"NOOOOO!" The meerkat begged on his knees, crying crocodile tears. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! KILL ME NOW, PUMBAA, JUST KILL ME NOW!"
Pumbaa rolled his eyes. "Just eat your termites, Timon." he said and offered the leaf full of insects to his overdramatic pal. Timon snatched it from his hoof in a temper tantrum.
"Termites in the morning, termites for lunch, termites FOR DINNER! I'd give anything for a lousy dung beetle at this point! And all of this because Simba's slimy-maned creep of an uncle..."
Timon was cut short as a large grey-feathered bird casually landed in front of him. "You were saying?" Mzingo asked with a genial smile. The meerkat gulped.
"Uh... no, I, uh... well, don't mind me asking so, Mzingo, but... whose side are you on again?"
Mzingo chuckled. "Be at peace, Timon, I shan't eat you today... maybe tomorrow. But right now the vultures side with Simba... if he ever gets a move on." Timon wiped sweat from his brow. Interested, Pumbaa trotted closer.
"What convinced you to come back to us?" The warthog asked.
Mzingo rolled his eyes. "Well, I always knew Scar was an exceedingly incompetent ruler. But I underestimated his vanity... suffice to say, he overstepped his boundaries and I'm now convinced that for the moment, an amiable relationship with Simba would be more agreeable for the vultures."
Timon gestured for him to stop talking. "Okay, so let me see if I get this straight..." he began counting on fingers. "You tricked Fuli and Jasiri into becoming enemies so their rivalry would draw the attention of every animal in the Pride Lands and cause a civil war. Then you lead Simba into a hole with an undead warrior demon in it. After that, you gathered up all the scum of Africa to uproot our friend and put a possessed lion cub in his place and now... you want Simba back as King." He pointed at Mzingo with a finger. "One of those things does not add up."
"Uh... which one would that be?" Pumbaa asked, scratching his head in confusion.
"The undead warrior demon, of course! Where'd you get one, Mzingo, and can you hook me up with the dealer?!" Timon exclaimed enthusiastically.
Mzingo rolled his eyes. "I didn't get the 'warrior demon' from anywhere. He's part of the long-lost history of Pride Rock... and if you must know, I got the information from Ushari. Who is a little bit too dead for your dreams of glory. Shame he took his secrets with him."
"Well, they did say a crazy lion stole all of his belongings after he died..." Pumbaa began to explain, only to be cut off by Timon. "Pumbaa! Ix-nay on the belongings-ay..."
The vulture frowned and let the information sink in. He hadn't known Ushari kept any belongings... the snake had been obsessed with his forefathers, and his forefathers were only notable for the powers they learned watching their human masters. Anything he might've kept would've had to have magical properties...
He smiled at the duo. "Well, it doesn't do to dwell on rumors. Jasiri has called for an emergency meeting of the Kupatana Guard and royal family members. You will keep me informed of everything that's spoken of inside that den."
Timon humphed. "And why should we do a thing like that?"
"If my memory serves me right, I did you two a favor once... Tama and Simba? Remember? You'd never have paired them up if I hadn't recognised Simba was in heat."
Pumbaa gasped. "You knew? Even back then...?"
"Hah! If I knew everything, I'd be king of the jungle and dining on your intestines." Mzingo quipped. "No, I merely played for the future. Always have, always will."
(Jasiri's meeting with Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Kiara, Kopa, Fuli, Beshte, Bunga. Kula is not at the meeting.)
As Timon and Pumbaa strolled into what served as the main den for their exile in the Outlands, the private meeting was all set to begin. It was held there at Kiara's insistence: though Simba ignored them all and faced the wall, she felt it was important to keep him in the loop as best as they could.
Jasiri opened the meeting, speaking confidently: "Now that we have the hyena clan on our side, we've taken the first step towards regaining control of Pride Rock. Scar will not expect treachery, therefore I think it's best if we continue with this approach with the other animals he's gathered. If we could convince the crocodiles, the jackals and all the rest that they'd be better off under Simba's rule, then victory would be ours. Unlike last time, Scar has no loyalists. Harry confirmed that the only lions still in the Pride Lands besides him are Nala and Tama."
