Marie's Casual wear:
www.swirl3y.deviantart.com/art/I-bring-you-peace-214094964?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y%2F29599925&qo=5

Ryan:
www.swirl3y.deviantart.com/art/That-s-his-name-286861562

Marie's Prideland Form:
www.swirl3y.deviantart.com/art/Marie-in-pridelands-coloured-240540217?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y%2F29599925&qo=18

A\N:
I think after this world we go into the battle of the thousand heartless. If that's the case, be prepared for the most epic scene in the form of writing. Seriously, a lot will be happening during this time. Marie loses her shit, Sora loses his shit, Ryan loses his shit, Aura loses her shit, Riku… well you get what I mean.

On a different note, Sora looks like Kovu in Prideland form! Ryan also looks like Sora, but with a lighter shade of brown and sea blue eyes instead of the bright ones Sora has.

Chapter Thirty-Eight
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God, I hate cats

When we returned to the ship Ryan greeted us. He was bored beyond all, but managed to get a lot of sleeping—something he said he really needed. I was glad that he was taking better care of himself, and we all took a break before landing on the next world. As we did, Ryan seemed a bit out of it again.

"Are you okay?" I asked. This spacing out thing of his was happening a lot, and I remember him being very eager or very talkative from the start. He shook his head, and he looked ahead and at the screen in front of him.

"I just want to be more useful," he said as he clicked a few buttons. "You're not much of a fighter, but you're useful in your healing abilities or even using your techniques. I have nothing like that."

"You are useful, Ryan," I said as I lowered my eyes. "You know so much about mechanics and this ship in such a short time. You know first aid and it's very important to us. You also tend to notice things that not everyone else seems to notice."

"But fighting," he said as he stopped pressing the same buttons. "I want to fight. I want to be a man and fight for you guys, but with my condition I can't so squat. I feel so inferior."

I placed my elbows on his shoulder and leaned against them. I looked at the screen and then up at the window in front of us. I sighed. "There's gonna be something you'll be great at, and I know you'll be wonderful when it happens."

Ryan chuckled, and threw me off his shoulder. I laughed along with his chuckling, and the three other guys came in. I looked around and they seemed ready to hit the next world—which was a world called The Pridelands. It sounded very cool, but also kind of familiar. I remember someone mentioning it a year ago, but who…

"I don't think we can land. We have to teleport again," Donald said as he looked at the screen. That was fine with me, and everyone else seemed okay with it. Ryan got up, and we all stepped on the teleporter to the side of the ship. Goofy pressed the button, and I seriously wondered what type of planet we were going to.

ଓ

"Hey, check us out!" Sora exclaimed as he moved around. I was still trying to adjust the movement, but basically… we went from being humans… to lions. Well, Donald was a bird and Goofy was a turtle, but as for Sora, Ryan and I... we were full on lion cubs. I lifted my han—uh, I lifted my paw and tried walking, but I slipped every time. Ryan didn't bother to move, and Sora just looked around.

"This place is kinda creepy, though," he said. I stopped trying to move and looked around, and suddenly we were surrounded by other animals. One of them started laughing hysterically, and Ryan cringed at it.

"That's an annoying laugh…," he said. I noticed Sora frantically looking around, and wondered if they were heartless. Goofy and I were on the same page and thought they were just living in the place.

"Don't mind us! Just passing through. We won't be any trouble," Donald assured them. Sora greed, but then one of the animals started walking around us.

"Don't be silly," she said. Her voice was definitely female, but a bit deep. "We'd love you to stick around for lunch."

"Well, I am hungry," Ryan replied. "But we don't really have anything to eat."

"That's not gonna be a problem!" the other one said, which was definitely male. I felt really uncomfortable all of sudden, and Goofy suggested that we were the ones for lunch. I felt my stomach churn, and Donald yelled for us to run. My eyes widened, but Sora looked my way and told us to follow him. I couldn't even walk, let alone run! Either way, Ryan and I followed him, but it didn't last very long when we all tumbled onto each other!

