All Donald Duck, royal wizard of Disney Castle, wanted from this mission to find his king was for it to be simple. Find the key, use it to find the king, and boom. The mission would be complete and they would be back home where everything was peaceful and orderly, and the world order respected. Goofy would still be dozing off in a bed of flowers, and he would be busy trying to come up with the perfect gift for his girlfriend Daisy. Hey, he had a life outside of his position.
But what did Donald get instead? A boy holding the Keyblade that was more interested in playing hero in other worlds and looking for his friends who were more than likely lost because of the Heartless. A bunch of world order-defying troublemakers from another universe just stowing away on their mission and bringing their own problems with them. A constant stream of unnecessary developments and futile promises just so one kid did not feel bad about failing to be a hero. And worse, hardly anybody listened to him.
"Wow!" Sora, that naive boy, was busy steering the ship and firing at the enemy ships. "I must be getting the hang of steering. Shooting down the Heartless has gotten much easier!"
"Oh, it hasn't." Jimmy Neutron, that insufferable self-proclaimed genius who didn't know when to not butt in, told the keybearer, "What you're feeling is actually the adrenaline from taking down so many enemies. It's a common feeling when playing video games."
"Awesome, isn't it?" Timmy Turner, that buck-toothed smart-aleck, encouraged Sora. "Just getting so much stuff from them afterward, building up your high score… trust me. As an avid gamer, there's nothing more satisfying."
"We didn't actually have video games back on Destiny Islands." The Keyblade master said. "We mainly just had toys and other stuff to use when we were outside. Remember, islander."
"Oh, you're definitely missing out." Danny Phantom, that so-called superhero, told him. "Seriously, we should get you on a computer sometime."
"Hey guys, not to sound nervous or anything," Spongebob Squarepants, that annoying block of sea mold, was busy looking out the window, "but space kinda has a few more reds and black holes where the stars should be…"
"Hm." The Retroville citizen looked out to observe this phenomenon. "Curious. This part of space must have a different composition of matter than the worlds we've been to prior."
"If that's the case, then what do the black holes mean?" Goofy, captain of the royal knights and someone who should have been backing Donald from the start, asked.
"Well, I do have one theory, but it's not exactly a comforting one." Jiminy Cricket, the royal chronicler who didn't do much of anything, said after poking out of Goofy's hat. "Stars have been going out left and right, according to the king's letter. So with that in mind, those black holes just might be what remains of those stars."
"...That's grim." Danny blinked.
"That is, however, just a theory." Gadget, the mechanic who helped prolong this whole ordeal, said. "Were these real black holes, the entirety of space would basically be sucked inside from multiple directions by the immense gravity from each region."
"That's correct." Jimmy nodded at the mechanic. "As it is now, it may also just be black spots in the auroras. So you can relax, Spongebob."
"If you say so…" Spongebob really hoped the black hole theory wasn't true.
Donald couldn't help but drum his fingers on the arm of his chair. Just watching all these people on their gummi ship talking like it was no big deal, like it was fine to butt into the business of other worlds… it was getting the mallard more aggravated the more he thought about it. Just what would it take to just get rid of them and have Sora, who was supposed to be helping find the king instead of getting distracted by everything else, focus on the mission? Just what?
"Hey guys, looks like our next world is up ahead." Gadget's voice got his attention.
The court mage got up from his chair and walked up to the front of the cockpit to see this world alongside the others. Immediately his look soured. The world they were coming up towards was a world of incredibly lush, green jungle trees. Circling the world like a wooden, moss-covered helix from a large treehouse was a large jungle vine hanging just below the underside of the world with leaves growing from it. They could also see the underside of the world had a body of water, a river perhaps, that flowed in its seemingly upside-down state to form a waterfall just flowing down into a mist. Just hanging at an angle from the treehouse was a large crow's nest, where a small boat was hanging from a rope.
Danny was less than ecstatic after seeing it. "Please let there be no purpleback gorillas here…"
"Oh boy, this one kinda reminds me of the Kelp Forest." The sea sponge observed. "Sure hope we don't get lost in all those trees. Although, it'd make for a lovely picnic spot."
"I just hope this one isn't ruled by a dictatorship of apes." The boy from Dimmsdale said.
Sora blinked at Timmy's remark, "Why were you so specific?"
The boy in pink sighed, "Trust me when I say all you need to know about the ordeal was that it was a weird thing to go through."
"I actually found it pretty pleasant." Cosmo smiled. "So many monkeys, all the bananas you could eat…"
Wanda shuddered, "And all the stuff thrown at us…"
"Ignoring that, being stranded in the jungle would be problematic." The boy genius stroked his chin. Turning to his dog, he asked, "Goddard, do we have the necessary items for jungle exploration?"
Goddard barked and got right to rummaging through his body for anything they could use. The boys watched as the robot's dimensional pocket storage popped out bottles of bug spray, a tent, and a few more items which started to clutter the ship. Donald simply rolled his eyes as they basically talked like they were really going into that world to begin with. But of course, if they had their way, they would actually do that, dragging him and Goofy along for the ride….
"Hey, Donald," Goofy said as he picked up a fishing rod, "maybe King Mickey's down there. Do you think he's lost in such a dense place? It looks like a maze."
This was it. Just thinking of exploring the jungle, getting lost in such a desolate place with all the noisy kids… It was time Donald asserted his authority and showed HE was the one in charge.
"Enough!" The hot-tempered duck refuted, walking up towards the steering wheel and pushing Sora out of the way, confusing the keybearer. "There's no way the king would be in such a backwater place. No way! Let's move on."
Donald was just going to turn the ship away, but then he gave a confused quack as Sora's hands stopped the wheel from moving.
"Hold on." Sora said to the mage as he turned the ship to the side, causing the pile of stuff and the others to shift to the side. Everyone not clutching the wheel screamed as they landed on the floor, but the two were too focused on their argument to care, "Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's just check it out."
The duck wasn't planning on giving up after deciding to retake control of the situation. Especially not to the boy who was supposed to be following THEIR lead.
"Forget it!" His admittedly loud refusal ended up getting the other heroes' attention. He turned the shift again, causing the others to yelp as the items Goddard packed fell on top of them, "We're on an important mission!"
Sora got annoyed as well. Was Donald really saying that it wasn't worth the effort to search one world just because he didn't like the look of it? When they were looking for people important to them? Unfortunately for everyone else, they couldn't talk under the pile of exploration gear.
"Hey, mind just talking this out?!" Danny exclaimed as he phased through the pile, but both the kid and duck snapped.
"Stay out of this!" they yelled in unison, shocking the superhero into silence.
"Just land!" The keybearer told him, pushing the wheel towards the world.
"No!" The wizard pushed the wheel back.
"Come on!"
"Ah, phooey!"
"Woah, guys! Guys! Bring it off!" Spongebob, being ridiculously malleable, escaped from under the pile and quickly got between the two and put his hands to them, keeping them at a distance. "What's all this arguing about? We're just about to land, aren't we?"
"We would be, but Donald apparently has a problem with that." Sora answered, eyes narrowed at the mallard.
"My 'problem' is that this world is not worth wasting time in!" Donald retorted, eyes narrowed at the boy. "We already spent too much time with Wonderland and Olympus. We are NOT repeating that with this jungle!"
"What's the big deal about it being a jungle?" Timmy asked, stepping up as well from under the tent. "Like you said, we went through Wonderland and did some stuff in Olympus. It's not like there's any harm outside of maybe the usual Heartless when we deal with this one."
"Exactly." Jimmy concurred as he dug himself out of a pile of bug spray. "Considering everything that's going on, we can't leave a single stone unturned. Searching through all the worlds we can is the best way that we can hopefully stop the Syndicate, find Sora's friends, and your king. Now let's just get ready to disembark and–"
"Who made you the leader?" the wizard then got up in his face.
