The next morning, Timon, Y/N, and Pumbaa were still sleeping when Nala came up to them.

"Hey. Hey, wake up," Nala said, nudging the male meerkat.

Timon woke up to see Nala's face right up close, making him scream, waking Pumbaa and he joined in. Y/N woke up with a start, but when she saw who caused the screaming, she just stretched.

"It's okay. Whoa, whoa. It's okay. It's me," Nala assured, to which they stopped screaming.

"Don't ever do that again! Carnivores, oy!" Timon remarked.

"Sorry about that," Y/N apologized.

"It's okay. But have you guys seen Simba?" Nala wondered.

"I thought he was with you," Timon remarked.

"He was, but now I can't find him. Where is he?" Nala said.

They then heard a laugh and turned to see Rafiki in a tree.

"You won't find him here," Rafiki told them, laughed, then announced with a bow, "The king...has returned."

"I can't believe it," Nala whispered then said happily, "He's gone back."

"Gone back? What do you mean?" Timon asked, they all noticed Rafiki disappeared, then Timon demanded, "Hey! What's goin' on here? Who's the monkey?"

"You seriously don't remember?" Y/N asked.

"Simba's gone to challenge Scar," Nala told them.

"Who?" Y/N wondered.

"Scar," Nala answered.

"Who's got a scar?" Pumbaa asked.

"No, no, no. It's his uncle," Nala replied, shaking her head.

"The monkey's his uncle?" Timon guessed.

"No! Simba's gone back to challenge his uncle to take his place as king," Nala clarified.

"Ohhh," Timon, Y/N, and Pumbaa said.

"But wait. He's really gone? What do you mean, he's gone?" Timon asked.

"It's just like the baboon said. 'The king has returned'," Nala said.

Pumbaa and Timon looked completely confused while Y/N looked between them then at Nala with a sheepish smile, making Nala sigh.

"Ohh. You want me to go over it again?" Nala asked.

"Yes, please, but be a dear and just skip to the part about Simba--not that your childhood wasn't fascinating," Timon answered.

"Okay, look, Simba's the rightful king, but after he disappeared, Scar proclaimed himself the king and formed an alliance with the hyenas," Nala began.

But as she went on, the three were lost in their own thoughts, Y/N being really being the only on to truly understand what was going on.

'Poor Simba. the treachery, the villainy, the sheer indescribable horror,' Pumbaa thought.

'Blah, blah, blah. Why is she toying with us? Oh, this crazy chick is going to eat us,' Timon thought.

'Nala really cares for Simba to want to help him. They would make such a great couple,' Y/N thought.

"Simba has to go home to challenge his uncle and reclaim his rightful place as king," Nala finished.

Pumbaa and Timon still looked confused, making Y/N facepalm.

"Ooh, don't you get it? Simba needs us-now!" Nala exclaimed then ran off.

"He needs us? Then he shouldn't have left us! If he wants to run off to be 'His Highness', well, I say don't let the branches hit you on the way out. Leave hakuna matata to someone who appreciates it," Timon remarked then head back for their bed.

"But, Timon, it's not really hakuna matata without Simba," Pumbaa pointed out.

"What's gotten into you? 'Not hakuna matata'? That's crazy talk-crazy talk, I tell you. Nothing's changed here. We had hakuna matata before Simba and we've still got it now," Timon stated.

"You can not be serious," Y/N said, shaking her head.

"As Nala was about eating Pumbaa," Timon told her.

"She didn't know Simba was here or he's his friend!" Y/N shouted.

"They're both right. We got to go help our friend, Timon," Pumbaa said.

"Et tu, Pumbaa? You're just going to walk away, give up on all this? What happened to 'friends stick together to the end'? Huh, huh, huh?" Timon demanded.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Pumbaa remarked.

"I can not believe you. You're just gonna stay behind to let one of your best friends fight this alone? I thought you were the kind to go and help, no matter what it cost you. But I guess I was wrong," Y/N snapped.

She then got on Pumbaa and they started leaving when they turned to take a second look at the male meerkat.

"I got everything I ever wanted right here," Timon declared, sliding in the nest.

They then felt tears forming in their eyes before leaving to go help Simba. Timon then noticed they were gone.

"Now, this is more like it-Elbow room!" Timon yelled.

It echoed through his home, but then he realized how truly alone he was at that moment. He then sat down and hugged his knees to his chest.

"Uhh. Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy," he mumbled.

He then sighed, feeling regret about the whole situation, but he tried singing and doing things around the oasis to get his mind off of things, which didn't work.

[TIMON:]

"Hakuna matata

What a wonderful phrase

Hakuna matata

Ain't no passing craze

It means...

Uhh.

No worries."

Then he heard Rafiki come in with a laugh, jogging his memory.

"You. No, no. Don't say a word. I know what you're going to say," Timon demanded.

"Did you find hakuna matata?" Timon asked, mimicking Rafiki.

"Well, yes, I did. Thank you very much. And I am happy. Happy, happy, deliriously happy," Timon answered as himself.

"Ho ha ha! I see. Happy, is it? So, if you're so happy, why do you look so miserable?" Timon continued as Rafiki.

"Miserable, you say? Why should I be miserable? Oh, I don't know. Maybe my three best pals in the world deserted me. Heh. They've-they've headed off on some heroic mission. My friends are gone," Timon explained, realizing his mistake and another thing, then said, "And my hakuna matata went with them."

Rafiki nodded in satisfaction.

"Would you mind?" Timon requested, Rafiki lightly hit him on the head with his staff, then he told him, "Thanks. I'm glad we had this talk."

Timon clicked is tongue at him then ran off to join his friends.

"My work here is done," Rafiki stated proudly before making his way to Pride Rock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~