So, sorry for the delay. Been very, very busy. But in better news, I am now a high school graduate! Finally, on to the miserable reality that is the adult world! Woohoo!
Riku: "You know, I'm just realizing that a lot of your attempts at humor revolve around sarcasm and self-deprication."
…Uh, maybe…
Riku: "No joke for that, huh?"
…I guess not.
Riku: "Right, well… DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else."
Chapter 76: Cub-Napped
It was just before dawn at Pride Rock. The majority of the sky was still dark, but there were faint traces of pink and orange far off on the eastern horizon, signaling the very beginning of the new day.
Only a few at Pride Rock were awake. Riku and Nehrut were among them, and both sitting at the tip of the rock. Both of them were a bit groggy. Riku wasn't a morning person, and Nehrut hadn't been able to focus on meditation or sleep after Simba's nightmare the previous night.
"Just look at that." Nehrut said.
"The sunrise? Sure... nice."
"For the 'Wielder of Dawn', you really aren't much of a morning person are you?"
"You're a psychic and you're just now realizing that?"
He chuckled quietly, and then yawned widely.
"Anything new on the Xarcs front?" Riku asked, lying on the ground and hanging his head over the edge of the rock.
"He hasn't moved all night. He's still in the Outlands with most of his lackeys."
"'Most of his lackeys?'" Riku was suddenly more attentive. "Some of them are gone?"
"I could be mistaken, but it seems that a few of them are no longer in the Outlands."
"If they're not in the Outlands, then they're probably in the Pride Lands. And that is not good." Riku stood up. "I'll have to wake the guys up and tell them. See if you can find the missing lackeys."
"Sir, yes SIR!" The new mandrill said with a mock salute.
The Keybearer rolled his eyes and walked back into the cavern. He had only taken a few steps in before he did something that rudely awoke almost everyone in the cave, and made a certain someone feel sore for the next several hours.
He stepped on Axel's tail.
The former Nobody leapt a full five feet into the air, screaming in pain. The soundwaves bounced all around inside the cavern, magnifying it approximately ten fold. So, Axel's scream was soon accompanied by the startled shouts of more than two dozen animals.
"What happened?" Simba asked, slightly panicked.
"Heartless?" Kairi asked, confused.
"What's up?" Kiara asked.
"False alarm!" Riku exclaimed, embarrassed. "False alarm! I am so sorry!"
"You will be!" Axel snarled. Riku took flight immediately back out of the cavern, Axel following right behind him with both chakrams blazing.
Nehrut walked into the cave to deliver the message that Riku was now unable to give. "I think that some of Xarcs's goons have left the Outlands."
"Are they in the Pride Lands?" Simba asked, walking towards him.
"Probably. But I haven't found them yet."
"I'll put the word out, then." Simba said, walking out of the cavern. He took only a few steps out, and then shouted, "Zazu!"
From higher up on the rock, there was an exclamation that nobody could entirely make out. Then, seconds later, a hornbill came flying down to land lightly in front of Simba. He had blue and white feathers, and the brightly colored beak that was customary with all birds of his species.
"Good morning, sire." The bird said, sounding more than a bit groggy. Though to his credit, he was trying extremely hard to hide it. "What can I do for you?"
"Zazu, I need you to spread the word to anything that walks, slithers, or flies." The king said. "Tell them to be on the lookout for lion outcasts and hyenas. And now that I think about it... Tell them to watch for Heartless, too."
Zazu, suddenly all business, gave Simba a deep bow. "I shall do so at once, Your Majesty, though I don't look forward to waking the crocodiles about this." And he took flight out to the savanna first.
"We should probably head out ourselves," Mickey suggested. "'Cause if there's any Heartless out there, we're going to have to protect the other animals out there."
"Let's go, then."
In seconds, the entire cave was empty, save for one person.
Sora hadn't been woken up by Axel's scream. He had simply let out an odd snort, and rolled over onto his other side.
