Son of a Legend

Part 18: More Than One

"We're going to have to double the number of times we do daily patrol guys," Mkali tells his team. "We don't know when they're going to strike again, so we need to be on it." The guard nods their heads in agreement.

1 week later...
There have been 3 more mutilation. One was a zebra, one was a giraffe, and one was an African Buffalo. After finding all of this out, Mkali storms into the Lion Guard lair, takes the drink that he had left out earlier, and throws it against the wall, shattering the cup that the drink was in.
"DANG IT!! WHAT ARE WE DOING WRONG!?!?" He yells. His guard flinches behind him, at least everyone except Koda.
"Dude, calm down. We're all mad about this, but you don't see us throwing a fit." He says, trying to calm down his leader.
Vitani comes running in. Kopa, walking in, using his crutches to walk behind her.
"Are you alright, Mkali?" Vitani asks her son.
"There was another one. This one was a Buffalo." Mkali says, clenching his fist.
"Why in the Pridelands would a predator kill and steal the heads of five animals, all of which are different species?" Vitani asks.
"It all seems a little too convenient if you ask me." Kopa says.
"'Too convenient'? What does that mean?" Everyone else says at the same time.
"Am I the only one that thinks it's weird that you guys are always on the other side of the Pridelands when there is a mutilation? Am I the only one to notice that the mutilation started the day Mkali took back the position of the Lion Guard?" Kopa says, raising his voice a bit.
"Kopa, what are you trying to say?" Mkali asks.
"What I'm saying is that I have no choice but to believe that Mkali is in on this somehow." Kopa states.
Everyone gasps. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT KOPA!! THIS IS YOUR BROTHER'S SON THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!!" Vitani yells at him.
"I know you're mad. I'm mad at myself for even thinking this, and I know that if Kion was still here, he'd beat me so bad that I'd never walk again." Kopa responded, trying to sound apologetic.
Vitani growls, then she walks out of the lair, knowing that it's the only way she doesn't beat Kopa within an inch of his life.
"You should go, too. I think it's what's best for you after accusing our leader of being in on murders that he has been awake around the clock trying to prevent." Koda says sternly to his uncle that is 7 years older than him.
Kopa grunts, but he does leave the lair. "Are you alright, Mkali?" Koda asks his cousin, who seems to be in shock.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just give me a minute?" Mkali asks his team. They all nod. Mkali walks out of the Lion Guard lair. "Maybe Kopa is right. Maybe I am related to these murders somehow." Mkali says once he gets to a relatively solitary spot. He is hanging his head.
"Mkali, stop thinking such nonsense." A voice from behind him says. A voice very familiar to Mkali.
"Dad?" Mkali asks. He turns around and sees that his father is standing there, and he is translucent.
"In the flesh. Well, spirit, I guess." Kion says to his son.
"Dad!" Mkali exclaims. He runs towards his dad and hugs him. "I've missed you!"
"I've missed you too, Mkali." Kion says, hugging his son back. They stop hugging. "So, you really are taller than me now, huh?" He says, looking at his son. "What are you now, 6'5?"
"6'4," Mkali responds. 
"Alright, good for you, son. But I've only got a limited time down here, so I should probably get back on track here now. These murders and mutilation aren't your fault." Kion tells his son.
"But Kopa sai-," Mkali tries to say, but gets cut off by his father.
"Kopa has always tried to act like he knows more than he does. He wanted so badly to be better than me at something, but anything physical was out the window, so he tried to act smarter than me, even though he wasn't. Don't let him get into your head, Mkali. None of this is your fault, and you're doing as good of a job as you can. Just keep doing what you're doing." Kion tells his son.
"Thanks, dad. I'll do my best to find the killer and make you proud!" Mkali tells his father with rejuvenated hope.
"You make me proud every day, son. I love you, Mkali." Kion says as he slowly starts to fade away.
"I love you too, dad." Mkali says, sad to the spirit of his late father leave, but filled with hope after the words his father said to him. He goes to walk back to the Lion Guard lair, but he hears a twig snap behind him. He turns around and sees a wildebeest walking away from him. "Strange." Mkali thought to himself. He watches the wildebeest walk away, but he sees that the wildebeest is actually a lion with black fur and standing at about 5'7" and 155lbs, which is wearing a wildebeest head as a mask.
"Hey! You! Stop right there!" Mkali shouts. The lion in the wildebeest mask looks back at Mkali, then takes off running in the direction that it was walking. Mkali sprints after the killer, and since he has to keep up with Kasi on missions, it makes him way faster than the killer. Mkali catches up to the killer in a few seconds and tackles them from behind. Mkali takes their arms and pins their arms behind her back. He takes some vines out of his pants pocket and starts to tie the arms with them. The killer wiggles one of their arms loose and claws Mkali in the leg. Mkali groans in pain and lets go of the killer's arms.
The killer rolls Mkali off of them. Mkali stands up immediately and gets into a position to fight. The killer does the same. The killer charges at Mkali, but Mkali kicks the killer away and sends them flying through the air. The killer lands hard on the ground but gets up right away. They get up and charge at Mkali again, this time leading with the horns on the wildebeest mask. Mkali steps to the side, then kicks the killer in the side of the head. This sends the killer flying, but this also knocks the wildebeest mask off of the killer. The killer gets up, and Mkali can see that the killer is a lioness with orange eyes. She snarls at him, then reaches to grab the mask off of the ground, but Mkali tackles her again.
"Talk! What are your intentions!? Why are you doing this!?" Mkali demands. The lioness snarls. She tries to claw Mkali's head, but Mkali grabs her arm and pins it to the ground.
"TALK!!" Mkali yelled at her. He punched her in the throat. She starts coughing. "TALK!!" Mkali repeated. He punched her in the face, which resulted in a broken nose and blood gushing out of it. "TALK!!" Mkali repeated once again. Suddenly, two sets of claws stab stab Mkali in the back, one set in each kidney. The lion behind these claws lift Mkali up by these before the lion from behind him, then throws Mkali to the ground. Mkali was screaming in pain when the claws stabbed into his body. He hits the ground, then turns around and sees that there is not one lion, but four, each one wearing the mask of one of the animals killed in the past week. Each of the animals seemed to match the build of the animals that they wore the mask of. Wildebeest gets up and joins the rest of the killers in staring at the downed Mkali. Mkali gets up.
"Five killers. That makes a little more sense now." Mkali grunts. Mkali makes his scar glow. The group of killers charge at him. Under normal circumstances, Mkali might have been able to take them, but since he is injured, there was no chance that he could win this one. Mkali was constantly getting stabbed and clawed. They hound him for about 2 minutes before they leave him on the ground, bloody and broken. Mkali has multiple ribs broken and multiple stab marks and gash marks all over him. He is sitting in a pool of his own blood. The lioness who was wearing the wildebeest mask came up to Mkali and punched him in the throat.
"You want me to talk? Fine. How did that feel?" She said angrily. She walks over to her mask, then puts it back on. She walks back over to Mkali and stabs him in the stomach. Mkali cires out in pain. "By the way, my name is Hukumu." She growls at him.
"You guys... won't... get away... with this!" Mkali shouts at them as they walk away. Mkali feels light-headed. He knows that his consciousness is slipping away. "I'm... sorry..." Are the last words he can get off before he falls unconscious.
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There is part 18 in the books. I feel bad that I've only been able to upload on the weekends, guys, but this is only going to remain like this for 5-8 more weeks (depending on if my school football team makes the playoffs). Thank you guys so much for reading, I'll try to get two parts up tomorrow.