Two Brothers Under the Sun
Chapter – IV
Hakuna Matata
Kerchak had sent most of the Troop to a secure area. Once the storm came to a close, he assembled the hunting party to rendezvous with Bagheera, who hopefully was able to track down the Lawbreaker. The group consisted of a few Black Backs along with Kerchak himself and his fellow Silverback allies Sokwe and Tublat. With the colonel nowhere to be seen, it was up to the gorillas to deliver justice to the huntress.
"The leopard wants to redeem herself in the eyes of the Khan." he briefed the volunteers on the situation, after dismissing the others. "She took advantage of the security breach to invade our side, intending to kill Tarzan." the Silverback glanced at Kala, who stood a few feet by his side, before turning back, narrowing his eyes, and explained their mission: "We must find them both. Bagheera is on the trail, he is to meet us in the western border with knowledge of their whereabouts. From there, we secure Tarzan..." he clenched his fists. "...and kill Sabor."
At their salute, Kerchak got down from the root and moved to his position in the front of the group. As he walked, The Silverback sighed at Kala who was making her way in the same direction.
"Troubles in the Love Nest, my friend?" he heard a husky voice from behind him.
He looked back and saw King Sokwe of the Donlumangani keeping up to join him... and, like that, the sternness in his face melted slightly.
"Just a little agitated." he turned to look west. "You can guess why."
Sokwe, with his near-perpetual smile, shook his head. "Now, I know you better than that." he followed Kerchak's previous line of sight and noticed his mate in the front line. One light chuckle later, he turned to his leader. "Don't worry, Chief." when he managed to get the other Silverback's attention, Sokwe continued: "Once we find that mangy cat, rescue the Man-Cub, and send her pelt downriver as a gift to the Khan, we're all gonna be back to go up the Theluji. You have my word." he finished nudging Kerchak on the shoulder.
"I trust you," he replied, but still looked worried. "It's him that I don't," he stated as he shook his head.
"Who? Bagheera?" Sokwe asked in curiosity.
"No."
"Khan?"
"I never did, but I'm not talking about him."
"Then, who?" the allied Silverback raised his eyebrow.
"The Man-Cub." Kerchak declared.
"Wha-?" Sokwe batted his eyes at that. "Hey, hey, if you are talking about what happened in the lagoon, my boys already came clean about that. I don't think the kid is dumb enough to try something like that again. Besides, it's not like many things can halt an amuck elephant, you can't really blame him for that mess." he spoke in Tarzan's defense. He was only a cub, he would learn.
"That's not it," The Chief responded and looked behind them. The hunting party followed their lead, and Kala still walked in the first line, the Silverback was throwing a concerned glance at that. He turned back to Sokwe and said: "If she hasn't caught him by now, something else will, or he will be perishing from lack of nourishment. He cannot survive without Kala, I told her that before we left." Kerchak grimaced even as he maintained his composure. "But I don't wanna know what will happen to her if he can't be found."
Sokwe was silent, as he processed his fellow Silverback's words. He was playing with his newborns when his troop was informed of what happened during that dark and stormy night. The next day, he marched personally to the couple's nest, clasped his friend, and offered condolences to Kala before she left to clear the grief from her mind. Something changed inside his friend that day. Shere Khan had made a powerful enemy, for Kerchak declared he would wage against the tiger and his cronies and Sokwe would be by his side every step of the way. That was when they made their pact; they had been kids together, explored together, wrestled together, drank together, and from that night they would go to war together.
He was also amongst the first ones to accept the hairless baby that Kala brought back with her.
"Well, I guess that makes it simple." he finally stated as the smile returned to his face.
"What?" Kerchak raised a questioning eyebrow. Sokwe placed a hand on his shoulder, despite not ceasing his pace.
"We'll just have to make sure that both of them will be in one piece when they find each other."
###
Bagheera walked without rest through the afternoon. Following the Dirisha River, he looked for any signs of Tarzan or Sabor. After being forced to make a stop to shelter himself from the rainfall, he went back to chasing the trial of the nilgai, only to come across the aftermath of a huge mudslide. The sight of numerous blue bulls among the massive pile of muck disheartened him. Could his student be among the buried? Pulling himself from such morbid thoughts he remembered the day he taught Tarzan how to swim, the man-cub may look like a monkey but he swam like a panther. When they came back after spending the entire evening swimming in the lagoon, the youngling was so happy at his success that he talked about it throughout the night, according to his mother at least.
