Chapter 13: The Fortune Cookie Crumbles

After months of unlocking Keyholes, fighting monsters, making jokes, and pointing out the global location of each world, Sora and friends have returned to the Land of Dragons. Last time they were there, they helped Mulan defeat the evil Shanyu. Sora, Donald, and Goofy found themselves in the village atop the mountain.

"So we're in China. Again."

"Goofy, that got old by the time we reached Agrabah. Speaking of the past, why hasn't anyone rebuilt the village yet?" Sora was confused. "Are they all dead?"

A cloaked man ran past the trio in a flash, and Donald reacted the loudest. Then Mulan came by.

"… Sora, Donald, Goofy! You're back! Have you seen a man in a-"

Sora nodded. "Yeah this way."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan were climbing the mountain.

"Gawrsh Mulan, why are you after Organization XIII?"

"Who?" the woman asked.

"Well they're this group of people. One of them is obsessed with memorization, the other is the body of someone we killed once, and there was this weaker one that had magic music. … Oh and they all wear black coats."

"They don't sound familiar. I've heard that there was a spy in black, up here on the mountain. So I decided to find him. Shan Yu just kind of disappeared after we beat him all those months ago, so I'm wondering if he has anything to do with it."

"Naaah!" Sora reassured. But then he turned to Donald. "The Organization hasn't rubbed elbows with Maleficent's crowd or any world-specific villains, have they?"

Donald shook his head.

"Okay cool."

Suddenly a bunch of Rapid Thrusters swarmed the mountainside.

"Gawrsh!"

"Waaaaaaak!"

"Oh no!" Mulan shouted. She, Donald, and Goofy all went off to challenge the monsters. Sora tried to follow, but found himself staring down the cloaked man.

"Hey you! … Stop."

But the man did not stop. He pulled out a weapon that Sora found familiar. A sinister red bat wing of a sword called the Soul Eater.

"Hey… are you Riku?"

The cloaked figure started charging for Sora.

"Aw man Riku, it's been ages. Oh that reminds me, I met Santa and he said- WHOA!" The boy ducked under an attack and got back up. "Hey watch it, you almost hit me-" Sora got sent flying across the way. "Ow!"

"…" The cloaked one was silent as he approached Sora.

"Ow! What was that for? I thought we were frie- AAAH!" Sora jumped out of the way of a dark attack. "Okay that's it!" Sora summoned the Oathkeeper and annihilated the other fighter. "Now if you're willing to have a polite conversation-"

The other guy got up and ran away without showing any signs of damage.

"… Son of a gun. The worst part is, Riku actually would act like that."

Sora's party reunited with him.

"Sora, I know you feel a bit uncomferble 'bout fighting those Heartless, but ya can't just leave it all to Donald 'n me."

"No Goofy, I think I just got into a fight with Riku!"

"Pics or it didn't happen." said Goofy.

Mulan was confused. "Who's Riku?"

Sora's face lit up. "Oh he's this real cool guy who lived on my island and didn't afraid of anything!"

Donald leaned in to whisper to Mulan that Riku was Sora's best friend. Sora was sensitive when it came to his friends.

"Woo, and I thought my girl was weird." Mushu came out of nowhere, and Mulan noticed.

"You've been strangely quiet this whole time, Mushu."

"Well that's because… because… because… Hey look a giant monster!"

The party looked over and noticed a giant Heartless that resembled a dragon.

"Phew, there actually was a monster, thank goodness." Mushu whispered to himself. The Heartless flew towards the Imperial City.

"Aiya… We have to hurry!" Mulan rushed off to the village.

"It sure is a good thing we can move from the top of this mountain down to the city in only a few minutes!" Goofy noticed.

In the palace, the figure who may or may not have been Riku had just beaten Shang in a fight. Then he slowly ascended the staircase.

"Your Excellency, there are some people you need to pass a message on to."

The Emperor yawned. "Pics or it didn't happen, lad."

In the intervening time, Sora's group had fought their way down the mountain and finally made it back to the city. Yao, Ling, and Chien Po were there to greet them.

"Oh, it's Mulan and her friends from before!" Chien Po announced, catching the attention of the other two men.

"Badabing, badaboom, ah?" Yao was still speaking gibberish, even in Chinese. Ling shook his head.

"Cloaky's in the palace, if you're looking for him."

Sora tilted his head. "Say, why didn't you guys do anything to stop him?"

"Huh?" Ling asked.

"You three don't look like you put up any struggle as he headed for the palace. Why?"

"Ohhh!" Ling, Chien Po, and Yao said at once. Then Ling spoke.

"Well you see, the reason for that is-" Ling immediately ran away from Sora, followed by Yao. Chien Po shrugged and walked away.

"…" Sora was about to ask Mulan a question, but she interrupted him.

"No, I don't know what goes through their heads."

The gang ran up to the gate and found out the hard way that it was locked.

"Hey! This door shouldn't be locked! Bad palace, very bad! You unlock yourself immediately!" Sora scolded. Even Goofy had to give him a look of confusion. In other news, Mulan was sizing up a pillar near the entrance.

"I could climb that."

"Whuzzat?" Goofy asked.

"The pillar. We could climb that and find another way in. I remember one time I taught that to Yao and the others after I got them to cross-dress."

Mulan had said that with a completely straight face. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all looked at each other in confusion, processing this information.

"Well…" started Sora, "all right. As long as we don't have to wear dresses."

"Waaaah! This is annoying!"

"Waaak!"

"Gawrsh, this pillar sure is slippery!"

Mulan made it to the top while the other three were still struggling at the bottom. "Remember, guys! Strength and discipline!"

