Ok, I know. Pride Lands ends here. Now gimme some cookies and I'll update faster

RECAP

"Fine, but don't expect me to be nice when it's a trap."

/end recap

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Sora looked around as they left what seemed to be the invisible border between the Elephant Graveyard and the Forbidden Lands. Between their closeness in distance and time passed since they first saw the cloud of darkness, it had grown until it formed a kind of dome over the area. Tendrils of shadows escaped the spherical enclosure, and the group of five stopped a few feet in front of it.

"Should we go inside?" Sora asked no one in particular, glad for the King's silence on top of his head for once. Riku, Sora guessed, rolled his eyes and stepped forward. "You wanted to come all the way out here, Sora." He disappeared into the darkness, and Sora and Kairi followed with little hesitation. Donald and Goofy were the last to pass through the veil, emerging into a heavily shadowed area with a shudder. "That's cold!" The white bird squwaked, drawing the attention of the lions before him. Kairi nodded. "Yeah, it is." Sora and Riku traded surprised looks. "I thought it was warm, actually." Sora put in, Riku nodding in agreement. "Weird..." The brunet surmized, shrugging it off as the group procedded into the shadowy rocks.

Riku and Sora led Kairi, who was flagged on either side by Donald and Goofy. A jagged path scattered with small cliffs and spires met their trek, and several times they got seperated, only to catch whoever had gotten lost ten seconds later in a twist in the path. "It's like a big maze..." Sora observed after Kairi had been found the second time. "Yeah," Riku continued, "only all the paths are entwined. I wonder if they all end in one place?" Kairi looked around. "Hey... doesn't this place look familiar?" Everyone else proceeded to look around, and Donald made a noise and landed near a rock. "Hey, yeah! Goofy tripped over this rock and it turned over. It's the same rock!"

"So we're going in circles?" The turtle asked. "I guess so..." Sora answered, voice subdued. "So what do we do? We still don't know what caused the darkness or what's in here." Kairi pointed out. Silence met her obvious statement. "Why don't we just look around some more. If we come to a split, take a route we haven't taken before. Look for footprints in the sand. We're lucky there aren't any Heartless around here." The others nodded in agreement and continued to walk deeper into the ruins...

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(In another world...)

Two figures stood in an empty, tall room with dark walls and little light. The shorter, a thin female with greenish skin and large black cape, screamed. "Kingdom Hearts is gone again!" She waved her staff around in anger, finally slamming the end into the solid floor. "So now we have to start aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll over again, ain't that right, Maleficent?" Called out the taller, a big dog-type being. She 'hm'phed and nodded. "All we have are the Heartless. We must keep sending them after the Keyblade Masters to get the hearts!"

She walked across the room, headed for an arc leading outside to overlook the Radiant Garden. A swoosh of darkness caught her attention, and she turned around to see a slightly familiar man with dark skin and long, light hair, wearing a complicated white jacket littered with belts and other trinkets. "Hm? Who are you, and why do you DARE enter my Castle!?" She yelled angrily at him. The man, his arms crossed, merely 'hn'ed. "You are the one in control of the Heartless. But I need them for my goals. Relinquish your control over them to me." His voice was deep, and Maleficent heard the power this being contained in that simple order.

"Why should I? I also need the Heartless for my desires." She smiled evilly. "And the Heartless obey whoever is strongest. The only way they'd follow you is if you were able to defeat me." She turned fully around, giving her cape an intimidating throw to emphasize her point. Her uninvited guest merely smirked. "Then I challenge you. Right here and now." His eyes slid to the side, indicating he had known of Pete's presence. "Your subordinate is also welcome to join you, if you believe he will be of any help."

"Pete will not be joining us." Maleficent stated. "In fact," here she smiled again, looking past the newcomer and at her companion, "Pete, if you would, go ready a Heartless force to invade while I take care of this nuisance." The huge dog-like man hesitated for a second, not exactly willing to leave his boss with this strange and incredible power. But at a glare from the woman, Pete hurried out of the room, letting out a breath of relief when he was away from the intruder.

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(Pride Lands)

"Guys, I'm tired, let's rest." Kairi called from behind the group, her whine echoing slightly in the cool tunnel. "C'mon, Kairi, we're getting closer. I can feel it!" Sora smiling encouragingly at his friend, but she simply shook her head. "He's right, Kairi. We are getting closer to the center of the darkness. Whatever's causing this is a bit ahead." Sora nodded at Riku's explanation. "We can't stop now, guys!" Donald and Goofy watched the scene quietly. When Kairi hesitantly nodded, they figured there was no point in arguing either, so they nodded, which nobody saw, and followed the Destiny Islands trio.

