CHAPTER 4: DEEP JUNGLE: friends
CHAPTER 4
DEEP JUNGLE
friends
THE GUMMI SHIP GAINED SPEED AND ROCKETED through the Other Sky. Sora and Goofy were talking behind the cockpit.
“We’re not finding much, are we…?”
“About the king?” said Sora.
“Not just the king. Your friends, too. And then Alice disappeared, too.” Goofy sighed.
“Hey, you can’t tell Sora to keep smiling and then go around sighing yourself!” Donald yelled from the cockpit.
“But gawrsh… While we’re looking for someone, another someone disappears! Don’t you think it’s pretty fishy? And on top of that, there’s one of those big, mean Heartless in every world.”
“…What’s it all mean?” Sora asked in a tiny voice.
“That’s what I’d like to know!” Jiminy Cricket hopped out of Sora’s pocket.
“And there’s the Keyblade… It happened in my world, too—but the Heartless in Wonderland were way stronger than the ones in Traverse Town.” Sora clutched the Keyblade tightly in his fist.
The shining Keyblade didn’t give him any answers, but he could feel that bit by bit, he was getting stronger. At the same time, though, it seemed like the Heartless were getting stronger, too. He’d never be able to beat them without Donald and Goofy.
“And I bet they’ll keep getting stronger…” Goofy sighed again.
“But I think at the same time, we’ll be getting that much closer to the truth,” said Jiminy.
“Maybe…”
Sora didn’t have much confidence in what Jiminy was saying, either. As the atmosphere grew heavier, the ship suddenly banked.
“Whoa! C’mon, can’t you fly any better, Donald?” Goofy complained.
“If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you try!”
“I can pilot!” Sora eagerly interrupted and grabbed the controls for himself.
“Waaak! Bad idea!” Donald wrested the controls back from Sora. In the same moment a world covered in green emerged from the midst of the Other Sky. They could see an enormous tree twined with hanging vines, and a hut, and a great big waterfall.
“What is it…?”
Deep Jungle. The world was all but untouched tropical forest, a wild paradise.
“Why would the king be in a backwater place like this? It’d be a waste of time looking here,” Donald argued.
“But Riku and Kairi might be down there,” said Sora. “C’mon, Donald, let’s just check it out!”
Just because the king wouldn’t be here didn’t mean that they could just ignore this world. Besides, weren’t Donald and Goofy helping him look for Riku and Kairi, the same way he was helping them look for the king?
“No way. We’re on an important mission!” Donald accelerated the Gummi Ship.
“Just land!” Sora tried to take the controls again.
Donald was too stubborn to be swayed at this point. “No!”
“Aw, guys, cut it out…,” said Goofy.
“That’s right! No quarreling!” Jiminy tried to get between them, but Sora and Donald went on wrestling over the controls. Neither one was prepared to give in.
“C’mon!”
“Forget it!”
“We’re landing, so there!” Sora shoved Donald aside, grabbed the stick, and pushed it all the way back.
“Hey, don’t touch that! Wak-wa-waaaaak!” Donald tried to pull the Gummi Ship back up out of its sudden descent, but it was too late for that. The ship was out of control, falling headfirst straight into the green world.
“Quack!” Now there was nothing to do but try to save the landing. Donald mashed buttons here and there. “This is all your fault, Sora!” he shouted, and hit a red button. The cockpit opened up and the three of them went flying out of the Gummi Ship, screaming all the way.
“Whooooa!”
“Gwa-waaak!”
“Aaaah-hoohoooey!”
Jiminy was hanging on to the control stick for dear life. “Good luck, everyone…!” he called after them.
With a crash and a rustle and a thump, Sora tumbled down through the trees and then through the roof of the little house. Finally he hit the ground in one piece…more or less.
“Ow, ow, ow…” He stood up, rubbing a bump on his head. “Donald…? Goofy?”
The other two were nowhere to be seen. He was in what looked like a wooden hut. Outside the window, the green jungle went on and on. They must have gotten separated in the fall.
“What do I do now…?” Sora heaved a big sigh, and just then, he felt a rush of wind beside him. “Huh?!”
