Chapter 16: Holy Bananas!

"What's that?" Sora asked, gesturing at the piece of paper Riku was holding.

"Nothing," Riku said, quickly folding the paper back up and starting to shove it in his pocket. Sora quickly snatched it from his hand though.

"Hey!" Riku shouted, turning to Sora in shock. "Why do people keep doing that?" he muttered.

"Maybe if you stopped trying to hide it," Sora replied, unfolding the paper.

It was the same piece of paper that Riku had been carrying around for a while. It was the picture of him and Namine.

Sora laughed slightly. "Is this all you were hiding? Geeze, Riku."

Riku snatched it back, a heat in his cheeks. "What?" he demanded.

Sora shrugged. "Just seems silly you'd get all worked up over a picture. Anyway... Do we have anywhere in particular that we're heading this time?" he asked.

Riku shrugged. "23 mentioned a world that had a nasty Heartless infestation. Some place called 'Deep Jungle'. It's up to you though; we don't have to go there if you don't want to."

Sora shrugged. "I don't care." He pulled the star shard out of his pocket.

Riku groaned quietly. He didn't really like star shards. They made him sick. "Can I just take a dark corridor?"

"We may not end up in the same place," Sora replied. "I can't really control where the star shard spits me out. Especially not if I haven't been to the world before."

"I suppose you have a good point…" Riku muttered. "Let's just get this over with."

Sora activated the star shard and grabbed onto Riku's arm. In a flash of light they disappeared.

xxx

They landed rather nicely in the world that was probably Deep Jungle. It looked as if it would be called Deep Jungle. They were in a jungle.

"That wasn't too bad…" Riku muttered.

"Apparently I can control it better than Joseph can," Sora said with a shrug.

"Good to-" Riku began, but stopped and raised his eyebrows.

A bunch of Heartless had suddenly appeared.

"Oh look, the welcoming committee," Riku laughed, drawing his blade.

"I guess we are in the right world," Sora mused, drawing his own blade.

And the flurry of Heartless killing began.

After about… two minutes, Riku paused, as one of his bandages literally just fell off his face. He groaned, eliminated the rest of the Heartless in his area, and then bent down and picked the bandage up.

Dang… he thought to himself. I can't even bandage my own wounds properly… Though, I guess I never had to. Namine always-

He stopped, and sighed, shoving the bandage into his pocket.

An idea occurred to him suddenly, and he laughed quietly to himself.

I could always go home and ask her to bandage it for me. It would be a ridiculous reason, but a reason. Though… Sora would probably laugh at me. Maybe it's not a good idea…

Besides, if I went home, I'd have to explain what happened. I don't want to explain what happened, not really. I don't even want to admit that Sora was the one who- but… I can't just pass it off as a hyena scratch.

Namine would notice.

And even if she wouldn't… I don't want to lie to her. Not again.

A gunshot suddenly rang through the forest, drawing him out of his thoughts. Riku turned, trying to locate which direction it came from. Sora frowned, and killed a Shadow that was bothering him.

Another gunshot rang out. Riku turned again, still trying to locate exactly where it was coming from.

A third gunshot, followed by a fourth and a fifth.

"Come on!" Riku shouted, running off in the direction the gunshots had come from.

"Are you sure we should be going towards-" Sora began, and then sighed, following after Riku.

xxx

They stopped when they reached a clearing. In that clearing were several gorillas, quite a few Heartless, a man with a gun (whose name was Clayton), and a frantic looking girl (whose name was Jane). Clayton was shooting at the Heartless, though quite a few bullets nearly hit the gorillas.

"Mr. Clayton, be careful!" Jane shouted.

"I assure you, Miss Porter, I will not hit the gorillas," Clayton replied. He fired once again, but his bullet completely missed the Heartless and only narrowly missed a gorilla.

Sora frowned. There was something about Clayton…

"Should we help them?" Riku asked quietly, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Since when do you want to help people who you don't know?" Sora replied, grinning.

"Shut up," Riku muttered. He drew his blade and then rushed forward, destroying a few Heartless.

Sora rolled his eyes and followed.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt the gorillas," Riku said, swiping his blade through another Heartless.

Within just a few minutes all the Heartless were gone.

Once the Heartless were gone, all the gorillas walked off. Clayton glared at their retreating forms. Sora, noticing this, again frowned.

"Thank you," Jane said. "May I ask what your names are?"

They exchanged glances.

"Riku," Riku said gruffly.

"I'm Sora," Sora said, just as gruff.

"My name is Jane, and that's Clayton," Jane said. "We're here to study the gorillas."

"Hmph," Clayton muttered, walking off.

"Well, we're just passing through," Riku shrugged. "We should probably be heading off again."

"Alright then," Jane said. "Thanks again for getting rid of those creatures!"

"No problem," Riku muttered, walking away.

Sora followed after him.

Once they had reached a different clearing, Riku turned to Sora. "Should we go now? I think we've killed enough Heartless for today."

Sora didn't say anything for a moment, still deep in thought.

"Are you alright?" Riku asked.

"Didn't you see it?" Sora replied quietly, still thinking. "The darkness that was growing in his eyes. That man… Clayton… the darkness has almost consumed him…"

"What are you talking about?"

Sora turned to Riku. "I could see it clearly in his face. The darkness… it's manipulating him. He wants to hunt the gorillas, and the darkness is playing off just that. I don't know how to explain it, exactly, but I know what I'm talking about."

Riku sighed. "What are you suggesting?"

Sora shrugged. "Go make sure he doesn't cause trouble, I guess."

"Why?"

Sora just shrugged again. "In a way… it's sorta like I'm battling the darkness. Besides, he's got a gun. I don't like guns… especially not if the person who's wielding the gun is being controlled by the darkness."

"Are you positive he's being controlled?" Riku asked.

"Controlled… maybe, manipulated definitely," Sora replied.

"I guess you have a point…" Riku muttered, realizing he didn't like the idea of some guy with a gun being controlled by the darkness.

Another gunshot rang through the forest, causing both of them to jump.

"Come on," Sora said, running in the direction that the gunshot came from.

xxx

They hid in the bushes, not approaching Clayton quite yet. He was alone, so what he had shot at previously was a mystery. Though, the Clayton had probably just missed and had only scared the thing he had shot at, and the thing had been smart and had run off.

Sora frowned. "Maybe I was wrong…" he muttered.

Riku turned to him, eyebrows raised.

"Well… I can't see the darkness anymore. It's like it's faded," he explained.

Riku shrugged. "That may not mean anything," he said. "I mean, just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there, right?"

Sora nodded. "But I don't want to attack him if we're not sure. How can we be sure?"

Riku smiled. "Easy," he replied. He took a step forward, but not much farther, because Sora stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked.

Riku's smile slowly widened. "Just trust me, alright? And don't freak out. I don't want you getting hurt."

Sora frowned, but let Riku go.

Riku positioned himself in the center of the clearing and drew his blade.

"Hey!" he called, catching Clayton's attention. "I'm not going to let you hurt the gorillas!"

Clayton raised his eyebrows, unsure of what to say to that.

Riku's smile grew even wider, and he raised his blade, ready to attack. "What are you going to do, eh? I'm a threat, aren't I? Are you going to stop me?"

Clayton slowly raised his gun.

Riku banished his blade, grinning by this point. "Shoot me, then," he laughed.

Clayton fired.