So... many... reviews! Thank you all!
So, for Red Force; I'm adding worlds to the game but glossing over the 100 Acre wood. Well, we know what happens in it and I wanna focus on what Ash, Donald and Goofy are going to be doing at that time. Something cool, I imagine. Also, Ash won't meet his parents for a while, in fact Sora and one other will meet them before he does in the sequel... but that's spoiler stuff. Plus, no pairings unless they are cannon. There may be implied shipping but none with Ash. He's thirteen and raised by royalty so I don't think he'd find a girl. Plus, Yuffie was being a bit of a teaser like she always is.
To Little White Comet; Glad you like the idea of him being a mage over a Keyblade Wielder. Today, I have taken the magic side to having a Pure Light heart a bit further but you'll see later on. Also, I am so glad you like the character interactions. It'll get better as I go on, trust me.
For Aoi; Not telling, that would spoil plot if I did! But, one hint, Ash's power does have something to do with Kingdom Hearts.
And finally, for Johnathen; In this story, they will be referenced and seen via visions/nightmares. However, they will make their first proper appearance in the sequel along with other Pokemon characters, okay?
Also, hand drew the new cover art. It kind shows the look I was going for with Ash's outfit but I royally messed up Sora. Anyway, if you don't like it I'll change it back to the old cover, easy peasy.
Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.
Walking through a forest of bamboo shoots, some over three metres tall, was an extremely relaxing motion. The Land of Dragons was yet again different from Hallow Bastion, calm and tranquil with a sense of traditionalism and eastern culture. Whilst he still made sure the others were in his immediate line of sight, Ash decided to slow down his pace of walking; taking everything in slowly, a part of him was still not able to believe that he was travelling around the worlds. He continued walking slowly until he noticed Goofy had stopped, leaning towards a scene to his left. Quickly, he caught up, just as Sora and Donald had noticed their stilled friend.
An image of what seemed to be a young man, wearing traditional armour that was predominantly coloured black and green, cowering in front of an evil black silhouette was what the group saw. Underneath this armour, he wore a long, grey, martial arts shirt and slightly darker grey pants, with black shoes and knee-high, white socks. His dark hair was tied up into a topknot by a length of green ribbon.
The group huddled together, the older of the two males bending over with his hands on his knees to get into the talk.
"A Heartless?" Donald whispered over, both shocked and excited at the thought of finding one so early and having the chance to take it down.
"I dunno. I don't sense any darkness nearby." Ash muttered, but Sora and Donald were already set on the lines of the fact that the creature was a Heartless and there was nothing anyone could do to pull them out of their beliefs.
"Let's get the jump in on 'im!" Sora replied, before he and Donald rushed towards the fire lit clearing, even though it was the middle of the day, leaving Goofy and Ash behind.
"Gawrsh, maybe we should look before we leap into conclusions…" But, it came too late. Goofy's words flew over the duck and the human's heads as they ran off with battle cries. His worried expression was quite the opposite of Ash's exasperated one.
"We should follow them, and stop them from… you know," the thirteen year old sighed, shaking his head slightly "Making the situation worse than it may already be."
"You're right," Goofy leaned in and placed a hand over one side of his mouth. "You sure you can't feel any darkness?"
"None what so ever," Ash crossed his arms before one hand reached up to clasp itself around his heart chain on the necklace he wore. "It's just those two jumping to conclusions. Haven't they heard of the phrase 'Look before you leap'?"
"Sora, guess not. But Donald…" Goofy chuckled as the two began moving after their friends. "Defiantly not!"
"That's what's making me worry the most!" Fortunately, it didn't take long to catch up, Sora and Donald having scared the man and whatever was making the shadow, the two yelling as they clutched each other in fear. Out of the two yells, the young prince was sure he heard a feminine one, and it didn't come from the dragon that had jumped out of nowhere.
He, by the sounds of its very manly scream, was a small, red, serpentine Chinese dragon, owning spindly limbs, two-toed feet, and four-fingered hands. His claws were dark red, as was a small tuft on the tip of his tail; his belly and two whiskers were yellow-orange. Those large eyes of his appeared to be closely set, and were very dark shade of brown or red. His teeth were sharp and white, and his floppy ears hag dark red tips whilst the bottoms of his feet and the insides of his ears were pink. The dragon's nose was dark red-violet, and he sported two small, sky blue horns with a dark blue tip on the top of his head. And that's what the raven haired boy got from a brief glance.
