Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 3 2018 | Page 156

If the group seemed intimidated by the monster's appearance, they didn't show it. Monkey looked
as determined as ever as he aimed his stick at the monster. "Heeeeyah!" Monkey shouted as he switched into
battle mode and leaped towards the monster. As expected, it flapped its wings and went up into the air,
using flying as its advantage. However, the monster never expected Monkey to leap up and have a little
cushion of cloud appear underneath his foot. Using the momentary shock to his advantage, Monkey spun
his stick and chopped off the monster's tail.
"Hahaha!" Monkey laughed. "What are you going to do now? Monster, I'm not afraid of you."
The monster's expression turned melancholic and he made a sobbing noise.
"I give up!" Monster cried, "You have cut off my secret weapon, what am I going to do now?"
"Just leave." Monkey scoffed and turned away to descend back to his group. What he didn't see was the
Monster's facade leave, and a sly grin returning back to his face. As the Monster returned back into the dark
clouds, the group didn't see its tail grow out inch by inch, just like a lizard's tail when it's cut off.
"Well, that was unexpected." Friar grunted, "but I don't think that was the end of things. It was too
easy..."
"Stop worrying, Friar! You're overthinking things. Thanks to me, this monster is gone for good."
Monkey replied haughtily.
Suddenly, something shot out from the clouds and came charging at Monkey as fast as the speed of
light. Monkey had his back towards it, but Friar saw it coming and was just going to open his mouth to
shout when - "AHHHH!" - Monkey screamed in pain and fell. When he looked up to see his attacker, he
found the Monster laughing at him and his tail was now covered in blood.
"What...did you sting me with!" Monkey asked.
"Well, that was poison mixed with acid. My own special secret recipe. Enjoy!" the Monster
exclaimed, "Now that the stupid monkey is out of my way, I'm coming for you, food!"
"Oh no you don't, not under my watch!" Friar cried angrily.
"And mine!" Pig stood beside Friar, and they took out their weapons. "Charge!" They both
screamed and ran towards the monster.
While the fight was going on, Monkey tried to crawl up on his knees. He seethed with pain as he
moved any part of his body, but the pain didn't act as a barrier for him to observe the monster and find a
weakness before his companions got killed. It was obvious that the monster had the upper hand, but Friar
and Pig were trying their best to fend it off. Suddenly, as Pig's axe accidently touched the corner of the
Monster's eyes, it fell backwards clumsily and kept blinking. Monkey took the scene in and smiled internally.
The monster's weakness was found.
Meanwhile, Pig and Friar were significantly becoming more tired. "I need to do this now!"
Monkey thought to himself, and used all his might to stand up, despite the pain nagging in every part of his
body.
"Where do you think you're going!" Shouted Xuanzang as he saw Monkey getting closer "You're
going to get killed! Stay here!" But Monkey, being Monkey, didn't listen to Xuanzang's kind warning, and
inched closer to the monster without being noticed. He lifted his stick, and just as the monster saw his
movements and turned its head to him, he launched at it with great speed, and it landed smack in the
middle of one of the monster's eyes.
The monster howled in pain, and half of its head and tail began to disappear. Because a wing was
gone and it wasn't able to fly anymore, it plummeted down towards the ground and landed with a "thud".
"Quick! Pig, the other eye!" Friar shouted, and Pig immediately aimed his axe into the monster's
other eye. Suddenly, the monster became a spiral of dust, and after a few seconds, a bird, lizard, and scorpion
fell from the spiral. As the animals saw the four companions, they scampered away in fright.
"We...we did it!" Pig stuttered unbelievably, "I really thought we were not going to make it this
time, with Monkey injured so badly!"
"Thank you, Monkey." Xuanzang smiled warmly at Monkey and said, "we couldn't have done it
without you."
Monkey smiled and felt a warm feeling tug at his heart. He took a step forwards, but saw the world
sway side to side and black dots cloud his vision. The last thing he remembered was his body colliding with
the ground.