Chapter 2: The human village
Diana flew across the Pride Lands in searching for her best friend, Jono, she was one of the most beautiful swamp herons that lived there.
"Jono, Jono!" She called.
At the same time….
Jono had just woke up from a chill night, his eyes widened as he heard a voice calling:
"Joono! Where are you?"
"Here!" He shouted to the flying heron into the sky. He tried to flap his wings and fly, but failed and fell back on the ground again. Then, he decided to walk all the way to the Pride Lands.
A few minutes later…
Tired and thirsty, Jono walked to the waterhole in the Pride Lands. He could see king Simba and queen Nala drinking there. He settled next to them.
"Good morning, Jono." Nala greeted.
"Good morning, your highness." Jono replied.
Then, Nala noticed how tired he was.
"Are you feeling alright?" She asked. Simba looked also a bit worried.
Suddenly, Jono fell onto the ground, before he could say anything, he blacked out…
"Let's take him home to Pride Rock, Simba." Nala said. Simba nodded and carefully picked him up and carried him home.
Meanwhile in the Outlands…….
Jasiri looked out from her den. It was really hot today, she thought of the day she and Kion met. It was so beautiful. She loved the thought of that she was his hyenafriend and she finally had a lionfriend.
She decided to walk to her rock there she could have a view over the Outlands. When she gazed all over her territory, her eyes suddenly widened at the thing she saw….
At the same time…
Banzai walked through the Outlands while thinking of what prey he should catch.
"That wildebeest is a good one for a meal, that's enough for one week."
He came closer to the hunting grounds in his own territory. His smile became more evilly and widened as he saw the wildebeest eating grass, luckily unknowing it was going to be his food. He could feel his muscles becoming more stronger and he was ready to take down that wildebeest. Suddenly, he sprang through the grass and chased the wildebeest but little did he know he had chased it far away from his territory and if he looked closer to the right, he could see a tiny village of humans. But he never looked at that way, until he found himself landing on the ground head-first.
When he looked up, he saw a tall, older man looking down at him from a distance.
"Mauaji."
He looked at the hyena, Banzai snarled in response as he looked back. The old man slightly chuckled to himself, he was the shaman of the village.
"You're not good for a pet, my friend. You can never be, even the time Yogo took you in here, trying to make you friendly to the other dogs, but you're a hyena. And your snarl is unik, never in my life, I've heard a snarl like that."
Just then, Yogo came to see what the shaman was looking at.
"Oh dear day, he's back, he came to me again."
He took his hand closer to him, in an attempt to stroke him on his head, but to his sadness, Banzai tried to bite him.
"But Tamu, I'm your friend, I'm your owner." He said calmly, holding a rope to control him.
The old shaman walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Yogo, he can't be tame, he's wild, he's simply to angry and dangerous to be a pet, it's better you let him go, he will be much happier in the wild." The shaman told him. Yogo sighed.
"You like to be free, don't you?" Banzai looked at him with angry eyes.
Yogo sighed deeply and cut the rope around Banzai's legs and he saw the hyena fleeing away as fast as his four legs could carry him. But this time, he was limping the whole way, because one of his forelegs had been hurt when he tripped.
"Oh man, I hate humans!" Banzai thought to himself.
Meanwhile at the Pride Rock…..
Rafiki looked at Jono's wounds. The old baboon chuckled slightly to himself as he mixed different fruits into his turtle shell.
"Will he be alright?" Kiara asked.
"Sure, he will." Rafiki replied with a smile.
Jono breathed heavily as Rafiki stroke some of the Nitiki lilys over one of his wounds. He looked up but fainted again because of the pain.
A few hours later in the Outlands…….
Banzai walked to his den. He panted from the rush from the humans. But when he looked at his leg, it hadn't been that badly as he thought. He could still run and walk, but not so good in a few day, but it will heal soon, he thought to himself. When he walked inside the den, he could see Maravina, Salina and Raki sleeping during the hot time that was now. He skulked near Salina as carefully as he could to not wake her up. Salina weakly opened her eyes and saw him lying next to her without any prey.
"No luck today, huh?" She asked with a faint smile.
"No, not today, but I maybe will hunt with ya when it's later, it's too hot now." He whispered in response.
Salina laid her head on his shoulder and slept, Banzai on the other hand looked out, while thinking of something. He suddenly gasped.
"Where's the bird?"
"Who?" Salina asked.
"Jono."
"Oh, he walked home to the Pride Lands, it's nothing to worry about."
