AN: Ladies and gentlemen, after a short delay due to a variety of important events happening IRL, we're back once again, with the next chapter of...Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys!
[audience applause]
Yes, yes, I know, we're all excited, and I don't blame you, because this is going to be the longest chapter we've had in this story, so far, and it brings about nearly the entire main adventure of the world that the team travels to next, plus it's got quite a few feels to it, if ya know what I'm saying.
Donald: Hey, why can't we just skip this world like the manga did?
AN: Because we're not going by the story used in the manga. We're going with an AU version of the original story that we saw in the video games series.
Donald: Aw, but I want us to hurry up and get to the part where we all find out...
AN: Dah! Spoiler! [hits control]
Donald: [catapulted several hundred feet into the air before he comes crashing back down into a pool of freezing water, which he emerges from in a block of ice] {mutters} Aw, phooey.
AN: Well, that was close. Moving on, before we get rolling, I'd like to answer a couple of reviews, starting with the review from "fairy saiyan". First off, I'm well aware of that little detail you informed me of, and that's part of the reason why this story exists. Because the events of Keyblades of Future Past, changed history, and now we're seeing a few more details on how that happened, and I actually have seen quite a few different crossovers for both Kingdom Hearts and other stories to help reinforce that point. But glad to see you're willing to recommend some of those stories to me, even if you didn't actually name some titles.
Next is in response to a variety of questions from a guest reviewer, who simply called himself "Guest". Technically speaking, Sora did learn an ability called Ragnarok in the original timeline, but I don't think that it's the same as the Shotlock, so it's really not fair to say that he did learn that particular BBS ability. Kairi's Dive to the Heart may not actually be seen this time around, but you never know how plans may change in the future. Maybe if there is a way to work it in somehow, but for now...Finally, a good part of the reason why Donald won't let Sora take the wheel may actually be revealed in this chapter, but I will go ahead and say that part of the reason is because he needs to spend as much of his time on the ship training with Ventus, at least in regards to the things that they can train and practice on while on the ship.
Finally, in response to "Librarian343", glad to hear you approve of that, and yeah, I fully intend to do what I can to tie the stories of the Final Fantasy series, in regards to the characters from said series to appear in this story as best as I can in the future, assuming it is possible to do.
Oh, one last thing, I'm sure if you've all gone over to my profile by now, you've seen the newest poll, if not, then I have to ask if you just ignored what I said in the ending note for the previous chapter? But anyway, the poll is simple: Which Star Wars character would you like to see appear in the story as a summon? Yeah, you read that right. We are going to see a Star Wars character appear here as a summon that one of our two Keyblade Wielders can use. At this time, we have had a total of 14 votes tallied in, and in the lead by a land slide is our favorite Togruta, Ahsoka Tano!
[audience applause]
Yeah, and it looks like our newest Star Wars hero boy, Ezra is not doing so hot, but then again, I can't really say I'm too surprised. I mean, come on, Ahsoka's awesome, and sure, the whole lightsaber that's also a blaster thing is cool and all, but it's kinda hard to compare to a girl like Ahsoka, especially when the person she's being put up against is a kid like Ezra.
Ezra: Hey! What's that supposed to mean?
AN: Ah relax, Ezra. I'm just messing with ya. So anyway, if you haven't voted on that yet, please be sure to do so soon, because you never know when this poll will close. Do not worry, I will be sure to give you at least a little warning in advance by the time we're close to the chapter where the final result will be revealed.
In the meantime, Enjoy the show!
I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter VII
Almost five hours had passed since the team of four had left Olympus Coliseum, and they still had not arrived at the next closest world, but no one was really complaining that much. With their journey so far being free of any Heartless attacks, they were all able to take the chance to relax a little and gather their thoughts in one way or another, assuming they were not doing anything too important, liking flying the ship or manning the navigation station in order to keep an eye open for the Heartless or anything that would qualify as a shortcut to their next destination. For Sora, it gave him the chance to get the first decent sleep he had since this whole adventure started, because even though it did not seem like much time had passed, for him, it felt like it had been several days since this whole adventure had started.
The only downside was that his sleep was disturbed with a few nightmares about his friends at first, one where Riku was fighting against a strange, shadowy thing closing in around him, while Kairi just lay somewhere unmoving, like she was in a coma or something. Sora did not want to think about the other reason why the redhead would be out cold like that, but when the nightmares passed, he was soon greeted with stranger dream, one in which he saw Ven, or a much younger looking Ven, and five other people along with him, fighting someone he could not see. Like the opponent they were facing, Sora could not really see all that much of the five people that were fighting with Ventus, but he was able to see enough to tell that they all had Keyblades, and that they were all wearing armor that was very similar to Ven's, or at least, four out of the five were, while the fifth, and smallest person did not. The odd thing was that the fifth individual actually looked a lot like a mouse. Still, despite all of that, he somehow felt that each of those four people were somehow familiar to him, like he should know each of them or had at least met them at some point in his life. After waking up and thinking back on the dream, that feeling only grew stronger for some reason, and more than that, Sora felt like he had heard something similar to this somewhere before. Then it hit him, Kairi had mentioned having a similar dream to the one he just had mere hours before the islands had fallen. It may have seemed like a bit of a stretch to think the dreams were exactly the same, but after thinking back a little more, Sora could not help but think that at least one of the mystery people he saw in the dream was indeed a woman, and that he did catch a few glimpses of blue hair once or twice, so that had to be something, while one of the other two did seem to look a little bit like him. Even if it was a long-shot to say that he had just had the exact same dream that Kairi had the night before he had lost his home, the fact was that Ven was definitely in his dream, and it had stirred up a couple new questions for Sora along with the ones he already had in regards to what he saw the Keyblade Master do in his fight with Cloud, and Sora intended to ask the minute he reached Ven's quarters for their next lesson.
That was exactly what Sora was now doing, and the minute he reached the door, he almost burst in, but stopped himself beforehand and knocked. The minute he heard the blonde say he could enter, Sora stepped in and saw Ven was sitting on his bed in a meditative position, with his eyes closed while a small smile was present on his face. That smile only grew a little more when Sora walked in, and Ventus said, "Well, did you have a nice rest, Sora?"
"Uh…yeah. Wait, how did you know it was me," Sora asked, since Ven had not opened his eyes at all since the door had opened.
"I believe I have already told you, Keyblade Wielders are able to sense the light and darkness within everything around us, but it is especially so when one or the other is stronger in a person, object, or even a place. Being a Keyblade Wielder yourself, you have a great amount of light in your heart, especially so since you just became a wielder, so it would only be natural for me, as a master to be able to sense your light," Ventus explained. The fact that Sora also carried the heart of a Princess of Heart did help of course, but Ven was still not quite ready to tell Sora about that just yet, especially given who that particular Princess of Heart was.
Sora had the decency to look sheepish at that, because he did in fact remember Ven telling him about that back in Wonderland. Putting that aside, he immediately seated himself across from the blonde as the door closed and decided to get right down to the reason why he was there. "Honestly though, I probably would've rested a lot better if it weren't for some of the dreams I had," the young Keybearer revealed.
That got Ventus to open his eyes and then meet his apprentice's gaze. "Strange dreams can often be a normal occurrence for a wielder of the Keyblade, usually because they would be receiving a type of vision or something. I'm sure you probably realized this when you had a dream in which you seemed as though you were being tested before you first gained Kingdom Key, right?"
"Yeah," Sora confirmed, thinking back to the very dream that he knew Ventus was talking about. "I was asked to choose between three different Keyblades before I suddenly started fighting Heartless, got asked a bunch of weird questions by some of my friends, and then had to…"
"Wait, wait, what did you say you had to do first," Ventus interrupted.
"I had to choose between three different Keyblades. One of them actually looked a bit like yours, except it was called Wayward Wind instead of Guardian Wind," Sora replied. Moments after he had finished speaking, Sora finally noticed the shocked expression that had formed on Ven's as he spoke. "Uh Ven, are you okay?"
Ventus did not immediately reply, but instead, summoned his Keyblade and then removed the Keychain from the end of the handle. The minute that he did, the blade glowed brightly and then changed into its original, base form. "Did it look like this," Ven asked Sora.
"Yeah, but how do you…?"
"Sora, Wayward Wind is my original, base Keyblade," Ventus revealed. "Most Keyblades posses an evolved form to signify that a Keyblade Wielder has finally achieved the Mark of Mastery or have at least reached a point in their training where they have the ability to become a true master, but the base Keyblade will always be usable to the wielder since it is their first Keyblade."
"Whoa," Sora gasped in awe. He then looked to Ven and asked, "But how did you make it change like that?"
"I simply removed the Keychain," Ventus replied, holding up the item in question as he did. "I'm sure you noticed that your Keyblade has one attached to its handle, right?" When Sora nodded in reply, the blonde continued, "Well, in case it isn't already clear, the Keychain isn't just a snazzy decoration. You see, Keychains actually contain the power and very essence of a Keyblade inside of them, so when you attach a different Keychain to your Keyblade as opposed to the one it had when you first received it, not only will your Keyblade change in appearance, it will also gain additional strength and sometimes even some special powers as well." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a Keychain that had a green gem with two silver flurries of wind spiraling around it on a silver chain. "Here, try placing this one on your Keyblade after you take off its default Keychain."
After accepting the Keychain from Ven, Sora did as his master asked, and summoned his Keyblade so that he could switch out the two Keychains. The instant he did, his Keyblade immediately transformed into an identical copy of Wayward Wind, much to Sora's astonishment. "Wow! So I guess if I have two Keychains, I can use two Keyblades," Sora asked as he tried a few practice swings with the Wayward Wind duplicate.
Ventus could only chuckle a little, though it was mostly due to how awkward Sora's practice swings were since Wayward Wind was meant to be used in a reverse grip, and replied, "Actually no. While the Keychains contain the essence of another Keyblade, and actually can be used to summon the Keyblade whose powers they possess with the right level of skill and magic, they do not allow you to wield an additional Keyblade. They just give you a way to power up your own Keyblade. It may look different and have some of the powers of Wayward Wind right now, but underneath that, it's still Kingdom Key." Ventus then held out his hand for Sora to hand his original Keychain back to him, which the brunette spiky haired boy did after another second or so, and once he had pocketed it and reattached the Keychain of Guardian Wind to his own Keyblade, changing it back to what it had been before, Ventus dismissed his trusted Keyblade and said, "Keychains can be found in a variety of different places, so it would be a good idea for you to keep an eye out for them, so long as you can remember that Kingdom Key is your true Keyblade. But enough about that, tell me about the other two Keyblades that were in your Dive to the Heart."
"My what," Sora asked.
"Dive to the Heart. That's what we call the ceremony, for lack of a better word, in which we are first granted our Keyblades, and it's always as a very strange dream like the one you had," Ventus explained.
Sora immediately nodded and began to recall everything that he remembered about said dream, at least in regards to the Keyblades, and Ventus listened attentively to every last word the boy said. From the sound of things, Sora's Dive to the Heart was not entirely different from the typical one, save for the very start when he chose between the three Keyblades, but all the same, the blonde was still shocked by what Sora had told him, mostly because of how the start of Sora's Dive to the Heart had played out. Silence reigned in the room for a moment until Ventus finally said, "Sora, normally when a person has a Dive to the Heart like that, they are given a choice between a sword, a shield, and a wand in the first part. The fact that yours was a choice between three Keyblades alone is significant in and of itself, but more than that, the Keyblades in question were all of the same generation of Keyblade Wielders that came before you: my generation to be more specific."
