CHAPTER LVII

THE HOME STRETCH

Kuzco hummed an annoying song as he, Sora, Kairi, Riku and Pacha walked over the grassy hills in front of the temple. "I'm almost ho-ome, no more stinky llama…" he sang, making up the words as he went.

"Can you give it a rest? That's driving me nuts…" Riku said, knowing that Kuzco wouldn't stop singing unless he was good and ready. "How are you planning on turning back again? Yzma's probably the only one that would know…and she's the one that did it to you!"

Kuzco stopped singing as he thought about it. "I dunno…I bet it'll work out though…"

Everyone including Pacha rolled their eyes at Kuzco's blind optimism.

Moments later, they heard a familiar panicked quacking sound as Donald came into view over the hills. Behind him were Goofy and Eddy, running as if the temple was on fire…

"Hey! Donald! Goofy! Over here!" Sora called excitedly as they reunited with their friends. "How'd you escape?"

"Hades captured Kronk…it was easy after dat…" Donald panted.

"Plus we found Yzma's lab – it had these potions that turn ya into an animal…" Goofy added as the guards came charging into view. "Speakin' of which…we got company!"

Sora jumped upward and slammed his keyblade down in front of the bear guard – the battle axe it used gleamed in the sunlight as he swung it, nearly chopping Sora's hair off.

Kairi dove around Sora and the bear to take on the snake and the toucan – the snake was only able to wrap itself around her arm, hindering her from swinging her keyblade as the toucan pecked at her body, a heavy mace hanging from his talons. Kairi called out 'fira!' as the flames spread out from her keyblade, incinerating the snake. She leaped up into the air, smacking the toucan in the beak…but it was strong, holding her at bay with his swinging mace…

Goofy and Donald engaged the crafty badger and the monkey. The two smaller animals were circling Goofy and Donald, holding their spears out and closing the gap between them…Donald tried to bat the badger away with his long Missile Wand, but it was too long to swing quickly…Goofy managed to peg the monkey in the face with his shield, but it barely phased him…

Pacha and Kuzco were being backed away from the fight by the horse and cow guards…the horse stood on all fours, but the cow was able to stand on his hind legs, swinging another massive axe over his head. Pacha launched into a series of devastating blows against the cow, knocking it backwards…it was way too slow to stand a chance against Pacha, and it knew that…suddenly, the horse dashed by the cow, allowing it to sit on its back, like a jockey…or, perhaps, a jouster. The horse pulled fast circles around Kuzco and Pacha, allowing the cow to strike them with the blunt edge of its axe, hurting them badly…

Riku struggled on top of the highest hill while battling the octopus – it held six knives in its tentacles, swinging them wildly. Even Riku's fast reactionary skills weren't enough to dodge the arms as they flailed around him. He got slashed with the knives over and over until he realized a weakness…taking a step back, he called out 'magnet!' drawing the octopus' six daggers into the field, tentacles still hanging on to them. With a quick flip he jumped up and landed on it's arms, pinning them all to the ground…it was quick work after that – a beam of 'darkara' to the face made the octopus no longer a threat.

Kairi had managed to knock the mace from the toucan's claws, but now that it wasn't weighed down, she saw how fast it truly was – in a multi colored blur it zoomed past her face repeatedly, occasionally coming rather close and knocking her off balance. Kairi concentrated…staring straight at where the bird was going to be, rather than where it was…and then swung, connecting with the bird's beak, sending it smashing into the ground, defeated.

Goofy and Donald were being lashed at left and right by the badger and the monkey…they couldn't move without being slashed with the badger's sword as it swung around like a whirlwind…against all his greater instincts, Goofy reached into his pocket and pulled out two more vials, tossing them at the ground, engulfing the guards in another puff of pink smoke. However, this time they had been changed for the worse – a small beetle crawled along the edge of the badger's sword next to a fat little mouse. Donald and Goofy left them there, defenseless, as they rushed over to help Sora.

The bear was easily the strongest of the group, though not the smartest…Sora had knocked his axe clear across the field with a strong backswing. Gearing up for a finishing blow, he swung his Bloom of Unity as hard as he could. But as Sora swung his keyblade, the bear ferociously clamped it in his teeth, holding Sora's arm captive. Sora recoiled as the bear slashed at his chest with his open paw, not wanting to let go of the keyblade…

Remembering the best part of the keyblade, he let it go and stepped backward as it disappeared from the bear's mouth, causing him to chomp down on his own tongue. As the Bloom of Unity was summoned back to Sora's hand, he slashed at the bear with a fervor until it was gone for good.

Only the horse and cow posed a threat any longer…they saw that they were seriously outnumbered, as Sora, Riku, Kairi Donald and Goofy all started to jog over to help Pacha and Kuzco… Turning on his hooves, the horse made a bee-line for the palace, trying to put as much distance between himself and the peasants as possible…

Kuzco looked up at Pacha. "I'm gonna regret this…get on!" he said, Pacha not missing a beat while he climbed onto the llama's back. It was a quick race – Kuzco and Pacha caught up with the horse and cow in no time…with his staff, Pacha simply tripped the horse, sending them both flying into a pile of rocks up ahead, eliminating the last of the guards.

As the friends gathered atop the highest hill, they were able to see the stairs leading up to the temple…it wouldn't be long now…

"Stop right there, you meddling peasants…" Yzma's jagged voice called out, as she came into view over the top of another hill. "It's over now…Kronk's disappeared and I'm the only other one who knows that he's a llama…I'll be crowned Empress in just a few days time…and there's nothing you can do to stop me…"

Donald reached into Goofy's pocket…there were still dozens of vials left…one of them had to be the one to make Kuzco human, but there was no way to tell which one it was. He thought about tossing them all at Yzma, making her decide, but the ground suddenly shook as a massive black portal opened up in front of them, engulfing any hills and valleys in its way. Riku immediately put away his keyblade, just in case…

Sure enough, Hades popped out of the portal first, holding a long leash. The leash started to curl upwards as a gigantic heartless rose from the depths – it looked like the head of the temple – golden headdress, a set of open, circular eyes, and a long mouth. But the torso was bulging with black, rippling muscles. The blood-red tunic it wore had a heartless insignia right in the middle, leading down to a pair of thick, brown legs that seemed to hang limply, barely touching the ground. The arms, too, hung by the creatures side while its head lolled back and forth on its shoulders.

"What the heck is that?" Kuzco said as he was force fed a potion by Pacha. He turned into a goldfish as he flopped around on the ground.

"It's Kronk…" Kairi said, looking up at the enormous puppet heartless.