Author's Notes: I must be losing my mind. I can't wait to get out of The Emperor's New Groove and into something where I might be able to be a bit more sane and less — how shall I say? — restricted.
Chapter XVI: Meet Magus
The grand palace of Emperor Kuzco was the heart of the empire, normally buzzing with activity. Peasants and servants as well as the lords and officials under the emperor usually walked the corridors of the palace, going about their business briskly. The activities within the palace, it seemed, declined sharply after Yzma came to power. The deathly silence permeated the castle's common areas, the busiest sections of the palace. Not even the guards were present. Thankfully for the intruder, the Heartless were also absent.
Unfortunately for Pacha, his previous visits to Kuzco's palace didn't include a tour of the dungeon. Despite that obstacle, the lowly peasant traveled the halls in his attempt to find the transformed Kuzco or their new allies, meeting with no success in either endeavor. After turning a corner, Pacha found himself in a grand hallway with massive pillars along the walls. At the far end of the hall, the intruder took notice of an immense doorway, elaborately colored and decorated. Being the leader of his village, a frequenter of the palace, Pacha knew exactly what room the door led to.
Kuzco's throne room, he identified mentally. With that thought safely in mind, Pacha began his approach, maintaining as much stealth as a portly peasant could. Though he doubted that Yzma would keep prisoners in the throne room, an instinct told him to check it out, and Pacha always trusted his instincts. As he neared the doorway, a banging sound gradually came to his ears coupled with the persistent grunting of a familiar voice. It was then that Pacha finally saw the thick rope tied around the two handles of the dual doors, keeping it closed from the outside.
"Kuzco!" yelled Pacha, abandoning stealth and breaking into a quick run to the doorway.
"Pacha?" the emperor returned, "C'mon! Open the door! Let me out!"
"H-hold on!" Pacha scanned over the binding rope, locating the knot keeping the handles together and moving to untie it immediately. Once his fingers touched the rope, however, a fearful shriek penetrated the door. In addition, the sound of clanging metal could also be heard.
"Heartless!" Kuzco screamed bluntly.
Pacha's head jerked to look behind him, but no Heartless made themselves apparent. Returning to the knot, the emperor's friend yelled back, "Hold 'em off, Kuzco! I'm working on it!"
"Easy for you to say!" the metamorphosed ruler barked back, and an instant later, the reassuring noises of a llama battling his enemies emanated from the throne room. Meanwhile, Pacha hurriedly began to untie the rope, aware of his friend's predicament. The peasant kept an ear open for Kuzco, and the fighting noises from inside the chamber told Pacha that, even with his help, Kuzco would still be outnumbered then the door opened. Finally the knot was undone, and Pacha proceeded to uncurl the big rope from around the handles.
"Almost there!" Pacha reported quickly as he worked.
"Take your time! Hurry up!" Kuzco retorted between attacks.
When unwrapping each individual curl became too tiresome and slow, Pacha resolved, "Forget this!" Holding one end of the rope with both hands tightly, he pulled as hard as he could, and as the rope wound around the hand grips quickly, the two doors burst open by the force of Pacha's tug. As the unprepared commoner fell backwards, the Heartless almost literally spilled out from the newly-opened doorway in numbers that greatly shocked Pacha. The headstrong Emperor Kuzco appeared shortly afterwards, galloping after them and away from the Heartless that remained in his throne room. Coming to Pacha's side, he began deflecting enemies away from his friend, allowing the toppled Pacha to recover without being injured by the Heartless.
"Kuzco," Pacha immediately asked the llama, "where's the dungeon? I bet Sora and the others are there!"
On that line, Kuzco charged through a line of dark nemeses, Pacha following shortly behind as they made their retreat. Not so easily dissuaded, The Heartless pursued as Kuzco explained, "We should head for Yzma's lab first!"
Pacha gave the emperor a strange glare, asking him, "What for?"
"To teach that witch not to mess with my kingdom!" Kuzco declared angrily, "And to change me back into my old self!"
"But what about—"
"Those kids can take care of themselves," Kuzco reasoned as the duo rounded a corner, leading into a different hallway. "They can handle whatever comes their way, and in the meantime, we'll get the antidote!"
As selfish as Kuzco sounded, Pacha knew that there was some logic to his argument. The three boys could handle the Heartless; they had proved that the night that Kuzco and Pacha first met them. Still, Pacha didn't believe it to be right to simply leave the kids alone, even if they did have the talent.
"What if we need their help?" the commoner challenged Kuzco, "Yzma has the Heartless on—"
"Yzma's just a pushover!" the llama-emperor cut Pacha off before turning another corner, "We can take her with no trouble at all!"
The pair ran onward in silence as Kuzco led the way to Yzma's secret laboratory.
