A Kingdom Hearts Story (Your Story) Part 57: The Pride Lands

Recap!
"We'll be seeing you guys later," Sora said, his hands behind his head.
"You will visit, right?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, of course!" Donald said, his hands crossed on his chest.
"Promise!" Goofy and Sora said.
You could only nod, not knowing if you'll visit. Jack and Sally gave they're finally goodbyes as you three started to walk away. You then saw Zero circling you guys, stopping in front of you, "We'll be seeing you, Zero; don't worry." You gave him a pat on the head as he barked, heading back with Jack and Sally, his tongue out. You all gave a wave and headed through the graveyard, heading to Moonlight Hill. You all climbed aboard the Gummi Ship, your bodies and features coming back to normal. You all sat on your seats, waiting for Donald's orders.
"We keep going," Donald answered back, moving the ship into the sky. You all stayed in your seats for the next couple of minutes. You had your elbows on your knees, waiting for something to happen, but what? You looked to see Goofy at the end, Donald in the middle, and Sora...next to you? Since when did he change seats? You looked away, your eyes closing to sleep.
"Aseles, what's the matter?" You looked to see Sora leaning in his seat, looking at you closely.
"Nothing," you turned your whole body around, facing away from him. You closed your eyes again, falling asleep, but a thought in your head: Kairi......
On with the quiZ!
You saw yourself on the white floor, "Not again." You stood up to find yourself in a white room of course. You rubbed your eyes, yawning and tired. You sat back down again against the wall.
"He's that worried?" You turned your head around to see Riku in his black cloak, one leg bent with his arm on it.
"Who Sora?" you asked, both of your legs outstretched, your hands in your pockets.
"Yeah, never knew someone would actually care about me..."
"You're not serious are you?" you asked quite angrily.
Riku looked at you, "What do you mean?"
"Why would you think like that? Sora been on this trip trying to find you and all you could think is how could he not miss you?"
Riku said nothing, looking away from your warm eyes. His eyes sparkled in the white light, perfect with his white skin. You looked away, your eyes suddenly saddening.
"Then why do you have the long face?" Riku asked, breaking the silence.
"Huh?"
"Sora is always cheery, but how come you have a not cheery face on?"
You looked at him, "It's too complicated."
"It's Kairi, isn't it?"
You said nothing, but your angriness started to rise, "It's nothing to worry about."
"Then why am I worrying?"
"This conversation is just too-"
"Too what?"
You looked at Riku, his eyes staring at you in a concerned face. Maybe he did want to know, but what could he do to help? It was worth a shot, "So what if it is Kairi?"
"Sora can't choose as I can tell."
"He could choose Kairi, it wouldn't matter to me."
"You sure it wouldn't?"
"Stop with the questions, please," you suddenly answered. Riku looked at you, his face coming closer, "What?" Riku's hand then came to your face, smoothing up and down your cheek. He came even closer, "Ri-" His soft lips then met yours, caressing them perfectly. You backed away, looking at him confused, concerned, uncomfortable, and many other emotions running around. Your eyes met his in direct contact, "What are you doing?"
"Wondering if you'll like me instead," Riku said, backing away laughing.
You wiped your mouth slowly, "Not bad, but I'm sure it didn't work."
"It was worth a shot," Riku said a grin on his face looking at the other side of the room.
"Nice try," you smiled, doing the same.
"So, what's wrong with you and Sora?"
"Kairi's always on his mind i guess, and he won't leave me alone as a friend."
"How?"
"Last time he kissed me."
"What did you do?"
"What do you expect me to do, kick him in the face? I'm traveling with him so whatever I do effects everything if you know what I mean."
"I see," Riku still had a grin on his face.
"Should I just forget about him?"
"How could you if you're traveling with him?"
"I don't mean it that way...you know."
"Oh, well, if you think that's the best thing to do. But right now, I have to go; hope everything works out. Don't take it too hard on him," Riku stood up, walking to a white door that suddenly appeared.
You sat there; silent and unmovable, thinking if that was the best thing to do. Maybe it was. You heard the door slam and everything became black: the vision was over.

Uh, crap!
Riku kissed me.
Why did he kiss me?! Ew! (My quizzes are torturing you....YES!)
"Hey, Aseles, you okay?" You opened your eyes, finding a small lion in front of you.
"Whoa!" you backed away. You looked to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy completely different. You pushed your hand forward. You looked to see yourself with a paws and fur, "What happened?!" You saw a small puddle as you went to it, falling on your fours legs. [How do you walk in these things?] You went slowly, seeing the others doing the same.

