Taking Back the Crown

by JCMorrigan

Mozenrath. Archibald Snatcher. Roman Torchwick. Mad Madam Mim. Yzma. The Huntsman. Wuya. Ayam Aghoul. Their mission: take over the multiverse, or look fabulous trying. Rated M for swearing, steamy implications and VERY bloody battles. Contains slash and het shipping.

76. Maternal Instincts

The spirit gate in Taka Pass was the only route to the Sasa Sanctuary. Its location was known by many a traveler, but it had only recently become common knowledge that the only way to access the road to the inn was in fact through the gate some distance before the cliff wall. Otherwise, you just ended up at a cliff wall.

The catch was that the Sasa Sanctuary was reportedly a haven for those who were pure of heart. Scarlet Overkill didn't know exactly what that entailed. Maybe that meant those without good hearts couldn't pass through the gate. Or maybe it just meant you weren't allowed to use the spa facilities if you had sins in your history.

Leading Herb, Rémington, Grany, Gothel, and Neo through the gate, she became very aware that the former wasn't going to be an issue. They all saw the cliff face before them shift into a road carved between two steep faces. Down this road they walked until they came to a great wooden building of many tiers, sheltered by steep rock walls on all sides.

"Just remember the plan," Scarlet announced. "We're – "

"Ordinary travelers, simply here to rest and recuperate on our way to the Tsuta Ruins," Gothel sighed. "It's almost too easy of a part to play."

"Maybe for you," Scarlet said casually. "Not naming names…"

"I said I'd behave," Rémington huffed.

"Screw this up," Scarlet threatened, "and I'll bury YOU in the ruins instead of the sparrow."

"Technically, that wouldn't do us any good," Rémington reminded her. "No one would see me going missing as a problem, and no one would come for me."

"So if you get any funny ideas into your head," Scarlet retorted, "just remember that. No one would see you going missing as a problem, and NO ONE will come for you."

"I meant – you know what I meant."

"And don't forget to mention the Tsuta Ruins!" Scarlet hissed.

The building was preceded by great wooden gates. Neo bounced up toward them, ready to knock, when a voice sounding from above beat her to it:

"Halt! Who goes there?"

All six craned their heads upward to see two sparrows, each nearly as tall as a human being, perched atop the upper gables of the inn.

"Hi!" Scarlet waved up to them. "We're just – "

"Weary travelers on our way to the Tsuta Ruins!" Gothel interrupted, her tone thick and deep. "Won't you please offer us a place to rest?"

"That depends!" the first sparrow guard barked. "Are you good or evil? Will we regret opening our doors to you? We can't just open them to anyone!"

"We're good news," Rémington called up to them. "These weapons? For self-defense only."

"Hmm," the first sparrow mused. "I think we'll need to call the boss on this – "

"No, wait!" the second interrupted, extending a wing. "There! See him?"

He was pointing directly at Herb. Herb indicated himself with a hand; "Me?" At first, he thought they were reacting to the lava-filled gun strapped to his back, which didn't do much to argue their case as being mere travelers, but Herb had refused to go unarmed.

"I've seen that one before!" the second sparrow explained. "Much younger, in the portraits Aiko drew of the man who tended to her broken wing!"

"Oh, yeah," Herb recalled. "I did find a sparrow this one time when I was a kid. She fell out of her nest, and I couldn't just leave her there."

"Really?" Rémington and Grany said in a deadpan tone that indicated they were less than impressed."

"I was a kid," Herb muttered.

"So you're telling me," Scarlet called up, "that a sparrow all the way from our world made it back here?"

"The sparrows of the sanctuary have traveled near and far," the first sparrow explained. "And so, I take it, have you. That must mean only one thing."

The six winced.

"You are traveling heroes," the first sparrow concluded, "chasing a great evil across all the worlds you visit."

"Totally!" Herb said quickly.

"That's definitely it!" Grany added.

Neo nodded fervently.

"Open the doors!" the second sparrow commanded.

The gates were parted wide, and beyond that, the smaller doors to the inn itself. Scarlet, giving a shrug, led Problem Squad #2 through.

"Saving a sparrow with a broken wing?" Grany hissed to Herb as they crossed the threshold. "And you call yourself a villain?"

"Hey, I still have villain cred!" Herb argued. "I just didn't fully come into villainy until I grew up, that's all! Besides, it got us into the inn, didn't it?"

The interior of the inn was bustling with activity; sparrows rushed from room to room. "Okay," Scarlet whispered. "All we have to do is figure out which one is – "

A bird popped in front of them. "Welcome to Sasa Sanctuary!" he greeted. "Might I show you around?"

"Oh," Scarlet said, surprised. "Well, uh, see, we were kind of looking for – "

"We would be honored to have a grand tour," Gothel broke in.

"You can see your rooms later," the sparrow explained. "First, let me show you the amenities."

He led them out back, to a courtyard featuring a hot spring. "You are welcome to bathe in our hot springs anytime," he explained.

"Tempting…" Gothel mused.

"Don't have the time," Scarlet said sharply, "don't have the bathing suits."

"Who said we needed bathing suits?" Gothel said slyly.

"Still don't have the time," Scarlet said to shut her down. "Also, Rémy, I know you have some gross comment in your head, and you better keep it there."

"I wasn't going to say anything!" Rémington argued.

Neo could illusion herself into a bathing suit anytime she wanted, but she was well aware they didn't have the time.

"Yeah, we really need to rest up before we keep going to the Tsuta Ruins," Herb insisted. "Did I mention we were going to the Tsuta Ruins?"

Rémington would have smacked himself with his palm if he hadn't known that would completely give the game away. Of course, Scarlet was too enamored with Herb to cut him off when he was laying it on thick.

After that, the six were given a set of rooms on the lower floor. They were supposed to be split up; the Overkills were given one room, the Smisses another, and Neo and Gothel a third after they came up with a convincing lie about being childhood friends.

"Just relax in your rooms," the tour guide sparrow explained as they all stood in the door frames of their chambers, "and refreshments will be along soon." He fluttered off.

"Now's our chance," Scarlet hissed, stepping out of her door. "We split up and we find the kid. First one to get to her texts."

The duos as they had been assigned rooms formed the parties that scoured the interior of the inn. The Smisses checked out all of the unoccupied rooms, hoping for a sign of a small sparrow.

"Why would a kid even want to play in one of these rooms?" Grany asked.

"I dunno," Rémington said with a shrug. "Why do kids do anything?"

He crossed the room to an ornamental trunk, prying it open. It seemed the sort of thing that would contain valuables. All he found was an empty space big enough that he could have curled up inside. "Not even anything good to loot," he grunted as he shut the trunk's lid.

"Wait," Grany bade him. "We could still use that."

Gothel and Neo had gone out back, past the hot springs. Gothel was still sorely tempted by the heat rising off the water. If it weren't for the damning evidence they were supposed to leave at the end of the crime, she would have earmarked it as a place to return to. "Shame, really," she muttered.

Neo tilted her head; what was a shame?

Gothel nodded toward the hot spring.

Neo made a series of gestures that got the point across; if Gothel wanted a hot soak, she could get that back at base.

"Oh, you're right," Gothel relented. "You really aren't the talkative type, are you?"

Neo shook her head.

"And why is that?" Gothel asked.

Neo made no response. Gothel didn't need to know everything about her.

"Fine, then," Gothel said once it was clear she was getting nowhere in that direction.

Neo tugged Gothel's sleeve, indicating a pathway that led up out of the courtyard and into a thick grove of bamboo. The duo walked the upward slope until they came to a clearing where bamboo surrounded. A small sparrow, about the size of a human child, hopped about the clearing, playing a bamboo flute loudly.

Neo and Gothel exchanged a glance; this could be the very child they sought. Gothel was the first to move forward, saying sweetly, "What beautiful music!"

The sparrow halted her clumsy dance, lowering the flute from her beak. "Thank you!" she chirped.

"It might just be the best music I've ever heard played on a flute," Gothel said as she knelt to the sparrow's height.

"I knew it!" The sparrow hopped excitedly from foot to foot.

"What is your name, little musician?" Gothel asked, making direct eye contact with the sparrow.

"My name is Chun!" the sparrow answered. "What's yours?"

Chun. That was the ticket. Neo stepped back down the path, whipping out her scroll to send a text.

Gothel figured since they were going to burn this bridge, she might as well give her true name. "My name is Gothel. Many people would go so far as to call me 'Mother' Gothel. You could call me 'Mother' if you liked."

"You're not my mother!" Chun laughed. "That's stuuuuupid!"

Gothel flinched. This girl was much more obstinate than Rapunzel had ever been. Then again, Rapunzel had been a special case. Children were boisterous by nature. It paid to keep a cool head. "Now you've gone and hurt my feelings," Gothel said in a tone that was obviously teasing.

Chun was onto Gothel's game – about her lament being false, anyway. Not about the greater plot. "I'm not sorry!"

"Well, little musician," Gothel said with a smile, "what other songs do you know?"

"I know many great songs!" Chun boasted. "I'm going to play one I wrote about the sunset over Taka Pass!"

"I would love to hear it," Gothel said calmly.

Chun's musical talent was as good as could be expected from the average child. Gothel smiled all the way through the piece; Neo re-emerged from the bamboo to watch the performance as well. Chun was so caught up in her flute work, she barely noticed when Scarlet and Herb arrived, regarding her as though she were the most precious child they'd ever seen.

When Rémington and Grany came bearing the ornamental trunk, however, the song ended on a sour note. "What do you have that box for?" Chun asked.

Figuring there was no good answer, the Smisses sprang into action, sweeping the box over Chun and slamming the lid.

As the sound of frightened kicking and chirping came from inside, Scarlet produced the final piece of evidence. After all, Mozenrath had made it very clear that the problems caused by the Problem Squads should be solvable. So she dropped the scroll painted by Issun, the one telling of Amaterasu's battle with the Spider Queen in the Tsuta Ruins, directly in the center of the clearing.

After that, it was a hustle to barge out of the inn with the Smisses bearing the box. The six blew out of the sanctuary so quickly, they were well across Taka Pass before anyone realized Chun was missing.

Neo made a passing set of gestures that commented on Gothel's interactions with Chun.

"I'm sorry," Scarlet told Neo, "I didn't catch that."

"She was just talking about how I spoke to the sparrow girl," Gothel clarified. "Or…not talking about it, I suppose."

"This isn't the first time you've kidnapped a kid," Rémington recalled.

"She has a way with kids, doesn't she?" Herb asked Neo.

Neo gave this an affirmative nod.

"That's adorable," Scarlet told Gothel.

"No," Gothel sniffed. "It's not."

"Have you ever thought about having another kid?" Scarlet asked. "Maybe a kidnap for keeps?"

"Absolutely not," Gothel growled. "Rapunzel was bad enough. I really can't abide children. The next time immortality requires me to deal with a child, I may just pick death. What about you? You seem like the motherly type."

"I do?" Scarlet said, taken aback. Then, after a nervous giggle, "That's good. Because sometimes I think I wouldn't be a good parent, you know? But that's silly. Of course I'd be a good parent. I'm Scarlet Overkill. I'm good at everything. To answer your question…I've thought about it. A few times. Talked about it."

"I am totally on board," Herb asserted. "The thought of raising our own little villain is just so cool, you know?"

"We wouldn't kidnap," Scarlet went on. "We'd…well…we'd do it the old-fashioned way."

"So why haven't you?" Gothel asked.

"It's just never the right time," Scarlet answered. "There's always a scheme that's more important, or we're in danger that we can't put a kid through…"

"And I'd have to seriously refurb to childproof the lab," Herb added. "Not looking forward to that. So I figure we'll wait until I change my mind on that."

"Just wondering here," Grany broke in, "but you said you'd raise your kid to be a villain."

