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Chapter Text

MK POV:

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

MK groaned and rolled over. He fumbled with his phone before finally snoozing the alarm once more. How many times had it gone off again? Out of curiosity, he grabbed his phone again to check the time.

8:55 AM.

Suddenly in a panic, MK threw off his blanket and rushed to get ready. He was going to be late! (Again.) He hurriedly threw on a clean(ish) set of clothes, carefully threading his new tail through the tail hole in his pants. The whole actually “being a monkey” thing was taking some getting used to.

After pulling on a fresh pair of socks and shoving his feet into his shoes, MK grabbed his phone and ran downstairs. He slid into the restaurant just as the clock struck nine.

“Cuttin’ it real close, kid,” Pigsy grumbled as he turned on the shop sign.

“I know, I know,” MK muttered as he walked over to the sink and began to wash his hands.

“Did ya stay up too late with Mei again?” Pigsy asked him.

MK didn’t say anything. Pigsy sighed.

The store was quiet as it neared closing time. MK was clearing away the last of the dirty dishes when a certain dragon girl burst into the store.

“MK!” Mei shouted. “Are you ready to see the new Monkey Mech movie tonight?”

“Heck, yeah!” MK cheered, pumping his fist. “I can’t wait…oops.”

In his excitement, MK had forgotten about the dishes in his hands. At least until they decided to fall to the ground with a crash as a few bowls shattered on impact.

“Kid! Watch what yer doing!” Pigsy shouted. “Bowls don’t grow on trees, ya know!”

“I’m sorry, Pigsy! I’ll clean it up!” MK rushed to get the broom and dustpan.

“You’d better,” Pigsy grumbled. “That’s comin’ outta yer paycheck.”

MK grimaced at that, but it wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before. He quickly swept up the broken bowls and disposed of them. Mei picked up the non-broken bowls and put them in the sink. Then MK grabbed the mop and mopped up the spilt broth.

“Thanks, kids,” Pigsy grumbled.

“No problem, piggy!” Mei said before throwing an arm around MK. “Now, are you ready for the best cinematic experience in the world?”

“Yeah!” MK cheered again.

“I thought you were gonna wait for Red Son to get back from vacation before goin’ ta see the movie?” Pigsy asked as MK ran over to the time clock to clock out.

“We are gonna see the movie with him,” Mei assured. “But we just wanna make sure the movie is good first.”

“Yeah,” MK agreed. “We don’t wanna make Red Son sit through a boring movie.”

Pigsy raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “That’s the excuse yer stickin’ with, huh?”

“Yep,” Mei and MK chorused.

Pigsy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Go enjoy yer movie, then.” He waved his hand dismissively.

“Yes! Thank you, Dadsy!” MK hugged Pigsy.

Pigsy hugged him back for a moment before shoving him towards the door. “Get goin’, or yer gonna be late fer the movie.”

The two friends booked it out of the store without any further prompting. And they made it halfway down the block before running into trouble.

“So, how’d you get Monkey King to let you skip training today?” Mei asked as they walked down the sidewalk.

MK shrugged. “I don’t know. I just asked and he said ‘go for it’.”

“Huh, that’s weird,” Mei commented. “Normally he’s not so lenient when it comes to training.”

“I know, right?!” MK exclaimed, throwing his hands up for emphasis. “And the training we have been doing is just ‘how to interact with a monkey without threatening it’ or ‘how to gather fruit without squishing it’ or ‘how to groom other monkeys without pulling their fur’.” MK sighed and dropped his gaze to the ground, his tail swishing in agitation. “It’s…not the kind of training I’m used to doing with Monkey King.”

“I mean, I’m sure there’s a reason, right?” Mei suggested helpfully. “Monkey King…”

Whatever Mei was going to say about the Monkey King was interrupted by several people screaming. Without needing to look at each other, Mei and MK ran towards the sounds of danger. Rounding the street corner quickly revealed why people were screaming: a large gray yaoguai with long white hair tied back in a ponytail was towering over the people on the street, threatening them with a massive spear.

Its back was towards them so MK couldn’t see his face, but what he could see of it was plenty terrifying. It wore simple-looking robes that covered most of its body, but as it moved, MK could see its muscles rippling beneath the fabric. It easily stood as tall as Sandy, but without any of the gentle grace the river demon possessed.

And its giant spear certainly didn’t help it to look very calming, either.

MK gulped as he and Mei pulled out their weapons. This wasn’t gonna be one of their usual “demon of the week” fights that MK was used to. This was more than likely gonna be one of those really destructive fights where a good chunk of the city was destroyed. And if that was the case, then they needed to get the civilians out of here, quickly.

“Hey!” MK called out. “Leave them alone!”

The yaoguai turned, revealing a singular horn sprouting from its beastly nose. It grinned when its beady gaze landed on MK. (The civilians, thankfully, were able to make their escape.)

“Ah, Sun Wukong.” the yaoguai sneered. “I was wondering when you would finally show your cowardly face.”

MK frowned as his tail twitched in irritation. This wasn’t the first time MK had been confused for his mentor, but it had definitely gotten old over the past few weeks. Every new demon, and even some old ones, had been confusing him for Monkey King ever since he found out he was a monkey. Jin, Yin, and DBK were especially guilty of this.

It was beyond frustrating at this point.

“You’ve got the wrong monkey, guy.” MK corrected with a frown. “I’m MK, the Monkie Kid. Not the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. I’m just his successor.”

“Who else would have such a disgusting facial marking, then?” The yaoguai argued back.

“Okay, first of all, ouch, that’s just hurtful!” MK complained. “And second of all, most of the monkeys I know have this exact face marking.” He pointed to his face for emphasis. (He ignored the fact that he only knew three yaoguai monkeys in total, including himself. And that only two out of the three of them actually had said face mask—MK never said he was good at math.) “So, y’know, it’s probably normal, or… something.” MK waved his hand dismissively. “Monkey business, you wouldn’t get it.”

The yaoguai stared at him like he had grown a second head. “That…is the stupidest reason I have ever heard!” The yaoguai sighed loudly and dragged a hand down his face.

“Yeah, well you’re the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen!” Mei interjected, raising her sword. “Are we gonna fight or what?!”

The yaoguai looked at the young dragon with disinterest as he lowered his hand. “I do not know who you are. But regardless, you will fall under my blade.”

Then the yaoguai lowered his spear, and charged.

Mei and MK quickly jumped out of the way, barely dodging the swing of the yaoguai’s spear as he passed. MK paled when he saw his own reflection in the blade as it swung over his face, missing by mere centimeters.

Yikes, that was a little too close for comfort.

The two heroes quickly regrouped behind the attacking yaoguai. They readied their own weapons just as the yaoguai whipped around to face them once more.

“Hey!” Mei shouted. “You can’t just attack us without telling us who you are! That’s super uncool.” She pointed her sword threateningly at the yaoguai. “And what do you want with my monkey?!”

The yaoguai paused for a second as he seemed to ponder over Mei’s words. “Very well, child.” He bowed his head. “I am the Single-Horned Rhinoceros King. I am only seeking to right a wrong from long ago. And if I cannot find Sun Wukong-” MK barely brought his staff up in time to block the Rhino King’s spear. “Then his successor will have to do.”

Rhino King swung and twirled and thrust his spear in rapid succession as he viciously attacked the Monkie Kid. MK struggled to keep up, getting more than a few wounds that would most definitely need bandaging later.

A certain green sword sparked to life in the corner of MK’s vision. Thinking quickly, MK jumped backwards just as a blast of green energy hit Rhino King square in the chest, knocking him backwards into a building. A massive plume of smoke and dust billowed up from the building, quickly obscuring the yaoguai from view.

Mei and MK cheered and high-fived each other before eagerly pointing their weapons at the now-destroyed building. If they could get a few more solid hits like that in, then this battle would be over soon. And they would still be able to catch their movie afterwards.

But any thoughts of this battle being over quickly were swiftly dashed when they heard laughter emanating from behind the clouds of smoke and dust.

“Not bad, children,” Rhino King chuckled as he emerged from the smoke, red eyes glinting maliciously. “You’re not going to make it easy for me.” He smirked. “Good. I love a challenge.”

MK and Mei barely dodged out of the way in time as Rhino King charged at them again. The yaoguai turned around swiftly and swung his spear at them. The two friends quickly jumped backwards to avoid the deadly blade. In tandem, MK threw his staff and Mei swung her sword before the yaoguai had a chance to attack again.

Rhino King blocked both attacks effortlessly. He smirked and—using the pole of his spear—swung Mei into MK. They were both sent flying and crashed into the ground several feet away, both rolling to a painful stop in a pile of limbs.

Rhino King laughed at their predicament. “Is that seriously the best you’ve got?” He casually leaned on his spear, completely nonchalant. “I would’ve thought that the great Sun Wukong would have trained his successor better than this!”

This guy might be tougher than MK had originally thought, but that was fine. He has faced bigger baddies with the help of his friends. And with the new weapons Sandy, Pigsy, and Tang had gotten recently, the Rhino King would quickly be defeated.

They just needed to get here first.

“Where is everyone?” MK asked Mei as they untangled themselves and got to their feet.

“I don’t know,” Mei answered quickly. “But they should be here soon. It’s kinda hard to miss a fight this big going down.”

“Yeeeaaaah,” MK admitted as he looked sheepishly around the wrecked street.

In their short battle so far with Rhino King, one building had been destroyed, and most of the surrounding area was littered with gouges in the concrete and chunks missing from buildings.

Rhino King chuckled, drawing their attention.

“Hey, why are you laughing?” Mei shouted, pointing her sword at the yaoguai. “We’re totally going to kick your butt!”

“Yeah!” MK agreed. Though he wasn’t sure how they were going to kick his butt when they couldn't deal any real damage to the guy.

“You children are quite amusing,” Rhino King admitted as his chuckling subsided. He twirled his spear around before slamming its butt into the ground. “It’s almost a shame to cut your lives short.”

And with that, the Rhino King lowered his spear and charged.

MK leaned heavily on his staff, sweat dripping down his face. Rhino King was easily one of the toughest enemies he has faced to date, other than the Lady Bone Demon, who was in a different league altogether.

Mei leaned on MK, panting heavily. “What is this guy made of? Steel cable?”

Rhino King smirked at them as he casually twirled his spear, looking as if he hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Are you ready to give up, children?”

“Never!” MK shouted as he pushed himself back into a fighting stance. He could do this. He had to.

“Mei! MK!”

But he didn’t have to do it alone.

MK turned around and saw Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy running towards him and Mei with their weapons in tow.

“Pigsy!” MK shouted as the trio came to a stop next to him. “Glad you guys could make it. What took you so long?”

Pigsy scowled at Tang. “Someone misplaced his jangly stick.”

“Hey!” Tang whined indignantly.

Rhino King threw back his head and laughed. “Bring all the friends you want, Monkie Kid! It’s not going to save you.”

Pigsy glared at the boastful yaoguai as he gripped his rake. “Who is this guy?”

“He said he’s the Single-Horned Rhinoceros King,” MK answered. He turned to the group. “But that doesn’t matter, ‘cause now that everyone’s here, we can…”

“W-wait,” Tang interrupted. He looked at MK with fearful eyes. “Did you say the Single-Horned Rhinoceros King?”

MK nodded, though he was confused by the scholar’s reaction.

Tang chuckled nervously. “Oh boy, we’re in trouble.”

“Why’s that, Mr. Tang?” MK asked.

“Monkey King himself couldn’t beat this guy!” Tang quickly explained. “It took the combined forces of Nezha, his father Li Jing, and most, if not all, of the fire and water deities in the Celestial Realm to take him down!”

Mei cracked her knuckles. “Whatever. I still think we can take him.”

Tang gripped his golden staff tightly. “Y-yeah, we should be fine. As long as, ya know, he doesn’t have Lao Tzu’s Golden Jade Ring, like he did in Journey to the West.”

Rhino King chuckled darkly, drawing the attention of the group. “Is this what you’re talking about?” He reached into his robes and pulled out an ornate golden ring.

Tang gulped and chuckled nervously. “Y-yep, t-that’s the one.”

“Uh…” Mei squinted at the gold ring. “What does that thing do? Do you throw it like a Frisbee or what?”

Rhino King smirked. “I’ll show you.” He held the ring in the air and a bright green energy filled its center. It was kind of mesmerizing to watch, honestly. In MK’s opinion anyway.

At least, it was until everyone’s weapons were pulled out of their hands. There were cries of alarm and before anyone could do anything, their weapons flew into the golden ring and disappeared.

“My sword!” Mei shouted, reaching fruitlessly after it. She glared and shook her fist angrily at the Rhino King. “What did you do to it? Give it back, you jerk!”

“All in due time, dragonling,” Rhino King replied calmly as he tucked the ring back into his robes. “Just give me the Monkie Kid and you will get your weapons back.”

MK’s friends quickly surrounded him in a protective circle as they loudly voiced their displeasure at the Rhino King’s poor attempt at an “offer”.

“No way!” Mei shouted.

“Over my dead body,” Pigsy growled, rolling up his sleeves.

“You’ll have to go through us first.” Tang stated firmly.

“Yeah,” Sandy agreed. “Nothing’s getting MK while we’re around.”

Warmth filled MK’s chest. As long as he and his friends were together, nothing could stand in their way. Not the Demon Bull Family (though they were cool now), not the Lady Bone Demon, and definitely not the Single-Horned Rhinoceros King.

Rhino King snorted. “You really think pathetic mortals like yourselves can stop me?”

Mei cracked her knuckles. “We’ve stopped bigger baddies than you. What makes you think you’re so special?”

Rhino King threw back his head and laughed. “Not even Sun Wukong could best me! What makes you think you are more capable than him?”

A reverberating BOOM shook the surrounding buildings. Before anyone could blink, Rhino King was thrown into a building, collapsing it on top of himself and kicking up a bunch of dust that had MK and his friends coughing in the process.

As the dust settled, relief washed over MK when he saw his mentor, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. The golden-furred monkey was standing in front of the now destroyed building, his tail lashing from side to side.

“Monkey King!” MK cried out, drawing his mentor’s attention.

Monkey King’s tail became still as he turned around. “Hey, bud,” he greeted with a tight smile. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Hey, you’re here now, that’s what matters,” MK said, assuring his mentor. “Now let’s kick some demon butt.”

Monkey King nodded in response and turned back towards Rhino King, who had just dug himself off the collapsed building.

“You little pests,” Rhino King grumbled. “You’re gonna… What…?” He trailed off when he saw the two monkeys before him.

Monkey King visibly tensed and clenched his fists under the yaoguai’s red rage-filled gaze. MK half expected his mentor to make some sort of joke or witty remark, but was quite surprised when, instead, the Monkey King remained silent.

“What is the meaning of this?” Rhino King snarled. “Why are there…?”

Monkey King cut the yaoguai off with a feral hiss. Before anyone could stop him, Monkey King leapt towards Rhino King, swinging his claws at the demon.

MK watched his mentor in vague horror as the Monkey King attacked the Rhino King with a ferocity he had never seen before. Not when they were fighting Macaque or Spider Queen. Not even when they were fighting the Lady Bone Demon.

There was clearly something going on with Monkey King. But MK would have to figure out what it was later. Right now, they had a fight to win.

“Woah!” MK exclaimed as he was pulled out of the way of Rhino King’s spear thrust by Monkey King. The spear tip narrowly missed MK’s stomach, but it did pierce a hole through MK’s jacket. Rude! Pigsy had given him this jacket as a birthday present!

MK expected Wukong to make a snarky remark or joke. A “Careful, there, bud!” or a “Woah! You trying to become a shish kabob, kiddo?”. But he didn’t.

He hadn’t said anything since the fight started. Then there was the unusual aggressiveness of Monkey King’s attacks. Every swing and kick was executed with deadly force and precision. Almost like the older monkey was actively trying to kill the Rhino King. And that was kind of unsettling. Even when facing off against Spider Queen and the Lady Bone Demon, Monkey King hadn’t shown this level of aggression towards them.

It was very concerning, to say the least.

“You can’t keep this up forever, Sun Wukong!” Rhino King roared as he whipped around to face them. “You’ll slip up eventually, and then I will kill either you or your successor!”

Monkey King only growled in response, his tail lashing angrily from side to side as he put an arm in front of MK. MK’s own tail lashed in annoyance at the gesture. All throughout this fight, Monkey King had not once left MK’s side. He was always pulling MK out of the way of an attack and taking it himself, to the point that MK was frustrated. He could take care of himself, thank you very much!

(Okay, so Monkey King had just saved MK from being impaled, but still! That wasn’t the point here!)

The Rhino King huffed and lowered his weapon. “You won’t be able to beat me without backup or your precious staff.” He darted forward and thrust his spear at Monkey King.

The Great Sage caught the blade like it was nothing, stopping it mere centimeters from his own chest.

“Just give up,” The Rhino King growled as he struggled against The Monkey King. “There's nothing you can do.”

Monkey King snarled and pushed MK away with his tail. MK landed hard on his butt just as his mentor leapt at Rhino King. The yaoguai brought up his spear just in time to deflect Monkey King’s attack. It did nothing to deter the monkey’s single-minded focus as he continued attacking Rhino King, forcing the demon away from MK.

“Kid!” Pigsy cried out, rushing to MK’s side. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” MK answered quickly as he got to his feet.

Pigsy glared at Monkey King, who was expertly dodging Rhino King’s spear while still drawing him away from the group. “What does that monkey think he’s doin’?”

“I don’t know,” MK answered, watching the fight for a second before turning to face the rest of the group. “But he’s buying us some time to figure out a plan.” At least that’s what MK hoped his mentor was doing. But with how the Monkey King was acting, that wasn’t exactly a guarantee.

“Soooo, what is the plan, MK?” Mei asked, leaning on MK’s shoulder.

MK frowned thoughtfully. Something about the Rhino King has been bothering MK this entire fight. But he couldn’t figure out why. He seemed… familiar. Maybe they had fought before? But then MK definitely would have remembered him.

“Hey, uh, MK?” Sandy said, drawing MK out of his thoughts. “You remember that game you played at Mr. Monkey King’s place? The one you played for 32 hours straight?”

Pigsy’s outburst of “32 what?” went unheard as a lightbulb switched on in MK’s head.

“The Rhino King was in the game!” MK gasped. He beamed up at the blue giant as his tail wagged in excitement. “Sandy, you’re a genius! We can beat this Rhino King like the Rhino King in the game!”

“You can take this guy out with that Flaming Fists of Fury move you learned from the game, MK!” Mei cheered, throwing an arm around MK’s shoulders.

“Yeah!” MK agreed. He just needed to get behind Rhino King and use Wukong’s Flaming Fists of Fury! Just like he did in the game!

“Uh, kids?” Mei and MK turned to look at Pigsy, who was pinching the bridge of his nose. “This is real life, not one of your video games!” Neither young adult flinched at Pigsy’s outburst.

“It’s not like we have many other options right now, Pigsy,” MK said, assuring his boss/adopted-father. He turned to the rest of the group. “What do you guys think?”

“I say let’s go for it, little man,” Sandy said, giving a thumbs up. “We’re behind ya all the way.”

Tang, Pigsy, Mei, and even Mo voiced (well, meowed in Mo’s case) their assent. MK smiled warmly at his friends. What had he done in a past life to deserve such amazing people in his current one?

“Alright!” MK turned back to the fight. “Now we just need…”

MK barely had time to dodge Monkey King as the other monkey careened right at him and crashed into a nearby building.

“Monkey King!” MK shouted, alarmed. He ran towards his mentor, sidestepping debris, and held out his hand to the dazed monkey. After taking a moment to regain his senses, Monkey King finally took it and MK helped him to his feet.

