As the group returned to the camp, they were met with a most worrying sight. Jane was no longer in her tent.
"What's going on? Where's Jane?" Pyrrha wondered. Tarzan's scanning eyes shifted down to the ground. He grunted and pointed to what looked to be an indentation in the soil. The rug that Jane put down in her tent had shifted revealing what looked to be footprints traveling out of the tent. "Danger. Jane ran," he said, looking back toward the entrance. "Go to safe place. Near treehouse."
Everyone looked at each other, amazed at how he was able to glean that by simply looking at footprints. "How can you tell?" Ruby asked. "Maybe it's just instinct. He grew up in this jungle so he's got better insight on these kinds of things than us." Blake told them. Weiss couldn't help giving a little impressed "Hmph. I dare say, he'd give Professor Oobleck a run for his money."
With their destination...somewhat certain, Sora quickly rushed out of the tent, calling "Well then? To the treehouse!"
"Hey!" "Sora! Wait up! Don't just go off on your own again!" Donald and Weiss respectively called out in a scolding tone as the rest of the group followed.
They made their way up the trees as best as they could, hoping they wouldn't run into more Heartless while trying to climb. While Ruby, Blake and Tarzan climbed the trees fine, Sora was moving at a more moderate pace with Donald, Goofy and Pyrrha doing just as well. Jaune was falling behind, hesitant or not getting a proper hold onto the vines. Blake sighed and looked down at him. "Come on, Jaune. Is that all the better you can climb?"
"It's too big around, Blake!" Jaune said in annoyance, barely making a few inches. "Besides, it's not like I have claws or anything to help me cli-AGH!"
When he tried to grab a nearby vine, he didn't notice how weathered it was until it snapped and he started falling. Tarzan immediately grabbed a fresher, stronger vine then swung down to Jaune, grabbing him and then throwing him on his back onto a higher up branch with everyone else. "Uhh, thanks Tarzan." he said with a smidge of embarrassment as the group trekked across the branches to the treehouse.
Sure enough, in a canopy not too far away from the treehouse, Tarzan's eyes widened when he saw Jane and Terk behind some strange, thick, cage-like foliage. "Tarzan!" Jane called out as she saw him and the rest of his friends.
"Jane!" Tarzan called back, seeing both Jane and Terk trapped behind a prison of vines. As he ran over to them, he grasped the vines with all his strength and tried to pull them apart. But none of them budged so much as an inch.
Jaune rushed over to the vine formed prison and immediately tried hacking at them. But his sword simply bounced off the vines harmlessly. "What the? What are these things made of?" he asked, trying to cut them again, only for the same result.
"Hang on. I'll get you guys out." Sora said, raising his Keyblade in front of himself "Fi-"
"NO!" BONK Donald and Weiss immediately intervened, whacking Sora on the head before he could unleash that fire spell he was preparing. Of all the ideas he could have had, that was the worst possible one.
"Ow! Hey, what was that for!?" he yelled, specifically to Donald, indignantly.
"What are you thinking, you dunce!? Do you want to set THEM on fire?!" Weiss lectured, pointing to Jane and Terk. "If you use a Fire spell that close to them, you'll burn them as well, Sora!" Donald lectured angrily. Something which Sora realized now, and felt more than a little embarrassed about.
Ruby and Blake looked around, trying to find something that could give them some clue for how to free them. It was then that Blake noticed something abnormal along a vine. "Ruby, look."
The young huntress turned to where her teammate was pointing, and immediately, she saw a dark, almost blue shaded fruit dangling from the trunk of the big tree. "Yeah. That big black fruit looks suspicious." Ruby commented.
The instant they saw it, they suddenly had several Power Wilds materializing out of the air. "Uh oh! We got company, fellas!" Goofy warned. Everyone snapped to attention at the sudden company they had. Now was the time for action. "Sora! Donald! You two do something about that fruit! We'll keep the Heartless off of you!" Ruby yelled, brandishing Crescent Rose and slicing the first Heartless in two as once again, they were called to do battle.
