Chapter Eight: Alfred vs Arthur vs Heartless
Alfred stared at the back of Arthur's head. Arthur's jade eyes glanced at the boy.
"What is it, Alfred?" asked Arthur.
"Nothing," Alfred said. Arthur spun around and crossed his arms over his chest.
"You've been giving me that look since Wonderland."
"I told you. It's nothing!"
"Well, apparently there isn't, so stop it! I swear, you're acting like a child!"
"Um… Arthur?" Antonio interrupted, "Alfred?" The two spun in their chairs to face the soldier.
"What is it?" Antonio pointed out the Gummi Ship's window. Everyone stood to get a good look at it. Before them stood another world. This world was covered with trees and looked like a jungle. "What's this world called?"
"Uh…" Arthur looked down at the controls. "Deep Jungle. Original." Alfred hummed a little bit.
"I wonder what it's like down there," he thought out loud.
"Does it matter?" said Arthur, sitting back down. "Let's see if we can find another world. I highly doubt that the King or anyone else is such a backwater place like that."
"Hold up!" cut in Alfred, standing over Arthur. "For all we know, they could be there! I say we check it out." Alfred went to grab the controls, but Arthur batted his hand away.
"Forget it, Alfred. We're on a very important mission. Now's not the time for your childish antics."
"I'm not a kid!" Alfred grabbed onto Arthur's wrist. "Just land!"
"I said no!"
"Come on!"
"Stop being so childish!"
"We're landing!" Alfred seized control of the ship. Arthur tried to push him off to regain control of it.
"Alfred, just knock it off!" Alfred attempted to take control of the ship again. The next sound that resonated throughout the ship's cockpit was a loud slap. Alfred put a hand to his cheek, staring wide-eyed at Arthur as the Wizard lowered his hand. Silence.
"You both need to calm down," Antonio said, gently pushing Alfred away from Arthur. Alfred's eyes narrowed when Antonio put his hand on him.
"Don't touch me!" he yelled, slamming his hand on the control panel.
"Alfred, don't touch that!" said Arthur, but it was too late. The ship rocked harder and began to spiral downward into the world below. The trio grabbed on tightly and prepared for an emergency landing. Unfortunately, Alfred's actions had caused one of the ship's airlocks to open. He was jerked forward, hitting his head against the dashboard. His eyes slid shut as his grip loosened.
"Alfred!" shouted Arthur and Antonio as they watched the boy slip out of sight.
Alfred groaned as he awoke. He was in an immense amount of pain. His world was spinning. Alfred sat up, sliding one of his potions from his pocket. He didn't hesitate to drink its contents. He was surprised that he was even still alive enough to heal himself.
He stood up as soon as the potion's magic did its work and looked around. The boy was in a large wooden tree house. It was rundown, as if someone hadn't lived there for years.
"That's just my luck," Alfred said to himself. He was in the middle of nowhere. At least he wasn't dead. Alfred spun around to get a view of his surroundings. "Where is everyone? Arthur!? Antonio?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" There was no answer.
A low growl came from behind. Alfred tensed up. Slowly, he turned. A large leopard leapt at him. Alfred pushed the creature away before it could hurt him. It slammed into a nearby box.
"Nice Kitty…" The leopard slowly got up and approached him. Alfred dug around in his pocket for his keychain. Before he could summon his Keyblade, someone jumped between him and the leopard. They pushed the animal back and pointed a spear at it. After a two second stand off, the leopard ran out the window nearby. The man turned around to face Alfred.
He had brown hair is styled in long dreadlocks. He wore almost no clothes. The only piece of clothing he wore is a tattered, brown loincloth around his waist. His eyes were a light green-blue in color and his muscular body was tanned from exposure to sunlight.
"Sabor, danger," he said to the teen. Alfred blinked. This guy didn't speak English very well, did he?
"Uh… thanks," said Alfred.
"Thanks?" repeated the man.
"Okay. Do you know where the others went?" He didn't answer. "Look dude, I got seperated from my friends. Have you see them?" The man just grunted. "Friends~."
"Friends." Alfred grinned. At least something got across.
