Chapter 7: Land of Dragons

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm so glad you all liked the sibling bond between Hikari and Leon. I always thought protective older brothers were cool.

I also have some exciting news! Since I finally figured out how to put pictures on my Deviant Art account, I can finally post pictures of Hikari! I already have one of her pics up, so if you want to see her, feel free to. I'll have more of her up.

Also, could you please vote on my poll? I need to figure out which song would fit Hikari's theme.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own Hikari.

Enjoy!

/

The group made it back to the Gummi ship and went to their seats.

"Sorry about Ni-san, Sora" Hikari said.

"He can be a little overprotective"

Sora just chuckle and sat in his seat.

"It's ok" he said.

"It just shows how much you mean to him"

Hikari smiled as she sat in her seat.

"That is true" she said.

"Back when I lived on Hollow Bastion, he acted more like a father to me than he did as a brother. He was the only parental figure I had when we got separated from my mom"

She smiled vanished as she thought of something.

"Now that I think about it…I don't even remember my dad, or if I had one for that matter"

She rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"Losing your memories really suck" she said.

Goofy patted her on the shoulder.

"Cheer up, Hikari" he said.

"You're still regaining your memories. Why, I'll bet that you'll remember your dad while we're on this journey"

Hikari smiled softly at him.

"Thanks, Goofy" she said.

Donald started up the ship and looked at the monitor.

He made a face when he read something.

"What the? Twilight Town in gone" he said

Sora peered over his shoulder to look at the monitor as well.

"It's probably out of radar or something" he said.

"It's nothing to worry about"

Donald just shrugged and pulled the ship out of Hollow Bastion.

"We're off to save the worlds!" he cried.

Hikari just giggled at her seat.

She pulled out the drawing of her and Riku.

She smiled when she saw his face.

Just thinking about him brought back memories that she thought were precious.

/

Flash back: 8 years ago.

Hikari sat on her bed in the room the mayor provided.

Since no one would adopt her, he took it upon himself to look after her just like he did with Kairi.

It was nighttime on the islands, but that didn't stop Hikari from staying up late.

She couldn't sleep, even if she wanted to.

Earlier that day, she got hurt by trying to climb up one of the coconut trees and landed on her arm the wrong way when she fell down.

The whole right side of her arm was wrapped up in a cast.

It hurt a lot and it made sleeping uncomfortable.

She sighed as she looked around her room.

Since she was afraid of the dark, she had to have two or three nightlights on.

She knew that was a bit babyish, but it helped her sleep.

Just as she was about to turn over on her bed, a paper airplane flew through her open window.

She looked at it for a moment before looking out the window.

Riku popped his head in and smiled.

"Hey, Hikari!" he said happily.

Hikari jumped a little and smacked her injured arm.

She winched slightly and saw Riku swing himself into her room.

He held something to his side as he smiled at her.

"I brought something to cheer you up" he said.

The two of them made a small fort out of her bed sheets and had a flash light inside.

Riku hid what he had with behind him.

He looked around seriously for a moment, as if trying to hear in anyone was near.

When made sure no one was, he looked at Hikari.

"I am about to see something that I have never shown to another human being, not even to Sora or Kairi" he said.

Hikari's eyes widen a bit.

He was going to show her something that not even Sora or Kairi knew?

This had to be big.

Riku still looked serious.

"You'll have to swear that you will not tell anyone" he said.

Hikari nodded and did the 'cross-your-heart' motion.

Riku smiled and pulled out a giant scrapbook.

"My Adventure Book" he said.

He put it on the floor and opened it up to show a few pictures.

"These are all of the worlds I want to go to when I'm older" he said.

"Since you and Kairi came from a different world, then that means there are others worlds too"

He turned the page to show images of different places.

"There could be different kinds of worlds" Riku said.

"Some could be jungle like worlds, others could be underwater. I bet there are worlds that have giant castles"

Hikari marveled at all of the images she saw.

She always knew she was from a different world, but she didn't know which one she was from.

Maybe it was one of these worlds?

Riku smiled at her expression.

"I ripped this right out of a library book"

Hikari gasped at the thought of Riku doing something like that.

Riku just chuckled and turned the page.

"I'm going to go to all of these places when I'm older" he said.

He turned to a page titled 'Things I'll Do".

"As for the rest of these pages, well, these are saved for what I'll do on those worlds"

He frowned slightly.

"Problem is, I don't know how I'm going to get there"

Hikari frowned as well.

That was a problem.

She looked out of the corner of her eye and spotted a little toy boat the mayor's wife used to decorate her room.

Riku saw this as well and smiled.

"That's it!" he said.

"We can go on a boat!"

He jabbed a finger at her.

"Say you'll go! Cross your heart!"

Hikari nodded and crossed it.

Riku smiled.

"Good, you swore. No backing out" he said.

Hikari shook her head.

Riku closed up his adventure book.

"Well, it's getting late" he said.

"See you tomorrow, Hikari"

He jumped out her window.

