In the Jungle, the Heartless Sleeps Tonight

L.A.: Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay! Here's the next chapter!

Rin wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. She had been wandering for a while now but her situation hadn't changed. She was utterly and completely lost.

"Have any ideas?" Rin asked Jiminy.

He was busy scribbling in his book. He looked up for a moment before shrugging. "I haven't a clue."

"I guess we keep going straight then," Rin said.

As she walked, she let her mind drift. The dream from before was on her mind. It had felt like a memory yet she had no recollection of ever leaving the island. And the dog? She was pretty sure she never had a dog.

"This looks promising," Jiminy said.

Rin snapped out of her thoughts and saw that she had entered a campsite. "Well," she said, "I guess this world is inhabited by someone other than the heartless."

Jiminy nodded as he put his notebook away. As Rin looked around, she saw a young woman with long brown hair and brown eyes bent over a record player.

Rin slowly walked over to her. "Uh hi," she said as the woman turned around. "I'm kind of lost."

"Oh," the woman said, "you speak English. So then, you must not be related to Tarzan…" She tapped her chin in thought.

"Tarzan?" Rin said. "Umm….who?"

The woman shook her head. "Oh, my where are my manners. My name is Jane. I am here to study the gorillas. Are you here to study them as well?"

"My name is Rin and the cricket on my shoulder is Jiminy." Rin said as she pointed to herself and Jiminy. "And no, we aren't here to study gorillas."

Jane peered at Jiminy with interest. "How fascinating."

"Our ship crashed and we got separated from our friends," Rin said. "Have anyone named Sora, Donald, or Goofy pass by here?"

Jane sighed sadly. "No, I'm afraid not." Her face lit up. "But as soon as Tarzan returns, I'm sure he could help you find them."

"Okay…" Rin said, her gaze cast to the ground.

Jane smiled as she encircled her arm with Rin's. "How about we have some tea to pass the time? I just made a fresh pot."

Rin smiled. "Yes thank you. Tea would be great."

"So many trees," Sora murmured as he and Tarzan entered a campsite. For the past hour, Sora had been following Tarzan through the forest. After a couple of failed attempts at a conversation, Sora decided to pass the time by counting trees. At around 300, Sora realized that he had made a big mistake.

"Jane!" Tarzan raced toward the tent.

A young woman stepped out of the tent grinning. "Tarzan!" She looked at Sora curiously. "Oh, and who is this?"

Sora scratched the back of his neck and grinned awkwardly. "Uh, hi there. I'm…"

"Oh, you speak English. You wouldn't by any chance be looking for a young girl named Rin, would you?"

Sora's face lit up. "Rin's here?"

Rin stepped out of the tent. "Hey, you made it," she said. "Glad we didn't have to send out a search party."

Sora shrugged. "I'm supposed to be the hero, right? I need to at least survive in a jungle."

"I see you have found the rest of them" a voice said.

All four turned to see a man with black hair and a moustache entering the camp. In his hands, he carried a rifle. Trailing behind him like two naughty school kids were Donald and Goofy.

Goofy's face lit up. "Sora! Rin!"

"Oh good, you're okay," Rin said as she gave a very happy Goofy and a surprised Donald each a hug.

Sora followed suit. When he and Donald were about to hug, they realized that they were still mad at each other and quickly turned in opposite directions with their arms crossed.

The man cleared his throat causing everyone to look at him. "I stumbled into a circus of clowns. They are no use for hunting gorillas."

Jane glared at the man. "Mr. Clayton, we're studying the gorillas, not hunting them. This is research."

Clayton snorted in disgust as he left the campsite.

Jane sighed before returning her attention to the others. "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."

They thanked her.

"So," Rin said. "What are we going to do now?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Are we going to stay and look around this world or move on?" Rin asked.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds.

"Well, anyway…" Sora began.

"I'm staying," both he and Donald said at the same time.

Sora looked at him in surprise.

Goofy dug something out of his pocket. "Sora, Rin, look what we found." Goofy held a green block in front of their faces.

"What is that?" Sora asked.

"It's a Gummy block. Kind of like the one we found in Wonderland," Donald said.

"So that means…" Rin said.

"The king could be here," Donald said. "So, we've gotta work together to look for him." He cast a sideways glance at Sora. "For now."

"Fine," Sora said. "I'll let you tag along." He cut his eyes at Donald. "For now."

"Oh my," Jiminy muttered.

