Wow he wrote a lot. After Chapter 5 is where its all my orgianl ideas to finish.

Chapter 3 Time to explain!

Rafiki was pinching himself over and over again thinking this must be a dream but it wasn't. Nala was repeating herself as he did that.

"I don't know, Nala," he grunted. As he was thinking how stupid he was to get mix alcohol from the airplane with natural berries and making that ridicules potion.

"Okay Ok, see, here's the part I don't understand," Nala was pacing in anger as she froze face to face with the hybrid monkey. "This was your doing right?"

"Yes but..."

"Then you know what you did I assume!"

"Well…No I don't" he said with his teeth gritted.

"WHAT!" As Nala's jaw dropped in shock

"Oaky I was drunk! I have no idea what is in the stuff."

"Your kidding?"

"Yup this is no joke otherwise you'd see me laughing and poking."

"But you always do that." Nala rolled her eyes.

"Well if you two 'adn't broken to my home none of this would have begun in d first place.

Nala got so angry that she started to chase the hybrid monkey and finally caught him and was about to eat him while he was about to hit her back when a tiny voice was heard.

"Oh come on guys that's enough." Both lion and monkey stopped what they were doing and blinked. Simba said as he was in the corner of some brush grass listening on the whole thing but kept starring at his tiny paws from time to time.

"Rafiki… you said that potion did this to me, right?"

"I t'ink so," Rafiki sighed, glad to finally hear a question he could answer in the affirmative. "At least, your symptoms seem to match."

"It would have been better if just plane told me. Nala muttered. "Warning: side effects may include headache, nausea, lower back pain, and turning into a child.

"Nala shut up!" Simba yelled. Nala huffed and sat down embittered.

"So what's gonna happen to me?" he asked in a small voice. "Am I gonna start forgetting things? Like, will I not remember anything that happened after whatever age I am now?" Simba continued.

Rafiki shrugged. "If you 'aven't forgotten anyt'ing yet, you probably won't start now," he replied. "It wouldn't make sense for de process to split itself up like that."

"And so would that go for how my mind works too?"

"You mean, will you go back to being a cocky little brat?"

"I wouldn't have used those exact words, but yeah, more or less that."

"No, you probably won't do that either."

"And…how long am I gonna stay like this?"

"I don't know. None of de plants I tested it on showed any rapid regeneration of size or maturity. Dey all grew back at a normal rate." The Mandrill/Hybrid explained.

"Dam you mean to tell me that that I going to….. Simba gulped with this realization as his mid scrambled with horrors. I'm going to..to. grow up again?"

The monkey nodded yes in a grim way. Simba then went all sick inside his stomach as he was boggled by the news and felt absolutely horrible. Like he just got off a big rollercoaster. Nala even turned pale.

"How ever it is possible I can find some remnants of the potion left to find an antidote.

Immediately, the shaman had the royal family's full attention. "You can?" Simba and Nala both shouted at the same time as they leapt to their feet.

"I said Maybe damnit.. that's not a yes or a no that's a Maybe!" the Mandrill said as he was angry. "Give me some time."

"Fine. How much time?" Simba asked

Oh, good. Now they wanted specifics again. What part of "I was drunk, you were stupid, and I don't know what the hell this stuff is" wasn't clear before? "Er…" Rafiki mumbled, trying to buy time. A few more incomprehensible murmurs slipped out of the side of his mouth, and finally he sighed dejectedly. "…three days?" he finished with a cringe.

"Three days!" Simba yelled. "Three da…no. Three days isn't gonna work. You know why! Its because I have a Kingdome to run, Scars people to look out for, and a border agreement to conduct!" I can't do that looking like this!" Simba said sternly look at Rafiki."

Rafiki was now scared of Simba even though he was now a cub.

"And dat's wit'out eating," he added, because apparently his brain had decided he hadn't dug his own grave quite deep enough yet. "Or sleeping."

Simba was now red in the face. He was about to yell even more but he felt it wasn't the mature thing to do so he just sighed and looked down at the ground.

"Alright Alright fine!" Simba looked back up. "We can make this work somehow right?"

"Yes we can sweetie!" Nala smiled

"Rafiki?" he continued.

