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Infuriated Frollo entered the cathedral and began walking up the stairs. "Frollo. Be gone from this holy place. You have caused enough trouble." The Archdeacon says trying to repel Frollo and protect Esmeralda and Quasimodo. "Out of my way old man." Frollo grabs his keys and throws him to the ground. "The hunchback and I have unfinished business. And this time you will not interfere." He then locks the door to the upper levels and heads to end this. Quasimodo ran into Esmeralda. "We have done it we pushed them back." He runs in excited and cheering. But seeing her not move or even breath caused his heart to sink. "No. No no no." He leaned over her and tried pouring water into her mouth. Her mouth didn't open and she laid still. "No." Quasimodo quietly sulked and cried over her. As he cried Frollo entered. "I know Quasimodo. There there my boy. She would never of loved you." Frollo wandered in with his sword hidden on his belt and dagger behind his back. "You killed her." Quasimodo said feeling rage building. "There there. I shall make all the pain go away. Forever." He raised the dagger as Quasimodo looked up. Seeing the shadow of the dagger in Frollo's hand on the wall he turned in fright. Frollo went to stab him but Quasimodo grabbed his wrists and through him to the ground. Picking up the dagger he walked up to Frollo. "Now now listen Quasimodo don't do anything rash." Frollo said in fear for his life. "No you listen all my life you told me the world was a dark cruel place but now I know the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you." He raised the dagger ready to attack his former master. But hearing a cough he turned. "Quasimodo?" Esmeralda asked narrowly gaining breath. "Esmeralda!" He says dropping the dagger and going to her side. "She live." Frollo says standing and drawing his sword. "No!" Quasimodo lists her up and runs. Frollo pursues them. However the darkness knew of Karen's and Ritsuka's where coming up. The large twelve foot tall gargoyle heartless waited in darkness in Quasimodo's den. He would wait for the two to come through and attack them.

Breathless, Karin ran up the steps of the south tower behind Ritsuka. Luckily they had not seen any heartless on the way up, nor when they entered Quasimodo's room. It was eerily quiet.

"You don't think Frollo beat us here and-" Karin caught her next words in her throat. Could the darkness have taken over Frollo so much that he would kill Quasimodo? Karin searched the corners while Ritsuka began to press foreword. After throughly searching her last corner Karin sighed and began to follow Ritsuka when she abruptly smacked into a nearby wall.

"Ouch!" She muttered, rubbing her head and wondering how she could have been so careless. Instead of a wall though, Karin gaped up at the 12 foot stone gargoyle that had been looming in the darkness. Instantly his eyes began to glow yellow and his body shook, waking to life. The heartless symbol glowed brightly on his stomach.

"Ritsuka!" She called to him, bearing her weapon and quickly blocking the hard blow from the gargoyle. She was caught off guard though as he thrust her into a nearby pillar. Biting her tongue to keep back the pain she readied her weapon and began to fight her way through his heavily defended body.

"Karin!" Ritsuka replied, rushing to her side. The Heartless towered over them, bringing down its fist for another attack.

"Oh no you don't, kupo. AERO!" Moguri cried, casting Aero on the party, raising their defense. With the added wind, it was easier to block he strike, it even bounced off, allowing the two to counter attack. They both landed solid strikes, but to their shock, it did nothing, it merely made the gargoyle stagger slightly, but no real damage was done at all. "Geez, talk about thick skinned, kupo." But the worse was yet to come, at that moment, a pair of large wings, which had the appearance of banners from the Feast of Fools, grew from its back and it took flight. Once it was up in the air, it rained down shards of energy which seemed similar to shattered stain glass windows. It circled the towers, shooting at them from every angle, they dodged and blocked as best they could, and the Aero spell helped, but they were unfortunate enough to have some of them hit their mark. The gargoyle immediately follows up with a mighty flap of its wings, creating a twister that traveled across the balcony, knocking them off the edge of the Cathedral.

