Rael: What's with all those Pokémon?
nightelf37: No idea. But I know I'll make a certain pendant of… Oops. Best not spoil the story here.
Rael: Oh well. It' better be good.
nightelf37: I promise. Remember, only the plot and OCs belong to me.
Chapter 47: Pride Lands
Part I. All New Forms
In my sleep, I was on the platform where I had engaged with Darkside in my first Awakening. With me was 'Chosen One'.
"Why am I here?", I asked.
"I've come to explain about the Pokémon that you've been seeing."
"Yes? What about them?"
"You see, when the world where they resided faded into darkness, some of these Pokémon fled via unknown means, scattered across different worlds. While some have managed to return to their world right after you sealed the Door To Darkness with Sora, there are seventeen left to return."
"I see."
"One of the Mushrooms XIII will give you the special Pokéballs required. Now, awaken."
I woke up in front of Sora, who was just about to wake me up.
"Come on. Let's go."
I went along with Sora to the Transwarp Room, where everyone else was waiting. As usual, we were blinded by the bright light, but our surprise was not only because of the surroundings we ended up in, but also our forms.
"Hey!", Sora shouted in surprise. "Check us out!"
We looked down at ourselves. Sora was now a brown lion cub with white fur at his under belly and his spiky brown hair now as a spiky mane; he had his crown necklace still.
Donald was a hornbill bird with his head still as it is, a blue sailor hat with a black 'ribbon', and white feathers with blue wingtips.
Goofy was a tortoise with a yellow shell and golden yellow spots; he also has a green hat similar to his other one. His head remained the same
Instead of becoming a standard animal like Sora, I became what Pollonaire identified as a Blue Kacheek, a 'teddy-fox' Neopet.
"This brings back memories.", I wondered to myself. "But of what?"
As for our Neopet friends, they merely lost their anthropomorphic forms and became regular Neopets.
Fiorina and Vitri were on all fours, without their clothing, much to Fiorina's dismay, but they kept their hairstyles.
Ilsa was on all fours too, but she also became somewhat smaller. How small, you may ask? The size of a regular Ixi.
Pollonaire only became short and squat, since the Shoyru are a relatively upright Neopet species.
Gregorio was now shorter than ever, and also, his head and body 'merged' as his limbs became quite smaller but still usable.
As for Yoris, he stayed as is since he never was anthropomorphic to begin with.
We then looked at our surroundings. We were in a clearing of a dark rocky expanse, with acid ponds that has green mist rising from them at the edges of the area.
"This place is kinda creepy, though.", Sora remarked.
The Short Ones mumbled an agreement. Fiorina gasped as we found ourselves surrounded by hyenas. One of them, with its tongue hanging out, laughed hysterically. Vitri looked around at the canines lining the cliffs above us.
"Are they Heartless?", he asked.
"I have absolutely no idea, Vitri.", Pollonaire said. "But I get the feeling they're native residents."
"They're hyenas.", I told them. As everyone stared at me, even Sora, I faced him and asked. "You've never heard of places outside the islands other than other worlds?"
Sora shook his head and I face-palmed.
"Don't mind us!", Donald announced. "We're just passing through. We won't be any trouble."
Ilsa nodded hastily. "Yeah, that's right!", she added.
"Don't be silly," another one, a female, interrupted as she circled us. "We'd love for you to stick around for lunch." Another one, a sane male, was circling them too.
"Um… we didn't bring anything to eat," Sora pointed out hesitantly, a bit nervous as well as the others.
The male laughed. "That's not gonna be a problem!"
Just then, my bag (which I kept), launched slabs of meat all over the place, which the other hyenas ate.
"Not a problem anymore, right?", I asked nervously.
"Maybe, but we want some more; YOU!"
The tongue hanging hyena cackled insanely again then growled. Yoris screeched, creating a powerful sound wave which knocked down most of them and stunned the rest. We took this chance and ran for it. Sora however, who was at the back, tripped over his feet on the first few steps and ended up on his back.
"Going somewhere?", the sane one demanded, walking over to Sora. The rest of us daren't move in case he would be quickly finished off. Just then, a red lion cub jumped in and breathed fire at the hyena, forcing him to back away.
"Stay away from them!", he said valiantly. "Or I'll burn you into a crisp!"
Just before the hyena could strike the fiery lion, a roar sounded out through the clearing. The hyena groaned.
"Man, that Scar's got the worst timing."
"Just let him roar, Banzai.", the female advised.
Banzai shook his head. "Nah, we better go see what he wants, Shenzi.", he said, "Sounds like he's grumpy enough already."
The female, Shenzi, sighed deeply. "Fine. Let's go, guys. And that counts you, Ed.", Shenzi commanded.
All the hyenas left the clearing, leaving us and the red cub to sigh deeply in relief. We regrouped after calming down. "That was close.", I remarked, "We would've been lunch to them."
Sora looked at me. "Lucky for you, your form still has two legs.", he grumbled. "Why'd you become a 'Neopet'?"
"I guess it's because of my 'affinity' to them, whatever that is."
"Anyway…" Pollonaire began, then faced Sora's savior. "Thanks for helping us out, uhh…"
"Takeo.", the red lion answered. "The Lion of Fire."
"Y'know, everything's harder on four legs…", Sora complained, not part of the conversation.
"Better start practicing!" Donald suggested.
"Yeah, Goofy, Vitri, Ilsa, Fiorina, and Sora get to practice because they've got FOUR legs.", Yoris said, "while you can fly." Donald looked away nervously with a sweat-drop.
"I found a trick to it," Goofy spoke up, "Here, lemme show ya. All you have to do is…" He then broke into song and dance. "Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking across the floor!"
We all just stared at him with confused looks.
"Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking out the door!"
He walked out the area with the others still staring at him.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay…", I said.
"That was… really weird…", Ilsa mumbled. "I can't believe I'm this small again."
"Hey come on! We've got a world to explore!", Goofy's voice shouted to the rest of us. We just shrugged and walked after Goofy.
"Wait a second!", Takeo spoke up. "What about those things?"
We saw gourd-like chests in the area. Quickly, I opened them and took out the Hi-Potions inside.
"Now let's move on, shall we?", I said.
Part II. Sora Wants To Be King
We found ourselves into a place where there are a lot of elephant bones. All the while, Takeo was making fires around his head, and shooting them skyward.
"Dang… this is a lot of bones…", Fiorina remarked as we looked around.
"You don't think this place is haunted… do you guys?", Goofy asked, a bit scared, and we were all quite irritated with Takeo's 'practicing'.
"Don't worry Goofy.", Sora assured. "Nothing can scare you." He took a glance at the 'graveyard'. "Because everything here is dead…"
"Exactly the point, Sora, and you're not helping.", I told him, rolling my eyes. "I think Goofy has necrophobia; fear of the dead."
We then heard a roar and we turned in time to see a lioness and a blue lion cub evading some Living Bone Heartless.
"Tetsu!", Takeo gasped in panic.
"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?", Sora asked his friends.
"Heartless?!", Yoris queried.
"What do we do?", Goofy wondered.
Sora made a determined face, with a determined look in his eyes, and ran to help the two. The rest of us took off after him. The Heartless backed the lioness and the blue cub to a corner until Sora got between them and the lions.
"Stay back!", he ordered the Heartless.
"Don't bother with that!", I called out. "They're animalistic in nature! Besides, only dark-hearted people can control them."
"So you want it that way huh?", Sora smirked at the Heartless, who didn't faze at all. "Okay, have it your way!"
He summoned his Keyblade… which appeared between his teeth.
