The Sapphire Sorceress
Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.
Act 57: The Home of Dragons
"I'm Mulan. Um, no, I-I mean...Just... Ping. I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou."
Unknown Location: Pathway Between Worlds ( Kairi's POV )
We had taken the first step on our journey to help save the universe for the first time as a team, and our destination would be the nearest world that we could fly towards in this ship. Thankfully Goofy and Donald managed to convince Chip and Dale into helping make more room for us to relax in during our break from flying around in space like this, and they also made upgrades to Sora's personal Gummi Ship that I had been taking in his place while he was unconscious over this past year.
"I can't say I missed having to wait in this ship while shooting down enemy ships or hazards..." Sighing, the ship's monitor thankfully not showed any immediate dangers facing us letting us put the thing on auto-pilot so that we could have our first real discussion since being split apart when the worlds were being restored to normal.
"You find this boring? I love moving around in space, blasting up the asteroids, and going off to new places with my friends."
"Well, putting it that way I don't suppose that sounds all that bad." Just dealing with the patrolling ships and the journey there was the worst part of it since without anyone being with me being in space alone was...not pleasant to say the least.
"Do you think we're gonna run into more of da heartless, Sora?"
"Chances are those nobodies are out there, Goofy!"
Speaking of which I wonder what happened to those nobodies who have a tie with Sora, since with Roxas absorbed into the Replica, and with Xion being apparently captured or in DiZ's hold the memories had to be poured back into my friend in some kind of way. The question is what - or maybe how did that process happen with Namine and Xion.
"Ummm...Sora? Do you remember anything about when you started looking for "The King" and Riku?" That was when his journey to Castle Oblivion started, so then he should easily be able to recall the events that happened there with no problem. He gave off his cheerful smile that warmed my heart while he began to remember things from that journey.
"Well, we had to follow a long, winding road in the middle of nowhere, side by side with my friends only to find a letter from His Majesty," Suddenly he put a hand over his head that made me confused. "Then, Ummm we awoke in some room that was all white eventually finding our way out of Twilight Town."
"That..." There was much more that he should know about, and that only meant that my fear was confirmed about the process going wrong. Sora physically was fine; the mental aspect of his recovery might be the issue.
"What about that castle you three visited? Those other nobodies that you encountered and that girl Namine?"
"Namine? How do you know about her, Kairi?"
"It was...Riku. He told me about what happened when you met her along with everything else that happened in Castle Oblivion." A little guy suddenly appeared on Sora's shoulder, and Goofy along with Donald knew him as Jimmy Cricket when he pulled out a little notebook that looked like a giant creature in comparison to this little guy or insect.
"Here it is, the page that has only one sentence written to thank Namine." Looking at the notebook that should be filled with info about their dealings with Marluxia and his splinter faction, the pages only continued information about their trip before finding that castle and not much else. This can't be right! I know about Namine being able to remove memories about Sora but to completely erase information like this was something I didn't expect to see...
"Donald! Goofy! Please tell me you can remember anything about those nobodies you've encountered! Revisiting the other worlds you've been to in your memories. Something!"
"...Kairi? Are you okay?" No, I won't be until you can remember everything that's happened to you. Perhaps there is something he can remember; a certain person who's affected his life that isn't me or Riku like Namine.
"Do you know about someone called Roxas? Another person who is called Xion? Do any of these names mean anything to you, Sora?" His face did show a reaction of confusion at first, but his eyes looked like that both of those names were something he's heard about before making me feel hopeful about his mind.
"...No clue honestly. I think I would be able to remember those two people if I've met them..." I nearly fell back in my seat realizing that his memories were not complete. After all, the events in Castle Oblivion were something that he should have been able to easily remember despite Namine's influence over his mind. How can we really catch-up about matters if he can't even remember the events that lead to the loss of his memory in the first place.
"How about you? I know you must have been doing a lot of training since the last time we were together." I suppose that until these guys can recall what happened on that trip on their own there wasn't any point in trying to make them remember what they could not currently.
"Where exactly should I begin then? Well, you should know about my life in the academy that I've enrolled into just a year ago."
"Woah! You've gone to a school, Kairi?!"