Sora and Donald looked to one uncertainly at first, but they didn't have any ideas of their own. It was worth a try, so they began attacking the giant fruit. Donald wanting to save his magic for a time of actual need simply smacked it with his staff. The Heartless seemed to just keep pouring in. And this time, there was another kind there as well. They looked similar to the Power Wilds, but more girly. If only due to their smaller frame and the odd ribbons on their heads.
There seemed to be almost no end to them. For each one slain, another took its place. "Ugh. They just keep coming." Weiss said as she shot a wave of ice at one. Frustrating as this was however, Ruby refused to be deterred. "Then we'll just keep fighting until the fruits are destroyed!" she said, cleaving another Heartless in twain.
One Power Wild snuck around on the higher branches where Sora and Donald continued hacking away at the massive unnatural fruit. It leaped down but Goofy ran to their side with an uppercut using his shield. "I got ya, fellahs! Don't worry!"
"Thanks Goofy!" Sora and Donald said gratefully. Now with the fruit looking effectively bashed in, the two looked to each other. After a moment of silence, both of them nodded and raised their weapons up, yelling, "Thunder!"
Several bolts of lightning came down when the canopy became a little darker. The fruit was hit all over and exploded, turning into a massive puff of smoke. After it was dealt with, Sora and Donald helped take care of the remaining Heartless. Now they weren't pouring in anymore. And in short order, they were cleared out. "Alright...That's it...Phew. Good work, everyone." Jaune said, panting heavily as he sat down to catch his breath.
With that over and dealt with, Tarzan scrambled over to Jane and Terk, helping them out of the alcove they were forced into by the Heartless. Whatever that fruit was, it clearly had something to do with them.
"Are you okay, Jane? What happened?" Blake asked, moving over to the gorilla cradling scientist.
"I-I don't know. Clayton came to the tent, and...that's the last thing I remember." Jane said with a regretful shake of her head. She still remembered how scared she was when she saw him burst in with those monsters, leveling his gun at her and Terk. She had no idea what they had in store for her and the poor gorilla, but she was certainly thankful Tarzan and the others came for her.
"Clayton!?" That particular detail caught Sora's attention. Why would Clayton attack her? Sure, Sora expected he'd have been angry because of her telling him not to go near the gorillas again, but how had the Heartless not attacked him yet?
"Wait, are you saying that Clayton was actually WITH the Heartless!?" Ruby exclaimed, disbelief filling her voice. She didn't know much about Heartless, but with what she'd experienced thus far, she didn't see them as much of a 'work for others' sort of group. The Grimm could be directed from what she knew as they weren't all entirely mindless, but the Heartless? Was that even possible?
"Gorillas, trapped. Terk ran." Tarzan explained. Jane, being far more versed with Tarzan's rough communication immediately picked up what he meant. The gorillas had been attacked by those creatures too!
"We must help the gorillas!" Jane exclaimed. If Clayton was truly with those dreadful creatures, he may have had even worse things in store for than those creatures had for her and Terk.
BANG
The sound of a gunshot alerted the group. Both Tarzan and Blake looked down in the direction of the cliffs that were near the camp. "This way!" Blake called the group, beckoning them to follow as she and Tarzan jumped onto a pair of, downward sloping tree branches.
Everyone besides Weiss and Jaune had followed, the former looking down in worry. "Um, are we really just going to jump down? Cause I don't think-"
Weiss rolled her eyes and pushed Jaune. The trip and fall was enough for him to scream in almost comical terror before Weiss joined and jumped down with him. Everyone slid down together, surfing along. Even Jaune managed to get the hang of it after a bit. Though largely thanks to Pyrrha using her semblance on Jaune's armor pieces to help steady him. "Hey. This... actually isn't so bad." he said, not aware of his outside help.
They all made it to the bamboo thicket and in the opposite direction of the camp, to the cliff side. There, the gorillas were surrounded by four Power Wilds but Clayton was there behind them with his gun at the ready. As he took aim, some of the gorillas fled. Only Kala was remained, frozen in fear as the Power Wilds leaped to the others.
