The sun had just risen over pride rock, signaling a new day. Mufasa was the first to walk out of the cave and take a nice long stretch before going to the edge of pride rock to look around at his domain. Everything seemed to be fine. The zebras and giraffes were grazing and a few warthogs were wallowing in a mud hole. He knew today would be a nice day to just relax and take it easy. But first he had to go hunting, but before he could do that he had to wait for Zazu with the morning report. Mufasa soon spotted Zazu flying toward him.
"Good morning sire," said Zazu.
"Good morning Zazu, what have you to tell me on this fine morning?" asked Mufasa.
"Actually not much, I passed a few giraffes who were necking but that's always normal for them," said Zazu.
Mufasa just nodded and suddenly felt somebody stomp on his tail. He turned around and found Simba growling at it.
"Good morning Simba," said Mufasa.
"Good morning Dad, sorry your tail looked like it needed to be attacked," said Simba.
"Oh its quite alright, I used to do that to my fathers tail too," said Mufasa who then grabbed Simba's tail and lifted his son high in the air.
"Argh, Dad, don't drop me, be careful," said Simba who suddenly began to laugh as he realized that his father would not hurt him in any way.
Zazu just sneered; he never understood the father and son bond, mostly because his father was never around for him when he was a young bird.
"Well sire, since you are playing with your son, I am going out to look for some food for myself," he said.
Mufasa set Simba down. "Go right ahead, when you come back, please help Sarafina watch Nala and Simba since the rest of us will be hunting," he said.
"Yes sire," said Zazu who then flew off into the savanna for a good meal.
Zazu flew quite a ways before finding a big termite mound with lots of termites to munch on. Zazu loved termites the best and would never stop eating them until none were seen any more. He knew this mound would take a while to clean out, but he did not mind, he was hungry anyway.
Slasher the jackal was in luck. He had been prowling the same area where Zazu was now eating at, when he saw the stooge land next to the termite mound.
"Oh what a lucky find," he said happily and slowly stalked the bird.
Zazu just continued to eat away at the mound, never noticing the evil jackal stalking him. Slasher continued to get closer and closer until he was only a few feet away. He stopped for a minute to make sure his pounce would be just right, once he realized his target was good, he pounced.
Back at pride rock, Simba and Nala sat together under a tree, both were thinking about what to do that morning.
"We could play tag, but you're always too fast for me," said Nala.
"Yeah and you said your mom does not like having her tail chased right?" asked Simba.
"No, she says my teeth are too sharp for her or something like that," said Nala.
Simba sighed for a quick minute as he thought about what to do. Suddenly, his ears shot straight up and he smiled at Nala.
"Do you have an idea?" asked Nala quizzically.
"How about, hide and seek?" asked Simba.
Nala smiled. "Oh I love that game, how long has it been since we played it?" asked Nala.
"I don't even remember," said Simba.
"But do I have to be it first, last time you hid, I could not find you for nearly an hour," said Nala.
"Okay I promise I won't pick a hard spot," said Simba.
"Okay you better be easy to find or I'll pin ya," said Nala.
Simba just smiled and watched as Nala closed her eyes behind a rock, Simba then ran. The young lion had planned where he would hide since he first had the idea. He would not be that hard to find, so Nala could easily find him.
He remembered a large rock behind pride rock that was easy to hide behind. Once he arrived at the spot, he stood there and waited for Nala to find him. This was going to be a fun game.
Slasher was now near pride rock, he stood there for a moment marveling at it's majesty for he had never been this close to the rock before.
"Humph, no wonder Scar wants this place, it's so big and you can see everything, but where can that little runt be," he said.
Slasher quickly ran over to the rock and looked around. He hid behind a large bush and suddenly heard a voice above him yelling. "Ready or not, here I come." He realized it was only the female cub, a creature Scar never told him to bother with, he ignored her and continued his search.
Slasher was lucky enough to find Simba's scent a few minutes later and followed it. He soon could not believe his luck because he then found the little cub hiding behind a rock sniggering at the fact that Nala had not found him.
Slowly he inched closer to the young lion, every step was crucial for the plan to work. He took one more step before he was ready to pounce, but it was a mistake, he stepped on a twig before he realized it.
Simba heard the snap and looked up to where it was coming from. He saw the scarred Jackal with only half an ear and was not sure what to make of him, but he knew they were still dangerous.
"Hi," said Simba shyly as he began to back away slowly.
"Hello young cub, now it is time to say goodbye," said Slasher and leapt up. Simba screamed and ran back to pride rock.
As Simba ran, Nala saw him running by. "Hey I found you Simba, why are you running?" asked Nala who suddenly realized Simba was not playing any more.
"There's a jackal, run," said Simba.
Nala turned around and saw Slasher coming at them; she let a loud scream before she followed Simba.
Simba led the way to pride rock, while Nala screamed at the top of her lungs for her mother, but her mother never seemed to come. Sarafina of course did not hear her, mostly because she was sleeping under a tree and she was known to be a heavy sleeper.
The two cubs were soon beginning to tire and the evil jackal was so close behind them that Simba could feel his breath. They soon reached the edge of pride rock and quickly realized their mistake, they were trapped.
"Well well well, what do I have here, two cubs trapped like rats," said Slasher licking his chops.
Simba and Nala stood there in fright, not sure what to do now, they knew they would be done for if no one saved them in time. They stared at the evil jackal his old scars shone silver from the sun and his eyes glared hate. If a human ever saw him, they would have thought him a demon.
