Ah, great. Well, eyes of truth confirmed it. Not a hallucination. “Well then, I guess you never learned manners. It’s pretty cruel to take on the form of someone’s dead lover,” he claimed, staring down this presumed imposter with just as much poison in his voice.

  That seemed to piss him off. “Oh no, I’m very real Wukong. But I’m not here for a fight-” then OF COURSE, Wukong had to interrupt.

  “Yeah, right. Heh. I watched him die to my own damned hand, and to be honest? Still pretty broken up about it. So if you value your life, you’ll stop pretending to be him.” The king stretched himself taller to present a more threatening air, demeanor and furious expression only assisting with that.   “Not listening, are you? Trust me Wukong, I already know-”   “Stop pretending you know me. Call me Wukong one more time, and I’ll bash your head in.” The disrespect of this stranger!

  Not gonna let him talk, is he?

 “Wukong, if you actually list-ened!-” Macaque’s voice pitched higher when Wukong punched right into the shadows, then both froze for a moment.

  The Monkey King would never get used to the shadow realm’s stasis. The feeling of his hand and only his hand having the blood stop flowing, while still not causing damage, was a strange experience to be sure, but his focus was on something else. That familiar fabric beneath his grip with those same stitches he’d memorized so long ago. So distant yet so vivid.. He - gently as he could - pulled his hand from the shadows, activating gold vision once more to check. He gasped at what his power revealed - familiar ears left with marks from their battles, one eyebrow split by a ghastly scar and the eye below a misty white, instead of the pale gold he always remembered - with fangs bared in a way he didn’t even see that fateful day. - “M-Mihou-”   A punch was thrown as his former lover, who was apparently alive, stumbled out of the shadows with gritted teeth. He snapped his fingers and his two loyal sons appeared behind the king, holding him in place. Wukong could’ve overpowered them had he not been distracted by the sight of a man he thought was dead standing over him. “I’m not here to fight, Wukong, but not to reconcile either. I’m here, because you decided my son would be the perfect successor, and I want you to pick someone else.”

  That snapped Wukong out of it. Pick someone else? What?! “I can’t just remove my magic from the kid, Macaque! He might literally die! Not to mention that he’d be a sitting duck against the demon bull family without it!”

  “Are you doubting that my powers alone could protect my son?” the shadow wielder sneered. 

  “Oh fucking- You’re ignoring my other point entirely!” the sage responded angrily, pulling against the clones holding him, yet still avoiding using too much power.

  “What? That removing magic will kill my kid? I fucking doubt it!” the darker monkey claimed in response.

  “Okay then, Mr. Semi-Omniscient. Why not check for yourself?!” Wukong snarked angrily.

  “Fine then!” Macaque’s top set of ears twitched, then the annoyance on his face faded to dread, and he paled to a concerning degree.

  Wukong looked apprehensive, but kept up a brave face. “So? What’d you hear?”

  After a moment of silence, Liu’er’s expression hardened again into a more thoughtful glare. “There’s really no safe way to prevent this..”

  The Monkey King looked to the ground, soft remorse on his face. “Mihou-”

  “Don’t fucking call me that! I-.. I need to think,” the Warrior muttered, snapping his fingers to get his sons to join him at his side instead of holding Wukong. 

  Now though, without anything to do, the Monkey King felt… awkward. “So…” He started after a while. “I can see you’re not wearing your ring anymore,” he said, looking somewhat somberly at the bare spot on Macaque’s tail.   That certainly got a reaction. Not a good one though. “Yeah, well, someone crushed it onto my tail so hard that it would’ve rotted off if I left it on! Wonder who that was..,” the shadow wielder snapped at first, turning to look at Wukong again, yet his expression softened at the sight of Wukong’s own tail. Just a little. Barely noticeable. “I can see you're still wearing yours.”

  “Heh, well… I guess I'm kinda sentimental,” the King said, voice quivering in a way only the Six-Eared trio in front of him could notice.   One of the strange, skull faced clones, perked up and said something in an unfamiliar tongue. Macaque seemed to understand it though, because he muttered, “Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Thanks, Savage.” 

  “Savage”, huh? What a dorky name!

  “Alright, Wukong.” The sage perked up when attention was turned to him again. “We need to agree not to fight, because either of our deaths would hurt the kid, and I don’t want him getting hurt in the crossfire,” the darker monkey began. The hero nodded in agreement. “Good. Now listen closely, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once; My sons are the only things that matter to me anymore, so you’re gonna keep my youngest safe, and if he ever gets hurt because you weren’t there, I’m going to trap you in my lantern for the rest of your immortal life.” 

  Of course, the threatening tone didn’t work on the king, even when he knew he was being serious. “So, like… do I not get any days off or anything?” Wukong asked with a small chuckle.

  The darker monkey in front of him growled and stood back up straight. “No. He’s dealt with enough abandonment in his life. I’m not letting you make this a repeat of how my life fell apart.”   The sage gave a soft eye roll and a scoff, which was enough to piss off Macaque again. Noticing this, Wukong defended himself. “Oh- C’mon, Macaque! I don’t want that to happen either! You must have heard me groveling at your shrine, almost every day, for over a thousand years!” 

  “I wouldn’t call it groveling. What sort of king grovels at the feet of someone they killed?” The shadow wielder’s voice came out sharp, and venomous. 

  “Uhh~ This one, apparently. Even though technically you didn’t die!” Wukong snarked with a smirk. One of the skull faced clones - Wukong couldn’t tell which - squinted at the sky and tapped Macaque’s shoulder, though the dark primate was far too pissed off to acknowledge it.

  “Yeah, no thanks to you,” he snapped, ignoring the concerned chitters Savage was supplying.