"Excuse me?" Came the confused genius' returned question.
"Ever since you and your friends just invited yourselves on OUR mission," the mallard told him, "we had gone through nothing but hassle after hassle. Making pointless promises, meddling in the affairs of other worlds, getting on the bad side of a beheading-happy queen, getting into a trap by an obviously evil god– well, no more! I'm putting my foot down. We're heading back to Traverse Town, and you guys are staying there!"
"Hey, time out, Daffy!" The average kid no one understood was not going to take that lying down. "What's all this about YOUR mission? Not sure if you noticed, but stopping an evil Syndicate bent on taking over the universe? Meaning all the worlds? Like the ones we've been going through? That's OUR mission. A mission that just happens to be the same as yours! Not to mention us 'interfering in the affairs of other worlds' was what got us this far in the first place! It's not like you had any issue when it came to the games either! Don't lecture us when you're just as guilty!"
"Now hold on, fellows!" Jiminy Cricket hopped out of Goofy's hat and landed on his shoulder, hoping to calm things down. "There's no need to fight like this! Just one wrong word said and–"
"All that only happened because you kept dragging us along in the first place!" The royal magician unfortunately didn't listen and kept going. "Just like how your so-called 'boy genius' practically caused this whole Syndicate mess!"
"WHAT?!" Now Jimmy was getting peeved as well.
"You heard me!" The duck continued his rant. "If it weren't for your stupid machine, then not only would your Syndicate not have even been formed, not only would the world order have been kept, but Alice wouldn't have been kidnapped either!"
"The Universe Portal Machine's purpose was meant for travel, not for conquest! The plans being stolen by Calamitous were not my fault!" He rebutted. "Also, we have no choice BUT to meddle if we even have a chance at saving the universe, so this 'world order' you claim to hold in high regard is ultimately self-defeating! None of us predicted that they would make it to this universe until that moment, and we did the best we could, including yourself, so get off your soapbox!"
"Ohhhh, this isn't good." Danny watched this, having experienced this sort of divisive argument before. "Hey, before you guys get ahead of yourselves–"
"I don't need to hear that coming from a kid who can't accept the existence of magic when it's right in front of him!" Once again, the warning fell on Donald's deaf ears.
"Just as I don't need to hear THAT coming from someone who can't actually PROVE that it's magic to begin with!" Jimmy Neutron too was just too agitated to listen.
"YOU'RE the one who comes up with random explanations on the fly!" The court magician retorted.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Sora took Jimmy's side as Gadget looked worried. "They've done nothing but help us the entire time. You can't just write them off like that! Without them, we probably wouldn't be here looking for your king or my friends! You promised we'd be looking for them too! You can't just back out of it because you don't want to explore one world!"
"Wait, guys!" Gadget could see Donald's feathers starting to turn red. "Don't say anything you're going to regret!"
But it was too late.
"Oh yeah?!" Donald finally shouted at Sora. "For your information, we don't even know if your friends are even around in this universe! For all we know, the Heartless could have long gotten to them before we found you. And even if they weren't at best, finding your friends is a side quest, just like the mutts! Our mission is to find the king! Everything else is strictly OPTIONAL!"
At that, everyone else in the cockpit collectively gasped. Goofy and Gadget had their hands up to their mouths in shock. Jiminy Cricket had his hat in his hands as his eyes were wide. Danny just facepalmed, having seen this coming. Jimmy and Timmy both made angered glares towards Donald for that practical confession; sure, they had a feeling Donald didn't like them this much, but to go that far towards Sora? Goddard was busy growling, not liking what the wizard had said one bit. Cosmo, Wanda, and Spongebob all shared disappointment in their eyes and expressions. But none were more… betrayed than Sora himself, with his jaw practically dropped to the floor from Donald's statement. Stricken silent, none seemed to notice his fingers twitching.
Spongebob spoke with disappointment after his gasp, "Donald Duck!"
"Figured that was what you really thought the whole time. You always sounded annoyed when it came to looking for Sora's friends or finding the puppies. You never even wanted to look for them to begin with!" Timmy accused. "And you don't see any issue with telling him all that?"
"It's best he knows now." Donald didn't plan on showing signs of regretting his words. "That way he won't be disappointed when he doesn't find them. Now, we go back to Traverse Town."
Donald, thinking that the case was rested and he got through to them, turned back towards the steering wheel and gripped it. He was going to turn it from the world… but then he gave a shocked squawk as he was suddenly shoved to the side. He saw none other than Jimmy Neutron gripping the wheel and his eyes narrowed towards him.
"You've done enough." The boy genius was firm, almost tranquil in his fury. "From now on, we're doing this our way whether you like it or not."
With that, Jimmy began steering the ship back towards the jungle planet. However, Donald, refusing to give up, got back up and began struggling with the boy genius to get the steering wheel back!
"Get off!" The mallard pushed against him. "This is not your ship!"
"You're not the one in charge!" He retaliated by pushing back.
From there, the cockpit practically dove into chaos. As Jimmy and Donald fought for control of the ship, Timmy joined in and started pulling Donald back to help Jimmy, but Goofy had to go in and prevent Jimmy from doing more against his friend. As a result, Spongebob had to help Timmy pull Donald back while Danny had to help Goofy with Jimmy. Goddard was basically barking while trying to prevent the two from interfering with his master, and Jiminy was just trying to keep out of harm's way by hopping everywhere. The gummi ship was even shaking and tilting as the struggle persisted.
Sora's head was looking down, his gaze practically shadowed by his hair. His fingers clenched into fists. Gadget, still in Sora's hair, looked at the boy in concern. She too felt what Donald said was too far, and it clearly had a poor affect on the Keyblade master. What made him think that was okay to say?
"Sora…?" She softly called his name. "Are you alright…?"
But Sora said nothing. Instead, he began walking towards the steering wheel, suddenly pushing everyone out of his way. They ended up falling back easily, basically shocked by the boy's unexpected actions. He finished things by pushing Donald and Jimmy out of his way and looking at the control panel. Looking up with a frown on his face and anger in his brows, Sora brought up one fist.
"We're landing!" He declared and proceeded to slam his fist down on a button!
"Don't touch that! Nooo!" The wizard tried to tell him to stop.
But like in the argument for many others that day, it was ignored. Sora's fist hit a button… a button that was NOT on the steering wheel. And just like that, the cockpit of the gummi ship began flashing with a red light. And then the gummi ship began to shake some more. So, with these conditions, only one thing could be said about this incredibly obvious situation of peril.
"Oh, barnacles." Spongebob's pupils shrunk.
"Brace yourselves!" Jimmy warned everyone as the ship began to veer out of control. "We're going for a crash landing!"
Everyone thus began to scream as the gummi ship barrel-rolled towards the world. In desperation, Spongebob saw the button on the wheel and tried standing up as balance was already being lost. But Spongebob had faced this issue before on Cerberus' back, so he felt that he could do this too. Carefully, as the ship was about to enter the planet's atmosphere, Spongebob grit his teeth as he pushed forth towards the button. The cockpit grew hotter and hotter as it began making atmospheric entry. He just had to reach out his arm…!
—-
"...b… ob… ngebob… pongebob… Spongebob, hey! Get up!"
Spongebob found himself stirring awake, his vision but a blur. Getting up, he could hear the faintest sound of voices in his holes. He felt like he was laying on something wooden, trying to push himself up as he tried recovering his bearings. He eventually realized the voices he was hearing actually belonged to Timmy Turner, who was busy waving a hand over his face.
The yellow sea sponge gave a yawn as he stretched his arms, saying, "I'm up, I'm up… Wow… that was some nap… What happened…?"
"Well, we landed, if you want to know that much." The buck-toothed boy told him as he got out of his way.
