Princess Fantasy D X-2

A/N: I have never been inspired enough to write stories about any fanart before, until I saw the work of deviantart artist Skirtzzz, specifically her Final Fantasy Disney Dressphere series. With her blessing, this will be the first of a series of final scene rewrites, using the powers of the dresspheres to possibly change the script, or failing that, make the scene worthy of a Final Fantasy series. Replicating the feel for such an incredible franchise will be a challenge, but I swear I'll do my best!

If you haven't seen any of the movies or their endings, this could be a little spoilerific, but if you have or don't mind, hang on for the ride!

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

Guardians and Greatswords

The estate of the Fa family was silent, as the eve of one of China's climactic days drew closer and closer. The old war veteran Fa Zhou, his wife Fa Li, and his mother Fa Zhi had retired to their home earlier than usual that day, unaware of the events about to take place in the Imperial City many miles away.

As such, with the family having their evening meal inside the main building, and Little Brother for once soundly asleep on his favorite pillow inside, no one was around the lake to the west of the Fa family shrine to see a figure step out from behind the bushes and walk over to the lake.

The raven-haired and bearded Chinese man, with red silk robes with voluminous sleeves, embroidered with a bright sun and hemmed with a gold scale pattern, glanced in the direction of the Imperial City and closed his eyes briefly in thought. Then, he turned towards what was once a magnificent carved dragon statue, but was now a pile of rubble with the stone head resting on top of the pile.

The man bent lower to said head. "Da Longshi? Da Longshi, are you here?"

The stone did not answer. At this the man smiled; this was just what he was expecting.

He then turned his calm gaze to the family shrine and started the quiet walk up the stairs towards it. When he got there, he saw nothing but many family memorial tablets carved out of black, reflective stone. When he glanced up, he could see the statues of the family guardians resting on their pedestals, all members of the Zodiac present save one.

His eyes turned back to the centralmost tablet, detailing the life of the eldest ancestor whose spirit still resided in Di Yu: Fa Yang, the great-grandfather of Grandmother Fa. Walking up to it, he spoke in a calm tone. "Elder Fa Yang, I bid you awaken. We have much to discuss."

Like before with the stone dragon, there was no answer. This time, however, the man was only half-expecting this outcome, and he was not pleased about it.

Sighing, he raised one of his huge sleeves and let a slip of red paper flutter out of it, covered in Chinese glyphs and stamped with an important looking seal. Looking straight at the memorial, he reiterated his request: "Elder Fa Yang, the future of your family and all of China rests on this very moment! Answer my call! By Imperial Order!"

This time something did happen. In front of the man's eyes, the setting sun's light reflecting off the lettering on Fa Yang's memorial stone turned a shiny blue, lighting up each character one by one with a soft blue light. When all the characters were lit, a strange blue mist blew out of them like a snowstorm, curling upwards to take the shape of an elderly man, hairless except for the long white beard, carrying a long crook made of said blue mist.

"Imperial order?" he repeated, sitting on his pedestal. "It has been a long while since I heard those summons. Please tell me who had called me…" His voice actually stuttered off when he saw the man looking straight at him, beard slightly quirked in a wry smile.

"I see that proper channels are in order even for one such as me," he said. As the sun dropped enough to move his body out of its light, his robes dissolved like mist, revealing not a human body, but the long, serpentine body of a green-scaled dragon with his human head in place of a reptilian face.

Elder Fa Yang hurriedly lowered his head. "Lord Fu Xi! Please excuse my ignorance! I did not realize the Gods had an interest in my humble family!"

Fu Xi's body coiled up slightly. "There is no need for such formality, Elder Fa Yang, I do not have control over your domain after all. But as one of the protectors of this country, I must request your help."

"Whatever you wish, my Lord," Elder Fa Yang immediately said. "Anything you wish, it will be done!"

"Good," said Fu Xi. "It concerns Lady Fa Mulan, your descendent of this day and age."

Fa Yang's expression twitched. "That wayward woman who seeks to save her father from war? I sent the Great Stone Dragon after her as her Guardian. Though I wonder why he has yet to return with her…"

"It might be because although her Guardian is a dragon, it is not the Great Stone Dragon," Fu Xi said dryly. Fa Yang blinked at that.

"What? But I saw him! How could he…" The elder's face contorted in a snarl. "Mushu… even as a gong ringer he still finds a way to foul it up! The dishonor of it all… when I get my hands on him…!"

Fu Xi cleared his throat. "Yes, he did end up masquerading as Mulan's Guardian, but only because the Great Stone Dragon refused to awaken… because he wasn't actually in his statue."

This brought Fa Yang's tirade to a halt. "I beg your pardon? Not in his statue? But where else could he be? I don't understand!"

The God started to elaborate. "When Da Longshi was assigned his Guardianship to your family after Mushu's… incident with Fa Deng, I had approached him with a bit of information regarding something I had divined. The I Ching had foretold a time when a daughter of the Fa family would need to make a decision that not only could save China from destruction, but could bring China into a new era of progress and prosperity. Regardless of the future, the decimation of the Middle Kingdom is something the Celestials cannot ignore."

"And so, I told Da Longshi that when the time came, he would have to leave his statue and grant the descendant his strength and courage, to give her the decisiveness to do what has to be done. A duty that, as decreed by the Jade Emperor, falls beyond answering the call as Guardian."

By now, the First Fa Ancestor had managed to regain his composure enough to understand the details. "And what is that decision?"

Fu Xi turned back to look at the main house. "Whether to try and retain her family's honor by letting her father go to war, or go to war herself in his place to protect his life. If not for the push that Da Longshi had most likely given her, the choice might likely have been made for her, or she might not have the determination to see what had entailed through to the end."

"And Mushu? How does he fit in?"

At this, Fu Xi smiled knowingly. "That would be the work of the Monkey King, the Goddess of Mercy and the Queen Mother of the West… and it's not often those three agree with each other. When the Celestials saw who Da Longshi would be replacing as a Guardian, they petitioned for Mushu to be 'assigned' to Fa Mulan, because an unconventional hero needs an unconventional partner, because even a screwup deserves a second chance… and because Sun Wukong just wanted some laughs."

Now a look of comprehension crossed Elder Fa Yang's face. "So all this was planned out from the start. Ever since you all knew about the threat to China, you had been taking measures around our family to prevent that, even as far as sending Mushu after her."

Then he furrowed his brow. "But if everything has gone so far to plan, what exactly do you need from us?"

"China's twilight is upon us, and my latest look into the I Ching has showed me the Imperial City reveling in victory over the barbarians, or burning as they raze it to the ground, but no more than that. With the threat of China's civilization being wiped out a real possibility, the Jade Emperor has declared that one last precaution be put in place to defend against the Hun threat."

The man-headed dragon-serpent looked back up at the statues on their pedestals. "This precaution is stemmed from the Fa family Guardians; they are all to be awakened and sent to aid Fa Mulan in her final challenge against the Hun leader."

