“Phew, haha!” laughed Bunga, running off towards the nearby forest, “I sure hope he doesn’t catch up to me!” The Honey Badger was, of course, referring to his lion friend Kion, who was chasing after Bunga because of a little dispute involving, well, let’s just say it was some ‘serious business’. Bunga huffed and puffed before scurrying up a nearby tree. After arriving at the top, he scanned the plains for Kion, but the lion was nowhere to be seen. “Yes! Got away!” shouted Bunga victoriously. “And it’s only a little past lunchtime! I still have the whole day to have fu--” Bunga was cut off by an unfortunate realization. “Uh oh,” he said to himself, “I’m supposed to be babysitting that zebra right now!” Indeed, Bunga had told the herd that he would watch over young Hamu while they went to survey the land for predators. “I gotta get going!” While Bunga was running off to the forest, Kion was trying his best to follow his path, but eventually got a bit lost in the nearby tall grass. “Darn it!” said Kion, “he got away!” “Who got away?” asked a familiar childish voice to Kion. The lion cub looked over to see that it was Hamu, the zebra that Bunga was supposed to be looking after. “Oh, hey Hamu,” said Kion, “it was Bunga! He ran away after...uh…” Lucky for Kion, Hamu cut him off. “--Where is he?! He’s supposed to have been looking after me for the past hour! My whole herd is upset with me because I chose him as a babysitter!” explained Hamu. “I don’t know where he is! I want to find him just as bad as you do,” replied Kion. “He makes way too much trouble… I say we teach him a lesson.” “Yeah, that would show him!” said Hamu. “Wait a sec, why do want to get back at him? What did he do to you?” Kion was about to reluctantly explain, but saw a much larger Zebra moving over from one of the two herds that were nearby. “Oh no” Kion whispered to himself as he saw it was none other than Thurston. “Hello, Kion,” said Thurston, “I thought I heard your voice over here. Did you manage to finish your, *ahem*, ‘business’ behind that bush earlier?” Kion blushed as Hamu looked over to him. “Business? What’s he talking about, Kion?” the Zebra asked. Thurston immediately answered for the lion cub. “Well, young Hamu, earlier I happened to stumble upon this young lion defecating behind a bush, rather abundantly I might add.” “What’s deca-fating mean?” asked the little Zebra to Thurston. “Thurston, I don’t know if Hamu wants to hear--” Kion started, only to be cut off by the large Zebra. “It’s, well, how do the kids say it, ‘pooping’ I suppose,” answered Thurston. “You got caught pooping by Thurston?” said Hamu. “Hahah! Did anyone else see? “Oh, it wasn’t just me who knew about it,” said Thurston, “I found a different place to get a drink and overheard Bunga telling a couple of cute little lionesses about Kion’s bowel movement.” “Hahaha!” laughed Hamu, “Oh...I see, so that’s why you wanna get back at Bunga.” “Thurston, you didn’t have to tell the whole story to him…” complained Kion. “Oh, did you want me to tell him the whole story?” asked Thurston, too impatient to wait for an answer, “Kion was very startled when I caught him, and he, well, let’s just say his rear got rather filthy.” “Probably nowhere near as dirty as yours, Thurston!” Kion retaliated. “Oh, I beg to differ,” said Thurston, spinning around and flicking his tail up for Kion to see. The Zebra admittedly kept a clean tail hole, but Kion moved his paw in front of his eyes quickly before he was treated to a prolonged view. “Gross,” he said, “I did not need to see that today, Thurston.” The large Zebra was already trotting his way back to his herd, waiting with Hamu’s herd for Bunga to arrive as well. Bunga, meanwhile, was running frantically over to the zebra herds when he suddenly received an unmistakable call from his lower half. The honey badger stopped in his tracks and placed his paws on his rear. “Oh boy,” he said urgently, “not now.” He looked around his general vicinity for a place to go, but couldn’t find one in time and knew that the zebras would be even angrier if he kept them waiting much longer. “This is all Kion’s fault,” said Bunga to himself, “seeing other animals going makes me hafta--” his bowels shifted again. He knew he would only have the opportunity to go