I don't own To Love-Ru or Kingdom Hearts
A Night of Complications! Long Live The Emperor!
?
"What? A llama?! He's supposed to be DEAD!"
The Emperor's ex-advisor was wrapped up in massive confusion. She was no longer looking at a human emperor on the eve of his eighteenth birthday, but now a llama with black head and neck fur, red-orange body fur, and a black tail. The only recognizable part of his previous human-self was his hair. This was certainly not the end goal she so desired...
The ex-advisor was a skinny old woman; like a extremely old woman. Her skin had already decayed into a shade of lavender-gray and she had on far too much eye-shadow that scarily complimented her long eyelashes. She was wearing a long black dress with strappings going over her bony shoulders. Around her neck was a black neck-brace with fancy purple fur coming out of the top, and on her ears were large blue ornament earrings. She was also wearing a black cap with a large purple flair coming up and out.
"Yeah. Weird huh Yzma?"
The comment was made by 'Yzma's' assistant; a fairly broad, top-heavy man that had just knocked out the Emperor before he noticed his transformation. He was wearing a yellow cap that had his black lengthy hair coming out behind it and the Empire's sigil at the top of an antenna. On his body was a blue and yellow top, a purple skirt/robe bottom, yellow leg and arm braces, black sandals, and oven mitts complimenting a light blue apron going over his body.
Yzma paused, suspecting something amiss. Especially with her assistant doing all the work.
"Kronk...Let me see that vial...!" she spoke through clenched teeth, her frustration growing as she put out her hand.
'Kronk' handed over the now empty vial for Yzma's inspection. She studied it carefully and noticed its label had been folded to seemingly display a skull. Once she unfolded it and displayed it straight however...
"This is not poison..." her frustration turning to anger at the sight of the silhouette of a llama "This is extract of...llama! URGGGHHH!" Yzma flicked the vial at Kronk's head and started to lightly bash at herself. Perhaps the currency spent on postage would've been worth it over this...
"You know; In my defense, your potions all look alike. Ya might wanna think about re-labeling some of them" Kronk advised the ex-advisor.
"Take him out of town and finish the job, NOW!" she ordered him with a point out.
"...What about dinner?" he asked. They went through the trouble of inviting the Emperor to dinner they could at least finish. His cooking skills weren't nothing to go to waste...
"Kronk, this is kind of important." Yzma's tone was mild, very mild.
he pouted "...How bout' dessert?"
Yzma took a deep breath "...Well, I suppose there IS time for desert." she relented.
"And Coffee?"
She pursed her lips...
"Alright a quick cup of Coffee. THEN take him out of town and finish the job!"
(Later that night...)
Empire of The Sun - ?
Lea, Kairi, Rito, and Yami found themselves making there way through a deep jungle that was being illuminated by the moon's light. Yami was at the front using her transformation blades to cut through the mass of vegetation around and in front of them as the others walked behind her and let her work. Rito of course was at the very back; behind Lea and Kairi. He observed his surroundings with curiosity, looking past his friends, and around at the large foliage. Occasionally, a bug would fly around the group, catching Rito's attention before going away.
"Where are we?" he eventually asked. It kinda reminded him of where he, Lea, and Kairi trained. Only this place seemed much more...wild.
"It appears we have arrived in what is called a 'Jungle'." Link explained from his dock "'Jungle' is used to describe a land covered in dense forest and large masses of vegetation; like vines, trees and leaves."
Yami sliced a large leaf in their way and it sailed over the group's heads; timing as if to exemplify Link's definition before the program continued.
"A few words of caution. Jungles can be home to not only poisonous insects, but also various carnivorous animals. So be on guard."
"...What's 'carnivorous' mean?"
Yami stopped mid-swing over what just came out of Rito's mouth. "...Surely you're joking."
Rito blinked "Huh?"
Lea facepalmed as Yami turned with sharp eyes and a scowl.
"Do you seriously not know what a Carnivore is?"
Rito couldn't look her in the eye and stared to the side at the ground "Uh...no, not really..." he then looked over to Kairi "Are the Heartless Carnivores, Kairi?"
The girl shifted a little and picked at her cheek "Umm...well going by the definition of Carnivore, not typically no."
