Chapter 8-Curiosity Claims Another Cat

Danny changed into his multicam shirt and shorts while putting on some running shoes. Instead of the M4, he armed himself with his M1014 "Big Gauge" shotgun and pistol, and carried his water canteen. He wasn't kidding when he told Sarabi he wasn't taking any chances after the incident with the hyenas. He grabbed some sunglasses and walked down from the summit. He was met halfway by someone he didn't want to see: Scar. Scar wasn't showing any anger, but on the flip side, he didn't look very cheerful either.

"Well, my prince. I heard you managed to take on six hyenas, including Ravage. Congratulations."

Danny kept his face neutral, but his brow creased. "Thanks. How did you hear about that?"

Scar finally chuckled. "In case you haven't noticed, it's been the talk of the entire pride. Ravage has been a nuisance for a long time. To hear that you killed him…takes great skill." He cocked his head, looking at the rifle. "Where are you going?"

Danny smirked. "I'm not that easy to break." As he walked away from Scar, Danny noticed his expression darkened. Instead of taking the speeder bike, he decided to hoof it. He didn't want to surprise anybody, just to keep a close eye on the cubs. He walked to the bottom and began walking to the waterhole. After walking past a small tree line, he reached the open field, with the waterhole dead ahead. "Huh…nobody here. So where are they?"

His answer came soon enough at the sound of singing and stomping behind the rocks on the other side of the waterhole. He crept up through the rocks just in time to see a huge crash of animals. When the dust cleared, only a rhinoceros remained. Danny could hear Zazu telling the rhino to get off. Danny laughed and looked around for the cubs. He saw them round the corner of a rock near a huge pit.

He caught up to them as they were laughing at how they pulled off losing Zazu. Simba smiled coolly. "I…am a genius."

Nala didn't seem to happy. "Hey, genius. It was my idea."

Simba's self-confident expression didn't change. "Yeah, but I pulled it off."

"With me." Nala added in.

Simba smirked. "Oh yeah?" He jumped her. Nala rolled with the tackle, letting the momentum flip her over and pin him to the ground.

She shot him her self-confident smile. "Ha! Pinned ya."

Simba, not wanting his pride hurt, pushed her off. "Hey, let me up." She turned around. Simba took the opportunity to pounce on her again. They rolled off the edge and Danny rushed to see if they were alright. They were fine, and Nala had once again put Simba on his back.

She smirked. "Pinned ya, again."

Steam blowing caught Danny's attention. They were in a bone yard and from the looks of the skulls and the size of the skeletal bodies, it was an elephant bone yard. The cubs looked out and were awed by the sight. Danny didn't like the looks of this, and crept down the hill. He reached the bottom and pulled out his big gauge. Steam erupted from geysers and the dusty air made Danny think that this wasn't a very cool place. He kept his breathing shallow to hear them better.

Nala shivered. "It's really creepy."

Simba was the total opposite. "Yeah, but isn't it great?"

Nala smirked as she leaned over to him. "We could get in big trouble."

"I know."

The turned to face the huge elephant skull in front of them. "I wonder if its brains are still in there?" Nala asked.

Simba smirked. "There's only one way to know. C'mon, let's check it out."

"Wrong!" Danny was about to make himself known when Zazu came out of nowhere. How did he get over here so fast? "The only checking out you will do will be to check out of here."

Simba half-turned, disappointed. "Aw, man."

Zazu was petrified. "We're WAY beyond the boundaries of the Pride Lands."

Simba turned back and smiled. "Look, Banana Beak is scared."

Danny shook his head. His gut got colder and colder, and when that happened, it usually was a sign of danger getting closer and closer. Zazu pressed a feather against Simba's nose. "It's Mr. Banana Beak to you, Fuzzy. And right now, we are all in very real danger."

Simba laughed as he trotted out near the skull. "Danger?" He scoffed. "I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger. Ha ha ha ha!"

His laugh was soon echoed by others. He gasped and jumped behind Nala and Zazu. Coming out of the skull were three laughing hyenas. Danny instantly recognized them as the ones that attacked him and got away earlier. The female looked them over. "Well, well, Bonzai. What have we got here?"

Bonzai arched an eyebrow. "Hmmm, I don't know, Shenzei. What do you think, Ed?" Ed just laughed maniacally. "Eh, just what I was thinking. A trio of trespassers."

Zazu chuckled nervously. "And quite by accident, I assure you. A simple navigational error. We'll…" He tried to turn but Shenzei placed her paw down on his tail feathers.

"Wait, wait. I know you. You're Mufasa's little stooge."

