With Sun Wukong banished, Tripitaka was defenseless. The Yellow Robe Demon found him within a day.

"The monk whose flesh grants immortality," the demon purred. "I shall cook you slowly, with the finest herbs and spices. Even immortals will envy my banquet."

Pig Spirit tried to fight, but the demon swatted him aside. The white horse, secretly a dragon prince in disguise, attempted to defend its master, but the demon was too powerful.

In the demon cave, Tripitaka meditated, accepting his fate. But Pig Spirit, for all his cowardice, would not abandon his master.

He flew to the Flower-Fruit Mountain, where Sun Wukong sat alone on his throne, eating peaches and pretending he did not care.

"Brother!" Pig panted. "The master is captured!"

"The master banished me," Wukong replied coldly. "Let him save himself."

"The master was wrong!" Pig Spirit threw himself to the ground. "I beg you, Brother Monkey! For the journey, for the scriptures, for the memory of five hundred years of waiting!"

Wukong stared at his peach. Then, without a word, he stood. His staff extended to full length. His eyes blazed gold.

"No one eats MY monk," he growled, and surged into the sky.

The banquet never took place. When the Monkey King stormed the Yellow Robe Demon fortress, there was not a single guest left to dine.