"Uh…well, I suppose we could call it dat…"

"Rafiki…"

"Well, you can't expect me to be here all de time…"

"Rafiki, do you know what taxidermy is? I hear it's all the rage in some prides."

The shaman blanched. "Yes, we are most definitely all in dis together," he agreed without hesitating.

"Good man," Simba said as he rolled back onto his feet. "Okay, so…who do we deal with first?"

"What do you mean honey?"

"Well someone's got to know right?" I mean others should know besides us three?"

"Hey, what 'appened to 'we're all in dis together?''

"Oh, come on, Rafiki," Nala butted in before Simba had a chance to reply. "That wasn't what he meant."

"Yes, it was…" Simba mumbled. No one heard him.

"Den what did he mean?"

He meant you'd help us and not be so difficult with this situation!"

"The Situations difficult?"

"Yes it is and your not helping!"

"No it isn't"

"Yes it is!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

As the annoying continued. Simba got annoyed. "Guys!"

Just then another two lioness showed up and interrupted the three?" One who was Sandy brown and one eye that is.

"Hey, is Simba in here?" Sarabi started to say before she noticed the spectacle before her. Nala and Rafiki were practically nose-to-nose, each of them red in the face and nearly hoarse from screaming at each other. A pudgy yellow cub sat between them, his teeth clenched and his forepaw clamped firmly against the side of his head.

"Okay every one SHUT the hell up. Now where's Simba!" Sarabi demanded.

Just then she took a better look at the cub with her one eye. Sim…ba?

"Yes mother I'm right here just give me a second to consider out who I'm going to…" "I guess I figured that out.

"Hi mom!" Simba grinned.

"Uh yes" Can someone tell me what happened?" Sarabi said without moving her one eyelid.

"Rafiki?" said Nala.

"Simba?" said Rafiki.

"Don't look at me I'm just the victim. Its him who is responciable for this mess!"

"So you're really…you're really, um…" Sarabi began again.

"A cub again?" Yes that is true and this no dream."

"Do I want to know what happened?

"I don't want to think about that story. You're taking this awfully well."

"Well since me son and his wife disappear and then come back with some rodent and stupid pig as friends. Anything is possible isn't it?"

"Yes!...Would you like to get some more oxygen or Throw up?"

"Would You excuse me."

"Sure!" and with that Sarabi comely walks around the den and barfed"

"Whelp, Mom has taken that kind of well anyone else" Simba put his paws together."

"My mom would probably recognize you like that," Nala suggested.

"Okay, yeah, that makes sense," he agreed with a nod. "You know where she is right now?"

Nala didn't answer. "Nala?" he asked again. "Do you know where your mom is?"

"Mm-hmm," she replied with a strange, tight-lipped expression.

"Okay, where is she?"

Once again, Nala was silent. He could almost see the outline of her teeth pressed against her jowls.

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"

"Mm-hmm."

Simba turned around slowly. Sarafina was holding a bottle of Bud select in her paw then looks at it.

"I'm not even half drunk yet.'' The cream colored lioness with green eyes not focused said.

"What is this stuff. There's no one pink here." Sarafina looked at the bottle and then threw it at the ground."

"Hello Sarafiana!" Simba said.

"Mom why are you drinking this early?"

"I was just getting a pick me up.' Its not even mid day."

"Mom are you ok?"

"What is this place?"

"Mom its ok Simba's a cub right now!"

"Got it sweetie" Go Simba!

"Not now mom!"

"Sure thing." He-he as Sarafiana walked off

"Your turn, Rafiki," Simba said with a smile that bordered on demented. "Who's next?"

Rafiki didn't even have a chance to answer. "Hey, Simba, your ma's puking up a storm out here," Timon shouted from his perch atop the bristly neck of his lifelong pal and partner in crime, Pumbaa. "Must be some kinda bug going around…ha! Geddit! A bug! 'Cause she's…Simba?"

"Oh no!" Simba Face palmed

"Aw, look, he's tiny again!" Pumbaa said gleefully. "Boy, this'll be fun! Just like old times!

"Pumbaa, you're missing the point!" Timon yelled back. "He's not supposed to be tiny again! It's the first rule of life!"

