[Keep in mind my white ass only knows the basics of Chinese culture. I'm just a fan of the book and I do my best to do my research. Keep in mind the liberties I'm taking are for the sake of storytelling, but if I cross the line and I'm being culturally insensitive, please let me know.]
Tripitaka fell on his knees with his hands on the floor and his head hung down, panting after using all of his energy on his protection spells. The demon king, standing in front of him and with his generals and their armies behind him, laughed.
"Is that all the chosen one, the righteous monk Tripitaka can do?!" he asked. "Protection spells?!" he leaned closer, the monk didn't look up. "I suppose when you have the Monkey King by your side, you're bound to slack off."
Under his breath, the monk closed his eyes and recited another spell. The demon king kept talking as his smirk grew larger, revealing his sharp teeth.
"But your precious bodyguard isn't here anymore, he is back for another few centuries buried under a mountain." he snickered. "Except this time his master won't be there to save him!" his snicker turned into a laugh.
Tripitaka ignored him and kept reciting his spell. Hearing no begging for mercy, the king looked closer and noticed what he was doing. Tripitaka started to glow in a gentle blue light, as soon as it happened, the king grabbed him by the throat with a single hand and lifted his body.
"Conjuring yet another spell? I have to admit, your stubbornness is admirable."
When the light around him disappeared, Tripitaka opened his eyes again and the demon king gasped. His bright cyan blue eyes, signifying his 'chosen one' status, turned a regular brown.
"What did you do?" the demon slowly asked, furious.
"My last resort." Tripitaka painfully said with a dry voice. "I transferred all of my powers to a child who has just been born somewhere in China."
"You mean...You mean there is now a new reincarnation of the Golden Cicada?!"
"There may be a new chosen one, but there will always be one Monkey." the monk smiled. "And once the two of them are united, together they'll carry on the journey to the west."
"I will stop them!"
"I'm sure you'll try. And knowing Monkey, he'd never pass an opportunity for 'a good ass-kicking revenge'." he chuckled.
The demon king became frustrated with how calm Tripitaka was.
"You would give your life away and place your trust in a stupid violence-hungry self-centered monkey who didn't want to be your disciple in the first place?!"
"I'm doing it right now aren't I?" he looked him in the eyes, still smiling.
The demon's fist clenched, he took out his sword and plunged it through his heart.
It was a dark and rainy day, friends battled and died. And somewhere, trapped inside a mountain, a monkey was struggling shouting in rage and desperation.
And the years passed...
"And so, the Great Sage equal to Heaven ate all of the peaches of immortality-"
"Wait," one of the disciples interrupted his master. "so he's...double immortal?"
"Well no." another disciples said. "The Tao doesn't make him immortal per se, it just makes him ageless."
"Isn't that the same thing though?"
"I mean-yeah, but the Tao has to be regularly practiced, the peaches are more concrete. You can just eat one of them and boom."
"Either way," a third one joined the conversation. "why did he eat *all* the peaches? One was just enough."
"He didn't eat them for the immortality. I'm pretty sure he just likes peaches."
"Also wasn't it his job to guard them?! Because of him the Jade Emperor had to wait years for new ones to grow so they could hold the peach festival. How stupid and impulsive."
"That's the Monkey King in a nutshell."
The three disciples snickered. Though those were three out of thirty-seven who weren't paying attention, it was enough for the high monk to stop in his tale and irritate him.
"Excuse me." his clear voice made them suddenly sit straight. "Although yes it was stupid and impulsive of him, knowing the tales of the Monkey King is essential to your training."
"To know what not to do?"
"Yes but not just that-"
"Sun Wukong is so cool!!!"
Before the monk could further explain himself, everyone turned their heads towards a corner of the room where young ten-year-old (Y/n) has been too invested in the Monkey King's story to listen to anything else.
"He never backs down even when he's facing THE Jade Emperor's army of heaven!" she kept praising, her eyes full of stars. "He's so courageous and strong!"
"(Y/n)!"
She suddenly tensed up and turned around to face her master, standing like a soldier.
"I've told you many times, you can join the class only if you stay quiet and pay attention." he said, trying to stay calm.
"Sorry dad."
"And I'm not your dad."
"Sorry Grandpa."
"I'm not your grandpa either!" he seemed offended. "I'm not that old!"
"...Is that-" one of the disciples started to whisper. "Is that actually why he's telling Sun Wukong's tales?"
"Because (Y/n) loves them?"
"Oh that is so cute-WAH!"
Of course their almost father-daughter relationship was known by the older disciples, but those just learned to never say such thing out loud in their master's presence. As soon as those words escaped his lips, the old monk threw his cane at him and it landed horizontally on his forehead, making him fall backwards. Young (Y/n) tilted her head, unlike her father figure, she didn't hear what was said.
"The only thing I wanna hear from you are the prayers you'll be studying for an extra hour after class!"
The disciple groaned, rubbing the red spot on his forehead.
"Master, speaking of which:" another one pointed out the window. "the sun has touched the peak of the mountain, can we go?"
The monk looked for himself, it was indeed time for them to leave the main temple for the day. He sighed.
