Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Kingdom Hearts, Sonic the Hedgehog series, Pokemon, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Power Rangers and others from the owners that belonged to them. I was inspired them and their great works.


Chapter 21 - The Secrets in the Outlands

(Outlands – Broken Rock)

Taiyo, Sora, Mario, Luigi, Donald, Goofy, Yoshi, Geno, Utopia, Votus and Simba have arrived in the desolate place called the Broken Rock which suggested the boulder has cracked in two.

"How far is get to the Outlands?" Sora asked.

"It's not far, just a few further." Simba stated.

"Plus, we need to be careful. The Skullcrawlers are smart enough to trap us." Taiyo warned.

"We are sure they are very dangerous beasts." Goofy agitated.

"And the Dark Order members were going to attack us at some point." Mario said.

"Dark Order?" Donald asked.

"They are the fierce evil generals, serving with Ganon himself." Luigi answered.

"Who's Ganon?" Simba asked.

"Taiyo told me that he was ruthless Gerudo from Hyrule, learning about the Multiverse and he's pure evil than you realized." Sora stated.

"Even evil as Scar?" Simba asked.

"That's right, we got to save your world from taking over as well as your Pride Lands." Luigi replied.

"We already did save the Pride Lands." Donald retorted.

"That doesn't count, does it?" Votus asked.

"That's because there are the other things, we need do is to find the adamantiums and the Star Spirit, stop the infestation and locked the Keyhole and then we leave!" Yoshi scorned, expressed his anger at the last part.

"How am I supposed to know that?!" Donald asked, got to green dino's face.

"You did not because you still have the job to do before we go out to another world, bird brain!" Yoshi said.

"Am not!" Donald argued back.

"Am too!" Yoshi shouted.

Donald and Yoshi continued to blabber each other, making discomfort to Taiyo, Sora and others.

"This is getting frustrated in here." Utopia sighed.

"Alright, you two! Knock it off already!" Sora said.

Taiyo and Sora pulled Yoshi and Donald away from each other.

"Enough. We don't have to waste our time. Once we succeeded, we can leave. How is that fair?" Taiyo suggested.

Donald grunted before he scoffed reluctantly, and Yoshi looked away from him.

"Sounds good." Donald and Yoshi replied sarcastically.

"Wasn't they always like this?" Simba asked with Mario and Luigi.

"Yoshi's temper was compared to Donald's, both similarities of their attitudes." Mario answered.

"Yeah, you probably don't to hear it." Luigi agreed.

"Guess who, Mario Brothers?" Wario voiced.

Taiyo, Sora, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Donald, Goofy, Yoshi, Geno, Utopia, Votus and Simba turned their attentions at the Wario Brothers.

"Who is that?" SImba questioned.

"We..." Wario began, posed himself before followed by Waluigi who did the same thing.

"Are..." Waluigi spoke.

"The Wario Brothers!" They both shouted.

This made everyone blanked looks on their facial expressions.

"Are they always show off like that?" Sora asked.

"Aren't these guys being the Wario Brothers who tried to beat you in the racing karts?" Donald asked.

"Yeah, we kinda did beat them in the race all the time." Luigi replied.

"Don't mind me." Mario protested.

"I say they are being act like the jerks." Goofy said.

"You have no idea." Yoshi commented.

"Then what are you two doing here?" Simba asked.

"We are stealing the adamantiums. We need the rare substances to make the improve the advancements of Chitablins' weapons." Wario said.

"You never find them. It takes a whole day." Taiyo said.

"And in fact. You two are still being the losers." Sora taunted.

Wario clenched his left fist and growled. "We'll see about that!"

Then Shenzi, Banzai and Ed has showed up as the heroes and Wario Brothers turned to them.

"Guess who show up." Utopia said.

"The hyenas." Votus stated.

"Time to deserve our meals." Shenzi smirked.

"Not exactly." Waluigi said.

"Wait a minute? Those aren't animals, they looked like humans!" Banzai replied.

Ed gagged while gritting his teeth.

Taiyo, Mario and Luigi stepped towards from the group.

"Another two humans?! Except with that kitty cub has a weird hair. It doesn't look like that way." Shenzi replied.

