A/N: I'm back after much hiatus. I had to put all stories aside due to school work and spending some quality time with the Nintendo Wii. (which I got more than a month ago.) Anyways, thanks for the being patient and hopefully I can expedite my chapters now since I have free time on my hands. This chapter will be a short one because I want to take the time to make the next one really enjoyable, and have some fun with it. Also, a big battle will come up so I wanted to save room for that. As always, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter X: The Meeting

About ten minutes have passed since the foursome were reunited with the king of the Disney kingdom. During that time, Sora and the others went onto explaining how they arrived at the valley. They described every detail of their journey so far; from their arrival in the Mysterious Beyond to Littlefoot and his friends giving them the grand tour of the valley. The king explained that Merlin the Wizard gave him a magical bean that allowed him to transform into his dinosaur form upon consuming it. Of course, the king had to eat the pill after arrival due to the significant change in his body. It wasn't exactly easy to drive the gummi ship with those long nails. On the way, the king stopped to get a bite to eat. Keeping his word, he in no way, shape or form ate his friends. He did, however, find some bugs hidden well underneath a rock.

The king picked up the rock with his humanoid claws and turned it over. He then slowly titled the rock up and allowed the creepy crawlies on it to slowly slide down his throat. He could feel the bugs' scrawny little feet wiggled frantically, tickling his throat as they made their way down. Sora's group could only wince in disgust. How could the king eat these things? Then again, they should be grateful that the king is eating them because while they knew the king would never harm his friends, they were worried his instincts might try and get the best of him. Based on what happened early, they were still being a bit vigilant towards the king, but they knew in the long run the king would not lay a hand on them. After the king's quick bite to eat, the five continued to the secret area.

Finally, after about two more minutes of walking, the gang reached their destination. The secret area was located on a large hill. At the top there were tall gray stones that circled the edge of the hill. On the inside was a hard stone surface with a tan color. Some of the stones that made the circle were shaped like squares, or some had pointy edges to them. As Sora looked out over the stones, he could see almost all of the valley from here. He could get a clear view of the full moon, which illuminated over the area. It was truly a magnificent sight to see from this magnitude. Sora laid on his stomach with his long neck in a straight up position. To the left of him was Goofy, who also laid on his stomach, while he kept his head up. To Goofy's left was Jiminy, who sat in a crisscrossed position like an Indian. To Sora's right was Donald, who stood up, with his wings behind his back. In front of them, the king walked towards the center of the area.

Not a word was exchanged between the five friends for the first few minutes. The gang took a good look at their surrounding. While this place was high up, it was still possible for them to be noticed. The flying dinosaur could easily see them or an Apatosaurus could extend its neck high enough to glance at the area where they were, "hiding out." The four began to question the king's choice. Finally, Goofy spoke up, but he said it out loud. This startled everyone.

"With all due respect, your majesty!" Goofy shouted abruptly. "Are you sure this is a good meeting spot for us?" Everyone turned to him and shushed him. Upon realizing he spoke loudly, he put his paws on his mouth. "Ooh."

Donald snapped softly, "Keep it down! Do you want the whole world to find us up here?"

"Sorry." Goofy shrilled faintly.

"Well, this is the best hiding place I could find," the king responded. "Besides, we shall only meet during the night, so I doubt anyone will be awake to see us."

Sora nodded in agreement, "Good point."

The king then cleared his throat.

"Anyways, let's get down to business," the king began. "Now, as you know, we're here in order to locate this giant power source, which we believe is Kingdom Hearts. Using the heart radar, your mission is to locate the power source, and make it so that the Organization doesn't get their hands on the door. I can already confirm to you that it is not here in the valley."

The four looked at each other in confusion. Kingdom Hearts was not here in the valley? They thought the valley was the perfect candidate. How did the king know it wasn't here?

"How are you sure it's not here?" Sora questioned the king, with an indication of a raised eyebrow.

"I already took the liberty of checking over this area about a few months back," the king explained. "I searched high and low using the heart radar, and it wasn't anywhere in sight. We can officially rule out that Kingdom Hearts is here in this valley."

