The Elder Scrolls: The Quest for Kingdom Hearts
…
Chapter 5: Law of the Jungle
"Uh… how much longer do I have to sit like this?" Sora asked as he sat on the floor with his legs crossed.
"As long as it takes for your mind to be centred, now close your eyes and focus, please," Serana told him. Sora sighed and did as he was told.
"Breathe slowly, in and out," Serana commanded him. Sora slowly breathed in and out, his breathe coming in loud puffs of air. "Quietly and slowly, please," Serana chided him and Sora grudgingly breathed more quietly.
"Now picture yourself. Just yourself for now," Serana said and Sora then pictured himself standing in a black void. "Now picture everything and everyone in your life, from your friends and your family." Sora then saw Riku, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie and his family on the beach of the Play Island in Destiny Islands.
"Now imagine a wall surrounding you and, in those walls, put the things you cherish most and place the bad things outside those walls." A wall then surrounded Sora and his friends and family and outside those walls were the bad things in his life; the Heartless. Sora frowned, his eyes still closed as he could see the Heartless trying to break through the walls. And then the image of a shadowy man with golden yellow eyes appeared in the darkness and outstretched its hands, breaking through the walls and grabbed Kairi, pulling her into darkness. Sora gave a shocked gasp as his eyes opened, his breath in ragged pants.
"What is it? What did you see?" Serana asked Sora.
"I… I…" Sora tried to find the words to describe what he saw. Serana hummed in thought and said, "Hmmm… interesting. Perhaps you ought to do some meditation before you go to sleep and after you wake up?" she suggested helpfully.
"How will that help me?" Sora asked.
"It'd help you focus more clearly and help with your mental wellbeing, for starters," Serana replied. "It might also help with developing your magic as well," she said.
"Okay, I'll do it," Sora said grumpily.
Then Courier's voice announced itself over the comm systems. "Attention ladies and gents, we're approaching another world," the Courier said.
"We'll continue this another time, Sora," Serana told Sora as they stood to their feet and headed to the cockpit where they found the others waiting for them.
In the observation window, another world lay before them, it looked to be a tropical jungle.
"What kind of world is this?" Veronica asked. "I've never seen so much plant life!" she said in awe.
"I just hope it's not like Vault 22," Courier muttered as memories of the killer plants of Vault 22 ran through her mind.
"Perhaps this King Mickey is on this world?" Dragonborn said.
"I doubt it," Courier sneered under her helmet. "A backwater place like this doesn't seem like the kind of place a king would be. And whoever's behind the Heartless won't be down there, either," she said. "Let's move on to the next world," she stated.
"Hold on! Riku and Kairi might be down there!" Sora exclaimed. "Let's just check it out!" he said insistently.
"Forget it, kid. We're on a mission here," Courier retorted.
"Courier, we should at least go down there and look for Sora's friends," Veronica said placatingly. "We promised Sora that," she added.
"We don't even know if they made it off Sora's world," Courier said dismissively.
Sora gasped in shock and dismay. "Take that back!" he said to Courier.
"Listen, kid, we don't have time to trawl through every world looking for your friends," Courier said to the Keyblade's Chosen. "For all you know, your friends might already be dead. Accept that fact and you'll sleep a lot easier," she told him.
"No! They're alive! I just know it!" Sora shouted as he moved towards the controls. "If you won't fly us down there, I will!" he said.
"Hey! Quit that!" Courier yelled and she began to wrestle the controls from Sora. As the Courier and Keyblade's Chosen struggled over the controls, the Gummi Ship began to rumble and tumble awkwardly.
"How do you land this thing?!" Sora demanded as he tried to take the controls.
"Quit it! You'll make us crash!" Courier bellowed as the ship began to hurtle down towards the jungle world.
"Land!" Sora shouted as the ship entered the world's atmosphere. Parts of the ship began to break off and a vacuum effect happened and Sora was sucked out of one the breaches yelling.
"Sora!" Dragonborn shouted and he leapt out of the breach. The wind whipped past Dragonborn as he entered freefall. He soon spotted Sora flailing about, screaming anxiously. Tucking his arms by his sides and straightening his legs together, Dragonborn zoomed towards the Keyblade wielder. Once he was within reach, Dragonborn grabbed Sora and quickly looked around for a safe spot to land. Spotting what looked like a large tree house, Dragonborn aimed towards.
"What are you doing?!" Sora yelled over the sound of the wind whipping past them. "We're gonna crash!" he shouted.
Dragonborn then prepared himself.
"FEIM ZII GRON!"
Both Dragonborn and Sora's forms turned ethereal, almost as if they turned into ghostsand they landed into the treehouse softly. Once on the ground, their forms returned to normal.
"Wow! That was so cool! Let's do it again!" Sora exclaimed eagerly.
"Another time, lad," Dragonborn replied and he looked at Sora sternly. Sora caught the look in Dragonborn, and he shuffled awkwardly on the spot.
"I'm sorry I nearly crashed the ship," the Keyblade wielder said sadly.
"So, you should be," Dragonborn told him. "But Courier is just as much at fault since she was unwilling to search this world for your friends," he then said. Sora looked up at Dragonborn and smiled.
"Where do you think the others landed?" Sora then asked.
"Don't know, but they can't be far-off," Dragonborn replied then the sound of wooden floorboards creaking alerted them. "We're not alone," Dragonborn said quietly as he drew his sword and Sora summoned his Keyblade.
"Aela? Serana? Is that you?" Dragonborn called out. On the rafters of the house, a large leopard watched them with hungry eyes. The leopard growled softly but the sound alerted Sora who looked up.
