It was about midnight, and all the soldiers in the camp were asleep. This was the perfect time for Josh, Chen and Denzel to sneak Vitani out. They slowly snuck out of their tent and tip toed around in the darkness. "Shhh," said Josh. "We don't want to wake up the soldiers." He and the others slowly made it to the cage holding the lioness.

She was still awake circling inside the cage with her eye brows narrowed down. "There's gotta be someway to get out of this blasted thing," she said without noticing Josh or the other walking up to her cage.

Josh stepped closer to the cage then asked, "Excuse me, Vitani?"

The lioness turned to see Josh, Denzel and Chen standing outside of her cage. "Huh," she said. "What do you want, and how do you know my name?"

"We're friends of your brother, Kovu."

"How do I know you're not lying?" She then sneered. "You could just be toying with me."

"Your brother Kovu is married to Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala of Pride Rock. You use to live in the outlands, but Simba invited you back into the Pridelands."

Vitani had a surprised look to her face. "Oh wow…I guess you do know him." then she came closer to the explorers. "Are they alright, no humans got any of the others?"

"Don't worry," answered Chen. "They're safe. We're here to rescue you."

"How?" she asked. "If I can't get out of here, how are you going to change that?"

"Simple," answered Denzel as he gave Vitani a slight smile. "All we need is the key to the cage door."

"What's a key?" asked Vitani as she gave the explorers a very confused look. Suddenly, footsteps were heard and a light was seen coming towards the cage. "Someone's coming!"

Josh and the other tried to hide behind the cage, but it was too late. It was revealed to be Captain Rogers holding a lantern in his left hand. He gave the explorers a curious look and asked, "What are you three doing out here?" the explorers tried to explain to him, but all their words got jumbled up. Captain Rogers just smiled as he reached into his pocket. "I think I know." Out from his pocket he carried a key on a ring and tossed it on the ground in front of the cage.

Josh bent down and picked up the keys. He then gave the Captain a confused look and asked, "Why are you helping us?"

"Because I also hate to see animals as beautiful as she is locked in a cage." He then tipped his hat. "Goodnight." Then he left to go back in his tent and get some sleep.

Josh quickly inserted the key into the lock, turned it till it made a click, and slowly the cage door opened and Vitani jumped out. "Ok," he said. "Now we have to sneak you out the doors, but we have to be quiet. Vitani nodded her head and they slowly and quietly made their way to the giant wooden doors. Slowly they opened them slightly and went out.

"Thank you," said Vitani turning to Josh and the others. "But if the others are ok, why did you leave pride rock?"

Josh just looked at her and said, "We have our reasons."

Vitani smiled and quietly said, "Thank you." Then she ran off into the twilight of the savannah.

The group were just about to head back inside when all of a sudden, Rafiki popped out of nowhere and said, "Hello!' the explorers were surprised and almost fell onto the ground seeing Rafiki. The Mandrill walked closer to them. "Remember me?"

Josh smiled; he did remember this strange primate. "Yeah," he said. "You're the monkey that took my hat."

"And who konked me on the head," said Chen.

Just then, Rafiki took his stick and whacked Chen on top of the head and said, "Correct!"

"Ow!" Chen rubbed his hands on the spot where Rafiki whacked him like he did months before.

Denzel raised an eyebrow at Rafiki and said, "Something tells me you're the reason we can talk to animals."

Rafiki looked at Denzel, smiled and said, "Well, you can't say that you don't enjoy it. Can you?"

"Why did you put the spell on us?" Josh asked Rafiki.

"Because I knew you were good hearted." Rafiki answered. "You helped Vitani escape, and you made quite a difference in little Rosa's life." He then gave Josh a smile.

Josh returned with a smile. "Thank you so much."

"No need, just doing my job."

Josh turned to the others. "C'mon, lets get back inside." But when he turned again, Rafiki had disappeared from sight. Josh was surprised to think that Rafiki was that fast. He and the others slowly went back inside, closed the doors, and went back to sleep in their tent.

Just outside, Rafiki re-appeared on top of the watch tower. He smiled, and then waved his stick above the tents of all the soldiers. Then, he took some sand and blew it out of his hand and it slowly descended onto the tents. Then once again, he disappeared from sight.