"So, I guess we have some ground to cover, huh?" Sora sighed in realization as he slowly rotated his paw across the floor sadly.

"Yeah, but this is going to be very tedious because the heart radar is a prototype," Donald moaned as he put his head down and shook it. "It's will take us forever."

"Don't worry, Donald," the king said. "I have good news. The professor is currently working around the clock to finish the final version. According to his calculations you should expect the final version in about two days from now."

"Oh, yeah?" Donald squawked excitedly. "Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh boy! He may be a pain the rear, but he's still a great uncle."

"Oh, by the way Donald," the kind said, remembering something. "Your uncle wanted to tell you something."

"Huh?" Donald said with a curious look. "What did he say?"

"He said he went ahead and borrowed your bottle cap collection, so that he could use it in his newest experiment." the king explained.

At that moment, Donald's blood began to boil from hearing that. The fact that his uncle not only violated his personal property, but 'borrowed' his prized bottle cap collection caused his face to turn bright red. His cheeks inflated like a balloon, ready to explode in anger. He was about to squawk in rage when the king dashed over and placed his giant claws over Donald's beak. Donald's body began jerking around all over the place, with his squawks muffled from the king holding his beak down.

"Donald, keep it down," the king hushed him. "You don't want us to get caught, do ya?"

Sora just looked at Donald in disbelief. Bottle cap collection? He was the king's royal wizard, and he had a bottle cap collection? He waited a few minutes to ask Donald as the wizard finally managed to calm down.

"Take a deep breath," the king said gently. "Don't worry, Donald. It's just a bottle cap collection."

Donald just scoffed upon hearing that, "Just a bottle cap collection? Just a bottle cap collection!? I've had that collection since I first became a wizard!"

"Donald?" Sora said bewildered. "Since when did you collect bottle caps?"

Donald veered his head towards Sora, "Hey, a Wizard needs a hobby, ya know?"

"Yeah," Goody guffawed in agreement. He then leaned over to Sora's ear and whispered, "I collect food stamps in my spare time."

"Listen, fellas," the king intervened strictly. "We have much more important things to worry about then collections."

Everyone turned their heads back to the King as he continued to lecture about their mission.

"Anyways, now that we got that settled, it's best that we wait two days before we begin covering any ground," the king continued. "It would be fruitless to use the current heart radar now that we know a final version will be made. This one can pick up hearts from any distance, plus it can show up to a thousands and thousands of hearts. Most dinosaurs stay together in groups, and usually the maximum amount of dinosaurs that stick together can get up to a hundred. The heart of all worlds has am almost seemingly endless amount of hearts in one area. If the radar picks up over a thousand hearts in one area, chances are it may be there."

"Alright," Sora said. "Sounds a lot more easier than using this beta version."

Donald flew onto Goofy's back and laid down on it. He then crossed his legs and rested his head on his wings.

"Ah," Donald sighed in relief. "That means we can leave this dino infested time period in no time."

"But be warned," the king advised him. "There are many dangers out there, which include the nobodies, so you need to proceed with caution."

"Don't worry, your majesty," Sora assured the king with his famous smile. "We can handle anything that comes at us."

The King just smiled. He already knew he could put one hundred percent trust in the trio. Donald and Goofy have served him as far back as he could remember, and they have always been loyal to him. While he has not known Sora for a long time, he could see a trusting look in Sora's blue eyes. From witnessing the many bout's he's gotten into, the King knew that Sora was a very brave young man with a strong will to never give up. It put his heart at ease to know that these three would not let the universe down.

"I knew you'd say that, Sora," the king chuckled. "Those were the kinda words I was expecting to hear. I now know without a doubt that the keyblade chose the right person."

Sora blushed from the king's complement, and chuckled.

"Thank you, your majesty," Sora said as he bowed his head. "I promise I won't let you down." He then glanced over at his friends. "Right, guys?"

Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all nodded in agreement with Sora. The king just smiled.

"Aw, thanks, fellas," the king said wholeheartedly. "I just know we're gonna send Organization XIII back to where they came from." He then walked over to them. "Okay, guys. While the professor is busy in creating the final version, for the next two days you are to remain here in the valley."

"Huh?" the trio clamored in unison.

