"So, um... you agreed to help that Horned King guy?" Pete asked his female superior.

"Why so surprised?" Maleficent asked. "It isn't the first time I allied with... people... who shared the same interests as I."

"Same... interests?" Pete scratched his head. "What interests?"

The evil witch smirked. "The soothsaying pig, of course!" she explained. "With such a tool at our disposal, it will be much easier to find out just what it is the mistress of those 'Soulmates' is planning to do."

"Oh... so you actually believe that this pig can, you know... see the future?"

"No doubt about that!" Maleficent proclaimed. "And while the Horned King will do anything in his power to find his world's Keyhole for us, we will find the pig for him... of course, as soon as we found it, we will keep it for ourselves..."

Pete chuckled. "I say it again, I like your style, Maleficent! But, um... where should we start searching?"

"My darling pet Diablo already found out on which world the pig and the boy who stole it have appeared on," Maleficent said, stroking the head of her loyal raven. "You will leave right away and bring it back to me, understood?"

"Um, me?" Pete wondered. "Are you sure I'm the right guy for the job? Why not ask that boy, Riku?"

"Riku is currently on his own mission," the witch frowned. "And a very important one at that. And I hope for your sake that you will do as good as he..."

"Oh, sure, no problem, I'll get right to it," the bulky henchman quickly saluted. "Not a problem at all! Um... but say... what world did they appear on?"

Maleficent smiled. "The Tropical Paradise!"

"This is just my luck..." Ryoga grumbled as he wrung out his wet bandana. "Lost again, and this time in some sort of jungle... stuck with a piglet I just had to save..."

"Aw, but I'm really happy that you saved me," a sweet, high voice spoke to his right.

Ryoga perked up his ears. Then he looked right to see whoever had just talked to him. But all he could see was little Hen Wen sitting right next to him.

"Great..." he sighed. "Now I'm hearing voices..." And he rubbed his temples.

Which was when he saw the pig's trotter attached to his leg.

"Bweeee?" he squealed. "What's going on! If I'm still a pig... how can I talk?"

"The same way I can talk, I suppose," Hen Wen said with a giggle. "I admit, it's pretty strange... but at least, I can thank you for your help this way."

"This is too weird..." Ryoga grumbled. "Even weirder than the stuff I usually get involved in..." He shook his little porcine head. "Say, um..."

She smiled. "My name's Hen Wen!"

"Right, Hen Wen... do you know where we are?"

The piglet shook her head. "Nope. But I can try and find out, if you want to."

"Find out?" Ryoga wondered and scratched his head with a hoof. "How?"

"By looking into the future, of course!" Hen Wen giggled. "Just lemme look into the water..."

"Oh, of course!" Ryoga groaned. "Just look into the future, easy as that..."

"It's true," Hen Wen insisted, feeling a bit insulted. "I am a soothseeing pig, after all."

"Oh, if you say so... but say, if you're really looking into the future, can you also tell me if I'll be able to find some hot water in the closer future?"

"Well, I'll take a look," the pink piglet said as she walked closer to the river's edge. "Let's see... hummmm... it's a bit hard to do it this way, you know? I'm used to see the future in a water bowl, with the water inside being spun around by Dallben... but maybe it will work like this, too."

"Well, helloooooo there..." a voice above them then spoke up. "What are two little piggys like you doing in the jungle?"

Hen Wen gasped in surprise when all of a sudden, the face of a big, hairy orangutan appeared in front of her. "Wh-who are you?"

"King Louie, king of the swing and all-around major monkey around these parts," the ape grinned while hanging upside down from a branch. "And I suppose you have come from the human village, ain't that right? Got yourselves lost in the jungle, haven't you, little ones?"

"Well, I AM lost..." Ryoga admitted - which was nothing new for him. "But I'm not..."

"Great!" the ape shouted while clambering from branch to branch, using his long arms, until he was hanging down right next to Ryoga, this time right side up. "I mean, it's not great, of course, but I mean that I know this jungle like the back of my hand."

"Well, that's great," Hen Wen smiled. "So can you tell us the way out of here?"

"Sweetie, there's not much I can't do," King Louie chuckled.

Ryoga was getting annoyed with the orangutan's silly antics. "So... will you tell us already or not?"

"Chill, out dude! Just relax!" Louie grinned. "Here, have a banana!" And he grabbed one of the yellow fruits with his left feet and pressed it once, causing the banana to come shooting out of its peel... and right into P-chan's little piggy snout.

"Sure I will help you... but it'll cost you!"

Ryoga gulped down the banana and stammered: "W-well... what do you want?"

"Oh, nothing much..." Louie sneered. "You see, I've been waiting for a way to get into the human village for years... but every time I did it, those humans would chase me away. Not very pleasant, I tell you! But since you are animals of the domestic persuasion, you could, I dunno... cause a bit of a ruckus, allowing me to sneak inside and..." A wide grin split the ape's muzzle. "Steal the red fire!"

Ryoga and Hen Wen looked at each other for a while.

Then Ryoga huffed. "Forget it!" he said. "I'm not helping someone to steal anything... apart from that, I don't think it would be a good idea to allow a clownish ape like you get your hands on fire."

"Now that hurt me, deep inside my heart!" Louie said mockingly. "You wanna tell me that you want to take your chances and get lost in here forever?"

Ryoga shrugged. "I've always managed to find my way around... besides, we're not really from that village. And I'm not really a pig, I'm a human!"

That made the orangutan laugh. In fact, Louie was laughing so hard that he almost fell out of the tree. "Y-you?" he roared with laughter. "A human? Man, if that's the truth, then I'm a water buffalo!"

"Too bad, Mr. Water Buffalo," Ryoga frowned. "I'm afraid we can't stay to chat, we need to go... come on, Hen Wen!"

"Yeah, okay!" the female piglet nodded. She didn't like the ape too much.

"Oooooh, leaving so soon?" Louie asked as he did a somersault and landed in front of the two pigs. "How about I take you back home to the ruins and introduce you to my friends?"

Ryoga frowned... which didn't look to threatening on a piglet's face. "Get out of my way!"

King Louie grinned. "Or what, porky pig?"

"Or I'll do this: BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" With a loud squeal, Ryoga touched a nearby rock with his hoof, causing it to explode and bombard the orangutan with a shower of pebbles.

"Ouch! Hey, ouch, that hurt!" He decided that he was not very pain tolerant, and therefore, let the two pigs go for now. They were not really worth it.

King Louie clambered up into the treetops, where he inspected the bruises on his arms. "Now why did he have to go and do that?" he grumbled. He knew that the pigs were lying. He knew what domestic pigs look like, and the human village was the only one in the area.

He yelped in surprise when a massive, dark shadow came dropping down from an even higher treetop.

"So... you want to put your hands on some fire, eh?" the fat, black-furred ape in front of him asked with a deep, chuckling voice. "Maybe I know of a way to help you... provided that you are willing to lend me your assistance."

"Who... are you?" Louie wondered. He had never seen this kind of ape in the jungle before.

"My name's Pete," the ape with the giant chin smirked. "And I think my friends here are just dying to help you."

He snapped his fingers, and all around him, with bursts of darkness, strange, monkey-like beings with black faces and round, glowing eyes appeared. The Powerwild Heartless chattered in excitement, hoping to gather some hearts in this world.