"Well, of course," Scarlet insisted. "I'd teach them all the techniques. Show them how to defend themselves, show them how to attack others, get them all the best toys for baby's first bank heist, help them pick out cute clothes to cut an intimidating aesthetic – "

"But what if your kid's a hero?" Grany asked.

That got both Scarlet and Herb to shudder. "Don't even joke," Scarlet snapped.

"So not ready to deal with that," Herb added.

"It could happen," Grany insisted. "You could end up with a little one that runs around feeding animals and donating money to good causes."

"Maybe we're NOT ready to be parents," Scarlet declared after giving the matter a brief amount of thought.

"I'm thinking the same thing," Herb agreed.

They brought the trunk all the way through the Agata Forest and into the Tsuta Ruins, which cut an imposing figure, a stone behemoth. The inner chamber featured a wide stream of water separating the entryway from the opposite wall, where a great statue, only vaguely humanoid in shape and riddled with cracks and creeping vines, towered up toward the vaulted ceiling.

"According to the scroll," Scarlet recalled, "the secret chamber was inside that statue at the top of its head."

"Can't we just drop the child off here?" Gothel groaned.

"And make it too easy for the do-gooders?" Grany countered.

"We're a problem squad," Rémington insisted, "and we're going to make this a problem."

They swam across the watery expanse, bringing the box along. On the other side, Grany gave the box a shake to make sure the contents were still alive; he was reprimanded with faint angry chirping from the interior.

"And exactly how do you propose we climb this statue?" Gothel asked. "The goddess used divine powers. We don't have divine powers."

"That's where technology comes in." Herb tugged the sleeve of an undershirt out from the sleeve of his jacket. "Introducing the new and improved stretch suit, now with the functionality to shoot toward the desired target and – "

He flicked his arm, and the silver fabric beneath rocketed upward, spikes protruding from the hem as it did so. Several feet overhead, the sleeve embedded itself in a thick vine.

"Act as a grappling hook!" Herb declared as he was slowly drawn upward, feet leaving the ground.

"Well, that's good for you," Gothel muttered. "But what about – "

"We've got his and hers," Scarlet explained as she fumbled below her strapless neckline to retrieve a tucked away sleeve that she slipped over her arm; another flick sent the grappling fabric upward and onward. It dug into the thick vine, pulling her up as well.

Rémington shook his head. "All that making fancy grappling hooks," he remarked, "when all you really need is the original thing."

He and Grany moved in synchrony to produce more traditional grappling hooks from beneath their capes. The hooks were twirled on the ends of their ropes, then thrown up to where the giant vine made a platform solid enough to stand on.

"Mind giving a girl a ride?" Gothel asked coyly before either brother could begin to climb.

"I'll need both hands," Rémington told her.

"I won't," Grany said in a tone that matched Gothel's in coy.

He wrapped one burly arm around her, using the other to pull the rope of his hook taut. Before he could begin to ascend – Rémington was already on his way up – Neo approached, giving Gothel a meaningful look.

"What?" Gothel asked. "He can't carry BOTH of us. That's just too bad for you."

Neo made a stabbing motion.

"Yes, yes, threaten me all you want," Gothel told her flippantly.

Neo shook her head, trying to make her stabbing look friendlier.

Gothel then realized what Neo wanted. "You want one of my knives?"

Neo held up two fingers.

"All right," Gothel said in confusion as she detached two knives from her belt and passed them to Neo. "I don't see what you intend to – "

Neo rushed the wall, plunging the knives into the cracks. Then, dislodging the right-hand knife, she moved it higher up the wall into a new fissure, where she stuck it securely before moving the left-hand knife, pulling herself up by her right hand. She had soon scaled the wall at a pace to match Rémington's.

"Well," Gothel remarked. "I suppose she could do that."

Grany set about climbing up the wall by alternating the grip of his free hand with the bite of his teeth on the rope. He was the last to reach the point of the vine; from there, the Smisses threw down their ropes to hook the handles of the box and draw it up. Then, where the six arranged, they used their respective methods to reach the next point up, pulling the box after the fact. In relatively little time, they stood atop the head of the statue. There, they were met with a curious sight: four airborne flowers, soft pink in color, extended vines that hooked to a solidly carved dome. This dome had apparently been a lid for the passage leading down into the statue, which was a straight drop into a room that was thankfully short in height.

"I'm not even going to ask about the flowers," Gothel resolved.

"Good," Scarlet replied, "because I'm pretty sure none of us has an answer about the flowers."

The shallow room led to a bridge, and this bridge brought the six and their captive to a ledge on the edge of a cavernous room that dropped straight down several stories' worth.

They didn't even need to discuss it. The Smisses chucked the box over the edge, and they turned their backs on it, not even bothering to watch it hit the bottom.

"Great job, Problem Squad #2," Scarlet congratulated. "Now to get back to the rendez-vous point."

Once she entered the shallow room, she passed through a wooden gate because it seemed to make sense to do so. She had vague memories of having gone through a gate in order to get that far from the other direction. The fact that the gate was erected in the back of the room and looked as though it led nowhere, simply emptying out on the other side of the room, didn't strike her visually.

As she walked through, she vanished. Wherever that gate led, it wasn't the other side of the room.

"Scarlet…?" Herb said worriedly, flinching from the sight of the gate. It looked extremely out of place; Darkness emanated from it and swirled about it. Herb shook his head; "She's not safe. I have to go after her!"

Without a further word, he ripped the lava gun from his back and charged into the gate.

It transported him to a pocket dimension of swirling color, as though interspace had converged into a tiny space no bigger than fifteen feet across in any direction. Masked demons crawled up from the ground; their bigger brothers, diaphanous-finned koi that flew through the air, divebombed their target.

And that target was making it very hard for a single demon to lay a hand – or a fin – on her. Scarlet punched, kicked, and twirled, sending all of her assailants flying. Upon noticing she wasn't alone, she yelled, "Herb! Help me out here!"

Herb pointed the gun and rained lava upon one of the koi; it was more resilient than your average human being would be if sprayed with hot lava, and while it sustained burn marks, it didn't go down right away. Instead, it charged right through the spray toward Herb; panicking, Herb smacked the flying fish with the gun's barrel. That was effective in getting it to back off at least temporarily.

That was long enough for Neo's blade to skewer it right through. She withdrew the sword, performed a backflip, and landed with her feet on the ground and sword neatly stabbed through the chest of another demon.

Grany's blade swished through the air, slicing the koi Herb had assaulted into neat halves. Rémington opened fire on the masked demons on the ground, driving them all back against what passed for a wall in this space outside space. As Neo kicked one of the demons she'd speared off to the side, not noticing it still wriggling, Gothel finished the job by burying a knife in its head.

The demons that lived beyond the gate were prepared for even fierce warriors. They swarmed up from beneath, ganging up on Scarlet, the first to enter their turf. Scarlet wasn't at all worried; she'd taken larger crowds of bigger and tougher foes. She knew that. Herb knew that.

But Rémington didn't know that, which was why he lobbed one of his guns at her. Scarlet deftly caught it; Rémington yelled, "Fuse with it!"

"You want me to do WHAT?" Scarlet yelled as she punched a demon right in its paper mask.

"It'll know what to do," Rémington assured her.

"I'm not an 'it,'" the gun grumbled. "I'm a 'he.'"

"Okay, then," Scarlet said, unsure. "Do your thing."

The gun absorbed into her skin. She grew taller, more muscular, purple-skinned. Fangs protruded from her mouth and a third eye blinked open on her forehead. Now even more powerful than before, Scarlet gave a proud roar before going on a rampage across the field, swiping at the demons with massive claws.

This was finally enough to turn the tide. The demons were sliced, diced, and skewered into the grave. Once the horde had been slain, the dimension dissipated, leaving them back in the room at the top of the head of the statue. The mysterious wooden gate, a trap set by the demons, was gone.

Scarlet figured it was time to let go of her newly acquired body, but the Shushu that had bonded with her had other ideas. Suddenly Scarlet was losing grip, feeling as though she were falling backward into oblivion in the center of her own body. The Shushu of the pistol was taking control, becoming the primary host of Scarlet's form.

"You did it, my queen!" Herb congratulated, rushing toward the thing that wasn't Scarlet anymore. "And may I say that is a very good look on y – "

The Shushu swept Herb's thin body into one claw, pinning him down on the ground while raising the opposite claw high above him.

"Scarlet?" Herb was now unsure of what was happening. "Honey? Sweetie? What are you – "

The claw was about to lower.

A gunshot rang out.

Rémington had fired upon the eye that marked Scarlet's forehead; once the ammo made contact, the Shushu was once more shaped like a gun, clattering across the floor to hit the wall.

Scarlet's body shrank down to its regular proportions; it took her a moment to get her bearings. When she realized the position she was in and what it meant she had been about to do to her husband, she scrambled up off him, flustered. "Oh my gosh," she babbled, "I am so, so, so sorry. I was NOT in control there – "

"It's fine," Herb said casually, getting up as he flashed a grin. "I kinda figured you were undergoing some demonic possession."

"What WAS that?" Scarlet rounded on Rémington.

"That was a Shushu," Rémington said calmly, retrieving his lost pistol. "They make good partners in battle, but they have a habit of wanting to take over whatever body they end up in. This one is a repeat offender. When you're dealing with Shushus, it's always good to have a backup plan in case you get taken over." He tapped the pistol hard on the barrel. "Hey! You shouldn't have done that!"

"You said it yourself," the pistol argued. "You knew what I would do."

"So you let me borrow a game-changing power from you," Scarlet reiterated, "and you made sure you were my backup plan in case I got possessed."

"Don't say it like I'm such a good person," Rémington huffed, holstering the pistol.

"You've really come a long way since you wanted to leave me and Herb under that metal box," Scarlet told him. "I finally feel like I really made the right choice adopting you as my brother."

"Don't read into it," Rémington told her. "I did what I had to do in the moment."

Neo quickly stepped before him to pantomime that after Herb, Rémington had been the first one to enter the gate, leading the charge to save Scarlet.

"You're ruining my reputation," Rémington said flatly.

"I think it's sweet!" Scarlet gushed.

"And think of it this way," Grany told his brother. "It's not like you saved a baby bird with a broken wing."

"I was a KID!" Herb groaned.

"Let's just get out of here," Gothel groaned. "This musty air is getting hard to breathe."

They lifted each other up to the ceiling, the Smisses the last to go with their grappling hooks. They knew they didn't have long to get out of dodge before word reached Amaterasu and her band of do-gooders about Chun.

Hopefully, by the time they got around to Tsuta Ruins, Problem Squad #3 would be in the throes of destruction.

...

The moment Hades had settled into the Radiant Garden castle, he had ordered some construction. Some of the cellar space he had declared useless was hollowed out, walls and floors blown out to create a wide, deep chamber that was only dimly lit by torches of blue flame. The room's walls sloped inward, and bleachers were set up on those slopes, which culminated at the bottom in a flat arena space.

It was no Underdrome, but it would do.

At the moment, Hades was solving a friendly bet with Dr. Facilier. Having seen what his various Heartless could do in the Fire Nation capital, Facilier had made the boast that merely one Guard Armor acting under his command was enough to take on Cerberus. Hades couldn't just leave that challenge uncontested (though he was more than aware that if Facilier had said a Kurt Zisa instead of a Guard Armor, he would have been setting himself up for failure). So god and Shadow Man sat beside each other on the bleachers, watching as Cerberus breathed dark smog into the ground to erupt beneath the Guard Armor's feet. One of its metal boots exploded from contact, but the Heartless responded by giving its gauntlets a spin that backed Cerberus all the way back up into the opposite wall of bleachers from where the spectators were sitting.

