Chapter 13: Welcome to the Jungle
Jiminy Cricket wrote hastily in his journal as Alex explained what had happened to them during their time at the Coliseum. Jiminy couldn't help but cringe every time he wrote about someone getting injured. The cricket was glad that he hadn't been there to witness the violence. In the end though, everyone came back okay and, according to Alex, stronger than ever. Jiminy was conducting the interview in Alex's room.
"Gee," Jiminy said. "Was it scary? I mean, going up against that beast must have taken a lot of courage."
Alex shrugged. "Yeah well, let's just say that at that point we needed a win. Actually, Sora was the one who wanted it more than anybody. I guess you could call his courage inspiring."
"Did it inspire you?" Jiminy asked.
Alex looked at the cricket and said, "Yeah."
Jiminy smiled. "That's a good thing to hear. He is the Keybearer after all. It is a tremendous responsibility, but the way you say it, it seems the Keyblade couldn't have picked someone better for the job than Sora."
Alex let out a quick laugh and gave a half-smile. "Well, I don't know if I'd go that far."
Jiminy did his best to hide a quick giggle. "Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your voice Alex?"
Alex stared at the cricket with a shocked look. "You kidding me. Do I look like I want monsters thirsting for a certain blood pumping organ that just so happens to keep me alive? Puh-lease!"
"Point taken," Jiminy admitted. He watched as Alex arose from the bed he had been sitting on and making his way to the cockpit. Jiminy wondered why Alex seemed so distant all the time, just in his own little world. It made Jiminy question what the boy could be thinking about.
However, the truth would have shocked Jiminy and everyone else on board the Gummi Ship. As Alex climbed the ladder to the cockpit, he gave some thought to his latest dream. Why had he run away? Why did he abandon his family when they needed him the most? Was he a coward? Alex wanted to brush that thought aside, considering he had been fighting creatures of darkness for almost a week. Then again, Alex had friends by his side. Friends who knew how to fight the Heartless. His family didn't know about the Heartless, but neither did he at the time. He had proven he could take Dark Alex only minutes later, battling him on top of a semi. Was he just a coward when the stakes were high? Alex didn't want to ponder these things any longer, fearing that he could spiral himself into some sort of depression, which was the last thing he needed right now.
Alex strode into the cockpit, stretching out his arms and yawning loudly, announcing his presence. It earned him a quick look from Donald at the wheel and Sora who had been sitting on the third chair gazing up at the stars.
"Did Jiminy get everything he needed?" Sora asked, as he straightened himself in the chair from the slouching position he was previously in.
"Yep," Alex nodded. "Every little detail I could think of. I tried to convince Jiminy that we whooped Cloud's butt, but he didn't go for it."
"Ah well," Sora sighed. "Better to admit our defeat and learn from it than pretend it never happened."
"Wise talk for someone who claimed to have beaten Riku at swords," Alex smirked at Sora.
"Can't I at least get points for tryin'? Sora grinned, knowing that Alex would never give him the satisfaction.
"No," Alex said. "You get points for being a terrible liar. How's that?"
"Ha ha!" Sora laughed sarcastically. "Very funny."
"I thought it was," Alex said, cracking his knuckles.
Sora laughed a little more, but his expression soon turned blank. "I do wish Riku was here."
Alex stopped laughing and gradually got serious. "Me too man. Me too."
"Kairi would probably call us idiots for going up against a three headed dog," Sora smiled. The memory of Kairi killed any bad emotions he was feeling.
"There is no probably. She would most definitely call us idiots!" Alex, knowing for sure that he was right, nodded at Sora, causing more laughter to break out between the two friends.
Donald and Goofy listened as the two friends began to reminisce about old times on Destiny Islands. The way the boys described their friendship with their lost friends reminded Donald and Goofy of their friendship with King Mickey. The similarities were unmistakable, causing Goofy to start tearing up. Donald looked over at Goofy, realizing he knew how his friend felt. The duck missed his friend badly and wanted to find him as soon as possible.
Suddenly, an immediate beeping sound rang throughout the cockpit. Goofy looked and saw that it was coming from the radar system, which only meant one thing.
"Ships incoming!" Goofy yelled.
"What?!" Alex and Sora exclaimed in unison.
"Heartless ships are acomin'!" Goofy pointed to the radar, but Alex had a hard time figuring out what he was pointing out at first due to Goofy's hands were shaking so much.
