Hello! I'm sorry it's taken such a long time to post an update to this. I've gotten very busy with work and life. I am a college student now instead of a high school student, and this semester I'm getting work done before moving into my bachelors. I have been trying to work on this story when I can. I have a small backlog so far.
With my writing nowadays, I don't really have author's notes in the beginning or end anymore as it's a bit redundant.
With my writing nowadays, I don't really have author's notes in the beginning or end anymore as it's a bit redundant. Kingdom Hearts as a whole belongs to Disney and Square Enix, while my three OCs (Penelope, Zia, and Maria) belong to me.
Here is chapter 10.
-o-o-o-o-
Chapter 10: Dragon Lands
When Sora and company were finally heading out of Hollow Bastion on their Gummi Ship, while Penelope's head was hurting from trying to understand just what in the heck was happening with the reality of gateways, Chip and Dale pointed something out as they had some new worlds to access. Twilight Town was surrounded in a dark vortex that they'd be unable to pass through.
"Hey! What happened to Twilight Town?" Chip asked, looking and sounding distressed.
"It's gone!" Dale added, sounding less worried yet still upset. Penelope shook her head in disagreement at the two chipmunk engineers.
"I'm pretty sure it's not gone. It's more inaccessible if anything." She said, rubbing her temples as she tried to relax in her seat. She let out a groan upon thinking about that card again, but she was certain that there would be much worse gateways in the future other than a simple card. Like a bubble. If a bubble was a gateway, she was throwing logic in the trash can.
Sora handled driving the ship forward, towards a world that looked like a palace, and flew through the Asteroid Sweep as he began to fight through enemies and fly through. As he was focusing, it left Penelope to ponder and rest, though there were the occasional bumps and jumps that came with being hit by projectiles. Fortunately, the flight to the new world was quite short, and the next thing the group knew, they were landing.
A new world awaited from there.
XxXxX
A village was burning down to ashes as a hawk flew through the sky, ignoring the disasters below. A large, fearsome man stood, watching as all burned to the ground, and the hawk landed upon his shoulder as he looked around, grinning at the destruction around him.
From the bamboo grove, a soldier in green watched.
"See that, Mulan? It's Shan-Yu, leader of the Hun army!" spoke a menacing dragon, whose shadow appeared on the rocks behind the soldier as a flame was lit, and red smoke surrounded him. "C'mon girl. This is your big chance! I can see it now: 'Fa Mulan whips public enemy number one!' You're gonna be famous! I'm talkin' A-list!"
The soldier looked back worriedly, not all that certain he was right. "Mushu, I'm not sure… I haven't even joined the army yet. I have to take my father's place to preserve the Fa family honor." She calmly replied, only to feel doubtful. "I just hope I don't get discovered…"
"Whatever. You just scared—admit it."
"Aren't you?" Mulan asked back, only for the dragon to facepalm.
While this was occurring, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, with Penelope following in the back, were looking around and observing the area they had landed in. However, they came to a pause when Goofy spotted the conversation that Mulan was having with the dragon, and the group came together to reconvene and figure out what was happening.
"A heartless?" Donald asked, observing the shadow. Penelope bit her lip and disagreed, bringing her own suggestion based upon her observations.
"I'm pretty sure that's not a heartless. Last I checked, unless your name is Ansem, Heartless don't typically talk. It doesn't even look remotely like one." She said, joining in the brief area scan. As Penelope continued to observe, she came to the temporary conclusion that she thought it would be best to wait before making any additional judgments. Goofy, who appeared uneasy, was in a similar boat as her.
As for Sora and Donald, they still thought it was maybe a heartless, so they summoned their weapons. "Let's get the jump on 'im!" Sora said, clutching his Keyblade.
Penelope, who really thought that was a stupid idea, attempted to stop Sora by grabbing him, but he and Donald had already run ahead. The Guardian rose her hands up and looked at Goofy, whose eyes had widened. The dog worriedly called after Sora and Donald. "Gawrsh, maybe we should look before we leap!"