It blew him backward, and as he fought to regain his balance, he swung the Keyblade. And there in front of him was a growling leopard. It clearly wasn’t friendly. Sora inched back and the leopard pounced at him.
Slammed back into the wall, Sora couldn’t speak, but he stayed on his feet and barely avoided being knocked over. The leopard snarled and crouched down, ready to spring again. Sora felt sweat go down his back. Unlike the Heartless, the leopard’s hostility was so focused and ferocious it felt searing hot.
It growled again deep in its throat and stopped only to launch another attack. Teeth closed on the Keyblade with a clang. With all his strength, Sora was just able to throw off the leopard, but before he could take another breath, it lunged for him once more. This time the Keyblade met its claws, and they were both thrown back from the force.
They clashed again and again until finally both Sora and the leopard began to tire. The next move would have to end it…
Sora put the last of his strength into his arm holding the Keyblade—but his hand was sweaty, and his grip failed for a moment—and that was when the leopard sprang.
I’m done for!
Just as he shut his eyes, a man with a spear leaped in through the window. The leopard found the handle of the spear in its jaws instead, and the man flung it back.
“Sabor…” the man murmured and rebounded at the leopard. It fled out the window. Sora felt all the remaining strength go out of him.
That was close…
He kept himself from falling to the floor in exhaustion. The man came closer. He wore a scrap of animal skin like a loincloth, his long hair looked like it hadn’t been so much as trimmed in years, and he was staring closely at Sora. “Sabor, danger.”
“Is Sabor the leopard?” Sora asked, but the man only shook his head as if he didn’t understand at all. “Um… Thank you.”
When Sora nodded, the man did, too. “Thank you.”
“Huh?” How had Sora done anything that deserved thanks? “Er… What is this place?”
“This place, this place.”
Apparently the man was only repeating back what Sora said.
“Okaaay… Where did the others go?” Sora scratched his head. “I mean, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them?”
The wild man only looked confused.
“Friends!” the man echoed happily. Did he understand at all…?
“Right, my friends! There’s two of ’em. The loud one is Dona— No. Never mind!”
The man cocked his head at Sora, who had practically started talking to himself.
It’s not that Donald and Goofy aren’t my friends… But Donald only seems to care about finding the king. So I should put finding Kairi and Riku first, Sora told himself.
“I’m looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi,” he went on.
“Look for Riku, friends?” said the man. “Kairi…friends?”
“Umm…yeah…” Kairi’s smile flashed in his head.
“Friends here.”
“Really?!” Sora perked up with a jump.
The man smiled back and said something Sora couldn’t understand.
“Huh?”
He repeated the same sound in a strange voice, like no words Sora had ever heard before. “…Friends here.” The man was gesturing intensely.
“Not sure I understand…but show me!” Sora didn’t know if Riku and Kairi could really be here… But he couldn’t just ignore what this person was telling him. “Take me to Riku and Kairi!”
The man tilted his head a bit and tapped his chest. “Tarzan. Tarzan go.”
Sora pointed to himself, too. “And I’m Sora. Tarzan go, Sora go, go!”
Tarzan nodded, and Sora followed him out of the hut.
Outside, lush green spread out as far as the eye could see. They leaped down into the jungle.
Meanwhile…
Donald woke up atop a boulder in the middle of a bamboo thicket. He’d never seen a place like this before. He stood and looked around, bewildered, and finally noticed Goofy out cold beside him. But he didn’t see Sora anywhere.
“Hmm…?” Goofy yawned and stretched, easygoing as ever. “What a good night’s sleep. Mornin’, Donald!”
“Don’t gimme that! He’s gone! S-so-so…”
“Huh? Sora’s not here. Gawrsh, I sure hope he’s okay…”
“…Aw, who needs him! We can find the king without him.” Donald stamped his foot and reached out for his wand, which should have been beside him. But instead his hand felt something fuzzy. “Quack… Waaaak?!”
He looked at what he was touching, and a small gorilla stared back.
Then something in the thicket behind them moved.
“Who’s there?!” As Donald and Goofy turned, the little gorilla dropped something shiny and ran away.
“Hey, is this…”
“A Gummi block?”
The two looked at each other and nodded.
If there were Gummi blocks here, that might mean someone else had been here…
“Who goes there?!” a voice boomed suddenly.