"Not bad, Shadow Man," Hades complimented. "That thing's giving Cerb a run for his drachmae. Course, this is where the kid gloves come off." He gave a sharp whistle.

Each of Cerberus' jaws snapped down over an appendage – both gauntlets and the remaining boot of the Guard Armor were held fast, ready to burst from the pressure.

"Game," Hades declared, "set – "

"Now hold on," Facilier said smugly. "This match ain't over yet." He stood up, crying out, "TOURNEZ!"

The Guard Armor's central body whirred into a high-speed spin.

"ALLEZ!" Facilier barked.

Leaving its limbs behind, the Heartless' body careened around the arena's perimeter, slamming into Cerberus from all directions. A blow to the left neck caused the jaws holding the boot to free up, and Cerberus was dealt a swift kick into the chin of the middle head –

Which just made those teeth clamp down harder, shattering the gauntlet they held.

The remaining gauntlet worked itself loose on its own, keeping fingers together and lashing out as though it were a blade. Cerberus belched fireballs at the rapidly moving pieces of the Heartless, but all were too quick to become targets.

"Smooth," Hades remarked. "I mean, I still have this in the bag, but your guy's putting up a good fight."

"If you wanna know the truth," Facilier said as he sat back down, propping up his feet on the bleacher in front of him, ankle crossed over ankle, "I just didn't think it'd be good etiquette to leave a mark on your dog. I can make a thousand more Guard Armor just like that. What I'm sayin' is I'm goin' easy on ya. And I'm still winnin'."

"Huh. Likely story."

"It's true."

The sounds of three approaching pairs of footsteps were barely audible over the sounds of the clashing giants. When Riku's voice asked "Who's winning?" from directly behind Hades and Facilier, it gave them both a start.

Then, after a beat, each replied, "I am."

"Suuuuuure," Mal said smugly, not making it clear who she was calling out as the liar.

"What, kids, you want somethin'?" Hades asked.

"Lady Maleficent directed us to check in with you for combat training," Lianna explained. "I can't imagine this diversion is more important."

Hades rolled his eyes at that. "She wants me to entertain the kids," he mumbled. "Fine. I'll entertain the kids. Not like I have an afterlife of my own, noooooo, it's all about her little protegés."

Facilier tapped his cane on the floor of the bleachers, and the Guard Armor disappeared in a rush of Darkness. Hades snapped his fingers, and Cerberus was engulfed in flames that swallowed him and removed him from view.

Hearing Mal gasp, Hades groaned, "Keep your peplos on, will ya? I just transported him back down to the Underworld. You think I'd flambé my own dog?"

"You wouldn't," Riku told him, "but from what I hear, Cruella wants to filet him."

"Oooooooof course she does," Hades groaned. "All right, so what kind of monsters are you kids lookin' for?"

"If I may intervene," Facilier broke in, "long as I'm here, I've got a few Heartless in the deck that could provide a challenge."

"All right," Riku said with a nod. "We'll take something strong."

"Please," Lianna added.

"Y'all get on down to the arena," Facilier bade them. "I got just the thing for ya."

Riku and Mal proceeded down into the very center of the arena; Lianna, not skilled in combat, hung back at the first row of bleachers. Riku's sword materialized as he stood with his back to Mal, who braced her fists, ready to cast magic at a moment's notice. They expected to be braced for anything.

Facilier almost laughed when the Dark Hide he summoned barged into existence, knocking them both down and proceeding to leap around the field at high speed, claws lashing out.

"That thing is FAST!" Mal cried.

"So we just have to be faster!" Riku leapt into the air, zooming after the Dark Hide.

Hades and Facilier watched the match with interest. Riku and Mal made an effective team; as Riku dove after the creature head-on, Mal hung back to fling magic at it. Whenever the Dark Hide got too close to Mal, Riku was there just in time to block its claws with his blade.

"Gotta say," Hades remarked, "if I didn't know it would make Malef blow a gasket, I wouldn't actually mind if the kid died here. Wouldn't that solve more of our problems than just making him our toy again?"

"If he catches on to what we're doin'," Facilier agreed, "that'll be our biggest problem."

"Of course, according to Malef, he ain't gonna," Hades sighed.

"Well, he did say he wanted a challenge," Facilier recalled. "He can't fault us for tippin' the scales in our favor, now, can he? After all, he asked for it."

The cane tapped the floor. An army of Neo-Shadows sprang up behind Mal and Riku as they faced off against the Dark Hide.

"BEHIND YOU!" Lianna cried in terror.

Hades was sorely tempted to reprimand her for assisting from the spectator's seat.

Riku and Mal turned just in time to see the Neo-Shadows descending upon them en masse – and they still had the Dark Hide to deal with. Mal threw out both hands toward the wave of Neo-Shadows, crying, "Twist of hand and twist of fate! Leave the ground and levitate!"

The Neo-Shadows were suddenly unaffected by gravity, floating freely through the air. Riku leapt, dashing to each one in turn and impaling it.

Mal whipped back toward the Dark Hide, which was now spinning in circles and swiping at everything it could reach. Her hands reached toward it. "Darkness powers just newfound," she declared, "chain this Heartless to the ground!"

The chains that dangled from the creature's ankles sank into the arena floor; the Dark Hide tugged at them and chewed on them in an attempt to break free. Mal, figuring her work was done for the time being, turned back to see Riku stab through the last of the Neo-Shadows, dissipating it before dropping to the ground.

"Mal!" Riku cried. "Look out!"

The Dark Hide had managed to sever one of its chains with its teeth, making a grab for Mal. Riku intercepted, slashing at the offending paw with his blade.

Mal watched him in awe, realizing how close she'd come to having been mutilated, before resuming her magical onslaught.

"Great," Hades grunted. "He's just as tough as I remember. Well, at least you gave it the old college try."

"Nothin' sayin' I couldn't try again," Facilier said smugly. "Just say the word."

"Nah," Hades dismissed. "Let the kid win this one and keep Malef off our backs. Appreciate the offer, though. That was a cutthroat move, by the way. I like it. Y'know, ya got style. Ya got pizazz. Ya got…" A sudden thought struck him. "Ya…got a first name?"
"It's Anton," Facilier replied.

"Anton," Hades repeated. "I like the sounds of that."

"It ain't the most unique name," Facilier said casually.

"Eh, it fits," Hades told him. "And it's not like you're not a unique guy. You're about the only mortal I actually don't regret pulling out of the pit."

"The fact that I don't regret you retrieving me should go without sayin'," Facilier replied coyly.

"You're a coldhearted guy who doesn't make for bad conversation," Hades told him.

"And you're refreshingly fiery," Facilier retorted. "Both literally and figuratively speaking."

"Why haven't you and I done a field mission yet?" Hades wondered out loud. "Couple of bros like us could have a Tartarus of a time." To emphasize the point, he reached across Facilier's shoulders, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close.

It was meant to be a casual gesture. However, the reply Facilier had loaded up to Hades' suggestion was stolen from his throat when his heart leapt up into it. Hades had a very solid arm, and his body was warm. Facilier found he had to force himself to get a grip. "I…suppose we've got one for the to-do list," he managed. Spending more time with Hades certainly wasn't a bad idea from where he stood.

"Whenever this whole Nightmare Garden schtick is over," Hades vowed, "you'n'me take whatever's next on the agenda." He could have let Facilier's shoulders go by then, and he was aware of that, but he didn't really want to.

"Is there even gonna be an agenda after this?" Facilier asked. "The way Maleficent tells it, there are only two outcomes. Either we get the Book of Prophecies, or we stay here and raise the boy for the forseeable future."

"First of all, I am NOT banking on being Uncle Hades for the next five years," Hades grunted. He then figured the physical contact had lasted long enough that it was getting a little awkward – or at least it was awkward by the platonic definition. Facilier was probably considering it awkward. So he snaked his arm away, keeping it back to himself. Facilier straightened up and tried to act as though he hadn't been flustered; Hades noticed his expression, and wondered if it meant what he thought it did. That, however, could wait. "We are going to have that book if I have to move Olympus and Earth to get ol' spiky-head to hand it over. Thing is, once we DO have the book, we can make our own paradise, win every fight, turn every story to end in our favor, and there's still gonna be stuff to do. Someone has to keep our territory in check. Make sure nobody's stepping out of line. And you know SOME do-gooder will find a loophole to get at us, book or no book. Trust me, Malef is gonna need all of us to stick around, and that gives you'n'me some opportunities for…call it quality bonding time."

"Till then, we still ain't settled the matter of Cerberus," Facilier reminded him.

"You don't get to go easy on me in the rematch, Anton," Hades replied.

The Dark Hide dissolved after one final blow from Riku. The boy addressed Mal; "That was some pretty strong magic."

"Yeah, well, I can't do what you can with a sword," Mal reminded him, "so I make up for it my own way."

"I wish I could do half the things you can do," Riku said with a smile.

"You can do basic magic," Mal reminded him.

"Yeah," Riku laughed. "Basics. I wanna know how you do levitation. Make things out of thin air."

Lianna approached them by that time. "Well, if you really want to master different sorts of magic," she reminded him, "there is a laboratory devoted to the practice here in the cellar. You could read about the fundamentals at least."

"Wanna make that our next stop?" Mal asked.

"Let's go," Riku affirmed.

As they ascended the bleachers, Riku told Lianna, "Thanks for warning us about those Neo-Shadows."

"I couldn't just stand by," Lianna replied.

"You had our backs," Riku told her. "Same to you, Mal."

"And you had mine," Mal told Riku sincerely. "You're a good partner in the field. Thanks."

"This is why the three of us make a good team," Riku asserted. "Especially when we get you-know-where."

"Yeah," Mal admitted, "it is."

"I agree," Lianna contributed.

By that time, they passed Hades and Facilier. "And thanks for not goin' easy on us!" Riku said cheerily to the pair.

Neither was amused, but they both put on stiff smiles.

After they were sure Riku, Mal, and Lianna had left the arena to go find the magic labs, Hades grumbled, "Heroes. Always the same story."

"I hear that," Facilier replied.

...

When the next group of travelers arrived at the gates to the Sasa Sanctuary, the guards weren't sure whether or not to let them in.

"There's just been a kidnapping!" the first guard insisted. "We're not going to let just any old person in!"

"We're not going to let in anyone at all until she's returned!" the second affirmed.

They were, of course, speaking to Sora, Ruby, Papyrus, Stork, Jasmine, Katara, Kazuichi, Rapunzel, Issun, and, most importantly, Amaterasu. The goddess gave a miffed bark.

"That's a fine welcome after you sent a messenger to ask us to help you!" Issun insisted, hopping up and down angrily.

"That…is Amaterasu, isn't it?" the second guard realized.

"Are you all with her?" the first asked.

"We sure are!" Ruby insisted.

"We're here to help you out!" Katara added.

Amaterasu gave a nod.

"Okay," the first guard relented, "we're going to let you in. Come straight up to the boss' room!"

Amaterasu barked in agreement as the gates were opened.

A wooden elevator took the group straight up to a long hallway; a massive sparrow, tall as Jasmine and several times as broad, sat at the end, with the guards, who had moved inside, now flanking him. One of his eyes was covered by a black patch.

"State your business!" the second guard huffed.

"Um…we kinda did," Sora reminded them all. "We're here to help rescue your daughter." He looked the large sparrow in the eye. "It is your daughter, isn't it?"

"This is boss Jamba!" the first guard confirmed. "Father of the missing girl!"

"What happened?" Katara asked. "Tell us any information that could be useful!"

Jamba just gave a low tweet.

"Oh no!" the first guard said worriedly. "The boss is…really worried!"

Jamba didn't look particularly worried from the outside, but his thoughts were far more stirred up with concern than his ever-stoic façade would have him look.

