Final chapter!! Sorry this took longer than expected... I only recently had thought to extend this chapter just to make it a bit more interesting. So this caused a little more brain pain and power to be spent. Sorry if I go a little OOC sometimes...

Oh, yeah, the end of this chap is a bit LOTR inspired. I might put an epilogue up on this if it works out... Anyhoo, enjoy!!

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Chap 4: Turning the Tables

Pumbaa pointed a hoof as he saw Ma and Kiara come walking out of the foliage. "Uncle Max, look! There they are!" He and Max walked up to them. "Hey!" Pumbaa called. "How'd it go?"

"Well…" Kiara started, "they've definitely taken the bait." she grinned.

"Yep," Ma agreed with a smile, "and now all we've gotta do…"

"…Is reel 'em in." the two girls said in unison.

That night, they all met up with Zero in a clearing next to the waterfalls to further discuss their plan. "Okay…" Zero said, pacing. "The worst is behind us. They're convinced now. Maybe there were a few doubts here and there for the two of them. So now all we need is a way for them to happen to run into each other." He stopped pacing, turned towards the others, and put his hands behind his back. He looked at them. "…Anyone?"

Kiara, Pumbaa, Ma, and Uncle Max all looked at each other silently. The only sound was a sudden belch from Pumbaa. The others looked at him in partial disgust.

"Sorry." the warthog grinned sheepishly.

Zero sighed and shook his head. "O-kay then…" he said simply. "Everybody THINK."

And that's just what everybody did. The next few minutes were so quiet that one could almost hear the tedious theme of Jeopardy playing faintly in the background.

Kiara suddenly perked up. "I got it!!" she exclaimed. "If we just get them to cross paths, then they'll have to talk to each other, right?"

"…Yeahh?" Pumbaa cocked an eyebrow, not quite seeing the point.

"Alright… we'll get them to meet each other here in the middle of this clearing. That way, they really have no opportunity to slip away quickly. They're gonna have to talk!"

"Sounds good!" Zero said. "But whatever we do, we can't have them suspect that we're just setting them up."

"Aren't we?" Pumbaa asked.

"Yes," Uncle Max said, "but for very good reasons. If Timon gets the girl, then he'll get over this annoying, whiny, loneliness thing."

"Now we just need to figure out the cause and effect…" Ma thought for a moment, and then motioned for Pumbaa to lean down to him. "Pumbaa, listen to me." she said. "You have a very important job to do…"

Timon lay in his hammock, smiling and tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music in his head, and feeling quite confident in his self.

"Timon?" a voice called. "Ya there, Timon?" From the bushes, Pumbaa walked out. He trotted out to where his friend was laying. "Timon?"

Not seeming to hear him, Timon continued to dwell in his dream world.

"Timon, hello? Timon? Helloooo? Timon!!"

Eventually, Timon opened his eyes and glanced to the side, just in time to see Pumbaa's large pink snout right in his face. "TIMON!!!!" Pumbaa yelled loudly. "ARE YOU THERE?!?!"

"HUH, WHAT, WHAT?!?!" Timon jumped up, causing himself to fall of into the water again with a yell. He swam to the surface and slicked his rogue hair back from his eyes. "What's the big deal??"

"Timon, your mom sent me to ask you a favor. She needs you to go down to the waterfalls and get some water."

"What? Why can't she do it?"

Pumbaa slurred his words, trying to remember what he was told to say in these certain cases. "Uhm…she said, uh…that you had made her a promise."

Timon stood up in his hammock. "Promise?"

"Yep. She said that, four years ago," Pumbaa looked deep in thought at the scenery around him as if he were trying to remember what Ma had told him, "after you had caused that collapse of the tunnel wall in a restricted area, in order to save yourself from severe grounding you made a vow to her that you would do all in your power to make it up to her and Uncle Max by helping out with whatever favor you could, which you haven't done since."

Timon rolled his eyes. "That was years ago! I was 16! What's she gonna do if I don't do this? Ground me?"