However, if the dragon made the manly noise, and the armoured man made a feminine one, then maybe, could it be? The human was actually a girl pretending to be a male? Maybe not but the instant cowering and multiple feminine features told Ash, and by the looks of it, Goofy too, otherwise. Sora and Donald stopped running, whilst Goofy brought up a relevant question.
"Is that Mushu?" He asked, leaning forwards a bit with a slight tilt of the head in wonderment. Suddenly, the dragon, now named Mushu, popped out from the other person's arms, using his arms to push himself up on their shoulders.
"That's right! I know you heard of me!" He was extremely dramatic, but sounded like a proud and confident being, even to the point of sounding cocky. "I'm little, lethal and legendary!" Yep, defiantly cocky. "Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!"
"Hey Mushu! We missed you!" Sora grinned happily, causing him to receive a nudge in the ribs for not explaining things.
"Umm… Sora, would you politely explain to me who this little dragon is and why is he trying to sound gangster?" Ash inquired with a raised eyebrow, which made the Keyblade wielder to chuckle in response before he began to explain, or at least tried to when Mushu spoke up beforehand.
"Yeah, well you better HOPE I miss YOU, or else you're…" The red dragon finally laid eyes on the group. "You're…" His expression changed to an ecstatic one. "Sora! Donald! Goofy!" However, his eyes narrowed when he laid eyes on the fourth member, who simply smiled and and waved.
"Do you know them?" The armoured person, most likely a female due to their voice, had uncurled as Mushu crawled down her back and towards the new arrivals.
"KNOW them?!" Mushu began mock fighting his way over before resting with one arm on Sora's leg, the other on his… umm… hip, for a lack of a better word. "Man, we used to kick all sorts of bad guy butt together. Yeah, you know, I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots! Cause I'm a mighty dragon, right?" He looked up at Sora before turning to Ash. "This one however, ain't got no clue. Never seen him before in my life." Mushu jumped up onto the younger teen's shoulders before judging him slightly. "Hmm… if he's with these guys, he's gotta be okay but, I'd be wary about him for a bit."
"Nice to meet you too, Mushu." Ash replied sarcastically, crossing his arms one on top of the other.
"It's a pleasure… umm…" Immediately, Donald opened up his beak to reply.
"He's…umph!" The younger male had closed the white feathered magician's beak with both of his hands, anger clearly visible on his features.
"If you tell one more person anything about my position I will tape your beak shut or do it with magic!" Donald huffed sulkily but agreed to shut up. Noticing everyone else's expressions, he straightened up and chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that… my name's Ash, it's an honour." Mushu raised an eyebrow but shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"Well, whatever, but I defiantly kicked butt with these guys." Sora's leg moved backwards at that very moment causing the red mini dragon to lose his balance and almost fall over.
"Something like that may have happened," the older teen admitted with a chuckle, he turned to the armoured person. "And… you are?"
"I am Mulan… err, no umm I am… Ping!"
"Mulan Ping?" Donald folded his arms sceptically, staring the poor woman in disguise down.
"No! Just Ping. I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou!" Ping began using over exaggerated movements to try and prove 'his' manliness, but it just wasn't cutting it for two of the quartet.
"You know Mushu?" Sora asked.
"Mushu's one of my family's guardians." Ping explained in return whilst Mushu posed proudly on the floor. Goofy stepped forwards with an apologetic grin on his face.
"We didn't know we were borrowin' someone as important as a family guardian…" The group jumped as Mushu popped up in front of them.
"That's right!" The red dragon returned to his perch on Ping's shoulder. "And that puts you three up to ya eyeballs in debt to Ping here! Well guess what kiddies? It's payback time!"
"Hello, am I invisible or something?" Ash stared at Mushu, arms crossed with a slight sassiness behind his expression. "Whilst those three own your Ping debt, I don't." The dragon chose to ignore him, not a smart move as even Ping tried to quieten him down.
