"this...is definitely...gonna take...several weeks...fuuuck me!"
Shenzi said shakily, as her nearly numb legs somehow managed to keep moving. The hyena was running on empty after four days of fighting through just the desert alone. If the great kings were really testing her, then she was in for hell.
See, Shenzi figured when the buzzards told her it was a jungle simba had gone to, she'd see a bit of greenery, maybe have to deal with some dense foliage here and there...but nothing too strenuous.
Yeah no. When the buzzard said jungle...he meant the word in both description, and mass...and ah also depth...and any other words her sustenance deprived brain could think up. She'd spotted the jungle biome from the edge of the desert, which should have been her first hint that things were going south.
The dry cracked earth around the sand dunes showed that at certain times of the year, the area probably held a large body of water.
That should have been her second hint that things were not right.
However, as her nutrient craving thinking processes fizzled out and her brain took a vacation from all logic, she reached the edge of the jungle and all thoughts of what was logical and what was right in her mind flew the freaking coop. Because Shenzi's mind was smart enough even in it's dried out state, to notice that as she got closer, everything got bigger. So much so that she found the closer she got, the taller...and taller the vegetation covered hills--sorry fucking mountains--got.
The buzzard had left some very important details out!
She'd never admit it, but for several seconds, Shenzi considered that she'd swallowed too much sand while in the previous area, and was now just dying slowly of dehydration.
She'd sat at the edge of the jungle for several minutes simply gaping slack jawed at the mass of life before her. Her plan had seemed so simple; go to green area, grab cub, come home. Win over lion pride, yay every one lives.
Simple. Easy. To the point.
"How the actually fuck...am I gonna find him in all this!?" She shouted furiously with her paws out in front of her. "Would it have killed that damn bird to maybe drop a hint that no, the jungle isn't small, it's a whole fucking continent of shrubbery!?"
She fell into a rough coughing fit and groaned, rubbing her throat with a paw gently. "Ow...okay, no more yelling...need water now."
Her anger had done two things. Focused her mind on what her body was screaming for; food and water mostly, and it had also made her super dizzy from flexing her sore muscles in frustration. Teetering for a moment, the Hyena Queen shambled over to the shade of the nearest tree and simply fell onto her side with a hefty "OOF!"
Sleep took the girl before she could even register what was happening.
She didn't exactly dream, but when Shenzi woke, late that evening, her mind seemed to conjure vague images of a cloud shaped like a lion, and he'd been roaring in the sky...or, maybe there actually WAS a lion in the sky and he was on the clouds while roaring? She couldn't remember clearly.
Her left shoulder itched again and she slowly sat up and gave it good scratching with her hind leg for a few seconds, before looking around. The sun was just on the edge of the sand dunes, casting everything in red lighting as it went to bed...
Perfect time for a hunt. Picking herself up, she ambled quietly into the jungle, low, slow, and alert for sounds of prey. As she walked, she sniffed, marked her own scents, and checked for signs of other predators.
She found plenty of everything and quite rapidly too, which was worrying. There were definitely leopards and some jungle cats around-aptly named- she thought, as well as a few very faint traces of lion, but from the markings age she couldn't tell if they were specifically Simba's...his scent was not something she'd put to memory and now she cursed her brain for fogging that up.
She also found ample amounts of prey, the downside...was most of the critters were birds, or lemurs, and man did she hate the furry little fuckers.
Too fast, not enough meat, and...dammit I'll take anything at this point. She grumbled, rubbing her stomach as it reciprocated the sounds back to her. "I know...I know...I'm looking."
It was here Shenzi spied something she had not as of yet considered food. All around the hyena, were bugs.
Small, large, spindly, spidery, slimy, and yet she knew they would be satisfying to her hunger. Not in a long term effect, but it would hold her over for the night.
Quickly moving a few downed logs, and digging into old burrows, she found a large quantity of the creepy crawlies. Whatever she found, she bit into. Crickets? Worms? Yummy. That big blue beetle? getting crunched. The long millipede thingy, meh lotta legs, but sure!
That long, large, thick coiled, spade headed snake she didn't notice in the dark corner–
"Sh-shit!" Shenzi yipped as the large viper lashed out at her, it's large open maw missing her front legs by a few centimeters she flailed backwards out of the burrow. She tumbled head over paws and ended up on her belly. She growled, jumping to her feet as the snake slithered out of the den and towards her angrily. "Stupid pup, stupid stupid stupid! Always check the den for–"
The snake lunged again, but this time Shenzi dodged to the side. "Check for traps!" She snarled, whipping her head down to the side and biting the snake right behind it's head. Her powerful jaws crushed downward, piercing into the snake's hide and oozing delicious blood into her maw. She almost moaned it was so tasty, but then her hind legs were coiled up as the Snake, a rock Python she realized, started trying to constrict around her.
She yanked one leg free and crunched down harder on the snake's head, thrashing about in her grasp now as it tried to escape.
No one escapes my jaws once I have them. Shenzi growled, wrenching her head to the side, left, then right. Adding her own thrashing to the fight, sending blood and spittle flying as she slowly, but surely felt the snake's coils tighten....and then release.
She held onto the python's head a little longer, even thrashed a few more times out of pure instinct...and then dropped to her belly and instantly started eating, her eyes darting everywhere as she chopped and ripped into her prey.
As she ate, clarity came back to her mind. "Okay...okay new plan." She said to herself between bites. "Get food, water, and then nap till sun up. Lions rest during the day, so If Simba is around here...hopefully he'll be asleep? Do cubs sleep as much as parents? Crap, okay no scratch that."
