A/N: I have no excuses. Except that the world may be ending.

Hopefully I will be able to get through at least Black Panther before Black Widow comes out (whenever that may be), but you guys know me and my lack of schedule at this point.

Hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there.

Challenge Day

Thus began the most whirlwind week of Coral's life; with the country busy preparing for T'Challa's coronation, Shuri and Coral's cousins in the mining tribe spent the meager time not devoted to their duties educating Coral in the ways of Wakanda.

"Had you been born within Wakanda to your mother and a Wakandan father, you would have had a right to challenge for the throne, as a descendant of a noble family," Shuri said, going over the great Wakandan noble family tree. Coral couldn't help but notice that many of the branches intertwined or crossed over, a result of millenia of isolation and a desire to maintain a royal bloodline, she was sure. She just hoped the Wakandan gene pool was a little deeper than that of England.

"Can the average citizen not challenge?" she asked. Shuri and Coral's cousins shook their heads. Coral chewed on the end of her stylus, before catching herself and stopping. "So, what happens if the King goes mad or abuses his power or becomes corrupt?"

"Theoretically, we could challenge him; but few rarely do," one of Coral's cousins said.

"We are honor bound to follow our King," another said; her head was shaved, marking her as an initiate of the Dora Milaje.

"Even if he's wrong?" Coral said skeptically; between Chimera/HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Avengers, she wasn't sure if she would ever trust any leader that much. They just shrugged again. Coral shook her head. "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me."

"What about your country's electoral college and disenfranchisement of African Americans-"

"Look, I'm not saying my country is perfect either, but just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved," Coral said.

"Exactly my thinking," Shuri smiled. "Anyway, you're gonna love Nakia when she comes back; you two will be like… how you say… peas in a pod?"

"Alright, you've had your fun, Princess. But your brother will be arriving soon, and all of us need to get ready for the Challenge," Coral's eldest male cousin said as he entered the room, already decked out in his champion armor.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Coral asked.

"You'd better. I don't want to suffer through a corset alone," Suri said.

Painted in the otjize paste of her people, Coral was dressed in red, orange ceremonial garb, complete with headdress framed by the jaws of a lioness Coral had hunted with her cousins as part of her informal induction into the tribe. It had seemed so wrong at first, to hunt a proud, endangered animal, but the others had assured her that it was part of the tradition and that Wakanda had many conservation programs to make sure they never took more than they gave.

So she danced and sang and chanted as Challenge Day began. She stood at her grandmother and cousin's side as she and the other tribe leaders stated that they would not challenge.

"Is there any member of a royal blood… who wishes to challenge for the throne?" Zuri asked.

The crowd started murmuring and Coral turned, confused, only to almost burst out laughing when she saw Shuri's sarcastic hand.

"This corset is really uncomfortable… so could we all just wrap it up and go home?" Shuri said, clapping for emphasis. Coral couldn't help but exhale and sniffle to stifle her laughs as the Queen Mother pinched her daughter and the Noble families scoffed and clucked with disapproval.

Suddenly, a chant echoed from the tunnels and out came an entourage of white and grey war-painted warriors. "MalYeFa! Ya Hoo! MalYeFa! Ya Hoo! MalYeFa! Ya Hoo! MalYeFa! Ya Hoo!"

"M'Baku, what are you doing here?" Zuri asked.

"It's Challenge Day," the leader said, taking off his Gorilla mask. "We have watched… and listened from the mountains! We have watched with disgust… as your technological advancements have been overseen by a child!" He advanced on Shuri and the Dora Milaje drew their weapons and it was only Coral's grandmother's steady hand that stopped Coral from joining them. "Who scoffs at tradition!" His gaze shifted to Coral. "And shelters a criminal who is cast out by her own country." Coral held her head high, showing off her lioness pelt. M'Baku shook his head before turning back to T'Challa. "And now you want to hand the nation over to this prince… who could not keep his own father safe. Mmm? We will not have it. I said, we will not have it, oh!" he declared. "I, M'Baku… leader of the Jabari-"

"I accept your challenge, M'Baku," T'Challa said.

"Glory to Hanuman," M'Baku replied.

Jabari and Dora Milaje warriors alike surrounded the two and raised their weapons, creating the arena that would decide Wakanda's next king, as the warriors donned their masks: the Black Panther vs the Great Gorilla.

"Let the challenge begin!" Zuri said.

It was a brutal match of clubs and spears. No punches were pulled, no mercy shown. M'Baku started strong with brutal blows that knocked T'Challa off his feet, knocking his mask off as easily as it was donned.

"Where is your god now?" M'Baku shouted at the weaponless T'Challa.

T'Challa answered with fists that knocked M'Baku's own weapons and shields from his hands. The crowd cheered, but M'Baku quickly regrouped and put T'Challa in a forward facing hold.

"No powers," he said, punctuating each sentence with a headbut. "No claws." Crack. "No special suit! Just a boy not fit to lead!"

"Show him who you are!" Queen Mother Ramonda yelled.

That awakened the Panther in T'Challa's heart. A thousand generations of Black Panthers stood behind him, among them his own father. He would not let them down.

With a mighty roar, T'Challa reared back and returned a blow to M'Baku, followed by a second that broke M'Baku's mask from his head. Even as M'Baku recovered his weapon and dug it into T'Challa's chest, far too close to his heart, T'Challa did not relent.

"I am Prince T'Challa… son of King T'Chaka!"

"You can do this, T'Challa!" Shuri yelled.

T'Challa ripped the spear from his chest and kicked M'Baku back into the water, before throwing his legs around his opponents neck that set them both at the edge of the waterfall, the Dora Milaje and the Jabari closing ranks around them.

The tides turned and T'Challa's victory all but assured, the tribes all began to chant: "T'Challa! T'Challa! T'Challa! T'Challa! T'Challa!"

Coral could see that T'Challa was talking to M'Baku, even with M'Baku in a headlock. Eventually, the Great Gorilla conceded. The crowd cheered.

"I now present to you… King T'Challa… the Black Panther," said Zuri, the warrior shaman of Wakanda, setting the necklace of teeth around his neck. T'Challa, Black Panther and King of Wakanda, stood before his people and saluted them.

"Wakanda forever!" he cried.

"Wakanda forever!" the country echoed back, Coral included.

And she believed it.