"Look out!" Sora shouted as the leopard leapt down from the rafters and tried to land on Dragonborn who grabbed the beast and hurled it to the side. The leopard, with all the grace and agility of its species, landed on its clawed paws and roared at Dragonborn and Sora. Dragonborn's purple eyes narrowed under his helmet as he held his sword in a ready stance. The leopard roared as it charged at Dragonborn who used his Thu'um.
"FUS RO DAH!"
The blue tinted wave of energy surged out and knocked the leopard back into the wall of the house. Dragonborn looked at Sora. "Do what you did to Cerberus and calm that beast down!"
"How?! I don't know how to do it!" Sora yelled.
"Figure it out!" Dragonborn said as he charged toward the leopard who leapt onto the warrior, trying to claw and bite him. Slamming the pommel of his sword into the beast's stomach, Dragonborn grabbed it and holding it by the tail, he spun the beast around before throwing releasing it. The leopard gave a yowl of anger as it was thrown into some barrels and it looked at Sora who raised his hand towards it, his face one of concentration. The leopard growled angrily before stalking towards Sora. The Keyblade's Chosen panicked as he realised it wasn't working and Dragonborn prepared to get between the leopard and Sora.
Then leaping down the hole in the roof of the house was a man with dark brown dreadlocks, wearing a loincloth and holding a wooden spear with a sharp stone tip. The man spun around the rafters before landing down on the floor just as the leopard leapt at Sora. The strange man blocked the leopard's pounce and the leopard bit the wooden shaft of the man's spear, struggling wildly. With a great show of strength, the man knocked the predator aside and glared at it. Dragonborn stood beside the stranger who had come to their aid and pointed his sword at the beast.
The leopard gave a snarl before it fled, leaping out of a nearby window, breaking the fragile glass, leaving glass splinters. Sora sighed in relief and Dragonborn looked at him. "Are you alright, Sora?" the warrior asked the boy who nodded shakily.
"I panicked, but I'll live."
"Don't worry, we're only just learning how your power works," Dragonborn before looking at the stranger who aided them. The stranger was in a low almost crouching stance, his knuckles touching the floor like he were an ape of some kind.
"Sabor… danger!" the man said in broken English.
"Thank you," Dragonborn replied to the man who repeated the words. "Thank you."
"Uh, what is this place?" Sora asked the man. The man moved closer to them, awkwardly getting in their personal space.
"This place, this place," the man repeated, and Sora and Dragonborn glanced at each other in confusion.
"Okaaay… where did the others go?" Sora asked the strange man who gave no response and Dragonborn spoke.
"We were separated from our friends. Have you seen them?" the warrior asked the strange man who looked at Sora who repeated the word. "Friends..."
"Friends!" the strange man mimicked and Sora beamed at the progress they made. "Right! Our friends! One of them is Courier…" he made to say when Dragonborn cut him off.
"Courier can take care of herself," the warrior told Sora. "The others may be with her and besides, she may just make us leave this world without searching for your friends at all," he said.
"Oh, right," Sora muttered remembering the fight on the ship and he looked at the strange man. "I'm looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi. As well as my mother, Mara," he said.
"Look for Riku… friends?" the strange man asked and Sora nodded and as light fell in from the hole in the roof, Sora swore he saw Kairi standing in the light. "Kairi… friends?" the stranger asked and Sora nodded.
"Uhhh… right," the Keyblade wielder said awkwardly.
"Look for Mara, mother?" the stranger asked in his broken English.
"Yeah, that's right!" Sora said quickly.
"Friends here," the stranger said.
"Really? Where?" Sora asked.
"Ee-oo-oo-oo-ah," the wild man grunted earning confused looks from Sora and Dragonborn.
"Uhh, could you repeat that?" Sora asked.
"Ee-oo-oo-oo-ah. Friends here," the wild man replied. Sora looked at Dragonborn and asked, "Do you know what he said?"
Dragonborn shook his head and replied, "I haven't the faintest idea, but it might leads us to your friends."
"It's the best we got," Sora said before looking at the wild man and said, "Not sure we understand, but show us! Take us to Riku and Kairi!"
The wild man gestured to himself. "Tarzan," he introduced himself. "Tarzan go!" he said.
"And I'm… Sora," Sora replied to Tarzan.
"I'm Dragonborn," Dragonborn said.
"Tarzan go, Sora and Dragonborn go-go!" Sora told Tarzan. Tarzan nodded before opening the door to the treehouse.
…
Meanwhile, the Gummi Ship had had an awkward landing and Courier had gotten out to assess the damage with ED-E helping. After looking over the damage, Courier spoke to the others.
"It's not too bad, but it'll take a couple hours to fix," the Courier told Veronica, Aela and Serana. "Gotta be thankful that Sora didn't make it any worse," she said.
"This would never have happened if we had landed to look for Sora's friends in the first place," Aela said to Courier accusingly.
"We don't have time to search for Sora's friends, Red!" Courier replied. "For all we know, they could be dead," she said.
"And how can you be so sure?" Serana said calmly. "If you had lost your friends and family, wouldn't you do everything in your power to find them?"
Courier grunted and Veronica chose to speak.
"C, you should at least look at it from Sora's point of view. I'll admit that what Sora did wasn't the best way, but if there is even a chance Sora's friends are alive, he'll be willing to risk it," the ex-Scribe said.
"Next time the kid tries a stunt like that again, I'm knocking his ass out!" Courier grunted as she turned around and came face to face with a gorilla. The gorilla gave a yell of surprise before fleeing. As it ran way, it left behind a gummi block.
"What in the world?" Courier muttered as she picked up the gummi block.
"Is that a gummi block?" Veronica asked as she looked at the object in Courier's hand.
"It is," Courier stated as she examined it.
