After the whole affair of getting their first map and finding they're way back to the group.
Macaque had literally leaped into her arms when Jinhua returned, startling her group, by his sudden appearance, "Welcome back, my dear." He smiled up at the tall demoness.
Jinhua smiled softly, "I'm back..." Her eyes caught Wukong staring but as soon as he realized he was caught, he quickly looked away. Staring back at the sketchbook in his hands.
"MY CAR!!" Redson shrieked.
Jinhua looked over to see that as soon as Mei took out her sword from the module, the entire vehicle fell in on itself. And a Mei and Redson throwing hands in the background while MK and Sandy showed their first ring to Tang and Pigsy.
"Master—!!!"
Mei rushed to the demoness with fire on the tips of her pigtails, "HELP—!!" She shrieked, hopping in place so that the demoness could get a better look.
Jinhua chuckled and watched Macaque give out a sigh while blowing the fire out, "Quite being a baby. You could've done that yourself."
Mei frowned at the simian, giving a pout, "Not my fault that your hogging all of her attention....!" She crossed her arms and jutted her bottom lip.
"Am not!"
"Am too!"
"Am not!"
"Am too!"
"Am too!"
"Am not— HEY!!" She raised her fist threateningly, but Macaque was already slipping into a portal, long gone, chuckling in amusement.
Mei heaved a sigh of defeat and went to sit down on the far side of the van.
Everyone was now getting comfortable after seeing the new member of the group joining them.
Pigsy was taking a well needed nap after driving all day looking for them.
Redson was looking through one of MK's sketchbooks with an indifferent look on his face, but they all knew he was secretly impressed by the swaying motions of his tail. MK was just listening to him drone on about the difference between a bull tail and a devil tail.
Sandy was back in the driver's seat, hugging his support therapy cat to death.
Wukong kept to himself, his back turned to the group and sketchbook in hand.
Tang was off to the side with a pen in hand as he wrote down the details of the ring in his other hand.
Everything seemed at peace but Jinhua knew there was a war waging inside her young protege.
Gently tapping her simian by the arm, she grabbed his attention, "Anything happen when I was gone?" Her eyes were locked on her apprentice, nowhere near the obvious subject of their conversation in the demonic tongue.
Macaque hummed in thought. His face inclining closer to the side of her neck, finding comfort in that spot, "Nothing too suspicious... Just looking real depressed about the past as he keeps staring at the sketchbook full of MK's drawings." He whispered quietly in a hushed tone. His nose smothered in her scent as he curled up in her arms. His tail wrapping around her fingers as she idly played with it.
"No mention of the fourth ring?" Jinhua either chose to ignore his comment or didn't wish to bring it back up. She started to twirl around a few strands of dark fur, twisting, then smoothing it out.
Macaque sighed in relaxation, his arms and legs stretching out as he sunk into her figure, "Not a word. Bastard is so tight lipped that I'm thinking that he got worse over his years in isolation..." He purred out affectionately, feeling her scratch behind his glamoured ears.
Jinhua kept silent after that, just enjoying his company as she kept messing his fur.
Redson and MK had stopped theirs rambling when they heard a certain purring escaping a simian in Jinhua's arms.
"Are they always so.... PDA...?" Redson raised a brow at them, dubiously.
MK groaned, "Ohgh—!! I wanna be groomed too!!" He jumped forward, landing right on a bristling Macaque, his tail wagging happily.
"Hey—!! Warning next time, bud!"
—
As night came, the van parked off to a secluded area for the group to set up camp.
"I'm not sleeping on the ground...! In the wilderness!?" Redson exclaimed as Mei and MK patted a spot for him on log.
"C'mon...! Ain't nothing out here but us and the stars above..." Mei stretched her arm out with a playful grin.
"Yep, nothing screams romantic about the wilderness as feeling Malaria breathe down my neck." Redson deadpanned, giving Wukong the side eye.
The called out simian himself perked up, "Speaking of malaria!! Highly wouldn't recommend! Gives you the worst butt rash in the realms of Heaven."
"No one wants to hear about the ratings of the thousands of diseases, you've had!" Macaque called out.
Mei fake pouted mockingly, "Scared of the getting a speck of dirt on that coat of yours, your highness." She redirected the conversation back to the Royal Bull Prince.
MK snickered in his seat.
Redson gapped and gritted his teeth before stomping over to the van, "If you need me, I'll be sleeping in the van tonight!"
MK waved him off, "Eh. He'll come around." He then held up the map, "On another note...! Whoever made this map, needs a lesson in how to draw good."
Tang raised a brow from his writings, "One, judging much? And two, what do you mean?"