When Sora and Donald attempted to "get the jump on them", the Soldier (or Fa Mulan as the dragon had called her) gasped, and the "great and mighty dragon" jumped from behind the rock into Mulan's arms, and Mulan turned her back in hopes of hiding from the three attackers. To be frank, the dragon she held wasn't very big. He was quite small and had red scales. Goofy recognized the dragon immediately and went ahead to get a better look. "Is that Mushu?" He asked once he saw the dragon.
Penelope didn't recognize that name. She didn't know who Mushu was either. "…Who's Mushu? Should I know who he is?" The girl asked. Mushu, who was possibly the dragon, popped up above Mulan's shoulder and replied to Goofy's question as Penelope cautiously moved forward.
"That's right. I know you heard of me! I'm little, lethal and legendary!" Mushu quickly replied, wanting to sound intimidating and look the part. It didn't really work.
He continued to try driving the quartet off. Sora, Donald and Goofy all seemed to know who this dragon was, but Penelope sure as hell didn't. "Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!" Mushu continued the pointless bravado.
Sora dismissed his weapon, as did Donald, and he addressed Mushu with a smile. "Hey Mushu! We missed you!"
"What? Am I missing something here? Who's Mushu?" Penelope asked, trying to understand what the rest of the party seemed to know.
"Well you better HOPE I miss YOU, or else you're…" Mushu then recognized Sora, Donald and Goofy. He sort of recognized Penelope, but not as well as the other three. "You're… Sora! Donald! Goofy! And that last one." He said, addressing most by name. Penelope wasn't stung by it.
Mulan looked at Mushu, and quietly asked him, "Do you know them?" She seemed surprised that a reunion could be happening at a time like this.
"KNOW them!? Man, we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together. Yeah, you know, I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots. 'Cause I'm a mighty dragon! Right?" Mushu said, approaching the quartet as he looked back at Mulan.
Mushu stood by Sora at the endpoint but tumbled over and glared at him when the boy shifted back a little. Smiling, he said, "Something like that."
The gears clicked in Penelope's head suddenly. Mushu wasn't a party member. She'd know if he was. She vaguely recalled a red summon gem (Fireglow), and it occurred to her that Mushu was a summon during her first adventure with Sora, Donald and Goofy.
But then she stopped again. Did they even use summons in their adventure? At all?
"…We did? Sora, did we use summons on our first adventure?" Penelope asked him, going to pull out her adventure log. Sora, Donald and Goofy stared at her, trying to think.
"I'm pretty sure we did." Sora said, trying hard to think about it.
"How sure?"
"…60 percent sure? Why?"
Penelope read through her log of the first adventure. She didn't find much mention of summon usage. "I'm certain we didn't, or rarely used them." Penelope answered him, trying hard to think about the details. Donald rolled his eyes at Penelope.
"There's no reason to be a know-it-all."
"Then why the hell don't I remember Mushu, Donald?!" Penelope asked. "I've been awake, and my memories didn't need fixed. I even have everything written down in my adventure log. Am I missing something here?!"
Maria proceeded to butt into the conversation, as Penelope was wasting time by questioning whether or not she knew Mushu. "Hey, hey. Simmer down, Pen. Let's not trip over plot holes here."
"Maria, you weren't even present in the first adventure! I can and will question all the relevant plot holes! It doesn't make any sense!"
"Ok, so you're breaking fourth wall territory now, eh? The canon says that Mushu was used accordingly to dialogue."
"Ok? If that's the case, I should remember him!" Penelope continued to argue. She was raising some slight concerns from her companions, Mushu, and Mulan as they were giving her weird looks, mainly as she as talking to someone, but they couldn't hear their voice.
As Penelope was struggling to grasp whether she did know Mushu, Sora bit his lip and focused the conversation back onto the storyline. "Um… ignore whatever she's saying. She's really confused by what's going on." He said, dismissing Penelope's comments. Penelope didn't seem to notice, as she really wanted to understand if her memory was faulty or not, so Sora moved the conversation to where it was originally going. Motioning to Mulan, he asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Mulan. Um… no, I-I mean…" Mulan said, correcting herself and lowering her voice. "I'm Ping!"
"Mulan Ping?" Donald asked, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes out of suspicion. "Ping" stood up straight, putting "his" hands on "his" hips. "Just… Ping. I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou."
"You know Mushu?" Sora asked.