He was about to leave, but he popped his head back in.

"You know, you don't really talk much" he said.

He grinned.

"I like you!"

With that, he headed back to his house.

Hikari stood near her windowsill and smiled at Riku.

/

Hikari smiled contently.

That was one of the few things she knew about Riku that the others didn't.

He trusted her enough that he was willing to show her his most prized possession.

Her frowned faltered as she thought about that adventure book.

"After our world was destroyed, he never got to fill up that adventure book" she thought.

She suddenly grew determined.

"Once we all return to the islands, I'll take Riku to all of the worlds that I've seen. I'll keep my end of the promise"

When Donald landed on their next world, she mentally made a list of all the places that she wanted to show Riku.

/

Of near the rural areas of China, a small village was being burnt to the ground.

A Hun warrior stood in the middle of it, admiring the work he had done.

His pet hawk was perched on his shoulder .

The Hun grinned menacingly at his work before leaving.

/

A little ways off from the burnt village, a lone soldier peered at the destruction that was being done through the opening of the bamboo trees.

Next to the soldier, a menacing dragon stood nearby.

You couldn't see the dragon, but the shadow is cast made him look dark and scary.

He looked at the village being burnt as well.

"See that, Mulan?" he asked.

"It's Shan-Yu, leader of the Hun army!"

He grinned in thought.

"C'mon, girl. This is your big chance!" he said.

"I can see it now:' Fa Mulan whups public enemy number one!' you gonna be famous! I'm talking A-list!"

It turns out the soldier was not a boy, but rather a girl.

She was dressed up in a soldier uniform and had her hair tied up as a boy.

She looked the part, but her voice was a dead giveaway.

She sighed at her dragon companion.

"Mushu, I'm not sure…" she said.

"I haven't even joined the army yet. I have to take my father's place to preserve the Fa family honor. I just hope I don't get discovered"

Mushu just scoffed.

"Whatever" he said.

"You just scared-admit it"

Mulan looked at him sheepishly.

"Aren't you?" she asked.

Mushu just hung his head and held the bridge of his nose.

He had a lot of work to do.

/

Back with our heroes, they walked through the same bamboo forest that Mulan was at.

"This places seemed pretty isolate" Hikari said.

Sora nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I don't see any towns or anything"

As they were walking, Goofy caught sight of Mulan looking frightened at the dragon's shadow.

It looked like the dragon was scaring her, but she was actually afraid of joining the army.

The rest saw this and panicked.

"A heartless?" Donald asked.

Sora nodded.

"Let's get the jump on 'im" he said.

Goofy looked skeptical.

"Gawrsh, maybe we better look before we leap" he said.

Hikari nodded.

"I agree. Let's study the situation before we do anything stupid"

Of course, Sora and Donald didn't listen and charged at the shadow.

Mulan and Mushu thought they were going to attack them.

Hikari noticed a familiar red dragon jump in Mulan's arms before they cowered in fear.

Goofy noticed it too.

"Is that Mushu?" he asked.

Of course Hikari would notice the little dragon.

He was one of her summoning allies from their first journey.

The red dragon poked his head out.

"That's right, I know you heard of me!" he said.

"I'm little, lethal and legendary! Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!"

Sora and the others smiled when they saw one of their old companions.

"Hey. Mushu! We missed you!" Sora said.

Mushu scoffed.

"Well you better HOPE I miss YOU, or else you're-"

He stopped when he saw the familiar faces.

His face lit up.

"Sora!, Hikari!, Donald!, Goofy!"

He jumped out of Mulan's arms and walked towards them.

Mulan looked confused.

"Do you know them?" she asked.

Mushu scoffed.

"KNOW them?" he asked.

"Man, we used to kick all kinds 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?"

Hikari giggled.

"Something like that" she said.

The group looked at Mulan.

"And…you are?"

Mulan stood up.

"I'm Mulan" she said.

She quickly realized she was talking like a girl and quickly made her voice deeper.

"Um, no, I-I mean…"

"Ping!" Mushu said.

Donald raised an eyebrow.

"Mulan Ping?" he asked.

Mulan shook her head.

"Just…Ping" she said.

"I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou"

Hikari wore a know it all smirk.

She knew right away that 'Ping' was actually a girl.

Her features were a dead giveaway, even if she dressed like a boy.

'Ping' looked at the group.

"You know Mushu?" Sora asked.

"Mushu's one of my family's guardians" 'Ping' said.

Goofy looked surprised.

"We didn't know we borrowing somebody as important as a family guardian" he said.

Mushu suddenly came up with an idea.

Since Mulan was freaking out over joining the army on her own, he would just have her join in a group.

"Yeah, that's right!" he said.

He jumped on 'Ping's' shoulder.

"And that puts you four up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here" he said.

"Well, guess what kiddies? It's payback time!"

Ping scowled at the dragon.

"Mushu!"

Mushu waved her off.

"Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right?"

Sora smiled.

"Hmmm. Sounds fair" he said.

