Monkie Kid: Mommy Dearest

On Our Way

Tao fell to the ground with a hard thud. When he picked himself up, he noticed Messenger closing the large double doors behind him.

"Wait!" Tao scrambled to his feet.

By the time he reached the doors, they had closed. Tao took hold of the hands, lifted his feet on the door, and used all his strength to pull the door open. After a few seconds, his hand slipped from the door handles, and he fell on his back.

"Well, you're just full of vigor." A female voice chuckled.

Tao sat up and looked at the other side of the room, to see the black throne with a shadow cast over it, unable to see the person sitting there.

"Don't be scared child," she held out her hand, "come closer."

Tao slowly approached the throne, looking around the seeing that wherever he was had a moody atmosphere. The place was painted in black, brown, dull silver, and dull gold with dim lighting. He stopped a few feet in front of the throne. 

The person sitting on the throne leaned forward to reveal a woman with long wavy burgundy hair, her lips painted a dark brown as she wore a long black hanfu decorated with dull gold flowers. She had a small smile on her face as she cupped his cheeks.

"Hello, little one." The woman chuckled.

On Flower Fruit Mountain, Wukong turned his grief from losing Tao into anger. He picked up a large rock over his head and threw it to the other side of the mountain, yelling angrily. He was breathing heavily as he watched the rock disappear from his view.

"M-Monkey King." MK nervously approached Wukong. "Maybe you should--"

"Should what?" The look in Wukong's eyes was enough to silence MK.

"Well, I mean, t-this is just a suggestion," MK started again, this time visibly nervous, "but maybe...you should...calm down."

MK began to shrink into himself with every word, and his voice got smaller with every word. Wukong glared at him for a bit before he started to chuckle.

"You're right I should calm down," Wukong smiled, "there's no reason for me to get angry."

"I mean, it was just my son that was taken!" MK flinched when he realized Wukong was being sarcastic.

"Why would I be so upset?" Wukong continued. "It's not like I spent the last 10 years raising, loving, and watching him grow from a tiny fluffy cub who depended on me to a soon-to-be young man with his owns interests and views on the world."

Wukong picked up another rock and threw it with another scream of frustration. Macaque stood in silence with his arms crossed as he took one side step and let the rock fly past him, unphased by Wukong's justified rage. 

Red Son arrived at Flower Fruit Mountain, visibly frantic. 

"Chyou told me what happened," Red Son exclaimed, "how is Wukong--"

Before Red Son could even finish his sentence when he ducked to prevent the large rock from hitting him. 

"Doing?" Macaque finished Red Son's sentence with a raised eyebrow. "Considering that he hasn't destroyed the mountain. He's handling this a lot better than I thought."

Wukong lifted another rock, but MK wrapped his arms around him before he could throw it.

"Monkey King stop," MK pleaded, "this isn't helping!"

"You're right." Wukong dropped the rock in front of him with a sigh.

MK let him go, taking a couple of steps back as Wukong fell to his knees, looking defeated.

"If only I was faster." Wukong looked to the ground. "I would have been able to save him. I'm his father, I'm the Monkey King, and I failed the moment I needed to be both."

"Monkey King." MK placed a hand on his mentor's shoulder. "This isn't your fault. You gave it your all."

"Still," Wukong's eyes never left the ground, "my all wasn't enough."

"Which is why I'm here." Red Son chimed in by clearing his throat.

Red Son pulled a remote from inside his jacket and when he pushed one of the buttons, a large dronecopter he had built slowly emerged above their heads before lowering down causing a huge gust of wind. The dronecopter stopped a few feet above Wukong's house. With the push of another button, a metal ramp extended to the group revealing to the four men that the others were already aboard. 

"What is all this?" Wukong turned to Red Son.

"Tao may be your son, but he means just as much to everyone." Red Son smiled at him.

Wukong looked between Red Son and the others on the dronecopter waiting for him. Wukong stood up and smiled at Red Son, with the confident demeanor Wukong always had.

"Alright," Wukong nodded, "enough of the pity partying, let's get my son back."

The dronecopter slowly rose to the sky with everyone aboard before speeding away from Flower Fruit Mountain. Hidden in a tree on the mountain, Messenger had watched what had unfolded, when the dronecopter was out of view Messenger vanished.

Now out of his baseball uniform and into a black Tang suit with dull gold detailing of thorny vines, Tao sat at one end of the table silently eating at a grand table full of various dishes. The mysterious woman sat at the other end of the table with a soft smile as she occasionally glanced away from her plate to look at Tao.

"My Lady," Messenger leaned close to her whispering, "it seems Sun Wukong and his friends have begun their search for the child."

The woman's smile quickly disappeared at her right hand's words. 

"Little One," Tao looked up from his food, "you may be excused. I'll have someone prepare you a room and you can finish dinner up there tonight."

Tao was becoming more and more confused. He wanted answers, he wanted to know who this woman was and why he would be spending the night with her. He didn't know her.

"But--," Tao went to speak but the woman held up her hand.

"No further discussion," her words were firm but not harsh, "off you go."

The woman pulled out a tiny bell and rang it, two servants dressed in dark brown and black robes appeared behind Tao leading him out of the room. 

"Spend out some Thorns to go after them," the woman ordered.

"My Lady, you know they don't stand a chance against Sun Wukong and those accompanying him," Messenger stated.

"I am aware," the woman took a sip from her cup, "I'm simply stalling for time. I need to earn the child's trust before I can use him to his full potential. Keep me informed about the waves of Thorns and updated on Sun Wukong's location.

A devious smile formed on her lips as she drank from her cup again.

The sun was starting to set in the sky as the dronecopter flew through the clouds. Wukong leaned against the railing in silence before looking at the ragdoll of himself that MK had given to Tao when he was a few months old.

"Hang on Buddy," Wukong whispered to himself, "I'm on my way."