A/N: To Captain Imaginat/Imagination, while I appreciate your enthusiasm for the story, I have already made it perfectly clear, several times prior in fact, that this story is already on a set course. Please stop trying to spam the review boxes with numerous suggestions in your reviews (ESPECIALLY in AO3). Ignore this, and I will have to start deleting your reviews forthwith. I hope I have your understanding on this.
Sorry to have to start the chapter with this kind of author's note, but this really had to be said. Now, onto the chapter proper.
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"You know, when I said I would come along as an escort, I was honestly not expecting you to find a literal treasure chest in our luggage. Even less that it had three puppies that somehow survived being put in there for who knows how long."
Clayton could not help but remark this as he was taking in the sight of Sora having been pounced yet again by three puppies. A few moments after exiting the tent, it turned out there was a treasure chest amidst the pile of crates and suitcases that our heroes pulled out and had the keybearer unlock it with his Keyblade. Sure enough, since he was the one who unlocked it, the grateful Dalmatian pups piled on him and gave his face a good licking. All of Sora's other companions, excluding Donald, were smiling at this. Tarzan mainly just looked curious about these unknown creatures he hadn't seen before. Meanwhile, the hunter decided to ignore them as they weren't of much use. Hounds on the other hand…
"Now that leaves us with 81 puppies left to find!" Spongebob smiled as Sora was busy cuddling the puppies.
"E-Eighty-one!?" The hunter exclaimed.
"Long story. Really long story." Danny decided to put off explaining it in full while Jimmy put the Spotted Deck to work, transporting the puppies away and further confusing the Englishman.
"And a pointless one that serves us no purpose." Donald said, walking past them. "Let's just get to that nest already."
"Feh, like you actually care about that." Timmy muttered.
"I can hear you." The duck called back.
"And no one made you the leader." The average kid retorted.
"C'mon guys, no need for that…" The fry cook frowned at this.
Either way, Sora got back up, a frown on his face from Donald's prior comment, and went into the jungle as well as they continued forth. Soon they came into a small lagoon where hippos were minding their own business in the water. But of course, though Tarzan went to grab a vine that was hanging from a tree just ahead of them, the party looked over towards the lagoon and saw none other than three treasure chests. Two were atop trees, and one was at the far end of the lagoon on a lone piece of land.
"Oh, we better get those before we head on." Sora said as he went in the lagoon's direction.
"Sure, waste more time, why don't you?" The wizard snarked while Sora grunted, ignoring the comment.
"Donald, at least try to be reasonable." Goofy told his friend. "Treasure chests always have somethin' useful for us in the long haul, remember?"
"Aw phooey." But it fell on deaf ears.
"Don't bother, Goofy." Jimmy told the captain of the royal knights. "It's clear Mr. Quackers here has no interest in contributing to the team."
"Why I oughta…" The wizard grumbled in his direction.
"Boys, boys! This fighting is not helping." Jiminy Cricket firmly told them.
"Tell them/him that!" Timmy, Jimmy, and Donald pointed at each other at that.
Danny decided to save himself another temple-rubbing and went to check on Sora. As expected, Sora managed to get the chests. The easiest one he got after jumping a couple trees had a mega-potion. The trickier one that the Keyblade master had to get by using extra airtime through attacking had a Meteor-G. The last one at the end of the lagoon had… three more puppies! Once again, they leapt onto Sora and gave him a lot of licking.
"...You are really popular with puppies, you know that?" Danny couldn't help but ask in amusement. He then remarked to himself, "I may have to introduce you to Cujo…"
"Why am I cursed with a lickable face?!" Sora laughed amidst all the dogs playing on him.
While most of Sora's friends were amused by this, even Jimmy who had Goddard help him reach his friend to send the puppies home, Donald and Clayton just groaned and rolled their eyes. Tarzan simply watched this with some amusement as well, finding those harmless little animals pretty funny. Afterward, Sora got back to the group and they all proceeded to climb the vine up towards the tree. Some of the group, such as Jimmy and Timmy, had a bit of difficulty. Donald snickered at this, having less trouble than the two kids at climbing up, which annoyed them enough to persevere in the face of it.
Eventually, they climbed high enough into the trees that they found the way forward to be… swinging along vines. Tarzan, of course, was an expert in vine swinging and thus made his way along with ease. Clayton did the same, but more as a result of his clear exercise and skill in the wild. From there, it was left to our somewhat divided heroes to prove their mettle. Sora went first, barely managing to swing from vine to vine, landing on one tree branch to get a treasure chest with a mythril within it, and he managed to make it to the end. As for the others… well…
Donald grabbed one vine… and immediately ended up sliding it down all the way back into the lagoon, falling into the water with a splash. Timmy and Jimmy had a good laugh at that.
Goofy tried swinging from vine to vine, but somehow he managed to get himself all tangled up in several vines. It took Danny using his powers to help him get free and get him to the other side.
Donald tried again to use the vine, then swing from it… but ended up finding he jumped a little off course and fell into the lagoon once again with a splash. Once again, Timmy and Jimmy laughed.
Timmy had Cosmo and Wanda help him around the vines by making the vines just move so he caught them every time. They couldn't grant wishes, but at the very least they could do simple magic.
For a third time, the court wizard tried swinging on the vines. Unfortunately, he accidentally grabbed the tail of a red jungle snake, freaked out when it hissed at him… and once again fell into the lagoon. While Jimmy and Timmy continued laughing, Spongebob looked down where the duck fell with a concerned expression on his face.
Jimmy didn't bother using the vines at all. He simply had Goddard go into flight mode and went along with him.
Spongebob watched as Donald got ready to attempt it a fourth time, and decided maybe things would get better if he helped the wizard along. So, going for a running start, Spongebob passed the duck and jumped over to the vine, grabbing it, and swinging over to the other tree. He waited there instead of moving along, apparently waiting for him. Donald looked at the sponge with a suspicious raise of the brow, but indeed tried on his own, managing to grab the vine and jump for the raised branch. But he undershot it and was about to plummet again, but the sea sponge caught him by the arms in the nick of time and helped him up.
"Gotcha!" The fry cook beamed. "Come on, this is a team effort! Hup-hup and away we go!"
From there, Spongebob helped Donald along from vine to vine and platform to platform, until at last they made it to the others. Dusting himself off, the happy-go-lucky fry cook smiled at the duck and offered a hand for him to shake. The wizard fixed his beret and stared at the hand being given before looking at the sea creature's face. He seemed to want to shake his hand… but then Donald just turned his head and crossed his arms before walking right on, leaving poor Spongebob hanging. Disappointed by this, the fry cook sighed and put his hands in his pockets. Out of everyone in the group, only Danny, Jiminy, Goofy, Gadget, and even Tarzan gave him looks of sympathy for the unreturned gesture.
"Hey, it's okay, Spongebob." Goofy told him. "I'm sure Donald appreciates you doin' that for him. He is really stubborn at times."
