Chapter 119- The Task of the Great Kings
It didn't take long for the Aversion Endless to sprint after the baboon, following him into a cavern beside Pride Rock. As he rushed into the cavern, he noticed that the old baboon was looking at the wall, a wall with painted pictures. He noticed that there was one of a simple lion, he could only guess that this was meant to be Simba, he looked about to see a painting of three faces, they looked like Sora, Donald and Goofy. A memory flashed in his mind, his sight flashing an image of another cavern like drawing, a drawing that remained blurred. Brian looked away from the painted drawings on the wall as he looked back at Rafiki, hearing Donald and Goofy follow in after him. "You knew my father?" He desperately asked. Now that he knows that his father had passed here, any possible clue to finding out who his was could unravel more of his memory.
"Correction: I KNOW your father." The mandrill told him, looking away from the wall and grabbing his walking stick as he walked across the cavern, picking an orange fruit up.
"Really?" Brian smiled with excitement. He was finally getting somewhere with his memory. "Can you tell me who he is?" he asked.
Rafiki took a bite into his fruit before facing the auburn lion cub, taking his walking stick and shaking it over the lion before pulling it back to him. "I cannot tell you yet." He told him.
"What?" He spoke with surprised. "Why not?" When the mandrill simply ignored Brian's question, the lion growled as he demanded. "Who do you think you are?" He growled.
"The question is, who do you think YOU are?" Rafiki replied.
Brian halted himself, being caught by surprise before looking at the old baboon with confusion. "What kinda question is that?" he glared.
"One that has not been answered." Rafiki chuckled before standing still. A burst of wind brushed through the cavern, Rafiki's fur moved alongside it before the wind dropped and disappeared. As soon as the wind disappeared, the baboon could only frown with worry. "Ohh, I don't have much time." He spoke before looking back at the painted wall.
"Hey! Don't change the subject." The Aversion Endless could feel his anger building up, he just wanted to know who his father is and the baboon refuses to answers his questions. Before anything else could be said, he felt Goofy hold him back slightly, making the lion look back in question.
Donald flew forward as he asked the old mandrill. "What's the problem, Rafiki?" He asked.
Brian could only look back at the flying white bird in disbelief. "You're siding with the monkey?" He said with disbelief.
Brian's comment was simply ignored thought as Rafiki began to explain. "The balance hasn't mended itself like it should have when Simba took his place as King. Two Prides instead of one remain on these lands. Their hatred for each other will keep the light and darkness separate but light and darkness need to work together for the world to keep together. Even the seal to this world's heart remains hidden. Only when the world is one, will the keyhole appear."
"Great—" Brian said with annoyance. "I knew the world had a problem with its balance but not to the point that the keyhole would be covered."
"But I thought darkness was bad?" Goofy said with a confused tone.
"Ahh. Only ones that use darkness for the wrong reasons." Rafiki enlightened. "The fight over light and dark will never end. That itself is part of the circle of life. But light and dark work together, you saw the state of this world when only Scar's darken heart ruled."
"So how do you make the world become one?" Donald asked.
Rafiki pointed to a painted drawing upon his wall. One of a blonde lioness and one of a brown main lion. "The Prides must be one. We must bring the light and dark together."
Brian raised an eyebrow at this. "The Princess and the Outlander?"
Rafiki chuckled with excitement at the question. "How you see what must be done!" He grinned before looking at the three. "Can you help me bring the two together? Only then will the keyhole show for you." He asked them.
Donald and Goofy nodded to the request. "Of course we can." Goofy said happily.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Brian quickly halted the two. "We still need to get the lion's main. That's the main reason we're here."
"How about this." Rafiki proposed. "You aid the world becoming one and I will locate the lion's main for you."
"And you will tell me who my father is." Brian added.
"Very well. We have a deal." Rafiki placed his palm out, waiting for a shake of agreement. Before Brian could use his paw to shake the baboon's hand, he pulled back. "Only when you know who you are."
"I know who I am!" Brian said with annoyance. "I'm Brian Devon! Black Mage, Pilot and Defender of Little Devon. The youngest brother of the Devon brothers-"
"Nope!" Rafiki cut him off. "That is not who you are."
"What do you mean 'nope'?" Brian demanded.