during or after babysitting Hamu, so he kept his paws over his tailhole and ran towards the herd until he arrived. Muhimu, the mother of Hamu, looked off into the distance to see Bunga running towards the zebras. “Finally!” she said as Bunga approached, “we’ve been waiting here for hours!” Kion and Hamu looked over to where Bunga had arrived and saw that his paws were on his rump and he was bouncing slightly back and forth. “Hey, Kion,” said Hamu, “why’s Bunga walking kinda funny?” “Weird,” said Kion, “the last time Bunga was walking like that, he had to--Wait! Bunga has to go! This is how we can get back at him!” “Really?” asked Hamu, “what’s your plan?” Hamu bent his neck down and allowed Kion to whisper into his ear. After Kion finished whispering, Hamu giggled loudly, “In front of every animal there? He’ll never be able to live that down.” “It’ll certainly teach him a lesson,” Kion said, seeing that Bunga was now waving the zebra herds goodbye. “I’m gonna go take my position. Remember to hold him off as long as you can, okay?” “Got it,” said Hamu, turning to wave to Bunga as Kion quietly snuck off. “Hey there, Bunga!” Hamu said to his friend. “Hey, hngh, Hamu,” replied Bunga, already struggling to hold in his load. “What took you so long, huh?” asked Hamu. “Oh, I just forgot I had to do this today. Sorry, Hamu,” said Bunga, who was trying to hide his desperation with a nervous smile. “Why are you jumping around like that, Bunga?” asked Hamu curiously as he slowly approached the honey badger, peeking around to where his hands were clutching his hind end. “Oh, no reason,” lied Bunga quickly, “just excited to get to play with you today!” “Well, if you say so,” replied Hamu. “Hey, you wanna play tag?” “I mean, not really--” “TAG! You’re it!” Hamu yelled, touching his hoof to Bunga and immediately running off. “Aw, man,” said Bunga, reluctantly chasing after him, paws still firmly placed on his backside in an attempt to keep his cheeks closed. The game of tag continued for what seemed like forever to the little honey badger, and he was beginning to struggle to hold his load in--on both ends. He wanted to take a break and go find a place to do his business, but that would involve either leaving Hamu alone or having him come along. If he left Hamu alone, the young zebra would be at risk of getting attacked. If Hamu came with Bunga, he might see or hear the honey badger in the middle of going. Bunga is generally extroverted, but when it comes to his bathroom habits, he gets awfully shy. Despite carrying his huge load, Bunga managed to eventually catch up to Hamu and tag his side. “Ha, gotcha!” Bunga shouted, immediately transferring his paws back to his rear. Hamu observed that Bunga was still doing his potty dance and smiled, knowing Kion’s plan was going smoothly. He decided he’d tease Bunga for a bit before initiating the next phase. “Alright, I think that’s enough running around for you, Bunga,” said Hamu, “now tell me, what’s got you acting so strange?” “What do you mean?” asked Bunga, feigning innocence, “I’m not acting strange…” “Then why are you bouncing back and forth on your paws like that?” asked Hamu, looking down to Bunga’s legs. “Umm…uhh...The ground’s hot!” Bunga said, hoping that Hamu wouldn’t question anything. “It’s burning my paws!” “Oh, well if it’s that hot outside, then we can just go to the watering hole to take a quick dip!” offered Hamu, knowing Bunga would have to accept, “C’mon! It’ll be fun!” Hamu ran off, prompting Bunga to follow closely behind in order to keep track of the little zebra. While it was a long walk (and an especially long one for Bunga), the two eventually made it to the watering hole. It was still jam packed with animals from all across the pridelands, and Hamu took no time before jumping in and splashing around in the water. Across the watering hole and atop a tall rock, Kion was waiting for Bunga’s arrival. Upon seeing that they had arrived and Hamu was already in the water, Kion went to work with his part of the plan. He stuck his paw into an abandoned beehive he found and began to slather honey all over the top portion of the rock. Satisfied with his job, Kion hopped into the water and swam over to Hamu. Bunga, paws still between his legs, was about to hop into the