“We’ve got a plan to stop the Rhino King!” MK said eagerly.

Monkey King shook his head. “It’s not gonna work, bud. Not without ou… your weapons.”

MK frowned, confused. “How did you…?”

Pigsy huffed and crossed his arms. “And, uh, just how are we supposed to use said weapons if we don’t have them?!”

Monkey King folded his own arms and looked at the group, tail swishing in agitation. He opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Tang gasping in realization.

“This is just like in Journey to the West!” Tang exclaimed excitedly. “You see, in the book, when the Rhino King used the Golden Jade Ring, the weapons were stored in a room in his lair!” Tang explained, practically vibrating with excitement. “That means our weapons should be nearby, too!”

“Exactly,” Wukong confirmed. His tail twitched anxiously as he continued. “But the Rhino King is smart. He won’t let us near our weapons, let alone find them.”

An idea popped into MK’s head. It was risky, but what wasn’t when it came to protecting the city?

“Then we keep him busy,” MK suggested, trying to sound confident even as his tail betrayed his inner turmoil.

At the sea of confused looks, MK explained. “We need our weapons, right? So some of us should keep The Rhino King busy while the others go and get our weapons.”

Understanding dawned on everyone’s faces.

Mei grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. “Awesome plan, Monkey Man!”

Everyone else nodded their agreement, except for Monkey King.

“Alright!” MK glanced back towards Rhino King, who was busy fighting some of Monkey King’s clones. “Since Rhino King is here for Monkey King and I, he’ll notice if we’re suddenly missing.” MK looked back at his friends. “So I’ll send a clone with the retrieval team so they can get the staff without me.”

“But what if the clone disappears before it can get to the staff, huh?” Pigsy pointed out. “Face it, kid. We’re gonna need either you or Monkey King to get that staff.”

“Pigsy’s right, MK,” Tang agreed, coming to stand by the pig demon. “We can’t risk a clone disappearing before it even reaches the staff.”

As much as he didn’t like it, MK knew they were right. He couldn’t risk sending a clone and having it be destroyed before it reached the staff. Especially if the Rhino King noticed them and destroyed the clone.

In the end, it was decided that Monkey King, Tang, and Mei would go to find the weapons while MK, Pigsy, and Sandy would keep the Rhino King busy. Monkey King, unsurprisingly, had been the most hesitant about splitting the group up. Or, more specifically, being away from MK, where he couldn’t help if something went wrong.

“Monkey King, you have to go with them,” MK said, feeling every bit like a parent talking to a stubborn child. “One of us has to go with them to get the staff.”

Monkey King crossed his arms and pouted. “Both of us could go.”

Why was Monkey King acting like this?! Like a child?! It was beyond frustrating at this point! MK wanted to scream.

But, MK thankfully kept his cool and continued speaking without snapping.

“Rhino King will notice if both of us leave,” MK explained as calmly as he could manage. “One of us needs to stay and keep him occupied, and the other needs to keep Mei and Tang safe.” MK smiled reassuringly at his distressed mentor. “And I’d rather you go with Mei and Tang to keep them safe.”

“But…” Monkey King began.

“I’ll be fine, Monkey King,” MK insisted, interrupting whatever objection Monkey King was going to raise. “Don’t worry.”

Monkey King stared at MK for a long moment before doing something MK never expected: he pulled MK into a hug. MK was stunned. Monkey King rarely initiated any of their hugs!

After taking a second to recover from his surprise, MK hugged his mentor back. It felt… nice. Almost like hugging a warm blanket, fresh out of the dryer.

But as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Monkey King let go and held MK out at arm’s length.

“Good luck, MK,” Monkey King said with a tight smile. “You’ll need it.”

“You too,” MK replied with a confident grin of his own.

Monkey King nodded, and with that, he left with Mei and Tang to go find all their weapons.

MK landed heavily on the ground and glared up at Rhino King as the horned demon threw Pigsy to the side. Thankfully, Sandy was able to catch Pigsy before he hit the ground as well.

“This is the best Sun Wukong could do? A washed-up warrior, a lowly swine, and a pitiful excuse for a successor?” Rhino King threw back his head and laughed. “I can see why that cowardly monkey ran away!”

MK growled at that. His mentor wasn’t a coward! “You take that back!”

The Monkie Kid launched himself at Rhino King, claws extended and ready to strike. He may not have had his staff, but he still had his powers. Just before reaching the Rhino King, MK transformed into a massive elephant and headbutted Rhino King in the chest. The yaoguai flew backwards into a building, completely demolishing it and burying himself in the debris in the process.

MK then quickly transformed into a tiger and charged at the downed yaoguai, intent on not letting up until Monkey King, Mei, and Tang returned with their weapons. They should be returning soon.

Right?

However, as soon as MK reached the pile of debris, a large gray hand shot out and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him into the air.

Startled, MK reverted back to his natural monkey form. He gasped and clawed at the hand that held him aloft, desperately trying to free himself as he struggled to breathe. Debris shifted and fell away as the Rhino King got to his feet.

“Now I’ve got you.” Rhino King smirked coldly.

“MK!” Pigsy and Sandy shouted in tandem. They started running closer, but stopped short when Rhino King swung his spear at them.

“One more step, and I’ll crush the Monkie Kid’s windpipe.” The Rhino King tightened his grip around MK’s throat for emphasis.

MK cried out in pain. His tail lashed as he clutched at the massive fingers around his throat, trying to pry them away.

“Kid!” Pigsy shouted.

MK heard Pigsy growl, and then debris shifting as the pig demon and Sandy moved away.

“There we go,” Rhino King smirked and loosened his grip on MK’s neck enough to allow him to breathe. “Now-” The horned demon returned his attention to MK. “How about we go and find that cowardly master of yours? I want to make him watch as I kill you slowly. Painfully. And to make sure you don’t escape-” Rhino King reached into his robes with his free hand and pulled out the Golden Jade Ring. “I’m going to tie you up all nice and pretty.”

MK’s eyes widened in fear and renewed his struggle to get free, but the Rhino King’s grip was strong; he couldn’t break free! The Rhino King cackled and raised the Jade Ring. MK recoiled; he had no idea what that thing would do to a body, but he had no desire to find out.

Before the Rhino King could activate the ring, there was a rumble and the next thing MK knew he was falling to the ground as the Rhino King was sent flying.

Mei caught MK before he could hit the ground. She set him on his feet before turning and pointing her sword at Rhino King. MK sucked in a desperate breath of air as he looked around at his friends, who were also pointing their newly reacquired weapons at Rhino King. MK just about cried in relief at the sight.

“You alright, MK?” She asked him without taking her eyes off of the yaoguai.

“Yeah, ‘m good,” MK answered unconvincingly as he rubbed at his throat. “Jus’ need a second.”

Rhino King chose that moment to roar and leap towards MK. MK flinched away just as Monkey King darted forward and swung his staff at the charging rhino. The staff grew in size just before impact and the Rhino King was sent flying once more, away from the group and—more importantly—away from MK.

“Get MK outta here!” Monkey King snapped as he summoned some hair clones.

MK didn’t get a chance to argue before he was scooped up in Sandy’s arms. As his friends raised their weapons and charged the Rhino King, Sandy ran away from the fight, with MK held securely in his arms.

“Wait! I can still fight!” MK insisted. He wriggled out of Sandy’s arms and immediately stumbled as soon as he hit the ground. His head was spinning and his legs felt like jelly. Thankfully, Sandy was there to catch him.

“You okay, MK?” The gentle giant asked.

“Yeah, just dizzy,” MK answered weakly.

Sandy hummed. “You’re looking a little pale there, MK. Are you sure you’re okay?”

MK went to answer but was interrupted by a loud roar. Turning around, MK and Sandy saw the Rhino King attacking Monkey King, completely ignoring the rest of the group.

“Where is it?! Where did you put it, you insolent monkey?!” The yaoguai shouted, swinging furiously at Monkey King.

“I don’t have it!” Monkey King shouted back as he expertly dodged the Rhino King’s flailing attacks. “Maybe you should check your oversized a—” Whatever Monkey King was going to say was cut off by the Rhino King backhanding him into a building.

MK winced as he watched his mentor crash into the building. Logically, he knew that Monkey King would be fine, but that didn’t stop him from worrying about his mentor.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry for long as Monkey King shot out of the building like a rocket and flew back at the Rhino King.

“We need to help them,” MK said. His knees shook at the thought of facing the Rhino King again, but he didn’t want to leave his friends to fight his battles for him.

Sandy shook his head, his eyes filled with worry. “I don’t know if that's a good idea, MK. You’re still hurt, and I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

“We can’t just let them fight this guy alone!” MK argued. “Mr. Tang said that it took a bunch of people to deal with the Rhino King last time. We need to help them.”

Sandy didn’t get a chance to respond as there was a loud roar that shook the street around them. The monkey and river demons returned their attention to the fight just in time to see Monkey King fly at the Rhino King’s back with his Flaming Fists of Fury.

The Monkey King’s attack connected. The Rhino King cried out in pain and there was a flash of blinding light as the ground shook.

A cloud of smoke obscured what was left of the street, making it impossible to see what was happening within its depths. Then the smoke was blown away by a golden breeze.

Tang lowered his staff as he turned to look at MK. He gave the young monkey a shaky smile before his knees promptly gave out. MK darted forward to catch Tang, but Pigsy was closer so he caught the human before he could faceplant into the ground. Mei stood a little further away from them, sword still drawn, as she carefully watched the hulking form of the felled Rhino King. The yaoguai still seemed to be breathing, but… MK didn’t see Monkey King.

The Monkie Kid frantically looked around the battlefield in search of his mentor, tail twitching anxiously when he didn’t immediately see him. Did the other monkey get pinned under Rhino King? How would they get him out from underneath the massive yaoguai?

MK’s worries greatly diminished when he saw Monkey King beside Rhino King. The golden monkey was kneeling beside the unconscious yaoguai, almost like he was praying.

Before MK could call out to Monkey King, there was a burst of pink light. It disappeared as just quickly as it had appeared, leaving the Third Lotus Prince, Nezha, in its place.

The prince looked around the battlefield with a surprised look on his face. “You defeated Azure Bull? All on your own?” He muttered in disbelief before turning to face the group. “How?”

“Well, it was all thanks to MK, actually,” Sandy began, clapping a large hand on MK’s small shoulder. “He…”

“Woah, woah. Back up,” Pigsy cut in as he and Tang joined MK, Sandy, and Nezha. “Azure Bull? Who’s that? Cuz we were only fightin’ the Rhino King over there.”

Nezha started to respond but was quickly interrupted by Tang’s excited gasp. “That’s right! The Single-Horned Rhinoceros King used to be Azure Bull. He worked for Lao Tzu before he stole the Golden Jade Ring and escaped the Celestial Realm to find worthy opponents in the Mortal Realm. He fought Monkey King at some point during the Journey to the West. And you know how well that turned out.” Tang chuckled nervously before continuing. “Anyway, after that fight, Azure Bull was taken back up to the Celestial Realm and… I… don’t know what happened next.”

“Azure Bull was punished for his actions in the Mortal Realm,” Nezha added, continuing Tang’s story. “Lao Tzu does not take kindly to thieves.” He gave the group a rather pointed look. Pigsy and Tang nervously looked at each other at the Lotus Prince’s words. “But the past is the past, and I am certain Lao Tzu will be thankful for the return of Azure Bull and the artifacts he stole. Speaking of which—” Nezha looked around again, as though he were searching for something. “I do not see either of the two artifacts that were taken.”

MK tilted his head in confusion. A glance at his friends showed that they were just as confused as he was (and that Mei had finally joined their group huddle). Two artifacts? Rhino King only had the…

“Is this what you’re looking for, Little Lotus Prince?” Sandy asked, holding up the Golden Jade Ring.

Nezha’s eyes lit up in surprise. “Yes, it is.” He held out a hand and Sandy carefully gave it to the Lotus Prince.

Tang gasped loudly. “You were the one who took it? Azure Bull was going crazy trying to find it! You really saved our butts out there, Sandy!”

Mei and Pigsy nodded in agreement.

“Aww, you guys.” Sandy smiled shyly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I only picked it up when Mr. Rhino Bull had dropped it after you two and Mr. Monkey King came back with your weapons.”

“This is the only artifact Azure Bull used in his fight against you?” Nezha asked as he put away the ring with a spell circle.

“Yep.” MK nodded. “It was a little hard to miss when he used it to take our weapons away.” And when he was going to use it on me, MK added silently.

“Yeah!” Mei agreed, jumping over to MK and throwing an arm around his shoulders. “It got all glowy and then shwoop, our weapons were gone.”

MK and the others nodded in agreement. Nezha looked between them before glancing back at Rhino King with a frown.

“Is… something wrong?” Tang asked carefully.

“I… am not sure,” Nezha answered slowly. A pause. “There is something I must discuss with Sun Wukong. Excuse me.”

And with that, he skated over to the still kneeling Monkey King.

As soon as Nezha was gone, MK was immediately dogpiled by his friends. They all fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and tears. MK laughed as his friends fretted over him, making sure he was okay. He was going to need to see a doctor for sure, but for now…

MK was just glad that everyone was okay.

“Guys, guys. I’m fine,” MK finally said, pushing himself up into a seated position.

Mei held out a hand; MK took it and she pulled him to his feet. MK wobbled a bit once he was upright, but other than that, he was feeling pretty good. MK glanced over at Monkey King and saw that he was standing and talking with Nezha a little ways away from Azure Bull. Or rather, Nezha seemed to be doing most of the talking; Monkey King himself appeared to be quite despondent as he stood there with his tail between his legs.

MK had never seen his mentor act this way before. Not when they were fighting the Spider Queen or even the Lady Bone Demon. The Monkey King had stood tall and proud through each fight. But not this one.

No, this fight seemed to have had a different effect on the older monkey. Now, the Great Sage did not appear all that great, with his head bowed and shoulders hunched. It was almost like someone had sucked the soul out of him, leaving behind an empty husk.

MK jumped as Mei threw her arm around his shoulders again.

“Soooo, now that we’ve dealt with the bad guy,” Mei began, casually examining her fingernails. “Do you wanna go see that Monkey Mech movie now?”

MK’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. “Heck yeah!” He cheered. He could deal with whatever was going on with Monkey King tomorrow. Although… His gaze wandered back over to Monkey King and Nezha. “Do you think Monkey King would like to join us?”

Mei followed his gaze. “He does seem like he could use a break,” she muttered before shrugging. “Sure, he can tag along. So long as he doesn’t spoil the movie, of course.”

MK laughed and shrugged off his friend’s arm. “Don’t worry, he won’t!” Then he frowned and muttered. “I think.”

“I heard that,” Mei teased, playfully shoving MK’s shoulder. MK smiled back as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Mei laughed before shoving MK toward the conversing immortals. “Well, go ask him then.”

MK grinned at her and started running towards his mentor and Nezha.

“Make sure yer back home by 11!” Pigsy shouted after him.

“I will!" MK called back before he continued running. “Monkey King!” he shouted as he got closer to his mentor.

Monkey King’s head whipped around. His gaze met MK’s. Then he looked over at Azure Bull. Monkey King’s eyes widened as he looked back at MK and shouted, “MK! STOP!”

“Huh?” MK followed Monkey King’s gaze. He stumbled as something hit him and shattered. Before MK could fully register what had hit him, he was quickly surrounded by a golden smoke.

“NO!”

MK’s gaze snapped back to Monkey King. There was a look of fear—of pure terror—on the king’s face as he rushed towards his successor.

MK reached out to Monkey King just as the smoke fully enveloped him. “Monkey King?”

Wind roared in MK’s ears as he was painfully yanked away from where he stood, and off to somewhere else. It tore at his clothes and fur with such ferocity that MK worried that his skin was going to peel off.

Thankfully, it was over before that happened. But when the smoke finally cleared, MK realized he was no longer in Megapolis.

He was on Flower Fruit Mountain!

Mei POV:

“Monkey King?” MK cried before he was enveloped in golden smoke.

Mei ran forward to pull her friend out of the smoke. The smoke cleared just as she reached it, revealing… nothing. Nothing. Not MK. Not even a single trace of him standing there. Almost like he had never been there in the first place.

Where did he go?

Mei was snapped out of her trance by loud, raucous laughter.

“You’ll never see the Monkie Kid again!” Rhino King—Azure Bull, whatever—crowed.

Fire danced across Mei’s skin as she stalked towards the cackling rhino. She wanted nothing more than to shut him up for good. How dare he laugh at whatever he did!

But before Mei even got close to the rhino, Monkey King dashed forward and hit Azure Bull over the head with the staff. Azure Bull promptly fell back to the ground, now truly unconscious.

Monkey King, with his tail unusually still, stared down at the bull like he was nothing but trash underfoot that needed to be cleaned up.

With Azure Bull down for the count, Mei turned her ire on the Monkey King. “Monkey King!”

Monkey King turned just in time to meet Mei’s fist in the face. The monkey didn’t flinch even as Mei’s hand throbbed with pain from the impact. He brushed her hand away like he was shooing away a pesky insect.

“What happened to MK? Why didn’t you do anything?” Mei demanded.

Monkey King scowled at her. “What do you think I could have done?”

“I don’t know!” Mei threw her hands up in the air. “Push him out of the way, take the hit for him, anything! He’s your successor!”

“I know he is!” Wukong snapped, bearing his fangs at the young dragon. “But there is nothing we can do for him now. He’s on his own.”

That wasn’t good enough for the White Horse Dragon Girl. “We can find him. We will find him. That’s what we can do. What we have to do.”

Monkey King crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “And how are you going to find him then? Make a time machine?”

Mei paused. Make a time machine? Why would they need a time machine?

“Um, what do you mean, Monkey King?” Tang piped up timidly from behind Mei.

Monkey King turned his glare onto the scholar. “The bottle that hit m… MK was filled with a special smoke made by Lao Tzu to send whomever is enveloped by it into the past. Far into the past.”

“How far are we talking, Mr. Monkey King?” Sandy asked apprehensively. “Years? Decades?”

Monkey King looked at him with an unreadable expression. “Millenia.”

Something broke inside Mei as the Monkey King uttered that one, single word. Millenia? There was no way. There was no way MK was just… sent through time. That sort of thing happened in movies and video games! Not real life!

Mei shook her head. She refused to believe it. MK was just teleported to somewhere else, just like their weapons. He was out there somewhere. He had to be.

And Mei would find him. No matter the cost.

“There’s no way,” Pigsy muttered. Mei didn’t have to look to know the chef’s eyes were filled with tears. “There’s no way MK’s… gone… just like that…”

“I’m sorry,” Monkey King said dejectedly. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“No…” was all Pigsy managed to whisper. Tang rested a hand on his shoulder, just as distraught as his husband. Pigsy turned away with a look of despair as he pulled Tang into a hug, tears streaming down the normally stoic pig demon’s face.

Mei shook her head and clenched her fists as her own tears threatened to fall. MK wasn’t gone. He just couldn’t be.

“Maybe we could use another one of those smoke potion things to bring him back,” Sandy suggested hopefully, though even Mei could tell he was grasping at straws.

“If I may,” Nezha piped up, coming closer to the group. “That potion was the second artifact that Azure Bull had stolen. And it does have the ability to send someone into the past. From what I have been told, it is a one way trip only.” He looked at everyone solemnly. “Wherever the Monkie Kid was sent, he will not be returning.”

Mei wasn’t having it.

“NO!” Mei shouted. “There has to be something we can do!”

“Look, Mei.” Wukong snarled. “Unless you know how to change the past, my past, then you’d better just leave it alone.”

Anger bubbled within Mei as she glared at the golden monkey. “Your past? What do you have to do with anything that just happened?”

