(Quick disclaimer here, I've never read Journey To The West. I've only watched the simplified and summarized videos on YT by Overlysarcastic Productions. From this point on the short memories of M/n's past might not fully follow up to Journey To the West. I also don't know a lot about ancient Chinese history so most of the things won't be historically accurate either :P)
You watched as your master, Qiang Shen, opened the letter from his mail before sighing plaintively. He quickly crumpled up the letter and threw it into the fireplace. The paper curled up in the flames and quickly became unrecognizable.
"What was the letter about?" You asked while you placed two bowls of rice onto the table, one in front of you and one across from you.
"It's..." Qiang Shen hesitated, "It's about the recent war that's been happening recently, currently they want me to take place alongside the war."
"What, why!?" You exclaimed as you set down the plate of pork and fish, "No offense, but you're too old. Yeah, you're a great mentor and all but you're unfit to fight for this."
"That's the point. They want me to help and train the soldiers, yet I'm unfit for training them against this war."
"Gosh, they're all morons." You mumbled, "So, what are you gonna do about it?"
"Ignore them."
"Ignore them!?" You parroted
"Mhm."
"What–Why!?"
"Ignoring them will send them a sign that I won't be joining their petty fights." He grumbled, "Now, sit down and eat."
You groaned and sat down across from your master. You shoved a mouth full of rice into your mouth, "I don't see the point in not just sending a letter." You mumbled.
"Do you have something to say? If so, speak up." Qiang Shen glared.
"I don't see the point in not telling them straight up!" You swallowed your mouth full of rice, "Why? Why not just tell them straight up, it's more professional that way."
"M/n, you don't know the situation don't just assume–"
"I'm just saying, Master. Just tell them straight up... unless your afraid to tell them." You smirked.
"M/n." The older male warned.
"You're scared of hurting their feelings! I knew it!" You exclaimed.
"M/n L/n. Knock it off." He warned again, his tone of voice sounding more stern this time.
Despite Qiang Shen sending you obvious warning signs to stop, you were too oblivious, "If you're so afraid, just have me send them a letter. In fact, I could just tell them to their face. I don't care about hurting their feelings–"
"M/N, SHUT UP!" Qiang Shen roared, his voice echoing off the walls of the shack. You flinched back at the sudden loud noise, "Stop talking about shit you don't know. Eat." He demanded.
You obediently followed his orders and shoved another piece of your food into your mouth. The rest of the night, the both of you remained silent.
(had to rewrite half of this black flash part because I forgot to had a very crucial part....)
🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
MK was basking under the hot sunlight with Mo beside him. The warm rays of the sunlight shot down from the sky, making it the perfect day to sun tan and enjoy the warm weather. You sat beside MK while you fumbled with your nails absentmindedly.
"Ah, such a cute, lazy, cat. You ain't got any trouble in the world, do ya'?" MK cooed while Mo's tail swayed from side to side.
Sandy stomped over onto the deck, causing you and MK to fall out of your chairs, MK let out a loud yelp and slammed onto the ground harshly. "Alright MK and M/n. It's time I teach you the most important lesson of them all! Let's do it." Sandy's eyes glimmered with hope, "Let's make some tea!"
"Right!" MK rolled off the sunbed dramatically and rushed over to the outside stove.
"Since when did we have a... what do mortals call it... outdoor kitchen?" MK and Sandy ignored you, sadly.
MK crashed into the stove, scrambled up, and began punching the air, "Follow my instructions exactly and you're in the best sleepy-time tea you've ever had!" Sandy demanded, "Step one, get your water up to a bombing 171 degrees!" MK turned up the heat on the stove and dropped the teapot onto the hot surface. The water started bubbling rapidly and began gushing out of the teapot, "Step two, and this is important, add just a pinch of my special sleepy time tea leaves." MK proceeded to add two whole packets of leaves into the mixture, "Step three, serve in your cutest and favorite tea cup and enjoy. Thanks, little man!" Sandy took a sip of the tea, "Oh yeah, you did add just a pinch right–"
Sandy tumbled over onto the ground which caused a loud bang to echo throughout the boat, loud snoring escaped through Sandy's large body.
"Uh, what's that Sandy?" MK asked.
"Mortal! You added too much of the–"
"Awee, big guy, you must've tuckered yourself out." MK giggled and placed Mo onto Sandy's shoulders, "I'm going to keep you safe, nothing bad's going to happen not on my watch!"
You heard a loud chime come from above you all, you quickly looked upwards and saw a shiny gold portal rip through and drop a large crate next to Sandy. MO scurried away from the box and hissed in fear.
"A...crate?" You muttered.
