The blistering hot sun beat down onto the African plains, the heat was overwhelming. The local elephant herd had made there way to the nearest watering hole and had plunged their long trunks into the cool water, and had already began to drink. The Waterbucks grazed nearby, watching for any sign of danger, their long ears pricked up, ready to detect the slightest sound that a lioness might make, while creeping through the long grass. The scene was tranquil, as it always was at dawn. Flocks of birds flew high above the clouds, then swooped down to wait their turn to drink, the elephants were highly respected, nobody drank before them. A pair of brother cheetahs sat side by side, watching the playful elephant calves splash about in the muddy water, picking it up in their trunks and throwing it over their backs, to protect them from the suns rays, knowing the heat would only get worse as the day wore on.

From the highest place in the pridelands, the ruler looked down at his kingdom, contented, happy, things were going well. His pride was complete, his daughter in love with a worthy lion, and his kingdom flourished with life. He knew his father was proud of him. From the top of pride rock, he could hear the lionesses gathering, getting ready to hunt. Kiara as with them, she still hadn't perfected her skills. After watching them disappear into the long grass, Simba went inside of pride rock. There he found his two friends, sleeping. "Awwww, don't you guys ever do anything but sleep?" Simba asked, nudging them gently with his paw. "Sure we do," mumbled Timon, "we eat." Then he fell back to sleep. Simba sighed, and nudged him again, "Come on! Wake up!" "What for?" the meerkat mumbled again. "Because you two lazy leaches need to see a bit of sunshine!" Zazu told them, flying in with the morning report. Timon yawned, "All right! We'll get up, come on Pumbaa!" "Pumbaa?" The tiny creature turned round only to discover that his best friend was still sleeping. "Hey Pumbaa! WAKE UP!!!!!!" The warthog jumped up with surprise and stared down at his friend. "Aw Timon, do we have to get up? The big bright circle is barely in the sky!" Pumbaa complained. "That's what makes it so pretty!" Simba told them, "Watching the sun rise higher in the sky is the best part! Come on! I'll come with you!" So Simba led them out of the cave and onto the tip of pride rock. "See," he said, "isn't it pretty?" "Glorious!" Timon spat sarcastically. "I don't know Timon, it is kinda pretty!" Pumbaa tried to reason with him. "Pumbaa, the only thing that resembles pretty in this dust bath, is a pile of bugs waiting to be eaten!" Pumbaa sighed sadly and shook his head at his small companion. "What?!" Timon asked him, noticing his mood. "Nothing." he replied. Simba smiled fondly at them, and got up to leave, "See you guys later, I got a kingdom to watch over!" he laughed.

After their friend had departed, Pumbaa turned back to Timon. "So what's the plan for today Pumbaa?" Timon asked him. "Well, I thought maybe a nice scenic walk, and then....." the warthog began. Timon scoffed, "A walk! Like we don't do that everyday! Tell ya what, you go on ya walk, and I'll catch up with ya later? Okay?" "But what are you gonna do?" asked Pumbaa. "What I always do my simple-minded friend, eat!" and with that, the meerkat scampered off. Pumbaa sighed and stood up, *He'll never change* he thought to himself, with a fond smile on his face. After five minutes of reflecting, Pumbaa began his walk.

