Chapter 40:
Bango yawned as he trotted towards Pride Rock with Kito and Sudi riding on his back. "And I thought I was going to catch up on my sleep..."
"Relax, Bango. When we find Uncle Timon, Aunt Zuri, and Sly we'll camp out at Pride Rock and rest there before we head back home to the oasis," Sudi said as he gave Bango a pat on the head.
"Home? But what about Uncle Titus? We can't just leave without finding him," Kito spoke up.
"We already did, pup."
"What?" both Kito and Bango asked.
"I'll explain it later. Right now..."
"But you said that earlier. Isn't it later yet?"
Sudi blew some air out of his mouth and rolled his eyes slightly. "Kito, by 'later' I mean..." He stopped when he looked over towards a log and saw something small walking along it. "Hang on. Bango, head over there. I see something."
"But Uncle Sudi, what about...?" Bango began.
"Just go!" Bango shrugged and trotted over to where Sudi instructed. As they drew closer they could hear a female humming. Sudi grinned, "I thought so..."
"Hey, that sounds like Mom," Kito said as he pushed Sudi's head down to see. "But what's she doing here?"
"This is where we lived when your dad met your mom, Kito. Your mom liked spending her time balancing on that log and singing to herself," Sudi said as he pushed his head back up.
"Then why's she here instead of Pride Rock?"
"I'll ask!" Bango cheerfully said as he padded over towards the log.
Zuri was walking along the log, balancing and humming to herself, but she stopped when she heard some rustling in the tall grass nearby. She dropped down onto her stomach and clung onto the aging log. And I thought humming wouldn't draw attention... she thought to herself. She gulped and closed her eyes as something pushed through the grass.
"Aunt Zuri!"
Zuri opened an eye, then the other, and blinked a few times when she found herself facing a warthog's snout. "Bango?" She sat up when she noticed the two passengers on his back. "Sudi, Kito?"
"Mom!" Kito climbed over Bango's head, then over his snout, and jumped onto the log, rushed to his mother and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're OK! Those bad spies didn't get to you!"
Zuri blinked once more as she put her arms around Kito and then turned to her brother Sudi. "Spies? Did he have a bad dream or something?"
Sudi jumped over Bango's head and landed on the log. "I wish he did. Where are Timon and Sly?"
"You mean they're not back in the caves?" Zuri looked worried.
"No, and Sengbe was asking a lot of questions concerning where Sly was. Listen, Zuri, we have to find them and Jina, pack up, and get out of here quick!"
"Why?"
"Mr. Sengbe knows about Grandpa Buzz!" Kito said as he pulled himself away from Zuri. "And he wanted his spies to find you and Dad and kill you!"
"What!" Zuri turned to Sudi and furrowed her brow. "You didn't tell him about Buzz... did you, little brother?"
Sudi gulped, "Well, he did drag me in there and tried to interrogate me into tell him where you took Sly and who Timon's father was." He held his paws up in defense when his sister growled. "Take it easy, would ya! I didn't tell him it was Buzz! I only said if I told him he'd go out and kill Timon, and he figured it was someone he hated. He just went for the top two on his list, which are Dad and Fearless Buzz! I didn't say anything else, I swear!"
Zuri looked at her brother for a moment with an arched brow. "I don't know if I believe you. You and Timon aren't exactly the best of friends, and I can't exactly see you defending him after what you did earlier tonight." Sudi winced slightly at that.
"But Kito, Morake, and I overheard the whole thing, Aunt Zuri! He stood up for Uncle Timon," Bango said.
"He did," Kito nodded.
Zuri grimaced slightly. "Well... Sengbe interrogated you and he didn't try to have you killed afterwards?"
"He did, actually, but like Bango said, the kids were listening in and Morake pounced on Sengbe's spies."
"You mentioned spies before. What were they doing?"
"Watching you without you knowing?" Kito asked with a nervous grin.
"Probably thinking you'd lead them to where Sly is, but stopped following when you went to Pride Rock." Sudi rubbed his chin. "They mentioned something about the Nunda and the only reason we were allowed to stay was because it rained last night. I don't understand why."
"That's one of the reasons I didn't return to the caves," Zuri said. "Because the meerkats there are hiding the fact that all the creature is, is noise."
"What?"
"What are you saying, Mom?" Kito asked.