"Going somewhere?" the male animal said. I stuck close to the wall, and he looked like he was about to eat us. I saw Donald and Goofy cornered by the other animals, and I really wanted to scream right about now, but then we heard a loud roar. I closed my eyes, and I heard the animal speak. "Man! That scar's got bad timing."

"Just let him roar," the female said. The male shook his head, and told her that they needed to see what he wanted, since he was apparently grumpy enough as it is. I heard the whole lot of them running away, and I opened my eyes. Sora and Ryan got up, while Donald and Goofy made their way towards us.

"I dunno what that was about, but I'm glad it's over!" we all sighed after Sora spoke, since that was a very close call. Sora started walking a bit, and didn't look like he was doing so well. "Everything's harder on four legs."

"Better start practicing!" Donald told us. Goofy walked over to us, and told us that he found a trick to it. Ryan and I walked towards him slowly, and once we were near he started teaching us his trick.

ଓ

Organization XIII

"I almost had her that time," a very familiar girl said. The rather evil duplicate version of Marie flipped her hair back when she stood in the same room as Saix and Xemnas. The leader of Organization XIII wasn't very pleased, and Saix was even less. Fakey, as dubbed by Sora and the others, sighed. "It's just that nobody that keeps getting in the way. Why don't you deal with her and then I can do my job."

A quick and hard back-handed slap came from Saix to the girl, and she growled in reply. He didn't like it when anyone talked that way to him or to Xemnas, and he wasn't going to let some second rate doll do the same. "You'll speak with respect in Master Xemnas' presence."

She touched her cheek and rolled her eyes, she really wasn't in the mood. It really was all of that nobody's—the one who was named Aura—fault. She kept appearing when she clearly wasn't welcomed, and she needed to deal with that bother. She turned to Xemnas and Saix, who had given her the order to find Marie. She nodded, and set out to destroy the original.

ଓ

Marie

Goofy taught us a lot, and I was surprised we were walking properly. Ryan and Sora kept running around, while I just walked to get the hang of it. I wish I was bird like Donald, since I'd rather be flying and checking out the scenery. The worst part of being a cub was handling the keyblade, and Sora got it down pretty quickly. I was still having a bit of trouble. Either way, we all left to the next area, since we weren't going to stay with a couple of hungry stricken animals around. I honestly can't remember what type of animals they are, but I guess we'll find someone who does know.

As soon as we started walking, we saw a lioness fending off some monsters. When I took a closer look, they were heartless!

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sora asked as he kept his eyes on the lioness. Donald and Goofy wondered what to do, but then Sora immediately ran over to protect her. I was a bit hesitant because I didn't want to screw up and cost us our lives, but if Sora got the sword handling down then I guess we were alright. I jumped down the rocks and ran towards Sora and the lioness, and everyone else followed. Donald took out a stick, which I guess was his staff, while Goofy just prepared himself. I realized that his shell was basically a shield in itself, and I was glad. I looked over to Ryan, who seemed eager to fight. I raised my eyebrow.

"You gotta hide," I said. He shook his head, however, and told me he was feeling fine.

"There's something about being a lion," he started. "I didn't even feel tired from running—I don't think my anemia is affecting me here!"

That was actually good news, but, how was he going to fight? Without a moment to think, one of the heartless started charging towards us. I willed out my keyblade and it appeared in my mouth. I took a stance and ran towards the heartless while dealing it a small slash. I turned around to fight again, but I saw Ryan scratching the thing pretty ferociously. I ran up and attacked it a couple of times, while Ryan did his own thing. Soon enough, we were able to get rid of the thing.

"Thank you. You really saved me," the lioness said. We all turned towards her, and Goofy told her that we were glad that she was safe. Sora asked if she saw any other heartless around. "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."

"Hey, do you know if a guy named Riku is there?" Sora asked. "Or some bad guys in black hoods? Or maybe this really big bully named Pete?"

The lioness shook her head and Sora sighed, it wouldn't hurt to look around the place to see for ourselves. The lioness shook her head again though, "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."

