The Pride Lands are now finished! This chapter was a little weird for me to write, as I'm still not used to the animal combat. But, I think it went well, nonetheless.
Ven: "Well, we'll just see."
What are you doing here!
Ven: "What, I can't stop by to see a story in progress?"
Uh, I guess you can… I've just never seen you around here.
Ven: "Apology accepted. DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else he decides to use."
!
Chapter 78: Lions, Nobodies, and Heartless
The air was filled with loud roars, and the sound of stamping paws.
Simba and Sora were soon facing off against Xarcs by themselves. It soon became apparent that the lion Nobody was capable of controlling the land around him. With every stamp of his paw, the earth would shoot out from underneath them. With every roar, they heard the sound of far-off thunder. And the added fact that his teeth and claws were razor sharp didn't make the fight any easier.
Xarcs aimed a fast strike at Simba's head. The king was just able to duck under it, narrowly avoiding decapitation. He countered with a clenched paw into Xarcs's chin, which sent him staggering backwards briefly from the force of it. Sora used the window of opportunity to leap at Xarcs with his blade lashing out.
But the lion Nobody displayed surprising reflexes, lashing out with his paw to catch Sora in the air, and smack him away. He skidded across the ground several feet, before coming to a stop in front of a large, sand-covered boulder. The Keybearer-turned-lion got back on all fours just in time to run his blade into the chest of a charging Wild Dog.
He tried to get back into the fight he had been in, but found that he couldn't. His view of Simba and Xarcs had been obscured by a large mass of Heartless, lionesses, and hyenas. Hoping that Simba could take on his old uncle on his own, he turned his attention back to the more immediate threat.
Nearby, to his right he saw Riku holding his own against a group of lionesses and hyenas. He ran to his aide, rushing directly at a hyena, and smashing the flat end of the blade into his underbelly. He flew through the air in an arc over a few lionesses into another of it's kind.
The new, unexpected threat from behind them caught the lionesses off guard, causing them to hesitate for a fraction of a second in attacking Riku. And the older Keybearer decided to use that fraction of a second to his advantage, by blasting the lioness in front with Dawn.
Just to experiment, Riku summoned his Guardian. Interestingly, it had taken on a new, animal-like form just as its master had. It now resembled a large, muscular, red-orange rhino-like creature with glowing violet eyes. It rushed directly into the lionesses, ramming them into the ground with its huge bulk or goring some with its new horn.
Not far away, Axel was setting Heartless ablaze with gouts of fire from his mouth. "Oh, yeah! I'm loving this fire-breathing thing!"
The Heartless were soon replaced by a pack of hyenas running directly at him. One leapt at him, his teeth bared, intending to snap his neck. He definitely hadn't expected for a chakram to appear in his mouth and slash across his forehead. It fell to the ground, and another of its pack leapt over him to get to Axel.
He summoned his second chakram in his tail. With a simple twist, he set it on fire, and it flew at his first attacker. It burned his chest, and then brought another to the ground as it boomeranged back to him. As he caught the weapon, he looked at the remaining hyenas with something of a grin, as if challenging them.
They turned tail (literally) and ran in the other direction, but they didn't make it very far before they were ambushed by Donald, Goofy, and a team of lionesses.
Axel then noticed the two very angry-looking Outcast lionesses rushing at him with teeth bared. Before he had time to do much else, the first bit down hard on the chakram in his mouth, trying to rip it away from him. They went through a bit of a tug-a-war with it for a few moments, before Axel sent flames into his weapon.
The lioness backed away immediately, trying to massage a burnt tongue. But Axel didn't notice that her partner had snuck around behind him. She pounced, and was just inches away from his head in midair, when King Mickey leapt out of nowhere. He hit her in the side of the head with Kingdom Crown, knocking her out instantly, and sending her rolling across the ground.
After he heard Axel's hurried thanks, he ran back into action. He beheaded a Shadow, and impaled a Shaman as he ran, and then finally saw a target worth aiming for: A Living Bone towering over the frightened-looking Timon and Pumbaa.
He pulled his arm back, and threw his Keyblade hard at its skull. It went in through the top, piercing its head. He leapt on top of the head, reclaimed his weapon, and jumped back to the ground next to the warthog and meerkat, just as it began to fade away.
A Shadow came up from behind those two, and leapt at them. Mickey jumped over them easily, and cleaved the Heartless in two. Timon and Pumbaa thanked him quickly, and ran back into the battle, where he soon lost sight of them.
