Sora, Ruby, Donald, Goofy, and Blake followed Tarzan into the jungle, with Clayton bringing up the rear. All the while earning glances of scrutiny and wordless warning from the faunus girl. If he did anything to screw this up, she wouldn't be nearly so restrained as she had been all this time. All along the way, Ruby couldn't help glancing back at her teammate. She wasn't a fan of Clayton by a mile, but Blake in particular seemed to hate him immensely. No small part due to what he said earlier. But she hoped nothing bad would come of this.
Regardless, all they could do was follow Tarzan through the bushes and trees to find his family.
Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss meanwhile had chosen to stay behind. Weiss of course was not eager to trek through the jungle anymore than she already had. She was more than content to sit down in front of the tea table and have another sip. Though when Jaune suddenly sat down beside her and smiled a sly smile at her, or at least what he thought was sly, she started regretting her decision "Soooo. This is great, huh? Us. Holding down the fort. Keeping everything safe and secure. Watching each others back, like a real team?"
Immediately, Weiss's hand flew up and bapped Jaune in the face to silence him. "I would prefer you stay back, please." Weiss said in irritation when pushing her hand to Jaune's face, making him flail and topple down from surprise. She started walking to another area of the camp, stating with full annoyance, "I'll keep watch over here."
Sitting up, Jaune watched her walk away, fruitlessly holding a hand out before sighing in disappointment. The sound of shuffling footsteps nearby tipped him off to who it was as he turned to look at her, asking, "Pyrrha? You know what it's like to like somebody only they don't have the same feelings for you? I'll tell you, it's...real frustrating."
His words made Pyrrha wince faintly as a shadow of gloom spread across her face. She desperately wanted to tell Jaune how deeply she understood that feeling, but once again...she just couldn't. So she plastered a smile onto her face. "Well... for now Jaune, let's focus on keeping Jane safe until the others return. And well...I'm sure things will turn out alright in the end."
Jaune took no notice of the pain in Pyrrha's eyes as she said those words, and simply smiled at her as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Yeah, you're right. I can't let this get me down. And I won't." If there was any solace for Pyrrha in this, it was that Jaune was at least no longer downcast. "Thanks for keeping me on track." he added as he looked back at her.
Pyrrha's internal disappointment reached a new height once again as she forced herself to say, "What are friends for?" Yet again, Jaune just couldn't see the pain in Pyrrha's face or hear it in her voice as he smiled and pat Pyrrha on the back, saying, ""Heh. And I'm really lucky to have found a friend as wonderful as you, Pyrrha." Pyrrha felt another painful pang surge through her chest at Jaune's heartfelt words. But again, she kept a smile on her face as she nodded back to her partner.
Meanwhile Tarzan had led Sora, Ruby, Donald, Goofy, and Blake up through the trees. Tarzan, Ruby, and Blake were navigating quite well thanks to Tarzan knowing this jungle by heart, and of course Ruby and Blake's experience in similarly dense, wooded areas. Sora, Donald, and Goofy however...had varying difficulties. Sora found a bit of hindrance, but nothing his determination to find his friends didn't allow him to push through. Donald and Goofy...Well going by Goofy constantly stumbling into and falling on top of Donald thanks to every stray branch and vine the guard captain didn't notice, that spoke for itself.
Eventually, they came to a verdant sanctuary of vines and thick, strong, tall tree branches. Up on a distant branch was a bulky, thick muscled, black furred, grey skinned male gorilla with a look that would make the bravest person nervous should they be caught in his gaze. Beside him was a somewhat smaller, brown furred female gorilla with a vaguely motherly look about her, especially as she stared down at Tarzan. This pair of gorillas was Kala and Kerchak. Tarzan's adoptive mother and the leader of their family of gorillas respectively. Though suffice it to say...Kerchak didn't care much for Tarzan. Especially with the company he brought if his furious gaze was any indication.
"Tarzan, what have you done?! You've led strangers to the nesting grounds and put us all at risk!" Given their history, Tarzan expected this kind of reaction from Kerchak. He knew his pleas might fall on deaf ears...but Tarzan had to try, for his new friends' sakes. "Kerchak, please listen to me! I know the nesting grounds are secret, but I trust them. You see, I want to help them, because...because...well, they need us." Tarzan pleaded.
Kerchak's scowl didn't ebb for a moment as he looked down at Tarzan. Kala looked to her mate with worry, knowing the...tense history he and her adoptive son shared ever since she brought him into their family when Sabor killed his own. Even now, would he turn away from Tarzan?
From everyone else's however... "Uhh, did ya get that?" Goofy asked Donald, who bluntly replied, "No." Nobody could understand what Tarzan and Kerchak were saying to each other. From their perspective, they were speaking gorilla to one another. "I can't understand either, but I think Tarzan's trying to vouch for us." Blake said to a confused and concerned Ruby. Her team leader's concern grew when suddenly both Tarzan and Kerchak started grunting more forcefully to one another.
