Breakfast isn't always a given
“Are you sure this is such a good idea? I mean what if those lions catch us hunting on their lands?” Banzai asked slightly concerned, as he, Shenzi and Ed stalked the nearby herd of Zebras.
“Well we don’t have much choice, now do we? I can’t help every meal lives in the pride lands. Besides, shut your mouth, bark breath. We don’t want our breakfast to know we’re coming for it.” Shenzi whispered with a hint of annoyance in her voice, why was she always surrounded by idiots?
At least she would get a decent breakfast today, yesterdays hadn’t been exactly close to decent. Heck, it had even been worse than their normal breakfast and that said something.
“All I'm saying is that I'd rather not have my ass kicked by those lions again! Last time I couldn’t sit right for weeks.” Banzai complained, this time a little quieter. Shenzi had been right after all, he had been a little too loud, even though he would never admit it to her.
“Now, this is the plan. You see that one on the far left? I think its lame given by the fact how it walks. I think we make a chance if we go for that one.” Shenzi whispered, even they couldn’t screw this one up, right? Even if they did, how could a limp zebra out run them? There was just no way this could go wrong!
“Now on my ma-Which one was it again?” Banzai asked as he interrupted Shenzi. All those nearly identical striped zebras… They made it quite hard to keep track of a particular zebra.
“I just told you! That one.” Shenzi whispered as she gestured to one of the many zebras, her voice filled with annoyance.
“That one?” Banzai asked, pointing at another zebra. Why did all these damned creatures look identical?!
“No, that one.” Shenzi said, pointing at a different zebra than before. “Wait… No it was that one.”
“Are you sure, because that one did look a little lame to me.” Banzai said as he pointed at once more a completely different zebra.
“Ed?” Shenzi asked, maybe he would still remember which zebra was the lame one?
Ed just laughed somewhat creepily before pointing at once again a completely different zebra.
“Are you sure, I could swea-Oke that’s it, I have a better idea.” Banzai said as he interrupted Shenzi, why did she always have to make thing so dang complicated anyway?
“Did you hear that, Ed? Bark breath here has an idea. Seems like there really is a first time for everything.” Shenzi said as she and Ed began to laugh in true hyena fashion. Making fun of Banzai was always so much fun.
"Yeah yeah, just follow my lead." Banzai shot back. Taking a deep breath he shouted at the top of his lungs, "CHARGE!" Running as fast as he could towards the grazing zebras, he was going to catch something and he just knew it.
Shenzi and Ed gave each other a quick glance before joining Banzai in his charge. Shenzi mentally sighed as she and Ed ran towards the zebras. She had been wrong, even they managed to screw this one up.
The grazing zebras looked up at the sound of the screaming hyena heading for them before running away, trying to flee from their pursuers. The lame zebra was now easily identifiable due to its limping, much to the delight of the three hyenas.
"I got it! I got it! Haha!" Banzai exclaimed excitedly as he came closer to the limping zebra. The poor thing was panicking as it fell farther and farther behind the main herd, hopelessly struggling to keep up.
" Just catch the thing, you idiot!" Shenzi shouted. Banzai couldn't possibly screw up an easy kill like this, could he?
As if the fates themselves had been tempted, a conveniently placed rock stood in the path of the tunnel-visioned hyena. Being too distracted with his quarry, he tripped on it, causing the other two to yelp as they crashed right into Banzai.
"Now look at what you've done, Bark Breath!" Shenzi berated her companion. "Thanks to you, he got away! Meaning no breakfast for us. Even worse, no breakfast for me!" They watched as the lame zebra managed to 'gallop' away, if it could even be considered galloping.
Ed then started to laugh nervously, trying to get the other two hyenas their attention. “Not now Ed!” Banzai said as he ignored the concerned laughs his fellow hyena had started to make. “I mean, how is this my fault? You lost that lame zebra of yours out of sight! This was your plan!”
“My plan? I thought charging in like a complete idiot was your idea! Not now Ed!” Shenzi said as she waved the hyena off who was still desperately trying to get their attention. “So yes, this is al-Okay what is it Ed?” Shenzi was starting to get annoyed. This was the third time he tried to interrupt them. What could possibly be more important than yelling at Banzai?
