With the Talismans swapped for convincing fakes, it was only a matter of waiting for the Dark Hand to be rested enough to make their move. As a result, everyone kipped down for the night, leaving Audrey III on watch to wake them once the Dark Hand made their move. Audrey had expected this, since he didn't actually need to sleep. As long as he found sufficient nutrients in the soil, he'd be able to pull up roots and head with the others after the Dark Hand. And with vines stretched into the rooms wrapped around the legs of the beds, it would be easy enough to silently wake the group when the Dark Hand made their move.
Relative to Audrey's perception of time - which was entirely related to "things happening in his vicinity" - it wasn't long before the sun had cleared the horizon and the Dark Hand were moving. The dark wizard led the way on foot, with his Dark Warriors and Hak Foo at his side. "Keep up!" he snarled angrily as Ratso, Finn, and Chao staggered out into the sun.
"We're coming, we're coming..." Finn groaned, rubbing at his eyes.
"Yeah, keep your robe on..." Ratso grumbled with a yawn as he settled his Talismans.
As they stumbled off, Chao glanced in Audrey's direction to get the sun's glare out of his eyes as he pulled on his shades. He then froze, staring at Audrey. Audrey turned his bulb to look right back at him. After a time, Chao slipped his shades on, turned, and walked back to the rest of his group.
"Something wrong?" Ratso asked curiously.
"Nope!" Chao responded firmly.
Audrey couldn't help but grin as he shook the beds to awaken the others. "Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na, Bat-Plant!"(1)
With everyone gathered, it didn't take long to tail the Dark Hand agents to an old temple, in time to witness the Dark Wizard ordering his Warriors to cut their way through a sealed door. They then made their way into an ancient chamber, the walls covered in inscriptions, all surrounding a single pedestal with the artifact resting upon it. It was a somewhat elongated octahedronal box, dark blue with gold at the four compass points of the middle and on the top and bottom. There appeared to be grooves around the outside horizontally and vertically, dividing the box into sixteen pieces like some strange puzzle. There were green markings on the flat top, and presumably on the bottom, though they couldn't be seen.
"There it is," the Dark Wizard proclaimed. "The Pan'ku Box. Now, one of you grab it!" he instructed the humans with him firmly.
As the four moved forward, Finn glanced at the wizard. "Uh...Daolong Wong, dude? Why don't you take it?"
"We went over this!" Daolong Wong snapped. "It is an artifact forged of pure good magic! As I have enhanced my physicality with the Dark Magic I practice, I can no more touch it than a demon could. And my Dark Warriors are creatures of Dark Magic, touching it would banish them!"
"...seems a real design flaw," Ratso murmured. "I mean, if you've made Dark Magic constructs, isn't good magic the thing you're going to need them to fight the most? Kinda seems to defeat the purpose of making 'em. I mean, I never heard of Good Magic constructs going poof just because they touched something Evil. Quite the opposite, really."
Daolong Wong glared daggers at Ratso. "Just...take the Box," he growled out.
"I think not," Jackie stated boldly as the group stepped into the room.
As Daolong Wong and the others spun, they found Jackie, El Toro, Viper, Tohru, Uncle, Jade, Paco, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Audrey III arranged to battle them. Daolong Wong's eyes locked on Uncle, narrowing to enraged slits. "You!" he snarled out angrily.
"Daolong Wong," Uncle responded coldly. "I have heard of you..."
Daolong Wong began to choke and splutter. "Heard of? You...you...do you know what you cost me? What I could have been if you'd simply kept your nose out of it? The secrets of Light and Dark were in my grasp, and I would have had it all if not for you and your lizard!"
"Uhh..." Ratso began worriedly. "Should you...really be talking like that in front of kids? I mean, there's evil, and then there's just inappropriate-"
"Oh!" Scootaloo suddenly gasped out. She turned to Uncle and pointed at Daolong Wong. "He's the 'Liar Liar Pants on Fire' kid from chi magic school! I loved when you told that story!"
"...uhh..." Chao deadpanned, unsure what was going on.
"Oh!" Uncle declared as he remembered. "You bad kid Fireball burned pants off, got expelled cause it made you drop dark magic items you weren't supposed to have!" He burst into laughter. "Hated me for that all this time? Pfeh! You need to get a life!"
"Oh, I intend to," Daolong Wong growled out angrily. "I intend to take yours! Kill them all!"
The Dark Warriors immediately drew their weapons - a three-section chain staff, a windmill shuriken boomerang blade, and a sledgehammer - which glowed blue-purple with their dark magic.
"Wait, kill?" Finn gasped out in surprise. "Look, Wong, I get that-"
"You will shut your mouth and fight or you will die first to put your Talismans to better use!" Daolong Wong snarled viciously, swinging his staff towards Finn.
Finn swallowed convulsively. "Y-you're the boss," he confirmed as the group brought forth their Talismans.
(1) See Author's Note.
Yeah, that was smart alright.
The reference was funny even if didn't fully get it
Love the reference. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
I didn't get the song reffence but I like how the whole hated for uncle form Dao long wrong was an old school rivalry I don't know if this was ever explained in the show is need to go back and rematch it yet agen sometime
7962753
It was never explained in the show.
