Chapter Text
"The thing you need to understand about the old legends is that the story is never finished. There may be no pages left to turn, but there is always more to the journey.
Rising from the Netherworld, the Demon Bull King attacked. No one could stop him, no one could resist. No one except... The Legendary Monkey King and The Six Eared Macaque, his most trusted friend and partner. The Monkey King used his magical staff to pick up a nearby mountain. He trapped the Demon Bull King underneath it. The Monkey King sealed the mountain with the staff that no other being could wield, trapping the Demon Bull King forever. With the battle won, the Monkey King vanished, never to be seen again, leaving the six eared macaque all by his lonesome. Legend says the staff still lies on top of that mountain, the one thing keeping our world from certain destruction. And with the Demon Bull King gone, civilization was able to advance into the amazing city we now live in. A world of elegant cultures, gentle loving people, a city brimming with five-star cuisine, and all because of the Monkey King."
“Wooaahh… Sun Wukong is so cool! He’s so strong and handsome-” MK, a 22 year old fast food worker and biggest fan of The Monkie King of all time is sitting next to his father, Tang, once again telling him the same story that he’s been telling him since he was a baby as if it was being read to him for the first time.
Pigsy’s noodles. It was just a little restaurant in the centre of Megapolis, and the place where MK worked and lived above, with white and blue walls (Pigsy says it makes the place look cleaner), full shelves and stools for the mini bar/ counter to eat at. However the restaurant was mainly used as a takeout, and that was MK’s job. The delivery boy.
“Oh, MK, you thought you knew all of the monkey king stories” Tang shrugged, with a small grin, as if MK didn’t already know the story of Sun Wukong’s disappearance by heart. Though, even after two decades, he still loves watching the shine in his son's eyes as he describes the legend.
“Oh, but I do. I got his whole life documented extensively in this unauthorised autobiography of Monkey King. Written and illustrated by yours truly.” It’s true, he’s quite the artist in the sense that he has hundreds of books full of drawings of Sun Wukong, Six Eared macaque and the odd live sketch of the city around him. “Like I knew he was born from a stone, and lives behind a waterfall with his sweet little baby monkey friends! Oh and of course the Six Eared Macaque! And- and- and oh!”
“It's nice to know someone's taking in all these stories.” Tang looked over the drawings and notes, all detailed and almost exact to how Tang told the stories “Pearls of wisdom, dripping from my lips” His little smile fell and he cleared his throat to catch MK’s attention “Well, you know the deal: one story, one free bowl of Zha jiang mian. Hmm?”
“Huh? Oh! Right, free noodles, yep, on it.” He grabbed a little blue bowl from the counter next to him. Despite how Tang loved to tell his son these stories without bribes, how could he pass up an opportunity? “How heavy is a mountain?? Y'know, compared to like-” Suddenly a wooden spoon goes flying across the room, hitting the bowls, bouncing off and then hitting MK’s forehead, causing him to drop the noodles and for Tang to jump slightly in his seat.
However, Pigsy, very skillfully, grabbed the bowl before it fell and shattered, and with an ill temper on his face, confronted Tang “Free noodles?! No one gets a free meal at Pigsy’s! I’m not running a charity here, Tang!” His gruff voice boomed in the small space.
Not phased at all by his husband's attitude, Tang’s small smile returned as he pushed the smaller pig demon back with his hand “Ahh, but Pigsy, I was paying with wisdom” Anyone with a creative bone in their body could practically see a rainbow and stars over Tang’s head as he said ‘wisdom’.
“Yeah? Well, wisdom don’t pay the rent, you free-loader!! And you!” He turned around and pointed at MK, who was just kind of awkwardly standing there, rubbing his newly throbbing forehead and saw him practically jump out his skin at the sudden attention “You’ve been slacking off all morning! I've got a dozen orders that need to go out, so quit slacking and get packing!”
MK let out a nervous laugh “Yeah, I was about to take my break soooo…” He said, not believing for even a second that would get him out of the situation.
Pigsy had a look of betrayal on his face “Break? Break?! There’s no break in war! I need workers. Soldiers in the army of Pigsy’s noodles, home of the world's longest noodles. How else am I going to expand my business into enemy territories?”
“Uh, do you mean across the street?” There was another noodle shop across the road to Pigsy's, run by another much bigger and more threatening looking pig demon. Their ongoing feud has lasted longer than MK’s failed college education. He was just lucky that his father married someone who owned a shop.
“I stand by my statement!” It was more like a monologue “Now hurry up!” Pigsy shoved the keys to the delivery car in MK’s hands and pushed him out the door before turning behind him to look at Tang who was slurping up the bowl of noodles he had taken away not 5 seconds earlier.
“Hey, get back here you coward!” “No, Pigsy!” “I want my money!” Was the last thing MK heard as he left the shop. Obviously his dad’s were getting into yet another argument about money and food. He vividly remembers their wedding when MK was about 5, and wonders what happened, if anything did or if they were just getting old.
MK put on his headphones and jumped into the car, whistling along to the music as he did.
—------------------
It came towards the end of MK’s shift, it was starting to get dark outside and He’d been driving for hours already. With just to return to the Noodle shop left to do, MK yawned loudly, drowsiness clearly seeping into his skull, eyes drooping slightly as he drove through the dimly lit streets.
And then, what felt like out of nowhere, someone walked in front of his car, going 50 in a 35, but hey, don't commit a minor crime while you're committing a major crime.
He tried to press on his brakes but it was too late, with a loud bang whoever was in front of him went flying across the road and landed a couple feet in front of the car.
