Chapter Twenty: Slopes and Soldiers
Lea didn't think he'd ever wind up missing his Organization robe—which had far too much icky baggage, and was too worn out to wear anymore besides—but given that the world they had landed in was a lot colder than he'd been anticipating. There wasn't much snow on the ground. And windy. The short sleeves of his jacket might be awesome, but they didn't do much against a chill.
It wasn't all bad though. Even nestled on a mountain, Lea could see they weren't very far from a village—maybe an hour's walk, at an easy pace. From what he could tell, the buildings were simple and wooden, but they appeared well-cared for. What it had to do with a breaking between life and death, he wasn't sure, but it was as good a place to start as any, Lea thought to himself as a gust of wind sent a chill down his arms.
"Um…Axel, where are we?" Roxas asked, as he looked around. Xion shifted from one foot to the other, trying to get her bearings—poor kiddo seemed a little Gummi-sick.
"Were not paying attention?" Isa asked, incredulously. "I told you before we departed that we would be coming to the Land of Dragons."
"This is one of the worlds Sora visited," Xion murmured. "I think I…I think I remember."
"Oh yeah, say, you've got Sora's memories right? He ever visit that village?"
Roxas and Xion both frowned. Roxas scratched his chin and Xion grimaced, as if she were trying to remember.
"I'm not sure…" Xion said, after a moment. "It's weird. I know that Sora was here…and that we were within Sora when he visited this world but…it's fuzzy."
"It felt stronger in Olympus," Roxas muttered. "But that made sense. He was good friends with Hercules and with Phil, too. But here, it's like there's nobody here that Sora was friends with."
"In all likelihood, that's quite possibly the case, at least for this particular mountaintop," Isa nodded. "There's more to a world than just one mountain after all, children. Donald informed me that Sora was friends with a man named Mushu, who guards the family of another friend, Mulan. It's quite likely that they're connected to this conflict. If we find them, then we will find what it is that is causing this problem."
"Something about that doesn't feel right," Xion said quietly. "I'm not sure what it is though."
"Let's worry about that later," Lea said. "We might be able to find someone to talk to over in that village."
They set off together and although they kept a steady pace, Lea couldn't help but worry. After Yen Sid's outburst the day before, Xion had retreated into herself. Badly. And for some reason he couldn't fathom, he hadn't gone after her when Roxas had led her away. At the time, it had made sense to actually get the intel they needed for the mission. But Isa had been there anyhow—should he have gone after her? Xion had been crying, which wasn't really new anymore but it still sucked. Should he have done like he did back at the Graveyard? Take his little sister in his arms and let her know that it was alright?
Lea wasn't sure whether they'd have been better off or not. They were here now, though. Something was wrong here in this world, and he'd find out what.
They continued down the path and for the most part it was quiet. They didn't have much to say at the moment, at least not to each other. The only noises came from the calls of the various critters that lived on the mountaintop. An eagle cried as it flew overhead and a small, red, fuzzy thing darted in front of them at one point, a bamboo shoot in its mouth. Ah, a red panda. Cute.
"So if this is the Land of Dragons," Roxas asked, as they got closer to the village, "Where are the dragons?"
"Never did much recon in this world," Lea answered back. "Can't say where they are or aren't. Might be a reference to Heartless, though—remember the Dustflier?"
Judging from the look of absolute horror that flashed through Roxas's eyes, he most certainly did remember the Dustflier, and had no fond memories of it.
Lea chuckled, more to himself than anything else. As icky as it had been at the time—Xemnas trying to orchestrate Roxas's destruction by making him fight six giant Heatless—looking back on it, it was a little funny that Roxas had beaten them at their own game by destroying seven giant Heartless.
"That's enough," Isa called. "We're nearly at the village. We can ask for directions there."
The village was smaller than Lea had thought it'd be from higher up the mountain. And the buildings were wooden, but they also seemed to be very new. A few weren't even finished being build yet. That seemed odd to Lea.
There were people wandering about, chopping firewood and tending to livestock. Lea didn't recognize what they were, just that they were some sort of cattle. And a few soldiers too. That seemed a little odd to Lea, since this village seemed really remote, but it was as good a place to start as any.
