Chapter 7-Trouble on the Horizon

Danny woke up early again and went on his normal exercise routine. Afterwards, he took a bath and headed back for Pride Rock. He was coming up to the cave when a cub came running out to view the sunrise. He looked very excited and was about to go back inside when he saw Danny. The boy realized it was Simba. "Hey, Simba. What are you doing up so early? And all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?"

Simba frowned. "Huh?" He looked back at his tail. "My tail's not bushy."

Danny laughed. "It's a figure of speech. I'm basically asking why are you so excited?"

Simba understood by the look on his face. "Oh. My dad promised to show me the whole kingdom starting at sunrise. In fact, I gotta go wake him up."

"Uh, I think you should be careful about that. He may not take kindly to being woken up." But he was wasting his breath. The young cub had already gone into the cave. Danny carefully walked into the cave to see Simba jumping in between sleeping lionesses and cubs to get to his dad. Simba accidentally landed on a few lionesses, followed by the "sorry's" and "excuse me's".

Danny watched Simba as he reached his dad. "Dad! C'mon, dad. We gotta go. Dad, dad, dad, dad…"

As Danny watched, he heard Sarabi say. "Ugh, your son is awake." He could see a smile played out on her mouth.

Mufasa leaned next to her. "Before sunrise, he's your son." Danny laughed when he heard this, but kept it silent. He didn't want to wake the pride.

Simba grabbed his father's ear and tugged. He lost his grip and came tumbling backwards, grunting the whole time. The cub got back up and charged his father, head butting Mufasa in the side of his head. "Dad, you promised."

Mufasa looked at his son. Simba was glaring at him. Mufasa nodded. "Okay, okay. I'm up, I'm up." Simba cheered. Mufasa yawned, which sounded like more like a silent roar to Danny. Simba and Mufasa headed out, followed by Sarabi. Danny walked out after them out to the midpoint of Pride Rock. Mufasa was on his way up to the summit when he turned around. "Danny, will you be coming with us?"

"No, I have to finish what I started yesterday," Danny said, winking to Mufasa.

Mufasa understood what he meant and nodded. "Alright, I will see you later. Let's go Simba." Sarabi nudged her son forward, and he joyfully followed his father up the slope.

Sarabi smiled as she watched them disappear out of their sight. She turned to Danny. "So, I take it you're not coming on the hunt today?"

Danny shook his head. "No, I need to set up some things. Maybe tomorrow."

"Alright. Be careful with what you're doing."

Danny began walking to the other side of the summit. He stopped and came down on one knee in front of her face. His smile always seemed to give a great effect on Sarabi, and her smile showed. "I'm always careful." He gave her a hug and headed up for his ship.

Danny saw Mufasa and Simba looking at the sunrise. He couldn't hear them, but he knew what was going on. He walked inside the Paratus Preliator and grabbed ten sentries. He placed them in the speeder bike's cargo container and hopped on. His first destination was the south point behind Pride Rock. He would then hit the west and east internal points, and finish with the north internal by the geyser crevice. Danny powered up the speeder bike and took off.


Danny started according to his map that he had in his computer. He brought it along with him to help position the sentries correctly. According to the map, they would be placed in between the outside sentries that were in between the main points, and about a half mile back. On the map, the dots could be connected by lines, forming a triangle for each internal camera with every external camera. He began his mission on the west point and worked his way through each of them. They were all placed perfectly and in hard-to-see spots.

His last one was set overlooking the geyser crevice. Being finished with the second of three objectives, he decided to take a break and have lunch. Having another MRE, jambalaya, he sat down and cooked his meal. It was delicious, eating the spicy combination of ham and shrimp. As Danny finished up, he looked around the land. He finally had a chance to look at the place peacefully. It was beautiful, seeing the antelope leaping across the grass in a group to watching the birds fly around. He sighed. "Dad, I wish you were here. I don't want to assume the worst, but if you, mom, and the girls are dead, why did I get to live?"