"Thanks for pepping this sponge up, Goofy," Spongebob replied to the knight captain, "but I'd rather he understand that we're all still friends, as much as he claims otherwise."
"Well, it's not like our resident boy genius, average kid, and Keyblade wielder are making it any easier." Danny looked at the three boys who were busy glaring at Donald's back. "If we don't get something for them to work behind, they're bound to do this the entire time we're here. And who knows what's going to happen if this isn't resolved by the time we're finished with this world."
Spongebob could only sigh again as he looked at the four. Why couldn't they talk and try to at least reconcile? Sure, what Donald said was harsh and uncalled for, but surely that didn't mean he had to be isolated like this, did it? If he just apologized instead of heckling them just to have them heckle him in turn, that could at last get everything in the right direction. So what was stopping them?
But either way, they moved along into another part of the trees, going along more vines and avoiding any more snake hazards. Fortunately for Donald, he had learned enough to avoid falling back down again. Of course, along the way, there was yet another treasure chest for Sora to open. When he opened it… yet again he found himself pounced upon by three puppies.
"Again?" Jimmy was surprised by this. "It hasn't even been five minutes since we got the last three! At this point this can't be a coincidence…"
"Perhaps it's a game to whoever's sealing them in these chests," Gadget guessed while trying to not get licked. "Some people have quite the odd sense of humor."
"Who'd go to these lengths just to have pups jump out and slobber all over someone's face?" Timmy asked, and then groaned. "If it's that standup comedian, I'll eat my hat."
"Um, should we help Sora before they lick his face clean off?" Danny asked while looking at his friend still buried under the Dalmatians.
"So… much… adorable furriness!" Sora laughed as the puppies were all over him.
"Thankfully that leaves us with 75 puppies left! We're on a roll!" Spongebob was happy about that. "Oh boy, what could make this trip even better?!"
"Uh, fellas?" Goofy got their attention. "I think we found Kerchak."
Once Jimmy sent the puppies back home again, they looked over towards the end of the area, where Tarzan was looking up towards a pair of gorillas on another branch. The one he was talking to was a large, adult male Mangani gorilla with black hair and gray skin. His forearms were enormous and his head was rather large, towering over the others and easily being about twice the size of Tarzan. His eyes were brown and small in comparison to the rest of his head yet had the sharpness of a born leader. The Mangani gorilla next to him was female with brown fur and eyes. Her skin, visible on her toes, fingers, face, and belly, was light tan in coloration. While she looked at Tarzan sympathetically, the male next to her was stern.
What followed next was a clash of wills between the leader of the gorillas and the jungle man…
"The answer is no." The male gorilla told the jungle man.
"Kerchak, please listen to me." Tarzan implored the gorilla, Kerchak.
"Do you even realize just what you are daring to ask?" the leader of the gorillas told him. "We cannot jeopardize our family and reveal our home to these strangers. Only harm will come to us if they continue to remain here."
"I know the nesting grounds are secret, but I trust them. They do not seek to cause us trouble, believe me." Tarzan replied. "You see, I want to help them because…"
The jungle man tried to find a good way to explain it to his father. The father whom he never had a bond with even as a child, but desired. He knew that, all his life, he was raised as a gorilla by his mother, Kala. This was his family, despite being different. However, these people who looked like him, these people who were looking for their friends, were good. He wanted to help them too. He felt it was something he had to do.
"...because… well, they need us." Tarzan finished. "Kerchak, surely you can see this."
The female gorilla smiled motherly towards the jungle man, understanding full well how her son felt. She looked to her mate, hoping that he could sympathize. As for our heroes, and Clayton, they stared at this exchange…
"Uh… Did you get that?" Goofy asked Donald.
"No." Donald answered immediately.
…having understood absolutely none of it. The whole time, Tarzan was speaking in "gorilla" to his parents. It was their language, after all. Honestly, to our heroes, and the hunter, they could only wager that Tarzan was trying his hardest to convince the male gorilla to help them out, but the alpha wasn't budging an inch. If only they had someone who could translate the simian language. Unfortunately, Goddard spoke barking.
"Kerchak." The jungle man implored to the gorilla once more.
However, Kerchak turned his head away, looking up towards something higher in the trees, getting ready to walk off.
"Kerchak…" Tarzan was disappointed by this.
"This decision is final, Tarzan." The leader of the gorillas spoke as he walked off. "Do not ask me this again."
"...I'm sorry, Tarzan." Kala sighed at this and went to follow her mate. "I'll see if I can talk to him about it."
With that, both gorillas left, and Tarzan hung his head disappointed and sad to have failed. He looked back to his friends with an apologetic look as he walked towards them. Danny walked up to the guy and patted him on the shoulder, assuring him that at the very least, he did try. Tarzan did appreciate that, even if the gesture was new to him.
"So Jimmy, just going to ask this since the worlds we visited are different in your universe, was Kerchak always this stubborn?" Sora asked the boy genius.
"Actually, Sora, much worse." Jimmy explained to the keybearer. "In the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan's adoptive father is actually Tublat, and Kerchak was the gorilla that killed his human parents."
"Oh… wow…" The islander was stunned to hear that. "Yikes, sorry I asked…"
"Not that Tublat was any better." The boy genius added. "Eventually he went mad and tried to kill Kala, so Tarzan had to kill him to save her."
"Double yikes." Timmy remarked. "But anyway, what do we do now? It doesn't look like Kerchak is going to help out."
"Yeah, his distrust over non-gorillas kinda made that clear." Cosmo added. "...Or he could've just wanted a banana. I might have been paraphrasing."
And at that, everyone in the group blinked, though Tarzan seemed to blink since he just heard a voice he didn't recognize.
"Wait…" Danny looked at Timmy's Star Flinger. "You can speak "gorilla" this whole time?"
"Well more 'monkey' than 'gorilla'," Timmy's more absent-minded godparent corrected, "but it's basically the same."
"Any chance you could have just told us what he meant by that word before?" Spongebob asked. "Or did Tarzan actually want a banana?"
"Welllllll… that word was kind of a new one." The green fairy admitted, paying no attention to Tarzan staring curiously at him. "It did start with an 'h' though…"
"A word that starts with an h…" Sora sighed. "Why can't it be simple?"
"Anyway, Kerchak seemed sorta distracted by somethin'." Goofy spoke up.
"He was looking toward the tree house," Gadget stated.
"Why would he want to go all the way up there?" Timmy asked. "Nothing's really up in that old shack but old stuff. We already got the chests that were there… didn't we?"
"I… don't think we did." Jimmy tried to recall. "We mainly just followed Tarzan down to the camp."
"Hey genius, I have a question for you." Donald spoke up sardonically, making said boy genius grunt in return.
"What is it, 'wizard'?" He asked, just as sardonically.
"Where's Clayton?"