Irritated, Kairi ran back inside, and leapt onto him. She shook him roughly by the shoulders, but she didn't succeed in waking him. "Wake up you lazy bum!" She shouted. Still no luck.
She rolled her eyes, and then got an idea. She lifted one of her back feet, and stomped down on his tail.
"YEEEOOOOOOW!"
The entire royal party had split up into groups to search the immediate area of the Pride Lands, and its surrounding terrain. The first consisted of Simba, Sora, Kairi, and Axel.
The four of them had just entered the elephant graveyard. Before Scar's takeover, this had been where he plotted with the hyenas. As Simba understood it, this place was a geologically unstable area. So he wondered why exactly elephants chose this place to die.
They crept along carefully, scanning every rock face and crevice for signs danger.
"This place gives me the creeps." Axel said, looking into the sky.
"Tell me about it." Kairi agreed.
As soon as the four of them reached a small area wedged between three large cliffs, Simba stopped completely. "I hear something."
The rest stopped as well, listening closely. But no matter how hard they strained their ears, they heard absolutely nothing. "I can't hear anything." Sora said.
"It's gone now. But I feel like there's something nearby."
He was right. No sooner had he said that than a Wild Dog Heartless leapt down from the top of a cliff, landing right in front of him. More of its kind soon joined it, surrounding and trapping them in a ring. A few Aerial Knockers hovered above them, ready to attack in an instant.
Simba crouched down, getting ready to pounce. Oblivion appeared horizontally in Sora's mouth, and he clamped down firmly on the hilt with his teeth. Kairi wrapped the end of her tail around the hilt of Destiny's Light. Axel did both with his pair of chakrams.
They all stayed perfectly still for a moment, and then they all moved at once.
Sora ran directly at a Wild Dog, and swung his head hard to the left. The black blade beheaded the Heartless. He leapt into the air, back-flipping over a charging Heartless. He landed behind it, and with a move of his head, brought it smashing down into its back. He twisted around, and took the legs out from under another one.
Two Wild Dogs leapt at Simba. They landed on top of him, but before they could so much as get a grip on him, he grabbed one of them around the neck with his teeth, and slammed it to the ground. Then he rolled over on his back, crushing the other one underneath him. He then took the head off another with a powerful strike of his claw.
Kairi leapt away from a swooping Aerial Knocker. When it touched the ground, she lashed out with her blade, taking it out immediately. She spun around quickly, taking out a Wild Dog during the spin, and lifted her paw to shoot Light into the face of another flying Heartless.
Axel tossed the chakram in his teeth at a Wild Dog. As it pierced its chest, he made a barking noise in the direction of another one. A ball of flame shot from his mouth and caught the Heartless in the face. He summoned his other chakram back to his hand, and then threw the both of them at a Living Bone that had just charged into the area.
Sora rushed around the area, his head snapping back and forth to strike at the Heartless. He cocked his head to the side, and then snapped it upward to catch one under the chin, sending it into the air. Simba smashed the Heartless behind him, preparing to pounce. The lion then spun around, bashing another one into the ground.
They fought for a long time, destroying dozens of Heartless. But more and more came in from the cliffs.
"Where are all these things coming from?" Axel asked, just before catching one of his chakrams in his mouth again.
Little did they know, but Nala, Riku, Yuffie, and Bariss were having similar problems out on the savanna.
They had only walked for a short amount of time through the tall grass, before they were set upon by Heartless. They had emerged from the ground all around them, or else jumped through corridors of Darkness.
They immediately burst into action. Nala, while less experienced than Simba in combat, gave her all, taking down several Heartless with only her teeth and claws. She was agile and quick, managing to stay just out of harm's reach whenever one of them came at her. Then she'd take them out herself.
Bariss had her whip in one hand and her sai in the other. Rose Thorn lashed out, destroying a Shadow. She flourished it, and used it to take out a Wild Dog not two feet away, which was about to pounce. She leapt into the air just as a Living Bone charged at her, and landed on its back. She plunged her sai into its skull.