In a few minutes, a whispered conversation was heard by the group, and everybody froze. What was going on here? They all sped up quietly, hiding behind a few tall rocks, peering around them to see the scene. A sickly thin lioness was talking to two bigger male lions across a small circle from her. "So, this is the dark power you were talking about..." She chuckled darkly. "Alright, you have my trust...for now..." The lioness purred, and the entire gang heard a new echo in her tone.

"And our reward for this prize, Zira?" The grey lion demanded. "Yes, what DO you want for giving me this power?" The two Nobody lions traded secret looks. Then Xsujint spoke. "In a while, we will come back with monsters of darkness called Heartless. They will be put under your command for a time. You are to use them to take over this world and destroy any that stand in your way." The lioness smiled darkly. "Then it is done. When do you think these 'Heartless' will be here?" It didn't escape the group that the two Nobodies traded uneasy looks before Xsujint answered again. "In due time you will have this world, Zira. Do not let any others know of our deal." She frowned a bit, unpleased with the answer. "Fine. Now leave my pride before the others discover you."

For a third time the two Nobody lions traded a glance, this time an amused one before a portal appeared and they began to walk into it. "Oh, and by the way..." Lyrxet stopped just short of the darkness, turning to smile widely at Zira. "You have some company behind those rocks. Why don't you show them your new power?" A blink later he had disappeared, Xsujint following with a 'hn' a moment later.

Zira watched the black and purple portal disappear before speaking. "So... you came to see what the darkness was, didn't you?" She turned and began walking toward the rocks. "Come out of there so I can kill you." All in the group traded quick looks, followed by three nods.

Zira was smiling, falsely sweet, and she sensed the power of a fairly large traveling party split into two groups, three preparing to strike. With a hiss the lioness pounced, jumping over the rocks and aiming for what felt like the most powerful being.

Riku skid to the side and hit a sharp, solid wall with a small thud, and he heard Kairi's scream as she hit the opposite side of the room a second later. "Sora!" was the first word out of his mouth, and he quickly jumped up to see his friend stuck, Zira's teeth bared and clamped on Sora's Keyblade, a black aura streaked with dark brown encasing her as she stood triumphantly over the brown lion cub.

Donald and Goofy had been blown back by the sudden attack, and both hesitated. Any attack would hurt Sora, too! For the moment, they could do nothing. Kairi also called out for Sora, and she and Riku ran forward at the same time to save the brunet, who was slowly losing his battle. His paws skid back in centimeters, digging into the dusty rock beneath him.

Somehow, Riku managed to reach Zira first, summoning his Keyblade and spinning on his back legs to deflect Zira's face away from Sora. Like a true cat, the lioness flailed in midair and landed perfectly on top of the rock that had seperated the opponents mere minutes ago. She let out a dark chuckle, made all the more menacing by the aura that swirled at her movements. "Darkness shall rule this world! I will not be stopped by light!"

At the end of her statement, more shadows grew from her, and the dark room became even darker and colder, the shadows cast by jutting rocks expanding to cover the hard ground. Sora stood up, and all three of Destiny's Children looked around. Everything was darkness, there was no light. These were no longer shadows, only pure darkness.

"See? I told you it was a trap." Riku said, so casually, and Kairi shivered. She could never remember feeling so cold and alone, even though she knew Sora and Riku were not two feet away. Another cry of battle echoed in the darkness before Zira pounced, all three sensing her power and jumping forward, unintentionally scattering themselves in the dark as the lioness jumped from behind, landing where Riku had been standing seconds before.

Once again her dark laugh pierced the darkness and the fighter's minds. "Give in to the darkness, the power, the shadows..." It seemed a hiss, like a deadly snake, poised and ready to bite at any instant. Kairi felt a rush of adrenaline. Yes, the darkness was a powerful lure, but she felt a pinprick of determination, her pure-born light, resisting, and that gave her the strength to push the temptation to the back of her mind.

Riku and Sora fared similiarly, though not as quick. Kairi was the first to fully throw off the darkness, and the black lifted to reveal the same cave, her standing in the same spot she'd left in. Zira cast a dark, powerful, almost hungry glare of hatred and the two opponents froze for a moment, Zira emanating complete frustration and Kairi a kind of uncertainty. Then two more movements caught their attention as Riku, and then Sora appeared out nowhere.

Zira let out a howl of anger, her dark aura retreating to simmer around her, glowing impatiently as she growled. After a split second of thought, the lioness turned around and jumped off the rock, over the view of the group. All three lion cubs ran around the rocks blocking their way and gasped.

She was gone.

