Action time. Fighting the creepy bad guys and general awesomeness. I warn you now, fight scenes are not generally my strong point. But I make the attempt and I hope you like it. And now, on to the story. Which means, violence! Fighting and violence ahead!
The men fleeing the explosions were not the first to reach Shang and his soldiers. Instead, panicked horses galloped by them, ropes dangling from them where they'd snapped their restraints. Each animal ran through the forest, crashing through the underbrush loudly in an attempt to escape the chaos. Only after the horses had passed them by did the first man reach Yao.
The stocky soldier didn't even give the stranger time to notice the four. Yao grabbed the man, flipped him over his shoulder, and pinned him to the ground.
"Your name Du Heng?" he asked. When the man didn't answer, Yao smashed the man's face into the dirt. The victim went limp as he lost consciousness. "Guess not," shrugged the short man.
The next few men spotted the event and were more prepared. Swords drawn, they charged the small group with a fierce battle cry. One met Shang, swords locking as the combatants joined. Another ran into Ling. The thin soldier blocked a downward swing before sweeping his leg around to knock the man to the ground. Chien Po simply lifted a pair who came too close and smashed them together.
As Shang disarmed his opponent, he pulled his victim close, "Where is Du Heng?"
"He is a great man," declared the man, his mustache dangling limply. "He will return us back to the glory of our past. He will take us back to our traditional ways and prevent further taint by unnaturalness. I shall not betray him."
"I'm sure I could convince you," growled Yao, cracking his knuckles.
Before the stocky soldier could attempt a more violent interrogation of the man, more members of the camp ran upon the group. These new arrivals were larger, stronger, and more ticked off. They took one look at the four soldiers and their limp teammates and decided that the appropriate action would be to attack.
Shouting fiercely, Yao picked a target and ran at full speed.
Only pure luck kept Mushu from being caught by the miniature tiger. He'd managed to jerk his serpentine body just enough to be in between the paws of the furry guardian rather than under them. Unfortunately, he still ended up being under Wei's nose. Which gave the dragon an unpleasantly close view of the feline's teeth. The black-striped guardian decided to simply bite the crimson reptile's head off at that point.
Not wishing to be beheaded like Fa Deng, Mushu lashed out with his talons at the tiger's nose. The scratch annoyed him and sufficiently distracted the feline guardian. The serpentine dragon dashed out from under Wei and almost skewered himself on Heng's blade.
"Stay still, you venomous snake," snarled the man.
"Okay," Mushu growled. "Why is dragon such a hard word? Snakes don't do this."
A fireball, about the size of a fist, flew towards the homely face of the man. Heng ducked out of the way of the projectile, but the man's act only resulted in the allowing the canvas to catch flame. Wei and his charge stared in surprise as the tent they were in became a fiery trap.
Mushu took advantage of their moment of horror and imitated the snake that they called him. He launched himself and bit the man's ankle. Heng shouted in pain and surprise as the angry dragon latched on. Called to action by the man's cry, Wei pounced and swatted the scaly guardian from his grip on the leg.
The clawed paw seemed too powerful in Mushu's opinion. Of course, Wei was still larger than the serpentine creature. It made sense in a way that the hit could knock him across the tent. And, in an even more unfair piece of bad luck, the tiger's claws seemed to have swiped through his red scales. So he ended up landing a decent distance from where he started, scratched and bruised.
Hissing, the dragon pulled himself up again. While it stung, the injuries would be gone quickly. But it did annoy him. The damage would vanish, but it was tiring to be batted around by an undersized tiger.
"Annoying pest," screamed Heng furiously. "I'll kill you for that."
"Blah, blah, blah," Mushu snapped. "I'm not scared of a coward like you. After all, you can't attack someone unless you do it in secret and shoot them in the back."
The human glared angrily at the serpentine creature. For a moment, the man looked like he was about to cross the room to make the reptilian guardian pay for his words. But a growl from Wei caught Heng's attention. The tiger jerked his head towards the tent opening. The flames were spreading quickly and the fabric would soon collapse on the tent occupants. A final glance at the crimson dragon was all the homely man spared before limping out of the death trap.
"Oh, so you don't," hissed Mushu. "You won't get away that easily. You'll pay for what you've done, Heng. I don't care what it takes to do it, but I will."
She looked so beautiful. His girl was dressed as the perfect bride, but it broke his heart to see her so sad. She was miserable and her spirit broken. Mulan couldn't marry that prince. If she did, it would be admitting that not only is Shang truly gone, but that everything she'd earned for herself didn't truly matter. She'd accept her role as a woman rather than a person. And it would destroy her.
Cri-Kee and Mushu watched her place the finishing touches to her appearance. She reached for her comb with the delicate, white flower to place in her hair. Her guardian (at least, until the wedding was complete) watched her slow movements. She was in pain, emotionally, and he wished he could stop it or help. The dragon wished that everything was back to how it was before this mission began; she and Shang newly engaged and happy.