"It started when we let a group of travelers in," the second guard explained. "We thought we could trust them because one of them had helped one of us when they were both younger. But they turned out to be evil villains!"

"Mozenrath," Jasmine grumbled.

"Was any of them a skinny guy dressed in blue," Sora asked, "with black curly hair and a gauntlet on just one hand?"

"No," the first guard stated. "No one like that."

"They were still probably his friends," Jasmine insisted.

"Let's see," the second guard recounted. "There was the skinny woman in red with the tall black hair, the tall man in green, the big muscular guy who wore a bandanna and a cape, the little scrawny guy who wore the same stuff as him, the other woman in red who wore her hair down, and the short woman with hair in three different colors."

"Neo," Ruby growled.

"Bandanna?" Sora repeated. "Cape? That could be Rémington."

"And one of those women in red could have been Gothel," Rapunzel said fiercely.

"DEFINITELY A MOZENRATH-RELATED CRIME," Papyrus announced.

"They checked in," the first guard recalled, "then they hurried out. When we realized Chun was missing, we searched high and low, but she was nowhere to be found, and we realized they must have taken her!"

"There was also an ornamental chest missing from one of the guest rooms," the second added. "It was big enough that she could have been stuffed into it when they took her!"

"Didn't they leave any kind of clue about where they were going?" Katara asked.

"Why would they leave a clue?" Kazuichi asked. "They obviously didn't want us following them!"

"Actually," the second guard recalled, "they did mention several times that they were going to Tsuta Ruins. And when we were searching, we did find this in the last place we saw Chun." He presented the scroll that had been dropped as damning evidence.

Amaterasu unrolled it across the floor. "Hey, that's my work!" Issun cried, angered. "They used my work in their crime!"

The others all crowded around to get a good look at the parchment. "If you were wondering," Issun clarified, "this scroll is all about the adventure Ammy and I had in the Tsuta Ruins when we defeated the Spider Queen."

"Well, I think that settles it," Sora resolved. "They took Chun to the Tsuta Ruins."

"Correction," Stork broke in. "They want us to GO to the Tsuta Ruins. Which we absolutely will NOT do, since there is OBVIOUSLY a trap waiting for us there!"

"It's the only lead we have," Ruby insisted.

"I'm kind of with Stork here," Katara argued. "If they mentioned the place that many times…they knew we'd be here. And if they want us to go somewhere…"

"Well, where else are we going to look?" Ruby insisted. "We can't just magically find them! What could they have waiting for us that we can't handle, anyway? We've beaten them all those other times! We have to go. If it is a trap, that's a risk we have to take. But if Chun really is there, we can't leave her."

"Okay," Katara relented. "We'll go to the ruins."

"Don't worry!" Sora told Jamba. "We'll have your daughter back in a jiffy!"

Jamba gave another deep-voiced tweet.

"Oh, no!" the second guard cried. "The boss is…relieved!"

As the group filed out, Stork stayed put planted in the middle of the hall. "This is NOT GOING TO END WELL FOR US!" he called after his friends. "If we go to those ruins, we're just going to DIE!"

Amaterasu doubled back in order to nip Stork's shirt and drag him along against his will.

...

At the gates of the Tsuta Ruins, Ruby announced, "We need a game plan. This place looks big. Once we get in, we should split up and – "

"We are NOT splitting up!" Katara interrupted. "If this is a trap, we have to stick together! We can't be taken alone! None of us could handle fighting off whoever's waiting!"

"Yes, we can," Ruby insisted. "We'll figure out what's going on a lot more quickly if we just – "

"You really think YOU can fight off however many of Mozenrath's henchpeople are waiting?" Katara cried. "There's no way! If you go in there alone – "

"YOU KNOW WHAT?" Ruby shrieked. "I'M DONE WITH YOU TELLING ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T DO! DON'T LET RUBY HEAR SWEAR WORDS! DON'T LET RUBY EAT TOO MUCH SUGAR! YOU CAN'T TAKE ALL THOSE BAD GUYS ON YOUR OWN, RUBY!"

"I'M JUST TRYING TO LOOK OUT FOR YOU!" Katara yelled back.

"YOU!" Ruby screamed. "ARE! NOT! MY! MOTHER!"

There was a sudden click. As Ruby and Katara had argued, Amaterasu had taken the opportunity to draw a pair of handcuffs chaining Katara's right wrist to Ruby's left.

"WHAT?" Ruby cried as Amaterasu sat back, looking quite smug.

"Amaterasu," Katara growled, "this isn't funny."

Amaterasu knew full well what she had done, and she was enjoying every minute of it.

"I think I know what Amaterasu is up to," Rapunzel realized. "It might be time for just you two to go into those ruins."

"We'll wait out here," Kazuichi added.

"What are you talking about?" Katara said fiercely. "If this is a trap and we don't all go in together – "

"Amaterasu knows what she's doing," Jasmine told them. "I think this is an opportunity for you two to learn something."

"Wait," Ruby realized. "Did something happen with you three in the Gale Shrine?"

"You could say that," Kazuichi admitted.

"Anyway," Sora assured them, "if you're in there too long, the rest of us will come in and save you."

"I, for one, will take the opportunity to not have to go into the creepy ruins," Stork stated. Then, "Though, on second thought, it does look like it has a nice aesthetic."

"NOW GO IN THERE, RESCUE CHUN, AND LEARN TO GET ALONG!" Papyrus commanded. "I'M SURE THIS MISSION IS JUST WHAT YOU TWO WILL NEED TO BECOME EVEN BETTER FRIENDS THAN BEFORE!"

"Amaterasu," Katara asked, "are you serious – "

Amaterasu was already dragging Katara by the sleeve and Ruby along with her.

"Looks like she just wants you two," Issun observed.

"Fine," Katara sighed. "Let's go."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Ruby snapped. "We go in when I say we go in!" After a pause: "Let's go."

Together, Amaterasu (with Issun on her head), Katara, and Ruby entered the cavernous foyer of the Tsuta Ruins. "So…you know where we're going?" Ruby asked, taking a look at all the doors that branched away.

Amaterasu already had a pretty good guess. If you wanted to hide someone in the Tsuta Ruins, you went for the heart. So she headed for the statue across the water, drawing a lily pad that was big enough for her, Katara, and Ruby to ride and steering it with a gust of wind from the brush.

They walked through the entrance at the statue's base into a small room where great pink flowers bloomed in midair. Before either Ruby or Katara could ask what those plants were and inquire as to their significance, masked demons appeared, on the warpath.

Amaterasu sprang into action, smacking them away with the disc she carried on her back. Ruby scrambled for Crescent Rose, only to find that having only one hand hindered her from getting her weapon's case open. "I can't - !"

"I got it!" Katara cried, using only her left hand to whip the water she carried through the air, dealing stinging slaps to the demons until they were forced to retreat.

"Great," Ruby grumbled once the demons were gone. "Katara saves the day. I'm definitely not going to be hearing the end of this."

Amaterasu took a seat. They couldn't progress any further without her, and she was sure the time was ripe for this issue to be worked out.

"What is so wrong with me trying to look out for you?" Katara asked.

"Why do you keep treating me like I can't take care of myself?" Ruby retorted. "Why do you keep treating me like a kid? You do this to everyone, but especially to me! And I'm sick of it! It's like you don't think I can do anything!"

"That's not true!" Katara argued. "I think you can do a lot!"

"You don't think I can take care of myself."

"Ruby, you know – "

"What I know is that you keep trying to do it for me!" Ruby snapped.

Katara sighed. "Ruby…when I lost my mom, I had to grow up fast. Taking care of myself and Sokka was something I just got used to because I had to figure it out. My dad wasn't in the picture, so I just…stepped up. And when Aang and Toph and Zuko and Suki all joined up with us, we were just a bunch of kids on our own, so I had to keep it up. It's not an easy habit to break. I love them, so I want them to be safe. And now that I'm part of the Cinnamons, I love all of you. I really do. So I get worried when I think you're in danger. And…okay, I get caught up in worrying about little things that don't matter, too. Like swear words and desserts. I'm just so used to keeping track of everyone's well-being that it slips out."

"Why is it always me more than anyone else?" Ruby asked.

"Well, you are the youngest person on the team besides me," Katara reminded her. "And don't take this the wrong way, but you kind of have this…this way of doing things that a lot of people think they've outgrown."

"So you're saying I act like a kid," Ruby groaned.

"Sort of," Katara told her. "But the thing is, most grown-ups don't have the same faith that things will work out that you do. And they don't see the fun in things that you do. I think you're really special, Ruby. If you think I'm being too hard on you…then maybe I have to back off."

Ruby suddenly felt a twist in the pit of her stomach. "Maybe I'm the one being too hard on you," she admitted. "I know what it's like to lose a mom, but I don't know what it's like to have to raise yourself and your sibling. My dad and Uncle Qrow always stepped in for me and Yang. I wouldn't be where I am today without both of them. But you didn't have anyone like that growing up, and you still ended up being you. And you're awesome and headstrong and really good in a fight. When you explained it…I got it. Why you try to act like that around us. If I start being a brat about it, can you let me know?"

"You be less of a brat," Katara resolved, "and I'll be less of a parent."

"Deal," Ruby agreed. "And, Katara? …Thanks for saving me just now. It is pretty good to have you looking out for me."

"I'll always protect you," Katara promised.

"Though I could have gotten my weapon out," Ruby growled, "if SOMEONE HADN'T CHAINED UP ONE OF MY HANDS!" This was said with a pointed glare toward Amaterasu.

Amaterasu just gave Ruby a look that clearly said the handcuffs had achieved what they were meant to do.

"We worked it out," Ruby reminded Amaterasu. "You can take them off anytime."

There was still one more thing Amaterasu wanted to see. So she turned her back, letting Ruby and Katara know she refused to break the chain.

"WHAT?" Ruby cried.

"But we worked it out!" Katara insisted.

Amaterasu simply drew a line of ink from one of the flowers to herself; it transformed into a vine that wrapped around her and whipped her up to stand atop the bloom. She then drew a line down to wrap around Katara and Ruby's waists, roping them up to the flower as well.

"Looks like Ammy isn't done with you two," Issun observed.

"What else does she want from us?" Katara asked.

"I dunno!" Issun replied. "What's the deal, furball?"

Amaterasu continued to draw vines to bring them up the flowers, offering no explanation. An exit led them toward the thick vine that wrapped around the statue's exterior; more flowers hovered, allowing Amaterasu to rope them all the way up to the top, where the quadruple blooms held the lid off the statue's head. From there, they dropped down in, entering the shallow room and proceeding onto the bridge.

Halfway across the bridge, Ruby sensed a sinister presence. Without thinking, she spun around – pulling Katara off balance – and spotted a demon creeping up behind her. There was no time to go for her weapon, and she still only had the use of one hand. Only one option came to mind for Ruby.

She headbutted the demon hard in the chest. It stumbled, flipped over the rope handle of the bridge, and toppled.

"You're welcome," Ruby said smugly.

"You really can take care of yourself," Katara realized. Ruby read from her tone that there had still been doubt.

"I was admitted to Beacon two years early for a reason, you know!" Ruby asserted.

Katara smiled. "Thank you for saving me. I guess that was payback for earlier. I really should know better than to underestimate you – "

There was the sound of a dual slash, then a clink. Amaterasu had severed both cuffs, which dropped to the bridge.

"I guess that settles that!" Katara declared.

"I'm glad we had this talk," Ruby said with a smile.

They came to the drop-off, where the trunk was visible far below. "You think that's her?" Katara asked.

"How are we supposed to get down there?" Ruby complained.

Amaterasu jerked her head in the direction of her back.