The room was empty, a bit brighter than they remembered. For a few seconds, everyone just looked around, expecting the lioness to jump from the shadows for another attack. "What happened?" Kairi whispered, breaking the fragile silence that had permeated the group. "I... don't konw, Kairi." Sora answered, voice tinted with confusion. Riku 'hn'ed. "Well, whatever's going on here, it's gone. There's no point in sticking around, it sounds like it'll be a while before the Heartless get here."

"That means the Organization doesn't have control of them yet." Sora added, getting a nod from Riku in response. "They're new back, somehow. It might be some time before they get fully regathered." Once again silence rang supreme as everyone thought. "What I don't understand is..." Sora began to theorize, turning to stare thoughtfully at Riku. "Did anybody know who those two were?"

Everybody shook their heads, and all recognized the importance of that question. "So it's a new Organization?" Riku proposed, and nobody answered. "Do you think Xemnas is still leading them?" Kairi timidly asked, getting naught but another silence as answer. "Should we go now?" Sora questioned. What seemed like a painfully heavy weight, still silent as death, settled in the room.

Suddenly Sora felt a pull on his head, and finally remembered the King. Repeatedly Mickey jumped up and down, and Sora's head bobbed with each impact. "Ouch! ow! ow! Ok, ok, I get it!" Sora swiped a paw harmlessly at his ear, and the mouse calmed. Everyone stared at him with expectancy, and Sora sighed. "I think the King is saying that the answer to all those questions is yes, and that it's time to leave here." Sora felt a rush of relief when the mouse settled down, and a few people nodded in agreement.

"I guess..." Kairi was the last to agree, and within seconds a warm white glow surrounded them. After the glow had faded, the six found themselves back on the Gummi Ship, floating in the space between worlds innocently, far out of reach of the darkness that consumed the worlds below. Sora walked over to a window, out of which he could see the Pride Lands, and repressed a sigh. Riku joined him a moment later, as the King, Donald, and Goofy drove the ship away and on to the next world. Kairi sat in a seat behind Goofy, silent and unusually withdrawn.

"What was that?" Sora quietly asked. Riku 'hm'ed. "I think it was a test. Did you know that Kairi was the first to escape?" Sora nodded. "To test our light?" Riku shrugged. "Possibly. Possibly not." Sora looked away from the space they were passing, far away worlds shining like specks of light in the middle of nothing reminding him a bit uncomfortably of their recent encounter.

Before he could speak, Donald yelled out "Look!" All eyes stared to the front of the ship, where indeed a dot of blue was fast approaching, signaling another world ready to accept them. As they neared, Donald squacked. "It's Atlantica!" Goofy let out a 'hyuk!' of laughter in agreement, Kairi staring at the watery spot in confusion. "It's underwater?" Sora approached her, Riku following to stand at her other side. "Yeah, Atlantica is all underwater. There is a surface side, but we've never been there."

The king nodded. "Donald, I think you use magic here?" The magician nodded and struck a valiant pose, earning a few laughs in response. He lifted his staff as the Gummi Ship got as close as possible to the world, the same warm white light surrounding them, this time complimented by a slightly sharp tingling, followed by a rush of hot air. This time when the light faded, the group found themselves in warm water, in their watery forms.

Sora was still part dolphin, his dark blue tail swishing under and behind him as the movements for swimming coming back to him like the movements for running. Donald was still a white octopus, and Goofy swam up beside him, as before a black and green turtle. Sora smiled when he saw what his other friends had changed into. Riku floated, looking lost, flailing a bit as he tried to adjust to the powerful bright green fin that swat at the surrounding water. His chest was bare, and the silver haired boy twisted a bit as he inspected the colorful new world. Kairi seemed a bit more in danger, falling and rising with desperate jerks of her light pink tail. She turned around and around, letting out little gasps as she tried to steady herself. Her chest was covered with a pair of white shells speckled with pink and gray spots, held in place by thin white lines that could have been twisted fishing wire.

Goofy and Donald swam over to help Kairi, seeing as how they were closest. After a few minutes she seemed steady enough, and by that time Sora had given Riku enough prodding that the older boy had his sea legs, so to speak. The five gathered in a loose circle and made their minor adjustments when Donald spoke up.

"Where's the King?" Everyone looked around for a minute before the worry set in. "Where'd he go?" Goofy asked, voice punctured by panic. "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!?" Donald began yelling, worry radiating off him almost tangibly. He broke the circle and swam away, startling the others into following.

Donald rounded a corner, a cliff of dark blue rock and colorful bursts of coral before a squacking scream was heard. The others jolted into a fast swim and turned the corner after Donald, only to stop in their watery tracks at the sight that greeted them.

A mass of black spattered with yellow eyes bobbed in front of them, and the cloud moved as a great group of fish-like Heartless blocked the path before them. They seemed to seek no particular goal, and aimlessly yet dangerously floated in the water, the excitement vibrating through the group as a whole. Their eyes darted around, and most of the dark beings finally focused on the group.