"I'm telling you," One solider carrying a bow said to another soldier, carrying a sword. "There was a monster in that cave!"
"You're seeing things!"
"It was huge! It had armor and sharp teeth! Red and blue armor!"
Monsters with armor? It didn't quite sound like Heartless but it was probably still worth looking into. It might not be related to their actual mission, but it was still a problem. Lea glanced down at Roxas and Xion who gave identical, affirmative nods.
""Scuse me!" Lea called out. The two soldiers turned towards him, the archer apprehensive and the swordsman stern.
"What's going on down in the cave? A monster?"
"A huge one!" The solider with the crossbow insisted. "Blue and red armor, it was like something I've never seen before!"
"Was it a Heartless?"
"Bigger! Way bigger!"
"Red and blue armor….I wonder…" Isa shook his head briskly. "My associates and I have experience fighting monsters. If you get the villagers to safety, then we'll go into the cave and dispatch this monster."
"Yeah, alright!" The archer nodded vigorously. "It's in a cave not far from the village, just around that bend! We'll lead the villagers to one of the towns further down the mountain. But…the children!"
The archer's protests fell on deaf ears as Roxas and Xion had already taken off. Lea and Isa nodded at one another and followed them. The archer followed as well, but only to start herding villagers down the slopes.
Roxas and Xion volunteered to go into the cave, but Isa objected to going in, as he wasn't sure he or Lea would fit if the walls got much smaller and instead volunteered to guard the entrance. The kiddos agreed and in a moment were gone from sight. Lea wasn't sure what was down there, but as he held out his hand and summoned Flame Liberator, he wasn't overly concerned. They already had handled Hades easy enough. What could be worse than that him?
oooo
Roxas waited until they had already passed the village gates before he actually summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion. It was gratifying to have his Keyblades back. The cave itself was nestled against the mountainside. Had he not been told it was there, Roxas wasn't sure whether he'd have noticed it.
Others might have found it creepy, but the cave wasn't that much different from the Underground. And there had been places he'd gone while in the Organization that were more unnatural—Halloweentown still gave him the creeps.
Xion walked next to him, her Keyblade summoned. She still used a replica of Kingdom Key. The same weapon that Sora used. Almost like Sora was here with them…Roxas glanced down at his own Keyblades. Oathkeeper and Oblivion. For him, they meant his connection to Xion and Axel. In a way, his Keyblades were a connection to Sora himself.
Sora. You've been to this world. Why can't we feel you as strongly as we did before? At home, at the Castle, at Olympus?
Roxas grunted as Xion threw a hand in front of him. She was in front of him and from the way she held her shoulders, Roxas realized she was very frightened. Roxas squinted. They were a ways into the cave and almost to a larger opening. Roxas crouched down, behind a broken wagon.
There were three figures in the center of the opening in front of them, and Roxas realized the opening wasn't naturally occurring. It had been carved out deliberately. A handful of lanterns hung from the walls, giving off green light.
"Now you sure this is how it's supposed to go?" One of the figures said in a guttural voice. The figure was very large, and wore red and blue armor. This must be the monster that solider with the crossbow had mentioned earlier. Wait a moment…he had seen that guy before. Ages ago, in Agrabah. Though that had been so long ago…
"Silence, fool!" The second figure said. Completely surrounded in shadows, and wearing a dark robe, Roxas couldn't get a good look. "This is precisely how the ritual is supposed to go in this world."
"I'm just saying we didn't have to try this hard last time! And what about when youse brought back that Oogy guy?"
"Shut up!" The second figure snapped. "Your sole contributions to our efforts have been to be as obtrusive as possible and undermine me since we arrived in this world."
"I don't know what you said," the first figure growled, "but I don't like your tone. Why don't we make something of it?"
"Enough!" The third figure said, and this one sounded more like a girl. And it also sounded like she was in charge. She stepped forward, and Roxas got a good look at her. Tall and regal, with pale grey-green skin and long black horns on top of her head. Roxas held his breath. He had never seen her before, at least not with his own eyes, but he knew that that had to be Maleficent.
