Chapter 28: Land of Dragons: Defeat of Shan-Yu

As they reached the river clearing, Toshiro vanished from view for a brief moment.

"Wish I could Flash Step." Sora said between panting breaths.

Toshiro found Shang surrounded by his own men, darkness swirling off of them as they closed in on him. Unsheathing his blade and summoning the chain, Toshiro tossed it forward easily. The sharp crescent-blade cut through one soldier cleanly before sticking deeply into the second, ice spreading rapidly over the body. In the next moment he was frozen over and Toshiro tugged the chain to break it before cutting down two more with his long blade and standing back to back with Shang. There were still two soldiers left.

"You were right…all dead." Shang breathed sadly, sword tight in his hand.

"Keep moving, Sora and the others will be here in a moment." Toshiro ordered.

He cut down the dark soldier in front of him before skirting around Shang and running his blade through the second. Both vanished into blue spirit particles.

"Go!" He snapped, noticing Shang still standing there. "You have a duty to protect the emperor, now go!"

Still rather shaken up by realizing his men were all dead, Shang simply nodded obediently and ran through the gates to the city. Just then, Sora and Mulan arrived with Donald and Goofy behind them.

"Hurry!" Toshiro hollered at them before running quickly after Shang. The man had a duty to protect the emperor, but the Soul Reaper had a duty to protect the living, no matter what world.

Eventually they all caught up to Toshiro and ran behind him, Shang visible ahead in the distance.

"Stop doing that teleporting thing." Sora panted once he caught up to the white haired Reaper.

"It's not teleporting, it's Flash Step, remember?" Toshiro argued, not looking the least bit winded. "I can make myself faster for a brief moment and to those unable to keep up it seems like teleporting."

"Cool."

The city came into view and Toshiro sped back up again. He could sense that the Heartless had already taken Shan-Yu inside and were waiting in the courtyard for their group. The leader himself was heading up the steps towards the Emperor.

"Sora, I'm going on ahead." Toshiro called behind him. "Take out the Heartless in the courtyard and make sure Shang gets to the emperor safely."

"What are you going to do?" Mulan asked.

"Make sure Shan-Yu doesn't get a step closer to the palace." And with that the white haired child was gone, leaving Sora and his companions to catch up to Shang.

The Chinese Captain felt wind brush past him as Toshiro darted by with Flash step, jumping easily over the city walls and using Flash Step one last time to stand in front of the Hun leader, sword at the ready. The man jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance before scowling and unsheathing his own wicked blade. Toshiro thought he sensed a strange energy coming from that sword, a familiar one that he couldn't, at the moment, figure out. He assumed whatever it was at least made the blade a little more durable than a normal steel blade and that it wouldn't shatter as quickly as he'd first hoped.

Realizing Shan-Yu wasn't about to attack, Toshiro tightened his grip to strike before considering this a good opportunity. If he could stall the man long enough, the others could make it and he could make it seem like Mulan saved the day. Since he wouldn't be here long he didn't need to give himself a fan base, but he'd be willing to give Mulan one.

"What's a Japanese soldier doing protecting the Emperor?" Shan-Yu asked in a husky voice, a grin spreading over his face.

"My reasons are my own." Toshiro replied carefully. "I hold no allegiance to any country, I only fight the Heartless."

"The Heartless seem interested in you, though." Two of the fish-like Heartless appeared by his side, orange heads twitching around before golden eyes settled on the white haired Captain. "Must be the darkness in your heart."

"I won't deny I have darkness, but it's my choice how to use it."

Shan-Yu gave a wicked laugh and stepped closer. The long blade in his hand was lifted slightly in warning, no hint of fear in those bright teal eyes.

"I'm going to be the new emperor and no snowy haired brat will stand in my way." Shan-Yu pointed his blade at Toshiro, the boy scowling at what he'd been called and moving his blade so it crossed slightly with his opponent's. For a brief moment, Shan-Yu thought he heard the furious roar of a dragon.

"This 'snowy haired brat' will make sure you don't live long enough to even see inside the palace."

With an angry yell, Shan-Yu leaped at him. His blade clashed with Hyorinmaru, the two swords clanging loudly, and weight was put behind the curved blade to try and push the tiny Captain down. Scowling, Toshiro pushed back and knocked the man away before jumping up to plant his foot in his opponent's chest and forcing him several feet away from the palace. A chain-blade was suddenly thrown at him and wrapped the Hun leader's sword arm in it, the blade dangling from his hand as a weight to tighten the grip. Ice immediately encased the arm it held and started to slowly spread over the shoulder.

"We're not in the mountains anymore, boy." Shan-Yu slammed his fist into the ice and shattered it, to Toshiro's surprise. Was the darkness truly that powerful?

What's more, the two Heartless he'd earlier summoned dived towards the white haired child. With the chain-blade still wrapped around Shan-Yu's arm, there was only so far he could dodge. He put his free hand over his other and pointed his fingers at the Heartless, prepared to fire a Kido spell.

"Thunder!" Someone quacked and the two Heartless, close together, burst into clouds of darkness.

"I can tell you're going to run off like that often on this trip." Sora panted as he held the Kingdom Key up, Mulan on Toshiro's other side with Donald and Goofy preventing the Hun leader's escape. Shang took the moment to rush into the palace.

"Consider it a bad habit."

Growling, Shan-Yu increased the dark power giving him strength until it started to waft off his body due to its amount and power. Several more Heartless came to the darkness's call and hovered obediently by the man.

"Moment of truth, Mulan." Toshiro said quietly to the Chinese woman at his side. "Can you take him down?"

She nodded, looking determined, and went into the same stance Toshiro used. Satisfied, Toshiro vanished from view only to appear next to the Heartless. He quickly cut it down and started the fight.

