I hope this chapter is well received! I stumbled quite a bit over some of the writing in it...

*exhausted sigh*

Reviews are loved.

All credit to respective owners.

-YARN

P.S. Edited (slightly)

I growled in frustration as I dove out of the way of another bullet.

The fight wasn't going quite as well as I would have hoped.

And by well, I meant violently strangle the idiot hunter for once again trying to kill the gorillas and destroy the heartless in the area while at it.

The problem was that were had already been hit a more than fair few times by the heartless, the fact that it smashed through a straight stone wall to get to us made it clear that we had to steer clear unless we wanted to be hit by the equivalent of a wrecking ball. How were we supposed to do that if we could see the damn thing was the problem. We had a vague idea as to where it was thanks to Clayton riding it and the slight distortion as it moved, but that didn't mean we could see it's swings or attacks with enough clarity to fully dodge.

What made matters worse was well... Clayton.

Yeah, we could doge his bullets provided we kept an eye on him, but he wasn't letting us have enough of a chance to mount a decent attack and focusing on him AND the heartless was a bit much. He kept firing on anyone who was gathering magic to keep us from firing spells, and the heartless was chasing us around the area, which was a bit too constricted for us to gain any significant amount of distance. Swinging blindly when he seem to loom close enough was getting old because our current percent of actual hits on the heartless was about 50%.

He couldn't have completely cut us off from attacking him with a well-timed thunder or ice bolt, but whatever the heartless did to him made him a hell of a lot more durable than before.

"We need to separate them, or at least knock Clayton out!" I grumbled to Sora, who was smudged with dirt from face-planting or diving to the ground to avoid the bullets and had scratches on his face from when the heartless sent him sprawling across the floor. The hunter was currently facing Goofy who was covering Donald as best as he could.

"Any ideas?" He panted as we saw Clayton's view shift over to us.

"Cast thunder together?" I offered.

We shared a look and raised out keyblades, Clayton made to shoot us but his chamber was thankfully empty and he hadn't noticed.

He did have to keep track of three people capable of using magic all the while keeping his balance on a creature we couldn't see.

"Thunder!" We cried in unison, playing a gamble on the way the spell worked and hoping more than a single bolt would hit them.

The only magic that scored dependable hits were freeze and thunder thanks to their widespread nature, and while fire was no doubt a powerful spell in its own right, it relied on all the fireballs being concentrated for the full dose of damage. We had also been trying to conserve our magic for cure - as the thing hit like a truck - but I had enough of being a punching bag. We couldn't focus our spells because concentrating them would only make them that much easier to miss, so I had to hope for the best.

Lightning lanced down from the heavens and landed Clayton and the heartless he was riding. He let out a pained yell and the heartless let out a loud chittering cry of pain.

And like I hoped, the crackle of lightning outlined the shape of what seemed to be a bipedal creature of sorts.

'Yes!' I thought triumphantly.

"Keep blasting it!" I shouted, "Let's hit it with as much damage as we can while it's visible!"

Donald began chanting his more powerful spells - aiming at where the giant heartless was cringing - while Sora and I called down more lightning to hit the heartless and hunter, keeping it visible and in pain. It began to cry out in agony (I hoped) from the onslaught of spells and began to flail wildly, causing Clayton to curse and try to grab a better hold.

"Come on, Beast!" He yelled angrily.

Despite the fact that we felt the strain of repeated casting become more than a bit noticeable, we didn't let up on casting the magic and finally the heartless began to shiver become visible. It turned out to be a giant green lizard - greatly resembling a chameleon - that was had filigree black lines that seemed to be tattooed onto its skin, wide yellow and orange-ringed eyes, and a heartless symbol emblazoned on its chest. Its wild flailing finally forced Clayton off of its back and towards the corner of the fight. He was looking a lot more worse for wear and - in a stroke of luck - it seemed that one of Donald's fire spells had managed to melt his rifle's barrel shut. I let out a sharp exhale at the exhaustion and discomfort that was brought on by the heavy usage and subsequent depletion on my magic reserves, but twirled my keyblade in my hand as I got into my stance.

"You guys can take the heartless." I growled, pulling out an ether and chugging it down, "The idiot hunter is mine."

Sora gave me a worried look - probably from the sheer venom in my voice - but had to focus as the heartless began to stir from its temporary stupor and turned toward us. Clayton stared blankly at his gun before dropping it and drawing his machete, fixing his eyes on me.