"Oh Mulan," he sighed. "I'd give up a thousand pedestals if I could stop this."
The words weren't everything he wanted to tell her. He wanted to apologize for the mess he'd caused on the way to Qui Gong. He wanted to tell her that it would be alright, even if he didn't believe it. He wanted to say that if he could, he'd take her home and forget all about the treaty. And he wanted to tell her that he was wrong and Shang would have been the perfect husband. But he couldn't. All he'd managed was saying he'd rather sacrificed his happiness a thousand times over than to see her miserable.
Now, the stakes were not the happiness or well-being of his charge. Instead, Mushu was fighting to give the girl some… justice or vengeance or something along that line. It wasn't for him really. By now, after all the rules he'd shattered, there was no way that he wouldn't be punished. In fact, they'd likely completely kick him out of the family shrine and replace him with some giant monstrosity of a dragon. And if he wasn't allowed in the shrine, he wouldn't be able to see Mulan (even if she didn't hate him for this, though she'd likely would). No, he wouldn't get anything out of this for himself.
But he would get the knowledge that Heng's actions would be punished. The ugly man and the stuck-up tiger would not get away with what they'd done. No matter what the cost, those two would pay.
Mushu didn't have a thousand pedestals (or even one, after the ancestors found out about everything) that he could give up to make things better. In fact, he didn't have much to offer at all. But he did have one very angry, very stubborn dragon with nothing to lose and no reason to stay safe.
"Great, time for stupid heroism," he growled to himself, diving for the exit as the tent collapsed in a flaming mass.
When they finally made it to the source of the explosions, the camp seemed mostly to be destroyed. Many of the tents were on fire or already reduced to blackened skeletons that were reminiscent of when "Ping's" rocket struck Chi Fu's shelter back in training. Most of the camps residents were already gone or had been dealt with by the group. None of their victims, however, seemed like leadership material and likely their real target had vanished.
Yao, Ling, and Chien Po seemed to be wondering what lend to the flashy destruction of the camp. Shang, on the other hand, already suspected. The explosions were clearly the result of rockets. And the launching of these weapons was likely the work of a certain dragon. Where the guardian now hid was a mystery, but the general intended to find out.
"Men, search for survivors in the camp and surrounding area," he ordered. "Anyone you find, question them about the location of Du Heng."
The trio nodded grimly and split up. They moved through the remnants of the camp, hands on their weapons. Shang began searching the burnt ruins not only for signs of the enemy, but also for his wife's guardian.
"Wrong way, Pretty-boy," a familiar voice snapped. "The freak with the lumpy nose ran this way."
The general, his head turning towards the sound, jerked in surprise at what he saw. The serpentine creature barely resembled the out-going dragon he knew. First off, his eyes were more reptilian in appearance. It was unnerving to see the vertical slits staring at him as the firelight flickered off the guardian's face. Soot streaked his crimson scales. Finally, hints of blood could be seen on his front claws and his side, though Shang wasn't sure whose. Mushu didn't look like the old, easy-going dragon that would curl around Mulan's neck lazily. He looked like a dangerous predator on the hunt.
"Mushu?" He asked uneasily.
The reptile glared, "You deaf? Du Heng went this way." The red guardian jerked his head towards the forest. "As husband, you can take on the big guy with the sword. Unfortunately, the freak isn't alone. I'll distract Wei."
Shang grabbed the small creature and lifted him to his shoulder to perch. The dragon winced slightly as the man touched the guardian's side, but didn't complain. Moving in the indicated direction, the general left the fiery glow behind. The late evening light did not reach into the forest.
As they pursued their targets, Shang felt the urge to ask, "Who is Wei?"
"A very bad thing," hissed the dragon. "The guardian for Heng. And a mini tiger with attitude."
Before he could ask for more detail, a deep growl emerged from the underbrush. What little light reached into the forest glinted off a pair of eyes, making the two orbs seem to glow. While the height off the ground seemed too low to be a tiger, the sound matched the feline.
Mushu shot off a small flame directly at the eyes. The fire illuminated the area briefly and revealed an orange and black furred face that jerked back from the heat. But more importantly, it showed Shang that a sword was descending towards his head. The general swung his blade to meet the weapon while the dragon launched himself at the tiger.
Two against one is never good odds. Especially when the two were bigger than the one by a huge extent. Bringing along Shang was probably the smartest thing Mushu had done all day. After all, the man had just a great a reason to want Du Heng dead. Plus, the general was closer in height to the homely assassin and held a sword. It only made sense for Mulan's husband to battle him.
But Wei, psycho tiger guardian of the Du family, wouldn't stand by as his charge was attacked. Doubtless the feline would devise a subtle way to make the battle swing in Heng's favor. And he would find a way to do it while obeying the rules. That, however, was why Mushu wouldn't give him the chance to try.
