Back at the camp, Sora, Donald, and Goofy reconvened with Ruby, Wiess and Blake. Fortunately nobody was hurt badly, Jane was safe, and none of the gorillas were lost to the Heartless. All they had to do was wait for Jaune and Pyrrha to return. "Any sign of Clayton, Jane?" Ruby asked, only for the lady scientist to shake her head. "No. Still nothing, Ms. Rose. I do hope he's alright." she said anxiously

Blake's face hardened into a scowl. The fact they hadn't seen head nor heel of Clayton could only mean that those Heartless had taken him. Either that, or he had something to do with them. But she didn't speak it out loud. As much as she hated Clayton, she had to keep a clear head. All of them did.

BANG!

The present members of the group jolted as they heard the sound of Clayton's shotgun echo through the jungle. Everyone rushed out the tent looking toward where the sound resounded from. They immediately noticed it came from the bamboo thicket. "That's where Jaune and Pyrrha went!" Ruby exclaimed, looking to the others and gesturing to follow her. "Come on!"

Ruby didn't have to tell them twice. Sora and the others were hot on her tail as Ruby led the way into the jungle. They weren't certain about what was happening, but Clayton shooting something meant it couldn't be good. Especially since Jaune and Pyrrha hadn't arrived yet. Jane was of similar thoughts as she watched Tarzan and the others run off again. She didn't want to think such thoughts, but given the evidence they had thus far, she couldn't help but wonder. Could Clayton have been responsible for all of this somehow?

-

Whatever the case, Jaune and Pyrrha meanwhile also heard the gunshot and immediately turned on their heels. "Jaune, did you hear that? It sounded like..."

"Clayton's gun!" Jaune answered, remembering the noise clearly after the recent shot he unleashed before the Heartless appeared. They at least knew Clayton was alive for now. But why would he just run away rather than tell them the Heartless were here?

As the two of them stood there trying to make sense of this, they didn't realize that they were being watched. But not by the Heartless. Hiding within the trees was Sabor. He had been stalking the pair the whole time. And the instant they turned away, he saw an opening. Jumping out from his hiding place, the leopard made a beeline for Pyrrha with a feral roar.

"Pyrrha, look out!" Pyrrha barely had time to turn around and see the bestial feline charging right at her. An instant later, she was suddenly shoved away by Jaune, who was pounced by the ravenous Sabor. "Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out, scrambling to get to her feet. The only thing keeping the jaws of death from sinking into him was his shield, which he was struggling to keep up against Sabor's assault.

Just in time to see Jaune barely holding off getting mauled, Ruby emerged from the largest thicket of bamboo. "Jaune! Pyrrha!" Ruby called out as she saw Jaune pinned and Pyrrha struggling to get to her feet to help Jaune. Switching her Crescent Rose from scythe mode to gun mode and aimed at the leopard. But she found herself hesitating. If she used a gun, she might end up scaring the gorillas more than they already were. After that incident with Clayton, they were all shaken enough as it was.

That hesitation was enough, along with her call, for Sabor to notice her. Because of that, the leopard noticed Pyrrha out of his peripherals. Seeing both that, and the fact the new prey didn't have what was keeping his initial prey safe, Sabor bolted off of Jaune, jumping out of Ruby's line of fire and away from Pyrrha. Sabor wasted no time pouncing at Ruby who couldn't switch her weapon fast enough to intercept the attack, and was forced to vainly shield herself.

"YEEAAAARGHH!"

In the middle of the leopard's leap, Tarzan suddenly lunged out of the bamboo and kicked Sabor middair, sending him sprawling. The killer cat fell to his side but quickly rolled back up, glaring at Tarzan who stood protectively in front of Ruby. Everyone else emerged from the bamboo, battle ready, giving Jaune and Pyrrha the time they needed to reorient themselves. "Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she helped Jaune to his feet "Yeah, I'm fine." Jaune assured as they ran back to join everyone else.

Everyone surrounded Tarzan and Sabor in a circle while looking for a moment to strike. As the two circled each other, everyone tensely watched, waiting for either to make the first move.

Sabor chose to strike first, attempting to flank around Tarzan and catch him by leaping of a large tree limb from the upper left of the thicket. Reacting with speed and reflexes to match the predatory cat's, Tarzan quickly raised his spear, intercepted Sabor, and tossed him to the side, grazing his left foreleg with the bladed tip of the spear. Bleeding from the injury, Sabor snarled furiously at Tarzan. In response, Tarzan raised his spear with a glare, and mimicked the leopard's threatening roar with frightening ferocity.

Looking between Tarzan and the rest of the group who looked ready to jump in at any moment, Sabor seemed to realize how the odds were stacked against him. Backing away, the ravenous leopard jumped back into the thicket. And then...silence.

"Did...Did he run away?" Jaune asked hopefully.

Tarzan's eyes scanned the area suspiciously and warned them all. "No. Sabor hiding. Still close."

This leopard was tough as nails. It wasn't a Heartless or a Grimm, yet it was standing strong against Tarzan with more strength and stamina than they would have expected. It seemed Sabor was taking to a more hit and run approach, realizing how unmatched he was.

"Anybody see anything?" Sora asked, only to get a sharp "Shh!" from Weiss. They needed to keep a sharp eye out, not make noise.

Looking around cautiously, the group searched for any sign of her, yet saw and heard nothing. Blake however suddenly went still and closed her eyes as if she was sharply concentrating on something. If this was what Sabor was planning on doing, Blake had an idea to catch their feral foe off guard. Sora looked at her with concern and confusion. This wasn't the time to close eyes! Sabor was still out there waiting to catch them off guard!

