(Well faithful readers... it's been a while. Also I wish that I had faithful readers. Damn, that would be nice.

I hit writers block, and then I was distracted by a brand spanking new X-Box 360, and Tales of Vesperia. It's a very distracting game. So goooood...

So, new chapter after a long time. Here's hoping the next one doesn't take so long, mm?

I'll apologize with an omake at the end. I wuv you all. Especially you Trevor.

Haaa to all the Trevors now looking for the cameras I hid. You know you're paranoid now.)

Oathkeeper

Chapter Fifteen: Lord Of The Apes

Most of his body was that which he made, a construct, out of only the finest materials available. A good many of his powers came from this fact alone however one crucial part of him remained the same throughout the entire process, and the subsequent processes where he improved on what he thought at the time was perfection.

This one part in question, was of course, his impassibly perfect brain. Never before was he disappointed with it's results, when he was creating his beloved children to vanquish his enemies, or when he was experimenting with the bodies of those brainless cattle that called themselves humans. Or any other animal for that matter.

He would improve his body, or create something, call it perfection, and then his brain, his wonderful mind would find a problem with this perfection or a way in that it could be improved upon, and he would be thus overjoyed at the prospect. Because every time he found a problem with perfection, it became more and more obvious that his brain was in fact, the perfection that he had achieved without even being aware.

This was not however his only joy, perish the thought. For after he found a method to travel between worlds (and not a moment too soon, before those heartless passed through and left no world behind), he found evidence of people who thought just like him. But no people themselves, such a pity.

The evidence he found, was in the form of records, research papers and files, test tubes and helpful labels. With these tools left to him by these wonderfully blessed creatures, he was gripped with a sense of inspiration far and away from what he had ever felt before. He wondered if those maggots, humans to be more clear, were more then fools when they ranted and raved about their artists. Said artists who claimed to be seized by similar inspiration, before going on to create whatever it was they considered art.

He saw no point to their art, but whether or not this wild desire to put his dexterous hands to work was the same as theirs was strangely intriguing to him. This lust to make was... intoxicating.

And so, Guildenstern, well known Genma demon lord, set himself to do just that. Picking up a file at random from his pile of treasures, he looked through the notes of one Albert Wesker, and again studied the effects, intents, and creation methods of one 'T-Virus'. The possibilities this opened up almost gave him pleasant shivers.

If the records of the first human he had ever gained respect for (particularly because he hadn't remained human for very long after this virus came into play) were all completely true, then this opened up new possibilities for every last creation he had ever so much as dappled with in his spare time.

Pleasant shivers indeed.

Picking out a rather promising idea from the equations spawning in his perfect intelligent core, he summoned servants to prepare his lab. By the time the week was out, this project would have breath and blood.

Thank the gods a being such as he needed not bother with something as bothersome as sleep anymore. His genius overcame anything and everything. And it would again triumph, undoubtedly.

--

"Are we there yet?"

"Beat, we've been here for fifteen minutes." Donald said, massaging his temples hoping the headache would kindly go away, please, I'm begging you, leave me in peace but no, sadly, it did not.

"Well, yeah, but I thought there'd be mo' then trees everywhere, yeah? I mean, com'on, people'd be great. We need to know things, right?"

"Yes, we do. But we could just as easily find him. Or anything. I don't know what we're looking for, so I will never know when we're there."

"Well, could ya guess?"

"...Why did we bring him along again?"

"He asked us, after helping beat up a giant three headed dog."

"Oh, right. Well... Beat, Sora, see if you can find some source of food. There should be at least some kind of fruit with this much vegitation in the area." Both boys nodded and left the landing site, Beat loudly talking with Sora now that he was the only one to listen. There were a few moments of silence shortly after, where Donald leaned his head back and sighed happily.

"Uh, Donald, we've got tons of food aboard the ship. Why would we have to restock here?" Goofy asked, reminding Donald that he was not actually blissfully alone in his own world. Goofy though, was not a constant bother like Beat was. So while his personal silence was shattered, his mood was not.