Mushu grinned.

"See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial Army" Mushu said.

"We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp"

'Ping' looked at them hopefully.

"Would you join us?" 'he' asked.

"It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you"

Hikari smiled.

"You're right" she said.

"It would be easier to fit in with GUYS like us…if you were one of them"

Sora looked confused.

"What do you mean, 'fit in'?" he asked.

Goofy smirked.

"You're pretending to be a boy, aren't you?" he asked.

So it seemed the Goofy knew all along too.

Sora and Donald looked surprised.

"You're a girl!" Sora cried.

Mulan blushed a little.

"You didn't notice?" she asked.

Sora and Donald shook their heads.

"Not me" Sora said.

Hikari shrugged.

"I knew all along" she said.

"It takes one to know one

Mulan looked at Mushu.

"I think it's working" she said.

Mushu didn't look impressed.

"I don't know" he said.

"Those two would fall for anything"

Sora glared at him.

"I'm right here, you know"

Mushu waved him off.

"Besides, you're the least of our worries now" he said.

"Since Hikari is in the group, this is going to cause some problems"

Hikari glared at him.

"What is that suppose to mean?" she asked.

"The Imperial Army only recruits males" Mushu said.

"Since you look way to feminine, there's no way we can disguise you as a boy like Mulan"

Hikari looked at herself.

She had to admit, that she did fill out since she woke up.

She wasn't as flat chested as she was before, and her face looked way to girly.

She kicked at the ground.

"Why do guys always think that girls can't fight?" she asked.

"I've done my fair share of fighting! I should earn some recognition!"

Mushu shrugged.

"Sorry, that's the way this world works" he said.

Hikari growled and zapped a group of bamboo trees with a thunder spell.

Goofy suddenly came up with an idea.

"Wait! I got it!" he said.

He looked at Mushu.

"This world is really connected to spiritual stuff like guardians and the gods, right?"

The dragon nodded.

"Well, why don't we convince the army that Hikari is a sorceress that was sent by the gods to help win the war? There's no way they would cast away someone that the gods chose"

Hikari's face lit up.

"Goofy! You're a genius!"

She hugged the dog tightly.

"Anything to help a friend in need" he said.

Hikari looked at the others.

"Do you agree with it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Like we would exclude you from an adventure" Sora said.

The group headed out for the camp in hopes that they would get in.

/

When they made it to the campsite, there was a line of soldiers waiting for something.

Sora went to get in line, but a small, gruffy soldier in red cut in front of him.

"'Bout time we got some grub" he said.

Sora glared at him.

"Hey, no cutting!" he said.

The guy turned around and slugged him in the face.

Donald took offence to that and attacked the guy by jumping on him.

The two tussled while the others watched.

Hikari held the bridge of her nose.

Just then, two more soldiers appeared.

One was a skinny guy in yellow, while the other was a huge one in blue.

"Hey, a space in line!" the yellow one shouted.

He went to get in line, but the blue one shoved in between them.

"Wonder what they're serving for lunch today?" he asked.

"Knuckle sandwiches!" the red one cried.

He started attacking the yellow soldier while Donald jumped on him.

Sora jumped into the fray and started attacking as well.

Everyone but the blue soldier was fighting.

Goofy looked at Hikari.

"Should we break them up?" he asked.

Hikari sighed.

"I always have to do everything around here" she said.

She stormed over towards the fray and broke up the fight.

She grabbed Sora and Donald by the back of their shirts and bashed their heads together.

After she dealt with her friends, she kicked the red soldier while she punched the yellow one in the face.

"Knock it off!" she cried.

"You're supposed to be men, not children!"

Everyone gave her mixed reactions.

Sora and Donald winched and rubbed their faces.

The soldiers looked at her with disgust.

"A girl?"

"What's a girl doing here?"

Hikari glared at them and placed her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I'm a girl, and I also knocked off your feet. Get used to it" she said.

The red soldier glared at her.

"Girls aren't supposed to be here" he said.

Hikari growled.

This guy was really getting on her nerves.

Sora saw this and quickly went into their plan.

"You shouldn't be talking to her like that" he said.

Goofy nodded.

"Yeah, she's a sorceress that was summoned by the gods to help win the war. If you get her angry, bad things will happen"

Just then, heartless showed up around the camp.

Hikari looked at her hands in confusion.

"I didn't do that" she said.

'Ping' pulled out 'his' sword and looked around.

"What are they?" 'He' asked.

Sora and the others summoned their weapons.

"Heartless" Sora said.

"Ping! I hope you're ready" Hikari said.

They all attacked the heartless that raided the camp.

'Ping' wasn't really having really good luck.

Whenever 'he' tried to attack a heartless, 'he' would fall flat on 'his' face.

It was evident that 'he' never used a sword in 'his' entire life.

Hikari destroyed the heartless with her magic.

If she wanted to prove to everyone in the camp that she was a sorceress, then she would have to go along with it.

Plus, she needed to make sure her magic skills were at its finest.

