Later that night, everyone was getting ready for bed and they had to sleep in tents.
"All right, I know it's not Trump Plaza, but this is your bed for the night," Drell told Cherry and the others before biting into an apple as a late night snack. "Now, I don't wanna hear any complaints... Like a bunch of spiders crawl into your sleeping bag, or you heard a noise, or you don't wanna go to the bathroom in the woods, I may take care of you guys, especially with your education, but I am not your babysitter!"
"Okay." Atticus said.
"Now, good night, I'll be away if you need me, but try not to need me..." Drell told them before leaving them alone in their tent to get some sleep.
"I hope the princesses aren't disappointed about what happened." Mo frowned.
"I'm sure they're not." Patch said.
Eventually, they all got sleepy and they turned over to get some sleep after a very long day. Although, with one of them being a vampire, that one would be unable to sleep at night. Cherry tried to make herself go to sleep, but she just tossed and turned in her sleeping bag as everyone else instantly fell asleep after a big day. She soon decided to go check on the princesses.
"I've seen happier princesses." Mulan commented as she packed up with Shang.
"That's the least of our problems," Shang replied as he took out the map, but it ripped in his hands, but not fully. "Gah!"
"You're lucky it's not shredded." Cherry said to him.
"Cherry, why aren't you asleep?" Mulan asked her.
"Uh, I can't sleep..." Cherry said. "What're you guys up to?"
"Just checking out the map right now so we can get to the kingdom in one piece," Shang replied as he took a look. "There's a mountain pass between here and Qui Gong. It takes us through bandit country, but it's the only way."
"Might be a little dangerous." Cherry said.
"She's right," Mulan agreed before suggesting, "Why not just follow the river?"
"The river's not on the map." Shang shook his head.
"Maybe it'll go to a town?" Cherry suggested.
"There's no town on the map." Shang told her.
"Do we really have to follow just the map?" Cherry asked.
"Why don't we just wing it?" Mulan added.
"We can't wing it," Shang scoffed. "We need a new plan. We have three days. What if we get lost?"
"Then we can just mark the trail." Cherry said.
"We have a map." Shang told her.
"Then fine, stop and ask for directions." Mulan said.
"We don't need directions!" Shang replied.
"What is it with you men and directions?" Cherry mumbled. "I mean seriously, there's nothing wrong with asking for directions."
"What is it with women and maps?" Shang retorted.
"You're saying women can't read maps?" Mulan defended.
Shang and Mulan soon got into an argument, much to Mushu's delight. That was until Yao came over.
"Yao, what's up?" Cherry greeted.
"Scout report," Yao replied, bowing before he would tell them what happened. "I found a village and a path to it through the forest."
"You did?" Cherry asked.
"Uh-huh." Yao nodded.
"Great," Shang replied. "Show us."
Yao then led the way, moving the bushes, and shoved them a path in the distance.
"Whoa." Cherry said.
"There's bound to be a road that will lead us to Qui Gong." Mulan smiled.
"Good work, Yao." Shang bowed to the smaller man.
"Thank you, sir." Yao bowed back.
Cherry soon felt apologies coming on. It didn't happen right away, but soon did.
"Shang, I'm sorry," Mulan said to him. "You're in charge of the mission."
"No, I'm the one who's sorry," Shang told her, taking her hand. "A good leader is open to new ideas. Forgive me."
Cherry smiled as she knew they wouldn't argue for long.
"There's nothing to forgive." Mulan told Shang before hugging him as they made up.
Cherry cupped her mouth then as Mulan and Shang broke out of the hug and soon, their necklaces got stuck to each other, and where this caused the two of them to laugh a little.
Mulan soon undid the necklaces and they continued to hold hands. "I'd better go," She then said, before joking about their relationship during the war. "I've got the first watch, General."
Shang looked upset to be separated from her, but allowed her to go.
Cri-Kee cheered as he and Mushu watched this from the tree, but Mushu was still bent on breaking the couple up.
"I was about to go see the princesses myself, do you want to come?" Cherry asked Mulan. "Or should I go by myself?"
"I'll come maybe later, you go on ahead." Mulan said to her.
"All right." Cherry nodded and then went to check on the princesses and soon found them by the campfire, warming up.
Yao was chopping some firewood while the princesses tried to keep warm. One of the logs was stuck, so he soon grabbed it and ripped it apart which Mei really loved to see up close. Cherry could soon saw Ling coming over with Ting-Ting's hand fan. She just shook her head slightly, pinching her nose, lifting her glasses.
