A/N: Somehow… my chapters seem a little short so far. What do you guys think?

Disclaimer: I don't own the Lion King. Do I have to put this in every chapter?

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Danso had only left long after Max had gone back to early morning digging crew, and his son and mate were sound asleep, curled up next to each other in the nest. His brother had left fairly quickly after about eight seconds of holding Timon at arm's length, giving him hastily back to Danso, then excusing himself. Poor Max would probably always be that way, thought Danso with more than a little amusement. He couldn't tell, seeing as how they were all living deep underground, but the sun was rising quickly over the horizon above his head. He was still in something of a daze. He was a father now. The smile that had been on his face as he held Timon in his arms seemed glued in place over his lips, and he didn't really care for it to go away anytime soon. He had finally begun to fulfill his purpose! Danso took the moment to lean against the wall of the tunnel he was strolling down, putting his arm over his eyes, sighing in happiness. He wished his own father was here to see this, to see his son finally doing what he was supposed to. While he had held his son, he had vowed that he would do everything in his power to ensure Timon grew up to be an upstanding meerkat. None of that craziness he had been involved in when he was a pup, oh no sir. He had been doubted at first, but he had showed them all, and lived up to his name in due time. Timon would be no different.

So absorbed was he in his blissful, yet vain self-assurances that for he and his family life would be perfect in the coming years, he did not notice another meerkat meandering down the path towards him, his expression unreadable. It was quite obvious from the top of his brown-furred head to the bottoms of his powerful feet, he had the rights to brag, at least where looks came in. Harsh, yet bright hazel eyes espied Danso sitting against the wall, and the meerkat smirked, moving forward to throw a monkey (wrenches weren't invented yet) into Danso's daydreaming.

"So… I hear tell that you finally pulled yourself together and got a proper family. And here I thought you were just fooling us by living together…" Danso jumped at the sudden intrusion, looking up, eyes first widening, and then narrowing to dangerous slits as he realized who he was sharing his personal space with.

"Mosi," he said, but his voice held no hint of greeting as he stood up and dusted himself off. That was all he said to his childhood hater, and so Mosi picked up the barbs where he had left off.

"So what'd you call the fuzzball?"

"I don't think that's any of your concern," replied Danso slowly, levelly. For Meeca's sake and her constant placations, he tried to keep his temper in check.

"Well, soon enough it will be. My boys will need it so they can point your own son out for proper humiliation. It's about time you had some of your own."

"Oh, really?" replied Danso, voice bitter as he crossed his arms over his chest. "What makes you so sure your children put together will be half as good as mine?" Mosi only smirked.

"I only play with a stuffed log, Danso, you know that. What I am sure of is what will happen. What will happen is that your arrogance will end with this generation! One puny runt like yours won't stand a chance in the world outside, Dan-!"

"Are you saying you'd go far enough to ensure that!" growled the other male, shoving his nose up against Mosi's as his pas clenched into fists. "Go ahead and say it. I wouldn't put it past you and your ilk. But I swear, Mosi… on my good mother's bones, I swear I will tear you to pieces if you put so much as a claw near my boy! You will not touch the greatest accomplishment of my life. One that I will make sure excels all of yours!"

"You have quite the mouth, Danso!" replied Mosi savagely, shoving back as hard as Danso pushed forward. He was sure to get a bruise out of this. "You didn't even have the respect to see my child and you think yours is better off the spot! More of your hypocrisy, mob favorite!" he snapped, using that old mocking nickname he had for Danso.

"I got where I am out of the virtue of my own decency and hard work, Mosi!" Danso shot back, almost yelling now. "You? You don't even deserve the name of meerkat. You and all your self centered… talk! Ya maggot molester!"

"Termite tweaker!"

"Hyena helper!"

"Dung chewer!"

"I oughta rip your head off for that one!"

"As if! You hardly got to the third rung in the wrestling matches!" Spittle was now flying easily from each meerkat's mouth with each shout as they both tried to shove each other to the ground with merely their chests and noses, which were on the point of breaking.

"At least my mother was there to see me try!" grated Danso in a biting whisper, knowing he had struck a very, very sensitive nerve, but his anger had dragged him beyond the point of caring. The punch that Mosi threw, easily knocking him to the ground, seemed to knock some sense into him. When he finally gathered his senses enough to look up, blinking owlishly to clear the stars that paraded back and forth in front of his vision, he could see a wild light in Mosi's eyes. It was pure, unadulterated rage that clouded his vision now.

"You think you can speak of another's family with such high and mighty speech, eh?" said Mosi in a whisper. "Think you can have your little triumph since your whelp was born? I got ahead of you, Dan. I always have been, and I'll remain there. You just watch."

