It was sometime after noon when Wukong retrieved MK from his room and took him to the clearing where the Stalwart Generals were waiting. Underneath a tree, Ma had waved the two of them over and explained that they would be helping MK gain a better feeling of how to use his tail as well as awareness of the appendage.

"We'll be starting with a few stretches before we get started for real," Ma stated as stretched out her tail and body after sitting up from the mossy stone floor below her, "Just follow what I do."

The stretches were quite simple, it was mostly made up of simple movements where MK would stretch his tail in one direction before doing it in the opposite. Though MK did struggle to move his tail as fluently as his instructor was moving hers, Ma reassured MK that as time goes on MK would grow more used to his tail.

After one last stretch, Ma said it was time to start the exercise and she looked over at Wukong who had been lounging on a cloud the whole time MK was doing stretches. Wukong saw the short macaque give a slight glare which gave the sage the idea that he should get over there and help with the next part of the lesson.

The first lesson was for MK to try to pick up objects with his tail, starting with lighter ones so the kid wouldn't strain the currently unfamiliar muscles in the appendage. The Monkie Kid struggles at first to keep a grasp on a peach that he was handed by Wukong, but after a few failed attempts MK did manage to hold it for long enough that he was able to graduate to picking up a slightly larger object. After a bit of fumbling MK managed to keep a grip on the rock, and out of curiosity he threw it in a random direction almost hitting Ma.

"Opps...uh..." MK realized what he had done and went to apologize, "Sorry about..."

The short macaque gave the young monkey a mischievous stare as she smiled, picking up a stone that was on the ground next to her all while keeping her gaze locked on MK, "Oh, it's on little prince."

Wukong joined in as well, which quickly turned the exercise into a game of sorts where you score points if whoever you threw an object at didn't manage to catch it. It was quickly made obvious that MK was way out of his league as he struggled to catch the majority of the stones that came the kid's way. At one point MK did manage to catch it, immediately returning it to its sender who caught it with a smile.

"Okay, I think that's enough playing for today," the small macaque clapped her hands together, "Let's move on to our next activity, Wukong and I will be helping you a bit with this one.

The task was for MK to balance on his tail, which Ma believed would help the young monkey to recognize the muscles that were involved with the movement of the new appendage. Ma and Wukong were to be on the side to catch MK if he were to start to lose balance, though MK was sure both the monkeys were making it look easier than it was. It took a bit of fumbling for the kid to manage to hold himself up with his tail, though his balance was thrown off immediately when he got into position.

Suffice to say, MK had quite a bit of trouble staying balanced and would quickly find himself leaning to the side where MK would panic causing himself to fall. A few times he almost fell onto the Monkey King who would stop the kid from falling, though after the first couple times this occurred the Great Sage had a slightly irritated expression as he pushed MK upright. After a few hours MK did manage to balance on his tail for about a few minutes before he found himself falling towards his mentor again.

"Okay, time for a break kid," Wukong stood up and said as the kid fell forwards trying to stand up, the Great Sage stretched as he jumped back to his feet. The stone monkey was about to jump on his cloud and lounge before a tall light furred monkey joined them.

"I apologize for interrupting," General Ba announced firmly, "but I need to speak to Wukong immediately."

It took one look at the Great Sage's general to know that something was up, and the Monkey King had a feeling that he knew what it was about. After all, quite a few of the elder members of the troop have reported that their cubs have gone missing. Wukong had a patrol sent out to search for the missing cubs before picking MK up that morning, they must have returned with them by now, right?

If Pigsy or Tang found out that something like this was going on in Flower Fruit Mountain, they would certainly demand that the kid return home right away. The idea of telling them has come up a few times, but Wukong reasoned with himself that the kid could handle himself if the worst came to worse. Telling the kid was out of the question, since MK would probably tell his other dads without batting an eye.

Wukong thought for a moment before turning to the other two in the clearing with a smile, "So...kid...uh weren't you supposed to check in with Pigsy and Tang?"

"I already checked in with them though," MK looked at Wukong blankly, "Why is there something wrong," the kid paused for a moment before he began to panic while running aimlessly, "IS DBK ATTACKING THE CITY AGAIN!"

"No, no, nothing like that," Wukong grabbed MK and began patting him on the head, "There is just something else that needs my attention at the moment, I'm sure you understand how it is right kid?"

"What about..."

"You did well today bud," Wukong stated quickly before looking at the sky, "Though it's probably going to get dark soon, so best if we wrap things up for the day."

The kid seemed slightly disappointed, after all time went by so fast if it was already getting dark like the Monkey King said it was. The Monkie Kid's tail drooped as he tugged on his own jacket, he was kind of looking forward to spending more time with the Great Sage.