"Oh crap," Alex said.
"Everyone get in your seats!" Donald ordered and no one argued. Alex strapped himself in the third seat and Sora, without anywhere to sit, grasped Alex's chair tightly.
"This is gonna get a little bumpy!" Donald said. Alex thought, even though that statement was cliche', Donald was probably right.
"Goofy, how long until we see them?" Donald asked.
Goofy looked at the radar and replied, "Three minutes!"
Donald looked at Goofy, nodded to him, and said, "Then you know what to do!" Goofy nodded in response and began pressing buttons on his dashboard. Alex heard a sound indicating that Goofy turned something on.
"Deflector shields are up and going!" Goofy said.
"How's the engine looking?" Donald asked.
Goofy pushed a button and computer screen rose up from the dashboard. The screen showed a blueprint of the Gummi Ship. The monotone computer voice said, "Power of Fire-G model engine is at 85%. Power of Thunder-G laser is at max capacity. Protect-G deflector shields are at full power."
"Good," Donald mumbled.
"Why's the engine at 85%?" Alex asked.
Donald turned around in his chair. "Just count your lucky stars that it isn't any lower. If the Heartless had engaged us every time we went to a world, our power wouldn't be as strong."
"Sounds like you need an upgrade," Sora suggested.
"No kidding. But that was before I knew how powerful the Heartless ships were," Donald said and turned around, ready to engage the enemy vessels. Alex couldn't help but hum the Star Wars theme in his head.
"Donald look!" Goofy pointed out in the distance to the approaching ships.
The Heartless ships were deformed versions of the Gummi Ship. They didn't have wings like the Gummi Ship did, but Alex could see cannons at the bottom of their multicolored bodies. Orange, red, green, and yellow were all splashed together at different parts of the ship. Some of the ships were of the same design as the Gummi Ship, to an extent. Others had thin bodies, some of which were in a straight line and some that jutted out in different directions.
"They're here!" Goofy yelped.
Donald suddenly thrust the ship forward, surprising the Heartless ships, and began shooting bright blue lasers from the Gummi Ship's main two cannons. The duck's fingers were pushing buttons on the side of the steering mechanism to fire the lasers. Alex compared it to many arcade games that he played at the mall. Although simplistic in nature, Alex guessed that he would rather have an easy firing method than a complicated one.
"Two on your left!" Goofy pointed out. Donald turned the ship to the right, dodging lasers from the Heartless. As soon as the ships were in view, Donald fired again. The Heartless ships exploded and Sora hollered in victory.
"Hold it dude," Alex said. "We're not out of the woods yet!"
Donald saw another ship on his right and one on his left. He made a quick decision and stopped the ship. The Heartless ships, still flying forward, shot out their lasers, causing both of them to explode.
"Nice on Donald!" Goofy shook his fist in the air.
Another Heartless ship charged and Donald let loose with the lasers, but this ship twisted to the right and dodged them. Donald quacked in surprise, but laughed when the enemy ship fired its laser and it bounced off the Gummi Ship.
"Deflector shields do come in handy," Donald admitted.
Donald turned his attention to the ship in time to see it fire, not a laser, but a missile. The Gummi Ship's deflector shields could stand against small-arms fire from other ships, but missiles were a different story. Donald thrust the ship upward, narrowly dodging the missile. Donald sighed in relief only to realize that the missile was still coming after them.
"Stupid lock-on missiles!" Donald grumbled. He steered the ship in every direction, but the missile kept coming. Sora held on to Alex's seat as best he could, even though his legs were extended in the air. Donald put more speed into the ship, causing the missile to fall behind. Soon enough, the missile exploded.
"Yeah," Alex screamed.
Donald saw the Heartless ship coming back for more and said, "Goofy finish him!"
"Gotcha!" Goofy opened a compartment, revealing his very own shooting joysticks. Alex saw a small turret on the side of the ship begin to move. Goofy pressed the buttons and shot at the ship. The Heartless ship did a nosedive, but Goofy followed it with a constant stream of shots. Donald maneuvered the ship to get closer to the enemy and almost ran into it. Goofy pressed another button on the joysticks to change weapons. At point blank range, Goofy blasted the enemy ship with a missile of his own.
"Burn in hell suckahs!" Alex yelled. Sora let go of Alex's chair, having to pry his fingers away from the small dents in the chair.
"Good job Goofy!" Donald exclaimed, giving his friend a thumbs-up.