Monkey King blinked. Then he paled and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over some leftover debris from the fight. His breathing quickened as he continued to back away, his gaze darting between everyone.

Sandy took a cautious step forward. “Monkey King? Are you alright?”

In lieu of an answer, Monkey King hopped on his stupid cloud and everyone watched as he flew away. Mei glared at the quickly retreating form of Monkey King as he became a speck on the horizon, running away from his problems. Like he always did.

The coward.

“It is curious,” Nezha hummed thoughtfully, drawing the attention of what was left of the Monkie Kid’s group.

“What’s curious?” Sandy asked quietly.

Nezha turned to the group. “How is it that Sun Wukong knew how the potion worked if I myself only learned of it recently? Unless…” He trailed off as a look of understanding dawned on his face. He cleared his throat and bowed to the group. “My apologies, but I need to return Azure Bull to the Celestial Realm.”

The god moved closer to Azure Bull and raised his spear, then paused. He raised his head and looked sorrowfully at the group. “I am sorry for your loss,” Nezha said before bringing his spear down and disappearing with Azure Bull in the same pinkish light that had signaled his arrival.

A mournful silence fell over the group. No one knew what to do next, now that the source of their answers had disappeared. Mei stared numbly at where Nezha once stood. Why couldn’t he have stayed and answered their questions? Why did he have to leave so suddenly?

Why didn’t she get a chance to say goodbye?

A broken cry escaped her as she fell to her knees. Hadn’t they suffered enough? With all of the good they had done for the world, didn’t they deserve a break? Why was MK the one who paid the price? Why wasn’t it her? It should’ve been her!

Mei didn’t register the footsteps approaching her until Pigsy, Tang, and Sandy all knelt down beside her and wrapped their arms around her. Their tears fell in tandem as they wept for their missing friend.

Mei didn’t know how long they stayed there, kneeling and crying together. It could’ve been hours. It could’ve been minutes. She didn’t care.

But eventually, someone had to break the silence.

“C’mon, guys,” Pigsy said, his voice cracking as he spoke. “We can’t stay out here forever.”

There were murmurs of agreement from Tang and Sandy, and the three of them got to their feet. Mei stayed where she was, staring out on the battlefield that had taken so much from them. Too much. The street and buildings could be repaired, but the lives that were lost were not as easily replaceable.

Though maybe they could be found again.

“He’s not gone,” Mei muttered as she watched the breeze kick up a dust cloud.

“Mei?” Pigsy said, sounding confused.

“He’s not gone,” Mei repeated firmly as she wiped the tears from her face. She got to her feet and faced her friends. “Look, I don’t care what Monkey King or Nezha say. I’m going to find MK. No matter what it takes.”

Chapter Text

MK threw up. He didn’t mean to, but rapid teleportation spells never agreed with him. Granted, it had only happened to him twice, but his point still stood.

With his stomach now thoroughly emptied of its contents, MK looked up and took stock of his situation.

The sun shone in his eyes as he looked around the mountaintop. He was surrounded by a ring of rock pillars, boulders, and lush vegetation. There was a lone tree behind MK, desperately clinging to the rocky mountain top as it cast shadow over him, and lying in front of MK was a set of stairs that led down the mountain.

Okay, so he was on Flower Fruit Mountain (he was fairly sure of that fact), but where? The island was huge and he was fairly certain he hadn’t even seen half of it yet, despite his many visits to the island.

“Ugh, why does this island have to be so big?!” MK dragged a hand down his face and groaned. At least he knew how to get off of the island. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

He should be able to get back to Megapolis fast enough with his somersault cloud to help his friends fight the Rhino King. So MK jumped up and formed his somersault cloud.

Or tried to, anyway.

The cloud never formed beneath MK’s feet, and he fell flat on his butt on the ground as a result.

“Okay, that was weird…” MK muttered as he got back to his feet. “Let’s try that again.”

MK tried to form his somersault cloud again, but nothing happened. Not even a wisp of the cloud formed. MK chuckled nervously. This was fine. This was fine. He had only used the somersault cloud a few times so far. He was bound to have trouble with it eventually.

He hoped that was the reason.

“Alright, let’s try something else,” MK said to himself. He didn’t have his staff, so vaulting himself back to the city was out of the question. That left him with his 72 Transformations. Which came as easily as breathing to the Monkie Kid.

Breathe in…

Breathe out…

…

Nothing.

He felt nothing. It was like his powers had been stripped away. Again. MK tried to swallow his growing panic. This wasn’t the Lady Bone Demon’s doing. She was gone. MK had watched her disappear into a white void of nothingness. This had to be something else. Maybe… maybe his powers were just weakened from the fight. Yeah, that had to be it.

“C’mon, MK. You can do this,” he muttered to himself, slapping himself on the face for good measure. “You can do this!”

He closed his eyes and focused on transforming into a bird.

…

Nothing!

MK frowned and tried using any of his other powers. Grow big. Turn small. Gold vision. Clones. Heck, MK would settle for his puppy dog hands right about now.

…

MK screamed in frustration. None of his powers were working. This was just like when the Lady Bone Demon had stolen his powers, except worse. Back then, he could still feel his powers, just out of reach. It had taken a lot of effort, but MK had eventually regained all of his powers. But now? Now MK felt nothing. There was no buzz of magic beneath his skin, no comforting warmth in his chest. Nothing. MK felt empty.

Cold.

MK shook his head to clear that thought. There had to be something else going on. Power didn’t just disappear. The Monkie Kid squeezed his eyes shut and focused, reaching deep into his core. There had to be something…

…

…

There.

MK felt something deep within himself and eagerly pulled at it. And his eyes began to burn. Painfully. His eyelids snapped open, and lasers shot out of his eyes and into the sky. Alarmed, MK quickly covered his eyes. The lasers thankfully stopped as soon as his eyes were closed.

Okay… He had never seen that power before.

“Okay, MK,” MK muttered to himself reassuringly. “It’s just a new power you activated on accident. Nothing bad is going to happen if you open your eyes.”

Hopefully.

Taking a deep breath, MK lowered his hands and slowly opened one eye, ready to cover it again if needed. When nothing unusual happened, MK opened his other eye and looked at the sky. The clouds above his head had a clear hole shot through them. MK chuckled nervously; hopefully he didn’t accidentally shoot down any satellites or anything with his eye lasers.

Okay, so that didn’t work out as MK had planned. Maybe if he cleared his mind, he’d be able to figure out a better solution. MK closed his eyes again and brought his hands to heart center (a yoga pose that Sandy had taught him), making sure to keep his breathing even and unhurried. This was a calming technique Monkey King had taught him a while back when he was having difficulties controlling his powers.

“Soooo, how is this supposed to help?” MK asked, holding his hands in front of his chest like his mentor.

A fond, nostalgic smile crossed the Monkey King’s face. “When I was your age, I had the hardest time controlling my powers.”

MK stared at his mentor in disbelief. “Whaaaaaat?! Buh-but you’re the Monkey King!”

Monkey King laughed. “I wasn’t always the Monkey King, kid. And I didn’t always have my powers, either. Had to earn them the hard way.”

“How did you learn to control them?” MK asked in wonder.

“I had a pretty great teacher back then, bud.” Monkey King reached over and ruffled MK’s hair. “And now I’m going to teach you what he taught me.”

MK sighed. Oh, what he wouldn’t give to have his staff again so he could just pole vault himself across the ocean, like he used to when Sandy wasn’t available and before he had gained his 72 Transformations. Then he would be able to get back to Megapolis and—

“Who are you?”

MK just about jumped out of his skin. Who said that?! His eyes snapped open, and he was immediately met with a face that was far too close to his own, with two big red eyes. MK screamed and jumped away from the stranger who had decided to invade his personal space.

And what he saw standing in front of him was not what he had expected.

Standing in front of him was another monkey. But not a monkey he had ever seen before. They looked a lot like the little monkeys MK had seen around the island before, just bigger and with a snow-white pelt and piercing red eyes. They wore a sleeveless red tunic with a white sash tied around their waist and a pair of black loose-fitting pants.

“Wow, you’re a bit jumpy,” they said with a smirk as a long white tail swished behind them.

“Yeah, well. You would be too, if some weirdo got all up in your face while your eyes were closed!” MK countered. He couldn’t tell if they were male or female, even with their voice.

The white monkey tilted their head to the side in confusion. “Weirdo? What does—?”

“Ma?” a deep voice called out.

“Up here, Ba!” the white monkey—Ma, apparently—shouted.

MK barely had time to wonder who this Ba person was before a massive, absolute unit of a monkey came up the stairs behind Ma. This new monkey was nearly double Ma’s height, with long reddish-orange fur and was wearing a simple pair of baggy red pants. A yellow face mask covered the top half of their face, with a point going down their nose, kinda like a bird’s beak.

MK stared up at the monkey in awe as it walked forward and stood beside Ma. How could a monkey be so big? The only other monkeys he’d seen before (besides Ma just now, who was a bit shorter than him) was Monkey King and Macaque, who were both about the same height as him.

Normally, MK didn’t have a problem with people that were significantly bigger than him (heck, he was friends with Sandy!), but something about not having the staff and not being able to use any of his powers made the monkey before him seem just that much more intimidating.

“Um, that’s a big monkey,” MK commented nervously, trying not to think about how the new monkey could probably easily crush his skull with a mere pinch of their fingers.

“Yep!” Ma chirped. “This is Ba.” They gestured at the big monkey beside them, who gave a curt nod. Then they gestured to themself. “And I’m Ma. What’s your name?”

“Huh?” MK blinked. “Oh! I’m MK.”

“M… K…?” Ma repeated slowly with a frown. “That’s an odd name.”

MK spluttered indignantly. “Oh, what? Like Ma and Ba are any better? Your names literally mean mom and dad!”

Okay, MK didn’t mean to snap. But, in his defense, it had been a long day and he just wanted to go home and eat some of Pigsy’s cooking while watching Monkey Cop with Mei. They could catch the Monkey Mech movie later, probably when Red Son got back from his family vacation.

Ma laughed (which was not the reaction MK was expecting). “I know! Confusing, right? He’s my dad, but I’m not a mom.” Ma smiled. “You can blame my brother Beng for that, though. He named me.”

MK stared at them in confusion. That… was not how that worked??? At least, not how he thought it was supposed to work. Siblings didn’t name their siblings. Though MK would have to ask Pigsy and Tang about it later, when he got home. Just to be sure.

“Enough about me,” Ma gave a quick wave of their hand before they began bouncing excitedly on their heels. “Where are you from, MK? What are you wearing? How’d you get on top of the mountain? What was that strange beam of light? Did you see who—”

“Ma,” Ba scolded gently, interrupting the white monkey’s long string of questions. His voice was low and gravelly—even more so than Pigsy’s or Sandy’s.

Ma bowed their head sheepishly. “Sorry, Ba.” Ma returned their attention to MK, excitement glinting in their eyes. “So where are you from, MK?”

“Um… Megapolis,” MK answered.

Ma tilted their head and frowned. “Megapolis? That’s a weird name. Is it another island?”

MK stared at the white monkey, dumbfounded. “No? It’s a city over on the mainland?”

Ma’s face immediately lit up with excitement. “You’re from the mainland?!” MK recoiled when Ma leaned in even closer, to the point that their noses were nearly touching. “What’s it like? What did you do over there? Did you bring anything? Why are you here? How did you get here?”

“Ma,” Ba scolded more sternly.

Ma’s face flushed with embarrassment and they backed away sheepishly, their tail tucked between their legs. “Sorry, it’s just… I’ve never been to the mainland before.” They sighed heavily and looked up at MK, looking every bit like a sad puppy. “I’ve never been off the island.”

MK was confused by that. Ma had never been off the island? Why? It wasn’t like there was anything dangerous that would prevent them from leaving. Maybe Monkey King had forbidden it? But why? And speaking of Monkey King, why had he never introduced MK to these monkeys? Why had MK never seen them before?

MK wanted to ask why, but he started to cough as soon as he opened his mouth. MK covered his mouth with his elbow in an attempt to stifle the coughs, but to no avail.

“MK?!” Ma cried out in alarm, rushing to his side. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

MK, obviously, couldn't answer as he was busy hacking up a lung. He doubled over as the coughs continued to wrack his entire body. His coughing aggravated his bruised neck, which caused him to cough more, which aggravated his neck, which caused him to cough more, which aggravated his neck…

It was a vicious cycle.

Someone placed their hand on MK’s shoulder. MK looked up through watery eyes and saw Ba kneeling in front of him.

“Breathe,” the much bigger monkey instructed gently.

Ba inhaled deeply and held his breath for a few seconds before slowly exhaling. He repeated the action a few times before MK caught on to what he was doing. When MK next breathed in, he breathed in slowly, and instead of immediately coughing, held his breath for a few seconds before slowly releasing his breath. He coughed almost immediately but it wasn’t as bad as before.

MK repeated the breathing exercise with Ba until he didn’t feel like he was going to cough up a lung anymore.

“Thank you,” MK rasped as he rubbed at his aching neck.

Ba nodded and patted MK’s back before he got back on his feet. MK stood up as well, and stretched his aching limbs as far as they could go. More than a few of his joints popped as a result, which was probably not a good thing. Maybe he should see a doctor about that.

Eh, that was a problem for future MK.

“Daaang,” Ma whistled. “You sounded like dry bamboo in a fire for a second there.”

MK stared at the small, white monkey. “Uh, what?” he asked, confused.

Ma shrugged. “When you toss dry bamboo into a fire, it goes snap, snapsnap! Pop!” Ma used their hands to mimic tiny explosions. “Y’know?”

MK shook his head as he rubbed at his neck again. “No, I don’t know. I’ve never put bamboo in a fire.”

Ma’s eyes lit up with a mischievous light. “Oh? Well, I can show you if you want.”

MK didn’t like the way they said that. It reminded him of Mei and the chaos she caused when they were younger. Thankfully, she had (mostly) grown out of those tendencies in recent years, but her mischievous ways were still a force to be reckoned with.

MK dreaded the day Ma and Mei would finally meet.

“Ma, no,” Ba said warningly, as if he knew exactly what the little monkey was thinking. Which he probably did.

Ma’s demeanor immediately changed from mischievous to mopey. “Awww, but Ba…” they whined.

“No!” The bigger monkey repeated more firmly.

Ma crossed their arms and pouted. “I never get to do anything fun.”

Somehow, MK didn’t believe them, especially when Ba shook his head like a parent that was far too tired of their child’s shenanigans. MK’s tail flicked as he looked around the mountain top again. He knew he was on Flower Fruit Mountain, but just where was he exactly?

And why did it seem so familiar?

“Brrrr! It’s cold up here.” Ma shuddered as a cool breeze blew across the mountaintop. They wrapped their arms around themselves as their fur puffed up in an attempt to keep warm. “We should get going, Ba.”

Ba nodded in agreement. Before MK could say anything, Ma grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards the stairs.

“Come on, MK! I still have so many questions for you,” Ma said excitedly, their tail wagging. “Plus, I think Ba wants Liu to make sure you’re really okay.” They paused and turned to face the big monkey behind them. “Right, Ba?”

Ba only grunted in response, which seemed to be enough of an answer for Ma. They pulled on MK’s arm again with renewed vigor as they headed towards the stairs, and MK followed without complaint.

As the three monkeys traveled down the mountain, Ma bombarded MK with questions that he answered to the best of his abilities.

“How’d you get on top of the mountain?”

“Dunno. One minute I was in Megapolis and the next I was here.” (MK left out the weird golden smoke that the Rhino King had used on him.)

“What caused that strange beam of light?”

“I think I did?”

“Can you do it again?”

“No.” (MK wasn’t sure what was going on with his powers at the moment, and he didn’t want to risk causing any real destruction; he was lucky he had only hit the clouds that time.)

“What’s that thing you’re wearing?”

“What ‘thing’?”

“That yellow thing.”

“… my jacket?”

“What’s a jacket?”

Ma never seemed to run out of questions to ask MK. He had never seen anyone be so excited about a zipper before, of all things; it was kind of endearing.

“So who are Liu and Beng?” MK asked when Ma (finally) paused to take a breath between questions.

Ma’s face immediately lit up and their tail started wagging excitedly. “Oooooo, so Liu is my mom, and Beng is my brother, and…”

MK listened as Ma eagerly told him about their family. And he wondered again why he had never heard of or seen these monkeys before now.

“So how can you understand Ba?” MK asked as they trekked down a well-worn, but narrow path through the trees. “He doesn’t really say much, does he?” MK cringed at how that sounded. He looked back at the monkey behind him. “No offense.”

Ba just shrugged in response.

“That’s just how Ba is,” Ma answered with a shrug. “He’s always been the quiet one, but that doesn’t stop him from speaking his mind.”

MK frowned at the clear contradiction in Ma’s words. “But that doesn’t—”

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” A new voice sneered. “A little half-breed and a bènbó wandering through the forest alone?” The voice tsked. “Don’t you know how dangerous that is?”

Ba and Ma immediately tensed at the sound of the new voice and looked around the forest, trying to find where it was coming from. They didn’t have to look for long when there was a sudden rustling sound coming from the trees around them. Before MK could ask what was going on, three monkeys dropped out of the trees and landed around him, Ma, and Ba, effectively surrounding them.

The new monkeys all looked a lot like MK, but with different face markings and similar fur colors. The monkey closest to Ma had auburn fur and a light purple slanted crescent moon face marking. The monkey closest to MK had dusty brown fur and a light green arch face marking. The monkey in front of MK, Ma, and Ba had light brown fur and a face marking in the form of two red circles around their eyes.

The clothes these monkeys wore seemed to look far more ancient than MK was used to seeing. It reminded him of one of Tang’s old history books that showed what different people wore back in Ancient China.

Guess these guys are dressed up for a Ren fair or something, MK thought.

The monkey in front of MK gave him an unimpressed look before turning her attention to Ma. “What do you think you’re doing in our forest, dirty mutt?”

MK could practically feel the rage radiating off of Ma as they clenched their hands and stared up at this new monkey.

“We’re going home,” Ma answered through gritted teeth, their tail lashing behind them. “Is that a problem, Níshíliú?”

“No, that’s not the problem,” The now-named Níshíliú smirked. “The problem is, where are you going with him?” She pointed at MK.

“Me? What did I do?” MK asked incredulously. He only just met these guys today!

But MK’s question went unanswered.

“Where did you find him?” Níshíliú continued as though MK hadn’t said anything. “Did you kidnap one of my people and put him in… that?” Níshíliú made a face of disgust at MK’s clothes.

“Hey!” MK shouted indignantly. What was wrong with his clothes?! They weren’t that strange!

“We found him on top of the mountain!” Ma exclaimed.

Níshíliú crossed her arms and raised a disapproving eyebrow. “And why were you on top of the mountain? You know it’s off-limits to outcasts like yourselves.”

Ma glared at Níshíliú. “There was a big beam of light and—”

Níshíliú cut Ma off with a scornful laugh. “I’m surprised you saw that with your poor eyesight.”

Ma’s fur bristled. “Well, at least with my cruddy eyes, I don’t have to see your ugly face!”

The effect of Ma’s words was immediate. Níshíliú’s companions jumped to her defense, baring their fangs and demanding to know what made Ma think they could say that to Níshíliú (who MK guessed was their leader or something). Ma shouted back at them, saying that they should’ve just stayed away (along with some rather colorful language that would’ve gotten MK in trouble for even thinking of saying), while Ba stood between Ma and the other monkeys, keeping a protective arm in front of Ma as a low growl rumbled out of his chest.