Reference is in the video in the author notes.
Emm, sorry if this was brought up, but wouldn't Wong sense Uncle and the CMC in the hotel?
7962758 The closest I recall from the show I think was in Daolong Wong's premier episode where he is said to have "defeated"* Uncle's Old master but that's about it.
*I think we all know what he actually meant by defeated... censors or otherwise.
You know, if our heroes were properly vicious, I feel like Aubrey III could have done terrible things to the Dark Hand in their sleep.
That's a good point.
You want to use good Chi magic, but you yourself cannot touch it? If that isn't a design flow, I don't know what is.
I don't think Ratso has shades.
Wow Audrey is getting a little OP. It was fine when Apple Bloom didn't have her cutie mark but now I feel that as she gets more powerful he does as well. Still he is a great gag character and him and Celestia will get along just fine when they meet.
So, does that mead the CMC and Audrey are untouchable by the Dark Warriors? After all, the CMC are creatures of good/light magic, and Audrey is functionally a construct of Applebloom's, making him a construct of good/light magic.
There's really gotta be a sort of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors here. I mean, I'm not taking pity on them, but that one dude has a point.
This entire world seems unbalanced against the forces of evil. Something something Taoism~...
I think you mean Chao.
Eh, I figure it's like this:
Most good derived combat magic is tailored to deal with evil related magic. So it is really effective at what it does.
Evil based magic is tailored to have an advantage over normals.
Normal stuff has advantages over good derived magic. Like it's easier to use, or requires less investment beforehand.
From what I gathered from the show, Dao Lon Wong never knew about Uncle (or the other way around) until the first time we saw them meet. DLW considered Uncle a nuisance at best at first, while Uncle got pissed really quick once he found out that DLW had killed his teacher, Chi Master Fong.
I don't mind this change, though. Puts DLW closer in tone to the show.
Smart move Chao.
That Batman reference was funny. Also, Ratso pointing out the fallacy of Light and Dark magic; I enjoy his moments of intellectual inputs. Not to mention how he felt towards Wong and his phrasing
Poor Daolong Wong must've had a sucky childhood, but considering his shady practices and where he's at now, it's hard to feel entirely bad for him.
Finn actually having reservations on killing? Evil does have standards!
7962977 This
7962758 I like this backstory a lot more.
So when Chao saw Audrey he decided to... *shades* not deal with it.* He also probably had a light bulb moment right there.
The Pan'ku box is so good that it's bad to the bad.
*The name is still flipped when I read it just to note.
Chapter Ninety
"Aiyah!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 44
"One More Thing!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 75
Once again Ratso proves that he is smarter than he looks.
7963238
It was either pretend that he didn't see it, or get possibly eaten by a plant. So yeah, smart move on his part indeed.
Awesome chapter
"Anything wrong?"
[Insert Lego Batman nope scene.]
7963138 "Something, something, Dark side. ...something, something, Complete."
7963138 I imagine it's a "Proactivity" thing- Remember, all it takes for Evil to triumph is for Good to do nothing.
Similar to Heroes and Villains in Superpowers settings. The Villains are the ones going out and starting things. There's a whole lot of them. Some are being Destroy the World EEEVIL, others are toppling governments to rule in their stead, others are knocking over corner stores, and many are just bullying their fellow beings. The good guys gotta focus on stopping the Big Evils, and so there might be less Strong Good, but it's focused like a lancet at the worst evils. Then there's a blanket, Weak Good just kinda... permeating things and keeping society from collapsing- the Good that gets people to puck up someone they see fall on the street, etc. So what happens is the sort of Medium Evil gets to run rampant. An Evil Middle Class, if you will, balanced out by the 1% and Poverty class Goods.
7963138
I have figured out what the Rock-Paper-Scissors of mortal magic is, as far as my headcanon (and thus this story), as well as an explanation for it.
In the beginning, there was only Wild Magic, which suffused all life and was a part of everything. When Man first arose, he respected the Wild, and thus was at peace with it.
Then dark intentions rose from Man's instinctive desire to control, and Dark Magic was created to tame the Wild. (Dark Magic beats Wild Magic).
Those who did not wish to see the world controlled by evil intent drew from their desires to protect, from their willingness to sacrifice for others, and their desire to stop the Dark, and created Good Magic specifically to stop Dark Magic. (Good Magic beats Dark Magic).
However, because this involved denying their instincts and choosing civilized behavior over nature, it weakened the connection to the wilderness. (Wild Magic beats Good Magic).
Huh. Didn't know you included South Park characters too:
static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11113/111134695/4371799-7890618912-Capta.jpg
Dude
steel lol at that
You know, while re-reading this, I have a question that needs to be answered: When you were having Hawk Foo see the CMC while they were wearing the pendents, was your description of what he was seeing just from his perceptive and how he perceived them? Or were those descriptions how everyone was seeing them before the magic overhaul happened?
11586648
Just his perspective. It's how his mind rationalized his senses telling them they were 'normal'.