Rubbing his eyes, the sea creature took a look at the world around them and marveled at the marvelous view. A vast blue sky with thin clouds, a thick jungle deep below them with so much green flora… and he realized that they were standing on a large wooden house built into the trees! No way would his and Patrick's own tree house ever compare to this marvel. He looked around, seeing Danny, Jimmy and Goddard just a couple feet away, looking over the expanse as well. At least they were okay.
"Hey guys, Spongebob's awake!" Timmy called over to them, getting them to turn and come up.
"Glad to see you're alright, Spongebob." Jimmy told the fry cook. "Seems your body managed to save you after you crashed on the roof of this treehouse."
"Yeah, well, I am a sponge." Spongebob laughed at that. But then he realized, "Hey wait, I crashed? What about you guys?"
"Flight powers." Danny reminded him.
Goddard barked, and Wanda and Cosmo appeared above Timmy. That basically answered Spongebob's question.
"Oh yeah, like back in Wonderland." He considered. "Well, that explains us, at least. But what about Sora and the others?"
That actually made Jimmy and Timmy both grimace.
"Unfortunately, we've yet to see any sign of Sora." The boy genius answered. "As for… the others…"
"What about the others?" The average kid asked grumpily.
"Timmy!" Wanda admonished.
"Hey, you guys all saw what happened back on the ship!" He told his fairies. "Sora's fine. But why should we care about the other guys after learning what they were really using him for? And what they said about us?"
"Technically it was only Donald who said all that–" Spongebob pointed out, but Jimmy held up his hand.
"Don't mention his name, please." Jimmy rubbed his temples. "Right now, we need to find Sora and figure out what this world is. From there, we just need to figure out where to go."
"Not to mention we have to trek through the entire jungle just to–" Danny began, but cut himself with a blink, "hey, does anyone else hear that?"
"Hear what?" The sea sponge asked.
"No, wait, I hear it too." Timmy held a hand to his ear. "It sounds like… screaming?"
"Where's it coming from?" The inventor asked.
"...Above us?"
The quartet then looked up and saw a familiar face falling towards them fast! Sora, falling headfirst towards them. Spongebob ran to catch the Keyblade master so he couldn't get hurt, but the happy-go-lucky sea critter unfortunately forgot that gravity was a harsh mistress. The moment Sora landed in his arms, the resulting force had him fall entirely on Spongebob, their combined weight made a hole in the roof and they fell into the house! The very impact left smoke coming from the floor and several other pieces of stray wood to fall from the house. Danny, Jimmy, Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda all winced while Goddard's ears covered his eyes. They looked through the whole to see Sora on his behind, rubbing the back of his head in pain. Other than that, it didn't appear he was worse for wear.
"Oww… my head…" he muttered.
"Hey, Sora, you okay?" The halfa asked as he flew inside to check up on him. Jimmy and Timmy, with the help of Goddard and his fairies respectively, joined him.
"Yeah, I'm okay…" Sora replied, glad to see the three of them. Wait, three? "Hey, where's Spongebob?"
"I'm down here." A muffled voice answered under him.
"Oh!" The keybearer jumped and saw Spongebob laying on the floor, flattened like a pancake. "Sorry, Spongebob! Are you alright?"
Putting a thumb to his mouth and blowing on it, Spongebob blew himself back to his regular proportions like a balloon and stood on his feet, good as new.
"It's okay, you're not the first to land on me." He assured Sora with a chuckle. "If anything you probably won't be the last."
"That's not exactly assuring…" The islander admitted in response.
The group heard another moan, and Gadget once more came out of Sora's hair, rubbing her head and looking dizzy.
"Golly," she groaned, "that landing could have gone better…"
"Hey Gadget, are you alright?" Sora asked in concern, holding his hand up for her to step onto.
Appreciating the gesture and getting on his palm, she replied as he brought his hand down so he could look upon her, "Nothing's hurt at least. Fortunately, your hair is surprisingly just as soft as it is stable with its spikes."
"It is?" Sora absentmindedly felt up one of his hair's spikes.
"Maybe it's part of your world's biology?" Jimmy theorized. "Either that, or a patented hair gel… Which I'd be delighted to get a sample of."
"Um, sure?" The Keyblade wielder was unsure on how to reply to that.
But then they heard a sudden creak in the floor. Struck silent, the group froze as they all wondered where that noise came from. Eyes moving cautiously from corner to corner, trying to look for any sign of movement that wasn't their own. Being inside this treehouse, they could see obvious signs that this was meant to be a home. Aged furniture, bookshelves, drawers, tattered sheets and clothes, broken windows, and flora growing from between the creases in the floorboards. Portraits on the wall, some broken ones on the floor, more broken utilities here and there from a table to even a ripped pillow with the feathers fluttering about. It was almost as though a fight had broken out…
Sora felt something off, and quickly turned to the back of the treehouse. From upstairs on the second level, a leopard, well, leapt from the overlook and dove towards them! Sora held up his Lady Luck in one hand to defend himself as the predator landed, only for it to claw at him with a powerful swipe and sent him crashing into the wall, making sure to hold Gadget close so she didn't get hurt! In return, Danny punched the leopard in the face and sent it back to the wall as well… On a regular large feline, it'd have knocked its lights out, but the beast skidded to a halt, its claws leaving marks on the floor as it turned to its attacker and growled.
"Bad kitty!" Danny told it off as he and his friends got ready for a bigger fight.
"Did it seriously eat one of your punches and shrug it off?!" Timmy exclaimed in worry.
"Must be the alpha of its…" Jimmy started before blinking. "Wait, it's a female alpha leopard?"
"Um, Jimmy, maybe we should save the education later," Spongebob gulped as he got ready and prayed to Neptune not to end like cheese slices.
The leopard bared its sharp fangs and let out a powerful roar of primal fury. Getting a better look, they saw it was larger than the average leopard with a slender, strongly built form that allowed for swift movement. It had the normal characteristics of its kind, but something about its posture and ferocity made them worry. Yellow eyes filled with predatory instincts looked into their souls, making the group nearly shiver at the killer intent behind the monstrous feline.
From there, Sora got back up and joined once more with his friends with Gadget getting back in his hair. The leopard proceeded to charge at them with claws out, making the group scatter. Jimmy and Timmy already began pelting it with stars and wind, annoying the beast and making it growl in their direction before lunging upward, avoiding their attacks! Jimmy and Timmy quickly jumped out of the leopard's way and began running and shooting at the same time. Spongebob quickly grabbed the feline's tail, making it try to circle around to attack him, but that left it open to be attacked by a three-hit combo from Sora and a kick from the ghostly superhero, sending it flying towards a nearby shelf filled with books and crashing, sending some of those books to the floor.
After that, the leopard seemed to lay motionless on the floor. Sora was breathing heavily after managing to persevere in spite of the surprise attack. As for his friends however, they were just the same, wiping some sweat from their brows as they kept their eye on the predator. No one dared to make a move. They had to be ready for anything…
…And still, no movement.
"...Is it…?" Spongebob quietly asked.
"I'm not sure…" Sora was about to tip-toe closer towards it. "Maybe I should check–"
However, Danny pulled him back before he could move closer, telling him, "Yeah, I got a better way to tell."
The spectral superhero held up one finger, built up ecto-energy, and sent a shot right near the leopard's muzzle. The leopard immediately jumped back up and roared at them, making them brace themselves for another fight. But before they could have a second round, they heard footsteps approaching quickly from the ceiling joists above them. Then they saw a figure swing down in front of them and block the leopard's attacking maw with a spear! The man and the leopard struggled against each other before the man pushed the leopard away, growling at it and holding the sharp end of the spear in its direction. The leopard growled in return, not liking being impeded in its hunt. But it appeared to know that it shouldn't bother proceeding further and then ran off, breaking another window in its escape.
