(Cut to a huge, circular, mosaic platform. The platform is adorned with images of past scenes that have occurred in Brotherhood of the Dark, like Sora and Kairi's first kiss, Nehrut joining the team, Riku aquiring the powers of Dawn, and several others.)

(The main cast of Brotherhood of the Dark are all sitting in silver throne-like chairs around the platform. DarthKingdom has his own)

Sora: "Happy anniversary!"

Mickey: "It's been two years, right?"

Yep, two years! Two years since the prologue chapter of Brotherhood of the Dark was posted on this site!

Riku: "I have to say, your wrighting really sucked back then."

I know, I know.

Roxas: "Congratulations, though!"

Bariss: (looking at a computer screen) "I'm looking at this now, and it says that there have been 1,055 reviews, 217 people on the favorite stories list, 137 alerts, and over 99,000 hits. (looking up) Not too bad."

Thank you!

Nehrut: "Not to mention that you've created some pretty awesome OCs."

Riku: (Rolling eyes) "But they're not humble."

Kairi: "Ah, let him have his fun, it's kind of his birthday."

Anyway, I'd like to thank everybody out there who's read the story, and stuck with it for so long! You guys are just plain awesome. And a special thanks to everybody who's made a special contribution to this story… You guys know who you are!

Namine: "So, small question: You're continuing the story, right?"

Sure am. I just kind of hope that I can get most of it posted by the time the actual game comes out. Expect many more chapters to come, either way!

And now, on with the show! I still don't own anything.

Chapter 74: Be Prepared

"I'm sorry that we couldn't have met under less stressful circumstances, guys." Simba apologized.

"Don't worry about it." Sora waved it off with his paw.

It was midday. They had returned to the beautiful Pride Lands, and now stood on the gigantic rock formation known as Pride Rock. It stood in the center of the great savanna, towering over everything else. From this perch the king could look over his kingdom, knowing the true meaning of 'pride.'

"So." Simba asked. "I take it that you're here because of the Brotherhood?"

"Yep." Sora answered. "Has anything bad happened lately?"

"Surprisingly, no." Simba sat down at the tip of the rock, which stretched out from the main mountain more than fifty feet above the ground. Sora, Mickey, and Riku followed him there. "We haven't seen any Heartless around, and the Outlanders have pretty much stayed in the Outlands. Today was the first trouble we've had in months, actually."

"If the Brotherhood hasn't struck yet, they will soon." Riku said. "There's Darkness all around us, I can feel it."

"So can I." Mickey said. "We need to be prepared for anything."

"Great trouble is brewing in the Outlands I fear." Came a voice from behind the four. Turning around, they saw an old mandrill. Sora knew him as the shaman Rafiki. His blue-grey fur was tossed about in a sudden breeze. He walked toward them carrying a long stick with two gourds tied to the top.

"The other king is right, Simba." He said, gravely. "The Pride Lands are in danger. Something far more terrible than Scar is coming. We must be prepared."

Then he took a deep sniff, as if trying to smell something in the air. And then, for reasons he didn't bother to explain, he leapt off the rock, landing neatly on two legs. Then he ran (surprisingly quickly) away from Pride Rock.

The Outlands were a truly horrible place. It was practically a desert, several miles away from the Pride Lands. Water here was scarce, and food even more so. Huge termite mounds protruded from the parched desert floor, pointing into the sky like desperately pleading fingers from a dying man's hand. Any kind of vegetation for miles was dead and withered.

And it was to this sun-baked wasteland to which the Outlanders had been exiled.

Several lionesses that had formerly lived at Pride Rock roamed around, searching fruitlessly for any scrap of food they could find. Unlike Simba, these lions didn't find termites quite so edible. Otherwise, there would have been no problem. The hyenas were in the same boat, sniffing for anything that looked remotely edible.

Zira walked into their midst, still holding the cub Kovu in her mouth. The three hyenas that had accompanied her were bickering about something or other behind her. She finally put Kovu on the ground, and twisted around, bearing her claws.

"If you three don't shut up right now, so help me I will rip your heads off with my bare claws!"

They had no doubt that she would live up to her threat and then some. So after one final giggle from Ed, they were silent as the grave.

Somewhat satisfied, Zira turned away from them and walked toward the largest of the termite mounds in the area. It almost resembled a crudely built castle. And for all intents and purposes, it was. Over the months it had been hollowed out to provide the Outlanders a shelter from the blistering heat.

