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The two cubs made sure they were away from the watering hole. Wherever they were, Zazu was sure not to follow them now. So Simba and Nala took a break, trying to get their breath back.

"All right! We lost him!" Nala panted. She had never done anything this exciting before in her life.

"I know what you're going to say," Simba gloated, his chest puffed out. "I am a genius, right?"

Nala glared indignantly at him. "Hey, genius, it was my idea."

"Yeah, but I pulled it off."

"With me!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! We wouldn't get this far if it wasn't for your future queen," Nala retorted. She had been as shocked as Simba when Zazu said that they were betrothed, but the thought of being a queen really did sound interesting to her.

Simba snorted and waved a paw dismissively. "Aren't you forgetting something? There's not gonna be a future queen."

Nala's earlier thoughts of marriage vanished. If she was going to marry him, then she wouldn't want to be queen. "Fine by me," she retorted. "I'd rather marry an aardvark anyway."

"Good luck finding one that'll say yes," Simba said smugly.

Nala knew where this was getting to. They usually had friendly arguments that would lead up to taunting and then to wrestling. She decided to teach Simba a little lesson: he was the future king, but he wasn't a king yet. She would remind him of that.

Eyes narrowing, Nala dropped into a crouch. "Good luck getting out of here without a scratch."

"Bring it on," Simba responded, crouching as well.

The two ran at each other, wrestling and trying to pin each other to the ground. Play was an important part of a young cub's life. It could teach them social skills or even how to hunt. In the end, Nala managed to pin Simba, who had been going for strength rather than wits.

"Pinned ya." Nala smiled at the indignant look on Simba's face. "You owe me an apology."

"Hey, lemme up!" Simba whined.

Nala got off of him, satisfied. Simba glared at her before a smirk came over his face, finding a way to pay her back.

So once Nala wasn't paying attention, Simba pounced again. The two tumbled and wrestled in their second round, this time rolling down a hill. But once they reached the bottom, Simba was expecting to pin her this time.

However, Nala rolled up first and pinned him a second time. "Pinned ya again," she gloated, while the prince just glared at her with indignance.

Just as Simba had to admit defeat, though, a loud hissing made them look around. A hole in the ground belched out hot smelly smoke that billowed in the air. Nala got off of Simba, and they began to walk around. They went up a ridge and looked around at the landscape. It was nothing like the Pride Lands, mainly gray and brown with bones here and there. At one point, they jumped onto what was either a fallen tree or a giant bone, looking at the expanse before them.

All around them were bones, lots and lots of bones. If the Pride Lands had lots of grass, then this place had lots of bones. It wasn't just any bones either; these were the bones of elephants.

"This is it. We made it!" Simba whispered to Nala. "The elephant graveyard! It's amazing, isn't it?"

"We could get in big trouble," Nala replied with a snicker.

They looked around them some more, taking it all in. No bird song echoed here, only the sounds of vultures shrieking and steam vents rumbling. They wondered about the owners of these bones, the elephants. Why did all those elephants come here? How did they know when to gather to die? It was pretty sad to think about, after all the live elephants they had seen in their young lives.

Soon, their eyes were fixed on one massive elephant skull, both tusks standing and curving up like dead trees. "I wonder if its brains are still in there?" Nala remarked.

"I don't know," replied Simba, padding towards the skull. "Come on. Let's go check it out."

"WRONG!"

Simba jumped high in the air at the angry sound coming from above him. Zazu now flew down in front of them, angrier and more scared than he had ever seen the hornbill be.

"The only checking out you'll do is out of here!" he snapped, ignoring Simba's gripes. "We're way beyond the boundary of the Pride Lands!"

At this, Simba chuckled. "Look at that. Banana Beak is scared!"

"It's Mister Banana Beak to you, fuzzy!" Zazu scolded, poking Simba's nose with a wing. "And right now, we are all in very real danger!"

"Danger? Ha!" Simba scoffed, walking over to near the bone and jumping on its face. "I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger." Then he turned to the skull and laughed into its eye sockets. "HA HA HA!"

His laugh echoed through the skull, ringing Simba's ears.

"Enough!" Zazu hissed. "You've proven how brave and utterly reckless you are! We're going home this instant!"

