"Do you often climb trees?" Kopa asked his friend.
"Mostly when I'm really depressed..." Ryan sighed heavily. "I really need to get out of here!"
"You know you could also use the trees to sharpen your claws, I can show you how." Kopa said, hoping to cheer him up.
"I never really thought about that before." Ryan said to him.
"Come on down, I'll help you out." Kopa smiled.
Ryan shrugged and pounced down next to him in front of the tree.
"Okay, first thing you need to do is get your claws out." Kopa said, demonstrating by showing his claws.
Ryan nodded and expanded his claws. "Right."
"Next, we look for a potential tree to use it's barks for sharpening our claws on." Kopa said.
"Come on, I think I saw a better one in the back." Ryan suggested, leading the way.
"Great." Kopa smiled.
Ryan led the way.
Kopa was wondering how they took one part of the jungle and put it in a zoo, but it all seemed so fake. "This seems nice and all, but there's no place like home."
"Don't worry, you'll be there soon." Ryan promised.
"Thanks, Ryan, I can't wait for you to meet my dad." Kopa smiled.
"He sounds cool." Ryan smiled back.
"Oh, Dad's just the best!" Kopa praised, then sighed a little. "I wonder if he misses me as much as I miss him."
"I'm sure he does." Ryan said softly.
"Yeah, but he must be in mourning over my grandmother's death." Kopa frowned.
"What happened to her?" Ryan asked.
"She was killed by a human." Kopa said as a tear came out of his left eye.
"Oh, my gosh..." Ryan's tone shifted into softness. "I-I'm so sorry to hear that..."
"She was trying to protect me and she got shot..." Kopa sniffled. "She was all he had left... My grandfather died before I was born."
"I'm so sorry to hear that... Well, at least you still have both your parents waiting for you back home." Ryan said.
"Yeah, I guess..." Kopa sighed a little. "Plus there's Timon and Pumbaa..."
"So, what animals are they exactly?" Ryan asked curiously.
"Timon's a meerkat and Pumbaa's a warthog." Kopa explained.
Ryan chuckled.
"I know, it sounds weird, a lion to be friends with other animals, but-" Kopa replied.
"No, no, it's not that, my best friends are different animals too." Ryan insisted.
"Really?" Kopa asked in surprise.
"Yeah, a male kangaroo and a male hippo." Ryan smiled.
"What are their names?" Kopa asked.
"Their names are Eze and Duke." Ryan told him.
"I hope I can meet them." Kopa sounded hopeful, he may as well make friends with the other animals while he was here.
"I'm sure you will." Ryan agreed.
It took a while, but they finally got to the tree that Ryan had in mind.
"Will this one do?" Ryan asked.
"Yes, this one will do very nicely," Kopa smiled before walking over to the tree. "Alright, now all we have to do is claw at the tree."
Ryan got his claws ready and he looked determined.
"I do this all the time at home." Kopa told his friend as he was ready to claw at the tree himself.
"It must be fun to live in the wild." Ryan said joining him.
"It sure is, but also can be dangerous." Kopa said before starting to claw at the tree.
"Still a lot better than here where all you do is stand around all day while humans stare into your soul and take your picture with those flashy things..." Ryan grumbled as he attempted to claw at the tree.
"Well, once we get out of here, I'll show you the way to Pride Rock so you can meet my pride and Timon and Pumbaa and the old bird himself, Zazu." Kopa smiled.
Ryan smiled in high hopes of that. "Awesome!"
"Zazu can be really annoying." Kopa said.
"Yeah?" Ryan asked.
"He has so many rules and he's such a tattletale sometimes..." Kopa rolled his eyes. "Mom told me that when Dad was younger, he tried to fire Zazu."
"Really?" Ryan then asked with a laugh, trying to imagine that.
"Yeah, I'm just surprised that Dad did really fire him," Kopa sighed. "Anyways, doing this will make your claws more sharp and also dangerous by anyone evil like Scar or Zira."
"Scar or Zira...?" Ryan did not know who those lions were.
"Scar is an evil lion who was my Dad's uncle until he betrayed my grandfather Mufasa by letting him get killed in a wildebeest stampede, luckily, my dad killed Scar so then, his reign of terror would end with the hyenas in the Pridelands," Kopa said. "And as for Zira, well, she's still alive, but she's in the Outlands with her pride, son, and daughter."
"Hmm..." Ryan took note of those two. He was relieved to hear that Scar was gone, but worried because Zira was still around. "Well, let's hope that if that Zira lady comes back, your family will be ready for her."
"Oh, I'm very certain..." Kopa agreed. "And I just know she's training her own cubs to rise against my dad to avenge Scar. Yeah, well, the truth is my dad didn't really kill Scar, it was really the hyenas, because during the fight of Dad and Scar, the hyenas overheard that evil lion say that it was all the hyenas' fault and was their idea, so to make it short, Scar blamed the hyenas to try to save his own skin." he then added.
Ryan scoffed. "Serves him right..."
"Tell me about it..." Kopa agreed, then saw Ryan having trouble with clawing. "Um... Maybe you should pretend the tree is someone you don't like and you're finally getting back at them." he offered as a suggestion to help Ryan claw more convincingly.
"Kind of hard, because I don't really have anyone I hate here." Ryan said.
"Well, um, then think if this bark is Scar and he was blaming something terrible he did and said that you did it," Kopa said. "As soon as you get that image in your head, start clawing on the tree."
"Hmm... I don't know Scar though..." Ryan hummed.
"Just think about how my dad felt when he found out his own uncle killed his father." Kopa coached.
"Okay." Ryan said before starting to imagine it and where it made him both sad and angry and started to claw at the tree.
"Now we're cookin'!" Kopa chuckled.
Ryan even growled a little, but tried not to overdo it, and he got better than he was before. Kopa started to join in and where both of their claws were now getting sharper and sharper.
The sun was nearly setting which meant it was dinner time for the zoo animals.
"We should probably get back to the hotel." Bill suggested.
"Aww!" Eloise pouted and folded her arms.
"It is getting rather late, Jennifer." Winston said.
"Oh, alright, Winston." Jenny sighed.
"Maman, do we have to go now?" Felicity frowned.
"Sorry, Flick, but you know how your brother gets agitated when we stay in one place for too long..." Cherry explained.
Simon whined and screamed, pounding on the ground like an immature toddler throwing a temper tantrum.
"Fine." Felicity sighed.
Cherry picked up Simon. "Now stop it!"
Simon kept pounding and even punched his mother against her face, but it didn't hurt her. Akito, Estelle, and Vincent were still determined to break Kopa out of the zoo, one way or another.
"Okay, time to use our magic." Akito whispered to his brother and twin sister.
"Uh-huh..." Estelle and Vincent agreed.
"Should we let the kids stay behind and help Kopa escape?" Mo whispered to Atticus after overhearing what their kids were whispering about.
"Just as long as we make sure they don't get caught." Atticus whispered back.
"I know they won't," Mo smirked a little. "They got that from me when I was a kid."
"True." Atticus nodded.
Eloise was about to leave with Bill and Jenny was about to go with Winston. The Fudo siblings stayed close together, huddling by their parents to make it look like they were also leaving. But the moment they got to the gates, the Fudo siblings got away with their magic and hid away. Felicity then used her own magic and hid away with them, she was able to see them since she was invisble now too. The employees told the guests to have a nice evening after their visit to the zoo and they then went to feed the animals since it was now their dinner time.