[A/N: This chapter is pretty cut and dry. It didn't take me long because I had most of it planned out already with the exception of something that happens at the end of the boss fight which ties into the next chapter. I was a little worried that this one would be too much like the Jungle Book chapter, but I think I avoided that. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]
This landing was also smooth, but the world looked very similar to The Jungle. Juliet pulled the map out and unfolded it. "Ok, so we've gone from The Jungle to Deep Jungle. I don't see the difference. There's still lots of trees and its all green and-" She was cut off when someone swinging from a vine fell out of the trees and landed on top of her.
A kid who looked like he was about Mowgli's age had landed on top of Juliet, but the similarities stopped there. The boy had long dreadlocked hair and was wearing a loin cloth. He stayed there for a few minutes before crawling off of her. The boy crouched down so that he was eye level with Juliet and stared at her curiously.
"Hi. What's your name?"
The boy looked startled and stumbled backwards. It looked like he was going to run off when he hesitated and looked back. On all fours he slowly made his way back towards Juliet who was still on the ground. He plucked at her hair and sniffed it.
Akio was eyeing the boy with apprehension, but glanced at Clementine from the corner of his eye. "Should we do something?"
"I think we should stay put. Wouldn't want to provoke him or anything."
Juliet sat up which seemed to frighten the boy who backed away. "You don't have to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you." She offered him her hand. "Let's be friends."
The boy took her hand and sniffed it.
"You're supposed to shake it." Juliet gestured for Akio to come sit beside her and took his hand in hers to shake it. "See, this is what you're supposed to do." She offered him her free hand again.
He eyed is suspiciously before taking her hand and shaking it.
"There you go. See not so bad is it?" Juliet smiled at the boy who was staring intently at her hand. "My name's Juliet. What's yours?"
It looked like the boy was focusing hard to say what he wanted to say. "Tar….zan…"
Juliet stopped shaking his hand and tried to move her hand away when she felt him tighten his grip. "Tarzan….ok." She gestured at Akio and Clementine. "These are my friends Akio and Clementine. They can be your friends too if you like."
Tarzan looked up at Akio and Clementine sizing them up per say before he let go of Juliet's hand. He continued to stare at them before going back to Juliet's side. "Friends?"
"Yes, we're friends now." Juliet glanced over at Akio who was frowning while Clementine smiled at them. "You can't at least crack a smile Akio? He could help us."
Akio had his arms crossed over his chest and was still frowning at Tarzan. "Help us with what? Swinging through the trees? No thanks I'm not doing it."
"You really should loosen up a bit Akio. It couldn't hurt to have Tarzan help us out while we're here." Clementine was walking towards Juliet and Tarzan now.
"Fine, fine I guess it couldn't hurt to look around this world. Even though it reminds me a lot of The Jungle so there probably isn't any other people here."
Juliet walked over to Akio and put an arm around his shoulder. "Stop your belly aching and just go with it ok?"
He was still scowling, but it wasn't directed towards anyone in particular. "Fine, I'll just go with it, but I'm telling you there's something here that isn't good."
"And I trust your judgment, but I don't think that Tarzan means any harm."
"I don't think it's Tarzan I think its something else."
"Well, we'll know when we find it."
As they started following Tarzan deeper into the jungle there was heavy breathing and a snarl behind them.
Tarzan proved to be a welcoming guide since none of them knew how to navigate the creeping tendrils of the jungle. He swung easily from vine to vine while his followers dangled and held on for dear life. Tarzan stopped for a moment and looked back to make sure they were still there before taking off again.
Both Clementine and Akio were hanging off their vines with a bit of difficulty while Juliet easily swung after Tarzan. She stopped for a minute and looked back them. "Well aren't you coming?"
Clementine attempted to swing closer to her when she nearly fell off the vine. "Can someone come get me? I don't think I can hold on any more."
Tarzan swung back over to Clementine and grabbed her around the waist before swinging back to the lead.
Juliet looked back at Akio. "Are you ok back there?"
"I'm fine. No need to worry about me." He tried to swing to another vine and nearly fell off the vine.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." I don't want to make it look like I need help from her. It should be the other way around.
It didn't take them too much longer until they reached what looked like a giant nest in the trees. Tarzan deposited Clementine in the nest before disappearing further into the nest.