"Indeed, and believe it or not Donald I got along with quite a lot of the students in that place," Yes there was so much to explain about my time there without Sora or Riku by me. "Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie have adjusted there well enough while I've been able to pass the final class exams for the year giving me the freedom to come on this voyage with you, Sora."
"Heh! You think that I could go there and learn things in class?"
"Hard to really say, and would you mind putting up with an egomaniac like Rufus Shinra who runs the place and the fact he will never stop pointing that out." Actually, the image of Sora calling out our fearless leader about all of his mistakes would be amusing to watch considering the kind of verbal lashing that he would get from the keyblade hero.
"Don't worry he isn't someone who can hold down a Princess of Heart, so keeping him in check shouldn't be that hard!" It wasn't him that represented the roughest parts in being there; in fact compared to the pain I suffered in losing someone who I grew to care about nearly as much as you Sora Rufus and his sins of Greed were nothing.
"Tell me Sora. Have you seen anyone else during your trip besides Namine?" There must have been a way to purge the memories out of him...
"...Why are you trying to make me remember? I mean that isn't bad, the thing is if I knew what happened I would have told you already."
"Even if you heard the story I doubt you could believe it since for some reason there is something that is blocking out that part of your memories..." Perhaps it was something rather someone instead like Namine.
"Try me, Kairi. I'm been to a lot of strange worlds, seen lots of stuff, and my two best pals are a duck and dog."
"Hey!" Chuckling at the "trio of cavaliers" having fun like this made me proud of how far we've come from when we had been so little and naive about the other worlds.
"I guess that we can talk about-"
"Hey, guys! I think we have enemy ships heading in our direction." The navigation crew Chip and Dale warned us along with the red lights that began to flash meaning that we had to fight back using the weapons installed into this ship. Great. My FAVORITE thing to do while driving around to another world, and I wanted my stupid watch to work for moments like this but since it was still out of juice this was the only method available to me.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same..." Sighing I manned the other gun on this craft to blow down the nobodies flying ships heading our way to deal with before heading to our first destination together.
The Land of Dragons: The Encampment
Unlike the other worlds, I've been to so far this place certainly gave off a different vibe to me. With the strange looking trees, and then we came across Sora's old summoning friend in this "big, bad, and bold" dragon: Mushu. He...certainly was anything like Maleficent, his personality wasn't cruel but from what Sora told me about the witch's true form this dragon in comparison...certainly was less than what I expected from the legends of such fire-breathing creatures. Still, if this guy helped Sora in the past, then it would be foolish to underestimate his skills.
As for Mulan - no Ping apparently had taken us back into a huge camp area filled with several other soldiers dressed in a similar military attire he is wearing. I wasn't sure if this meant we had walked into this place in the middle of some kind of war, and from what I've learned in class the concept of war only brought two certain facts: death and destruction for both sides. Even the winners of such wars have to deal with the aftermath of the losses on their side and trying to rebuild what was lost during the battles of such wars no matter how short or long.
Thing was no matter how I felt about the matters or culture of the world it was unwise to interfere in things that are not related to the heartless from what I've learnt from Squall and Yuffie, and that is why I had to not insult the captain of this small platoon of troops when he gave his opinion on Ping while Sora tried to convince the head of this small army that we could help out Ping to help serve his country. My heart was torn on how to feel about this; Ping certainly seemed like a man who deserved a chance to show his worth however we are getting involved with something that might not be related to our true purpose.
'Keybearers are meant to keep the peace...' Trying to get involved with one by ambushing Shan-Yu's forces might not be the best option for us to take, so I took Ping off to the side along with Sora since I couldn't remain quiet on this anymore.
"Ping. I know you want to earn the respect of that man, but are you sure this is the best option to accomplish this?" Ping and Sora were taken aback when I made such a statement.
"Don't you understand how important it is to stop that man?! He will not stop until he's conquered all of China, and destroying everything that stands in his way! This is our home we are fighting for, the land of dragons itself!"
"That does sound like a problem, but myself, Sora, Donald, and Goofy aren't soldiers like you. We have to look out for other things besides this country..."
"What are you saying, Kairi? Ping and Mushu are in trouble, so why shouldn't we help them out?"
