Timon and Shenzi were heading for Pride Rock, when they stopped in a stand of tall grasses, where a sudden snapping sound startled them.
"Hello?" Shenzi said meekly.
"Strange, but wise monkey?" Timon said nervously as they stood on a rock. A flock of birds suddenly took off nearby, startling them again, and by instinct, Shenzi lunged forward, and wrapped her arms around Timon's neck. He just wrapped his arms around her.
A weird, grunting roar and a bulky shape coming their way fast made them tighten their grips on each other in fear, before they separated, and made a run for it. The ominous sound pursued the pair as they ran blindly through the grass, before they skidded to a stop in front of a huge snout blocking their path.
"Aaaah!" The creature, who turned out to be a red warthog, screamed in fear.
"Aaaah!" Timon screamed as well.
"Aaaah!" Shenzi screamed in fear as well.
"Aaaah!"
"Aaaah!"
"Aaaah!"
"Aaaah!"
"Aaaah!"
"Aaaah!"
"Aaaah!" They all screamed at the same time, when Timon paused the movie in the audience.
"You know, first impressions are very important," Pumbaa said.
"Oh, I thought you were a scream," Timon remarked before starting the movie again.
"Aaaah!"
"Just eat me now, but please don't eat Shenzi!" Timon pleaded, "And make it fast; I have a low threshold for pain!"
"Easy, easy there, little guy, I'm not gonna eat you guys," The warthog assured him.
"What? You're not?" Timon said indignantly.
"Then why were you stalking us?" Shenzi asked him.
"Well, gee, I saw you go by and I figured a couple little fellas like you shouldn't be out here all alone," He said.
"Hey, what about you? You're all alone," Timon pointed out, "You are all alone, aren't you?" He asked him more apprehensively.
"Yeah," The warthog said ruefully, "Most animals give me a pretty wide berth."
"They do?" Timon started getting an idea, "Even the hungry ones?"
"Yeah, I drive almost everyone away. People see me comin', and they run for cover. They can't get out of the way fast enough," He said as Timon was playing with one of his hooves like a pair of scissors.
"You don't say, you don't say. Must be the vicious gleam of those tusks, huh? Strikes fear into their hearts."
"Actually, they say I wreck their appetite." Shenzi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Wow, it's like you have this-this…" A scheming Timon remarked, "Special power."
"Special power?" The warthog backed away nervously, "Well, i-it's pretty powerful, all right." He gestured to his rump indistinctly.
"Perfect! You're hired," Timon decided.
"Great!... for what?"
"To get me and my friend here to a little worry-free haven out of that big, pointy rock," The meerkat pulled Shenzi close to him for emphasis before referring to Pride Rock.
"And… you want me to come with you?" He knelt down next to them.
"Haha, do you see any other big loveable chunk of warthog here, who also happens to have razor-sharp tusks and the ability to repel predators?" Timon smiled ingratiatingly.
"I'm your pig," He smiled back.
"You, me and her, I can tell… we see eye to eye. All three of us."
"You mean, like friends?" The warthog asked, sounding hopeful.
"Whoa, easy there, big fella. I'd say more like… "acquaintances,"" Timon said, using air quotes.
"Oh. Well, it's a start," He brightened up.
"Put 'er there, acquaintance," Timon shook his hoof, "I'm Timon."
"Shenzi," The tiny hyena shook his other hoof.
"Pumbaa!" The warthog said cheerfully.
"No, really," Timon said, but he just smiled sincerely at them. "All right then. Let's hit the road."
"You got it, acquaintances." The trio started heading for Pride Rock together.
"So, clear up one thing for me," Timon started, "If you weren't gonna eat us, what kind of a wacky wild pig are you?"
"I'm an insectivore," Pumbaa told them.
"Oh ho! A bug eater! Well, us too," Timon referred to Shenzi and himself, "I just never had a name for it. I'm kinda partial to the crawly critters. Same with Shen here. How about you, big boy?"
"I prefer the ones with wings."
"Pumbaa, this could be the start of a beautiful… acquaintanceship," Timon remarked. The trio walked across the plains as the sun started rising in the horizon.
"Okay, so now we're back at the beginning, right Timon?" Pumbaa asked the meerkat from the audience.