She walked inside, followed (from a safe distance) by Kovu and the hyenas.

"Just look at us..." She said to no one in particular. Though she drew the attention of some of the lionesses inside, who decided that it wouldn't hurt to listen. "Less than one year ago we were at the top of the world!" She exclaimed.

"And now, thanks to that brute and that little key-holding brat..." She stopped in the center of the mound, which was a giant, roughly circular cavern. "We're reduced to THIS!" She slashed her claws across a softer termite mound, breaking it into pieces, and upsetting a few termites.

She brought out her claws, and scraped them along the side of the wall, creating a loud, high-pitched sound reminiscent of fingernails against a chalk board. "Ohhh.... If Scar could see us now he would hang his head and weep!"

"Oh?" came a voice from above them near the cavern's ceiling. Everyone looked up at once.

The speaker was perched on a bit of the mound that jutted out from the side of the ceiling, looking down at them all with a raised eyebrow. He was a large, muscular lion. His fur was a dark-reddish brown, and his mane was as black as night. His eyes were green, and the whites of his eyes had turned to amber. The left one bore a very familiar scar. One of his claws was scraping the side of the mound next to him over and over.

"Scar...?" Zira breathed out in awe.

He answered with a sinister-looking, toothy grin. Technically, he was what was left of Scar after his descent into Darkness. This was his Nobody: Xarcs.

"My friends..." He said. His voice hadn't changed. "It is time..." He lifted up his claw, and placed it on the wall near him. "To take back..." He punched a hole in the wall, and then tore it out sideways, leaving a large opening. Light came pouring in. "What is rightfully ours!"

"Scar!" Zira was smiling wildly, and without hesitation, she bowed down to him. The hyenas and lionesses followed suit immediately.

Silhouetted against the new opening that he had made, Xarcs's smile widened further. He liked this feeling (or at least, he should have); the feeling of control, and power.

"My loyal followers." He said, as the remaining Outlanders poured into the cavern to see their king who had finally returned. "I find myself proud of each and every one of you. Each of you chose to go into exile rather than renounce me. And you can be sure that your loyalty will be rewarded!"

All eyes were on Xarcs. "You will be elevated! Taken from this miserable wasteland to Pride Rock itself! We will cast the false king from his throne! We will hear his dying screams as he struggles for life in my paw!"

The lionesses and hyenas roared and cheered. "And all those close to him will be cast out! Let them see what life is like in this horrible place! If they refuse, then they will die!"

The roaring and laughter was deafening. And nobody noticed one small lion cub creep out through the back entrance.

"Be prepared for our glorious return to power!" Xarcs exclaimed, raising his front paws into the air. He roared, and the roof of the cavern cracked open wider. With one bound, he was standing on the ceiling of the makeshift castle. He gazed out at the horizon, in the direction of Pride Rock.

"Be prepared for our ultimate triumph!" He shouted.

The roars and laughs only increased in volume, echoing out across the landscape. And as Xarcs looked out over the horizon, he saw a small little creature running as fast as its legs could carry it in the direction of the Pride Lands.

A traitor. No matter.

Looking closely, he could see that it was Kovu. That was a shame. He had personally chosen that boy to carry on in his stead after his death. It seemed that he had chosen wrong. But that made no difference, now. He wouldn't need an heir to Pride Rock, because he'd never have to give it up.

Still, he couldn't afford to leave any loose ends. He could have easily killed the cub as he retreated, but that wouldn't have been very sporting, would it?

"Be prepared!" He shouted to his allies one last time, and roared to the sky. The lionesses echoed him, and the hyenas added their crazed laughter to the mix. All around the massive termite mound, shapes began to emerge from the ground: Heartless.

There were a lot of Shamans, Living Bones, Aerial Knockers, and of course basic Shadows. But with them were new Heartless called Wild Dogs. They were dog-like Heartless about the size of wolves, or the actual African Hunting Dogs. Their 'fur' was black and had patches of scarlet on them. Their extremely white teeth seemed constantly bared. And their eyes were bright yellow, just like all other Heartless.

As Xarcs finished his roar (which was how he had summoned these Heartless in the first place) he looked down at a Wild Dog in the lead, and gestured toward the rapidly running Kovu with a nod of his head.

It sprinted after him immediately, and the rest of the Heartless (three dozen in all) took off behind it.