"That's right! My friends. There's two of them. Arthur is the one with the-" Alfred stopped halfway through his sentence. He remembered what Arthur had said to him back on the ship. The way he had treated him. A hand graced the now forgotten bruise that the potion had begun healing before it even formed. His eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest. "You know what? Nevermind. I'm trying to find some people. Two of their names are Sakura and Matthew"
"Look for Matthew, friends?"
"Right!" Alfred said with a nod.
"Sakura… friends?" Alfred shook his head.
"Uh… yes. I guess you can say you're right."
"Friends. Here." Alfred's eyes widened and lit up.
"Really?!" The man then said something Alfred didn't understand.
"Friends here," The man repeated.
"Not sure I understand how, but can you take me to them? Take me to Sakura and Matt!"
"Tarzan," said the man pointing to himself. "Tarzan go."
"Name's Alfred. Tarzan go, and Alfred go!" Alfred grinned and laughed. The thought of being reunited with Sakura and Matthew filled him with joy.
Meanwhile, in another part of the jungle, Arthur sat upon a rock mound, waiting in hot sun. The ship was nearby, the hatch open. Arthur's eyes were on the ship as Antonio walked out, his face covered in sweat.
"I've done all I can… I hope she'll still fly," said Antonio. He glanced up at the sky above them.
"Hope is not going to help us in this case," said Arthur. "I need a straight answer Antonio." Antonio ignored Arthur. "Antonio? Antonio!" Antonio looked over at Arthur, snapping out of a trance.
"Sorry Arthur. I'm just worried," Antonio said apologetically. "I sure hope Alfred's okay."
"Who needs him?" said Arthur as Antonio wiped the sweat off of himself with the end of his vest. "We can find the King without him. He has been nothing but an immature brat since we first met him." Arthur pulled out his wand. Antonio snatched up his shield, which had been resting besides the rocks. "We can do this on our own!" The pair began to walk off into the jungle. There was still one thing they needed before taking off, and that was the Keyblade Wielder. They needed to know his fate.
"He may have been acting immature, but you had no right to go and hit him like that," said Antonio. "If I remember, you acted the same way when you were fifteen and we were-." Arthur sighed, cutting off his traveling companion. He turned to face Antonio, still walking.
"I didn't mean to actually strike him. I got caught up in the heat moment and it just… happened."
"That's no excuse. You could have seriously hurt him if I hadn't stepped between you two. I'm not stupid. I have seen what you can do when you're not holding back. I've seen you fight without using magic." Arthur remained silent. "If he's alive, you owe him an apology to begin with."
"I'm not great with this kind of thing."
"It doesn't matter. You need to make it up to him."
"If he's alive. He fell from hundreds of feet above the ground. We didn't even see where he landed." Antonio stared at the ground. Arthur turned around only to run into something. Before the pair stood a small gorilla. Antonio yelped as Arthur backed into him. The gorilla ran off.
"My apologies, Anton-" Arthur stopped halfway when the pair heard footsteps walking towards them.
Alfred, meanwhile, followed Tarzan onto the balcony outside of the treehouse. He marveled at the view the treehouse offered. Alfred watched as his new companion jumped off the treehouse balcony and into the netting below. Tarzan motioned for Alfred to follow him before the man jumped into the trees. Alfred blinked.
"Oh…" he said, realizing what he had to do. Hoisting himself over the edge, Alfred dropped into the netting below. "That was easy." The Keyblade Wielder climbed through the net and to the edge. He swallow the fear building up. "Here goes nothing…" Alfred pushed himself off of the net and into the trees. To his surprise- instead of splatting on the ground- he rolled into a moss covered area. Tarzan stood there waiting for him. Alfred stood up, brushing off his clothing.
"Lead the way, ape-man!" Tarzan jumped down a nearby hollowed out tree trunk. That's when Alfred realized what he was doing. He was sliding on the vines. The boy pulled off his shoes, holding them tightly in one hand. He looked down the trunk.
"It's just like skateboarding," he told himself. "Except if you fall off, you die." He sighed. "I gotta do this." Pulling himself upwards, he jumped down the tree.
