All credit goes to Disney and Square Enix. I just write fan fictions ^_^
Land of Dragons: First Visit
The gummi ship landed on a nice flat plane in forest. A forest of bamboo trees and Chinese like foliage. I was starting to have a déjà-vu feeling again. We walked further into the forest, when Goofy stopped. I looked towards the giant rock, and Mulan cowering in fear. Mulan! So the creature's shadow on the rock was obviously-
"A heartless?" Donald questioned, and the boys huddled in a group without me.
"Hey," I complained, as Sora pounded his fist into his hand.
"Let's get the jump on him!"
Sora and Donald ran into action, as Goofy called out, "Maybe we better look before we leap?"
Mulan and Mushu gasped in shock as Sora and Donald came running at them. They slowed down at least, and Goofy and I caught up with them.
"Is that Mushu?" Goofy asked.
"That's right, I know you heard of me!" Mushu threatened, "I'm little, lethal and legendary! Now you all scram before I get my dragon dander up!"
"Mushu, we missed you!" Sora replied, happily.
Still confused, Mushu continued, "Yeah well you better hope I miss you or you're-," He paused and looked at all of us. "You're Sora, Donald, and Goofy!"
"You know them?"
"Know them? Man we used to kick all kinds of heartless butt together. Because I'm a mighty dragon, right?"
Sora giggled. "Yeah, something like that."
Mulan got up from the ground and smiled.
"And you are?" Sora asked first.
"I'm Mulan." She started, but then stumbled with her words while trying to sound like a man. "I-I mean uhm."
"Ping!" Mushu helped.
"Mulan Ping?" Donald doubted.
Mulan shook her head. "Just Ping. I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou."
"You know Mushu?" Sora asked.
"Of course." I spoke up, feeling left out. "That's her family's guardian."
"We didn't know we were borrowing some one as important as a family guardian."
Mulan looked at me curiously. "How did you know?"
I stuttered and blushed. "Oh, well. Isn't it obvious? You're going to war to bring honor to your family."
I blew out a relieved breath as Mushu continued. "Well since you borrowed me for a while, that puts you four up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here."
"Mushu," Mulan started.
"Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right?"
"Sounds fair." Sora agreed.
"See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial Army."
"Would you join us?" Mulan asked. "It might help if I have guys like you to fit in with."
"That's the one problem here." I pointed out. "I can't help you out if I'm a woman. Unless, I pretend." I exaggerated the word and Mulan blushed.
"You're pretending to be a boy aren't you?" Goofy said.
We all stood in silence, and then Sora and Donald hung their mouths open. They both gasped. "You're a girl?"
Mulan smiled and patted me on the back. "If they didn't notice my disguise, I'm sure we can come up with something for you." She tapped a finger to her lips. "But you might have to make a very big change."
I reached up to my hair, remembering how she disguised herself as a boy. "You're going to cut it aren't you?"
"I had to make the same sacrifice." She nodded and handed me her sword.
I nodded and grabbed the sword with one hand, pulling my long, brown hair over my left shoulder. With one quick slice, I felt the blade cut through my tough, thick hair. The sudden shortness of it scared me, but it felt so much lighter.
"You didn't have to, we could of come up with another solution." Sora said.
I let the strands fall from my fingers. "I know, but seeing as how I've changed so much all ready in this world, I think it was time for a further change."
I removed my head band and took one of the ribbons from Mulan's hand. I wrapped my short hair in a bun.
"Well it's not perfect, but it'll do." Mulan smiled.
"What about armor for me? You guys think you could sneak inside the camp and grab one that's not in use?"
Mushu nodded. "Leave it to me, girl."
He snuck away through the bushes, and we waited. Mulan tapped my shoulder suddenly, almost making me jump.
"Yes?"
"How is it that you know so much about China?"
I giggled nervously. "Well, actually I know a great deal about most stories of other worlds. My name is Lara, by the way. I didn't introduce myself properly before."
"You know about other words?" Sora questioned, looking at me.
I bit my lip, not really wanting to get into this discussion. It was already weird enough that I came from a world where my own friends were video game characters. But to tell them that their whole world wasn't real, that was considered meddling.