Understanding, Ruby settled herself astride Amaterasu. An ordinary wolf of the same proportions probably wouldn't have been able to handle her weight, let alone Katara's on top of that, but Amaterasu was built sturdily. Katara joined in behind Ruby, and Amaterasu made a great leap. She landed softly on the ground with minimal shock.

Ruby and Katara rushed to the trunk. Katara tried the lid before declaring, "It's locked."

"Hang on." Ruby retrieved and unfolded Crescent Rose.

Katara thought about cautioning her to be careful, but then thought better of it. Ruby knew what she was doing.

Ruby very gently worked the tip of the scythe between the box's lid and its base. It popped open, and Chun rolled out unharmed. "Thank you, thank you!" the small sparrow cried, hopping to her feet. "It was ever so uncomfortable in there! I am very sick of being stuffed into boxes and kidnapped!"

"You're Chun, right?" Katara asked.

"I am!" Chun confirmed.

"Your dad's really worried about you," Ruby told her.

"Come on," Katara encouraged. "Let's get you home."

...

"And as it turned out," Ruby explained to Jamba back in the Sasa Sanctuary, "it wasn't a trap."

"Which to me says it was only the setup for a trap," Stork commented. "Sort of a double trap, if you will."

"I'm just so glad to be home!" Chun chirped. "I will be so much more careful around strangers!"

Jamba gave a low tweet.

"Oh, no!" the first guard wailed. "The boss is…delighted!"

"We give you our praise, Amaterasu!" the second guard insisted. "How can we ever repay you for saving Chun?"

Amaterasu barked, giving off the vibe that praise would be enough.

"That's not enough!" the first guard stated. "I know! You're welcome to stay and use our hot spring – "

"She already was, all the time," the second reminded him. "Well, your friends can too, anyway."

"Hot springs?" Kazuichi repeated. "Sweet!"

"Count me in!" Sora added.

"You don't even have bathing suits here," Katara reminded them.

"Oh, yeahhhh," Kazuichi realized.

Sora just shrugged. "I dunno. Wet clothes never bothered me."

That was how the Cinnamons ended up arrayed around the hot spring while Amaterasu and a fully-clothed Sora soaked. Katara really wanted to say something about how Sora's drenched clothing would bring him regret later, but figured this was another matter that wasn't worth bothering about.

"There seems to be some sort of meeting around the hot spring," a voice commented.

All turned to see an elderly man enter the courtyard; a sling on his back held several rods of bamboo. Amaterasu recognized him as Mr. Bamboo, an artisan whose on-the-nose name accurately described his talent for making bamboo crafts. He gathered his raw materials at the Sasa Sanctuary grove, where the bamboo was strong and fresh.

"Just takin' a load off," Sora explained.

Mr. Bamboo gave him an odd look. "In your clothes?"

"It doesn't bother me!" Sora insisted. "And man, does this feel good!"

Amaterasu barked.

Mr. Bamboo gave a start. "Amaterasu!" he cried. "Am I ever glad to see you! There is a terrible disaster taking place at the Ryoshima Coast! No one knows who to call! The waiting list to see the Emperor was far too long when last I was in Sei'an City!"

"And here it is," Stork announced. "The punchline where we figure out it was a double trap."

Amaterasu simply tilted her head, beckoning Mr. Bamboo to say more.

"A ship is firing randomly upon the coast," Mr. Bamboo announced. "No one knows where it came from, but it seems to be focused only on destruction!"

...

Luna was no stranger to nightmares. The further she led her team – consisting of Cadance, Ren, Xander, Vida, Madison, Moana, Merlin, Leon, and Aerith – into the city's heart, the more she saw of the effects of Maleficent's curse: broken buildings, crevasses in the ground that opened upon rivers of paint thinner, shadows that seemed to move of their own accord. None of it truly surprised her. It was a dismaying sight to be sure, but after hearing that nightmares had been brought into reality, she had known what to expect.

She also knew it could and would get worse.

A market street was lined with grocery shops open to the air, their wares shielded by awnings. "Fresh produce," a vendor said in a lackluster tone. "Get your fresh produce here."

Out of curiosity, Moana approached the stand, looking over the fruits and vegetables. They were riddled with stark black veins indicating disease. When her eyes passed over a display of halved coconuts, she announced, "I think I found my part of the nightmare." It was exactly like the Darkness that had spread to her island with the rise of Te Ka.

The vendor met her eyes. "I've seen you before," she said. "You live in the castle."

"Yes!" Moana confirmed. Then: "Well, no. I did. But we kind of got kicked out of the castle – "

"You let me in," the vendor said, tears welling in her eyes. "My home was destroyed, and you let me stay in the castle. Why did I wake up in the rubble that was my house? Why did you throw me out?"

"We didn't," Moana tried to explain. "We woke up far from home too. Maleficent – "

"You were supposed to PROTECT us from Maleficent!" the vendor cried, and several other townspeople in the vicinity took notice.

Leon sensed trouble coming. He hovered over Moana's shoulder, bidding her, "Let's go."

"You!" someone cried. "You're part of the Restoration Committee! Why did you do this?"

"How could you let this happen?" someone else chimed in.

The voices added up:

"You were supposed to protect us!"

"Help me!"

"What did you do?"

"What's happening?"

"Why? WHY?"

"It wasn't our fault!" Moana said desperately as she was led away. "The same spell affected us too!"

But the people didn't accept that answer; they kept on asking why, why, why. Luna picked up her pace, leading the group at a quick trot out of the merchants' lane and down a side street that was quieter.

"I can't blame them," Moana said once all were safely around the corner.

"Neither can I," Vida added. "Who would've thought one fairy could do all this?"

"And right after we promised them help," Ren sighed.

"The only thing we can do now is press on forward," Merlin insisted, "and oust Maleficent so we can begin to put things right once more."

A sudden flicker caught Luna's eye. For the first time since the nightmare had come to life, true horror coursed through her. How could she have been so foolish as to forget? If everyone else's nightmares were brought to life…

"We must move," she said sternly. Perhaps she had simply misinterpreted what she had seen. It could have been a mere trick of the light. With everything in monochrome, it was hard to tell.

"Luna?" Cadance asked. "Is something wrong?"

"It is nothing you need concern yourself with," Luna said firmly, knowing full well that if it was what she thought it was, it was very much everyone's concern, and that was why she wanted to get them out of its way as quickly as she could.

She was too late. A block ahead of her, a house completely transformed. Its windows became blinking eyes, its door a mouth filled with jagged teeth; awkward limbs forced themselves out of the space between the foundation and the ground, hoisting the house up to begin carrying it down the street to attack the group. What few civilians were out on the street hurried for cover within their own homes. A long tongue lapped out of the door-mouth and salivated onto the street as the predatory building grew closer. From the uppermost window-eye, Luna saw the amorphous dark shape, which would have been the same deep blue as her mane, seep free of the infection it had caused.

"I didn't expect a giant evil house to try and eat us!" Xander cried as he withdrew his axe.

"Not on my watch!" Merlin insisted, drawing back his wand. "You there! SETTLE DOWN!" He flung a spell at the house.

Mere feet away from its quarry, the house planted itself in the middle of the street, overcome with fatigue. Its windowsills drooped, and its tongue lolled out onto the street, the tip brushing Madison's foot.

"Eugh!" Madison stepped back.

"Be careful," Luna warned. "It will seek another object to turn."

"WHAT will?" Moana yelled in concern.

That was when the wooden cart came barreling down the street from behind, spindly arms branching from the planks and picking diseased apples from its stash to hurl at the group.

Leon and Vida sprang into action, their blades batting the apples aside. Merlin flung another spell at the cart, and its wheels popped off, leaving it to crash in the midst of the street.

"Quickly!" Luna urged, seeking another exit and spotting a narrow alley. "We must run!"

"What's going ON, Luna?" Cadance asked.

"It is worse than I feared," Luna confessed. "A monster of my own invention. The Tantabus." She was already charging down the alley.

The others followed hastily. "What's a Tantabus?" Ren asked.

"The Tantabus is a creature I created to infect my dreams every night," Luna explained. "It gives me the same nightmare time and time again. I should have realized when Maleficent spoke of nightmares becoming reality that it would be let loose upon the waking world! It will continue to twist this world until it is stopped! And the only way it can be stopped is to reverse the curse!"

"Can't we fight it?" Vida asked.

The alley emptied out onto a wider street. "I would not advise trying," Luna warned. "The Tantabus is strong. It will resist your efforts."

As if to prove her point, another house was barging down the street to gobble them up.

"That's enough of you!" Merlin shot another spell at the house. "Now that I know what you are, come out and face us!"

This house also fell asleep in its tracks, grinding hard against the cobblestone; the dark smog shot from its chimney, riding a trail of sparks. Now truly angered, the Tantabus planted itself in front of its challengers.

"That thing doesn't look so tough," Vida remarked.

In response, the Tantabus quivered, then began to grow in size.

"You don't think it wants to talk things out?" Xander suggested.

Tendrils erupted from the Tantabus, reaching for each of the group. Leon, Vida, Xander, and Madison's blades flew, slicing the tendrils. Though they knew nothing of the Slumbergath, their attacks had the same effect that their companions' had on that beast; the smoke was simply cut through before rejoining its host. When the Tantabus tired of trying to grab its prey, it attempted a new tactic: shooting dark spears with pointed tips.

Aerith and Cadance collaborated on a deflection shield that surrounded the entire group; the spears bounced off.

"We're safe!" Moana sighed.

"But now we can't move forward or get away," Ren observed.

"It is worse than that," Cadance informed them. "This…Tantabus is strong. I can already feel it – "

A hairline crack forged across the deflection shield.

"We cannot hold it up forever," Aerith added.

"Then we need a plan," Moana insisted. "Some way to attack it once we get out of here."

"Or get away," Madison suggested.

"We can't just run away from it!" Moana insisted. "It will just follow us and attack us again! This is our problem, and we can't run away from our problem!"

"Luna," Cadance asked, "what did you mean when you said you created the Tantabus to give you the same nightmare? Why would you do that?"

"To punish myself," Luna answered.

"For WHAT?" Vida yelled.

"For Nightmare Moon!" Luna shot back.

The Tantabus decided it had grown tired of its projectile attack and took on a new form. Inspired by Luna, it morphed into the silhouette of an enormous alicorn. The front hoof stomped upon the shield, cracking it further.

"Explain this at once!" Merlin demanded.

"Every night, the Tantabus gives me a nightmare of becoming Nightmare Moon once more!" Luna cried. "It is a reminder of all I have done, and the only way I can atone!"

"For that, you created a monster capable of doing this much harm?" Merlin was dumbfounded.

"As Nightmare Moon, I attempted to kill my sister!" Luna reminded him. "My eternal night was to destroy Equestria as a world! My sins could not be forgiven! And now it seems even after all this time, I am no better! Now my nightmare threatens to destroy Radiant Garden!"

The hoof stomped down again; the shield was now cracked to the point that no one could see clearly out of it.

"I am sorry," Luna said mournfully, hanging her head. "We are to meet our end at my own hooves."

"Not as long as we can still fight." Ren took a battle stance with Stormflower I hand.

"Wait," Moana said. "If the Tantabus is your monster, can you control it?"

"Not truly," Luna told her. "I built it to feed upon my guilt."

"Then stop feeling guilty!" Xander urged.

"I cannot," Luna told him. "Not when it still causes this destruction."

"But you've changed!" Moana insisted. "You aren't Nightmare Moon anymore! Look at all the good you've done! This nightmare is an accident!"

Another stomp rattled the shields.

"You helped save me from that evil witch!" Moana reminded Luna.

"And you stayed to help Radiant Garden in the first place!" Madison added.

"You only even came here to protect your homeworld," Leon recalled. "And you made sure the Crystal Empire was safe before joining us full-time."

"NONE of that is evil!" Moana insisted. "YOU'RE not evil! Whatever you did back then, you more than made up for it!"