"Mushu…"
"Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right?" Mushu turned towards the group. Sora was heavily in thought, Donald wasn't doing anything, and Goofy was nodding whilst Ash was muttering all available magic hexes he knew, just in case that loudmouth of a dragon said too much.
"That sound's fair to me." Sora answered on the behalf of three quarters of their total alliance of Keyblade wielder, magicians and captain.
"Great, well Ping here was on his way to join the Imperial army," Mushu decided to switch shoulders for no apparent reason. "We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp!"
"Would you join us?" Ping asked, not demanding the fact that they had to come along if they didn't want to. "It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you." Ash and Goofy shared a knowledgeable look whilst the other two were confounded by his words.
"What do you mean, 'fit in'?" Sora questioned, placing his hands on his hips expectantly.
"Well, uh… umm…" Mushu tried to find an answer before settling for something simple. "Don't worry about that."
"You're pretendin' to be a boy, aren't ya?" Goofy had answered Sora's question for him. The aforementioned Keyblade wielder and King Mickey's Royal Magician took a second for that to sink in before their bodies finally reacted to the announcement with exaggerated movements of shock.
"You're a… girl?!" Sora gasped, not hearing Ash's loud laughs out of the pure expense of their density. The name Mulan should have given it away to them; it was a girl's name after all.
Mulan began grinning, acting shyly again whilst revealing her true nature. "You didn't notice?"
"Not me!" Donald and Sora shook their heads with full honesty.
"I think it's working." She stated to Mushu, who sighed agitatedly and then groaned.
"I dunno, the dumb one noticed, as did the baby…"
"HEY! I WILL FREEZE YOU IN A BLOCK OF ICE!"
"And those two would fall for anything." Mulan, back in her Ping persona, set off; ignoring the fact Ash had already drawn out his staff out of the anger of being called a baby, seriously he was only three years younger than Sora was.
"I'm right here!" Sora yelled, representing both himself and Donald in their annoyance towards the honest words of the 'Mighty dragon Mushu'. Only after the group had coaxed Ash into returning his staff into the necklace form did they follow after towards the training camp for the Imperial army.
~0~o~0~
The camp was quite bland, made of white sheets for walls and white tents, with red outlines, dotted the area. Up ahead, a bunch of uniformly dressed soldiers were waiting in line for something that smelt delicious. With a word of warning from Mushu to 'Ping', the group made their way over, Sora choosing to stand first in line for a few seconds before a short, stoutly man pushed his way in.
"'Bout time we got some grub." He growled, his gravelly voice seemed right at home here with the fellow officers. Of course, getting in between Sora and food, or Donald and food, caused the two hotheads to react like active volcanoes on the verge of eruption.
"Hey no cutting!"
"Yeah, get out!"
The man turned around, revealing his swollen shut left eye before he sucker punched Sora in the face, sending the sixteen year old sprawling on the ground. Ash picked up his pace and knelt beside the Keyblade wielder, checking his face for any signs of bruising or swelling, reaching into his brown hip bag to see what he had on him to help out the healing process. Donald, however, muttered something unintelligible before rolling up his sleeves and full on pouncing on the solider.
The two got into an all-out brawl as Goofy and Ping had no idea how to stop them from hitting each other whilst rolling around on the ground. Of course, two more soldiers saw this as a chance to butt in.
"Hey, a space in line!" A lanky, snivelly man chuckled, pushing the two fighting parties out of the way until he too was butted out by a large, bald guy.
"I wonder what they're serving for lunch today." He smiled sweetly at the thought of food, the original man with red, the other two having orange and blue respectively, elements to his uniform got up and growled once more.
"Knuckle sandwiches!" Yao, the red one, jumped at Ling, the orange one whilst Chien Po, the blue one, stood watching as Donald joined in. Sora, after having had his cheek looked at, pushed his way into it and soon, four men were fighting like cats in front of the queue for food.
"Why did I even bother?" Ash put his hands behind his head, copying Sora's well known action with an annoyed look on his face. "Guy gets hit on the cheek and is stupid enough to get back in to obtain a broken bone." Goofy rushed in to pull Donald off of Ling whilst Ash realised the only thing that would stop them with a slight shock and as such, readied a Thunder spell until Ping, at a total loss at what to do yelled out.