With that, our heroes got out of their defensive positions and faced their rescuer as he turned towards them. He appeared to be a lean yet muscular, tanned man with brown hair styled in long dreadlocks. He wore almost no clothes. The only piece of clothing he wore was a tattered, brown loincloth around his waist. His eyes were a light green-blue in color. The sense of aggression that he held against the predatory feline was absent in his approach towards them.
"Sabor, danger." He spoke, his voice in notably broken English.
"Um… thank you." Sora blinked, unsure of how to reply but still expressed gratitude.
"Thank you." The man replied, apparently just testing the words himself.
The group all blinked. Did he understand what Sora said?
"Uhhhhhh…" Timmy decided to give it a whack. "What is this place?"
"This place, this place." The man came closer to them, still just echoing words.
"Okaaay…" Danny said slowly. "Where did the others go? We got separated from some friends. Have you seen them?"
The man seemed to tilt his head. He was listening, but perhaps they needed to talk simpler.
"Friiiiiiends…" Spongebob spoke slower, emphasizing the word while gesturing to his allies.
The mostly naked man mimicked the gesture, saying the word with certainty, "Friends!"
"Right, our friends!" Sora was ecstatic to see the guy actually understand something. "There's two of 'em. The loud one is Dona–"
"...finding your friends is a side quest…"
But Sora stopped when he recalled those words. The more he considered it, the more he recalled Donald admitting that he basically never intended on finding his friends to begin with. The fact that the wizard had said that after saying he could find his friends if he went along with them… now he knew that was just a means to an end. The duck lied about helping him.
That was no real friendship.
The man seemed to let out a confused grunt as he stared at Sora, wondering why he stopped. As for the others, Timmy and Jimmy gave understanding looks with their eyes narrowed at the mere thought of that selfish mallard. Spongebob and Gadget just looked concerned for Sora and the two boys with him while Danny just facepalmed and shook his head.
"You know what? Never mind." Sora finally said. "We're looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi."
"Look for Riku," the man seemed to get, "friends?"
"Right!" The keybearer nodded.
But then Sora seemed to get distracted by something and looked behind the loincloth wearer. This actually confused the other four and tried looking at the same spot. However, nothing was there. Was Sora seeing something they didn't or was it his imagination playing tricks on him?
"Kairi, friends?" The man asked next.
"Uhh… right…" He confirmed with another nod, albeit distracted.
"Should one of us ask what he's looking at?" The fry cook whispered to the boy genius. "He's distracted by something, but I don't see it."
"Maybe later. It's still imperative we figure out where to go from this treehouse." Jimmy replied.
"Friends here."
That statement from the man alone got everyone's attention.
"Really!?" Sora asked, happy to hear that.
"Oh, wonderful!" Spongebob shared Sora's reaction at the apparent news. "Where are they?"
"*&&X%."
The man answered in a series of ape-like grunts. Once again, the group looked on in confusion.
"*&&X%." The man repeated. "Friends here."
"Not sure I understand, but show me!" Sora, in spite of the odd, unintelligible word, decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Take me to Riku and Kairi!"
The man held his hands up to his chest, and then finally introduced himself, "Tarzan. Tarzan go."
"And I'm… Sora." The keybearer introduced himself as well, not noticing three of his friends blinking in recognition of the prior name. Speaking in Tarzan's broken language, he continued, "These, Danny, Timmy, Jimmy, Spongebob, Goddard, Gadget. Tarzan go, us go-go!"
With that apparently settled, Tarzan went towards the front door and opened it, looking out over the porch and out towards the jungle below once again. A vast and open world no doubt awaited them. And if Sora's friends really were here, then our heroes agreed that they would help him find them. No matter what a selfish duck says about them.
Meanwhile, in another part of the jungle, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket were by themselves, sitting on a moss-covered rock. The captain of the royal knights was sitting and looking bothered about something. The chronicler was simply writing something down in his journal. As for the court wizard, well, he was laying on his side with an annoyed expression and his eyes closed, clearly pretending to look nonchalant about something. His Warhammer was laying against the rock.
"Gawrsh, where are we?" Goofy wondered as he looked up to the sky. "I sure hope Sora and the others are okay. With the way the ship was goin' after all that, they might have…"
"Don't worry, Goofy." Jiminy Cricket assured him. "Seeing as we managed to make it out alive after that, there is no doubt in my mind that they're okay as well. But we really do need to get back to them. Without their help, we can't–"
"Aw, who needs them?" Donald sat up, clearly agitated about the event and not seeing himself as responsible for it. "They've all just been holding us back the entire time. We can find the king without 'em. Now let's go and– huh?"
Donald went to grab his staff, but instead he felt something oddly furry. Donald looked to what he was touching and ended up face to face with a young female gorilla. She had dark hair, gray skin, and brown eyes. She also had a crest of hair that fell over the top of her head. The two stared at each other with slightly open mouths for about a few seconds. Then they proceeded to yell in fright at each other, with Donald falling backward and the gorilla starting to run off.
But then a sound was heard in the thicket close by, getting Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy to turn and wonder what was coming. The gorilla, as she left, ended up dropping a peculiar orange block with a purple segment and orange triangles poking from it. Donald noticed this with surprise, but then the noise from the thicket grew louder. All three of them gulped as they saw someone coming out of the thicket. A tall human man with thinning hair as well as a pencil thin mustache that was mixed with a dignified English hunter attire. In his hands was a double-barreled shotgun, and there was a look in his eyes that implied… he had no idea what he was looking at.
But back up with our heroes, they watched as their new friend, Tarzan, gestured for them to follow him before jumping down to the net below, running ahead, and then apparently jumping off into the trees below that. The group all shared looks with each other as they pondered on whether or not potentially falling to their doom was a good idea. Obviously not, but then again, they just got to this world and they didn't know much about its geography. That said, Danny was more than capable of flight, Jimmy's backpack had a jetpack along with Goddard who could fly and act as a hoverbike, and Timmy had his fairies– er, programs.
"Alright, now we're hanging out with Tarzan, lord of the apes." Timmy figured. "Least he's not wearing drapes or teaching shapes."
"I'm surprised you actually know who Tarzan is." Jimmy noted.
"Let's just say doing a 500 page book report for me led to one thing after another." The buck-toothed boy shrugged.
"Wait, 500 pages?" Danny was stunned to hear that. "Aren't you ten?"
"My teacher's Mr. Crocker." He reminded the superhero.
"Oh, right. Evil teacher. That makes sense." The halfa conceded.
"An issue that Timmy could have avoided entirely if he worked on it over the summer instead of waiting until the last minute." Wanda lectured her godkid.
"Hey, there's no need to bring that up, Wanda. It all worked out for Timmy and he got an A." Cosmo told his wife. "Everyone else just had to fail their book reports to do it!"
Everyone else then gave the average kid no one understood rather disapproving looks.
"...That… doesn't sound very ethical." Sora gave Timmy a raised brow.
"Tom Sawyer forced my hand, okay?" The citizen of Dimmsdale didn't want to talk about it.
"...So are we going to follow Tarzan now?" Spongebob asked.
"Oh, right!" The boy genius recalled. "We'll get into trivia later. Just brace yourselves for a rough landing!"
With that, the group jumped down to the net and followed suit, jumping after Tarzan. Luckily, the landing wasn't that rough at all, and they found themselves having rejoined the jungle man in a tunnel covered in leaves and greenery, practically forming a room of green. Of course, there was also a large hole forming in the ground nearby from a large tree trunk that appeared to be split open from the top. Tarzan, seeing they had finally come down, walked ahead on his feet and knuckles like an ape, gesturing towards the gap in the tree. He then jumped in, and everyone could hear him apparently sliding down.
Everyone looked at each other at that. Were they really going to slide down too?