"It doesn't matter how much you punish yourself for what you've done," Merlin told her. "What matters is that you've learned from it, and that, you certainly have done!"

"You're a good person, Luna," Xander said with a nod. "Well, good pony. You know what I mean."

"I cannot trust myself," Luna admitted as the shield took its second to last beating.

"Then trust us," Cadance begged. "You're my family and my friend, Luna, and I know who and what you are. You aren't Nightmare Moon anymore. You would never become Nightmare Moon again. I trust you. If you can't trust yourself, then what about us? Trust us to believe in you! Because we know – "

The shield shattered. Everyone dove aside to avoid being crushed by the hoof.

"LUNA!" Moana screamed, having rolled to the opposite direction from the one she addressed. "WE BELIEVE IN YOU!"

Luna planted her feet firmly on the cobblestone, looking up at the Tantabus. Sensing a sudden change in the atmosphere, the Tantabus turned its massive head to look down upon her with an eyeless face.

They were all correct, Luna realized. She truly had changed. She would never become Nightmare Moon again, and she didn't need a nightmare to remind her not to. Staring the Tantabus down, she filled her mind not with thoughts of her transgressions, but of her good deeds, and most importantly, of the faces of those who believed in her.

Before everyone's eyes, the Tantabus began to shrink.

"That's the way!" Merlin cried encouragingly.

When the Tantabus had reached the exact size and shape of Luna herself, it stood before her like a reflection, pausing a moment.

"I believe in them," Luna told the Tantabus. "And they believe in me. I no longer need you."

The Tantabus walked forward until it merged with Luna, disappearing into her. She felt its energy dissipate within her soul.

"It is over," she sighed.

Leon walked to her, giving her a nod. "We all have dark chapters in our lives that we wish we could erase," he told her.

"Not me," Xander said cheekily. "No sins here."

"Those of us who don't have regrets," Leon said ominously, "will have them one day."

"That's a cheery thought," Vida said sarcastically.

"I'm just glad we got out of this okay," Ren commented. "You are okay, aren't you, Luna?"

"I believe so," Luna replied. "Thank you. You have all allowed me to see."

"That's what friends are for," Madison said with a smile.

"And what family's for," Cadance added. "Luna, if I'd known you were going through this, I would have tried to help you a long time ago – "

"If I am not to dwell on my regrets," Luna told her, "you are not to dwell on yours." She held her head high. "Now come. Let us proceed to the castle. And be on your guard. The Tantabus was the mark of my nightmare, but there is no telling what may be loose within the city as a result of the dreams of others."

...

Deep brown clouds swirled around Oni Island, clinging to it in a spherical pattern. This, it soon became apparent, was no ordinary weather formation.

"Did I mention?" Yzma said rather sheepishly. "There's a barrier around Oni Island that can only be broken by a water dragon."

"So we came ALL THIS WAY," Mozenrath seethed, "and we might not even be able to set foot on the island?"

"Not necessarily," Wuya said, standing in the center of the boat. "Maybe it's only been tested with a water dragon. But let's see how that barrier holds up to a Heylin Dragon."

She spun gracefully, letting out a surging beam of green upon her return to position. Mozenrath, Mim, and Aghoul stood up as well, challenging the boat's stability, and added their own beams of magic. The energy pierced through Oni Island's barrier, leaving a crudely formed opening with jagged edges that crackled with lightning, more than big enough for the boat to slip through.

"I knew there was nothing to worry about," Yzma remarked.

The small boat docked on the shore; the eight found themselves standing at one edge of a spacious lava pit that stood between them and an enormous wooden palace.

"So they think they can keep us out right off the bat," Mozenrath observed. "The more they try to stop us, the more fun it will be to cut right through their defenses."

He snapped his fingers; a glowing blue bridge connected one end of the pit to the other.

When the eight strolled into the foyer of the palace, there was only one living being in sight. A heavyset imp, masked like most of the demons in this world, had set up a wooden cart off to the side of the room. "Humans!" he cried upon spotting the WHAM ARMY. "How did you get in here?"

"I don't think how we got in here is your problem right now," Mozenrath told him. "Your problem is that we ARE here."

"I'm not just going to stand by and let you walk in!" the imp proclaimed. "I must keep you away from the rest of the island and prove my honor in battle! A fight to end all fights!"

Mozenrath's fist lit up blue. "Go ahead," he challenged. "Try it."

"And it will be conducted in the field of barter!" the imp went on.

Mozenrath's face adopted an expression of confusion. "Come again?"

The cart was wheeled out front. "You'll never be able to talk me down from my high prices!" the imp proclaimed.

"So you're a glorified merchant," Mozenrath realized. "No…not even glorified." His eyes swept over the contents of the cart, seeking out colored liquids in bottles and slips of paper with incantations emblazoned upon them. "Though you do have an enticing enough array of magic…"

"We're not here to shop!" Aghoul barked.

"There is one item that catches my interest," Mozenrath stated.

"What is it?" the imp asked in a challenging manner. "You'll have to drive a hard bargain for it, whatever it is!"

"The Fox Rods," Mozenrath answered, smirking broadly.

"Those," the imp replied, now looking rather nervous if his body language was any indication. "You weren't even supposed to know those were here."

"You just confirmed they are," Mozenrath informed the imp.

"I wasn't supposed to say that!" the imp cried. "Well, it's too late. Now you know. But I'm not selling them in my cart! If you want them, you'll have to win them!"

"Win them?" Mozenrath repeated, raising a brow.

"In the Labyrinth of Torment," the imp explained. "That was how it used to work. Challengers would come here looking to get to the top of the island – not that that's where the Fox Rods are! – and they would have to race our very own Tobi through several courses in the Labyrinth. Though Tobi died after he lost the last race to Amaterasu, and I don't exactly know how the new guy handles it down there…but it doesn't matter, because the Labyrinth of Torment is locked!" He gestured to a nearby door sealed with iron bars.

Perhaps it wasn't fair to say the imp was the only living being aside from the WHAM ARMY in the foyer, because the enormous red padlock holding the bars together was certainly lively. Instead of a keyhole, it featured a single eye and a mouth with a lolling tongue. It twitched to and fro frantically.

"I see," the Huntsman muttered.

"So you'd better turn around and go back where you came from!" the imp declared. "Unless, of course, you do want to make a purchase first – "

The Huntsman lifted his staff, pointing its business end directly at the demon padlock. A blast from the staff's end connected with the lock's eye; the lock went still, then fell to the floor as the bars retracted, leaving an open door.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?" the imp cried.

"This weapon was created to stand up to your kind," the Huntsman explained. "Everything here is all too familiar."

Wuya agreed that things here looked familiar, though not for the same reason as the Huntsman. Her attention was caught by the larger gate down in the middle of the foyer. A pedestal was erected before it, featuring a keyhole in its base and a fluted glass globe atop it. If she didn't know better – and due to the technological level of advancement on this world, she did in fact know better – she would think that globe was a lightbulb.

"Well, then, enter the Labyrinth of Torment if you dare," the imp bade them. "But have fun!" He gave them a wave.

Mozenrath rolled his eyes. "Let's go," he commanded, leading the other seven through the door, down several flights of stairs, and through winding wooden hallways.

The first sight that caught his eye was a wooden sign erected at the edge of the hallway's end. He stepped up to it, looking it over.

The jostling of the others behind him didn't alert him at first; what got his attention was when Roman said, "Um, Righty? No offense, but you're not made of glass."

"Meaning none of us can read that sign," the Huntsman clarified.

Mozenrath realized he would have to read it out loud to get the message across. "To the Labyrinth of Torment," he announced. "Before playing in the Labyrinth of Torment, note the following: 1. Step on the foot switch and the Demon Slip will start moving. Get through the exit gate first, or you'll be sealed in. 2…" The original text for "2" had been scratched out violently. Instead, Mozenrath read off the replacement scrawl that had been carved in above: "2. That, however, does not matter to you, since racing is currently and permanently forbidden, and you will not be allowed in the Labyrinth of Torment." From there, the sign's original text was preserved: "3. The Labyrinth of Torment is for the enjoyment of everyone on Oni Island, so don't make a mess of it while playing."

"Demon Slip?" Yzma wondered out loud. "What's a Demon Slip?"

"AH-HEM."

The noise caught their attention. A slip of paper painted with bright red markings that represented spells was hovering in midair above a tile in the ground that was raised – obviously the foot switch. "I am the Demon Slip," a voice said, emanating directly from the paper itself.

"I could have told you that," Mim huffed. "This isn't the first Demon Slip I've seen."

Nor was it the first Demon Slip the Huntsman had seen. His hand immediately went to a pocket in his tunic where he kept several rolled-up slips of his own. Having looked over the imp merchant's cart, he was sure the same sort of slip had been among his wares. These papers were covered in exorcisms meant to repel demons of this ilk, though their efficacy was variable depending on the power of the demon. He always carried a few on his person just in case.

"So now we're fighting paper," Roman groaned. "At some point, you have to wonder if the monsters are even trying anymore."

Aghoul's scythe blinked into his hand. "If this paper is going to stand in our way," he declared, "then it's in for a shredding!"

"Go ahead and try," the Demon Slip challenged.

Aghoul didn't understand the reason for the slip's confidence until his scythe blade clinked uselessly against the paper's edge as though it were steel and not paper.

"I cannot be killed so easily," the Demon Slip explained. "My name is Jiro, and I am the new keeper of the Labyrinth of Torment. I've made some new rules since the last keeper failed to do his duty."

"All right, I'll bite," Mozenrath sighed. "What happened to the last guy?"

"Tobi was weak," Jiro explained. "He always sought a friendly challenge. He set up fair races for challengers to beat him. If one track was cleared, he would progress to the next, with no failsafe. The goddess Amaterasu beat him on every single track, which allowed her to get close to our lord Ninetails and slay Ninetails in combat. Tobi perished for failing to keep her at bay. I am not so soft as to make his mistake. I do not run races. I have closed the Labyrinth of Torment, and I refuse to let any challengers enter. It does not matter how many death traps there are between here and the top of the island. If there is the slightest chance you can outwit them, I will not entertain it. Now turn around and go back where you came from."

"Ah, I see," Snatcher spoke up. "So you're a coward, then."

The others all knew exactly what was happening, and they parted to give Snatcher a berth on his way to the front of the crowd.

"Coward?" Jiro said in disgust. "I am no coward! I am dutiful!"

"Dutiful indeed," Snatcher agreed, "but sadly lacking in power."

"I am not lacking in power!" Jiro argued.

"And yet you consider eight mere humans to be a threat," Snatcher told him. "Really the only reason to close down the entire operation. You're quite convinced we'll be able to replicate the results of a goddess, which speaks volumes about your own skill and the difficulty of your Labyrinth."

"You wouldn't last two minutes in there," Jiro seethed.

"I suppose we'll never know," Snatcher said with a shrug. "After all, you won't even let us have a go. That suits us just fine. After all, we truly weren't in the mood to deal with death traps. Better we try and find a better way around to the top than risk getting horribly mutilated and bleeding out to death. Which I'm sure isn't what you wanted anyway. Our deaths would be terribly cheap entertainment."

"I would love nothing more than to see you all die," Jiro corrected. "Watching people meet terrible ends is the greatest form of entertainment."

Snatcher knew if paper could sweat, he would have incited exactly that. "You've made up your mind," he declared, "and we've made ours. Good luck explaining to your superiors when we reach the summit that you didn't even attempt to stop us with the traditional method – "

"Curse you!" Jiro cried. "That does it! I'll open up the Labyrinth of Torment to you, but on two conditions!"

"We're listening," Snatcher replied.

"It will be one race," Jiro explained. "Every track in succession, to the very top of the island. Winner take all."

