Two Brothers Under the Sun

Chapter – XIV

The Great Circle of Life

"You want me to do what?" Bagheera asked to confirm he hadn't misheard her request.

"If it is not too much trouble, Bagheera," Kala told him, looking up to the panther's position on the branch of a tree not too far from the Wakalu. She had come to talk to him the moment he was waking up after a long night of hunting. "He needs to know how to defend himself if he is to survive in the jungle."

"Well, I..." The black leopard seemed a bit hesitant, as much consideration as he had for his student, teaching another youngling would be a handful. Eventually, he exhaled. "I could try, but I am not really sure of how much I could teach him," Bagheera explained. "I know about men more than most but I barely know anything about lions."

"Please, Bagheera." Pleaded the female to the big cat. "I feel really bad for little Simba: he is alone, without someone to teach him the ways of his kind, and you are the only cat here who can help him."

"True," He conceded before continuing. "But I was under the impression that Baloo would take care of his fostering."

"Yes, and I know Baloo will take good care of him." She agreed, yet her worries remained. "But I also know that there will be things he won't be able to help him with," She gazed at the panther. "Things about Simba's kind that he can't understand, no matter how much he wants to help." Her words carried some sadness; she had to deal with that hard truth every time her son went out with Bagheera to learn his lessons. Kala helped where she could, but she was well aware that there was a part of her son she just could not relate to, even if she would always love him. "And you know as well as I do; Shere Khan will come for him as well."

Bagheera's expression turned somber, sensing the mother's inner turmoils. Sighing once more, he spoke as he got up to leap down to the ground in front of her. "Well, I suppose something like this was bound to happen." Having made his decision, he gave her his answer. "All right, I will do it."

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Still, we should talk to the boy's guardians to make an arrangement."

###

Forests between the Wakalu and Hakuna Matata Falls

"Hold still, Simba," Timon instructed the cub before calling to the warthog. "Ready, Pumbaa?"

"Ready!" Pumbaa exclaimed with a stick in his mouth.

"Okay, on three." Timon started. "One...

Baloo and Tarzan watched them from the side, both with different amounts of concern on their faces.

"Two..."

Simba looked away and clutched his eyes shut.

"Three!"

'SNAP'

"Ow! Whoa!" Simba gave out a pained moan, snatching back his now free paw so fast that he lost balance and fell off the log to the ditch below. The others quickly gathered around to see if he was okay. The buzzing of Insects was the first thing the lion noticed before realizing he had broken through another log and his Upper-half was now stuck inside with a bunch of bugs. Using his legs to push himself out, he freed himself while causing an eruption of grub.

"Ha-ha! Would you look at that?" Baloo gleefully watched from above.

"Kid, you hit the jackpot!" Declared the meerkat, equally enthusiastic and diving into the hole the kitten made.

"It's a smorgasbord!" Pumbaa cheered and plunged as well, nose-first. Baloo and Tarzan slid down the side of the ditch to join the feast.

Simba, meanwhile, was too busy contemplating the insects in his nose.

"What's wrong, cat got your tongue?" The weirdest, ugliest caterpillars the cub had ever seen in his life started laughing, emanating a high-pitched and very, very insufferable noise.

'CHOMP'

So he snatched them all in his paw and sent them down the gullet.

Tarzan was happily stuffing his mouth with grub and chewing on it. "Wow! These are amazing!"

"Better than our souvenirs from the Theluji?" Baloo asked with a smile, enjoying his own snack. The man-cub gave him a simple shrug.

Timon poked his head out of a smaller hole in the fallen tree since Pumbaa was blocking the main one. "How did you guys find so much grub in all that snow, anyway?" The meerkat was curious when they brought home several pieces of wood filled to the brim with insects from the mountain range.

"An old secret of the gorillas," Baloo answered after swallowing another bunch. "You just have to know where to find them."

The warthog perked from his position in the dead tree and looked at the bear with some leftovers in his face. "Can we come next time?" He had really enjoyed the grub from the mountains.