Riku (who held his Keyblade in his tail) destroyed a Shaman in front of him, and then dodged away from one of its partners's fire spells. He pointed his blade at it, and a blast of Dawn shot from it, piercing its chest and crashing into the one behind it. He then took out two Wild Dogs with one clean slash of the blade.
Yuffie threw her shuriken with her tail, bashing it into the side of a Living Bone. The large Heartless then changed course, running toward her.
Holding three kunai in her mouth, she snapped her head in its direction, letting them fly into its face even as she caught her returning shuriken. She then smacked two Wild Dogs with the oversized weapon, finishing the second one off by kicking it in the underbelly.
She vanished in a puff of smoke, and reappeared by Riku. There were two Living Bones on either side of them. Almost immediately, they charged at the two lions.
In perfect synchronization, Riku and Yuffie leapt directly at the Heartless.
Riku landed on the head of his just as Yuffie did the same with hers. The two Heartless stopped dead in their tracks, and then started shaking their heads in desperate attempts to shake them off. Riku climbed up its head, and onto its back. He mounted the Heartless, and dug his claws into its neck. Yuffie copied him.
The Heartless started to writhe in pain at the attacks. They began to run around, stomping the ground, and leaping. Doing whatever they could to stop the pain, but to no avail. They trampled the smaller Heartless under their feet.
Riku steered his Heartless hard to the right, aiming it headlong at Yuffie's. She caught on to his way of thinking, and goaded hers toward his. Naturally, the two Heartless ran directly into each other.
Their heads smashed together, and vanished into Darkness on impact. The two lions lept off their backs, and landed lightly on the ground.
Rafiki led King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Their final team member was 'elected' to stay behind at Pride Rock to guard Kiara and Kovu.
"Yeah, not that I'm not grateful for getting the cushy job for once, but..." Nehrut looked slightly put off. "Why me?"
"Because someone has to." Axel had said.
"Nehrut," Mickey explained, "You're the closest here to Kiara. If any of Xarcs's forces come to get to her, it would be best if she's around someone she trusts."
"And with Kovu having deserted the Outlanders," Riku added, "They'll want to get to him, as well."
He had protested a bit more, but eventually succumbed to their arguments.
So now, the other four were on the bank of a watering hole. A heard of zebras were nearby, drinking contentedly from its waters. A few of them acknowledged them as they passed by, looking for any signs of Xarcs's lackeys, and then went back to their water.
Mickey's group walked down the bank, and even without any of the prompting that so often seemed to proceed them, ('No sign of Heartless.' 'It's pretty quiet out here.' 'Great! No more Nobodies!') the Heartless appeared.
Immediately, the zebras panicked, and began to run in the direction of Pride Rock. About two dozen Heartless chased after them.
Mickey ran after those. He extended his blade as he ran, blasting bolts of lightning at them. Half of the Heartless were incinerated by the attack. This succeeded in drawing the rest of the Heartless away from the zebras, and back to the Keybearing meerkat.
He ran to meet them, moving quickly despite his smaller legs. Kingdom Crown was in his hand, and when he was within three feet of the Wild Dog in the lead, he leapt directly at it, slicing completely through it with his Keyblade. He came to a stop, and leapt into the air onto a Living Bone, and stabbed down into the top of its head.
Donald held Save the Queen in his two talons. He flew across the watering hole to engage a handful of Heartless, electrifying the head of the staff as he did so. Two Aerial Knockers shot at him, their boxing glove-like fists flying at him. The court wizard weaved around the attacks, and smacked the first one in the head of the first one. Then he shot a fireball into the stomach of the second.
Goofy tucked himself into his shell, with his shield strapped onto the top of it. He spun around as quickly as he could, kicking up dirt and dust. Then, he shot directly at a Shaman, smashing into its stomach. Another one shot a fire spell at him, but his high speed spinning caused it to bounce off of his shell, scorching a nearby Shadow.
