The Time Break Saga 2: Silver Linings

by The Unplanner

Continuation after Dark Clouds. Riku and Lambda are back in the Realm of Light, but the Organization isn't through with them yet. Meanwhile, a LOT of time passed in the world of the Azure, and a connection between times has been forged. Xemnas and Terumi's plans collide, which is guaranteed to mess up our heroes' first date. COMPLETE!

15. This Will Be on the Test!

Silver Linings

Chapter 15: This Will Be on the Test!

A/N: I promised several of my PM contacts that there would be epic Hazama trolling and counter-trolling in this chapter. So here you go!

I have been informed that Asteroid Sweep goes to Beast's Castle and Stardust Sweep leads to The Land of Dragons. I also combined elements of the two routes. Oops. Too late to change it now, of course, so we're rolling with it. I have the source game on hand now, so I can hopefully avoid mistakes like labeling the "Spider" Nobody with the six destructible guns in the last chapter as a "Heartless mecha." It's mentioned and semi-justified this time around. That mix-up happened while I had the "KH Insider dot com" site opened, and I was trying to use their archives specifically to avoid screwing up my references; I might be a lost cause.

The Land of Dragons section in this chapter was done without looking again at the game or movie, but I put more characters and scenes in it anyway. In my opinion, no matter how much love the movie Mulan is getting right now, it needs more. I also totally removed any mention of the Morale Gauge missions from that world, which I hate with a passion that rivals Axel's flames.

If the writing style for Riku's part of this chapter seems different compared to the others, it's because I just watched the whole Sword Art Online Abridged Series before writing it. I tend to end up mimicking the writing style of other works I see right beforehand. However, in this case, SAO Abridged is the perfect show to use in acquiring a trolling mindset through osmosis, which will help bring out Hazama's character. So here you go! Again!

Here's a friendly warning to be ready for Hazama's mostly-unnecessary cursing. He's the reason the rating bumped up, after all. There are also a couple mentions of blood and squicky things villains do when they cut people, which fits with Hazama's character.

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Wonderland: The Bizarre Room...

Lambda opened her eyes to see-Error. Memory quarantined. Open quarantine (Y/N)? She gave a long-suffering sigh and answered Y. Yep, this was the Bizarre Room in Wonderland. Again. "Why do I keep ending up here? It makes no sense, and not just because this whole world is designed to make no sense! Now I have to deal with the headache, because the quarantine itself was too stressful to keep building up every time I end up here! Riku, when do we get to leave?" Lambda practically whined.

Riku, not having been here for two of the visits Lambda mentioned, was taken aback at her apparently sudden irritation. "Uh... There's a giant Heartless. I think it's in this room, but I don't see it anywhere..."

At least Lambda could remember the answer to that quandary now. "Oh, maybe it'll only show up if we drink the blue bottle of shrinking potion."

"What potion? There isn't even a place to put a-" Suddenly, the table in the middle of the room changed from a cleverly-shaded drawing on the floor to a solid, three-dimensional object in a puff of smoke, complete with a pair of bottles with red and blue labels. "...Oh. How did you know that was there?"

"I was here twice before you joined back up with me in the fight against Xion. The bottle was there the first time."

"Fight against who?" Riku could swear they'd already gone over this, but the details were fuzzy.

Lambda blanched. This memory problem was worse than she thought, and she tried not to blow up at Riku over it, with limited success. "We went over this already. We just went over this in Halloween Town before fighting the Leechgrave! I guess no one who lost their memory of her is allowed to remember, which is probably a problem that's unique to her. I've got examples of names being lost to history, but this is something else! I hope I can work around that after we meet up with Sora; I'd hate to break a promise just because Xion's literally gone out of sight and out of mind." Lambda reaffirmed her resolve to fix the mess that was Xion, and spent another few seconds reining in the constant headache she still had from Wonderland overdose. "I'm sorry, Riku; I didn't mean to get so mad over that. This place is really getting to me."

"Then I guess we should just drink the potion and beat whatever Heartless is supposedly in this room, so we can get out of here." Riku took the blue bottle and downed a sip of the unidentifiable liquid inside. "There. ...Ugh, that tasted awful! Quick, you need to have some before I start-" Both of them began to shrink, somehow ending up on top of the table. "...Ugh, never mind. Now I've got a headache."

Lambda finally snapped and started venting her frustrations. "See what I mean? It makes no sense! If the shrinking potion is something you drink in order to shrink, why did I also shrink when you're the only one who drank? It's crazy! And my programming is constantly screaming at me to fix this entire illogical mess, and I can't! I'd have to be a goddess to change the fundamental nature of this world, so the next thing my programming brings up is a compulsion to kill whatever godalready runs this place and take their job, which I don't even have the tools or specs to do!Not to mention we still have to fight a giant Heartless while we're only a couple inches tall..."

Right on cue (and cutting off Lambda's full-on rant before she might have repeated herself), the Heartless in question leaped onto the scene, punching the table back into drawing form. Riku and Lambda dove out of the way of the accompanying explosion and stood up to get a better look at their adversary.

Staring at the Crimson Prankster (basically a Trickmaster like the one at Castle Oblivion, only it was colored more pink than red), Lambda found the bright side to the situation, meager though it was. "Well, at least the world doesn't have to do different illogical things every time..."

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The World Map...

"So, I guess we have to set a course to the next world through this 'Asteroid Sweep' place. Let's go!" Sora motioned to Goofy, who set the coordinates.

Donald reached over and grabbed Goofy's hand to stop him. "Wait! First I have to pass around the spoils!"

"What spoils? D'you mean the stuff in the chests?" Goofy asked.

"Well, there were some synthesis materials, but I'm talking about this!" Donald produced a trinket with a round, green gem that looked almost exactly like the Blizzard Element Merlin had given them. "It's a Cure Element! I found it in the Parlor!" He handed the spell-granting artifact to Sora.

"I can't believe you managed to sneak this thing out from under all our noses, but I'm sort of glad you did... We should give it back when we come back to visit." In Sora's mind, there was no "if" involved there. They would come back to visit. The Keyblade wielder felt the knowledge of Cure return to him, although he was somewhat disappointed at this version's...inefficiency. In the last adventure, he could have gotten away with casting seven Curagas in a row, but this version of Cure was guaranteed to use up every last scrap of his mana and force him to recharge, no matter how much he built up his reserves! The good news was, "Well, I guess if I can't Cure every injury, then we'll still need those healing items from time to time, Goofy. Now, let's blast off!"

The Gummi Ship soared through the Keyhole portal, straight into the Asteroid Sweep combat zone!

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Blast off! Asteroid Sweep!

This combat zone was similar to the last one, and the trio handled it the same way. There wasn't any ground beneath the ship for tanks to run on, but there were new Nobodies that fired huge, ring-shaped projectiles. Sora found that the holes in the middle of the rings were totally harmless, and maneuvered the Gummi Ship cleanly through each one as Donald blasted the enemy.

A UFO-like enemy dropped down in front of the group at one point, and unfurled into a six-armed giant Nobody. Goofy noted, "Huh. The computer said that was a Heartless last time. Now it's saying it's a 'Spider' Nobody."

While spinning around the explosive cannonballs being fired at them, Sora replied, "Well, the only enemies we shot down on the last journey were Heartless, so maybe the computer just didn't know the difference?"

Chip chimed in over the communicator, "Yep! We just finished updating the targeting system to properly scan Nobodies! Really, though, you did a great job beating the last one without it." Indeed, Donald's barrages had already brought down the new Spider, and Goofy collected the salvageable Gummi Blocks from it. "By the way, guys, keep grabbing those Gummi Blocks out there. We're using them to build Teeny Ships for you, and we're almost done with the first one! Good luck!" The comm fell silent.

