Chapter VIII:

Tree Surfing

After the team had departed the bamboo grove and entered the deep jungle, Tarzan began climbing up one of the thick vined trees.

“Hey! Where’re you going?” Kiera called.

“Oh! Kiera, you’re going to love this!” Sora exclaimed, eagerly, and began climbing up after him.

“Hey! Wait for us, Sora!” Goofy cried.

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Kiera hesitated as the others began up the tree. She looked around, then she looked at the vines, hanging from the tree like giant green noodles.

“Ah” she thought, “just like the rope back home.”

She grabbed one of the vines, and began pulling herself upward. She heaved and grunted, working hard to catch up with her friends. Surprisingly, she was quickly overtaking the rest of the group and caught up with Sora. He was surprised to see Kiera.

“Is that as fast as you can go?” She taunted.

Sora snickered.

“Oh, it’s on.”

Kiera and Sora were now racing to reach the top of the tree. Tarzan had no trouble catching up, but Donald and Goofy were breathless in their efforts to reach the eager kids.

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Finally, they made it to the top. Kiera pushed back the shrubbery and felt a gust of soft wind blow into her face.

“Woah…!” She gasped in awe.

She had reached the peak of the jungle’s tops, and could see its thickets for miles. Not only was there a lot of green, but she could also see bright flowers, and dozens of colorful birds hop from branch to branch and take off into the air.

“It’s…beautiful!” She breathed.

“I wish Riku could see this…”

Then, there was a rustle, popping sound next to her. Up popped Sora and Tarzan. Kiera giggled.

“Totally beat you!” She cried.

“Yeah, sure” Sora panted.

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Kiera glanced at Tarzan, who appeared to be scoping intensively over the jungle. Then, he announced:

“Professor, that way!”

He pointed North. Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded.

“But, how’re we gonna get there? We’ll get lost!” said Kiera.

Sora grinned.

“That’s the fun part.”

Sora dove back into the branches. Kiera followed him. They came to a section of a tree, where multiple branches spread out and interconnected with others as far as the eye could see. Then, Tarzan walked up to one of them, and, with his arms and legs spread to the side, he began sliding down the branches like a surfboard to water.

“Woah!” Kiera exclaimed.

Sora giggled.

“Come on! Try it!” Sora called.

“Woohoo!” cried Donald and Goofy as they jumped on and followed Tarzan.

Sora followed shortly behind them. Kiera started at the branch for a moment, then hurriedly kept on.

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She wiggled and wobbled as she soared down the branches. At first, she was frightened. She couldn’t help but look down at the abyss below her and was afraid she would fall. However, once she saw the rest of her friends having fun, she was having fun too! She started to giggle, then laugh.

“This’ll teach Wakka not to make fun of me!” She cried, “I can surf, dangit!”

Sora cracked up and almost died between gasps of laughter. Kiera even went so fast, she did a full loopty-loop. She screamed with elation.

“This is amazing!” Kiera shouted.

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Suddenly, as she came to a clearing, she noticed the branch she was skidding on was coming to an end.

“No longer amazing!” Kiera cried, “S-S-SorAAA!?!?!?”

Sora was now shouting in fright as well. All of this world’s outsiders ran out of road and flung into the air.

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Sora, Kiera, Donald, and Goofy all crashed into a heap on the wet ground. They all groaned and slowly pulled off of each other and rubbed their aching limbs.

“That…was AWESOME!” Kiera squealed, despite the fact her feet were feeling inflamed by the impact the friction made on her shoes.

Donald groaned and adjusted his smushed hat.

“I beg to differ” he rebuttled.

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Tarzan landed gracefully next to them. After Kiera regained her senses, she said to the ape-man:

“We must seem pretty insane to you, huh?”

Tarzan cocked his head, puzzled. Kiera half-scoffed, half chuckled.

“Never mind.”

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The team had just barely gotten their act together, when they suddenly heard a loud rustling sound in front of them, as if dozens of creatures were coming towards them. Sora and Kiera summoned their keyblades in anticipation. Suddenly, half a dozen gorillas came barreling in from the thicket in terrible fright. Kiera instantly recognized one of them as the one she met before. Tarzan’s expression turned to concern. He sprinted over to Kiera’s acquaintance and grunted to her in communication. The gorilla hooted and groaned in response. She was afraid. Tarzan put his arms around her and rubbed her arms to comfort her.

“You know her?” Sora asked.

Tarzan glanced at him and nodded.

“Kala. My mother.”

Kiera’s eyes widened, pleasantly surprised.

“Of course…” she breathed.

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Suddenly, something else kept out of the thicket. Heartless, in the form of rabid monkeys came barreling out and hissed threateningly at the gorillas. Kiera and Sora summoned their keyblades.

“We got this!” Kiera exclaimed, “Ice spikes!”

She raised her keyblade into the air. Ice shot down from the sky and impacted the corral of heartless.

“Thundra!” Donald called.

Lightning came down from the sky and wiped out half. Kiera and Sora lunged into the swarm and slashed their keyblades.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

After a few minutes, the heartless were dispersed. The gang stood there breathless. Kiera turned around to Tarzan and the gorillas and sighed.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

The gorillas remained frozen, but Tarzan’s mother Kala was less fearful. She slowly walked up to them. Tarzan spoke something to the brown gorilla, and she grunted something back. She slowly approached the strangers that had entered the jungle. Sora took a step back, not quite sure how to react, Goofy and Donald stood amazed. Kala specifically faced Kiera.

“Kiera…?” Sora asked, nervously.

“It’s alright, Sora” Kiera assured.

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Kala stared at Kiera for a moment. Then, Kala smiled and grunted in approval. Kiera’s breath was nearly taken away. She remembers all the books she had read about animals, especially the fairytale books where children were able to speak to the animals and become friends with them. Tarzan was one of those children. But to have a gorilla nod in respect to her…it was incredible. 

“I wish my Light Friend could see this…”

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“Here’s my chance.”

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Suddenly, there was a cry. It sounded like the cry of an older man.

“Somebody heeeelp!”

“Professor!” Tarzan declared.

“Let’s go!” Sora cried.

Tarzan and Kala exchanged glances, before the warriors took off towards the source of the cry.

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The team barreled through more leaves and trees until they came to a clearing. On the ground was a quivering, short and skinny man with a big white mustache and a tuft of white hair on his near balding head. But that’s not all. A giant, silverback gorilla stood in the center of the clearing. He grunted and snorted aggressively, but not at Sora, Kiera, and the gang. It was something else. Then, there was an eye, a floating, derpy orange eye. Then, streaks of green. Soon, they could see the familiar, black and red symbol appear on the stomachs of a ginormous creature. It was a massive yellow and green chameleon!

“Heartless boss!” Everyone exclaimed at once.

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The silverback gorilla roared and lunged at the monster. It jumped onto its back and threw his fists down at the Heartless’ head. The chameleon hissed. It unfurled his elongated tail and grabbed the gorilla. With a growl, it threw the silverback and smashed him into a tree.

“Kerchak!” Tarzan exclaimed.

Kiera and Sora summoned their keyblades.

“Let’s do this, Sora!” Kiera exclaimed.