"Excuse me, Your Highness, I found your fan," Ling smiled shyly. "It just needed a little drying out."
"Oh, thank you, Ling." Ting-Ting said, accepting her fan.
Cherry soon saw that Ling wasn't making any jokes yet and where that was a good sign.
"Normally, I would say, 'I'm your biggest fan'," Ling weakly laughed at his own joke, but frowned and left the princess alone with her sisters. "But... I'll just go away now, again," He then walked against the cooking set by accidentally, nearly dropping it, but smiled nervously. "Gah! Sorry, I'll replace that."
The others seemed to giggle as he left, though Ting-Ting was actually joining in.
"Hey, she has a smile." Cherry teased Ting-Ting.
Ling soon left, feeling embarrassed of what happened with the cooking set.
"He likes you." Mei told her sister.
"It would seem so." Ting-Ting replied.
"And you like him~" Mei smirked.
Ting-Ting blinked nervously at first before covering up. "Well, I appreciate that he's a good soldier."
Cherry could already tell that Ting-Ting was trying to stay true to her duty.
"How can you do that?" Mei pouted to Ting-Ting. "How can you look at someone, realize you share a connection, and then just-"
"I know where my duty lies," Ting-Ting glared. "Do you?"
Mei soon huffed at her sister and gave up, storming away from her while Su tried to keep warm. Mei soon looked at her own hand fan before throwing it on the ground and running off to write a letter.
"Aw, Mei..." Cherry frowned.
"'And so, my dear father, I cannot complete this mission'," Mei said aloud as she sulked while writing a letter for home. "'I have come to realize that my duty is to my heart'."
"What are you doing?" Ting-Ting's voice asked.
Mei then gasped saw Cherry and her sisters had come up right behind her.
"She's running away!" Su gasped as she took a look at the letter.
"Mei, what are you thinking?" Ting-Ting scolded.
Cherry was unsure what to say.
"I can't complete this mission," Mei sighed. "I know that now."
"Why?" Ting-Ting asked her sister. "Because Yao has given you his heart?"
"No. It's not about his heart," Mei frowned. "It's about mine."
"Ohh, so that's why you were asking me and Mulan about deciding between duty and heart." Cherry said.
"Yes..." Mei admitted bashfully.
"Mei, we've discussed this," Ting-Ting reminded her sister. "We've discussed this. A princess must make every sacrifice for her country."
This just made Mei cry out of misery. Cherry frowned as this had to be hard for Mei.
"The life of a princess, From her birth is well-defined~" Ting-Ting began to sing.
Mei soon hugged Cherry while crying. Cherry frowned as she tried to comfort Mei and Su soon joined in.
"She must humbly serve her country, Play the part she's been assigned, She guards the hopes of her people~" Ting-Ting sang to her sisters. "Weak and mighty, Rich and poor, Who could ever ask for more?~"
"Who could ever ask for more?~" Su sang.
"Who could ever ask for more?~" Ting-Ting sang with Su as she joined in the hug, but it soon squished both Cherry and Mei in the hug.
"Can't breathe here!" Cherry gasped and grunted.
"I want to be like other girls, Climb up a tree like other girls can, Just to be free like other girls~" Mei suddenly blurted out as she took Su and they hopped together on their sleeping mats.
"Meant to be~" Mei and Su sang before they did a little pillow fight.
"Mei! Su!" Ting-Ting scolded.
"To slouch when I sit~" Mei smiled.
"To eat a whole cake~" Su smiled back.
"To feel the sun on my feet~" Mei sang as she held out a circular pillow.
"Get dirty~" Su sang as she threw some ink.
Mei ducked down and dodged that before making a silly face. "Act silly~"
"Be anything I want to be~" Mei and Su sang together.
"Dance around in my underwear!~" Su sang as she lifted her skirt and Cherry turned away, covering her eyes, wishing she hadn't seen that.
Ting-Ting soon closed Su's skirt.
"To run really fast~" Mei and Su sang as they started to run around in their tent.
"Okay, stop now!" Cherry told them, getting worried as this was getting out of control.
"To get rid of this fan~" Mei threw Ting-Ting's fan aside.
"To eat a whole cake~" Su smiled.
"Get crazy~" Mei took her decorations out of her hair.
"With frosting, no manners~" Su smiled as she ripped a pillow up, showing the feathers.
