A Crocodile's Journey

The Truth

It's a known fact that elephants are one of the biggest, sturdiest animals in the Pride Lands. No, in the animal kingdom. Most predators avoid preying on them directly because they know it's not worth the risk: their skins are too thick for claws and teeth, and their size makes it difficult, if not outright impossible, to bring them down even with a pack of fifty. Not to mention the risk of getting stomped or squashed. 

Naturally, once word spread out that elephants had been killed by a predator, it sent a wave of panic throughout the Pride Lands.

Simba and Makuu—the latter out of curiosity—immediately rushed to the scene. Many different herds had gathered around the 'crime scene,' Ma Tembo's herd amongst them. Vultures and other scavengers were roaming around in the outskirts, impatiently waiting for the area to be cleared so they could move in.

Two elephant bulls lay on the ground, dead. However, there were no visible claw or teeth marks on the body. Only a small trail of long-dried blood trickled down from a hole in the sides of their heads and into a pool of dried blood on the ground. The most astonishing thing was that the carcasses were intact. The one thing missing was the bulls' inedible tusks, leaving behind the rest.

"They came out of nowhere when the bulls approached. They tried to fight them off while we escaped, but those creatures were fast. Then we heard it." Ma Tembo explained. She was shaking. "It was brief, but loud. By the time I came back to see what had happened, I found the bulls dead and the two legs removing their tusks.

"How did they look like?" Simba asked.

"That's the strange thing. At first, I thought the big creatures were the predators. But when I came back, there were smaller creatures around the bodies. They stood erect on their hind legs and had hands, like monkeys, but these ones had no tails.

Simba glanced at the two carcasses. "It's clear they weren't hunting to feed. They only took the tusks and left the rest."

While Simba spoke with Ma Tembo, the Lion guard examined the predator's trail. They were perhaps the strangest pawprints they'd ever seen. Some were tiny, similar to Rafiki's feet, but bigger and fingerless. The bigger pawprints looked like the trail of a slithering snake, but they were much wider and moved in straight lines.

"This guy's certainly heavy." Bunga pointed out as he stepped on one of the long trails.

"He might be heavy, but he looks pretty fast too. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to do these turns." Fuli added after examining the parts where the bigger creature had seemingly turned.

"Where do you think they came from?" Beshte asked.

Ono landed nearby. "Did you find its den?" Kion asked him. 

The egret shook his head. "The trail heads out of the Pride Lands, and I couldn't see anything farther. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Ono. At least now we know these animals are outsiders, just like my dad said."

Once Simba and Ma Tembo were done talking, they joined the rest of the herd leaders for an emergency discussion. Around them were whispers about the creatures who'd done this and who'd be next, as well as theories as to who could have done such a thing. A few suggested the hyenas, but the pawprints didn't match. The attack was far too well-coordinated, and there was no way hyenas could make such a tiny wound in such a high part of the elephants' bodies.

The Lion Guard approached the meeting once they were done with their inspection.

"Did you find anything?" Simba asked

"I think it's a symbiotic relationship between two different animals. That would explain why there are two types of pawprints." Kion explained.

"Yeah. The bigger one does the chasing, and the smaller one does..." Bunga, for lack of a proper word, simply pointed to the two carcasses. "Well, that."