"Oh, you got that right, pally," Timon said, before he started narrating. "At last, things were looking up. We had the sun on my shoulders, the wind at our heels, a song in our hearts."
"Aah!" They all screamed and made a run for it as a bunch of animals started bearing down towards them.
"And to protect us, a great, big, fat guy!" Pumbaa suddenly paused the movie.
"You really think I look fat?" He asked in a shocked tone.
"Pumbaa, Pumbaa, Pumbaa," Timon sighed, "You're a pig; it's a compliment!"
"Oh-ho-ho, thank you!" He said in a mollified way before he started the movie again.
"Whoo-hoo!" Timon cheered, "There it is, the big pointy rock! Oh baby, we're almost there!" Pumbaa skidded to a stop when they saw that Pride Rock was surrounded by hundreds of animals.
"I think we're a little late," Pumbaa thought aloud.
"It's a land rush; That loudmouth monkey! He must have blabbed it to the whole world!" Timon exclaimed.
"What exactly did he say?"
"Look beyond what you see," The meerkat quoted Rafiki's words, and imitated his voice.
"So, maybe you're supposed to look beyond the big, pointy rock," Pumbaa thought aloud.
"Maybe I'm supposed to look beyond the big, pointy rock," Timon said as if he thought of it himself. Shenzi raised an eyebrow at him.
"Hmm?" Pumbaa furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Well… let's have a little look, shall we? Beyond what I see… beyond what I see… beyond what I see," The meerkat spotted a small hill with a little cave in it located behind Pride Rock. "Oh ho! What do you know? The monkey's got an eagle eye for real estate!"
"Guys, look!" Pumbaa referred to a ceremony happening on Pride Rock.
"He-he-hey! It's the monkey!" Timon exclaimed.
"What's that he's holding up?" Shenzi wondered aloud. Rafiki was holding baby Simba up.
"Aw, who cares? It's not important," Timon waved it off, "Come on! Our dream home awaits!"
The trio approached the gathering from behind, but Pumbaa started getting nervous. "Uh, I don't do so well in crowds," He said, "Maybe we better go around."
"Don't you know the shortest distance between us and our dream home is a straight line? Follow me!" They started pushing through the crowd; or at least Timon was. "Excuse me! Make room, make room. Watch it, Twiggy. I'm walkin' here!" Shenzi didn't like the way everyone was looking at them; they were glowering down at them.
Suddenly, Pumbaa's stomach started gurgling fiercely, and he sat down in the emergency mode. "Ahem… guys?" The meerkat and tiny hyena turned around, "There's somethin' I gotta tell ya."
"Pumbaa, Pumbaa, Pumbaa," Timon walked up to him, "We'll have plenty of time to chat once we settle in." They continued walking.
"I could really use a rest stop!" Pumbaa turned around to go back, but Timon turned him back.
"Don't worry; you'll get your second wind," Shenzi assured him.
"Ohh!" His stomach gurgled again, as he broke into a sweat, "I got a really bad feeling!"
"It'll pass," Timon told him, "Trust me! It'll pass." He tried to pull him by his tail, but Pumbaa released a massive fart from that. An elephant freaked out and let out a trumpet noise as the animals around them passed out from the stench.
"Oh look, the rhinos are bowing," A zebra pointed out, unaware of what had just happened.
"Ooh, we better bow too," Another zebra said as they bowed down, followed by the rest of the animals. Up on the promontory, Mufasa and Zazu were oblivious to what had happened with the trio.
"Look sire; how they kneel before the royal son," Zazu pointed out happily.
With the trio, Shenzi and Timon stood aghast at what just happened, their hair a bit on fire, until it sizzled out.
"So, I guess that's your special power, huh?" Timon asked Pumbaa, he and Shenzi now thrilled.
"What a weapon!" Shenzi complimented.
"Uh, you mean, you don't mind?" Pumbaa asked them.
"Haha, you kidding? It was a gas!" Timon laughed, as Shenzi giggled along with him.
Pumbaa's spirit had risen up a bit. "Well, I don't like to toot my own horn…"
"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Timon decided, "Let's go, guys!"
"Lead the way!" Pumbaa exclaimed happily as they continued walking to their destination.
(A/N: The original movie and its characters belong to Disney.)