"Seventeen… eighteen… nineteen…" Simba counted as he piled up all the skulls he had found hiding amongst the rocks.
"This is getting really creepy now," Nala said, staring at the extraordinary number of skulls that Simba had piled up. "Who did all of this?"
Simba shrugged. "Someone who doesn't like lions?" he suggested jokingly.
Nala frowned disapprovingly. "I'm serious," she said, "how come there are so many skulls here?"
"Maybe they're not real," he said.
"Simba, there were still bits of brain in them. How could they not be real?"
"Okay, maybe not all of them are real," he added, picking up a random skull and looking inside. "Brain," he concluded, before throwing it aside and picking up another one. "Brain." He picked up another one. "Brain."
"I think I'm gonna be sick," Nala said, putting a paw to her mouth. "Either someone's burying lion skulls around here, or your Uncle Scar has a horrible taste in style."
Simba threw aside some more rocks and pulled out a massive lion skull. It was almost double the side of his own head. "Now this is cool," he said, placing it on his head like some kind of demented helmet. "Nala," he said in a deep spooky voice, "Let me poke your brain."
Nala giggled. "You know there's still parts of a lion's brain in there, right?"
The realisation hit Simba, and he immediately removed the helmet, throwing it aside, disgusted.
Nala was on the ground laughing hard. "Now that's funny!"
"You know what else is funny?" Simba asked.
"No. What?" Nala asked.
Simba prodded her. "You're it," he said before running away.
Nala frowned, before chasing after him. "Hey!" she called after him. "You could have at least told me b efore you told me I was 'it'."
Simba laughed as he ran. "Where's the fun in that? It gives me a head start."
"That's cheating!" she accused.
"Princes are allowed to cheat," he said back.
A determined smile formed on Nala's face. "We'll see."
Nala made a valiant leap at Simba, colliding with him and sending them both tumbling down a small hill, laughing all the way. Nala eventually landed on top of Simba, doing her usual routine of pinning him down.
"Got ya," she declared. "Now you're it."
Nala jumped off of him and took off, causing Simba to run after her. "Not for long!" he called after her.
Unbeknownst to the two cubs, they were being watched from behind a nearby rock.
"There they are," Shenzi said, pointing out Simba and Nala. "That girl must be his new friend."
"So, how are we gonna do this?" Banzai asked. "Torture them or something?"
"No, you idiot!" she replied. "We need to be clever about the way we do it."
"Last time I checked, we weren't ever clever," Banzai said, scratching his head. "Right, Ed?"
Ed laughed maniacally, which was what passed as a reply from him.
"So come on, what do we do?" Banzai demanded.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Shenzi answered, looking around for a solution to their problem. She surveyed their surroundings. All she could see were Simba and Nala playfully chasing each other, a few rocks and a few sticks. Not much, in all honesty.
A sudden plan formed in her head. It wasn't much of one, but it worked for her. "I've got it!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Banzai asked.
"We hit 'em with a rock!" she explained.
She was met with a cold glare from Banzai, and a laugh from Ed. "That's your great plan?" Banzai said.
Shenzi pointed to Simba and Nala. "Look at them. All we have to do is hit the girl on the head with a rock and she'll think he did it."
"What if they see us?"
"They won't see us," she said confidently. "It's too easy. Cubs blame each other for everything anyway. It's a piece of cake. We'll be eating a juicy slice of zebra before we even know it!"
"So… All we do is throw a rock?"
Shenzi nodded. "It's as easy as that. We hit the girl with a rock, they break up, and Scar gives us some food. It couldn't be any simple."
"Well, hit her then!" Banzai ordered.
"Don't rush me!" she said, looking around for a suitable rock to hit Nala with. She picked up a very sharp rock. "Ooh, this one's very sharp. This is sure to give someone a nasty bump for days!"
Shenzi then hit Banzai over the top of his head with the rock, causing both her and Ed to erupt with heavy laughter.
"What was that for?" Banzai groaned, rubbing his head in pain. Sure enough, a nasty bump had formed there. He had a feeling it was going last for days.
"For fun!" Shenzi replied through laughter.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Banzai angrily. "Just hit the cub with the rock."
Shenzi turned her attention to Simba and Nala again. Simba was still in the process of chasing Nala. It couldn't get any more perfect. Once Nala was struck with the rock she'd just have to assume it was Simba.
Shenzi aimed the sharp rock at Nala's head, ready to throw it at her. She couldn't miss.
However, just as she was about to throw it, Banzai hit Shenzi over the head with another rock he had picked up a few seconds ago. She cried out in pain and ended up hurling the rock randomly, causing it to sail right past Simba's head, narrowly missing him.
"That's for hitting me!" Banzai said to Shenzi, before laughing. Ed laughed even harder than before.
Simba felt something sail just past the back of his head, causing him to stop and turn around, confused. "What was that?" he said.
Nala looked behind, and noticed Simba had stopped chasing her. She turned around and ran back over to him. "What's up?" she asked, standing beside him.
"I think someone just threw something at me," he replied.
"Threw something at you?" she exclaimed. "Like what?"
Simba shrugged. "I don't know. But I'd like to know."