Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since I have updated. School really is a pain in your butt -_-. By the way, as of right now I'm going to do this story in the narrator's point of view because even though I like getting into the feeling of my characters, certain parts that I want to express, I can't do that from only one point of view and switching back and forth from one view to the other is a little annoying so from this chapter until the end, it'll be told by the narrator. So let's get this chapter going!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE LION KING
Chapter 5 – "The Elephant Graveyard"
The three lion cubs ran away from the fiasco that Zazu was in and were laughing all the way.
"Alright! It worked" Simba exclaimed as he laughed.
"Yea we lost him!" Anaya joined in.
"I am a genius" Simba said proudly which made Anaya look at him.
"Hey genius, it was my idea" she said but he smirked at her.
"Yeah, but I pulled it off" he replied.
"You didn't do it alone" Nala said, but Anaya knew that she wasn't speaking on behalf of Anaya and herself.
"Please, you guys were just there to watch me work my magic" Simba said with a proud smirk, but Anaya rolled her eyes at him and then got a mischievous smile on her face.
"Oh yeah?" she challenged. Simba and Nala didn't see it coming when Anaya suddenly pounced on Simba and pinned him to the ground.
"Pinned ya" she said proudly and Simba scowled at her.
"Hey, let me up!" he said as he pushed her off of him. Anaya could see Nala was definitely upset by her actions but Anaya shrugged it off because she honestly could care less. Simba looked at Anaya and saw that her back was turned to him which gave him an idea. He grinned mischievously and suddenly pounced on Anaya's back but sent the both of them flying down a steep dirt hill. Simba hoped that he would pin her but it didn't work out in his favor because she pinned him again.
"Pinned ya again" she said with a smirk and just before Simba was about to counter that comment when a flash of steam appeared to the side of them, surprising them both. Nala slid down the hill and landed next to them and just stared in amazement with them. The 3 cubs then ascended up a little hill and came face-to-face with a huge skull of an elephant. Simba smiled excitedly at the sight because he could tell where they were.
"This is it! We made it!" he said.
"Where are we Simba?" Anaya asked.
"The Elephant Graveyard" he said as he went to the side and leaned on one of the long tusks of the elephant skull. Anaya curiously followed and then leaned against the tusks just like him. Both of them were shocked at what they saw and were amazed as well.
"Woah" the two said simultaneously as they gazed at all the bones lying all around them. Nala joined them and was amazed at what she saw as well.
"It's really creepy" Nala said.
"Yeah, isn't it great?" Simba said excitedly.
"We could get in big trouble" Anaya advised but Nala rolled her eyes and Simba smiled softly.
"Don't worry Anaya. We're just having some fun. Come on, it'll be great" Simba said as he placed a paw on her forehead. She nodded and smiled and then swatted his paw off of her head. The three cubs then looked at the Elephant Skull closely in curiosity at what could be inside.
"I wonder if its brains are still in there" Nala asked.
"There's only one way to know. Come on let's go check it out" Simba said walking towards the giant skull, but something flew in front of him.
"Wrong!" Zazu said, "The only checking out you will do is to check out of here!"
"Aww man!" The three cubs said.
"We're way beyond the boundaries of the Pridelands!" Zazu said as he nervously looked around. Simba chuckled.
"Look Banana-Beak is scared" he said and then Zazu scowled at him.
"It's Mr. Banana Beak to you, fuzzy! And right now we are all in very real danger" Zazu explained. Simba scoffed.
"Danger? Ha! I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger. HA HA HA HA!" he said confidently but then three laughing voices scared the 4 of them. Simba gasped and ran back over to his friends and all of their eyes widened when the saw three hyenas emerge from the elephant skull.
"Well, well Banzai, what do we have here?" One hyena said.
"Hmm, I don't know Shenzi. What do you think, Ed?" the one named Banzai said. The one named Ed just babbled something and laughed hysterically.
"Yeah, just what I was thinking. A quadruple of trespassers!" Banzai sneered at them.