"Beats me, buddy. But we'll be happy to put you out of your misery."

Immediately, Danny got up and whipped out his pistol. He turned around to face nine spotted creatures. Hyenas! He remembered what Mufasa said about them, but only just remembered that they lived in the geyser crevice. The hyenas seemed to be laughing. Four of them stepped forward. One of them, a female spoke. "So this is the human the boss talked about. What do you think of him, Bonzai?"

The male hyena next to her, chuckled. "Looks like a good-sized piece of meat to me, Shenzei. Do you agree, Ed?"

The third hyena, who had a crazed look, just laughed maniacally. The fourth stepped out in front of all of them. "Here's what I think. The boss gave us orders to kill him, so let's dine on some meat right now." He howled. The five hyenas in the back came forward and surrounded Danny.

Danny slowly pulled out his knife and held it in his right hand. "Try me." He flipped the safety off of his switch as he noticed a gopher pop out of the ground and observed them for a second, before going back underground.


Sarabi and Zira both tackled the wildebeest to the ground. It put up a good fight but Zira was on its back, weighing it down while Sarabi her jaws locked in the wildebeest's neck, suffocating it. The other lionesses came up and surrounded the prey to keep it from going anywhere. Since Danny was out, they had to do things the normal way. It was a good thing Danny didn't help them everyday, or they would lose their hunting edge. The wildebeest finally dropped to the ground and ceased breathing.

Zira smiled. "Another day, another prey. We got food now."

Kamaria nodded. "It's a shame Danny didn't come along."

Sarabi interjected. "Danny mentioned that he had some things to do. I can't imagine how hard it is to adjust to living like this. For us, it's normal but not for him."

"Me neither. If you were in his world of living, how would you feel?" Sarafina asked.

"Good question. I wonder if…" Sarabi didn't even finish as her ears perked up. A noise caught her attention. It was a gunshot. Sarabi was about to dismiss it as Danny catching some animal for food when two quick shots followed it. Now she knew he was defending himself. It only took one shot from his weapons to kill an animal, and he didn't have an appetite as big as the lions. He was being attacked. A few sniffs and she recognized the scent instantly: hyenas. She turned to the hunting party. "Sarafina, Zainabu, Kamaria, you're with me. Zira, take the rest of the party back with the wildebeest. Danny is in trouble and he may need our help." The four took off in the direction of the gunshots.


The first hyena that jumped at Danny was from his left. Danny fired his pistol. The shot hit the hyena square in the head, killing it instantly. The others saw this and hesitated. It was enough for Danny to take two quick shots at the ones behind him. One took a shot in the stomach while the other took it to the neck. The first one died in moments while the other hyena thrashed about until it fell down; its only movements were muscle spasms. The fourth hyena jumped him with his back turned to him. Danny spun around and sliced its throat with his knife.

The fifth managed to get on his back and swipe him. The pain in the man's back was searing, but he used the hyenas momentum to throw him forward. The hyena hit the ground and got back up to jump him again. But he never got the chance. The bullet from Danny's pistol hit him right in the rear left leg, wounding him. Foolishly, the hyena charged. Danny sidestepped and slashed the front left leg, causing the hyena to fall over. Danny quickly kicked it in the head and brought his knife down. It went straight through his skull, killing the hyena. Danny stood back up and faced them, blood splatter was on his face.

The leader nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll have to finish the job myself." He began to stalk him. Danny tossed his pistol down and held his knife at the ready. As Danny's back turned to the other three, the leader said, "Get him now!"

Before Shenzei, Bonzai, and Ed could react, out of the bushes jumped Mufasa. His huge roar deafening all ears as he began attacking the trio. Danny was distracted by this, and the hyena leader took advantage of it. He tackled Danny to the ground. Wasting no time, he slashed at Danny's chest, causing even more pain. He then locked his jaw down on Danny's shoulder. Danny screamed from the pain. "Screw you!" Danny brought his feet underneath the hyena and kicked him over his head and slowly got up.

