Kito paced along the promontory of Pride Rock, glancing down towards the ground every time he made his rounds. Bango was sitting to the side, watching him. "What could be taking so long, Bango?"
"I don't know, but I've got a funny feeling in my tummy," Bango said as he lay down. "And I know I'm not hungry."
Kito suddenly stopped pacing and walked over to Bango. "What if something bad happened? I wish I knew what happened to Aunt Jina and Dad."
"And Mr. Sly." Bango lifted his head up and then pouted his lips out in a thinking manner. "Wonder why Aunt Zuri and Uncle Sudi are so determined to bring him back with us. He and Uncle Timon don't exactly get along."
Kito began to pace again. "'Don't get along' is an understatement! Shani and I get along better than those guys! And as her brother, I'm required to by law."
Bango rested his chin in his hoof. "There must be a reason..."
"If there is one no one's told us. I'll have to ask someone straight out next time I see them." He glanced down towards the ground as he turned around, but then stopped and looked again. "There's Aunt Jina! C'mon, Bango!" Kito rushed over to Bango just as he began to stand and climbed onto his back.
"Aunt Nala, my Mom's here! We're going to go down and meet her before she goes to the Outlands!" Bango called towards the cave as he rushed down the side of Pride Rock.
Nala heard this and quickly followed. "Kito, Bango, wait a minute! You can't go down there by yourselves!"
"We're not by ourselves! We've got each other's backs!" Kito called back to her.
"That's not what I meant..."
Jina almost put a hoof on the log that lay over the river separating the Pride Lands from the Outlands when she heard a voice. "Mom! Wait!"
She blinked and looked back. "Bango?" She turned around to face the warthog piglet running towards him. "And Kito, too. What are you two doing out here by yourselves?"
"We're not alone, Aunt Jina. See?" Kito pointed to Nala trotting up to them.
"Hello, Nala," Jina did a polite bow. She then received a nudge from Bango, and returned it. "I'm sorry I just took off like that. You must've been worried."
"Everyone's been worried! No one knew what happened to you or Dad or Mr. Sly!" Kito said as he climbed on top of Bango's head to look at Jina.
"Oh, uh... they were with me. Didn't your Uncle Pumbaa give you the message?"
"No, 'cuz as soon as we found Mom, she and Uncle Sudi dumped us off at Pride Rock to look for Dad at the hyenas' geysers cave." Kito looked annoyed.
"Looking for Timon? I just told you, he and Sly were with me most of the night! I don't know where either of them are now." She rubbed her chin. "Well, I know where Sly is, and Timon probably made it back to the Outlanders' cave by now."
"I hope that's not the case," Nala spoke up. "We heard the creature's roar a little while ago. Simba and part of the pride ran to investigate."
"The creature?" Jina looked worried.
"It's OK, Mom. The Nunda isn't real. The colony's been using noise to keep predators away," Bango said to calm her down.
The wind softly blew past from the direction of the Outlanders' cave, which quickly drew Nala's attention. "I don't think it worked this time."
"Why not?" Kito asked.
"I smell a faint scent of blood." She sneered, and then exhaled as she watched Morake run towards them. Morake screeched to a halt on the log and panted.
"Morake, you're all right! What happened?" Bango asked as he approached him.
"Lots," the cheetah managed to say. He swallowed. "Lots of bad stuff."
"What kind of bad stuff, Morake?" Jina asked.
Morake gathered a bit more breath. "We went to the hyenas' geysers cave to look for Mr. Timon, but we found hyenas!"
"Hyenas? But I thought they ran off years ago," Nala said with widened eyes.
"Wasn't a very big pack. Maybe they stayed behind, and hid whenever someone came in. Or maybe they were out... I don't know, but that's not important right now. Anyway, I managed to run away, but I don't think Mr. Pumbaa and the others made it out," Morake whimpered.
"Dad..." Bango whimpered and leaned against Jina.
"Mom... Uncle Sudi..." Kito looked in shock.
Morake gulped. "And it gets worse. The hyenas figured out the Nunda was fake and attacked the caves." Jina, Kito, and Bango gasped.
"Not Yasmin, too! She was so nice!"
The cheetah quickly shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no, she's OK. 'Bout half of the colony survived by getting into the emergency tunnels they got. They said the hyenas were looking for Mr. Timon."
"Timon? Why?" Jina asked.