"Ho-ho! A super special package from Monkey King! Oh, this day is just a whole lot more interesting." MK smirked, he hurdled over Sandy's body and darted towards the crate.
The box was a dark brown color and had a few chips in the crate. Chains and caution tape secured the crate shut, and warning stickers were stamped all over the box hinting to not open the box.
"Uhm... Mortal? I don't think we should try and open it–"
"Gotta! Open!–" MK muttered and he tried to open the box with a crowbar, eventually he could crack open the box which caused an envelope to fly into MK's face. He quickly ripped apart the envelope to see the piece of paper.
You snatched the paper out of MK's hands and cleared your throat, "For, MK–"
"Hey that's me!" MK exclaimed eagerly.
"Dear MK, as you know I'm super busy on vacation, I've got a special delivery but I won't get to it for a while. You MUST not open it no matter what, it's bad news." You read out, "Told you, Mortal." You chuckled teasingly, "But, I know there's no way you're gonna listen to that, so I've also sent you a training blindfold, you must wear this blindfold all day. Only when you truly learn how to listen can you take it off."
You pulled out the blindfold which was, what a surprise, golden. The blindfold shimmered in the sunlight, you admired the small detail stitched onto the fabric. MK snatched the fabric from your hands and enthusiastically hopped over the crate.
"My next super power, super hearing!" He exclaimed, he quickly tied the blindfold over his eyes. "I can hear everything!"
"Mortal, that's not what he meant when he said–"
"That sounds like someone in trouble! I better go help!" MK twirled his staff around in his hand before shooting off.
"Ugh, this is going to be an annoying mission..." You grumbled, "I'm going to make sure that Mortal doesn't do anything idiotic, you make sure to watch over Sandy, okay Mo?" You scratched the blue cat's chin before shifting into your tiger form and darting off to catch up with MK.
🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
"WHYYYY!??" Mei roared. MK slid across the concrete with you following behind him, you quickly shifted back into your human form and slid onto the rough ground.
"Mei, what's going on?" MK, who was facing the wrong direction, asked. You picked him up by the shoulders and made him face the direction Mei was in.
"MK, M/N! You have to stop this!" Mei sobbed as she pulled both of you over to watch as an unfamiliar woman dragged away their favorite arcade machine, Monkey Mech.
"MK! Where have you been!?" Pigsy barked.
"Uh-oh..." You muttered as Pigsy stomped over to MK.
"This is the final straw MK! Are you deaf or did you choose not to listen to me when I asked you to mop the floor!?" Pigsy growled as MK crawled behind you and Mei, "Stop screwing around and take that blindfold off!? I wanna look you in the eye when I'm scolding you."
"I'm trying, it won't come off!" MK whined as he tried to rip off the blindfold.
"This is... awkward..." You whispered to Mei.
"For real..." She muttered back.
"Classic MK, can't listen to basic instructions and screws around all day." Pigsy shrugged, "This is exactly why I'm getting rid of this arcade machine"
"No, not my beautiful fighting robot machine!" MK whined while Mei sobbed out protests.
You sighed and rubbed the bridge of your nose, "I cannot deal with this today..."
"I've seen it all before, games suck up the best years of your life until you're a hollow, bitter, old man." Pigsy hissed, "The arcade is outta here!"
"Uh, Pig-man, where do you want the table?" The unknown woman asked.
"Table, what table!?"
"The order says you wanted to swap the Monkey Mech arcade cabinet with the Ping Pong table, so..." She pointed towards the table.
Pigsy rushed over to the brand new shiny ping-pong table, "Ping-Pong table? Smooth lines, crisp net, I bet the bounce on this baby is–" Pigsy gushed over the sleek new table, you swore you could see stars twinkling in his eyes. He quickly slammed his fist onto the table and howled in frustration, "I didn't order this! Doesn't anyone listen!?"
"Hey, I'm just doing my job, man. You gotta sign for this sooo–"
"On it!" MK happily grabbed a pen and signed the paper.
"Kid! What are you doing!?"
"Trust me, Pigsy, I can really hear what you're saying." He slid a ping-pong racket into Pigsy's hands, "You need me to work hard so you can play hard."
"No, not ping-pong. This isn't good, I really don't want to play too hard. Listen, long as this table is here I won't stop, I can't stop!" Pigsy pleaded as he stared down at the racket in horror.
"Uh, okay Pigsy, have fun. Super hearing delivery boy go!" MK exclaimed and crashed right into a light pole.
"Uh, MK, let me help," Mei murmured.
"I got it, I got it."
The two drove off, leaving you behind. You sighed plaintively and turned over to Pigsy, "I remember when I was that age. Gosh, if I were MK I would've gotten the punishment of a lifetime. You've got a lot on your plate with running the shop, I'll deal with them, okay Mortal?" You placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before sprinting off to catch up with the two.