Is that what those things are called? I'm surprised I couldn't remember them, but either way, I'm glad they ran away. Sora walked up to the lioness and told her that we could handle a little danger, but I wasn't so sure. The lioness seemed pretty sure about it though, and she turned to us. "You could be just what the kingdom needs. Maybe you can help us," she said.

She explained that Scar became their king after the last king, Mufasa, died. We all raised our eyebrows when she asked if we could get rid of the guy, and Sora told her to wait for a moment. We all huddled up, and Sora was a bit weary about kicking some guy off the throne. "We just can't go around kicking kings off their thrones," he said.

"Then again, if they see that I'm stronger than their king, maybe they'll ask me to be their next king!" Donald, Goofy and I all exchanged looks, and Goofy was about to warn him, but he laughed. "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?"

Without really getting our words, Sora ran over to the lioness. I just stood there with Donald, Goofy and Ryan. I don't think any of us thought this would be a good plan. "Uh-oh, there he goes again...," Donald complained.

"He wouldn't be Sora if he didn't," I said, and they all agreed. The cub in question came over to us, and told us that we had to meet the lioness at a place called Pride Rock, since she was going to tell the other lionesses. We turned around, and when I looked at the piles of rocks and hills I sighed. So, when do we get our break?

ଓ

We all made our way up towards a giant rock, and saw a lot of lions and lionesses sleeping or walking around. When we stopped and saw the lioness that we helped named Nala, she walked over with a monkey holding a staff. She told him that we were the guys who were going to help, and he walked over and took a close look at us. He walked back to the lioness, whispered something in her ear, and left. She seemed greatly disappointed with what he said, and Sora asked what happened.

"I asked Rafiki you might be able to help us force Scar and the hyenas out of the pride lands, but he says it won't work," she told us. "You see, whoever saves the Pride Lands will be our next king…and he has to have the right qualities."

"Meaning…"

"I think she means you're not cut out for the job, Sora," Goofy told him. Sora gave a giant sigh of disappointment, and Nala told us she was sorry we came all this way. Although walking and jumping through the rocks and hills was a pain, it didn't bother me that much, and neither did it bother the others. She did tell us we should leave before Scar finds out about our appearance, and if it meant avoiding those hyenas I was all for it.

We turned around and started walking, but apparently what I wanted to avoid ended up surrounding us. "Hey—a snack," the male hyena said.

"Snack? Nah, we got us a three course meal with dessert," the female hyena added. The third hyena started laughing like crazy, and Ryan muttered how annoying it was again. We all heard a roar, and the male hyena told us it was Scar—the king. We turned around, and we saw another lion with them. Sora jumped up and shouted it was Pete. I raised my eyebrow and looked a bit closer—I guess it is him!

Scar came jumping down with ease while Pete… well, he pretty much stumbled all the way down. I couldn't help but feel bad, but hey, no one told him to show off. "What are you doing here!?" Sora asked.

Without even a moment to blink Donald, Goofy, Ryan and I were surrounded. Sora turned to us, but we couldn't even make a run for it. We heard Scar telling the lionesses to hunt, and he pointed towards us. I widened my eyes—I don't want to be eaten! I heard Pete tell him we were all his and I wanted to slap him. I heard a loud roar, and Nala jumped on scar, giving us time to escape. We tried running, but the hyenas were fast on our tails. Nala ran in front of us, and told us to follow her. We followed her all the way outside of Pride Rock while also losing the hyenas. When we were out of sight we stopped, and she apologized about getting us into trouble.

"Aw, it's not your fault. Sora wouldn't be a good king," Donald said. Goofy snickered, and Sora seemed a bit annoyed. He told us he had to give it a try, and Goofy called him out on him actually wanting to be a king.

"Well…you know…," Sora said. He quickly changed the subject though. "Uh, Nala, isn't there anybody else who could be king?"

"There was… but he died… when he was just a cub," she said with a sad expression. She stopped talking for a bit and looked down, and I wondered who the cub could've been. She looked up and at us. "He was the son of our last king, Mufasa. If only Simba were here."

