PrismRain13: so, I forgot to mention last chapter, Jake's from the Disney TV series American Dragon: Jake Long.
Kronk: did you really need to mention that? It's kind obvious isn't it?
PrismRain13: yeah, but I still wanted to mention it.
Kronk: prism still claims no ownership other than the plot and her OCs. Now have a spinach puff and enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 32: Potions Mistress
Right after returning Pacha's poncho and hat to him, Kuzco and the rest of the team were running back through the jungle towards the broken bridge, serving as their fastest way back to the palace. However, Kuzco and Pacha still remained confused as to how they were going to cross.
"So, let me get this straight." Kuzco asked, running next to Mickey. "Your guy's keyswords are going to make us magically fly over that canyon?!"
"They're called Keyblades, Kuzco. And yes, our armor and gliders will last long enough for us to cross the canyon." Mickey replied, continuing to run.
"Finally! I was wondering when we'd get around to using them!" Riku exclaimed
"Wow. Someone's enthusiastic!" West remarked, holding back a giggle.
"Hey! I didn't get to use it yet; I have a right." Riku retorted while West rolled her eyes. At that moment, the group skidded to a stop as they reached the canyon with the bridge dangling over the edge. Sora, Riku, Kairi and Mickey stepped forward, their keyblades appearing in their hands.
The four keybearers raised their blades and soon became engulfed in the blinding white light the team had seen back on the Wilds of America. The light faded quickly and the four keybearers were standing in their armor once again. Kuzco and Pacha who hadn't seen the armor before looked on in admiration.
"Woah! That looks so cool! Can you set me up with an outfit like that?" Kuzco beamed. Meanwhile, Goofy looked over his shoulder, his eyes widening at what he saw; Yzma and Kronk running down towards them out of the jungle and down the hill. They were still a fair distance away, but they were quickly gaining on them.
"Hey fellas! I think we ought-a get out of here!" Goofy stated as the group realized the quickly-approaching villains. Wasting no time, Mickey, Riku, Sora and Kairi threw their keyblades into the air. There was another brief flash in the sky and their keyblade gliders flew down in front of them as their riders jumped on.
Pacha climbed on to Mickey's glider, West wrapped her arms around Riku's waist with Max holding on behind her, Donald and Goofy rode behind Kairi on her flowery glider and Kuzco and Lea balanced themselves with Sora.
Within seconds they blasted off the edge at an intense speed. The canyon barely noticeable underneath them. Max turned his head to look back and gasped at The sight of Kronk's back-carrier containing Yzma sprout wings as they glided over the canyon.
"Guys? We got company!" Max said nervously. The sensitive group all looked behind them, but no one had any idea how to fight back without loosing a passenger. Until Donald spoke up.
"I've got it!" The duck exclaimed from his position on Kairi's glider. His staff appeared in his hand just as he raised it in the air, turning around and aiming for Yzma and Kronk. "Thundaga!" Donald commanded. A split second later, multiple giant bolts of lightning hit the villains, causing them to be comically burned black. A second later Yzma and Kronk fell down into the canyon below.
"Nice move Donald!" Mickey congratulated just as all four gliders landed on the other end of the canyon. Upon landing, their armor disappeared and their keyblades returned to normal. The team of eleven nodded towards each other before running back on coarse towards the palace.
~*KHIII*~
The palace wasn't guarded, much to the team's surprise. However, they had no time to discuss it as Kuzco galloped happily into the palace with an enormous smile on his face. He didn't stop until he reached the throne room; a giant space with red and gold drapery, red carpet and golden decorations with a large pillar with a long staircase reaching up almost as high as the room itself with another red carpet on the pillar with a gold throne sitting on it.
No one could stop Kuzco as he sprinted up the steps of the pillar and hugged the throne as though it were a long-lost friend.
"Oh throney! I missed you so much!" Kuzco exclaimed. "Did Yzma hurt you with her wrinkly dinosaur butt? Don't worry throney Kuzco's back!" Soon the group had caught up with Kuzco, panting for breath in the throne room. Kairi looked up to where Kuzco was hugging his throne and rolled her eyes.
"Kuzco! You can catch up with your throne later! Which way was Yzma's lab?" Kairi called up to the llama. Listening to her voice seemed to snap Kuzco out of his trance as he sadly pried himself away from his throne and moved back down the stairs.
