We're already on the last world for this group!?
Time flies!
Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I've taken some stuff from the original books and the TV show for this world!
Enjoy!
Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!
Tarzan © to Edgar Rice Burroughs!
Sasuke and Hinata © to Yamichaos27!
Luna © to Nintendoman01!
My OCs © to me!
Chapter 21: Deep Jungle- Opar
"Thanks Mary." Auriel sighed as she turned off the communication screen. "Well, it does sound like the perils gain power when we do."
"That sucks." Eldar groaned.
Hinata sighed, clutching a small pillow in her arms. "Yeah, that's not fun, but it's not like we can stop."
"Yeah, we can't." Auriel's hand laid on the pulsing star shard as the last set of coordinates flashed on the screen before them.
"Let's see where this takes us then!"
The three landed with a flash on the back side of what seemed to be a small wooden building. Enormous trees towered above them, with vines hanging down like strands of hair in the mid-morning air.
"Almost finished?"
"Indeed we are."
Poking their heads around a corner, they saw a small river boat. A few men seemed to be loading crates into it while a woman, papers in hand, watched.
A man loaded one more crate before tipping his cap to the woman. "Well, we'll be on our way. It's always a pleasure, Ms. Porter."
"The pleasure is ours. Have a safe journey." The woman, whose brown hair hung down her back, waved them off before turning around. Her blue eyes searched the paper before spotting the three. "Oh, hello there? Where did you three come from?"
Hinata curtsied. "Hi. My name is Hinata. This is Auriel and Eldar. We… just arrived."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Jane Porter. If you have any business here, please come inside. I'd be happy to assist you."
"We, actually have no idea what this place is."
Her eyebrow raised curiously. "Oh? Well, this is the Porter Trading Post. I run the post with my husband. Though, he is out with our son right now spending time with his family."
"Who is your husband?"
"His name is Tarzan."
"Tarzan!?" Eldar slapped his forehead.
"What?"
The boy turned to the girls. "Don't you remember, Uncle Sora told us about him. And, you're Jane from his story."
"Sora?" The woman's eyes lit up. "You know Sora?"
"He's our uncle and her godfather."
"It's been a long time since I've seen that boy. It's nice to hear he's all grown up now." She smiled. "Well, any friend of his is welcome. Come on inside."
Going into the small wooden building, they found it to be quite cozy. One door seemed to lead off into some sort of storage area, while a small desk, covered in papers filled the center of the room. A large map of what appeared to be the area around this post hung on the wall behind the desk.
"How often do you get traders?"
"Quite often. People need somewhere to resupply at times, so they send small ships out here. We collect fruits, meat, and supplies that they might need and trade for some money, but mostly for goods that are difficult to find out here. Fabric, certain spices, books, and schooling material for my son."
Thud.
Thud.
"Speaking of."
A minute later the door swung open.
In walked a muscular man with long dreadlocks, wearing nothing but a loincloth. Behind him walked a young boy of about 13(1) with scraggly brown hair, wearing a simple cream shirt and pants. Auriel noticed that none of the three here wore any kind of shoes.
"How did it go?" Jane asked with a smile.
"Great." Her husband smiled, glancing over at the three guests. "Who are they?"
"Friends of Sora's if you can believe it."
"Really?"
"Sora?" The boy asked. "That's the boy you told me about."
"Yes."
Auriel stepped forward. "My name is Auriel. This is my brother, Eldar. And our friend, Hinata."
"Nice to meet you!"
"Sup."
The boy bounded forward, specifically toward Hinata. "You're not much older than me! I don't really see other kids around here, except for the apes. But no human kids. My name's Jack(2)! Or you can call me Korak! It's my ape name and it means 'killer'!"
"Jack." Jane let out a long sigh. "You don't have to tell everyone."
"But I want to! I earned that name!" He turned back to the three. "I killed a big python that tried to eat some of the little apes! Right Dad?" His eyes shimmered when he glanced back at Tarzan.
Tarzan breathed out a laugh. "You certainly did." He smiled, looking upon the three. "It's nice to meet all of you. You're very welcome to stay here. Any friend of Sora's is welcome."
"Thank you."
Jack bounced over. "Hey, wanna go exploring with me?"
"But you just got back."
"But Mooooom, I don't get to play with other kids often." He blinked his big blue eyes. "Please!"
Jane and Tarzan glanced at each other, the former shrugging slightly, with a soft smile.