Pumbaa was aghast. "But Timon, you made a promise!"

"Pumbaa," Timon started, "maybe the Jungle Times haven't caught up with ya yet. That task would classify as work, a direct violation of Hakuna Matata law." The meerkat swung his arms out as if he was motioning something off. "There is no way that I'm--whoaa--!" He was tossed off balance as he swung his arms out. This caused him once more to fall into the water. Ticked off, he surfaced and swam to the shore. "There is no way that I'm breaking that law."

Pumbaa furrowed his brow. "And if you have to take it to the main authority…?"

"Then I'd tell 'er just what I told you."

"Yeah? I bet you couldn't even tell her the truth if it came and punched you in the mouth."

"Well, riddle me this. Why couldn't we just get the water from this spring?"

"Uh…I dunno! She said the waterfalls, so just go to the waterfalls!"

Timon shook his head and stiffened up stubbornly. "I refuse to run the risk of breaking Hakuna Matata law without a good and decent reason."

Suddenly, Pumbaa reached out his hoof and pushed Timon off of the shore and into the water. "AAHH!!" Timon yelped as he fell in. A minute later, he surfaced and glared at Pumbaa. "Hey!! What was that for?!"

"Third time's the charm." Pumbaa said with a self-satisfied grin.

Timon groaned and climbed onto the shore, shaking the water off his fur. "Fine, fine, I'll go… But only to humor you and Ma!"

Pumbaa smiled discreetly. If only he knew…

While all this had been happening, Saria was over at a batch of jungle wildflowers, humming to herself as she walked around, picking one of the flowers every once-in-a-while.

Zero walked into the scene with a bowl-shaped gourd shell in his paws. He smiled when he saw his daughter humming and looking in high spirits. "Well, you've certainly been in a good mood lately."

Saria smiled. "Well, I have a good reason." She picked one of the small flowers and tucked it behind her ear.

"Saria, baby, I need you to do me a favor."

"Yeah?"

Zero handed her the gourd shell. "I need you to go down to the waterfalls and get us some water."

"Uh…o-okay, but, uh…why can't you go?"

Zero scoffed lightly. "Sari, Sari, Sari…" he shook his head. "I'm not as young as I used to be. Your dad's turnin' into an old crone!"

"Oh, stop it, Dad. You're not that old."

Zero leaned in towards her. "My hair's already gone gray and I have lower back pain. I'm over the hill."

"Good." Saria grinned sheepishly, handing him back the gourd shell. "Then that'll save me the trouble of going up the hill in order to get to the waterfalls!"

"Aww, c'mon, Saria." Zero pleaded. He pouted and made puppy eyes. "Do it for your old dad."

Saria hunched her shoulders, turned her head away, and shut her eyes tight. "Ohh, man, with the face and the eyes and…" She finally loosened her shoulders and slumped in exasperation. "Ohh! Alright." she smiled at Zero. "You win. I'll go."

Zero lifted the corner of his mouth up in a half-smirk and handed her the gourd shell. "Victory."

Later, near the falls, Timon walked through the foliage with a gourd shell on his way to gather water. He pushed a branch out of the way right after it slapped him in the face. He muttered to himself.

In the foliage on the other side of the clearing, Saria carried her gourd shell towards the falls, having the same difficulties as Timon was. But when they both stepped into the clearing, they didn't notice each other because they both had their eyes straight forward and their minds on their tasks.

"Ow! Mr. Zero, that was my paw!" Kiara whispered in the bushes. "I can't see!"

"Uncle Max," Ma whispered, "move your big head out of the way! What's goin' on out there?"

"Nothing's happening…" Uncle Max whispered in a sing-song voice. "I don't think they even--YOW!!"

"Shhh!!" Zero hushed him. "What's your problem, old man??"

"That was my tail, you idiot swine!" Uncle Max snapped.

"Whoops. Sorry." Pumbaa whispered.

