Chapter 36:
"What's the matter, your arms broken? Hold me up a little higher, would ya?"
"Forget it, Timon! Any higher and you'll be paying the medical bills for my broken back!"
"What are you complaining about, Uncle Sly? At least you're not the one on the bottom!" Kito growled as Sly stood on his shoulders while Timon was standing on top of Sly's, and he was trying to keep them all evenly balanced so they would not have a rather nasty fall. Timon was on top, shielding the afternoon sun from his eyes as he looked out onto the horizon of the grasslands. "Hey, why am I on the bottom of this Leaning Tower of Pinheads anyway? Why couldn't we just find a rock or something to stand on?"
Timon glanced down at his son, who was at the bottom, and replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "Because 1: you volunteered, and 2: with the grass this tall we can't tell where the rocks are…" He frowned when he heard Sly mutter something under his breath, but chose to ignore it as he returned his gaze to the grasslands.
"Well, hurry up and find a tree or a rock or something, would ya? You guys are heavy!" Kito grunted as he fought against his buckling knees to keep the tower of meerkats upright and balanced.
Timon shook his head with a light smirk. "Kito, we're only 2 pounds each… clearly, you need to work out more." Kito almost laughed out loud at Timon's remark, but instead he bit his tongue. Before he turned a year old, even before he began to feel the urges, Kito had used any kind of method he could think of to strengthen his muscles, and then passing them off as playing or rehearsal for a show for the pups. Running, pulling and lifting heavy objects… he was already stronger, but now for some reason he had this extra energy that was nagging him to do even more. But that only urged him on, whatever he could do to prove he could become the next Great one, just like his father and grandfather. Perhaps he was feeling a little tired or else he could easily hold two adult meerkats on his shoulders… not that he had ever tried before, of course.
Sly grimaced as he turned his eyes up to his brother, small beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead. "Remind me again why we let Pumbaa go off on his own and we're forced to look like morons?"
"Can I put you guys down first before we go back to that?" Kito growled as his arms began to visibly shake. Timon frowned again with a roll of his eyes, and then he nodded. Clearly some meerkats don't have the tolerance for this kind of weight… unlike Pumbaa, at least. If their daughters had not split up, then Timon and Pumbaa would not have split up either…
Two hours ago…
"… So, Nuru was allowed to stay, provided he could continue to be useful to the colony and its survival. It was his shell that eventually lead to the Nundas in the Outlands, and that kept us safe for a long time." Sly had just finished telling the story of Nuru's banishment and his return to the Makunga Mob to Chiku's sounder and to Timon, Pumbaa, and Kito, who up until then had no idea that Yasmin's elder brother was, in fact, blind.
"Wow, what a story, Mr. Sly!" one of the seven piglets chirped.
"Tell us another one, pleeeeeease?" another smiled, wagging her tail.
Eidi chuckled as she leaned down to the piglets and gave them soft nudges. "Now-now, children, Uncle Pumbaa and his friends didn't come here for story time. Let's give the adults some alone time and I'll tell you the story of how Auntie Sabir used to pull pranks on your Auntie Eidi." Squeals of giggles erupted from the piglets as Eidi led them away from the group, leaving Chiku alone with Pumbaa and the meerkats.
Sly smirked with amusement at the young warthogs and then he shook his head. Kids are great… Timon sat across from Sly on the opposite side of Pumbaa's snout, his face long and dry as he tapped his fingers on his knee. "… Soooo let me get this straight…" he began calmly, which grabbed Sly's attention. "There's a distinct possibility that my daughter is trying to find a colony that has a blind meerkat who has a severe dislike of rogues and prefers to strike first?"
"And… you're worried about that, Dad?" Kito, on the ground next to Pumbaa, asked as he craned his neck to look up at his father. "If he can't see then Shani can dodge his attacks--"
"Actually," Sly interrupted, "Nuru's other senses had been heightened ever since he became blind, especially his sense of smell and hearing. He could make out the faintest sound and know when someone is trying to sneak up on him and he could smell a rogue even before they make a peep."