"Oh yeah? Let me show you about human." Taiyo smirked.

"What's he doing?" Sora asked.

"Maybe he lost his mind." Goofy replied.

Taiyo touched his crystal Kingdom Hearts sigil which the white aura enveloped him brightly as everyone covered their eyes.

"What's that?" Simba asked.

"What with all the light?" Shenzi confused, shielding herself from the bright light.

The illumination begins to dim as Taiyo showed himself as the human. Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed were in total shock and screamed together frantically.

"You transformed into a human?" Simba asked with curious look.

"How did he do it?" Sora asked.

"It is the gift from the Star Spirits." Geno answered.

"We're in the middle of conversation, better stay out of the way!" Taiyo said.

"That freak can talk!? What are going to do?" Banzai asked.

"Who cares with this human weirdo? Just messed with him." Shenzi replied.

"I don't have time to settle with you, mutts." Wario grunted, snapping his fingers.

The swarm of Heartless were surrounded Taiyo and others including the Hyena Trio. There were Silver Rocks, Shamans, Aerial Knockers and two Living Bones.

The Silver Rocks has a smooth, conical, white body with a Heartless emblem emblazoned on its chest. The top of their bodies flares outward and forms a jagged 'collar' below the Heartless's spherical, pitch black head. It also wears a conical, reddish-brown hat with a jagged brim, silver rings decorating it, and a thin, curled tip. Like many Heartless, the Silver Rock has glowing yellow eyes. Its seemingly useless feet sport three small, thin toes.

Shamans are the monkey-like creatures with predominantly black fur, except for the fur on its arms and its long, prehensile tail. Their hands, feet, and ears are all white, while its claws are black. They wore small, yellow and blue bracelets and anklets, as well as a dark red tunic over their upper body. Most notably, the Shamans wears a mask that covers most of their face, save for their ears and glowing, yellow eyes. This mask is mostly white with brown edges, orange and yellow markings in its sides, and a jagged mouth. They also have two twisted, sky blue horns on its top and a long, bent protrusion resembling a beard sprouting from the mask's chin. Its Heartless emblem is on the forehead of its mask, and they carry a staff known as the Shaman's Relic for its magic, usually holding it in its tail.

Aerial Knockers were parrot-like creature with predominantly violet plumage. Their round heads, including their beak, is also violet, though the tips of its tail feathers and its neck are orange. Their eyes are large, black and yellow spirals on either side of their head. Aerial Knockers' wings are yellow and orange and sprout out of the top of its head rather than from their back or sides like real-world birds. Their legs are black, and it wears a large, red boxing glove on each one. Their Heartless emblem is on its abdomen.

The Living Bone resembles a large, blue-skinned dinosaur with two short, navy blue legs, each of which has two large, white claws and a red anklet. Its tail is thin and appears to have decayed, leaving only bone segments. The tip of its tail is a large, spherical shape that is navy blue with a wide, jagged, black "mouth", yellow, spiral "eyes", and two short "arms" on it. The Living Bone's head is also skeletal, sporting horns, glowing, yellow eyes, and large, sharp teeth. Its lower jaw is dark blue, and the rest of its skull is white. It also wears a thick, black collar with teal edges and red bumps lining it. A short, silver chain ending in a red, pyramidal weight hangs from the collar. It is reminiscent of an ankylosaurus due to its body structure, particularly its clubbed tail. Its Heartless emblem is on a large hump on its back.

"Smell ya later!" Wario taunted as he and Waluigi ran in fours to head to the Outlands.

Shenzi, Banzai and Ed were shivering in fear as the Aerial Knockers have surrounded them.

"Those guys are in trouble." Yoshi replied.

"Simba, what is your decision?" Taiyo asked.

"I say we helped them. Hopefully, they respected the Circle of Life eventually." Simba said.

"Good choice." Goofy replied.

Taiyo was transformed back into his Lion form before Sora summoned his Keyblade: Kingdom Key in his mouth in a flash of white light as the team fights the Heartless.

