Miles away from pride rock and Further away from Nala, Simba lived with his new found friends in total bliss. While the bug eating situation wasn't the best part of his day, Simba was able to catch a few mice now and then and occasionally some fruit. Life with Timon and Pumbaa was great. He ate when he wanted, slept when he wanted, and didn't have a care in the world. Other then occasional homesickness Simba felt right at home with people like him, outcasts.
But Simba never forgot who he was and where he was from. Although it had only been a few months since his father's death it felt like years. Almost every night he had nightmares of that day. He would wake up from his nightmares breathing heavily and started crying. He would sleep away from Timon and Pumbaa, so he wouldn't wake tem up. They noticed something was wrong but if it bothered Simba so much that he wouldn't talk to them they would ask. Simba missed his home so much though. His mother, his friends, even Nala: they all just hurt to think about. Especially Nala. He hadn't seen her in so long and now he probably never would. He wondered if she missed him, he knew he missed her. Maybe one day they would see each other but not yet. But on the other hand he had his new friends. Although they wouldn't totally replace Amani, Diallo, Essian, Kobe, Taraja, and the others, he enjoyed their company. And they were lots of fun too.
Timon , Pumbaa, and Simba spent their days goofing around, playing mango football, hunter and the hunted, and other different games. It was fun but he knew he couldn't be as rough with Timon and Pumbaa as he was with the other lion cubs. He missed having them around but he would just have to be careful with Timon and Pumbaa.
Timon and Pumbaa liked having Simba around too. It was fun having a kid around, despite all the hardships of parenting. And when he got bigger Simba could help chase off any predators that came around once in a while. He made them feel like kids as well. It was a little tiring at times since Simba had a little more energy but it was fun. They taught Simba all the basics: belching, bug hunting, how to sleep in a hammock, how to swing on the vines, bug eating contests, and all about Hakuna Matata. Life was great and nothing was going to change that. One morning, better yet mid-morning, Simba was feeling exceptionally lazy and decided not to get up from bed for a while. Not that anyone would mind. Timon and Pumbaa woke up and found Simba still sound asleep. "Awww he looks so cute. And you wanted to leave him all alone in that desert." Pumbaa commented.
"yeah well. Give him a few years. He won't be so small and cute then…" Timon replied " one fight with him and BAM it's a holiday ham and a small squeaky toy for us."
"Awww come on Timon. Simba would never hurt us. He's our friend."
"I know buddy I'm just thinkin' out loud a little. Lets go find some grub."
"Now your talkin'!" After they gorged themselves on a couple of caterpillars they went for a walk in attempt to walk off the food. Around to the area where they had found Simba half dead about three months earlier. Continuing on with their walk Timon looked up to see that there were vultures circling in the air. They knew what that meant.
"you thinkin what I'm thinkin?" Timon asked mischievously. " Uh...it's getting really hot out here?" Pumbaa answered. Timon rolled his eyes and hit Pumbaa on his head. "NO ya mook! Look!" he said pointing to the vultures in the sky. Pumbaa looked up "oh….OHHHH! Alright lets go!" Timon and Pumbaa headed toward.
The pair headed toward the flying creatures and stood still for a moment and waited until they started gathering around the carcass. The first vulture went down followed by several others. After about ten seconds and all the vultures were gathered around the carcass Timon and Pumbaa charged, head butting and back kicking any bird that came with in their reach.
"Heh heh…you'd think they would learn by now." Timon chuckled.
"Uh…Timon…?" Pumbaa asked nervously.
"Yeah buddy?"
"You might want to take a look at this. I know it still alive." Pumbaa said nervously.
"What is it? Oh no not another one!" Timon chided. "Where are these guys coming from?" In front of him lay another lion. But this time it wasn't a cub like Simba. this one was a little bit bigger which made Timon and Pumbaa a little uncomfortable. Pumbaa tried to pick the lone lion up with his nose when Timon stopped him.
"whoa whoa whoa! What are ya doin? We already have a lion what do we need another one for?" Timon exclaimed
Pumbaa put the juvenile cub back down on the floor. "Come on Timon! This one isn't that big. Maybe he can be a playmate for Simba so he can have one of his own to play around with." Pumbaa suggested.
"Yeah. And then he and Simba become best friends, Simba learns from him and then we're back on the menu." Timon retorted.
