Hi everyone! Here's chapter 9:


Pocahontas hadn't been following Mulan's footprint's for long before she reached her. Mulan was leaning limply against a tree, head bent back with both hands pressed firmly to her stomach.

"Mulan?" she called out tentatively.

Mulan opened her eyes, but otherwise remained where she was. "Welcome back," she muttered sarcastically. "I hope you had a safe trip."

Pocahontas hesitated, not sure how to start her apology. She figured she would only have one shot at making amends."Well I just came here to say that… Look, I'm really sorry, I—"

Mulan snorted. "Right,"she said, drawing out the "i" sound. She pushed herself off the tree and crossed her arms over her chest, giving Pocahontas a hard stare. "Come to finish the job?" she said, gesturing to Pocahontas's hands.

Pocahontas turned red when she realized what it must look like for her to be standing there with two weapons in her hands. She wordlessly dropped all of the supplies she was carrying on the ground, then threw the sword and bow and arrows at the ground near Mulan's feet.

"I'm sorry," she tried again. "I never should have left you." Pocahontas choked down the lump that formed in her throat. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but I wanted to say sorry. I had made a vow before the Games started that I wouldn't let the… the pressure of victory change me. But it has. And I'm sorry that you were the one who had to suffer the repercussions.

"Again, I don't expect you to forgive me," Pocahontas shifted nervously on her feet, "but I want you to know that I will think nothing less of you if you kill me, right here, right now." She offered Mulan a small, crooked smile. "I probably deserve it."

She anxiously searched Mulan's face for a hint of what she was going to do next, but Mulan's face remained stoic. A long moment of silence ensued, and Pocahontas's heart broke a little when she realized Mulan wasn't planning on saying anything.

"I'll just go… then…" Pocahontas sighed and walked away.


Mulan knew what life or death situations did to people. After all, she herself had suffered from PTSD from the war. It wasn't uncommon for people to think unclearly, buckle under the pressure, or just give up all together.

Hell, even Mulan herself had been a victim of these things. She had just been lucky enough to have understanding people to support her through them. Maybe that was all Pocahontas needed.

Mulan sighed. If only she had come to this conclusion earlier. Then she wouldn't have had to endure any more pain trying to find Pocahontas again.


Pocahontas was quite honestly the biggest idiot she knew. Not only had she thought that abandoning Mulan was a good idea, but then she had had the bright idea to go back, begging for her forgiveness as if she expected Mulan to suddenly trust her again! She kicked every rock, stick, and plant in sight, cursing her stupidity. Then, she stopped, and put all of the innocent objects back in their original positions, mentally apologizing to each one of them.

Pocahontas crouched on the ground next to one of the poor flowers that she'd kicked and cradled her head in her hands, breathing deeply to calm herself. She had made enough stupid decisions when she wasn't thinking clearly, and she couldn't afford to make any more.

But because of the jumble of thoughts in her brain, she payed no attention to the giant crunching noise of a tree snapping under the pressure of the colossal amount of water that was being released from the top of the mountain.


"Quiet!" Mr. Ratcliffe yelled as he rose to address the group of Hunger Games executives assembled in front of him. They sat around a large rectangular chestnut table with Mr. Ratcliffe at the head and Wiggins at his side.

The chatter around the table subsided, and everyone turned to look at Mr. Ratcliffe.

"I have an update on the Games. As I'm sure you've heard, the people of Panem no longer want a bloody fight. But what you probably don't know is that for the first time in decades, there have been protesting in the outer districts. While we've done our best to surprise these attacks, the people are still upset, and unfortunately that upset will undoubtedly lead to anger when they realize we don't plan to do anything about it. And we all know what happens when the people get mad at the government." Mr. Ratcliffe paused to let the men reflect on what had happened the last time the people had gotten mad at the government. The looks of fear that passed over the men's faces told him that his comment had had the desired effect. He needed them to know that they couldn't afford to make any stupid decisions.

"92% of Panem supports this new idea of 'Pocalon'. They're calling for a rule change."

Mutters and protests immediately rose up from the men.

"Quiet, please!" Mr. Ratcliffe announced again.

"We have sent in more obstacles." At these words, the screen behind Mr. Ratcliffe lit up, showing the chaos that was breaking out in the arena. "I will assess the situation from here, and later, we will decide if a rule change is necessary. It is critical that we keep the people content. We don't want a revolution on our hands, now do we?"

He raised an eyebrow at the group of men before nodding at Mr. Wiggins and striding briskly from the room, waving his hand to dismiss his employees.


"Pocahontas!" Mulan cried as a giant wall of churning, black water approached her crouching figure.

Pocahontas glanced up sharply, only to be knocked over as the massive wall hit her.

