Chapter 11: Shan Yu and Synchronization

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mulan and Penelope fought through Heartless as they headed down the mountain in a hurry and through the checkpoint area. The gate that had been previously closed off was open, meaning they had easier access to get to the Imperial City. Penelope was trying to figure out what she wanted to say to Sora as they were getting to the city.

It was surprisingly fast. In fact, they got there as the army did (which was amazing as the army had a head start in this situation). Mulan quickly caught up to Shang, calling his name to stop him and looking a bit out of breath and concerned by what had happened. "Shan Yu is alive! He's headed this way!" Mulan reported.

Shang put a hand on his hip, not convinced. "And why should I believe you this time?"

"But… she's telling you the truth!" Sora protested. He understood how the trust had been broken with the recent revelation, but this was serious. There was a long pause. Donald crossed his arms and stared at Shang unimpressed, only to see something in the sky that was key proof!

Shan Yu's hawk, or the foreboding bird that showed up every time Shan Yu was around.

It circled ahead, and Shan Yu saw it. Shang looked around and saw Shan Yu atop a building near the palace. With a grin, and with his hawk perched upon his shoulder, he jumped down.

The Emperor was in danger now. Shang saw this and proceeded to give orders on what to do. "Guard the palace! Do not let the enemy get anywhere near the emperor!" The Captain ordered. The soldiers immediately charged in to do so, trying to not let Shan Yu get his way.

However, some of the weaker soldiers got turned into Heartless as they stumbled to try and do their job. There was now another issue that needed attended to. Mulan and Sora came to shield the Captain from the Heartless, and Penelope walked over by Sora, summoning Leviathan. Stealth and hiding her identity didn't matter anymore in this situation.

"Captain! We'll secure the courtyard, and you can save the Emperor!" Sora spoke, his Kingdom Key ready. Shang was a little hesitant on following it, only for Donald to bark at him, "That's an order!" Shang nodded and went in. Penelope stared at Donald and brought her free hand to her face, shaking her head.

"Hey Donald, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to order the Captain around. That's pretty disrespectful." Penerope pointed out, as the Heartless surrounded their small group. Donald didn't really seem focused on his disrespect, noting the enemies that had emerged. Sora and Mulan dealt with it through their limit attack quite quickly, though they still needed to save the Emperor and not waste time.

Penelope wanted to tell Sora what she wanted to say in the rush to save the Emperor as they ran through the courtyard and went up the stairs. They saw Shan Yu holding a crooked dagger to the throat of an older man with a long beard donned in yellow and red robes. With a hiss, he said to the elder, "Now you'll bow to me."

However, when he turned, he saw the quintet of heroes facing him, all armed and ready to fight. Mulan looked particularly anxious in this situation. As Shan Yu focused on them, and was prepared to attack, he didn't see Shang ambush him out of nowhere and throw him to the ground with a punch. From there, the Emperor was quickly brought back to the palace by the soldiers and Shang, and the doors were closed.

Shan Yu wanted in. But the five weren't going to let him come in without a fight. Shan Yu summoned Heartless to assist him in the endeavor. Penelope took a deep breath and decided to go into Valor Form as the situation called for it, though it did hurt when she activated it. Sora focused on Shan Yu as did Mulan, while Penelope, Donald and Goofy focused on the Heartless.

Penelope kept an eye on how Sora was doing throughout the fight. She would only go in to protect Sora if he was in direct danger. Surprisingly, the battle didn't take as long as she expected it to. It was almost disappointingly easy with Sora handling Shan Yu like it was nothing, and the limit command with Mulan helped a lot.

Shan Yu went down, and there was no more Heartless attacking under his orders. There were sighs of relief from the heroes now that this fight was over. Penelope dismissed Valor Form as there was a brief acknowledgement by Mulan and Sora of their victory.

Mushu decided to appear again, skipping and hopping in euphoria as he spoke. "Now that's what I call burning some hunny-bun! Aw yeah! Mulan's the best! Mulan's the best!" He started that only to change to an ego driven celebration of himself. "No, wait a minute—I'm the best! Mushu's the best! Mushu's the best!"

Penelope crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Are you sure, Mushu? Weren't you the one who blew Mulan's cover AND suggested that idea that let Shan Yu attack and burn down a village?"

Mushu paused at that. He had partially owned up to one of his mistakes though not the other.

Though for now pushing his ego like it wasn't damaged didn't matter. Shang, the soldiers, and the Emperor came out of the palace, and Mushu hid. A crowd began to form at the stairs below the palace doors. Penelope stood alongside Sora, Donald, Goofy and Mulan as the Emperor approached.