water to watch after Hamu, but then noticed that Kion was swimming over. “Kion?!” said Bunga, rearing up and readying himself to run away. “Woah woah, Bunga,” said Kion, “you don’t have to run away or anything.” Bunga stopped what he was doing and looked over to Kion. “Wait, really?” he said. “No hard feelings about earlier?” “No, it’s alright, pal,” said Kion with a little blush, “just hop in and join us!” Bunga was a little suspicious of Kion’s enthusiasm, but decided he was probably being just a bit too worried. He hopped in and did his best to wade his way over to Kion and Hamu, who were both making their way to the more shallow water on the opposite side of the water. The honey badger had a difficult time getting over to where Kion and Hamu were going given his current condition, but eventually made it over to where they decided to sit. “Ahhh,” sighed Kion,” isn’t it nice to sit in the water on a hot day and just let everything loose?” The lion cub looked over to Bunga, who was tensed up and fidgety. “Uh...yeah, haha!” said Bunga, nervously looking down, “...let loose.” He was most worried about accidentally letting a fart loose, as it would be very visible in the water behind him. The young badger felt some gas pushing at his tailhole for an escape, but kept it clenched as tight as he could so as not to give his situation away. If Kion found out he needed to drop a number two, he was certain his lion friend would find a way to embarrass him one way or another. “Yep,” said Hamu, looking over to Kion with a grin, “it’s so nice to just take a load off for once.” Bunga fidgeted a little under the water upon hearing Hamu say this, feeling the gas under his tail build up even more. ‘I’m the one who needs to take a load off here!’, Bunga thought to himself. Before he could reply to Hamu, Bunga felt another immense pressure at his rear. “No no no,” he whispered to himself, trying to hold his rump closed with his paws, but his efforts were futile, and before he knew it… *PRRRRRRT* *bubblebubblebubblepoppop* The honey badger froze completely, a static look of shock on his face. He looked over to Kion, who was holding his paw over his muzzle, giggling loudly. “Whew!” said Kion, reacting to the smell and looking at Bunga, “guess the fish are pretty gassy today, huh?” Bunga was astonished. Had Kion not noticed where the bubbles had actually come from? At this point, he would take the victory, but it was coming to be the time where he would need to excuse himself to find a place to poop, and he needed a good reason for leaving the water. He was trying to think of something so he could leave, but then his stomach began to growl more audibly. Kion heard Bunga’s stomach growling and knew that now was the time to set his plan into action. “Hey Bunga, kinda sounds like you’re hungry!” said Kion, looking a little bit more enthusiastic about what was to happen next. “uh...Yeah! That’s it! I’m just really hungry,” said Bunga, hoping Kion was still clueless about his current crisis. “Well, a little bit before you came here, I noticed that there was an abandoned beehive up in the tree behind those rocks over there,” said Kion, pointing his paw towards a group of tall rocks near the shore and a tree behind them. Bunga was beginning to get a bit suspicious of why his friend was being so helpful to him. He decided to smell for honey in the direction Kion pointed him in, and indeed, there did seem to be honey up in that tree. Bunga then realized that this was his chance to go over and do his business under the tree where he had privacy! “um...Yeah! I’ll go check it out! Thanks, Kion!” said Bunga, wading over to the shore where the rocks were. On his way out of the water, he let a few more bubbles slip out but did not care at this point, as he now was headed to a place to poop without anyone watching. “Now we just sit back and watch the magic happen,” said Kion to Hamu. The lion cub paddled over to the other side of the watering hole until he reached a group of elephants. “Hi, Kion!” said one of the mother elephants who knew the lion cub from when he had helped them on a past lion guard mission, “I heard you had some ‘potty trouble’ earlier today. Are you alright, dear?” Kion blushed deeply after hearing some of the younger elephants