Haha, this took longer than expected.
If you notice grammar mistakes, please tell me!
edit: WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THIS CHAPTER WAS IN ONE WHOLE PARAGRAPH 😨😨 THOSE ARE A HEADACHE TO READ
—
"Incoming!" Tang shouts. Frozen in place, the others only point with a gaping mouth and shocked face. You stare at the incoming demon, who nears the hovercraft at an increasing speed.
You place your hands on your hips as you said, "So are you guys going to stop him or...?"
Sandy was the only one that actually took action and was not panicking. He stepped up, stood in front of everyone, and braced himself by raising his arms to ready for a punch. With nothing but strength, Sandy thrusts his fist forward, meeting the ship head on. Explosion follows the collision; fire and smoke shooting out.
When everything disperses, Sandy is revealed to be holding up Red Son by the head as the vehicle falls apart and is now nothing but scraps. The others peek from behind Sandy, all surprised with the latter. "Red Son?"
The mention of the name snaps Sandy out of his daze, equally as shocked when he saw Red Son. He drops him without him without a second thought, doing it in a way as if it were trash he was holding.
Red Son falls to the ground on his butt. Before he could even compose himself, Mei shouts "Get him!" And everyone tackled him. They pin him to the ground, face flush against the floor. They start interrogating him, offending Red Son when they assume him as one of Spider Queen's servants.
"Henchman?" He repeats, "-Get off me you filthy peasants!" Fuming, he sends them flying. You step aside, barely missing the lot. Can't say he's wrong for that though.
Red Son proceeds to give his story; apparently his father got captured. Well, the Monkey King did get captured so it's not really much of a surprise. You turn to the others. Though this seemed to calm them. And also probably sympathize with him.
"So if you'll excuse me, I'll just steal this ship and be on my way."
"Wait what?- That's not-"
"Fine. Will you let me steal your ship so I can go save my father and also the world from this spider menace." He said "Please."
You give him a pointed look. Is this guy for real? "Yeah no. That's not really helping." The others seemed to agree as they weren't taking his shit today. They blow up on him. Sandy on the other hand is convinced. You sent him a look, quirking a brow.
"Y'know, for a mad scientist that's pretty stupid of you." You point out, crossing your arms.
Red Son turns to you with an extremely judgemental face. There's a moment of prolonged eye contact between the two of you as you glare at each other. He turns back to the others, unimpressed. "Since when do you peasants have a servant?"
You gasp violently, offended. "Excuse me?" You brought a hand to your chest, eyeing him up and down with a narrowed glare.
Mei cuts in before you could spit out an insult, "Actually, this is-'' She paused, having fallen into thought for a short while. "Wait, you never gave us your name now that I think about it." From your glaring session with Red Son to owlishly blinking at Mei, you realize; oh right, you didn't. With your whole being grumpy bull, the idea of proper introduction didn't hit you.
Though even then, you probably won't be sparing a name still. Plus, you aren't actually sure on how those work. This is the first time in a while you've talked to someone you've just met. And almost all of the ones before you don't introduce yourself.
"I don't know... Giving away my name to a bunch of strangers doesn't sound very ideal to me." You said, shrugging your shoulders. What dumb excuse. It sounds like something only kids would say that their parents taught. Ironic too, considering their faces are everywhere in the city. Red Son doesn't buy it, sending you a skeptical glance. As did Mei, though not as suspicious as the former's.
Though suspicious, Red Son, thankfully, let it go for now, going back to talking about stopping the Spider Queen. Mei follows as she diverts her attention from you to listen in. He brings out a cylinder container filled with green liquid, "Spider Queen's venom." He calls it.
"Ew," You grimace. He shoots you a glare. "Tell your servant to watch their mouth."
"Again, not a servant you dic-"
"Language." Sandy scolds.
You scoff, pouting as you cross your arms. "You didn't even give me the chance to finish. And it's not like I'm lying." You stay firm with your opinion. "He's the real servant here. What, he coincidentally crash landed here and with that nasty stuff? Don't know, man, sounds sketchy."
A vein pops on Red Son's forehead, looking ready to jump you as his hair flares up. "Alright that's it I'm going to burn you to a crisp!"
"Shiver me timbers."
"No need to fight you guys," MK breaks the 'ice', chuckling nervously as he holds out his arms towards you two.
"Uh, look, pal..." A hand rests on your shoulder. You turn to find Tang standing beside you, queasy looking. Which is funny considering he isn't one to avoid his own quarrels. "I think it's best if you go ahead and sit down. Your head probably still hurts from that fall."