Convincing himself that his student would be able to swim even in the Dirisha rapids, Bagheera concluded that he jumped off the hillside into the river, and the panther hoped he also remembered his lesson about following the river flow until he could reach the shore. Hopefully, this would drag Sabor off his track.
His hopes for that were quickly dashed when he heard a noise from behind him.
He turned, assumed a pouncing stance, and growled.
"Wait!" a familiar female voice cried from the fern.
Then the stumbled form of Kerchak's niece came out.
"He, he, he. Hey, Uncle Baggy" she giggled nervously at the panther's glare.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as she got up. "I told you to stay with the Troop."
"Yeah, well..." she stumbled to find the words. "I figured you could use a little help, you know?" she smiled and crossed her arms as if to make herself look more serious about it. "I mean... the jungle is such a big place, it will be easier to find him with an extra pair of eyes."
Bagheera just deadpanned. "This would have nothing to do with the incident back in the lagoon, would it?"
"What?! No, of course not! I was just thinking: if Apes Together Strong, why not Apes and Leopards- I mean Panthers?" she giggled nervously again.
"...Flynt and Mungo explained everything before I left."
"...oh, you don't say."
...
...
"...Go home." the panther turned and went back to following the river.
"Wait!" Bagheera, still lightly scowling, looked back. "Look, I blew it, Okay? I get that." Terk lowered her head. "I could have been a little more supportive of him, and I should have said something when Kerchak flipped off... but I didn't, and well..." she hugged herself before continuing: "Now he is missing, maybe in danger, and I feel it's kinda my fault." She paused when the panther raised an eyebrow toward her. "Fine, part of it was my fault." Terk rolled her eyes even as she looked crestfallen. "He may annoy me sometimes but... he is Family, and I want him to come back safe."
A silence settled between them. Terk held back her sulking, while Bagheera contemplated her declaration. The panther sighed and looked back to the way they came. As much as he wanted to avoid distractions and find Tarzan as soon as possible, it would be dangerous for Terk to get to the nests all by herself, especially if Sabor was around. It would be safer for her to come with him, even if he would have to play escort for the rest of the search.
Not to mention... he really wanted his student to hear her words.
Against his first impression of the young she-ape, he rolled his eyes and said: "If you're gonna come along, you will have to stay close to me."
Terk's face lit up at that and she gave a mock salute. "Yes, sir!" she ran to join his side, and soon the both of them were wandering next to the riverbank. "So, any idea of where he is?"
"Downriver." the panther responded in a serious tone. "It should take a few days for us to search around the area."
"A few days?"
"Yes."
...
...
"...What are the chances of you carrying me?"
"...Not good."
###
"So, that tree of yours, what is it like?" the lion cub, Simba, asked as he walked alongside his new traveling companion.
"It's beautiful." Tarzan declared with enthusiasm. "The biggest tree in all of Bukuvu, with all kinds of trunks too."
"Trunks? I thought trees only had one."
The man-cub shook his head. "The Wakalu is special." he looked towards the horizon with a longing smile on his face. "One day, I'm gonna climb her all the way up, and when I do, I'll get my saddle."
"Saddle?" his fellow cub repeated, that word was not familiar to him. "What's a saddle?"
Tarzan showed his back to him and pointed to its center. "The leaders' mark, it means that you're a chief of the Troop."
Simba shifted his gaze to the man-cub's face. "So, like a king?"
Again, Tarzan shook his head. "Nope. It means that I won't be a juvenile anymore, but one of the strongest and wisest members of the Troop. Leading my own band of Black Backs and protecting my Family."
Realization dawned on the lion's face. "Oh, like a mane."
It was Tarzan's turn to raise an eyebrow and ask. "What is that?"
"The fur growing in my neck, see?" Now Simba was showing his neck, Tarzan inspected and:
"I don't see anything." he touched it to find something, to no avail. "Nothing at all."
At that, the lion cub gave a light scowl. "Well, it will grow someday." he insisted before asking. "So, is there food?"
"Plenty, I'll show you when we get there."
'GROWL'
...
...
...
Simba sighed. "So I gotta wait some more?"
Tarzan offered him a sheepish face. "Fraid so."
"Dang..." he complained... until his eyes spotted a rabbit eating in the short grass. "Um..." he hummed as a predatory grin came to his face, then he lowered himself to the ground and started crawling towards the rabbit.
"What are you doing?" Tarzan asked as he stopped to watch.