"Really," Sora asked. "You mean, those other two Keyblades were…"
He did not need the boy to finish his sentence to know what he was asking, because Ventus was already nodding in confirmation as he said, "Earthshaker is the base Keyblade of my friend Terra, while Rainfell is Aqua's. Still, the question remains as to why it was that you were given such a different choice as opposed to the one a Keyblade Wielder normally receives in their Dive to the Heart?"
Once again, silence was the only answer that the two received, as it was a mystery to both master and student. It may have been for different reasons, certainly, but the fact was that neither of them could really guess why that was the case. Their silence did not last long though, as Sora remembered the other reason he was here just seconds after Ventus had mentioned the names of his missing friends. "Say Ven, I was actually hoping to talk to be about the dream I had just now. It's got me wondering about a couple of things," Sora stated.
"Well I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll certainly do what I can to answer your questions, Sora," Ventus nodded, silently prompting Sora to ask away.
"Well first off…does Aqua have blue hair," Sora asked, thinking that was as good a starting place as any, even if it did come out a little blunter than he had meant it too.
The question drew a shocked look to Ven's face once again, and he immediately said, "Yeah, but how did you know that?"
"I think…I think my dream was actually about her," Sora explained. "At least, I think it was her, but I'm only guessing because you were there too, along with four other people, except you looked like you were about my age. The other four were a pair of guys, a girl, and someone who looked a lot like a mouse, and all of you were wearing armor like the one you wore in your fight against Cloud except for the mouse. From the looks of things, you were all fighting against someone, but I couldn't tell who it was."
Ventus was stunned at this new revelation, and as such, he did not respond to Sora's question right away. His mind was too busy running rampant with the fact that it seemed Sora had basically dreamed of the last battle he and his friends had all fought in their first journey, but he did not let himself panic too much, because he still needed to learn a few things before he jumped to any conclusions. "Was there anything else about the other people that stood out to you," Ventus asked.
"Well, I don't really know…I mean, I think that one of the others with you looked a bit like me, but that's just ridiculous, right," Sora admitted with a shrug.
"Yes, I suppose so," Ventus absently agreed as his mind ran through a variety of scenarios. He brought himself back to their conversation fully a minute later though, and said, "Sora, I think your dream may have been a vision of something that had happened to my friends and I when I was on my first journey, and believe it or not, I was actually just about a year or so older than you are when that journey took place, but I'm not entirely sure why you saw someone there with us that looked like you. There was really only one person there that day who had a slight resemblance to you, and that person was…well, he wasn't fighting on the same side as us, and part of me can't help but feel that saying he looks like you would be a bit insulting to you."
Sora would have asked Ventus about this person, but from the way the blonde's face had slowly formed into a light scowl, he figured that he should not pry. Clearly this person was not someone Ventus liked remembering, and he did not want the blonde to have to dredge up any old, bad memories just to satisfy his curiosity, so he let it drop for now. "There's one other thing," Sora added, gaining Ven's attention again. "The day my islands fell to darkness, Kairi had told me she had a similar dream to that one the night before. Do you think that could mean something?"
"I don't think so, Sora. Like I said, the idea that you had a vision about those days is really just a guess, and the fact that your friend, Kairi had a similar dream is probably just a random coincidence. Keyblade Wielders may get visions in their sleep, but sometimes, dreams are just dreams," Ventus immediately replied, making a mental note of that last new piece of information in his mind. If Kairi did indeed have a similar dream to the one Sora just had, then it could only mean one thing if you were to ask Ventus. The blonde put it aside for now though, and said, "Well, we can worry about such things later, because for now, we should continue your training, and I get the feeling you have a few questions that you want to ask me after seeing my battle against Cloud."
Hearing Ven say that immediately reminded Sora about everything he had been wondering since the previously mentioned moment, and at that point, he could no longer contain himself from bursting out in excitement as he quickly rattled off, "How'd you make that suit of armor appear on you like that? Is it some kind of cool Keyblade Wielder thing? What was that move you used at the start of your fight with Cloud, another Command Style? And how'd you use a Command Style without using any magic or abilities beforehand, or even activate a new one while you were already using a Command Style?"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Sora! Try to remember to come up for air, kid," Ventus chuckled as he motioned for the kid to slow down a little, amused by the boy's excitement that reminded him so much of himself when he was younger. "Let's start off simple by having me explain why I could use Command Styles so easily and with using little to no magic in order to activate them. The overly short version is that it's because I'm a Keyblade Master."
Sora waited for a minute, but Ventus did not say anything else after that. "That's it? That's the only reason," Sora asked.
"Well, I did say that it was the overly short version, and it's also the version you go with if you're really not all that big on major details," Ventus shrugged, though the smile on his face made it hard for Sora to tell if he was joking or not. "Simply put, with enough practice and training, a Keyblade Wielder could easily learn to access certain Command Styles without using any spells at all, but that's really only in regards to their Unique Command Styles, since they are the only ones able to use those specific Command Styles. I'd still have to use specific magic for things like the Firestorm or the other common Command Styles, but for my Unique Command Styles, I just need to concentrate and use a bit of my own magic reserves, which are actually quite large."
"So I guess I'm not going to be able to do that for a while, huh," Sora sighed in disappointment.
"Afraid not, kiddo, and that's especially true since we still haven't unlocked your Tier One Command Style, which we will need to do before we go any further in your Command Style training," Ventus confirmed.
"You mean there's more," Sora gasped in awe.
"But of course," Ven nodded. "This actually leads to one of your other questions, the one about how I was able to use a second Command Style while I was already using one. That was one of my Tier Two Command Styles. Unlike the Tier One Styles, Tier Two Command Styles require you to be in the midst of using a Tier One Style, since they draw on a lot more power both from your magic reserves and your heart. When you first start using Tier Two Styles, you will typically have three at your disposal: one that's unique to you and you alone, and two that you share with the people who are closest to your heart, assuming those people are Keyblade Wielders. Sometimes though, it's the other way around, but that really depends on the Wielder, and given time and training, they can learn additional Tier Two Styles, but that does take a long time and a lot of hard work and practice."
"So when do I start learning how to use Tier Two Command Styles," Sora asked.
"Not for a very long time, I'm afraid. Personally, I'd like to at least wait until sometime after you've learned your Unique Tier One Style before we start on anything more advanced, and Tier Two Command Styles are very advanced, especially for a newly made Keyblade Wielder like yourself, even if you are a very unique Keyblade Wielder," Ventus revealed.
"What makes you think I'm unique?"
"Well the fact that your Dive to the Heart was a bit different is a good reason," Ventus reminded the kid, drawing a small round of laughter from them both. Once their chuckles had died down, Ventus moved on to the next question that Sora had asked, gesturing towards his shoulder armor when he did. "Now, the armor I used in my fight against Cloud is a very special kind of magic armor that is used by all Keyblade Wielders, or at least the ones who were around back in the day…Kingdom Hearts, I feel like an old man now that I've said that," the blonde started, grumbling a little in good humor at the end. "Anyway, while you can fight without the armor, many will wear it if it's necessary, such as when you're fighting in particularly serious battles against powerful enemies, or when you need to be able to survive in specific circumstances. Without this armor, I would never have been able to use my Keyblade Glider to travel between worlds, and it could also help me survive in an environment that has no breathable air or some other form of serious hazard that could prove harmful to your life."
"So does that mean that I'll be getting a suit of armor too," Sora inquired.
"Given time, yes. Part of what it takes for you to receive a set of armor these days is that you reach a certain level in your training, but another reason is because…well, let's just say that it's been some time since anyone's found the materials necessary for the armor's base, even with the Keyblade's assistance," Ventus revealed. At the questioning look on Sora's face, Ventus further explained, "You see, the armor is something of an extension of the Keyblade's power, in the sense that it draws some of its power from the blade. You could still possess a suit of armor like mine, but without the Keyblade, the magical enchantments in the suit wouldn't be quite as strong, and its protection would only last for a limited amount of time."
"Wow, the Keyblade seems to really allow a lot of things to be possible," Sora gasped.
"Indeed it does, but don't go thinking that just because we have Keyblades, that means we're invincible. There are still limits as to what we can do, with or without the Keyblade," Ven warned.
Sora immediately nodded in response before he thought of something, and immediately reached into his pocket. "Say, is there a chance we could use something like this to make my armor?"
Looking at the object Sora had pulled out, Ventus had to let out a small gasp of shock at the item in question. The item was a small, black pendant with a faded image on it that Ven could not quite make out aside from the fact that it seemed to have an animal of some kind in the center, and Ventus was left with only one question upon seeing it. "Where did you get that?"
"Cloud gave it to me before we left the coliseum," Sora easily replied, holding the pendant out in case Ven wanted to take a closer look at it.
Ven hesitantly accepted the pendant, and turned it over in his hand a few times before he said, "Sora, this isn't something we can use for your armor, but it may still be a very important item all the same."
"Why? What is it?"
"I think…I think this is a Summon Charm," Ven revealed in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. "It's a kind of magic artifact that houses the spirit or essence of a particular individual so that one can call on the individual to help them out in a certain situation when the charm is activated."
"Really? So does that mean we can call Cloud to help us out with that," Sora gasped in excitement.
"No, I don't think so. It doesn't feel like this charm summons Cloud, but at the same time, I can't tell who or even what it would summon," Ven admitted. "More than that, this charm doesn't possess the same feeling of being alive that Summon Charms are supposed to have. I'm not saying that the charm or the person it summons are dead or anything like that; it's more like one or the other is…sleeping or something."
"So does that mean we can't use it at all?"
"Until we find someone who can wake it up, no, I'm afraid not. Still, it would be smart to hold onto it, and make sure that you don't lose it," Ventus advised, handing the charm back to Sora, who immediately pocketed the charm once it was in his hand again. Once the boy had done so, Ven moved on to the last question that Sora had asked. "Now, that first move you saw me use against Cloud at the start of our one-on-one match was actually not a Command Style. It was an ability known as a Shotlock."
"A what-lock," Sora asked.
"Shotlock," Ven repeated. "It's a special ability that is granted to you by the Keyblade. While the Command Styles are something that only Keyblade Wielders can use, they typically draw their power from both your magical energies, and your heart, hence the reason why the Unique Command Styles exist, and why your first three Tier Two Command Styles are typically unique to you and at least one other person. Shotlocks on the other hand, are abilities that come directly from your Keyblade, and the base Keyblade will always provide you with at least two Shotlocks that only you can use. Three maximum."
"Huh," was Sora's only response, along with a head-tilt in confusion.
Ventus took a moment of pause to consider his next words before continuing his explanation. "Think of it this way: your Keyblade is basically holding all the basic information on how to form a Shotlock, namely the ones that any Keyblade Wielder can use, but how soon they become unlocked is determined by your heart. Essentially, your Keyblade holds the basic plans for the Shotlocks, while your heart provides the power and tools to access them. The only time that the reverse is true is in regards to your own personal Shotlocks. Your heart does carry plans on how to form those particular Shotlocks, but they don't really start to form until after you've gained the ability to wield the Keyblade, at which point, the Keyblade starts to help finalize the plans and create a kind of outlet for the Shotlocks to form. Get it?"
"I think so," Sora hesitantly nodded. "Basically, the Keyblade is giving my heart instructions on how to use the normal Shotlocks, while my heart is giving it ideas on how to create my own Shotlocks. Is that right?"
"Exactly," Ventus nodded. "The one you saw me use against Cloud is actually one of the basic, general Shotlocks, or at least one that Terra, Aqua, and I were all able to use. It's called Meteor Shower."
