Chapter 7
"Mmf... stop shaking me... I'll wake up in a minute... Stop it Grandpa!"
"Wake up, before I lose my patience," a gruff voice commanded. Okaaaay... Something tells me that's not my grandpa. I opened my eyes and lifted my head up to meet a rather large man with a raccoon fur hat on his head, a grayish falcon on his shoulder, and a rather, um, menacing sword being jabbed into my side.
"Hey! What the-" I paused to look at the fact that I was tied to a rock, "Who are you? Why am I tied to a rock? And... stop poking me with that thing!" I yelled, trying to squirm away from the sword. The man smiled and jabbed harder, actually piercing the skin this time. A loud yelp from me made him stop.
"You're an ally of the army," he said in a low voice. Army...? Oh yeah! The Chinese Army thing! Hmm... I wonder if that girl got in okay...
"N-No! They don't let girls join, right?"
Did I already point out that the Chinese Army is sexist? I did? M'kay. The man glared and walked around me slowly. Eep! What if this is one of those creepy guys that kidnaps girls... and... well, you get the picture.
"I saw you talking with a soldier, and your little friends left with him," he said, pulling the sword out again. Gulp!
"There's a very good explanation for that," I said. I just have to think of one!
"I'd love to hear it-"
"But he ain't got time!" another voice yelled. A man in a black cloak walked fowards and took off the hood. He had gray hair tied back in a ponytail, an eyepatch, and a number of scars on his face.
"Xigbar! I told you not to bother me when I'm interrogating villagers!" my kidnapper growled.
"You call THIS interrogating? So far, you haven't gotten anything outta this kid," the man said, pointing at me. Who's he callin' a kid? "Anyway, Shan Yu, there's some people heading towards this cave. I suggest you hightail it outta here."
"Who's coming?" Shan Yu asked.
"A soldier, a duck, a dog, and a kid with a giant key," Xigbar said. Finally! What took 'em?
Shan Yu growled and looked at me with an evil smile on his face. He snapped his fingers, and several heartless surrounded me. The two men disappeared.
Great. Why am I the one that gets stuck in these situations? I'm smarter than this! I should've known not to fall asleep! Nice job Fuu! Oh boy... these heartless don't look too happy! Ah! Get off my leg! One's on my leg! I swung my leg around, and it flew off. All of the heartless circled the rock and crouched, as if they were about to jump. I screamed when they all leapt at once, grabbing on to me.
"Fuu!" I heard an alarmed voice yell. The heartless were soon cut into ribbons, and the rope was cut. I opened my eyes to see "Ping" standing next to me. She helped me up and I pulled my staff out.
"Thanks, where were you guys?" I asked, hitting a heartless with a fire spell.
"We were getting enlisted when we left you, and when we came back, you were gone. It's not our fault!" Sora yelled, cutting down a large heartless with horse legs. Ping and I focused on the smaller ones. She ran foward and ran her sword through one of them, and I cast a thunder spell, taking care of a few. When Sora, Donald, and Goofy cut down the last heartless, I ran over to them.
"How'd you guys know to come in here anyway?" I asked. I noticed Mushu staring at Ping guiltily.
"Mushu thought he saw Shan Yu enter this cave, but he must have been mistaken," Ping said, motioning to the small dragon.
"But he was here! He left with a man from the Organization!" I said. Everyone gasped and ran back out of the cave.
"Wait up!" I called. I ran after them, yelling at them to slow down. I stopped and panted when we reached the outside of the cave. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. There were burnt buildings, dead livestock, and wounded soldiers standing around. We ran into the center, looking for who might've done this, although I already have a pretty good idea.
"Ungh..."
We turned around to see a young man in a red version of Ping's outfit. He was hunched over and clutching his side.
"Captain!" Sora yelled, running over to him. We followed, staying by him.
"I...It's nothing! Just a scratch!" the man said. He tried to stand, but soon fell over again. I sighed.
"I'll heal him," I offered. No one seemed to hear me, because the next thing I knew, Sora and the others took off towards the mountain. I followed them, but not before healing the man. I ran up the hill and stopped when I saw Shan Yu standing above us.
"There!" I cried, pointing at him. Sora and the others stopped running and looked at him. He raised his hand up, and five or six heartless appeared next to him. He smirked and looked towards the cliff nearest us. I heard Sora cry out when he saw the cliff.
"Where'd they come from?" he yelled. I looked as well, and gasped when I saw hundreds of heartless coming at us.
"Stay together!" Donald yelled.