Simba made a gesture for him to quiet down. "Shh. Pouncing," he responded and went back to crawling.
'SNAP'
But then he accidentally stepped on a stick.
He cringed and let out a light gasp; the rabbit perked its ears and got on his hind legs to spot the source of the noise... then he ran with the lion cub following behind.
"Hey, Simba! Come back!" the man-cub called out in vain and soon joined the chase.
Simba kept up with the rabbit but couldn't get close enough to catch it. He temporarily lost sight of it when he came into a clearing, but spotted his prey hiding behind a tree and gave chase once again, his instincts making him focus solely on quenching his hunger. Tarzan did his best to accompany them even as he legged behind. The lion cub didn't even notice they were approaching a passing sloth bear.
"Well, it's a doo-bah-dee-do. Yes, it's a doo-bah-dee-do. I mean a doo-be doo-bee doo-be Doo-be doo-bee doo. And with-" The bear danced on two feet and sang to himself before the rabbit and Simba hurried past him, catching his attention in the process.
The lion cub was finally gaining on his lunch but was too distracted to see the tree...
'BOMP'
The bear laughed jovially at the sight of a strange kit crashing headfirst into the rabbit's tree burrow. "Well now, ha-ha! What have we here?"
Simba had yet to notice the bear and was now trying to catch his prey from the hole, only to pull back his paw with a shriek, the rabbit having bitten it.
"Ha-ha... tsk-tsk-tsk. Trying too hard there, kid." the bear now shook his head and heard a panting sound coming from behind. He turned and saw what looked like a tired naked monkey making his way to the cub.
"You're okay?" Tarzan asked between pants as came to the lion cub.
Simba finished licking his bitten finger before answering: "Yeah, I'm fine." Although he looked unsatisfied. "But I'm still starving."
"That's exactly my point." Nodded the bear.
...
...
...
"Gyahhh!" The two cubs ran to the bushes, vanishing behind the foliage.
The bear just smiled at that. "He-he-he. Relax, no need to get worked up, okay?" he reassured the younglings as he put his claws behind him.
The pair's faces were surrounded by plants but the bear could see their staring eyes, as if expecting him to do something, before lightly gasping and hiding back in the bushes when they realized he could see them.
"Come on out, won't ya? You're not really afraid of old Baloo, are you?" the bushes rustled up and down as if nodding. "You are?" the bear, Baloo, asked with some dismay in his tone. 'Two pairs in a moon cycle? What are the chances?' the bear thought to himself as he looked around, that's when he saw the mangos in a nearby tree. He smiled as an idea came to his head. He got to the base of the tree and bumped it with his bottom, making it shake and dropping a mango right on his extended paw. Baloo whistled to himself as he peeled the fruit with his claw, grabbing the attention of the hiding kids. Once he was done, he moved closer to the bushes, making the duo retreat again, then he stopped, lowered the fruit to the ground, and sent it rolling in their direction. The mango came to a stop next to the foliage, right in front of Tarzan. The man-cub stared at the ripe fruit and his stomach growled, he hadn't eaten since morning. Succumbing to hunger, he moved out of the foliage, grabbed the fruit, and devoured it right then and there.
From a few feet away, Baloo laughed, again grabbing the man-cub's attention. The bear flashed an affable smile towards him and lowered himself so they both could look eye to eye, with Simba still watching from the hiding spot. "Peace?" he offered to Tarzan.
The man-cub's response: "...Peace."
Smiling, Baloo came closer to the youngling and sniffed him with enough power to raise his hair. Once he stopped, he wiggled a finger beneath his chin and said. "Um... let me guess, you're Kala's little man-cub."
Tarzan lifted his eyes at that. "You know my mother?"
The bear nodded. "Sure do. I visit the Wakalu from time to time to play with the younglings, I'm actually surprised I never saw you there."
"Oh, must be because I'm always walking with Bagheera around the jungle." answered the man-cub.
"Bagheera? Heh." Baloo mused at hearing the panther's name. "Another one I haven't seen in a while, how's he doing?"
Tarzan froze at the question and averted his eyes as he lowered his head. "I-I don't know." his tone was somber.
Baloo was half-startled at the man-cub's words but didn't have the time to make more questions for a voice called out:
"BALOO! What's the holdup!?"
