#i just randomly got the motivation to finish this in under an hour ssjdhjsh

[niadrawsstuff]

“Benched” (At Your Service AU version)

another infodump so i’m not gonna go into too much detail into some of these

In the au, both Macaque and MK follow the gang to the Lantern City. Similar to the canon episode, they find out about the talent show and the third ring. And just like in canon, Macaque will do whatever it takes to get the third ring, to get as far from the Lady Bone Demon as possible. He doesn’t let MK know that, of course.

The gang still performs in the talent show, and Tang still goes after the third ring. It wasn’t after he made in the lantern when the shadows started to change as a familiar monkey shows up.

Macaque goes and taunts him, and Tang smacks his hand away and runs and reaches for the ring. And then, at the last second, a familiar figure wearing a headband appears. Tang immediately realizes who it is before getting kicked in the stomach.

Tang hits the walls of the lantern hard and collapses. MK perfectly lands on his feet as Macaque praises him. MK looks down and notices the ongoing performance, and sees his friends. He felt his face showing a small smile, it was nice to see that they were having fun-

His eyes flashed blue as he shook his head, he had a mission to do. Macaque notices the kid watching the performance, and gets an idea.

“You know kid, your friends seem to be having a lot of fun. I’m sure it’d be nice if you joined them, don’t you think?” At that, MK gets the message and smirks. They needed the rest of the rings after all. MK shares one last glance at Tang before leaping down.

The whole scene with Tang and Macaque continues on without MK. Macaque sends MK towards his friends so he doesn’t hear about his plans to use the Samadhi Fire for himself, to get away from his Lady.

Mid- performance, Wukong’s ears perks up as he senses something, or someone? He briefly looks up, only managing to see someone dropping down towards them. Wukong barely has enough time to warn the others before the mysterious figure finally landed, creating a powerful blow that sends half the crowd flying.

When the gang picks themselves up and the dust finally clears, their hearts drop as they recognize the mysterious figure instantly. MK simply wipes the dust off himself as he turns toward the group, with a sickly smile on his face.

“Hey guys! You guys looked like you were having a lot of fun down here! Unfortunately though, I gotta cut your little show here short. My lady needs something.” They were about to speak up, before MK interrupted them, “And don’t worry, my Lady changed her mind. We’re not gonna capture Wukong. However…”

“…I’m gonna need you to hand over the rest of the rings.”

At that, the gang froze. They stood there, unsure of what to do. How did the Lady Bone Demon find out about the Samadhi Fire? Did MK told her willingly, or did she managed to find out herself?

There were only sounds of the crowd’s panicking as they exited the theatre, as the gang continue to stand frozen. That was, until Mei finally found herself taking out her sword and getting into a stance, her sword trembling slightly. “We won’t let you take them.”

MK simply chuckles, taking a step further. “Always so stubborn with you, huh Mei? Oh well..” His hair begins to turn white as ice begins to form around his knuckles. “Hard way it is.”

The gang begins to duke it out, while with Tang and Macaque are having their brawl in the lantern. One fight scene later, and the gang manages to escape from MK. And Tang miraculously manages to escape from Macaque and meets up with the gang (cough cough Pigsy catching him cough cough)

since MK interrupted the gang’s performance, Pigsy never got to do his big finish (sorry pigsy😭) and the lantern never lit up. Tang still manages to access his powers and get the ring tho dw

Back with Macaque, he manages to pick himself up when he turns around and sees the kid standing behind him, causing him to jump. “What the heck, kid? You tryna give me a heart attack or somethi-“, he pauses himself when he noticed the kid just kept staring at him blankly, his eyes glowing blue.

Suddenly, all the lights in the city burned out, including the lantern itself. The lantern began to fill itself with a blue hue, whispers began dancing around him. It wasn’t until a voice began to speak when Macaque realized, she’s here.

A blue mist began to surround him as the voice continued. “You were to retrieve the rings of the Samadhi Fire, and yet you failed?”

MK knelt down. “My apologies, my lady. I tried to stop them but-“ “Do not worry, my child. You have done your best. I expect you to not disappoint me next time.” LBD responds to him in a calm and sweet tone, to which MK sighs in relief and stands back up, his eyes continuing to glow.

“As for you, Six-eared Macaque,” LBD’s voice returns to that of uncouth and scornful as she addresses the monkey. “I expected better from you. It would seem that you are rejecting the path to destiny, and so there will be… pain.”

Blue chains immediately rose from the ground as they begin to wrap around Macaque, holding him up. MK simply watches all of this go down, that blank look still plastered onto his face.

“NO! I’ll bring you your Samadhi Fire! I won’t fail you again, I swear!” the monkey begs, struggling to release himself from the chains.

“Really? Very well then. It would seem that there is still time to correct your failure.”

A blue mist begins heading straight for the Macaque, striking him right in the chest. He doubles over in pain, as the chains release him. His eyes begin to glow blue, his arm begins to cover in ice.

“Bring the fire to me. I will grant you my aid, my power in this final trial.”

Macaque lets out a painful scream as the power of the Lady Bone Demon rushes through him, half destroying the Lantern City in the process.

“But make haste, or I will leave nothing left of you.”