Another chapter for your enjoyment. We have now reached events during "The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride." Which means more babysitting lion cubs for Timon and Pumbaa. I will certainly not be showing every scene from the movie, though I will include a familiar scene or two. I will also be showing stuff not actually in the movie, but it should still fit together well. I hope you like the chapter.
Okay, they might be a little over-protective. Timon could admit it. But they had plenty of reason to be paranoid concerning Kiara. Past events had demonstrated her vulnerability early on.
He and Pumbaa return from find a fairly-delicious lunch to a battlefield. Simba was banishing Zira. The king barely returned in time to keep her from killing the princess, and possibly even Nala. Losing one of his newborns made the remaining cub all the more precious. Simba kept Kiara under close observation, afraid of losing her or having her childhood become as traumatic as his. And if he couldn't observe her personally, he had two willing babysitters to watch her.
They followed the young cub, just as Simba asked them to. Timon knew he and Pumbaa would probably have followed her even if he didn't ask. He remembered how much trouble the lion was when they lived at the oasis. He could only imagine what their kid's kid would be like here on the Pridelands. And this time, they actually knew they were taking care of royalty and that meant they were actually trying to treat Kiara like it. She didn't appreciate the smothering protection or being treated as simply "the princess," but he didn't know what else to do. She was a girl. He was floundering around blindly again. Treating her like royalty produced frustration and when he offered her a few bugs as he would have her father, she responded with disgust. He just couldn't win with her.
Of course, Pumbaa wasn't helping this dilemma by dragging them off topic into a debate about the best type of bugs. It was an argument they'd repeated multiple times over their friendship. Why the warthog preferred the slimy ones over the crunchy ones, he would never know. But this time, the meerkat noticed they were ignoring Kiara with their debate. And as soon as Timon turned towards her, he realized the cub was gone.
"Uh… Princess?" the meerkat called, scanning his surroundings. "Princess Kiara?" A sense of dread began to creep up his spine. "Kiara, where'd you go?"
"We're in trouble, aren't we?" remarked Pumbaa, joining his friend in looking around.
"Well, considering neither of us are much of a tracker, I'd say 'yes'," he answered. "We have to go tell Simba we lost her. And I'm not looking forward to that."
Timon scrambled onto the warthog's back, muttering to himself about how she was being as much trouble as her father. And, once Pumbaa broke into a run towards Pride Rock, the meerkat added a few comments about how they were getting too old for this and how he knew that Simba was going freak out about all of this. In fact, he didn't stop complaining about the disappeared cub until they reached home.
As they came into sight of the place, Timon could spot the lion and Nala curled up together in the sun. It was actually kind of sweet. He no longer looked at the lioness, her head tucked under Simba's chin, and saw someone who destroyed their old way of life. He looked at the happy pair and saw her as someone Simba loved, a part of his family. She wasn't dividing the trio; she was a new addition to the team. Nala clearly adored the lion as much as he did her.
Unfortunately, the nice romantic moment the couple was enjoying was about to be interrupted. Warthog and meerkat burst into view, moving straight towards the pair. Timon really didn't want to tell the kid this, but he didn't have a choice.
"Kiara's missing. She wandered off," he blurted out.
"What?" asked Simba sharply, rising to his feet.
"She got away from us," the meerkat admitted. "She's better at it than you were."
Pumbaa, sounding particularly upset, listed, "She could get lost. Or trampled by larger animals. Or even end up outside the Pridelands."
"Come on, Simba told her to stay away from the Outlands. What are the chances she'd…?" Timon began reassuring. Then, memories of a younger Simba began to flash through the meerkat's head. This included a certain waterfall incident. If he'd learned anything, it was that lion cubs attracted trouble like a tasty grub attracted a certain hungry warthog. "On second thought, we should probably hurry."
"But he was fun, Timon," Kiara remarked quietly. "He didn't seem that bad at all. And we out-smarted those crocodiles. Why are they Outlanders? Why can't I be his friend?"