He was primarily acknowledging Mulan. "I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan." He began, reading her carefully. She approached closer, nervously putting a strand of hair behind her ear and bowing in the presence of the Emperor. He continued to speak.

"You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial soldier." Mulan looked up slightly from her bow at the last part, a frown appearing on her face, and she had a look of shame. The Emperor continued to acknowledge what she did, keeping the same firm yet calm tone of voice. "You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army, and dishonored your family name."

Sora bit his lip and looked down, putting his hands on his hips. He interrupted slightly at the end, noting the tower of shame that the Emperor had built up with his words. "We get the picture…" said the Keyblade wielder, straightening his right arm and waving it while looking away at the sky.

The Emperor didn't even acknowledge that comment as he continued. "You're a young woman, and in the end…" While the elderly man was finishing, Donald was looking incredibly freaked out. What if he ordered their execution or Mulan's execution at least? The duck had no idea, and with a wave of his arms and looking at the sky sadly, he gave up on what to do or say. Still, the last thing said wasn't bad.

In fact, he acknowledged the fact Mulan had saved everyone despite what happened before. The Emperor bowed to Mulan for this, and the young woman looked up. She straightened back up, looking shocked and really confused about the direction this went.

Sora, Donald and Goofy were in the same boat. As the crowd began to cheer, they were also incredibly confused. Sora and Mulan looked back and saw the people in the palace courtyard.

And so, the four of them briefly celebrated, with Penelope mainly staying out of it and clapping for their accomplishment, only to stop when Mulan turned to the Emperor and addressed him. "Your Excellency."

"Captain Li?" The Emperor spoke. Shang clapped his hands together and reached over for Shan Yu's sword, which he presented to Mulan. Mulan politely took it and looked to the Emperor as she held the blade of the fallen foe in her hands. "Take this, so the world will know what it is you have done for China."

"Thank you." Mulan bowed in appreciation.

Shang went next, looking at Mulan and the rest of the group (excluding Penelope). "Mulan, Sora. Donald. Goofy. Thank you." The soldier brought his hands together and bowed.

The Emperor looked to Shang when he just said thank you, which the captain acknowledged nervously. "'Thank you'? Is that all there is to say, Captain? If you wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll have to be a bit more eloquent than that!"

Penelope heard Maria's voice and was taken off guard to see her standing next to her. Clapping and elbowing Penelope with a grin, she said to the brunette, "Ooooh that imperial sass. I bet this guy is great at parties." Penelope hid the fact she was startled, only bringing a hand to her heart as Maria scared her half to death.

"Where did you even come from? Is now even the time?"

"Shhh." Maria whispered, pointing to the Emperor and Shang.

Shang didn't expect the Emperor to say that, and he was a little stunned and at a loss for words. Mulan smiled and chuckled at this, glad to see Shang a little loosened up. Sora put a hand on Mulan's shoulder, asking, "Can I get an autograph?"

Mulan smiled and looked up, turning to face the boy. "Thanks for everything, Sora." She spoke, her smile growing even wider. Sora had helped her a lot through what had happened so far and really backed up.

However, Mushu showed up in front of them, interrupting the moment like he typically did in this scenario. "Now they GOTTA let me go back to bein' a guardian! They GOTTA!"

Penelope stopped and stared at Mushu with mild shock. Goofy acknowledged this too, saying, "But Mushu, I thought you already WERE a family guardian!"

As Mushu was speaking, basically saying not to worry about it and that it was guardian business, Penelope looked to Maria and pointed at the dragon. She was not hiding her insults at this point. "If Mushu used to be a family guardian and they kicked him out, he's shown to have been pretty useless at his job. It will take a miracle to somehow make him one again." Mushu looked over to Penelope with a glare and huffed.

Maria added a comment, whispering to Penelope, "By the way, I never really used Mushu as a medal. It's like your summons situation. We had the medal but we kind of never felt the need to use it." Penelope raised a brow and stared at the taller woman.

"Medals? Is that like the weird card thing they were doing in Castle Oblivion?" Penelope asked, wanting some clarification. She didn't get what the "we" meant either, though she supposed now really wasn't the time to interrogate Maria.

Still, it wasn't like her answer gave much. It was very dismissive and only opened up more questions. Plus, Maria was rather distant, not really looking at Penelope or anything really when she replied. "No. I come from a different time. The system is far different today than it was back then."

"Maria, what does that even mean?"

"That's a conversation for another day." Maria spoke, looking away towards the scene. Penelope raised a brow, having no idea what Maria was talking about.

The girl immediately tuned back into the conversation when she heard Sora shout, "You tricked us!" and when she turned next, mildly tuning out Mushu's excuse, she saw her teammate chasing the small red dragon. However, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something begin to twinkle and shine.