Timon's face seemed to pale at that mention. "Oh, yeah, I feel so much better now…" he replied sarcastically.
"Well, I don't, Timon," Pumbaa spoke up, clearly not catching onto his best friend's sarcasm. Both Timon and Sly narrowed their eyes slightly and turned to face the warthog with their brows arched. "Shani could get hurt, or worse! At least Barika has Sabir with her to keep her safe, but who's looking out for Shani?"
"A regular ray of sunshine, ain't he?" Sly remarked to Timon in a monotone, who nodded once. He softly exhaled as he ruffled his hair, and then he turned back to Pumbaa. "At least we know Barika's safe, and that's good, so we can stop worrying. Now we should probably get back to finding the Makunga Mob." He then turned to Chiku. "River on the east coast, right? I guess it's the best place to start the search again. And besides, that galago's tree is to the east… and she said the mob should be somewhere nearby."
Chiku nodded with a tired sigh. "Yes… do be careful, all of you… and, Pumbaa?"
"Yes?" the red warthog answered.
The elder warthog gave him a tired smile. "Be sure… when you return to the oasis… to have Jina come pay us a visit. I feel my part in the Circle of Life is drawing to a close, so this may be the last time we'll speak to each other on good terms…" Pumbaa gulped once as Timon and Sly began to climb up his face to get onto his head and back. A thought had suddenly come to his mind… if something were to happen to Barika now before he was able to see her, he would never have a chance to speak with her again... a thought that made his stomach uneasy.
Kito stood and stretched his legs out, preparing to continue the walk. He had long since regained his breath and was ready to burn off some more of that never-ending supply of energy he had been having lately. Stretching his arms over his head, he released a satisfied groan and jogged in place. "OK, I'm ready to go! East coast, here we come!"
"You heard him, my porcine pal!" Timon grinned as he took hold of Pumbaa's ears, and then he gave them a tug. "Giddy-up!" But Pumbaa remained where he was, as if he hadn't felt the yanking. He looked like he was thinking. Timon only sneered as Pumbaa once again failed to start walking… and it wasn't the first time he refused to go. "Let's be getting back on the road again? Onto the trail we blaze? … OK, you pick the starting phrase…" he huffed.
Sly blinked slightly as he sat on Pumbaa's back, leaning to the side to try to take a peek around front. "… Is that smoke coming out of his ears?"
With a yelp Timon released the warthog's ears and quickly patted his paws on his stomach. "Smoke? Fire! Chiku, get some water, quick!" Sly slapped a paw over his eyes, forgetting Timon tends to take metaphors literally.
"No-no-no… I mean it looks like he's thinking…"
Pumbaa frowned and glanced up at Timon, who was standing on his head and stopped behaving like his friend's head was on fire. "I'm sorry, Timon, but now I'm worried about Barika again… what if something happens and I can't see her again? I know it's important to find Shani, too, but…" He whimpered and lowered his head, unsure what he should actually do. The group stood in silence for a while, unsure which way they should restart their search… to go to the east to look for Shani, or to follow Sabir and Barika's trail. Finally…
"… Why don't we just split up?" Kito spoke up. Pumbaa and the meerkat brothers looked down at Kito, a bit surprised by his suggestion. Kito nervously smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we're trying to find two girls who split up somewhere along the way and we can't find both of them if we're in one group. I mean, we have a pretty good idea where they both are, but we can't decide which one we should find first." He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean… it might be easier, but we won't have the same protection if Uncle Pumbaa isn't around…"
"… He has a point," Sly nodded once as he looked to Timon.
"And I do want to make sure Barika and Sabir are all right..." Pumbaa hesitantly agreed. "I hate to admit it, but I'd be too preoccupied about finding Barika than I would Shani… not that I'm not worried about Shani, too!"