"Alright. But try to be back before dinner, alright?"
"Yes!"
Running to the door, Jack threw it open, glancing back at the three. "Come on! Let's go!"
"Sure." Eldar followed him out first, followed by the girls.
Leaping over crates, Jack hurried into the jungle.
"Do we have time to play with a kid?"
"Why not?" Hinata smiled. "We don't know where we're going anyway. Let's just see where this leads."
"Yeah. Let's live a little."
Off into the jungle they ran. Jack paused ever so often to make sure they followed.
"So, where are we going, Jack?"
"Well," he paused, hanging off a vine, "Dad told me this story he'd heard about a sunken city called Opar. Apparently, it's a myth, but I wanna try and find it. It's probably nothing, but it would be cool."
"Where is it supposed to be."
The boy swung to another vine. "No one really knows, but they say to start at the Cave of the Fallen and go through the Sleeping Pool to find it."
"That sounds… fun."
The boy swung ahead of them, smiling back. "Yeah! The cave is beautiful. But I've never swam in it before."
"So, have you lived here your whole life?"
"Yep." Jack laughed. "It's just been me, Mom, Dad, and our gorilla family. Though, Grandfather Porter and Grandmother Kala died when I was younger. But… I've got a happy family. With dad being the leader of the gorilla family, everyone treats me just like family too. Especially Aunt Terk. She's the best. Uncle Tantor is fun too!"
Auriel raised an eyebrow. Being raised by gorillas… interesting. Probably a very chaotic way of growing up. But she supposed that was far more accepted here in the jungle.
"Though, Mom schooled me. And I've learned a lot from traders. People come from all over the world. I've seen so many cool things and heard so many stories. And Mom says I'm really smart, and so do other people, especially when they've seen that I can speak English, gorilla, baboon, elephant, other animal languages, as well as some French, German, Portuguese, Swahili, and some Arabic."
"Wow! You are smart."
"Comes from meeting lots of people. Dad knows even more languages than I do. He hates studying sometimes, but languages seem to really fascinate him."
"Kinda like me." Eldar tried to grab a vine and swing from it, but he simply slid off. "I hate studying, but I'm actually really good at math."
"Math's not my favorite." The younger boy giggled. "What about you girls?"
"I've always been a fan of biology." Hinata smiled, gently tapping a flower as they walked.
"You and Mom should get along then."
Auriel watched as her brother failed to climb another vine. "I've always liked literature myself."
"Eh, literature is alright. Mother always picks boring books to let me read, but some of the sailors bring really interesting books. Those are my favorite."
As they went on, the boy pointed out as many different plants and animals as they could see. Happily chattering on about any facts he could think of, not really caring if his new friends were truly interested or not. He just seemed glad to have new people to talk to.
"Here we are!"
They stopped at the edge of a ridge. It dropped down into a massive black hole under them. At the bottom of the hole, shining like a sapphire, lay the bluest water any of them had ever seen.
It put the beaches of the Destiny Islands to shame.
"Welcome to the Cave of the Fallen(3)."
"It's beautiful."
"I know right."
Hinata pointed downward. "So, this city is reachable through the pool."
"So they say." Jack sat down, letting his feet dangle. "But you'd have to be able to hold your breath a long time. Not even Dad can do it."
Eldar tapped his chin. "Didn't Uncle Donald teach us a spell for that?"
"He did!"
Looking up at the sky, Auriel put her hands on her hips. "We do have a while before it's even close to sundown. We could give it a try."
"A spell?"
"Yeah." Hinata drew her sword. "Everyone step close." A soft blue glow lifted off her sword, floating to the throats of the four of them. "There, now we should be able to breathe underwater(4)."
"Whoa!" Jack yelped, catching his throat as a slightly cold sensation, like eating a breath mint, touched his throat. "Are you serious?"
"Yep."
Eldar winked. "Watch." He stepped back before running and diving off the edge.
Splash!
"Doesn't he know the meaning of 'look before you leap'?"
"Hinata, you should know the answer by now." The red head sighed. "Let's go."
Off she went, followed by Jack and Hinata.
Splash.
The cold water filled the air around them as they sank down.
Under the water, their vision became strangely clear. They could see Eldar grinning at them.
"Looks like it worked!" He laughed, his voice slightly muffled under the water.
"Wow!" Jack laughed.
Letting out the air in her lungs, Auriel drew in water. It felt similar to how it felt in Atlantica.
Magic was wonderful.