The meerkat rubbed his forehead, tiredly wondering why he ended up in this situation. They managed to find the cub the day before, locating her right in the middle of a fairly delicate position. Zira, and her "furry maraca" offspring, were way too close to her and things would probably have taken a violent turn if the pride didn't arrive when they did. Simba probably would have attacked the traitorous lioness if she didn't have her own cub present, offering him to the king mockingly. She knew Simba wouldn't kill a cub like that; it was why he only banished Zira, her followers, and her kids in the first place. She knew he wouldn't stoop to her level.
But Kiara didn't understand the entire story behind the banishment. She might know that the Outlanders were "bad," but no one wanted to describe what happened that day. She didn't need to be burdened with the knowledge yet either. Because of that particular ignorance, she didn't understand why she couldn't play with her new friend. And, for some reason, she wanted him and Pumbaa to explain.
"Gee, shouldn't you ask your parents about this sort of thing?" asked the warthog uneasily. "I'm sure they could explain it, Prin…" He paused, seeing the aggravated look on her face, and corrected, "Kiara."
"But Daddy will only use another confusing 'circle of life' or 'we are one' thing to explain and Mommy will say that she'll explain when I'm older," she complained. "But I want to know now."
Inwardly groaning, the meerkat raised his paws placating, "All right, fine, I'll talk. But don't act too excited. I'm just giving you the basics."
Eager to listen after Timon agreed to her pleading, the cub curled up on the warm stone surface and perked her ears forward eagerly. The meerkat glanced around, ensuring that none of the other lionesses were listening. It wasn't technically wrong to answer her question, but it would probably get close to some touchy topics. No reason to get the predators worked up and angry about the past.
"Well, the Outlanders used to be part of the pride. They are loyal followers of that scary lioness you saw, who in turn is loyal to the memory of Scar," he began.
"Who's Scar?" she interrupted, tilting her head curiously.
Beginning to realize the true extent of her ignorance, Timon exchanged a glance with Pumbaa. Apparently Simba was still employing the whole "put your past behind you" strategy to a certain point. Well, they could respect his decision not to dwell on his power-hungry uncle. Of course, that meant he would have to evade plenty of details.
Carefully, the meerkat explained, "He was a rather unpleasant guy. He was Simba's uncle and took over the place after your grandfather, Mufasa, died. He sort of ruined the Pridelands until your father beat him and became king. Almost everyone was happy about Simba winning, but Zira and her crazy buddies weren't. They… caused some really bad problems, so your father kicked them out."
"Which made them mad," added Pumbaa helpfully.
"And even if that one cub seemed nice, his mother is going to make sure the kid is just as mad as the rest of them," Timon finished. "So you really need to stay away from them. Otherwise, me and Pumbaa are going to spend the entire duration of your childhood in a panic. So, please? At least until you're older?"
Groaning, the young lioness responded, "Fine."
"Thanks. Maybe I won't die from stress after all," commented Timon. "And stay away from waterfalls too."
"What?"
The meerkat waved his paws dismissively, "Never mind. Just something your father did once."
"Oh," she remarked quietly. She lay there for several moments, her tail twitching as she pondered some random thought. Then, she sat up and asked, "Did you know my grandfather, Mufasa?"
Again, she was treading towards part of Simba's more painful past memories and it really wasn't his place to explain to her about the acts of betrayal, murder, and general horror that her father witnessed at her age. Timon wasn't her parent. He wasn't even technically Simba's parent; that honor belonged to Sarabi. As much as they might care about the lion and his family, the meerkat realized back when the king took on the role of ruler that he and Pumbaa would only ever be very good friends of the family. In his own mind, he could still think of him as their kid and the warthog certainly still felt like he was Simba's family, but the meerkat knew that it wasn't really true. He was close to them, treated by them as practically family, but Timon wasn't really a member of the family. And that meant he shouldn't be the one to share all these rather troublesome past events.
"No, he was already dead by the time we showed up here," he answered honestly. "Me and Pumbaa never got the chance to meet the guy. But he was supposed to be a very important and smart king." He paused a moment before suggesting, "You know, Simba or even your grandmother, Sarabi, might be able to tell you more. Just be careful if you ask about Scar. He caused a lot of pain to a lot of animals, so no one really liked to remember stuff he did."
