Kari: Sweet, the readers are back! Sorry it took longer than usual... I've been abducted by my father to help him do gardening ::shudder:: and I rented a video game and it's become majorly addicting. But I'm here now and we can resume the fic!
Zuri: ::off-page, knocking on a door.:: Timon, would you come out of there? The readers are here!
Timon: ::behind the door.:: Uh-uh! If Kari could make 2 chapters without me, she can make 3 chapters without me!
Kari: Oy. Sorry about Timon. He's kinda upset with me for not putting him and Pumbaa in the last chapter. Pumbaa's more forgiving, I guess.
Zuri: ::walks back.:: What can we do? We can't start the chapter without Timon!
Kari: Bribe. ::Hands Zuri a picture.:: Coax him out with this.
Zuri: ::looks at picture, smiles, and then walks back over to the door.:: Timon, if you come out, you get to see strangesheelf's fan art of you and me.
Timon: ... Fan art? Of you and me? You're not yanking my tail, are ya?
Zuri: You won't know unless you come out.
Timon: ... Oh, I can't stand not knowing! ::Comes out, snatches the picture from Zuri.:: Ooo.
Pumbaa: ::comes in from behind Timon, looks at the picture.:: Awww, look how cute you are together.
Timon: ::takes a mirror out, looks at his nose.:: Is my nose really that big?
Kari: Actually, I think she made it smaller.
Timon: Hey!
Kari: Well, since we got you out here, we can start.
"WHAT?! THE WEDDING'S TONIGHT?!" Zazu had found Timon and Pumbaa heading back towards the Pride Lands. They were halfway there when Zazu landed in front of them and given them Zuri's message. Timon had a good, strong grip on the front of Zazu's feathers, growling at him. "You'd better not be yanking my tail, bird brain! I'm not in the mood for jokes!"
"'Bird brain'?! I take offense to that, meerkat!" Zazu retorted.
Timon pressed his nose to Zazu's beak and clenched his teeth. "Answer the question. Are you, or are you not yanking my tail?"
Zazu gulped, "Which do you want me to say?"
Timon dramatically tossed Zazu to the side and pulled on his ears as he strolled back over to Pumbaa. "He's not yanking my tail!" He fell forward, catching himself on Pumbaa's tusk. "Zuri's getting married tonight and I don't have a plan! Pumbaa, what'll I do?"
"Panic?" Pumbaa asked.
"Seriously, Pumbaa. You think I haven't already thought of that?"
"Object to the marriage?" Zazu spoke up.
"I'm not talking to you." Timon climbed up onto Pumbaa's back. "I'm not part of their colony, so if I object, it won't count."
"Then what are you gonna do when you get there?" Pumbaa asked as they started to walk away from Zazu.
"Prove my worthiness somehow, I guess." Timon noticed the speed they were going. "Uh, Pumbaa, we're in a hurry. Give it some gas, and I don't mean your kind of gas." Pumbaa grinned sheepishly and started running.
Zazu shook his head as he flapped his wings, "He is his mother's son." He took off into the sky.
...
The sun began to set. Zuri's mother Dalila was grooming her. Zuri sat on a rock as her mother played with her hair.
"You know, sweetie, you could make an effort to look happy. You're getting married," she said.
"To a guy I don't really like," Zuri mumbled.
"Makali's a very handsome meerkat. Would you rather marry one of the uglier meerkats in this colony?"
"Well, no, but--"
"You know your father and I aren't getting any younger, Zuri. We want grandchildren."
"And I want to marry someone else. You haven't even met Timon."
"If he's anything like Fearless Buzz, I really don't care for him."
"I dunno... you said Fearless Buzz was strong. I doubt he could beat me in a wrestling match," Zuri let out a few giggles.
Dalila chuckled as she licked a paw and smoothed her daughter's hair out. "Even so, your father wants Makali. Couldn't you marry him for our sake and have a headache for the next five years?"
Zuri turned to face her mother with a pout. "Mom... did you love Papa when you married him?"
Dalila paused for a moment, then grimaced. "Well... we got along."
"So you didn't love him."
Dalila looked at her for a moment, and then pulled her into a hug. "Precious, we grew to love each other. Trust me, the same will happen to you and Makali. Just give it time."
Zuri nuzzled her head into her mother's chest. "But I don't wanna give it time." She closed her eyes as her mother stroked her hair. "I want Timon."
"You're just nervous. It'll be over soon and you'll eventually forget about Timon." She kissed the top of her head and stood. "Central meeting tunnel. We start when you arrive."