"I thought that was to treat others as you would like to be tre…"

"Okay, guys, can we focus? Please?" Simba asked in a pleading, almost desperate voice.

"Gah! Back! Back, you…imposter! Don't come any closer!" Timon squealed as he stumbled off Pumbaa's back. He kept scooting backwards as soon as he hit the ground, holding out his hands and forming a cross with his forefingers. "I'm warning ya!"

"Timon!"

"Back, I say!"

An anguished growl cut through the air, and an instant later Timon was flat on his back, his arms pinned under Simba's surprisingly strong paws. "Will you just listen for one second!" he hissed. "I don't know what happened to me, what caused it, or how I'm supposed to fix it, but I do know that you've already told me you'd stick by me no matter what. I've lived with you, I've slept beside you, and I've fought beside you, and right now all I need from me is just…just trust me. Please."

"Hey…" Timon said as he pulled himself up and put a tentative hand on his friend's shoulder. "Aw, jeez, I didn't mean any of that, I just…y'know, it's kind of a shock to the system, is all."

"Join the club," Simba replied in a throaty voice, but a tiny pinprick of a grin appeared as Timon's arm draped further around him.

"Hey, c'mon," the meerkat continued in a more upbeat tone. "You grow up once, you done it a thousand times, huh? It's no big deal. And whatever happens, we're pals, right? We've gone through worse."

"We have?" Simba and Pumbaa shot back in unison.

"Well, yeah, there was, uh…well, I guess you could count the…" The meerkat's brow bent into a V shape. "Didn't I ever tell you not to nitpick?"

Finally, a full smile was dredged up from the depths of Simba's misery. "Well, at least you two are acting normal enough," he commented a bit dryly. "Thanks, guys."

"Any time, buddy," Pumbaa replied enthusiastically, trotting forward to nose the golden cub back onto his feet. "We're all ready to help. Right, everyone?"

Nala answered first again. "Right," she said, giving her best attempt at a comforting smile while still rubbing her forehead.

"Right," Rafiki added soon after, doing an excellent job of keeping the fear out of his voice, he thought.

"Right," Sarabi coughed as she reentered the den.'

"Oh yes sure thing Simba honey." Have a beer! Sarafina said as she found another one ad was handing it to Simba.

"Okay, then," Simba concluded, turning his attention back to his significantly wobbly mother. "You all right, Mom?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm…I'm fine, honey. Just perfect. Were you going to ask me something?"

"Actually, I thought you were gonna tell me something…I mean, before you went out and started-"

"Yeah, let's never mention that again, okay, sweetheart?"

"Deal. So what was it?"

"Oh yes um… it was about, um…" "I…don't think you really want to know…"

"Mom, I woke up this morning as a six month old cub. I've been introducing myself to half the family and friends for the past half hour. What can possibaly shock me now?"

"He-he the eastern pride is here waiting. They have been for partially an hour."

Everyone went silent

"So, they're here now?"

"Well, no, not at Pride Rock yet…they were waiting by the watering hole last time I saw…"

"Good, that gives us time. Nala, I'm gonna need your help."

"Uh…okay," Nala answered after a brief surprised pause.

"Good you see that cliff over there?"

"You mean the promontory?"

"Yeah, that. Now what I want you to do is I want you to pick me up, I want you to take me out there, and I want you to throw me off. Can you do that?"

"WHY?"

"No, really, it'll be easy. Here, I'll even walk out with you."

And he would have, except it was at that moment that Simba's luck finally took one last turn for the worse. Because it was at that moment that Simba heard them approaching, heard a crisp, powerful voice swish through the air and rebound off the wall of stone behind him: "Hello? Anybody up here?"

"Oh, shit," he whispered, just before a heavyset lion with a stocky, angular muzzle and a sandy brown pelt and mane came into view just beyond Pride Rock. Accompanied by another slightly smaller lion with similarly colored fur, he was making his way somewhat hesitantly towards the platform where Simba occasionally addressed his pride, and where he had been planning on meeting this very lion. Simba not knowing what to do.

"He's coming!" he hissed as he scrambled back into the shadows of the den.

"Who's coming?" Pumbaa asked.

"The eastern pride there here.

