Yami's POV

I heard Piri's voice singing a song. She sounded like she was sad but when I took a peek, she was trying to get Sora to sleep. The bluette was stroking his hair and he was out like a light. She was acting like a mother would her child. I sweetly smiled at this. Until I remembered what I did in the past... Even now! Was it to late too get out of... well, even the future- the fate- of his wrath? I saw the future and I can't change it... I'll leave it at that.

I watched them protectively and finally decided to check out the engine room. I looked around and stuck my hands in my black jeans' pockets. I suddenly suddenly heard a corridor open. That darkness was indeed familiar. I sighed as I recognized it.

"What do you want, Xigbar?" I growled.

"I was just coming to see you! You're doing a good job at keeping the kids under control, just for our plan..." He said in a singy song voice.

"Tell Xehanort to get another spy! I'm done!"

"What do you mean?" I turned around and glared at him.

"I can't remember the last time I was happy, seeing both Sora and Piri taking care of each other like brother and sister. I'm happy that..."

"Excuse me? Since when have you grown a conscience and a heart?" He walked closer to me and I felt nervous. "You say you are a shadow mage. You know that is?"

"O-of course I do! But-"

"They have a scary personality and don't care about others because they don't have a heart. In other words, a Darkside aka you."

"Well, then! If that's the case then I'm not one of them! I would rather die than even think about hurting them!" I turned back around.

"Aw, how sweet!" He darkly chuckled. "See, you knows what's going to happen after this journey? You and your little friends will belong to us and the power of the balanced heart will be ours... And it will be your fault you've failed."

I gasped. I knew this but they were after Piri! That's Why I was looking for the Guardian of Kingdom Hearts, to protect the counterpart of the holy place- her. Etro knows what would happen if I were to fail.

Xigbar laughed, "Don't worry will take good care of her one we get her... just wait..." He left quicker than he arrived. Tears fell down my face when I was thinking 'What's if I did fail?'

"Guys, we're almost to the next world guys! Get ready for landing!" I heard Donald say over the intercom system of the Gummi Ship. I sighed and ran towards the main control room.

~

My POV

I opened my eyes and realized that Yami and I was away from Sora and the others. I also noticed she was a black Lion with red eyes.

"What?" She asked, clueless why I was staring.

"You are a lion cub!" I said.

"Well, so are you!" What? I ran towards a puddle and looked down. The puddle showed I had become a lioness. My mane was blue side swipe bangs. My eyes were slightly lighter and my sclera were silver just like my fur. The tuft of hair on my tail was ice blue. My purple wayfinder, as well as my heart locket Aqua gave me,  hung from my neck. My bracelets were still there as well.

"You look amazing, Sis!"

"I'm not your sister!" I growled at her, "You will never be my sister!"

She huffed, "I'm sorry I care about you even then!"

I rolled my eyes, 'Sure you care for me...' I looked around and saw large rock formations and the skeletal remains of what looked like mammoths and elephants. Where was this place? My ears perked up and I heard something a little ways away. I as we started running, I felt myself moving even faster than usual. As we came close to the place I heard the noise from, 3 hyenas ran passed me. I hurried to the area and saw Sora, Donald and Goofy. Except, they looked different.

Sora was now a lion cub. His fur was predominantly an ashy shade of brown, though his toes, belly, and the fur around his mouth were very light grey. His mane was shaped like his normal hairstyle, and was the same light brown color. There was a tuft of light brown fur on the tip of his tail, and he has three whiskers on either side of his nose. His eyes were bright blue and his sclera were yellow. His silver crown necklace still hung from his neck.

Donald was now a tropical bird. The only clothing he had was a blue hat on his head. His webbed feet were converted into common bird's talons, which allowed him to hold his staff. His plumage was predominantly white, but the tips of his wings and tail feathers were blue. He had three tail feathers that curl deeply at the tips.

Goofy was now a tortoise. His skin was the same black color as his fur and his limbs were transformed into stocky legs, each with three toes and blunt, light grey nails. The underside of his shell was pale green, while the top side of his shell was yellow with white highlights. Goofy wore a light green hat on his head.

"Guys!" I called. They looked over at me and seemed shocked.

"Whoa..." Sora said.

"What?" I asked.

"Check yourselves out!" Sora said.

"Yeah, I was shocked too. You look soooo cute as a lion, Sora!" I said and Yami looked closer at them by circling them. After getting use to our new form change, we went looking around for any clue as to where we were. That's when we saw another lioness being attacked by Heartless.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Sora asked.

"Heartless!?" Donald asked.

"What do we do?" Goofy asked.

"What we always do; get rid of them!" I exclaimed. I dashed toward the Heartless and my Keyblade appeared with me having to hold it in my mouth by the handle. This was kind of hard. Having to adapt to a new form is one thing, but fighting in a new form is a completely different story. Plus, these Heartless were tough. However, we managed to get rid of them.

"Definitely Heartless." Sora said.

"Thank you. You really saved me." the lioness said.

"It was no problem. That's what we do. I'm Piri. These are my friends, Yami, Sora, Donald and Goofy." I said.