MK stood off to the side, feeling very much like an outsider. He didn’t know any of these monkeys, and he would’ve guessed he was on a different island if it wasn’t for Mount Huaguo looming behind him. MK knew that Flower Fruit was a big island, but big enough to hide whole troops of monkeys that apparently didn’t get along? He was definitely going to have to talk with Monkey King about this when he got back to Megapolis.

“C’mon, guys,” MK said. “Can’t we just sort this out peacefully? Like, can’t we sit down and talk?”

“Stay out of this, MK!” Ma snapped. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Yes, stay out of this, ‘MK’,” Níshíliú retorted. “You shouldn’t be dealing with these outcasts, anyway.”

“Why do you keep calling them that?” MK asked. “What have they done?” He may have only just met Ba and Ma, but he could tell that they were good people.

Níshíliú rounded on him and MK suddenly felt like he was facing off against an enemy. Thankfully, MK already had plenty of enemies, so he was confident in his ability to fend off Níshíliú and her goons, even without his powers.

MK brought his hands up and bent his knees slightly, getting ready for the fight that would inevitably start.

“Níshíliú!”

MK jumped at the new voice. Níshíliú scowled and glared in the direction of whomever had shouted. MK followed her gaze and saw two new monkeys standing between a couple of trees.

The biggest of the new monkeys had light gray fur and a teal face marking that looked a lot like Ba’s, sans the point. He also wore a pair of baggy pants like Ba, but they were tan instead of red. The shortest of the two newcomers had dull brown fur and a tan face marking across her eyes. She wore a simple looking blue tunic and pants.

And she did not look happy.

“Oh, look,” one of Níshíliú’s goons sneered. “The other freaks have appeared.”

The other goon snickered at that. The smaller monkey didn’t lose her cool or respond as she continued to look at Níshíliú like a disapproving parent.

“The truce is still in effect, Níshíliú,” the monkey said sternly. “You can’t attack us.”

Níshíliú and the smaller monkey stared at each other. The big gray-furred monkey shifted nervously as the smaller one by his side glared challengingly at Níshíliú, as if daring her to try anything. Even though MK had no idea what was going on between those two, he could still feel the uncomfortable tension in the air.

After several long, tense moments, Níshíliú huffed and looked away with a flick of her tail. She returned her attention to Ma, disdain on her face. “You’re lucky the challenge was today, or things would have ended differently.”

“Yeah, for you, maybe,” Ma muttered quietly. Though maybe not quiet enough if the quick glare from the smaller of the two newcomers or the irritated flick of Níshíliú’s tail was anything to go by.

Thankfully, Níshíliú seemed to let it go as she turned around with another flick of her tail. “Duànyá, Shashí, let’s get out of here. We need to cleanse ourselves of this outcast stench.”

Both Duànyá and Shashí looked like they wanted to argue, but they didn’t. They grumbled but finally backed down. They each gave a final glare at Ba, Ma, and the two newcomers before joining Níshíliú.

MK thought that was that and Níshíliú was going to leave, but she didn’t. Instead she turned and pointed at MK.

“You, come with us,” Níshíliú ordered. “We need to get you out of those ‘clothes’ and away from the outcasts.”

“That’s not fair!” Ma shouted. “He—”

“He’s a Hénghé!” Níshíliú snapped, interrupting Ma. “He needs to be with his own people.” She beckoned to MK. “Come, we’ll get you some proper clothes and—”

“No.”

Níshíliú froze. “What did you say?”

“I said no,” MK repeated. “I won’t be going anywhere with you.”

Níshíliú looked like she had been slapped in the face. Then her face hardened as she scowled at him. “Do you think you really get a choice in this matter?”

“I do, actually.” MK stepped in front of Ma and Ba, his fists clenched tightly at his sides as he stared down a stunned Níshíliú. “And I choose to go with them. I don’t really know them yet and they don’t really know me, but they have been nothing but kind to me since I got here.” MK glared at Níshíliú and her companions. “Which I can’t say the same about you.”

Duànyá and Shashí glared at MK like he had personally offended them and wanted to make him pay for it. Níshíliú raised her hand to stop them from doing anything.

“If you go with them, you will become an outcast like them,” she warned. “Is that really what you want?”

“It sounds better than being with a sour bitch with a stick up her butt,” MK retorted.

“Why, you…” the dusty brown monkey snarled, flicking his tail.

“Duànyá, no!” Níshíliú shouted, but her warning came too late as Duànyá lunged towards MK.

MK raised an eyebrow at Duànyá’s sloppy movements. Who taught this guy how to fight? Whatever, MK could handle him easily enough.

MK adjusted his stance slightly, using his tail as a counterbalance, and raised his hands as Duànyá rushed towards him, clawed hand outstretched. MK breathed in, carefully watching Duànyá’s approach. He then breathed out, grabbed Duànyá’s arm, pivoted, and used the other monkey’s momentum to flip him onto his back. Duànyá hit the ground with a pained cry.

“Duànyá!” Shashí shouted before snarling at MK. “I’ll make you pay for that!”

Shashí went to lunge at MK as well, but Níshíliú stopped her.

“That’s enough, Shashí,” Níshíliú said firmly. “The truce is still in effect. Even if some of us have disregarded that fact—” She glared pointedly at MK, as if she expected him to know what she was talking about. “That doesn’t mean we all should.”

Shashí’s tail lashed behind her as she continued to glare daggers at MK but otherwise stayed put.

Níshíliú looked up at the sky. “It is time we return home,” she said after a moment of… skygazing?

Shashí nodded, and then turned her attention to MK. MK backed away and raised his fists, ready to take her on as well, but to his surprise Shashí darted forward and grabbed Duànyá by the arm. “Get up, you useless lump. We’re leaving.”

Duànyá only groaned in response. Shashí sighed and started dragging Duànyá away from MK. Níshíliú came forward and helped Shashí. Together, the two monkeys pulled their companion up onto his feet, and left, shooting hateful glances over their shoulders as they disappeared into the trees.

Silence fell over the forest after Níshíliú and her companions left.

Then it was broken by Ma’s laughter.

“MK, that was awesome!” They cheered. Ma ran out from behind Ba, leapt at MK, and grabbed his shoulders. “The way you just… like he was nothing… You have to teach me how you did that!” Ma was practically vibrating with excitement as they spoke.

“Ma!” someone said sharply—it was the shorter of the two newcomers.

Ma froze and made a face. A face MK knew very well. It was the face of someone who knew they were in trouble. Ma and MK both turned towards the dark brown monkey that was now standing with her hands on her hips as she stared at Ma like a disapproving parent; MK knew that look all too well, since he had seen it so many times on Pigsy.

“H-hi, Liu,” Ma said sheepishly.

“‘Hi, Liu’?” The now named Liu repeated incredulously. “That’s all you have to say after nearly getting into a fight with Níshíliú of all monkeys?”

“Well, she started it!” Ma said defensively. “And it’s not like I was even looking for trouble, anyway. Not this time.”

“You know better than to fight on Challenge Day!” Liu exclaimed. “If it came out that you were breaking the rules—”

“But I wasn’t!” Ma snapped as they walked over to Liu, leaving MK alone where he stood. “I just told you—”

“They’ll be like that for a while,” a new voice said, drawing MK’s attention away from Ma and Liu’s argument. It was the big, gray monkey. “This usually happens when Ma does something she isn’t supposed to.”

“Oh.” So Ma was female, then. “Does she get in trouble often?”

The gray monkey chuckled. “If she doesn’t get in trouble at least once a week, you know something’s wrong.” Then the monkey turned to him. “I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Beng.”

“I’m MK,” MK replied.

Beng frowned thoughtfully. “MK? That’s a strange name.”

MK chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah, so I’ve been told.” Why was everyone so fixated on his name? It wasn’t that strange, was it?

“So, MK, where are you from, anyway?”

“Who did you say hurt you again?” Liu asked as she applied a strange green paste to MK’s arm—she had told him that it was a healing salve of some sort.

“Some guy named the Rhino King,” MK answered.

Liu simply hummed in response as she continued to patch up MK’s wounds. “Haven’t heard of him. Must not be from around here.”

After Níshíliú and her companions had left (and after her argument conversation with Ma), Liu had noticed that MK was injured and had practically ordered him to follow her back to their (her, Ba’s, Beng’s, and Ma’s) home so she could tend to his wounds. MK wasn’t about to argue with the obviously more experienced monkey. So, without further argument, MK followed the family of four back to their home.

They had to travel quite a ways from where they had encountered Níshíliú and her companions to their destination. Liu said that their home was between the Hénghé and Jíběnsī territories and that they needed to get there before the sun set so they had to travel far and fast, which left little time for idle chit chat.

The sky was just starting to turn to sunset colors when they arrived at the tree MK’s newfound friends called home.

“Who’s that?” Ma asked from where she had draped herself across the root of said tree.

“You know, the Single-Horned Rhinoceros King,” MK reiterated. “He’s just some guy Monkey King has fought before.”

“Monkey King?” Beng repeated, sounding confused. “Who’s that?”

“Sun Wukong, the Monkey King?” MK said, looking up at the gray monkey in disbelief. Now he was confused. “You know, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?”

Beng shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

MK looked at the other monkeys around him. “Don’t you guys know who the Monkey King is? He’s, like, the king of all monkeys, or something. Surely you guys should at least know about him! You’re living on his island!”

Liu, Ba, Beng, and Ma all exchanged looks with each other before returning their confused gazes to MK.

“MK,” Liu began carefully. “There is no Monkey King.”

Chapter Text

“There is no Monkey King.”

Liu’s words hung in the early evening air like a bad smell. She had to be mistaken or something. This was Flower Fruit Mountain! Monkey King lived here, for crying out loud!

“What do you mean there is no Monkey King?” MK asked. “Like, have you not met him? Or is he not here yet? Wait, no, that wouldn’t make sense…”

“MK, what are you talking about?” Liu asked, exasperated. “I just said there is no Monkey King!”

“Yes, there is!” MK insisted. “I can prove it!”

MK reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone. All of the monkeys around him leaned forward and looked at the device in his hand. Then he turned it on and they all immediately recoiled as if they had been blinded. Well, everyone except Ma, who leaned in closer.

“What is that?” Ma asked in wonder as she leaned over MK’s shoulder. The light from MK’s phone screen made her red eyes stand out even more.

“Whatever it is, it’s not natural!” Liu snapped. Her ears were pinned back against her head as she glared at the phone as if it had personally threatened her. “Get away from it, Ma.”

Ma pulled back and pouted at Liu. “But MK is holding it! How can it be dangerous?”

“Yeah!” MK agreed. “It’s just a phone. It’s not dangerous at all, everyone I know has one!”

“Is a sword any less dangerous in the hands of a novice versus that of a master?” Liu countered.

“Ummm, no?” MK answered. Why did she ask about swords when they were talking about phones? “A master knows how to use a sword but a newbie doesn’t.”

Liu frowned, looking rather confused. “What’s a… never mind,” She shook her head. “What I meant was that we have never seen a… foon before. For all we know it could be dangerous!”

“It’s really not,” MK insisted. “Look, I can show you!”

MK held out his phone so that everyone could see its screen and turned it on again. Liu, Ba, and Beng recoiled again at the light.

“Why is it so bright?” Beng muttered, covering his eyes.

MK looked at him, confused. “It’s… not that bright. But I can, like, adjust the brightness, if it’s really bothering you.”

Beng nodded and MK lowered the screen’s brightness. Ma watched him do this in awe, looking like a little kid watching their parent play a game. Have these guys really never seen a phone before? MK decided to not let that bother him and continued with what he was doing.

He opened his photo gallery and scrolled through it until he found a picture of Monkey King. It was a selfie he and his mentor had taken after MK had started being in his monkey form more often. Monkey King had said it was to help him build his confidence or something. Psssh. What did he know? MK had plenty of confidence.

Shaking that thought out of his head, MK pulled up the picture and showed it to the other monkeys. “See? This is Sun Wukong, the Monkey King,” he said, pointing to his mentor.

Liu and the others leaned in towards the phone. Ma got a little too excited and accidentally bumped MK’s phone with her head causing MK to fumble the device. Thankfully, MK was able to catch it before it hit the ground. Buddha knows he can’t afford a new phone right now.

“Ma, be careful!” Liu scolded.

“Sorry,” Ma muttered sheepishly. Then she perked up and leaned forward again. “What is that?” She asked, pointing at the phone.

MK glanced down at his phone. “The picture?”

“That’s a picture?!” Ma gasped. Then she turned to Liu and Ba. “Is that what pictures look like?”

“No, they don’t,” Liu said firmly. “Pictures are not normally that… bright and colorful. They are gentle brush strokes that artists spend countless hours on to capture the graceful wings of a heron or the majesty of a mountain.” She frowned and gestured at the phone. “This… foon cannot begin to capture that.”

“It so can too do that!!” MK defended. “Here, I’ll show you!”

MK got to his feet and took a step back. Ma asked what he was doing and he said that he was going to take a picture as he raised his phone and pointed the camera at the other monkeys. Unfortunately, Ba and Beng were too big to fit into the picture so MK had to back up until both large monkeys were visible.

“Alright, everyone!” MK called out. “Look at the camera and say ‘cheese’!”

The other monkeys just looked at him funny as he took the picture. Have they seriously never had their pictures taken before? Weird.

MK reopened his gallery and pulled up the photo he had just taken. It wasn’t the best, but it was still pretty good considering the lighting and everything. Satisfied with the picture, he then showed it to Liu and the others.

“See?” he said triumphantly. “Picture captured!”

Liu looked at the picture in confusion and then at Ba in concern. “How did you do that?” she asked as she turned her attention to MK.

“Yeah! How did you do that?!” Ma agreed, but more enthusiastically.

“It’s simple really,” MK said nonchalantly. “Watch.”

MK sat down in front of the other monkeys and showed them his phone screen. “You just tap this little icon here and it opens the camera.” He did so. “Then you point the phone at what you want to take a picture of.” He pointed the phone at the tree Liu, Ba, Beng, and Ma called home. “Then you tap this little button here to take the picture.” The phone clicked as the picture was taken. “See? Simple.”

“Woah!” Ma exclaimed.

Before MK could stop her, Ma snatched his phone from his hand and started taking pictures of everything around them: a rock, a plant, Beng’s face, Liu’s face, Ba’s face, etc.

“Wha… Hey!” MK shouted. Ma froze and looked at him.

With a mischievous grin, Ma scampered away, MK’s phone grasped tightly in her hand.

“Give that back!” MK shouted after her before giving chase.

Ma’s cackles echoed throughout the forest as MK chased her around the clearing. Every time MK got close to catching the white monkey, she would somehow manage to evade him. If MK still had his powers (anything but the eye lasers, that is), he would have caught up to Ma by now. Though, if he tried hard enough, maybe MK could use what little magic he had to catch up with Ma.

Unfortunately, before MK could do anything, he felt something pinch the scruff of his neck and his whole body went limp. Then before he could fully process what had happened, MK felt himself be lifted into the air.

MK tried to fight off whatever had grabbed him, but he could barely move his tail, let alone his whole body. Panic flooded MK’s brain. Why couldn’t he move?!

Somewhere to his left, MK heard Ma yelp in alarm and the unmistakable sound of his phone hitting the ground. Hopefully, it wasn’t busted cuz he couldn’t afford a new phone!

“Thank you, Ba,” Liu said, sounding like a tired parent. “We can’t have these two running around like unruly cubs so close to sundown.”

MK tried to look at Liu or Ba, but was once again frustrated by his inability to move. The most he could see was Liu’s foot and tail when it swung into view. He couldn’t even see Ma at his side, and she was right next to him! What was going on?

“Heavy,” Ba grunted, sounding strained.

“Alright, Ba. Put them down,” Liu ordered.

MK felt himself being lowered until his feet were on the ground. Then Ba released his hold of MK’s neck and MK fell flat on his butt.

“Woah!” Ma exclaimed. “Are you okay?” She held out her hand.

MK took it and she helped him back to his feet. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “What happened?”

“Ba scruffed you,” Liu answered like it was obvious. “You were going to attract predators if we let you two continue.”

“And it wasn’t just me this time!” Ma chirped proudly.

Liu sighed and shook her head. “That’s not something to be proud of, Ma.”

“Are you sure you’re doing okay, MK?” Beng asked. “You look concerned.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just…” MK sighed, rubbing the back of his neck again. “What was that? How did you do that? Why couldn’t I move?”

Ma and Beng looked confused at his questions while Liu looked concerned as she shared a look with Ba. MK didn’t need to see the other monkey to know they were having a silent conversation with each other; he’d seen it enough times with Pigsy and Tang.

“Have you never been scruffed before, MK?” Liu finally asked.

“No?” MK said, confused.

“Lucky!” Ma exclaimed dramatically. “I get scruffed all the time!”

“That’s because you like causing trouble, Ma,” Beng pointed out.

“Do not!” Ma shouted. “Trouble just finds me!”

“Mmhmm,” Beng said disbelievingly. “Tell that to the group of xiaohóu that threw tree nuts at us the other day.”

Ma opened her mouth to retaliate, but Liu chirped at them, interrupting the brewing argument. Ma huffed and crossed her arms, while Beng rested his head on his hand and looked away.

Liu breathed out a long sigh before returning her attention to MK. “Do you know what scruffing is?”

“Uh… no?” MK said, scratching his head. “Should I?”

“Scruffing is how a parent gets an unruly cub to behave, which is done by grabbing the back of the neck and firmly pinching the skin to temporarily paralyze them. It is a common form of punishment among the tribes.” She gave him an odd look. “No one has done this to you before?”

MK shook his head. “Nope! Pigsy usually just grounded me whenever I got in trouble.”

“Who’s Pigsy?” Ma asked.

“He’s my dad!” MK stated proudly.

“Do you have a picture of him on your foon?”

“Ma,” Liu sighed, exacerbated.

“Whaaaat?” Ma pouted.

“Perhaps now is not the time for that,” Liu continued tiredly.

MK chuckled. “It’s fine. I have plenty of pictures to show you guys.”

Ma cheered while Liu facepalmed. MK reached into his pocket for his phone but came up empty. He reached into another but it wasn’t there either. He then patted each pocket trying to find it. He was sure it was here…

Someone tapped his shoulder. MK turned and saw Ba pointing at something on the ground near Ma. MK stepped closer and saw that it was his phone! He picked it up and wiped the dirt off of it. There was a new crack on the screen but otherwise it was undamaged.

“Thanks, Ba!” MK chirped. “I forgot it was there!”

Ba nodded.

“Before you show us anymore… ‘pictures’,” Liu said (MK could hear the quotations in her voice). “We should get a fire going before it gets too dark.”

It didn’t take long for Beng to get a fire going. Soon, a fire was blazing and a warm glow lit up the clearing. Everyone gathered around the fire as night finally fell on the island and a cold chill crept in. MK shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around himself.

Guess it’s gonna be a cold night tonight, MK thought to himself.

MK was going to be staying the night with his new friends since he didn’t have cell service on this part of the island apparently (he learned that when he tried to show Ma what a phone call was), which meant he wouldn’t be able to call for help. But that was fine. He could spend the night outdoors. He and Monkey King had done that plenty of times in the past.

In the morning, MK would be going to where he knew he had cell service and call Sandy for a pickup. He knew Pigsy would be worried sick about him not calling and letting him know where he was, but that couldn’t be helped. Night fell quickly on the island, which made traversing it a lot harder, especially since MK didn’t have access to most of his powers at the moment.

MK was stirred from his thoughts by Liu landing on the ground. She had climbed up the big tree (which had a large bamboo platform MK hadn’t noticed before) to grab something. In her hands, she had a clay pot that looked crudely made with a lid to match. When Liu opened the pot, MK saw that it was full of various fruits and nuts.

