Ship In A Bottle (A Monkie Kid Reader Insert)

Chapter 29: Grand Escape

"Thank you!" Pigsy forced a smile out of himself as he gave a bowl of noodles to a customer. "Great happiness and prosperity, this Lunar New Year!"

"Mei, is it just me or does Pigsy seem more...stressed than normal?" Tang commented to the girl, adjusting his glasses while she was folding dumplings, stopping momentarily to see the chef barely holding himself together. "Isn't MK meant to be working today?"

The mere mention of the Monkie Kid's name was enough to make Pigsy explode. "YES TANG, HE IS! WHERE IS THAT PUNK BECAUSE HE SURE AIN'T HERE!"

"He's training with the Monkey King." Mei answered with no signs of being fazed. "He said, 'New year, new MK! I'm gonna take my training to a whole new level'!" She exclaimed, mimicking his actions with a broom in place of his staff.

"Wow..." said the scholar, just moments before Pigsy fumed.

"Give me that!" He barked, grabbing the broom and snapping it into two. "New year, new MK. Keep going like this, he's gonna be newly unemployed!" He continued to rant, pouring soup on another bowl. "I mean it! If MK don't get here soon-" He screeched at the towering figure casting a shadow on him, before getting buried in a pile of assorted items,

"Good cheer and happy New Years!" Sandy greeted, unaware of Pigsy's mood while still carrying Gibby, Rasmus, Alix, and Spindrax on him. All of which, except the very former, hopping off to either regain balance, or holding back the need to puke. "Look at all these delicious little goodies! I got enough to share!"

"Ooo, thanks Sandy!" spoke the Dragon Girl as Gibby hopped on the counter.

"We also brought our new friends!" She chirped with a wagging tail. "What's a new year without new friends, right?"

"Well, we've already met Alix and Spindrax before." Tang reminded her, first meeting Alix just some days or weeks ago, and Spindrax earlier via Mei. "But this is the first time we're meeting the friend at the Weather Station Alix mentioned."

"No wonder you really wanted to come here." Alix teased her friend, who chuckled dryly while still trying to recover from the ride Sandy gave him.

"It would indeed be false to say it's not the truth." Rasmus gave a close-eyed smile, combing back any stray hairs. "I think I deserve an opportunity to meet the city's heroes too, no?"

"Speaking of heroes..." Spindrax joined in. "I know Bell's still out passing missing posters, but where's the monkey man?"

"Oh yeah." Sandy noted, seeing no signs of the bandana wearing hero. "Where's MK?"

"Would you guys please screw around somewhere else?!" Pigsy emerged from the pile of goodies, causing an orange to fall off the truck. "I got a business to run so if you ain't gonna help, go bother some other noodle shop owner!"

Pigsy's voice faded away as the orange slipped through the sewer slits, bouncing its way to the Spider Queen's lair.

"Ugh, keep laughing." She ranted. "Just wait 'till you see what I've got cooking, then you'll have something to celebrate."

"Only one hair left." Opening her hand, her gaze landed on the last strand of MK's hair. The last of the clump that she tore off of him from their last encounter. "This little piece of that Monkie Kid holds all the power I need." She murmured to herself, then felt her patience being tested by the scientist nearby. "You finished tinkering yet?"

"I have constructed what you asked for. The delivery systems are operational." He deadpanned, a small bit of confidence still there as the microphone recorded everything for Vulpes to hear. "So long as the venom works this time."

That bit of confidence vanished immediately as he narrowly avoided being impaled by one of Spider Queen's legs. "The venom will work." She snarled, only taking her eyes off of him after he gave a wary nod.