"Damn!" Ritsuka said before turning his Keyblade into a Keyblade Glider. He landed on it and caught Karin and Moguri, allowing them to all fly back up the cathedral. "Are you guys ok?" He asked, but before they had time to answer, the gargoyle began shooting them with Glass Shards again forcing them to retreat. Ritsuka went to the other side of the tower and dropped off Karin and Moguri. "You guys go look for Quasi, I'll get his attention and buy you some time." He said before turning around and flying back to the Heartless. "Alright, it's just you and me now, bring it." He challenged, which the Heartless responded to with more shards. He evaded them rather well, trying to get in close to ram him, but the Heartless was much more agile in the air than he thought, and kept on moving. Ritsuka was inexperienced with his Glider and thus didn't really know how to fight with it properly yet, all he could really do was hold his attention until he figured out something to do.

The powerful heartless was taking hits from Ritsuka with ease. He was winning the battle and would soon kill the keyblade wielder. Frollo however exited the small room sword in hand. Down below people screamed and fought the heartless as a small lake of molten iron. Frollo began looking for the escaping Quasimodo and Esmeralda. Peeking around the corner of the tower he searched. Sneaking over he was confused by being unable to see them. He then had a realization and looked over the edge. There he saw Quasimodo and Esmeralda hanging on a gargoyle. "Leaving so soon?" He asked them grinning. He began swinging his sword but Quasimodo's quick thinking let him move and swing along the gargoyles. Frollo kept following them and slashing until his sword got caught in a gargoyle. While he pulled and moved it to remove it Quasimodo swung Esmeralda up behind the railing. Frollo then got his sword ready and swung at her. Esmeralda moved backwards and dodged the blow. Quasimodo pulled himself up and Frollo turned his attention to the weakened hunchback. "I should of known you would risk your life to save this gypsie witch. Just like your mother died trying to save you." "Wha. What?" Quasimodo asked shocked by this information. "Now I will finish what I should of done twenty years ago!" Frollo says throwing his robes over Quasimodo in an attempt to throw him into the fire and molten iron below. As he pulled down Quasimodo grabbed a gargoyle and pulled Frollo down. "Whoa." The judge says as he falls. Undoing his robes cape he began to swing as Quasimodo who was holding him by the cape on his robes. He swung and grabbed onto the gargoyle next to them. Esmeralda ran over and grabbed Quasimodo's hand that was loosening as he passed out from the heat. Esmeralda struggled to hold up the hunchback as she tried to pull him up. Frollo managed to pull himself up and stood on the gargoyle. He began to give a deep and menacing laugh as he stood up and raised his sword. Esmeralda looked up to see his pale face. He had a large powerful grin as the glow from below made dark shadows in the wrinkles on his face. Karin and Moguri saw this from the other tower but where unable to reach them in time. The large gargoyle heartless knocked Ritsuka down and slammed him into the rail holding the bells up. He knocked down a small bell and was ready to finish off the keyblade wielder. Frollo stood up ready to end this and deal with his problems. "And he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit." He says ready to strike the final blow. Then without any warning the gargoyle he stood on loosened and began to crumble. As the gargoyle loosened Frollo lost his balance and nearly fell. Dropping his sword he was about to fall when he wrapped his arms and legs around the gargoyle. Frollo felt a deep fear as he looked at the gargoyles face. The gargoyles face glowed and growled at him. As he began to scream in fear the gargoyle broke off and Frollo plummeted into the molten iron below. He screamed as he went head first into the molten lake. This was the death of the man of almost pure evil. The large gargoyle heartless let out a shriek as it felt Frollo die. A dark mist began to leak out it's back and fade away as it shrunk to ten feet. Frollo's death weakened it and it was now weak enough to be able to be killed if the two attacked together. All the heartless in this world were weakened as well. Frollo's death marked the end of the heartless here. The remaining heartless were being cleaned up by the people of Paris. "Quasimodo hang on." Esmeralda tried to hold him up but lost him. "No!" She yelled as the hunchback fell. However on the floor below Captain Phoebus caught him and dragged him into the safety of the area below. Esmeralda saw this and smiled as she ran down. But Ritsuka would not be able to finish off the weakened heartless himself without the help of Karin. The battle was about to end but was not yet decided.

Karin heard the scream from Frollo as he fell over the edge. When she turned to look, the last thing she saw was his body being enveloped by the molten iron oozing from below. Shuttering, she turned from the edge and looked back over at the gargoyle which was now emanating a black fog and had significantly decreased in size.