“Make sure there’s enough for everyone,” she announced before taking out a plum, several small berries, and some nuts.

She then passed it to Beng. Beng also took out some fruit and nuts before passing the pot to Ba, who then passed it to Ma after taking out some fruit and nuts for himself. Ma fished out a handful of berries and nuts before passing the pot to MK.

MK took the clay pot and looked inside. There was a small handful of nuts and berries along with a couple of sad looking apricots. He dumped them out into his hand and set the pot on the ground and stared at the food in his hands.

The amount of food in his hand was disheartening to the Monkie Kid. A part of MK wanted to complain, but he bit his tongue. Ever since he was young, Pigsy had ingrained in MK to always be grateful for what he had, even if it was a few pitiful looking fruits. And based on what he had seen with these monkeys, that teaching rang truer than ever.

“Sorry there isn’t much,” Liu said as she sat next to him, completing the circle around the fire. “We weren’t expecting company.”

MK shrugged and tossed a few nuts into his mouth. “Meh, it’s fine. I did kinda just drop in on you guys.”

Liu smiled at his response and a comfortable silence settled over the clearing, broken only by the crackling of the fire.

MK popped a few berries into his mouth and frowned. Normally the fruit on Flower Fruit Mountain are big and bursting with flavor. These were a poor imitation of what MK had to come to expect of Flower Fruit. Maybe it was because he was on a different part of the island? Or maybe he was on a whole other island altogether that just so happened to look like Flower Fruit Mountain? But that didn’t make sense…

“Hey, MK,” Ma said, drawing him out of his thoughts. “You said you had more pictures on your foon, right?”

“Phone,” MK corrected through a mouthful of fruit. “And, yes, I did.”

“Can I see them?” Ma asked.

“Ma, let him at least finish eating,” Liu scolded.

MK chuckled as Ma groaned. She reminded him of Mei whenever Pigsy would tell her off for something. Man, when these two meet, Pigsy was going to have his hands full with two Meis. And Liu would be dealing with two Mas.

“It’s fine, Liu,” MK said. “I can eat and scroll at the same time.”

Liu looked at him like his head was on backwards but didn’t say anything as she went back to eating. MK shifted his food into one hand so he could pull out his phone. Normally, MK would have just given his phone to Ma to scroll through, but considering she caused it to have a new crack, he wanted to play it safe.

MK pulled up his photo gallery again. He saw that there were several new photos and a new video (all of which probably came from when Ma stole his phone) but he ignored them as he scrolled to a picture of Pigsy. He tapped the first decent picture he had of his father figure and showed it to Ma.

“This is Pigsy,” he said proudly.

“What is he doing?” Ma asked curiously.

“He’s cooking some of his world famous noodles,” MK said enthusiastically as his tail thumped on the ground behind him.

MK was quite proud of this picture as it was one of the few good ones he managed to get without Pigsy noticing. Pigsy didn’t pose well for most photos (MK and Tang have tried but nothing ever worked) so whenever MK could get a good photo of Pigsy was a win in his book.

“Why is he a pig yaoguai?” Liu asked, sounding legitimately confused.

MK jumped and fumbled his phone for the second time that night. Unfortunately, unlike earlier, MK didn’t catch his phone in time and it fell to the ground a second time. Thankfully, it landed on a small patch of grass that cushioned its fall.

Liu gave him a strange look as he picked up and dusted off his phone. “Why is Pigsy a pig yaoguai?” She asked again.

“He was just born that way,” MK answered with a shrug.

Liu frowned and opened her mouth to argue but was interrupted by something howling in the distance. Her ears perked up and she turned towards the sound of the howling. The other monkeys in the clearing fell silent and still as they all seemed to listen to something MK couldn’t hear.

“Ba, Ma,” Liu whispered under her breath. “Do you smell anything?”

MK watched with confusion as Ba and Ma turned away and began to sniff the night air. He glanced back at Liu and Beng for answers, but they seemed to be busy with looking for… something.

“Uhh… what are you guys doing?”

Ma looked at him like he was the crazy one. “Sniffing out predators? Duh.”

Before Mk could say anything else, Ba huffed and pointed up at the tree.

Liu nodded at Ba before standing up. “Alright, everyone,” she announced. “Time to go up.”

Suddenly, the clearing was bustling with activity, as though that was a phrase they’d all heard a hundred times before. Beng put out the fire as Ma started up the tree. Liu picked up the clay pot and started climbing towards the big platform in the tree while Ba grabbed something that was hidden in the tree’s roots: a spear. It was crudely shaped with a pointed rock tied to one end, but it would deter most animals.

But… why would they need that?

“Come on, MK!” Liu called out from halfway up the tree. “You don’t want to be caught down there if a tiger or leopard shows up!”

“Coming!” MK answered, though he was still confused.

MK looked up the tree, assessing its branches and other handholds and footholds. This should be easy enough for him to do with his shoes on. MK still wasn’t used to his monkey body, so the hand feet were more than a little weird for him. But whatever, he could do this!

After taking a deep breath, MK leapt onto the tree trunk. His claws dug into the bark of the tree while his feet scrabbled for purchase. Unfortunately, the slick soles of MK’s sneakers refused to catch on the rough bark, and he fell back to the ground with a solid thump.

MK wheezed pitifully, and as he sat up and brushed the leaves from his hair he heard giggling. He looked up and saw that it was none other than Ma who was snickering at him.

“Would you like some help, MK?” Beng asked politely, coming to stand next to him.

“Uhh… no, no, it’s cool,” MK said as he got to his feet, trying to ignore the embarrassed flush that had appeared on his face. “I’ll figure it out.”

MK crouched down a bit and swished his tail a bit to act as a counterbalance before leaping at the tree again. He got a bit higher than before but he still slid back down to the ground.

What was he doing wrong?

As MK got up to do a third attempt, someone picked him up by his jacket. That someone turned out to be Beng, who then placed MK on his rather large shoulder before starting to climb up the tree. MK yelped and quickly grabbed a couple fistfuls of Beng’s gray fur to keep himself from falling off.

“You’re welcome.” Beng hummed cheerfully.

MK mumbled a “thank you” and looked back down at the ground. Ba was still on the ground with the spear in his hand, glancing up every now and then as he paced back and forth beneath the tree. When Beng and MK were about halfway up the tree, Ba started climbing the tree with one hand, stopping when he reached the first thick branch.

“What’s Ba doing?” MK asked as he watched Ba sit down on the branch.

“Keeping watch,” Beng answered, sounding out of breath.

“Oh,” MK said as Beng finally reached the bamboo platform.

MK gracefully climbed off of Beng’s shoulder (he totally didn’t fall off) and stood up. The night sky glittered through the leaves above their heads as the quarter moon rose into the sky. A chilly breeze blew in causing MK’s fur to puff up against the cold. Yep, it was definitely going to be cold tonight.

“Ba wasn’t kidding when he said you were heavy,” Beng said, rolling his shoulders.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Pigsy always said I have dense bones or something,” MK said sheepishly.

Liu frowned at that. “Bones are not supposed to be that dense.”

MK just hummed “I don’t know” and shrugged. It’s not like he had the answer about why he was so heavy. Monkey King might, but they would have to find him first and MK knew firsthand how difficult that could be.

“So was it your dense bones that made it so you couldn’t climb up the tree?” Ma asked cheekily. “‘Cause that was the worst attempt I’ve ever seen!”

“But you didn’t see it,” Beng countered matter-of-factly. “Liu probably told you about it.”

Ma growled and leapt at Beng, who caught her easily enough, but had a hard time keeping a hold of her as the white monkey squirmed in his grasp. MK had to dance out of the way of the two monkeys as they wrestled on the now relatively small platform. Were they play-fighting or actually fighting? MK couldn’t tell, but Liu did if the look on her face was anything to go by.

Liu looked at the two quarreling monkeys in front of her and chirped, loud, clear, commanding, almost like she was telling them to knock it off. Ma and Beng immediately stopped wrestling with each other and sat up, looking very sheepish.

“You two know better than to roughhouse up here!” Liu scolded. “I’m tired of patching you two up every time you fall off the edge! And we have a guest, so behave!”

“Yes, Mom. Sorry, Mom,” Ma and Beng said in tandem.

“Good,” Liu huffed. “Now get ready for bed. It’s been a long day. For all of us.”

As Ma and Beng shuffled around the platform to get ready for bed, MK turned to Liu, who was organizing some clay pots near one of the tree trunks. “Why did you ask why Pigsy was a pig yaoguai?”

Liu paused for a moment. “I guess I was expecting your father to be a monkey as well.”

“Why?”

“It’s practically unheard of for a cub to be raised by another species,” Liu explained as she resumed organizing. “Cubs usually die because other species cannot give them the care they need to thrive.”

“Soooo, I probably shouldn’t tell you that my other dad is a human,” MK hummed thoughtfully to himself.

Liu gave him a wide-eyed, horrified stare. Then she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and exhaled sharply. “Let’s deal with that tomorrow. It’s time for bed.”

MK didn’t want to sleep, but he had to admit sleep sounded like an excellent idea after the day he’d had. He looked around the bamboo platform again and saw that there weren’t any beds or anything for sleeping.

“So where can I sleep?” MK asked. “It’s going to be a bit crowded up here when Ba comes up.”

“Ba will come up to sleep once Beng or I go to take over watch duty,” Liu answered as she sorted through small clay jars of what looked like different types of creams. MK got the feeling she was just doing busy work to keep herself from stressing out. “But usually we make a nest in the middle and sleep there.” She pointed over to Ma and Beng who were indeed busy gathering leaves and forming them into a large nest. “But if you are not comfortable with that, then you can sleep on the leeward side of one of the tree trunks.”

MK scratched his head in confusion. “The lee-what side now?”

Liu sighed heavily. “The side not facing the wind.”

“Ah.” MK remembered Monkey King trying to teach him about leeward sides and stuff like that. “I think I’ll sleep by the trunk.” He didn’t want to intrude on what these monkeys usually did to sleep.

Liu rummaged around in one of the larger pots and pulled something that looked like a blanket made out of tightly woven grass. She held it out to MK.

“You can use this to keep warm,” Liu said. “It’s going to be cold tonight.”

“Oh, thank you,” MK said as he took the blanket. “But won’t you guys need it?”

Liu shook her head. “We have our winter coats, you don’t. We’ll be fine.”

“Oh, do you have a spare I could borrow?” MK asked.

Liu gave him the most horrified look MK’s ever seen. “What?”

MK was confused. “You know…a winter coat. A big puffy jacket that makes fun swishy sounds as you move your arms.”

Liu continued to stare at him. “What?”

MK held up his arm and gestured to his jacket. “Ummm, it’s like my jacket, but thicker and warmer?”

Liu dropped her head into her hands. “Oh, gods.” She groaned. “MK, a winter coat is your fur getting thicker in the winter. You still have your summer coat, somehow.”

“Wait, monkeys get winter coats?!”

Liu slowly blinked at him as though she was trying to process what he just said. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Let’s just…talk more about this in the morning, okay? It’s been too long of a day.”

And with that, Liu stood up and went over to where Ma and Beng were putting the final touches on their nest, leaving MK alone with his thoughts.

What was going on? If what Liu said was true about their fur coats, why was it winter all of a sudden? MK was pretty sure the seasons didn’t change that quickly. Unless, of course, the weather station malfunctioned, which has happened in the past. But then again the effects of the weather station rarely ever reached Flower Fruit Mountain, so that couldn’t be it.

Whatever was going on, MK certainly wasn’t going to figure it out while he was utterly exhausted.

MK stood up, blanket in hand, and walked over to where he thought the leeward side of the tree was. There were a lot more pots on this side, probably to keep the wind from knocking them over. MK sat down on the side with the fewest pots, pulled the blanket around himself, and looked out over the forest.

In the distance, MK could see the ocean glittering under the moon’s glow as the moon itself rose higher and higher in the night sky; he could even see an arm of the Milky Way stretching from the horizon up into the sky in all of its glory. This was one of MK’s favorite things about being on Flower Fruit Mountain: the lack of artificial light made the otherwise black sky vibrant and full of light. It made the artist in him very happy to witness this beauty of nature.

“Hey, MK,” Ma said, pulling Mk from his thoughts. “Are you settled in for the night?”

“As settled as I can be,” MK replied. “This won’t be the first time I’ve slept under the stars.”

Ma crouched down beside him. “You can see them?” She asked.

“Yeah, they’re beautiful outside of the city,” MK said with a small smile. Then he looked at his new friend. “Can’t you see them?”

Ma shook her head. “I can’t really see anything past my own nose. It’s all… blurry.”

“It sounds like you need some glasses,” MK observed.

“Glasses?” Ma repeated slowly. “What are those?”

“They’re something that some people wear to make their vision better,” MK explained. “Mr. Tang wears some. Otherwise, he’s blind as a bat.”

“These ‘glasses’ sound very useful,” Ma muttered enviously.

“We could go get you some if you want!” MK offered. “My friend Red Son knows a really good eye doctor.”

Ma immediately brightened. “Ooh! Can we, can we?!”

“NOT tonight,” Liu snapped from the nest. “Now it’s time to sleep.” Then she flopped down in the nest beside Beng, who was already laying down.

Ma and MK watched them for a moment, then Ma turned to MK with a big smile on her face.

“Thanks, MK,” the white monkey whispered.

MK smiled back at her as a warm, bubbly feeling filled his chest. He couldn’t wait to introduce all of his friends and family to these monkeys that he’s somehow never met before; he’ll have to ask Monkey King about that later.

Ma stood up and stretched, her tail curling up until it almost touched the top of her head. With a final wave, she rejoined her family in their nest. MK watched as Ma managed to wriggle her way in between Liu and Beng. He smiled at that. Pigsy had told him many stories of when MK was a kid of him climbing into bed with him and Tang and worming his way in between them.

“Hey, MK?” Liu called out, drawing MK out of his thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t roll off the edge in your sleep,” she warned. “It will be an unpleasant wake up call if you do.”

“I won’t!” MK assured her. “And even if I do, I’ll be fine.”

“Alright.” Liu looked skeptical. “Good night, MK.”

“Night!” MK chirped back as the older monkey rolled over.

MK readjusted the blanket, looked out over the forest, and let the night sounds wash over him. If he closed his eyes and listened, he could almost hear the sounds of cars rumbling along with the crickets chirping.

MK sighed as his stomach rumbled. He knew he couldn’t blame Liu, Ba, Beng, or Ma for not having enough food for an extra person (he did just kinda drop into their lives unexpectedly), but that didn’t stop the fact that he was still very hungry after that meager meal. But when Monkey King returned or when Sandy came around (whichever came first), then MK was treating the four monkeys to the best meal of their lives.

That was a promise.

Chapter Text

When MK woke up the next morning, something was off. First of all, he wasn’t in his bed, which in and of itself was not that strange; MK had slept over at Mei’s before and he had crashed at Monkey King’s place a few times after a particularly long training session. No, what was strange was that he was in a tree.

And upside down.

MK looked down (up?) at himself and saw that he had somehow gotten tangled up in some vines. His arms were pinned to his sides by some particularly thick vines. His legs were tangled up in the vines, leaving him no room to maneuver them. His tail was the only free limb he had, and he wasn’t certain it would be all that useful at the moment.

MK looked around him and took in his surroundings. He was in a strangely familiar forest, but he couldn’t quite place where. Where was he? How did he get here?

A breeze blew through the trees, causing MK to sway slightly.

And more importantly, how was he going to get down?

Before MK could begin to figure a way out of his predicament, he heard movement above him.

“Hey, has anyone seen MK?” A somewhat familiar voice asked.

“Maybe he already left?” Another voice asked.

“I bet he fell,” the first voice said.

A third voice sighed. “I warned him last night.”

MK heard some more movement above him and looked up just in time to see a white head with startling red eyes peer down at him. It was Ma, one of the monkeys he had met yesterday!

“Found him!” she chirped. “He fell off!”

Another head appeared next to Ma’s, also peering down at MK. This monkey was much bigger, with reddish-orange fur and a yellow face mask. It was Ba, another monkey MK had met yesterday.

As Ba started pulling up the vines that MK had gotten tangled up in, MK’s memories from yesterday came flooding back to him. The Rhino King’s strange spell that had teleported him to the top of Flower Fruit Mountain, and all the yaoguai monkeys that he had somehow never met before that point… that was definitely something he had to ask Monkey King about, as soon as he could. It didn’t make sense.

Ba pulled him up onto the bamboo platform and MK saw that everyone had changed into leaf skirts; Liu and Ma were also wearing leafy tops around their chests. As for Ba, he straight up wasn’t wearing anything. Which MK supposed was fine. The little monkeys didn’t wear clothes either, and Ba’s fur was long enough that it covered him up just fine.

MK was going to ask the monkeys why they were all now in leaf skirts, but Liu distracted him as she and Ma set to work freeing him from his viney prison.

“I told you to be careful, MK,” Liu scolded as she freed his arms. “You’re lucky you didn’t fall all the way to the ground.”

MK shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve fallen from higher places before and I’m fine.”

Liu paused and looked at him with concern. “That… is not as comforting as you think it is, MK.”

“I’m basically invincible, so it’s fine,” MK said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Being made of stone also really helps.”

All movement on the platform stopped as all of the monkeys turned their attention to MK. Said monkey shifted uncomfortably under their gazes; he may have been the Monkie Kid, Hero of Megapolis, but he didn’t always like all of the attention that that got him. Especially when said attention consisted of disturbed or concerned looks, like the ones he was getting now from the other four monkeys.

Then Ma poked his arm. MK jumped and looked at the white monkey.

“How can you be made of stone?” Ma asked. “You look and feel like a normal yaoguai.”

MK made an “I don’t know” sound. “Monkey King said that I was born from a stone egg just like he was.”

Liu sighed as she pulled the last of the vines off of MK (when did she start doing that again?). “I already told you that there is no Monkey King, MK. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

A somber mood settled over the four monkeys when Liu said that. MK’s tail twitched nervously; he got the feeling that Liu meant something bad would happen to them if Monkey King was around. But that was absurd: Monkey King was the good guy! Sure, he’d made a lot of mistakes where people got hurt (MK included), but he never meant to!

“So what’s the plan for today?” MK asked, changing the topic from depressing to optimistic.

Liu gave him a look that MK hoped meant she was appreciative of the change of topic. “We have to go out and forage today,” she said as she gestured to a couple of nearby pots. “We need to at least fill one up so we’ll have food for the rest of the week.”

Ma and Beng nodded as though this was a normal thing to say. MK, on the other hand, was taken aback at how casually Liu talked about making sure there was enough food for a week. Was food really that scarce on Flower Fruit? MK always thought that there was more than enough whenever he visited before.

“Ma and Beng, take MK with you,” Liu ordered as she stood up. “Ba and I need to see how we can get him back to his family.”

“Wait, really? You guys are going to help me?” MK asked, surprised. He had quite literally dropped into their lives not even 24 hours ago—they barely knew each other. But they were still willing to help him?

“Of course we are,” Liu said with a small, yet earnest smile. “We will do what we can.”

MK grinned and leapt forward to give Liu a hug. But as he wrapped his arms around her, Ba let out a deep guttural snarl that made MK’s fur stand on end. MK quickly stepped back and gave Liu an apologetic look.

“Sorry, do you not like hugs? I’m a big hugger.” MK held out his arms and gave her a sheepish grin.

Liu’s eyes were wide and her breathing was a bit shaky, but then she took a deep breath and waved Ba away. The big monkey snorted and backed away, but not without sending a glare MK’s way. Even Beng and Ma seemed to be on edge because of what had happened.

MK lowered his arms as his smile slipped from his face. Had he done something to offend them?