begin to giggle. “Uh, I’m alright now…” said Kion, obviously embarrassed, “who told you about that?” “Oh, just that big Zebra….oh, what’s his name?” asked the elephant. “Thurston?” replied Kion, sounding annoyed. “Yes! That was it! I think he wanted me to ask you if you still needed help cleaning up?” said the elephant. “Hey, I’m not even dirty!...anymore,” said Kion, still blushing. “Anyway, I think I’ve got something you might wanna see...involving Bunga.” “That little scamp?” said the elephant, seeming to share Kion’s current annoyance with the honey badger, “He wouldn’t stop jumping all over our backs the other day!” “Well, follow me if you wanna see him get what he deserves,” said Kion with a little grin on his muzzle. Kion led the elephants quietly over to where Hamu was, collecting some gazelles and some hippos along the way as well. Bunga meanwhile, was beginning to climb one of the tall rocks to make it appear as if he was going to retrieve honey from the tree, but once he would reach the top of the rock, he was going to jump down and find a nice place to make a number two. He could smell the honey Kion was talking about getting closer as he climbed further up the rock. With a few more steps, he had finally made it to the top! He bent his knees to prepare to jump down to the grass below, but something wasn’t right. He sprung up from his position over and over, but he was stuck and couldn’t hop down. Looking to his feet, he saw that the whole top of the rock he was standing on was covered in honey! Starting to become nervous, Bunga tried to think of ways he could get unstuck, but before he could come up with anything, *FLRRRBBBRRT* Bunga normally would’ve been fine with letting loose out in the open like that, but he began to hear something a little troubling coming from behind him: giggling. Slowly, he turned his head to be greeted by dozens of eyes watching him as he stood on top of the rock. “Hey, Bunga!” said Kion, looking up to the honey badger with a devious grin, “you find the honey you were looking for?” “Wha-?!” Bunga exclaimed, not completely sure what was happening or why there was a huge crowd of animals gathered down by the lion and the zebra. “What’s going on, Kion?!” “Oh, nothing,” shouted Kion up to Bunga with a sly smile, “just thought I’d gather everybody here for the big show!” Bunga hadn’t caught on yet to exactly what Kion was planning, but he was determined to find out. “What big show?!” Bunga yelled down. The effort it took to shout down to Kion triggered another fart to release. *PPFROOOOOFFFT* “That one!” shouted Kion with excitement. Bunga’s stomach sank straight through his body upon putting all the pieces together in his head. Why Kion was being so nice earlier, why he wasn’t asking him about the bathroom, why there weren’t any hard feelings for what had happened earlier that day. It all made sense. The honey badger was brought back into reality by the ceaseless giggling he was hearing down below and behind him. There he was, stuck to the top of the tallest rock in the watering hole, about to do his business in front of every animal there! He tried moving his paws again, but to no avail. There had to be something he could do; maybe if he talked to Kion… “Kion! Look, I’m really sorry about what happened earlier today…” Bunga offered, “could you maybe tell everyone to look away while I...you know…” “No way, Bunga! I’m giving you a taste of your own medicine!” said Kion, trying his best to avoid talking about what had happened earlier that day. At this point, Bunga would give anything to not do what he had to do at the moment, but at this point, he would just have to hope it’d be over quickly. He looked behind himself and down at his tail. It had been down and covering his bottom this whole time in an effort to hold his poop in, but at this point, he wouldn’t be able to hold it in any longer. “C’mon Bunga!” shouted Hamu, “I’ve seen sloths go faster! Lift your tail and get going already!” “B-b-but if I lift it, everyone will see my--” stuttered Bunga. “Well, that’s what you get for telling the girls about--” Kion stopped himself before he said anything else and blushed. “--nevermind,” said the lion cub nervously. The honey badger looked defeated and eventually complied. “Oh