Alfred landed on the tree branch, and began immediately sliding down it. Luckily it was thicker than he thought, so it made it easier.
"Woo!" Alfred laughed as the wind ran through his hair. "This is more fun than I thought!" That was when Alfred met a branch face first. "Ow… Note: Avoid the branches."
The new duo landed down in the middle of a bamboo thicket. Alfred recognized it as a man-made camp.
"Are my friends here?" he asked Tarzan. The man beside him walked into a nearby tent. Alfred followed curiously. Pushing aside the tent flaps, Alfred saw someone in the tent.
"Jane!" called out Tarzan. The woman turned and stood up straight so Alfred could see her.
She had long, dark brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a faded, white tank top, walked barefoot, and wore a long, brown skirt that reached to just above her ankles. The skirt was held up by a knot tied on her right side, which exposed most of her right leg.
"Tarzan," said Jane as she turned. Her eyes met Alfred's. "Oh, and who is this?"
"Hi," Alfred greeted. "I'm-"
"Oh, you speak English? So then, you're obviously not related to Tarzan." Alfred and Tarzan exchanged a look. "Are you here to study to gorillas?" Alfred opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a snide voice.
"Highly doubtful." Alfred turned around to see an old man with a rifle and hunting gear, as well as two familiar faces walking into the tent. His eyes narrowed.
"Alfred!" Antonio said, sounding relieved as he rushed forward. He wrapped his arms around him. Alfred pushed Antonio off of him as soon as he caught sight of Arthur behind him. Alfred and Arthur turned away from each other. The tension from before still lingered in the air.
"A circus of clowns," continued the stranger as he left the tent. "Not much use for hunting gorillas…"
"Mr. Clayton!" Jane called after him. "We're studying them, not hunting them! This is research!" She sighed and looked at the countries. "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."
"Thank you miss," said Arthur, his gentleman persona coming into play. "I'm Arthur Kirkland. My associate here is Antonio Carriedo and the idiot is Alfred F. Jones."
"Hey!" Alfred said offensively. "I am not an idiot!" Antonio stepped between the two.
"I hate to interrupt," he said quickly. "But we need to find the others. Can you please just get along?" Alfred and Arthur glared at each other.
"Fine," they said in unison.
"We'll work together," said Arthur. "For now… insolent child."
"I'll let you tag along," Alfred said harshly. "For now."
"Are they alright?" Jane asked Antonio. Antonio nodded.
"They had a… disagreement. They still haven't resolved it." Antonio scratched the back of his head. "We're looking for our friends. Have you seen them?"
"No, I'm sorry." Antonio's face fell. Alfred sighed and broke his staring contest with Arthur.
"Tarzan said he saw them," Alfred said. "Or at least that's what I got from it."
"Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas," Jane explained, "Communication with him still isn't easy, but he's learning."
"So he was speaking gorilla back there?"
"Ah, that's right. You're looking for your friends?" Alfred nodded.
"He said that two of my friends- A girl named Sakura, and my brother Matthew, are here. He also said something I didn't catch."
"Just like you not to understand something," remarked Arthur. "Git." Alfred glared over at Arthur for a second before returning to the conversation.
"Why don't we try this?" Jane suggested, putting her hand on an old projector. "We'll show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match the word." She turned to face Antonio. "Antonio, they should be in the box next to you. Could you get them for me?" Antonio nodded with a smile and starting rummaging around in the box behind him.
"Found them!" he announced. The soldier pulled out a small box of slides. He walked over and handed them to Jane. "Is this it?"
"Thank you." The woman started up the projector and inserted the first slide. It was of a magnificent castle standing high in above a town. Alfred stared at it in fascination.
"What's wrong, Alfred?" Antonio asked, seeing the look on the Keyblade Wielder's face. Alfred blinked, snapping out of his trance.
"What?" he asked, still dazed. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm fine.
'That castle…' Alfred thought, 'It looks familiar. But how? I've never left my world. And there's no place like that at home. Not at all.'
The group looked through a few more slides until they ran out.
"Well, Tarzan?" asked Jane.
