I'm back in the game! I am SO sorry for the long wait on this chapter. There have been too many problems and distractions in my life to get back to this tory again, but now, I finally chose to return! With KHIII over the horizon, my pre-order ready to download when it comes out, and ideas in my head, I HAD to come back here again! I mean, I won't abandom 'Burning Hearts of Fairies' or 'P5: Phantom Drive', but I have to make this a priority for the time being... assuming I am not distracted again. Anyways, let's get on with the show!

Prologue

(Philia speaking) My name is Philia, and that's all you'll get from me. Some time ago, I landed in a world called Traverse Town, with no memory of my past. It was in this town where I met Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, and Sora, who wields a weapon called the Keyblade.

We've started traveling to different worlds to find Sora's friends, Donald and Goofy's king, and my memories.

In the last world, we discovered the Olympus Coliseum, where heroes gather to fight in the Games. At first, we weren't allowed because we weren't heroes in the eyes of Phil, a coach to a tough hero named Hercules. However, thanks to a villain named Hades, we managed to enter in, and make it pass the preliminaries to enter the games.

I managed to remember that the world I came from was full of danger, and that I fought quite a bit. That was a good reason why I was so good at fighting now. But I still have so many questions; Who or what was I fighting? Was I alone? And what made me choose the path of a treasure hunter? I need to figure these things out, and I hope being with Sora, Donald and Goofy will help me achieve that goal.

(Cue 'Digimon Adventure Tri Opening 1 - Butterfly TV Size', music on Youtube)

My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly

(As the viewer zoom in on a grassy field, a red shape passes the viewer, revealing Sora in the distance. A light blue shape passes, revealing Philia, then a green one reveals Goofy, and a dark blue one reveals Donald.)

Oh My Love (guitar intro)

(The viewer zooms in and circles around to see the four of them standing there, looking off into the distance. The image becomes blurry as the title appears in front of them.)

I become a happy butterfly and flying the shimmering wind And I will go to see you right away

(Sora was asleep on the shore of the Destiny Islands, but was awoken by a voice behind him. He turned to see Kairi and Riku standing there by the raft, the latter looking somewhat annoyed by Sora's laziness while Kairi waved him over to help. Sora got to his feet and raced to his friends. The screen fades to white.)

Better you forget about unnecessary things, There's no time to joke anymore.

(The viewer zoom out of the white in Philia's eyes as she practices with her Sword Breaker, with Leon and Yuffie watching her. Her blade glowing yellow-green as she thrusted her blade forward in a Dagger Skill. She holds her position for a moment as Yuffie applauds her, then Philia lowers her weapon, looking up at the sky with a sad expression. The viewer looks into the sky, seeing the stars as they shined for a seconds, before quickly disappearing one by one.)

I wonder, wow wow wow wow wow, what will reach the sky

(The viewer zooms out as Maleficent comes into view, standing at the table with the shadowy silhouettes of her villainous allies, and Riku at her side.)

But, wow wow wow wow wow, don't even have a plan for tomorrow

(The scene changes to six of the seven Princesses of Heart, their eyes closed as if they were asleep. Kairi appears in the middle of it, her arms crossed in front of her as she opens her eyes and her body scatters into lights, replacing her position with Sora as he stood there beside Philia, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy on Donald's head as the viewer shifts the angle to behind them, seeing the hundreds of Heartless in front of them.)

Living in a world of nothing after the infinite dream, My love to you is growing weak

(The four begin to display to the viewers their combat skills against the Heartless one at a time, starting with Sora, then Philia, then Goofy, then finally Donald, who rains down lightning onto the Heartless before the heroes charge in to continue fighting.)

My wings are full of images of holding back, They are still weak but I'm sure I can fly. Oh My Love

(The viewer passes the Heartless to see Riku standing at the end, reaching out to Sora as to invite him to the darkness, with the shadowy image of Heartless Ansem mimicking his movements. Philia clears the path for Sora as he races forward, reaching out to his friend. The view shifts to Sora's view, his hand reaching out to Riku as he and the darkness fade away into the light.)

Guitar solo ending

(The screen shines an image of King Mickey holding the Keyblade as Donald and Goofy looking in from the sides. The view shifts to a dark image of Aincrad as it crumbles away, with Philia's face looking to the viewer. The view zooms out as Sora pats Philia's shoulder, causing her to look and smile at Sora as he grinned back. The view zooms back even further to show quartet and Jiminy standing there, smiling at the viewers as they stood on the same hill as before, before the view shifts back to the sky again, with the flower petals flying by once again.)

Inside the Gummi ship, Goofy and Jiminy were with Philia in the back room, trying something out. It was an experiment suggested by Philia herself; to summon her weapon to her hand without reaching out and unsheathing it. She thought of this since Donald and Goofy were able to magically produce their weapons, whereas Sora could due to his connection to the Keyblade. She had even remembered Leon and Yuffie using this technique before, too. However, she wanted to learn how, as well.

Philia and Goofy were standing on one side of the room, while her dagger was on the other side, with Jiminy in front of it. Philia had been trying to call to her weapon for fifteen minutes, but she was having no progress in the instructions given to her by Goofy. "Now just call out for your weapon to come to y're hand." Goofy told her.

You don't think I'm trying?! Philia thought, contorting her face in concentration, and stretching her hand out to her dagger as far as she could. She was trying so hard, she wasn't even able to breath.

Finally, she gave in, and stopped, gasping out of exasperation. "It's no use…" she moaned, "I just can't call it to my hand! I know I'm trying to utilize the same concentration in magic as I do with all my other spells, but it's just not working."

"You're thinkin' too much." Goofy told her, "Callin' your weapon is much simpler than that."

"Then HOW do I do it?!" Philia demanded, "You just told me to call my weapon to my hand without thinking, but I don't see how that's possible!" Goofy scratched his head, not sure how to simplify what he instructed to her.

"Maybe there are other ways of calling your weapon besides thinking it into reality." Jiminy told her, "Maybe you need to call out with your heart, instead."

"Easier said than done." Philia responded, walking over and taking the dagger from behind Jiminy, "Right now, my heart is too busy trying to piece together my lost past, that it doesn't have time for anything else."

She looked at her own reflection through the flat of the dagger blade, seeing her own worried expression. "Besides, I don't know what it means to call out with my heart." she finished, "Maybe utilizing that magic is impossible for me…" Goofy and Jiminy looked to one another, worried for Philia.

Suddenly, through the speakers, they heard Donald call out, "Guys! We've reached the next world!" Goofy looked to Philia, who sheathed her weapon and walked back onto the deck, and he followed, with Jiminy hopping onto his shoulder. When they entered in, they saw the new world, which was mainly a lush jungle, with the acception of what looked like a treehouse in the biggest tree.

"So what is this world?" Philia asked.

"Donald said it was simply called the Deep Jungle." Sora answered, "The name fits, since I can't tell what's within those trees."

"Hey, Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there." Goofy wondered.

"In a backwater place like that? No way!" Donald huffed, "Let's move on."

"But you don't know that for sure, Donald." Philia pointed out, "We should land in there, and see what we can find."

"I agree." Sora added, "Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's check it out."

"Forget it! We're on an important mission!" Donald squawked.

"Just land!"

"No!"

"We're going down there, and that's final!" Philia scowled at him.

"Uh-uh! No way!"

"Come on!" Sora begged.

"Ah, phooey!"

"We are landing!" Sora declared in a harsh manner, and he bounded forward, grabbing the controls from Donald, and attempting to land the ship himself.

"Don't touch that!" Donald squawked.

Sora's attempts to land the Gummi ship were not working out, as it started to shake uncontrollably, and everyone else was getting knocked about. "Sora, you're shaking the ship!" Philia cried out.

"Look out! We're entering the world's atmosphere!" Jiminy cried. Everyone cried out in panic as the ship spiraled towards the planet, out of control.

"This is all your fault!" Donald roared at Sora.

"My fault? You were the one that wasn't gonna land!" Sora retorted.

"We just can't leave you two alone to control this ship, can we?!" Philia barked at the two.

"Fellas, you gotta calm down!" Goofy begged to stop.

Just as they entered the blue skies of the world, the dome roof of the Gummi ship flew open, causing a vacuum to suck things out. Unfortunately, Sora, Philia and Jiminy were among those who were thrown out, as they were blown out and screamed as they fell. Sora ended up flying one direction, towards the treehouse, while Philia and Jiminy were sent tumbling towards some of the upper trees of the jungle. Donald and Goofy were flying out of control heading to the ground below. The team was scattered everywhere, without the slightest possibility of what would meet them when they landed.

Sora's Side

Sora cried out in terror as he crashed through the wooden roof of the house, and tumbled onto the first floor inside, causing dust to scatter about. He fell on his back, moaning in pain. He then looked up, realizing he was still able to move, and sat up, rubbing the back of hid hair. "Ow…my head…" he moaned.