Then Liu spoke. “I imagine that… considering your parents,” the brown-furred monkey said. “You don’t know much about monkey… body language.”

MK shrugged. “I mean, Monkey King is teaching me…” He trailed off as he rubbed his neck awkwardly. “We haven’t gotten very far in our lessons yet, though.”

Liu looked over to Ba with an undecipherable look before returning her gaze to MK. “Okay. Well, just so you know… baring your teeth like that is a sign of aggression.” She explained calmly. “When you did that just now, Ba thought you were challenging us.”

MK squeaked and looked over at Ba. The big monkey’s fur was standing on end and he looked quite grumpy.

“… oh. I-I was just… smiling.” MK explained quietly. “I didn’t… mean to…”

Liu nodded. “It’s alright. Just… be more careful from now on. You never know who you might offend.” She then turned to Ba. “Ba? Let’s go.”

Ba snorted and got to his feet. But as he and Liu began to leave, MK spoke up. “Wait! Shouldn’t I go with you guys?”

Liu stopped and shook her head. “No. Without Ba and I to help forage, there’s more work for the three of you to do. So, you’ll be helping Ma and Beng forage today.”

MK wanted to argue with Liu, but her firm tone left no room for any argument.

Ma wrapped her arm around MK’s shoulders. MK had to lean over slightly to make the hug a little less awkward.

“Don’t worry, MK,” the white monkey said cheerfully. “Beng and I will teach you everything you need to know!”

“Oh, gods.” Liu muttered under her breath.

MK looked at the basket in his hands. It had a wide bamboo ring with large flat grass strands woven together and wrapped around it. The basket itself was shallow, but not overly so; it would easily hold fruits and vegetables, but not anything bigger than a papaya.

Mmmm, papaya. MK could practically taste the sweet and creamy fruit on his tongue. He could make a smoothie with its orange flesh while munching on its seeds, or he could grill it like Wukong had shown him, or he could just eat it raw…

MK’s stomach growled, loudly reminding MK that it was hungry.

“Sounds like someone’s hungry,” Ma said teasingly as she swung her own basket back and forth with her tail.

MK’s ears flattened against his head as he blushed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Beng said. “That’s why we’re going out to forage what we can.”

“Right, foraging,” MK repeated. “Where do we go for that?”

Beng explained that they would have to go all over the island while avoiding the other tribes as much as possible since food was scarce in the winter and everyone was protective of their food sources. MK asked why they couldn’t just go ask some tribes for some food. Ma said the Hēi​guān might be willing to give them some food, but they would have to trade for it and they didn’t have the materials to spare for that.

MK wanted to ask why they didn’t just go to the Monkey King for help, but with Liu’s insistence there was no one like that on the island, MK figured it would be best to not mention his mentor again. At least not until he could prove that Monkey King existed. Which shouldn’t have been as difficult of a task as it was proving to be. This was Monkey King’s home! If MK could just find the waterfall, then he could go to Monkey King’s hut and get this all sorted out. But at the moment, he had no idea where he was on the island. He had never realized before now that the island was so… big.

Soon enough, Ma, Beng, and MK found themselves at a small grove of fruit trees. The trees were fairly big, with only a few leaves here and there, which was an odd sight for MK; he had never seen any trees on Flower Fruit Mountain lose any of their leaves. Seeing the barren trees combined with the perpetual chill in the air really did make it seem like it was winter. But that couldn’t be—Flower Fruit Mountain was a summer paradise! It didn’t have winter, fall, or spring!

“Think there will be any fruit?” Ma asked from where she clung to Beng’s back.

“Hopefully,” Beng answered as he set down a basket much bigger than MK’s and Ma’s. “I don’t want to wander around the whole island today. Especially after yesterday.”

Ma nodded in agreement. “It wouldn’t be good if any Hénghé saw us.”

MK also nodded. He wasn’t keen on seeing Níshíliú or her goons again any time soon, either. “So how do we do this? Do we all just go up or just one or what?”

Beng explained that he would stay on the ground to keep an eye out for any other monkeys while MK and Ma would go up and look for any fruit. Which would have been fine if it wasn’t for one itty bitty detail that Ma remembered.

“But didn’t MK struggle at climbing the tree last night?”

Beng frowned. “Hmmmm, you’re right. I’ll have to rethink this.”

While tree climbing was a relatively new skill Monkey King had just started teaching him (who knew monkeys and humans climbed things differently!), MK was pretty sure he could climb this tree. It had low branches spaced far enough apart that he wouldn’t fall and the rough bark would provide traction for his worn down shoes.

“I can climb this tree,” MK stated confidently.

Beng looked at him uneasily. “Are you sure?”

Instead of answering, MK stepped up to the tree, jumped up to the first branch, and pulled himself up with no problem. He continued climbing until he was halfway up.

“See? Easy!” MK called down to Ma and Beng, but… he didn’t see Ma. Where could she have gone? It wasn’t like she was difficult to notice with that white fur…

“You forgot your basket,” Ma said from right behind him.

MK flailed and nearly fell off the branch he was clinging to. Thankfully, Ma grabbed his jacket sleeve and held on until MK found his grip again.

“You okay?” Ma asked worriedly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” MK replied. He may be invincible but that didn’t mean he enjoyed falling on his face.

“That’s good,” Ma said. She released her hold on MK’s sleeve and rolled her shoulder. It popped loud enough that MK worried she might have dislocated it, but then she sighed in relief so maybe it was fine? “You really must be made of stone or something to be that heavy,” Ma commented as she rolled her wrist a few times, eliciting several more pops from the joint. “I nearly dislocated my shoulder.”

“Nearly?!” MK repeated incredulously. “I thought you did!”

“SSSHHHHH, not so loud!” Ma whisper shouted as her ears flattened against her head. “Beng’ll hear you.”

MK clamped his hands over his mouth and glanced down at the lone ape at the base of the tree; he didn’t seem to have noticed MK or Ma talking. In fact, he seemed to be… looking at rocks? Which was honestly fair; rocks were pretty cool.

The tree branch MK was sitting on shifted as Ma used it to climb further up the tree. Shaken from his stupor, MK quickly followed after her. Soon enough, the two monkeys had reached the top of the tree; the branches swayed worryingly under MK’s weight, but seemed to stay still for Ma.

“Why did we climb up here?” MK asked. “Wouldn’t there be plenty of fruit down towards the bottom, too?”

Ma huffed. “Yeah, if we got here first. But we didn’t, so we have to go where no one else would dare go.” She tossed MK’s basket at him (which he had forgotten when he was proving he could climb the tree). MK nearly fumbled it, but he managed to catch it without falling out of the tree (again).

As MK was busy righting himself, Ma got to work looking through the few leaves for fruit. MK watched as she brushed some aside and felt around for a few seconds before either picking a rather tiny fruit and putting it in her basket or immediately moving on to the next spot, then he copied what she was doing. He found a couple small fruits himself and quickly added them to his own basket.

They worked in silence for a few minutes until MK heard Ma hiss. He quickly turned towards her and saw that she had her right arm curled up to her chest and her eyes were squeezed shut.

“Ma?! Are you okay?!” MK asked, immediately setting aside his basket and going over to his friend. “Did you hurt yourself?”

Ma shook her head. “No, I-I’m fine. My arm just hurts from the cold.”

“The cold hurts your arm?” MK repeated, confused. “How does that work?”

“I don’t know!” Ma snapped. “My body just doesn’t like the cold or storms or whenever I swing through the trees too much! Liu helps me manage the pain, but some days it’s so bad that I can’t even get up in the morning.”

A few tears fell down Ma’s face, which she swiftly brushed away before turning her attention to the few fruits in her basket.

“Ma?” MK asked, cautiously reaching a hand out towards his friend.

“We need to get the baskets back down to Beng,” Ma said hurriedly. “We’ve been up here too long.”

“Oh… okay,” MK said, slowly withdrawing his hand.

MK turned back to where he had left his basket, but found that it wasn’t there. As the Monkie Kid looked around the tree for it (he surely couldn’t have misplaced it that easily, right?), he heard a startled whooping sound from below. Absolutely befuddled as to what that was, MK looked down for whatever could have possibly produced that noise.

At the base of the tree, MK saw his basket, the few fruits he had managed to find, and Beng holding his head. MK cringed away from Beng’s line of sight (if he looked up, that was). Guess the basket must’ve fallen and hit Beng on head. Whoops.

“What happened? Is everything alright?” Ma asked, breaking MK out of his thoughts. “I heard Beng whoop.”

MK blinked. “That was Beng?!”

“Uh, yeah?” Ma said as though it was an obvious fact. “What, have you never heard a jí​běn​sī whoop before?”

“What’s a jí​běn​sī?”

“So, let me get this straight. There are twelve tribes on the island and they all practically hate each other,” MK said as he followed Beng down a winding path. Ma clung to the ape’s back because her knees started giving her trouble (a familiar excuse, which MK had heard from Tang plenty of times before).

“That’s basically it, yeah,” Ma replied.

“And the tribes are the Hénghé, the Hóng​guì, the Jí​běn​sī, the Rěn​shòu, the Xióng​hóu, the Hēi​guān​, the Jīn​sī​hóu, the Cháng​bí​hóu, the Gài​tóu, the Huī​bái, the Gaoligong, and the Guangdong?” MK listed. He hoped there wouldn’t be a quiz later, those names were a mouthful!

“Yep!” Beng chirped. “And there are a few other outcasts, but they don’t really interact with others unless it’s a special event or circumstance.”

MK nodded. “Mhm, mhm. Following so far, but why don’t you all just live together. Wouldn’t that make more sense?”

Ma scoffed as the tip of her tail twitched. “You would think so, but nooooo, we’re all too different to get along.”

Beng reached up and patted Ma on the head. “Don’t worry about them, Ma. We have each other and that’s all we need.”

Ma huffed, but otherwise didn’t say anything; MK got the feeling this wasn’t the first time Ma has gotten frustrated over the tribes’ separation from each other. And he didn’t blame her. Why were the twelve tribes separated from each other? And why wasn’t anyone doing anything to bring them together?

It just didn’t make any sense.

As the trio continued down the path towards their next destination, their conversation turned towards where MK came from. What does Megapolis look like? Where was it? Were the people nice? Were there plenty of trees to climb? MK described his home as best he could (with a few embellishments here and there), from the people to the architecture to the food. As MK was describing the Anti-Grav Arcade, Ma asked a very important question:

“Do you have a picture of it?”

MK blinked. “What?”

Ma pointed at MK’s jacket. “On your foon. Do you have a picture of it?”

“My phone?” MK repeated, glancing down at his pocket. Then it clicked. “Oh yeah!” He balanced the basket on his hip while he fished his phone from his pocket in all its cracked glory. “I completely forgot I had this in my pocket.”

Beng scratched his head. “But how? You showed it to us last night.”

MK shrugged as he turned on the phone. “Eh, Pigsy says I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached to my body.” He glanced at the power level before unlocking the device. “Oh, come on! That’s just what I need right now!”

“What’s wrong?!” Ma asked hurriedly.

“My phone’s almost dead!” MK exclaimed. Then he remembered a very important detail. “And I was going to call Pigsy today! Which is totally a thing I remembered this whole time and not just now.”

“Uhhhh… okay,” Beng said slowly. “So, is your foon alive or something?”

“Is my phone… what?” MK repeated slowly, not quite sure he heard Beng correctly. Sure, he and Mei often joked their phones were alive, but they weren’t actually alive, even if they were smarter than the phones Mr. Tang had as a kid.

“You said your foon was almost dead,” Beng said. “That means it has to be alive so it can be almost dead.”

“Wha… oh. Pfft,” MK chuckled. “No, my phone isn’t alive. But that is a good joke! I’d bet Sandy would love it.”

Beng frowned. “But you said it was almost dead. Does it need food? Or some water?”

MK couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled out. “No, no. That’s not how it works! It just needs power!”

“Well, what about your magic?” Ma suggested. “That’s power, right?”

“That’s not the same kind of power,” MK explained. “And I don’t feel like testing it out right now since this is my only way to contact anyone and I don’t need it blowing up because of my wonky magic.” MK sighed and slipped his phone back into his pocket, but then he paused as an idea came to his mind. “Hey, do you think we could swing by Mount Huaguo for a bit?”

“No,” Beng said immediately. “Liu said we had to stay together and we can’t go into Hénghé territory.”

“It would just be a quick visit,” MK pleaded. “It won’t take long at all!”

Beng shook his head vigorously. “Liu and Ba said no. They said no! We can’t go because it’s too dangerous for us.”

“C’mon, I'm the Monkie Kid! There’s nothing I can’t handle!” Saying that made it true, right? “If anyone comes after us, I can take ‘em!”

Beng shook his head harder. “No no no! Mom and Dad said no. They said no. We can’t go.”

MK wanted to keep pressing, but then he saw the look on Beng’s face. His mouth was a tight line as he stared into the depths of the basket in his hands and his long fingers traced where the grass blades of the basket met the bamboo ring. If he had a tail, MK was sure it would be lashing behind him.

MK sighed; he hadn’t meant to upset Beng. He knew how stressful it could be to go against your parents’ rules, especially when it came to trying to help a friend.

“Hey,” MK said gently. “Let’s just forget about it and keep gathering fruit, okay?”

Beng sniffled and gave a shy nod before turning and continuing down the trail, Ma still clinging to his back. MK readjusted his basket and looked up at the central mountain of the island. It stood as tall and imposing as ever.

MK turned away and ran after Beng.

Beng set down his basket as they reached their final destination. It had all sorts of fruits and nuts they had managed to scrounge up from their island-wide search. Though they had had to snack on some of their progress because it was almost midday and working on an empty stomach was never fun.

Ma hopped down from Beng’s back and stretched, back (and probably tail, too) popping several times as she did so.

Beng looked over at her. “You should tell Liu about that when we get back, Ma.”

“Don’t need to,” Ma said as she stretched out her shoulders. “She knows how I get during winter.”

MK still didn't believe it was winter, but that debate could wait because there was another issue he had to take care of.

“I’ll be right back, I gotta go to the bathroom,” MK announced.

The two monkeys looked at him, clearly confused by his announcement. “To the what now?” Ma asked bewilderedly.

Seriously? They didn’t even know what bathrooms were? MK held back a tired sigh. “I gotta go… relieve myself. Like, pee, y’know?”

Though they still looked puzzled, Beng and Ma seemed to understand him now. “Don’t go too far,” Beng called out as he turned his attention back to gathering food. “We’re right next to Hénghé territory.”

“I won’t!” MK said before dipping behind some nearby trees.

As soon as MK was out of sight of Ma and Beng, he started heading towards Mount Huaguo. He had a phone call to make.

Meanwhile, in Megapolis:

It had been only a day since the fight with the Rhino King. The city was still under repair, so many businesses were closed until life returned to normal. But not for one particular shop owner.

As the sun was rising on a new day, Pigsy was cooking. Noodles, buns, roasted vegetables—you name it, Pigsy was cooking it. By noon every possible pot was filled with delicious broth and every table and counter was covered with buns of all sorts. As soon as he saw the first work crews sitting down for lunch, Pigsy opened his doors and told them to come and eat, free of charge.

The work crews eagerly came and ate their fill. Soon enough, word spread, and Pigsy had a line of hungry customers out his door. One by one, Pigsy served each customer. Take their order, dish it up, serve it, take another order, dish it up, serve it. It was easy to fall into an all too familiar routine. A routine where he didn’t have to think about anything except noodles. Because if he thought about anything else… well, he didn’t want to think about that.

“The bottle that hit m… MK was filled with a special smoke made by Lao Tzu to send whomever is enveloped by it into the past. Far into the past.”

“How far are we talking, Mr. Monkey King? Years? Decades?”

“Millenia.”

He didn’t want to think about how his son was lost who knew how far in the past. He didn’t want to think about how he was likely never going to see MK ever again. He didn’t want to think about how he would never get to hear MK goofing off ever again. He didn’t want to think about the now empty apartment above his shop, littered with all of MK’s stuff. He didn’t want to think about the quiet that had settled over the restaurant now that MK wasn’t there to liven it up with his infectious smile. He didn’t want to think about how he had found a small child on his doorstep twenty years ago. He didn’t want to think about…

“Um? Sir?” a voice asked, cutting through Pigsy’s spiraling thoughts.

Pigsy blinked. “Huh?” Then he remembered what he was doing. “Here ya go,” he said as he handed the construction crew member their food. “One bowl of Pigsy’s noodles. On the house.”

The construction crew member smiled and took their bowl. Pigsy sighed as the worker went over to their friends. He watched as the group of friends laughed and joked around as they ate. For a moment, Pigsy remembered a similar scene that had happened not too long ago, but now felt like it was from a different life.

“Pigsy? Are you okay?” Tang asked as he returned with more bowls.

“What do you think, Tang?” Pigsy said gruffly as he took the bowls and waited for the next customer.

Tang sighed. “Yeah, I figured as much.”

A tight ball formed in the back of Pigsy’s throat as he braced himself against the counter. If he had been paying attention, if he had been closer, then MK wouldn’t be… he wouldn’t be…

Tang placed a comforting hand on Pigsy’s shoulder. “I’m… I’m going to miss him too.”

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, in a dark apartment lit only by a desk lamp and a TV, was Mei, hunched over several large books about various magic theories. A forgotten, half-eaten microwave dinner, long since gone cold, sat precariously on the edge of the coffee table. An untouched cheese tea sat beside it, its cheese foam having long since melted into the drink below. But Mei didn’t care about that. She was this close to a breakthrough and she needed to focus.

Then the news came on.

“MK the Monkie Kid has not been seen since he and his crew defeated the Single-Horned Rhinoceros King. We can only guess that our dear hero…”

Mei grabbed the TV remote and turned off the news report. She didn’t want to hear what some news nobodies were going to say about her best friend. They didn’t know him like she did. And she wasn’t going to stop until she found him again, no matter what a certain monkey said.

Who did he think he was, saying that there was nothing they could do for MK?! There were plenty of things they could do! Like not give up on him, for one! And how could one stupid immortal monkey even know MK was sent into the past? That weird potion could have just sent MK to a very distant place. Somewhere like the middle of the ocean, or the moon even! They’d been to the moon before, they could do it again!

“Stupid Monkey King,” Mei muttered under her breath as she picked up a notebook. “Thinking he knows everything about everyone…”

Opening the notebook showed the dragon girl all of the ideas she and MK had come up with to introduce Red Son to the modern world. Despite the fire demon’s insistence that he knew plenty, Red Son still struggled with some basic concepts like going to the arcade and going out to the movies. So Mei had come up with the wonderful idea to keep a list of things that Red Son needed to experience. And MK helped her add things to the list until it had almost filled the whole notebook.

One such planned outing, written by MK in his messy handwriting, stood out on the page.

Mei touched the page, remembering MK’s excitement as he had scribbled down his idea. They had planned to take their friend to see the movie once he returned from his family vacation. They had wanted to wait and see it with Red Son first, but their excitement for the movie adaptation of their favorite game had made them purchase tickets for a showing before Red Son was due to return.

And now those tickets sat on her desk, reminding Mei every day of who she was searching for. But… a part of her wondered if they had just waited to do the movie with Red Son like they had planned in the first place, then MK would still be there? And would she be researching more fun things to do with a centuries-old fire demon, and not researching how to time-travel?

Mei sighed and pulled out her phone. MK smiled up at her from her phone screen.

“Don’t worry, MK. I’ll find you and bring you back. I promise.”

Chapter Text

“Was it this way? Or this way?” MK muttered to himself.