"Did he just bring us as far into the jungle as he could and leave us behind?" Akio had just now caught up with them. "That's what he did isn't it?" He took a step forward his foot nearly going through the bottom of the nest.
Juliet was starting to walk further into the nest looking for Tarzan when she heard scuffling. "Maybe he did bring us to where the wraiths are. Speaking of the wraiths I haven't seen any in some time."
There was a face peering out of the darkness at them, but unlike whatever was following them this face appeared kinder. It turned out that a gorilla had been watching them and behind the gorilla was Tarzan. The gorilla put an arm up to block Tarzan who had started walking towards them. She started walking towards them while keeping Tarzan behind her.
Akio and Clementine went behind Juliet and pushed her forward. "Why me?"
"Because you're our leader and it looks like she's the leader." Clementine had never seen a gorilla before and was quiet baffled by most land animals.
Before Juliet was able to say something another large gorilla came forward this one with silver on its back. "Oh…..hi….we're not from around here, but Tarzan here was helping us look through the world."
The male gorilla only growled showing his fangs before turning his back on them. He picked Tarzan up around the waist and put him on the female's back before disappearing back into the nest.
"Hey, are you just going to leave us here? I have questions for you." Juliet was calling after the male gorilla.
He stopped and turned around again. "What are you doing in my jungle?"
"Oh, so you talk? Well, we just want to look around. We're actually looking for the seven pure lights, but I already know that they're not here." Juliet tried to smile at the gorilla who continued to give her a menacing glare.
"There is something lurking in this jungle. Something evil. If you can get rid of this threat then you will be welcome in my jungle."
Juliet started to back up not liking the glare she was getting. "All right we'll go look for this thing. I think I know what it is."
"What is it?" Clementine was peering over Juliet's shoulder at the gorilla.
"It's probably a wraith. I'm surprised we haven't seen any more often."
Tarzan crawled off the female gorilla's back and walked up to them. "I want to help." Before he was able to say anything else the female pulled him back.
"That's appreciated, but I think you better say here. It could be dangerous." Juliet started to walk back out of the nest when she heard a groan. "Oh don't worry Akio I know we're using vines again, but you can hang onto me if you want."
Akio blushed as he tried to brush it off. "I don't need to hang onto you. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? It looked like you were struggling when we were doing it before."
"I don't need help. Not from you and not from Clementine either."
"Well fine I was only trying to help." She grabbed onto another vine and swung out of the nest with Clementine following close behind.
They swung through the vines for a few minutes before Juliet saw a large tree with vines clinging to it. "Looks like we could go down the tree and see if the wraith is down there." She didn't wait for answer and started crawling down the tree.
The area that she lowered herself down into was a small marshy area with two ponds and several more trees dotting the area around the water; a couple hippos lazily floated in the water. This time she waited until Akio and Clementine had caught up before turning to them. "Looks like if we're careful we can hop across the hippo's backs to get to the other side. Or I guess Clementine could just swim across if she wanted." With that she took a running start and hopped on the first hippo's back.
It didn't look like this bothered the hippo who wriggled its ears and continued to float.
Clementine jumped after Juliet who had already hopped onto a spit of land between the pools. "Come on Akio don't just stand there. It's a little slippery though so be careful." She hopped onto the land beside Juliet.
"I'm coming I'm coming don't rush me." A little more cautiously then Juliet and Clementine had been Akio jumped onto the hippo's back stumbling a little on the slick skin. He hopped over to the spit of land, but nearly fell off when Juliet grabbed his hand to pull him up right.
Juliet couldn't help, but notice that Akio jerked his hand out of her grip and when he did so he fell back into the water. "Are you ok?"
Akio swam out back to the bank and pulled himself out. "I'm fine." He slapped her hand away when she offered it to him.
Juliet looked a bit put out and retracted her hand. "I'm only trying to help. You don't have to act so nasty. What's your problem anyway? You've been acting differently since we've been here."
"Actually since you last saw Erik," Clementine mumbled under her breath. She took Akio by the wrist and pulled him out of the water. Neither of them see it, but it's so obvious that they like each other.
"I don't have a problem I'm fine." Akio was wringing water out of his shirt.