Donald and Goofy jumped. When they turned, slowly and timidly, a man holding a shotgun was standing there.
Sora and Tarzan landed in the midst of the thick jungle. Tarzan moved by swinging on vines from tree to tree, and Sora did all he could to keep up.
“Hey—Tarzan, slow down!”
Tarzan looked back at him and cocked his head.
“Umm, could we have a break? I guess you don’t understand…”
“Go, go!”
“Okay, okay… Go…,” Sora replied, out of breath, but just then, a Heartless appeared from the foliage behind Tarzan. “Look out!”
Tarzan turned as the Heartless attacked, but his long spear threw it off.
Sora had seen it before when Tarzan saved him from the leopard, but—he was strong.
“Let me at ’em, too!” Sora fought beside him, and they dispatched the Heartless that came out one after another.
After they’d defeated all of the Heartless, Sora rested the Keyblade on his shoulder. “…Well, that wasn’t so bad!”
“That wasn’t so bad,” Tarzan repeated, smiling brightly. They took off again through the trees.
They made it through the jungle to a clearing where a small tent stood. It looked like people were living there, which made Sora feel a little better.
But still… Are Donald and Goofy okay…?
The thought crossed his mind and he shook his head. Even without them, he could still fight the Heartless… And if he could find Kairi and Riku here, they’d be able to manage, for sure.
“Jane!” Tarzan called and went into the tent. Sora followed him.
Inside, a pretty young lady was fiddling with some kind of machine. “Tarzan!” she exclaimed, looking up, and then saw Sora. “And who is this?”
“Uh, hi there. I’m—”
“Oh, you understand!” She looked rather surprised. “So then, obviously you’re not related to Tarzan…”
“I’m Sora.”
“And my name is Jane. Are you here to study the gorillas?”
Just as he was about to answer, a man with a shotgun strode into the tent. “Highly doubtful.”
Behind the tall man, Sora could see Donald and Goofy.
“Sora?!” They both ran for him happily.
“Gee, we didn’t know if we’d see you again!” Goofy cried.
Sora ran to them, too, but then he remembered the fight on the Gummi Ship and refused to look at Donald. “I was worried about you, Goofy!”
“We were pretty worried, too! Weren’t we, Donald?” said Goofy, but Donald stubbornly faced the other way.
“Well, at least we’re all together now!” Jiminy Cricket hopped out from behind Jane.
“Jiminy!” The trio ran up to him.
“I wasn’t sure how this would turn out when we all fell out of the Gummi Ship, but here we are.”
“Where’s the Gummi Ship?” Donald asked.
Jiminy grinned. “Why, it’s hidden behind the tent.”
“That’s good to hear!” Relieved, Donald took a deep breath.
“So, you’re all friends!” Jane smiled.
The man folded his arms. “A circus of clowns. Not much use for hunting gorillas.”
“We’re studying them, Mr. Clayton, not hunting them,” said Jane. “This is research!”
Without any sign of having heard her, Clayton turned and left the tent.
“Er… I’m Jane. We’ve come to the jungle to study the gorillas. And that was Clayton. He’s a hunter, but he’s acting as our guide in the jungle. And you are…?”
“Donald Duck. This is Goofy, and that’s Jiminy Cricket. We’re looking for our king.”
“Your king? Goodness, is the king your friend, too, Sora?”
Donald and Sora exchanged glances, and both turned away again, sulking.
“Well, the more the merrier,” said Jane, trying to soften the atmosphere between them. “Do make yourselves at home.”
“Well, there’s nothing for you to do here, is there, Donald?” Sora pouted.
“Actually, I’m staying!”
Goofy showed Sora a small bright block. “Look, it’s a Gummi block. We found it here.”
“Which means the king might just be around here somewhere,” said Donald. “So we’ve gotta work together to look for him. For now.”
“Fine,” Sora shot back. “I’ll let you tag along. For now!”
Jane stooped down to peer at him. “Are you looking for something, too, Sora?”
“I’m looking for my friends. Tarzan said that they…that Kairi and Riku would be here… I wish I could actually talk to him, though.” Sora hung his head.
If he understood what Tarzan was saying, maybe he could get some more clues about Kairi and Riku.