"It's okay," MK forced a smile as his tail betrayed his true feelings as it drooped sadly behind him and the kid's golden eye were downcast, "No biggie, really."

"Hey," the monkey king gave his kid an encouraging smile, "Let's continue training tomorrow morning, alright."

With a parting rub on the kid's head, the Great Sage entered the mouth of the cave that led back to the main area of the water curtain cave. General Ba followed the Monkey King silently as the pair disappeared into the cavern. Not noticing that there was someone eyeing the clearing in a hidden cavern inside the mountain.

"The cubs haven't been found yet," Ba began to say, "If we tell the troop, there will be a panic, but..."

The news didn't seem to bother Wukong as much as his general thought it would have. After the sage's pilgrimage west a situation like this would have sent the monkey into a frenzy where he would have torn up the island looking for the missing members of his troop. It wasn't until a few hundred years later that the monkey accepted that no demon, celestial, or man (at least ones that weren't imprisoned or dead) would dare threaten Flower Fruit Mountain so the Great Sage wasn't as overbearingly protective if a member of the troop stayed out late.

"We both know how curious the little suns can get when they go on their first scavenge," the stone monkey responded with a shrug.

"Great Sage, I feel like we should be a bit more concerned about this."

"They are probably playing somewhere that the patrol hasn't checked yet," Wukong brushed off the blond furred general's concern, "I'll lead a search party if they are not back by tonight."

"That's the thing, the patrol we send out is MIA," Ba stated severely, "Other than Beng who led the patrol, the rest are missing."

The news that General Beng returned alone caused the Great Sage to pause. Although the second youngest of Wukong's Stalwart Generals was a bit of a fun-loving prankster who occasionally took said pranks too far, the light ginger monkey would never leave a member of the troop behind.

"That isn't very much like him," the Monkey King commented.

The current eldest of the Stalwart generals had to keep himself from breaking down as he told the Monkey King, "I went out looking for the patrol and found Beng...he...he's alive...but..."

"How badly?"

"I believe something attacked the patrol, there were signs of a skirmish in the area," Ba's turquoise eyes looked at Wukong and were full of concern, "Beng still hasn't regained consciousness, but in the meantime, we should fortify the defenses..."

That wasn't what the sage wanted to know, a growl escaped Wukong's throat as for a split moment the glamor hiding the monkey king's burning red eyes fell and the sage spoke each word slowly, "How badly was Beng hurt?"

The taller gibbon avoided meeting the sage's eyes which have returned to its original golden hue by this point, "He's faced worse at the hands of the celestial army, though he took quite a beating to the head..."

Blood coating the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the broken mangled body of his dear Plum still and cold under his feet, the sound of bone cracking apart as he bashed open their head with the staff as...

No, Ba said that Beng was still alive, the damage wouldn't be anything like what the monkey king did then. That meant the damage would heal, after all the generals' immortality gave them the ability to heal wounds that would have otherwise been fatal to a mortal. Beng would be fine in a few days at the very least, or at most a week. This didn't change the fact that someone or something was harming the Great Sage's troop, and that whatever was responsible would be down in Yama's domain once the king got their hands on them.

Caught up in his own thoughts, the Monkey King had stopped listening to General Ba's words as the king's anger began to rise. It took a blood-curling scream that echoed through the walls of the cave to snap Wukong out of it, replacing anger with a sudden feeling in his gut.

His cub was in trouble, somehow Wukong could just feel through the bond between them and the demonic instincts that Wukong had learned to ignore began to break through in full swing. A growl rumbled in the back of his throat before escaping with a snarl.

"That came from the clearing," the tall gibbon's eyes were wide.

Without another word, the great sage equal to heaven had already somersaulted onto his cloud, arriving back in the clearing in a blink of an eye only to be met with horror. The tree that grew in the middle of the clearing appeared to have been cleaved in half by some bladed weapon, only half of the tree managed to remain standing as it sheltered a small brunette macaque in yellow and wine pink garbs. The marshal wasn't in good shape, a nasty wound was present on her side that the macaque was keeping pressure on in an attempt to stop the bleeding. There were also various cuts and bruises that seemed to be present on the short brunette monkey as well, though compared to the gash in her side were minor.

Looking around the clearing, hoping to catch a glimpse of a red bandana wearing monkey demon in the lush foliage of the clearing. Wukong used his golden eyes of truth to see if there was a clue to his kid's whereabouts hidden from view only to find what was probably the kids phone hidden within a moderately sized bush close to the clearing's walls. The sage picked up the device, the screen lighting up as the ginger monkey's thumb passed over its receptors revealing a picture of MK alongside the kid's dragon friend, Mei, at the Anti-Gravity Arcade with a Monkey Mech highscore in the background, the leading two players being Mei in first with MK in second for the top score.

