nightelf37: I know I said I promised to put in Aerith's chapter next, but I decided to do this one instead.
Rael: It's about one of the summons I had. And this may follow Mrfipp's "Give Me Strength" fanfic. In fact, it will. Sorry, Mrfipp.
Escape From The Heartless: Case of Baloo
(The Jungle Book)
Deep in the Jungles of India…
Somehwere, someone was singing to himself.
"Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the bare necessities of life. Yeah, man!"
It was a grey bear with a carefree atttude. Baloo was doing his thing; singing to himself, picking food as he went. Just then, he heard a rustle in the bushes. Baloo smiled to himself and said, "Aw, come on, Bagheera. I know you're there. I promise not to go to the man-village to get Mowgli back. At least not today." The rustling continued. "You're really getting into my nerves now, Baghee."
In an instant, Baloo turned around and opened the bush where he thought his panther friend was. But instead, there was a large black ant-like cretature.
"Why hello there, little fella."
Instead of returning the greeting, the black ant lunged at the bear, who slapped him to a tree in return. He turned to run but before he could do that, he was stopped by many creatures, which appeared in many shapes and sizes; ants, rhinos, birds, and monkeys. But they all had yellow eyes and red and black hearts on their chest. They launched at him and he mauled them down. Unable to run, he stood his ground. Then thousands of creatures surrounded and attacked him. After several moments, he was overwhelmed.
And a star went out.
Baloo remained unconscious in a black void for who knows how long. He was finally let out when he heard a voice.
"Bibbity Bobbity Boo!" Then there was a giant flash. Baloo now ended up in a cottage, somewhat like the ones the man-village had but somewhat different. He turned around to see three boys (1), whose clothes were not like the one the men in the man-village wore.
"Uhh…hello.", I said.
"Hi.", the bear replied, and I understood. After we introduced ourselves, Baloo asked where he was.
"You're in Traverse Town.", Yoris explained.
"A man-village?"
"Well, you can say that."
"What about my home?"
Rather than answer, Gregorio asked, "What was the last thing you saw before you came here?"
"The last thing I saw were black creatures that emerged from the ground."
"Heartless.", Gregorio muttered, lowering his head and shaking it.
"Heartless? What are those? Why am I here? I have to get back! My friends there—"
"No longer." I said.
"What?"
"The Heartless you saw, they took your world. There's nothing left of it. Your friends, they're gone. I'm sorry."
I looked at the bear's face and saw that his mind was in turmoil. What I didn't anticipate was that he shoved me to the wall, and ran outside, crying like he never cried before.
"That was the first time I saw a bear cry.", Yoris said as the bear ran down the alley and stopped just at the point where it met the street and slumped to the ground and sat there. (2) Gregorio ran to him and said, "We can help get your home back."
"You gotta be kidding me.", the bear said, remaining where he was.
"No, we mean it.", I cut in. "You see, a friend of ours named Sora is also trying to get his home back and if he manages to do that, your home will also return, along with everything and everyone in there, including you."
"Don't tell me you're just trying to cheer me up." Apparently, Baloo wasn't convinced.
"We're serious here! Just join us and help."
"Okay.", the bear answered, and got up with new resolve. "I'm in!"
First time…
Baloo entered the scene next to me. In front were Jafar, and the teleporter Bing. Sora and Co. were also in the scene as the Keybearer gasped, "You can summon too?"
"Thought you were the only one who could?", I answered.
Just then, Bing warped right behind me, but Baloo saw him in time and backhanded him with his paw, sending him to a wall. (3) Aggravated, Bing charged straight and I intercepted the attack wih my shield. Unwilling to let up, he pushed on. In fact, he was so focused on trying to cut me down that he didn't notice the bear come up right behind him, who grabbed him and flung him to the air. Yoris shot a firreball (which was all he could to at that time.) to prevent Bing from recovering. When the Wutai Associate was about to land on the ground, Baloo grabbed him and roared right in his face, further lessening his focus. Just then, the bear twinkled a bit, signaling that his time was up.
"Don't worry, Baloo.", I said to him. I'll finish him."
The bear smiled and he was gone.
Last time…
Baloo was now with me upon a ship called the World of Chaos. Sora was beside me and had summoned Simba. We all looked below us and saw countless Artillery. (4) Together, the four of us went down and fought the guns, but they kept coming. Then as one, under our command, both lion and bear roared like never before. The shock wave obliterated the Heartless and both then disappeared.
Baloo rested in the void he stayed in until summoned. Then, there was a bright light. Baloo opened his eyes. He was back in the jungle he's familiar with (5).
"What are you doing here, Baloo?", a familiar voice said from behind him.
Smiling, the bear hugged that familiar friend. It was none other than the panther, Bagheera.
"Hey!", the panther gasped in surprise. "What's with you, Baloo? You look like you haven't seen me in days!"
"It's because I haven't!", Baloo replied in tears, then he regained his composure. "By the way, how many days has it been since Mowgli fell for that girl?"
"One week. Why'd you ask?"
Rather than answer, Baloo muttered to himself. "That's not right. The Heartless attacked here exactly at that time."
"Baloo?"
The bear turned to his friend, grabbed him with his arm and rubbed his head, with his usual carefree look.
"It's good to be back! I'm headed to the ruins today."
"Old King Louie's place?"
"The very same."
Letting him go, he danced off, singing "The Bare Necessities".
"Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities"
Bagheera cut in, joining in the song, "Forget about your worries and your strife"
Smiling, they sang together, they continued,
"I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life."
"Yeah, man!", Bagheera finished.
(1) One of them was me.
(2) Isn't it obvious that I 'relocated' Merlin's house?
(3) Jafar (with Genie) was dealing with Sora.
(4) As a rule (I made up), summons do not interact with one another, only with their "Summoner".
(5) I once summoned him in the "Deep Jungle" in the "World Terminus" part of End of the World.
One plot hole filled, a few more to go.