Okay!! We start two new loops this time around! ALL RIGHT!!!! Please enjoy!!
Chapter 7: Of Jungles and Deserts
On the Shera...
Suddenly Sora, Kairi, Goofy, Max, and Jacob collapsed out of the teleporter.
"Did you guys find Riku?" Leon asked as Jacob got off of Max, who got off of Goofy, who got off of Kairi, who got off of Sora. Sora didn't get up.
"Hey Sora, how do you feel?" Jacob asked.
"O.k., I suppose," Sora replied. "Maybe just a little flat."
"Did you find Riku?" Leon asked again, helping Sora to his feet.
"Nope. He wasn't down there," Goofy replied. "We looked everywhere! Even in the sewers and Merlin's old house."
"No where to be seen," Jacob said, rubbing his butt. "Tons of Heartless though."
"I didn't get knocked out this time, so I'm happy," Kairi put in sarcastically.
"Where do you think he went then?" Cid asked.
"I don't know," Sora replied. "But I do know one thing." He held up a post card. "I used this thing to open a new gate. We can go to another world now!"
"O.k., that's fairly big news," Cid said, putting a cigar into his mouth and lighting it.
"I wanna check it out," Sora said. "You never know what your going to find."
"Who knows, Riku might have known about it and gone there by a different route," Kairi added.
"Doubtful," Leon said. "He most likely found the tracking device and headed for Radiant Garden."
"I'll pull up a video chat with Disney Castle," Cid said, taping a few buttons. "This here could take a minute. Just hang tight."
"I'm gonna check in on Aeirth. I still haven't seen her," Sora said. Kairi and Goofy nodded.
"Alright, go ahead, it'll be ready when you get back," Cid muttered in reply, waving them off as he continued to tap buttons vigorously.
In the Medical Lab...
Merlin and Donald were trying every healing spell in the book (and some that weren't in the book), praying that something would help Aeirth. But nothing was working.
"What are we going to do?" Donald quacked, looking at the sleeping Aeirth. She was still sedated.
"I haven't the slightest idea," Merlin answered. He pointed to the bandages wrapped around Aeirth's face. "But whatever those black blobs on her skin are, they seem to be draining her life force."
"How long do you think she has?" Donald asked.
"I'd rather not think about that at the moment," Merlin replied, straitening his glasses. "All I know is that we can't allow her to expunge anymore of her energy. It's far too dangerous for her."
The doors opened and Sora, Kairi, and Goofy walked in.
"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Sora asked.
"We haven't a clue," Merlin said, gesturing to the bandages. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen before. Just a bit disturbing, actually..."
"What do you mean?" Kairi walked over to Aeirth's bed. She hadn't seen her since Traverse Town more than a year ago.
"She seems to have developed a strange decease... some sort of invader has turned parts of her skin black, and those patches are... Well, they seem to be absorbing her life force."
"Her life force?" Goofy asked worriedly.
"That's right Goofy!" Donald said. "We've gotta find a way to heal her before it's too late!"
"How long do you think she has?" Sora asked.
"I can't say for sure," Merlin replied. "But I know for a fact that she will still be with us for at least two months."
Cid's voice sounded over the loud speaker. "I've got the video chat up guys. Get your asses up here and talk!"
On the Mabrik, still trapped in the worm hole...
Ten minutes had passed. Riku had been right. P.J. and Yuffie were already out of it, and the artificial gravity had shut down, so they were floating helplessly through the air.
Riku was floating around too, but was still barely managing to stay awake.
They only had five minutes to live.
Riku was not having the best time of his life just floating around, alone with his thoughts. Especially with imminent death hurtling towards him.
He turned his head a little bit so that he could see the control panel. Only enough air for five minutes, and that was leaking out fast. It was more like two minutes.
Suddenly Riku's vision tunneled. His mind was hazy and he was having a hard time thinking about anything. He took an involuntary gulp of air. He tried to hold his breath the best he could. Too bad P.J. and Yuffie couldn't do the same.
Riku looked out the windshield. Nothing but the twisting green and blue colors of the worm hole. No... there was a little black now. Ah well, not like that made much of a difference.
Wait a sec... there was a lot of black. And some tan too.
"Oh, God," Riku thought. "Now I'm hallucinating."
There was no way he was hallucinating... it was all black... a little white here and there... and a big tan blob in the middle.
Wait a second...
Riku flipped over in the air, kicked off the wall and propelled himself to the control panel. He grabbed the joystick and forced the ship to streak towards the tan shaded world.
