DJ's pov
Three days. Three stinking days of sand, sand and more sand! So yeah, personally I'm a little sick of sand.
Once I had gotten back together with the cubs, I told them what Sarabi told me. At first they disagreed, not wanting to leave their moms and friends in the arms of a tyrant.
But eventually I was able to get through to them that it was what we needed to do. So come morning, I somehow got them to grab the vine again and jumped back into the water.
Since the wall being as high as it was and the river was flowing east. I knew it was our only way to get them out. We, well mostly me, swam for half an hour before the river turned and started going south.
So we filled our bellies, my canteen and anything else that could hold water. I was pulled out of my thoughts by a low rumbling sound.
I turned and seen Tojo had stopped and holding his stomach. I sighed. I don't know how long lions can go without food, but I know that it can't be much longer until they may desperately start looking for something to eat.
I looked around and seen a large rock. I smiled, heading over to it and put my hands underneath it. I lifted it and smiled again and turned to the group.
"Hey boys, lunch?" I said as they all perked up and ran over to me. But they stopped and tilted their heads.
"Where's the food?" Malka asked confused. I grabbed one of the white grubs. I popped it in my mouth and ate it while looking at them.
"Oh, that's where" Malka said looking at them with a disgusting look. I grabbed a handful of them and held them out in front of him.
"Come on guys I know it's gross but it's survival. Hopefully we'll reach green soon" I said. He closed his eyes and carefully ate the grubs out of my hand.
I divided up the rest between the other three and we were back on our journey.
"Hey wait, don't you need to eat?" Simba questioned. I shook my head.
"No. Humans can go a lot longer than lions can without food" I said. "Plus you guys needed it more. If there is one thing that I've learned, it's to always keep the animals with the biggest teeth happy."
They all laughed at that and we continued to walk the desert. But in all seriousness, I knew we needed to find something soon. My canteen was almost empty.
I seen a shadow pass over me again. God damn it, can't those vultures at least wait until we're dead?
"Buzz off!" I yelled raising my gun again but I stopped. Those weren't vultures, they were more colourful. I smiled and began running, following the birds.
"Wait what's going on?" Tojo asked running behind me. We started running up a large sand dune.
"Where's there's colourful birds, there's-" I stopped as we cleared the dune. We seen a large jungle with trees, water, animals and water.
"-There's somewhere green!" I yelled as the lions ran ahead of me and towards the jungle. I laughed and ran after them.
When I finally caught up with them, they were drinking and swimming in a small pond of water just outside of the jungle.
I dunked my head in as well. I laughed and rubbed my wet hair. Suddenly the four lions stopped and focused on something.
What I asked confused. Then I heard it, a low rumbling sound. A brown coloured ball then came rolling off a ramp shaped mound at the end of a hill.
It landed in the middle of the pond and splashed all of us. It emerged and turned out to be a warthog. He froze when he seen us.
Suddenly another ball came rolling down a different side. It was smaller and more of a tan colour. It emerged next to the still frozen warthog. The smaller ball turned out to be a meerkat.
"Well Pumba my friend, I don't often say this but I was wrong. The east slide is way slower then the west" the meerkat said not seeming to notice us. The warthog grabbed the distracted meerkat's head and showed him all of us.
"Oh..." he said before they screamed and hugged each other. I covered my ears as the lions moved in obviously hungry.
"Well Pumba ol' friend, we've lived the good life. Leaving my clan, finding this place all for our own, creating vine swinging" the meerkat said as they both welded their eyes shut.
I groaned before grabbing Simba's tail, stopping him from jumping at the two.
"Hey!" he complained turning to face me. I pointed at the two huddled prey animals.
"If they claimed this land before any other animals did, then they are the rulers of these lands. If so then by the rules of the Pridelands, we are prohibited from hurting them" I said.
"But we ain't in the Pridelands" Malka whined as his stomach growled again. I shook my head.
"The rules apply in other kingdoms as well. As it would for them if they came into ours" I said. The meerkat perked up and smiled.
"Yes, yes we are the rulers!" he said covering the warthog's mouth. "So uh, what are you doing in our lands?" he said sounding superior to us. I narrowed my eyes.
