Chapter 2
Later that afternoon, Rhonda and her friends were gathering in a circle next to a large tree as they were busy having a secret meeting.
"So last night these monsters somehow wound up crash-landing into your house through a large blue portal?" Luthor retorted incredulously.
"And you also ran into a lion cub in the woods on the way to school?" Katie interjected with a raised eyebrow.
"That's pretty much what happened," Rhonda nodded.
"So what are we going to do now?" Katie inquired.
"Well, we definitely need to head over to the IDA headquarters after school and let Mum know what is happening. Maybe she might even know what happened with Simba's family," Jasmine suggested.
"Yeah, that's what I was planning on doing anyway before Mum forced me to go to school today," Rhonda retorted with an annoyed sigh.
"Uh, guys, I hate to interrupt, but I'm really hungry," Simba groaned. "I haven't eaten anything all day."
"Well, I did manage to get some meatloaf from the cafeteria; this should hold you over for a while," Rhonda said as she offered him a slab of meatloaf wrapped in aluminum foil.
"Thanks!" Simba beamed as Rhonda opened up the aluminum foil and she watched as Simba began to dig into the meat and eat his fill.
"So… what exactly do you Digimon do?" Katie inquired curiously while glancing over at the Digimon.
"Well, we have the ability to Digi-volve using a special hand-held device called Digivices," Agumon explained as he looked over at Katie questioningly. "But it doesn't seem like you have any."
"Well that's just freaking great," Jasmine rolled her eyes with a groan. "How in the world are we even going to get a hold of those Digivices?"
"Well… maybe you can accept us as your partners and that will allow you to be able to use the Digivices at will," Veemon suggested.
"Well, it's worth a try then," Luthor nodded as he glanced over at Gabumon. "I choose this one."
"He's with me," Jasmine declared as she pointed at Veemon.
"I'm going to choose this guy," Rhonda declared as she smiled at Agumon.
"Well I'm going to choose this little cute kitty to be my partner," Katie smiled as she looked at Gatomon.
"Hey, guys; what's going on?" Shirley announced as she walked over to the group.
"Well, Rhonda found a bunch of monsters in her house last night and we're now all choosing them as our partners," Katie explained.
"Cool, cool," Shirley nodded as she walked over to the two remaining Digimon and glanced over at Biyomon. "I guess you're going with me then."
"Hey, what are you guys doing sitting underneath that large tree?" a female French accent addressed them.
Rhonda and her friends then turned their attention to see a dark-haired Japanese girl approaching them. She had short and spiky black raven hair with sparkling violet eyes and dark small freckles on her face. She was also wearing a dark midnight blue polo shirt with a pair of khaki shorts and white sneakers.
"Hey, aren't you that new kid that just moved from France a couple of weeks ago?" Shirley inquired curiously with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, I am," the dark-haired Japanese girl answered softly, averting her gaze bashfully. "The name's Yuki. Yuki Saito."
"Shirley Brown," Shirley introduced herself as she motioned over to the rest of the group. "These are my friends Rhonda Petrie, Katie Rosenberg, Luthor Johnson and Jasmine Shirvani."
"Pleasure to meet you all, everyone," Yuki replied with a demure, polite smile.
"Why don't you join us, Yuki? We can fill you in on everything that has been happening so far," Rhonda offered.
"I would love to," Yuki smiled as she walked over to the group and sat down.
Patamon then sauntered over to Yuki and gazed up at her expectantly.
"Hello there; would you like to be my partner?"
"I don't see why not, little one," Yuki replied with a sweet smile. "I would love to be your friend."
"Yay!" Patamon cheered as she jumped into Yuki's arms and snuggled close to her chest.
It was then that Rhonda and her friends continued to hang out together underneath the big tree as they spent the rest of recess getting to know each other better.
TLSTLSTLSTLS
Meanwhile, a young cream-colored lioness cub and a blue hornbill were wandering the streets of London as they were passing by hundreds of people going about their day.
"Wow, I've never seen so many humans in my entire life," Nala marveled. "I've only heard stories about them but I never really thought that I was ever going to see one."
"Yeah, too crowded if you ask me," Zazu grimaced as he was scanning his surroundings anxiously. "I honestly don't know how we're even going to find Simba at this rate with so many humans out and about."
Just then, the pair saw several people screaming and running away in a terrified panic as they heard loud growls and hisses echoing in the air.
"What was that?" Zazu stammered fearfully as he suddenly froze in place with his feathers standing on edge.
"That doesn't sound quite like hyenas, does it, Zazu?" Nala frowned quizzically with her ears folded against her head suspiciously.
Zazu just whimpered softly as he shook his head silently as if to say "No", with his eyes still wide with fear and terror.
Just then, they turned around to see a small pack of velociraptors charging right at them with even more hisses and snarls.
"RUN!" Zazu yelled as he and Nala quickly bolted away from the pack of vicious raptors.
For the next several minutes the pair tried desperately to shake off their pursuers as they saw even more people scattering and racing away with blood-curling screams and cries.
"Stay close, Nala! We need to stick together!" Zazu ordered.
"Okay!" Nala nodded.
It wasn't long before they entered a large public park as they frantically dashed across the lush grassy terrain. Some of the women walking their dogs then let out a panicked scream as they pulled on their dogs' leash and bolted with their pets, shrieking wildly with their arms flailing about.