Rin rolled her eyes. "This is going to be a long day."

The tent was spacious despite its appearance. It had an assortment of supplies and research material. Jane turned on a projector. "Apparently, Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas. Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he is learning."

"So he was speaking in 'gorilla' back there…" Sora said. "He said Riku and Kairi are here."

"They are?" Rin asked as her eyes lit up.

Sora nodded. "Also, he said one word I couldn't understand."

Jane patted the projector. "Why don't we try this?" She motioned to the projector. "We'll show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word." Jane slipped the slides into the projector as Tarzan watched the screen intently. The first photo was of a man and woman dancing followed by a picture of a gorilla.

The third slide caught Sora off guard. It was a picture of a castle. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that there was something important about it.

Seeing his expression, Jane asked. "What's wrong, Sora?"

Sora shook his head to clear his thoughts. "What? Oh it's nothing."

Jane returned to the slides.

Sora sighed. That place… it just looked so familiar. But how? I've never been off my island.

"I know how you feel," Rin whispered snapping Sora out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" Sora said as he turned to look at her.

Rin didn't take her eyes of the screen. "That place. It felt familiar to me too."

After viewing five more slides, the reel ended. Jane eyed Tarzan. "Well, Tarzan?"

"Where are our friends?" Sora motioned to himself and Rin. "Riku and Kairi."

Tarzan shrugged his shoulders.

Sora frowned. "Hey, I thought…"

"That leaves just one place," Clayton said as he entered the tent. He put his hand on Sora's shoulder. "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." He glared at Tarzan. "But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

Jane clinched her jaw. "Really, Mr. Clayton. Tarzan wouldn't hide…"

Clayton approached Tarzan. "Then take us there," he said, deliberately over enunciating each word. "Take us to the gorillas." He pointed to a nearby blackboard with a chalk drawing of a gorilla. "Go-ril-las."

Tarzan looked at Sora for a moment. Then, to everyone's amazement he nodded his head.

"Tarzan," Jane said with a crease in her brow, "are you sure?"

Tarzan's expression was determined. "Tarzan go see Kerchak."

"Kerchak?" Jane asked.

"He must be the leader," Clayton said as he rubbed his hands together. "Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

Rin wasn't sure why but she didn't like the idea of Clayton escorting them. From everyone's expressions, none of them were too thrilled either.

"Hippos," Rin said as she clasped her hands together.

After leaving the campsite, they entered a clearing with a pond. In the pond slept two fat pink hippos. Only their heads were above the water.

"I take it you like hippos?" Sora asked.

Rin nodded. "I just think they're cool. Plus, they don't take crud from anyone." Rin grinned. "There was a movie I saw once. I don't really remember much except that it had ballerina hippos."

Donald raised an eyebrow. "Why would someone want to watch a movie about hippos dancing?"

"I think it sounds nice," Goofy said.

Rin shook her head. "No, Donald, you don't understand. See, what happens is there are these ballerina hippos and they are dancing. Then these dancing crocodiles try to take spotlight. So they have a dance off. I can't remember who won though…"

A hippo groaned as it submerged itself underwater.

"Seems like they don't think it's a good movie either," Sora grinned.

Rin playfully shoved him. "Oh, ha, ha. You're hilarious. One of these days, I force all of you to watch it and then you might change your mind."

Tarzan grunted. They turned toward him in surprise. He was already halfway up the vine and staring down at them expectantly.

"Oh," Sora said, "I think we need to follow him."

Rin wasn't really sure what was going on. They had reached the gorilla nest. She couldn't believe how many gorillas there were. Tarzan was talking to a big gorilla who she guessed was the leader. Well, she guessed he was talking. All she heard were grunts and groans.

Goofy leaned toward Donald, "Did you get any of that?"

Donald shook his head.

"Hey, where did Clayton go?" Rin asked as she looked around. He had been so quiet, she never noticed him leave.

"No idea," Sora said, "he must've gotten lost."

"Kerchak" Tarzan said causing everyone to turn to look at Tarzan.

Kerchak was about to say something when he frowned and looked up behind him. He grunted to the gorilla beside him and they both walked away. Tarzan sighed as his shoulders slumped.

"You know," Goofy said as he scratched his chin. "That gorilla seemed sorta distracted by something."

"Yeah," Donald said, unconsciously mimicking Goofy's actions. "Was he looking toward the tree house?"

They all looked in the direction of the tree house.

