"I desire that you remember the ladies." ~Abagail Adams
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We got off the Gummi Ship and headed into a dense forest made up of bamboo stocks. We were walking on a cleared path in the forest so we didn't get lost. Goofy stopped suddenly and tipped his head to the side. I glanced at his direction to a rock that had smoke surrounding it. On the rock was a huge dark shadow of a dragon.

Donald leaned in and whispered, "A Heartless?"

Everyone nodded with agreement. "Let's get the jump on 'im!" Sora exclaimed.

"Gwarsh, maybe we should look before we leap," Goofy suggested.

"Goofy's right," I added.

Sora and Donald ignored me and charged towards the rock. There was a scream of a man. "Is that Mushu?" Goofy asked as he and I approached the scene.

"Who?" I said.

"That's right!" A small, red dragon popped out from the man's grasp, "I know you heard of me! I'm little, lethal, and legendary! Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!"

I remembered that Sora once had a charm that summoned a red dragon. That must of been Mushu! "Hey, Mushu! We missed you!" Sora called.

"Well, you better HOPE that I miss YOU, or else you're--" he stopped and froze for a second, as if he was remembering something. "...you're...Sora! Donald! Goofy! Sakura!"

"Do you know them?" The man asked before coughing. He had black hair tied into a bun with pale skin and brown eyes.

"KNOW them?" Mushu laughed before jumping off. "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?"

He leaned against Sora's leg before he pulled it away and Mushu fell down and tumbled a bit. "Something like that," Sora said sheepishly. "And...you are?"

"I'm Mulan," he said, his voice dropping to a female for a second. "No, no, no! I-I mean--"

"Ping!" Mushu interrupted.

"Mulan Ping?" Donald asked.

"Just...Ping," he replied. "I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou."

"You know Mushu?" Sora said.

"Mushu's one of my family's gardians," he explained.

"We didn't know we were borrowin' somebody as important as a family guardian," Goofy said.

"Yeah, that's right!" Mushu yelled. "And that puts you four up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here. Well, guess what kiddies? It's payback time!"

"Mushu..." Ping whispered.

"Ah, they don't mind," he assured. "Ain't that right?"

"Hm, sounds fair," Sora agreed.

"You see, Ping here was just in his way to join the Imperial army," Mushu explained on Ping's shoulder. "We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp."

"Would you join us?" Ping asked. "It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you."

"What do you mean by, 'fit in'?" Sora said.

"Well, um, don't worry about that," Mushu coughed.

"Sora, don't you see?" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"She's pretending to be a guy," Goofy and I said at the same time.

Sora and Donald looked at us weirdly, then back at Ping. They gasped, "You're a...girl?"

Ping held his hands together. "You didn't notice?" He asked, dropping his voice back to female again.

"Not me," Sora admitted. Donald shook his head no.

"I think it's working," she smiled.

"I don't know," Mushu rolled his eyes. "Those two would fall for anything."

"I'm right here!" Sora shouted, offended at the comment Mushu made.

"Yeah!" Donald added.

We walked a bit more into the forest. When a camp was on sight, Ping gasped and turned towards me. "You can't go in dressed like that!" He said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"It's strictly forbidden for girls to be seen in the army," she informed. "Any solider who is a girl is executed on the spot."

"Yikes!" I bit my thumbnail. "I really need to be alive right now!"

"Luckily, I have some spare armor on me and something to tie your hair with," Ping shuffled through his bag and handed me armor that looked exactly like hers but was in blue and a matching hair tie.

"Thanks," I nodded as I slipped the armor on and tied my hair into a bun. "How do I look?" I asked.

"Like a man," Mushu replied. "But, there's only one problem-your voice. You gotta drop it so it sounds deep, like Ping."

"Like this?" I said in a deep, scratchy voice before coughing.

"The best you can do is to pretend you're mute or only speak when you have to," Mushu sighed disappointingly at my failed attempt to sound like a man but covered it up with a cough.

"That's fine with me," I said as we slid down the hill and into camp.

When we arrived, there was line leading to a pot that I'm assuming is filled with food. Sora got into line but a short, stout man with a black eye and red armor pushed him aside. "'Bout time we got some grub," he muttered.