"Eh... perhaps." Baloo hesitated for a moment. They still had to take care of things here and even then, Kerchak had to drive out the tigers from there, but the bear couldn't bring himself to put down his friends' hopes.

Tarzan turned around when he heard movement nearby and waved cheerily when he spotted his mother and teacher walking towards them, trying to get their attention. "Mom, Bagheera, over here!"

The pair came to look down on the group from the edge of the trench. "Hello, everyone." The she-ape warmly greeted them.

"Howdy, Kala?" Baloo affably spoke.

"Hi, Aunt Kala," Simba responded.

"Morning, Mrs. Tarzan." Timon and Pumbaa said at the same time.

"I thought you would be by Baloo's den by now." She stated.

"Yeah, but Simba here got his claws stuck in a tree," Timon said from the hole in the log, holding and picking several treats in his arm with his hand.

"And then he fell face-first into a log full of delicious bugs. Mmm, mmm, mmm!" Pumbaa emerged from beneath the mongoose, revealing his friend was standing on his head. The warthog's mouth was full of grub.

"You want some, Mom?" Tarzan offered them a piece of bark with bugs on top.

"Ummm, perhaps one or two." Kala hummed before accepting some of the treats and eating them.

Bagheera recoiled a bit at the sight of the bug feasting, then walked to the bear. "Baloo, could you come with me for a moment, I would like to have a word with you about something important."

The ursine's eyebrows rose a good deal; while he and Bagheera had never been on better terms than nowadays, most of his conversations with the panther were in regards to Tarzan. They would work out schedules for the man-cub's lessons and the breaks in between. But that was hardly something they would discuss in private, so this time must be something else. Nevertheless, Baloo nodded to the black leopard. "Sure, Baggy. What is it?"

The panther scowled. "Don't call me that." He motioned with his head to the side for the bear to follow. "Walk with me." He started walking away, glancing at Timon and Pumbaa as he went. "Your friends can... join us if they want."

With that, Bagheera turned and went back to trekking his way into the brush. Baloo addressed his friends with a whistle to get their attention. Once everyone's eyes were on him, the bear gesticulated for the duo to follow, leaving Kala with the cubs.

"Hey, where are they going?" Tarzan asked.

Kala explained to her son. "There is something Bagheera has to do, but he needs their approval first."

Simba raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

The female stared at the lion cub for a moment before deciding he should know now rather than later. "Well, Simba, you see..."

"Okay, Bagheera, what's the deal?" Baloo questioned when he, Timon, and Pumbaa caught up with the panther as the latter plodded through the jungle.

Bagheera gradually stopped right in front of the trio, facing them eye-to-eye, and exhaling. He had hoped to first have this conversation with Baloo, seeing him as the more likely to understand the circumstances and possibly backing him up when it was time to explain it to the other two, but it seems that was not to be. Reminding himself that it was too late for him to be thinking about that now, he went straight to the point.

"I would like your approval to take young Simba under my wing."

Baloo, who was scratching his back when the panther was speaking, jerked his head suddenly and blinked several times in confusion the moment he heard Bagheera utter those words. "...Come again?"

"I would like to teach him in the ways of the jungle." Responded the panther.

Baloo exchanged a quick glance with Timon and Pumbaa to see they shared his confusion. "Well, Baggy, that is nice of you but we got the situation under control."

"I think I didn't express myself well enough," Bagheera apologized before clarifying his intentions. "I would like to teach him to be a jungle cat. Leaping, hunting lessons, among other things."

"Wait, wait..." Timon cut in. "Have I got a tick in my ear, or did you say something about teaching Simba hunting lessons?" The meerkat asked to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.

Nodding his head, Bagheera responded. "That is what I said."

"Are you out of your mind, hunting lessons?!" Timon jumped defensively, cringing at the thought of the Simba learning to hunt creatures like him and Pumbaa. "It will ruin him! You will make a lion outta him! Lions eat guys like us! Would you want Simba to thank us by picking us out of his teeth when he grows up?!"