Someone took the kid. Someone took his kid. SOMEONE KIDNAPPED HIS CUB!

The outraged roar that the Great Sage belted could be heard all the way in the Celestial Realm.

"Monkey...King....?" The small marshal struggled as she used the remains of the peach tree to stand up, "I...I couldn't..."

Before the great sage could respond, General Ba had emerged from the mouth of the clearing, seeing the injured marshal he immediately rushed to help his fellow Stalwart General by supporting Ma over his shoulder, crouching down so that the small macaque could still stand and hold her wound.

"Is the kid, okay?" Wukong asked, though in his gut he knew the answer wasn't going to be one that the sage would like. Somehow Wukong could just feel that something was terribly wrong, that the kid was in some sort of trouble that he wasn't there to protect his cub from.

The normally spunky short-tempered macaque coughed blood, "They...took him..." she coughed again, "They took the little prince."

"Who took my kid," once again the Monkey King's glamor dropped revealing the burning red irises that were hidden behind it.

"Confusion," Marshal Ma managed to say before the last of the small macaque's energy was used up and the brunette passed out. General Ba slung the marshal's body over her shoulder, looking at Wukong with concern for the stone monkey as he silently carried Ma's unconscious form back into the Water Curtain Cave leaving Wukong alone.

Confusion, the terror that was in the small macaque's voice as she said that one word was all the sage needed to know who was responsible for hurting not just the king's troop but also his kid, his cub. The Monstrous Fiend of Havok would regret ever reemerging from Yama's kingdom. No one messes with the king's troop and gets away with it.

'No violence'

Screw that, someone hurt the sage's siblings, the youngest of the troop, and took his kid! Master wasn't there and that dammed circlet was removed, nothing could stop Wukong from tearing the whole world apart just to find the Demon King of Confusion and send him back to Yama.

The sage's eyes then glowed gold as he searched for any residual magic traces in the clearing, there was his own magic along with the generals as and what was probably MK's from its similarity to Wukong's own. The demon who took the kid seemed to be hiding his tracks, but they made a big mistake taking the kid.

Maybe Wukong should have been more concerned about how the kid was basically announcing to the whole world that he was the Monkey King's heir instead of assuming no one would try anything on the kid just because of his reputation. For now, the ginger stone monkey focused on MK's signature, using it as a trail of crumbs that the sage could track to back to the perpetrator. Wukong followed the kid's magic through the sky hole that lit the lush clearing of fruit trees and bushes, emerging on the side of the mountain where he immediately began to track the kid's signature past the peak of Flower Fruit Mountain towards the Flaming Mountains that separated the waters around the island from the ones around the city.

In a moment the sage transformed from his stone monkey self into an orange eagle with red and teal tipped wings and soared in the direction the trail led the celestial monkey. The intense heat hardly bothered the immortal sage as he followed MK's magic signature through the volcanic peaks, the trail was getting stronger which meant that Wukong had to be getting close to his target.

Then the trail stopped, the end being at the maw of a magma carved cave that was lit by pockets of molten rock that seeped through the sides. The cavern appeared to be mostly the product of eruptions over time creating vents, but there were signs that parts of the walls were carved so that excess lava would flow into the torch like magma pools.

A bright flash lit up the cavern as Wukong shifted back into his true form before the monkey began to creep down the vent. The further down the thicker the miasma that permeated through the air became, making it hard to breathe comfortably. Although immortality did mean that the smoke and ashes had very little, long-lasting effect on the sage it didn't necessarily mean that it didn't have an impact on the monkey.

What concerned the monkey king was that the Demon King of Confusion took the kid here of all places that the demon could have. MK appeared to be quite far into his transformation into a stone monkey demon, but the sage had no way of safely knowing just how far the kid was into it other than his appearance. Demons have a naturally higher resistance to toxins than humans, whether or not the Monkie Kid had those resistances was the question.

The best course of action for the kid was to prioritize getting MK out over fighting with the demon that kidnapped the little monkey. As much as Wukong wanted to bash the fiend all the way to the next cycle, it wouldn't do MK any good to stay here. First the sage had to reach the chamber at the end of these volcanic vents, that was the most likely place the demon would be.

So, when Wukong saw the volcano's main vent, he had no problems jumping into the chasm down into the lava chamber below. Wukong's feet landed on hard ground, the lava chamber appeared to have been drained to the point that the area seemed habitable. There were a few lingering pools of lava that were scattered around the chamber, but other than that and the thick miasma it seems that the chamber was in use.