"I dunno, he looked pretty hurt, especially that wing of his."
Salina looked down on the floor of the den, her condition had been getting worse since the dry season had began. She sighed deeply and glanced back at him with tired eyes and smiled weakly. Banzai smiled back too, but he grew even more worried about she wouldn't make it. She had been so weak and sick of the hot weather, if he and the others couldn't find find any water, she would die by starvation.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Oh, I'm fine, how about yourself?"
"Fine."
"If we don't find water soon, the others would not make it."
"I know somewhere we can get water, but I don't know what I should do."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure if Jono will take something like that with ease, you know how much he likes us, he can't be without any of us, but if we don't leave, we'll all die." Banzai sighed deeply as he hung his head low. Salina leaned her head against his shoulder.
"But if you tell him, he maybe will understand."
Banzai only looked at the entrance of the den.
Later at night…….
Jono slept soundly in his tree. But he could feel someone touch against his cheek. His eyes peeled slowly open.
"Jono." Whispered a voice.
"Hmmm." He replied groggily.
"Are you still sleeping?" The voice asked quietly.
"No, I'm awake." He replied whispering as well.
"Sorry to wake you up, man. But it's something that you have to know."
Jono looked closer and he could see in the moonlight that it was Banzai who was talking with him. He smiled weakly as he saw the bird looking down at him, but the thing he was going to say made him feel even worse.
"What is it?" Jono asked.
"Me and my friends are going to leave."
"What?" Jono said out of the blue.
Banzai sighed deeply. He knew how it would end.
"We're going to leave, because the food and the water is gone where we live, and we must go because we'll die if we don't."
Jono nodded sadly and sighed quietly to himself.
"I guess so." He replied.
Banzai looked away for a while, but turned to him one last time.
"We'll be back when it's enough food and water here again." He said with a gloomy smile.
Jono smiled back. Then, Banzai began to walk home, and when he was in his cave, his friends and himself began to walk away from the Outlands and towards the direction far away from their home.
In the meantime….
Yogo thought to himself:
"I know you want to be free Tamu, but I can't leave you. You're still my best friend, you will still be a friend no matter what. Me and Aina will go and move from this village, we'll living with you. We're gonna respect the laws of the hyenas and not make you any harm. I will leave this village."
He walked up to his house, he saw Aina. She smiled friendly at him.
"We're going to leave, this night. I have already told the shaman about it, as you wanted."
"Good, are you sure you know where Tamu is?"
"I know the ways he chooses to take, he's often the guy who knows what he does."
"But can you tell me how you and Tamu met?"
"Oh, sure, it's both a cute story and a little of a sad one too."
Flashback……
I walked to myself to find some fruit to a cake I was going to do with my mother, when I suddenly heard a strange sound from the bushes. It was a hyena cub! And it was all alone, it seemed that he was an orphan, because he behaved like a cub who had lost its parents. I became fond of it and decided to take it home, so I picked the cub up and carried it all the way home, but he snarled all the time, truth to be told, he was furious. When I put him down, and gave him some meat, some of the dogs ran up to him in an attempt to steal it from him, because he was so tiny for a normal hyena cub. But before they could attack him, he snarled, and what a snarl! All the dogs stopped in their tracks and became scared and ran away from him. I was really surprised. The all backed away from him, even though he was so thin and tiny. Like he hasn't eaten in two or three weeks.
But suddenly, he ran away. He ran towards the direction out of the village and forward to the river named Tonga.
"Tamu! Tamu! I shouted, but he didn't listened.
He stopped at the pit of the river banks, and looked down in the water. But when he turned around and faced me, he jumped into the water, apparently, he couldn't swim, because he sank and came up to the surface of the water.
"TAMU!!" I yelled, he never came back.
Ending of flashback…
Meanwhile with the hyenas…..
Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, Maravina, Raki, Magovi and Salina walked through the Desert Lands, now they should cross the river to come to the other side, where it was plenty of food and water. Suddenly, a thunderstorm clapped and it began to rain much. Most of them was luckily coming over the river until a flow of water came and washed away everybody in its way.
When they were over the river, Salina said:
"Where's Banzai?"
Maravina looked worriedly at her:
"We have to look for him. Come on, we have no time to loose!" She said and bolted away, while the others followed her.
A few seconds later……..
Banzai tried to swim, but came under the water and became unconscious. A few moments later, he found himself washed up on one of the river banks. He walked up and went up to the jungle. While he walked, he could smell the sent of humans. He was quickly listening to every sound that he could hear.