"Gawrsh thanks," Goofy replied.
Sora stood in the middle of the dark blue floor, the Keyblade in his hands, eyeing his opponent carefully. The opponent was wearing red armor that covered his entire body. The face mask was planted shut, with a small visor for eyesight, but Sora couldn't see the eyes of his opponent. The warrior was wielding a straight sword, similar to the ones Sora had trained with on Destiny Islands, only the sword his opponent carried was metal. Sora crouched down, clutching the Keyblade in a combat stance. The opponent made no indication that he was threatened.
Here goes nothing, Sora thought.
Sora charged the silent warrior, slicing vertically with the Keyblade, but the opponent sidestepped. Sora quickly pivoted and thrust the Keyblade, only to be met with a crash of metal as the warrior's sword intercepted the Keyblade. Sora quickly ducked to avoid decapitation and rolled to the left, dodging the warrior's sword slice. Sora swung his Keyblade upward, which the silent warrior blocked with his blade, but Sora twisted his body around and, switching the Keyblade to his left hand, swung again. To his surprise, the Keyblade was blocked once more by his opponent. Sora performed a short jump in the air, while twisting his body slightly to the right, and elbowed the warrior right in the face mask.
The silent warrior stumbled back a little, giving Sora enough time to fire his new found thunder spell at him. The bolts of lightning blasted the warrior back even further. Sora ran forward and swung the Keyblade, hoping to catch his opponent off guard. Once again Sora was disappointed as the warrior met the Keyblade in a high block. The warrior thrust his foot out in a front kick, but Sora pulled his body to the side, the kick missing the boy by a few inches. Because of the armor, the warrior's leg that he kicked came down to the ground, causing the warrior to be in a crouch. Sora smiled and blasted the silent warrior with another thunder spell.
Sora sprinted forward and leaped into the air, higher than he ever could before, but due to his power up, it was now possible. Sora swung the Keyblade downward with all his strength. The silent warrior saw Sora descending in the air and readied his blade. As Sora reached the warrior, the Keyblade was smacked aside out of Sora's hands. The warrior had performed a swing of his own that he put a lot of power into. In the end, his sword won the battle and Sora received a kick in the chest for it. The Keybearer slid on his back, grunting all the way until he stopped.
Sora looked up to see the warrior walking slowly toward him, reminding Sora of Cloud Strife. Sora winced and got back up. He noticed the Keyblade a few feet away from him and he thrust out his hand. The Keyblade came flying back to its owner and Sora twirled it a few times in the air. The silent warrior was still coming towards him, slowly but surely.
Like Cloud, Sora thought. Wait, that's it!
Sora remembered Leon telling Sora that when he got powered up he would be able to perform new abilities. In his battle with Cloud, the blond warrior had used a powerful thrusting ability that nearly killed both Sora and Alex. It was a thrust that shot the person forward, cutting anything in their path.
Let's see if Leon was right, Sora thought.
Sora held his Keyblade to his right side, channeling the energy in his body. He held the Keyblade with great intensity. He focused hard on what he was going to do. Sora felt power growing within him and it felt good. Finally, as his opponent was nearly reached him, Sora let loose that energy. The Keybearer was thrust forward, the Keyblade extended, and Sora's opponent was sliced in half. As Sora stopped himself from falling over, he couldn't help but grin stupidly. He felt like a god.
"VR training simulation: complete. Staus: winner," the computer voice stated as Goofy entered the commands for extraction.
The top of the VR pod opened up slowly, steam exiting the small space. Goofy peered through the steam to see Sora climb out of the pod, stumbling around. Goofy knew that he must be a little disoriented after his first time experiencing VR. Sora eventually stopped stumbling and saw Goofy walking towards him. Sora folded his arms and smiled.
"So, what'd you think? Pretty good, huh?" Sora said, not really caring if Goofy said otherwise.
"It sure was," Goofy admitted. "VR sure does come in handy. I was just in there moments ago perfecting a move I pulled on Cerberus. The one where I can spin around and hit people with my shield. I call it the Tornado ability."
Sora couldn't help but giggle. "You actually named it."
Goofy frowned, wondering if he did something stupid again. "Why? Is there something wrong with that?"
Sora, realizing he might have hurt Goofy's feelings, replied, "No no! I was just kinda surprised that's all. Y'know what? I'll name mine. What should I call it?"