"Ping" nodded, explaining Mushu's role. "Mushu's one of my family's guardians."
Donald kept his arms crossed. Goofy thought to their first adventure. "We didn't know we were borrowin' somebody as important as a family guardian."
"Yeah! That's right!" said Mushu, who sped up onto "Ping's" shoulder. "And that puts you four up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here!" Mushu declared, causing "Ping" to awkwardly smile.
Mushu wasn't done talking. "Well, guess what, kiddies? It's payback time!"
"Ping" quietly regained their normal tone, unsure if this was ok as they spoke Mushu's name. Mushu, who thought this was perfectly acceptable, said, "Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right?"
Sora thought it sounded fair, allowing "Ping" to be slightly relieved. Mushu then went to explain what "Ping" was doing before Sora, Donald, Goofy and Penelope (who was still arguing with Maria) was doing until they showed up. "See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial Army. We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp."
"Would you join us?" Requested "Ping", who changed back to the deeper tone. "It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you."
The only issue was that Penelope was there and that the three guys didn't quite understand what "he" meant. "What do you mean 'fit in'?" Sora asked. Penelope gave up on arguing with Maria around then and went back to the conversation at hand. Mushu covered for "Ping", avoiding the question. "Well, um, uh, don't—don't worry about that."
Goofy caught on quickly, pointing at "Ping". "You're pretendin' to be a boy, aren't ya?"
There was a long pause. Sora and Donald couldn't really tell what he was talking about until it occurred to them. "You're a… girl?" Sora asked, completely shocked. Penelope gave him a weird look and pointed at "Ping".
"Ping", or Mulan, sheepishly asked, "You didn't notice?"
"It wasn't obvious to you? Like the tone she used, the voice change, and the fact she covered up her own name?" Penelope asked, amazed they were this stupid. Or probably ignorant. Or maybe inattentive even? She didn't really know, but she supposed people couldn't always be aware of things at all times. She did suppose that Mulan had pulled off a pretty good costume.
So, they really didn't notice, and Penelope couldn't help but facepalm. The issue of Penelope came up as they were going to start heading to the encampment. Mulan pointed out an issue, noting that Penelope as also a girl. "Though we need to get to the camp, what will you do, Miss?"
Penelope raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Is this about the fact I was arguing?" Mulan shook her head, pointing out the problem. "How will you disguise yourself? Women aren't allowed to join the Imperial Army." She pointed out. That was why Mulan had disguised herself.
"Oh, disguise? I'm not going to disguise myself. I know how I'll help." Penelope said, going off to the side of the road. Sora looked a little concerned with her idea, or whatever she was doing.
"Wait, didn't you just leave Penelope?" Sora worriedly asked her, recalling the fact that she was just with Maria in Hollow Bastion a while ago.
Pausing, the brunette looked over to Sora. Crossing her arms, she said, "I'm not leaving. It's more like I'm shadowing you guys and keeping an eye on you from the distance."
"Wouldn't it be easier to just disguise yourself?" Sora asked in reply, not getting her line of reasoning.
Penelope gave Sora a soft smile, still keeping her arms crossed. "But Sora, when did I take the easy way? I'm not disguising myself again for a limited purpose that might come to bite me in the butt if I slip up."
Donald and Goofy lost Penelope at her most recent statement. Donald was the first to comment, wondering when Penelope disguised herself. He didn't remember an instance of it, so it seemed like it'd be necessary for further questioning. "When did you disguise yourself?" Donald asked.
The Guardian of Light and Darkness rolled her eyes at Donald. It hadn't been all that long ago when she was disguised, at least to them. For her, she had been disguised in two ways for over a year, and it had its positives and negatives. Then again, it wasn't like they remembered the first instance, so it wasn't necessary to rekindle a fire that had been phased out from its existence with memory manipulation.
"Remember when you guys nearly mauled me at Yen Sid's tower when I was in my Organization XIII cloak?" She preceded, getting immediate nods from her allies. "Ok, good. I have no idea how I'd feel if you legitimately forgot about that. That was unfortunately my disguise for nearly a year. It's helped me with being a lot stealthier, which I appreciate immensely."