“Tarzan was raised in this jungle by the gorillas,” said Jane. “He doesn’t understand very much of our language yet, so I don’t know much more than that… Well, Tarzan?”
Beside her, Tarzan cocked his head.
“Where are Kairi and Riku?” asked Sora.
“And the king!” Donald chimed in.
Tarzan only shook his head.
“Our friends are here, right?”
“Friends…here.”
“Then…tell us where!” Sora looked up at Tarzan, almost pleading.
But someone replied from behind him, “There’s only one place they could be.”
“Clayton!” Sora turned. He’d practically snuck back into the tent.
“Young man, we’ve been in this jungle for some time now,” Clayton said. “We were in the jungle before you arrived. 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 began, “Tarzan wouldn’t hide—”
He cut her off to browbeat Tarzan. “Then take us there! Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las.”
Tarzan stared at Sora instead.
He smiled and then nodded to Clayton.
“Tarzan, are you sure?” Jane worried.
“Tarzan go see Kerchak,” he told her.
“Kerchak?”
“He must be the leader,” said Clayton. “Perfect. I’ll go along as an escort. The jungle is a dangerous place, after all.” He smirked.
“Gawrsh, I’ve got kind of a bad feeling about this fella,” Goofy whispered to Sora.
“Well, I’ll get back to watch the Gummi Ship as usual!” said Jiminy. “See you all later!”
The trio nodded to him and he left the tent.
“Is it really okay, Tarzan?” Sora asked as they ran through the jungle.
“Go see friends!” he answered with a smile and ran ahead of them.
“Did he understand what I said…?”
“Quack!”
Donald jumped back. As Sora worried, a Heartless had appeared right in front of him.
“You guys don’t have to do anything,” Sora said, ready to fight with the Keyblade. “Tarzan and I can take care of them!”
If they started fighting, Tarzan should sense the commotion and come back, and they’d be able to catch the Heartless between them.
“Wak! Are you tryin’ to tell me you don’t need my magic?!”
“I guess that’s what I’m saying…” Sora swung the Keyblade.
“Quack!” Donald shouted, waving his wand. “Then we aren’t one for all or all for one anymore!”
“Aw, cut it out, guys…,” said Goofy, but Sora and Donald went on fighting the Heartless without looking at each other. Finally, after defeating them all, they caught their breath—and more Heartless flew out of the brush to attack Donald.
“Look out, Donald!” cried Sora.
Shouting something they couldn’t understand, Tarzan jumped to the rescue just barely in time.
“Qua-waaaak…!” Startled, Donald had fallen back onto his tail.
Sora breathed a sigh of relief, but when he spoke, it came out mean. “I said leave it to us!”
“Quack!” Donald jumped to his feet and stamped them. “Don’t underestimate the royal magician!”
“I don’t care how royal you are! I can get rid of the Heartless without your dumb magic!”
Donald harrumphed and turned away.
“Aw, no…” Goofy fretted, holding his head.
Tarzan looked at them with concern. “Sora, Donald, friends? Not friends?”
“…Gawrsh…I dunno.” Goofy stared anxiously at Donald and Sora, who still wouldn’t look at each other.
Weaving between the huge trees, they finally reached a rocky wall, a little break in the lush jungle. In a particularly enormous tree, there sat two gorillas. The bigger one had to be Kerchak.
Tarzan started talking to Kerchak in the gorillas’ language. The one beside Kerchak gazed at him fearfully.
“Uh…did you get that?” Goofy murmured.
Donald tilted his head. “Nope.”
“Kerchak,” Tarzan called up to him again. But Kerchak suddenly got up and began ambling away. “Kerchak?!”
There was no reply. Kerchak climbed higher and left. The other gorilla gave Tarzan a look of deep concern and followed Kerchak. Tarzan’s shoulders fell.
Sora moved closer to him. “Hey, don’t worry about us. Actually…”
Something was bothering him about the direction the gorillas went.
“I’ve got a bad feeling. Let’s go…”
They headed back for the house in the treetops.
“They just don’t understand what the gorillas are really worth,” Clayton grumbled, crouched in the brush with his shotgun at the ready. Inside the tree house, a small gorilla was spinning a globe. “A young gorilla is worth more than an adult…”
He took aim at the small gorilla. And then—Donald Duck came into his sights.
