Zuka Zama Part II: The Scourge of Kopa | The Lion Guard

35. A Jackal's Plea

Kopa was studying his younger brother, who stood still in his trance. Kion's fur was very similar to thier father's. Even down to the mane. Every time he looked the other lion in the eyes, despite the green glow in them, he felt a strange feeling wash over him. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew exactly what those feelings were. It were a kind of longing he wish he didn't have.

He found himself beginning to have thoughts that bothered him. One that particularly gnawed at him was the idea of growing up alongside Kion. Even though he knows nothing about him he couldn't help but ask himself what if things were different?

The idea of himself having a little brother in Kion and even sister in Kiara gave him a light feeling in his chest. Though he had resent for the two of them, he also had some kind of desire to know them. Even the fact that Kiara not knowing who he was actually hurt him. But it's all too late for that now. He growled to himself, why was he having these kind of thoughts now? What good are they? 

"Urg! Changa!", an annoying voice made him roll his eyes. "You wanna take care of that?", he asked Changamoto. He knew soon the jackal would come to, but he didn't know that would come with five straight minutes of yelling the hyena's name, only adding to his frustrations. 

"Alright...", Changa sighed, not wanting to deal with Kupotea either. He was currently bound by his paws, as she trudged towards him she wished she had enough vine to tie his muzzle shut. 

"Changa!", Kupo called once again. 

"What do you want?", the hyena asked coldly. 

"I want you to untie me!", the jackal said as if it was a question she should already know the answer to. 

"Not doing that...", she sat down next to Kupo as he continued to squirm in his bindings. 

"Come on, Changa. You gotta help me out. Is this really what you want? A full scale war that was all your doing? All that blood on your paws?", Kupo said, trying to get through to the hyena. It only resulted in her turning away from him entirely. 

Kopa took a deep breath to clear his mind and turned to Kion. "Come", he beckoned the golden lion. Kion, having no will of his own, did exactly what he was told and stepped forward until he was right next to Kopa. 

"If they won't listen, they we'll show them", Kopa took a deep breath and gave Kion a nod. With the mark on his shoulder and the power he felt coursing through his veins, in an instant he somehow knew exactly what to do. Linked by the mystic power of the Roar once Kopa started Kion was alongside him. Both lions roared to the sky, causing the clouds above the quickly grow dark and began to rumble. There was a blinding flash in the clouds followed by a deafening crack. Kopa and Kion stopped and watched as the clouds overhead began to grow denser and spread further across the sky. Kopa grinned to himself, seeing that he could indeed bend the power to his will. 

Despite the quick shift in the weather above them, the fighting between the Pride and Outlanders continued. 

Vitani lifted her self up from the ground and snarled to herself. "Don't you have anything better to do?!", she yelled at Nala. 

"No, we don't!", Kiara called, coming in alongside the Lion Guard. 

"Great, just great!", Vitani was at just about her wits end. How many more of these Pride Landers would they have to fight? They just kept coming out of nowhere. And she had no idea where Nuka was. It was just her and Zira taking on the whole of the best of the Pride Lands. Vitani began to question the point of any of this. 

"Go on ahead, we can chase them off!", Kiara called to Simba. He nodded and broke away from the fight. Zira tried to go after him and was cut off by Fuli. 

Simba ran off towards the hill that Kopa and Kion stood upon, determined to finally put a stop to this. 

"What are you even doing this for?", Kupo asked Changa, who was still acting aloof.  "Did you even think something like this through? What are you gonna do when this is all over? You're just gonna live happily ever after?"

Changa scoffed at his words, trying to ignore what he was saying. But now a seed of doubt was planted in her mind. 

"You're just gonna banish all the Pridelanders? All the lions and the Guard? What about everyone else? All the zebras, all the elephants, rhinos and hippos? What are you gonna do about them?", Kupo continued. 

"Kopa will know what to do", the hyena answeredon a whim. 

"Will he? Face it! Neither one of you know what you're doing! Even if you banish all who don't agree with you someone's gonna rise up eventually and all this is gonna happen again!", the jackal continued.  

"We know what we're doing!", Changa growled. 

"No, you don't. Especially Kopa! Does he even know what he's actually doing?", Kopa brought up. 

"Of course he does. He has the Roar now, no one will dare challenge us", Changa countered. 

"Are you sure he can even use it right? What if Kion gets it back? What if it goes away one day? What will you do then?", Kupo asked, to which Changa had no answer to. 

"Open your eyes, Changa! This isn't gonna bring the change you want. All it's gonna do is bring more problems. Kopa has no idea what he is doing. Think about it! Infiltrating the Outlands? That was you. Rallying the hyenas? That was you! Bring the Outland lions, jackals, vultures, and hyenas together? That was all you! And now Kopa is standing high and mighty on that hill. Changamoto, he's using you!", Kupotea argued. 

"Shut up!!", Changa snarled, turning to Kupo and pouncing on him. She attempted to claw at him, but all she managed to do was accidentally free the clever jackal. He jumped free and left her to gasp in shock at what she had done. 

"Changa, we can stop this. Together", Kupo offered. 

"No. Kopa and I are gonna free everyone! I'm not letting you ruin all our work!", Changa growled, throwing herself at him. 

Kupo jumped to the side and sighed. "Then I'm sorry, Changa..", the hyena turned around only to be met with a strong kick from the jackal's hind legs. 

She was flew of her feet and gave a cry as she tumbled down the hill. Kupo watched in guilt as she continued rolling towards a pile of rocks and boulders of different kinds that tumbled down the rocky hill over the years.  She continued to tumble until she ran into the smaller, looser rocks that littered the top of the pile. Changa yelped as a stab of pain coursed through her shoulder. 

Kupo felt bad about what he had done, but it had to be done. He needed to put a stop to this before it became to big of even Kopa to stop. He turned away from the edge of the hill and prepared to face Kopa.