irritated that Kenai didn’t clear the path for him. 
While walking towards a gorge connected by a fallen log, Kenai stops Koda from going, wanting Nita to cross over first. This gets into Koda’s nerves, and decides to quickly walk over the log, despite his brother stopping, not wanting to wait around for Nita to cross. While he rushes ahead of Nita, Koda causes her to slip, much to Kenai’s amusement, and waits on the other side for the two to cross.
To cross through a gazer field safely, the trio ride on a mammoth. Despite riding on the back while Kenai and Nita were riding on the front, Koda enjoyed the time, although it was a brief sensation, as after the mammoth stepped on a bursting gazer, it startled the behemoth, and while Kenai and Nita found it funny, Koda accidentally fell off the back and was hanging by the tail of the mammoth. On the top of the mountains, when Kenai shows Nita a bald eagle feeding its babies, Koda wants to take a look too, but the two friends are blocking his view and don’t pay attention to him, much to the cub’s annoyance.
In the woods, while Kenai and Nita play with each other in the snow, Koda doesn’t join them or show any interest at all, at their silly games. And as they progress further, the bear brothers stop on top of a hill, and Nita gives Kenai a push and both slide down together, with a saddened Koda soon following after the snow breaks on top of him breaks down. When they make it to the bottom, Koda watches as Nita and Kenai run away and play together. Once they make it to the river, Koda watches and Kenai helps Nita cross it and they both laugh hard together, having completely forgotten the small bear cub. 
A depressed Koda waits on the other side of the river for his brother to come get him too, but his mind is full of confusion and doubt about Kenai and the love they have for each other. A depressed Rutt joins Koda and asks the cub where his brother is. Koda sadly responds that he is with Nita, and expresses frustration that his brother has no longer time for him because of how busy and focused he is in helping her. Rutt understands Koda’s feelings, because his own brother, Tuke, ditched him for the moosettes that he managed to win over all for himself, and warns the cub that his own brother might abandon him because of his relationship with Nita. Although Koda takes those words at heart and feels depressed on how things have turned out during this journey, he doesn’t lose his faith in Kenai and believes that his brother won’t abandon him no matter what. Rutt admits that he too thought the same way, but shows Koda how Tuke is enjoying himself without a worry about him, how even a hopeful thought doesn’t change some people, and bids Koda farewell. Seeing how Rutt’s situation is no different from his, Koda feels even worse at the thought of losing Kenai, realizing that there might be some truth in the moose’s words. Realizing that Kenai wouldn’t come to get him, Koda crosses the river on his own.
=== The Avalanche ===
Koda manages to get to the other side of the river, but slips on mud, which is only a small portion of the misery he’s feeling compared to the disappointment that his brother didn’t help him. Koda hears some voice and realizes that it’s Kenai and Nita talking, but doesn’t reveal himself. When the two are kidding with each other, Koda isn’t amused at all. But when their conversation heads to Nita asking Kenai if he has ever thought about changing back into a human, it intrigues Koda, who listens closely to hear Kenai’s answer. When Kenai admits that he has thought about it, it shocks Koda, who reveals himself to the two. Saddened and heartbroken, Koda thinks that Kenai will really abandon him to go with Nita and runs away without listening to his confused brother. Koda begins to experience the same painful feelings he had when he learned he lost his mother, and runs away in the woods without responding to Kenai’s calling and hides inside a glacier in a hole where he mourns over losing his brother.
Nita manages to find the glacier where the cub is hiding in, but Koda doesn’t respond at all when the girl calls for him, but she manages to find him after hearing Koda make a noise. Drowned in sorrow, Koda demands that Nita leaves him alone, but she tells the cub that Kenai is worried so much about him and tries to get Koda to come with her so he can go back to him. Furious, Koda turns his back on her and yells for Nita go way, not wanting to be with neither her or Kenai, and starts to cry, feeling that he is all alone again now that he has lost his only family. Nita tries to reason with Koda to calm down, since the glacier could break down, but Koda slaps Nita’s hand away, not caring how dangerous it is and wishes to be left alone. However, when the ice begins to crack, Koda’s anger turns into fear and realizes that he really is in danger and jumps to Nita. Both run away to the exit, but a terrified Koda is caught on an ice boulder and yells for Nita, who stretches her hand to the cub. Koda manages to reach Nita’s hand and gets pulled out before the glacier can crush him, but both roll down the mountain and Nita holds a frightened Koda that looks at the far bottom beneath him in fear. Nita gets the cub back up, but both watch in horror as an avalanche is right above them, and breaks the pointy rock they are standing on. As the avalanche approaches, Koda and Nita hang on the sliding rock that crashes and both get buried in the snow, where only their heartbeats can be heard. 