"What about your personal ones," Sora asked.
"We'll get into that later," Ventus said. "For now, let's see if you can at least discover how to unlock a Shotlock that you can use."
"Okay, but how would I use a Shotlock when I do discover it," Sora nodded.
"Now that's the tricky part," the blonde revealed. "You see, in order to use a Shotlock, you need to aim your Keyblade at whatever you want to target, like you would the targeting sight of a gun, and essentially mark the targets you wish to unleash the Shotlock on. You don't necessarily have to target a specific enemy if you're using them in a crowd, but when you're up against a single opponent, it's definitely a good idea to make sure you have them firmly locked in your crosshairs. This is why most of the time, Shotlocks are better used in order to fight a large group of enemies or a very large opponent, be it for an apprentice or a master of the Keyblade."
"But isn't it important for me to target all the enemies specifically if I want to make sure that I blast them all," Sora asked.
"Well, yes, but not every Shotlock is a long-range blasting ability. There are some that actually have you rushing towards an enemy in a high-speed slashing maneuver. One example would be a Shotlock known as Absolute Zero, which allows you to cloak yourself in ice magic and rush targets repeatedly, while causing pillars of ice to erupt beneath the foes you hit."
"Oh, okay," Sora nodded in understanding. "But when did you aim at Cloud?"
"Almost right after I had armored up," Ven shrugged, casually. "You didn't seriously think that I had just spun my Keyblade around so that I was holding it in front of me as just a bit of a fancy show, did you?"
Sora could not have stopped himself from laughing along with his teacher even if he had wanted to, and he most certainly did not. When the two finally stopped laughing, Sora looked to Ven and said, "So, I'm guessing that in order to discover what my Shotlocks are I have to meditate again?"
"Pretty much," Ventus nodded, much to the boy's groaning displeasure. "But this is not like when we were bringing out your magic potential. If anything, it's more like how I had suggested for you to establish more of a connection with Kingdom Key. Don't think of it as meditating, but more as having a conversation or a brainstorming session with a friend on ideas for a special project that you're both working on."
"And is that what we're going to be doing now," Sora asked.
"Mm, pretty much," Ven shrugged. "It's not like we really have anything else we can do until we arrive at the next world, and that's still a few hours away last I checked."
Sora nodded in acceptance of this, and the two immediately began their next session of meditation, knowing that they would likely be doing so for quite a while until they had arrived.
It came as a small surprise to Sora that the last few hours of their journey to the next world had ended up passing by at a relatively quick pace, considering that he and Ven spent most of that time meditating in order to help him better connect with his Keyblade. Oh they did do other things besides meditate of course, such as having Ven explain how Sora would know for sure when he learned to use a Shotlock. The blonde had explained that it would actually be something that the Keyblade would decide when he would be ready to do, and that he would know for sure when he suddenly ended up aiming his Keyblade directly at an enemy and suddenly feel like the world around him was slowing down a little. Not necessarily to a great extent, but still to the point where it was at least a little bit noticeable. The only advice Ventus could give to the boy about how soon he would be able to use a Shotlock would be to continue to put his trust in the Keyblade and let it guide him in his future fights as he had up until now.
Aside from that, Ventus also did what he could to help Sora improve his sword fighting abilities by running through some basic fighting forms with practice Keyblades, which were really just wooden Keyblades that were very similar to the one Terra had given to the blonde many years ago, surprisingly. Sora had tried to insist that he was already a great sword fighter, and Ventus did agree that the kid was decent enough, but the blonde did point out that there were still a few flaws in Sora's fighting style and battle form, and stated that learning some basic forms, or even just basics in general would help to benefit him in the long run. They were both very thankful that Ven's room was large enough for them to effectively and safely run through these basic forms, because otherwise, they would have found the wait until their arrival becoming that much longer. They were actually just finishing up with one last set of these basic forms when Goofy announced they were beginning their final approach to the next world over the intercom, and they immediately brought their session to an end so that they could head up to the bridge.
The world had just came into view the moment that the two Keyblade Wielders arrived on the bridge, and from where they were, they could tell that a good majority of said world was made up of a very dense, deep jungle. Aside from that, they could see large branches encircling the world, along with a very impressive waterfall, and topping it all off was an impressive looking tree house that had a small rowboat hanging down from a long crane of some kind on one side, making it seem like the only part of this world that was at least a little civilized or impressive from their current viewpoint. Still, it did beg the question that Goofy eventually voice for everyone.
"Hey, Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there. Do you think we should investigate," the royal knight asked his long-time best friend.
"The king in a backwater place like that? No way! Let's move on," the sorcerer huffed in disagreement, something that did not sit right with either Keyblade Wielder, with the younger one of the two being the first to speak up about Donald's decision.
"Hold on. Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's just check it out," Sora argued.
"Forget it! We're on an important mission," Donald reminded him.
"Just land," Sora snapped.
"No!"
"Donald, I get that you want to find Mickey, but you're not the only one on this team that's looking for a missing friend, and besides that, did you forget that finding Mickey isn't the only part of our mission that's important," Ventus cut in, leveling the duck with a small glare as he did. "Unlike Olympus Coliseum, we don't know how secure this world's Keyhole currently is, so if not for the sake of looking for Sora's friends, we should at least stop here and look for that so that we can seal the Keyhole and make sure that the world doesn't fall into darkness."
"Aw, phooey," Donald grumbled with a huff, knowing that Ventus was right. Sure, he wanted to help secure the worlds and make sure that none of the remaining ones fell to darkness, but he was more concerned about his missing king than anything else right now, and he thought for sure that Ventus at the very least understood that. In his opinion, trying to find a couple of kids that the newest Keyblade Wielder knew was a waste of time, seeing as there was a much more likely chance that they had suffered the same fate as their island, so locating King Mickey, someone who was far more important, and likely more safe in the Realm of Light, made more sense to him. Then again, Donald could see where Ventus was coming from in the fact that they needed to seal the Keyhole, but there was no reason for them to do that right away every time they found a world, was there?
Donald's hesitance in listening to Ventus was not appealing to Sora in the least, and the brunette spiky haired boy decided that he was not going to wait around to see whether or not the duck decided that they leave without investigating for another second. "We're going down there, now," Sora insisted as he instantly raced over to the controls, working anything he could get his hands on that looked like it would send them down to the world before them before anyone could stop him.
"Hey, don't touch that," Donald squawked in both warning and annoyance, but his warning came too late, as the ship was soon trembling around them before it suddenly spun towards the world that now lay before them out of control.
"Brace yourselves! We might be heading in for a crash landing," Ventus shouted as he and Goofy both scrambled to get a hold on something. When he saw that he was near the comm. system, Ventus immediately jabbed it with his fist and shouted, "Chip, Dale! Initiate the emergency teleport system and try to get the ship under control!"
"But if we do that now, there's no telling where you guys will end up," Dale argued.
"And besides, what if we need help getting the ship under control and fixed up again," Chip asked.
"JUST DO IT," Ventus shouted, and a minute later, the four on the bridge vanished in a flash of light to parts unknown, leaving the two chipmunk engineers to work their magic on getting the ship back under control before something worse happened. Of course, while the two were worried about their own safety, they were much more concerned for their friends who were now down on the world's surface, since there was a very real chance that they would not have all landed together, and they would probably be in for the fights of their lives down there.
When Goofy and Donald regained consciousness, they both found themselves in the middle of a bamboo thicket with no sign of their Keyblade wielding friends anywhere. This did concern Goofy a bit, but Donald on the other hand showed no outward signs of concern at all. If anything, the duck just looked cross because of the fact that they had ended up in this situation because of Sora in the first place. If the kid had not tried to mess with the ship, or if he had not been so stubborn about trying to find his own friends when King Mickey was missing as well, then maybe they would not be stranded right now. At least, that was what Donald was thinking.
Goofy on the other hand was of a different mindset, as evidenced by the worried moan in his voice when he commented, "I sure hope Sora and Ven are okay."
"Aw, who needs 'em? We can find the king without either one of them, and we could've found him way more easily without Sora, so why did Ven even bother dragging him along anyway," Donald huffed as he reached for his staff, only to feel his hand brush up against something furry instead when he did.
Turning to see what he had touched, Donald's vision was immediately filled with a dark haired, grey skinned gorilla, and while it was not all that big like a typical ape, the sight of it being there was still enough to scare Donald out of his wits, resulting in a loud screech of fright from said duck. Said screech was only matched by the gorilla in question, who immediately scampered away after dropping something on the ground. Looking to said object, Goofy and Donald both went wide-eyed at the sight of what could only have been another Gummi block, one that likely belonged to King Mickey. They both scrambled to scoop it up, only to freeze moments later when they heard someone approaching from behind, and they had a very bad feeling about who or what it might be. When they did turn to see who had been coming their way, they both found themselves wishing that Sora and Ven were with them right now, because they were not getting any friendly vibes off of the individual in question.
Unlike Donald and Goofy, Sora and Ven were both awake when they came out of the teleport, but unfortunately, they had ended up being teleported up in the air. As a result, they both had let out startled yelps as they fell down through the roof of the tree house that they had seen from the ship with a hard crash that was likely heard for miles. Thankfully, neither of them seemed to be hurt, at least as far as Ventus could tell, but he still had to make sure and immediately turned to his apprentice. "Sora, are you okay," Ven groaned.
"Oww…my head," Sora moaned, having not quite registered Ventus' question right away. When he did though, he slowly looked up and said, "I think so, but…where are Donald and Goofy?"
"They must've been sent to a different location. Emergency teleports are not usually all that reliable for keeping a group together, so we'll have to try and find them as we search for the Keyhole and any indication that your friends might be here," Ven replied while he looked around the tree house. While the place was impressive, it was clear that no one had been inside of it for a long time. Even without the hole that the two of them had made in the ceiling, the place seemed to be very run down, but another glance around allowed Ventus to pick up on some signs of their being a previous struggle at some point long ago. After another minute of looking around and not seeing anything that could prove to be useful to them, Ventus looked back to Sora and said, "Now do you see why I was a bit hesitant on letting you fly the ship without knowing what you were doing?"
"Well maybe if Donald hadn't been so eager to leave without coming down here to at least look for Riku and Kairi…" Sora grumbled, but said grumblings to the blonde were suddenly interrupted when a loud roar reached both of their ears.
Upon turning around, both Keyblade Wielders had barely enough time to roll to the side in order to avoid being pounced on by a large leopard, but unfortunately, Sora ended up being the large jungle cat's main target, and was soon sent flying into the wall behind him after receiving a hard hit from one the leopard's clawed paws. Ventus instantly rushed to the rescue by tackling the leopard from behind and wrestling it away from his apprentice, only to end up being thrown into another wall of the tree house as well. Seeing that its prey was looking to put up a fight, the leopard immediately began circling the two, menacingly, giving Sora and Ven the chance to draw their respective Keyblades and assume defensive stances.
"Just once I'd like to meet a friendly cat," Ventus commented as he glared at the snarling feline before Sora suddenly charged at the leopard.
A few quick swings of his Keyblade allowed Sora to score some very impressive hits on the large beast, but the leopard was able to parry his last blow by swinging his paw at Sora just when he was bringing Kingdom Key down on the animal. The suddenness of this action caught Sora off balance and made him stumble a bit, which was exactly what the leopard was hoping for as it pounced at him once again. A timely intervention from Ventus discouraged the beast though, as the blonde was quick to send out a quick Aero spell that blasted the beast away, and while he would have instantly followed that up with a Shotlock, he hesitated to do so given the fact that he would likely bring down the tree house they were standing in around them, which was not a good thing seeing as they were likely several feet up in the air.