I tensed - ready to start fighting - but suddenly Tarzan was beside me, his spear at the ready. Clayton only paused to give him a angry look before he raised his machete.

Tarzan gave me a look that clearly said, 'This is my fight.'

I sighed in resignation but backed off, if Tarzan wanted to fight Clayton, he had more right that I could ever hope to have. Clayton attacked his family, friends, and - even I could tell - someone he cared for in a very different way but no less intense way than family. I made to turn to the heartless that Sora, Donald, and Goofy were attacking when more of the monkey heartless materialized to a wave of Clayton's hands. I let out a growl of frustration as Clayton smirked, this jerk wanted me to stay and fight.

Well...

If he wanted that, who was I to argue?

I leapt at the heartless, swiping my keyblade to drive them off while Tarzan and Clayton began to attack each other. In all honesty, Clayton was outmatched when it came to agility and speed, but his recent displays of power made me doubt if Tarzan could beat him as easily as I initially thought. He had shrugged off spells that - quite frankly - would have made me dive for cover, and to make matters worse, he didn't even seem to register the pain beyond being knocked back. I knocked one heartless down with my keyblade and grabbed another by its wrist to fling it into another; I immediately raised my keyblade to block a synchronized kick that two launched at me. I slid back and let out a shout as I swiped my keyblade out to launch the two away from me, they landed on their feet and began to hop and skip around me.

"It'll take too long to take them out one by one..." I muttered, eyes glancing to see Tarzan pushing against Clayton with his spear.

I ducked away form a heartless trying to tackle me and backpedaled.

I lifted my keyblade into a stance that Cloud had used against us, muttering, "Nothing quite like a live-fire test..."

Light gathered around my keyblade and began to surround me.

"Sonic Blade!" I yelled.

It was indescribable to use the first attack, I shot forward but could still perceive my opponent's positions clearly as though everything had slowed down and I was moving normally. I cut right through one heartless that exploded into a cloud of shadow and began to dash through the rest of the group of heartless as they were destroyed or blasted away with a single stab of my keyblade. The light of my keybade was constantly waning and waxing, forcing my to retrace my steps to attack, but I managed to get them all. I skidded to a stop - the light around me beginning to fade away - and grunted at the drag on my energy. It also wasn't perfectly stable as an attack as it was hard to keep it consistent in energy and distance. I suddenly heard a grunt and whirled to see Tarzan fall back from Clayton who appeared to have punched him. Clayton made to chop Tarzan in half but I dashed in between the two to catch the strike of his machete on my keyblade. I grunted at just how heavy the strike was but with a shout, pushed him off and sent him stumbling back as I got in my stance.

"What's wrong idiot?" I taunted, moving so Tarzan wasn't near either of our immediate ranges to fight, "Don't tell me your not a good enough hunter to take on some kids?"

With a roar of anger, Clayton charged, machete raised to strike a fatal blow; I shifted to the side and backpedaled to get out of range of the blade. I blinked as his machete bit into the stone floor all the way to the hilt (that as solid rock). Of course he'd also be stronger than normal now that he was being powered by the darkness or the heartless (whichever, I didn't care enough to specify). I had to make sure that I didn't underestimate him at any point in the future if I didn't want to end up disemboweled by him. He followed me and swung wildly, the steel of his weapon flashing in the sun as he tried to cut me to pieces. Focusing on defense, I blocked and dodged his attacks to see his style of attack.

I realized how he fought and smirked.

for all that he was relentless in his assault, he wasn't skilled in sword fighting and therefore he was much easier to deal with. He was hacking with choppy and unrefined moments that were probably more suited for hacking through a bush than killing someone. I sidestepped a chop and lashed out with my keyblade, smacking him solidly in the chest and sending him sliding back. He landed on his back but I wasn't going to go easy on him, he tried to kill me and my friends. Beating him into unconsciousness was very, very kind compared to what I wanted to do to this idiot.

I aimed at him, holding out my free hand and roared, "Deep freeze!"

Several bolts of ice erupted from my hand and froze Clayton's body to the wall of the clearing. He grunted and began to twist his torso in an attempt to force himself free of the ice that kept him stuck in one place. I spared a quick glance to see if my friends were dealing with the heartless easier now, and judging by the way they weaved around the heartless and were now able to dodge its blows, they were doing much better. Donald was hammering the lizard with magic while Sora and Goofy pummeled it with their respective weapons when it made to approach the mage. I decided to ditch the hunter since he seemed unable to free himself at the moment and ran into the fray; I lashed out with a strike raid that knocked the heartless' head to the side before it could head-butt Sora who had raised his keyblade in defense.