"Maybe just one little bounce? I mean, it can't hurt..." Pigsy murmured.
🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
"I think my super hearing is getting better, I only crashed three times!" MK exclaimed smugly.
"Yeah... amazing," Mei grumbled as she tried to steer the tuk-tuk away from crashing into anything.
"More like worse..." You peeked down from the top of the truck. Currently, you are sitting at the top of the tuk-tuk.
"Yeah, I did awesome, that's gotta show the blindfold that I'm a good listener." MK attempted at trying to pull off the blindfold which was to no avail, "Why won't this come off?" He groaned.
"You know, Monkey King said the blindfold won't come off until you listen–" Mei muttered.
"Uh-huh, until I learned to listen truly, yeah, but I listen great!" MK shoved his foot into Mei's face, causing her to steer off-road.
"Watch out!" You yelped, Mei looked back at the road and shrieked. You swiftly grabbed the back of their collars and jumped off the tuk-tuk just in time before it crashed into a pole.
Mei groaned and rubbed her head, "Thanks M/n, you saved our butts back there..." She muttered as she scratched the back of her head bashfully.
"Just doing what I can, are you both alright?" You asked worriedly as you began checking them for injuries.
"Yeah, I'm alright. No need to check!" She giggled. You stood up and held out your hand which she gladly took. You pulled her up and went over to pick MK up to his feet (mostly the fact he couldn't even see if you were holding your hand out to him or not.
You all began walking towards Pigs y's noodles, leaving the wrecked-up truck behind. "Now, back to what we're talking about earlier. I've known Wukong for centuries, I'm guessing he doesn't mean super hearing, more like understanding what people are saying."
"Mhm, his lesson here isn't going to be as simple as just hearing, uh, it has some sort of twist. Maybe it's about listening well, you know?" She shrugged.
"Isn't that the same thing?" MK muttered, you sighed and slapped your palm on your forehead. Thunder clapped from the, now dark clouds, from above. The atmosphere changed from being a cloudless, sunny day, to a dark and stormy vibe.
The town was in a wreck, huge pieces of rubble stuck out from the ground. You saw many civilians groaning in pain as their bodies were scattered across the town. You looked up and saw what you'd call, "The Eye of The Storm''. Piles of junk and rubble created a tall tower with a figure standing atop it.
"Is that...Pigsy?" You mumbled.
"What the hell!?" Mei exclaimed.
"Mei, M/n, I don't remember the ground being so squishy," MK called out as stepped across the unconscious civilians' bodies.
Out of nowhere, a person shot down from the pile of junk and landed right on MK. You watched as MK and the unknown figure crashed into a nearby building, a huge dust cloud emerged from the hole in the building.
"Pigsy, what happened!?" Mei shouted up to Pigsy. He was at the top of the pile as he flipped his Ping-pong paddle in his hand.
"I am the master and Ping, the emperor of pong!" He cackled triumphantly as a lightning bolt struck behind him.
Tang popped out of a pile of people, "Run while you can! His hunger for the win, it's insatiable!" Tang warned.
"Pigsy, you have to stop! People are getting hurt!" MK hollered. Ironically, he stomped his foot onto an unconscious person's body.
Pigsy chuckled manically, "Stop!? I told ya' as long as this table is here, I'll never stop!" He cackled.
"Argh! What are we gonna do!? He won't listen to reason!" Tang asked frantically.
"Yeah, there's a bit of that going around," Mei murmured as you and she peered over at MK who staggered over beside you both.
"Listening..." MK mumbled and he picked up the paddle off the ground, "There's only one we could do, Pigsy, I challenge you!" MK hollered up at Pigsy.
"You!? Oh, if you stepped up to me, then you're gonna lose!" Pigsy chuckled as he threw up the Ping-Pong ball and whacked it down to MK. You watched pieces of rubble fly up from that single shot and the ball fry through MK's hair.
"I've only seen those kinds of moves from elite Celestial beings..." You muttered apprehensively.
"Yep, okay, this might be the one scenario where not being able to see puts me at a bit of a disadvantage." MK gulped.
"MK, you're an idiot..." Mei groaned.
"That was just a warning shot, this is the real deal!" Pigsy hurled the ball down at MK with enough force to blow all of the unconscious people away. Fortunately, he was able to parry the ball.
"MK!" Mei shrieked. He groaned as the force of the ball continued to try and spin through MK's paddle. MK slowly slid backward as light purple flames erupted from the ball.
"Pigsy, why won't you listen to me!?" MK cried as Pigsy's sinister laughter echoed across the town. That's when everything clicked, he gasped in realization.
"He doesn't mean super hearing, more like understanding what people are saying."
