Chapter 42:
The sun began to rise as Morake raced across the Outlands with two hyenas gaining on him. He didn't know about it, though. He didn't even know Pumbaa was not right behind him. The only thing on his mind was to keep running until his body gave out. It had almost reached its limit when the Nunda's bellowing roar was heard up ahead. The hyenas yelped and turned tail, heading back in the direction they came from. Morake, forgetting that the Nunda was fake, turned and ran towards the Pride Lands.
Meanwhile...
Timon was walking with his head down low and his eyes closed. He suddenly tripped over a small rock and landed flat on his face. "Ouch! Ow, ow, ow!" He sat up, opened his eyes, dusted his face off, and rubbed his toe. "That was really dumb! But I guess that's what I get for sleep walking to make the time go faster; I trip over something and hurt myself." He winced when he rubbed his toe. "It'll only hurt for a minute." He blew some air out of his mouth and looked towards the Outlands. "No time to waste. I gotta talk to Zuri and get some straight answers about Sly." He began to stand when he noticed something large and furry running towards him. He screamed and ducked back down to the ground.
Morake skid to a halt when he realized he was about to run over a smaller animal. He sat right down in front of the meerkat and panted heavily. "M... Mr. Timon?"
Timon opened his eyes and uncovered his head at the sound of his name. He looked up to see who was in front of him. "Morake?" He jumped to his feet and winced, lifting his right foot up a bit. "Ow! Pain! I have a low tolerance for pain!"
Morake frowned. "I di... I did not to... touch you. Don... Don't say I h... hurt you."
Timon shook his paw in a dismissing manner. "No, no, no, I just tripped over that rock there." He jerked his thumb to the object in question. "The pain'll go away in a minute. So why are you so out of breath?"
Morake swallowed and tried to regain a voice. "Cave... night... big... teeth... Nunda...!"
Timon glared slightly and imitated his speech. "You... making... no... sense! Spit it out!" He quickly jumped back when Morake was about to spit on him, and fell onto his backside. "Not on me!"
"Sorry." Morake swallowed again and regained a bit more breath. He then began to retell the events of the last few hours... unfortunately he was so excited he was retelling it too quickly for Timon to understand, so Timon had to jump up and clamped the cheetah's mouth closed to get a word in.
"Morake, I know you're a cheetah, but you're going 70 words per minute in a 35 WPM zone. Now... in words I can understand... tell me what's going on." Morake said something in a muffled tone, since Timon still had his mouth clamped shut. Timon quickly realized and dropped back down. He winced softly and leaned some weight on his left foot. "Sorry. Now go ahead. Were you chased by the Nunda just now?"
Morake suddenly smiled. "Oh, yeah, you don't know, do you? The Nunda isn't real! It's a big dressed up termite mound stuffed with shells! The colony's been using a fake monster to keep predators and rogues away!" He suddenly slapped himself in the forehead. "I forgot it was fake a minute ago while I was running for my life! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
Timon stared at the cheetah in brief shock, and then pounded his paw into his fist. "I knew it! I knew something was wrong about that monster ever since we got there! They didn't sound off the Nunda alarms while we were there because we'd figure it out and spread the word!"
"So where have you been? We've been looking for you."
Timon leaned over and rubbed his toe. "I, uh, went somewhere with... 'we?'"
Morake blinked, "Who's We?"
Timon rubbed his temples. "No, you said 'we' first. You were looking for me with who?"
"Oh..." Morake looked towards the Outlands and blinked. "That's weird... I thought they were right behind me." He took a few steps back towards the Outlands and shouted, "Ms. Zuri! Ms. Zuri!"
Timon blinked, "Did he say just say Missouri in a weird way?" He quickly shook his head. "No, wait, he said Zuri!" He began to walk towards him, but then quickly fell forward at the pain in his toe. He held out his arms to keep from eating dirt. "Yeowch!" He sat down and rubbed his toe again. "Morake, you were with Zuri?"
Morake turned back around and looked a little worried. "And Mr. Pumbaa and Mr. Sudi. We were looking for you. We thought you were looking for Mr. Titus in the only place we didn't look yesterday."
"The hyenas' geysers cave? I wouldn't go there by myself! Even I have my limits." He suddenly paused. "Uh... why aren't you with them now then?"
"We were running from hyenas. I guess I outran them all. Cheetahs tend to do that," Morake awkwardly smiled. "Maybe they remembered that the Nunda isn't real and just headed back to the colony."
"Hyenas! There aren't supposed to be any hyenas around here! What are they...?" Timon yelped and ducked under Morake's stomach when the Nunda's roar was heard again.