"Ristuka! I think it might be weakened!" She told him, quickly taking a slash at him to see if she was correct. Luckily, the gargoyle's hard outer surface cracked slightly as she did. They could beat this thing! It would take awhile, but they could do it! Suddenly, a thought occurred to her as she replayed the death of Frollo in her head. Jumping back from the gargoyle as he let out another cry of rage and threw his large fist at her, Karin stood next to Ritsuka.

" I have an idea. Why don't we send the monster back to his master? If we can get him over the edge, the molten iron will break through his stone faster than we can. Karin drew her fist into her chest which was spurting electricity and opened her hand to the ledge and said "Thunder!" A bolt of electricity hit the wall and broke it apart, creating a small ledge to where the gargoyle could be pushed easily over. Karin turned back to Ritsuka.

"I'll distract him, if you can get behind him and push him towards that ledge, we can get him over! I'll draw him in as close as we can and then all it should take is one good kick!" The gargoyle wasn't giving them much time to talk, as another rain of energy shards came down on them again. Karin ducked and rolled out of the way, getting back in front of the Gargoyle. She brandished her kantana and began to slash at her opponent, causing him to cry out in rage.

"Let's do this Ritsuka!"

"Alright, I'm on it!" Ritsuka replied as he tried to get into position, but before he could the gargoyle began getting desperate. It shot the energy shards at its own fists, coating them in the substance to create glass gauntlets. He banged them together for intimidation and then began hammering the ground with them as he walked forward, sending shockwaves in the immediate area of the hits. Ritsuka and Karin were forced to evade these strikes making it difficult to get it where they wanted it to be, but eventually the gauntlets broke on and exceptionally powerful hit, sending the shards in all directions. The shards hit their mark but Moguri quickly healed them both, they were not going to lose just yet. The gargoyle took a moment to rest, the attack took a lot of energy out of it, and thus Karin was finally able to get its full attention and guide it into position. Ritsuka made sure to stay close behind it, he went unnoticed, since it was too busy striking at Karin.

"Come on, just a little bit more." He said as he prepared to strike. Eventually, Karin had guided it all the way to the opening that she made, she appeared to be cornered, but just as the Heartless was about to strike her down, she leaped out of the way, giving Ritsuka the order to take it out. Ritsuka complied and with a battle cry struck the back of the Heartless's back with a Blitz attack, The first two strikes cutting off its wings and the final most powerful strike knocking it off the edge. Without its wings it fell like a rock, falling into the molten pond below and disappearing. There was a flash of light and the Iron was gone, replaced with but a single Heart that rose to the sky, freed by the Keyblade. Ritsuka relaxed his stance, dismissing his Keyblade.

"And with that, Frollo's finished." He said, with satisfaction, the town was now free of the evil man, and the darkness that he brought upon then. The remaining heartless began to deteriorate as well, they numbers dwindled and the surviving ones retreated to fight another day. He walked back up to his friends. "Come on, let's go see how the others are."

The battle was finally over. However the world was in great damage. From Frollo's search for the gypsie Esmeralda most of Paris was set on fire and atleast damaged. The streets around notre dam where filled with this lake of now semi solid iron. The cathedral itself is suffered horrid damage. From the giant heartless the second tower has a large hole in it and several broken beams. The tower could very much collapse. The main balcony was shattered and the gargoyles massive wings when cut off broke through the ground and damaged several windows and platforms.

In the main chamber Quasimodo, Esmeralda and Captain Phoebus were celebrating their victory. "You did it." Esmeralda smiled at Karin, Ritsuka and Moguri. "Unfortunately the city and cathedral are in horrid shape." The hunchback said with a sorry tone. Opening the doors crowds of people some injured others fine looked over to see the people who freed them. A clap came from the crowed but it was halted by their sorrow over the damage. "It is hard to celebrate with everything like this." The captain says now able to walk. Outside on the main glass window of notre dam a keyhole began to faintly glow.