Rafiki only chuckled before turning back to the painted drawings on the carven wall. "When you have discovered yourself, come find me." He said.
"But—"
"C'mon Brian." Goofy nudged the confused lion out of the cave.
"But-"
"We need to talk to others what's going on and to think of a way to get Kiara and Kovu together." Donald aided Goofy, dragging Brian out of the cavern as he continued to look as confused as ever.
The mandrill could only chuckle after the young lion was taken out of his cavern. "Poor boy." He said out loud. "He doesn't even though who he is." The wind blew within the cavern, as if agreeing with the statement.
BOWBOWBOW
"C'mon. C'mon." The Sorrow Endless dug his hand on the communication while Jenova sat beside him, trying to keep the connection that they have. Ever since reaching the world Devil had instructed him to meeting up on, the three Endless quickly brought a wooden hut in the down streets of the busy city, allowing them to keep hidden and able to place their cloaking device so that none of the town people was going to find them. While the Colonel had gone to collect a few more Endless that would be useful to his cause, Nikolai quickly tried to contact Storm to tell him of their situation, only to get no connection to the Shock Endless.
Jenova only looked at her friend with worry, knowing that something had stuck Nikolai hard when he visited Haru. She would tell by his cold nature ever since agreeing to help the Colonel, she could feel a cold shiver every time he walked by and she noticed that his claw seemed to be more active than usual. After watching the Sorrow Endless slam the communicator down, she sped next to him and looked at him with a questionable look. "Nikolai. Talk to me." She demanded.
"Why should I? You already know anyway." He said coldly, referring to Jenova's ability to see the truth in people's hearts.
"It's nice to get things out." She commented.
Nikolai quickly shot back at the Joy Endless, grabbing her by the neck as he slammed her in the wall. "It's none of your business, okay? It was never your business! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" He pulled his arm away, breaking any ice that was formed with it, as he stormed out of the room, locking his door behind him and enforced it with his ice ability. He could only groan when he heard her trying to open the door. "I DON'T WANNA TALK!" he yelled.
"Nikolai. You haven't balanced yourself. If you keep at this rate, you're-" her voice rang from the other side of the door.
"Turn into an Endless? Let it happen! I can dispose of Haru myself for not looking after my sister." He growled.
"It wasn't his fault." Jenova told him. "You know that."
Nikolai could only sigh with annoyance before saying. "Well there's no other reason to fight this." He said. "I've been fighting the virus from taking over for eleven years. I've done it all for my sister. I protected her from getting taken from Endless, I left my home to protect her, and I thought that I might be able to save her from this fate, only to find that she got swallowed by the darkness within the capable hands of my best friend. I've got nothing to lose." He laid on his bed, looking at his claw with thought.
"You can still change everything." She said. "Haru needs you, Nikolai. Sora needs you. We all need you. I need you too. I can't survive in this place. There is still so much I need to know about balance."
"You'll be fine." He simply growled.
"You won't though. Just lemme in. I'll bust the door down." She threatened. "I will. I will."
"Do it then. I don't care." He sighed, knowing for a face that he isn't going to get rid of Jenova until he is slightly happy. All he wanted was to see his sister again, just once, just to know that she was safe and sound. He couldn't help but be angry at Haru. He had intrusted him with his sister's safety, only to hear that he had lost her the minute he had reached Little Devon. If only he wasn't going off world at that moment, he would have punched him and demanded why he didn't protect her. It couldn't be helped that he felt sorrow, he had heard of the loss of his sister, that alone would bring people to their sorrows, but the fact that his virus specialise in sorrow didn't really help him cheer up.
Eventually, he heard his door break; watching as Jenova quickly ran into the room and crashed into his wardrobe, his clothing and items flying everywhere. His pale blue eyes locked on a photo, floating its way to the bed and landed in front of him. The Sorrow Endless quickly sat up and picked up the photo, a slight smile appeared on his face. "Maybe you're right…" He muttered as he looked at the photo.
The front door was heard. "Jenova! Nikolai! Report!"
Nikolai sighed sadly as he placed the photo in his pocket. He walked over to Jenova and lended her a hand as he pulled her up. "Thanks Jenova. We won't fall like the others. We'll remain balanced." He looked at the position that they were in to notice that they were very close together, very close for a hug. With that in mind, Nikolai pulled away, coughing slightly before making his way to see who the Colonel had gathered.