After a pause, Yami turned back to the vines and resumed cutting "Carnivores are creatures with massive teeth and killer claws that eat many types of meat. In other words, there may be wild beasts in the area that may try to eat us or you."
Rito shivered at the image of him being eaten alive, not an ending he wants at all. "Yikes."
Yami's eyes narrowed as she effortlessly cut another mass of vines and branches in their way "If you're feeling frightened, you could always just go back to the ship; where you won't be holding us back."
Lea frowned at her not so subtle remark while the newest Keyblade Wielder shook his head, gathering his courage.
"No way!" He refused. "What if you guys end up needing help?"
She slashed away another large leaf, using a bit more force than necessary "Us needing the aid of a novice like yourself? Don't be absurd. After that, I know you can't handle yourself out here."
"Hey, I'll have you know Rito is more capable in a fight than you think." Lea tried to defend "He just sometimes...gets overwhelmed while fighting. Which leads to him sometimes getting caught flat-footed if we're not there to give him any kind of direction."
Memories of the battle with that Heartless swarm in Traverse Town came back to Yami, with Rito dodging until he was told by Kairi where the core was. But he also took action on his own and assisted her by conjuring that massive pillar of light. She supposed that's where 'sometimes' comes into place...
'Regardless...'
Kairi continued to stay silent; watching as Yami replied. "If he truly was a capable combatant, he would have the mindset to not let himself get overwhelmed." she slices away at another thick set of vines, revealing a clearing to a more open area of the Jungle being lit by moonlight. She walked forward as she continued to speak "In a life or death battle, even a slight moment of fearful hesitation could cost you everything. You must use your instincts to not just fight, but also to survive without relying on the guidance others."
"...Are you...speaking from personal experience?"
Yami paused before she turned to Kairi, who asked her the question. The Princess of Heart held a sympathetic gaze at her "Because that's what it seems like to me." She didn't know much about Yami's background, but from how she spoke about battle and conflict, it made her concerned for the blonde's lifestyle.
The transformation user went silent, regretting her choice of words. She was being so critical of her target that she didn't even realize that she was starting to lean toward being alone. She's learned by now...relying solely on yourself isn't so ideal either, especially when you're in a bind.
'What in the world?'
Before she could ponder on her shift further, Heartless appeared from the Darkness! A pack of Shadows, Soldiers, and two Large Bodies.
"Heartless!" Rito shouted as he summoned his Keyblade in reverse-grip fashion. "Just watch Yami!" he flipped and pointed his blade to a Large Body "I'll show you just what I can d-OW!"
The boy was interrupted by a large nut clonking him on the head! The others looked in the direction from where the nut was thrown to find several monkey-like Heartless hanging and jumping around in the nearby trees. They were covered in very short blue fur which were lighter around their heads and torsos, and darker around their arms, legs and long tails. The center of their faces were pitch-black with jagged edges, and two glowing, beady yellow eyes. The inner sections of their round ears at the sides of their heads were a light purple color, same as their large paws and feet, which ended with sharp, black claws. They seemed to wearing golden bracelets and anklets, and the Heartless emblem; something new to Yami, can clearly be seen on their chests.
'Powerwilds...' Lea summoned his Keyblade into it's Chakrams formation, igniting them on fire and prepared to throw as the others went to fight.
"It's not very wise to use fire in the middle of a Jungle." Yami told as she was engaged in combat with several Soldiers. Lea grinned and threw them anyway, knocking the monkeys off the trees and onto the dirt, where they went poof and the released hearts floated up before disappearing. Yami noted that even though his fiery weapons went through the flora, they had nothing more than very minor burns.
His weapons returned to his hands "I'd be a very bad Pyromancer if I couldn't command my own flames." Lea retorted. Meanwhile-
"Drift!" Rito and Kairi shouted as they combined their magic potency to cast Zero Graviga, causing a large dark pulse of gravity to go out from around them, lifting the mob of Shadows, Soldiers, and the Large Bodies into the air, surrounding them with an aura of anti-gravity. The pair followed up this spell with a Thundaga, calling down lighting to rain upon the helpless Heartless tumbling in the air. While this did destroy the small Shadow Heartless, the Soldiers and two Large Bodies were left surging with electricity as the Gravity spell wore off and they collapsed to the ground. The Large Bodies tried sliding into the pair, only for the electric surges to explode as they collided with the Soldiers, destroying them as well.