"No escorts, no nurse maids, No worries, No hands folded perfect~" Mei and Su sang together beside Ting-Ting.
"No pinchy shoes?" Ting-Ting asked hopefully with a smile which caused Cherry to sigh as she decided to join in.
This made Mei and Su beam happily.
"I want to be like other girls~," The princess sisters sang all together. "Scrape up my knee like other girls can, Just to be free like other girls, Get to be~"
Unknown to any of them, Chein Po heard them singing.
"To speak for yourself, to sing way off-key, Marry someone you've met and loves you for you~" Cherry sighed as she helped them.
"No escorts, no nurse maids, No worries, No hands folded perfect like holding a lily~" The three princess and Cherry sang. "No pinchy shoes~"
"How do I get myself into these messes?" Cherry muttered.
"I want to be like other girls, Climb up a tree like other girls can, Just to be free like other girls, Get to be~" The princesses sang before soon finishing and fell to the floor while laughing.
"You sound like regular girls already." Cherry smirked playfully.
The princesses soon smiled back at Cherry, happy to hear that.
"Just remember to get some sleep." Cherry told them.
"Okay..." The princesses told her.
"Good night..." Cherry said before leaving them alone in their tent. "Ugh, I'm gonna be picking feathers out of my hair for weeks!" She soon saw what Mushu was doing. She looked over to where Drell was sleeping and soon snuck into his tent. "I'm sure he won't mind me borrowing this for just a little bit..." she said before taking the warlock's wand and turning herself into a dragonfly and flew into the tent Mushu went inside of as Shang was sleeping. "Oh, no..."
"She defied you," Mushu whispered to Shang's ear through a megaphone as the man tried to sleep. "She insulted you. She laughed at your map."
"My map..." Shang muttered in his sleep.
"This dragon is so selfish." Cherry sighed.
"And if she's laughing to your face, imagine what she's saying behind your back." Mushu continued.
"Behind my back." Shang muttered.
"She's a loose cannon," Mushu smirked. "She's out of control."
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Cherry squeaked loudly before she soon stung Mushu.
"YOW!" Mushu glared. "Why, you!"
"Mushu, I can't believe you're doing this just to keep your job!" Cherry glared back.
"Well, if Atticus was getting married, and it cost you your job, wouldn't you wanna keep that job?" Mushu defended.
"I'm his best friend." Cherry told him.
"So, you wouldn't?" Mushu glared.
"NO!" Cherry glared back and stung him again.
"Knock that off!" Mushu scolded her.
Cherry flew away at first and yelled out as she zipped to sting him again only for Mushu to take out a biscuit and got her stuck on it like Flit with a cookie. She then wiggled and struggled to get out. "Come on... Come on..." she told herself. "Mushu, this is selfish! You should be happy for Mulan!"
Mushu simply threw her out.
"Wah!" Cherry yelped, before grunting and struggling.
Mushu soon continued to persuade Shang to turn against Mulan. A black widow spider soon came with a yellow spider and they surrounded Cherry.
"Oh, no, no, no, no, please, don't eat me!" Cherry begged. "HEEEELP!"
To her surprise, the spiders actually helped her out.
"This is surprising." Cherry said.
"I thought you seemed familiar..." The black widow spider said.
"Wait... I know you..." Cherry said before her eyes widened. "Rosie?!"
"Hi, there!" Rosie smiled before looking at her. "Uh, do humans always turn into bugs?"
"I had to do a little spy work," Cherry replied before seeing the yellow spider. "Never saw a yellow spider before."
"Oh, aren't you just darling?" The yellow spider smiled and cooed, reaching out to her and patting her head.
"Uh, she doesn't like being touched." Rosie told the yellow spider.
"Oh, sorry, Rosie, you know I can't resist~" The yellow spider giggled as she let go.
"Who are you?" Cherry asked.
"Cherry, this is an old friend of mine back home from Sunny Patch before I joined the circus: Miss Spider." Rosie introduced.
"That's nice..." Cherry forced a nervous smile since they were spiders. She soon saw Junior exploring and which caused her to panic as she had forgotten that he was included in the adventure. She soon dashed off, looking slightly panicked, she then dashed back, took the magic wand to change back, and then kept running off.
"She was strange, but I liked her." Miss Spider smiled to Rosie before going away with her.
Junior continued to explore.
"Heeey, kid, what're you doing up so late?" Cherry asked the young boy.
"Explorin'..." Junior shrugged innocently. "I'm gonna have adventures like Franklin and his friends."