"Ohhh…" Spongebob knew where this was going and so went up first. "I just know it's going to take tons of time cleaning my tongue after this…"
With that, the sea sponge stuck out his tongue, practically elongating it, and then jumped after Tarzan tongue first. Sora decided to follow suit, jumping after him. Danny shrugged, doing the same. Timmy and Jimmy still remained, looking at each other. Finally deciding to just roll with it, the boy genius had Goddard turn into a scooter and rode him down. For the buck-toothed kid, Wanda turned into a helmet on his head and Cosmo turned into a skateboard for him to ride. Finally, Timmy went last.
From there, our heroes found themselves surfing down a large tree branch after Tarzan! After going through a bunch of smaller branches in their path, they marveled at all the trees and other branches around them as they slid down. As they maneuvered down a part of the branch that shaped its path like an s, they could see a cliffside with a gap leading inside from another large branch, as well as some form of river flowing down below. But they couldn't get too distracted, seeing as there were bulky branches in their way that could've hurt them if they got hit. But while Tarzan, Sora, and Danny just destroyed the branches with their spear, Keyblade, and powers respectively, the others made use of their sliding skills and just jumped over them.
"This is so cooooool!" Sora was having the time of his life surfing on the tree branch. "Tarzan does this all the time here?"
"How the heck are his feet not burning just sliding on wood?" Danny had to ask. "Did he spend all his time sanding and greasing these trees?"
"This world might have unique properties that allow tree surfing to be possible!" Jimmy answered Danny. "Kind of hard to think of a concrete theory when we're in the middle of this!"
Spongebob's eyes seemed to widen as he took notice of something up ahead and he tried warning the others about it. However, since he was sliding on his tongue, his words only came out muffled and hard to understand.
"What's Spongebob trying to say?" Timmy asked as he actually did a grind on a nearby branch before getting back on the main one.
"Maybe he saw some bananas?" Cosmo wondered. "I could go for some while we're here."
Soon the group came up to an especially green part of the branch and began sliding up it. They figured they were in for a long dive… only to find Tarzan actually jumping off and seeing him fall downward! Sora, without a care in the world, actually moved past Spongebob and followed after the jungle man, falling the same way. Spongebob actually slid off the branch, gasped as he hung a bit in the air, kicked his feet as he attempted to keep afloat. Of course, gravity won, so Danny had to jump off the branch and zoom towards Spongebob, grabbing his arms before he could plummet. Jimmy and Timmy anticipated this and thus acted accordingly with Goddard going into flight mode and Cosmo turning into an airboard. From there, Goddard helped his master by hovering down while Wanda turned into a parachute for Timmy to float down with.
Sora, all the while, landed on his feet, as expected of the risk taker, next to Tarzan. He looked around at his surroundings. Aside from the entrance to their left going further into the jungle, they were now in a campsite with tents pitched up and suitcases and crates practically piled on top of each other. There were also several utilities that were covered by tarps to avoid potential rain, such as clothes drawers, mirrors, more suitcases and crates, and so on. Near them was a long table with a typewriter, a set of books, and an assortment of beakers, flasks, bottles and test tubes clearly meant for an experiment. There was also a blackboard with a sketch of Tarzan on it, just to their right, behind a larger crate with stars on its sides. At the north of the camp, by a path leading to a massive bamboo thicket, there was a grandfather clock standing against a wall of rock and earth, while near the clock was a smaller table with a light purple tablecloth and several white and purple tea cups while a larger teapot of the same design was emitting hot steam. The centerpiece of the camp was a large flagpole with the British flag waving proudly.
Sora looked up to see his friends landing near them, with Spongebob dusting himself off once Danny set him down.
"Ugh… so much moss…" The sea sponge was busy trying to spit out some green off of his tongue. He actually pulled out a brush to clean it, "Just like sliding in the Kelp Forest…"
"Why would you even slide on your tongue to begin with?" The boy with the silly pink hat asked.
"It's not like I have a spare surfing shell to work with." The fry cook replied.
"Fascinating." Jimmy's attention was on the table with the science clearly at work. "It seems that the people at this camp are working on something, but the research notes are missing. I wonder what it is…"
"Looks like they're cooking something too." Spongebob noticed the old stove with a cooking pot atop it. "Maybe if we find whoever's handling this camp, we can help them out a bit."
"Tent. This way." Tarzan of course went ahead.
Their curiosities having to wait, the group followed the jungle man into the nearby light orange tent. Coming inside, they saw that the tent was somewhat bare save for the carpet on the ground, sheets hung up like a projector screen to their left, a map of Africa hanging in a portrait in the back, and a long table with books stacked upon it to their right alongside an armchair and a fancy stool. They also found two other people inside. One was a short and slender old man with fair skin, white hair and mustache, gray eyebrows and green eyes. He wore a cream exploration shirt and blue bow tie and light brown pants. He appeared to be working with the other individual on some sort of old slide projector.
"Jane!" Tarzan greeted the other one.
The other one, Jane, turning upon being called, was a beautiful woman. She had long, dark brown hair, blue eyes, and seemed to wear eyeliner and lipstick. Clothing-wise, she wore a long, brown sarong that reached just above her ankles. This sarong was held up by a knot tied on her right side, which exposed most of her right leg. Jane also wore a faded, beige tank top.
"Tarzan!" Jane smiled, glad to see him there, but also surprised by the other apparent guests. "Oh, and who are these?"
"Uh, hi there." Sora tried looking everywhere BUT the exposed leg, hiding a blush. "I'm–"
"Oh, you speak English!" Jane was astonished to hear that. "So then, obviously you're not related to Tarzan, which I can guess would also be explained by the clothes…"
"Yeah, pretty obvious." Danny snarked before getting elbowed by Jimmy.
"Manners, these are people of science, and we are guests," the boy genius reminded the halfa.
"By jove, what's this?" The old man exclaimed as he spotted Spongebob. Coming up to the sea sponge, the man said, "This is certainly not like any particular species I've seen before. Why, I'm not even sure Africa is known for having walking sponges, but I suppose there's always a time for learning something new around here!"
"Uh, actually sir, I'm not from here, either." Spongebob politely corrected the man, a little unsure how to act with the man clearly looking him over from all angles.
"Oh my, he talks, too! In perfect English, no less!" The man began shaking Spongebob's hand with both of his. "This is a most exciting discovery, Jane, dear girl! Thank you for this marvelous opportunity, Tarzan!"
"Thank you…" Tarzan echoed the words again.
"Er, pardon us for this unannounced visit," the boy genius figured he should probably get communications underway, "we just arrived recently. I'm James Isaac Neutron, Jimmy for short. These are my friends, Sora, Timmy Turner, Danny Phantom, and the one having his hand shook is Spongebob Squarepants. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, the pleasure's ours!" The old man laughed as he shook Jimmy's hand next. "I am Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, and this is my lovely daughter Jane. We're here on a research venture to study the gorillas. And I must tell you, our time here has been plenty eventful thus far! Why, you could simply imagine our surprise when we learned about Tarzan from Jane."
Then with some good humor, he whispered to Jimmy, "You should have seen her when she drew him for us on the blackboard. She was quite invested with his eyes~."
"Awwww~." Spongebob, Cosmo, and Wanda all cooed at that, though Jane and her father didn't catch the latter two.
"Really now, daddy!" Jane giggled, knowing her father was just teasing her. Then back to the group, she asked, "Anyhow, seeing as you're not natives either, are you here to study the gorillas?"
"Highly doubtful."
Everyone heard a posh, dignified voice refute that as they saw another man come into the tent. A classical Englishman hunter, walking in with his double-barrel shotgun. However, following him inside were a peculiarly odd pair of people who didn't match with the man. A duck and a dog with a cricket on his hat. Wait a minute…
"Sora!" Goofy exclaimed with joy. "Guys!"
Upon seeing each other, Sora and Donald ended up running towards each other and gripped each other's hands, apparently just as happy.