Karin had not stopped to think of the damage they had all caused. Instead, she only thought of saving everyone regardless of the consequences. Looking around she noticed the charred ground and the thick, molten iron that covered it. The townspeople didn’t seem terribly hurt which was a relief, though she did notice the wounds throughout the crowd. The cathedral looked terrible, but people were already beginning to help fix it up. A few men, some wounded, were cleaning up the debris while others seemed to be measuring the pillars that were still intact. Their world had survived, and that much is something to be proud of. Some worlds were not as lucky…

“Well, we should do what we can to help them! I’m no builder... but I can help the people!” Karin said to them, wandering off into the crowd. It would be draining, but she would heal all those who were harmed during the heartless attack. She was astonished to see how many people took up arms! It wasn’t only men, but women too! Some small boys even. It ripped her heart out to heal a small boy who couldn’t be more than ten with a swollen black eye, missing teeth, and a broken arm. Surprisingly though, he still wore a wide, toothless grin. She ventured person to person, healing whatever wounds she came across.

Quasimodo stayed in the cathedral, watching as Phoebus and Esmeralda left through the front doors, he had a satisfied smile on his face, but it soon turned to one of solemn, without the bell tower, he had lost his sanctuary, where was he to go now.

"You know, I think they could use some extra hands out there, don't you?" Ritsuka suggested as he walked up to the hunchback.

"What, oh no I couldn't, I..." He began to argue, but he lost his nerve partway through, even with Frollo gone, his words still haunted him, he was deformed, ugly, a... monster. Ritsuka could tell just by looking at the boy's face what he was thinking of, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Trust me Quasi, after today, I think the villagers have a pretty good idea who the real monster was." he assured with a comforting smile. Quasimodo nodded in resolve and made his way to the doorway, he slowly approached it, shielding his eyes from the sun's bright light, eventually he was out on the steps, the villagers stopping their reconstruction to take notice of him. Quasi froze in fright, he turned his head to look at Ritsuka, who only gave him a determined nod. With that, Quasimodo took a deep breath and spoke.

"Uh, is there... anything I can do to help?" He asked timidly, and to his surprise, the townsfolk all smiled at him, giving him shouts of encouragement, they all knew that the real hero in all of this was Quasimodo himself, and gladly excepted his help. The Hunchback walked over to the square and began helping the villagers clean up, his strength being invaluable in moving the chunks of wood and stone everywhere. Ritsuka walked out of the cathedral, smiling at the scene, Quasimodo looked so happy, this was all he ever wanted, to be accepted, to be a part of the people, sure he was moving rubble, but it was a dream come true for him.

"What makes a monster, and what makes a man, I know the answer to that, and now I think Quasimodo does to."

"Hey Ritsuka, look, kupo!" Moguri exclaimed, pointing at the cathedral. Ritsuka looked up and saw exactly what he was referring to.

"A Gateway!" Ritsuka exclaimed. He then summoned his Keyblade and pointed up towards the Keyhole, a beam of light shooting from the tip and entering it, causing it to glow brightly then fade away. A new path was unlocked.

"Guess we're on the right track, let's just hope it leads back home." Ritsuka said. He then turned to his friends, who had all gathered due to the spectacle. "Well, that's out que to leave, sorry we can't stick around to help rebuild."

"No need to worry, you three have done plenty for us already." Phoebus replied.

"Safe travels to you all." Esmeralda added. Quasimodo stepped forward, an incredibly grateful look on his face.

"...Thank you, for everything." He said, the group nodded in response.

"Interesting. They were unable to defeat that heartless without Frollo's death. They would prove no threat for me. But what world to send them to next? Hmm. Let's just keep them on track." Opening another 3D map made out of shadows and darkness he leads them to a jungle world. "I Will keep them busy here while I prepare the next world for my latest creation." The shadows dissipate and they fly off still in this world of pure darkness.

The city of Paris was being repaired and notre dam was 'healed' from the key hole being sealed. With a glow the cathedral was completely fixed however other buildings and the city needed repairing. The heartless and darkness in this world were removed and cleared. But now new dangers would await them as they would soon leave and with only one available world it would be interesting for everyone.

Karin passed out hugs and waved goodbye to everyone before she and Ristuka beamed back up to the Gummi ship.

"Well, I'm glad we could help them all out. We made some new friends too!" Karin said as she pushed a few buttons and the gummi started to life. "I wonder where we're off to next?" She asked Ritsuka as the Gummi ship started off into the darkness. She leaned back in the captain chair and closed her eyes, her hands on her head. How many other worlds were being taken over by the heartless? How many others had been destroyed before they could help them? She hoped, there were none. She hoped they could save them all. She didn't want anyone else to go through what she went through.