“Gwa-waaaaak!” shouted Donald, noticing the gun barrel.
Clicking his tongue in frustration, Clayton pulled the trigger. But his aim was just the slightest bit off, and instead he hit Donald’s hat. The little gorilla fled.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?!” Donald yelled at Clayton.
Then Kerchak emerged. Tarzan called to him, but he disappeared again. Dejected, Tarzan hung his head.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy jumped down from the tree to glare at Clayton.
“You don’t understand. I was only trying to— Ah, a snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla’s life.”
At Clayton’s attempt to justify himself, Tarzan only closed his eyes and quietly shook his head.
They returned to camp for the moment, and Jane gave Clayton an earful.
“How could you do such a thing, Mr. Clayton!”
“Now, Miss Porter, I told you— I was not aiming at that gorilla.”
“You are not to go near the gorillas again!”
“All because of one mishap? Come, now…,” Clayton tried to protest, but everyone else was there staring him down.
“All right, then, all right…,” he amended grudgingly and left the tent.
“Honestly…I just don’t know what to do with him,” said Jane. “I’m sorry about this.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Sora replied.
Jane looked downcast. “But…I’m the one who asked him to come with us as our guide, after all…”
A gunshot rang out.
“Oh no…!”
Sora and Tarzan and the others jumped up and dashed out of the tent. “Heartless!”
There was a gorilla surrounded by them.
“Then where did that gunshot come from…?”
“Let’s help the gorilla first!”
Sora and Tarzan exchanged glances and ran in.
“Tarzan, you stay in the tent and protect Jane! Goofy, you help the gorilla! And Donald…” Sora was shouting back behind him, but he had no idea what to say to Donald, and he faltered.
“Wak! Well, we’re not friends!”
“C’mon, this isn’t the time for that!” Goofy shouted, running toward the gorilla. Tarzan was already cutting down the Heartless with his spear.
“Anyway—let’s just get rid of these Heartless!” Sora barged into the fray. Donald looked a bit confused, but he waved his wand and attacked with magic.
“The Heartless are after another gorilla over there!” Goofy cried, trying to let the first one escape into the jungle.
“You guys take care of this!” Leaving the rest of that cluster to Tarzan and Donald, Sora ran to help Goofy.
“Maybe that gunshot we heard just now really was Clayton trying to help the gorillas,” said Goofy.
“Well, I’d like to believe that…” Sora just wasn’t as optimistic as Goofy. Anyway, there was no sign that the Heartless had been attacking that gorilla before. So why…
“Whoa!” While he was thinking, a Heartless hit Sora with all its might, knocking him flat on his back. And it was coming for him again.
This wasn’t good—
“Thunder!”
From across the clearing, he heard the voice casting the spell. Donald’s voice.
“You owe me for that! Quack!” Donald yelled with a sullen glare.
“Well, I don’t want to owe you anything!”
“Waaaak!” While Donald launched into the air to stamp his feet harder, a figure ran up to him. “Oh, it’s you…?”
It was the small gorilla. It clung to Donald nervously.
“Aw, it’s okay… But I can’t fight with you like this…”
Goofy rushed over, too. “Hey, maybe the gorilla can hide in the tent?”
“Yeah!” Donald picked up the little gorilla and ran into the tent. In the pause, Tarzan saw the other gorilla under attack by the Heartless.
He cried something in the gorillas’ language and ran over. Sora and Goofy went on fighting, and then Donald after leaving the little gorilla with Jane.
The four ran around the jungle helping the gorillas who were being attacked by Heartless. But even while they fought a common enemy, Sora and Donald were not on friendly terms.
“Aw, guys, can’t you make up already…?” Goofy mumbled helplessly, but he couldn’t get through to that stubborn pair. After an entire circuit through the jungle, they arrived back in front of the tent. Seeing that there weren’t any more Heartless for the moment, they could breathe easier. But Tarzan was still looking around nervously.
“Are Jane and that little gorilla okay…?” Donald lifted the flap of the tent. “Jane!”
There was no reply. They all frantically ran into the tent. “They’re not here.”