"Aw crap." Sora muttered nervously with a sweat-drop. The Heartless roared and leaped at the Keyblade master and the lions, who were speechless and paralyzed in fear… until a shield flew smack at one of the Heartless, sending it flying into the one next to it. As that shield returned to me, a torrent of water followed from behind Sora. The Keyblade master turned to see the blue cub manipulating water.
"C'mon! Let's beat them!", Fiorina declared as she summoned her RefLuxGun… that ended up on her tail.
Donald brandished his staff, which was held in his talons and Goofy had his shield on top of his shell. Takeo 'fired up', snarling. The others summoned their weapons as well, but Yoris and Vitri had their weapons somehow implemented into their bodies.
The JubJub fired a sphere of ice… from his mouth straight at one of the Living Bones. Vitri ejected a bomb the same way, with similar results. Fiorina flew about in the air, hacking with her forepaws and firing her RefLuxGun at the same time. Donald meanwhile started casting magic, like Blizzard, to bombard them multiple times. Goofy started spinning, retracting his head, hands and feet into his shell; whacking one into oblivion. The rest of us fought just like nothing has changed, although I had to watch my tail in case an enemy might grab it and pull me.
While we fought, Takeo made sure the lioness was okay, who watched in awe with her blue eyes. The blue cub did so as well, protecting from any attacks. After it was over, we regrouped.
"Definitely Heartless.", Sora concluded.
"Thank you.", the lioness mumbled. "You really saved me."
Ten of us turned to her. "We're just glad you're okay.", Goofy cheerfully said.
We introduced ourselves, then Goofy queried, "What're your names?"
Takeo introduced the blue cub, who had aquatic features, which was strange for a feline. "This here is Tetsu, the Lion of Water, my brother."
"I'm Nala," the lioness replied, and eyed us. "Though, I got to admit, the ten of you are very strange."
We chuckled nervously with a sweat-drop running down the back of our heads.
"Anyway, did you see any other Heartless around here?", I asked her.
Nala looked confused for a moment. "Heartless… Is that what they're called?", she queried. She put her head down. "I'm not sure if there are any others…" She brought her head up. "I don't usually hunt outside the Pride Lands."
"Pride Lands?", Donald repeated in confusion.
"I guess it's the name of this world…", Vitri replied silently to Donald.
Sora steeped forward. "Hey, do you know if a guy named Riku is there?", he asked.
"Sora.", I tried to interrupt.
But he continued. "Or some bad guys in black hoods?"
I tried again. "Sora!"
"Or maybe this really big idiotic bully named Pete?"
I tried one more time. "SORA!!!"
That caught his attention and as he turned to me, I said, "I don't think there are any 'clothes' at all in this world except for hats and necklaces, okay?"
"I agree.", Fiorina joined in. "Let me try."
She approached Nala and talked with her. We didn't hear what she said, and Gregorio didn't tell us, but we saw that Nala shook her head. We all hung their heads in dismay, sighing deeply. Sora turned to the others. "Oh well, we might as well go take a look, anyway.", he suggested.
"I'm with you.", Tetsu agreed.
"Me three.", added Takeo.
"Wait.", Nala cut in. "The Pride Lands are dangerous. Scar and the hyenas have made things unbearable for everyone. There's no food left. They've driven off the prey. We're about to starve."
"Hey, we can handle a little danger.", Gregorio assured her. "You saw us beat those Heartless a few minutes ago, right?"
"I guess you're right…", Nala figured. "You could be just what the kingdom needs. Maybe you can help us."
"Ya mean take on this Scar guy and all those hyenas?", Goofy asked.
"Scar?", Donald repeated.
"He took over when our last king, Mufasa, died.", Nala explained.
"Mufasa…", I pondered. "Sounds quite familiar. But where?"
"Whoa, whoa, back up!", Vitri exclaimed, interrupting my train of thought. "This 'Scar' is your king AND you want us to take him down?"
Nala nodded in reply.
"Could you excuse them for a minute?" Tetsu asked as he saw us huddle, then he and Takeo decided to talk with Nala.
"We would we do, guys?" Sora asked quietly. "We can't just go around knocking kings off their thrones."
"I agree.", I said. "We aren't exactly freelancers."
"Then again, if they see that I'm stronger than their king, maybe they'll ask me to be their next king!"
"Sora…"
"I'd have to refuse of course," he added, laughing. "Still, I'd like to see the Pride Lands."
"Okay, I guess it won't hurt to give them a… paw, or whatever front limb you have. Besides, I think you-know-who is here."
"O…kay then…" Sora muttered. He turned back and ran over to Nala.
While Sora talked to Nala, Donald muttered, "There he goes again…"
Vitri and Pollonaire turned to the avian. "He did this before?", they asked.
They turned back to them just in time to see Nala nodding and ran off.
"We better get going too.", said Tetsu. "Hope we meet again some other time."
With that, he and Takeo ran off in the same direction as Nala's.
Sora slowly walked back to his friends. "She's gonna go on ahead and tell the other lionesses," he replied before any of us could ask. "We're supposed to meet her at a place called Pride Rock."
"Okay then, let's go!", Vitri said as he led the way to Pride Rock… until he paused for a moment. "Where is Pride Rock?"
"I'm thinking… over there." I pointed to a big pointy rock ahead.
After we regained ourselves and collected the items in the gourds about, we started our journey to Pride Rock. While we walked, we conversed amongst ourselves.
"Now why would a rock be proud?", Yoris implored. "It's a rock for crying out loud!"
"It's because a pride is what they call a group of lions and a lot of lions live here." I replied.
"Wow! How do you know this much?", Donald asked, amazed.
"I learned it in grade school.", I simply told him.
"Hey, we're here.", Pollonaire announced as we neared the big pointy rock, the same rock that I spotted.
"It's…", Ilsa began.
"Big?", Donald finished.
"Exactly what I was going to say.", I said then walked to the path that leads to the entrance.
We walked by the sleeping lionesses, although Gregorio is a little nervous. (A/N: Meercas are rodent-like Neopets). We stopped as we saw Nala and a baboon (I identified it specifically to be a mandrill) with a staff come toward us.
"That's him.", Nala introduced Sora to the baboon.
The baboon stepped forward and approached Sora, scrutinizing on his face.
"Uh…" Sora stuttered, "What?"
The baboon stroked his white goatee as he took a gander at us. The other lionesses sat up, looking at the strange event taking place. I also saw a cub with strange brown markings among them, with an eyebrow raised. The baboon walked back to Nala and whispered something into her ear. Nala looked shocked for a moment then lowered her head in dismay. The lionesses went back to lying down and the brown cub frowned and did the same.
"What is it?", Sora asked, bewildered.
Nala sighed and explained as the baboon walked away, "I told Rafiki you might be able to help us force Scar and the hyenas out of the Pride Lands. But he says it won't work."
"How come?", queried Fiorina.
Nala continued, "You see, whoever saves the Prides Lands will be our next king… and he has to have the right qualities."
"Which means?", I asked.
"I guess she means Sora's not cut out for the job." Goofy replied for me. Sora sighed and hung his head, apparently disappointed. I however, sighed in relief. I thought if he were gonna be King of the Pride Lands, he'd make me leader of the Lumus Squad. The problem was, I'm not leader material.
"I'm sorry you came all this way.", Nala apologized.
Sora waved it aside. "Hey, no—it's okay," he said.
Nala stepped forward and lowered her voice. "You'd better go before Scar finds out you're here.", she whispered to us. "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay.", Sora said with a smile. "We forgive you."
As we turned toward the exit, we found the three hyenas that we encountered back at where we 'landed', walking toward us.