Xarcs laughed.

Kovu ran as fast as possible, kicking up sand and dirt as he ran. He only had a vague idea of where he was going, but he knew he had to get back to the Pride Lands. Fast.

The Outlands were clearly not the place for him, or anyone at the moment. Scar, or whatever that was, clearly wasn't in his right mind. Or at least not in the right mind set. He was talking about killing a whole pride for the sake of revenge!

The cub knew that what he was doing right now wasn't exactly smart, but it was at least right. Truthfully, he had always had his doubts about whether or not his mother's hatred of Simba was entirely justified. All that she was ever focused on was vengeance. And he knew good and well that she wouldn't hesitate to burn the Pride Lands to the ground to kill Simba.

Best that they be prepared.

As he kept running, he heard something behind him. Though he knew that he'd regret it, he turned his head and looked back. His eyes bugged out when he saw thirty-six Heartless (ten Wild Dogs, six Shadows, six Aerial Knockers, six Living Bones, and eight Shamans) charging at him, and gaining fast.

And Kovu decided that about now would be a good time to panic.

He increased his speed even further, and started moving so fast that his legs appeared a blur. He could hear the varied footfalls of the Heartless behind him, coming ever closer. Still running, he searched the area for something he could use to his advantage. That was about the only thing of value his mother had taught him: Always look for an opportunity.

But this was a desert. It was completely flat terrain, with nothing but termite mounds and the occasional dead tree that was far too weak to climb up, even for someone of his relatively small weight.

Things weren't looking good. He knew good and well that he couldn't outrun the Heartless forever, and it was still miles to go before he got anywhere near the Pride Lands, where someone might help him. But he still had to try.

He ran harder than he ever had in his life. And miraculously, he was able to widen the gap between him and the lead Heartless by several feet. All the while, he searched, his eyes scanning the environment for some chance of escape.

And at last, he found it.

He had inadvertently run toward a large valley. Years before, the old king Mufasa had met his end here due to a wildebeest stampede, though it was Scar who had pushed him into its path. He had gone farther than he realized.

Fearlessly, or perhaps foolishly, he ran right in.

Tactically, this was a mistake, as there was nothing particularly interesting about this valley. It was just rocks and sand in the ground with sheer, near vertical cliff walls on all sides.

But fear had taken control of Kovu, and he was just running for his life (or, more likely, his heart). He ran along the valley floor as fast as possible, and only started to realize what a mistake this was after it was too late to turn back.

He looked back, and saw the first of the Heartless (a Wild Dog) running down the side of the cliff. It landed easily on all fours, and ran directly at Kovu, followed close behind by the rest of its 'pack.'

The young lion's eyes widened in fear, and he ran even faster. But he was tiring, he wasn't sure if he could keep this chase up for much longer.

He ran as fast as possible, and to his credit, he was one of the fastest lions (of any age) on his world, capable of running at nearly forty miles per hour for long distances. Most lionesses could only reach that kind of speed in short, quick bursts. But still, he was slowing. The Heartless were nearly upon him less than a minute later.

And just when Kovu thought things couldn't possibly get any worse (which, naturally means that things can and most likely will get worse), they got worse.

He tripped over a slightly larger rock jutting out of the ground, and skidded across the ground a full ten feet before hitting his head on a large boulder. There was a throbbing pain in his forehead, and he felt like his head would explode. He was seeing stars as he staggered back to his feet.

He also saw the Heartless now twenty feet away, rapidly closing the distance.

He let out an exclamation, and leapt up to the top of the rock he had crashed into. Just in time, the first Wild Dog slashed at the space he had occupied a split second earlier, leaving deep gouges in the rock face.

It turned its soulless yellow eyes up at him, and bared its teeth menacingly.

It looked about to climb up after the cub, with thirty-one of its friends to back it up, when something happened. One could have described it as a blessing in disguise.

First, the earth began to shake faintly. A few scattered pebbles across the valley floor started to tremble, then seemed to bounce a tiny bit on the ground.

The shaking increased, and by the time all of the Heartless had arrived at Kovu's rock, its source was coming into sight. Mufasa would have laughed out loud if he had seen it. He was a lion who appreciated irony.

It was a wildebeest stampede.

A large herd rushed through the valley, the sounds of over a thousand hooves crashing to the ground sounded like thunder in Kovu's ears.