BOWBOWBOW
Near the waterhole, Ventus looked around for any sign of the keyhole, chuckling slightly as he watched Kiara show Kovu how to have fun by chasing birds before looking at the sight of the savannah, taking in the fresh air and the sight of nature.
Hikari took this time to relax, grabbing a drink by the waterhole, only to find that the water tasted of dirt, before placing herself on the grass, closing her eyes to the sound of nature. She could only groan when her communicator began to ring in her ear, growling with annoyance as said the code word to activate the device. "This has better be good." She simply growled.
"Woah. Someone's in a bad mood." Brian's voice could be heard.
"What is it, Brian?" she asked him, wanting to go back to relaxing while she still can.
"We can't find the keyhole until the world is balanced." He reported, only to hear an groan as a response. "Apparently, the Outlanders and the Pridelanders are supposed to be one or something like that. Their hatred towards each other has split light and dark away from each other."
"Isn't that a good thing?" Hikari sighed, hoping that she can just go back to relaxing.
"As much as he fight against those that are in the dark realm. Light and Dark need to work together for the world to run properly. Only when the pride is balanced can we balance the world and get rid of that stupid affect out in the Outlands." Brian reminded her.
"And how exactly are we going to get two angry prides to become one?" she questioned, getting up to her feet since there was no possible way that she was going to relax now.
"Simple." Brian told her. "The younger generation. The wise monkey told us that the Princess needs to get with the outlander."
"A monkey?"
"A Monkey."
Hikari could only chuckle at the information given to her. "Right. Okay. I've heard stranger things." She could only say.
"Me, Max, Donald and Goofy are gonna set up a place where they can get their loving. All you and Ven have to do, is led them there." Brian instructed. "And don't tell Riku about this. He'll properly sent Sora and Kairi to it as well knowing him."
That's a good idea actually. Hikari thought quickly before smirking as she spoke. "Don't worry, Brian. I won't tell Riku." She said with an evil grin placed on her face.
"Run! There is a crocodile in the water." One of the animals cried.
Hikari quickly looked behind her, watching as the animals began to flee the water hole as shadow like crocodiles began to merge from the water, snapping their jaws at animals before turning their red eyes towards them. "Sorry Brian. There's trouble. Communication Close." She quickly got to her feet and ran to the others.
Ventus looked over to the water hole to see that Heartless like crocodiles began to come out of the waterhole. Before he could race over to his friend's help, he began to feel the ground vibrate, as well as a frightened yell from behind him. The blonde lion looked behind him, only to gasp with surprise as he rolled out of the way. He watched as a meerkat riding a warthog raced past, along with twenty odd rock covered rhinos chasing after them. "What's going on?" He could only question the nature of the rhinos with the ground as skin.
Hikari quickly got close to shadow like crocodiles, remembering the sight of them back at African Depths, halting herself as she went to draw her sword as she noticed a drawback. She had no thumbs or any form of grip in this form, meaning that she couldn't grab her weapon from her side. "Damn it!" She cursed, looking around quickly only to notice the horde of rock like Rhinos heading towards Kiara and Kovu. "Run!" she shouted to them. She watched as they noticed the stamped, beginning to make a run to the gorge along with the meerkat and the warthog.
A snap of the Heartless crocs jaw caught Hikari by surprised, getting caught by the paw as she stumbled backwards, the crocodiles coming in closer to her.
"Thunder!" Ventus called out, keyblade in him front as thunder strikes blasted at the crocodiles, making them back away. Ventus quickly dashed towards Hikari, castings Cure on her wound before dashing through the Heartless like crocodiles at a fast rate.
All the snow leopard saw was the sight of the blonde lion disappearing into the crowd of Heartless, only to watch the Heartless disappear within a flash with Ventus adjusting his keyblade. A sight of a rock layered Unbirth appeared behind the blonde lion, causing for Hikari to race to her feet to run towards Ven. She quickly spanned in the air, allowing her sword to come out of her holster, and grabbed her blade by her teeth before charging at the rhino, catching Ventus by surprise. "Take this!" She balanced herself before charging her strike, running straight pass the rhino, making the creature drop to its knees.