"Go for the eyes!" He suddenly heard someone shout over the sounds of battle. He turned toward the noise and saw that it hadn't been directed at him. Zira was standing on top of a large boulder, shouting orders and advice to her forces. "Break his jaw! Hit him hard!"
She seemed to be giving off a dark aura. "Get them! Do what you must!"
"If you insist." Bariss, standing behind her, said.
She turned around just in time to duck her head under a swipe of Rose Blade. She jumped off of her rock, and Bariss followed her down with sai and shield.
She stabbed out at Zira, who stepped backwards, and then lunged forward with both claws extended. Bariss raised Vexen's old shield, catching the blow. Zira grabbed the harmless sides of the shield, trying to pry it from her fingers.
Her face peered over the edge of the shield, and she snarled, "Do you really think you can beat me you little brat!"
"Maybe if she has some help." said another female voice from behind her.
A blast of Light shot into Zira's back, throwing her totally over Bariss. She was able to collect herself in the air, and land back on all fours. Kairi was now at Bariss's side, her tail wrapped around the hilt of Destiny's Light. Bariss had replaced her sai with her whip.
Zira growled and charged at them, roaring. The two girls dodged to either side, and immediately turned to face her when she landed. Bariss swung her whip in a wide arc, managing to catch Zira's wrist. The lioness grabbed that end of the whip, and pulled hard. Bariss stumbled forward, and Zira swiped at her with her free paw.
She had enough coordination to bring up her shield to catch the blow. Kairi stepped in, her Keyblade flying everywhere despite the awkward position of holding it with her tail. But Zira displayed surprising agility, evading almost every single attack. It bothered the girls that she seemed to give off a dark aura every time she moved, until she seemed to ooze Darkness.
And then it hit them with startling clarity that Zira had followed after her mate in more ways than one. She had willingly become a Heartless, and a very quick one.
Zira took one swift step backwards to avoid a strike from a Keyblade, which simply crashed into the ground. Zira lunged forward, and hit Kairi beneath the chin, sending her reeling backwards. She jumped quickly back from Bariss' sai, and then lashed out with her claws.
Bariss blocked the attack with her shield, but Zira kept coming, and she gave ground. Kairi fired a second blast of Light at the lioness, but to her surprise, it was blocked. Zira was using a Dark technique that Scar had used. There were three Dark orbs floating around her. One of them had moved into the path of the blast, and exploded.
The other two shot at Kairi and Bariss with the speed of bullets. Bariss blocked hers with the shield, and it splattered into non-existence against it. Kairi swung her Keyblade horizontally in front of her, destroying the orb.
Zira backed away from the two girls, with five new orbs surrounding her. She then shot all five at the girls, laughing.
Kairi erected a Light shield in front of them, and the orbs crashed into it, exploding spectacularly against it. Kairi dropped the barrier, but as it turned out, this was a mistake. Zira pounced at her immediately (knocking Bariss away with one paw), and managed to pin her to the ground by the shoulders.
She was about ready to take a chunk out of her neck with only her teeth, when Kairi began to glow silver. Zira looked at her curiously for a few seconds, before the Light surrounding the 'cub' shot out, and blew her off completely. "Purifying Pulse!"
Zira landed a full fifty feet away, and unfortunately, right in front of Yuffie, who had just brought a hyena to its knees. She twisted around, and struck downward with the shuriken in her tail. Zira was just able to roll away from it, and the shuriken got stuck in the ground.
The lioness got to her feet, and was about to rip the ninja apart when Nehrut came from nowhere, blasting her high and far.
Ironically, she landed semiconscious a few yards behind Xarcs, who was gradually beating Simba back. The real King of Pride Rock was stumbling backwards, losing energy fast just trying to hold the powerful Nobody off. By now, these two were resonably far away from the main fighting, all on their own.
With one powerful punch to the jaw that was finally able to get past Simba's guard, Xarcs knocked his opponent flat on his back. Simba hit the ground with a grunt.
Xarcs stood over him, a satisfied smile on his face, and a glint in his eyes. He idly held up one paw to his face, and waggled his fingers, checking the sharpness of his claws. "And so it ends, Simba. With your death, I usher in a new age of Darkness to the world. 'The Pride Lands of Darkness...'" He put a finger to his chin as if thinking. "Yes, I rather like the sound of that."
He stamped his free paw on the ground, and all four of Simba's paws were covered by earth, keeping him bound there. Xarcs lifted his claws, ready to strike...