Nala's brow crinkled. "Wait, they? What d'you mean, th…"

"Oh, there you are," the brown-maned lion interrupted as he poked his head around the corner. Acting almost on instinct, Simba dove out of sight behind Nala's back, leaving her to deal with the Pridelanders' new guests.

"Is that how you treat all your visitors?" he continued as Simba cowered under Nala's tail. "Bake 'em by the water until they're ready to burst into flame?"

"Oh, um…I'm sorry about that, I…"

The lion grinned, and shook his head. "Ah, I'm just kidding," he laughed. "I've been through worse."

Nala laughed too, and put on a big smile just for the hell of it. "Help me," she murmured out of the corner of her mouth.

"Doing great," came Simba's muffled reply.

"I don't believe any of us have met before," the lion said

"Let's see…are you Simba's mother?

"Yes I am."

Yeah, you have his eye." Then he looks at Sarafina who was drinking.

"And you are…"

"Sarafina from the sunfire pride hot stuff." Care to have a beer with me?"

"Um no thank you I don't know what that is.

"Oaky you loose Hiccup

And I suppose you two must be Timon and Pumbaa…I heard Simba had a couple little friends hanging around with him."

"That's us," Pumbaa answered while Timon eyed the massive lion somewhat indignantly. "Little friends…" he muttered before turning away with a harrumph, his arms crossed in defiance.

Finally, the lion turned back to Nala. "And you're Nala, right?" he asked, continuing once he saw her nod curtly. "Yeah, I figured. Simba talked about you a little bit…said you were the prettiest lioness he'd ever seen." The lion's eyes swept from Nala's brow all the way to her paws. "And quite frankly, I can't say I disagree with him," he commented with a somewhat sultry smirk.

"Well yes..Nala grimaced.

"As for us, my name's Contra and this is my son San. He's gonna take my place one of these days, so I figured I'd bring him along and show him the ropes a bit." Who looked like a younger version of Contra. Who was spaced out a bit.

"SAN! "Oh, yeah, um…hi, everyone," he said

"You'll have to forgive him. He's a little brain-dead every now and then," Contra said Oh well.

Nala widened her grin a bit. The knot in her stomach was beginning to unwind a little bit. He might be a little blunt and his son might be a bit socially inept, but Contra seemed nice to her.

"So, getting back to the point, is Simba around?" "He's usually pretty punctual, isn't he?"

"Oh, um, he's right…" she said without thinking. She started thinking pretty soon after that, though, right around when she felt a set of miniscule but painfully sharp claws dig into her backside. She bit down hard on her tongue, but not before a tiny yelp slipped out from the back of her throat. She disarmed contra's questioning look with another grin, and tried to resist the urge to scream.

"He's…" she began without any clue as to where she'd finish. But just in time, she heard an almost silent cough waft back from somewhere behind her. And whether he'd meant to do it or he had just strained a little too hard in scraping half the fur off her back, Simba had just given Nala an idea.

"He's sick," she said, a hint of pride at her quick thinking sneaking into her voice. "He came down with something terrible last night. Could hardly even talk this morning."

"Oh that's too bad." Contra said

"Oh, yeah. Horrible. He's puking all over the place." This time, she only got a swat for her troubles. Oh, shut up back there, she grumbled to herself. I'm doing the best I can.

"Really" You would think he would remember why I'm here." contra raised an eyebrow.

"Yes well I think he knows you're here."

"Oh, I think he already knows." When met with yet another quizzical stare, she clenched her toes and ignored the groan near her hind legs. "I mean, he had a pretty good view from the cave where he's sleeping," she added, thinking back to the spacious cavern on the north side of Pride Rock where Rafiki usually cared for any wounded members of the pride. "He probably saw you coming from miles away."

"Really? Maybe I should go see him. We could probably just talk in there…"

"Uh, no, I don't think that would work," Nala replied quickly, and this time the nervousness in her voice was far too apparent. "Because, um…" But her mind was blank. For the first time in her life, Nala wished with all her heart that she had never been born.