"What is going on here?" came a stern, demanding voice to their left. Both 'kats swiveled their heads to look at the powerful, wise face of Shombay, their mob leader. He glowered at the two in front of him like they were fleas he was about to pinch between his fingers. He was a very well muscled meerkat, standing tall at sixteen inches. His tough, righteous demeanor had made him seemed destined to be ruler of the colony, and it was that visage that was now pinning the other two meerkats in place, unable to speak for several moments as they tried to comprehend the situation. Shombay's role was not exactly instrumental though, he simply made all the very hard, very important decisions that affected the colony long term. Still, his station, power, and strength were undeniable. Behind Shombay stood a good number of the rest of the colony, and they all looked rather shocked or confused. Apparently, another meerkat, a youngster, had heard the arguing and did the first thing that popped into his head: get Shombay to clear the matter up. The kit stood at Shombay's side, sucking his thumb quietly. The blow that Mosi had given to Danso had been seen by almost everyone there, at the least, the important one, Shombay.

"Sir," began Mosi calmly before Dan could get a word out. "This wretch on the floor deliberately insulted my honor and family! I couldn't contain myself, I couldn't stand by and see my future disgraced… I am sorry." The light was gone from his eyes as he bowed his head, unclenching his fist. Shombay turned his piercing grey eyes to Danso.

"Is it true, Danso? Did you insult Mosi?" said Shombay in his gruff, short voice that he used with everybody save his own mate and children, now destined to follow in his paw steps. Danso struggled upright, breathing hard. Mosi had pinned the blame on him and he hadn't even gotten a word out! He slowly pointed a shaky paw at Mosi.

"Sir, he… he started it! He began bad-mouthing my child, and it… it escalated!"

"Quiet," said Shombay suddenly, quietly, but still somehow loud enough for everyone assembled to hear. "I don't care who 'started it' or why. This in-fighting is inexcusable, especially between two of our brightest colony members! Return to your proper duties at once."

Danso knew better than to speak up. Obedient as always, he hung his head and nodded, feeling foolish. His outburst had looked childish compared to Mosi's tempered apology. Despite his reliability, strength, and willingness to (most of the time) do what was right, words had never really been his forte. He had actually stuttered for at least a whole minute before finally asking Meeca to be his mate. Dusting himself off, he turned away from Mosi. They went in opposite directions, but Danso still could not help but give the last word to himself.

I'll show you, Mosi… you may have had the upper paw before… but my son will be a champion! A proper meerkat! You'll see. He'll be a paragon of our kind. He'll be something great.

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3 months later

"No, son, that's not a bug. It's a rock."

"But why's it there, dad?"

"Because if we moved it, water would come in, and everything would be very wet, and then we'd have to work very hard to clear it all out again!"

"But it's all round and smooth like a bug… and wasn't this the east section? I thought the spring was on the west side."

"Oy… Timon, this is the west section! East is never the part where all the moss grows. I told you that not three days ago! And trust me, pup… that's not a bug."

"Oh… okay."

"Right. So never, ever touch that rock. We're so far from the main construction so we can just get some practice in on the redundant tunnels… we don't want a repeat of the time you got curious with the support struts in the central annex…"

Three months now after Timon had been born, and his training had been going hard for the past few weeks. Actually, hard was an understatement. It was a grinding, slow, monotonous process that meant nothing but constant foul-ups and just as many butting of heads. Timon was trying, but ever since he had been able to walk, it seemed he and dirt didn't mix. Just three weeks ago Timon had buried half the digging team by removing an extremely important support stick from its position, thinking that since it was in the middle of the hall everyone would like it removed. It had been a miracle nobody was killed, and Max and Danso had been furious. So, here they now were, virtually alone and out of the way where nobody could point and stare. Danso stopped in front of a section of wall (not the one pointing to the spring), and flexed his paws.

"Now watch, son, when you're digging, the key is to get a good grip."

"Good grip, gotcha."

"Firmly clamp your claws into the dirt, and drag in, and down."

"That's it?" said Timon, rather confused. The way he had seen some meerkats power through their tunnels, there must have been some magic technique.

"That's it. In, and down. Like ahh… a paddling motion," said Danso, going further and further into his newly excavated hole. He planned to dig a small tunnel, and then show Timon how to properly brace the ceilings. The little kit, though, had other ideas. He rubbed his paws together and had moved down to a bend in the tunnel, at the beginning of an intersection that led back to the main part of the colony. He wriggled his tail and clawed into the earth with enthusiasm. Seeing as his father had tried to create a tunnel that would fit him standing up, Timon tried to do the same.

Danso clambered out of his own tunnel, speaking to himself though he thought Timon was directly behind him.

"Now then, Timon, once you've got a good start, you need to learn about things called weight distribution and centers of gravity…" He looked about in a fright when he noticed his son no longer there. When his eyes fell on the pup, a gigantic hole had been gouged into the wall Timon was working at. Danso's throat tightened and he squeaked out a warning as he ran forward.

