Author's Note: I apologize for not getting this out sooner, I was having some annoying computer problems while trying to type this. Also, I decided to save the recently requested KovuxSimba chapter for the next one, since I felt the flow of the story would work better if I wrote this one in first. (Plus it doesn't help that I am terrified at the thought of having to look through any of that just to get the material). Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and please review!

Chapter IV

Nala, after God knew how many minutes of murderous running, finally had Timon exactly where she wanted him. The meerkat stood fearfully in front of the lioness with an enormous, desolate gorge to his back, the very same one where Zira had plummeted to her death some time before. Timon looked up to Nala as she slowly walked closer and closer to him, backing him closer to the edge of the cliff. The look on her face just screamed of fury. The meerkat had never looked so frightened in his life as he trembled in fear for his life.

"Ah ha ha, Nala?" He said timidly. "W-we can work something out here, right? Can't we?"

Nala gave him a devious smile, one that almost looked to be of a sarcastic tone. She snarled, "Guess you should've thought of that before you showed my entire family those pictures!"

Timon started to breath heavily. Nala's shadow was cast upon him menacingly, and Nala's crooked smile intensified.

"Look, all I wanted was to laugh at your reactions to them! People do that all the time, don't they? Don't they, Nala?" Timon tried to say as calmly as possible. But to this, the lioness replied,

"Not in these lands we don't."

Timon gulped loudly. "Uh... guess I set myself up for that one."

However, before anything else could happen between the two, and before things could get physical, they showed up. To Nala and Timon's left as they stood there by the edge of the enormous cliff, prowled the three hyenas, who while watching this go down were even more confused than ever before. Nala didn't even notice them until Shenzi broke the brief silence among the scene.

"Uh... did we miss something here?" She asked.

Immediately, both Nala and Timon looked to their left, and their eyes widened with shock. Timon screamed, and Nala seemed to forget that the meerkat was even standing there. Growling, she crouched down into hunting position at the hyenas, unsheathing her claws. The hyenas took a step back as they stood side by side.

"What are you doing back in these lands?!" Nala exclaimed in a tone that made it clear that her anger was shifting away from Timon and towards the three of them.

Shenzi replied, "Who, whoa, take it easy there, kitty! We're not here to kill you or anything like that... anymore."

That last part she said to herself. Nala growled angrily as Timon cowardly hid behind her legs, too scared to even look at those three again.

"You know these lands are forbidden for hyenas!" The lioness shouted. "You'll have to deal with king Simba now!"

Banzai shook his head. "Look, you've got this all wrong." He said. "We're just here to, um... well, we've just gotta know something here."

Nala's tone and posture seemed to lighten slightly, but she looked no less ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. "What would you possibly need to know from us?"

This was met with more hysterical laughter from Ed, but Shenzi and Banzai ignored it. And after a moment of hesitation, Shenzi finally blurted out,

"What the hell were you talking about having sex with Scar for back there?"

At first Nala was nothing short of shocked that a hyena would ask such a think, but after a moment, it all started to make sense for the lioness. She lightened up significantly, and now even Timon came out from behind her legs to get a glimpse of the hyenas. He wondered if Shenzi still remembered the 'proposal' from some time ago. He hoped to God that she didn't.

"Ohh... I see what's going on here." Nala said, sounding relieved that the hyenas weren't trying to kill her this time around. She continued, "Oh, well that was nothing. It was just Timon here who..."

She trailed off into silence after that, staring blankly at the hyenas. In that instant, Nala had an idea. No, it was more than idea- a stroke of genius. Her eyes widened a bit, and then she smiled deviously. She had just realized that perhaps the hyenas did not need to deal with Simba for intruding after all. She had just realized a far, far more effective way of dealing with the likes of them.

"Hey..." Nala said after being met with perplexed looks. "You know what? Maybe you don't need to see Simba after all. I think I've got a better idea."

Banzai gulped in fear when she said this. He leaned in closer to Shenzi, and he whispered "I don't like the sound of that, Shenzi."