"But Maleficent," the first figure whined, "He started it!"
"And I am ending it!" Maleficent shouted, raising a long staff and slamming it down. "You fools, if we are to have any hope of success in our goals, we cannot afford to argue amongst ourselves!"
"Very well…through cooperation, we will succeed," the third figure said. "I submit to your authority, Maleficent."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shrimpy Sora says that sort of thing all the time," the first figure said. "But it's not like we gotta worry about them pipsqueaks with Keyblades now! They're not on this world! No one's gonna get in the way of Pete and his business!"
Anger burned inside Roxas's belly. How dare he, how dare he talk about Sora like that. He made a motion to move from behind the wagon and show that fat, ugly, stupid Pete a thing or two about "pipsqueaks with Keyblades" when he felt himself unable to move. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xion, crouched behind a large rock, her eyes wide with fright, her hand extended in his direction.
Wait, what? She'd cast magic on him?! Why would she have done something like that? He needed to get down to that cavern and put a stop to whatever Maleficent was planning. What was Xion doing, this was their chance! They could end it, right now!
Maleficent held her staff out in front of her, and the green stone at the top began to glow. The ground began to glow too in strange looking patterns. A fourth figure, one that Roxas hadn't noticed before, stepped out of the shadows. Unlike his companions, he looked human, well, mostly. And he didn't wear robes either, instead favoring a simple grey tunic. Ashen grey skin and nearly bald, with a long nose, he had a book in one hand and a bow and quiver.
"It is done."
"As we arranged, you help us, and we will grant you your wish."
The book glowed green as well and flew out of the man's hands and into the center of the glowing patterns. And then it began to flip pages on its own. And the form of a man began to emerge from the pages, glowing in the pale green light.
The glowing man was huge. He had the same grey skin as the man with the book and shaggy black hair. He stepped on to the ground and flexed his fingers. A moment later, a long sword with a weird curvy blade appeared in his hand.
"Shan Yu, Lord of the Huns," The archer greeted warmly as he bowed to the large, glowing man. "Welcome back."
"Thank you, Zhemo. I never thought I would see you again," The large man—Shan Yu—said in an eerily quiet, husky voice. For a moment, Roxas thought he might have a cold, but then he realized that wasn't the case. "Tell me, how are the others?"
"Why don't you ask them yourself?"
At his words, the hanging lanterns began to glow brighter, and the green glow became a harsh yellow, the same yellow as a Heartless's eyes. There was a brilliant flash and the lanterns were gone. In their place were four men. Three of them of them resembled Shan Yu, large and strong and fierce-looking. The fourth was more like the archer, lightly build with waist-length black hair. Shan Yu looked astonished.
"My friends, how is this possible?"
"Hey now!" The loudmouth Pete shouted. "You wanna know who to thank? Maleficent!"
Shan Yu turned towards Maleficent. He scratched his chin thoughtfully and then gave a firm nod.
"Well, it appears that I am in your debt. Tell me, why return me to life? The last thing I remember is crossing blades with…that boy. That boy with a Keyblade! I'll destroy him!"
"As it happens, that is not necessary," Maleficent said. "Through his own hubris, that boy has lost his right to exist. But our goals still align. You seek conquest. So do we."
"I do not seek to conquer China," Shan Yu shook his head. "I seek to topple it. Decimate the army and ravage the villages and when I find the Emperor, I will show him what I have done."
"I'll have use for you, yet," Maleficent said. "As it is, your goals are in alignment with mine. As you can see, the barriers between life and death have been narrowed. We'll seek to—"
"Hold fast!" One of the large men from the lanterns, who wore furs and an iron helmet, raised a hand. "I smell something. Or several somethings…we're not alone."
Roxas heard Xion make the tiniest of gasps and she turned around and began to back away. Roxas felt her spell cancel, but it still took him precious seconds to get his bearings. He backed away as quickly as he could, but this made noise. The broken wagon he had been hiding behind creaked, and in the cave, it might have well been a clap of thunder.
"Hey, it's the runts from Olympus!"