Kiara nodded, "Okay, I'll ask Grandma Sarabi later. And thanks for the stories."
"Sure thing," Timon answered. "Try to stay out of trouble. It'll save us a few problems in the long run."
Change was inevitable, Cubs grow up, have young of their own, and their cubs eventually grow up as well. This was just another aspect of the circle of life. You can't stop it. There was nothing wrong with change either. It was just hard to do sometimes.
Kovu's presence was a change that Pumbaa could see that was particularly difficult for Simba. Not only was he the son of Zira, but he was chosen to be Scar's heir. He even looked a little like him from what the warthog recalled of his brief glance of the lion. That must be making the king feel confused about how to view the lion who did save his daughter.
Pumbaa wanted to give Kovu a chance to prove himself to be a good individual. The warthog felt that almost everyone had the potential to be better than what others might assume. He was willing to give Simba a chance when he and Timon found him in the desert. He didn't see why they couldn't give Kovu the same opportunity. He just needed to feel welcome. Kiara was trying to spend some time with him, but there was no reason why more animals couldn't help keep an eye on her and make the dark-furred lion feel like he belonged.
Thus, the warthog suggested that he and Timon could go out for a particularly delicious lunch. There was one section of the Serengeti that tended to have a large number of bugs available. It also just so happen that it should be near where Kovu and Kiara were last spotted. If the pair of felines wandered near them, it would be the perfect opportunity to invite them along. It would be just like how they used to play with Simba. And it was sort of their job to do this. The king said they were in charge of Hakuna Matata, so it was their responsibility to make sure that their new lion friend had some worry-free fun.
As he half-way expected it to be, the area was completely covered with hungry birds. They were an impediment to their meal, but the warthog was generally able to discourage them fairly easily. They were certainly smaller than buzzards and it took less effort to knock them away than the scavenging avians. He might not be as young as he used to be, but he wasn't so old that he was losing his ability to scare off a few birds. But no reason to go "Bowling for Birds" when he wanted to see if he could get the lions involved.
Within a very short amount of time, Pumbaa heard his friend scream in panic. A quick glance showed that Kovu had finally appeared and, while he had pounced on the meerkat, he wasn't actually hurting him. That didn't stop Timon from instantly launching into a frantic plea to be spared.
"Don't eat me! Please! I... I... I never really met your tyrant. I mean, uh- Scar. Scar. Oh, heck of a guy. A little moody, but, I..."
Kiara, following after dark-maned lion, ran into view and interrupted the meerkat, "Timon. What are you doing here?"
"Kiara. Thank goodness," sighed the highly relieved mammal. Eager to make his excuses, he explained, "Oh, hey. For once, we're not following you. This just happens to be the best smorgasbord in the Pride Lands! Bugs everywhere! But, you don't call for a reservation and... yeesh!"
The meerkat started waving his paws at the birds, yelling at them in frustration. Unlike his friend, he didn't have the mass to really scare them off by directly smacking into them. The best Timon could manage was loud noises and frantic gestures. But he didn't seem to want to share the food with the birds.
"Get out of here, you scavengers. Go on! Shoo! Shoo!" he shouted.
One of the birds, clearly unimpressed by the display, bit him on the nose and left the meerkat muttering and clutching the spot in pain. Pumbaa, in order to keep up the impression that he couldn't handle the flock himself, was running back and forth through the area yelling ineffectively. Kovu and Kiara stared at the display, the first in bewilderment and the second in amusement. It didn't take long for the birds to decide to turn the warthog into a perch.
Moaning softly, Pumbaa stated, "Oh... Timon, I'm getting tired. I got to lose some pounds."
Glaring at the birds, the meerkat quickly climbed onto the warthog's back and began yelling at the feathery creatures, "Shoo! Go on. Shoo! Shoo!"
The princess laughing slightly now, the pair of lions came closer to the smaller animals. Feeling hopeful now, Pumbaa decided to get Kovu involved. If he was going to make him feel welcome, this would be the perfect time to ask.
"Hey. Maybe he can help. You think?" he suggested.