"Zazu does have a point. That's pretty bold," Nala added. "Besides, the sun's going down, and I don't wanna stick around until - "

But Simba followed it up with another "HA HA HA!" towards the cavity in the skull. Yet it was when sinister cackles reached his ears did Simba feel a prickle of fear on his fur. He immediately ran over to Nala and Zazu, fur bristling and heart racing.

And then the hyenas arrived. It was two hyenas, both males, with mottled brown coats, brown muzzles, and sharp teeth. They came half-slithering from the eye sockets of the skull like snakes, and climbing down the tusks like leopards.

"Well, look at this," the stronger male hyena remarked with a smirk. His face was scarred, with part of his right ear missing. "We weren't expecting guests today. Would you two cubs like to stay for dinner?"

"Yeah!" interrupted a goofy-looking hyena, a big grin on his face. "Stay for dinner, because you look like a midday snack."

At this, the first male hyena turned on the second, a scolding look on his muzzle. "Can you just give me a little bit of space, Azizi? We've talked about this before," he snapped. "I come in alone, I'm the lead distraction so everyone can circle. Got it?"

The hyena named Azizi backed away, his long tongue licking his lips. "Okay, okay. Sorry, Kamari."

Kamari rolled his eyes. "Don't be sorry, just do it!"

Simba and Nala shared looks. They knew hyenas weren't the smartest animals around, but this Azizi seemed different altogether.

"Okay. But they are staying for dinner, right? That's why you asked them."

"I wasn't asking them to actually stay," Kamari growled.

"But you told them to stay," Azizi argued. "Why're you lying?"

"Because they're our dinner!" Kamari snapped, getting tired of Azizi's stupidity. "Understand?"

"Yeah, I got it. Makes sense," replied Azizi with a grin. "But just to be clear...they're staying, right?"

Kamari, who had smiled when Azizi seemed to get it, now snarled his frustration at him. Simba tried to find a way to sneak away with Nala and Zazu, if only Kamari and Azizi moved a little.

"HOLD IT!"

The new voice, a female, echoed in the chamber that the cubs were nearly backed into. Out strolled three more hyenas, the one in the middle the biggest hyena Simba had ever seen. She wasn't as big as Mufasa, of course, only around nearly as tall as Sarabi...but she had a mean look on her, from the scars on her body to the sneer on her muzzle.

"Well well, Banzai," growled the female with a grin to her right-hand hyena coming up beside her. "What do we have here?"

"I don't know, Shenzi," replied the male behind her, also grinning. "What do you think, Ed?"

The other male behind them didn't speak. He only giggled and cackled, a very insane look on his face.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin,'" Banzai remarked. "We got us a trio of trespassers!"

"And quite by mistake too," Zazu chuckled nervously. "We really must go."

But before he could take off, Shenzi stomped on his tail feathers with her paw. "Whoa, hold on a minute," she said with a toothy grin. "I know you. You're Mufasa's little stooge."

Zazu pulled his tail feathers away from her. "I, Shenzi, am the king's majordomo."

"And that would make you..." Banzai asked, glaring at the cubs.

"The future king!" Simba piped up, trying to put on a brave face.

Shenzi chuckled, and the other hyenas followed suit. Their hideous cackles rang throughout the area and rattled off the bones. When they were finished, Shenzi sneered, "Now this is something I waited for my whole life. What an unexpected treat to meet the son of a king."

Simba felt his fur bristle. Now he knew who Shenzi was; he had heard about her from his parents. She was the current leader of the hyenas, overthrowing her mother to become the leader of her clan. He even heard that she even fed her mother's head to her subordinates, but they could be rumors.

"Wait a second, the king?" Kamari asked, getting closer. "King, as in you-know-who?"

"Who rules you-know-where?" Azizi added.

"Yeah, Mufasa. But that big ol' kitty cat doesn't rule me," Shenzi overrode them. "In fact, he ain't rulin' no hyenas here. Answer me this, kid," she added to Simba, stepping closer. "Do you know what we do to kings who step outta their kingdom?"

Simba scoffed. "You can't do anything to me! I'm the future king!"

Shenzi stared down at Simba, and Simba really wished she would just go away. Then she looked around at her clan, cackling, "Ya'll hear that? He's tellin' me what to do! He's got his daddy's spirit in him! I bet all that spirit tastes like chicken."

All of the other hyenas laughed as well, once again their hideous laughs ringing in Simba's ears. He was now slowly starting to regret coming to the elephant graveyard after all.