Morake bent over and looked at the meerkat. "It's not real, Mr. Timon, remember?"
Timon lifted his head up, which pushed against the cheetah's underbelly. "Fake. Right. Knew that. I was just, uh... counting the spots on your stomach. One, two, three..." Morake jumped to the side as Timon began to count. "Hey, you want to make sure you didn't drop one in the chase, don't ya?" He smacked himself in the forehead. "The chase! Morake, we don't have time to count your spots! We gotta make sure Pumbaa and Zuri are OK! Let's go to the cave!" He glanced at Morake staring elsewhere. "Morake, are you listening?" He grimaced when he received no response, so he climbed to the top of the cheetah's head to see. About a hundred yards away they could see a group of lions running towards the Outlands.
"The colony's in real trouble now. If the Nunda's roar doesn't scare them off, they'll get eaten by lions!" Morake whimpered.
"No, wait, I know those lions." Timon rubbed his chin briefly. "But why would Simba...?" He snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah! Last night I told him if he heard that roar again to go investigate. We'd better go straighten this out before he does something rash." He slid down Morake's side and landed on his feet, to which he yelped once more. "Yeow!" He hopped on his left foot and rubbed his right. "Toe! Pain!"
"Cool dance. Can I try?" Morake asked as he swished his tail.
"I'm not dancing. My toe's killing me!"
"It's taking a long time for that pain in your foot to stop hurting."
"I must've broken something when I tripped. You're gonna have to carry me." Timon climbed back onto Morake's back. "Just head to the Outlands as fast as you can without tiring."
"'Kay." With that Morake took off.
A few minutes later...
The lions had just chased off a small pack of hyenas and were surveying the damage. There were signs of a massacre. The nearby termite mound the colony used as the Nunda was smashed to pieces. Clay, sticks, and shells scattered everywhere. The colony's cave was hardly recognizable. The inside was not pleasant either.
Kovu pushed a paw through the scattered termite mound. "So this is what was making that noise," he said.
"Who would've thought all this time that animal wasn't even real?" Kiara asked as she walked over next to Kovu. "And that meerkats were behind it?"
Simba walked to the entrance of the cave and called inside. "Is anyone there? Timon? Pumbaa?" He backed away and began to pace. "I knew we should've come here last night. So many lives were lost because we delayed. If Timon and Pumbaa are..." He couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Simba, if they were here, we'd have found their bodies," Vitani said as she walked up to Simba. "I'm sure they're all right."
"I hope you're right, Vitani," Kiara said with a small gulp. Kovu rubbed his face against Kiara's to try to calm her down. She lightly returned it. "What would we do with Kito and Bango if...?"
"Simba!"
All heads turned towards the voice as it raced towards them. Simba smiled and sighed in relief when he saw Timon riding a cheetah cub towards them. "Timon."
Morake slowed down when he saw the damage, finally stopping next to the damaged termite mound in shock. Timon's mouth hung open as he looked around the area. "No..." He slid down Morake's side, landing on his good foot, and grabbed a broken stick from the pile of clay and sticks that was about his size and used it like a crutch. He walked towards the lions. "What happened?"
"Hyenas. They already took off," Kovu said, motioning in the direction the hyenas ran off.
"They must've somehow found out about the Nunda and attacked," Morake said with a light pant.
"Any survivors?" Timon asked in a desperate tone.
"So far we haven't found any yet, but then we did just get here," Vitani shrugged.
Timon looked towards the cave and walked as fast as the crutch would allow. He walked inside of the cave and glanced around. "Is anyone alive? It's me, Timon! The hyenas are gone, you're safe now! The lions are with me, so they won't hurt you!" He looked around with a desperate expression when he received silence. "Please? Zuri? Sudi? Kito? Anyone?" He lowered his eyes and dropped down to a nearby nest, putting a paw over his face. He sat there for a minute, until he suddenly caught the scent of blood approaching him, followed by some footsteps from behind. He took hold of his crutch and swung it at the intruder, who caught it in his paws.
Sengbe had a strong grip on the crutch, a cut above his eye, and an angry expression. "You show your face around here again after what happened?" he growled as he attempted to pull the support away from Timon, who tried to take it back. "It's your fault this happened!"
"I don't know what you're talking about! I've been gone since late last night!"
"The hyenas came for you! They called for you by name!" Sengbe snatched the crutch from Timon and tripped him, forcing Timon to fall onto his back. Timon was about to stand until Sengbe crawled on top of him and pressed the crutch against his neck. "If you had not come here we'd still be living a life of solitude with our Beasts of Prey and Sylvester would not object to his marriage to Yasmin!"