Tarzan and Baloo turned in the voice's direction and saw a red warthog with a meerkat on its head making its way through the undergrowth. "The snails won't slurp themselves, you know?" the mongoose asked only to divert his attention to the fact that the bear had apparently found himself a hairless ape. "Baloo, who's the kid?"
the bear gestured to the man-cub. "I found little Tarzan here when his friend was chasing down a rabbit."
"What friend?" asked the warthog.
Baloo and Tarzan whipped their heads back to the bushes with the meerkat and warthog doing the same. Slowly, Simba's face revealed itself from its hiding spot.
"Jeez, it's a lion!" the meerkat freaked out and went to hide behind the warthog's head. "Run, Pumbaa! Move it!"
"Hey, Timon. It's just a little lion." Pumbaa pointed out, looking at the cub still in the foliage who was now staring curiously at them.
"It gets bigger," Timon argued back.
"It's okay. You don't have to be scared of Simba, he won't hurt you." Tarzan advocated, getting the pair's attention.
"What if he's hungry? Have you thought about feeding that thing?" Timon questioned from behind Pumbaa's hair tuft.
"Hey-hey-hey, Timon, calm down," Baloo spoke as he approached the pair. "If he makes a little mess, I'll clean it up," he reassured the mongoose.
"We're gonna be his little mess! He's gonna eat Pumbaa and then use my body as a toothpick!"
"But he's so little." Argued the warthog as he leaned over to regard Simba, and accidentally dumped Timon from his head.
"As I said: he's gonna get bigger." Timon asserted from the ground, Pumbaa's nose right on his face.
"Maybe he'll be on our side like Baloo."
As he moved out from underneath the warthog's nose, Timon snorted at that. "A-huh! That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. Maybe he'll b-" the meerkat paused his boast to reconsider the idea, then he smiled "...Hey, I got it! What if he's on our side?" he asked to no one in particular and walked around while scratching his chin. "You know, having a lion around might not be such a bad idea- wait!" Timon suddenly stiffened in sudden realization. "You are all alone, aren't you?" he asked apprehensively to the cub, not looking forward to seeing any grownup lions mucking about.
A rueful expression appeared on Simba's face. "Yeah, I am." that was all he said, with a dull tone, before he retreated back to the bushes.
Baloo raised a concerned eyebrow. "What's wrong with him?"
Timon was also looking troubled. "Gee. He looks blue."
"I'd say brownish-gold." naively said Pumbaa.
"No, no, no, no. I mean he's depressed." the meerkat explained to his dim-witted friend.
"Oh."
"He ran away," Tarzan said as he approached the opening in the bushes, grabbing the three's attention. "Something happened, he can't go back, and... well, he's all alone," he emphasized the last part and a somber look now made its way to his face.
Pumbaa sniffled. "That's the saddest thing I ever heard!" he declared between sobs.
Baloo now focused his concern on the man-cub. "Speaking from experience there, Little Britches?"
Tarzan too tried to hide the sadness on his face. "Yeah."
The trio looked between the pair of poor, downcast cubs. Until they came to a silent agreement: that just wouldn't do!
Baloo grabbed Tarzan and put him on the ground next to the trio, before putting his paw on the bushes until he grabbed Simba and put him next to the man-cub, the younglings being way too dulled to protest. "Look here, you two, we all make mistakes. But there must be something we can do now, right?" the bear inquired.
"Not unless you can change the past." that was the only answer they got from the lion cub, Tarzan simply nodded.
Pumbaa came forth. "You know, kids, in times like this my buddy Timon here says, 'You got to put your behind in your past'... I mean-"
"No. No. No." Timon got between them, waving arms all around. "Amateur. Lie down before you hurt yourself." he turned to the cubs. "It's "You got to put your past behind you." Look, bad things happen, and you can't do anything about it, right?"
Both answered: "Right."
"Wrong!" exclaimed Timon with a pointing finger. "When the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world," he explained, moving his arms for dramatic effect.
"Well, that's not what I was taught," stated Simba.
"Me neither," said Tarzan.
Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa exchanged grins. The meerkat then said to the younglings: "Then maybe you two need a new lesson. Repeat after me." he said before clearing his throat. "Hakuna Matata."
"What?" the cubs asked in slightly lethargic, confused unison.
"Ha-ku-na Ma-ta-ta. "No worries," Little Britches," Baloo explained.
"Hakuna Matata!" Timon repeated melodically. "What a wonderful phrase."
"Hakuna Matata!" Pumbaa followed suit. "Ain't no passing craze."
