"The ticket to the future is always open." ~Vash The Stampede (Trigun)
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We got back in the Gummi Ship and went through another Gummi course of destroying Lego shaped Heartless. We approached a new world called Deep Jungle. Then, Sora and Donald got into a heated argument about whether or not we should land there. Sora was insisting that we should, since Kairi and Riku could be there. Donald said no, because they need to find the King. Then, Sora took control of the Gummi Ship and we were flying around like crazy. "AHHHHHHH!!!!" We were all screaming as Sora crash landed us in the world.
Sora and I plunged headfirst into a abandoned tree house. "Ow...my head," Sora mumbled.
"Remind me to never trust you with driving or flying ever again," I glared. "Even if you're 16 and you passed your drivers' test." I glanced around the room. "Where are the others?"
"Donald? Goofy?" Sora called.
I heard footsteps. I turned to see a leopard, prowling closer to us. "Sora! Watch out!" I cried.
"Huh?" He said.
It pounced and I stood in front of Sora to shield him. The leopard swiped me with his paw and I was sent flying into some crates. I landed bottom first and my right leg was in a bunch of broken wooden planks and it felt like it was in a weird position. "Ow, that really hurts," I mumbled as I watch Sora block the leopard's first attack but was knocked into some crates like me.
Sora got up and summoned his Keyblade. I got my right leg out of the crates and tried to get up, but a fiery hit pain shot up from my legs and I fell on my hands and knees. I watched as Sora tired to dodge the leopard's claws until a tan man with shoulder length brown hair wearing nothing but a loincloth appeared. He stabbed the the leopard with his spear. It roared and ran out of the tree house.
The man turned to Sora,. "Sabor, danger," He said.
"Uh...thank you?" Sora nervously thanked the man.
"Thank you," The man said.
"Huh? Uh, what's this place?" Sora asked.
"This place, this place," The man muttered.
"Okaaay...where did the others go?" Sora questioned. "Look, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them?"
The man looked confused. "Friends..." Sora repeated.
"Friends!" The man replied.
"Right, my friends!" Sora said.
"There's three of them....the loud one is Dona--" He started but he paused. "Never mind. I'm looking for my friends Riku and Kairi."
"Look for Riku, friends?" The man asked.
"Right!" Sora nodded.
Then, Sora looked it the side as if he saw something. I glanced to were he was looking but I saw nothing. "Kairi, friends?" He asked.
"Uh...right," Sora replied, looking back again but was shocked to see nothing.
"Friends here," The man said.
"Really?" Sora cried, breaking from the trance. "Where are they?"
The man muttered something. All I could make out from him were grunts, grains, and the occasional screech. It was as if he was speaking in a animal-like language. "Friends here," He repeated.
"Not sure I understand, but show me!" Sora begged. "Take me to Riku and Kairi!"
"Tarzan..." The man said, pointing to himself. "Tarzan go."
"And I'm Sora. Tarzan go, Sora go go!"
Tarzan looked at my direction. I was trying to crawl to towards them, but my legs were killing me. "Who?" He asked.
"Huh?" Sora said.
"Who? Who's there?" He asked, pointing to my direction.
Sora looked where he was pointing and he saw me. "Oh god! I forgot about Saki!" He ran towards me. "Hey are you okay? Why are you on your hands and knees?"
"Uh...I think I'm fine," I replied.
"Whew," He said, a wave of relief coming to his face. I tried to stand up, but my legs started hurting again. I winced and I went back down to being in my hands and knees.
Sora noticed this, "Wait, can I see your knees?"
"Um, sure...?!" I said as I sat on my bottom. I looked at my knees and almost fainted. There were claw marks in my knees where the leopard scratched me and they were bleeding. Dirt surrounded the wound. Blood was pouring out of it like crazy. If fact, I already left a puddle from where I was sitting.
Sora's eyes widened, "We got to get some help for you!"
Tarzan came over and saw my poor knees. "Hurt. Tarzan help," he said.
"Wait, you can help?" Sora gasped.
"Yes. Someplace safe," he said.
"That's great!" Sora cried. He turned back to me, "Hey, do you think you can walk?"