Mei leaned over MK's shoulder as he explained his reasoning, "None of these landmarks look like anything...!!" He then shrugged as he pointed to a bull shaped figure head of the Bull Family's castle, "Okay maybe this does look like DBK's fortress." His finger then skimmed over to a lantern sketch, "And this strange rendered mountain range looks like a lantern city? But tell me." His hand then jabbed at rabbit in the sky, "What the fuck is this one supposed to be!?" He shoved the map in Tang's face.
Pigsy whipped his head back and shouted, "Hey—! Quiet down over there! I'm watching my show!"
It then went on a very cheery montage of a familiar celestial being going on about missing her fans and chibi-like objects dance around the screen.
Pigsy muttered a phrase as the person on screen and started cheerleading a strange ritual dance.
Jinhua watched with a tilted head.
Macaque grabbed her attention by handing her a already cooked s'more, "Ignore him, it'll damage your brain if you watch him for too long."
MK and Mei were both dissing on the swine demon's show, making the latter more annoyed as he shushed them.
MK then shoved Pigsy out of the way and held up the map beside the screen.
Mei watched and realized what he figured out. So she tripped up Tang and snatched the Samadhi Ring and held it up to the screen as well.
"H-Hey—!?"
MK and Mei gasped and waved around the objects excitedly, "GUYS! Look!!"
MK kneeled down and pointed at a ring that was hung up in the background of the show's kitchen, "There...! It's one of the rings!!"
Macaque slid into the ground and reappeared next to the young simian, "Great job, bud—!" He scuffed up his already messy hair.
Jinhua rubbed her chin, "So the Second Ring is with Chang'e, huh?" She tilted her head up to stare at the sky.
Tang was for real, vibrating in his spot as he pushed up his glasses dramatically, "You guys know what that means, right—!?"
MK gasped loudly and stared up at the sky with wide eyes, "The Celestial Realm...!?" A large pillow was slammed into the back of his head.
"You absolute bafoon—!" Redson stepped out of the van in his sleeping robes, "Can't you see the obvious moon drawn there on the map?"
MK glared at the Prince, "Well excuse me..! But not everyone can just guess which realm we're going to just by staring up at the sky—!!" He rolled up the paper and stuffed it in his back pants.
"Yeah! What he said, you fuckin 'Last Unicorn' bull ripoff—!!" Mei twirled around and spear threw the pillow, right back at the Prince.
"I am not—! A ripoff!! What even is this 'Last Unicorn?'" Redson caught the pillow easily. It lit ablaze in his held up hand, "A movie of some sort?"
MK and Mei both gasped as they readied a battle stance, "Only the best Unicorn film to ever exist!!"
They then began to tussle on the ground, tails flailing around as the two best friends began to threaten the prince into watching the movie without blinking so he could see every single visual the movie had to offer.
"But ignoring the problem with the kids." Macaque waved off the rolling ball of fighting limbs. Just gonna assume that normal behavior, which it wasn't in the slightest, "How in the great name of Buddha will you be getting up there? News flash! It's space."
While Pigsy was fangirling about going to the moon to see his celebrity crush, Wukong kindly gave a simple solution. While sitting in a lawn chair, eating his own supply of peach chips, like the fatass he is, "You can't be serious, Macaque. I thought the answer was obvious. Like for example, your a Simp."
"Ah!"
Wukong ignored the simian dipping into the ground, "We just build a Rocket—!" He was cut off from eating another chip, by Macaque grabbing him into a headlock from behind.
"And how are we doing that...? Oh Great Sage—?" Macaque seethed through his bared canines. His arms flexing as he applied more pressure to the half choking Sage.
Wukong was smacking his bag of chips against the simian's bulging bicep, asking to tap out, "We can modify the van and—" cough, "Just flyyyyyy up there... with our chi powers...!!!!" He then frantically began to smack his hands on Macaque's arms as he felt his head feel like it was about to implode.
Macaque finally released him as he came to a realization, "Oh yeah. I forgot how expandable magic can be." He tapped his chin as he walked away in thought of what spell he could enchant to help deform the van.
Wukong laid on the ground half dead.
A small written note in the dirt, read, 'I was killed over a chip.'
Ignoring the murder scene, Macaque stepped forward and held his arms out. Muttering a few strange elusive words in the demonic tongue, the rocket was lifted off the ground by his projection, which grew up to its torso, and held it up so it wouldn't cause collateral damage to the group's surroundings.
Redson sat to the side and watched in awe at the massive projection of oneself. The enormous amount of power which exuded off such a being, made him feel... What was the word to describe this...?
Oh.
Small. Inferior. Lacking.
Not relevant to it's attention.
He didn't like that at all.
Taking the van up into the air, the projection's straps from its scarf, reached out and began pulling the vehicle apart. Wheels, engines, motors, seats, fuel, control panels, electric wiring? You name it.