"It means no worries, for the rest of your days." The trio leads the younglings away from the bushes, pulling them over to Baloo's back and leaning them back on it like a comfy couch. Pumbaa fanned them with a palm leaf to cool down.
"It's our problem-free..." the trio sang in unison, Timon used a piece of bark to file down one of Simba's claws. "Philosophy: Hakuna Matata!"
"Hakuna..."
"Matata?"
Asked the two confused cubs, finishing each other's sentence.
"Yeah, it's our motto," Pumbaa replied happily.
"What's a motto?" Asked the young lion.
"Nothing! What's a motto with you?" Timon asked before he burst into laughter with Baloo and Pumbaa.
"It's like this, Little Britches. These two words will solve all your problems." Baloo asserted from his position, lying with his belly on the ground.
"He's right! Take Pumbaa for example." Timon said before he went back to singing. "Why, when he was a young warthog..."
"When I was a young wart-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG." Pumbaa sang out loud in an Italian counter-tenor range, very off-key.
"Very nice," Timon said cleaning his ear; his eardrums almost blew out.
"Thanks!"
Timon began to sing about Pumbaa's life before they arrived at the jungle."He found his aroma lacked a certain appeal. He could clear the savannah after every meal."
Pumbaa chimed in. "I'm a sensitive soul, though I seem thick-skinned. And it hurt that my friends never stood downwind. And oh, the shame!" the warthog preached his gospel.
Baloo, now on his feet with the cubs watching from his side, joined the preaching: "He was ashamed!"
"Thoughta changin' my name!" declared Pumbaa.
Timon joined in: "Oh, what's in a name?"
"And I got downhearted."
"How did you feel?" asked the bear with tears building up in his eyes.
"Every time that I-"
"Pumbaa! Not in front of the kids." Timon said, covering his mouth.
"Oh... sorry."
Tarzan and Simba exchanged puzzled looks. Their interest grew as Baloo hoisted Pumbaa into a vine loop above his head, where the warthog began swinging.
"Hakuna Matata!" the trio was back at singing in unison. "What a wonderful phrase!" Pumbaa caught Timon as he swung, displaying surprisingly good acrobatic skills. "Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze!"
"How 'bout you singing?"Baloo asked the two younglings as he danced his way toward them. The cheering-up attempt was working. After becoming more and more enthusiastic, the duo exchanged grins and finally decided to join in.
"It means no worries!" Tarzan started.
"For the rest of your days." Simba followed.
Timon launched himself and did a vaudeville knee-slide up to Baloo's side. "Yeah, sing it, kids!"
The Four now sang together. "It's our problem-free ..."
Pumbaa joined them when he landed on Baloo's other side, with a flatulent sound. "Philosophy..."
They now form a Quintet. "Hakuna Matata!"
The trio guided the cubs to a different area, deeper in the jungle. Baloo pulled back a fern leaf, revealing a sight that made the pair widen their eyes in wonder. "Welcome... to our humble home!"
The younglings were amazed by the beautiful view of a rift jungle. Waterfalls and the rugged terrain made it almost as enchanting as Zulu Falls. "You live here?" the lion cub was stunned by the panorama. He had never seen anything like that before, even after he had strumbled into the Bukuvu.
Timon responded: "We live wherever we want."
"Yep. Home is where your rump rests. Heh!" Pumbaa proclaimed.
"It's beautiful," Simba muttered.
"This place is great." Tarzan nodded.
"Hakuna Matata Falls." Baloo called it before he moved in, wandering down to the valley below. "Rolls off the tongue, right?" he chuckled while the others came to join him. "The greatest secret hideout ever."
"Hideout?" the man-cub raised an eyebrow along with the lion cub. "From what?"
"Everything!" Timon jumped onto Tarzan's shoulder. "No war, no predators, no worries." the meerkat kicked back and leaned down on the man-cub's hair, enjoying the shade as they walked below the closed canopy. He sighed satisfied. "Just the bare necessities."
Tarzan's smile brightened at the sound of that.
'BELCH'
Pumbaa gave a loud raunchy belch. "I'm starved."
"I'm so hungry I could eat a whole zebra."
Simba's want for meat disturbed Timon off his relaxation —A little bit taken aback and a little bit 'I-knew-this-would-happen'. "Eeeahhah. They don't usually turn around here."
"Any antelope?" the lion cub asked.
"Na ah."
"Hippo?" Simba was now a bit desperate, he hadn't eaten in a while.
