Chapter Text
There was a festival, it was big and bright and fun and Mei had dragged MK out of his apartment for it.
"Come on! Come on! Come on!" Mei yelled excitedly as she pulled him through the city. The dragon was rushing from one stall to the next, her energy infections as MK laughed along.
It was nearing 2 in the morning by the time the two were laughing and poking at each other to keep awake.
"Masks! Buy a mask here! Only for tonight!" A vendor was calling out into the street, waving his wares and smiling as people bought the colorful masks.
"Ooohh MK! Let's buy masks!" MK laughs and follows the girl to the stall, both looking at the multitude of masks spread out on the table and hung on the stands.
The vendor smiled up at them,
"So, how's the festival tonight?"
"Oh its been great! We won a bunch of games, got all the good snacks and are about to go home to sleep for 13 hours!"
The lady smiled, turning their attention to another customer who had just come up.
"Mei, look at this one! It looks like Monkey King." MK said, shoving the monkey themed mask in the girl's face. The main color was dark brown and the markings around the eye a peach orange color.
"Omygosh, that looks so cool! Look at this dragon one I found!" A dragon mask was shoved in his own face, an electric green color.
The two excitedly turned to the seller, who smiled back at them as the two handed over money. They waved goodbye, putting the masks on and laughing at one another.
They made it to Pigsy's Noodles first, Mei waving goodbye as she raced off to get home.
"Night Mei!" MK yelled, climbing up the stairs to his door and almost falling onto the floor as exhaustion hit.
"Man I'm beat." He said aloud, flopping on his bed, not bothering to take the mask off. His eyes slipped shut as a tingly feeling spread across his whole body.
—
MK woke to his alarm blaring loudly. Very loudly.
He groaned as he rolled over, glaring at the offending device. He attempted to reach out and turn it off, but ended up in a roll of blankets on the floor instead.
His backup alarm rang out as he finally clocked the time. He was late!
He scrambled off the floor, rushing to get ready and panicking more as he couldn't find his phone.
It was under the blankets. Of course it was there.
He sped out the door, clambered down the stairs, fell on his face twice because something caught on his ankle and finally made it into the shop.
"Pigsy! I'm so so so sorry I'm late! I was out with Mei last night and I-" he stopped as he realized Pigsy, Tang and Mei were all just staring at him.
"Uuhhh, what's wrong guys? Do I have something on my face? Is it a spider!? Get It off-"
"No, no MK! Are you still wearing that mask?" Mei asked, poking at his face and pulling at his hair and tail.
…Wait.
Tail!?
"Mei what is that!?" MK shouted as he felt a weird sensation looking over to see Mei holding a furry tail that was apparently attached to him!?!?!
"Whaaaaaaaat? Why do I have a tail! What is happening?" The teen freaked out as his friend watched.
Mei grabbed his shoulders, giving him a very forceful shake and leaving him limp.
"Boy, you need to calm down."
MK let out a noise that vaguely sounded like an ok. He shook himself as he stood back up.
"Ok but what happened? Why am I… like this?" He stared down at his hands, marveling at the fur now running along his arms.
"I don't know… but! I bet that person who sold us the masks would know!" Mei said,
"Go find something to hide… all that."
"On it!" The teen rushed off, coming back down in a baggy pair of sweatpants and a Monkey King themed sweatshirt.
"Ready!"
"Then let's go find that mask seller!" Mei shouted as the teens rushed off.
"Hey wait, you still have to work today!" Pigsy shouted even though it went unheard.
Dragon and monkey sped through the city, passing closing stalls and eventually found the one they were looking for. There was less masks now, the few left being swept into a box as the person selling prepared to close.
"You! What did you do to MK!" Mei shouted, running up and grabbing the person's shirt, dragging him closer to her face.
"Wa-what do you mean?" They stuttered out, glancing nervously between Mei and MK who was standing awkwardly to the side as he struggled to keep his tail from moving under his shirt.
"You sold us masks and now my friend is a monkey!"
The man glanced at MK again who turned back and awkwardly smiled with a wave.