"Hey!", Banzai remarked. "a snack."
Shenzi shook her head. "Snack? Nah, we got us a TEN course meal.", she smirked.
We backed up slowly and then, a roar was heard. Everyone looked up at the overhanging rock behind and spotted a tan colored lion with raven colored mane, a scar over his right eye, which is colored green with the other eye.
"Look at that, here comes Scar—the king," Banzai noted. We also spotted a strange 'lion' that seemed to be the sort in Chinese festivals. (A/N: Imagine the Foulander from Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.) Then, for a second, the mask of the Crescent Unit flashed in my mind for a brief moment. Scar leaped down onto the rocks beside him and landed on our level. As he approached us, the other one tried to do the same. However, he ended up bouncing off some of the rocks but managed to land on his feet.
"What are you doing here?", Sora demanded.
The 'festive lion', whom we recognized by voice as Autumnus, laughed and remarked. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about my friends!" Sora turned back to us, as we were completely cornered by hyenas. Despite my bag ejecting meat like last time, only a few were distracted.
"Sora!", Donald shrieked.
"We're surrounded!", Pollonaire said, stating the obvious.
"Back! Back you beasts!" Fiorina ordered, as she screeched like an eagle, knocking a few of the hyenas back (Eyrie Screech).
"I may be small and cute, but you haven't seen my wild side!", Ilsa warned.
Scar turned to the lionesses behind him. "Go on, ladies—you've got some hunting to do.", he ordered.
"The herds have moved on, Scar.", one of them pointed out. "We can't hunt in a land without prey."
"No prey?" Scar repeated in disbelief. "Then what do you call this?", he asked, indicating the Lumus Squad. Sora and I were shocked.
"We're not prey!", I retorted, with Sora nodding in agreement.
"Oh.", Scar remarked. "Nice and fresh, too."
Autumnus turned to leave. "Well, they're all yours, Scar," he said to him, then loped away. Scar shifted his gaze back to Sora.
"Hmph.", he grunted as he got ready to pounce, but a wall of earth rose up, hitting his jaw, stunning him. Nala tackled him right immediately after as the brown cub with the strange markings joined us.
"Run!", Nala ordered. We quickly obliged. Little did I know that a medium pot fell out of my bag as we did so.
"Here's your warning, you mutts!" Ilsa shouted, then she charged one of the hyenas, pounded another with her forepaw (Ixi Clout), then stomped on the ground, shaking them off balance and partly burying one or two in crevices (Ixi Trample?). Then, pillars of earth (from the brown cub, as we discovered later) pushed the remaining ones higher. After the hyenas laid on the ground, passed out, we ran for our lives.
Nala came up behind us. "Follow me!", she shouted.
"Okay!", I shouted with a panicked look on his face.
Meanwhile, Sora thanked the brown cub for his assistance, who called himself Tao, The Lion of Earth.
Part III. Simba's Alive!
After a minute or two, we all sighed and plopped onto our stomachs, exhausted.
"That-that was a close one.", was all Vitri could say.
"I'm sorry I got you involved in this.", Nala apologized again.
Sora waved the worry aside again. "It's no big deal.", he replied.
"Aw, it's not your fault.", Donald reassured her. "Sora wouldn't be a good king."
"Hey! I had to give it a try right?", Sora retorted, then closed his mouth.
I gave him a look. "So you DID want to be king!", I shouted.
Sora was sweating nervously. "Well… you know…", he managed to say.
But I wouldn't have any of it. "I wouldn't let you! Not if it ends up making ME leader of the Lumus Squad! "
"I wasn't thinking of that!", Sora replied.
"Oh.", I replied, calm again. "I thought that because my powers almost mirror yours. You have a Keyblade, I have a Gun of Light. You got magic, so do I. You have some abilities, many of mine mimic them. You got 'Drive Forms', I got 'Option Modes'. You get what I mean."
"Yeah.", Sora replied, looking down, ashamed.
Meanwhile, Tao got up after resting. "So Nala.", he began as he looked at her with a gruff face. "Is there someone else who could fit for the job?"
Nala looked solemn. "There was… but he died…", she replied. "when he was just a cub. He was the son of our last king, Mufasa." She brought her head down. "If only Simba were here…"
"Simba?!", We all (A/N: Except for Pollonaire and Vitri, who weren't with us in our last adventure; the girls have managed to see him in battle) exclaimed, surprised.
"But Simba's just fine!" Sora explained, "He was fighting with us not that long ago."
"About a year, to be exact.", said Donald.
Nala immediately brought her head up and Tao raised an eyebrow. "You mean Simba's alive?!", she exclaimed then asked: "But where is he?"
Gregorio paused. "That… we don't know.", he replied.
"Still… Simba's alive!", she muttered to herself incredulously, "I can't believe it…", she then said out-loud, "Please—tell me more about him."
"Sure thing!", Sora replied.
Nala looked across the savannah. "But first," she started. "we should get away from Scar. We'll go through Wildebeest Valley. He won't follow us there."
"Right! Let's go!", Vitri exclaimed, then we made our way there.
Meanwhile across the desert from the valley, which I saw in a 'vision', at an oasis, far from where we are, a full grown lion with yellow fur, peach colored fur at the under belly, and red mane; was lying on the ground next to a water filled rock.
"Hey.", called a voice; the lion opened his amber eyes to see a meerkat with yellow fur, a white under belly, red hair and brown at the fingers, toes and at the tip of his; and a warthog with brown fur and black hair at the back and at the tip of his tail; looking at him.
"Why the long face Simba?", asked the meerkat. "You gotta lighten up and live a little!"
The lion, whose name was Simba, (the very same who aided Sora and his friends on their first adventure AND whom Nala was talking about with us) nodded his head.
"Y-yeah…", he muttered.
"What were you thinkin' about?", the warthog queried.
"Lemme guess.", the meerkat began. "The past, right?"
Simba nodded again, though sadly. The meerkat and the warthog looked at each other and said together. "Hakuna matata!"
Simba glanced away from, but managed to smile a little. He got up and walked toward the cliff. "Would you look how he's grown, Pumbaa.", the meerkat said to the warthog, "Why, when I rescued the little guy, he was only this big." He put his hand up to just above his head, being accurate.
Simba walked to the edge of the cliff and watched the clearing. He sighed and plopped on the grass that was under him. By some weird coincidence, the petals from the flowers floated off in a direction. A direction toward Pride Rock…
Just then, my vision ended as we arrived at the valley, and was immediately greeted by the sight of a huge hole in the path in front of them. Below was a long drop with several sharp rocks scattered along the bottom.
"Whoa…", Sora mumbled as he looked down, his voice trembling a little.
Nala backed up, ran up to the hole and leaped over it, successfully landing on the other side.
"Wow!" We all (except for Tao, who just rolled his eyes) said in unison.
Vitri made a determined look and turned around, walking back a little.
"Uh… what are you doing?", Ilsa asked, noticing what he was doing.
"…8, 9, 10.", he muttered. He turned back, facing the hole. "Okay," he muttered. Then he ran as fast as he could, and leaped over the hole. The next thing we all knew, he landed on the other side… but he rolled on and on until he smacked into a rock pillar, face first. He fell back on his back, with dizzy swirls on his eyes.
Just then, a small earth ramp of sorts appeared on our side. Tao motioned to Yoris and me, urging us, and we backed up. Then, Yoris rolled as fast as he could and I switched to Searcher Mode (Sora can't Drive, however), and skated like crazy. The next thing we knew, we were on the other side but we kept going on and collided into the still-unconscious Vitri.