Inside the palace, there was a cloaked person. His frame was a bit different from the man in the mountains, but Sora would not think to notice that.

"Riku, is that you?"

He removed his hood to reveal an older man with scars, an eye patch over his right eye, and a ponytail of graying hair.

"Nope, never heard of him!" Xigbar said, laughing. "Don't forget my Happy Meal, now." said the Nobody. A bunch of Nobodies with guns all teleported in.

Sora's party all pulled out their weapons and began to do battle with the Snipers. All the while, Xigbar jogged out of the palace.

"Hoo… I should probably get a bit more exercise… hoo…"

"Take this!" Sora attacked one Sniper, but got shot by another one. The bullet warped Sora to another place in the room. "Huh?"

Donald ran towards one and set it on fire while electrocuting another, but got shot by yet another one, putting him at the entrance, much to the duck's confusion.

Mulan was having much better luck, going after the Snipers one by one. The final Sniper was ready to shoot her from behind, but Mushu came out from hiding.

"Oh no you ain't!" He spit a fireball at the Sniper, leaving it distracted long enough for Sora to destroy it.

"Quick, let's get to the Emperor!" Mulan said. Sora nodded.

Sora and friends rushed into the throne room. Out of all of them, Goofy stayed in the doorway. Then he started yelling.

"Hey guess what, Emperor! There's a monster coming!"

"Huh. So the guy that beat Shang was right. … You should go take care of it then, right?"

"Yes, your Excellency." Mulan bowed. Sora, Donald, and Goofy figured they should do that as well. Shang decided to throw in a fun fact.

"That man was the man we've heard about in the city."

Sora spoke up. "Say, he wasn't chumming around with some surfer-sounding guy, right?"

"Not to my knowledge. … What's a surfer?"

"Okay cool." Sora completely ignored Shang's question.

In the town, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan found themselves up against the giant Heartless from before. It roared.

"Let's go!" Sora merged with Donald and became Wisdom Form Sora. The blue clad boy slid around, firing nonspecific magic at the Storm Rider.

"That's just like the transformation he did last time." observed Mulan.

"Yeah, he's got a lot more of those, now." Goofy told her.

"Hey I think I've got the movement of this one down!" Sora noticed he was then headed for a wall. "Uh oh. Hrr!" With a bit of willpower, Sora managed to change his course and finally took control of his gliding feet. "All right Heartless, you won't be hurting anyone else today!"

"Imma gonna hurt yew- Waaahaha-hooey!" A whirlwind picked Goofy up and he fell flat onto the ground. "Yowch!"

Mulan noticed that the whirlwind remained. She quickly ran towards it.

"Mulan, what're you doin' girl? Don't run into that thing, who knows- Gyaaaah!" Mushu panicked as Mulan (and he himself) were carried up by the whirlwind.

More aware of what was going on, Mulan aimed her landing, and landed on the Storm Rider's back, knocking it to the ground, and ready for more punishment from Wisdom Sora and Goofy. The boy called out to the warrior woman.

"Mulan!"

"For China!"

Both of them did a combo attack on the Storm Rider, launching him into the air. Mulan turned to the dragon on her shoulder.

"Mushu!"

"I'll handle this!" He spit fireballs at the Storm Rider."

"This is it!"

"For China!"

"I'm on fire!"

Storm Rider got caught up in an explosion much like a firework. The monster finally met its end with one final shot from Sora before the boy split back into himself and Donald.

The Storm Rider flew up to try to escape, but lacked any energy left in its wings. It slowly descended, almost about to crash into Mulan.

"I should move…"

"Mulan, no!" Shang ran out and put himself in between the Heartless and Mulan, but the dragon faded away at the last moment. The heart it had contained fled towards Kingdom Hearts, furthering the Organization's goal.

Mulan and Shang noticed their collective safety and embraced, which did not go unnoticed from Sora and his group.

"Giggity."

The lovebirds then realized what they were doing and backed off from each other, whistling innocently. Fireworks went off.

"Eh, I found the fireworks at last, ah?" Yao's voice could be heard from somewhere else.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan stood before the Emperor, who was on his throne, as well as Shang. Literally. Shang was acting as a footrest.

"So… what's going on here?" Sora asked.

"I lost a bet with the Emperor. Long story." explained Shang.

"So thanks for saving China. Again. Anything I can do for you guys?"

Donald immediately thought of some treasure, while Goofy was getting hungry. Sora had other things in mind, however.

"Could you please tell us more about this man in black who came to see you?"

"Oh that's it?"

"Well it'd be helpful. And it's the only practical request." Donald went to cry in the corner while Goofy threw away a pair of chopsticks he had just pulled out.

"All right. He warned me that someone had corrupted a dragon, and that I should prepare my troops. Or rather, that he would have told me to prepare my troops. The man went on to mention that three wise men had recently appeared, and that they were the ones who would take care of the dragon."

"Wise guys, actually." Shang said. "But he was right about them taking out the monster."

The Emperor looked around. "… That reminds me, has anyone seen Chi-Fu around? It seems weird for him not to be near me."

"So, Riku's hangin' out with that there Organization XIII? Gawrsh Sora, you don't think he's evil again, do ya?"

"Nah! It's probably just a phase."

"So Fa Mulan, you got any requests before I go back to… whatever it is that I do all day, again?"

Mulan bowed. "Your Majesty, may Captain Li Shang have a vacation?"

"No. Better idea, you serve alongside him? Eh? Eh?"

Mulan considered it. "Yes. Thank you." Shang stood up and went over to Mulan. Sora shed a subtle tear, happy over Riku's health, as Donald returned from his corner of woe.

It seemed like everything had finally come together in the Land of Dragons.

THE LAND OF DRAGONS

To be continued.