Chapter Fourteen: The Final Showdown

Simba and Kovu walked together; alone through the rain. Their minds were bent on only one thing: rescue Kiara and defeat Khan. Ever since Khan had first appeared in the Pride Lands, things had begun to take a turn for the worse. From the murder of his mother to the kidnapping of his daughter, Simba had come to accept that the only way to put a stop to him once and for all would be to kill him. He shuddered as he thought about it; never in his life had he ever killed someone; he had shown mercy to Scar and let him live but when he knocked him down during their battle, it was the hyenas that landed the fatal blows.

"Simba," said Kovu, turning to look at him.

"Yes?"

"Do you think Kiara will be alright? She's in such a delicate state right now and I keep thinking: was the ordeal too much for her to bear?"

"Relax Kovu," said Simba; he tried his best to sound calm when, in fact, he was imagining the exact same horrible prospects. "She's a strong, young lioness. She'll be fine."

"Yeah…I guess you're right," said Kovu slowly.

"How much farther is it?" Kovu asked; they had been walking for ten minutes now.

"Not far now," replied Simba. "We're almost there."

Crocodile peak was a dangerous place; a high cliff of fragile rock overlooking a river of hungry, blood-thirsty crocodiles that attacked and killed all who fell in. When she was a cub, Simba had explicitly forbidden Kiara to venture there. He had found it while he had been scouring his new kingdom after becoming King; for they were the only animals who had not left the land during Scar's tyrannical rule.

Minutes passed and at last the two lions were climbing the rocky path to the top of crocodile peak; as the ground began to flatten their eyes met Kiara, who was lying unconscious right at the edge of the cliff, and Khan, who was lying down comfortably beside her; watching the two lions climb the slope with great interest. When they were on even ground, Khan got to his paws.

"I was wondering what took the two of you so long to get here," laughed Khan.

"Give me back my daughter!" shouted Simba.

"And my wife!" yelled Kovu.

Khan waved an airy paw and began pacing the diameter of the cliff, in front of Kiara. All the while Simba and Kovu's eyes followed his movements; taking in his every expression.

"Don't tell me that the two of you came here expecting me to hand her back so nicely, did you?" taunted Khan.

"What do you want with her?" demanded Simba. "She's not part of this."

"Of course she is," answered Khan. "She's been a part of this right from the start; ever since I made that promise to your father."

Simba growled and moved into a fighting stance; Kovu followed his lead.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Khan; placing his paw on top of Kiara's head. "Or I'll throw her to the crocodiles. I'm sure they wouldn't mind such a tasty meal."

Simba groaned and stood upright again; reluctantly Kovu did the same.

"Excellent," said Khan, smiling at the two of them. "Now then, down to business. Tell me Simba, is it not the law of the Pride Lands that the ruling pride has to obey the King? No matter whom that King may be?"

Simba nodded his head.

"Fantastic," said Khan; now grinning broadly. "So that means that if I challenge you and kill you then your pride will be forced to obey my commands?"

In anguish, Simba nodded his head once more.

"It won't make a difference even if you kill him," shouted Kovu. "That would make me King."

"You didn't let me finish," said Khan; turning to look at Kovu. "After I kill him, then I will kill you and then your wife and her cubs; thus eliminating any possible heirs to the throne."

"Then the pride will kill you themselves!" roared Kovu. "They won't believe you!"

"Then I will have to present them with all of your heads," declared Khan. "And if they so much as look at me wrong, I will have them either killed or banished for committing high treason."

Kovu was silenced; it seemed that Khan had planned everything too well; he had an answer ready for every possible objection.

"So Simba," said Khan; turning his attention back to the King. "Let's make it proper shall we? I, Khan, challenge you, Simba, for kingship over these lands!"

"Don't do it Simba!" cried Kovu.

Khan placed his paw once more upon Kiara's head.

"If you do not accept then I will throw your precious daughter to the crocodiles."

Simba took a step forwards; his face resolute.

"I accept your challenge," he declared.

"Fabulous," said Khan, also taking a step forward before turning to Kovu.

"Remember boy, this fight is between Simba and I. Get involved –," Khan pointed a claw at Kovu threateningly. "And your wife becomes croc food." Biting his tongue, Kovu nodded his head and stepped back.

The two challengers were now circling the precipice, glaring at each other.

"This is for my mother," shouted Simba and with a powerful roar charged at the tiger. Khan stood his ground and watched as Simba leapt into the air towards him; then, suddenly, lifted himself up on to his legs and grabbed the lion king in his arms and with a large grunt, flung him to the side. Simba hit the ground hard but got to his paws again, just managing to dodge a swipe to the head. He returned the attack with his own, striking Khan hard in the jaw. The tiger staggered and, taking his chance, Simba drove himself into him; the two opponents fell on top of each other as they each tried to tear into the other.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to stay King!" taunted Khan, laughing maniacally.

Kovu watched in awe as both fighters separated then charged once more; it had finally come to this: the battle for the Pride Lands. Catching Simba off-guard, Khan struck again; dealing a powerful blow to the side of his head. This time, Simba did not hit the ground but kept his balance and saw Khan's attack coming head-on and knew how to counter it. Leaping to the side at the last moment, Khan hurtled forwards but, sinking his claws into the ground, remained in place.