One of the Large Bodies let loose a roar that unsettled Rito and more Heartless spawned in, including some more Powerwilds. He grit his teeth at the fear creeping up on him and performed a rather hasty Sliding Dash, his keyblade pointed forward and mowing through the smaller Heartless, zipping past Yami as he went. The attack was; however, ineffective against the Large Body's big belly, bouncing Rito back a bit and leaving him open to a belly slam counter attack, sending Rito flying back further...right into a middle-of-combat Yami, bringing them both to the ground.
"Ehugh!" Rito opened his eyes and froze, for his position was over Yami; head between her bent over legs, arms on her thighs with his hands that were very close to her crotch pulling her legs open, revealing her usual white underwear to the world.
"Impressive." Yami's comment may have been in a deadpanned monotone, but that didn't stop Rito's fear from increasing as her hair formed into a fist.
"H-H-Hold on!-"
POW!
The punch from Yami sent Rito flying; yet again, and dropping into some foliage, but instead of landing on the ground level where the others would be, Rito dropped down to another level of the Jungle!
"Rito!" Kairi called out to the boy while Lea intercepted an attack from a Soldier, saving Kairi from getting hit.
"Kairi!" he grunted as pushed against the Heartless "We gotta take care of these guys first!"
Empire of The Sun - Jungle (Lower Level)
Thud!
"Ow!"
Rito cried out as he crashed onto the ground. He laid there for a while before he slowly picked himself up, massaging his face from the fall and from Yami's punch.
"Urgh, where am I now?" He looked around, still massaging his face before-
"AHHHH!"
A scream pierced the air behind Rito! He turned his head just in time to see a strange creature flying at him!
Crash!
They both flew forward and tumbled along the ground with each other for quite a while before they came to a stop at a clearing outside the jungle...right at the edge of a cliff! Rito groaned before he sat up and saw a couple of four legged creatures appear from the Jungle.
'More Heartless?' At least that's what Rito assumed at first, but these creatures looked like big black cats, with massive teeth and killer claws. "No...Carnivores!" He remembered Yami's words and summoned his Keyblade, getting ready to fight. "I could handle...this..." he slowed down as more; MUCH more, 'Carnivores' started to appear from the jungle, all growling as they bared their fangs and slowly advanced on the pair.
"Yeah, like you could handle a pack of Jaguars."
Rito paused and looked behind himself back at the creature that crashed into him; a llama, unbeknownst to him "...Was that you?"
"Ch'yeah! See anyone else here?" The llama face contorted with sass.
Suddenly, A heavy sounding warcry was heard. Rito, the llama, and the Jaguars looked in the direction of the warcry to find a portly peasant in a green poncho and a brown hat swinging on a thick vine, in the direction of Rito and the llama, prompting Rito to ask-
"Who's that?"
The peasant continued his warcry, intending on saving the llama...when he then laid eyes on Rito.
"Who's that?"
In his confusion; he swooped in...and missed...
"Auuugh...!" he cried as he swung away. After that little distraction, the Jaguars continued to close in on their prey, intent on making them their next meal.
"Looks like it's come down to me then-augh!" Rito and the llama were swooped up by the man's return swing! They both cried out in fear as they swung over a large ravine, hoping beyond hope that they didn't fall to their doom.
"Don't worry you two-guah!" the man grunted, the added weight from two others being a little much. "You're safe now!" he tried to assure.
Suddenly, the vine very quickly wrapped itself around a nearby large tree trunk the was leaning over another cliffside, with the three now pinned against the trunk as if it were a hostage situation. It had happened so fast that one onlooker would consider it comedic.
A moment of silence passed "...This doesn't seem safe." Rito couldn't help but notice from his end.
"Yeah I have to agree." The llama's voice was on the sassy side as he was stuck staring at the ravine below "This; to me, seems like a step backward wouldn't you say?"
"Nonono, it's fine! It's okay! We can figure this out!" the peasant however, remained ever the optimist as he gazed at the sky.
SNAP!
"...I hate you."