…And got smashed into by a giant, orange rhino.
Riku's Guardian smashed into his side, knocking the breath from him, and tossing him several feet away with its horn. As the Nobody landed, the Guardian came at him again, this time accompanied by its master, Riku.
He got to his feet in time to dodge to the side of the Guardian, and managed to catch Way to Dawn in his teeth as Riku swung it.
Meanwhile, two Neoshadows had just come at Simba, and were standing over him, about to attack. But then a bolt of electricity took one of them out. As it dissipated, the other one turned around as if surprised. But before it had even completely turned around, Oblivion had cut it in half.
Sora bent down, and carefully set to work on freeing Simba's right front paw with his blade. After a few seconds, he had managed to break the layer of rock around it. Simba then started to free his other front paw, while Sora freed his back legs.
"Thanks, Sora." Simba said, standing up.
With every one of Xarcs's mighty roars, storm clouds had moved in closer and closer. And he had roared a lot. The sky was almost fully covered with dark clouds, obscuring the scorching sun that had shimmered above them not an hour previous.
With one final roar from Scar's Nobody, the clouds unleashed a torrent of rain upon them, coming down in sheets onto the Outlands: The first rain there had been in months.
Sora and Simba ran towards the battling Xarcs and Riku. But before they were able to get too close, they were surrounded by a pack of hyenas, and a few Aerial Knockers hovered above them.
Xarcs pushed Riku back into the newly created hyena circle, and he landed next to Sora.
"Kill them!" Xarcs shouted to his minions, all of them rushing inward at once.
"Simba!" Sora shouted.
"Together!" He replied.
Sora dismissed the Keyblade (to the surprise and confusion of their enemies). In perfect unison, Simba and Sora stomped the ground beneath them when they landed. At the exact moment their eight feet touched the ground, giant, thick stalagmites erupted from the ground all around them.
Some of the hyenas were unlucky, and were standing over the exact spot where one of the pillars shot up from. The pillars crashed into their sensitive underbellies, sending them flying high into the air in excruciating pain. One of the pillars stretched just high enough to take out one of the Aerial Knockers.
Xarcs, however was able to weave in and out around the earthen pillars, except for one, which managed to graze one of his hind legs. But this didn't worry Sora or Simba very much, their Limit wasn't done yet.
Sora sprinted at the nearest hyena, and when he was less than two feet from him, sprang directly at him. He gathered energy from all around him, and started spinning in the air, going at the hyena like a large, furry drill.
He plowed into the hyena's chest, knocking the air from his lungs and leaving a large black, blue, and purple bruise that wouldn't fade away any time soon. He landed on the ground, and repeated the attack on a hovering Aerial Knocker, leaping nearly vertically into the air.
When he landed again (in between a pair of hyenas, and Xarcs), Simba was there to assist him. He jumped into the area next to his younger friend. Sora jumped into the air, as Simba spun in a circle, all sets of claws glowing. He spun, fiercely cutting at the enemies around them.
The force of the attack even threw Xarcs back. Then, Simba and Sora leapt at the lion Nobody, both of them tucking into balls, with their claws still extended in front of them. They did something of an airborne summersault, slashing at Xarcs repeatedly, while still staying above the ground.
They mixed up these highly effective attacks, repeating them over and over for the next few minutes, until Xarcs was the only one left of the initial group that had attacked them.
They landed on the ground next to each other at the same time, just one meter in front of Xarcs. Together they shouted, "Back off!"
They raised their heads to the sky, and let out twin roars that made the earth tremble in ways that Xarcs couldn't even imagine. All of their built-up energy was released in that roar, building a solid wall of sound that expanded all around them, ramming into Xarcs, and sending him flying backwards over a hundred feet in the opposite direction of the main fighting.
He landed uncomfortably, kicking up dust, and a bit of newly formed mud as he did so. It actually took him several seconds to get back to his feet, and he did so slowly. He was quite clearly aching all over.
Simba and Sora were running toward him as fast as their four legs (times two) could carry them.
So, he thought he'd settle on the better side of valor, and chose to retreat. He opened up a corridor of Darkness to his left. As he began to limp toward it (apparently, they had damaged his leg) Sora summoned the Keyblade back to his mouth. He jerked his head upward, calling down bolts of lightning onto Xarcs.
Xarcs buckled under the attack, and was tossed limply several feet away. He got back to his feet as fast as possible and glared at his approaching foes. He stamped one of his paws, and suddenly all four of them were encased in earth.