“Oh FUCK” MK screeched, grabbing his phone and running towards the, hopefully not dead, body “Uhh… Sir? Can you hear me?” he desperately squeaked, shaking the shoulders of the man he hit, hoping that at least he would only go to jail for speeding and injury and not manslaughter. He couldn’t have that on his conscience. When the man remained limp MK quickly fumbled to get his phone out and contemplated a little too long on who to call- An ambulance or Pigsy.
Suddenly the man, who looked to be a similar age to MK, finally sat up and stared at him with a disgruntled look on his face. A little frown crossed his lips and his bright red eyebrows dug into his brow, blood from the wound on his forehead slipping into the scrunched up crevices. He glared MK up and down, seemingly calculating his reaction. “Watch where you’re going next time, peasant” He sneered and stood up, wiping himself down, not bothering to even check his forehead and walking away from the scene and continuing in the direction he was heading. This is when MK got a good look at what he was wearing.
It was a loose fitted shirt, a maroon colour with intricate gold patterns going down the front of it, and on the back was a symbol similar to the monkey king’s. MK wishes he could’ve gotten a better look at it but it was covered by a dirty cloak, his waist was accentuated by a blue and silver belt with some types of runes sewn into it, and plain grey pants and brown dirty boots that looked older than him. His hair was just as red as his eyebrows, stuck in a ponytail with uneven ginger roots. He looked strange. Was there some convention that MK had no idea about? Of course not, MK is always the first to know about them. He and Tang like to go whenever they're on.
MK watched in awe as he walked away, not overly sure what to do, what to say. After a few moments of pure confusion he snapped out of it, just got back into his car and drove back to the shop, replaying the scene in his head. The blood coming from his head and how it seemingly didn’t bother him, the way it was dripping down his face as he told MK to be more careful. His clothes, his hair, everything about him screamed ‘celestial realm’. He was definitely telling Tang when he got back.
As MK got back into the shop, a little slower than normal as he didn't want to risk hitting anyone else, he dropped the keys onto the counter and looked up into the familiar space. He felt a bit of throw-up clog his throat as he once again saw the head wound from earlier as the guy he hit was now sat in the shop, with Tang desperately trying to stop the bleeding as Pigsy tries his best to calmly explain that the shop was closed but if he needs medical attention then they'd take him to the nearest hospital.
“I-It’s you again… Listen I'm so sorry- shit” As he made his presence known he swore under his breath and went into the kitchen and grabbed a folder of legal proceedings, he came back and handed them over to the Redhead “If you could please sign some of these and uh- I guess get in contact with a lawyer…”
“Wait, MK what happened? Is this your fault?” Tang spoke as he kept pressing a wet tablecloth onto the Red haired stranger's wound. The waver in his voice almost broke MK’s heart, but right now he was more concerned about the man bleeding out in front of him.
“It was an accident, I didn’t see him coming-, he was in the middle of the road and I was tired-” He babbled on trying to explain himself as Pigsy and Tang stared at him with concern and disbelief, but that was until the man stood up and interrupted.
“I can't read this.” He stated simply, placing the papers down onto the counter. “I do not know what you want me to do. I only wanted to say goodbye before I left. Even if you are a lowly peasant, you're… Quite attractive” The sudden unexpected compliment stunned MK. He steadied himself as if he would fall over from the emotional whiplash, but before he could get a chance to respond, the stranger once again left into the night.
The room was strangely silent, especially for the chaotic family of 3 being the only ones there, until Pigsy turned to MK, the look on his face almost unreadable with the mixture of anger, disappointment, shock and disbelief. “Did you hit someone with the car, and in some stroke of pure dumb luck, he happens to be illiterate AND have bad taste??”
“I want to go to bed” MK insisted instead of answering, he was tired, he felt sick and he was probably traumatised, all he wanted right now was the comfort of sleep, walking to the upstairs of the building, where his room and “house” was. It was just the space upstairs that MK has pretty much moved into. He’d had enough “exciting” events for today and wasn’t risking anything else.
—------------------
Waking up the next morning and all the memories of the previous night flooded into MK’s head. He grumbled, rolling out his bed (mattress on the floor, least attractive thing in a man) and slamming his hand on the alarm clock. He had a quick shower, brushed his teeth and hyped himself up to Take his T shot for the next two weeks. It’s been 2 years and he’s scared of needles. He got dressed and ran downstairs, walking in on Pigsy opening up shop.
“Morning Pigsy” he rubbed his eyes. Staring at Pigsy cutting up veg and Tang reading a book on the stool next to him.
“Hey kid. Are you ok?” The sincerity in his boss/ step father’s voice made him a little nervous. He's very much a ‘toughen up and deal with it’ type of man, not that it ever bothered MK. The water that hardens the egg softens the potato and all that shit, and MK was the egg.
“Yeah, I'm fine. Still just a little spooked from last night, I guess” He flashed a smile at his dads though it didn't seem to settle their worries. Leaving the subject be, Pigsy spoke up.
“Well, if you want to talk about it, you know where to find us” Tang nodded, having put down his book to look at MK. His sympathetic gaze not wavering for a second.
“Yeah, yeah I know guys.” he dismissed them “Got any orders for me yet?” He wanted a distraction, to have some time to himself, burying himself in work wasn’t the healthiest approach but it was the best he has. Pigsy hadn’t let him have a day off for two whole years.
“It’s 9am on a Tuesday, of course I do”
Now with bags of food in his arms, MK grabbed his keys, still in the same place he left them last night and headed to the car. Let’s hope he doesn't hit another hot, illiterate guy or accidentally summon a world destroying demon or something.
Driving around, hearing the noise of the early morning city (he had left his headphones at home today) and the wind blowing in his face calmed him. It reminded him of growing up here, and the thoughts of yesterday blew away.
