Can A Tiger Deafeat A Lionheart?

Deep inside the Twin Blue Hills forest:

The bandits were heading somewhere.

Bandit 1: "Boss, where are we going?"
Bandit leader: "You will see."
Bandit 2: "But... just tell us, boss. We are walking for hours."
Leader: "Okay. Some tribal hunters live here. We are going to find them."
Bandit 3: "What?! But why?"
Leader: "You will understand that later."
Bandit 1: "But we are here for the first time, aren’t we? Then how do you know about their existence?"
Leader: "They are pretty much infamous, that's why."

Suddenly, an arrow came toward the Bandit leader and he dodged it.

Bandit leader: "I think they are here."

A tribal man appeared in front of them.

Tribal man: "Who are you people? Why are you invading our area?"
Bandit leader: "We are not here to cause any problem. We want to meet your leader."
Tribal man: "Okay, fine."

The tribal man then guided all of them to the base of the tribal hunters.

In the base of Tribal hunters:
The base was very vast. There were many houses, like it was a small village. Many people were training with their weapons while others were doing specific jobs. In a corner, animal sacrifices were being conducted. The tribal people were remarkably very scary.

Tribal man: "Leader, someone is here to meet you."
Tribal leader: "Who is that?"
Bandit leader: "Hey, I am the leader of this bandit group."
Tribal leader: "Oh, I see... Why are you here?"
Bandit leader: "We came here after following our enemies. You know, they are only two people, but they are very strong. I am sure that they will cause many problems to you people too. So I need your help to defeat them."
Tribal leader: "I see. But what will we get in return?"
Bandit leader: "In return? Take this."

The Bandit leader handed over a pouch of money to the tribal leader.

Tribal leader: "Fine. But never ever try to backstab us. If you do, the result will be scarier than your wildest dream."
Bandit leader: "I can understand. Anyway, do you know anything about the Elixora flower? Our enemies are after it."
Tribal leader: "What! Elixora flower? That's our secret treasure. I can’t let anyone take it. I will stop them no matter what."

Meanwhile, the path toward the top of Twin Blue Hills:

Simba and Bagheera were still walking and were almost there, about to reach the top of the hill.

Simba: "We are almost there."
Bagheera: "Yeah. But I am still worried about mother. Will we be able to reach the flower to her before things get worse?"
Simba: "Never lose hope, Bagheera. We can definitely do it."
Bagheera: "Thanks a lot, Simba."

Simba softened his voice for a while, other than his strict and intimidating tone.

Simba: "No need to say thanks. You were the one who stood with me when I had no one."
Bagheera: "No one was there to support me either at that time. So you were the only one who supported me. And you still do. I will always be thankful to you for all that, and I will serve you till the end of my life, with pleasure."
Simba: ".......You don't need to think like that. Never ever think that you are serving me and that I am someone superior to you. And you didn’t have to serve me either. I have my goals, and you need to have your own dreams. You know, I wouldn't be there with you forever. Yeah, I want to, but I can’t, because we don't know what fate is planning for us."
Bagheera: "I can understand. But I don't have any other dream than helping you achieve your goals."
Simba: "But you need to, Bagheera. Look, I am like a brother to you, isn’t it? But there are still many people who love you too, other than me. Look at them, then you will understand your goals by yourself."
Bagheera: "People who love me? It's only you and mother. Father was there too, but he is no more..... And I don't think any other people love me. Yeah, our villagers and bandit group do, but they only consider me as someone second to you, not as who I really am."
Simba: "What about Kara."
Bagheera: "Oh, I just forgot about her! Yeah, she also likes me. Wait, don’t think like that about us. I just see her as a friend."
Simba: "Anyone can understand that she loves you."
Bagheera: "But I don't have those kinds of feelings for her, you know."

Bagheera tried to change the subject.

Bagheera: "Hey, you are telling me all this. Who are the people who actually like you, and who do you like?"
Simba: "Do I really need to tell you all that? You already know everything about me. You, your father and mother, our villagers, and our bandit group. These are the only people in my life, and they all are important to me. No family to talk about. Don’t even remember anything about them. And there are some girls in our village who are attracted to me, but they only love me because I am strong, not because of who I really am. But you know that I am not interested in going behind girls at all."
Bagheera: "You are the one who told me Kara loves me."
Simba: "Yeah. I am not interested in girls, but that doesn't mean you also need to avoid them. I want you to live a happy life with your family. I am not a family man at all. Who am I? A bandit, a hunter, or a warrior. You are the next leader of our village."
Bagheera: "What? You are the leader. I don't want to be a leader or anything."