"But Timon, Simba eats bugs. Not meat." Pumbaa interjected in the kitten's defense.

"Have you seen a grown lion, Pumbaa? Those guys are big and they don't get that physique from eating beetles and termites." Argued the mongoose.

"But me and Pumbaa are big, and we only eat bugs." Baloo reminded him.

Timon flinched before dismissing that with a wave of his hand. "You guys don't count; you were both born big-boned."

The bear conceded. "That is true." Pumbaa nodded from beside him, "Still, I think you are worrying too much. We're talking about Simba here, he would never eat us." He turned to Bagheera. "Either way, thanks for the offering Baggy but the boy is fine with us."

"Baloo, I insist." Pressed the black leopard. "The lion cub must know the ways of his kind if he is to protect himself."

"Aw, Hakuna Matata, Baggy. We will take care of his safety, won't we, Pumbaa?" The meerkat asked his warthog friend, who nodded.

"Yeah, like you did when the monkeys kidnapped him and Tarzan." Bagheera sarcastically reminded them with a deadpan tone.

"Can't a guy make one mistake?" Asked an innocent Timon.

"Not in the jungle." The panther declared before grimacing. "And another thing, sooner or later, those two will face Shere Khan. Who's going to protect him then? You three? The Khan won't show Simba any more mercy than he will to Tarzan; he will see him as a threat to his supremacy."

"What?" Pumbaa's voice almost came out in the form of a whisper, clearly worried about the cub's safety.

"Seriously?" The meerkat tried to maintain his usual demeanor but he was looking visibly shaky. "Gee, that tiger needs a new hobby." He muttered under his breath.

"Well... w-what are we gonna do?" Questioned a concerned Baloo.

"We have to do what is best for him," Bagheera told them.

"You better believe it. You name it, and we'll do it!" Baloo declared out loud.

At that, Bagheera smiled. "Good. Tarzan and I have taken many walks into the jungle together. I will take little Simba with us when we go today."

However, Timon still wasn't convinced. "Wait a second, wait a second. I'm not sure that's such a good idea." He approached the panther as he continued. "We can't just let them go around with those red dogs mucking about."

"Yeah, if you ask me, it sounds like it might be dangerous." Pumbaa agreed.

"They won't try anything," Bagheera reassured them. "The Colonel made clear what would happen if they even thought of that."

A frown appeared on the mongoose's face. "No offense, Baggy. But from personal experience, guys like us and guys like them do not go well together in the same space."

"I promise he will be safe. We'll stay clear of the dholes' hunting grounds."

Timon and Pumbaa took a moment to ponder about it. They turned to Baloo, only to find the bear was equally doubtful. "Hmm, I dunno..."

"Guys...?"

At the sound of a tiny voice from behind them, all heads turned to find Simba walking up to them. Kala and Tarzan not far behind.

"Simba?" Baloo asked, slightly confused. "How long have you been there?"

"I caught the last part." He said. Bagheera meet Kala's eyes for a moment long enough to realize she had told him about their little plan.

Meanwhile, Baloo figured this might as well be a good time to get the cub's opinion on the matter. "So, Little Britches, what do you think about all of this?"

The youngling stepped forward, looking determined. "I'll do it."

"Wha-what?!" Exclaimed Timon. "Simba, you can't be serious!"

"Pumbaa, Timon, please?" The lion cub asked his guardians.

"Hunting? Danger? Definitely not!" Proclaimed the mongoose with the warthog nodding at his side. "Have you forgotten our problem-free philosophy? It means no worries-"

"But you said our lives are the only thing we do worry about." Countered Simba. "That way I can protect you guys from the tiger."

Timon flinched at the youngling's words. "You guys are gonna hold that over my head for the rest of my life, aren't you?" He muttered before heatedly stating. "You are a cub!"

"I am a lion!" He retorted. "The Colonel said that I would have to learn the ways of the jungle when he accepted me here!"

