The Ticking Contingent: The Countdown vo.2

Turn that frown upside down!

As night befell the Jade Palace, Zhen quietly began packing her stuff up to begin the descent down the stairs. From the way the whole day had gone, it was clear Po would probably retire her, and she'd rather not give him the satisfaction. Kung fu idiots didn't get to tell her what to do! As she finished, she heard a small knock come from the door, and she turned to see Monkey waving at her.

"Whatta' ya' want?" Zhen snapped.

"I was feeling bored and I thought you and I could do some sparring," Monkey offered with a little smile. "You're sneaky, I'm sneaky; we'll probably have a ton of fun fooling around."

Zhen scoffed but looked a little interested in the proposition. Still, she just said she was heading down to the village.

"Really? You're quitting? Didn't think you were the quitting type."

"I'm not a quitter!"

"Sure about that?" the master asked, eyeing her bag. "Things getting a little hot under the collar never seemed to bug you before. You literally commanded a whole thieving ring to rob people. What, are you scared of Po?"

"Scared of Po?!" Zhen exclaimed. Snorted. "Please! I could run circles around him if ya'll weren't so tight-knit and sneaky!"

"Well, it's just me sparring with you. Why don't you show me what you got?"

Zhen grinned and put her bag down on her bed. "Well, if you insist," she said, and immediately launched at the master with her pillow.

Monkey ducked and managed to hop around the walls, leading Zhen outside and past the barracks to a more grassy part of the Jade Palace. Once there, Zhen immediately went into sneaking mode and began to hide among the bushes in order to grab random things and catch Monkey when he wasn't paying any attention. While she did this though, Monkey hid in the trees, keeping an eye out for the brown fox. He smirked and took out some items he had swiped from the kitchen and put them together to make a very smelly concoction. He then dropped it into the bushes below, forcing Zhen to run out coughing and gagging at the smell. Monkey started howling with laughter.

"I haven't done that in ages!" he cried happily. "Nice to know I still got it!"

Zhen looked annoyed, but looked around and began to dive into another bush. Monkey still has some of the stink bomb leftover and swung over in the direction of the bush to throw it at Zhen again. However, before he could do so, Zhen surprised him by leaping out of the bush with a leaf net which she used to trap his hands above his head and release the stink bomb onto him.

"Gahhhhh!" Monkey cried, falling to the ground.

Zhen laughed at his reaction and quickly ran over to kick him through the trees. Monkey went flying across the grounds and through the bushes where he continued to gag on his own trap. He started laughing however, and immediately jumped into the trees before Zhen could tackle him again and immediately began gathering up a bunch of leaves. Zhen had a similar idea, fathering sticks from the ground below and grabbing a few spare rockets she had in her pocket before attacking them to the sticks and tossing them into the trees. This of course sent monkey running for his life, but not before he stared throwing honey covered leaves onto the ground for Zhen to get tangled up in. Though she initially wasn't too thrilled with Monkey getting the better of her, she soon found herself laughing at some of the goofiness he pulled, including launching himself through the trees with a heavy branch, throwing leftover dumplings at her, and even snatching a bag of flour to use as an escape tactic. Eventually the fighting came to an end when both of them landed in one of Monkey's honey leaf traps and got all the leaves stuck to their face and body.

"Hey, what do you think?" Monkey asked Zhen, arranging the leaves on his chin. "Better or worse?"

Zhen laughed. "Hard to tell since that isn't really your color," she joked. She then made an array of leaves on her head into the shape of a big ball and began patting it elegantly. Monkey cracked up at the sight.

"You could have been a hairdresser," he told her.

Zhen chuckled but then rolled her eyes at the idea. "Not my style," she told him. She got up from the leaves and began to take them off before sitting down on the ground. "I should take a bath before I go to bed..." she noted to herself. 

"Yeah, same," Monkey agreed. He sat next to her, still wearing his lead beard. Zhen looked at him and laughed. "Sorry, I can't take ya' seriously with that," she admitted, and pulled the leaves off of Monkey's face with a grin.

"Fine, I'll find some other sophisticated way to look," Monkey pouted jokingly. He leaned against the tree next to Zhen and folded his arms behind his back. "Where's you pick up the pranks?" he asked. "You're real good at them."

"Childhood games," Zhen admitted. "Kinda' came in handy in hindsight...." She sighed sadly but then smiled. "I love a good joke though," she continued. "Especially when ya' pull it on the big boss stuck-ups."

"Ah, I see."

"No ya' don't," Zhen corrected bitterly, her cheerful expression falling. "Ya'll sit up here nice an' pretty and ya' don't even know what goes on down below. Bribes, people who are supposed'a help turnin' a blind eye, living on the streets with no way out because everyone's a crook. You gotta' survive. So I survive. That ain't somethin' ya' big guys can see."

"Something I can't see?" Monkey repeated. "Zhen, I admit we don't have the same experiences, but I totally get where you're coming from."

"Sure you do."
"No really. I was in a rough spot for a while myself. I had a rough childhood." Monkey grew quiet before adding, "My dad died at work because the boss covered up a problem, and my mother was supposed to get a widow's compensation and she didn't, so we lived in poverty for a while. My brother got arrested for stealing and jointing a criminal gang, and then it was just me and mom until she died. And kids used to make fun of me because my pants would always fall down because I would wear my brother's clothes and they never fit." He chuckled a little and added, "Pranks always made me feel better. As I got older, the pranks got more crafty and obnoxious and I eventually I got into stealing, and it always got me in trouble. People were constantly sending guards after me to arrest me, and I would just beat them and make them lose their pants."

Zhen burst out laughing. "Oh my gosh seriously!" she cried. "Oh you'll have to show me that trick!"

"Maybe one day."

"Why'd ya stop?"

"An older kung fu master saw what I was going through and why I was doing it and he was really kind to me, even when I was being cocky and wasn't so nice to him. And eventually I learned to use my skills for the better. And now I'm here."

Zhen was quiet for a moment. "I didn't know that," she admitted.

"Well, of course not," Monkey told her. "You kinda just waltzed in and assumed we were all ignorant jerks. And I can understand in some respect. We got off on the wrong foot and we don't always meet thieves who actually want to change. It's kind of rare. But Po does really want to help. He's a little naive sometimes, but he means well and he's pretty much just a big kid at heart. If you two actually chatted I bet you two would get along much better."

"Yeah? An' what about the rest of your friends?"

"Don't judge a book by the cover. We're trying not to judge you either, but you have to meet us halfway, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it."

The two sat quietly for a while before Zhen sighed and got up. "Listen," she said. "I...appreciate the fight. And the talk. Thanks."

Monkey smiled. "It's no problem," he told her. He eyed her clothes and added, "You want to clean up, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. Let's get this mess off and get some sleep."