Ven's hesitation ended up costing him, as the leopard was able to use it in order to try and pounce him, but just when it was about to reach him, something suddenly stopped it. Or to be more accurate, someone stopped it, because just as the leopard was coming down on him, Ventus had ended up being saved by a man with long brown hair, which was styled in dreadlocks, carrying a spear, and wearing nothing more than a tattered, brown loincloth around his waist. The man in question was certainly strong, no denying, as one could clearly see by both his appearance and by the fact that he was holding the leopard back with little trouble, and after a minute or so, the man shoved the jungle cat away and glared angrily at the leopard, as if daring the beast to try something.
Sensing that it would be in serious danger if it stuck around, the leopard took the wise course of action and fled out the nearest window, crashing through the glass when it did, leaving Sora and Ventus with their strange rescuer. After helping Sora to his feet, Ventus turned to see that the man had already approached them, and was currently hunched over like a gorilla as he stared at them, almost as if he was searching for something in the two. When he did not say anything for another minute or so, Ventus figured that he was waiting for them to say something, but he was proven wrong when the man suddenly grunted, "Sabor, danger."
"Um…thank you," Sora nodded for both himself and Ventus.
"Thank you," the man slowly repeated, indicating that he was probably not able to speak as well as Ven and Sora could.
Ventus decided that they should probably check to be sure while learning what they could about their surroundings, and then asked the man, "So what is this place?"
"This place, this place," the wild man replied.
"Okaaay…so do you know where the others are," Sora asked, thinking that he was following Ven's lead.
The only answer Sora received was silence, prompting Ven to point out, "Sora, I don't think he's able to understand us, and besides that, I doubt he knows who you're even talking about." The blonde then turned his attention back to the wild man and slowly explained, "Listen, we got separated from our friends. Have you seen them?" When the wild man grunted in confusion, Ventus slowly repeated, "Friends."
"Friends," the wild man repeated after Ven, making some of the same motions that the blonde did when he said the word.
"Right, our friends," Sora exclaimed happily, thinking the man understood that time. "There's two of 'em. The loud one is Dona-."
While their wild friend had to let out a grunt of confusion once again, Ventus was not confused at all as to why Sora stopped short when he was about to mention Donald. Clearly, the boy was still upset with Donald for trying to leave their current location without looking for Riku and Kairi, but Ven was not going to let that stop them from finding their missing teammates. "Two of our friends are Donald and Goofy, and we need to find them quickly."
"I'm also looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi," Sora quickly added.
"Look for Donald. Look for Goofy, friends," the wild man repeated.
"That's right," Ventus nodded.
The wild man then turned to Sora and asked, "Look for Riku, friends?"
"Right," Sora nodded. He was about to say something else when something suddenly caught his attention out of the corner of his eye from behind the man. Turning a little to try and see better, Sora let out a silent gasp when he caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Kairi. At least, he was pretty sure it was her, but from his current distance and the glare of the sun shining through the window, he was not entirely sure he was seeing right.
"Kairi, friends," the wild man suddenly asked.
"Uhh…right," Sora nodded absently before turning back to where he thought he saw the girl in question, much to Ven's confusion. When the blonde turned to where Sora was looking, that confusion grew a little more since he did not see anything there at all. Sora on the other hand was now sure that he saw something there, and he was certain that it was Kairi, because a minute after fixing his gaze on her, she seemed to turn and walk towards the door behind the wild man. When Sora moved to look around the other side of the wild man though, he was shocked to see that the girl had vanished into thin air.
"Friends here," the wild man grunted.
"Really," Sora gasped excitedly, thinking that the man had seen Riku and Kairi along with the rest of their team.
"Do you know where they are," Ventus asked, assuming the same as Sora.
"Ee-oo-oo-oo-ah," the wild man grunted, earning confused looks from both Keyblade Wielders. "Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah. Friends here."
"Did you understand that," Sora asked Ventus, completely lost.
"Nope, but if he can help us find the others and your friends, we might as well see if he can lead us to them," Ventus replied to the boy, before turning his attention back to the wild man. "Please, show us where our friends are."
The wild man nodded with a smile before he gestured to himself and said, "Tarzan. Tarzan go."
It did not take a lot to figure out what that meant, and Sora instantly said, "I'm Sora."
"And I'm Ven," the blonde quickly added, thinking it would be better to just go ahead and give his nickname, since giving that and his full name like he normally did would probably confuse Tarzan a little. "Tarzan go, Sora and Ven go."
The minute that Ventus had said that, Tarzan nodded in response and bounded out of the tree house on all fours, exactly like a gorilla would, with both Keyblade Wielders right behind him. By the time they had reached the deck that wrapped around the house, Tarzan had already leapt over the railing, onto the safety netting below, and approached one of the nearest branches before looking back up at the two expectantly. After exchanging a glance with each other, Sora and Ventus just shrugged and followed after him, only to gasp in horror when they saw Tarzan jump down into the trees. Their horror was quickly absolved into awe when they saw him easily land on one of the many, large branches and actually slide down them like he was a surfer riding a wave.
"Don't suppose you've ever done something like that, have you," Sora asked Ven.
"Uh…nope; that's a new one for me too," Ventus admitted. "But considering my Keyblade Glider is a waveboard, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out."
With that said, the Keyblade Master was following after Tarzan, and though his start was a little shaky, he too was soon surfing along the tree branches with similar ease. Sora could only stare in awe at this new development before he steeled himself and jumped down as well, screaming a little in fright as he surfed the branches uncontrollably at first. After a few minutes though, his screams turned to excited laughter, as he started jumping up and flipping through the air before landing back on the branch again, or even a different one, almost like he had been doing something like that all his life. When they saw this, Tarzan could not help but grin widely at how well Sora seemed to be doing at one of his usual methods of travel, while Ven just smirked at how his apprentice was able to cut loose and have so much fun when he had been in such a sour mood just a moment ago.
Their jungle trek only got all the more wild when Tarzan leapt off the branch he was surfing on and began swinging on the vines while letting out a very unforgettable yell, and the way that the jungle man switched from vine swinging to branch surfing just made it even more apparent how at home this man was in the jungle than his choice of clothing did. In a way, it was very amazing, and Sora and Ven could not help but smile at the sight of it. That did not mean they were going to join in on the vine swinging right away though, but Ventus still felt the need to shout a warning for Sora to not think about trying just to be on the safe side, much to the boy's slight irritation.
The crazy antics that Sora would be likely to try after watching Tarzan was not the only thing that had Ven worried though, because he was a bit concerned about other things regarding Sora at the moment. Yes, his recent fallout with Donald was likely going to be a problem in the near future, but Ventus was a bit more concerned about how Sora had been acting back in the tree house while they were talking with Tarzan, namely with the way it had seemed like Sora had been staring at something that neither he nor the ape man were able to see or sense. Granted, he would likely have passed it off as Sora just imagining things due to a trick of the light or something, but given what he knew about the boy and what he was unknowingly carrying inside of him, Ven was not so sure if it was just that. When you added in the fact that the thing that Sora had been looking at seemed to have garnered just about all of his attention, you could see easily why Ven was already making plans to talk with Sora later to see if there was a reason for such odd behavior. Those plans would come after they met up with the others of course, and found out what Tarzan was trying to tell them.
Their rather exciting jungle trek soon came to an end when Tarzan finally landed in the midst of a camp, and from a few glances of the area, anyone would be able to tell that the person said camp belonged to was likely a scientist of some kind, what with all the research equipment and piles of books that were scattered about everywhere. In addition to this, the two could also see that there were a few other items that were typical for people who came from civilization, such as silverware, a washboard for clothes, and other similar items. The thing that caught Ven's eye though was the fact that there was also a typewriter on one of the nearby tables as well, something he had not really seen in quite a few years, indicating that this world's level of technology was likely very far behind what he was used to. Tarzan did not really seem to pay much mind to his surroundings, but instead, simply headed towards the tent in the middle of the camp, indicating that he had been here a few times before and probably knew who was staying here, and Sora and Ven were both following after him as fast as they could.
Upon entering the tent, the three were greeted with the sight of a young woman with long, brown hair, decked out in a faded, white tank top, and a long, red skirt that reached just above her ankles. It was a little hard to see what she was working on at the moment, but whatever it was, she quickly put it aside when Tarzan announced their presence to her. "Jane," the ape man called.
The woman seemed to perk up a little and immediately turned around to face him as she exclaimed, "Tarzan!" Clearly, this Jane was very close to Tarzan, since she seemed excited to see him, right to the point where she would have missed seeing Ven and Sora completely had they not been standing right next to him. "Oh, and who's this?"
"Uh, hi there," Sora hesitantly waved. "I'm-."
"Oh, you speak English! So, then, obviously, you're not related to Tarzan," Jane interrupted with a small smile of relief. Ven quirked an eyebrow at that, confused as to why she would have such a reaction, when Jane suddenly turned to him and asked, "Are you and this boy together, sir?"
"Yes, Miss Jane. He's with me. My name's Ventus, and this is my apprentice, Sora, but you can call me Ven," the blonde nodded.
"A pleasure to meet you, Ven, and please, call me Jane," the woman nodded in reply. "So, are you and your apprentice here to study the gorillas?"
"Highly doubtful," a new voice interrupted from behind the three recent arrivals. Turning around, all four of the tent's current occupants saw a tall man with thinning hair, a pencil-thin mustache, and dressed in what could only be described as hunting attire enter the tent, with his rifle held at the ready. The thing that had caught the attention of the two Keyblade Wielders though was the pair of individuals he was escorting into the tent.
"Sora! Ven," Goofy exclaimed excitedly as the two raced out from behind the hunter.
"Goofy! Donald," the two Keyblade Wielders cheered in relief, glad to see that their friends were alright, at least until Sora and Donald were about to hug each other. At that point, the two remembered their earlier argument and immediately jumped back to turn away from one another in a huff with their arms crossed, much to Goofy and Ven's disappointment.
"A circus of clowns," the hunter scoffed in a slightly mocking voice as he turned to leave. "Not much use for hunting gorillas."
"Mister Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them. This is research," Jane protested after the man's retreating form, but it did not seem that Clayton was really paying her that much mind. The sigh of tiredness that followed from Jane a moment later indicated that she had likely had this conversation with Clayton many times before, but she quickly shook it off before returning her attention to her newest guests and said, "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."
"Thank you," Ventus nodded on behalf of his group, while throwing a small look to Donald and Sora to indicate that they should try to behave themselves in their present company. The two either did not notice or just ignored him though, as they continued to glare away from one other like a pair of angry, small children, prompting him to say, "Sorry about those two. You see, we're actually a group of travelers, and we're looking for some missing friends of ours. Donald and Sora had a small disagreement on what direction we should take our search and, well…now we're sort of stuck here for the moment."
"Oh dear. Well, I certainly hope you won't be stranded for too long," Jane gasped.
"Thanks, but I'm not too worried about our transport. We've got the best mechanics I know of working to fix it up. In the meantime, Goofy and I have to work on fixing…well, that," Ven reassured Jane before he indicated the two, arguing friends.
"Well, anyway…" Sora started to say, only to end up saying the exact same thing that Donald did when the duck spoke up again.
"I'm staying," the duck announced right along with Sora, surprising both Keyblade Wielders.