Suddenly, he saw one man with a bow and it was in the direction of him. He snarled at the man, and tried to escape, but the man threw a rock at his head, making him fall down on the ground, but hastily came to his paws and bolted away. The man cursed under his breath and walked after.
"I will get you, Tamu. This time you won't escape from what you did to me, the dog you killed was my best friend, now you'll have to pay for it. I'll make sure you'll be a big trofé to my collection, and you won't be so alone, I can get some money for some birds I may find. You'll never gonna survive the poison I made for this hunt, the hunt after YOU."
At the same time…..
Yogo and Aina walked through the Grasslands and further to the Moura Moura Lands. He could hear footsteps and saw Kanchogo, one of the enemies that lived in the same village and was a traitor for the people who lived there. Suddenly, Aina saw a female white swamp heron in a trap. She helped it out, but just when she was about to let it fly, Kanchogo pointed with his bow towards the little bird.
"Be prepared to say goodbye to your bird and your girlfriend, Yogo." Kanchogo said evily.
Before Aina and Yogo could blink, a dark shadow appeared just when he fired off the bow. When Yogo looked up, what he saw made him cringe.
"Tamu, no. Not you, don't die, Tamu." He said. The hyena laid on the ground, unconscious, barely moving. But woke up by the small whispers from the bird who was trying to keep him awake.
Banzai looked up at the little female swamp heron, who flew down to him.
"Banzai, you're getting sick." Diana said sadly.
"D-don't worry, I'll be fine. Y-you have to go before the man will get you, you have to flee. Don't mind me." He told the bird. Diana looked at him with gloomy eyes but nodded. Banzai smiled at her weakly before he lost his powers and blacked out.
Yogo hurried up and ran over to the wounded hyena. He took the lifeless hyena body to himself, the man who shot it was gone. He could feel his tears coming to his eyes, the arrow was full of poison and his "pet" would probably die in a few hours. Aina let the heron fly away and it few home. The hyena's ears were slightly moving, and the tail wagged angrily. Aina noticed that.
"Hold him tight, I'm gonna try something." Aina said as she leaned to the arrow in the hyena's chest. Yogo looked confused, but understood and she slowly took the arrow out without any difficulty.
The hyena reacted to the huge pain that was made when she took out the arrow, snarled furiously and tried to attack her, but fell back unconscious again. Yogo sighed softly and grabbed one foreleg over his shoulder and carried the wounded male away along with Aina who showed Yogo the way to a safer place.
"You think you can carry him all the way? He's quite big for a male hyena, he's almost two meters tall from head to his hindlegs." Aina asked.
"He might be heavy, but I have to try." Yogo replied.
When he walked, he could hear the hyena breathing fast. He stopped near some big rocks and laid the helpless animal on the ground and put a had on its forehead, and could feel the hyena had a very high temperature. He looked pitifully at the poor creature.
"Don't worry Tamu, it's going to be alright." He told the hyena. Tamu or Banzai as he was called, looked at Yogo with tired eyes, Yogo could see a sign of fear and anger in them. He took his hand and gently stroked him on his head, but Banzai didn't enjoyed it at all and grunted in frustration to make him stop.
Suddenly, he looked in the direction there Aina walked.
"G-gruff, grrar (Take me to Anna, she can help me.)" Banzai said in his fake animal language. Yogo understood him and picked him up and resumed the walk.
"Hope Kanchogo don't find me or Diana. Maybe I have to run for it, if I can." Banzai thought to himself as he tried to run, but the poison made him feel even more weaker and he could already feel a burning feeling inside him.
First, everything went black and when he looked again, he could hear and see weird looking creatures, they were all steering at him with evil eyes. He immediately felt uncomfortable with it and tried to close his eyes to not be too panicked by them.
Banzai leaned his head on Yogo's shoulder, still keeping his eyes closed and tried to relax.
It wasn't very easy, because of the poison, which made him shook and gave him huge pain attacks now and then, but he tried hardly to not show a sign of pain. It would make him look like a weakling if he did show it, as Banzai thought to himself.
They walked and walked until they entered a cave, where no animals lived in. He put the hyena down and took some water to clean the big scar on his chest. When Banzai felt the water coming to his scar, he gritted his teeth in pain. Aina suddenly saw an another human girl walking in their direction.
"It's Anna, she's the best vet in town." Aina smiled. Yogo smiled happily at her idea.
Then, the girl entered the cave. She looked down at the hyena and took some tests to see what had happened to him.
