Minutes later, the team and I followed Simba and Nala to a long log.
"Isn't this a great place?" Simba asked.
"It is beautiful." Nala agreed. "But I don't understand something: you've been alive all this time, why didn't you come back to Pride Rock?"
"Well, I just...needed to get out on my own, live my own life, and I did and it's great!" Simba said as he leapt into a hammock made from vines.
"What about you guys?" Nala asked us.
"In the time stream." I answered. "We time traveled here."
"Oh." Nala said before turning to Simba. "We've really needed you at home."
"No one needs me." Simba half-muttered.
"Yes we do, you're the king."
"Nala we've been through this I'm not the king, Scar is."
That was obviously an awkward moment for the team and I.
"Simba," Nala began. "He let the hyenas take over the Pride Lands."
"What?" Simba said, shocked.
"Everything's destroyed, there's no food, no water. Simba if you don't do something soon everyone will starve." Nala said almost desperately.
"I can't go back."
"Why?"
"You wouldn't understand." Simba said as he leapt off the hammock.
"What wouldn't I understand?" Nala asked, her voice growing tense.
"No, no, no, it doesn't matter. Hakuna Matata."
"What?" Nala said, confused.
"Hakuna Matata. It's something I learned out here. Look sometimes bad things happen…"
"Simba!" Nala interrupted.
"…And there's nothing you can do about it! So why worry?" Simba finished, ignoring Nala.
"Because it's your responsibility!" Nala argued.
"Well what about you? You left!" Simba shot back.
"I left to find help! And I found you. Don't you understand, you're our only hope." Nala said sternly.
Simba paused for a few seconds.
"Sorry." He finally replied, not really meaning it.
"What's happened to you? You're not the Simba I remember." Nala frowned.
"You can say that through a megaphone." Sheen muttered.
Simba glared at him, then he turned back to Nala.
"You're right, I'm not, now are you satisfied?" Simba asked.
"No," Nala said. "Just disappointed."
"You know you're starting to sound like my father." Simba muttered.
"Good, at least one of us does." Nala retorted.
This caused the team and I to gasp as Simba dropped his mouth open. Then he looked very angry.
"Listen! You think you could just show up and tell me how to live my life?" He cried. "You don't even know what I've been through!"
"I would if you just tell me!"
"Forget it!" Simba snapped.
"Fine!" Nala snapped back, looking away in anger.
The rest of us winced.
"Pardon us." I said to Nala. "Simba! Wait up!"
I drove Rip Claw away so fast, that Jenny's neck lengthened, causing her head to fall behind for a few seconds.
"Good thing my head's retractable." Jenny muttered, pulling her head back in just as we stopped.
"Sorry about that." I said, smiling sheepishly.
"It's all right." Jenny smiled back.
The team and I were now a few feet away from Simba. We watched as Simba paced.
"She's wrong." He said to himself. "I can't go back, what would it prove anyway, it won't change anything. You can't change the past." He stopped pacing and looked up into the stars. You said you'd always be there for me!" He called into the heavens; he then started sobbing. "But you're not. It's because of me. It's my fault, it's my fault."
"What's his fault?" Scrappy asked.
I hung my head.
"Rhat?" Scooby asked.
Hermione knew.
"That thing you didn't want to tell us before, when we met Timon and Pumbaa, what was it?" She asked.
"I think…." I began. "That Scar lied to Simba…made him think his father's death was his own fault."
"What!" Everyone gasped, careful not to let Simba hear.
"That's horrible!" Patrick said.
"I can't believe Scar." Daphne said, shaking her head.
Simba and the team and I suddenly heard chanting. We looked behind us and saw a monkey up in the forest, just at the edge. We couldn't tell what kind of monkey it was because it was too dark, we could only see its silhouette. Well his, we could tell from his voice that it was a male monkey.
Simba left, quickly becoming annoyed. However the team and I decided to stay and figure out what the monkey was saying. Through careful hearing, we heard the words to the chant:
"Asante Sana. Squash banana. We-we nugu, mi-mi apana."
"Well the first phrase means 'thank you very much'," Addy started translating. "The second phrase is obvious, and the third phrase I'm not even going to bother."
"Come on, what did he say?" Kirsten asked.
"Trust me, you do not want to know." Addy replied.
"Let's get out of here." Rip muttered.
We did. We caught up with Simba at a log that stretched over a river. The team and I waited in the grass as he lay down on the log. A rock suddenly hit the water, causing us to look up. The monkey was in the forest in front of us and started chanting those words again. How he beat us there though, we didn't know.
"Come on," Simba said, annoyed. "Will you cut it out?"
"Can't cut it out, it'd grow right back." The monkey laughed, following Simba.
The team and I then noticed that the monkey was a mandrill and that he was carrying a staff with fruits on it.
"Creepy little monkey." Simba muttered. "Will you stop following me, who are you?"
"The question is: who are you?" The mandrill replied, catching up with Simba so that they were standing face to face.
Simba opened his mouth to retort but then sighed into silence.
"I thought I knew," Simba said sadly. "Now I'm not so sure."
"Well I know who you are. *Shh*, come here it's a secret." The mandrill whispered, pulling Simba's ear close to him.
Curious, the team and I listened too, but that proved to be a mistake.
"Asante sana. Squash banana! We-we nugu, mi-mi apana!"
The team and I groaned.
"Enough already!" Simba said, annoyed. "What is that supposed to mean anyway?"
"It means 'you're a baboon, and I'm not'." The mandrill said, laughing.
"No wonder you didn't want us to know." Kit muttered to Addy.