At that, the entire group looked around. As it turned out, somehow Clayton had vanished, completely escaping their notice. He had to have left while they watched Tarzan communicate with his ape parents. Not to mention the only way towards the tree house from where they were was more climbable vines up towards the higher parts of the trees. So with that in mind…
"Drat! Clayton must have gone on ahead towards the tree house!" Jimmy explained. "Everyone, we gotta get after him, quick!"
"You're welcome, by the way." The court wizard sounded smug… but let out an indignant squawk as Jimmy and Timmy basically roughly shoulder-bumped him out of the way towards the vine. "Wak! Hey!"
"Pull your pants up, Howard." Timmy shot back. "It's embarrassing for you."
As Sora too bumped past Donald, the duck couldn't help but grumble some more as he followed. Gadget could only shrug towards Goofy, Jiminy, Danny, Spongebob and Tarzan as she had no idea how to convince Sora to perhaps ease up. Spongebob could only watch this with more concern, but at the same time he was starting to find this constant fighting beginning to grate. Either way, one by one, they all climbed up the vine to pursue Clayton.
This pursuit took them up high into the trees, where they came into an area practically covered in vines from top to bottom as a tree just kept rising through the center and towards the sky. But around the area appeared to be black flowers on the vines with the bulbs closed up. That was already suspicious enough. However, there also seemed to be some black fruit growing on the tree. It was small, but surely it could grow into something more entirely.
"Hm… I don't recognize that form of fruit anywhere…" Jimmy pondered as he looked at it. "Could it be something that's native to this world, or…?"
"Hey Jimmy, hurry it up!" He heard Sora call him. "The tree house is up this way!"
"Right, coming!" The boy genius replied.
Whatever that fruit was, hopefully he'll have more time to examine it later. For now, they had to stop Clayton from doing something they were going to regret.
Speaking of which, up in the tree house, all was rather quiet save for a young gorilla just playing with a globe she found. The gorilla, Terk, needed something to keep her mind off of that weird thing that spooked her earlier in the thicket. What was that thing anyway? Some kind of bird? Not any bird she saw before, that's for sure.
"Man, some real weird folks are comin' to the jungle these days." Terk mused as she just spun the globe, occupying herself. "First those people who look like Tarzan, now we have other animals just walkin' on their hind legs like weirdos. Man, when did things get so weird? Bet Tantor's probably havin' one of his fits about it, too."
But so occupied with her own thoughts was Terk that she did not realize she was being watched. Much less being aimed at. Clayton, after separating himself from the group so he could go about on his own desired interests, had seen this gorilla and followed her to this tree house. His hunting skills had allowed him to move undetected, and now, he was positioned just outside the front door, aiming his shotgun towards her. The barrels gleamed in the sunlight as he shut one eye to focus the shot.
"You may not make a large profit…" He mused with a smirk, "but you will make a fine practice shot at the very least."
It would be a very easy mark. The start of his true aims being realized. And no moralistic researchers getting in his way, much less a savage and a bunch of freaks. Sure, this may be rushing things, but Clayton had been patient for long enough. He was going to have his hunt one way or another.
At least, he would have, if not for the fact that Donald Duck had just ran up to him and let out a massive squawk right behind him, throwing him off his shot and misfiring the bullet! Terk, alarmed by this, quickly ran before the bullet hit where she was standing. She quickly jumped up to the second level of the tree house, just as Kerchak was entering from there. He looked to Terk, looking satisfied that she was alright, but then he focused with narrowed eyes towards the one responsible for nearly harming one of his family.
"What's the big idea!" Donald was busy shouting at Clayton, who looked nervous about being caught. "You were about to kill that gorilla!"
"I-It's not what you think!" Clayton tried to play it off, in spite of the glares he was getting from the group. "There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this!"
"Oh, sure, shooting a gorilla when you were told not to." Timmy snarked with a glare matching Donald's pointed in the hunter's direction. "Yeah, there is a TOTALLY reasonable explanation for that."
Tarzan, catching up, looked panicked at this and saw the judging look Kerchak was giving them.
"Wait, Kerchak. Please!" The jungle man implored his father. "This isn't what we were trying to do. You have to believe me!"
"Even so, you should now understand why outsiders are forbidden from entering the nesting grounds." Kerchak was not moved. "Terk barely escaping alive is proof of this. They are not to be trusted, and you were foolish to think they could be."
"But Kerchak–!" Tarzan still tried.
"Do not bring them near our family again." The leader of the gorillas turned and began walking away. "If you cannot listen, then you should not return either."
Tarzan could not respond. Once more, he failed at convincing his father to help his friends, and perhaps only made things worse for himself as well. Terk, watching this, couldn't help but feel bad for her cousin and friend. She then looked towards Donald, at least grateful that the thing that spooked her wasn't all bad. The wizard was even looking at her with an apologetic look as well. Terk figured she could figure out how to thank him later… but not right now. She didn't want to get on Kerchak's bad side.
So, sparing another apologetic look to Tarzan, Terk followed her leader the way he came in. The group was left with their currently remaining issue to deal with. Donald and Timmy glared at Clayton with their hands clenched into fists. Sora gave him a glare. Goofy and Spongebob had their hands on their hips. Danny and Jimmy just narrowed their eyes at Clayton with their arms crossed. Tarzan, with his own emotions, turned towards the hunter with his knuckles standing ready to clench as well.
Clayton could feel sweat coming down his face from all the dirty looks he was being given right now.
"So." Danny started. "Just wanted to get a look at them, huh?"
"You don't understand." Clayton tried to justify himself. "I was only trying to…"
The hunter racked his head, trying to think of a good excuse. He didn't plan on getting caught so easily. So he came up with an idea after recalling their ventures with the vines.
"Ah. A snake slithered by, you see." He said, pointing towards the floor. "I saved that poor gorilla's life."
But it was an excuse absolutely no one bought. Tarzan just shook his head in frustration and disappointment. Their chances were practically ruined because of this man. Now how was he going to help them understand? How could he possibly gain Kerchak's trust after this?
"Sorry guys, but it looks like we'll need to find another way after all." Jimmy apologized to the group. "Let's head back to camp. Once we take care of… this," he looked towards a nervously smiling Clayton, "we'll figure things out."
"Way ahead of you, Neutron." Donald already started dragging Clayton back by the back of his collar. "I might as well fix up your mess since you didn't keep an eye on him like you said you would."
"Says the duck who apparently saw him leave and let him get this far." The boy genius retorted, annoyed by that shot.
"Guys, is now seriously the time to continue this?" Spongebob couldn't help but ask, a little tired of the arguing going on between them.
"Hey! What are you doing? Get your feathered hands off!" Clayton demanded before Donald whacked him over the head with the Warhammer.
"Shut it, you. I'm not in the mood." The royal magician told him and kept walking.
Once Donald had left with Clayton in hand, Spongebob couldn't help but turn to Sora, Timmy and Jimmy, telling them, "Listen, I get that Donald said a lot of bad things and he has yet to apologize, but do you have to make it harder for him to work with us?"