"Hey, no cutting!" Sora exclaimed.

"Get out!" Donald added.

The man whipped around and punched Sora in the face. Sora fell onto his side and rubbed his cheek in pain. Donald gasped and glared at the man. He muttered something under his breath and tackled him. "Back off!" He yelled as they began to wrestle with each other.

Goofy and Ping tried to break up the fight while I stood in the back, not wanting to interfere and risk revealing my identity. "Hey, a space in line!" A skinny man with squinted eyes and orange armor yelled.

A fat man with the same exact armor as me bumped the skinny and stout man, causing them to fall over. "I wonder what they're serving for lunch today, Ling and Yao," he said while rubbing his stomach.

"Knuckle sandwiches Chien-Po!" Yao snickered. He tackled Ling.

Donald jumped in to fight him again. "That does it!" Sora shouted as he jumped in to fight with Donald.

They began to wrestle with each other again. Goofy and Ping attempted to break up the fight but with no luck. Ping cried out, "Please!"

Everyone froze as if they could not believe what they heard. "Please?!" Ling mocked.

"What a girl!" Yao sneered.

Ping panicked. "Uh...knock it off!" Ping shouted.

"Knock what off?" Yao smirked.

"You punched me!" Sora cried.

"Cutting in line!" Donald yelled.

"What a shrimp!" Ling laughed.

Mushu popped out of Ping's shoulder and yelled, "Who you callin' a shrimp, panda lips? I'm a bona fide guards on dragon!"

Ping shoved Mushu back into his armor. "L-Let's get back in line," he said, trying to calm down the fight.

"Whose side are you on?" Sora demanded. "I just got slugged!"

"Want some more?" Yao shouted.

"Soldiers! Get back in your line!" A voice commanded.

"The Captain Li-Shang!" Gasped Yao. Everyone scrambled back onto line, pretending that nothing had happened. A man on formal armor walked right us, stopping to glance down the line to see anything had happened and continued to walk.

Sora let out a breathe until he gasped. A group of Heartless appeared. "What are they?" Ping asked.

"Heartless!" Sora, summoning his Keyblade. "Get out your weapons and fight these guys before they destroy the camp!"

Mega-Shadow Heartless swarmed around the camp, trying to terrorize it. We ran around, slashing them with our weapons, destroying them on contact. We weren't as rusty with our old skills compared Hollow Bastion, although I did have a hard time maneuvering around in the armor, but I managed.

"You four!" Captain Li-Shang called as we finished destroying the Heartless. "What are your names?"

"Sora," Sora said. "He's...uh..."

Sora tried to come up with a name for me. "I am Seiichi," I replied in a low, dark voice. It sounded pretty fake. Hopefully I won't have to talk often.

"Donald," Donald said.

"Goofy," Goofy finished.

"You're welcome in my troop," he said. "Your battle skills are encouraging."

Ping tried to get the Captain's attention, "I am the son of Fa Zhou--"

"You should return home," Captain Li-Shang glared.

"B-but...that would dishonor my family!" Ping stammered.

"You'd rather dishonor my troops?" Captain Li-Shang raised a brow.

"Don't make me--" Mushu muttered.

Ping jumped and quickly tried to act casual. Sora asked, "If Ping trains hard and does his best, he'll be stronger in no time."

"Hmm..." Captain Li-Shang thought about what Sora said for a second.

"Just give us an assignment!" Sora pleaded. "We'll show you how well we work together."

Donald and Goofy nodded. "So...you want to be tested?" Captain Li-Shang asked. "Our orders are to ambush Shan-Yu's army on their way here. They should be coming through the mountain pass." He gestured to the mountains nearby the boot camp.

"We'll smash them!" Donald shouted.

"I doubt that," Captain Li-Shang replied. "You five will be the advance party. Scout out the mountain for my troops."

"That's it?" Sora said. "No problem. Right?"

"R-Right," Ping muttered.

"I'll brief you on the details later," Captain Li-Shang explained. "Return when you are ready to depart. Remember; the smallest mission may have the greatest purpose. Are we clear?"

"Sir!" We shouted.