"I'm saying the Nunda isn't real. It's just a dressed up termite mound. They used sticks and branches to make the arms looking like it's set to kill. They used mud and clay to make the skin and head. And the roar is made from wind blowing over some empty and water-filled shells, and there's a nozzle near the top for someone to blow into the make the roar."
"You mean the Outlands mob is using a fake monster to keep predators and rogues away?" Sudi asked with wide eyes.
"Three fake monsters, actually. I went looking through the Outlands and found two additional 'monsters,' each facing a different direction and isolated from the others, making it sound like more than one. Although there could be more out there."
"And no one's ever seen these up close?" Bango asked.
"I'm guessing the roar is enough to keep anyone far enough away from getting closer to see how poorly made the creatures are. From a distance you can't tell."
"I can vouch for that." Bango shuddered, remembering the roar. "But then why didn't we see any of them today when we were looking for Uncle Titus, or when we first arrived?"
"Because it rained last night," Sudi said with a look of realization on his face. "Mud and clay doesn't hold up in rain, so by the time we got there, there was only termite mounds with mud and sticks next to them!"
"So that's why there were sticks and shells in that one termite mound," Bango said, recalling their discovery earlier that day.
"And that's why those meerkats, Sengbe's spies, went out with the water, to repair them. Wow."
"They didn't tell us about it, and I don't want to know what they'll do if we knew," Zuri said.
"They can't hurt us. We've got big friends," Kito grinned.
"Even so, Kito, we don't know everything about them. Who knows if they have big friends themselves? It's dangerous to be around that colony now, so we have to get the others and find Timon and Sly fast," Zuri said as she pounded a fist into her paw.
"How are we going to find them?" Kito asked. "We don't even know where they went."
Zuri put a paw on Kito's head and smoothed his hair down a bit. "I don't know, sweetie." She looked to Sudi. "What did Pumbaa say?"
Sudi blinked. "Pumbaa?"
"Yeah, you know, red warthog, sensitive stomach, Timon's best friend. He usually knows what Timon's doing." She furrowed her brow slightly. "You mean you didn't talk to him before you went to find me?"
"Well, we were more concerned about finding you and Timon, since Sengbe wants to see what color your insides are. And Pumbaa's a very sound sleeper and I didn't have the patience to wake him up. Pumbaa and Morake could take care of themselves anyway," Sudi said with a small gulp. "Besides, if I talked to Pumbaa, do you think I'd still be riding on a piglet?" He jerked his thumb over at Bango.
Zuri rubbed her forehead. "Point taken. All right, let's quietly make our way back to the Outlands and get Pumbaa and Morake." She paused a moment before asking, "Wait, Pumbaa and Morake? What about Jina?"
"Wasn't there," Bango said.
"You mean we're short two meerkats and a warthog? Oy!" Zuri grunted as she slapped a paw over her eyes.
"Maybe they all went somewhere together?" Kito said with a blink.
"I doubt it. Neither of those two meerkats can say two words without getting the other one ticked. My guess is Timon, stubborn as always, went find Titus on his own, sleep or no sleep, so we could go home quicker."
"But we looked everywhere in the Outlands... except..." Bango began, and then gulped. "The hyenas' geyser cave."
Zuri and Sudi looked at Bango, and then each other. "He wouldn't..." the brother and sister both said. A moment of thinking and then they sighed, "He would."
"We're not seriously going there, are we, Aunt Zuri? It's full of hyenas over there!" Bango whimpered.
"Hey, what happened to that 'fortune favors the brave' attitude you had earlier?" Kito asked.
"I think it fell out of my pocket on the way over here."
Sudi walked over to Bango and patted him on the snout. "Relax, Bango. The hyenas ran off months ago. We shouldn't run into any problems over there."
"We should at least get Pumbaa and Morake. I'd rather have them with us than alone with that other colony," Zuri said as she dropped down from the log and helped Kito down.
"Great! This'll be fun!" Kito grinned.
"You're weird," Bango said, shaking his head.
"Oh, no you don't. You and Bango are going to Pride Rock and staying with Uncle Simba until we get back," Zuri said as she grabbed the end of Kito's tail as he began to climb onto Bango's back.
"Aww, why?"
"For your own safety, and to keep a look out for Aunt Jina. Understand?" Kito grimaced and nodded. "Good. And to make sure, we're taking you there first."
"Yay," Bango said with a relieved expression. A glare from Kito made him say, "I mean, boo."
To be continued...