"To give them something to do. Besides, if they find something delicious, we get fresh fruit juice."

"Ah... so... is that why we're here? To keep the boys busy?" Goofy asked as they started walking. As long as they were here, they might as well try to find some sign the King had been here, no matter how briefly.

"More Beat then Sora. He needs to be walked more often then Pluto... Peace and quiet won't be as rare if we give him this world to run around on."

"Shouldn't we keep an eye on them?"

"They can take care of themselves."

"Well... how do ya plan on finding somethin' sayin' the King was here?"

"I plan on perhaps stumbling on it accidentally."

"...Huh..." The adviser seemed stuck in a state of complete indifference. Such a silence that they had now seemed at a glance to be more calming to the duck then morphine. All higher functions of his brain had been repressed, and he walked on almost in a state of rest.

The foliage was thick as they moved through it, showing no real beaten paths. Aside from the wildlife it seemed that this world was uninhabited. Said foliage seemed quite unremarkable on it's own as well. No man eating insects, 'man-eating-insect' eating plants, and no trees that just tried to eat everything. They had set down on a quiet, safe world.

Donald sighed happily again, and finally, completely, let down his guard.

Then a leopard attacked them, darting out of the shrubs preparing itself for meat.

Donald, having let down his guard, did not notice the jungle cat silently run and leap until it was too late, and the powerful killing jaws were about to close on the duck's throat. A few of those killing fangs were then promptly smashed in by a shield, protecting the now painfully aware Donald from a painful death. Chunks of ice were conjured and thrown at the creature, who fled yowling in pain.

Both Donald and Goofy remained with their backs to one another, in case the beast was waiting to strike. Several tense minutes passed in silence...

The world wasn't that safe anymore.

--

"Com'on Sora! This is fun!"

"Beat, if I do that, I'll get killed!" That, this time, was grinding on several branches in the trees. Beat seemed to have a perfect balance as he jumped from branch to branch, effectively and efficiently dancing around the grounded Sora who was holding a bunch of bananas. "Besides! I don't have a skateboard!"

"Use that toy o' yours then!"

"Keyblade! Not a toy!"

"Is too!"

"Is not! And... I can't do things like that on a sword!"

"Sure ya can!" Beat yelled back, before jumping off and landing a few feet from the Keyblader. "See? I's easy, yo!"

"For you, when you're using a skateboard! This is a sword, even you couldn't do all that on the Keyblade!"

"Oh yeah? Bring it out an' I'll sho' ya!" And Sora almost did, almost. But...

"I can't."

"Say what? Hey, you can pull that thing outta thin air, yo! What's so special about right here?"

"I'm not in trouble, and this world isn't blocked off yet... Whenever I use the Keyblade, heartless jump out and try to kill me."

"...No joke?" Beat said, placing a hand on his chin and looking thoughtful. "Well, if it turns on the heartless like that, guess it is mo' then jus a toy... yo, did it always do that?"

"Ever since I got it, yeah... as soon as I got it, the heartless attacking just turned and tried to dog pile me."

"Ah... tha's lame, yo..."

"Yup, so, what now?" Sora said cheerfully, seemingly unaffected by the fact he was hunted by what had recently become his hugest fear.

"Ah? Uh... I guess we keep lookin' fo' m- GET DOWN, YO!"

"AH!" Sora gasped as he fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding... absolutely nothing.

"HAH! Oh man did you ever fall fo' that! Yo' face was pricele-" Beat was cut off mid-gloat by something hitting him in the side. Directly after, a yellow blur rocketed past where Beat's neck used to be. Both speeding figures stopped, and stood facing each other as a tense air descended onto the clearing. The leopard growled fiercely through bloody fangs at the man who had messed up it's kill. The man opposite was clad only in a loincloth, and carried a primitive spear. Sora found himself unsure as to what the real threat was, as he looked back and forth between the two feral beasts.