If his first statement had astonished Elder Fa Yang, this one completely dumfounded him. "All the guardians? My Lord, that's absurd! More than one Guardian active to a single family has not happened since Fa Qing's time, and never have all twelve been active at once, especially not assigned to a single person!"

"Then it is a good thing I consulted with Tsao-Wang before I arrived here," said Fu Xi calmly, although a small part of him was rueing all the paperwork he would have to submit to the God of the hearth to implement this clause. "Clause 25, Subsection 3 of the Guardian Implementation Act: Only by Imperial mandate can all twelve Guardians of one specific family be active at the same time, in order to complete a task dictated by the submitter, and only towards the preservation of the Middle Kingdom as a whole. Details are to be submitted to the God of the Hearth in triplicate as soon as the task is complete; failure to do so can result in disciplinary action. It was the Jade Emperor himself who ordered all the Guardians of the Fa family be awakened and sent to assist your descendent, to be the tools that could potentially save all of China from annihilation."

Elder Fa Yang was silent for a moment, then looked up and nodded in agreement. "Then for the sake of our people and by the honor of our family, it shall be done, my Lord. The Fa family Guardians are yours to command."

"Excellent," Fu Xi responded, scraping his tail against the stone floor and shedding a number of scales. A pulse of Qi magic later, the scales were transformed into scripted, seal-stamped squares of auspicious paper. The God dextrously flicked his tail, sweeping the squares up into the rafters of the shrine, where each one stuck to the head of a statue.

Fu Xi drew his body up and spoke in a commanding tone, "Guardians of the Fa family! I, Lord Fu Xi of the Celestials, bid you awaken to perform your duties for the Jade Emperor! By Imperial Order!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the edicts suddenly started burning spontaneously like they had invisible candles set to them. At the same time, the stone of the statues started to glow brightly in various colors, tans, whites, golds, greens, greys and pinks. Then, all at once, the statues exploded and eleven shapes dropped from their pedestals to the shrine floor in clouds of smoke.

"Imperial Order? Did I just hear Imperial Order?" a grey rat around twice as large as a regular one squeaked excitedly. "Are we really being called for an Imperial Order? I've always dreamed of being called for one!"

Beside him, a white fluffball sheep the size of a cat with curled horns tossed her head worriedly. "Oh… oh dear… an Imperial Order? Is this really happening? What… what are we being called for? I do hope it doesn't involve danger!"

"Aw, what are you so skittish about, cotton puff?" purred a majestic, orange-furred tiger with the proportions of a full-grown adult, but the size of a smallish dog. "It's been too long since I've bared my claws! I was getting stiff!"

"Indeed," crooned a glittery-eyed, green snake small enough for a person to wear around their arm. She flexed her coils smoothly. "What has it been, seven generations since I was summoned? I could almost feel my scales dulling!"

"Not to mention my feathers," groused a rooster with shiny reddish feathers and sharp talons, preening a wing as he glanced at his fellow Guardians. "Wonder if this job will make me lose a few?"

"I do not believe it will, Kungpao," Fu Xi answered, causing the rooster to glance up at the snake-bodied God, and let out a squawk of recollection. All the Guardians bowed as best they could.

"Lord Fu Xi!" an adult Chinese wolfdog the size of one of her puppies spoke up, her ears flattened in deference. "For the honor of the Fa family, we will complete the task you set us!"

"I know it is the first time since you were chosen as Guardians working with each other, but you will all have to make do," Fu Xi said imperiously. "I presume you all were listening to our conversation?"

"Yes, great Lord," answered the dog, her voice tinged with slight discontent, "we will do as you say… even if it means working with that screw-up again…"

"I don't see why you dislike him so much, Wantan," chattered a smallish, golden-furred monkey only big enough to fit on a man's shoulder. "Personally, I find him entertaining – especially when listening to these old folk day after day."

"Because he lets his emotions get in the way of his duty to the family, Hongshu," growled Wantan in reply, "Every time he's awake, all he can talk about is becoming a Guardian again, even after his emotions got Fa Deng decapitated. You, with all your wisdom, are questioning that?"

"So, he made a mistake," shrugged Hongshu, "doesn't everyone?"

Another growl, this time from the tiger, interrupted him. "There is no excuse for mistakes in this line of work, especially not when it means abandoning someone who should've been your friend."

"Hongshu, Paigu, settle down," interjected a solidly-built bronze-colored ox the size and weight of a full sack of grain. "Whatever disagreements we have with Mushu can wait until we find him and complete the task our Emperor has given us. I presume you wish us to track down Fa Mulan and aid her against the Huns, my Lord?"

"Indeed, Xiongrou," answered Fu Xi, glancing out the door at the sun which was more than halfway out of view. "But you need to be swift. When this night is over, China will either be reveling in victory or burning in defeat, and I don't need to say which outcome needs to occur, do I?"

"No you do not, Lord Fu Xi," answered Wantan, getting to her feet. "Wherever Mushu and Mulan are, I can track them down. But if we need to make haste, then I believe we will need transport. As fast as she is, I do not think Jiangcai can take us all with her if she tried." She spared a glance at the shy, white, somewhat largish rabbit beside her nodding at her statement.

Fu Xi smiled and nodded. "As you wish," he said, scraping off a few more scales from his tail. A burst of Qi later, two appropriately-sized carts and harnesses, and a similarly-sized basket stood in front of the Guardians.

"Perfect," Xiongrou said, getting to his hooves and allowing Hongshu to hitch him up to one of the carts. "Doufu, you ready?"

"I was ready when you woke me up!" The small, barrel-chested, sandy-furred horse reared up and pawed the air, the monkey having already hitched him up to the other cart. Wantan scrambled onto his back, nose to the air.

"We'll head to the Imperial City. I'd recognize Mushu's scent anywhere; if he gets within 200 li of me, I'll find him." She looked back at the sheep and the tiger as they climbed into the cart. "Dunyang, Paigu, you two are ridng with us?"

Both animals nodded in response, Dunyang in particular shooting a wary glance at Xiongrou. Wantan nodded to herself; despite how easygoing the ox was most of the time, it didn't take much for the right thing to really set him off, and his rages were something the shy sheep steered clear of at all possible opportunity.

Meanwhile, Xiongrou watched as the monkey, rat, and piglet-sized pink pig scrambled into his own cart. "Hongshu, Mifan, Charsiew, ready for a ride?"

Hongshu tugged at the reins in response. Mifan scurried onto his head. "Let's go save China, bring honor to the Fas, and rescue our comrade," the rat declared. Charsiew oinked in agreement.

"Afraid of heights, Pidan?" asked Kungpao, perched on the basket's handle.

"Not with you flying," answered the snake with a smirk-like flick of her tongue, sliding into the basket.

Elder Fa Yang looked over them: the ones that had served his family faithfully for generations. "Then go! The honor of our family and the fate of China rest on your shoulders! Do not falter!"