When Penelope shifted in that direction, she saw Shan Yu's sword begin to glow. It was the next gateway item (which made a lot more sense than a card). Sora observed this too, well aware of what it meant. Penelope went to stand beside Sora as the pair of them drew their Keyblades.

The Kingdom Key glimmered with light while Leviathan glimmered with a mix of light and darkness as a crown symbol of light etched onto the ground. The same space from before, which was bright yet dark in its whimsy appeared around the wielders. Shan Yu's blade elevated in the air and revealed the path, which Penelope and Sora opened.

That meant it was time to leave, which the quartet were well aware of. Sora, Donald and Goofy were giving their goodbyes, with Sora adding "You two play nice." to Mulan and Shang. This flustered and confused the pair of them. The shipping was inevitable and wouldn't end.

Maria elbowed Penelope as the trio were beginning to leave. "Penelope don't forget what you need to pass onto them. It'll be important for getting your fighting into sync."

"Right, right. I'll tell them before we get on the ship." The brunette said, moving after them to catch up. Maria crossed her arms for a moment as she watched them, disappearing into the light not too long after.

XxXxX

Penelope found herself barely catching up to Sora, Donald, and Goofy when they arrived back to where they had previously landed. As they were getting onto the ship, the brunette called after them. "Hey! Could you wait a second please? I forgot to tell you guys what Maria had dragged me off for at Hollow Bastion and she wanted me to pass it on."

Penelope had gotten the three of them to kind of stop. Donald was a little more impatient noting they had places they needed to go, and that the brunette should have told them earlier. He was ready to head straight on the ship and drag Goofy on with him. While Goofy was fairly neutral on the situation and wanted to hear what Penelope was going to say, Sora was the one who seemed to be the most interested.

"Yeah? What did she want you to tell us? Was it a clue where the next gateway was?"

Penelope shrugged at Sora's suggestion. "No. I'm pretty sure that what the gateway keys are happen to be beyond Maria's knowledge." The Guardian quickly stared, before moving onto her main point. "She taught me an important technique that will help us be more in sync in battle and refine our fighting techniques."

Sora was fairly certain that it would be easier for Penelope to demonstrate what she was talking about than trying to explain it. So, he moved off the ramp to the ship and over to Penelope. She motioned for him to ready his Keyblade as she was summoning Leviathan. The Kingdom Key appeared in a flash.

Jokingly, Penelope said, "You know you can change your keychain, right? I'm pretty sure it's not that hard to do. You'll deal more damage that way." Sora gave Penelope an offended look, complete with a frown and a look in his eyes as if Penelope just slapped a puppy.

"I didn't mean it literally, Sora. I know that you know."

"I'm just trying to figure out which Keychain I want to use on it since I don't have a lot right now."

Penelope raised a brow and crossed her arms, beginning to get off topic. "Actually, where did all your Keychains go? You got a lot of them throughout our first adventure. I'd at least expect you to have the one for Oathkeeper, as you should have Kairi's charm somewhere…"

"Ay, you're getting off topic. Though Zia did want to pass some keychains onto you, you need to tell him about the sync dance." Penelope heard Maria's voice nag in her head.

"Let's worry about that later. I'm getting off topic." Penelope said quickly with a nervous smile.

Sora nodded and decided to redirect as well. Penelope straightened up and tapped Leviathan against her hand. "Maria taught me a battle technique that she and Zia used to use. The technical term was "synchronization", though Maria also referred to it as a "sync dance". It's basically where you're in tune with another party member to pull off a series of attacks the looks like a dance with how it's put together." Penelope began to explain. She put a finger on her chin.

"Honestly, it's very similar to your guys' trinity limit, or just limit attacks in general excluding solo ones. However, MP can or cannot be used depending on what you're trying to pull off." Penelope continued, finding that it was hard to explain. She waved her hand dismissively on the subject. "We'd have to start developing it in a battle situation. Since we must leave to the next world, I can't directly demonstrate."

"That's okay. I'm glad you got around to telling us what Maria taught you about." Sora spoke with a smile. Donald, on the other hand, was a little more impatient. He had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot.

"We need to get going. There are other gateways we need to find." The duck indicated. From there, Sora and Penelope got on the ship with Donald and Goofy and they proceeded to take off.

XxXxX

(Hall of Light)

"It took a while for her to say anything. She may be worried to speak up noting how she behaved last time." Zia noted upon her observations of Sora and Penelope. The woman was worried about them not reconnecting and just growing more distant noting the Roxas situation. Penelope wasn't over the pain yet. Zia understood the pain of losing a friend quite well.

Maria reappeared in the hall in a flash of light, stretching her body. "Sheesh. It took her a while to tell them about the sync dance. I don't get why she didn't disguise herself or something."