"Tsk-tsk-tsk." Baloo shook his head at the lion's requests. "Listen, kid; if you live with us, you have to eat like us."
Simba blinked. "So what's for lunch?"
The bear sent a grin toward the other members of his posse. "Should we tell him, boys?"
"Uh-huh." they grinned back and Timon walked over to a downed log.
"Now, this looks like a good spot to rustle up some grub." The others followed after the meerkat and Pumbaa forced the log up with his snout, revealing a large buffet of colorful insects; much to Simba's disgust.
"Eeew. What's that?"
Timon picked a large red caterpillar in his arms and replied. "A grub. What's it look like?"
"Eeew. Gross." The cub remarked in repulsion, which only increased when the mongoose proceeded to eat the whole thing.
"Mmmm. Tastes like guineafowl." Timon said with his mouth full.
Pumbaa slurped up a large worm from the ground. "Slimy, yet satisfying."
"Come on, Simba, dive in." Baloo nudged the cub to join them as he scraped the dirt around the anthills. "Take a glance at the fancy ants, you're gonna love the way they tickle." he laughed as he licked the ants off the ground.
Atop of the mounds, Timon and Tarzan were now 'fishing' for termites and ants. "These are rare delicacies!" the former exclaimed as he grabbed a red beetle and bitted off its thorax. "Mmmm. Piquant, with a very pleasant crunch." he savored it in mid-bite.
"You'll learn to love 'em," Pumbaa said to Simba, who was appalled at the sight of the warthog speaking with a mouth full of bugs. Tarzan chuckled at his reaction, only to go back to trying to eat a termite off his elbow.
Meanwhile, Timon picked a large banana frond and was putting all kinds of grub on it, as if it was a tray. "I'm telling you, kid, this is the great life." he proceeded to poke his hand into a knothole, making many bugs scramble out. "No rules. No responsibilities. Oooh! The little cream-filled kind." he cut himself to munch on another snack, before making his way to the lion cub. "And best of all, no worries. Well, kid?" he offered his leaf to Simba.
Giving in to hunger, Simba summoned all his inner strength and picked a fat palm weevil grub. After watching it dangling in his paw for a bit, he gave in. "Oh well- Hakuna Matata." and swallowed it. "Slimy... yet satisfying!" the disgusted look on his face was gone.
"That's it!" the group cheered.
The rest of the day was spent showing the cubs around the area. It was even more beautiful up close: dramatic views, porch swing—Tarzan's smile couldn't get any wider—, hot tub and spa—the younglings questioned about the bubbles but quickly realized they didn't really care—, well-stocked cupboard, It was simply Paradise!
The trio of slackers taught as much as they could to the younglings about the Hakuna Matata life. Simba had quickly adapted to his new bug diet, he and Tarzan forgot all about their worries and strifes from the past, and never had two cubs ever been happier.
The feeling was mutual. Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa found out that they really enjoyed the cubs' company. Even when their agitated young minds would come up with a game to pass the time. Baloo took it upon himself to be a mentor to the little ones, Pumbaa fitted right in as the bumbling uncle, with Timon as his grumpier counterpart.
By evening, they were swaying their way across a dead tree as they chanted:
"Hakuna Matata. Hakuna Matata. Hakuna Matata. Hakuna..." Baloo led the front, Timon following after him, then Pumbaa, then...
"It means no worries! For the rest of your days." The first tree smiled at the sight of the two younglings, now completely free of any negativity, singing side-by-side.
"It's our problem-free... Philosophy!" All five of them sang together as a quintet.
"Hakuna Matata!" Baloo gave passage to Timon so the latter could jump in the pool doing a cannonball, and making a small splash.
"Hakuna Matata!" The bear did the same for Pumbaa. The warthog did a swan dive, and also made a small splash.
"Hakuna Matata!" The cubs gave a respectful salute to their mentor... and tried to tackle him to the pond, only for Baloo to throw them in with a single swipe of his paw, before feigning a loss of balance and diving full force into the lagoon. The resulting splash was big enough to wash the first four to the middle of the lake.
"Hauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu... Hakuna Matata!" Baloo emerged from under Pumbaa, who in turn, had Timon on top of him, the meerkat had used the warthog like a surfboard when the bear dived. Tarzan and Simba joined them in Baloo's belly, as the latter allowed the gentle current to drift him away to the beat of their song. Their singing broke into gentle voice improvisations on the words "Hakuna Matata."
A/N: Sorry but Jane won't be in the story.