"Sengbe, you don't understand...!" Timon coughed.
"I understand enough... son of Fearless Buzz." Timon's eyes widened, and then he gasped when the pressure against his neck became greater and clenched his teeth tightly as he tried to push the crutch from his throat.
A few meerkats ran over and pulled Sengbe off and away from Timon. "Sengbe, that's enough!"
"Don't try to stop me! He's the son of one of my worst enemies!"
"Exactly why he might be able to help us avenge the rest of the colony!" a second meerkat said. Sengbe stopped struggling, but they kept the grip on him. Sengbe kept his expression.
Timon sat up and coughed, grasping onto his throat. He blinked when he was offered his crutch, and then he looked to see who it was. He then took it and was helped back to his feet. "Is it true? Are you the son of Fearless Buzz?" Yasmin, with a cut on her cheek, asked as she helped him upright.
"Yeah, it's true. So why were you guys giving me the silent treatment until now?" Timon asked as he dusted himself off.
"We managed to get into the emergency tunnel in the deeper part of the cave, although not without some minor injuries. We couldn't hear anyone calling for us. Only sixteen of us made it," she sighed as she shook her head and fought back tears.
"Are Zuri and Sudi here?"
"They weren't here this morning, neither was anyone else from your group. And I don't even know what happened to Sly."
Timon breathed a sigh of relief. "So they didn't make it back to the colony." He paused, and then gulped. "Then where are they?"
"Yasmin, Sengbe!" a meerkat shouted as she ran towards them. She stopped in front of them and blinked at Sengbe being held back. "I missed something, didn't I?"
"Never mind that. Did Khairi make it?" Sengbe asked.
"Yes, but he seems worse. I doubt he'll make it to tonight," the meerkat shook her head.
Yasmin put a paw to her mouth and shook her head as she turned away from the surviving meerkats. "The saddest day in the colony's life. My fiancée's missing, most of the colony has been massacred, and my father is dying. I don't know what to do."
"Well, I know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna find Zuri and Pumbaa. Good luck rebuilding your life, Yasmin," Timon said as he began to walk away.
"Timon, please! You've fought hyenas before and survived! You have to avenge my colony!" Yasmin begged as she ran to catch up to Timon.
"With a broken toe?" Timon asked in a sarcastic manner as he lifted that foot up to show her. "Granted, I did manage to kill Mataka, but I just tricked him into falling off a cliff. There aren't that many cliffs around here and that dam's been rebuilt."
"Mataka?"
"The hyena that was part of the pack that killed my father. He's the one my father managed to beat black and blue."
"Mataka... I wonder. I heard the name of one of those hyenas... Bintaka, I think it was," one meerkat said as he put a paw to his chin.
"So?" Timon shrugged.
"Bintaka means 'Son of Mataka.'"
Timon's face suddenly turned pale. "Mataka's son? It couldn't be. You mean this Bintaka is looking for me to avenge his father?"
"So this is your fault!" Sengbe growled as he struggled to get free. "That hyena wants revenge on you and he takes it out on our colony!"
"OK, OK, put a cork in it, Sengbe. I'm trying to think." Timon put a paw to his chin, looking in thought. "I might be able to help." He turned to the entrance. "Morake!"
The cheetah poked his head into the cave. "What's up?"
"The hyenas are staying at that geyser cave, right?" Morake nodded. "Then I might have a plan to drive them out once and for all," he turned to the surviving meerkats, "but I'll need your help."
"Our help? Forget it!" Sengbe growled.
"Sengbe!" Yasmin sounded surprised.
"Don't listen to him, Yasmin. He's trouble. It was because of him that we're down to sixteen. Besides, what can he do when he can't even walk without a support?"
Yasmin glanced at the flower bracelet she made for herself earlier yesterday, remembering what she discussed with Zuri, and then she furrowed her brow and stood right in front of Sengbe. "I understand your hatred for the Fearless Buzz colony, but that hatred does not carry on to every colony. We admired and respected that colony and mourned the day Buzz died. And we do not count someone out because of a temporary handicap until we hear what he has to say. If you don't want to be a part of this, then go tend to my father and make him comfortable. Understand?" Sengbe was silent for a moment, and then nodded. He was released and then he walked away.
Timon watched, a little amazed. "Wow."
"Now then, Great Timon," Yasmin said as she turned to face him. "What did you have in mind?"
To be continued...