Mulan's heart barely had time to seize up in panic before the wall of water hit her as well. It pushed her backwards with such force that she found herself being helplessly carried away from Pocahontas, completely powerless against the current. She struggled to orient her body so that her feet were facing downstream, so that if she hit into something, at least her head would be safe, but she could barely figure out which direction was which. A long, terrifying moment later she broke through the surface of the water, gasping and spluttering.

"Pocahontas!" she cried out. She wasn't sure if Pocahontas had had enough time to take a deep breath before she was hit.

Then, something grabbed at Mulan's ankle, and she found herself being pulled underwater.

Mulan thrashed wildly, but whatever had grabbed her continued to pull her down, away from the surface and, most importantly, oxygen. She struck her foot out at it and was rewarded with a set of razor-sharp teeth clamping down on her foot. She screamed in pain, swallowing more water, and black spots began to cloud her vision. She searched desperately for her attacker, only to find the eyes of Merida staring back at her.

Mulan's heart nearly stopped.

Merida's smooth, pale skin had turned disheveled and wrinkly. Her veins popped out of her skin, the bright blue color starkly contrasting against her skin, and her nose had become a flat piece of skin. Her mouth now carried a set of sparkling, shark-like teeth, tinted pink with Mulan's blood.

But what scared Mulan the most were the dull, lifeless eyes that bore into her own.

Mulan felt something else bump into her arm, only to find a similar looking figure—Jasmine—assisting Merida.

Oh god, she thought hopelessly. When would it end?


Pocahontas, being a very experienced swimmer, had managed to out swim the zombie-like figures of Belle and Tiana before they could do her too much damage. She had spotted Rapunzel swimming towards another struggling figure not far away, and she followed her until she reached the figure, who was, as she had suspected, Mulan.

A wave of terror overcame Pocahontas when she noticed that Mulan was floating in the water unconsciously. She swam closer and began to pull her up towards the surface when a hand clamped onto her arm. Pocahontas resisted the urge to scream and tried to yank her arm out of the death grip of her attacker. But it was to no avail.

A sort of wrestling match ensued with Pocahontas flailing and kicking and her attacker, Merida, dodging her blows and struggling to pull Pocahontas away from the surface. She finally managed to land a kick on the Merida's stomach and thankfully, Merida's hand loosened its grasp on her arm. Pocahontas wasted no time in pulling away and driving her foot into Merida's head. Her head snapped back violently when it came in contact with Pocahontas's foot and her body became limp as she floated away.

Pocahontas quickly grabbed hold of Mulan and brought her up to the surface, only to have Jasmine and Rapunzel pull her back under. This time, faced with two attackers, Pocahontas decided fighting normally wouldn't work. The princesses were much faster than her underwater and she stood no chance against two of them. Instead, she grabbed hold of Rapunzel's hair and swam around Jasmine, effectively trapping her. Jasmine tried to bite her way out of the hair in an attempt to escape, but it only resulted in a fight between her and Rapunzel, who was hoping to protect her precious hair. Pocahontas took this opportunity to drag herself and Mulan onto a branch of one of the tallest trees in the arena, which was now only four feet above the surface of the churning black water.

But before she could attend to her… ally? Ex-ally?, Pocahontas heard a blood-curdling scream, and turned her attention to Elsa, frantically swimming away from a mass of inky black tentacles. She continued to watch as Elsa shot ice wildly over her shoulder. Pocahontas highly doubted it would find its target, but miraculously, the ice hit the creature… only to bounce right off, not even making a mark on its skin. The creature emerged from the water, cackling darkly, and Pocahontas's heart plummeted.

It was Ursula.

Pocahontas glanced quickly at the limp form of Mulan, then back at the now defenseless Elsa. Her eyed widened in horror, for she knew that not even the colors of the wind could save them now.

Then a tentacle wrapped itself around her feet and within a second, all she could see was black.


Mulan sat up with a start, choking up water as she went. She tipped forward dangerously, feeling the world around her spin, until her surroundings slowly came into focus.

Somehow, she was sitting on a branch above the entirely flooded arena, with a perfect view of Elsa and Pocahontas struggling against a giant purple octopus, an octopus which she realized all too late was rapidly advancing towards her.

She hadn't even been conscious for five seconds before a tentacle mercilessly wrapped itself around her ankle, yanking her down into the inky black water.

Darkness clouded her vision as her head was forced underwater. She struggled to escape, desperately twisting back and forth, but the more she fought, the tighter the tentacle's grip became. Her lungs screamed for air as she moved blindly for the surface, worn and disoriented, without knowing which way was up and which way was down.

The faint beginning of panic crept in. Every direction felt like it was down, and between her blurring vision, her steadily expiring breath of air, and the octopus's iron grip, Mulan knew the chances of her surviving were at an all time low.

Her lungs burned. Thrashing wildly was no use. All she could do was stay still and hope.

The water stilled around her. Through its darkness, one ray of artificial sunlight was visible. There. That's the way up. Repositioning herself, she fought for what she now knew was the surface with as much strength as she had, kicking and turning violently, until finally the octopus's grip eased just the slightest bit.