"How exactly are we going to convince all of them?" Kiara asked. "The jackals have never been happier and there's more of them every day. Makuu isn't exactly unhappy dominating all of the rivers either. I'm surprised they all haven't started in-fighting, actually."
"That would be the Roar." Jasiri said. "Scar hasn't used it yet, but they know he can. It keeps them in line."
Timon then waved for attention. "Yeah, about that...! Aren't we starting off from the wrong end? I mean, I may be getting this wrong, but isn't Scarface the root of this problem? What are we gonna do about him?"
"I... may have a way of stopping him." Jasiri said.
"Well? What is it? It's not something horrible, is it?" Beshte pitched in.
Jasiri shook her head. "No! But it's not something I want to share, at least not yet. Not when Scar's eyes and ears are everywhere. We've been tricked so many times that I'm keeping it to myself. You'll just have to trust me."
This set Timon off. "Now wait a minute! Are you saying any one of us could be a traitor?!"
"That's not..."
"A-ha!" Timon pointed at Jasiri's nose. "What if you just said that so we wouldn't suspect it's you!"
Before Jasiri could respond with a particularly acidic remark, Bunga patted his uncle on the back, wearing a disarming grin. "Aw, come on! Jasiri's the wisest in all the Pride Lands! She's the only one it couldn't be! Well, her and I guess Simba. And Kion, cause... he's a ghost. I wouldn't count me out, though! That would be the best plot twist ever!"
"We're going off topic." Jasiri said sharply. "The other Kings all abandoned Scar once he proved to be what he is, so there's a chance they'll want to reignite relationships with us. If things work out, we might even end up in a better position than where we started from. To that end, I suggest we send ambassadors to all of the prides around us."
"Well, in that case, Timon and I can visit the Hasira Pride near the jungle. We've run into them before." Pumbaa suggested. Kopa raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Jasiri nodded.
"Alright then." She continued. "The Kupatana Guard will handle the rest of the prides. We'll all brief with Zazu tomorrow, before we set off. That includes you, Bunga."
Bunga rested casually on a rock. "Don't worry! I've got a tongue like honey! You know, because I'm a honey badger!" He started laughing so hard that he fell over himself.
Kiara sighed. "It'd be almost funny if our lives didn't depend on him."
After the meeting, Kula met up with Fuli and informed her that the latest recruits had bled in to help them fight Scar. One of Jasiri's ideas for restoring their Uwanja wa Maisha pride was to build a similar army of miscellaneous animals willing to fight. Thanks to her authority and balanced personality, Fuli was quickly chosen to train them. This particular groupd.. wasn't exactly the best and brightest.
There were only five of them. Three were fat hippos dreaming of better days, one was a baboon who just wanted to throw fruit at others and one was a leopard with anxiety.
"What have you got to be nervous about?!" Fuli demanded from him. She wasn't usually this aggressive, but the situation was beginning to get to her. Fuli hadn't exactly been taking it easy even before this, trying to vie for both Kion and Kopa's affections, but the more they suffered in the Outlands, the more she began to see her own shallowness and now she was working as hard as she could to live up to the promises she'd given when she joined the original Lion Guard.
"Well, I-I... uh..." he fell quiet.
Fuli tried to reason with him. "You're here, aren't you? You volunteered to help us fight."
The leopard shrugged. "It-it... I thought it was the right thing to do... besides, the jackals have overrun my home in the Back Lands... I can go away if I'm useless..."
"Wait, what?! There's jackals in the Back Lands now?" The Back Lands represented the border between Simba's pride and another one... if the jackals were there, it could only mean the Pride Lands were crammed full of them. "Why didn't you say so the minute you got here?! What's your name?"
"Uh-uh, I'm Badili." the leopard said, unsure of what was going on. Nevertheless, he bowed respectfully.
Fuli flashed him a reassuring smile. Now that she thought about it, she found the awkward, childlike leopard rather endearing. "Hi, Badili, I'm Fuli. And now come on, I'm taking you to Jasiri, we need all the info we can get!"
(Nala suffers from Tama and Scar's treatment)
"Good morning, Nala."