"Then… maybe King Mickey was here?" Aela asked.
"Guess we can check things out here," Courier said as she put the gummi block in her satchel.
Then the sound of rustling was heard in the thickets and emerging was a tall man carrying a double barrelled rifle with a pencil moustache. He looked at them with a raised eyebrow.
…
As Sora, Dragonborn and Tarzan made it out onto the decking that surrounded the house, Tarzan leapt over the railing onto the safety netting below. Approaching one of the nearest tree branches, the wild man looked up at Sora and Dragonborn expectantly. Glancing at each other and shrugging, Sora and Dragonborn leapt down to join Tarzan and to their surprise, Tarzan leapt into the treetops and their surprise was absolved when they saw Tarzan sliding along the thick winding treen branches like a surfer would along ocean waves.
"Cool!" Sora exclaimed and without any encouragement, the Keyblade's Chosen leapt onto the branches. Dragonborn's mouth briefly quirked under his helmet in amusement before he joined Sora and Tarzan.
Sora laughed in excitement as he surfed along the branches and he started jumping and spinning in the air before landing back on the branch or onto a different one. Tarzan grinned at how Sora seemed to be a natural at this. Dragonborn was going at a slightly slower pace, but he was smiling under his helmet at how Sora was enjoying himself.
Soon, the ride was over and the three of them landed in what looked like a scientist's camp, complete with an outdoor laboratory, piles of books and research equipment scattered everywhere.
"It appears we are not alone out here," Dragonborn remarked as Tarzan led them over to a nearby tent, pulling aside the doorflap. Inside the tent was a young woman with long brown hair and wearing a faded white tank top and a long red skirt that reached her ankles.
"Jane," Tarzan said to the woman who perked up and turned around.
"Tarzan!" Jane exclaimed happily with a smile on her face and she then noticed Sora and Dragonborn. "Oh, who's this?" she asked.
"Uh, hi there!" Sora responded. "I'm…" he tried to say when Jane cut him off.
"Oh, you speak English. So, then, you're obviously not related to Tarzan," Jane commented with a smile of relief. "Are you hereto study the gorillas?" she asked.
"Highly doubtful," drawled a new voice and entering the tent from behind Sora, Dragonborn and Tarzan was a tall man with thinning hair, pencil moustache and dressed in hunting attire with a rifle in his hands. But what was more interesting were the five individuals entering the tent as well.
"Dragonborn! Sora!" Aela and Serana cried out in relief and excitement as they past the hunter.
"Aela! Serana! You're alive!" Sora exclaimed as he hugged Aela and Serana in relief. Then the redheaded werewolf and brunette vampire latched onto Dragonborn who appeared a little confused at the display of affection from his two friends. Aela and Serana briefly glared at each other as they tightened their embrace on Dragonborn.
"We're here too, you know," Veronica piped up and Sora eagerly hugged her and he turned and nearly hugged Courier before they both looked at each other and turned away, their arms folded, looking away from each other.
"A circus of clowns," the hunter scoffed mockingly. "Not much use hunting gorillas," he said as he turned to leave.
"Mr Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them! This is research!" Jane said the hunter who did not appear to notice what she said. With a tired sigh of one that seemingly had tis conversation with Clayton many times, Jane looked at the new arrivals and said, "Well, the more the merrier! Do make yourselves at home," she offered.
"Well, anyway…" Sora prepared as he said at the same time as Courier did, "…I'm staying!"
Sora and Dragonborn both looked at Courier in surprise at this change of heart. Veronica smiled and said to Sora, "We found something." Courier pulled out the gummi block from her satchel.
"Another gummi block?" Dragonborn asked as he looked at the red gummi block in Courier's gloved hand.
"Yeah, we found shortly after we landed here," Veronica replied.
"So, the king was here after all," Courier said. "We're going to have to work together… for now," she added.
Sora glared at Courier and replied, "Fine. You can tag along… for now."
Dragonborn shook his head slightly at this before looking at Jane. "Our thanks for allowing us to stay here. I am Dragonborn. These are my companions Aela the Huntress, Serana Volkihar, Sora, Courier, Veronica and ED-E," he introduced everyone to Jane and Tarzan.
Jane smiled at everyone. "It's nice to meet you all. So, if you all aren't here to study the gorillas, what are you here for?" she asked.
"We're looking for some people who are close to us that went missing, along with a king who has information we seek," Serana replied as she reluctantly detached herself from Dragonborn's side.
Sora who had been looking at Tarzan for a while spoke, "Hey, how come Tarzan acts like this? And why does he have a hard time understanding us?" he asked.
"Well, Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas," Jane replied. "Communicating with him isn't easy, but he's learning," she revealed.
"So, he was speaking Gorilla back at the treehouse?" Dragonborn said putting a hand to his chin in thought.
"Ah, that's right," Jane said nodding her head before she looked at Sora. "You're looking for your friends?" she asked the Keyblade wielder.
"Tarzan said Riku and Kairi are, and one word I couldn't understand," Sora said.
"Why don't we try this? We can show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word?" Jane suggested before going over to the picture box. "Oh dear! Where are the slides?" she asked.
"We'll find them for you," Aela quickly said and Jane nodded her thanks. The group then left the tent to begin the search for the missing slides. Courier spotted Clayton leaning against the flagpole, smoking his pipe.
"You're not a researcher. You're a hunter," Courier stated.
"That is correct, yes," Clayton replied, not denying it.
"Then why join a research expedition?" Courier asked.
"Miss Porter hired me to protect her. The jungle is a dangerous place after all," Clayton said with a smile. Something about Clayton's smile set Courier on edge; she did not trust Clayton when he said those words. She knew deep down that something about Clayton was untrustworthy.