At first, the Heartless didn't pay them any attention, and kept trying to get to Kovu. One of the Wild Dogs leapt to the top of Kovu's rock. It lifted its claw to attack, and missed the cub by nearly a hair's length.

Reflexively, Kovu lashed out with his own claw, catching the Heartless twice his size in its stomach.

Its equilibrium gone, it fell backwards off the rock and crashed to the ground in front of a Living Bone. A Shadow sank into the ground, and slithered up the side of the rock. As soon as it emerged to attack Kovu, he struck it in the head with his claw, destroying it.

And it was at that moment that the stampede reached their part of the valley.

The Heartless had been so focused on Kovu that they hadn't noticed them. They really were mindless, only focusing on their original target. Over a dozen of them were trampled under their hooves immediately.

Three more were destroyed seconds after the realization that they weren't alone. This left one Living Bone, one Wild Dog, and the Six Aerial Knockers. The Heartless turned to face their new unintentional enemies, and charged into them. But there were over a hundred wild, crazed, extremely scared wildebeests charging through the valley.

Soon, the Heartless ranks were reduced to the Living Bone, and three Aerial Knockers, and fifteen of the wildebeests were now missing from the herd.

Kovu watched it all in awe from atop the rock. Wildebeests rushed past him in a blur. It was a similar experience to being in the eye of a hurricane. You can see the destructive winds and storm clouds around you, but you're still relatively safe.

When the herd finally passed on, it was just four Heartless, but Kovu still doubted that he could take them on his own.

But, of course that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

He growled at the Heartless, though he knew that it wouldn't have any real effect on them. He pawed the ground in front of him to add to the effect, anyway. The Living Bone charged at the rock, and smashed its head into the side with enough force to leave a large crack, and shake the whole thing.

Kovu fell less than gracefully onto its back, and it bucked him off, throwing him into the air. While in midair, one of the flying Heartless shot at him, and smacked the cub in the stomach with one of its feet.

He hit the ground hard, and found himself face-to-face with the Living Bone.

He was about one second away from getting chomped in half when something landed on its head. Looking up, Kovu saw an old mandrill holding a long stick with two gourds tied to the end.

The old monkey smashed the head of his makeshift staff into the Heartless' face, cracking it right in two. The two halves of its hollow head fell to the ground, and disappeared in twin puffs of black smoke.

Rafiki leapt in Kovu's direction. He picked the cub up by the scruff of his neck, and set him down on all four legs. He looked up at Rafiki, surprised.

"Uh... who?"

Suddenly he got whacked on the head by the old monkey's staff.

"OW!" He said, rubbing the top of his head in annoyance. "What was that for?"

"You must always deal with one situation before getting caught up in another little cub!" He reprimanded. "Now fight fight fight!"

Chuckling, he leapt back into action. He jumped into the air, and smacked his staff into the face of an Aerial Knocker. It reeled backwards into another rock, and vanished in a cloud of dark smoke on impact.

The second of the flying Heartless swooped down at the mandrill's back. But Kovu leapt, with his claws outstretched, and brought it to the ground. As it struggled to escape, he bit down hard on its neck. It felt as if he were biting down on a felt balloon, which almost immediately burst and evaporated into smoke.

The final one charged at him, only to be met by Rafiki's fist, and then smacked into a rock by his staff.

The entire confrontation had lasted less than a minute.

And then, without preamble, Rafiki picked Kovu up by the scruff of his neck again, and he walked toward the end of the valley from which he and the panicking wildabeests had come.

"Where are we going?" Kovu asked, unable to move while Rafiki was holding that part of his fur.

This received him another bop on the head from Rafiki's staff. "Patience, young Kovu! We are going to Pride Rock. And there, we can better prepare King Simba and the pride for what is to come."

"Why do you keep hitting me?"

"Do not question Rafiki!" He bopped him again.

It was a bit annoying. Kovu was completely unable to move in Rafiki's grasp, and every time he tried to say something, he got hit in the head. The most annoying part however, was that the mandrill sang the same exact mantra over and over all the way back to Pride Rock.

"Asante sana, squash banana, we we nuga, mi mi apana."

It was a long walk back.

There's your two-year chapter! Hope you liked it!

Bet you can't guess where this chapter name came from. So, pretty much all of you already guessed who Xarcs was, especially since Shire Folk borrowed him, and actually posted his part in his own fic before I did!

Please review!