Timon cut himself off as Kala left Tarzan's side and stepped forward to get the pair's attention. Timon and Pumbaa regarded the she-ape with confusion before she focused on them. "Timon, Pumbaa, I understand." She began, "Everyone that raises a youngling worries for their safety, but you have to accept there will come a time when he will need to learn to protect himself."

"But... Simba is just a little guy." The warthog's tone saddened a bit.

"But he won't be forever." Kala shook her head in sympathy. "And Bagheera has been of great help with Tarzan; I assure you he will take good care of Simba and there is no way he would teach him to hunt us or any defenseless animal. So there is nothing for you to worry about." She tried to reassure the pair. The panther in question nodded to the duo.

Timon and Pumbaa made eye contact with each other, deep in thought, before turning to Baloo. The bear stayed silent as he meet their gaze, though he looked worried as well, then he offered them a sincere nod. When the duo finally turned their attention back to their ward, the mongoose let out a groan before giving a long, drawn-out sigh and speaking again. "Simba... we just don't want you to get hurt."

"You won't." Simba smiled comforting at them. "Next time, I will protect everyone from those red dogs."

"Well, when you put it that way..." The meerkat felt a tiny smile slowly forming on his features and he finally nodded to the panther. "Okay, Baggy, he can go with you." Suddenly, his expression hardened as he raised a finger to the cat's face. "On one condition, that he is not bringing any meat home tonight or any other day."

"Understood." Bagheera complied, even as he rolled his eyes at the request. The panther turned to the lion cub. "Come along, Simba. I'm taking you on your first lesson."

The entire time, Tarzan was smiling at the chance to hang out with his friend.

The brown dry canopy sways in the morning breeze, causing some of the leaves to fall. The teacher and his students trudge on and on, tiny against the vastness of the jungle, their forms blending in with the undergrowth. Tarzan jumped from a clump of vegetation, pursued by Simba. They chase down the slope, dodging this and that energetically until Bagheera called out to them. "Hey, you two. Stop scampering and walk quietly."

"Oh, right." The younglings bounded in front of the panther, copying his walk.

"Now, Simba, I want you to listen carefully and remember what I say," Bagheera said as they walked, making the lion cub glance in his direction. "When you go hunting, all of your senses have to be alert, understand?" Seeing he had the kitten's attention, he continued. "First, let's focus on your sense of smell. That is what guides you to your prey."

The leopard stopped, signaling the cubs to do the same. Simba started sniffing around the area, on the lookout for any of the smells he could recognize. There were so many strange scents in the jungle that he couldn't tell for sure where each came from. Eventually, he caught a familiar scent from the savanna. "I think I'm picking up something." He focused his nose to not lose it. "I think I smell a rabbit around here, Bagheera."

Bagheera nodded. "Very good." He turned his head to Tarzan, "Now, both of you watch." The panther made a turn and walked to the side. "I will show you how to follow a scent by following the tracks a prey left behind." The younglings followed the black leopard, coming to a halt once they got near a shrub that had some of its leaves nibbled, with some torn pieces scattered on the ground. "See those? The scattered leaves."

Simba approached curiously, taking a good sniff before nodding to Bagheera. "Yes, the rabbit nibbled on some of them."

"There's more, over there." Tarzan pointed out. Indeed, many of the surrounding bushes had their leaves half-eaten and some of the plants had been bent to make a path.

"Must be a warren. Let's keep following the scent." The teacher led his students on the rabbits' trail, past the underbrush. The grownup big cat sniffed the ground as he made his way through the rainforest. The kitten did the same in an attempt to pinpoint the location of the scent's source. The man-cub tried as he might to do it too but his sense of smell wasn't as developed as the cats'. "We are getting close," Bagheera said after a while, gathering up his speed with the younglings in tow. Climbing up a promontory in a clearing, the trio spotted a burrow in the base of a tree close by, the cats confirmed that was the rabbits' den. "There it is." He turned to the pair. "The rabbits are nocturnal, let's leave them for now."

"Wait, that's it?" Simba quirked a questioning eyebrow. "We are just leaving?"