"Seize them!"
Roxas broke into a run and dared to look over his shoulder. Xion was right behind him, with her Keyblade pointed at the entrance to the opening. What was she doing? Pete and two burly men with no shirts were charging towards them. And the others weren't far behind. There were too many to fight in such tight quarters.
"Reflega!"
Pete bounced off of Xion's shield and fell backwards with a loud grunt. The two bare-chested men began pounding against the barrier with their fists. Xion shirked in fear and turned back. As she passed him, Roxas pushed the broken wagon further into the path. As they got closer to the cave's opening, there were more old wagons and what looked like a rocket of some sort. Roxas and Xion tossed them back into the path. Roxas wasn't sure how long Xion's barriers would hold, but he didn't want to take any chances.
"Aeroga!"
The twin whirlwinds shot out of Oathkeeper and Oblivion and swept up not only the debris, but also several stones. As they all whipped around against the roof and sides of the cave, more rocks began to fall. Roxas was propelled backwards and the next thing he knew he was out of the cave, flat on his back.
"Roxas!"
Roxas blinked into the sun and he found himself staring into a pair of green eyes. Green eyes surrounded by a mane of flaming red hair.
"Axel!"
"What happened down there?"
"Maleficent! She's down there, with that guy we followed in Agrabah and some other guy I didn't see. And she had this guy with a bow and arrow and he had this weird book and—"
"Roxas, slow down," Axel said, helping Roxas to his feet. "Start over. Maleficent's down there?"
"And she has a whole team of bad guys," Xion gasped. She was hunched over, her hands on her knees. Isa patted her gently on the back. "It's almost like an Organization of her own, with bad guys that should be dead."
"We need to get out of here!" Roxas insisted. "I'm not sure how much longer Xion's shields will hold, if they haven't already fallen! Have the villagers been evacuated?"
"Yeah, they have," Axel clamped a hand on Roxas's shoulder. "Let's go then!"
Roxas panted in effort and began to run. Xion was already beside him. Turning his head, Roxas saw Isa stand at the head of the cave and swing his claymore down. More rocks fell at the head of the cave, trapping anyone who was inside.
"Alright, Isa! Good idea! Now let's roll."
It had been a good idea, but Roxas wasn't sure how long it'd last. Even without Maleficent, that Pete guy was bigger than Aeleus and Shan Yu and the others didn't look like slouches. But right now, all that he could think of was putting as much distance between himself and the cave as possible.
oooo
Xion gasped as they paused to catch their breath after running as fast as they could down the mountain as far as they could. She wasn't sure how far they'd run. There weren't any trees or foliage here, but they could see far in the distance in both directions.
"Okay, so Maleficent brought some bad guys back from the dead?" Axel said. "Spooky stuff, but why?"
"I…I don't know," Xion admitted. "They realized we were there before we could figure out why they were here. One of the bad guys is called Shan Yu…I think his friend said he was leader of the Huns? Does that mean anything?"
"There was some minimal intel gathered here regarding them," Isa said. "But I'm afraid I don't know very much. Did this 'Shan Yu' say anything?"
"He wants to kill the Emperor," Roxas said. "Says he wants to destroy the whole empire and show the Emperor what he's done and.…well, even I can guess the rest."
"Well, then we have to warn him!" Xion said. "Something about this feels familiar…I think Sora helped the Emperor when he visited this world."
"Alright, alright," Axel walked over to the far end of the cliffside, where in the distance, Xion could see a city surrounding one ginormous building. "With a building like that, I bet that's the palace. It's probably where the Emperor lives."
"We need to keep going," Xion said. "Maleficent knows we're here. If she isn't chasing us, she's probably trying to find another way to get to the Emperor faster than just running."
She paused. Dark Corridors were a very efficient way to travel. Back in the Organization, they'd used them to travel from the Castle That Never Was to…well, whichever world they'd been assigned to for the day. They could use them to get to the Emperor in no time and warn him of the danger. Maleficent was probably going to do the same thing anyway.