"Where is my friend, Sakura," asked Alfred, "And my brother, Matthew?" To the boy's disappointment, Tarzan shook his head. "Hey, I thought-"
"See?" cut in Arthur. "I told you that they weren't here. You wasted our time and made us crash for nothing." Alfred shot Arthur and cold looked before the tension was broken by the hunter.
"That leaves just one place," said Clayton as he entered the tent. "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. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."
"Really, Mr. Clayton. Tarzan wouldn't hide-" Jane tried to say before she was cut off.
"Then take us there! Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las." Tarzan looked over at the three before nodding.
"Tarzan, are you sure?" asked Jane.
"Tarzan go see Kerchak," Tarzan said.
"Kerchak?"
"Perfect," said Clayton. "I'll go along as an es-"
"We don't need an escort, if that's what you were going to say," Arthur interrupted. "We'll be able to manage on our own thank you." Without another word, the trio followed Tarzan out of the tent.
The walk to the gorilla nest was filled with tension. It only came out when the group had to cross over a lake.
The trio watched as Tarzan made it across with ease. Alfred sighed.
"How are we going to get across?" he thought out loud.
"Have you ever thought about swimming across, idiot?" Arthur remarked.
"Not a bad idea." Alfred placed his hands firmly on Arthur's shoulders. He pushed the Wizard forward, straight into the water. He laughed.
"Um… Alfred?" asked Antonio. Alfred looked up. The soldier was already halfway across the water, standing on one of the hippo's backs.
"What?"
"Arthur can't swim."
"... Oh no."
Arthur was glaring daggers at Alfred as they climbed up a vine to reach the jungle's higher areas. He kicked off the rock, shaking the vine.
"Hey!" screamed Alfred. "There's no need to do that!"
"Considering you almost let me drown, I feel like there is," Arthur said.
"You are an adult. How can't you swim?!"
"That's none of your business!"
"You two," Antonio groaned from above them. "Will you please stop fighting? You've been doing nothing but that since we got here! I don't want to do this by myself" Antonio sighed as his pleads were drowned out by the two below him arguing.
'I have to get them to work together,' Antonio thought as he struggled to climb up the vine. 'Otherwise we'll never find the King!' Antonio looked back down. 'Alfred started acting like this after Arthur hit him. If I remember, he did the same thing back in Wonderland when Arthur yelled at him for running ahead.' Antonio sighed as he watched Alfred climb. 'There has to be something that I don't know…'
Once they got up to the top, the boys saw Tarzan talking to two gorillas. Alfred leaned over to Antonio.
"Did you catch any of that?" he asked.
"Not a word," Antonio answered. He turned to his friends as the gorillas left. "So, where do you go now? Up? Left, Right?"
"We could head back up to the treehouse…" Alfred said.
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Alfred glared at Arthur for a second before looking around. He then smirked.
"We climb." The trio and their jungle friend began to climb the vines once again.
Antonio made it first onto the treehouse balcony. Arthur rolled his eyes when Antonio pulled him up. He rolled his eyes as Antonio did the same thing for Alfred. he started to head towards the treehouse's entrance. His jade orbs widened when he saw someone at the entrance already. It was Clayton, and he had a gun aimed at what Arthur expected to be one of the gorillas.
Arthur dashed forward. He grabbed the hunter by the waist, sending both of them to the ground as the gun went off. Luckily, it missed the gorilla. However, it did alert Alfred, Antonio and Tarzan to what was happening.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!" exclaimed Arthur as Antonio helped him to his feet. While Arthur chewed out the hunter, Alfred and Antonio watched as Tarzan walked over to two gorillas who were on the upper level. One of them was one of the gorillas that Tarzan had previously spoken to before. They seemed to talk for a second before both gorillas turned and left.
"You don't understand!" the hunter said to Arthur. Everyone turned back to him. "I was only trying to… A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life."
"That's total B.S.," Alfred said with his arms crossed. Arthur shot him a look.
"Alfred, watch your language," said the wizard.
"Oh, come on! It's not like I actually said the word!"