"Fancy trick," he grunted.

"You haven't seen anything yet," replied Simba, smiling at his foe.

Khan lunged at Simba again, slashing at his face; Simba yelled in pain but, managing to regain his composure, bit hard into Khan's shoulder. For the first time, it was Khan's turn to scream out in anguish as his paw shot to his wound. Suddenly, with a roar of fury, he charged at Simba but, instead of using either claws or teeth, head-butted him hard in the jaw sending him rolling away to the edge of the cliff.

Groaning, Simba slowly got to his paws again but fell back down under Khan's weight.

"Say hello to your new King!" bellowed Khan; he lifted up his paw as he spoke, unveiling sharp, black claws and in the blink of an eye, dropped it on to Simba's throat. As the lion king gasped for air, his limbs flinging around him, Kovu suddenly raced towards them and leapt at Khan, knocking him away from Simba.

"I warned you not to interfere!" raged Khan, getting to his paws. "Those are the rules!"

"Rules are made to be broken," said Kovu as he helped Simba up.

"Very well then, I hope you said something nice to your wife the last time you saw her. 'Cause you won't be speaking to her again!" howled Khan. Turning abruptly, Khan tore towards Kiara's motionless body.

"No!" screamed Simba.

However, just as he was about to reach her, the ferocious tiger stopped in his tracks; a searing pain in his body; he turned to see his tail caught in Kovu's mouth.

"You wretch!" shouted Khan furiously. Twisting his arm with blinding speed, he struck Kovu hard in the face but the young lion refused to let go. Simba looked into Kovu's eyes, amazed as to how brave he was, and then he noticed that Kovu was indicating something to his left. Simba understood; he was distracting Khan so that Simba could get Kiara to safety. Simba nodded and raced towards his daughter, who had now begun to stir.

"Kiara," he said, shaking her with his paw. "Wake up."

"Daddy?" muttered Kiara. "W—where am I?"

"There's no time to explain, I've got to get you out of here."

Kiara turned her head and, with a violent jerk, raised herself up at the sight of her husband and Khan locked in furious combat.

"Kovu!" she screamed; Khan turned but before he could do anything, Kovu was on top of him in an attempt to wrestle him to the ground.

"Kovu!" She got to her paws, attempting to rush to her husband's aid but Simba held her back.

"No Kiara. You'll be killed if you go out there."

"I don't care! Kovu needs me!"

"You'll be getting in his way if you get involved. Kiara, I promise you that I will help him! Tell me, can you get back to Pride Rock alone?" he asked.

"Yes daddy but –,"

"Then go! Get back home, you'll be safe there. I'll help Kovu."

Kiara could now see an age-old fire burning in her father's eyes.

"Right."

With a last glance at her husband, Kiara turned and began her journey home.

Simba watched her go then turned his sights back to the fight; Kovu had fought valiantly but he now lay in a heap upon the ground, Khan closing in on him. Simba shot towards them and placed himself between the two.

"That's as far as you go Khan," he said; with a huge effort, Kovu slowly raised himself again.

"You're both going to die here," shouted Khan and Simba could see that his voice had lost any charm or willingness to banter.

Kovu was now standing upright beside Simba.

"Good luck fighting off both of us Khan," he declared.

Khan let out a huge roar of anger and ran at the two lions, which held their ground. Kovu struck at Khan's head with immense force, causing the tiger to lose his footing.

"Simba!" yelled Kovu. Hearing the call, Simba ran at Khan and leapt on top of him, sinking his teeth into Khan's leg.

"Get away from me!" screamed Khan; gathering his strength, he threw the two lions away from him. Both Simba and Kovu now advanced towards him, making him back away towards the edge of the cliff.

"No! S – Stay away!" cried Khan but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Khan!"

The three fighters turned at the sound of Khan's name that was coming from the distance and saw, to their amazement, two tigers staggering towards them. They were both in a bloody heap; sporting cuts and bruises all over their bodies but their faces were resolute as they closed in towards Khan, completely ignoring Simba and Kovu.

"Y – You betrayed us!" shouted one of the tigers.

"Stay away from me!" cried Khan; fear easily apparent upon his face.

"We respected you!" growled the other. "We were loyal to you and you tried to kill us all!"

Khan had now reached the edge of the cliff; looking down he saw that a group of crocodiles had massed at the bottom; waiting for a fall.

"You tried to kill us," declared the first tiger. "Now we're going to kill you!"

With those words, both tigers ran at Khan and pounced at him; Khan staggered on the edge but his paw suddenly gave way and with an earth-piercing shriek toppled over the edge, along with the other two tigers. Simba and Kovu raced towards the edge, looking over just in time to see the three tigers hit the water and the crocodiles submerge after them. Then, moments later, the crystal-blue water turned a dark shade of red before Khan's head slowly bobbed up to the surface.

"It's over," said Kovu, turning to Simba; with a long sigh, he collapsed on to the ground, exhausted.

"Yeah, it finally is," replied Simba.

With the battle behind them, both lions lay down upon the rocky ground; they looked up at the sky, watching the rain clouds depart, breathing in the sweet freshness of victory.