"Penelope was disguised for a bit over a year. Plus, Mushu was in the party, and Penelope isn't the type to just disguise herself for a short period that will ultimately end up being pointless and dangerous. Her identity matters to her among other things."

"I feel like there could have been a better way for Mulan's gender to be revealed. Like what if she got wounded in battle by Shan Yu and when she received medical attention, what if then was when she was revealed to be a woman and not a man?"

"That's probably the direction it would've gone if Sora and the others weren't there. This universe does tend to give abridged versions of plots of the worlds due to more people being present as well as other factors." Zia pointed out, flipping her hair. "In fact, it is different to what we have seen in the past yet the same. It was unwise of Mushu to come out and complain when he did."

"Actually, Zia, did they ever use Mushu as a summon?" Maria asked, tugging on her ponytail. She wasn't around to observe much of Sora and Penelope's first adventure as she was out figuring out which worlds had been taken by the darkness and which were still safe but had some invasions occurring.

"No. They never used summons. They had the crystals but summons were never necessary with the four of them working together." Zia explained, flipping her hair. "I only really showed up to Penelope, but its not like I wasn't observing what was going on."

Maria raised an eyebrow at this. If she knew, then why did Sora's memory not match up? Frowning, Maria asked, "If they didn't, why did Sora remember using Mushu?"

"Plot convenience."

"Really? Just plot convenience?"

"Do you honestly think that Mushu was the only one who was turned into a summon crystal, Maria?" Zia asked with a raise of her brow and crossing her arms. Maria's lips awkwardly thinned to a line and the woman looked away.

She decided to change the topic as she was gazing at the glimmering walls. "Where are they going next? Or rather, what route can they take right now?"

"It's difficult for them to access the Olympus Coliseum right now due to its shield. So, they're heading to the Beast's Castle right now. So far Sora's faring well with driving the Gummi Ship despite it's been a while. Perhaps driving a ship is like riding a bike." Zia replied, bringing a finger to her lips.

Maria shrugged, unsure of how the experience would be. She didn't know why they would let Sora drive the ship considering he had been asleep for a year, but then again, she wasn't in control of transportation. She did find one thing off though.

"Didn't you teach Penelope how to open corridors? It would make it a lot easier for them to get around from place to place without driving."

Zia shook her head at such. "Opening paths in the current case would be unwise—especially noting how prominent Organization XIII has started to become. If she did that, she could be associated with them. And there would be consequences."

"…Okay, but what about Riku? Can't he open paths right now?"

"Riku's case is different from Penelope's. You saw what he did to himself."

Maria looked back at Zia. She bit her lip for a moment. "…Do you think she'll tell them what happened? She knows what happened to him. She saw."

Zia took a deep breath and stared back at Maria. "Right now, it's highly unlikely. The wound is still quite fresh, and she's still very angry with both him and DiZ. I suppose that with her stubbornness and slight tendency to hold grudges, Penelope will be able to tell its Riku despite his current appearance. She's able to sense darkness like he can after all."

"How does sensing darkness even work? Like I know some people are able to smell it, but what does it even smell like?"

Zia stopped and brought her hand to her face, covering her mouth. Shifting her hands to where she was raising them in the air, Zia proceeded to ask, "I don't know? You do recall how long I've been tied here, do you not? Moving my body away is very difficult, especially with my power being drained."

Maria shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, I know. That's probably a Penelope question for later. Since she's on the ship right now, I could probably ask her."

"What a conversation starter that would be. Honestly, I'm very curious to understand it myself." Zia said. Going quiet, Zia went back to observing what was going on. Maria left the Hall of Light not too long after.

Still, this left the woman to start to wonder.

Someone had to be draining her power. And if it was a force they were currently dealing with, there had to be a reason.

All she hoped was that she could figure the issue out soon.

-o-o-o-o-

So I thought I had posted this chapter earlier but I didn't! I'm super sorry about that. I'm trying my best to get back into working on some of my unfinished stories and slowly chipping at my fanfics again, as I still do know how the plotline for this will go.

Also, as of posting this, I do have the next couple of chapters done though. All I can hope is that I am better at doing more frequent uploads, though time and potential writer's block will only tell. I've been busy with work and college in the last few years. I think one method I was using when writing this at the time was working on getting a backlog prepped so I could more efficiently upload. Back in the day of Re: Kingdom Hearts and I think Re: CoM, I was somehow able to pull almost daily uploads at a certain point. However, that did affect my writing.

I do promise that I plan to complete this. Seriously—my unfinished works and ideas for them haunt my brain, and with my gap year, I have more time to spare.

Let's hope I don't forget to upload the next one.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!