When the heartless were gone, the captain of the camp came towards the group.

He looked at Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"What are your names?" he asked.

They all told him their names.

The Captain nodded.

"You're in my troop" he said.

He looked at Hikari.

She gave him a scowl.

"If you're going to tell me that I can't join, then I'll zap you" she said.

The Captain just gave her a smirk.

"So you were sent by the gods to help us win?" he asked.

"I guess after seeing you fight, then it must be true. You're welcome to join"

Hikari wore a proud smirk on her face.

"Good, otherwise I would have cursed you all" she said.

Donald just rolled his eyes.

'Ping' cleared 'his' throat.

"I am the son of Fa Zho-"

The Captain interrupted.

"You should return home" he said.

'Ping' looked at him horrified.

"B-but…that would dishonor my family!" 'He' said.

"Would you rather dishonor my troops?" the captain replied.

'Ping' glared at him.

"Don't make me-!'

'He' stopped when 'he' realized it wouldn't do 'him' any good.

Sora and the others looked at their comrade sadly.

They promised Mushu that they would help out.

They couldn't let it end this way.

"If Ping trains harder, he'll get stronger in no time" Sora said.

Hikari nodded.

"Yeah. You'll need all the help that you can get if you want to win this war"

The Captain mulled this over.

"Very well" he said.

"I'll give you a few tests to see how well he can do. If he doesn't pass them, then he can't join"

The group nodded.

"That's all we need" Hikari said.

They went out to do the tasks that the captain gave them.

/

The Captain, which they found out was named Li, told them to scout the area for any traces of Shan-Yu and his army.

They searched around the campsite and near the place that lead up to the mountains.

While they were searching, they showed 'Ping' how to fight heartless properly and being able to stand on 'his' feet.

When they finished the tasks, they went back to Shang to see if he would let 'Ping' in.

Li nodded in approval.

"You did well" he said.

Sora pumped his fist.

"I knew it!" he said.

'Ping' looked at Shang.

"Captain…"

Li looked at 'him'.

"I suppose you made a little progress…" he said.

"Not a little-a lot!" Hikari said.

"Just let him in already! We're wasting time as it is just staying here"

Shang nodded.

"Very well. You can prove yourself by clearing the path up to the mountains"

Everyone nodded.

"Sir!"

Everyone left the campsite to head out to their next location.

/

The way up to the mountains summit was blocked off by large boulders.

If they wanted to get up to the mountains, then they had to get rid of the rocks, as well as the heartless that dwelled around here.

This moment was crucial to 'Ping'.

If 'he' was able to pull this off, then Captain Shang would consider 'him' to be part of the army.

Sora and Hikari said they would take care of the heartless while 'Ping' took care of clearing the pathway.

They wanted their comrade to look good in front of the captain.

When they reached up to the summit, they stopped to wait for the rest of the troops.

The three soldiers that they fought with earlier came up to them.

"Hey, you ain't half bad" the one in red said.

"A man among men!" the yellow one added.

'Ping' looked relieved.

"Thanks" 'He' said.

They walked off, leaving our heroes behind.

'Ping' looked at the ground.

"But the captain…." 'He' said.

Just then, Captain Shang came up to them.

"Ping sure did great!" Goofy said.

Everyone was trying to convince Shang to change his mind.

"Hmmm….Fine. I'll let you in my troops" he said.

"But I'm still not convinced you have what it take to be a soldier"

Sora looked angry.

"Why not?" he asked.

'Ping' looked at him.

"It's alright, Sora" 'He' said.

"I'll find a way to show him what I'm made of"

Shang smirked.

"That's the spirit, Ping" he said.

With that, they all headed up to the village that dwelled within the mountains.

/

While the camp was settling in and making sure everyone was evacuating the village, Mushu appeared to the group.

He looked up at Mulan with a big toothy grin.

"Okay, Girl! Here's your chance!" he said.

"I just saw this real shady guy. And I know it's Shan-Yu!"

Everyone panicked.

"Shan-Yu?" Mulan asked.

"That's the Hun leader!" Hikari said.

Mushu nodded.

"We've got to tell the captain"

Mushu waved his little arms in front of him.

"Waaaait-wait-wait-WAIT!" he said.

"Everybody use their head a sec. Now why are we here? To make sure Mulan-I mean, Ping's talents bring honor to her family"

Everyone nodded.

"So, let's go find out where Shan-Yu is by ourselves" Mushu said.

"Then, if we're lucky, we can fry him up good! Though tracking the guy down should earn us our stars…Captain musclehead will have to notice my girl!"

Everyone looked at Mulan.

This was all up to her.

She had a determined look on her face.

"Ok. Let's do it" she said.

"We'll help out" Sora said.

"Now we're cookin'!" Mushu said.

"Shan-Yu is in a cave outside the village!"

Everyone nodded.

"Then let's do this" Sora said.

They headed towards the small cave that was located right outside of the village.

/

There really wasn't much to the cave when they got inside.