"Oh, yeah, the turtle who can count by twos and tie his shoes..." Cherry memorized. "Anyway, let's get you back to camp and straight to sleep." She then suggested.
"Aw..." Junior pouted.
"Get some sleep..." Cherry told him. "Go sleep beside your sister, if you have a bad dream, she can help you."
"I'm not a baby." Junior pouted before going off. He soon went into the tent where Atticus, Mo, and Patch were sleeping in.
"Still time until the sun comes up..." Cherry sighed, not realizing she still had Drell's wand. "What should I do now?"
Mushu was seen making a dummy Mulan.
"And there he goes again..." Cherry groaned. "What won't that dragon do for his selfish needs?" She soon heard him starting to mimic Mulan's voice.
Mushu then also had dummies of the princesses and zipped by Shang's tent while puppeting the Mulan dummy. "General Shang? General Hardhead, that's what they should call him. Everything's got to have a strategy."
"Mulan...?" Shang wearily asked as Mushu made it look like Mulan was talking to the princesses about him.
"This dragon is unbelievable." Cherry sighed.
"The man won't brush his teeth without a back-up plan," Mushu continued much to Cherry's annoyance, but she wasn't sure how to stop this. "I blame myself. I fell for those broad shoulders. I didn't realize there wasn't much sitting on top of them. Except for that garlic breath. That boy can peel paint."
"That's enough!" Shang snapped as Mushu soon ran off to get out of trouble as he came out of his tent and glared all around. "Where is she?!"
"Oh, this is bad." Cherry sighed.
"Oh, I am good~" Mushu smirked.
"I'm gonna gut you like a fish!" Cherry threatened as she soon ran to the tree and chased him up there only for him to come down as he remembered something about her. "I'm gonna-...Uh-oh..." she said as she was stuck up the tree because she didn't know how to climb down.
"Hold that thought, I'll come back for ya later." Mushu said before leaving her.
"Mushu, get back here!" Cherry demanded. "Get back here right now, you lizard!"
"I AIN'T A LIZARD!" Mushu called back to her.
"Oh, why does everything have to happen to me...?" Cherry groaned as she was stuck in the tree. "Can things get any worse?"
Her question was soon answered as Drell had woken up.
"Oh, boy..." Cherry squeaked nervously as she clung to the branches.
Drell put on his glasses and looked around, then saw his wand was gone and went out to look for it. "Now where could it be?" Drell asked.
"Strike me with lightning..." Cherry begged to the sky. "Just... Just strike me..." Unfortunately for her, however, nothing happened.
"Hm? What's going on over there?" Drell wondered as he came to see Mulan and Shang.
Cherry breathed in relief before looking around. "Okay, now how do I get down here?" she asked herself. She soon remembered she had Drell's wand. "Hmm... I wonder...?" she asked herself before taking out the wand and waved it to get her down. "Uh... Magic wand in my hand, Let me come back down to the safe ground land!"
Cherry was then suddenly on the ground.
"Oh, thank goodness..." Cherry said to herself in relief. "I hate vertigo." She soon snuck to Drell's tent and placed it back where she found it.
Mulan stormed back towards the campsite after having an argument with Shang when she was innocent and it was all Mushu's fault.
"I hope the princesses are having a better time." Cherry said.
"Did you see Mushu at all?" Drell asked her directly.
"Yeah, earlier..." Cherry replied. "He was trying to make it look like Mulan was talking bad about Shang to the princesses."
"Wow, he is desperate in not losing his job." Drell said.
"Yeah," Cherry replied. "That's what I said, I tried to stop him."
"Well, why didn't you?" Drell asked.
"I got stuck in a tree." Cherry defended as that was the truth.
"Oh." Drell said.
"Yeah..." Cherry replied.
"How'd you get down?" Drell asked.
"I climbed back down..." Cherry said nervously before going away.
"Seriously?" Drell asked.
"Yeah..." Cherry replied before running off.
Drell looked concerned and confused, but just shook his head and chose to ignore it before going to sleep himself. Mulan was soon in her own tent.
Junior woke up in concern as he could hear Mulan and Shang arguing and he pouted while lying there.
Mo woke up almost like instinct and soon looked over to her little brother. "JJ?" she asked softly, then saw him looking sad. "Are you okay?"
"They're fighting..." Junior pouted, sounding scared.
"Most adults will get into arguments." Mo said.
