Hey another chapter! So if you guys really like this fic and think it's good and all...you should wait till my next fic. Because that's when not only do I put down the whole parody thingy on fanfiction tropes, but that's when I really let loose on the feels and everything...especially with stuff involving Mandarin. Please enjoy!
Sprx tapped his fingers on the table. He looked at the clock, and groaned. Why were they up so late? They can plan in the morning!
"So we know that Skelemandarin and Sage are still in the Savage lands and building an army to invade the city. What we need to do is think of battle strategies for when they do invade." Chiro said.
The others nodded. Sprx felt himself dozing off before Nova elbowed him awake.
Gibson thought for a bit.
"Perhaps we should split into groups and shrink the numbers of the formless and attack the two when they're out numbered." He suggested.
Antauri looked over at him.
"We could, but what if they spread the army out so that it would be harder for us to fight them all off?" He pondered.
"We could use a distraction to gather them all together." Willow suggested.
Everyone nodded.
"Yeah but what?"
Sprx thought on it and an idea soon slammed him.
"What about a Sueronian?" He suggested.
Willow turned to him, giving a suspicious look. Sprx held up a hand.
"I mean we could have a Sueronian, not you Willow, to distract the formless with their aura. When Brittany's mom came over, her aura made us for a second fall for her and pay as much attention to her as possible. If we have something like that to even distract the formless of all things we could easily wipe them out!" Sprx explained.
Everyone looked at each other.
"Erm Sprx you do realize that formless are incapable of falling in love right?" Gibson pointed out.
Sprx shrugged.
"It still might work. I mean they can probably even get worms to fall in love with them, Gibs." He said, causing Gibson to shiver.
Willow sighed.
"Do you really want to use a Sueronian to be bait for an army? The poor soul will have thousands fight over them. That sounds like a terrible idea in general." She huffed.
Chiro tilted his body a bit, his hand on his chin.
"Not as long we can ensure them their safety."
Willow glanced at him then looked at Sprx.
"Willow, trust me. It can work."
Willow looked off to the side.
"I'm just not a fan of having a Sueronian be the object of someone's depraved affection and be the sex appeal." She thought to herself.
"So if we do go with this idea, who would even want to be up for this?" Jinmay asked.
Before the others could bounce off ideas, they heard someone entering the command center. They all turned to see Mandarin with several grocery bags. Mandarin was humming and was about to enter the kitchen when he noticed the others. He glanced around.
"Evening." He said as he began to enter the kitchen.
Nova quickly got up.
"Wait Mandarin! What are you doing up?" She asked.
Mandarin paused before holding up the grocery bags.
"Getting groceries."
"At two am?!"
Mandarin raised an eyebrow.
"When you get insufferable cravings that keep you up at night, you do what you must." He said.
Gibson crossed his arms.
"You could have asked us to get you what you needed. It's rather unsafe for you to-"
"Please! Like anyone would want to pick a fight with me at night and don't mention those two pests. I've got Tabithian sentries all around the city just in case." Mandarin huffed.
Otto walked up to him.
"Still you might get hurt."
"Otto I don't need a sitter, the store is just down the road. I can handle myself just fine." Mandarin said, patting Otto's head.
"Still!" Otto grumbled.
Willow huffed, that independence of his was admirable but with him being pregnant right now that independence was a bit dangerous.
"At least next time go with someone." She said.
"Like anyone would want to get up in the dead of night just to go to the store." Mandarin replied, rolling his eyes.
Otto raised his hand.
"I wouldn't mind." He said.
Mandarin looked down at him. Of course he wouldn't, but he still didn't want to wake Otto up each night. He needs his sleep.
"I can handle myself fine." He said, trying for the final time to get that through their heads.
Chiro groaned.
"Mandarin just have Otto go with you next time just in case." He huffed.
Mandarin looked down at Otto.
"Are you sure you'd be okay with it?" He asked.
Otto nodded.
"Yeah, don't worry. Couples that have a pregnant person go through stuff like this all the time." He said.
Willow raised a hand too.
"I can go some nights if he's too stubborn to wake up."
"Hey."
Mandarin looked off to the side.
"Then I guess it's fine, but the moment you start complaining-!"
Otto jumped up to him and wrapped his arms around his neck.
"Shush." He chirped, placing a finger on Mandarin's mouth.
Mandarin grumbled as Otto hopped down and went back to the others.
"What are you doing up anyway?" He asked as he went into the kitchen.
"We're figuring out battle strategies for when Sage and your clone attack again." Antauri explained loudly so that Mandarin could hear.
"Blowing my clone up would be nice." Mandarin's voice suggested.
Antauri sighed.
"We are not blowing him up."
"Why not?"
"Because we're not going to destroy him."
Mandarin quickly looked out at them, a confused and shocked expression on his face. Why wouldn't they?' He's evil!
"I will never understand your pacifist logic." He huffed before going back in the kitchen.
Chiro sighed as he went back inside. They knew this subject would be brought up again later.
"Okay so going back on the distraction." He said.
"I'm not doing it, I'm not bait." Willow huffed, crossing her arms.
"I didn't say that you had to. Maybe we could ask Brittany or maybe one of Arwen's friends." Chiro suggested.
Willow wasn't sure if her mother's friends would be up for such a task, but she could always ask them for their help.
"Now what I think we could do about it is-" Gibson began before they heard a loud thump.
Sprx fell from dozing off. Nova snickered and helped him back up.
"Maybe get some sleep?" She suggested.
Everyone looked at each other before agreeing.
"Mandy! I'm gonna sleep in your bed!" Otto chirped as everyone trudged off to bed.
"Okay." Mandarin said, eating what seemed to be pineapples, chicken rice, and gummy worms.