"Don't ever try this without us." Hinata said, laying her hand on Jack's shoulder. "You would drown."
"Noted." His eyes turned downward, into the darkness of the pool. "Let's get going then!"
Down they swam. The world darkened around them as they lost the daylight above. Eldar summoned his guitar, letting the strap hold it on as he swam, and cast a spell on it to make it glow a little.
A little trick from Merlin apparently.
Down and down they swam.
Until they came upon a small hole down below, leading into a tunnel.
Auriel ran her hand along the tunnel. "Let's try down here." As her hand touched the tunnel, a rippling glow shot down the tunnel with a blue pulse.
"Whoa!"
Looking closer, the girl saw a bunch of small worms moving against the surface of the tunnel. Once again, she tapped them.
Flash.
The light pulsed down the tunnel again.
"Bioluminescent worms." Hinata gasped. "Amazing."
Eldar heard something bubbling up behind him. He turned around. "Yipes! Guys!"
Behind them, a score of eel-like Heartless, crackling with different colors: blue, red, yellow, and a few strange lizard-like Heartless holding a fishbone spear appeared(5).
"Jack, get behind us!"
The two girls summoned their weapons as Eldar pulled out his pick, changing the color to a soft teal.
"Come on girls, let's blow them away!"
Strumming the instrument, a swirling blast of wind shot forward, slamming into the Heartless.
One of the Spear Lizards threw its spear toward them, Hinata barely dodging out of the way. As the spear clanged against the rocks below, Jack swam down, grabbing it.
"I'll help! I can fight!"
Auriel coated her valari in fire, a strange shield covering the fire to keep it alight in the water. "Fine! Don't be reckless." She swam forward, throwing her weapons through the water. They slashed into one of the Sea Sprites as Hinata came in, her own blade coated in wind.
"Take this!"
The sprite gurgled and vanished in a burst of foam.
"Wind hurts them." The summoner touched the flat of her blade. "Good!" A green glow coated her. "SYLPH!"
Out of the air, a giant flower appeared, unfolding to show three small, yellow-skinned fairies. The fairies looked around. "Well, this is fun. What did you get yourself into this time, Hinata?"
"It's nothing! Just kill the Heartless."
"Fine." Flying around a small group of the Heartless, a wind whipped up, slashing through the monsters as the fairies vanished into small green shimmers.
"So cool!" Jack stabbed a Spear Lizard as he swam past Hinata. "How'd you do that?"
"Long story!"
With a burst of wind from his guitar, Eldar finished off the last of the Heartless.
"Well, I doubt that's the last we'll see of them. We should get moving."
"I agree."
Jack tucked the spear into his belt and began to swim first. They all followed. The wake from their movements down the tunnel causing the worms to light up over and over again.
Auriel paused. She turned, just catching the glimpse of something… something vaguely human, ducking out of sight.
"Guys… we're not alone. Something is behind us."
"Oh don't say that. This tunnel thing is creepy enough."
Auriel glanced back, not seeing the figure. "I'll keep an eye out. Just keep going."
After a few minutes of swimming, and no sign of the figure, the tunnel turned upwards, opening up to a break to the surface.
Glancing behind, she saw it again.
The figure, ducking behind a bend in the tunnel.
This time, she saw glowing blue eyes.
"It's still behind us."
"Let's get out of the water then."
Hinata pushed ahead. "I'll go first." Pushing her head out of the water, she saw a large cavern. Glowing mushrooms and other bioluminescent plants filled the space, giving it an ethereal glow.
At the end of the cavern she saw a building. A tall spire, that seemed to raise in sections, like a Christmas tree, towered over the rest. A fallen statue seemed to guard the entrance as other smaller buildings popped up around it.
Glowing torchlight filled that end of the cavern, highlighting humanoid figures that walked amongst the buildings.
Ducking back down, she looked back at the others, this time catching a glimpse of their mysterious stalker as well. "There's a city there alright, but it's not empty. I can see people."
"Then let's go up."
"I'll go last." Auriel glanced back. "Just to be safe."
Hinata nodded, pulling herself out of the water first. She quietly ducked behind a giant mushroom as Eldar came up and did the same. Then came Jack.
As Auriel neared the hole, she summoned a valari. "We know you are following us. Continue following at your own risk!" She fired a Fira spell down the tunnel before pulling herself out of the water. "We need to get out of sight."
Jack pointed. "Over there."