A lot of the city was still in construction, so MK walking through the sites they’re building isn't rare, he just has to make sure he isn't breaking anything on his way through. It wasn't a particularly smart idea, as there were signs everywhere telling you to not enter but short cuts are short cuts!
He halted at the sound of a woman’s voice, he turned, realising she was behind him along with a large group of threatening bull-robot looking things.
“It feels like I've waited an eternity for this moment. Is everything in order?” She asked one of the metal bulls, who simply nodded to her.
MK dodged out of the way, behind some stones. He would love to say he wouldn’t judge a book by its cover and that this woman was simply going about her day with her pet bull robots, but he can’t say that. He didn’t know what exactly caused his fear, the somehow disturbing aura of the woman or the tons of robots that looked like they were built for murder.
He peered over the rocks to see what she was doing, god he felt like a creep. Shame only clouded him for a second however as he peered over in front of her to what she was looking at. A small hill covered in grass and vines, a large tree with orange leafs curled around the top and a staff planted right in the centre. It was red with a golden tip with swirls indented in it. MKs mind was racing, could it be? His question was very quickly answered with another word from a woman.
“Finally, after all this time, I have the means to lift Monkey King's legendary staff.”
“Wow. Monkey King's staff.” MK whispered in absolute awe. He had heard so many tales since he was young but he had never seen it in person. He never imagined he would. He wanted to get a closer look. He quietly climbed the unstable scaffolding and crawled onto the pipes that were above.
“My love will finally be returned, once I remove the staff- Huh?” MK hoisted himself on one of the large pipes, panting as he did so. He looked slightly to his side to see two birds that were sitting on the pipe, one of them was flame coloured and had darker patches of feathers on its face and stomach with blue and gold tail feathers and yellow beak beak. The one next to it was very similar looking but it had black feathers instead, along with paler patches it also had white under-feathers and a red beak and tail feathers. They both stared at him before turning back to look down at the scene.
One of the bull robots had climbed the hill and was standing over the staff. It bent down and grabbed the staff before attempting to pull it out of the ground. It gave it a few good tugs before steam came out of its back, clearly it was putting all its effort into lifting the thing out of the ground. After only a few seconds of hard pulling the bull's arms ripped off with a loud clunk, sending it falling back down the hill and behind the women, who turned and sneered at the metal creature.
“You fool. You think I have not tried that already? It's going to take more than you useless robots to lift the Monkey King's staff. Only those deemed worthy can wield it. But now…” She lifted her hand up high and with a small flash of light and gust of wind a large gauntlet appeared on her arm.
“I have acquired this gauntlet with the ability to bend it to my will. Finally I will free my love and we will rule this mortal realm. As it should have been from the beginning” As she spoke she climbed the hill and wrapped the cold metal fingers of the large gauntlet around the red handle of the staff. As soon as she did the ground started to rumble and crack. The wind started swirling around her as she started attempting to lift the staff from its place. The more she tugged the more the ground around the hill broke open and sparks of glowing magic erupted from the hole the staff was plated in. She continued to struggle with the staff, pulling with all her might, until the ground finally split open and she pulled the staff up out of it.
She held the staff above her head for a few painfully silent seconds before bringing it down to her side. She looked over to her metal bulls and jumped down the hill, staring at the staff and turning it around looking for something wrong.
“Why is nothing happening? I was so sure that-” Suddenly the ground rumbled again, a lot more violent than last time. It shook furiously as the ground under the hill completely broke open and a bright green light flooded out. The shaking grew and grew causing MKs arms to weaken and he held onto the pipe for dear life. From the light a figure rose, a large figure with purple fur and scars all over it, with enormous muscles, large horns and glowing bright green eyes. MK starred in a mix of horror and fascination as the figure slowly stood up straight and looked around before staring at his own bulked arms.
“Flesh… Bone… I have returned to the realm of the living” MK could barely keep himself steady, it was him, The Demon Bull King, MK was clinging onto whatever strength he had left to hold himself on the pipes above the two villains below. He was terrified, The Demon Bull King was legend, he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t recognised his wife, Princess Iron Fan, her depictions in the books Tang had read him were slightly off but it was definitely her, the bull horned helmet she wore with her long cut red dress and midnight hair. As if it wasn’t obvious from the tons of Bull themed robots.
He needed to get out of here and warn others or maybe just prepare them for their inevitable dooms. He needed to get down, he just didn’t know how. That problem was quickly solved as one of the birds that had watched the whole thing play out with him approached his hands. MK shook his head as he saw the bird eye his fingers.
“No! Shoo! Go away!” He tried to shoo the bird away from his fingers but inevitably the black feathered creature started pecking at his hands, the flame coloured bird simply continuing to look at the scene below, not noticing its partner being a nuisance to the young man.
“Oh, Demon Bull king! How I've missed you.”
“Princess Iron Fan! The years have been kind. How did you free me?”
“Hm. Why thank you dearest. I acquired this gauntlet, made from the most powerful celestial artefacts. Using it I moved the staff. Now we can harness it, and make its power ours! We shall rule this mortal coil as we should have all those centuries ago when I lost you.”
“Brilliant, I expected nothing less. Now we shall rule together and plunge this world into eternal darkness!” MK was barely paying attention to the conversation they were having, trying his best to get the dark bird to stop attempting to kill him. Sadly his pleading eyes seemingly didn’t work to sway the thing and with a few more pokes to his hand he fell. Almost directly on top of Princess Iron Fan, but only managing to cause her to fall backwards and drop the staff behind him. He sat up and rubbed his head with a groan before looking up at the villainous couple, they looked a lot bigger when he was on the ground.
“Hehe… Someone ordered some noodles?”
A large clawed foot slammed down right in front of him, about a metre away from flattening him.
