Rhiannion: So... I forgot to post three chapters last week... but that is okay... I should be able to post three or four this one...

Chapter 9—Three Lions, a Baboon and a Bird

Leon dropped into the pilot's chair feeling a bit frustrated. Sure they'd gotten the information that they'd needed but they'd gained of all people one of the Organization. And not just any member… one that seemed more like a lackey. He'd followed them dutifully, but had griped about Olette taking him shopping but that hadn't really bother Leon. It wouldn't exactly due for Demyx to be following them around in the Organization coat. He honestly couldn't see why Demyx was complaining so much. Same old dark pants and boots, but the cloak had been traded in for a white t-shirt and blue overcoat. Nothing too different or eye catching.

"I don't see why you're keeping me… I mean after all, what are you going to do with me?" He asked as he sat down beside Leon.

"That's easy." Riku's voice sounded from behind him. "We're going to take you to Radiant Garden and put you on the border patrol. That way, you'll at least be useful."

"What if I don't want to?" He pouted.

"Who says you have a—What the fuck was that Leon!" Riku asked as he grasped the seat in an attempt to keep from falling.

"We're under attack." His calm voice belayed the urgent situation. "You might want to sit down."

Riku dived back towards where Kairi and Sora pushed himself into a seat. He barely managed to get his seat belt on and Leon took the ship into a barrel roll.

"Kick ass! Xaldin never let me have this much fun!" Demyx laughed as the ship continued to buck and roll.

"Are you certifiably insane?" Kairi called from behind him.

"Oh come on! Don't you trust Leon? This is fun!" The former organization member cried.

"Fun huh?" Leon gave him a side long glance. "Think you can work the weapons?"

"Weapons? Sounds like fun!" Leon took one hand off the controls and pointed over at the console in front of the blond nobody.

"Have at it." Demyx cracked his knuckles and reached his hands out. "You definitely picked the right man for the job."

Riku decided that that might have been understate meant when the airspace before them lit up due not to the lasers he was blasting off but the enemy ships he was blowing up. It was like daylight outside the view window. He seemed to not miss a target, not that it mattered there were too many.

"The guns aren't going to hold." Demyx informed them with a happy voice. "Might I suggest we land this boat?"

"Demyx switch over… the guns won't do us any good now." Leon stated and Demyx was happy to oblige.

He scrolled the air space and Riku was a little nervous but Leon's piloting skills kept them from getting hit most of the time and by the looks of it the ship was holding barely. He looked over at Sora who was white knuckling the arm rests and Kairi who looked liked she was in prayer.

"Come on guys… it's not that bad…" He tried but his stomach sunk when the ship entered a dive roll.

"The only planet I can see kinda looks like a wasteland." He muttered fingers flying over the keys.

"Well it's not like we have a choice…" The ship was rocked with a blast on the left side and part of the engine blew. "Prepare for crash landing!"

Crash, Riku thought as the ship hit ground and bounced like a basketball, was a relative term.

Of the group, Sora was the first to wake up. Although he was beginning to wish that he hadn't. He felt stiff and awkward and… smaller then he remembered being. He slipped out from under the seat belt that no longer strapped him in and tried to stand up. Tried being the keyword. H couldn't seem to get off all fours. And then he looked down. He, Sora Miryoko was standing… on four paws. A shudder went through him.

"I'm… I'm a pet!" He spoke loudly.

"Shut up Sora… 'm trying to sleep." Riku muttered and when Sora mastered the walking thing and put his front paws up on the seat, Riku was in very much the same state as him only… bigger.

"You might want to wake up for this." He warned and then decided to see if they were all lions if the way Riku looked was any indication.

He wasn't, in Kairi's seat was a tired looking bird with red feathers and a small beak. Shaking his head he turned and walked towards the front of the ship. In the pilots seat was a rather large grey-brown lion and in the other seat was… a baboon? Did Sora even want to know? He blamed Demyx for this. Yes, Demyx because he was new and he was unconscious and couldn't defend himself. But hey, at least Demyx was the only baboon… though he'd never seen baboons with blond hair on their heads before.

"What are you lookin' at?" Demyx asked. "Whoa shit… is that… you're Sora right?" He sat up fully and Sora couldn't resist laughing.

"Yeah, it's me. You should see yourself." He stated and then groaned. "How in all the hells are we supposed to defend ourselves like this!"