Donald managed to shoot down every last Nobody in the next swarm of small, blue fighters, and was rewarded by the appearance of a larger, red version. It took a few more blasts to kill than the others, but the reward was another Gummi Block lump. Goofy rubbed his hands together in anticipation of using the Teeny System, but Donald had a complaint. "Sora, why do you keep doing barrel rolls?"

Sora shrugged. "Can't help it. I just pressed this button that says 'Shield', and it did a roll. The good news is that some of the bullets I was rolling away from bounced off, so it does work as a shield, and the ship moves farther sideways than usual when I use it. Maybe the roll replaces the Shield-G we used last time? This way works as many times as we need it to, after all."

"But only until we can't take any more spinning," Donald groaned as he reached for a barf bag. Luckily, this Gummi Route was shorter than the last one, and they never fought anything harder than another Spider Nobody. The Highwind docked at the new world, "The Land of Dragons".

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The Bizarre Room: Defeat the Crimson Prankster!

The battle began with the Crimson Prankster walking away from itself. It split into two identical copies, and Lambda discovered after her opening stabs that injuring one didn't affect the other. "So, I guess we can kill one and then focus on the other?" Lambda targeted the left Prankster, sending Sickle Storms at it from a distance.

"That's probably what it wants us to think, since it's a Trickmaster." Riku targeted the right Prankster, just in case.

"It's called a Crimson Prankster, actually. We can't expect the same tricks we saw in Castle Oblivion, of course." Lambda continued hammering the left Prankster from a distance, and its efforts to blow a flamethrower attack from its juggling torches didn't quite reach her from this far away. At least it still used the same element of magic.

"Really, the name is just semantics. At the end of the day, it's just another Heartless to beat down until it stops getting back up." Riku punctuated his statement by starting a Dark Break attack, slamming down on the stacked heads of the right Crimson Prankster. It crumpled to the ground, laying flat as paper, then vanished into smoke. Its captive heart rose up, but didn't fly away. Instead, it joined the other Crimson Prankster, who once again split into two. "Okay, of all the things it could have done after beating one of them, that's the most annoying possibility." Riku sighed and set in on the right-side Prankster again.

Lambda reported, "They both have exactly as much damage on them as the survivor did. I think it'll get easier if we whittle them down, until we can beat them both at once."

"Well, let's not let that take too long. This could get dull fast," Riku smirked as he vanished from the path of the flaming tornadoes the Pranksters' spinning turned them into. Soul Eater cleaved through the backs of both copies, knocking them down simultaneously. "I have to wonder if it was really worth coming here just to beat that. Am I getting too strong for my own good again?" Riku pulled off his hood and took a deep breath as the Crimson Prankster failed to reform.

The mood died abruptly at the same time the lights overhead did. A sinister voice slithered into the travelers' ears. "Wanna put that theory to the test, kiddies?"

Lambda froze up. "No, not him. Of all the people who could have crossed a new Time Break in Wonderland, why did it have to be Yuuki Terumi? Has the universe not had enough of yanking my chain yet?!"

"Well, I know I never get tired of yanking the chains of pathetic puppets like you. But please, call me Hazama. I'm a Captain in NOL Intelligence. Of course, I'm off duty right now." Terumi's mock-polite tone hardened into frustration. "The damn cat's sniveling daughter hid li'l Raggy from me somehow, so I've got to kill time until he shows back up. If I can kill other things and wreck a couple continuums while I'm at it, so much the better! And let me tell you..."

A knife suddenly pressed into Lambda's throat through the blackness.

"I'm ecstatic that I can start with you, Number 11! It's your fault Rags survived my last beatdown! Sure, it was another version of you, but that just means I get to kill you TWICE! Ragna couldn't even manage to kill me once, so this makes me two-for-oh!" *Shhhick!* After the ripping sound of the knife biting into flesh, several drips echoed through the dark room.

The lights in the room became just bright enough to make out what Hazama had just done. He licked the edge of his butterfly knife, drinking the artificial blood he'd just drawn from Lambda's neck. Lambda keeled over sideways, but Hazama caught her around the waist, hoisting her up for Riku to see.

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The Land of Dragons: Bamboo Clearing...

Sora, Donald, and Goofy found themselves in a grove surrounded by bamboo. There was a loud voice coming from somewhere up ahead, and they pushed past some bamboo shoots to figure out where it was and what it was saying.

"You must succeed for your family's honor, but if they find you out, the penalty... is DEATH!" A boy was apparently being accosted by a large, shadowy creature in the clearing up ahead, looming over a small campfire. Goofy realized what his partners were about to try, and called, "Hey guys, maybe we should look before we leap!"

Too late; Sora and Donald already leaped head-first at the shadowy dragon. Goofy covered his eyes as they crashed into a huge boulder, catching nothing but the shadow cast by the campfire.

"Ow..." Sora looked up at the armored boy, who looked appropriately concerned for the health of these newcomers who just flung their own skulls at a rock.

"Are you okay, what are you doing here?" Odd, that voice was pretty high for a guy...

"Where did that big creature go?" Sora asked as he rubbed his head.

"I'm right here, baby! I am the immense! The powerful! The invincible! The pleasurable! The indescribable Mushu!" To punctuate his last boast, a tiny, red, very familiar dragon strutted out from behind the campfire that was casting his shadow on the rock. The contrast between the scrawny Mushu and his ego-sized shadow-puppet show was a bit disappointing, but Sora didn't really care at that moment.

"Mushu? Is that you?" Goofy called as he loped over to the group. "It's been a while!"

"You know my family guardian?" The armored boy asked.

"Yep! We met him while we were traveling around. It was a while ago." Sora recalled seating the little dragon on his head and letting him pepper Heartless with tiny fireballs, which helped the Keyblade wielder keep out of claw's reach of the monsters. He'd only gotten the ability to summon Mushu near the end of the last journey, but he'd done well against the tough Heartless in the End of the World. It was nothing Sora's group couldn't handle on their own, but Mushu made a good showing the first time they summoned him.

Mushu was quick to play this up. "Yep! We went all over the place roasting monsters! I've helped Sora here out of a few tight spots." Mushu leaned against Sora's ankle to put on an air of tough-guy indifference, but Sora shifted sideways, so the dragon fell on his back.

"Something like that," Sora chuckled.

Goofy asked, "Were you always a family guardian, Mushu?"

"Uh... Yeah! Yeah, I was. And that puts you up to your eyeballs in debt to the Fa family. Best start working it off." The next part was in a stage whisper. "Help me out here! I dunno if I can get this joker into the Chinese army on my own!" Mushu gestured to the armored boy, who mostly stayed out of the discussion.

"Who are you, anyway?" Sora asked the boy.

"I'm Fa Mu-" The boy clapped a hand over his mouth. "Um, I'm..."

"Ping!" Mushu offered, raising his pointer claw into the air from his position on his back.

"Right!" The boy took the cue, suddenly using a much deeper voice. "I am Ping! I'm going to join the Chinese army to bring honor to my family!"

Sora rubbed his chin. Something wasn't adding up...

Goofy clapped his fist on his palm. "I get it! You're pretending to be a boy, aren't you?" Sora and Donald gaped at Goofy's newest display of deductive reasoning. With how many times he had figured out something everyone else missed so far, it was unclear why the dog was the one named Goofy.

"You really didn't notice?" The so-called Ping reverted to her usual voice. "Maybe I've got a shot at this after all..."

Mushu finally pushed himself upright. "Yeah, but don't get too cocky yet; these guys are a bunch of dunces, from what I recall. You'll need to do better to fool Captain Li Shang, that officer guy in charge of training the recruits and famous for having an unfairly manly chest. You gotta be that manly, girl."

Ping sighed heavily. "I've got to try, at any rate... Sora, Donald, Goofy? Will you help? I might pull it off easier if you can vouch for me."

Sora replied with an easy smile, "Sure, why not? We're bound to run into what we're looking for along the way."

