||To Change a Destiny||

{~Chapter 20: Separation~}

A few days later, Pigsy, Tang, and Monkey King were back at the camp while Sandy, Mei, Red Son and Bai He were sitting by a river. None of them knew what to say. A lot had happened. So much so that they could barely keep track of anything.

"...Do you guys think MK is okay?" Mei suddenly asked, kicking a small pebble into the water. Red Son scoffed.

"It's the Noodle Boy. He's too stubborn to be brought down." Despite his words, Red Son was visibly worried. It's been days since their last encounter with the Lady Bone Demon. Who knows what could have happened in that time.

"I'm sure MK is still in there somewhere!" Sandy piped up. "He's way too strong to be defeated by that demon!"

Bai He nodded. "Yeah... Yeah! Once we get all three rings, we'll be strong enough to rescue MK and defeat her! This plan's gotta work... right?"

Red Son crossed his arms and turned to look in the direction of the camp. "...It depends on whatever plan that simian has in mind. All he told us was that we need to find the rings and reforge the fire... he never said anything about what we do afterwards."

The fire demon didn't share the rest of his concerns... Ever since they left, he's had this horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. He felt like everything was going to go horribly wrong. It was worrisome enough that he just found out the fire was created by him. And that's leaving out the thought of what Wukong even plans to do with the fire once it's reforged. There were so many things wrong with this...

Mei suddenly called out to him. "Hey! Red Boy! Come on, snap out of it! They've already got the van pulled up!"

He blinked, and his annoyance flared up once more. "For the last time, it's...!! Ugh. Never mind. Let's just go."

He hopped into the back of the van with the others, and soon enough they were driving once again.

He didn't even notice they were heading in the wrong direction.

<***>

Looking back on it, Tang doesn't know how they managed to drive off without noticing that FOUR of their friends had vanished. They were already a good distance away from the campsite before Pigsy noticed the silence and stopped the van dead in its tracks. 

Tang immediately jumped out and began panicking. "We didn't just leave them all at the campsite, did we?!"

Pigsy clenched his fist. "Nah, nah something's wrong... I can feel it."

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise from the bushes, catching both of their attention. Before long, a horrifying, scorpion-like silhouette emerged and advanced towards them. Shrieking, Pigsy snatched up Tang and ran back into the van, slamming the door behind them.

Once they were safe inside, the two heard the beast outside, slamming against the van trying to get in. Tang and Pigsy clung onto each other, horrified.

"This would be a great time for Monkey King to wake up!!!" Tang shrieked.

<***>

Thinking about it now, Mei probably should have realized something was up even before they got into the supposed van. The lack of Pigsy rambling about noodle recipes should have tipped them off within the first five minutes.

Instead, what happened was they managed to get gods know how far from the campsite before Red Son noticed they weren't even heading in the right direction. What followed was a chaotic situation where he, Mei, Sandy and Bai He had to fight off the Six-Eared Macaque, who had hunted them down.

When they finally managed to get away, they had another problem to deal with.

"Ughhh... Dumb Macaque... dumb desert... not blaming any of you guys or anything." Mei groaned, holding her jacket over herself and Bai He to give them some shade.

Red Son, who wasn't struggling in the immense heat but just overall sick and tired from the fight, glared at her in return. "I just... I can't even with you right now, you stupid Dragon Girl..."

Sandy, who was carrying all three of them on his back (bless his soul), tried to lighten the mood, despite being exhausted himself and was about ready to just collapse. "Don't worry, gang... We just have to keep moving... forever and ever... until... we're..."

He fell face first into the sand before he could finish. Everyone had reached their breaking point, and just straight up fell unconscious. The last thing Red Son heard before blacking out was a low, familiar growl. The demon then felt himself being carefully picked up.

"The little thief's friends..."