Once again, Sora got concerned for Penelope and the decision she was soon to make as she went further into the foliage. He wanted to go after her and convince her that maybe a simple disguise would be a better idea. "Are you sure that you'll be ok on your own?"
"Sora, I survived on an island for 10 years." Penelope answered, uncrossing her arms and putting her hands on her hips. "I understand basic survival skills, and if anything attacks me, I can fight them off. Plus, I won't be that far from you, and in some ways, I'm never alone."
"Oh, cause ya have your friends with ya, right?" asked Goofy.
Penelope paused and narrowed her eyes. "…No. I do not understand how you came to that conclusion, and maybe that could be a factor, but I tend to literally have someone nearby me if I'm alone. I wish I could be Sora in that aspect, but I'm not." She answered, before calming down and waving a brief goodbye to the party as she went into the foliage. Penelope got far enough to where she couldn't be seen by the party, but where Penelope was aware of where they were and could keep up with them and despite the distance.
Though Sora still had his worries, he decided to let them go for now. He could trust that Penelope was competent in defending herself, and wouldn't need as much help from him, or even Donald and Goofy for that matter. He wished that she wouldn't go off and easily divert from the party though. It felt like she was purposely putting herself out of the spotlight again for the focus to fall on Sora so that she would be unnoticed.
Something felt… different about her actions this time though. This time, she wasn't complaining. And this time, it almost seemed like she was trying to protect Sora and the others from a distance, even if she swayed from the group.
All Sora wished was that his friend wouldn't keep on continuously being so isolated from the others.
XxXxX
The trio, with Mulan tagging along with them, headed to the encampment of the Imperial Army over the course of a short walk. Penelope followed from a distance in the shade and foliage of the forest, but she never set foot into the camp for gender reasons. When they arrived, Mushu reminded Mulan to act manly, causing her to strut awkwardly into the camp.
Sora joined a line of soldiers, only to be pushed out of line by a short, broad shouldered man with a bruised left eye. Sora frowned and heard the guy speak. "'Bout time we get some grub."
Keeping his frown, Sora addressed the man. "Hey, no cutting!" said Sora, getting upset. Donald waved his fist at the man for cutting in line, shouting, "Get out!" What happened next?
Sora got punched in the face and fell back. For Sora getting punched, Donald pounced on the man and proceeded to fight back. Mulan and Goofy tried to stop the violence, but Donald was trying to fight everyone, even when a thin man, and a tall and large man came in line, and the shorter man was pushed back by the thinner man. Unfortunately, the short and thin man were pushed even further back by the large man. The thin man got involved in the fighting when the short man punched him, and Sora eventually came into the fight.
It was a mess. Goofy, Mulan, and the large man stood there, uncertain of what to do amidst the violence. While Penelope watched the fight in hiding, she didn't like seeing Sora getting attacked. Was the fight going to stop soon? Hopefully. Was Penelope going to involve herself indirectly?
Why yes. Yes, she was.
As Mulan pleaded them to stop, forgetting her Ping persona she was trying to maintain, Penelope aimed her Keyblade at the fight. It glimmered with a black and white hue. "Radiant Midnight!" She spoke quietly, casting the spell. Pillars of darkness and light struck down and helped split up the fight, and also startled the combatants. Penelope dismissed Leviathan and remained in the foliage.
Mulan went back to her attempts to maintain her Ping persona. She had gotten weird looks by the shorter man and the thin man for her tone when she attempted to break up the fight. Though she changed her words to knock it off, and they had no idea what she meant now, Sora butted in.
"You punched me!" He exclaimed, narrowing his brow and looking cross as he pointed at himself with his thumb. Donald chimed in as well, listing another offense. "Cutting in line!"
"What a shrimp!" said the thin man. He wasn't clear whom he was addressing his statement to, but Mushu came in like he was the one being called a shrimp. He quickly emerged over Mulan's shoulder and talked back. "Who you callin' a shrimp, panda lips? I'm a bona fide guardian dragon!" Mulan panicked at Mushu's sudden pushing in, and she found herself having to push him back down and regain control of the situation. She shifted the conversation back to the issue of the line. "L-let's just get back in line, okay?" She suggested, shifting to her masculine tone.