I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn't let me. I sunk back to the ground. "No, it hurts too much," I explained.
"Then let my carry you," Sora said as he picked me up bridal style.
"Sora...this is awkward..." I blushed. I sometimes fantasized myself being carried like this, but it's with a special someone...but that's not important right now.
Sora ignored my comment and we went out of the abandoned tree house and onto the balcony. There, Tarzan led us through the trees and into the jungle a bit. We had to slide down a very long branch to get there. It was awesome having the wind whip through my hair like those supermodels on the magazines in Kairi's room. Then we arrived at a research site. Tarzan, Sora and I went into the tent. "Jane!" He called.
A woman with long brown hair, blue eyes a dress with a white top, a flowing salmon boot on, and brown clogs. She paused from setting up a camera and turned towards us. "Tarzan!" She replied. "Oh, and who are these two?"
"Hello," I greeted.
"Uh, hi. I'm--" Sora started.
"Oh, you two speak English!" Jane cried happily. "So, then, obviously, you two are not related to Tarzan...are you here to study the gorillas?"
"Highly doubtful," A gruff voice said.
We turned to see a man with brown, greying hair and a mustache with a hunting gun in his hand. He wore a safari tour guide outside. Behind him were Donald and Goofy. "Sora! Sakura!" Called Goofy.
"Goofy! Donald!" We cried together as Sora put me down on the floor and ring-around-a-rosy with Donald for a bit. Realizing that they were still mad at each other, they turned their backs to one another and crossed their arms. Goofy and I stared at them with a gaping look on our faces.
"A circus of clowns," Grumbled the man as we walked away with his hunting gun. "Not much use for hunting gorillas."
"Mr. Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them," Jane scolded as he stalked out of the tent. "This is research." She slumped when she realized that he was gone. "Well, the more the merrier. Do make yourself at home."
"Actually..." I started.
"I'm staying," Sora and Donald said at once.
"Huh?" Sora said.
"Sora, Sakura, look what we found. Look at this," Goofy said, opening his hands and showing us a red Gummi Ship piece.
"What's that?" Sora asked.
"It's a Gummi Shop piece," Goofy explained. "It's the same one that is used to build our Gummi Ship."
"So, that means..." Sora started.
I got up and tried to walk over. I felt something tearing and I looked down to see my knees bleeding again. "You guys....." I called.
"The King might be here," Donald concluded. "We're going to find him...for now."
"You guys...!" I called again, more blood pouring down my legs.
"Fine, I'll you guys tag along...for now," Sora said.
"YOU GUYS!!!!!" I screamed. "MY LEGS!!!! THEY'RE BLEEDING AGAIN!!!!"
Sora looked at my direction. "What?!" He asked.
Jane looked at my legs and gasped, "My goodness! What happens to your poor legs?!"
"A leopard attacked us," I explained.
She bent down. "Well, let's first clean those poor knees before you get an infection." She picked up and placed me on some crates. She opened a first aid kit , pulled out rubbing alcohol, and poured some onto a cotton ball. She went over to me. "It will sting," She warned.
As she rubbed the cotton ball on my leg, I winced a bit. It did sting, like Jane warned me, but it was stinging me a lot more than it usually does. After cleaning my wounds, she prepared to put a bandage in them. Sora stopped her. "Wait, I got something." He said.
He took out a Hi-Potion and poured the bottle in my legs. The cuts faded to thin, very white lines. "Don't worry, the scars will go away," Sora told me.
"I don't care about some scars," I said. "I'm glad that my legs don't hurt anymore!"
Jane stared at Sora, mouth wide open. "W-What did you just do to her?!" She cried.
"Oh," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head. "I poured a little healing stuff on her."
"That's amazing!" She said. "What's in that stuff there that can do that....?"
As she pondered that, Sora asked her, "So, can you tell me a bit of what's going on?"
"Tarzan was raised by a bunch of gorillas," Jane explained.
"Oh, so he was talking gorilla back there," I said. That explained the animal noises he made at our first conversation together.
"You're looking for your friends?" She asked.
"Yeah," I replied.
"He said Riku and Kairi, but then a word that I couldn't understand," Sora explained.