He handed me a piece of paper. "Here are the dispatch missions you five have to do," he said. "Report to me when you are ready to do one."

*~*~*~*~*~

All the dispatch missions were just clearing Heartless, which wasn't any problem for us at all. As we returned from our dispatch missions, Captain Li-Shang commented, "You did well."

"I knew it!" Sora smiled as Goofy and Donald nodded.

"Captain..." Ping asked.

He turned towards Ping. "I suppose you've made a little progress..." He eyed Ping.

"Not a little-a lot!" Donald cried, stomping his foot.

"No," Ping interrupted. "You're right, Captain. Please give me one more assignment. This time, I'll truly show what I'm made of!"

"I'll give you one more chance," Captain Li-Shang sighed. "We need a clear path through the summit so we can pass. Since you are all so eager to improve, I'll assign you that mission. This is very important, so don't let me down!"

"We won't!" Ping said.

We left the camp and I looked up. I saw a snowy mountain and a dirt path. Along the path were boulders and Heartless. "Think we can do this?" I asked.

"This doesn't look hard at all!" Sora exclaimed.

"Don't get so cocky," I said as we hiked up the path.

The first blockage had a group of Heartless and boulders. As the four of them were slaying the Heartless, I looked for a way through the boulders. They were big, so it would take a long time to destroy them if we were to do that. Maybe, if I get on the other side, I can do something? I climbed up the boulders, which was hard because there weren't many small openings to put my feet in, almost similar to rock climbing. Once I reached the top of the stack, Sora yelled, "Look out!"

Sora charged to the boulders and the stack exploded, sending me flying into the air. Some of them got destroyed to tiny pebbles while others rolled off the path and down the mountain. "Whoa-AHHH!!!" I screamed as I fell from the top of the stack.

"Oh my god, Seiichi, are you okay?" Sora asked.

"Okay? OKAY?!" I screamed. "You just knocked me off from a bunch of boulders!"

"Hush, Seiichi!" Sora placed a finger on my lips. "Your being to loud! Someone is going to come over!"

"Humph, good point," I rolled my eyes.

After I drank a Potion and was able to walk again, we continued up the pass, destroying Heartless and knocking boulders down. Only this time, we destroyed them with our weapons so no one would get hurt. As we walked up the pass, I was panting at that point. "Ping, how are you moving around in this?" I gasped for air. "It's so heavy, and it's like a boiler in here!"

We heard multiple footsteps behind us. We turn to see Yao, Chein-Po, and Ling. "You ain't half-bad," Yao sneered

"A man among men!" Ling smiled.

"Thanks," Ping said.

The three of them continued up the pass that we cleared and up to the snowy mountain. Ping sighed, "But the Captain..."

"Captain!" Sora cried.

Captain Li-Shang appeared with his guards. "Ping sure did great!" Goofy said.

"You bet he did!" Donald added.

"Hmm..." he pondered. "Fine, I'll let you join my troops...but I'm still not convinced you have what it takes to be a worthy soldier.

"Why not?!" Sora demanded.

"It's all right, Sora," Ping assured. "I'll find a way to show him what I'm made of. Just give me a chance."

"That's the spirit, Ping," Captain Li-Shang smiled quickly but faded back to his usual frown.

"Sir!" We all said.

Captain Li-Shang continued up the pass with his guards and Yao, Chein-Po, and Ling came back down to us again. "Good going, Ping!" Ling complimented.

"Thanks," Ping thanked them again.

We went up the pass and arrived at the snowy mountain. Everyone was there and there was village where everyone was staying at. We ducked behind one of the houses and Mushu climbed out from Ping's armor to talk to us. "Okay, girl! Here's your chance!" He said. "I just saw this real shady guy. And I know it's Shan-Yu."

Everyone jumped. "Shan-Yu?!" Ping cried.

"That's the Hun leader!" Sora added. "We've got to go to tell Captain!"

"Right," Ping agreed.

"Waaait wait-wait-wait WAIT!" Mushu interrupted. "Everybody use their heads for a sec. Now, why are we here? To make the Captain see Mulan's-I mean, Ping's talents and bring honor to her family. So, let's go find out where Shan-Yu is, by ourselves. Then, if we're lucky, we can fry him up good! Though tracking the guy down will earn us our stars...Captain Musclehead will have to notice my girl!"