They quickly moved to a large pile of… what appeared to be quarried rocks, covered in paintings and some sort of strange language.
Touching the lettering, Jack narrowed his eyes. "I've never seen this language before."
"Shh."
Out of the same pool they'd exited from came a large, muscular figure. In the glowing light of the plants, they could see a man with glowing blue eyes. However, his tan skin seemed to be dotted with small black dots. Down his spine, a raised thing, like that of a fin, ran down the length of his back.
His mouth opened, revealing long, needle-like teeth. He spoke, saying something none of them understood.
Another voice called out, and the figure turned. Another man, this one with black fur down his arms and a tail swishing behind him, approached.
The first man gestured around, still talking. Probably telling the cat-man about their uninvited guests.
The cat-man nodded, running back toward the city.
The first man turned around, his toothy maw opening. As he spoke in the same tongue again.
But when he spoke again, the language was different.
And again.
And again.
Each sentence, in a different language.
"Yazhiru."
…
"Vi mener, at du ingen skade."
…
"Nous aimerions parler."
Jack gasped before whispering. "He spoke in Arabic, some other language, and French."
"Nawa."
…
"Hatutakudhuru."
…
"We just want to talk."
"How does he know so many languages?" Eldar whispered.
More footsteps clomped against the ground.
The man seemed to pause before speaking to someone in the first language.
A female voice answered him.
"We should look, but…"
"I hear you." Came a male voice. "Come out. We mean you no harm, surface-men."
Auriel held up her hand before calling back. "And why should we trust you?"
"Well," came the male voice, "Getairdar saw you and didn't harm you, did he?"
"If he was the one following us, then no, but still. I'd rather he spoke to us than following us around like a stalker."
The first male voice, probably this Getairdar, spoke up. "Sorry. I was just curious. Please, come out."
Now, a female voice spoke. "People of the surface are welcome here. We just do not get visitors often. So, we are curious. Come out."
Looking around at the others, Auriel summoned her weapons. "Be ready."
"Yeah."
Slowly, she stood up, the others behind her.
They saw, in the glimmer of torches, a group of about five men. The spotted man, Getairdar, stood before them, and the cat-man as well. They all had tan skin and white hair, but each had different animal traits. The spotted one and the cat one. But another had scales and yellow eyes, like a snake. Another had fur and spots, like a leopard. And the last had wrinkled skin and heavy feet, like an elephant.
In the middle stood a woman, dressed rather scantily, in what appeared to be a black leopard skin outfit. A golden crown ringed her white hair.
She smiled. "And there you are. Welcome to Opar, people of the surface."
"Who are you?"
"I am Queen La of Opar, and I bid you welcome. Who might you be?"
Jack piped up. "I'm Jack Porter! I live not far from where we came in."
"Jack!"
"Jack Porter?" The queen smiled. "And your friends?"
Elder crossed his arms. "Eldar, and this is Auriel and Hinata."
Queen La smiled. "Ah, I see. So he is from this world," her eyes fixed on Auriel, "but you three are not."
"WHAT!?"
"Wait?" Jack turned to his friends. "Another… world?"
"Indeed." The queen smiled. "I can tell, as we are from another world as well."
Auriel's grip on her valari tightened. "You are?"
Queen La stepped forward, her black cape dragging across the stone. "Indeed, young ones. I, and my followers, we were cast out for doing nothing but trying to save our people from a fate worse than death." She moved her eyes across all of them, once again, her green eyes meeting those of Auriel. "And as you have come here, you must travel the worlds often. So, I wonder if you have heard tales of our home and what befell it. Tell me, have you heard of a place called, Atlantis?"
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Footnotes:
(1) We know time moves differently on some worlds, so I decided time moved a bit slowly here.
(2) Jack is the name of Jane and Tarzan's son in the original novels.
(3) This is based on the Chinhoyi caves in Zimbabwe.
(4) This is supposed to be the spell, because I'm assuming it was a spell, that allowed Sora, Donald, and Goofy to breathe and talk underwater in The Caribbean.
(5) These are the Sea Sprite and Spear Lizard Heartless encountered in The Caribbean in KH3.
VAs:
Jack Porter- Logan Grove (Beast Boy/Garfield Logan Gumball Watterson, Papi, Jr.)
Getairdar- James Remar (Vilgax, Hawkman, Black Mask/Roman Sionis, Tonraq)
Queen La- Cree Summer (Kidagakash Nedakh, Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Hippolyta, Medusa)