The two Living Bones spin toward Taiyo, Sora and the others, but they all jumped out of the attack. Sora lunged onto one of the Heartless which tries to shake him off, but Sora managed to hold on without struggling. Then Sora jumped up in the air higher before he sliced down at its head, decapitated it, but the Living Bone was still alive as one of the Shamans hopped on it and controlled its body.

Taiyo gotten it ways and hits the Heartless with several strikes. He swings his Keyblade with a left and right slash, an uppercut and downward slash. He then finishes with a powerful slash while performing a Slide Dash, sending both Shaman and Living Bone's body back. Sora moved over to Taiyo's right side as they both looked at each other and nodded.

The Living Bone tries to retaliate by swinging its tail at Taiyo and Sora, but Simba leaped over to the Heartless and swiped his claws at the Shaman before biting on it and shaking it vigorously as he tossed the Shaman to the ground. Then SImba finished it off by the bite which the Shaman disintegrated into black smokes.

The half of couples of Silver Rocks attacked Donald and Goofy as Mario and Luigi were firing the fireballs at them, weakening the Heartless.

"Thanks, you two." Donald said.

Goofy jumped at the Silver Rocks when withdraws into his shell and spun around with his shield, couple times and destroyed them.

Donald flew right at them before he casted the Blizzaga spell on them to freeze before distinguishing them into ashes.

Some of the Silver Rocks are nosediving at the Mario Brothers as Mario leaped himself and strikes each of them while Luigi slashed at them with his Electro Blade and the Silver Rocks are reduced into puff of ashes.

Shenzi, Banzai and Ed were hiding behind the cracked rock from the Heartless until the Shamans and Aerial Knockers find them.

"Hold me!" Banzai shouted frantically as Ed and Shenzi were embracing him in panic.

The stone precipices struck some of the Heartless as the Hyena Trio turned to Yoshi.

"Whoa! That's some sharp looking rocks." Shenzi surprised.

"How about you guys stay there and watch?" Yoshi questioned before he rushed onto the fight.

Yoshi was kicking and whacked at them with his tail.

Geno was sheathing the Photon Blades before he takes out the Shamans and Silver Rocks with slashes.

Votus slammed his adamantium shield onto the Aerial Knocker, defeating it and the other Aerial Knockers are charging at the monkey with their boxing gloves before he rolled across to avoid from them and tossed his metal disc swiftly at the Heartless, taking out each of them.

Utopia blasted the magic beams at the Living Bone which made the Heartless growled painfully and conjured his Unicornus Horn Blade before stabbed right into its head which makes the Living Bone disappeared into puff of darkness.

All of the Heartless have been defeated, Shenzi, Banzai and Ed were walking towards the group.

"You three will respected the Circle of Life or we hunted you down. Understood?" Simba firmed.

"Oh, yes. Your high-mighty grovel." Shenzi quickly bowed to him same with Banzai and Ed.

"Spoken like a true king, Simba." Sora smirked.

"Thank you." Simba smiled to him.

"Make sure you better stay out of trouble." Goofy said with a stern.

"Oh, we would stay out of this. Right, Ed?" Banzai replied and asked Ed who nodded in response while laughing.

Then they all felt the ground rumbling.

"Now what?" Donald deadpanned.

The black forelimb reptilian monsters with skulls come out from the ground

Skullcrawlers are large reptilian creatures with only two long forelimbs and no hindlimbs, as well as long, prehensile, serpentine tails. They have long and slender, yet muscular, sturdy bodies. Several aspects of their appearance are noticeably skeletal, particularly their torsos and their heads. What appears to be the "eye sockets" of their skull-like heads are merely empty fenestrae presumably it evolved that way to protect its eyes from enemies: their real eyes are set much further back, with the fenestrae perhaps serving to distract enemies from their more vulnerable eyes and acting as heat-seeking sensory pits. The pupils of their green eyes are horizontal and somewhat resemble those of frogs and toads. The colors of their scales range from dark brown to dark green to a bone-white color. They also have the emblem of Heartless on their skulls but outlined with dark blue.

