“What is the meaning of all this?” the Jade Emperor boomed. The beads that dangled from his golden crown swung back and forth. He sat atop his throne in his golden robes and stared at all of the immortals. To us, he loomed above us, and something was… different about him, but I could not quite put my finger on it. Normally, he maintained his composure, but today, he seemed… off.
“The monkey ruined the peaches!” The Peony Fairy complained.
“He ate all of my immortal pills!” Laozi yelled.
“He stole one of my heavenly pillars!” The Dragon King of the East Sea lamented. Soon, all the other immortals were talking over one another about what that stinking monkey did. Amidst all the silence, I caught snatches of conversation, like how he painted a fairy’s face to look like a pig, and how he had broken Tieguai Li’s crutch. He even stole Lan Caihe’s jade clappers. For good measure, he had snuck up on Nezha to scare him. I exchanged looked with Chang E. She sighed and shook her head.
“Silence!” The Jade Emperor shouted.
All of us kept quiet.
“Where is Tai Bai Jin Xing?” he asked.
“Here.” A raspy voice said. A small old man with yellow robes emerged.
“You were the one who gave the monkey his title of ‘Protector of Horses’. This has backfired. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Perhaps, we could give him another chance?”
“No!” all of the immortals declared, almost in unison. Then, they started bickering again.
“I agree that drastic action must be taken—against all of you!” The Jade Emperor grinned cheekily. His face twisted and started to grow hair while his crown sharank and disappeared. His robes seemed to deflate and there was only a monkey wearing a tiger’s pelt. It was him. He had transformed into the emperor. I gasped. This ape was casually sitting on a throne with a peach in his hand. I didn’t wait any longer and struck the first blow.
Clang! My blade struck his cudgel with such a force that my hands shook. Seeing this, Chang E floated towards him and waved her arms. The moonlight shone directly into his eyes but it wasn’t effective. Quickly, he plucked something from his ear—I think it was a toothpick—and it grew larger and longer. It was a red cudgel!
“My pillar!” I heard the Dragon King gasp.
With it, the monkey swung and it smacked Chang E across the face. She flew across the room. Everyone stared at her in shock and horror, but after they recovered, they attacked the monkey. I rushed towards her, pushing and shoving against the tide of people who were running towards the monkey. I could hear the screams and shouts of the battle, but all I knew was that I had to save Chang E. Her limp body had hit the floor and I ran towards her, wondering if she was all right. Her face was swollen and blood spurted out of her mouth. Coughing and sputtering, she tried to speak but it seemed like it was too painful to talk. As I examined her, I saw that her arm was twisted in an awkward angle and I wasn’t sure if I could touch it but I bent down anyway. Then, I picked her up and zoomed towards… well… I didn’t know where.
Everyone in the palace was probably fighting that monkey and she was probably in pain from that blow. I didn’t know that that wretched beast was so powerful.
“L—left..” she gurgled, directing me.
“Where are we going?”
“Pa—pa—villion,” she mumbled, and that was when I knew that we were returning to her abode. Luckily, it did not take me long to summon a cloud and bring her back to her house on the moon, where she resided. The closer I got to it, the more I could feel my panic subside. But I did not count on meeting the Jade Rabbit, who transformed into her attendant once she saw her mistress.
“What in the world happened?” She glared at me, as though I was responsible for her.
“Th—there was a rogue monkey and he did this to her,” I stammered as I handed the body over to her.
“One day, he will pay,” she said. Then, she turned around to leave. However, she stopped and looked at me.
“Go fight him. Leave this to me.”