"Found the slides!" Veronica suddenly called out.
"No thanks to you," Aela said acidly to Courier who shrugged.
"Let's just get this over with," the Courier said as they entered the tent and handed the slides over to Jane.
The slides were placed into the projector and images were then shown on the makeshift screen. Tarzan looked at the images with his full attention, looking for an image that matched what he had said. Halfway through the images, nothing appeared to match what Tarzan said to Sora but the image of a castle showed on the screen and a strange feeling welled up in Sora.
"Something wrong, Sora?" Serana asked him. Sora shook his head, "It's nothing," he said quickly.
"No it isn't," Courier rebutted. "You recognised that image, didn't you?" she asked.
"I… don't know exactly," Sora replied nervously. "I feel like I've seen that castle before, but I've never been off the Islands before!" he said.
"Hmmm, interesting," Courier muttered and ED-E chirped in agreement as the slides continued. Once all the slides were finished, Jane looked at Tarzan. "Well, Tarzan?"she asked the wild man.
"Where are my friends? Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked drawing Tarzan's focus on him. Tarzan stared at him for a moment before shaking his head slowly. It was clear that nothing on the slides translated what Tarzan had said in Gorilla back at the treehouse. Sora hung his head sadly. "I thought maybe…" he mumbled.
"Well, that just leaves just once place," Clayton said as he walked into the tent. "We've been in this jungle for some time now and we've yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them," he stated.
"Really, Mr Clayton! Tarzan wouldn't hide…" Jane tried to protest but Clayton cut her off.
"Then take us to them!" the hunter said to Tarzan. "take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las!" he enunciated slowly as though he were talking to a simpleton.
Tarzan looked at Sora who looked at him pleadingly. Tarzan could sense Sora's desperation to find his friends and Sora's other friends all appeared to have good intentions. The gorilla-raised wild man knew this was risky and that Kerchak would not take kindly to this, but Tarzan felt that Sora and his friends were trustworthy. Looking at Sora, the wild man nodded.
"Tarzan? Are you sure about this?" Jane asked the wild man with concern lacing her voice.
"I go see Kerchak," Tarzan replied.
"Kerchak?" Veronica repeated the name.
"Must be the leader," Aela remarked.
"Excellent! I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place," Clayton said.
"I don't think so," Courier told the hunter. "We can take care of ourselves, and you might be better off here protecting Jane and the campsite," she said firmly.
Clayton's smile fell a little but he nodded in acceptance and left the tent as the others made ready to depart.
"So, who is Kerchak to you, Tarzan?" Veronica asked Tarzan.
"Kerchak leader of gorillas. Kala wife, Kalamhy mother," Tarzan replied in his broken English. "Kala raise me, but Kerchak not trust me much," he said.
"What about your parents? You birth parents?" Dragonborn asked.
"Sabor kill them," Tarzan answered.
"Sabor was the leopard that attacked us at the treehouse, right?" Sora asked and Tarzan nodded in response.
"So, if Kerchak sees us with you…?" Serana asked.
"Keep distance when we speak to Kerchak," Tarzan told everyone as they made their way through the jungle. As they prepared to climb the trees, the familiar sound of yipping and barking alerted them.
"Is that what I think it is?" Aela asked as she glanced around the trees.
ED-E suddenly whistled and chirped excitedly, floating over to a nearby where several Dalmatian puppies were stuck, yipping and wuffing.
"More of the puppies!" Sora exclaimed in excitement.
"Pup-ees?" Tarzan repeated the new word.
"Long story short: they got separated from their parents, so if we a find any of them, we bring them back to their parents," Veronica told the wild man. Tarzan then helped get the puppies down from the tree. Holding the puppies in her arms, Veronica said, "I'll take the puppies back to the Gummi Ship, you all go on ahead without me. I'll meet you back at the camp."
"Stay safe out there, Veronica," Sora told her.
"Will do, kid," Veronica gave a little salute and with the puppies in tow, Veronica turned back and headed for the Gummi Ship. "Try not to kill each other while I'm gone!" the ex-Scribe called out over her shoulder as she left.
Sora glanced at Courier before shouting back, "We'll try!"
"Do or do not. There is no try."
"Huh?" Sora looked around trying to find the source of the voice that said those words. Shrugging his shoulders, Sora continued with the rest of the group.
…
After climbing and traversing the treetops, the group came face to face Kerchak. The leader of the gorillas glared sternly at the heroes while Tarzan pleaded their case.
"Kerchak, please listen to me! I know the nesting grounds are sacred, but I trust them! You see, I want to help them because… because… well, they need us!" Tarzan pleaded.
But Kerchak continued to glower at them.
"How do you think it's going?" Dragonborn whispered.
"Not well. Kerchak doesn't trust us anymore than he trusts Tarzan, which isn't very much," Courier whispered back.
"Kerchak, please!" Tarzan said.
Kerchak turned his head silently towards the treetops, as if sensing something amiss before he turned around and walked away. Tarzan sighed in defeat.
Kala who had been standing beside Kerchak looked at her adopted son in sympathy before following Kerchak.
"Is it me, or did Kerchak seem distracted by something?" Aela asked her friends.
"He was looking towards the Treehouse," Courier said as she spotted the treehouse through the vines.
"Should we go and check it out?" Sora asked and he turned around to see Courier disappeared.
"Where did Courier go?" Serana asked in disbelief.
"I think I have a good idea," Dragonborn said dryly as he began to make his way towards the treehouse quickly picking Courier's footprints.
…
Inside the treehouse, a young gorilla was playing with a faded antique globe of the world, spinning it around with her paw, a look of wonder on her face.
But up on the balcony, looking down the sights of his rifle was Clayton who smiled as he lined his target.