He then stood up and looked about the house. It looked abandoned, and ransacked. There were crates and broken things here and there. Nothing too important was in there, but that also meant Sora's friends. "Donald? Goofy? Philia?" Sora called out. No response. We must've gotten scattered. Sora assumed.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps on the second floor. He turned, his instincts feeling that this wasn't one of his friends. He was right. All of a sudden, an adult jaguar leapt out from above, pouncing towards Sora. He summoned his Keyblade, and parried the sharp claws on it's front paw. It faltered back, then pounced forward again, swiping at Sora with great strength that sent the Keyblade wielder tumbling into the crate behind him. He moaned as he got up, seeing the jaguar roar as it was ready to take him down. Sora got his Keyblade ready, and he charged forward, ready to fight.

It was clear that the jaguar was relying on its' animal skills, resorting to pouncing, slashing, biting, and everything else. Sora had to be careful, as the jaguar was stronger than him physically. However, Sora had magic, and techniques that were difficult for the jaguar to counter. He used those skills as best as he could, but he was also struggling, since he couldn't pull them off consecutively, nor with the limited magic energy he had.

Sora managed to unleash a series of Fire spells at the jaguar, scorching him a bit. It shook it off, roaring at Sora, and pounced forward. Sora managed to roll out of the way, come back around, and slash it's side, sending it crashing into a crate, where it laid, still.

Sora panted heavily from fighting it so hard. The jaguar's face was away from Sora, so he couldn't tell whether it was still breathing or not. Carefully, he sidestepped closer to the wildcat, readying his Keyblade to poke at it.

When he was a couple feet away, the jaguar suddenly sprung to it's feet, roaring at Sora, shocking him and sending him falling on his butt. The jaguar was about to slash him, and Sora covered with the Keyblade, closing his eyes for the impact.

Suddenly, he heard the jaguar struggle, and Sora opened his eyes to see that he was saved by someone. It was a man, with a lean yet muscular body, wild brown hair, and a brown loin cloth. He was carrying a makeshift spear, which he had the handle pressed into the jaguar's mouth, and he was shoving it's front end into the air. For a while, they struggled, with the man glaring fiercely at the beast. He then shoved the jaguar back, who took one look at Sora's savior, and ran out, breaking a window as he did so.

Sora got to his feet, looking at the man who saved him, who turned to him. "Sabor, danger." he warned Sora. The way he spoke to him showed he didn't know how to speak like a proper person.

"Um…" Sora wondered what he had to say to the man, so he instead said, "Thank you."

"Thank you." the man echoed Sora's words, confusing the Keyblade wielder.

"Huh? Uh, what is this place?" Sora asked.

"This place, this place." the man answered, walking to Sora on his hands and knuckles.

"Okaaay…" Sora muttered, not sure how to speak to someone who probably didn't know what he was saying, "Where did the others go?" The man didn't answer

"Look, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them?" Sora asked, trying to enunciate his words. The man tilted his head curiously. "Friends…" Sora repeated, pressing his hands to his chest.

"Friends." the man echoed, mimicking Sora's movements.

"Right, my friends!" Sora exclaimed, feeling like he was able to get him to understand, "There's three of 'em. The loud one is Dona—-." He stopped in mid-sentence. He just remembered how he actually got in this situation. It was because Donald didn't want to land in this place. If only he did listen, then they wouldn't have been separated like this.

"You know what? Never mind." Sora told the man, who looked confused. It was not worth finding Donald right now, and since Goofy was in the Gummi ship with him when they crashed, he didn't want to search for him either, as sad as it was. Philia did support Sora in wanting to land, and she was sent out of the ship just as Sora did. So he did believe he should at least want to find her, along with the two people he hoped were in this world.

"I'm looking for my friends, Riku, Kairi, and Philia." Sora told the wild man slowly.

"Look for Riku, friends?" the man asked.

"Right!" Sora answered.

Just then, Sora looked behind the man, and he could've sworn he was seeing Kairi standing in the far back of the room, looking back at Sora. "Kairi, Philia, friends?" the man asked, oblivious to the person behind him.

"Uhh…right…" Sora answered absentmindedly, looking to the man, then back at Kairi. How did he not sense another person in the room? Kairi turned and walked to one side of the room. Sora watched as she crossed the area behind the wild man, but she disappeared right after she was hidden from view.

"Friend here." the wild man told Sora, surprising him.

"Really?!" Sora asked, surprised.

"*&&X%" the man started to hoot like a deep-voiced monkey.

"Huh?" Sora questioned, confused.

The man hooted the same message again. "*&&X%. Friend here." Sora was completely stumped. Was this guy trying to tell him something with that monkey talk? If he was, then Sora had no clue.

"Not sure I understand, but show me!" Sora told the man, "Take me to Riku, Kairi, and Philia!"

The man pressed his hands to himself as he said, "Tarzan. Tarzan go." Sora assumed that he was telling what his name was.

"And I'm…Sora." he introduced himself, "Tarzan go, Sora go go!"

Tarzan waved Sora along with him, and they exited the house. It was then that Sora noticed just how high up they were. It wasn't just any ordinary house, but a tree house. Someone really must've worked hard to build this house! Sora realized, Who could do this?

Tarzan called to Sora, and he noticed he had leapt down to the netting below, climbed up a post, and landed on a hanging boat. He picked something up and leapt over to Sora. Wondering what it was, Tarzan land in front of him, and placed something in his hands; Mythril.

"Hey, thanks!" Sora thanked the ape man. Tarzan didn't understand what he meant, but saw his smile, and knew he pleased him. This smile was only temporary, as Sora was about to find out the hard way.

Tarzan grabbed ahold of Sora's arm, and with surprising strength, he pulled Sora up with him as they leapt high into the air. Sora panicked, but his face paled when he realized that the leap was long, leading them beyond the netting underneath the tree house. "WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!" Sora exclaimed as they fell beneath the branches of the trees.

Donald/Goofy

At this point, both Donald and Goofy were sitting back to back on a rock in the middle of a clearing. The Gummi ship was hidden away, slightly damaged from the fall, but otherwise flyable.

"Gawrsh, where are we?" Goofy asked in a worried tone, "I sure hope Sora's okay." He looked up at the sky, wondering where he was.

"Aw, who needs him?" Donald scoffed, still angry at Sora's and Philia's rebellious natures, "We can find the kings without him. We don't need Philia, either!"

He waved his hands in anger, but he felt some fur nearby, and he looked down. A black-furred gorilla looked up at the feel of his touch. There was a second's pause, then the two cried out in panic at the sight of one another.

Just then, there was a shuffling of bushes off in the distance. Someone was approaching their vicinity. The sound caused the small gorilla to run away, but not before dropping a red piece. Donald and Goofy noticed what she dropped, and realized it was a Gummi piece.

The rustling drew closer, and both Donald and Goofy gulped, worried it was some ferocious beast, looking for food. However, they were wrong. It was not a beast, but a man, muscular, with a pencil mustache, black hair, a yellowish-beige jungle jacket, a red shirt underneath, and brown belt strapped across his chest, brown pants and boots. He also carried a double-barreled hunter's rifle.

He approached the two cowering cartoony characters as they shook with fear. The man looked down at them, with a shadowy glare of curiosity.

Philia/Jiminy

"How did I end up like this?" Philia muttered, her arms crossed. She clearly wasn't expecting to find herself in such a compromising position. And by that, she meant being upside down, vines bound to her legs and waist, and she was several dozen feet off the ground. Her dagger was dropped, caught in between some branches, and way beyond her reach.

Jiminy was with her when she fell, and was dangling along the side of her legs, checking for any loose vines. "You really got yourself in a bind, here." he said, "I can't find any vines that are loose around here."

He leapt to a different a different part of Philia, one part in particular that made her yelp, "Kya! Watch where you land those feet on!"

"Whoops! Sorry." Jiminy apologized, and he leapt off from between her legs to the other leg, searching more.

"This is so embarrassing." Philia muttered, blushing a bit. She looked down at her dagger, reaching out for it with her hands, which was pointless.

"I just…need to…concentrate." she moaned, attempting to summon the dagger into her hand. She noticed the dagger glow slightly, but it didn't come to her hand. "Come on…" she muttered, struggling to get her dagger. After several seconds, she stopped trying, exhaling deeply.

"Sorry, Philia. I just don't see any way of getting you out of here." Jiminy told her.

"Grr…If Donald would've just landed here like we asked him to, we wouldn't be separated, and I wouldn't be in this mess!" she growled, and she struggled and shook about, making the vines swing, "And Sora has the worst piloting skills ever! Why did he make us fall out like that?!"

"Philia, calm down!" Jiminy cried out, desperately holding onto the vines, "If these things snap suddenly, you might fall all the way to the ground!" Philia stopped moving, but she was disgruntled as she swayed to a halt, not sure how to get out of this mess.

Suddenly, the two heard a sound that was much like an ape. They looked up at the branch where the vines hung, and saw a large female gorilla, looking down at her with curiosity. A gorilla? Philia noticed, Guess it really is a jungle out here.