She shrugged and turned to hop onto the next hippo's back.
Clementine put her arm up to block Akio who had started to go after Juliet. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"What about?"
"About your attitude towards Juliet." She got in front of Akio to keep him from going anywhere. "You like her don't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You like Juliet don't you?"
"Of course I do. She's my friend."
Clementine sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You don't act like it. And do you know what I think? I think you like her more than a friend."
Akio blushed and looked away. "I don't….where would you even get that idea?"
"Just a hunch….and don't try to deny it." She saw the blush get darker and smiled at him. "Don't worry you're secret is safe with me, but just a word of advice if you want her to like you back I'd try acting nicer." Clementine turned and jumped onto the next hippo's back.
Juliet hadn't been waiting too long for Akio and Clementine to catch up with them and it looked like she wanted to say something. "What were you too talking about back there?"
Akio blushed again and felt himself getting tongue tied. "Nothing….we weren't talking about anything."
"Akio was sharing deep dark secrets with me." Clementine smiled over at Akio who blanched.
"Oh…is that all. Well, no time to waste time we need to find that wraith." It didn't look like Juliet had even thought about what Clementine had said before she was going through the clearing.
It looked like if someone wanted to that they could build a camp in the clearing since it was big enough and lacked trees. There was another path leading to what looked like another clearing. Juliet heard a growl coming from down the pathway and began to walk over to it. "I think I've found our wraith." As she drew closer to the growling it only got louder.
Akio took a few quick steps over to Juliet and grabbed her shoulder. "Don't you think we should think this through before going in head first like we usually do?"
"Why change now?" She didn't wait for Akio to answer and walked through the pathway with Clementine following close behind while Akio lagged behind.
Juliet had just entered another clearing noticing that there was only a rock sticking up in the middle of the ground. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the wraith-" She wasn't able to say anything else before a large black gorilla came running out of the bamboo that was around the area.
It wasn't like the gorillas they'd seen before. This one was a lot bigger almost as big as the pig Juliet had fought in Andy's Room its eyes were gold and rolling in their sockets with froth coming out of its mouth. The Rage Ape bared its fangs and snarled as it lumbered closer.
Clementine stayed a safe distance behind Juliet before casting aero on all three of them.
The Rage Ape growled and swung a heavy paw at Juliet who was smacked in the back and sent sailing into the bamboo thicket. The wraith then turned its beady eyes to Akio not noticing Clementine who was too far back.
Akio had to back up a bit as the wraith began to advance on him. He threw his disk at ape's head only to see bounce off.
However, it looked like it did do some damage because the Rage Ape roared and swung its other paw at him, but unlike Juliet, Akio was able to get out of the way in time.
Clementine shot another thunder spell followed by a fire spell at the wraith prompting it to look in her direction.
Instead of walking towards Clementine the Rage Ape began running towards her. It ignored Akio's disk and stopped right in front of Clementine before it roared in her face. It brought its paw up to knock her away, but it became distracted when Juliet threw herself on its back; the Keyblade braced against the front of its neck.
"Let's get rid of it quickly I don't think I can hold on for very long." Juliet grabbed onto the wraith's shoulders to get a better grip while Akio and Clementine continued their assault. She was struggling to hold on when she remembered something Erik had told her about fighting wraiths. That's right you're supposed to attack their hearts. Digging her fingers into its fur she pulled herself up so that she was over the Rage Ape's shoulder before plunging the Keyblade into its heart.
The Rage Ape howled before it slumped to the ground.
Juliet squirmed out from under the wraith's body with a bit of difficulty. "That wasn't too difficult."
There was rustling coming from in the thicket as Antonia wrestled her way out of the thick growth of bamboo. She hadn't expected that they'd still be there and stared at them with wide eyes before darting out of the clearing through another shorter pathway.
Juliet didn't hesitate before she ran off after Antonia, but by the time she got into the next clearing Antonia was gone. "Well damn she got away. Well, I guess we need to go look for her."
"Shouldn't we go tell that gorilla that we got rid of the wraith?" Akio was holding a stitch in his side.
"No, I'm sure they'll figure it out that the wraith is gone. Besides he said we'd be welcome in his jungle next time we come back if we got rid of the wraith."