After a nice little hunt, Kion, Kiara, and Kovu were about to head home together when in the brushes that bordered the Pride Lands with the jungles in the east, Kion saw the gigantic figure again. He thought that it was the same figure as before, but it looked a little different than the one encountered at the secret hot spring.
This thing looked more like a hippo than the other ones for hippos don't have horns. "What is it, Kion?" Kovu asked.
"Someone's watching us, but... I can't see clearly." He narrowed his eyes at the figure hiding in the brush, and suddenly; the thing charged forward like a runaway boulder in a rockslide, and it was moving fast. It was Draak!
"Look out!" Kiara shouted. She dodged out of the way and so did Kovu and Kion.
"Surprise!" Draak sang. "Miss me?"
"Wait, if you're here, than that means,"
"That's right, kiddo." said a female voice. Mpishi swooped down on Kion missed as the Lion cub jumped out of the way.
Makucha sprang down from a tree, Harif came up from the ground after digging a hole, and Tuma appeared from behind Draak, all of them looking ready to attack and kill Kion once again. "Miss us, Kion?" said Harif
Kion, Kiara, and Kovu held their ground and began growling and snarling at the Lion's Bane. "What do you want from us?!" Kiara demandingly asked.
"Isn't it obvious, princess?" asked Makucha. "Your brothers head on a silver platter."
"Get out of the way, or you can die with him!" Tuma warned.
Kovu snarled again and he said: "stay away from him! The only way you can attack my brother-in-law, is over my dead body!"
"And mine!" Kiara added. "Just try and take him from us! I will never let you hurt my brother!"
"I repeat, we would rather die!" Kovu said.
The enemy group growled and Harif snarled: "Fine! Then you can both die with him! ATTACK!" In a flash, the Lion's Bane tried to make a move for Kion, swiping him with claws, or Draak trying to chomp him with his gigantic, scary mouth.
When it comes to hippo teeth and mouths, they would be a little terrifying to look at because of their large, sharp canines. They would be even terrifying to look at even in a mere picture. Despite that, Kion had to stand his ground too.
Kovu managed fo bite down on Makucha's back, making him howl in pain, for ye was trying to bite down on his spine, but he was punched in the right side of his body by Tuma and his powerful fists making him tumble over.
Mpishi tried clawing Kiara's eyes out, but Kiara was clawing at her every time the harrier hawk was tru9ng to her close. Ultimately, she swiped at her face with her right paw, knocking her to the ground. Harif stopped the future queen before she could finish Mpishi off and bit her neck to try and suffocate her.
Despite putting up a good fight, a honey badger's teeth was clearly no match for a lion's canines. For that, Kiara managed to bite on Harif's nostril, and it made him howl in pain, and the lioness threw him at Tuma, who was trying to finish off Kovu by breaking his back.
Harif landed on the gorilla's face, and It threw him off-balance. "Gah! You idiot!" said Tuma angrily. "What you do that for?!"
"Hey! Kiara threw me, so it's not my fault!"
While having a pretty argument, Kovu attacked Tuma from behind and bit the gorilla's back, and he was biting on it hard. Tuma was trying so hard to pry the future king off of him, but Kocu was persistent and tried hitting him against the ground.
Kion attacked Makucha and clawed at his face before the leopard can kill and eat him. Blood was scoring down the leopard's face and he growled, feeling madder than ever. Despite all the injuries the three lions were inflicting on their enemies, they were outnumbered and Kiara felt her back pounded by Tuma, she it hurt a lot, making her fall flat on her belly
"Kiara!" Kovu and Kion shouted.
Before they knew it, the future king was knocked out by a charged from Draak, and Kion was tackled by Makucha. "No mercy this time!" said the leopard, sounding more than ready to kill the lion cub.
He was trying ro bite his throat down with his teeth, and Kion was struggling but to no avail. "No!" Kiara ahd Kovu shouted
Before Makucha could finish the job, there was a big rumbling and he, along with his cohorts, looked over to the left and saw a very gigantic animal that looked a little bit like a rhinoceros because of his gigantic, four-foot long horn on his nose. However, this creature was bigger and he had pale green skin as his color and it was a thick, armory hide, and he had a long tail like a lizard's tail about a few feet long.
He had big, black eyes and he was charging fast like a rhino. Though he resembled one, he was bigger than a rhino, but still smaller than a bull elephant. The group didn't know what to say, and didn't move, for they were too shocked to move a muscle. Draak, being a large hippo as he was, tried charging at him with his gigantic wide-open mouth
Despite charging at this unknown beast, the creature managed to push him back with his horn, knocking him over without ease.
"Get the heck out of here!" the creature shouted at the Lion's bane. Tuma, who tried to be brave went up to this beast and tried punching him in the face with his beefy hands, but to no avail. This thing easily threw the gorilla off like an ant crawling on a baboon's leg.
The aggressive gorilla was thrown off like a ragdoll in midair and he landed on Draak, both of them looking battered and bruised. "It's a monster!" Mpishi shouted in panic.
"Gah! Let's get out of here!" Makucha added.