“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.” The large demon lifted his muscled leg and brought his foot above the figure of the man who was now shaking in fear. He clenched his eyes shut when the demon's foot came down and prepared to see his life flash before his eyes but when the flattening weight of the Demon King never came crashing down he slowly opened his eyes.
The Demon's foot was only a few feet from his body but it wasn’t moving. MK breathed heavily in panic; he couldn't handle this. He lifted himself to see what had saved his life. What he saw was not what he expected. It was the man from yesterday, same maroon robe with gold trim, same old boots, same bright red hair, only this time it seemed his hair was sparking and lighting on fire as he strained to keep the Bull King's weight from crushing the human. This confirmed what MK had suspected from their first meeting, the redhead definitely wasn’t a human.
“What is this!?”
“GET OUT OF THE WAY, NOODLE BRAIN!” The man turned and shouted at him. MK quickly obeyed and crawled backwards away from the two. He backed away as much as possible before he felt the cold metal of the Monkie King's staff touch his back. He turned to the staff, hearing a whisper in the back of his brain that he couldn’t make out, before hearing the Red haired stranger finally lose the battle, as he turned back, the strange man was thrown at the wall with the full force of the Demon King's kick. MK didn’t have the second to worry about the stranger as the Demon Bull King began to boldly approach him again.
“Ha, pathetic! You think you mortals can stop me? I will destroy anyone who gets in my way of my destiny!” This time he lifted his fist to put MK out once and for all. In a moment of panic he grabbed the golden staff behind him and lifted it in an attempt to block the Demon's fist. He felt the impact of the large fist hit the staff then be pushed back as the golden weapon completely stopped the King’s efforts to kill him. The second block of his attempt to kill the brunette left him shocked. As he pulled his fist away and stepped back.
“How? How could you possibly wield the staff?”
“Impossible…” Iron Fan spoke in a shocked whisper. MK was stunned at his own action, staring at the Legendary Weapon in his hands, how could he have possibly lifted the staff? But he soon snapped his head up remembering the helpful stranger that had been thrown into the wall while saving him. He stood and ran over to him, not being stopped by the two stunned villains, and saw the man on his knees, clearly winded and injured, but not dead. Apparently this guy was indestructible.
“Are you alright?” The red head looked at him with a disgruntled expression, MK looked at his forehead and saw a blood stained patch where his wound from the previous day was. A bit of guilt stabbed at him as he helped the poor man up, MK hitting him with a Car was the least of their problems right now. The stranger only wobbled a bit before standing up straight and looking at the worried man with a serious look.
“I- No way. How… How did you lift his staff? No mortal should be able to wield it!” He eyed the golden staff in the man's hand as he clearly tried, and failed, to make sense of this whole situation. In all honesty Mk didn't know any better. He had just lifted an ancient artefact, one that only a single being in the world could hold, and he lifted it like it was nothing. “I- I have no idea! I just did!” He tried to explain, but he couldn't get far before the demon couple, who had clearly gathered their bearings, interrupted them.
“Enough! This ends here!” DBK roared and he towered over the two and the metal bulls backed him up. Their towering figures panicked MK, he was terrified and definitely sick of this. “I'm supposed to be on my break!” The man screamed before swinging the staff in a last effort of defence and causing a powerful golden light to erupt from it and push all the metal bulls and DBK back. The two men stood there in shock from the sudden blast of power.
“Uhh. That was way more explosive than I expected…” Suddenly Princess Iron Fan hit the ground with her magic fan, grabbing the boy's attention. “Get back! I, Redson, will not allow you to hurt this mortal!” He announced stepping in front of MK and placing his arm out to block him from the woman. While MK was half flattered by the stranger, who’s name was apparently Redson, defending him, Princess Iron Fan only looked to him, completely dismissing the red head.
“That staff doesn't belong to you, little boy. Hand it over.” Mk looked over the staff in arms, the man shielding him and the woman, pretending to calculate his response for a second. No way was he giving up the opportunity to have the Monkey King's staff, anyway he had Redson shielding him currently, the man had shown he could handle a full force stomp from the huge Demon King so MK trusted him to protect him.
“Mmmmmm… No?” To be honest he didn’t really know what he was thinking, he was still scared out of his mind, confused and kinda wished he had just stayed in bed. As soon as he finished that sentence the staff shook in his hand and extended to the ground cracking it open. This shit was getting annoying. "Okay I didn't even move that time-!"
Next thing he knew he was literally flying through the air, riding the staff like a goddamn broomstick through the tunnels of the construction site. Y'know what? Maybe Pigsy giving his dad a free meal wasn't the most impossible thing after all. He slammed into the elevator that had taken him down and the staff extended again causing him to ascend back to his car which was just outside the elevator. He needed to get home. Now.
He quickly scrambled to his car and inserted the keys into the ignition with a shaking hand, and turned them, then turned them again, before the 3rd attempt he heard the noise of someone opening his car door. He looked to his side to see Redson, climbing into his car. He wanted to desperately question the Redhead, to ask him who he was, what he was, how he did this, what was happening, but didn't get the chance.
"Not to rush you Noodle Boy but if you value your pathetic mortal life then I'd recommend making this hunk of metal move!" Mk knew that was not good news, as he turned the key in the ignition his car finally started and they sped off. Traffic laws were a complete after thought as they zoomed down the streets of the city, Mk needed to get home. He needed to get home and tell his family what had happened, the Demon Bull King was back, he had The Monkie King's Staff and could LIFT IT and he was saved by the guy he probably gave so much brain damage to that he couldn't read and flirted with him, who was now in his car with him.