"I'll be there..." Zuri waved to Dalila as she walked out of the tunnel. "... Unless I'm somewhere else." Zuri sat on the rock for a few minutes, thinking to herself. She put her paws on her head.
"What do you have here? A pushy father, a fiancé you don't even want, life in the Pit of Shame..." Timon's voice said in her head.
"As your father, I still have a say in whether or not I approve of your love interest... and I don't like this one," Shomari's voice said in her head.
"You're so desperate for a better life, you'd believe anything. Your problem, Zuri, is you're too trusting," Makali's voice said in her head.
"Precious, we grew to love each other. Trust me, the same will happen to you and Makali," Dalila's voice said in her head.
Zuri dropped her paws from her head and looked towards the tunnel exit. She looked back in the direction her mother went and gulped. She got up and walked towards the exit. She looked up at the freshly darkened sky, so fresh the stars had yet to appear. She climbed up to the surface and inhaled deeply. She turned back to view the other tunnels and sighed. "I'm sorry, Mom, Papa. I can't continue to live this life and marry a false love." She turned to face the wide-open space. "I'll be happier with Timon." She started to walk away. She didn't have to hide; the meerkats on sentry duty would normally quit after the sun had set. No one could see her leave... except for a pair of glowing yellow eyes behind the tall grass.
...
Down in the central meeting tunnel, everyone were gathered together.
"Everything's just about ready," Shomari said.
"Great. So where's my bride?" Makali asked as he paced around a bit.
"Dalila's going to get her. Shouldn't take long." They heard some struggling in one of the adjoining tunnels, followed by a meerkat being thrown in. Timon walked in, dusting his paws off.
"I forgot my invitation," he shrugged.
"Timon! Get out of my tunnel before I--!"
"Not this time, Pops. This time, I'm not leaving without Zuri," Timon folded his arms in front of his chest. Shomari growled as he approached Timon.
"Do you realize what I could do to you, pup?"
"I don't care. I'd rather die than let your daughter continue to live in this mud hole." He stepped back from Shomari and held his paws up. "So let's go."
Shomari looked at him for a moment. "What could you offer Zuri? Are you telling me you live in nicer tunnels than this?" He looked slightly amused.
"I live in a predator-free oasis with the rest of my colony. We don't have to dig tunnels or live with our heads stuck in the sand."
"Nice fantasy. I can see why she wants to be with you if you tell her such sweet lies."
"It's not a fantasy!"
"Predator-free? No tunnels? I have to agree with Shomari," Makali said. A few other meerkats mumbled their agreements and nodded.
"I've been through a lot in my life no one would believe. But you know what? I think if you listen to your daughter for once, you'd be closer than you are right now!"
"I expect one of us to be eaten at any time, so I try not to be close to anyone," Shomari said in a low voice.
"No wonder she wants a better life." He looked around at the group of meerkats. "Where IS she anyway?"
"Not that it's any of your business, but her mother is retrieving her for the wedding."
Dalila suddenly rushed into the central meeting tunnel in a panic. "Zuri's gone! I can't find her anywhere!"
"What do you mean she's gone?" Shomari asked, looking a little worried.
"Just as I said. I looked everywhere," Dalila said, approaching Shomari.
"Did you try outside?" Timon asked.
"Outside? At night? Are you crazy? Who are you anyway?"
Timon went to reply when they heard a scream. Pumbaa's voice was then heard echoing in the tunnel. "Timon! I think I heard Zuri scream nearby!" He paused for a second. "And by the look of these tracks, I think I know what she's screaming at!"
"What?!" Timon called back to him.
"I said--"
"No, I mean, what kind of tracks are they?!"
"Oh! Looks like hyena tracks!"
"Hyenas?!" Dalila clutched onto Shomari. "I'm gonna lose my baby, Shomari!"
"I'm sorry, Dalila," Shomari said in a low voice as he held her close.
"That's it? You're just gonna let her get eaten?" Timon asked them both.
"It's the laws of nature. If you're at the bottom of the food chain and go outside alone at night, you're likely gonna run into trouble. Nothing we can do against hyenas."
"Not even for your own daughter?" Shomari was silent. Timon stared at him for a moment, and then started for the exit. "If I save her, she comes with me."
Makali stepped in front of the exit, blocking Timon's path. "Don't be an idiot like your father."
Timon growled, balled up his fist, and punched Makali in the face, knocking him away from the exit. "No one calls my father an idiot except my mother." He continued to the exit.
"Eh, let him get himself killed. Not like he's in our colony," Shomari said, waving Timon off.
Dalila looked up to Shomari, then after Timon. "If we took over his colony, he would've been."
To be continued...