Kyrie (c) Me

Kingdom Hearts characters/some of the story (c) Square Enix

Kingdom Hearts

Bonded Soul

Chapter 34

The group sighed as they walked into the Gummi ship, exhausted after their adventure through Halloween town and Christmas town.

"Man am I tired." Sora yawned as he settled into his chair. Kyrie nodded in agreement as she sat down. She felt a little strange now that her Halloween town garb was gone, but she was happy to be back in lighter clothes. Pulling out her backpack, she opened it and brought out her sketchbook and pencils.

"I think I'll sketch something." she thought, opening her sketchbook to a blank page. After staring at it for a few minutes, she decided to draw herself in her Halloween town outfit as well as all of the new friends she's made so far.

"Besides, I haven't had time to sketch since Atlantica, and it'll help pass the time until we get to the next world."

-Later-

"We're here!" Donald called as he looked back at them. Sora and Kyrie were out of their chairs instantly, the latter tucking her sketchbook and pencils into her backpack. Goofy walked over and looked at the screen curiously at the new world.

"Garwsh, what world is that?" he asked. Donald looked at the screen for a moment, before turning to them.

"It doesn't say. We'll just have to find out." he answered. The group nodded before he stood, pulling out his wand as he did so.

"I better use my magic to get us down there. It's better than finding a place to land the ship, anyways." he muttered. With a wave of his hand, they were consumed by a flash of light. Kyrie closed her eyes tightly, the light blinding her for a moment. When she opened them again, she was standing in a sort of rocky area. There were small green pools of water near the rock walls that towered over them.

"Wait…why do I feel…furry? Did I just get smaller? And why am I walking on both my hands and feet?" looking down at herself, she gave a mew of surprise. She was an animal!

"Wait, how did this happen?" she thought frantically, looking behind her and seeing a silver-white tail with black spots on it swish back and forth. She could even feel her tail as it swished, and this slightly…no…greatly freaked her out. She looked at the pools of water and decided to see what she looked like. She began to walk over, stumbling a few times, before looking into the water.

There was the face of a cat staring back, with rounded ears and spots all over its face. White hair fell over its right eye and a familiar hairclip held the rest out of its face, as well as a familiar necklace with a silver heart pendant around its neck. Brown eyes glimmered beneath the white fur, and she opened her mouth to reveal the sharp teeth and a rough pink tongue. She was silent as she tried to remember the types of animals she read about in the library back at the castle. After a moment, she knew what she was.

"Wow…I'm a leopard!" she grinned, the reflection grinning right back. She turned her attention away from the water, satisfied with her answer, and looked over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Sora was a dark brown lion with a white underbelly, his brown hair in its usual spiky fashion; Donald was a white bird with blue tail feathers and a blue sailors cap on his head, and Goofy was a green-shelled turtle with a hat on his head. Sora looked himself over before looking at them.

"Hey! Check us out." He cried, looking himself over. Kyrie giggled silently, before the sounds of footsteps echoed around them. Turning around, they were surrounded by large, ugly animals with black spots all over them. She gave a silent growl, knowing exactly what kind of animals were standing in front of them.

"Those are Hyenas. From what I read, they're one of the deadliest animals in the savannah." she thought as she backed up, tail fluffed out and raised as she crouched, prepared to attack. They laughed sickeningly, making her hackles raise as she bared her teeth. Sora backed up, as well as Donald and Goofy, as he eyed the group warily.

"Heartless?" he asked, looking back at them. Kyrie was quick to shake her head, but Goofy was silent as he eyed them.

"I dunno, Sora. I get the feelin' they might live here." He whispered. Donald flapped over their heads as the hyenas inched closer.

"Don't mind us! Just passing through. We won't be any trouble." Donald called, looking at them. Sora nodded as he puffed out his chest, looking tough.

"Yeah, that's right!" he agreed. One of them laughed loudly, a both male and feminine voice sounding, before stalking towards them. It began to circle them, making Kyrie hiss as she instinctively crouched in front of Sora, ready to spring. She was a little bigger than him, her shoulder blades a few inches higher than his. But she was still small compared to the hyenas.

"Don't be silly. We'd love you to stick around for lunch." The hyena spoke, making Kyrie look at it in confusion. She couldn't tell if it was male or female by the voice, but wasn't ready to get closer to see if it was. Another hyena came up from behind, and joined its companion as they circled the four.