Goofy put his hand against his head, thinking. "Gawrsh, I dunno. Maybe the Amazing Cutter." Sora gave Goofy a look that said the name wasn't going to work.
"Or, how about the Spectacular Splitter?" Goofy tried another time, but Sora still wasn't going for it.
"How about Ball Buster?" Sora groaned and turned around to see Alex leaning against the wall of the VR room, laughing.
"I don't hit people down there ya dork," Sora said.
"Doesn't mean ya haven't tried," Alex said, giggling like a maniac.
"Shut up! I don't see you trying out any cool abilities," Sora said, happy that he had a comeback.
Alex shrugged. "Maybe that's because I don't need them. All I need is more power in my body to get me through a fight."
Sora didn't quite agree, but he didn't feel like arguing. "I'll call it the Sonic Blade. How's that? Good enough for ya mister buster of balls?"
Alex rose up his hands in mock defense. "Calm down buddy. It's a cool name. Go with it."
Alex, Sora, and Goofy exited the VR room and climbed up to the cockpit where an impatient Donald Duck awaited.
"Good timing guys," Donald said, not hinting that he had been waiting for awhile. "We're almost at the next world."
Everyone got close to the window to see who could spot it first. Sora stared in space, hoping that this would be where he found Riku and Kairi. Sora looked at Alex, knowing that it was what Alex wanted as well. Donald and Goofy were staring at space for the same reason, but not the same person. They wanted to find King Mickey and go back home where everything would be normal again.
"Look up ahead," Alex pressed his finger against the glass at the world that appeared before them.
It wasn't as big as the showy Coliseum had been, but it was definitely bigger than Wonderland. The world was made up entirely of forest. Trees extended their branches with green leaves upon them. Alex also noticed a big waterfall at the center, with smaller ones at its side. Alex rooted around in his memory for any indication as to where they were going, but couldn't find any. He was excited, nonetheless.
Donald, on the other hand, was not excited. He knew for sure that the King would never allow himself to be in places like that. He imagined all kinds of creepy crawlies making their homes among the trees and the thought made Donald disgusted. He began to shift the steering wheel away from the uncharted world.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sora asked loudly. "I thought we were landing."
Donald shook his head. "The King would never allow himself to step foot in a backwater place like that."
Sora couldn't believe his ears. "You don't know that for sure! Just land!"
"NO!" Donald quacked, getting very frustrated with Sora.
"Just land you dumb duck!" Alex demanded. "Riku and Kairi could be down there."
Donald scoffed at that notion. "Forget it! We are on an important mission."
"WE?! There is no WE! There's just Y-O-U!" Alex yelled. "Come to think of it, there never was a WE!" Sora nodded in agreement.
Donald growled and turned to face the two boys. "If I remember correctly, the last world we stopped at didn't have either of our friends on it. But we knew that from the very beginning. You preach about wanting to find your friends so badly and yet you wasted valuable time that could have been spent looking for them."
"And if I remember correctly," Sora countered, "you stayed with us. You wanted to leave and yet you gave in. You preach about wanting to find YOUR friend, but you still came with us!"
Donald wanted to wrap his hands around the selfish brat's throat. "I stayed because the King told me too. But obviously that was a big mistake on my part because the King told me to stand by the Keybearer. You're no Keybearer! You are just a poor little boy that's lost in space and just so happens to have a sword shaped like a key. The Keybearer is supposed to be someone that inspires courage and goodness in people. All you've inspired in me is a tremendous headache. No wonder you can't find your friends. They probably don't even want to be near you!"
It was at that moment that Alex knew Donald had taken it too far. Goofy had been watching the argument get bigger and bigger. He hadn't wanted to interfere, but now he wished he had. Even Donald realized that he had said something wrong, but it was too late to reverse the damage that had been done or stop what was going to happen.
Sora punched Donald Duck right in the face.
Goofy was pretty sure his own jaw hit the floor and Alex's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Sora was in complete shock. He had never hit someone in anger before. Sora stared at his fist that was outstretched and realized he had made an awful mistake. Donald was on the floor, rubbing his face and trying to understand what just happened.
Sora sat in Donald's chair and took control of the wheel. "We're landing." Sora looked on the dashboard, saw a random button, and pressed it.
Donald bolted up in fear. "Don't touch that! NOOOO!"