boy...Zuka Zama, I guess,” Bunga said to himself, squatting a little as he lifted his tail, noticing his motion was met with disgusted groans and giggles. The entire watering hole was now presented with the sight of Bunga’s stinky pink tailhole between his navy blue furry cheeks along with his balls dangling slightly between his legs. He clenched his claws and grunted as his first log was prefaced by a little poot. *PPFRT* The honey badger blushed and was about to look behind him, but caught himself before subjecting himself to seeing the dozens of eyes looking up at him. Choosing to close his eyes instead, Bunga grunted and pushed as his bladder let loose and his first log emerged from under his tail. His urine piddled against the rock and puddled a little where he was standing while his poop crackled and popped as it emerged and slithered out, but all Bunga could hear were the groans and chuckles from the elephants and the gazelles. The most audible laughs, however, came from Kion and Hamu as they watched their friend do his business in front of all the animals at the watering hole, including the ones who were just rolling in and swam over to see what all the fuss was about. The first log began to taper off before plopping on the sticky honey-covered rock beneath Bunga’s butt. Bunga caught his breath and gave a sigh of relief after pushing and lowered his tail, trying to hide the view of his now very dirty poop chute. His pee stream began to die down until he was just leaking droplets. “Aw, c’mon, that can’t be it!” said Kion, taunting his friend. Bunga ignored him, trying to focus on getting his business done quickly without exposing too much of himself. “Blech! That looked pretty messy,” said one of the elephant calves, snickering to his friends. “Yeah, haha,” said another, laughing along, “I wonder if his butthole’s all messy from it.” “BOYS!” scolded the elephants’ mother, glaring fiercely at them. Bunga felt his second log already beginning to exit, so he raised his tail again, feeling the cool breeze blow over the brown sludge that coated his tailhole. “Haha, I guess that answers that question,” said the elephant calf from earlier, pointing his trunk at Bunga, causing the audience to scoff and snicker more. While all of this was taking place, Ono was making his usual rounds of the pridelands before his eyes caught something peculiar at the watering hole. He used his keen eye to pick out Bunga on top of a tall rock. “Oh, he must be diving into the water,” Ono said to himself. Upon looking more closely, however, the bird saw that that wasn’t the case. “What the--is Bunga...pooping? In front of all those animals?” Confused, Ono looked down to see that Kion and Hamu where busy laughing their butts off. “Why’s Kion laughing at Bunga like that? More importantly, why is Bunga doing his business up there in front of everybody?” Ono looked back to Bunga to see that his paws were stuck to honey that had been slathered on the rock. “He’s stuck in honey? Wait a sec, I think I can help him. I remember Rafiki having some kind of substance that can get you unstuck from honey.” Ono flew off as fast as he could, determined to help his friend. Meanwhile, Bunga pushed hard again after squatting a bit lower and forced his second log out, hearing it crackle and make slimy noises as it tapered off like the first one and landed on top of it. Remaining in his squat, he ended up tinkling a tiny bit more before his third log spread his butthole wide and slithered out. Bunga had a little more trouble pushing this one out, but eventually managed it and listened as it plopped on top of the other ones. “Oh my goodness, he’s dropped so much already!” said one of the gazelles. “You don’t think he has any more, do you?” *PRFFTFRARRTT* “Heh heh, I think he might,” said Hamu, wearing the same grin Kion was. Bunga was certainly feeling the deep sting of his embarrassment now. His cheeks burned bright red as he spread his knees a bit more and pushed his final log out behind him. He grunted as it slowly slid its way out. It had about halfway emerged before something unexpected came flying at the honey badger. “Bunga, Bunga!” shouted Ono, carrying a wood cup filled with some kind of green paste in his talons. The shock of the bird flying