The knight then changed course toward that same Shaman, and took it out immediately. Afterwards, he shot directly at a Living Bone. Unfortunately, his shell got stuck right between its large teeth, and it commenced to bite down as hard as possible.
Rafiki smashed the head of a Shaman with his staff, and ran over to help him. Gripping his staff in both hands like a baseball bat, he swung it hard into Goofy's shell, knocking him free of the Heartless' mouth, skipping across the water, and through a Shadow, into a Wild Dog's chest.
The mandrill shaman demonstrated kung-fu-like skills in combat against the Heartless. He leapt all around the area, utilizing his staff as a pole weapon. For an aging primate, he was very quick and nimble. He sidestepped a leaping Shadow and drove his fist into the side of its head. He spun his staff around himself, and swung it around his body, taking out the Heartless immediately around him.
By contrast, Pride Rock was still quiet and peaceful. Nehrut sat at the entrance to the rock, in a deep meditation. He felt all of his friends fighting out there, against the Heartless. It was murder, knowing they were in danger, but having to stay here.
He could also feel the minds of the three hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed very close by. He couldn't pinpoint exactly where, it seemed his weird monkey form was throwing off his equilibrium a bit.
Behind him, Kiara and Kovu were talking about nothing in particular. Kiara was asking Kovu all manner of questions about the Outlands, and pretty much anything else that happened to pop into her head. Her never-ending curiosity seemed to be throwing Kovu for a loop. Nobody had ever asked him this many questions.
Nehrut had to laugh at that. He could feel that Kovu had a touch of affection for the king's daughter already.
Give them a few years and they might just be the new King and Queen of Pride Rock.
The psychic turned his attention back outside. But as he did so, he heard the lionesses outside roar as one. And he immediately knew why. The Heartless had arrived at the outskirts of Pride Rock.
"Gotta go!" Nehrut said, 'summoning' Presul to his hand (he still didn't know how that worked). He turned his head to address the cubs behind him. Their heads had shot up at the sound of the lionesses' roar. And now the sounds of their fighting had reached their ears. "You guys wait here."
"You can't be serious." Kiara said, narrowing her eyes. "Haven't we been over this before? I can fight!"
Kovu agreed. "So can I! Do you really think we're going to just wait here?"
Nehrut sighed in aggravation. He had no time for this. He bent down in front of them, and placed a hand on each of their heads. "Listen to me. I know that you want to help defend your home. And I respect that, believe me, I do. But you have to stay in here, where it's safer. You could very easily get hurt; there are dozens of them out there."
But Kiara was undeterred. "Too bad. We're going."
"Okay, I didn't want to have to do this." He walked calmly to the entrance of the caverns. He held something else in his hand. When he was just outside, he threw it hard to the ground. There was a flash of bright light, and suddenly, the cubs saw the formation of an invisible force field at the entrance.
"What!" The cubs exclaimed, incredulous.
"That was a gift from Bariss. It will keep you in there, and any Heartless out here." Nehrut explained. "I'm really sorry."
With that, he turned around, and sprinted toward the end of Pride Rock. Not hesitating for a second, he leapt off the rock, down to the ground. He landed, as luck would have it, right on the head of a Living Bone. He stabbed his blade down into the top of its skull.
He leapt off the dying Heartless, landing directly behind an unsuspecting Shaman. With a simple flick of his sword, it was without a head.
Now that he was on the ground in the middle of the fighting, he saw the situation more clearly. A dozen lionesses were engaged in combat against the Heartless, and faring quite well despite the fact that they were heavily outnumbered. He also saw Pumba rushing around, goring some of the smaller Heartless with his tusks. Timon was riding on his back, shouting encouragement to anyone who could hear.
He observed this all for a few seconds, before rushing into the fighting.
From just outside the battle zone, the three hyenas watched.
