"Argh!" Shocker had fire in his eyes. "I don't b elieve it!"
"Quit yelling," snapped the Interceptor. "It's not that bad."
"Not that b ad?" Shocker roared. "This is it! This is the final! This is the very last straw!"
The Interceptor rolled his eyes. Shocker, by nature, was an angry cub. Maybe being struck by lightning had something to do with that. Theoretically, he should be dead—yet that didn't exactly stop him.
"Just shut up!" the Interceptor moaned. "You're making my head hurt!" He thought that he would have become accustomed to Shocker's yelling by now. Sadly, that wasn't the case.
"Your head? Your head?" yelled Shocker. "What about my head? The failure—it's just too much to bear! Everything I try —every single thing—goes up in smoke! Why? Why is it so hard to eradicate my enemies?"
"Because they're smart," the Interceptor replied, although he hated to admit it. "You ever thought about just giving up on chasing them every single day?"
"Are you insane?" Shocker replied. "It's an endless mission! Simba, Nala and Haiba must die! It's all a matter of revenge! Don't tell me you want to miss out on what you deserve?"
"I deserve a good hunt," said the Interceptor. "And so far, I don't think that's going to happen!"
Shocker growled with anger. His body didn't seem big enough to contain his rage. "We've tried everything! We resurrected Scar—and he ended up betraying us. We tried being stealthy—and we ended up using the worst potion ever to exist. What else is there? What other plan could there possibly be?"
The Interceptor thought for a moment. "Make them fight against each other," he suggested.
"I've already tried that," Shocker said, sighing as he lay back in his vine hammock. "Didn't work."
"No, no—you don't understand," said the Interceptor, shaking his head. "I mean, like, clones."
Shocker just stared at him blankly. "'Clones'?" he said. "Did you seriously just say that to me?"
The Interceptor nodded. "That I did," he said. "Clones. Just send some evil clones of them into the Pride Lands. That should solve the problem."
"Either you're stupid, or… stupid," Shocker replied. "You can't just go about making clones of animals. It's impossible!"
"Not with a little bit of magic," the Interceptor said. "Look—I know a magical cub who lives in this jungle. Well, when I say know, I mean… spied on. Anyway, she'd be able to cook up a few clones for us in a heartbeat."
Shocker didn't look at all convinced. "I seriously doubt any cub is going to want to be associated with—"
"I never said we had to do it nicely," the Interceptor interrupted. "We're going to kidnap the cub, and force her to create clones for us." He grinned. "Is this the perfect plan or what?"
"Or what," said Shocker sternly. "It. Won't. Work."
"I'd like to see you come up with a better idea," the Interceptor retorted.
"All right—I will!" Shocker declared. "Um… well… uh…" He struggled for an idea, much to the pleasure of the Interceptor.
"See. I knew it."
"No, wait—wait—wait!" Shocker exclaimed hurriedly. "I've got it! Why don't we clone Simba, Nala and Haiba—then make the clones kill them! It's genius! I'm surprised I've never thought of it before!"
The Interceptor frowned disapprovingly. "Hey, that was my idea—"
"Aw, shut up," Shocker snapped, hopping to his paws. "I have a plan to put into motion. Now, where did you say that magical cub was?"
"Tojo, Tojo, Tojo…" Tama shook her head, frowning. "When will you ever learn?"
"Oh, well, sorry," Tojo said, rolling his eyes, "but it's not my fault I ended up stuck on top of a tree."
Tojo was clinging to a long branch protruding from a rather tall tree off to the side of his and Tama's home. "Maybe you could stop using me as your magical test experiment?"
Tama sighed. "You know I have to try and perfect my powers, Tojo. Nine times out of ten, something goes wrong. But it's not my fault—I wasn't trained properly."
"Or maybe you just don't have as much magical blood in your veins as you suspected?" Tojo questioned. "After all, your magic didn't exactly help during that whole business with Hago and—"
"Hey, I saved the day, didn't I?" Tama interrupted.
"You murdered him," Tojo pointed out bleakly. "Horrib ly, I might add."
Tama sighed. "It was either him or you, Tojo. Would you like me to burn you to a crisp instead?"
"No," Tojo replied. "But I would like to get out of this— Wah!" Tojo cried out as he lost his grip on the branch and plummeted to the ground with a large thump! "Ow…"
"There we go," said Tama chirpily, picking Tojo up. "You're out of the tree. It's your lucky day after all!"
"Oh, sure," said Tojo sarcastically. "I bet next someone will end up kidnapping you."
"Don't be ridiculous," Tama snapped. "As if I'd ever let anyone— Gah!"
Tojo whipped round to see that Tama had disappeared. "I knew it," he said, shaking his head. "I knew it." He shrugged, sitting down on the ground. "She'll be back eventually. Oh, well, Tojo. You might as well just talk to yourself…"
"All right, who are you, and why have you taken me?" Tama demanded, staring at the unfriendly faces leering over her.
"Shut up," snapped Shocker. "We want you to do a little job for us—and then we'll be on our way."
"Yeah," the Interceptor agreed. "Now get to it."
"If this has anything to do with kissing you—" Shocker covered her mouth with a paw, shaking his head.
"Not that kind of job," Shocker told her. "I've been told by a highly informed source—whose identity you'll never be able to figure out—that you possess magical powers."
"Was it him?" Tama asked, gesturing to the Interceptor.
Shocker sighed. "Yes. Yes, it was him. But let's get to the point. I want you to create some clones for me."
"Clones?" Tama's eyes widened. "Why would you want me to create clones?"
"For my own evil purposes," Shocker replied mysteriously. "Now, the clones in particular have to have very specific appearances—"
"Simba, Nala and Haiba," Tama cut in with a deep sigh. "I know the drill by now."
Shocker shot her an angry look, but he continued regardless. "Okay—I want you to create clones of Simba, Nala and Haiba, yes. But they have to be evil. Very, very evil. So evil that they should hate the sight of their own reflections! Their hatred for the cubs has to be very strong indeed…"
"And what makes you think I'd even do that?" Tama asked, knowing that Simba, Nala and Haiba were her friends. She would never agree to such a thing!
"I'll kill your boyfriend," Shocker threatened.
"Go ahead," Tama retorted, much to Shocker's bemusement. "I didn't like him that much, anyway."
"Okay—then I'll kill you," Shocker snarled.
Tama gasped, mouth dropping open, horrified. "You monster! How could you? That's insane! That's horrible! It's—"
"So you'll do it?" the Interceptor interrupted, growing rather tired of the cub's selfish personality.
"Okay, okay—I'll do it," Tama gave in. "Just watch you don't mess up my fur, all right? And this had better be quick, too. Otherwise Tojo might start to worry about me…"
Tojo was alone in the middle of his home, sat on the ground, talking to someone who appeared to be invisible.
"Yes, yes, we used the main path to get here most of the way," he said. "We had an awful lot of trouble getting over the river. We used the bridge in the end, yes." He listened to an inaudible response from the imaginary person. "Oh, she's a very lovely girlfriend. You'd recognise her a mile away—poor hygiene, mostly covered in blood. I mean, you really should visit more often—we could have a great dinner together one night."
Tojo grinned as he heard another imaginary response. "Yes, I suppose I am a bit of a great cub, really, aren't I?" He thought for a moment. "That was a nice chat." He then frowned, lonely. "Shame I haven't got someone real to talk to…"