Fan Fiction / Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction / Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Thir13en Ghosts ❯ Evil Ash Vs. Mulan ( Chapter 11 )

“You best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner. You’re in one.”

Captain Barbarossa

“Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”

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Thir13en Ghosts

By Charles Xavier

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Chapter Eleven: Evil Ash Vs. Mulan

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Skeletons cheered for their master, getting warmed up to face Mulan one-to-one. Evil Ash swung his swords and clashed them together, growling at her with his distorted set of teeth. Mulan was not amused, and actually paid no attention to his showing-off-his-skills routine. She took her time instead kneeling down and praying to her ancestors…

“Ancestors, please guide me.” Mulan whispered, despite all the rowdiness of her impolite audience. “Help me to vanquish these wicked spirits and prevent their horrible deeds upon our lands.”

“Come on!” Evil Ash yelled with impatience. “This ain’t no time to for any weird chit-chat to yourself! Get up from there and face me, you maggot!”

Mulan did not answer and simply ignored him.

“All right, wise girl!” Evil Ash, as unfair as he often was, attempted to strike Mulan while she was in prayers. He marched over to her with his heavy boots and drew his swords high. “RAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”

Mulan took up her sword at once and blocked Evil Ash’s cheap attack, just right after finishing her prayers. “It’s not wise to attack a girl when she is praying.” She said, shoving her enemy away. From her crouching position, she performed a back-flip landing onto her two feet. She waved her sword at Evil Ash, who only laughed at her for fun.

“HA! HA! HAAA!!!! You better start praying for mercy when I’m finished with you!”

Whirling his swords round as fast as a windmill would blow, Evil Ash came at it again with Mulan. Mulan took defense, blocking his severe-striking blows and evaded swipes that swung above her head or near her waist. Slowly Evil Ash stepped forth while Mulan was forced to back up, eventually bringing her to the sharp edge of a towering cliff. As the Army of Darkness followed and saw Evil Ash taking the lead, they were predicting a bitter end to Mulan very soon.

But Mulan was not ready to meet her impending fate that quickly. When she saw a correct moment to fight back, she swiped her sword at Evil Ash’s face. Evil Ash crossed his swords and succeeded in protecting himself. “OOOH!!!! SCARY!!!!” He smirked crudely at her.

Mulan withdrew her attack and jumped over Evil Ash as he was about to slash her again, making him the one nearest to the edge of the cliff and therefore nearer to a falling death. Seeing that this wasn’t a good sign, Evil Ash quitted toying with Mulan any further.

“HEEYA!”

A shame he didn’t think of that earlier. For by the second he turned around to face her, Mulan swung her body and kicked one of his swords out of his hand. The knocked off sword took a flight off the cliff, clattering down below into the darkening unknown. Evil Ash, still armed with one sword, resumed the fight without anymore of his smart aleck cheekiness.

“YAAR!!!”

Evil Ash pounded Mulan with his single sword with impulse. Mulan, remembering what she had learned from General Shang’s fighting lessons in the army camps, kept calm and sturdily handled the dead general with a clear and focused mind. Through her observations on his body movements, she discovered a vulnerable spot on Evil Ash; his waist.

When a chance came for Mulan to strike, she sliced her sword across Evil Ash’s torso.

“Ugh…” Evil Ash froze solid as felt something cold cut clear through his body. Staring mindlessly into Mulan’s eyes, he could tell that this victory wasn’t going to be his. He could no longer feel his legs and so was weak to resist Mulan’s next move.

“HEEYA!!!!” Mulan jumped and roundhouse kicked Evil Ash off the cliff to face his sheer drop. In his moments of descent, Evil Ash looked up at Mulan hatefully, waving his arms while his body detached into two and separated.

With their leader slain, the Army of Darkness were left defenseless and uncertain of what to do next. The intrepid Mulan shone her sword at them, showing them that she was unafraid to take them all on at once. But after watching how well she defeated Evil Ash, none of them dared to even take one step towards her. And cowardly as they had become, the Army of Darkness fled in pronounced fear. Discarding their armor and weapons, they ran away from Mulan, who was shocked to see how yellow the skeletons were in facing a girl.

“Hmph!”

Mulan sheathed back her sword and crossed her arms with a shaking head; she almost felt insulted.

…

Aerith never liked living in Midgar’s filthy slums when remembering back to her days where she sold flowers to strangers that crossed her path. But there she was, strolling across the empty streets of this dark polluting city. With heavy showers pouring down, Aerith’s clothes became wet in merely seconds and she was afraid of catching a bad cold any given time.

“Hello?” Aerith called out, while the thunder roared back in her unwelcome presence. “Hello? Is there anybody here?”

Lost and confused, Aerith couldn’t explain why she was back in Midgar…alone. Her cries echoed throughout the flooded streets, but nothing was returned in her response. Electrical lamp posts were neatly placed among the brick sidewalks in straight rows, undisturbed cars were parked in their suited spaces, and Midgar couldn’t have been more calm in this atmosphere…could it?

“(Come.)”

A cold and eerie voice whispered into her ear.

Aerith undoubtedly followed the voice into a nearby courtyard, which felt disturbingly familiar to her when she entered it. And no wonder, it was the in fact the same courtyard where she had her first encounter with Cloud and sold him a flower…

The jade-lit fountain in the center was still sprouting alive with water even under this overwhelming rain. Lamp posts here were flickering on and off every so often which gave Aerith discomfort. At the same time blue sparks burst out from the lose telephone cables from above, making her jump in fright. The storm grew more aggressive, as the voice called to Aerith again. This time it became more distinct; it was somebody speaking out from the depths of the fountain.

“(Come.)”

With her staff equipped in case of danger, Aerith crept towards the fountain to inspect who or what was calling her. But what she didn’t expect to witness a pale-stricken hand, which suddenly arose from the unclear water. Recoiling back, Aerith watched in horror as a skinny teenaged girl in a snowy dress climb out of the fountain like a creature from bowels of Hell. Collapsing to the floor sloppily, the girl rose onto her bare feet with long strands of brunette hair dangling down to her waist. Her hair was so long that it was difficult for Aerith to distinguish her obscured face.

Sadako Yamamura approached Aerith, crackling the bones inside her crooked shoulders to adjust them correctly. She lifted her face at her and Aerith, distressed by the sight, caught a glimpse of her foreboding eyes behind her strands of hair.

“(Die now!)”

The female ghost hissed in her ghastly Japanese tongue.

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Author’s Note: May I stress out again that Sadako and Samara are NOT the same person! So to some of you readers, please stop referring to Sadako as Samara…because despite their similarities, their characters and backgrounds are quite different from each other. Swear.

Next: Aerith Vs. Sadako

(Pick your side…I suggest maybe watching ‘Ring 0: Birthday’, which is a prequel to ‘Ringu’. Quite the spine-chilling film if you want to learn more about Sadako’s dark history)