"Alright, let's do this! TO BOOT CAMP!" Mushu thrust a fist into the air and tried to charge down the path to the camp, but tripped over a purple cricket. "Cri-Kee? Since when were you coming along?"

The cricket chirped several times while expressing a surprising amount of exasperation for a bug.

Mushu slapped his forehead. "Oh, yeah. I forgot the whole 'follow Mulan' thing was your idea. I might not have let you along anyway, but you're lucky that you're lucky, yeah?" Both the little creatures hopped up onto Mulan's (Ping's; gotta remember the cover identity!) shoulder and hid in "his" armor, and Ping led the way down the hill.

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The Bizarre Room: Defeat Hazama!

Riku froze in place, golden eyes already shining with tears. Hazama laughed his most infuriating cackle, reveling in another success. He called out, "Yo, other...guy! I don't know your name, and I frankly don't care. But don't tell me you feel bad that I just knifed this tool! Oh, don't tell me... You were in love with it, weren't you? Well, good news then! I just drew a little blood. Number Eleven would be a really shitty weapon of mass destruction if it could die from one little nick like that. So now you get to see me do it again! And again! And AGAI-" Hazama was cut off by Riku suddenly appearing in front of him and punching the snake so hard in the face that his whole head snapped backward out of view. Lambda fell out of Hazama's grip and crumpled to the floor.

"Don't you dare talk about Lambda that way, you bastard!" Riku shouted, with Darkness rising from his body like smoke. But that smoke wafted towards Hazama, who was still laughing despite the vicious right hook to the face.

"Oh, right, my bad. I forgot to mention! I get my power from hatred! Specifically, from other people hating me. So the more shit I put you through, the more you hate me, and the stronger I get! And this Power of Darkness stuff really is something else. Thanks to this power, you couldn't even hit me hard enough to knock off my stylin' fedora!" Sure enough, when Hazama righted his completely undamaged head, his golden, slit-pupiled eyes were still shadowed by the fedora. "So go ahead, hit me as much as you want! It'll only make the despair tastier when I kill you! Go on! I'll give you a freebie."

"Terra Needle." Lambda intoned, having slipped out of melee range during Hazama's latest attempt to break the pair's resistance with words alone.

"Hm? Up already, Eleven? I guess that makes you slightly more durable than most of the idiots I've killed. Too bad you apparently missed your freeb-" *Glurk!* Lambda's attack, which only just went off at that moment, stabbed Hazama from below to cut off his latest taunt, then dropped four more swords on him from above.

Hazama made a show of rubbing the non-wounded areas. "Dang, that is actually the first time anyone has ever spanked my ass. You must really hate my guts!"

"Negative. Emotional lock protocols in effect. All emotional response to Yuuki Terumi...deleted. 100% of this unit's physical damage has been repaired. Terminating target. Gravity Seed." As Hazama stumbled under the increased gravity, Lambda stood up ramrod straight, with no evidence remaining of the deep gash Hazama had carved in her neck moments ago. Without even moving her hands, she summoned an array of countless swords in a dome, poised to skewer Hazama from every direction. "Cutter Infiniti." All the swords slammed home, but Hazama's skin only received minor cuts.

"Damn you! You ruined my favorite suit! Do you know how much it costs to get this repaired every time someone thinks they can beat me?" Despite his angry words, his tone of voice revealed that Hazama wasn't worried yet. Sure, he couldn't troll Number Eleven anymore, and that meant his wounds weren't healing, but that little cherry-tap wouldn't even slow him down. And there was another neat trick he could still play... He crossed his arms behind his head as he hunched over. "It's time I showed you why you can't possibly beat me. Restriction 666 released! Dimensional interference field deployed!" A jagged, poison-green sigil formed under Hazama's feet, and the ground began to shake. "Code S.O.L.!" The rumbling intensified. "BlazBlue, ACTIVATE!" Hazama thrust his arms out and stood up straight, and a field of green energy bordered by swirling runes burst into existence around him. His fedora flew off his head, revealing crazy spikes of slime-green hair. "Not so cocky now, are you, Eleven?! Time to DIE!" Hazama twirled his twin butterfly knives with a manic grin, daring Lambda to make the first move.

Lambda didn't show any outward reaction, but her protocols summed up the change in the situation. "This unit's confidence remains a non-factor to combat strategy. Warning! Target parameters updated. Target's entire body identified as the Azure Grimoire. Target's threat level increased to SS. Likelihood of successful termination of target reduced to 0.5%. Master Riku, this unit requests immediate assistance." Lambda set her Petals in Guard Mode.

Riku was just coming to terms with the fact that his girlfriend re-locked her own emotions to try to even the odds against this monster who barely looked like a man anymore. Not to mention that title she'd just used, Master Riku, which meant she was enforcing her own position as a weapon in Riku's arsenal. How dare Terumi drive Lambda to stoop to thing-hood for his own sick fun?! Riku's own hatred for Hazama still burned brightly, and the Darkness it created was still flowing out to empower his adversary. "Darn it, this is why I didn't want to use the Darkness! It always ends up turning... against you..." Riku's stolen face slowly twisted into a vicious smirk. "Wait, now I get it. I'll handle it, Lambda! One 'immediate assist', coming right up!" Riku took a heavy step forward, and...dismissed Soul Eater entirely. Instead of striking with his weapon, he raised his unarmed glove toward Hazama, blowing out more Darkness that the snake eagerly absorbed.

"Was that your game-changing trick, 'Master Riku?' You realize you just made me stronger, right? Go ahead, keep it up!" Hazama idly summoned the snakelike Nox Nyctores, Ouroboros, to shield himself from the Legacy Edge storm, which Lambda launched the moment he took his eyes off her to face Riku.

Riku just shook his head at Hazama's taunts, affecting a sad smile at the serpent in an obvious show of pity that bordered on smugness. Hazama rattled out a hiss that sounded like an actual snake. There was only one thing Hazama hated more than lies and heroes, and that was being pitied by lying heroes.

When Riku next spoke, he used Ansem's voice, to deliberately dial up the intimidating demeanor he presented. "You just don't get it at all, do you? You're even more clueless than I was when I was starting out. I'm not making you stronger. I'm making the Darkness stronger. There's a difference!" Riku clenched his fist, and suddenly Hazama found himself unable to move so much as a finger. "Do you know why I look ten years older than I actually am? I was possessed by this one other grandiose jerk, a man-turned-monster who called himself Ansem. He did it by getting me to build up the Power of Darkness in my heart, then bending that Darkness to his will." Riku squeezed his fist tighter, causing pain in Hazama's chest. "See, the Darkness doesn't serve anyone intrinsically. It works on a temporary basis, and only for the strongest will around, even if that will is someone else's. And you just fell into the same trap I fell for that time, the only difference being that I got out. It was a long struggle, but I beat the Darkness, something you could never do. I wear Ansem's face, not because he stole my body, but because I stole his body right back. As of this moment, I'm the strongest user of the Power of Darkness in the entire World, and I'm not exaggerating at all. It probably sounds like bragging when I'm so far above you, but it's just the cold...honest...truth."

Riku continued his reversal of Hazama's morale-breaking talk with a growing smirk. "I own you, Yuuki Terumi, in both heart and body. Even if I can't kill you, you're no threat to me at all. Now turn yourself around and march back through that Time Break over there, where I won't have to deal with holding on to this wretched tumor you call your heart. You know, if I get too disgusted by you and my Darkness reflects it, it'll go to you, and help cement my hold on you even further. It's a vicious cycle, isn't it? Go on, say something. See how far your poison tongue will get you with me."

Hazama well and truly lost his cool. "W-what? How are you-what did you-It's not supposed to work like this, damn it!" Hazama clutched his skull (only managing the motion through a supreme effort that Riku allowed him to make), unable to cope with suddenly being the one who was guaranteed to not win. After thousands of hundred-year loops where he knew every single detail, Terumi had no practice dealing with unforeseen complications like this. Not that any extra preparation could have helped him... "Hatred is my weapon! I own it! I AM hate! I will not let my hate be used by some upstart KID! Get your filthy mitts off my soul, you monster!" Despite Hazama's defiant screams, his feet rigidly stepped over to his lost hat, and his back haltingly bent down to retrieve it before he turned to face the Time Break.