  “Uh- No, actually. Now that I know you aren’t dead, I’m pretty sure all the immortalities I gave you had something to do with you surviving that.” Wukong sassed as Savage was getting a little louder.

  “HA! As if! All that would’ve done was prolong my suffering! I got myself out of that forest after you turned your back on everything we’d built!” Macaque exclaimed. fur in front of Savage’s ears moved back, revealing the slits that laid underneath as they hissed - then Rumble interrupted, leaping between the immortals and creating a massive shadow arrow that pointed up at the hole in the roof of the cave. It appeared to be sunset-.. Shit.

  “Wait… He was right outside when we left!” Wukong shouted frantically.

  “What the- How is it taking him so long? Did he fall in the lava at the flaming mountains?! Oh no- WUKONG! GO GET HIM!” The shadow wielder demanded, pointing towards the cave entrance.

  “What?! He’s your cub!” the king rebutted.

  “It’s been ten years since he last saw me! I’m not gonna knock his life further off balance!”   “Wait- So you abandoned him? Pot calling kettle-”

  “Right back at‘cha!”

  “Monkey King?” Mk’s voice came from down the hall.

  The six-eared monkeys immediately fell back into the shadows, leaving the king on his own. Peeking around the corner, Wukong could see what had taken the cub so long. He gasped at the cuteness.

  The little white Monkeys were curiously patting and pulling at Mk’s invisible limbs and climbing all over him to try and figure him out. The Monkey King’s new apprentice was begrudgingly letting them do so while still trying to walk. It was so dang… adorable! “That’s just about the cutest dang thing I ever saw!” the sage whispered giddily, looking around the corner of his little cottage at the young boy. “We’ll talk about this later.” He whispered to his shadow, before backflipping from the ground up onto the roof of his shack. “You looking for someone, bud?” the ruler asked with a knowing smirk.

  “Monkey King!” the young monkey exclaimed, running over to the shack and startling the little monkeys off of him. The king was almost startled by the sudden movement himself, but quickly recognized his speed as an effect of having the magic of two mystic monkeys in his body. That's gonna take some getting used to. 

  “Sup, bud? So… where's my staff?” the king asked, looking around playfully, before looking back and noticing the panic on his young admirer's expression.

  “I’m so sorry, Monkey King! I was trying to get it to you, but there was this whole thing with the Demon Bull King and Princess Iron Fan, also their son, but he wasn't there when she took-” Mk started, rambling and starting to blush when he brought up Redson.

  He was freaking out. Wukong wasn't prepared to handle this, so he tried to put the boy’s mind at ease. “Hehe, calm down kid! I already know. Seee… I've been kinda watching you.”

  “Huh?” the boy snapped out of it and gave a confused look, before gasping dramatically. “Wait- That was you?!”

  The king couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the young monkey's face. “Oh~ The look on your face! You're perfect!” he cackled, though he felt the glare on his back.

   Mk looked confused and tilted his head up at Wukong, squinting slightly. “Perfect for what?”

  Oh man, the kid was gonna love this. Wukong did a triple flip over Mk's head, crossing his arms as he landed. “To be my…” he started, halfway turning around and pointing at the boy. “-successor!”

  Mk looked at him with disbelief for a moment, before shaking it off and starting to pace. “Oh great! I'm dreaming again! Can my brain stop taunting me, please?”

  “Uh~ kid? If you'd like I could slap you, but I don't wanna hurt you on acci–dent..” Monkey King tried to keep up the facade, but he looked like he saw a ghost, staring at the headband his successor wore. Huh.. Macaque kept that? For over 3,000 years?

  Mk looked confused and placed a hand on his headband self-consciously. “What? What is it?”

  The king snapped out of it and shook his head a bit. “Uh~ C-Can I see that headband for a moment, bud?” he asked tensely, reaching one hand out.

  The boy in front of him looked suspicious, but untied it and placed it in his hand, letting his hair fall into its long and messy natural appearance. He could trust the Monkey King with it, right?

  The sage was gentle with the band of fabric, then looked at the embroidery and gave a soft sob that one could mistake for a cough. It was like he was holding his memories in his hands.. He handed it back with a soft smile. “Thanks, kid..”

  Mk smiled and took it back. “Of course, Monkey King!” he grinned. He was happy to help, “Now; what are we gonna do about the giant evil bull king who's RAVAGING my home, and probably KILLING my friends!?” -but he also had some basic logic. 

  Ah, right. “Pfft, c'mon! You can handle it!” Wukong brushed it off, falling back onto his cloud as it formed behind his back. “Consider it a trial,” he claimed, before spotting the glare of the shadows, and adding, “Tell you what; If you take more than~ thirty minutes to win, I'll come and save ya’, alright? You'll be fine,” he assured him, glancing at Macaque a couple times to gauge if that sated him. The glare was there, but it'd softened.

  “Well- How would I even get back?! How- How can you just trust me to figure it out?” the boy asked with a squirlish look, gesticulating wildly. Small flickers of purple and gold magic slipped along his body, but were calmed when the Monkey King placed his hands on Mk’s shoulders, steadying him. That much uncontrolled magic.. Hm.

  “Kid. I’d never tell you to do anything you can’t do. If I say you can beat DBK, you can beat DBK. Just believe in yourself! Even a smidge, can make all the difference,” he said with a soft smile. “And as for that other thing.. You’re not scared of heights, are you?” the sage suggested ominously with a more mischievous grin.

  A moment later, Wukong hopped onto his cloud and offered Mk a hand to get on behind him. “Now remember, you have thirty minutes to beat him before I come to help. You succeed-.. I dunno, I’ll give you one of my first merch items! That sound good?”

  The kid was nervous until the reward was mentioned. Then he got excited. “REALLY?! Like, the Monkey King original first edition plush?!” the fanboy exclaimed cheerfully.