"Your majesty?" Jiminy chimed as he leaped up. "Do you realize what you're saying? What if the Organization finds the door before us?"

"There's no need to worry about that," the king stated with a confident smile. "You see, even if they find the door to darkness, they're still missing an essential element to opening the door."

"Gawrsh," said Goofy with a perplexed look. "What element do they need?"

The four thought about that for a moment. What was needed in order to open the door to darkness? They knew it was something, but the question was, what? They continued to mull over it for a few moments until it finally clicked in their minds like a switch. Their eyes widened in realization as they finally understood what or rather who the king was referring to.

"The Princesses of Heart!" Donald cried out.

"Exactly!" the king confirmed. "The door of darkness can only be opened by the seven princesses which I believe were Jasmine, Alice, Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White, Belle..."

"...and Kairi," Sora finished sadly. He then gasped in surprise. "Wait a minute! You don't suppose that's why Kairi was kidnaped, do you?"

The king shrugged, "It could be, but even with Kairi in Organization XIII's clutches their efforts are still in vain. They can't use the princesses of heart from the future. It would cause a time imbalance that could ultimately cease all existence as we know it."

Donald and Goofy gulped simultaneously upon hearing that. That would not be a good thing to be nonexistent, they thought. Just living in a void of emptiness with nowhere to go would be pretty frightening.

"I think the Organization knows this," the king said. "They do wanna mess up the past, but they're wise enough to acknowledge that messing up the past has it's limitations."

"Good thing," Sora said as he stood up. "So, there are princesses in this time, huh?"

"Uh-huh," the king confirmed. "But remember, Sora, our goal is to get to the door of darkness, not open it. So we don't have to worry about finding any princesses. Besides, with the heart radar in our clutches, we have the advantage over them. It won't be easy for them to find the door without it."

"But, uh, say they do find it," Goofy said theoretically. "Do you think they'll be able to track down the seven princesses of the past?"

The king shook his head, "I doubt it. They don't know how to track the princesses of heart down. They only know who the princesses of our time are because their identities were revealed after they unlocked the door to darkness. I believe one of the members was spying on Hallow Bastion during that whole ordeal a year ago."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy eyed each other with a look of distraught in their eyes. They knew what the king said was indubitable. A year ago before their first adventure ended, they encountered one of the members of Organization XIII at Hallow Bastion. This person appeared ambiguous to them. He constantly spoke in riddles that baffled the trio, and when he fought against them, he proved to be Sora's toughest adversary. This person was so powerful that he made Ansem look like a feeble ant. By the end of the fight, Sora's body went numb from putting so much effort into fighting this person, but to his surprise it barely dented the mysterious man. To this day, Sora still got goose bumps whenever he thinks of that person. He spoke in a very dark and eerie voice that sent chills down the boy's spine. Just thinking about it right now made him feel agitated.

"So we should be fortunate that they don't know how to track them down," the king continued. "No one really can detect a princesses of heart...well, almost nobody."

"Almost nobody?" Jiminy inquired.

The king turned away from the group and sighed softly.

"There is one person I know that has the innate ability to sense a princess' presents," the king responded. "And that is the mistress of all evil herself."

The group knew instantly who the king was talking about. Sora narrowed his eyes angrily and clenched his teeth.

"Maleficent." Sora said bitterly.

"Of course!" Donald squawked out loud. "How do you think the princesses were found in the first place?"

"Well, the man that you fellas defeated was the one who discovered the seven princesses in his studies," the king said. "But it wasn't until later that he discovered that Maleficent had the ability to sense out where each one was and identify them. That's the only thing that worries me. I heard that Maleficent somehow survived the battle against you fellas, and to make matters worse she has teamed up with my old rival Pete. She may be the only thing that could potentially stand in our way."

The group grimly nodded in agreement, knowing that Maleficent would go after the door of darkness as well. Since she knew how to find the princesses of heart, she could effortlessly track them down and gather them to the door. What made the group even more on edge was due to how tricky and manipulative the organization could be. They could follow her every movement, and just when she is about to open the door, the nobodies would ambush her . Sora knew that Maleficent would be a problem if they had not counted on one thing...she did not know where they were. She had no prior knowledge that they were back in time...or so Sora thought.

