Here you go, fresh from the oven. Hope you like Chinese.

Mushu: "Dude, that wasn't even close to funny."

I know, I know.

Mushu: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else."

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Chapter 52: Avalanche

The Heartless forces that Sora, his allies, and Mulan and Shang's regiment were facing were impressive in number. In fact, they were facing the largest part of the invading 'army'. It was composed of mainly Shadows and Neoshadows, but there were also Nightwalkers in abundance. The big guns were the Assault Riders, and long, snake-like Heartless called Red Fangs. There were Rapid Thrusters for air support. So, almost five thousand Heartless. Against a few handfuls of soldiers, plus the Keybearers and their off-world friends.

Not so tough.

Sora ran directly at an Assault Rider. The half-horse Heartless lowered its human portion, and swept its lance horizontally at Sora. He leapt over it, and smashed it in its face twice with the Keyblade, destroying it. He touched down on its other side, and blocked a fireball that a Nightwalker shot at him. He stabbed behind him, and impaled a Neoshadow. He ran through two Shadows, and became involved in a fight with another Assault Rider.

Kairi cut a Nightwalker in two as it took to the air. A Red Fang launched itself at her, mouth open, displaying two giant, scarlet fangs. She dodged over to the side, and beheaded it with an upward sweep of her blade. She stretched out her hand, and immediately destroyed two Heartless running at her with Light. A third stumbled and fell at her feet, where she destroyed it.

Nehrut blasted into the air, into the midst of a mass of Rapid Thrusters. His blade never ceased moving, and by the time the Heartless registered that an enemy was in their midst, he had destroyed a dozen of them. He shot into the air high above them, still attacking. They grouped together as they flew at him, looking like an orange and black cloud shooting toward him.

This made it easier for Riku to obliterate them, when he flew up with the Guardian. He fired blasts of Dawn, as the Guardian's huge fists knocked them all to pieces. Nehrut flew down toward him, cutting through the Heartless almost effortlessly. They met in the center of the cloud of Heartless. They faced each other for the briefest of seconds, then spun around, floating back-to-back. They blasted in either direction, taking out dozens of the tiny Heartless.

Axel tore a flaming path through the Heartless. Both of his arms were coated in flames, and his chakrams were too. He was burning so hot that the snow around him was melting. He tossed his weapons forward, destroying two large Heartless. He sprung forward, and picked them up from where they had stuck into the ground. He sent a strong burst of fire at more of them.

Mickey jumped off of Goofy's shield, shooting directly at the chest of an Assault Rider, his blade pierced through it, and he jumped away as it faded. A Red Fang appeared in its place and struck at the king. Goofy jumped in the way, and held its mouth away with his shield. Donald ran toward them, and struck the Heartless with a ball of fire. It writhed in pain when it hit it, and Goofy finished it by smashing the same place.

Yuffie tossed the shuriken at a group of Shadows. It cut through one, two, three, four, and then lodged itself in the ground. She ran to retreave it. A Nightwalker appeared right before her. Instinctively, she pulled out her dagger, and plunged it into its face. She pulled it out, and continued her sprint for her weapon. A Neoshadow emerged from the ground right in front of her, and was immediately taken out by a whip.

Bariss ran toward Yuffie, tossing her the shuriken. She caught it easily and smacked an Assault Rider with it. Bariss finished it off with a few well placed strikes with her whip. She turned around, pulling out her dagger, and impaled a Neoshadow with it. Yuffie jumped in the air, and spun, with the arm holding the shuriken out. She took out several Rapid Thrusters.

Mulan blocked a shot from a Nightwalker, reached forward, and stabbed it all the way through. She spun around, destroying a Shadow and Neoshadow. Mushu jumped to her side, shooting small blasts of flame from his mouth.

Sora ran over to her side. "Mulan!"

She knew what to do. She stood at his back, exclaiming, "For China!" Mushu jumped on her shoulder.

Mushu leapt off her shoulder for a moment, and hovered around them, shooting larger fireballs from his mouth. They burst outward, colliding with the incoming Heartless, exploding against their skin, and causing serious injury.

Sora and Mulan floated into the air, Mulan holding Mushu in one hand. She would wrap the other hand around Mushu's long, scaly body and squeeze. Thin, powerful jets of flame would shoot from his mouth at enemies, and explode on impact. She did this over and over (much to Mushu's discomfort. He didn't like 'being used for a lighter').

Flames surrounded Sora, blazing white hot around his entire form. As he shot toward the Heartless, the flames expanded around him, becoming hotter and more intense. He spun, and he looked for a moment like a spinning cloud of fire.

They worked like this for several minutes, reducing the Heartless numbers by dozens.

They flew towards each other after about five minutes. Mulan held Mushu by the tail, and Sora grabbed him midsection. "Mushu!" Mulan shouted. They threw him as high into the air as they could possibly do. When he reached him maximum height, he opened his mouth wide, and shot about two-dozen fireballs into the air above him. They flew into the air, and became larger.