  “Sure, if that’s the one you want. I honestly expected you to be more of an action figure kid, but that’s good too,” the king responded cheerfully, before zipping the cloud forward with no warning.   Mk, startled, grabbed the ruler’s shoulders and shut his eyes tight. Within a single minute they had reached the battle, and Wukong was picking Mk up and placing him on the ground. The king patted his head twice and said in his native language, “Good luck, little monkey. Here's hoping it goes well!” before zipping off. Macaque was psychically bugging him again.

  The boy was stunned by the sudden speed for a moment longer before a massive crash sounded behind him and he finally spotted Mei, who was in full dragon form and beating the shit out of Redson. He perked up, phantom tails flicking cheerfully. “Jie Jie!”

  She was startled and looked over, eyes lighting up in recognition. She threw the Demon Bull Prince into the air and slapped him away with her tail, before turning her full attention to Mk. “Di Di! You’re okay!” she said happily, hopping into the air and doing a somersault as she shapeshifted back to human form. She landed with a grin and bounced up to her brother to give him a big ol’ hug. “I was so worried!”   “I’m fine, Jie Jie,” the little monkey claimed with a smile.

  “Xiao Houzi! Did you find the Monkey King?!” his Ba Ba called from the ground, always one to gather information.

  “I did, Ba Ba!” he replied.

  “Then where the heck is he?!” Dadsy called up as well, almost sounding pissed.   “He said he’d give me the original plushie if I could do it! He’ll be here in like half an hour!” Mk called down with a grin. Pigsy face-palmed while Tang stimmed, a nervous and conflicted look on his face. After all, that plushie’s worth a fortune! But he didn’t want his son to get hurt.   Mei, ever the enabler of Mk’s stupid decisions, immediately called her bike and grabbed Mk’s helmet from its saddle bag to put it on his head. “We’ll be backing you up, Monkey Man!” she said with a grin, hopping down from the building with a backflip.   The Monkey Kid smiled down at his big sister for a moment, before hopping aboard the dragon-cycle. Mei had given him one or two lessons in her free time, so he knew the basics, but he didn’t expect how different it was when actually going fast.   His turns were tight. He worried he might tip the bike over by going quite so fast. Then DBK noticed him. Ah, shit.

  DBK scowled. It was that pest his brother called a son. He’d have to stop him without killing him. Such a pain.

  Going quick, and hearing the Demon Bull King saying something, Mk ignored it and tried to think of an attack he could use. His balance was thrown off, but he managed to right himself, though his panic was causing his magic to grow restless. The wild flickers of magic seemed to blend in his eyes, causing purple and yellow to swirl as the world turned gold and lightning zapped from his eyes.   He swore to himself, skidded to a stop, and covered his zapping eyes, only to peek through his fingers and spot the furnace burning in DBK’s chest, which held the staff in its center. He absently spotted the indignation on the king’s face from having the little monkey just skid past him instead of attacking. A plan began to form in his mind as he once more ignored the Bull King’s insults and began driving.   An attack was thrown at the ground in front of him (DBK must be a poor shot) and Mk managed to tilt the bike up and drive right along his hand and up his arm. The ruler noticed the plan brewing in the boy’s mind and went to try and snuff it out by plucking him off.

  The Little Monkey just launched himself off of the bike and right towards the furnace on his chest, meanwhile the bike tipped over to the other side and was caught by Mei. The Demon Bull King looked shocked and almost angered as Mk launched into the furnace. The young boy gripped the staff, yet quickly felt stiff, hard, rock surrounding him. With a gasp, he pulled on the staff harshly.

  Before all went black.

  —

  After checking her bike for damage, Mei noticed how everything had gotten quiet. She looked around, worriedly, soon spotting how everyone, even their opponents, had frozen in shock and dread. What happened? She felt a sinking feeling in her gut and looked up at the hole in DBK’s chest. She’d figured it out.

  Tears fell from her face as she dropped her bike and ran back to get a better view. Oh no.. Oh, gods no!   “DI DI!” She gave a terrified, blood curdling yell. Her baby brother, the smaller, sweeter, more sensitive boy she loved so much, had gotten killed in the furnace!.

  She growled harshly as she shapeshifted slowly, grunting in pain at the exertion it took to shift so often within a day. She didn’t care at the moment. The bastard that killed her little brother was standing right front of her, standing still as though in shock. She lunged at him and threw him towards a nearby building, snapping her friends and foes out of their stupor.

  Encouraged, she moved to strike again, but then DBK gasped and bent over in pain, clutching his chest. She watched as a strange stone egg fell from the hole in the furnace. It shifted, it cracked, and it seemed to throw itself into the air. She stepped back in shock and lost her focus, shifting back to a mostly human form.   Sandy had managed to get over there in time to catch her, and still got to watch as the Monkey king’s staff cut through the stone shell and burst it, revealing Mk bathed in golden light so bright and purple shadows so dark that they should’ve overpowered one another. He rested the staff across his shoulders as the light formed a circlet across his forehead and the shadows formed six dark ears, three on each side.   With a cackle of pure delight, the boy rushed DBK with the staff, jumping up to strike him upside the chin, and growing the staff to jab at his face. Launched backwards by his attack, the boy narrowly dodged the laser that was fired at him from his enemy’s arm as he fell to the ground, then used the staff to bounce back up to DBK’s level.

  Although daunting, DBK’s size made him hard to miss, and he was repeatedly attacked by the nimble kid. Said kid then landed back on the ground and cut off a large part of a nearby building, intent on using it as a hammerhead which he swung down at DBK. The demon wasn’t about to be taken down so easily, however. He fired his laser, shattering the building into dust, before landing a brutal punch and sending the boy flying into the ground nearby.