There were a few candles and a little shrine monument for those who passed on to the next life.

But other than that, it looked like an ordinary cave.

They searched the whole area for any traces of Shan-Yu, but they came up empty handed.

"Looks like it's a dead end here" Hikari said.

Donald nodded.

"Nobody is here" he said.

Mushu shook his head.

"You're crazy! Check again!" he said.

Donald and Goofy started walking towards the entrance of the cave.

Just when the others were about to join them, the area started to shake.

"What's going on?" 'Ping' said.

Donald and Goofy were about to run back to them, but a barrier blocked them.

"Sora!" Donald cried.

"Hikari!" Goofy added.

Little did they know that Shan-Yu was behind all of this.

He grinned darkly before heading out of the cave.

He could let his minions finish up the work.

Sora, Hikari, and 'Ping' looked around the area to see if there was a way to break out of the barrier, but they were surrounded by heartless.

Everyone pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the vile creatures.

"Get ready, Ping" Hikari said.

"This is your moment to shine"

'Ping' nodded and gripped 'his' sword tightly.

Sora and Hikari took on the much harder heartless while 'Ping' took on the weaker ones.

They noticed that 'Ping' fought a lot better than when 'he' did at the camp.

It seemed that training paid off.

They all stood back to back when they were faced off with one more heartless.

This one was one of the tougher ones and took the shape of a samurai riding a horse.

"This is the last one" Sora said.

"Let's finish it before it steals anymore hearts"

Hikari and 'Ping' nodded.

They dodged the heartless' attacks and aimed for its weak spot.

Since it had the body of a horse, that meant its legs were its weak spot.

Hikari swung her keyblade at them and tripped the heartless while Sora kicked its weapon out of its hand.

"Ping! Finish it!"

'Ping' raised 'his' sword and stabbed the heartless in the head.

When its heart floated away, the barrier disappeared.

Donald and Goofy ran towards them.

"You okay?" Goofy asked.

Everyone nodded.

"We are, thanks to Ping" Hikari said.

Mushu appeared on 'Ping's' shoulder.

"C'mon! Time to report to the Captain!" he said.

Everyone looked at him.

"But Shan-Yu wasn't here" they pointed out.

"Please! That Hun is old news!" Mushu said.

"We're gonna tell the captain how thousands of heartless stormed into the cave, and Ping took out almost every one of them!"

They all headed out of the camp, hoping to share their good news with captain Shang, but that all changed when they stepped foot into the village.

/

The whole village was burnt to the ground when they arrived there.

All that remained of the houses were the skeletal forms.

Everyone looked around horrified.

How could this happen?

They were only gone for a couple of minutes.

They walk through what was left of the town and found Shang leaning against one of the buildings.

"Captain!"

They all rushed to him as he struggled to stand up.

He held his side in pain.

"Don't overdo it, Capitan!" Sora said.

"It's just a scratch" Shang protested.

Hikari held out her hand and healed his wounds with a cure spell.

"There. Now it won't get infected" she said.

Shang weakly smiled.

"I guess it was good that you were summoned here by the gods" he said.

Hikari chuckled weakly.

'Ping' looked at Shang.

"Captain, the enemy" 'He' said.

"Where did they go?"

"They headed towards the summit…" Shang said.

'Ping' looked determined.

"We'll stop them!" 'He' said.

Goofy nodded sadly.

"It kinda is our fault" he said.

Mushu shook his head.

"You mean MY fault" he said.

Hikari shook her head.

"Shan-Yu and the heartless did this, not us" she said.

Sora knelt in front of Li.

"Captain, if you track down the villagers, we'll handle this" he said.

They all looked at the remains of the village before looking towards the summit.

"Let's go" Sora said.

They all ran up towards the mountains summit to stop Shan-Yu before he did anything worse.

/

The top of the summit was really cold.

The wind would send chills down everyone's spines and the snow would get in their shoes.

Since Hikari hardly wore anything, she got the full brunt of it.

She resisted the urge to rub her arms to try to warm herself.

She still had to act like she was a sorceress that was sent by the gods.

She had to prove to everyone in the army that the weather didn't affect her.

She just thought about the islands and the warm sun hitting the sand.

She smiled sadly.

Even though Hollow Bastion was her home world, she still felt home sick for the islands.

She missed the little island that everyone would hang out.

She missed the smell of the ocean.

She missed the sound of everyone laughing as they played.

She missed the paopu fruit trees.

She missed the glorious sunsets that everyone watched at the end of the day.

What made this feeling even worse is that she couldn't return to the islands until she finished her quest.

She looked at the snow that covered her boots.

This was the first time that she actually saw snow so up close.

She bent down and pick up a handful of the white, fluffy substance and examined it.

Sora gave her a strange look.

"Hikari?" he asked.

She didn't listen to him.

She just watched as the snow melted in her hand.

The cold liquid dripped from her fingers and landed back on the ground.

She smiled weakly.

"This is the first time that I actually touched snow" she said.

