*The Team Dronecopter has sunk below the ocean.*
"We're alive. We're alive!" Tang cheered in relief, but probably a bit too early when the vehicle breaks under the pressure and water pools in faster.
"Maybe hold that thought?" said Mei looking at the water coming in.
"Here we finally get away from Macaque and now we all get to drown!" said Pigsy in frustration.
"This drone, it's not water adventure friendly!" said Sandy.
"Monkey King, you've gotta do something!" said MK in a panic turning to Wukong.
"Huh? Why? A little water never hurt no— Oh! Right, mortality." said Wukong before realizing the problem.
Miwa was having a complete panic attack, falling to the floor and breathing hard. "C....c-can't b-b....breathe...." Her eyes were looking around for any escape.
"Miwa just take a deep breath and think of a calm and peaceful place." said Sandy, trying to help her.
"Miwa, remember what we agreed on before Lady Bone Demon attacked us? Try and think back to that." said MK, thinking that if she thought about them going on a date after all of this would work.
Wukong watched as everyone tried to calm Miwa's panic attack. He knew that she didn't like water after what happened all those years ago when she was only a baby. But seeing the effect it had on her to this day, had him worried and feel a little guilty.
Miwa however, was so lost in her panic that she couldn't hear the voices of the others. Instead flashes of memories of her falling into deep water as a baby kept appearing.
What made it all worse was her body started fading once more, causing a painful shock to course through her. Forcing Miwa to scream in pain even though she hardly had any breath to make an actual sound.
.
.
.
Suddenly someone pulled Miwa into a tight hug, and a soft voice spoke in a calm manner. "It's alright, I'm here Miwa."
Miwa opened her eyes that she hadn't even noticed she had closed until now. And saw that Wukong was the one hugging her.
Wukong gently stroke her head, not saying another word as he could feel her body starting to relax.
The others were a bit surprised when seeing this. None of them had been able to snap Miwa out of her panic attack. Yet, Wukong was able to do it.
Miwa didn't say a word and just stayed in the hug for a good while until she felt better and pulled away. But still stayed close for safety and to not have another panic attack.
But then a beep sounds off a warning of an incoming object.
"What was that?" Mei asked.
"Something big!" shouted MK.
"Guys, relax. Pretty sure this is just an old friend of mine come to help out." said Wukong all relaxed.
Miwa takes a look and raises an eyebrow at Wukong. "You sure?"
The Dragon Turtle submarine sees Wukong and proceeds to take their vehicle. "Actually, friend might be stretching it."
*They're all tossed into the Dragon Palace of the East Sea. They tremble at first before gazing in awe at the palace.*
"The Dragon Palace of the East Sea. We're in the Dragon Palace of the East Sea!" said Mei all excited and began taking pictures with her phone.
Miwa took a glance at the palace and already had the urge to steal something from it. But with her limited powers and a broken arm, she wouldn't be able to steal much.
"Yeah, this is my kind of my sorta old buddy's house, where I got the staff." said Wukong, giving a shrug while pulling Miwa into a side hug. Making sure she wouldn't get another panic attack.
"Got? Or..." Pigsy questioned him.
Miwa gave Wukong an unimpressed glance. "Took you mean."
"Took, right? You took it? Oh, boy." said MK, already getting a bad feeling about this.
Miwa quickly got out of the hug and went to stand next to MK and Mei. Not wanting any part of what was probably about to go down.
"Oh, here they come! Smiles, everyone, smiles!" said Wukong, putting on a big smile. The palace guards reveal the Dragon of the East. "Heyyy, Ao Guang! Long time no—"
"SUN WUKONG! You dare return to my domain? After humiliating me, tricking me?" said Ao Guang, infuriated when seeing Wukong.
"What-wha? The staff? But th-that's a total misunderstanding—" said Wukong trying to play it off as if it wasn't anything serious.
"And now I have learned that it has been lost?! You have given the evil Lady Bone Demon exactly what she needs to destroy us all! I should execute you where you stand!" said Ao Guang angrily, with a cold glare in his eyes.
"I thought you said he was your friend." Mei whispered.
"He knows about the Lady Bone Demon?" MK whispered.
"We are so screwed." Miwa whispered.
"What are we going to do?!" Tang whispered in a panic.
