Hello, fellow readers! Sliding down to it, what do we got?
Spartastic 4: I sometimes take longer on chapters when I take a day off from writing. Wait, I misspelled? *double checks* Only one word was and that was intentional for comedic effect. Can't rush quality, man.
Leafeon12: Thanks, man!
All right, let's go!
Chapter 8: Son of Man
A portal appears in the Second District of Traverse Town, the wanderer with his guest walking out of it before closing.
The wanderer looks around as he sighs, "Kinda empty for a town."
Immediately after saying that, some Soldier and a couple of Fat Body heartless showed up to surround the two.
"That's more like it." The wanderer said with sarcasm, "So, any of ya want to kindly escort us?"
The heartless didn't respond to that, as he expected. "Now that's just rude."
"Look out!" He hears a young girl call out, looking towards the voice to see the girl leap down from a high place.
What Yuffie saw was heartless surrounding someone, but the person didn't look worried about it. Taking no chances, she jumped in to help.
"I appreciate the help, miss. But if you can do me a favor, mind watching over the boy instead?" The person sounded male under the hooded cloak, but Yuffie was intrigued at his offer.
"You mean you want to fight?" She asked.
"More like exercise." He carefully moved the unconscious boy from his shoulder to then hand him over.
Yuffie was honestly curious, so she grabbed the boy out of his hands before he stretched his arms and legs.
"I'll admit, these heartless are patient." The man pointed out before facing them.
Yuffie leaped back a safe distance and placed the boy against the wall as the cloaked man simply moved his hand as a taunt to provoke the creatures.
One of the soldiers jumped at him with a cyclone kick, only to get knocked out of the air with a swift left hook that made it slam into another soldier. Another one tried to jump him, only for a right haymaker to hit it dead on. The other heartless were caught off guard at this, which a fat body decided to charge at him belly first. The man placed his right foot first right before performing a lightning fast kick, sending the heartless flying a moment before landing on the ground, rolling until hitting one of the fountain bell plates to stop.
The heartless were shocked at this as the man placed his foot back down, smirking at what happened. He then channeled magic into his hand and raised it in the air before muttering, "Vanish..."
An array of lighting bolts rained down on the heartless, taking them out instantly with the points of impact being scorched as his hand went back down.
Yuffie was impressed at the man's display of power, as it reminded her of someone else. Being lost in her thoughts, she didn't notice the man was on his way over.
"I don't think I caught your name, miss." The man recalled.
She snapped out of it and hopped up to her feet, "I am the great ninja, Yuffie!"
As she introduced herself, she had a better look at the cloaked man. His face was hidden under the hood with the cloak being dark brown in color and reaching his ankles, with what she could see earlier in the battle was black colored attire under it. She tried to see what his face looked like, but only saw violet eyes that emitted a faint glow.
"Nice to meet you, Yuffie. And yes I know, I have good looks." The cloaked man teased.
"Just curious!" She defended her analyzing stare before continuing, "You know, you fight like my friend Tifa. Have you met her?"
The man thought for a moment, "No, I don't think I have."
Yuffie had more questions now, but shifted the focus to the unconscious boy, "So, who is he?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I just found him like this and took him into my care."
"Has he woken up before?"
"Not yet. I brought him here to safety, since I have business elsewhere. I apologize about this, but may I place him in your care for now?"
Yuffie wasn't sure why he's trusting her, who is a stranger to him, but accepted his offer. "Sure. I'll tell him about you if he wakes up before you return."
"Thank you very much." The man simply said before walking away, Yuffie disappearing with the boy soon after.
Going to the alleyway nearby, he looks at his hand before clenching it once. "Glad to see my physical body is still good. Though, I am rusty with my skills..."
Cid just did the finishing touches on the Moogles' synthesis shop as he went out the door that lead to it, stretching out a bit before a Moogle floated out with him.
"Thank you for your help, kupo!" The Moogle said.
"No problem. Just don't overheat the furnace, it might backfire." Cid warned.
The Moogle nodded in understanding and went back inside the shop as Cid walks away, going down the steps before seeing Leon walking up the same steps.
Leon stopped in his tracks before speaking, "Hey. Yuffie wants us to meet at the Third District house."
"Any reason why?" Cid asked.
"Something about a new guy." Leon simply answered.
"Well, let's get going then." Cid said as the two went over to the Third District.
