Monkie Kid: The Monkey Prince

Entering: The Prince

Tao was sitting on the deck with a guitar he manifested with his powers. He strummed the strings quietly and hummed to himself every few seconds before writing something down in a notebook beside him.

"Hey Tao," Mei approached him, "what are you doing?"

"Just working on a song I've been writing." Tao looked up. "I've been meaning to finish this for a while now."

"Can I hear what you have?" Mei sat down beside me. 

"I don't know," Tao sounded unsure, "It's been a while since I've practiced the song, it might not sound the best."

"Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!" Mei begged 

With big puppy dog eyes as she sat on her knees with a lip quiver. Tao just shook his head with a smile.

"Alright, you win." Tao dryly chuckled. "Just let me read over the pages."

"Yay!" Mei cheered as Tao looked at the notebooks.

As Tao read the music, something red and gold caught the corner of his eye.

"MK will spar in a minute," Tao didn't look up. "Let me play this for Mei, and then will---"

Tao was kicked, sliding to the other side of the ship's deck. He laid flat on his back, shocked by the sudden and unprompted action.

"Well, not that's just rude." Tao furrowed his eyebrows.

The glimpse of red and gold was not MK's staff, but a spear, and it appeared only a few inches away from his face. With his lips pressed into a thin, Tao shifted his head ever-so-slightly to the right to see his attacker. Ne Zha stood over him glaring with a scowl to match.

"Sun Wukong," Ne Zha's voice boomed, "you have distrusted the celestial realm with your foolish antics for the last time! Now hand over the--"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, dude," Tao held up a hand. "First off, don't be rude, and second off, take a closer look, I'm not the monkey you're looking for."

"It appears so," Ne Zha pulled the spear away from his face. "Then who are you?"

"Ne Zha!" Wukong jumped from the upper deck.

Before Wukong could strike, Ne Zha jumped back. 

"What are you doing here?'" Wukong crossed his arm. "Shouldn't you be guarding in the celestial realm?"

"I was until I was asked to fetch the celestial relic YOU stole!" Ne Zha snapped. "Now hand it over!"

All the yelling brought everyone outside; they were all surprised to see Ne Zha on the ship.

"I didn't steal anything, Ne Zha," Wukong scoffed. "And if I did, what is this "precious" relic that you claim I have?"

"The All-Seeing Jade," Ne Zha snapped, "it has the power to look into any point in time! I managed to track its mystic aura to your ship. Now hand it over---HEY!"

The group huddled around Tao, who was still laying on the ground, whispering to each other, making sure Ne Zha wouldn't hear them.

"Now we know a little more of the story," Pigsy stated, "Dice Demon stole the jade from the Celestial Realm somehow, now Tao and his friend have both halves."

"But that doesn't answer how Ne Zha knows about it," Tang was a little panicked, "following the logic we've been going by, shouldn't Ne Zha from the future be here, not our Ne Zha."

"Tang, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you need to throw any logic out the window," Macaque spoke up.

"It pains me to do this, but Macaque is right," Wukong nodded. "There has to be a reason."

"Maybe Dice Demon took our jade and not the one from the future," Sandy suggested.

"Wait," Red Son realized something, "what if Sandy's right? What if Dice Demon came to the past just to steal the jade? Do you know what this means?"

"That there are two Dice Demons!?" MK gasped.

"No, you idiot," Red Son snapped, "think about it: by sealing from the past, he alters the future. If there is no All-Seeing Jade in the future..."

"Then there's no way to see what he's doing now." The group said unanimously.

"He must have used one of the other stolen relics to transport us here," Tao crossed his arms. 

"Well done, Sandy," Mei smiled. 

"EXCUSE ME!" Ne Zha yelled. "I'M STILL HERE!"

The group broke the huddle, and Tao finally sat up straight from laying on his back. 

"So, Ne Zha," Wukong smiled, "about the jade, it's a funny story..."

After one, long, and complicated explanation about Tao, Dice Demon, the jade, and how they were on their way to Lantern City to meet with Tao's friend, Ne Zha had the same reaction as Red Son: pinching the bridge of his nose before taking a deep breath.

"What part of that story do you expect me to believe?" Ne Zha glared at Wukong.

"All of it?" Wukong nervously smiled.

"Out of all the ridiculous claims you've made over the centuries," Ne Zha took another deep, calming breath. "What you just said was by far the most ridiculous!"

The group began to slowly sink into themselves, as Ne Zha continued to yell at Wukong for another few minutes. This didn't turn out how Wukong hoped it would.

"Ne Zha, listen," Wukong pleaded, "I know this sounds crazy, and it is, but I can prove it."

"How?" Ne Zha raised an eyebrow.

In a small branch of the ship, Red Son built a workshop area for himself, which is where he's been spending the majority of this trip. In a glass tube, next to Red's Son's main work area, was Tao's have of the jade. Ne Zha stared at the broken orb in silent shock, Wukong was telling the truth. Ne Zha let out a defeated sigh before turning to the Monkey King.

"Out of all the things you could be right about," Ne Zha rubbed his temple, "why did it have to be this?"

"Please help us," MK asked, "the more we found out about Dice Demon, the more allies we need."

"I assume you have a plan to take down Dice Demon." Nez Zha raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, we do." Mk smiled.

Tao leaned over to whisper in MK's ear. "Do we have a plan?"

"No," MK whispered back, "but I've been working on one. Hopefully, it'll work."

Somewhere in the mountains, the two cloaked individuals stood on a cliff. In the distance was Lantern City, radiating a warm glow from the lantern scattered across the grand and beautiful city.

"Do you sense their presence?" Blue Cloak asked.

"No," Red Cloak turned to the other, "but they are close. It should only be another day for them to arrive."

"And when that happens?" Blue Cloak looked towards the setting sun.

"We don't get involved, unless the situation is more dangerous than we thought," Red Cloak's voice turned serious, "are we in agreement?"

"For now." Blue Cloak hummed.