It was a quiet ride through the darkness. Both Ritsuka and Karin were exhausted after their travels. Still, as they passed through the emptiness their minds wandered to what was ahead.

Finally, after some time flying, the gummi ship came to a halt. Karin rubbed the sleep from her eyes and joined Ritsuka in looking out the window. They were situated outside a planet covered in trees and swamp. As the world turned she noticed a dry land area and a large some edifice.

"Well, looks exciting?" She smiled and looked through her things, making sure to grab a couple mana potions from the storage on the ship. Lastly she took a look at her kantana. A few new scratches were imbedded in it, but it still looked like it would deal great damage.

"You ready?" She asked him.

"All set here, let's go." Ritsuka replied as he and moguri stepped over to the beam platform. Once they were all on the platform glowed and in a flash of light the trio disappeared from the ship. Down in the world, a green Warp Point appeared on the ground, seconds later, Ritsuka and company appeared as well. This new world was a lot different from the La Cite Des Cloches, exotic trees and plants as far as the eye could see, not a man made structure in sight. The sky a bright clear blue and the sounds of animals and rushing streams could easily be heard all around them, it was breath taking.

"Wow, look at this place, sure is something, kupo." Moguri commented as the group took a good look around.

"Sure is, seems pretty peaceful, why would we be sent here?" Ritsuka pondered, making sure to stay on his guard for any Heartless on the prowl.

"Hello down there." A voice said from above them. They all looked up to find a black panther standing on a thick branch on the tree above them.

"Uh, are you talking to us?" Ritsuka asked, he was a little dumbstruck to see such a large cat, let alone a talking one, but he just wrote it off as a normal occurrence of this world and proceeded to interact with the denizen of this jungle.

"Yes, you lot wouldn't happen to be from the man village that's close by would you?" The panther asked. Ritsuka just froze at the question, he had no idea how to answer it, should he just lie and say that they were, or tell a different lie to explain how they were not from around here, it was quite the dilemma.

"Who want's to know, kupo?" Moguri answered, buying the group some time to think of a real response.

"I'm sorry if I'm pestering you, but the truth is I'm at wits end and I need some help with something." The panther admitted.

"And what would that be?" Ritsuka questioned further.

"Well you see..." The panther was cut off when a fierce roar echoed through the jungle, everyone turned their heads towards its source, the panther looking incredibly worried. "Oh no, he's in trouble, I should've never left him alone." he said before dashing through the trees.

"Hey hold on a second!" Ritsuka called out, but he was too late. "Aw man, come on guys, let's see what's going on." Ritsuka suggested, the two agreeing as they rushed after the panther.

The roar came deeper in the jungle by the river. A small boy about ten years old was sitting down while a large grey bear danced around. "It's the bear necessities." He danced around and sang. Picking up large squishy mango like fruits on his claws he threw them to the boy. He failed to catch them and fell back with a thud. But he jumped up and danced with the bear.

"What on earth is going on here?" Bagheera says with a disappointed snoul. "Oh hey Baggy." The bear says in his same musical tone. "Baloo what are you doing with the man cub?" He asks suspicious. "I am ok Bagheera." The boy says defending the bear. "For now. Baloo you shouldn't have him like this it's not safe." The boy seems to sink back letting the two speak.

Animals talking...huh. Karin starred as the Panther and bear argued. She then turned to the small boy
"What's your name?" She asked him.
"The names Mowgli! And I haven't seen humans in awhile! Where did you guys come from? The village?" He asked.
"Err..well..we're from a village farther off. We came looking for something." She told him. He turned his head at her, and began walking around the group as if surveying them. Karin was sure at one point he even smelled her..
"What is it you're looking for? Maybe Baloo and I can help you!" He stood in front of them, a determined look on his young face. The poor boy was clothed in nothing more than a bit of cloth to cover what was important. Where were his parents, and what was he doing out with a bunch of animals?
"Err, well really it's not easy to find. We'll just keep looking around and it'll turn up when it's ready!" She told him. He looked at her as if she was talking in another language, and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Where are your parents Mowgli?" She asked him.
"Well, the wolves raised me! And I haven't seen them in awhile, they told me we should split up because of Shere Khan.." He told them, picking up a stick on the forums and drawing circles. He seemed absentminded, and the conversation seemed to die as he went over to Baloo.
"I want to learn more! Teach me Baloo! Is it okay Bagheera? Please?"
The Panther looked distressed. Karin laughed again. It seemed like one big, strange family.

