Kamaria, a young lion cub, laughed as she chased after a blue butterfly. The sun glistened off her white fur while her blue eyes held nothing but glee and content.

After all, she had nothing to worry about in the Oasis.

"Lion! Lion in the Oasis! Run for your lives!" Barika, an antelope yelled while galloping through the lands.

Scratch that.

Kamaria felt her ears flatten and eyes widen at the prospect of danger. She was always told to run and hide when faced with a scary situation, that if she avoided it, it would go away.

At least, that's what her best friends Pumbaa and Timon always told her.

With a racing heart and rushing thoughts, Kamaria fled into a hollowed out tree trunk. She was small enough to comfortably fit inside and be able to look out a tiny hole in the bark.

Her body shook violently as her breath came out in pants, her tail wrapped around her in fright.

"Okay, Pumba always says to duck your head," Kamaria placed her head flat against the bark, "and cover your eyes! Then they can't see you!" Kamaria let out a breathy laugh at her remembrance. Her friends would be so proud of her.

Covering her eyes with her paws, she now waited in the dark, ears listening for any sounds.

"Where'd everybody go?" Kamaria knew that voice.

"Why should I know? I'm more worried about Kamaria. What are we going to tell her?" Kamaria knew that voice too.

"Who's Kamaria?" She did not know that voice. She figured it was a male though, probably around her age if the squeak in his voice was any indication.

"Pumbaa! This was such a horrible idea! Why did I go along with it?" Timon wailed.

"My idea? You said it was your idea!" Pumbaa said back confused.

"Yea, when the idea sounded good! But now it's terrible!" Timon yelled, Kamaria could mentally see her uncle with his clawed hand flushed against his forehead.

"So, it's my idea then?" A soft patting sound could be heard coming closer to the log Kamaria waited in.

"I'm so glad you accepted your terrible idea." Kamaria was confused on what this idea was and why it involved her.

"Who's Kamaria!" A voice yelled, breaking up the conversation between the meerkat and warthog.

"What did we say about no yelling? Remember, prey run when they hear a predator. You are a predator, everyone else here, prey." Timon said back to the unknown voice, a condescending tone in his voice.

"Besides Kamaria." Pumbaa added to Timon's sentence.

"She doesn't count."

"Why not again?" Pumbaa asked Timon.

"Uh, because she doesn't know she eats us." Kamaria felt her eyes furrow, why would she eat them? She only ever ate bugs.

"Oh, right right." Pumbaa said, his heavy footfall now right next to her hiding place. Kamaria was torn, Barika said a lion was in the Oasis, but her friends weren't hiding. Does that mean she didn't have to hide?

"Where is the little scamp anyways?" Kamaria heard Timon before a thump sounded from above her.

"We could try to yell for her?"

"Pumbaa! I got it! We try to yell for her! I'm a genius." Timon said before he started calling her name. Pumbaa was silent for a moment, probably wondering if it truly was Timon's idea, before he too, started yelling for her.

The unknown voice had yet to say anything again. Feeling safer with her friends around, Kamaria slowly left her hiding place, peeking out to find her friends waiting next to the log.

"Pumbaa? Timon? Barika came through yelling about a lion. Did you see one coming ho—" Kamaria stopped speaking at seeing the animal next to her uncle.

He was so similar to her. Four furry legs, paws with sharp claws, two rounded ears, a snout and a tail. Only difference between them was their color of fur and eyes. This new animal had bright tan fur and amber brown eyes.

"Who are you?" Kamaria questioned.

"Who are you?" The new animal instantly asked back.

"Kamaria! What were you—oh, oh my gosh! Pumbaa! She ran and hid just like we taught her! Oh, they grow up so fast." Timon sat atop the log, wiping a fake tear from his face.

Pumbaa could only nod as he felt tears well up in his eyes. "It feels like just yesterday she completely ignored all our hiding practices and chased after butterflies!" Kamaria felt herself blink at Pumbaa.

That did just happen yesterday.

Shaking her head to refocus on the new animal, she looked back from Pumbaa to whatever it was named.

"You know my name, what's yours?" Kamaria questioned again.

"Simba." The animal curtly said, a sad look now covering his face.

"Why are you so sad Simba?" Kamaria questioned.

"Kamaria! Manners young lady!" Timon scolded as he ran to the edge of the log, a stern look on his face.

"Sorry." Kamaria spoke, looking to Simba.

"It's okay." Simba didn't add further.

"Okay, um, so did you guys see it? The lion?" Timon and Pumbaa shared a look before Timon jumped down from the log. Landing in front of the cub, he looked to Pumbaa.

"Well, Pumbaa wanted to keep it secret so he can tell you." Pumbaa jumped as he stared at Timon.

"I did not! You didn't want to tell Kamaria she was a lion because you didn't want her to eat us!" Timon gasped in shock as he held a claw over his heart.

"Pumbaa! I would never do that to her! Don't push your regrets onto me!" Pumbaa snorted before he started to mumble about whose ideas were whose.

"Wait, you don't know you're a lion?" Simba questioned.

"I thought I was a warthog?" Simba slowly blinked. A small smile started to form on his face before it became a gleeful laugh.

"You didn't—you thought you were a warthog? You don't even look like a warthog!" Staring at Pumbaa now, Kamaria couldn't see any similarities between her and him. Not like she could between herself and Simba.

"Well, I—how was I meant to know? I was told a warthog ever since I can remember!" Simba felt his laugh die down as he looked at the white lion in front of him.

"I'm afraid you're all lion, no warthog. Although, I haven't met any lions with your color fur before." Kamaria instantly felt herself shrink back. Simba seeing his mistake, instantly backtracked.

"Not—not that it's a bad thing! No, it just—it makes you unique, that's all." Kamaria felt herself relax slightly at Simba's words. While she had never seen another lion before, being told she was different from the rest wasn't the best thing to hear.

"I think it suits you. Reminds me of the stars my father and I used to look at together." Simba sent a sad smile her way, causing Kamaria to grow more confused on Simba's sadness.

"Well now that that's out of the way, how about some grub? And then we can talk about Pumbaa's terrible decisions." Kamaria nodded her agreement as she was starved. She'd been waiting all day for her two friends to come back before eating anything.

"Me? Why is it always me?" Pumbaa grumbled as the four walked away from the log. The idea of befriend someone like her, a lion, on the forefront of Kamaria's mind.