"It in fact, does not." You bluntly state. Well, at least not as bad as it did earlier but that's not the point. You understood what the latter was doing. Your squabbling with Red Son caused a bit too much of a ruckus. And you don't fail to notice that desperate glint in his eyes. "Alright fine..." You drawl, raising your arms as you turn your heels and walk a good distance from the lot. Far enough to give them their space while still being near to let you get a scoop of their conversation. What can you say? That's just your thing.
You stay put as they continue with their conversation. In the end, they made a truce for now, having to work together to make the plan Red Son had in mind to work - which involved going to the Celestial realm.
Seconds later, you find yourself facing the divine display of gold and white. Red Son tries hopping off the railing and Mei pulls him back by the collar, refusing to
let him go. You feel a sense of déjà vu from the scene.
They agreed to go in pairs - except for MK, who insisted on going alone and has long since taken off. Others followed shortly after. Only you, Sandy, and the cat were left on the ship. You would've insisted on coming with, but you already knew the answer if you asked.
"I never really got the chance to introduce myself, huh?" Sandy said, a hand behind his nape. You turn to him, arms folded behind your back. "No, I guess not." From all the chaos that happened earlier, it made sense they didn't. They had other things to worry about and things to discuss.
"You can call me Sandy." He holds out a hand towards you. Your gaze flickers toward his hand, then back at him. "I don't do handshakes." You bluntly decline his handshake, raising your hands.
"Oh." He recoils his hand, fidgeting around with the tense atmosphere between the two of you. Most of which is caused by you and your stubbornness to cooperate. "Well, I know our first impressions started off rocky."
He said. "To be fair, throwing someone to the floor isn't very-" You were saying before he cuts you off with a "But. I hope this doesn't keep you from being comfortable around us."
"Okay." You reply. An answer that made it seem as if you hadn't actually understood what it is.
Sandy chuckles nervously at your anticlimactic response. "Do you want some tea while we wait for the others?" He offered. "I don't drink that." You decline yet again. Man. It's terribly awkward.
"Alright, I'll be checking the engines." He said, "Go do whatever you want. Just be careful." "Okay," You nod, striding off as you wander the ship.
It's a bore, doing nothing but wait. This place has got nothing interesting. You turn to Sandy, maintaining the engines. He looked proud of himself.
And then, you feel something vibrate. Digging your pockets, you take out your phone. Which surprisingly, shows your only contact calling you. "There's a signal here?" You mutter to yourself perplexed. You answer the call, bringing the phone to your ears.
"Hello, little crow." An all-too-familiar chipper voice greets. Even in another realm... You just can't escape this guy, huh?
"What is it?" You place a hand on your hip as you turn to the palace in front of you. "Ow... Not even a 'hi'? I'm hurt.~" He teases.
Always one for small talk, that guy. But you knew he called for a reason. He only ever does when there's one. "Just get to the point." You sigh. It's not like you can help with whatever it is he wants right now anyway.
"Alright, alright." He laughs, "Where are you?"
Oh, so that's what this is about. "Celestial Realm." You said, "The Monkie Kid and the others brought me to their ship."
The latter hums. "And you let them?" he asks in a taunt, feigning shock.
"As if." You scoff, rolling your eyes. "I was caught off-guard. They grabbed me from behind my back while I was trying to fight off a spider."
"...Don't let your guard down. Who knows what could happen if you keep this up." His voice stays in that same chipper mood, yet it holds dark undertones. You feel yourself tense. You hate his happy-go-lucky tone. And you'd like it if he'd go back to using that one now. "Fortunately, it looks like you can still make use of your current situation. Wait for future orders for now."
"...Okay." You puff, kicking the ground. Silence comes from the other end. This lasts for a while. You shuffle around. How annoying...
"Good." He finally speaks. "I'll be ending the call now. Oh. And expect more of those pests coming in."
"What-" Before you could ask what he meant, the call dropped. You huff, staring at the phone screen. That ass...
You ask yourself what he'd meant, catching sight of Mo, the cat, playing with something that might just be the answer at the same time. "Huh," That thing it's playing with...
You put away your phone before approaching the item. Crouching down, Mo stills, turning to you with a cautious stare. You frown. "Shoo," You wave your hand at it in an attempt to drive it away. It does so reluctantly.
You turn back to the item on the floor. Picking it up, you examine it. It's a tracker. A strangely spider-themed one at that.
