Three Months Later...
Enzi's wounds had healed up nicely. With the help of Ali, he was able to catch up with his pride in hardcore training. Abasi was proud of his son for staying loyal to him and assisting him whenever he needed it. Today is an exciting day for the outlanders; the final battle. The lions in Abasi's pride lined up in rows as their king paced back and forth. Among the crowd was a pack of jackals. They wanted revenge on Kovu and Kiara for kicking them out of the pride lands and stopping them from hunting their food. Abasi had recruited them in exchange for their place in the pride lands and scraps they would receive from any kill that the lions made, much to the latter's dismay. He accepted the deal and had the jackals train with his pride so they can be stronger.
In the center stood Enzi and Ali with their chests puffed out, eyes narrowed in determination. They have the biggest mission to accomplish; take back the pride lands and rule over the dominant land. Rene, Kitana, and Omi flanked behind them, ready to hear out a command that Abasi would give when they go into the pride lands. The jackals were standing in the crowd of lions as their evil glares intensified with every word Abasi announced. They were ready to fight and kill anyone who dares to step in their path.
"Lions, Jackals," Abasi addressed his army as he stopped pacing and stood proudly at his followers, "This is the moment that we all have been waiting for. All these months and years of training were worth it, and today, we are going to take the pride lands by force!"
"Kovu, Kiara, and all of those pridelanders will fall under our rule. We will accomplish what Scar would've wanted! We will be powerful and victorious in the end! And WE. WIll. TAKE. BACK. OUR. LAND!!!" Abasi raised his fist as his followers cheered and roared in agreement, "NOW, EVERYONE! LET'S MOVE OUT!!! he declared, walking out of the outlands with his followers trailing behind him.
In the pride lands
Kovu, Kiara, and their pride rested at the bottom of pride rock, enjoying the cloudy day. Zaki had predicted it would be a severe thunderstorm and flood in the rivers, Kovu had ordered him to warn everyone about the upcoming weather and make sure they get to a safer spot. Before he could leave, Kiara told him to make sure everyone stayed together during the storm since the heavy rain would be impossible to see through. Tanabi and Aisha, the future king and queen, had offered to assist Zaki in the storm patrol, to which the former obliged. Kovu was proud of his daughter and son-in-law for showing the great markings of a true king and queen. Although he will step down from the throne and allow them to take over the pride lands, he would miss everything about being a ruler.
Most importantly, he has Kiara by his side when he has reasonable doubt. His ears twitched as he looked up to see Zaki flying back to pride rock in panic. He and Kiara jumped on their paws and stared at the hornbill with concerned looks as the pride looked on with interest.
"Zaki! Calm down and tell us what's going on!" Kovu commanded.
Zaki cleared his throat and levitated in mid-air while flapping his wings, "Your Majesties, Abasi, and his pride are on their way! It's war!" he reported as Kovu and Kiara gasped. Kiara turned her head to the pride, motioning them to stand up, to which they did so, trotting over to the king and queen. Kovu noticed that Tanabi and Aisha hadn't followed Zaki back to pride rock. He was worried about their safety and cleared his throat to address Zaki.
"Where's Tanabi and Aisha?" he demanded.
"They're near the grasslands making sure that everyone stays safe from the upcoming storm," Zaki informed.
"Good." Kovu looked back at Kiara who gave him a nod to let him know that the pride is ready to battle, "Everyone, the outsiders are on their way to claim what's there's. We must defend our home from those outsiders, they don't deserve to live here!" he announced.
"Yeah! We are going to kick some serious ass!" Chaka declared.
"They must pay for all they have done to us!" Nama chimed in.
"Wait, everyone! My clan and I will help too!" the lions turned around and saw Jamya and her clan approaching pride rock.
"We heard everything, your Majesties," said Lela, "We're here to help you fight and defend the pride lands."
"Jamya, Lela, Omari, Freya, and Kijani, the more the merrier," Kovu remarked, "Thank you for being loyal and humble to us these past years."
Jamya and her clan bowed, "It's our pleasure to assist the lions," said Jamya.
Everyone's ears flicked when they heard a roar from the distance, "Everyone, that's our cue. Let's move out!" said Kovu, leading his pride towards the battlefield.
Darkness in the sky had started to form as lightning stuck a nearby dead tree, causing any remaining herds to scatter from the blazing flames. Fire begins rising from the ground as the result. Up above, vultures flew around in circles to devour any corpses from the battle while some creatures stayed clear from the fighting lions. Both prides stood face to face near the gorge where Mufasa met his demise from Scar's wrath. Kovu stood in front of his pride, determined to protect his home whilst Abasi glared at him with hate. Kiara looked over and saw many jackals with Abasi's pride.