This shot is perfect. I can't possibly miss. Clayton aimed his rifle at the young gorilla who was busy playing with a globe. He wrapped his finger around his trigger. As he pressed down, a scream startled him. He barely missed the gorilla. Panic-stricken, the gorilla quickly jumped out a nearby window. Angry, Clayton whirled around to face the intruders. His face whitened when he realized that the intruders were none other than Donald, Goofy, Sora, Rin, and Tarzan. They were glaring at him.

"What's the big idea?" Donald crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

Clayton cleared his throat as he tugged on his collar. "You don't understand. I was only trying to… ah... a snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life."

"Uh huh…" Donald raised an eyebrow.

"Right," Sora said as he crossed his arms.

"I wonder what Jane is going to say once she hears about this," Rin said.

Jane was positively livid. "Mr. Clayton! How could you do such a thing?"

Clayton threw his hands up in defense. "Now Miss Porter, as I told you before, I was not aiming at the gorilla."

"You are not to go near the gorillas again," Jane said as she shook her finger in his face.

"All because of one mishap?" Clayton asked as he gently pushed her finger away. "Come, now…" He stopped when he realized he was receiving glares from everyone inside the tent. Feeling embarrassed, Clayton quickly excused himself from the tent.

"I'm sorry for the way Mr. Clayton acted. He knows better than to attack gorillas." Jane ran her fingers through her hair.

"Don't worry," Goofy said with a grin "It's not your fault."

A loud gunshot rang through the air. They stiffened.

"Heartless!" Sora said.

"I beg your pardon?" Jane asked.

"Jane, you should stay here," Rin said, "it will be safer."

"Safer?" Jane said. "But what about Mr. Clayton?"

"We better go help him," Donald muttered, "even though he really doesn't deserve it."

Rin let out a frustrated sigh. "I am so sick of heartless." They were currently in the middle of a battle with several heartless. She wasn't sure why; but she felt as if they were trying to steer the group away from the campsite.

"No rest for the weary," Sora said as he swiped at a heartless. "But then we wouldn't be heroes."

"Please don't be positive," Rin said as she struck a heartless with a fire spell. "It just makes me more cranky."

The remaining heartless hissed before disappearing.

"Well we sure taught them a lesson." Donald thrust his staff in the air with a grin.

They headed back to the camp. Tarzan was in the lead, anxious to find Jane.

"Yeah, but we didn't find Clayton," Sora said with a frown.

"Don't worry, he'll be alright" Goofy said.

"Knowing our luck, he's probably already at the tent waiting for us," Rin said.

Tarzan stopped suddenly, causing everyone to pile up behind him.

"Hey," Donald said with a glare. "What's the big id… oh…"

They had reached the campsite only to find it in complete shambles. Sora, Donald, Rin, and Goofy quickly followed Tarzan as he tore open the tent flap and rushed inside. As they entered the tent, they saw Jane sprawled out unconscious on the floor with the young gorilla from before hovering over her.

"Jane!" Tarzan said as he gently lifted her into a sitting position.

Jane groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "What happened?"

"That's what we were about to ask you," Rin said as she bent down next to her. "Are you okay?"

Tarzan moved aside as Sora and Rin helped Jane to her feet.

"I think so."Jane sighed as she rubbed her head. "Clayton came to the tent, and…" Her brows furrowed. "That's the last thing I remember."

"Clayton?" Sora said. "Wonder where he went?"

During the conversation, Tarzan had been talking to the young gorilla. Sensing a break in the conversation, he quickly stood up and said, "gorillas trapped. Terk ran."

"We must help the gorillas," Jane said. She swayed slightly as she tried to exit the tent.

"Wait a moment," Rin said as she grabbed Jane's hand.

"You need rest," Sora added as he grabbed her other hand and steered her to a chair.

"But…"

"Don't worry. We'll take care of the rest," Donald said.

"Terk stay with Jane" Tarzan said to the young gorilla.

Terk nodded as she huddled next to Jane.

Jane leaned back in her seat."Well, then, please be careful."

"We will," Goofy said as he followed the others out.

They tracked the gorillas to a cliff. They were surprised to see Clayton and the heartless surrounding the gorillas. Clayton cocked his gun at the gorillas.

Sora shouted "No!"

Clayton lowered his gun as he turned towards them. His eyes were glazed over and his mouth was slack.

"Clayton?" Sora took a step toward him.