There was hardly any air left. They had made it out of the worm hole, but they still might not make it to this new world.
Riku heard a moan behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Yuffie was waking up. The noise of the engines must have stirred her.
"Mmmm... where am I?" she murmured.
"Not good," Riku thought. "I she talks too much she'll use up extra air."
"What time is it?"
Riku set the ship for auto pilot and jumped over to her. "Er... it's late... go back to sleep. Now."
"No... I'm not tired... but it's kinda hard to breath... what's going on?"
"Yuffie, sshhhhsh! We're low on air!"
"Fine, then I'll have breakfast in bed..."
Riku was at a loss. He quickly summoned his Keyblade into his hand and whopped Yuffie on the side of her head, knocking her out.
The ship jerked as it entered the atmosphere. Riku, Yuffie, and Max all fell to the ground. Hard.
The doors weren't open though. They needed to land and open the doors.
The Mabrik was flying over what looked like an endless desert. Riku couldn't see any settlements or water sources of any kind. Just great.
Riku ran over to the controls again and switched off the auto pilot. He checked the air meter. It wasn't leaking anymore, but they still only had five minutes. He checked the fuel gauge. Almost empty. He would have to find a settlement and land quickly, or else they would be stranded in the middle of an unforgiving desert.
Riku looked at the ship's radar. There seemed to be something big to the North. He turned the ship slightly to the left and cruised off.
In the World that Never Was...
"The device is ready, Maleficent!" Pete cried.
"Perfect!" the witch said as she sat down in a large seat. "Shall we commence the operation?"
"Sure thing, Maleficent," Pete said as he turned to the computer terminal. "Which of our agents do you wanna check up on first?"
"That new one. At the world called India."
"Right then. Let's light this sucker!"
Pete dramatically pressed a large red button in slow motion. The entire Castle vibrated. Then in shook. Then it jerked and actually started floating away from the world.
"Pete, you've finally invented something that works," Maleficent said with a smile.
"It's what I do. Er... sometimes."
The Castle that Never was activated it's charge-less warp drive and blasted out of the system.
At Disney Castle...
King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Lady Daisy, Pluto, Chip and Dale were all gathered in front of a large TV, waiting for Cid to connect.
The screen flickered to life. "Hey ya'll," Cid said. "We've got us some good news and some bad news."
"Good news first Cid," Mickey said.
"O.k., the good news is that Sora's opened the gate to a new world."
"How is that good?" Mickey asked. "That'll only let the Imperials continue their conquest."
"Yeah, but if we can find the world where the Imperials are coming from, we could try and stop them," Sora jumped in. "Or we could just find some people that hate the Imperials as much as we do."
"That shouldn't be too hard," Kairi jumped in as well.
"Anyone else who wants to join in?" Cid asked sarcastically, looking around.
"Sure thing, fellers!" Goofy literally charged in and knocked the other three down before collapsing on top of them.
Jacob entered the shot. "The bad news is that Riku wasn't at Traverse Town. He probably flew to Radiant Garden to met up with Sora and you guys."
"Well, we haven't seen him," Chip said. "He must have gone somewhere else!"
"Either way, keep an eye out," Jacob said. He stopped and quickly looked down at the others, who were struggling to get up. "Er... I'm going to stop the video chat now!" he said a bit too loudly. He discretely gave the Disney Castle-ers a wink. "I'm turning it off!" He reached for a button, but apparently didn't press it, because the transmission continued. At least, one way.
After a few minutes, everyone was off the camera... except Jacob. He quickly turned the transmission back on so that he could see what was happening on the other side. "King Mickey? I need to talk to you alone."
The others filed out, leaving only Jacob on one end and Mickey on the other.
"What is it Jacob?" Mickey asked.
"I've got some bad news of my own." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture; the picture of Sora and Kairi kissing.
Mickey's eyes widened. Then he just arched an eyebrow. "Wait... how is this bad? I mean, at least their love is real, not all this fake teen stuff that's happening these days."
"That's exactly what I mean. Even after they kissed the are still complete morons!" Jacob yelled. "They're still denying their love for each other!"
"Let me guess. You think as a Princess of Heart, Kairi might not be able to handle the temptation?"
"Exactly," Jacob replied. "However, I've already got a plan. I'll keep you posted. Shera out."
Back on the Mabrik...
Yes! A town! And a huge one by the looks of it! Riku landed on the outskirts so as not to attract attention: you never know who you're dealing with.
The ship touched down on the sandy terrain, and Riku quickly jumped down the ladder, darted through the quarters, and pressed the button to open the door. An incredibly hot gust of wind rushed in, along with a little sand. Riku let out a sigh of relief. They weren't dead yet.