"Well that's true but I would feel guilty if we just left the poor kid here." Pumbaa said pleadingly. Just as Timon was going to answer Simba approached them with out them noticing.
"Hey guys whatcha doin'?" Timon and Pumbaa jumped at the sound of his voice and scrambled in front f the body, trying to block it from Simba's view .
"hey kid! What are you doin up this early?" Timon said faking a laugh.
Simba cocked his head to the side and raised one eyebrow in confusion. "it's almost noon. What's wrong? What's behind -?"
"uh…nothing." Pumbaa stammered.
"Ugh…"a groan came from behind the nervous pair and they realized that the unconscious lion was waking up. They also knew that Simba noticed also.
"Come on guys. What's goin on? Whoa." Simba pushed between Timon and Pumbaa and looked down at the fallen lion.
"we found him a few minutes ago." Pumbaa explained.
"well come on let's help him!" Simba stated
Timon and Pumbaa through each other a uneasy look, but complied. Pumbaa gently picked up the lion and took him to a small nearby pool. While Timon splashed water on the lion's face, Simba went into the jungle to find a few rodents for the lion. After a few splashes the lion regained full conciseness and moaned a little.
"Awww damn, what happened?" the stranger asked. Timon backed away still not sure what to do with the situation. The lion struggled to sit up with his eyes still closed. Timon motioned for Pumbaa to talk to him, but Pumbaa just shook his and mouthed, no you do it. But to their surprise the stranger sensed their presence and spoke first.
"Hey thanks for your help. Do you think you can tell me where I am?" as he said this he opened his eyes expecting to meet his rescuers face to face. But instead he was met by a…meerkat?…and a warthog? "What the-?" But before he could finish his thought Timon interrupted.
"please don't eat us! We helped you! We saved you from the vultures! Pleassse!" Now the lion was confused. He was about to respond when he heard a voice coming from the bushes.
"Guys! Is he up yet?" Out of the bushes came a small lion cub with a few small field mice dangling from his mouth. Simba came into the clearing and saw the lion sitting up. He then noticed that Timon was on his knees.
"what's goin on?" Simba asked with a full mouth. The lion stared at Simba in awe. 'this kid looks just like Simba! But it couldn't be…could it?' he thought. Simba finally felt the stare of the lion and looked him in the face. Then his jaw dropped releasing the already dead mice on the ground.
"Amani?"
"Simba? No it can't be. Your supposed to be dead."
"Amani what are you doing here?" Simba asked excitedly.
"It's a long story. But what are you doin' here?" Simba grimaced and looked down at his paws. He wasn't quite ready to talk to anybody about the stampede. He had even told Timon and Pumbaa yet. Amani looked at him for a while and then understood Simba's uneasiness.
"Oh… I understand if you don't want to tell me right now. So who are your friends?" Amani asked. Simba smiled a little and looked up again.
"This is Timon and Pumbaa. They took me in and have been taken care of me ever since I came here. They helped you too."
"Oh well thanks. I guess I owe ya one. And just for the record I wasn't going to eat you."
"your welcome kid!" Pumbaa exclaimed. Timon stepped forward rubbing the back of his neck uneasily.
"So uhhh…are ya gonna stay here…for very long?" he asked.
"Well…" Amani asked unsure of what to say. He didn't want to be a third wheel.
" Please Timon!?? Let Amani stay. He won't eat ya." Simba pleaded.
"Sure he can stay!" Pumbaa said.
"Just don't try anything funny, kid." Timon added.
"Alright!!" Amani and Simba Shouted in unison.
"come on I'll show you where you can sleep." Simba said tugging at Amani's arm.
"Okay! Thanks guys!" Amani shouted as he followed Simba in to the bushes.
Simba, Timon and Pumbaa, and Amani spent the whole day together. Timon and Pumbaa told Amani about Hakuna Matata and he was starting to like the idea of it
"So why did you leave?" Simba asked Amani.
Simba lay down on a nearby boulder, while Amani worked with a bushel of elephant ears.
"Umm…I was…Banished."
"Huh?"
"I was banished. I can't go back." Amani said shamefully.
'wow. Maybe he'll understand if I tell him what happened' simba thought.
"So what happened?" Simba asked hesitantly
Amani paused a while before speaking. "Scar had a pride outside pride rock. Since he's king now he thought it would be great to combine his pride with ours."
"uncle Scar had his own pride. Why didn't I know anything about it?"