"Very carefully." Leon muttered dryly and Sora could only wondered if he ever did anything ungraceful as he straightened himself up and jumped off the chair to land on all fours.

A loud crash signaled that Riku had um… woken up by the look of it as Sora turned around to see the dazed silvery lion cub lying on his side.

"That first step is rather unfriendly, ne?" Demyx asked with a smirk.

"Man, are you ugly." Riku replied as he carefully pulled himself up on all fours. "And this is retarded. We're not human."

"I noticed." Leon muttered as he sat back. "We must be on a planet in which there are no humans."

"But… but why the fuck did we change forms?" Riku practically whined.

"You're keyblades unfortunately… affect us all."

"I feel like I got hit by a mack truck." Kairi called and then she let out a god-awful whiny shriek. "I'm covered in feathers! So-ra!"

"It wasn't me!" He yelled and the Kairi-bird suddenly jumped up and flapped its wings just barely managing to stay airborne.

Leon rolled his eyes. "We need to check out the state of the ship. We also need to see if the Heartless or the nobodies have invaded this world."

"I'm here." Demyx pointed out with what might have been a sly face but looked far to ridiculous on a baboon. "I'd have to say they've been invaded."

"Baka." Leon rolled his eyes and stood up. "Maybe… you should ride on my back Kairi." He called to the girl as she nearly fell out of the air.

"I… I think that would be best." She landed on the gray-brown lion's back.

"Well… let's see what we've stumbled upon kiddies." Demyx stated as he headed towards the hatch.

"I hope whatever's on the other side of that hatch eats you first."

Naminè stared listlessly at the four walls that surrounded her. It wasn't that she particularly disliked the room, it was just that it was rather bland. Marluxia had been nice enough to leave her things to amuse herself with, papers and colored pens but she would have rather had the ability to leave the room and find things that she wanted to see. Wanted to draw. There was a knock on the door and she rolled her eyes. There was only one person she knew that knocked and that was Marluxia.

So you could imagine her surprise when it was the Flurry of Dancing Flames.

"What brings you back here?" She asked coolly as she set aside her sketch book to focus her full attention on him.

"I don't know." He admitted as he hoped up on the table and reclined. "Maybe I'm going crazy."

"Crazy wouldn't be so bad." She shrugged a bony shoulder. "It'd make the days more interesting."

"So you say." He grinned at her, bright and falsely happy.

"I thought I was done with your nefarious plans. What could you possibly want from me?" She didn't bother with fake smiles as she watched him.

"You said… that you thought I had the ability to gain a heart." He suddenly looked unsure of himself, something Naminè hadn't believed that Axel could pull off. "Did you really mean that?"

"I only say things that seriously if I mean it." She told him and she stood up and approached him, realizing as if only for the first time just how long and lanky Axel was, like rope. "You're emotions aren't as false as you think they are."

H snorted at that and wiped at his nose. "I'm a nobody. Of course my emotions are false."

"Why did you come and see me?"

"Because you aren't apart of the Organization." He admitted as if it were some kind of great ordeal.

"You trust me." She countered easily.

"I don't trust you… I don't trust anybody except—" He shut up and she looked at him questionably.

"What is it that you wish to accomplish Axel?"

"I want to help Roxas… He wants to meet his other."

"Then he'll need a diversion." She looked at him with an air of mystery to her that he found fascinating. "Something that will preoccupy the entire Organization."

"That's easy… I could kill Ansem. That would set Xemnas on the war path."

"I don't understand." She tapped her lower lip.

"Ansem is Xemnas' diversion while he gathers up the hearts for Kingdom Hearts. If Ansem isn't there to rage like a fool it throws a large kink in his plans." Axel smiled to himself. "And here I thought Marluxia and Larxene's plot was all the amusement I needed."

"Are you really powerful enough to destroy such a powerful heartless?" She asked quietly.

"Maybe… maybe not. My death would cause a long enough diversion as well." He shrugged.

"Is Roxas that important to you?" Naminè asked softly.

"Yeah… the little punk's like that. He worms his way inside and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

"Do you think I'll get to meet him one day?"

"Course! You know me don'tcha? This will all be smooth sailing." He opened a portal of inky darkness and hoped off the table and all but skipped through it. "Just wait till Marluxia starts bitching that the old king is dead."

"Be careful Axel." She whispered softly. "Roxas would probably be upset if you didn't come back."

Rhiannon: Oh yeah, thank you to all reviewers, readers, lurkers and whatever else there is...