"Why don't we play these slides to see if they match the word he was trying to say," Jane said as she examined the projector. An image if a castle show up.
Sora and I stared at it. The castle looked so familiar. I wonder why. "Uh...Sora? Sakura? What's wrong?" Donald asked.
"Oh, it jut looks familiar," Sora and I said at the same time.
It showed a man giving a woman some flowers, a woman bending down to a man, a gorilla, a ship riding in the ocean, and two men fighting. "Well, Tarzan?" Jane asked.
"Where are our friends, Riku and Kairi?" Sora asked.
Tarzan glanced at Sora and shook his head no, as if he never knew the answer in the first place. "Hey, I thought you said--" Sora started.
"There's leaves just one place," A voice said.
We turned to see Clayton coming in, "We've been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet encountered these friends of yours. I'd wager that they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."
"Really, Mr. Clayton," Jane interfered. Tarzan wouldn't hide--"
"Then take us there! Take us to Gorillas. Go-ril-las," Clayton asked.
Tarzan gained at Sora and I and nodded. "Tarzan...are you sure?" Jane asked.
"Tarzan go see Kerchak," He said.
"Kerchak?" Jane sounded confused.
"He must be the leader," Clayton concluded. "Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."
"Then let's get going," I said, preparing to jump off the crates that I was sitting on.
"No," Tarzan says.
"Excuse me?" Clayton asked.
"No," He said, pointing to me. "Stay."
"Tarzan, it's nice for you worry, but I'm perfectly fi--" I said, jumping off. A surge of pain came from my right ankle and I collapsed on the ground.
"Sakura!" Sora cried, running over. "I thought that Hi-Potion should've fixed your legs!"
"It did," I muttered. "It fixed my scratched up knees, but not my right ankle."
He examined it, "It's starting to swell up a bit. I think you got a pretty bad sprain."
"I'll go get a potion!" Donald called.
"Wait, no!" I said.
"Why not?" Goofy asked.
"You can't keep using up every single Potion for every paper cut we get," I explained. "You already used one on me for my knees."
"But you sprained your ankle! I can't let you hobble around and get destroyed by the Heartless!" Sora started.
"It's fine. I twisted my ankle plenty of times before and it healed without me using a Potion," I snapped.
"Fine," Sora grumbled. "But you can't come with us."
"I know," I sighed.
"But the problem is I don't want you to be alone, but at the same time I don't want to leave the gang," Pondered Sora.
"I'll stay with her to make sure that she stays safe," Jane offered.
"Thanks," Sora replied.
"Ahem," Clayton said. "Now that we have this matter cleared up, may we go and see the gorillas now?"
"Go," Tarzan said as he led the group out if the tent and into the jungle.
*~*~*~*~*~
Jane was reading a book while I stared off into space. The whole gang came back with a sputtering Clayton. "Oh, did you get to see the gorillas?" Jane asked, closing her book.
"We did see them, but Clayton tried to shoot one!" Donald yelled.
Jane and I were shocked. "How could you do such a thing?!" Cried Jane.
"Now, Ms. Porter, I wasn't aiming for the gorilla," Clayton defended. But I could see in his eyes that he was lying.
"Then what were you aiming for?" I shouted.
"Silence, little girl!" Clayton shouted. "You do not need to get involved in this!"
"Don't talk to my best friend that way!" Sora yelled.
But Sora and I were ignored. "You are not to go near the gorillas again!" Yelled Jane.
"All because of one mishap?" Laughed Clayton. "Come now..."
But he shut his mouth when saw Sora, Donald, Goofy and Tarzan right behind Jane. We shot him a menacing glare at him. He nervously backed out of the tent, muttering something to himself. Jane turned towards us. "Don't mind Mr. Clayton-he's just a person that doesn't admit that he's wrong," Jane explained.
"Jane, don't defend for him," I told her.
"I know, but I've known Mr. Clayton for a long ti--" she started. A gunshot rang out from the jungle. "He's probably just mad right now. He'll get over it."
"He better," I muttered.
"Well, I better go off to get rid of the Heartless. Jane, you don't mind watching Sakura for a little longer?" Sora asked.
