The Lion Guard: The Northern Crocodile

Chapter 29

"Tuma, get off me!" Kiburi attempted to say, but couldn't.

"Come again?" Tuma asked, lowering his head closer to Kiburi's.

To get his point across, Kiburi lifted one of his claws and pointed it at the foot that Tuma had placed on his snout. Tuma looked at where Kiburi was pointing, realization lighting up in his eyes as he removed his foot from the other's snout.

"Oh, sorry. Forgot about that. Now, what were you saying?"

"I said to get off me!"

"As much as I would love to, Kiburi, I can't. Nkiru will have my head if I don't follow her orders."

"Then why aren't you trying to kill me right now?"

"Because I don't want to kill you! I know that if I do, Zula would be devastated. I don't want to betray her."

"Are you really that close to her?"

"Zula's like a sister to me. I would do almost anything for her."

"Interesting. So, if you're not going to kill me, then what are you going to do?"

"The only thing I can do: make it look like a real fight without actually killing you."

"Well, it's a good thing that you told me all this, or else I would have tried to kill you myself."

Wasting no time at all, Kiburi thrust Tuma off his back and the two crocodiles went back to fighting. They became a tussling bundle of teeth, claws, and scales, with Tuma getting the upper claw, again. Kiburi was pinned down on his back, but before he could throw the other crocodile off, someone else beat him to it. The stranger sent Tuma flying into some bushes further away.

"You okay, Kiburi?" A familiar voice asked.

As he was rolling back onto his stomach, Kiburi had to do a double take when he realized who had just knocked Tuma off him.

"Beshte?!" Kiburi gasped, surprised to see the hippo. "What are you doing here?"

"We came here to save you and Makuu. It's a good thing that Talib found out where you guys were, or else who knows what would have happened. We've been looking all over the place for you guys...or, at least, we've been looking all over for Makuu. Uh, no offense?"

"None taken, at the moment. The rest of the guard here?"

"Of course! Masika's also here, and I'm sure glad that she is. You do know who Masika is, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah. I do."

Kiburi turned his attention to the battle, which was now more evened out with the lion guard and Masika participating in the fighting. As far as Kiburi could tell, everyone was evenly matched: the Valley crocodiles rivaled Kion's fierceness, Bunga's braveness, Beshte's strength, Fuli's speed, and Ono's keen-sight. Masika may be much slower as compared to the other crocodiles, but she was just as skilled a fighter as they were, and even more powerful. In the midst of it, Makuu was still facing off with Nkiru. Out of the corner of his eye, Kiburi spotted the twins being cornered near the rock pile by a few Valley crocodiles.

"Beshte, mind doing me a favor?" Kiburi asked.

"Uh...sure," Beshte replied hesitantly. "What do you need?"

"See those two dwarf crocodiles over there? Think you can help them out? They're friends."

"Of course, Kiburi! No problem!"

When Beshte left, Kiburi got back on his feet and began searching for Tuma, scouring the underbrush for the Valley crocodile.

"Tuma? Come on, Tuma, you can't possibly be that far away."