Amazingly, he was able to turn the earth around to move around his paws, and seemed to skate with it off in the other direction away from them.
They kept following him, leaving the battle to be finished by their friends.
It had completely slipped everyone's minds that the corridor of Darkness Xarcs had tried to use was still open, waiting for somebody to step through it, and follow it to wherever it would lead.
Soon after, unnoticed by anyone else, somebody did.
!
Xarcs knew good and well that his forces were going to lose this battle. Looking back, it probably would have been best if he had simply turned them all into Heartless. At least they'd have been a bit more competent, then.
So he 'skated' away from the battle as fast as possible, hoping to put some serious distance between himself and his enemies before he opened another corridor to Pax Pacis.
Knowing that he'd probably regret it, he turned his head to look over his shoulder, and saw Simba and Sora approaching at unreasonably high speeds, increasing their speed by digging their claws into the ground and propelling themselves forward.
Growling to himself, he quickened his pace, shooting across the Outlands at high speed. He was more than half-way to the Pride Lands when he discovered that Simba was close enough to bite his tail if he had wanted.
It was time to make a stand. And what better place than the very gorge where Mufasa had fallen to his death? He was a big fan of delicious irony.
He brought a pillar of earth up underneath him, standing on it as he rose high into the air. Simba and Sora stopped just short of the pillar, and looked up. Xarcs looked down at them from over the rim.
"It is time to die, Simba." He called. "Time to take your place in 'the Circle of Life.' You'll be seeing daddy again very soon."
All three lions roared at the top of their lungs at the same time, and Xarcs shot down the side of his rock pillar, keeping his paws connected to the pillar by the earth from it.
Simba dove out of the way of a powerful slash aimed at his head (Xarcs had released that paw's grip on the rock). Sora stepped in, and drove the Keyblade directly at his attacker, but he had already vacated that space, and Sora hit nothing but rock.
Xarcs was behind him now, and immediately clamped his teeth down on Sora's neck. This was a fairly effective attack among battling lions, as they would begin thrashing back and forth in an attempt to snap their opponent's neck like a twig.
This could have worked on Sora, because almost immediately, Xarcs started the 'thrashing back and forth' part. But Sora quickly cast a Firaga spell, sending ribbons of flame all around his body, throwing him back, wiping the embers off his muzzle.
Simba rammed into Xarcs, bashing every inch of him with his claws. He struck at his legs, and then delivered an uppercut into his jaw, knocking him backwards. Sora jumped over Simba, landing in front of his monarch friend. He struck upward, catching Xarcs in the chin yet again.
Xarcs backed away quickly, avoiding the follow-up strike at his legs. He stomped the ground in front of him with his front paws, and suddenly, his forelegs were totally covered with a layer of thick rock almost like boxing gloves. One of those glove-covered paws lashed out at Sora.
The young lion brought up his blade vertically to catch the blow. He knew that he was going to have some serious neck pain after this fight. Xarcs reared his other paw back to strike at him, but the blow was caught by Simba.
At a stalemate, Xarcs roared, bringing up a pillar of earth from below them. Sora was unprepared for it, and was tossed backwards off the rapidly rising pillar. He bounced across it's side as he came down, before landing painfully on the ground.
Fifty feet in the air on the top of the pillar, Simba and Xarcs became engaged in a classic lion combat move, standing on two hind legs, trying to push the other over. And at nose-bleed heights, this was particularly dangerous. Before Scar's fall, this would have been an easier contest for Simba to win. But now, Xarcs was extra-sized, and was larger than him.
The larger lion was pushing Simba back toward the edge of the pillar, and no amount of force Simba could muster could stop his advance. He was able to hold him off just for a matter of seconds, before his back legs slipped over the edge. He began to fall, but was able to grasp the edge with his front paws.
For all the good that would do him in the next few seconds.
Xarcs bent down on his haunches, and dug his claws into his front paws. He smiled his familiar toothy smirk, and looked Simba in the eye. "Had any good dreams lately, Simba?" At his look of surprise, the smile widened. "Oh yes, I know. Not that it will matter in a few seconds, of course."
He was about to toss Simba off the pillar, and into the gorge, flying over two-hundred feet to a messy death that wouldn't leave enough pieces laying around even for a proper funeral. Then suddenly there was a small, furry mass of slashing claws and chomping teeth on Xarcs's head.
"Get away from my dad!" Kiara shouted between her biting. She was soon joined by Kovu, who commenced biting and tearing at his 'father's' legs. The Nobody had soon let go of Simba's paws and began concentrating on these new distractions.