"HEY! What tha' HELL?! I'll kick yo' ass fo'-"

"Beat! Are you alrigh-"

"Sora, did yo' see that?! He hit me, and I landed on ma'-"

"Seriously, Beat, I think he was trying to-"

"Right ON it! And ma' keys were in there!"

"I don't think this is the time fo- wait, keys? Keys for what?"

"...Tha's not important, yo."

"Go!" Both boys whipped around to the man who had spoke. The man was pinned underneath the leopard, holding it's jaws back with his spear handle.

"...Go now!" he repeated when it became clear the boys weren't moving.

"Ooh, I get it now. See, he hit me 'cause there was a supercat flying at my head. Tha' about right?" Beat deduced, stroking his chin in thought.

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, he did get you out of the way..." Confirmed Sora, looking wide-eyed at the man wrestling the vicious predator.

"Oh, so he's not a jerkass... well, tha's different, yeah?"

"Uh... yeah."

"Go NOW!"

"Oh, screw that." A second later, Beat returned the favor, serving a skateboard deck to the side of the leopard's head. Spitting and yowling in obvious anger, it prepared to launch itself at the offender, before realizing that it was quite outnumbered.

With no other course of action to take, the leopard fled.

"... Woo! Hey, didja see that? That'll learn the freaken' food chain who's boss, yo!" Beat whooped as he punched the air in triumph. The wild looking man gathered himself up from the ground, standing somewhat on all fours. After studying Beat doing some sort of victory dance for a few minutes, he stood at his full height, a fair bit taller then both boys. Still, he studied them both, not saying anything.

"... Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked him after a pause. Beat had stopped dancing.

"Hey, what'cho lookin' at? Somethin' on ma' face?" Beat was mistaken though, as the man's attention was more focused on Sora's hair. He had crossed the distance in a flash, before Sora could figure out just what that glint in his eye meant. Of course, it was the same as it was when he saw it in Kairi's eye several years back, before she investigated just how solid those spikes were, and the same in Riku's eyes even before that.

"Dude."

"...What?"

"He's playin' wit'cho hair, yo."

"Yeah. Yeah he is..."

"... Yo, how does it stick up like that anyways?"

"Don't you start!" Sora yelped as he stumbled backwards, out of the man's grasp, and away from the advancing Beat. The man looked at him, head cocked to the side, with all the curiosity of a newborn.

He could understand what they were saying, somewhat. The one with the strange hair at least. The one who knocked Sabor off of him was harder to decipher when he spoke. What they were talking about seemed without a point. It reminded him of the other ones like him that had come to the jungle, for reasons he was still struggling to understand.

He then remembered a rule that the woman had taught him. 'Always introduce yourself to somebody new.' She had said this, then explained that it was 'polite'. Then she spent a while explaining what that meant. A way to show respect.

He saved the loud ones life. In return, he had saved his. That 'respect', that Jane taught him, seemed appropriate for this situation.

"Tarzan." Tarzan said, gesturing to himself. Their attention wasn't on him when he spoke, so they were left wondering what that word meant. Seeing their clueless looks, he tried a second time.

"Tarzan." He said, just a little slower. The one with the strange hair seemed to understand.

"Sora." He said, smiling in greeting, happy that at least one hurdle had been cleared. He wondered how much more the man could understand.

"Beat." The loud one said, following the others example. He then held out his hand in another polite motion that he remembered Jane's parent teaching him once they were introduced. Tarzan reached out and gave it a firm shake. And he smiled to himself, pleased that this was going so well. He would thank the two visitors later for teaching him these greetings.

And that was when things ground to a halt. Sora sheepishly shook his hand too, as if he had forgotten to, and after that, nobody knew what to do.

Since Tarzan was the 'host', another word the two people had taught him, it was apparently up to him to entertain other visitors. The most fun place he knew of at the moment was the base camp of Jane and her father, so reason dictated that they go there.

The fastest way was through the trees, so he leapt part way up one of the wooden giants and motioned they follow him. The loud one could at least travel on trees, quite well he saw when he was watching earlier. Beat grinned and followed him up. Sora finally managed to catch up to the canopy after some trouble afterwards.

