Pacha: hi everyone! We're back with Reconnected's new chapter.
PrismRain13: I'm so glad I got to work on this! Diploma exams suck! I need a break!
Pacha: Just don't hurt yourself. Prism still owns nothing other than the plot and her OC's. Everything else belongs to Disney and/or Square Enix.
Chapter 31: Trust and Forgiveness
With Pacha's help, the group had made it safely out of the jungle, only running into small packs of heartless. Pacha and Sora were at the lead with Kuzco and rest of the world-travelers scattered behind him. Still, in the few hours after Kuzco's sudden change of heart, Sora couldn't help but feel Kuzco wasn't being completely honest with them.
"Hey, Pacha?" Sora asked, the village leader turning to face him. "Is it just me, or do you find Kuzco's behavior a little suspicious?" Pacha only shook his head.
"Of course not, Sora. I've always told myself that nobody's that heartless. Kuzco just needed some time to realize what he was doing was wrong." Pacha replied, then turned to address the rest of the team. "Okay everyone. Once we cross this bridge, it's only an hour to the palace." The group walked over the hill and down to old wooden bridge over a large canyon leading to another group of hills supporting a giant golden palace.
"Nice place, Kuzco." Lea said, admiring the palace from their distance.
"I'm just glad we're getting you home." Kairi stated, patting his shoulder.
"Good, because believe it or not, I think I need a bath." Kuzco grumbled, smelling his fur and pulling back in disgust.
"I believe it." Pacha released a small laugh.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Pacha took one step on the rotting bridge and a board snapped under his feat, causing him to tumble through the hole and be caught in the vines under the bridge.
"Pacha!" Sora exclaimed as he and his team rushed to his aid. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. For now." The villager replied.
"Don't worry, Pacha. We'll get you back up!" Mickey stated as he and Riku(who was one of the strongest people there) reached down for Pacha to grab their hands. The rest of the team did anything else they could to help, Sora, Kairi and Donald were trying to make their magnet spells work even with most of their magic drained from last night's battle, West and Max were tying together some vines to make a rope, and Lea was holding Goofy over the edge, so he might be able to reach him. However, Pacha proved to be too far down for any of their methods to work. The only one who hadn't done anything and was showing no concern was Kuzco.
"Kuzco!" Goofy a called out to him as soon as Lea put him back on the ground.
"Yeah?" The emperor asked in a somewhat lazy tone.
"Quick, help us get Pacha out!" Goofy stated. All Kuzco did was push himself between the group and jump over the hole in the bridge.
"No, I don't think I will."
"You're going to leave me here?" Pacha asked, the entire group staring at him in shock.
"Well, I was going to have you imprisoned for life, but I kind of like this better." Kuzco smirked over his shoulder.
"I thought you were a changed man." Pacha growled.
"Oh, come on, I had to say something to get you to take me back to the city."
"So all of it was a lie?" West snarled, glaring daggers at the llama.
"Well, yeah. No, wait." Kuzco paused for a moment, thinking until he smirked. "Oh yeah, yeah, it was all a lie. Toodles." And with that, he turned his back on the group and began walking down the bridge again.
"WE SHOOK HANDS ON IT!" Pacha yelled furiously after the emperor who turned back again.
"You know the funny thing about shaking hands?" Kuzco asked. "You need hands!" He laughed, holding up his hooves for emphasis. "Okay now, bye-bye!" But, before Kuzco could turn back towards the city, the earth began to rumble and shake. Suddenly becoming terrified, Kuzco jumped off the bridge and into Lea's arms, shaking. Lea snarled at the llama before dropping him.
"Not another bridge battle!" Donald grumbled. At that moment, the ground in front of them split as a giant heartless climbed out. It looked to be some kind of lizard-like heartless with two heads with snake-like necks colored dark purple with electric blue flames on the legs and torso. The heartless symbol was printed on both heads. It had two tails that were thin and quick as whips with horns on their heads and fangs that had to be at least thirty centimeters long. One head was foaming at the mouth with bubbling purple poison and the other head was releasing a foggy stone-cold breath. This heartless was known as the Petri-Poison.
"Now that's an ugly heartless!" Max exclaimed, pulling out his skateboard. Sora followed his lead by raising Kingdom Key and turning towards Lea, Goofy, Kairi and Riku.
"Get Pacha out of there! We'll deal with it!" the keyblade master stated as he, Max, West, Mickey, Donald and Kuzco stood in front of the Petri-Poison. The two heads both hissed at them in response and Kuzco released a girly shriek and jumped into West's arms. The theif stumbled backwards from the sudden act, they both fell to the ground.