He passed lots of animals on his way, a heard of Zebra, a parade of pachyderms, even Rafiki's tree. He also passed the stalking lionesses, but thought twice about going up to say hello, he might distract them, so he slipped quietly away. He finally got to a huge water hole, it was practically empty, besides a few baby impalas taking a sip. He joined them and began to drink. Then he looked up. Timon had joined him after all.....or had he? Pumbaa bounded over to the unsuspecting meerkat who was violently digging in the ground. "Timon! So you decided to come after all! How did you make it way out here so fast?" he asked happily. The little creature pulled it's head out of it's hole and started up at this stranger, he was no one she knew! "Do I...know you?" she asked hesitantly, eyeing the warthogs face to see if she recognised him at all. "Oh! Beg your pardon Miss, I thought you were someone else!" Pumbaa apologised. The meerkat smiled a friendly smile and introduced herself. "No problem! I'm Violet, what's your name?" she asked, keeping the smile on her face. "Me? Oh I'm Pumbaa, sorry if I startled you!" he said, returning the smile. "So.....where's all your friends?" she asked, expecting there to be more than one of Pumbaa's kind around. "See that's the thing! I thought you were my friend, he's a meerkat too." "Don't you live in a group?" Violet asked. "Nope, we're outcasts, do you live in a group?" Pumbaa replied. Violet sighed sadly, "Yeah I do, it's not much fun though......." Just as Pumbaa was about to ask why, Violet heard a familiar voice calling her, and stood tall to see what was coming. "Violet! Where are you?" "Oh no!" she cried, "it's my brother!" "You avoiding him?" "Kinda." she said shyly, shuffling her feet on the dusty ground. "Well," Pumbaa smiled, "climb on my back and we'll go somewhere else!" he offered kindly. "Really?! Thanks!" she beamed, climbing on. "Hold on!" he told her, and charged off through the long grass. "Whooohoooo!" Violet cheered as the wind ran through her fur, enjoying the feeling of freedom it created. Her cries panicked a heard of nearby Buffalo, and they quickly galloped off in the opposite direction, not noticing it's source was a one and a half pound Meerkat. "Where we goin'?" she asked enthusiastically, after they were well away from the water hole. "Pride rock," Pumbaa told her. "PRIDE ROCK??!! ARE YOU CRAZY?!" she exclaimed, jumping off of Pumbaa and causing him to stop, "THE PLACE IS CRAWLING WITH HUNGRY LIONS!" she cried nervously, wrapping her arms around her small frame, "I only go there when I have to, when a new prince or princess is born! Even then I don't like doing it!" "Oh don't worry! They're all my friends too!" Pumbaa tried to reassure her. "You're FRIENDS with the king and queen?!" she squeaked. "Sure! I promise you, it's perfectly safe." he smiled at her. "Well,......okay." said the meerkat, still sounding unsure about the whole idea. The two new friends began to make their way to pride rock. Timon had eaten breakfast and slowly made his way back home, the lionesses sat at the base of the rock, and were all munching on a buffalo carcass. The meerkat's stomach turned, it wasn't exactly a pretty sight for an animal, who under different circumstances, would BE that dinner........okay maybe not dinner, more like a light snack. So he quickly passed, went up to the cave, and settled down for a midmorning nap.

Pumbaa increased speed as they approached pride rock, he didn't want to give Violet time to change her mind. His plan worked. He promptly trotted past the feasting lionesses, they didn't see Timon come home, so they assumed the little creature on top of the warthogs head WAS Timon, they made no comment and continued to gorge. The echoing of Pumbaa's hooves as he entered the stone cave, woke the sleeping Timon instantly. "Pumbaa!" he exclaimed, "when the big guy in the sky handed out stealth, YOU must have been LAST in line!" "But Timon I...." Pumbaa began. "Honestly!" Timon continued to yell at him, "be a little more quiet would ya?!" he then jumped onto the left side of Pumbaa's head and was so busy yelling at him, he didn't notice the flower by his side......then he saw her. "Ahhh!" he cried, falling off of Pumbaa's head in surprise, from his place on the ground, Timon rubbed his eyes to make sure it was real. *Yikes is she pretty!* he thought to himself, but his pride would allow him to tell HER that! So instead he came out with: "Who the heck is she?!" "Timon! Where are your manners?!" Pumbaa scolded him. "In case you forgot.........I DON'T HAVE ANY!" he yelled, still miffed about being woken up. Pumbaa frowned, and snorted at him. Violet jumped down from Pumbaa's head, "Er...hi!" she smiled. "Timon this is Violet, she needed help so....." Pumbaa began to explain. "So you were just the pig to help!" Timon finished for him. "Well,.........yeah! Be nice!" Pumbaa snorted again. Timon sighed, "Hey, how ya doin'?" he asked. Just as she was about to return the greeting, Nala, who had eaten her fill, strolled into the cave with Sarabi at her side. "Hey, you two!" the queen greeted her two familiar friends, "who's this?" she asked curiously when she noticed Violet. Pumbaa stepped forward, noticing that Timon had no interest of introducing her. "Nala, this is Violet, I met at the water hole this morning," he told the lioness. "Your majesty," Violet said meekly, bowing her head respectfully. "And this is Sarabi, queen mother and head of the hunting party," Pumbaa continued, not that there was any need to introduce either of the lionesses, Violet knew well enough who they were. She bowed again, this time to the older of the two lionesses. "Hello Violet, nice to meet you!" Nala smiled, "and you're welcome to stay as long as you like, Timon will show you around, won't you Timon?" "WHAT?!" he exclaimed, appearing to be horrified, but secretly pleased he'd be spending a whole day with this stranger. The two lionesses exchanged knowing smiles then turned back to Timon, "Don't be so unsociable!" Sarabi laughed, "and anyway," she said with mock seriousness, "it's an order, not a request!" "But can't Pumbaa show......?" Timon protested. "Nope! You!" Nala interrupted him, with the same sneaky smile on her face. Mumbling a string of curses, Timon started to march out of the cave, Violet silently followed, at a slower pace.