"They can't do anything to me anyway," Simba grumbled to himself, trying to stay confident.

"Actually, they can," replied Zazu. "We are on their territory."

"But Zazu, you told me that they're nothing but slobbery, mangy, stupid poachers."

Zazu chuckled nervously and whispered, "Ix-nay on the upid-stay..."

"WHO YOU CALLIN' UPID-STAY?!" Banzai snarled, getting close to Zazu.

Zazu squawked before facing the leader of the hyena clan. "Shenzi, you can't seriously be thinking of eating the prince!" he pleaded. "They made a mistake, a truly horrible mistake! If you eat these two cubs, it will be a declaration of war!"

"Lions and hyenas have been feudin' ever since this world was created. Makes no difference to me," Shenzi drawled, licking her chops. "Now take it easy. We'd love to have you stick around for dinner."

"Yeah! We'll have..." Banzai tried to think of a joke. "...whatever's lion around!"

This caused the other hyenas to laugh, Ed the loudest. Shenzi even joined in, saying, "Make mine a cub sandwich! What'cha think?!"

While the hyenas joked (Azizi joked while Kamari rolled his eyes), Simba and Nala tried slipping away. It didn't matter to the hyenas if they were children; they wanted blood, and the cubs wanted to get away. Zazu ushered them around the laughing hyenas, whispering to not make any noise while they left.

Just then, Ed started yipping and whining, pointing in a direction. "What, Ed? What is it?" Shenzi snapped.

"Hey, wait a minute," Banzai spoke up. His eyes spotted where the cubs and bird had been a minute ago. "Did we order this dinner to go?"

"No. Why?" Shenzi asked.

Banzai looked around until he spotted what he hoped to see: the cubs making a run for it. "'Cause there it goes!"

"Don't just stand there gawkin' into space, fools!" Shenzi snapped, jumping to her paws. "Don't let 'em get away!"

They started to rush after the cubs, only for Zazu to fly down and peck at their heads with his beak, pulling at one of Shenzi's ears as well. He didn't get to fly away, however, for the hyenas pounced on him, knocking him down to the ground. Zazu was worried that they would try and eat him just as Scar tried to do a few months back.

However, they picked him up and brought him over to a small geyser. It was small enough to fit a meerkat or a bird of his size in. Before Zazu could fly away, Banzai grabbed him, chuckling.

"So the little majordomo bird went hippity-hop all the way to the Birdie Boiler," Banzai said, marching Zazu over to the geyser.

"Oh no! Not the Birdie Boiler - " Zazu started to cry out in horror.

It was too late. The hyenas stuffed him into the geyser and waited until it erupted. Zazu was shot up into the sky with a scream, and the hyenas started laughing at such a sight. Even the more serious Kamari couldn't help but chuckle.

"HEY!" Simba and Nala had run back to try and rescue Zazu, the former glaring at the hyenas. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Shenzi snickered before walking over to Simba, towering over him. "Like...you?"

Now realizing again how small they were compared to the hyenas, Simba and Nala turned tail and ran. But the five hyenas ran after them, scaring them through steam vents and trying to bite at their heels. They climbed up a bone hill, trying to stay out of their reach, only to slip down. They slid down the length of a long backbone with huge ribs blocking their sides. Just as they were sure that they were safe, they fell off the backbone and landed on another pile of bones, and the hyenas were on their tails again. The cubs started to scramble up the bone hill as fast as they could, hearts pounding with terror.

All the while, Simba felt a combination of shame and fright mix together in his belly. He hadn't meant to get them into this mess, and he certainly did not plan on being a hyena's dinner. Those thoughts alone made him scramble to the top of the hill as best as he could.

Suddenly, a cry sounded out from behind Simba. Nala was sliding down the hill, right towards the hyenas' jaws. Simba leaped down the hill in several bounds and, when Shenzi was almost upon Nala, slashed her hard across the face with his claws. They fled, while Shenzi's sneer turned into a furious snarl, the claw marks on her muzzle starting to bleed. That prince was going to taste extra good once she caught him, for giving her these scars.

The hyenas gave chase again, and the cubs ended up running into a cave. They saw what they thought was an opening in the cave roof and climbed up towards it. But the bones beneath them gave way, and they fell to the cave floor with a thud. Now they were trapped by all five hyenas, flanked by the wall behind them and the wall of fur and teeth in front of them.