And then you realize. Your mouth forms an 'o' shape. You get up on your feet, tracker still in hand. You turn your heel, turning back. You catch a glimpse of purple from a far distance. Your eyes narrow.
You turn to the palace. There's nothing to do here anyway. May as well go check out how he's doing.
You turn to Sandy, who's still busy with maintenance. Looks like he won't be paying attention to you any time soon. This is your chance.
You pace over to the edge of the ship, hopping onto the railing. A meow snaps you from your trance. You look down at the floor. Mo stands behind you looking upset. It meows again, this time louder. Anymore and it might catch Sandy's attention.
"Hey!-" You whisper-shout, tossing the tracker to the floor. "Here you can have that back. Just don't snitch." You don't waste another second before jumping. You hear the cat yowl for a split second — but that's replaced with the sound of air as you fall.
—
Soon, you reach MK. He wandered the room. Hidden behind one of many pillars, you dropped to the floor on your feet. A thump echoed within the room's dead silence.
"Who's there?!" MK shouts.
"Me." You step away from the pillar, revealing yourself to MK with arms raised in fake surrender. The latter's eyes go wide. "What are you doing here?! It's not safe." He said, lowering the staff he'd pointed defensively at you.
You shrug, nonchalant. "Some of those spider minions came and attacked. I ran away." Not exactly a lie since those guys are here and are probably harassing the others.
MK frowns, his hands bunched up into fists. "I'd better get that furnace quickly then." You hear him mumble before he runs off. "Stay behind me, I'll protect you." "Says the guy who's leaving me behind." You scoff, chasing after him in a jog.
Yeah no. Things didn't go so well. "MK, buddy. So about that 'protecting me' part..." You said. You hop on top of the Trigram furnace, eyeing at the two guardians that circled you warily.
Quick recap of earlier events; You and MK finally found the furnace after much walking and talking. Then MK jinxed it when two Lions came in after talking about it being easy. He got pushed into the furnace by one of them when you two were trying to dodge their attacks and the lid fell on impact. Thus, you're left to fend for yourself.
You hear banging coming from the furnace. "It won't open!" MK shouts, his voice sounding distant with him being stuck inside.
"...Well shit."
You jump the moment the lions pounce at you, immediately taking off the moment your feet touch the ground. Loud thumping can be heard behind you. You assume it's the lions chasing after you. You scowl at how much of a pain this is.
Room after room, left after right, the Lion Guardians are fast on their heels pursuing you. There's no way in hell you're losing them — you soon realized. You know, staying back at the ship didn't sound so bad after all...
Reaching a dead end, you turn your heels and watch as they come running. The moment they were close, you push your feet forward and run, slipping past the two. The wall gets hit in your place but guardians recover quickly and are back on their feet. They glare at you cautiously.
You stand in front of them with hands on your hips and return the gesture. Guess you had no choice. Flipping them off, you sneer; "Come at me you pussies!"
—
You stare down at the pile in front of you. Well, that took longer than expected. They put up a better fight compared to the other demons. And here you thought today was supposed to be your break.
You turn to your clothes — frowning at the wrinkled state. You sigh and brush off any dirt. Luckily, You didn't sustain any serious injuries other than a scratch or two. Those would've pain a bother to tend to.
Anyways, time to go back to that ship. You mindlessly traverse the halls, retracing your steps.
"Over here!" You hear someone shout after a while of walking. You turn your head and find MK riding some lion mech with the Trigram Furnace.
He holds out a hand to which you take. MK hoists you up. "Hey." Immediately, he bombards you with words as he hovers at you with worry. "Are you okay?! Did those lions get to you- Oh my gosh you're bleeding!-"
"Shut up for a moment, will you?" You snap, "I'm fine."
MK frowned, a line forming between his eyebrows as they furrow. "I'm really sorry. If I'd come sooner maybe you wouldn't've been hurt." He mutters, looking away.
You cringe at his dejection, feeling awkward with the sulking. You've never seen anyone get so worked up over your well being like this before.
"Seriously, I'm fine. So what if you were late? At least you came for me. The fact you managed to get out of the damned furnace is already impressive." You sigh, in an attempt to get him to stop with that 'kicked-puppy' face. You turn away from him, massaging your temples. Even then, you feel his stare boring hole at the back of your head.
Returning to the hovership, you earned yourself an earful from Sandy. The cat looked smug watching you get scolded.
—
Before this, I had two other lmk books I planned to write but ended up scrapping, these were my depictions for the reader that I drew
(reader's appearance will never be described in the book)