There was a burst of power as Sora shifted into his Valor form, the red outfit, Goofy vanishing altogether as his spirit joined with Sora's to double his strength and defense. The starry second Keyblade came to hand and he rushed at Shan-Yu with surprising speed, Mulan not far behind and making good use of the techniques Toshiro had taught her. The man was unfamiliar with the zanjutsu style, leaving himself open to her quick strikes, though her skill still needed improvement and Shan-Yu had given both her and Sora their fair share of cuts. Donald was on that immediately with a healing spell.

Starting to get angry, Shan-Yu slammed the hilt end of his sword to the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked Sora and Mulan off their feet. He then spun, using the darkness to launch upward, and both fighters earned a nasty gash, Sora across his chest and Mulan on her arms from blocking her head.

Before the Hun could land once more, Toshiro darted underneath him and swung upward. His blade was blocked but Toshiro expected that and instead used Shan-Yu's falling momentum to toss him away into the courtyard.

"Are you two alright?" Toshiro turned to the injured.

Sora ran out of energy for Valor form and Goofy reappeared, kneeling next to his friend in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sora winced as he stood, handing moving to his chest where blood flowed freely.

"I only have enough magic left to heal one person; I've used it a lot." Donald frowned.

Mulan hissed as she attempted to grab onto her sword, the wounds on her arms making it impossible for her to fight. Looking at Mulan with concern, Sora seemed to come to a decision.

"Heal Mulan. She's gotta finish this." He told the duck.

"But Sora…" Goofy argued.

"I have Healing Kido, it's just not as fast as Donald's magic." Toshiro cut in, pushing Sora to a sitting position, despite his hissing protest, and put a hand to the boy's chest. Green light flowed from his hand to the wound and started the slow process of healing Sora's wound.

Donald cast his Cure spell before sitting on the ground, exhausted from all the magic he'd used. Now healed, Mulan grabbed her sword and stood.

"You still have a little energy left, Goofy." Toshiro glanced at the dog. "Make sure she doesn't get hurt again."

"Sir!" Goofy saluted and followed Mulan as the woman approached Shan-Yu, the man brushing his pain aside and stomping back towards the bridge leading away from the courtyard to where they were.

"Are you sure you don't want to help?" Sora looked at the Captain healing him.

"Think about it, Sora. We won't be here long so if we can give Mulan a good reputation she'll be a little better off after we go. She's got the skills to be a soldier and by taking down Shan-Yu she'll earn herself a place in history. People will respect her and her family will get the honor she was fighting for."

"Yeah, guess you're-ow!" Sora flinched as Toshiro's hand brushed against the wound.

"You didn't bat an eyelash when he first split you open." Toshiro rolled his eyes and continued his healing.

"Well…that hurt too…"

Making sure his hand stayed far enough away so as not to cause more pain, Toshiro turned to see how Mulan and Goofy were doing. The wound had healed enough that Sora wasn't under threat of dying and if he needed to step in he would.

Shan-Yu was visibly tiring out, but Mulan was reaching her end as well. Both sides were tiring.

"Can't you use Kido to help her out?" Sora asked, gaze focused on the fight as Goofy stepped in to block an angry blow from the Hun with his shield. Mulan skirted around it and struck him on his arm.

"Not from this distance and you're still bleeding."

"You've shot Kido farther than this."

"Yes, but from this distance I might end up hitting Goofy or Mulan just as easily as I hit Shan-Yu, it's too risky. Plus, Mulan needs to do this as much on her own as possible. Goofy is simply there to protect her."

Something hit the ground and Sora gasped, Toshiro on his feet in seconds as he whipped around to face the fight. But they ended up sighing in relief as it was Shan-Yu's body to fall to the ground.

"I'm good enough, Captain, let's go make sure their okay." Sora pushed away Hitsugaya's hand as the Soul Reaper attempted to continue his healing and instead stood before racing away.

Sighing at Sora's recklessness, Toshiro stayed put while Donald followed his Keybearer friend. He could sense Shang coming back out of the palace to see what was happening

"Yeah!" Mushu's voice by his ear startled Toshiro as he realized the dragon had somehow switched from Mulan to him. "Now that's what I call burning some hunny-bun! Mulan's the best! Mulan's the best!"

"Yell that somewhere besides my ear." Toshiro growled and knocked the dragon off his shoulder. "Jeez, for a dragon you're annoying."

"Oh just 'cause you have the 'mighty ice dragon' doesn't mean you can be all high and mighty, Reaper."

"I still haven't gotten back at you for invading my Inner World. I'm sure Hyorinmaru would have something to say as well."

Mushu gulped. After the last glimpse of the giant ice dragon he had gotten he knew he didn't want a full on meeting with the ice dragon of guardian legend. Soul Reapers were gods even to the spirits of the Chinese families as they held no allegiance to a specific country, only the Soul Society.

"Will an apology suffice?" Mushu gave a nervous grin.

"For now." Toshiro turned towards the palace to notice Shang approaching with an aging man he assumed to be the Emperor. Since this man was the ruler of this world, in a way, Toshiro had enough manners to bow politely to him in respect.

"Captain Shang told me about you, Hitsugaya." The Emperor said to the white haired child. "He tells me you're an exceptional fighter."

"That is all in one's opinion, sir." He replied politely. "But to be fair, it was Mulan who stopped Shan-Yu, not I."

"Ah yes, Mulan. I would like to have a few words with her."

Toshiro wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Wrapping up the Land of Dragons world, so Toshiro makes sure that Mulan gets her stardom and Mushu again annoys the Captain XD Meant to post this earlier in the day but I went to San Japan most of today dressed as a female Riku. Here it is, though. Enjoy!