LOVE STORY

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Chapter Twenty-Four
The Plan Man
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❝Forever's a long time, bud. Trust me.❞

YOU CHECKED OUTSIDE your house to ensure that no one was eavesdropping on your conversation with your guests, you wouldn't know if Azure had implanted spies somewhere or was capable of hearing you. It was finally time to create a plan to win this fight.

"Okay! Monkey class is in session." You spoke up with excitement, flashing an encouraging smile to everyone present. Behind you was a board with many pinned pictures to use them to explain. Mk shared your excitement, "Smartie Kid is in attendance." The boy said while punching the air. Sandy tried to get Ne Zha to join them on the ground, but the Lotus Prince refused, "I can't believe how many wise masters I'm getting trained by this season!" Tang chirped as he also was excited to be trained by you.

"Wise master, huh? Let me know when he gets here." Ne Zha sarcastically said, but you threw a crayon at him which made him hiss in pain, "I think you burst a stitch." He stated and touched the place you hit. You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms, "Ah, you'll be fine. Big immortal baby." You whispered the last part to yourself so that you won't get in a fight with Ne Zha for something stupid.

"So, you gonna tell us how you beat your old sworn brothers that hate you now, or what?" Pigsy who was beside Ne Zha asked you.

"Do you want me to throw crayons at you? 'Cause I have a whole box." You warned him while pulling out a box of crayons. When you received no reply, you threw the box away, "That's what I thought. Now, listen up! If we're gonna beat Azure, Yellowtusk, and Peng, you've all got some learning to do. Peng is the most dangerous foe any of you have ever faced but the only thing they care about more than fighting is self-preservation. The moment the battle looks like it's turning against them, they'll flee." You proceeded to explain about each and everyone of your old companions.

"Peng's the worst." Mei spoke up in disgust.

"Yellowtusk is tough, smart, and faster than he looks. He was a handful even before he had your weapons. But he's not a monster. Maybe we can make him see reason." You continued your explanation, trying to recall as many details as possible. However, Tang seemed to have hesitation, "That's not a super solid plan." He pointed out with worry. Just then, Mei raised her hand up, "Uh, excuse me. Well, what about Azure?" She asked you.

"Huh. Nothing gets under his skin more than a monkey. Leave Azure to MK and me."

"Azure won't admit it but he has a thirst for revenge. Truth is, he's gonna be on Y/N like a bad smell. Like Y/N doesn't stink bad enough already." Macaque who appeared out of nowhere and surprise everyone mocked you. A frown appeared on your face, but you didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing you frustrated. You will show him later, "Hey! I got the crayon, I do the sayin'! But don't worry. I almost beat the Jade Emperor single-handed once. Between both of us, Azure doesn't stand a chance." Your pride boosted up so suddenly because you were certain that you can beat Azure.

The Jade Emperor in the past was capable of controlling his great powers. However, Azure wasn't like the Jade Emperor. He couldn't control the great powers he possessed which would make it easer to defeat him. Still, he got the Scroll of Memory with him, something Ne Zha was aware of, "Y/N, he has the Scroll of Memory. With it, he defeated the combined Armies of Heaven! So long as Azure has the scroll in his grasp, we don't stand a chance." He pointed out.

"What if we get it out of his grasp?" Mk simply suggested.

"Yeah, sure. If we can do that impossible thing, yeah." Again, Ne Zha's sarcasm got him another crayon thrown at him. Meanwhile, Mk got excited that the Lotus Prince was joining as he concluded, "Great! Sounds like Ne Zha's on board."

You cleared your throat to get everybody's attention back to you, "Okay. So we all know I'm the greatest teacher in all of history." As you started talking, Macaque facepalmed, mumbling something under his breath. However, you ignored him for now, "But my plan making..." You trailed off, trying to find a good word to lessen how failure you were in plan making.

"Is the worst!" Mei bluntly finished the sentence instead of you.

"Okay. Hurtful. I was gonna say "needs improvement." Either way, Imma hand this over to a pro. You're up, kiddo." You threw the crayon to Mk so that he would make a plan.

Your successor looked around in hesitation, not confident that he would make a good plan, "What? Wh-Why me?" Mk asked as he held the yellow crayon in his hands. You smiled at him and ruffled his hair, "'Cause you're the Plan Man, man!" Your little speech of encouragement helped to make Mk think of a plan.

"Oh yeah. Give us one "MK master plan special" to go!" Pigsy joined you.

"Hmm. Okay!" The moment Mk said this, you all moved to a team huddle, "Ne Zha's right. While Azure's got the Jade Emperor's power and the scroll, there's no way we could beat him head-on."

"I mean, some of us could beat him. One of us, specifically." You egotistically said, a smug smirk forming on your lips. However, Mk quickly turned you down and shattered your ego, "Nope, none of us at all. But... if we can get our hands on that scroll, we won't need to."

"You want to use the Scroll of Memory against him?" Tang summarized all of Mk's plane.

"Exactly. If we can trap Azure, Peng, and Yellowtusk inside the scroll, it'll be like none of this never happened. We'll just kick this can right on down the ol' half marathon. Step 1: Break into the Celestial Realm again using Sandy's awesome new blimp."

"Uh... it wasn't really built to be a team vehicle. It's more of a—" Sandy unfortunately wasn't able to finish his sentence when Mk cut him off.

"Sounds like you're all over it, Sandy. Next: We gotta get that scroll away from Azure. If we get trapped in that thing, then it's all over." Mk continued to elaborate his plan in detail.

"But there's no way Peng and Yellowtusk will let us get anywhere near Azure." Tang reminded because he knew how dangerous Yellowtusk and Peng were. Fortunately, Mk had thought of that as well, "So, we'll keep 'em distracted. While A Team and B Team keep Yellowtusk and Peng busy, Monkey Queen and I can work on getting the scroll away from Azure."

"Uh, just curious, but uh... which one is the B team in this scenario?" Pigsy asked with puzzlement.

"If you have to ask, you're probably on Team B." Mei whispered to him.

"Once we've got the scroll, we'll free all our friends trapped inside, schlurp up the bad guys, and lock this baby up tight so they can never make us face our nightmares again." Just as your successor finished, he laughed nervously. It was obvious that he wasn't confident that his plan was going to work and the others noticed it, "We're all gonna die." Tang broke the silence, earning him a not from Ne Zha.

Suddenly, Mei gasped and stood up, "Oh! Okay. Take everything MK just said, but hear me out. So, Every time we've gone into a final fight, we've basically winged it without a real plan. But it's like Subodhi said, that won't be enough this time. We need to wait for the moment to strike!" The dragon girl drew attention on a certain point in the plan.

"But Azure ain't gonna just wait around for us to attack. If he's got as much of a grudge against Monkey Queen as Macaque says he does, he's just gonna come and attack us first!" Pigsy stated, knowing very well that Azure won't just sit around after knowing that you were free from the scroll. Mei nodded her head in agreement with him, "Exactly! By not attacking, he'll think we're not ready for him. But he'll be wrong! The plan is to make it look like there is no plan at all! When really, we're already doing the plan! MK's plan!" When she said that, Mk jumped in excitement.

"Yeah, boy!"

"A Team and B Team will keep Peng and Yellowtusk busy. Monkey Team will get under Azure's skin, and annoy him enough so that when he's distracted, he won't know he's lost the scroll until it's too late."

And just like that, Mei began to improve Mk's plan a bit so that victory was guaranteed.