Wantan glanced back at the elder. "And I'm not going to start now, master." With that, the Guardians were off, Doufu and Xiongrou hauling the carts down the hill and out the gate, Jiangcai running like the wind next to them, and Kungpao taking to the air carrying Pidan with him.

Fu Xi watched them go as the sun vanished from sight. "Godspeed," he said.

Mushu watched his charge cry out to people in the crowd, trying to get them to listen to her, but they all just shrugged her off. As one of the only witnesses to the Huns' escape from the avalanche in the Tung Shao pass, she had to do something, but as a woman, getting people to listen to her was never going to be easy.

For his part, Mushu was halfway musing about how he would not be able to help her given that Guardians had to remain hidden to everyone except their charge and just wondering how they could get to the emperor in the first place. Therefore, when he thought he heard a female growl, "There he is!" over the cheering of the massive crowd, he just dismissed it.

Or at least he did until a black and grey blur darted out of the shadows and pounced on him.

"Whoa! Hey! Get offa me, ya crazy mutt!" the dragon yelped, pinned to the ground with the dog's teeth inches from his face. He prepared a fireball, but choked on it when the dog opened its mouth, and spoke.

"Well, this is a fine little mess you've gotten yourself into, isn't it, screwup?" she growled.

"Screwup? Whaddya mean… Wantan?!" Mushu exclaimed, finally recognizing the Guardian. "What are you doing awake?"

"Helping your sorry butt, Mushu," answered Wantan, sitting back on her hind legs and letting the dragon up. "We're under divine orders to find you and your charge and help you prevent the fall of China."

"Help me? I'll have you know I have everything under control… wait, back up." Mushu shook his head. "We? Divine orders?" A moment later he realized it. "The bigwigs actually enlisted us?"

"Now you're getting it," huffed Wantan.

"Mushu, no one will listen…" a despairing Mulan turned around to her Guardian to see him in deep conversation with an adult dog the size of a puppy. Before she could ask questions, the dog turned to her and inclined her head.

"Fa Mulan, my name is Wantan, Dog Guardian of the Fa family. The other Guardians and I were sent to aid you to preserve the fate of China. We are under your command."

For her credit, Mulan only took a second to wrap her head around the situation. "Well, you certainly came to the right place," she said, glancing worriedly back at where her ex-captain Shang was now kneeling before the Emperor, presenting the sword of the Hun leader Shan Yu. "The Emperor's in danger, and we need to find a way to get to him."

Wantan nodded, and glanced back at the doorway she had came out from. "The other Guardians are back there. It'd be better to explain everything to us all at once." She loped off away from the crowd, Mulan and Mushu hurrying after them.

A short distance away, where the crowd wouldn't easily notice them, a collection of miniaturized animals were patienly waiting for them alongside Mulan's horse Khan, Cri-Kee the lucky cricket chirping at them loudly. Mushu's eyes lit up when he saw them, in particular the rat and the monkey. "Hey fellas, how's everything going? Hongshu, buddy, got that kink out of your tail yet? Yo Pidan, looking great! New scale treatment?"

While the guardians either groaned, glared or chuckled at Mushu's antics, Wantan introduced each one in Zodiac order: "Mifan the rat, Xiongrou the ox, Paigu the tiger, Jiangcai the rabbit, you know Mushu the dragon, Pidan the snake, Doufu the horse, Dunyang the sheep, Hongshu the monkey, Kungpao the rooster, myself, Wantan the dog, and finally, Charsiew the pig."

Each Guardian nodded as Wantan introduced them. "Alright, enough waiting," Doufu interjected, one hoof pawing the ground. "Tell us what's going on! I'm dying to get to work!"

"Okay, here's what we know so far," Mulan said, kneeling down to them. "While traveling through the Tung Shao Pass, our squad was ambushed by the Hun army, who had already massacred the Imperial Vanguard. I managed to bury them in an avalanche, but in the process, I was injured and my gender was revealed." She spared a wistful glance towards Shang back on the steps. "Despite the law, my captain spared my life but abandoned me on the mountain. After they left, I saw the Hun leader Shan Yu and his guard dig themselves out and head for the city, so I tried to get to the city first to warn them, but I can't get anyone to hear me out. If I'm not mistaken, the Huns should be in the city by now, but I don't know where they are."

Wantan opened her mouth to volunteer to search, but a falcon's screech and a gasp from the crowd caught everyone's attention. The group dashed for a better view, in time to see a familiar hunting falcon flap away from Shang and the Emperor, his masters' curved sword clutched in his talons. He swooped over a nearby statue-topped roof and let it drop… where it was snatched out of the air.

Shan Yu rose out of the shadows, his sword back in his possession, looking menacingly over the crowd. Shouts and yells of near-panic as the crowd milled about, unsure of what to do.

"Oh no…" murmured Mulan. The Guardians all looked similarly stricken.

"Oh boy," Kungpao muttered. Jiangcai and Dunyang both looked on the verge of running and hiding, only the purpose of their duty keeping them in place,

"Let's go!" Wantan's urgent bark startled everyone into motion and they hurried for the palace, weaving through the crowd to get to the doors. But they hadn't gone more than a few feet when the lion costume behind Shang suddenly exploded, as the rest of the Huns, five in total, cut their way out. Before Shang had finished drawing his blade, the two burliest ones intercepted him and knocked him flat, before seizing the Emperor and dragging him through the doors of the palace. Two more started dragging the massive doors shut, while the last kept anyone from interfering with his bow and arrow.

It didn't deter Shang though, who immediately charged for the doors followed by the rest of his squad. But they were too late as the doors slammed shut, locking anyone who could stop them out. Mulan could hear Shan Yu's victorious laughter from his perch on the roof.

As the squad toppled a huge lion guardian statue and tried to batter down the doors with it, Mulan reached the base of the steps. "They'll never reach the Emperor in time," she breathed. Turning to the group of creatures, she asked, "Can you all make it into the palace without me?"

"No problem!" piped up Mifan. "Getting in and out is what I do best!"

"Then you all find your way in and do some scouting. I'm going to go get some help. When Wantan finds me up there, tell me what you know." Instantly, she hurried off towards the squad.

The Guardians looked amongst each other before Mushu broke the silence. "Well, you heard the baby girl, let's go!"

Mulan hurried up to the group and whistled to get their attention. "Hey guys! I've got an idea!" She ran off to the side of the palace, and after a shared look, the huge Chien Po, the thin Ling, and the short Yao followed her.

Captain Shang looked after them for a moment, obviously battling with his thoughts, before coming to a decision. "Men, keep trying to break through, but make as much noise as you can. As long as the Huns think we're coming through this door, they won't notice anyone sneaking in through the side."

"Yes sir!" said the remaining soldiers.