The hyena was much faster and tackled Danny again. This time, the hyena pressed his paw down on Danny's arm that was holding his knife. The hyena was already slobbering. "Any last words?"

Danny smirked. "Yeah, where do you want it? Stomach or chest?" The hyena frowned at the question. Danny shook his free arm, and a knife hidden in his sleeve slipped down into his hand. He drove the knife into the hyena's stomach. The hyena howled in pain. And backed off of him. Danny, with an adrenaline rush, quickly got up. Finding the target on the hyena, Danny jumped on top of the hyena. He drove his ka-bar knife into the animal's spine, severing it. The hyena fell down, paralyzed. Danny slowly got up and rolled the hyena on his back. He grabbed the hyena by the head and brought him up to his face. The hyena's expression was full of fear and pain. "You made a big mistake, challenging me with weapons. Now you'll pay the price." With that, Danny drove his knife into the animal's throat.

Mufasa scared off the three hyenas when he turned around and saw what had happened. He was amazed that a young boy, full of wisdom and love, could turn cold and ruthless in battle against his enemies. What's more, his attacks were precise. Not only was he a wise young man, but he was also an excellent fighter. "Danny, I…I'm at a loss for words. How did you go from nice and loving to cold and vicious?"

Danny removed the knife from the hyena's throat and wiped the blood off on his pants. "When I'm at peace, I am one of the nicest guys ever. But when I'm fighting, I fight to defend others from harm or myself. When that happens, my emotions are iced. To my friends and family, I'm a brave protector. To the enemy, I'm a cold-blooded killer. I'm sorry you had to witness that."

"No, it's perfectly alright. If I were in your position, I'd do the same."

"The reasons for why I'm so cold in combat is my unconfirmed dead parents and my years of combat training."

"Understandable."

"How did you know what was going on? I thought you were with Simba?"

"I was. I was in the middle of…teaching him on how to pounce. That's when Zazu received a message of hyenas in the Pride Lands from our underground intelligence. One of the gophers. The gunshots also helped direct me to your position. With that…wait a minute. Is that…?" Mufasa inspected the hyena Danny had just kill. Using his paw, he pulled the face to examine it. "It is! It's Ravage."

Danny looked confused. "Did I do something wrong?"

Mufasa turned with a smile. "No, it's actually the opposite. You just killed the leader of the hyena clan, and with just your knife. No lion has been able to take him on unless they're in a group, but he's usually to smart to fight then. He has been a thorn in our side for longer than you know."

Mufasa turned to see Sarabi and a few other lionesses come up to them. She turned worried eyes to Danny. "What happened to Danny?"

Mufasa grinned. "He just took on six hyenas by himself and killed them, including Ravage."

Danny watched as all of the lionesses dropped their jaws while he put away his weapons. Sarabi was shocked. "You killed Ravage? By yourself?"

He smiled in response to her question. "Yeah, I…" He grunted as he fell to his knees. The adrenaline rush had left him, and was now replaced with horrible pain from the slash marks on his chest and back, as well as the deep bite in his shoulder. "I need help." Danny lay on his back, breathing short, fast breaths.

Mufasa examined him. "He's been wounded. We need to get him some help. Zazu!"

The hornbill, who came in late after the fight, said, "What is your command, your Majesty?"

"Fly to Rafiki's tree. Tell him we have someone who needs immediate assistance to the chest, back, and shoulders. Quickly, Zazu!"

"At once," was all Zazu said as he flew off.

Danny felt himself giving in to the pain. As he blacked out, the last thing he heard from Mufasa was, "You're going to be alright. Just hang on."


Danny looked around. He was lying on his back, with the sun in his face. Blocking the sun from his eyes, he slowly got up. Looking around, he realized he was in a gorge. Everything was empty, just rocks and a few trees. Danny groaned. He was still in pain from the wounds, but what followed made him forget that. The ground started to vibrate. Further down the gorge, he could hear a rumbling.

