The Lion King and all of its characters belong to Disney. All characters in this story, that don't appear in the movies belong to me. Blah blah blah.

The Double Agent

By Jack Stryker

Chapter 1 – An Old Enemy

---

Takata, a meerkat sentry; stood up on his rock, looking out for predators. After a while, he yawned and sat down. With a heavy sigh, he put his head in the palm of his right hand; the only hand he had left. A year ago, his left arm was bitten off at the elbow, by a hyena. Ever since that day, Takata had been depressed; not only because he lost his arm, but because that was the last he'd ever seen of his family. Now he was living with another meerkat colony that had taken pity on him and allowed him to live with them. He missed his real family.

Soon, Takata heard a voice behind him say, "Uhh… excuse me. You know where I can find some water around here?"

"Oh, sure." Takata replied, turning around, "There's a water hole just a few…"

Takata then opened his eyes wide and gasped when he realized that he wasn't talking to another meerkat. It was a hyena.

"Hy-hy-hy-…" he stammered.

"Hi yourself." said the hyena, "Now where did you say that water hole was?"

The hyena had just barely finished his question when Takata fainted dead away.

"Oh dear."

---

Meanwhile, Kibaya; the colony's leader, made his way through the tunnels, making sure everything was going the way he wanted.

"Dig faster!" he shouted to the others, "You won't have all day when the hyenas come!"

Soon, he passed a group of meerkats; who were setting up sticks.

"Put your backs into it!" he ordered, "You want to get eaten?"

Kibaya rubbed three scars on his face as he continued on his way.

'Some day,' he thought, 'that meerkat will pay for this.'

Suddenly, he overheard a conversation going on outside.

"I was asking him for directions to find some water and he just fainted."

"Well, duh." a female voice replied, "You were asking a meerkat!"

"But we gave up eating meerkats."

"Yeah, but obviously he didn't know that." another male voice said.

Curious, Kibaya climbed out of the burrow and looked around outside. He soon found to his surprise, three hyenas talking to each other in front of an unconscious Takata. It was Akili, Brutus, and Bob; the same hyenas that had fought against Timon's colony and lost.

"Let's just keep looking." said Akili, "We're bound to find water somewhere."

"Excuse me." Kibaya said, as the hyenas started to leave.

The hyenas turned around.

"I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. You say you've given up eating meerkats?"

"Oh yeah." Akili replied, "See, we tried to take on a meerkat colony that was living at this jungle oasis, but they outsmarted us."

"Yeah, that Timon got us pretty good." said Bob, "Like how he lured you into that big hole, Brutus. And when he had that fast guy lure you to a snare trap, Akili. And then all those pups started hitting you and…"

"BOB!" Brutus and Akili shouted at him.

"Shutting up."

"Anyway," Akili continued, "a friend of ours wanted revenge on their leader, Timon, for killing his brother. But our friend wound up getting killed himself, and we were forced to leave. Afterwards we realized that our 'friend' was a jerk and none of us really ever liked the taste of meerkat anyway. So, we decided to give up meerkats and stick to bigger animals."

"I see. And where might this jungle oasis be?"

"It's a couple miles that way." Brutus said, pointing with his paw, "Why?"

"Oh… that Timon person you mentioned, he sounds like an old friend of mine and I'd really like to visit him."

"Whatever." said Akili, "Well, we better get moving if we're gonna keep from dying of thirst."

"See ya." Bob said to Kibaya.

And with that, the hyenas left.

"Jungle oasis, huh?" Kibaya muttered, as he rubbed his scars again, "So that's where you and your gang live now, is it? Well, you may have eluded us once, Timon, but this time we will take you down and I will have my revenge!"

(Several years ago)

Kibaya climbed out of the tunnel and looked around for bugs to eat. Soon, he noticed a scorpion wandering by.

"Aha!"

He ran up to the scorpion and grabbed it by the tail. But just as he was about to bite its stinger off, he heard a voice nearby shout, "Hey, that's my scorpion! I saw it first!"

Kibaya looked up and saw young Timon approaching him.

"Yeah? Well I caught it first." Kibaya retorted, "And you're trespassing in my gang's territory."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

Kibaya then looked behind Timon and said, "Oh, it's okay, Dad. I can handle this myself."

Timon looked, only to have Kibaya kick him in the stomach. As Kibaya laughed, Timon angrily jumped on him. The two pups began fighting until Kibaya had Timon pinned to the ground. But Timon managed to get one hand free and swiped at Kibaya's face. Kibaya screamed in pain and put his hands on his face. Timon's claws had scratched him good, leaving three scars across his face. Timon then pushed Kibaya off him with his feet and stood up.

"Timon!" a voice called out.

"Coming, Pop!" Timon shouted back.

Timon picked up the scorpion, bit its stinger off, and spit it out. Kibaya sat up and looked at his hand; which was now stained with blood. As Timon started to leave, Kibaya glared at him with a look of rage on his face.

"'Timon', is it? Well, Timon, you haven't seen the last of me! I never forget a name or a face. Mark my words, some day I'll get you for this!"

Kibaya got up and ran back to his colony's tunnel entrance. Timon watched Kibaya leave, then started walking away; until he ran right into his uncle. Max and Buzz had seen the two pups fighting from a distance and were coming to Timon's defense.