The Captain followed Mulan around the corner where she and the three soldiers were preparing to scale four pillars, using scavenged belts from their armor to do so. Said armor was discarded to one side, to prevent it from weighing them down. As Mulan prepared to ascend, Shang touched her shoulder, and when she spun around to face him in surprise, he simply whipped off his cape and wrapped it around a fifth pillar.

Mulan nodded with a smile, and the five began the climb towards the balcony over their heads.

A few minutes later, the small group was hidden behind a wall, observing the group of five Huns guarding the door to the balcony, one ear pricked at the muffled banging coming from the main doors. Mulan thought she did a fairly good job of disguising the three soldiers; with most of the royal concubines out enjoying the victory festival when the Huns attacked, she had a lot of material to work with. Hopefully, all they would pass for were very unusual women.

In the meantime, she had also managed to meet up with the Guardians and collect their information: the five Huns were under explicit orders to not move from their position until Shan Yu was done with the Emperor. Given their hardened status, the only way they could gain the upper hand is with the element of surprise; hense the disguises. However, she had also already outlined another plan to them to ensure nothing went wrong.

She turned back to Yao, Ling and Chien Po, now wearing dresses, fake padding and more than enough makeup. "Okay, any questions?"

"Does this dress make me look fat?" muttered Yao, fiddling with his chest wrap. Ling slapped him for the stupid comment. "Ow!"

This set all five of the Huns on guard. "Who's there?" the one with the bow snapped out, notching an arrow.

Four fancily-dressed ladies stepped into view, holding fans to cover their faces. One looked fairly normal, but the other three, a huge one, a short one, and a slim one, seemed a bit… ungainly on their feet. "Concubines," muttered a bare-chested Hun with a single tuft of hair, lowering his blade.

His twin, just as burly but completely bald, didn't look entirely convinced. "Ugly concubines…"

From where he was crawling up behind the group, Hongshu couldn't help but shake his head at the exchange. "It seems that Shan Yu has all the brains in this outfit…"

Another Hun, this one wearing a round hat and covered in stubble, looked more perplexed than suspicious. "I thought all the women had left the palace," he said, turning to his comrade. "Didn't you check all the nearby rooms?"

"I did," the other Hun, a lithe man with rather lank black hair, answered. "Which means these four had to have come back from the festival. Why are you all here?"

"Oh, you know, the things that can happen to your clothes out there in the street," one woman trilled in an airy tone, glancing idly off to one side. Her friends all giggled in agreement, nudging one another. However, this caused an apple to suddenly roll out from underneath the thin one's dress. The Huns all stared at it in confusion, as said woman gave a sheepish grin.

From behind a corner, Shang choked out a groan at the potential unraveling of their plan. Unfortunately for him, that action caught the attention of the falcon Hayabusa, who was sitting in an alcove above the door the Huns were guarding. Luckily, before he could screech and raise the alarm, a snake's body suddenly lashed out from nowhere to wrap around his wings and beak, muffling his cries and hauling him back into the shadows of the alcove, where the monkey and dragon trussed him up with a spare sash.

However, that in and of itself caused the bow-wielding Hun to look back up. "Hayabusa? Where did you go?" he asked sharply.

The woman who spoke earlier fumbled her fan slightly. Before the other Huns could make any connections, a sudden rumble made them all look to one side, where a huge heavy porcelain vase was rolling out of a nearby hallway straight towards them. But the second they took their eyes off the concubines, it cost them.

Pulling out the watermelons he was using as padding, Chien Po drove them down on the twin Huns' heads, before smashing them into each other in a spray of juice, knocking them both out cold. Jamming his remaining apple into the lank one's mouth, Ling kicked his legs out from under him before forcing the breath out of him with a stone-splitting headbutt. One punch to the gut from Yao made the hat-wearing Hun lurch forward, whereupon the short soldier grabbed his arm and flipped him over to land right on the rolling vase, sending him down in a shower of china.

Mulan deftly kicked the bow out of the hands of the last one before twisting him to the ground and pinning him with his own weapon. "Shang! Go!" she shouted. On cue, the Captain rushed from his hiding place and charged up the stairs. As the soldiers rushed after their Captain, Mulan knocked her captive out cold and shouted, "Lock them away somewhere!" before following suit.

Dropping down from the alcove, bound falcon in paw, Hongshu gestured towards a nearby room with sturdy doors. "Xiongrou, Doufu, Charsiew, in here!" As Jiangcai and Kungpao collected their weapons and tossed them out the window, the bull, pig and horse hauled the unconscious Huns into the unlit room and left them there. Hongshu threw Hayabusa into the room after them, before locking them in.

"Oh yeah! Who da dragon?" crowed Mushu.

"We'd better find more stuff to barricade this door," muttered the monkey. "If they do wake up, this lock isn't going to stop all of them!"

The Guardians nodded in agreement and spread out, fetching anything heavy they could find – vases, pedestals, potted plants – and started piling it against the door. They had only just managed a fairly impressive pile when an infuriated yell resounded from the balcony above them into the room.

Everyone froze at that. "Oh dear… oh dear… oh dear…" mumbled Dunyang.

"Get a grip, Dunyang," snorted Paigu, causing the sheep to let out a bleat of fright. "Panicking isn't going to do us any good. We should be able to help Mulan take out just one Hun."

"Without revealing ourselves in the process?" replied Charsiew pointedly.

"If we do it right he won't be around to tell anyone."

It was at that point that Wantan's ears pricked up in concern. "Well, how about six Huns?" she asked. Sure enough, a muffled groaning, followed by muffled shouting, was starting to come from the locked door. The sturdy wood shook, then bowed, as if someone was trying to ram their way out, but failing. Suddenly, the head of a stone soldier statue burst through the wood, scaring Dunyang and Jiangcai out of their wits.

The small animals fled from the door. "Hongshu! Didn't you check to see what kind of room it was before you locked them in?" yelled Mushu indignantly.

"How was I supposed to know it was a statue display room?" came the monkey's reply.

"You're supposed to be the smart one, that's how! Where's Mulan?"

As if on cue, the woman in question ran through the balcony's double doors into view, before slamming and barring them shut. She pressed herself against the bowing doors, throwing her weight against them, until an infuriated Hun fist crashed through, narrowly missing her head.

Scrambling away, she caught sight of the Zodiac. "Mushu! Where are the Huns?"

"About to stage a breakout, sister! When you've got five angry men, it's kind of hard for little guys to keep them locked!" the dragon answered frantically. "What's going on up there?"

"We got the Emperor away, but Shang's out cold! He's no match for Shan Yu!"

"Great, so now we got six Huns on our tails!" Mushu gulped. "So what's the plan?"

"Um…" Mulan's silence made him blanch.

"You don't have a plan?"

"Hey, I'm making this up as I go! But how am I supposed to defeat six Huns by myself?" Mulan replied, she and the Guardians ducking down a corridor. "Maybe I could if you all could help me, but you can't show yourselves to others!"

