I am SOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the long absence. I have had a huge writer's block on all my stories, and I'm only now getting over it.
Anyway, I was gonna make this the last chapter in my Emperor's New Groove/School story ark, but I decided to divide it into two chapters, to end you guys' waiting.
Again, I am so sorry. Enjoy!
(I do not own anyone created by Disney and/or Square-Enix)
The next morning, Sky, Brandy and Whiskers walked with Kuzco and Malina to school.
Sky yawned and stretched a bit. "It sure was nice of your friend Pacha and his family to let us stay the night at their house Kuzco." She said.
"Yeah, that's Pacha for you." Kuzco replied. "He's always acting… um, what's the word?"
"Generous?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"Wow, I never thought it possible," Whiskers whispered to Brandy. "But this guy's even more spoiled than you!"
"It is a mystery." Brandy agreed.
The five friends were almost at the school, when they met up with Kronk, who smiled dumbly at them. "Mornin' Kuzco, Malina, Sky, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers." He said, nodding to each in turn. "Headin' to school, I see."
"Um, yeah?" Kuzco said impatiently.
"We're tagging along to make sure the Heartless don't cause more trouble." Sky added.
"I see." Said Kronk. "Good plan. We sure wouldn't want those pesky Heartless to be causing trouble. Nope. That'd be… bad. Yeah."
Everyone remained silent for a moment, until Malina asked "Um, is there something you wanted to say Kronk?"
"Oh yeah!" Kronk turned to Sky. "I was on my morning nature walk in the jungle today, and I saw something weird. Coulda been one of those Heartless things. Maybe you aughta check it out or something?"
"Oh sure." Sky replied. "Where'd you see it at?"
"Just in the jungle this way." Kronk said, pointing into the dense jungle.
"Alright. Brandy, Whiskers, let's go."
"Hey, what about me?" Kuzco whined. "You can't just go off without me. I am the Emperor, after all."
"Kuzco," Said Malina. "As surprised as I am to see you wanting to do something like this, we have a big test today. If you fail this test, you fail school."
"Don't worry Malina, that won't be for awhile now. I'll be back in plenty of time. Besides, Kronk probably only saw a squirrel or something."
"Well, okay. But you'd better get back in time. Think you can take care of that Sky?"
"No problem Malina." Sky replied.
"Hey! I don't need her to baby sit me!" Kuzco said, sounding offended.
"Whatever." Malina replied with a role of her eyes. "I'll see you later then." Malina waved and everyone waved back, before heading to school.
"Alright Kronk," Said Sky. "Lead the way."
"Right." Kronk replied. "Just follow me."
---
Kronk led the others through the dense jungle, far away from the school. In fact, they were getting so far away from the school that Sky was worried they might get lost, and decided to voice her concern.
"Hey Kronk?" She asked. "Are you sure you saw something out here? I mean, we're awfully deep into the jungle."
"Yeah, and I'm getting sick of all this walking." Kuzco whined. "Just where are we headed, anyway?"
"Well…" Kronk replied, coming to a stop. "We, uh… we're… here! Yep, this is the spot alright… Yup."
Sky raised an eyebrow in suspicion and looked around. "Strange…" She said. "If there were Heartless here, wouldn't they have shown up by now?"
"Well, maybe they're the kind of Heartless that like to hide." Kronk suggested. "You should probably take a look around, you know, just in case."
Sky thought for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so."
As Sky began to look through the nearby underbrush, Kronk turned to Brandy and Whiskers. "You know," He said. "While she's looking around here, maybe you two aughta look somewhere else, like… Oh, I dunno… further off in the jungle where you could easily get lost and then not be readily available to help Sky out if the Heartless attacked… you know, speaking hypothetically."
"You know Kronk," Brandy said slowly. "If I didn't know better, I could swear that sounded like a contrived plot to separate us from Sky."