He smiled when he saw me running over and leapt away from the heartless trying to pancake him into the floor and quickly asked, "Where's Clayton?"

"He's on time out in some ice!" I grunted as batted away a heavy fist to the side with my keyblade.

The chameleon heartless seemed to be angry that it had another opponent to deal with and attacked by leaping into the air to come down on where we were standing. It was quick and agile, but now that it had lost the advantage of its camouflage, we didn't have to worry about unexpected attacks that we couldn't see coming. The heartless seemed to be angrier and angrier as we scurried around it and kept damaging it when it had no way to retaliate; I let out a chittering cry and began to rise on its hind legs to fire spiraling bursts of energy from its eyes. I leapt away from one blast and spun away from a swipe from its hands. It would have followed up had Sora not leapt from beside it and used hurricane period to draw its attention away. It swayed drunkenly and Donald capitalized on its dazed state to attack.

"THUNDAGA!" He cried.

Huge bolts of electricity came down and blasted the heartless and it cried out in pain before slumping to the ground and laying motionless except for the occasional twitch. We waited for it to evaporate but it simply lay there as though it had been knocked unconscious.

"Why won't it die?" I said in a sharp exhalation.

Sora looked just as confused as I felt at the moment.

I looked away as there was a loud cracking sound from behind me.

"Keep hitting the heartless!" I called as I ran towards the trapped hunter, "I'll take Clayton down!"

Even as my ice began to crackle and give, I wasn't worried; I had fully expected Clayton to suddenly have enough strength to eventually free himself from the magically conjured ice.

I only used the spell to hold him while I aided my friends; I closed the distance between us while I gathered my focus and roared again, "Sonic Blade!"

I took a step forward - Abaddon Plasma glimmering like a miniature sun as energy wrapped around us both - and instead of simply moving forward, I lanced through the air, shattering the ice holding him and blasting Clayton away. I pivoted on my foot as I landed and turned until I was facing Clayton again, blade and body still radiating light. I didn't let up and began to lance around at a blinding speed, uncaring for how much damage I was dealing; I kept knocking Clayton around like a ragdoll until I blasted him with the last strike and he flew towards the heartless' battle. The heartless was far more hurt now that it was immobile and had been unable to defend itself, it sported several burns and parts of its body were sparking and what wasn't burned had ice crawling across the skin, testaments to the fact that it had been liberally electrocuted, frozen, and burned multiple times. Its body began to tremble and spark with light as it slowly rose. Just then, Clayton eyes began to gain awareness again - clearing of the glazed look - but instead of stopping his attack, his hand jammed the machete he had been using in his belt and Clayton instinctively reached for where he usually holstered his rifle.

When he grasped nothing but air, he turned to us - subsequently spotting the melted hunk of metal that may have once resembled a rifle - violence was radiating from every line of his face. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice as the overgrown newt of a heartless let out a dying wail and began to fall, right on top of Clayton. He whirled to see the creature's fall and let out a cry of fear, but we weren't fast enough to pull him out of the way as the heartless crushed him under its weight. We watched as Clayton's lifeless body and the heartless' body both began to evaporate into black vapor and a heart floated free into the air.

And that was the first person I saw really die in front of me.

For a moment I forgot how to breathe, seeing Clayton's lifeless eyes stare at something beyond our perception as he lay under the bulk of the dead heartless on replay in my head. I forced myself to calm down and took a shaky breath as Sora had closed his eyes and had a pained expression on his face. As we dismissed our weapons, we all let out a tired sigh and I promptly slumped forward - nearly collapsing to all fours - resting my arms on my knees and panting heavily as sweat dripped from my face; I hadn't realized that using Sonic Blade twice as I did so soon - one after another - would tire me out so thoroughly.

"Niji?!" Sora cried as he rushed over to see if I needed help.

Apparently learning about the skill left out the physical strain it would put me through if I used it; I made a mental note to practice that attack to lessen the strain and keep the energy used at a constant level when I had some free time.

"Just strained myself a bit," I grunted, "Lend me a shoulder?"

Sora immediately helped me keep upright and I flashed him a thankful - albeit tired - smile as I pulled out a potion and downed it in a few gulps. I sighed at the refreshing feeling of my physical exhaustion melting away and pushed myself to my feet. My reserves of magic needed some time but weren't completely wiped out, so I could hold off on that ether for now as they built back up naturally.