Riku set his face into a stony glare. "You're not in a position to call people monsters. Ionly pull out all the stops when I need all my power to protect someone. You're the one who would do this for kicks...if you weren't so weak. Get out of our lives, Terumi. And take your ugly hat with you on the way out; it makes you look like you're trying too hard at the irredeemable villain angle." Hazama marched through the Time Break against his will, impotently screaming bloody murder all the way. Riku kept up his concentration for ten more seconds after Hazama disappeared, then relaxed.

Lambda hadn't moved since launching the Legacy Edge for two reasons. One, because she wasn't needed. Two, because Riku mind-controlling people was brain-breaking for Lambda. It caused her processor to freeze up, the robotic, quasi-emotionless equivalent of being scared stiff, because this should not happen and the thing that shouldn't happen was going to kill her. Somehow, it was even worse that those words didn't come from Ansem at all; everything Riku said came from his own heart. It turned every fact the Prime Field Device knew about Riku on its head for a moment, and it would take time to get her perceptions back in a new order. Still, now that the threat was ended (the overhead lamps had even brightened back to their normal levels to prove it), she had one last report to give. "Target lost; area cleared of hostiles. Master Riku, this unit requests permission to deactivate all emotional locks."

Riku jerked in place, suddenly realizing exactly how far he'd gone in using the Darkness in all the wrong ways, right in front of his girlfriend. Some comfort he was! Still, Lambda was waiting for him to undo her restrictions, like he'd done the first time they'd met, and he absolutely couldn't keep her waiting. He switched back to his own voice immediately. "Do it! Remove those locks as fast as you can. And please don't put them up again; I was worried they might be permanent this time..."

"Acknowledged. Emotional lock override...successful. Phew, that's better! But as for you, that whole exchange was...scary. To describe just how scary you were, if I were capable of feeling fear while you did it, I might have gone insane from terror and stabbed myself and everything around me, because I realized that you could take over my mind even more easily than Relius Clover. I was 100% certain right up to that point that you'd never do anything Ansem did to you! Don't ever do that again!" Lambda was suddenly unarmored, positioned right in Riku's arms, and squeezing him for all she was worth, with enough strength in her arms to push down a building the size of the Mysterious Tower). As soon as she had her arms around her boyfriend, she started crying her crimson eyes out. "I don't know what to do! I don't want to leave you, but I don't want to be enslaved by the boy I love, and if you ended up doing that...!"

Riku tried to squeeze out some words of comfort through the vise around his midsection. "I...definitely won't...Lambda. That's the kind of thing...only Terumi could deserve." Lambda loosened up a bit, and Riku took a deep breath before continuing. "I would never do that to anyone with even a shred of hope for redemption. Not even...not even Ansem." Surprisingly, Riku meant everything he said, even the bit about not trying to possess Ansem. "You're right: that control is the kind of power no one should have. I scared myself with the things I said to Terumi, actually. That wasn't the kind of person I want to be, not at all. But now I have to face that I could end up being that evil, which might work out for the best. Now I know what to look out for, and how to be a better person." Riku wiped some excess tears away from Lambda's cheeks, and stepped back to give her the warmest smile he could. "So don't worry. I won't let anyone do that to you. I especially won't let myself fall that far. I promise. Hey, cheer up; at least we can finally get off this world now!"

Lambda sniffled for a few more seconds, then got her tears under control. "As much as I hate to say it, we have to stick around to tell Kokonoe about this Time Break. I'll call her." Lambda contacted Kokonoe over her internal radio, sending along the coordinates of both ends of the Time Break that linked the Bizarre Room to the Azure Timeline.

Kokonoe's voice crackled over Lambda's external speaker. "Well, that explains where Terumi went during the tournament, and why he just showed up right by the arena. Good thing you kept him busy for so long; we were able to get what we needed from the event. But what did you do to him? The bastard was way less cocky than usual, and he just about broke down crying when I pulled my own trump card on him. I mean, sure, putting him in his place is pretty much my life goal, but I just wasn't expecting you two to be able to do it. That jerkass is more or less a god, and he lords it over us mortals every chance he gets." Kokonoe sounded legitimately impressed.

Riku hesitantly replied, "Well...things work differently over here. I'd say how I did it, but I don't want to scare Lambda all over again, and I'm not doing it again. Ever."

Kokonoe got the picture. "Got it. You had to fight dirty and cross a few moral lines. That's generally how I have to do it. Well, I've finally got a sufficiently foolproof plan to finish Terumi off for good, and knowing Rachel, she's probably preparing a plan of her own to beat me to it. Well, if she manages to actually kill that bastard, I'll take it as a blessing. I might even drop that high-and-mighty vampire from my hit list if she pulls it off; most of what I hate about her is what she doesn't do. Anyway, stand by for a bit. Tager needs to recharge after teleporting Azrael to his new doghouse yesterday and holding up an Eclipse Field for an hour today."

Azrael? "I understand." Lambda shuddered at the level of effort it must have taken to get Azrael caged up. Her database files on the "Mad Dog" skimped on his background, but his power and feats on the battlefield were spelled out in no uncertain terms. "But what's that trump card you mentioned?"

"Eh, I've got time to explain, so strap in; this one's a doozy. I did some digging in the past and copied Celica A. Mercury from 90 years ago. I'll spare you the gruesome and/or technical details. In the genetic sense, she's my aunt on my mother's side, which I...prefer not to think about. Anyway, she's tagging along with Ragna right now. Hopefully, you'll never meet her, except in the...unfortunately likely scenario that she gets lost to her usual extreme degree and stumbles through a Time Break. I'm still working on a permanent solution to those; progress is being slower than I'd like. Anyway, stand by 'til Tager and Mickey get there." Kokonoe cut the connection.

Lambda took a few seconds to digest the information (Kokonoe cloned her aunt? From the past? As a secret weapon? One that might "get lost" in another universe without warning?!), but then blanched as a realization hit her. "Aw, shoot! We have to stay in Wonderland until we can get this closed!" Riku sighed in frustration, but he could already hear a faint jingling sound...

"LOOK OUT, COMIN' THROUGH!" King Mickey made a flashy entrance with his usual impeccable timing, crashing down in the spot Riku just jumped away from. "I'm here! Glad to see you're okay, fellas!" The Time Break began to glow as Tager affected it from the other side, and Mickey promptly sealed the rift. "Sorry I can't stick around. I've got a few more places to check. Besides, this world just bugs me for some reason."

"You and everyone else, Your Majesty," Lambda replied. "We should be going as well. Right, Riku?"

"Yeah. Let's go, dear." Riku formed a Dark Corridor as Mickey waved and launched into the sky again.

"Good to see you're getting used to the romantic bits, dear. I'm still working on that, so I might be a bit blunt for a while." Lambda giggled at Riku's belated blush. "Hey, why don't we just go for a second date this time, instead of looking for another huge Heartless? I need to take a break from this 'saving the World, one world at a time' plan. Almost dying twice in one day is stressful. Plus, we haven't slept for... Oh my gods, we haven't slept for an entire week!" Lambda took a moment to confirm the time on her World Clock.

Riku's jaw dropped. "How did we not pass out during the whole thing with Roxas? You win; we're taking a break. I definitely need to get some real food and a real bed. Twilight Town it is!" He made sure to hold Lambda close while they walked through the Corridor of Darkness together.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

To be a man...

When Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ping made it to the camp to get Ping registered, they found it already under attack by local Heartless. Nightwalkers stumbled around like zombies, only to suddenly slash everything around them with a spinning attack, while Shadows and Soldiers pounced on the other recruits from every angle. Three recruits stood out by their appearance as they stood back to back in the middle of an encroaching group of Heartless. The thin, yellow-armored man called, "Yao, now would be a great time to show off your awesome warrior skills!"

The extremely short, bruised, red-armored man on his left responded, "I already tried my Battle Scar Suplex, Ling! The only thing we haven't tried is Chien-Po's...whatever moves he's got!" Yao elbowed the tall, tubby, bald man in blue on his own left, causing Chien-Po to sadly shake his head. "I cannot calm them down with my chanting, nor did my sword cut them. Ling, do you have any ideas?"

The skinny guy, Ling, dripped a single manly tear from his left eye. "Sorry, nope. Looks like we're finished, guys. At least we all went out fighting together." The three turned toward each other and had a tearful group hug.

"What are you all talking about?" yelled Donald. The world-travelers (and Ping) had already killed every single Heartless in the camp. Ping had a ways to go before calling himself a fighter-he'd already tripped over his own boots once while trying to swing his ancestral sword overhead-but his bravery was commendable. He hadn't once shied away from the attack like the three other recruits.

"Oh, heh heh..." Ling looked around and saw that the camp was clear of enemies. "Our bad. We won't be caught off guard next time, right guys?"

Yao responded by slugging Ling in the side, catching the skinny guy by surprise and knocking him over. "Well, I know I won't," the short-tempered (heh!) man smugly replied.

"You little backstabber!" Ling grabbed Yao's leg.

"LITTLE, am I?" Yao dove into the grapple and tumbled with Ling, kicking up dust into a big cloud of violence.

"Order in the camp!" The shouted command carried throughout the camp, instantly stopping all movement. The handsome speaker rode in on a white stallion, wearing a red cape over his armor. "The threat is ended, which means we can get down to business and start training. It does not give any of my troops license to squabble in the dirt. I am Captain Li Shang, and I'm here to put you new recruits through the worst day of your lives. Either you learn what you need and build the skills China needs to defeat the Huns, or you leave at first light tomorrow. And if you can't take what I dish out, you won't stand a chance against the Huns, so I won't hear any complaints. Step forward as I call roll. Yao!"

Yao growled, but raised his hand (to about the height of Ling's waist). "I'm here, pretty boy."

Shang glared at Yao for a moment, but moved on. "Close, but not quite. Next in line, take another guess what you little boys should call me. Ling!"

"Accounted for!"

"You didn't even guess. Half-rations at the evening meal for disobeying orders! Chien-Po!" Ling deflated, which was impressive given how little room his chest had to shrink.

Chien-Po, in light of this new threat, gave his best effort. "I am present, Sir!"

Shang gave Chien-Po a genuine smile, showing that he wasn't always nasty to his recruits; just the ones who didn't take him seriously. "Good job, you've figured out how to address me. You get Ling's ration tonight. Now..." Shang rounded on Sora's group. "Who are you three? I don't recognize you."

Sora gestured to himself and his friends as he introduced himself. "I'm Sora, sir, and these two are my friends, Donald and Goofy. We're...travelers...here to deal with the Heartless. They're those monsters that attacked the camp."

Shang nodded. "As long as you aren't spies for the Huns, you're welcome in my troop. Your fighting skills are encouraging, and we may need your knowledge of these 'Heartless'."

Ping spoke up. "I'm Fa Ping, son of-"

Shang cut him off. "You who just spoke out of turn, you should go home. Your swordplay is just short of hopeless, and we don't have time to train you from scratch until you can catch up with the likes of Ling."

Ping sputtered, "But... That would dishonor my family!"

"You'd rather dishonor my troops?" That question implied a serious threat; dishonoring the Imperial army was punishable by death, after all. Shang wouldn't risk allowing himself or his troops to be tarred with the same brush as Ping, either.

"If it's okay, sir, I'd like Ping to have a chance," Sora spoke up. "He's a brave fighter, and I'll help train him to catch up."

"Well..." Shang considered it. "If you're volunteering to pull double duty and keep this boy out of my hair, I don't see why not. The first exercise begins... Now!" Shang unclasped his armor and shrugged off his shirt. An experienced soldier wordlessly handed Shang a bow, which he strung effortlessly and aimed at his men. A few gasps were heard, but Shang then aimed high overhead, and let the arrow fly until it sunk into the top of a free-standing wooden pole in the corner of the camp. "The first person to claim that arrow will be guaranteed a favorable position on the battlefield. Any volunteers?"

"I'll get that arrow, pretty boy. And I'll do it with my shirt on." Yao stomped up to the pole, but before he could grab hold or start climbing, Shang was suddenly right next to him. "You're forgetting some equipment. This represents discipline," Shang tied a heavy disc to Yao's left arm, which the short man struggled to lift. "And this represents strength." The second disc tied to Yao's right arm was too much, and he collapsed right as Shang said "strength." Nobody in the ranks even chuckled, because that sad lump of fail was about to be them. "You will need both virtues to reach the arrow. Now go ahead, Yao." Shang stepped to the side, allowing Yao to try to climb the pole.

Yao failed, unable to scoot up the pole any more than once before the weights dragged him back down. In quick succession, every trainee, including Sora, Donald, and Goofy, failed the same test in the same way. Shang was not impressed. "We've got a long way to go..."

Many other hellish training exercises were administered, and nobody showed much improvement before midday. Ping in particular trailed behind the others, though Sora and his fellow travelers displayed far more competence at jumping logs in the river and dodging flaming arrows than climbing the pole.

In the afternoon, Shang approached the heroes. "I've given you lot five hours, but I can't see any improvement in Ping's skills. You have five more hours to teach him whatever you think you can. At the end of it, Ping will duel me personally, after which I will decide whether he stays or goes. My decision will be final. Am I understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Sora saluted, but inwardly he wondered if he could make up the difference in time. Shang marched off to the Captain's tent.

Ping was more vocal about his insecurities. "What if he's right? What if I can't beat him?"

Sora was quick to reassure him. "You don't need to beat him, just impress him. If he singled you out, then you only really need to be as good as the other guys. We'll start with your balance. Keep your feet further apart when you fight, for starters." Ping spread his legs five feet apart, and ended up almost doing the splits in full armor. "Not that far apart. Stand the way you're comfortable, then shift your feet out until you feel more stable." Ping did as ordered, and got into a more effective combat stance. "There, that's better. If you keep both feet on the ground and about that far apart, you won't be knocked over as easily while blocking. Don't worry about taking a few tries; I had to figure this all out myself, starting with unlearning all the wrong lessons, and it's a miracle I lasted long enough against the Heartless to improve."

Ping tried to attack, but fell over again. Sora called out, "Now, in defense, you want to keep stable, but while attacking, you have to step forward with your swing. Otherwise, your sword will overbalance you. You'll work on how to do that until you can get back into position to defend as quickly as you can attack, which means keeping your balance perfect at all times. It's all in the footwork."

"Sora, don't you normally jump around a lot when you fight?" Donald asked.

"Yeah, but that's a more recent thing ever since I basically got superpowers. It's a long story," Sora assured Ping. "Ping has to learn how to fight normally, no magic involved, so we'll stick with what's practical. It's a good thing Riku gave me all that advice back home after every time he beat me, which happened, um...oh yeah, 25 times a day. I kept track."

After four hours of practice, Sora determined that Ping was as good with a sword as he was likely to get, and they took a break.

"I still don't think I'm good enough at this..." Ping mumbled to himself.

Sora poked Ping in the forehead to shut down that line of thought. "Don't ever give up, Ping. You'll only lose if you quit."

Goofy added, "And you must have something you're good at. You could be fast, clever..." Goofy ticked points off on his fingers.

"Clever..." Ping's fake voice slipped for a second, and "he" cleared his throat before continuing. "I can work with that. Thanks, guys. I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be to give it a shot."