Saria walked up to the pool at the bottom of the falls and kneeled down. She dipped the bowl in and started to scoop some water out. She blinked when she saw a second bowl dip into the water right next to her. Both Timon and Saria looked and saw each other's reflection in the water. They gasped and quickly stood and faced each other, both holding their filled bowls in their arms.

Finally, the two young meerkats were stuck, seemingly alone and staring at each other against the backdrop of the falls. They both looked at each other and blinked, not really sure what to say.

"Uhh…" Timon finally spoke, but rather more slurring than speaking. "…Hey, Saria."

"…H-Hi, Timon…" Saria replied a bit shyly.

The two of them both let their gazes wander across the jungle floor for a minute. Then, in unison, they both turned to look at each other, but quickly glanced back to the ground. Then they turned in unison again and opened their mouths like they were about to say something, but then they both stopped themselves. Another quiet minute passed.

"L-Listen…" Timon stuttered.

"Timon, I…" Saria started.

"I wanted to say that I…"

"What I'm tryin' to say is I…"

They looked at each other. "…I gotta go." they said in unison. Then, without another word, they walked forward on their different paths into the jungle, both silently rebuking themselves for acting so dumb.

"Eww…" Uncle Max muttered from where he stood watching with the others in the foliage. "That wasn't supposed to happen…" he said.

"What now?" Pumbaa asked. "This would be when we'd move on to 'Plan B', right?"

"Sure, but… There is no 'Plan B'." Zero muttered.

"I was afraid of that…"

Timon looked down at the shell full of water, feeling dumb. He sighed. Then, in a show of self-pity, he flipped the shell over and slapped in onto his head like a helmet, giving himself a mini-shower in the process.

"Hmmmm…" Ma lowered an eyebrow and groaned softly in exasperation. "Maybe we should fall back and regroup."

"Give 'em time." Kiara said. "As they always say, time is the best medicine."

Uncle Max chortled teasingly as he watched Timon sulk off, wet and looking like the most pathetic creature in the world. "Sure…but it's a lousy beautician."

Zero's advice was taken and they all waited it out, hoping there would be some improvement and their kids would try and talk to each other eventually. But as weeks went by, things only seemed to get worst, and both Timon and Saria were nervous to even make eye contact.

The whole setup seemed to be completely in vain.

However, everything changed one evening while Timon was sitting with Pumbaa, Ma, and Uncle Max as they all were eating.

As Timon picked up an earthworm and stuck one end of it in his mouth to slurp it, he glanced up and suddenly froze. Pumbaa, Ma, and Uncle Max all looked up to see what it was he was staring at. They all saw Saria standing there with some of the other meerkats, talking to them. She was standing right where the orange sunlight pierced from behind the evening clouds, through the trees, and right onto her fur. In Timon's eyes, she looked almost like a dappled gem. After a minute, Saria glanced back and noticed him staring at her with the worm hanging out of his mouth and wiggling. Their eyes met.

Still immobile, Timon slurped the worm into his mouth like a strand of spaghetti and continued to stare at her dumbly.

Saria only smiled a little and waved, then continued chatting while Timon just sat there and blinked at her. But then, a look of courage and determination suddenly came across Timon's face. Narrowing his eyes, he took a deep breath in, and then let it out. Much to his friend's and family's surprise, he rose to his feet and walked towards Saria bravely.

Pumbaa, Ma, and Uncle Max all blinked and watched him as he approached her. As he watched what his meerkat friend did next, Pumbaa's eyes suddenly widened and his jaw dropped almost to the ground. Uncle Max turned back around from where he was watching his nephew. He stared into nothing, his eyes wide. In shock, he mouthed a 'wow' at Pumbaa and Ma. Ma's mouth gaped as she cracked a smile and watched her son in amused disbelief.

The three of them looked at each other and smiled, knowing for sure that they had finally pulled it off. They looked back at Timon, still quite surprised and amused that he had mustered up the courage to do what he had just done.

As for Timon, he didn't seem to care or even notice that everyone in the colony was watching him.

"Houston," said Uncle Max to Ma and Pumbaa, "we have full-lip contact."

The End