*Chapter 7: I Just Can't Wait to be King!*
After meeting with his uncle Scar, Simba ran down a hill past other lionesses from the pride to meet with his mother Sarabi, his human brother Ajani, his best friend Nala, and her mother. Nala was a lion cub that was Simba's age who had cream-colored fur, and green eyes looking almost exactly like her mother. Sarabi was resting on top of a rock being in the shade of a tree while Ajani was busy using a rock to sharpen the point of his spear as Simba came running towards them.
"Hey, Ajani! How's your chat with Iris?" Simba asked.
"It was good. Tell you about it later, little brother." Ajani replied as he lightly tapped the end of the spear. "What about your chat with your uncle?"
"It was good as well." Simba said as he watched Ajani finished tying the point of the spear to the stich. "That's as sharp as our claws." He said nervously. Ajani chuckled a bit.
"Can't blame me for being a human. I need this to collect fruit from high branches and use it to protect us." Ajani told him by petting the lion cub's head. Simba smiled at him. He came towards his friend Nala while she was getting licked clean by her mother.
"Hey, Nala."
"Hi, Simba." Nala responded with a smile.
"Come on! I just heard about this great place that I wanted to show you and Ajani." Simba whispered to her.
"Simba! I'm kinda in the middle of a bath." Nala told him as she is getting licked clean by her mother.
"And it's time for yours." Sarabi's voice spoke as she just woken up. Simba flinched at this. Simba attempted to make a run for it, but Sarabi grabbed him by the head, placed him in her paws and began licking him clean. The young cub whined as he kept attempting to escape from his mother's grasp.
"Mom!" He complained as Sarabi started licking the top of his head, causing his hairs to stick up. "Mom! You're messing up my mane!" Sarabi smiled down at him in response while Ajani just sat there and smirked at the scene. Simba then climbed out of his mother's paws and asked while smoothing out the top of his head. "Okay! Okay! I'm clean! Can we go now?"
"So where are we going? It better not be any place dumb." Nala asked.
"No! It's really cool." Simba answered. Ajani raised his eyebrow at this. He's intrigued of where the cubs might go. He should join them since he is armed with his spear and will protect Simba from anything.
"So where is this really cool place?" Sarabi asked.
"Oh... Around the waterhole."
"The waterhole?" Both Nala and Ajani asked at the same time.
"What's so great about the waterhole?" Nala asked.
"Yeah, Simba. We've been there so many times." Ajani spoke. "What's going on there?"
"I'll show you when we get there!" Simba said to Nala, gritting his teeth. Nala caught on.
"Oh! Uh, Mom? Can I go with Simba?" She turned to her mother, hoping she could play and go wherever Simba had in mind.
"Hmm...What do you think Sarabi?"
"Well..." Sarabi raised her brow at the cubs who turned to her and pleaded.
"Please!"
"It's alright with me." Sarabi finally responded. The two cubs cheered with joy as they began to run around excitedly. "As long as Ajani goes with you."
"Alright! We wanted him to come with us!" Simba said, jumping on Ajani's back playfully. The boy chuckled and placed his spear behind his back. Ajani was told to keep an eye on both cubs. Nala was easy to look after a couple of times, but it's Simba who is a handful. Ajani had a feeling that Simba is up to something today. Where is the special place they are going?
"And as long as Zazu goes with you." Sarabi added with a smile. The three stopped and Simba exclaimed as he and Nala looked to each other with dismay while Ajani looked to them with a raised brow.
"No! Not Zazu!"
Ajani walked behind the two cubs as they started walking on a path towards the waterhole with Zazu leading the way, unknown to what Simba really had in mind. The hornbill flew above the trio.
"Alright, step lively! The sooner we get to the waterhole, the sooner we can leave." He spoke. As they continued walking, Ajani heard Nala ask Simba in a whisper.
"So, where we really going?"
"An Elephant Graveyard."
