castaside | [Heart Game] From the ashes we can build

MK's breathing was quick. His hand went to the keychain in his pocket. He looked at the message quick then his eyes say the shadow. Red Son needed time! He pressed the button and shoved Red Son away. Blazing bright golden energy flooded off MK as he tried to catch the shadow as it came at him.

"I'LL HOLD HIM OFF! FILL THE VOIDS!"

Red Son is shoved away and oh shit, there's the shadows. "Possession rules!" He shouts and scrambles to his feet. Moving to the table, checking for any items as he pulls up his phone. What is good anger that isn't WORSE anger?

MK's golden light catches the shadow's hand, and seems to burn it. It hisses and snarls and then vanishes through the floor, and comes up behind MK, along with half a dozen shadow clones of itself. The clones try to grab MK -- it's fine if they get burned -- while the shadow itself launches a bunch of deadly purple energy directly at the keychain, trying to break it and sever the link to MK's power that Macaque set up.

His light hurt the thing! Good to know. MK's eyes move. The clones come in. He lashed out with his tail and an arm, slamming them into the clones. Clones shouldn't matter, right? Just the original. He saw the blasts coming at him. He formed a large rock in front of him to tank the hits.

"Nice try. You'll have to do better than that. The real Macaque would know better!"

The clones pop n a fizzle of purple light.

Macaque's energy makes the rock explode, and another fwoosh of power directs the rock shards toward MK. It won't do anything, of course, but he's only after a distraction.

The shadow smirks at the taunt.

"The real Macaque doesn't care about you enough to beat you up. He'd just leave you. Again."

Then the shadow turns and vanishes through the floor again, and the next thing the ceiling is caving in on MK's head at the same time he's being struck with a shadow-version of Macaque's staff from below, trying to take out his feet.

The rock quickly dissolved to sand and hit MK without causing any pain. It was a good distraction. He looked up and formed sand up to try and hold the ceiling up. The staff hit home and MK's legs were taken out from under him. He fell backwards as he forced the sand up and hardened to keep the ceiling from collapsing. He hit the ground and tried to quickly roll away from the shadow.

"The real Macaque cares! I know he does! And I'm never doubting that again!"

Tendrils of shadow reach up from the floor to try and grapple him and the staff keeps striking at MK, viciously. Like he tried to teach MK when they first met: your first strike should be your last strike.

"Please. He cares about Wukong. You're nothing but a substitute for what he can't have." The tone is as vicious as the strikes.

The tendrils grabbed hold. At least the guy wasn't going for the keychain now. He took one strike. Then another. And a third. He growled as his eyes narrowed.

"That's the easy answer. But I'm not Wukong," MK's eyes glowed brighter as he ripped himself free from the shadows. He caught the staff with the forth strike.

"Wukong couldn't beat the Jade Emperor!" He shoved hard to force the shadow to hit itself with the staff.

"Wukong couldn't get you to turn on the Lady Bone Demon!" He moved in close and brought his knee into the shadow.

"I did that!"

"You did that. You also pushed Macaque away. Told him you didn't need him anymore. The one thing he's always feared most. You did that."

The shadow barely gets that out before he has to dodge his own staff, and then it's sinking through the floor again and more tendrils lash out, in addition to the entire area being wrapped in shadow so that MK can't see anything coming.

"I WAS ANGRY!" MK spun the staff he was now wielding. His shadow staff now. He encased himself in sand from behind. He kept making more and trying to keep the tendrils from hitting him. Everything was being wrapped in darkness. He couldn't see! Gold vision! He formed a call of sand around himself it took the beating.

"I was wrong! I pushed him away because I thought he was leaving. I thought he didn't need me. We need each other. I'm not going to let him down. I'm going to apologize! We keep hurting each other. But I'm not going to give up on him." He growled as his energies wavered. He needed to get on the attack. He used his X-Ray vision and Gold Vision together. Where are you, you shit?

"You'd think you'd be able to end this with one strike. So much for all your power! You can't even get through sand!"

"I'm not the one who beat the Jade Emperor, kiddo." The nickname is spat out in a way that's meant to wound. "What good is all your power if you hurt the ones you claim to love just because you're in a mood?"

The shadow staff wraps around MK's arm and squeezes, hard. Yours, you think? Not exactly.

"Go on and apologize. You think he'll ever actually care about you the way you want? Assuming you could even figure out what you want from him."