Running into the treehouse came Courier who spotted the hunter and with a sprint, she grabbed the barrel of Clayton's rifle as the hunter pulled the trigger. His aim off, the bullet missed the young gorilla narrowly, but it scared the ape as Kerchak entered the treehouse and the others did as well.
Courier glared at Clayton behind her riot helmet. "Just here to protect Miss Porter, huh?" she asked sarcastically.
"Kerchak, wait!" Tarzan called out but Kerchak scowled and stalked off with the young gorilla following him.
"Kerchak will never trust us now!" Sora bemoaned before he and the others all glared at Clayton who tried to talk his way out of it.
"You don't understand! I was only trying to… ah! A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life!"
"You think we'd buy that so easily?" Aela snarled, her amber eyes flashing angrily and Serana hissed softly, her red eyes glowing under her hood.
"Let's see what Jane has to say about this," Dragonborn stated as they hauled Clayton back to camp.
…
After meeting up with Veronica and Jane back at the camp and filling them in on what happened, Jane was furious.
"How could you do such a thing?!" Jane demanded at Clayton who tried to protest.
"Now, Miss Porter, I already told you! I was not aiming at the gorilla!" the hunter said trying to use his lie.
ED-E buzzed and chirped angrily and Courier translated. "Nice try, Mr 'Bodyguard,' but your vitals tell another story and I saw clear as day you were aiming at the gorilla," she said accusingly.
Before Clayton could say something in his defence, Jane spoke angrily. "You are not to go near the Gorillas again!" she ordered.
"All because of one mishap?" Clayton asked. "Come, now" he said with a chuckle but that chuckle died on his lips as he saw the hard unrelenting gazes of everyone in the tent directed at him. Not wanting to push his luck any further, the hunter left the tent.
Once he was outside, Clayton growled in frustration. "What am I doing with these imbeciles?!" he said to himself.
"Blasted gorillas! I'll hunt down every last one of them! I'll track them down somehow!" the hunter vowed. "I'll stake my life on it!" he declared as he pulled out his smoking pipe. Then the sound rustling in the bamboo thickets alerted Clayton. Putting his pipe away, Clayton held out his rifle, looking around for whatever was making that noise. Aiming his rifle to where the noise was coming from, Clayton pulled the trigger.
…
The sound of Clayton's gun firing alerted everyone in the tent. "Maybe we should've taken Clayton's gun away?" Serana said dryly.
"I'll go check it out," Dragonborn said as he stepped out of the tent, leaving everyone else inside. Veronica then looked at Courier and jerked her head towards Sora, giving a meaningful look. Courier sighed before looking at Sora.
"Hey, kid?" Sora turned around to glare at Courier. "Listen, about before… on the Gummi Ship…" she tried to say when Dragonborn's shouted interrupted her.
"To arms! The Heartless are here!"
Aela looked at Jane and said to her, "Stay in here where it's safe!" Jane nodded quickly as everyone else ran out of the tent to find Dragonborn engaged in combat with a new type of Heartless that took the forms of dark blue furred monkeys and they had a gorilla surrounded.
"Heartless!" Sora cried out as he summoned his Keyblade.
"take them down!" Courier shouted as she drew Lucky and fired .357 magnum rounds at the beings of darkness. Serana fired bolts of chain lightning, destroying several at once and Aela fired arrows rapidly, scoring directs hits with each arrow fired. Veronica swung Oh Baby in a wide arc, smashing aside five Heartless all at once and Sora used some of his new spells to destroy the heartless surrounding the gorilla. Tarzan thrust his spear in the Heartless, skewering them and Dragonborn sliced apart any Heartless that got in his way.
When the Heartless were defeated, Tarzan spoke to the gorilla. After speaking with it, Tarzan spoke to the others. "More monsters in jungle! Attacking every Gorilla!" he said urgently.
"How are we gonna get to them all in time?" Veronica asked.
"We split up into teams of two and cover every area of the jungle we can get to!" Courier stated as she reloaded her revolver. "I'll take ED-E. The rest of you sort yourselves out!" she said.
Dragonborn looked at Tarzan. "Tarzan, take Sora with you and find Kerchak and let him know what's going on here!" Tarzan nodded as he and Sora then headed off into the jungle to find Kerchak. Everyone else split into groups of two and started to search for any other gorilla's in danger.
Meanwhile, the young gorilla from the treehouse ran through the camp and into the tent, alarming Jane and knocking her over. The young gorilla looked at Jane in fear before the sound of someone entering the tent caught Jane's attention. Jane looked at the figure in fear before everything went black.
…
After making sure the gorillas were safe, the heroes regrouped at the campsite. Tarzan spoke, "Kerchak gone! Mother gone too!" he said in dismay.
"Strange, what could've caused the Heartless to appear on this world?" Serana asked.
"I noticed they arrived as Clayton left the tent, that can't be a coincidence," Dragonborn said.
"Should we go see how Jane is doing?" Sora asked. "She might be in danger!" he said.
Everyone agreed and they entered the tent and found nothing. "Where Jane?!" Tarzan asked, his eyes frantic with worry.
"I doubt she left voluntarily," Courier remarked as she began to examine everything. ED-E gave a buss and chirp. "ED-E's picked up some residue," Courier translated for everyone. "I think Jane was taken by the Heartless," she said grimly.
"Then let's go find her!" Veronica declared.
"Alright, ED-E, pick up the trail. Find Jane," Courier ordered the Eyebot who beeped and displayed his scanners, picking up a thermal pattern. ED-E then zoomed out of the tent with everyone following him.
Soon the Eyebot led them to a copse of trees where they found Jane and the young gorilla trapped by a web of vines. Then the Heartless appeared.