"We're not." Jimmy explained, though Spongebob wasn't convinced. "This is all on Donald for trying to exploit Sora and get rid of us from the start anyhow. He told us that, plain as day."
"Besides, he's not working with us because he wants to. The moment this is over, we're splitting again. He said that plainly." Sora crossed his arms, also looking down. "If he has no interest in apologizing, then why bother pretending to need him?"
"Sora…" Gadget sounded disappointed by that. This really wasn't like him at all.
Spongebob's frown grew deeper at that, not happy with that answer either. But looking at Tarzan, and how disappointed he looked, this clearly wasn't the time to continue talking about it. But even so, he couldn't help but sigh tiredly. There would be a time to bring this up when they had no choice but to listen, but not right now. At the very least, they could get any treasures they missed when they were last in the tree house.
So they got those treasures. A mega potion, an accessory, and a mythril. All things that were rather minor and not exactly worthy of accomplishment. But saved for later, nonetheless. With that, the group began heading out of the tree house to head back towards the camp. It was best that the Porters knew what had happened when they tried appealing to Kerchak.
But as they left, none of them had noticed that someone else was in the tree house the entire time. Turning visible, a pair of gray boots stepped up towards the spot Clayton's shotgun shot at, and dark gray gauntlets pulled out the used bullet from the impact area. Holding the bullet up to his electric green eyes, the figure chuckled darkly.
"That's right, boys." He said. "Keep bickering all you want. You've just helped me find someone interesting."
All the while, with our heroes, they made the careful trek back down to the camp, Donald still dragging Clayton along for the ride - which would be surprising given his much smaller stature, but everyone was still dealing with a lot of drama. At the same time, Spongebob was trying to figure out how to get Sora, Jimmy, Timmy to reconcile with Donald, and vice-versa. Obviously, Donald had to apologize for all the things he said, but the other three had to make some effort to bury the hatchet too. But no matter what he tried to encourage, they just deigned to ignore him about it. It was actually starting to get to the sea sponge more than usual. Just what would it take to get them to see reason?
Well, speaking of reason, once they made it back to the camp and brought Clayton before the Porters, well, let's just say Jane wasn't buying Clayton's excuse either.
"How could you do such a thing?!" Jane was incensed by it, as a matter of fact. "You know full well that this is a research venture, not an excuse for you to go hunting!"
"Now, Miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla." Clayton tried calming her down with his explanation. "A deadly snake was approaching it, so I–"
"So you shot at the gorilla to scare it off? A likely story!" Oh, the professor's daughter certainly was not buying it. "And even if it were true, you've practically made it so we have no chance of studying the gorillas up close! You are not to go near the gorillas again!"
"All because of one mishap? Come, now…" Clayton tried chuckling it off before appealing to Archimedes, "Professor, surely you can see your daughter's acting a bit emotional about this–"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Clayton, but Jane has a point." Professor Porter crossed his arms with all of the disappointment a father would have. "I'm aware of your fervor for this expedition, and while I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, that doesn't mean I'm as willing to take risks as well. Perhaps it is best that you stay in camp for now. While the jungle may be dangerous, that doesn't mean we have to add more danger to it."
"But professor…" The hunter tried appealing to him again… but then he trailed off when he saw all the glares in his general direction.
Jane, glaring with her hands on her hips. Tarzan, glaring with his furrowed brow. Professor Porter, a look of disappointment. Sora, Danny, Timmy and Jimmy, glaring with crossed arms. Donald, clenching his fists. Goofy, looking at him directly with a neutral expression. Spongebob, tapping his foot. He clearly was outnumbered on this one.
Nervously chuckling, Clayton backed away, saying, "Well, alright then, if that's what everyone thinks is best… I'll… just have some tea."
Clayton then turned around and began walking out of the tent, gun in hand. Once he was out, Jane sighed deeply and turned to the group, looking as apologetic as she could.
"I'm terribly sorry about this, boys. Tarzan." She told them all. "Clayton's not a bad man. He's just… impetuous, as you can see."
"I doubt it's just that," the ghost boy uncrossed his arms, "but anyhow, thanks to him, we're back to square one on this whole thing."
"How are we supposed to find Sora's friends now?" The average kid asked. "We lost our only lead and it's not like we got time to explore the entire jungle."
"Probably should have thought of that before even allowing him to come along to start with." Donald's shot of course began the bickering anew.
"Oh, so you actually had something to contribute?" The boy genius asked sarcastically. "Wait, don't tell me, it's 'don't get involved in other people's affairs', right?"
"No, but maybe if you did that in the first place, we wouldn't be having this problem, now would we?" The wizard retorted.
"Or maybe if someone hadn't lied from the very beginning and just wanted everything done their way, everything would have gone well." Sora shot back.
Spongebob's grumbling actually got a bit louder as his tolerance for this shrunk even lower. Danny ended up noticing this, and was surprised to see the usually happy-go-lucky sponge actually look negative.
"Spongebob?" The halfa spoke to him, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, it's strange seein' ya so… down." Goofy noticed it as well.
"I've been better." The fry cook answered, sounding grumpy.
All the while, outside the tent, Clayton was growling to himself. Those idiots had the nerve to keep him away from the gorillas? Were they really that concerned about their precious research or even that wild savage? Much less the feelings of a naive child with the most ridiculous hair he had ever seen? This was ridiculous, so he considered it.
"What am I doing with these imbeciles?" He asked himself as he made his way toward the tea table. "That incompetent scientist and his inexperienced daughter hired me as their guide in this infernal wasteland of a jungle, and this is the recompense I get? Sure, I'll admit I have my own plans in mind, but it would have gone much more smoothly if they minded their own business! But no, the savage and the circus freaks just had to hold all that back! Now it's all for nothing!"
Looking at his shotgun, his pride and joy, the hunter gripped it tightly until his knuckles went white. A deep, searing sensation crept up his chest as he realized he had lost his chance.
"Blasted gorillas! I'll hunt down every last one of them!" The hunter's temper was reaching its peak. He recognized this and decided he needed to calm himself down with a smoke from his pipe. "I'll track them down somehow. I'll stake my life on it."
"Interesting choice of words."
Hearing an unexpected response from a voice he did not recognize, Clayton put his pipe away and pulled up his shotgun. "Who goes there? Show yourself!"
"You can relax." The voice replied. "I'm no enemy of yours."
"And what makes you say that?" The hunter was still suspicious.
"Oh, quite simple really." The voice said as a figure began to form before him. "We both share a love for the sport of hunting."
Clayton couldn't help but gasp. A figure with a metal body, a mane of green fire, jagged teeth, and all sorts of equipment the hunter could not recognize. What was this thing? A monster? A demon? Whatever it was, the grin of malice wasn't unnoticed by the mustached man.
"The name is Skulker," The figure introduced himself, "and I happen to be acquainted with one of those 'freaks' who got in the way of your hunt. After all, he often got in the way of mine too, even while I was hunting him back in our world."