Ping thought about this for a second. "Okay, let's go," he said.

"We'll help out," Sora offered. We nodded in agreement.

"Now we're cookin'!" Mushu laughed. "Shan-Yu is in a cave outside the village."

Mushu jumped back onto Ping's shoulder and directed us to the cave nearby. We entered it. Inside was a long, dirt corridor lot by the candles on the walls. We reached the end where a small shrine was a bunch of candles on the walls around the room. "Dead end," Sora sighed.

Donald looked around, "There's nobody here..."

"You're crazy!" Mushu cried. "Check again!"

"Oh, well..." Donald said as he turned around and left the room.

"Wait for me, Donald!" Goofy yelled as he ran after Donald.

"Guys, wait up!" Sora called.

Just as he said that, the cave began to shake. "What? What is it?" Mushu asked.

"Huh?" Ping added.

An invisible barrier appeared by the room exit where Donald and Goofy were. "Sora!" Donald cried.

"Ping! Seiichi!" Goofy cried.

A swarm of Shadow Heartless and a big centaur Heartless appeared. We summoned our weapons. Ping and I dealt with the Shadows while Sora dealt with the centaur. The Shadows were easy to take out, but the centaur was stubborn. Every time we laid a single touch on it, it ran to another part of the room. "Split up!" I shouted.

"What?" Sora cried.

"I said, split up!"

I dodged a near whack by a centaur Heartless from its staff and Sora and Ping spread out in the room so we weren't backed into a corner by these guys. A few swings here and there and the problem was dealt with. We exited the cave to find that the village we left behind was burnt to the ground. "Captain!" Ping cried.

We turned to see Captain Li-Shang gripping his side tightly as he leaned against a wall of one of the few buildings here left unburnt. "Don't overdo it, captain!" Sora said.

"It's just a scratch," Captain Li-Shang assured.

"Captain, the enemy!" Ping reminded. "Where did they go?"

"Towards the summit..." he informed us.

"We'll stop them!" Ping faced the summit with determination in her eyes.

Together, we hiked up the snowy mountain, which wouldn't be that hard if I wasn't wearing armor. I was almost tempted to beg Sora to drag me the rest of the way up the mountain since it was tiring trying to hike. Forget it being cold-it was so hot in the armor. I could not wait for us to be done with this world so I can strip myself of this armor.

"It's kinda our fault," Goofy sighed as we hiked up the mountain.

"Right," Ping nodded in agreement.

"You mean it's MY fault," Mushu popped out of Ping's armor and stood in front of us.

"Uh-uh!" Donald said.

"It was Shan-Yu and the Heartless, not us!" Sora insisted.

As we went further up the mountain, there was no sign of anyone being here recently. Suddenly we stopped and Goofy pointed at the top of the mountain. At the top was a figure in a fur coat, dark skin, and a hawk on his shoulder. He had an army of Heartless beside him. He took out a jagged sword and yelled, "ATTACK!!!"

The swarm came down the mountain. We summoned our weapons, prepared to fight the swarm. They were a bunch of yellow bird Heartless. Although there were many of them, they had low health, low strength, and low defense, so it was easy to take them out quickly. Shan-Yu was clearly angry that we took down the swarm so quickly, so he sent another one down and came down with it. We prepared to fight that swarm again and him. "Stand back!" A voice yelled.

We stunned around to see Yao, Chein-Po, and Ling come up where we were. Ling held the cannon. "We got this!" Yao assured.

He took the cannon and aimed it at Shan-Yu. There was no way he could get a direct hit. Shan-Yu was moving, and it was likely that he can move out of the way so he won't get hit. I was formulating a plan in a desperate attempt to stop him. Ping's head shot up. I think he might of came up with a plan before me. "Sorry!" He said as he knocked Yao out of the way. He aimed the cannon up higher where Shan-Yu originally was, aiming at the horn of a mountain, the pyramidal peak of an angular, sharply-pointed mountain peak which results from the cirque erosion due to multiple glaciers diverging from a central point.