Danny shook his head. "What is that?" His answer came soon enough, at the top of the gorge entrance. His jaw dropped as he saw a huge herd of wildebeests charging down the hill toward him. Not wasting anytime, he began running away. The pain from his wounds were searing, but he kept running. His heart was pounding and begging him to stop, but he kept going. There was no where to climb, nowhere to hide, only running away from the herd. They were closing in on him, fast; they were maybe 100 yards away.

Suddenly, a golden blur jumped down behind him. He couldn't tell who it was, but he was sure it was a lion. The lion was trampled under the wildebeests, but it bought Danny a window of time to round the corner and maybe get to safety. As he rounded the corner, his feet were suddenly slowing down. Danny looked down to see he was running in muck. He could hear the herd closing in. He pulled himself as fast as he could, but it did him little good.

He looked back. "This can't be happening!" The herd of wildebeests were now a huge clan of hyenas. They were running at him full speed, and it seemed like the muck was hard ground to them. They didn't slow down at all. Danny let out a cry as they hit him, knocking him to the ground.

Suddenly, he was seeing the hyenas from that gorge spreading out all over Pride Rock, engulfing it entirely like a plague. Danny couldn't believe what he was seeing. Herds were dying or disappearing while the land slowly faded away into a desolate wasteland. That view faded into black, with a huge head replacing his view: Scar.

Scar's green eyes pierced Danny's heart as he smiled evilly. "Wake up, Danny."


"Aaahh!" Danny woke up with a scream. He was not in the gorge, but back in the cave in Pride Rock. That nightmare left him shaking. What did it mean? How did the wildebeests turn into hyenas? What was Scar's relation to it? He let it pass for now, as the screaming pain in his wounds held a higher priority for him.

Sarabi walked in. "At least we know you're still alive. Are you okay?"

Danny grunted as he lifted himself up and propped his back against the wall. "I just got slashed and chomped by a hyena. No, I'm not okay." He was very irritated.

Sarabi was shocked to hear him talk like that. "Sorry I asked."

Danny calmed down. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked to you like that. That was rude of me. It's just that I'm not the kindest of people when I'm hurt."

"But you're okay." She looked back out to the cave's exit. "Rafiki should be here soon. I bet those hyenas were out trying to find some animals for food."

"No, they had other goals." Sarabi turned as Danny corrected her. "Apparently, they had orders to kill me. The clan leader, the one you called Ravage, said the boss told them to kill me."

Sarabi looked confused. "But…Ravage is their boss. Unless…"

Danny's eyebrows rose. "Unless they're getting their orders from someone else."

"I wonder who."

Danny thought, trying to put pieces together. The hyenas had taken their orders from someone outside of their clan. But who? A number of candidates came to mind, but one stood out from the rest: Scar. He had been wandering around the land on his own a lot, not sharing to anyone on what he was doing. Coupling things together with the nightmare, it all made perfect sense. There was one problem with all of this: it was only speculation. He had no hard evidence, no proof, just his own reasoning. Again, he put things aside, but he was going to look into this. He had a very bad feeling that more was behind this than what already transpired.

Mufasa came in. "Rafiki is here."

Danny heard some crazy chanting and soon, an old mandrill came walking in, holding a long stick with a few gourds hanging off the top. The white fur on his face formed a beard with red and blue markings marked his face like tattoos. He seemed to be a joyful character from the look on his face, but it also had an air of sub-sanity. Danny definitely wouldn't consider him entirely insane.

Rafiki came up and looked at him with and odd smile. "Well, wat have we here." He examined Danny's wounds. "Dat looks bad, but I fix it up for you." He grabbed a gourd from his stick and opened it in half. The aroma was sweet, and Danny would make sure to ask where he could find some to eat. After eating meat and MRE's, some fruit would be nice. Danny pulled off his shirt slowly to avoid giving Rafiki any obstruction problems.