Once that surprise had faded, Sora's face seemed to brighten up just slightly, indicating that the boy thought this meant that Donald had come around to his way of thinking, but Ventus on the other hand was certain that was not the case. Having known Donald far longer than his apprentice, Ven knew that when the sorcerer was in a mindset like his current one, he would only make a decision like that if it tied into whatever he had set his mind to, which could only mean that he and Goofy had found something relating to Mickey at some point during their separation from him and Sora. As much as he did not want to disappoint Sora with this fact, Ventus knew that the boy should know the truth about this matter before his hopes got up too high, and that was why he immediately looked to Goofy and said, "I'm guessing you guys found something relating to King Mickey?"
"Yep. Lookie here," Goofy nodded happily as he held out his hand to show Ven what he was holding in it, deflating Sora's rising spirits a little as he did.
His curiosity, on the other hand, did not drop quite as rapidly as his spirits did, because Sora was still interested in learning about the strange block that Goofy was holding out for them all to see, and it certainly looked very familiar to him. "Hey, is that another gummi block," Sora asked.
"Yeah, it is," Ventus confirmed as he looked it over. "And given how refined this block looks in comparison to ones that you normally find lying around on a world, I'd say that this was one that someone else had found first."
"So that means…"
"The king could be here," Donald finished for Sora while leveling the boy with a small look. "So we've gotta work together to look for him. For now."
Sora just glared back at the duck for a minute before he said, "Fine. I'll let you tag along. For now."
Ventus and Goofy both looked between the two quarrelling friends before they both let out tired sighs at the two's behavior. There was no doubt in either of their minds that Sora and Donald would likely be at each other's throats for a while, so for now, aside from trying to get the two to resolve things, they could only hope that they would not let their disagreement get in the way of their teamwork when they got into a fight. Yes, they had not encountered any Heartless yet, but considering their luck so far, there was a pretty strong guarantee that they were going to deal with the creatures of darkness sooner or later.
They were all reminded of their current location and company when Tarzan suddenly came over and sniffed Donald and Goofy for a minute, much to the two's surprise and confusion. Seeing this action immediately reminded Ven of the fact that they had not properly introduced their two friends to Tarzan yet, so he immediately stepped in and said, "Tarzan, these are two of our friends, Donald and Goofy."
"Donald and Goofy, friends," Tarzan parroted with a small grunt as he glanced between the two, who both nodded in reply to confirm this.
After hearing Tarzan speak like this so much and seeing how he acted, Sora decided that he needed to know a bit about the reasoning behind that once and for all and immediately looked to the only person around who was likely to have an answer that they could understand: Jane. "Hey, how come Tarzan acts like that, and why does it seem like he has a hard time understanding us," the boy inquired.
"Apparently Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas. Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he's learning," Jane revealed.
"So he was speaking in 'gorilla' before," Ventus asked, having overheard the conversation.
"That's right. It's a little odd, I know, but we're doing our best to help him understand English as best as possible," Jane confirmed.
"Maybe that's why he brought us here. He figured you could help us understand what he was trying to tell me and Sora before when we asked him for help in finding Sora's other friends, or that you could help him understand what we were trying to ask him," Ventus reasoned out.
"I suppose that would make sense, but it seems like you were able to understand one and other rather well," Jane pointed out.
"Well, I don't know about that," Sora disputed. "He said that Riku and Kairi are here, and one word that we couldn't understand."
Jane let a small hum of thought at that before turning to the device she was working on before. An instant later, her eyes seemed to light up with a stroke of inspiration, and she immediately offered, "Why don't we try this? We can show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word."
It was at this point that Ven finally realized that the device was an old slide projector, and he had to admit, the idea was a very clever one, but before that, he felt that they should try something else first. "Hey Sora, do you happen to have a picture of Riku and Kairi on you? Maybe if we show that to Tarzan he can tell us whether or not they are here for sure."
Like Jane's suggestion, Ventus' idea was good, but unfortunately, they were not able to follow through with it as Sora revealed, "I wish I did have one, to be honest, but any pictures I have of the three of us were back in my room on my island when…well, you know."
Ven, Donald, and Goofy all knew what Sora meant by that, and that part of the reason why he was not saying the exact words aloud was because of the fact that Jane and Tarzan were still standing right next to them, so they did not push him on that. Still, that did not mean they could not use Ven's idea at all, as Goofy did happen to have a picture of him, Donald, and Mickey on him that Ventus could show to Tarzan. After thanking Goofy for letting him borrow the photo, Ventus immediately walked over to Tarzan to show him the picture and asked if the ape man had seen the mouse king. After staring at the picture for a minute, Tarzan slowly shook his head with a sad face, telling them that he had not seen Mickey. It was disappointing to hear, but they all had to remember that just because one person had not seen their friend, it did not mean that he was not here, or that he had not been here at all. Besides that, they still had one other lead to follow, so they all quickly set to work helping Jane to set up the slide projector in an attempt to help discover what Tarzan had been trying to say to Sora and Ventus before.
Getting the projector ready was something that the team ended up leaving to Jane, since she actually knew what she was doing with the thing, but they were still more than happy to gather the actual slides for her. The only downside was that the entire time they were gathering up the slides, Sora and Donald flatly refused to so much as look at one another for more than necessary, or even a few minutes, and Ven and Goofy both overheard the two grumbling something about each other under their breathes every time they thought that they could not be overheard. Then again, Ventus had a strong feeling that the two were not really trying to keep from being overheard, because their grumblings were normally loud enough for someone to hear from a short distance away. This was just as much of a worry for Goofy as it was a taxing annoyance for Ven, as the royal knight really did not like it when his friends were fighting with each other, so the two both made a silent pact to do whatever they could to resolve the matter as soon as possible. They would have to do it after helping Tarzan figure out the English version of what he was trying to say to Sora and Ventus though, because right now, finding that out so that they could track down Riku and Kairi took priority.
After they had everything set up, Tarzan's attention was fully locked on the images being projected on the makeshift screen, looking for an image of what he was trying to say to the two Keybearers. About halfway through, it did not seem like Tarzan was seeing anything that resembled what he was trying to say, but when the image of a strange looking castle tower came up, Ventus could not help but note how similar it looked to the castle of Radiant Garden with a fond, nostalgic smile. That smile was quickly wiped away when he noticed Sora staring rather intently at the image as well, and from the way he was doing so, it seemed almost as though he were recalling something significant as well about the image. After another few seconds of seeing him stare at it, the others began to take notice of the boy's staring as well, and Ventus decided that he should try and get Sora's attention.
"Sora is something wrong," Ven asked.
"What? Um…No, nothing," Sora jumped, coming out of his sudden state of daze. Needless to say, Ven did not buy that for a minute, and Sora could tell by the look on his face, so he let out a reluctant sigh and said, "Sorry. It's just that…that place looks so familiar, but I don't know how. I've never been off my island before I met you guys."
Ventus had a pretty good idea that he knew why Sora felt that way. Since Sora was carrying the heart of a certain Princess of Heart inside of him, one who had previously come from Radiant Garden, Ven could only assume that said person's heart had made the same connection to that world from the picture that he had. Knowing this worried Ventus a little, as it seemed to indicate that said heart was starting to have a certain effect on Sora, aside from the effect that the person it belonged to normally had, and if anything else like that happened, Ven was sure that he would have to tell Sora about the fact he was carrying that heart inside of him sooner rather than later. Even so, now was not the time to be giving such revelations, and one such feeling was not really much of a reason for Ventus to suspect anything just yet, so he simply shrugged at Sora and returned his attention to the slideshow, only to discover that it had already finished without them realizing it.
"Well, Tarzan," Jane asked, turning to the ape man.
"Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi," Sora asked, drawing Tarzan's attention to him.
Tarzan just stared at Sora for a minute before he shook his head at the boy, but whether or not he was saying that he had not seen anything that would help translate what he was saying, or if it was something else, no one could really tell. One thing that was certain was that Sora was starting to get a little anxious about dealing with the wild man. Before anyone could ask any other questions though, Clayton suddenly came in and announced, "That leaves just one place. Young man, we've been in this jungle for some time now, but we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas."
"Why exactly would you think that Sora's friends would be with the gorillas," Ventus questioned, his gaze suspicious as he studied the hunter.
"Your guess would be as good as mine, dear sir, but if they are, we have a problem of reaching them. You see, Tarzan can lead us to the gorillas, but he refuses to take us to them," Clayton shrugged, clearly trying to play innocent as he leveled a small glare at Tarzan.
"Really, Mister Clayton," Jane chuckled, clearly finding such an idea absurd in her opinion. "Tarzan wouldn't hide-."
"Then take us there," Clayton interrupted as he addressed Tarzan. "Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las."
Tarzan turned towards Sora, who was looking at him with a pleading gaze, silently begging him to do as he was being asked if it meant he could find his friends. Sensing his new friend's worry and desperation to find his missing friends, Tarzan found he could not ignore such a plea, and more than that, as he glanced around at the rest of Sora's group, he could also sense nothing but good intentions from them all, so in the end, he nodded in agreement with this request, surprising everyone, but it seemed that no one was more surprised than Jane.
"Tarzan…are you sure," Jane asked.
"Tarzan go see Kerchak," Tarzan stated.
"Kerchak? Who's Kerchak," Ventus asked in confusion.
"I think it should be clear, sir. This Kerchak must be the leader," Clayton offered. He then let out a small grin as he then said, "I'll go along with you as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."
Seeing that grin of Clayton's set off more than a few warning bells for the entire team, and as such, Ventus immediately said, "We appreciate the offer, Clayton, but I think we'll be fine on our own. If the jungle is so dangerous, you would probably be better off staying here to protect Jane and the camp."
"Yeah, we don't need any protection. We can handle ourselves just fine," Donald huffed in agreement.
Clayton's grin instantly dropped at that, but he did not quite let his smile disappear completely before he nodded in understanding with the two and stepped back out of the tent, leaving everyone else to get ready for their departure to see this Kerchak. Tarzan informed them that he would be ready to leave whenever the team was, and once they were left on their own, Goofy took the chance to point out something that had been bugging him for a while now. "Hey uh, don't you think it's weird that we haven't seen any Heartless yet," the knight quietly asked.
"Darkness may exist in every world in some way, but that does not necessarily mean that we'll find the Heartless in every world. More importantly, even if we don't find any Heartless in each world we encounter, we should still find and seal the Keyhole of that world so that if they ever do show up, they won't be able to consume the world's heart," Ventus explained.
"But what about the king," Donald asked.
"Or Riku and Kairi," Sora added in, drawing him into another glaring match with Donald.
"Look, I want to find all of our friends as much as you guys do, but we do still have other jobs that are just as important to carry out, if not more so. Sometimes, we have to put the needs of others ahead of our own, especially when dealing with such a major threat like the Heartless, otherwise, we might as well doom all the worlds to darkness," Ventus reasoned. His attempt to do so did seem to sober the sour moods of the two up a little, but they still turned away from each other in a huff before leaving the tent as well and heading over to where Tarzan was, drawing a tired sigh from Ventus. "I wonder if Master Eraqus ever had days like this when he was training me, Aqua, and Terra."
"Gawrsh, you don't think that they'll be arguing like that forever, do ya," Goofy asked.
"I don't think so, Goofy," Ventus reassured his friend. "Really, I think the problem stems from the fact that those two are more alike than they seem to realize at the moment. They both know that they have an important job to do, but after going so long without even the slightest clue on where either of their friends are, they've become too desperate to remember that our mission goes beyond just finding said friends. Donald wants to do whatever it takes to find Mickey, and Sora's the same in regards to Riku and Kairi. The fact that they're each trying to find people so important to them while the other is trying just as hard is what's really causing them to clash while making it hard for them realize the real reason as to why they're fighting."
