Sorry for the delay! I've been busy the past couple of days. And by the way, we didn't watch the Neve Campbell movie. Turns out we don't own it. Anyway, I'm sure you're all eager to see how the cubs face off against their first adversaries!

kora22: I think it's gonna be a while before Tojo has the courage to try and impress Tama. For now, he's content just being by her side, even if she ignores him.

Greg M 94: They do seem outmatched, not in numbers, but certainly in strength. Let's see how they get out of this situation.

Chapter Seven: The Hyenas

The cubs turned slowly, not wanting to behold the sinister creatures behind them. Simba, being the brave one, was the first to take a good look at the hyenas, of which there were three. The one that had spoken, the female, was a dark grey creature with large ears, black bangs and a malicious grin. She was clearly the matriarch, and her two male attendants joined her in staring sinisterly at the cubs.

While Simba concentrated on the clan leader, Chumvi stared at the tough-looking male to her right. This hyena had a grin even more ominous than his female counterpart, and while he lacked her black bangs, he made up for it with exceptionally thick eyebrows.

Nala, on the other hand, focused on the other male. Unlike the other two, this third hyena did not seem very bright, a fact made clear by his lolling tongue and bulging eyes. She was frozen in place, completely terrified by the three advancing hyenas.

"What are y'all doing here?" asked the female as she leaned her head towards the cubs. "You wouldn't be intruding upon us, now would you?"

Tojo stammered, "N-n-no, Mrs. Uh…"

"Shenzi," the hyena responded. "My name is Shenzi, and I rule this graveyard. Over here is Banzai, and the one with the tongue is Ed."

Ed? Simba asked himself. That's an odd name. Then again, he seems kind of odd anyway…

"You know Shenzi, I was just thinking, we could have ourselves a crème-de-la-cub!" Banzai snarled.

"Yeah, then we can really CHOW DOWN!" Shenzi howled.

Ed laughed maniacally, "Oh heh heh heh heh heh!"

Nala shuddered again. Just hearing him laugh made her want to squeal in fear. But she was a brave cub, and she knew she, like Simba, had to stay strong for the sake of the group. They were, after all, the leaders. They had to take charge against the slobbering brutes.

"Well, c'mon Shenzi!" Banzai yelled. "I'm tired of all of us just standing around like a herd of slowly dying buffalo! I wanna EAT!"

"And eat we will," Shenzi smiled as she leapt at the cubs.

"RUN!" Simba yelled as the cubs began to flee from the pursuing predator.

Simba and Nala ran at the very front, with Chumvi and Kula behind them, followed in turn by Tama, Tojo, and Malka. Malka turned around and noticed that the hyenas were quickly catching up.

"Uh, hey guys," Malka stammered, "we're gonna have to run faster!"

"There's a skeleton up this way!" Simba shouted as they continued to flee.

When they approached the enormous skeleton, the cubs climbed up the gargantuan elephant skull, using the enormous empty hole that would have been the animal's trunk socket as a grip. Simba and Nala hid in the hole, helping up the others one by one before finally sliding out and joining them.

It did not take long for the terrible trio to catch up to them, and once they did, they stopped.

"Shenzi, they're going down the spine! We're too big to do that and land smoothly!"

"Then let's get off this skull and meet them at the other side!" Shenzi barked back at Banzai. Ed laughed again as they jumped off the gigantic skull.

The cubs continued running in terror. Would their first day as a group be their last day on Earth?

I could have just relaxed with Kula and not come on this dumb little trek, Tama scowled to herself.

I could be watching birds right now, Tojo thought.

I wish Simba had gone by himself. Then I could have just stayed with Nala, Malka thought to himself.

How I wish I could be eating a nice zebra carcass, Kula sighed.

What a pity this adventure turned out this way, Chumvi reflected as he shook his head.

Why couldn't Simba have taken us somewhere else? Nala asked herself. We would have been a great team…

And, of course, Simba was having thoughts of his own.

We shouldn't have come here, he realized. I lead us all into this. We could have gone on tons of adventures. Nala and I could have been something. We would have made an awesome king and queen. But nope, I just had to take us all here. I'm the reason we're all going to die.

He abruptly stopped running as soon at this. He shook his head, and he smiled brightly, shouting his next thought loud and clear.

"We're not gonna die, not today!"

As soon as he said this, he bolted towards a nearby cavern, with everyone following as fast as possible. They could tell the hyenas were not far behind, but this did not stop them in the slightest.

Once they entered the cave, the cubs gasped in awe. The entire place glowed bright green, including the rock and walls. The entire floor of the cavern was covered in large, tube-shaped rocks filled with glowing green liquid, which occasionally blew out in the form of great glowing geysers.

"How are we gonna get through THAT?" Chumvi asked.

"We'll find a way!" Simba declared. "Come on!"