"Retreat!" Harif shouted. Just like that; the Lion's Bane retreated to the Outlands and they never looked so scared in their lives, mostly because of this creature's horn on his nose. Kion, Kiara, and Kovu looked at this creature, who looked at the enemy group sternly. "Stay away from here!" he shouted. It was a rather low voice, something that sounded tough and intimidating, and he even huffed from his nostrils to show how fierce he was.
Poor Kion, Kiara, and Kovu looked mildly scrapped and one or two wounds were showing on their bodies from all the fierce and bloody fighting. Despite the scratches, no bones were broken and they can still walk, despite being a little sore.
This creature walked up to the three lions and he asked: "are you alright?"
"Yeah." Kovu replied. "Thanks to you. Ah! Tuma really had a number on me. Still I probably clawed at his back good."
"Yeah, thanks for saving us from those baddies." said Kion. "We would have been killed if not for you rescuing us. Who are you?"
"I am Adewale." said the creature.
"What are you, a rhino?" asked Kiara.
"No." said Adewale flatly and calmly. "I may resemble a rhino, but I am not. I really need to go now." he was about to head back to the jungle he lives in, but he was stopped by Kovu.
"Wait a minute, big guy." the future king halted him. "Please, don't walk away. We owe you for saving his. Please stick around some more."
Sighing and breathing through his gigantic nose, Adewale closed his eyes and slowly turned around. "Very well. I am an Emela-Ntouka." he said.
"A what?" Kiara asked.
"An Emela-Ntouka." Adewale repeated, "I am a rather rare animal and I am not a common sight to see for any animal in Africa. And I prefer to keep it that way."
"What do you mean?"
"I have a feeling that the other animals judge me before they even know me. I just feel... better off by myself. I didn't mean to spy on you in your spring, I wanted to meet you and I was nervous at first, so I decided to not take my chances in you screaming in terror at the sight of me."
"Don't you have any friends?" said Kiara
"I do have a few friends in my life. A couple of birds herons, snowballs, a hippo, and a few crocodiles as well. To tell you, I am not the only one of my kind as I have mentioned before. We all tend to keep to ourselves from most contact outside our home in the rainforest."
This sounded a little odd for the three lions to hear and witness about this Emela-Ntouka creature that saved them. Still, it was quite intriguing to meet an animal they have never met before. These guy seemed a little bit like a pariah to the whole society of animals. Kion thought if he was being treated poorly in animal society because of his unusual appearance.
"What does your name even mean?" Kiara asked curiously.
"I do not think that would go over too well." said Adewale. "If i told you what my name means, then you would all just run away and fear me, just like the other animals whom i have told my animal name to."
"Why don't you let us be the judges of that?" said Kion.
"Very well." the creature. "My name means... 'Elephant Killer'. There, you happy now?"
Admittedly, the three royal lions did sound surprised to hear such a name like that. "Wow. That's... intriguing." said Kovu. "By the looks of your gigantic horn, that can kill an elephant with one charge."
"Indeed. I have done that before, but I would only do it for self-defense. Most elephants I have ever faced gave me no choice. I do regret the killings but I just wanted to fight for my life. You all wouldn't understand."
Kion, his sister, and his brother-in-law gave the Emela-Ntouka a sympathetic look. "Poor guy." Kion said.
"You're not going to run away from me?"
"No." said Kiara.
"I know just how you feel, Adewale." said Kovu. "Matter of fact, I felt the same was as you. I was felt like an outcast before joining the king's pride. And... I've done some bad things in the past, but I met Kiara, and I see things more clearly."
"Well, you are a lion, and you are much more common in Africa than we Emela-Ntouka are."
"Granted, you're right." Kion concurred. "But it doesn't mean you can't fit in like any other animal in the Pride Lands."
"Yeah, you just need a little more adjusting." Kiara added. "And I don't think we introduced our names. I am Kiara, princess of the Pride Lands, and it's future queen."
"I'm Kion, Kiara's little brother, and leader of the new Lion Guard."
"And I'm Kovu, future king of the Pride Lands."
"Huh. A pleasure, I guess." said Adewale. "I mean, I'm okay with friends, but how do I know this isn't a ruse to try and get away from me? I mean, that's what most animals do, just run away from a monster like me." he made another snort from his nostrils.
The three looked even more sympathetic than ever with Adewale. Kion went up to him next to his right side and touched his right hoof. "You're not a monster. You just need some kind of approach on how you should meet with other animals."
"But what if that fails?" the creature worried. "They will just be like the rest." he bowed his head.
"Oh, don't say that." Kiara said. "Our parents are very underetanding... mostly my mother, but my father will understand what is going on as well. Ah! Besides, we need to patch ourselves up from what the Lion's Bane did to us."
"Lion's Bane? Is that what those animals attacking you were?"
"Yep. The Lion Guard are the sworn protectors of the Pride Lands."
"Oh. I have heard of the Lion Guard. I overheard conversations with some birds in the treetops about you. I'm just a little surprised that a kid like you would be a leader of a group of protectors."
" know, it's weird. But yeah. Spnxome on, let me take you to my parents and we can have a talk with them."
"Very well. I don't know what good it will do though. But this it easy on your muscles. You all still look a little hurt."
"We know." Kiara said.