"Okay. It's underground, this way!" Kuzco replied, leading the group down another hallway. This one seemed darker than the others as they trekked farther and farther under the palace, slaying the few heartless that attacked them. Soon they arrived in a large dark, misty room with discarded smashed stone heads of Kuzco littering the floor next to a giant hammer. Over on the far wall sat a rhino's head statue with the two horns sitting out.
"Wow." West stated, inspecting the stone litter. "Yzma must have really hated you."
"Can't imagine why." Lea grumbled sarcastically.
"I know right!" Kuzco exclaimed, oblivious to the sarcasm. "Anyway, I remember her pulling one of those levers, then she disappeared into the wall." Kuzco pointed to the rhino's head statue on the wall as the entire team ran towards it. Immediately, Donald ran in front of the statue, Kuzco and Max standing beside him.
"Pull the lever Goofy!" The Mage demanded, pointing at the two levers.
"Uhhh which lever?" Goofy asked examining the two.
"I don't know dad, just pick one." Max grumbled, rolling his eyes. Goofy finally shrugged and pulled the lever closest to him. But, instead of entering the lab, a trapped door opened under their feet and Kuzco, Donald and Max fell screaming.
"Wrong lever, Goof." Lea stated while Goofy frowned. At that moment, a sliding door opened and Kuzco, Donald and Max stepped out, soacked in murky water and an alligator was biting Kuzco's tail.
"Okay, why does she even have that lever?" Kuzco grumbled, kicking the alligator with his back hoof as it yelped and scampered back into the chamber. The three stood in front of the levers again as Pacha stepped forward and pulled the other lever. As soon as it was pulled, the floor pushed them up into an invisible door.
"Looks like we found our lab." Mickey stated. "Let's get going." He, West, Riku and Lea stepped forward to follow the previous group. Mickey reached up and pulled the same lever down and within a blink of an eye they were gone too.
Goofy nervously stepped forward while Sora and Kairi followed him. He gulped and extended his hand to grasp the lever and pulled it down. In a split second the wall and floor had flipped them right into the invisible entrance and into a dark purple roller coaster seat. The bar snapped down on their laps before anyone had a chance to react.
"Please remain seated and keep your arms and legs in at all times." A robotic voice rang through the room just as the cart dipped over the edge of the coaster. Sora, Kairi and Goofy screamed as they went through the violent downwards twists and turns. The coaster came to a sudden stop at the end and the three were forced flying out of their seats.
Sora managed to land on his feet, but Goofy landed on his stomach and glided across the floor. Kairi's screaming could be heard, Sora looked up and saw her flying directly towards him. Quickly, the Keyblade Master held out his arms and Kairi landed in them, but they both tumbled to the floor. The two teenagers pushed themselves up and Kairi pecked Sora on the cheek. Causing Sora to stop in his tracks and blush.
"Thanks." Kairi blushed. "Guess I gotta work on my landing."
"Hey!" Donald called from the potions lab, where the rest of the team was looking around. "You lovebirds coming to help or what?!" Both Sora and Kairi nodded, jumped up to their feet and ran towards the lab.
"What does it look like?" Sora asked Kuzco, while he picked up stray potion bottles and inspected them.
"I don't know. Just keep looking!" Kuzco replied. Meanwhile, Pacha found a metal cabinet shaped like an owl, opened it revealing labeled potions on a number of shelves.
"Over here!" Pacha called the team over. "It has to be one of these. Lions, tigers, bears..." He stopped when the group realized that the potion labeled humans was gone.
"Oh, my." A voice echoed through the space. "Looking for this?" And out of the shadows stepped the terrifying form of Yzma holding the human's potion.
"No! It can't be!" Kuzco gasped
"How did you get back here before us?" Riku demanded. Yzma was about to retort, before she stopped, realizing that she had no idea.
"Uh...how did we, Kronk?" She asked Kronk, who was standing there with the fried carrier on his back.
"Well, you got me." He shrugged, from out of nowhere pulling down a map that showed both Yzma and the group's routes, including them falling into the river after Donald's lightning strike. "By all accounts, it doesn't make sense." Yzma merely shrugged and turned back to the group.
"Oh, well, back to business."