  Skidding across the pavement was painful, but not quite as much as DBK’s next taunt. “Even with that old fool’s staff, you can’t defeat me! My brother should be disappointed in you.” His brother. Macaque. The six-eared Macaque. It wasn’t hard to deduce.

  Mk wasn’t a fool, he’d long since figured out that Liu’er was his Shadow Dad. If the visual and magical similarities weren’t enough, the fact that a gift from him said Liu’er Mihou on it was. He’d just denied letting it sink in. Now though? With a hulking monstrosity destroying the city, and taunting him with the prospect of his first real parent being disappointed?..

  He felt pain; The thought was one of his own. An intrusive one he hated. He felt anger; He didn’t appreciate DBK calling his Shadow Dad “brother”, and he didn’t deserve to know a name his father never even told his own son. He felt release; He didn’t have to rely on Shadow Dad’s opinion of him anymore. He’d never make him proud if he was so quick to abandon a child. He felt rage; Why should he care what Shadow Dad thinks?! That bastard didn’t even care enough to stick around! He didn’t even tell his son his real name! Did he really think so little to believe he’d never find out?

  He grit his teeth as he picked up the staff with a brutal grip, standing back up, fully enveloped with a dark aura. “And who told you I care what your brother thinks?” He whipped around to throw another strike at DBK. This wasn’t just business anymore; this was personal. As though on instinct he slammed the Ruyi Jingu Bang into the Demon Bull King’s face, spines made of shadow running along the length of it to stab and slash at the ruler’s skin. Mk didn’t even notice.

  “Insolent brat!” DBK exclaimed, launching another laser shot at the boy, only to find he’d seemingly disappeared.

  “Missing someone?” His voice was layered with echoes of the void and it was a chilling sound, even for his allies. He jammed the staff straight into the Bull King’s back, slamming the beast into the ground. A swing at the demon king’s side was countered by a laser shot, though Mk just darted around it.

  The ruler stood and sent another shot at the boy, though the odd purple lightning in his eyes decided to deflect it, causing the young adult to yelp in pain. It felt like his eyes were burning, though he just channeled that pain into more determination. He would finish this fight. Not for Monkey King. Not for Shadow Dad. Just for him and his city. He would finish this fight.

  He slammed his staff into the ground, causing blocks of it to change shape. Earth turned into a metal mech of enormous size, shaped like a monkey. Yes. His choice of final attack was a video game reference. “You wanted me to fight you?” he started, pulling out a larger version of the staff from his mech’s ear. “Well, I’ll fight you then.” He launched into the sky and grew the staff even larger. “It’s time for you and your family to be brought to justice!” he exclaimed, readying a final blow. “Here comes Monkey Kid!”

  He slammed the ginormous staff down hard, creating a crater in the earth and shaking the ground. As he shrunk the staff back to a manageable size and lowered to earth again, he wondered if he knocked anything out of orbit with that attack. He spotted a shocking amount of cuts on DBK’s form as he watched the king attempt to stand. Huh. Guess he must’ve knocked him into something sharp. 

  “Im…possible..” the ruler tried to claim.

  Mk snickered. “Nothing is impossible if you just believe in yourself. You, my friend, just got M.K.O-ed!” The corny line was delivered with his voice back to it’s normal state.

  Red Son shoved some rubble off of himself and looked down into the crater. He almost looked shocked that it was his father who wound up so harmed. “Do-Do you think this is over, Noodle Boy?! Well, it isn’t! Get out of that dorky mech and fight me, you coward!” the prince exclaimed, before fainting and falling into the crater next to his father. Mk snickered at the sight and reached down, only to be stopped by Princess Iron Fan’s winds.

  “We know when we’ve been bested,” she grit her teeth as she showed her face. “But this won’t be the last you see of us, Noodle Boy,” she trailed off into maniacal laughter as her winds carried her and her family to safety.

  “Whu- Hey! No fair! You can’t just run away when I’m just about to win!” Mk exclaimed in annoyance and disappointment.

  “Mk!” Mei called from the ground. The boy in question peeked out of his cockpit to see what she needed. “You totally kicked DBK’s butt! Without us, the City would be toast!” She didn’t seem to realize that the city was already kinda destroyed.

  Nor did Mk, honestly. “Hehe, yeah.” He hopped out of the mech and landed in front of his sister, who immediately hugged him tightly.

  “Now don’t scare me like that ever again! I thought you were dead, twice today!” the dragon girl exclaimed, holding him close, then Sandy picked both up into a group hug. 

  “You did it, little man!” the gentle giant said in an almost soothing tone.

  “Xiao Houzi!” Mr.Tang exclaimed as he ran over and reached his arms out for a hug, at which point Sandy put the young adults back on the ground. He immediately gave one of his soft yet sturdy hugs and held his son close in his arms with a sigh of relief.

  “Aww, did I really scare you that much?” the boy asked, before both he and his Ba Ba got lifted into a tight hug.

  “Yes! Never do that again, dang it!” Pigsy exclaimed as he squeezed his family in a bone-popping hug.   “Okay! Okay, I’ll try!” Mk replied through mirthful giggles, managing to free an arm to hug his dad as well. It might not last with the Demon Bull King walking around, but they were safe for now, and at this point, Mk’d earned that dang Monkey King plush!

  Macaque smiled at his son as he celebrated, before lowering into the dark and finding his Brother once more. He took a deep breath, and exclaimed,

  “WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!” This was gonna be a long night.

—☆—

SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT! I didn’t even realize how bad it was getting!

I just wanted this to be perfect. I’m so sorry.

I hope you all enjoyed anyway, and as always,

Have fun, and happy scrolling!

  And nothing happened.

  “What?! Why isn’t anything happening?” The young prince grit his teeth and hopped off the peak. “Mother, are you sure this is the right mountain?” the arrogant young boy asked his mother, Princess Iron Fan.

