Chapter 6: The Pridelands!!Disclaimer: Shenlong7 and Kunoichi-Neko DO NOT own Naru- er, Kingdom Hearts or anything relating to it such as Walt Disney himself. May he rest in peace. But we own our OCs, or at least I think that's legal. . U

"Well, that's taken care of." Leon declared, arms crossed across his muscular chest. Sora nodded, hoisting the keyblade over his shoulder.

"Woah, ... that's gotta hurt.." Demyx muttered. He walked until he stood directly beside the ice sculpture, running a finger down the side curiously. "All that water combined with the wind ability to freeze it...this might be permanent considering the climate and the chances of someone being able to haul such a huge thing..."

Axel and Sora stared at the rockstar nobody, casting a glance at each other then back again. "Is this really.." they thought surprisingly at the same time. Demyx noticed them staring, cocked his head then looked behind him.

"What're you guys looking at?" He asked, searching around in curiosity.

"Yep.." Sora's and Axel's voices came in unison.

"Guess the empire will finally be in peace then..." General Shang said as he looked over the mountains at the empire. What a quiet sight it was, just lying right smack in the middle of nowhere with the nearest town being miles away. It was no wonder they had the army they did.

"Yeah, but we won't if we don't get going. We have to meet Mickey before Chrsitmas Eve to drop everyone off then go find Axel and Demyx's real bodies before Christmas day or they'll never be restored." Sora lowered his eyes to the ground, a bit saddened at the results of failure on the important mission for the nobodies. Axel remained silent, watching the young boy all the while listening to Riku and Yuffie whisper to each other behind him. The two stopped seconds later, turning their eyes to Sora as well.

"Hmpf, don't get so emotional about it. It's no big deal. We just find our bodies, become human again then you can have your little Christmas thing." Axel replied, waving his hand with his words.

"But you saved me and my friends from those heartless, remember? I have to pay you back somehow!" Sora replied, outstretching his hands and nearly hitting Cloud. "When we get everyone to Disney Castle, I PROMISE I'll find your somebodies, even if they're all the way over in Twightlight Town! Or even Halloween Town! Then you guys will celebrate Christmas with us!"

Axel chuckled. "Do what you want, kid.." He muttered, turning away to hide the tiny smile on his face.

"Hey! Sora! Leon! I've got the gummy ship a going!!" Cid yelled, breaking the silence that was starting to befall. Everybody turned to watch the man stumble out of the ship, waving a wrench in his hand. "Guess we don' need to go straight to Disney Castle! We can jus' head on and pick everyone up!"

"Alright!" cheered Sora, thrusting his hand and keyblade in the air, "Let's go! To...-" Sora pulled the list from his pocket, going down the list with his fist still in the air, "- To The Pridelands!!"

"The Pridelands, eh? Coolio..." Neko muttered to her teacher, kicking her feet over the side of the hill-cliff. Ban sat quietly as he watched the people below them cluster around then disappear into the gummy ship partially dug into the snow. The two had been listening to the group's conversation, a couple of times looking back to make sure Legat hadn't caught up yet. Apparently the Mud Bomb was keeping him occupied, and maybe causing a bit of confusion as to where the mud came from.

"Jeez, I'm hungry..." The girl groaned, dragging the bag off her back wearily. She dug through it, ignoring the grunt from Ban for a reply. She pulled out an orange carrot, thoroughly checking it over for the most dangerous three letters put together. TNT was nowhere on it. "Hey, Ban," Neko said, biting the end of the carrot. Ban glanced at her, his sunglasses sliding down his nose an inch. "What's up, Doc?" Neko said jokingly, copying the famous rabbit and his pose.

"What are..-Hey! Get rid of that!!" Ban suddenly cried, sitting up straight.

Neko took the carrot out her mouth, munching on a tiny bit she had chewed off. "Why?" She asked, about to take another bite before Ban snatched it."Hey! I was eating that!" The carrot flew in the air, performing a complete arch before plummeting into some snow on another hill-cliff-thingy. A blast followed it by mere seconds, sending snow shooting everywhere. No evidence was left when the minute-lasting smoke dispersed.