They looked out on a complex network of tree branches and vines. Beat looked like a kid in a candy store. Sora looked like a kid in a prison cell surrounded by large hairy men. Tarzan was the first to jump out and start surfing down a limb on his bare feet. Beat was right behind him, grinding down the tree as if he were at his own private skate park.

Sora noticed that the branches were worn smooth. Tarzan obviously did this a lot. Looking at it from other angles, the branch seemed solid enough. It would take a charging bull behind him to get him to take the plunge though...

"Com'ON, Sora! Ya can't stay there all day, yo!" ...Or a fleeing bull-headed idiot in front of him...

'How hard could it be?' Sora managed to keep his balance for three and a half seconds before he was plummeting towards the ground. If not for the intervention of 'how the heck did he move that fast?!' Tarzan, he would have been quite injured. Tarzan swung them to safety on a vine, back where they had started. Beat was standing on another tree, looking on and shaking his head.

"This is gonna take a while, yo..."

--

(Alright, here's hoping again that the next chapter doesn't take so long. Here's that omake I promised. Guess what? It doesn't involve me in ninja gear this time!)

--

OMAKE. JUST ONE THIS TIME.

"Come on Aerith, it's not too late! You could just give it to me, and we'll pretend it never happened!" Yuffie said, pouting in a way that sometimes worked on the woman. Sadly this time, it was not to be.

"No, Yuffie. For starters, it's not yours. And after that, Sora doesn't even know they exist. There's only one thing we can do."

"We are not giving them to him. He'll freak out." Oh, would he ever, knowing what had resulted of a single joke.

"I know that. And since it would be a shame to... destroy them... this is the only way to really keep it a secret."

"But what if somebody creepy gets a hold of them?! And then they'll slowly start developing an obsession, and they'll call him on the phone, breath really heavily when he answers, and then hang up, and then they'll talk to him, but he'll have no idea it's his stalker, and then they'll go back to the stalker's place, and the sicko will drug him, and then do this and that and... things to his sleeping body and then he'll wake up in a pit in the basement and it puts the lotion on it's skin or-"

"Yuffie, that is very paranoid. Even for you."

"Sorry, I got carried away." She said with a sheepish grin on her face. "Well, what if you just gave me one. I mean, I think you took one when nobody else was looking."

"That's ridiculous. Why would I do that?" Aerith was quite the accomplished actress when she wanted to be. Yuffie fell for it like an axed tree.

"Well, either way, just one! Come on, I might never see any of them again!"

"You were invited to the auction, of course you'll see them again. Provided you loosen your wallet."

"But I want one now."

"Keep that up, and I'll stop you from entering entirely."

"Aerith! How could you be so mean?!"

"All you have to do is stop asking, and you can buy it in a little bit."

"Aw..."

"Now, to your seat."

"Kay. See you soon!" And off she bounded to the room set aside for the only secret auction in the history of Traverse Town. A small collection of the world's female population were already seated, chattering like birds. Aerith sighed, and looked at the object in her hands. If not for the auction, they would all be fighting over it tooth and nail. Before she walked to the podium, she stole another picture from the album she was holding. Sora was priceless in every one. With the picture safely stashed in her pocket right alongside the first she had stolen, she walked out and smacked the podium with her gavel.

"So begins the first ever Traverse Town secret charity auction. Money exchange rates are posted on the wall behind me, and all bets will be made in gil. The first item up for bid is this-" At the very sight of the album, large sums of money were yelled out with the wild waving of numbered paddles.

"Order! Calm down everyone! Alright... taken into account the yelling of random numbers, we'll start the bidding at one thousand gil. Do I hea-"

"Twenty-five hundred!" Oh, Yuffie was going to have competition.

"Thirty-five hundred!" It was going to be a long and bloody night at this rate. Now she knew why Yuffie insisted on coming to the auction with so many shuriken...