Kerchak roared as he intervened and beat the Heartless brutally with his fists. There was nobody there to save Kala though as Clayton slowly put his finger to the trigger.
"No!"
The sound of Sora and Blake's voice yelling in unison caused Clayton to turn to the boy. More specifically what he was holding in his hand. It was the perfect opportunity for Kerchak, after having dealt with the Heartless, to get Kala out of there and for the other gorillas to safely climb away since there was nobody else to follow them.
"Clayton?" Sora said, seeing he was somehow involved with the Heartless. Ruby had her answer about them working together, after all. At least that's how it seemed.
"Not Clayton!" Tarzan exclaimed warningly. "Eeh ooh, ooh ooh ahh! Not Clayton!"
Blake's gaze shifted from Tarzan to Clayton, and noticed that something was very wrong with Clayton. Even more wrong than before. "I think Tarzan is right. There's something off about him. That glazed look in his eyes...And he was so adamant about hunting the gorillas. Why did he let them go?"
"Clayton. What's going on? Why are you doing this?" Ruby said, pleading for an only answer she received was Clayton shifting his shotgun toward her, and pulling the trigger. Ruby barely had time to react, but just in the nick of time, someone intercepted the shot, getting in front of Ruby and blocking it with a familiar, royal emblazoned shield.
"Goofy!" Sure enough, Goofy had reacted with astounding timing to Clayton firing at her that he managed to intercept the shells with his shield.
"That's enough!" As her furious shout indicated, Blake had reached her peak with Clayton. Trying to kill the gorillas was one thing, but when he tried to kill her friends too? That was the last straw. Dashing into action with Tarzan and the rest of the group behind her, she cut a swath through the sea of Heartless as Clayton attempted to fire on his enemies. Tarzan and Blake narrowly managed to avoid his shots, but he was certainly good.
As his apparent Heartless minions were cut down by the rest of the group, they had Clayton back up against a wall. He kept his gun aimed at them, but suddenly raised it up with a wicked chuckle. "Well now. This is quite a hunt. One you and Tarzan made all the more interesting, boy. But now the game is over." As Clayton delivered that apparent ultimatum, the cliff behind him seemed to explode in a shower of dust and rock, surprising the group. "You all should have kept your noses out of my affairs."
"You were going to murder these gorillas for sport! You're treating them like they have lesser lives just because they're not human!" Blake yelled furiously.
"And you, Ms. Belladonna. I thought Tarzan was insufferable, but ever since YOU came here, I've been at my wits end. It was enough of a laugh hearing you and your little friends pretending to be hunters. But you...Hah! With how you stick up for these beasts, and how you assaulted me, one would think you too were no more than a worthless animal."
Ruby and Weiss's faces went askance at Clayton's words. He didn't know the severity of them, but they did. Blake stood in shock briefly, before her face contorted with rage to match Yang's and her fists clenched around her weapons. With a furious shout, she switched Gambol Shroud to kusarigama mode, and with a flick of her wrist, threw it at Clayton. Though surprised by the sudden shift in her weapon, Clayton narrowly managed to avoid it. The taunt caused her to become more frantic as she could only focus on making him pay for that remark. With a turn of her heels, she swung again but at a different area. His honed hunter instincts barely came through for him as he narrowly avoided the blade again. The process repeated several times, until Clayton eventually grunt in pain from the blunt end of the Kusarigama striking him on the side of the head. But Blake wasn't letting up for a second. Furious at her daring to strike at him, Clayton raised his gun as if intending to shoot her. With his Heartless allies defeated, everyone reconvened, ready to attack Clayton at a moment's notice should he dare to fire.