"Here, kitty-kitty-kitty," Banzai said with a chuckle. Behind him, more hyenas than Simba could count had started clambering out of their dens to help surround the cubs.

Simba looked around at Nala, whose eyes were wide with pure fright, and it frightened him too. He realized that this whole adventure was all his fault. Then he decided that since he got himself and Nala in this mess, he was going to get them out...or at least die trying.

So Simba dug his claws into the rocky floor and did his best to try and roar. But all that came out was a mix of a little growl and a mewl. The hyenas took one look at him and then at each other before laughing altogether.

"Look at that!" Kamari jeered. "The future king indeed!"

"I'm really scared now," Azizi joined in, giggling like crazy. "Like...really REALLY scared!"

"That the best you got?" Shenzi scoffed. "Come on, prince. Do it again. I dare ya."

Simba dug in deep again and growled louder. Just then, a roar echoed in the elephant graveyard, drowning out Simba's own growl, and the hyenas spun as one to confront the intruder. Mufasa was charging his way through the crowd, roaring and snarling and swiping his claws at them. Hyenas leaped at him to slow him down, and the lion king countered with his own teeth and claws.

Shenzi was the one fighting the most. The clan leader pounced on Mufasa's back, trying to take a bite out of him, but Mufasa bucked her off. Once she was on the ground, the lion swiped his massive paw at her, his claws slashing at her foreleg. Shenzi snarled and backed away, licking the new wound on her leg. The other hyenas started to snarl in anger at this, only for Mufasa to roar "SILENCE!", and they fell quiet again.

"If you ever come near my son again..." Mufasa snarled.

Shenzi scoffed. "Yeah, I get it," she hissed through gritted teeth, licking at her wound. "I won't touch him again."

Mufasa nodded with a snort. "You've been warned, Shenzi. Now return to your den."

With a sneer, Shenzi heaved herself to her paws and started to walk away, Kamari quickly loping over to her side. Near the two of them, Azizi pretended to gasp with surprise. "Oh, that was his son? Hey, did you know that, Banzai?"

"Nah, I didn't know," Banzai lied. "You, Azizi?"

"No, of course not!" yelped Azizi.

Then they looked at Ed to help them out. "Ed?" they both prompted him.

Ed only nodded his head.

This only caused Mufasa to roar louder, the cave appearing to shake from his roar. Shenzi gave a growl for her hyenas to leave with her, and she gave the lions a contemptuous glare before she left. So the hyenas took their chance to leave, filing into the deeper parts of the elephant graveyard, one by one. Once the hyenas were gone, Zazu flew over and gave Mufasa a grin and a nod.

But Mufasa met his smile with a glare, which made Zazu's smile disappear. "This is how you watch over my son?" he growled at the hornbill. "Letting him and Nala wander into danger?"

Zazu cringed and raised his wings up in defense. "Sire, it wasn't my fault. The cubs tricked me and - "

"I don't want to hear excuses," Mufasa snapped, raising a paw for silence. "As the adult in this situation, you should have known better than to let them fool you."

Zazu bowed his head in shame, and Simba himself felt a sting of shame pierce his heart. Mufasa's anger was like that of the burning sun. Simba felt guilty for getting Zazu into trouble, and he also felt ashamed for disobeying the adults in the first place.

"Dad, it really wasn't Zazu's fault," he tried saying. "I'm the one who - "

"You deliberately disobeyed me," Mufasa interrupted. He fixed Simba with such a stern glare that the cub couldn't finish.

"Dad...I'm sorry - " he tried again.

Mufasa didn't respond to the apology. "Let's go home," he rumbled, and he started to walk ahead of the cubs.

Up ahead, Zazu flew after Mufasa, giving the cubs a look of pity. Simba kept his head down, ashamed and scared at the same time. A nudge from Nala made him look up as she whispered, "I thought you were pretty brave. Thanks for saving me."

Simba couldn't smile. He didn't deserve the praise she had given him. He had nearly gotten them killed, but he was also afraid of what his father would do. And that frightened him more than the hyenas did.

Not far away, as they left the elephant graveyard, Scar watched them go from inside an elephant's skull. He scowled as Mufasa, his bratty nephew, and Nala walked away, unscathed; he had come to see if the hyenas had finished the job, only to witness this. Now he would have to go talk to them later on, to demand why they hadn't finished the job.