She looked at Sora.

"I wonder what Kairi would say if we told her about this place"

Sora gave her a weak smile.

He understood her depressed mood.

He felt it too.

He went up to her and gripped her shoulder.

"I doubt she would believe us" he admitted.

"But maybe if we took her here, then she would"

Hikari smiled and nodded.

"That sounds like a plan"

She dropped the snow and wiped her hands.

"We should go" she said.

"Who knows what Shan-Yu will do next?"

Sora nodded.

"Right"

They continued up towards the top of the mountain.

/

When they got to an opening on the summit, they searched the whole area for Shan-Yu.

The area was a completely barren waste land.

Not a single soul was in sight.

But that all changed when a menacing looking hawk flew over their heads.

It soared towards the ledge of the mountain where none other than Shan-Yu was at.

He grinned darkly at the keyblade masters and their friends.

An army of heartless appeared behind him.

Everyone summoned their weapons.

"Our work is never done!" Hikari said.

Shan-Yu pointed towards the heroes.

"Attack!" he cried.

The heartless dove down the ledge and headed towards our heroes.

Sora looked at Hikari.

"Come on, Hikari. Let's show these heartless what happens when you mess with a keyblade master" he said.

Hikari smirked darkly.

"I'm way ahead of you" she said.

She transformed into her Valor form and gripped her keyblades tightly.

"Let's even the odds, shall we?"

They all split up and ran into the fray of heartless.

Hikari was surrounded by a group of heartless in a manner of minutes.

She smirked darkly.

"Why don't we heat things up a bit?"

She cast a combo spell by shooting fire out of her main keyblade and had thunder zap from her Oblivion keyblade.

She cart wheeled out of the way when one of them tried to attack her and just hacked at them mercilessly.

When the heartless were destroyed, they looked back at to where Shan-Yu was.

The Hun leader summoned up another batch of heartless.

Instead of sending them off on their own, he drew out his sword and ran down the mountain.

The heartless followed after him.

Everyone didn't know what to do.

There was no way that they could defeat and army of heartless and a Hun leader at the same time.

Just then, Ling, Yao, and Chien Po came with a giant cannon.

"Stand back!" Yao said.

"We'll handle this!" Ling said.

Yao aimed the cannon towards Shan-Yu's body.

'Ping' looked at 'his' sword and saw the mountains reflection on it.

An idea suddenly struck 'him'.

"Sorry!"

'He' took the cannon from Yao and aimed it at the mountains.

When it was secured, 'he' started looking for something that would ignite the cannon.

When 'he' spotted Mushu, 'he' quickly grabbed him and used him to set the cannon off.

The poor dragon was stuck on it when it lit off.

"You're going to wrong way!" he cried.

When it hit the mountain, the snow that covered it broke loose and came crashing down.

'Ping' pumped 'his' fist.

"Yes!"

Sora looked over his shoulder to see Captain Shang heading towards them.

"Captain!"

'Ping' panicked when 'he' saw that they were all in the area where the avalanche would head to.

"Look out!"

The snow came over the ledge and buried Shan-Yu and his army.

'Ping' grabbed Shang's arm and dragged him to safety.

Everyone ran behind a ledge and pressed themselves against it.

Sora held Hikari close to him and had his back facing the snow so it wouldn't hit her.

Hikari gripped onto the Donald, while he gripped onto to Goofy.

They all held onto each other so they wouldn't get lost to the snow.

When the avalanche subsided, everyone slowly walked out into the open.

Shang looked at 'Ping'.

"Thanks, Ping" Shang said.

'Ping' just shook 'his' head.

"It was nothing"

They both stood up and brushed the snow off of them.

"I should never have doubted you" Shang said.

"From now on, you have my trust"

'Ping' looked relieved.

"Thank you, captain"

Everything would have gone fine if Mushu didn't pop up.

The poor dragon pulled himself out of the snow and went over to his master.

He was so caught up in his misery that blew Mulan's cover.

"First she uses me as a lighter, then she turns me into a cannon ball. The head ancestor's gonna hear about this" he said.

"You know, that's it! I quit! I can't take this no more"

He looked at Mulan.

"C'mon, Mulan. Let's quit this charade and go home, girl"

Mulan paled.

"Mushu!" she hissed.

Mushu quickly covered his mouth when he realized what he said.

Shang glared at her.

"Mulan?" he asked.

"A woman? It can't be!"

When Mulan didn't say anything, he got his answer.

Sora and the others ran up to them.

"Ping! Captain!"

Shang glared at them.

"You all knew, didn't you?" he said.

"You knew Ping was really a woman in disguise"

Everyone looked away nervously.

Shang looked back at Mulan.

"I can't believe you lied to me" he said.

He started walking away.

He stopped when his back was to her.

"The punishment for high treason and dishonoring the army…is death" he said.

Everyone paled.

Was he really going to kill Mulan over this?

Mulan looked at him nervously.

Shang just glared at her from the corner of his eye.