Instead of shooting however, Clayton simply held his gun up. Much to everyone's shock, the cliff behind him suddenly exploded in a shower of stones. Despite the destruction to the terrain right behind him, Clayton didn't flinch. Tarzan glared at him with gritted teeth and rushed at the hunter with his spear. Right as he jumped, something struck him back and sent him careening along the ground. "Tarzan!" Blake cried out in worry, rushing to help him. The moment he was tossed back by...whatever it was they didn't see, she could have sworn she heard some sort of animal noise.
But that was the least of their worries at the moment. "What the heck?! Is he flying?!" Jaune stated, making everyone look back to Clayton. Sure enough, he seemed to be hovering in the air as the same noise rang out. This time with everyone hearing it as Clayton reloaded his gun. Pyrhha squinted her eyes at the way Clayton was positioned. "No...look at how he's slouched over. It's like he's sitting on something. And the parts below him. I can't make it out but it's like there's something moving."
Sadly Clayton wasn't going to give them the opportunity to analyze the situation as he yelled out, "Goodbye!" Realizing they were going to be shot at, Weiss waved her Myrtenaster and used the ice dust inside of it to conjure a wall of ice.
Though the wall managed to protect them from the gunfire, that same noise that Ruby heard rang out again. This time, much more violent as suddenly whatever Clayton now had on his side shattered the ice wall in an instant.
"What the!?" Sora barely had time to even say that as Clayton grinned wickedly at them and fired his second shot. The group scattered, trying to find some sign of what was aiding the crazed hunter. Jaune soon found himself getting slammed into a wall by the same force, not even having time to raise his shield. Pyrrha looked back at Jaune, but the instant she tried to call out to him, she too was sent flying like Jaune and Tarzan were.
"Jaune! Pyrrha!" Ruby cried out. Clayton took the young huntress's moment of distraction as an opportunity to reload and aim at her. The instant Ruby looked back to see Clayton's shotgun trained on her, Tarzan dashed beside her and yanked her out of the way as Clayton fired. She was even lighter to carry than Jane, so he had absolutely no problem getting her away from Clayton and whatever he was riding.
"Ruby, careful!" Tarzan warned as he finally released the jostled huntress, who could only nod in a wobbly manner. She recovered and nodded her thanks to the wild man before brandishing Crescent Rose in sniper mode, and firing in the general area of whatever Clayton was riding. Several of the shots missed, but the ones that hit...she had no idea how effective they were, since they couldn't see this creature.
Tarzan and Blake both stared intently at their foes, visible and invisible. They noticed that even if it was invisible, it casting a faint shadow. Something which Blake used to her advantage as she saw one of what she could only assume were arms, lash out at her. In a split second, she reacted and evaded the strikes with the aid of her semblance, leaving Clayton doubly determined to kill her and Tarzan especially. His new pet could handle the boy and his friends.
"This isn't fair! How are we supposed to fight something we can't see?!" Sora said, looking worried as he tried keeping his attention where he thought the creature was. But his attention kept shifting to Clayton who was determined to keep assailing them with shotgun blasts.
"The ground! It can still make a shadow!" Blake called out. Clayton, realizing she'd figured part of it out, quickly moved to shoot at her. She figured he would attempt a sneak attack and used her semblance, letting it take the hit before leaping in the air with her sword arched back and using the momentum of her swing to strike at him. Clayton was surprised and barely moved aside in time to avoid a potentially fatal blow. The strike caused him to lose his steadiness and fall off his unseen mount.
Realizing what Blake was doing, Donald shot a fireball at a point above the shadow. It exploded on contact as the being made itself visible. It looked like a giant, menacing, bipedal chameleon with gray scales and several spikes lining its body. The emblem of the Heartless was on its stomach when it reared itself up with clawed hands pinching.
"So that's it. It'd s Heartless that can turn itself invisible!" Goofy said in amazement as he peeked out from behind his shield.
Clayton rushed behind some rocks to reload. Right as he did, Tarzan leaped at him from above and nearly impaled him with his spear. Clayton tried and failed to shoot at him, becoming more angry with each miss.
