The Longest Journey

[DGFone]

Dan shrugged. Simba might have sounded tough, but it was clear on the lion's face that the tumbles and rolls were much more than he was used to. Besides, the plane could handle some 3 Gs, for the most part. It was nothing for Dan and the pilot, but for Simba, who never experienced them before, such acceleration would be too much.

So Dan rolled the plane on its side and turned sharply. The cabin creaked a little at the stress, but Dan knew that it will hold. Simba, on the other hand, was not. Anyone could handle staying stationary, which was why Simba asked to stay upside down for a while. But constant acceleration was completely different.

As they turned, Dan saw Simba's concentration begin to falter as the Gs began to take their toll. "Stay with me, Simba," Dan said, "come on, you just told me you can handle this."

[Regulus]

"Stop!" Simba yelled. "I've got a better idea. Climb up a bit, then let the plane fall down for a few seconds."

He then turned around to the cabin, and yelled at Nala. "Get out of that seat. Let's fight!" Without the force of gravity to rely on, Simba was confident that he could finally be able to fight Nala without being pinned.

[DGFone]

Dan looked at the pilot before doing as Simba asked and rising the plane up in the air. They rose for several thousand feet before he leveled out the plane and went over to Nala, unstrapping her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Nala smirked. Sure, she felt sick to her stomach, but she was certain that Simba was as well. And if he wanted to fight, then so be it. "Yeah, I'm fine! come on. Let me win," she told Dan. "That will shut him up." She did not want to give Simba the satisfaction of winning. And especially now that she was feeling horrible, if she will win, something she always does, she will make sure not to let Simba forget about it.

Dan returned to the copilot's seat and sat down. "If it gets too rough," he warned, "I will stop it." He looked back at the pilot. "You said this is not a vomit comet? Well it is now. Take control." With that, he swiftly dropped the nose of the plane, and as the gravity turned to nonexistent, he moved himself to where he can get to the lions.

[Regulus]

Simba immediately tried to lunge forward to Nala, but failed to go very fast. Instead, he inched forward, unable to push himself any more. As he got closer, he realized neither of them would win the fight. In fact, they were hardly fighting at all. More accurately, Simba and Nala floated about the cabin without doing much else.

[DGFone]

Nala prepared herself for Simba's attack, only to find herself flipping head over tail with him as both of them tried to get on top of each other and pin. If anything, Nala felt like they were underwater, both being able to push the other with ease. But unlike with water, they couldn't 'swim' and no matter how hard she tried, she simply wasn't able to control herself. At least Simba wasn't able to either.

As they tumbled over each other, both Simba and Nala began to quickly tire out, trying to get each other, but finding themselves fighting their own bodies more than anything. It didn't help that every now and then, the plane would start climbing back up, pressing both of them on the floor, unable to move. Then they would suddenly find themselves floating again, but rather too tired to do much more than feebly try to nudge the other closer to the floor.

But there was someone in the plane who did know how to move around in a weightless environment. Seeing Simba and Nala struggling to simply move, Dan grinned and propelled himself towards them. Grabbing hold of Simba, he found the lion's weak attempts to fight back easy to doge and before Simba could complain, Dan had already got him into a seat and strapped in.

Quickly getting Nala strapped into a seat as well, Dan called out to the pilot to take them to land before turning back at a tired, panting, and quite angry Simba. Dan grinned at the lion. "Told you can't win," he said simply, "what did you expect?" Simba certainly did look undignified, strapped into the chair like that and out of breath. "So before you try and undermine me again," Dan warned, "make sure you can win doing so first."

[Regulus]

"I expected you to let me watch you land the plane," Simba tried to explain himself. "You know, because that's what we're supposed to be learning to do," he continued. "I just thought I'd remind you, in case you forgot. Or, am I wrong? Is that not really what this is about?" Simba noticed Dan's unpleasant reaction, and sensed that he was correct in his assumption.

"So far, you have done nothing but try to prove your superiority to us." Though Simba was greatly annoyed by Dan's attutude, with that being one of his primary reasons for wanting to leave the Pridelands, he tried to remain calm. "In fact, I believe you are intentionally withholding information from us for this specific purpose."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "You're an officer, right? You know, I would expect better behavior from someone with your credentials." He then realized what he said, and corrected himself before continuing. "Actually, that does make sense. Your arrogance is probably the very reason why you're in charge."

"Well, I guess that's alright," he admitted. "I'll play along for now, but if my respect is what you are trying to gain from this, you're not going to earn it by showing off."

[DGFone]

Dan strapped himself in next to Simba and Nala. "Well, first off, I am not landing the plane," he replied, "and second. Yes, I am quite arrogant. You are very correct in this." He grinned at Simba's look of surprise. "You have to be in this line of work," Dan explained, "you can't take no for an answer. Why do you think I had you come instead of Mufasa? Look at yourself now, Simba. You came because you wanted to prove that you are more than the others. You wanted to show off as well. You too, are arrogant." Simba's reaction told Dan that everything he said was correct.

"I think you will get along nicely with the others," Dan said, "all of them are like you: think they are the best in the world. So let me tell you something:" He noticed how Simba leaned forwards, clearly eager for a challenge. "One of us is in fact the best. Which one of us is, now that's the problem. So let me ask you Simba: do you think you have it?"

The plane started to come down on its final approach. Dan didn't bother to say anything else. It would take a lot of hard work for him to gain Simba's respect, he knew that much. Added with the fact that they will be competing with each other half the time, Dan knew that if they would get over their differences and work together, it will work really well. But if they won't be able to, then Dan might as well send Simba back now.

[Regulus]

"Oh, so this is some sort of game?" Simba asked. "That's odd, I had this illusion, that we were all on the same team here. Well then, all I ask is that we all get a fair chance."

Simba elaborated on that thought. "That means you start telling me everything you know about the human world. I may be ignorant now, but that's only because you haven't answered my questions."

[DGFone]

Dan raised a finger to pause Simba. "You and I might be on the same team, and that's only a maybe," he explained, "but there are multiple teams. And if you want to think of it as a game, you may. If you lose, it could cost you your life though..." He grinned. "You win though, and you'll be the first on the moon."

As for Simba's proposal to get even in the knowledge department, Dan still had some leverage. Simba didn't know how much or how little Dan knew, and even then it was more than Simba would ever care to know. So he simply left it with his own question. "I know what I know. You tell me: what do you want to know?"

[Regulus]

Simba was already getting tired of asking questions with few, if any direct answers, but he continued anyway. "You can start by telling us how exactly we'll be getting to the moon, and why it will be so dangerous. From what you have told me, it must have some resemblance to flying, like we are now, but you have yet to even explain how this works."