To not alert the demon to his presence, Wukong transformed into a fly and began searching for signs of the kid or the other missing monkeys. There were plenty of cages that were either hanging on the roof of the cavern or resting on the ground, all of them empty except one. A towering humanoid figure that was just below half the height of the chamber, igneous stone skin that appeared to be cracked and chipped in various areas was covered by rusted armor that had a thick layer of ash coating it stood in front of the cage with something in his hands. At closer inspection, the monkey king was horrified to find that in the demon's hand was the kid who was struggling against his capture's grip.

"Behave and you might live to see another day, simian," the stone golem threatened as he threw the Monkie Kid into the cage harshly. The kid's shirt was torn and where MK's fur had yet to grow in there was a nasty purplish-blue coloration indicating that the demon broke a few of the Monkie Kid's ribs. There was also blood dripping from the successor's head, and from how the kid was struggling to keep his eyes open they must be a bit concussed.

'THEY HURT MY CUB!' the sage growled as he changed back and howled in rage, "What did you do to my kid!"

The Demon King of Confusion was in the middle of closing the cage when he heard that familiar voice and turned around only to be met with a fist to his face, sending the demon towards the wall of the chamber causing a few loose stones to fall onto the cavern floor.

"Monkey King!" MK exclaimed, trying to head out of the open cage only to aggravate the injury and the kid made a pained howl. Wukong rushed to the kid's side, the boy's injuries seemed to be healing themselves, which was a relief, but the process was slow. It would be safe to move the kid along with the little suns at this point, so Wukong left a few clones with them along with a stretcher to carry the kid and little monkeys out of the drained volcano.

Before the clones could take the kid and monkeys out of the lava chamber, the Demon King of Confusion had managed to pick himself back up after being knocked out by the impact with the wall. The stone golem looked at Wukong then at the clones that were carrying the missing troop members out of the volcano and lunged towards the main volcano vent that was being used for their escape. Wukong instinctively threw himself between the monkeys and the monstrous fiend of havoc, not letting the demon get anywhere close to his troop again.

"Wukong!" the stone golem screamed in fury.

"Havoc," was all the stone monkey responded before heading out through the main lava vent into a vent that branched off to the side of the volcano as the golem followed in pursuit.

After emerging from one of the vents, the great sage then turned to attack the Demon King of Confusion, a blow that ended up breaking the rusty armor the stone golem wore on his head in two. The demon staggered back into the volcano causing a vent to open wider and lava to flow out of the volcanic pores. The lava began to seep into the cracks in the golem's body, causing the demon's body to fracture more as it struggled to keep itself together. The fractures kept growing until the demon broke apart completely and it was no longer able to put itself back together. When the pieces of the stone golem stopped moving completely, the sage rushed to where his clones were carrying the rescued monkeys and Monkie Kid back to the island.

Back in the Water Curtain cave the rescued monkeys chirped excitedly as they called out to their families, MK watched as parents went to greet their kids before they began to groom the debris out of their fur.

"Kid!" Wukong exclaimed as he examined the pulled the kid into a warm embrace from behind which made the MK wince as the monkey squeezed his torso. The sage noticed, setting down the monkey boy slowly as to not aggravate the injury, "Whoops, sorry about that cub."

The sage then began to check the kid's wounds, even with the limiting seal on the kid's powers there was still some regeneration. Wukong breathed a sigh of relief as he checked the kid's ribs to find that they had mended themselves already, though the purple-blue coloration around the kid's chest suggested that there was some contusion as well that has yet to heal. The kid's regenerative abilities must have prioritized mending the broken ribs over the deep bruises that were present.

After giving the kid a good checkup, the great sage then pulled MK close and began to comb through their thick mane with his hands. Pulling out bits of ash and stone that got tangled in the fur as well as removing the crispy volcano cooked insects that latched onto the kid's skin before DBC got their grubby stone hands on them.

MK hadn't even noticed how he was struggling to breathe or how his heart was racing until they started to calm as Wukong groomed through their fur. The brunette doesn't quite fall asleep, but he closes his eyes and begins to relax despite the sound of footsteps approaching him.

"The prince is safe?" a feminine voice cracked; it sounded like they might have been crying for some time before this.

The Monkey King nodded in response, "The cub was pretty banged up, but the worst of it has already healed."

There was a silent pause as the Great Sage focused on grooming his successor, a deep sigh left the stone monkey, "Cub, you've been pretty quiet since we got back, you okay?"

Nervously MK chuckled as he thought of how to respond to that, he was just kidnapped by a demon and taken to a literal volcano all while the demon almost squeezed the life out of him. MK didn't even see it coming when the stone golem grabbed him back in the clearing, and when Marshal Ma tried to protect the kid she ended up getting hurt.

