This is a new feeling, pride in someone else. Unfortunately, it is overshadowed by all this unyielding rage! -- Vegeta
Honestly, it never fails. Spend the better part of a lifetime building up an empire of power only to witness some snot-nosed kid hero gather up a band of five total snot-nosed kid heroes and thereby overthrow you in a heroic example of the power of friendship. The Dark Lord Mephis had attempted to circumvent all of this by seducing every possible foretold bearer of the next great hero and being the father of that particular child of his inevitable doom.
There was always a good opportunity for an "I am your father" reveal to throw the prospective hero off his game. There was also a risk of the hero foretold coming back from an assumed certain doom but so far... so good.
Until today. Today was... not going according to script. For a start, the entire misbegotten team was the Dark Lord Mephis' progeny. The big reveal wasn't all that revealing, given the Dark Lord's proclivities over the past couple of decades or so.
They were all... every single one of them... the Dark Lord's illegitimate kids. Each with their own reason to end the Dark Lord's reign of tyranny up to and including the neglected child support payments.
The whole "I am your father" thing just fell completely flat.
"We know," said the five in unison.
"It's not hard to guess," said the leader. "Every woman who gets a prophecy gets a visit from you in disguise."
"You're even stealing notes from the storybooks," said the team healer. "You might even fool some people but..."
The team Second said, "Our mothers all knew. You're not exactly the most original evil overlord on the roster."
The smart one added, "Props for the attempt to intercept prophecy. Most go at it like they're actively trying to sabotage themselves, but you mostly just let us mess around on our own."
The amusing one said, "It's almost like you were relying on the big reveal to knock down our self-esteem and belief in ourselves. Did you have any back-up? Maybe a quick we're not so different, you and I? Or maybe a join me and we can rule this world as a family? Too bad for you we'd all find that pater-nising."
They even stole his Dad Jokes! That was far too much. "Let's just move on to trying to kill each other, shall we?"
Of course they won. With the power of friendship. They were the heroes. The Dark Lord Mephis had never before been both so proud and so pissed off.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / AntonioGuillem]
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