"Goofy! Donald!" The keybearer was glad, as was the mallard.
But then, all it took was one look at each other in the eyes, and immediately they remembered what happened before this. Words being said. Struggling for control. The crash. Everything before that moment.
From there, Sora and Donald immediately let go of each other's hands with a huff and pointedly turned away with each other with turned heads and crossed arms. Goofy and Jiminy both looked so disappointed by that display while Jimmy and Timmy just glared at the duck before crossing their arms and turning away from him as well. Danny and Spongebob just looked at each other with awkward expressions. Tarzan seemed to tilt his head at this, wondering what was happening between them.
"A circus of clowns and sideshow freaks, clearly." The hunter shrugged, not amused by these newcomers and these odd human-animals. Not to mention a gaggle of children in the most outlandish clothes he had ever seen. So he went back outside, parting with, "Not much use for hunting gorillas."
"Mr. Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them." Jane sternly told off the man as he walked away. "This is research."
"Now my dear, we both know he's quite aware of it." Her father tried to put her at ease. "We hired Mr. Clayton to be our guide, after all. He's probably just not as charmed as we are with our new guests yet. He'll come around."
Jane sighed. Her father was at least right on one thing. Nothing she could do about Clayton for now. So, she turned to the others, putting on a more relaxed smile even though the air between a few of them was rather tense.
"Well, the more the merrier." She told them. "Do make yourselves at home."
"You don't mind?" The fry cook asked.
"Of course not." The professor's daughter replied. "Our camp is your camp, so to speak. What do you say?"
Sadly, little seemed to change in the matter of tensions. Poor Goofy was looking nervously between Sora and Donald, the two still not planning on looking at each other. Jimmy and Timmy were still in complete agreement with Sora and refused to budge. Spongebob scratched his head, looking between Donald, Sora, Jimmy, and Timmy with a downhearted expression. Danny just rubbed his temples again, wishing he didn't need to see a repeat of this scenario.
"Well, anyway…" Sora tapped his finger impatiently on his arm.
"We're/I'm staying." Sora, Timmy, Jimmy… and Donald all said at the same time.
"Huh?" The first three finally looked at the duck in surprise, not expecting him to say that after his fit back on the ship.
"Guys, look what we found." Goofy held out his hands, holding something in them. "Look at this."
He opened his hands and revealed the block he and Donald spotted a while ago with a chuckle. The group of heroes, even Donald, took a look at it. Of course, they were so busy looking at the familiar design that they didn't realize they had an audience of three.
"What's that?" Sora asked.
Gadget of course popped out of his hair and answered, "A gummi block. Basically like the rest of the blocks we've been finding in treasure chests and using for our ship."
"So that means…" Timmy figured, a smirk coming onto his face.
Donald could just feel it coming from the two kids that he couldn't help the sigh escaping from his beak.
"The king could be here." The court wizard admitted. "So, we've gotta work together to look for him."
Then tensely towards the three, he added, "For now."
Sora clicked his tongue at that, at least finding some satisfaction in the fact that the duck had no choice BUT to look in the place he said his king would not be.
"Fine." The wielder of the Keyblade said. "We'll let you tag along."
Then just as tense towards Donald, he added, "For now."
"After that, we're going our separate ways." The mage stated.
"Sounds good to me." The kid with a knack for invention agreed. "Now, that being said, seeing as this means you have to look through this world after all… I believe it's time for the In Your Face Dance!"
"The what–?" Donald blinked.
"In your face~!" Jimmy gloated as he pointed his fingers at the duck, skipping on his toes before dancing smugly and even shaking his rear end in the mallard's direction, annoying him. "In your face~! In your face, ha-ha, in your face~!"
"Grrrrr…" Donald grumbled before just stomping outside. He did not need this.
Once the mallard left, Jiminy Cricket hopped off from Goofy's hat and onto Jimmy's shoulder, telling him, "Now Jimmy, I know what happened back on the ship was hardly good for anybody, but it doesn't do you any good to act out like that. Remember the importance of humility."
"Aw, humility shmumility!" Timmy blew that off. "It's the least he deserves after what he pulled."
Danny sighed, continuing to rub his temples, "I hope this isn't going to last the whole time here."
"Hey Gadget, what kind of gummi block is that?" The fry cook asked as the mouse popped out of Sora's hair, desiring to steer the conversation towards something less awkward.
"It appears to be a Protect-G." She observed. "One of the gummi blocks used to make the ship more resistant to enemy attacks. Should be handy once we apply it to the ship."
Tarzan continued staring at the group as they all talked to each other, not really understanding the conversation going on. Sora, noting Tarzan's stares, remembered what they followed him down here for. With that, he turned to Jane, who was still working on the projector. Perhaps she knew where Riku and Kairi were, and if not, she could translate what Tarzan's odd word was. Trying still to look away from the crease in her dress, he went over to the professor's daughter and cleared his throat, getting her attention.
"So, Ms. Porter…" Sora began.
She chuckled at him trying to be formal, bending over a bit so she could be eye level with him, "Please, call me Jane. I doubt I'm old enough to really be a 'Ms' just yet."
"Er, right." The keybearer blushed a bit more, seeing as Jane was much prettier up close. "So, uh, you guys are close to Tarzan, right? Is there a reason he's… um…"
"Apparently Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas. As a result, he doesn't speak English like we do." She explained, basically saving him from sounding more awkward than he already was. "Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he's learning."
"So he was speaking in "gorilla" back there…" Sora seemed to get it by now. "By the way, have you perchance seen a couple people around my age?"
"Around your age?" Jane asked. "You're looking for your friends?"
He nodded, explaining, "Tarzan said Riku and Kairi, my friends, are here. And one word I couldn't understand… I guess that was something in "gorilla"."
The professor's daughter hummed as she took that into consideration. A word that Tarzan said in regards to Sora's friends being here? They hadn't actually seen anyone recently outside of them. If Tarzan had seen them, he more than likely would have guided them here so at the very least they would be safe. So with that not being the case at present, no doubt the word would have to be the key towards figuring out where Sora's friends would be.
With that, Jane Porter got an idea.
"Why don't we try this?" Jane turned towards the projector, with Sora trying to avert his eyes from her dress revealing more of her leg. "We'll show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word."
"Hm…" Jimmy Neutron considered that idea and could see it had merit. "Well, I suppose for someone like Tarzan, showing him images to spark familiarity would help more than trying to translate direct answers from them. That sounds good."
"Perfect! Now let's just turn it on, and…" She went to do just that, but then she realized something was wrong. "Oh dear, what happened to the slides?"
"Maybe the slides are missing?" The professor figured.
"It just might be." She sighed. "They must be lying around the camp somewhere… I'd hate to trouble you, but perhaps you can help find them? There should be six slides in all."
"But of course!" Spongebob was happy to be of assistance. "We can also help with anything else you guys need while we're at it!"
"Oh there's no need for you to go that far for us." She was flattered, but tried politely refusing.
"Please, we insist." The fry cook wouldn't have it, however.
"It doesn't appear you can dissuade them from giving a helping hand dear." Archimedes said with a bit of humor. "If anything, I welcome it! So, which one of you would happen to be good with experiments?"
"Oh, that would be me, sir." Jimmy stood forward when the professor asked. "I happen to involve myself with science quite a lot back home."
"Why splendid!" Mr. Porter then began walking outside with Jimmy, telling him, "I must say, it's always wonderful to see a young man interested in the pursuit of knowledge. I think you'll be interested in what I'm currently working on…"
"Guess I'll see what's cooking in the pot." The sea sponge figured. "Wanna help with that, Goofy?"
"Oh, sure!" Goofy was at least glad he and Spongebob were still on good terms.