"Sure," Jane said.
"Thanks," Sora replied as he, Donald, Goody and Tarzan left the tent.
*~*~*~*~*~
Jane and I sat in the tent, just staring off into space. Clayton came back with a plate of food. He handed it to me. "Your meal," He said.
I glared at him, "I'm not taking a meal from a man who tried to kill a gorilla."
He sighed, "It's just vegetables. That's all."
I examined the plate. He was right; it was a plate of assorted vegetables. "It better be just vegetables," I muttered as I took a bite.
I almost gagged. The vegetables were so bitter! Why are these vegetables so bitter? I thought. Maybe he picked them way to early, but they looked ripe to me. Maybe it was a bad patch of vegetables. But, food was food and I haven't eaten in hours. I wolfed down my meal, trying to ignore the bitterness, and I handed my plate to Clayton. "Thanks for the meal," I heartlessly said.
"You're welcome," He said. I swore that he was trying to hide a smile as he walked out of the tent.
After a couple of minutes, I started to feel really drowsy like I haven't slept in days. That's weird, I thought, why am I so sleepy now when I wasn't sleepy earlier? But, exhaustion took over me. "Jane, I'm going to take a nap. Is that okay?" I yawned.
"Of course," She smiled. "You've been through a lot. Rest and I'll wake you up when your friends come back. Do you want me to set up a place for you to sleep?"
"Nah, I'm fine right here. But thanks anyways," I replied as I curled up on the crates and was out in seconds.
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I woke up from my nap, remembering nothing from my dreams. Which was weird, because I always remembered my dreams. Jane was gone. I got up and stretched. I was getting sick of breathing in the air on the hot, stuffy tent. Would it hurt for me to leave the tent for a couple of minutes? Probably not. I up from the box of crates I was sleeping in and crashed face first onto the ground. I had forgotten that I sprained my ankle. Still, I wanted to go outside. I limped out and saw a pack of gorillas not to far form the tent. I want to see them! I thought, I never seen gorillas before except in books.
I limped over to the pack of gorillas. One of them noticed me and snarled at my presence. "Hey, hey, hey," I raised my hands in surrender. "I'm not mean like Clayton. I'm here just to look at all of you."
A pack of monkey Heartless appeared. I tried to summon my Keyblade but my ankle was in too much pain to let me do that. Their leader noticed this and tried to lead the Heartless away so that nobody would get hurt. I heard crashing of bushes and I saw Clayton appear. I was about to ask him where were the others and I gaped at him in shock. He had his hunting gun in his hands and he didn't notice me. He was too busy aiming for the gorillas. His finger was on the trigger. Their leader noticed him and tried to get out if the horde but the Heartless kept in circling him back in. His finger tensed. I had the choice to let one of the gorillas die or have myself die. I made the decision quick.
Clayton pulled the trigger. "NO!!!!!" I screamed as I heard the gunshot ring out. I dove in front of the gorilla that was he was animating at, knocking them down. We were mere inches away from getting shot. We were so close I could feel the wind of the bullet whizzing past us as we landed on the ground.
I heard more footsteps and I saw Sora and Tarzan. "Clayton?" He cried. He saw me and froze, "SAKURA?!"
The gorilla who I protected looked at me with shock. Their leader came running over to me. Sweating from the realization of me almost getting shot, I stood back up with shaking legs. My vision began to blur like a camera focusing on an object.
As the group of gorillas ran off, Tarzan shouted. "Not Clayton! Not Clayton!" He said something in gorilla language. He ran up to Clayton only to struck back by something. I felt a tail curl around my body and I was lifted into the air. I was in so much shock still that I could of had my head blown my vision blurred and I fainted.
*~*~*~*~*~
I awoke in the tent again with Jane above me. "What were you doing out there?" She asked.
"I was tired of breathing the stuffy air in the tent, so I left for a couple of minutes. I saw a pack of gorillas and approached them. Then Clayton appeared and he tried to shoot one of them, but I jumped and knocked down the gorilla he was trying to shoot," I explained. "Where did you go?"
"Clayton knocked me and another gorilla out and took us to a tree," Jane explained.