Amani scoffed, "Hell if I know. Oh sorry. I kinda picked that up from the hyenas."
"It's okay. I hear Timon all the time. Wait…Hyenas?" Simba asked. " What are you doing with hyenas?"
"Well Scar also thought it would be great if the hyenas lived with us too."
"Why?"
" I repeat. Hell if I know. Anyway well when the other pride came in our pride didn't like it. Scar threw us out of our cave and all of us had to move into the other little caverns which would be impossible. After we met the other pride and scar dismissed us, scar's daughter, Zalika-"
"Whoa wait! Daughter? I have a cousin?" Simba asked somewhat excitedly and at the same time confusedly.
" Yeah she's the same age as me but don't get excited. She's the reason I was exiled. As we were getting ready to go up to the caves, Zalika decided to pick on Kobe. She hurt him. She sank her claws into his tail and I heard him cry. When I turned around I saw what she was doing and I pushed her away from him and yelled at her. Scar got angry at me and tried to hit me, but I stayed growling. He tried to hit me again but my mother got in the way and hit him back. Then he attacked my mom, and there was no way I was going to let him get away with that. So I attacked him. He beat me though so I ran toward the gorge. I knew he would kill me if I went back so I decided I would leave. But I wasn't planning on coming here. I was going to stay with Sarafina and Nala-" Simba's ears perked up and he interrupted again,
"Nala! How is she?!! Did she ask about me?"
"She came to visit us a few months ago. You were already gone of course. She cried so much when she found out you were gone. It hurt for me to tell her. But since your not dead maybe you'll have a chance to see her again someday. When they visited and they saw what was going on. They said that if we ever needed anything they would help us. But when I was about to leave the hyenas came after me and chased me out toward the desert. They were to gutless to chase me any further so they stopped but I just kept running, and now I'm here."
"Whoa. Are you ever going back?" Simba asked.
Amani lay down In the nest he made with the elephant ears and got comfortable, "Yup when I get older I'm goin back to help. And now that you're here, we can go back together and get scar out of there. Right?"
"Yeah." Simba said hesitantly. Now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to tell Amani why he left. At least when Amani left he did something good. He left because of something bad.
"Well I'm bushed. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."
"Night." Simba responded.
"Oh and Simba. It's good to see ya buddy." Amani said before he put his head down.
"Same here pal." Simba responded.
Amani fell soundly asleep. But Simba couldn't sleep. He was too excited and worried at the same time. He got up and walked to a ledge where He was worried about his friends, his mom, and his home. From what Amani told him things were not doing good. He could only hope he would be able to gain the strength in the next few years so he and Amani could straighten things out. But he was excited at the same time. He was happy because he knew Nala was thinking about him. He missed her so much. But it hurt that he wasn't there to see her. And now she thought he was dead. What if he did meet her again what would he say? Well he would worry about that later, right now he was satisfied knowing that she was okay and looked forward to the day when he would see her again.
Timon and Pumbaa liked having Simba around too. It was fun having a kid around, despite all the hardships of parenting. And when he got bigger Simba could help chase off any predators that came around once in a while. He made them feel like kids as well. It was a little tiring at times since Simba had a little more energy but it was fun. They taught Simba all the basics: belching, bug hunting, how to sleep in a hammock, how to swing on the vines, bug eating contests, and all about Hakuna Matata. Life was great and nothing was going to change that. One morning, better yet mid-morning, Simba was feeling exceptionally lazy and decided not to get up from bed for a while. Not that anyone would mind. Timon and Pumbaa woke up and found Simba still sound asleep. "Awww he looks so cute. And you wanted to leave him all alone in that desert." Pumbaa commented.
"yeah well. Give him a few years. He won't be so small and cute then…" Timon replied " one fight with him and BAM it's a holiday ham and a small squeaky toy for us."
"Awww come on Timon. Simba would never hurt us. He's our friend."
"I know buddy I'm just thinkin' out loud a little. Lets go find some grub."
"Now your talkin'!" After they gorged themselves on a couple of caterpillars they went for a walk in attempt to walk off the food. Around to the area where they had found Simba half dead about three months earlier. Continuing on with their walk Timon looked up to see that there were vultures circling in the air. They knew what that meant.