"Get out of my sight…now" he said.

"You're all dismissed"

He scoffed at Hikari.

"Summoned by the gods. What a joke"

Hikari gave him a dull glare.

"The next time you get hurt, I won't heal you" she said.

Sora shushed her.

Shang and the rest of the army walked away and headed off the mountain.

"The Emperor is waiting!" Shang shouted.

"Move out!"

They headed towards the capital to tell the news about Shan-Yu.

When they left, Sora and the others slowly went over to Mulan.

Mushu looked at her sadly.

"Mulan…I blew it" he said.

She just shook her head and removed her father's armor.

When she let her hair down, she looked more like a woman.

She smiled sadly at her friends.

"Thank you, everyone" she said.

"Sorry I got you in trouble"

Sora smirked.

"It's no big deal" he said.

Hikari nodded.

"Yeah, it was fun pretending to be someone very important" she added.

Sora rubbed his head.

"So Ping…I mean, Mulan…what're you going to do?" he asked.

Mulan smiled sadly.

"Go back home" she said.

Mushu sighed.

"Your daddy's gonna be steamed as a chicken dumpling" he warned.

Sora and Hikari grabbed Donald and Goofy and held them tightly.

"Relax, we'll take our share of the blame" Sora said.

Mulan smiled.

"Thanks" she said.

"You're all wonderful friends"

They all started walking down the mountains slope so they could get out of this freezing weather.

/

As they were walking down the slope, they failed to notice that Shan-Yu's eagle was flying over them.

It flew over where its master was buried and let out a great cry.

A hand shot out of the snow.

Shan-Yu pulled himself out of the snow and looked around him.

He growled in frustration and let out a cry.

The group heard this and peered over the edge to see Shan-Yu summon up a heartless army.

Mulan paled.

"Shan-Yu?" she cried.

"He's alive?" Sora asked.

Hikari shook her head in disbelief.

"There's no way someone could have survived that" she said.

They watched at Shan-Yu headed towards the Imperial City.

Mulan looked at the group.

"We've got to warn Shang!" she said.

They quickly ran down the mountain and headed for the Imperial City.

/As they were heading down the mountain, the group noticed that Mulan was a much better fighter than she was when she was Ping.

It seemed that she was trying to hide her real skills when she was a soldier.

She would do these combo attacks with Mushu and would burn the heartless to smithereens.

"At least I'm not the only girl fighting here" Hikari said.

They made to the checkpoint and looked at the road that lead to the Imperial City.

"I hope we make it" Sora said.

They ran through the gates headed for the City.

/

When they got there, they saw Shang and his army headed for the Emperor's palace.

It seemed that they just arrived here as well, which meant that there was still time.

Mulan ran towards him.

"Shang!" she cried.

The captain gave her a dark look, but she ignored it.

"Shan-Yu is alive!" she cried.

"He's headed this way!"

Shang scoffed.

"And why should I believe you this time?" he asked.

Sora and Hikari glared at him.

He could really hold a grudge.

"But she's telling the truth!" Sora said.

"Yeah, we saw him too!" Hikari added.

To prove her point, Shan-Yu's eagle soared over their heads.

Shang saw this and searched the area.

He spotted Shan-Yu standing on one of the roofs of the palace.

Shang panicked and looked at his army.

"Guard the palace!" he cried.

"Do not let the enemy get anywhere near the Emperor!"

Yao, Ling, and Chien Po ran towards the building.

The rest of the soldiers suddenly turned into heartless.

Shang didn't know what to do, but Mulan and the others pulled out their weapons.

"We'll secure the courtyard, and you save the Emperor" Sora said.

Shang looked unsure of what to do to, but Donald settled it for him.

"That's an order!" he said.

Shang nodded and ran towards the palace.

The group looked at the heartless that were in front of them.

They all separated and took out the ones that were closer to them.

Hikari zapped her bunch with a few spells.

She wanted to save her strength for when they fought Shan-Yu.

She knew she was going to need it.

When the heartless were gone, they ran towards the palace.

They ran up the steps just as Shan-Yu held his sword up the Emperor's throat.

"Now you'll bow to me" he said.

The Emperor didn't say anything.

He wasn't going to give Shan-Yu the satisfaction he wanted.

Shang suddenly appeared and knocked Shan-Yu back.

He quickly ushered the Emperor inside the palace while Ling and Chien Po closed the doors.

Shan-Yu growled and charged at the door, but the group stopped him.

"It ends now!" Mulan said.

"Right now!" Sora added.

Shan-Yu just laughed evilly as darkness seeped out of him.

He summoned up a few heartless to help him out in breaking the door.

Hikari created a barrier over the palace doors so the heartless wouldn't get through.

She wasn't going to take her chances.

Both she and Sora went into their Valor forms.

They wanted to end this as quickly as possible.

Hikari looked at Sora.

"I'll take care of the heartless; you take care of Shan-Yu"

Sora nodded and gripped his keyblades tightly.

