Enamis09: I had actually already written one of those scenarios from Riku's perspective, and now I have written the other one just for you! ;) Look for them both coming up in about 3 weeks!

Coolmegan123: No, she and Xigbar never technically met. But we know that she was being watched, so I was imagining that he got the surveillance started...maybe they all took turns, or maybe Xigbar just turned it over to Saix at some point. I'll let you guys decide that one!

A/N: Random thought...I just wanted to let you guys know that just because I sometimes do my own art for this story doesn't mean I wouldn't LOVE it if someone else wanted to do some fanart. I don't even really consider myself much of an artist, I'm just a visual person who really wants my story to have illustrations so I just go for it! But yeah, no pressure, but if any of you readers felt like at some point making art to go with any of my stuff, please share it with me! I would love you forever and ever and share the link for everyone to see (unless you for whatever reason didn't want me to).

Things take a more fun, lighthearted turn this week! Since I skimmed over most of Meli's travels with Sora and co, I figured I would include at least one oneshot from that time. What better subject to focus on than everyone's favorite world-traveling magic – transformations! You actually get three shots in one here.

These mini-shots take place in Pride Lands, Halloweentown, and Christmas Town, respectively.

Chapter 34.5

(Falls in the middle of chapter 34)

Meli's Perspective

Something was weird. Why did I feel so weird? I felt...short. Almost like I was on my hands and knees. Blinking away the effects of disembarking from my brain, I glanced down and nearly fell over with surprise. Were those...paws?

"Hey, check us out!" Sora cackled.

I whipped my head around to see a small brown lion only a few feet away from me, sitting back on his haunches and examining his front paws. For a moment fear rose up in my throat, but then the lion laughed again. Suddenly I noticed the familiar spiky hair, now in mane form, and the silver crown dangling from a chain around his neck. "S..Sora?"

Lion-Sora dropped his paws back onto the dusty ground and grinned toothily at me. "Hey, Mel, you look awesome, too!"

"I...what?" I looked down again, taking the time now to really realize what I was looking at. Dark, reddish-brown fur covered wide, fluffy paws where my hands should have been. I lifted one, somehow amazed to see the foreign limb actually respond to my will, and flexed, watching in fascination as sharp claws poked out from under the fur. "Am I a...lion?"

"You sure are!" Donald affirmed.

I turned to look at him, and cocked my head to the side to take in his new form. He didn't really actually look that much different, to be honest, having simply transformed into a different kind of bird. "I'm not sure what you are, but...hey, maybe you can actually fly now!"

Donald crossed his wings and glared. "Watch it."

"What am I? I can't tell!"

Turning once more, I busted out laughing as I finally saw Goofy. "You're...you...oh gosh, Goofy, you look ridiculous!"

The giant turtle with a dog head rocked side to side, trying to look at his own feet. "Do I? I feel kinda funny, a-hyuck."

"I'm sorry." I lifted one paw and swiped away the tears that had formed in my eyes, trying to contain my laughter. "I just was not expecting...that."

"So, this seems like it's gonna be a pretty interesting world." Sora flicked his tail back and forth as if trying to figure out how everything worked. "Not sure how we're gonna fight any Heartless we see like this, but I bet we'll figure it out."

"We might wanna just concentrate on figuring out how to walk first," I commented dryly.

"It's not that bad!" Goofy exclaimed. "Look, I'm doin' it!" He waddled by me, and I almost started cracking up again.

"Okay, well if you can do it, then I'm sure Sora and I can, too." I shifted each of my paws in the dirt one by one, focusing on the muscles required. "Alright, I'm just gonna go for it. No use thinking about it too hard, right?"

"Right!" Sora agreed.

"Alright, here goes." My plan was to leap gracefully forward. The result was somehow my face smacking the ground and my back end flying up over my head, landing me hard on my back. I stared up at the sky in a daze, unsure of what exactly had just happened, while all three of my companions laughed in the background.

"That's the funniest thing I've ever seen!"

Rolling over, I shot Donald a ferocious look, but he just continued guffawing and slapping the ground. "I'd like to see you try it," I hissed.

"That's alright, I'll just stick with my flying, thank you very much." With a toss of his head, he spread out his wings and gave a few strong flaps. He lifted off the ground just barely, then lost his balance and flipped over to land on his back, too.

Sora and Goofy burst into giggles again, and I joined in. "Serves you right."