"Including the Fox Rods?" Snatcher suggested.

"Should you survive," Jiro told him. "Which you will not."

"Your first term is acceptable," Mozenrath stated. He was sure that Mim or Wuya would easily be able to clear the course all on their own. All he had to do was arrange them to race against this obstinate paper.

"Second," Jiro went on, "you will ALL have to beat me to win. If any less than the eight of you make it to the summit, you will be executed on the spot."

"Deal," Mozenrath said without thinking.

"Lord Mozenrath," Snatcher said worriedly, "you might wish to rethink that." His lifetime of dancing had given him agility people wouldn't expect of him, but speed was not an attribute he could pride himself upon. That was considering a race that wasn't riddled with death traps.

"Too late," Jiro said. "The deal is struck."

Mozenrath regretted nothing.

"Set foot on the switch," Jiro beckoned, "and we will begin."

"Mozenrath," the Huntsman said softly, "was this really a good idea – "

"We'll make it," Mozenrath insisted.

The Huntsman nodded. All he could do now was trust…and give a hand where it was needed. After all, Jiro hadn't said a word about what was considered cheating, and his hand was still clutching an exorcism slip.

"Whenever you're ready," Jiro beckoned.

"So, what," Wuya began, "are we going to go on three or – "

Mozenrath's foot stamped the switch hard.

The Huntsman flung the exorcism slip at Jiro, who had begun to float. Once the two papers connected, Jiro was frozen in place by a red aura. "What is this?" he exclaimed. "Why can't I move!"

"It won't hold him for long," the Huntsman barked. "GO!"

The eight barreled down the hall, reaching a room where the floor dropped away and platforms suspended from the ceiling with chains provided the only way across. Beneath them, angry, sharp spikes jutted upward, thirsty for blood.

"Too easy," Mozenrath remarked as he swiped out his hand toward the pit; a translucent blue floor covered the entirety of it, allowing the group to barge across.

"Snatcher," Wuya threatened, noticing which one of them was lagging in running speed, "if you can't keep up, I am going to put you on roller skates."

"YOU WOULD NOT DARE," Snatcher growled, already feeling his lungs start to protest.

Roman slowed his own pace ever so slightly, just to match Snatcher's in speed, and seized Snatcher's wrist in his hand in a gesture of solidarity.

Across the pit, up a flight of wooden stairs, then another. Then came a solid wall.

"Of all the things I know that are dead," Aghoul remarked, "this end is one."

"Not necessarily." Wuya tilted her head back. "The path continues up there."

The others looked up along with her; the wall culminated in a ledge far above, from which the course did continue.

Wuya wrapped an arm around Yzma's waist, pulling her close. "Hold on," she commanded.

Yzma barely had time to eke out a "What are you – "

Wuya's feet emitted rocketing jets of flame that propelled them both to the top.

Mozenrath snapped his fingers, and a ladder of blue leaned itself against the wall. He began to scale it; the Huntsman followed.

Aghoul clapped his hands; a platform of bone appeared beneath himself, Roman, and Snatcher. The latter two didn't notice the skulls that held it up until they all detonated at the same time, sending the trio flying and then faceplanting on the floor of the hall.

Mim simply became a falcon, winging her way up.

Once all had reached the top, the race was on again, having them double back and leap over platforms that formed the ceiling to the hall they'd just come down.

"You don't think that Demon Slip busted out yet, do you?" Aghoul wondered out loud.

"If he has," the Huntsman growled, "I will take care of him."

A few twists and turns led to the next section of the course.

"You know," Roman remarked, "I'm seeing the 'labyrinth' part, but I'm really not seeing the 'torment.'"

That was when they reached the low walls that acted as hurdles, razor-sharp blades running across the tops of each.

"You were saying?" Mozenrath retorted.

Without breaking stride, Mim transformed into a rhinoceros, barreling straight down the hall without stopping. She rammed into each wall and its saw, breaking it down and leaving a clear path for the others to run through.

A U-turn brought them to a new hallway, where wheels rimmed with spikes rolled back and forth, blocking the path. Someone fast, agile, and able to duck low could probably time it right to run through.

Mim, however, chose a more direct approach. "Get on board!" she yelled.

The other seven scrambled up onto her rhinoceros back just before the wheels were reached. She continued to simply ram into the obstacles ahead, punching the wheels into splinters and charging down the hall as though unimpeded.

"Might as well hitch a ride for as long as we can," Mozenrath decided.

"Make me do all the work, will you?" Mim grumbled as she thundered up a stairway. "You're lucky destroying all of this is fun for me."

That was when the quartet of hard-shelled, staff-wielding demons sprang up from the ground to bar the path.

The Huntsman immediately flipped off of Mim's back, parrying the first's weapon with his own. He moved as though lightning, spearing each demon through after only a short time in combat.

Now without any obstacle to bother her, Mim charged toward the next gateway only to have her shoulders bounce right off the edges. The only way to fit through was to return to her human shape; everyone was unceremoniously dumped on the ground before they all passed through the gate and into the next chamber.

A voice from behind: "You will not make such a fool of me – "

The Huntsman flung a second exorcism slip at Jiro, pinning him in place.

Up one level, the next room featured another pit, the thin beams that crossed it walled off. Statues placed intermittently throughout the crossbeams fired lasers of magic onto the beams, threatening to fry anyone who dared cross.

Wuya flicked out a hand; mirrors appeared before each statue's firing mechanism. The statues' blasts were reflected, and they blasted themselves to shards.

"Watch your step," Wuya warned. The pit this time was not over spikes, but instead a red miasma that did not look pleasant to fall into.

"Or don't," Mozenrath suggested, casting another blue floor to cover the red smog.

On the other side of the pit, a great arena awaited. This time, they all expected the demon – a winged creature that appeared to be made of stone – to appear. The Huntsman was on the creature in a flash, slashing from the front, from behind, stabbing down from above. It attempted to strike the Huntsman with a staff charged with lightning; Wuya leapt from behind, seizing the staff-wielding arm and holding it back in a lock. Mozenrath chained its legs to the ground in bonds of blue; the Huntsman sliced the demon in half at the midsection.

A set of papery sliding doors opened upon a hallway that led in two directions, stumping the group. One route led to another set of iron bars locked with a demonic padlock similar to the one the Huntsman had disarmed at the labyrinth's entrance. The other hall began with a foot switch, marking it as a race course.

"This way," the Huntsman urged, beckoning toward the padlock. "If they have bothered to lock the door, it is somewhere they do not want us to go. And if they do not want us to go, it is where we will go."

"Um, no," Roman countered, "the racetrack is clearly there. And if that's how Wolfy got to the top last time, it's how we get to the top."

"I'm with Roman," Wuya agreed. "Despite my better judgment."

"Well, I trust the Huntsman's judgment," Mozenrath argued.

"That's obviously the wrong way!" Aghoul asserted. "I am going the RIGHT way!"

Yzma shrugged. "Might be a shortcut. I'm taking the locked door."

"Well, I'm not falling for any diversions!" Mim huffed. "I'm taking the race course!"

"I'm inclined to trust Lord Mozenrath's judgment," Snatcher countered.

"We don't have time to argue," Mozenrath growled. "We'll split up, and whoever was wrong can double back."

"Fine by me!" Roman was already headed down the race course hallway. It seemed to be blocked by two very low walls topped with sliding saws; Roman used the Cudgel to vault up over the first one. That was when the walls, lined with spikes, started to close in.

Wuya and Mim both sped into the hallway, one on jets of flame and one with falcon's wings. Aghoul scurried behind.

Over the second saw wall, it became clear that the route ended in a wall. There was no way out, and the spines were growing closer together. Rather than admit defeat, Roman decided that if there wasn't an exit, he would make one.

The Cudgel boomed. The wall exploded. Roman, Wuya, Mim, and Aghoul spilled out into the open air just as the walls slammed shut behind them.

They stood on a gable of the palace roof. There was no obvious route to go from here, and the walls behind them were firmly sealed shut, allowing no passage back.

Roman was partway through a "Don't you say a – "

"We just got ourselves stuck on the roof," Wuya said, deadpan.

"Shut up!" Roman grunted.

The Huntsman, in the meantime, had unlocked the padlock as he had done at the labyrinth's start. From there, it was down a long hallway with only one larger clearing in the middle.

"Be careful!" the Huntsman warned. "They'll have trapped this area."

Mozenrath had already taken off running. "I'd like to see the trap I can't – "

What Mozenrath would have done to a hypothetical booby trap was cut off by his activation of a real one. Once he set foot in the clearing, a wall of long wooden spikes shot up from the floor. A scream rang out.

"MOZENRATH!" The Huntsman barged after the one whose name he had called, with Yzma and Snatcher close behind.

The wall had gone up less than an inch from Mozenrath's face, chest, lower body. Most of him had been spared by a hair. One foot, however, had been planted directly over where the spikes originated. It had been neatly impaled, pinning Mozenrath in place.

The Huntsman slashed through the spikes with the staff, clearing the way for the most part. Mozenrath bit his lip as he lifted his foot, sliding it off the wooden pole that held it in place.

"Can you walk?" the Huntsman asked.

"I'll be fine," Mozenrath said, though his head was swimming. "I'm used to pain like this." That was accurate. The gauntlet had given him a lot of practice. Still, the sudden spike in his foot was unexpected and fresh enough that he was already hovering it off the ground. Blood dripped.

The Huntsman knelt. "Climb onto my shoulders."

"WHAT?" Mozenrath was taken aback. He didn't even have room to be offended at being treated as though he were helpless.

"I'll carry you until you can walk again!" the Huntsman urged. "Do it now, before we lose ground!"

When Mozenrath was settled with a leg dangling over each of the Huntsman's shoulders, the latter rose. Mozenrath was light enough to carry for quite some distance, given the Huntsman's physique. Now all he needed to worry about was disarming the rest of the traps in the room.

"I truly didn't expect that from him," Snatcher muttered to Yzma.

"Turns out he's full of surprises," Yzma muttered back.

The Huntsman proceeded carefully, noting where there were holes in the ground for more spikes. He stepped just close enough to activate them, then cut them down, clearing out the way. Only when the floor became solid planks again did he feel confident enough to run; Yzma and Snatcher followed.

The next door led them outside, to a rocky ledge with a canopy. A statue of a tiger bearing a bow loaded with a lightning-bolt arrow on its back decorated the otherwise austere area. The ledge ran down to a metal door marked with a lightning-bolt emblem; an antenna-like statue protruded from the ground next to it.

"If they really wanted to make this a challenge," Mozenrath sighed, "they wouldn't label it." He flicked his hand toward the antenna, striking it with a bolt of electricity. The door slid upward and open. It led to the next section of the ledge, where another antenna stood before enormous wall-mounted gears that took up a gap in the rocky floor. Striking this antenna with electricity caused the gears to rotate; the largest, central gear featured a plank that bisected it, acting as a bridge when it was in place. No sooner did it reach the optimal point to allow the four to cross, however, than it began to shift out of place.

"GO!" the Huntsman cried, barging across the bridge and leaping to the other side as a gap was beginning to be created. Yzma was not far behind, cartwheeling off the bridge and onto the solid stone floor.

Snatcher hesitated only a moment before being quite aware that he had no choice. He dashed to the best of his ability; by the time he was on the other side of the bridge, it was tilting fast, threatening to throw him backward. He scrambled up over the edge, dropping in hopes of hitting the floor.

He missed.

As his hand reached out to attempt to grab but instead only brush the edge of the rock, Snatcher plummeted toward the depths below.

A blue aura surrounded him, levitating him up onto the stone platform next to Yzma and the Huntsman, the latter of whom still bore Mozenrath on his shoulders. Mozenrath had obviously been responsible for the last-minute rescue.