"Okay, I admit it. Maybe I wasn't as nice as I should have been." Kuzco laughed nervously. "But, Yzma, you really want to kill me?" Yzma grinned evilly at the llama, feeling the satisfaction.
"Just think of it as you're being let go, that your life's going in a different direction, that your body's part of a permanent outplacement." Kuzco gulped at her words, even Pacha and the team of world-travelers seemed nervous.
"Hey, that's kind of like what he said to you when you got fired." Kronk remarked, shrugging the carrier off his shoulders.
"I know. It's called a cruel irony - like my dependence on you." Yzma grumbled.
"Woah! Wait, back up!" Lea exclaimed. "You want to kill Kuzco because he fired you?! Lady, you've got some serious unemployment issues!"
"Well, I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree." Yzma smirked, pulling a jagged knife from behind her back and turned towards Kronk, throwing the knife into his hands.
"Finish them off!" Yzma ordered, with her hands on her hips and a smug expression on her face. Kronk, however, seemed to be at war with himself. He looked down at the knife, then at Kuzco, Pacha and the people he never met, but still felt wrong about hurting them.
"Hey, you're not backing down now, are you, big guy?" A voice rang through Kronk's head just as a tiny version of himself dressed like a devil popped up on his shoulder.
"Uh, where's the other guy?" Kronk asked the Shoulder Devil, pointing to his other shoulder. At that moment, another mini version of himself dressed like an angel popped up on his other shoulder.
"Sorry I'm late. So, what'd I miss?" The Shoulder Angel asked.
"Well, Yzma just tossed me this knife and asked me to, you know, take them out." Kronk explained. However, everyone else just stared at Kronk. No one else could see the Shoulder Angel or Shoulder Devil, so it looked like Kronk was talking to himself.
"Is he always like this?" Max asked Kuzco. The llama only shrugged.
"I always knew he was weird, but this is just insane." Kuzco replied.
"Then this guy popped up and we waited for you, and quite honestly -" Kronk continued.
"Kronk!" Yzma snapped, finally having enough. "Why did I think you could do this? This one simple thing. It's like I'm talking to a monkey."
"Whoa now." The Shoulder Angel said.
"A really, really big, stupid monkey named Kronk!"
"Ouch." The Shoulder Devil remarked.
"And do you want to know something else? I've never liked your spinach puffs" All three versions of Kronk gasped at that statement as though it was the worst possible thing Yzma could have ever said. "Never!"
Kronk's eyes quickly started to water as he began to sob and cry, the Shoulder Angel patted his cheek trying to comfort him. But, the Shoulder Devil had another idea. "That's it. She's going down." He growled, pointing his pitchfork at Yzma.
"Now, now, remember, guys." The Shoulder Angel said. "From above, the wicked shall receive their just reward." All three of them looked up from where the snarling form of Yzma stood, to find a sharp, metal, heavy-looking chandelier.
"That'll work." All three stated at the same time as Kronk cut the rope holding the chandelier up in one clean swipe. The chandelier fell down to the ground with a violent crash, as everyone turned away. But, when they all looked back, they found Yzma hadn't been harmed at all. She'd been skinny enough for the round center of the chandelier to pass harmlessly around her.
"Strange. That usually works." Kronk remarked.
"And so does this!" Yzma snapped, pulling a bottle-shaped lever allowing a trapped door to open underneath Kronk's feet.
"Ah. Should have seen that com- Whoa!" Exclaimed Kronk as he, and his Shoulder Angel and Devil fell down the trapped door screaming. Yzma was still watching Kronk fall that she almost didn't notice West sneak up behind her and grap the human potion. A second later Yzma realized her hand was empty and grabbed West's wrist trying to get it back.
"Give me that vial!" Yzma demanded, neither her or West giving up their grip. The old woman didn't notice Donald raising his staff, until it hit her in the back with a blizzard spell causing her to fall to the floor and for West to grab the potion and run out of the way.
Max rode his skateboard around the space, just as West tossed the vial to him. Then, he spotted Pacha who was open to catch it.
"Pacha! Go long!" Max called throwing the vial over to Pacha who caught it easily. Until Yzma pushed herself up from the floor and held out her foot causing him to trip. Pacha skidded on the floor, but still didn't let go of the vial. Until Yzma body slammed him and caught the vial.
