"The Humanimal Experience: Bustin' Free"

Rated: T

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A/N: Okay. I'm going to make things go somewhat downhill from this chapter! No more Mary Sue characters; though they will still have some sweet moments!

Special thanks to Blue Flamed Phoenix and Emiya for your constructive criticism! WOOHOO! If this chapter doesn't please, just know that the story WILL be getting a bit more complicated when new, evil characters come into play. I just as k you stay with me for the ride, and allow me to work my magic!

Okay, here we go!!

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Chapter Two

(Simba's P.O.V)

"Oh, wow! This is really good!" Serra hummed happily as she stuffed leftover s'more into her already full mouth.

Jeez, that girl could eat.

"We've got to hurry though," said Autumn, having found one of the camper's knapsacks and was stuffing it with food. Her face was pretty much one big bruise from her confrontation with the Immolator earlier, but she didn't let it slow her down.

That's Autumn for ya; never one to let common sense come into play.

"Uh, you know that's stealing, right?" I asked, leaning towards her, grinning that grin I knew irked her like nothing else. Autumn looked up at me, with a duh expression on her face.

"Yeah," she whispered, keeping an eye out for any campers that might suddenly spring awake. "To us, it's survival. We need food; they" She pointed to the campers. "can go back to whatever town they came from to get some more!"

I shook my head at her, pretending to disapprove. She just made a face and returned to collecting--no, wait, hording--more trash/survival/food into the sack.

Sniff grabbed at my sleeves. I turned to her.

"I think we're going to need more clothes," she said. Twitch, the ever pessimistic one, scowled.

"No," he mocked gasped. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

The words no sooner left his mouth, when his body gave a gigantic twitch.

About three years back, when he was nine, some labcoats experimented with Twitch's nerve system. Why? You're asking the wrong mutant.

However, something obviously didn't go as planned, so now Twitch constantly…well, twitched.

"Stop ruining the mood," I said to the white haired boy, and turned back to Sniff, who didn't appear at all fazed by Twitch's lack of…everything.

The boy needed to get out more. Twitch let out a massive sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. He glared at me, and then went to go stand over by Autumn, who had completely abandoned the trash bin and was opening the trailer door.

"Sniff, you're right--" I began, then stopped. I frowned. Whoa. Wait a second.

I blinked and looked back at Autumn's backside, which was disappearing into the trailer. Seeing my dislike of the current situation, Twitch grinned and followed Autumn.

"What is she doing?" I hissed. I swear, that girl was just born for trouble's sake.

"What is who doing?" Serra asked, looking up from her grub-fest. Her small face was caked into chocolate, marshmallow, and graham cracker crust. Her fingers were just as messy.

"Autumn's felt the need to get us killed." I grunted, making my way to the trailer.

"Again?" Serra and Sniff asked simultaneously. I nodded with a defeated sigh, and went to the trailer door.

"Autumn?" I whispered loudly. Through the shadows, I could see Autumn's long, lanky frame moving around. Twitch was sticking close to her like a second skin.

"I'll be out in second, sheesh." Was her reply.

"Fine. Serra, Sniff, Dash and I will wait--"

For the second time, I had to stop in mid-sentence. Where the heck was Dash? Serra reluctantly tapped my back, and pointed behind me. Slowly, I turned.

Dash was hovering over a sleeping camper with a stick in his hand, preparing to tickle the sleeping person's face.

Blood drained from my face. Without thinking, I flared my wings wide and ran at Dash. With a few feet separating us, I felt my feet leave the ground, and I was tackling the mischievous boy.

Dash's breath left his body with a heavy grunt. We collided with the ground a safe distance away from the campers. I got off of Dash, glaring down on him. I snatched the stick away and broke it in half. Dropping it, I rounded on him.

"Do you want to get us caught?" I asked angrily. Mostly out of fear. "We cannot jeopardize our freedom for measly games! If anyone discovers what we are, we'll be sent right back to that hell hole, comprende?"

With eyes wide and teary, Dash nodded quickly. He then seemed to go limp. Palming my face, I knelt down to him.

"I don't mean to be mean," I said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's just that…"

I looked back at the trailer, where Autumn was finally emerging with her arms full of clothes. Twitch's, Sniff's and Serra's arms were full, too.

I looked back to Dash. "We worked really hard to get free; we can't be careless anymore; it's us against the world. Literally."

Dash nodded. He said, "I didn't mean to. No, no, I really didn't. Won't happen again. Nope, never."

With a sappy smile, I ruffled his hair. "Better not," I said grinning.

"Nice happy moment, and I'm glad to be the one to ruin it, but we have to go," said a flat voice behind me. I turned and eyed Twitch, who was staring unemotionally back at us.

"Okay, we're coming." I said, straightening up. Dash was to his feet and bouncing lightly in anticipation as Autumn and the other three dumped the clothes in one big pile.

"Okay, this is weird, to be putting on someone else's clothes," Autumn said unnecessarily, "but this will have to do, for now."

I reached down and pulled up a large jersey with the number eleven on the back. The sides had been cut, so only the shoulders and waist band held the fabric together.