Rafiki grabbed some sand, leaves and herbs and began making a mixture. When it was done, he rubbed it on his chest and shoulder first. The goo stung but settled. Danny rolled over to let Rafiki place the rest of the goo on his back. Again, it stung but dies down soon enough. Rafiki gave him a nod. "There, good as new."

Danny smiled. "Thanks, I appreciate it. Um, where can I find fruits like the ones on your stick?"

"Look around the trees. Der is plenty of them in the Pride Lands." The mandrill walked over to Mufasa. "He will be fine, but make sure dat he rests for a while. If he does, he will be fine later in the day."

Mufasa smiled and hugged Rafiki. "Thank you, my friend. Have a safe journey back home."

As Rafiki left, Danny got up. Sarabi stepped in front of him. "Where do you think you're going?"

Danny looked down at her. "Outside."

"No, you need some rest."

Danny gave her a smile he would use to persuade a girl to agree to go on a date. "And I am gonna rest…outside. I'd rather be resting with you guys out in the shade, than sitting here in the dark and alone."

Sarabi sighed with exasperation. "Fine, but hop on my back so there won't be a risk of injury." Danny complied and rode on Sarabi's back. They went down to a small plateau of grass and a few trees. Danny got off and watched Sarabi sit herself on a rock under the shade of a tree.

Danny sat down on the other side of the rock. "Wow, you've certainly picked a good spot to chill."

Sarabi placed her paw on his head and gave his growing hair a mussing. "You pick things up when you live here for so long."

"Hey." He brushed her paw off of him. He saw a lioness coming down the slope to greet them. "Sarafina, what's going on?"

Sarafina smiled at him. "Just coming down to give my congratulations. I heard you killed the hyena Ravage today. That's very commendable. You don't know how much pain he's brought to our pride." She was tearing up.

Danny looked at Sarabi. She had her eyes closed as she hung her head. He turned back to Sarafina. "You lost a cub to him…didn't you?"

"Not even six months. They grabbed him when I wasn't looking. I could smell them but couldn't find them until it was too late."

Danny couldn't think of much to say. "I'm so sorry."

Sarafina smiled. "It's okay, my cub has gone to rest with the kings of the past."

"What was his name?"

"Kadeem."

"I'll bet he would've made a great lion." He decided to change the subject. "Well, it's a nice, sunny day. Why don't we have a little catnap?"

Sarabi nodded. "That sounds good to me."

Danny set his watch for two hours and fell asleep.


Danny woke up to a roar. He nearly jumped from the loud noise. Sarafina had her paws on her ears. Sarabi was glaring at him. Danny frowned. "What's wrong?"

"What is that noise coming from your arm? Make it stop!" She shouted.

Danny realized his alarm was going off. "Oh." Must've been going off for a while and I just didn't wake up. He quickly turned off the alarm and the noise ceased. "Sorry about that."

Sarafina rested her paws on the ground. "Thank you, but from now on, please don't use that."

"No problem." Danny said, as Nala, Chumvi, and Tojo came bounding down. They were all playing and got tangled, coming tumbling down the hill. They rolled to a stop amidst Sarabi, Sarafina, and Danny. The human chuckled as he leaned back. "Well, look what the cat dragged in. Uh, no pun intended."

"Hey, Danny," Chumvi said.

The two birds that had been around Tojo when Danny first met them came flying down where he was sitting. Danny laughed. "Do those birds always fly around you, pretty boy?"

Tojo gave his charming smile. "What can I say? They can't stay away."

Danny laughed. "Well, why don't you save it for a lioness when you grow up."

Sarabi and Sarafina laughed. The cubs made disgusting noises in response to Danny's comment. Sarafina's head came up. "Nala, it's time for a bath."

"Yes, mom." Nala was obedient as she plopped herself into her mother's paws. Sarafina began licking her cub's head. Chumvi and Tojo went running off, playing elsewhere.

Danny knew he wasn't as obedient or easy to get a bath when he was a kid. He would always give his mom a fit, preferring to be dirty. Now, he understood the importance of it.