Their heads closely resemble those of mosasaurs such as Tylosaurus, and their jaws possess two rows of serrated, razor-sharp teeth. The Skullcrawlers have four clawed digits in a total of each hand, with the thumb being the smallest digit and the rest of the digits being larger and of the same size, and the adults have a prominent bony spike protrudes out of each of their elbows. The thorny, toothlike structures of their inner mouths somewhat resemble that of a leatherback turtle's. Additionally, they have long, prehensile triple-forked tongues that they can use to grab their prey and their height were about 13 feet tall

"What are those things?!" Donald panicked.

"They are called Skullcrawlers." Mario replied.

Shenzi, Banzai and Ed were huddling together in fear.

"Okay, do you think we should run now?" Banzai terrified.

"Y-Yes!" Shenzi stammered.

The Hyena Trio was dashed out from the desolate neutral land.

"Well, cowards can do survive." Taiyo stated sarcastically.

The group was cornered by three Skullcrawlers as they are snarling at the Taiyo and others and Simba growled back at them.

"Keep us away, filthy beasts!" Utopia said as his horn is glowing in light green.

Then one of the Skullcrawlers prepared to attack them but the two medium-sized hyenas rushed out from the entrance and they both jumped onto the evil reptilian creature.

One of them is a bit shorter in height and thinner in body build with a distinct light and dark spotted coat pattern, a rather angular forehead, a bald patch on the top of his head, brown eyes and large ears and another hyena is largest, stockiest and strongest hyena, compared to his clanmate, Kamari, his muzzle is somewhat broader, his mane shorter, his ears slightly smaller, his coat is darker, his eyes were light grey and his forehead much less angular. He also has a large chunk missing from his left ear.

"Hyenas!" Sora cautioned.

"Those two are helping us? I wonder why." Geno said.

One of the Skullcrawlers tried to shake the two hyenas off but they managed to grab on it.

"Come on, they need our help." Votus replied.

"Okay. Just hope those two are on our sides." Mario replied.

Taiyo and others are rushing to the Skullcrawlers. Taiyo, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi were fighting the two Skullcrawlers while Sora, Simba, Donald, Goofy, Geno, Utopia and Votus helped the two hyenas.

"Look, I hate to say this but we can handle this." Sora replied.

"Do whatever you like." A male hyena said as he and other hyena jumped on the first Skullcrawler.

Sora ran up to the Skullcrawler followed by bashed the Keyblade on its facial skull several times before it grabbed him with long tongue and slammed him on the ground.

"Sora!" Donald alerted before he cast a Thundaga to zap the Skullcrawler as it roared in agony.

Goofy bashed it with the shield on his shell as the Skullcrawler swung its long tail at him and knocked him over to the ground, got stuck upside down.

"Goofy!" Votus cried.

"I'm okay. Just upside down." Goofy repilied as he struggled to stand up.

Simba swiped the claws at Skullcrawler many times but it didn't bother by slashing and smacked the lion over the ground.

Utopia was dodging from Skullcrawler's slashing attacks before he unleashed the magical beam onto it, making it weakened.

Votus jumped on the Skullcrawler's back before hitting it with the adamantium shield and it reacted in pain until it dropped its clawed forelimbs on the ground, before it exploded into ashes except for its skull and remained on the ground.

Mario was striking the Skullcrawler with his Ignited Flower and Luigi used the Spark Barrage on the creature. Yoshi unleashed his Earth Rush to pummel against the Heartless.

Taiyo tossed his Keyblade directly at the Skullcrawler which bellowed tensely and the Keyblade returned on his mouth as the Skullcrawler collapsed on the ground before distinguishing in ashes, leaving its skull behind.

Then the last Skullcrawler was gotten biting by two hyenas and shaked them off from its back as they landed on the ground. The last Skullcrawler took a lowly threatened growl at them especially Taiyo and others before it retreated from them.

"It got away, Kamari." A missing chunk eared hyena stated.

"Don't worry about it, Azizi. Some of them will come back." Kamari replied.

"Your names were Kamari and Azizi, right?" Simba asked.

"Yep, it's our names. We appreciated you for our help." Azizi smiled, leaning closer to Kamari.

Kamari groaned irritatedly. "Can you just give me a little bit of space?"