Xion looked at her hand. They could do it…maybe…but Dark Corridors were powered by the power of darkness. The name kind of gave it away. She'd have to use darkness if she wanted to use a Dark Corridor. And from there…she'd be risking letting darkness into her heart. Xion swallowed hard. The memory of Master Yen Sid's stern rebuke from when she had summoned the mordite sword.
"The most dangerous thing any of my students has ever done. You are never to summon that blade again, ever."
Most dangerous thing…it was through darkness that she had summoned that horrible sword. And that had been on accident, mostly. The idea of what Master Yen Sid or King Mickey would do if Xion used darkness of purpose…she bit her lip. They'd be so furious with her. But there might not be a faster option…but it was a bad option. How could she hope to atone for the wicked things she'd done, if she were willing to use darkness again?
I'm not a Seeker of Darkness. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. I stand with the Guardians…what do I do?
"Don't think of using a Corridor," Isa shook his head and tightened the grip on his long coat. "It's too risky. This jacket's wasn't made for it."
"Even if you did have a proper robe," Axel said, nodding at Xion, "I doubt she has enough darkness in her heart to do it in the first place."
"But we have to get down there…" Xion said, biting her lip. "We're still hours away on foot
"Gummi Ship?" Axel suggested.
"Too difficult to orientate," Isa said quietly. "Besides, we don't know how close we'd be able to land it in the city without attracting attention."
"Um…" Xion grimaced. "I don't know what to do. I'm sorry."
"Sora…" Roxas muttered. "I got an idea…"
"Pardon?"
"Sora used to be able to jump off of trees and boulders and stuff and use magic to push himself forward way faster than he could run. I think Aqua and Ven can do it too."
"I recall Sora having skills in these sorts of acrobatics," Isa agreed. "But I'm not sure if I'll be able to do so myself, as I lack a Keyblade."
"Better than nothing, though," Axel said. "Go for it, Roxas!"
Roxas took a deep breath and then jumped—far higher than Xion had ever seen him jump before. He lunged forward and bounced off a boulder—and then Xion realized he was glowing. The same bluish-white glow that appeared when he did especially advanced magic with Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Roxas soared to a ledge over a hundred feet away.
"Roxas, you're brilliant!"
"It worked! Just imagine you're summoning your Keyblade and then use that to jump!"
Xion nodded and flexed her fingers. Concentrating on what it felt like to summon her Keyblade, but then imagining trying to bounce off the boulders and ledges leading down the mountain. She could feel magic gathering in her belly, the good kind of magic that came from her Keyblade, not the darkness that came from the mordite sword.
Xion leapt and even after everything she had seen and done, she was still surprised by how far she was able to jump. She landed next to Roxas and he smiled at her.
"Great idea, Roxas!" Axel called. "Be right there!"
"Wait a moment, I'm not sure if—yah!"
Axel grabbed Isa by the back of his jacket and leaped. Isa screamed—screamed?!—as they soared through the air. Axel landed a moment later, looking very pleased. Isa…well, it was hard to tell. His hair got in the way of his face.
"Alright!"
"Ugh…I do not like this," Isa groaned. "I do not like this at all!"
"Let's get moving then!" Roxas said. "We can dive down the mountain this way, and make it to the capital way faster than just running."
It wasn't a perfect solution by any means, and it was sometimes tricky to aim it right, but Xion and Roxas were able to lead the way diving from ledge to ledge. Roxas seemed especially skilled at it—his aim was perfect. Axel was doing alright too, though Xion felt a little sorry for Isa. She recalled from experience that it wouldn't be fun being yanked around like a doll like that.
But it was still working. In less than ten minutes, they covered easily more distance than they would have in an hour of walking—probably more, given that some of the slope was very steep.
There was no sign of Maleficent, or the other bad guys though. And that made Xion nervous. So far, they hadn't even come across any Heartless or Nobodies. While that would normally be a good thing, it was unnerving. It almost felt like they were walking into a trap…which was a legitimate possibility.
But there were people in trouble—the Emperor for one, and whomever might be in charge of protecting him. Even if there was a trap, or if Maleficent and the others were already at the capital, their priority had to be for the people who were in trouble.