The two then headed over after Cid received his spear from the shop, just in case they run into heartless on the way. Thankfully, they took the short route to avoid any encounters before reaching the house. They entered to see Aerith and Yuffie tending to a young teen boy laying in the bed. When Leon asked who he was, Yuffie explained encountering a mysterious man who had him in his care. After a brief fight with heartless, he left the boy in her care before leaving.
As soon as she finished the story, they heard the boy stirred a bit before slightly opening his eyes. Having a better view of his appearance, they see that he had eye-length messy brown hair with an ahoge poking up at the top, green eyes, and pale skin. He wore a skintight long-sleeved black jacket with red and white trimmings, black pants with a red belt and a red cross emblem on the right thigh, black fingerless gloves with red guards, and red shoes with metal guards.
The boy sat up and looks around, seeing the group before speaking. "Uh, hello."
"Hello, sleepyhead." Yuffie greeted.
"Uh..." The boy rubbed his neck nervously, indicating his shyness before speaking again. "Who are you people?"
"I'm Aerith. This is Yuffie, Leon, and Cid." Aerith answered, gesturing to who's who.
"Nice to meet you. I'm..." The boy hesitated for a moment, which the others found odd at first before he finished. "Naoto. Naoto Kurogane."
"So, the way back to the camp is through these trees?" Aqua asked as the three were standing on a tree branch that oversees a bamboo thicket.
Tarzan nodded yes to her question right before leaping down to a gigantic tree branch that has many curves in a general direction, which Aqua and Sora jump on soon after to follow. The three slid on the tree, the wind blowing pass them before Aqua sees small creatures floating around them while going the same speed. Sora and Tarzan see them too soon after.
"Monsters?" Tarzan questioned.
"You can say that." Aqua vaguely answered, which Sora immediately shot down. "More heartless!"
The heartless all looked almost the same, the differences being their colors. Three red, three blue, and three yellow ones were what they saw before they went above the branches as the three entered through them. They were mainly small, but had to slice through the larger ones to avoid losing momentum. The large then had a hard right curve that they followed to a clearer path where they saw the heartless again.
"Eat this!" Sora conjures a Fire spell, launching a fireball to a red one. Unfortunately, there was no effect on it as it appears to absorb it.
"What?" Sora questioned.
"They absorb magic too?" Aqua remembered the beast she and Ragna fought in the Dark Realm for comparison.
The blue ones floated down to the path up ahead to try and intercept the three, firing icicle shards at them for their projectiles while keeping up the speed. Aqua put up a barrier to protect them from the ice as the yellow ones fired lightning bolts from above upon them. The barrier was strong enough to block those as well, with Tarzan being very curious to all of this.
Aqua let it down to fire a Blizzaga spell at the yellow ones, hitting two on impact that only did moderate damage surprisingly.
"The yellow ones are tougher." Aqua gathered from the attack, which the yellow ones quickly darted towards them in retaliation.
"And faster!" Sora pointed out.
Seeing the yellow threats, Tarzan suddenly retaliated with an attack of his own by swinging his spear around him wildly to land a hit. He does manage to hit one of them, taking it out by knocking them into one of the trees around them.
"Nice, Tarzan!" Sora complimented.
The blue ones then froze the tree branch they were on to mess up their balance, which actually did a bit. Sora and Aqua held on to each other while Tarzan had to endure it as his bare feet hit the ice.
"Gotta switch!" Aqua suggested.
Tarzan understood that and saw a similar sized branch further down, "Down!" He called out.
Sora and Aqua saw it too before Tarzan leaped for it, taking out one of the blues before landing. The other two jumped after him with Aqua firing a rapid succession of Firaga fireballs, taking the other two out before landing as well.
"Nice going!" Sora complimented.
The three then see the red ones try and launch fireballs from above, but Sora takes the helm as he tries out the Blizzard spell. Despite his accuracy, he managed to take out two of the five before having to jump over a branch in their path. The yellow ones were about to attack soon after, only to get cut off as the three jumped into a hollow tree trunk. The trunk soon let them out onto another large tree branch that made a sharp left turn and went uphill for a moment before going down into the bamboo thicket from earlier.
"We are here." Tarzan said as they reached the end of the branch. The three dropped down into a large clearing that had a camp set up, which includes a stack of crates, a table with teapots, and various other supplies that shouldn't be in a jungle.
"Do you think the others are here already?" Sora asked Aqua.
"If they aren't, it probably wouldn't be long to find this place." She answered as the two followed Tarzan into the large tent.
When they entered the tent, they see various furniture with a slide projector facing the side of the tent to show what it projects as a woman seems to look for something before Tarzan got her attention.