—————
"No matter what world you visit," Tracy determined, looking at the dark, damp, depressing surroundings that he and Riku made their way through, "a dungeon will always be a dungeon."
Riku maintained a hush, most likely not certain how to respond to Tracy's statement.
"But still," the speaker went on, "you'd think that Kuzco's dungeon would be somewhat different. I mean, honestly..."
"Tracy," Riku spoke quietly, "does this actually count as a date?"
The other youth giggled at the question and kidded Riku, "If this is your idea of a date, then I think we should see other people. Personally, I always imagined my first date to be something nice and quiet, isolated, just the two of us."
This piqued Riku's interest. "How would that work?"
"Nothing too..." Tracy searched for the word, "Not too elaborate. I like things simple and clean." With a smile to the inner irony of his choice of words, he continued, looking in every door they passed by as he talked, "A simple dinner, just you and me, where we could sit, talk, and eat, and afterwards, a nice walk through a quiet part of town. We could settle down on a quiet hillside, and it would be kinda cold, but not too much, so that we could be close to each other for warmth."
"So," Riku took a guess, "the nearly-complete opposite of this."
Tracy nodded, "Yeah. Maybe one day we'll do that. I dunno how, but we will. So, what about you?"
"Huh?"
"Any first date dreams?" Tracy clarified.
Riku smirked slightly to himself, "Well, uhm..."
It happened with such swift speed that Tracy barely had time to react. At a corner ahead of the couple of chatting kids, a man stepped into their view, and to Tracy, he stepped from the pages and thoughts of fantasy and nightmares into the world of the living and breathing, the flesh and blood. In a heartbeat, Riku and Tracy came face-to-face with Magus.
For an eternity, neither party made a move. Tracy was frozen in shock as his eyes met Magus's, and his mind used the eternal silence to ponder over some of the obvious inquiries, What's he doing here? Where did he come from? Is he friendly?
When the wizard's mouth curled in an evil grin and his right hand raised to shoulder level to his side, Tracy knew the answer to the last question. In a moment of darkness, a deadly sickle came to the hands of the magician as he readied himself for unavoidable battle. At the same time, Riku obtained the Lockheart and Tracy's staff arose to a defensive posture.
"Friend of yours?" Riku asked Tracy Starlight seriously.
"Magus," he identified the man before them, "and I wouldn't call him a friend."
Wordlessly, Magus began the fight, flying at Tracy with unexpected speed and power. The end of the scythe's shaft jammed into Tracy's staff, but Tracy's strength wasn't enough to hold the dark magician at bay, and the staff was forced against the boy's chest. A split-second later, Tracy stumbled and fell backwards. Before the unlucky kid could even touch the ground, though, the still-airborne Magus launched a devastating kick, striking Tracy directly in the jaw. He flew into the hard rock wall head-first like a rag doll.
—————
"Tracy!" Riku hollered before setting his furious sights on Magus, whose feet touched down on the spot where his target had been standing seconds before. Between clenched teeth, he snarled at Magus, "You'll pay for that one, buddy!" The feeling spoken, Riku attacked viciously with the black Keyblade of hearts, putting all of his power into the swing which Magus blocked proficiently with his scythe. In a rapid movement, Magus pushed the Lockheart away from him, released a hand from holding his blade, and thrust his open palm at Riku. In the blink of an eye, a cold wind emitted from the wizard, causing Riku's skin to feel like he was being shredded into with a thousand needles, though no such needles existed. The Keyblade master was pushed back by the dark breeze as he yelped out in severe pain, and he hit the wall violently. Finishing the job, Magus pointed his middle and index fingers at Riku, sending bands of darkness at his arms. The magic attack hit both of his wrists, and the bands wrapped around them and bonded themselves to the rocky wall. In a dreadful déjà vu, Riku was once again immobilized and helpless.
Magus made no further aggressive movements, and he simply stared at the silver-haired Keyblade master, shaking his head with saddened disappointment. Magus then stepped towards his captive as he silently made his weapon disappear. Glaring into Riku's cerulean eyes with eyes of sinister scarlet, he whispered, "I expected more from a Keyblade master." As the dark man pressed a long finger against Riku's stomach and ran it up the front of his torso slowly, bringing it to rest over the boy's heart, he added, "Especially one with as much darkness in there as you."
"What do you know about me?" the boy growled defiantly at his enemy.
Magus close his eyes and lifted his head up, as if he had entered some kind of meditation. "You once opened you heart to the darkness," the evil one smiled, "and it is still within you, buried under the useless guise of your light." The red eyes opened, and Riku almost saw a brief glow in them before Magus said, "You could be far more than you are if you let yourself give in to the darkness."
At the mention of the idea, Riku did the single thing that he had been waiting to do ever since Magus had attacked Tracy. With a moment of preparation, the boldly obstinate Riku spit in Magus's face, grinning afterwards and telling the dark sorcerer, "I'll die first."