"They mean us no harm, Kerchak!" Tarzan urged the leader of their family. The wild man's words sadly meant nothing to the powerful gorilla. "Tarzan, I don't know them." Kerchak responded, glancing at the five strangers with suspicion. That one glance was enough to make all of them shiver with worry. "But I do. I've spent time with them!" Tarzan continued, desperately trying to convince Kerchak. But once again, that hope was shot down as the gorilla refused again. "You may be willing to risk our safety, but I'm not!"
"Kerchak!" Tarzan called out pleadingly. Before the mighty simian could say anything more, his attention suddenly turned to a higher area past the trees. A moment later, he walked away from the wild man his mate adopted, earning a sad look from Kala, "Kerchak..." and a disappointed repeating of his name from Tarzan. Kala followed after Kerchak at a brisk pace, looking to her adoptive son with sympathy. With all that said and done, Tarzan could only slump his head forward with a sigh.
"Tarzan?...You okay?" Ruby asked, tentatively stepping closer to him. His only response was an apologetic look in the direction of Sora...who could guess by how Kerchak walked away, that they wouldn't be getting any help.
Goofy however noticed something during that conversation. "Hmmm...Y'know, he seemed kinda distracted by somethin'." he pointed out, scratching his chin. Donald looked about in the general direction Kerchak was staring and noticed something through the thick foliage. "Was he looking up at that treehouse?" Donald wondered.
Sora followed Donald's gaze along with Ruby, Blake, and Tarzan, and immediately he recognized the ramshackle building. "Oh! That's where I landed, and where Blake and Tarzan saved me from that huge leopard!" He only just realized he hadn't mentioned that to them, and Ruby, Donald, and Goofy immediately looked at him with wide eyes. Likely wondering why he didn't mention that before.
Blake however couldn't help wondering. Why would Kerchak be concerned about that rather than the intruders at his nesting grounds? Before she could even consider theorizing, she then noticed something considerably more worrying. "Uh, guys? Clayton's gone." Immediately, everyone turned and looked to see, sure enough, Clayton was no longer with them. "Huh?! How? I thought he was right behind us!" Ruby exclaimed with confusion and worry. "Where could he have gone?" Sora wondered, looking around frantically with Donald and Goofy for any sign of the hunter.
It was only then that it clicked in both everyone's heads. Kerchak's distracted look at the treehouse rather than focusing on them, Clayton suddenly disappearing... "Hurry! Now!" Tarzan said, bolting with all due speed to the tree house. Everyone ran and climbed as fast as they were able, desperately trying to get up there before something terrible happened.
And indeed, precisely what they suspected was on the verge of happening. The smaller female gorilla Donald and Goofy encountered, Tarzan's childhood friend Terk was standing on the main room on the first floor, spinning a globe around with a sense of curious amusement. Little did she realize that in her state of distraction, Clayton was watching from the doorway. A sickening grin crossed his face as his shotgun gleamed in the sunlight, steadily aimed at her while his finger slowly reached for the trigger.
"WAAAAAAK!" The sudden furiously quacking shout threw Clayton's aim off as he pulled the trigger out of sheer shock from the noise. Terk gasped and dashed away the instant she noticed Clayton, thanks to Donald's intervention. And not a moment too soon, as the shot impacted mere inches from where she was standing.
As Terk dashed up to the upper balcony inside the treehouse, she turned back fearfully at her human attacker and duck savior, just in time for the rest of the group to arrive, having bolted toward them at the sound of Clayton's shotgun.
"What's the big idea?!" Donald angrily asked. He may have made a massive deal about not meddling in the affairs of other worlds, but even he couldn't just stand by and let Clayton murder an innocent animal.
"Clayton, what did you just do!?" Ruby exclaimed as she stared with horrified disbelief at the hunter's blatant disregard for life. Firing on an animal that was attacking you was one thing, but Terk didn't even know he was there! He was about to kill her in cold blood!
"Oh no." Blake muttered as she saw up on the balcony, they had another problem. Standing beside the shaken Terk...was a livid looking Kerchak. He saw everything. And his furious, judgmental scowl fell upon everyone that wasn't a gorilla. Even those who weren't guilty, which was literally everyone BUT Clayton.
"Wait Kerchak! Please!" Tarzan pleaded. He didn't want Kerchak to judge everyone else by Clayton's actions. But it was too late. Kerchak refused to even listen to anything Tarzan had to say. Merely delivering one final statement of disappointment, "I asked you...to protect our family...and you betrayed us all." With that, the leader of their family stormed off.