The Gummi Ship began to shake and everyone fell on the ground. Red lights and the sound of an alarm flooded the cockpit. Sora, fearing he might have pressed a self-destruct switch, thrust the steering mechanism forward, hoping that if the ship exploded, he would land on the world. Alex was trying to get to Sora, but the rocking ship tripped him up and he fell on his face. Suddenly, the Gummi Ship lost whatever proportional system that was holding it up, and the ship began to fall. Sora steered the ship so that it would fall on the world. The Keybearer gritted his teeth as the ship coasted downward at alarming speeds.
The cockpit opened and all of its inhabitants fell. out. Alex screamed as first he saw clouds, then trees, then his flailing arms. The air whipped his face and Alex was afraid of splattering on the ground. He hoped at least that a tree would catch him or slow his fall. As he descended, he caught quick glimpses of something beneath him that was colored brown. Alex realized that it was wood, meaning his fall would be stopped, but not in the way that he wanted it.
"SON OF A B-!" Alex crashed into the woodwork, getting multiple splinters in the process. He eyes saw quick shots of boxes before the body came in contact with the ground. The air rushed out of Alex's lungs, a feeling that was becoming to familiar to him, and he started to have tunnel vision.
The dust cloud that Alex had created caused him to cough uncontrollably. His body hurt all over, but Alex took solace in the fact that it meant that he was still alive. Alex moaned in pain and lay on his back, not wanting to get up for fear of damaging his body further. He rubbed his throbbing head with his right hand and looked around, becoming aware of his surroundings.
Alex thought he was in a house. It was all wooden. Even the contents of the house were wooden: boxes, barrels, and crates. This led Alex to believe that maybe he was in some sort of warehouse. He looked straight up and could see the light shining through the roof, the part that was broken and looked like his body. Alex felt vines with his hands and saw that all kinds of plant life were growing here, which meaned that this place was quite old.
Alex finally decided to get up and groaned through the entire process. He pushed himself off the ground with achy knees and took a better look around. Apparently, he was on the bottom floor of the house. There was a second floor leading to a balcony, but the staircase to the second floor was destroyed. Broken windows surrounded the walls and through them, Alex could see tree trunks and branches full of leaves. The sky appeared, blue with white clouds. But how could he see all that if he was in a house on the ground?
"Sora?" Alex cried out, weakly. He wanted confirmation that his friend was still with him, or alive for that matter.
When he got no response, Alex cried, "Donald?.................Goofy?" Alex began to grow worried. What happened to them? They must have fallen to different parts of the world.
"Perfect!" Alex waved up his arms in frustration. "Just perfect! Now I gotta go find em'."
Creak!
Alex stopped moving and turned his head from side to side, looking for whatever made the noise. His heart began to pound furiously and his hands began to sweat. Alex took a quiet step forward and turned around quickly.
Something growled from the top floor and it leaped from the top floor to the floor Alex was on. It was a leopard. Not only that, but the biggest and scariest leopard that Alex had ever seen. Its yellow-green eyes locked on Alex and the beast opened its mouth and roared, showing off incredibly sharp teeth. Alex stood incredibly still, not knowing what to do. The leopard jumped forward, teeth gnashing together and claws flaring. On instinct, Alex summoned his sword and put it between the leopard and himself. The leopard swung a paw at the boy, claws clanging against the sword, and Alex jumped a few feet back. But the leopard kept on him and swung its paws once more, this time raking against Alex's chest and sending him crashing into the side wall.
Alex cried out as he crashed against more boxes. He put his fingers to his chest and wasn't surprised to feel blood. Alex saw the leopard circling him slowly, urging him to get back up. Alex began to circle the creature with his sword in front. Drool dribbled down the leopard's lips which made Alex even more scared than he already was. He was so tense, just waiting for the beast to make a move.
Alex got his wish as the leopard leaped forward trying to tackle Alex and finish the job. Alex jumped to the side to dodge and quickly leaped forward and swung his sword. The blade cut the leopard, causing it to roar in pain. Alex would have been happy, but the wound only seemed to make the creature even angrier. Alex made a mad dash for a broken window to try and break out, but the leopard wasn't going to let its prey escape that easily, so it tackled Alex from behind.
