Nala struggled against the vines, gnawing at them with her teeth. She was beginning to wear them away, bit by bit. Then she could escape—and just might stand a chance at stopping the strange clone of her. She just hoped that Simba and Haiba hadn't been hurt… If they had, then she was going to kill that clone!
"Come on, come on," Nala said through gritted teeth, as she cut away at the remaining vines with her claws. They snapped free, and she plopped to the ground. "Yes!" She was free!
Nala raced in the direction of her clone—only for Clone Haiba and Simba to hop right in front of her. They didn't look too happy.
"Oh, no," Nala said, backing away. She could tell just by looking at them that they weren't the real Simba and Haiba.
"There are more of you!"
"Looks like we've got ourselves a poser, Simba," said Clone Haiba, advancing menacingly towards her.
"Yeah," Clone Simba agreed, a low growl rising in his throat. "It looks like it. What are we going to do to her, Haiba?"
"Oh, I'm sure I can think of something," Clone Haiba responded. "Maybe we could drown her in the waterhole."
"Or crush her with a boulder," suggested Clone Simba.
"Or how about we squeeze her head until it pops?" asked Clone Haiba.
Clone Simba grinned evilly. "Sounds good to me."
"No!" Nala pushed past the two, knocking them aside. She ran full pelt in the direction where her clone was headed, intent on catching her before she did something horrible to Simba and Haiba. The real Simba and Haiba, of course. "I just hope I'm not too late…"
"It's too late for you," Clone Nala said, as she finished tying the vines around Simba, Haiba and Zazu, securing them all to one tree. "There's nothing you can do about it."
"I don't even understand what it is we did," Haiba said. "We were posing or something?"
"You're posers," Clone Nala told them. "And that is the worst crime of all. Now you will pay the price for it."
"I'll give you two wildebeests," Haiba said.
"What?" asked Simba.
"She said I'll pay the price," Haiba replied. "How much does she want?"
"It's an expression, you idiot!" Clone Nala said angrily. "Now shut up and let me kill you!"
"I dread to ask," said Zazu, "but how exactly are you going to execute us?"
"Easy," Nala replied. "I'm going to tickle you to death."
Zazu fainted instantly.
"Say goodbye," Clone Nala said, before tickling Haiba across the stomach.
He didn't laugh. Not once.
"Let's see how you get out of this one!" Clone Nala laughed, as she continued to tickle Haiba. It took her a few moments to realise that he wasn't reacting. "Huh?" she said, confused. "Why aren't you laughing?"
"I'm not ticklish," he replied. "It doesn't do anything to me. I think Simba is, though—"
"Shh!" Simba hissed, before looking at Clone Nala. "Oh, yeah—I'm not ticklish too. I guess you'll have to try something else. I don't think Zazu is, either. Isn't that right, Zazu?"
But he couldn't reply, of course, because he was unconscious.
"Hmm…" Clone Nala sat in thought for a moment. "I'll have to think of something else—something equally as horrible!"
"Yeah—you think about that," Simba said, before whispering in Haiba's ear. "We need to think of a plan—and fast."
"I'm working on it," Haiba said, as he discreetly began to tear at the vines with his claws. "I'll have us out of here before you can say 'I'll have us out of here before you can say.'"
Simba stared at him confusingly. "Whatever. Just get us free."
"Sure thing," Haiba said, as he cut the last of the vines, and the three of them tumbled to the ground. Zazu jolted awake, looking around in fright.
"Am I dead?" he cried. "Is it over?"
Clone Nala growled with rage, seeing that they were trying to escape. "It's only just beginning," she said furiously, before pouncing at the hornbill.
"Gah!" Zazu spread his wings and took off into the air, narrowly avoiding becoming Nala's next meal. "I'm getting away from this horrible kingdom!" With that, he flew away into the distance.
"You won't get away with… whatever it is you're planning," Haiba told her. "We won't allow it."
"We'll just see about that— Wah!" Clone Nala cried, as suddenly something impacted with her.
Simba and Haiba watched with bemusement as another Nala began to wrestle with the other.
"Hold it right there!" Nala yelled at her clone.
"Nala?" both Simba and Haiba exclaimed.
"You again!" her clone complained.
Nala breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Simba and Haiba. "Thank goodness you're all right."
"Nala, what is going on?" Simba asked.
"Hold it!" Clone Nala yelled, throwing Nala away from her. "I'm Nala, and I'm in charge around here."
"No—I'm Nala!" Nala declared.
"I'm Nala!" the other exclaimed.
"I'm Nala!" Nala insisted, getting up in her double's face so their noses were touching.
"So, who's the real Nala?" Haiba asked.
"I am!" they both proclaimed.
"Don't let this imposter fool you," Clone Nala said. "She's been trained by Hago himself to mimic my every move."
Nala slapped her clone across the face. "Ow!" she cried. "My beautiful face!"
"She has to be the real Nala," Simba said. "She would never say anything like that."
"Clones!" Nala cried, grabbing Simba by the cheeks. "Three of them! Of us! We've gotta stop them!"
"Okay, okay—calm down!" Simba replied, pulling away from her. "So we've got a clone problem. What else is new?"
"What's new is that they think they're us," Nala explained. "I bumped into the clones of you and Haiba. They wanted to squeeze my head until it popped!"
"That doesn't sound good," Haiba said nervously. "I've had parts of my body squeezed before." He frowned. "It's not nice."
"Which is why we have to squash them before they can squash us," Nala told them. "After all, we are the dominant life forms."
"What makes you say that?" Simba asked.
"Isn't it obvious? We've been around longer than they have," Nala explained. "They're just copies!"
"That's not fair!" Clone Nala cried, getting to her paws. "Who says you're the dominant life forms? We're real!"
"And what makes you say that?" Nala asked. "You're just clones. You probably haven't been around for more than a few hours. You're nothing."
"I have everything that you do," Clone Nala said. "And so much more. I'm better than you! Better! Do you hear me?"
"All I hear is some insane cub," Nala retorted. "Just because you have the same memories as us doesn't make you the same."
"Your friends failed to notice the difference," Clone Nala remarked coldly, glancing at Simba and Haiba. "They thought I was the real Nala all along."
"That's not true." Nala turned to the two. "Is it?"
"Well…" Simba scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "We did think you were kinda acting a little weird…"
Nala rolled her eyes. "Look, we're not the same as them—and they're not the same as us! We have to destroy them before they take over the kingdom!"
"It's our kingdom already!" Clone Nala declared. "I'm the future Queen!"
"No—you just think you're the future Queen," Nala shot back, extending her claws. "Now, are you going to fight me or just stand there like a coward?"
Clone Nala looked like she was about to pounce on Nala, but then hesitated. "No," she said. "I won't fight." She turned away. "But I'll be back…" And with that, she walked off.
Nala watched her go, then turned to Simba and Haiba. "She's going to bring back the others," she said. "We have to be ready with an ambush."
"You're really concerned about this, aren't you?" Haiba asked.
"We can't just let doubles of ourselves go running around the place!" Nala cried. "We need to destroy them before they can do any real harm!"
"All right, all right," Simba agreed. "So how do we fight clones?"
"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" Nala said. "We play to our own weaknesses."