"What if Mom and Dad get in a fight and they don't love us anymore?" Junior pouted, he couldn't help it, he was young after all.
"Ah, JJ, that'll never happen..." Mo said as she came closer to him to hug him. "They'll always love us."
"Promise?" Junior asked.
"I promise..." Mo smiled. "Do you want me to stay right here with you until morning?"
"Um... I'll be okay... But, if you wanna stay..." Junior smiled back softly.
Mo smiled as she decided to stay close to him to help him sleep that night, and where that did help him get back to sleep.
Cherry laid down a little, but soon shifted a little as she looked out the flap as it looked like everyone else was going outside for something. "Where are they going?" She asked.
"I hope the tea's still warm." Ting-Ting said as she came out with Su and Mei.
Cherry crawled out towards the flap to take a look outside of the tent and saw that the princesses came out to have some tea, and where she saw Yao, Ling, and Chien Po were discussing on who to go first.
Eventually, Yao was thrown out by the others as it was up to him apparently. "You, I'm gonna-" he then glared to his friends, shaking his fist.
"Yao!" Mei called out which made him stop. "Is everything all right?"
"No," Yao glared to his friends before smiling nervously to her. "I mean, yes! You see, Chien Po here has always had a dream."
"A dream?" Su asked.
"A dream?" Chien Po added.
"A dream!" Yao clarified.
"I don't-" Chien Po said only to get punched in the stomach by Yao to go along with it. "Ohh... That dream!"
'What are those guys up to?' Cherry thought to herself.
"A dream of seeing a small village in the middle of nowhere by the moonlight." Yao told the princesses.
"How can we help?" Su squealed.
"Well... If Your Highnesses would consent to come with us to the village, we could still guard you, and Chien Po could have his dream." Yao said to her.
"To be just like other guys." Chien Po smiled.
Cherry rolled her eyes slightly.
"Can we? Can we, please?!" Mei and Su begged their older sister.
"Sounds like fun..." Ting-Ting sighed in defeat which made them all cheer.
Cherry soon saw them all leave camp. Suddenly, Mulan stormed out to join them.
"What... Did you... Do?!" Cherry glared at Mushu.
"Just told her that the princesses were going AWOL and that the guards were showing them the way." Mushu said.
"Why are you doing this?!" Cherry snapped. "Mushu, I could just strangle you!"
"I don't know what you mean." Mushu smirked.
"UGH!" Cherry groaned as she shook her fists in frustration, then came to her friends to wake them up. "Wake up! Wake up! Waaaake up!"
"This better be good." Atticus yawned.
"Mushu's at it again," Cherry told them. "He's got Mulan to go after the princesses and the guys to leave Shang alone."
"Oh, great." Mo groaned.
"Look, I know it's late, but we better catch up with them." Cherry suggested.
"All right... Someone has to wake Drell up though." Atticus said.
The three of them looked to each other and shook their fists and played Rock, Paper, Scissors.
'Please not me, please not me, please not me.' Cherry thought to herself.
Atticus drew paper and Cherry and Mo both had scissors.
"Yes! For once, my life has meaning!" Cherry cheered.
Atticus rolled his eyes with a smirk and went outside of the tent. He soon went into Drell's tent.
"Yes, Hilda, I would love to see you do The Dance of A Thousand Pancakes..." Drell smiled in his sleep.
"Drell? Drell!" Atticus tried to shake the warlock awake.
"Huh? What?" Drell snorted and soon woke up. "Oh, Atticus, what is it?"
Atticus soon told him what was going on.
"I see..." Drell replied in mild annoyance. "My suggestion is that we catch up with them before something happens."
"Agreed." Atticus said.
"All right, you get the others ready and I'll be with you in a minute." Drell said.
Atticus nodded and went to do just that.
"Just when I thought I could get some sleep." Drell sighed.
"Looks like we're traveling again." Atticus told the girls.
"I'll tell JJ..." Mo sighed as she went to wake up her little brother and she soon started to wake him up.
Junior groaned and looked up to his big sister.
"Sorry, JJ, we gotta move, but I promise you can sleep on the way." Mo told him.
"That's nice." Junior smiled.
"That's a good boy," Mo smiled back. "Let's move our things and once we settle, you can go back to sleep."
Junior smiled as he hugged his big sister as they got ready to leave the campsite.
"Here we go." Cherry said.
They soon got ready and then left to get going to Ling, Chien Po, Yao, and the princesses and they started to follow the trail.