They walked on like this. Bagheera was the only one with whom Simba actually talked freely and openly. But Bagheera still used to talk in a respectful and formal manner toward Simba.
Suddenly, Simba sensed something and stopped walking.

Bagheera: "What happened?"
Simba: "I can sense enemies there. We need to take a different route."
Bagheera: "Enemies? But who? We already defeated the bandits who followed us. And why do we need to run from enemies?"
Simba: "We aren't running from them, Bagheera. I never lose a chance to fight, but currently getting to the Elixora is important for us. We don't have enough time to waste."

Simba's warrior madness was very strong, so he could sense the presence of enemies from far away. Simba and Bagheera took another path.

Bagheera: "But how will we know if this path is correct or not?"

Simba stopped again.

Simba: "Enemies are here too."
Bagheera: "Where?"

Simba pointed upward. Bagheera looked upward. Hundreds of tribal hunters were at the top of the trees, and they all were aiming their arrows at Simba and Bagheera.

Bagheera (very annoyed): "Now who are these people."
Simba: "That doesn't matter. We can understand that they are our enemies, and you know how we answer enemies."
Bagheera: "Yeah, with our blades."

Simba and Bagheera then took out their swords. The tribal hunters shot thousands of arrows from the top, raining them downward. Simba and Bagheera sliced every arrow with their swords by unleashing warrior madness.
Simba saw the enemy bandit leader.

Simba: "So he is the one behind all of this."
Bagheera: "We will deal with him after defeating these tribal people."

The tribal people then came down and proceeded to hand-to-hand combat. Simba and Bagheera fought them like a hurricane. Simba crushed every tribal man who came to oppose him. He got surrounded by a group of about fifty tribal men. Simba easily defended their attacks and threw them away with his sword and brute strength.
Then an arrow came directly toward his face, but he easily cut it in half and cut the tribal man who launched it. The fact that Simba wasn’t killing anyone, but he didn’t hesitate to brutally wound them.

Bandit leader: "No, this is not good. They are overpowering the hunters. We need to do something, otherwise Simba will kill us."

Many hunters shot arrows at Simba, but he dodged them all. He then took a gun-like crossbow and shot sharp, bullet-like wooden pieces at them. The wooden pieces could travel farther and faster compared to arrows because of their light weight, and they also caused high damage due to Simba's infused warrior madness.
On the other hand, Bagheera was also fighting against the hunters in his own style. The hunters had no chance against him.

Simba(thought): "I can sense something other than these hunters approaching. What could it be?"
Simba(screaming): "Bagheera, be careful. There are many more enemies."

Suddenly, a pack of wolves rushed out and attacked everyone.

Bagheera: "What!?"
Simba: "This is what I expected."
Bandit leader: "What the...!"

After the arrival of the wolves, the fight became very complicated. Simba, Bagheera, tribal hunters, and bandits fought the wolves while also fighting each other. The tribal hunters tried hard to kill the wolves. They were hunters, but they weren’t prepared, so the wolves overpowered them. The bandit group didn’t stand a chance against the wolves.
Simba and Bagheera were easily fighting the wolves. They weren't trying to kill them, but were easily defeating them.
Suddenly, an arrow came toward Bagheera when he was off guard and pierced his leg. The arrow was shot by a hunter.

Bagheera(with intense pain): "Aaahhh."
Simba: "Bagheera, are you okay?"

Bagheera sat on the ground.

Bagheera: "Yeah, I am. Simba, go and take the Elixora. These wolves will handle the rest of the hunters."
Simba: "But what about you? You are wounded."
Bagheera: "I can defend myself."
Simba: "Okay, take this."