Her entire body stiffened instinctively in disgust and fear, wiping the illusion of peace that sleep provided instantly. She remained perfectly still as Scar climbed onto her back and made himself comfortable. He lowered his head to Nala's level and then rubbed his cheek against her face, humming in satisfaction. "Do you remember... the first time I took Pride Rock... I made you a proposition."
How could she not remember? "Yes. You wanted me to become your Queen."
"Hmmm... precisely." Scar nuzzled her affectionately, to the lioness's displeasure. "And there's a part of you that actually wants that. Oh, yes... over time, you'll find it. Lust..."
Nala pursed her lips. "Simba is my mate." she said flatly.
Scar frowned and pulled back, resting his chin on Nala's forehead. "Simba lied to you. I never lied." He said almost childishly. "It doesn't matter. I am the King, and you are mine. I don't care what you say." He licked the top of her head.
"Sire!" Tama called from the entrance, making Scar flinch.
"I've told you to never, ever disturb me when I say so!" He leapt off of Nala's back, growling. "I am the King, you will obey."
"Yes, Sire, but-"
Scar seemed on the verge of exploding. "SHUT UP! You will obey without question, you will not utter a word when I speak and you will not step a toe out of line!" Suddenly, he turned to Nala and broke into a goofy grin, heartbreakingly identical to Kion's. "No one's going to betray me now that I'm tough."
He then turned back to Tama and motioned for her to speak. "Sire, Reirei's family has overrun the Pride Lands. There's just too many jackals pouring in from who knows where. Pretty much everyone are saying that..."
"No need to tell me what they're saying." Scar muttered. "If they can't handle a few dogs sniffing around, they have no place in my kingdom. It's the law of the jungle. The strong survive, the weak are killed. That's how it's always been."
"Not outside of hunting!" Tama blurted out before she could stop herself. So far, Scar's Roar had been the only thing keeping this crazy pride in line, but if he gave them permission to fight... it would end in an utter bloodbath. Luckily, Scar was too busy admiring his own words to notice her being out of line.
"... and I reign on top of the pyramid of animals. I am the smartest, the most powerful and now, in this body, I am the strongest! Life holds no limit to my power! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" he screamed incoherently.
Nala and Tama were both accustomed to Scar's outbursts at this point and Nala got on her feet and walked over to the other lioness. "I hope you're really, really proud of yourself now, Tama." The other lioness merely snorted and left.
At some point during the first few days of Scar's rule, Nala had demanded to know the truth... how could Tama, the loyal lioness who'd hunted by her side for years and years, who even grew up remembering the cruelties of Scar's original dictatorship and left because of it... how could she serve him?
"I wanted to make my son King." Tama had replied. "I thought I could make him the perfect lion, without the burning bloodlust of the Hasira Pride or the pampering softness of this one. What a waste of time, eh?" She'd chuckled. "Well, I'm too tired to go bother living on my own and I'm not gonna crawl back to Simba or Vijana like a worm." Tama had one thing left that she clung onto, and that was her pride.
Nala peeked outside of the den(she was forbidden to leave)... the sky was red. Blood red, over a field of burnt-looking rocks and gnarled black trees. She was in hell.
Author's Note: In case you're wondering, Scar's insanity is exacerbated in this story, because he's essentially won on all levels. His ego has become cosmic in size. Also, as you may have noticed, I've decided to go ahead with writing story chapters in-between the remaining prompt chapters, simply because everyone's been waiting for so long.
*God Of The Challenge - Yeah, that's definitely shocked people a lot more than I expected...
*laytonmrbunch54 - As the title in front of the page suggests, the previous chapter was part of the prompt contest, which I've said many times already is NOT canon. They're just chapters based on one-off concepts people posted to me.
*Guest - Kion and Reirei, one of my favourite crack ships...
*Fanfic920 - I'm glad you liked it!
*Reverend I'm a Jesus Freak - Nala totally had a sex change. Yep. Mm-mh.
*LunarWolf0 - Apart from the massive delays, it's gonna go on for a while because Scar's whole appereance is only one of multiple story arcs. It won't end just because he gets finished.
*Juria - I hope you can deal with this drama... funnily enough, I'm also having trouble with classes.
*Leonardo Leto - Jasiri and Scar are definitely gonna meet soon!
*Guest - Mine usually are like fanfiction, honestly... I always see movie stuff.