"You have to truly learn how to listen!"
"His hunger for the win, It's insatiable!"
"I won't stop, I can't stop, I'll never stop!"
"That's what Monkey King meant! Not just super hearing, but listening to what people are saying! I have to listen!" MK thought to himself. He threw the ball up and whacked the ball back to Pigsy.
"MK! Your blindfold! It's loosening!" Mei cheered.
"I get now, Pigsy's just like me, he's not listening to me but I'll get through to him."
"Woah, character development." You chuckled.
The clap of the ball hitting Pigsy's paddle rattled all around the town, and explosions of debris gusted out of the sides of the building that surrounded the pile of junk.
"Are you gonna keep yapping or are you gonna finish this!?" Pigsy roared as he whacked the ball over to MK.
"No Pigsy, I'm ready to listen." MK's hair and clothes flowed in the wind like a wave, graceful but violent. He launched his hand back and hit the ball back and forth between him and Pigsy. His arms became a blur for how fast they were passing the ball to each other, the sound of the ping-pong ball hitting their rackets filled your ears as you watched the two violently battle each other. "Is that all you got!?" MK mocked, his voice being mumbled from the echoing of the ball hitting the racket, "I thought you were going to play hard!" He launched the ball back to Pigsy and dashed over to the pile, he jumped up in the air gracefully and began levitating in front of Pigsy, "Come on, Pigsy!"
Pigsy roared in frustration and threw the ball toward MK. The ball was engulfed in purple flames, in that moment you looked up and saw the purple flames twinkle like a star under the dark, ominous clouds. You watched as the blindfold lit up in a golden light, shimmering under the purple flames. The blindfold was proofed up into a glorious gold cloud only to be outshined by MK's radiant light shining from him.
He opened his eyes to reveal a beaming light that could rival the sun's. He stretched his arm backward as the ball hurled towards him, "I hear ya' Pigsy!" He bellowed. He slammed the ball down at the Ping-Pong table, causing it to break in half. A blast of bright light swallowed your vision as you felt the force of the explosion slide you across the ground. You wrapped your arms around Mei's arms as you tried to prevent her from flying off from the intense wind.
You slowly opened your eyes and saw the town had been destroyed. The stone buildings around you were leaning at odd angles and some had even been turned into rubble. Light poles had been knocked from its roots and wire ran across the wreck buildings.
Dark gray clouds swallowed the sky, ominously curling up and passing through the group. Pigsy looked down at his addle in shame, "No, it happened again." He murmured dreadfully.
MK rushed over to Pigsy's shriveled form, "Pigsy, I'm so sorry! I should've listened, this is all my fault."
"No kid, that game, It's got a hold on me." He sniffled, "Thank you."
"You really listened to what he needed." Mei patted Pigsy's head.
"I'm not sure who taught you guys Ping-Pong..." Tang ran his fingers down the beat-up sign to Pigsy's Noodles. The sign retired from its stan and crashed onto the rubble beneath it, "...but this isn't it. You did a number on this street, should we, uh, clean it up?"
"Or maybe we should check on Sandy?" MK suggested
"Sounds reasonable." You shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah, sounds good to me"
"Yeah, I wasn't going to help anyway, but okay!"
🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
"Ugh, what happened?" Sandy sat up, it looked like he'd just woken up. Red marks were drawn all across his, making him look silly and goofy.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who played too hard, right Tang?" Pigsy nudged Tang jokingly.
"Too soon..." He muttered, staring off into the distance. (Insert thousand-yard stare image).
"Awwee, Mo!" Mei began squishing Mo's face while she purred out small giggles, "You have a good lazy day? Such a lazy cat."
"Oh, hey I forgot about this thing," MK exclaimed as he sat down in front of the crate Mo was laying on. It was the same crate from earlier.
"How'd all this stuff get here? Last time we were here, Mo, Sandy, and the box were all out on the deck." You murmured.
"Yeah, odd... Monkey King said not to open it, but one little peak wouldn't hurt." MK stretched his hand out, eager to see what was in the crate. Mo quickly ran up his arm and scratched up his face before returning to guarding the box and hissing at him.
"Sheesh, okay then, heard you loud and clear." MK sat up and walked away from the box, "Alright, who wants some tea?" Everyone (including you) simultaneously raised their hands.
🪼⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Heyyyy guys! Imma be honest, this was probably one of my least favorite ones to write cuz MK irritated me such much in this episode.... Hopefully you all enjoyed this, I tried to add more interactions with Mei and M/n in this one cuz they need some screen time.
Anywho, thank you all for reading and getting this story to 6.54K reads (on Wattpad) and 241 votes (on Wattpad)!
Bye bye!
Word count: 3265