"I'm helping with it." Azizi protested.

"No, you're not! We have talked about this before. I come in alone. I'm the lead distraction so everyone can circle." Kamari retorted.

"Okay, okay. Sorry." Azizi grunted.

"Don't be sorry. Just do it." Kamari scoffed as Azizi walked away from him before he turned the others. "Sorry about that. Azizi was getting too close to me, he's kinda friendly. Well, I want my personal space."

"Understandable. So why are you two fighting the Skullcrawler?" Sora asked.

"We sort to did our jobs protecting the Outlands." Kamari said.

"So, are you two followed the Circle of Life?" Taiyo asked.

"You mean we don't know about the Circle of Life? We don't belong in Shenzi's clan, we lived from the Back Lands." Azizi replied.

"The Back Lands?" Luigi asked.

"It is a territory on the border of the Pride Lands." Simba answered before he turned and asked Kamari. "Are you siding the Circle of Life? Who taught you?"

"Why not just let us take you all the way to the cave and sees who was lived here?" Kamari asked.

Kamari and Azizi walked to the entrance of the Outlands as the group was looking at each other before they followed them.

(Outlands – Deserted Trail)

Taiyo and others continued down the trail at the bottom of the cliffs and stopped next to Kamari and Azizi as they stared at the big cavern with the stone boulders on its left and right sides and the entrance has the carved markings on top of it that spelled in Xhosa.

"I had never seen those words before." Simba intrigued.

"What does it say?" Taiyo asked.

"That is the Xhosa, one of the African languages." Geno clarified.

"That's how I can speak the Xhosa." Kamari replied.

"You do?" Mario confused.

"Since when?" Yoshi asked.

"I can translate that words to English. It says the Cave of Sanity." Kamari replied.

"That's a bit mouthful of the name." Goofy said.

"This is place where we will be safe from the Skullcrawlers." Azizi stated.

"Are you sure the enemies can find the way of that cave?" Sora asked.

"Don't worry. Let's the Moogles do the magic." Kamari replied.

"The Moogles?" Simba asked.

"They are the friendly creatures, these Moogles are helpful because they will support anything to help us." Mario explained.

"I see one of your friends knows about the Moogles. I am very surprised at all." Kamari replied.

"Yeah, me too." Azizi nodded.

Then the two Moogles comes out from the cave and revealed to them.

"Look at them. They're so cute." Sora cooed as he leaned down to one of them.

"Yes, they are." Mario replied.

Luigi walked to them and knelt down to the two Moogles. "Hey, fellas. What's up, little guys?"

"Nice to meet you, sir." A first Moogle spoked.

This made Taiyo and others startled a bit except for Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Geno.

"They can talk?!" Donald surprised.

"Oh yeah. I forgot tell you guys, they also spoke with human language and the animal language as well. Man, you guys got a bit jumpy when they talked." Kamari chuckled.

"Oh, don't bothered me!" Donald huffed.

"Kamari, Azizi. You sure to bring these strangers into this place?" One of the Moogles asked.

"Don't worry. They are friends who helped us to fight off the beasts." Kamari assured.

"Okay, we let them in and we put the cloaking barrier around outside the cave." Second Moogle replied.

Kamari and Azizi turned to the group. "They let us in." They both walked inside the cavern.

Taiyo, Sora, Simba and others followed them to the cave as the two Moogles waved their arms to make the cave blended in as the entranced turned into the blank wall.

(Cave of Sanity – Bioluminescence Path)

Cave of Sanity has the stalactites on the ceiling and stalagmites on the cave floor. It has a trail of the light green bioluminescence mushrooms that were on the either two sides.

"Whoa, these bioluminescence mushrooms are incredible." Utopia amazed at the glowing mushrooms.

"I thought the Outlands has no life. But these glowing mushrooms were still lived." Simba fascinated.

"Indeed." Geno replied.

"Gwarsh, I wonder these mushrooms lead us to where." Goofy said.

"We are about to find out." Taiyo replied.

They are stopped by the withered vines as Kamari and Azizi gently pushed them away for Taiyo, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Geno, Utopia, Votus and Simba as the group walked through the way.