Sora made a wise guy grin, "That would be true, but Maleficent doesn't even know where we are, does she?"

Everyone turned to Sora with startled looks. He was right, they thought. Currently, everyone assumed that Maleficent was too busy building an army of heartless to take over the future, so she was not focusing on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Instead, she had Pete handle that job, but since Pete was not the brightest of people, he would become most confused as to the whereabouts of the five friends. That means that both Pete and Maleficent had no idea where the trio were. Donald smiled exuberantly upon realizing that.

"Yeah, you're right, kid," Donald said. "They don't know where we are, let alone know how we got to the past."

"Which means we don't have to worry about Maleficent or the heartless standing as an obstacle in our path," Goofy said. "We can just worry about the nobodies now."

The king nodded, "You're right, fellas. Hopefully they won't be able to find us back in time. However, in case you start to notice any heartless running amuck please let me know of this at the next meeting."

Sora nodded with a serious look in his eyes, "Understood, sir."

All of a sudden, the king let out a big yawn right in front of everyone. The group could see the king's big sharp teeth being displayed. Donald was thankful that he was not in between those deadly teeth right about now. The king then ceased the yawning, and shook his head. He had grown tired from the long day. It was time he turned in for the night, too.

"Well, I think we can end the meeting for tonight," the king announced. "From now on we are to meet here at this very spot. I strongly recommend you come after dark, when all of the other dinosaurs turn in. We will meet to check each other's progress in the search for the door to darkness. If there is any other issues that need to be addressed; say for example the heartless do come to the past, or you see a member of Organization XIII hanging around, please don't hesitant to let me know about it."

The four friends nodded as they complied to the king's terms.

"So, if we don't need to leave the valley and we don't have to search for anything there, then what the heck are we supposed to do for two whole days?" Donald asked.

"Personally, I think this is the perfect opportunity for you fellas to get better acquainted with your new surroundings," the king said. "Take in the sights, learn about how the dinosaur act. We can already tell that tend to talk differently from us."

Jiminy remembered the encounter they had with Rooter earlier, and the way he spoke to them. The king definitely hit the nail on the head with that statement. Goofy was personally excited; he wanted to interact with the other dinosaurs and make some new friends. Sora was also very happy to hear the king say that. The key bearer already knew what he was planning to do with his free time in the valley. Donald didn't really care at all. The only thing that concerned him was Topsy. After the whole ordeal with Topsy yelling at him earlier, he was hoping to god that he didn't run into him again. His ears were still ringing from that vociferous voice roaring in his ear.

Jiminy nodded to the King, "Yup. They sure do talk differently from us, but I don't think it will be too hard to learn the way they talk."

"Then I'll see you fellas tomorrow night," the king said. He then let out a yawn again. "Now I'm really getting tired. Must've been those bugs I hate."

Sora felt his stomach churn slightly in disgust. He still couldn't get that image of the king eating bugs out of his head, and he had a feeling that thought wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. The four stood up and approached the king to say their good-byes to him.

"Well, good-night, your majesty," Donald said as he saluted the king with his right wing. "I promise that I won't let you down. I'll be able to complete this mission with predictable perfection."

Everyone else just rolled their eyes at the royal wizard. He was such a suck up towards the king sometimes, but they knew Donald was only doing what he could to keep the king happy. Sora just grinned.

"Most likely you'll get stepped on again with predictable perfection before you can even complete the mission." Sora said as he bantered Donald with a smile.

Donald sniffed indignantly, "Very funny."

Everyone just lightly chuckled at Sora's comment before Sora said that he was joking around with him. The gang then said their good-byes to the king, and the benevolent ruler of the Disney Kingdom took his leave. He turned away from the four and leaped onto a rock. He then leaped off of the rock and slid down the hill until he reached the bottom. The gang ran over to the rock he leaped on, and they all looked over it. Jiminy ran up Sora's tail, and went all the way to the top of his head to get a better view. Donald flew onto the rock and looked out. They could see the king waving to them one last time before he turned around to leave. As he ran off on four paws, the gang noticed that his face was lighting up. They then noticed his keyblade materializing in his mouth until it fully appeared. The king used his keyblade as a guide to help him penetrate through the blackness of night, so that he could see where he was going. He also kept it out as a sense of security; if anything tried to attack him, then he would be prepared to strike. A worried glare appeared in Sora's eyes as he watched the king's entity fade into the dark forest.