The cubs decided to go for it and zip through the maze of fountains, even though the cackling hyenas were not deterred in the slightest.

"You think those geysers scare us?" Shenzi asked mockingly. "This place is our home! We aren't scared of anything here!"

"You should be," a female voice yelled.

A terrifying roar then echoed through the cavern, sending a chill through cub and hyena alike, as Mufasa leapt into the geyser maze and savagely attacked the hyenas. The cubs slowly walked away, only to discover the entire pride joining Mufasa in attacking the insolent mongrels. Simba ducked very low to the ground, for he knew exactly what would happen once the pride was finished.

After about five minutes of fighting, Mufasa and the lionesses stood triumphant over three broken and battered hyenas, all of them covered in blood and bruises.

"If you were on my lands I would have you executed," Mufasa growled, "but by general law I cannot do it here. Let this be a lesson to you. If you ever touch any of those cubs again, I will make sure all three of you pay for it."

Mufasa nodded, and the lionesses walked towards the beaten hyenas. Sarabi swiped her paw at Shenzi's head, Sarafina did the same to Banzai, and another lioness repeated the action with Ed. All three hyenas were on the ground, unconscious.

"Come on out, cubs," Mufasa grumbled. "Let's go home."

One by one, all seven of the cubs slid silently out of their hiding place. Not one of them dared to look any one adult in the eye. Instead, all of them simply stared at the ground as they followed the adults home.

Back at the den at Pride Rock, all of the cubs sat in a semi-circle as Mufasa lectured them.

"Going to the Elephant Graveyard was one of the last things you should have done! I don't know what inspired you to go, but I'm going to find out."

Simba meekly raised his paw in the air.

"Um, Dad?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Simba?" Mufasa turned to look at Simba, his expression softening slightly.

"A couple days ago, Uncle Scar told me it used to be a rite of passage to go to the Elephant Graveyard. He said a cub is on his way to becoming a lion if he goes there."

"Thank you, Simba. That was indeed true at one point, but not anymore. I'll talk to him about that. But that doesn't mean you guys get off easy. Cubs make mistakes, I'll grant you that. I did too. More than you guys hopefully will. I'm hoping this will be a lesson for you all. You're all bright cubs, and hopefully you'll make better choices in the future. You guys will be grounded for three days in the small cave, but at least you'll be together. But you can all say goodnight to your families first."

As Simba nuzzled Sarabi's leg, Nala visited Sarafina and Mheetu while the others bid their own mothers goodnight.

"I'm sorry, guys," she sniffled to both of them.

"You better be sorry," Mheetu snarled. "I love you, sis, but you've disgraced me. I'm glad I don't have to go with you."

"Mheetu!" Sarafina snapped.

"It's okay, Mom," Nala smiled as she pranced off into the night to join her friends. Mheetu frowned as she left.

Back at the Elephant Graveyard, the hyenas slowly began to wake up, rubbing their heads with their paws.

"Oh, I feel horrible," Banzai moaned. "That lousy Mufasa!"

"You're telling me!" Shenzi whined. "My beautiful cheeks are covered in scratches!"

Ed simply giggled as usual, unaware even of his own injuries.

"Seems you three didn't do your job," a voice boomed in the cavern. The hyenas looked up to see a lion sitting on a high ledge above them. It was none other than Scar.

"Scar, old buddy old pal, you gotta understand," Banzai panted.

"I don't, actually," Scar drawled.

"Well, Mufasa and the whole pride came in just as we were about to kill them," Banzai explained. "He says that if we ever touch them again, he'll kill us!"

"Oh, won't that be a sad day," Scar grumbled as he walked away. "Those fools will be of use some day," he vowed.

At the base of Pride Rock was a small cave, a cave just large enough to fit seven cubs crammed together, watching as rain began pouring down.

"I heard Dad talking to Mom earlier when the rain started," Simba explained to Nala. "He says he went and saw somebody to make it rain for three days so we wouldn't feel as bad."

"It's probably to prevent us from being tempted to sneak out," Tojo observed.

"Probably, but that's still really nice of him," Nala pointed out. "I can't think of many kings—or fathers—who would do that."

Simba smiled. He knew she was right. Mufasa was a great father.

"Well," Simba smiled, "should we try to go to sleep?"

"Yep!" all of the cubs answered.

"Good night!" Simba shouted.

"Good night!" everyone shouted back.

As the cubs settled down to sleep, they dreamed about their exciting day, and the amazing adventures they would have in the future.

For there would be many.

Wow! The first story's done! That was a long final chapter! What did you guys think? Did you like it? Were the hyenas good? Was Mufasa too mean? Too nice? Or just right? Feel free to review!

Next Time: After serving their sentence for the Graveyard incident, the cubs are eager to go outside and have a relaxing day. But Simba's evil cousins have a very different plan in mind…