"How could you do such a thing?!" snapped Jane. The group had dragged Clayton back to the tent and told Jane what had happened. And now, she was furious.
"Now, Ms. Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla-" Clayton countered before Jane cut him off.
"You are not to go near the gorillas again!"
"All because of one mishap? Come now…" The hunter stopped speaking when he saw the angry looks on everyone's faces. Even Antonio had a look of disappointment on his face. The hunter laughed uncomfortable and began to back out of the tent. He finally turned and left. When he did, the tension returned to the tent.
"Well, now that's taken care of," said Arthur, "I suggest we leave." Alfred's jaw dropped.
"Oh, come on!" said the boy. "We haven't even looked everywhere! For all we know, either Sakura, Matthew or even your King could be here!"
"I highly doubt they are. Maybe they're in a different place, and the fact that you caused us to crash wasted our time." Antonio sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Here we go again…" he sighed.
"I did not cause us to crash!" snapped Alfred. "That was you!"
"If I remember clearly, you were the one messing with the controls!" Arthur yelled back. "And you were the one who hit them in the first place!"
"If you had listened to me in the first place, I wouldn't have had to take the controls!"
"You know what?! If you did as you were told, you probably would have listened to me, and we wouldn't be here!"
"I don't care! Even if I did hit the stupid controls, it's because you..."
"Because I what Alfred? Because I struck you?"
"Yes!" Alfred shook his head. "Something inside me has been telling me something over and over, and I chose to ignore it! You look like him, but you're not him! You'll never be him!" Arthur became silent as he stared at Alfred.
"Him?" Arthur repeated. "Who are you talking a-" The Wizard was cut off by the sound of a loud gunshot just outside the tent.
"Hey!" said Antonio, he voice significantly in a lower tone. "What was that?"
"I don't know," said Alfred as he pulled out his keychain. "But let's go check it out."
The trio ran outside the tent. Alfred had his keyblade summoned, Antonio had his shield out and Arthur was holding on to his wand. They were right to do this, as Heartless were standing outside of the tent.
These Heartless were covered in blue fur, appearing lighter around their head and torso, and darker around their arms, legs and long tails. The center part of their face was pitch-black with jagged edges, and two glowing, yellow eyes. The inner sections of their round ears were a light purple color, as were their large paws and feet, which end with sharp, black claws. They seemed to be wearing golden bracelets and anklets, and the Heartless emblem could clearly be seen emblazoned on their chest.
Arthur looked over at Alfred, hoping the boy would speak during their battle. For once, he was quiet. And it began to worry him.
The boys cut through the Heartless and sending them back into the darkness. This task took them nearly all over the jungle as well. They were up in the trees once more by the time they finished.
Arthur looked down at his hands. Every thought and every moment since they had landed on this world was replaying in his head.
"Are you alright, Arthur?" Arthur looked up to see Antonio in front of him.
"I'm fine, Antonio," the man answered
"I just can't help but think about something."
"That Alfred isn't telling us something important?" Arthur nodded.
"Exactly. Maybe you were right. I do owe him an apology, but I can't help but feel that this is about more than that."
"Something about his home?" Arthur blinked at Antonio. "I mean, something could have happened where he's from. He did say you reminded him of someone, didn't he?"
"Yes. I can't place my finger on who it is. Do you have a idea?" Antonio shrugged. Arthur stood up. The two turned to look at Alfred, who had been fighting a large cat the entire time they had been conversing.
"Should we help him?" Antonio asked. It was then that Alfred smacked the cat into the nearby trees. He ran over to the pair, grabbing them by the wrists and dragging the pair down the vines.
The group arrived back at the camp, sweating and tired.
"Who knew that much Heartless could be hiding in the trees?" Antonio said. Alfred sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"They're monkeys, what did you expect?" Arthur said. "For them to be on the ground?" Arthur was hoping for a reaction out of Alfred. The boy was still quiet as the three headed back inside the tent. They all froze. To their surprise, only Tarzan stood inside the tent. Jane was nowhere to be found. "Where'd Jane go?" Antonio walked over to the apeman.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Something coming. Jane, danger," Tarzan said in his broken words. "Jane near... Near tree house."