"They know he's the son of Fearless Buzz. One of the hyenas is named Bintaka, and Mr. Timon thinks he's the son of some hyena named Mataka who's out for revenge or something."
"Mataka? That's the hyena that got Grandpa Buzz and Dad beat!" Kito said in amazement.
"You mean Uncle Timon is OK?" Bango asked.
"Tripped over a rock and broke his toe, but yeah. He's gonna help what's left of the colony to get rid of the hyenas and hopefully save Mr. Pumbaa and the others. The lions are going with them in case something goes wrong."
"Why don't they attack right away?" Nala asked.
"Sorry, I didn't hear that much. Before he told his plan he had me head over here for safe-keeping." Morake looked annoyed.
"In that case, I should go help them," Nala said as she hopped onto the log.
"I'll go with you, Nala. If those hyenas so much as drool on Pumbaa or Zuri..." Jina mumbled as she climbed onto the log.
"What about us?" Kito asked, referring to himself, Bango, and Morake.
"You head back to Pride Rock where it's safe. Let's go." With that both Nala and Jina took off towards the Outlands.
The meerkat, the warthog, and the cheetah watched the two adults disappear into the horizon, and then shared a glance. "What if they don't come back?" Bango asked.
"Then do you guys wanna start a bachelor group?" Morake asked with a nervous smile. It quickly faded and his expression saddened. "Maybe if I had stayed behind to help Mr. Pumbaa get away... or at least carry one of the meerkats with me..."
Kito slid down the front of Bango's snout on his stomach. "It's not your fault, Morake. If I hadn't dragged Bango out here, everyone else wouldn't come looking for us and all this bad stuff wouldn't have happened."
Bango furrowed his brow slightly and turned Kito around to see his face instead of his rear. "Kito, it's as much my fault as it is yours. I didn't show it, but I was just as excited to find Uncle Titus as you were. I showed I was more afraid to do it without adults than I was excited."
"But I'm the one who came up with the idea; you were just thinking about giving Dad and Grandma their favorite bugs and be done with it. Now almost all the people I know and love are in danger and it's because of me. I'm such a mook," Kito sniffled and covered his eyes with both of his paws.
Morake tilted his head to the side and took a few steps closer to the cousins. His tail wagged slowly from side the side. "You're not a mook, Kito. You and Bango did something good by coming out here."
"What?" both Kito and Bango asked.
"You found me. If it wasn't for you two, I'd probably be dead in a matter of days. And not just because I couldn't keep food down." The meerkat and warthog looked at him. "You made me happy, because even though at first you were afraid of me, you didn't leave me. I wasn't alone anymore, and I was happy. I haven't been so happy since Mom was still alive."
Kito looked at the cheetah, and then wiped his cheek with the back of his paw. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. And you also taught me that fortune favors the brave. So if we're brave and stick together, we can do anything, right?"
Kito and Bango looked at each other, unsure of how to respond to that. After a moment Kito stood and dusted himself off. "I know I one thing at least. We gotta find a way to make this up to everyone else."
"How do we do that?" Bango asked.
"First we have to make sure we still have parents, and to do that we may have to interfere..."
"You're not serious. Mom and Aunt Nala..."
"Don't have eyes in the back of their heads, so who's to say that they won't get sneak attacked? We could save their lives by being an extra set of eyes, or a distraction."
"Makes sense to me," Morake said with a blink.
"We'll just stay in a place in the caves where the hyenas can't reach us and we'll be fine."
Bango stared at the meerkat with a slight glare. "You've been out in the sun too long, Kito."
Kito pouted slightly, "Have not. Come on, Bango, at least we'll know if they make it with our own eyes! I know we're already in a lot of trouble, but what if by doing this we end up saving a life?"
A moment passed. "I'm in," Morake spoke up.
"Bango?"
Bango furrowed his brow slightly as he looked at Kito. "Is this another guilt trip?"
Kito pulled on his ears as he shouted, "I don't have time to cook up a guilt trip! Are you in or not?"
Bango shook his head with a slight grin and sighed, "Fortune favors the brave, doesn't it?"
Kito released his ears and jumped off Bango's snout to the ground. "All right, that's what I like to hear!" He offered Bango a balled up paw, to which Bango slapped, and Kito returned the favor with the balled up paw. Morake put his paw on top, but didn't slap them because of their size.
"OK, so what's the plan?" Morake asked, swishing his tail.
"Here's what we're gonna do..." Kito began.
To be continued...