"Please!" It worked, surprisingly, but for all the wrong reasons.
"Please?"
"What a girl." Yao grumbled.
"Uh… Knock it off!"
"Knock what off?" Yao once again inquired harshly, not really caring all that much about what he had actually started.
"You punched me!" Sora said with gritted teeth.
"And you cut the line!" Donald added angrily, huffing and puffing from the pent up anger still resting inside the duck.
"What a shrimp!" Ling squeaked, hurting the ears of everyone around. Luckily, Mushu was pushed back into Ping's armour before anyone noticed his little rant.
"Look… let's just get back in line…" Ping sweated from the tension that was still building between the male's fighting over a queue cut. So far, Ash and Goofy were the only two who hadn't tried to get openly involved. Goofy was a bit slower than most, but he was still sensible at times and knew when to act. Ash had been raised in a castle by a king and queen, and as such, could refrain from throwing fisticuffs over something trivial.
"Who's side are you on?" Sora asked in disbelief. "I just got slugged."
"And you were about to gain a broken bone!" Ash growled in a dangerously furious tone, everyone began quivering as a wind from nowhere swept around him, a sign he was mentally chanting an advanced magic spell. "Now all of you shut up, listen to Ping or else I…"
"Soldiers, get back in line!" A voice commanded as a man sternly walked towards them. Immediately, everyone followed his orders as someone called him the Captain. The man walked up and down the line, staring at everyone in turn before returning to the front with Sora silently fist bumping in their success. That was, until the heartless showed up.
Of course the soldiers loved the idea of fighting it out with the intruders as Ping questioned what the Shadows even were.
"They're Heartless," Sora explained quickly forming his Keyblade and tensed into his default battle stance. "Ping, I hope you're ready!"
A bunch of Shadows and Nightwalkers lunged towards the five, only to be swiped down by an entourage of magic staffs, a shield, a Keyblade and a sharp sword. Wave after wave attacked the group and they easily managed to sweep through them without breaking a sweat. That is how they became soldiers for the Imperial army, Ping included after a lot of persuasion on Sora's part to Captain Li Shang, oh and some missions which involved taking out some Heartless which was no big deal, really.
~0~o~0~
A few missions later and after a battle filled climb to the summit of the mountain, the troops had reached a village and set up base there. At first, it seemed like they could rest for a bit until Mushu dropped a bomb in the form of the appearance of Shan-Yu heading towards a cave on the village outskirts. That same Shan-Yu was the leader of the Hun army and the sole figure who caused the Fa family honour to be lost, the one reason as to why Mulan had joined the army.
Of course that meant they had to inspect it. Sora led the way through the winding path; abandoned, broken down stands littering the ground as they walked.
"Why on earth would someone just enter here to dump a cart of stuff?" Ash shivered, rubbing his exposed arms from the cold temperatures from the mountains whilst wondering how on earth the older teen wasn't in the same cold feeling bracket as he was since they both had short sleeved shirts and jackets on. "Haven't they heard of the term 'recycle'?"
"I don't think so," Goofy answered before noting the area up ahead that ended the cave. "Do you think Shan-Yu is in there?"
"Only one way to find out!" Ping growled expectantly, running head first into the circular room like space with Sora right behind him.
"Dead end…" Sora sighed, placing his hands behind his head. "And nobody's here too."
"Well look harder!" Mushu, who was highly passionate about what he knew he had seen, snapped at them.
"I don't think anyone can hide themselves in here." Ash noticed Donald and Goofy were leaving and decided to follow them back to the village, only stopping to turn around and call to the other two. "Hey! Are you two coming?" Before they could answer, the cave began trembling as a pink barrier trapped Sora and Ping in the area.
"Sora!"
"Ping!" Donald and Goofy cried out in worry as a horde of Heartless appeared behind the two. A magical barrier like that could be teared down in a minute, that was if that lingering sense of darkness would go away soon. Turning his head towards the entrance, the thirteen year old could tell someone was there, having caused the trap and was probably laughing manically to themselves. Without thinking, he ran after them, ignoring the shouts from the others behind him. Ash skidded himself to a halt outside of the cave, drawing his staff whilst on constant alert for someone in the nearby vicinity.