"Relax, I got this." Wukong whispered, going on to pat Miwa's head before then putting on a bright smile again. "Hmm, maybe you forgot. I am the Great Sun Wu—" Ao Guang uses his dragon form to knock Wukong back.
"Do not try to fool me a second time, trickster! I can sense your weakness. Your power is all but consumed." said Ao Guang, folding his hands behind his back.
The palace guards prepare to execute them.
"Whoa, whoa." said Sandy, slowly backing away.
"I really wish I had my powers right now." Miwa tried using her cosmic powers, but only a faint energy could be seen forming around her raised hand.
Mei brings out her Dragon Blade as she gets ready to fight.
"Halt! Where did you get that?" Ao Guang asked when seeing the sword.
"Um, it's mine? My family's?" Mei answered, slightly confused.
"I know this blade. It belonged to my brother, the Dragon of the West. You mean to tell me you are a descendant of Ao Ji?" said Ao Guang, to which Mei nodded.
"Uh, Mr. Dragon of the East, sorry to interrupt this little family whatever it is, but... you know about the Lady Bone Demon." MK brings out the map to the Rings of Samadhi. "What she's capable of. We can stop her, we just need—" Ao Guang uses his dragon form to take away the map. "Hey!"
"You would tell me how to protect my people? When you have unleashed this blight back into the world?" Ao Guang questioned in a stern tone.
"Wow. Okay. Fresh wound. Just going to let that bounce off me." said MK, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Hey!" Miwa took a step forward, eyes slightly flashing golden as she narrowed them. "We did everything we could to stop it from happening. MK isn't looking down on your fucking capabilities when protecting your people! He has a good heart and just wanna help!"
"Mimi..." said MK, growing slightly worried.
Wukong gave an awkward laugh and slowly tried pulling Miwa back. "Please excuse Freckles here, she has been through a lot as you can see."
Miwa just kept glaring at Ao Guang, her body slowly getting surrounding by cosmic energy.
Ao Guang glared at her while keeping a calm demeanor. "While she might not be in her monkey form, I can clearly see that she takes after you Sun Wukong."
Miwa tried breaking free from Wukong's hold on her, but he wasn't given her any chances as he didn't want things to get worse.
"Bring the girl. Imprison the rest." said Ao Guang as he started walking away.
"Mei!" shouted MK and Miwa.
"Huh?" Tang and Pigsy began being taken to the prison with the rest.
"What did I do?" Sandy asked.
"Don't worry, guys! I-I'll figure something out! I―" Mei shouted.
Wukong uses telepathic communication to communicate with Mei. "Nothing's more important than getting that map back. Understand?" To which Mei nods in response.
Mei is dragged away by the attendant. Sandy moves to leave with the rest of the group.
"Not you. You're on clean up duty." said a palace guard, stopping Sandy from following the others.
*Inside the prison cell.*
"My mother was right! Associate with the wrong people and see where you end up!" Tang exclaimed with tears running down his face.
"I ain't gonna sit around and wait. I'm breaking us out of here. Using... this!" Pigsy pulls out a spoon and scratches it against their prison.
"A spoon?" MK and Miwa questioned confused.
"Oh, there's nothing a spoon can't fix. Oh, this baby will have us out of here in no time!" Pigsy stabs the spoon at the wall, which breaks the spoon. He pulls another spoon out.
"Ugh! If I still had the rest of my powers I could portal us all out of this place!" Miwa kicked a wall in annoyance.
"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. I mean, yeah I too don't have any of my powers. Let alone Monkey King. But I'm sure we can figure something out." MK tried cheering her up while ignoring the sound of Pigsy breaking another spoon.
"The kid is right, all we can do right now is wait. Unless of course, Pigsy is able to dig us out in time." said Wukong pointing towards Pigsy who was still trying to dig through the wall.
Miwa glanced over at Pigsy, an unimpressed look on her face. "Riight..."
"By the way, how are you actually doing Miwa?" Tang asked.
"What do you mean?" Miwa used her free hand to motion to herself. "I'm tired, hardly have any powers, my arm is fucking broken again. Not to mention... Macaque FUCKING STABBED ME!!!"
Thinking back to what Macaque did, had Miwa all shaken up since she never thought any of her parents would do that. So being reminded of that betrayal had her body start fading out again. Which once more sent a painful shock through her. Causing Miwa to fall to the floor screaming in pain.
