The Battle Within

"Let the duel begin!" After saying this, Peter bolted toward his foe. Wukong waited for Peter without moving. Seeing this, Peter didn't hesitate to attack.

As he charged, it didn't look like he was slowing down, ready to bash into Wukong. However, as he did, he was met with nothing but air, almost stumbling at the absence of contact.

Wukong could be seen calmly standing 3 feet away from Peter. However, how he had gotten there had eluded the metal man.

Without bothering himself with the details of how this happened, he decided to charge at Wukong again.

However, the same thing happened. Wukong was seen standing a few feet away from Peter. The audience watched with faces of confusion and shock.

"What is he doing? His movements are…fast." Said Bobby as the others were thinking the same.

"It's his feet. His footwork, swift and quick. No unnecessary movements and they are effective." Turning around, Bobby and the others were met with a man with messy brown hair and headgear, wearing a trenchcoat with a black bodysuit underneath and fingerless gloves. What was most notable, however, were his red eyes.

"Gambit!" Said Scott as he recognised the man, to which Gambit gave a wave.

"You know, the kid's interesting. The way he moves, it's the type of movement that's only attainable through years of experience and training. Which begs the question, where exactly did you find this kid?" 

The others looked on in a daze as they witnessed Wukong perform the same move over and over. 

Peter controlled his breathing as he noticed the amount of time he was wasting. After taking a deep breath, Peter dug his fingers into the grass and the next second, the grassy floor was lifted as if it was a rug, uprooting a large section of the turf.

After tearing out a chunk of the grassy ground, encompassing a sizeable area of soil and roots, and with a powerful heave, hurled it toward his foe. 

Wukong looked at this with a panicked face as he dived out of the way. However, Peter used this chance to close the distance and stood over Wukong with both fists clamped together, ready to slam them down onto his enemy.

However, the fact that Wukong had his trusty footwork didn't change. He swiftly dodged this as he stood beside Peter, ready to bring down his staff on the opponent's head.

"This is my chance. I'll block this and grab on him, crushing him with my strength." Thought Peter as he prepared his arm for contact.

An ear-piercing BOOM was heard as if two metals had slammed into each other. Shortly after, one could see Peter on his knees as he held his broken arm.

"Did you forget this staff has 8 tons of force behind it?" Mocked Wukong as he stood in front of the downed Peter.

Wukong had assumed that his staff's durable material combined with the force behind it was enough to break through this man's puny metal. This was proven last night when he severally injured the Colossus blue man during training. This was the primary weakness he had discovered. The other being the clunky agility of the tin man.

By no means was Wukong currently faster than Peter, however, his timing and footwork allowed him to gain the upper hand in this battle. He had solely purposed the night in getting this body familiar with the footwork of the Monkey King. Although it wasn't perfect, it was enough for his current situation.

That being said, if this body was to fail him and Peter was to land a hit, he would surely die. Despite the fact that he had made leaps and bounds in developing this body from the lunk of sadness it was before, it was still the body of a teenage boy. It couldn't handle talking attacks from superhumans and mutants.

The audience looked at this spectacle with wide eyes. Not only had he injured Peter, but he had also broken a whole arm which was especially obvious.

"What the hell is that staff made of?" Asked Alex as he was frustrated the kid wasn't losing.

"You give up? You know if you're really hurt I can…" Before he could finish, Peter used this opportunity to shoot out a rocket of a kick, while his foe was distracted. 

Wukong saw this coming as he prepared to dodge, scoffing at the fact that he tried to help this ungrateful tin man.

However, as he moved his feet, it was as if they became tied in a knot. Before he knew it he lost all control as he began his face-first descent into the tin man's foot.

Wukong looked at the kick zooming right to his face. He unconsciously visualized a watermelon bursting as his heart almost skipped a beat.

However, he was not ready to give up. Bringing his staff up to block the kick, he was met with tons of force, slamming into his weapon, loosening his grip on the staff, his arms shook as he fought for his life. If his weapon weren't so durable and hadn't absorbed most of the attack, he would have surely died.

However, it didn't end there. With the absence of any stable footing combined with the truck-like crash he was met with, he was flung 50 feet in the air.

The wind slapped him in the face as he struggled to breathe due to the intense wind. After slowing down and reaching the peak of his ascent, he finally gained control of his body.