Alex's body went into overdrive and he quickly turned himself over and thrust his sword up just as the leopard's jaws came crashing down upon Alex. The flat side of the blade was in the creature's mouth, blocking the teeth from getting any further than Alex wanted it to. The leopard gnashed violently against the blade, which cut the gums of the beast. Alex screamed in fear, anger, and for strength. The leopard began to scratch its sharp claws against Alex's legs. The jeans he wore were no match for the leopard's claws. Alex now screamed in pain as the claws tore into his flesh and in desperation, he brought his leg back and kicked the leopard off.
The leopard shook its head, slightly dazed. Alex bellowed and blasted the creature with a fire spell, the only magic he knew, causing the beast to fall to the ground in a heap. The only sound to be heard throughout the wooden house was Alex, hyperventilating like crazy.
"Jesus Christ!" Alex exclaimed. So much had happened in such a short time. Sora punched Donald, they got ejected from the ship, and Alex's first encounter with any kind of life form turned out to be one that wanted to eat him. Alex's knack for surviving impossible situations never ceased to amaze even himself.
Alex pulled a healing potion from his jacket pocket and took a drink. The deep cuts and splinters he had received went away in a flash. Alex took a deep breath and stared at the leopard. The body wasn't moving, but was it dead? Alex really didn't want to find out, but knew he had too. He took short, baby steps over to the body of the leopard, his sword held in front in case the leopard wasn't dead. As he nearly reached the body, he stretched out his sword and poked the body.
The leopard sprang up on all four legs, roaring triumphantly, and swung its paws at Alex. Alex dodged them by falling on his butt, something that wouldn't have been possible if his reflexes hadn't gotten better. The leopard charged at Alex, who raised his sword in front, ready to engage the leopard once more.
Suddenly, a human figure leaped in front of Alex and, wielding a spear, thrust the shaft into the leopard's mouth, similar to what Alex did. The man gritted his teeth as he pitted his own strength against the leopard's. The man eventually won and pushed the leopard off his wooden spear. The leopard gazed angrily at the man, questioning if it should combat him, but decided against it and retreated through a broken window.
No fair. That should've been my escape route, Alex thought as he got up from the ground.
The man turned and faced Alex who was standing up. Alex stared at him, puzzled about his appearance. The man was extremely tan and very well built, with no trace of fat on his body. His hair was brown and shoulder-length, which hung down in messy dreadlocks. His green eyes were locked on Alex with a curious stare and his face showed little emotion. His entire body was in a crouched stance, making Alex wonder if he wasn't going to attack him. The only piece of clothing that the man had on was a brown loincloth.
The man pointed to the broken window that the leopard escaped from and said, "Sabor, danger." Alex guessed the man was hinting that the leopard's name was Sabor.
Alex was a little put off by the way the man spoke, but he replied, "Uh, thank you."
The man raised an eyebrow and replied," Thank you." He slowly repeated the same words Alex had said. Alex guessed that the man didn't know that much English.
Alex curled his upper lip, not knowing how to make conversation with this man, and said, "Well, what is this place?"
Again, the man repeated, "This place. This place." He moved closer to Alex, which made Alex a little uneasy.
Alex rolled his eyes. "Okaaaay then. Um, where did the others go?" The man didn't reply, which got Alex even more frustrated.
"Look," Alex explained, "I've been separated from my friends. Have..you..seen..them?!"
Alex didn't expect an answer from the language challenged man and that's exactly what he got. The man just cocked his head to one side and grunted.
Thinking the man hadn't heard him, Alex said very slowly, "Fu..ren..zz!"
The man smiled and put his fingers against his chest. "Friends!"
Alex brightened, ecstatic that the man could understand him, and began to talk extremely fast. "Right. My friends. There's three of em'. Sora's the one with a porcupine head, not that I'd expect you to know what a porcupine is, but anyway, the loud one is Dona-!"
Alex stopped, having remembered what had taken place on the Gummi Ship. The little bastard had wanted to skip this world just so he could find his friend, meaning he didn't give a rat's ass about Riku or Kairi. Alex just shook his head. The man looked confused as to why Alex had stopped mid-sentence.
"Y'know what dude," Alex said, "never mind. I'm looking for my friends Sora, Riku, and Kairi."
Once again, the man repeated, "Look for Riku, friends?"
Alex smiled, pleased that they were making some kind of progress, and said, "Yep." He saw something out of the corner of his eye and looked beyond the strange man. He saw something that he couldn't believe.
The strange man was still staring at Alex saying, "Look for Kairi, friends?"
Alex was staring at Kairi, who was standing right where the sun shined down through the roof. She looked beautiful in the radiant glow, reminding Alex of that fateful afternoon on the beach where she had told him not to change.