As they grew closer to the base of the mountain, there were fewer ledges and boulders to bounce off of, but it also wasn't as steep. Roxas made it to the ground first, though Xion thought she might have landed a touch more gracefully. Axel and Isa brought up the rear, and Isa looked very dizzy.
"Ugh…and I thought those infernal Gummi ships were uncooperative with my equilibrium…"
"Don't talk like that," Axel scoffed setting Isa down. "I still haven't bought the half-pints a dictionary."
"Isa?" Xion asked. "Do you need a Potion?"
"Yes…thank you," Isa took the tonic Xion offered him and downed it in one gulp. Almost immediately, his color improved and he didn't look nearly so nauseous.
"Let's keep going," Roxas said. "The city doesn't look too far."
Please let everyone be alright. Please…
oooo
Lea grunted as they neared the gates of the palace. The Emperor lived there, and from there, they could warn him about Maleficent and this Shan Yu guy. The journey through the city hadn't been too tough, since the palace was not only smack dab in the center of the district, but also way, way taller than anything else. In a way, it was almost like the clock tower back in Twilight Town.
"Finally, we made it!"
Just had to get past the soldiers who were stationed at the door—weird that there was only three of them. They wore slightly more fancy armor than the ones up the mountain had, with colorful tunics beneath their leather padding.
"Where do you think you're going?" One of the soldiers asked. Lea bit back a laugh—this guy was one of the shortest soldiers Lea had ever seen. He had to be shorter than a Dusk—smaller than his half-pints even. And yeesh, what had happened to his eye?
"We'd like to see the Emperor, please," Xion said politely. "It's very important."
"Really? The Emperor?" A second soldier, who was so scrawny a solid gust of wind could blow him away, sneered. "Well, he's very busy. Way too busy to talk to some runty kids!"
"Please," Xion said, and Lea noted there was an edge of desperation in her voice. "We need to speak to him."
"First you want to see him, now you need to? Not interested, girly. You go on home now."
"Listen!" Roxas snapped. "The Empreror is in grave danger! If you're not stupid, you'll let us pass!"
"Danger?" The third solider—whoa, now this was a solider, as tall as Lea and much more heavily built—asked, looking from Roxas to Xion and back again. "What sort of danger?"
"A witch named Maleficent has raised a man named Shan Yu—"
"Shan Yu?! Pah! That's a good one!" The short, fat soldier burst out laughing. "Aw man, tell me another!"
"Shan Yu's history! Sora—I mean, we! Yes, we finished him off ages ago!" The scrawny solider said. "For we are the mightiest soldiers in the entire Chinese army!"
Okay, hearing Sora's name was all Lea needed to hear. Annoying as they were, these soldiers probably were on the level. Not bad guys really, just cocky and self-important while others did the heavy lifting.
Ugh…it was like Demyx was back with them again. Lea wasn't sure where Demyx was and he wasn't in a rush to find out.
"Out of the way," Lea barked and tried to push past the short solider and the scrawny one. Roxas did the same, while Isa looked annoyed and Xion looked cautious.
"Ouch!" The short one said. "Hey, you're not getting in and that's final!"
"Please, can you at least give the Emperor the message?" Xion asked. "There's not much time left—it's a miracle Maleficent isn't here already."
"There's no way we're gonna waste the Emperor's time with some stupid kids playing some stupid game!"
The short, fat soldier looked ready to fight and Lea was so annoyed, he was ready for it as well. Nobody—nobody—called his kids stupid.
"Yao!" The large soldier rebuked. "There's no need for that kind of talk."
"Well, come on, Chien Po!" The scrawny solider whined. "You heard 'em, they say that Shan Yu's running around. He's history—we were all there!"
"Yes…but…well, stranger things have happened. Remember the dragon that was turned into a Heartless?"
"Let's get out of here," Roxas said, through gritted teeth. "We can find a better way to the Emperor."
"Yeah, go on and run. Chicken-boys!"
Chicken-boys?! That did it!
Lea swung a punch at the scrawny soldier. He yelped in fear and dove behind the short soldier. The short soldier was tougher than he looked, and he cheated—kicking Lea hard in the shin. Ye-ow—was that a soldier or a mule?!
