*The team is rolling along in the Desert.*
"Are we sure we're going in the right direction?" Sandy asked while driving the T.E.A.
"Not a clue. All Monkey King said to do was head west, so—" said Tang.
"How did anyone ever get anywhere using these?" Mei asked holding up the map.
"Not a clue." Miwa answered in a bored tone, wearing the hood of her scarf as it was protecting her from the grown heat.
"Yo, blue thing, want to crank up that AC, brother?" Wukong asked.
"Uh, hey. Little help up front, Monkey King?" Mei asked, but Wukong tilts his head back and snores. "Hey, I know you can hear me!"
"No, I can't." Wukong answered.
Miwa rolled her eyes at this but still wasn't looking at him. She just couldn't get herself to look at Wukong and not see him trying to betray her too and take her life like Macaque.
"Mei, Monkey King needs to recharge after his fight with Ne Zha. He is in no state to waste his time on mere mortals. Especially now that I don't have my powers." MK explained.
"Riight. And no time for his immortal kid." said Miwa, laying her sarcasm on thick.
Everyone could feel the eerie tension between Miwa and Wukong, even though they thought the two would be on better terms right by now.
"Whoa, he told you that?" Pigsy questioned MK at this.
"We have a very honest relationship, Pigsy. Besides, that kind of Mystic Monkey meditation requires complete focus, apparently." MK went on the explain.
Pigsy facepalms while Mei and Miwa sighs.
"Come on, MK, don't be so glum! We'll roll down that window. Lil' fresh air never hurt—" Sandy and Mo scream as flames fly in through the window. "That's so much worse!" Sandy rolls the window back up. Mo stamps out the fire from his hair.
"Kid, you know there's more to you than just your powers, right?" said Pigsy trying to cheer MK up.
"Exactly. I've accepted until I get my staff back, I'm not gonna be the strong one anymore, which is why I'm gonna be... the smart one!" MK declared.
"Excuse me?" Tang gave him a confused look.
"What?" Miwa looked at him dumfounded.
"Oh, MK." Mei facepalms when hearing this.
"a2 + b2 = c2 Oh, that's a triangle, boi!" said MK, trying to sound smart.
Miwa just pulled her hood further over her face. Not wanting to hear him trying to be all smart. "It's like I'm back to when we still went to school."
"Right, so how did this map work exactly? How does it know where to find the three Rings of Samadhi?" Tang asked.
"This sounds like a job for Smartie Kid!" MK examines the map. "I guess that symbol looks kinda like that one?"
"What." Mei rubs the red ring. "Those smudgey-looking things?"
"Yes, right? It's the, you know, firey-looking one?" said MK, pointing on the map.
"Not to rush anyone, but how far 'till the next pit stop? This desert's going on forever!" Pigsy asked, growing slowly frustrated.
"Hm, well if this map is up-to-date, then it looks like we're pretty close to... something?" The others groan. "It's fine, guys! Right, Sandy?" said MK, quickly turning to Sandy who was sitting at the front, still driving.
"Of course, yeah." The T.E.A. breaks down. They look at the thermometer. "Oh, uh, I mean no." said Sandy with a nervous look.
"..... Why am I not surprised." said Miwa with a sigh.
*Sandy takes a look at the engine while the others check out the desert.*
"So, how is meditating going to help him recharge or whatever he's doing?" Mei asked as she was looking at Wukong that was meditating.
Miwa gave Wukong a small glance, crossing her arms while keeping her distance. But could already feel the building pain as her hands were slowly fading out. She took a deep breath trying to focus her mind on other things.
"I don't know. He's a little sketchy on the details." MK recalls what Wukong said before he went into meditation.
*Flashback.*
"Sometimes to find what we lost, we need to begin where we started. Look within ourselves. So I'm gonna do just that and go into some deep meditation. Wake me up some time in the next uh, I don't know, hundred years. 'Kay? Bye!" Wukong enters his transcendental meditation.
"Wait, what?!" MK exclaimed out loud in disbelief.
*End of flashback.*
MK pokes Wukong while Mei snaps photos of him.
Miwa on the other hand thought back to what Wukong had said, as she had listened in to what he told MK even though she had played it off that she was ignoring him.
She still couldn't get herself to trust him, but at the same time. She wanted to as she had so far figured out that whenever she was getting shocks of pain. It was whenever she grew more distant or was in serious stress with her parents. Since that was the only time her body would start fading away.