The captain of the royal knights and the number one fry cook left the tent next, though Jiminy Cricket caught up by hopping onto Spongebob's head and back onto Goofy's hat from there. That basically just left Sora with Gadget in his hair, and Timmy, Danny, and Tarzan with him. They went outside, back into the camp, to look for the slides for the projector. Timmy already spotted one near the blackboard and went to pick it up. He looked over nearby to see Spongebob and Goofy looking over the stove and pot while Jimmy was with Archimedes, who was just marveling at Goddard.
"By jove, and you created this marvelous wonder at your age?" The professor chuckled as Goddard gave him a couple friendly licks like the dog he was. "So lifelike too!"
"That's right." Jimmy smiled. "Goddard here is my greatest achievement on top of my best friend on top of being the best dog. Wouldn't have him any other way."
Goddard barked, happy to be praised by his creator. All the while, with Spongebob and Goofy…
"Hm… 'Recipe for a Hi-Potion'." Spongebob read from a notecard he found. "Step 1, place the potion in the pot."
"Got it!" Goofy did just that, putting a potion's contents into the pot. "Good thing we got plenty of these. What's next?"
"Step 2," Spongebob read the second card, "light the stove."
Goofy opened the stove's door, seeing that while wood was in there to burn, there wasn't any fire to have the stove heated with. Not to mention it wasn't like they had any spare matchsticks to work with.
"Hm… think we might need some help with this one." The goof said to the sponge.
"Good thing we know two people for the job!" The fry cook smiled before calling out, "Hey Donald! Wanna help us with the cooking?"
"Do it yourself!"
Spongebob frowned at the harsh refusal. Of course, Sora then came up to them with a smile and told them, "Don't worry, I got your back. That's what a real friend does!"
"Uh, yeah, right…" He nodded back.
Sora then cast a fire spell into the stove, burning the wood and lighting the stove. Sure enough, the pot's contents began to bubble and steam rose from within. Getting a spare bottle from nearby, Goofy carefully got the heated contents and sealed them inside. Judging from the glow and sparkles, indeed the potion had become a hi-potion.
"Well, at least we know we can actually cook hi-potions." Goofy told Spongebob as Sora next went to help out Jimmy and the professor.
"I guess…" Spongebob was glad they helped with the cooking, but still…
Back with the searching party, Tarzan climbed up the flagpole before jumping onto the tent, managing to find a slide that somehow made it there. Timmy found one just behind a spinning globe near the main tent, along with one that was atop the pile of crates and cases. Danny found one in the back corner of the camp on top of a green drawer, and one just atop the tarp that was above that. Fortunately, seeing as Tarzan was already on the tent, the jungle man took the opportunity to travel along the tarp to receive that slide as well. Danny gave a thumbs up to Tarzan, and the jungle man stared before mimicking the motion. The halfa nodded at him, seeing he got it, and went to meet up with the others, but then his eyes came towards the hunter from before, currently sitting with a cup of tea in hand and sipping from it. Definitely looking disinterested in what was going on before him.
He also spotted Donald near the grandfather clock, just impatiently tapping one webbed foot and intentionally looking away from the entire group as they were busy with their things.
He figured it was against his better judgment, on top of having bad experiences with hunters before, but this was a different world. Perhaps talking with him would be fine. Maybe he wasn't a crazy kill-happy trophy finder. Danny decided to approach the man. He did notice that the man's shotgun was just leaning nearby, though. Best to be cautious.
"Soooo…" Danny tried to spark a conversation as the man's eyes looked in his direction. "Doesn't seem like you're into all this much, Mr…"
"Clayton's the name." Clayton said. "William Cecil Clayton. And it's quite obvious, isn't it? After all, I'm a hunter, not a researcher. And before you ask, no, I am not going to hunt the gorillas. They are, however, a rare species. I'd just like to get a look at them. As such, I came on as the guide for the Porters' research expedition."
"Going to guess that you haven't had much luck with that, though." The halfa figured.
"You'd think otherwise, but unfortunately yes." The man confirmed, placing his cup of tea down. "I've no doubt Tarzan knows where the nesting grounds are. He just won't tell us where, for some reason. So here we are, stuck in this rut of research and exploration with nothing to show for it. No offense, young man, but as it appears, you lot hadn't exactly come at a good time."
"I'll try not to take that personally." Danny replied with some of his snark.
Then an explosion suddenly reached their ears!
"Eureka! It's complete!"
Danny and Clayton went over to see what the noise was about. When they saw, Danny blinked as he saw Professor Archimedes with a face coated in soot, and the right side of his mustache tipped with a small bit of fire. Either way, he was holding two vials of some form of liquid in his hands. Clayton, all the while, just rolled his eyes with a groan and walked back to his spot.
"With this, from a potion after cooling it with ice," the professor excitedly said as he marveled at the two glasses, "we have managed to create two ethers at once! The item replication theory is a success! Thank you, boys!"
"It's our pleasure, professor." Jimmy was delighted to hear praise from an intellectual. "Even if I'm not exactly a fan of these archaic medicines, it's comforting to know that there is in fact a scientific way in order to make them properly around here."
"And helping is basically something any decent person would do." Sora agreed, though Danny had noticed he clearly emphasized one word as an intentional jab towards someone else.
"Hey guys, we got all the slides now, right?" Timmy asked, holding up three slides. "I already got three."
"Got one." Danny held up a slide.
Tarzan held up two. He didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't know the word 'two' yet?
"Alright, looks like that's all the slides." Professor Porter nodded. "Back to the tent! Now we'll see if this gets us some answers as to where your friends might be, young Sora."
"Great!" Sora was happy to hear that.
"Better prepare for disappointment." Donald took a shot of his own as he passed by.
The keybearer growled at the duck for that and the two young boys couldn't help but glare in annoyance at the mallard going into the tent. Gadget couldn't help but shake her head at this, as did Jiminy who clicked his tongue in disappointment. Spongebob and Goofy just sighed at this. Danny just rubbed his temples again, feeling a migraine coming on. Professor Porter just politely cleared his throat and ushered them back into the tent, and Tarzan couldn't help but just watch this with an expression of concern, even as he followed.
"Did you find all the slides?" Jane asked, seeing them all come in and knowing better than to ask about the spiky-haired boy and the duck's combined mood being lowered again.
"Without any outstanding issues." The ghost boy confirmed as he, Timmy, and Tarzan handed her the slides.
"Perfect." Jane started setting them in. "Now, let's see if any of these spark Tarzan's memory…"
Turning on the projector, Jane, had everyone out of the way so they could get a clear look at the image. The first slide was… unexpected, to say the least. A picture of a magnificent castle with spires reaching high into the sky as clouds rolled by its magnificent form, with trees surrounding it from below. Spongebob 'ooohed' at the sight of it. But Sora, oddly enough, just seemed to stare right at it, his gaze becoming centered as he felt something in the back of his mind.
"What's wrong, Sora?" Goofy asked, noticing this, not noticing Donald giving his companion a side glare for even talking to the boy.
"What?" Sora seemed to come back to reality, shaking his head. "Um… Nothing."
However, his thoughts said another thing entirely.
"This place… it just looks so familiar." He thought to himself. "But how? I've never been off my island, and across the worlds I've been to so far, none of them had a castle like this…"
Jane, seeing Tarzan didn't react, went to the next slide. Then the next, and the next. The slides weren't that compelling in comparison to the first one. A man wooing a woman with flowers, an Englishman holding a child, a gorilla, a ship out at sea, and two men fencing with each other. After that, the projector was turned off.
"Well, Tarzan?" Jane looked at the jungle man. "Do any of these seem familiar to you?"
"Where are my friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked him as well. "They're somewhere around here, right?"
Tarzan looked at both Jane and Sora, not speaking a word. He looked at the boy, who looked so hopeful that maybe this had gotten him closer to those he desired to find. The boy who was currently having issues with his own friends. And to that, Tarzan could only shake his head in silence, declining to answer, or perhaps he had none to give. Either way, Sora seemed disappointed by that answer.