"What?" Sora called. He was soon swept away by the heartless.
"SORA!" we all yelled. Soon, the same happened to Goofy, and then Donald. Ping backed up next to me. We looked at each other and nodded. we slashed at the heartless that approached us, knocking them away one at a time. I raised my staff and several fireballs fell out of the sky. Ping jumped up and twirled her sword around several times. I yelled in surprise when she was carried away as well.
"No!" I yelled. I swung at another heartless and dodged several attacks. I felt something stab my shoulder. I cried out and hit the heartless that had hit me. There seemed to be no end to them! How long can I keep this up? Are Sora and the others okay? These thought kept running through my head as I fought. I cast an ice spell, freezing ten or eleven of them at once.
"Fira!" I yelled, sending three giant fire balls at the frozen heartless. They all flew back up to the cliff after that. I ran over to Sora when the heartless fled.
"Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded, Donald and Goofy walked up behind us.
"Where's Ping?" Goofy asked.
"Here!" she yelled. She ran over to us, followed by three soldiers.
"We'll handle this!" a skinny one said. A short and stubby one planted a rocket in the ground and aimed at Shan Yu. Ping looked back and forth from the rocket to Shan Yu. She then ran over and snatched the rocket away, taking aim at the moutain.
"Flint! I need something to make fire!" she yelled, looking around frantically. She looked at Mushu and smiled.
"Aha!"
"No! What're you-? no!" Mushu protested. She pulled his belly roughly, making a small ball of fire shoot out of his mouth. he fell onto the rocket when she let him go, and the rocket took off, dragon and all.
"What are you planning?" a rather large soldier asked. Ping pointed at the large chunks of ice that fell.
Does anyone else notice the fact that the snow's coming at us?
"RUN AWAY!" Sora and I yelled at the same time, taking off. Everyone screamed and followed. We took cover behind some large rocks. I held onto Sora, scared out of my wits, as the snow rushed past us and over the top of the rock. It went over, but didn't hit any of us. When the snow stopped falling, I relaxed my grip on Sora and looked over the top of the rocks.
"Oh1 You're okay!" I said happily when I saw Mushu, covered in snow, wearing a dark expression on his face.
"More or less..." he said. I picked him up and climbed down. He hopped out of my hands and walked around in circles, shaking snow out of his ears.
"Man! That's all I can stand! First, she uses me as a lighter, and then she turns me into a firecracker! That's about all I can take! Come on, girl! Let's go Mulan!" he yelled.
"Mushu..." Ping- now "Mulan", I presume- groaned. Uh oh... she's in trouble...
The man in red walked up beside us, an angry expression on his face.
"You're a woman?" he growled. She stared at the ground, ashamed. I gulped. Nothing good will come out of this. I can feel it.
"I'm sorry..." Mulan started. The man turned away, walking off of the mountain. He stopped when he was about to go down to the village.
"The punishment for deceiving the army.. is death," he stated. We all stared in shock.
"Go, now," he commanded. He walked down to the village, followed by the three soldiers that brought the rocket. I sighed with relief. He was letting her go! Yes! My happines soon faded when I saw Mulan's face.
"Mulan?" I said, placing my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me and smiled.
"I'll be okay... Come on, I have to... get home," she said.
"Girl, your daddy's gonna be as steamed as a chicken dumpling," Mushu said sadly. Sora smiled and grabbed Donald, Goofy, and I and pulled us close to him.
"Don't worry! We'll take our share of the blame!" he said cheerfully. We nodded and Mulan smiled.
"Thank you, you're all such wonderful friends!" She said. She took off the metal chestplate of her armor, leaving a tan shirt with a green belt around her waist. She took off all of her armor and took her hair down. It fell at shoulder lenght. she smiled and we began to walk away from the mountain. I looked up at the sky and saw a brown falcon fly past us. I ignored it It's probably no big deal.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" we all turned around when we heard an angry yell.
"Shan Yu!" I felt myself yell. Mulan and Sora looked at each other.
"We have to tell Shang!" they said in unison. We ran towards the city without looking back.
"Shang! Shang!" Mulan yelled, as we passed through the gates to the city. I stopped and panted. Why... do they all... run so fast...? Shang turned and sneered, trying to ignore us. How polite of him.
"Shang! Shan Yu is alive!" Mulan said frantically.
"And why should I believe you this time?" he asked.
"'Cuz if you don't, I'll smash that pretty-boy face of yours in!" I growled. Sora gave me a look and walked up ro where Mulan was.