Donald instantly jumped into the battle, waving his staff and attacking the heartless with fire, blizzard and thunder, only the fire spell seemed to cause damage. The heads noticed Max and West rushing towards them and both spat their respective elements. The fog washed over Max, turning him to stone and the poison hit West causing her to become poisoned cough violently. Weakly, West pulled out two more antidotes and used them to lift the petrification and poison on both her and Max who jumped back into battle at the first chance.
Kuzco ran around the heartless, cowering behind the rest of the team and different rocks and trees. The Perti-Poison hissed at Kuzco and raised its claw to swipe before Kuzco kicked the claws back, causing it to stumble backwards and hit a tree, dealing a great deal of damage. Sora and Mickey soon found themselves backed near the edge of the cliff, a far distance from the bridge. The two heads snapped at them as the two keybearers tried to block with their keyblades.
"If you have any ideas, your majesty, I'm open!" Sora exclaimed, just barely ducking out of the way of a petrification blast. At his words, an idea suddenly came to Mickey. The mouse king quickly jumped out of the way just as one of the heads snapped at him. Mickey reached into his pocket and pulled out the Dragon Charm he found in the Land of the Dragons and raised it into the air.
"Jake Long!" Mickey called as the charm began to glow a fiery red. The glow began to intensify as a boy appeared in front of Mickey. He was young, around twelve, had spiky black hair with a green streak and was dressed in a red and yellow jacket, denim shorts and sneakers. Jake nodded once toward Mickey before glaring at the heartless and raised his fists.
"Dragon up!" Jake exclaimed before he became engulfed in flames as many flame-coated Chinese characters floated around him. Once the flames died down, standing in Jake's place was a muscular red dragon with a mane that resembled Jake's spiky hair. "Yo! Let's finish this!" The dragon said in Jake's voice.
Mickey nodded before jumping on to Jake's back as they both flew into the air. Jake and Mickey flew around the heartless, who snapped and spat at them but missed. Jake responded by firing his fire breath in short blasts at all angles as he and Mickey flew around. As an attempt to finish off the battle Jake flew in front of the heartless, until a ball of fire began to grow in his mouth. Once it had reached its maximum, Jake spat it at the heartless, causing the ball of fire to split in two and hit the ground, causing a fiery explosion engulfing the heartless.
With his work done, Jake and Mickey flew down to the ground. Mickey jumped off his back as Jake turned back into his human form
"Thanks Jake!" Mickey said as he and Jake fist-pumped.
"Give the Am-drag a call anytime, yo!" Jake smiled before disappearing in a burst of flames. That last blast was enough to finish off the Petri-Poison, the heartless began to fade into darkness just as its captive heart flew freely into the sky. The team sighed in relief just as Riku pulled Pacha back on to solid ground. Once they were sure they were safe, the entire group turned to glare at Kuzco, who laughed nervously.
At that moment, the ground directly beneath Pacha began to crumble away as the man stumbled and tripped. Thinking quickly, Kuzco rushed towards him, grabbed Pacha by the poncho and pulled him away from the edge just as the fallen pieces of earth tumbled into the caverns.
"Whoo-hoo! Yeah! Oh, look at me and my bad self. I snatched you right out of the air. 'Oooh, I'm a crumbly canyon wall and I'm taking you with me.' Well, not today, pal. Uh-huh. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Uh-huh." Kuzco sang while the group stared at him in both shock and astonishment for what had just happened.
"You just saved my life..." Pacha gasped, not quite believing it himself.
"Huh?" Kuzco asked, before realizing what he had done. Then his expression turned back to his previous smugness. "So?"
"I knew it!" Pacha smiled.
"Knew what?" Kuzco demanded.
"That there is some good in you after all."
"Oh, no!"
"Admit it!"
"Wrong."
"Yes, there is."
"Nuh-uh!"
"I think there is."
"No way!"
"Hey, you could've let me fall." Pacha shrugged.
"Come on, what's the big deal? Nobody's that heartless!" Kuzco snapped before he realized what he said. "Don't read too much into it. It was a one-time thing." Pacha only nodded and smiled.
"Right. Sure. Well, we better get going. With that bridge out, it's going to be a long walk to the palace." The villager said as he began walking back up the hill. Surprised by his statement, Kuzco ran up beside Pacha.
"What? You mean you're still taking me back?" The llama asked
"I shook on it, didn't I?"