When he turns on the gold vision, all the shadows squeeze in around him, trying to suffocate him.

MK would stew on all of this later. He would too. The resentment. The way it stabbed at him both with the shadows around him. The staff wrapped around his arm and the shadows closed in. MK was forced down into the darkness. The way the air was trying to be squeezed out of him. It gave MK a moment to curl in on himself. To think. For the Monkey Form to take hold. He grinned as energy exploded off him and shredded through the binds and staff.

"Macaque can choose what he wants. He can fill the emptiness or he can leave it. I'm here to fill those voids. And I think that one might just be you shaped."

The energy burns the shadows away, and the shadow finds itself stunned and on its back, trying to shake away afterimages of light. For once, no smartass answer -- at least, not for the moment.

Right now, it's at your mercy. Right now, you could kill it, if you want to.

MK stalked toward the fallen shadow. His hand covered in stone as the light died down and he grabbed the shadow by the throat. He lifted him up. Like on the airship but in reverse. The look on the monkey's face was feral and savage.

"I'm not gonna kill you. Don't worry." He started to slowly walk toward the void at the bar.

"Let's see if you fit."

He's scrambling up from his shadow portal and-

Wait.

What?

"MK! Stop!"

The monkey stopped short. The shadow wasn't in the void yet. His head slowly turned to look at Red Son.

"Why?" He asked. That kindness and worry was gone. MK was full on monkey mode. His fingers gripped the shadow tighter. He wasn't going to let him wiggle free. Better hurry, Red Son. You gotta tame this monkey.

Red Son was moving closer. Bandages clutched in hand. He just needed to get the right angle to get them in first.

"Because the shadow wants to take all the hurt Macaque's suffered and lash out at everyone else with it. He's going for the things that hurt. Think of Macaque at his absolutely worst, MK," Red Son said. "Do you want to put that into the framework of his very soul? Do you want to drag him back to his darkest, loneliest, most painful days? You can't tell me a few arguments has made you hate Macaque that much."

"Hate...?" The Monkey said the word like it was a strange flavor or a new word he'd never known.

"I don't hate Macaque," He said as he looked to the shadow. He pulled the shadow closer. Was this thing not part of the framework? It had been who Macaque was once. He stepped away with the shadow. The urge to kill it raised up. He could get rid of it. Could kill it now and remove it. Though was that just as bad? He tilted his head in contemplation. He hesitated. Now was Red Son's chance.

"Then don't. Hurt. Him," Red Son said.

And chucked the roll of bandages into the void and is just going to straight up tackle into MK because honestly.

HONESTLY.

Shadow will hopefully bolt if he gets the Monkey MK to loosen his grip or attention for a second.

Edited 2024-03-11 00:55 (UTC)

The bandages are tossed into the void, and it closes up.

The shadow is still in the monkey's grip unless it lets go, squirming and writhing for its life. It won't take much to kill it now.

MK didn't even move when Red Son tackled into him. He felt Red Son but his eyes stayed on the shadow. He pulled the shadow closer. He moved to whisper so softly against this regrets ear. One last strike. Not with a fist but with his words. He learned from the best, after all.

"Push me away all you want. And I'll end up like this forever," He whispered the softest he could to try and keep Red Son from hearing it. MK dropped the shadow and grabbed Red Son by the scruff of his jacket. He zoomed back out the bar fast enough to create a gust of wind from his speed.

Red Son is getting scruffed so hard.

And while his hearing isn't Macaque hearing, its still fairly good, and he was basically a koala to MK right there.

Which-

Damn it, Noodle Boy.

"MK. MK, you need to drop the monkey," he said.

Monkey MK stopped at the elevator and looked at Red Son. He didn't peel the demon off him. Why would he? He liked how warm Red Son was.

"Why? I can stay like this for a while." He raised an eyebrow.

Red Son's hands go to his cheeks. "Because you're not good for Macaque when you're like this. You want to protect him, don't you?"

The monkey blinked once.

"I can protect everyone like this. I didn't break anything. I didn't kill that Macaque. I want to protect him, you, everyone. What's the problem?" The monkey tilted his head. He leaned in closer.

"I'm powerful. I'm ready to keep going. You like me like this. You told me to learn to control it. You helped me. Now I can stay like this. Why should I go back when I keep falling over and slowing us down?"

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Re: Level S (sub 1) - North door