"Take care of those Heartless!" Courier shouted as she pulled out her knife and climbed up to where Jane and the gorilla were trapped. Hacking at the vines barring her way, Courier growled in frustration and shouted to the others as they fought the Heartless. "The vines are enchanted! I can cut through them!"
ED-E buzzed and chirped and Courier looked to see ED-E floating near an enormous fruit that pulsed with darkness.
"The fruit! Destroy the fruit!" Courier shouted to the others who quickly got the message. Focussing their attention on the dark fruit, they hacked and hammered away at it until it exploded into nothingness. The Heartless disappeared as well and the vines that imprisoned Jane and the gorilla faded away.
Tarzan checked on Jane and spoke with the gorilla. Dragonborn spoke with Jane, "What happened?" the warrior asked her.
"It was Clayton! He came into the tent, and that's the last thing I remember!" Jane replied fearfully.
"Clayton?!" Sora exclaimed.
"Obviously," Courier grunted. "The Heartless were only attacking the gorilla's… under Clayton's orders!" she said.
"The madman! His actions could destroy this world!" Aela spat angrily.
"Gorillas trapped by monsters and men in white. Terk ran," Tarzan said after speaking to the gorilla.
"The First Order?! Here?!" Veronica exclaimed in shock.
"We must help the gorillas!" Jane said desperately.
Dragonborn looked at Sora. "Do you remember the leopard that attacked us before?" he asked the Keyblade's Chosen.
"Yeah, what about it?" Sora asked and Dragonborn then looked at Tarzan and asked him, "Do you know where Sabor and the other leopards live?" and Tarzan nodded.
"Good, we're going to convince them to help us with the Heartless and the First Order!" Dragonborn declared.
"But how?" Sora asked and Dragonborn looked at him. Sora quickly caught on. "But I tried that last time! It didn't work! It might not even work this time!" he said.
"It will," Dragonborn replied. "If Riku and Kairi are here on this world, their lives are at stake too. Do it for them," he told Sora.
Sora then had a determined look on his face and nodded. "For Riku and Kairi!" he said bravely and Dragonborn nodded once.
…
The gorillas were surrounded by the Heartless and Captain Phasma and her First Order troopers. Clayton loaded his elephant rifle and cocked it. Kerchak roared as a group of Heartless pounced on him. Clayton then aimed his rifle at Kala, putting his finger on the trigger.
"No!"
Clayton turned around to Sora and the others arrive. "So we meet again, Sora," Phasma said coolly.
"Clayton! How could you?!" Sora shouted.
"For three hundred pounds sterling a head, I'll be rich!" Clayton gloated. "And these First Order chaps offered to help, in exchange for you, boy!" he laughed. The First Order soldiers aimed their blasters at the heroes.
"Not Clayton!" Tarzan exclaimed looking at the hunter in question. "Ee-oo-oo-oo-ah! Not Clayton!" he said.
"Sora, now!" Dragonborn ordered and Sora got to his knees and raised his hands. Leaping down from the treetops was Sabor and the other leopards of the jungle and began to attack Clayton, Phasma, the Heartless and the troopers. The troopers opened fire at the leopards who dodged the blaster fire. Phasma aimed down her blaster rifle at Sora, setting it to stun. But as she fired a shot, Dragonborn got in the way and deflected it with his sword. Staring at each other hatefully, Phasma put away her blaster before pulling out her quicksilver baton, extending it to full length as Dragonborn moved towards her with his sword ready. Veronica, Aela and Serana helped fight off Clayton while Tarzan worked to free Kerchak.
Kerchak looked at Tarzan in surprise. "You came back?" the silverback gorilla asked Tarzan.
"I came home," Tarzan corrected. Kerchak then noticed a First Order trooper creeping behind Tarzan and with a roar, the silverback swung his fist at the trooper, knocking him out. Tarzan smiled in thanks at Kerchak before working to free the other gorillas. Sabor pounced at Clayton but the hunter shot the leopard in the heart killing the creature instantly. Aiming his rifle at Courier, Clayton took aim, but Courier quickly drew Lucky and fired it from her hip; the .357 magnum bullet whizzed through the air and knocked the barrel of Clayton's gun to one side. Clayton glared at Courier who aimed at her revolver at the hunter.
Stepping back a little, Clayton lowered his gun just as the rock wall behind him exploded in a shower of rubble. Tarzan rushed forward but was knocked onto his back by something invisible. The air rippled dissonantly, a vague shape of a large creature in the air and the sound was filled with something warbling and growling. Clayton then mounted the invisible creature and aimed his gun at the heroes again.
Courier entered VATS and fired at the invisible creature, even the odds of hitting it were low given that it was invisible.
Serana leapt and grabbed Clayton by his shirt and threw him off his invisible mount. Clayton pulled out his machete and tried to swing at the Pureblood Vampire, but Serana's superhuman reflexes and speed allowed her to avoid Clayton's strikes. Aela fired an arrow at Clayton who narrowly avoided the missile, but was distracted long enough for Serana to blast him back with a lightning bolt.
Courier then saw Dragonborn trading strikes with Captain Phasma. Aiming down the sight of her revolver, she cocked back the hammer and squeezed the trigger with her thumb. A sharp crack and flash of flame as the bullet was expelled from the gun and it struck Phasma's weapon, knocking it out of her hands. Phasma growled in anger and pulled out her blaster pistol and fired some shots at Courier who avoided the bolts of ignited Tibaana gas. Dragonborn then took in a breath.
"FUS RO DAH!"