Slasher then went into pouncing position and was about to attack when they all heard a loud and angry roar. Before Slasher could turn around, Mufasa attacked and tore the jackal's throat apart. Slasher let out a loud howl of pain before Mufasa grabbed him by the leg and then threw him off pride rock. Slasher landed with a sickening crunch and did not rise. He was dead.
"Are you alright?" asked Sarabi who had saw the whole thing and was now licking Simba and making sure he was not hurt.
"Yeah I'm fine mom, he never got a chance to hurt me," said Simba.
"Oh dear I am so sorry for not helping you two sooner, I need to stop sleeping when I am watching you two," said Sarafina who had tears flowing down her eyes since she knew that she almost lost her daughter.
Mufasa of course forgave her for that and had to ask the two cubs how this could even happen, he knew jackals never attacked unless there was a famine and of course there had not been one for quite some time.
"Did you provoke him in any way?" asked Mufasa.
"No, I was just hiding from Nala and I heard him stalking me," said Simba.
"Odd," said Mufasa. "And why didn't Zazu warn you two about him?"
"He never came back from his morning meal, I guess he found some good grub," said Simba.
"That's not like him to take such a long time to return, I better go find him," said Mufasa who then jumped off the rock.
He barely went a few paces when he suddenly saw a lone figure walking toward him. Mufasa quickly recognized it as Rafiki.
Mufasa then decided to sit down and wait for the old baboon's arrival, he always did that, he never walked up to him which he found as rude.
Once Rafiki got close enough, Mufasa noticed that he was holding a small bundle in his arms and wondered what it was.
"What is it?" asked Mufasa.
"It's Zazu, I found him injured by a termite mound," said Rafiki.
Simba and Nala heard Zazu's name and ran down to see the injured bird.
Zazu was a sorry state; his feathers were in a tangle and covered in blood, some of his feathers were missing and two of his toes had been severed. Zazu could barely keep his eyes open and his breathing was very raspy, it looked like it would not be long before death claimed him.
"Who did this to you?" asked Mufasa.
"I-It.....w-w-was a....j-j-j-jackal," said Zazu weakly.
"Did it have only one ear but only half of one?" asked Mufasa.
Zazu nodded slowly, they could tell that this was a really bad attack.
"Scar," said Mufasa under his breath.
Simba had tears flowing out of his eyes and suddenly felt bad for the bird he had picked on ever since he could talk.
"Can you save him at all Rafiki?" asked Simba sadly.
"I will try, but I cannot promise you anything. He has lost a lot of blood, and I believe one of his wings is broken," said Rafiki.
Mufasa just nodded at the old baboon and decided to end the conversation there so Zazu could get medical treatment quickly. Rafiki knew this too and without a word ran as quickly as he could back to his baobab tree. The three lions watched him go until Mufasa turned to them both.
"I want you two to be careful from now on, Scar seems to be creating allies and I don't want to loose you two," he said.
Simba and Nala just nodded, they could not believe that Zazu had been hurt and that they may never see him again. They hoped that Rafiki would do all he could to save the bird before it was too late. For the rest of the day the two cubs stayed at pride rock and did not play, they were too low in spirits to even think about playing.
Mufasa was even worried, he stood at the edge waiting until nightfall for Rafiki to return, but once the sun went down, he knew he would not return and went into the cave to sleep.
Simba slept with his father close that night, Mufasa was quite glad for that since he nearly lost his only son that morning. Simba knew this too and also knew that it was always good to stay close to his father when he could.
That night Simba drifted into a dream. It was happy at first; he could see himself playing in a field full of flowers with Nala. She rolled around in it and giggled when Simba pounced on her and tickled her tummy.
Suddenly he heard Zazu calling for them. "Simba, Nala, run!!!" he said.
Simba turned around to see what he had to run from and saw that evil jackal that had tried to kill him standing there and smiling with the most evil and frightening smile any one could see. It was so frightening that Simba stood still in fear.
"I have come to finish you like I did to that stooge of a bird," said Slasher and then attacked Simba.
The nightmare felt so real that Simba suddenly woke with a start and panted heavily.
"What's wrong Simba?" asked his mother who then showered him with kisses.
"I-I just had a b-bad dream t-that's all," said Simba.
"Oh you'll be fine, it was only a dream, it was not real," said Sarabi who continued to lick him in the face, this calmed Simba down a little. Once Simba felt better he looked for his father but noticed he was not next to him. Simba looked around and found his father standing at the edge of pride rock and it was morning.
Simba ran over to his father and joined him at the edge of the rock.
"Any news yet?" asked Simba.
"No but I see Rafiki coming, he will be here shortly," said Mufasa.
Simba said nothing but waited with his father for the old baboon to arrive, a few minutes later Rafiki climbed the rock and walked over to Mufasa, he looked quite sad.
"Is Zazu okay?" asked Simba worriedly.
Rafiki took a big sigh before he spoke. "I am afraid that I tried everything to save him, every remedy I could think of, but it did no good. Zazu passed away a few hours before the sun rose."
"He is dead then," said Mufasa sadly.
Rafiki nodded while Simba cried on his father's leg. He knew he would never see Zazu again. He knew he had no one to tease any more, no one to boss around, and no one to have a pouncing lesson on ever again.
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A/N: Okay I will jump right out and say this. I apologize to all you Zazu lovers out there for killing him; I just thought it would be interesting to see how this story goes on without him, so again I apologize. Also I apologize for taking so long with this chapter, I had homework that I did not do over the weekend and really needed to finish it. Also don't be surprised if my next chapters take a while to come up, I have three more weeks of college and I want to make sure I pass all my classes so I can take the classes I need to take next semester. Well that's all I have to say, the next chapter will be up soon, I just don't know when so have a great weekend.