"We were better off not knowing." Felicity agreed.
"I think you're a little confused." Simba said dryly, leaving the mandrill behind.
To our great shock, the mandrill suddenly appeared right in front of Simba!
"Wrong!" The mandrill said. "I'm not the one who's confused, you don't even know who you are!"
"Oh, and I suppose you know." Simba said sarcastically, starting to leave again.
The rest of us followed, also tired of the mandrill's antics.
"Sure do, you're Mufasa's boy."
Simba stopped in shock, mouth hanging open. The team and I also had our mouths hanging open with shock. Unless…wait…that mandrill that held up Simba when we first arrived at Pride Rock, you don't think…?
We all looked back at the mandrill.
"Bye!" The mandrill said, rushing off.
"Hey wait!" Simba said, running after him.
We all rushed after the mandrill, Simba leading the way. When we caught up with the mandrill we saw that he was resting in a meditating pose on a rock.
"You knew my father?" Simba asked.
"Correction: 'I know your father'." The mandrill replied.
Yeah right, this guy needs to go to grammar school.
"I hate to tell you this," Simba said sadly. "But he died, a long time ago."
"Nope! Wrong again!" The mandrill laughed, leaping off the rock. "He's alive! And I'll show him to you. You follow Rafiki he knows the way! Come on!"
Rafiki went through an opening in the very dense forest in front of us. Simba followed, but hesitated for a moment before going through the opening.
The team and I stayed back, stunned by Rafiki's words.
"Impossible." Harry muttered. "You can't bring back the dead."
The rest of us silently agreed, although I suddenly let out a choking noise, like I was trying to keep from laughing.
"What?" Stitch asked.
"Sorry, tickle." I lied, clearing my throat.
The rest of the team accepted that. We then flew over the forest since Rip couldn't fit through the opening. We arrived first and waited for Rafiki and Simba. Just before Simba reached the opening at the other side, Rafiki appeared out of nowhere, startling the team and I.
"Stop!" Rafiki held out his hand; Simba stopped. "*Shh.* Look down there." Rafiki whispered, going over to a patch of tall grasses and pointing his staff through the grass.
Simba went through, and reached a large rock in front of some water. The team and I drew closer as well, staying by the edge of the pond. Simba then looked down and sighed.
"That's not my father, it's just my reflection." He said, disappointed.
"Knew it." Sam muttered.
Yup, we should've known it was too good to be true.
"Nooo, look haarder." Rafiki said, pointing into the water.
We all did, and to our great shock the water rippled on it's own!
"You see," Rafiki said. "He lives in you."
When the water smoothed over, we saw Mufasa's face instead of Simba's!
The night started to grow a little darker...
"Simba."
"Father?" Simba said, looking up.
The team and I did too, and saw the ghost of Mufasa! Mufasa looked like a cloud with a glowing mouth, nose, and eyes. Danny was especially shocked to see the ghost of someone he knew since most of the ghosts in his world are evil.
"Simba, you have forgotten me." Mufasa said.
"No! How could I?" Simba said.
"You have forgotten who you are and so forgotten me. Look inside yourself Simba, you are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life."
"How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be."
Mufasa's appearance suddenly changed so that he looked the same as back when he was alive...except he was glowing.
"Remember who you are. You are my son, and the one true king."
We all stared at Mufasa, mesmerized, as a strong wind blew our hair/fur/mane back. Mufasa started leaving.
"Remember who you are."
"No, please! Don't leave me." Simba pleaded, running after Mufasa.
"Remember..."
"Father!"
"Remember…."
"Don't leave me."
"Remember."
"Mufasa…." I began.
Too late, Mufasa was gone, without any trace of his being there. There was nothing, not even a cloud. The team and I then suddenly noticed that we had left the side of the pond and entered a field. Rafiki caught up with us.
"What was that? Ha-ha!" He cried, amused. "The weather *pleah* very peculiar, don't you think?"
The team and I couldn't believe this.
"Weather my paw, it was Mufasa's ghost and you know it!" I cried.
"YEAH!" The rest of the team echoed.
Rafiki just grinned, as if to say: "So what if I did?" Simba, however, decided to tease Rafiki by playing along.
"Yeah." Simba said. "Looks like the winds are changing."
"Ah, change is good." Rafiki said.
"Yeah but it's not easy. I know what I have to do but, going back means I'll have to face my past." Simba looked off to the side, unsure of what to do. "I've been running from it for so long."
Rafiki suddenly hit Simba on the head with his staff!
"HEY!" The team and I cried angrily.
"Ow!" Simba cried. "Geez, what was that for?"
"It doesn't matter, it's in the past." Rafiki laughed.
"Yeah, but it still hurts." Simba rubbed his head.
"Oh yes the past can hurt, but the way I see it you can either run from it, or learn from it." Rafiki said, swinging his stick again, but this time Simba ducked. "Ah! You see? So what are you going to do?"
"First," Simba said. "I'm gonna take your stick."
Simba grabbed the stick and tossed it into the grass.
"No, no, no! Not the stick!" Rafiki cried, running over.
The team and I watched as he picked up the stick. He then looked back...
"Hey!" He called. "Where're you going?"
The team and I turned around and saw that Simba was leaving.
"I'm going back!" Simba called back.
"Good! Go on, get out of here!" Rafiki waved his hand towards Simba in a dismissive manner.
"Bye Rafiki!" The team and I called, also leaving.
"Bye!" Rafiki called back.
Rafiki started cheering as we disappeared from his sight.
Simba and the rest of us rushed back over the desert to the Pride Lands. The the team really enjoyed the ride on Rip Claw.