"What happen when I was knocked out?" I asked.
"A giant lizard Heartless got you," Donald explained.
"Clayton was using you as a shield. He knew that we wouldn't dare try to hurt you, even to get to him. While we were off guard, the Heartless attacked us. It worked the first couple of times, but we figured out what it was trying to do and attacked him from behind. The Heartless gave up on that plan after a couple of failed attempts and threw you into a tree. After we destroyed the Heartless and Clayton, we retrieved you," Sora finished.
"I also examined the plate that the vegetables were on that Clayton gave you," Jane said. "They were drugged."
"What do you mean?" I cried.
"He put in some kind of drug that would make you sleep for hours. You slept a lot less than you were supposed to," Jane said. "Did you notice something different about the food you ate?"
"It tasted bitter," I stuck out my tongue. "Really bitter."
"Than that must of been the drug you tasted," Jane concluded.
"So," I slid off the crates that I rested on. "What next?"
"We seal up the Keyhole here...if there is one," Sora stated.
We went back outside, where a pack of gorillas was waiting. Their leader walked up to us, picked all of us up and threw us over to the waterfall for some reason. "Hey! Why did he do that?" Sora cried as he landed on his bottom.
"I seriously don't know," I said.
Tarzan came over with Jane and a gorilla companion. He led us into a waterfall. There lied a bunch of glowing bright blue butterflies in the shape of a Keyhole. "There's the Keyhole!" I cried.
"We'll seal it up!" Sora shouted.
"Yes," Tarzan said. "No friends."
"Huh?" Goofy said.
"I think he means of we don't seal it up, then we can't see our friends," Sora explained before turning to Donald. "Listen, uh, sorry of what I said earlier," Sora apologized to Donald.
"I'm sorry too," Donald said.
"Yeah, all for one, huh?" Goofy said.
Sora approached it. We summoned our Keyblades and a white beam came out if it. I was again pulled onto a trance where I saw a colorful weaving with black thread in it. Using my Keyblade, I wove out the black thread. In it's place, I wove in colorful thread. When I was pulled out of that trance, I heard a sound of a lock locking. "We sealed up that Keyhole!" Sora said.
A Gummi piece dropped down. "A Gummi!" Donald cried.
"But not the King's," Goofy sighed.
The gorilla that came with us nudged Donald. "I think someone has a new admirer," Jane teased.
Goofy laughed and Donald shook his wings. "No no no no!" He cried. "Daisy would kill me!"
We all laughed and Sora said. "I think we should get going now if we want that wound on Sakura to get better."
We turned to Tarzan, Jane and that gorilla companion. "Good-bye!" We shouted.
Tarzan waved, "farewell!" Jane called as we left to board our Gummi Ship.
*~*~*~*~*~
In a place called Hallow Bastion, some of Maleficent's minions were talking to her. "What led the Heartless to that world?" Asked a voice that belonged to Jafar.
"The hunter lured them there," Maleficent declared. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seemed the bait was too tasty for his own good."
A voice that belonged to Oogie Boogie laughed. "Yeah, he got chomped instead!"
"A weak-hearted fool like him would stand no chance to the Heartless," Jafar said, stepping out of the shadows. "But the boy and girl are a problem. They found one of the Keyholes."
"Fear not," Maleficent said. "It would take them ages to find the rest." She projected a hologram of Sora, Sakura, Donald and Goofy walking. "Besides, they remain blissfully unaware of our other plan."
"Yes, the princesses," A voice that belonged to Ursula mumbled.
"They falling into our hands, one by one," She smiled, glancing over it her side as a confused and terrified Alice appeared. "Speaking of which..."
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Ha ha....if you read the first couple of charters, you know whose Sakura's "special someone"...😉
Fine, for those who are lazy to look back, it's Riku.
Hopefully I didn't make Sakura in this chapter Mary Sueish. One of the Mary Sue traits is that your OC gets the spotlight most of the time.
If you guys are wondering, the reason why I made Sakura seem under the spotlight a bit more in this chapter because I wanted to make this fanfic more interesting. Plus, writing about character who only says a few lines of dialogue and helps out in a battles does get boring after a while....😑