Magus calmly wiped the expectoration from his face with his fingers before smearing it on Riku's cheeks hatefully. "I'm afraid I have a better idea," he whispered, placing his palm against Riku's heart. "Scion of the darkness!" he began the spell, his hand and Riku's chest pulsing with dark power, "Come forth and retake the—"
A wooden rod from behind swung powerfully, hitting the wizard in the side of his head. Magus was thrust to the side away from Riku as a clearly-injured, barely-functional Tracy stepped forward and assumed his place. However, Magus soon regained his balance, but not before Tracy went into an indirect, offensive action. Pointing at Magus's feet with the rod, Tracy fired off a blast of icy rage, which encased the dark master's feet in a mass of ice that froze itself to the floor and Magus's legs. Gritting his teeth to deal with his pain, Tracy raised his staff and thrust it against the dark restraints around Riku's wrists, shattering the magic force.
"Glad to see you're alive!" the surprised Riku gladly greeted him. The formerly restrained kid tried his best to hide the truth behind the awful feeling of pain that he felt within his chest due to Magus's magic. Whatever it was, he decided that it could be saved for a later time.
"We be going!" Tracy ordered as he waved his hand down the hall, leading away from Magus.
The Keyblade master had no objections to a quick retreat, and both Tracy and Riku went into a sprint, putting as much distance between them and their would-be conqueror as humanly possible.
—————
Kuzco, soaked in water, walked into the dark room which served as the entrance to Yzma's hidden laboratory dragging an overgrown crocodile on his leg. Giving it a hard kick to the head, the llama complained, "Okay, why does she even have that lever? Try the other one!"
When Kuzco assumed his place next to Pacha, the portly man pulled down the other lever, opening the secret door into the darkness of Yzma's lair. The pair then walked cautiously into the opening, wary of possible tricks and traps in wait in the darkness. It didn't take long before they spotted their quarry standing next to a table, to which was strapped the teenage girl that traveled with Sora.
"Yzma!" Kuzco shouted at her back.
"What!" she yelled back in surprise. The lady whirled around angrily, focusing on her unexpected guests. "Well, Your Highness, I hardly expected to see you in this dreary place!"
"I like root beer!" Felicity screamed out from the table. "It's tasty and peppy!"
Kuzco, Yzma, and Pacha glared at the strange girl at the same moment, utterly confused as to what prompted her declaration of love to root beer.
"What?" she asked the trio, "Do you have a problem with root beer?"
"Here, drink this!" Yzma told Felicity, shoving a vial of pink liquid into her mouth.
"Tastes like... root beer!" the girl noted before passing out.
Yzma smiled innocently, stating coldly, "Now, no more distractions."
The emperor looked into the eyes of his former advisor seriously, and she returned the act with equal intensity. After about ten seconds, though, Kuzco's eyes widened as he screamed to Yzma, "Hey! What's that behind you!"
"What?" she turned to see nothing, giving Kuzco the painfully simple opening he needed.
The llama and his friend rushed towards Yzma immediately, slamming into her with a combined tackle. The old, dark woman slammed into the wall, screeching with discomfort as she traveled the distance.
"Felicity!" Pacha called out to her as he unbuckled hr restraints, "Wake up! Get up!"
"But today's a half-day," she mumbled in reply, barely conscious from whatever sedative Yzma had given to her.
"You fools!" the villainous female insulted as she regained her composure, "I've gone easy on you for long enough! Now, feel the wrath of the darkness!"
Kuzco held his head up confidently in the face of Yzma's threats. "Bring it on, sister!"
A loud banging noise, like a powerful footstep, rumbled the surroundings as their newest enemy came forth. "Behold, my personal pet Heartless!"
"O-on second thought," Kuzco uttered in fear of whatever force was behind the rumbling, "I think m-my low blood sugar's staring to k-kick in!"
Felicity's eyes opened barely as the teenage lady yelled out loudly, "It's a giant llama!"
The darkness that surrounded them was suddenly illuminated by bright light, revealing that Felicity's seemingly senseless outburst was correct. An overgrown, Heartless llama dominated the room, standing almost three times as high as Kuzco.
Kuzco and Pacha looked up at the beast with fear, but Felicity eyes the creature with a strange delight. "Wow! That's awesome!" As she moved to stand up, though, her hand felt against another vial of pink fluid. "Hey! What's this do?" With wide-eyed wonder, she picked up the glass container and hurled it at the Heartless. With an inglorious cloud of smoke, it vanished, only to be replaced by a black penguin.
"Uhm," Yzma spoke nervously, "That's kinda... embarrasssing."
Felicity ignored the witch, focusing on the penguin. "Wow! A penguin! Is it edible?"