Goofy could not help but hum in thought about what Ventus said, and after a minute of thinking, he offered, "Well, maybe if they heard about it from someone besides us, they'd be able to realize that a little more easily."
Ventus was about to dismiss Goofy's idea, until he realized just what the knight was suggesting and quickly found an excited smile reaching his face. "Goofy, you're a genius," Ventus praised. "I'll talk with Donald. You take Sora."
"Yes sir," Goofy saluted in reply, and they immediately raced off to join the rest of their friends in their jungle trek to wherever the gorillas were at the moment.
The team's journey to see Kerchak was relatively peaceful, save for the continued tension between Sora and Donald, and as they went, they could not help but marvel at the natural wonders of Tarzan's home. From the trees that towered to incredible heights, to the various animal-life that crossed their paths every now and again, and even the occasional round of vine swinging they found themselves having to do in order to keep up with Tarzan all had the four gasping and smiling in awe for some time. This peaceful journey also gave Ventus and Goofy the opportunity they needed to speak with their respective targets, and neither of them wasted any time in doing so.
Ventus was the first to do so, as evidenced by how he immediately approached Donald and asked, "How long do you plan on continuing with your current attitude towards Sora?"
Donald only response was to huff, "Like I told Goofy: who needs him? We can find King Mickey without Sora anyway."
"You do know that, for one thing, you'd be going against Mickey's orders if you were to go off without him, right," Ventus asked. When he received no response from the magician, he pressed on and said, "Donald, I get that you want to find Mickey, really, but you have to remember that we're not the only ones looking for a missing friend. Sora is too, and he's actually looking for two of them. He does want to help us find Mickey, but he wants to find his best friends even more, never mind the fact that he's never actually met Mickey before, so you can't really expect him to be as concerned about that as you are. Can you really tell me that you wouldn't drop everything for even the smallest clue that indicates Mickey is okay, just like how Sora would if he found a hint to show his best friends are?"
Donald did not have an answer for that, but Ventus could see that his resolve was faltering a little, which meant that he was likely getting through to him. "But still, King Mickey is important," Donald weakly defended.
"I know that, just like I know how he's also yours and Goofy's best friend. Whether you believe it or not, Sora knows that too, but you need to try to remember that Sora has two best friends missing and one of them is the girl he's clearly in love with."
"How do you know that?"
"You can just tell by the way the kid talks about Kairi," Ventus shrugged in response. "Just think about it, alright? After all, you'd be the same way if you were in his shoes."
Donald said nothing for a moment until he finally just nodded in response and continued on with their trek. Meanwhile, further up, Goofy was having a very similar conversation with Sora, and from what Ventus could see and hear, it looked like he was getting through to the younger Keyblade Wielder just like he was with Donald. In fact, Ventus was pretty sure that Goofy had probably done a better job getting through to Sora than he had with Donald, because while Goofy may be…well, goofy, he was also incredibly wise when it comes to the things that matter most. These thoughts seemed to help Ventus relax a little more when it seemed that they finally reached their destination.
Looking up into the trees, the four could easily spot a large gorilla with black fur and a bit of a mean look on his face looking down at them, but underneath that glare, they could also see a burning determination to protect what was important to him, easily indicating that said gorilla was Kerchak, even without hearing Tarzan speak with him. Of course, everything that was being said between Tarzan and Kerchak was all being said in gorilla, so none of the four could understand a word that was being said, much to some of their frustrations. Thankfully, they were able to pick up a few different cues that gave them some idea of the concept of what was being said, more so from Tarzan, and from what they could tell, it looked like Tarzan was practically begging Kerchak to let him help them. The ape man's pleas did not seem to be well received, as Kerchak just stood there looking down with an unchanging, even expression, and his gaze did not waver from the group until he suddenly looked off to somewhere in the distance and then moved away in a hurry. When they saw Tarzan's shoulders fall in dismay, the team could only assume that meant that he had failed, but then they started to think about why Kerchak had left in the first place, and the answers they were coming up with were not very pleasant.
"He seemed sorta distracted by something," Goofy finally noted aloud.
"Maybe…but I think it was more like concerned. Almost as though he could sense something was wrong," Ventus mused.
"Hey, was it just me, or did it seem like he was looking towards the tree house," Sora asked.
"Tree house? What tree house," Donald asked.
"The one that Ven and I crashed down into when we landed," Sora explained. "Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that even without the route we took with Tarzan, it was pretty close to the camp. Do you think that maybe…"
"Only one way to find out," Ventus answered. He looked over to Tarzan to ask if the ape man could show them the fastest way back to the tree house, only to find that he was already a few steps ahead of the blonde and was urgently waving for the group to follow him, which they were all more than happy to do.
The group turned out to be right in their decision to see if something was wrong back at the tree house, because the minute they had arrived, they instantly spotted Clayton aiming his gun at a gorilla who had wandered inside; the very same gorilla that Donald and Goofy had encountered when they first landed in the jungle. Upon realizing this and what Clayton was intending to do, Donald immediately dashed in to intervene, startling the hunter just as he was about to fire, and alerting the gorilla just in time for her to take cover. This was good news of course, and the four were quick to make sure that Clayton was prevented from making any other threatening moves towards the gorilla, which Tarzan identified as his friend, Terk, but unfortunately, Kerchak saw the whole thing, and from what everyone could tell, it did not look like the lead gorilla was going to be doing Tarzan and his new friends any favors anytime soon. With nothing left for them to do, the team just elected to drag Clayton back to the camp so that they could keep him from doing any more harm than he already had.
Even after they had returned, Clayton continued to insist that he had been aiming for a snake that had slithered past Terk and he had simply been attempting to save her life, but the defense was so poor that the only way any of the group would have believed him would have been if they had all been born yesterday. Needless to say, when she heard about the incident, Jane was just as furious. "How could you do such a thing," Jane demanded of the hunter.
"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla," Clayton started to say once again.
"Yeah, yeah, spare us the act, Clayton," Ventus scoffed. "Even a rank amateur could've been able to tell that wasn't the case."
Before Clayton could retort to Ven's comment, Jane stepped in and stated with total finality, "You are not to go near the gorillas again, Mister Clayton!"
"All because of one mishap? Come, now," Clayton chuckled, but his smile immediately faltered when he saw that everyone else present was leveling him with a distrusting glare, silently daring him to keep pushing his luck. Seeing as Clayton was not that great of a fool, he wisely backed out of the tent and beat a hasty retreat before anyone decided that they were not too fond of this more peaceful solution, though some of them could still him grumbling under his breath about them all being imbeciles.
Once he was gone, nearly everyone let out a tired sigh and started wondering what they should all do next, though the latter of those things was mostly focused around Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy. Thinking that they should check in with their ship's engineers, Ventus took it upon himself to step out of the tent and call Chip and Dale in order to see how far along they were in fixing the ship, but not before asking Goofy to keep an eye on Donald and Sora, just to make sure that the two did not start fighting again. If you were to ask Goofy though, that precaution may not have been entirely necessary, seeing as the two had long since ceased arguing and glaring at one another, and now, they were just shooting unsure looks between themselves. Clearly they were still thinking about what Goofy and Ventus had told them, and if Goofy had to guess, he would say that they were now trying to figure out how to approach the other person so that they could attempt to talk things out. Donald's intervention earlier surely helped put a few things in perspective for them both, but everything up until now was still weighing heavily on the two's minds and left them unsure of what to do now. Even after Ventus came back and reported that the ship was still going to take a little more time, Donald and Sora had not said anything to each other, or even moved beyond casting an unsure look in each other's direction. Seeing this started to make Ven think that he and Goofy would have to intervene again, but all such thoughts were cast aside when they all heard the sound of a gunshot ringing through the air.
"Now what," Ventus groaned as the team raced back out of the tent, only to join his friends in skidding to a halt as they gasped in horror at what was now before them.
"Heartless," Sora shouted in horror.
Indeed, just a short ways from the entrance to the camp, was a group of Heartless surrounding a gorilla, but these Heartless were different from the ones that the team had encountered so far. Like the Soldier Heartless that they had encountered in Traverse Town, the Guard Armor, and the Trickmaster, these Heartless all had the heart-shaped emblem on their chests, but the main difference they saw was that these new Heartless were practically designed to fight in a jungle setting. The main thing that made it seem like that was the fact that they were very similar in appearance to large monkeys, even with the black claws on their large paws and feet, and they were all jumping and swinging around the area said gorilla was in like the animal they shared an appearance with. Whatever the case though, it did not matter, because they still needed to be dealt with, and the four friends were more than happy to jump into action, with Tarzan following close behind them.
The fight took a bit longer than the team would have liked, seeing as these new Heartless tended to be able to jump much higher than the ones they had encountered up until now, but they were all very quick to adapt their fighting styles with a little help from their jungle-native friend in order to show that they were not monkeying around. At one point though, one of the Heartless slipped past and was about to pounce on Donald, but a quick slide allowed across the ground allowed Sora to intervene just in time to kick the creature of darkness away long enough for them both to finish it off with a quick blast of fire. After destroying said Heartless, Donald gave a quick nod of thanks to the wielder of Kingdom Key, which Sora returned with a nod of his own before they both joined the others.
"What were those things," Jane gasped.
"They're called Heartless; dangerous creatures that prey on the hearts of others out of nothing more than basic, animal instinct in an attempt to plunge others into darkness," Ventus answered, seeing no other way to put it. "Our weapons are some of the only things that stand a great chance of destroying them before they can do any harm, but from what we could tell, it did not seem like there was anything to draw them here, let alone entirely new Heartless."
"You mean, you don't know about them," Goofy asked.
"Hey, you can't expect me to know about every single Heartless in existence, can you," Ventus pointed out, getting conceding shrugs from his friends in response.
At that point, Sora turned to where their resident chronicler was nestled in his jacket and asked, "Hey Jiminy, do you know what they're called?"
"Give me a minute. I'm checking my journal for some notes about them right now," Jiminy said as he hopped up onto Sora's shoulder. After flipping through a few pages of his journal, he finally said, "Sorry, but it doesn't look like the king had any notes on this kind of Heartless, at least not from what I can see of the notes I grabbed before we left."
"Well whatever the case, it doesn't matter what they're called. The fact that the Heartless are here at all does," Ventus pointed out.
"But why are they here now," Donald asked.
No one had an answer for that, and they did not have time to really think of one either, as they all heard yet another gunshot ring out from the nearby thicket of bamboo trees, which immediately told them that Clayton could be in trouble, or that he was causing some trouble. Whatever the case was, they could not just stand around thinking when the Heartless could be causing more problems than they already had, so they immediately raced off to help the hunter after telling Jane to get back into the tent and stay there until they returned. They did not have to go very far before they found something that proved itself to be a bad sign.
There, atop a small boulder in the middle of a clearing in the bamboo thicket, they were quick to spot Clayton's pipe, simply laying there like it had been discarded, but the real question was had it been left there on purpose so that they could have a way to find him, or was it dropped by accident just before something had taken him. Everyone could only hope that it was the former, but their musings were quickly disturbed when something suddenly jumped out of the thicket and pounced on Sora, startling them all. Thankfully, it was not another Heartless, but unfortunately, it was still just as bad, because the attacker in question was Sabor the leopard, back for another round with the Keyblade Wielder, and even though he was doing an admirable job of holding the leopard back with his Keyblade, Sora was still struggling to keep that way.