"Uh, excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to know how to get me down from here, do you?" Philia questioned, and she shook her bound bottom half as she pointed out out her trouble.

The gorilla hooted, tilting her head curiously. Philia wondered if she understood anything she said. Her answer was soon given when the gorilla reached down, and grabbed the vines binding her, and pulled her up onto the branch.

Jiminy hopped off as Philia looked surprisingly at the gorilla that saved her. "Thank you." she thanked her. The ape more than likely didn't understand, but that didn't stop Philia as she struggled to get herself loose from the vines. It took a little effort, but she managed to free herself. Standing up, she brushed herself off, all the while the gorilla watched her curiously.

Philia looked back at the gorilla, wondering why she was staring at her with such curiosity. "This seems a bit awkward." she muttered as Jiminy hopped onto her shoulder, "Let's go before I get too weirded out by this."

She went towards the tree trunk, deciding to go down to get her dagger. It was a bit wide for her, but she decided to take a chance and climb down herself. She found a part of the tree trunk to grab ahold of, along with finding a foothold, and cautiously made her way off the branch.

She had barely taken one step down before she started to slip and fall. Terrified for one moment, then Philia's hand was suddenly caught by something, and Philia hung there as she looked up at the female gorilla, saving her once again. The two looked at one another for a moment, then the ape seemed to understand what she was trying to do. She pulled the treasure hunter onto her back, and she carried her to the lower branch. Once they got down, Philia hopped off the gorilla's back, and she backed off.

"Thanks again." Philia thanked the gorilla. She cooed a couple times, and she started to picking at Philia's clothing, wondering what it was all about. "Uh, hey, easy there." she warned her as she picked at her cape.

She then reached out to Philia's left hand, and placed their palms together, their fingers aligned. Despite the size difference, their hands were similar, as Philia and the ape were able to see. The looked at one another, and Philia was starting to understand something; this gorilla was noticing how they were not so different.

Philia smiled and nodded, understanding what she was doing. "Thank you, but I have to get going." she told her. She backed off, and walked away. She saw her dagger, and felt that she shouldn't let the gorilla see it, or it might scare her. She bent down, and made sure to not have her see it at she took the dagger and slid it into her scabbard.

She had just stood up again when she heard something heavy land on the branch in front of her. She looked up and was startled by an even bigger, stronger-looking gorilla, a male one, glaring at her. Philia was shocked and scared, worried it might've seen her with her weapon. "Wait, hold on!" she defended, "I wasn't gonna do any harm! I just…"

The gorilla didn't wait for an excuse. He probably didn't understand, anyway. He grabbed Philia, and with a swing to make a discus thrower jealous, he sent Philia flying in terror.

She hit no branches as she fell screaming, miraculously. However, she needed to find something to grab ahold of or else die from the fall or hitting something at the speed she was going.

She saw a path of vines ahead of her, and her instincts kicked in, grabbing ahold of any one of them. She caught one, and soon found herself swinging like a monkey on a rope as she felt herself being pulled upwards by the angle of the swing. The force made the vine snap, and she fell again, but not before grabbing another vine, and started to swing once more. "I hope this leads me somewhere other than death!" she exclaimed as she begun swinging from rope to rope without any idea where she might go.

Sora/Tarzan

"Whoa-ho-ho-ho!" Sora cheered, pivoting his feet as he followed the ape man's lead, sliding down the vine on nothing but his shoes. Tarzan looked back at Sora, making sure he was following. Sora was scared before by the height they started at, but he quickly got the hang of it. Compared to balancing while standing up on his boat in the Destiny Islands, this wasn't as troublesome. In fact, this was much funner than that. "This isn't so hard." Sora stated with a smirk, angling his body as the branches veered left.

Suddenly, he and Tarzan heard a scream, and they looked up to see none other than Philia swinging on a vine towards their path. "Where's the end to this?!" Philia exclaimed, reaching the ending arc of the swing, then leaping off to see the two characters in her way.

Tarzan got in her path, and caught her. However, she accidentally caused him to fall off the sliding branch. Fortunately, Tarzan was incredibly adaptive to the jungle, as he twisted himself to grab a nearby vine with his feet, swing around in a circle, and bring himself and Philia back onto the sliding branch, right behind Sora.

"Philia!" Sora called back to her.

"Sora?!" she replied, looking to him and Tarzan and back again, "Wha-what's going on?! Where have you been?! Who's this guy?!"

"Uh, to put it shortly, Philia, meet Tarzan. Tarzan, Philia." Sora introduced. Tarzan looked to Philia, who looked slightly stunned at the guy that carried her while they slid.

"Philia, friend." Tarzan recalled, startling Philia.

"Yeah. Philia is one of my friends!" Sora repeated.

"We'll just see about that if we survive this!" the treasure hunter exclaimed.

After a little more sliding, Sora, Tarzan and Philia landed in the middle of what looked like a campsite, filled with crates and table full of books and research equipment. Tarzan placed Philia on her feet, and she sighed in relief, "Finally, I can catch a break."

"So where have you been?" Sora asked, walking to her, "Last time I saw you, we were flung off the ship."

"No thanks to you." Philia replied, while Tarzan gave them some space, "But never mind that, what happen to you, and how did you meet up with this guy?" she pointed a thumb at Tarzan.

"He saved me from this wild cat in the trees." Sora stated, "He also says he knows where Riku and Kairi are at."

"R-Really?!" Philia questioned, "They're actually here?!"

"Yep. Guess we were right to come here." Sora stated, then he frowned as he muttered, "But it was a rough start, no thanks to Donald."

"Yeah, I can agree his stubbornness is to blame for part of this. Although, you did mess things up, as well." Philia added, "If you hadn't sent the ship out of control, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"It wasn't my fault!" Sora defended, "Donald didn't want to come here, and he tried to…"

"You know what? I don't care!" Philia barked, noticing the two of them were being watched by Tarzan, and sighed, "What matters is that we ended up here, and that we might find a clue to your friend's whereabouts. Let's see if Tarzan knows where they are."

The two looked to Tarzan, who waited patiently for them to stop talking. "Where are my friends?" Sora questioned him. Tarzan paused for a few seconds to comprehend what he said, then he leapt over to the canvas tent nearby, waving them over.

"Guess he wants us to follow him in." Philia assumed, and the two followed Tarzan in.

The interior was suitable for research and sleeping, and well for anyone staying for a long while in the jungle. There was someone working machine in the corner. It was a woman with dark brown hair, a faded white tank top, a long brown sarong, and she was barefooted.

"Jane." Tarzan called to her. The young woman, Jane, turned at her name, recognizing the voice.

"Tarzan." she greeted, then saw the two with him and asked, "Oh, and who are they?"

"Uh, hi there." Sora greeted, "I'm…"

"Oh, you speak English!" Jane realized, "So, then, obviously, you are not related to Tarzan…" Both of them looked to Tarzan, who looked back in a blank expression.

"Are you here to study the gorillas?" Jane asked the two.

"Hardly." Philia answered, reminded of the ups and downs of meeting the gorillas, "But we are looking for something here."

"As I suspected." said a deep, manly voice. They turned to see a burly man enter in, with Donald and Goofy behind him. Philia saw the man, and felt something within. It was weird, but she felt the man was not to be trusted.

"Sora! Philia!" Goofy greeted the two.

"Hey, Goofy." Philia greeted him.

"Goofy! Donald!" Sora eagerly greeted, racing up to shake hands with Donald. Suddenly, the two realized why they ended up here and separated before, and they relinquished their hands, turning away from each other, angry. Goofy seemed a bit worried about being between this.

"A circus of clowns. Not much use for hunting gorillas." the man huffed, turning around and leaving them.

"Mr. Clayton, we're STUDYING them, not hunting them. This is research!" Jane corrected him angrily. The man called Clayton ignored her words as he left the camp.

"I guess he's here for his own personal reasons." Philia assumed, walking up to watch him leave.

Jane sighed, then she smiled at the group as she answered, "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourself at home."

"I'm not sure how much 'merry' you'll get from here." Philia muttered, looking to Sora and Donald, who still held their positions.

"Well, anyway…" Sora started, then he and Donald simultaneously stated, "I'm staying!" Sora looked at him incredulously.

"Oh, NOW you want to stay?" Philia questioned the duck in a sassy manner, "And why, might I ask, did you have this change of heart?"

She looked to Goofy, who looked a bit hesitant at first, then answered, "Well, look what we found. Look at this." He had something closed in his hands, and opened them up to reveal something they have seen before, in Alice's world.

"Is that…a gummi block?" Sora realized.

"Yep." Goofy answered, "Guess that means the king could be here."

Philia looked down at Donald, who turned one eye to her at her gaze. "Guess this means the king might've gone to this 'backwater place'." she taunted him, refraining to say 'world' due to being in the presence of Jane and Tarzan.