"Because this is war! This isn't like simply taking out the heartless, Sora," I looked at the other soldiers who were standing guard or training with one another knowing what might happen to them. "There WILL be casualties involved if we head off into this ambush...are you two really prepared for that certain reality?" Zidane made me understand that everyone can't be saved no matter how hard I could try in becoming stronger.
"...I understand what you're saying, Kairi. Believe me, I understand that my life will be on the line, but with you, Sora, those other pals of yours, and with Mushu by my side I know that we will take him down like those heartless." His eyes brightened up with a powerful determination that showed me he truly meant every word he's said about protecting this land.
"Don't worry...no one is going to get hurt on our watch." Sora I hope you're right about that.
Before we could even take part in the ambush we had to perform a couple of smaller missions first like protecting some weapons and food supplies from these weird hopping heartless, which meant it was time for me and Sora to get to work. As I fought off a couple of these guys Sora's body suddenly was taken in by this strange light revealing himself in a different colored outfit that was mostly red. Not only that but there was also two keyblades in his hands instead of that one he always liked to use in battle.
"W-where did you get that?!"
"Long story, but I ran into some friends of Merlin who gave me this new power."
"I mean that other keyblade it looks different than your other one."
"Oh, that is a good question..."
That wouldn't be answered likely until he can regain all of his memories. Watching the enemy approach the cargo I jumped into action by striking them in the back as they remained the mindless zombies they behaved as until the end of their pitiful existences. Being a soulless creature with no chance of having things like understanding, sympathy, and the many other emotions that made a somebody who they were for better or worse. Wiping out the last of these guys Ping was observing us in action while he was trying to keep a single heartless back with his own sword with Mushu trying to create a fireball to help out his friend.
"Don't worry Mul - err Ping I've got ya back!" His fireball was something that wasn't enough to even light a small candle, so Donald has to use some magic from his wand instead to heat things up with that heartless. While it wasn't even the job was finished allowing us to head back into camp for another mission.
"That was amazing, Sora! I didn't know you had been doing training as well to get that new outfit of yours."
"Actually this is the second time I've used this kind of form, so I'm still getting used to fighting in it." Blinking in surprise my friend explained to me that over the following fights and experience he will earn that power will grow, giving him new abilities, forms, and skills to help him out in the upcoming battles. That would come in handy with our next mission in being to protect this came from any kind of attack by rogue heartless, which happened to be right now with the strange horse-shaped ones coming our way.
Holding tight grip of my blade I remained focused while Ping was showing more concern about facing such foes as this, the man likely would be more used to fighting people and the thought about what that meant made my skin crawl...
"T-they just k-keep coming at us..." Running over to Ping who was still having trouble I had been cut off by this huge riding heartless who tried stabbing me with its spear. With the other zombie heartless roaming around plus the army that was staying in this location this battle needed to be short in order to ensure they will be no casualties before the ambush on the enemy's army.
"Ping!" Despite his efforts to improve one of the zombies grabbed hold of his back, and the huge spear-wielding heartless moved in to hurt him with that weapon. Despite knowing he was in danger there were several heartless standing in my way to get over to him not to mention Sora was dealing with his share. Nonetheless, someone had to step in to help out that soldier or else...
"Don't ya worry bout a thing!" Goofy's shield managed to keep Ping from being impaled on the sharp end of that weapon, and ensuring that we wouldn't have to bear such a tragedy on our conscious allowing us to continue doing our jobs as keybearers. Jumping over the mindless swarm of darkness I decided to go after the big one to keep Ping out of danger, plunging my weapon right into the back while it was dealing with Goofy and his sturdy shield.
"Thanks for the help, Goofy!" Winking at him I jumped down to take out the remaining ones as the bigger heartless disappeared into thin air while Ping was shaking in fear and likely shock about how easy I made that look.
"Don't worry you can handle this guy with enough practice. Believe me, I was once freezing up like you are now..." Those words didn't seem to help calm down the soldier as the scene was clear of any sign of darkness or heartless completing another minor assignment for the head of this platoon ready to fight Shan-Yu. Speaking of that the Captain felt that after a couple more smaller tasks we did in helping that we should prepare for the push up the mountain to confront the enemy despite his feelings about us since he wasn't that confident in our abilities.