"Sora! Hang on," Donald shouted in a panic, and he immediately threw a fire spell at the leopard with a flick of his staff, blasting Sabor off of the boy easily. Sora was then quick to jump back to his feet and charge in with Keyblade swinging, while Donald fell in step behind him along with Tarzan, each with their respective weapons ready.
Goofy was about to join in as well, when Ventus held up a hand to stop him and said, "Wait. I think we should let them handle this."
Any protests that Goofy had died in his throat when he realized what Ventus was doing by letting Sora, Donald, and Tarzan fight this battle without the two of them, and just simply stood down as requested, but he kept his shield ready just in case Ven decided that they should join in. Seeing that the other two were not joining the fight made Sabor think that they were now easy prey, and the leopard immediately turned to charge at them, but Donald immediately jumped in to hold Sabor back with his staff, giving Sora the chance to repay Donald for his earlier assistance by blasting Sabor with a fire spell of his own. This placed the leopard within Tarzan's striking range, and the ape man was quick to capitalize on the chance by lunging at the leopard with his spear ready to impale Sabor. Even though the spear did not meet its intended target, it did still injure Sabor, making the leopard unable to put up as much of a fight as he did before, and that gave Sora and Donald an opening to let loose with another barrage of fire spells.
The two kept up their barrage of fire spells, peppering Sabor with little rest, until Tarzan lunged into the fight once more, with his spear ready and aimed directly at the leopard. When the ape man and leopard collided with one another, the other four could only watch with baited breathes in the hopes that Tarzan would come out on top in this struggle, until finally, Tarzan shoved Sabor off both him and his spear. When Ventus looked to the weapon made of a stick and a sharp stone, he could see that the tip of Tarzan's spear had a fair amount of blood on it, indicating that Tarzan had hit his mark, and turning to Sabor confirmed this, because the leopard in question was swaying and stumbling on his feet as he continued to glare, albeit weakly, at his would-be-prey. After a couple more minutes of this, Sabor finally fell to the ground, dead, and everyone let out a sigh of relief at this. Tarzan looked to his new friends happily, thankful for their assistance in defeating Sabor, before he glared over at the leopard and then lifted it over his head as he let out a powerful yell that was unlike anything any of them had ever heard before, but still sounded incredibly powerful, like it was something that only one who had experienced the things that Tarzan had could really call their own.
The other two combatants on the other hand, were not quite as celebratory as Tarzan was at the moment, as they were too busy exchanging unsure glances at one another once again. At least they were, until Donald finally said, "Good job, Sora."
"Yeah, uh…Thanks, and thanks for saving me back there, Donald," Sora shrugged just as awkwardly, but it was still clear that they both meant every word and feeling behind their statements, and that was enough to make Ventus and Goofy smile a little.
All smiles and celebrations ended very quickly though, when they all heard screaming echoing through the air nearby, and it seemed like Tarzan recognized that particular scream, because he was instantly racing back towards the camp after throwing Sabor's dead body aside. The team immediately followed him, and soon found themselves back at the camp, only to find more Heartless around the area, and no sign of Jane anywhere. While Tarzan went over to the tent to see if he could find anything that would indicate where she went, the rest of the group set to work on dealing with the monkey-like Heartless, which Jiminy had now dubbed as Powerwilds after logging some information about them in his journal. When the area had been cleared, the four soon joined Tarzan in the tent, only to find no clue as to where Jane was, at least, none that they could see.
Tarzan on the other hand did find something. "Jane, danger. Jane near…Near tree house," the ape man reported.
"Then let's go save her," Donald declared.
"Yeah," Sora nodded, and the two then lead the charge along with Tarzan out of the tent and in the direction of the tree house with Goofy hot on their heels.
Ventus would have followed after them just as quickly, but had to pause for a second when he noticed a particular page of notes among the various piles of books in the camp that seemed to stand out a little. After carefully removing the page from the pile, Ventus looked it over for a minute and let out a small gasp when he realized what it was: a page from Ansem's reports on the Heartless. Reaching this conclusion, Ventus could not help but look around to see if he could somehow spot anything that would indicate how the page had ended up all the way out in this world, even though he knew that he probably would not see anything. Once he confirmed this, Ventus quickly pocketed the page and then turned to race after the others, hoping to catch up with them before they got too far ahead, and leaving the bigger mysteries for later as he did.
Finding Jane proved to be little trouble, especially with Tarzan leading the tracking efforts, though the four were a little unsettled by how it seemed like he was tracking her by following her scent. Of course, it was not until after they found Jane and liberated her from her Heartless captors that they found out that she was not the one who was in the most danger. It turned out that shortly after they had left, Terk had come racing into the tent looking for help because the gorillas were all trapped, and she had gone to look for help, thinking that Tarzan was at the camp. Just after Terk had arrived though, Clayton came to the tent, but what had happened afterwards, Jane could not remember. They all had a pretty good idea what that meant though, and Tarzan did not hesitate to accept the team's help when they offered it. That was his family that was in danger after all, and Tarzan was willing to do anything to help them, even if it meant he would be going against the wishes and desires of some of them to help them.
With their goal now firmly set for them, they all set off for the gorilla nesting grounds as quickly as they could, with Tarzan and Terk leading the way, and they did not let anything stand in their way, be it nature or the Heartless. They did stop every now and again when they found a gorilla surrounded by Powerwilds, another variety of monkey-like Heartless that they dubbed Bouncywilds, or even just simple Shadow Heartless, but for the most part, they were racing through the jungle nonstop until they finally reached a specific part of the jungle where the gorillas were all gathered around, many cowering in fear of the various Heartless that were invading their domain. From what they could see, it seemed that Kerchak had tried to fight them off, but he had been subdued at some point earlier, and was now at the mercy of the hunter that was leading the creatures of darkness.
"NO," Sora shouted as he ran into the area, right at the moment when Ventus tossed his Keyblade at the various Powerwilds that were holding Kerchak down, freeing the large leading gorilla, while Tarzan stopped Clayton from firing his rifle by tossing his spear into the hunter's path.
"What's the big idea," Donald demanded, but Clayton did not say anything. In fact, the only thing Clayton really did was stare at the group blankly, almost like he did not really care that they were there, or like he was under some sort of trance.
"Clayton," Sora questioned, wondering if the hunter had even heard Donald.
"Not Clayton," Tarzan exclaimed. "Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah! Not Clayton!"
"What does he mean by that," Goofy asked.
"I think it should be obvious," Ventus said, dropping into his battle stance, Keyblade in hand and gaze fixed on Clayton, even as the air suddenly began to distort a little behind him. A minute later, a large amount of the rock wall behind Clayton suddenly broke down like something had smashed through it from the other side, and something eventually began to phase into view behind Clayton as he seemed to lift into the air, revealing what was responsible. "He's been taken over by a Heartless, and a Heartless leader at that."
No one needed Ventus to tell them that this was a Heartless leader before them, since its size was enough of a clue for them, but its appearance was certainly something to note. It held the appearance of a bipedal lizard that resembled a chameleon, with a light green upper body covered in intricate black markings, while its underbody was tan. It had claws on each of its four toes, which were divided into two in the front and two in the back on each foot and hand, along with a prehensile tail that curled up into a spiral behind it, and a white horn that rested atop its snout. With the large, yellow and orange eyes with small black pupils, and short, pointed teeth that lined its mouth, it gave off a very intimidating appearance in everyone's opinion.
"Uh Jiminy, do you have any information on this one," Sora asked as he readied his Keyblade for battle, while Donald and Goofy did the same with their staff and shield, respectively.
The cricket was already flipping through his journal by the time the question was asked, and immediately found the entry he was looking for. "Yep, this fella's called the Stealth Sneak," Jiminy read aloud. "It attacks with kicks, lunges, and can fire energy blasts from its hands and lasers from its eyes. As you've already seen, it can also camouflage itself. It'll also occasionally take on a rider as a means of extra defense, like it's doing with Clayton right now, but a good Thunder spell should allow you to be able to hit it and its rider easily. Another thing that would help is if you were to bombard it with Fire spells."
"Other than that, we should definitely avoid getting hit by anything that Clayton throws at us, unless anyone here suddenly finds getting shot at to be comforting or a healthy habit in anyway," Ventus added with a slight joke at the end, and with this new information in hand, the group was ready for the battle to begin.
At least they thought they were, until Tarzan ended up getting slammed away by the Stealth Sneak after he lunged directly at it. There was no time to check to see if the ape man was unconscious though, as the team was forced to scatter before they were hit by either the Heartless leader of the hunter who was already starting to shoot at them. They continued to evade both the Stealth Sneak and Clayton's gunfire for as long as they could, firing off whatever long-ranged attacks they had when an opportunity presented itself, until finally, Ventus and Sora saw a chance to charge in for a full-on direct assault. The former placed most of his attention on the Heartless, while the latter focused on the hunter riding it, and for a brief moment, it seemed like the two of them would be able to defeat both in one fell swoop. That was not the case, as the Stealth Sneak suddenly clapped its hands together and fired an energy blast that hit Ventus directly while Sora was blown back by the shockwave. Right when the creature was preparing to lunge directly at the Keyblade Apprentice, Donald came to the rescue with a fast-paced fire barrage that had a Blizzard spell mixed in here and there, while Goofy quickly raced over to Ventus so that he could give the master a potion or two to heal his injuries.
"Leave my friends alone, ya big gecko," Donald roared as he raised his staff up to the sky and called down a powerful Thunder spell.
That very spell zapped both the Stealth Sneak and Clayton with several volts of electricity, right to the point where they were both paralyzed where they stood, and gave Sora the chance to jump back to his feet and charge in to finish the two off. The minute he was close enough, Sora jumped into the air and swung his Keyblade downwards on the Stealth Sneak, delivering a powerful blow that was strong enough to knock the Heartless leader out of the action while Clayton was knocked off of where he had been riding it. The two were sure that had been enough to finish off the dangerous Heartless, but they were both shocked to see that it was just knocked unconscious instead of instantly disappearing like the others that they had defeated did.
"Uh, shouldn't it be disappearing now," Sora finally asked as he kept his Keyblade ready, not needing Kingdom Key to tell him that there was still danger in the area.
"Yeah, what's the big idea," Donald asked, not noticing that Clayton was taking aim at him and preparing to fire.
Thankfully, Goofy jumped in just in time to deflect Clayton's shot, saving his friend, while Ventus charged the hunter and knocked him aside with his Keyblade. This did not seem to bother Clayton too much, as he simply stumbled for a minute before absently turning back around to prepare to shoot one of the four once again. "It's Clayton," Ventus shouted as he spun his Keyblade around to deflect the gunfire that said hunter was now sending towards him. "His heart's become tied to the Stealth Sneak. If we want to stop it for good, we need to take them both down."
"Right," the other three nodded, and they all immediately raced over to help Ventus fight the hunter, but Clayton was surprisingly quick in reloading and firing his rifle at them all, and thus they were all unable to get close enough to attack him. Conjuring up a spell to use against Clayton was no easy feat either, as he would always divert his fire to whoever was trying to cast said spell the minute they were about to try.
It seemed that they would ultimately be defeated, until a familiar yell drew everyone's attention away from the fight, just in time to see Tarzan leaping towards Clayton with his spear ready. The hunter was unable to react fast enough to this surprise, and thus, Tarzan was able to land a hard kick easily, knocking Clayton into a nearby rock wall. Tarzan did not stop there though, as he quickly used his spear to knock Clayton's gun out of his hand, which he swiped out of the air and then smashed against the ground before the hunter could start to reach for it again. A solid punch was all it took after that to knock Clayton out of the fight as well, and the hunter seemed to start coming back to his senses again. Sadly, it was too little, too late, because it was at that very same moment that the Stealth Sneak was starting to rise again, only to collapse once more, and right on top of Clayton before it disappeared into the usual dark smoke that all Heartless do when they were destroyed, releasing the heart that was inside of it when it did.