They looked all around, but there was no sign of Jane or the little gorilla. Tarzan was staring hard at the ceiling.
“What is it, Tarzan?” said Sora.
“Strange smell… Jane, danger. Jane near…near tree house!”
“Let’s go!”
They left the tent and headed for the tree house.
Standing in front of the enormous tree that held the house, they heard Jane’s voice. “Tarzan!”
The door to the house was boarded up. Jane and the little gorilla peeked out.
“Jane!” cried Tarzan.
“What’s going on?!” Sora yelled to her.
“Mr. Clayton came to the tent, and…that’s the last thing I remember…”
Then there was a gunshot from behind them.
“Clayton!”
Sora and the others turned, and Clayton appeared with his gun at the ready.
“Not Clayton!” Tarzan shouted and then said something in the gorillas’ language. “Not Clayton!”
And as if on cue, Clayton let out a horrible roar that didn’t even sound human.
“That’s…not Clayton?!”
That was when it happened—something came out of the greenery from behind Clayton. Its huge footsteps shook the jungle floor. And it was coming closer.
Clayton had disappeared while Sora watched. “Where’d he go?!”
“There he is!” Goofy pointed up in the air. Clayton was sitting up there as if possessed by something.
“He’s flying?!”
“No, he’s just on something that we can’t see…”
They stared bewildered up at the Heartless, the Stealth Sneak, with no idea how to fight it. Something invisible knocked Tarzan flat.
“Tarzan!”
Sora, Donald, and Goofy tried to go to him, but a dark brown shadow stood in their way, almost as if to protect the wounded Tarzan.
“Kerchak!” cried Sora. The big gorilla growled in reply and swung his powerful fists in the air. The part that he hit turned a vague yellow green.
“There it is!” Sora ran to it and slashed out with the Keyblade at the place where Kerchak had struck. Wherever he did any damage, slimy reptilian skin became visible. Behind him, Kerchak picked up Tarzan and leaped to the tree house. He knocked the boards from the door so Jane and the little one could get out.
“…Tarzan!” Seeing him hurt, Jane threw her arms around him.
“Now we can fight it all we want!” Donald waved his wand.
“Well, I can take care of it myself!” Sora yelled, swinging the Keyblade.
Donald stomped his feet again. “Gwa-waaaaaak!”
Goofy tried to intervene, but the Stealth Sneak rammed itself into them as if it had been waiting for the chance.
“Whoa—!”
All three of them were thrown back.
Shouting, Sora got up and started slashing away at the Stealth Sneak’s feet, but it just kicked him aside again.
“C’mon, Donald,” said Goofy.
“…No!”
“Well, fine then!” Goofy left Donald to sulk and ran over to Sora.
Thanks to Sora’s all but reckless attacks, the Stealth Sneak was gradually revealing its form, which looked like a giant chameleon.
“Ack!” Sora got thrown aside again.
“Hey, are you okay?” Goofy ran over and gave him a potion, and Sora was soon on his feet again.
Donald glanced over in time to see Sora hurt. “Take care of it yourself, my tail feathers…”
Sora jumped up angrily and attacked again, but this time he was tossed aside by a swipe of the Stealth Sneak’s tail.
“Just can’t do it without me, huh? Fire!” A fireball shot from Donald’s wand, even bigger than usual. It knocked the Stealth Sneak off-balance.
“Donald!”
“You’re not much use without me, are you?!”
Sora frowned at Donald’s smug expression, but there was no time for them to argue.
“Here it comes!”
The Stealth Sneak was heading straight for them with its mouth open wide. Sora went for its feet and dealt a blow, stopping it in its tracks, and Donald shot magic into its gaping mouth. The impact sent Clayton sliding from its head.
“Now!” Sora leaped up and brought the Keyblade down on the creature’s head.
“We did it!”
He hugged Donald and Goofy—then remembered that he didn’t want to be hugging Donald and backed off to turn away and pout.
He saw the Stealth Sneak turn to light and disappear and Clayton tumbling to the ground.
Clayton groaned and picked up his shotgun, but as if the effort was too much, he fell backward and collapsed on the spot.
“Sora…,” Tarzan called, leaning on Jane. And then the hoots of gorillas cheering them rang out from the treetops.