"Well, yeah, but I hope you realize that doesn't change a thing. I'm still building Kuzcotopia when I get back."
"Well, this could be a long time. Who knows? Maybe you'll change your mind." Max said with a shrug.
"Wait, you guys are still coming?" Kuzco asked before the team of world travelers nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we still have to do our job." Donald stated.
"And who knows, If you do have a change of heart, I definitely want to be around to see that!" Kairi smiled, and the group followed Pacha up the hill and down a dirt path leading away from the jungle.
"Uh-huh." Kuzco shrugged. "What are the chances of anyone carrying me?"
"Not good." Lea grumbled.
~*KHIII*~
After a few hours of walking, the group had grown to be becoming very tired. After the first hour, Kuzco had given up on walking and demanded that Riku carry him. A few arguments later and the influence of West's cute face, Riku had complied but wasn't happy about it.
"Getting a workout there, Riku?" West asked playfully.
"Not funny." Riku grumbled to her. "Why did you take his side?" He asked, indicating the llama lounging in his arms.
"I just wanted to see if my cute face still worked." the thief smirked.
"Well, at least we know what Riku's weakness is now." Sora laughed, Kairi giggling next to him.
"Oh, you're hilarious, Sora." Riku rolled his eyes. At that moment, a diner appeared in the distance.
"We should probably stop." Mickey said, noticing the diner. "Anyone else hungry?" Almost instantly the entire team nodded.
"Mmm... Mudka's." Kuzco sighed. "I could go for some food, even an Emperor's gotta eat."
"Well, as soon as we get something to eat, you're walking the rest of the way." Pacha said sternly to Kuzco, Riku releasing a sigh of relief. Once they made it to the diner's door they were stopped in their tracks at noticing the "No Llamas" sign.
"What?! No llamas allowed?!" Kuzco demanded, jumping out of Riku's arms. "What do you people have against llamas?!"
"They're smelly, wild, ugly and in this case, rude." Donald stated earning him a glare from Kuzco.
"I'm just wondering what they'll say about a duck, two dogs and a rat walking in!" Kuzco retorted.
"Kuzco, I'm a mouse!" Mickey stated.
"At least we have clothes to make us look normal!" Max growled.
"We'll, I guess we could always buy our food and take it to go." Pacha suggested. "But I was looking forward to resting for a bit." The rest of the team was stumped, except for Kairi who seemed to be forming a plan in her mind.
"I have an idea." The princess smirked.
In ten minutes flat, they were welcomed into Mudka's diner. Kuzco was cleverly disguised as a woman using Pacha's poncho and hat, some flowers they just picked, dirt being used as makeup and the fur around Kuzco's head was permed. Donald, Goofy, Max and Mickey had some eyebrows raised at them, but passed as humans because of their clothes. They were now sitting in a booth near one of the windows, Pacha having just ordered everyone the special.
"Wow, Kairi. This was a great idea!" Sora exclaimed.
"Glad you think so." Kairi smirked.
"Can't believe these people don't notice Kuzco's really a llama. Are they really that dense?" Lea rolled his eyes.
"Gawrsh, no one freaked out about me and Donald on our last adventures." Goofy said. "I wonder why."
At that moment, the waitress came back with eleven orders of what looked like giant roasted bugs. Most of the group stared at it in disgust, except for Pacha, who dug right in to the bug's guts, acting like it was the greatest meal in the world.
Sora and Donald both looked like they were about to throw up, Kairi and Max pushed their plates away, trying not to look at it. West poked at the bug with her knife almost expecting it to move, Riku and Lea just stared. Goofy was gulping down his water trying to keep himself occupied. But Mickey picked up his fork, scooped up the bug's guts and held it close to his mouth.
"Uhh... Are you sure you wanna eat that, your majesty?" Max asked.
"We're in a new world, we might as well embrace their taste in food." Mickey shrugged before groaning at the yellowy slimy contents then forcing his fork into his mouth. The group stared at him as Mickey turned an odd shade of green and looked just about ready to pass out or vomit. "It's... An interesting... Flavor... Very sour... And tart." Mickey stammered, gulping down his water to get the bad taste out. Kuzco took one last look a his bug, before sliding out of the booth.
"Where are you going?" Pacha asked, his mouth contentedly full.
"I'm just going to slip into the kitchen and have a word with the chef." Kuzco replied.
"You're gonna get us thrown out." Riku warned.
"And that's a bad thing?" West asked.