As Shang and Heng joined battle, the crimson dragon went after Wei. He was quickly running out of fire, but the earlier scratches were mostly gone. On the other hand, the tiger was over his "Mongolian barbeque" experience as well and would not go easy on the smaller opponent. So, scaly guardian would need to be more cunning than the feline.
Mushu grabbed the round ear on the creature, digging his talons into the tigers head. Tossing his head and clawing at the reptile, Wei tried to dislodge the dragon. To secure his position further, the red guardian wrapped his tail and serpentine body around the neck of the furry creature.
From his perch, Mushu could hear some of Shang's fight. The clang of swords striking one another rang out from their struggles. Tree branches and leaves snapped and crunched underfoot as their battle moved through the undergrowth. But mostly, he heard Wei's growls of frustration and pain and humans' occasional words.
"You are a war hero, your father a general before you," exclaimed Heng. "But you accepted that conniving woman as your bride after she infiltrated your troops' ranks and deceiving you. How could you?"
"You will not mention Mulan again," Shang declared, his temper rising. "You have no right to speak of her." He swung his sword around, aiming at the homely man's side. Heng moved his own blade to block the strike, the steel ringing out as they collided. "She has done more for this kingdom and risked more for its people than you shall ever know."
"That's right, Pretty-boy," shouted the scaly guardian. "Tell that ugly loser the facts and then cut his head off."
"He shall not," Wei growled.
Deciding that dislodging the minor pest was useless, the tiger turned his attention to the threat to his charge. Mushu felt the feline's shoulders tense as the guardian moved into a pouncing position. Even smaller than a regular tiger, Wei could seriously hurt Shang. And if the black-striped creature wasn't enough to stop him, then Heng would doubtlessly take advantage of the situation to kill his opponent. Basically, if Wei pounced, Shang and Mushu lost.
"Oh, no you don't," snarled the crimson guardian. "No crouching tiger is going to ignore this hidden dragon."
In the moments before the pounce, the feline found his unwelcomed passenger moving. Letting go of the ear, Mushu clawed his way down the muzzle and grabbed the whiskers. Pulling hard, he managed to yank three loose and caused the tiger to scream in pain. The downside of this move was that it placed him in an easier area to reach.
A very enraged Wei began clawing furiously at the dragon. Unable to dodge the blows, Mushu decided to burn the pads of the paws with what little fire he could still produce. That way, both of them would be miserable and hurt by the feline's strikes. And, unlike the tiger's paws, the red scales on him offered some protection from the sharp claws.
"Have you no sense of duty?" Wei snapped as he slashed at the smaller guardian with his burned paws. "Have you no sense of honor? You did not protect the unnatural girl from what she deserved. You failed in your duty and you continue to disgrace the position you hold. Why do you not accept your failing and stop destroying what little honor you have?"
Out of fire and running out of energy, Mushu answered, "Because your psycho took away Mulan. That's all I care about. Not the stupid rules and not what insane logic you and Heng followed."
"Du Heng's actions will save the kingdom and even the emperor will accept this in the end," boasted the feline as he tossed his head sharply, nearly throwing the reptile off. "He shall then award Heng for saving our way of life by giving Heng the eldest princess as a bride and my charge will one day rule."
With a final shake, the dragon lost his grip and tumbled to the ground. Hissing as he landed on the new scratches on his back and sides, Mushu tried to get up before his new playmate decided to join him. Unfortunately, the tiger was quicker. Two paws landed on top of him and a deep growl sounded above the reptile's head.
Squashed beneath the larger guardian, the dragon still managed to hiss, "That's your plan? Ting-Ting and Ugly? Won't work, Hairball. Traitor's don't get girls."
Wei responded by shifting his weight so that he was cutting off the loud-mouthed creature's air. Leaning down, the tiger glared at the dragon like he was prey.
"We'll succeed," he snarled at the suffocating guardian. "And if you cling to that treacherous creature's memory to this extent, I shall put you out of your misery."
Mushu, struggling to breath, felt the striped creature take his head in his mouth. The dragon knew the tiger intended to bite his head, which would definitely kill him. And he couldn't really stop Wei. Honestly, the crimson guardian was completely out of options and all he could hope was that Shang took care of Heng properly. If Heng was dead, then the tiger would simply have to accept the disgrace brought by leading his charge to his doom, without seeking revenge against the general. No, only the suicidal, rule-breaking, caring guardian would do this sort of thing. That's what separated him from the tiger: the dragon cared about Mulan as a person while Wei only did his duty and sought ways to gain honor for the family without really feeling attached to Du Heng.
As he closed his eyes (who actually wants to watch the inside of a feline's mouth close on their head?) and felt the sharpness of the fangs starting to sink into his neck, Mushu could swear he heard chirping…
I am an evil person who is tormenting you with cliffhangers. I'm sorry, but this is the best place to stop. Don't try to attack me for it, please. I write as fast as I can. I hope you are liking this. Reviews are good for me.