"Darn you guys…", Sora muttered, then looked down again.
"What's wrong?" Nala yelled back to them, her voice echoing across.
"We're never going to make it!", Sora called back.
Nala sighed, shaking her head a bit. "I guess Rafiki was right.", she said to herself.
"What?", Sora shouted, not hearing her.
"Never mind! It's not important. Here, I'll show you how. You can do it!"
"No need for that, Nala!", Tao said. He then conjured a land bridge which the rest crossed, although Pollonaire and Fiorina decided to fly.
"C'mon, let's go." Nala said as we continued our journey. Just then, from above, I heard a bird screech in the air. When I looked up, I saw a large one whose feathers on its head-crest are nearly as long as its body, and are yellow and red. Its tail feathers were red colored. Its underbelly was a tan color, and it had black markings around its eyes. (Pidgeot)
"Another Pokémon.", I muttered, then suddenly, I received another 'vision'.
KHKHKHKHKH
At the Pride Lands… The flower petals from the oasis floated over to Rafiki's place. They were floating peacefully until a hand snatched some of them. The hand turns out to be Rafiki's. He sniffed them a bit and let out a 'Hmm…' He jumped back inside his place and put the petals in a big tortoise shell. He swirled them around a bit while humming. He grabbed a fruit and broke it in half. He took a bite out of it and looked at the petals. His eyes widened in surprise.
"Simba?", he muttered, and looked at a painting of a lion with some streaks on it. "He's alive?!"
He promptly got, grabbed his staff and ran over to the picture; laughed joyously. He dabbed his fingers in a fruit and began to draw something on the painting. He smiled when he's done.
"It's time," he said, as he looked at the picture, that now had a red 'mane' on it…
KHKHKHKHKH
Then, my vision ended as I realized Tao had left and Nala was explaining something.
"When Simba's father, King Mufasa, died." Nala continued as we continued walking. "we were told that Simba died alongside him."
We were intrigued. "Who told you that?", Goofy asked.
Nala stopped in her tracks as she 'realized' something. "Scar.", she replied. The others stopped as well.
"Huh…", Pollonaire wondered as he crossed his arms. "How did Scar know about that?"
We then heard footsteps. We all turned back and saw Rafiki.
"The king is that way.", the old baboon declared as he pointed his staff at the path onward.
Nala looked happier. "It must be Simba!", she exclaimed and started running. "Sora! Hurry!"
Since we haven't been given a warning, Sora called, "…Wait up!".
We followed Nala and since I easily get tired from these walks, I pulled out my Scooter and rode it.
"Woo-hoo! It's go time!!", Ilsa shouted excitedly.
"Where'd Tao go?", I asked to no one in particular.
"He decided to go see if his brothers were okay.", answered Goofy. "He also mentioned that Takeo and Tetsu were his brothers."
"I see."
Part IV. Reunions
We passed through the wastelands ("Man it's hot!!!!", Fiorina groaned as we ran.) and the jungle ("I didn't know there was a jungle in the wastelands…", Nala admitted.) we found ourselves at an oasis. The ten of us (we got separated from Nala) saw Simba surrounded by Aerial Knocker Heartless. The lion roared loudly, which made all of the Heartless disappear.
"Simba!", Sora called out as we ran to him. Simba spotted us and got into a fighting pose. Sora stopped in his tracks with the rest of us, seeing that Simba thought they were a threat.
"I-It's me—Sora! Donald and Goofy are here, too! As well as the girls, Yoris, Gregorio, and Rael, as well!"
Simba slowly approached and stared at us for a moment. I then saw Fiorina send a thought-wave at Simba (through her 'thoughts' that I've been reading, that's how I knew). I didn't know what she sent, but I saw Simba's eyes widen. He pounced onto Sora and nuzzled his stomach, which apparently, was the lion equivalent of a big hug. The rest of us laughed at the sight. Simba looked at Pollonaire and Vitri.
"Who're they?" Simba asked, indicating them.
"These two are our new friends, Pollonaire and Vitri.", Sora replied. "They've been traveling with us for a while."
"Hiya.", Vitri greeted.
"Greetings.", said Pollonaire
Simba gave them a good look. "Well, no offense but, they look odd," he said, "Especially Pollonaire, who doesn't look like any animal I know."
"Then what about me?", Fiorina asked.
Simba ignored her and turned his gaze back at the eight he had known back at our first quest. "What happened to you?", he wondered.
"Well, you see.", I began to explain. "I don't think there are any humans in this world, which Sora and I am, so there; we became animals to match the environment."
Suddenly, we heard some screaming from the jungle.
"Help! Simba! Heeelp!!", Timon's voice called out.
"She's gonna eat us!!", Pumbaa's voice added.
"Timon?", Simba shouted. "Pumbaa?" He turned to Sora, who had finally gotten up. "Something must've happened in the jungle! I have to go help my friends!"
Sora nodded. "Okay, we'll back you up!" Sora called out as we chased after Simba.
"Wait… did those voices say she?", Ilsa spoke up as it occurred to her.
"It must be Nala!", Donald realized.
"Oh dear.", I sighed.
In the jungle, the Nala closed in on Timon and Pumbaa, who were both trembling in fear and jappering incoherently. She was about to pounce but Simba tackled her halfway.
The others arrived just in time to see that and they all stopped. "Simba! Wait!", Sora shouted.
Simba and Nala started to fight. "Stop!", The Short Ones shouted at them.
"It's Nala, Simba!", Goofy added. "Don't ya recognize her?" The fight continued for a few more seconds, until finally Nala was on top of Simba.
Simba finally calmed down and stared at Nala in shock. "Nala?", he asked. Nala did a take, confused by this, and got off him. She gave him a funny look. Simba added, "It's me, Simba!"
Nala gave him a good look then finally recognized her old friend.
"Simba!", she exclaimed happily. The two bonked heads and circled each other. "You are alive!"
Timon and Pumbaa just looked on in shock, mostly Timon though.
"Hey! What's goin' on here?" Timon demanded as the ten of us walked up from behind them and the two turned back to us. The two stared at us and we stared back.
"Hey there!", I greeted, waving to them, but Timon and Pumbaa just screamed bloody murder and ran off.
"Um… was it something I said?", I asked, sweat-dropping.
Timon hid behind Simba's front paw. "Don't worry.", Simba assured him. "They're all friends of mine."
Timon slowly stepped away from his hiding spot, his nerves still shot. "So that means… nobody's planning to eat anybody else for lunch, right?", he implored, freaked out.
Sora nodded. Fiorina turned her head and saw Pumbaa hiding in a corner. "Are you sure they don't wanna eat me like I'm some kinda pig?", he shrieked.
"Um… we won't eat ya.", I insisted. "Though I am an omnivore, you're definitely a pig. A warthog to be exact."
Pumbaa did a take. "Oh… I kinda forgot.", he admitted sheepishly then shouted. "And call me MISTER PIG!". Everyone laughed for a while at that.
After the mirth passed, Simba leaned down and said to Timon, "Could you guys excuse us for a few minutes?"
"Why am I not surprised?", he asked boredly as he shrugged. Simba and Nala walked back to the oasis together.
Sora glanced at Timon. "So how do you guys know Simba?", he asked.
Timon laughed. "How do we know him?" He repeated. "Okay, it's kinda like this…"
While Timon was explaining to them of how he and Pumbaa met Simba, strangely not going into flashback mode, Fiorina felt that someone was missing. She looked around to make sure. It turns out I was the one missing.
" Rael? Where'd you go?", she called out.