"I'll be fine, ba," MK wasn't really sure of that himself.

"Ma, tell the others that at least a couple of them should be guarding my kid when he's on the mountain," Wukong ordered the brunette macaque, "If anything or anyone tries to hurt my cub I should be informed immediately."

The marshal nodded as she left to inform the other Stalwarts of their task, leaving Wukong and MK alone. The idea that MK would be babysat didn't sit well with the kid, he was an adult...well technically they were 17 but he knew how to handle himself.

"I don't need a babysitter," when MK spoke up with a slight whine, "I can handle myself..."

"And tell me, how well did that go for you today," Wukong yelled before seeing how the kid flinched away with his hands on his sensitive ears. The sage felt guilt at causing the kid to react like this, Wukong still wasn't very confident if he could even fulfill the role of a father along with mentoring the kid, heck the first day in his care MK got kidnapped and hurt.

"Kid...you got kidnapped under my watch," Wukong sighed as he pulled the young monkey demon towards him with his tail, "Pigsy and Tang trusted me to keep you safe, but you still got hurt. I think they would agree with my decision."

Not wanting to argue, MK stayed quiet, he still didn't like the idea of being constantly under the Stalwart's watch when he was on Flower Fruit Mountain, but the Monkey King made a point.

"I won't let another demon kidnap and hurt you like this," Wukong stated, still grooming through the kid's fur now having moved towards the back, noting that the fur now completely covered the kid's back and there was some fuzz starting to form on Monkie Kid's arms. As Wukong picked through MK's fur the kid began to doze off, the sight of the kid resting sent a smile to Wukong.

"Okay kiddo, how about we head to bed," the Monkey King said as he scooped the young monkey demon into his arms and headed towards the small shrine that the sage had a nest in. Wukong wasn't going to let his kid out of his sight, his cub would be safer with him tonight.

The stone monkey gently set the kid into the nest of pillows and blankets before curling up around the kid with a tail wrapped around MK's waist, "Night kiddo."

The first thing MK noticed when he woke up was that he was surrounded by something plush and cozy and that there was something loosely wrapped around his waist. The brunette opened his eyes and saw that he was lying in a strange pile lined with pillows and floored with blankets. Loosely wrapped around the kid's waist was an orange monkey tail that was attached to the Monkey King, seeing that he was in what was likely the celestial monkey's nest.

It took a few moments before it all came back to MK; going to Flower Fruit Mountain with the Monkey King, meeting the Stalwart Generals, training, and then being kidnapped and taken to a smoldering volcano. Shit, MK was supposed to contact Tang and Pigsy last night and tell them how the day was. The kid tried to pull out his phone before remembering that he dropped it in the clearing, though after hearing a familiar tune play MK perked her ears to find the source. A yellow phone case belonging to his phone caught his eye MK went to pick it up.

With Monkey King still sleeping, MK felt it best to step outside and contact his other dads. Pigsy was likely worried sick that the kid didn't call the night before like he promised.

7:30 p.m.

DADSY: Kid! Are you alright? You haven't called.

NOODLE LOVER: MK, please answer. Pigsy is stress-cooking noodles, and he refuses to give me any of them!

5:25 a.m

MONKIE KID: I'm okay dads.

DADSY: Thank the Celestial Realm you're okay! Why didn't you call last night?

MK didn't immediately answer, after all how can someone tell their parents that they were kidnapped and almost caged in an active volcano. Actually, how was he supposed to tell them that a demon broke his ribs...his ribs that no longer hurt or feel out of place...how did it heal overnight? The kid didn't want to ponder that right now, he needed to answer Pigsy's question.

MONKIE KID: I guess I was just really tired last night after training, but hey I got a better handle on my tail now!

DADSY: I'm going to have a word with that Monkey about proper sleeping schedules...

MONKIE KID: It wasn't Monkey King's fault, I was the one who wanted to keep training.

Back inside, the Monkey King had woken up and noticed that the kid was not in the nest with him or in the room and began to panic. The celestial monkey shot out of the nest and began to chirp for the kid, and when he heard MK chirp back in response the Monkey King could tell that the kid was close by. Leaving the shrine, he spotted MK covering his mouth as he chirped again. Wukong smiled seeing that the kid was safe and approached the monkey demon and ruffled the fur on his head. The monkey also noticed the kid's phone, though was unable to read any of the text displayed. Did the kid tell his guardians about last night...maybe Wukong should inform the couple of the events that occurred.

One thing was for certain, Sun Wukong was going to try to do a better job at keeping his kid safe.