She swallowed another bite, shoving her muzzle deep inside the now carcass of the snake. "Food, check, find water next, then nap, then find his scent. I only found one lion marking on the edge of the jungle, so I'm betting that's him. Even if it isn't, I can talk to whoever might have seen him and go from there."
She swallowed, panting, and then nodded. "Right, good plan."
After roughly twenty minutes of eating, Shenzi heard noises from her rear and turned to look, but all she saw was the jungle shrubbery.
Yeah...that's probably my que to leave. She thought, Wasting no time, Shenzi leapt to her paws, and bolted to the right, and just as she expected, a young male leopard snarled from her left, lunging out at her and sending her skittering away.
"Hehe, jokes on you pal," She said as she slowed to a trot. "I ate most of it already so--AUUAAGH!!"
Her yelp of terror was loud and boisterous as she felt the leopard's claws rake through her tail fur. "Then I'll eat you!" He yowled, his breath hot on her rump as she bolted rapidly into the brush.
Under branches, over logs, through tight spaces, anything and everything was shoved between Shenzi and the on coming cat. "No! No I do not think you should! Th-that snake was really not all that great!"
"Good thing you're covered in hyena meat then!" He said, snapping his jaws down on her tail and yanking her back suddenly. Thinking quickly, Shenzi whipped around and utilized a tactic Scar had taught her to evade big cats.
If ever you are caught by one of the pride lioness, or even Mufasa, go for the eyes. kick straight into their socket. That will really hamper most of their ability to pursue, as well as their desires to continue seeing you as prey.
Shenzi's hind foot lashed out and she felt a little pride well up inside her as her aim was true. There was a nasty squelching sound however. Shenzi winced as the leopard yowled and let go of her tail, instantly stepping back rapidly and holding a paw over his face. Blood gently swept down his foreleg as he stared in shock. "Wh-what did you do!? My eye! I can't see from...AAAARGH!!"
Shenzi didn't wait, she bolted back into the brush, the pained and panicked snarls and cries of the young leopard slowly fading as she gained as much distance as she could from him.
"Hoo boy...I don't think he saw that one coming... but eye did! Hehehe...ehehehe...oh boy I almost died...ehhehehe." Her adrenaline slowly but surely wore down as she nervously laughed, and searched for a place to nap. The jungle was up in a tizzy from the racket the two had made, So shenzi hunkered down in a dried up burrow--no snakes this time- and rest her head on her paws. From the shadows, all one could see was the glow of her eyes.
They'd see worry in them, if one looked close enough. "How the heck is Simba still alive out here?" She asked, gently licking her hind paw clean of the leopard's blood. "Little brat like him? I wonder if what the buzzard said wasn't totally accurate, and he's not doing too good..."
Shenzi drifted off to sleep with the cub on her mind, images of him dead in a leopard's jaws, or constricted by snakes played out in her mind, and she woke bleary eyed and groggy to the morning fog as it rolled into the den.
She rubbed at her muzzle and eyes. "Mmmgh...so much for sleep..." After stretching, marking her area, and then double checking that the space outside the den wasn't an ambush, she crept out into the jungle once more.
"Now...water...need water." She said sniffing the area and using her paws to test the dryness of the earth around her. her mother had taught her long ago little tricks to survival, and now they were coming in handy.
As noon slowly rolled around, Shenzi finally found a small pond in a nice little glade. She was cautious at first, but oddly the only scents around the area were of rodents and bugs, maybe a couple birds.
Odd...no predators seem to come over here? Why? Slowly prowling up to the pool, she lowered her head down and sniffed the water. It was strange, this was some of the cleanest water she'd seen in a long time. She could even see to the bottom of the little pond, which most animals would jump for joy at finding.
"A clean source of water, untainted by others? Yes please."
Shenzi took a tentative lick of the surface, just in case it was contaminated. but to her surprise all it tasted like was pure clean water, with a hint of earthiness to it.
"Great Kings above thank you!" Without waiting for a reply, Shenzi dunked her head completely into the pool, moaning underwater at the cool refreshing feeling that zinged across her body. She was so tempted to simply plunge all the way in, but considering it was the only source of water she'd found as of yet, she felt it prudent to not sully her good fortune.
Lifting her head from the water, she kept her muzzle in and drank her fill. Several large gulps disappeared down the Queen's throat as she sated her parched and dry stomach and mouth.
This is perfect actually. I have food nearby, water aplenty for the next few days, and now all I need to do is find that leopard and get him to talk, see if he knows where I can find the cub! This day can't get any bett–
"Shenzi Marie, Predatora Veldetta, Jacquelina Hyena..."
Shenzi's whole body went rigid. Not so much from fear, but from genuine shock and then that feeling was washed away rapidly by real embarrassment. She felt her tail tuck, her legs lock, and her hackles raise in reaction to her full name.
Only three creatures have ever learned my full name...and two are long dead...so that must be... Shenzi's eyes slanted to her right, ever so slowly, and locked onto the most annoying, bothersome, downright frustrating Meerkat she'd ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with.
Leaning against the tree, hidden in the shade of the foliage...
"Timon Leslie Berkowitz..." She growled. This day just got a lot worse.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Let me know what ya like in the comments! comments are my birb seed!
Keywords
male
1,177,999,
female
1,068,526,
canine
186,829,
feral
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rodent
33,997,
hyena
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snake
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story
13,719,
death
12,007,
the lion king
6,076,
violence
4,321,
meerkat
2,623,
serpent
2,308,
the lion guard
2,095,
backlash91
983,
python
967,
timon
537,
shenzi
332,
light gore
11
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17 hrs, 30 mins ago
20 Dec 2024 21:32 CET
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