"Not Clayton!" Tarzan said. "Ah ooh ooh. Not Clayton!"

Clayton levitated into the air.

"What the heck?" Donald quacked.

"How's he doing that?" Goofy scratched his head.

As Rin stared at Clayton, she thought she caught a glimpse of something moving. She squinted harder and saw, for a moment, a large foot hovering over Sora's head. "Sora move!" Rin yelled as she waved her staff.

Sora raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Now!" Rin said as she sent a thunderbolt hurling in his direction. He moved just before a large clawed footprint appeared a few feet from him. The thunderbolt smacked into an invisible leg. There was a loud howl as Clayton began to sway like a demonic puppet.

Goofy, Donald, and Rin rushed over to Sora who was sprawled out on the ground.

"Gawrsh Sora, are you going to be okay?" Goofy asked.

Sora stood up and brushed some dirt from his shirt. "I'll live. By the way, thanks for the safe Rin. I owe you."

"Eh, let's just say we're even," Rin said with a grin. She glanced towards Clayton and the invisible creature. At the moment, it seemed as if they were still recovering from the shock. "Hey guys," Rin said as she turned back to the others. "I think Clayton is riding some sort of invisible heartless."

"Then maybe we should take it out first," Goofy said.

"Right," Sora said as he summoned the Keyblade. "Then let's do it!"

"Hey Sora?" Donald asked.

"What?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

Rin and Goofy held their breath.

"Be careful." Donald looked quickly toward Clayton.

Sora smiled slightly. Realizing what he was doing, he quickly looked toward Clayton as well. "You be careful too."

As they charged forward, the heartless became visable. It looked like a chameleon with rabies. Its tongue flicked out as drool dribbled down his tongue.

"Ew," Rin said. "What is wrong with these heartless? Whoever came up with them is messed up."

Donald summoned an ice spell and sent it hurtling toward the heartless. It pitched backwards as it let out a roar. Sora and Goofy struck it soon after. The heartless hissed as it snapped at Sora. It became invisible again.

"Where did it go?" Goofy asked.

Rin yelped as she was suddenly swept off her feet. The tail wrapped itself around her and raised her in the air. "Oh, come on. Why do they always pick on the girl?"

"Use your magic," Donald said as he dodged the heartless's claws.

Rin wiggled in the heartless' grasp. She looked to the ground and saw the Heartstaff lying a few feet away. "I can't. I dropped my staff."

Donald gave her a look that made her feel like an idiot. "How could you lose your staff?"

"I'm still a novice," Rin said as the heartless suddenly lurched to the left. "And that doesn't even matter now. Somebody save me!"

Goofy and Sora backed away with worried looks on their faces. "I don't want to strike it while it has Rin," Sora said. "What if it uses Rin as a shield?"

"Gawrsh," Goofy said as he held his shield up. "What do we do?"

"Let her go, Clayton," Sora yelled.

Clayton was unresponsive, apparently in his own little world.

The heartless tightened its hold on Rin. "Okay," Rin wheezed. "Getting hard to breath."

Jiminy crawled on top of her shoulder. "Oh, dear."

"You might want to abandon ship, Jiminy," Rin panted, "or you might be crushed too."

"I'm not leaving you," Jiminy said. He took a deep breath. "This is not going to be pleasant."

Then, to Rin's surprise, Jiminy bit the heartless' tail...hard.

The heartless roared, surprised by the bug bite. It hurled Rin and Jiminy to the ground. Rin grabbed Jiminy mid-air and held him to her chest so that she would take the full force of the fall. What little breath she still had in her left in a loud whoosh. She lay there a few moments trying to regain her breath.

"Are you okay?" Jiminy asked.

Rin nodded as she started to breathe easily again. "Yes," she kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks to you."

Jiminy turned bright red as he kicked some dirt. "It was nothing. Just glad I could be of help."

Rin started when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Sora was beside her. His worried expression turned to one of relief. "I'm so glad you're okay. I'm sorry I couldn't..."

"It's okay," Rin said. "There was nothing you could do." She scooped Jiminy up and set him on her shoulder. Once he was secure, she turned her attention to the battlefield where Donald and Goofy were holding their own. "Now, let's take this guy down."

Sora grinned. "I'm right there with you."

They charged forward. With the combination of all four attacks, the heartless could take it anymore. It fell over with a loud thud that shook the earth. A pool of darkness appeared underneath it dragging both the heartless and Clayton into it.