"Um… we didn't bring anything to eat." Sora spoke, confused by its words. Its companion spoke next.

"That's not gonna be a problem!" it spoke, the voice that of a male. Goofy gulped as he inched back.

"Sora…I think we are the lunch." He spoke, his voice shaky. Donald looked around for a moment before yelling, causing Sora and Goofy to bolt. Kyrie stayed where she was, meeting a hyena as it stood over her, licking its jaws before allowing its tongue to loll out. She hissed and snarled, before instinct took over and she lashed out, her paw swiping over its cheek. It let out a shriek as Kyrie's claws dug into its skin, leaving claw marks that started to bleed.

"Whoa!" turning, she spotted Sora on the ground as the male hyena stood over him, ready to bite into him. Before she could run to him, a roar rang out, causing her ear to flick back as she looked to the entrance of the gorge. The hyena groaned.

"Man, that Scar's got the worst timing." He complied. His companion just rolled its eyes.

"Just let him roar." It, she, stated. The male shook his head as he looked at her.

"Nah, we better go see what he wants. Sounds like he's grumpy enough already." He sighed. She sighed as well and rolled her eyes.

"Fine." And with that, the hyenas scampered away, leaving Sora and the others safe and unharmed. Sora was on his feet in seconds as he looked at the entrance of the cave, completely confused at what had just happened.

"I dunno what that was about, but I'm glad it's over! Everything's harder on four legs…" he groaned, looking at his paws in disgust. Kyrie was quick to agree, it was strange being on four legs. Donald chuckled as he flew over their heads, having gotten used to flying already.

"Better start practicing!" he called. Sora nodded as he slowly walked to Kyrie's side, trying to get used to walking.

"You wanna try racing me? Maybe it'll help us get used to being on four legs." he asked. She nodded, before freezing. Looking over her shoulder, she realized that her backpack was gone.

"Where's my backpack? Oh no…my notebook was in there. How am I supposed to communicate with them now?" she thought as she looked around, hoping that it was just lying somewhere nearby. Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched as she looked around anxiously, her hair somewhat bristled and her tail twitching with anxiety.

"What's wrong?" he asked. She looked at him, how was she supposed to tell him that her backpack, as well as her only means of communication, was gone? Goofy looked to her back and gasped.

"Gawrsh! Sora, her backpack's gone!" he cried. Sora jumped and looked at her back, seeing only her white fur with black spots, but no backpack.

"Oh no…you can't talk now! Your notebook's gone!" he groaned. She rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for the info, Sora." she thought, shaking her head. The group went silent after that, not really sure what to do to solve Kyrie's situation. After a few minutes, Sora sighed.

"I guess we'll just have to do this like a game of charades. We'll just guess."

Donald and Goofy shook their heads and sighed, while Kyrie giggled silently. It would have to do.

-Later-

After practicing walking on all fours by chasing each other and trying to walk in a straight line, they decided to leave the cave and see just what kind of world they had landed on. Outside, the world look gloomy with more rock formations and surprisingly, a ton of bones littering the place. Elephant bones, to be exact.

"Looks like a graveyard. But it's not as creepy as the one in Halloween town." Kyrie thought as she looked around. She padded forward, only to be startled by a roar. Looking over, she and the others spotted a lioness as two large animal-like heartless chased her. She stopped and roared at it, before dodging an attack it launched at her. Sora looked at the lioness in concern, before looking at the others.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked. Donald cocked his head to the side as he landed on Goofy's shell, looking at the heartless in wonder.

"Heartless?" he inquired. Kyrie rolled her eyes at the question, wasn't it obvious?

"What do we do?" Goofy whispered. Sora shrugged his shoulders and she sighed, before running in. The lioness was in clear distress, and she couldn't just stand there and watch her get hurt.

"I'm coming!" Kyrie thought as she ran in, flinging herself at one of the heartless, sending it into a wall as she tackled it in the side. Landing on her paws, she joined the female lioness just as Sora ran in, getting in front of them.

"Stay back!" he ordered as he crouched in front of them, hissing at the heartless. Donald and Goofy joined him as they summoned their weapons, Donald carrying his staff in his talons and Goofy carrying his shield on his shell. Sora hesitated for a moment, before his keyblade appeared between his teeth. Kyrie stared at him for a moment, confused at how he had been able to summon his keyblade in his mouth.