The hyena just kept laughing whilst gesturing towards something behind the other two hyenas. Although rather than its usual excited and joyful tone the laughing now had a rather concerned or perhaps even fearful one.
“I think I know what’s wrong….” Banzai slowly said.
“What?” Shenzi asked, cocking an eyebrow as she looked at Banzai in wonder. “The angry looking group of lions over there.” Banzai said as he gestured towards the group of lionesses slowly approaching them. “Oh…. Any ideas Banzai, Ed?” Shenzi asked as the group of lionesses came closer and closer.
“How about we just run?” Banzai suggested as the three hyenas slowly began to back off from the steadily advancing lionesses.
“You know Banzai, for once I think you might be right.” Shenzi said as the three hyenas started to move faster and faster backwards.
After a few more paces, the three hyenas turned in unison and ran as fast as they could. Who knew what those lions would do to them after all? The first few times had just been warnings but lately those warnings had been getting more and more violent.
The lionesses roared once before starting their pursuit, they had enough of those three hyenas. Even after being kicked out of the pride lands for several times, they still returned every single time again. Today it would end though, be it by their death if necessary.
“So what do we do now?” Banzai said whilst glancing back at their pursuers . “I mean we can’t keep this up forever!”
Shenzi thought for a moment before replying. “Just keep an eye out for something where we can hide or lose those lions.” Even she knew how dire the situation was looking for them though. The lions knew every piece of terrain around here while they might as well could’ve been blindfolded. Heck, even if they would have known the terrain better, there was nowhere to hide! As far as Shenzi could see, everything was flat as could be!
The lionesses kept pursuing the hyenas, or rather guiding them into the right direction. Soon they would reach the Farasi desert, if they would chase those hyenas far enough off they would surely never find their way back to the pride lands, right? And if they did… well… This would be their last non-lethal attempt to remove the three from the pride lands once and for all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A couple minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It hadn’t taken the two parties too long to reach the desert. Although both the lions and hyenas were noticeably slower than before, the pursuit was still just as furious as before.
“They’re still after us?” Banzai panted as the three hyenas ran through the desert, why where those lions still chasing them? Normally it would just be a quick shoe off but this time it appeared as if those oversized cats meant serious business.
Shenzi quickly glanced behind.
“Yes they are, so keep running bark breath.” She said through her panting, why did that idiot always have to ask even the most obvious things?
“Maybe we should just stand and fight, Shenzi. I don’t think I can keep this up for much longer.” Banzai said. Breathing was getting harder and his muscles started feel like they were burning, why on earth did he even agree to go out hunting on the pride lands anyways? He knew this had been a bad idea.
“If you want to stand and fight, you’re more than welcome to. But me and Ed here will keep running if you don’t mind. Ain’t that right, Ed?” Shenzi asked as she looked at the crazed hyena next to her who replied with a nod whilst laughing maniacally. What was that idiot thinking? Three of them against eight of them? At least Ed had an excuse for acting like a complete fool.
“Hey, look! They stopped chasing us!” Banzai said enthusiastically, interrupting Shenzi’s stream of thought.
Shenzi looked back as the trio stopped running. Banzai had been right! Much to her delight, those lions actually stopped chasing them! “Yeah! You ain’t messing around with us!” Banzai shouted as the lions turned around and ran, leaving the three hyenas all alone in the huge sandbox.
“Be glad they stopped chasing us Banzai. Even you should be able to figure out we didn’t stand a chance in a fight. Now stop your taunting and let’s get back home…. Any of you still remember which way home is?...” Shenzi said as she looked around for any hints that would lead them to their home, the elephant graveyard.
“Looks like smart girl here can’t even think of just following our footprints back to.. the.. pride…” Banzai said, his last words slowly coming out of his mouth as he noticed there weren’t any footprints to follow back home. “What… But…”
Shenzi just rolled her eyes in annoyance, why couldn’t she just find a pair of handsome hyenas with actual brains to travel with rather than these two lackeys? Well… Ed could stay, he knew how to appreciate a good laugh. “Lift your paw bark breath and see what happens.”
Doing so as Shenzi told him to, Banzai’s expression quickly changed from one of confusion to one of fear. The wind made the sand shift, covering his footprint. They were stuck in the desert without a single clue of directions. “Uhm… I know! We can just go that way, that’s where we came from, so that’s where the pride lands will be.” Banzai said, proud he had beaten nature and more importantly, Shenzi.