"Be careful"

Hikari nodded and jumped out of the way.

She flipped through the air and landed right in front of the heartless.

"Sorry, but you're not getting through" she said.

She twirled her keyblades around with precision and sliced through the heartless with ease.

Some would try to get past her in order to break the barrier, but she would zap them with her magic.

When the heartless were gone, she went to help Sora and the others fight Shan-Yu.

She ran towards them, but something nicked her on the back of the head.

She looked up to see Shan-Yu's eagle flying around the area.

She glared at the bird, then looked at Donald.

"Donald!"

The magician ran up to her.

"I think it's time we had a little barbeque"

She pointed towards the eagle to show him where to aim.

Donald nodded and held up his staff.

"One roasted chicken, coming right up!"

They both pointed their weapons at the bird.

"Fire!"

Fire blasted out of their weapons and hit the bird dead on.

The poor thing was burnt to a crisp.

Hikari pumped her fist and ran to help Sora out.

The keyblade master and Mulan were doing fine on their own, but it was difficult to fight him, while trying to keep the barrier up.

Hikari ran up to them.

"Sora!"

Sora looked at her to see her motion to do attack Shan-Yu in the front while she attacked the back.

He nodded and made sure Shan-Yu wouldn't look behind him.

The Hun leader glared at Sora and raised his sword.

"You're finished!" he cried.

Sora smirked.

"Think again" he said.

He and Hikari ran at him and slammed their keyblades right into him.

Shan-Yu staggered when they pulled them out.

He held his side as he glared at them.

He went to attack them again, but he fell to the ground and faded to the darkness.

/

When the battle was over, Hikari removed the barrier.

When she did, she suddenly felt a searing pain within her chest.

She flinched and grabbed her chest in pain.

Sora looked at her.

"You ok?" he asked.

Hikari grimaced and nodded.

"Yeah" she said.

"It's nothing"

When the pain died down, she let her hand fall down to her side.

Where in the world did that pain come from?

She knew it couldn't have been from the fight, so what triggered it?

She didn't have time to mull it over because Mushu started cheering.

"Now that's what I call burning some hunny-bun!" he said.

"Aw, yeah! Mulan's the best! Mulan's the best! No, wait a minute-I'm the best! Mushu's the best! Mushu's the best!"

Sora and Hikari rolled their eyes.

Typical Mushu.

Shang and the Emperor came towards them.

The Emperor looked at regal as ever when he looked at Mulan.

"I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan" he said.

"Mulan looked at him sadly before bowing to him.

The Emperor kept talking.

"You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial soldier:

Mulan looked away sadly.

"You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army, and dishonored your family name"

Sora and Hikari rubbed their heads nervously.

This Emperor liked to rub it in.

"We get the picture" Sora said.

The Emperor ignored them.

"You're a young woman" he said.

"And in the end…you have saved us all"

With that, he bowed to her.

Mulan panicked and blushed profusely.

Cheers erupted through the palace.

Hikari smiled at Mulan.

"Looks like you're a hero now" she said.

Mulan smiled brightly.

Shang held out Shan-Yu sword and gave it to Mulan.

"Take this, so the world will know what you did for China" The Emperor said.

Sang nodded.

"Thank you, everyone" he said.

The Emperor chuckled.

"Thank you?" he repeated.

"Is that all there is to say, Captain? If you wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll have to be a bit more eloquent than that"

Shang blushed profusely.

Hikari chuckled at the sight.

Mushu pumped his fist.

"Now they GOTTA let me go back to bein' a guardian!" he said.

"They GOTTA!"

Goofy looked at him.

"But Mushu, I thought you already WERE a family guardian?"

Mushu laughed nervously, realizing he let out his secret.

"What, oh, no, no , no- don't even worry about that, that's just real technical. Just for us guardians" he said.

Sora and Hikari glared at him.

"You ticked us!" Sora cried.

"And after everything we did for you!" Hikari said.

Mushu laughed nervously before running off.

Sora and Hikari chased after him.

Just as they were about to clobber him, Shan-Yu's sword started to glow and floated to the air.

Sora and Hikari knew what this meant.

This was the keyhole.

They summoned their keyblades and sealed the keyhole to this world.

That was one less world they needed to worry about saving.

"Guess it's about time we get moving" Goofy said.

"You shall be missed" the Emperor said.

Sora looked at Mulan.

"Is if okay if we come back to visit?"

Mulan nodded.

"Of course" she said.

"We look forward to your return" Shang added.

Hikari smirked.

"You two play nice" she said.

Shang and Mulan blushed.

Mulan waved goodbye to her new friends as they left.

She would be forever grateful to them for what they did for her.

/

A/N: Man, that was a long chapter! Why do I get the feeling that the rest of the story is going to be like this? Hope you guys don't mind that.

Looks like Hikari is suffering from more than just memory loss. Now her heart is acting up. I wonder what's wrong?

You'll just have to find out as the story continues.

Please review and tell me what you think!

Ja ne'