"Shoo!" snarled Timon, chasing off the final bird from the warthog's back. Turning his attention to the question, he answered, "Oh, yeah... there's an idea. Right. Let the vicious Outsider… Hey, wait. I have an idea." He jumped to the ground, "What if he helps?"
"What?" Pumbaa remarked, noticing that his friend was once again claiming his idea as his own.
Well, it happened most of the time anyway. And he really didn't mind who came up with a good idea. It just mattered that it was a good one. So, if Timon wanted to take credit for getting Kovu to have fun with them, he really didn't mind at all.
The meerkat asked the dark-furred lion, "You want to lend a voice? Huh?" When Kovu stared at the small mammal in confusion, Timon tried to clarify, "Grrr. Guh… Roar. Work with me."
"Like this," Kiara explained, coming to the rescue with a rather impressive roar that sent droves of birds into flight.
"Wooo hoo! C'mon, do it again. Do it again," urged the meerkat.
Finally understanding what they wanted him to do, Kovu echoed the lioness with his own roar. More birds took off, sending the meerkat into greater excitement. The bugs themselves were clearly forgotten by this point. Timon was just enjoying watching the birds take flight in a panic.
"Yee-haw," the meerkat called out.
The collection of mammals, both large and small, began running down the hill as they chased the feathery pests. Kovu, while following their lead, looked utterly confused by what they were doing.
"Why are we doing this? What's the point of this training?" he asked.
Kiara laughed, "Training? This is just for fun."
"Fun?" the lion repeated, his tone suggesting that he had never even heard of the concept.
Pumbaa and Timon pulled ahead of the pair, the smaller mammal dangling off of the leg of one of the birds. The warthog privately wondered what kind of life he'd experienced that fun seemed so strange. He also wondered what effect learning to relax, to accept a little Hakuna Matata, would bring to the dark-maned lion. Spending time with Kiara and enjoying himself could only make him feel more welcome, though, so Pumbaa was feeling rather proud of his accomplishment. Kovu deserved a chance to learn about living without worries, even if it was only sometimes.
Timon, however, was focused more on the basic concept of the lion's ignorance of casual enjoyment and remarked while laughing, "You got to get out more often. Fun. Yeee-haa! Ha ha ha ha... Woooo-hoo!"
Sometime after Simba and Kovu left to have a little chat, undoubtedly some type of combination of "I want to give you a chance to not turn into Scar Junior, so let's get to know each other better" and "I don't want you dating my daughter since she's my precious baby girl, so keep your paws off of her," Timon began to have a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't that green slug from earlier, so he wasn't sure what it could be. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong, but he didn't know what was wrong or why he was so certain of it.
He didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to tell Pumbaa, Kiara, or anyone about this uneasiness that was starting to really hit him. He didn't have any real reason he could explain for this feeling and it would make him seem crazy. The meerkat didn't want to admit that he was worrying about something, but couldn't even describe it in vague terms.
Worry. That was the bad feeling that was occupying his thoughts. He was seriously worried about something. Timon tried to isolate that concept, to identify why he was so worried. It couldn't be about Simba, could it? No, that didn't make sense. Kovu might be an Outlander, but he'd been acting perfectly nice since he showed up. And besides, even though Simba was raised without anyone to develop his fighting skills against, the king could take care of himself. He beat Scar by himself, so he'd be fine on his own for a little while. There was no reason to be worried at all.
Though, it was taking a little longer than they thought this little conversation would take. Thus, the small group of animals was intending to poke their noses (or beak) into things to find out how things were going. Besides just Timon and Pumbaa, Kiara and Zazu were also moving across the Pridelands with them, their eyes searching for the pair of lions. No doubt the blue-feathered bird wanted to get the king for some other boring aspect of ruling, just as Kiara likely wanted to spend some time with Kovu again. The meerkat wasn't oblivious to the fact she clearly liked the lion. But they didn't seem too concerned about anything.