(Cave of Sanity – Hollow Den)

The Hollow Den was huge area along with the large flat stone held up by the small boulders on the middle of it, the water was on the end of the chamber and several coned stalagmites with round bowled shapes for filling fresh waters. It also shared with the two tunnels where the rooms were made by Moogles and they will be sleeping in the beds.

Taiyo and others walked towards to the den as they spotted the lion on the flat stone and it sleeped so quietly.

The lion has brown fur, tan underbelly, brown mane, gold sclera and tan pupils. He had his crescent mark on his forehead.

"Is that a lion?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, it is. But why is the lion doing here?" Simba asked.

The older lion yawned as he awoke and turned around to Taiyo and others.

"Ah. My guests showed up." The lion said as he jumped off the flat stone and landed in front of them. "Kamari, Azizi. Did you bring them here?"

"We apologized for not letting the strangers in here, Busara." Kamari replied.

"It's alright now." Busara assured.

"And they did help us." Azizi replied.

"Oh really? I see. Pray tell, who are all of you?" Busara questioned.

"I'm Sora." Sora said.

"Donald." Donald replied.

"I'm Goofy." Goofy stated.

"My name is Taiyo and this is the rest of my companions, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Geno, Utopia, and Votus." Taiyo spoked.

"And I am Simba." Simba said.

Busara was surprised to hear the lion named Simba. "Simba? A son of Mufasa?"

"That's right, I become the king of the Pride Lands after Scar's defeat. Have we met before?" Simba said and asked.

"Of course not. Your father was a friend of mine, he told me a lot about you and your friends." Busara remarked.

"Wait, Mufasa told you? But he's dead." Taiyo said.

"Oh, no, little one. He lives as the spirit because he is connected to the great Circle of Life." Busara replied.

"And what about these hyenas?" Yoshi asked, pointed to Kamari and Azizi.

"Those two are from the Back Lands. Their parents were drowned in the river when the storm hits the Back Lands." Busara explained.

This made everyone felt bad about Kamari and Azizi as the two hyenas saddened at the mention of their parents and Azizi whined, wiped off his tears from his left eye.

"I feel bad about them. I didn't know the other hyenas weren't bad." Simba said.

"Because I was the one who taught them and they served me as the lord." Busara replied.

"Lord?" Taiyo asked.

"This is my job to protect the Circle of Life at the Outlands. Some of the other Outlanders were good and bad." Busara said.

"I see. Not bad." Luigi admitted.

"I was wondering. What are you doing here? Didn't you live from the Pride Lands?" Simba questioned.

"If I tell you, you want to know about Taka." Busara replied.

"Taka?" Taiyo asked.

"He means Scar. The evil lion who took over the Pride Lands." Azizi suggested.

"So, Scar has his real name. What else do you know about him?" Sora asked.

Busara gave his breath heavily as he walked to the Everlasting Spring and seeing his reflection.

"It was long time before Simba was born, in the time from the Pride Lands. Taka was the second-born in the Pride Lands to the King and Queen of Pride Rock, he is gifted with the Roar of the Elders. The roar is coming from the great lions of the Pride Lands' past and makes Taka the leader of the Lion Guard." Busara told them.

"The Lion Guard?" Simba asked.

"The Lion Guard was the group to watch over the kingdom and defending the Circle of Life, it only consisted by the lions. No matter of this, he and I were very close friends until he got the Roar of the Elders. Scar forced me to recruit the other lions and I was being the one who founded them for Taka. He then took most patrols on his own by outlooking the Outlands so I better watch him and saw that he met the Strange Lion, even though I don't know how that Strange Lion ended up in the Outlands." Busara replied.

"Then what happened?" Votus asked.

"The Strange Lion told him he had wisdom and power. And the most powerful should be the real king. He persuaded Scar to help him and his roar to rule everything in the Pride Lands. Scar intrigued his idea as the Strange Lion lured him over to the near volcano and tricked him by letting the Strange Cobra to bite on him. Thus, he got himself a scar and given a nickname to himself." Busara overwhelmed.

"So, Scar got himself a nickname. That's explain how he turned bad." Geno replied.

