Hey everyone! Short and sweet for this chapter...including a little peak on a certain character...

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Kingdom Hearts/Disney characters or Stitch and Pikachu. They belong to their rightful owners.

"Oooooh…," Matt groaned as he started to come to. What a battle! That was intense…wonder what happened…

"Matt?"

He opened his eyes. Stitch and Pikachu were standing over him! They were all resting on top of the Pride Rock. "Hey, guys!" he said happily. "You're both ok! What happened?" He tried to stand up on two legs, but fell over once more. Apparently, he had turned back into a lion. Stitch and Pikachu chuckled over this. Matt just sighed and shook his head.

"It's all good," Stitch said. He put up two thumbs up.

"Everyone's safe and sound," Pikachu said. "Kiara and Kovu came back out of this wierd portal thing carrying you out. What happened in there?"

"Yeah, to make things short...I had to use the Kingdom Blast," Matt said. "I had no other choice...but now Zira is gone for good."

"No more Heartless around here," Stitch added.

"That's great too," Matt exclaimed.

Suddenly, the Keyblade summoned itself once more. Matt saw a keyhole in the sky and pointed his Keyblade at it with his mouth. A beam of light shot out of it and the keybhole closed with an unlocking sound.

"Phew...glad that's over," Matt said.

"Glad to see your up on your feet." Simba, Nala, Kiara, and Kovu walked up to the trio.

"Hey guys!" Matt said to younger two. "Thanks...for the help back there."

"Are you kidding? Thank you for helping us!" Kovu said. "We'd be dead if it wasn't for you."

"The Pride Lands owes you big time," Kiara added.

"We're very thankful for all that you three have done," Nala also said. "Right, Simba?"

"Yeah," the king said. He was looking at the ground, hanging his head in shame.

"Daddy…?," Kiara said with a tone. "Isn't there something else you want to say to Matt and Kovu?"

Matt just sat there and chose not to say anything. Stitch and Pikachu also remained silent.

"Right." He looked at Kovu first. "I owe you an apology, Kovu. You showed me you would do anything for my daughter…I'd be a fool if I didn't allow you to be with her. You are more than welcome here."

"Thank you, Simba," Kovu said. "It means a lot to hear that from you." He and Kiara embraced.

Matt, Stitch, and Pikachu were happy for them. Would this get old soon?

"Matt," Simba said. "I owe you an apology as well. Everything you said before…you were right."

"Don't worry about it," Matt said. "I understand...Thank you, Simba."

"You know, you really do remind me a little of Sora. You guys have a lot more in common than you think."

"Well…I don't know about that." Matt said. "We have a lot to do in order to get on that level."

"You never know."

"Yeah," Pikachu said. "Guess it's time huh?"

"Eh," Stitch said. "Time to go."

"You guys are leaving?" Kovu asked. "Why?"

"I think I know why," Kiara said. She winked at Matt, who nodded in response. "They've got others out there who need them, too."

"Just know this you guy," Simba said. "You are always welcome here."

"If you find Sora," Nala said. "tell him that we are all thinking of him too."

"We will," Pikachu said.

"You can count on it," Matt said. "Take care…all of you."

Matt, Stitch, and Pikachu bid the pride goodbye and returned to the ship. When they got there and back into orbit, Matt sighed in relief having turned human once more.

"Not that I hated being a lion," Matt said. "But I will never take having two legs for granted again."

Stitch and Pikachu laughed at this.

"Yousa not the best one," Stitch said.

"Oh well," Matt said. "Wait! What's that supposed to mean? I wasn't too bad!"

"Why did Kiara say she had an 'idea' of why we had to leave, Matt?" Pikachu asked. The teen hung his head at the question.

"Stitch know," the little alien said. He put a hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Laura…," Pikachu said. "We'll find her, Matt! I know we can!"

"Eh!"

"I hope you guys are right…," Matt said. "There hasn't been a single sign. Still, we've got to try."

Laura sat in her cell. She didn't know what to do. These crazy people kept providing her with food, but she was never hungry. The young teen had begun to lose hope that no one would find her and she would never get to go home. Once or twice, Laura had even cried her eyes out.

She tried to think of good times while in the cell. Not much else to do. All Laura could think of was being with her friends. She liked just sitting and talking with people she liked about anything. People like that made her happy.

Laura kept wondering who was the one who was coming for her. The guy who was coming for her that the woman was talking about. She thought of her father, who really hadn't cared the most for her in the last few months. It probably wasn't him.

Her current boyfriend was great, but he was kind of a blank slate. He didn't like to be around others or just sit down and chat with Laura either.

There was one of her friends…he was in her English class senior year. Laura loved talking with him, and she was sure the likewise. She could always talk to him about life in general.

The thing was…whenever it came to things like asking her out, he was hesitant. Why he was confused Laura. They went to junior prom together, but afterwards they only went out once more. He never took her out again. He had also tried to ask her out to senior prom, but she decided not to go.

Would he come for her? Matt? That would be something…

A voice startled Laura. "Hello again, my dear." It was that same woman, the one who gave Laura the creeps.

"What do you want now?" Laura asked. "Are you finally going to let me out?"

"I believe that the time has come to increase your role in this game," the woman said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You will find out soon enough…"

Immediately, a strong darkness started to cover Laura. It was getting harder to breathe, harder to think, harder to be…

Matt…if you're out there...help me…please...

"Aaaahhh!" Matt yelled. He grasped his chest.

"Matt!" Stitch said.

"What's wrong?" Pikachu said.

"I…I don't know," Matt said. "My heart…it felt like it was on fire."

"You ok?" Stitch said.

"I guess I'm ok. I…I thought I heard something too. A voice…was calling my name. I could barely hear it. I've got a feeling we have to keep going."

"Ok…," Pikachu said. "Hey! There's another world over there!"

Oh man! What happened to Laura? Can Matt and the gang help her? Where are they off too next? Find out in my next story entitled The Long Road!

Peace out,

Biz