As his legs pointed toward the sky and his head faced his surprised enemy, he grinned as he held his staff like an RPG, ready to unleash his final attack.

"Ruyi, expa…"

"Kill."

Time seemed to slow down as Wukong hung in the air.

"What…"

"Kill him."

A foreign, yet familiar, emotion seeped into Wukong's soul as he began to feel rage, madness and frenzy.

"He deserves to die. Use your staff and squash him like a bug." Said a voice in his mind.

Unconsciously, Wukong aimed his staff at Peter, ready to expand.

"He does, doesn't he." Said Wukong.

"Yes. He, the Professor, Ororo, Hank, Alex. All their condescension and judgment, thinking they're better than others. They all deserve to die."

"Yes, you're right. What have I ever done to them? They think they can control me and invade my thoughts, I'll show them. I'll show all of them." Said Wukong 

"So do it. DO IT! KILL THEM ALL! HAHAHAHAHA!" Said the maniacal voice.

The staff inched closer to Peter.

"YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO DO IT!"

"Yes, I do."

"THEN DO IT! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"HahahaHAHAHAHAHA!" Wukong slowly joined in the maniacal laughter as he pointed his staff at Peter.

"HAHAHAHA, RUYI, EXPAND." While the staff vibrated with intensity, preparing a devastating blow, Wukong felt a touch. A warm touch that countered and fought the darkness and insanity in his mind.

"Ah, Monkey boy. You really are hopeless. Have you already forgotten my teachings?" 

Wukong widened his eyes. He recognised this voice. It was a voice he thought he'd never hear again. Because of this, it brought tears to his eyes.

"Say it with me Monkey boy. You ready?"

Wukong closed his eyes as he calmed himself of the countless emotions he was feeling,  tears pouring down his face.

"We only kill the bad guys…"

"And in doing so we help the good guys."

Saying this Wukong snapped open his eyes. All time seemed to return to normal as his ears were bombarded with the roars of the audience and the whoosh of the wind. Using all the strength he had left, he tugged the expanding Ruyi away from its target, and soon after, an explosion-like BOOM was heard as the whole arena was flooded with the dust that resulted from the attack.

Violent winds shook the arena as well as the audience as they screamed in fear.

"What the hell is going on?!" Shouted Scott as his voice was barely audible through all the ruckus.

"I don't know. But we need to stop this fight. Gambit!" Alex shouted for his companion as they struggled to move through the strong wind.

However, their help was not needed. One could see and feel all the dust and the winds being gathered in the centre of the arena, and finally, being blown into the air as it dispersed.

As everyone opened their eyes, they widened them as they couldn't believe what they were seeing. 

One could see a monumental pillar that was dug into the ground, destroying the arena floor completely. What was worse, however, was the fact that it didn't end. The staff kept going as far as the eye could see. To say that it reached space would be an understatement.

Ororo, however, did not have time to speculate this. After stopping the violent winds, she quickly got to business, trying her best to locate both Peter and Illian.

Before she could move, the ground shook, as the pillar disappeared in the blink of an eye, making everything much more visible.

Peter could be seen frozen, looking into the sky, as if he was still looking up at his foe. What was most notable, however, was that he was no longer a tin man. He was a regular person with regular fair white skin.

His face poured with sweat as he looked like he had stopped breathing, still as a statue, shaking slightly. Soon after he fell onto his buttocks. The impact on the ground woke him up as started to breathe rapidly, his heartbeat being heard from the stands.

"Peter, are you ok?!" Asked everyone as they ran toward the seemingly terrified man who didn't speak a word.

While they helped him up, footsteps and scattering rocks could be heard as Wukong emerged from the crater the pillar had created.

"Illian, are you ok?! Come with me. We need to take you to…" Before Ororo could finish, Wukong walked passed her, not uttering a word. 

Everyone stared at him, left speechless as he walked out of the arena.

"He seemed…sad." Said Lorna as the other looked at her.

Wukong walked through the green plains, silent as he entered the dormitory building. Walking to his room, he opened it slowly, and after placing his staff down, he wrapped himself around his blanket and laid on his bed, quickly dozing off and falling into deep sleep. 

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Author's Note: Hello if you are enjoying the novel so far I would appreciate the powerstones. They really help. Alright, thank you all, Bye.