"I believe that is where I come in."

The unfamiliar voice spoken in the Ji-Lu Mandarin Tianjin dialect made everyone stop. "Er… who said that?" asked Mulan.

"Here." All of a sudden, Mulan was tugged off her feet with a yelp as an invisible force pulled her left leg out from under her. From where she had strapped it for safekeeping, her family sword slid out of its scabbard and out from under her dress, to float in front of the stunned woman and her dumbstruck Guardians. Everyone watched as the eyes of the dragon-crafted hilt started to flash with an ethereal blue light, and the same voice spoke in time with the flashing. "It is good that I can speak with you at last, Fa Mulan. My name is Da Longshi, the spirit of the Great Stone Dragon."

That name set Mushu on edge. "Stoney? Oh Stoney!" he said, his voice filled with a forced cheerfulness. "Hey, big guy, glad to see you're alright! I… ah… hope you don't mind me breaking you when I… eh… tried to wake you up… heh?"

While the other Guardians shot angry looks at the dragon, the sword was unfazed. "Considering I was not in my body at the moment, Mushu, such concerns are irrelevant."He turned his attention back to Mulan. "When I heard your questions when you sat at my feet all those weeks ago, I knew the time had come for your destiny, and the fate of China, to be decided."

"What…" Mulan was lost for words.

Da Longshi continued on, ignoring the pounding growing louder and louder. "When the Celestials chose me to be a Fa Guardian, they informed me of a Fa daughter that would play the central role to China's eventual fate; whether it thrives, or whether it falls. As protectors of China, the latter is an outcome that cannot have a chance of occuring. So, when the time came, I left my body and entered your own, to give you the courage and strength to make that choice, and lead China to victory. And now, on the cusp of our society's destiny, it is up to you to take me up and defeat the Huns once and for all!"

"But… but how am I supposed to accomplish that?" Mulan asked worriedly. "Maybe I could out-think one, but with his men about to escape, I don't have enough time to think of a plan!"

"But I do," answered Da Longshi, the whole hilt starting to shimmer. "Before I was assigned my post, the God Fu Xi gave me one Qi spell that allows me to combine my Qi with that of all my fellow Guardians and consolidate it in this body." The Guardians looked up at that. "That way, they will not be exposed to onlookers, but you'll be able to draw on their strength. However, this spell will not work if those I combine are not fully willing."

Mushu did not even hesitate. "Well you've got one volunteer right here!"

Almost by reflex, the eyes of almost all the other Guardians narrowed. "A little eager, aren't you?" muttered Wantan. "Maybe… for what you'd get when this is all over? A nice, little, Guardian pedestal?"

"Hey, listen, mutt!" snapped Mushu, spinning around. "That Guardian pedestal, maybe it was the first thing that crossed my mind… but do you know what sealed the deal?" He jerked a claw back at Mulan. "Helping Mulan. I don't know about you, and maybe you're all doing this for duty, but for me, when it comes to helping my friend… the pedestal's just a bonus."

"Mushu…" said Mulan.

Wantan stared at the dragon, as if not quite believing the words from his mouth, before snorting. "Well, we haven't had so many weeks to bond with her like you have. But perhaps this will be the first step." She stepped up. "To protect the Fa family is my duty, but it need not be the only one. I'm going for this too."

"We all share the same duty, after all," Paigu said, moving forward. "If you need our power, you've got it!" It didn't take long for the remaining members of the Zodiac to agree as well.

"Everyone…" Mulan sat amazed at their conviction, then took a deep breath and steeled herself. "Very well, Great Stone Dragon, grant me the strength of my Guardians, of my family, and let us decide the fate of China!"

The whole sword flared with energy. "Then it shall be done." The sword's eyes flared with a brighter light than ever, completely blinding Mulan as Da Longshi intoned. "Shēngxiào Shūyè!"

The balcony door finally caved in after a series of furious blows, as Shan Yu burst his way through. As his black eyes searched for his prey, another door collapsing caught his attention, and he spun to see all five of his lieutenants batter their way out of a room, a heavy statue being used as a ram.

Seething, Shan Yu stormed up to them, grabbed the one with the hat by the collar, and yanked him face to face. His voice was dangerously soft. "I give you all one simple instruction: guard the door, and you can't even do that against a few stooges?! Thanks to you, the Emperor got away!"

"Our… apologies, sir," groaned the Hun, "They caught us off guard… those soldiers are more troublesome than we anticipated." The one that used to have a bow rubbed his neck in agreement.

Shan Yu gave a frustrated grunt, remembering how he himself was outsmarted by one in particular. "Yes, they are, aren't they?" He roughly shoved the man away. "You're lucky I need you all right now, or you'd be missing an important body part."

Turning away from the guy massaging his neck painfully, he gestured to the group. "Let's go. One of them is still in the palace, and once we deal with her, we need to find a way out of this city. When we return with another force, there will not be her nor an imperial army to stop us!"

Nods from his men followed, as the group turned to leave, but all six men halted in their tracks when they saw who was standing in the middle of the hallway, looking right at them.

Blocking their way out of the palace was the familiar woman soldier that had bested them all before, but now wearing a strange outfit none of them had ever seen in their lives. Merging a noblewoman's elegance with a soldier's strength, it consisted of black-and-forest-green lamellar armor layered over a light-green tunic and thigh-length skirt, itself covering jade-colored leggings. A pale-colored chest wrap both accentuated and controlled her feminity, as did the dark-green waist sash, headband, and flower in her hair, but the buckled bracers, greaves, boots and armored gloves made her fortitude undeniable. But most undeniable of all was the weapon she now carried, a gigantic greatsword as long as she was tall, forged out of a scarlet metal and shaped like a tapered, double-edged hook.

Brown eyes locked with pitch black ones from across the hallway. "This is as far as you go, Shan Yu. I will not let you or your men plague China any further!"

The Hun leader's face twisted into an ugly sneer. "Such an outcome seems unlikely… given you couldn't defeat even one of my soldiers without resorting to trickery. What makes you think you have the strength to kill all six of us?"

"I'm not the one with one sword between six men," Mulan answered. With both hands, she laborously hoisted the heavy blade, Fengji, off the ground to support it on her shoulder. "This blade carries the honor of both my family and my country, and it is more than enough to deal with you!"

"If you can't even lift the thing, it's all just talk," Shan Yu retorted. He looked sharply at his men. "Disable her. Break all her limbs if you have to, but I get the final blow."

Gripping club-sized statues from the statue room, the five men charged forward. The burly, bald Hun raised his statue like a scythe and swung at her from the side, but in a blur of motion, Mulan had blocked the motion with the flat of her blade, which she was now wielding like it weighed nothing more than a stick. As the Hun was shoved bodily way, his twin aimed a swing from her other side, which was stopped by a sharp foot to the wrist and countered with a sword-thrust that almost left a hole in his head.