Danny could see this conversation was going south so he checked his ammo. He had about forty-five shells and one magazine for his pistol. He needed to cover their butts as Simba, Nala, and Zazu would make a break for it. Two more hyenas showed up on top of the skull. This is bad.

Zazu and the cubs tried to go back the way they could, but Shenzei stopped them. "Wait, what's the hurry? We'd love to stick around for dinner."

Bonzai agreed. "Yeah, we could have whatever's lion around." All five hyenas started laughing.

Zazu finally saw Danny. Danny motioned for the three of them to get moving through the bone yard. They started running as Danny got on his feet.

Shenzei, not paying attention, cracked a joke too. "Wait, wait, I got one. Make mine a cub sandwich. Whatchu think?" She asked, laughing. Ed, for being the weirdest one of the bunch, seemed to be the only one paying attention to their food, and was panicking, pointing in their direction. "What, Ed? What is it?"

Bonzai looked in the way Ed was pointing. "Hey, did we order this dinner to go?"

Shenzei shook her head. "No, why?"

"Cuz…there it GOES!!" They looked as the cubs and Zazu headed to the other side of the bone yard.

Before any even moved, Danny cocked his big gauge. That got their attention. He stepped out. "I'll take you five for here."

The hyena trio knew what he was capable of, and didn't want to take him by themselves. Bonzai looked at the other two. "You two can have him. We get the kids and the bird." They ran off as Danny faced the two hyenas.

They both bared their teeth at him, hungrily craving his meat. Danny smiled and pulled the trigger. They were so close together that one shell killed one while the pellets tore through the eyes of the other, blinding him. As the live hyena was howling in pain, Danny took off after the others. He ran down the mound and ran by numerous elephant skulls. Danny stopped when twelve hyenas blocked his path.

One of the spoke in a growling manner. "Where do you think you're going?"

Danny reached in his pocket slowly and loaded a screecher, a shotgun shell that created a very loud noise to scare off animals, into the shotgun. He cocked the shotgun. "I'm just passing through," he said. He aimed right in front of the predators and fired. The shell hit the ground and the noise was piercing. Danny resisted the urge to cover his ears but the hyenas, with their sensitive hearing, couldn't take the noise. Danny used the opportunity to blast his way through the pack and made his way to an opening.

As he reloaded his big gauge, he looked around for Zazu and the cubs. "Where are they?"

As he finished reloading, his answer came soon enough. He heard something of an explosion and saw, off to his right, Zazu being shot off into the sky like a Roman candle. He ran in that direction. He found the three hyenas laughing in a pit where a flaming geyser was at. Danny looked on the other side and saw Simba glaring at them. "Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Shenzei narrowed her eyes. "Like…you?"

Simba finally realized that he and Nala should've just taken the advantage to run. "Oops." The hyenas snapped at them, causing them to run away. But the hyenas spooked them from the other side of the geyser, narrowing the lion cubs window of escape. They ran towards a hill of bones.

The three hyenas advanced past Danny. Behind them were about twenty more hyenas. Danny pulled out his pistol and stepped out. He emptied the magazine in seconds, taking out six of them. He could've taken out twelve of them if he aimed carefully, but with them all rushing at him, he didn't have the time. He holstered his pistol and brought his big gauge up to bear down at the remaining fourteen. He quickly unloaded the shells on them. The spread shots did well at hitting all of them, but didn't do much at slowing them down; only four were killed because they were the closest.

Danny decided it was time for desperate measures. If he took too long with these guys, the hyena trio would kill the cubs. He pulled out a circular object with a pin. He twisted and pulled the pin and rolled it on the ground. "Trick or treat!" He ran to the bone hill as fast as he could. Soon an explosion deafened his ears as the grenade went off, killing the hyenas. He fell down and waited for the shrapnel and any other flying objects to hit the ground. Once clear, he got up and ran for the hill.

Already, he could see trouble. Simba made it to the top, but Nala was sliding down. The hyenas, who were at the bottom, were almost on her. Danny tried to reload and got one shell in. He looked up and saw Simba charge down and swipe Shenzei with his claws before she could take a bite out of Nala. Danny was impressed. "Brave, little squirt."

Unfortunately, that left Shenzei very livid, as evidenced by her deep growling. "That little cub is going to die slowly."

Danny came running up. "Gangway, coming through." He swung the butt of his big gauge against Bonzai's head, knocking him to the ground. Ed took a quick swipe at Danny's back. The scabs from his back wounds reopened, causing him to scream. He took his shotgun and slammed the stock into Ed's face, sending him tumbling down the hill. Danny placed his rifle underneath her, and with all of his strength, lifted her up and flipped her over, sending her down the hill.