"I can't really say much about it Sora. It would be meddling." I sighed and looked back at the Imperial Camp. "Even with dressing me up as a male warrior is meddling, because I'm not apart of this story."
"Yes, but you are a key blade wielder, so that makes you a part of the whole story." Sora reassured me, and I smiled back at him.
"Thanks, Sora."
"I've got the armor!" Mushu called out, handing me a suit that looked like Mulan's, except it was a more blue color.
I slipped in to the armor with ease, and placed the helm on my head. I grabbed my keyblade and looked at the others. "How do I look?"
"Like a boy!" Sora gave me a thumbs up.
Mulan smiled at Mushu. "I think it's working."
Mushu shook his head. "I don't know. Sora would fall for anything."
"I'm right here!" Sora complained.
I giggled, but in the back of my mind I wondered if I was doing the right thing.
We reached the camp, and walked further on, Mushu telling Mulan how to walk like a man. I shook my head and told Mulan to just walk normally, she would just cause more attention to herself. Walking further into the camp, a line was started at the food tent. Sora stepped in line when Yao pushed him aside.
"About time we get some grub!" He complained.
"Hey no cutting!" Sora shouted.
"Sora, don't!" I said, going to grab his arm, and he shrugged me off.
"Get out!" Donald started up.
Yao turned around and punched Sora. I growled. "Hey! You can't do that!"
But Donald jumped onto him for me. They started a fight there on the ground, and when I went to separate them, Ling pushed Yao onto us again. "Hey, a spot in line!"
I tried to get back up, only to have all of us pushed to the ground when Chien-Po bumped us on accident with his large belly. "I wonder what they are serving for lunch." He rubbed his stomach.
"Knuckle sandwiches!" Yao threatened. He then jumped onto Ling and started punching him.
I shook my head as Donald and Sora stepped into the fight. I was pulling on both Sora and Donald roughly, trying to make them break it up. That's when "Ping" spoke up.
"Please!"
We all stopped shoving to look at her. Ling mimicked sarcastically. "Please?"
"What a girl!" Yao teased harshly.
Ping curled her fingers. "Uh, knock it off!"
"Knock what off?" Yao chuckled.
"You punched him!" "You punched me!" Sora and I shouted.
"You cut in line!" Donald also stated.
Ling scoffed, "What a shrimp!"
Ping quickly covered Mushu up in her armor, stopping him from making the situation worse. "Let's just get back in line."
"Whose side are you on? I just got slugged!" Sora yelled.
"Want some more?" Yao threatened, raising a fist.
I growled and went to summon my key blade when we heard a voice yell at us. "Soldiers! Get back in line!"
All of us stood behind one another, Sora being the lead behind Yao. I stood behind Donald. Shang went up the line and looked at us menacingly. I tried to keep my eyes ahead of me, but I was never really good at obeying orders. I started messing with my pendant when I felt it turn warm. I gasped.
"Heartless!" I said, and sure enough, five of them popped up.
The rest of the soldiers ran off, for some odd reason, and we all grabbed our weapon, Ping included.
"Ping, I hope you're ready." Sora said, looking around.
After the five appeared, eight more came in their place. It was exhausting, but I felt happier working along side Mulan. She may have been trying to fit in amongst boys, but I felt the need to have girl companionship too. And she wasn't half bad at fighting off heartless. When the battle ended, Captain Shang came up to us, demanding our names.
"I'm Goofy,"
"Sora,"
"Donald."
"I'm Michael." I spoke up. "And this is Ping."
"Ping needs to go home."
"What?" I complained.
"He fought the heartless like they were nothing." Donald added.
"Just give me another chance, Captain." Ping pleaded.
Shang blew out a breath.
Sora tried convincing the captain more, "If you give us a mission, we'll show you how well the five of us work together."
Shang looked at us, "So you want to be tested?" We nodded. Shang then rolled out a map between his hands, showing us the mountain. "Our orders are to ambush Shan-Yu's army on their way here. They should be coming through the mountain pass."
"We'll crush them!" Donald exclaimed.
