Chapter 111
Scouting Mission
A Nightwalker swiped its arm at Sora, but he parried the blow and retaliated. Mulan fought against and cut through another Nightwalker. The third tried to attack her from behind, but Mushu spat fireballs at it. Mulan then flipped her sword around and stabbed it in the gut as she turned around, causing it to dissipate.
At the opposite end of the street, Aqua fought Nightwalkers and Soldiers, which seemed to be led by a larger variant with darker clothes, yellow claws, and a tarnished helmet. Goofy charged through the Soldiers and engaged the Sergeant, dealing some strong attacks until it retaliated with a kick, which sent him tumbling backward.
Mickey and Kairi climbed onto the roof of a house and jumped between roofs in pursuit of the Rapid Thrusters while also using magic to dispose of any stray Heartless they saw. Mickey threw Pearl spells at distant foes. Kairi used Magnera to pull enemies on both levels to a close proximity so that she could slash and stab at them. A small group of Rapid Thrusters noticed them and closed in on Kairi, but the girl spun around and used light Aero magic to pull them closer by the propellers, then spun back around in midair to hit them all, destroying two of them and stunning the rest, allowing her to use Blizzard to finish them off.
Riku and Donald ran through the streets to locate and eliminate Heartless while their friends worked their way through at a normal pace. Riku would warp between a civilian and a Heartless to protect anyone in harm's way, while Donald would take out enemies from afar with magic or shield the would-be victims with Reflect spells. They helped people up when they fell and directed animals out of danger. Further along, they saw some former soldiers fighting against the Heartless, and they advised them on how to properly counter the Heartless' attack patterns, allowing them to defeat the monsters more efficiently.
Mulan heard a horse neigh and turned around to see Khan charging through the street, Fa Zhou seated astride and wearing the black and green armor that Sora recalled Mulan wearing when she was disguised as "Ping". He swung a sword the slice through a Nightwalker's head
"Mulan! We must force these creatures away from the village!" Fa Zhou exclaimed.
Mulan nodded. "Father, are you sure you're…" she began to ask out of concern.
Fa Zhou chuckled. "I may be a lame old man, but I am not quite too decrepit to stand alongside my daughter," he retorted.
Mulan smirked, then turned to face the Heartless and raised her sword. They charged through the streets, cutting through Heartless and forcing the survivors to flee. Fa Zhou and Khan soon split off down a different street to cover more ground while Sora fought back to back with Mulan.
After some time, the majority of the Heartless in the village had been destroyed, with the remaining creatures either warping away or flying or running away. However, the party continued to chase after them, pursuing them out of town and up a nearby hill. As they reached the top, three Assault Riders, Heartless resembled armored centaurs with broad bodies, red capes, and guandao spears with gold blades in the shape of angular spirals, materialized before them. The fleeing Heartless stopped and turned to face the party.
"Huh. I guess they couldn't fit in the streets," Riku mused.
Aqua flicked her Keyblade to the side. "Then how about we help them by cutting them down to size?" she quipped.
Khan reared and let out a fierce whinney. Fa Zhou gripped the reins and glowered at one of the Assault Riders.
"For China!" Mulan and her father shouted in unison. Khan charged toward an Assault Rider, and Fa Zhou slashed at it. It turned around as Khan looped around for a return strike. As the horse made his charge, it thrust its guandao at him and his rider, but Khan dodged to the side, and Fa Zhou delivered a downward slash at his opponent's shoulder. As they cleared past the recoiling Heartless, Fa Zhou felt his side, grunting as pain from his old war injury acted up. He gritted his teeth, knowing he had to push past the pain for this battle. Khan turned around and charged again. The Assault Rider swiped at him, but the horse lowered his head and dodged the attack. Fa Zhou, who also ducked and barely avoided the strike, thrust his sword straight into the Heartless' chest, destroying the fiend.
Sora, Mulan and Goofy fought against another Assault Rider. Goofy made for a frontal assault, but was knocked back as the Heartless spun its guandao at an incredibly fast speed. Sora and Mulan took advantage of this to attack from behind. After they dealt multiple hits to its rear, it hopped and spun around, swinging its guandao at them. Mulan ducked while Sora took the hit and was sent flying, in the process absorbing energy from the hit so that it would not do much if any harm to Mulan. He realigned himself in midair and landed on his feet. He willed his Keyblade to light on fire, then lunged at the Heartless. It started to twirl its guandao in front of it in an effort to block him and do damage, but Sora simply jumped over it, then slashed his blazing Keyblade at it from behind. The flames died down after the combo finished. The Heartless turned around and reared up. It slammed its front hooves to the ground, releasing an explosive force underfoot. However, Sora jumped to avoid this blast, recalling clearly every time that he had been sent flying with that trick. Mulan struck the Assault Rider in its hind while Mushu spat fireballs at it and Goofy attacked it with his tornado spin. Sora dealt the final blow by delivering a downward slash to its head.