They quickly recovered and began climbing. Danny scrambled to the top. He got his upper body over the ledge when he felt sharp pain in his calf. Danny screamed as the pain was getting to him. He turned around to see one of the twenty hyenas holding him back with his claws digging into his legs. Danny brought the shotgun back in the hyena's face and fired. The hyena's body went tumbling back down, allowing Danny to get up. As he did, he limped his way to where the cubs were. The only place they could've gone is through a small crevice.

The pain in his body was excruciating. He leaned to far that his shoulder bumped into the wall, and he lost grip of his shotgun. He stopped and tried to bend down to get it, but the hyenas were already at the top and running his way. Danny cursed and limped to the cubs. They were somewhat hidden in a huge rib cage. Danny crawled his way to them, not being able to bear the pain much more.

The hyenas came into view, and Danny couldn't find a way out. Bonzai was growling. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."

Danny was in no condition to fight. He was in pain from his wounds, his pistol was empty, he had no knife with him. He had shotgun shells, but his big gauge was behind the hyenas. There was no way he would make it past them to get it.

To his surprise, Simba stepped forward and tried his best roar. It was little more than a loud growl. Danny groaned. Not the best thing to do right now.

The hyenas laughed. Shenzei stepped forward. "Ha, that was it? Come on, do it again." She was getting a kick out of this.

Simba tried again, but this time, it was a lion roar. Nala was stunned, and Danny, who was wincing from the pain, stared at him incredulously. That couldn't have been him.

The hyenas frowned. "Huh?"

Suddenly, a huge paw swiped them to the ground. It was Mufasa, in a larger rage than Danny had ever seen. He was making short work of them. Zazu came flying down next to Danny and the cubs and watched. Danny got up as Mufasa landed on top of the three hyenas; they were dwarfed by him easily. The hyenas began nervously chattering for mercy.

"Silence!" Mufasa said loudly. It wasn't a yell, but it could be easily heard for at least a mile.

Shenzei tried to reason with the king. "Calm down. We're really sorry."

Mufasa's eyes pierced each of them. "If you ever come near my son again…"

Shenzei acted surprised. "Oh, this…this is your son?" She looked at Bonzai. "Did you know he was his son?"

Bonzai played along. "No, no I didn't know." Both of them looked to their right. "Ed?" Ed just nodded. This resulted in Mufasa roaring very loud. Bonzai weakly smiled. "Toodles." Then the three ran off for the bone yard and disappeared.

Zazu landed next to Mufasa and looked up at him proudly. Mufasa looked down at him, and was clearly not happy. His expression made Zazu cower down. Danny walked next to him, but a certain distance away.

Simba walked up to him. "Dad…"

Mufasa turned to glare at his son. "You deliberately disobeyed me."

Simba was at a loss for words. "Dad, I…I'm sorry."

"Let's go home," was all Mufasa said. He stalked off with Zazu gliding right behind him.

Danny grabbed his shotgun and reloaded it. Simba and Nala walked slowly behind Mufasa so Danny stayed with them. He heard Nala speak to Simba, trying to cheer him up. "I thought you were very brave." Unbeknownst to the animals, Danny heard something behind them and above them. He turned around and aimed his shotgun at the cliff. There was no more noise, but he kept quiet to listen in. He felt someone was watching him, but couldn't see anyone. Finally, he turned around and limped his way back to Mufasa and the others.


They walked back to Pride Rock through the open fields. It was dusk and the sun was almost set. Zazu hung back in the rear with the cubs, mainly for fear of reprisal from Mufasa. Danny was up in front with Mufasa, shotgun at the low ready. He was in pain but he needed to suck it up until he got back to the cave, or better yet, his ship's bed. Given his condition, it would probably be best.

Danny looked over to Mufasa and kept his voice low. "How are you feeling?"

Mufasa wasn't as angry as he was earlier, but he was still in a dark mood. "I've had better days. What did your father do if you deliberately disobeyed?"

"Two words: harsh discipline. Discipline, whether spanking, punishments or lecturing, would be enforced by my father. Spanking generally works on youngsters, but that's about it. It probably won't work for lions, but punishments and lectures probably would."

"Thank you," he replied. "Zazu!"

Zazu quickly flew over but was still fearful. "Y-Yes, sire?"

"Take Danny and Nala home. I've got to teach my son a lesson." Simba cowered low in the grass upon hearing this.