  She scoffed in offense. “No. Maybe it was that other mountain with a magical staff sealing away my husband!” the former maiden replied sarcastically, then the ground began to shake, causing both to look back toward the mountain, not noticing the young man above them stumbling and barely catching himself with a single hand.

  When the captured demonic king emerged, Mk panicked. “Uh oh.. Not good!” he whispered to himself, trying to figure out how to get back on top of the bars, when he once again noticed that bird. “Extra not good!”

  “Flesh? Bone? I have returned to the realm of the living.” the large purple bull claimed. Strangely enough, he didn’t seem to have his fur.

  “No! Shoo! Go away!” Mk tried to bat the bird away from him, but the bag of noodles in his otherwise free hand kept him from doing so. Pigsy would have his head if he dropped that, not to mention the demonic royals below him.

  “Oh! Demon Bull King, how I’ve missed you.” Princess Iron Fan said with a smile on her face.

  The demonic king in front of her grinned as he recognised his bride. “Princess Iron Fan? The years have been kind. How did you free me?”

  She was about to respond, when her son cut her off - “Actually, it was I, father. I moved the staff! I learned how to harness it! To make it’s power, m-” he paused as he saw his father’s looming form, then whimpered, “-o-our, power.”

  “Excellent..” the largest in the room stated in a pleased manner, causing his son to smile.

  The fiery haired demon grinned and held his accomplishment aloft for the world to see. “Now, together, we, the Demon Bull Family, will plunge the world into eternal darkness!” he exclaimed cheerfully.

  Mk’s eyes widened. Okay! Definitely not safe to just jump down and hope he survives the fall. What could he do?.. His magic flickered as though suggesting itself to him, but he shoved it down. No. that probably wouldn’t even wo- The FREAKING BIRD pecked at his hand until he fell causing enough panic that his tail and ears were briefly made clear for any to see, which caused Wukong to realize what he’d just done.

  That was Mihou’s kid. The one he had that shared dream with. A quick double check with his gold vision confirmed it. He knew he looked familiar..

  With a scream, some klutzy mortal fell on top of Redson, ruining his moment, and causing him to drop the staff.

  Mk groaned and rubbed his temples with one hand, then remembered where he was. Uh oh. Quick Mk! Come up with something! He chuckled nervously and lifted the bag up for them to see. “Uh~ Someone ordered some noodles?” That~ was awful.

  Growling, Redson threw the peasant off of himself. “GET OFF OF ME YOU IDIOT!!” He turned to look at the impudent mortal, already yelling about him ruining his moment, when he spotted the young man’s glowing purple eyes and the flickers of uncontrolled magic dancing along his form. It was… fascinating.

  Then DBK stepped between them growling much more threateningly and caused the mortal to flinch away. “A little eavesdropper has fallen into our midst? It seems a waste to crush something so insignificant as my first act as ruler of this new world, but, so be it.” He moved to destroy the inconsequential creature, not noticing the shadows churning protectively nearby, when his son stopped him.

  “Wait, father!” Redson requested, stopping the king in his tracks.

  “What is this?” the grown demon’s threatening voice bellowed.

  After clearing his throat and moving his father’s foot out of his way, the fiery haired demon began. “Waste not your energy on this, peasant. Please, allow me to show you how powerful I’ve become in your absence!”

  ..”As you wish..” the ruler stepped back to give his son a bit more room, then glanced at his wife, who smirked up at him briefly. Both recognized quickly what their son was actually planning, and they were fairly okay with it. After all, it’s not like the mortal even knows how Demon Bull courtship works. He’ll probably just see it as a fight, and that will still let them see the little thief wounded for his foolish actions.

  “Maybe I can use this chance to get away-” Mk was muttering to himself as he crawled away from the attractive fire demon, then froze when he began monologuing.

  “In some ways, you’re very fortunate, Noodle Boy.” the prince began, stalking towards his fleeing prey and barely noticing how Mk tripped over the staff in his panic.

  Mk couldn’t listen to Red’s monologue if he tried. He was too busy keeping his shadows in check. They were flickering around the staff his foot rested on. They were trying to form his ears. He heard the best he had since Shadow Dad left, and yet he also processed none of it. At least not until he heard the demonic prince get offended.

  “Ugh- Are you even listening?! I, Redson, will not be DISRESPECTED!” He moved to attack the mortal.

  Time seemed to slow down. The Little Monkey’s eyes filled with their glow, and the shadows seemed to grip his shoulders, softly, delicately, yet slightly dipping through the skin. “Ready, Xiao-Xiao?” he heard a near forgotten voice say.

  His magic gripped the staff, before he spun back to his feet and grabbed it with his hands, pose impeccable as Redson was knocked off his feet and back into the nearby wall with a deafening thud. “Yes, sifu..” the young adult muttered to the voice before his magic dispersed and he realized what had just happened. Oh shit- “SORRY! MUSCLE MEMORY! Wait- why am I apologizing? You’re evil. Uh- I mean- SORRY I DIDN’T HIT YOU HARDER!” ..Great save, Mk. 

  “What!? How is an insignificant fool lifting a staff that weighs more than even I can lift?” the Demon Bull King exclaimed in indignant disbelief. 

  Alright, Monkey Kid. You gotta think fast. You’re surrounded by demons, holding a staff that, by all accounts, you shouldn’t be able to lift, and you just pissed them off by knocking their son into a wall. Seems like it’s time for rule 5. It’s time to get out. “Uh- Yeah- Well. I totally know how to use this so- y-you should really just leave me alone, and let me go.”

  Princess Iron Fan struck him with a look that would terrify armies and claimed that, “That staff doesn’t belong to you, little boy.”