"This was merely a demonstration," Bagheera explained to him. "Besides, as a Hunter, you must be patient when foraging for prey." He turned to walk away. "Let's keep going. Today, I teach you how to recognize all of the jungle's smells." He looked to the man-cub, who was looking intensely at the burrow below. "Tarzan!" The hairless ape whipped his head at his mentor. "As his senior, I want you to assist me in teaching Simba, understood?" At the boy's nod, the panther set off, and the lion cub followed right behind him. Tarzan spared one last glance at the rabbits' den, a slightly troubled look appeared on his face before he cut off his musings to catch up with the two felines.

The trio continued traversing the dense jungles and patches of grassy fields north of the Dirisha River. True to his word, the panther made sure to teach the lion cub about all the smells of the jungle not only to track down prey but also to identify each animal's territory based on the scent of urine and feces they scatter around the area. Together, they visited various groups of natives, including wild cats, mongooses, hippos, rhinos, flamingos, marabou storks, and giraffes from abroad. Tarzan suggested they visited the territories of the Bandar-log but an apprehensive Bagheera discouraged this idea in favor of focusing on Simba's education of the many other inhabitants of Bukuvu. At last, they arrived at the plains where the great migrating herds of grazing animals pastured and watched as Colonel Hathi's elephants toppled down trees to make more space for the Outlanders.

After Simba familiarized himself with the smell of the gazelles, wildebeests, and zebras, the black leopard guided the two younglings back into the woodlands to teach the kitten more about the smells of the rainforest. The lion cub sniffed about the surrounding area before pinpointing a familiar powerful smell and turning to his teacher. "I got Pumbaa's smell."

Bagheera shook his head. "Close, that's the scent of a warthog, Simba. But this one didn't come from Pumbaa." Turning around, he detected the scent before speaking back to his new student. "All peoples have their natural smell but each animal has its own unique scent."

Simba nodded. Taking another sniff of the air, he noticed that the smell, while similar, wasn't anywhere as strong as Pumbaa's.

"At this time of the day, the sounders gather around the wallows," Bagheera told him before bounding off with Tarzan riding on his back and Simba chasing after them. The little lion struggled to keep up with the panther's speed, not helped by the obstacles of the jungle's rugged undergrowth. Bagheera came to a stop at an arching tree root and lowered himself to look at the warthog sounders. Hearing the sound of panting, Tarzan saw Simba running to them, looking visibly worn out.

"Are you okay?" Tarzan asked when his fellow student stopped next to them, letting his tongue out as he caught his breath.

"Too fast for you?" Bagheera turned to the cub, who shook his head in response and pushed himself to join the bigger cat's side.

"Why are they fighting?"

Simba's question prompted the panther to shift his eyes back to the wallow. In the depression below, water had gathered and mixed with the soil, creating a series of mudholes from where the hogs were now chanting and watching two great boars squealing at the top of their lungs while bashing their heads and parring their sharp lower canine teeth against each other.

"That's a Mashindano, a challenge of skill and strength." Explained Bagheera. "This is a bachelor herd, they must be fighting for leadership of the group."

"Mashindano!" "Mashindano!" "Mashindano!" "Mashindano!" "Mashindano!"

The chanting intensified as the duel between the two boars raged on.

"Like male antelopes fighting in the Lekking Season?" Tarzan asked.

"That's a good comparison," Bagheera responded.

One of the warthogs lunged at his opponent. The adversary, nimble on his feet despite his natural girth, dodged and jerked his head towards the attacker, who barely twists away, splaying out, getting under the other, sending him rolling. The adversary snorted and was about to rise up when the adversary forced him down to the ground. Now immobilized, the second warthog tapped his opponent's leg, giving up the fight. The chanting stopped. The first warthog got off of him and put his head in position to help the other get on his feet. There were no hard feelings.

"You see, boys?" The teacher addressed his students, his voice full of reverential respect. "That's nature's way. A Leader must be strong but always show respect to the other members of the group." The pair of younglings watched the boars in awe while also absorbing the panther's words. Bagheera leaped down from the root, Tarzan holding on to his back as he did so. He gazed at the lion cub. "Come along, you still have a lot to learn."