"My name is Nala." the lioness said.

"We're glad you're okay." Goofy said.

"Did you see any other Heartless around here?" Sora asked. Nala looked puzzled.

"Heartless? Is that what there called? I'm sure if there are any others... I don't usually hunt outside of the Pride Lands." Nala said.

"Pride Lands?" Donald asked.

"Hey, do you know if a guy named Riku is there? Or some bad guys in black hoods? Or maybe this really big bully named Pete?" Sora asked. She shook her head 'no'.

"Why are you hunting so far from the Pride Lands?" Yami asked.

"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." Nala said. We needed to help her and the pride. Something told me that this Scar's heart was clouded in darkness.

"We can handle a little danger. You just saw us beat those Heartless, didn't you?" Sora asked.

"I guess you're right... You could be just what the kingdom needs. Maybe you can help us." Nala said.

"Ya mean take on this Scar guy and all those hyenas?" Goofy asked.

"Scar?" Donald asked.

"He took over when our last king, Mufasa, died." Nala said.

"So, Scar is your king? You want us to overthrow your king?!" I asked. She nodded. The 5 of us gathered to discuss this.

"We can't just go around knocking kings off their thrones. Then again, if they see I'm stronger than their king, maybe they'll ask me to be their next king!" Sora said. If I could face-palm myself, I would.

"Sora, not that I'm saying you wouldn't make a great king, but if they did you'd never be able to leave here." I said.

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"Piri's right." Donald said.

"Kings have to stay where their needed." Yami said.

"I guess I wouldn't like never seeing the islands and everyone else ever again. But, I'd refuse anyway. Still, I'd like to see the Pride Lands, so you guys don't mind lending 'em a paw, do you?" Sora asked.

"Of course not. Besides, friends always helps friends." I said. Sora went back to talk to Nala.

"Uh-oh, there he goes again..." Donald said Yami looked at him.

"'Again'?" She asked.

"Yeah. Sora's a little... childish." I giggled.

Nala ran off in another direction once she and Sora were done talking.

"She's gonna go on ahead to tell the other lionesses. We're supposed to meet her at a place called Pride Rock." Sora said. After traveling across the dry and barren savannah, we came to Pride Rock. We walked up the path and saw several lionesses sleeping. With how the Pride Lands looked now, there wasn't much they could do besides that. We saw Nala coming toward us and she was accompanied by a baboon.

"That's him." Nala said. The baboon came up a little too close to Sora and stared at him.

"Uh... what?" Sora asked. He then looked at Goofy, then Donald and then Yami and me. The lionesses woke up and looked as if they were expecting good news. The baboon went back to Nala and whispered something. The lionesses went back to sleep.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I told 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. You see, whoever saves the Pride Lands will be our next king...and he has to have the right qualities." Nala said.

"Meaning..." Sora said.

"I think she means you're not cut out for the job, Sora." Goofy said. I could see Sora was disappointed.

"I'm sorry you had to come all this way. Nala said.

"Hey, no—it's okay." Sora said. Suddenly, she crouched down as if she was scared of something.

"You'd better go before Scar finds out you're here. I'm really sorry." Nala said. Just as we started to make our escape, about 15 hyenas surrounded us.

"Hey—a snack." one hyena said.

"Snack? Nah, we got us a 5-course meal." a second hyena said.

"Back off, bucko!" Yami growled, standing in front of us and really impressed me.

"Oh, a feisty one, aren't you?" A hyena laughed.

"That's okay, we like them like that..." another said and a loud roar cut through the air. We all turned our attention to Pride Rock.

"Look at that, her comes Scar—the king." the first hyena said. Next to Scar was Pete!

"What is Pete doing here?" Scar nimbly jumped down from Pride Rock while Pete plain fell down. How Maleficent dealt with him I have no idea. "Why are you here, Pete!?" I demanded.

"Aww, the cute li'l kitty cat is worried about me. If I were you, I'd be more worried about my friends!" Pete said. I looked to see the hyenas closing in on my friends. Yami was protectively standing by Sora, growling dangerously and looking around.

"Piri!" Donald yelled.

"We're surrounded!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Go on ladies—you've got some hunting to do." Scar said.

"The herds have moved on, Scar. We can't hunt in a land with no prey." Nala said.

"No prey? Then what do you call this?" Scar asked. What did he just call us?

"Excuse me!?" I growled loudly.

"We're not prey!" Sora snapped.

"Oh. Nice and fresh, too." Scar said.

"Well, they're all yours, Scar." Pete said and ran off.

Scar went to pounce on Sora.

"NOOOO!!" I roared and Nala tackled him to the ground. I ran to Sora's side.

"Sora, are you okay?" I sniffed his face to see if he was bleeding or anything.

He laughed a little, "I'm fine."

"Good."

"Run!" Nala yelled. The 5 of us dodged the hyenas and ran away from Pride Rock. We just managed to escape without getting caught. Nala followed us and lead us to a valley she said Scar wouldn't follow us in to. Scar was going to destroy this entire world if we didn't do something to stop him.