"Sorry to spring this on you." Jiminy said. "Upon entering the world, we need to check on a lion named Simba. He's nice. He's also a formidable opponent in battle."

"Okay, I can deal with lions," Sapphire said after a deep breath. "Lions aren't a problem. I know I lion. This is fine." She was clearly trying to psyche herself down.

"If you feel confident." Niko said

"As confident as I'll ever be," Sapphire muttered, glaring slightly at Niko. She loved him, gosh, she loved him, but he could be an absolute pain sometimes. But, so could she. Niko steered towards the Pride Lands and the Gummi Ship disappeared sending them careening to the ground. Sapphire stood up prematurely, holding onto the chair she had been sitting in for balance. She felt for the Keyblade that rested comfortably on her back as if to make herself feel better before preparing to step out of the ship. Niko looked around and saw bones of elephants. Niko shuddered and looked to Jiminy who landed in his hood..

"This must be the Elephant Graveyard." Jiminy observed. "Never ceases to scare me a little."

"Yeah." Saph said. "It gives me the heebie jeebies."

"You two are a bunch of wimps." Sarabi said, internally she was being cautious and she was weirded out by all the bones.

"Whoa take a look at us!" Niko said admiring the fact he was a cheetah and Sapphire was a lioness. "We look pretty nice! But this place is kinda creepy, though."

"Hey look!" Jiminy exclaimed. "That looks like trouble is at work."

"Yeah." Sarabi said. "Niko! Sapphire! We better go check it out."

Niko looked and saw a fire in the distance. Looking towards Sapphire, he ran towards the fire, unaware he was running on all fours. Sapphire took off shortly after Niko, in a similar position to him on all fours. The fire was alarming and it made her anxiety raise up. What was going on? Niko sees an unconscious lioness surrounded by Heartless. Rushing into the miiddle, Niko looked to her.

"Sapphire! Get those Heartless destroyed!" Niko roared.

Before Niko had finished his sentence, Sapphire had her Keyblade in hand and was destroying the Heartless, eyes dark, determined, and focused. She slashed and moved strategically, eliminating the creatures efficiently. Niko looked to Sapphire and was shocked by how quick she got rid of them. Wow. She's actually pretty hot when she is taking down foes with a Keyblade. Niko thought as he nodded/

"Right." Niko said. "We need to get her away from the flames."

Dark blue Psi energy fizzles around Sapphire's hands. "You move her, and I'll douse what I can of the flames," she told Niko as droplets of waters began to cover her hands. Suddenly, splashes of water began to appear around the fire, bringing them down to size.

Suddenly a lion with brown fur and a pitch black mane appears and destroys a few Heartless. Seeing Niko with the lioness, he approached them both.

"Who are you?" The lion asked.

"I'm Niko." Niko replied. "This is Sapphire. We saw the fire and came to help. Can you help us get her out of here?"

"That's Kiara, Simba's daughter!" Jiminy shouted. "That means you must be Kovu!"

"J-Jiminy?" Kiara said groggily. "Is that you?"

"We can catch up later!" Niko said summoning his Keyblade. "Blizzard!"

Almost all at once, the fire starts to turn into smoke.

"Kiara? Kovu?" Sapphire asked, alert. Jiminy had mentioned Simba, but who were these other people that were mentioned? She looked alarmed as she tightly gripped her Keyblade.

"Kiara is Simba's daughter." Jiminy said. "I don't really know much about Kovu."

"Like I said we can catch up and introduce ourselves properly later." Niko said. "Let's get Kiara out of here."

A roar is heard and a blonde lion with a red mane runs to the group.

"That's Simba." Jiminy said.

"I got that much, thanks," Sapphire replied, taking a step back from the lions. She felt like she was intruding on something. She carefully put her Keyblade back onto her back, eyes wary and watchful of her surroundings.

"Jiminy?" Simba asked. "What are you doing here? Who are these two?"

"This is Niko and Sapphire." Jiminy replied. "They're friends of mine."

Niko explained to explained the whole situation to Simba. Simba listened to the tale, his eyes shifting to Kovu now and then. Niko finished his story and Simba nodded and sits down.

"I have to admit." Simba began. "I'm thankful for the help you and Sapphire and Kovu helped my daughter."

Sapphire nodded her head in reply to the thanks. "We couldn't just let her remain in harm's way," she replied confidently with a set look on her face. Simba smiled as Jiminy explained that the heartless weren't really responsible for the fire. Simba thought about this for a moment and nodded. Blinking and narrowing her eyes, Sapphire looked to Jiminy.

"What DID end up starting the fire?" she asked, eyes swaying back and forth between the people around her, hoping for an answer.

"I think I can explain." Kovu piped up. "My mother, Zira might be to blame."

"Then what are we standing around for?" Niko asked. "Let's go get-huh?"

Niko and Sapphire felt an odd pulse of energy that caused them to disappear into a wasteland-esque desert. In front of them is a boy in a black and red coat and black jeans. Pointing his Keyblade at them, he smiled.

"You two must be the ones Lord Xehanort was referring to." The figure said turning to face them. "You've become a pain in the a** to us."

"Who are you?" Niko asked summoning his Keyblade.

"My name is Vanitas." He replied. "But my name won't matter to you when you're dead."

Sapphire rolled her eyes and pulled her Keyblade from her back, readying up. "Fuck off," she muttered with a snarl, cracking her neck. More nuisances to deal with that were delaying her from getting back to reality. And they were a pain in HIS ass. Pfft, whatever.