They crept in as quietly as possible, listening carefully to the rhythm of their snoring as they slept in bags on the floor. Pumbaa stepped over them carefully, gritting his teeth as he made his way toward the table. Timon was sitting crouched in the nest of the warthog's hair, his wide eyes watching the slumbering strangers on the floor.

"Almost there," Pumbaa whispered. Carefully, he rose his snout up and Timon bounded up it and onto the table. Tiptoeing over to the cage, Timon peered inside to the curled body in the corner.

"Psst, Chelsea," Timon whispered.

She jerked awake and lifted her head, blinking groggily at the meerkat peering at her. "Who is it?" she grumbled.

Timon furrowed his brow, irritated. "It is me!" he hissed. "Timon!"

"Oh, hi," she replied, lowering her head back down.

"No! Wait," he whispered, circling around the cage to get closer to the corner she was at. "You have to get up. We are here to rescue you."

"Rescue me?" she repeated, looking up at him.

"Yeah, you know... get out of here? Make like a tree and leave?"

"Why would I want to leave?" she asked with a bunched brow.

"Because... you don't want to be in a cage forever, do you?"

"Well... no..."

"C'mon! We're going to take you away from the humans!" Timon whispered, walking over to the door and gripping the lever. He gritted his teeth and pushed on it, trying to budge it. "They won't hurt you anymore."

"They don't hurt me," Chelsea replied, coming over to the edge of the cage and watching as he struggled to get it open. "They take care of me."

Timon stopped and looked at her, his eyes narrowed. "Take care of you? Chelsea, I think you have been cooped up too long. I don't think you are functioning correctly."

"No, I'm fine," she chirped. "And they do take good care of me. They feed me and play with me. They let me out sometimes and run around."

Timon stared at her, confused. "Then, why do they put you in a cage?"

"To keep things from getting me," she replied and then shrugged, "I guess." She took a step toward him and reached through the bars, patting his shoulder. "Thank you for coming back for me, but I'll be okay."

"Chelsea..."

"Outside isn't for me."

"Are you sure?"

Chelsea gave a smile and nodded. "Yes, I am."

Timon pulled away from the door and took a few steps back, gazing at her sadly. He returned her smile weakly and was about to turn to walk away, when he caught something in the corner of his eye. Spinning, he gasped when a hand came down on him, wrapping around him and picking him up.

"Timon!" Pumbaa shouted, and Timon looked over at him, watching as the warthog was snagged by a rope on the end of a stick. Pumbaa shook his head violently, trying to shake free the trap, but the girl human held onto the pole tightly.

Timon turned to look into the face of the man, watching him with wide eyes. He opened his mouth to bite him, but the human quickly changed his hold, gripping him securely by the back of his neck. Timon grunted as he was held up just by the patch of skin and felt himself being carried across the tent. He tried to struggle, knowing that he had to get away to save his friend, but felt hopeless.

They couldn't defeat humans.

Then suddenly, he felt dirt underneath his paws and the grip on his neck was released. He stumbled forward a little and looked around, finding himself outside the tent. He turned around and watched as the human stood up and stared down at him. He made a fanning motion with his hand, encouraging him to go, and Timon furrowed his brow, confused by these change of events. Then he noticed Pumbaa being guided out as well. The girl leaned down and carefully released the rope, freeing Pumbaa, and the warthog didn't waste a second before he was at Timon's side.

"They are letting us go?" Pumbaa asked.

"Don't argue," Timon replied, turning and jumping onto his back. "Let's just get out of here."

He watched the two creatures scurry off into the night with a funny smile, shaking his head and laughing, "And here we thought we were saving the meerkat from the warthog."

The woman next to him smiled and spoke up, "Well, after everything we did for him, he still tried to come back and eat my ferret." She placed her hands on her hips and added, "How ungrateful, huh?"

"I just can't believe a meerkat would hang out with a warthog like that. I mean, in nature, it doesn't work."

"Well, I hang out with YOU, don't I?" she joked. She turned toward the tent and jerked her head toward it. "C'mon. Let's get some sleep before we go take more pictures tomorrow. I'm beat."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay."

The End.

Note: Okay, so I rushed through this one. I wasn't really 'into' this story like my first, so I was desperate to get it done. I have had an idea for a new one for a while now and I have been eager to get it started. So be kind when reviewing this one. *grin*