"He's been poisoned, right?" She asked. Yogo nodded.
"Is he going to be okay?" Aina asked.
"Yes, I think so, but that would maybe take awhile. Because he's very sick. If he's seeing things that doesn't exist, try to take it easy and tell him it's not real. He's seeing things like that because he's ill, it's nothing to worry about. It's naturally for animals like him to hallucinate if he's ill."
"Do you know which poison it is?" Aina asked worriedly.
"Yes, I know which poison it is, it's the poison from a cobra and a garilla fruit." Anna answered.
"Do you think you have any antidote for this?" Yogo asked.
"I think I have the cure for it, just a minute." Anna said as she gave an injection in the hyena's hind leg, to help the hyena to get better and survive from the poison.
After she was done, she took some water and spread it on the whole body of the hyena, because it had been warmer and the body temperature had been growing higher.
But even when she poured down water on him and he didn't reacted, she realized he was unconscious and she knew how to wake it up. She told Aina to grab its hindlegs while Anna herself, checked the pulse if the hyena still was alive.
After a while, the hyena slowly woke up. He saw Anna, the human friend of Raki, and Yogo, his former owner and Aina, the former owner's girlfriend. Banzai began to snarl at Yogo, but not at the other two.
"Banzai? Do you remember me? It's Anna, your brother's friend. I'm here to help you. I'm not going to hurt you." Anna asked.
"Anna? Is it really you?" Banzai asked confusedly.
"Yes, it's me. I maybe have to go, but Yogo and Aina will help you. I will come and check you tomorrow, is that okay with you?" Anna asked friendly. Banzai nodded, she took some water and gave it for him to drink.
"One good thing for you are that you drink often, keep that in mind, it will make you feel better." Anna told the hyena.
"Yeah, I will." Banzai replied. Anna smiled back and began to pick her things up and got ready to walk away from the cave.
"I guess my work here is done." Anna said, before pick her things up and walking away, but stopped and turned around.
"Don't forget he have to rest and drink alot, he'll get better if he does that. And if he's hallucinating, remember what I told you, just remind him, and if anything else, just send me a call and I'll come at once. See you soon, bye." Anna said as she waved goodbye, and Yogo and Aina waved back to her and said goodbye as well.
Banzai followed her suite. He sighed to himself. Even if he didn't trusted humans, he thought for himself that Anna was the one, and absolutely the only one he would trust. Okay, maybe Aina too, but Yogo on the other hand, was something else.
Suddenly, he saw a thousand of men, they wore guns and looked mischievously at him, he snarled back in response. Aina and Yogo noticed that.
"What's wrong with him?" Aina asked. " Is he angry?"
"He's hallucinating, he sees things that doesn't exist."
"I think I've got an idea." Aina said with a smile.
"Here little guy, here's some water for you to drink." She said as she leaned down to the hyena and helped him to drink. Banzai felt his legs were shaking, and he laid down on the floor, half-asleep. Aina noticed that.
"Let's go to sleep now, Tamu needs to get some sleep." Aina told Yogo as she laid a small blanket on the hyena to keep him from freezing.
And in awhile, the three friends in the cave had soon began to sleep.
Some hours later…
Banzai turned over to the other side. Suddenly, he felt himself being in the Koruaga village. He could see men, women and their shaman looking at him with evil eyes. He tried to run away, but to his horror, his paws were glued to the ground.The man who shot him was there too and this time he pointed his arrow at his head. But he didn't shoot, to Banzai's good fortune and Banzai looked a bit relaxed, but that changed when he saw an another man with a gun pointing at him.
"Don't shoot me!" Banzai thought to himself. Yogo tried to stop the man but was held back by two other poachers and the man with the gun sneered at the hyena.
Goodbye
"No, you can't do this!" Yogo yelled.
Then, Kanchogo fired off his arrow as the man with the gun took his finger on the fire off button.
BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Aina looked up a little because she woke up by the snorings from Yogo. She was about to sleep when she heard a weak voice saying:
"L-let me go, let me go."
Aina got up and walked over to the hyena. When it felt her hand, the hyena said:
"Let go off me or I will make you do it." Banzai mumbled with a growl. Aina looked worriedly at him.
"He must be delirious, maybe that's why he is talking to noone in particular, I have to try to wake him up." She thought. She took her hand towards him again and nudged his shoulder, she saw that he moved a little, but was still sleeping.
"Don't shoot me, I want to be free." He mumbled.