"Whatever! We've gotta work together to look for him." Donald huffed, refusing to admit he did something wrong, then added, "For now!" Sora huffed in agreement.

Donald's stubbornness irritated Philia. "Can you just admit you were wrong, for once?!" Philia exclaimed, pulling Donald in by his cape until they were nose to beak, "Do you realize you were mainly responsible for screwing us up?! And I admit, Sora is partly to blame, but thanks to you, Sora and I almost got killed!"

"Philia, calm down!" Goofy whimpered.

"How was it my fault?! Sora shouldn't have touched the wheel!" Donald squawked angrily.

"Yeah, but because you didn't want to come here!" Philia barked back, "Thanks to that crash, Sora almost got eaten by a beast if it hadn't been for Tarzan, and I ended up getting tangled in vines, saved by a gorilla, then sent flying to who-knows-where by another one!"

"Did she say gorillas?" Jane questioned, looking to Sora, "She saw them?" Sora shrugged, having to hear her side for the first time.

Philia dropped Donald, heaving angrily as she stomped out of the tent. "Hey, where are you going?" Sora questioned.

"I need some fresh air!" she angrily answered.

There was a moment's pause, then Jane turned to Sora and asked, "We'll she be alright? It sounds like you all had some trouble coming here."

"Yeah. I guess she's taking it hard." Sora answered, feeling a bit guilty. It was one thing to be angry with Donald, but Sora felt sorta sympathetic for Philia. She must've gotten a bit overwhelmed with so much trouble from coming here.

Philia was walking around the campsite, investigating it while trying to get over her anger. She was tired of Donald for his absolute ignorance to what he put her and Sora in. She had to vent her anger out somehow.

She noticed a couple instructions for a recipe, one saying to put a potion on the stove, and the other saying to light the stove to boil the contents. She chose to try it, and went to the stove nearby where Clayton was at, who was using a razor on his chin.

"Having a bit of trouble with those cohorts of yours?" he asked.

"Yeah. One of them, precisely." Philia answered promptly, emptying a bottle of potion into the stove pot. She knelt down and quietly used her magic to ignite flames underneath the stove.

"I couldn't help but overhear you had an encounter with the gorillas." Clayton stated, finished shaving, "Might I ask where you found them?"

"How should I know?" Philia answered, stirring the contents in the pot, "I was on the high branches, and was sent flying from a random direction. I don't know this jungle like the back of my hand. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you, since you made it so blatantly obvious you want to hunt them down. I'm not going to hurt those creatures, no matter what they do to me."

"Oh, come now. What's the point of letting those creatures go, when there is profit in killing a few?" Clayton asked, approaching Philia.

"Profit?" she echoed, turning to him with a glare.

"Precisely. The amount to obtain per head is quite high back home." Clayton pointed out, stopping in front of Philia, "Jane thinks too highly of those creatures, along with that ape man, who was raised by them." He lowered his voice as he whispered, "Just tell me where they are, and I'll cut you in on the profit."

The pot of potion boiled, and Philia, still staring at Clayton, reached out and turned it off. "As tempting as it is, I decline." she answered, "I'm a treasure hunter, not a wild hunter. If I want profit, I'll search for it. I won't kill innocent people or creature for my own gain."

She turned away from the irritated Clayton as she emptied the contents on the stove back into the potion bottle, seeing that it had the same color and feel as a Hi-Potion. "Hm. Well how about that?" she questioned, and she corked the bottle and walked away, leaving Clayton to watch her go.

"Blast that little girl!" he scoffed, "No matter, I still can find the gorillas with that ape man."

Philia found another set of recipes that clearly indicate she could make ether out of. She gathered the contents over to the table of vials and scientific work. As she used another potion to work on the ether, Sora came out of the tent, approaching Philia.

"Are you doing okay, Philia?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Sort of." she answered, watching as the potion started to mix with some other contents within the vials.

"Listen, Philia? I…I'm sorry for what happened from the crash." Sora apologized, looking down, ashamed, "I know I was partly responsible, but…"

"I forgive you." Philia interrupted him, and he looked up to see she had turned to him, not smiling, but calmer than before.

"I'm sorry for snapping before." she replied, "I guess the shock of everything after the crash got to me. But I wish Donald could admit he screwed up. He's way too stubborn to say it."

"Well, I can't forgive him, either. But we have to have him around, for now." Sora stated, "By the way, what are you making?"

"Oh, that's right." Philia realized, and she turned to see the mixture was ready. "Okay, now to ice it." she muttered, and she raised a hand, "Freeze!" The contents froze, and a chemical reaction occurred. Suddenly, what was originally a potion became a double amount of ether.

"How did you do that?!" Sora questioned in amazement.

"Just followed some recipes." Philia answered, pocketing the ethers.

She then turned to Sora and asked, "So, what's the plan?"

"Tarzan knows where Riku and Kairi are, but he said a word that I'm sure means something important, but he spoke it like a gorilla." Sora explained, "Jane is sure that he might tell what that word means if we use some slides to show him pictures. But she seemed to have lost them within the campsite."

"Gotcha. Let's split up, and look for those slides." Philia decided. The two split up across the campsite, searching about to see where they could find the slides. Sora searched high while Philia searched low, and the two ended up finding three slides each. Philia even managed to discover three more lost dalmatian puppies, and sent them back to the Gummi ship.

When they were done, they came back inside the tent, and gave Jane the slides, putting them into the slide machine she was working on before. She placed one in, and the lens lit up as a picture shone on the canvas screen. It was that of a large castle, surrounded by clouds.

Philia looked to Sora, and saw a deep and puzzled expression on his face. "What's wrong, Sora?" Goofy asked before Philia.

"What?" Sora turned to him, startled, then shook his head as he replied, "Um… Nothing."

"Are you sure?" Philia asked, concerned.

"Yeah. It's just… That place looks so familiar. But how? I've never been off my island."

"Maybe you saw it in a book or something." Philia suggested.

"Yeah, maybe…" Sora answered blankly, but he wasn't too sure.

Jane continued to put through the slides. There was a man proposing with flowers to a woman, a girl helping an old woman, a gorilla, a large ship, and a pair of sword fencers. None of them made Tarzan respond.

"Well, Tarzan?" Jane asked, everyone turning to him.

"Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora questioned. Tarzan paused for a second, then shook his head.

"Hey, I thought…" Sora started, feeling disappointed in his answer. Was he lying before? No, how could he? He didn't even know what they were talking about.

"That leaves just one place." Clayton's voice called out as he entered into the tent, "Young man, we've been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

"I'd highly doubt that." Philia scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. Clearly, this was an excuse for him to find where the gorillas were.

"Really, Mr. Clayton." Jane responded, "Tarzan wouldn't hide…"

"Then take us there!" Clayton ordered, walking right up to Tarzan, "Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las."

Tarzan didn't respond, but instead looked to Sora, wondering. Sora did seem a bit worried, and was hoping to find Riku and Kairi. Tarzan could feel that, and wanted to help. He nodded in approval. "Tarzan…are you sure?" Jane asked, worried. Philia was also worried, but for a different reason. She looked to Clayton, who grinned maliciously.

"Tarzan go see Kerchak." Tarzan explained.

"Kerchak?" Jane echoed.

"He must be the leader." Clayton assumed, "Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

Just then, Philia drew her weapon and pointed it directly at Clayton's chin, startling everyone. "The only 'dangerous' thing around here is me if you try to harm the gorillas. We need their help, and you being there will not help things one bit. We'll go with Tarzan." She waved a finger to herself, Sora, Donald and Goofy, "You stay here, and don't try to follow us. Deal?"

"Really, now? Must you be so…" Clayton started, but the point of Philia's dagger touched his chin, and he stopped. The glare she gave him told him enough; he should never have told her his plans.

"Let's go, everyone." Philia told her friends and Tarzan, and she placed her blade back into her scabbard as she left the tent. Tarzan followed her after.

"Is she always like this?" Jane asked Sora.

"I guess. She is the more cautious one out of all of us." Sora explained, then to Clayton, "Guess if she doesn't want you to come, then that's how it has to be." Clayton seemed discouraged by this.

"Guys, out here!" Philia's voice cried out, and they could hear the sound of fighting, along with a familiar growling to Sora. They quickly rushed out of the tent, with Clayton behind them.

Philia and Tarzan were dealing with the same jaguar Sora fought before. It was leaping all over the place, trying to attack them. Sora, Donald and Goofy joined the duo as they surrounded the cat.

"That's the same wild cat I fought before!" Sora realized.

"Sabor!" Tarzan told them its' name. The jaguar, Sabor, looked to the amount of enemies it had to deal with, and roared at them.

Suddenly, a gunshot fired from behind, hitting the bushes right next to Sabor. Clayton had fired off his gun. Sabor looked to where the gun shot at, and backed off. It then retreated into the jungle, disappearing from view.

"There, you see? The jungle is a dangerous place." Clayton told the group.