Perfect. Without a thought, I tore off my tattered tee, and pulled on the jersey. The fabric slid over my skin, warm and smooth. I could easily unfurl my wings, but if I chose to keep them furled, the jersey kept them out of sight.

I grabbed some gray sweatpants, and pulled them on over my trousers. The pants were very loose fitting on my body, but were soft and completely warm.

Serra and Sniff were grabbing at come clothes, and then ran behind the trailer, obviously to change. Twitch simply pulled a gray sweater over him, and pulled on some beige cargo pants, which went a few inches past his knees, over his shorts.

See? Guys weren't complicated. Of course, I had to tear some vertical lines in the back of Twitch's new sweaters for his wings, but he was no worse for the wear.

Dash already managed to put on a thick black turtle neck, and some black sweat pants.

Autumn, who couldn't care about privacy one way or another, put on an airy white blouse and pulled a pair of loose, faded blue jeans up her slim, lanky legs. Right over her shorts. She tied up her long hair into a ponytail high on her head; a few strands of hair escaped, curling around the edges of her face.

After a few moments, Serra and Sniff came back to join us. Serra was wearing blue jean khakis, and a slightly too large red silky shirt, and Sniff was wearing long beige pants and a long sleeved shirt that had some sort of cartoon character on it.

After a lot of ripping and tearing, our clothes were now modified to fit our needs.

"Okay, everyone ready to go?" Autumn asked, hoisting the bulky knapsack onto her back.

Without thinking, I walked over to her, and held out my hand. Autumn looked at me, confused.

"The sack," I said. "Let me carry it,"

With a raised eyebrow, Autumn shrugged and handed it over to me. After securing it, Autumn held up a map, which she must've snitched off inside the trailer.

"Well, first we'll have to locate a town; get some money…" Autumn began.

"And how do we do that, oh mighty leader?" Twitch demanded. Autumn was completely oblivious.

"We'll figure out a way," she said. "Then we have to track down our parents; give them a little talking to…"

Sniff frowned. "Do you hear that?" she asked, looking around.

"Hear what?" Serra asked. Dash's face was furrowed with concentration.

"Oh! I hear it! I hear it!" he exclaimed. After a moment, the rhythmic swooping sounds filled the air. After a minute, it got louder, and seemed to be joined with more.

Autumn's face paled.

"Copters!" she hissed, and all of us tensed with fear. The Prison was sending helicopters after us.

Great, not even out for twenty-four hours, and the evil losers were missing us.

"Already, folks! Time to hit the skies!" I said.

Serra, Sniff, Dash and Twitch were in the air, when I realized something. I turned to Autumn, who was preparing to take off. I grabbed her arm to still her.

She looked at me.

"You didn't eat anything!" I accused. Autumn gave me a huh? look. I clarified.

"You were too busy getting us stuff, you didn't get time to eat anything!"

The helicopters were close now; so close that the noises of their blades were starting to arouse some of the campers.

Autumn shook her head and scowled. "Doesn't matter!" she said urgently, looking back up at the sky. "We gotta leave now!"

"You're running on empty; you'll burn out!" I almost yelled as Autumn took a running leap and surged into the sky.

Darn it. That girl seriously needed to re-evaluate her priorities!

With nothing better to do than try to escape with my life, I ran and leaped into the air. For a moment, even know that the helicopters were coming up behind us, ( I could see them now) I couldn't help but smile at the feeling of weightlessness as I pumped my wings up and back down.

Ahead of me, the rest of the Pride were swooping and diving, trying to avoid the bullets being hurled…bullets?!

One helicopter swirled around in the air to face us. Autumn was a bit ahead of me, but the rest of the Pride were far ahead of both of us.

"Guys!" I screamed, trying to speed up. "PULL BACK!"

I managed to get next to Autumn. Looking at her, I knew I should have made her eat something. We hadn't even been in the air five minutes, and already I could tell her energy was giving out.

"C'mon, we can make it!" I said to her. Autumn looked over at me. Her eyes were glassy, but she nodded. A helicopter to our far right began to slide in, and one man near the open door began firing.

"Ahh!" I shouted in aggravation, a bullet whizzing a hair's breath away from my face.

Up ahead, Serra, Twitch and Sniff were pulling back. However, Dash was flying to and fro around one helicopter.

"Dash!" I yelled, adding even more speed. As I got nearer, Sniff, Twitch and Serra pulled up along side me. Autumn was behind us, obviously using up the last of her energy, but not showing any sign of slowing down.

There was suddenly a loud bang, and Dash was falling towards the earth, fast.

I dove down, with the Pride behind me. The helicopters; three in all, were coming down to follow us. I managed to catch Dash and surge back up into the air. Everyone but Autumn followed. I had already gained about a hundred feet before I heard Serra scream Autumn's name. I looked down to see Autumn desperately trying to gain more air, but her face was white as snow, and her wings were barely flapping.

Without a word, Sniff dove down this time, and grabbed her arm, slowly, but surely, pulling Autumn back up.

And that's when things took a turn for the worst.

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A/N: Ah ha! So, do you think you know what's going to happen next? Hey, since I tend to be a crowd pleaser, if there's anything you'd like to see happen to any of the characters…whumping, angst, love…just let me know. I might just make an acceptation.

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