Son of a Legend

Part 1: Back to the Pridelands

"Can you tell me how you got all of your scars now, dad?" Mkali asks his father.
"Alright, fine, son. You are old enough now, I guess." Kion tells his son. Kion points to his ear. "When I was 12, I was supposed to meet up with your mother when her adopted mother, Zira, came out of nowhere and tried to kill me. With the exception of her tearing a chunk of my ear off."
Mkali nods. "Alright. And your chest?"
"I was protecting your uncle Kopa from that same lioness, and she landed a super lucky shot." Kion explains.
"And your face?" Mkali requests.
"What about it?" Kion asks in response.
"The three dark marks on your right cheek." Mkali responds.
"Oh, that was an accident, is all." Kion says, obviously not wanting to talk about that.
"You boys ready to go?" Vitani asks from another room in their cave in the Backlands.
Mkali turns around to answer his mom. "Yeah, we have been for -" he falls off after seeing that his sister is way over dressed for the occasion. "Laika, what are you wearing!?"
"Mkali, you know that I always dress to impress." Laika responds (she shortened her name like how Kion shortened his from Kiongozi).
"Yeah, but this is Asha's birthday party, not Kupatana." Mkali responds.
Kion pats his son on his back. "It's alright, son. Just let her do her." Mkali laughs and shakes his head. "Alright, whatever. We going then?" Mkali asks his parents.
"Yeah, let's go." Vitani tells her son. After about 3 hours, they all arrive at Priderock.
"There's my grandkids!" Simba says once he sees that everyone in Kion's family arrives.
"Hey, Grandpa Simba! Grandma Nala!" Mkali greets them as he hugs them.
"There's the Backlands' most eligible bachelor!" Says a now 19 year old Kopa. Mkali turns around and smiles at his uncle.
"Come on, Kopa! You know I'm only 14." He responds as he dabs his uncle up.
"You ready for your rematch against Koda?" Kopa asks.
Mkali scoffs. "How does he still think that he can beat me? We've fought like 30 times, and every time, I beat him faster."
"Mkali! I challenge you to a fight!" Says a cub from deeper in the cave that looks like Kovu with Kiara's head and eyes and was 13.
"Seriously, man? You can't go obe family gathering without doing this?" Mkali asks his cousin.
"I'm going to beat you today! My father taught me some advanced techniques, so I am going to beat you today!" Koda says.
Mkali shakes his head and laughs. "Yo! Uncle Kovu! You want me to take it easy on him?" Mkali yells across the cave.
"I don't think you'll have to this time, bud." Kovu responds.
Mkali laughs again. "At least let me go say hi to your sisters." Mkali requests.
"Fine! But be quick!" Koda demands.
"Oh, yes, your highness." Mkali bows teasingly, then goes to see the King, queen, future queen, and birthday girl.
"There's my favorite nephew!" Kiara exclaims. Mkali hugs her.
"Kovu." Mkali nods at Kovu.
Kovu returns the nod. "Mkali."
"What, you just weren't going to say hi to the future queen?" A cub the same age as Koda, who looks like a girl version of Simba asked.
"Hey, Leah." Mkali responds. The two hug each other. Mkali turns and gives Asha her card. She is a 6 year old cub who has a fur color somewhere between Kovu and Kiara's and has Kovu's green eyes.
"Happy birthday, Asha!" Mkali says. She takes the card and cowers behind her mother.
"Don't take it personally Mkali, she's scared of anyone who can beat Koda or Kovu in a fight." Kiara explains.
"Oh, that's why she's scared of dad." Mkali jokes.
"Hey, C'mon man." Kovu says to Mkali, smiling.
Mkali shrugs. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to go beat up your son." He says to the King and queen.
"I don't know, Mkali. Koda has done really well in his training sessions with dad." Leah tells her cousin.
Mkali shrugs, "Let's go ahead and head to the old Lion Guard lair, I guess." Mkali leads the Royal family to the Lion Guard lair. He walks in and sees that his father's old Lion Guard is in there, plus Vitani and Kopa.
"Oh, the royal family is here!" Bunga points out.
"Another rematch?" Vitani asks. Mkali and Koda nod.
"Figured that was going to happen." Kion says. "Are you good, reffing, Kopa?" Kopa nods. "And the normal 5 rounder?" Kion asks his son and nephew. They both nod again.
"Bunga, Fuli, Ono. You guys wanna judge?" The honey badger, cheetah, and Egret nod. Kion grabs two pairs of gloves from the equipment room and tosses one to Kovu, then puts the other on his son's hands, Kovu does the same. The cousins then touch gloves, and then they start the fight. Mkali immediately notices that Koda is fighting more disciplined and smarter. But that doesn't change the fact that Mkali was born with Kion's defensive maneuvers and fight IQ and Vitani's striking and killer instinct. But Koda landed more punches, so he won the first round. The second round went to the ground, and Mkali won the round. It would have been the fight, but Koda had a very impressive submission defense. Rounds 3 and 4 stayed on the feet, and Mkali won these two because he made Koda miss almost every punch. He also bloodied up his cousin pretty well. Round 5, Mkali took Koda down and tapped him out with an arm bar. He then gets up and helps his cousin up. "Good fight, man. You've gotten way better since last time."
"Thanks, man. I should've known better than to think I could beat the son of Kion and Vitani in a fight." Koda responds.
"Hey, don't get on yourself. You've earned my respect." They hug.
A few hours later, Mkali is hanging out with Koda and some of his friends, a lioness named Kasi, a lioness named Misuli, and a lion named Kushona.
"Yeah, he made it to the 5th round this time." Mkali tells them.
"I bet you couldn't beat me in a fight!" Misuli says.
"I bet I could, too!" Kasi says.
"Yeah, I'm not trying to find out though. My dad said that the only reason you should fight is to protect people."
"But you fought Koda." Kushona said.
"I had to protect him from his ego." Mkali jokes. Everyone laughs.
"You guys wanna go to the South border?" Koda asks. Everyone except Mkali is in.
"I don't know about this. As far back as I can remember, my dad has told me that I can't go to the South border." He explains.
"Oh, look at this! Son of the two fiercest lions that have ever lived in the Pridelands is scared!" Koda jokes.
Mkali hesitates. "Fine! Let's go."
The group wanders to the South border, but just as Mkali fears, there is trouble awaiting them.
"Oh look at this! It's prince Koda and his friends!" Says a hyena.
"Back off hyena!" Mkali says.
"Who are you to talk to me, the mighty Uovu!?" The hyena says.
"Oh, you know. I'm only the son of Vitani and Kion." They hyenas behind Uovu flinch and back up a little bit.
"Oh! We get to kill the son of a king, and the son of a Legend!" Uovu says.
"No one's dying, come on guys. Let's go." Mkali says trying to walk away. Uovu runs at Mkali, but Mkali senses it and he turns around and kicks Uovu away.
"Alright, you guys had your chance to leave unscathed!" Mkali yells. There is a fight between the lions and hyenas. The lions all get backed into a corner, Mkali in front of everyone else.
"Nowhere to run cubs!" Uovu says.
"Back off! Or I'll -" Mkali tried to say but got cut off.
"You'll do what? Tell your dad?" Uovu teases. Mkali clenched his fists, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and unleashed a powerful roar. One that is so powerful that only one other living lion had used it before, and that was Kion.
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There you have it. Mkali's time has come and it is time for him to follow in his father's footsteps. Will Mkali become leader of the Lion Guard? And will he be able to live up to the precedent set by Kion? Find out in the next part.