"All the more reason for you to stay here and protect Jane!" Philia ordered, "Do not make me repeat myself!" With that, she led the team through the jungle.

As they hopped over the waters on the lands and on the backs of hippopotamus, Sora asked, "Why didn't you want Clayton to join us? He helped us back there."

"Because he told me his intentions." Philia responded, landing on solid ground, "He wants to hunt the gorillas to earn a profit. That's why he wanted to come along."

"Well, he did say he wanted to hunt them, before." Goofy recalled.

"Guess you were right." Sora told Philia, "But why did he tell you that?"

"He thought I was someone who would easily be swayed by money." Philia stated, "I may be a treasure hunter, but there are treasures we must preserve. Giving into your greed will only lead to bad things."

Sora could clearly see that she had a code of honor to live up to, and he respected that. It wasn't that she was ALWAYS cautious, as she was always feeling whether there was something off about a person. After all, she realized Hades in the previous world was a villainous person. This was definitely something he had to learn from her.

Going up higher into the jungle was a bit of a chore, but they were able to find some things here and there, like a mega potion, gummi pieces, more synthesis material, and even more lost dalmatians.

As they went even higher, they reached points where they had no choice but to swing from vines to reach places. Philia had the unfortunate experience of learning how to vine swing, but fortunately, the trip now wasn't as difficult. Plus, Tarzan was far more experienced than the others, and Sora stated he had his fair share of rope swinging back on his island. This left Donald and Goofy with less than average skills in vine swinging. Sora and Philia had no interest in teaching Donald to swing a vine, since they were still mad at him, so Tarzan had to help the two out.

Tarzan led the team through the vines until they reached a point that Philia saw was familiar. It was around the same spot she got caught up in the vines. On a branch far from them were the two apes she recognized as the ones that helped and nearly killed her, respectively. She whispered this info to Sora, as well. As Tarzan approached the edge of the trees closest to the two, Philia realized what this could mean; the big, strong gorilla was Kerchak, the leader, and the female gorilla next to her was his mate.

"Kerchak, please listen to me." Tarzan spoke fluently in gorilla, "I know the nesting grounds are secret, but I trust them. You see, I want to help them because…because, well, they need us." The female gorilla looked to Kerchak, wondering how he would respond.

"Did you get that?" Goofy asked Donald.

"No." he squawked. Sora looked to Philia, who responded, "I don't think any of us speak gorilla."

"Kerchak!" Tarzan called out to him. Kerchak didn't answer, but he looked towards a direction, as if he sensed something. With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Tarzan to feel sad he didn't agree or trust him.

"He seemed sorta distracted by something." Goofy noticed.

"Was he looking towards the tree house?" Sora questioned.

"That's where you landed, right?" Philia questioned him, and he nodded in response.

Sora tapped Tarzan on the shoulder, and asked slowly, "Can you take us to the tree house? Where you found me?" Tarzan was able to understand somewhat, and he began swinging on the vines towards the tree house. "Let's go!" Sora told the team, and they followed him.

Moments later, they arrived at the tree house once more, and noticed someone else that totally stunned them. It was Clayton, aiming his rifle at the same young gorilla Donald met before. "Oh, no you don't!" Donald squawked, and he rushed to where Clayton was. He squawked loudly in his ear, making his shot misfire. The young gorilla was able to dodge the bullet, and rush to a higher level, where Kerchak came in.

"What's the big idea!" Donald squawked at Clayton.

"I told you to stay at the campsite!" Philia barked ferociously, seizing Clayton's weapon, "Yet here you are, trying to hurt an innocent being!"

Tarzan got in front of the group, looking up at a very angry Kerchak. "Wait, Kerchak. Please!" Tarzan begged, but the large gorilla wouldn't listen. He turned around, and left Tarzan and everyone else. It was obvious he could not trust any of the people with Tarzan, nor could he trust Tarzan. The young gorilla looked at Donald, who looked back in a worried manner, and walked after Kerchak.

After they left, everyone glared at Clayton, who was panicking. "You don't understand." he pleaded, "I was only trying to…"

"Save it!" Philia barked, giving him a look to scare him, "You don't have an excuse for this. You are coming back to the camp with us, and you are going to explain everything there! And while we're at it…"

She walked over to the edge of the tree house, and tossed the rifle upwards. She charged up her Armor Pierce Dagger Skill, and stabbed the gun right down the middle, breaking it in half and sending it falling to the ground below.

"No!" Clayton barked, scrambling up angrily towards where Philia was at. She waved her dagger back at him, causing him to stop.

"Why do you need it? You're not hunting ANYTHING." she told him sternly, turning herself to him. Clayton gritted his teeth as he glared angrily at Philia. The anger between the two different hunters was palpable, and the others knew that Clayton was the worse one there.

"How could you do such a thing?!" Jane barked. The team brought Clayton back to the camp again, where they explained everything that happened to Jane, including Kerchak, and Clayton's attack.

"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla." Clayton defended, but Jane didn't want to hear any of it.

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!" she barked.

"All because of one mishap? Come, now…" Clayton questioned.

"Do you find anyone defending you?" Philia asked sternly. Clayton looked at the group of six glaring individuals, and knew he was outnumbered. He chuckled nervously as he backed off, then turned and walked away, giving off a irritated sneer as he left.

Jane turned to Philia and said, "You were right, Philia. He couldn't be trusted to be near the gorillas."

"He only wants what will profit him." Philia stated, "I'm surprised you allowed him to accompany you this far."

"He's not a bad person, just a bit…impetuous." Jane explained.

"Even so, we still need to find where Riku and Kairi are at." Sora reminded everyone.

"And the king." Goofy added.

"We can't get Kerchak's approval now, thanks to Clayton." Philia pointed out,

"What are we gonna do?" Everyone had no answer to this.

Just then, the team heard a gunshot, and everyone turned to the sound. "What?!" Philia gasped.

"I thought you destroyed his weapon!" Sora recalled.

"He must've had a spare rifle." Philia assumed, "Let's go after him!" With that, everyone except for Jane raced out of the tent.

They arrived to see a gorilla had arrived in the campsite, but it was surrounded by monkey-like creatures the team had yet to see in this world.

"Heartless!" Sora noticed. Philia dug into her bag and pulled out the encyclopedia for Heartless, shuffling through to ones that looked monkey-like.

"Got it! They're Powerwilds!" she analyzed, "They're close-quarter fighters!" Everyone pulled out their weapons, and charged at them.

They protected the gorilla, and took on all the Powerwilds, which were as Philia described them; close quarters and agile. Fortunately, the team was strong and able to defeat the Heartless with ease.

When they were done, Sora was approached by the gorilla, who gave him a Gummi block before running away to safety.

"Why are there Heartless suddenly coming about?" Sora asked.

"I don't know. But we have to stop them." Philia told them, "We'd better split up, and take care of any we can find." Philia and Goofy went in one team while Sora was with Tarzan. Donald looked to between the two, and considered the fact that he was more angry with Sora than Philia, he chose to be with her and Goofy. With that, they rushed off in two different directions; Sora and Tarzan to the jungle, while Philia's team headed to the bamboo thicket.

Sora's pairing couldn't find any Heartless within the dense jungle, however, they did find some in the treetops, and some in the tree house, too. Both were comprised of the same kinds of Powerwild Heartless, and both sets were after gorillas. Tarzan took this on a personal note, and was able to take them down pretty easily. Sora used all of his skills at his disposal, including his new Sonic Blade technique, striking fast and quickly at all of the monkeys, and saving the gorillas. The apes, in return, gave them gummi pieces that they have found.

Philia's party was able to find the Powerwild Heartless surrounding gorillas in the bamboo thicket pretty easily, from the open space where Donald and Goofy landed in, to the high ledges around the outside. Donald and Philia spent very little time working together during the fights, while Goofy had to work extra hard to help the two out. Nevertheless, they were able to beat the monsters and save the gorillas, who also gave them gummi pieces for saving them.

The team grouped up together back at the camp once they were done. "You dealt with your fair share?" Philia asked Sora and Tarzan.

"Yeah. They were high up in the trees, attacking the gorillas." Sora explained.

"They were doing the same down here." Philia reported.

"Wonder why the Heartless started appearin' all of a sudden?" Goofy asked.

Jiminy hopped out of Philia's pocket as he added, "And why would they be after the gorillas, too? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Before Philia and Sora could suggest an answer, they heard another gunshot. They turned to the bamboo thicket, which was where the sound came from. "Another shot!" Sora exclaimed. "Clayton." Tarzan stated.

The team rushed back to the bamboo thicket once more. They reached the open place where Donald and Goofy met Clayton and the young gorilla, looking about. It was then that Sora noticed something; on the rock in the middle of the area was what looked like a pipe.

"Why is this here?" Sora asked as Philia joined him.

"It certainly wasn't here before." Philia recalled, as Tarzan also joined them.