Miwa had a lot of thoughts going through her head, words she wanted to say out loud but knew it wouldn't make it any better for her or anyone. ".... Dad is trying, in his own stupid way.... Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt for now."
Deciding to trust Wukong for now, Miwa gave him a glance and let out a sigh. "He better not be taking forever with this. While I might live forever, having to wait for far too long will be such a pain."
"Am I hearing this right, or is Mimi finally acknowledging Monkey King and having stopped ignoring him?" Mei questioned with a teasing look on her face.
"Oh thank the Buddha, the tension wasn't fun to be around." said MK, wiping some sweat off his forehead.
Miwa gave the two an unimpressed look with how they were acting. "You guys can be such idiots at times."
" H2OMG, you guys! Is that?" shouted Tang as they see an oasis.
"Water!" Everyone except Miwa dash off and Wukong is tilted over. He groans.
Miwa let out a sigh but walked over and helped Wukong back up. "I'm trusting you for now.... Dad... Since you are at least trying."
As she started moving away, she felt something soft grabbing her hand. Miwa turned to see that Wukong had gently wrapped his tail around her hand. But she could easily pull away if she wanted to.
"....." Miwa rolled her eyes but grew a small smile as one of her tails appeared and was wagging a little. "I'll better catch up with the others."
Pulling her hand free she quickly went to catch up with the others. But when she left Wukong had opened one of his eyes, observing Miwa as she left. A soft smile appearing on his face before closing his eye once more.
*With the others that was talking to some Goldfish Demon.*
"Hm, that'll get you nothin like this." The Goldfish Demon whips out a shiny engine.
"It's beautiful." Mei whispered.
"But we could never afford something like that. I bet it cost like a bajillion moneys." said MK, not seeing how they could ever afford that.
"Well, you could always win the engine." said the Goldfish Demon.
"Win?!" MK exclaimed.
"What's this about winning?" Miwa asked walking over.
"Mimi! What took you so long to catch? Oh! You even got one of your tails back?!" Mei shouted all excited and pulled her into a side hug.
Miwa went on and used her tail to shove Mei away from her. "Yeah, you don't have to shout it right into my ear like that." She rubbed her ear that Mei had been shouting into.
"Oops, sorry. It's just nice seeing you in a better mood and slowly getting back your monkey parts." said Mei rubbing the back of her neck. "I can't wait to see your adorable monkey face again."
Miwa gave her an unimpressed look. "You better not take another picture of me with that face."
"Aww, but you look so adorable with that face." Mei pleaded with big sparkly eyes.
The sound of someone clearing their throat gained the two's attention to the Goldfish Demon. Who sets up the Desert Deal of the Day. "Welcome to Desert Deal of the Day! With me, your host, the Goldfish Demon!" The cardboard audience cheers. "The rules, they are simple: you put up something of value in order to win something of value. Win the game, get the prize!"
"We just have to win one game, and the sparkly cool-looking engine thingy is ours?" MK asked.
"You got it, tiger." said the Goldfish Demon.
"Hmm, team huddle! Alright, we got this. We battled demons and spiders and bulls! A game show ain't nothin'. Plus, with my newfound smart-boy brain, this should be a piece of cake. I mean, what do we have to lose?" said MK as the gang huddle together to discuss.
"I don't know MK, this seems a little.... fishy to me. And I'm not talking about the Goldfish guy here." said Miwa, glancing over at the demon and narrowed her eyes.
"Uh, what do we have to lose?" Tang asked.
They pop their heads out as MK asks Goldfish Demon. "Hey, uh, what happens if we lose?"
"No, that's simple, really: Winner takes all! Everything you wager is forfeit should you lose." The Goldfish Demon laughs evilly.
"Yeah, alright." They get back into huddling. "Okay, so, what do we wager?"
"This feels more like a scam." said Miwa until a small idea came to her head. "But if we have to, why don't we start with something with good value?"
The gang gave Miwa a glance when hearing her suggestion. Pigsy and Tang were getting a feeling she was plotting something.
The Goldfish Demon pops into the huddle. "Remember, it has to be something of equal value." He leaves the huddle.
"Equal value? Like what?" Mei asked.
*MK slaps down the Dragon Blade on the counter.*
"Alright, we're ready to play!" MK declared.
"Uh, MK? I have second thoughts. Sorry, Goldfish Man, we need to uh strategize a little bit more—" Mei started to think this wasn't so good idea.