"You're welcome," Mozenrath said smugly.

Snatcher wasn't about to admit that his heart had nearly stopped when he'd missed that drop. He merely took up the run again, pushing past Yzma and the Huntsman to take the lead.

"You're going to regret agreeing to make him part of the deal," Jiro announced, having caught up.

The Huntsman stalled him with another exorcism slip before taking off running, Yzma close behind.

"You'd think he'd learn to stop announcing himself every time he catches up," Yzma muttered.

A pair of metal doors led back inside the building, where the quartet found themselves in a round room with a stone floor. No exit was visible, but the rock below had cracks in it through which light spilled.

"Sure would be nice to have Roman or Aghoul around about now," Yzma remarked.

That was when the ceiling exploded and Roman and Aghoul themselves, accompanied by Mim and Wuya, fell into the room.

"You called?" Roman and Aghoul said in synchrony from where they'd spilled onto the ground.

"You can take care of this," the Huntsman stated. "Our only way out is down."

"All right, everyone, clear out," Roman ordered. "Up against the wall."

As the eight ringed the room, Aghoul retrieved a skull. "Ready?" he asked Roman, meeting the latter's eye with a glimmer.

"Always," Roman replied.

The skull was lobbed at the floor; Roman pulled the trigger to fire on it just as it landed. The resulting blast blew out the stone, sending everyone tumbling to the level below – far, far below - in an unceremonious manner.

"We could have handled that one differently," Yzma muttered. Then, louder, "SOUND OFF IF YOU HAVEN'T BROKEN ANY BONES."

She was met with seven groans.

"Good," Yzma grunted as she rose and dusted herself off.

As Mozenrath retook his position on the Huntsman's shoulders, Roman asked, "So, um, what is going on here?"

"He had a nasty run-in with a booby trap," Snatcher explained, "and this somehow ensued."

Wuya noticed the blood dripping on the floor and all down the back of the Huntsman's cape. "Where were you stabbed?" she asked Mozenrath.

"In the foot," Mozenrath told her. "But I will be fine – "

Her eyes shot to the bleeding foot. "At LEAST stop the bleeding," she groaned, summoning a bandage from thin air to tightly wrap the wound. "Idiots."

The hallway before them was lined with golden studs that shimmered; they ran along the floor, then a ways up, then further up still. If there had been platforms suspended between them, they might have made a crude stairway. At the top of this hypothetical stairway was a solid wooden platform that continued the hallway; at the level where the WHAM ARMY was, it ended in a solid wall.

"They're some sort of magic," Aghoul identified.

"Obviously electric," Wuya realized. She sent a network of lightning bolts to the studs; shimmering clear platforms activated between them, bringing the stairway to reality.

"Whoever designed this place sure liked electricity," Mozenrath figured.

That would explain the lightbulb in the foyer, Wuya realized. And it most certainly was a lightbulb.

They ascended to the upper floor, where another metal door marked with a bolt was guarded by an antenna. "As I told you," Mozenrath clarified, using another jolt to open this door, "electricity. Which means I already have a bone to pick with this architect."

A demon waited on the other side of the door; the Huntsman disposed of it in about thirty seconds without even dropping Mozenrath. From there, more papery sliding doors opened, set after set, until they expanded into a maze of sliding doors, some sets opening up onto blank walls and some further into the labyrinth.

"We don't have time for this," Wuya grunted as she began hurling fireballs at the doors, revealing the path through the maze. Roman and Aghoul helped out by blowing through the wooden walls.

Wuya lit up more golden studs, forging a path across a chasm. They hurried down a hallway to end up back in the foyer.

"IT WAS A LOOP?" Mozenrath cried. "WE COULD HAVE JUST DOUBLED BACK FROM WHERE WE STARTED THIS WHOLE TIME – "

"Well, Jiro didn't either," Wuya pointed out. "Now, given the architect's obvious obsession with electricity…"

She charged up the pedestal with lightning, illuminating the lightbulb. Gears were set into motion. The gate at the far end popped right open.

The chamber on the other side was massive, lined with the turning gears and culminating in a statue of a horned warrior raising a sword with nine prongs branching from its blade. What seemed to be absent was anywhere to go.

"So we went in a circle," Roman recapitulated, "and we landed at a dead end."

"We obviously missed a turn somewhere," Snatcher muttered.

"Isn't it obvious?" Yzma cried. "That sword is a lightning rod, and we have to strike it!"

"Only you would think of something like that," Aghoul commented.

"Well, far be it from me to not at least try my girlfriend's suggestion," Wuya said with a shrug. She raised a hand high, calling down a bolt to strike the statue's sword.

Once that had been done, the statue evaporated, revealing a ramp of stairs leading directly downward.

"Trust Yzma," Wuya said as she bolted for the stairs with everyone in hot pursuit.

They hurried down the stairs, around a corner, onto a metal platform –

The floor opened up beneath them, revealing a long chasm. Alarm bells rang as the pit began to fill with magma.

"What now?" Yzma cried in exasperation.

Aghoul took a look around the chamber, noting an unusual fixture on the walls: six individual eyes, spaced around the room. They were alive and blinking. "Inhibitors!"

"No," Mim corrected, "an inhibitor would have more than one eye." She held up a hand sparking with magic. "And they're letting me do this."

"They're security devices," Mozenrath realized.

Mim hurled the energy in her hand at one of the eyes; it blinked the magic off rapidly.

"If I designed something like this," Mozenrath mused, "I would make it so all the eyes would have to be hit at the same time. Going clockwise, Wuya, take the one by the door. Roman, next eye, far end of the hall. Mim, next eye, also far end of the hall. Aghoul, next eye. I'll take the last, and that completes the circle. On three. One…two…"

The assigned shooters blasted their targets. The magma was drained, the floor was restored, and the far wall slid upward like a gate.

"Like a well-oiled machine!" Aghoul commented.

The chamber beyond was a narrow hallway, opening up to a higher ceiling further down. Gears hung suspended overhead, bisected by more planks. At the far corner was an antenna. Mozenrath struck this one with lightning, setting the gears to rotate.

Snatcher was now sure he couldn't handle another set of these rotating bridges. He wasn't about to admit his nerves, but he simply didn't see the way he was going to get across any of these bridges quickly enough to not be spilled right back down to floor one.

The Huntsman realized he had somewhat of the same dilemma. Ordinarily, he could spring from platform to platform without worry. Carrying Mozenrath, however, was more difficult.

Wuya, Yzma, Roman, Aghoul, and Mim (who was once again a bird) had already hopped up onto the first bridge. "ARE you coming?" Yzma yelled down at the other three.

"Momentarily," the Huntsman responded.

"Oh, fine," Mim huffed. "I can see this is up to me." She winged her way down. "Just put Mozenrath on the ground and get on that bridge before you lose the chance!"

The Huntsman knew he had no time to argue. He set Mozenrath down as quickly and gracefully as he could before leaping onto the first bridge.

Mim expanded in size, transforming into an eagle whose wing tips brushed either side of the narrow chamber. "You're just going to make me do all the work again, aren't you?"

She flew up past the gears with Mozenrath on her back and Snatcher clutched in her claws. Depositing both on the wooden ledge at the top, she returned to human form as the rest finished their climb.

"So you figured out the lock," Jiro's voice broke in. "That still won't help you when – "

The Huntsman's exorcism slip paralyzed him. "When will you run out of those?" he complained.

As a matter of fact, the Huntsman only had one more: a fact that he concealed as he hoisted Mozenrath back up onto his shoulders. Another lightbulb pedestal unlocked a gateway, and from there it was a climb up several ledges in the near-dark.

Mozenrath suspected that from there, no trap could surprise the group. Wuya disposed of more laser-emitting statues with well-placed mirrors. The Huntsman slayed impeding demons. Wuya lit up golden studs to form more electric paths.

They were momentarily stymied by a gigantic spider swinging back and forth from a strand of web on the ceiling to block their path. Mim had suggested transforming into a spider herself to seduce the arachnid into letting them pass. By the time everyone else shut her down, the Huntsman had slain the obstacle.

Roman and Aghoul destroyed more walls. The Huntsman unlocked another living padlock. Mim barged through the spikes that protruded from the ground as she took the body of a hippopotamus. Mozenrath created stairways to reach higher pathways. Snatcher was, at one point, actually forced into roller skates, at which point Yzma and Roman took a hand each and dragged him along, with much a blow to his dignity that caused copious complaining.

At the very upper reaches of the palace, a chasm led to a blank wall. Aghoul launched the skull; Roman fired. Once the wall was out of the way, Mozenrath created the bridge. From there, a real bridge took over, and the eight dashed.

A voice surged past: "YOU…SHALL NOT…"

Jiro zoomed ahead.

The Huntsman launched an exorcism slip. Mozenrath helped it along with a surge of blue magic. Jiro was paralyzed for the last time.

He howled with rage as the Huntsman, Mozenrath, Yzma, Wuya, Mim, Aghoul, Snatcher, and Roman passed through an eye-shaped gate to an outdoor platform.

It was clear now they were close to the summit. A long stairway led upward and culminated at a circular platform beneath the late afternoon sky. From there, there was nowhere left to go. The WHAM ARMY had climbed as high as they could.

"We made it," Mozenrath announced as they all ground to a halt.

There was a momentary silence. Then Roman turned back to look over the edge of the roof and yelled, "FUCK OFF, BOOKMARK!"

As a matter of fact, within moments, demons would come to collect Jiro, burn him, and enchant a replacement.

Roman's declaration put a smile on the faces of all involved. They looked to each other, including the Huntsman, with pride.

"Good work," Mozenrath said. "Everyone played a part, and now we have exactly what we want."

"Well, Yzma and Snatcher didn't really do anything," Aghoul pointed out.

"I was the one who learned about the island in the first place!" Yzma argued.

"And I'd like to have seen any of YOU try to convince that glorified shopping list to let us have a go!" Snatcher added. "Now get these ridiculous contraptions off of my feet before I become THOROUGHLY fed up."

Wuya dismissed the roller skates. "You realize necessity was the mother of that decision."

"You can let me down," Mozenrath told the Huntsman. "Now that time isn't of the essence, I can tolerate the pain."

The Huntsman wasn't so sure Mozenrath should be using his wounded foot, but still he did as he was ordered. Mozenrath stood as though there was nothing wrong, putting weight on both feet equally.

"Nice job on gutting those monsters, by the way," Roman told the Huntsman, and the others backed him up with nods and looks of congratulation.

Bad blood no longer seemed to linger. Once you've been through a Labyrinth of Torment with someone, you tend to put aside all grievances. Things finally felt as they had been before the botched dragon slaying in the Fire Nation.

"Now," Mozenrath said, turning his attention to the platform, "about those rods…"

Once he knew what he was looking for, they were easy to find. They were spread across the wooden floor: nine tubes of bamboo with differently colored ends. He approached the first, bending to pick it up.

With a whoosh, all of the rods whipped up off the ground, transforming into airborne foxes as they did so. The Tube Foxes assembled before the WHAM ARMY, looking down upon them.

"Who are you," they asked in one voice, "and what is your business with us?"

"I am Mozenrath," Mozenrath answered. "Soon to be lord of all worlds that are."

"An intriguing title," the Tube Foxes responded. "Can you back up your claim?"

"What I can do," Mozenrath replied, "is promise you a share in the spoils if you join us for part of our quest."

"And what are the spoils?" the Tube Foxes asked.

"Oh, a little destruction, a little possession…" Mozenrath paused for effect. "The corruption of a heroic soul, and the murder of Amaterasu."

"Bold claims," the Tube Foxes replied. "All the same, we are interested, human. We will join you for as long as we see entertainment in this venture."

"Trust me," Mozenrath told them, "it's about to get entertaining."