KHKHKHKHKH
While the others were busy talking to Timon and Pumbaa, I had followed Simba and Nala. I didn't know why though. Maybe I was possessed by something. By the time I got to where they wouldn't hear me, I realized where I was at.
"Huh?", I muttered as I looked around for a bit. "What am I doing here?" I then hid when Nala began talking.
As I pulled out a paopu from my bag and ate it, Nala told Simba, "You've got to come back to Pride Rock. I thought Sora might be able to help, but you're the only one who can save us from Scar."
Simba paused for a bit, doing a take. "…I can't go back.", he replied, shaking his head.
Nala turned back to him, shocked. "Why?", she asked.
Simba was silent for a moment, before replying, "Hakuna matata.", walking up to her. "It's something I learned out here. Sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing you can do about it." He walked by her and to the cliff of where he was before.
"Simba…" Nala was at lost for words.
I stared at them, after hearing what they had said. "I wonder what happened that made Simba this way…?" I asked myself quietly, as I finished the paopu. My thoughts were broken when I suddenly heard:
"Wanna buy something?"
I turned to the right and gasped as I saw a Moogle named Kumop next to me, unchanged.
"Sure.", I answered, regaining my composure.
After purchasing some supplies and weapons, Kumop disappeared. Just then, I heard a voice.
"Hakuna!"
I turned to the entrance of the oasis and saw Timon, Pumbaa and the others in something that resembled a conga line. I also realized that the voice I heard was Timon's as I planted the paopu seed into the ground. After that, I snuck off to Simba.
"Matata!", Pumbaa and the others shouted. They repeated it again until they saw Nala walking away from Simba, making them stop abruptly.
"He's not the Simba I remember.", she muttered to herself. "Something about hakuna matata…"
After a moment of silence, Pollonaire finally said, "What's up with her?"
"I have no clue.", Timon replied. "But why would Nala hate hakuna matata?"
"Hey, can you guys try to cheer Simba up?", Pumbaa asked, looking at them.
"…We can try.", Sora replied. The nine of them turned to go toward Simba, but then they did a take when they saw me talking to Simba.
"Pay attention, Simba.", I began. "…I don't give a darn about whatever happened to you that made you what you are now, but the past just won't simply disappear like that, even if there's nothing you can do about it."
Simba looked at me, intrigued by my words, which I looked up in a 'book' seconds ago. "Sometimes bad things do happen, but you're not the only one affected; everyone else has their bad days too. Besides, the past makes us who we are. Just remember it… for everyone's sake."
The others stared at me, stupefied. Simba, sensing that the lecture was over, walked by without a word and disappeared into the jungle; the others walked up to me after Simba left.
"Wow… we never knew you could make a speech like that.", Sora remarked.
"I didn't.", I answered. "I just had the urge to look in my bag and then I saw some words in a booklet. Next thing I knew, I just had to say it to Simba."
"I see."
Part V. The King Has Returned
We slept for a few hours after that. Soon, we got up, one by one, to sneak out and find where Simba went. However, I was still asleep, so I was woken up.
"Hey, Rael!", Sora called out.
"Wha…?", I gasped and opened his eyes to see my friends looking down at me.
"C'mon, we gotta go find Simba and see where he went," Sora said as he, the others, Pumbaa, and Timon turned to a direction and walked off.
"Hey, c'mon! We're not getting any younger!", Ilsa said to me as I instantly followed them.
"Ya sure this is the right way, Vitri?" Goofy asked, glancing at him.
"Of course it is.", Vitri replied. "This nose never lies."
Vitri looked to the side and spotted Simba looking over the horizon. "Hey, there he is!", he said to us quietly. We all turned and hid behind the bushes, so we won't be seen. To make doubly sure, I pulled out a spray can and sprayed on all of us. (Timon remarked that we smelled like ants) We also noticed it was very early in the morning, and the sun hadn't come up yet.
"My father's dead," Simba mumbled to himself. "And it's because of me… It's my fault. I can't go back…" Simba continued, "It won't change anything."
flashback
"Look at the stars," Simba's father said, which looks a little like him but older, Mufasa, advised. "The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars."
"Really?", the younger Simba queried in awe.
"Yes," Mufasa replied, "And whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you…" They both look up at the night sky. "And so will I."
end flashback
Simba looked up at the stars. "Father…" He begged, getting odd looks from his unknown watchers, "are you there?"
Suddenly, a swirl of clouds started to expand and swirl and glow. Simba and the other (hidden) audience, gasped. An image, Simba's father, Mufasa, appeared in the center of the swirl.
"Simba…", Mufasa scolded his son calmly, "you have forgotten who you are. You must take your place in the Circle of Life."
"How can I go back?", Simba demanded. "I'm not who I used to be."
"Remember who you are," Mufasa's image insisted. After a few moments the image began to fade. Simba tried running toward it, but he stopped at the cliff. When he looked up again, the whole cloudy expanse was gone. Just then, a medium-sized seed conked on Simba's head, snapping every one of us out of the 'spell'.
"Who's there?", he asked stiffly, looking around, seeing us.
"Busted.", Ilsa gasped, making an 'L' on her forehead. "But it wasn't any of us."
We then heard rustling above us, and when we looked, we saw Powerwild, Bouncywild, and Sniperwild… Heartfuls jump down. Just before Simba could pounce on them (he's fought them before while he was a Summon), I got in the way.
"Calm down.", I explained. "Let me handle this."
I then reached for something in my bag, took out a certain heart-shaped object, then the three simians disappeared into a red Materia (Simian Trio).
"What were they?", Simba asked. "And why do you smell like ants?"
"One, those were Heartfuls, former Heartless who mistook a heart-shaped item for a real one, and took it, becoming benevolent and sentient.", I explained. "And two, I used one of my special 'gadgets' in my bag right here."
"Oh. Okay." Then Simba regained his composure, and then announced, "I've made up my mind. I'm going back to face my past. I could use your help… because I'll need it."
"He really is a king…", Timon marveled. The sun rose directly behind Simba, making him seem to glow.
The next morning, Simba told Nala he's going back home, which thrilled her, and we all started our journey to the Pride Lands. We were attacked by Heartless on the way, and we all got to see how Simba fights; using his claws, teeth, and his roar. When the going got tough, I decided to use one of the summons I bought from Kumop.
"TURBO!", I shouted, pulling out a small 'kitchen knife' Charm. As expected, at least for you readers, a Tonberry came out, complete with cloak, lantern, and knife.
Donald, who happened to see a Tonberry before, said in disgust, "Tonberries are slow. How useful could he be?"
Just then, in a flash, Turbo went true to his name; he zipped around the field, tripping up Living Bones and knocking about Aerial Knockers, much to the bird's surprise.
"WHA!…", was all Donald could say. However, much to his disappointment, the Heartless were still standing, although weakened.
As Turbo 'returned', I said with an irritated face. "Turbo had been weak since he was young. To compensate it, he built up his speed until he became what we saw right now." The others currently held off the Heartless while I explained to Donald. "That is why he is the reverse of most Tonberries; he's fast, but 'weak', while most are slow but deadly." By then, the present Heartless threat was over. However, another obstacle blocked our way; a Mushroom XIII member.
"I'm No. 7.", it introduced. "Defeat me in ten seconds and I'll offer you a reward. However, you'll be sent flying of you touch me, okay?"
"Fine.", I said, switching to Genesis Mode. "Let's get this over with." In a flash, I shot away with my gatling Gun-Arm and I was done.
"Very well.", it said in disappointment. "Here you go."
It gave me a bunch of balls, another shield for Goofy, and then disappeared.