"Then go; everyone's gathered over there." Sora pointed out the group of sweaty guys, gathered around a once again shirtless Shang. "Good luck, Ping." Ping got up and marched with almost-perfect form over to the makeshift arena.

Shang tossed Ping a bowstaff, but Yao caught it first, then handed it to Ping with gentlemanly bow. Shang skillfully twirled his own staff before leveling it at Ping, inviting the recruit to make the first move.

"Sora, we only trained in swordplay!" Ping called over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, you can still do it if you find your balance like we practiced! Just hold it with your hands far apart!" Sora called back.

Unfortunately, the distraction allowed Ling to drop a large, unpleasant-looking bug down Ping's collar, which basically made him flip out and swing the bowstaff wildly in all directions. Shang easily stepped inside the reach of the staff, picking his way over accidentally-felled recruits that were too close at the start, and yanked the weapon out of Ping's hands. Shang called out, "Normally I'd end the evaluation right here, but I know sabotage when I see it. And I saw it, Ling. You should have learned your lesson the last time your rations were cut, but now you'll just skip dinner. Yao, you get the other half of Ling's rations. Nice catch; you showed quick reflexes there, mean-spirited or not." Ling slumped over and dramatically clutched his stomach, Yao thanked his lucky stars that being short saved him from being knocked out like the rest, and the rest picked themselves off the ground and returned to their tents, not interested in sticking around to watch the rest of the evaluation.

Ping accepted the weights, but still had trouble lifting them. His final attempt to climb the pole failed as surely as the rest. Shang coldly handed him a scroll stating that Fa Ping was dishonorably discharged from service in the Imperial Army. "Leave this place by dawn. You're not suited to fight in any war."

Ping bowed his head, accepted the scroll, and trudged back to camp. The last of the trainees followed Shang out of sight. As the despondent Ping walked, his face fell into shadow from the pole in front of the setting sun, prompting him to look up at the unattainable arrow again, then down at the weights that had never been taken off his wrists. A look of determination finally grew on his face, and he flung himself at the pole again.

Sora covered his eyes as Ping fell off as expected, but Goofy called, "Don't keep doin' it the same way every time! Remember, Ping, clever!"

Ping looked down at the weights, and then looked closer at the sashes that tied the discs to his arms. With a grin, he spun the weights around behind the pillar, wrapping them together and turning the burden into additional leverage. He began to climb.

"Whoa!" Sora gasped. Ping was already five steps up the pole, which was higher than any other recruit had managed to get, and he was still climbing.

"You've got it, Ping!" Goofy called out, attracting the attention of some soldiers, who slowly gathered around with incredulous stares. Their various reactions went along the lines of:

"Hey, look at Ping!"

"What's he doing?"

"How is he doing that?"

"You mean we could have done it like that the whole time?"

"Man, Ping just made us all look stupid!"

Even with this new advantage, that was one tall pole to climb in one go. Ping slipped halfway up, but only fell a couple feet before catching himself and struggling to rise again. Ling suddenly called up some encouragement. "You can do it, Ping!"

Chien-Po waved some chopsticks over his head. "Keep climbing!"

Even Yao joined in. "Be a man, Ping!"

Ping finally reached the top of the pole and sat atop it as the crescent moon peeked out from behind the clouds above him. Ping seized the arrow, yanked it out of the pole, and held it high, and Donald sent up an impromptu spell that created a multicolored fireworks display. The crowd went wild!

Shang finally marched over to see what the commotion was about, only to have an arrow embed itself in the dirt at his feet. He looked up to the origin of the shot, and saw Ping confidently smiling atop the pole, surrounded by cheering soldiers. Shang's shock slowly melted into approval. "Well, I'll be..."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The Land of Dragons: Mountain Pass...

Ping reflected on that morning as he led Sora, Donald, and Goofy up a trail into the mountains the next day, as per their first mission.

"Since it seems you're much more competent when you make your own path," Shang began, "I'm assigning you four to scout a clear path up the Tung-Shao pass. We have orders to meet my fath-the General and the rest of the Imperial Army at a small village out there, and cut off the Huns' advance before they reach the Imperial City and the Emperor."

Mushu snickered to himself behind Ping's neck, with Cri-Kee trying to muffle him. What had they done this time?

Shang continued, "Ping is to lead the group. That's an order, and if I find you've gone ahead and cut off any situations where Ping could show us his preferred fighting skills, I will have you three removed from the army. You're not technically recruits, so all I need to do to kick you out is point my finger. But remember, this is still an important mission, not just a training exercise. Finding or making a safe path into the mountains will let us rejoin the rest of the army faster, which could make all the difference when the Huns attack."

All four misfits saluted. "Sir!"

Back in the present, the four hadn't even made it to the base of the mountain when a group of Heartless attacked. Each party member fought a subset of the enemies, and they mopped them up at about the same time, which spoke highly of Ping's improvement already. The four proceeded up the mountain.

Almost immediately, their progress was blocked by a wall of loosely-stacked boulders. The spacing between them was too regular to be the result of a natural landslide, and the idea that they'd been blocked on purpose became more likely when two large Assault Rider Heartless appeared to attack the group. Sora ran up to the wall. "I'll break the rocks! You three keep those Heartless busy!"

"Can you really break that wall?" Ping asked as he ducked a wide sweep of an Assault Rider's glaive. Ping stepped in as he'd practiced and struck the Heartless with a heavy blow, dispersing it. He overextended himself, though, and barely managed to keep his balance. In the time he took to find his balance, Donald and Goofy had dispatched the other Assault Rider, and Sora broke the supporting rocks of the wall with a single smack, causing the rest of the blockade to crumble a loud crash and a spray of debris.

"Sorry, couldn't hear you over the wall breaking!" Sora pretended to holler, then grinned. "Just kidding, Ping! Superpowers, remember? Great work with that Heartless, though. Keep it up!"

"I don't know if I'll ever be as amazing as you, Sora, but I'm definitely going to try!" Ping hammed up the faux-male voice as he charged ahead, cutting down a pair of Nightwalkers and four Soldiers before being stopped by another rock wall. Sora dashed after him and smashed the wall, then gestured for Donald to send a firework up; that was the signal they'd promised to send the other recruits, telling them that the path was clear.

Ling and his oddly-sized buddies were among the first to arrive. "Man, not a monster or Hun in sight! Did you have to take them all out?"

Sora spoke up, "Yeah, there were a few groups, but Ping got most of them while I was smashing some rocks in the way. Oh, yeah, sir? We think someone blocked the pass on purpose. Are we too late?"

Shang suddenly looked very worried. "I hope not, soldier." He leaned back to rally the troops. "Let's pick up the pace, men! The battle may have started without us!" Many shouting men charged up the mountain, only to stop short at the mountain village they were headed toward...or what was left of it.

The whole village was burned to the ground, and barely any two timbers were still connected among the ruins of the houses. By now, the whole scene had gathered a thick layer of snow, but it was clear that all the remains that could be found were of Chinese soldiers, not Huns. Shang took it especially hard when a soldier brought him a sword and helmet that were fancier than the rest. "The General... Father..." Most of the troops respectfully gave Shang some space as he made a makeshift grave for his father from the sword and helmet; only Ping remained nearby to grasp the Captain's shoulder as comfort. As the group moved on, Shang called out, "Let's move out! Head for the Imperial City! We're the last hope for the Emperor now."

Shang rode ahead, hoping to catch up to the Huns who slaughtered the village alongside a vastly superior fighting force to the troops at his back. Behind him, Mushu whispered into Ping's ear, "I saw that, girl. You like him, don't you?"

Ping frowned over his shoulder at the dragon. "Mushu, that's not funny. Shang-the Captain-just found out his father died. Comforting him was the decent thing to do."

"Not hearing any denials, though." Cri-Kee outright slapped the dragon so no one else had to, and Ping made a sharp shh-ing sound. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'll shut up."