Description
The two cubs made sure they were away from the watering hole. Wherever they were, Zazu was sure not to follow them now. So Simba and Nala took a break, trying to get their breath back.

"All right! We lost him!" Nala panted. She had never done anything this exciting before in her life.

"I know what you're going to say," Simba gloated, his chest puffed out. "I am a genius, right?"

Nala glared indignantly at him. "Hey, genius, it was my idea."

"Yeah, but I pulled it off."

"With me!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! We wouldn't get this far if it wasn't for your future queen," Nala retorted. She had been as shocked as Simba when Zazu said that they were betrothed, but the thought of being a queen really did sound interesting to her.

Simba snorted and waved a paw dismissively. "Aren't you forgetting something? There's not gonna be a future queen."

Nala's earlier thoughts of marriage vanished. If she was going to marry him, then she wouldn't want to be queen. "Fine by me," she retorted. "I'd rather marry an aardvark anyway."

"Good luck finding one that'll say yes," Simba said smugly.

Nala knew where this was getting to. They usually had friendly arguments that would lead up to taunting and then to wrestling. She decided to teach Simba a little lesson: he was the future king, but he wasn't a king yet. She would remind him of that.

Eyes narrowing, Nala dropped into a crouch. "Good luck getting out of here without a scratch."

"Bring it on," Simba responded, crouching as well.

The two ran at each other, wrestling and trying to pin each other to the ground. Play was an important part of a young cub's life. It could teach them social skills or even how to hunt. In the end, Nala managed to pin Simba, who had been going for strength rather than wits.

"Pinned ya." Nala smiled at the indignant look on Simba's face. "You owe me an apology."

"Hey, lemme up!" Simba whined.

Nala got off of him, satisfied. Simba glared at her before a smirk came over his face, finding a way to pay her back.

So once Nala wasn't paying attention, Simba pounced again. The two tumbled and wrestled in their second round, this time rolling down a hill. But once they reached the bottom, Simba was expecting to pin her this time.

However, Nala rolled up first and pinned him a second time. "Pinned ya again," she gloated, while the prince just glared at her with indignance.

Just as Simba had to admit defeat, though, a loud hissing made them look around. A hole in the ground belched out hot smelly smoke that billowed in the air. Nala got off of Simba, and they began to walk around. They went up a ridge and looked around at the landscape. It was nothing like the Pride Lands, mainly gray and brown with bones here and there. At one point, they jumped onto what was either a fallen tree or a giant bone, looking at the expanse before them.

All around them were bones, lots and lots of bones. If the Pride Lands had lots of grass, then this place had lots of bones. It wasn't just any bones either; these were the bones of elephants.

"This is it. We made it!" Simba whispered to Nala. "The elephant graveyard! It's amazing, isn't it?"

"We could get in big trouble," Nala replied with a snicker.

They looked around them some more, taking it all in. No bird song echoed here, only the sounds of vultures shrieking and steam vents rumbling. They wondered about the owners of these bones, the elephants. Why did all those elephants come here? How did they know when to gather to die? It was pretty sad to think about, after all the live elephants they had seen in their young lives.

Soon, their eyes were fixed on one massive elephant skull, both tusks standing and curving up like dead trees. "I wonder if its brains are still in there?" Nala remarked.

"I don't know," replied Simba, padding towards the skull. "Come on. Let's go check it out."

"WRONG!"

Simba jumped high in the air at the angry sound coming from above him. Zazu now flew down in front of them, angrier and more scared than he had ever seen the hornbill be.

"The only checking out you'll do is out of here!" he snapped, ignoring Simba's gripes. "We're way beyond the boundary of the Pride Lands!"

At this, Simba chuckled. "Look at that. Banana Beak is scared!"

"It's Mister Banana Beak to you, fuzzy!" Zazu scolded, poking Simba's nose with a wing. "And right now, we are all in very real danger!"

"Danger? Ha!" Simba scoffed, walking over to near the bone and jumping on its face. "I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger." Then he turned to the skull and laughed into its eye sockets. "HA HA HA!"

His laugh echoed through the skull, ringing Simba's ears.

"Enough!" Zazu hissed. "You've proven how brave and utterly reckless you are! We're going home this instant!"