"Oh come on Brandy," Whiskers replied. "Its not like Kronk is only pretending to be our friend and is actually a mindless henchman working for a maniacal fiend bent on world conquest."
"Technically, she only wants to be Empress." Kronk added. "Oh, and some wrinkle cream. Uh… I mean, of course I'm not!"
Brandy stared at Kronk a moment before sighing and rubbing her temples. "Why do there have to be so many idiots in the universe?" She asked.
Kronk and Whiskers simultaneously replied "For comedic purposes."
Brandy sighed again and trudged off into the jungle. "Come on Whiskers, let's get this over with!"
"Right behind ya Brandy!" Whiskers called as he followed.
Once they were out of sight, Kronk sneakily took out two canteens of water and the potion from Yzma's lab, and poured a little of the potion into each canteen. He then turned and walked up to Kuzco, who was lazily leaning against a nearby tree, and handed him a canteen.
"Hey Kuzco, ya thirsty?" He asked with a smile.
Kuzco looked at the canteen, then at Kronk. "It's not that nasty river water is it?" He asked. "Cause me no likey river water."
"Nope, this here is all natural spring water, it's full of good… uh, stuff. Yeah."
Kuzco eyed the canteen suspiciously another moment, before finally shrugging his shoulders. "Whatever. I am pretty parched after all that—yuck—walking." Kuzco took the canteen and took a long drink from it.
Just then, Sky walked up to them. "I couldn't find anything." She reported. She looked around, and was surprised to only see Kronk and Kuzco. "Where'd Brandy and Whiskers go?"
"Oh, they went off to look somewhere else." Kronk explained. "They should be back soon. Have some water?"
Kronk handed Sky the canteen, and she took it with a smile. "Thanks Kronk, I am pretty thirsty." She took a drink and smacked her lips. "Mmm, not bad."
"Yeah, kinda has a bit of a kick to it." Kuzco agreed, before taking another drink.
"Well," Said Kronk, as he edged away from Sky and Kuzco. "You two just enjoy the water, and I'm gonna… uh… go do my laundry! See ya!"
Sky turned to Kronk as he rushed away, and a worried frown came over her face.
"Hey Kuzco, does he usually run away like that?" She asked.
"Eh, sometimes." Kuzco replied, with an unconcerned shrug. "Why do you ask?"
"Doesn't this all seem a little… suspicious to you?"
"Suspicious? Sky, I am an emperor, and as such I have razor sharp senses and a mind like a steel trap. If anything was suspicious around here, I'd know it." Just then, as Kuzco took another drink, his ears transformed, and became long and furry.
Sky's eyes went wide, as she stared at Kuzco's ears. "Kuzco…" She said, slowly. "What's wrong with your ears?"
"My ears? What do you mean? I think you need to be more concerned with your hands and feet."
Sky looked confused for a moment, but when she looked down she noticed her hands and feet had turned to hooves. "Aah! What's happening?!"
---
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the jungle, Brandy and Whiskers had all but given up on finding Heartless and were trying to find their way back to the others.
"Gee, when Kronk told us to search this way, he should have mentioned we could easily get lost." Said Whiskers.
"Yeah, I think he did." Brandy replied. "Which, in retrospect, should have stopped me. But nooo! Ugh, why did I ever agree to this?"
"To get away from Kronk, who annoys you almost as much as I do?"
"Oh yeah, that's it." Bandy stopped when a little squirrel jumped in front of her, and looked up at her with its big, cute eyes. "What do you want?"
The Squirrel held up a walnut and smiled sweetly at her. "Aww, I think he wants to be your friend." Said Whiskers.
"Aww, he does?" Brandy asked, leaning down to look the squirrel in the eye. "Well, if you want to be my friend, then you can do me a huge favor and GET LOST!" Brandy smacked the nut out of the squirrel's hands, and stomped past him.
Whiskers patted the poor squirrel on the head. "Don't take it personally." He said. "She's mean to everyone, but it usually comes back to haunt her some how."