"That's right. He then angrily roared at the lion and cobra, blasting them away into the volcano and being perished along in it. However, the venom still dwelled in Scar's mind, leading him to get of his brother Mufasa and taking over his throne for his desires. When the rest of his Lion Guard and I were disagreed to aid him in his evil plot, he became furious and using the Roar of the Elders on us!" Busara uttered a bit louder in his last part and splashed the water.

Everyone was shock in utter horror and feels saddened to Busara.

"That was awful. I can't believe he betrayed the lions like that." Simba replied

"As a result, he lost the roar in punishment for using against the lions. But for me, the roar pushed me into the secret hole where I ended up in this cave and staying here for the long time." Busara replied, looking at his reflection on the water again.

"How did you managed to make yourself alive?" Donald asked.

"Upon discovery, I saw the mystic springs called the Everlasting Spring. It turned me back into the normal age. Even the Moogles lived in here as well and taking care of me but I was the shameful lion that Scar made me do this for the Guard. I cannot bear it anymore." Busara replied.

"What are you trying to do?" Goofy asked.

"I attempted to stop Scar from turning evil he was and I failed. If I was trying to save Taka, none of this would happen for everything, even Mufasa survived." Busara said solemnly.

Simba stepped towards to him sincerely.

"I am the king of the Pride Lands now; I don't blame you for the cause of your live. Scar blamed for what I did but I know the truth about my father's demise and usurping Scar's leadership to take my place in the Circle of Life. From now on, I am willingly pleased that you do the right thing in the past." Simba replied.

Busara was astonished by Simba's heartfelt speech, makes him relieved.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Busara replied.

"No need to address me, just call me Simba." Simba replied.

Then the Moogle with the dark purple African turban named Ndogo flew quickly in front of Busara.

"My lord, I spotted the two small hyenas in Dried Gorge. The Skullcrawlers were going to attack them." Ndogo replied.

"Right, Ndogo. I'm on my way to save them." Busara said.

"Busara, should we help you?" Sora asked.

"If you want to volunteer in the battle, join me." Busara replied before he rushed off from the Hollow Den.

"Don't you think that lion knows how to fight?" Luigi asked.

"Just followed him. We'll see him what he was good at fighting." Taiyo replied.

Taiyo, Sora, Simba, Donald, Goofy, Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Geno, Utopia and Votus are going out to the Dried Gorge.

(Outlands – Dried Gorge)

The Dried Gorge has the smooth landscape formation and wavy rocks. It also has the low vegetation like bushes and dead trees.

The four Skullcrawlers have cornered the two female hyena cubs at the cliff wall as the two small carnivores cowered in fear. Their names are Jasiri and Madoa.

Jasiri has gray fur, bearing a slight purplish tint and her underbelly is a dull pinkish-orange. Her lower legs and paws were very dark shade of purple, and her tail was short and bicolored; the same as her fur and underbelly. She had large, between the mixture of deep blue and borderline purple eyes, encircled by darker fur, and a long, dark purple mane that was striped with brighter purple.

Madoa has grey-purple fur with a beige underbelly. She has dulled purple markings, both stripes and spots on her back and her face has three small spots. This same color is also around her muzzle and a black nose. Her ears, fur and the bottom of her legs are a dark purple. Under her tail fluff is beige fur. The top tufts of fur on her head are light purple. She has brown eyes which are encircled by grey fur and her inner ears are pink.

"Please help us!" Madoa cried.

"Just go away!" Jasiri pleaded.

The Skullcrawlers were growling as their saliva falling from their jaws.

Taiyo and others have arrived to see the trouble over there at the cliff wall.

"They are in trouble!" Taiyo replied.

"That what we do to save the poor hyena cubs from them!" Donald replied.

"Look like they need companies." Goofy added.

"Come on, we gotta to get the cubs away from the Skullcrawllers." Sora urged.

"I agreed." Simba replied.

"And us too." Luigi stated.

They quickly ran forward to the Skullcrawlers as Busara jumped on one of them and took a bite on its body while snarling as Simba joined him as well by biting on its left forearm.