"Your world?" Clayton blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"Come on, like my presence really didn't give it away?" Skulker began walking around the human. "Did it honestly not register to you that maybe, just maybe, that a walking, talking duck, dog, and sponge aren't normal at first glance?"
"Oh, clearly not." The human hunter eased on holding his gun. "I just figured they were part of some carnival freakshow act."
"Mmmm… Fair enough." The ghostly hunter gave him that. "But in that case, then what kind of carnival would come all the way to the jungle?"
"That's… also true." Clayton was starting to see his point. "But if that's the case, then they, along with those boys…"
"All not from this world." Skulker confirmed, glad he was getting it. "And if allowed to stick around, more than likely to interfere with your hunt for the gorillas, if they haven't started already."
The hired guide began to scowl. Again, this mysterious figure had been on point. Because of them, a good shot was wasted, and he had no idea where to find more of them. Sure, he said he would stake his life in tracking them down. But…
"You have no idea where to start looking, do you?" As if the figure could read his mind, Clayton looked surprised. This led Skulker to add, "Like I said, as a hunter, I completely get you. Tracking often takes time; it takes too long when being held back by outside factors. Especially since locating your prey's home in their habitat is often the hardest part about hunting. But fortunately for the both of us, I have a way that can help… expedite the process, so to speak."
Clayton considered this. He did not know this Skulker, much less feel he can trust this peculiar figure. After all, this was no human, no animal, not anything he had ever seen. Yet, a lot of his words made sense, and he did appeal to his profession as a hunter. Still, William Cecil Clayton was hardly a fool.
"A generous offer to be sure." He raised a brow towards the ghost. "What is it you hope to gain out of this?"
"Honestly, we're both getting what we want just from me helping you. This is for about three reasons." Skulker held up his fingers. "One: I have a personal vendetta against all gorillas ever since one incident with a purpleback gorilla. Please, don't ask. Two: As I said, I'm a hunter. Hunting them down for trophies would be immensely satisfying and tie into reason one. And…"
The ghostly hunter maliciously chuckled as he placed a hand on Clayton's shoulder, ready to seal the deal.
"Three: It's the perfect way to lure our hated enemies here and get them out of our way." He finished. "So, Clayton… what do you say?"
The human hunter considered his options. He could reject this monster's offer and hunt for the gorillas himself. It wasn't like he didn't have like-minded hired poachers to assist him back on the ship. But he did say he would stake his life on it, and this 'Skulker' had spoken quite well and sounded persuasive. Perhaps he had inadvertently summoned the devil with his declaration?
Well, if he had to sell his soul to get what he desired… what did he have to lose?
"How exactly do we start?" He asked with a smirk.
"I'm glad you asked." Skulker smirked back. "First, we start by putting our new grunts to work…"
Back in the tent…
"Huh…?" Danny blinked, watching his breath become a visible blue. "Uh oh."
"Hm, that's odd." Professor Porter noticed Danny's breath being visible and got the wrong idea. "It doesn't feel that cold. Are you chilly, young man?"
"No, it's not that, it's just…" Danny looked towards the tent's entrance. "I'm getting the feeling something bad is about to happen."
"Hm…" Jiminy Cricket pondered while on Goofy's hat. "Danny getting a bad feeling from seeing his own breath. That could only mean…"
Just then, the sound of an elephant's trumpet could be heard loudly from outside the tent! Most of the group looked confused, but Tarzan appeared to recognize that sound and ran outside. Jane and her father followed suit. The group looked at each other before running out as well. Once they were outside, everyone saw a large African Forest Elephant with red-brownish skin, large ears and tusks, panicking as he was surrounded by monkeys.
"Well that's odd… I don't remember seeing these kinds of simian specimens when we got here." Professor Archimedes said as he watched the odd monkeys blocking every route of escape for the elephant to take.
"Those aren't monkeys, sir!" Jimmy warned him upon recognizing the notable emblem on their beings and the yellow eyes they possessed. "They're…!"
"Heartless!" Sora exclaimed, pulling out his Lady Luck Keyblade. "Jane, Professor, get back inside! We'll take care of this!"
Surprised by Sora's voice and weapon, the pair understood and quickly got back into the tent, leaving the heroes to charge towards the Heartless. These new Heartless came in two new forms. The first type was covered in blue fur, appearing lighter around their head and torso, and darker around their arms, legs and long tails. The center part of their face was pitch-black with jagged edges, and two glowing, yellow eyes could be seen. The inner sections of their round ears were a light purple color, as were their large paws and feet, which ended with sharp, black claws. They seemed to be wearing golden bracelets and anklets, and the Heartless emblem could clearly be seen emblazoned on their chest.
The second type was strangely a more feminine type of Heartless. They had soft brown fur, which they wore a darker brown shirt with jagged edges and the Heartless Emblem over. They also wore a golden choker and hoop earrings, a bright red bow on top of their head, and blue, yellow, and green bracelets and anklets. Their paws were a dark velvety brown, and they also had a tail almost as long as they were tall. In spite of their initially cute appearance, they were still a dangerous Heartless, as signified by their shadowed face, yellow eyes, and toothed edges where the face met the fur.
For future reference, these two Heartless were called Powerwilds and Bouncywilds, respectively. And both were equally a pain to deal with. Both the Powerwilds and the Bouncywilds just wouldn't sit still and kept jumping around to avoid getting hit before going in with their own attacks. With the Powerwilds, it was coming in with melee scratches from the ground or even while they were jumping, or even sliding at them with kicks. The Bouncywilds were, arguably, the more irritating as they not only bounced higher than their 'male' counterparts, but they threw banana peels wherever they went, sending their pursuers falling on their backs before pelting them with their slingshots. Fortunately, long-ranged attacks and spells were able to reach either foe just fine. Tarzan especially proved to be a capable ally with his spear's reach.
After a hard fought battle, the two types of monkey-like Heartless were taken down, and the elephant was saved.
"Tantor!" Tarzan called out the elephant's name as he rushed over to him. "Are you alright?"
"Oh Tarzan! Thank goodness you're still here!" The elephant, Tantor, told him in the midst of his panicking. "Oh, it's just terrible what's going on right now! What were those things?!"
"Slow down, Tantor." The jungle man told him. "Please tell me, what's happening? Is everyone alright?"
"I don't even know! Practically all the gorillas are about as scared as I am since all those things just appeared out of nowhere!" Tantor explained to him. "At first we thought they were monkeys trying to get food or something, but they just started attacking everybody! I got separated from Terk just a while ago and those things chased after her. Please, Tarzan, you gotta help them! There is no way those things are meant to be here!"
"Huh. Imagine that, he can speak "elephant" too." Timmy commented as they watched Tarzan speak to the elephant, understanding none of the conversation happening.
"Of course the Heartless would be here. OF COURSE they would be!" Donald groaned before giving a glare towards Sora. "You just had to bring them along, didn't you?"