.0.0.O.0.0.

"You're gonna love this world, Mel! It's one of my favorites!"

I was beginning to think that every world we visited was Sora's 'favorite', but he did seem particularly excited about this one. "Oh yeah? What's special about this world?"

"It's Halloween all the time!" He did a little jig in his chair as he announced this. "There's all these spooky decorations, and a cemetery, and a ghost dog..."

"And we all get to wear disguises!" Goofy put in.

"Thanks to my magic, of course," Donald pointed out proudly.

I smiled. "Sounds pretty fun." I had never been super into the spooky side of Halloween, but I did love seeing all the costumes and decorations.

"You bet it is!" Sora jumped up and beckoned us to follow him. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

When we had warped down and were safely on solid ground in the dark town, I immediately turned to examine everyone's new looks. "Sora...vampire, I'm guessing?"

He flashed a smile that was complete with fangs from under his pumpkin mask. "Yep!"

"Donald..." I cringed when I saw his mummy attire. "Ugh, you're like...missing half of your body!"

"What did you expect, some crummy costumes? These are professional disguises!"

"They didn't have to be gross, though." I shook my head and moved on to Goofy. "I think you're a zombie? The two different color eyes are pretty cool...in a freaky sort of way."

"Your eyes are kinda freaky, too," Goofy responded.

I blinked self-consciously. "Are they?"

"Yeah, you look so scary, Mel!" Sora exclaimed.

I was a little unsure if I actually wanted to see for myself, but I fumbled in my pocket for my mirror, anyway, noticing as I did that my clothes hadn't changed too much. They seemed faded, though, and each piece was ragged on the bottom, like it had been shredded. When I held up my hand with the mirror in it, I could also see that my arm was super pale, almost to the point of being transparent. Swallowing, I finally looked into the mirror. "Whoa."

"Isn't it cool?" Sora prodded excitedly.

"It's..." I shut my eyes, then opened them again, as if I expected the effect to suddenly disappear. My face, like my arm, was pure white, and my hair, though still purple, was faded to a dull, lifeless shade. But the weirdest part, by far, was my eyes – they were almost as white as my face, completely clouded over. I looked...dead, and I wasn't really sure how to feel about that. "Freaky."

.0.0.O.0.0.

Tumbling out into the snow, I shot up straight and wrapped my arms around myself. "Brr!" I had hoped maybe after Land of Dragons that we were done with the whole trekking through the snow thing, but no, we just had to come to the North Pole.

"Cool!" Sora drew out the word as if he was looking at the most awesome thing he had ever seen.

Glancing over, I noticed that he was staring down the hill in front of us, and followed his gaze to see a quaint little town sparkling with Christmas lights down below us. Then I did a double take, and took in Sora's appearance. "Wait, did we change clothes again?" His outfit didn't look that much different, but it did now more resemble a goth Santa suit rather than a vampire costume.

"Huh?" Sora looked down at his own clothes, then to Donald and Goofy. "Hey, look at you guys!"

"Wak!" Donald cried. I put a hand over my mouth to hide the grin that had crept onto my face. "I'm a snowduck!"

"Also, you seem to have a bucket on your head," I pointed out.

"What? Why?" He fumbled at the smashed-in bucket with his stick arms, a scowl on his face.

"Gawrsh, this nose is a little distractin'," Goofy remarked. He seemed to have turned into some kind of dog-reindeer hybrid, complete with flashing red nose.

"I like your curly antlers, though." I pointed to the top of his head, and he cut his eyes up, trying to see.

"A-hyuck, well thank ya Mel! And you make a pretty cute elf!"

Elf? Oh boy. Scrunching my eyes shut, I took a deep breath before looking down at my own outfit. I was almost blinded by the sight of it. The top was green, but with sleeves that were red, lime green, and gold striped. The skirt was green with red, lime green and gold polka dots, and everything was lined with white fur. Underneath were peppermint striped leggings, and my black boots now had white puff balls on the toes. I reached up to my head, and yep, there was an elf hat to complete the look.

"Seriously? Could we just pick one or two colors and one pattern and stick with that? I look like a walking candy store!" I flopped back onto my back in the snow. "Can I go back to being dead now?"

Please let me know what you thought in a review, and if you have any special requests, shoot them my way! Ideas for scenes can be as vague or specific as you want. I'll try my best to do whatever I receive!