"Zazu does have a point. That's pretty bold," Nala added. "Besides, the sun's going down, and I don't wanna stick around until - "

But Simba followed it up with another "HA HA HA!" towards the cavity in the skull. Yet it was when sinister cackles reached his ears did Simba feel a prickle of fear on his fur. He immediately ran over to Nala and Zazu, fur bristling and heart racing.

And then the hyenas arrived. It was two hyenas, both males, with mottled brown coats, brown muzzles, and sharp teeth. They came half-slithering from the eye sockets of the skull like snakes, and climbing down the tusks like leopards.

"Well, look at this," the stronger male hyena remarked with a smirk. His face was scarred, with part of his right ear missing. "We weren't expecting guests today. Would you two cubs like to stay for dinner?"

"Yeah!" interrupted a goofy-looking hyena, a big grin on his face. "Stay for dinner, because you look like a midday snack."

At this, the first male hyena turned on the second, a scolding look on his muzzle. "Can you just give me a little bit of space, Azizi? We've talked about this before," he snapped. "I come in alone, I'm the lead distraction so everyone can circle. Got it?"

The hyena named Azizi backed away, his long tongue licking his lips. "Okay, okay. Sorry, Kamari."

Kamari rolled his eyes. "Don't be sorry, just do it!"

Simba and Nala shared looks. They knew hyenas weren't the smartest animals around, but this Azizi seemed different altogether.

"Okay. But they are staying for dinner, right? That's why you asked them."

"I wasn't asking them to actually stay," Kamari growled.

"But you told them to stay," Azizi argued. "Why're you lying?"

"Because they're our dinner!" Kamari snapped, getting tired of Azizi's stupidity. "Understand?"

"Yeah, I got it. Makes sense," replied Azizi with a grin. "But just to be clear...they're staying, right?"

Kamari, who had smiled when Azizi seemed to get it, now snarled his frustration at him. Simba tried to find a way to sneak away with Nala and Zazu, if only Kamari and Azizi moved a little.

"HOLD IT!"

The new voice, a female, echoed in the chamber that the cubs were nearly backed into. Out strolled three more hyenas, the one in the middle the biggest hyena Simba had ever seen. She wasn't as big as Mufasa, of course, only around nearly as tall as Sarabi...but she had a mean look on her, from the scars on her body to the sneer on her muzzle.

"Well well, Banzai," growled the female with a grin to her right-hand hyena coming up beside her. "What do we have here?"

"I don't know, Shenzi," replied the male behind her, also grinning. "What do you think, Ed?"

The other male behind them didn't speak. He only giggled and cackled, a very insane look on his face.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin,'" Banzai remarked. "We got us a trio of trespassers!"

"And quite by mistake too," Zazu chuckled nervously. "We really must go."

But before he could take off, Shenzi stomped on his tail feathers with her paw. "Whoa, hold on a minute," she said with a toothy grin. "I know you. You're Mufasa's little stooge."

Zazu pulled his tail feathers away from her. "I, Shenzi, am the king's majordomo."

"And that would make you..." Banzai asked, glaring at the cubs.

"The future king!" Simba piped up, trying to put on a brave face.

Shenzi chuckled, and the other hyenas followed suit. Their hideous cackles rang throughout the area and rattled off the bones. When they were finished, Shenzi sneered, "Now this is something I waited for my whole life. What an unexpected treat to meet the son of a king."

Simba felt his fur bristle. Now he knew who Shenzi was; he had heard about her from his parents. She was the current leader of the hyenas, overthrowing her mother to become the leader of her clan. He even heard that she even fed her mother's head to her subordinates, but they could be rumors.

"Wait a second, the king?" Kamari asked, getting closer. "King, as in you-know-who?"

"Who rules you-know-where?" Azizi added.

"Yeah, Mufasa. But that big ol' kitty cat doesn't rule me," Shenzi overrode them. "In fact, he ain't rulin' no hyenas here. Answer me this, kid," she added to Simba, stepping closer. "Do you know what we do to kings who step outta their kingdom?"

Simba scoffed. "You can't do anything to me! I'm the future king!"

Shenzi stared down at Simba, and Simba really wished she would just go away. Then she looked around at her clan, cackling, "Ya'll hear that? He's tellin' me what to do! He's got his daddy's spirit in him! I bet all that spirit tastes like chicken."

All of the other hyenas laughed as well, once again their hideous laughs ringing in Simba's ears. He was now slowly starting to regret coming to the elephant graveyard after all.