While Shan Yu was fuming that the woman had outsmarted them with a simple strength bluff, the capped Hun and the lanky Hun struck out with two blows, one aimed at her chest from the front and the other at her legs from behind. It was a perfectly synchronized attack, that would have left either her ribs or her knees shattered, but Mulan was undeterred. The escaping agility of Mifan flooded her body, enabling her to leap into the air horizontally and twist over and under both strikes, sword clasped to her body.

In one smooth motion, she landed in between both men, raised Fengji over her head, and shouted, "Yěniú Quán Zhàng!" The resulting impact with the wooden floor hit with the force of a rocket, shattering it in an explosion of wood and blasting both offending Huns straight into opposite walls.

However, while all this was going on, the two twins and the remaining ex-archer Hun had turned their attention to one of the supporting pillars. In a perfectly coordinated move, the two beefy men severely splintered the wood with two tremendous blows, and the last blow from the thin, bald-topped Hun completely split it, sending it toppling towards Mulan.

Although completely out of position to dodge or counter, the woman warrior brought her sword fully around like lightning, yelling, "Tù Yǎnyuèdāo!" Gleaming steel met wood, and the pillar was sliced cleanly in two in mid-air, both halves crashing to the ground next to her. Riding the high of the speed-boost that Jiangcai's technique had given her, Mulan suddenly vanished from sight, reappearing next to the smaller archer Hun, sword raised. Before the smaller man could react, a blow from the flat of the blade to his side sent him flying clear out the nearby window, several stories up.

Infuriated by the loss of one of their own, the two burly men grabbed the bottom half of the pillar, spun it around, and thrust it forward, the tip bristling with splinters. This time, Kungpao's energy surged through Mulan's body, causing her to jump into the air and well out of the reach of the makeshift spear. With a call of "Gōngjī Zhàn Fǔ!" she came down in another two-handed blow, this time letting gravity empower her cleave enough to split the end of the pillar in two. The splintered end of the pillar was catapulted into the air, at least until Mulan landed and roundhouse-kicked it straight at the men.

The splinters perforated the twin without hair, before the impact flung the bloody man against the wall, blood streaming from his mouth and multiple punctures on his chest.

His partner stood there in dumb shock at seeing his demise, before turning a furious glare on Mulan… only to find nothing but his remaining two comrades pulling themselves out of the splintered wall and his leader stomping forward, his sword drawn. He looked around frantically for his prey, only to hear a whisper of "Yǐn Shé Cháng Máo," from behind him, before a sensation of intense pain in his neck followed by a cold numbness everywhere else engulfed him, as Mulan precisely severed his spine between his shoulders, crumpling him uselessly to the ground.

Mulan had only just removed her sword from the Hun's back when Shan Yu's own curved blade came slashing down at her. She ducked and lunged out of the way, and his follow-up slash cleaved through another column, sending it crashing through the wall and elicting a shocked gasp from the crowd outside. The Hun leader was relentless, each vicious blow blocked by Fengji but leaving her no room for any counterattacks.

Finally, as the soldier attempted a low-swing counterattack, Shan Yu stepped back and managed to pin her blade against the floor with his foot. Not taking any chances, his two remaining men rushed her, intent on flattening her to the floor.

Charsiew's power, though, changed that quickly. With his power rushing through her, Mulan planted her feet and braced herself, with an intonement of "Tiě Zhū Yǎnhù!" The men's arms colliding with her shoulders almost knocked the breath out of her, but they did not dislodge her footing by an inch. Instead, ramming into what felt like a full-grown tree sent the men rebounding back into their leader, knocking him off the sword.

"What is with you now?" growled Shan Yu, staggering but managing to stay on his feet. "You can't even restrain someone smaller than you?"

"It doesn't make sense," groaned the Hun with the cap. "A woman that can jump like a cricket, smash wood with one blow, takes hits like a mountain… it almost feels like I'm facing you, sir!"

"If you were, you'd already be dead," retorted his leader. "I'll keep her attention. Get behind her, then drive her onto my blade." With that, he leapt forward, clashing his blade against Mulan's, who had managed to raise it in time to block. Every blow was as strong as the one that had severed the column in one strike, and it was only Fengji's supernal durability that prevented her from being bisected.

"Why don't you give up?" cried Mulan, letting Paigu's strategic cunning bolster her swordfighting skills, while relying on Doufu's stamina to sustain her own vitality. "Your army is buried, your men are being whittled away, and the Emperor is far out of your reach! What makes you think you even have a chance now? Why keep fighting?"

"Because I have a point to make," Shan Yu answered fiercely, "that my people are even greater than your so-called Middle Kingdom! Your Emperor challenged my people's might with the construction of his Wall. Until I have breathed my last, the Huns will never cease until all of China recognizes our might and bows to our greatness!"

With a yell, the two remaining Huns charged from behind her, bludgeons raised. Deftly, Mulan swung her sword behind her, catching both weapons on the blade and holding them in place. But the motion left her exposed, and a kick to the knee from the Hun captain drove her down to her other one. Before she could try and get up, the addition of Shan Yu's own blade and inhuman strength against her own nearly collapsed her defense like a paper lantern.

The beleagured female soldier could almost see Shan Yu's black and gold eyes boring down on her form in victory. "Perfect… this is how I want all of China's people to be when they see me: on their knees in submission!" Shan Yu leaned forward, bearing down harder on her sword and it was only Xiongrou's hasty reinforcement that her arms didn't give out right then and there. "Once your beheaded body is thrown out into the streets, the whole Kingdom will know of our might: that which had slain the destroyer of the Hun army! There will not be a man willing to raise a blade to us when we return with an even greater force!"

Despite the situation, Mulan couldn't help but snort at the irony of his words. "Even… if your military might is greater than our own… even if you burn our city to ashes… even if you force us down with blades to our throats…" As the bull and horse guardians' strength and fortitude permeated through her legs, she forced her way up bit by bit until she was standing on her feet again, "… you will never crush our spirit! Mǎ Liúxīng Chuí!"

A sudden tilt of her sword threw the men off balance, their weapons sliding off to the side. With the pressure released, Mulan lashed out in a powerful roundhouse kick aimed at the knee of the lank-haired Hun. The man gave a howl of pain and crumpled, his joint thoroughly shattered. Her opponents distracted, the Fa daughter gripped her blade, and with the strength of her ancestors behind her, executed three perfect attacks, with three shouts of, "Shǔ Yá Bǐshǒu! Yángjiǎo Pǔbiǎo! Hóu Xuézhě Jiàn!"

A low-swing lunge at the burly, hat-wearing Hun hamstringed him, collapsing him like a howling sack of potatoes. This segued into an uppercut swing that caught the heavy cloth of Shan Yu's tunic and hurled him into the rafters, sending him crashing through the ceiling and out of sight, and finally into a sword thrust into the chest of the injured, lanky Hun, piercing right through his ribcage.

