Love or Law

Game On!

How's it goin'? So this chapter has a little back and forth between POV changes. I hope it doesn't get too overwhelming or confusing but I wanted to get the best of both worlds. Hope you like it!

"Mushu, do you remember when we first met?" It was evening and the sun had just begun to set, stretching the shadows to their breaking point, and Mulan was holding a small council of war in her tent. She had opted out of having it packed into the wagons like the majority of the men. She wanted to keep her private little world for one more night.

"Sure, what of it?"

"Could you put on a similar performance again?"

"What with the fire and smoke and shadows and stuff?

Mulan nodded and Mushu looked thoughtful then shrugged, "Yeah, I could do it again. Why?"

"I think we need to teach Ling, Yao, Po and our Captain a lesson."

"Alright, now what's going on in that devious little mind of yours?" Mushu asked suspiciously and with some delight.

"I'm thinking that they're going to try and have one more go at scaring me off tonight, but this time I think we should set up a little surprise for them."

"A surprise? How do we go about doing that?"

Mulan motioned Mushu closer and began to whisper her plan to him. When she was done Mushu was grinning evilly and rubbing his hands together eagerly. "Now that is a plan! I love it!"

"I thought you might." Mulan answered with a grin of her own.

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Dark had finally fallen on the camp and Yao and Po were getting into their positions for their final attack on Mulan's confidence. Ling was supposed to be there too, but for the life of them, they had not been able to wake him up. The guy slept like a rock! So the two of them had finally decided to continue without him. They had made a few adjustments to the script they had come up with, then headed out to find Ping's tent.

After stumbling through the dark for a while they finally found it, located just outside the confines of the rest of the camp near a small tree. With great care they approached the back of the tent and listened intently. They could hear Ping breathing and mumbling in his sleep. They nodded at each other, then Po picked up a rock and threw it at the base of the tent where it landed with a rustling, thumping noise.

"Who's there?" Ping's voice came from the tent. They didn't dare make a sound until they heard Ping lay back down then they began to whisper in perfectly audible whispers.

Po started with, "Have you talked to Ling?"

"Yeah," Yao grunted.

"What do you think?"

Before they could go any further with their carefully thought out script, however, a light suddenly flared up in Ping's tent. This was unlike any light they had seen before, though. It wasn't caused by a match or a torch, there was none of the flickering irregularity of a flame. It was a solid ball of light that floated in Ping's tent, just above the sleeping boy whose shadowy profile they could see outlined on the tent wall. As they watched a shadow suddenly began to rise up from Ping's. As it grew taller it took on more shape until it became very clear.

Po gasped.

It was a dragon.

Then the dragon began to speak in a deep booming voice.

"HOW DARE YOU!" It roared.

Po and Yao dropped to their knees, quivering. It was clear to them that this was an extremely powerful deity.

"HOW DARE YOU IMPUNE THE HONOR OF THIS BOY! THIS BOY AND HIS FAMILY ARE UNDER MY DIVINE PROTECTION! THEY BEAR MY MARK! THE MARK OF THE DRAGON! THEY ARE BORN TO BE LEGENDARY WARRIORS AND YOU DARE SAY DIFFERENTLY?!"

"We are sorry! Please forgive us! We only wanted to protect him!"

"PROTECT HIM?! HAH! HE HAS THE PROTECTION OF A GOD! WHAT PROTECTION DOES HE NEED FROM YOU?! IF ANYTHING, YOU ARE THE ONES IN NEED OF PROTECTION! FROM ME! I WILL CURSE YOU AND ALL OF YOUR DESCENDANTS FOR YOUR DISRESPECT!"

"Please! Not us! We were ordered to do it! We were told it would save his life!" Po answered.

"WHO TOLD YOU TO DO SUCH A THIING?"

"Our Captain! Captain Lee Shang!"

"AH. SO HE IS THE ONE. WE WILL HAVE TO SEE ABOUT THAT, WON'T WE?"

"You will spare us?" Yao asked shakily.

"I WILL GIVE YOU A SHORTENED SENTENCE. BUT I WON'T TELL YOU WHAT IT IS. YOU WILL HAVE TO FIND OUT FOR YOURSELVES. YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IT IS WHEN IT HAPPENS AND NOT A MOMENT SOONER. NOW GO!"

With that the dragon shadow sunk back into Ping's chest and the light suddenly vanished. Po and Yao didn't waste any time. They scrambled to their feet and charged headlong back to camp in a mad scramble, yelling in fear and cursing when they tripped over some unseen object.

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In the tent, Mulan sat up and slapped Mushu a high-five.

"Excellent performance! I would definitely give that a ten!"

"Thank you. Thank you. I am rather amazing aren't I?" Mushu answered with a flourishing bow.

"I especially liked the part about the curse. What curse have you put on them?"

"I guess you'll just have to wait and find out with them." Mushu answered smugly

Cri-kee chirped irritably and Mushu answered, "Yes, you did a good job too, but what use is a lighting crew without their star?"

Cri-kee chirped angrily but Mushu ignored him, instead talking to Mulan over the cricket's increasingly louder chirps.

"So we know it was Captain Shang."

Mulan nodded thoughtfully and answered, "Yes, it's good to know for certain."

"So now what?"

"Now we move on to our next victims."

"Victims? As in plural? I thought we only had Shang left! Just how many men do you plan on terrorizing tonight?" Mushu yelled.

"Just two more; Ling wasn't with the other two. I'll take care of him. He shouldn't be too difficult to crack. Shang on the other hand, will need your ... delicate touch. I leave him to you." Mulan smiled her most charming smile at Mushu who grumbled inarticulately.

"Come on, it'll be fu-un!" she wheedled teasingly.

Finally Mushu caved, "Fine, fine. I'll scare your stupid Captain for you, but you owe me big!"

"Thanks Mushu!"

As Mushu and Cri-kee exited the tent Mulan heard him grumble, "Tell you what though, I need a raise! Tramping around in the dark trying to scare a stupid Captain! Sheesh!"

Hah! I love Mushu's character. He's probably one of my favorites in the movie. Right up there with Cri-kee who finally made his debut in this fanfiction and even had some dialog!