You all looked into the puddle. You had dark red fur, with white on your belly up to your face above your nose. You had a lion pink nose, light blue eyes, your tail white, your ears pointed forward, and your paws were white too. "What happened to us?" you tried to stand on all fours, but you fell down, your front paws on your head.
"Who knows, but it's so cool!" Sora said, looking at himself.
"Is it me or is everything slow now?" Goofy asked.
"You're a turtle Goofy," you said.
You all turned your faces to Donald, seeing his pure white wings opened. "Aren't you having trouble?" you asked, your paws on the floor with your legs outstretched.
"How can he, he's already a bird brain," Sora said.
"Right! Huh? Hey!" Donald yelled. The rest of you began to laugh.
"But how come we're in this world?" you asked, finally able to stand on all fours. Sora then stood up, Goofy walking slowly to you two. Donald landed on his feet, his wings closed behind him.
"Something's familiar, but I'm not sure," Sora answered, walking around. You giggled; seeing Sora and the others like this sure was funny. "What's so funny?" Sora asked.
"Oh, it's nothing," you answered, hopping on yours paws. After a few minutes, you all got the hang of it. Hey, you even all found a way for Goofy to move faster. You looked around to find yourselves in a deserted place you guessed. You all continued to walk through bones and dirt, ending up where a large elephant skull stood.
"I don't have a very good feeling here," Goofy said, following you and Sora behind and Donald up in flight. You all then heard a loud noise. You all stopped, Goofy with his shield on top of his shell, Donald with his wand on one wing, and the keyblades in yours and Sora's mouth. You all then heard loud roars and thumps.
"Come on!" Sora led the way, running head first with all of you behind him, Goofy spinning his shell to go faster. You all came across 2 huge heartless rhino with eyes to red and horn so sharp. You then looked to see a female lion on the floor, cornered at the rock wall. You all cut them off of the lion, "Go, we'll take care of them!" Sora ordered her. She nodded and ducked for cover as you 4 started to attack them. You and Donald took one down with spells while Sora and Goofy were done with the other one with physical attacks. You all panted, except for Donald, feeling really woozy in these new features. The lion then came out, heading toward you all, "Thanks for saving me. I didn't know what those things were."

"It's okay," Sora said. You all placed your weapons away, wanting to know what she was doing here.
"How come you were here alone?" Donald asked, landing on top of Goofy's shell.
"I was searching for help," she answered.
"For what?" Sora asked, interested in the conversation as always.
"You see, we have a king, but he's chased away food and water, making the rest of the lionesses miserable. I set out to look for help, to find a lion to overthrow him. But there seems to be no one, except-" she turned to you all, and then laying her eyes on Sora, "what about you, can you do it?"
"HUH?" Sora answered. He looked at you guys, but you all could only give confused face, "Uh, I guess, but-"
"Great! Come on!" the lion answered. Sora gave you guys a confident look, ordering you guys to follow. "Oh, by the way, the name's Nala," the female lion said.
"Sora," Sora answered, "and this is Donald, Goofy, and Aseles."
"Nice to meet you all," Nala answered, giving a smile showing her sharp teeth.

*Smiles back*
*nods*
*is bored to death of the quizzes* (*jumps up and down of joy*)
As you all continued to walk through the dry Savannah, you got close to Sora, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Doing what?" Sora gave a confused face.
"You know you can't be king," you said, Goofy and Donald coming closer into the huddle.
"I know, but it would be awesome just to be king for just a minute."
"That doesn't mean you should."
"We'll just help, that's all."
"But we can't stay; you can't stay."
"We'll just...stick along, just to help them and see what happens."
"Is...everything okay?" You looked to see Nala with her head turned to you all. You all froze, but spoke, "YEAH! OH YEAH! EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT!"
Nala gave a smile and continued as you all followed behind, the smiles dying down. Sora knew he couldn't be king once he overthrew the king right now. He had to go to other worlds, ridding them of darkness.
"So, when do we see the king?" Sora asked.
"Not yet, we have to see Rafiki."
"Rafi what?" you, Donald, and Goofy asked.
"Rafiki, he'll say whether Sora is good to be king and overthrow Scar," she answered.
"Scar?" Goofy asked.
Nala stopped and faced all of you, "You're not from here are you?"
"Well," Sora started, but was cut off by Donald, "Just dropping by."
"Oh, I see, but let's check if it's worth a shot," Nala continued. As you all got closer through the Savannah, you all came upon a huge looking "L' rock. That must be where the king is.