"That sounds like something may be amiss," said Arthur, crossing his arms. "I say we should at least see what's wrong." Alfred raised an eyebrow. The Wizard narrowed his eyes.
"It's a life-or-death situation, Alfred." Arthur pulled out his wand. "Let's just get it done with." Alfred nodded as all four of them raced out of the tent and back towards the trees.
The boys looked around the clearing among the trees.
"We were just here a few moments ago," said Antonio. "I don't understand what could've changed."
"Since when do you?" Arthur muttered. Alfred looked around.
"Alfred!" shouted Antonio. The two didn't take the time to notice that Heartless had erupted from the ground, and had tried the attack the three. Antonio held out his shield to protect the three, pushing the monkey against a tree. Alfred held out his Keyblade as Arthur began to fire off spells.
It didn't take long for the Heartless to go away. In the trio's opinion, it was a pretty easy battle. All they had to do to stop the Heartless was to destroy a rather large, black fruit that was hanging about. This all freed Jane and another gorilla, who had been trapped behind some vines.
Arthur wiped the juices off of his face and shook them off his hand.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked. Alfred just responded with a nod. Well, it was a start. Antonio walked over and helped the woman to her feet.
"Are you alright?" he asked Jane. "What happened?"
"Clayton came to the tent, and…" Jane recalled to the group, "That's the last thing I remember."
"Clayton?" Arthur questioned, crossing his arms.
"Gorillas trapped," stated Tarzan, "Terk ran."
"We must help the gorillas," said Jane before all five headed back to the camp.
"Alright," said Arthur as he, Alfred and Antonio sat outside the tent. He had a stick in his hand and was drawing in the dirt. Before him was a well-drawn map of the area. Alfred had tried to draw the area, but it wasn't long before he gave Antonio the stick to draw a better outline, which he did. Arthur had the stick now, and was mapping out the area.
"Here's the plan," Arthur continued. "Since we didn't see anything on our way back here, my best guess is that we should check out this area." He drew a circle with the stick in the unmarked area to the right of them.
"What makes you think they aren't in the other areas of the jungle?" asked Antonio.
"Because we've already been there. But you're free to go and get lost in the jungle yourself." Arthur stood. Alfred stood as well. Antonio looked between the two. He sighed and stood. "What do you think, Alfred?" The Keyblade Wielder didn't speak. There was a moment of silence. Awkward, tension filled silence.
"Let's just…" Arthur said rather forcefully, "Let's just go towards the right…" The group headed off to the mentioned direction.
There was a cliffed off area in this direction. In that area, the Heartless and Clayton surround the gorillas. Clayton had his gun aimed at the animals. Before he could open fire however…
"No!" shouted Antonio. This startled the hunter, causing his shot to miss. Clayton turned at looked at the group warily. This distraction also allowed the gorillas to escape their deaths.
"What do you think you're doing, dude?" asked Arthur, who had a firm grip on his keychain at the moment.
"Not Clayton!" Tarzan interrupted before saying something that didn't even sound English. "Not Clayton!" It was that moment that weapons were summoned and the battle began.
All the while, Alfred and Arthur seemed to still be mad at each other, as they were only fighting to protect themselves. When they were about to get attacked from behind, it was Antonio was protected them. The soldier kept his fingers crossed behind his shield that they would get along soon.
Alfred's eyes darted over to the fleeing hunter. The boy ran over with his Keyblade raised. Arthur, Antonio and Tarzan turned.
"Alfred, don't!" Arthur ordered. However, this order was ignored as Alfred brought down the Keyblade. Everything seemed to stop when the blade hit midair. Alfred jumped back at least several feet as the cliff in front of him exploded, sending pieces of rock everywhere and revealing the tall thicket behind it. Clayton began to hover midair as the invisible enemy below him appeared.
