A/N: Partial credit goes to EvanderAdvent.
Last time:
"Wait, brat!" I heard from behind me. My Dream Eaters and I turned to the voice and saw the one person that I don't want to see.
"Oh, great," I mumbled.
"You've brought so many humiliations upon me! I'm gonna make you pay!"
I really do NOT have time for these clowns! Two of my nakama are injured and one of them is sick! Can't I get to the castle WITHOUT TROUBLE?!
"Move it," I told Wapol and the dummies.
"Well, aren't you a hippo," the metal-mouth stated. "Why the hell would I move?!"
'Yeah, why?' the hippo that Wapol and his lackies are on asked.
Rather than answering their question, since it's going to be a waste of time, I walked around them, with my Dream Eaters glaring at them. "Hey, you guys. What are you waiting for? We have better things to do than to stand around and talk," I told them. That said, they resumed following me.
"Hey, wait! I'm not done talking to you, you throne-stealer!"
'Yeah! You throne-stealer!' the hippo agreed.
'Throne-stealer? As I said, I have better things to do here,' I mentally stated.
"Oh, of course. Chess, I just thought of a new law. Write this down," I heard Wapol say, as I continued to walk. "'Anyone who ignores the king is to be executed... AT THAT VERY INSTANT!'" I stopped in my tracks when I heard that. "I'll start with the ones ignoring me the most! Kill the sick and injured ones first!"
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" I demanded, as I turned to see Wapol's lackies charging towards me.
"Leave the girl to me," the blue one told the afro one.
"Then that leaves me with the injured ones!" he said. "Take this!"
Just before they can land a hit on me, Lapin and Terra blocked their attacks. "Guys! No matter what, protect me! Don't let them land a hit on me!" I ordered my Dream Eaters, recieving their agreements.
After a little while of running, I stopped for a short break. 'This should be good enough,' I thought. 'With my Dream Eaters in the way, I highly doubt that they caught up with me.' Just when I was going to continue my way to the castle, I saw teeth. My instincts acted up and I quickly backed away. That, however, left me wide open from behind.
"What the-?!" I gasped in shock.
"This is our country's specialty! White concealment! Yuki Geshou!" the afro man exclaimed.
"Your Dream Eaters are strong, but luckily for us, they lack brains," the blue one stated. "And now, to end this!"
"NOOOOO!" I screamed. The instant I screamed that, I heard voices.
'We won't let you!' they shouted. Two familiar figures then jumped in Wapol's men's way and knocked them down before they could fire an arrow or throw a punch.
"You guys are..." I breathed in surprise.
"Lapahn?!" Wapol identified.
'Huh?!' Yes. I was saved by the rabbits that tried to kill me and my nakama earlier.
'Human,' one of the Lapahns called. 'Are you and your friends all right?' At first I was confused when he asked me that. But when I saw a scar on his face, I remembered that he was the Lapahn that I had my Dream Eaters save. I then heard screeches and saw all my Dream Eaters running towards me. When they saw the Lapahns, they immediately tried to attack them.
"All of you!" I shouted, getting everyone's attention. "I believe I told you we have better things to do and that your job is to protect me from those that will harm me." It got quiet for a second before I continued what I wanted to say. "Lapahns... Thanks for saving me. I will definitely repay you."
'You do not need to repay us. It is us who must repay our debt.' I looked up at the Lapahn that I saved and smirked at it.
"Yeah. You're right. And I bet you know how to do that, right?"
'Yeah!' he and his child replied.
My smirk became a grin and I continued my way to my destination. My Dream Eaters caught the message and followed. "Thanks again! I won't forget this!" I shouted.
The weather out here got worse as time pass. A strong blizzard came and I was FREEZING! I was so stupid to take off my black coat. Urgh! If only I have another Dream Eater that can fly or if Wyvern can carry three people instead of two. It would be nice if I have something that can fly us to the castle, like a vehicle or something so I don't have to trouble Wyvern and Fang. But no! My only choice in getting to the castle is BY WALKING! Man, do I need to chill out, even though it's already cold out here.
When I finally got to the mountain, my face paled a bit. "F-finally here," I muttered, freezing cold from the weather. "I-i can't believe h-h-how high it is... Can barely see the t-t-top..." I then brainstormed on how I can get out there. Because of what happened on the way here, I had no clue on how to get to the top.
Just then, I felt something pulling my pants. "Wh-what?" I asked, turning to the culprits. Turns out, Wyvern and Fang were the ones pulling and, by the looks of it, they want to carry the sick and injured ones up there. "I-i appreciate y-y-your thoughts guys, but I don't want you to overdo your bodies," I said. "Th-there has to be another way to get up there-" before I can finish my sentence, the blizzard got stronger and blew Luffy's treasured hat away. When I saw it get blown away like that, I quickly had Fang to get it.
As I watched Fang fetch Luffy's strawhat, I looked back to the said accessory getting blown farther away. Looking at it gave me an idea that I should've thought of from the beginning.