And that apparent vulnerability was just what Sabor was counting on. For the instant she saw a vulnerability, she lunged straight for the black clad huntress.

"Blake! Look out!" Sora called out as the leopard lunged from behind the seemingly unaware Blake, fangs and claws bared, ready for the kill. And in a flash, Sabor was upon Blake...or so it seemed. For the instant she landed where she was, Blake suddenly seemed to vanish in a blur of black, only to reappear right beside Sabor and deliver a sharp kick to the leopard's flank.

Sora, who had attempted to rush to Blake and 'save' her, skidded to a halt, shocked by the sudden reversal. What did Blake just do? He didn't know, but going by the proud smiles of her teammates, they certainly did.

When Sabor was forced to the ground once more, he quickly pushed himself up with another snarling hiss. Noticing the little human he tried to make a meal out of earlier this day, the leopard broke into a mad rush toward Sora. Shocked by the sudden about face, Sora raised his Keyblade to defend himself from the charging predator.

"Hold on, Sora!" Goofy's voice rang out as he dashed in front of the boy, holding the leopard back with his shield. Yet another obstacle that infuriated the leopard, but did its job well enough for what came next.

"Fire!"

Suddenly, Sabor was struck in the face by a fireball coming out Donald's staff. In a sudden bout of impulse, Donald jumped in front of Sora and unleashed a spell, keeping him safe. "Donald? Goofy? You saved me?" Sora said, unable to believe it.

Donald looked down, suddenly embarrassed or frustrated. Sora couldn't tell. "Well... yeah. Why wouldn't I? We're on the same team." The way he phrased it made it seem like that was only part of the reason, but the duck was holding back from saying more, like it was embarrassing. Regardless, Sora was still surprised and awkwardly looked to the side, scratching his cheek. "Yeah... We are." Goofy looked at the two of them with a sad expression. Were they really still too mad at one another to make up?

A furious roar drew them from their thoughts as suddenly Sabor rolled back up onto his feet, now utterly incensed at being denied a kill. "Oh, come on! What is this cat made out of!?" Jaune exclaimed, raising his shield.

The leopard wasn't even thinking at this point as to which target it wanted. It simply made an immediate beeline toward Tarzan who raised his spear to intercept the now desperate predator. Gnashing and biting and clawing desperately to try and get the wild man, Sora quickly dashed toward Sabor, striking the distracted leopard in the stomach with his Keyblade, leaving Tarzan the opening to deliver a fatal blow right into the leopard's ribs.

And with that final blow, Sabor let out a final pained roar, and finally fell to the ground, motionless. In that moment of relief, they realized that Sabor was dead.

With the spotted feline finally dead, the group took a moment to collect themselves. Sora flopped down onto his back, barely able to believe that once again, he was nearly leopard food. Had he known much about animal behavior, he'd have known that predators prefer targeting the weakest prey...and possibly be offended by it, considering the leopard specifically targeted him multiple times since he arrived here.

Tarzan looked down at Sabor's corpse, a myriad of emotions flowing through him as he looked down at the fallen feline. The most prominent of which being regret. Not regret at what he'd done, as he couldn't let the leopard harm his friends and family. But regret that killing Sabor, while an avenging act, would never bring back his true parents. But that was a regret for another time. Now, he needed to protect the family that raised him from these Heartless creatures.

But that aside, Sora found himself thinking back to that instant Sabor tried to go for Blake, only for her to seemingly vanish before countering Sabor. Wobbling to his feet, he shuffled over to Blake, his eyes wide with surprise as he immediately began asking, "Blake, are you okay?! That was...How did you do that?! One second you were right in Sabor's path, then the next you just seemed to flash to the side, and it was like a blur and...and it was so cool!"

The flurry of words left Blake wide-eyed and surprised. This was not an occurrence she was used to with new people. Being thought of as cool. It was almost as if she was looking at Ruby if she were a boy and with brown hair instead of black streaked with red. No wonder the two of them seemed to become friends so easily. "Uhh, well-"

Before Blake could say anything, Tarzan sudden shot up, his eyes wildly scanning the area, before fixing upon the path back to the camp. "Wait. Something, not right." Everyone turned to him in confusion. "What is it, Tarzan?" Goofy asked, seeing the pensive look on the ape-man's face.

Before anyone could say anything, Ruby felt her left boot bump against something on the ground. "Hey, guys. Look." Ruby said, getting everyone's attention. She pointed to what she kicked. It appeared to be a smoking pipe of some sort. Blake immediately recognized whose it was and picked it up. "That's Clayton's pipe. I remember he'd often smoke this while in camp." Looking at their surroundings, she noticed that apart from Sabor, there didn't seem to be any other injured beings here. "I don't see any blood...so he's probably still alive." As everyone else looked around, Weiss chose spoke up. "Well that's all well and good, but that just begs the question Blake. Where has he been during all of this?"

Tarzan eyed it curiously. He said nothing but ran away immediately. "Tarzan? Hey! Where are you going?!" Donald called out. Everyone looked at each other with confusion and concern, but chose to run after him rather than ask questions. All they knew was that something was wrong, and standing around deliberating probably wasn't the best option.

Back at the camp, Terk was running away from the many Heartless that had been chasing her. She ran to the main tent and rushed through the flaps. Jane was surprised when suddenly the young gorilla leapt at her, causing her to fall to the ground. As she regained herself, Jane saw how scared the gorilla was from how Terk tried to embrace her. Doing her best to calm the poor thing, Jane held Terk back, but both were treated to something more horrifying as something...or someONE else came into the tent.