He could still feel the strong lingering power of darkness, they were still close. For a moment, it became so strong, his head began to pound inside his skull before whoever it was fled. But the rising smoke from the village immediately grabbed his attention, eyes widening as everyone else finally caught up to him.
"There you are! We were wonderin' where you ran off to." Goofy said in relief, glad that they hadn't lost him already on the adventure.
"Hey! Goofy was speaking to you!" Donald squawked angrily when Ash didn't reply. All the young prince did was point in the village's direction where they all saw what he did. They all paled, realising that the sighting was bait to get them out of the way as Shun-Yu managed to attack the place. The buildings were struck down, caved in with brute force. Ping's eyes widened as he took a few extra steps, before a groan caught his attention. The Captain was clutching his side painfully, trying to stand up.
"Captain!" He cried out, alerting everyone else to the injured man which in turn brought them all over to him.
"Don't overdo it, Captain!" Sora added, glancing over to Ash. Out of the two magicians they had, Donald was useless when it came to curing which is why no one dared to rely on him in case things got a bit deadly.
"It's just a scratch." Li Shang tried to argue when the youngest member walked over to him.
"Would a scratch make you this weak?" Ash asked, managing to catch the man before he fell back to the ground. "Curaga!" The wound began to shrink in size, disappearing within seconds leaving the blood stained armour and cloth behind. "You have to rest up a bit and I'm not taking no as an answer."
"Captain, the enemy…" Ping cut in with anger over his features. "Where did they go?"
"They… they went towards the summit…" the captain managed to say through gritted teeth as the pain slowly ebbed away thanks to the powerful magic spell.
"We'll stop them!"
Goofy scratched his head in guilt. "It kinda is our fault, ya know."
"Right." Ping nodded with sadness covering his eyes.
"You mean MY fault." Mushu muttered in self-pity, looking up after Donald shook his head in disagreement.
"Donald's right, it's not your fault." Ash knelt beside the dragon, giving him a warm smile that seemed to lift Mushu's heart and raised his positivity. "Shan-Yu and the Heartless did this, not you. Did you suddenly grow in size and set the village on fire for no apparent reason? No? Then stop it with the woe-is-me act and pick yourself up off the ground! You're a mighty dragon, remember!"
"Mighty dragon, yeah!" Mushu was back to normal, grinning proudly. "Thanks kid."
"Don't mention it. We can deal with the Heartless issue!" The prince turned to Sora who nodded back at him.
"Captain, if you could track down the villagers when you feel better then we can defeat the enemy!" Obtaining no response, Sora led the group towards the summit with anger powering their movements whilst below them, the city stood without any knowledge as to what was going on up in the mountains.
~0~o~0~
Reaching the summit wasn't that hard, just a few Heartless here and there to interrupt their relatively easy path. As they looked up, a figure towered ahead of them. He was a large, muscular Hun with greyish skin, thick, black eyebrows and a black Fu Manchu moustache. His eyes were peculiar colours; the irises are an eerie orange whilst his sclera was totally black. The top of his head couldn't be seen but the hair on the back of his head is quite long and black. He wore a black hood with grey fur lining and what seemed to be two raccoon tails dangling down at the front. His grey pants went with black, knee-high boots with grey soles and a vertical grey stripe up the front. His coat was pale yellow on the left side and the front but black on the right side. It had a tattered, brown lining and was kept closed by a brown belt. There was also a single black glove on his left hand, presumably for the falcon that had flown over their heads towards him.
He grinned as an army of Rapid Thrusters followed in his wake, lining the top of the hill looking down on them as if he and his Heartless army had the tactical advantage. Everyone drew their weapons whilst Shan-Yu pointed his own at them. "Attack!"
"CHARGE!" Immediately every split into groups to take on the threat, rushing in different directions to take out the millions of Heartless that were raining down on them. Ping swung his sword around, slicing through the flying beings of darkness. Sora mixed between his two magic spells and the usual beat up technique that worked amazingly in the past. Donald and Goofy were off doing who knows what whilst Ash was using his magic to take on multiple opponents at a time.