"Clayton." he said, indicating the pipe. The two heroes looked at each other, understanding that what Tarzan meant was this pipe belonged to Clayton.

Just then, Tarzan sensed something, and pushed the two out of the way as Sabor the jaguar leapt from the thicket at them. It skidded to a halt and turned around, growling at the five heroes, who readied their weapons.

Sabor charged at Tarzan, who lunged forward and raised the staff of his spear, catching the wildcat by the throat, and shoved him backwards.

Philia and Sora came around him from either side, while Donald leapt up and unleashed a Fire spell at the cat. It flipped onto it's feet and swiped the flames away. It then leapt forward, dodging Philia's attack and striking at Sora, knocking him backwards.

"Sora!" Goofy called out, racing to his side. Sabor leapt off of Sora, leaping onto Goofy's shield, and making him fall over. He tried clawing his way to Goofy's face, but he struggled to push him far away enough from him. Fortunately, Tarzan came in, and kicked him hard, sending him toppling. "Thanks!" Goofy sighed.

Philia leapt forward with her dagger glowing blue, unleashing the Cross Edge Dagger Skill, and slashing a cross on the jaguar. It attempted to counter with a leap, but the attack was too strong for it's feral instincts.

"Philia, let me in!" Sora called out. Philia leapt back, and Sora dove in with his Keyblade raised over his head, while Sabor was just getting back up. "Stay down!" the Keyblade wielder roared and he cracked the jaguar over the head with his Keyblade, slamming his head into the ground, and even making one of his larger fangs break off from his mouth.

Sora backed off as he, Philia and Tarzan stood in front of Sabor. The wild animal tried to get back up, reaching his head to the sky, but it was unable to hold on. It fell to one side, its' mouth open, and it's eyes blank. It was killed.

Philia and Sora looked at each other happily as Tarzan walked forward, taking the broken fang. "We did it!" Goofy cheered, while Donald raised his staff in victory.

Tarzan walked back to Sora, and placed the broken fang into his hand, now tied with a loose bit a vine. "Uh, is this for me?" he asked. Tarzan didn't understand what he asked.

Jiminy hopped out of Philia's pocket as he stated, "You know, that White Fang can actually be used as an accessory." he explained, "It can give you a little boost to strength and defense."

"You landed the final blow. You should at least have the prize." Philia told Sora. He nodded in understanding, and placed the White Fang on him.

Just then, several more Powerwilds and Shadow Heartless surrounded their group, blocking them from exiting the area. "Oh, come on!" Sora moaned, "Why are they in our way?!"

"Let's figure it out at camp after we beat them!" Philia answered, and she charged at them, with the others behind her.

After dealing with the swarm of Heartless, they all returned back to camp, taking care of a few Heartless stragglers while they were at it. When they all went inside the tent, they noticed that it was completely empty. Jane was no longer in there.

"Hey, where's Jane?" Sora asked, looking about.

"She's no longer here." Philia pointed out the obvious, "There doesn't seem to be any signs of a struggle."

Tarzan observed the ground, sniffing at it suspiciously. He then looked up and about, as if sensing something.

"Something wrong, Tarzan?" Goofy asked.

"Something coming. Jane, danger." Tarzan answered, "Jane near… Near tree house."

"Sounds like trouble." Donald understood.

"Let's find where she is." Philia told the group. With the decision made, they set out to the jungle once more.

Getting there wasn't easy, considering the amount of Heartless in the way. Fortunately, Tarzan showed them a shortcut to the tree house by climbing up a bamboo shoot in the lagoon. They were able to reach an area that would get them to the tree tops quicker than before, which was a relief to the group.

"Tarzan!" As they were reaching the tree tops, they heard Jane's outcry from within the branches of the treetops. "Jane!" Tarzan cried out, and he raced further up to reach the treetops.

When they arrived, they found the place surrounded by Powerwilds and another kind of monkey Heartless with a slingshot. Philia was fortunate to recall these from reading about the Powerwilds; a new creature called Bouncywilds, who are more long-ranged than close-ranged. They could see Jane hidden behind some vines, but trapped within, with the same young gorilla they witnessed with Kerchak before.

"We gotta do something to save them!" Donald declared, readying his wand.

"Then let's clear the tree!" Sora declared, and the team raced at the Heartless.

The battle was fierce, and the Heartless seem to come out of the woodwork to try and put them down. The new Bouncywilds definitely displayed their shooting skills with their slingshots. However, the team's skills and endurance managed to pull them a win after a few minutes of slaying Heartless.

Jane and her new gorilla friend came out of hiding, with Tarzan reaching out to Jane, making sure she was safe.

"Are you guys okay?" Philia asked as he, Sora, Donald and Goofy gathered to their side.

"What happened?" Goofy asked them.

"Clayton came to the tent, and..." Jane paused, thinking about it for a moment, then followed, "That's the last thing I remember."

"Clayton?!" "That idiot?" Sora and Philia responded respectively.

"Gorillas trapped. Terk ran." Tarzan understood.

"We must help the gorillas!" Jane answered.

"But where did he go?" Goofy asked. That was the question on everyone's minds.

Just then, there was another gunshot from below. "Clayton at cliffs!" Tarzan noticed, "Gorillas there."

"Let's move!" Sora ordered, and the team raced towards where the musket was fired from.

Sora and Philia led the team as they scrambled down the branches, and made their way to the bamboo thicket, which was the quickest way to the cliffs.

The team made it there just in time. Amongst the cliffs, there were Powerwilds and Bouncywilds surrounding the group of gorillas they saved before. Clayton was amongst them, pointing his gun right at the female gorilla that saved Philia before. Kerchak was trying to stop a group of Powerwilds that were getting too close to the others.

"NOO!" Sora and Philia shouted together. The Heartless and Clayton stopped their attack, turning to the group of heroes. This gave the opportunity for the gorillas to escape. Kerchak looked to the heroes, with Philia making eye contact with him, giving him a nod that told him that they had this. Kerchak seemed to have understood, and he left with his pack.

Jane and Terk held back as Sora and Tarzan made eye contact with Clayton. His eyes were blank and hollow, yet merciless. "Clayton?" Sora called to him.

"Not Clayton!" Tarzan noticed, getting confused looks from Philia and Sora, "*&&X%! Not Clayton!" Sora and Philia both looked back at the hunter, who turned his gun on their group, with the Heartless surrounding him, ready to fight.

Clayton's finger pulled the trigger on his gun. Sora, Philia and Tarzan ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding the gunshot. "What's wrong with you?!" Philia demanded, skidding on the dirt before dashing at Clayton, readying her Armor Pierce Dagger Skill to break his rifle again. He blocked the attack with his gun, and Philia though he got him. However, when her dagger struck his gun, it didn't break it. It pushed him back and made him stumble and fall, but his gun, unlike before, was undamaged. In fact, it started to emanate a dark aura, along with the rest of his body.

Philia was stunned as she gasped, "But that attack broke his gun easily before! What's going on?!"

"He's covered in a dark aura..." Sora noticed, as Tarzan blocked his side from a Powerwild's attack, "It's similar to how I feel when around a Heartless..."

"He's been influenced by the darkness!" Goofy assumed as he and Donald knocked back a Bouncywild together.

"Then let's snap him out of it!" Philia declared, ready to fight him, with Sora at her side. The two charged in as Clayton fired another shot. They parted around the bullet, before Sora unleashed a series of strikes, ending with a Ripple Drive. The dark aura around Clayton's body prevented damage from showing on him, but he still got hurt, even after Philia came around and struck him hard with a series of slashes, ending with a Side Bite. The others made quick work of the Bouncywilds and Powerwilds.

Clayton was unable to land a good shot, and got backed into the cliff wall behind him as the others gathered to fight him. He got up and pointed his gun at the group, causing them to ready to dodge and attack him. However, he pointed it upwards, causing the heroes confusion. What was he planning?

Just then, the wall behind him suddenly exploded, revealing a great big hole behind Clayton, who was unfazed by it. The others, on the other hand, were definitely stunned by the sight of a wall suddenly being blown up, and that nothing was there to cause the damage.

Tarzan gritted his teeth, and charged at Clayton, with Philia shouting, "Wait!", But too late. There was some sort of creature's noise, and Tarzan was suddenly sent flying back from an attack of sorts. "Tarzan!" Jane shouted as she and Terk were stunned at what happened. However, what happened next was shocking them even more; Clayton was floating, reloading his gun as he was in some sort of sitting position in midair.

"What the...!" Sora gasped.

"What's goin' on?!" Donald demanded.

"I don't know... but something is there!" Philia answered, readying her weapon, "Look, on the ground!" The team looked down, and saw a shadow of a large beast. An invisible beast.

Suddenly, Sora, Philia, Donald and Goofy were struck by something, sending them all tumbling back to Tarzan as he rose up to his feet. "Great. Now we have to deal with an invisible Heartless?!" Philia demanded.

"Let's hit it until it shows itself!" Sora demanded, unleashing a Thunder spell that shocked Clayton and the invisible beast underneath him.