"I got it!" I exclaimed, as Fang returned with my captain's treasure.
"Okay guys, you ready?" I asked.
Here was my plan: it turns out, the fastest way to get up there was by flying. At first, I didn't think of it because of the limit amount of people Wyvern and Fang could carry. However, if I can have them combine their strength and give them my own support with my wind magic, carrying three people while flying won't be a problem. The only problem here, unfortunately, was the amount of magic that I can use. You see, using magic is sort of like fighting. The more I use them, the tired I get. In other words, if I use a strong magic for a long period of time, I will barely have any strength left to even walk.
Anyway, so I had Fang carry Sanji on its back, despite it having a small body, the size of a human's head, and had Wyvern carry Nami and Luffy, using the latter's devil fruit powers to tie them both onto my dragon Dream Eater. Fang is on Luffy's back and Wyvern was on my back. I had Warrior's Pride out and got ready to use my Aeroga spell. And of course, I returned the rest of my Dream Eaters back in their cards, since they can't climb a mountain as steep as the one before us.
Once I recieved nods from my partners, the plan went into action. "Maximum Aeroga!" I yelled, as a powerful gust of wind emerge from the tip of my Keyblade. With Wyvern and Fang's wings, we were flying straight up, as planned! "It really worked!" I happily exclaimed.
*MEANWHILE, WITH USOPP AND VIVI**GENERAL'S P.O.V*
Where the princess and the sniper are, the avalanche mostly buried them. Luckily, it wasn't enough to kill them, for Vivi regained conscious.
"An avalanche..." she spoke, getting up. "We were dragged into it. Usopp-san?" She looked around to find her long-nose friend, only to see his nose sticking out of the snow, signalling that he got himself buried. Shocked at the sight, the princess of Arabasta quickly dug and dragged Usopp out of the snow.
"Hang in there, Usopp-san!" she begged, shaking and patting the sniper up.
"What, Vivi? Don't wake me up," he complained, regaining whatever consciousness he had left. "I was having the most wonderful dream. Really, it was a world like I've never seen before with its beautiful flower fields and beautiful rivers..."
Hearing those words were enough to cause Vivi to panic even more than she did before. "DON'T GO TO THAT WORLD! Don't go to sleep! Wake up!" she yelled, patting him harder than before, crying as she did.
"AHHH!" the sniper suddenly screamed, surprising the princess before he continued to be in lala land and increased Vivi's panicing. "Now fall in~! All 74,000 members of the Usopp Pirate crew~!"
"No, please wake up! Usopp-san, don't die!" Vivi once again begged, crying. The next thing you know, she repeatedly slapped the boy until he's back in the real world.
"Ah! You saved me, Vivi! So this is what it means to return from the brink of death!" Usopp exclaimed, as the two walked their way to a village. "It's great I'm alive but..." Zooming out of Usopp's face, we can all see that his face is incredibly and ridiculously swollen. "Is it just me or is my face swollen?" he asked.
Avoiding eye-contact with the sniper, due to the fact that she caused his face to be swollen while saving Usopp from dying, Vivi nervously replied, "I-it's frostbite Frostbite. These snowy countries are quite dangerous, you know. Besides, we have to hurry. We need to gather our bearings and access our situation!"
As they walked, something was coming out of the snow below Vivi. The princess stumbled back and the sniper panicked at the sight.
"AHH! WHAT'S THIS?!" he shouted in fear, thinking that it was a snow monster of some sort, when it was actually a shirtless Zoro, who was also a victim in the avalanche.
"I give, I give," he spoke. "I just saw a field of flowers." He then wrapped his arms around his freezing body, not yet noticing his nakama. "It's so cold. And then that damn avalanche had to come. But I guess it's just like another round of midwinter swimming."
"Zoro?" Usopp spoke up, bringing the swordsman's attention over to him and Vivi.
"Oh, Vivi," Zoro answered, not remembering Usopp due to his swollen head. He first gave him a weird look. When he noticed the long nose, Zoro instantly knew that the swollen-head human is his crew's sniper. "Oh, it's Usopp! What are you two doing out here?"
"That's what we should be asking you!" he and the princess corrected.
"Midwinter swimming?" Usopp asked. Zoro was telling him and Vivi how he got to the island. Turns out, he was doing some swimming, got to the island, and got lost.
"Without any clothes? You're an idiot, you know?" the sniper stated to the swordsman. "And besides, Xion specifically told you to not get off of Merry. That means do not set even a foot off of Merry."
"Then how am I going to walk if my feet stays on the floor?" Zoro asked.
"You know what she meant by that!"
"Anyway, Usopp, give me your coat."
"Fat chance."
'I wonder if Nami-san was overcome with mental fatigue,' Vivi thought, as Zoro was demanding something to keep him warm from Usopp, the latter repeatedly saying no. 'No, then Xion would've been sick as well.'