And as the parts all flew apart, the projection began mending it all back into a different contraption, a new figuration of flight. It just needed remodeling.
And once the straps left the piece of flight back on the ground, the projection slipped back into the shadows of Macaque and Jinhua.
Everyone awed at the piece of metal and raced forward to get a closer work on the detailing, only for the entrance to slide open and see a dizzy Sandy, stumbling out, "Hey... What happened...? I swear I felt a major earthquake outside..."
After the entire event, Jinhua began to use the simpler method to solve who was going to go to the moon.
Picking straws.
Turns out it was Pigsy's lucky day as he was able to get the first shortened straw. He was already racing around to get his gear and recipe books.
Then it was MK and Wukong.
They both looked indifferent but looked smug when they showed off the shortened straws to Macaque and Redson.
As the group suited up and entered the ship, Mei waved her arms in farewell, "I hope you don't crash into a stray meteor or anything... Have fun going to the moon...." She kicked a stray rock near her, "We'll just stay behind... And go on no adventures, whatsoever..."
Redson glanced at Mei in concern, "I don't think those are normal words of farewells..."
Mei glared up at him with a pouty lip, "MK knows how special and heartfelt my words are... It's a brotherhood thing."
Redson scoffed and stared back at the departing ship with his arms crossed, "Rubbish."
Tang was crying his ass off, "You have fun... It's not like we wanted to see space, anyways....!" He flailed on the ground like a crybaby.
MK grinned, looking down at them like the miracle child he was, "You know what?"
He gave them hope.
"We will have fun."
And then he crushed it.
He waved back at they're gloomy forms with a happy wave, "'Kay byyyyye~~!" And the doors shut in front of him.
Redson watched with an agape mouth, "He did that on purpose!?"
Mei shrugged casually as if the whole charade didn't just happen, "Eh. It's just him monkeying around....! He really embraces the simian side of him." She grinned. Her small dragon fangs peeked from her lips.
The prince couldn't help but stare. Her fangs were so eye catching to him that he didn't even notice small sparks of flickers dance around his down hair.
"Uh... Red Riding Hood? Redboy? Gingerbread?" Mei waved a hand in front of the Prince, "I think I lost you there." She chuckled in amusement.
Realizing that he stared for too long, his face flushed so bright that it almost defied his own hair color, "I am not no gingerbread!! The name makes no sense...!" He rolled his eyes and retreated back to the comfort of the fire in the middle of camp.
As soon as Mei saw that Redson was gone, her playful smile fell. Her eyes trailed over to the first ring they got from DBK. A familiar hunger grew in her chest. Almost like an instinctive ache that made her wish to be next to it. But it also made her afraid.
Afraid of what would lead afterwards of embracing this... Craving.
Glancing down at her hands. She realized they were shaking. Her eyes widened in concern. Was she really this fearful? What was the reason? Why was the instinct so painful to ignore? And why did it feel like as soon as she gave in, she would be overpowered and devoured as well?
"Jinhua...!"
The demoness turned, only to find her apprentice hugging her side. Her face buried into her robes, "Mei...?" Jinhua lowered into a kneeling position, her arms held up to the girl. Her concern grew as she saw that the warrior was trembling terribly. Thinking quickly, she held out a hand, "Do you wish to talk about it...?"
Nose crinkling up as she felt it itch, her eyes stinging as she resisted to tear up in front of everyone. She was suddenly reminded of the very reason how she came this far.
Ever sense she met this kind demon on accident from escaping her parent's lectures about family tradition. She had looked forward to meeting her again, feeling a sense of belonging. Curiosity melted in as soon as she was given the chance to hear her grand adventures with Monkey King. She realized that even with these traditions and responsibilities, she could be her own... Person...!
And she didn't have to be held down by her family to do what she wished to do.
She always had a mindset on boyish things. Not the best of extinguished daughters the Dragon of the West could have... But maybe they would be proud to have a warrior.
Maybe... They would smile at her achievements of what she did as a fighter...! She thought maybe the dragon sword could give her that chance.
But it just turned out that they changed their behavior only because of the sword and not... Her.
Jinhua was the one.
Her Master was the only one who didn't see her any differently after she gained her sword. She saw her as an extraordinary person from the beginning. And Mei started to crave the praises from her master. So she started to work extra hard during training.
Her dragon projection struck faster than before, her flames burned brighter, and she was considered one of the best fighters in the group.
She was even able to form a brotherhood with her best friends. She was considered a brother and she embraced it fully.
But after the entire Lady Bone Demon's incident, she began to doubt herself after the encounter of possessed Ren back on the hovercraft.
Her mind wavered as she tried to tell herself that she had to fight. She had to fight her enemy. But it was hard.
It was hard when the enemy was a brother.