"Don't push it. We were forced out of our lands and we need a place to stay for a little while, just until these guys can fight without me babysitting them" I said.
"Hey!" they said together as I smiled. The meerkat rubbed his chin before looking at the warthog. They huddled and whispered for a few minutes before he turned back to me.
"We may be able to work something out" he said getting out of the water and sitting onto a rock. I looked over at Simba who was sitting back.
"Do you want to handle negotiations?" I asked. He was still for a few seconds before he shook his head.
"I'd prefer if you did it first and then I could see it" he said. I nodded before going over to the rock, Simba following me. The others still stayed and played in the water. I sat down opposite to the meerkat.
"DJ. this is Simba, Tojo, Chumvi and Malka" I said pointing to each lion. I then extended my hand. He looked at my hand before grabbing it the best he could and shaking it.
"Timon. The big guy over there is Pumba. Now down to business. Why should we let you stay in our lands?" he asked.
"What do you want?" I said. He smiled before leaning back.
"Well, there's this pair of leopards. There a real nasty bunch. Chase them out and you can stay. And if you only hunt outside the jungle" he said. I looked back at Simba, who nodded.
"Okay, I'll take care of your problem" I said standing up and cracking my neck to the side. The warthog then pointed to the west. I nodded and started the walk.
After a few minutes of walking I heard footsteps coming up from behind me. I turned and seen Simba coming up.
"I thought I told you to stay with the others" I said. He didn't answer and kept walking.
"You shouldn't be doing something like this without someone else with you. Besides I need to talk with you about something" he said. I smiled and nodded. He was getting better at this taking charge thing.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked as we made out way to some open fields. He was silent for a moment. This must be important.
"Why'd you leave Nala and the other cubs back in the Pridelands? I know that the lionesses were too hurt to run away, but the cubs weren't" he said. I sighed. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone brought this up.
"Ah, Simba. that was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do" I said sitting on a rock. He laid down in front of me and looked at me with a questioning stare.
"Scar treats the hyenas better than he does his own kind. I have a feeling he'll make the lionesses do all the hunting" I said.
"Okay, but what does that have to do with Nala or the others?" he said slightly getting angry. I put a hand up in a calming gesture.
"It'll be a year, before we can safely return to fight. If Scar thinks that the older generation are getting too slow, he may decide to repopulate a new one. Whether the lionesses want to or not"I said. Simba face was confused for a few seconds before he opened his mouth in shock.
"There you go" I said getting back up and continuing west. He kept following me and we continued to walk for a few more minutes until we seen two leopards sleeping in a tree.
"So you take one and I take the other?" he asked excitedly. I shook my head and walked into the open.
"Naw, I'm too tired, hungry and thirsty today to fight" I said pushing him into some bushes. I then unsheathed my pistol and shot the branch one of the leopards was sleeping on. They both fell off in shock and surprise and seen me standing there.
"Hey leopards! Those will fetch a hefty price when I skin 'em alive and sell there skins to my other poacher friends!" I yelled pointing my gun at them. They screamed and ran away.
I smiled and put the gun away. Simba came out of the bushes and smiled at me.
"I'm guessing that is what the humans who took Nala and Sarafina said" he said. I nodded and started walking back to the small pond.
fifteen minutes later
"Okay your problem is taken care of" I said getting back to the pond. Tojo, Chumvi and Malka were still playing in the water like they were little cubs. Timon and Pumba were on the bank.
"That's great, you know what? You guys are alright. You can stay. But remember, hunt outside the jungle" Timon said sunbathing. I looked at what he was using and grabbed it.
"Hey that's mine!" he said. However I just ignored him and looked the thing over. It was an old can of tuna, it was empty, but it had no rust on it. And, maybe the most strangest thing about it, it expired in 1954!
"Where'd you get this?" I asked. Timon looked at me funny before pointing over his shoulder. He then began to walk over there.
"Back when me and Pumba first got here we found this place of shiny stuff. But it smelled like hyenas, so we never went inside. But luckily there was a bunch of these already outside" he said parting the tree branches.