Another minute later, we reached the savannah. Simba walked up a slope as he noticed that the grass he used to walk on was gone and the sky is pale green. When he walked to the edge though, he gasped as he saw the ruin that was the savannah he once knew. It had once been his home, as Nala told us, not a barren wasteland.
"Wait a minute.", Timon began with a skeptical look. "We're going to fight your uncle for this?"
Simba looked back at his comrades, then back to Pride Rock. True, it wasn't a great piece of real estate, but… "Yes, Timon.", he replied, "This is my home."
"And besides,", Yoris added. "I don't think his home was like this all his life."
Scar looked over his remote kingdom. Nothing was out of order… yet. And the pot left behind by those strangers has been feeding the hyenas and the lionesses well. His ears twitched as he picked up a sound. He looked up at the rocks behind him, and he saw Simba there, glaring down at him. Scar gasped in disbelief as Mufasa's son leaped down and started to approach him.
"Simba!", he blurted out. "You're… alive!"
"This kingdom doesn't belong to you.", Simba stated.
Nala and the Lumus Squad came up behind him.
"Simba's the rightful king!", the lioness added.
"Yeah, what she said!", Donald exclaimed.
Simba walked toward Scar, who stepped back until he was cornered. "The choice is yours, Scar.", Simba told him. "Either step down or fight."
Scar glanced at the wall behind him, seeing no way out in that direction. "Must this all end in violence?", he asked in which I noticed was an innocent tone. Scar slowly walked past Simba. "I'd hate to be responsible for the death of a family member, Simba…"
"I've put the past behind me.", Simba told him.
"Yes, but what about your faithful subjects?", Scar asked him, indicating the other lionesses.
"Simba, what is he talking about?", she asked, confused. Scar circled Simba with an air of triumph that I somehow detected.
"Go on," Scar said, "Tell them the one responsible for Mufasa's death!"
While this occurred, Simba shifted his gaze to the ground.
"I—" Was all he could say before a strong gust of wind blew, distracting us. Just then, on the rocky area Simba stood earlier was a lion who had pale fur, a red tribal 'marking' on his left cheek, and a white mane with some of it tied in little braids. Leaping from where he was at, he pounced Scar with incredible strength from out of nowhere, knocking the lion to his back.
"You murderer! Why would you do such a thing?!", the lion questioned Scar. My Scan identified him as "Hayao, Lion of the Wind."
"What are you talking about? And who are you!", Scar demanded as he tried to get Hayao off.
"I'm Hayao, Lion of the Wind, and witness of the Wildebeest Valley Stampede that occurred years ago. You'd stoop so low just to get rid of your own brother?", the white lion continued to question. "You planned all this the whole time: Leading Simba to the Wildebeest Valley for him to die in a stampede caused by Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, and when Mufasa saved him and subsequently climbed back up, YOU intercepted your brother, caught him, and threw him off to die!!"
"How would you possibly know all this; my relationship with Mufasa and my hyena minions?"
"How I got it doesn't matter. What matters is you're the culprit behind Mufasa's demise!"
Everyone, even I, was shocked at that statement. We couldn't explain it, but we could somehow sense the truth within it.
"Get off of me you imbecile!", Scar demanded as he pushed Hayao off. The Lion of Wind rolled all the way to a cliff side and fell off. Pollonaire flew off to catch him before he fell to the ground; despite being a stranger, he saved Simba from a potentially disgraceful talk-down and Pollonaire's not one to let any non-enemy die if he could help it.
Meanwhile, Simba was taking in everything he heard that white lion say. He couldn't believe it; Scar was his favorite uncle, and he liked hanging out with him. And now that he knew the truth, he became furious. As Scar got up, Simba pounced on him, sending the lion to his back again.
"Murderer! Tell them the truth!", Simba demanded, pressing his paw against Scar's neck. Scar looked agitated, but not angry as he admitted the truth.
"Alright. Alright!", he exclaimed. "I did it."
Simba wasn't satisfied. "Louder!", he ordered, pressing harder.
"I…killed…Mufasa!!", Scar yelled, enunciating every syllable for everyone to hear. At that moment, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed came out of the king's chambers and piled onto Simba. Scar used that opportunity to escape to the peak as more hyenas appeared. As Simba faced Scar's stooges, Fiorina ran up to him.
"Simba! You go get Scar! We'll handle these guys!", she told him. Simba nodded and ran after Scar as more hyenas appeared and surrounded the Eyrie. More and more were coming despite the lionesses, who fought them off.
"This isn't good…", Pollonaire muttered the moment he saw the hyenas as he and Hayao (on a 'cloud') rose into the action. Suddenly, Timon and Pumbaa came in (with Timon on Pumbaa) and they (or in this case, Pumbaa) charged into the group of hyenas.
"'Scuse me! Pardon me! Comin' through!", Timon shouted as the hyenas went flying.
Gregorio stared at that as he vaulted over a hyena with his javelin."Now there's something you don't see everyday…", he managed to say as he subsequently zoomed about and bounced off more of these goons. (Meerca Zoom and Ricochet) Amidst all the chaos, he didn't notice a hyena sneaking up on him. It was about to pounce on him until a staff whacked it. Gregorio looked up and saw Rafiki, doing a karate yell as he jumped down from the rock he was on. He stared the hyenas down and they attacked him; however, he fought back with his staff and his hands and feet, kung-fu style. A hyena dizzily rose behind Rafiki until he backhanded it without looking. Gregorio and Yoris, who was shook off hyenas with tremors (Jubjub Stomp), were awestruck.
"Whoa… kung-fu monkey…", they both muttered.
Around that time, Hayao and Pollonaire were working together, pulling in and shoving off enemies with either Force powers or aerokinesis. Just then, we all heard Timon screaming bloody murder as he was chased by Shenzi, Banzai and Ed to the king's chambers. Then, a couple of hyenas surrounded Pollonaire and Hayao, cutting them off. Meanwhile, Timon continued to run away from them until he was cornered. He turned around and nervously backed up to the wall as the hyenas closed in on him.
"Hey, you leave him alone!", I demanded as I charged in front of Timon, shield in front, but the three just chuckled to themselves and approached closer until…
"Hey!" They turned their heads to Pumbaa, who's at the entrance, glaring at them. "Are we havin' a problem here?"
"Hey, what's with the pig?", Banzai asked looking at Pumbaa, puzzled.
Pumbaa narrows his eyes angrily as he snapped while speaking in a deep serious voice, "Are you talkin' ta me?"
"Uh oh. They call him a pig.", yelped a concerned Timon to me, as he realized what just happened. I looked at Timon curiously. And thought, "He's used to it? Or has he seen this many times before?"
"Are you talkin' ta me?!", Pumbaa repeated, much angrier now.
"You shouldn't have done that.", Timon told a confused Shenzi.
"ARE YOU TALKIN' TA ME?!", Pumbaa yelled in the angriest of voices.
"Now they're in for it.", Timon said to himself in amusement.
"THEY CALLED ME… MISTER PIG!", Pumbaa roared. He then roared and charged at the shocked Hyena Trio. Timon and I, sensing what was going to happen, wisely got out of the way.
Sora, Ilsa, and recently returned Takeo, Tetsu, and Tao (the others were still holding off hyenas) ran in just in time to see Pumbaa beating the crap out of the hyenas. They decided to watch in amusement. After for some time, the three hyenas ran out of the cave, yipping like little puppies. Nala came in just in time to see them running out.
"Nala!", Sora exclaimed. Nala spotted them and came over.
"You're all okay!", Nala exclaimed, seeing that we were unharmed.
"Yeah, thanks to Pumbaa.", I added, making the warthog blush.