Infuriating as it was, Clayton didn't let his temper get the better of him. He had the advantage over all of them. He was certain of it. His Heartless mount had a lot to deal with between the other hunters, along with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, but it was managing. It was thanks to these creatures that he would be able to get Tarzan and everyone else out of his way, and hunt the gorillas down.
With that in mind, Clayton, managed to aim far more true than before. Pulling the trigger, the shotgun shell grazed Tarzan's right bicep, making him grunt in pain. "Tarzan!" Seeing him in pain, Blake got distracted from Clayton, which was just the opening he needed to strike her on the side of the head with the butt of his shotgun. Dazed from the strike, Clayton quickly followed it up with another blow from his shotgun, sending Blake sprawling on the ground. Were it not for her aura, she might have been in much worse shape, but Clayton definitely packed a punch.
"Stay out of this, girl." Clayton boasted as he kicked the doubled over Blake away from him and turned back to Tarzan who was struggling to keep his spear lifted from the injury on his arm. "Is that all you have, ape-man? I could use a challenge. Because once I'm through with you and your meddling friends, rounding up your little ape family WILL BE ALL TOO EASY!" Clayton shouted with a wicked grin on his face as he prepared to strike.
Tarzan recovered just in time as he thrust his foot out to kick Clayton's gun away, leaving both of them barehanded as they continued their brutal back and forth.
Sora, Donald, Goofy, Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, and Pyrrha had their hands full with the chameleon-like Heartless. Everyone was forced to scatter as it lunged forward, knocking down the defending Jaune and Goofy. Ruby and Weiss tried to flank it, but the Heartless was sharp and kicked its legs behind itself, knocking them away. Its eyes turned to the recovering Blake, and suddenly lit up with a strange light as it focused on the vulnerable huntress.
"Uh, what's it doing?" Ruby said in worry with how the big reptile had glowing eyes.
Her question was answered when it crouched and the lights became moving beams of energy towards Blake. Goofy and Jaune ran to her with their shields up, barely blocking it in time. Realing its attack did nothing, the big Heartles ran towards them. Weiss thought quickly, seeing she was running low on dust but needed to save her allies. One wave of her weapon and a bolt of lightning lanced towards it, hitting it in the side of the face. It didn't damage it but it was momentarily vulnerable with how it held its head from the attack, making it perfect for Ruby to run under its belly and swipe at its chest while doing so.
Making a noise as if in pain, their opponent fell back, letting Sora have the perfect moment to strike it three times, the last one being a big and mighty slam. It seemed to be out and at first he smiled, thinking it was the final blow. Until...
"Hey, what's going on? It's not vanishing." Sure enough, like Sora said, the Heartless was still before them. It was trembling and shuddering, as if merely in the throes of its end. But why wasn't it dissipating like the others? Before anyone else could wonder why, the shouts of Tarzan and Clayton caught their attention.
In the midst of the battle between Tarzan and Clayton, the hunter reached for his gun, only for Tarzan to intercept him and in a burst of rage, grab the firearm, aiming it right at the hunter's throat. Clayton gasped and panted at this unexpected reversal...but then smiled smugly as he saw the hesitation in Tarzan's eyes, as well as the shock in everyone else's. "Go ahead. Shoot me." Clayton taunted, making Tarzan hesitate and look down at the shotgun. This was the weapon Clayton nearly killed Terk and Kala with. Could he really...
"Don't do it, Tarzan!" Blake called out as she stood up. As much as she hated Clayton, the last thing that she wanted was for Tarzan to kill him in cold blood. "You're not like him. You're better than this. Please..." Nobody noticed, the barely standing Stealth Sneak had cloaked itself again and began limping toward the standoff engaged pair.
Seeing the conflict in Tarzan's eyes, Clayton knew which buttons to push. "Indeed. You ARE better what you were raised as. So go on. Heheheh. Be a man."
Tarzan's face contorted with rage as Clayton laughed, and shoved the shotgun into his throat. Clayton's eyes widened for a moment before he shifted his gaze right back at Tarzan, as if hoping that his face would haunt the wild man and make him hesitate again. The entire time, the shadow of Stealth Sneak crept closer and closer to them, when suddenly...