"She's telling the truth!" Sora protested. I nodded. Another angry yell grabbed our attention.
"The Emperor!" Shang and Mulan yelled together. Shang kicked his horse and it ran off towards the catle. Sora and everyone else took off too.
"Fuu! Stay here and guard the gate!" Sora yelled.
"What? No way! I'm coming with you!" I yelled. i don't think he heard me, so I followed anyway. Who cares if more heartless break in? If we beat the big guy, they'll go away. Right? We reached the top of the stairs and froze when we saw some old guy behind Shan yu. Where's Shang? Didn't he already come this way...? We stopped when Shan Yu roared and five or six heartless appeared.
"Yeep!" I squeaked and hit one. I saw Shang punch Shan Yu and run away with the old man. Yes! He finally made himself useful! After defeating the heartless, Shan Yu charged us with his bird. The bird flew around, scratching and biting whoever got close enough to it. Donald raised his staff and yelled:
"Thundara!"
In an instant, the bird fell to the floor, resembling fried chicken.
Now that that's out of the way...
Mulan and Sora slashed at Shan Yu, while I stood back and attacked with whatever spell popped into my head. Goofy ran at him, throwing his shield so it caught him under the ankles. Shan Yu cried out and fell over. thus commenced the pummeling of the fat man.
"Hey, Fufu or whatever your name is!" Mushu yelled. I looked down and blinked.
"It's Fuu, and what?" I asked, bending down.
"You wanna be some help for once?" he asked. I glared and nodded. Hey, I'm doing more than he is! "Then pick me up for a sexond. I'm gonna show you how to use that staff of yours!"
He took it from my hand and climbed onto my head. I tried to get the staff back, but he kicked my hand away and aimed at some fireworks above Shan Yu.
"What's that spell again?"
"Fira."
"Thanks kid!" he said. I nodded and he aimed.
"FIRA!" Mushu yelled, sending the roof above us on fire. I took the staff back and ran off the stairs, calling over my shoulder:
"Move, guys!" They looked up and obeyed. Only Shan Yu stayed behind and was faced with large amounts of burning wood crashing down on his head. I winced as I heard him scream before the fire died down. Youch...
The wood was moved and no body was found. I guess that's a good thing, since it woulda been all burnt up. Sora turned to me, angrily.
"What were you thinking? You could have killed us all!" he yelled. I bowed as an apology, not telling him that Mushu did it. I may be weak, but I don't put the blame on someone else. Even if it is their fault. Sora still glared and sighed, running a hand through his hair. I backed up and prayed for something to interupt this!
"Fa Mulan!" a voice boomed. Thank you old guy! Mulan stepped fowards and bowed. The old man cleared his throat.
"I have heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan. You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an imperial soldier, disgraced your family name..."
"We get the picture," Sora groaned.
"And you have saved us all," he finished. I smiled and clasped my hands together. Yay! No death penalty!
"As for the damages to my palace..." he said, looking at me. I gulped and bowed again.
"I think I can let them slide, just this once," he said, smiling warmly. I looked up, surprised. I got away with it? Wow. Old guys rock!
"Th-thank you! Your... Majesty," I said, not sure what they call rulers here. Shang handed Mulan a sword. Hm, most girls like flowers, but I guess it's a bit different here. Hehe.
"Take this sword, so the world will know what you have done for China," the old guy said. Mulan bowed and Shang walked over. They smiled at each other and didn't say anything. aah... Young love! My attention was diverted towards Sora chasing Mushu around. I giggled and wiped away a small tear. Aw, now I'm thinking of Vivi... I hope Seifer isn't torturing him or anything... Actually, Vivi is much faster than that...
"Oh!"
We all stopped what we were doing and looked at Mulan. The sword in Mulan's hands began to glow and rise slowly. I felt the same light from Hollow Bastion surround us, and Sora and I faced the sword. A keyhole appeared above it. Sora raised the keyblade, and I my hand. We sealed it and came back to reality. I looked back down at the mark and gasped when I saw it had grown a bit. Sora looked at it.
"Where'd that come from?" he asked. I quickly covered it with my free hand.
"I-I... don't know," I said.
"Come on, we're leaving," he said. I nodded and followed him out of the city, still staring at my hand. Something tells me this is bad...
"What? You saw an Organization member?" Donald asked. I nodded and looked back at the world.
"He said his name was Xigbar," I said, "Anyway, what's our next destination?"
"A castle. Hang on!" Sora said, flooring it.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Donald, Goofy, and I screamed.