Willow entered the kitchen and grabbed a water before plopping down next to him.
She looked at the gummy worms.
"Can you hand me a red one?" She asked, receiving one.
The two shared a comfortable silence before Mandarin began to grumble.
"Why do they insist on not destroying him? He's just going to keep coming back." He said.
Willow glanced at him quizzically before realizing he was talking about his clone.
"Oh, that."
"If they try to imprison him, he's just going to break out again. If they banish him, he'll find some way to cause trouble. What are they even going to do about Sage?" Mandarin went on.
"For Sage Antauri said something about returning him to Trent's physical body. I don't know how but that might be how we'll defeat him." Willow explained.
Mandarin set down the fork.
"So they're going to destroy him, but not my clone?" He inquired, really not understanding the logic.
Willow sipped her water before setting it down.
"I don't get it either, but I can't help but get the feeling that...they don't want to."
"Why?"
Willow shrugged and turned to him.
"I don't know, maybe it has to do with what the Alchemist said a while back. You know, with how he 'could have been so much more'? Maybe they'll try to get him to reform like you did." She suggested.
"But I reformed due to Skeleton King forcing my corrupted power primate out of me. How are they going to do such a thing to someone who was literally created in evil?"
Willow leaned foreword and held up her head with her hands.
"Maybe help him reform on his own? I mean it can be done."
Mandarin sighed, she does have a point. It was still insane sounding but it could still work. The motives behind the idea of keeping his clone alive still stumped him. Maybe sometime he should ask the Alchemist on it. Mandarin had a feeling that he would get answers from him. For now, he has to focus on Lazuli.
"I will say, this isn't the weirdest craving you had so far."
"True, and I actually find this delectable."
The next day the others were enjoying themselves, having another planning session in a few hours.
As Willow and Antauri watched Sprx, Otto, and Chiro play video games, they heard a loud thump behind them.
They all turned to see Trent kneeling on the floor, looking at his phone in shock. He seemed to shake and his breathing labored.
"Trent? What's wrong?" Willow asked as the others rushed over to him.
"I-I-I," he shakily held up his phone to reveal an email.
"I got in!" He exclaimed.
The email read that Trent's application was accepted and he was moving up to the concert portion of the audition.
Amanda squealed and hugged Trent as Otto joined in.
"That's amazing Trent!" Jinmay cheered.
"I was so scared when I read where it's from. I thought I got rejected." Trent wheezed, tears stinging his eyes.
"But you didn't, I'm glad you got in." Antauri said while Willow worriedly looked at him.
She was still worried and kind of...sad. Antauri sensed her feelings as he looked at her and made a silent note to talk to her about it.
"If I get into Starlights...if I get into Starlights!" Trent wheezed, realizing the heaviness of those words.
Amanda hugged him even tighter.
"My bff is gonna be a superstar!" She squealed.
Willow smiled a bit. Trent then quickly got up.
"I-I need to practice!" He exclaimed before darting out of the room.
"There he goes." Nova chirped.
Most of the others snickered before they went back to doing whatever. Willow however, still stood in her place before she felt Antauri's hand on her shoulder. She turned to him.
"Yes?"
Antauri tilted his head.
"Willow, is there something you need to talk about?" He asked.
Willow hesitated to respond before she nodded.
"Then come with me so we can discuss in private." He said, leading her to the tubes.
Willow glanced back at the tube Trent left in before looking back down.
"Now what seems to be troubling you?" He asked as he gave Willow her tea.
Willow hesitated, feeling as if she would come of as selfish when she would start talking.
"Um...about Trent joining Starlights." She began.
Antauri tilted his head, concerned.
"Are you not happy with him joining them?" He asked.
Willow snapped her head up and shook her head.
"No! No I'm happy for him! I really am it's just..." Her voice trailed off.
She sighed before continuing.
"I'm just worried...and sad." She explained.
"Why's that?"
Willow bit her lip and swallowed a growing lump in her throat. She gripped the sides of the cup before shakily exhaling.
"Trent has been my best friend since we were kids, he and I were always together. So I know how much Starlights mean to him but at the same time...I'm worried how him joining Starlights will affect our friendship." Willow explained.
Antauri nodded, letting her continue. Willow began to sniffle, angry at herself for the way she does.
"After the auditions, Brittany said they would go on a debut tour for several months and do all sorts of interviews. I'm just...I'm just not going to see him as much and...and I'm worried-"
"You're worried that he is going to change and you will be distant from him, right?" Antauri finished.
Willow froze up, the lump in her throat growing larger. Curse him for being so knowledgeable! She slightly nodded.
Antauri set down his cup and took her hand.
"Now I haven't known Trent as long as you have, but I can tell that he really cares about you. I don't think he would give up years of friendship for fame. It just doesn't sound like him." Antauri said.
Willow blinked back tears before silently agreeing. That is true, the guy has more kindness in him than his body would allow.
"However his schedule sounds like it would be very busy and he may not talk right away. So don't get discouraged if he doesn't reply right away."
Willow snickered but nodded, he sounded like her dad.
Antauri let go of her hand and rested at his side. He looked at her straight in the face.
"I think you should talk to him about this,. I mean he is your friend after all." Antauri pointed out.
Willow nodded again, showing a bit more confidence than before.
"Yeah, I think I will." She said before getting up.
Willow quickly finished her tea before beginning to leave Antauri's room. She stopped and looked back at him.
"Also, thank you. If it weren't for you and Mandarin talking to me, I think I would be in a much worse place than I was a few months ago." She said before smiling and leaving.
Antauri watched her go, smiling as a warm feeling flowed through him.
My sweet son Trent got in! Anywho thank you so much for reading!