Once we got there, Darwin and I saw that Pride Rock was filled with more hyenas.
One of them snapped at Darwin, making him more uneasy and scared than usual.
"It's OK, Darwin." I assured him, with a comforting pat, only to see that the hyenas were closing in on us as Shenzi, Banzai and Ed watched, with a smug smile crossing Shenzi and Banzai's faces.
Darwin hopped into my arms as the hyenas got closer...when a voice called out. "Halt!"
The hyenas stopped and turned to see a mysterious animal peer out from the darkness.
Looking down at me and Darwin, he asked. "What brings you to the Pride Lands?"
I gently put Darwin down and said. "We heard there was a dark-haired lion around here."
"You wouldn't happen to be that lion...would you?" asked Darwin.
"Maybe."
The mysterious animal stepped out of the darkness, revealing himself to be that dark-haired lion, who walked down towards me and Darwin.
While looking closer at him, I noticed there was a scar over his left eye.
"Is that why you're called...Scar?" I asked.
"Depends who's asking." said Scar.
"Uh, Eliza Thornberry." I said, introducing myself. "And this is my friend, Darwin."
Darwin waved at Scar, chuckling nervously.
For a moment, Scar just stood there with a cold stare.
Then, he told the hyenas. "Stand down."
The hyenas let out a groan.
"Oh, hush up." said Scar as he led me and Darwin up. "You'll get your chance to eat."
"Mm-hmm. Says the Lion King, whom nobody likes." said Shenzi.
"I heard that!" Scar called back.
As she watched him lead us inside Pride Rock, Shenzi heard Banzai's stomach growl.
"Shut up!" she snapped.
"I can't help it." complained Banzai. "I'm so hungry...I could eat a wildebeest!"
"So, your father hosts this nature show where he encounters one creature after another, eh?" assumed Scar as he led us further inside the cave.
"Yes, sir. He does." I said.
"And now this Foundation that he works for has instructed him to find this certain dark-haired lion. Is that right?"
"Well, not only that," I said. "But they also want..."
"To know why the land is so bleak and depressing!"
"Shh! Darwin!" I hissed.
"Oh, you noticed! Hmm." said Scar. "Well, I must admit, not everyone likes how I run things here."
"The only reason it's like this..." said a voice, which belonged to a caged hornbill named Zazu. "...is because Scar let the hyenas take...oh, if Mufasa was still here, I wouldn't have to put up with..."
"Quiet, you multicolored buzzard!" Scar snapped in front of his terrified face.
"Mufasa?" I asked.
"Who's he?" asked Darwin.
Scar turned to us with a glare, which he, then, gave to Zazu.
Then, turning back to me and Darwin, he let out a reluctant sigh and said. "Normally, the mere mention of my big brother is not allowed in my presence, but..."
He led us to a nearby wall filled with paintings, which came to life as Scar spoke. "Mufasa did, in fact, rule over the Pride Lands. And as his brother, I was first in line for the throne...
"...that is, until Simba, that little hairball of a nephew, was born!" he went on, scraping his claws on the painting of the baby cub, Simba as Darwin cringed at the sound.
"Seeing that he's already a threat to my plans, I had no other choice but to...eradicate him...and Mufasa."
Zazu gasped silently while I asked. "You mean...kill them?"
"Well, I wouldn't go so far as calling the first attempt...successful." said Scar as one of the cave paintings started to move, showing Shenzi, Banzai and Ed cornering Simba and what appears to be another cub. "I practically gift wrapped those cubs for the hyenas...and they couldn't even dispose of them."
As he spoke, the cave painting of Mufasa roared the hyenas away.
"Leave it to Mufasa to come to the rescue." commented Darwin.
Again, Scar glared at him, then went on. "I was still determined than ever to get rid of them both. So, I had to stage a little...accident."
"What kind of accident?" I asked.
An evil grin crossed Scar's face as he said. "Death by stampede."
One of the cave paintings came to life, revealing Mufasa trying to save Simba, only to be trampled by a thundering herd of wildebeests, to our shock and horror.
With what he saw as well, Zazu was in a loss for words.
"Mufasa's death, of course, was a terrible tragedy," said Scar. "But to lose Simba, who had barely begun to live..."
He feigned a sniffle, saying. "Indeed, it was a deep, personal loss. Yet, as I assume the throne, we have risen out of the ashes of this tragedy to greet the dawning of a new era...in which lion and hyena come together, in a great and glorious future!"
Darwin and I were stunned with what we heard as the painted hyenas' eerie laugh echoed inside the cave.
"So it was you!" I exclaimed. "You're the one responsible for this drought, the reason why all the animals have died."
"Pfft. So what if I am?" said Scar.
"You don't deserve to be king, young Simba does!" said Zazu. "Why, if I wasn't caged right now, I'd fly straight to the Queen and...
"You say one word of this to anyone," threatened Scar. "I'll see to it you're fed to the hyenas! IS THAT CLEAR?!"
"Uh, one hunderd percent clear, sir." said Zazu. "I...I...Well, I only thought I mentioned it to illustrate the differences in your royal managerial approaches."
Realizing he intends to let the hyenas take what's left of the Pride Lands, I said. "You won't get away with this, Scar."
"Oh? And just how are you going to stop me?" Scar asked with a growl.
"By doing the right thing." I said. "Finding the real king and putting you in your place!"
"Bah!" Scar scoffed. "Mufasa is gone! Simba is gone! I'm the king of this land! And you...shall never see the light of another day."
With a sinister chuckle, he said. "Adieu."
As he left the cave, Darwin said. "When he said we'll never see the light of another day..."
"What he means is..." Shenzi said as she, Banzai and Ed circled around us again once they entered the cave. "We'd love you to stick around for dinner."
"Yeaaaah! We could have whatever's...'monkeying' around!" joked Banzai.
"Oh, wait, wait, wait. I got one, I got one." said Shenzi. "Gimme a side of girly fries! Whatcha think?"
As she and Banzai laughed like the hyenas they were, Ed jumped up and started jabbering.
'What? Ed? What is it?" asked Shenzi.
Upon looking where Ed was pointing, Banzai asked. "Hey, did we order this dinner to go?"
"No. Why?"
"'Cause there it goes!"
None of the hyenas notice that Darwin and I made a run for it, out of Pride Rock.
We had just passed where we met the old meerkat, when we saw Shenzi, Banzai and Ed chasing after us.
"Nobody makes us go another day without food and gets away with..."
Before Banzai could finish, he, Shenzi and Ed found themselves flying back to Pride Rock, which they crashed through, landing on top of Scar, who howled. "Ouch!"
Darwin and I looked to see that Donnie had pulled back the tree branch that sent the hyenas back to Pride Rock.
I smiled with relief. "You may be daffy, Donnie, but you are quite the lifesaver."
Once I got him down from the tree, we hurried back to the ComVee...