"Kairi?" As we were making our trip through the mountain Ping called me over to ask me something important while the troops continued their journey upwards.
"Now, you need to promise me that you will not say any of this to your friends," His expression was quite serious as he pulled me into a small cave away from the traveling soldiers with only Mushu serving as the witness to this conversation. "Tell me what it feels like to be a fighter...and a female?" Why is he asking me that now? Was it because of how the captain felt about me fighting alongside Sora?
"Why should it matter if I'm a girl or not? I don't think to have a different gender than my friend makes me any different from other keyblade wielders..."
"That isn't the same here. Most women are considered to be "fit" to remain home or serving the husbands they are married with, and now standing on the frontlines of battle." I figure that would explain why I didn't see any female soldiers among the other troops here, so that is how females are considered in this world merely treasures for men who can't be considered willing to break a nail or get their hands dirty. There was nothing I could do in order to change this mindset, so I would have to put on quite the show for these men then...
"You must be lucky to have someone like Sora who you can be inspired by, and who supports you for deciding to battle those darklings by yourselves."
"Many people are depending on us to succeed and when you think about it that way are we really alone, no we aren't by ourselves at all!" Ping looked shocked when I made that declaration about my feelings on my journey with Sora, but then I noticed the solder touch the green tie around his hair...and slowly more hair come down his head.
"Mulan?"
"It is okay, Mushu. I have been getting sick of hiding my own true feelings as well like Kairi here." No longer in his short hair, the beauty of this new soldier certainly could be seen; it wasn't until "he" told me the truth about his hair did I finally understand why he looked more like...she instead.
"Mulan is my true name, and my true gender is indeed of a female "coward" keyblade user..." Then, she was pretending to act like a man in order to join this army? To think she was able to fool everyone including me with the "Ping" identity was rather talented in her part.
"You wanted to join the army that badly, Mulan? So, then you wish to also stop Shan-Yu by going to these lengths..."
"Indeed, the whole reason I've risked everyone up until now is so that I could protect my land, the realm, and my family along with the Emperor." In a way she reminds me of myself, the determination to fight alongside those who were willing to stand up to the darkness corrupting the worlds.
"This is war, and I know that my actions could cost some their lives but that is the same with any real war. I know you are hesitant to accept that, but I refuse to go home now when I'm this close-"
"Ping?!" Sora? He must have found us in this place, and sure enough, he was looking at the no longer disguised "Ping" rather Mulan.
"Woah! I didn't know you had that kind of hair, Ping..." Yeah so the explanation for what was going on began as Mulan told him the same motivations she gave to me, but then a loud bang interrupted our conversation as I noticed there was someone observing us near the exit of this cave. Not that we could leave with the heartless shadows that intercepted us before we could escape making another small battle, and I noticed Mulan was able to destroy a few of the shadows this time along with having less trouble than when she was in her "Ping" disguise.
It was unfortunate that when we made our return to the camp...my worst fears had been confirmed as I could smell the burned ash of a ruined land. It was clear the travel up the mountain was some kind of trick to keep us away from this place leaving it defenseless...
Mulan was blaming herself about this when none of us expected us to be sent up into a trap like that, so really the fault lies with the man who caused this disaster in the first place. I could begin to understand why stopping this cruelty from causing more destruction in this world mattered to everyone living here. I would now be involved in stopping a war before the body count rises...
While the captain and the others remained in the dark about ping I knew we would be heading off into battle on that mountain, but facing off with another army wasn't going to be as easy as dealing with a small group of heartless.
"I'm not sure if I'm ready for this...we are about to head into battle with a tyrant..." Looking at the cold winds that now surrounded us I began to get a bad feeling about this whole idea, and I'm certain this wasn't because of the lack of warmer clothing on my skin.
"If we're not then everything Mul-Ping has fought for this far will be for nothing, Kairi." I know however when I looked at the damage that one man caused, the kind of destruction I might witness in this battle could be hard to swallow. The chance to run away was gone, and if even I wanted to flee which I didn't the man who I saw in the cave was standing near the top of this snowy mountain with a lot of buzzing noise coming closer while getting louder each second.