"'E's very contagious," he sounded, sounding for all the world like the most excellent medical mind in the land and not like he had just been thinking that blue flowers would look very nice over his grave. "It's a bad case…one of de worst I've ever seen. You don't want to be anyone near him, believe me." Rafiki said to save the day

Nala nodded along with Rafiki, silently praising the day he was born the whole time. "Yeah, he probably won't be out of the sick cave for days," she added, taking in Rafiki's confirmation of her statement at the very edge of her vision. "Shame, isn't it?"

"Well it took us a very long time to come here so we shall wait till he is felling healthy.

Nala's jaw fell open, as did those of many of the other current inhabitants of the den. They wanted to stay? They couldn't possibly keep the truth from them for so long if they were looking over their shoulders every waking minute!

"Of course you can," Nala said with natural goodwill, flashing a "let me handle this" look to her increasingly panicked-looking compatriots. "There are plenty of nice caves on the south side of Pride Rock…I'm sure we can set you up with something. I'll have someone show you around the Pridelands tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me," he finally said after a brief pause and another nudge into his son's shoulder, who was much less proficient at hiding his lack of enthusiasm for the next day's activity than his father was. "Should we go look around over there now?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," Nala answered, intuitively knowing that her noiseless sigh of relief was being matched by the cub crouched behind her.

All be glad to show you. Sarabi said.

As soon as they were about to leave Contra noticed the cub.

"Don't you idiot."

"Who's this little guy?"

"Oh, we found him out in the grasslands a few weeks ago," she said. "He's mute."

"Is he now?

"Oh, yeah, doesn't say a word. We're not even he knows who we are," Nala continued with a nervous laugh. "But we love him anyway!" Simba's eyes were beginning to bulge out of their sockets at this point for various reasons, not all of them having to do with the immense pressure of Nala's paw on his breastbone.

"Uh-huh…so you've had him how long again?"

"Just a…few weeks. He's really quite friendly once you get to know him."

"Is that why he looks like he wants to kill us all?"

"Oh, um…well, he doesn't really like strangers. You should've seen him when we found him. Ha ha!"

"Oh, wow…um…" "Sorry about that, little guy. I'll…try not to be so scary next time." Contra said as he bent over to talk to the cub.

The longest awkward pause of the day overtook the den after Contra's remark, and in the end it was he who decided to bring it to a close. "Well, we're gonna go ahead and head out to that cave you were talking about," he said. "I think I need to lie down for a little while…you guys run a pretty strange pride over here."

Nala shrugged and tried to smile, but the muscles in her jaw had finally checked out for the day. With Nala's half-grimace, half-deranged grin encouraging their departure, Contra's and San were only too happy to escape.

After the coast was clear she turned to Simba.

"Look" I'm sooo sorry ok!"

I…I don't know, I just panicked, and you weren't talking so I thought I was supposed to say something and…"

"Yes I'm a mute!" "Or am I still the Wild Child?"

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" she shouted back. "What the hell was I supposed to tell them? 'Oh, him? Oh, that's just Simba. He's feeling a little child-like today. I'm sure you won't mind!'"

"No, I…I don't know either, Nala," he replied, and finally he looked just like Nala felt: broken. "I shouldn't be mad at you. It's not your fault, none of this is…I mean, you told me not to go up in the tree, and now look where we are. This whole thing's blown up into such a giant mess, and I don't have a damn clue what we're gonna do now."

"I'm sorry, Nal," he mumbled. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh, I forgive you, you sappy little bastard," she chuckled. "Don't worry about it."

So I'm a sappy little basted?

"Nah, not really. Got your attention, though, didn't it?"

I don't have to be deaf and dumb all the time, do I? Just around Contra and San right?

"Sure. Unless you're bad."

"You would do that?"

"I reserve the right to."

"Oh, come on!"

"Hey, respect your elders!"

Alright I forgive you!

It felt good to bicker like this, like today was just an everyday day where they could goof off and ignore their higher callings in favor of various other activities that might or might not be mentioned in the company of their mothers later. And deep down, Nala knew as well as Simba that this feeling could only last so long before reality came knocking and they'd be forced to sink deeper and deeper into the web of lies they were spinning around the whole pride. But just for now, just for this moment, they were free, and to the pair of inversely sized lions walking out of the den and into the sunlight, that was worth more than a hundred days of normality.

No one knew what lied ahead.