Author's Note: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.
Ch.14 Welcome to the Jungle
The moment the tiger brought its head down time seemed to slow, almost to the point of stillness. I didn't want to die, and seeing my end before me filled me with a sense of regret. I had, truly and completely, failed. I couldn't wake up Ven, save Aqua or even help Terra. Sora, Donald and Goofy would have to look for Riku, Kairi and the King on their own. But most of all, I had never found a way to save myself. My regrets went through my mind and I found a sense of finality. There are worse ways to go, I supposed. I could have been killed by a Heartless or consumed by darkness. Having myself killed defending Sora wasn't too bad. I closed my eyes and laid my head back, even smiling in the face of death.
Time returned to normal and I expected to feel the tiger's teeth tearing into my neck, but all that happened was that I heard a muffled roar. I opened my eyes and saw that the tiger had a spear lodged between its teeth, and was being pushed back by someone behind. That same person shoved and jumped over me, continuously sending the beast away. It was a tall, thin young man, and he had long locks of brown hair that went with brown eyes and a loincloth of the same color, his sole article of clothing. The tiger growled and tried to claw at him, but he was holding it far enough away that it didn't connect. With one more shove he sent it back, and at growled at him before dashing to the window and breaking the glass as it jumped through.
I watched the spectacle, and slowly pushed myself up. I rubbed my neck; still in one piece. Looks I wasn't going to die just yet. "You okay?" Sora asked, and I nodded. The stranger from before walked towards us, and I noticed that when he did he walked with his back hunched over and his hands on the ground. "He walks like a gorilla," I thought. "Sabor, danger," he warned us. "Um… Thank you," Sora said, and I added "Same here." "Thank you," he repeated, and I looked at him confusedly. "Okaaay… Do you know what this place is?" I asked. "Place is… place is…" he said. Sora looked at me, and I shrugged. "Where did the others go? Look, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them?" he asked.
He looked at us confusedly, and Sora slowly said "Friends…" "Friends!" he said. "Right, my friends! There's two of them! The loud one is Dona-" Sora began, but stopped. I looked at him, and I saw a trace of anger in his eyes. He was furious that Donald wouldn't even consider stopping to look for the others, and insisted that they move on. I wanted to think of something to say, but the words stopped in my throat. Every once in a blue moon my friends and I would have gotten into an argument, and the only real solution would have been for us to make things up on our own. Forcing the issue would not help. So I sighed and looked away, while Sora turned back to the stranger.
"You know what? Never mind. I'm looking for my friends Riku and Kairi," he said. "Look for Riku, friends?" the guy asked. "Right!" Sora replied, and he asked "Kairi, friends?" "Uh… right," he said, and I looked to where Sora was staring. There was nothing there though, and I wondered what had caught his attention. But then the guy caught it back when he said "Friends here." My eyes widened, and Sora excitedly asked "Really?!" "*&&X%. *&&X%. Friends here," he said. I didn't understand the first half of what he said, but the second was easily understandable. "Not sure I understand, but show me! Take me to Riku and Kairi!" Sora said. "Hey, they're my friends too!" I half-lectured.
The man stood and placed his hands on his chest. "Tarzan. Tarzan go," he said. "And I'm… Sora. Tarzan go, Sora go go!" Sora said. "Dexal too," I added. Tarzan nodded and ran outside the house, grabbing the rail and hurling himself over. "What the-?!" I called, and ran to the edge. I heard rustling through the trees overhead, and saw a flash of Tarzan's loincloth. He had survived. "Do we jump after him?" Sora asked. I shrugged and said "Guess so!" before grabbing the edge of vaulting myself over. The wind sailed past my ears and pushed the skin on my face back, but I cast Barrier and hit the trees without a scratch. Instantly my feet landed on a sloping-like vine that I slid down. I shouted and tried to stop, but ahead Tarzan shook his head and I stopped.
There was the sound of shaking leaves and breaking branches as Sora landed behind me, and he began sliding as well. Tarzan seemed to have no problem with it and even leaped over an oncoming branch, which Sora and I just noticed at the last second. Another one, high enough that it was level with our heads, appeared out of nowhere and gave each of us a face-full of wood and leaves. "Oh come on!" I complained, while Sora grimaced. The rest of our trip through the Deep Jungle passed in a similar manner, and by the time we fell off the end of a branch into the middle of a huge camp Sora and I were covered with scratches and bruises. I groaned and pulled a twig out of my hair, while Sora took a look at the ripped remains of his clothes.