Then, Mickey raised his keyblade, hitting Yzma with a light spell and knocking her off Pacha and the vial to fall out of her hands. The old woman collided with the potion cabinet, causing some vials to clatter to the floor. Yzma made her way back up to her feet and snapped her fingers, creating a barrier around herself, Sora, Kuzco, Riku, Kairi, Goofy and Max.
On the outside of the barrier, Pacha, Mickey, Donald, Lea and West soon became surrounded by different breeds of heartless such as powerwilds, soldiers, wizards and the native wild pouncers. The group only shrugged, pulled out their weapons and ran into battle.
Yzma smirked at the six she had trapped, showing off a handful of colourful potions she had snagged. The team of six simply raised their weapons and hooves in response, ready to fight. Yzma ran to attack Kuzco first, throwing her potions at him. Kuzco was quick to dodge most of them before one hit him directly in the chest, exploding upon impact. Kuzco coughed and strutted, his health depleting at a rapid pace. The potion had caused him to be poisoned.
Kairi acted quickly, running to Kuzco's aid and healing him with a cure spell. And Max pulled out another antidote and relieved Kuzco of the poison. Riku ran straight towards Yzma with his keyblade raised. Yzma just barely managed to duck out of the way before Sora slammed his keyblade into her back and Lea to throw blasts of fire at her.
The old woman stumbled, but still remained standing. Yzma glared at her opponents before jumping up on the potion table and pulling a variety of levers that caused pink-colored smoke to rain down on them. Luckily, Sora cast a reflect spell on the group before the smoke could do any damage. As soon as the smoke was gone, Kairi jumped up on the table with Yzma and attacked her with fast, deep slashes from her keyblade.
Yzma was so distracted by Kairi that she didn't notice Goofy's shield flying towards her until it was too late. The shield hit her right in the gut, causing her to fall off the table. Yzma snarled and pushed herself back up and ran back into battle. She had a limited amount of potions left so she resorted to punching and kicking Sora and Riku, who were just barely dodging as Yzma was attacked from behind by Max, who was kicked to the side then healed by Kairi.
Kuzco glared at Yzma, angry at the woman who wanted him dead and now was attacking his new friends. He toed the ground with his hooves, and stretched out his neck.
"You threw off my groove!" Kuzco exclaimed, kicking up his back hooves and charging towards Yzma. He head-butted her in the ribs causing Yzma to release a gasp of pain. Kuzco waved his head around as he kept colliding with her, dealing more damage. When he stopped he quickly turned around and kicked her with his back hooves, strong enough to send her colliding into another potion cabinet. "Boom bam baby!" Kuzco smiled, holding up his front hooves in victory.(1)
Yzma groaned from her weakened position but didn't notice as one of the potions fell down from the cabinet and poured onto her in puff of pink smoke. When the smoke died down after a few seconds, standing in Yzma's place was a tiny lavender-furred kitten with the human potion laying next to it. At that moment the barrier disappeared.
"I'll take that!" Kuzco smirked, grabbing the vial with his hoof.
"Way to go Kuzco!" Kairi cheered. "I didn't know you had it in you!"
"Yeah. Neither did I." Kuzco laughed.
"This is the one! This'll turn you back into a human!" Pacha exclaimed. But, before Kuzco could open the vial Yzma the kitten sprang to life, scratching and biting him. Kuzco shook himself around, trying to get the Yzma-cat off of him before Max ran up to him carrying his skateboard and hit Yzma on the head with his skateboard, causing the cat to dizzily fall off Kuzco and hit the floor in a comedic fashion. Then, Lea ran up with an empty purple vase and slammed it on top of the cat, containing it.
"See? This is why I'm not a cat person." Lea said.
"You and me both, dude." Max said. At that moment, the vase began to shake and Yzma exploded out of the vase, grabbed the potion and sprinted up a flight of stairs.
"Looking for this?" Yzma asked in a squeaky voice. "Once I turn back into my beautiful self you'll all pay!" The cat released a high-pitched evil laugh before climbing out of the open door at the top of the stairs.
