Authors Note: I'm glade I can get this one out sooner then I have been updating them. This one is going to be pretty actiony I think :D

Poachers Storage Cave

The plan, although simple and admittedly a long shot, was set. On the front doors of Kovu and Mgeni's cages there is a small door at the top to drop in food, and once someone opens it, they will pretend to grab them in hope that this will scare them enough to jump back into Habari's cage so he can grab their key's. They would do it at dusk, when the humans would stop by to feed them, and when most would be tried from working all day.

When it gets close to that time, they go over the plan once more, and in finishing up the "briefing", Kovu says to Mgeni "Okay, so to be clear, whoever they feed second will do the scarring."

Mgeni confirms "Agreed, I'm sure the man won't be feeling very generous with us when you or I try to grab him. Once we have the keys, however, what happens then, hm?" He, of course, is talking about whether Habari frees him and Tublat, or uses the birds just a few yards down the cave to send a message for help.

Kovu though simply says "We'll cross that river when we get there."

Despite Mgeni's strong hatred for the humans, he knew there was no point in arguing right now, so he simply waits patiently for his freedom, when ever it would come. Tublat however would continue to talking about why they should be let loose on the camp, though they just ignore him. The time then comes as one of the men makes his rounds, dropping a small portion of food into the cages, not enough to fill them up, but enough to keep them alive. He goes by Habari and Tublat, then goes around and takes care of Kovu first. Mgeni is next. He sits as far back in the cage as he can in an attempt to give the man a false sense of security, and when the man finally drops the food in, he pushes against the back wall thrusting himself forward, biting his hand and clawing his arm. Mgeni lets go, though he deeply wishes he could finish him off. Just as they planned the man flings himself back, crashing into the cages behind himself, where Habari is waiting. Using his good, and only arm, he grabs the key ring off the mans belt, however it's slightly to big to fit through the opening, so Habari panics and pulls with all his strength before the man sees. The keys finally slip through, but they make a loud metallic screech and clang as they do, causing the man to spin around, looking at straight at Habari. In desperation, he does the only thing that comes to mind, he bares his huge fangs and screams as loud as he can with a a fire in his eyes, he crashes himself against the cage and tries to grab the man by his neck, but only getting his necklace, which the man breaks to get away.

"What the #!$* is wrong with these animals!" the man yells as he runs out of the cave, holding his wounded arm while the other men in the cave ran to his aid.

Thankfully, Habari hid the keys behind himself before the man turned around, while not the most secure of hiding spots, the man was more focused on Habari's teeth then on what he was sitting on.

When the humans had left Mgeni couldn't help but laugh "Hahaha, well done Habari! I must say I didn't think you had such a side to you, I'm impressed."

A little embarrassed, he smiles and says "Well actually I've holding that in since I lost my arm. It happened about a week before they actually caught me, I got caught in a metal wire trap, a got free at the cost of my arm. After I..."

Kovu has to jump in before Habari spends the next hour rambling "Woah, hey little buddy! I got stop you right there. How about you finish that story after you finish the plan, okay?"

Feeling a bit dumb for forgetting, Habari smacks himself in the head "AH, sorry, right! Job first, talk later." The ring has a number of keys on it, but after the third one, he finds the right one to open the door.

"About time runt! Now let us out." Tublat rumbles from his crate.

"Um, well, ah, I, um." Habari shudders, looking between the three of them, then outside as he hears the commotion outside.

Mgeni, after a heavy sigh, finally speaks up "Listen! We all know you'd rather send a message to your friend for help. As much as I'd prefer you let me out, if you waste anymore time, then this was for nothing. So, just go, and hurry."

Feeling a bit relived, he turns and runs down the tunnel. Behind him though, Tublat, Mgeni and Kovu begin arguing, Tublat feeling betrayed at Mgeni's choice of telling Habari to go send for help instead. While they continue bickering, Habari looks for the birds, and on finding them he sees stacks of cages, each one packed full to the point he couldn't tell where one bird started and another began. The sight made him furious, and a little sick.

Habari tries to speak over the squawking and chirps of the many birds, "Listen! Everyone please!" most of them settle down "I'm going to let you all out, but the rest of us need your help. We need you to find Tarzan, tell him where we are so he can take care of those humans and save the rest of us."

"You have the keys, why not free everyone and make a run for it?" one of the birds asks.

Habari answers, "There are too many out side, they all have guns and they like to use them. If we did, a lot of animals would die."

One of the birds that's been sharing a cage with six others loses his patience, "Who cares, why! JUST LET ME OUT NOW BEFORE I FREAK OUT!"

One by one he opens the cages, as he does the birds swarm outside to freedom. The poacher's try to shoot them down, but they only carry rifles and hand guns, not really useful for hunting flying birds. One bird, however, circles back and lands on Kovu's cage. She's a Long-crested Eagle with beautiful black feathers and yellow-orange eyes, and she looks down at Kovu and says "Prince Kovu? Is that really you, your majesty?"

A little puzzled he says "Uh, yeah? And who are you?"

She smiles and replies "My name is Daja, I'm from the Pride Lands, they caught me along the boarder. I heard you had been kidnapped, but I never thought you'd be here."

Kovu gets exited knowing she's from home, and this gives him an idea, "It's a long story. But, maybe you can help us. You can talk to Tarzan, then go back to the Pride Lands and bring them here, maybe everyone can all work together."

Tublat jumps in with his condescending skepticism "I think your mane is giving you heatstroke, kid. Why would predators work with Tarzan, or save a bunch of prey? Besides, Tarzan ain't a cat person since a leopard killed his real parents. The way I see it, I'm your only hope of getting away."