towards him caused the honey badger to pinch off the log he was currently pushing out, much to the disgust and amusement of the audience watching. “Haha, that won’t be easy to clean up!” teased Kion, looking up a bit more closely to see that Ono had arrived. “Ono, what are you doing here?” Kion sounded a little angry after seeing the egret. Ono landed on Bunga’s shoulder, so as not to step in the honey below him. “Here, Bunga,” said Ono, handing Bunga the wood cup with green paste in it, “rub this under your paws to get unstuck.” Ono could see the pure embarrassment on Bunga’s face, looking as if he was about to cry. “Thanks, Ono, you’re a lifesaver,” said Bunga, quickly beginning to rub the paste under his paws. “Kion, do you have any idea how embarrassing this must’ve been for Bunga?!” yelled Ono at Kion. “Well it was only because he told Zuri and Tiifu that I was pooping behind a bush earlier,” exclaimed Kion, just realizing what he had told his whole audience. All of the animals broke up into laughter, save for a gazelle who approached Kion. “I was wondering who that pile in the bushes I stepped in earlier belonged to!” said the gazelle, moving around to Kion’s rear and slapping her hoof against it. “Hey!” shouted Kion to the gazelle, who seemed to be ignoring him now, “it wasn’t my fault! I didn’t get to take my potty break the night before!” The animals burst into laughter a second time upon hearing Kion’s other remark. The lion cub blushed again. “Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut,” he said to himself. “Whatever, I’m going to help Bunga,” said Ono, flying away behind the rock where he assumed Bunga jumped down to. Expecting to find Bunga sitting and looking defeated, Ono had to admit he was a little surprised to see Bunga still pushing out a log into the grass. It looked like it was the second half of a broken off one, and it slithered out of the honey badger’s hole without too much of an issue. “Uh...hey Bunga,” said Ono after seeing his log had plopped onto the ground. “Ono?” said Bunga, turning around and hiding his bottom, “how long were you--dah, who am I kidding? Everyone else already saw me making a number two up there,” said Bunga, sounding totally defeated and sniffling a couple times. “Don’t worry, Bunga, it wasn’t all that bad,” said Ono comfortingly, “at least everyone found out what happened to Kion too.” “Yeah, heh heh,” said Bunga, cheering up a little, “I guess they did. Kion can’t hide his after-mission potty breaks any more.” “So...you okay?” asked Ono, making sure before he took off. “Yeah, *sniffle*, it’s just...I’m still pretty dirty back there…” said Bunga, hoping Ono would catch on. “And…?” said Ono, looking at Bunga. “Maybe you could help me out with...cleaning up?” said Bunga nervously. “Ugh...fine, if it’ll make you feel better,” said Ono with annoyance in his voice. The little egret flew up into one of the trees and snatched a leaf, bringing it back down to the honey badger. “Alright, bend over and lift your tail.” Bunga did so, presenting Ono with what might’ve been the dirtiest butthole he’d ever seen. (Not that he’d seen many). “Gross! How’d you get so much poop back here?” asked Ono in disgust. “Sorry, heh heh, must’ve been all those bugs I ate. Some of them don’t exactly agree with me,” said Bunga with a sheepish grin. Ono held the leaf up with his talon and swiped it across the honey badger’s butthole, cleaning up a good bit of the mess left over. “Oh boy,” said Ono looking down at the leaf, “I’m gonna need a few more of these things.” Ono flew up into the trees and returned with three more leaves, cleaning Bunga’s butt with two of them before only having to clean a tiny bit more. He held the last leaf up to Bunga’s tailhole and rubbed it in to get a good clean. The issue with having sharp talons, however, is that they can easily push through thin things like leaves. *poke* *FFLRTPTPPP* “OW!” shouted Bunga, releasing a toot and jumping away, looking startled. “Yuck!” shouted Ono, fanning the smell away, “sorry, Bunga!” “It’s okay, you didn’t mean to,” said Bunga, rubbing his behind. “C’mon, let’s go back to pride rock,” said Ono, flying out of the trees and watching as Bunga followed. “We can talk the whole way about how you’re gonna get back at Kion.”