"They can't do anything to me anyway," Simba grumbled to himself, trying to stay confident.

"Actually, they can," replied Zazu. "We are on their territory."

"But Zazu, you told me that they're nothing but slobbery, mangy, stupid poachers."

Zazu chuckled nervously and whispered, "Ix-nay on the upid-stay..."

"WHO YOU CALLIN' UPID-STAY?!" Banzai snarled, getting close to Zazu.

Zazu squawked before facing the leader of the hyena clan. "Shenzi, you can't seriously be thinking of eating the prince!" he pleaded. "They made a mistake, a truly horrible mistake! If you eat these two cubs, it will be a declaration of war!"

"Lions and hyenas have been feudin' ever since this world was created. Makes no difference to me," Shenzi drawled, licking her chops. "Now take it easy. We'd love to have you stick around for dinner."

"Yeah! We'll have..." Banzai tried to think of a joke. "...whatever's lion around!"

This caused the other hyenas to laugh, Ed the loudest. Shenzi even joined in, saying, "Make mine a cub sandwich! What'cha think?!"

While the hyenas joked (Azizi joked while Kamari rolled his eyes), Simba and Nala tried slipping away. It didn't matter to the hyenas if they were children; they wanted blood, and the cubs wanted to get away. Zazu ushered them around the laughing hyenas, whispering to not make any noise while they left.

Just then, Ed started yipping and whining, pointing in a direction. "What, Ed? What is it?" Shenzi snapped.

"Hey, wait a minute," Banzai spoke up. His eyes spotted where the cubs and bird had been a minute ago. "Did we order this dinner to go?"

"No. Why?" Shenzi asked.

Banzai looked around until he spotted what he hoped to see: the cubs making a run for it. "'Cause there it goes!"

"Don't just stand there gawkin' into space, fools!" Shenzi snapped, jumping to her paws. "Don't let 'em get away!"

They started to rush after the cubs, only for Zazu to fly down and peck at their heads with his beak, pulling at one of Shenzi's ears as well. He didn't get to fly away, however, for the hyenas pounced on him, knocking him down to the ground. Zazu was worried that they would try and eat him just as Scar tried to do a few months back.

However, they picked him up and brought him over to a small geyser. It was small enough to fit a meerkat or a bird of his size in. Before Zazu could fly away, Banzai grabbed him, chuckling.

"So the little majordomo bird went hippity-hop all the way to the Birdie Boiler," Banzai said, marching Zazu over to the geyser.

"Oh no! Not the Birdie Boiler - " Zazu started to cry out in horror.

It was too late. The hyenas stuffed him into the geyser and waited until it erupted. Zazu was shot up into the sky with a scream, and the hyenas started laughing at such a sight. Even the more serious Kamari couldn't help but chuckle.

"HEY!" Simba and Nala had run back to try and rescue Zazu, the former glaring at the hyenas. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Shenzi snickered before walking over to Simba, towering over him. "Like...you?"

Now realizing again how small they were compared to the hyenas, Simba and Nala turned tail and ran. But the five hyenas ran after them, scaring them through steam vents and trying to bite at their heels. They climbed up a bone hill, trying to stay out of their reach, only to slip down. They slid down the length of a long backbone with huge ribs blocking their sides. Just as they were sure that they were safe, they fell off the backbone and landed on another pile of bones, and the hyenas were on their tails again. The cubs started to scramble up the bone hill as fast as they could, hearts pounding with terror.

All the while, Simba felt a combination of shame and fright mix together in his belly. He hadn't meant to get them into this mess, and he certainly did not plan on being a hyena's dinner. Those thoughts alone made him scramble to the top of the hill as best as he could.

Suddenly, a cry sounded out from behind Simba. Nala was sliding down the hill, right towards the hyenas' jaws. Simba leaped down the hill in several bounds and, when Shenzi was almost upon Nala, slashed her hard across the face with his claws. They fled, while Shenzi's sneer turned into a furious snarl, the claw marks on her muzzle starting to bleed. That prince was going to taste extra good once she caught him, for giving her these scars.

The hyenas gave chase again, and the cubs ended up running into a cave. They saw what they thought was an opening in the cave roof and climbed up towards it. But the bones beneath them gave way, and they fell to the cave floor with a thud. Now they were trapped by all five hyenas, flanked by the wall behind them and the wall of fur and teeth in front of them.