But she was able to only fight Ren the second time by only channeling her anger from Lady Bone Demon and directing it towards Ren blindly. Giving MK no choice on the matter.
The thing that really made her start to doubt herself were these strange visions. The vision from the Dragon of the East, Al Guan. And then the recent vision from Redson.
They were of the same burning girl, screaming for her life in the ravaging dark flames.
She wasn't dumb. She knew who it was.
And that's what scared her.
Mei grabbed her Master's hand. Allowing the demoness to lead her to a secluded area. Sitting down on a stump, Jinhua allowed Mei to keep holding her hand as she tried to sort through her scattered thoughts.
"Master... I... I'm happy that we're getting the Samadhi Rings, really! But I can't help but feel uneasy about the whole thing... It's like a thorn stuck on my side.. And every time we come closer to our goal, the deeper it digs into my flesh..." Her tail thumped against the lush grass behind them, finding comfort in the small dampness of recent rain drops against her tail fur.
"Why do you think you feel uneasy...?" Jinhua kept her tone quiet as to give reassurance.
Mei pressed her lips together as she tried to find the words, "I don't know... My instincts tell me to devour everything. When I'm near the Ring... My Core burns and it's painful... My mind is making me think that it's dangerous and that I should keep it controlled... While my heart is just saying it's normal... I-I.. I just don't know what to do..." She whimpered out, her hands pressed against her head as her knees curled up against her chest, "What do I do...? Master?"
Jinhua frowned and saw the effects of the tolling journey. The defeat of Lady Bone Demon. The possession of her son. The visions... The Samadhi Fire.
Closing her eyes she took a deep breathe, "You know... I used to feel like I was stuck in a deep hole. Back when I was about your age... It was a much darker time... But I felt so small in the face of reality that I just couldn't figure out what to do in my life... I didn't know how to take that first step..." Jinhua placed a hand on her apprentice's shoulder, "Sometimes things don't go to plan and they tend to fuck us over... So it's our choice whether we stay in that little hole worrying about the consequences or..." A mischievous grin split the demoness, "We fuck the world tenfolds over."
Mei let her hands fall as she finally faced her Master. Her eyes glistening in pure content as she listened to her words. Finding a spark of fulfillment, "Fuck the world back..." She muttered with slight amusement.
Jinhua smiled at the slight enjoyment of her phrasing, "I see you have a swirling burning anger in you... You must control it or it will control you...." Jinhua turned towards the girl with all seriousness, "If you don't.. It will devour you."
Mei frowned, "You sound as if you have experienced it..."
Jinhua blinked and formed a small smile, "It is not of the greatest of feelings to have... It feels... like I have dishonored the ways of my father..."
"Your father..?" Mei blinked.
"He was a warrior of samurai that served the mortal emperor at the time he lived. He was a respected Captain of the guard until..." Jinhua trailed off with a misty look in her eye.
"Until...?"
Jinhua glanced down with a smirk, "Until he met my mother and fought her valiantly. It was said to be seen as a graceful dance of a duet of two magical beings." She described with almost longing in her tone, "Many would have thought the mortal of a man would lose, but he ended up winning something much more valuable in the end."
Mei leaned forward with wide eyes.
"Her heart." Jinhua chuckled, "It was the scandal of the century. A mortal man and the heir to the Nekomata Clan. Many looked down on this affair and we're against it. So my parents eloped. They ran from they're responsibilities to have a life full of love and joy."
"That sounds like those Korean drama shows." Mei commented with a grin, "They really had they're fanfiction moment."
Jinhua ignored the strange phrases and carried on, "They eventually had me but I'm sure you don't need the other details of what happened after that. We're not here to talk about my life story. We're here to talk about you." She jabbed a playful finger into Mei's chest, enticing a giggle from her.
Mei hummed in thought as she waved her hands around to form her thought, "So... How could I.. Control this anger... Control this differencing within me...? Make it all work in unity." She clamped her hands together.
"To make sure your core is secure and unified... You must make inner peace within one self..." Jinhua placed a palm just on top of where her heart would be, "To make inner peace, you must find what hinders you first and learn how to get over this obstacle." She smiled at her apprentice, "Then and only then... Can you make that first step out of the deep hole and fuck the world over."
Mei stared down at her hands for a moment. Her eyes lit up in determination as her brows furrowed, "So this can only be dealt by me. This is a personal thing then."
Jinhua nodded.
Mei looked up and smiled before hopping up and. Tackling the demoness in a tight hug, Mei hummed in content at the warmth she gained from her, "Thank you, Master... I needed that." She buried her face into the crevice of Jinhua's neck.
Jinhua closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around the girl, leaning her head against her's affectionately.
"I'm your Master. It's what I'm here for."