"Aw, shucks.", Pumbaa replied bashfully.
"Anyway, where's Simba?", Sora asked. The lioness looked at the path to the side.
"He went up there.", she replied. We looked at the path.
"Okay, let's go!", Takeo declared, and took off. The rest of us stood there for a minute, and then followed. However, in the middle of the path, there stood three familiar figures in a cloud of smoke, maniacally laughing.
"Prepare for trouble from the forces of evil!", a male voice said.
"Make it double and succumb to our will.", a deeper voice said.
The smoke cleared, revealing Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie, virtually unchanged.
"To infect the worlds with supreme darkness!", said Jessie.
"To turn all beings into Heartless!", said Biggs.
"To denounce the wrath of our poison darts!", said Wedge.
Jessie: "To extend our reach to Kingdom Hearts!"
"Biggs!"
"Jessie!"
"And Wedge!"
Wedge: "We three blast off at the speed of dark!"
Biggs: "Give up right now or be on your mark!"
Jessie: "Cause we're gonna take you down!"
"Aw, c'mon!", Ilsa complained. "Enough already!"
Suddenly, The Three Truants were encased in spheres of water. I then saw it was Tetsu who did it. The blue cub then waved his paw to the left, and it sent the three there and knocked them out.
"Come on!", said Tao, snapping us out of our 'spell'.
As he encased the truants in rock, Takeo was running ahead and we all followed soon enough.
Part VI. The Battle for The Pride Lands
We finally raced up to the flat peak, where we saw Simba and Scar circling each other, and also, Simba was panting in exhaustion.
"Simba!", Ilsa shouted, getting ready to charge in. Sora raised a paw to stop her, who gave him a look.
"This is his fight, Ilsa.", Sora told her.
Time seemed to have been slowed as the two lions exchanged a few blows, and Scar knocked him down near the edge of the peak. Simba looked up just in time to see Scar jumping toward his to make the final blow. Thinking quickly, Simba used his hind feet to propel him forward as soon as he landed, sending Scar plummeting over the edge.
"NOOOOOOOoooooooo…" We heard Scar's voice as he fell to his death. Simba looked over the edge of the cliff.
"You're okay!", Tetsu shouted as we ran to the middle. Simba went up to join us. Before we could celebrate, we heard a voice say, "This isn't over yet!" We turned to where we heard it and saw Autumnus.
"Because that was just a sneak preview!" Autumnus pointed his paw at the cliff. The seven of us looked to where Scar fell off. After a few seconds, Scar's paw appeared and grabbed the edge of the peak. Everyone except Autumnus jumped in surprise.
"Anger and jealousy turned the king of Pride Rock into a Heartless!", Autumnus informed them as Scar pulled himself up. "Your kingdom will rise again, that's for sure… But this time, as the Pride Lands of Darkness!", Autumnus exclaimed with an evil grin.
Scar leaped over the edge and faced the five of them, ready for one last fight. The sky around them turned to a dark blue, and the floor of the peak became transparent, revealing some king of huge skeleton beneath the surface. Simba stepped forward.
"That's what you think!" He retorted. Everyone got into a fighting stance.
Autumnus grinned evilly and joined in as well. Scar immediately charged at us, but we jumped back. However, Ilsa went too close to the edge and fell off.
"NO!", Sora screamed, then charged at Scar in anger.
Ilsa was falling fast. In a few seconds, she was about to hit the ground, where the others were fighting. Just then, she was rescued by Fiorina who took her down safely.
"Just in time.", said Fiorina as she put down the Ixi. "We got ourselves a problem here."
Four 'Foulanders', who all claim to be Autumnus have somehow knocked out the lionesses, scared off Timon and Pumbaa, and surrounded the rest, including Hayao.
"We could use your matrix powers to hold off at least some of them.", the Eyrie continued.
Just then, as the Autumnus clones were about to pounce, a lion cub blacker then Sora, a moody, yellow one with a 'electric' feeling into him, and one that looks like a lioness cub, but male, pounced on them. They then got off and sent off a beam of darkness, thunder, and light, distracting them.
Taking the chance, Ilsa chanted, "An Trestagh!"
She, Fiorina, Vitri, Pollonaire, the yellow cub, Hayao, and two of the clones were sucked in, while the rest were left behind to do battle with the other two.
Meanwhile, as Sora and Simba were performing their 'Wildcat' Limit Break, I was making a break for it from Autumnus, who was chasing me and was being chased by the 'Elemental Lions'. It was about time when Tetsu had the idea of encasing the Foulander in a bubble, just like what he did with The Three Truants earlier. After enough time was spent, Autumnus was released, only to get his tail on fire by Takeo, making him run frantically. But then, he was zapped by a ball of lightning from Scar.
Tao then put up a barrier of earth to block off the other two balls as Sora and Simba jumped over the wall. Just then, the wall was busted by Scar but he collided into Autumnus, whose tail was still on fire. Despite this, he continued on and started leaping around, leaving fires behind, burning us. Takeo countered this by manipulating the fires and directing them to Scar and a still-on-fire Autumnus. While the fires hit the Foulander, Scar brimmed with dark energy and dodged every single one with ease, then zipped and KO'd the Elemental Lions AND Sora. Seeing it was up to me, I decided to perform a Limit with Simba; the Lion Rider.
"Let's do it!", I said.
"All right!", Simba answered.
I hopped on Simba, and we charged at Scar, attacking with double the speed. I then followed by tossing my shield up to Simba, who caught the 'changeable' handle with his jaw, and we charged again at Scar back and forth with a comet-like aura. We then finished by screaming out loud (at least I did; Simba roared), engulfing the area in a white light. This weakened Scar as I got off Simba, who slashed at him with all his might, making Scar land on the ground far from us. As Sora and the others got up, Scar staggered up to his feet and slowly stepped toward us, trying to reach us. Then a light left his body, and Scar collapsed.
Meanwhile, below, the Autumnus clones were successfully eliminated as everyone there returned.
After a few moments, Tao finally broke the silence. "It's over…", he muttered with a sigh, then he, Takeo, and Tetsu plopped onto the ground. Just then, Autumnus got up, injured from the flames.
"You haven't seen the last of me.", he said. When we turned around, he was at the side of the peak. Before we could do anything, he let himself fall down, but as we looked over, we saw him disappear in a dark portal.
"Dum, dee, dum. Dum, dee, dum.", Pete hummed to himself.
He, in Villain's Vale, was preparing to open a portal for… well, you readers know where.
Suddenly, a portal appeared above him and down fell Autumnus, back as a human.
"Oww.", they both groaned, with little Aerial Knockers circling their heads and dizzy swirls in Pete's eyes (the face of Autumnus is behind a mask).
Later, the Lumus Squad, Timon, Pumbaa, the Elemental Lions (Takeo, Tetsu, Tao, Hayao, and the other three {I will give them a 'bigger role' on our second visit}), and the lionesses watched as Simba walked forward on the overhanging rock to assume his authority. At the end of it, Simba roared. The lionesses roared in unison. For some reason, the Elemental Lions followed suit, with the yellow one's louder than the rest. A cloudy expanse appeared in the distance in front of Simba, and the image of Mufasa appeared once more. The imaged smiled at Simba as a ray of light beamed down onto Simba. The light looked rather familiar.
Sora held the Keyblade between his teeth as it flashed. Fiorina and I did the same with our Guns of Light (mine with my hands, Fiorina's with her tail). We then performed the "Opening of the Gate" the best we can, since our forms brought difficulties. Still, we were able to do it as the light faded, Timon was left with a surprised look on his face and the seven Elemental Lions looked in awe.
