The Tale of a Dog Hero

Back in the Village

Oscar stood up and walked toward the statue. He lightly touched the stonework, and it had crumpled to the ground. Tippy walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder as she looked around at the forest around them. "I'm so sorry, Oscar. You couldn't have done anything. It was a lose/lose and you chose the best outcome you could think of." Oscar scoops up the bird and beings walking in the direction of the town. Tippy tried to follow, but the instant she tried to walk with him, he sped off into town. While she was playing catch up, Oscar walked to the nearest food stand. It had bread, assorted fruits, and what appeared to be a bag of flour. The owner notices Oscar and tries to push him away. "Hey, your banned here. You're not gonna buy anything from me, so beat it before I get the cops." The owner laid his left hand on Oscar's chest in an attempt to stop him. Oscar simply reached for his hip and materialized a pistol out of thin air. "You're... Not a good man." In the blink of an eye, the owner now stared down the barrel of a heavy looking pistol. Another blink goes by and... *BANG* The owners head was now missing and Oscar placed down the bird to begin, slowly and carefully eating the fruits on the countertop. Everyone in the area began to panic and run away. A few cops in the area heard the shot fire, called for back up, and began making their way to his position. It didn't take long for Oscar to be surrounded. "Hands in the air! Drop to your knees, and keep your hands where I can see them!" Two officers tried to approach Oscar and cuff him. As soon as Oscar felt the cuffs touch his left hand, he grabbed one of the the officers head and squeezed until he was incapacitated. Once the other officer reached a more save distance, every cop remaining begun opening fire. Oscar side stepped to the right and drew his gun once more. Everything was moving slowly... Oscars hand was moving at a remarkably low speed. The weird thing is that his eyes moved freely just fine. Oscar dropped his gun and it dissolved as soon as it left his hand. In a blur of light, he went behind every officer or witness in the area and swiftly knocked them all unconscious. Just as quickly as he had moved, he returned to his spot at the table. Oscar turned back around and finished off the fruit as the people began falling to the ground. In that time, Tippy managed to make it into town to witness the aftermath of what had happened. "Oscar... What happened h-" Tippy got cut off by Oscar shoving the gun in her face. As quickly as he raised the gun, it was gone. Oscar turned to her and grabbed both sides of her face tightly. Oscar and Tippy made eye contact until their eyes started to glow. "You shall not fall to any other. You shall answer to no god. You shall not be controlled or possessed by any god. I grant unto you, my devine willpower." Oscar released her and walked away. He barged into a home and walked around it, before leaving and doing the same to another. After Tippy regained her bearings, she chased after Oscar. "What have you done? Don't you need Artemis's willpower in order to protect yourself?" Tippy was ignored as Oscar walked through the house and into a third. "Oscar, can you please answer me?" He continued to ignore her as he kicked open a door to a bedroom. Inside were a family of four. A mother, father, and two boys; one that looks 8 years old and older than the other by around 3 years. Oscar walked up and aimed his pistol at the mothers head. "I only need one of your kids. I wont kill anyone if you can cooperate. You're gonna pick." The woman was in tears and looked at her children. "I... I- I can't d-deside. T-there my babies." The father rose his hand in front of his face, and Oscar rotated quickly, then fired his gun. The bullet took off the fathers pinky and left a shotgun sized hole in the wall only inches from his ear. The father screamed in pain as he clutched his hand. "Alright. Since the mother won't pick, then you will." Oscar said as he aimed the gun at the fathers chest. "Uhm. Eh- Andrew. The youngest one." "That wasn't so hard." Oscar grabbed Andrew by his left shoulder and picked him up to be led outside. The mother cried out to Oscar, begging for him not to hurt Andrew. Tippy crouched down with the family. "Don't worry everyone. If I know Oscar, he wouldn't let anything bad happen to any kid." As soon as the sentence left her mouth, Oscar yelled out "IF EVERYONE IN TOWN DOESN'T GET OUT OF THEIR HOMES AND ON THIS STREET, THEN THIS KID IS GONNA PAY FOR YOUR LACK OF ACTION!" Tippy eyes widened and she helped the family get up and outside. After a short time, everyone in the village was lined up on both sides of a road Oscar stood in. Tippy walked up to Oscar and tried confronting him. "Hey, don't you think this is too much? Has all the power gone to your head? You can't just do this." Oscar continued to look away from her and down the street. "In time, you will figure it out." "What does that mean? Have you finally lost it?" "Be quiet." "No! What are you planning to do with him? Are you really doing this over a grudge?" "Wait a moment." "I'm not gonna wait! Who have you become!" "Just-" "What are you?" "Shut up!" Tippy slapped Oscar in the face and time seemed to move still. Oscar's eyes shot up to tippy, then behind the crowd. Something moved regardless of time. Everyone began murmuring quietly and tippy walked around Oscar in a circle. "I joined you because I thought you were fighting for something. Not to become... This." Oscar looked around with his head low. "I want you too look at me as you realize what you are doing Oscar." "Hey, thanks for the distraction." "Distra-?" Oscar jumped up and grabbed what appeared to be thin air. Tippy stepped back as Oscar wrestled with nothing. "T-tippy. C'mere! I need