"Oh, man did you hear that!" Banzai complained to his two partners. "Monkey boy over there locked them in!"
"Shut up!" Shenzi whispered. "He said 'it will keep you in there, and the Heartless out here.'"
"Yeah, that's what I-"
"Hush! It'll keep the Heartless out. But we aren't Heartless, now are we?"
Ed laughed stupidly, apparently agreeing with the fairly obvious statement that they were not, in fact, Heartless. And as such, they would be able to pass through the shield.(1)
Nehrut leapt over a pouncing Wild Dog, and landed one-handed on a Living Bone's head. While still balancing on the one hand, he took that head off. He really loved how nimble this monkey form was, as he'd never have been able to balance one handed on a moving surface as a human.
It seemed that the Heartless considered him to be the greatest threat. There was an undeniably larger number attacking him than the lionesses. That was fine with him. He had taken on large numbers of the creatures before. They hadn't.
He advanced on a pair of Wild Dogs, striking left and right. Both of them were down in a few seconds. He ducked in surprise when he noticed one of the lionesses sprinting right at him. She jumped over him, and dug her claws into a Living Bone behind him.
He spun around, and leapt up after her, piercing its broad back with his blade. They both leapt off of it as it fell, and attacked two separate Aerial Knockers. Nehrut stabbed behind him, taking out a Neoshadow. The same lioness from before then took out two Shamans that had appeared directly in front of him with one clean swipe of her paw.
It was then that Nehrut noticed that this lioness was slightly older than most of the others around the Pride Lands. He was certain that she was older than Simba, and was perhaps around Zira's age. Then he finally realized that he was fighting alongside Sarabi; Simba's mother. She fought pretty well for an old lady.
The two stood near each other as Heartless closed in around them. They leapt towards separate sides at the same time, attacking their respective sides fiercely.
Nehrut speared a Shadow in front of him, then twisted around to cut a Shaman across the chest. He ducked under a Wild Dog that leapt at him, and then stabbed behind him, taking out another Shadow. Then he took two quick steps forward, and removed the head of the Wild Dog that had just missed him.
Sarabi ran toward a Wild Dog that was running at her, and bit down on its neck just before it reached her. She brought her claw down onto a Shadow, and then drove it into the face of a Shaman. She ran toward a Neoshadow, but Nehrut beat her to it by taking it's head off with a backwards swing of his blade.
The two stood near each other for the rest of the skirmish at Pride Rock, watching each other's backs, and aiding the other one with the Heartless that caused them trouble. It was exhilarating for all involved, until something very strange happened.
The Heartless just disappeared. They sank through corridors of Darkness, and just left.
Naturally, Nehrut knew something was wrong, despite that the lionesses were roaring in triumph all around him, and Timon and Pumbaa were cheering. He found himself reminded of the incident at the Land of Dragons, and he didn't like it. But at least there was no possibility of him getting caught in an avalanche this time.
What's happened?
He immediately started searching the horizon, and reaching out with his mind. And that's when the horrible realization hit him:
This particular battle had all been a diversion.
He felt so stupid. He scanned the chambers in Pride Rock. He found absolutely nothing there. Kiara and Kovu had been taken. He sent his mind outwards, searching. And he found that the kidnappers were not far away.
He could feel that Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed were really excited, having accomplished a mission that was sure to get them in Xarcs's good books. The cubs themselves felt blank. They were unconscious, but at least they were still alive.
Of course. Xarcs's wouldn't want to kill them outright.
Ed's laughter floated up to Shenzi and Banzai's ears. They smiled widely. On the former hyena's back were the two unconscious lion cubs. Despite the fact that Banzai had a swollen nose and that Shenzi had a cut at the side of her mouth, there was no evidence that they had put up a fight before they were knocked out.
"I can't believe we did it!" Banzai said, excitedly. "Finally, we can get in and out without getting hurt too bad!"
"Oh yeah, from here on out, it's easy street for us!"