Ping looked for something to light. There was nothing but snow. Mushu scrambled around, helping Ping out. Ping then grabbed Mushu and squeezed his stomach, causing him to cough put some fire. The cannon flew off and hit the top of the glacial horn. Snow fell off from the top and headed towards Shan-Yu, who was headed towards us! "Avalanche!" I yelled.

Ping gasped and saw Captain Li-Shang walking up with his guards. "Look out!" He cried. He ran over and tackled Captain and the guards, causing them to roll off the path the avalanche was sliding off from. We followed them.

When we reached them, Captain Li-Shang looked really angry. "You all knew, didn't you?" He demanded.

Huh? What did he-oh no. Ping. He found out that he was Mulan, a girl. "You all knew that Ping was a woman in disguise," he said, raising his voice. "I can't believe you lied to me. This can be punishable by death--"

"Sir! Wait!" I cried.

"I don't want to hear from you--" Captain Li-Shang started.

"I have an important confession to make!" I dropped my voice back to normal.

I undid my bun. "I am a girl, too," I said.

"What?!" He shouted. "Two women in the army?"

"Don't kill Sora, Donald, and Goofy, please!" I pleaded. "They knew this, but they didn't do anything. We decided to disguise ourselves. Please spare them and kill us!"

"Actually, I wasn't planning to kill any of you," He sighed reluctantly.

"Wh-what?" We cried.

"Since all of you saved me from that avalanche, it would be very disrespectful of me to kill you," Captain Li-Shang stated. "A life for a life. You saved me, so I spare all of you. Get out of my sight."

He stalked off with his guards and the army. Mulan sighed and took off her armor, revealing her underclothes and and let down her hair. I quickly ripped my off with excitement, despite us being kicked off the army and threw the armored pieces into the snow before gathering them up and handing them back to Mulan. "So, Mulan...what are you going to do now?" Sora asked.

"Go back home," she replied.

"Wait, we'll come with you," Sora offered,

"Thanks," she smiled.

We started climbing down the mountain, when suddenly, a bird screech was heard. We looked up to see the same hawk that was on Shan-Yu's shoulder fly around. "Did the bird not get killed in that avalanche?" I asked. An angry battle cry was heard up form the mountain. The yellow bird Heartless appeared. "Did Shan-Yu not get killed from that avalanche either?" I cried.

"Apparently so," Sora sighed.

"We gotta warn Shang!" Mulan shouted. "The army is heading to the capital!" We quickly headed down the mountain and to the direction of the capital city.

*~*~*~*~*~

We reached the Emperor's palace just in time to see Captain Li-Shang's army walk towards the entrance. "Shang!" Mulan cried, "Shan-Yu and his army are on their way here!"

"And why should I believe you this time?" Captain Li-Shang sneered.

"But...she's telling the truth this time!" Sora sputtered.

Donald cried out and pointed at the sky. We looked at the direction. Shan-Yu's hawk was flying through the sky. We followed where it was flying. There, on the palace roof, was Shan-Yu. "Guard the palace!" Captain Li-Shang yelled. "Do not let the enemy get to the Emperor!" Yao, Chein-Po, and Ling ran I into the palace. "That's an order--" he turned around and the guards behind him turned into the Heartless.

"Captain!" Sora shouted. Mulan, Sora, and I appeared in front of him. "We'll secure the courtyard and you can save the Emperor!"

Captain Li-Shang nodded and headed into the palace. The swarm was a actually the Heartless army from Shan-Yu's army, so it didn't take long to take them out. We headed up to the palace. Shan-Yu was there with the Emperor. The Emperor had white hair and a white beard, a yellow, rectangle-shaped hat on his head and was wearing and yellow and red kimono. He took out his jagged sword and pointed it at the Emperor's throat. "Now, you'll bow to me," he ordered.

Captain Li-Shang appeared and punched Shan-Yu in the face, causing him to fall over. Captain Li-Shang grabbed the Emperor and led him into the palace while Yao, Chein-Po, and Ling shut the door, trapping Shan-Yu out. We ran over to the palace door and stood guard. He got up and faced us. "It ends now!" Mulan yelled.

"Right now!" I shouted.