Alex took a quick glance back at the man to say, "Uh, yeah."
Alex looked back in time to see Kairi raise her chin high, reminding Alex of snobs at school, turn on the heel of her foot, and walk away. Alex shook his head. Maybe that Sabor had taken more blood than Alex realized.
The man continued to stare at Alex and say, "Friends, here."
Alex's attention immediately shifted back to the man. "Really?!"
"Ee ooo oo oo ah," The man grunted.
Alex raised an eyebrow, wondering how this man could be any stranger than he already was. "Huh?"
The man repeated slowly. This time Alex was the one who needed coaching. "Ee ooo oo oo ah. Friends, here."
Alex bit his lip. "Okaaay, not sure I understand, but show me! Take me to Sora, Riku, and Kairi."
The man smiled and thumped his chest with his fingers. "Tarzan. Tarzan go." He pointed to the doorway leading to the outside.
Alex mentally kicked himself. He should have guessed from the very beginning that the man was Tarzan. But that raised several questions. Did that mean Jane was here? Alex knew there would be time for questions later as he smiled at Tarzan and said, "I'm Alex. Tarzan go. Alex go..er..go."
Tarzan led Alex through the wooden doorway, but at the same time opening a new door to all kinds of sounds of birds chirping, waterfalls, and lush greenery the likes of which Alex had never seen. A wooden walkway surrounded the perimeter of the house and Alex was surprised to find that the house was actually situated in the branches of a large tree. Whoever built this must have been really smart. Alex walked further until the wooden guard rail stopped him from going any further. Alex looked down to see an enormous net extending from the underside of the house, probably to stop the falls of clumsy people. A tree branch had been manipulated into holding a small boat by a rope. The boat, Alex guessed, was used to carry supplies from the bottom of the jungle to the tree house.
Alex took this all in and didn't realize that Tarzan was standing right next to him. He jumped a little, but felt foolish for it afterwards. "So what is this pace?"
Tarzan stared at Sora with an intense glance, but softened it up by smiling and saying, "Tarzan, home."
Donald and Goofy had landed in a clearing amidst a circle of bamboo trees. They were sitting on a rock, taking a rest. Goofy had his head hung down and Donald was laying on his side, propping up his head with his hand. His eyes were closed, which made Goofy suggest that he was enjoying all the silence and noises of the wilderness.
Goofy finally broke the silence by asking, "Gawrsh, where are we?!" Donald gave no response.
Goofy, realizing he was only talking to himself, said, "I sure hop Sora and Alex are okay."
He immediately wished he hadn't said that because Donald Duck arose from his peaceful slumber with an evil look on his face, staring at Goofy. "Who needs them?! We can find the King without them."
Donald leaned over to pick up his mage's staff that was leaning against the rock, but as his fingers almost wrapped around the staff, he felt something that was very furry. Donald quickly pulled his hand out and looked down to face a gorilla. Both of them stared at each other with wide eyes, growing wider by the second, until finally they both screamed in panic, causing Goofy to fall off the rock in surprise.
Suddenly, the sound of rustling and even the sound of slicing metal came echoing from the bamboo trees, causing Donald and Goofy to turn their heads away from the gorilla in fear of what was coming from the forest. The gorilla started to run away as quickly as she could, but she took one last look at Donald before finally escaping the clearing.
Donald looked back to see the gorilla, but was surprised to see it gone. In the gorilla's place was a large red block that shined in the sunlight. It was a Gummi block. What would a gorilla be doing with a Gummi block? That must mean that the King was here. Donald wouldn't have been able to contain his excitement if it wasn't for the unknown being about to emerge from the forest.
The pair gulped in anticipation as a human figure cut his way thought the forest. It was a man. His boots made crunching noises as he exited the dense foliage of the bamboo trees. He was wearing a dark yellow collared shirt and a small part of a red muscle shirt could be seen through his unbuttoned shirt. He sported a thin, black and gray mustache and slicked back hair of the same colors. Donald could see the man definitely had muscles as the man had his sleeves pulled up, which showed of his powerful arms. The man was holding a shotgun, sunlight gleamed off of the cold steel of the barrels. On his belt was a sheath which held his own machete.
The hunter stared at Donald and Goofy, his mouth curling into a frown. Donald and Goofy gulped once more, wondering what could possibly be in store for them.