"And quite by accident, I assure you. A simple navigational error" Zazu said nervously. They tried to walk away but Shenzi placed a paw on top of Zazu's tail, stopping him.
"Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, I know you. You're Mufasa's little stooge" she said with a dark smile. Zazu pushed her paw off and scowled at her.
"I, madam, am the king's major domo" he corrected. Banzai and Ed circled the three cubs and smiled maliciously at them.
"And that would make you" Banzai inquired towards Simba. Simba glared at him to prove that he wasn't scared.
"The future king!" he said. Shenzi joined her friends and circled the cubs and Zazu joined the cubs.
"Do you know what we do to kings who step out of their kingdom?" she asked. Simba scoffed at her.
"You can't do anything to me" he said but Zazu chuckled nervously.
"Umm...technically they can. We are on their land" Zazu said.
"But Zazu, you told me they're nothing but slobbery, mangy, stupid pooches" Simba reminded him. Anaya really wanted to slap Simba right now for saying that out loud.
"Ix-nay on the upid-stay" Zazu mumbled.
"Who you callin' upid-stay?" Banzai growled at them.
"My, my, my, oh look at the sun, it's time to go!" Zazu said as he hurriedly pushed the cubs away from the hyenas, but Shenzi hopped in front on them.
"What's the hurry? We'd love for you to stick around for dinner" she said, slightly baring her razor sharp teeth at them.
"Yeah, we can have whatever's….lion around!" Banzai joked and the hyenas laughed.
"Wait, wait, wait, I got one! Make mine a cub sandwich! What you think?" Shenzi said and they laughed again. Ed popped up in front of them and pointed towards something and babbled something unintelligible.
"What Ed? What is it?" Shenzi asked.
"Hey, did we order this dinner to go?" Banzai asked her.
"No, why?" she asked him.
"CUZ THERE IT GOES!" Banzai yelled as they all saw the three cubs and Zazu running away. Zazu flapped his wings as hard as he could, but one of the hyenas caught him and took him somewhere. Anaya, Simba and Nala ran as far as they could and then finally stopped to check to see if the hyenas were following them.
"Did we lose them?" Nala asked, panting.
"I think so. Come on, let's get out of here" Simba said, but Anaya stopped him.
"Wait! Where's Zazu?" she asked
"Forget him! He's probably hyena food by now! Let's just get out of here while we can!" Nala said but Anaya glared at her.
"No! Zazu is our friend and I'm not leaving here without him!" She stated. At the same time, the three of them heard Zazu yell.
"That's Zazu!" Anaya yelled and then ran towards the direction of his voice.
"Anaya! Wait!" Simba called to her as he ran after her. Nala groaned and followed Simba.
"AHHH!" Zazu yelled as Banzai man-handled him.
"And then the little major domo bird hippity hopped all the way to the birdie boiler!" Banzai said darkly as he dunked Zazu in.
"Oh no! Not the birdie boiler! AHHH!" Zazu yelled as he was blasted out towards some unknown direction. The hyenas laughed hysterically at their antics. The three cubs saw what they did and Simba glared at them.
"Hey! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Simba said.
"Like….you!" Shenzi said.
"Oops" Simba said as the hyenas charged at them, trying to grab them with their teeth. The cubs ran as fast as they could from the hyenas clutches and ran up a large skull and then three of them slid down the spine of the animal and flew onto a pile of bones. They used their claws and hurriedly ran up the pile. Simba and Anaya were almost to the top, but then they heard Nala's scared voice.
"SIMBA!" she yelled and the two looked down and gasped when they saw that she was slipping down the pile.
"Hang on, Nala!" Simba said and was just about to go down to help her, but Anaya ran down the pile instead. Shenzi was coming up behind Nala and opened her mouth to eat the little cub but Anaya came in front of Shenzi, extended her claws and scratched Shenzi across the face, drawing blood from Shenzi's wound. Shenzi fell back down the hill and growled at Anaya for what she had done. Nala stared up at Anaya, seeing that she had just saved her life. Anaya smiled softly at her and got behind Nala, nudging her up.