He was standing on what he thought was the path he, Beng, and Ma had taken earlier, but now he wasn’t so sure. The trees all looked the same to him and it looked like someone had gone and moved the bushes around. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to change how the plants were arranged was going to regret doing so.

“Alright, which way, which way?” MK muttered, pondering the two paths in front of him. One path went right and the other left and both were identical. In cases like this, there was only one thing he could do.

MK closed his eyes, raised his hand, extended his pointer finger, and said, “Eenie meenie miney mo, that one.” He opened his eyes and looked at which path his finger had landed on. The right path.

“Looks like I’m going this-a-way!” MK said confidently. Once he got to Mount Huaguo, he would be able to call Sandy and get back to civilization without any trouble.

“That’s the wrong way, you know.”

MK jumped about a mile out of his skin at the unexpected voice, and whirled around to face the newcomer. He hadn’t planned on meeting any other monkeys! What should he do? Introduce himself? Ask how to get back to Mount Huaguo? Plead with them to let him go…?

MK blinked when he saw a familiar white monkey standing behind him. “Ma?! What’re you doing here? I thought you were still with Beng!”

Ma raised an eyebrow at him. “I was, but when you didn’t return, I came looking for you.” She tapped her nose. “You have a very distinctive scent, by the way.”

“So I’ve been told,” MK said, remembering how Huntsman had once commented on it. “Well, you can go back to Beng now. I won’t be long.”

Ma laughed. “Yeah, right. You’re as lost as a cub without its mother.” She came to stand next to him. “You need a guide.”

MK scoffed. “Do not! I know my way around the island just fine!”

“Then tell me how to get back to Hometree,” Ma ordered smoothly.

MK’s mind went blank. He didn’t know what Hometree was, let alone know how to get back to it! Ma smirked when she saw that MK had nothing to say.

“See? Told you you need a guide,” Ma said self-satisfactorily. Then she started down the left path.

“Wha- Hey!” MK called out. “Wait up!” He jogged to catch up with Ma. “That wasn’t fair! I don’t know where or even what a Hometree is!”

“It’s the tree where Liu and Ba and Beng and I live,” Ma said as she glanced back at MK like he was stupid. “What else would it be?”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” MK mumbled.

The duo traveled in relative silence for a little while. Ma was leading the way while MK took in the scenery around them. The trees didn’t have very many leaves now that he was looking at them properly, and many lacked their usual vines. The sun shone bright but its rays barely warmed the hair on MK’s head.

I guess it really is winter. I’ve never seen it so cold before, MK thought as he hopped across a stream. Then he looked over at Ma in her leaf top and leaf skirt.

“Hey, Ma, aren’t you cold?” MK asked.

Ma looked back at him. “Not right now. It’s actually quite warm today. Why?”

MK shrugged. “It’s just that you’re wearing leaves when you have some perfectly good clothes back at Hometree.”

Ma shrugged “Those are only for special occasions,” she explained as she pushed a branch out of the way. “There’s not much cloth on the island so we just make do with leaves and stuff.”

“And you can’t go over to the mainland to get some more?” MK asked as he dodged the branch as it snapped back into place.

Ma shook her head. “Liu says it’s too dangerous. Plus it’s at least a three day trip just to get to the mainland in the first place, so it’s not worth it to make the trip for a few scraps of cloth.”

As much as he wanted to say Monkey King would be able to help them, MK held his tongue. He didn’t know what was going on, but he did know that even mentioning Monkey King wasn’t a good idea right now. There was something going on that MK couldn’t see, so he just had to wait until he could call Pigsy or Sandy to figure it out.

Something rustled nearby. Ma and MK jumped and quickly hid behind a couple of trees. If they were caught by any Hénghé, MK didn’t want to know what they would do. Níshíliú in particular had not been happy when MK said he wasn’t going with her and her goons.

A little white rabbit hopped out of a nearby bush. Its nose twitched as it tested the air, looking for predators. When it didn’t detect any, it ran into another nearby bush.

“Oh. It was just a little bunny rabbit,” MK said, relieved. He stepped out from behind the tree, ready to keep moving, but then he saw Ma.

She was still crouched behind the tree, looking every bit as spooked as the rabbit had, if not more so. Her fur seemed to be standing on end as she peeked out from behind the trunk with wide, fearful eyes.

“Ma? Are you okay?” MK asked gently.

Ma took a moment to reply. “Are you sure we should be doing this, MK?” She asked, her voice small. “If that had been a Hénghé…”

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay!” MK reassured her. “We’ll be in and out. Gone before anyone knows we were here.”

Ma looked up at him warily. “Promise?”

MK smiled (and hoped he wasn’t showing too many teeth) and nodded. “I promise.”

Ma studied his face, as if she was searching for something—some reassurance or support—before she hesitantly nodded. MK helped her stand up and together, the duo continued their journey to Mount Huaguo.

The trek up the mountain was uneventful. Whenever there was an odd sound, Ma stopped to sniff the air. When she didn’t smell anything unusual, she gave the all clear and they were able to continue their journey.

“Why do you do that, Ma?” MK asked after the third time of this happening.

Ma tilted her head and looked at him in confusion. “Do what?”

“Sniff the air.”

“Oh!” Ma exclaimed. “Well, since my eyesight isn’t very good, I usually get around with my sense of smell.”

“Is your nose really that good?” MK asked.

“Yep!” Ma chirped proudly. “Liu even says I have the best sense of smell she’s seen in centuries! And I’m only 180!”

MK nodded along to what Ma was saying, only half listening. Then his brain caught up to what she had said. “Waitwaitwait, what?! How old did you say you were?”

“180.” Ma looked back at him with a sheepish smile. “I know I don’t look like it. Liu says that I have a ‘youthful appearance’.” She rolled her eyes. “I just think it’s an excuse to keep treating me like a cub.”

MK felt like his brain was short-circuiting. What do you mean this person who couldn’t be much older than 16 was actually 180 flippin’ years old?! That would make her older than Pigsy by a long shot! MK always thought that yaoguai monkeys aged like normal humans (to a point), not like other yaoguai.

As the duo climbed higher and higher up the mountain path, conversation dwindled down to nothing to conserve their energy. That, and they didn’t want to risk any Hénghé in the area hearing them. Though the silence was nigh unbearable for MK, it didn’t last long as he and Ma finally reached the top of Mount Huaguo.

It looked exactly like how MK had seen it in the Scroll of Memory, from the talismans hanging from the rocks to the trees and foliage clinging to the mountaintop to the stone pillar in the middle. But in the light of day, MK now saw that there was no stone egg sitting on top of the stone pillar. Instead, there was now a pile of shards.

“Soooo, what did you need up here?” Ma asked, interrupting MK’s train of thought.

MK looked at her for a second before it clicked. “Oh, right!” He dug out his phone and turned it on. He ignored the low battery warning as he unlocked the device and called Pigsy.

The phone barely even rang before an automated message said that the call could not be connected before disconnecting. MK pulled the phone away from his ear. Why hadn’t it worked? This was the tallest mountain on the whole island, there was no way it shouldn’t have worked! MK glanced at his phone’s battery level and saw his answer. There was no signal. Not even a single bar.

He couldn’t call home.

MK sighed heavily. It looked like the fight with the Rhinoceros King did more damage than he thought if even Flower Fruit Mountain wasn’t getting a signal.

“Are you okay, MK?” Ma asked, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” MK answered despondently. “Still no signal though.”

“And that’s not a good thing, right?” Ma asked.

“Yeah.” He sighed and powered off his phone before tucking it back into his pocket. He had to save what power he had left. Afterall, who knew when he would be able to charge it again. “Let’s get going before anyone knows we were up here.”

Ma and MK quickly retraced their steps down the mountain. Thankfully going down was a lot faster than going up, so they were able to get back to the base of the mountain much faster than they had climbed it.

Once they were safely at the bottom of the mountain, MK stopped and stretched. Man, there was nothing like hiking up a mountain to get your blood pumping. Now he felt ready to take on the day! He turned to Ma to ask her which way they needed to go next, but froze when he saw her nose twitching like crazy. Before he could ask what she was smelling, Ma turned to him and whispered one word.

“Hide.”

Then Ma practically tackled him into a nearby yellowing bush just as two figures entered the clearing. Hénghé if MK was remembering the group correctly. Both monkeys had dark brown fur and seemed to both have a star shaped mask on their faces in different colors. And, more importantly, they were carrying spears and seemed to be looking for something.

The Hénghé closest to MK and Ma’s hiding spot stopped and sniffed the air like Ma had been doing the whole trip.

“I’m smelling something, Lì​shí,” they said.

“You’ve been saying that for a while now, Suì​shí,” Lì​shí said tiredly. “We are close to the border with the outcasts.”

Suì​shí snorted. “I know that! But this is different.” Suì​shí moved closer. “Almost like… a sweet banana, that’s gone bad.”

MK held his breath. Suì​shí was right in front of him, close enough that MK could hear every breath they were taking. If Suì​shí were to look down right now, they would see Ma and MK in an undignified pile in the bush.

“Knock it off, Suì​shí,” Lì​shí called out. “I think you’re just hungry.”

Suì​shí took a few more sniffs before sighing and standing up. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Our patrol should be almost up anyway.”

And with that, the two Hénghé continued on their way, being none the wiser as to the two intruders on their territory.

As soon as Ma gave the all clear, MK and her crawled out of the bush.

“They must have smelled my conditioner,” MK muttered as he brushed twigs and leaves out of his hair.

“Your what?” Ma asked, confused.

Seriously? She didn’t even know what conditioner was? What, had these monkeys never showered before? “It’s, like, a cream that you put in your hair after you wash it. To keep it soft and shiny, y’know? And it smells nice.”

Ma’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s why you smell so bad? I thought you just decided to roll around in some rotten fruit.”

“Wha-? Hey!” MK protested, hurt.

Ma held up her hands placatingly. “I didn’t want to say anything because I was just trying to be nice.”

“You know what? Fine. I don’t care.” MK threw his hands in the air. He’s hungry, his phone isn’t working, and he nearly had another run in with a group of monkeys that don’t like him; his patience was running thin. “When I get back to Megapolis, I’ll use as much conditioner as I want, and you can be as stinky as you want.”

Ma chuckled. “Don’t threaten me with a good time. Now c’mon.” She looked around nervously. “We’ve been gone too long.”

Ma led the way back to where they had left Beng while MK followed closely behind. Normally, MK would have led the way since he knows Flower Fruit so well, but something was wrong. It was like someone had rearranged the paths and trails of the island, making it difficult for MK to get his bearings. Even the stairs that led up to Water Curtain Cave had been replaced with a wide dirt path that he and Ma quickly darted across.

How anyone managed to do that under the Monkey King’s watch was a mystery. One of many that MK would have to talk to his mentor about.

A breeze blew through the trees, sending a chill down MK’s spine; Ma seemed unbothered by it. Man, did he wish he had a winter coat like Ma. It sounds like it would be so nice in the winter.

“So, what’re we going to tell Beng when we get back?” MK asked as he pulled his jacket tighter around himself as the wind decided to change directions and blow in his face.

Ma waved her hand dismissively. “We’ll just tell him that you get lost trying to find a place to relieve yourself. It won’t be a big…” She froze, eyes wide.

MK watched as she sniffed the air like she had on the way up Mount Huaguo. Only this time instead of relaxing after detecting nothing, Ma became tense. Her tail lashed behind her a couple times before curling around one of her legs.

“Uh oh,” she whispered as her ears flattened against her head.

“What is it?” MK whispered.

Ma just shook her head and clenched her fists.

Okay, so whatever it is, isn’t good, MK thought as he reached up to grab his staff from his ear. Then he remembered he didn’t have it and lowered his hand. Even without my staff or magic, I can still fight.

“Ma. MK. Come.”

Oh. It was Ba.

Why was Ba here?

MK turned to Ma, hoping she would have the answers. Unfortunately, she seemed lost in her own thoughts as she stared into the distance, her fists still clenched tight. MK opened his mouth to ask her what she wanted to do, but was interrupted by a loud chirp. Ma flinched and bowed her head in defeat. Without saying a word, Ma led the way back into the clearing they had left Beng in.

As they rounded the final tree, MK saw Ba and Beng beneath the fruit trees. Beng was curled up into a tight ball while Ba had his arms wrapped around the gray-furred monkey. Ba’s head was already turned towards Ma and MK, as though he already knew where they were going to be. Which made it even worse when MK saw the older monkey’s face: there was no escape from the ultimate disappointed dad face, and MK knew it.

MK bowed his head. He knew he shouldn’t have gone up Mount Huaguo, let alone let Ma come with him. He was darn lucky that those Hénghé hadn’t seen them. He didn’t know the rules of monkey society nor what boundaries there were, or just how bad it might have been had they been caught. He should have just listened to Beng when he said no.

Why did he have to be so stupid?

Ba huffed, drawing MK’s attention. MK glanced up to see Ba helping Beng stand up. The poor guy didn’t look so good. The fur around his face was damp and his eyes were red. He was staring at Ma and MK, but MK was certain Beng wasn’t actually seeing them.

Guilt settled over MK like a wet blanket: clingy, heavy, and uncomfortable. He never should have let Ma come with him. He never should have gone up the mountain. He should have stayed and helped like Pigsy had taught him.

Once Beng was on his feet, Ba turned to Ma and MK.

“Home,” he ordered before turning and walking out of the clearing with Beng in tow.

The trip back was agonizingly silent, only broken by the occasional sniffle from Beng. Ba was carrying both fruit baskets in one hand while keeping another wrapped around Beng. Ma and MK followed behind them, neither daring to speak for fear of drawing more ire.

Or, at least that was the case for MK. He didn’t really know how Ba would react when they got back to Hometree, but if he knew anything about parents, there was going to be a lot of scolding in his and Ma’s immediate futures.

MK gripped his jacket. He had never gotten in trouble with a friend’s parents before. Mei was practically his only friend and he had met her parents once, so it’s not like he had a good frame of reference to go off of. Would they be like the parents he saw on TV? Would they be like the parents he sometimes saw while out for deliveries?

Ba chirped, dragging MK out of his thoughts. The Monkie Kid looked up and saw that they had somehow made it back to Hometree. A chirp from above answered Ba, drawing MK’s gaze upwards. He saw Liu looking down at them from the bamboo platform high in the tree.

As soon as MK and Liu made eye contact, she hopped onto a vine and started making her way down. MK watched in fascination at how quickly and confidently Liu descended the tree. He’d never seen a yaoguai monkey move down a tree like that before; Monkey King always jumped out of whatever tree he was in and Macaque just… schwhooped out of the tree with his shadows.

Ba grunted and pointed at a log near the fire pit from last night. MK frowned, unsure of what to do. Ma grabbed his sleeve, pulled him over to the log, and sat down; MK quickly followed suit. As soon as MK’s butt was on the log, there was a thump followed by the sound of crunching leaves. MK looked up and immediately shrunk back.

Words could not begin to describe how pissed Liu looked. Even Pigsy, the angriest person MK’s ever known, did not get as furious as the monkey standing before him now.

Liu inhaled sharply and MK braced himself for the scolding of a lifetime. “What in all the levels of Hell were you thinking?! You were supposed to stay together! Not galavant off to Heaven knows where, leaving Beng alone! Any one of you could have been killed!”

“But no one saw us, Mom,” Ma said timidly.

“That is not the point, young lady!” Liu snapped. “There are tribes out there that will kill young monkeys like you or Beng or MK! And they will not hesitate to do so! This is why Ba and I always tell you to stick together!”

Liu sighed. “Now, I don’t know whose half-brained idea this was, but I can’t honestly imagine that it was Ma, because I know I taught her better than to wander off on her own.” She stared intensely at Ma. “Right?”

Ma looked like she wanted to disappear into the shadows. MK knew exactly how she was feeling. But as Sandy had once taught him, you can’t run away from your responsibilities forever. Even if it means taking on the wrath of a furious mother.

“It was me,” MK admitted. “I-I’m sorry, I just wanted to—”

“Oh, you’re sorry? Sorry?!” Liu snapped, turning her glare on MK. “Sorry means nothing when you put my children in danger! Sorry doesn’t stop the other troops from attacking someone they see as a threat or as easy prey. Sorry doesn’t stop tigers and wolves from tearing out your throat. Sorry does not bring my children back from the dead if you get them killed!”

MK swallowed thickly. He was quickly realizing that while Pigsy has scolded him in the past, it was never like this.

“So instead of being sorry, how about you listen? Because you may think that you know what you’re talking about, that your precious, imaginary Monkey King will save you, but that is not how it works in the real world, MK! This island is not some little fairytale wonderland, with bountiful food and warm beds and safety all around! There are dangers around every corner, breathing down our necks, waiting to strike and maim and kill at any moment! I have faced these dangers, every day of my life! I know what’s really out there, and there’s no Monkey King that’s going to swoop in and save us all! And I will not let you put my family in danger again! Do you understand?!”

Liu’s final sentence echoed through the clearing; not even the birds were chirping. It was dead silent. In that silence, MK finally saw that Liu’s face was flushed, her eyes were shining with unshed tears, and her breathing was shaky and uneven. Though her fists were clenched, MK saw the tremor in her hands. To say he felt horrible was a massive understatement.

Liu huffed and turned back towards the tree, not even waiting for MK to respond. MK didn’t blame her; he didn’t want to be around him either.

Silence hung heavily over the little clearing, even as the birds returned to their singing. No one spoke and no one looked at MK. They probably wanted nothing to do with MK after his massive screwup. After he had put two of their own in danger for his own selfish desires.

MK pulled up his hood and wrapped his jacket around himself. He didn’t want to be here anymore. He wanted to go home.

Dinner that night was quiet. Only the crackling of the fire could be heard as MK and the other monkeys ate their handfuls of nuts and small fruits. It was more than the night before, but it still was not enough for MK. But he wasn’t about to go ask for more. Liu was still mad at him and he didn’t dare ask Ba in case the much bigger monkey also lashed out. Ma and Beng also seemed to be indifferent to him now; MK wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. Either way, he made sure to sit as far away from them as possible to give them some space.

Was it comfortable? No. The winter wind made sure to blow right into his face every chance it got, forcing him to stay huddled in his jacket for whatever protection it offered. And the cold, stony ground made sure to remind him that it was there anytime MK tried to sit in a more comfortable position. But he would rather be uncomfortable of his own accord than sit in uncomfortable silence.

MK sighed and looked up at the sky. The blues of the day were starting to turn into the oranges of the evening, marking the end of another day. How many more days would it be until he was safely back home? How many more days until he only had to worry about money instead of having enough food or a safe place to sleep at night? How many more days until Mei dragged him to the arcade? How many more days until he saw Mei or Pigsy or Tang or Sandy again?

A chilly breeze blew through the trees, drawing MK out of his thoughts. He wrapped his jacket tighter around himself and grit his teeth as he waited for the wind to pass. Man, what he wouldn’t give for his nice warm bed and a bowl of hot soup right now! For now though, MK only had the memories of being warm and full and it would have to be enough until Liu and Ba could get him back home.

Chapter Text

MK woke up before the sun rose the next morning. Whether it was due to the ache in his bones or the ache in his stomach, MK didn’t know or care. All he knew was that he wasn’t going back to sleep anytime soon.

A cold breeze blew through the trees. MK shuddered and pulled up his makeshift blanket of leaves. It wasn’t the most comfortable sleeping arrangement, but he made it work.

Soft rustling from behind drew MK’s attention. The Monkie Kid looked behind him and saw that Ma was shifting around in her sleep. Good. He didn’t need any of the monkeys waking up right now. A quick survey also showed that Beng was not in the nest, which meant that he was likely on watch.