Donald looked up sadly, wishing they'd gotten there just a little bit sooner. Terk's returned gaze made it clear that she didn't blame him for what Clayton did. But all the same, she followed her family's leader out of the treehouse...leaving Clayton with an utterly furious Tarzan and Blake.
"Do you have any idea what you've just done?!" Blake yelled furiously, grabbing Clayton by the scruff of his shirt as Tarzan glared at him.
Clayton was taken aback at the rage in Blake's eyes and held his hands out in an attempt to placate her. "You don't understand! I was only trying to-"
"What?! What were you trying to do?!" Blake shouted, showing more anger than Sora had seen from the stoic young woman in the brief time he'd known her. Ruby too was shocked at the fury exuded by the normally quiet member of their team.
"Ah. A snake slithered by, you see," Clayton fumbled, attempting a much more calm and assuring tone. "I saved that poor gorilla's life." It went without saying, however, that NOBODY was convinced. Especially Tarzan as he shook his head woefully. His childhood friend nearly died because of his decision to let Clayton accompany them. Now because of Clayton's actions, Kerchak would never help them. A fact Sora was more than aware of as a furious glare of his own burned in Clayton's direction
Blake's fury however only intensified as she suddenly slammed Clayton into a wall with a furious growl. "The only snake I see here is you! Didn't you say earlier that they were animals that only deserve to be locked in cages or made into trophies! Why would you save any animals life if that's what you think of them?! You're lying!"
"Blake, calm down!" Ruby pleaded, rushing in alongside Goofy to pry Blake off of the shocked Clayton as the faunus girl reared her fist back to punch him in the face. "Y-Yeah! Let's not fight, now!" Goofy said as the two of them eventually managed to get her off of him.
A little shaken by her actions, Clayton fell on his back and scurried away on his elbows, blinking with disbelief at Black clad girl's behavior.
Blake trembled after Ruby managed to get her to let go of Clayton. He didn't expect any of the girls to be so strong, given their seemingly fragile size and physique. Now that she was calm, at least enough to not want to cave in the face or lop his head off with Gambol Shroud, Blake roughly pulled him to his feet. "We're going back to camp. And Jane is going to hear EVERYTHING about what happened out here."
Clayton's brow furrowed at Blake's ultimatum. As she marched off, the rest of the group followed, passing another series of displeased looks at the hunter. Giving derisive huff, Clayton brushed himself off and smoothed out his clothing. He couldn't believe they had the gall to treat him in such a manner. Jane hired him to protect her. There was no way she'd believe the words of a bunch of buffoons and children.
"How could you do such a thing?!"
Suffice it to say, Clayton was proven wrong when they returned and told Jane, Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha about what happened. "Now, Miss Porter. As I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla."
Jane refused to hear it. She recognized the sound of Clayton's gun on the wind, and immediately knew he did something. And if there was anything she knew about Tarzan, is that despite his lack of human customs and interaction, he would never lie about something this severe. "You are not to go near the gorillas again!" Jane delivered a furious ultimatum. She'd tolerated Clayton's ill behavior so far, but he'd crossed a line that couldn't be uncrossed. A line that compromised her research and potentially destroyed Tarzan's relationship with his family. "All because of one mishap? Come now..." Clayton's attempt to act as if he hadn't made a grave mistake only resulted in everyone else in the tent glaring at him. Nobody was falling for his lies.
Realizing he was outmatched, he gave a nervous laugh before turning to leave the tentThe instant he turned away from the group and walked outside, Clayton's face turned to an infuriated scowl. Tarzan, those children, and those clownish looking beings made an absolute fool of him, and Jane took their side. All because he was hunting a worthless animal.
"Bah! What am I doing with these imbeciles?" Clayton grumbled angrily to himself as he stormed away from Jane's tent. The instant he was out of earshot, his face was plastered by an expression of sheer rage and loathing. Tarzan and his precious gorillas left him disgraced. And that blasted Blake girl that Jane rescued. Ever since she and Tarzan came into the picture, Clayton had been under this confounded scrutiny and now it all got to this point of absurdity and idiocy all for some savage beasts.
"Blasted gorillas! I'll hunt down every last one of them! I'll track them down somehow. I'll stake my life on it." Clayton was about to top his rant off with a puff from his pipe, when suddenly a rustling from the thickets resounded from...seemingly all around him. Putting his pipe into his back pocket, Clayton warily grasped his shotgun as the rustling intensified. Instinctively he aimed his shotgun in front of him, certain that whatever was nearby was coming toward him. He wasn't going to let anything get in the way of his hunt. Least of all some unknown creature trying to get the drop on him. He was going to kill each and every gorilla in this jungle, and nothing would stop him. Not Jane, not those children, and definitely not Tarzan. With that violent thought prevalent in his mind, Clayton took aim in front of him, certain he had his assailant, and...
BANG