The hawk landed on it his shoulder. Shan-Yu smiled and began to laugh. A dark aura surrounded him as two Heartless appeared. They headed right for the door. "Watch out!" I warned. "They'll destroy the door and endanger everyone in the palace! We have to fight Shan-Yu and guard the palace door!" Mulan, Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded and headed towards to the door.

Shan-Yu tried to hit me with his sword. I block it with my Keyblade. He tried to disarm me, but I kicked him in the stomach and hit him with my Keyblade, sending him flying backwards done the palace stairs.

He got back right up and charged at Sora, who blocked each and every attack. Once Shan-Yu stopped to catch his breath, Sora Luna he'd a barrage of attacks on him. Finally, after one final hit, Shan-Yu collapsed from Sora's continuous attacks. He didn't get up nor wake up. We looked at each other and did a silent cheer. "Now that's what I call burning some hunny-bun!" Mushu yelled. "Aw, yeah! Mulan's the best! Mulan's the best! No, wait a minute-I'm the best! Mushu's the best! Mushu's the best!"

Mushu gasped, ran back to Mulan and hid in her shoulder. She stood up straight. I saw the Emperor coming, so I stood up straight and did some hand gestures to show the others to stand up straight, too. "I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan," he said. She bowed in front of him. "You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial soldier, helped another girl impersonate as a Imperial soldier. You deceived your commanding officer, shamed the entire Chinese army, and dishonored your family name."

"We get the picture..." Sora muttered and I stomped on his foot, silently telling him to shut up.

"You're a young woman...and in the end..." the Emperor continued. "You have saved us all."

He bowed in front of her and she gasped. The whole army bowed to her. "Your excellency!" She said.

"Captain Li?" The Emperor asked. Captain Li-Shang nodded, took Shan-Yu's jagged sword, and gave it to her. "Take this, so the world will know what it is you have done for China."

"Thank you," she thanked the Emperor and bowed in front of him.

"Mulan," Captain Li-Shang said.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Sora." Captain Li-Shang continued. "Donald. Goofy. Uh..."

"Sakura," I introduced myself.

"Sakura. Thank you," he bowed to us.

"'Thank you'?" The Emperor laughed. "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!"

Captain Li-Shang blushed as the Emperor and Mulan laughed. "Can I get an autograph?" Sora jokingly asked.

"Thanks for everything, Sora," she smiled.

"Now they GOTTA let me become a family guardian," Mushu said, pacing around. "They GOTTA!"

"But, Mushu, I thought you WERE already a family guardian," Goofy pointed out.

"What?" Mushu said. "Oh, no, no-don't worry about that, that's just real technical. Just for us guardians."

Wait a second, if Mushu is not a family guardian, then that means...

"You tricked us!" Sora and I yelled at the same time.

"Hmm? Oh, heh, heh, you know..." Mushu ran off and Sora chased after him.

Mulan gasped as the sword began to glow and float up. I ran over to Sora, grabbed his hood, and pointed at the sky. "Huh?" He said, looking at where I was pointing.

Once he saw what I saw, he and I pointed our Keyblades at it. Two beams of light came out and a crown appeared below is. Wind blew put clothes up slightly and light transported us to the same place as before; we were floating in darkness with sun light peaking through it with a giant keyhole in front of us. We pointed our Keyblades at it and two more beams of light came out and hit the Keyblade. I was pulled into my usual trance. A huge weaving with dark thread and colorful thread was in front of me. I pointed my Keyblade at it and all the dark thread wove out while new, colorful thread thread wove into its place. Once it was finished, I was pulled out of my trance and we were in front of the palace again.

"Okay!" Donald said.

"I guess it's time to be movin' on," Goofy added.

"You shall be missed," the Emperor told us.

"Is it okay if we come back and visit?" Sora asked.

"Of course!" Shang replied. "We look forward to your return."

"You two play nice!" Sora laughed.

Captain Li-Shang and Mulan jumped. "Whoa...watch it, soldier!" He warned.

Mulan giggled and waved goodbye, "Good-bye, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Sakura!" Mushu popped out from her shoulder to wave us goodbye. We waved our goodbyes before heading off to our Gummi Ship.