Donald and Kairi used Blizzard and Thunder magic to fight the last Rapid Thrusters. Twice, Kairi used Magnet to draw the flying Heartless in to directly harm with sword strikes. When her mana depleted, she waited for the Heartless to close in on her before slashing and stabbing at them. Riku and Mickey targeted the last three Nightwalkers and the final two Soldiers. Aqua fought the third Assault Rider, though, despite her own considerable strength, she frequently fell victim to its powerful and unrelenting attacks, much like Sora, Donald and Goofy had in their first several battles with the brutes.
Seeing Aqua's distress, Sora and Mulan ran over to help her. Mulan deflected a guandao stab with her sword while Sora helped Aqua to her feet. The Assault Rider reared up, preparing to blast them away, when they heard the sound of a new set of horse hooves grow louder. As the Heartless reared back all the way and was about to lean forward, a white horse with grey dapples on its neck charged at it, and its rider struck the Heartless with a sword. The horse turned around, and its rider fought the Assault Rider directly, sword against guandao, and he efficiently cut it down to size.
When all of the Heartless had been slain, the party turned to face the newcomer. The horse's rider wore a set of black and gray genji armor with gold trim, an off-white long sleeve tunic, khaki pants, black-and-white Chinese warrior boots, a red cape tied in a knot in front of his collar, and a black war helmet. He slipped his sword back into its scabbard and dismounted from his horse. He turned to address the party and removed his helmet, revealing short black hair tied into a bun with a red clip.
"Is everyone alright?" the general of the Chinese army asked. Three soldiers wearing grey clothes and black armor approached them, each one riding a horse of his own.
Sora and Aqua nodded. Mulan and Goofy helped Fa Zhou off of Khan, and Mulan wrapped her father's arm over her shoulder to hold him up, as the flaring pain from his injury combined with his own heart problems acting up left him momentarily having trouble standing on his own. Donald contemplated offering a Potion, but he had no idea how well it would work for the situation.
"Thanks for the help, General Shang," Sora said.
General Li Shang nodded. "It is good to have you back, especially at this time. We could really use your help here," he told the teen.
"The Heartless have been causing trouble lately?" Donald surmised.
"Yes," Shang confirmed. "There have been sightings of hordes of Heartless appearing all around the countryside. Most groups haven't reached populated areas yet, but they appear to be gathering to march on China from all directions."
"That doesn't sound good," Riku muttered.
Shang shook his head. "I have platoons scouting all over, but we don't have enough soldiers in the field to cover sufficient ground," he explained.
"You want our help to look around?" Sora surmised.
"Yes."
Mulan nodded. "What do you need us to do?" she asked.
Shang nodded to one of the soldiers, who pulled out a map and unrolled it, setting it down on the ground for all to see. Four circles were drawn in different places around the map.
"I've assigned platoons to scout in these locations and track the enemies' movements. Every few days, they each send one of their own to report back to me," Shang explained. "I specifically instructed them not to engage the enemy, only to gather intel. However, I fear that our understanding of the breadth of the situation is limited. As you can see, this arrangement leaves some critical blind spots. We need to cover more ground to comprehend the size of the encroaching force, as well as determine their objective, and if they really are an encroaching army on a march."
"It must've been organized by whoever we tracked here," Sora mused. "But he couldn't have gotten here earlier than this morning."
"Maybe he had them start gathering ahead of time," Goofy guessed.
"But then he would've had to have someone else set the locations and give the orders here," Donald argued. "Is this guy working with another crook we haven't run into yet, or does he have a sidekick answering to him?"
Riku, Mickey, and Mulan studied the map closely, then Mickey nodded in understanding. "So, how do you want to divide up the teams?" the mouse asked.
"We should split evenly into two teams, and cover a different opening," Shang answered. He blinked as he finally registered that there were strangers in the group. "Pardon me, but I don't believe we've met before. Who are you all?"
Those whom Shang had not already met introduced themselves.
Shang shot Riku a look and raised an eyebrow, recalling the conversation that had taken place in the Emperor's throne room. "You possess some excellent fighting skills, Riku," he commended.
Riku blinked. "Uh, thanks," he said sheepishly. "You too, General."
Shang looked around at everyone present. "There are twelve of us present, not counting the dragon, who will, of course, be accompanying Mulan." His gaze fell on Fa Zhou, who was still being supported by Mulan and Goofy. "Fa Zhou, I thank you for your assistance in quelling the threat to the village, but out of concern for your health, I think it's time that you return home."
Fa Zhou smiled. "I understand. It has been an honor to do my part once again after so long," he replied.
"I'll accompany you back home," Mulan promised. "And then I will rejoin everyone." She and Goofy helped her father back onto Khan, and then Mulan climbed up with him, taking the reins in front of him. She flicked the reins, and Khan trotted down the hill and back to the Fa family home. While they waited for Mulan to return, the rest of the group discussed party arrangements and who would go where.