Fortunately, Kenai finds them and digs them out, and all three try to catch their breath from this terrifying experience. Koda is very scared, when Kenai looks at him in shock and disappointment, but expresses great concern that Koda almost got himself killed, wondering what he would have done if he lost his little brother. Barely able to hold his tears, Koda expresses his own feelings of sadness of Kenai leaving him, reminding the bear that he said he wished to be human again like Nita, and starts to cry that he will lose his big brother, whom he loves so much. Koda begins to wonder if Kenai doesn’t love him anymore and asks him if he will really go back with Nita. Although Kenai admits that he misses things from his past, he assures him that alone or anything else wouldn’t change the fact that Koda is his brother, which surprises the cub to hear. After Kenai promises that he will never leave his little brother, Koda gives Kenai a hug and starts to cry on his big brother’s shoulder, feeling sorry for ever doubting him.
=== The Equinox ===
The trio continues their journey and they finally make it to Hokani Falls. Inside a cave, they look at a small painting of Kenai and Nita as human children that was painted by Nita during their childhood. While Kenai and Nita walk away being reminded of their childhood, Koda still looks at the painting, being very intrigued by it, and begins to understand how close Kenai and Nita were and how deep their friendship is.
Koda’s attention is pulled away when the Great Spirits shine brightly and he joins his friends who are looking on the edge of the cave at the beautiful night rainbow. Koda wonders if he is witnessing the equinox, and Kenai responds positively that it really is. The trio witnesses as the Great Spirits change winter into spring, as the ice and snow melt away and the forest flourishes. When Nita comments that her mother is among the Spirits, Koda is surprised and reveals to Nita that his mother is also a Spirit, showing that they have more in common with each other. Feeling bad for the girl, Koda asks Nita if she misses her mother, and she admits that she does. Understanding that the cub feels the same way about his mother, Nita comforts Koda that he doesn’t need to wait for the lights to find her, since his mother is always with Koda in his heart, along with all the people he loves as long as he never forgets them and continues to love them. This touches Koda, who misses his mother so much and wishes he could be with her, and gives Nita a hug, feeling so safe with her, finally embracing each other as loving friends.
Koda sadly watches as Nita makes a fire and burns her amulet. After the amulet’s ashes fly away and cause the Spirits to fade away, Koda becomes confused as to what will happen now. Nita gives Koda a hug and wishes him the best, calling him a sweet cub, but when Koda tries to talk to her, all she can hear are growls, realizing that she has lost the power to talk to animals now that her mission was over. Despite that, Nita bids her friends farewell, and Koda sadly watches as a depressed Nita walks away and leaves. He looks on top of the cave as Nita leaves, feeling sad that she left after finally becoming true friends.
=== Healing a Broken Heart ===
Koda and Kenai also return home, and when they finally make it back, Koda happily jumps off of Kenai’s back and rushes home. Realizing that ever since they got back from their trip Kenai has been feeling down, Koda finds him near a pond and tries to comfort him. Not knowing what Kenai was feeling, he understands that it must be about Nita, and asks his brother if he gave the amulet to Nita as a token of his love for her. Kenai responds that it was a long time ago, being feelings he had for Nita when they were younger and close to each other. Koda assures Kenai that he hasn’t lost Nita, and as long as he loves her, she will always remain in his heart, being very sure of it after seeing their close bond. Kenai assures his little brother that neither of them need to worry about that anymore, since things are back at how they used to be. Seeing that Kenai wasn’t being honest about his feelings, Koda questions his brother why he doesn’t tell Nita that he loves her, if he really does feel that way. Kenai has it hard to explain it to the young cub, saying that it’s a little more complicated than he thinks, and it doesn’t matter now that their mission is over. To lighten up the mood, Kenai puts on a brave face for Koda, and reminds his little brother that he made a promise to him to beat the other bears at Crowberry Ridge and assures him that they will go tomorrow and enjoy themselves there by getting the first berries. But after Kenai walks away still depressed, Koda understands that his big brother is really heartbroken and his love alone won’t be enough to make him happy, and feels so bad that he can’t help him.