After making sure Liu, Ba, and Ma were sound asleep in their nest, MK removed his leafy blanket and carefully arranged it to look like he was still sleeping underneath it (a well practiced maneuver). Once he was satisfied with his work, MK checked the sleeping monkeys one more time before grabbing a vine and stepping off of the platform.

Avoiding Beng turned out to be easier than avoiding a whole group of Bull Clones; the poor guy was struggling to keep his eyes open. Part of MK felt bad for taking advantage of Beng, but the other part knew that Beng would stop him from leaving. But MK couldn’t stay. Not when he was a danger to Ma, Beng, Liu and Ba. So, he had decided to find his own way home, no matter how long it took.

But, as it turned out, trying to find your way around an island in the early morning darkness was really difficult without a flashlight. And MK couldn’t just pull out his phone and use its flashlight; it had next to no power left and he didn’t want to waste it. So, he was stuck feeling his way through the dark until the sun started showing its first rays of light.

As soon as those warming rays touched the treetops, MK realized that he had no idea where he was.

“Ah, come on,” MK whined. “Seriously?! Who designed this island?”

Thankfully, no one was around to answer him. Though if there was, MK couldn’t tell. Ever since he had ended up on the island, it was like his senses had been dulled from a sharpened blade to a giant cotton ball or something. It was like his whole equilibrium was off and he was fighting to stay upright.

MK slapped his face a couple times. “Come on, MK. You’re the Monkie Kid! You’ve gotten yourself out of tighter spots before.”

Now thoroughly pep talked, MK looked around once more. The trees looked about the same as the others he’d seen so far—minimal leaves and very few vines. And through the barren trees, MK could see the top of Mount Huaguo in the distance. Which meant that if he kept going down his current path, he was bound to make it back to the mountain sooner or later. And that was as good a place as any to start figuring out a way back home.

The sun rose steadily in the sky, slowly warming up the island in its rays. It would have been a beautiful day to sit around and enjoy it but MK had other things on his mind.

GROWL.

Such as finding something to eat. But try as he might, MK couldn’t find anything. And he wasn’t desperate enough to try to eat tree bark. Yet. He would just have to keep pressing on and snag something from Monkey King’s hut. If there even was a Monkey King, that was.

MK looked up to see how much further until he reached Mount Huaguo. The mountain loomed over him, casting its shadow over a large portion of the island.

“Not much further now,” MK muttered to himself. “Once I’m inside Water Curtain Cave, I’ll find Monkey King and he’ll be able to get me home.”

MK was trying not to think about eating some good food and sleeping in an actual bed when a chirp drew his attention upwards. In the lower, thicker branches of a tree was… one of the little cream-colored monkeys! And it didn’t seem like it was doing too good.

“Hang on, bud. I’m coming!” MK called to the injured monkey. It gave a weak chirp as a response.

Without a second thought, MK jumped into the tree and started climbing towards the injured monkey. Thankfully the tree had plenty of hand and footholds that made climbing it a breeze. In no time, MK found himself on the same branch as the little monkey.

“Hey, bud,” MK said softly as the monkey looked at him pitifully. “Let’s go get you some help, okay?” He held out a hand to the little monkey.

The little monkey looked at him, then his hand, then back at him. Their eyes met for a moment before the monkey chirped loudly and MK found himself surrounded by a bunch of little monkeys.

“Uhhh…” was all MK managed to say before the monkeys dog piled (monkey piled?) him, similar to the first time MK arrived on Flower Fruit. But unlike that time, MK was in a tree and not on the beach.

Unfortunately, the sudden extra weight of the monkeys was too much for MK’s precarious perch. After much flailing and over correcting, MK and the monkeys tumbled out of the tree. MK managed to take the brunt of the fall so that the little monkeys didn't get hurt.

“Owwwww…” MK groaned as the little monkeys scrambled off of him. He sat up and looked at the group of troublemakers. “What was that for, guys? I was only trying to help!”

The little monkeys huddled together at the base of the tree, watching him with what could only be described as fear. But why would they be afraid? It wasn’t like MK was going to hurt them or anything.

With a pained grunt, MK got to his feet. The little monkeys huddled closer together as he moved, a few were even shaking. All were watching him like their lives depended on it.

MK crouched in front of them. “What’s going on, guys? You’re acting like you’re afraid of me.”

He reached out a hand and the little monkeys immediately shrunk away. MK let his hand drop. Why were the little guys acting like this? Even when he first came to the island, the little monkeys were never afraid of him. What happened to these little guys to make them so afraid?

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” MK said gently. “I just want to help.” He held out his hand again but not too close to scare the little monkeys.

The little monkeys (five in total) eyed his hand warily, but otherwise made no move to get closer or to leave entirely. After several tense moments, one of the monkeys, the one MK had first seen in the tree, seemed to gather enough courage to approach MK’s hand. It sniffed MK’s hand a few times before grabbing one of his fingers. That seemed to break the spell over the other four who now decided to come closer and to check MK out.

Soon enough, the little monkeys were climbing all over MK, pulling at his clothes and bandana, running their little fingers through his tangled fur and hair, and one was even closely inspecting his hands. MK found the whole situation quite hilarious, but he didn’t want to spook the little guys by laughing so he fought to stay silent. Which proved to be quite difficult when one of the little monkeys found a ticklish spot on MK’s side.

A stomach growled next to MK’s ear, quickly followed by several more.

“Sounds like you guys are hungry,” MK said with a chuckle. The little monkey messing with his hands bowed its head. “That’s okay, I am too,” he added just as his own stomach growled. MK smiled gently at the little guy in front of him. “Why don’t we go find some food for the six of us?”

The little monkey looked up at him in surprise. MK also felt the hopeful stares from the other little monkeys on him.

“C’mon, let’s go find some food,” MK said, holding his arms out to the little monkey.

The little monkey hesitated for a brief moment before jumping into MK’s arms.

MK and the little monkeys walked down the path as the sun continued to climb higher into the sky and the trees got thinner and taller. Or rather MK was walking and the little monkeys were getting a free ride in his arms. One of the little monkeys wriggled in MK’s grasp, forcing him to readjust his hold on the monkeys. Which was made even more difficult since he had tucked all five of them into his jacket to keep them warm. A couple of them had even fallen asleep at some point and were not woken up by the jostling.

MK talked to the ones who were still awake to pass the time, telling them everything that had happened from fighting the Rhino King to the events of yesterday.

“So, then I decided to leave,” MK said, finally coming to the end of his story. “After everything I did, I doubt Liu and Ba would want to help me get back to Megapolis. And that’s fine. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve had to find my own way back.” MK frowned. “Though it would be easier if I still had my powers.”

One of the little monkeys chirped at MK and nuzzled its head into MK’s neck.

MK smiled. “Thanks, Yǒu. I’m sure that whatever’s blocking my powers will be gone any day now.”

Yǒu chirped again and nuzzled further into MK’s neck.

MK wasn’t sure what the little monkeys were actually named (if they had names at all), but he had been quick to give them all nicknames, so he had an easier way to refer to each of them. Yǒu was the friendliest of the five, Nào was the loudest, Sèbān had a big patch of darker fur on her back, Bān had spotted fur (MK was pretty certain these two were siblings with how they were cuddling each other as they slept), and Xiàoyè had a permanent dimple on one side of her face.

Was it a good idea to name monkeys he probably wasn’t going to run into again? Probably not. Did MK care? Absolutely not. These little monkeys had been the closest thing to normal MK had seen since he appeared on Mount Huaguo.

Nào chirped, interrupting MK’s train of thought, and pointed at something directly above them. MK stopped and looked up to see clumps of green and orange fruit on top of a tall, skinny tree. He didn’t need to hold one to know what they were.

“Papayas!” MK cheered. The little monkeys joined in and cheered along with him, one even bouncing excitedly on MK’s head. “Wait, here guys. I’ll grab a few and then we can share.”

MK quickly placed all five monkeys on the ground near a baby fruit tree where they huddled together, still shivering despite the fact that there was no wind. With a small smile, MK shrugged off his jacket and draped it over the little group. “Keep this safe for me, okay?”

Yǒu chirped and gripped the zippered edges of the jacket, holding it shut around him and his friends.

“Alright,” MK nodded. “Be back in a jiff.”

It turned out that climbing a papaya tree was really hard. There were no lower branches for MK to hold on to and the groovy things in the bark offered no support either. And his shoes weren’t helping in the slightest. But MK wasn’t about to let a little thing like shoes stop him from helping the little group of monkeys, so he pushed on, even as a cold wind blew in his face.

The little monkeys chirped wildly at MK. They were probably worried about MK being so high up. Or they were just really hungry.

“Hang on, guys!” MK called down to the rambunctious monkeys. “I’m almost there!”

With a final pull, MK finally reached the papaya cluster. The little monkeys grew even louder, sounding almost desperate in their cries. MK ignored them as he reached out to pick a ripe papaya from the cluster; he just needed to—

A sharp, stinging pain shot through MK’s outstretched right arm as a snake as thick as a tree trunk latched onto it. MK screamed and shook his arm to get rid of the serpent, but it held fast. The snake tightened its jaw, causing more blood to flow out from between its fangs. MK desperately tried yanking his arm free of the snake’s maw, but only succeeded in pulling the snake closer towards him.

The added weight of the giant snake upset MK’s already precarious balance and sent both of them toppling out of the tree. Time seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time as MK fell to the ground. He knew he would be fine. A bit sore, but fine; he was invincible after all.

THWUMP!

MK hit the ground hard, completely knocking the air from his lungs and making him see white spots dance across his vision. He was pretty sure he had hit a rock or a tree root or something when he landed because OW that hurt!

Something curled around his arm, reminding him that he had an unwanted passenger attached to his arm.

Far too slowly for his liking, MK managed to prop himself up onto one arm and looked at the offending snake as it tried to make him its next meal. Before MK could begin to think of a way to get the snake to let go, a massive hand shot out and grabbed the snake just behind its head. The snake let go of MK’s arm with a hiss before it was thrown at the tree with a sickening CRACK and fell back to the ground, limp.

“MK!” Someone shouted, their voice ringing in MK’s ears.

MK blinked and suddenly Pigsy?... no, Liu was by his side. She knelt down beside him, worry and fear etched across her face.

“Don’t worry, MK,” Liu said quickly, trying to act calm. “Ba and I will get you off this tree and take you—”

“Tree?” MK mumbled. “What tree?”

“Wait, MK! Don’t—”

MK sat up. Or tried to at least. When he tried, something sent a sharp, burning, searing pain through his left leg, like someone had stabbed him with a branding iron. Breathing through the pain, MK pushed himself up again and saw a tree sapling, that was coated in something red and shiny. And sticking out of his leg.

Oh. That… that wasn’t good.

“Stay calm, MK! Everything is going to be okay!” Liu said, sounding decidedly not calm. “Just stay calm so Ba and I can help you!”

MK barely even blinked in response. His blood was roaring in his ears and his stomach churned as he stared at the tree stained with his blood. When was the last time he had even seen it outside of his body? Not since before getting his powers back, after the Lady Bone Demon was defeated, at the very least. So if he was seeing his own blood, then something was very, very wrong with his powers.

Something—or someone—like the Lady Bone Demon must’ve messed with him. Yeah, that must have been it…

MK slumped backwards, barely even registering Ba catching him before he hit the ground. He needed to get home. Home was where the Monkey King was. If something was threatening this island, then Monkey King would be able to help until MK got his powers back to normal. MK couldn’t just let any of the monkeys be hurt (even if some of them were jerks). He couldn’t sleep until then. He couldn’t…

Darkness washed over MK, pulling him into its depths. The last thing MK heard was a cry of alarm, and he felt warm hands touching him before he thought no more.

Something was chasing him. Something big and powerful and unavoidable.

“Monkey King! Where are you?!” MK shouted into the darkness. “I need you!”

No one answered. No one was coming to save him.

The thing stalking him lunged and—

“Monkey King!”

MK sat up quickly, breathing heavily. It was… just a dream? MK brought a shaky hand to his face. Why couldn’t he ever get a good night’s sleep?

MK jumped when someone spoke.

“You’re finally awake? Good,” they said gruffly. “Perhaps you can answer my questions.”

MK stared at the speaker. They looked a lot like Beng with their dark gray skin and general body shape, but this jí​běn​sī had blonde fur and a pink face mask in the shape of a rose. They also wore leafy clothing similar to what Liu and Ma wore, so MK hazarded a guess that this was a female jí​běn​sī.

“Q-questions?” MK stuttered, feeling rather defenseless without his staff. “About what?”

The jí​běn​sī raised an eyebrow. “About how a hénghé such as yourself ended up with Liu of all monkeys, why you’re wearing such strange clothes, and why Ba and Liu found you in the Forbidden Zone of all places.”

“The Forbidden Zone? What’s that?”

The jí​běn​sī stared at MK. He stared back. She blinked. He blinked. Then she sighed. “I now see why Liu kept you around instead of sending you back to your tribe.”

“Wha…Hey!” MK shouted. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

The jí​běn​sī waved him off. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is how those wounds of yours are looking.”

“Wounds?” MK repeated. “What wounds…?”

MK trailed off as he looked down at himself. On his left thigh and right forearm was cloth, wrapped and tied tightly by a bit of vine. Dully, he could feel a warm, pulsing sensation underneath the makeshift bandages, particularly the one on his leg. And rather belatedly, MK realized he wasn’t wearing his pants anymore. Thankfully, he still had his boxers.

The jí​běn​sī stepped forward carefully and knelt down next to MK, who was only now realizing he was in some sort of leafy nest. “I’m going to take off the wrappings on your leg first, okay?”

MK nodded numbly and watched as the jí​běn​sī unwound the bandage. He gripped the leafy bedding tightly, morbidly wondering what the inside of his leg looked like after being impaled by a tree. But, thankfully, it looked like he wouldn’t find out, as when the jí​běn​sī pulled away the white cottony stuff that had been underneath the bandage, there was only a really nasty hole, that was swollen shut with angry, red puckered edges

.

“Huh, I thought it would be worse,” MK muttered as he vaguely remembered the tree that had been sticking out of his leg.

The jí​běn​sī snorted. “It was. But, thanks to Liu’s healing magic, it looks like it’s healing rather nicely.”

MK nodded along as the jí​běn​sī motioned for his arm. It honestly didn’t surprise him at this point that at least one of the monkeys he had been staying with had magic. Why she didn’t use it before now, MK didn’t know. He was just grateful that she had used it to help him heal so much. With how out of whack his powers were lately, he doubted that his leg would’ve healed that well on its own in so little time.

“And it looks like your arm is also healing well,” the jí​běn​sī said as she pulled away the cottony stuff from his arm. “So long as you are careful and don’t pick any more fights with pythons, you should be completely healed within a couple of weeks or so.”

“So am I good to go?” MK asked hopefully. He wanted to get back to finding a way home as soon as possible.

The smack on the left shoulder was swift and unavoidable. MK winced and grabbed his shoulder as a new throbbing pain joined the others, then recoiled as the movement of his right arm sent a lightning zap of pain through the bite wound. Okay, maybe he wasn’t quite as healed as he thought.

“If you think you’re getting out of here so quickly, then you are sorely mistaken,” the jí​běn​sī growled. “You are not leaving that nest until I say you can. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” MK answered meekly.

“Good,” the jí​běn​sī huffed. “Now, please stay still while I apply this salve to your wounds.”

MK did as he was told, watching as the jí​běn​sī applied the weird smelling paste to his arm and leg. He was looking around the small stone hut he just now noticed he was in when he suddenly thought of a perhaps important question to ask.

“What’s your name?” MK asked, breaking the relative silence.

The jí​běn​sī paused in her work. “I suppose Liu wouldn’t have had time to tell you,” she muttered before returning to her task. “My name is Yuè​jì. I’m the healer for the Jí​běn​sī tribe.”

“Nice to meet you, Yuè​jì. I’m MK.”

Yuè​jì nodded. “Nice to meet you as well, MK.”

They fell back into silence as Yuè​jì continued applying the salve. MK tried his best to stay still, but his tail betrayed him with its tapping. He didn’t want to disturb Yuè​jì’s work but he also couldn’t stand staying still any longer. He needed to move, darn it! And his need to move was not helped by the fact that Yuè​jì had to change another bandage that was apparently wrapped around his head.

“You do know there is no Monkey King, right?” Yuè​jì said suddenly as she began to rewrap MK’s bandages.

MK’s shoulders slumped. “So I’ve heard.”

“Then why did you call out for one?” Yuè​jì asked.

MK gripped the leafy bedding with his free hand. “I… I… don’t know.”

Yuè​jì thankfully didn’t press him for answers. Instead she returned to her work, quickly tying off the knots of the vines to hold the bandages in place, before getting up and telling him to rest while she went to get him something to eat. MK nodded mutely, too lost in his own thoughts to properly respond or fully notice Yuè​jì leaving the hut.

MK flexed his right hand. It was sore but otherwise felt okay, and his injured leg felt about the same. He might be able to at least make it away from the Jí​běn​sī tribe’s camp between now and when Yuè​jì would return. Though maybe he should wait until nighttime when everyone would be asleep.

Liu’s voice cut through MK’s thoughts like a knife: “If you run away again, I’ll have Ba tie you to Hometree for a week.”

MK jumped and turned towards the door, nearly giving himself whiplash in the process. Liu was standing in the doorway, holding a basket of herbs. And just past her, MK could see Ba outside, looking very worried as he sat by the entrance.

“Liu? W-what are you doing here?” MK asked, surprised.

“Who did you think brought you to the Jí​běn​sī? Níshíliú?” Liu scoffed and shook her head as she set down her basket. She moved the herbs into pots that were lined up against the wall of the hut. “I’m glad you’re doing better, MK,” Liu added quietly, her words nearly lost in the shuffle of pots. “I don’t know what I would have done if you had…” Her hands stilled as she trailed off.

“I would have been fine,” MK assured her. “I’ve taken harder hits and survived. I’m sure I would have been fine.”

“That’s not—…!” Liu stopped and sighed. Then she knelt down beside MK’s leafy bed. “MK, there was a lot of blood. A lot of blood. And not just from your arm and leg.” Liu reached up and touched the bandage on MK’s head. “You could have been far more grievously injured if Ba and I hadn’t been there.”

“I would have been fine,” MK insisted. “I’m basically invincible, remember?”

“Does this look ‘fine’ to you?” Liu snapped. “If you really were invincible, do you think you would be lying here on this bed, recovering from being impaled?”

MK froze as a cold weight settled in his stomach. Monkey King had looked beaten up before, and he had immortalities stacked on top of immortalities. And MK had gotten all of his powers back after defeating the Lady Bone Demon, plus some new ones! Surely his invincibility had returned, right? But that had been ages ago, and he was pretty sure he had his invincibility when he was fighting Azure Lion only a few months ago.

Did… did that mean that…?

MK shook his head to clear that thought. His powers were just on the fritz again, that was all. Once he was all healed up, he would make his way home and find Monkey King and then everything would go back to normal.

Liu’s sigh dragged MK out of his thoughts. “I know none of this has been… ideal for you, MK, but you don’t have to do this alone. Ba and I will help you, as will Ma and Beng. We’ll all help get back home.”

MK couldn’t help but scoff at that. Really? After Liu’s (understandable) blowup? MK didn’t think so.

Liu sighed again, but she didn’t say anything more. Silence filled the hut as neither monkey had anything to say to the other. Distantly, MK heard wind howling. Wouldn’t it be just awesome if a storm blew in when he was supposed to be going home? And with how his luck had been lately, he wouldn’t doubt that something like that was going to happen.

Well, whatever happened, MK hoped he would be going home soon.

“So, how did you guys find me?” MK asked, hoping to change the subject.

Liu gave him a look. “You need to do something about your smell. You stink.”