"Not you! I heard rumbling up ahead!" Ping drew his sword, which made everyone else look around for the disturbance he'd noticed. It wasn't long before the Huns' leader, Shan Yu, appeared on a horse as he crested a rise on the snowy plain ahead of the army. The intimidating man roared in an almost bestial manner, but rather than more Huns, Heartless appeared alongside him. Almost a hundred Rapid Thrusters, small Heartless that looked like a cross between a hummingbird and a bee, rushed down the mountain towards the ragged defenders of China. Luckily, the training the recruits had been through paid off, and the Imperial soldiers suffered only minor wounds in the ensuing melee, helped immensely by Sora's skill at aerial combat. Still the group was tired out by the wave of enemies, and they wouldn't do so well against a second charge.

Which was exactly what came next, as Shan Yu himself led a newly-summoned army of Heartless to charge down the mountain. The Imperials prepared to meet them by setting up a row of cannons and knocking out large clusters of monsters. However, there were still dozens to go, Shan Yu was entirely unscathed, and there was only one cannon left. Shang called, "Prepare for battle, men! If we die...we die with honor."

Ping quickly tried to find another solution. He had one cannon, Cri-Kee, Mushu, his sword... Wait, that reflection in his sword! There was a huge pile of snow precariously hanging off the mountain above this wide pass, and a scary, poorly-thought-out, and dangerous plan formed in Ping's head all at once.

He knocked Yao aside and grabbed the last cannon. "Sorry!" Setting it up a few feet farther ahead, Ping took the time to aim carefully, even as Shan Yu galloped into range, his loyal falcon circling overhead like a vulture waiting for an inevitable kill. Ping realized he wasn't the one carrying the flint and steel, and frantically looked for a way to light the cannon before seizing hold of Mushu. He yanked the dragon's tail, who spurted fire on the fuse before being dropped in Ping's mad dash to escape the ensuing carnage.

As Mushu rode away on an explosive, dragon-shaped rocket, he screamed, "You MISSED! How could you miss? He was three feet in front of you!"

Ping met Shan Yu's wild grin with his own. "I hit exactly what I aimed at." Shan Yu paused at the out-of-place confidence from this puny, nameless soldier, then followed the boy's finger to the avalanche rushing down the mountain, crashing right over the battlefield! If anyone could have seen Shan Yu's face of dawning horror in that moment, they would want a picture to hang on their bedroom wall to remind them of the day the dreaded leader of the Heartless Huns lost control of his bladder from the actions of one Chinese man (well, sort of). Everyone who might have seen it, though, was doing the smart thing and running away from the advancing wall of ice and snow.

The Imperial army barely escaped the avalanche, since they had a few hundred yards of head start due to their position downhill. Shan Yu and his whole Heartless army, on the other hand, were swallowed by the ice. Ping made a risky stop to help Shang escape by pulling him onto Ping's own horse, but in the end there were no further casualties on the Chinese side.

After all the crashing stopped, everyone caught their breath. Shang stomped over to Ping. "What on earth was all that for, soldier? You disobeyed orders, started an avalanche, and could have gotten us all killed!" Ping flinched, but Shang continued. "But you saved us all instead, and I owe you my life. Ping, I should never have doubted you. Let's return to the Imperial City. We now have a celebration to plan before the memorials for the village."

Mushu spoiled the moment by leaping off Ping's shoulder into plain sight. "Oh, yeah! What'd I tell you, Mulan? You're a war hero, girl!"

Everything went dead quiet. After several seconds, Shang rounded on Ping... Mulan. "Mulan? A woman?"

Mulan froze up for a moment, then decided to face her fate with dignity (and then spend her imminent afterlife making Mushu suffer for this). "I am. My name is Fa Mulan. I replaced my father, who was too old to serve. I did it to save his life. I have no excuses and no regrets for my actions." Mulan removed the bindings holding her hair in a topknot, took off the armor from her uniform, dropped her father's sword, and knelt before Shang to receive her punishment.

Shang rounded on Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "You three! You knew, didn't you?"

"Kind of, but Goofy had to figure it out first," Sora admitted. "Do we have to be punished, too?"

"The punishment for dishonoring the Chinese army...is death." Various soldiers, none of them quite able to condemn Mulan for her lie in light of her recent heroism, gasped as Shang drew his sword, held it over his head...and threw it off to the side, leaving Mulan unharmed. "A life for a life... My debt is repaid. Find your own way home, or don't. You're no longer my responsibility. And you three share her fate, as the only reason she got this far in her deception, for better and worse." Shang led the other soldiers toward the city, and all of them followed, though none were in a mood befitting heroes who just saved China.

"What now?" Sora asked.

"I guess... I go home. Thanks for everything, Sora, Donald, Goofy. I learned a lot, and I think we did a lot of good. I'll handle the rest on my own." Mulan gathered her father's sword, Mushu, and Cri-Kee, and headed down the mountain. Sora's party followed, not knowing what else to do. Then they heard the roar.

"What was that?" Mulan raced back to the site of the battle, and peered around a cliff while Sora caught up. In the field, Shan Yu roared again, having somehow survived the avalanche. Heartless appeared alongside the Hun leader again, though there were far fewer now than before. With a final growl, Shan Yu charged straight down the side of the mountain toward the Imperial City, which was an almost vertical drop. "How is he still alive?!" Mulan rushed toward the path to the capital.

Mushu yelped, "Mulan, are you sure you wanna go after him? He just popped outta the snow! Like a daisy! And did you see him run down that cliff? We can't take that guy on!"

Mulan kept running, and Sora's team followed. "Someone has to warn Shang! And I haven't given up yet."

Mushu harrumphed, but made no further moves to stop her. "What makes her even think he'll listen? By the way, Cri-Kee, where was your super luck back there?"

A few chirps later, and Mushu was shocked. "What do you mean you aren't lucky? You lied to me?"

"It seems to be happening a lot today," Sora noted. "What about you? Are you everything you say you are?"

Mushu sighed. "Well, I should be, but I was actually demoted from 'family guardian' to 'alarm gong ringer' a few generations ago. When Mulan ran off and the Great Stone Dragon fell all to pieces instead of going after her, I thought this could be my big chance! But now here we all are, a bunch of liars charging off to our deaths in a country that hates our guts. What about you, Sora? Any lies you've told since you got here?"

Sora shrugged. "I...didn't tell the whole truth once, but you could have seen through that one. Remember when we were traveling around and summoned you? That wasn't on this world."

"Save the pity party for later, guys! We're at the gates!" Mulan rushed ahead and caught up to the remnants of the Chinese army as they passed into the Imperial City. "Shang! Be careful! Shan Yu is alive! He's headed this way?"

"And why should I believe you this time?" Shang simply trotted farther ahead, not even looking at Mulan.

Donald felt something amiss, and spoke up for the first time in a while to point out a certain falcon circling overhead. "Look!" The falcon landed on the shoulder of a shadowy figure on a nearby rooftop, which rose to reveal Shan Yu. Even from this distance, his predatory grin was easy to see.

Shang carried out his duty instantly, and tried to get the other troops to do the same. "Guard the palace! Don't let Shan Yu anywhere near the Emperor!" Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po rushed off ahead as ordered, but the other soldiers slowly stumbled sideways. "That's an order!" Shang stopped giving orders as the lagging soldiers turned into Heartless one by one.

Goofy jumped in surprise. "How? The Heartless didn't get them back at the pass, except for some little scrapes."

Donald took a guess. "It must be the Hun guy! He's controlling them!"

Sora turned to Shang. "We'll hold off the Heartless in the plaza, and you can protect the Emperor!"

Shang hesitated; this was borderline insubordination, current enlistment status of the travelers nonwithstanding. "Do you think you can-"

"That's an order!" Donald yelled, and Shang finally nodded before rushing off to stop Shan Yu.