"Please. With this disguise, I'm invisible." Kuzco said, moving down to his four hooves and strode through the kitchen doors. At that moment an old, wrinkly, skinny scary-looking woman and a muscular black-haired man strode into the diner and sat down at the booth behind the team of world-travelers and Pacha.
"We've been walking around in circles for who knows how long. That is the last time we take directions from a squirrel!" The woman complained "I should have done away with Kuzco myself when I had the chance!" At the last statement, Pacha nearly choked on his bug and the rest of the team gasped in shock.
"That's who turned Kuzco into a llama?!" Sora asked in a whisper so the two villains couldn't hear him. Lea turned to look at the old woman, his expression turning to one of disgust.
"Dang it! That has to be the ugliest woman I've ever seen!" The ex-nobody stated.
"Oh, you really gotta stop beating yourself up about that." The man said before the woman shot him a deth glare and bent her fork. The team decided that now was as good a time as any to get out of there. Pacha, Sora and Riku slid out of the booth and darted into the kitchen where Kuzco went. The rest of the group made their way out through the front door.
Inside the kitchen, Kuzco was talking to a grumpy-looking chef. Sora tapped Kuzco on the shoulder and the llama turned to face him with a confused expression on his face.
"Sorry, Kuzco. Meal time's over!" Sora said. And with that, Pacha scooped Kuzco up in his arms as the group of four climbed out the kitchen window.
"Wait! I haven't asked him about dessert yet!" Kuzco protested, struggling against Pacha's hold as they made their way back outside to meet with the rest of the team. "What are you doing?!"
"Kuzco, listen; there's two people in there looking for you." Riku told him.
"What?"
"A big guy and a skinny old woman." Kairi described.
"Wait. Was this woman scary beyond all reason?" The entire group nodded, remembering the scary and scary face of the old woman. "That's Yzma and Kronk! I'm saved!" the llama exclaimed excitedly, whipping the dirt make-up and permed fur from his face.
"Trust me, they're not here to save you!" Warned Pacha.
"They'll take me back to the palace. Thanks for your help. You've been great. I can take it from here..." Kuzco said, trying to walk away while Mickey stood in front of him.
"You don't understand! They're trying to kill you!" The king told him
"Kill me? Their whole world revolves around me!" Kuzco laughed.
"No! I can't let you!" Pacha exclaimed, grabbing the llama and pulling him back.
"What? Wha - oh, I get it! You don't want to take me back to the palace. You want to keep me stranded out here forever! This has all been an act, and I almost fell for it!"
"Will you just listen to me-" Pacha gritted through his teeth.
"No, no, you listen to me. All you people care about is that stupid hilltop!"
"What?"
"You don't care about me! Now, just get out of here! All of you! Go!"
"But-"
"Go on! Get outta here!" Kuzco snapped.
"Fine!" Pacha huffed, Kuzco turning away from the group and walking around the diner. The world travelers watched him storm off before Goofy placed a comforting hand on Pacha's shoulder. At that moment, Yzma and Kronk came walking down the steps of the diner, Kuzco watching them from the bushed with a smile on his face.
"This entire mess is your fault!" Yzma growled.
"What'd I do?" Kronk asked.
"If you hadn't mixed up those poisons, Kuzco would be dead now!" At Yzma's statement Kuzco's face instantly fell. "There'll be no more diversions until we track that llama down and kill him!"
"Said I was sorry. Can't we just let it go?"
"Kuzco must be eliminated! The empire will finally be rid of that useless slug."
"You've got a point. Nobody really seems to care that he's gone, do they?" Kuzco watched them walk off from his position in the bushes, his mouth open in shock, as though he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Quickly, he rushed back to where he had last seen Pacha and the world-travelers.
"Pacha! Sora! Riku! Goofy! Lea! Anyone?!" the emperor called out desperately. Finally, he spotted them, walking down another dirt path, but turned around as soon as they heard Kuzco calling out to them. "Hey, listen, guys, you know, what I said to you back there, that - that - I - I didn't really..." Before the llama could go on, Pacha held up his hand for Kuzco to stop talking and offered him a smile of forgiveness.
"So, you tired of being a llama?" Pacha asked.
"Ye-ee-ee-es!" Kuzco sobbed and sniffled.
PrismRain13: okay, so this world's gonna be pretty much wrapped up soon.
Pacha: Darn.
PrismRain13: Do we have to go through this every time I finish up a world? Read and review! Thank you guys so much for your continued support! You're the best!
Guest - I know, that was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid! Kuzco and Kronk crack me up every time :)
(1): Jake Long's limit: Dragonfire