When MK grows impatient with his and Monkey King's lessons, he ends up accepting the mentorship of a shadowy monkey named Macaque, who begins to leads him down a dark path.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Growing stronger is just one step, being patient and knowing when to strike is what makes that strength worth it.
- Arc Words: "Patience. Focus. Step into the strike!"
- Arch-Enemy: Macaque is referred as this to Monkey King in the episode description, which is supported by their intense fight in the episode and the conflict between being them personally, with Macaque specifically using MK just to provoke Monkey King out for a fight as well as to steal his powers.
- The Corrupter: Macaque acts as this to MK, teaching him to use his powers destructively and that Monkey King is holding him back by trying to teach him values of patience. MK fortunately gets over this by the end of the episode.
- Dark Is Evil: Macaque certainly evokes this, as a power-hungry Evil Counterpart who is themed around shadows and darkness.
- Et Tu, Brute?: After secretly training with Macaque for some time, MK comes to find out the former was just using him to steal Monkey King’s power.
- Downplayed, but Monkey King also has this brief reaction when he realizes MK has been training with someone else behind his back.
- Fatal Flaw: MK’s insecurities over not being good enough and impatience to learn more powerful abilities leads him to be easily manipulated by Macaque.
- Mirror Match: After Macaque absorbs Monkey King's power, the two proceed to fight on equal ground using similar powers to each other such as duplication and shape-shifting.
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Macaque briefly impersonates MK during his fight with Monkey King, causing the latter to hesitate before striking and giving the former an opening for a sucker punch. Macaque laughs at him for falling for it, pointing out the fact that the real MK was still pinned down where he left him.
- Retired Badass: While Monkey King has officially gone into retirement after choosing MK to be his successor, he’s evidently still as powerful as he was in his prime, putting up an evenly matched battle against Macaque.
- Wax On, Wax Off: Monkey King has MK hammer at the walls of his cave to tech him in focus and patience. The latter at first believes this to be a waste of time, leading him to accept Macaque’s mentorship - but it’s this “boring" training that ends up giving MK what he needs to defeat Macaque at the end of the episode.
- You Are Not Ready: Monkey King gives this kind of response to MK when the latter shows impatience with their lessons and wants get to the more powerful “fighting stuff”. MK takes issue with it, and it leads him to accept Macaque’s mentorship.Monkey King: I'm never gonna teach you something you don't need to know, okay?