"Alright, Sora, time to show you what I can really do!" Mulan stepped forward to face the Nightwalkers that had gathered at the gates, with her sword held in a reverse grip.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and asked, "When did you learn that stance, Mulan?"

"I've trained in my free time my whole life! That armor just got in the way, plus anyone who saw me fight like this would know I was a woman right away." Mulan then rushed into battle with greater speed than Ping had ever displayed, decapitating one Nightwalker and spinning around to bisect another vertically. As Mulan leaped sword-first at the face of a large Bolt Tower, Mushu decided to breathe fire around her sword, creating a flaming spiral of death that burned the Heartless' weak spot to a crisp. By the time Sora got over being impressed, Mulan had already taken down the first wave. Sora joined the battle in the second wave, and the Heartless were quickly beaten back enough to break off the combat and join Shang at the palace.

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Defeat Shan Yu!

The scene that greeted the heroes as they climbed the many steps in front of the Imperial Palace wasn't reassuring. Shang lay on his side, apparently concussed, and Shan Yu held his crooked sword to the neck of an old man who had to be the Emperor. "Now you'll bow to me, old man." It was the first time anyone here had heard the Hun leader speak, and his voice was just as creepy as they'd imagined.

The Emperor maintained his dignified posture, not even flinching as the sword inched closer to his throat. "No matter how loudly the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it."

Shan Yu growled angrily. "Bow to me NOW!"

The Emperor merely chuckled. "Ah, I forgot your people prefer the direct approach. The short answer is no. The long answer: I will never bow to one such as you. You may lop off my head, but my body will stand as straight as ever. And no courageous man, woman, or child who lives in my country will do any differently."

"Let's test that, you-oomph!" Shan Yu prepared to decapitate the Emperor, but was blindsided by Captain Li Shang, who had speedily recovered from the headbutt he'd gotten earlier and tackled the Hun leader. While Shan Yu righted himself, Shang led the Emperor inside the palace. Ling, Yao, and Chien-Po shut and sealed the great palace doors behind the two, and the last Shan Yu saw of them was a pointed glance from Shang to someone standing behind the Hun.

Rather than look at whatever Shang saw, Shan Yu rushed at the door, intend on breaking it down with his bare hands and reclaiming his victory. He was stopped again by Sora, Donald and Goofy jumping over his head and barring his way with weapons drawn. The Hun readied his sword, but was again distracted by a call from behind. "Shan Yu, remember me?"

Mulan gathered her hair in one hand, pulling it into a topknot. Shan Yu recognized the one who singlehandedly wiped out half his Heartless army, and rage began to build in his chest. "The soldier from the mountains... I'll kill you first."

Mulan took up her real battle stance. "No, it ends now!"

"Right now!" Sora and friends moved to surround the Hun.

To their surprise, Shan Yu began to laugh. Softly at first, then louder and louder as an aura of Darkness rose from his body. "I'll break you! All of you! My dark power will smash you into dust!"

Donald groaned. "Of course he turned into a Heartless."

Goofy added, "Good thing we've fought lots of guys like him, huh?"

Sora would have added his own thoughts, but Shan Yu rushed at him with furious speed. The Hun's crooked sword locked blades with the Kingdom Key, and the two began to press against each other. For all Shan Yu's fearsome strength, he couldn't quite break through the defense of a multiple world-saving hero, but neither could Sora force the Hun leader off balance.

The stalemate lasted until Mulan stabbed the Hun with another fire-breath-aided lunge attack. From there, Sora joined her in a series of flaming lunges that literally flew through the air. Shan Yu staggered under the fifth hit he was unable to block, and Mushu followed up with an impressive rain of fireballs that exploded all around the heroes, most of which landed directly on the Hun. The Heartless stumbled shakily to his feet one last time, but Donald used his new fireworks spell again right in the villain's face, and Shan Yu fell over backward. His last sight was the doors he never reached, behind Mulan's sword being pointed at his neck, and then he fell limp. His body faded in a cloud of Darkness, and his corrupted heart rose into the sky before vanishing, leaving behind only his sword.

The party celebrated briefly as they waited for everyone to gather and hear the Emperor speak. Mulan asked Sora, "How did you get us to fly back there?"

Sora scratched his head. "I'm not sure, really. At first I thought that only worked in a certain world, but then I did it twice near the end of my last journey. A better question would be, why don't I do that more often?" He tried to fly again, but found himself unable. "Huh, I guess it only works when I'm working with my friends. Maybe there's a Drive Form for that..." Sora waved off Mulan's confused look. "Never mind all that. Hey, he's here!"

The Emperor stepped out onto the pavilion, facing a huge crowd of citizens that had gathered at the base of the steps. The three other soldiers that survived the attack and aided the Emperor's escape lined up in a row with the four others, and Captain Shang stood behind the Emperor. Everyone bowed, except the Emperor...and Sora.

"Sora, what have I told you about respect?!"

"Oops! Sorry, Donald." Sora made sure to bow extra-low.

The Emperor spoke. "I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial soldier, shamed the entire Chinese army..." Mulan became even more melancholy as the list of offenses piled up.

"We get the picture..." Sora grumbled. He was slowly learning this respect thing, but in baby steps.

"...And in the end, you have saved us all." Mulan looked up in shock, which intensified as she saw the Emperor himself bowing to her! She looked all around, searching for some sign that this might be a joke while daring to believe it was real, and all she saw was more people bowing in her honor. The soldiers, Shang, every civilian in the city, and even Sora were doing it!

"Your Excellency, I don't know what to say..."

"Then you needn't say anything. Your actions have spoken louder than any words could. Take this, so that all of China will know what it is you have done for me." The Emperor removed a golden pendant from his neck and placed it around Mulan's. "And take this, so the world and all people will know what it is you have done for China." He then placed the sword of Shan Yu into Mulan's hands. "Thank you, Fa Mulan. Now, I believe your father may be worried about you. It is time for you to return home."

Mulan broke just about every rule of etiquette and gave the Emperor a big hug. Yao muttered to his buddies, "Is she allowed to do that?"

Ling whispered back, "Technically, that's another death penalty, but I think she's still about a million of those away from actually needing to pay up, and it's always the Emperor's call. You know that."

"Don't ruin the moment, you two. Be happy for her," Chien-Po admonished. Yao started muttering about needing to go find the tears he dropped somewhere, as a few more leaked out of his good eye.

Mushu did some kind of disco dance nearby. "Oh yeah! Mulan's the best! Mulan's the best! No, wait, I'm the best! Mushu's the best! They've gotta let me go back to being a guardian now!"

Sora was about to congratulate Mulan himself, but Shan Yu's sword began to glow and rise out of her hands into the air. Sure enough, the Keyblade appeared in response, and Sora was able to unlock another Gate Between.

"What was that about?" Mulan asked.

"Another road has opened, so my friends and I need to go." Sora waved at the soldiers.

"Will you be back?" Shang asked as he stepped forward, though he ended up closer to Mulan.

"Sure!" Sora and his partners dashed out of the city to the army camp, where they could return to the Gummi Ship.

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Shang said, "Mulan..."

"Yes...?"

Shang hesitated. "You...you fight good."

Mulan giggled. "Thanks. I'll be going back home now. I just wish I had Father's armor still. Goodbye!"

"I'll bring it over."

"Is that all, Captain?" The Emperor chuckled. "If you want to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll need to be a bit more eloquent than that." Shang was mortified in front of the entire population of the Imperial City, but he ran off after Mulan anyway.

And peace returned to the Land of Dragons...for now.

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A/N: By all that is Light, this chapter took forever! At least it's a full 23 pages. I may have gone overboard with the Mulan stuff. Next chapter will put focus back on Riku, since he's gone on his second date with Lambda in the middle of an assault of SIX giant Heartless. A heroic couple's work is never done...

There, FierceDeityMask! You don't need to punch me into last week and cause a stable time loop now.