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Sora was affronted by that suggestion.
"You're the one with the Keyblade! The weapon all Heartless are drawn to? Ring a bell?" The wizard replied harshly. "They wouldn't have come if we just left this world alone!"
"Oh don't you start!" Timmy told Donald off. "You're just trying to say that so you can have an excuse for what you did back on the ship!"
"For what? Speaking the truth?" The duck didn't back down. "If none of you could face that, maybe you shouldn't have come to start with!"
"Or maybe you shouldn't throw stones in a glass house." Jimmy shot. "Who was it that did most of the work while you just sat back and complained most of the time?"
"Because you did everything without bothering to listen at all!" He rebutted. "And with everyone basically just being okay with meddling in the affairs of other worlds, how can the one person trying to keep the world order be able to hold them back?"
Spongebob just could not believe what he was looking at. Even now, when the Heartless were causing trouble, Sora, Donald, Timmy and Jimmy were STILL more interested in arguing than working together? Could they seriously not see what was going on was more important than their own personal issues? Was being petty really more important to them right now than doing the right thing? It was completely asinine to see.
The normally happy-go-lucky Spongebob couldn't take it anymore. It was time he had to lay it all out.
"WILL YOU BARNACLE HEADS KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY?!" Spongebob shouted at the top of his lungs.
Everyone else was shocked at this reaction. Spongebob Squarepants, either the friendliest guy of the whole team or a close tie to Goofy, actually losing control and shouting in pure frustration? And so loudly on top of that? His voice was so loud that even Jane and her father came out to see what was going on. From what they could see, the sea sponge was currently seething as he stomped his way towards the four who had been arguing since they had gotten here. And they were not prepared for it.
"S-Spongebob, what's with y–" Jimmy tried to speak, but he got cut off.
"Now you listen here!" Spongebob was going to talk and he was going to be heard. "This whole time, you four have done nothing but bicker ever since we got back together in this world! Even when you guys said you'd work together, it's been nothing but you guys trying to one-up each other to satisfy your bruised egos from back on the ship! And everyone else, me included, has been trying extremely hard to get you guys to focus at the very least. I tried being nice! But you guys weren't even INTERESTED in trying to work together! Well I'm sick of it!
"You three!" Spongebob pointed towards the three humans. "I understand perfectly well what Donald said was uncalled for. I really do. But what have you guys done in response? Instead of being better people, you've just been trying to put Donald down and intentionally isolate him from the group even when it's clear he's willing to work with us, even if it's for a little while! He isn't wrong about it being unfair that we don't give him some consideration just because he's the only one who thinks differently about how we do things.
"And you!" The fry cook turned his attention towards Donald, cutting him off from looking smug at the human trio feeling guilty about being called out like that. "That still doesn't excuse what you did either! I mean, really! Lying to Sora about helping find his friends just so you can use him to only find your king? For shame, sir! If you really wanted him, and us, to help you find your king, the least you could have done is ask. We would easily have done it since we all need to explore worlds in order to save the universe. Don't just use 'protecting the world order' as something to hide behind so you can feel like you're justified in being a complete manipulative jerk who turns away from the sight of trouble!"
By now, the four looked ashamed over being called out by one of the kindest members in their troop. But unfortunately for them, Spongebob had yet to finish.
"But do you know what the worst part of all this is?" The sea sponge asked. "Now that the Heartless are here, putting Tarzan's family and friends in danger, what do you guys do? Don't bother answering, 'cause I'll do it for you! Bicker, bicker, and bicker even more! It's like you all have forgotten how to be heroes! You couldn't get over how you hurt each other for ONE minute, much less accept your other friends trying to help you guys. Don't any of you feel shame for that? Any at all?"
Donald began twiddling his feathered fingers as he looked downward. Sora was scratching the back of his head and unable to face Spongebob directly. Jimmy looked away as he rubbed his arm. Timmy just looked down at his foot making circles in the ground. Seeing them unable to say anything because of their embarrassment, Spongebob turned around.
"Well, I'm going to help save Tarzan's family." He declared as he pulled up his pants with a look of determination. "If you guys still have bickering left to do, then feel free to stay there because you're no help otherwise."
With that, Spongebob began stepping along with resolve in his movements and plain on his face. He paid no heed to the shocked and amazed glances he was being given as he passed. It was pretty clear that no one thought the sea sponge had it in him. But there it was. With no kindness left to give, he only had blunt, brutal honesty and a sharp, cutting tongue to offer.
And to the four he had left shivering under his fury, they knew full well that he was right.
"My goodness," the professor remarked, "that certainly was fierce."
"While I wouldn't have laid everything out like that," Jiminy Cricket finally said after a moment's silence, "I should say that Spongebob is exactly right about this whole thing. We have tried telling you that more bickering wasn't going to help us as a whole. If you all really meant that you could work together, the least you could have done was try."
"But this all started because–" Timmy tried to speak up.
"Nobody cares about how it started anymore." Danny was firm, deciding to throw in his lot with the sponge. "Right now, the Heartless are here and causing trouble for Tarzan's family. Either you guys can waste time arguing about who started what, or we can help Spongebob save them. Which is it going to be?"
At that, the four ended up looking towards each other. As much as what had happened on the ship had put them in this spot, there was no avoiding the truth for any of them. The Heartless were something they couldn't just ignore, and right now they were causing trouble. The past was the least of their worries. Their differences could wait.
All four then nodded to each other in silent agreement. Gadget smiled, happy to see Sora was at least willing to focus again.
"C'mon, let's go after Spongebob!" Donald said.
"Yeah!" Sora nodded, as did Timmy and Jimmy.
"Goddard, stay with the Porters," the boy genius told his faithful dog, "we'll be right back."
With a bark of acknowledgement, the robotic dog stood tall and vigilant for any trouble. The four then went after Spongebob towards the bamboo thicket, intent on stopping the Heartless and saving the world, circumstances be darned. Goofy laughed happily at this and then followed after, with Jiminy Cricket having a proud smile on his face as well. Jane and her father too were at least happy they got their problems resolved, at least for now. As for Tarzan, he looked towards Danny and offered him a grateful smile.
"Thank you." A word he echoed a few times today, though only now he finally got the meaning.
"You're welcome." Danny nodded. "Now let's go!"
Picking up the rear, the ghost boy and the ape man too followed after, passing by Tantor as he gave another trumpet, encouraging them to go on. Though they still had their issues to deal with, they could wait in the face of danger. Right now, they had a friend to help and a family to save. Once they got in the bamboo thicket, they indeed saw Spongebob trying to fend off a bunch of Powerwilds while defending a few gorillas they had surrounded. The fry cook managed to karate chop a couple into oblivion, but the Bouncywilds still made up for the lost numbers.