Shang scoffed, "Doubtful. You five will be the advance party. Scout out the mountain for my troops."
"That's it? No problem, right?" He looked over at Ping.
Ping stuttered, "Right."
Shang rolled up the map. "Remember, the smallest missions may have the greatest importance. Stay alert!"
"Sir!" We all shouted, giving a salute.
When walking up to the beginning of the mountain, a shiver ran down my back. I looked up to the sky and saw Shan-Yu's bird fly above our heads and out of sight. We got to the beginning of the slope of the mountain when heartless showed up. After we had fought off a dozen, I started getting dizzy.
"We are just wasting our time on the heartless, I'm running out of morale to go on." I complained.
"Then we should just work on clearing the pass?" Ping questioned.
I nodded, smiling. "Yes, that's exactly what we'll do! That is the mission! Captain never said we had to fight off the heartless!"
I grabbed my keyblade, and with Sora at my side, we attacked the rocks blocking the way, bursting though them like they were pebbles.
"Ping, Donald, watch our backs!" I said, after getting hit in the side by a heartless.
With Goofy covering their backs, and Donald and Ping watching ours, the mountain pass was finally clear of all obstacles. We rested at the top of the pass, out of breath but filled with relief. Yao, Ling, and Chien Po walked up the mountain, stopping to talk to us.
"Hey, you!" He pointed to Ping, "You ain't half bad!"
"A man among men!" Ling added.
I smiled, patting Ping on the back. Ping nodded, "Thanks!"
They walked off and Ping hung her head. "But the Captain,"
I interrupted her, "The captain is an idiot for not seeing how well you're doing."
Shang responded, making me flinch, "The captain is standing right behind you."
I blew out a breath. "Why is it they are always behind me?" I mumbled.
"Ping still did a great job." Goofy added.
We nodded in agreement. Shang shook his head in defeat. "I'll let you join my troops. But I'm still not convinced."
"Why?" I growled, but Ping held up her hand.
"It's all right Michael, I'll find a way to show him what I'm made of." She looked back at Shang with determination.
"That's the spirit, Ping." Shang nodded his head with a smile.
"Sir!" Ping saluted.
I scoffed. Shang came around to face me. "Is there a problem, solider?"
I bit my tongue and stood up straight. "None, sir!"
"You'd do well to keep your comments to yourself. Or I'll have you booted from the army. That's an order." He threatened, walking up the mountain pass.
I blew out a breath and rolled my eyes. "Great, just what I need. Another teacher on my back complaining about my work."
"Teacher?" Sora questioned, as we started walking up the pass.
I waved my hand away, letting him know I'd talk about it later. Up the mountain pass, there was a village where most of the soldiers set up camp. I didn't notice that the other worlds had days and nights, and Mulan's world was definitely getting dark.
"So, should we set up camp?" I said, rubbing my hands. It was cold up here on the mountain, but the snow reminded me of my own world.
"How should we do the tents?" Sora asked, bringing a hand to his chin.
"We could have a tent each?"
I shook my head at Donald, "No, that would take up too much space. How about a girl and a boy tent?"
"Quiet!" Sora covered my mouth hurriedly. "Do you want someone to hear you?"
"But it's a good idea." Ping said, setting up the two tents with Donald and Goofy's help.
Later that night, after half the team was asleep, Sora sat with me around the fire. I held up my hands to the flames carefully.
I chuckled and talked softly to Sora. "You know, this snow reminds me of my own world."
"It does?"
I nodded, then I felt really homesick.
"What's your world like?" Sora then asked, looking at me.
I looked at him, then back down at the ground. "Well," I cleared my throat so I could whisper better. "We have lots of different lands on our world. Like how we travel through gummi ship? Well in my world, we have vehicles that take us to different lands. Because they are connected."
"I thought you said that the worlds would always be against each other?" Sora punched my arm lightly.
I giggled, "I did. But even though the lands are connected, people are greedy." I shook my head and half smiled at Sora. "There is more darkness in hearts in my world than any world out there. I'm glad I'm here in this world. But I know someday I have to go back."
"That makes you sad?"