"Wager accepted! Let the game begin! This game is called One Shell Monty." said The Goldfish Demon, quickly cutting her off.
"Hey, I'm Monty." said the turtle known as Monty.
"The rules are simple: I place Monty under one of these three plates. Give them a shuffle and you point to the one that contains Monty." The Goldfish Demon explained.
"Three plates, three rings." MK gasps. "Like a triangle! I can do this! Don't worry, Mei, my big-boy smart brain won't let us down."
Miwa placed a hand on MK's shoulder giving a big grin and a thumbs-up. "You go this bud! You just focus all your brain on winning this."
"Thanks Lulu!" said MK, happy that she had his back and believing that he would win.
Tears have appeared in Mei's eyes. "It was nice knowing you, Dragon Sword."
"Alright, oh, let's go!" The Goldfish Demon switches around the plate. "Where... is... Monty?!"
While everyone else was focus on the game, Miwa carefully snuck away from the gang and went to the very back of the Goldfish Demon's storage and began looking at what he had.
"Sorry MK, but right now you are the best distraction. No one should have noticed me being gone for a good while." Miwa took a glance around until she found the engine. "Bingo!"
Miwa picked up the engine, making sure not to make a sound but now there was just one problem. How was she gonna get out with this without anyone seeing her.
"I really wish I had my shadow powers right now. It made stealing stuff so much easier." Miwa let out a sigh and looked up towards the sky. "I could try and travel through the air. But I really don't wanna take that risk."
Miwa put the engine back down and snuck a small glance from behind the Goldfish Demon standing by the counter.
"Pigsy, trust me! Based on the Law of Averages, I'm bound to win eventually." said MK, trying to reassure Pigsy as it looked like he had put one of the deeps for Pigsy's Noodles into the game.
"That is not how math works!" Pigsy shouted at him.
"Okay, here we go again! Where... is... Monty?!" said the Goldfish Demon with a confident smile.
"Take the right side of the right triangle..." MK calculates, muttering about a2's, b2's, and c2's. "There!" He points to the middle.
The Goldfish Demon lifts it. "Yo, tough break, little buddy! Dare to try again?"
"Looks like this is gonna take a while, good for me." Miwa moved away and took a deep breath. Closing her eyes as she tried to remember her shadow training with Macaque.
*Flashback.*
"Unlike your other powers, shadow manipulation is a lot more tricky to learn. So we need to take it slow otherwise it won't end well." Macaque explained to her, waiting for her to join him in the middle.
"Did it take you a long time to learn it?" Miwa asked out of curiosity while walking over to him.
Macaque chuckled at her curiosity of him, finding it endearing that she wanted to know more. "Yeah it did, but at some point I got the hang of it."
A smile grew on Miwa's face, her tails wagging in excitement. "What do we start with?"
"Let's start with you trying to make a shadow clone of yourself." said Macaque as he demonstrated it by summoning a shadow clone of himself, coming out of the shadows leaning over and resting an arm over his shoulder with a smug grin.
*End of Flashback.*
Miwa's body began fading by thinking back to those times when Macaque began teaching her how to use her shadow powers.
With her body fading a painful shock shot through Miwa as she had to forced back her screaming so it only came out as weak wailing.
*Flashback.*
"You need to focus and envision it, and the moment you feel a slight pull you take it. If you show any kind of hesitation you'll be pulled in instead, which we do not want." Macaque explained to her, crossing his arms.
"Okay doesn't sound that hard." Miwa looked over at some shadows, slowly raising her hand as she tried to focus on the pull.
"Like your confidence, but don't push it, Starlight." said Macaque watching her closely, and stood ready should anything go wrong.
*End of flashback.*
Tears were running down Miwa's face while trying to hold back her painful screams. Does memories were so painful as she kept thinking back to him stabbing her.
Miwa tried thinking of other memories of better times. Those that wouldn't cause her this kind of pain.
*Flashback.*
"... Okay." said Miwa after glancing at her new scarf and began wrapping it around her neck, though wearing a hoodie was making it a little stuffy. "I might need to get a new outfit to match this. But otherwise, I love it very much."
Macaque couldn't help but laugh when seeing how stuffy her hoodie and scarf made her look, covering half of her face where only her eyes were noticeable. "Aw, you're too adorable looking like this."
"Papaaa." Miwa exclaimed in annoyance, her face flustering at this.