"I hope he'll be okay," Sora sighed deeply.

Goofy gave Sora a friendly nudge.

"Aw, don't worry yourself sick over it, Sora," Goofy said optimistically. "The king is more than capable of taking care of himself. Trust me, he's faced a lot worse than any of them big old T-rexs. Plus, if he's in trouble we got his back."

Sora smiled in reassurance, "Yeah, you're right. I've seen the king in action before, and I gotta say he can kick some serious butt!"

"Yeah, so it's all good," Donald said as looked up at Sora. "Let the king deal with his own problems, and let's focus on us." He then yawned. "Well, maybe we can do that tomorrow because right now I'm pooped."

"Me too," Jiminy agreed. "I've had enough excitement for one night."

"Then let's go hit the hay." Sora announced with a smile.

"And then tomorrow we can go and mingle with the other dinosaurs," Goofy said. He then did his famous laugh. "Ahyuk, uh, hu, hu, hu, hu, hu!"

The four started to make their way down the hill to return to their resting area. They had to make sure they proceeded with caution, so that they would not disturb any of the dinosaurs, and it wouldn't cause any suspicion. There were not many exchanges between the four friends as they returned to their spot. They were too tired to form words in their mouths at the moment. The only thing they could think about was being able to drift off into a peaceful slumber. Sora was also thinking about his plans for tomorrow. Already his heart was beating with excitement, as he knew he was going to be able to fulfill his promise to Littlefoot, and play with him. He hasn't felt this excited since he used to go to the islands to play with Riku and Kairi. He felt it may gave him a nostalgic feel of being able to play with friends, albeit no one can replace the fun things he used to do with Riku and Kairi. They would race across the island, swim in the very salty, but crisp water. They would also play blitzball, which was a popular sport on their island, and they would also make small talk with one another. Ah, those were the good old days, he thought to himself sentimentally.

As the gang continued north towards the forest, Jiminy felt an eerie chill enter his spine suddenly. He felt like someone or something was watching his every moment. He stopped dead in his tracks as he felt his stomach harden like a rock in nervousness. There was something there, he thought. But what could it be? He looked over his shoulder to only notice the forest behind him. He stopped for the moment, shifting his entire body around so that he could fully face the forest. Everything appeared to be stable; no footsteps could be heard or the grass was not rustling. Jiminy let out a gentle sigh; he was probably becoming overwhelmed from everything that has ensued.

"Jiminy!" Sora called to him. "You coming?"

Jiminy veered his head towards Sora with a smile, "Yes, I'm coming. Just taking a sec to look over my journal."

"Well, hurry up!" Donald said impatiently. "I wanna get some shut eye!"

Jiminy shrugged off his suspicion of something stalking them. It was probably all in my head, he thought. He then scurried off towards the others, who were waiting patiently for them, except for Donald. The four headed home for a good nights rest, speculating to themselves of the day that lied ahead of them. Little did Jiminy realize, however, was that he was in fact right about something watching them. Deep in the forest, a pair of yellow eyes could be seen, stalking its pray as if it was about to strike, and consume its flesh with its vicious claws.

A/N: Let me reiterate: I decided to cut this chapter in half because I have a whole lot of ideas I want to express for the next chapter; including an important battle. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon because I tend to finish it. One thing I decided to do for this story is to include allusions or references to the other Land Before Time movies. I wanna see if you can find them. It can be either a line spoken or a position the character are in. I will indicate when a reference is made. Here is a hint for this chapter: Note the position of Sora's group and location during the chapter. Which movie of the LBT series have you seen this in? One more thing: I also created a Time Before Twilight forum to keep you updated on what's going on with the story. I will finish this story! I promise that I won't abandon it! You have my word! I hope you enjoyed this short chapter to tie you over until the next big chapter.