==== Making a Great Decision ====
Koda climbs a rock and looks up at the sky where the Great Spirits shine. Koda talks to his mother and expresses his concern over Kenai’s sadness, and blames himself for being so possessive of him. Seeing no other way to make his brother happy again, Koda assures his mother that he will be fine on his own and asks her to tell the Spirits to turn Kenai back into a human. To make sure that Kenai is reunited with his love, Koda goes to Nita’s village to bring her back, but on the way he encounters the moose brothers, to whom he explains his motive, and even though they try to stop him, Koda goes anyway.
Koda makes it to Nita’s village, but before he can find his friend, the bear cub is spotted by some of the villagers and the children chase him. Koda runs away scared and avoids the villagers, who try to catch him. Koda climbs up a tree, but the villagers find him, and the cub calls out for help. Nita, having spotted Koda, tries to save him, but Kenai comes to the village and scares the villagers to get to Koda first. Koda jumps into Kenai’s back and watches as his big brother fights the hunters.  Koda tries to climb a mountain and Kenai grabs him by the scruff with his mouth. Koda and Kenai run away in the mountain, but notice that the hunters are approaching, which gets them both very scared. Kenai hides Koda in a tangle of tree roots, and becomes very worried for his brother as he walks away. When a hunter approaches, Koda keeps his head low, until the hunter leaves. But just as he walks out of his hiding spot, two more men appear and one of them grabs Koda, much to his terror. Luckily, Rutt and Tuke witness that on top of the mountain, and glance at the hunters, who gently put Koda down. The moose brothers jump on a tree branch that breaks and crushes the two hunters. Out of danger, Koda tells the moose that they have to help Kenai and he rides on Tuke who quickly takes the cub to him.
They manage to find Kenai, but much to Koda’s horror, his big brother is lying down injured, with Nita treating his wounds. Koda quickly rushes to his brother’s side and apologizes that he got hurt while protecting him because of his own mistakes. But Kenai isn’t angry at all, and gives his little brother a hug, being only glad that Koda is safe. He watches as Kenai confesses his love for Nita, like he told him to. Then suddenly, blue lights flash in the sky illuminating the trio, who look in awe, and Kenai realizes that it’s the Spirits, whose presence had also enabled Nita to hear the voices of animals again. Realizing that the Great Spirits had heard his wish and had come to fulfill it, Koda explains to a confused Kenai that he had asked them to turn his brother back into a man. Kenai is surprised as to why Koda would ask for this, and the cub explains that this way he can be with Nita. Kenai refuses, and tries to remind the cub how much he loves him, but Koda doesn’t mind at all losing Kenai, and gives him expressing that he wishes for his big brother to be happy with the one he loves. Touched by his little brother’s selflessness, Kenai realizes that he loves Koda even more and can’t let him go, and tells Nita that he can’t be with her if it means losing his family. When Nita understands and decides to take Kenai’s place instead, a surprised Koda watches as Nita talks to her father, with the latter accepting his daughter’s decision. Koda and Kenai step out of the light, and watch in amazement as Nita is lifted up by the power of the Great Spirits and transforms into a bear. So happy that Nita has decided to stay with them, Koda plays around with the two older bears who embrace each other in affection.
=== A Happy Bear Family ===
Koda and Kenai invite the bears from the Salmon run to come to Nita’s village, no longer in danger with the villagers understanding that bears aren’t dangerous. All of Koda’s friends witness Kenai and Nita’s wedding, with Koda standing by his brother’s side as always and watches as Nita and Kenai happily look at each other, with the cub being even more happy for the two. When Kenai and Nita marry by sharing a kiss and nozzle each other, Koda jumps in between wanting to take part in. The newly married couple nozzle their little brother too, and Koda couldn’t be happier that now not only he has a happy Kenai by his side forever, but also an amazing older sister bear. When Kenai is hit by a pine cone, Koda is surprised and looks at a tree above, where the raccoon they encountered before has also joined the wedding with some other raccoons throwing petals for the happy couple. He finds this surprise rather funny, and runs around giving Nita a nozzle and climbing on Kenai’s back, and their families give them their congratulations. Suddenly a beautiful Spirit rainbow flies above the astonished bear family, and Koda becomes very happy that even his mother and the Spirits have witnessed and blessed the wedding of his bear family. The bear trio happily look at each other and Koda becomes excited about all the fun things they will do together now that they are a happy family.
The bears likely return to the Salmon Run to rejoice in their new home, with Koda having a family that will always love him and stay by his side.