Macaque gently patted her head with a soft smile. "I'm happy you're alive, Miwa, and having you back in my life."
*End of flashback.*
Remembering those last words when Macaque told her that had her seeming to calm down with the pain slowly going away.
"... Mac is a trickster and a good liar..... but..." Miwa repeated those words in her head and the way he spoke them. Yet he sounded so honest and slightly emotional.
Miwa started having questions building up in her head but decided to push those aside and instead focused on her old training she had with him.
Closing her eyes and raising her hands. Miwa focused on the words Wukong had mentioned by searching inside herself and then remembering Macaque's teaching with the shadows.
As Miwa was focusing, her other tail appeared along with a dark-brown marking across her face, even her extra set of ears and more of her red hair had turned white, not to mention her actual face changed to look more like a monkey.
Miwa could feel that cold yet familiar feeling of the shadows, so when she opened her eyes she was surprised to see that she had made a shadow portal. ".... It worked."
A smile spread across Miwa's face. "My powers are returning."
With a determined look, Miwa used her returned shadow powers to bring the engine back to the T.E.A along with a few other items, after that she was able to sneakily use the shadows to return to the gang without them noticing her being gone.
" Kid, just forget it. We don't got anything else to bet." said Pigsy, trying to comfort MK after having lost another round.
"He's right, you know. Besides, what more could a goldfish want? I have all the treasures in the world!" said the Goldwish Demon as he let out a laugh.
"Yeah, MK would be very bad in gambling games. By the looks of this." said Miwa crossing her arms.
"Mimi!" Mei tackled Miwa into a tight hug and just started crying. "If MK hadn't lost my Dragon Sword, I would be taking so many pictures of your cute monkey face having returned!"
"Now that you mention it, Miwa, it looks like you got back your old face marking and even both of your tails." Tang questioned when taking notice of it.
"Huh?" Miwa raised an eyebrow when hearing this. But a small smile grew on her face. "Even my monkey form is returning."
"Come on, MK, you can do this. Ah, if only I had my Gold Vision." MK gasps. "Wait, I do have one last thing I could wager." He shakily holds up the map to the Rings of Samadhi. The group gasps in horror.
"MK don't you fucking dare!" shouted Miwa at him, giving him a cold glare. They needed that map and she couldn't believe he would really take the risk of gambling that away.
"MK, don't be crazy! It took everything Monkey King had to get that map. You can't just—" Tang exclaimed.
"I bet... the power of friendship!" shouted MK.
"What?!" MK grabs the group and tosses them into the big pile of items he had lost to the game.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Mei shouted simultaneously.
"What?!" shouted Tang simultaneously and in disbelief.
"What are you doing?!" Pigsy simultaneously shouted in anger.
"MK you son of a bitch! I am not a fucking prize to bet with let alone the rest of us?!" Miwa shouted simultaneously, cosmic energy slowly surrounding her by the growing rage coming from her.
"Uh, yeah, I don't think this is—" said the Goldfish Demon a little thrown off by MK doing this.
"There is nothing more valuable than friendship. And there is no way I can lose if my friends are at stake." said MK with full confidence while ignoring the raging cosmic energy coming from Miwa.
"Well, I suppose I could use a servant.. or four! Alright, you're on!" said the Goldfish Demon, taking on MK's bet.
"I am no one's servant! And if you lose this MK. I will rage hell for you and fucking cook that fish?!" Miwa exclaimed.
"You heard her MK! You better win this!" shouted Tang at him.
Mei and Pigsy joined in by throwing out threats of what would happen if he lost.
"Come on, MK, you can't let your friends down." MK manages to tap into his Gold Vision.
"So, where... is... Monty?!" asked the Goldfish Demon after having switched around the three plates.
MK observed the three plates carefully, using his Gold Vision as he finally locked his eyes on one of them. "The one in the middle!"
"Oh, so sad, too bad, but you could—" The Goldfish Demon gasps when he sees Monty. "What? Impossible! How did you—"
"It's simple, really. You were fooling us the whole time but I, Monkie Kid, delivery boy, somewhat equal to Heaven, saw right through your trick." MK puts his hand under the contraption in the table.
"What?!" shouted Mei simultaneously.
"Knew it!" shouted Pigsy simultaneously.
"Told you it was a scam." said Miwa simultaneously while giving a small shrug.