The rest of the day wasn't much different from the first half: with the black leopard and the man-cub showing the jungle to the newcomer. As they were wandering beneath the shade of the canopy, the sun was starting to set. Simba looked to Bagheera. "Now whose tracks are we gonna follow? Elephants? Zebras? Monkeys?"

"No more animals," Bagheera said with Tarzan walking by his side. "Try finding some fresh water.

"Okay, I will try my best."

Following Simba, Bagheera and Tarzan made their way down a well-trodden path through the jungle. They passed by the flat plains by the far bank, where patches of the stiff jungle grass had died standing, and, drying, had mummified. The beaten tracks of the grazers and pigs, all heading up to the highlands, had striped that colorless plain with dusty gullies driven through the ten-foot grass, and, late as it was, each long avenue was full of first-comers hastening to the water. Simba could hear the does and fawns coughing in the snuff-like dust. He crouched down to watch the herds passing by. The cub turned to see, much to his confusion, Bagheera walking in full sight of the prey in the same direction.

Tarzan noticed his friend's confusion and nodded to reassure him. "Come on, Simba. It's all right."

"Where are we going?" Simba questioned even as he followed after them.

Bagheera quirked his brow at the lion cub. "I thought you would remember this place." Said the panther before he stopped to look at what was ahead of them.

Walking up to the black leopard, Simba's eyes widened in surprise as he beheld the sight in front of him. The waterfalls cascaded down from the large cliffs to feed the greatest lagoon the cub had ever seen. Up-stream, at the bend of the now sluggish pool around the Council Rock, and Warden of Zulu, stood Colonel Hathi, overseeing the Water Truce, with Tantor at his side, gaunt and gray in the sunset, rocking to and fro—always rocking. Below him a little were the vanguards of the antelope and the deer; below these, again, the pig and the wild buffalo; and on the opposite bank, where the tall trees came down to the water's edge, was the place set apart for the Eaters of Flesh—the panther, the bear, the baboons, and the dholes.

"Zulu Falls..." Said the awed youngling, his memory jolting back to the day when Baloo, Timon, and Pumbaa had taken him there to present him before the Council Rock so he could be accepted by the elephants into the jungle. He had been so distracted with Bagheera's lessons that he had forgotten how close they actually were to the waterhole.

"Always a sight to behold." Bagheera smiled as he nodded to the kitten before moving towards the lagoon. "Come, let us drink."

Tarzan was right behind him and Simba contemplated the scenery for a moment longer before doing the same. Simba then spotted a small group of adult male rabbits quenching their thirst in the lagoon. By instinct, the lion cub lowered himself to the grass and coiled his entire body like a spring, ready to intercept the prey until Bagheera's voice reprimanded him.

"Nuh-uh." The panther shook his head when his new student turned to him questioningly. "Not allowed."

"But why can't I?" Simba asked. "They are right there."

"The Water Truce." He responded firmly. Realizing the youngling was unaware of one of the staples of the Jungle Law, he gestured for Simba to come with him. Once they were a short distance away from the bank, Bagheera tried to explain the Truce to the lion. "Let me explain, Simba." He started. "This is the biggest lake in the whole jungle where there is any water left."

Simba nodded slowly, so his teacher continued.

"So think about it, what is the logical next step?"

Simba pondered for a moment, taking a good look around the area to see all kinds of animals from the jungle gathered around the lake for a drink. Most were herbivores but he recognized some of the meat-eaters on the opposite side.

"We all have to drink, and we all have to drink here," Bagheera said, cluing the cub in.

"We wouldn't have to hunt for prey anymore; all we would have to do is wait here." Realization dawned for the little lion, who grimaced as he glanced at the denizens around the lagoon. "We could catch them all, and soon there would be none left."

"That's right, Simba." The leopard gave him a nod. "We could catch every single one of them. But then, what would we do for food?" The image of a desolate lagoon flashed through the youngling's eyes. Bagheera answered his own question. "No one would come here anymore, and we would have to leave as well, or we would starve."