Nala chuckled to herself, imagining the glory that was her idea. "Oh trust me, guys... it's definitely not what you'll think it is..."

Back at the den of Pride Rock, Simba had left to see Rafiki, and see if there was anything that could be done to comfort him in his time of need. Kiara, Kovu, Kopa, Vitani, and Pumbaa all waited anxiously for the king's return, now beginning to fear for him. Pumbaa in particular was afraid. Breaking the silence, the warthog said to them all,

"I sure hope Timon makes it out of this okay."

Kopa looked over to him. "Ah, don't worry about it, Pumbaa. She'll probably get over it sooner or later."

Kovu snickered. "Keyword being probably." He remarked. Kopa shot him a glare.

"Uh yeah, thanks for the support, Kovu." He said sarcastically, turning his attention back to Pumbaa, who still sat beside the opened laptop.

"She sounded pretty serious about it." He said sadly, deeply worrying for the well-being of his friend. Kopa gave him a sad look.

Kiara rested her head into Kovu's jet-black mane, nuzzling him a bit. She said to him, "So... who's gonna be next?"

"What?" Vitani asked her. Kiara replied, "Well, who's gonna be the next one we look up when my father returns?"

Kopa seemed to slightly wince at his sister's question. He decided to reply, "I don't know about you, Kiara, but it sure as hell isn't gonna be me!"

Pumbaa looked up to the brown-maned lion. He said, "To tell the truth, you might want to. You're actually a pretty hot topic around the Internet, Kopa."

Kopa shot him a bit of an upset look. He said sarcastically, "Oh yeah, thanks, Pumbaa. That makes me feel so much better about it."

Pumbaa quickly corrected him. "What? No, no, Kopa! It's not like that... much. You're actually-"

But the warthog never got to finish that sentence. For at that moment, Simba had returned from his visit with Rafiki, which lightened the mood around the place greatly.

"Dad, you're back!" Kopa said with relief as he ran up to Simba. Kiara also walked up to her father. However, when the two siblings did so, they noticed that Simba had a bit of a worried look on his face that looked as though he knew something bad was going to happen. He said nothing.

"What? What is it?" Kiara asked him. With quite a bit of reluctance, Simba took a deep breath and looked upon his son and daughter, before he finally spoke.

"Well, I saw Rafiki." He said softly. From near the back of the den, Kovu asked Simba, "Yeah? What'd he say? Is everything alright?"

Simba replied, "Well... yes and no."

"Well why's that?" Vitani asked, with the four lions looking intently at the king now. Simba said,

"He said that there's a way to get over the stuff we saw... but you're not going to like it."

Kovu and Vitani both took a few steps closer to him. "Yeah? W-what is it?" Vitani stammered, as though afraid of what the answer would be.

Simba said to her, "He said that the only way we can overcome our fear... is to embrace the images firsthand. We have to look up the art for every single one of us and get them over with."

Everyone gasped when he said this. Vitani now knew why she was afraid to ask at first.

"No! That's sick!" Kopa commented, but Simba looked to him sadly. "It's the only way, Kopa. Rafiki said that if we don't do it, they could haunt us forever."

Pumbaa then spoke up to Simba' left. "Wait, Simba? He... he didn't question that we had a laptop with us, and that you figured out how to use it?"

Simba shrugged. "He's familiar with it, I suppose."

Kiara sighed. "If it's the only way... then there's no point in holding it off then. I'll go first, father."

Simba shook his head defensively. "No Kiara, not yet. Rafiki said that we should start with the absolute worst that the Internet could offer about us."

Kovu trembled at the thought of this. Unenthusiastically, Kovu asked Simba, "Well... what is it then?"

Simba gave his son-in-law a rather sad look. His head bowed so that he looked down to the laptop, away from him.

"I don't know, Kovu... it's not gonna be pretty."

"Simba, if it's the only way to get over all this, I'll look at anything I have to. Even if I have to see Kiara exploited like that... I'll do it for her."

Simba kept his head bowed, seeing no other way to say this as he uttered what he did next. "Kovu... we have to start by looking at the art about you and I having sex together."