The Rise of Zira

The Rise of Zira is the 25th episode and one hour special of Season 50.

Summary
Makucha and his band of bad guys try to use Catboy's magic to bring back the spirit of Zira in a dark lagoon, far from the Tree of Life, to give them plans and she has assembled her own army so now has plans to take down Simba, the Lion Guard, the Night Pride, and even the PJ Masks and their friends, including her own pride and her two children, Kovu and Vitani, and her Lion Guard.

Plot
The episode begins at the Tree of Life where Catboy and his friends are seen helping Kion and Rani, and the Lion Guard and the Night Pride take down Makucha and his army, even with the help of some other animals. As time passes, Kion and Rani have grown to young adult lions as Catboy was more confident of using his magic and busy as the king and queen’s advisor at helping with solving all of the animals’ problems and other problems that involve shelter, finding new space for new animals coming to live at the Tree of Life, searching for food to feed the entire Tree of Life, making peace between animals fighting each other, helping with the water source problem, and territory sharing. After Makucha and his army have been defeat once more, Kion uses his roar again to send them back far, far away.

After another job well done of driving the bad guys out of the Tree of Life, King Kion, Queen Rani, and Connor and their friends were relaxing in the tree with some Swahili fruit juice made by Connor as they all made a toast, which Connor taught the Night Pride and the Lion Guard. Makini states that everybody’s getting stronger every year, and Kion includes Connor and his human friends as he shoots a proud smile at him, making Connor blush when he felt appreciated by the hard work they have done for the the king and queen, the former Lion Guard, and the Night Pride. As everyone was celebrating, Amaya asks Connor how things are going on being the king and queen’s first human advisor. Exhaling, Connor replies that it’s been a lot harder than he thought since Makucha, Chuluun, Ora, Mama Binturong, and the rest of their friends have been continuing to attack the Tree of Life and try to hunt the animals for their food, but Bunga notes that he’s (Connor) been doing a good job as much as Kion’s roar and being the king. With a shy smile, Connor thanks Bunga, although he was still concerned about the troubles going on in the Tree of Life, and just hopes that there is no other trouble bigger than Makucha’s army just as Amaya assures that they can handle it as long as they do it together! That made Connor feel better, thinking about it as he was glad that he has his friends by his side.

Meanwhile, in the darkest and farthest region from the Tree of Life and the Pridelands, Makucha, Chuluun, Ora, Mama Binturong, her porcupines, Makucha’s leap, and Ora’s bank were on the ground and they were getting tired of being beaten up by the Lion Guard, the Night Pride, and even the PJ Masks and their allies, plus having to be blown back here next to the dark and damp lagoon by Kion’s roar that has become more powerful than ever and being clobbered by that human cat-loving kid’s magic, Chuluun added in an angry grunt, so they could stay hungry as usual. What’s even worse, Ora’s komodo dragon friend added, is that Kion is now king and Connor is his and Queen Rani’s new advisor who helps keep things at the Tree of Life in touch, and also why they can’t get any food to eat. Suddenly, Chuluun hears a voice, saying that she mentioned the Tree of Life’s human advisor’s magic, and a strange black snake appeared from the shadows as Makucha asks him smugly who he is. The snake, named Kuuma, explains that he overheard the snow leopard say about the human boy, that he just met not too long ago after giving him his own scar, being an advisor and having magic in his blood, which gives him an idea that would like to share with his newfound friends.

With the bad guys lifting their heads up to listen, Kuuma explains his plan to use Catboy’s magic, leaving Ora to believe that they might trick Catboy to use his magic on King Kion and Queen Rani, but Kuuma has a better plan: they can use Catboy’s magic to bring back Zira, one of Scar’s allies! Mama Binturong listens to this astonished, but only for a second when she asked Kuuma how he knows about Zira as he explains that he just heard about Kovu, Zira’s elder son and king of the Pridelands-to be, saying that Zira once tried to rule the Pridelands, and Zira is also his old friend’s daughter, but Chuluun then asks if Kovu mentioned that Zira died in a flash flood a long time ago. Kuuma replies sarcastically that he didn’t know until now, but with the human boy’s magic, they can bring Zira back so she can give them some plans to take over that Tree of Life and destroy the Lion Guard and the Night Pride, including their human kid friends. Everyone was in on this now, and Makucha added, that if they can bring Zira back with Catboy's help, then she'll give them plans to help them hunt every animal in the Tree of Life, and even in the Pridelands! Soon, all the bad guys were in on Kuuma’s plan just as Makucha asks the snake with a sly smile what they should do to bring Zira back, and Kuuma explains how (Let’s Bring Back the Legend). After this, Kuuma, and Makucha, and his army prepare.

Meanwhile, at the Tree of Life, a penguin family has come for a visit to talk about a situation they have with the fish shortage. Thinking, Connor remembers the fish at Big Springs back in the Pridelands and proclaims that he'll talk to Beshte's father, Basi, and have the fish delivered to them in no time, as the penguins thank him before heading out back to their home. After the penguins left, Kion says well done to Connor and declares that he deserves a day off, although Connor says to the king that he doesn’t need to do that, but Rani insists that Kion is right and that their royal advisor has been working really hard and really does need to go out for some fresh air and relaxation. Taking that, Connor decides to go out and do so, as he walks out with his arms stretching and he soaks in the sunlight while taking a deep breath, then smiles to himself as he watches all the animals around the Tree of Life roaming happily.

Everything was well in the Tree of Life, since Connor and his friends help Kion, Rani, and their teams defeat Makucha and his army. There wasn’t a villain in sight, lucky for Connor who looked around for any, but so far, none just as he decides to go out a bit farther to explore the outside part of the Tree of Life, which was a dark and dreary area that looked a bit like the elephant graveyard at the Pridelands, but it had hot geysers spraying out steaming water that Connor had to jump out of the way before getting sprayed or soaked. Suddenly, he felt a rush on his back as Connor turned around with a gasp and called out who was there, then again, Connor felt the rush on his back again and turned to see nothing again, but as Connor turned to head back to the Tree of Life, he gasps loudly when he comes face to face with Makucha and he asks him with a growl, while his magic begins to activate, what he was doing as he adds if he was spying on him. Chuckling slyly, Makucha replies that he was just out for a stroll when he noticed Connor walking in the geyser ground as Connor replied back sarcastically that his friends King Kion and Queen Rani have given him a day off, but he (Connor) wasn’t expecting to see him (Makucha) again but then asks him if he wants to fight, then they’ll fight as Connor readies his magic activating his fists.

Song(s)

 * Let's Bring Back the Legend

Characters

 * Connor/Catboy
 * Amaya/Owlette
 * Greg/Gekko
 * Dylan/Armadylan
 * Angellica/Aquafish
 * Luna Girl
 * Kion
 * Bunga
 * Fuli
 * Beshte
 * Ono
 * Anga
 * Rani
 * Baliyo
 * Nirmala
 * Surak
 * Binga
 * Makini
 * Ullu
 * Makucha
 * Chuluun
 * Ora
 * Mama Binturong
 * Makucha’s leap
 * Mama Binturong‘s porcupines
 * Ora’s float
 * Zira

Trivia

 * This episode is an inspiration of The Rise of Scar from The Lion Guard.
 * While Scar's spirit comes back in a volcano due to have died in a fire while being attacked by the hyenas in The Lion King, Zira's spirit comes back in a lagoon due to have died in flash flood despite Kiara’s offer to save her in The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride.

Transcript
To see the transcript of this episode, click here