"You rigged this table so that no matter what plate Monty was under, he would drop out from under it just as your contestant made their choice, which makes you a cheater!" MK declared as an enraged Pigsy, Mei, and Tang immediately appear before the Goldfish Demon.
"Now, now, now, listen. Uh, we can make a deal! Friends?" said the Goldfish Demon grown a bit nervous.
Mei laughs menacingly. "We'll make a deal, alright."
"I already got the engine, along with most of all of his treasures. So we shouldn't worry about that." said Miwa as she was scratching her head.
"WHAT?! You stole from me!" shouted the Goldfish Demon shocked.
"How did you steal without us noticing it?" MK asked.
"Like you got your Gold Vision powers back, I got my shadow powers back. So it was pretty easy for me to steal from him, more so while you were distracting him." said Miwa with a big grin.
"She is so the Monkey King's daughter." Pigsy and Tang thought in unison.
"Anyway, I wouldn't stop you guys from teaching that fish what happens when you cheat." said Miwa, crossing her arms behind her back while having a smug look on her face that were simliar to Macaque's.
".... She is so Macaque's daughter." MK and Mei thought with slight concern before Mei, Pigsy and Tang turned their attention back to the Goldfish Demon.
*They managed to get all their items back and Sandy finishes up with the new engine that Miwa had stolen and portaled back.*
"And we are ready to go!" said Sandy for all to know.
"So wait, how did you get back your Gold Vision again? And how did you get your shadow powers back?" Mei asked.
"I don't know. The same way I got them in the first place I guess?" MK recalls all his past times when he achieved a new power. "Every time I learned a new ability, it was because there was something I needed to do, when there was no other way. Against the Goldfish guy, I needed to do something to save my friends."
Miwa gave a small shrug. "I just remember Dad's words when he spoke with MK before going to meditation. Along with how Papa taught me in the first place with these powers."
"Yeah, friends that you put in danger on purpose." said Pigsy crossing his arms.
"Yeah, right, uh huh, like I said: Save my friends and then haha I don't know, it just happened." said MK, not sure how else to explain it.
"You found your strength." Wukong leaves his meditation trance. "When you needed it most."
"Oh, I guess someone's done meditating." said Mei.
"Looks like it didn't take years." said Miwa crossing her arms.
"This whole time, I thought my powers came from the staff." said MK, looking over at Wukong.
"The staff's just a big ol' stick, bud. Takes someone special to lift it. Well, one power down. Just a few thousand more to go!" said Wukong as he placed a hand on MK's shoulder.
Miwa gave a small smile before climbing up to the top bunk bed. Feeling a bit tired after all of this. As they blast off west through the desert.
"So you were listening when I spoke to the kid? huh." Wukong had gotten up to her bunk bed and sat down at the side of it. A big grin on his face. "And here I thought you were ignoring me."
"What do you want Dad?" Miwa asked, turning her head to look over at him.
"Just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you." Wukong reached over a hand and gently patted her head. "I know I haven't been the best parent. And your trust in me isn't much after what Macaque did. But you just giving me a chance is enough for me."
Miwa didn't say anything but were taken slightly by surprise. She thought he would make some stupid promise that he would end up breaking. But he didn't, instead he seemed to have accepted the situation and the thin line they were walking on with her trust.
She turned her head and layed face first into her pillow, while having one of her tails wrap around his. "I missed you Dad, and having you around now and then is more than enough for me.... at least for now."
Wukong let out a soft chuckle and stroke her head. "As long as that makes you happy. I'll be around for as long as you want me to."
*Somewhere else.*
"Looks like both part two and now the final part have happened for the end of this wish to happen." said Blue Star.
"This is great and all. But which one of us should go and retrieve the wish dagger from Macaque?" Green Star asked.
"I'll get the wish dagger. While one of you handles our little side problem." said Purple Star.
"I'm not doing it, while I would love to. I've been around the most, so me doing it would not be wise." said Yellow Star.
"I can do it, I've hardly done much besides giving Macaque that wish dagger. So me handling this problem shouldn't be much trouble." said Blue Star.
"I haven't done much either, but I think it would be best if Blue Star did it. As they would be less of a risk." said Green Star.
"True, but I would advise you to be careful. Not that we aren't strong enough to fix this side problem by just one of us. But this problem might prove a little.... difficult." said Yellow Star.
"I'll be careful Yellow Star, but thanks for your warning." said Blue Star.
"Then it's settle, Blue Star will fix the side problem after I've gotten the wish dagger." said Purple Star.