He jumped as a loud crash came from behind. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw possibly the third worst thing he's seen today. All the bull robots from before, flying, and definitely chasing his car. Well isn't that just amazing?
“Uhh, quick! Redson! Throw those noodles at the weird robot things!” MK did his quick thinking and realised what he had just asked “I’m sorry, valued customer you won't be getting your noodles.” The guilt of hungry customers stabbed his fragile heart.
Redson nodded and grabbed the plastic bags and styrofoam cups from the back of the seat, then proceeded to launch them at the bots, knocking down about 3 or 4 “Why not just use the staff?!”
“I don't know how to use that! You use it!” He looked back at the staff and then at Redson, who gave him a strange look.
“It’s a shrunken pillar, it doesn't have any powers Noodle boy, the power comes from you!” Redson grabbed Mk's hand from the wheel and gently pressed it against the staff, his own fingers pressed on Mk's hand. The staff activated again, causing the tuk tuk to launch into the air and crash through a building. Redson wrapped his arms around Mk to soften his blow as they crashed through the walls. The car continued for only a few more metres before the engine gave a loud bang and the tuk tuk basically fell apart. The two exited the damaged vehicle and Red ran to the brunette “Do you still have the staff?”
“Yea-” MK coughed into his sleeve “-but those bots are catching up, we have to go, now!” He pulled away from Redson and turned back to the tuk tuk, trying to start it up again “No no no please work! Ohh Pigsy is gonna kill me!” The car was practically destroyed and Redson rolled his eyes.
“It is clearly not working, Noodle boy. We’ll need another way of getting away, now I have an idea-” Before Redson could tell MK what his plan was, a zip of green energy shaped like a dragon passed them, then again but on their other side, as it circles around them, MK smiles as he realises who it was.
“Mei!" He followed the circles around till they stopped, and a white and green figure on a motorbike came into view. Redson gets into a battle stance and summons a large staff made of flame. It looks similar to the monkie king’s staff but with spikes on one end and a tassel on the other.
The figure took off the helmet and underneath is a girl, apparently called Mei. “Hiya!” she smiled and got her phone out from… somewhere and started taking pictures of MK and herself. "God, I'm glad to see you!” MK panted out, she was clearly a friend of his. “Sick game of tag you’re playing, who’s your friend?" She leaned over to inspect the Redhead "Sup edgelord!”
Redson backed away from her. “Ugh, you speak too much, Dragon girl, those bots aren't playing tag, they are trying to kill us!” He groaned again and grabbed MKs am, who immediately pulled off “What are you doing, we have to go before-!”
Large gusts of wind formed around the group before either Red could finish his sentence, as Princess Iron Fan appeared, floating down to the ground seemingly carried by the winds “Too much sitting around and talking, not enough running! It's like you want to make this easy for me!” she let out her loud and evil cackle, watching as Redson approached her, his own fire staff in hand.
“Princess Iron Fan. I was sent to protect this mortal, you will not lay a hand on him if it’s the last thing I do!” He slammed his staff into the ground, concrete cracking all around him and towards the evil woman while fire quickly emerged from the cracks.
“Well then you’ve succeeded in your job Redson! Your father will be so proud of you. Because all i need is that staff” The gauntlet once again appears in her hand again as she rushed towards Redson, he lifted his staff and blocked her from reaching MK. Redson turns towards Mei and MK, a desperate expression marking his face.
“You two! Leave, stay somewhere safe and do not leave till I come find you!” He shouted, pushing the woman backwards. Mei grabbing MK and pulling him onto her bike stopped him from seeing any more as she sped off down the streets of the city.
—------------------
MK jumped off the bike as soon as they got back to the shop, immediately shouting for Tang “DAD! Dad, dad, we have an big issue!” Dragging the staff and Mei along with him, he pushes through the front of the shop which was only covered by a thin blind.
“Oh no you don’t just run off! I've been getting angry calls and reviews about people who never got their food!” Pigsy ran from the kitchen, phone in hand, clearly mad about the fact MK wasn't doing his job, but with a slightly stern look from Tang, who was eating a bowl of soup, his tone let up “What’s going on with you? I doubt you'd come in here screaming like a mad man if it wasn't important”
“Uh, yeah sorry about the customers but there's a bigger issue right now! Demon Bull King is back, it’s all true- The legend! Some guy called Redson protected us and we have Monkie kings staff-” Tang put his bowl down, the clatter of the bowl and spoon cutting off MK.
“MK, I get how passionate you are about these stories, trust me I do! But that's all they are, stories, I mean, you knew that right?” MK did not know that, this grown man fully believed they were true all his life.
“No, noo! Look!'' He lifted up the staff to Pigsy and Tang. Their dismissive looks proving their disbelief to him. Mei popped up next to them to look at the staff.
“Oooh, nice stick MK!” She tried to reach over and grab it but MK defensively backed away.
“No you guys aren’t getting it! This is the real staff” he tried to explain but everyone just laughed at him or looked at him with the "This man is delusional" eyes. It hurt.
The blinds at the door shuffled around and from them emerged Redson. He was scuffed up and panting, but still managed to get to the other side of the city somehow. “It’s true. He’s telling the truth, that is Sun Wukong’s legendary staff.” He let out a loud pant and continued into the store, he once again grabbed MKs free hand and placed it on the staff, causing it to react and smash the table that Tang was sitting at “Though, you probably shouldn’t go around gloating about it…”
Tang then screamed loudly. For a 40 year old man he does have a set of lungs. He grabbed MK’s wrist to hold up the staff, almost pushing Redson out of the way “Oh my god, oh my god! I never doubted you for a second I just give in too easily to peer pressure, wow Sun Wukong’s staff, how cool!” If MK was honest, in any other situation he would have reacted the same way.