With little warning save for a second of intense stillness, the great cloud suddenly darted forward, converging on Donald, who lay petrified before them. He let out a terrified and broken squack, throwing his hands over his head as Sora, Goofy, Kairi, and Riku rushed forward. All already had weapons out, but the knowledge that their efforts were in vain screamed at them. The Heartless were closer, there were too many, they were newer, more powerful, it was all too much.

A small ping echoed through the water as a shaft of golden light pierced the dark mass, breaking into multiple streams that immediately dispersed the Heartless that they touched. Much of the group was destroyed, and the others began to frenzy at the unexpected interruption. They quickly condensed back into a much smaller cloud of black, yellow eyes roaming the area in a frantic search of their newest and biggest threat. Donald finally looked up from his crouching position, and upon seeing his attacker in retreat, immediately scrambled backwards to rejoin a confused Sora and company.

Everyone's eyes were seeking the source of life-saving light, and soon Kairi gasped. "Look!" She pointed to the top of a nearby cliff, and everyone, even the Heartless, followed her finger. On top of the ridge stood a short, dark, and powerful figure. A Keyblade of gold glittered in the streams of sunlight reflected through the water, and the gang cheered. "It's the King!" Donald exclaimed, the group of Heartless seeming to quiver at the mention and identification of their opposing power.

The figure jumped off the cliff, and the Keyblade group swam over to meet him in a hurry, the Heartless escaping unnoticed in a flash of darkness. Donald and Goofy were the first to reach the King, and both smothered him in an embrace, laughing at the reunion. Riku was next, he and the King trading nods, both relieved at the other's safety. Kairi was the next to greet the King, and she smiled at him in relief, him sending a reassuring nod back to her. Last was Sora, who was frowning a bit. "What happened, your Majesty? Why were you moved so far from the rest of us?" The King merely shrugged, left without an answer.

As the group recovered from the slight scare in a comfortable silence, Sora scrutinized the new form of the King. He had kept the most of his original shape, but his ears had shrunk and pulled back to his head. His nose still stuck out like a marble. He seemed to be in a white and black scuba suit, with feet like flippers: longer and much thinner than his normal form. Gills fluttered at his neck every few seconds.

The reverie was broken by a startled noise from Riku. "Hey, where'd the Heartless go?" Heads whipped around in the water to stare at a serene spot where a swarm of darkness once floated. Half let out small noises of surprise, but a few remained silent. The King, Sora, and Riku were them. Mickey had felt their retreat plan form as soon as his attack hit. Riku was mildly suspicious, but not very surprised. Sora had felt them leave, but not mentioned it at the time.

"I don't like this." Kairi began, and Sora picked up her idea. "Why would they act like that? They almost looked..." "Lost." The King finished for him. "They were lost. Wandering around under no orders. Something big is happening."

"Last time we saw the Heartless was right before we fought Xemnas." Riku mused out loud. Mickey nodded. "There were too many. Maleficent and Pete chose to stay behind and fight them. I don't think they lost." Sora almost frowned. "But wouldn't the Heartless be under their control then?" He asked, and Mickey turned to look at him. "Well, they should be, but I'm just not sure what could have happened to make this happen."

"Could Maleficent have lost herself to the darkness?" Sora asked quietly, him and Riku trading dark looks. It had happened before, why couldn't it happen again? But Mickey shook his head. "I doubt it. Maleficent is definitely stronger than the Heartless." "Could someone be challenging her for them, then?" Riku cut in. Everyone was quiet for a beat. "It could be. But who could be so strong?" Everybody shrugged this time. The subject was dropped.

A swooshing sound caught their attention and stopped the uncomfortable silence that would have surely followed. All eyes focused on a rising of dark power a few twists and turns away, knowing the Heartless had returned, and had found another victim. "Let's go!" Sora called out, leading the group in their aqueous flight to the fight.

After a few minutes in which a powerful battle raged, Sora swam around a corner and screeched to a halt. In the open space, overshadowed by some rocks jutting out, swam a girl with long black hair and extremely pale skin, her dark blue mermaid tail swishing violently as she darted around the water between her enemies. The fair-sized swarm of Heartless had ambushed her, and she swam gracefully around in loops and twists and turns, swinging a long black staff. For each Heartless hit, the stranger would simply move on to another that had taken its place.

Sora, now joined by Donald, Goofy, the King, Riku, and Kairi, watched the fight continue. In a few seconds, their performer had ended up in the middle, surrounded at virtually every angle by Heartless. But she seemed calm. The creatures were still, only squirming in their spots. Then at what seemed the same second, two things happened.

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woot Pride Lands is DONE.

now review or u don't get a chapter! : (