"Miwa!" MK and Tang rushed to her side, both worried but didn't know what to do. Let alone what was causing this.
Wukong just as worried for her, trying thinking it over what the reason was. It clearly had something to do with her seeming to fade out of existence, but the cause of it was the thing he needed to figure out first.
Thinking it over carefully on the scenarios that led up to all of this. The dagger Macaque used clearly caused the pain that was happening to Miwa right now, but that only seemed to happen whenever she was fading out of existence...
Wukong walked over and gently stroke Miwa's head as to try and comfort her. "Hey Freckles, just focus on my voice. Everything is gonna be fine, I'll be right by your side. You can trust me on that, I wouldn't leave you."
MK, Tang and even Pigsy who had stopped digging the wall looked over at Wukong. Surprised to see him like this, but hoped it would snap Miwa out of the pain she was going through.
But Miwa instead shook her head and tried covering her ears while crying out in pain with tears running down her face. She couldn't get herself to trust his words, in any of her parents words anymore. In the end, they would still in some way break that trust. Macaque already did by stabbing her, so how could she trust Wukong wouldn't do something similar.
Wukong thought his words would have worked, yet it seems like it did the opposite. "Macaque you big fu–idiot! I thought we agreed with Miwa that we wouldn't mix her into our mess. That we would at least keep her safe this time. Yet look at what you did." He took a deep breath, trying to calm his raging thoughts.
"What are we gonna do?" MK asked with concern looking over at Wukong. "What is even causing this to happen?"
"It must have something to do with that dagger Macaque used. But it isn't one I've seen before in any book or scroll I've read." said Tang, trying to remember anything of such dagger but nothing came to mind.
"..... I have a theory. But I can't say for sure." said Wukong, still stroking Miwa's head as he tried to comfort her in any way he could.
Miwa's eyes for a moment changed to red, causing her screaming to slowly decrease. Until the pain was all gone and her eyes turned back to normal as she had lost consciousness.
"Hey, looks like you were able to have her calm down." said MK with a relieved smile.
"Huh, seems like showing comfort in other ways also works." said Tang, sighing in relief.
Wukong however, seemed more skepitc with this sudden change when he noticed the colors in her eyes before she passed out. "Strange, for a moment I thought I felt someone else's presence in her."
"Whatever is causing this to happen. I hope you are able to find a way to fix this. For Miwa's own sake, I'm not sure how much she can take if this keeps happening." said Pigsy, before going back to digging at the wall, having to use another spoon since he had just broken one again.
Wukong glanced at Miwa with a concerned look and sighs. "Whatever Macaque did, I promise I'll find a way to fix this my little monkey."
Miwa slowly started waking up, letting out a groan as she tried getting up.
"Woah, Lulu. You sure it's a good idea to get up right away?" MK quickly got to her side as he helped her stay standing.
"I'll be fine.... just need to focus on something else so.... so that doesn't happen again." said Miwa, but avoided making eye contact with Wukong. Worried it might happen again if she looked at him.
Wukong felt a little hurt when she avoided his gaze but could understand why. With what Macaque did, it was clear that she had a hard time trusting him as well.
"Did I miss anything?" Miwa asked, giving a slight smile.
MK was about to answer when Pigsy spoke up instead.
"Alright. Everyone hold tight. I'm getting us out of here! Just five or six more―" said Pigsy having made a small hole with his spoon.
"Years?" Tang said, causing a small chuckle with both MK and Miwa.
"Hey! It ain't like the hole's gonna just suddenly make itself!" Pigsy exclaimed.
Just then, suddenly Mei and Sandy crash into the wall.
"Mei! Sandy! You jailbreaked us! Y-You broke the jail! We're free!" MK cheered.
"That's right! I got the map, too!" They, sans Pigsy, immediately all crowd in the front. "Hey, you know there's more room in the back, right?"
"Whoa, cool!" said MK, amazed.
"Please let me drive this thing. I might have a broken arm but I can work with that." said Miwa.
She tried grabbing the wheel but was sadly stopped by the others. "NO!"
Miwa let out a huff and tried crossing her arms. "Way to ruin the fun."
"Slay, Mei! That dress looks fierce!" said Tang.
"I know. And also, MK, I got you this!" Mei went on and handed MK a bag.
"A new bag? This changes my whole look! It's like a whole new me! Dreams really do come true!" said MK, all excited.