The fireballs fell back down to the ground, landing exactly one second after Mushu landed in Mulan's outstretched palm. They exploded whenever they hit the ground, taking the nearest Heartless out with them.

They landed in at least a fifteen foot radius around Sora and Mulan, who were back on the ground, looking out at the numerous explosions, feeling rather satisfied. When the explosions stopped, and the thick layer of smoke cleared, the snow had been blown away at the fifteen foot line, revealing blackened rock below. The nearest Heartless had been completely destroyed.

"I'm on FIRE!" Mushu exclaimed. He flexed his tiny little arms from his perch on Mulan's shoulder. The two humans laughed for a moment, before charging back into the battle.

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From much higher up in the mountains, two people were watching the battle play out.

The first one was just a bit under average height. He had dark skin, and predatory orange eyes. He had a great deal of muscle under his clothing of black and grey. Strapped to his back was a black, wave-bladed sword.

The second one had a long, almost horse-like face, green eyes, and pale skin. He had long, greasy, dirty blonde hair that was parted on either side of his face. He wore a long, black coat that totally covered his body.

A Nobody, in a past life. The Chilly Academic, and number IV of Organization XIII. Vexen.

"The Keybearers have entered the battle." Xayn Shu said. His eyes had turned to slits; the eyes of a falcon. He could see every motion the soldiers made down in the pass. This pass was crucial to taking the palace, and he wasn't going to let this pathetic army stop him. "This is where things get fun."

Vexen put a hand to his chin, and thought. "If the Keybearer Sora and his allies are here, it may spell the end of the invasion. I suggest pulling out all the stops."

"I'll pull back the Heartless." Xayn Shu smiled horribly, showing slightly pointed teeth. He gestured, and the Heartless began to sink into the ground, or disappear through corridors of Darkness. Then he said quietly to himself, "Let's see how you like this, little girl."

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When the Heartless suddenly abandoned their attack and disappeared, Sora knew that something was about to go horribly wrong.

The soldiers behind him started cheering. They thought that these strange, foreign beings with miraculous powers and weapons had driven away the Heartless, and saved them. They had no idea that things were about to get worse.

"I hate it when they do that." Nehrut said, keeping his sword out.

"You mean stop attacking and drawback for no reason?" Sora asked.

"There's always a reason."

"Maybe you should look for someone's mind, or whatever it is you do."

"I have, and I've found something interesting." He said. "There are two advanced Nobodies up in those mountains there." He pointed at the highest peak in the mountain range, covered entirely with snow, except for where cannons had struck the side.

"The Brotherhood." Riku had walked up to join them. "I can pick out their scents. One of them is Vexen."

"Someone you know?" Sora asked.

"You knew him too, actually. He died at Castle Oblivion, I think Axel did it."

"Good man." Nehrut said.

"Thanks!" Axel called from his position several feet away, having somehow heard them.

"But if Vexen is here, and this place is covered by ice and snow..."

Sora's eyes widened in horror. "Oh n-"

"Look there!" Mulan exclaimed. She was pointing at the peak where Riku and Nehrut had sensed Vexen and the other Nobody. It took Sora a moment for his eyes to pick out what she saw. There were two tiny specks up near the very top, which must have been the Brotherhood's agents on this world.

One of them lifted his arms high into the air, and as he did, there was a rumbling sound. The ice and snow on the mountainside shifted just slightly. Sora understood what was going to happen seconds before it did.

Sora twisted around to the soldiers, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "FALL BACK NOW!"

There was a low rumbling sound as thousands of pounds of rock, ice, and snow slid down the mountainside. Back on the ground, the soldiers stared in stunned horror at the avalanche for exactly one frozen second, before spinning around and sprinting the other way as fast as their legs could carry them.

"I'll buy you some time!" Nehrut shouted. He extended his arms, like he was trying to push a massive object. "Get to cover, quickly!"

The group reluctantly followed his command. Except for one.

Bariss ran through the snow, juked around Goofy, and jumped over Donald. She rushed to Nehrut's side, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Bariss, run!" He said.

"I didn't leave you in Olympus, and I'm not about to leave you now!" Her grip tightened on his shoulder.

The avalanche was approaching fast, just barely slowed down by Nehrut's mental powers. The roaring was almost deafening.

"Bariss!"

"NO!"

"Bariss! Save-"

"If you say 'save yourself' I'll kill you!"

Nehrut seemed to realize that he was getting nowhere. He craned his neck to get a better look at her beautiful, determined, stubborn face. He looked a bit farther back, in time to see Sora and the other soldiers dive into a trench, with a rock overhang that would be able to protect them. "Ugh... Then hang on!"

He spun around, and did something unexpected. He grabbed the ends of his cloak in either hand, and embraced her tightly.

Over ten thousand pounds of roaring ice and snow washed over them.

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Dum, dum, Duum! A nice, big cliffhanger for you. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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