"Come on, we gotta hurry" Anaya said and Nala nodded her head and hurriedly climbed up the pile, Anaya following behind her. The three cubs finally made it up the hill and ran into a cave but had hit a dead end. Simba looked up and saw that there was a ledge that they could hop onto and leave from. They ran up the skeleton bones and tried to jump up onto the ledge, but the bones gave out and they fell to the ground. They looked up and gasped as they saw the hyenas stalking towards them.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty" Banzai said darkly. Simba stood in front of Anaya and Nala and tried to roar at them, but it came out like a cat being strangled.
"That was it? Do it again, come on" Shenzi pursued. Simba roared again but this time, it sounded like a roar that could scare the life out of you. The hyenas, Nala and Anaya all gaped at him.
"Huh?" the hyenas said and then suddenly they were knocked to the ground by a huge paw. The hyenas were rolling around on the ground trying to get away from the animal and when the cubs looked closely, they saw that it was King Mufasa! Mufasa roared at them and slapped them around with his paw and they tried hard to fight him off, but were unsuccessful from their attempts. Zazu flew over to the three cubs and Anaya looked at him.
"Zazu, did you get Mufasa here?" she asked.
"Yes, I had to" he said. Suddenly, they all heard a loud roar and looked to see Mufasa pinning the hyenas onto the ground. They begged him to let them up and kept repeating that they surrendered to him.
"SILENCE!" Mufasa roared and they quieted down.
"If you ever come near my son again…" Mufasa warned them.
"Oh this is,…this your son?" Shenzi asked and then all of them laughed nervously.
"Did you know that?" she asked Banzai.
"No, me? I didn't know. Did you?" he asked her.
"No, of course not" she replied and then they turned their attention to Ed.
"Ed?" they asked and he nodded his head to which Mufasa roared angrily at.
"Umm toodles" Banzai said and they ran out of the cave as quickly as they came. Zazu flew over to Mufasa and smiled proudly at him, but Mufasa glared harshly at him, making Zazu cower. Simba, Anaya and Nala came up behind Mufasa and Simba tried to talk to him.
"Dad, I-"
"You deliberately disobeyed me" Mufasa said with anger and surprise in his voice. Simba looked down in shame.
"Dad, I'm….I'm sorry" he said quietly, but Mufasa looked angrily at him.
"Let's go home" he said harshly and walked off ahead. Zazu flew behind him and looked down at the cubs. All the cubs had their heads down in shame for what they had done and quietly followed behind Mufasa.
After leaving the cave and walking through the fields for about 5-10 minutes, Mufasa stopped walking.
"Zazu!" he called. Zazu immediately flew to him and landed in front of him.
"Y-Yes, sire?" he asked cautiously.
"Take Nala and Anaya home. I need to teach my son a lesson" he said looking over at Simba who ducked his head. Zazu flew back to the cubs and told Anaya and Nala that he would be taking them home and then wished Simba good luck. Anaya bumped heads with him before her and Nala left with Zazu.
"Simba!" Mufasa called and Simba flinched because he knew that he was in deep trouble with his father. He reluctantly walked over to him, but suddenly walked into his father's footprint and looked at the size of it. He sighed and walked to his father's side and sat next to him, keeping his face down until he finally decided to look up. Mufasa closed his eyes and looked down at his son with disappointment in his eyes.
"Simba, I'm very disappointed in you" he said. Simba looked down again.
"I know" he said
"You could have been killed! You deliberately disobeyed me! And what's worse, you put Nala and Anaya in danger!" Mufasa stated. Simba started to tear up.
"I was just trying to be brave like you" he sobbed.
"I'm only brave when I have to be. Simba, being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble" Mufasa explained.
"But you're not scared of anything" Simba said. Mufasa looked down this time.
"I was today" he said quietly.
"You were?" Simba asked with confusion.
"Yes, I thought I might lose you" Mufasa said.
"Huh, I guess even kings get scared, huh?" Simba said and Mufasa nodded his head.
"But you know what?" Simba said.