"You with me, Kairi?"
"No doubt!" This was our moment since even Mulan and the army could handle this amount of annoying sounding heartless without a keyblade. Despite their height advantage, they were pretty easy to cut down with our weapons. I knew time was of the essence in order to take advantage of Shan-Yu finally revealing himself to us. Sure enough, the man began to charge down towards us, but then Mushu and the other soldiers came into play with a strange looking dragon device likely some kind of weapon to fire at Shan-Yu; the dragon lit the fuse, however, the fireball hit the top of the mountain rather than the intended target.
Then, I could hear the noise of a rolling surge of snow as in a strange twist that missed attack ended up causing a huge wave of snow to come down the mountain trapping the man and his heartless underneath the snow. Shang or "Captain" seemed just as surprised as the rest of us about this plan working out this way. For a moment I felt relieved about everything turning out much better than I expected. How come then I could see Mushu was not thrilled about this...
"Come on, Mulan. Let's just go home already, girl." He just-
"Mulan?" Oh, no...there wasn't any way to hide this from Shang by now. Sure enough, the captain felt betrayed by all of us for lying and keeping such a secret like that demanding that Mulan leaves...or face death.
"That - I know we are supposed to remain impartial but what kind of country forces its women out of the army and proclaims they should die for committing shame," I began to tremble in rage despite knowing that we were not innocent about lying to that man. "You've only wanted to help out your country, Mulan! I refuse to allow these laws to keep you stuck in a house all your life."
"I thank you for that, but these are what the laws are here in these lands. Disobeying them would bring something worse than death to me: Dishonor."
"So what? That doesn't mean you should let people decide how your life should go, Mulan." I agreed with Sora on this after what I've learned about her during our journey and mission when I heard a man's coughing that didn't belong to Goofy, Doland, and Sora. Running over to the source of this noise we all observed Shan-Yu climb back up, still very much alive and ready to move to attack the imperial city. Shang and the rest of the army were unprepared for him, so we had to do something about this before it was too late.
"We don't have much time left to save the emperor! Sora! Mulan!" Watching her change into her true hairstyle and outfit we all began our descent into the city to save the emperor from death.
The Land of Dragons: Imperial Palace
We had arrived at the huge gate to find the invasion of heartless already underway with Shang and the other troops struggling with these heartless. Li Shang was surprised when he saw us, and I wanted to rub it in that it was women coming to his aid but that wasn't important to me anymore. Protecting the people in this city is all I was concerned with at this point. As I cut down more of these zombie heartless Mulan ran over to her "captain" who looked hurt.
"Mulan - I..."
"Where is the Emperor?!"
"Shan-Yu, the man is still alive and is holding him captive. All of a sudden we were ambushed by these creatures...I failed my duty as captain and as a man..." Though, in a way him admitting that meant he's seen that judging a warrior by their gender is something that shouldn't be the norm, a reasoning that I hoped would begin to happen with others in this world like this man.
"That does not matter, Shang. We have to save him from Shan-Yu and protect this country."
"Do you think he's really gonna hurt the emperor, Donald?"
"Not if we can stop him!"
"You can't," Shang replied while falling over in his attempt to get back onto his feet. "He's holding the emperor as a hostage. The second any one of us try something he promises to end his life..."
"How are we gonna stop him if we can't even get close enough?" Sora...that might not be a bad idea.
"Mulan, do you know of a way to enter the palace that won't draw too much attention," She nodded but looked worried that it might not work. "Don't worry my friends can be loud at times but they know how important it is to stop Shan-Yu."
"Aren't you going to come along?"
"Indeed, but I won't be going as myself. Just like you sneaked into this army I will get into the palace...under disguise."
That is how I ended up wearing a rather elegant, expensive, and downright gorgeous red qipao complete with red flowers on the gown. My hair was put into two buns with white stripes holding my hair in this style, and my face was adorned with powder and make-up ensuring I looked nothing like the Kairi that man saw in the cavern area. With Sora and Mulan heading in through the secret pathway I decided to locate Shan-Yu on my own, which was certainly dangerous to do but I had to lure him out of hiding for this plan to work.
"W-what are we to do; we're simply handmaidens, not warriors!"