"They're not stopping, Zazu! What do we do?" Nala panted as she mustered up all of the energy that she had to keep running even as she felt herself beginning to tire out.
"Just keep running, Nala! Just keep running!" Zazu bellowed.
It was then that the pair exited the park and dashed across the street just as they narrowly avoided being hit by an oncoming red tourist bus. However, it ended up hitting one of the velociraptors as it attempted to cross the street and continued its dogged pursuit of its prey. Another one of the velociraptors jumped and landed on the red tourist bus as it tore and ripped into the vehicle with its teeth and claws and snarled at the passengers, terrifying them.
"Dear merciful Lord!" the bus driver exclaimed, cowering in fear.
The velociraptor then slipped into the bus as it crept up slowly towards him with a sadistic and malevolent grin before letting out a loud, shrill roar, causing him to scream even more in fright and horror.
Meanwhile, Zazu and Nala raced into a nearby strip mall as they stopped in front of a marble fountain to rest and catch their breath.
"We should be safe here for the moment," Zazu said as he was panting and gasping heavily with his wings sagging. "Great Kings above I don't know how much more of this I can take."
"Yeah," Nala smiled as she dipped her head into the fountain water and exhaled sharply while shaking her head furiously, spraying water droplets everywhere.
"Mummy, look! A lion cub!" a British boy yelled in awe while pointing at Nala.
"Don't get too close, Jimmy," his mother admonished him sternly while yanking him away. "That thing is probably filthy and dirty and covered in fleas."
"Fleas? Why I never…" Zazu huffed with an affronted and indignant expression.
Just then a gigantic mahogany T-Rex with maroon eyes crashed through the skylight and let out a loud, booming roar, terrifying the shoppers.
"Run, Jimmy, run!" the woman cried as she grabbed her son's hand and ran for her life.
"Run!" Zazu hollered as he and Nala quickly raced off again towards the escalator.
Then as the lumbering T-Rex charged quickly towards the pair with a ferocious snarl, Nala and Zazu scrambled frantically up the escalator as they raced for the second floor. The T-Rex then lunged at Nala and snapped at her feet, causing her to scream shrilly.
"Zazu!" she wailed as she fought and struggled to avoid being caught in its deadly jaws.
But just as Nala and Zazu were about to fall into the clutches of the T-Rex, they heard a loud, booming roar echo through the air. Zazu looked up to see Mufasa and Sarabi standing in front of the escalator on the second floor.
"Your Majesty!"
The T-Rex was then so startled by Mufasa's sudden roar that it stumbled on the escalator and fell back as it tumbled down to the ground below on the first floor.
"Come on; let's get moving before that blundering beast comes back up!" Mufasa urged the pair as Zazu and Nala finally reached the second floor, looking quite exhausted and winded.
Nala's face then brightened the moment that she saw her mother Sarafina.
"Mom!" she cried as she rushed over to nuzzle her.
"My darling," Sarafina cooed softly, nuzzling her back with purrs. "I was so worried about you."
"I was worried about you too, Mom. I was afraid that something might have happened to you," Nala replied in a relieved voice.
"Have either of you seen Simba?" Sarabi asked.
"No; we haven't seen him since we got here," Nala shook her head sadly. "We don't even know where he is."
Just then, Mufasa peered down to see a large group of IDA agents enter the strip mall with guns drawn as they began converging around the fallen and unconscious T-Rex.
"More humans?" Mufasa retorted with a disgusted grimace.
"They look like they are holding some kind of weapon," Sarabi surmised coolly with narrowed eyes.
Mufasa then continued to eye them warily for a few minutes before he turned his back on them, growling softly.
"Come on; let's get out of here. We don't want any more trouble," he said as the rest of the group followed him.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mall on the second floor, Maleficent was watching the entire scene unfold with an evil smirk on her lips.
"Everything is going exactly as we planned; soon this entire city will be swept up in never ending chaos. Next stop… Los Angeles…"
"Why Los Angeles specifically?" Riku retorted with a questioning eyebrow.
"You leave that to me, my dear child. You and your little sister just continue to do everything as you're told," was all Maleficent would say.
Riku just shrugged, not inclined to argue. Jeannie couldn't help but wonder what exactly Maleficent was planning to do in Los Angeles.
"What do you think she's planning, Riku?" she whispered apprehensively, folding her arms across her chest.
"Dunno; it's better not to ask too many questions, okay, Jeannie? Just stick with me and you'll be fine," Riku advised her warningly.
"Okay," Jeannie nodded reluctantly, not really liking where this was going.
Jen just smirked evilly as she looked over at Maleficent while she was standing off to the side a few feet away, making a secret phone call.
"So when are you heading over to Los Angeles?" Vivian Alamain asked as her face appeared on the space cell.
"Hopefully within the next 48 hours. If everything goes according to plan, we should be delivering that Petrie girl's grandparents straight to your doorstep," Maleficent replied.
"Excellent; Ivan and I are looking forward to your arrival then. Ciao," Vivian beamed enthusiastically as the call abruptly ended.
"So what's the next step, boss?" Impmon asked eagerly.
Maleficent just smiled sinisterly as the wheels in her head began to turn rapidly.
"Next stop… the City of Angels."