'They must've recruited them,' Kiara thought as she crouched down in defense, 'No matter what, I will defend my home and lands from them!'
"Hahaha! It's over, Kovu!" Abasi laughed, "I have dreamed about this for years!"
Kovu growled, his green eyes narrowing at the outland king, "For the last time, Abasi!" He crouched down slightly, "Go home!"
"Kovu, Kovu, Kovu. So typical," Abasi sneered, "I am home! HOME IN MY PRIDE LANDS!"
"Your pride lands?" Hofu scoffed at his former king, "These lands belong to my cousin and cousin-in-law!"
"Well, if it isn't the traitor himself, first in line to hell!" Abasi unsheathed his claws, examining them with an evil grin, "I must say that you dared to take on my son like the coward you are!" He let out a ferocious snarl and slashed a rock, causing sparks to fly on some patches of dead grass, igniting the area in flames, "AND LEAVING THE OUTLANDS AS A TRAITOR WOULD!"
"Oh, please! Hofu is the bravest and boldest lion in the pride lands," Eshe talked back, rolling her eyes, "You, on the other paw, are a big coward and a menace to royalty!"
Those words made Abasi angrier at the second. He lifted his head, let out a thunderous roar, and stared down at the younger lioness with hate gleaming in his eyes, "I'll be sure to send you to hell while I slit that pretty, little neck of yours," He threatened.
Hofu roared, "Don't you threaten my future mate like that! If you want Eshe, then you're going to have to go through me first!"
"With pleasure!" Thunder boomed through the whole savannah as lightning flashed in the sky. Abasi gave an evil grin before commanding, "OUTLANDERS, ATTACK!!!"
The lions and jackals snarled, starting their charge toward the pridelanders. Kovu roared, signaling his pride and hyenas to charge toward the outlanders. The fire on the battlefield started growing everyone clashed with each other for blood. Hofu pounced on a jackal and started raking his claws into its flesh. The jackal yelped and bit Kion's left foreleg, causing the lion prince to roar in pain as it wriggled out of his grasp. Kion regained his composure and smacked the jackal in the head with his heavy paw, knocking it into a dead tree.
The impact from the jackal caused the tree to fall and crush its unfortunate victim, killing it instantly, "One down, many more to go!" said Kion, jumping on a lioness who attempted to pounce on his mate with her claws out, "GET AWAY FROM MY MATE!" He jumped up and caught her in mid-air, both clawing and biting on the ground.
Five jackals managed to pin down Tiifu while Kion was battling it out with the outlander lioness. With a burst of strength, she was able to throw them off and took them out one at a time with Zuri and Kiara's help when they arrived at the scene, after defeating two lionesses.
"Thank you, Kiara and Zuri," said Tiifu.
"No problem, Tiifu," said Kiara, "We'll talk later, we have to continue fighting!"
"Right!" she nodded before the trio charged into ten jackals, knocking them away from their pride sisters.
Hofu managed to kill three lionesses with ease from his training with Abasi. Eshe trailed behind him, mangling and killing a jackal with a snap of its neck. Her left ear twitched as a lioness tackled her to the ground, clawing her stomach. Eshe yelped in pain before shoving the lioness off of her. Hofu smacked the lioness in the head, knocking her down as Eshe jumped on top and sank her teeth into the lioness's neck. She made sure to latch on tightly as the lioness roared in pain while attempting to save her own life. Unfortunately, the lioness took her last breath and died in Eshe's jaws.
To add fuel to the fire, Eshe helped Hofu toss the dead bodies into the roaring flames to dispose of them. The heat from the fire felt hot on their fur and skin as they moved from the embers and continued to fight more outlanders in their path while avoiding the fire. Enzi had killed a hyena as Ali managed to kill a pridelander lioness with a slash to the throat. They threw the bodies into the fire as the flames rose higher and higher, setting nearby trees on fire.
The outland prince charged at another pridelander lioness before finding himself tackled by no one other than his older sister, Shani. Ali ran to assist him before Chaka caught her in mid-air, pinning her down hard to the ground. Shani's eyes burned with rage as she glared down at her little brother. Since living in the pride lands with her twin brother, Shani had changed from evil to good. She knows that her mother and father told lies to her and Tanabi since Kovu and Kiara revealed to them their antics. They were warned about what would happen if they continued to follow the evil king and queen's pawprints as it would lead to major consequences.
Shani removed the thoughts from her head and focused on detaining her little brother, preventing him from hurting anyone. Ali struggled to push the lion prince off her as Chaka snarled and held her down tightly, "Get off me, pridelander!" Ali yelled as she struggled to move.