"Donald, follow his magic!" Philia shouted, readying her dagger. Donald unleashed Thunder alongside her, and the two attacks rained down on their opponent, causing the invisible monster to reveal itself to the team. It was a green-yellow chameleon monster with black striping all on it.

"A Heartless?!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Hold on, hold on... I should know this." Philia tried looking back on all the big bosses she read in the book, then recalled it at last, "A Stealth Sneak!"

The giant lizard screeched as it lunged at the team, who moved out of the way, avoiding its' attack. Clayton fired his gun at Goofy, who blocked the attack with his shield.

Sora dashed in, striking the beast across the fact, making it falter. Philia then used a Fire spell on Clayton, burning him. He recovered, turning his gun on Philia, firing at her, causing her to back off to avoid the shot.

Tarzan unleashed a flurry of slashes from his spear, followed by Sora readying himself, and unleashed a Sonic Blade technique, striking the Stealth Sneak as it tried to lunge at him. Sora's attack was able to not only counter, but continue a few more times, striking the feet of the Stealth Sneak.

"Now!" Philia shouted, unleashing a Round Accel Dagger skill, creating a cross slash that made the Stealth Sneak reel backwards, throwing Clayton off of it. He fell on his back, grunting in pain.

"They're separate from one another!" Sora shouted, "I'll handle the Stealth Sneak!" Tarzan came to his side, choosing to handle the beast with him.

"Leave Clayton to me!" Philia called out, "Goofy, with me!"

"Right!" Goofy answered, racing alongside her as they went at the hunter. Donald looked between the two fights, sighed, and raced to Sora and Tarzan, taking on the bigger problem, literally.

Clayton was not as difficult as Sora's opponent, what with him jumping about and firing his gun at his opponents. Goofy and Philia were more than a match for him, evading his shots, and coming at him with everything they had.

Sora's group, dealing with the Stealth Sneak, had it a bit harder. The Stealth Sneak had long limbs, and a horn it lunged at the heroes. But it had more than just brute strength on its' side. With a clap of its' hands, it unleashed an energy blast at the opponents. It also unleashed energy shots from its' eyes, which homed in on the heroes.

Donald got hit hard by the laser eyes, and got sent tumbling, barely conscious. Sora looked to him, then saw Tarzan try and take him down from the back. The Stealth Sneak tried to buck him off, screeching angrily.

Philia turned during her battle, and saw Tarzan struggling to hold onto the spikes on its' back. It eventually bucked him off, but Tarzan flipped in midair, skidding to a halt next to Sora, who readied his Keyblade to protect Donald.

"Crap, my magic won't do much from this distance!" Philia noticed, as the Heartless readied his eyes to fire lasers. She looked back at Goofy, who bashed Clayton hard with his shield, fending him off. "Guess I'd better try something crazy..." she muttered, loosening her grip on her dagger, and concentrated. She pulled it back, and threw the dagger as hard and precise as she could. The dagger flew through the air, and struck the Heartless in the eye, stopping its' attack, and making it reel backwards, before falling down.

Sora looked to it, then to Philia, who called out, "Now's your chance!" Sora understood, and he and Tarzan unleashed their own series of attacks on the phased Heartless, with Sora ending with a Ripple Drive that sent it skidding backwards.

Philia sighed in relief, but saw Goofy fly over her, and turned to see Clayton panting from exhaustion, but raise his gun at her. "Freeze up!" She shouted, thrusting a palm forward, and unleashing Blizzard from it, freezing the barrel of Clayton's gun. He looked at the blockage on his weapon, and looked up to get a boot to the face by Philia's foot, knocking him out.

"Sora!" Goofy shouted, and Philia looked to see Sora kicked in the gut by the Stealth Sneak, knocking the wind out of him as he fell backwards. He groaned as he tried to get up, but saw the Heartless right at his feet, glaring down at him, though one eye was badly damaged from Philia's dagger, which now laid on the sidelines. Sora raised his Keyblade as a bit of defense, hoping to protect himself and Donald, who was waking up behind him.

"Sora, no!" Philia shouted, making a mad dash to Sora's side. There was no way she could grab her dagger and get to Sora. She had to act quickly to protect him from the next attack, which looked like a point-blank energy blast clap. 'I gotta stop it! I can't let it get to Sora and Donald!' She told herself, looking at her dagger a good distance away, and to the Stealth Sneak, 'Come on, my precious dagger. If there was ever a time I need you to help me, it's now! Please, come to my hand!'

Time seemed to slow down as she finally reached the Stealth Sneak, roaring as she went into a leaping attack, her one hand clenched in a fist. Her Swordbreaker dagger suddenly glowed, and vanished, reappearing, at long last, in Philia's hand, as it shined a white aura. She unleashed a four horizontal slash combo, causing the Stealth Sneak to be sent backwards.

"Thanks, Philia!" Sora thanked her, smiling as she and Donald got to their feet.

"Thank me by leading us in the final attack." Philia answered as Goofy and Tarzan also came to their side.

Sora nodded in agreement, and turned to the team. Tarzan led Goofy as they went in and bashed and thrusted their weapons into the monster, causing it to be stunned for a moment. Sora, Donald, and Philia raised their weapons and shouted as one, "FIRE!" Their three Fire spells came together, and unleashed a huge torrent of flames that blasted right at the Heartless, making it screech in agony as it was sent flying upwards.

At this point, Clayton got back up, saw Tarzan, and readied his gun to finish him off. He was about to pull the trigger when the area around him darkened, and he looked up, and cried out as the Stealth Sneak fell right on top of him, crushing him. A couple seconds later, the Stealth Sneak vanished into darkness, with a large crystal heart coming out of him, floating into the air, and magically vanishing from sight. Clayton was still there, his body lifeless.

Tarzan first reached Clayton, pushing him onto his back, and pressing his ear to his chest. As everyone, including Terk and Jane, gathered around him, he looked up at the group with a sad face, shaking his head. No heartbeat. Jane gasped in shock, while the others looked kinda sadly at this. Philia also felt quite shaken at this. After all, this was the first actual human being she had played a part in killing. She hated Clayton's motives, and his darkness made him worse, but she never really wished the guy to die.

"Look!" Goofy pointed into the sky. The team looked up, and saw the place where the heart vanished suddenly produce three orbs of magic energy, slowly falling down till it entered into Sora, Philia and Donald.

"A new magic?" Philia questioned.

"It feels... almost alleviating." Sora described, "I can feel even my injuries from that fight start to vanish."

"It Cure!" Donald noticed, "It's a healing spell!"

"Well... At least we don't have to worry too much on running out of potions." Philia stated, grateful to have a new spell under her belt.

"Speaking of new powers, what was that new skill you used?" Sora asked Philia, recalling her furious slashes from the Stealth Sneak.

"Oh, that?" The treasure hunter pondered on what that was, then came to the realization. "Fad Edge. It seems to be one of my stronger skills."

Jiminy hopped out of Sora's pocket as he stated, "Gosh, you seem to get a new skill in every world we've gone to so far. Is that gonna keep continuing?"

"Not only that, but you finally used magic to bring your weapon to your hand!" Goofy pointed out, "I knew you had it in ya!"

Philia smiled happily at Goofy's comment, and looked down at her dagger. 'I just needed it when I had to fight. I wanted to protect my friends, and it suddenly came to me when those thoughts were in my mind. But for now...' She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her dagger suddenly shined, and magically vanished, pocketed away hidden from view, just like everyone else's weapons.

Just then, the group noticed all the gorillas that escaped the scene were gathered around the cliffs, with Kerchak and the female gorilla coming towards the heroes. The lead gorilla reached down, and grabbed Sora from one arm, and with one underhand throw, tossed him high into the sky. "Sora!" Philia cried out, getting a sense of deja vu. Sora landed face-first on the ground over the cliff, dazed, but otherwise, okay.

Philia looked to see Sora was okay, then felt the gorilla's hand on her shoulder, and her face paled. She screamed in panic as she was tossed upwards.

Sora looked up and saw Philia flail in the air as she came crashing down on top of him. There was momentary dust cloud, then it vanished, revealing Philia groaning for a second, then blushed horribly as she noticed Sora's face was right underneath her chest. She quickly got off of him in with a yelp, as Sora raised himself up, scratching his head. "That hurt..." he moaned, looking to Philia, "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." she answered, as Donald and Goofy, also thrown by Kerchak, had landed a bit of a ways from them.

"You sure? Your face is all red."

"Nothing! Nothing you should worry about!" Philia assured him frantically, looking away to hide her red face. Sora questioned what got her all flustered, not realizing the embarrassing situation he ended up in.

Tarzan scurried up the branches of the cliff, bringing Jane with him. Terk also joined them as they all looked down at the gorillas. Tarzan and Kerchak gave one look at one another, then he turned and led the group of gorillas away into the jungle hiding once more. However, that one gaze told the team one thing; he did not see them as enemies anymore. However, that did not excuse him for tossing them up like that, and for what purpose?