The minutes wore on as they began to get tired and overcrowded by the Heartless that swooped down at them. By now, they had all had enough but needed to keep on fighting not just for their survival but for the army and China itself. Deep down, a certain magic wielding prince felt something bubble up inside him as more Heartless attacked him over the others, presumably because they were afraid of his light. "That's it!" A white light began emanating off of him, gaining attention from most of the opposition who flew over to the light to destroy it.
"Ash!" Sora yelled worriedly as his friend disappeared under the Heartless flock but, a few seconds later, his eyes were blinded by a light explosion. All Heartless in a mile radius were disintegrated, leaving a heavily tired Ash swaying on the spot before he collapsed in the snow. Sora was the first to make it over, pulling the prince's head into his lap to make him more comfortable.
"Are you okay?" Ping asked, noting the fluttering eyelids and the slight groans escaping his lips.
"Mummy… don't hit me with your key… I'm getting up…" Everyone sweat dropped at that seemingly random remark from a semi-conscious teen.
"Give him a few seconds," Sora chuckled. "He'll be okay. But what was that?" No one answered him as more Heartless appeared behind Shan-Yu before he cried for a full on charge. The three officers from the earlier brawl showed up with a firework in their hands, setting it down whilst aiming it for the invading forces. Ping immediately saw another way to end the onslaught and grabbed the firework whilst pushing the men out the way, setting it down so it was aimed at the mountain. He searched for flint until he realised that Mushu would be a better lighter and used him to set the firework off.
"You're going the wrong way!" Mushu cried as he flew towards the snow stuck to one of the peaks. The impact caused an avalanche which resulted in Shan-Yu and his forces getting covered by rushing snow. Sora picked up Ash and ran to safety, Donald and Goofy following behind. Ping noticed the Captain coming their way and managed to grab his hand in time to get them away from the avalanche. They fell to the ground but not before they had avoided eminent death.
"Thanks Ping." Li Shang smiled as they got back up onto their feet.
"It… was nothing…" Ping replied nervously, scratching his cheek slightly.
"I never should have doubted you," the Captain announced with slight guilt towards his earlier actions. "From now on, you have my trust."
"Thank you, Captain." Mushu burst from out of the ground then, choosing that moment to give the game away, mentioning both Ping's real gender and name. Everyone watched on in horror as what they had been working for fell like the snow over the edge of the mountain edge.
"Mulan? A woman?" Li Shang began growling in fury, glaring at the group. "It can't be!" Ping said nothing as Sora, Donald and Goofy came closer, with Ash still in a land of his own at the moment.
"Captain! Ping! You're okay!" They noted the expression on the man's face and realised that they were doomed.
"You all knew, didn't you?" He asked dangerously, voice teetering on the edge of rising to a yell. "You knew Ping was a woman in disguise." When they didn't answer, he turned around and walked, anger directed solely at Ping. "I can't believe you lied to me. The punishment for high treason and dishonouring the army… is death…" Paled faces stared at the ground as they awaited their fate, only for the Captain not to order it. "Get out of my sight… now! You're all dismissed."
"But Captain…"
"My debt is repaid." With that, he left them alone on the summit. Ping, no, Mulan stared at the ground some more as she took her armour off ignoring the shout for the troops to head to the Emperor. She turned back to her friends, eyes landing on Ash in worry.
"Are you sure he'll be okay?"
"Yeah, Donald do you have a Hi Potion?" Sora took the medicine from the duck and used it on his younger friend. Slowly but surely, Ash came around. He groaned slightly, as he was placed on his own two feet with the Keyblade wielder using himself as a rest.
"What happened? My head…"
"You caused an explosion," Goofy answered honestly. "It seems that your light burst forth from you to protect yourself."
"Light?" Donald and Sora looked at the prince with shock and awe.
"I guess so, that explains the light headedness…" Ash looked at Mulan and blinked. "Okay, where is Ping's armour?"
"We got kicked out thanks to Mushu," Sora explained, glaring slightly at the flushing dragon. "He let split about everything. So, Mulan, what are you gonna do now?"
"Go home." She answered certainly, turning to leave with Mushu following her.
"Your daddy's gonna be steamed like a chicken dumpling." He sighed and folded his arms. Sora grabbed everyone into a hug, squishing them together.
"We'll take our share of the blame, right guys?" Donald and Goofy nodded whilst Ash wheezed, trying to gain some oxygen.