The creature resembled a bipedal lizard looked like a chameleon. It had a yellow body, with five short spines along its back. It stood hunched over, holding its arms out in front of it. Its entire upper body was covered in stripes of various shades of green and yellow, reminiscent of camouflage clothing. Its hands and feet had four toes each, two in front and two in back, with black claws. Its tail was curled up behind it in a spiral. It had a mouth lined by short, pointed teeth, and large yellow and orange eyes with small black pupils. It also had a large, yellow horn on the tip of its snout. Its Heartless emblem could clearly be seen is on its chest. The group cringed at it.
Arthur pointed his wand at the lizard. "Incendio!" A ball of fire shot out of the Keyblade's end, and spiraled in the air before striking the lizard's side.
"I think you just made it even more angry," said Antonio.
"At least I did damage this time!" snapped Arthur. Alfred rolled his eyes and charged forward, uppercutting the lizard in the face. The creature hissed loudly and swiped Alfred backwards into Antonio. The boy pulled Antonio to his feet as Arthur took his turn.
He struck the the lizard's back legs with a fireball, making it wobble. Alfred and Antonio exchanged a look. Grabbing the soldier by the wrist, Alfred pulled him into the battle. Alfred stuck the lizard's other back leg while Antonio pushed its side with his shield. Unbalanced by the three, the lizard fell to the ground. Clayton fell off in the process, with the Heartless landing on top of him. The trio cringed when they heard something snap. The Heartless released a heart before fading away. That's when Antonio realized something.
"Hey, you two worked together," he said. "And we defeated the Heartless!" Alfred and Arthur looked at each other as Alfred's Keyblade turned back to a keychain. Alfred turned away from the other, causing Antonio to sigh. "Alfred, you can't stay quiet forever."
"Fine," said Alfred. "Thanks for your help."
"It's a start," muttered Arthur. "Alfred, about before-"
During this conversation, no one had noticed that the gorillas had come back. The largest of them all, and most likely the leader, came up right behind the group. He seized Antonio by the collar and it one swoop threw him over the thicket. Alfred and Arthur stared in shock as the gorilla did the same to them.
All three landed with a thud on the other side. Alfred groaned as he sat up, pushing Arthur off of him and rolling off of Antonio. His eyes widened in awe at the sight before him as he stood.
"Hey guys," he said to his companions. "Check it out." The Englishman and Italian stood, looking at the beautiful waterfall before them.
"Wow, it's beautiful!" exclaimed Antonio.
"I agree with you," added Arthur. Behind the three, Tarzan climbed over the thicket and landed beside them.
"Tarzan, home," he said.
"Well, you have a wonderful home," Alfred remarked. He laughed a little. "It reminds me off this small pond on the island. Matt and I used to…" Alfred's expression fell. "I miss-" Alfred was cut off when he saw the ape-man heading off into a nearby cave.
"Where's he going?" asked Antonio. Arthur shrugged. In a silent agreement, all three followed Tarzan into the cave.
Alfred, Arthur and Antonio's jaws dropped at the sight hidden in the caves before them. It was a large tree, and on it were thousands of glowing, blue butterflies.
Behind them, Jane and a gorilla entered the cave. Tarzan made a noise that Alfred realized he had said back at the treehouse.
"This is your home?" Alfred asked. "But that means…" Alfred stopped when the sound of a rumbling crossed his ears. Antonio hummed in confusion.
"The waterfalls…" Jane muttered. "They're echoing all the way here." Tarzan said something once more.
"Friends there," he said. "See friends."
"Oh, now I've got it." Jane repeated the sounded Tarzan made. "... means heart. "Friends in our hearts…"
"Heart…"
"Oh," Alfred said sadly. "So that's what it meant."
"Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends." Antonio wrapped his fingers around Arthur and Alfred's arms, pulling them off to the side.
"You heard what he said," the soldier said. "You both share the same heart… you guys are friends… sort of. If you two keep fighting like this, you might end up losing your hearts. And we won't be able to find anyone." Alfred and Arthur looked at each other. "Please?" Arthur sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry for what I said. For everything I said," Arthur apologized. "I know you're furious at me for whatever unknown reason, but listen to me when I say this. I'm sorry for striking you back on the ship. I shouldn't have done that. It was uncalled for and done out of rage."