Timon wanted to be just as confident. Instead, he was trying to hide the fact he felt like Ma used to act whenever he was out of her sight for more than a few moments. She would always claim that her maternal instinct was warning her that he was in trouble, that he was about to collapse another tunnel or get eaten. She wasn't always right, but she was very talented at predicting when something went wrong. All he could hope was that this anxiety was truly groundless.
Kiara, her ears perking forward in interest, remarked quietly, "Father…" While at first she sounded relieved and relaxed, the meerkat saw her expression shift to one of fear as she looked closer at the figure in the distance. A quick glance at him immediately sent Timon's earlier concern to new heights. The king wasn't moving with that confident and powerful stride that marked a true predator. Each slow step was marked with exhaustion and pain. The lioness's voice adopted a tone of urgency, "Father! Zazu, get help."
"Oh, yes. Help… at once. Of course," stammered the bird, taking flight towards Pride Rock as fast as his wings would take him.
Of course, the remaining animals had broken into a run towards the king. Up close, it was clear that he was in real pain. Each step seemed to take far too much effort from the lion. If the now frantic meerkat was any judge, it almost looked like Simba had been in a fight of some type. But who attacked him? And where was Kovu? Last he knew, the two lions had been with each other.
Kiara, upset by seeing her parent hurt, whimpered, "Father…?"
"Simba, talk to me," begged Timon, horrified. "What happened?"
The lion coughed and struggled to speak. It physically hurt the meerkat to see that the grown-up kid was in so much pain. Regardless of whether or not he was the lion's parent, this was not allowed to happen to his Simba. It wasn't right to see the lion in this condition. This was not right. How could this have happened to him?
Painfully, Simba gasped, "Kovu…ambush…"
The fight to say these two words seemed to finish off the strength that allowed him to reach them. With a soft groan, the lion collapse to the ground limply. If it wasn't for the fact that he was completely going into a state of total worry and distress over the feline, he knew that he would be furious at the Outlander. If he ever saw that dark-maned lion again, he would…
Timon shoved those thoughts away for the moment. Even ignoring the fact that a meerkat stood no chance of really harming anything that size, he needed to focus on the present. Simba needed them.
"No…" whimpered the princess as she watched her father fall to the ground.
Without any type of communication necessary, Pumbaa and Timon were already taking steps to care for their kid. Even if Simba was far larger than either of them by this point, the warthog was stronger than he looked. With a little effort and maneuvering, Pumbaa managed to get the lion up on top of his back. The meerkat took hold of the lion's tail, lifting it up as if he could actually help carry him. He had to at least try to be useful. Besides, he wanted to hold onto the kid and let him know everything would be all right.
"It's all right, buddy… We're here for you," he whispered reassuringly as they began the journey home.
Vaguely, Timon wondered why huge, climatic battles between lions seemed to happen when a storm, with dramatic lightning flashes, covered the sky. First the fight against Scar and now this. It really didn't seem fair that the weather always ended up this way for these events. At least when Simba took back the pride from his uncle, it didn't start raining until after the fight. On the other paw, there was no fire this time.
Simba had formally exiled Kovu and now they were about to face the Outlanders. Then Kiara vanished again. Finally, Zira and her followers had apparently decided to take her chance now. It was frustrating, but he couldn't change how all these things were happening all at once.
If he had his way, Timon would have kept the lion back home. It did not make sense to send a king, who was attacked savagely enough to leave him in such bad condition as what he saw earlier, back out into a fight. He didn't like the idea, but the meerkat knew that there was no way that anyone would convince Simba to rest. Neither Nala nor even his mother would have managed that task. Besides, even hurt, he was strong enough to be a real asset for his pride. And they needed all the help they could get.
Which was likely why Timon and Pumbaa came. They weren't the strongest or fastest, but they would not let their friend go into this alone. No one would hurt him without them trying their hardest to prevent it. Of course, the fact they were going to be facing a group of angry predators was a little nerve racking, but he didn't plan to let that stop him. Until the point where pure fear overcame his lack of natural instincts, he intended to continue his habit of ignoring common sense.
Okay, that covers at least most of the second movie. I didn't cover most of the battle against the Outlanders, but you can watch the film for everything in between. I love the feedback so far and hope you will keep reviewing. Thanks.