Hey everyone! Sorry that this is being posted so late, but practice for my sport was horrible today. It went on really late, so that's why I'm uploading this so late. Anyway, for those of you who are confused as to who Sage is, I'll put his past in here as well. I'll also introduce the last of the new OCs from AU2005 in this chapter.
Here it is…
*With Tang*
The young panda barrel rolled to his left, dodging the flaming staff that slammed into the stairs, leaving a crater. Tang slowly got to his feet and looked at the assailant. He was in no shape to fight.
Tang turned and started to run up the steps as fast as he could. The Jade Palace with his parents was his only safe haven. However, being a slightly overweight panda wasn't helpful for his stamina when climbing these steps. Soon, Tang collapsed to his knees, panting heavily. He then shouted in pain when a kunai sunk into the calf of his leg.
The panda slowly turned to see the assassin standing over him, a look of malice in their eyes.
"A pity that I can't torture you. I'd have so much more fun that way! However my boss wants you dead, so dead you shall be!" The attacker stated, unsheathing their dagger. "Goodbye, panda."
Sweat began to pour down Tang's neck and back and his knees began to quiver as the blade was put against his throat. He could hear the female assassin chuckle softly to herself as she prepared to end the young panda.
Well, this definitely sucks. Wonder what the guys' reactions will be when they find out that I'm gone. Tang thought.
Suddenly, the young panda felt a blast of wind rush over him and the knife clattered to the ground. Tang looked up to see his father, Po, commanding the winds with Oogway's staff to bombard the assassin. The attacker went flying down the steps and face planted on the ground at the bottom. She looked up at the Dragon Warrior with fury before running off into the night.
Po calmly walked down to the bottom of the steps and picked an object up. It was the half-mask that the assassin had been wearing.
"Are you alright, son?" Po called up to the shaken Tang.
"Y-yeah. J-j-ju-just f-f-fine!" His son sputtered before standing up; his legs were wobbling from the kunai. "Who was that?"
"Someone that I thought was dead." Po stated before walking back up to his son, healing him and then walking back up to the palace.
The Dragon Warrior didn't answer any more questions about the assailant for the rest of the night. Even though Tang didn't detect it, Po was deeply disturbed about the identity of the assassin. If he was correct, then all of the masters, students, and even his family were in danger.
*Later that night, at the Emperor's palace*
"Has Dega calmed down yet?" Zan asked.
"From what I heard, Lily went berserk on fun and overloaded the tiger lion." Arizona replied.
"Well, after a good book and some nice peace and quiet, I think I'm back to normal!" Dega stated, walking up to his friends. "Four of my nine lives were shredded today, but other than that I'm good to go!"
"I said I was sorry!" Lilly complained.
"And I said that I forgive you!" The tiger lion replied. "I'm going to bed! This day has burned my energy! Night guys!"
"Goodnight!" Everyone replied.
As Dega rounded the corner, he accidentally bumped into Max.
"Oh! Sorry Mac Attack; didn't see ya coming!" Dega apologized.
"Mac Attack?" Max questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh shoot! That's right! You don't like it when I call you that!" The tiger lion exclaimed, slapping his forehead.
After thinking about it for a moment, Max came to a conclusion. "Mac Attack will do just fine. It's growing on me!"
After a fist bump and saying their goodnights, Dega went off to his room.
*Around two in the morning*
Horns blasted around the Emperor's palace, waking everyone up with a start. After a little while, a tired and half asleep Takami and Hope stumbled out into the main hall of the palace.
"What's going on?" Takami asked, looking around and rubbing his eyes.
Soon, Lupa, Lily, Hope, Skyler, and Kidd were out in the hall also.
"Okay, who woke me up? I have a bone to pick with them!" Skyler threatened.
Max, Arizona, Faith, Ryo, and Kiba were the next ones to arrive, just as confused as everyone else.
"Hey, wha happen?" A sleepy Dega asked, stumbling into the room and collapsing on the ground, falling back asleep.
"WHO. WOKE. ME. UP?" A very grimy and very angry Kaizer demanded, storming into the main hall.
"ACK! Kaizer's up! Everyone hide! Run! Save yourselves!" Kiba exclaimed, running around the hall before ducking under a bench.
"Children, three intruders have been captured. Come; your parents and masters are waiting for you all before we meet them." The Emperor stated before slithering off into the courtyard.
Once they met with their parents and masters, the group was stunned to see who had been arrested as intruders.
Musaki, Summer, and Sierra were bound in shackles and were kneeling before the Emperor.
"Hey guys! Nice to see you again!" Musaki exclaimed with a smile.
The eighteen year-old giant panda, although actually pretty skinny, was a caring, compassionate, funny, and sarcastic at times being. Once you got to know him well, he would be able to step out of his shy shell and become one of your good friends. The only person he was sarcastic to was Tigress, being that he doesn't like her tough and violent attitude towards her friends. In a tight situation, Musaki could unleash some unexpected supernatural powers and he possessed the ability to figure out people's feelings and thoughts by their words and gestures.
Summer, a seventeen and a half giant panda, is a very kind, sweet, and caring person, just like her boyfriend Musaki. An orphan when she was little, she met Musaki when she was younger; however they became separated for quite a fair amount of time. Years later, at a dance, she met up with her now boyfriend and they instantly hit it off. Although she has no special powers or abilities, she still can fight very well.