"you thinkin what I'm thinkin?" Timon asked mischievously. " Uh...it's getting really hot out here?" Pumbaa answered. Timon rolled his eyes and hit Pumbaa on his head. "NO ya mook! Look!" he said pointing to the vultures in the sky. Pumbaa looked up "oh….OHHHH! Alright lets go!" Timon and Pumbaa headed toward.
The pair headed toward the flying creatures and stood still for a moment and waited until they started gathering around the carcass. The first vulture went down followed by several others. After about ten seconds and all the vultures were gathered around the carcass Timon and Pumbaa charged, head butting and back kicking any bird that came with in their reach.
"Heh heh…you'd think they would learn by now." Timon chuckled.
"Uh…Timon…?" Pumbaa asked nervously.
"Yeah buddy?"
"You might want to take a look at this. I know it still alive." Pumbaa said nervously.
"What is it? Oh no not another one!" Timon chided. "Where are these guys coming from?" In front of him lay another lion. But this time it wasn't a cub like Simba. this one was a little bit bigger which made Timon and Pumbaa a little uncomfortable. Pumbaa tried to pick the lone lion up with his nose when Timon stopped him.
"whoa whoa whoa! What are ya doin? We already have a lion what do we need another one for?" Timon exclaimed
Pumbaa put the juvenile cub back down on the floor. "Come on Timon! This one isn't that big. Maybe he can be a playmate for Simba so he can have one of his own to play around with." Pumbaa suggested.
"Yeah. And then he and Simba become best friends, Simba learns from him and then we're back on the menu." Timon retorted.
"Well that's true but I would feel guilty if we just left the poor kid here." Pumbaa said pleadingly. Just as Timon was going to answer Simba approached them with out them noticing.
"Hey guys whatcha doin'?" Timon and Pumbaa jumped at the sound of his voice and scrambled in front f the body, trying to block it from Simba's view .
"hey kid! What are you doin up this early?" Timon said faking a laugh.
Simba cocked his head to the side and raised one eyebrow in confusion. "it's almost noon. What's wrong? What's behind -?"
"uh…nothing." Pumbaa stammered.
"Ugh…"a groan came from behind the nervous pair and they realized that the unconscious lion was waking up. They also knew that Simba noticed also.
"Come on guys. What's goin on? Whoa." Simba pushed between Timon and Pumbaa and looked down at the fallen lion.
"we found him a few minutes ago." Pumbaa explained.
"well come on let's help him!" Simba stated
Timon and Pumbaa through each other a uneasy look, but complied. Pumbaa gently picked up the lion and took him to a small nearby pool. While Timon splashed water on the lion's face, Simba went into the jungle to find a few rodents for the lion. After a few splashes the lion regained full conciseness and moaned a little.
"Awww damn, what happened?" the stranger asked. Timon backed away still not sure what to do with the situation. The lion struggled to sit up with his eyes still closed. Timon motioned for Pumbaa to talk to him, but Pumbaa just shook his and mouthed, no you do it. But to their surprise the stranger sensed their presence and spoke first.
"Hey thanks for your help. Do you think you can tell me where I am?" as he said this he opened his eyes expecting to meet his rescuers face to face. But instead he was met by a…meerkat?…and a warthog? "What the-?" But before he could finish his thought Timon interrupted.
"please don't eat us! We helped you! We saved you from the vultures! Pleassse!" Now the lion was confused. He was about to respond when he heard a voice coming from the bushes.
"Guys! Is he up yet?" Out of the bushes came a small lion cub with a few small field mice dangling from his mouth. Simba came into the clearing and saw the lion sitting up. He then noticed that Timon was on his knees.
"what's goin on?" Simba asked with a full mouth. The lion stared at Simba in awe. 'this kid looks just like Simba! But it couldn't be…could it?' he thought. Simba finally felt the stare of the lion and looked him in the face. Then his jaw dropped releasing the already dead mice on the ground.
"Amani?"
"Simba? No it can't be. Your supposed to be dead."
"Amani what are you doing here?" Simba asked excitedly.
"It's a long story. But what are you doin' here?" Simba grimaced and looked down at his paws. He wasn't quite ready to talk to anybody about the stampede. He had even told Timon and Pumbaa yet. Amani looked at him for a while and then understood Simba's uneasiness.
"Oh… I understand if you don't want to tell me right now. So who are your friends?" Amani asked. Simba smiled a little and looked up again.
"This is Timon and Pumbaa. They took me in and have been taken care of me ever since I came here. They helped you too."