Sora rubbed his cheek for a moment. "Whose side are you on? I just got slugged!" Sora complained, looking upset. The short man butted in in response to Sora's complaints about his current situation. "Want some more?" He asked mockingly yet ready to fight the lad again.
That didn't happen. They were close to another fight, but were brought back into order when another man spoke. "Soldiers! Get back in line!" The group looked in the direction to where the order came from. A man in armor with grayish white clothes underneath it, a red cape, black hair tied up into a bun and had a sword at his side walked in. It was the Captain.
His sheer presence made the seven neatly organize themselves in line. Sora wanted to punch the short man in red, but that didn't happen. In fact, Heartless showed up at the most inconvenient time. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and 'Ping' drew their weapons while the other three men went off to let them handle it.
Penelope couldn't help directly. She had to watch from a distance and was restricted to the use of magic.
Fortunately, the fight didn't take long, so she didn't have to intervene. The Captain asked for names after witnessing them handle the situation, and they introduced themselves accordingly. For their battle competence, they were allowed to stay in the army.
It was a different situation for 'Ping'. When the Captain looked to 'Ping' while 'he' was introducing himself, he said it would be best 'he' went home, despite it would dishonor the Fa family.
This caused Sora to step in and add his own objections. "If Ping trains hard and does his best, he'll get stronger in no time." Sora explained, having some confidence in 'Ping's' abilities. The Captain appeared to be considering it, so Sora continued. "Just give us an assignment. We'll show you how well we can work together."
"So… you want to be tested." The Captain said, echoing the gist of Sora's proposal. "Our orders are to ambush Shan-Yu's army on their way here. They should be coming through the mountain pass." He explained to the four of them.
Donald thought this was the test, and though he stated, "We'll smash them!" in thoughts that their test was to take out an army, that wasn't their assignment.
"I doubt that." The Captain said dryly. "You four will be the advance party. Scout out the mountain for my troops."
It seemed simple enough. Sora felt quite confident in handling a reconnaissance mission such as scouting the mountain to see what was going on. 'Ping' didn't feel as confident, but it was worth taking a shot. To get more details on the mission, Sora and the others were to talk to the Captain when they were ready to embark.
The three missions Sora and co. embarked on all related to defeating Heartless. Penelope continued staying at a distance and keeping an eye on them. She was only willing to step in when and if Sora and the others were in danger. They handled their missions quite easily, which the Captain found to be acceptable. However, 'Ping' needed another chance to prove himself.
So, the Captain decided to give 'him' one last chance to do so. The mission was still important despite being a test. They were to head to the beyond the checkpoint and start going through the mountain. Sora and co. had to fight a few heartless along the way, though a hawk flew overhead as they were beginning to head up the mountain.
More Heartless started to show up on their ascent. Penelope didn't need to stay in the background like she did in the camp and the area around the encampment, but she did observe the hawk fly overhead. She didn't know if the hawk had a relation to the opposing army, but assuming it did, it was something to keep her in stealth.
Plus, once Sora cleared many rocks blocking their path while battling through Heartless, Penelope found that staying in stealth was very much necessary. The three soldiers that Sora and Donald had gotten into conflict with earlier over cutting in line had came up the mountain. Penelope hadn't seen them before now, so she supposed it was good that she stayed in stealth.
They had given the quartet compliments before heading off, and the Captain had come up after them. He had decided that they were worthy soldiers, though he was still iffy on 'Ping'. 'Ping' still needed to prove 'himself'.
So, once they had gotten to the next stop, which was a village in the mountains, Mushu had an idea of proving 'Ping's' worth to the Captain by going up against Shan-Yu early. He was in the area, hiding in a cave. Was it a good idea? Not really. It would've been better to tell the Captain what was going on, but Mushu really wanted Mulan's worth to be proven.
Penelope followed Sora and the others along when they headed further up the mountain to said cave. She had a bad feeling about this. Maria had chimed in on her observations at some point. "So, they're trying to go up against the foe early based on what Mushu said? Might not be the wisest thing to do with the state they're in right now."
The girl saw them go into the cave. She slipped in after them, though there was a dead end. Suspiciously, there were candles and and other things set up in the small alcoves of the foreboding cave. However, as there was nothing, Donald and Goofy left. The bad feeling got worse.