"Hey, I thought—" Sora couldn't just give up on that, however.
"That leaves just one place."
That dignified voice of refinement heralded the entry of Clayton, with everyone looking at him.
"Young man, we've been in this jungle for some time now." He told the islander. "But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."
"Really, Mr. Clayton." Jane tried to get him to see reason. "That sounds rather too convenient. Besides, Tarzan wouldn't hide–"
"Then take us there!" The hunter walked over to the ape-man, who glanced up at the man standing over him. "Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las."
Tarzan looked again towards Sora, who looked at him with hope. A boy who just wanted to find those he cherishes, even though he's having problems with those he's currently with. But at the same time, Sora had yet to understand what he said before. All the same, he was someone who Tarzan could trust. So maybe…
Tarzan finally gave a nod, making his decision.
"Tarzan… are you sure?" Jane asked, surprised Tarzan would lead them to the gorillas.
"Tarzan go see Kerchak." He told her.
"Kerchak?" Jane didn't recognize the name.
"He must be the leader. Perfect." The hunter was satisfied to hear this. "I'll go along as an escort."
"Most excellent!" Professor Porter agreed, fetching a safari cap. "Let me just get our things ready and we'll tag along!"
"Not so fast, professor." Clayton however gently put a hand on the man's shoulder. "I suggest you stay here along with your daughter at camp. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."
But little did the professor, much less most of the people in the tent, know that the hunter had a scheming smirk on his face after saying that. The only ones who had their suspicions were the original quartet of heroes… and even Donald Duck. The four grouped up to discuss this while the wizard, noticing this, subconsciously took a step to join in. But one look at them, not to mention Jimmy and Timmy intentionally keeping him out of their huddle, and Donald just glared before turning away. The sea sponge noticed this and was disappointed by the clear isolation being done by intention.
"So, who else is getting creepy hunter vibes from this Clayton guy?" Danny asked. "Been feeling it ever since I talked to him."
"You're not the only one." Timmy agreed. "This guy clearly isn't just around here to be a guide. Probably wants one of the gorillas to be a trophy or something."
"We better keep an eye on Mr. Clayton." Jimmy said. "With our track record so far, we might just see the Heartless following after him."
"Sounds good," Spongebob concurred, "but perhaps we should talk to the others about–"
"No need for that." The boy genius unfortunately cut him off. "We can handle this just fine."
"But if we don't tell Donald and Goofy…"
"Now, be careful everyone." The boy from Retroville ended up ignoring Spongebob's attempt at a counterpoint.
Danny definitely could tell this was going to take a while to fix.
—-
In the time she was spending in her cell, Selphie had decided it was best she got to know her cellmate, even if this was a freaky dream. As it turned out, Princess Dorathea was a ghost, which she probably should have guessed from her green skin and the fact that she was floating a few feet above the ground. And in this 'world' she was trapped in, there was an alternate dimension that ghosts reside in, known only as the Ghost Zone. Not the most creative name, but it worked, she supposed. Not a name she'd go with, though.
Anyhow, the Ghost Zone and Amity Park were apparently connected because of some 'ghost portal', and at the moment, Vlad Plasmius had his own portal built to draw ghost energy from to make himself more powerful. At the same time, due to creating an alliance with other people and calling themselves a Syndicate, Vlad had used the new power and resources he obtained to not only take over Amity Park, but also recruit powerful antagonistic ghosts to his cause. However, those who didn't desire to join, like Dorathea, got put into cells, unable to escape because of their anti-ghost properties. Or worse, kept in the Ghost Zone prison.
Personally, Dorathea herself just wanted to go to the costume ball, but her 'horrid mummy' wouldn't let her.
"...Is… Is something supposed to happen after that?" Selphie couldn't help but ask when she saw Dorathea actually look ready to lose herself to anger there.
"Oh, that, erm… my apologies." The ghost princess sheepishly cleared her throat. "Sometimes that usually leads to more… destructive results if I had my amulet with me."
"Your amulet?" The girl asked next.
"The Amulet of Aragorn." Dorathea told her. "I'd have it around my neck, but when I was captured, it was confiscated…"
"What's it look like?" Selphie was curious.
"It's a green gem embedded in a gold necklace." The princess told her, smiling. "It's a rather beautiful amulet in spite of its powers. My brother has another one just like it."
"Huh, so you have a brother as well?" Selphie caught onto that. "What's he like?"
At that, Dorathea frowned and looked downward. Selphie could immediately tell there was a story behind that.
"My brother is… er…" She struggled to find the kindest words to use. "He's… difficult to please. Stern. Suffice to say, whatever he says goes. He is the king in our home, after all."
The islander couldn't help but raise a brow. There was definitely more to it than what Dorathea was implying. But it might not be her business either. Even in a dream, it paid to be respectful to people with baggage. Though now the ghost princess needed some cheering up.
"Hey, have you ever danced before?" Selphie asked.
"Why always." Dorathea answered, not sure why Selphie asked that. "I practiced often for the day I'd go to the ball. But why do you ask?"
"Well, have you tried something like this?" Selphie got up, got herself in position…
And then, she began to dance in steps. She began humming a little tune as she danced with light steps, her sandals' movements basically echoing as they kept meeting the floor in short taps. Dorathea watched this with intrigue. It was a routine that seemed quite familiar. What was it called again? An Irish jig?
She was a bit surprised when Selphie extended a hand for her to take.
"C'mon, join in!" The human encouraged her.
A little confused, but not seeing anything wrong with the offer, the ghost princess gently took her cellmate's hand and also floated to the ground so her feet were on the floor. Carefully, she began stepping to the beat Selphie was humming. Slowly but surely, she began stepping with more finesse and even started to smile. She was actually enjoying herself with this silly little dance. She ended up forgetting her earlier issues with her brother.
From there, the pair got to dancing their Irish jig in the cell, even if they didn't have much room to dance in a larger space. Dorathea could just imagine herself dancing like this at the ball… if not actually enjoying herself amongst other people back in the days among the living. When days were good. In those rare times she could actually avoid her abusive family.
"How did you learn to do this dance, Lady Tilmitt?" Dorathea asked as they stepped around each other.
"Call me Selphie, and I actually got the idea to do this for one of the school concerts." Selphie told her as she twirled. "I happen to be pretty good when it comes to organizing music events. The teachers probably wanted a slow dance, but we're teenagers. Why not have something more fun to do instead?"
"But wouldn't you prefer a slow dance? It sounds like a glorious opportunity for someone of your talents with music." Dorathea couldn't help but wonder, seeing as this Selphie was such a nice girl. "Surely someone like you must have a romantic interest if you can dance this well for two."
"I'd like to think so, but…" Selphie shrugged as she moved, "I gotta be honest, a friend of mine practically beat me to the guy closest to that a long time ago."
Hearing this, Dorathea stopped dancing, looking at the islander with a sad expression on her face.
"Oh Selphie…" The princess said with concern.
"Hey now, no need to get depressed on my account!" The girl told her. "C'mon, let's keep dancing!"
"No, it's about time you took a break from that." A third voice cut in.
Selphie stopped dancing as well when a shadow loomed over her and Dorathea from the other side of the cell. There stood none other than Vlad Plasmius, facing her with an ominous smile on his face. Selphie could feel chills running down her spine just looking at this man. Clearly a villain with that vampire-aesthetic he had going on. Guess she got to the scary part of this dream.
"After all, Miss Tilmitt," he told her, "now that we meet in person, we have much to talk about."
—-
Well, this is officially the longest chapter I've ever written for this story. 31 pages! Wow. Guess I had a lot of fun writing it.
Once again, thanks to The Swordslinger for beta'ing this chapter for me! And thank you guys for enjoying the story so far! Hope you stick around for what comes next!