“Heh…” Grinning, Sora rubbed under his nose. Suddenly something lifted him up. “Whoa— C’mon, Kerchak, put me down!”
Even though he was kicking in protest, Kerchak lightly tossed him up high into the air—and then Donald and Goofy, too.
“Whoaaaaaa!” Sora yelled, and the gorillas kept cheering.
With Kerchak’s help, Sora went flying through the air and finally landed atop a cliff. Then Donald landed on top of him tailfirst and Goofy headfirst—just like the first time they’d met.
“…Could you get off?”
“Wak!” shouted Donald, and he and Goofy climbed off from Sora.
“Seriously…” Sora brushed dust from his knees and stood up.
There was an almost-deafening sound of rushing water, and when he looked up, he saw the enormous waterfall.
“Wow… Look at that…,” Goofy said in wonder.
“Just so we’re clear… This doesn’t mean we’re friends!” said Sora.
“You took the words right outta my mouth!” Donald snapped.
Then Tarzan appeared, still leaning on Jane.
“Tarzan! Are you okay?!”
“Okay. Tarzan home.” With his uninjured arm, he pointed to the waterfall.
“Your home…?”
Tarzan jumped up into a cave atop the rocky wall. Sora and the others scrambled to follow.
“Wow… This sure is somethin’!” Goofy marveled loudly, peering into the cave.
“This must be behind the waterfall,” Donald whispered to him. Water trickled inside the cave, and boulders lined up almost like steps. Holding Jane with one arm, Tarzan climbed up.
“Tarzan, wait!”
Sora, Donald, and Goofy rushed to keep up.
They climbed up a huge tree trunk that the three of them holding hands wouldn’t be able to encircle.
“Wow…”
They looked quietly up at the tree, which seemed to spread into the heavens.
Tarzan said something in the gorillas’ language. Sora recognized it as the word he’d said when they first met.
“…Here…?”
Tarzan hushed Sora and held a hand to one ear and silently closed his eyes.
They could hear the roaring of the waterfall in the distance. It was echoing up through the cave, bringing with it a mysterious melody.
Jane gazed at Tarzan and repeated the word he’d said. “It means ‘heart,’ doesn’t it?”
“Understand?”
“I think I do… Friends, inside our hearts…”
“Heart,” Tarzan repeated, smiling.
“Oh, so they’re not actually here…,” Sora said glumly.
“Friends, same heart. Clayton, lose heart. No heart, can’t see friends. No heart…no friends.” Tarzan was trying with all his might to tell them something important about friendship.
“Sora…”
“Donald…”
They both said the other’s name at almost the same time.
“You go first, Donald!”
“No! You first!”
“Aw, you guys…,” Goofy scolded them with a smile.
Sora rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry for what I said.”
“I’m sorry, too.” Donald looked a tiny bit embarrassed.
“Yeah! We’re friends, right! All for one and one for all!”
Goofy hugged Donald and Sora around the shoulders.
They looked up, and in the middle of the tree trunk, blue butterflies clustered, their wings glittering in a sunbeam.
Gazing closely at the butterflies, Donald pointed to the trunk. They were surrounding something, almost as if to protect it—a Keyhole.
Sora quietly raised the Keyblade and a thin, bright beam of light shot from it into the Keyhole. It locked with a click, and something tumbled down.
“A Gummi block!” Goofy picked it up. The little block sparkled in his hand.
“But it’s sure not the king’s…,” Donald said sadly. The little gorilla nuzzled up to him.
“Why, I think someone has a new admirer,” Jane remarked.
Donald frantically waved his hands in refusal. “No, no, no! Daisy would kill me!” He tried to run away and the gorilla chased him.
Sora nearly fell over laughing. But then Tarzan called his name. “Sora, Tarzan friend,” he said, smiling.
“Tarzan, Sora friend!”
Light shone around them, sunlight through the leaves or glittering butterflies, or both.
Friends.
Hearts.
Tarzan.
Donald and Goofy.
Kairi and Riku.
They were all dear friends… And there was nothing as important as friends.
“Donald, Goofy… Let’s go!” Sora said to his friends. They went back to the tent where Jiminy Cricket was waiting.
And they left Deep Jungle behind them.