“That would work.” Shenzi said as she sat down on her haunches. “If you hadn’t decided zigzagging would help us lose the lions.” She added, the zigzagging had done nothing for them other than destroying their only chance of finding their way back home. “Now, let’s get moving, maybe with a bit of luck we’ll find the Pride lands and if not… Well, you’ll be the first we’ll eat, isn’t that right, Ed?” Shenzi said as she began to laugh, her not so sane companion soon joining in with laughs of his own. Banzai couldn’t find the joke very amusing, but hey, how could he when it was about him being eaten?
After a few more seconds of laughter, the three hyenas started their journey back to the pridelands, or so they hoped so, heck for all they knew they could be walking in the complete opposite direction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A Few Hours Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After hours of walking and still not finding the Pride lands, the morale of the three hyenas had dropped quite a bit, even the jokes of eating Banzai couldn’t cheer them up anymore. The fact they they were thirsty and hungry like hell didn’t help either.
“Hey Shenzi…. I’m quite thirsty…” Banzai said, eyeing the female Hyena next to him. “So what? We’re all are.” Shenzi replied in annoyance. “Well… Could I maybe… Have some? Only a little bit.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Shenzi asked in confusion.
“Don’t lie to us, now stop hogging it and give us some! Me and Ed here are aching for something to drink.” Banzai replied in anger, why wouldn’t she just share some?
“What are you talking about?!” Shenzi asked, she was getting angry at that idiot.
“We just want some milk! We know you have some in your body, now let us just… have a quick sip.” Banzai said as he tried to get under the female hyena next to him.
“Get away from me, you perverted moron!” Shenzi said as she gave Banzai a good scratch in his muzzle, making the hyena yelp in pain.
“Hey, what gives?” Banzai asked, rubbing his slightly bleeding muzzle.
“You trying to suck my private parts, god, what is wrong with you?!” Shenzi said, anger in her voice, how could that idiot even think she gave milk? “Why would your idiotic brain even think I would give milk?”
“I don’t know… I see other females feed their pups all the time, so why don’t you give us a quick sip right now?”
Shenzi didn’t think she had ever heard something more stupid coming out of that bark breath’s mouth, even Ed’s constant smile had vanished for more of a "Did that just really happen?" look. Something that Shenzi had never seen him do.
“Do I lack anything those hyenas do have?” Shenzi asked, whilst she had the urge to kick his flanks all the way back to the elephant graveyard, wherever that was, she had a feeling it wouldn’t help them too much.
“Good looks?” Banzai said before bursting out in laughter, his crazed companion soon joining in, although the two both quickly stopped again as soon as they heard Shenzi’s with hate filled growl.
“Pups, now I suggest we seek shelter in that cave for tonight.” Shenzi said as she gestured towards a distant cave in a nearby mountain, it was getting dark and whilst she would love to destroy both hyenas for that remark, she knew fighting would get them nowhere in this desert.
Both hyenas agreed with what Shenzi “suggested”, they knew you didn’t want to disagree with a pissed woman, especially not if that pissed woman was Shenzi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Not Much Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The three tired, thirsty and highly annoyed hyenas slowly stumbled into the cave. None of them thought they had ever been more exhausted than today, being chased by lions and walking through a desert in the burning sun for hours was no cub’s play after all.
All those things didn’t withhold them from gasping once they noticed the cave’s interior though. Two massive statues made out of stone resembling some kind of Gazelles with bird wings, although they only had one horn and it was straight rather than curved though. The hyenas couldn’t really place it what it was supposed to be.
Neither could they place the wall the two gazelle like beasts were “guarding”, that looked like as if was made out of water, although none of the hyenas could see where the water was supposed to come from. What they did see however was a lake in a dense forest.
“Water! I see water!” Banzai enthusiastically said, finally he would feel the delicious moisture on his tongue again after all these hours! Running towards the water like wall, he was stopped by Shenzi.
“Bark Breath, don’t you think that this is a little too weird? I don’t think it would be smart to go running through walls made out of water because we’re thirsty.”
“Smart enough for me, Ed?” Banzai asked. Ed replied with a nod, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, much like a dog. Ignoring Shenzi’s warning, both hyenas ran straight through the apparently non solid wall, leaving the female hyena all alone in the temple like cave.
