Son of a Legend

Part 19: Something Bigger

Mkali wakes up in the Lion Guard lair. He looks around and sees his mother, sister, the Lion Guard, and the royal  family all around him. Mkali tires to sit up, but it hurts, so he lays back down. He realizes that he is in his bed, with his shirt off. "How long was I out for?" Mkali says after remembering what happened with the killers.
"About 3 days." Vitani says, looking at her son with tears in her eyes.
Makini comes walking in. "With the amount of stab and gash wounds that you have, there's no way that there was just one animal that you fought." She tells him.
"That's because it wasn't just one. It was five. There's five killers. They were wearing the heads of the animals that they killed as masks." Everyone gasps. "I managed to find out the identity of one of them. The killer who wore the wildebeest head as a mask is a lioness with black fur and orange eyes. She stands at about 5'7", 155 lbs. She responds to the name Hukumu."
"I'll go gather the Pridelanders and tell them all to be on the lookout for this lioness. Do you remember what the other killers looked like?" Kovu asks.
"Well, the one in the giraffe mask 6'2" 180 lbs and has a similar fur color to Koda. The one in the zebra mask is 5'4" 140 lbs and has tan fur. The one in the antelope mask is 5'8" 165 lbs, and had blond fur. The one in the Buffalo mask was 5'7", 160 lbs, and they had grey fur." Mkali tells them all. Kovu nods, then he leaves the den, followed closely by his wife and daughters.
"So, what happened? You just found them and let them try to kill you or what?" Kopa spat out.
Mkali starts to laugh. "Since when are you my biggest hater, Kopa? Do you just feel the need to act like a jerk just to make yourself feel better about living in my father's shadow? Yeah, that's it, isn't it?"
Kopa starts to growl. "How dare you talk to me like that! I'm your elder!"
"By 6 years, bud. But what's the point in saying that you're older than someone if you're acting like a child." Mkali says.
Kopa snarls, and then he storms out of the lair.
"Koda, you're in charge of the guard until I get better. If you run into them, even if it's only one, the other 4 will be close by, so literally watch your back around them. That's how they got me, the element of suprise." Mkali tells his cousin. Koda nods.
"Alright, guys, let's go on patrol and try to find these guys." Koda says to the guard. They all nod and walk out of the lair. Now it is just Vitani, Laika, Simba, Nala, and Makini in the lair with Mkali.
"How long will it take him to heal?" Vitani asks Makini.
"It'll take at least 4 months for him to be cleared to go on regular patrol again. He has multiple broken ribs, and both kidneys were stabbed multiple times. His stomach was slashed open, and we can't risk any of his other gash or stab wounds getting infected." Makini says to everyone still in there. "He will have to be on bed arrest for a while. I just don't want to have him reopen his stomach or kidneys by walking around, so until the wounds close permanently, he will have to stay in bed."
Mkali sighs. "Well, I'm ready for the 4 most boring months of my life."
The older lions in the room laugh at this.

With the Lion Guard on patrol...
Koda and Kasi are leading Misuli and Kushona. Koda and Kasi are holding hands.
"So, when are we getting married?" Kasi asks jokingly.
"Well, I feel like we should wait until we're at least 18." Koda jokes back.
Kasi smiles at him. "Wait, do you really want to get married?"
"Well, sure! Why not? We've been together for 2 years, and -" She is cut off by a groan from Misuli behind her.
"Uhg! Can't you two get a room!?" She asks, mimicking Kasi's normal impatient demeanor.
Koda chuckles and shakes his head. "Give us a moment? You guys can go on ahead. We'll catch up." Misuli rolls her eyes, then her and Kushona go on their normal patrol route.
Kasi puts her hands in Koda's. "Where were we?" Koda asks her.
"I was about to tell you I love you." Kasi said with stars in her eyes.
"You what?" Koda asks, 99% sure that he had misheard her.
"I love you," Kasi repeats.
"O-oh," Koda says. He is in shock.
"Do you love me?" Kasi asks, just a twinge of worry in her voice. "Koda?"
"Yeah! Yes! Of course I do! And I want to spend the rest of my life with you," He gets down on one knee, Kasi's hands still in his. "Will you marry me, Kasi?"
"Of course I will!" Kasi says. She has the biggest smile on her face. Koda stands up and pulls Kasi into a kiss. Kushona comes running up to them.
"Not to interrupt this or anything, but there's a huge fire just over the hill!" Kushona exclaims. Kasi and Koda separate immediately.
"Lead the way, Kushona!" Koda responds. Kushona leads them back to where Misuli was. Before them was a huge grass fire.
"Too bad Mkali's hurt! He could roar up a rainstorm and have this fire out in no time!" Kasi said.
"You guys already evacuated all of the animals from the area?" Koda asks Kushona and Misuli. They nod their heads. Koda is about to give the next order, but he hears something moving in the grass. He looks and sees 5 animal heads in the grass. An antelope, a wildebeest, a zebra, a giraffe, and a buffalo. All of the bodies connected to these heads were lions, all of whom matched Mkali's descriptions. "Guys! 10 o'clock!" He says. They all look to see the 5 killers in the grass. "Remember what Mkali said! Watch your back!" Koda yelled at them. They all nod. The killers charge at them. The guard gets into their fighting stance. The killers charge at them, but then they stop and run towards the fire. "Follow them!" Koda says as he takes off running after the killers. The killers all split up, but he decided to chase after Hukumu, the killer that the guard had the biggest lead on. Hukumu leads Koda into a ring of fire, but when Koda steps into it, Hukumu is nowhere to be seen. Koda turns around to go out the way he came from, but there is a wall of fire blocking his way.
"Well, this seems a little familiar, doesn't it?" He hears a lioness talk to him.
"What do you mean!?" Koda demands.
"The leader of the Lion Guard dying in a fire." She tells him.
"How do you know about Kion's death!?" Koda demands.
"Isn't it obvious? We're the ones who set Priderock on fire." Hukumu tells Koda. Koda starts coughing. He knows that he has to get out of there. Otherwise, he will end up like Kion.
"KODA!!" He hears Kasi yell. He then remembers that he and Kasi got engaged just 5 minutes earlier. Koda starts looking around, and he sees the silhouette of a lion with a wildebeest head on the other side of the flames.
"Not today, Hukumu!" He yells. He charges at Hukumu, runs through the fire, ignoring the pain of the fire against his skin, and he tackles Hukumu. He picks her up and slams her against the ground. This knocks the air out of Hukumu. Koda turns Hukumu over and ties her arms behind her back with some vines. He pulls her up, rips the mask off of her, and throws the mask in the fire. He marches her back towards the group.
"I got one." Koda coughs. "She also told me that this is the group that killed Kion."
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Part 19 is in the books for you guys. I'm just going to tell you guys to be ready for a huge plot twist coming up in this next part of the story. If you guys have any ideas on how to make the story better, whether it be writing styles or ideas for the plot, don't hesitate to let me know, because I'd love to hear you lr ideas. I will do my best to get another part up today. If I don't get another one up today, it will go up tomorrow. Thank you guys so much for reading, and have a good one!