He turned to see Simba running down the hill. The cub seemed excited. Danny put his hands behind his head. "Hey, Simba."

"Hey, Danny," Simba said as he walked over to Nala. "Hey, Nala."

"Hey, Simba."

Simba brought his paw up to his mouth, and kept his voice low so his mom couldn't hear. "Come on. I just heard about this great place."

Nala creased her brow. "Simba, I'm kind of in the middle of a bath," she said through gritted teeth.

Sarabi lifted her head. "And it's time for yours." Danny watched Simba clench his teeth and try to get away, but his mother grabbed him by the head and start licking him.

"Mom!" He tried to get away, but Sarabi used her paw to hold him in place. "Mom, you're messing up my mane." She smiled at him while Danny cracked up and turned red from holding in his laughs. Simba jumped down and brushed his tuft of fur down. "Okay, okay. I'm clean, so can we go now?"

Nala looked back at him. "So where are we going? It better not be anyplace dumb."

Simba smiled as he whispered, "No, it's really cool."

Danny, who suspected something was going on. He looked at Sarabi. Sarabi, who was resting her head on her paws, got the look and turned to her son. "So where is this 'really cool' place?"

Again, Danny caught Simba's expression and could tell he was thinking up a lie to tell his mother. Simba's jaw hung. "Oh…around the waterhole." That's the best he could come up with.

Nala looked at Simba as if he was insane. "The waterhole!? What's so great about the waterhole?"

Simba gave his mother a fake smile while whispering to Nala with gritted teeth. "I'll show you when we get there."

Nala seemed to understand and said, "Oh." She looked at Danny with her big, blue eyes. "Hey, Danny. You wanna come with us?"

Danny, still resting from his wounds, said, "Nah, I think I'm going to stay here for a bit. Probably go down and watch Tama and Mheetu play with the tetherball."

"Okay," she said. "Uh, mom. Can I go with Simba?"

"Hmm." She looked up at her friend. "What do you think, Sarabi?"

Sarabi acted as though she wasn't sure. "Well…"

"Please?" Nala and Simba said, with pathetic looking smiles.

To Danny's surprise, she said, "It's alright with me."

They cheered as Danny sat up. Is she crazy? Letting them run around by themselves? Maybe I should go with them. "Sarabi…"

She winked at me and turned to the celebrating cubs. "As long as Zazu goes with you."

Their celebrating stopped at hearing this, and Simba was really disappointed. "No, not Zazu." Nala looked just as dejected.

Sarabi raised her voice. "Zazu!"

The hornbill came down and bowed low. "Yes, my queen."

"I want you to watch over Simba and Nala while they go to this 'really cool' place by the waterhole."

Zazu bowed low, but Danny was sure this was not he job he was well suited for, let alone desired. "As you command, your Majesty." He flew over to the cubs and they walked down the slope.

Danny shook his head. "Zazu is gonna want this to be over ASAP." He looked at Sarabi. "You almost fooled me. I actually thought you were gonna let them go off on their own."

Sarabi smiled. "Trust me, I know my son very well, and I know when he's trying to pull a fast one on me."

Danny shrugged. "My mom was the same. She knew when something was up with me when I was a kid." He got up. "Okay, I'm going to get dressed and follow them. After what happened today, I'm not taking chances with myself or the cubs."

"Zazu can watch them," Sarabi said. She seemed fine with him watching.

"Granted," Danny agreed. "But if a group of predators jump up, what is he going to do? Peck them to death?" He stepped toward Sarabi. "Please, I'd rather not take the chance of them getting hurt. Zazu can watch but not protect."

"Well, it's not like I can tell you not to. Do as you wish." Danny headed up to his ship when Sarabi called him. "And Danny?" He turned to face her. "I'm glad you're taking a liking of the cubs, especially Simba and Nala. I'm glad to call you my son and Simba thinks you're the coolest brother ever."

Danny smiled. "I plan to keep it that way…mom." Sarabi smiled at the last word as he headed up to change.