If Donald and Goofy left or were forcibly separated, or whatever in between, nothing good came of it. Penelope knew this. If her gut feeling was correct, as was her brain, Sora and Mulan were in danger. As soon as Donald and Goofy left, and Sora was about to catch up with them, the cave started shaking. Penelope went in before a wall was put up, separating Sora and 'Ping' from Donald and Goofy.
Shan-Yu, who had shown up behind Donald and Goofy, was the one who had set the wall up. This whole situation was a dangerous trap now. Heartless ambushed Sora and Ping. The pair of them began to fight off the ambush, though Sora was getting hurt. He did bring potions with him in case something happened, which was wise on Sora's part.
However, Sora was getting hurt by larger Heartless. He was careful to avoid their attacks, but at the same time, they hit hard. Penelope almost went into valor form, but she decided against it. Instead, she went in with Leviathan to help Sora and lured the Heartless towards her so Sora could land spells onto them. The strategy worked, and once the Heartless were gone, the wall went down.
Donald and Goofy came in to check on Sora and 'Ping'. They had to report back to the Captain now, even though they didn't see Shan-Yu. A worse feeling crept down Penelope's back, especially noting this was set up. She still stayed back as to stay in the shadows, though Maria made a point that Penelope wanted to express.
"That's a classic "lure the heroes away so that an attack can be made elsewhere" technique. Rookie mistake, honestly. Still, since they're in a war…" Penelope saw the burnt down and attacked village shortly after Sora and the others did. She smacked her face really hard at what was allowed to happen.
The Captain was hurt from the attack. Mushu took some blame for the situation (as it was his idea to recklessly go into a suspicious cave and try to take out Shan Yu then for recognition purposes), though Sora said it was fault of Shan Yu and the Heartless. To make up for the dangerous mistake made, Sora and his team headed further up the mountain to catch up to Shan-Yu and try to fight him.
A hawk flew overhead as they went further up the summit. Shan Yu was waiting with Heartless. Penelope, who still remained in the back, didn't understand why he thought it was okay to send a bunch of Heartless (which were significantly less intimidating than an actual army), though Sora dealt with a lot of them just fine.
Still, Shan Yu was coming and there was Heartless with him. The three soldiers from earlier as well as the Captain and those soldiers were coming up. The three soldiers had brought a dragon rocket with them to use for an attack. They intended to aim it at Shan Yu, which wasn't very effective at this time.
So, 'Ping' took the rocket and aimed it at the mountain. Struggling to find a fire stone to light it, she used Mushu for the flame to hit a part of the mountain. Mushu and the rocket launched up in the air towards the destination. Not too long afterward, an avalanche of snow began coming down, and Sora and his friends, the soldiers and the Captain, and 'Ping' ran for it. Shan Yu should have been caught in the avalanche.
Penelope was glad she wasn't noticed, though she still had to remain in the background. As for what happened next? Well.
The Captain had finally given 'Ping' recognition for what 'he' did. 'He' thought quickly and acted creatively in a time of crisis that would have caused many lives to be lost. And what did Mushu do?
Well, after he emerged from the snow…
"First she uses me as a lighter, then she turns me into a cannon ball. The head ancestor's gonna hear about this. You know what, that's it. I give up! I can't take this no more. C'mon, Mulan. Let's quit this charade and go home, girl."
Penelope drew quiet while she watched what happened in stealth. She smacked her face really hard again, minimizing the noise. Mushu decided to blow Mulan's cover at the worst time possible! She was glad they didn't use summons much, because damn was he pretty useless. Or at least proving to be.
Mulan freaked out when he decided to ruin the cover she had worked so hard to build throughout the day. After all they went through, he decided to do this now. "Mushu!" She whispered in a lower tone.
Oh, and the Captain heard this. Because of course he did. "Mulan? A woman? It can't be!"
And then came Sora, Donald and Goofy running down the mountain, finally catching up. "Ping! Captain!" Sora called, making sure everything was alright.
"Oh boy, you're okay!"