Mere seconds after the llama's remark, the large trunk they were tied against snapped off, sending the three plunging down to their apparent demise!
"AHHHHH!/NOOOOOO!"
Empire of The Sun - Jungle (Higher Level)
Kairi's Keyblade slammed against the last Heartless; a shadow, before reappearing in her hands. She took a sigh before she turned to Lea and Yami, who seemed to be in a middle of a small dispute.
"C'mon, I know that's the usual response a girl would give but we're supposed to be working together. Did you have to send him flyin' so hard?"
"Trust me, that was me holding myself back a great deal compared to the usual response." Yami's voice was most definitely on the unfeeling side.
Lea grunted before his eyes sharpened "Oh is that right?"
"AHHHHH!/NOOOOOO!"
The three all suddenly heard the loud screams echo through the night sky!
"That came from this way!" Kairi directed the others to the sound of the scream's origin.
Empire of The Sun - Jungle (River)
SPLASH!
The trunk resurfaced from the depths of a river, with Rito, the llama, and the peasant still tied to it coughing up water and trying to catch their breaths. It would appear the three were fortunate enough to land in the river of the ravine. Not without complications of course, but how long will their luck last?
"*Cough* *Cough* Are you *Cough* guys okay?!" Rito sputtered out.
"Cough* I don't know about you two, but I'm getting all fun'd out." the llama continued to be ever-so-sassy.
The peasant ignored that and focused on another issue "Uh oh" his eyes went wide.
"'Uh oh' what?" Rito grew scared and looked to his left "...oh..." he let out in a strained high-pitch.
"Don't tell me; we're about to go over a huge waterfall." The llama; who was stuck facing away, was surprisingly deadpanned for what seemed to be imminent danger.
"Yup" The man's voice was just as deadpanned.
"Sharp rocks at the bottom?"
The peasant gave a nod "Most likely."
Meanwhile Rito; in panic mode, struggled against the strong binds, desperate to get free as the heavy crashing of the waterfall got closer and closer...but it was no use, leaving the llama with only one more comment to give...
"...Bring it on."
Well...this is awkward...where to begin?
I guess first thing is first, sorry about the long hiatus. I know it's been a VERY long time since my last Chapter.
As for WHY there was such a long hiatus...its because I realized and thought on a few things...
1. Creating scenarios from scratch is harder then I remember it being. What do I mean by this? Let me put it this way, at least with Team Sora I have some form of...blueprint let's call it, due to KH3 worlds existing. With Team Lea/Rito, things are way more difficult as not only do I have to think about what scenarios I want to do for each world (completely new worlds at that), but I also have to consider the pieces within said scenarios, like which characters are here and why, what would their reactions/development be and how do I want to convey them. I also have to consider at what point do I introduce the scenario within the story at large, speaking of which...
2. Stepping back has made me realize that certain events I WANTED to do in the story wouldn't make much sense if I were to change things around from the original KH3 at this current point and vice-versa. That's not to say it won't happen. It's just a bit harder to make things happen. For this reason, the order of Worlds that Sora visits won't be as different as I wanted it to be *Sad Face*. For that, I deeply apologize.
3. I was actually for a long time considering just stopping this story and taking it back to the beginning as a Rewrite. Why do a Rewrite? Because Hindsight is a bitch and there are some things I really would like to Redo (Like Chapter 3 for example) In order for my story to have more impact going forward. It would also allow me to cover more of the elements from ReMind. However, I didn't go through with it just yet because I'm already knee-deep into this story as is, and I don't wanna keep you folks waiting another few years to get to where we are now (that's if I High-Ball that guess.).
Anyways, onto the Chapter itself. If you couldn't tell, this is Emperor's New Groove World. I know most Kingdom Hearts folks scoff at the very notion of following the movie plot of the Worlds, deeming them as nothing but filler. However, its this way because it serves to not only develop the main cast of the film, but develop our main characters, especially Rito; who hasn't seen much of the outside Worlds yet.
That's all for now, Till next time.
(Same day update: Beside themself does NOT mean what I thought it meant, whoops. Fixed now.)
(9/15/21 Edit: Grammar Edit)
(10/18/21 Edit: Gave the World a more fitting name)