Zuka Zama Part II: The Scourge of Kopa | The Lion Guard

42. Means to an End

Zira snarled to herself, licking her wounds from the fight before. She had to do something now that they lost their chance to defeat Simba. That wretched Guard had gotten in her way, just her luck.

"What we will do now, Mother?", Vitani asked.

Zira sighed to herself, she had to watch Simba escape and stay back to defend herself from the Guard. In the end she had to retreat, any injury would be detrimental to her future plans. She and Vitani were in the thick high grass, formulating a new plan. She knew that Kopa was atop the hill with Kion, but now Simba was heading there right now. She knew that Kopa could deal with him, but the idea of getting to him before Kopa could interfere was too good an opportunity to miss.

"You go back and lead the lioness, make sure they keep fighting. I'm going to hunt Simba down", Zira snarled. Vitani wasn't too sure about the idea, but she obediently nodded to her mother and bounded out of hiding to rejoin the fight. Zira carefully rose from the grass and checked her surroundings. Vitani was already sprinting off in the distance towards the raging battle in the distance.

She was glad that she had one cub left that was still of use to her. But she could fix that problem later, for now she had an opportunity and she was going to seize it. Zira bounded off, keeping aware to not be seen by any Pride Landers. Putting some more thought into it she decided it was best to avoid any fellow Outlanders, in case they would draw attention to her. Keeping as close to the tall grass, she slunk towards the hill.

All the while she was thinking of how she was going to get the jump on Simba and finally be rid of him forever. The lion that took her Scar away would be ripped from the world by her own claws and fangs. Once Simba and his family were gone from the picture she would assume the throne and continue Scar's reign in her stead. Though there was the obstacle of Kopa that presented itself, but Zira was not too concerned about him. Once she saw how Kopa acted towards Simba she quickly came to the conclusion that Kopa's emotions were very unstable and that's something she could take ready advantage of. The idea of a powerful lion with access to the Roar itself doing anything he said was too perfect. Once Kopa got what he wanted he would have no idea what to do next and that's when she would take over, masking it as "helping" the foolish lion lead. It seemed now that he plan was complete and foolproof. She would take out Simba and mold Kopa into a lion that could replace both of her useless sons, being the force that would keep her in power.

She approached the bottom of the hill and prepared to carefully scale up it's stony surface when she heard faint grunts. She looked over and gasped seeing that hyena, Changamoto with a front leg that did not look quite right. Under normal circumstances she would have a least acknowledged her, but she was on a path to her victory so she continued on her climb up the hill. It was all her grasp she could feel it, she could even heard Simba's voice. She was close now, finally this moment had come. She paused as a roars sounded, she didn't want to risk being caught in a hostile situation. There she waited for minutes in place to a moment she felt was the time to strike. She continued on her climb, being 3/4 of the way there. Her claws hurt from digging into the rocky upwards land, but she continued on thinking how she could relieve that pain by sinking those claws into the soft flesh of Simba.

After what seemed to take an eternity to her she made it to the top of the hill. She still kept herself out of sight, but listened hard. She wanted to hear Simba's final words before she ended him.

"Alright, first things first. We have to put a stop to all of this", the lioness couldn't believe what she was hearing. No, her ears must have misheard something. She dared to peak and just as she feared she saw Kopa, the very lion who was supposed to Simba's enemy, now plotting alongside him. She should have known that someway somehow Simba would have talked him out of all of this. Zira couldn't take it anymore, throwing herself onto the surface of the hill, making her presence known.