Once they were gone, Kerchak and the other gorillas appeared. Kerchak looked Sora up and down once, then picked him up and threw him. Before Sora even had a chance to yell, he landed on a patch of grass.

"Well, you're welcome to you too," Sora mumbled as he stood up. Three loud oofs behind him alerted him that his comrades had just arrived.

"They could have said thank you," Donald grumbled as he picked himself up.

"What better way to say thank you than by throwing you as far as they can." Rin rolled her eyes as Goofy and she stood up as well. Tarzan appeared beside them with Jane in his arms and Terk following him.

He set Jane on her feet. "Tarzan, home." He pointed to the waterfalls ahead of them.

"Oh, now I get it," Sora said, "by throwing us up here, they were letting us know that they appreciated our help and trusted us."

"You're welcome!" Goofy yelled as he waved to the gorillas down below. Kerchak nodded before signaling to the gorillas to leave.

"How are you feeling?" Rin asked as Jane straightened out her skirt.

"Much better thank you." She glanced up to see Tarzan grinning as he motioned for them to follow. "Now, how about we go see Tarzan's home?"

After climbing the slick rock walls, they entered a cavern behind the highest waterfall. The inside was made of smooth damp rock. One of the walls was completely covered in vines. In the center of that wall, was a massive group of bright blue butterflies.

"Wow," Rin said. "They are so pretty."

Tarzan grunted as he motioned around the cavern.

Sora frowned. "Wait, this is your home?" His shoulders drooped. "But that means…" He was interrupted by a loud roar.

"Huh?" Goofy looked from side to side.

"What is that?" Donald quacked.

"The waterfalls," Jane mused. "They're echoing all the way up here."

Tarzan motioned to Sora's chest. "Oh, oh, ah. Friends there." He motioned around the room. "See friends."

"Oh," Jane said as she snapped her fingers. "Now I've got it. Oh, oh, ah means heart. Friends in ours hearts."

"Heart," Tarzan smiled, liking the sound of the word.

"Oh," Sora said, "so that's what it meant."

Tarzan nodded. "Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends."

Sora sighed as he turned toward Donald. "Hey Donald, sorry about what I said earlier."

"Aww," Donald said as Sora and he hugged. "I'm sorry too."

Goofy grinned as he draped her arms over them. "Yeah, remember all for one and one for all!"

Rin grinned as she watched them. Goofy motioned her over. "Come on, Rin! It's a group hug."

"Yeah," Sora said. "It can't be complete if the whole group doesn't join in."

That's right, Rin thought as she joined them. I guess we all are friends.

The butterflies scattered as a blue light appeared underneath them. The blue light formed into a keyhole. Instinctively, Sora held the Keyblade toward the keyhole. A beam of light shot out from it and hit the keyhole.

At the same moment the keyhole clicked, the sphere in the Heartstaff flashed green for a second then returned to normal. Rin quickly hid the staff behind her back hoping no one would notice.

Once the keyhole vanished, a green block fell to the floor with a clink.

Donald picked it up and grinned. "Would you look at that. It's another gummi."

"But it's sure not the king's," Goofy frowned.

Terk nudged Donald playfully and batted her eyes.

"What does she want?" Donald asked.

"I think someone has a new admirer," Jane said.

Rin grinned evilly. "Donald's got a girlfriend."

Donald gave her a glare. She had a feeling that the next magic lesson with him was going to be horrible.

"Oh no, no, no!" He said as he waved his arms in protest. "Daisy would kill me!"

Everyone broke into laughter.

"The gummi block that fell from that glowing hole and the one in Wonderland... they're not like the others. Wonder what they're used for." Sora said. It took them a little bit; but they were able to locate their gummy ship.

"I don't know." Donald flipped a switch.

"Maybe Leon will know." Goofy hit his fist in his palm.

"Hmm, back to Traverse Town then?" Donald asked.

"Donald," Sora said with a huge grin, "can I fly the gummi ship?"

Donald's face turned bright red.

Rin's eye twitched.

Goofy glared.

"Sora," they yelled.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck. "What? I thought since I was the Keyblade master, I should be able to fly the gummi."

Donald's face changed from red to purple.

Rin rolled her eyes and slapped her forehead. "Here we go again…"

L.A.: That's the end of the chapter! Next chapter should be really interesting. You know what to do. READ and REVIEW!