Then, she carefully stroke him on his head, and that seemed to work. He moved his right ear a little and was still breathing fast.
"Wake up, Tamu. It's nothing to be worried about. You're just delirious. It's alright." Aina said softly.
Banzai gasped as he woke up. He looked around himself and saw that Yogo and Aina was still sleeping as he thought. And for some reason, his head laid on Yogo. But he began to understand that Yogo had moved him so he slept with them instead of letting him sleep alone. Banzai leaned his head on his paw, and suddenly noticed that his cheeks were wet, he could feel a drip of water running down his cheek, that came from his eyes. He quickly wiped it away with his paw and stretched one of his hindlegs, which made him accidently kick Aina who immediately looked over at his side.
"Are you alright, Tamu?" She asked. When Banzai heard her voice, he turned his head to face her, but all he could see was a creepy-looking creature with red eyes and had its hands around his hindleg. He looked at his right and saw more creatures who looked the same. He could hear them say:
"Give up, coward. We'll get you anyway. Stay where you are or we'll make the pain even worse."
Suddenly, he felt a small pain that came from his scar in his chest, he began to breathe even faster and faster, and when he felt a strange thing on his back, he saw a hand with claws that took a good grip on him, which actually was Yogo's hand. He almost didn't dared to look back at the hand.
Aina walked over to him and scratched him gently behind his ears. Banzai looked afraid for a start because he didn't knew what she was doing, but he didn't bite her, to Aina's good fortune. He couldn't understand why, but he suddenly found the scratching nice instead of frightening, he smiled in response as a reaction to the nice feeling.
"Don't worry, it's alright." She said. She held a bowl with water that she let to him to drink up. She also took a tiny rag and put it into cold water from the cave and put it on Banzai's forehead.
"Does it feel better now?" She asked. Banzai didn't knew what to say but nodded. He thought of his friends, maybe he didn't had any, maybe they had found someone else and forgotten him, would he ever see them again? He had never felt so lonely as right now, he really missed his friends, well as he could remember never had met them at all. Aina noticed he looked like he felt that he was lonely.
"Tamu, you're not alone, Yogo and I are with you, and I'm sure you'll find your friends." She said as she tapped him on his forehead with her tiny rag.
Banzai looked down at the ground, as his head hung low.
"I'm sorry I tried to kill ya. I didn't know that you were going to help me. That's how I am nice, isn't that pretty?" He slurred with sarcasm in the end of his sentence.
"Don't worry, Tamu. I can understand why you don't trust me or Yogo, but now you're sick, you can't help it, you don't have to be ashamed." Aina said as she smiled warmly at the poor hyena. After that, she slowly laid down and I slowly, slowly drifted off in an attempt to sleep. Banzai looked at her and sighed silently to himself.
It took awhile, but he could feel that Yogo's hand was stroking his back in a soothing motion. Now, he could feel he was getting warmer and warmer, and he felt even worse, but Yogo continued to stroke him with his hand. Banzai didn't knew why, but for some reason he began to feel his body was relaxing and he was feeling very sleepy……..
The next morning….
Aina yawned as she woke up from a good sleep. She turned to Yogo and tapped him on his shoulder.
"Time to get up now, we have to get some food and water." She said. Banzai who still was sleeping, just moved his ear to listen at their conversation. Aina smiled at the hyena.
"How are you feeling today Tamu? Is it better?"
Banzai looked up at her with half-sleepy eyes and shooked his head. Aina leaned down to his level and saw that his eyes were very tired.
"Yogo, he needs some water. I think he's getting worse."
Banzai looked at the outside of the cave and saw something, he wanted to go there. Yogo walked to get some water, but when he came back, he saw that Tamu wasn't there.
Then, he noticed that the hyena had ran out of the cave, Aina looked concerned.
"You think he's gonna survive?"
"If we find him, he'll make it."
Three hours later…..
Banzai ran as fast as he could as he saw men and other things like other hyenas, which made his blood running fiery and he snarled all the time. Suddenly he saw some bad-looking creatures, they glanced at him with a scoffing look. Banzai's pupils got smaller and smaller, until they were small as a tiny spots.
He could hear them laugh, they laughed at him. That laugh made him mad, too mad. He tried to jump at them, but ended in landing face-first into a puddle of mud, seeing them fleeing away, before something cold, wet fell upon him. In shock, he snapped out of it and saw Yogo with an empty bucket of water, which he had washed over him. When he looked over at him, Yogo smiled at him, Aina smiled at him as well.