Phasma was sent flying back and hit a tree trunk and slid down, groaning in pain. Dragonborn looked over at Courier who gave him a thumbs-up. Dragonborn nodded his thanks before moving to help Veronica mop up the Heartless. Sora ran over to Tarzan's side with Jane to check on him. Clayton had recovered and aimed his rifle at the three. Kerchak spotted this and roared out, "NO!" Leaping in the way, Kerchak grunted as Clayton fired his gun, the bullet hitting the silverback in his chest. Kerchak collapsed to the ground, his chest bleeding heavily.
"NO!" Tarzan cried out in horror. Sora blocked another shot from Clayton as the hunter gave pursuit. The sky began to darken and rumble with thunder. Tarzan and Sora climbed into the trees and Clayton smiled viciously.
"Hiding are we? Good! I could use a challenge!" the hunter shouted before turning to his invisible Heartless. "Finish the rest of them off!" he ordered the creature which gave a shrill cry in response. Jane ran over to Clayton and tried to take the gun from the hunter.
"Clayton, you- gah!" jane cried as she knocked the ground by the hunter who then began to climb the trees in pursuit of Tarzan and Sora.
"After I get rid of you and your little friends, rounding up you little ape family will be all too easy!" Clayton shouted an evil smile on his face. Ther persistent hunter made it to the tallest part of the trees, but founding nothing in sight. The vines and encroaching darkness made it difficult to see anything.
But then Clayton spotted Sora and aimed his gun at the Keyblade wielder. But Tarzan leapt down from his hiding spot and landed on Clayton, struggling to remove the gun from the hunter's grasp. The pair struggled fiercely and Clayton threw a punch at Tarzan, scoring a lucky hit. Now Clayton was on top trying to strangle the ape-man. With all his strength, Tarzan kicked Clayton off him and the hunter fell down below to another tree branch. Clayton smirked as he spotted his rifle in the vines and prepared to get it when Sora appeared and tripped the hunter up with his Keyblade. Clayton stumbled and fell over and Tarzan leapt in, grabbing Clayton's rifle and aimed the barrel under Clayton's chin and Sora aimed his Keyblade at the hunter's head.
"It's over, Clayton! Surrender while you can!" Sora ordered the hunter who smiled smugly at them and started chuckling.
"Go ahead. Shoot me," he told Tarzan who faltered a little. "Be a man," Clayton taunted mockingly while he chuckled. Tarzan gritted his teeth and jabbed the barrel of the rifle under Clayton's chin a little harder, causing the hunter to stop his mirth. And then…
BANG!
Clayton winced, his eyes scrunched shut and his heart beating frantically in his chest. Then opening one eye before opening the other, Clayton saw that Tarzan had not pulled the trigger, but instead mimicked the sound of Clayton's gun firing.
"You gotta teach me that!" Sora exclaimed in awe.
"Not a man like you!" Tarzan said to Clayton before grabbing the rifle by the barrel and smashed it down onto the ground, breaking it to pieces and tossing the broken weapon aside. Clayton gave a yell of frustration as he saw the broken pieces of his weapon fall down into darkness. Giving a roar of anger, Clayton drew his machete and swung at Sora and Tarzan wildly; Sora blocked the strikes as he and Tarzan backed up into the vines. Clayton began cutting his way through them, the action causing Tarzan to fall down, but the wild man grabbed another vine to stop himself from falling. Getting an idea, Tarzan threw a vine around Clayton's arm, preventing the hunter from using his machete.
Clayton roared in anger as he swung recklessly into a tangle of vines and Tarzan threw another vine, this time around Clayton's leg and Clayton was entangled in the vines.
"Give up, Clayton! Call of the Heartless!" Sora shouted at the hunter.
But the hunter would not give in; darkness fuelling his rage, Clayton then chomped his teeth on the vine wrapped around his hand holding his machete. Then once his arm was free, Clayton began swinging his blade around, chopping at any vine around tied to him.
"Clayton!" Tarzan shouted trying to bring the hunter to his senses, but the man would not listen. He was blinded by his rage as he chopped at every vine around. All except one that wrapped itself around his neck.
"Clayton, don't!" Sora shouted in fear trying to warn Clayton.
Soon all the vines were chopped down, except for the one around Clayton's neck. Leaping towards Sora and Tarzan, Clayton suddenly with the vine tightening around his neck. Sora and Tarzan watched helplessly.
As the battle with the Heartless below was finishing, Dragonborn and the others saw Clayton falling down to earth with a vine wrapped around his neck. And then…
SNAP!
Clayton hung from the vine, suspended just above the ground, his neck supported by the vine. And not in good way. Everyone looked at the grisly sight as Sora and Tarzan made their way back to the ground.
"We didn't… we tried to…" Sora tried to say, obviously shaken up by what happened.
"It's okay, Sora, we know," Courier said softly. "You and Tarzan aren't killers. Clayton killed himself. Neither of you would kill Clayton if you could help it."
Sora nodded and looked around. "What happened down here?" he asked.
"We defeated the Heartless commander, but the First Order got away," Aela told them.
"Kerchak?" Tarzan asked.
"It's not good," Dragonborn said sombrely. "He's dying," he added.
Tarzan ran over to the silverback and Sora asked, "Could we try a potion or…?"
"It's no good," Veronica said to him. "Kerchak's wounds are fatal," she explained sadly.
Tarzan spoke to a dying Kerchak. "Kerchak, forgive me!" the ape-man pleaded, tears pricking his eyes.
"No," Kerchak denied. "Forgive me for not understanding…. That you were always one of us," he corrected. "Our family will look to you," he then said and he looked over at Sora and waved his hand. Sora was then enveloped in green light. "You were right about them… they need us… and we need them as well. Take them to our home," Kerchak coughed before giving his final words. "Take care of them… my son…"
With a soft exhale of air, Kerchak breathed his last and passed away. Tarzan hugged the silverback tightly, weeping softly as rain began to fall heavily. The other gorillas, Jane and the heroes all bowed their heads in respect and mourning.