"What?" Mufasa asked.
"I think those hyenas were even scareder" Mufasa chuckled at his son.
"Cuz nobody messes with your dad. Come here you!" Mufasa said lowly with a smirk and then wrapped Simba up his arms and gave him a noogy. Simba laughed and slipped out of Mufasa's grasp and tried to pounce on him but his father ducked and ran away from him, laughing. Simba caught up to him and then laughed when he pounced on him biting his father's ear playfully before letting go and sitting on top of Mufasa's head.
"Dad?" he asked. Mufasa looked up at him.
"We're pals, right?" Simba asked and Mufasa chuckled.
"Right" he replied
"And we'll always be together, right?" Simba asked. Mufasa leaned up a little and looked up at Simba.
"Simba, let me tell you something that my father told me. Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars" he said.
"Really?" Simba said.
"Yes. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so will I" Mufasa said to his son as they looked intently at the stars.
MEANWHILE….
Zazu was still leading the cubs home, neither of them saying anything about anything. Anaya was saddened by what she had done today and very ashamed and disappointed at herself. She knew she could have stopped it or at least walked away from what they were doing, but at the same time, she didn't want Simba to think that she was scared or too afraid to not go, but truthfully she was. She also knew that Zahra was going to be disappointed in her, not to mention Queen Sarabi because they both trusted her, especially Zahra. How could she do that? How could she betray Zahra's trust like that? Anaya felt that she was a terrible daughter to Zahra. As they neared Pride Rock, Anaya heard a rustling sound come from the trees above them. She looked up and stared before walking again. The rustling sound came again and this time a small giggle followed after the sound. Anaya stopped walking and then smiled. She knew that little giggle anywhere and remembered it very well.
"Rafiki?" she said to the trees, but there was no answer. She looked ahead and saw that Zazu and Nala were still headed towards home, not even noticing that she wasn't following them anymore. Anaya crouched down, readied her claws and then leaped onto the tree trunk and then climbed it. She sat on a tree branch and called his name again.
"Rafiki? Are you here?" she said and then the laughter came again making her smile. Then suddenly, the old baboon appeared next to her smiling brightly.
"It is good to see you, young one" Rafiki said. Anaya grinned and nuzzled her head against his side.
"It's good to see you too, Rafiki. I missed you" she said mumbled against his side. Rafiki chuckled.
"Rafiki missed you too, young one. But you seem sad? Tell Rafiki what troubles you" he asked. Anaya sighed and looked at the stars instead of him.
"I…I made a mistake today" she said and Rafiki smiled.
"Mistakes are made every day" he replied.
"I know but I feel….awful and ashamed. I knew I could have said something but I chose not too and not only that, but…I betrayed Zahra's trust and that alone is making me feel worse right now" she said sadly. Rafiki rubbed that soft spot behind her ears, making Anaya purr in content before he spoke.
"Sometimes we listen to our minds more than our hearts and sometimes de choices we make from our heads is not always the wisest, but dat does not make us ignorant. Making mistakes makes us smarter in our decisions and learning from those mistakes makes us stronger, young one" he advised. Anaya smiled at her friend and leaned against him. Rafiki was so wise and it made her happy that she had someone to talk to besides Mufasa and Simba.
"Thank you Rafiki, but what do I say to Zahra?" she asked timidly and Rafiki smiled.
"Owning up to your actions is also part of de circle of life" he replied and she nodded her head. She knew what she had to do. She nuzzled Rafiki's side one more time and looked up at him.
"I better go home before Zahra worries" she said as she started hopping down the tree until she landed on the soft grass.
"Remember, young one. De only journey, is the one from within" Rafiki said and then disappeared with a giggle. Anaya quirked an eyebrow at what he just said, but then shrugged it off and then ran towards Pride Rock, feeling stronger and smarter than she was before.
There you go! Chapter 5 is finally done! Anyways once again I'm terribly sorry for the long delay, but I've finally come over my writer's block and am back in business so I'll start updating really soon! So review and let me know what you think!