He didn't remember anything about what had happened, where came Yogo and his friend from? And why did he got a scar in his chest? But he didn't even could remember who that person was or what the names of his friends were. What were their names again?
"Billy? Ninni? or was it Bobo?" He thought to himself as he thought of his friends' names. Suddenly, something popped up in his head.
"Ono, Jojo, Jo-no, Jono. Jono! Who was it again? Wait a minute! He's my kid. How could I forget HIM?" Banzai thought as he panted for breath when he got the water all over his body.
He looked back at Yogo and Aina.
"Are you feeling better?" Yogo asked.
"Why do you care?" Banzai snapped with an unusually low voice. " You just say that so you can keep me as your own, don't you? If you ask me I'm very sure of it." Banzai continued.
"No Tamu, it's not that. I will not keep you as a pet, you deserve your freedom. I'll never do something you hate." Yogo replied as he slightly stroke the hyena's back. Banzai who didn't liked to be petted, looked furious, but didn't attacked him because he was too weak to fight any humans.
"How can I trust you, humans? You'll all lie to me whenever you got the chance." Banzai retored.
"We're not lying to you, Tamu. We're telling the truth." Aina assured the hyena. Banzai glanced at her with upset yet calmer eyes. He didn't know why, but he felt one feeling that he could trust her.
Suddenly, he heard a familiar sound from a female hyena he had met before. At first she looked strange until she turned around and faced him.
"Timwa." He thought when he saw his half-sister. She ran towards him.
"Banzai, are you alright?" She asked, not noticing the humans next to her. Yogo became surprised, but remembered the legend of how the animals could talk, so he remained calm.
"I think so, how are you, Timwa?" He asked. Then, he turned to Yogo.
"Please, don't call me Tamu, my name's Banzai." Yogo nodded.
"I know now, but you're still Tamu to me, but if it's your real name, I would use it."
He tried to stand up, but fell down again. Timwa walked over to him.
"I'm glad to see ya again, brother."
"Half-brother." He corrected her.
"How come you got that wound in your chest?" Timwa asked.
"Somebody shoot me with an arrow full of poison, but I'm alright."
"Did Anna come to your help?" She asked.
"Yes." He replied.
Timwa nodded and she told Banzai to walk with her. He followed her and she began the talk again:
"Where's your friends?" She asked her half-brother.
"I lost them, I don't know where they are." He replied with a deep sigh.
At the same time at an another place………….
"BANZAI! BANZAI!!" Shenzi shouted in the process of looking after her friend. Ed called in his gibberish language.
"Hahu,hoho he hu?" (Banzai, where are you?)"
"Where can he be?" Raki asked.
"I don't know, keep looking." Maravina answered.
"Hope not anything bad had happened to him." Salina thought to herself as she kept on looking after him.
Suddenly, she noticed a pawprint from a hyena, she smelled at it and recognized who it was.
"Come everybody, I found his pawsteps!" She shouted, the others ran up to her.
A few hours later…………
Jono laughed as he saw Timon and Pumbaa who were looking for some tasty grubs for dinner tonight.
"What do you think, Pumbaa? The big one or the purple with wings?" Timon asked.
"I dunno Timon, what do you think Jono?" Pumbaa asked Jono, who smiled kindly at them both.
"I think I prefer the purple one with wings, it looks nice." Jono replied.
Suddenly, Simba came to the tiny group. He smiled at all three of them.
"Hi Timon, hi Pumbaa, and you too, Jono." Simba greeted the group.
Jono suddenly thought of Banzai, Shenzi and Ed. It had been a couple of days since they left the Outlands to search for a better home with plenty of food and water.
"Hope they can live here, then I don't have to be so alone." He thought to himself.
"Hey, do you wanna come at the party of the Pride Lands, it would be a pleasure to have you here." Simba told Jono, who looked overjoyed.
"Oh, yes your majesty. It would be fun." He replied.
At the same time…
Banzai slowly got up from his resting place and began to resume the walk. The pain in his chest grew even more, and he was starting to feel sick again.
Stopping by a nearly dried up waterhole, he bent over and began to drink a little. Two vultures were sitting in a tree, watching the hyena all the time.
Banzai glared at them.
"Hey, what are you lookin' at, huh?"
The vultures glanced at each other before they turned to face the hyena.
"We saw that you don't look very well." the tallest vulture said.
"Oh yeah, whatever, I'm not dead yet, bird-brains!" Banzai sighed annoyedly.
Suddenly, a group of about fifteen hyenas appeared, looking menacing at him.