"Thank you," Mulan was touched by their words and actions. "You all are such wonderful friends." The sixteen year old let go of his friends and they all followed afterwards, that was until a falcon flying towards the city caught their attention as the group were sure that was Shan-Yu's, looking over the edge confirmed it as the man in question and his Heartless squad moved towards Imperial City.
"He's alive, but how?" Donald yelled.
"He's heading towards Imperial City!" Mulan scowled, turning to the others who nodded at her with their next course of action. "We need to warn Shang!" They rushed back down the mountain towards the city in hopes that they could reach there in time.
~0~o~0~
Luckily they had, and entered the main palace along with the rest of Li Shang's army. Calling out for him only made the Captain even more angrier than before.
"Shan-Yu is alive and headed this way!" Mulan cried out with worry and stress.
"And why should I believe you this time?" He leered in fury at being lied to by a woman no less.
"But… she's telling you the truth!" Sora tried to argue for Mulan however, both were proven right by the falcon circling overhead, as pointed out by Donald. The Captain's eyes widened in realisation over the truth. He scoured the surrounding towers for any sign of Shan-Yu, only to spot him leap down from one after sending a glowering cackle. More Heartless formed and, almost immediately, Sora and Mulan jumped in front of him, their weapons brandished. "Captain! We'll secure the courtyard and you can save the Emperor!" When the man didn't move, Donald cockily yelled at him.
"And that's an order!" Li Shang nodded and left, the rest of the Imperial army following him to protect their beloved leader. After defeating the Heartless in the courtyard, they rushed after the army, only to find Shan-Yu holding his sword towards the Emperor's throat. The Captain dropped down out of nowhere and punched the Hun leader in the face, making him stagger backwards as the army took the Emperor quickly into the palace.
As Shan-Yu got up, a force of five blocked his way to the Emperor and he growled angrily at them, picking up his sword and rushing towards them. Sora surrounded himself with energy as he changed forms, Goofy disappearing into thin air as the Keyblade wielder went into Valour Form, Oathkeeper and Oblivion held to the front and back.
"Alright, bring it on!" Sora rushed forwards, slamming his Keyblades into Shan-Yu's face, stomach and legs, sending the man flying. Mulan cried out as she ran into the fight too, slashing her blade at his arms, getting his sword locked in combat with hers. With his front busy, it allowed for a nice Firaga from Ash to hit his back. However, that just angered the man more than normal. He thrust his sword out wildly, grinning as a pained cry answered to it and a body hit the floor, leaving only Sora and Mulan… plus Donald, in the fight.
Furious that his best friend's adopted son had just been hurt by that dirt bag, Donald screamed as he latched himself onto Shan-Yu's face, punching him like he had Yao back at the training camp not so long ago. Shan-Yu was so surprised, he had no idea the attack was coming, allowing a few magic spells to hit the man surrounded by darkness. In the end, Donald was thrown off the Hun army leader, in the same direction Ash flew in after he was hit.
Whilst Donald used Cure, Mulan took on Shan-Yu herself with Sora taking out any additional Heartless that decided to pop out and ruin the woman's chances of taking the man out. She scowled as her sword struggled to get through, all she needed to do was disarm him and then he was hers to take out. Luckily the help came in the form of Goofy, who had just reappeared from the Drive Form, as he flung his shield like a boomerang and hit the man on the head. Made disoriented from the blow, Shan-Yu was open to Mulan's disbarment and then, a joint attack from her and Sora, using Mushu's fire to take him out. One last sword strike and Shan-Yu howled as he disappeared in a cloud of darkness.
Once it was made sure that everyone was alright, they all began celebrating.
"Now that's what I call burning some hunny-bun!" Mushu grinned whilst prancing around. "Aw, yeah! Mulan's the best! Mulan's the best!" He suddenly came to an unsurprising conclusion. "No, wait a minute – I'm the best! Mushu's the best! Mushu's the best!"
"After collapsing and being speared with a sword, I am in the right frame of mind to freeze you in a block of ice," Ash groaned dangerously at the dragon, who began shivering with sweat rolling down his face. "Don't give me a reason to do it." The Emperor and Li Shang walked towards them, the soldiers forming a crowd on the lower levels of the courtyard. All five immediately stood to attention, Mushu just leant against Mulan's legs.