BANG
Everyone, including Clayton jolted with horror at the sound of the gunshot...but Clayton was still alive. The sound didn't come from the gun, but from Tarzan. And the moment the shaken Clayton looked back at Tarzan, the wild man furiously shouted his first, coherent sentence. "Not a man like YOU!" With that, he swung the shotgun up in the air, making Clayton cower, before slamming it onto the ground, shattering it to pieces. With the loathed weapon destroyed, Tarzan glared at it and its owner with contempt, refusing to become what he hated.
Seeing his weapon shattered beyond repair shocked Clayton as he growled then stood and furiously berated Tarzan. "You're pathetic! You're no man after all! Not even an ape! You're a failure! An abomination! You think sparing me makes you better than me?!"
As he continued ranting, the Stealth Sneak twitched. One of its eyes rolled to Clayton, seemingly focused on him. Everyone else jumped as it moved about then took fighting stances to prepare. To their surprise it ignored them all as it hunched over with its body surging with what looked like electrical currents while its body flickered in and out of visibility. Tarzan saw it towering over them and jumped away, Blake doing the same in equal worry.
"Clayton!" It was only then that they realized it wasn't going for them...it was going for HIM. Ignoring Tarzan's attempt to warn him Clayton continued angrily ranting, "Each and every one of your blasted gorillas! You're only fit to be my trophies!"
"Clayton, behind you!" Blake shouted. "You stay out of this, missy! This is between me and him!" Clayton roared before drawing the machete holstered at his side, wildly flailing it at Tarzan who backed away both from him and the Heartless now looming over the hunter.
The Stealth Sneak growled, its claws splayed while looking down over the furious man. Tarzan realized that this Heartless must have been drawn to Clayton's rage. "Clayton, don't!" But his attempts to stop Clayton from letting his rage consume him fell on deaf ears.
Still not listening to them, Clayton continued shouting and approached until seeing the shadow looming beneath his feet. When turning to the source of it, he was nearly frozen in slowly growing fear. All he could do was scream in horror as the Stealth Sneak fell on top of him and curled in, crushing his body as it and that of the Heartless seemed to fade out of existence. All that was left was the massive heart before it went to the skies and vanished with them. And then...nothing else was left.
Everyone stood in shock at what took place. While they were relieved that Clayton and the Heartless were defeated, seeing how utterly consumed by that unreasonable rage and disgust toward Tarzan he was left them all speechless.
The sight reminded Ruby of one of the last things she saw before the Heartless arrived on Remnant. Torchwick being devoured by that Nevermore. Clayton's fate was the same, or at least similar enough to shake her in the same manner.
Sora had never seen a person die in such a way before. He wasn't ignorant of the concept of death, but going from his carefree life on Destiny Islands to something like this...he wasn't sure what to think. Tarzan even tried to get Clayton to stop. To convince him to listen before it was too late, but he was too far gone. Donald and Goofy looked at the troubled boy's expression with sympathy. Despite their previous...disagreement, even Donald couldn't help hoping Sora was alright after that.
And Tarzan, while happy to have saved his family and friends, couldn't help wishing briefly that he could have saved Clayton to. Saved him from himself.
As for Blake, one would not have expected her to try and warn Clayton given the things he said and did. Yet seeing him become so consumed by rage and anger...it reminded her of someone she didn't want to think about. One of the few things she hoped didn't survive the destruction of Remnant, despite what they once shared. She couldn't help but wonder, though. If he fell in such a way...would she feel this sense of pity and mild remorse?
Ruby and Weiss walked up to Blake, gently grasping her shoulders, drawing her out of her thoughts. The black clad huntress looked to her teammates who gave her a silent nod, assuring her that she and all of them did what they had to. And they were right. Ultimately, Clayton brought his fate upon himself. What mattered was that they saved the lives of Tarzan's family.