Ven quickly took this chance to join back in the fight, pointing his keyblade at the rhino. "Light!" He shouted, creating a blinding light that covered their vision. When the light had disappeared, the rhino unbirth was out of sight. The keyblader sighed in relief, disposing his keyblade as he ran over to Hikari. "You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine." She smiled before saying with thought. "I've seen those crocodiles before. And those rhinos, it would only make sense that Major Snake was here." She chuckled at the thought. "Brian owns me an apology."
"Major Snake?" Ventus' expression grew with worry. "He must be after me. I remember that he was looking for me while I was trapped on The World That Never Was. If it wasn't for-" Ventus could only pause, they needed to focus on getting the world back to its original state. "C'mon! We better see if Kovu and Kiara are alright."
"Yeah. Let's go." Hikari and Ventus quickly followed the tracks that the rhinos left, leading them to some rocky formation. As they were following the tracks, Hikari halted before saying. "We can't find the keyhole at the moment." She said.
Ventus quickly halted before turning back to face Hikari, smiling happily at her. "I'm sure that we'll find it."
"No. I mean we won't be able to find it." She corrected herself.
Ventus only raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"Brian called me before we got attacked; he said something about the balance of this world needs to be together for the keyhole to appear." She quickly explained.
"But—we need to find the keyhole to fix the balance?" Ven could only look at the snow leopard in confusion.
"He mentioned that the world surface isn't balanced." Hikari went into more detail. "We have to try and get Kovu and Kiara together so that the two prides become one and the land will be balanced and one again. I'm assuming that at that point, the keyhole will show and the world will be balanced."
"How does Kovu and Kiara being together-" Ventus questioned.
"Who knows? I'm just about as confused as you are." Hikari shrugged. "The plan is that we need to lead them to Brian's setup. Now let's see if they are still alive. The plan won't go well if the rhinos managed to crush them."
"Good point." Ventus nodded as the two continued to follow the tracks.
As soon as the two felines reached their location, all they saw was Kovu, Kiara, the meerkat and the warthog, all hiding in a small hole, laughing their heads off. The meerkat and the warthog managed to get out of the grab, chuckling as they heard Kovu with excitement. "What a blast!"
"You're okay, kid." The meerkat said as he leaned on Ventus' leg. "You're a lot of fu—AHHHHH!" If was only till the meerkat had looked to see what he was leaning did he notice that he was leading on another lion as he jumped back out of fear covered his head as he dived to the ground. "Please! Don't eat me!"
Kiara could only roll her eyes at the meerkat's behaviour as she and Kovu managed to get out of the hiding spot. "They won't hurt you, Timon. They're friends with Sora." She told him.
"Ohh! You know Sora?" The warthog said with excitement. "How is he? How is he? How is he? How isssss hhheeeeeee?"
"Pumbaa! Pumbaa!" The meerkat, known as Timon, quickly got off the ground and dashed to the warthog's side. "Calm down! Give them room to breathe."
"Oops. Sorry." The Warthog said sheepishly.
"Good." Timon grinned before looking at the blonde lion and snow leopard. "So how's Sora?" he asked.
"He's not feeling so good." Ven smiled sadly. "That's why we're here to search for the keyhole."
"Speaking of which." Hikari looked towards Kovu and Kiara. "We're beginning our search again tonight. If you guys wanna help, meet her on the savannah." She watched as the two nodded, catching something different about the two but decided to ignore it as she began to make her way. "C'mon Ven, we better meet up with the others."
"Wait up!" Ven quickly moved to follow Hikari, leaving Kiara and the others behind. "Why are we leaving? Aren't we supposed to keep an eye on the two?" He asked.
"Only to the extent of looking for the keyhole at the same time." Hikari said. "Besides, I quickly wanna check on Brian and get the details of his plan before leading Kovu and Kiara to it." She explained while the two walked back to the Pride Lands.
"Fair enough. It'll be good to inform the others on the possibility of Snake being here." Ven nodded before noticing Hikari activating the communication device in her ear. "Hikari. What are you doing?" he asked.
"Killing two birds with one stone." She simply said before speaking into the communicator. "Hey Riku, how do you feel like playing cupid again." She smirked.
A/N: Woop! Another chapter. Bloody coursework. First time I've managed to write in ages. I hope you guys are still here. Sorry that the updates are long. I will intent to finish this story.
Kingdommad