An Excuse Maybe

Chapter 4

Mandarin is seriously one of my favorite characters in this show, along with his clone. They're just so fun and interesting (that and I love steroid!Mandarin a bit too much) Please enjoy!

-------------

Mandarin was leaving the village and was on his way to Veran knows where. He looked down at the items he bought and sighed a bit, yet another long and uneventful day. Not that he minded, in fact he enjoyed the peace. It's just he wished Tilamat would hurry up and get back and get back to him on how long it would be for him to pick him up.

The team made sure that he wouldn't notice them, despite how huge he was. Chiro shivered, he forgot how disturbing he looked. He then stopped and looked back, causing the team to hide behind a few empty buildings. He blinked before frowning in suspicion before continuing to walk and turn a corner. The team then went over to the corner to find an empty alleyway that lead onto another street. The team grew confused until a huge shadow covered them.

"Y-you!" Mandarin exclaimed.

The team quickly turned to him, weapons out. Mandarin was shocked before he glared harshly at them, all of the old feelings of anger, hatred, and betrayal running back through him. Just seeing Chiro made his blood boil.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

Nova snarled. "What are we doing here?! What are you doing here?!" She growled.

Antauri narrowed his eyes at Mandarin, sensing something off with his aura.

"Minding my own business, why? I'm not planning anything if that's the reason why you're stalking me." Mandarin huffed.

Gibson narrowed his eyes.

"Are you sure? Because the last time you said something like that, you ended up betraying us." He said.

Mandarin snarled, about ready to fight them, his old feelings of anger and hate still prevalent. After what they did, there was no way he could forgive them. He popped out his energy tail as the others were ready to square off with him.

"Now again we ask, what are you planning?" Chiro asked.

"I'm not planning anything! If anything I'm trying to get as far away from you as possible, and I will not hesitate to fight you if you don't leave me be." Mandarin growled.

"What, so you can take over another innocent planet?" Jinmay huffed.

"Like I even have the desire to do such things anymore! Maybe I'm no longer evil, did you ever think of that?!" Mandarin snapped.

"Stop lying!" Nova yelled, cracking her knuckles.

Antauri realized where this was leading and got in between them before they attacked.

"Monkey team wait I think he's right! I don't think he is the same as before." He argued.

The monkey team dropped their weapons down a bit, confused.

"What...what are you talking about?" Nova asked.

Antauri turned to Mandarin and stared at him intensly, making the orange monkey very uncomfortable and confused. Who was this? Where was Antauri? By the voice alone he guessed it was him but Antauri's new appearance was rather odd to him.

"Why do you look different?" He asked.

Antauri didn't drop his stare as Chiro cleared his throat.

"It's a uh...rather long story."

Mandarin blinked, unsure if that was supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing. Antauri then floated up to him, staring right into his eyes. Mandarin backed up a bit, feeling even more uncomfortable.