Sierra, the girlfriend of Arizona, was an eighteen year-old grey wolf. The adopted sister of Summer, Sierra is quite the happy, kind, bubbly individual, but when it comes to the ones she cares about, she can fight with the best of them.
"Zona! Hey! We heard that you guys were over here, so we made a detour on our way home to say hi and check this place out, but as you can see, we didn't really get a warm welcome." Sierra cheered.
"You can let them go, Sire. One is a student of ours and the other two are our friends." Crane explained.
"I remember when I was thought to be an assassin, arrested, brought before the old emperor and was threatened to be killed. Good times, good times." Kiro reminisced.
Once the three were unchained, the friends talked for a little bit before saying goodnight yet again and heading back to bed. Lily and Lupa had to carry the still sleeping Dega back to his room.
*With Overlord, in his vision*
"Dad, when are we gonna go camping like you asked?" The young boy asked.
"Not now, son. I'm trying to figure out my strategy." The boy's father, Sage, replied.
"All you do is work. You're probably never gonna take over China anyway!" The child shot.
"NEVER say that!" The wolverine hissed, getting up from his seat. "I'm close. I can feel it. All I need is to gather more men so I have enough to divide them in to two factions: one to take over the royal palace and the other to take out the kung-fu headquarters."
"What if you try to use an assassin to take out the Emperor? Then you can focus on one point." The young Overlord explained.
The boy loved helping his stepfather with battle strategies, even if Sage's ideas were far-fetched.
"Not a bad idea, boy. Not a bad one at all. I'll hire someone as soon as possible." The wolverine stated before going back to work.
Overlord's vision shifted and he was now a slightly older version of himself than last time.
He was standing before his stepfather in combat gear. Sage stood before his son with a big smile on his face.
"So you really want to learn how to fight?" The wolverine asked.
"Of course. My biological father was never big on violence, but I think that it solves problems!" The boy replied.
"Yes; it can start problems and finish them. Specific problems like our government in this country. Anyway, let us begin."
The vision shifted again and this time, a young teen was standing before his stepfather, tired and worn out.
"You've come far in your training since you've first started. However, I want you to seek out Grandmaster Feng. He's the leader of China's criminals as well as my boss. He will continue your training from here. I have taught you all I know." Sage explained.
"Of course. Where can I find him?"
"Di Ki Mountains. You'll know the location when you see it. It's a little ways south of here." The wolverine responded.
Overlord's dream shifted again, and he was now a teen in combat gear, standing in a darkened cavern.
"Your stepfather is doing well with his conquest I hear." Grandmaster Feng boomed. "I just hope that he doesn't kill the Emperor. I know that they have bad blood between each other, but I would like both of them alive."
"I've heard that he almost has taken all of China. Even the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five are unable to stop him! I never thought that my stepfather would actually do it." The teenage Overlord stated.
"He has made both of us proud." The dragon stated, sitting back on his throne of rock.
His dream changed again, and this time he was looking out upon the battle going on by the kung-fu headquarters.
The teen was standing on a rocky ledge, looking out upon his stepfather, fighting his enemies. He witnessed Sage plunge his claws into a female wolf and then a few minutes later, proceed to do the same thing to a male bobcat. Everything was going as his stepfather said it would go.
However, horror struck the teen when he witnessed the Dragon Warrior become enveloped in a red aura of a dragon and throw the wolverine toward the mountains. Overlord cried out to Sage, but the wolverine didn't hear him.
The teen's stepfather slammed into the mountainside, killing the wolverine upon impact.
For the final time, the figure in black's vision changed and he was now standing in a mountain range.
Overlord bent over his limp stepfather and began to weep softly. He had just lost the one person, other than his mother, who had mattered to him most. In a way, Sage was like his real father, being that he had never really met his biological one and that Sage was almost always there for him.
He looked one last time at the bruised, battered, and scarred face of the wolverine, whose eyes remained looking up at the sky. Sage had been so close to his dream, yet was beaten down when he tried to achieve it.
The teen shut his father's eye lids before starting the long walk home.
He paid no heed to the celebration going on by the kung-fu headquarters, nor the weeping Kiro Takimuro as the white tiger bent over the dead bodies of his friends, Los and Sashi.
No, for it was then then that he vowed that he would kill the Dragon Warrior, his friends, and anyone he had ever cared about.
*End of vision*
Overlord snapped his eyes open. He was still in his room, in his meditating position.
His nightmare had occurred again.
Tears streamed down his face. Overlord was shaking and his thoughts became distorted. He could almost hear his mother from the grave, telling him not to continue down the path that his stepfather had taken.
But it was too late.
He could not turn back now, for he would succeed where his father failed.
No, he was going to do what his father could not.
He was going to finish Sage's mission.
Sage's legacy.
There it is! A little enlightenment on the past of Overlord for you guys. Maybe this will have you formulate an opinion on who he is.
Remember to leave a review with your thoughts!
Note to Animation Universe 2005: There it is; all of your major OCs explained and introduced. And I also put in Mac Attack for ya.
I'll write again soon, but with my state graduation tests this week, lots of homework, and hard practices for track, I can't make any promises that I'd post a new chapter every single day!
More to come…