"So that's why there is a Water Truce." Said the kitten. That was when another memory resurfaced for him.

Everything exists together in a delicate balance. As king, he needs to understand that balance and respect all the creatures, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope. For while his kind may eat the antelope, his body will become the grass after dying, and the antelope eat the grass. "And so, we are all connected in-"

"The Great Circle of Life."

Bagheera kept his smile as he nodded once more to the young lion. "I see you've been taught about it."

Simba seemed to be processing the words. After a bit, he suddenly looked alarmingly at his teacher. "But... what about the tiger?"

Bagheera's expression dropped before he shook his head. "No, the Khan and his cronies are not allowed in the vicinity of the lagoon, not since they broke the Law." Now, the panther was the one lost in his own thoughts, looking pensively to the horizon, in the same direction of the Khanate's territory.

For a moment, Simba could have sworn his mouth had moved to speak in a low voice:

"He wasn't always like this."

Snapping out of his musings, the panther remembered the youngling next to him, who now looked equally adrift, and decided to drop the matter. "Anyway, it's been a long day. You are free to go and play around the lagoon. I will take you home afterward."

The lion cub was still a little bit confused but nodded nevertheless, darting off and making his way toward the elephant herd, likely to play with Hathi's son. Glancing to the side, Bagheera raised an eyebrow as his eyes fell on his senior student. Tarzan was looking both unsettled and confused at the animals lounging peacefully on the banks of the lagoon, as if expecting something bad to happen. Putting his mind onto it, the leopard had seen the same expression on the boy's face early, when he and Simba had tracked down rabbits to their den.

Making his way to the man-cub's side, the panther asked: "Tarzan, is there something bothering you?"

The student turned to his teacher. There was indeed something bothering the boy. A riddle Tarzan wanted desperately to solve. "Why do you and Simba have to chase them, Bagheera?" Tarzan asked as he turned to watch the various prey animals on their side of the waterhole, Bagheera did the same. "I mean, how come you have to eat them? They don't eat us and you don't eat bugs like us."

"They can live on grass and greens. Creatures like me and Simba, or even you Tarzan, cannot. That's not the way we were made." Bagheera's tone was calm but serious; like he always did when teaching an important lesson to Tarzan. 'Listen to me' was the message hidden within his voice, so the man-cub listened.

Then he asked. "Who made us that way?"

"The Great Circle of Life, which binds us all."

"That's sad."

"No, Tarzan. It's just how things are. If we look on them as sad or bad, we miss an opportunity."

Tarzan scrunched his brows. "Opportunity?"

"To make the best with what we have." The panther's expression turned philosophical, mirroring Tarzan's in some small way. "Take the zebras for example. If predators like Simba and I didn't hunt them, their kind would multiply wildly in their numbers and eat all the grasses at once... and then, they would all starve, along with every other animal who depends on the grass fields. All of them would be gone."

Tarzan never thought of that... but he is thinking now. "So, you hunt them... so they won't starve?"

"No, Tarzan. Simba's kind and mine hunt them so we won't starve. The Great Circle has a plan that works for us all. If we take our responsibility for our share of it."

"All of us..." The last man in the jungle repeated. He looked at his teacher in the eyes, and his were full of curiosity. "What about me?"

Bagheera smiled softly, and his tone turned soothing as well. "We'll find out. I will help you... and so will the others."

As the panther gently stroked his head with his paw pads, the man-cub beamed.

Simba sat near the imposing rocky ledge impressively illuminated by the setting sun as it slowly disappeared into the Great Waters. From that point, the young lion got a majestic view of the entire sun-kissed landscape while the local residents went about their routines.

"Look, Simba." His father said from beside him atop the summit, gazing over at the lands below. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom."

"Wow." The awed young prince couldn't find his words.

"A king's time as ruler... rises and falls like the sun." His father ducked his head to his son's level. "One day, Simba... the sun will set on my time here... and will rise with you as the new king."