"Man," he said, and I nodded. Tarzan began walking forward towards a large tent, and I took a good look at the camp. The center of it was dominated by a mountain of supply crates, and around it were various modern items, such as a wood stove, a tea-table, and a table full of lab equipment. We walked into the tent, which was beige and had a large canopy, and Tarzan said "Jane!" A young woman stood up and turned around. She also had long brown hair, but it framed a pretty, youthful face with sparkling eyes. She wore a sleeveless white shirt and a long red skirt, and smiled at our entrance. "Tarzan! Oh, and who is this?" Jane asked with fine British accent.
"Um, hi there. I'm-" Sora began, before she said "Oh, you speak English! So, then, you're obviously not related to Tarzan. Are you here to study the gorillas?" "Highly doubtful," he heard a male voice say, and turned around. A tall man stood before in beige hunting gear, with receding hair and a huge jaw. He carried a large hunting rifle in front of him, and had an air of confidence. Behind him trailed Donald and Goofy, and I called "Guys!" "Sora, Dexal!" Goofy called happily. "Donald, Goofy!" Sora called, and he and Donald held hands for a second before they remembered their previous argument. Instantly they both frowned angrily, turned away from each other and crossing their arms. I sighed, but at least we were back together.
"A circus of clowns. Not much use for hunting gorillas," the man said. "Mr. Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them. This is research," Jane protested, but he had already left. "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home," she offered us. There was a moment of silence, until Sora said "Well anyway…" and both he and Donald announced "I'm staying." "Huh?" Sora asked, looking at him. I covered my mouth with my hand to conceal a smile; the two of them were being almost funny. Goofy stepped forward and held out his hand, and in his palm was a red cube with slivers of yellow around the edges. "Sora, look what we found. Look at this," he said. "What's that?" Sora asked. "A gummi block. It's the same stuff used to build our ship," he explained.
My smile faded and I looked up. "So that means…" I began. Donald nodded. "The King could be here. So, we've gotta work together to look for him. For now," he added, looking over at Sora. "Fine. I'll let you tag along. For now," he said, looking at Donald as well. Seeing no immediate solution to this problem, I walked over to Jane. "Is there a reason that Tarzan talks the way he does?" I asked. She giggled. "It is rather difficult, isn't it? Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas. Communicating with him is still hard, but he's learning," she said. "Ah, so he was speaking 'gorilla' before," I muttered. "What do you mean?" she asked. "We're here looking for our friends. He said that two of them, Riku and Kairi, are here. That part I understood, but then he said some other word I couldn't understand," I explained.
"Why don't we try this?" she suggested, pulling out an old slide-show projector. "We'll show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word," she said, and I nodded. It was a good plan, until Jane turned around began looking for the slides. "Oh, where could they be?" she wondered, pushing aside various things. "Maybe they're around the camp," Goofy suggested. "So, we should look for them?" Sora asked. "Yeah, we'll split off into two groups and look for the slides separately," I said. Instantly Donald was there, grabbing my arm and saying "I'll go with Dexal." "Fine by me. I'll be with Goofy," Sora said, marching out. Goofy looked at me and I shrugged, and he followed out of the tent. "Are the four of you in the middle of an argument or something?" Jane asked.
"It's less the four of us and more just Sora and Donald," I told her. She still looked confused, but by then we had already gone out.
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Later, after we gathered all the slides, we all regrouped back in the tent as Jane put the slides in. "Alright, let's see," she said, and pressed the bottom. The slide showed a picture of a castle against the side of the tent, and my breath caught. I would no the castle anywhere- I have lived there. It was Radiant Garden. "Something wrong, Dexal?" Goofy asked. I shook my head. "Nothings, it's nothing," I said. With that we kept going through the slides, six in all, but by the end of them Tarzan still hadn't said a word. "Well, Tarzan?" Jane asked. "Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked. There was a moment of silence, and then he shook his head. "Hey, you said-" I began but then Clayton walked back in. "That leaves just one place," he said.
"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. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them," Clayton said, looking at Tarzan. "Really, Mr. Clayton. Tarzan wouldn't hide-" Jane said. "Then take us there. Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las," he interrupted. Tarzan looked at us, and nodded. "Tarzan... are you sure?" Jane asked. "Tarzan go see Kerchak," Tarzan said. "Kerchak?" I asked. "He must be the leader. Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place," Clayton said. I looked over and saw him where a sinister smile, and my eyes narrowed. Whatever Clayton had in mind, I don't think it was good.
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Hey! Sorry I didn't update sooner; I was going to do it last night. But then I took some cough medicine and that shit knocked me out. But here it is now, so I hope you enjoyed it.
Please review! If you flame me Liam Neeson will look for you, he will find you, and he will kill you. (I'm just kidding... or am I?)