Fortunately for the sponge, his fellow heroes quickly charged in and attacked the monkey Heartless, taking them down with more ease than before. Focused and not taking shots at each other, they had less trouble with the erratic movements of the pseudo-simians than they had before. Once the crowd was clear, the sea sponge turned to the gorillas he defended and urged them to hurry along to safety. Once they had run off, Spongebob turned to his friends with his usual happy smile.
"Guys, you actually came!" He was so glad that they did, having to wipe a tear off his eye. "I knew you guys would see what was important!"
"Well, yeah, of course we did." Sora told him. "Friends have to stick together, right?"
"And allies have to work together towards a common goal." Donald added.
"Even though it will probably be a while before we get anywhere else in the future…" Jimmy supposed.
"We'll just focus on the here and now." Timmy finished.
"Speaking of," Danny started, "Spongebob, have any other gorillas come out this way yet?"
"There's still more up ahead." The sea sponge pointed towards the path nearby. "The Heartless were going in there. Maybe they're trying to trap the ones who didn't get away inside!"
"Let's go help 'em out, quick!" The captain of the royal knights said.
In complete agreement, the group charged ahead through the path, taking out more Heartless as they did. Eventually, they came to what appeared to be a dead end in the jungle, a wall of dirt and moss blocking off most of the area ahead, and a crowd of Powerwilds of course causing trouble. The gorillas were busy trying to climb up to higher ground to avoid these false monkeys, but fitting for their forms, they were capable of climbing walls too! Tarzan threw a spear at one of those wall-crawling monkeys, destroying it in one go and getting the attention of the others. From there, it became a simple, if rather cramped, battle.
Now that Sora, Timmy, and Jimmy weren't taking shots at Donald, and vice-versa, they were more focused on the battle around them. It was like how they fought before. In sync with each other and working off of each other to bring about victory. In a way, fighting like this once again actually felt rather good. In fact, it might even have been a little better than before. Jimmy had Donald aim at the targeted Heartless with the right timing and had him shoot fire spells to take them down in single, heavy hits while assisting with tornado blasts. Timmy even joined in by firing starts at ones that dodged the wizard's magic. Sora, once more with the power of the Keyblade, took out the last one.
The gorillas they saved looked at them with gratitude before quickly running off, eager to find safety.
"Phew… that was close." Gadget wiped some sweat from her brow. "But it looks like we managed to get rid of the Heartless before they could be a major problem for Tarzan's family."
"It does look like it, but… doesn't it seem like we're forgetting something?" Jiminy Cricket asked.
"Hey, yeah…" Donald came to a realization. "Didn't Clayton head outside just before the Heartless appeared?"
"That's right!" The boy genius confirmed. "But there hasn't been any sign of him. Either the Heartless have gotten to him, or they didn't and he's somewhere else, having avoided being taken."
"But where could we possibly find him?" Sora asked.
Just then, a gunshot rang through the air, getting their attention and turning them back towards the bamboo thicket.
"Clayton!" Tarzan exclaimed, knowing only one person who could make that sound.
"Guess he's been fighting the Heartless the whole time." The fry cook supposed. "Hurry, let's help him!"
With no time to lose, most of the heroes went back the way they came, following the echoing of the gunshot. However, Jimmy and Donald seemed to lag behind, pondering something. They looked at each other for a moment, silently asking if they thought the same thing. Either way, they caught up with their friends and made it over towards that rock Donald and Goofy first found themselves on when they landed in this world. Walking up to it, they saw something familiar was left there.
"That's Clayton's pipe, isn't it?" Wanda recognized it. "That means he was just here."
"Or something has gotten to him while he was here." The halfa figured. "But there doesn't seem to be any signs of a Heartless, or even a body…"
"Then where's…?" Sora asked, but then Tarzan held up a hand to cut him off.
The jungle man gazed deeply into the thicket. He could barely make out something behind the stalks. However, whatever he was looking at, it didn't appear to move. Tarzan's friends, wondering what he was doing, didn't move either. Was it another Heartless? Was it Clayton?
No one dared make a sound…
"Oh hey, a peanut!" Cosmo, easily distracted and unable to resist the urge to be dumb, broke the silence. "Does it make me part elephant if I enjoy a peanut?"
Wanda would've slapped her own face if she wasn't in her weapon form, "Cosmo, I love you, but for crying out loud…"
And then, something leapt out of the thicket and over the rock, landing on the ground and growling at our heroes. It was none other than the alpha leopard, Sabor!
"Oh come on, I thought we saw the last of this thing!" Timmy complained as they all got ready for another tough fight.
"Sabor's obviously no ordinary leopard. And now she's got more room to maneuver around in." Jimmy warned his companions. "Brace yourselves!"
Indeed, Sabor had more of an advantage against our heroes this time. But at the same time, our heroes were united once again and had more numbers to contend with the savage beast. Not to mention Tarzan helping them against her. At first, it appeared as though Sabor's tactics of tackling and clawing after leaping had not changed. However, Sabor also resorted to moving in the thicket to rush around her prey and attack them from anywhere. Sora barely managed to block one of the ambushes with the Lady Luck Keyblade and skid back on the ground.
Using her swift agility, Sabor chased after who she considered to be the weakest link in the group, and thus went after the mallard and the average godchild. Donald and Timmy, taken aback with fright for being targeted, quickly ran from the monstrous feline to avoid being mauled. Thankfully for them, Danny grabbed the leopard by her hind legs and threw her back with his superhero strength. Too bad that just made him her next target.
Danny, actually forgetting to go intangible this time, ended up getting tackled by the leopard and tried using his powers to push her off, barely avoiding getting his face bitten off. He did grunt, however, as Sabor managed to scratch into his suit. He finally managed to get enough space to charge up an ecto-beam and blasted the leopard off of him, giving him time to hold his injury and catch his breath. Her claws were sharper than he thought.
"Danny!" Tarzan called his name, throwing him an herb.
Figuring Tarzan was helping him, the ghost boy put the herb on his wound. And to his surprise, he actually felt himself get better immediately upon using it! With that, he replied, "Thanks!"
But the fight still raged on. Sabor charged back towards Danny, but Tarzan lashed back with his spear, sending the alpha leopard back against the bamboo. She got up, noticing a cut on her left front leg. She looked back towards the jungle man and gave an angered hiss. Tarzan returned the hiss with a glare of his own. She then jumped back into the bamboo thicket and prepared for another ambush.
"We're holdin' her back, but she's got too much of an advantage here!" Goofy held his shield in front of him, looking for anywhere their foe would leap from. "We keep this up as we are, we'll all become leopard chow!"
"She's just too fast out here in the open." The halfa kept a sharp eye out, subconsciously holding his chest. "Shouldn't be surprised since being fast is a leopard's thing, but that's not exactly a good thing for us."
"Actually, it's ambushing from high places and brawn," Jimmy corrected him. "Given her unusual anatomy, she's in an elevated echelon of evolution compared to her kin."
"So, she's got the home advantage and is a super cat," Timmy summed up.