Mulan let out a breath as she stared down at the two incapacitated, bloodsoaked warriors, before craning her neck to look at the ceiling. But to her consternation, there was no sign of Shan Yu, only a mess of broken timber and a tiny glimpse of night sky. It didn't take Wantan's sense of smell to know where the Hun leader had gone, and she knew she couldn't let him escape the city. Reaching for Kungpao's power once again, she leapt up after him.

However, no sooner had she emerged into the night air on the palace roof sword-first, than a shadow suddenly lunged from under the roof, blade gashing against her wrist armor and knocking Fengji clear from her grasp. Mulan felt fear clutch her as she watched her only weapon plummet over the side of the palace, and heard the crowd below gasp, right before his free hand tore her out of the hole and pinned her to the roof.

Mulan almost felt her ribcage buckle as the breath was knocked clear out of her. She glanced hurriedly to the side to see her blade stuck in the tiles, completely out of reach, before looking straight into the eyes of her murderer. The presence of her Guardians had been silenced the moment she had lost her blade; it was now just her and Shan Yu.

"And isn't that how you wanted it all along?" Da Longshi's voice suddenly rumbled in her mind. She nearly started at it, when she realized that the Guardian was right and she was in just the right position to do something about it.

The Hun leader, panting heavily, glared at Mulan like a predator, looking even more animalistic with his shredded tunic, bared teeth, whisker-like mustache and glowing gold eyes. "It looks like you're out of ideas," he growled sinisterly, before thrusting his blade out with a roar.

Or at least he tried to until his groin exploded in agony.

Mulan lashed up her other foot and kicked the Hun's curved blade from his momentarily-slackened grasp, before snatching it and leaping off the side of the roof. Embedding it in the tile to stop her fall, she reached out and tugged Fengji free, before combining Xiongrou and Kungpao's powers to pull her opponent's blade free and leap back up to the roof. As she did so, she felt the Qi rushing from Fengji back into her body start to flow into the other blade she now held, and begin to change it beneath her fingers.

Shan Yu gaped when his prey landed back on the roof in front of him with two swords clasped in her hands. But although she had regained the scarlet hook-like Fengji, what had his attention was what used to be his blade; no longer a wave-edged longsword, but now a single-edged purple zhǎnmǎdāo as large as her first sword.

Holding both swords like they were ordinary-sized dāo sabers, Mulan allowed a single smirk to cross her face. "Not quite."

Seeing his victory disappearing before his eyes, Shan Yu roared and lunged for Mulan, clearly intending on wresting one of the blades from her with his size, strength and skill. But his first massive punch was deflected by the steel of her new weapon, Liliang, before Mulan countered with a kick to the face, knocking him backwards.

"Lǎohǔ Tóu Gōu!" Both swords were swung around and slashed across his bare chest, gouging two bloody lines into it. The Hun leader let out a pained grunt, but the injury barely seemed to slow him down, and his next lunge caught Mulan's shoulder armor.

But Paigu's cunning would have none of it. At his orders, Fengji was spun around in her hand and whipped across. The hooked edge caught Shan Yu's sleeve, dragging his arm loose and exposing his chest once again.

"Liè Láng Quǎn Jǐ!" Liliang's curved tip rapidly shot out like a halberd's thrust, stabbing twice on either side of Shan Yu's face, sending the man stumbling back disorientedly. Tearing Fengji loose, Mulan leapt forward, planted Liliang into the wooden beam, and vaulted over his head, taking both swords with her.

"Pánlóng Gùn Yǎo!" Landing neatly behind the Hun, Mulan struck out low, reaping his legs out from under him with what used to be his own sword and sending him crashing to the roof hard enough to shatter it.

While Shan Yu was groaning on the ground, the woman warrior leapt back, getting some distance between them and crossing her swords. This had gone on for long enough. As Da Longshi filled her mind with the knowledge of his final attack, she could feel the Qi surging through her body and into her weapons, their surfaces thrumming with power. "Ready, Mushu?" she whispered.

"I am ready, baby!" she heard Mushu's voice echo in her mind. With a twist of her wrists, the sword edges were knocked together like flints, generating a small spark in between them. That spark was enough to ignite the dragon Guardian's Qi within the two swords and set them both alight.

"For the honor of my family, and the safety of my people!" Mulan declared loudly, raising both blazing swords above her head. As Shan Yu's widening eyes connected with her own, she heard the voices of all her Guardians yell out the name alongside her.

"Lóngtóu Huǒ Chòng!"

Both swords were brought down in a vertical slash, the flames surrounding the swords shooting out in a powerful, meteoric bolt of flame, shaped like the gaping maw of an ethereal dragon head. It flew at the stunned Hun leader with such speed and precision that he had literally no time to even react.

Shan Yu's final words trailed off into an agonized scream as the dragon seized him in its flaming jaws and propelled him into the air and clear off the roof. Mulan was up and running for the roof's edge in a heartbeat, blades in hand, even as her adversary hurtled towards the fireworks-launching tower a short distance away. The two men manning the station managed to bail out just in time.

The fireworks tower, the burning dragon, and Shan Yu all went up in a plume of smoke and a tremendous explosion, the festival munitions shooting into the sky with flashes of color and sound. The crowd cheered raucously at the display, even as Mulan threw herself off the roof, hooked Fengji on a lantern-covered line and went sliding down the line like her fellow soldiers.

Captain Shang had recovered and was exiting the palace down the stone steps to where his men were, when a familiar female form dropped from a line overhead and landed right on him, knocking him flat. As the breath was knocked out of him, the sounds of metal stabbing into stone, followed by a small explosion and a burst of light that stunned him once again.

When the captain finally did manage to raise his head, the first thing he saw was Mulan lying half on top of him, looking rather weary, wearing the dress she had gotten in the palace, a strange card resting in her hand, and both her family sword and Shan Yu's sword lying next to them.

"Shang, are you alright?" she asked, stumbling off him and offering her hand.

Shang accepted her help and got to his feet. "Yes, I'm fine… but how did you manage to defeat Shan Yu? And what was all that light about?"

Before Mulan could answer, a familiar – and unwelcome – screeching reached their ears, as its familiar – and unwelcome – owner stormed down the palace stairs.

Imperial consul and council member Chi Fu had an expression as black as thunder as he made a beeline for the Chinese army captain, the three crossdressing soldiers, and the woman who had just half-destroyed the Imperial palace. "That was a deliberate attempt on my life!" he squawked furiously. "Where is she?"

Yao, Ling and Chien Po clustered around Mulan defensively as Captain Shang stepped up to confront him. Chi Fu, as per his name, didn't let up. "Now she's done it! What a mess!" He pointed one skinny finger at her, trying to look dignified despite his smoking hat. "Stand aside!" he snapped in Shang's face. "That creature's not worth protecting!"

Shang couldn't belive his ears at his bigotry. "She's a hero!" he protested.