After the two kats were out of sight, Pumbaa gave the two lionesses a baffled look. Nala read him instantly. "Isn't it obvious Pumbaa? He likes her!" "Likes her?! Sure didn't look that way to me! He practically IGNORED her!" the warthog stated. "Trust us Pumbaa, we're females, we know about this sort of thing." Nala smiled at him amusingly, enjoying the surprised expression on his face. "Hey! Wait up!" Violet called, running to catch up with the still marching Timon, "Could you just slow down, what's the hurry?!" she asked tiredly. "The sooner I show you around, the sooner I get to go home, what are you doing here anyway?! Don't you have a gang to go home to?" he asked, sitting down on a rock in the middle of the grassland. Violet sat down next to him and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "It's a long story....you wouldn't be interested." she sighed sadly. For the first time since they "met" Timon got a good look at her face. Her eyes, they were wonderfully pretty, but they looked so sad. "Try me," he said softly, in a warm and friendly tone, resting his head in the palm of one paw. Violet raised an eyebrow, looking for traces of sincerity on his face. She didn't know what brought on this sudden change of attitude, but whatever it was, she was thankful for it. She smiled and inhaled loudly, "I DO belong to colony, but I wish I didn't." she sighed, looking down at her feet. "Really? How come?" Timon asked. "Doing the same thing, day after day, well, it's......boring! always being told what to do, where to dig, when to dig, when to stop, when to sleep, eat, it's a nightmare!" "Well, then why don'tcha just leave?" Violet laughed. "What's so funny?!" Timon asked, baffled. "You think they'd just let me leave?! What, with my brother running the joint?" She sighed. "He's probably going around to every colony, looking for me right now....and anyway, I suppose there is safety in numbers." she thought of a good aspect of staying with her colony. "Well, I'm not in a colony but I'm still in one peice!" reasoned Timon. "From what I've heard, you ride on Pumbaa's head!" smiled Violet. "Well, yeah.....but he's got a very big head ya know? I'm sure there's room for one more up there...." Violet's smile widened, "Are you asking me to stay with you?" she said, rasing an eyebrow. "Er....well.....um.....I...." Timon stammered nervously, not quite sure why he had said what he had, it went against everything Hakuna Matata stood for! But before he could conjure up a proper answer, a low growl cut off his train of thought. A young cheetah was within paces from where the two were talking, both of the kats looked around, Violet was the first one to see it........just as the cheetah looked up, and saw her. "RUN!!!!!" she screamed, grabbing Timon's paw and dragging him after her. The chase was on........


To be continued