"Wow!" Nala exclaimed excitedly.
"Shh! Zazu!" Simba hissed at his friend.
"Right! So how are we going to ditch the dodo?"
"Guys, hold up." Ajani spoke as he moved passed them and stopped in front of them with a serious look on his face. He knew that Mufasa had already told them not to go to the Elephant Graveyard earlier. But most of all, Ajani knew that Mufasa would kill him if he let them go down to that dark border or if anything happened to them. "I really don't think this is good idea." Ajani said to the lion cubs.
"Why not?" Simba asked.
"Because Simba, your father already said we are not allowed to go there. It sounds like a very dangerous place." Ajani said by kneeling down. "I can't let you guys go there."
"Who said anything about me and Nala going alone? We have you to protect us." Simba said. "My dad taught you how to fight, didn't he?"
"He did, but-"
"And you are a human. And you carry that spear all the time." Nala added. Ajani is silent for a moment. The cubs are right. He was taught by Mufasa and was already trusted with his role to be a protector to his pride and Simba. Still, going to the Elephant Graveyard is a bad idea.
"C'mon, Ajani. It'll be great!" Simba begged. "Nothing will go wrong as long as you're with me and Nala. Please?" Ajani sighed in defeat.
"Fine. But only for a little bit." He said. "If anything goes wrong, you two will have to run for it while I take care of the danger, got it?" The two cubs nodded in understanding.
"So, what about Zazu? How are we going to get rid of him?" Nala asked as the continued walking towards the waterhole. Simba and Ajani started to form a plan. Flying above them, Zazu caught a glimpse of Simba and Nala chatting together with a smile and flying down towards the two and Ajani.
"Oh, just look at you two. Little seeds of romance blossoming in the Savannah. Your parents and Ajani will be thrilled, what with your being betrothed and all."
"Be-what?" Simba asked with a raised brow.
"Betrothed! Intended. Affianced." Zazu told him. Both the cubs looked at each other, not understanding the words at all. Ajani crossed his arms at the hornbill with a smirk.
"Oh, I get it." He spoke, holding back his giggle.
"Meaning?" Nala asked confusingly.
"One day you two will be married." Zazu answered with a smile. Ajani laughed at the cubs exclaimed with disgusted looks.
"I can't marry her! She's my friend!" Simba said.
"Yeah, it'll be so weird." Nala said, agreeing with him. Zazu spoke while Simba made fun of him by mouthing to his voice, causing both Nala and Ajani to smirk.
"And sorry to burst your bubble! But you two turtledoves have no choice. It's a tradition going back generations."
"Well, when I'm king that'll be the first thing to go." Simba said.
"Not so long as I'm around." Zazu added.
"Well in that case you're fired." Simba said walking close to Zazu.
"Nice try, but only the king can do that."
"Well, he's the future king." Nala argued.
"Yeah, so you have to do what we tell you." Simba said as he poked the hornbill who is getting annoyed with the cubs. Zazu snapped while the cubs and the boy started walking away from him.
"Not yet I don't! And with an attitude like that, I'm afraid you are shaping up to being a very pathetic king indeed!"
"Hmm, not the way I see it!" Simba said with a mischievous smirk. The Savannah turned into vibrant colors as Simba began singing while backing Zazu up into a tree trunk, causing the hornbill to get stuck in one of the small holes.
"I'm gonna be a mighty king,
So, enemies, beware!"
"Well, I've never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair." Zazu replied by getting out of the hole and plucked one of Simba's hairs. Simba got a bunch of red leaves to make it look like a mane, shook it off, climbed up to the top of the tree and roared at Zazu, causing the little bird to fly back into a mud puddle as the young cub sang.
"I'm gonna be the main event,
Like no king was before.
I'm brushing up on looking down,
I'm working on my ROAR!"
"Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing." Zazu said as he got out of the mud puddle and used what seemed like to be a giant leaf as a towel, blowing his nose into it. He looked up however and realized it was the ear of an elephant, causing the big creature to smack Zazu away with its trunk. The hornbill squawked as he had skipped the river like a rock and Simba sang while he, Nala, and Ajani went gliding across the water as a flock of flamingos nearby them all flew away.
"Oh, I just can't wait to be king!"
"You've rather a long way to go, young master. If you think..." Zazu said as waddled towards a small riverbank as the two cubs and the boy came on each side of him. He was interrupted as the three are making faces at him while singing.
"No one saying, 'Do this!'"
"Now when I said that, I-"
"No one saying, 'Be there!'"
"What I meant was-"
"No one saying, 'Stop that!'"
"Look, what you don't realize-"
"No one saying, 'See here!'"
"Now see here!" Zazu shouted but got ran over by ostriches. Simba sang as he and Nala rode on the two ostriches while Ajani ran alongside them.
"Free to run around all day!"
"Well, that's definitely out." Zazu said rather dismayed while flying after the bunch.
"Free to do it all my way!"
Zazu did the best he could to keep up with the group as he sang in an attempt to stop them.
"I think it's time that you and I,
Arranged a heart-to-heart."
But he ended up running into the butt of a rhino, with Simba singing as he and the rest of the group ran off in another direction. Ajani laughed as he followed the cubs to avoid Zazu.
"Kings don't need advice,
From little hornbills for a start."
Zazu started riding on a log all the way down a river, and squawked as fell down the waterfall, singing as he flew away from the river to catch up with the trio.
"If this is where the monarchy is headed,
Count me out!
Out of service, out of Africa!
I wouldn't hang about!
This child is getting wildly out of wing."
Simba sang as he, Nala, and Ajani walked through two lines of zebras that were standing regally for them.
"Oh, I just can't wait to be king!"
Zazu attempted to walk through the same crowd, only to have the zebras turn around and raise their tails up at him, causing the poor hornbill to crouch down and cover himself in dismay. In the meantime, Simba and Nala started running under a herd of elephants with Ajani running alongside them by skipping along with the song. Zazu flew below the animals to try to spot the two cubs and human boy, only to have Simba sitting on top of a giraffe's head as he directed the other animals to go in left and right directions, while managing to trample on Zazu in the process. He continued to sing as he leapt on each giraffe head, slid down, and stood in the center of a spotlight.
"Everybody look left!
Everybody look right!
Everywhere you look I'm...
Standing in the spotlight!"
"Not yet!" Zazu snapped while failing to attempt to get through a giraffe and zebra. Simba and Ajani whispered their plan to each other, and then to a hippo, giraffe, and monkey. As Zazu began to dust himself off, a bunch of monkeys grabbed him and swung him up into a tree, picking him for bugs while a herd of giraffes swung Simba and Nala up in the air as Ajani watched with a grin.
"Let every creature go for broke and sing!
Let's hear it in the herd and on the wing!
It's gonna be King Simba's finest fling!"
All the animals started to form on top of each other like a pyramid, with Simba and Nala, and riding on top of an ostrich.
"Tell 'em, little brother!" Ajani praised the prince of the Pride Lands.
"Oh, I just can't wait to be king!
Oh, I just can't wait to be king!"
Just then, Nia appeared to see the end of the musical number. Her eyes widen to see Simba and Nala on top of the animal pyramid. But one of the elephants noticed the hyena cub and let out a cry of alarm. The animals started to topple as they all sang the final note. Ajani watched in worry as the animals are starting to collapse.
"Uh-oh..." He whispered.
"Oh, I just can't wait...
Just can't wait!
To be king!"
Ajani managed to catch the two lion cubs safely and ran off along with Nia while the rest of the animal pyramid collapsed with a rhino falling directly on top of Zazu. The poor hornbill shouted through a muffle, calling for the trio.
"I beg your pardon, madam. But... GET OFF! SIMBA! NALA! AJANI!"