It's now or never. Gathering every last ounce of energy, she flung herself towards the surface, towards the air. She felt her ankle shoot out of its hold, and suddenly, finally, she could breathe.

Mulan had never tasted sweeter air than that of those two blissful seconds. In those two seconds, she managed to take two deep breaths and look around the water. She saw Elsa shooting ice at the octopus, which bounced off harmlessly every time, though that didn't stop Elsa from shooting in vain. And after one last desperate breath of air, Mulan felt another tentacle wind itself around her waist and pull her back underwater.

Mulan didn't have sympathy for Elsa. In fact, she despised the girl for many reasons. But at the moment, they had a common enemy they were fighting against, and as she remained trapped and submerged, Mulan couldn't help but miserably wish that Elsa was more intelligent, or that a more intelligent person had possessed Elsa's ice powers.

Why is she just shooting ice when she knows it's futile? Can't she create an ice monster to fight the octopus for her? It's not like she hasn't done that before. Or block it with ice pillars. Heck, she can just even freeze the water.

Mulan gave a weak kick in a feeble attempt to escape a second time. The hold around her waist tightened.

Ancestors, please help me, she prayed, lungs burning with pain. Help me because I don't want to die yet. I want to go home.


Pocahontas could narrowly make out Mulan's figure disappearing underwater. She herself was barely above the surface, and that was only due to practice from hours of swimming in the river back home. She struggled to avoid Elsa, whom she could feel twisting wildly around beside her between trying to get another shot at Ursula, despite her ice clearly being ineffective.

Suddenly, she felt a jet of something cold shoot through her hair. The few strands that it passed through now stuck together stiffly and upright, unmoving as if frozen. She knew immediately that it wasn't an accident.

Of course, Pocahontas thought bitterly. We have a common enemy, but that doesn't make us friends. She brought back one of her legs and gave a violent kick, trying to get away from both Ursula and Elsa, but she succeeded in neither. A tentacle yanked her back through the water, leaving her no time to react before her head was submerged underwater.

She was trapped between two enemies, both of whom were aiming to kill her, and the only thing she could see was black. The water, her limbs—everything was blurred by the ink. Even Ursula's tentacles were stained black. Pocahontas's lungs were on fire. All she could think of was air.

And then, all of a sudden, she felt Ursula's tentacle unwind from her legs and the water around her turn ice cold. She turned around to see Elsa with a look of shock on her face, her hand outstretched towards Pocahontas, like she had just finished shooting a jet of ice.

There was one second of complete confusion, and then sudden realization. Rapidly, Pocahontas burst through the surface of the water before it was too late. She hauled herself onto the block of newly formed ice, choking and spluttering with Elsa a few feet away, doing the same.

Pocahontas stared at the newly transformed landscape with wide eyes.

Elsa had frozen all the water in the entire arena.

Ursula's now frozen body lay submerged in the ice. Only three tentacles lay twitching above the surface, thrashing around wildly. Elsa smiled wickedly, realizing what she had done, and leisurely stretched her hand out at one of the tentacles and shot at it.


Mulan had lucked out. When Elsa had frozen the water, she had been suspended above the water. And after summoning the last fibers of energy that remained in her, she kicked, hard, at the creature's tentacle, and it released her.

She hit the ice hard with a smack, and ended up flat on her back, struggling for breath.


Elsa knew she had won. Her two fellow tributes lay weak and fatigued on the thin sheet of ice that separated them from the monster named Ursula. She had fantasized often for the past few days about how she would kill them. Mulan first, she thought, and slowly. Then Pocahontas can watch as I rip her apart.

And then, she thought, it will be Pocahontas's turn. Yes. I'll draw hers out, too. I'll start at the tips of her body and move inwards… a devilish smile had crept onto Elsa's face.

And she can watch as I freeze her heart and—

Elsa was distracted momentarily by one of the three flailing tentacles that had escaped its icy encampment. Scowling, she shot at it, knowing it would have no effect whatsoever, but still annoyed that it had distracted her from her fantasies.


Pocahontas had seen Elsa shoot and she knew it had been a foolish thing to do. She watched silently as the tentacle flung itself in the general direction the ice had come from. It smacked into Elsa with so much force, the sickening crunch of her bones breaking could be heard from where she was sitting. Elsa's eyes rolled back into her head, her limbs fell limply to her sides, and she was thrown backwards. Her body flew through the air in a graceful arch until finally landing in an unnatural position with her leg bent at an odd angle.

Pocahontas had barely registered what had happened until she saw Mulan. The warrior had propped herself up into a sitting position, gazing at Elsa's body with a wistful and pained expression.

She managed to catch Mulan's eye and inclined her head towards Elsa, as if to ask, Is she going to die? Before Mulan could answer, the sound of a cannon confirmed the final two.


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