"Timon, wait!" He managed to grab his son and curl up over him, shielding him from the avalanche of dirt from the collapse of the tunnel all around them. Sunlight suddenly beat down on Danso's back. He heaved upwards and yanked Timon to the surface. Shaking debris from their fur, they surveyed the damage. All around them, the wing had collapsed quite handily, leaving just a great dirty pile of clay and earth in its wake. Several meerkats peered out of tunnels that suddenly opened into the air that once had been sheltered by firm clay ceilings. Timon whistled in shock.

"Ohhh my…" whispered Danso to himself. Max was already stalking towards them, covered in sand and not looking happy at all.

"What have you two idiots done!" he demanded. Danso stood up and began dusting he and Timon off quickly, trying to stammer out a reply.

"Ahh, heh, well, see, I was trying to teach my son how to dig here…"

"Dig?" repeated Max incredulously, raising an eyebrow. "You're saying he caused all of this!" Danso cleared his throat as Timon tried to hide behind his father from the questioning gazes sent their way by every meerkat in view.

"Well, it wasn't entirely his fault…"

"Can't you see what you've done?" snapped Max, waving a paw at the two. Danso was taking it in stoically. Timon looked ready to cry and wished only that the tunnel collapse had swallowed him up.

"You've destroyed half of this sections upper floors! It'll take weeks to tear down the damaged areas and make it safe to travel in again!"

"Max…" said Danso with a warning tone in his voice.

"Your precious kit has put us in danger for the better part of a month! A month!"

"Max…"

"I'd like to know what you're going to say to Shombay. He's gonna be furious when he finds time to talk to you!"

"MAX!" shouted Danso, his voice sharp and his gaze even sharper. His breathing was deep and slow; he would brook no argument when it came to discussing his only son. Timon gasped and stood back. He had never seen his father this angry before.

"I know what happened, I'm not blind. I can see what I allowed Timon to do. I take full blame, and if you don't mind shutting up for one moment, I'd like to try explaining to him what happened before I get my head bitten off by Shombay!" Max growled under his breath and turned away, fuming as he went to report the incident to Shombay, who no doubt was already on his way to investigate. Danso sighed and knelt next to Timon.

"I did something bad, didn't I?" the kit muttered. Danso picked his words carefully, taking a while in answering.

"Ahh… yes, Timon, you did… but it wasn't your fault by any means. I should have kept a better watch on you…"

"Yeah, but I dug the tunnel," answered a morose Timon. Danso's shoulders fell. He felt helpless, knowing his son would take the blame for this despite all he said.

"Dan," said a meerkat behind them. "Shombay wants to talk to you." Danso stood up slowly and ruffled Timon's head fur.

"I'll speak to you later, kit. Go play with Daren or something." He stood upright and turned away, head bowed. A small voice stopped him.

"Dad?" said Timon. Danso turned back and smiled.

"What is it, pup?"

"He's not really going to bite your head off, is he?" Danso chuckled.

"Of course not. Your mother would kill him!" Timon gulped, then turned away, only slightly relieved as he went to find his only friend in the world. After he spent some quality time moping alone in the tunnels for causing all this trouble himself first, of course. However, his chance was delayed as Meeca came running up to him, embracing him with all the power of a grown lion.

"Oh, Timmy! My little Timmy, are you all right? Are you hurt? Danso, is he hurt?" exclaimed the female several times over as she checked him over for any bruises or injuries. Timon groaned at the attention and tried to push her away.

"Mom… I'm fine, really… just…cut it out with the hair already!" he snapped as his mother began fussing with his unruly head fur. She pulled away and stood up, sighing.

"Oh, Timon… what happened?" she asked rhetorically as he observed the wreckage. Timon sighed once more and began walking towards a still functioning tunnel.

"I happened, that's what…" he muttered, kicking away a small stone. Meeca reluctantly allowed him to leave, unsure whether to comfort her son or go help Danso confront Shombay with the disaster. Shakina came up behind her old friend and placed a paw on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, he'll be all right… both of them will. I'll tell Daren to go find Timon." Meeca looked back despondently at her companion. Both had been friends since kit hood.

"Thank you, Shakina," she said. Something bad was going to come of this, she just knew it. Giving one last despairing glance to the retreating back of Danso, she turned back to assist fixing the tunnels, which would have to be revamped.

The male in question recognized a familiar face as he moved off towards one of the newly opened tunnels. Shombay awaited him inside, standing like a grim specter with his arms at his sides and his eyes lidded. There was a strange feeling of doom for Danso, though it was (almost) completely unfounded. The familiar meerkat, Mosi, chuckled as Danso went by, who only glared at him.

"A real chip off the old block, that one…" said Mosi, sarcasm in his voice. Danso shoved him away with a snarl, disappearing inside to be dressed down by the mob leader. Mosi turned away, going back to helping clear away the damage from Timon's catastrophic excavation. Behind him, he could hear a single, raised, angry voice going down the tunnel, followed closely by a smaller, submissive one that answered in single syllables. He smirked.

True to Danso's predictions, he was getting his head bitten off.