When they got to a village, which was Bighorn, there was a commotion going on there.
"Look at that," Vivi spoke, getting the guys' attention. "There are people down there."
"Oi... Those buildings look familiar," Usopp stated.
Looking around, Vivi gasped. "You're right! This is Bighorn! We ended up all the way back here."
When she said that, the three's attention went to the gathered people. Wondering what was happening to the village, they all went down to check it out.
"Oi. What's going on?" Zoro asked one of the villagers.
"'What's going on,' you say..." the asked person asked, turning around to face the freezing swordsman. "WHAT'S GOING ON WITH YOU, DRESSED LIKE THAT?!"
"Dalton-san is... under the avalanche!" an elder villager told them, shocking Vivi and Usopp.
"Dalton-san is?" the princess asked.
"Yeah. But because of them, we can't dig him out of the snow."
"Stand back, stand back! Anyone with who has a problem with this, feel free to step up and show us what you got!" says the leader of the opposing group.
"You'll be sorry when Xion gets back!" one of the villagers shouted.
"That's right! Once she gets here, you're all gonna get it!" another villager agreed.
"Hah! And where is this fearsome Xion? Wapol-sama is out to find and kill her, in case if none of you remembers," the leader boasted.
"Say what?!" Usopp screamed. "This is not good! She's in enough trouble as it is! Ahhh! What should we do?!"
"Usopp," Zoro called. "I've seen those uniforms before. Those are the guys we met at sea. Am I wrong?!"
"Yeah, you're right," the sniper replied, calming down a little.
"So they're our enemies?" the swordsman asked, confusing the long-nose pirate. "Enemies, right? What are they then? Allies?"
"Well, they're enemies, but... What about it?"
Rather than answering, Zoro ran through the crowd and attacked the leader, knocking him out. All the people around him were surprised to see that happen. One of the villagers was telling him to apologize for attacking. As he did, Zoro took the unconscious man's coat.
"Hahaha! Nice and warm! I'm borrowing this!"
"You attacked him for that?!" Usopp questioned. "Oi, look! They're pissed off now!" True to his words, the rest of Wapol's men closed in on Zoro. One of them recognized him as one of the pirates that they tried to raid the other day.
"You're rather slow to learn, gentlemen," Zoro told them, causing them all to attack him. Being a skilled swordsman, Zoro also charged in and dodged all of their attacks, secretly taking a sword from three soldiers. "Are you looking for these?" he asked, turning around to have them see three swords in his hands. Putting one of the swords in his mouth, Zoro went and attacked every single one of them, or should I say, killed them all.
"What? Finished already?" he questioned, putting down his three borrowed swords. "What a bunch of losers."
Every villagers were shocked at the sight. In fact, they were mostly speechless.
"That guy..." "He took them all out..." "He could be Xion's rival..."
"Good, Zoro! Just as I planned!" Usopp lied, as usual. Of course, none of them paid any attention to the liar and went to dig Dalton out of the snow.
*BACK TO XION AND CO.**XION'S P.O.V*
Half an hour passed and we were nowhere near the top. I think we're half-way there, but I couldn't see the castle, so it was hard for me to tell. I was already losing my strength, I could barely grip my weapon, and it's SO FREAKING COLD OUT HERE! I could tell that I was near my limit in my wind magic, since it seemed that we're slowing down, even when my Dream Eaters were flapping their wings to get us there faster.
"Guys! Get me close to this mountain!" I ordered. My allies seemed to give me a confuse look, yet they did as told.
I called back my Keyblade and quickly held my grip on the mountain. "Change of plans," I said. "Get them on me again. I can't continue that wind magic any longer than that. I won't return you guys back in your cards yet, so you guys can continue to help me during the rest of the way." I noticed the sad looks on their faces as they placed Sanji, Nami and Luffy back on my back the way they were before we got here. After that, we continued our way to the top.
I was getting colder as time passed. In fact, I was getting frostbites. Even with my gloves and shoes on, my hands and feet are so cold, they're bleeding from all this climbing. Fang and Wyvern were worried about me and supported me in any way possible.
When we got to the top at last, I looked up to see that there was a castle, and it was a big one. When I lied down to rest for a while from all that climbing, I called Fang and Wyvern.
"Y-y-you two... T-t-take Luffy, Sanji and Nami and g-g-get to the castle... The doctor should be there..." The Komory Bat and Ryu Dragon began to protest at my selfishness. "Listen to me! They need her more than I do. N-now take them... And go!" Giving me depressed looks, the two Dream Eaters did as told and went to see the doctor. Just when they turned their backs on me, as I was starting to lose conscious, the snow I was on, that was on the edge of the mountain slipped off the edge. Because of that, I was also falling.
'MASTER!' I heard a pair of voices shout, as I was caught by something. Using the last of my strength, I looked up at my saviour and saw that it was a furry creature with a pink top hat with an 'x' on it. After that, I blacked out.