"Oh please." Brandy said without stopping. "Like that is at all true. Aaah!" Brandy tripped on a vine and rolled down a hill, which led her into a clearing. She stood back up with a groan and gasped to see the clearing full of sleeping jaguars.
"Hey Brandy!" Whiskers called as he rushed after her.
Brandy tackled Whiskers and put her hand over his mouth, nodding towards the jaguars.
Slowly, Whiskers and Brandy tried to back away from the jaguars, when suddenly the squirrel jumped up onto a nearby thorn bush and smiled evilly at them. Taking a balloon out from behind his back, the squirrel inflated it and made a little balloon dog, which resembled Brandy, and grabbed a thorn.
"Oh no, no, no, no!" Brandy gasped, but the squirrel just grinned some more and poked the balloon, creating a loud pop.
Brandy and Whiskers held each-other in fear, expecting the jaguars to awaken any second… but they were still sound asleep.
Sighing in relief, Whiskers let go of Brandy and turned to the squirrel, shouting "Ha! In your face!" Suddenly, the jaguars woke up, and all turned to look hungrily at the dog and rabbit. "Oops…" Whiskers said timidly.
"Ya think?!" Brandy shouted. "Run for your life!!!" Brandy ran off, with Whiskers right behind her, as the jaguars rushed after them both.
---
Back at Kuzco academy, Kronk silently crept into the school, trying not to look suspicious, but failing miserably at it.
"Hey Kronk," Malina greeted him, when she saw him in the hall. "Where are Kuzco, Sky, and her friends?"
At first, Kronk jumped at the sight of her, but then he tried to think of an answer. "Uh… I dunno… I haven't seen 'em."
"They were just with you, though…"
"Oh, riiight. They were. Well, uh, thing is, uh…"
Suddenly, a small angel, resembling Kronk, appeared on his shoulder. "You've gotta fess up!" The Kronk-Angel said, sternly. "If not for your pal Kuzco, or for that weird dog and bunny, then do it for ol' Sora! He wouldn't like it if you helped Yzma bump his daughter off."
"Uh… I thought I didn't really know Sora?" Kronk replied dumbly. Just then, another little Kronk, this time a devil, popped up on his other shoulder.
"What're ya listening to dress-guy over there for?" The Kronk-Devil asked. "Just lie to Malina and nobody will be the wiser."
"But at what cost?" Angel-Kronk asked.
"Cost-shmost!" Devil-Kronk called back. "Why should he care about anyone but himself?!"
"Hey guys," Kronk interrupted. "Mind if we talk about this later? Now's not really a good time."
"Yeah, sure," Devil-Kronk replied, then turned to Angel-Kronk. "What say we go grab a burger?"
"Eh, why not?" Angel Kronk replied, and they both disappeared again.
"Sorry about that," Kronk apologized to Malina. "My shoulder angel and shoulder devil had a disagreement. Uh… not that I have some kind of an emotional conflict or anything! Uh… yeah."
Malina just stared in confusion, but then she saw someone from the corner of her eye. It looked like Kuzco, wearing a pair of sunglasses. "Hey, Kuzco!" She called, only to receive a half-hearted (pardon the pun) wave. "That's weird. Kronk, what's up with…?" She turned to Kronk, only to find he had run off. "Something very weird is going on here…"
---
Sky cautiously looked into a puddle of water to see a strange sight looking back at her. It was a llama, with red fleece and blue eyes, and a ponytail at the top of its head. It looked… disturbingly familiar.
"What's happened to me?!" She screamed, looking down at her hands-turned-hooves. "I've been turned into some kind of… alpaca!"
"Excuse me!" Kuzco, also transformed into a llama, cried indignantly. "We're llamas, not alpacas! Weird, I didn't think Yzma would have done the same thing twice."
"She's done this before?! Wait… that water! Kronk must have done this! But why?"
"Yzma musta made him do it. But really, making me a llama twice is just redundant."
