The next day saw MK feeling slightly better.
In fact, he woke up feeling well enough to tag along to the Demon Bull King fortress with Mei. She had become a regular there over the past month, tinkering away with RedSon.
"He has thecoolesttools in there, MK! It would have taken me a month to build this at home!" she gushed as they sped across town in her new jet.
MK admired the machine. "Lookin' good, Mei! Hey, how's the fire training going?"
The Dragon girl flashed a toothy grin and gestured to a big red button on the control panel. "Why don't you see for yourself?"
No one hadeverneeded to tell him twice when it came to pushing big red buttons. As soon as his good hand slammed down, two things happened.
First, he saw and felt the engines go out.
"Uh, Mei..."
Second, they began to fall.
"MEI?!"
The girl in question currently sat next him, eyes closed, body relaxed and calm.
The engines suddenly flared back to life. As MK's panicked eyes darted from engine well to engine well, he could the normal flame replaced by a trail of bright green.
''Whoa! Mei, Mei, Mei! Is thatyou?"
She opened her eyes, the normal dark orbs replaced with her green Samhadi Fire. She nodded briefly, then hit a green button that MK had completely disregarded on the panel. He felt the regular engines kick back in as Mei wiped sweat from her brow.
"Red Boi is teaching me real good. I can control it in larger bursts, but man does it take it outta ya!"
They chatted about anything and everything until they landed in the fortress. The Bull Clones were expecting them and led them to RedSon's workshop.
"Ah, Dragon Girl! Right on time, as usual," he eyed MK, "and you brought Noodle Boy. Wonderful."
MK shot Mei a look. There was hardly any hostility in the demon heir's insult- she was making real progress with him!
The three settled into the shop. Mei and Red Son were soon pouring over the schematics for some large vehicle while MK happily doodled nearby.
Several hours later, a Bull Clone came to show them to lunch.
Mei stretched her back and shot a glance over at MK. He had taken one of the pain pills prescribed for his arm awhile ago, and had apparently fallen asleep.
"Aww, Red Boy, look!"
The fiery demon raised a brow as he watched her snap blackmail photos of her friend. Yes, he was making good progress with her.
Of course, he took the thought back a moment later when she plucked her jacket from the back of a chair and covered the Noodle Boy with it.
"Oh no, Dragon Girl. You are not leaving him here unsupervised!"
"He's asleep! He's not gonna break anything in his sleep!"
He glared and crossed his arms, sparks igniting at the roots of his hair.
Mei rolled her eyes. "He needs the rest! Besides, it's either that, or we have them bring lunch in here. And I know how you feel about food in the shop..."
Flames erupted from red locks and one booted foot stomped in annoyance. "Fine! But if he breaks or steals anything, I'm holding you responsible!"
He turned to the Bull Clone. "You! Stay here and keep an eye on him. If that peasant so much as breathes on my possessions, you will alert me immediately!"
He spun away and out of the workshop, Mei close behind.
"Come on, Red Boy! Look, if he breaks anything, I'll..."
The voices faded, leaving the workshop in near silence. MK slept on, completely oblivious to the soft beeps of the fabricators and other machines; to the stoic presence of the Bull Clone; and to the dark smoke gathering around him.
They had just settled at the table when Red Son's wrist communicator beeped.
Mei, always a fan of tech, leapt from her seat across the table to look at the gadget. "Whatcha got there?"
Red Son instinctively pulled his wrist away from her grabby hands, which were now covered in the noodle broth she had up-ended. "Get off of me, peasant! It's my wrist communicator. Much more convenient than that stone age phone you carry around." He pressed a small button, and an image popped into the air above the device. "Looks like Noodle Boy is... wait, whatis that?"
Mei looked from the tech to the image and froze.
The picture was in pink-scale, but she could still see it. A shadow, like the one she swore she'd seen yesterday.
Mei didn't need to see the details. She was already a green blue racing back through the fortress, Red Son hot on her heels.
The demon prince slapped the hand scanner to open the workshop before Mei could break the door down. She charged toward MK, Dragon Sword drawn...
Only to see the young man alone, sleeping peacefully.
The dragon descendant blinked and lowered her sword. "I thought..." she turned to Red Son. "I..."
"No, I saw it too," he said, scanning the room carefully. A movement high up against the ceiling caught his eye. "There!"
Both leapt up just in time the see an oily patch of smoke completely dissipate.
They landed in tandem, eyes wide and locked.
"What was that?"
MK stirred, his eyes heavy and tired. "Mei? Red? What's going on?"
Red Son nodded once at Mei and stalked over to the Bull Clone he had left to watch MK. Mei turned to her friend.
"MK, something's wrong. Yesterday I swore I saw something in your apartment. And just now, Red and I both saw it."
At the sound of his name, the prince in question joined them. He held up his communicator and broadcast the video he had just taken from the Clone.
Again, the images were in pink-scale, but the lack of color didn't make them any less worrisome.
They watched the recording as MK slept peacefully, head pillowed on his jacket. Moments later, the screen flickered. Three pairs of eyes squinted before realizing that the image was fine- the flickering was something moving on the screen.
MK scooted closer. "Uh, what is happening?"