"Jane." He called out her name, which she turned around in excitement.
The woman had long dark brown hair, blue eyes, and pale skin as she had eyeliner and lipstick on her face. She wore a faded white tank top and a long brown sarong that reaches to just above her ankles that only showed a majority of her right leg as it was held up by a knot tied on her right hip.
"Tarzan, you're back." She then sees his new friends, "Oh! And you are?"
"Hello-" Aqua was surprised at how fast the woman reacted when she spoke.
"You speak our language too! Fascinating!" The woman, named Jane, was in front of her in an instant before looking at Sora, "Do you speak too?"
"Yes." Sora simply said in response as he wasn't sure how to react to her.
"Tarzan! Where did you find them!? This is amazing!" Clearly, Jane was ecstatic about the newcomers.
"I met them, at tree house. Helped them chase away, Sabor." Tarzan briefly explained.
"Oh my. You aren't wounded, are you?" Jane asked the two.
"Don't worry, we were able to hold her off when Tarzan arrived." Aqua reassured.
"You're telling me, riding that leopard wasn't very fun." Sora said offhandedly with his hands behind his head.
"What's this about a leopard?" A male voice asked as he entered.
The man was a rather short and slender elderly man with a thick gray mustache with equally gray eyebrows and green eyes. He wore a yellow short sleeved collared shirt with a blue bowtie, orange shorts with a brown belt, and a pair of brown shoes with white socks.
"Daddy, glad you're here! We got another discovery!" Jane pulled her father further in the tent to his surprise.
"OK, Jane. OK! What is the new-" The father was stopped by Jane and turns him to Sora and Aqua, which he carefully walked up to them.
"My, my! What interesting attire they wear! And how spiky the young man's hair is!" The man gently poked his finger at the points of Sora's hair.
"Nice to meet you." Sora said, which the man was further intrigued as a result.
"And they speak our language!? Where did you come from? Not possibly the jungle like Tarzan here." The man was wondering at this point.
"If not here, then where could they have come from?" Jane wondered the same thing.
"Uh... before we answer that, can we ask a question of our own?" Aqua was being polite, not even fazed at the pair's excitement which confused Sora.
"Oh, sure! We'll answer to the best of our ability. Archimedes Q. Porter at your service, miss." The elderly man introduced himself.
"I'm Aqua and this is Sora." Aqua introduced themselves.
"Pleasure to meet you. If you don't mind, would you like a spot of tea?" Jane asked.
Meanwhile, Ragna and Donald are traveling through a remote part of the jungle that had very large trees with its roots spread out all over the place.
"Are we gonna talk or just stay silent the whole time?" Ragna called out to Donald who was further ahead.
After their conversation, Donald was strangely quiet as he climbed through the roots of the trees. Ragna sighs at that as he then hears a crack from behind, kinda forgetting that Terk and Tantor were following them. The young gorilla looked concerned for the two as the elephant was looking around for immediate danger.
"Don't worry about it. These things take time." Ragna wasn't sure as to why he was talking to the gorilla. Probably felt like he needed to... for whatever reason.
Donald climbed through the roots and came out to where a cliff overlooked a deep drop into more of the forest, along with a bamboo thicket far off in the distance.
"Trees, trees, and more trees!" He shouted in frustration, only to just plop on the ground to sit and rest.
Ragna caught up with Donald shortly after, just to sit next to him in silence as Terk climbed up above the roots to get a view of them.
The two sat in silence for quite a bit, just staring into the distance before Donald sighed.
"I would do the same."
Ragna looked at him after he muttered that, "Huh?"
Donald rolled his eyes before speaking up, "I said, I would do the same."
"When I first met Mickey, I didn't really think much of him since he was like me back then. Despite my view, everyone I met preferred him over me and it made me so envious of him. But, the more I got to know him, the more I saw why others do and decided instead to see him more of a rival."
"I can get that." Ragna agreed with, which caught Donald's attention. "You'd be surprised how strong a rivalry can be and how it grows into a mutual understanding between people."
Donald thought about that for a moment. As he was made the Court Magician, he always sparred with Mickey when he wanted to practice his magic. Even with his skills, the keyblade was able to let Mickey keep up with him fairly well. The fact that the Keyblade is able to let the wielder perform magic easier than even an expert mage reminds him of the envy he had and Sora wielding one brought back the memories.
"You listen to him." The watch sprung to life again as Terk came over from the roots.