"Come on!" Riku exclaimed. "We can't lat her get away!" The group nodded in agreement before running up the stairs and through the door leading to the outside of the palace. Yzma was having a hard time trying to open the vial. But, she snapped her head up when she heard them coming and jumped up on a high ledge, smirking down at them
"I win!" Yzma smirked. When suddenly a door right next to her slammed open and pressed her right against the hard, golden wall causing the vial to fall out of her paws and land right in Pacha's hands. Everyone looked up to find Kronk step out of the door completely unharmed.
"Woah. What are the odds of that trapped door leading me out here?" Kronk asked with a smile. Before anyone knew it, the group burst into laughter and a giant group hug. After a few seconds, the hug ended and Kuzco awkwardly rubbed his arm.
Pacha uncorked the vial and handed it to Kuzco, who smiled gratefully, before drinking the potion in one gulp. Then, a puff of pink smoke appeared, surrounding Kuzco. When the smoke faded, standing in Kuzco's place was a thin young man in his twenties with straight black hair reaching down to his shoulders, round, turquoise earrings, short red and gold robes, sandals and a big golden crown on his head.
"Boy. Does it feel great to be back!" The man said in Kuzco's voice.
"So this is what you look like." Sora realized. "This is the real Kuzco."
"Yep. Handsome, rich, powerful and on top of the world! It doesn't get any better than this!" Kuzco replied, looking out over his kingdom. Out of the corner of his eye, Kuzco saw Pacha gazing down at his feet and looking a little sad. Kuzco puffed out his cheeks, then turned towards him. "So, you lied to me."
"I did?" Pacha asked with a confused expression.
"Yeah. You said when the sun hits the ridge just right those hills sing. Well, pal, I was dragged all over those hills, and I did not hear any singing." Kuzco stated with his arms crossed. Sora and his friends smiled, realizing what Kuzco was doing. "So...I'll be building my summer home on a more magical hill. Looks like you and your family are stuck up on that tuneless hilltop forever, pal."
Pacha responded with a warm smile and pulled Kuzco into a warm hug. But instead of demanding Pacha to let go like he would have before, Kuzco hugged him back.
"Wow." Riku breathed. "Kuzco, I never knew it was possible for anyone to change like you did. You proved me wrong."
"Meh. I do what I can." Kuzco shrugged when the hug was over. "You know, now that I think about it, I'm gonna need a new advisor. Anybody up for the job?"
"Sorry, Kuzco." Mickey said. "But I'm afraid we're going to have to pass. A lot more places still need our help!" Kuzco nodded his head in understanding just as Kronk jumped down carrying an unconscious Yzma-kitten in a cat-carrier.
"Well, I guess I'm going to have to find a new job now." Kronk sighed. "Oh well, can't have a boss who doesn't love my spinach puffs."
"You know what, Kronk. You're a good guy. You'll do okay." West said.
"If you're looking for a job and you like cooking you could always try that diner." Max pointed out. "They really need a new chef."
"Finally! Somewhere where my love of cooking will be appreciated!" Kronk exclaimed excitedly, running all the way to the diner. Suddenly, the entire palace began to glow as Mickey's keyblade appeared in his hand. The light around the palace grew and grew until a beam of light shot out of the roof and into the sky, forming the shape of a keyhole. Mickey pointed Star Seeker at the keyhole as a beam of light shot out from the tip and into the keyhole.
"Whelp, looks like its time for us to go." Mickey said as he dismissed his keyblade.
"You're leaving already?" Pacha asked as the team of world-travelers nodded sadly. "Well, now I'll have loads of stories to tell my kids about you all."
"Geez Pacha, you're embarrassing us!" Lea laughed.
"Thanks guys." Kuzco said with a wave. "Don't go forgetting about your favorite emperor now!"
"Don't worry; we won't!" Goofy smiled.
"Remember to be good, Kuzco!" Donald waved. Soon, the team had all made their way down the dirt path and all faded into nine beams of light, teleporting back on to the Gummi ship.
Heh. Good kids. Kuzco thought as he and Pacha watched them leave. They'll do okay. His thoughts were soon interrupted by Pacha tapping his shoulder and Kuzco turned to face him.
"You know, I'm pretty sure I heard some singing on the hill next to us. In case you're interested."
PrismRain13: Here's a hint for the next world; it's been in every KH game so far except for one.
Kronk: don't forget to review!
Guest; see? See? I updated!