"They… don't look like a monkey to me?"
"Well! … that's because of the clothes, but you sold us masks and this happened so what the heck man!?"
"I don't know! I just sell what my boss tells me too!" She raises her hands in a sign of submission, "Besides it's above my paygrade to ask questions."
Mei let out a sigh, releasing the person's shirt and turning to MK.
"Alright so that's a bust,"
"Are you sure you don't know anything?" MK asked the vendor, a pleading look in his eyes as he stared up at them.
They let out a sigh, closing the box of masks.
"All I was told is that they might stick to people's faces for a day as a joke, but that's it. I'm sorry I can't be more help."
"That's fine, thank you sir… ma'am? Uh, thank you either way!" MK scuried off to Mei, the two walking away as they discussed.
"What should we do? I can't just walk around as a monkey!" MK said, panic clear even as he whispered.
Mei pat him on the back, before an idea struck her.
"Oh! What if it's Mystic Monkey Business™️!?"
"Omygod why didn't I think about that!? I'm literally the Monkie Kid…"
The two laughed at their own stupidity before Mei shoved Mk forward.
"Go! Go to Monkey King and ask what the heck is going on!"
"Alright! I'll see you later Mei!" MK shouted as he shot off, pulling the staff from his ear and making a hoverbike.
Why hadn't they thought of doing this in the first place? Plot convenience probably…
—
Sun Wukong, Sage equal to heaven, The Monkey King, was definitely not expecting his relaxing day to be crashed, literally, by his successor falling out of the sky.
"Aaaaaahhhh Monkey King!"
Wukong caught the kid just in time, spinning them around, and stopping holding him under the arms. The kid had a baggy hoodie on, hood up as he hung limply in the king's arms.
"Hey bud! What are you doing? Training isn't till tomorrow." Wukong said, setting the teen down. MK shuffled his feet awkwardly, looking anywhere but his mentor's eyes.
"Alright, what happened? Did Macaque do something? I swear if he-"
"No, no. Nothing like that. I might've… uh so me and Mei were out last night cuz there was this really cool festival and we saw this person who was selling masks so I bought a monkey themed one because duh- and then I went to sleep and woke up this morning with, well like this!"
MK pulled his hood down and let his tail slip out from under his shirt. Monkey King just stared for a second, before a wide grin spread across his face.
"Omygods you look adorable! Look at you! Awwe!" Wukong took in MK's new appearance, ruffling his hair and pinching his cheeks, ending it all with a hug and a boop to the nose. Because he can.
"Uh, Monkey King? You're kinda squishing my face," MK mumbled out, face pressed to Wukongs as the simian held the younger monkey close.
"I knoww, but bud! This is awesome! I didn't realize something like this could happen. I mean obviously you got my powers but to get my good looks too? Oh Macaque is going to be so jealous and-"
MK sat down as his mentor continued to ramble.
"How do I switch back though?" He mumbled, more to himself.
Monkey King's rambling stopped as he heard that, ears flicking as his tail stopped its excited movement.
"Switch back? Do you- Do you not like being like me?"
MK immediately shot up, rushing closer.
"No no no! I like it, it feels great actually, but I also have a job and people might react weirdly."
"Ok, I know a way. It's not permanent and yoy definitely shouldn't do it for longer than necessary, but…"
A poof of golden smoke suddenly surrounded Wukong, MK coughing as he waved it away.
In the Monkey Kings place now stood a woman with golden hair. She wore a soft teal colored dress and grinned brightly at MK.
"You can shift into human form when needed! I used to do it all the time to sneak around and play pranks."
"Woooaaahhh! Teach me how!?" MK asked excitedly as Wukong shifted back.
The two spent the rest of the day going back and forth between forms. MK couldn't seem to hold it for very long, but his mentor said to just practice and he'd get it.
Eventually they called it quits, MK flopping onto the ground with a sigh. Wukong laid down next to him, staring at the sky with a smile.
"I'm glad I'm like you." MK said suddenly, breaking the silence. Wukong turned his head to him in shock, before a smile came back.
"Me too bud. Me too."