"Okay… then I'll just have to go too fast for her to stop!" Sora decided with determination.
"Uh, how do you plan on doing that, Sora?" Spongebob asked him.
"Just going to hope this works…" Was all the keybearer replied with as he held his Keyblade tightly.
Sabor leapt out towards Sora this time, and the islander rolled out of the way. He had his eyes close, took deep breaths. He concentrated, trying to reach deep within to find that power he had gained only a while ago. He felt it in his heart… and grabbed it tightly! He then opened his eyes and focused directly on Sabor.
"Let's go!" He gathered power growing from his heart and focused it all in his Keyblade, rearing it back and preparing to charge, "SONIC BLADE!"
Then, before Sabor could even dodge, Sora rushed forward with his Keyblade thrust outward, hitting the leopard hard against her maw. Then he quickly turned and charged again, hitting Sabor once more. He repeated this move four more times on the leopard before turning one last time and unleashing one last, mighty blow! The resulting combo and damage sent Sabor tumbling backward and hitting the rock, sending Clayton's pipe to the ground.
As Sora began catching his breath and his friends came up to him, staring in surprise over what he just did, they also saw Sabor struggling to get back up. But for Sabor, her vision was starting to get blurry. The prey before her stood tall, just watching her in her pitiful state. Somewhere, deep in her animalistic state, she hated the sight of them for beating her like this. For…
But Sabor's remaining thoughts went dark as her life finally faded from her eyes. She fell on her side, finally dead. From her maw, one of her fangs had broken off. Tarzan took this fang in hand before looking down upon the body of his family's enemy. Even in the midst of these new monsters terrorizing the jungle, it was only right that he do this for his family's sake.
Tarzan gripped the dead leopard by her fur and held her up into the air, letting out a primal roar that echoed throughout the entire jungle. Sabor would not harm his family again.
"...You know," Timmy mused to his friends, "reading this in book form? Totally not as cool as seeing it in action."
"Oh yeah, definitely not." Danny agreed.
"Sadly we still killed a living creature." Wanda pointed out. "Sabor was just going by her instincts as a wild leopard."
"She was also trying to kill us." The duck pointed out. "What were we supposed to do? Let her gnaw on our bones?"
"I never said that we couldn't feel somewhat bad about it." The female fairy godparent replied.
"Not exactly feeling it, myself. We just beat a nasty leopard after saving gorillas." Her godchild said. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Jiminy sighed, "Empathy goes a long way, Timmy. Otherwise, we'd be back to arguing."
Looking at the duck, with the mallard looking back at the pink-clad boy, the two nodded in agreement. They didn't necessarily feel bad for Sabor, but taking what they did into account, at least they recognized that their cynicism could be a problem.
Meanwhile, back at camp, Jane and her father, alongside Goddard, not to mention Tantor who was still outside their tent, were waiting for the others to come back with good news. The moment they heard Tarzan's yell, they at least felt like that moment was coming up soon. Of course, before they could go look, Tantor saw Terk running out from the jungle.
"Hey Terk! I'm so happy to see you!" The elephant said to his childhood friend. "Tarzan and the other guys just helped the gorillas and–"
"No time to talk!" Terk replied while passing him by. "Run, now!"
As he watched Terk run into the tent, and hearing a crash that followed, Tantor couldn't help but ask, confused, "Run? From the monsters? You say that like I don't already–"
Inside the tent, Terk had crashed right onto Jane and Archimedes, holding onto them tightly. Goddard was just watching the gorilla with a curious whine.
Getting up, Jane looked at the young gorilla and said, "W-What's the matter? Is something going on?"
"Those creatures must have this one scared out of her wits!" Her father theorized as they tried getting up. "Well, the least we can do is try keeping this one safe. Then we can–"
But whatever the professor had to say was left unfinished as they heard Tantor trumpeting outside before it was abruptly silenced. They then saw Goddard growling towards the entrance toward the tent. Holding the gorilla close in order to defend her, the two researchers braced themselves for whatever was coming… only to gasp in shock as they saw who had entered with a smirk on his face and Powerwilds moving behind him.
"Terribly sorry, Professor and Ms. Porter," Clayton said with false sincerity, "but I'm afraid I have found a much better way to make a profit off of this expedition of yours."
—-
"...and that's how Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are still around in Bikini Bottom." Larry finished talking about the local superheroes.
"Soooo… are they any good at what they do, man?" Wakka asked, interested in the story.
"Hard to say." The lobster admitted, scratching the back of his head with his claw. "The times that Bikini Bottom actually gets in danger are very rare and few inbetween, sometimes we see them, but usually someone else does most of the work."
"Yeah, that figures." The islander sighed, seeing that even heroes couldn't do much when they got old.
"Anyway, I just realized I've been talking about what's been going on over here," the beach jock said, "but how did a surface-dweller manage to get himself down here without a helmet to breathe in? Last I checked, water and air-breather lungs don't mix."
"Beats the heck out of me, man." Wakka said honestly. "One minute, I was at home. Next thing I know, I'm drowning in the water for no reason! Then I get saved, only to get thrown in here by that stubby freakshow. I swear, if I didn't nearly die earlier, I'd probably say I'm dreaming."
"Wouldn't blame ya there, pal. I–" Larry was about to talk more with him, but then something caught his eye, "Uh oh, looks like they got another 'shipment'."
"Eh? Shipment?" Wakka stood up, trying to see where Larry was looking. "Shipment of what?"
Coming down the hallways before them was a large machine that Wakka had seen before. It literally caught him in the water before dragging him to this place. It was being guided by some short, gremlin-like creatures with sneers and large chins, wearing clear helmets over their heads so they didn't drown in the water, and some large, teal blue robots with one optic similar to the stubby freak that ran this place. The robots had three-pronged claws for hands with the right hand gripping on a dual-sided, metal gray trident with the points circled around each other and a yellow energy charger in the center. They moved thanks to their transport being a ship propeller constantly moving.
"Hey, I've seen that before, yeah." Wakka said. "What even is that thing?"
"That's a jellyfish harvester." Larry explained. "Plankton's got these mass-produced so they can take prisoners AND harvest jellyfish for something big in his 'new-and-improved' Chum Bucket."
"Isn't that poaching, man?" The islander couldn't help but ask in shock.
"Considering he's basically putting them in captivity and in harsh conditions, yeah, basically." The lobster confirmed.
"That's crazy…" Wakka looked down, actually punching the glass. "Hey! The heck do ya think you're doin' with those, man?!"
"Silence, meatbag," One of the robots turned an optic towards him and held a charging trident in his direction, "or else you shall resume drowning accordingly."
The robot then proceeded to move along as Wakka glared at it from his cell. The blitzball enthusiast couldn't help but growl at the sight of it. He had no reason to believe that this was a dream. This was legit happening. Stuck in a place he did not understand, bearing witness to terrible things happening before his own eyes.
There had to be some way to get out of here… Something only he could do to get payback and stop this operation in the process…