"Look, they are saving us!" Jasiri brightened.

Then Kamari and Azizi showed up as they walked towards the two hyena cubs.

"Are you two alright?" Azizi asked.

"We're fine. Who are you two?" Jasiri asked.

"We talked about after this. Azizi, take those two away from the Skullcrawlers as fast as possible." Kamari replied.

Having heard from Kamari's command, Azizi helped Jasiri and Madoa to get away from them.

Sora and Taiyo summoned their both Keyblades before they slashed the Skullcrawler in both downward slash in the form of 'X' which stunned it. Votus ran forward to it before pummeling against its facial skull and Geno fired the several blasts of Plasma Laser at the Heartless. The Skullcrawler collasped on the ground before it exploded into puff of incinerated ashes, dropped its skull on the ground.

"Oh yeah!" Taiyo hollered.

"Give me five!" Sora holded up his right paw before he sees that he has three fingers and one thumb. "Uh, four I guess?"

"We do it later." Taiyo dismissed.

The two Skullcrawlers were clawing at Donald and Goofy who were avoiding from slashing attacks but unfortunately for Goofy who got knocked back to the ground as Mario and Luigi are pouncing on the Skullcrawler as the second Skullcrawler tried to chomp on them but Mario avoided it and back kicked on its head. Luigi rubbed his hands which charging up his electrical energy and enveloped in light green electrical-like aura.

"Lightning-Powered Fists!" Luigi shouted as he yelled and punched the third Skullcrawler in the faster stances, vanquishing it.

"Thanks a lot, Mario Brothers." Donald commented.

Yoshi collided the third Skullcrawler with Ground Roll as the dark reptilian creature was struggling to push the enormous rocky ball as Utopia glowed his horn to levitate Yoshi and his boulder in the air before he dropped it on top of the Skullcrawler, smashing it into the ground as it gave an agony growl and distinguished itself into oblivion.

Utopia used his magic to lift the remaining skull of Skullcrawler and examined it.

"I guess I have to keep it for examining." Utopia stated.

The last Skullcrawler who still alive as Kamari and Simba snarled at it.

"Back, you foul creature. One more attack on this king of the Pride Lands, I'll..." Kamari warned.

"Stand back, I can take care of it." Simba said before growling at the Skullcrawler.

Busara stepped aside Kamari and Simba. "I will handle this one, Simba."

His crescent mark on his forehead glowed in purple as the embodiment of the Black Pantherian in the human form appeared on his back.

Taiyo and his team were awed at the spiritual image of the humane version of Black Pantherian.

"Whoa, did you see that?" Taiyo asked.

"It's the Black Pantherian as a human." Mario replied.

"Unbelievable... I saw it with my own eyes." Sora awed.

Even Azizi, Jasiri and Madoa were watching from the rock which further away from the group

"What is that?" Madoa asked.

"How about later on?" Azizi reminded.

"By the power of the Black Pantherian, vanquish the dark beast! I command you!" Busara said.

Before the Skullcrawler attacked the lion, the spiritual image of Black Pantherian summoned the spear as it tossed through Skullcrawler's chest and the spear that made the Heartless beast roar in affliction before the translucent spear disappeared into the thin air. The purple light enveloped Skullcrawler's body and immediately disintegrated.

"Gosh! He somehow destroyed the Skullcrawler completely." Goofy amazed.

"I can't imagine that." Yoshi gaped.

The Black Pantherian's spiritual being was stroking Busara's head before it vanished into nothingness.

Taiyo and others moved forward to Busara.

"How did you summon the Black Pantherian?" Taiyo asked.

"Let's go back to the cave. I tell you how." Busara replied as he walked out from the group.

The group will have followed him back to the Cave of Sanity including Jasiri and Madoa as Zant appeared above on the cliff ledge, watching them go.


Author Notes: Simba have joined Sora, Taiyo and the gang to venture into the Outlands, looking for the adamantium and the fourth Star Spirit. They also encountered another lion named Busara, former friend of Taka (also known as Scar) and he's been in the Cave of Sanity for years passed and rescued the two hyena cubs from the Skullcrawlers. Don't forget to review after reading this!