"Here, kitty-kitty-kitty," Banzai said with a chuckle. Behind him, more hyenas than Simba could count had started clambering out of their dens to help surround the cubs.

Simba looked around at Nala, whose eyes were wide with pure fright, and it frightened him too. He realized that this whole adventure was all his fault. Then he decided that since he got himself and Nala in this mess, he was going to get them out...or at least die trying.

So Simba dug his claws into the rocky floor and did his best to try and roar. But all that came out was a mix of a little growl and a mewl. The hyenas took one look at him and then at each other before laughing altogether.

"Look at that!" Kamari jeered. "The future king indeed!"

"I'm really scared now," Azizi joined in, giggling like crazy. "Like...really REALLY scared!"

"That the best you got?" Shenzi scoffed. "Come on, prince. Do it again. I dare ya."

Simba dug in deep again and growled louder. Just then, a roar echoed in the elephant graveyard, drowning out Simba's own growl, and the hyenas spun as one to confront the intruder. Mufasa was charging his way through the crowd, roaring and snarling and swiping his claws at them. Hyenas leaped at him to slow him down, and the lion king countered with his own teeth and claws.

Shenzi was the one fighting the most. The clan leader pounced on Mufasa's back, trying to take a bite out of him, but Mufasa bucked her off. Once she was on the ground, the lion swiped his massive paw at her, his claws slashing at her foreleg. Shenzi snarled and backed away, licking the new wound on her leg. The other hyenas started to snarl in anger at this, only for Mufasa to roar "SILENCE!", and they fell quiet again.

"If you ever come near my son again..." Mufasa snarled.

Shenzi scoffed. "Yeah, I get it," she hissed through gritted teeth, licking at her wound. "I won't touch him again."

Mufasa nodded with a snort. "You've been warned, Shenzi. Now return to your den."

With a sneer, Shenzi heaved herself to her paws and started to walk away, Kamari quickly loping over to her side. Near the two of them, Azizi pretended to gasp with surprise. "Oh, that was his son? Hey, did you know that, Banzai?"

"Nah, I didn't know," Banzai lied. "You, Azizi?"

"No, of course not!" yelped Azizi.

Then they looked at Ed to help them out. "Ed?" they both prompted him.

Ed only nodded his head.

This only caused Mufasa to roar louder, the cave appearing to shake from his roar. Shenzi gave a growl for her hyenas to leave with her, and she gave the lions a contemptuous glare before she left. So the hyenas took their chance to leave, filing into the deeper parts of the elephant graveyard, one by one. Once the hyenas were gone, Zazu flew over and gave Mufasa a grin and a nod.

But Mufasa met his smile with a glare, which made Zazu's smile disappear. "This is how you watch over my son?" he growled at the hornbill. "Letting him and Nala wander into danger?"

Zazu cringed and raised his wings up in defense. "Sire, it wasn't my fault. The cubs tricked me and - "

"I don't want to hear excuses," Mufasa snapped, raising a paw for silence. "As the adult in this situation, you should have known better than to let them fool you."

Zazu bowed his head in shame, and Simba himself felt a sting of shame pierce his heart. Mufasa's anger was like that of the burning sun. Simba felt guilty for getting Zazu into trouble, and he also felt ashamed for disobeying the adults in the first place.

"Dad, it really wasn't Zazu's fault," he tried saying. "I'm the one who - "

"You deliberately disobeyed me," Mufasa interrupted. He fixed Simba with such a stern glare that the cub couldn't finish.

"Dad...I'm sorry - " he tried again.

Mufasa didn't respond to the apology. "Let's go home," he rumbled, and he started to walk ahead of the cubs.

Up ahead, Zazu flew after Mufasa, giving the cubs a look of pity. Simba kept his head down, ashamed and scared at the same time. A nudge from Nala made him look up as she whispered, "I thought you were pretty brave. Thanks for saving me."

Simba couldn't smile. He didn't deserve the praise she had given him. He had nearly gotten them killed, but he was also afraid of what his father would do. And that frightened him more than the hyenas did.

Not far away, as they left the elephant graveyard, Scar watched them go from inside an elephant's skull. He scowled as Mufasa, his bratty nephew, and Nala walked away, unscathed; he had come to see if the hyenas had finished the job, only to witness this. Now he would have to go talk to them later on, to demand why they hadn't finished the job.