"Any more objections?" Ban asked, looking back at the wide-eyed girl. She gulped, crying out with her mouth closed suddenly. She slapped her hands over her mouth and ran to the other side of the hill-cliff, spitting out as much of the bomb carrot as possible. Ban shook his head, taking a carrot with TNT written on it from his bag.

"Did you forget we labeled the carrots TNT and the bombs we labled nothing?" Ban asked, munching on the carrot in his hand. Neko looked up from the hill side, wiping her mouth on her sleeve irritably.

"'We'?! 'We' didn't label those! Or at least I didn't! And you didn't tell me about the TNT carrot thingamabob!!" Neko cried, jogging back to the other side.

Ban rubbed his chin in thought. "Oh...that's right..I forgot who it was but anyway, did you spit it all out?"

"No! I freakin swallowed some of it!!" Neko replied, starting to squeak. Ban sighed, pulling a cap from his bag. He placed it on his head, then took it off and bowed his head. "Knock it off! That's not funny! What do I do?!?!" Neko cried, grabbing at the hat. It twirled away on Ban's hand, the man studying it while remembering what the person who made them told them to do at times like this.

"Well, it's water activated, so stop talking unless you want the moisture to get in. Two, don't eat or drink anything. And three, you got to wait for the stomach acid to completely destroy it. I'd give it about 2 hours at tops. "

"D-don't eat anything?" Neko whimpered, his stomach growling in unison.

"You're talking."

"Ack! Sorry!"

"Still talking.."

"RRgrry!"

"What?"

"You just said don't talk!"

"Then don't talk!"

"Okay!"

"Neko!"

"Ban!!"

"Stop talking!"

"ARGH!!!"

"..."

"..."

"That's better..."

"Thank you.."

Ban slapped his hand to his face, shaking his head while Neko returned to rumaging in the bag.

The gummy ship whirred to a start, spitting out snow and shaking everyone inside. It backed out with a sickening jerk, Yuffie proving how sickening it was by grabbing a barf bag from the container on the roof put especially above her chair. It was soaring through the deep blue sky and over lands in moments. Cloud sat close to Cid, Leon as well as both men kept an eye on his driving.

"Almos' there!" Cid yelled from the driver seat. Demyx looked up in confusion, peeking out the window then searching around the faces for an answer.

"This Gummy Ship was built for speed." Sora explained. "It travels to worlds almost twice as fast as a regular gummy ship."

"That's right, m'boy!" Cid pushed a few buttons up front, glancing back at Demyx and Sora with a nod. "An' she's durable through almos' anything! A beauty she is.." The gummy started leaning, a result of Cid going on coffee break and taking one hand off the wheel. Leon reached the wheel first, steadying it until Cid finally put his coffee down.Grasslands and prairies started playing past the windows, drawing everyone's attention to the various animals roaming about. Buffalo galloped along side the gummy ship when it started to hover by the ground. Birds dive-bombed insects and sometimes larger animals like the buffalo. Every now and then a prairie dog would pop out of its hole, ducking back into the ground when anything approached.

"We are going on a safari See the lions from my ferrari Hope we don't catch the malari It's safari time!" Demyx started singing from the back. Axel sighed and rolled his eyes, placing his head in his hand wearily. " Many nice surprises, are waiting in the jungle Girlie, oh, girlie, We going on a safari " Demyx continued to sing, driving Axel farther and farther away from his patience line."I will show you the goats, the chickens, and the monkeys So if you don't to go, I will go there anyway."

"Demyx! Shut up!" Axel finally shouted, slamming his hand down on the arm rest. Demyx stared in shock, and then grinned in amusement. Sora looked back at the two nobodies, waved his hand to get Demyx's attention, then signaled to everyone else. The gummy ship was silent for a few minutes, long enough to give Axel some peace..

"WE ARE GOING ON A SAFARI SEE THE LIONS FROM MY FERRARIHOPE WE DON'T GET THE MALARI! IT'S SAFARI TIME!!" Everyone yelled at the same time, scaring the crap out of both Axel and poor Cid who were both unaware of the planned outburst. The gummy ship swerved as a result, but not bad enough for the care of Leon and Cloud.