The Captain got straight to the point. He wasn't impressed at all. "You all knew, didn't you! You knew Ping was really a woman in disguise." Sora, Donald and Goofy didn't know how the truth got out, but they looked down or away shamefully. The Captain turned to Mulan, staring at her angrily and with pure disappointment. "I can't believe you lied to me."
With that, he walked away, but stopped and had his back turned to them. "The punishment for high treason and dishonoring the Army…is death." Mulan paused and looked back to him, fear present in her eyes. Was this how the was going to die for taking her father's place and trying to keep her family's honor?
No. Fortunately, the Captain decided not to kill them. But he also didn't want them there. In a low tone, he ordered, "Get out of my sight…now. You're all dismissed."
Sora tried to protest, though it didn't really do much. Before walking off, the Captain said, "My debt is repaid." Mulan stared down at the ground, shocked from what happened and also ashamed that the situation got this way.
Penelope folded her arms and walked over to the group. Remaining back in the shadows clearly didn't matter now. Fortunately, the army didn't notice her as the Captain was making orders to move out. They were going to go report to the Emperor that Shan Yu was defeated and that their country was saved. The soldiers were weak from battle.
"Mulan… I blew it." Mushu said shamefully.
Penerope's face was red. She was trying to figure out what to say without getting too vulgar and offensive, but what happened was one of the stupidest things she had seen in a while. It was a close second to what Riku did to stop Roxas, and the sacrifice he made at the time. Sure, Mushu blowing Mulan's cover at an unnecessary time was a lot stupider, and Penelope knew this, but she still couldn't shake off what had happened.
"Mushu, why did you do that?! That was really f*ing stupid. You could've tried holding your tongue and ranting further away where the Captain wasn't in earshot." Penelope pointed out, holding the bridge of her nose. Though Penelope was really holding all she wanted to say back, she at least got it off her chest.
Mulan put her hair down and took the armor above her clothing off. Even though she was disappointed in the situation, she was calm about it. She looked back to Sora, Donald, Goofy and Penelope with a smile. "Thank you, everyone. Sorry I got you in trouble."
"It's no big deal." Sora said with a shrug. "So Ping… I mean, uh, Mulan… what're you gonna do now?" Sora corrected himself, scratching his head nervously.
Mulan began to walk off, looking back to Sora for a moment. "Go back home."
"You know your daddy is going to be as steamed as a chicken dumpling." Mushu commented back.
Penelope brought her hand to her face and shook her head. "Mushu stop. Please stop."
Mulan paused when Mushu mentioned that and looked at the ground shamefully. However, she then looked up and thought about it, nodding.
Sora pulled Donald and Goofy in. "Relax, we'll take our share of the blame." He said quickly, looking at the dog and the duck, who nodded. Penelope hadn't really done much to warrant being part of what happened, though she respected Sora, Donald and Goofy's decision for once. Mulan mainly focused on the trio when she said, "You're all wonderful friends."
From there, the four of them were starting to head down the mountain. Penelope remained behind the group, though all five of them noticed Shan Yu's hawk fly around and head back towards the direction of the avalanche. Shan Yu wasn't dead, like he should have been after being crushed by an avalanche. He emerged from the snow like it was nothing, and with a roar, the unintimidating Heartless he had with him had reappeared.
The hawk perched onto his shoulder, and he looked toward the kingdom below.
Mulan and the others saw this, and it wasn't good. They had to go warn the Captain (or Shang, as she had referred to him by) about this and get to the Imperial City before something terrible happened.
Penelope prayed that someone didn't decide to be dumb and kill the moment. Though something occurred to her as they started to rush down the mountain.
She never told Sora what Maria taught her about yet.
-o-o-o-o-
To summarize the general story of the first part of the Mulan world: Mushu ruins everything. I don't really like it when the Kingdom Hearts games tend to strip stories of the Disney worlds down too much. I can understand why for time, though some condensations are painful. For me, it's mainly the Mulan world (I don't hate it, but the condensation is rough in places) and the Hunchback of Notre Dame world (which is a worse offender to me honestly).
From this point forward with this story, I'm going to decrease the amount of beginning and end notes to a minimum for sake of reading as well as time. Long notes are pretty unnecessary.
I will see you all in the next chapter.
Ciao!