  Mk seemed a little intimidated but kept up the determination. “Yeah- Well, it doesn’t belong to you either! So just- just let me go!” Xiao Houzi tried to demand, though his nerves were getting the better of him as shadows flickered around his feet, seemingly agitated by something, but slowly settling with it. The Monkey Kid went to talk again when the staff extended toward the ground. What!- “OKAY! I DIDN’T EVEN MOVE THAT TIME!” he exclaimed in surprise before getting thrown off his feet into the elevator shaft.

  As Redson got his bearings, he noticed a few of the soft flickers of unstable magic left in the boy’s wake, and he ran over to examine it, running right past his parents in his hurry. With a careful hand, he gathered the flickers, which were soon bubbling with heavy smoke, falling down in waterfalls, as though two forms of magic were both trying to drown the other out. He showed his parents the concerning energy. “I have to talk with my uncle about this Noodle Boy. I have a feeling he’s more important than we think..”

—

  Redson placed a small basket of plums on the shrine and lit his incense, then waited for his uncle to appear. After a short moment, he sighed and calmly told the lightly stirring shadows, “I know you’re here. Come out! This is important!” A deep chuckling filled the room as the flames flickered, till the darkness pooled on the wall where a scroll of Liu’er was hung and a head cloaked in shadow peeked out with glowing purple eyes.

  “Jeez. What do you have against dramatic entrances?” the monkey demon asked, slipping the rest of the way out yet flinching when his tail crossed from the stasis of the shadows. He plucked one of the plums from the basket and held it to his mouth, pressing it through the darkness cloaking his form.

  Redson cringed. “Ugh. Do you have to do that in front of me? You always get juice everywhere,” the snooty prince claimed in annoyance as his uncle finished the plum and threw its pit to the side.

  “If you can’t handle a shadow demon eating, I don’t know how you’re supposed to handle a bloodsoaked battlefield, whether you’re winning or not.” Macaque stated, wiping his lips nonchalantly. “Anyways, I’m guessing you didn't just summon me for conversation.”

  “You know exactly why I summoned you. You were there, right?.. Y-You were there, right?!” The young demon’s anxiety was coming through. He really wanted his uncle to see when he managed to release his father!

  With a soft sigh, the shadow gave his nephew a reassuring pat on the head. “Of course I was there. Very impressive, by the way.” he praised, causing the young prince to light up. Not enough people gave him the sort of attention he deserved. “And, yes - I know why you summoned me. I don’t know where Wukong’s magic came from, but Xiao-Xiao - or as you call him, “the Noodle Boy” - absorbed a bit of power from my lantern, which I let him do, because I raised him for about five years. I was just getting too weak to keep protecting him, so I dropped him somewhere safe, and he kept the magic.”

  ..”Shit.” Red mumbled to himself. Great. He started crushing on his tangentially sworn cousin. Stupid. “A-and why is your magic fighting Sun Wukong’s? You know that two forms of magic fighting each other in a mortal’s body can make them very sick!”

  “It’s no worse than a common cold, and it’s not like I can help him! The magic he absorbed is his now! If I had to guess, I’d say the shadow magic just thinks Wukong’s magic is a danger to him, but it’ll probably mellow out within a week,” the older demon stated firmly. “Oh, and you suck at hiding it when you like someone.”

  “W-Well, let’s not jump the gun he-”

  “I mean, I married my sworn brother. It’s not like this is anything biological, so it’s not really incest, and if it keeps you from hurting him-”

  “SHUT UP! I do not like THE NOODLE BOY! I just met him, and while he’s a, ahem, pleasant sight, and powerful, he clearly has some sort of connection to Sun Wukong. Whether it’s considered incestuous or not, I would have to talk with a matchmaker before even considering beginning courtship!” the prince claimed loudly, crossing his arms and turning away with a blush. “A-Anyways, I'm sure you have certain… requests… for how we conduct our battles with your son?”

  Macaque nodded casually, then snapped his fingers to make the lighting a bit more dramatic, looming over the fire demon threateningly as he approached. “You’re right. And I’ll only say this once;” the shadow warrior began, pulling the shadows around the prince to keep him in place and leaning in close. “I don’t care that you’re family. If my son winds up in the hospital, I will make you forget what it’s like to see the sun.” 

  Red gulped nervously, then nodded rapidly, causing the shadow to look pleased and back off. “Then I have no issues here.” Macaque claimed, turning to leave, but pausing at the altar. “Oh. By the way…” He snapped his fingers, causing the shadows to slip from his face and revealing his dark fur, tan skin, and bright red markings. “It was nice to see you in person again.” he claimed with a wink, once again going to leave. He was stopped in his tracks by Redson, who squatted down to examine the wedding band crushed onto his poor tail, cutting off the blood flow. “Uh, Red? Wh-Why are you staring like that?”

  “What? Why do you THINK!?” He was appalled by the gall of his uncle seemingly finding his worry unprompted. “Get back in the shadows right now.”

  Macaque scoffed nervously and tried to tug his tail away. “C’mon, kid. It’ll work itself out.” he claimed, despite the wince he tried to hide at the pull of the ring on his flesh. 

  “Work itself off, maybe. Back in the shadows! I’m cutting it off.” Red demanded anxiously.

  “Isn’t that counter intuiti-” Mac started, trying to lighten the mood again, but he was quickly shot down.

  “We both know I mean the ring!” 

  With a deep sigh, Macaque slipped back into the shadows, bringing the plums with to drop off with the twins. “Alright. Sheesh..” It was nice to know the prince worries about him, but this was a little overboard. He was immortal, after all. That stupid king made sure of that.