"I was young when we had this hairless kid join our family. I didn't really paid much mind to him when he tried to come hang out with my friends, but over time he proved that he could keep up with the rest of us."
Donald and Ragna listened to her story, but were curious to who she was talking about. "Hairless kid?" Donald was the first to ask.
"This kid Aunt Kala found. She called him Tarzan." Terk answered.
"I think that hairless ape is a human." Ragna clarified.
"Is what he is? I thought he was just some distant relative or something." Terk said offhandedly.
The three then heard a loud wind noise as it turned out that Tantor tried to go through the roots, only to get stuck a bit. The watch scanned him briefly before they heard another voice through the watch.
"Am I interrupting something?" The watch translated from the elephant.
"No, just finishing up." Ragna answered as he stood up to his feet, "Think it's about we go find the others."
Donald got to his feet right before they saw a cloud of smoke coming from the bamboo thicket, "Smoke?" He wondered.
"Yup, which means people." Ragna said before seeing a waterfall near them, going down to a large body of water. "And we have a shortcut."
"What are y-" Donald then got grabbed by the arm before the two jumped off towards the water.
Terk and Tantor were surprised at the stunt and decided to look for another way down.
Goofy and Terra walked through the last of the trees to reach a large clearing that lead to a large cliff with a very wide waterfall going into a massive lake next to them. The two were no doubt impressed at the sight before them as they saw elephants in the lake.
"Reminds me of back home." Terra mentioned as Goofy listened, "Me, Aqua and Ven usually go to the lake to practice our gliding skills. Lost count of how many times Ven fell off his glider before actually figuring it out."
"This Ven you mention, is he a friend of yours?" Goofy asked.
Terra chuckled a bit at that, "Honestly, I consider him more of a younger brother."
"Gawrsh, didn't he have a similar armor plate on his shoulder?" Goofy thought about it before, but remembered to actually asked about it.
Terra looked at him with curiosity, "Yeah, on his left shoulder."
"I remember him now! He came to the tower before to see Yen Sid and went off to help King Mickey." Goofy recalled.
"I wouldn't be surprised. He always wants to help others when he can." Terra smiled at that.
Despite the sounds of the water, they could make out a rustling in the bushes nearby and turns toward it with their guard up. The rustling continued for a moment more before a person walked out into the open.
It was a rather tall man with thinning brown hair and a pencil thin mustache, black eyes, and pale skin. He had a sort of dignified attire, which consisted of a yellow jacket with the sleeves rolled up and a red handkerchief wrapped around his neck, olive green pants and a pair of brown boots. He held a double barrel shotgun in his hands as he spots the two.
"How peculiar..." He muttered to himself.
Terra was the first to speak to him, "Hello there."
"And you speak like me? Who are you?" The hunter asked.
"Terra. And this is Goofy." Terra gestures to who's who to the hunter.
The hunter was stunned upon seeing Goofy, due to him not being human.
"He's a friend of mine." Terra clarified, but it didn't answer the hunter's current question.
"What is he?" The hunter whispered to Terra.
"I believe I am a dog, as you people would say. Ah-hyuck!" Goofy answered for him.
The hunter looked at him for a second before recovering, "Well, since we're exchanging names, mine is Clayton."
"Nice to meet you. I know this is a bit odd, but have you seen anyone else like us?" Terra asked.
"Hmm, if I had, I wouldn't be so surprised at you." Clayton clarified.
"I see." Terra folded his arms at that.
"However, the people at my camp may have. You can ask them if you would like." Clayton offered.
"That would be swell." Goofy accepted the offer.
The three then went off towards the camp, unaware of a certain leopard quietly following them.
AND DONE! Finally, I have finished this chapter. I wanted to release this before the new year, but had other stuff to take care of.
Now, for those who are concerned of the slow pace, it doesn't mean this will be abandoned. This is my most successful series by far, which I am really grateful for.
But, I wanted to celebrate the five years I spent writing on here with a special story that has the game that gave me the push to write in the first place, which is already up that's called:
Resident Evil 4: Retold
Not the most creative title, but I'm not joking when this is the game that not only made me a writer, but one I played so many times. If you're curious, the first chapter is already up for others to read.
Anyways, in this chapter, Sora and Aqua joined Tarzan on a dangerous tree slide ride to the camp and meet Jane and her father. Donald and Ragna, along with Terk, share stories with each other. And finally, Terra and Goofy meets Clayton and are now on their way to the camp with an uninvited guest.
What happens next? We shall see! See ya next chapter and I hope you had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!