"Wait...what? Simba? But I thought…," I said as I looked at the others. His name brought back a lot of memories, since he was with us last year. Damn my memory for not remembering sooner. Sora gave me a nod and looked at Nala.

"Simbas's just fine! He was fighting right beside us not that long ago," he explained. Nala was beyond shocked and asked us where he was if he was alive, but we didn't know. She seemed a bit disappointed, but was glad to know he was alive. She asked us if we could tell her more about him, but somewhere far where Scar wouldn't find us. We agreed and started walking over to what Nala called the Wildebeest Valley.

We eventually made our way to a giant crevasse, and Ryan, Sora and I looked at it. Nala ran back a bit, and she ran at full speed when she jumped. She made it all the way to the other end, and my mouth flung open when she did. We all looked at each other, and she asked us what was wrong. "We're never gonna make it!" Sora exclaimed.

She muttered something and Sora asked her what she said. She shook her head, and smiled at us. "Never mind. It's not important. Here, I'll show you how."

ଓ

"Whoa! That was such a rush! I wanna do that again!" I heard Ryan shout. I looked over to them, and I was terrified to even run over a giant hole. Sora, Donald, Goofy and Ryan were all over at the other side with Nala, and I was still on the other end.

"Come on, Marie! You can do it!" Nala said. I covered my eyes with my paws, and didn't even want to look ahead. I admit I'm being a bit overdramatic, but you stand by me and say you can jump over a very wide and deep hole.

"It's okay, Marie! I'll catch you," I heard Sora said. I lifted one of my paws, and I looked at him. He gave me a very confident smile, and I closed my eyes. An image appeared in my head, and I remembered jumping down a couple of places from last year… Wonderland and Monstro to be precise, but I also remember Sora being there every time I jumped. He was always encouraging me… always supportive. Was I remembering more of him and me together? I shook my head, if Sora was supporting me and if he believed I could jump, then maybe… but even so, I still felt scared.

"You are braver than this."

"Stella!?" I called out, completely shocked to hear that voice. I looked around, but hoping she'd reply or something, but the connection was dead. I lowered my head, Stella… why are you talking now, right when I'm getting used to not having you around? I shook my head, regardless of whether she's talking or not, she's right! I am braver than this and most things, but why do I always doubt myself…?

I ran back a bit and stopped as I took a deep breath. When I jump I am going to make it, and maybe lift my esteem a bit. Maybe. I positioned myself and looked straight ahead. I started running and my speed kept rising and rising until I felt myself lift from the floor. I didn't dare look down to the ground, and I kept my eyes straight towards the rest of the guys. I felt my paws touch the ground, and I felt myself about to stumble but then I felt myself against fur, and I looked up to see Sora smiling at me. "Told you I'd catch you," he winked.

I smiled and got up, looking at everyone else. They smiled and Ryan told me I did a good job. I thanked them, and I thanked Sora personally. When they started walking ahead I took a moment and looked up at the sky. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Thanks, Stella.

Wow, Stella! Long time no see. We won't see much of her until later on, but I wonder what she's thinking? I bet she misses her daughter. I wonder what Dante thinks?

And Fakey! Don't you know you can't win against Aura? If she catches you she 'gon keel you.

Shadow 1n2:
I loved it, too! I love Tim Burton and I really wish I can see Corpse Bride in the next game since I love Victor sooo much! Haha, who knows if I will though, since at this point I still need to tie loose ends like Fakey, Aura and Roxas. I wonder, too! She might feel intimidated once she sees Kairi because she got prettier, or who knows! Yea that annoyed me too. I hate her keyblade to be honest lol. I shall let you know and OMG YESS. IF EVERYONE COMES BACK I WILL DIE OF PURE JOY BECAUSE HURRRR. I can't wait!

Shadowmwape:
Thank you!

Grapejuice101:
Lol, I love the pridelands but that's because I love The Lion King all together and who knows? Scar might not want anything to do with her. ;)

WingOfHope:
I know, right? But you never know, the next world after Pride Lands will be a very epic one. Or at least I hope so if it's the thousand heartless battle scene. :D