Timon lightly furrowed his brow and folded his arms over his chest. "Well… it means more of a work-out for the rest of us, but I guess we're all agreed." He walked down onto Pumbaa's snout and smiled at his friend. "All right, Pumbaa… you go follow Sabir and Barika's trail while Sly, Kito, and I head to the river on the east coast to look for the colony. If you can't find us there in two days, we'll all meet up at Pride Rock. Hopefully that'll give us enough time to find and bring back our girls."
Pumbaa smiled… but then he quickly frowned. "You mean I have to look for them alone?"
"I'm sorry, Pumbaa," Sly began as he patted Pumbaa's back, "but Timon needs me around to keep his head on straight when we find another colony… you've seen what could happen if I don't calm him down." Pumbaa lightly grimaced as he nodded and remembered how Timon had tried to talk to the galago Komba, among other things.
Kito craned his neck to look up at his uncle Pumbaa. "And Dad and Uncle Sly still need me to use my heightened instincts and senses to see how Shani might react, if she's not at the colony already. Sorry we can't help."
"Oh, he'll do fine, son! Right, Pumbaa?" Timon smiled as he patted Pumbaa's tusk and then jumped down onto the ground. Sly slid down Pumbaa's side to reach the ground and landed next to Kito, dusting himself when he did.
"Uhhh… yeah! I just have to follow Chiku's directions and follow my nose!" Pumbaa smiled down to the three meerkats. "Are you gonna be all right without me, Timon? We've never really split up like this before…"
Timon waved him off with a grin. "Hakuna Matata, buddy. With six eyes on the look-out, everything will be just gravy. Good luck finding them!" he said as he started to lead Kito and Sly away from Pumbaa and Chiku, heading towards the east.
"You, too! I'll see you soon!" Waving his friends off, Pumbaa then turned back to Chiku, and began to ask her where he should start looking…
Present…
Kito rotated his arm as he rubbed his shoulder, trying to get a crick out of it. "Now I'm starting to regret saying we should split up to look for them, especially if you're going to try to stand on our shoulders to see what's ahead…" he gave a glare to his father Timon, who was sitting across from him and rubbing his feet.
"It was a good idea, Kito," Sly said as he leaned back to get a crick out of his back, which he eventually got and shuddered, satisfied. "We have a slightly better chance at finding them now…" He turned his gaze over to Timon and raised a brow. "It was your father's idea of making a tree out of us and giving us these aches…"
Timon furrowed his brow and snorted. "I'm sorry, but all complaints must be submitted to me in writing… anyway, you two didn't think it was a bad idea before we did it…" He sighed an annoyed sigh as he stood and dusted his arms off. "Listen, let's not argue right now. We're rested up so let's go to that tree I saw ahead and see what we can find up there. We'll have a better view of the area then and we'll see how far the river is from here."
"Why don't we just keep heading east? Eventually we're bound to hit a river," Kito asked as he stretched his arms over his head, slightly wincing when his shoulder popped. "Then we just ask around, right?"
Sly stood and dusted himself off, and then he folded his arms over his chest. "It's better to have a bird's eye view of things, Kito. I haven't found any familiar landmarks I can use as a map, so that's the next best thing. We could walk right into a jackal's mealtime if we're not careful, or we could get trampled by a stampede of gazelles for a lioness' hunt."
"Please don't mention 'lioness' and 'hunt' in the same sentence… or 'jackal' or 'stampede' for that matter!" Timon shuddered as he stepped forward, putting his paws in-between a group of grass blades and parting them. Ahead, he only saw more grass. "I still have nightmares…" Sly grimaced and nodded, agreeing that he tends to have the same type of nightmares. Kito only blinked… what did the lionesses have to do with anything? … Well, maybe it's nothing, he thought. Shaking his head, he and his uncle Sly followed Timon through the tall grass, heading towards the tree that laid ahead. And so the search for Shani and Barika begins anew, the reunion seeming to be inevitable…
To be continued…