The Distant Shores of China

Chapter 2: A Plea for Help

So, this is where Mulan, Mushu, and Cri-Kee associate with the others and tell of their situation. Hope you enjoy!

OOXO

"So, could you please explain who you and your friends are again, please?" Queen Anne asked, a little disturbed by the fact that there was a small, red, talking dragon in the throne room, who was on Mulan's shoulder, sticking his tongue out at the boys, who were trying to grab his tail.

"Yes, I ought to explain. My name is Mulan, this is Mushu, and this is Cri-Kee."

"Yeah, and I'm a Guardian Dragon… would you stop that?" Mushu yelled, tugging his tail away from Merida's brothers.

Continuing with her story, Mulan explained how she was supposed to marry a man, to preserve her family's honor. Therefore, she had to go to the Matchmaker, a woman who would determine if she was fit for marriage. After she had been turned away by the Matchmaker, the Emperor of China's adviser was sending conscription notices to every family in her village, including her father, in response to an invasion by the Huns, led by their leader, Shan Yu. Knowing that her father wouldn't survive, she had decided to disguise herself as a man, and to head to where the army had gathered. After going through a period of training, she and her fellow soldiers had had to fight the Hun army in the mountains, Mushu breaking in at this point, saying that Mulan was the one to vanquish the majority of them, by firing a rocket into the mountain, thus causing an avalanche.

"Wait, you said the majority of them. Do you mean that the rest survived?" Merida asked, confused as to how anyone could survive an avalanche.

After replying that they did, Mulan went on to say how, after she had been slashed by Shan Yu's sword, she was revealed and left behind by the army. Finding that Shan Yu and a couple of other Huns had survived, she had raced to the Imperial City to warn the army. After she had tried to warn Li-Shang, the Emperor was kidnapped by Shan Yu and nearly killed, until Mulan had convinced her friends, Yao, Ling, and Shien-Po, to disguise themselves as women, to distract the guards. After that, Mushu took over the rest of the story, saying that Mulan had killed Shan Yu with some nearby fireworks and had saved the day.

"That sounds like that was some ordeal," Merida said, knowing that, in Mulan's place, she would have done the same.

"That's not all of the story. After I returned to my village, rumours started to circulate that Shan Yu had somehow survived. I thought that it was all nonsense, until he ambushed the village, kidnapped everyone, including me, and took us to one of their camps. I knew that I had to escape and get help."

"But, if that's the case, how did you end up here? Where is China?" Rapunzel asked.

"What do you mean? Are you saying that this isn't China?" Mulan asked, in a slightly panicked voice.

"No, this is the kingdom of Corona, in Germany," King Markus responded.

"Hold on a second here, don't you guys have a map, or something?" Mushu asked, still trying to keep his tail out of the boys' clutches.

"There is a tapestry of the world hanging on the wall over there," Elinor replied, pointing to the wall on the right of the throne room.

Dashing over there, Mushu only needed to take a glance to know that the situation was indeed grave. As Mushu and Cri-Kee pointed to the map, Mulan slumped into a nearby chair, not knowing how she could've gotten almost to the other side of the world.

"What happened before you got here, if I may ask?" Rapunzel asked, not wanting to press Mulan too hard.

"Well, after I escaped from the Huns encampement, I found my horse, Khan, and rode all the way to the Imperial City, only to find Huns stationed all around. I managed to find my soldier friends, who had also escaped from imprisonment. While we were coming up with a plan, we were ambushed. Right after I thought that we were goners, a bright light surrounded us. That's all I remember. For all I know, the Huns are still in control. I know that we only met today, but I'm begging you, please help China."

"It's gonna be okay, lassie. We'll help you, won't we, Markus?" Fergus asked, glancing toward the King of Corona, who seemed to be deep in thought.

Before he could reply, however, a ruckus was heard outside the castle. As everyone glanced toward the doors, a magnificent, black stallion burst into the throne room, running toward Mulan.

"Khan!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the horse's neck. Quickly following Khan, were three men, one who was short and stocky, the second, skinny, and the third one tall and chubby.

"Yao, Ling, Chien-Po!"

"Don't worry, Mulan, we'll save you!" Yao yelled, charging toward King Markus.

"No, I'm not being held captive, guys. They saved me, and they've agreed to help us free China."

Looking thoroughly embarrassed, Yao backed away, mumbling under his breath. Noticing that someone was missing, Mulan asked,

"Where's Li-Shang?"

"Oh, yeah, we forgot to tell you. He's fighting some Huns that were following after us. We wanted to stay behind and help, but he wanted us to find you, in case… hey, wait for us, Mulan," Ling yelled, dashing after her, with Yao and Chien-Po following close behind.

Knowing that they had to help, Rapunzel and Merida grabbed weapons and ran after them, where fighting was heard in the village square.

OOXO

*dramatic music* Yeah, I know, Huns in Corona. This is going to get pretty interesting, pretty fast. Hope you enjoyed, and please review!