LOVE STORY

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Chapter Twenty-Two
Saving the Successor
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❝Forever's a long time, bud. Trust me.❞

YOU WOKE UP FROM a nap you were taking with Macaque after you two talked for a while under the same tree. Eventually, you two decided to take a small nap to rest.

You stared around before your eyes landed on Macaque who was still sleeping beside you, "You used to be such a beautiful person. It was my fault you changed." You thought while gently touching his face. A small sad smile tugged on your lips before you leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on his forehead, "I love you, Mac." You whispered, stroking his cheek with your hand. Just then, you heard some approaching footsteps and immediately thought that it was your past self. Without wasting time, you quickly stood up and left the area to find an exit. You were going to do so anyway.

-TIME SKIP-

You ran through variety of memories to find a way out of this tormentous scroll. You even destroyed a poor farmer's stable. When you reached a cliff, you froze when you saw a gold crack in the sky, "What is this?" You asked while staring at the ominous crack. Just then...

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Was that Mk? You couldn't mistake that voice at all, it was definitely Mk. More importantly, what was he doing here? Why was he in the scroll? You clinched your fists tightly and gritted your teeth, "Kid!" You exclaimed, hoping that he could hear you. If there was something you could do now, it would be going through those cracks that probably lead to Mk. So, you jumped high to go to Mk.

Once on the other side, you bursted through and landed down. The first thing you saw was the horrific protective curse as it laughed evilly and Mk whose form was flickering uncontrollably. You growled and dashed forward, grabbing the staff with you. You slid under the curse and jumped high from behind it. Raising the staff, you brought it down on the curse, reducing it to the splatters, "Mk!" You called him out upon noticing the that flickering had stopped momentarily.

The boy looked at you with a smile, "Monkey Queen?" He happily said, but his happiness was short lived as his form glitched again.

"I'm sorry I made you wait so long, bud. But it's fine. You look like you're doing... fine." You tried to assure him, but you knew the situation was worse than this. His Monkey form was slowly emerging to the surface.

"I don't know what's happening to me."

"We can figure it out after this, but we gotta deal with the now first."

The curse reformed again, becoming bigger than before, "Hey, nice of you to join us, bud. You know, none of this would have happened without you, right?" It said in a taunting way while you stood protectively stood in front of Mk.

"Yeah. And us too!"

When you heard the sound, you looked up and saw more cracks on the sky. Mei and the rest of the group joined you, "Without us, you wouldn't be able to stop this thing. That's what you were saying, right?" Mei said smugly then put her sword on her shoulder.

"Not really, but I like the energy." You spoke up with a shrug.

"The curse! Is it just me or is it way scarier than it was before?" Tang uttered while trembling in fear.

"How did Azure say to defeat this thing again?" Pigsy asked while keeping his gaze on the ink curse.

Your eyes widened when you heard the name. Was he talking about the same Azure you knew decades ago? Or was there someone else with the same name? "Azure... Lion?" You whispered, still in shock and disbelief that Azure was probably the reason this scroll came to your cave.

"Say goodbye!" The curse exclaimed, engulfing everyone in pitch darkness. You were separated from everyone, finding yourself alone, "Such pitiful creatures. Cowardly. Reckless. Monstrosities!" You could hear the curse speak, but you ignored it and kept looking for Mk since he was in need of your help and support, "MK! Where are you?" You called out for him, but didn't receive any reply. The curse appeared behind you, this time taking your past form, "All doomed to play a role in tearing this world apart. To cause nothing but chaos and destruction." It taunted you, twirling the circlet around. You gripped the staff tightly in your hand, getting enough of it's torments.

"Enough! I've never let anyone dictate my destiny in the past, and I'm not about to start now. None of us are! We can't change who we were yesterday, or in a past life, or a hundred lifetimes ago. We live with the choices we've made. But what matters is the choices we make right now! Only we decide who we are and what we do with the power we have!"

"Nice hero speech, bud, but I know better. Deep in your hearts, you don't believe a word of that."

You felt yourself go silent, unable to say anything back to that damned curse. However, there's was an odd feeling lingering around you... as if your companions were by your side to help you. This felt strange yet assuring. As you remained quiet, someone else was able to speak instead of you, "Yeah, well, we're pretty good at fakin' it till we makin' it, so you better takin' it, son!" You heard Mei's voice ringing all over the void.

"Yeah! I might be a coward, but we've faced scarier monsters than you!" Tang joined her. You finally decided to break the silence as well, "I won't let some curse bully me or my friends a second longer!" With that being said, you slammed the staff on the ground as everyone standing summoned their power and cleared the illusion the protective curse made. Your friends then used their weapons to hold the curse in place, stripping it from its energy. In a helpless attempt to escape, the curse turned to Mk, "You can see it, can't you? This is your fate. Your friends will turn on you, seeing you for the monster you will become." As it spoke, you could see Mk's form flickering again which made you shield him from that curse.

"They will destroy you, Harbinger of Chaos. It's just like the Lady Bone Demon said. Despite your efforts, all you'll ever do is cause pain and suffering."

Mk forced himself to stand up as he turned into his monkey form, "Stop talking! Get out of my head!" He leaped up, summoning his powers, and dives at the protective curse.

"Then prove us wrong."

That was the last thing you all heard before MK disintegrated the curse, which explodes into ball of light. As everyone cheered for Mk, you looked at him with worry. He couldn't control his power, he needed training. However, this wasn't over yet. Blue cracks appeared on the ground which wasn't good at all, "Now would be a good time to get out of here!" Pigsy exclaimed.

"But how?" Mei asked.

A bigger crack formed before you all and tall blue lion stepped out. You quickly moved to stand in front of your friends, glaring at Azure, "You." You said with venom in your tone. Azure sighed deeply, "Me." That was all he said before he snapped his fingers, making pillars of light form around you all, separating everyone from one another.

Everything went dark for a moment for you. It seemed that you were going to fight an old friend of yours... again.