  Redson walked quickly and nervously, a determined look in his eyes nearly dwarfed by the overwhelming worry. He made his way to his garage, quickly grabbing his tools and prompting Macaque to slip his tail out of the shadows, then delicately, carefully, beginning to cut through the beautiful golden band.

  It felt almost upsetting. As though cutting off the ring was indicative of him cutting off Wukong, and despite all those years, both monkeys still hadn’t gotten over each other. Oh well. No time to think about that when Red’s already cut through it and released his tail from the dangerously dented ring. He grabbed the gold and pocketed it faster than Red son could process, leaving the boy extremely confused. “What? I’m sentimental!”

  “..Alright then. I’m glad you cooperated. Now, I need to go tell my father about the change in plans. Are you going to come with me?” the prince questioned, taking off his welder’s mask and gloves.

  After a brief moment of consideration, Macaque stepped out of the shadows. “Sure thing Red. It’ll be nice to see your parents again anyway..” Not to mention a good distraction from the urge to kill Mk’s idol.

—

  Mk arrived back at the shop, extremely frazzled as he sprinted through the doors, magic wisps around his glowing eyes in his panic. After tripping over his own feet - he thought that’d stopped happening - he took a moment to sit down and calm himself, but he felt a little sick. His magic was bubbling as though boiling over in a pot, gold light filling the shadows and seeming to agitate it. Where’d he get gold magic from? 

  “Uh, kid? You okay?” Pigsy asked nervously as he poured another bowl of noodles for his husband, Tang smirking the whole time.

  The Little Monkey jerked in place, turning towards them with a little twitch. The purple glow in his eyes seemed to fight a golden one. “Uh- Uh- R-Right! OW-!” He was cut off by a sharp pain in his eyes as the glow settled down, the purple back in place in his irises, though the gold had filled his sclera. 

  Tang’s smirk fell to a glare as he realized something was hurting his baby, Pigsy reacting similarly though he hadn’t been smiling at any point during this conversation.  “WHAT HAPPENED?! Who hurt you? So help me, I will sue for all their money!” the scholar yelled to the universe as he stood from his chair, pissed that his Little Monkey was hurt.

  Pigsy shoved past his husband with a mildly annoyed expression at the empty promise he’d heard before, though worry dwarfed the thought of chewing out his husband. “Mk, seriously, are you okay?!” 

  “I- I think I’m okay, but that’s not important! I found The Monkey King’s Staff!” Mk claimed, displaying the weapon in his hands.

  Mei arrived just a moment later and smiled brightly at the sight. “Aww, Mk! You finally re-did the staff? Nice contacts, by the way.”

  Contacts? Bah! Whatever. The fate of the world is at stake! “No! I-It’s the real deal!” 

  Well, Tang could end this argument pretty easy, he just didn’t want to. He did relent rather quickly as he spotted the wisps around his son’s body, seeming more agitated, gold now overpowering the black. “Uh- L-Let me see, but I doubt you’d be able to lift it if it was real,” he offered, approaching and getting a grip on the end of the staff as he tried to look closer. “After all, Monkey King’s Staff is 17,550 pou-ounds!” Mk let go to let his Ba Ba look even closer, but the weight quickly dragged him to the ground. “Okay. Real deal.” Tang wheezed as he pulled his hands from under the heavy weight.

  “I’m sorry, Tangy, but you’re not a fair comparison here.” Pigsy claimed, walking over to the staff and trying to lift it, then the room heard a loud squeal and he fell over. “Ow- Oh!- My back!” he groaned, before Tang helped him sit back up and began trying to help soothe the aching.

  “You really need to stop straining yourself like that, Pigsy,” the scholar chastised hypocritically.

  Mei seemed almost excited by this. “Oo~ Hey, Mk! You wanna move that outside so I can try?” she asked cheerfully.

  “Sure thing, Jie Jie!” the Little Monkey replied, lifting the staff one handed with ease. It seemed almost like he was silently boasting.

  After placing it in a sufficiently open area, Mei changed from human form, to full dragon form - something Mk had only seen once for his birthday the year before - and she began to try and lift it. After about five minutes, Pigsy and Tang had joined and Mk was just telling Mei she clearly wasn’t able to lift it. About a minute after that, she managed to lift it just barely an inch off the ground, then had to return to human form so she could rest.

  Still panting from the exertion even that took, she glanced at Mk, who was now balancing the damn stick on one finger. “Wow. Way to be humble, Mk,” she griped with mild annoyance.

  Xiao Houzi threw it up into the air, then caught it, now with his whole hand. “I dunno, Mei. It does make me feel pretty strong to know I can out-lift a dragon,” Mk claimed, posing briefly, then remembering his urgency. “Uh- Now would probably be a good time to go find a way to return this to Monkey King though,”

  The dragon had pulled out her phone and had just found a concerning post when he said this. “Yeah, probably. After all, that staff was sealing away DBK,” she stated, showing her phone, which had a few images of Redson and DBK shoving through crowds at the shoe store. 

  “You paid attention to that?” Mk said in mild confusion. 

  “You told me that story at least five times. I’m gonna catch some details,” Mei claimed, putting her phone away. 

  Tang nodded and turned around, already walking towards the truck. Pigsy, Mei, and Mk followed closely behind, having to squeeze behind the adults’ seats. Of course, Xiao Houzi fit fine, though the staff was a little more finicky.

  Mei however, was struggling to fit. “How- How are you doing that, Mk? I need to shape-shift to fit in something this small,” she claimed, shifting to a smaller form to prove her point. “I mean, you can't be that small,”

  The Little Monkey wasn't sure how he did it, the only answer he had was, “Shadow Dad taught me,”

  “Okay, but what's the secret? Like, do you shapeshift? Are you just really flexible? C'mon, Monkey Man, I need to know!” Mei insisted, but only got a shrug this time. It seemed like her little brother really didn't know how to respond, so she sighed and just got comfortable for the rest of the ride.