I shrugged. "Yes. Because in this world, I feel like I'm important. I feel like I'm invincible and can do anything. In my world, not a lot of people realize I exist. And Riku," I smiled, thinking about him. "Riku makes me feel a happiness I never thought I could have. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if you all visited my world. But then I know that it would be a very bad idea."
"Why? I'd like to visit all worlds out there. Any and all, I want to see them."
"Yeah, I know, you were talking to Kairi about this." I said, remembering from the first game.
"How did you know?"
I giggled and got up from sitting on the ground, stretching my legs. "Just a very good guess." I yawned. "We better get some sleep. I don't know what is happening tomorrow."
Sora stood up and patted my arm softly. "All right, you have a good sleep."
I nodded, then looked down. Hurriedly, I wrapped Sora in my arms in a tight hug. Then I crawled into the tent, lying down next to Mulan.
In the morning, Mulan softly nudged me awake. I groaned at first, then realized she was trying to be silent.
"What's going on?" I whispered.
"Get your armor. Mushu says he has something important for us to do without the others knowing."
"Others as in?" I paused, waiting for her to finish.
"The other soldiers. We'll be going with Sora, Donald, and Goofy."
I nodded, putting on the armor I wore from yesterday. When we exited the tent, we stood at the entrance of the village.
"Okay girl, here's your chance! I just saw a real shady guy, and I know it's Shan-Yu!"
Mushu emphasized on the word "know". I crossed my arms as Sora and Ping gasped.
"That's the leader of the Hun army!" Sora said.
"We should tell the captain," Ping said, and Sora nodded in agreement.
"Wait a minute! Just hold your horses," Mushu exclaimed, holding his hands in the air. "Let's use our heads for a second. Now why are we here?" Mushu looked at each of us. "To make the captain see Mulan's – I mean Ping's talents. And bring honor to her family."
"Oh!" I dropped my arms. "So you want us to fight Shan-Yu and bring him back here like a trophy so the captain knows how great Ping is."
"Just tracking the guy down should earn us some stars." Mushu agreed. "Capitan Musclehead will have to notice my girl!"
We all looked at Ping.
Ping nodded, curling her fist into her body. "Let's go!"
Mushu curled up around Ping's body, tucking himself into her armor. "That's my girl. I spotted him just outside the village in a cave."
We all nodded, and headed outside the village limits.
We entered the long, dark, narrow cave entrance. I figured with all how long it was, there would be more to it. But to our dismay, it only led to a circular room.
"Dead end." I said, looking around. There were little shelves with candles lit, and at the end of the big room was an alter. I presumed this was a shrine for fallen soldiers.
"There's nobody here." Donald complained.
"You're crazy, check again!" Mushu said, looking around.
"Oh well." Donald waved his hands and walked off.
"Hey wait for me, Donald!" Goofy called out, and went after him.
Sora turned around as well, taking my hand. "Hey wait up!"
But just as he spoke, the cave rumbled with a violent shake. Ping, Mushu, Sora and I gasped. When we went to run, a magical shield appeared, blocking our way from Goofy and Donald. They called to us, but we couldn't hear them. I banged on the force field, trying to yell for Goofy and Donald. At that moment, heartless came up from the ground, their little black bodies swaying insect like. I sighed as I whipped out my keyblade.
"I have a horrible feeling we just became a decoy."
And we fought more than a dozen at least. Thankfully, I didn't use my limits, but I did have to drink three potions. When Ping fought the last heartless, the force field fell from the exit. I panted as I watched Sora pat Ping on the back.
"Nice moves Ping, you were amazing."
I smiled and nodded, as Goofy and Donald came up to us.
"You guys okay?" Goofy asked, patting my back.
I nodded. Sora spoke up, "Yeah, thanks to Ping."
Mushu jumped from Mulan's shoulder to the ground. "C'mon everyone. We gotta report this to the captain!"
"But Shan-Yu wasn't here." Ping responded.
Mushu waved his hands, "Please, he's old news! We're going to tell the captain how a thousand heartless showed up and Ping took out almost every one of them!"
We laughed and headed out of the cave in a hurry.
To Be Continued...