The Lion Guard: The Northern Crocodile

Chapter 11

Back with Makuu... 

"Ow!"

Makuu burst wide awake when he felt something clamp hard onto his tail and thrashed about in the water until he hit something. It was Masika, reeling back from the blow Makuu made with his tail. A few seconds later, Zaire emerged from the water with a soaking wet and very much wide awake Talib gasping for air.

"Masika, what the hell were you doing?" Makuu snapped.

"Okay, I definitely deserved that tail smash to the head, but at least it worked," Masika said, her attention clearly not on Makuu.

"What worked?" Talib asked as he coughed up some water.

The sodden bird pushed himself up until he was in a crouching position on Zaire's snout. Talib ruffled his feathers, scattering water droplets everywhere.

"I wanted to see what Makuu's reaction would be like if I woke him up the same way I usually do with Zaire, and he did," Masika explained.

"You did what?!" Talib exclaimed. "Masika, how many times have I told you to not wake other crocodiles up using that method? One of these days someone will break your jaw, or worse. You could have gotten really hurt, and not only that, but you nearly killed me this time around! Now my feathers are all wet, which means I won't be able to fly for who knows how long. Do you know how long it takes for my feathers to dry when they get this wet?"

"Whoa, jeez! Calm down, Talib. I didn't mean to nearly kill you. I just wanted to have some fun. Just be glad that Zaire was around to save you, or else you probably wouldn't be here yelling at me right now."

"Wait, what? Zaire saved me?"

Talib looked down and finally realized who he was standing on.

"Oh. Hi, Zaire. Didn't notice you. Um...thanks for saving me from your sister's stupid decision."

"No problem, Talib. It was no big deal," Zaire dismissed with a growl.

"What?" Makuu asked, sensing the brother's unhappiness.

"Come on, bro. Admit it," Masika prompted in a teasing tone.

"Admit what?" Talib asked, before his eyes became alight with realization. "The two of you made a bet on whether or not I would thank Zaire for saving my life. You nearly killed me and got yourself smashed in the head, just to win a bet?! I know I should be surprised, but considering it's the two of you, I'm not."

"That is correct. Now Zaire has to pay up."

"What does he have to do this time?"

"There's a rotten smelling swamp not that far away from here, and we both agreed that the loser would have to spend the entire day in that swamp," Zaire explained unenthusiastically.

"Alright, fine, whatever, but could you two just do me a huge favor and try to stay out of trouble in the future?" Talib pleaded as he fluttered off of Zaire and onto Makuu.

"Great! Thanks, Talib! Come on, Zaire! Let's go!"

Masika swam off with a big smile on her face and an unhappy brother tailing her.

"And Zaire, make sure you clean off any swamp smell before you come back!" Talib yelled.

"No arguments there," Zaire responded.

Soon, Masika and Zaire were out of sight, and both Makuu and Talib hoped, but weren't positive, that the siblings would stay out of trouble.

"Well, that was certainly an eventful start to the day," Talib spoke, then fluttered onto Makuu's back before turning most of his attention to preening his feathers. "I should have known that Masika was eventually going to do that. How's your tail?"