"Absolutely not!" Bagheera stated firmly. "The jungle is no place to be prancing and dancing around, especially not for you Mowgli. Now come on, we're going back to the man village right now."

"What, man village, but they'll ruin him there, they'll make a man out of him!" Baloo said with discontent.

"I don't want to go, I want to stay here, in the jungle with Baloo." Mowgli asserted as he clung to the bear.

"Is it really so dangerous for him to stay in the jungle?" Ritsuka inquired, hoping to better understand the situation.

"Eh, that Panther is just being paranoid." Baloo insisted as he waved a mocking hand at Bagheera. "Trust me, as long as the kid's with me, we've got nothing to worry about." Baloo puffed out his chest as if to show that he truly could protect the boy. Just then, as if on que, a strange creature leaped out of the brush, flying straight towards Mowgli. Luckily Baloo was able to move him out of the way in time, everyone's attention was then placed on the creature, it was cat like in nature but with fur coloring none of the jungle denizens have ever seen before, but what stuck out the most was the emblem on its chest.

"Heartless, kupo!" Moguri exclaimed, and just then more appeared in the area, some of the same cat shape, others with a more ape like appearance.

"So much for not worrying." Ritsuka added as the group summoned their weapons.

"W-what in heaven's name are these things?" Bagheera said as he stared at the scene.

"What, these guys, aw they've been hanging around these parts for a while now, just give them a couple of good jabs and they'll scram." Baloo stated, the then proceeded to demonstrate as he nailed an ape heartless in the face, causing it to disappear. "See, nothing to it."

"We'll help too, Mowgli, stay behind us." Ritsuka commanded as he and the others stood between him and the Heartless, weapons raised. Both sides then charged, trying their best to fight off the hoard. The apes were rather nimble, but their strikes were nothing to scoff at either, and the feline heartless had quick and powerful strikes that would mean trouble if directly hit with one, it was a challenge to say the least.

These heartless were not as organised as the ones in the last world. These ones were more feral and seemed to attack randomly. As one of the feline ones attack it is quickly struck down. The fighting is quick and thorough as the smaller heartless fall quickly. The darkness in this world is no were near as strong as the last world. As the heartless fell a larger one in the form of a tiger came out. This one took a second hit and clawed at the team. It swung and knocked Moguri back. During the fighting a group of monkeys swung by and with a chuckle and laugh picked up Mowgli and ran off with him. The tiger heartless was knocked back by Baloo and dissipated when he hit a tree. The battle was over and the heartless gone. Baloo and Bagheera looked around unable to see Mowgli. "Mowgli? Where are you?" They asked in a panic. Looking off in the distance they could see some monkeys carrying something larger then themselves through the tree's. "Louie." Bagheera says with a deep and aggravated tone. Unknown to any of them something on the other side of the river hidden in the foliage was watching them.

“Who’s Louie?” Karin asked, intrigued. She hoped the monkey’s wouldn’t drop the poor boy, the drop would be quite painful.

“He’s the king of the apes. He’s been obsessed with becoming human. I had been keeping a close eye on Mowgli in case the apes tried any funny business, but I let him out of my site for one minute and he runs off with this oaf.” Bagheera snarled, jabbing his head towards a gloomy looking Baloo. Baloo shifted his feet around, his hands behind his back and his head glued to the ground.

“Now, it wasn’t my fault! Why, he could have been taken from you just as easily! If these- what did ya call them—Heartless! Hadn’t come around Mowgli would have been just fine! We were having a good time him and I!” Baloo defended, starring down Bagheera. Bagheera seemed to pay no attention though as he turned from the ground and began to slide through the foliage surrounding the river.

“Well, let’s go get him. Come on humans, I bet Louie will be more interested in you two rather than him.” Bagheera’s voice drifted off as he continued away. Karin shrugged slightly as she put her kantana away and began to follow the talking panther.