—

  Sandy was resting on his boat sipping a cup of blueberry tea, surrounded by his adorable kitty cats, until Mk slammed through his door in a frenzy. “Sandy! Sandy! Sandy! Sandy Shu Shu! We need to cross the ocean and go to Flower Fruit Mountain right now to return this staff to the Monkey King or the Demon Bull King is gonna destroy the world!” He frantically briefed his Uncle/Therapist.

  “Okay!” the spirit replied simply.

  ..”Nothing fazes you, huh?” the young man mumbled as his family joined him on the boat.

  “As long as it helps you feel happy, I don't care if this is real or an overdramatic LARP. Mo! Start the launch sequence!” the big blue man called to his cat, who meowed before hopping over to the front of the boat.

  Mei was confused by that, though Mk had already sat down and was tightly gripping the arm rests. “Launch sequence?”

  “Yeah, you’re probably gonna wanna hold onto something.” Mk answered vaguely, nails digging into the seat like claws. Luckily, he’d sat in the cats’ chair, so it was already scratched up.

  “Uh, Wh-AGH!” Mei was thrown off her feet, colliding with the sofa she’d been standing in front of, which was also where Mk’s dads were sitting.

  Pigsy snorted at the odd, scrunched up pose the dragon had landed in, though Tang was too focused on the book he was reading to notice.

—

  The Monkey King (and Shadow Dad) stood on the edge of the boat in his butterfly form, watching Mk play with the staff cheerfully. He could spot it with his eyes. He hadn’t meant for it to happen, but the boy seemed to have sprouted a second tail. Something twice as shocking though, was that the magic in his body had already calmed down quite a bit. It wasn’t calm enough for both to mix yet, but it seemed that the boy’s experience with out of control magic was able to keep the opposing magics from fighting for long. Which was a relief to Wukong. It meant he'd be able to keep his eyes from shooting a laser so strong it would blow up the whole city. *Ahem* Oh, look! They arrived. Or- Well.. Sorta. Right. Flaming mountains.

  “Wukong..”  The king was startled and looked around agitatedly. “Get back to the mountain. We need to TALK.” Yeah. Probably best to not piss off the disembodied voice of a dead lover. Sorry, bud. On your own for this one.

  “Welcome to the Flaming Mountains, gang! The volcanic ring surrounds Flower-Fruit Mountain, making it virtually impassable.” Sandy introduced, before pointing at a particular passage. “That path is the only safe way through, and this is as close as the boat can get- MK!”

  He interrupted himself when he saw Mk already climbing over the railing to start walking. “What?” the Little Monkey asked, having stopped when suddenly addressed.

  “You shouldn’t go alone. Let’s decide who’s gonna be going with you first.” the river spirit insisted, picking Mk off the railing with ease. 

  The young adult didn’t want to wait, but it wasn’t much use to argue with the big softy. He was a therapist, after all. He knew how to convince you of something. A few minutes too long later, Mk was finally walking through the path with Pigsy and Mei. Sandy and Tang stayed on the boat which… was honestly probably for the best. They weren’t really fighters.

  That didn’t stop Pigsy from griping about it though. “Stupid Sandy. Stupid Tang. Stayin’ cozy in their stupid boat. WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS, NOODLE GODS?!” What could (and did) stop him though was a massive geyser of lava.

  “Ooh! Careful, Piggy! Sheesh, you’d wonder why Monkey King decided to live here of all places.” Mei commented, before turning to address her brother and freezing at the sight of Princess Iron Fan lurking behind him. 

  Sadly, he didn’t seem to notice. “Y’know, when Monkey King had to get through the Flaming Mountains, he actually used Princess Iron Fan’s fan to- b-blow… away..” Okay, now he’d noticed.

  “Well, well, well! Aren’t you just a Monkey King fanboy?” the powerful woman commented, moving to attack, before her breath hitched and she remembered her promise. Why did Mihou have to be close to this brat? “I’m gonna suggest you hand the staff over now. Someone very close to me wants you alive, and I’d hate to break his heart.”

  Sadly for her, the thief was stubborn. “This belongs to the Monkey King. There’s no way I’m letting you take it,” Mk stated firmly, readying his stance with a glare sent her way.

  She gave a scoff, but found humor in the foolishness. “Oh, how sweet. The little Noodle Boy is playing at being a her-WOAH!” She barely dodged the sudden attack. The strange boy’s eyes were letting off sparks now. “Did I strike a nerve?” she asked tauntingly.

  Mk launched another attack, yet this one was caught, PIF having put on the gauntlet just in time. The Little Monkey still pivoted the staff to try and hit her again, but it wasn’t quite long enough and he didn’t know how to extend it. Instantly, he was launched away, down the path and towards the mountain.

  Mei was enraged, and wanted to fight for her friend - her brother - but the eruptions were picking up pace and if they stayed, they would’ve been boiled and fried. Pigsy managed to drag her with him to the boat without either of them getting hurt, but it didn’t feel like a success. They weren’t gonna let DBK win. Not now.

  It was time to get payback. All they could do now was hope Mk was fine.

  The Little Monkey awoke, covered in white furred young macaques, and had to struggle against them to sit up, though wouldn’t shoo them off as he didn’t want to scare them away. In front of him he saw the Flaming Mountains, and right behind was his destination. Flower Fruit Mountain.

  Meanwhile, at the peak, the moon was finally speaking to the sun once more. “M-Mihou.. You’re alive..” 

“No thanks to you.” and he was far from pleased.

—☆—

Hey, guys! Sorry about not writing the whole pilot equivalent in one go, but this is getting long and you guys have been waiting long enough. I hope you like it, and as always:

Have fun, and happy scrolling!