Seeing Clayton meet with such a fate drew sorrowful looks from the entire group, but all the same, they knew that there was nothing they could do to change what had happened to him. After taking a moment of silence for this recent loss of life, the group turned to look around them and realized that the gorillas that they had just saved were all now looking down at them curiously, but after a minute they all noticed that they were actually giving them looks of gratitude. All except for one: Kerchak. The leader of the gorillas was actually approaching the four with an even, neutral look on his face, and Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy were all a bit uneasy about what the large gorilla would do to them. After all, even if they did come to save Kerchak's family, they were still intruding on his territory, and that is something that many animals do not normally take kindly too. When Kerchak was standing directly in front of them, he stared down at the group for a minute or so before he grabbed Sora's shoulder, lifted him up, and tossed him over the ridge that the Stealth Sneak had crashed through just moments ago, followed by Ventus, Donald, and Goofy.
All four members of the team were met with a hard landing on top of the ridge, but they were greeted by a very incredible sight after they stood up and regained their bearings. Before them was a large lake with incredible waterfalls, surrounded by more forest and cliffs that gave off the feeling of being a completely safe haven for anything that was inside of it. Looking to their left, the team could also see a cave that lead into the nearby mountain, and even from where they were standing, they could just feel like the cave was somehow much more welcoming than a dark, damp cave normally felt.
"Tarzan, home," the ape man said as he came up from behind to join them in their admiration of the view. He then waved for them to follow, and began leading everyone into the nearby cave, indicating that what he wanted them to see was inside.
After navigating through the network of caves that Tarzan had lead them to as best as they could, the team found themselves standing before a large tree that seemed to reach out from the base of the cave, through its ceiling, and into the clouds above them, while a faint blue glow, covered by several butterflies emanated from its base directly in front of them. The entire area seemed to be covered in green moss or other forms of greenery that made it a perfect resting place for anyone, and the cool air that they all felt against their skin made it all the more soothing, right to the point that some of them felt like they could just find a nice part of the cave floor to curl up on for a quick nap. Right when Jane and Terk had joined up with them, Tarzan repeated the exact same gorilla word that he had been saying to Ventus and Sora ever since he met them.
"Wait, this is your home? But that means…" Sora started to say, only to pause when Tarzan raised a hand to him asking for quiet before he placed that same hand near his ear to listen better. When they all stopped to listen, they were all shocked to hear the sounds of rushing water that could only have come from one place that they were sure had now been left well behind.
"The waterfalls…They're echoing all the way here," Jane gasped in awe.
"Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah," Tarzan said once again. "Friends there. See friends."
"Oh, now I've got it," Jane exclaimed. "Ee-oo, oo-oo-ah means heart. Friends in our hearts."
Tarzan immediately grunted in confirmation of this before he repeated the word, glad that he finally knew how to say the word in English, but Sora on the other hand was not so happy about this. "Oh, so that's what it meant," the boy said sadly.
"Why are you getting so down, Sora? Tarzan's teaching you an important lesson that everyone needs reminding of every now and then," Ventus revealed to the boy, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Right Tarzan?"
Tarzan grunted in reply with a nod, and then explained, "Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."
Ven's three traveling companions seemed to get the basics of what Tarzan was saying, but the blonde could tell that they still needed a little more than that to truly understand. "What he means is that so long as our friends remain with us in our hearts, we'll never truly be apart from them, and we'll always find our way back to each other, even if it does take a long time."
That got the point through to them, and it also got Sora and Donald to finally say what they had been trying to say to each other for hours now. "Sorry about before, Donald," Sora said.
"I'm sorry too," Donald apologized in return.
"Yeah. All for one, huh," Goofy chuckled happily as he wrapped his two friends in a group hug.
"Definitely," Ventus nodded in agreement, and he then reached into his pocket to pull out a familiar star-shaped charm, which caught Sora's attention the minute he had it in view.
"What's that," the younger Keybearer asked.
"A Wayfinder," Ventus replied. "A special kind of good luck charm. One of a set that my friend, Aqua made for our little circle of friends. I'm sure I don't need to tell you about the legend of the star-shaped fruit, since your home is where it comes from, right Sora?"
Sora immediately nodded and then recited, "When two people share one, their destinies become intertwined, and they'll remain a part of each other's lives forever."
"Exactly," Ventus nodded. "But there are other legends that are connected to that same fruit, one of which actually gave Aqua the idea to make this and the other Wayfinders my friends and I carry. It's said that so long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like the fruit, nothing could ever drive you apart, and you would always find your way back to each other. Technically, you're supposed to use seashells to make them, but Aqua did the best with what she had, and I think that these are much better."
"Yeah, it seems really pretty to me," Goofy admitted, with an agreeing nod from Donald.
"Hey, I think Kairi told me something about that the day when…" Sora started to say, but he immediately trailed off when he realized where that particular statement was going and dropped his head in sadness.
Seeing his friend become depressed like that prompted Donald to walk over and say, "Hey, don't worry, Sora. We'll find them and get you all back home before you know it, just like how we'll find the king sooner or later too."
Sora smiled in response to that, and then turned back to Ventus and asked, "So if you're supposed to make those things with seashells, does that mean yours isn't a real good luck charm?"
"Oh no. It's real all right," Ventus disputed. "Just because it wasn't made the same way a Wayfinder typically is, doesn't mean the magic in it isn't real. Besides that, Aqua did work a little magic into them of her own."
"Really? What's that," Goofy asked.
Ventus just smiled as he held his charm up to the sky above them, allowing the sunlight from the roof of the cave to shine through the green stained glass of the charm, giving the illusion that it had lit up with an incredible light, and replied, "An unbreakable connection. One that guarantees that I will see all of my closest friends again one day, no matter how long it takes, and even if I lose this charm, which I don't ever plan to let happen, I know that they'll always be right here with me in my heart."
Everyone instantly smiled in response to this, happy to hear Ventus' proclamation of his belief that one day he would be reunited with his closest friends, and all feeling more assured than ever that they too would find the ones that they were looking for someday soon, even if it took forever. Despite the circumstances of their arrival, the team of four were all very glad that they came to this world, because it had given them a reminder of something very important, and reassured them that they would succeed in their mission soon enough. This lesson was one that Donald and Sora were especially glad to have received, because if they had not, they knew that there was a good chance that they probably would have spent the rest of their journey at each other's throats like they had been since they had first come into range of this world, so to hear these lessons, or rather, to be reminded of them, was something that they were both incredibly grateful for.
A minute later, a familiar ringing reached the team's ears, and they all turned to see that the butterflies at the base of the tree were quickly fluttering away to reveal the shimmering blue Keyhole of the world they were currently on, much to their surprise. After looking to Ventus for confirmation and receiving a nod in response, Sora immediately stepped forward, summoned his Keyblade, and aimed the Kingdom Key right at the center of the Keyhole, releasing a blue beam into the Keyhole the minute the Keyblade's tip was pointed directly at it. After a few seconds of the beam being streamed into the Keyhole, they all heard the sound of something being locked, and the Keyhole vanished into thin air, signifying that the world's heart was now safe from any harm that the Heartless could bring to it. Shortly after the Keyhole had disappeared though, something fell out of it that each member of the team quickly recognized.
"A gummi," Donald exclaimed.
"But it's sure not the king's," Goofy sighed, sadly.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean it can't be of some help to us in the future," Ventus pointed out, and he quickly scooped the gummi up and pocketed it. Just when he had turned around to lead the team back to Jane's camp, he soon found himself doing his best to not laugh or even smile at the sight before him.
Curious as to why his teacher was suddenly acting like that, Sora turned to where Ven was looking, and soon found himself doing the same thing, along with Goofy, because what they saw was Terk trying give Donald a big hug, much to the sorcerer's surprise and confusion. "I think someone has a new admirer," Jane teased, while Tarzan smiled in a similar manner.
That clued Donald in as to what they were all finding so funny, and he immediately jumped back a little in an attempt to dissuade the gorilla from what she was doing, all the while protesting, "No, no, no, no! Daisy would kill me!"
The others did nothing to help poor Donald, but mostly because they were so busy laughing at his sudden misfortune, if you wanted to call it that. Donald probably would have been mad at his friends for this, but he knew full well that every once in a while, someone needed to laugh, and just let them have their fun. He would get them back later. Maybe.
AN: Okay, wow! Like I said, long chapter. I know that there weren't really that many battles this time around, and the final boss fights with Clayton and the Stealth Sneak were not quite as spectacular in comparison to the fight that Ventus had with Cloud last chapter, but really, there was not that much I could do about it. Besides, the Heartless did not actually show up until well after the team had arrived in Deep Jungle in the game, so what can ya do, right?
Anyways, my main reason for not zeroing at this chapter is because of the lesson it teaches, and the fact that it shows that not everything was all sunshine and roses for this little crew of heroes. I mean come on, like it was ever going to be so easy for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to really become such fast friends and work together without any problems, even if it is a Disney franchise. This was proven in the game, and it's proven once again here. Of course, there was also the fact that it allowed Ventus a chance to introduce Sora to the Wayfinder that Aqua had made for him, so there's also that.
Speaking of Ventus, we've now had Ventus explain about all the tricks and skills that he used against Cloud to Sora, along with discovering a few other unique things about his apprentice, like what happened in his Dive to the Heart, and the dreams that he and Kairi had recently had. Btw, we won't be seeing Sora getting his armor anytime soon just yet. At best, I'd say the earliest we'll see Sora getting his suit would be in the sequel to this story, but mostly because that it would allow his appearance from Keyblades of Future Past to make a comeback at last, however, we will be seeing Sora getting his Shotlocks very soon. Honestly, I was originally planning to have the first of Sora's Shotlocks be revealed in this chapter, but I felt that it would've made it get to be a little too long, and so, I decided to leave it for a specific moment in the next world our heroes go to.
Finally, the fact that Cloud gave Sora a summon charm as opposed to how he gave you the Sonic Blade in the game. Now don't go thinking that Sora won't have the ability, because I might just have him acquire it later on, or maybe show that he had actually picked it up from just watching Cloud in that battle, but I figured that receiving that particular summon charm was a bit more significant. No, it's not the one that summons one of the two Star Wars characters on the poll, the fact that it had the picture of an animal on it should be a big indication of that, but you will find out who it summons soon enough. I won't say when though, aside from saying that the chapter we find out the answer to that is much closer down the line.
Well with that said, if you think we're heading straight back to Traverse Town now, you've got another thing coming, because next chapter is going to be having our heroes jamming to a different tune. Onto the Preview!...
The team's journey continues, and leads them into another jungle, only this time, they are met with no wild men or gorillas. That doesn't mean that they aren't at least a little freaked out by the fact that there's a man leading a talking lama somewhere. With secret plots, crazy magic potions, and "secret labs" awaiting them, can the team provide the emperor-turned-lama and his traveling companion with the assistance they need, or will this Kuzco's selfishness give them reason to just say forget it and focus more on finding the world's Keyhole? Be ready to really start grooving, next time.
Yeah, we're going to see Kuzco and the world of The Emperor's New Groove next time! Pretty sweet huh? Anyhow, don't forget to vote on the poll, and aside from that...
Please read and review, and see ya real soon!