"So you're Banzai, ain't you?" one of the hyenas asked.
"Well, who wants to know?" Banzai asked, ignoring them.
"They say that you're the strongest, but we want proof, without the proof, we think you're a coward." the second hyena said.
"So you want a fight, 'cause you seem to ask for one!" Banzai snorted.
A mongoose called Jackmac appeared, he was one of Jono's friends in the Pride Lands, but was often traveling to look for new adventures, when he saw Banzai, who looked exhausted by the illness, stood in a fighting position, ready to fight the fifteen strong male hyenas.
"BANZAI! DON'T LISTEN TO THEM! THEY'LL JUST WANT TO HURT YOU! YOU CAN DIE!!" Jackmac called to Banzai, doing his best to keep him away from the bullying hyenas.
But Banzai snorted in annoyance and replied:
"Just stay outta this! That's nothing for you! If they ask me for a fight, I'll fight 'em! That's it!" he snapped.
Jackmac climbed down from the trees, running away to find help.
"Hope I can get Timwa! She can handle him better than I do." he told himself.
Five minutes later…
"Timwa! Timwa! Where are you?!" Jackmac shouted. Timwa looked up and saw the mongoose.
"Oh, it's just you. What's up?" she asked.
"It's Banzai! Fifteen hyenas are challenging him for a fight and he won't back out! He'll die if we don't do anything!" the mongoose told her, panicky. Timwa sighed.
"Thanks for the info, Jack. I better get going now." she replied. Jackmac smiled at her.
"Good luck." he whispered to her. He watched her running away to help her brother.
A few minutes later…
"That wasn't so hard." Banzai chuckled to himself, smiling in victory. Timwa rolled her eyes and shooked her head as she smiled at him.
"You may be sick, but yet so strong." she laughed. Banzai smiled proudly.
"Yeah. I'm a fighter and a hunter at heart." he cackled.
"Shall we go now?" Timwa asked. Banzai nodded.
"Yeah, man. Let's go."
Some hours later…..
While Banzai walked along with Timwa, he was in deeply thoughts about how he could find his friends, but was interrupted by a loud scream who came from a child, a child he knew very well. He rushed over and saw Kanchogo with a new arrow, that he would shoot in the wounded heron who already got a poisoned arrow in the chest.
He stood in front of the bird in a protective position. Kanchogo frowned.
"Go away, Tamu. The heron is mine." He told the hyena coldly.
"Don't you dare to touch a feather on him, or I would tear you apart." Banzai growled furiously. Timwa growled as she looked in the human's eyes.
"So, got a birdie friend, huh? Well, how about you both die the same death." Kanchogo said as he pointed the arrow towards him a second time. Suddenly, Kanchogo got knocked out by a hard punch on his head, he fell down onto the ground, unconscious.
Banzai took the arrow out of the bird. The little heron looked up at him. Timwa looked pityfully at the bird.
"H-Hi mama, a- are you back?" Jono asked weakly.
"Yes, I'm back."
"Will I survive or do you think I will die?" Jono asked, Banzai held him close to himself.
"Don't worry kid, Anna will come. You won't die." He said. Jono looked at him with teared eyes, Banzai tried to held back his own sorrow to not make it worse, he was maybe probably dying himself. Banzai looked over his shoulder and saw it was Anna and her gang who knocked Kanchogo out and Yogo who now was in her gang, tied him up and Anna walked over to Jono.
"We had came in time, he will make it." Anna told Banzai as she gave the bird an antidote for the poison to come out of his body to make him feel better again and took some water and cotton to clean the scar free from dirt. She threw a look at Banzai. She looked at the scar at his chest, and put a so called "plaster" on to avoid dirt to come into the cut.
"Will we live shorter than normal animals." Banzai asked.
"No, you'll live as normal. It's no difference, that thing about them who got poisoned live as half as long as the ones who didn't got poisoned, that's not true. The poison is gone from your body and his to, it's just like normal." Anna replied.
Banzai nodded and looked at Kanchogo, Anna smiled. Timwa glanced joyfully at her.
"Don't worry, he won't bother you anymore he will be in jail for the rest of his life." She said.
Shortly after she said that, she walked over and told the others to take him to jail. Banzai turned to Jono, who rested in his embrace. Jono looked up at him.
"Am I going to be alright?"
"Yes, Jono. You will." He replied.
