The Longest Journey

[DGFone]

Dan stopped his car and stepped outside into the hot African air. If his map was correct, he should be in the vicinity of the Pride Lands now. He walked slowly to a small hill and looked into the distance. To his relief, the small outline of the Pridelands could be seen on the horizon, telling him that he was in the right area.

Deciding to leave the car behind, he began to walk towards the large stone structure. The walk was long and, at least for him, fairly dull, with the heat not helping at all. But gulping down water from a bottle helped, and after a while, Pride Rock started getting closer and closer.

Eventually, he reached it, leaning on the cool stone to rest for a bit. He looked up, wondering if it would be a good idea to simply climb up. Yes, he was sent here to talk to King Mufasa, but it didn't mean that walking literally into the lions' den was a good idea. Not really making up his mind on what to do, he walked back a few steps and looked up at where he was told the den should be. "Hello!?" He called out, hoping he was loud enough to be heard. "King Mufasa? I need to talk to you!"

[Regulus]

Simba had just completed his patrol around the kingdom with his father, and returned to Pride Rock. The lion approached Dan from behind, studying the humanoid creature carefully. "Who are you?" he asked, in confusion.

[DGFone]

Startled, Dan quickly spun around to face Mufasa. His face fell when he saw just how much bigger the lion was compared to him. "Mu-Mufasa..." he stammered, trying to find his manners, "great to see you! I- My name's Dan. I work with..." He paused, not knowing how much Mufasa knew about the human world. Before he left, he heard the stories others told when they looked for other animals across the world. "I work with a... group, called NASA. We wanted... I came here to ask you about something that... it means a lot to us."

He frowned, knowing that explain why he came here would take a long time. "Is there somewhere we can talk? This might take a while..."

[Regulus]

Simba hesitated momentarily before replying. "I think you're looking for my father," he explained. "Hey, Zazu, get over here!" Though Simba hated the bird when he was younger, he had grown to appreciate Zazu's usefulness.

The majordomo heard Simba's call, and descended to Pride Rock beside Simba. "What is it?" he asked.

"Go find my Dad, this man wants to talk to him."

The hornbill looked surprised. "A human in the Pridelands? I'll tell Mufasa right away," he said before flying off to find the king, leaving Simba and Dan alone at Pride Rock.

Out of curiosity, Simba sat down and asked Dan to continue. "So... you were saying?"

[DGFone]

Dan blinked at Simba. "You're no Mufasa?.." He felt embarrassed and rubbed his head. "Well, what I wanted to talk to him... I don't know if you want to be there or not," he said, "well, if Mufasa will come here, I guess you can wait here." He eyed Simba, noticing how the lion, while big, was still looking more like the other cats that were selected form the program instead of what he expected. Simba's still-growing mane probably helped with that.

He looked up at the sky, quickly spotting the moon. Sure, he was asked to come here and get Mufasa, but if Simba was already this big, Mufasa would be even bigger, and rockets are limited with weight... "Hey, Simba?" Dan asked, "Actually, I think you might want to listen when Mufasa gets here..."

Elsewhere in the Pridelands, Nala grinned when she spotted a lion and crouched down. If it was Simba, she will pounce him hard and pin him, something he wasn't ever able to do to her. As the lion got closer to her, Nala identified it as Mufasa and sighed with disappointment. Not wanting to pin the king, she got up from her hiding place and walked over to him. "Hey, Mufasa, have you seen Simba?" she asked. But before he could answer, Zazu came flying at them, calling for him.

[Regulus]

Zazu informed the two lions of the situation. "Sire, we have a visitor, at Pride Rock. He wishes to speak with you."

"Oh, really?" Mufasa replied. "I told the cheetahs to forget it," he sighed.

Zazu chuckled lightly at the king's response. "It's actually not the cheetahs this time. It's a human."

"I guess I better go see what this is about. Nala, are you coming along?" Mufasa asked.

---

"What do you mean? Is this... about me?" Simba asked. Though he tried to hide it, he began to worry about what the man could want. He had heard stories of humans before; he knew that some humans could be very dangerous.

[DGFone]

Nala shrugged. "Yeah, I'll go." She wasn't very interested in what was going on, but if Simba was there, then she wanted to be there. Simba had that gift of being able to make even boring events seem much less dull when he's around.

She followed Mufasa and Zazu back to Pride Rock, wondering what could be the matter. Humans hardly ever wandered into the Pridelands, and out of those who did, they never asked to speak to Mufasa before.

---

Dan shook his head "No, it's not about you. It's more about your father, but I think you will still want to be there. We..." He thought about how much he could say and still have Simba understand. He couldn't simply say 'we want your father to go to the moon with us', as it won't make any sense to Simba. "I came here to ask your father to come with me, and several others, on a very special mission." He grinned at Simba, knowing that the explanation was utterly worthless. "Just wait until Mufasa gets here, and I will explain it proper."

[Regulus]

Simba was relieved to hear Dan's response. "Oh... a mission..." he muttered. A rush of curiosity and excitement filled his mind as he thought about where the human would want to take him. As a lion, he knew very little about what lies beyond the boundaries of the Pridelands. While he waited for his father, he pondered over the situation.

After a few minutes, Mufasa, Zazu, and Nala arrived at Pride Rock. After seeing his son and the visitor sitting by the den, Mufasa introduced himself. "Hello there. I'm Mufasa, king of the Pridelands. What brings you out here?"

[DGFone]

Nala spotted Simba and quickly covered the last of the distance between them. Giving him a quick welcoming nuzzle, she sat down next to him. "So that's the human?" she asked, looking at Dan curiously. "What he come here for?"

Dan heard Mufasa next to him and turned. His face fell when he saw how much bigger Mufasa was compared to Simba. Quickly regaining his composure, he instinctively reached out to shake Mufasa's 'hand' but quickly put his own back when he remembered that lions don't shake hands. "Mufasa, my name's Dan. I've come here to ask you to join me on a mission. It will mean a lot to me, and a lot of others, if you would accept in going on it."

He didn't know if Mufasa would agree on going without knowing anything yet, but Dan wasn't sure yet how to explain to a pack of lions that he wanted one of them to go to the moon with him.

[Regulus]

"I'm not sure yet," Simba whispered to Nala. "He said something about a mission."

Mufasa responded with reluctance to Dan's proposal. "What kind of mission? We've been having some land disputes with the cheetahs in light of some recent events... I can't get involved in anything right now."

Simba heard his father and sighed at his response, lowering his ears and tail. "But Dad..."

"We have enough issues to deal with already," Mufasa confirmed, standing firm with his opinion.