"She's a woman!" sneered back Chi Fu. "She'll never be worth anything!"

That was enough to rile up the Captain, as he grabbed the scrawnier man by the collar of his robes. "Listen, you pompous…."

"That is enough!" The elderly, imposing voice that cut into their confrontation made both men freeze. All eyes turned to the stairs, where Emperor Qin of China himself was striding serenely down towards them, hands folded. No-one quite knew how he had gotten from the crowd to the plaza without anyone noticing, but no-one was questioning anything.

Chi Fu scrambled out of the way as Shang tried to speak in defense. "Your Majesty, I can explain…"

The Emperor silenced him with one hand as his eyes turned to who was obviously trying to hide behind Chien Po. The four men obediently backed away, revealing the trembling Mulan to the searching eyes of their Kingdom's leader. Dutifully, she bowed; facing Shan Yu and his men hadn't been nearly this scary.

"I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan," said Emperor Qin in a voice that sounded more than a bit stern. "You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated a soldier, decieved your commanding officer, dishonored the Chinese armor, destroyed my palace…"

Everyone was cringing more and more with every statement (aside from Chi Fu, who was looking more and more smug), and Mulan was growing more and more despondent every second.

"And…" Mulan flinched, waiting for the words that might potentially end her life and dishonor her family forever…

"You have saved us all," the Emperor finished, his expression softening dramatically. Mulan looked up in abject astonishment, which quickly turned to outright shock and disbelief as the Emperor, the leader of her people, did something she never in a thousand dynasties ever believed would happen.

He bowed to her.

Chi Fu took a good few seconds to realize his leader's actions before prostrating himself before her. Shang, Yao, Ling and Chien Po shared a smile before bowing to the floor themselves in front of the undeniable hero of China. And soon, the entire congregation of Chinese citizens were bowing to her, a girl who became a hero all to protect her father from war.

As she squeezed the card in her hand, she heard Da Longshi's voice whisper to her. "Do not feel overwhelmed by this display, Fa Mulan; you have earned every second of it. China is safe, and on behalf of Fu Xi and all of the Celestials, we thank you."

Off to the side, Khan, Cri-Kee and the 12 hidden Guardians watched in awe. Mushu sniffled in pride, clutching his tail.

"Are you crying?" cracked Mifan. Mushu said nothing, he just nodded.

Wantan stood up straight, observing the staring Mulan like a dog on guard. "You know, screwup, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you've done a good job with her. She's one of a kind, that is for sure."

Hongshu scrambled onto Khan's back to pat the dragon on the shoulder. "I'll say. You've been more than just an ally to her; you've been her partner, and you deserve the credit for striking the final blow. If you don't get your pedestal back after this, I don't know what will."

That perked Mushu up. "You mean it, monkey boy?"

"Definitely," answered his friend. "When we get back, I'm personally vouching for you to the Ancestors."

"Me too!" squeaked Mifan. "You're the one who gave her the power to finish the Huns! You've been standing by her side this whole time! Your charge is now a national hero! If you're not Guardian-material, no-one here is!"

"Um… I agree with them, Mushu…" spoke up Jiangcai, who had remained quiet up until now. "We all were there to see it. You were the first one to help your charge, and you did it because she's not just a charge; she's a friend."

One by one, the Guardians spoke up in agreement, declaring their intent to support the dragon in his appeal to the Ancestors. Predictably, the dog was the last to acquiesce. "…I still think you've got your head in the wrong place... but I can't deny what you've done for the family… Mushu."

"Aw… you guys are the best!" Mushu gave both the monkey and the rat a huge hug, before leaping down to hug all the rest, to the chagrin of most of them, especially a certain female wolfhound. "I mean, with a display like that and you guys at my back, how could I and Mulan not be awesome?" Cri-Kee gave a long chirp that sounded remarkably like a groan.

Wantan turned to bare her teeth at the reptile. "Don't make me regret this, screwup."

It was at that point that Khan glanced up to the steps to see his mistress glancing directly at him. With a whinny, he picked up Mushu with his teeth and tossed him into his saddlebag, before galloping off towards the stairs. Mushu just managed to shout, "Whoa! Sorry, guys, see you back home! Khan-y, when we have time, you and I gonna have a long talk about common courtesy…"

A moment later, the black stallion was galloping out of the city, the national woman hero Mulan on his back. Tucked into her saddlebag, her faithful companion, Guardian, and friend, and his little lucky cricket partner. Following behind them out of the sight of the crowd, two carts and a flying basket pulled by and carrying the rest of her family Guardians, the catalysts to the hero's victory over China's most deadly foe in its history. All heading back to their family, drained, tired, but fire-forged, glory-filled, and ultimately triumphant.

Let me just go on record to say that I hate, absolutely hate writer's block. I don't know whether it's the lack of any reviews or interest, or something else, but this took me forever to get down.

Once again, I hope this chapter passes muster. This was a lot harder to write than I thought! I might go through it again a few times if I feel it needs perking up. Maybe it was the length?

Skirtzzz, thank you so much for waiting again! Once again, I'm so, so sorry I took so long! I really don't have any excuse aside from the aforementioned writer's block, and who knows when I'll get my groove back?

If you're wondering about all the Chinese attack names, I've got them all listed below (…yes, I did use Google Translate + Wikipedia, sue me…):

Shēngxiào Shūyè – Zodiac Infusion

Yěniú Quán Zhàng – Wild Ox Mace

Tù Yǎnyuèdāo – Rabbit Reclining Moon Blade (Guan Dao/Glaive)

Gōngjī Zhàn Fǔ – Rooster Battleaxe

Yǐn Shé Cháng Máo – Hidden Snake Lance

Tiě Zhū Yǎnhù – Iron Boar Shield

Mǎ Liúxīng Chuí – Horse Meteor Hammer

Shǔ Yá Bǐshǒu – Rat Teeth Daggers

Yángjiǎo Pǔbiǎo – Sheep Horn Staff

Hóu Xuézhě Jiàn – Monkey Scholar Sword

Lǎohǔ Tóu Gōu – Tiger Head Hooks

Liè Láng Quǎn Jǐ – Wolfhound Halberd

Pánlóng Gùn Yǎo – Coiling Dragon Staff Bite (Three-sectioned staff)

Lóngtóu Huǒ Chòng – Dragonhead Fire Cannon

The swords' names Fengji and Liliang mean Discipline and Strength respectively, and the reason for those names is painfully obvious. And yes, all the Guardians are named after Chinese cuisine. I just thought I'd stick with Mushu's theme.

Find Mulan's warrior costume (both of them!), created by the talented DeviantArtist Skirtzzz here (scrap all the spaces)!:

skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / art / Warrior – Mulan – 294046744

skirtzzz . deviantart dotcom / art / Warrior – Mulan – Redux - 336345900

Review and Critique please; I'd really like to know someone's reading this! But please, no flaming!

Next Chapter: Spirits and Savages