"Hey, what's with the light show?", asked Timon.
Sora turned to him and Pumbaa. "We have to say good-bye for a little while.", Sora explained.
"I'll go tell Simba.", Pumbaa offered.
The rest of us turned to face them. "Aw, he's probably busy.", Vitri informed them, "Just tell him we'll be back soon."
Timon sighed. "Oh, that's right—he's king now.", he recited. "He's gonna be so busy he'll prob'ly forget about his two best buddies."
Sora walked over to them. "Well, you always got hakuna matata, right?", he implored.
"Guess so.", Pumbaa admitted.
Timon was outraged. "Whaddya mean, 'Guess so'?!", he shouted. "What if he forgets to tell the carnivores who we are? One look at you, and you're a pig roast!"
"That's Mister Pig Roast.", The Short Ones corrected him.
"Same thing!", Pumbaa declared, looking all panicky. "And I'm not sticking around to be anybody's pork dinner!!" His panic level reached its peak and he ran off at break neck speed.
"Pumbaa! WAIT FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Timon yelled, running at the same speed as his friend as he went after him.
We looked on. "You can never forget your true buddies.", Pollonaire stated.
"Yeah…", I agreed. As Sora and the others turned to leave, I then turned to Hayao, who was watching, and asked, "What will you do now?"
"Well, I guess we'll help Simba restore order in the Pride Lands."
"And then?"
"We'll think about it."
"Why did you help out Simba?", I asked. "As far as I can figure out, you don't even seem to be acquaintances."
"I don't know either. For some reason, I was told to do that by a certain human who wore green clothing and had a circle with a green open book."
"Waaait a second. You don't seem to be a native in the Pride Lands, judging by what you said."
"You're right. Our master, whose 'DeviantName' is sirius-blackx2, met the human I mentioned earlier. As a result, we were sent here."
"Did you ask why?"
"Hey, Rael!", Sora called. "We're leaving."
"Just a sec. Well, I better be going."
"It's okay. We'll see each other again."
And with that, I rejoined my friends and warped back to the Gummi Ship.
Gummi Ship Time: Memory
"I'm relieved we're back to normal!", Ilsa said in relief, "I don't want to be that small ever again."
We were at the cockpit, deciding our next destination.
"Me too.", I agreed. "But somehow, I felt like I became a Blue Kacheek once before."
"Really?", Yoris asked. "Where?"
"That… I can't remember."
"So it looks like Donald, Goofy, I aren't the only ones with missing memories.", Sora remarked.
"What's that supposed to mean?!", I retorted.
He didn't answer as the others all laughed.
"Oh I almost forgot.", I said as I took out a red stone from my bag and gave it to Sora. As the stone vanished, making Sora learn Fira, I said, "Takeo gave me that after he saved you. I forgot it was at the bag until right now."
"There you go again.", Sora said rolling his eyes.
"Hmm. I didn't expect to get you all to become masters so quickly.", Gallico stated. "You're fast learners. I'll give you that"
In front of him were Hayner's gang, The Disciplinary Committee, and a short "Black Mage" (Vivi) as well as a fancy guy with grey hair, black coat which he wears like a cape, white 'regal' undershirt, black pants, a lavender band across his waist, and matching fancy boots (Setzer). Kairi was standing alongside Gallico as they all stood in The Usual Spot.
"I remember that Vivi and Setzer took wind of Gallico from the Disciplinary Committee, who found out about him from Hayner and his gang.", she thought.
"I congratulate all of you.", Gallico continued. "With my guidance, you managed to pass with flying colors."
"Gee, thanks.", Vivi said sheepishly.
"And with those Nobodies around, the guys in white jumpsuits, you will no longer be helpless against them."
"I take that you speak the truth.", said Setzer.
"Yes. I don't mean you can face and defeat them for good, but you hold them long enough for others to flee to safety."
"We know that, y' know.", Rai said.
"Good. I now proclaim you; Defenders of Twilight Town!"
Everyone cheered and raised their weapons upward.
(A/N: As usual, some entries are outdated.)
Shenzi
The Lion King (1994)
A cowardly hyena who hates lions. Shenzi takes the lead when she and her friends are up to mischief. She's always quick to follow the strongest leader.
Banzai
The Lion King (1994)
A cowardly hyena who hates lions. Banzai likes to complain but doesn't like to work. He's always looking to find an easy meal.
Ed
The Lion King (1994)
A witless hyena who's not very smart, but loves to laugh. He takes a lot of ribbing from his pals Shenzi and Banzai, but he doesn't seem to care.
Takeo
sirius-blackx2 from DeviantArt (2009)
He is arrogant, can be mean, but deep down is a big softie. He also has the power of fire which can be dangerous.
Nala
The Lion King (1994)
Simba's childhood friend Nala has grown up to be a strong lioness. She's searching for help to save the Pride Lands, which have fallen into a terrible state.
Tetsu
sirius-blackx2 from DeviantArt (2009)
He is a nice, sweet, good-natured, and has has no intention to use his powers for evil. He loves to practice moving the water, which is his power.
Rafiki
The Lion King (1994)
A mandrill who lives in the Pride Lands. Rafiki is a wise old shaman.
Rafiki was a trusted adviser to Mufasa, and has always looked forward to the day Simba would take his father's place as king.
Scar
The Lion King (1994)
Simba's evil uncle and brother of Mufasa.
After Mufasa's death and Simba's disappearance, Scar became king of the Pride Lands and used the hyenas to do his dirty work. Scar hasn't taken care of the Pride Lands, and almost all the animals have been forced to leave.
Tao
sirius-blackx2 from DeviantArt (2009)
Tao tends to be ill-tempered at times and is rarely happy, as seen when he saw us with Rafiki. The markings on his cheek, forehead, and left forearm symbolize his affinity with Earth and his power over it.
Simba
The Lion King (1994)
Son of the great Mufasa who grew up to succeed his father and rule the Pride Lands.
As a young cub, Simba mistakenly thought he was responsible for his father's death. He left the Pride Lands and met two new friends: Timon and Pumbaa. They taught him to lead a carefree life.
During their first quest, Simba helped Sora, Donald, and Goofy whenever they called on him.
Timon
The Lion King (1994)
A meerkat and one of Simba's closest pals. He found Simba, almost dead of thirst, when he was just a cub. Timon and his best buddy Pumbaa taught Simba their motto, Hakuna Matata, which means "no worries."
And that's how Simba grew up -- with no worries, taking life one day at a time.
Pumbaa
The Lion King (1994)
A warthog and one of Simba's closest pals. He found Simba, almost dead of thirst, when he was just a cub. Pumbaa and his best buddy Timon taught Simba their motto, Hakuna Matata, which means "no worries."
Some folks are a bit put off by Pumbaa's pungency, but a kinder fellow you'll never find.
Mufasa
The Lion King (1994)
A great king of the Pride Lands who was loved by all the animals who lived there. He passed on the wisdom of generations of kings to his son Simba.
Mufasa tried to climb to safety after saving young Simba from a stampede, but Scar sent him falling to his death.
Hayao
sirius-blackx2 from DeviantArt (2009)
The Lion of Wind. He also happened to witness the stamped that killed Mufasa and disgraced Simba. He also has a good heart since he defended Simba from another disgrace attempted by Scar when he was asked to tell who was responsible for Mufasa's death which Simba thought he was.
-To Sirius-blackx2 from DeviantArt
I don't mean to say that you really did all that stuff I mentioned. You see, I treated that one as different the same way I treat myself as nightelf37 AND Rael in the story. So chill.