“If I didn’t care so much for these two idiots…” Shenzi said to no one in particular, sighing as she rolled her eyes before going through the wall too, she had a pair of idiots to babysit after all, right?
Who's afraid of the big bad cat?
Once Shenzi had arrived, her two idiots were already greedily gulping down as much water as they could. While Shenzi was pretty thirsty too, she had other things on her mind than water, like trying to figure out where they were. She didn’t think she had ever seen such a dense forest. Even in the most fertile of areas in the Pridelands, you'd be lucky to see maybe two or three trees bunched up together.
"Hey, Bark Breath! Have you even bothered looking around yet? I don't think we're in that oversized sandbox anymore..." Shenzi commented as she looked around, hearing some unfamiliar birds chirping somewhere in the distance.
"We’ve gone for hours without water and we’re finally out of that desert," Banzai shot back, using his paw to swipe away the leftover water dripping from his muzzle. "Isn't that good enough for you?"
Shenzi rolled her eyes in disbelief. How could that idiot not see that going from desert to jungle in less than five seconds wasn't considered 'normal'? “Not when leaving that desert means going through a creepy glowing wall of water.” Shenzi scolded Banzai as she walked up to the lake to drink some water herself.
“Where are we anyways?” Banzai said as he started taking note of his surroundings, he didn’t think he had ever seen so many plants and trees in one place.
“How should I know? You were the one with the great idea of running through that strange floating water.” Shenzi shot back after she finished drinking herself, being for hours in the desert made one quite thirsty after all.
“Yeah!? Well you-Wait… What’s that?” Banzai said as he pointed at something behind Shenzi.
“Oh, no. I’m not falling for that one, Bark Breath.” Shenzi replied. Did he really think she would allow him to change the subject just like that? There was no way he was getting out of this one.
“No! Really! Some weird fly is hovering behind you.” Banzai said, his paw pointing at the “fly”. Was it even a fly? Banzai didn’t think he had ever seen such a big one before. Or for that matter, a pink one.
Shenzi rolled her eyes, as if she would believe that, that one was weak, even for Banzai. That being said… It did make her curious…
“If there’s no fly there, you’re going to wish you simply admitted this was your fault all along.” Shenzi replied with a venomous tone. She was getting tired of Banzai’s antics, why could he never just simply admit it was his fault all along?
Looking behind her, Shenzi was surprised to find that indeed, a strange fly was hovering in the air just behind her. “What the...” Shenzi stammered as she observed the little pink ball of… Whatever flies were made out off.
The three hyenas stared for a moment at the strange little critter. It was cute, but its giant green eyes kind of ruined it. Shenzi was about to speak up as the giant fly started to cough, making the three hyenas cock an eyebrow.
“I didn’t know insects could have col-Whoa!” Banzai shouted in surprise as the three hyenas quickly backed off. Did that fly just… Just puke another fly out?
Much to the relief of the three hyenas, the two overgrown bugs flew to a nearby bush covered in small red berries, giving them a few more feet of breathing room.
Opening their mouths to impossible proportions, the two coloured flies stripped the bush clean of every single berry before proceeding to cough up another pair of friends.
The group looked on at the flies in shock as the flies moved onto the next bush and repeated the process. "...I think I've seen enough." Shenzi remarked, backing up slowly along with the other two hyenas as the flies continued their eating frenzy.
Once the three hyenas were certain they were a safe distance away from the flies, they calmed down. One question remained in their thoughts though, what on the savanna were those things!
“Did you see how fast those things ate? Even Banzai can’t gobble food that fast.” Shenzi said, gaining a few laughs from Ed whilst gaining a remark from Banzai,
“Hey! I don’t gobble!” Banzai retorted, giving Shenzi an annoyed glare.
“No you’re right; you just like to swallow without chewing!” Shenzi replied before going into a laughing fit together with Ed, much to the annoyance of Banzai.
Banzai softly growled in annoyance as the two hyenas kept laughing on, he didn’t think it was that funny.
“Okay, I think I’m done.” Shenzi said as she stopped laughing for a moment. Although after seeing Banzai’s expression, she quickly started again. “Okay I’m not!” Shenzi laughed as she and Ed rolled through the dirt, their stomach’s hurting from the constant laughing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~An hour or so later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just as the moon started to rise, which was surprisingly quickly, the hyenas had found their sleeping place for tonight.
