The Tale of a Dog Hero

Learning to Fight

Oscar headed for the plaza to begin searching for the wisp. Wherever it went, it couldn't be too far. Although Oscar couldn't remember where he had last seen the wisp, the back of the plaza, near the road to his house seemed a good starting point. Oscar makes it to the plaza before seeing zuko in a corner, hustling more people. It's weird that he has gathered a crowd, but that could be an advantage to Oscar. He rushes over and blends in as best he can. "Ladies and gents! I challenge you all to try to best me in a game of cards! Simply shuffle the deck yourself, pick a card and I shall guess it! A large sum of cash will be rewarded to whoever's card I cannot guess. Does 10,000 coin seem fair for a simple card guessing game?" Zuko yells out to the crowd as they all stand up straint and murmur to each other. "Alright. Anyone who want to play, it will be 20 coin to join." Just then a wave over money goes flying at Zuko's feet. "Perfect! Here you go lad. Shuffle that for the crowd." Zuko hands a pack of cards to an older man in the crowd and turns around with his hands over his eyes. "Tell me when you fine people are ready!" The old man shuffles quickly and begins handing out cards to as many people as he can. Oscar got an eight of clubs. After a few moments, the crowd says they are ready and zuko starts listing off people's cards one by one. "Ace of diamond, two of diamond, seven of spades, queen of clubs, four of hearts." Oscar heard a woman gasp in the background. It was Tippy. Oscar began walking toward her before stopping in his tracks... "Eight of clubs... An eight of clubs, is the one who cannot hold against himself. The one that will break before they repair." Zuko stares at Oscar with his eyebrows furrowed and arms crossed. "That... Or they will end a life before protecting one." Zuko jumps off the stage and begins moving toward Oscar. The people in the crowd are distracting each other as they talk about how Zuko got all their cards right. Oscar rushes over to Tippy and takes her hand. "Drop the card and follow me. Zuko knows things he shouldn't and I'm sure he has the wisp." Oscar began pulling her arm to get out of the crowd as Zuko follows. Tippy tried to keep up with him, but the crowd refuses to open a way. "What's a wisp? Who is Zuko, and when did you get that jacket? Looks cool..." "I'll explain later. We gotta move!" Oscar made it out of the crowd and began taking off as fast as he could. He had completely forgot about the whole powers thing, and went sprinting at over 50 mph. Tippy was barely able to hold on as they went flying down the road. Oscar was moving too fast to stop in time of a stone brick building that was being constructed. While still in motion, Oscar rotated himself 90 degrees and shoved Tippy just before impact. Tippy fell into the floor pretty hard and experienced light whiplash. Oscar crashed into the wall of the building with his left shoulder, and broke through. When Tippy recovered, all she could see were Oscar's feet hanging out of the wall. "Oscar! Are you alright? What happened? How did we go so fast? What happened to this wall? What's up wit-" Tippy tried helping him up while asking questions, but got a finger pressed against her lips by Oscar, who was bleeding from his head, and had his eyes closed. "Shhh. Give me a second and help me up first." Oscar got to his feet and began to walk away from the rubble when a shopkeeper busted out a side door from the clothing shop across the road. "Hey! What did you two kids do! You better pay for that mess. I'm gonna get the cops involved, and you hoodlums are gonna be thrown in jail!" Tippy started panicking and trying to talk out the situation. Oscar opened his eyes halfway and yelled at the shopkeeper. "Hey! If you couldn't tell, I may have a concussion and my head is bleeding. So how 'bout you stop yelling and grab me some med cloth? Otherwise, beat it! Shits about to go down soon." The shopkeeper just scoffed as he walked into his store, mumbling to himself. Oscar began to dust himself off and walk back in the street. "You ok? Wanna tell me what goin on now?" Tippy grabbed Oscars shoulder and adjusted him to look at her. "I've been better. The 'Zuko' character is the fox guessing everyone's cards. A wisp is what I assume to be a celestial that can view the past, present, and future." Oscar winners to himself "maybe that's why it felt like I died twice!" Tippy's eyes widen "you died before?" Oscar puts his hand up and waves it away "Hey, don't worry about it. Well, he has the wisp and knows everything about me, I think. I had the wisp before him, but it got away from me. That seems to be the only reason h-" Oscar was cut off when a card whizzes passed his face. "Fuck. Tippy, do me a favor. Get behind cover or run. I'll find you again later." Oscar gets in an amateur fight stance and gets ready to rush Zuko, who has been walking toward them the whole time. Tippy rushed off deeper into the plaza and rounds a corner out of sight. "You are not meant to have that power. You were not meant to see Zane. I've seen beyond all. And I know how you operate." Zuko lifts his index and middle finger, which hold a card in between. With blurring speed, he throws the card at Oscar. Luckily, he was able to see it coming as his eyes are more powerful at detecting motion and distant things. Oscar raised his hands quickly and caught the card by clapping his palms together. The card cut into his hand a few centimeters, but stopped before cutting too deep. "How do you know about my powers? I never had the wisp when that happened." Zuko began walking closer. "The wisp spied on you and flew into town in a panic to find a better host. Luckily, it has me now. And as a better host, I have been granted more than you had achieved. Not only can I see snippets of the future, but I can pick a date and time. I have further increased natural healing, and given the greatest given power by the wisp. It's own Nigh-omnipotence! The wisp wishes your death, so it shall be!" Zuko flicked both his hands and cards were in every crack in his fingers. Oscar crouched lower and reached himself. Just a moment later, Zuko flung all the cards towards Oscar in a shower of white, red, and black. As quickly as he could, Oscar began dodging and slapping the cards out of the way as he began approaching Zuko. Cuts began to form in Oscars body. The only clothing that wasn't being cut was the jacket. The cards simply slid right off. "Go away Zuko!" Oscar yelled as he pulled his fist back for a punch. "Ready or not!" Zuko replied as he leaned forward. Oscar threw the punch, and went flying past him and into the air. "You have no clue how to use your powers. Let alone throw a proper punch." Zuko turned around in time to see Oscar sprinting off into an open field. "Son of a- cheeky boy wasn't aiming for me, but for an escape. Maybe he is a tad smarter than I took him for." Zuko began walking back towards the stands where he performed the trick.