"Get off me you little brats!" He reached up as far as he could (with the paw that wasn't under attack) to grab Kiara. After several failed attempts, he was able to get a grip on the scruff of her neck, paralyzing her. He raised her above his head, as if to throw her off the pillar into the gorge.
"Don't you touch her!" Kovu roared. And it was a surprisingly impressive roar. The cub leapt at his arm, and sunk his teeth into that arm as deeply as possible. A few wisps of dark smoke seeped up from the bite marks.
Xarcs howled in pain, dropping Kiara, and falling off the pillar altogether. He fell a full fifty feet, crashing into the ground, where he lay still. Fortunately, Kovu had landed on top of him, but the impact of Xarcs's fall was enough to knock him clear of the crash site, and send him spiralling ten feet away.
Sora (who was responsible for their arrival at the top of the pillar via Keywhip) dismissed his weapon, and walked over the inert cub. He nudged Kovu gently with his muzzle, trying to prompt some kind of response from him. He got none.
He started to get worried, and it wasn't until Simba and Kiara were able to work their way down (very carefully) from the pillar a few minutes later that he got something. Kovu made a nearly unnoticeable groaning noise, and twitched his head. He continued nudging him until finally, one bleary eye opened, and peered up at him.
His eye flickered from Sora, to Simba, and then finally rested on Kiara, who looked the most concerned. He croaked, "That really hurt."
Overjoyed that he was still well enough to speak, Kiara emitted a kind of high-pitched squeal, and pounced playfully onto him. His eyes bulged half-way out of his sockets when she licked his cheek.
Identical grins appeared on the faces of Sora and Simba. But they were soon replaced by expressions of shock, when there was a loud roar from behind them, echoed by a thunder clap above them.
Apparently, Xarcs wasn't quite beaten yet.
Sora recalled the Keywhip, swinging it around over his head. He lashed out with it, and it shot toward Xarcs. Unfortunately, he caught the end with his teeth, and tugged hard. It flew from Sora's mouth, and across the desert landscape.
The Nobody covered the space between him and Sora in a few great bounds in about two seconds. He slashed at him horizontally, knocking him off his feet. Simba leapt into the space he had just vacated, and repeated the gesture across his face, nearly knocking him to the ground.
But he was able to stay on his feet, and pounced at Simba, digging his claws into his shoulder blades, and attempting to clamp his jaw shut around his throat. He nearly succeeded, but Kovu leapt up at him, slashing him across the face.
The lion Nobody howled in pain, having a new horizontal scar above his right eye to go with the vertical one over the left. He quickly threw Simba to the ground, but instead of trying to finish him, he jumped over him at Kovu with a roar of fury, creating an even louder blast of thunder.
One clean swipe of his claw marked young Kovu for life; branding him with a striking scar over his left eye identical to the very one his assailant wore.
He let out a little howl of pain, and fell to the ground. Xarcs wore an expression of satisfaction as he raised his paw to finish him. But when he brought it down, it only connected with the cold metal of Oblivion.
Sora pushed his claw away, and struck the Keyblade into his chest, winding him. Simba roared, and charged from his other side. He leapt onto his back, pinning him to the ground.
Huge stalagmites shot up from the ground around him. One caught Simba in the hip, sending him reeling through the air.
Xarcs got back to his feet and swiped at Sora. The Keybearer dodged out of his way, and used his blade to block the next two strikes. He back stepped, and fired a large shard of ice at him, which was simply crunched in between his huge teeth.
As the rain continued to pour (sticking all their manes to their necks, shoulders, or foreheads) Xarcs roared to the sky. A huge bolt of lightning speared the ground where Sora had been not a millisecond before. Chunks of earth flew into the air.
Sora ran toward Xarcs again, swinging vertically down on his head. But he weaved around the attack, stepping to the side of the blade, and then pouncing at Sora.
He pinned his shoulders to the ground, and was about to take a bite out of his face, when Kiara leapt at him, slashing at his face as hard as she could, drawing some of the dark smoke that served as his blood.
Her distraction allowed Sora to get out from under him, and for Simba to sink his claws into his back. He threw him as far away as he could, sending him crashing into the ground, kicking up mud.
Just as he was getting back to his feet, Simba slashed his claws across the side of his face. Black mist emerged in a large puff off of it. Before he could even begin to recover from this attack, he was slashed across the chest with the Keyblade, cutting deep.