Yet being the apt word.
On the bridge of the Shera...
Everyone gathered on the bridge to look at the new world. It looked like a vast jungle with few settlements and a ruined temple.
"Who's going down?" Cid asked.
Sora and Kairi raised their hands. Jacob was about to when Kairi stopped him. "Am I allowed to give you a vacation?"
Jacob frowned. "Yes. But only one every two months! And a max of one week!"
"Whatever. You are temporarily relived of duty."
"I'm going down too," Max said. He quickly looked to Goofy. "Dad, I'm with them... I'll be fine."
Goofy sighed. "O.k., but you be safe."
Max nodded and joined Sora and Kairi.
"Hold on guys!" Donald said. "Scanners indicate that there's mostly animals down there, so you're gonna need to transform!"
"We can do that?!?" Kairi asked.
"Er... yeah."
"SWEET!!!"
"Calm down Kairi, it's not a fun as it sounds," Sora said. "Don't worry Donald, I've watched you do it enough times that I think I can handle it."
Sora, Kairi, and Max stepped into the teleporter. "O.k. guys, you're gonna feel a bit of a burning sensation for a few seconds..."
Sora muttered the spell under his breath just a a blue light consumed them and they disappeared.
Down of the surface...
Sora and his group appeared in a large clearing and looked down at themselves. Max was a black wolf with green fringes on his ears and his neck. Kairi was a jaguar with a dark red, silky coat. Sora was a wolf like Max, but had dark brown fur with carmel streaks near his ears.
"So, what do we do now?" Kairi asked as she got used to her new form by running around the clearing.
"Look for a way to open a gate, I guess…"
"Who are you?" The trio whirled around to see a Black Panther approaching, who sounded and looked rather old. "What rights do you have to hunt in these parts of the jungle?" he asked.
"Sorry, are we not supposed to be here?" Kairi asked.
"No, it's just that we don't usually get newcomers in the hunting grounds of the wolfs," the panther said.
"You aren't a wolf," Sora said.
"I am, however, a member of their council, and they allow me to come and go as I please. Now, I hope you don't mind my asking again, but who are you?"
"Sora!" "I'm Kairi!" "My name is Max. Ignore them, they're too perky for their own good."
Sora and Kairi looked at Max angrily. The older panther walked over and circled Max a few times.
"Well then... Sora, Max, and Kairi, my name is Bagheera. I am to assume that you are not from this part of the jungle?"
"That would be correct," Sora said quickly.
"We're here... well, we just kinda float from place to place and help people out," Max said. "You wouldn't happen to have some work for us would you?"
At the wolf's cave…
Sora, Kairi, Max and Bagheera walked through the jungle to a location which Bagheera didn't seem to want to tell them about.
"Will someone please tell me where we are going?" Kairi asked, a little annoyed. After walking for a half an hour on four legs she understood why Sora didn't enjoy it.
"Here we are," Bagheera announced. Bagheera and walked up to a clump of bushes. Everyone stuck their heads through and saw a small cave on the other side. In it there was a group of wolfs, but to Sora, Max, and Kairi's shock, there was also a brown skinned little boy dressed only in red linen cloth that covered his undesirables laying with them.
"A human?" Sora asked.
"Yes… his name is Mowgli, the man cub." Bagheera said. "I found him as an infant, and brought him here. He has been living with them as a wolf for almost nine years now."
"So he's lived with animals since he could remember?" Kairi asked.
"Precisely. But you see, Mowgli is living under very special circumstances."
"What kind of... circumstances?" Max asked.
"Shere Khan is back."
"What?" was the responce from all the off worlders.
"Well, you three," Bagheera started. "Mowgli has been protected by the pack, or his family and the other wolfs in this area, and has never had to hunt or met any real danger in the jungle. As such, he would walk out into the jungle with complete confidence that no harm would come to him, mainly because he doesn't know that any danger exists. And recently, Shere Khan, a man eating and hating tiger, has returned to these jungles, and he will most likely try to kill Mowgli. This will put him and those around him in danger. Tonight, the wolfs are meeting on Council Rock to decide what to do."
That night, at Council Rock…
Sora, Max, and Kairi, who were not members of the Council, waited at the bottom of the Rock for the meeting to end. After about thirty minutes, Bagheera and many wolfs came down and walked off in deferent directions. Our heroes followed Bagheera in the direction of the wolf's cave.
"…So?" Sora asked finally.