Danny limped back to them with Zazu landing in between the cubs. "Come, Nala. Simba?" He grabbed the cub's shoulders with his wings and sighed. "Good luck."

Danny walked with Zazu and Nala as they headed back for Pride Rock. He was still in pain, but he now wanted to know how Simba first learned of the elephant graveyard. He knew Mufasa would've told him not to go there, but he was positive Simba wouldn't initially disobey his father. Someone must've told him something about the place that got Simba excited. He looked at Nala. "Did Simba tell you who told him about the graveyard?"

Nala shook her head. "No, Simba just told me where we were going."

Zazu flew into Danny's view. "Are you suggesting something, my prince?"

Danny was still trying to get used to being called that. "I suspect foul play. I think someone told Simba something about the place that got him excited. Did Mufasa tell him about the place?"

"I'm not sure. I was out collecting my morning report so I couldn't tell you that."

"Alright, but I'm not done with this issue. I'm going to ask Mufasa and Simba about this…separately, of course."

Nala looked at him sympathetically. "Aren't you taking this too far?"

Danny shook his head. "No. I'm just making sure about this. If I'm wrong, then I hope Simba learns his lesson. If I'm right, I'm going to let Mufasa know of my concerns."

They made it back to Pride Rock. Danny had trouble getting up the slope but he made it to the cave. The lionesses were already inside, waiting for Mufasa to come back. When Sarabi saw Danny limping in his torn clothes and ran to him. "What happened?"

Danny smiled glumly. "The hyenas happened. I followed Simba and Nala to the geyser crevice. The hyenas attacked them and I battled my way through the hyenas to the cubs. That's when Mufasa saved us. He's out with Simba, doling out some discipline to him for disobeying."

Sarabi was still concerned. "Zazu, send for Rafiki."

Danny waved her off. "No, no. I'll be fine. Besides, I don't want to make Rafiki travel back twice in one day to take care of me. My wounds will heal by themselves. I think I'll sleep on my ship's bed tonight."

Sarabi nudged him with her head. "I'm just glad you and Simba are alive. You seem to be a hyena magnet today."

"Well, I hope that changes soon." He could tell they were all tired and in need of some sleep. But they were waiting for Mufasa to return. "Tell you what, you need some sleep. Go to sleep, and I'll keep watch until they get back. I don't think Mufasa will get angry if y'all are asleep."

Sarabi, who thought this over, nodded. "Very well. Let's get some sleep."

Danny noticed someone else was not among them. "Uh, where is Scar at?"

Sarafina answered. "Haven't heard from him."

"It's been three hours," Sarabi said.

Danny narrowed his eyes. This made him all the more suspicious of Scar. "Alright, get some sleep. I'll keep watch until they get back. After which, I will go to bed."

It was only thirty minutes when Mufasa and Simba came back. Simba looked a bit subdued, and Mufasa looked very tired. They both looked ready for some sleep, but there was a hint of cheer in their expressions.

Danny stood. "Well, I'm glad you both made it back safely. Did everything get resolved?"

"Yes," Mufasa replied. He started to go inside, but Danny stopped him.

"Mufasa, I know you are tired but I need to ask you a question. What did you tell Simba about the geyser crevice?"

"Only that it was beyond our borders and not to go there. Why?"

"I'll let you know tomorrow. Right now, you should get some rest." As Mufasa went in, Simba tried to follow but Danny blocked his path. "Wait, hang on, pal. I need to ask you something."

Simba, usually very active, was now pretty tired. "What is it?" Even his tone was full of irritation.

"What made you think the bone yard was a cool place?"

"Uncle Scar told me about it. He said only the bravest of lions go there."

That was it. Saying only the bravest was what got Simba going, thinking if he went, he would be brave. So, Danny's suspicions were leading closer to being confirmed. That Scar was trying to set Simba up. Danny nodded, knowing what he needed to know and not wanting to hold Simba up anymore. "Alright, you better get some sleep, bro."

Simba frowned. "Bro?"

Danny chuckled. "It's short for brother."

"Oh, ok. Are you going to come in?"

"No, I gotta rest on the bed in my ship tonight." With that, Danny headed up the slope to his ship. He was now very untrustworthy of Scar. To Danny, it seemed that Scar was trying to get rid of Simba to be next in line for the throne, and probably Danny as well just to be safe. He would let Mufasa know in the morning. He entered his ship and closed the ramp. He took off his shredded clothes and put on a tank-top and pajamas. He slipped into his bed and pulled the blankets over his body. He hadn't slept in his bed in a while, and the comfort was much better than a sleeping bag. Danny's head hit the pillow and he fell asleep.