I'll Protect You No Matter What(Pokémon ver.)

Proving Your Worth

My Pov

After getting rid of the Heartless, the Captain(Li Shang), came up to us.

"You four. What are your names?" the captain asked.

"Sora." Sora said.

"Donald." Donald said.

"Goofy." Goofy said.

"Hikaru." I said.

"You are welcome to my troop. Your battle skills are encouraging." the captain said.

"I am the son of Fa Zhou-" Ping said.

"You should return home." the captain said.

"B-but... That would dishonor my family!" Ping said.

"You'd rather dishonor my troops?" the captain asked. What was with this guy? Ping had shown just as much potential as the rest of us.

"Don't make me-!" Ping said, but stopped. We all looked at Ping.

"Captain, I assure you Ping is just as much a soldier as anyone else here." I said. He seemed to take what I said into consideration.

"Alright. I've received intel of enemies lurking in several areas. I want the five of you to deal with them. If Ping shows improvement after finishing these missions, I'll reconsider letting him join the army." the captain said. We went on the three missions the Captain assigned and completed them without much difficultly. He told us he heard that Shan-Yu's army was heading toward the city through the mountains. He headed that way. I looked toward Sora and sighed. Every time I looked at Sora, I did a double take. The first time I'd look at him, I'd see Van or Ven instead. I felt a growing pain spreading in my chest. I missed them.

"Hikaru?" Sora asked. I snapped out of my daze.

"Nothing. You're too much of a worrywart, Sora." I said. Amphy could sense my sadness and nuzzled my leg.

"You even talk like Riku, Hikari." Sora said. I thought about it and I did. Soon, we came to the village that was set near the mountain. The Captain followed close behind.

"Ping sure did great!" Goofy said.

"You bet he did!" Donald said.

"Hmm... Fine. I'll let you join my troops... But I'm still not convinced you have what it takes to be a worthy soldier." the captain said.

"You've got to be kidding!" I said.

"Why not!?" Sora asked.

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

"That's the spirit, Ping." the captain said. I noticed a cave just outside the village.

"Maybe Shan-Yu is hiding in there." I said. We decided to check it out, but found nothing. We went to leave, but as soon as Donald and Goofy were on the other side of cave a barrier separated them from me, Sora and Ping.

"Sora! Hikaru!" Donald cried.

"Ping!" Goofy cried. Then Heartless showed up. Shan-Yu may not have been here, but he did set up a trap.

"Amphy, use Power Gem!" I said.

"Leafeon, use Iron Tail." Sora said. Both attacked and got rid of the Heartless and the barrier separating us from Donald and Goody dropped.

"Come on! We need to hurry." I said. We hurried outside to see that the village had been destroyed. Smoke was still rising from the burnt remains of the houses. This had just happened. Shan-Yu had to have attacked while the rest of us were in the cave.

Ping: "Captain!" Ping exclaimed. We hurried over the Captain Li, who was obviously badly wounded.

"Don't overdo it, Captain!" Sora said.

"It's just a scratch." the captain said. He fell to his knees in pain.

"No. You're seriously hurt. Don't push yourself." I said.

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

"They went toward the summit..." the captain said.

"We'll stop them!" Ping said.

"It is kind of our fault..." Goofy said.

"You mean my fault." Mushu said. He had been the one to tell me about the possibly of Shan-Yu hiding out in the cave.

"Mushu, Shan-Yu did this. You were trying to help Ping. That's what a family guardian is suppose to do." I said. We hurried toward the summit and spotted Shan-Yu at the very top. Soon dozen of Heartless came up from behind them and started to charge toward us. There were so many of them that it took forever to get rid of them all. I started feeling dizzy.

"Hikaru, are you alright?" Ping asked. I simply nodded. My body was feeling heavy for some reason. Shan-Yu started charging at us with two rows of Heartless following close behind him. The three soldiers we met a couple days ago(Ling, Yao and Chien-Po)showed up with a cannon. Yao pointed the cannon at Shan-Yu. Then Ping did the craziest thing. He elbowed Yao, grabbed the cannon and ran toward the enemy.

"Ping, stop!" I said. He knelt down and instead of pointing the cannon at Shan-Yu, he pointed it toward the mountain. Why was he...? That's when it hit me. He would cause an avalanche to bury the Heartless and Shan-Yu. Ping used Mushu to light the cannon. Unfortunately, the poor dragon jumped on the cannon and launched into the air with it.

"You're going the wrong way!" Mushu yelled. The cannon made contact with the mountain causing the ice and snow that had coated the mountain to fall, creating a tsunami of white.

"Run!" Sora yelled. We all hurried to the safety of the rock foundations that were to the side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the Rapid Thruster Heartless was charging toward Sora.

"Sora, look out!" I said. He turned to look at me just as I pushed him out of the way. He was out of harm's way, but I had just put myself right in it's path. The Heartless rammed into me and knocked me off the cliff just as the avalanche washed over the area. 'Figures. I wasn't able to help for long. I wanted to at least find Riku and tell him about our son. I guess that was just an impossible idea. Riku... I wish I could have seen you one last time. I love you.' I closed my eyes as I fell toward the bed of jagged rocks below.