Redson shrugged “Not that cool. There’s like 12 more in a dragon palace" Redson spoke as if he was trying to denounce the speciality of the legendary artefact. He eyed MK with a look of importance "Noodle boy-” He got cut off by the man, who was clearly over the nickname.
“MK. My name is MK” he clarified for Redson.
“Hm. Ok then, MK. There is someone who wants to speak to you, the one who sent me to protect you. He told me not to tell you his identity," He leaned in to whisper the last part into the brunettes ear "but between you and me he’s the fucking worst”
—------------------
“Wait so you want to take us to an island to meet someone?” Pigsy tried to catch up with Redson's longer steps, naturally a couple feet ahead of everyone else. He looks towards Pigsy, and now Tang who had chased them up but is staying behind his husband in a hope to not be noticed.
“No, i want to take MK to the island, you will stay here” This made Tang make his presence known, well, everyone knew he was already there.
“What? No! I’m not letting you just whisk away my son, he may trust you but I don't. I at least get to know if he’ll be safe” Redson rolled his eyes at Tang's worries. Obviously the stupid mortal had worries about stupid things like this, even though Demon Bull King was trying to take over the world.
He grumbled and turned around, stopping in his tracks causing Tang to crash into him and back up “Fine, you can come too then. But that means we’ll have to find another form of travel. My clouds can’t carry five people”
Pigsy perked up and opened his mouth to come up with a new option, before Tang stopped him with a finger to his lips.
“We aren't asking Sandy for any more favours, especially not this” That statement clearly didn't impress the pig demon and sparked a large argument Redson didn’t care to be around for. He’s heard enough of them for today. He walked back to MK and Mei, waiting with them so the married couple could get over their quarrel.
“This is taking too long. With any amount of bad luck, Princess Iron Fan and Demon Bull King will catch up with us” speak of the fucking devil my guy, because with a large gust of wind and an evil, recognisable cackle, Princess Iron Fan appeared in the gap between Tang and Pigsy, and the young adults club. “Ugh, it’s you again. Don’t you get bored of me defeating you?” Redson spoke, a newfound cockiness in his tone.
All attention was now on her again, with Redson once again stepping in front of MK. she smirked and floated to the ground “Come now, Redson, cheap distractions with clones is hardly what I’d call a defeat. You truly are your fathers son, with those ugly shadows.'' She conjured up the gauntlet again and disappeared, clouding the street they were on with powerful winds.
She appeared behind MK, putting her gauntlet covered hand on the staff and pulling hard, causing MK to turn around and pull on the other side “No, don’t take it!” Redson quickly turned around, moving his staff to hit the distracted Princess Iron Fan in the face. She did one final large pull and disappeared into the wind with the Staff, leaving all clueless behind.
MK looked over to Redson, whose eyes were wide and clearly full of panic. He slowly turned his head to MK and then back at where Princess Iron Fan stood and spoke “We have to go, right now” He whistled into his fingers and from seemingly nowhere in the clear sky, a storm cloud formed, falling to the ground as Redson stepped onto it, with MK copying. Within seconds of the mortal standing on it, they were launched into the sky, with MK’s friends and family screaming after him.
The wind in MKs face reminded him of his recent interactions with Princess Iron Fan, however this was more gentle. Like the winds were apologising for what they were conditioned to subject him to by the Princess. It was soft and welcoming, the same vibe he got from Redson despite his cold and rude aura. He clung to Redson’s leg, as MK was sitting on the cloud and Redson was standing, arms neatly placed behind his back.
MK wasn't too sure how long they spent flying through the sky, too scared to open his eyes but eventually it stopped, though Redson never moved. “Let go in your own time” he said in a gentle voice, despite the comment being bitchy.
He slowly opened his eyes to an island surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, however it itself was very peaceful and full of peach trees and animal noises, mainly the chirps of monkeys and singing of Cicadas. On the top of the mountain island was a large stone temple.
“Woah…” MK looked around him, the cloud from under his feet disappearing. Redson put a hand out to help him back to his feet.
“The staff being taken is a big issue, we need to get it back as soon as we can but we can’t do that alone” Redson started to walk up a hill, without noticing MK was not following him.
MK was too distracted by a group of monkeys walking towards him in a little huddle. They were nervous, looking at each other and pushing the smallest of the group towards MK. The Brunette smiled and kneeled down to the little monkie and touched its head as it leaned into him.
He was then suddenly ambushed and attacked by the troop of monkeys who had clearly sensed his weakness. MK screamed loudly, causing Redson to quickly turn towards them, jumping off the cliff he was standing at and grabbing MK around his chest. He scrunched up his nose and screamed at them loudly, though not words but instead just noises, similar to the noises the monkeys themselves made. He screamed and screamed till they all left, though it didn’t take long. They didn’t seem to want to fuck with Redson. Just who is this heavenly being?
Redson looked MK up and down though he didn't release the other man from his grip. “Are you ok?”
“Uh- yeah you can let go of me now you know” MK anxiously laughed it off to not sound mean, even if he didn’t.
“Not so sure I should, I don't want you getting hurt again” Redson smiled lightly, the first time MK had seen him smile actually, and let go of him. This time with MK following, they continued up the hill. In about 15 minutes the pair reached a pond with stepping stones going through it and monkeys sitting on top of them. Bamboo surrounded it like a wall hiding it from the rest of the world. Redson took a step into the water. It wasn't deep, it went halfway up his brown boots but for MK it barely covered the soles of his shoes.
Redson walked up to the waterfall and simply stepped through the sheet of water, a prompt for the other to follow, though the moment MK approached the falling water, it turned gold in colour, and the falls split right in two like the parting of the goddamn red sea, revealing Redson on the other side who turned and stared at him “What did you do?!”