Simba threw a small gun-like crossbow toward Bagheera, and he caught it. Simba then went to take the Elixora flower. The peak of the hill was just a few meters away.
Bagheera, on the other hand, shot wolves, bandits, and hunters with the crossbow who tried to harm him, and sliced every arrow that came toward him with his sword while sitting.
Simba reached the peak and got very close to the Elixora flower. Some hunters were following him. Before he could take it, the hunters dragged him down and he fell from the peak of the hill.
Simba realized that he no longer had time to take the flower and that things were getting much worse. He was also very angry. He then unleashed his warrior madness again. This time, energy beams came out from his body and sword due to warrior madness, and he defeated all the hunters around him with just one attack.
The bandit leader was trying to defend himself from the wolves. Before he could do anything, a wolf attacked him and he fell to the ground. But before the wolf could kill him, Simba attacked the wolf, saving him.
The bandit leader looked at Simba with wonder. He didn’t understand why Simba saved him, while Simba was furiously staring at the bandit leader.
Simba then unleashed many attacks with energy beams and defeated the wolves. The hunters fled in fear. Simba defeated every wolf, and the wolves escaped with their lives. The bandit gang was still there but was unable to fight.
Everyone thought everything was over. Bagheera gasped with relief.
But nothing was over.

Simba heard another predator’s roar. Suddenly, a huge tiger approached Bagheera. Bagheera was unable to move because of his wounded leg.
Simba jumped toward Bagheera and reached in front of him. He caught the tiger by its fangs. The tiger threw Simba away.
Simba was now very angry. He could easily kill the tiger with his sword, but he didn’t want to kill a wild animal, so he decided to take it down using brute strength only.
Simba fought the tiger alone while the bandit gang watched in amazement. The tiger tore Simba's clothes with its claws, revealing Simba's extremely muscular physique.
The tiger chased Simba, and Simba ran through the woods, creating a trap using wild creepers. The tiger charged and tackled Simba, causing him to fall again. A lantern that Simba always carried rolled away from him.

Simba: "No, my lantern."

The tiger charged again, but this time Simba pulled the creepers and trapped the tiger. Simba punched the tiger, but it broke the trap and charged again. Simba hit the tiger with a rock. The tiger was now exhausted.
For the final time, Simba and the tiger jumped toward each other. Their eyes met midair. Simba dodged the attack and punched the tiger’s face with infused warrior madness. The tiger fell to the ground and ran away in fear.
Simba stood like a warrior who had won a war, proud and fearless, while the bandits stared at him in fear.

Bagheera: "Simba."

Bagheera threw Simba's lantern toward him, and Simba caught it. Simba took out a dried leaf roll from his clothes. The lantern had a small opening. He lit the leaf roll and smoked it.

Simba: "Do you all think that a tiger can beat a lion?"
Bagheera: "A man who can even beat a lion."

The bandits had nothing to say. They realized how inferior they were to Simba.

The bottom side of the Twin Blue Hills:

Simba and Bagheera were returning to their village. Bagheera couldn’t walk, so Simba carried him on his back.

Bagheera: "So... we defeated hunters, bandits, wolves, and a tiger, but sadly we were unable to take the Elixora flower, which was the reason we came here in the first place. But I can't blame you either, Simba. I was unable to defend myself and got wounded. I know you can't climb the peak again while carrying me. I am sorry."
Simba: "No need to. Did you really think I would leave without taking the flower?"
Bagheera(with wonder): "What?!"

Simba showed the Elixora flower to Bagheera. It was revealed that Simba had already taken the flower.

*Flashback ends*

Kara: "Oh, so you both fought that many people and predators in one day!?"
Bagheera: "Yeah. Simba is the greatest one. There is no one more powerful than him in this whole village, maybe even in this whole nation."
Kara: "Yeah."

Simba called Bagheera from outside the house.

Simba: "Bagheera, we are getting late."
Bagheera: "Kara, I need to go."
Kara: "......Okay. When will you return?"
Bagheera: "Soon."

They both smiled at each other. Bagheera then left. Simba, Bagheera, and their group departed.

Eastern border forest of Morica:

Some terrorists were hiding there, and they were planning an attack.

Terrorist 1: "So you all know our mission, right? Lucaris, the prince of Groacia, will travel through this path. We need to abduct him."
Terrorist 2: "Understood. But he is a prince, so wouldn't guards be with him?"
Terrorist 1: "Probably not. I have heard that he is a very arrogant lad. He will probably come alone. Even if guards are with him, we need to catch him, no matter what."
Terrorists: "Understood."

That evening, forest, base of Simba’s Bandit group:

After returning to his base, Simba was furious to see his men brutally attacked.

Simba(very angry): "Who did this?"
A man in Simba's group: "....King's people."

Simba became even more furious.

Simba: "We have been tolerating their injustice for years. I can't tolerate this anymore. This is the time for revenge."

Bagheera and the others listened carefully to Simba's words and stood ready to act.

To be continued...........