"I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan," the Emperor began mysteriously, neither sending out good or bad vibes. Mulan tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and bowed respectfully. "You stole your father's armour, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial officer…" Mulan sighed internally, light fluttering from her eyes as her list of 'crimes' were recited in front of her by the Leader of China. "You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army and dishonoured your family name."
Sora groaned, shook his head and placed his hands on his hips. "Yeah… yeah, we get the picture." A well timed slap from Ash silenced him up.
"You're a young woman. And in the end…" Some time passed before he spoke again, shocking everything there. "You saved us all." He bowed to her, and so did the Chinese army, all bowing for her.
"You Excellency!" She grinned, celebrating happily with her friends who were smiling back at her.
"Captain Li?" The Emperor turned to his subordinate who handed over Shan-Yu's sword to Mulan. "Take this, so the world will know what you have done for China."
"Thank you." Mulan bowed once more with gratitude.
"Mulan," she turned towards Li Shang, who was fighting an inner conflict with his own emotions. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, Ash… thank you." He too bowed, before the old Emperor butted in slyly.
"'Thank you.' It that all there is to say, Captain?" The sly old coot smirked. "If you want to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll have to be more eloquent than that."
Mulan chuckled as the Emperor laughed at the Captain's expression. Sora placed a hand on her shoulder and asked for an autograph, making her chuckle even harder as she expressed her gratitude again.
"Now they GOTTA let me go back to being a guardian!" Mushu said a little bit too loudly. "They GOTTA!"
"But Mushu, I thought you already WERE a family guardian." Goofy butted in, not noticing the rage building up in Donald and Sora.
"I mean, that's what you told us when we first met, remember?" Ash added slyly, smirking as he took note of how angry his two hot-headed friends were getting. Mushu tried to pull himself out of trouble but Sora was having none of it.
"You tricked us!"
"I…well… AHHH! MULAN SAVE ME!" Sora began chasing Mushu around the courtyard, making everyone else laugh. It was hilarious, to be honest. At that moment, the blade of Mulan's new sword began glowing, just like the card from Hollow Bastion. Sora stopped trying to catch himself a gangster dragon and formed his Keyblade, repeating the actions he did back in the last world, sealing the Keyhole with a beam of light.
"Guess it's about time to be movin' on." Goofy noted, as they turned around to say goodbye.
"You shall be missed." The Emperor answered first with deep respect for the quartet.
"Is it okay if we came back to visit?" Sora asked with a sniffle.
"Of course!" Mulan's answer was unhesitant and honest, with the Captain taking his place beside her.
"We will look forward to your return."
"You two play nice." Ash burst out laughing at Sora's comment as Mulan began to blush and Li Shang gasped.
"Whoa… watch it soldier!"
"Goodbye!" The four waved as they made their way out of the city and back to the Gummi ship, ready to leave for the next land.
~0~o~0~
"That was something." Sora grinned as he reclined out in his seat on the Gummi ship, getting an equally happy grin from the boy next to him.
"There's something you don't see every day." The two chuckled as Goofy decided to join in.
"Speakin' of things you don't see every day, what happened at the mountain?" The dog titled his head in worry and confusion, something Donald picked up on and joined in with.
"I dunno… guess I invented a new type of attack or something…" Names flicked through his mind before Ash settled for the perfect one. "A Light Bomb, it fits."
"Well, you did collapse after using one," Donald stated the facts, showing his own worry through his eyes. "Warn us if you ever try to use it again!"
"Don't worry I will," a burning question popped up on the prince's lips. "Oh, and Sora, what was that you did with Goofy during the battle?"
"You're talking about Valour form, right?" Sora placed his hands behind his head and grinned. "It's a Drive form and it boosts my power. So far, I can only use it if Donald or Goofy are around me. Who knows, maybe we might have a Drive form together."
"That would be awesome!" The Gummi ship was filled with talks of Drive forms as the group made their way slowly towards the world known as Beast's Castle.
The Next world fits with the new movie, doesn't it? I haven't seen it but... I guess I could add some references in, especially with Belle's gown.
Until next time, see ya!