Something began to form, though it was hard to define. It almost had a human outline. Most of the movement centered on the upper body, and a ghostly shape began to coalesce.
They watched as the apparition bent over MK, shadowy arms outstretched. It seemed to pass through him for a moment before suddenly jerking back. It's form broke apart and drifted up out of the frame.
Red Son stopped the video, then pulled up the image he had received earlier. He zoomed in on the shadow, the closer detail revealing the withered face of an old crone.
The heir to the Monkey King stumbled back and sat down heavily. "OK, someone's gonna have to fill me in here. What is going on? What is that thing?"
"I have no idea- yet," Red Son fumed. "But guests in my home are guaranteed safety, and I, Red Son, will not stand for this attack on my family's honor!"
Mei placed a comforting hand on MK's shoulder. "Red Boy is right. We'll figure this out! Let's go over what we know.
"I know this has to be what I saw yesterday when you were asleep, MK. And today, it came at you when you dozed off."
"For someone wholookslike they haven't slept in ages, you certainly do plenty of it. Didn't you wreck that garbage transportation of yours because you nodded off, Noodle Boy?"
MK was about to defend himself when Mei gasped. She grabbed Red Son by the shoulders and began to shake him roughly. "That's right! Red Boy, I think that's it!"
"Will- you- STOP THAT?!" the demon's hair burst into flame as he shoved her hands away.
His reaction failed to stem her excitement. "MK, you've been having these nightmares since Last Bone Demon, right?"
The Monkey King's heir rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "Meeeiii, not in front of Red..."
She waved him off. "We're all having nightmares MK, even Red Boy here."
Another burst of flame went ignored as she barreled on. "You said they were getting worse, like,seriouslybad though, right? And thatthing, just now, you've never seen it before?"
"No. Do you think they're connected?"
"Of course they're probably connected, Noodle Brain."
Mei rolled her eyes. "Not. Helping."
Turning back to MK, she continued, "It's too big of a coincidence not to be connected. I think we'd better bring in the Monkey King. He may know something."
Red Son snorted. "Doubtful. I will speak with Mother. She has a far superior depth of mystical knowledge. I need to inform her and Father of the... intrusion... anyway."
The three split up; Mei and MK hopped back in her jet and sped off to Flower Fruit Mountain while Red Son requested an audience with his parents.
During the trip MK sat quietly next to his best friend as she chatted on about nothing. He knew she was just trying to distract him, but it wasn't helping.
What was he supposed to do against a ghost?
Sun Wukong stretched lazily in the soft summer grass, the bag of peach chips nearly forgotten beside him. He watched the small green and white jet approach. The time for relaxation would end as soon as it landed, so he intended to enjoy these last few moments of peace.
Shortly after the ordeal with the Lady Bone Demon, Mei had handed him an emergency phone with everyone's number already programmed on it. He was instructed to keep the thing on him atall times. Failure to do so, according to Ao Lei's descendant, would result in Samhadi Fire being shot up very uncomfortable places.
He was immortal, the girl had reminded him, but not unharmable.
So he kept the thing. Sometimes he even checked it. Like recently, when MK had started showing up for training with bags under his eyes.
That's how he found out about the accident.
He couldn't help it- he was worried about the kid. MK had looked both young and haggard when he had popped the other night. It would be good to check him out in person, make sure there was something else going on.
"Hey, Monkey King! Something's going on with MK!"
The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, sighed.
The two ran up to him, eyes wide with worry.
"Wow bud, you look rough!"
The young man's face flashed briefly with irritation before falling flat. "Yeah, I get it. I look like crap. Let's see how you look when a ghost is after you!"
Mei pointed to her phone. "Check the group chat. I sent a photo."
"What do you mean aghost?"
"What group chat?"
The sage and his successor both spoke at the same time. Mei shook her head. Those two weretooalike sometimes.
Wukong pulled out the little device and checked the chat as instructed. He pulled up the photo and squinted at it.
It was MK sleeping, a shadow bending over him. The monkey tried to zoom in, jumping when the enlarged, withered face came into focus.
"What is that?"
The younger two visibly deflated. MK ran a hand through his hair, "We were really hoping you knew."
Gold eyes took in the sagging shoulders and worn expression on the young man's face. "It's ok, bud. We'll figure it out. Why don't you guys come inside and start from the beginning?"
An hour later found the three in the Monkey King's small home. MK was parked on the couch, Mei seated next to him. She had just finished explaining what little they knew when her phone began to ring.
"It's Red Boy," she explained as she slipped through the door to take the call outside.
MK slumped on the couch. "Got any more of those magic vases? Maybe I can just, you know, suck this ghost up like a giant dumpling?"
"Eh, probably, but it's hard to catch a ghost. No body and all that."
At MK's sigh, Sun Wukong wrapped an arm around him and carefully pulled the scared boy tight against his side. "It's ok to be worried, bud. Look, we'll figure this out. We always do."
The brunette nodded, then relaxed against his mentor. "Thanks, Monkey King."
A moment later, Mei walked back in. "Red thinks he's got something, but I think we need to move this back to Piggy's. It's a bit much to put in the group chat."
"What group chat?!"