Chapter 16 – He's Gone

Nala snarled as she stalked off through the brush. Sometimes he could be such a pigheaded idiot! Her tail lashed in the deep green leaves as she padded through the jungle. All through the night she traced the paths she and Simba had taken. There was the flattened grass at the bottom of the hill… here, the small water hole with a waterfall and mossy rocks.

The night seemed to wear on and on. Nala eventually gave up pacing and rolled onto her back, gazing at the bright stars. It had been so long since she'd done this, and she felt almost foolish at first; it was a game she and Simba had played as cubs. They tried to find things in the stars, like a baby elephant, and would point them out to each other.

Faint rays of pinkish light began to shine through the fog as Nala meandered endlessly through the jungle. She cocked her head for a moment: there was a faint snuffling sound through the trees. She peered through and was not at all surprised to see Timon and Pumbaa still fast asleep. She padded silently over to them and nudged Timon awake.

"Wake up, it's me."

"Hmmm?" he turned sleepily, then let out an earsplitting yell, which woke Pumbaa, who in turn also began screaming.

Nala rolled her eyes.

"Calm down, it's okay! It's just me!"

Timon shook a tiny meerkat finger at her. "Don't ever do that again. I hate carnivores."

She sighed. "Have you seen Simba anywhere?"

"Wasn't he with you?" he shot back.

"Well…" she averted her gaze. "He was, but—"

A crazy laugh sounded from the tree overhead.

"You're lookin' in de wrong place," called a brightly colored baboon. "He is no longer here."

"What?" Nala recognized him as the shaman from the Pridelands. "Where is he?"

The monkey bowed his head. "The king has returned."

And he was gone.

Nala could hardly believe it. "He's gone back! It worked!"

"What are you talkin' about?" Timon scoffed, hopping off Pumbaa's nose.

"Where'd he go? What worked? And who's the monkey?"

"Simba's gone back to challenge Scar—"

"Who?"

"Scar," she repeated.

"Who has a scar?" asked Pumbaa.

"No, it's his uncle."

"The monkey's his uncle?" Timon eyed her apprehensively.

"NO!" she took a deep breath. "Simba's gone back home to challenge Scar so he can be king."

Pumbaa sat on his haunches, but Timon didn't buy it.

Instead, he scratched his head thoughtfully.

"Y'know, that still doesn't answer the monkey question."

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A/N: This one was a bit rushed, but I completely forgot about this part in the movie:) So I had to come back and write it in, otherwise there would have been a little hole in the story, and I know how faithful some of us are, at least a few would've asked why this part wasn't in it. :) R&R!

Phantomfreak07