"Here, quickly! We can't let Scar see us yet!" Nala whispered. You all hurried as she said and went past the rock.
You all panted, seeing a huge, green leafed tree in front of you all. "Hurry, in here!" Nala whispered. You all went in the trunk as she looked around, then following you behind. Finally at the end of the blackness, you 4 all awed at the scenery. There were painted pictures on the hard wood wall. Necklaces made out of shells and leaves hanged from the branches with the gushing wind pushing them slightly. Everything was lighted, showing every shade and figure in the tree. Suddenly you all saw a blue monkey swinging and landing in front of you.


What's his problem?
Weird...
Stupid monkey!
You all stood there, confused and surprised.
"This is Rafiki," Nala introduced. Rafiki and Nala then huddled away from you four, whispering something.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Goofy whispered.
"Of why we're here I suppose," Donald whispered back.
"You think you can really pull it off?" you whispered to Sora.
He looked at you, "It's worth a shot of guess."
You all then shushed as Rafiki walked toward you all. He stopped in front of Sora, looking at him carefully. You, Donald, and Goofy gave glances as Sora stood there, looking back at Rafiki. The monkey then went back to Nala, shaking his head.
Nala then went toward you 4, "It looks like he can't be king."
You all looked at each other, Sora nodding, "Isn't there anyone else to be king?"
Nala sighed, "There was. He was brave, confident, and fun when we were just lion cubs. But he died with his father a couple of years ago. How much I miss Simba..."
"SIMBA?!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy asked.
"Simba?" you asked.
"Simba's okay, what are you talking about?" Sora stated, talking to Nala. Rafiki got closer, wanting to hear the conversation.
"You know him?" Nala asked happily.
"Of course!" Donald said.
"He helped us a while ago; he's alright," Goofy answered.
"But where could he be?" Nala asked.
"We'll look for him, he has to be here somewhere, right?" you said.
"Yeah!" Sora agreed.
"Okay, fine. Please get Simba, quickly!" Nala said, Rafiki nodding. You all 4 then went outside of the tree. You all walked through the Savannah, but you stopped in your tracks.
"Hey, if Simba's here, then where do we go?" you asked, shaking dirt off of your paw.
"We know he's not where we were, so we don't head that way," Sora answered.
"Hey, wait up!" you all turned to see Nala coming behind.
"Nala, what are you doing here?" Donald asked.
"To help of course!" Nala said, leading the way. You all followed. You all suddenly came upon a ridge, a huge part of the ground cut off.
"How do we cross here?" Goofy asked, looking below.
"We jump," Nala then walked back, her chin on the floor with the rest of her body up. She then ran, throwing herself across the edge. You all looked to see her on the other side.
"Whoa," you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy whispered.
"What?!" Nala yelled back.
"Uh, nothing!" Sora yelled back, "But doesn't it seem a little dangerous?!"
You all stood there, Nala whispering something.
"What!?" you 4 yelled back.
"Just...try your best!" You all nodded.
"Hey Donald, why don't you take Goofy?" Sora asked. Donald nodded and grabbed Goofy by his shell, flying in the air. You and Sora looked at Donald barely make it to the other side, almost falling into blackness before Nala could reach for them. "Okay, your turn," Sora said.
"Why don't you go your highness?" you asked.
"Because I want you to go over there first, to make sure of your safety," Sora argued back.
"Well maybe I don't need any safety so I suggest you go," you said back. Both of your eyes narrowed.
"No, I want you to go."
"I want you to go."
"No, you!"
"No, you go!"
"Just cross over!" Donald yelled back.
You and Sora looked at him. You both gave glances and walked back like Nala did, positioning yourselves. You both then ran, kicking dirt behind. You both leaped right off the edge. You both landed in front of the others, still looking at each other with hard glances.
"We have to keep moving," Nala said, leading the way, walking around you two. Donald and Goofy then went in front of you both as you and Sora still stared at each other. You were tired of his safety and special treatment. You both started to walk as you both looked away. You then thought about what Riku told you: "...Don't take it too hard on him..."
Yeah right!

Since when does Sora tell me what to do?!
*sighs* Calm down...
Stupid Sora! (Just shut up!)

Having the conversation with Riku was...interesting I suggest, and finding a new world with a whole different look is very strange, but it seems Sora is trying to be a little overprotective. Men!
NOpic

Talking with Riku helped alot, but it looks like you can't take it easy on Sora because he won't do the same. Having protection won't stop you from liking Sora much, but is that what you really want?