“Nothing, I promise!” he pleaded, looking Redson in the eyes.
“It’s fine, I'm not mad, just confused. This has never happened, not for anyone else on the island” Redsons statement piqued MKs interest.
“There's other heavenly beings on the island?” He said with excitement, much to Redsons dismay whose face fell after he realised what he said.
“Not exactly ‘heavenly’ to be around, but sure” he grumbled. Redson continued forward into a cave hidden behind the newly parted falls. MK, not wanting to be attacked again, followed. The gold aura didn’t stop following MK, and as the two followed through it got worse, brighter.
The walls and floors of the cave they entered turned the same gold, the vines and tree roots surrounding them also fall subject to the new colour. Absolutely entranced with the new colours surrounding his vision, MK looks around where he is, and notices a large mural painted on a wall.
The mural features 5 figures, one of them on a horse on the left and two demons near the right side, the main two the mural focused on being on a rock at the top. MK recognised the figures well from books, paintings and online forums. In the centre was the six eared macaque and his best friend and fighting partner, Sun Wukong, The Monkie King.
MK squealed loudly, catching Redsons attention “Look at them Redson! Aren't they so cool??”
Redson just shrugged as he turned his face away from the mural “I always thought they were pretty lame to be honest. What's so cool about grown men travelling together for 16 years”
“Oh well it's about friendship! And enlightenment! Even you have to see that. I mean, imagine having someone in your life like the Six Eared Macaque and Sun Wukong had each other for thousands of years and they stayed friends that entire time” MK rambled on about the friendship and only stopped when Redson let out a loud laugh, meaning on his knees in the middle of it.
“Oh-Oh this is so funny, I’m sorry I can't keep it in anymore” He burst out laughing again “Friends?? In what universe are they friends??!”
MK looked at the man in disbelief. “You’re joking right? Those two were practically glued at the hips, there are countless books about them, I've written countless essays about them and so has my dad!”
“Yeah do any of them mention how totally gay they are?” Redson smirked and crossed his arms, standing up straight.
MK sputtered his words in surprise and grabbed a notebook from a pocket on the inside of his coat, taking out notes and reading over things, looking for anything he wrote down. He wouldn’t have forgotten about something like that right? “What? Since when?! Have you read Journey to the West or - Or do you know them personally? Is it a headcanon?”
“Pfft, that 4 book long fanfiction is so watered down and- Yeah, you could say that I know them ‘personally’ “ Redson continued walking away, and stopped for a minute to rub his face.
When his hands moved out of the way, a new set of ears appeared below his original pair and they extended to become larger. He turns his face to MK, his face now being wider and with a different nose, now one of a monkey, and hair growing down the sides of his face. He smiles and runs through the exit to the cave they had been next to for a while.
MK chases through, hand out to try and grab and stop Red son as he runs through, though when he exits the cave, he's nowhere to be seen. Was he hallucinating? The other side of the cave was gorgeous, the temple being more clear and peach trees surrounding it. The sun rays shone through the leaves and flowers creating patterns on the floor. The lovely scent of peaches and the faintest hint of plums were in the air. Suddenly a new but recognizable face, now with a scar on the left side of his cheek and a dark red patch of colour around his eyes, appears in front of him, also upside down.
Redson was hanging from the tree above the cave, by nothing but a brand new red and orange tail, matching his hair. The surprise spooked MK a bit, making him flinch, yelp and move back, with Redson snickering at him as he did.
“Now now Redson, don’t bother him too much. It must be hard getting used to all that's happened in the past day” a new voice appeared, deep and smooth as butter, with a teasing tone lingering on it.
“Sorry, father” Redson sighed out a half-arsed apology and jumped out of the tree, landing next to MK “We have some good news and bad news”
“Can’t wait to hear both of them” The voice's body finally emerged from the temple, revealing another monkey with black fur, a red mark on his face, similar to Redsons, thick eyebrows and a red scarf to go with his red, black and yellow outfit. The Six Eared Macaque.
MKs face dropped as he stared in disbelief. He was quiet for so long that Redson and Macaque actually started to get worried, but just before either could react he let out a loud scream, once again grabbing the notepad out of his coat and fumbling a pen around with shaky hands, rattling off questions about the journey, Wukong, who Redson actually was and everything else he could think of. I mean, he does have a mental list of questions he’d ask if he ever did meet The Six Eared Macaque or Sun Wukong.
The Six Eared Macaque nervously laughed and grabbed the physically vibrating young adult by the shoulders “Woah there kid, calm down, there's bigger issues we have to talk about right now.”
“Oh! Right sorry” MK became embarrassed quickly but tried to shake it off “Yeah, sorry uhm one question though? Are you the one who sent Redson to protect me?”
“Eh, kind of. It was a joint decision, speaking of, the other side of that decision really wants to talk to you, but please don’t react the same way you did me, 'kay? That was really lame” he laughed at MKs expense though, MK was glad Redson didn’t. Not even a little smile.
“Oh please, he’ll just do some corny speech that’s ten times worse” Redson mumbled, causing Macaque to frown at him.
“Uh- Ok i can control myself, if it’s who i think it is” He was already bouncing on his toes at the idea of meeting The Monkey King.
“Yeah, it probably is.” The macaque smiled a little. “Follow me.” He started to walk towards the temple, Redson following suit and MK gathering the courage to follow, considering he was about to meet his lifelong hero.
They entered the dark temple, the only light coming from clouded windows and the cloth front door. A large gold glow started in the middle of the room, forming from a small lump to a similar figure as The Six Eared Macaque and Redson. The gold glow dispersed with a large poof and from it came The Monkey King, Sun Wukong.