Lea had been in his fair share of scrapes growing up, though it had been a long time since he had fought someone he wasn't intending to kill or kidnap—or force re-completion in Isa's case. Roxas slammed into the scrawny one and managed to get him in a head-lock. Isa was shouting at them all. Xion…mostly just stood there and Lea was pretty sure she was begging them to stop.
Punches and kicks flew everywhere and even Isa got into it, trying to break them up. The short soldier—Yao, was it?—got a good kick in the gut and Lea felt the wind get knocked out of him. He staggered back and summoned his weapon, Flame Liberator appearing in his hand. Beside him, Roxas summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Isa was glowering, his claymore gripped tight. The soldiers drew swords—well, the large one—Chien Po—didn't, but Lea glared at him anyway.
"SOLDIERS!"
Two figures were at the palace doors—a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing ornate armor and a scarlet cape and young woman who held a sword and looked ready to use it. The three soldiers all bowed before them.
"They started it, Captain!"
"Did not!" Roxas protested. "You called us chicken-boys!"
"You fought my soldiers? Why?"
"Well, the wimpy one didn't fight us at all," the scrawny soldier admitted. "She mostly just stood around."
"Quiet, Ling!" The captain turned to Lea. "Are you the leader of these troops?"
"We're not troops," Lea growled. "Look, we have a message for the Emperor, it's very urgent."
"You claim to have a message for the Emperor, and yet you fight my troops and summon magical weapons against them? Why should I trust anything you say?"
Er…when he put it that way, it did look kind of bad. For her part, Xion looked like she was going to be sick.
"Those swords…They almost looks like a Keyblade," The young woman looked fierce, but also curious. "Do you know a boy named Sora?"
"Yes! They are Keyblades! We're friends of Sora!" Roxas shouted, and the earnestness in his voice sounded almost foreign. Ah man…
"Sora has helped us in the past," The captain said. "So…I will let you speak to the Emperor."
"Really? That's great!"
"However," The captain said, holding up a hand. "I will not allow you in, as you assaulted my soldiers."
The captain jabbed a finger at Xion. The smaller girl looked startled at being singled out but the larger soldier nodded kindly at her.
"You didn't fight my men?"
"No sir," Xion shook her head and then added a quick "Ma'am" at the woman with the sword.
"Very well. The emperor will speak to you, and only to you. Now come along. The rest of you may stay outside—but no fighting."
"Captain," The woman said, "I think your presence might be needed to ensure compliance."
Yao and scrawny Ling had both been making faces, but turned more professional as the captain moved down to stand between them.
"Very well. Chien Po, take my post in the Emperor's chambers. Escort our…guest."
Chien Po nodded and herded Xion up the stairs—he was comically larger than she was—where the woman with the sword was waiting. He smiled warmly at the swordswoman and the next thing Lea knew, the doors were closing again.
Hoo boy…
A/N: Hello, hello, hello my dear, dear, dear readers! I'm stunned at how quickly I was able to churn this one out.
Mulan 2 is an absolutely horrendous movie and I regret ever renting it from the video store. So we are absolutely, positively, one-hundred-precent not adapting that particular storyline.
In all seriousness, I prefer original storylines for the world visits.
I've been looking forward to this chapter—writing Flowmotion wasn't hard in itself, but I was cautious about describing it. "Flowmotion" is a great mechanic, but I was worried that having the characters describe it as such might come off as gimmicky.
Writing Roxas and Xion as slightly more ignorant than they were in Olympus, but I like the idea of them not knowing quite as much. I'll elaborate more in-story when the subject comes up as appropriate.
The brawl between the soldiers was not quite as funny as I had hoped it'd be, but I still think it works rather well.
And now it's time to get ready for the next chapter—Xion has to talk to the Emperor all by herself.
Thank you for reading my dear readers.
Leave a comment if you're so inclined. Or if you like, leave a comment on somebody else's comment.
What will happen? To paraphrase the great Jim Butcher, I'm not gonna tell you! :D
My friends, I appreciate each and every one of you!