I stood still in shock at what I seen. It was an entrance. From the look of it, it was for a military bunker.
"What is it?" Simba asked confused. I walked up to the doors, not answering his question. It was unlocked, no it was broken into. The door had been kicked in.
"Guys, does it smell like hyena?" I asked Tojo stepped forward carefully and took in a deep breath of air before shaking his head.
"It smells like hyena, but the smell is old. They haven't been here for a while" he said. I nodded but still took out my pistol.
"Stay... Why do I bother? You'll just follow me anyway" I said as they smirked. We entered the door and looked around definitely a military bunker. Rations, jerry cans, tools.
"Well I assume that you know why we won't enter a place, where we swore never to" Timon said as he and Pumba backed up.
"Understood" I said continuing forward. I then heard them running away.
"So you never answered my question" Simba said as I found an old oil lamp on a crate next to some matches. I struck one and lit up the lantern.
"It's a military bunker. I'm guessing abandoned after the second World War" I said looking around. A place like this could be useful.
"Whoa wait, man has had two wars? Malka asked in shock. I nodded still not really listening.
"So after those two wars, you guys settled any disputes you had right?" Simba asked. I stopped and shook my head.
"No we're... Actually, I got no idea what the hell we are right now" I said as I seen a desk with an old video projector in front of a white sheet.
I picked up some letters on a desk and looked at the titles. However they were written in swahili and I don't think that Simba or any of the others could read. I set them back on the desk before looking back at the projector.
I flipped the switch on the large projector and the tapes started to spin. I looked over at Simba and the others who looked dumbfounded.
"When he starts speaking can one of you translate" I asked. They looked around as if looking for someone else to be in the room.
"When who star-" Tojo started but was cut off as a video started. If I didn't explain to them a while back what videos and pictures were, they probably would've reacted differently then just jumping back in surprise.
Malka, having the most experience speaking swahili than English, stepped forwards.
An African American man was in front of a desk and started speaking quickly. However there was drowned out screams from outside, making it hard for even me to hear him.
He spoke for about a minute before a loud bang was heard. He screamed as the camera was knocked over. The screen then turned to white. I looked over at Malka, who shook his head.
"Sorry he was talking too quick and the screams were too loud. But I was able to make out 'new species' and 'modified weapon'. Whatever that means" he said. I sighed.
"It's alright. Looks like the army left most of their weapons here" I said picking up a bullet. "But most of the bullets have taken a hit by the years" I said walking back to the doors. I'll be back to inspect and sort through them later.
"Okay, let's go boys" I said smiling. "Time to start your training."
Third person view/Back in the Pridelands
Rafiki watched as the pride of lionesses once again surrendered their meal to the hyenas. Even though they were injured, Scar still ordered the least injured ones to hunt for the hyenas.
He slightly groaned and jumped to a higher branch of his tree. He looked over the Pridelands and the great desert beyond.
"Oh Mufasa, I know that DJ and the cubs will return in the future. But I wonder if there will be a pride to return to" he said talking to both himself and the sky.
The wind picked up and blew a fruit off of the tree. It landed on the ground and rolled away a few feet. Rafiki cocked his head to the side and jumped down. He reached for the fruit to pick it up, but the wind blew it out of his reach.
He tried again only to get the same result. He growled before turning away and humming, slowly making his way over to the fruit.
With a scream, he jumped at the fruit, but the wind pushed it out of his reach. He started screeching and chasing it trying to whack it with his staff.
He was so focused on chasing it, he didn't even notice that he ran into a cave. The cave's entrance had been covered with vines a long time ago, longer than even DJ had been inside the Pridelands.
The fruit finally stopped moving, but Rafiki still gave it a smack with his staff. He cheered before seeing where he was.
"The Lion Guard lair?" he said in shock before looking down at the fruit.
'Why did Mufasa bring me here' he questioned himself looking around the lair. He had only been inside a few times in his lifetime. The first being when his mentor brought him here when he was still a young protégé.
'Hmm, never been in this area' he thought walking past the paintings of Scar's Lion Guard. And what he saw froze him in his tracks.
"Kings of the Past" he said in shock at the paintings.