"How can I get mine to appear like that? I've got no hands, only paws!" she thought as she leaped, dodging a tackle from one of the two heartless. Sora looked at her and dropped his keyblade for a moment, only to pick it up with his tail.

"Kyrie, just think about them appearing! Pretend your mouth is your hand!" he called. She nodded and closed her eyes, imagining her mouth holding her Lost Memory keyblade and her tail holding her white Kingdom key. Seeing a flash of light and feeling a weight in her mouth and tail, she opened her eyes and saw that she was now carrying her keyblades. She smirked, holding her Lost Memory keyblade tightly between her fangs as she jumped, driving it into a nearby heartless.

"Thanks, Sora!" she thought as she joined them once more, getting whacked a few times because she was not used to carrying her keyblades in her mouth and tail. With the heartless gone, they regrouped.

"Definitely Heartless." Sora spoke, their suspicions confirmed. Kyrie rolled her eyes and shook her head, before noticing the lioness as she approached them.

"Thank you. You really saved me." She spoke, bowing her head. They quickly shook their heads modestly before Goofy spoke up.

"We're just glad you're okay." He spoke, a smile on his face. Sora looked around suspiciously for a few moments, before looking at her.

"Did you see any other Heartless around here?" he asked her. She raised her eyebrow at him, confused.

"Heartless… Is that what they're called? I'm not sure if there are any others… I don't usually hunt outside the Pride Lands." She explained. Donald cocked his head to the side.

"Pride Lands?" he asked. Sora quickly walked so that he was in front of her, and looked at her curiously.

"Hey, do you know if a guy named Riku is there? Or some guys in black hoods? Or maybe this really big bully named Pete?" he asked. She shook her head and he sighed sadly.

"Oh well, we might as well go take a look, anyway." He sighed. The others nodded before she growled, startling them.

"Wait… the Pride Lands are dangerous. Scar and the hyenas have made things unbearable for everyone. There's no food left. They've driven off the prey. We're about to starve." She explained. Kyrie pulled her ears back, she felt bad for the lioness. Sora must've shared the same thoughts, because he too felt bad for her.

"We can handle a little danger. You just saw us beat those Heartless, didn't you?" he explained. The lioness was quiet for a few moments before looking them over.

"I guess you're right… You could be just what the kingdom needs. Maybe you can help us." She spoke, hope in her eyes.

"Ya mean take on this Scar guy and all those hyenas?" Goofy asked her. She nodded at this, and Donald cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Scar?" he asked, making the lioness turn her attention to him.

"He took over when our last king, Mufasa, died." She explained. Sora was silent as he thought for a few minutes, but Kyrie already had a clear idea of what she was asking of them.

"She's asking for us to take down their king…I don't know about this. I feel bad for her, but wouldn't that make us the bad guys if we go around kicking kings off their thrones? There must be a book or code on this hero stuff." Kyrie thought as she began to pace. The young lion's eyes widened when he finally realized the severity of just what kind of favor she was asking from them.

"So you're saying this guy is your king. You want us to take down your king?" he asked, appalled. The lioness nodded, and Sora looked back at the group, before looking at her.

"Wait just a minute." He told her. She nodded as he walked back to the others as they formed a huddle. Sora looked back and forth between his companions, not exactly sure what to decide on the whole matter.

"We can't just go around knocking kings off their thrones. Then again, if they see that I'm stronger than their king, maybe they'll ask me to be their next king!" he explained. Kyrie glared at him and thumped him in the head with her tail, making him cry out and start to rub where she whacked him with his paw. Goofy stared at the cub sternly.

"Sora…" he warned.

"I'd have to refuse, of course. Still, I'd like to see the Pride Lands, so you guys don't mind lending 'em a paw, do you?" and with that, he was off without getting anyone's opinion on the matter. They rolled their eyes.

"Uh-oh, there he goes again…"

"You said it, Donald. Man, I wish I could talk right now…" Kyrie thought sourly as they watched him talk to the lioness. Once they were done, she ran off, and he ran back to meet them.

"She's gonna go on ahead and tell the other lionesses. We're supposed to meet her at a place called Pride Rock."

Yep. Another action-packed chapter done and done. If you want to view a pic of Kyrie in her leopard form, check it out here! http: / k-chanlovesanimexd . deviantart . com /gallery/ # /d4eqn7x (minus the spaces)

The reason why I chose leopard because cheetah was used and Lion is overused, so I decided to go with another african big cat.

Until the next chapter, see ya! ...and you know the drill.