"Alrigh', safari lovers,...we're here!" Cid called out, pulling the gummy ship to a stop in front of a huge rock.

"Come on already! We don't have all eternity you know!" Legat hollered at the two people he had hired to help him.

They lagged behind tiredly, pretending to have used up more of their magic when they truthfully had way more left. However, the intense heat of the savanna did take a toll on them, red marks spreading across their faces from sunburn. The funny thing was, the farther they got up the mountainous hill Legat lead them on, the darker and spookier it got. Legat only stopped when they reached the edge of the hill. Ban took a quick glance down the side, observing with interest the acid green gunk flowing around and exploding from the earth.

"You! Doofy! Get over here." Legat ordered, pointing at Neko peeking over the side at what Ban was looking at. She glared, striding up beside the man. A dry erase board hung around her neck, her way of communicating since she could not otherwise. She watched curiously as the man started digging in the dirt with a piece of thick charcoal, creating a semi-deep, ashy circle. He tossed the charcoal down the cliff, ignoring the green smoke that followed up afterwards.

Neko scribbled "Any idea what he's doing??" on the board and held it up for Ban to see. He shrugged.

"Doofy, hold out your hand." Legat grunted. He held a glass shard in his hand tight enough it almost cut him. It was in position to cut. Neko did not approach. Instead, she erased her previous message with the back of her hand. Gripping the marker tightly with her right hand, she scribbled her name in the blue ink across the board then turned it for Legat to see.

"What is this? ...Wacko, give me your hand!" Legat growled, taking one look at the board. Neko slapped her head, tapping the board until Legat looked again.

"Yako, whatever. Give me your damned hand!" Legat grabbed at her, but she dodged and tapped her finger harder against the board. Legat snarled, reaching up and gripping her wrist and yanking her down. She slipped, the glass shard aimed at her hand slicing down her cheek instead. Neko crawled away swiftly, dabbing her scratched cheek. Legat glared at her.

"Grow up already." Legat grumbled. He buried the bloody shard in the dirt. In a matter of minutes, the circle began to glow an eerie green. The dirt began to grow, claws suddenly breaking through the dirt. Neko screamed, dashing off and hiding behind Ban. Slowly, a dark lion pulled himself up, decaying skin dangling from the lion's skeleton. The zombie animal had a very noticable scar over one of his eyes.

"Ah, yes, let's see those brats defeat you!!" cackled Legat, going into a round of maniac laughter.

The lion roared, its deep voice echoing around combined with the cries of various hyenas. Atop a large priderock, curled up in the middle of many lioness a large lion awoke from its slumber, lifting its head tiredly. Its beautiful mane flowed in the light drafts that came from the circular opening of the den.

"Simba?" inquired a slim lioness relaxing beside him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Simba answered with a worried expression. "But I thought I heard Scar a second ago."

"Scar? Simba, Scar is dead." The lionless stood and stretched, nuzzling her muzzle in Simba's mane. "You were just imagining things."

"Maybe..." Simba muttered, getting on his large paws. He stepped out of the den quietly, admiring the view of the savanna with the lionless by his side.

"Simba!!" Came a boy's cry. Simba remembered the voice as though he met its owner just yesterday.

"Sora!" Simba cried back, looking around. The wild-haired boy was nowhere in sight.

"Up here!!" Sora yelled. Looking up, Simba spotted the boy on a large, jagged rock. He grinned down at the mighty lion, hands on his knees and the elbow of another boy with white hair resting on his shoulder.

"Simba, time to come to the Christmas party at Disney Castle!" Sora called down happily.

"What?" Simba's jaw dropped in confusion, his mind trying to comprehend what the boy meant."You're invited. Many are. But we must get moving though." The white-haired boy added.Simba stared, thinking over the invitation. "How long will it be?" He asked.

"Just the night of the day we get there then we'll take everyone back." Sora replied, tapping his palm to keep the order right."Alright, guess it wouldn't hurt.."