"STAY DOWN!" Chaka roared with his teeth bared.
"Don't you hurt her, you filth!" Enzi spat as he glared daggers at the pridelander prince.
Having enough of his attitude, Shani raised her paw and smacked her brother upside the head with a hard force, dazing him, "Now, you look here! You are not going to attack anyone else, you hear me?!" she snarled.
Enzi shook his head, snarling at his sister, "Get off! So help me I'll-" he was interrupted by another slap to the head from Shani.
"You're going to do what?!" she glared at him, daring him to attack, "You may be my little brother, but I can't stand you hurting others like our good-for-nothing father!"
"Shut up!" he hissed, "You and that idiotic brother of ours betrayed us! And now, you will pay for your crimes!"
Before Shani could argue back, she heard two roars as she saw Tanabi and Aisha arriving at the scene after taking out several jackals and lionesses. When Enzi saw his older brother, he burned with rage. He found the strength the shove his sister off of him, getting up on his paws. He roared and smacked Chaka in the head and shoved him off of Ali before helping her up. The young couple shared a brief nuzzle before finding themselves surrounded by four lions.
"We got you two surrounded! There's no way out of this!" Chaka stated firmly.
"You can't defeat us!" Ali shrieked, "Our pride will kill you all!"
Aisha roared before slapping Ali in the face her claws out, causing her to yelp in pain, "ENOUGH WITH THE THREATS!" She roared, glaring at the evil couple as the stayed quiet, "LISTEN TO WHAT WE'RE TELLING YOU; ABASI IS A EVIL AND MANIPULATING LION!"
Enzi, highly offended by the statement, lashed out at the future queen before Tanabi intercepted him by pouncing in the air and pinning his brother to the ground, ceasing any movements from him, "DON'T YOU DARE TALK DOWN MY FATHER!!! HE IS A BETTER LION THAN YOU WILL EVER BE!" he bellowed, twitching his tail.
"ENOUGH!!!" Tanabi roared, finally getting his brother to be quiet. He sighed before lowering his ears, "Look, Enzi. Our father had manipulated you into an evil being; you don't need to fight against us anymore because he told lies about Kovu, Kiara, an the rest of the pridelanders."
Enzi rolled his eyes, "Ugh! I don't want to hear that bullshit! Get the fuck off of me, you damned mistake!" he swore. Tanabi had enough of his brother's sturborness, he roared in the former's face, causing him to recoil slightly. Even Ali was subdued to the prince consort's roar.
"LISTEN TO ME RIGHT NOW, ENZI!!!" Tanabi demanded with rage, "I AM YOUR BIG BROTHER AND YOU WILL LISTEN TO WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO GET YOU TO UNDERSTAND!"
Enzi relented and stayed quiet as Tanabi sighed, trying to calm down, "Look. What i'm trying to say that our father is a lying, cruel, manipulating monster. He had put those lies in your head so you can become his loyal follower," he explained, "Kovu and Kiara are a great king a queen; they're fighting your pride to defend the pride lands that you tried to take away from them."
Enzi started to realize what his brother was telling him. He kept his mouth closed as he let his brother finish talking, "The pride lands had been around for many generations, and nothing was able to take it way except Scar," he continued, "Simba defeated Scar all those years ago and reclaimed the pride lands as a true king should. You, on the other paw, wanted to finish what Scar could've done; destroy the pride lands and let everyone starve to death."
Ali was listening in on the conversation as guilt started to hit her and her future mate like a semi-truck going seventy miles per hour. They have regrets of attacking the pride lands for dominance and greed. Tanabi noticed the change in his brother's eyes, he stepped off of him and helped him up, "Do you two understand what we're telling you?" asked Shani.
Enzi nodded, "Yes, sister. We're so sorry for all our crimes we committed," he bowed in submission with Ali following behind him, "We'll do anything to earn your forgiveness."
Tanabi, Shani, Aisha, and Chaka smiled, "We'll forgive you two if you help us defend the pride lands," said Aisha.
"Yes, we can do that." Enzi turned to his older siblings with a sad smile, "Tanabi, Shani. Thank you for opening my eyes,"
"It's about time you've got your head out of your butt for once," Shani joked, causing the group to laugh a little, "But still, let's defeat the rest of the outlanders."
Nodding with determination, Enzi smirked and ran back to the fray, "Let's finish this, once and for all..."
End Of Chapter 44
A/N: The story is about to come to an end. The next chapter will knock you off your feet as Kovu and Abasi will have their final showdown. By the way, Enzi and Ali had changed their behaviors from Tanabi's words and joined the good side, and helping the pridelanders defend their land from the outsiders. Stayed tuned for the next chapter and I'll see you all later.