Kovu give him a growl and shoots back "Habari trust Tarzan, and he's given me more reason to trust him than you have. And I know Simba, he would let innocent animal's die, even prey. Personally though, I think he should make an exception for you." Turning to Daja he tells her "I was told Tarzan lives in a human nest in a tree that overlooks the jungle. Now go, and please hurry!"

She bows her head and says "Yes, your highness."

As Daja leaves, Habari returns. "A friend of yours?" he asks, seeing the eagle fly off.

"A new one, yes." Kovu smiles, then sarcastically asks "So, did your plan work?"

Habari couldn't help but play along, "Oh no, it totally failed. Gotta scrap it and think of a new one."

The two laugh, and even Mgeni give half a smile as he rolls his eyes. Tublat, of course, has no patience for their goofing off. "Would you quit screwing around and let me out now?!"

Habari knows Tublat won't like being stuck in a cage for who knows how much longer, so he gathers his courage and tells him, "I-I'm sorry, but I can't d-do that." Looking back at Kovu for moral support, he nervously continues, "You'll try and k-kill everyone, and only get-get yourself killed." He then tosses the keys to the edge of the cave, and as he jumps up to his cage and locks himself in again he says, "I can't let that happen. N-No sssir."

Tublat is furious "You worthless runt! I'll kill you first when I get out!" In anger he thrashes in his cage, shaking, pulling, and slamming against it. The men, after uselessly trying to catch the birds, rush to the cave. As Tublat continues to lash out, the wooden reinforcements crack, and the metal bends, until it all gives way. Tublat has escaped.

A few minutes earlier

Soon after talking with Marcus Bright, the brother of the poacher Tarzan captured, James, William decided to go down river to check on his storage cave. He was confident James wouldn't say anything to Tarzan, but he wanted to go anyway for his own peace of mind. As soon as he gets off the boat and walks into camp, he starts to give orders. "Listen up! As you may have heard, James Bright was captured earlier today. While I'm sure he won't say anything about our operation here, as you all know, I don't take chances." He then explains his updated security measures, increased patrols, equipment checks, and so on.

After some time, everyone could heard a commotion coming from the cave, just then one of the men comes running out with a bloody arm, with two others behind him trying to help and find out what happened. "Where's the medic? We need help here!" One of them yells.

The camp leader runs up to ask "What's going on, what happened?"

One of them explains as a medic tends to the injured man. The camp leader then says, "Someone go in and see what's going on with those animals."

But before anyone can go inside, birds begin swarming out. As they do, the men open fire. But as they do William shouts, "Hold your fire you fools! Those guns won't do you any good! Even if you did hit one with a rifle, the bird would only explode." The men stop shooting, and William then sends two men to check the cave while he talks with some of his men to get some more birds. As the men approach, they hear Tublat's cage shaking and crashing, so they start to run up to try and do something, but he brakes out before they get to him. Tublat raises him arms to try and smash Habari's cage, but the men start to shoot at him before he can. However, his black fur blends into the darkness of the cave, and the setting sun makes things even harder to see, so they only graze him in the arm and send sparks flying off the walls. He turns, seeing the true targets of his anger, giving a dangerous, bone chilling smile.

"Ah crap."

The men drop their rifles, regretting wasting so many bullets on the birds. But before they can pull their revolvers, Tublat is right in front of them, and with a swing of one arm he send one of them flying back, and then grabs the other one and tosses him like a piece of trash.

"Shoot him, now!" someone yells.

"No!" William orders. "I will take care of him." He says as he calmly walks over to the raging beast, removing his gun belt. "I'm glad your here. It's been an upsetting day and I need to vent." he says as he loosens up and cracks his knuckles.

Tublat sees the man, who although is large for a human, is still small compared to himself. "Hehe, stupid runt. You must gotta a death wish." he says, of course neither one understands what the other is saying.

Tublat snarls, and William grins, both ready to fight. Tublat is the first to charge in, pounding his chest and roaring, running forward and leaping into the air, slamming his fists down. William, however, had jumped forward and sliding underneath him. As soon as Tublat had turned to face him, William had struck him in the face, followed by a strong uppercut to his jaw. Tublat then punches him back, knocking him against a tree. Tublat again tries for a big hit, but William again dodges, then gets behind him, grabs him, lifts him into the air, and slams his head into the ground. Angry and dazed, Tublat uses him foot to grab William by the shirt, pulls him close and punches him right in the chest, getting a groan of pain out of him because of the cracked bones. William then slams his fists down on to Tublat's knee, getting a roar of pain from him as well, letting William go. As soon as he was free, William unleashes a furious melee on Tublat, blow after blow, until Tublat knocks him back, buying him only a few moments. Dizzy, he rolls over to his feet, but before he can stand up though, William charges full speed at him, putting all his strength into this blow, and sends him flying back. Tublat is now barely able to stay awake, the only thing keeping him going is his stubborn rage, but it not enough to get him back up.

Tired and in pain, William still stands tall and orders his men, "Chain him up before you put him back in his cage." He walks over leaning other Tublat he says, "Thank you, I needed this." After, one last hit knocks him out cold. William has done something Tarzan had never done: win a one-on-one fight against Tublat.

Authors Note: My new character Daja gets her name name from the Swahili word "wawindaji", which means "hunter" since she's an eagle. Originally she was going to be a he, named Daji, but I thought most of my OG characters are male (except for Maua, but she not going to be used to the full until much later), so I change him into her, and thought Daja sounded more feminine.