"If something isn't done soon the Emperor will..."
"Where is he?" I looked at the frightened girls who were surprised when I asked them that question.
"T-the throne room, but Shan-Yu won't let anyone come inside. He is holding our Emperor at the edge of his blade."
"Then, I guess he needs to be given the proper care a guest of this castle deserves...Might I take that wine out of your hands?"
Marching off I got a drink of wine to "serve the honorable" warrior who's claimed this land as his own much to the dismay of the guards who were shaking outside of the throne room, the men were unsure how to respond to a red-haired "maid" walking into the lion's den with no fear or despair on her face.
"Who is there! I told you fools if anyone comes here-"
"I only wish to provide a drink for the mighty conqueror: Shan-Yu!" Giving the courtesy of a polite bow of "respect" I acted the part of those other maids outside who wouldn't dare lay a hand on this "mighty" warrior. Holding out the wine I remained weak, vulnerable, and meek compared to this savage beast of a man. He looked confused as he held out a hand to accuse me of trying to deceive him.
"You are just trying to poison me, aren't you?!"
"If you wish I will drink this poison to earn your trust in this humble servant of the Emperor."
"But I don't know-"
"Silence! Go ahead and die if you want, but should you live...I will take the rest all for myself. I need to enjoy the first night in my own kingdom after all!" Risking all to gain his trust I sipped my first taste of wine in my life, the bitter taste was quickly replaced by a cheery-flavored sensation that entered my mouth. Shan-Yu saw that I remained conscious after a while realizing that I was not poisoned, so he walked over to grasp the goblet from the offering plate. I thanked the maid who decided to give me this drink in her place allowing me to get into this position.
"Heh. After this drink and with this emperor my next move will be to take you as the first of many of girls! Tell me, girl! What do you think of my victory over your precious emperor of the dragon lands?!"
"That is an easy answer, milord," Summoning my keyblade to knock back his weapon I suddenly moved in front of the captive emperor to shield his escape. "You haven't even won yet..." Ordering the man out I deflected the sword that came my way, the enraged Shan-Yu tried going after the emperor but that wasn't here I wanted him to be right now.
"Why are you so upset? Angry this WOMAN ruined your big scheme to burn this country to the ground?" Hissing my angry about what I've seen, which was being projected into my furious strikes at Shan-Yu I knew that we need to head outside in order for the others to find him, so why not offer myself as the live bait?
"Don't you want to regain your honor, you fiend! Then, come and defeat this mere woman in battle!" Striking at him with my blade I lured him away from the emperor by attacking his pride as a warrior. Sure enough, he followed along, but the unintended side-effect of wearing something this elegant meant movement was hampered; my usual running and speed were cut down in this dress allowing the man to appear behind me and smack my face with the back of his hand.
"Stupid girl. You may have that weapon, but you are no true warrior!"
"True, the training I need to undergo prevents me from reaching my full potential, however, I don't need it to take down trash like you. All I need...is my friends!" Looking at Sora and Mulan come to the rescue I knew that it would be better to remain and watch this battle. I didn't win the physical battle here rather I succeeded in the mental warfare against Shan-Yu. Learning and watching Sora in action while he used those newly gained power I knew that catching up to his level wouldn't be easy.
Still, knowing that the emperor was safe and Mulan had earned the respect of not just him but Li Shang and his soldiers warmed my heart. If the keyblade could choose females to serve as its agents, then why can't women handle the role of a military rank? All in all, this was a good start to my journey...plus I got a neat outfit I could show off whenever I wanted so that wasn't bad as well.
"Thank you Kairi...for making me feel like a real woman again."
"No problem. That is what - friends are for you think we...are friends that is."
"Certainly! You too, Sora!"
[ Kairi will not be held out of the battles to come, but I wanted to show that she wasn't perfect in both her reasoning and training just yet. Also, I hope the issues in this chapter don't reflect or cause issues with my readers I'm simply going with how the characters felt at this point in the game. As for the next chapter update that will take a while since I will be heading out of town very soon, but we will be going to Beast's Castle next time...
Shout out to dragon-fav for adding this story into a community, and to my usual reviewers for checking out the past couple of updates I appreciate it. ]