you to get close for just a sec." She got close to Oscar and he quickly tapped her between the eyes. Immediately, she saw that Oscar was actually wrestling with a ghost like creature. Its arms were thin and worn, and its lower face was bone. There was no feet on the ghost, yet it had fabric clothing that seemed to be its legs. It attempted to grab her, but burned its hand on contact and hissed. Oscar managed to get to a standing position before picking up the ghost, flipping it upside down, and slamming it into the ground. Oscar nearly stomped on its head, but it managed to posses the little boy. Andrew spun to his feet and began punching at Oscar. "Tippy. Grab the kid, so this thing can't move." Oscar was blocking punches over and over until tippy grabbed both of Andrews arms. Oscar quickly punched the kid in the stomach and the ghost flew out. Gasps were heard all around. Tippy realized this and tried to clear it up. "Andrew is fine! There is a ghost Oscar punched out of him." Oscar pulled out his gun and took aim at the ghost. Everyone who thought Oscar was aiming at the crowd, jumped and ducked out of the way. Before he could line it up, the ghost jumped into Oscar. He quickly put the gun into his own mouth and pulled the trigger. The gun had disappeared right before the bullet left the gun barrel and Oscar stood still with his hands on his knees for a moment. Oscar stared forward with a mean look on his face before the ghost tried to pull out of Oscar. The ghost appeared to be scared of what was inside Oscars mind. He puts it into a choke hold and drops onto his back. Oscar quickly looks to the crowd and yells out to them. "Everyone! Please help! Chant the words 'We hold power' over and over!" At first nobody did, until Tippy was chanting it. Afterwards, everyone slowly joined in the chant. As everyone yelled the set words, Oscar began speaking. "We hold power. Power to be free from corruption and bounded to fortune. Fortune to safety. Safety to wellbeing. And wellbeing to power. May this enchantment travel full circle and be protected from all of my relations and actions. Now... Be free." Oscar snapped its neck and the ghost withered away and disappeared after muttering "Save me..." Oscar sat up and looked at the kid. "Unconscious, but alright. You can all stop chanting now." Oscar got up and began walking away. The village people all looked confused and tried to ask him questions. "What just happened? Why did we have to chant? Aren't you the exiled kid? Who is this girl? Who the heck are these two? Why did the kid start fighting?" Oscar turned to look at everyone. "Alright, alright! Geez. Yeah, I am exiled from this land. I'm leaving." One woman in the crowd piped up, "you killed a man and wounded 14 others! You don't deserve to leave! You deserve a death sentence!" The crowd of people started yelling loudly. "ALRIGHT! SHUT UP! That bread salesmen wasn't a good man. He smuggled drugs into the bread he was making to who knows where. Go ahead and cut up as much bread as you want over there to prove it. As for the people, they got in my way, and that was the best way to stop them all. Be grateful that I didn't go murdering the innocent. No more questions. Bye." Oscar grabbed tippy and ran towards the edge of town while the yelling continued. "Welp. Never thought I'd get outta that. Anyway, thanks for helping. You did great. That slap was a little hard though." Tippy was so baffled by the current events that she couldn't even tell him that she wasn't acting. Out of nowhere, a playing card flew past Oscar. "I'm gonna kick your ass!" Zuko had came back and stomped his way back to Oscar. Tippy was left even more confused. "Wha-... Did you not-? WHAT?!" Zuko chuckled to himself and tightened the vest he had on. "Regeneration is truly a beautiful thing madam. You cannot kill fashion. Now please clear the area, so I may clean my boots off Oscar's face!" Zuko and Oscar began moving slowly in a circle. Oscar whispered to Tippy as he passed her. "Got a pen?" Tippy gave one to him and he slid it up his sleeve. As the rotation continued, Zuko passed Tippy. He whispered to her as well. "Did you give him a pen? " "Yeah." "Hm. Very well." As they are about to rotate again, Zuko makes the first move. He starts by rushing close and sweeping Oscars feet. Oscar jumps over and swings at Zuko's chest. He punches his fist, which pushes him back a few feet. He dashes to the left and throws 7 cards at Oscar. He manages to catch them all and throw them right back. Zuko dodges every card with grace. Oscar zips forward, grabs Zuko's foot, and yanks it into the air. Zuko does something that catches Oscar off guard and uses his other foot to kick him in the face. Oscar takes a step back and Zuko adjusts himself to barely manage to land on his feet. Before Oscar can recover he throws a card aimed right between Oscars eyes. Everything slows down and Oscar looks forward to see the card. King of Hearts. He catches the card and pulls out the pen. Quickly, he throws the card back at Zuko, as he pulls out the whole deck of cards. The card slides right into the pile and Zuko freezes for a moment. He looks at his hand of cards and shuffles through them with blinding speed, before pulling out Oscars card. "Did... Did you sign my card?" "And if I did?" "Your handwriting is rather awful." "Aw, really? You're gonna nitpick my handwriting in the middle of a fight?" "Yes... Get over here and look at this. Your 'A' is sloppy." Oscar walked up and looked at the card with Zuko. "You know how hard it is to write so fast, that you, a master of cards, can't even notice it?" "Speed is no excuse for poor handwriting." The two continue discussing as Tippy is now left with more questions than she knows what to do with. To top it all off, the cardinal bird had landed on her back, which startled her for a moment.