Jono sighed and laid his head on Banzai's foreleg, Banzai licked him on his back to clean his cut in the back after the arrow, Anna had already cleaned the scar and given him the cure. Jono felt much better now when Banzai licked him on the back and on his cheek, he felt so comfortable and safe, Banzai was a strong hyena and no one dared to fight him, not even the most scariest hyenas could fight against him.
Banzai got to his paws and picked Jono up in his mouth. He decided to try to find his friends, but one question hit him suddenly. Why did Jono came here? Had Jono looked for them? Was it something that worried him? He saw that Timwa was listening to something, and suddenly, she ran off in the direction where the call came from. Banzai sighed, when will he see Salina again? When she was gone, the day felt like ages.
He looked around, no sign of danger. It was clear, and okay to go. He walked carefully through the Wastelands, it was a dangerous place, not for him but for Jono. He was a bird and many predators would like to eat him, it was no lions but a lot of hyenas lived here and they were really violent. If they wanted they could fight against him, he knew it very well. He wasn't so strong so he could make a fight between himself and ten hyenas.
He listened for his friends, and once again he could hear a voice calling:
"BANZAI! BANZAI!"
He paused and heard an another lighter voice:
"BANZAI! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Now he recognized the voice, it was the voice of Salina. He made his contact sound through his mouth:
"OOOOOUUUUUUUUP!"
That was followed by an another hyena who had the same contact sound as he used.
"OOUUUUUUUP!"
"They heard me, I'm home again." He thought.
Banzai ran towards Salina who walked with Timwa. Salina and Timwa stopped in their tracks when they saw him coming closer to them.
"Oh Banzai, I thought you were dead." Salina said as she hugged him tightly, and she hugged Jono too, who smiled. Banzai who wasn't completely used to get hugs, struggled to look comfortable with it. Suddenly, she saw his scar in his chest.
"Banzai! What happened to you?" Salina asked with shock.
"A human shot me, but I'm fine." Banzai muttered. Salina sighed in relief.
"Let's go home, you need to rest, both of you." Salina told Banzai and Jono.
Three hours later…….
Banzai and Jono rested in the den. It was hot and the sun made everything feel warmer.
"We gotta move from here, I don't think this is such a good place." Banzai thought to himself.
Jono looked up at him and said with his tiny voice:
"I know a place where we can live."
"You do?" Banzai asked.
"Yeah, um how are you feeling mom? You look pretty tired." Jono said. Banzai noticed the worriedly glance in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. It's nothing to be worried about." He insisted, waved his paw in a movement who said "never mind".
"Do you want me to show you the place where you can rest?"
"Yeah man, you can can do that."
A few hours later…
The hyenas walked over the Outlands until they reached the border of the Pride Lands. All of them were scared but decided that it was the best thing they could do.
When they reached the border, Simba and Nala rushed over to the intruders.
"What do you guys want to do here?" Simba asked sternly.
"We're here 'cause right now, we can't live in the Outlands, your majesty." Salina with her unusually calm voice told the king. Nala suddenly noticed Timwa.
Timwa gave her a gloomy look when she glanced over to Banzai. He looked sick and needed help, and he was tired, she knew that the best thing was that they stayed in the Pride Lands until he was better, or even whenever they liked to be there.
"Come on, Simba. Banzai saved Diana and he's sick and Raki knows about Timon and Pumbaa, we can let them stay can't we?" Nala said.
"Okay, but I'll only do it for you." Simba replied, then he turned to the hyenas.
"Alright, you can stay in the Pride Lands, as long as you DON'T hurt MY friends ." Simba told them.
A few days later….
Maravina laid on the grass alongside with Banzai and Raki under a nearby tree. Timwa was laying in a tree next to Jono, who enjoyed the company.
Under the tree, the three hyenas were laying under gave them a chill shadow, that felt relaxing.
Maravina nudged Banzai's cheek with her nose. He looked up at her.
"How do you feel now, son?" She asked.
"Fine, it's better." He replied before he went back to sleep. She laid her head in her paws and drifted off to sleep as well. He needed to get some rest and maybe he would be alright again.
Meanwhile at the Pride Rock, Nala glanced over the Pride Lands, she smiled when she saw the hyenas resting peacefully.
"This will be good." She thought to herself.
A few months later…
The rain poured down, the thunder ecoed through the savannah. The water from the raindrops filled the rivers with new, fresh water.
The rain season had come and a new good time for all the animals had began to return yet again after a harsh dry season. Rafiki looked out from his baobab tree and smiled a peacefully smile. Now the hard times were over and the better time were coming.