"Mimi! I also got something for you! You're gonna love it!" Mei went on and handed Miwa a single random-looking pill.
".... What?" Miwa were all excited at first, before then losing all excitement when she saw what it was. "What the fuck am I gonna do with this?"
"You eat it, just like this." Mei raised Miwa's hand that had the pill and then forced it right into her mouth. Causing Miwa to swallow it.
Miwa for right reason slapped Mei's hand away from her mouth. "What the fuck Mei?!"
Suddenly Miwa got a strange feeling from her broken arm. And the next thing she knew, it wasn't broken anymore. Not only that but it felt a lot better than it had ever done in her whole life.
Miwa was in disbelief at what had happened and wanted to give her arm a closer look. But right now, they needed to get out of here.
"Let's go!" shouted Mei.
"It's okay, Spoony, we both know who loosened that wall first." Pigsy whispered to his spoon.
"Piggy, c'mon!" shouted Mei at him.
After getting Pigsy in the van, they all drove at full speed out of the cell.
"Okay, we're in an underwater city, in a van. Does anyone else see the problem here?!" Pigsy questioned.
"R-right, forgot about the u-u-underwater city.... P-part." Miwa stuttered, already feeling herself getting another panic attack.
Wukong hesitated for a moment before slowly placing a hand on her shoulder. Not saying a word, but at least trying to stop her from having another panic attack.
Her grown panic attack slowly began to go away as she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. Clearly Wukong even though he didn't say anything. But for the moment Miwa didn't mind it, as it was the only comfort so far that could keep her somewhat stable.
Sandy laughs. "Oh, my sweet and sour Pigsy. I've got us covered." He went on to explain. "Welcome to the Total Environment Automobile! Or T.E.A. for short!"
"Huh, TEA, very fitting and so you." said Miwa giving a shrug.
Sandy sighs happily. "I think this is what true love feels like. Oh, and one more thing. He presses a button, converting the T.E.A. "It's water adventure friendly!"
Miwa's face started turning pale when hearing the water part, and she slowly had her right hand grab a hold on Wukong's sleeve for comfort.
Wukong took notice of it but didn't say anything. As long as it made her not have another panic attack that was good enough.
Ao Guang appears with his dragon form before the entrance, with the Dragon Turtle submarine behind. Sandy jerks the vehicle away and Ao Guang opens the back door.
"I will not allow you to leave with that map!" shouted Ao Guang.
"What are you not getting? Using the Samadhi Fire's the only way we're going to stop the Lady Bone Demon!" said Wukong, growing slightly frustrated.
"The Samadhi Fire cannot be contained!" shouted Ao Guang.
"Your Dragoness, please!" MK pleaded.
"We don't have any other choice!" Mei exclaimed.
"It's either that or everyone is done for!" shouted Miwa, just as frustrated as Wukong at this point.
Wukong and Ao Guang are suddenly alerted of another threat, Macaque is nearing.
"He's coming." said Wukong, then glanced over at Miwa going on to pull her into a side hug for comfort.
"Macaque? He's here?!" MK exclaimed in a panic.
Miwa's body already started fading before her eyes changed to red. Keep her somewhat stable from any pain.
"I can't keep doing this for the wish. Just keeping it stable already before Macaque used that dagger. Took a lot of what powers I have in this body. But having to keep the wish stable and avoid the pain takes a lot more out of me. Even when I have no choice anymore after that." Red Star thought to herself while trying to lower her presence so Wukong wouldn't notice it this time.
"Um, we should leave. Now!" shouted Tang.
"If he captures us, the map..." Wukong turned to look at both MK and Miwa with concern.
"Hmm... all hope truly will be lost." Ao Guang sighs. "I'll hold him off. Go."
Mei grabs Ao Guang's arm. "Thank you, great-great-great-thousand-times-great uncle!" He puts a hand on hers and gives a parting smile.
Ao Guang then goes on and opens the back gate for them.
"So, they sent you to slow me down." said Macaque with a smirk.
"You and the one you serve are not welcome in this city." Ao Guang brings out his dragon form.
Macaque chuckles. "You don't really think you can stop me, right?" He brings out his Shadow Monkeys and the Smoke Monster and charges at the Ao Guang.
Their battle explodes as the team makes for the surface. Miwa's eyes having changed back to normal once more.