"'Wouldn't hurt'?! Come on Simba, this is a party!!" Timone said from out of nowhere, getting startled yet amused glances from everyone. The prairie dog stood on the back of his faithful friend, Puma, near the rocks leading down from the Priderock.

"Come on! Let's get this party started!!" Timone cried, holding on to Puma as they started to run down the rock path.

Laughing, Sora leaped from the rock he was on, landing lightly on his feet."Riku! I'll race you!" Sora yelled out at the white-haired one. Riku smiled, stepping off the rock and landing beside Sora.

"Challenge accepted. Begin." Riku said before he took off, Sora coming up fast.

"Good grief.." Simba muttered, licking the lioness's head then bounding behind the four.

"Alright, now listen up." Legat growled, walking up to Ban and Neko to where they stood far from the edge near a herd of grazing buffalo. Ban leaned against one, Neko petting one's head, but both stood up straight when Legat began to approach. The buffalo, sensing a rather odd presence, strided away."See these buffalo?" Legat muttered, pointing at the herd.

"Where you expecting us not to?" Ban asked, lossening his shoulders.

Legat ignored him bitterly."Scar is over in that valley. It has two paths; a left path and a straight path. Herd these beasts down the straight path, not the left. If my calculations are correct, the buffalo will scare those brats over into the left path, and Scar will take care of them from there. Got it?" Legat demanded, glaring.

Neko scribbled a "yes" on her board, but Legat just snorted. He turned away, walking down the path they came up.

"I'm going to rejoin my spa. Don't bother me." He disappeared around a corner.

"You heard the man. Let's take 'em down the left path." Ban said, pulling a gun from his belt and loading it. Neko nodded, ducking down and covering her ears as the bullet from Ban's gun rang out and hit a cliff, effectively startling the buffalo into a stampede for the path they were bound for.

"Did you just hear something?" Sora asked, opening the door to the gummy ship. The race had ended in a tie, the rocky stairs being to hard to keep balance on. Simba growled.

"Yeah, it sounded like a gun." Riku answered. The trio watched the valley in front of them, listening to the numerous thuds thundering further down.

"Sounds like.." Simba began but gasped, having seen the buffalo galloping towards them at top speed the moment they sharply cut the corner of the rock.

"Rampage!!!" Sora cried. Riku grunted, ushering Simba into the gummy ship, then grabbing Sora and pulling both of them into the ship. The flight members, the ones that weren't asleep, looked up when the door slammed shut, confused at the frantic movements of the boys and lion."

Cid! CID!! Wake up!! Rampage!!" Sora yelled, shaking the man roughly. Cid woke up dazzled, hearing the sentence repeated once and only once to get him to start up the ship as fast as a mad man.

"It won't start!!" Cid cried, repeatedly pushing the start button. By then, the whole group was awake, the galloping buffalos growing louder by the second.

"Don't get out! We'll be safer in here! This ship is extremely tough!" Leon ordered, peering out the window.The group gathered around separate windows, watching the buffalos with unease. Closer and closer and closer and closer and then...

"What?!?" Yuffie cried, stunned. The buffalos suddenly turned, unbestknown to them by the ping of another bullet being shot. At that moment, the gummy ship started up finally, rocking everyone aboard and knocking them onto the floor. The gummy ship shot up in the air, Cid being too startled to have seen the buffalos turn. Ban walked up to the edge of the rock, watching the gummy ship fly off into the clouds.

"Well, that was fun." He grumbled, putting away his gun rather slowly.Neko nodded, scribbling random things on her board. She jumped at the sound of the gun going off again, staring at Ban in shock.

"What?" Ban asked, shrugging with the gun pointed at the ground. Neko shook her head, ignoring the target practice Ban was having for the rest of this damned chapter or until."Well we should be going, but we do have to wait for the others to go."

"Why would we wait for that," wrote Neko as she looked at her mentor.

"We're parked behind them so our ship wouldn't get damaged," replied Ban, but he couldn't help but notice that Neko was looking mortified. "You did park the ship on the straight path right?"

This chapter is compliments of my esteemed colleague Kuinochi Neko. Check out her work if you like the style.