That was when Ed made the mistake of looking back. He saw a flying monkey speeding directly towards them at roughly the speed of a bullet train (though he wouldn't know what a bullet train was, of course).
This might not have been so terrible, if it weren't for the fact that the monkey was being closely followed by over a dozen ticked-off looking lionesses, and an angry looking warthog and meerkat.
Ed let out a surprisingly puppy-like yelp of fear, and increased his speed, shooting past his two smarter partners. They looked at him, confused. But their confusion was only temporary, as they looked back around and were met with the same sight. Only this time, they had gotten closer.
They yelped just as Ed had, and started running faster, as well. Their efforts were wasted, however, as the monkey soon caught up with them, and landed on Banzai's head. The hyena stopped instinctively, and received a punch between the eyes.
As he fell unconscious to the ground, Nehrut picked up Shenzi with his mind, and tossed her at a nearby tree hard enough to make a few of its leaves fall off.
That left only one hyena left. He stretched his hand out in the direction of the fleeing hyena, and made a gesture. Ed came up off the ground right away, and started to float towards him. Gently, the psychic scooped Kiara and Kovu off his back with his mind, and handed them gently to Sarabi and Pumbaa, respectively.
Then he made another gesture, and rammed Ed's head into the side of a nearby boulder.
"Well, that had to be the most botched kidnapping attempt, ever." Timon said, looking down at Kovu, who was lying on top of Pumbaa's snout, rather like Simba had been many years ago. "Seriously, what was Scar thinking?"
"I was thinking that I'd give them a sporting chance." came a familiar voice.
A corridor of Darkness opened up in front of the whole group, and out stepped Xarcs. Everyone took up fighting stances immediately. Xarcs ignored them and looked down at the unconscious Banzai with a mixture of disappointment, irritation, and pity. None of which was really there.
"Pitiful hyenas… No brains at all, really." Then he met Nehrut's eyes. "I'll be taking those cubs back now, my boy."
"And you really think I'll let you have them?" He held up his sword.
"So confident!" He said, grinning toothily as if proud of Nehrut. But then his smile vanished as suddenly as a light bulb blowing. "But I will have them."
And without further preamble, he lifted his head, and let out the loudest roar that anyone present had ever heard before. The very earth shook, leaves fell from the trees in huge clumps. It was positively deafening, and caused the lionesses, Timon, and Pumbaa to drop to the ground, unconscious. Some of them were bleeding from the ears.
The roar had been enough to drop Nehrut to his knees, and he felt a small trickle of blood coming from his right ear. He dropped his sword, and it landed in the grass. Xarcs's roar rang in his ears for several seconds after he had actually stopped.
He was just starting to get back to his feet, when the lion Nobody stamped his paw into the ground. Suddenly, the ground around the young psychic shot up around him, encasing him in the earth. Only his head was left free. He struggled in vain to get free, but only succeeded in craning his neck uselessly around.
He tried to focus enough energy to lift his sword off the ground to cut himself free, but the ringing in his ears was giving him a horrible headache. He just couldn't focus. All he succeeded in doing was making it shake a little on the ground.
Xarcs walked up to him, and stamped his paw down onto the guard of the weapon, keeping it from going anywhere, just in case.
"Ah ah ah..." He said, grabbing his face in his free paw. He turned his head to face him. "I could snap your neck like a twig right now, young one, but I still have a minor use for you."
"Now listen here, you little brat. Tell Simba that if he wishes for his little girl to live a full life, he'll come to the Outlands with three of the Keybearers tomorrow morning." He squeezed. "And they are to come alone."
In response, Nehrut just glared at him.
"Sleep tight." Xarcs smashed his forehead into his.
Nehrut was out like a light instantly.
Not one of my better chapters, but I was trying to get used to writing the animal combat. I'm not entirely sure what kind of job I've done, so you tell me.
(1) A really, really cheap explanation for the creation of these barriers and the way they work, I know. My humblest apologies.
Review please!