An enthusiastic Simba looks up at Mufasa, then back to the savanna. "This will all be mine?"

"Everything. It will be yours to protect. A great responsibility."

Simba strode along the edge of Pride Rock, overlooking the Pride Lands. "Everything the light touches." He murmured before sitting down once he spotted a rip-rap canyon to the north. He then looked back at his father questioningly. "What about that shadowy place?"

Mufasa's expression turned stern as he walked to join his son. "That's beyond our borders. You must never go there, Simba."

"But I thought a king can do whatever he wants." Remarked the cub.

The monarch smiled before starting to stride away. "Oh, there's more to being king than getting your way all the time."

Simba followed his father, grinning in awe at that prospect. "There's more?"

Mufasa merely chuckled at his son's enthusiasm. "Simba..."

"Simba...? Simba?"

The lion cub blinked owlishly for a few seconds, taking a moment to process where he was. Tarzan was standing next to him on the ledge near a waterfall, eyebrows raised.

"What is it?" He asked the lion.

Simba was quick to shake his head, not in the mood to talk about his deja vu. "I-it's nothing," He declared, turning to watch the view. "Just didn't know this was here." His eyes fell to the jungle below.

Tarzan shifted himself as well and smiled at the breathtaking scenery before giving a blissful sigh. "Yeah, the Bukuvu looks pretty amazing, huh?"

"Yeah, this place is incredible." The kitten's smile was weak but his words were sincere, he took another moment to admire the view.

"I mean, the Theluji are awesome." The man-cub continued even as his eyes became nostalgic. "But there is no place like home."

The young cat froze in place, something was sinking in.

Home.

Yes, this was his new home.

His den within a great kopje was replaced by the hollow base of a giant tree. His groupmates were an aloof bear, a wisecracking meerkat, and a warthog with flatulence problems. His hunting grounds would be patches of green grass running parallel to lush, green forests. His teacher was a black leopard. And his best friend was a hairless ape with pink skin.

All he needed was here, and he already started to discover the mysteries of the jungle.

The two cubs held a look between them; the lion reciprocated the boy's wide smile before they turned to the jungle under the evening.

This huge, wonderful land was home.

OMAKE: We Didn't Start the Bizarre

They changed the radio's frequency to another station, which was playing a familiar music. Giorno perked from the backseat for a second, this song was one of his favorites, he would listen and sing to it on a regular basis in the privacy of his school dorm. Remembering that he wasn't alone in the car, he tried to repress his urge to sing.

"We didn't start the Bizarre."

But the person in the passager's seat didn't care about such things.

"It was always active since the masks were crafted."

"Now that is more like it!" Declared Jolyne, humming and singing along to the radio. "We didn't start the Bizarre. No, we didn't write it but we learned to like it. Giorno, King Crimson, Polnareff is back again, Polpo, Bruno, La Squadra, Capo, Liar, Lighter,"

Giorno found her singing incredibly contagious. "Pistols dine, Terror on an airline, Koichi leave Japan, Trish is gonna lose a hand,"

Jolyne raised a funny eyebrow at her usually cool and stoic great-great-great-uncle. The two of them shared a knowing smile with one another and started singing together. "Toilet fortune, Train ride, Banana flavored suicide, Growing plants, Torture dance, Drugs," They gazed into each other's eyes, increasing the volume of their singing, and smiling the entire way. "Crime, Paris, France, Abbacchio's on the shore, Cioccolata's got a saw, Choosing from the number 4! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

"Oi! What do you think this is, some romantic road trip?!" Abbacchio angrily shouted while turning down the volume, cutting off their groove as he drove the car. "We're here on a mission, keep yourselves focused."

The pair stayed silent after that. Jolyne turned to Giorno, who got curious at seeing the mischievous glint in her eyes.

A few seconds later, Abbacchio heard another sound coming from them. His perpetual scowl shifted to berate the two again... only for his jaws to slack when he found the pair smooching together from their seats like a couple of lovey-dovey teenagers.

He felt a vein burst when Jolyne gave him the finger. "Am I your chaperone now?"