Tarzan then slowly released his embrace of Kerchak's lifeless body and looked at his gorilla brethren. Standing to his feet, straight and proud, Tarzan looked at Sora and his friends. "Come with me," he said to them.
Tarzan then led everyone through a network of caves until at last they reached a large area where a large tree grew, reaching out towards the ceiling and into the clouds above them. A faint blue glow came from the trunk of the tree, caused by a group of blue butterflies emanated from them. The ground was covered in soft moss and other forms of greenery; coupled with the soothing cool air and peaceful nature of this place, it almost made one want to lie down and have a long restful sleep.
"Is this your home?" Sora asked Tarzan. "Then that means…" he tried to say when Tarzan raised a hand to forestall his words. The sound of the nearby waterfalls echoed in the chamber.
"The waterfalls, they're echoing all the way here!" Serana said in amazement.
"Ee-oo-oo-oo-ah," Tarzan grunted in gorilla once again. "Friends there. See friends," he said pointing at the tree.
"I see now!" Jane exclaimed in realisation. "Ee-oo-oo-oo-ah means heart! Friends in our hearts!" she said.
"Heart," Tarzan confirmed.
"Oh, so that's what it meant," Sora said sheepishly.
"Friends have same heart. Clayton lost heart. NO heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends," Tarzan said. "No matter where you go, you won't lose friends," he added.
Sora looked at Courier who looked back at him. "I'm sorry about what I said before, Courier," the Keyblade's chosen said softly.
"It's okay, I should apologise too," Courier said taking off her riot helmet and ruffled her sweat slicked hair. "I was an orphan my whole life, I was taken away from my family when I was very young and I grew up alone," she explained. "I closed my heart off to others and tried not to get close to anyone, because I'm afraid they'll leave me or be taken away," she added with a sad sober smile.
"Courier…" Veronica said in shock. Now it all made sense why Courier was the way she was to the ex-Scribe.
"But you never gave up, did you, Sora?" Courier asked Sora with a slightly envious smile.
Sora smiled back and shook his head. "Never!" the Keyblade wielder said with a grin. "You're my friend now, Courier," he told Courier who smiled briefly before putting her helmet back on.
"I think it's safe to say that we are all friends now," Serana said with a smile.
"Indeed," Dragonborn said with a smile under his helmet.
Sora then noticed something among the butterflies. In the middle of the butterfly nest was a keyhole. Almost instinctively, Sora raised his Keyblade and a beam of bright white light shot out from his weapon and entered the keyhole. The sound of something locking itself was heard throughout the cavern and the butterflies then fluttered away before a bright green gummi block fell to the ground.
"Another Gummi block!" Veronica exclaimed.
"But it's different to the others we found before," Courier observed. "The king isn't here either!" she said.
"Guess we'll keep looking," Sora said.
Then Courier felt Terk nuzzling against her leg and looked at the ape in confusion.
"Oh! I think someone has a new admirer~!" Jane said in amusement.
Courier groaned in frustration as the others chuckled in mirth.
…
IN the dark chapel, Maleficent watched the events in the jungle through her magic mirror. The regally dressed man in the shadows spoke, "What drew the Heartless to that world?" he asked in interest.
"The hunter lured them there," Elenwen said. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But, it appears the bait was too tasty for his own good," she added cynically.
The living burlap sack laughed and said, "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"
The regal sounding man then stepped into the light revealing an almost gaunt man with a thin beard wearing black and red robes and turban on his head and holding a snake-headed staff in his hands. "A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless, but the boy is becoming a problem! He has already found two of the Keyholes!" he stated.
"A minor problem," the purpled-robed and grey-haired man dismissed easily. "It will take the boy ages to find the rest," he said confidently.
Maleficent spoke. "Elijah is right. They remain blissfully unaware of our plans," she said.
"Yes… the princesses!" gloated one of the figures in the darkness.
"They are falling into our hands, one by one," Maleficent said sounding pleased. "Speaking of which," she added as the black robed and masked man shoved none other than Alice forward into the light. The young girl glanced about fearfully, unsure what these people wanted from her and what they intended to do with her.
…
Everyone regrouped in the tent. Sora said to Jane, "I guess we better be going now," he said.
"Where is your ship by the way?" Jane asked, curious to know.
"It's not far from here," Dragonborn said quickly. "We'll be fine for now," he added.
"What about you, Miss Porter? What will you do?" Aela asked Jane who smiled and said, "I've decided to stay here, with Tarzan as my husband."
Tarzan smiled at Jane who smiled back. Tarzan then handed over a keychain to Sora and said to him, "Wherever you go, we'll always be friends." Sora nodded in thanks as he took the keychain from the wild man.
Leaving the tent and heading back to the Gummi Ship, Sora looked at the damage and said, "So, how long before we fix this thing?" he asked everyone.
"Shouldn't take me too long," Courier replied as she dug out from her satchel some tools. "We'd better get started, we're burning daylight!" she said briskly.
"Well, no time like the present!" Veronica put in as she dug out some of her own tools.
With Courier and Veronica handing the others some tools, they began to work on fixing the Gummi Ship so that she was flight worthy again.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! The fifth chapter of this done and dusted! I'm glad I got this outta the way and that I managed to fit in some time to work on this. Anyway, next up will be a return to Traverse Town where we'll meet some familiar faces and our heroes learn who is pulling the strings of the Heartless and what they want.
Not much more to say, but feedback is appreciated. So long as its constructive or has helpful suggestions.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.