"Kuzco! You mean to tell me Kronk works for Yzma, and you knew that?!"
"Yeah, but I honestly thought he'd finally changed. You know, after the millions of times Yzma's failed."
Sky's eye twitched and she let out a frustrated groan. "This world… is so screwed up!"
Kuzco was about to make a snide comment as Sky looked back down at her reflection, but stopped when he heard a noise. "Hey, what was that?"
Sky heard the noise, too, and looked around. Everything seemed calm… but it was the same calm that came before the storm…
"Kuzco," she said in a low voice, "I think we should get out of here…"
"Why?" Kuzco asked. His answer came in the form of several Shadow Heartless appearing, surrounding them both.
Kuzco jumped behind Sky, and she scoffed. "How're you gonna fight these things if you can't use your key-knife?" He asked.
"Keyblade!" Sky replied testily. "And what makes you think I can't use it?"
"Um, hello? Hooves?" Kuzco raised his own front hoof to Sky's face. "What now?"
Sky pondered a moment, but finally grinned at all the Heartless. "Well Kuzco, where there's a will…" The Keyblade appeared in her mouth, clenched between her llama teeth. "'Ere's a 'ay."
"What? Oh, 'there's a way'! I get it. You shouldn't talk with your mouth full, it's rude!"
Sky ignored Kuzco and jumped into battle, swinging her Keyblade around with her long neck, and kicking them with her back teeth. Kuzco just stayed back, cheering her on.
Finally, Sky eliminated the last Heartless and turned to Kuzco. "Where can we find this Yzma?" She asked, after the Keyblade disappeared. "We've got to get her to reverse this!"
"She has a 'secret' lab where she usually hangs out," Kuzco replied. "But I don't think she's just gonna give us the cure."
"Well we've gotta try! Now come on, we have to find our way out of this Jungle. Oh, I hope Brandy and Whiskers are okay…"
---
"We are SO not okay!" Brandy howled as she and Whiskers trudged through the jungle, covered in mud, leaves, scratches and scrapes. "If I ever get my hands on that stupid Kronk…!"
"Well, at least we escaped those jaguars," Whiskers said with a grin, but then glanced at the bite mark on his ear. "Or, mostly, anyway…"
Brandy sighed and rolled her eyes, but her eyes lit up as she saw something on the horizon. "Whiskers, look! It's the school!"
Whiskers looked, and saw the school, sitting just beyond a large gorge. Over the gorge was a rope bridge, the only way across the deep chasm.
"I dunno, Brandy, that bridge doesn't look safe," said Whiskers.
Brandy ignored him, however, and rushed to the bridge. Whiskers sighed and followed. They hadn't made it halfway across, however, when they heard a snap, and stopped dead in their tracks.
"Whiskers? I don't think this bridge is safe…" Brandy said slowly.
"Oh, why didn't I see that sooner?!" Whiskers scolded himself.
"Don't worry, Whiskers… just back up… slowly…" Whiskers nodded and the two began to back up, taking care where they stepped.
But suddenly, the boards beneath them gave way, and they fell through.
They both screamed as they fell, but as they fell lower the sides of the gorge came closer together, until they both became wedged against each other at the bottom.
"Wow, that was lucky," Whiskers commented. But then, they looked down and saw that below them was a long drop into an alligator-infested river.
"You were saying?!" Brandy shouted.
"Now, now, don't panic, Brandy! Maybe we can still get out of this!"
"How?"
"Um… oh, I got it!" Whiskers linked his arms with Brandy's. "We'll work together to climb up!"
"I get the feeling that's been done before, but okay. On the count of three, we start with our left foot."
"Your left or mine?"
"Whiskers!"
"Okay, okay! Your left! Sheesh!" Starting slowly and carefully, Brandy and Whiskers pushed against each other, and walked up the gorge, slowly making their way to the top. "Gee, I hope there aren't any scorpions around… or bats…"
---