Xarcs roared again, but this time it was one of agonizing pain.
Before either Sora or Simba could do anything else, Xarcs collapsed, hitting the ground with a thud. All was still, and the only sounds were those of the falling rain (which had lessened to a great degree) and the Nobody's shallow breathing.
He gazed up at them with a dull hatred in his eyes, rather like Xayn Shu had glared at Mulan before his death.
"You think you've won." Xarcs coughed out. Dark mist was seeping from his skin, evaporating as it rose into the air. "But this isn't the end. He will have Kingdom Hearts... And he will reward me for what I've done, surely. You'll not stop him."
"He can send all the Heartless and Nobodies he wants." Sora said defiantly, dismissing the Keyblade. "But he won't get Kingdom Hearts."
And amazingly, Xarcs smiled and chuckled. "So you say now, you foolish child. But he can't be stopped. He's far too powerful to be beaten by a handful of Light-hearted fools." He chuckled again, and looked directly at Sora. "If only you had known then... what would happen."
"Known what?"
But he would get no answer. Xarcs rolled over with the last of the strength, falling over the edge of the cliff into the gorge. And as Scar's Nobody finally faded away, he was laughing.
Now it was totally silent. The rain had stopped falling with Xarcs's demise, and the dark clouds were slowly beginning to roll away. Simba and Sora just looked at each other for a few seconds, before they heard a stifled groan, and a hiss of pain behind them.
They walked over to Kovu, who had Kiara hovering around him nervously. He had one paw covering his left eye, and there was a thin trickle of blood flowing from under it.
Gently, Sora moved his paw away, and saw that Kovu had his eye clamped tightly shut. The teenager held up his own paw, green energy enveloping it. "Curaga." He said quietly.
Tendrils of the healing green energy flowed from his paw toward Kovu's eye. It briefly covered half of his face, cleaning away the blood there, and doing what it could to patch up the damage Xarcs had done to his face.
When the light faded, Kovu's eye was just fine. But the scar was still there, much paler now, but still easily noticeable. Kovu lifted a paw to feel the area around his eye, clearly amazed.
"Thanks." He said. "But, uh... Can't you get rid of it completely?"
"I'm sorry. But that's the most I can do. You're going to have to live with it."
"Well that won't be so bad." Kiara said, smiling a little. And to everyone's amazement, she leaned against Kovu in the human equivalent of an affectionate hug. "I think it makes you look kind of cute."
The slightly worried, nervous look on Simba's face was enough to make Sora laugh.
!
A while later, everyone had assembled back at Pride Rock. The moment that the first Keybearer arrived there, the largest Keyhole yet appeared on the front of the massive rock formation.
Riku summoned Way to Dawn, and orange light gathered at the tip, shooting out into the Keyhole. The light blinded them all for a few seconds before it faded, and the Keyhole disappeared.
The former Outlanders had come back with the Pride Landers to Pride Rock.
After witnessing the extreme lengths Zira had gone to simply to avenge Scar (who hadn't been a very good ruler anyway, they realized now) they had all surrendered, and pleaded for Simba's mercy and forgiveness. After a bit of persuasion from Kiara and his off-world friends (and a bit of 'encouragement' from Rafiki and his stick) he had agreed, and welcomed them back to the Pride Lands with open arms.
But as for Zira herself, there was no sign.
"I saw the old bat run into a corridor of Darkness before the fighting stopped." Axel said. "I don't know where it came from or where it went, but she's long gone by now."
Naturally, none of them were very enthusiastic when they heard this news, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Zira was still out there, but they all knew they'd have the opportunity to deal with her later.
"It is the Circle of Life." Rafiki had told Sora. "All things in your journey are connected, young one. You will see your journey through to the end, whatever should happen along the way."
"That reminds me of something an old wizard told me once." Sora remembered Yen Sid's words still.
"Everything in your journey Sora, is connected."
"Bah!" Rafiki hit Sora with his stick. "Rafiki uses his own material only!"
Near him, Riku laughed, and received a whack himself.
"You must continue your fight, young Keyblade Master." Rafiki continued. "And in the end, you will perhaps finally find your peace. You have earned it, after all. Now GO!"
He swung his staff. But this time, Sora saw it coming. He dodged out of the way, and grabbed it with his teeth. He smiled around the stick, and Rafiki laughed, beaming with pride.
!
And so it ends. I hope you've enjoyed the Pride Lands! If you have any suggestions on what I should have done, well too late.
Please review!