Back at the jungle, I had just filled my canteen with water, of which I took a quick sip.

"Come on, Dar. Let's keep going." I said, only to see Darwin relaxing in the shade.

"Can't we rest for a few minutes?" he asked. "I'm tired of all this walking."

"I am, too, Darwin." I said. "But if we wanna stop Scar, we have to keep looking for..."

Before I could finish, we heard singing coming from a distance.

Ohi'mbube, Ohi'mbube, Ohi'mbube, Ohi'mbube...

In the jungle
The mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight.

Darwin and I made our way through some plants to see another meerkat singing.

In the jungle
The mighty jungle
The lion sleeps...

"I can't hear you, buddy," he called. "Back me up!"

"Uh, excuse me?" I asked, tapping on the meerkat, who screamed. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, but..." I said, before taking a closer look at the meerkat.

"Are you...Timon?"

"Yeah." said Timon. "Depends who's asking?"

"Your mother." said Darwin, whom Timon looked at, then at me, asking. "Am I crazy or did I just hear you talk to me?"

"Well, yeah." I said. "I can talk to animals."

"Really?" said Timon. "Well, nice to meet you, Little Miss Dolittle."

"Uh, actually, it's Eliza. Eliza Thornberry." I explained, introudcing myself. "And this is my friend, Darwin."

"Hey, Pumbaa!" Timon called out. "Get a load of this, a girl who can talk to anima...Hey, where'd Pumbaa go?"

"Probably looking for something to eat." guessed Darwin.

"Yeah, that's Pumbaa for you." said Timon.

"Don't worry, Timon. We'll help you find your friend." I said. "If you can help us find Simba in return."

Timon raised an eyebrow, asking. "Why are you looking for him?"

While we were talking, Pumbaa, the warthog, was following a beetle up to a log, all while hiding behind a tree.

When he tried to jump over the log, he heard something snap.

"Timon?"

But there was nobody behind him.

With a shrug, Pumbaa jumped over the log and viewed the beetle at close range, only to see it fly away.

That was when he noticed a pair of green eyes peering through the grass.

Seeing that they belong a lioness, Pumbaa let out a shriek. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

He, then, ran for his life with the lioness, teeth and claws bared, in hot pursuit.

Upon hearing her growl, Darwin asked. "What was that?"

"That's Pumbaa!" exclaimed Timon, who heard the same growl himself. "He's in trouble!"

Darwin and I followed Timon, who found Pumbaa stuck under the root of a tree by trying to squeeze through.

"Pumbaa! Pumbaa! Hey, what's goin' on?" he asked.

"SHE'S GONNA EAT ME!" shouted Pumbaa.

"Huh?"

Timon, Darwin and I looked over the branch, seeing the lioness charging at full speed towards us.

I gasped in fright as Timon and Darwin try to push Pumbaa out from under the root.

"Jeez!" groaned Timon. "Why do I always have to save your...

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" he and Darwin shrieked as the lioness closed in on us.

But at the last minute, a lion bounded over us and caught the lioness head on at full force.

As they fought savagely, Timon comforted Pumbaa. "Don't worry, buddy. I'm here for ya. Everything's gonna be okay.

"Get her! Bite her head!" he called out to the lion. "Go for the jugular. The jugular!"

Timon, then, whispered to Pumbaa. "See? I told you he'd come in handy."

The lioness flipped the lion and pinned him with a loud thump.

As she barred her teeth, the lion was surprised and no longer threatening.

"Nala?"

Surprised that he figured out her name, Nala backed away from the lion, whom she examined.

"Is it really you?"

"How do you know who I am?"

"It's me...Simba."

"Simba?"

As he nodded his head yes, Nala stared with realization. "Whoah!"

Their greetings were enthused as she and Simba ran over, greeting each other.

"Well, how did you..."

"How did you...who...WOW!"

"Where did you come from?"

"This is cool! It's great to see you!"

"It's great to see YOU!"

As we watched the reunion, no words could describe how surprised Darwin and I were, knowing that we have the true Lion King.

Timon, on the other hand, was anything but surprised with what he saw, asking. "Hey, what's goin' on here?"

"What are you doing here?" asked Simba.

"What do you mean, 'what am I doing here?'" said Nala. "What are you doing here?"

"HEY! WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?!" shouted Timon.

"Timon, this is Nala." Simba said. "She was my friend when we were kids."

"Friend?!" Timon repeated in shock.

"Yeah." said Simba. "Hey, Pumbaa, come over here."

Darwin and I had just gotten Pumbaa unstuck from the tree root when Simba called out to him.

"Nala, this is Pumbaa. Pumbaa, Nala."

Having forgotten his fears from the previous encounter, Pumbaa said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasure's all mine." said Nala.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out!" interrupted Timon, who said to Simba. "Let me get this straight. You know her. She knows you. But she wants to eat him. And everybody's OK with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?!"

"Relax, Timon." assured Simba.

"Wait till everybody finds out you've been here all this time!" said Nala. "And your mother...what will she think?"

"She doesn't have to know." said Simba. "Nobody has to know."

"Well, of course they do! Everyone thinks you're dead."

"They do?"

"Yeah. Scar told us about the stampede."

"He did?"

As he heard that while we listened to Simba and Nala's conversation, Dawin rolled his eyes, especially after hearing Scar's side of the story.

"Well, what else did he tell you?" asked Simba.

"What else matters? You're alive." said Nala. "And that means...you're the king."

"King?" scoffed Timon. "Pfft. Lady, have you got your lions crossed."

"That's just it, Timon." I said. "The reason why Darwin and I are here is because..."

"Oh, no. Don't you start, Eliza Dolittle." interrupted Timon. "He's not the king."

He, then, asked Simba. "Are ya?"

"No!"

"Simba?" Nala began, but Simba cut her off, saying. "No, I'm not the king. Maybe I was gonna be, but...that was a long time ago."

"Let me get this straight." said Timon. "You're the king? And you never told us?"

"Look, I'm still the same guy." reminded Simba.

"But with power!" added Timon.

"Could you guys excuse us for a few minutes?" asked Nala.

"Hey, whatever she has to say," said Timon. "She can say in front of us. Right, Simba?"

"Hmm. Maybe you'd better go." said Simba.

Seeing that they need to be alone to talk this out, I gave him a nod, then said. "You win, Darwin. Let's set up camp for the night."

Once he and I, along with Timon and Pumbaa, left, Simba said to Nala. "When it comes to Pumbaa and Timon, you'll learn to love 'em."

Nala didn't respond. She just bowed her head down sadly.

"Nala? What is it?" asked Simba.

"It's like you're back from the dead." said Nala. "You don't know how much this will mean to everyone...what it means to me."

"Hey, it's okay." assured Simba.

'I've really missed you." said Nala as she rubbed against his chin.

"I've missed you too." said Simba.

As we watched them rubbing heads, Darwin asked. "Do you think she'll talk some sense into him?"

With a sigh, I said. "If Nala can't convince Simba to come back to the Pride Lands, I don't know who or what will."