When she returned, riding on Khan's back, everyone turned to face her, ready to present the arrangement. The party would be split up into two teams of six. The first team would consist of Shang, Mulan (and Mushu), Sora, Mickey, and two of the soldiers that accompanied Shang. The other team would consist of Aqua, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and the third Chinese soldier. Each team took a different area on the countryside, neither of which was too far from their present location, and everyone agreed to meet up at a campsite marked on the map the following night. Wishing each other luck, the two teams began their journeys. It was only after several minutes that the soldier in the second team realized that his companions did not have horses to ride to make the trip easier, but Riku, Aqua and Goofy assured them that they were used to it, so the soldier offered to let Kairi ride with him if she got tired. Donald grumbled that he did not have any options for if he got tired, but he shut up when Riku joked that he could carry him. Night fell by the time they reached their destinations. They took a look around, but they could not see much, so they decided to call it a night and wait until morning.
"How many do you think there are?" Sora asked as his group peered over the hill at the large throng of Heartless in the valley below.
"I'd say four to five hundred," Shang replied.
"Hard to really judge since the size variance is so great," Mickey added, noting the number of Assault Riders and Bolt Towers, tall floating cylindrical Heartless with three points on the bottom, spherical heads sticking out of the base, and red and yellow rings at the top and bottom, compared to Shadows and Rapid Thrusters, as well as the Soldiers and Nightwalkers in the middle.
"We wouldn't want these monsters to combine ranks with the other groups," one of the soldiers said.
"But if we engage now, we won't be able to properly determine their pattern of movement," Shang argued.
"I wouldn't want to charge into a small army with only six people anyway," the second soldier added.
"King Mickey and I would probably manage, at least, but I agree with you. We don't want to waste all our energy before we would have to fight more of them," Sora replied.
"So now what?" Mulan asked.
"Now, we watch them. Figure out what they're going to do," Shang answered.
They watched the Heartless march for hours. Sora was perplexed, as he had never seen a group of Heartless on a big march before, except perhaps when Maleficent led her army in an attempted siege of Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion. But that was clearly an army's march to battle. This group, and the other four that the soldiers had found previously, was marching hundreds of miles across largely empty terrain. Comparing their direction of movement to the position of the sun, Mickey and Shang determined that the Heartless were marching in a southeastward path. Mulan consulted Shang's map as they followed the Heartless' march.
"Shang, there are villages in this line of movement," she said. "What will we do if the Heartless come upon one?"
"If they threaten the people in it, we will intervene, to the best of our ability," the general replied.
Mulan nodded in understanding. They continued to watch the large parade of Heartless, following them at a distance. When the Heartless approached a village, the majority of them swerved around it while a few dozen broke off and made their way into the village. Realizing that they had to act before the Heartless took any hearts, the party ran down and chased the Heartless into the village. Shang and the soldiers guided the people to safety while Sora, Mulan and Mickey fought the Heartless.
When the town had been cleared of Heartless, and after they had made sure that everyone was safe and sound, the party left the village to see the remaining Heartless continue their march, apparently unaware that their splinter cell had been exterminated.
"Well, I guess now we know why they're hiking across China," Mulan said. "They're not just going someplace; they're trying to take China with them."
"At least we won't have to overexert ourselves taking on the whole army at once," Mickey determined. "We can cut through portions that split off, then rest in between fights, so we don't get overwhelmed."
"But only one more of those groups will be directly opposed by a unit of this caliber," one of the soldiers reminded them. "Not to say I don't have faith in my compatriots, but I think the other four will have a better chance of taking the towns."
"Then I guess we'll have to hope for the best," Sora said. "And who knows? You guys handled yourselves pretty well when Shan-Yu's Heartless army invaded the Imperial City."
Mulan nodded. "Sora's right. I have faith," she said. Cri-Kee chirped from atop her shoulder, which Mulan and Mushu took as a sign of good luck.
Shang nodded. "Alright, then. Let's keep moving."
They continued to follow the Heartless for most of the day. When a group of Heartless splintered off to attack a village, the spy party pursued them and fought them until there were no more Heartless to threaten the townspeople. A few former soldiers provided their assistance. When the battle was over, Shang and Mulan explained what was going on, and the defending townspeople offered to join them and help out. Shang ordered them to head straight for the campsite and to not engage the Heartless army. After suiting up and saying good-bye to their families, the soldiers left for the camp while the party continued to tail the Heartless.
Later in the afternoon, the party decided to call it a day and make their way to camp to regroup with the others. The sun was beginning to set as they crossed over the hill and came into view of the camp As they entered the circle of tents, they saw a dozen soldiers decked in Chinese armor, as well as Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, and Aqua. A fire pit was lit as Aqua, Goofy, and a soldier worked on cooking dinner.