He couldn't remember what had happened after they had picked him up in the Pride Lands, but the next thing he knew, he was trying to open his eyelids that were heavy as stones. His head hurt and his muscles were uncooperative. He blinked a few times, trying to get his vision to clear, when he realized his face was pressed into wood chips. Wrinkling his nose at the musty smell that invaded his nostrils, he tried to get his heavy body to sit up. It took a few tries, but he finally managed, and groggily looked around.

There were thick bars that surrounded him, enclosing him in this box-like trap that was layered in the dusty chips. In the corner of the cage was a bowl of brown pellets, and in the other, a slowly dripping tube filled with, what looked like, water.

Timon stood on wobbly knees and walked to the bars, wrapping his paws around them. Outside his barricades, he found he was in a large, similar entrapment, only this one was cloth-like. Objects were scattered about, odd looking things that were made of materials he had never seen before. He was elevated up onto a large and flat slab, and he pressed his forehead against the bars as tightly as possible to see the ground below.

Yup, he was high up.

"Hi."

The voice startled him and Timon whipped around, finding a cage just like his sitting right next to him. There stood a lean creature, his size and all gray, with large brown eyes staring curiously at him. She looked like a mongoose or something, yet he had never seen one looking like her before.

"Who are you?" she asked, craning her head to the side.

Timon swallowed against his dry mouth, willing his vocal cords to work as he replied, "I'm... I'm Timon."

The girl grinned, a smile that was both innocent and unnerving. "That's a great name, Timon."

Timon just blinked at the odd creature, before he said, "Where am I?"

"I'm Chelsea," the girl went on, ignoring his question. She stared at him for a moment, then wrinkled her nose, looking awfully confused. "You're a strange-looking ferret."

Timon looked down at himself briefly, trying to see what she was seeing. He wasn't the one that looked strange; she was... and what the heck was a ferret?

"I'm not a... ah, ferret," Timon answered. "I'm a meerkat." Slowly, he made his way to her, grasping the bars that separated them. "Where am I? Who... what are they?"

Chelsea grinned again. "They're humans," she replied.

Timon's eyes widened and he leaned back in surprise. "Humans?" he exclaimed. "I thought that they were only myth!"

She giggled and shook her head. "Nope."

Timon, however, saw nothing humorous about the situation. "Humans..." he whispered, rolling the word around in his head. His eyes suddenly welled up with emotion and he blurted, angrily, "Those humans killed my best friend!"

"Your friend?" she repeated, her brow furrowed.

Timon dropped his hands from the bars and took a step back, sniffing. He felt sick to his stomach. "He was a warthog... he was my best friend."

"A warthog? A big pig-like thing?"

Timon looked up at her sharply and nodded.

"Is that him?" she asked, pointing to her right.

Timon whipped around and nearly tripped over himself as he reached the side of the cage. Sure enough, on the ground, sat a large cage with his friend captive inside. He was lying down, his back toward him, and Timon frowned worriedly. "Is he... dead?"

"I don't know," Chelsea answered, coming up to the side of her cage as well. "He hasn't moved since they brought him in."

Timon swallowed and gripped the bars, praying his friend was okay. He just hoped they could get out of this... somehow...