"I have offered to escort Mowgli to a man village. He will be safer there," Bagheera explained.
"Can we tag along?" Kairi was thinking that they would have an excuse to look for something to open a new gate.
"I don't see why not," Bagheera answered.
"Well then, I think we'll come," Sora said.
"Oh, and because of his seclusion, Mowgil may be reluctant to live away from the jungle. Plus, he will not understand the position that he is in, and as such, he will probably be even more reluctant to come along. We must not tell him of our destination until we are far away from here," Bagheera said. "I have taken many walks with him before, so he should be more than willing to come at first."
That night, after walking for an hour or so…
Mowgli had since gotten used to Bagheera's strange friends, and had taken to riding on Bagheera's back. It was getting to midnight, and Mowgli started yawning.
"Bag… Bagheera? I'm getting kind of sleepy…" Mowgli's eyelids bobbed up and down as his head nodded. "Shouldn't we start back soon?"
Bagheera sighed. "Mowgli… this time, we're not going back," he said reluctantly "I'm taking you to a man village."
Mowgli suddenly seemed much more awake. "But why?" he asked.
"Because Shere Khan has returned to this part of the jungle," Bagheera said.
"And he is going to try to kill you," Sora said bluntly.
"Why?" Mowgli asked innocently. Despite his age, he seemed very naïve to our three heroes.
"Because he fears man's gun and man's fire," Bagheera explained. "He wants to stop you from growing up to be a hunter."
"Aw, I'll just explain to him that I'm not like that!" Mowgli said, smiling as though the whole thing had been a joke, and he had just heard the punch line.
Bagheera chuckled. "You don't explain anything to Shere Khan."
The group walked into a huge clearing. Its only feature was a large tree sitting in the middle. "Come on, man cub," Bagheera said as Mowgli slid off his back. "We can talk more in the morning." They all walked up to the tree, and Mowgli started to climb up (with a bit of help from Bagheera). After a few minutes, Bagheera and Mowgli were up on a particularly wide and sturdy branch. Sora, Max, being wolfs, stayed on the ground. Kairi opted to stay with them. Everyone was asleep quickly.
Everyone, that is, except Mowgli. He sat up against the trunk, fiddling with a small branch as he thought of all the time that he had spent in the jungle. He didn't what to leave his home, and he didn't want to leave his family. He sighed and started thinking about if he would be able to find his way home if he were to run away. So wrapped up in his own thoughts was he, that he didn't notice a pair of yellow eyes looking down at him.
A snake slowly lowered out of the leaves of the tree and hovered over Mowgli. "Sssay, now, what have we here?" the snake asked. He chuckled and smacked his lips. "It's a man cub. A delicioussss man cub."
"Oh, go away and leave me alone…" Mowgli said, shoving the snake away without any realization of what the snake viewed him as: a snack.
"That's just what I should do, man cub, but I can't…" Bagheera said sleepily. He clearly thought Mowgli was speaking to him. "Just… just go to sleep man cub…"
The snake smiled and nodded happily. "Yesss, man cub," the snake said with a speech impediment. He swung his head over to the sulking Mowgli. The man cub was about to reach up to stop the snake again when suddenly, something happened.
The pupils of the snake's eyes disappeared into nothingness, and in their place burst forth a blue ring of color, then yellow, then green, the blue, then yellow...
Mowgli glanced at the swirling colors in the eyes. Green, like the treetops of his jungle home... blue, like the running waterfalls and rivers... yellow, the fruits that he had eaten all his life...
The snake smiled. He hadn't used his hypnotic abilities in a while, and was a bit rusty. But he knew it would only take seconds for the man cub to fall in. After all, he already seemed interested in what he was seeing.
Mowgli forgot he was looking at the snake's eyes. The colors were swirling so fast, when blue came through, his pupils quickly changing size to follow the color as it vanished, then remembering that yellow was his favorite, and trying to focus on that one... then green... then blue... then yellow...
Mowgli went slack jawed and open eyed at the strange phenomenon. The colors of the snake's eyes reflected off of Mowgli's.
The snake chuckled at the sight of Mowgli's sleepy bobbing head and his rapidly changing pupils. "Yesss, man cub," the snake started, playing on the panther's words. "Pleasssse, go to sleep... Pleassse, go to sleep..." he sang. The snake swung his head from side to side as he sang. First side to side, then up and down. Side to side, up and down.
Mowgli helplessly followed along, the snake's eyes now being the only light in a world of darkness. His vision for all things was lost except the colors. He mustn't lose sight of them.