"Oh well thanks. I guess I owe ya one. And just for the record I wasn't going to eat you."
"your welcome kid!" Pumbaa exclaimed. Timon stepped forward rubbing the back of his neck uneasily.
"So uhhh…are ya gonna stay here…for very long?" he asked.
"Well…" Amani asked unsure of what to say. He didn't want to be a third wheel.
" Please Timon!?? Let Amani stay. He won't eat ya." Simba pleaded.
"Sure he can stay!" Pumbaa said.
"Just don't try anything funny, kid." Timon added.
"Alright!!" Amani and Simba Shouted in unison.
"come on I'll show you where you can sleep." Simba said tugging at Amani's arm.
"Okay! Thanks guys!" Amani shouted as he followed Simba in to the bushes.
Simba, Timon and Pumbaa, and Amani spent the whole day together. Timon and Pumbaa told Amani about Hakuna Matata and he was starting to like the idea of it
"So why did you leave?" Simba asked Amani.
Simba lay down on a nearby boulder, while Amani worked with a bushel of elephant ears.
"Umm…I was…Banished."
"Huh?"
"I was banished. I can't go back." Amani said shamefully.
'wow. Maybe he'll understand if I tell him what happened' simba thought.
"So what happened?" Simba asked hesitantly
Amani paused a while before speaking. "Scar had a pride outside pride rock. Since he's king now he thought it would be great to combine his pride with ours."
"uncle Scar had his own pride. Why didn't I know anything about it?"
Amani scoffed, "Hell if I know. Oh sorry. I kinda picked that up from the hyenas."
"It's okay. I hear Timon all the time. Wait…Hyenas?" Simba asked. " What are you doing with hyenas?"
"Well Scar also thought it would be great if the hyenas lived with us too."
"Why?"
" I repeat. Hell if I know. Anyway well when the other pride came in our pride didn't like it. Scar threw us out of our cave and all of us had to move into the other little caverns which would be impossible. After we met the other pride and scar dismissed us, scar's daughter, Zalika-"
"Whoa wait! Daughter? I have a cousin?" Simba asked somewhat excitedly and at the same time confusedly.
" Yeah she's the same age as me but don't get excited. She's the reason I was exiled. As we were getting ready to go up to the caves, Zalika decided to pick on Kobe. She hurt him. She sank her claws into his tail and I heard him cry. When I turned around I saw what she was doing and I pushed her away from him and yelled at her. Scar got angry at me and tried to hit me, but I stayed growling. He tried to hit me again but my mother got in the way and hit him back. Then he attacked my mom, and there was no way I was going to let him get away with that. So I attacked him. He beat me though so I ran toward the gorge. I knew he would kill me if I went back so I decided I would leave. But I wasn't planning on coming here. I was going to stay with Sarafina and Nala-" Simba's ears perked up and he interrupted again,
"Nala! How is she?!! Did she ask about me?"
"She came to visit us a few months ago. You were already gone of course. She cried so much when she found out you were gone. It hurt for me to tell her. But since your not dead maybe you'll have a chance to see her again someday. When they visited and they saw what was going on. They said that if we ever needed anything they would help us. But when I was about to leave the hyenas came after me and chased me out toward the desert. They were to gutless to chase me any further so they stopped but I just kept running, and now I'm here."
"Whoa. Are you ever going back?" Simba asked.
Amani lay down In the nest he made with the elephant ears and got comfortable, "Yup when I get older I'm goin back to help. And now that you're here, we can go back together and get scar out of there. Right?"
"Yeah." Simba said hesitantly. Now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to tell Amani why he left. At least when Amani left he did something good. He left because of something bad.
"Well I'm bushed. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."
"Night." Simba responded.
"Oh and Simba. It's good to see ya buddy." Amani said before he put his head down.
"Same here pal." Simba responded.
Amani fell soundly asleep. But Simba couldn't sleep. He was too excited and worried at the same time. He got up and walked to a ledge where He was worried about his friends, his mom, and his home. From what Amani told him things were not doing good. He could only hope he would be able to gain the strength in the next few years so he and Amani could straighten things out. But he was excited at the same time. He was happy because he knew Nala was thinking about him. He missed her so much. But it hurt that he wasn't there to see her. And now she thought he was dead. What if he did meet her again what would he say? Well he would worry about that later, right now he was satisfied knowing that she was okay and looked forward to the day when he would see her again.