"It's fine," Alfred said. "Really. I shouldn't have said what I said either. I barely even know you that well." There was a moment of silence.
Suddenly, the butterflies flew off the tree. In their place was a glowing blue keyhole. Alfred's keychain immediately turned into his Keyblade. The blade was redirected at the Keyhole. Beams emitted from it, straight into the keyhole. The Keyhole clicked, and the Keyblade turned back into a keychain.
"I'm still curious about what the heck that was…" muttered Alfred as he stashed his keychain away. From the place where the Keyhole was, a small item tumbled out. Antonio walked over and picked it up.
"Hey, Arthur!" he called, getting the wizard's attention. Antonio walked over to the other two. "It's made from the same stuff as the ship." Antonio deposited it into Arthur's hand. He began to look at it, however when someone bumped into him, causing him to stumble. Arthur looked down to see the gorilla trying to be friendly with him, if you know what I mean. He paled.
"I think someone has a new admirer," laughed Jane.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Arthur. Everyone began laughing as the gorilla began to chase Arthur around the cave.
Meanwhile, in a room shrouded by darkness, a group of villains watched the three intently through their crystal.
"What drew the Heartless to that world?"
"The hunter lured them there," said the witch from before. Maleficent. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good." Laughter erupted from one of the villains.
"Yeah, he got chomped instead!"
"A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless." The speaker stepped out of the shadows. He was a tall, thin, bony man dressed in extravagant clothing. He was carrying a gold, ruby-eyed, cobra scepter. He wore black robes that reached the ground overtop a red-violet garment with bell sleeves. Underneath this second garment, he wore yet another shirt, this one black with very close-fitting sleeves that reached his wrists. The shoulders of his outer robe were pointed and connected to a long, billowing black cape with a blood red interior. A red-violet sash was tied around his waist. He also wore an odd, light-colored garment that covered his neck, the back of his head, and his chest. The man has a twisted, black goatee. He sports a distinctive black turban, with a thin, yellow pattern wrapping around the middle, with a ruby set in the front, and a bright red feather placed just above it. More red-violet cloth hangs from the turban, draping over his shoulders.
"But those three are a problem," he continued. "They found two of the Keyholes."
"Fear not," Maleficent reassured. "It will take them ages to find the rest. Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of our other plan."
"Yes, the princesses..." said someone in the council.
"They are falling into our hands, one by one," Maleficent said as she waved her hand over the crystal. The image shifted. A young girl was standing outside of the door. It was the missing person of Wonderland- Alice. "Speaking of which..."
The group had headed back to the Gummi Ship. As Arthur began to prepare it for flight, Alfred began to look at the new piece they had found.
"This block thing came out of that hole," he thought out loud. "It's not like the others." He hummed a bit. "Wonder what it's used for." Arthur shrugged.
"I don't know," he said. "I've read nothing about pieces like that.
"Maybe someone back at Traverse Town will know," suggested Antonio.
"Hmm… someone might. Back to Traverse Town, then? I can inform to Emil an the others about what's happened."
"Can I pilot?" Alfred asked excitedly. Arthur shot him a look as the boy leaned on his shoulder.
"Hey, stop it!" He pushed him off. "This is what started our argument earlier!"
"Oh, come on! I'm a Keyblade Wielder!"
"So am I!" Antonio sighed with a faint smile.
"Here we go again…" he said as the three made their course for Traverse Town.
The flight to Traverse Town was silent. All the while, Antonio and Arthur kept glancing over at Alfred. He seemed back to his normal self, but something still lingered in the air. As they approached Traverse Town, Arthur stopped the ship. Alfred spun to face him.
"Why did you stop?"he asked. Arthur and Antonio faced the boy.
"We're addressing the elephant in the room," said Arthur.
"What?"
"There's something Arthur and I can't help but think about," explained Antonio. "Something only you can answer." Alfred spun away from them.
"This is about what I said, isn't it?" he said, leaning against the dashboard. The silence from his companions only served as a yes. He sighed.
"You said I looked like him even though I wasn't him," said Arthur. "Who is he?" Alfred spun around to face them again.
"I was talking about my dad."
