Tales of the Monkey Princess

The Strings that Bind 🪢

Summary:
After a training session with Monkey King, MK discovers the ruins of the stone she was born from on the broken peaks of Flower Fruit Mountain.

On Flower Fruit Mountain, Monkey King pulls up the staff with a flag attached to it, grinning excitedly. MK is...how you say, not doing so well. She's looking viscerally insomniac, tired bags around her eyes, indicating that she hasn't been sleeping well.

"Alright, class is in session, my young student!" Wukong exclaimed.

MK's head lolled forward as she jolted out of her daze. "Hmm, what...?"

"It's simple! You plant this flag on your Monkie Mountain, you win." Wukong points to MK's poorly decorated mountain. "But, If I plant it on my "Way Better Monkey Mountain" and I win!"
He then points to his very well decorated mountain.

"You ready bud?"

MK nodded in determination. "Ohohoho, I've never been readier! No holding back!" She summoned her cloud, flying towards the simian, "I already said the thing!!"

Her mentor only chuckled, throwing the staff in her direction, making MK recoil back a bit. "What?! Hey! I thought it was "Keep-Aways", not "Throws-at-mes"! " She pouted, her cheeks puffing out. "Well if you wanna play hard-ball, get ready to play har—" Monkey King tries to snatch the staff away before MK kicks him back and flies away.

Monkey King catches up to her as MK laughs manically. "Victory!"

This shocked the great sage at his successor's speed.

"Yeah, I-"

"But not fast enough!"

Monkey King and MK continue fighting to snatch the flag, before MK pushes him away and flies to her mountain. "HAHAHA! You were saying?" She laughed victorious and was about to make her mark.

"HERE...COMES....MONKIE....!"

"King...!"

Monkey King appeared from the rubble and threw her to his mountain, winning the match. The young adult groaned before lifting her head, "Heeeey, no fair!" MK whined, rubbing her head.
"We said no holding back, but you held back the whole time 'till I was right about to win!"

Wukong smugly smiled, "Well I was only holding back a teensy bit! Gotta keep something for you to look up to!" He pulled the staff out of the mountain, making it shake as it sent MK to the edge. "Besides," he dusted the rocks and dirt off her. "I'm not the only one holding back, Maybe if you'd tapped into your monkey form, you could've won!"

Oh right, her monkey form.

MK shuddered at the thought of her newly discovered monkey form. Not to mention the nightmares of the ink demons and the destruction of Azure Lion. Wukong seemed to have notice her mood shifts and asks. "Sweetie, you okay?"

"Oh uh, yeah." MK reassured. "It's fine, it's just—" she gasped slightly, seeing the stone where Monkey King was born. Wukong followed her gaze and realized as well. "Oh. Huh. My stone, I mean...our stone. You know, it's not something we can outrun, right? Your monkey form?"

"Uh, can we—can we just not?" She pleaded, not wanting to talk about it more.

"Uh, can we—can we just not?" She pleaded, not wanting to talk about it more. The Monkey King was going to speak up but closed his mouth. So he decided to change the subject. "So, how are things with you and Red Son?~" he asked with a teasing smile.