Slowly walking into the cave, the three exhausted and very hungry hyenas were surprised to find a rather large collection of leaves, twigs and various other plants with a small incline in the middle, suggesting something heavy had laid on it for quite some time.
“Looks like we finally have some luck.” Banzai said, stretching himself out before walking to his comfy bed for the night.
“Banzai, are you sure this is such a good idea?” Shenzi asked. While she did admit to it looking comfy, maybe it would better if they left the cave. She would rather not meet the thing that seemed to have made its home here.
“Shenzi, you worry too much. Besides, finders keepers.” Banzai said as he got comfortable in his new nest.
Shenzi sighed to herself. Maybe Banzai was right for once, and maybe she was worrying too much. Three hyenas were able to pack quite the punch after all if needed.
“Alright fine, but if this turns out to end badly; you’ll be the one that gets eaten first.” Shenzi commented as she laid down next to Banzai with Ed soon next to her. Maybe she was worrying too much indeed, and even if she would be right all along, a nice bed for once made quite a lot good.
Closing her eyes and enjoying the warmth radiating from her two idiots, Shenzi soon fell peacefully aslee*Growl* Shenzi winced in annoyance, Bark breath’s loud and empty stomach wasn’t going to ruin her night of sleep, she would make sure of it.
Just as Shenzi was about to give Banzai a good piece of her mind, the growling had stopped, much to the approval of her. Allowing her mind to come to rest once more and doze off to slee*Growl*
“Banzai! Shut your stomach up or sleep outside the cave, some hyenas are trying to sleep you know?” Shenzi complained angrily. After all the crap today, she just wanted some sleep and this wasn’t making it any easier.
“Eh-wha?” Banzai mumbled sleepily. Why was Shenzi yelling at him this time? Did he roll on her side of the cave in his sleep again?
“Your stomach, stop it from making that noise. It’s keeping me awake.”
“Yeah well, maybe it’s you. Ed doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.” Banzai said as he gestured to the still snoring hyena.
She grabbed a nearby rock with her two forepaws and smashed it against Ed's head. Resulting into... Nothing. The hyena continued his peaceful slumber as if nothing had ever happened. “Ed doesn’t have a problem with anything, Bark breath!”
“Well, how can I help it? I haven’t eaten since yesterday!” Banzai shot back. Oh what he would give for a juicy fat zebra right now.
“I don’t care, just make it stop or you’ll get to sleep outside tonight.” Shenzi said as she closed her eyes once more, she sighed. This was just great, because of the sudden outburst she had pretty much lost any chance of getting some shuteye tonight. *Growl*
“That’s it! You’re sleeping outside, Bark Breath!” Shenzi screamed at the startled hyena next to her.
“Hey, that wasn’t me, I swear!” Banzai said, lifting his paws in empathize.
“Then who was it?” Shenzi said, they were all alone in this ca- A loud roar interrupted Shenzi’s stream of thoughts and answered her question.
Turning to the source of the roar, Shenzi's ears dropped as she looked on in fear. A creature so familiar and yet, completely unknown stood before her
The beast had massive tattered bat like wings, a tail ending in a giant stinger so muscular it would’ve put an elephants trunk to shame. And maybe worst of all, a massive red mane covered lion head.
Shenzi and Banzai slowly backed off, the beast's roar resulting in the third hyena waking in a terrified frenzy. Quickly scurrying towards the other two for protection, he tried his best to get away from the all too familiar sound, a lions roar.
The mighty creature slowly approached the three intruders of its home, its scorpion tail slowly swaying to the left and right as if the beast was ready to strike any moment with it.
Shenzi leaned over to Banzai, still eyeing the lethal tail as it swayed with deadly intent. "This is all your fault, Bark Breath." She hissed, fear more evident in her voice than anger.
Banzai just stood there, shaking as he gazed at the razor sharp teeth on the monstrous beast. "Y-yeah well... I didn't think an oversized lion would live here!" He shot back, somehow still managing to speak unlike their third companion who just whimpered in despair.
Before Shenzi got the chance to respond, the creature let out a loud roar as it charged in, making the hyenas cower in fear. After escaping death so many times, would Hades finally welcome them to the afterlife?