The devious snake's strategy was working. Mowgli was trying desperately to follow him, and was dragging his already tired body along with him for the ride. This would surely exhaust him, leaving his mind even more open to influence.
Mowgli was slowly giving up; the boy's arms, once crossed, hung at his side. His legs had also dropped, now dangling over the edge of the brach. His jaw hung slack, actually drooling a bit. His eyes were wide open, desperate to receive more of the colors. His eyes had stopped trying to focus: his pupils had shrunk to the size of pin-pricks as the colors engulfed the world.
"Sleep, little man cub.... rest in peaccce..."
Mowgli didn't have any self control any more; his body was meaninglessly sitting there. He actually wet himself. No matter. All that mattered was the colors of the jungle that had for so long been his home...
The snake, still singing his song, made his tail come around the tree to Mowgli. It approached the boy and started to wrap around his torso, starting at the waist.
Mowgli loved the euphoric feeling. The swirling colors of the jungle, each bringing back loved memories, the strange lullaby that seemed to come from somewhere near them, and the warm blanket that he felt being wrapped around his body, gently caressing his bare skin...
The snake continued to wave his head franticly around, Mowgli following as the tail passed his elbows. His mind, filled only with thoughts of the jungle, received a lone new message: Sleep, little man cub... rest in peace...
Mowgli nodded subconsciously as his eyes started to droop...
"Wait!!" a voice from the deep dark corners of Mowgli's brain cried. "This isn't real!"
The man cub's eyes snapped back open. The snake was thoughtful. This was the most resistance he had seen any creature ever put up against his spell. But it was no good... look, the boy's eyes were drooping again.
"No.... got to..... wake up......."
The boy's eyes jolted open.
"Sleep....." the snake sang, still smiling. "Sleep..."
Mowgli let out yawn as his eyes drooped again, this time actually closing for a moment before opening as nothing more than slits.
The snake smiled and stopped producing colors. Mowgli was so used to seeing the pattern that now it ran freely in his own eyes, with no assistance required from the snake.
The blanket was at his shoulders. Mowgli was having a hard time even thinking about the colors now. He felt so warm and fuzzy all over, and the voice from everywhere had told him to go to sleep, so it must be alright to sleep...
Wait... the jungle and the voice and the blanket weren't all there was... there was something else...
"Ba... gherra..." Mowgli managed to get out.
The snake quickly accelerated his tail's movement's to the man cub's neck. He gave a tight squeeze around it.
Mowgli gulped deeply as he felt the blanket jerk around his neck, but it didn't matter. His eyes shot open, and the snake flashed his colors once again, giving Mowgli the full brunt of the hypnotic treatment. All thoughts of his guardian, his family, the snake, and even the colors disappeared as Mowgli entered a complete and total trance.
The snake chuckled to himself and stopped his flashing. There was no need for it now. Mowgli was so deep under is control that a simple word command would have made him jump off the ends of the earth. Mowgli suddenly smiled obliviously at the sense of bliss that surrounded him, at the warm blanket that secured him, and at the fact that he would finally be able to get some sleep...
Bagheera had luckily heard his name being muttered by the man cub.
"N-now, its no use arguing… we can talk more in the morning…" Bagheera said sleepily.
The snake chuckled again as the lifted the man cub into the air. Mowgli was grinning stupidly, his eyes open and the colors still bouncing about in his vision. "He won't be here in the morning," the snake chuckled.
"Wha… of course he will be Kaa… KAA!!" the panther jumped up as he said the name, completely awake. "HOLD IT KAA!!"
Sora, Max, and Kairi woke up. They couldn't hear the words of the conversation up in the tree, but they did hear a slap, a bump, and then, a thud. They looked to the right of the tree and saw Kaa fall out and land in a heap on the ground.
"OHH! My sssinus…" he started to slither off, until his tail got caught between two trees.
"Look Bagheera! He's got a knot in his tail!" Mowgli laughed, completely oblivious the danger he had been in. The snake broke the trees with a mighty tug, and slithered off into the jungle.
I'll bet some of you Final Fantasy VII fans know what Aeirth's disease is. NO SPOILERS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW, THOUGH!!
Clearly, the place where Sora, Kairi and Max are is India, and they are experiencing the last film overseen by Walt Disney himself: The Jungle Book. I don't own the Jungle Book (film or actual book), nor do I own Mowgli, Bagheera, or Kaa. Shere Khan was mentioned, so I'll say I don't own him either.
Hint on the place where Riku, Yuffie and P.J. crashed: Star Wars.
Oh, and many thanks to NinjaSheik for being my first reviewer!