Deep in the jungle, covered in dirt and foliage, was the ruins of an ancient human society, long abandoned by it's original inhabitants, but it was far from empty. Within, the tribe of monkeys had claimed it as their home, and sitting on a stone throne before them all, was their King, Louie. He leaned back on the stone chair, snacking on bananas as he sang nonsensical words, waiting for his prize to arrive.

"Hey, King Louie, we got him, we got the Mancub!" Louie heard his subordinates say from above him, he looked up and saw the scrawny monkeys indeed holding Mowgli in their clutches, a wide smile appearing on his face.

"Wonderful, bring him here." He ordered, prompting the monkeys to lower Mowgli down to him. "So, you're the Mancub I've heard so much about, at last we meet, cousin." He greeted with a pat on the head.

"Just who do you think you are, what do you want with me?" Mowgli demanded with a stern look on his face.

"Now calm down boy, I'm just hoping to offer my assistance to you." Louie answered, surprising Mowgli. Little did the know that Ritsuka and the group were sneaking into the ruins, hiding behind a couple of tall pillars to listen in on their conversation. "Word around the canopy is that you want to stay in the Jungle, and ol' King Louie can fix it for you."

"R-really, you could do that?" Mowgli replied, hope and glee evident in his voice.

"Well sure cousin, but of course, I need a little something from you." Louie continued.

"Oh boy, this can't be good." Ritsuka stated.

"Sure, I'll do anything to stay in the jungle!" Mowgli said with enthusiasm.

"Wonderful, so tell me boy, lay the secret on me of man's red fire." King Louie said as he opened his ear and turned it towards him. Mowgli's face fell at the monkey's request.

"But... I don't know how to make fire." He lamented, but before King Louie could respond Mowgli remembered something. "Oh, but I did meet some other humans, they said they were from another man village, maybe they know how to make fire."

"Did he seriously just throw us under the bus!" Ritsuka complained, to think the boy would actually sell them out like that, but then he got to thinking. "Hmm... Ok, I have an idea, Karin and I will distract the Louie, you guys grab Mowgli, I'd really rather not actually give this guy fire." He said. The group complied and with that he and Karin stepped out of the shadows. "Hey, Mowgli, you ok?" He called to them, making their presence known to all.

"Oh you do!" King Louie seemed excited by this idea. "Wait these aren't people from village right? Ones who may take you back or no agree with us?" He seemed a bit skeptical and paranoid about this detail. "No they said they were from a very far off place." Mowgli responds with a bit of a confused tone. "Oh good. So where are these friends of yours? The ones who may know about fire?" "Oh them. I am not sure. Your monkeys grabbed me and brought me here. I am not sure where they are?" He says with a sigh. "Wait what!?!" Louie seemed angered by this comment. "Do you have any idea where they could be?" He asks seeming annoyed and disappointed. Just then Karin and Ritsuka entered from the shadows. "Oh maybe they are near." Louie smirks.

"King Louie I presume?" Ritsuka said as he and Karin approached the ape.

"You presume correct, and I guess you must be the humans the Man Cub was speaking of." The ape responded with intrigue.

"Look, we don't want any trouble, we just want the kid back, kupo." Moguri stated as he floated up in front of his companions, but the ape didn't seem to pay him any mind, to focused on the humans before him.

"Really now, well I must apologize for the inconvenience, but the truth of the matter is this Man Cub is my meal ticket out of this jungle, and into glorious manhood. However, I suppose we could work out a trade, the boy... for Man's Red Flower." Ritsuka subtly looked past Louie to see Bagheera sneaking around the other monkeys and climbing a tree to try and get to Mowgli from above.

"Um...w-why do you want to a man so badly?" Ritsuka asked, surprising Louie. "I mean, you've got a good thing going here, king of the monkeys and all, learning how to make fire won't make you anymore human than Moguri here. And even if you could become human, you would start at the bottom of the heap, and let me tell you, in human society, that's not somewhere you'd want to be." He knew Louie wouldn't listen, he was just buying time as Bagheera tried to grab Mowgli.

"I assure you my friends, I'm not one to settle, I always aim for the top, so I won't be at the bottom for long." He insisted, completely unaware of the jaguar behind him stretching his arm as far as it would go to try and grab the Man Cub. "So what do you say cousin, we have a deal?" He stuck out his hand to make it official, Ritsuka was silent for a moment, he really didn't want to, and they just needed a little... more... time...