Tarzan wandered over to the other side, and the team gasped at the sight of what laid before them. It was a large pool of water, with waterfalls pouring in from above, and what looked like a caves hidden underneath the waterfall. "Tarzan, home." Tarzan spoke up, indicating the place.

"So... this is where your home is?" Jane understood.

"That's why that gorilla threw us up here? To bring us to your home?" Philia summed up.

"Then, Riku and Kairi might be here!" Sora realized, and he rushed to the entrance of the waterfall caverns.

"And the king!" Donald followed, racing after him, with Goofy and the others racing in from behind.

It took a while to hop around the areas in the waterfall cavern, finding materials and even a few more Dalmatian puppies to bring back to Traverse Town. However, they found themselves in the deepest part of the waterfall caverns. There, within it, was thriving greenery, as the sun and sky shone in from above. On the tree in the very back of the cavern, there was a shining blue light. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be many glowing butterflies.

"*&&X%" Tarzan hooted, causing the heroes to realize what this was.

"This is your home?" Sora understood, "But that means..."

"I don't see anyone else in here but us." Philia added, looking about.

Tarzan raised a hand to silence them, then cupped his hand to his ear, indicating they should listen. Sora and Philia looked to one another, then closed their eyes and listened. What they heard drew the attention of everyone.

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

"*&&X%" Tarzan hooted, "Friends there. See friends."

It took a second to piece together what he meant, and Philia spoke up, "I think I get it. You can't see the waterfalls, and they're quite far off, but their sounds can be heard from here, so you can picture them as you remember them. Friends are the same. But that means..."

"Oh, now I've got it." Jane followed, "*&&X% means 'heart'. Friends in our hearts..."

"Heart." Tarzan echoed, now hearing the human's way of saying the hoot.

"Oh, so that's what it meant." Sora understood sadly, which made Philia place a hand on his shoulder, sympathizing for him.

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

"No heart, no friends..." Philia echoed, placing a hand on her heart, feeling the echo of those words in her ears. It made her feel glad that she had a heart, and more importantly, have friends in her heart. She, Sora, and Donald looked to one another, realizing that their friendship was kinda damaged since they came here, but not unrepairable.

"Sorry about what I said." Sora apologized to Donald.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you guys." Philia followed up.

"I'm sorry, too." Donald finished.

Goofy chuckled as he grouped them together with his long arms, saying, "Yeah. All for one, huh?" They all smiled at each other, their friendship restored to normal.

Sora then noticed something about the butterflies on the tree. Their glow died down as some of them parted from the tree, and Sora got a closer look. There, on the trunk of the tree, was a keyhole, much like the one they saw in Wonderland.

"Another keyhole?" Philia noticed, turning to Sora, who summoned his Keyblade. He looked to his friends, who nodded in approval, and he swished his blade as he pointed it at the keyhole. The teeth of his blade lit up, and shot a beam into the keyhole, and their was a locking sound. When it was properly sealed, it vanished from sight, but not before leaving something behind for the team.

"A Gummi!" Donald noticed.

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

"Just another thing to add to our mystery." Philia followed up, grabbing the Gummi and pocketing it.

Just then, Terk started to brush her face against Donald's shoulder, getting the duck's attention. "I think someone has a new admirer." Jane chuckled.

Donald realized what this meant, and backed away from Terk exclaiming, "No, no, no, no! Daisy would kill me!" Everyone else laughed as his worries as he raced out of the cave in a panic.

The others were about to chase after him when Philia suddenly stopped and grasped her head. Another headache came along. She gasped as she started to recall something. The body of a person who she knew, with blonde, ruffled hair, brown eyes, and markings on her face.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked, placing a worried hand on Philia's shoulder. The young lady's headache vanished as soon as it came, and she shook herself into recovery.

"Was that...?" Goofy started.

"Did a memory returned to you?" Sora asked her.

Philia looked to the others, then looked down, answering, "I think so. There was a person I knew. Someone I counted on from where I came from."

"Someone... you counted on?" Sora asked, "Maybe that was a friend of yours!"

"Maybe..." Philia answered, "I think... her name was... Argo." She paused for a moment, then shook her head as she sighed, "It's no use. I can't remember anything else. I don't even know why she was important to me."

"But if you knew her enough to remember her now, she must've been a friend!" Goofy summed up.

"Yeah. That's at least one more piece of your past that we know about." Sora stated eagerly, "And if we find this Argo person, maybe she can tell us who you really are."

"I sure hope it's that easy." Philia answered with a bit of a sarcastic note. As if getting her memories or anything else was easy so far.

"Come on. Let's go after Donald!" Goofy declared as he and Jane raced off, with Philia and Sora right behind them.

Dark Room

Back in the mysterious, dimly-lit room, the gathered villains had just watched what had transpired in the Deep Jungle. "What drew the Heartless to that world?" A male voice asked curiously.

"The hunter lured them there." Maleficent answered, "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seems the bait was tasty for his own good."

A third voice cackled as he stated, "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"

The owner of the second voice stepped into the dim light, revealing himself to be a spindly figure of a man with a black goatee and a pencil-thin mustache, dressed in an extravagant black robe with a red sash, complete with black and dark red cape, brown shoes that curled inwards, and a mitre that was black and gold-trimmed, with a ruby embedded in it, and a red feather sticking out from it. He also carried a gold staff with a cobra's head on top, with ruby eyes. This man was Jafar.

"A weak-hearted fool like him stood no change against the Heartless." he huffed, "But the boy is a problem. He found one of the Keyholes."

"Fear not. It will take him ages to find the rest." Maleficent dismissed the concerns, creating a magic circle that showed the four heroes wandering aimlessly on some path, "Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of our other plan."

"Yes, the princesses..." the hidden female in the room pointed out.

"They are falling into our hands, one by one." Maleficent stated, "Speaking of which..." She looked to one side, where a new figure was shoved into the light, looking around with a scared look on her face. This face was a person that Sora, Philia and the others had met before. It was Alice.

Gummi Ship

Everyone had finally made it back to their ship, with Sora dangling a keychain in front of him. It looked like parts of it were a carabiner, while the rest was a vine, and at the end of the 'chain' was a token butterfly that looked very much like the ones they saw before.

"So, how do I use this?" Sora asked, looking at it.

Jiminy hopped out onto Sora's shoulder as he muttered, "I believe you need to replace the keychain that is on your current Keyblade with it. Give it a try."

Sora summoned his Keyblade, and switched out the keychain. All at once, it shined and took on a new form. It looked completely out of wood and other natural things, with an orange handle, surrounded by a circular, tan guard with two spikes near its top, a purple material at the guard, a long, thin, tan shaft, and teeth made of five blunt, tan spikes separated by the same dark purple material from the guard.

"Whoa!" Sora, Donald, Goofy and Philia gasped, seeing the new Keyblade.

"It's completely new!" Goofy noticed.

"I believe that was called the 'Jungle King' Keyblade." Jiminy recalled, "It's definitely a bit stronger than the Keyblade you had.

"Guess I'll try it out on the next Heartless I face." Sora stated with a smirk, then pulled out the Gummi block that came out of the keyhole they found, "But this new Gummi... It's not like the others. Wonder what it's used for."

"I dunno." Donald answered.

"I bet either Leon or Cid would know." Philia assumed, "Let's head back to Traverse Town and speak to them."

"I wanna be pilot!" Sora argued, racing to the wheel.

"No way!" Donald retorted, trying to shove him away.

"Oh, come on! I'm the Keyblade master!" Sora whined, pushing Donald back.

"I don't care who you are! No!" Donald barked.

Just then, there were a pair of hands that grabbed each of their shoulders, and they stopped as they felt a sinister aura behind them. Philia's eyes glowed menacingly as she tossed the two boys back with such strength, they slammed into the walls on either side of Goofy, who looked at them as they slid down the well, and landed on their heads.

"How about this..." Philia suggested, quietly and menacingly, as she sat in the pilot's chair, "From now on, until you two are able to learn to take turns, I'll pilot this ship..." She looked back at the two as she growled, "Are we clear?!"

"Yes, ma'am..." Donald and Sora moaned as they dare not argue against someone who looked like she would kill them without mercy.

"Good. Now hold on tight!" Philia declared as she steered the ship around, heading back on the path they took to get here. Back to Traverse Town.

Next time on SAK: HO

Philia: We managed to get back to where everything started again, only for us to meet Sora's friend, Riku, out of nowhere! And what's more, he's making me believe that my quest for my memory and home is distracting Sora from finding Kairi. I mean, my memories aren't important to Sora, Donald and Goofy. Am I really gonna side-track them from their bigger quest? I wonder if it's best that I leave them...

On the next 'Sword Art Kingdom: Heart's Origin':

Traverse Return! Philia Leaves Sora?!

Sora & Philia: Let's chart our next adventure!