"What the heck do you think you were doing?" said Max, "Do you have any idea what the other meerkats in that gang could've done to you if they found you in their territory?"

Timon just looked down in shame, only to have Max lift his head back up.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, Mister! If their sentries found you…"

"Uhh… Max, let me handle this." Buzz said, "You go check on the tunnel exits or something."

Max sighed heavily and walked away. Buzz waited until Max was out of sight, then turned to Timon and let out a sigh of his own.

"Just what am I gonna do with you?"

"I'm sorry, Pop."

"Come on, let's go home. We'll talk about this later."

As they headed back home, Buzz glanced down at Timon; who was still looking down in shame. He then heard Timon sniffle and noticed a tear fall from his eye. Buzz stopped and knelt in front of him.

"Timon, it always pains me to admit this," he said, wiping the tears from his son's eyes, "but your uncle's right. You may have gotten lucky this time, but that doesn't mean you should keep it up. Next time, you might get spotted by one of their sentries."

"But you're not afraid of anything, Pop."

"Not true. They may call me fearless, but there is one thing I'm afraid of. And it's not rival gangs or predators themselves. I'm afraid of losing you to them. You're my only pup, Timon. You mean everything to me. That's why I want you to promise me that you'll stay away from that other gang from now on. I want you to spare me the fate of losing you."

"Okay, Pop." Timon replied with a nod, "I promise."

"Oh, and one other thing."

Buzz took a quick look around to make sure nobody would hear him.

"Not bad, Son." he whispered, "Not bad at all."

---

(Years later)

Kali, Kibaya's brother and second in command, took a look around the area.

"It's awfully quiet here." he reported, "And not a sentry in sight."

"Good." Kibaya replied, "They must be having one of their meetings. We'll catch them completely by surprise."

Kibaya's gang was gathered outside of the hideout where Timon's colony lived. Kibaya turned to the others in his gang; who were prepared to fight.

"Alright, everyone," he said, "kill everybody else that you find, but bring the one named Timon to me. I want him alive, so that I can deal with him myself. Clear?"

"Yes, sir!" the other meerkats responded.

"Alright then. Ready, charge!"

Kali and the rest of the meerkats ran towards the tunnel entrances, while Kibaya watched.

"Soon." Kibaya said to himself, "Very soon."

After waiting nearly an hour, Kibaya walked to one of the tunnel entrances and climbed inside. He was then surprised to find his gang members standing dumbfounded in an empty meerkat burrow.

"There's nobody here!" said Kali.

"What?!"

"We've searched every tunnel, twice, and haven't found anyone." another meerkat added, "They must've all flown the coop."

Kibaya's face turned red with rage and he clenched his fists. He then pulled one of his fists back and punched that meerkat in the face, knocking him on the ground. He stood there, panting for a few seconds, then turned to Kali and said, "We're leaving."

As Kibaya's colony headed back to their home, Kibaya raised his fist in the air and shouted, "Timon, I'll find you yet!"

(Present)

"Hey, Takata, wake up!"

Takata slowly opened his eyes and found Kibaya and Kali standing over him.

"Kibaya! Kali!" he said, "I'm still alive?"

"Yep." said Kali, "Apparently, those hyenas you encountered are no longer meerkat-eaters."

"…Really?"

Kibaya nodded.

"I just had a conversation with them while you were passed out and none of them even scratched me." he said.

Kali took Takata's one hand and pulled him up onto his feet.

"By the way, Takata," Kibaya continued, "I was wondering something. Are you happy here? Living underground, hiding from predators and searching for scarce food?"

Takata gave it a moment's thought.

"To tell you the truth, I really don't like it at all." he replied, "In fact, my father used to say that tunnels are for cowards. And I always did look up to him."

"Well, Takata, you may not have to live that way for long. You see, I've just been told of a lush jungle oasis just a few miles away. The kind of place with lots of exotic grubs, water, shade, and where no predators dare to go."

"There's just one small problem though." said Kali, "It's already been taken by another gang of meerkats. The same gang that we've been after for years."

"Yes, but once I take out their leader," Kibaya continued, "That'll make me their new leader. And then the oasis will be ours."

"Sounds good." said Takata.

"Excellent. Then come, Takata. Let's begin with our plan."

Takata followed Kibaya and Kali as they set out to find the jungle oasis. Shortly along the way, Takata heard a voice cry out, "Help!"

Takata stopped and turned his head. In the distance he saw another meerkat sentry, scrambling to get away from an eagle. His leg was badly hurt from the eagle attack and he was having difficulty getting away.

"Eagle!" the sentry cried, "I'm wounded! Help me!"

"Come on, Takata." Kali said, motioning for him to follow them.

"But… shouldn't we help him?"

"Nah, he's just a sentry." said Kibaya, "We've got like fifty of them. Come on."

Takata dropped his jaw in shock, but then closed his mouth and nodded. With that, the three meerkats continued on their way.

"No, please!" cried the wounded sentry, "Don't leave me! Please! NO!"

Takata didn't want to leave that sentry to die, nor did he feel like attacking another meerkat colony; even if they had much better living conditions than his did. But he had to follow Kibaya's orders in order to stay alive. Others in the gang had defied Kibaya in the past. Some even tried to overthrow him. And they all ended up paying for it with their lives. Takata didn't want to join those fallen members of the gang, but made a solemn vow that their wrongful deaths would be avenged some day.