MK made a little squeak noise from his throat, coughing slightly to clear it so he doesn’t have a freak out moment. The monkey did a little dramatic pose and with a silly smile started a speech “It is I! The Legendary Monkie King-!”
Redson loudly groans and walks away to the stairs that can be seen from around the corner of a door “So lame…” He mumbles but only when he passes Sun Wukong.
Sun Wukong laughs a little to shake off the embarrassment “Sorry about him, he’s a classic troubled teen” He circles around MK, The Six Eared Macaque stepping out of the way for him to be able to “So you’re the MK I’ve heard so much about!”
“Wait, you've heard of me?!” MKs eyes shine brightly at the realisation of what Sun Wukong had said. His hero heard about him. He could just die right now.
“Well…I’ll come clean, Mac and Redson have been watching you for a while.” The Monkey King's words made MK turn his head towards ‘Mac’ who was behind him.
The only other monkey in the room nodded, “Yeah it’s true, sorry about that.”
“But why me? I mean, I'm stoked that you know who I am but I don't understand” MK looked at the two monkeys, now standing next to each other now with Sun Wukong's arm around The Six Eared Macaque's waist. Wow, Redson really was right about them, wait didn’t he call The Six Eared Macaque ‘father’??
“Well, how to say…” before Sun Wukong could explain what he meant, Redsons familiar voice came from behind MK.
“He wants a successor so he got us to stalk you for a month and when you eventually encountered the staff he wanted to know if you could hold it and you could.” Redson explained, much to the annoyance on Sun Wukong's face.
“Yeah, thanks bud, definitely couldn’t say that myself" His sarcastic comment got a slight slap on the shoulder from his potential lover.
“Oh you’re welcome then, I know how difficult being responsible for another being is for you, so maybe I should do everything for you instead, or even better, leave it all for father to do!” Ouch, the little flinch coming from Wukong looked like the salty comment physically stung.
“Redson!” The Six Eared Macaque scolds, with a quick eye roll from Redson.
Wukong waved a little at Macaque, as a no to scolding him “It’s fine, Mac he’s fine to feel however he wants.” He whispered to his partner though his tone was definitely pained from the comment.
Redson continued “Now's time for the bad news. We lost the staff.”
Before either Wukong or Macaque, MK spoke up for the first time in a while “it’s my fault, not Redsons! He did nothing but try to protect me and the staff”
Macaque just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Wukong covered his mouth in some kind of shock and an effort to not start laughing.
“You know what, it’s fine, DBK will be causing chaos right now, MK do you have any idea of how we could find out where he is?” Macaque moved his hand from his face after the start of his sentence, then turned towards MK for the second half.
The question caught MK off guard, as he jumped a little at it “uhhh, WAIT! Yes, I do!” He went fishing in his pocket and found his phone, it had been blowing up with missed calls and messages from Tang, Pigsy, Mei and an unknown phone number. Yikes, he owes them a massive apology when he gets home. He clicked on the notification for Mei’s facetimes and called her back.
She immediately picked up and starts screaming over the mic “HE’S FINE, HE’S ALIVE, THE CUTE REDHEAD DIDN’T KILL HIM” to which MK heard Tang reply with “CUTE REDHEAD IS AN OXYMORON MEI”
“Uh yeah I'm alive! Listen, can you see DBK from where you guys are?” MK tried to speak clearly as Mei was in a car and the wind was loud.
“Oh yeah for sure, SANDY!” she shouted then turned towards the camera again “Pigsy took us to some guy called Sandy, he’s so chill and has LOADS of cats, also who are those with you, also hi again redhead!”
“Hello again, mortal” Redson gave a little wave to the screen.
“Oh these are The Monkey King and The Six Eared Macaque” MK tried to play it off cooly but Macaque still remembers him freaking the fuck out when they met 10 minutes ago.
“Woah, Tang is gonna freak OUT when he finds out, oh hi Sandy, do you mind lifting the camera up so MK, The monkey guy and the funny eared macaque can see the big bad bull?” Mei asked kindly, messing up everyone's name. Who blames her though? This isn’t her battle.
“Sure thing mei!” The gruff voice came from a large buff man who was also blue for some reason. He lifted the camera high out the window and showed the devastating scene of DBK destroying the city.
“Oh that’s not good” Sun Wukong just stated “well, i guess we have to make our way to the city, Redson, you take MK and we’ll make our own way there, now we know what the damage is”
“Wait wait wait! I don’t know what i'm doing, this is my first ever instance of conflict, in highschool I’d hide in the bathrooms whenever other kids wanted to beat me up! I couldn’t even stop Iron Fan from getting the staff the first time!” MK grabbed onto Wukongs arms and almost fell to his knees as a way to beg not to make him fight.
Wukong tried not to laugh while Redson and Macaque definitely did. Their laughter did not help MK’s confidence at all. “Hey, dude, don’t panic too much. You are gonna be my successor, and would I almost cry and beg to not fight someone?”
“No…” MK mumbled out.
“I know you’re not me, to any stretch of the imagination but you’re gonna train like me, by me. So chin up MK! This Is your trial, and I believe in you, so you should definitely believe in yourself.” Redsons nose wrinkled up a bit and he looked away from Wukong and MK, immediately trying to distract from what was happening, he stormed out of the room and Macaque followed them, making Wukong look at them and then back at MK.
He smiled at the brunette, patting him on the shoulder and just said “Let’s go!”
You are probably waiting for a fight. For Wukong, Macaque, Redson and MK to defeat DBK. but that's not what's happening here. This story is not about the battles, about DBK, about LBD or anything of that nature. This is a story about Redson and his fathers. About MK and the pretty redhead that saved his life. That is what this story is about.