"You okay now?" Sora inquired again, wiping at the sweat he had accumulated over his own battle.

"Yeah," I grunted, mentally prodding at my reserves as though trying to accelerate their restoration, "I just pushed myself a bit too hard with Sonic Blade. I should've stuck with regular attacks rather than try it out for the first time in a battle; I wasn't prepared for the strain, knowing how something is done doesn't necessarily mean I can use it as well as Cloud can mid-battle. I over estimated how well I had learned it..."

Sora accepted my explanation and we turned when all heard the sound of something lumbering towards us. We turned to see Kerchak approach us and simply stare at us for a moment, staring at us with that unreadable look he gave us before the treehouse incident. I blinked and in a flash he gripped Sora's hood and my collar before bodily throwing us into the air, through the hole the lizard heartless had smashed through when it first appeared. I landed on my stomach and the breath whooshed out of my lungs from the unexpected impact. There were two loud thumps from next to us and we saw both Donald and Goofy both looking a bit dazed like I had when I landed. Tarzan scurried up the vines and moss leading to this low cliff and we straightened to see Kerchak give Tarzan a look before the ape lumbered off into the forest, the gorillas following.

"Tarzan, home." Tarzan said quietly as he moved past us.

We turned and the sight took my breath away.

It was beautiful.

There was a sparkling and clear lake that had rumbling and rushing waterfalls that were cascading down from a cliff to pour into the water in a spray of mist. The sun's reflection glittered like stars on the surface of the water and for a moment all I could do was stare in awe at the sight.

Then Tarzan looked at a cave that was to our left and began to lope towards it, giving us a motion to follow.

I gave one last look at the beautiful sight - burning the beauty of it into my mind - before following.

Tarzan led us through a small network of ledges that allowed us to climb up the cave that ran behind the waterfalls. After a small bit of scaling the walls and climbing some moss growing on the walls,Tarzan led us to another cave that led presumably deeper into the caves. However when we finally got to the end we found a cool and enclosed area where a number of glowing blue butterflies had congregated on the trunk of a tree that was in front of us. Jane and Terk had apparently managed to follow us up - albeit more slowly due to the fact that Jane wasn't quite as athletic as we were and needed Terk's help several times - to this hidden area.

Tarzan let out a string of grunts and Sora blinked, "Wait this is your home? But that means..."

Tarzan closed his eyes, one of his hands cupping his ears. We all went silent and heard the sound of rushing water, and I imagined the beautiful waterfall I had seen roaring outside.

"The waterfalls..." Jane murmured, "They're echoing all the way here."

Tarzen let out a similar string of grunts before saying, "Friends there. See friends.

Jane brightened as she realized something, "Oh, now I've got it!" She let out the same string of grunts Tarzan had when we entered this area and continued, "means heart. Friends in our hearts."

Tarzan nodded, "Heart."

I felt my spirits drop and Sora looked just as disappointed as he lamely said, "Oh, so that's what it meant."

Tarzan spoke, "Friends, Same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

This seemed to click with us and Sora turned to Donald, rubbing the back of his head, "Sorry about what I said."

Donald waved his hands, "I'm sorry too."

Goofy wrapped them in a hug, "Yeah, all for one, huh?"

At the moment's end, the blue butterflies shifted and scattered, flying into the air to reveal a glowing keyhole.

I turned to Sora and summoned my keyblade, raising it, "Mind if I try my hand at it?"

Sora shrugged and I spun my blade in my hand once before aiming it at the keyhole. A beam of light shot out of the tip of Abaddon Plasma and entered into the keyhole. There was a deep sound of a lock sliding into place and the world's keyhole was sealed. The keyhole glowed briefly before vanishing into motes of light and something fell out of the keyhole right before it vanished.

I bent to pick it up and realized what it was, "A gummi!"

"But it's sure not the king's..." Goofy said sadly.

Donald's head hung low when suddenly Terk went next to him and nudged him with her shoulder. Donald blinked at the female gorilla in confusion but I felt a sly smile come to my face at what I suspected.

Jane beat me to the punch and grinned at the sorcerer duck, "I think someone has a new admirer."

Donald looked at her and then to Terk before his eyes widened in comprehension.

"No no no no!" He quacked in alarm, "Daisy would kill me!"

We all shared a laugh at Donald's expense as he frantically waved his arms in front of his face.