"Fine. But before you leave: what is the moral of this story?"
"Oh!" (Y/n) raised her hand. "That you should follow your instincts even when they go against rules, but also that you should learn how to stop while you can!"
"Wha-no!" he said. "That you should stay in your place, not steal, and learn how to stop while you-actually that last one was good." he pointed at her and she smiled widely.
"So can we go now master?"
"Yes," he waved his hand. "class dismissed."
All the students, except one who dragged his feet to the library, went out, excited to do whatever they want for the rest of the day. Young (Y/n) picked up her master's cane from the ground and gave it back to him.
"Thank you." he took it with a nod and used it to stand up before slowly walking towards the exit.
"Master... Sheb, Wu-peng and Bao asked if I could go play with them." she nervously said while playing with her fingers. "Can I?"
"'Course you can."
"Yes! Thank you master!" she jumped from joy before rushing out.
"Now wait right there young lady."
She stopped at the large double-doorways, her shoulders tensed. Her master stood beside her and they faced each-other.
"You seem a bit too enthusiastic for my taste." he narrowed his eyes and lifted an eyebrow, stroking his necklace. "Where exactly are you kids planning to go?"
"Um...not far."
"'Not far' as in: around the monastery?" he leaned closer.
"Umm..."
The two of them stared into each-other's eyes. Eventually, (Y/n) glanced at the forest surrounding a mountain, beyond the village which is down the little hill the monastery was on top of. It was very brief, but the monk noticed. He frowned.
"You are not to go past the village alone child, it is far too dangerous."
She groaned, he would always talk all solemnly and call her 'child' when he was dead serious.
"But they said they know super cool spots! Bao said he once saw an Earth God!"
"They're the youngest, they're still bold and reckless, do not let them influence you." he started to walk away. "And I'm sure Bao just said that to impress you."
"Nu-hu, he saw it! I just wanna go play and have fun!"
"You can do that in the monastery or in the village, where it's safe."
She clenched her fists.
"How would you know?!" she shouted, making him turn around. "You never left this place either! Stupid old man!" she ran away.
The monk sighed, thinking she was too young to understand.
"(Y/n)?" Bao, ten years old as well and the youngest of the three, walked in her room with his two friends.
The curtains were drawn and she was curled up at the end of her bed, hugging a doll made, by her master years ago, to resemble Sun Wukong.
"I guess the master said no." Shen, the oldest, said as they walked up to her.
She sniffed.
"He said it was too dangerous." she spoke in a little voice. "And he said Bao lied just to look cool."
"I-I didn't!" he exclaimed, his cheeks a shade redder.
"Pfff." Wu-peng shook his head. "The old man doesn't know the forest like we do." he pointed at himself with his thumb. "We would explore it everyday long before we joined the monastery."
"Woa~." (Y/n) looked at him in awe. "Really?"
He nodded and then thought for a moment.
"You know," he smirked. "master will be busy today with his weekly rituals. He won't notice if you're gone."
Her and Bao's eyes widen, shocked at the prospect of rule-breaking. Though she was excited and Bao was terrified.
"Are you sure about this?" Shen looked at him. "If he finds out, who knows what trouble we'll be in."
"We'll be fine~," he waved his hand and ruffled her hair. "(Y/n)'s clever, she knows how to keep it on the down low. Right (Y/n)?"
She enthusiastically nodded, making him chuckle.
"See?"
"Okay then, but we'll have to get back before it gets dark."
(Y/n) quickly got out of bed and started changing from her inside outfit to something comfortable to hike in, the boys quickly walked out before they could see anything, closing the door behind them.
"Does this girl not know that we're men?" Wu-peng asked.
"She doesn't care," Shen chuckled, shaking his head. "she only cares for her dear Monkey King."
He heard Bao sigh and saw the sad look on his face, he gave him a friendly smack on the arm.
"Don't be sad man, one day she'll notice you."
"Wha-what?!" he blushed.
(Y/n) knew the village like the back of her hand so she easily lead the way, though she didn't forget to be polite and say hello back to the people who greeted her. The boys had a bit of a hard time keeping up.
She stopped at the edge of the village, in front of the tall trees. All her life she could only look and imagine what they were hiding. She looked down and took a step, her foot left the cobbled floor and set on the green grass. She softly gasped and took another step. She looked up at the young boys with big eyes, they smiled.
"Come on, let's go." Wu-peng gestured her to follow him as they went ahead.
She let the boys lead the way this time, looking around and stopping at every little new thing she saw, and every time the two oldest would press her on.
"It's so vast." she said. "It's like...ten villages!"
"Yeah, but don't worry, you won't get lost as long as you're with us." Wu-peng smiled.
"I-If you're scared, you can...hold my hand." Bao offered her his hand.
"It's okay, I have Sun Wukong to protect me!" she raised her doll and suddenly gasped. "Is that a bird nest?!" (Y/n) rushed towards a tree.
He sighed, Wu-peng patted his shoulder before they caught up to her.
"Sounds like there are still babies in there." Shen said, looking up at one of the branches.
"I've never seen baby birds before!" she started to climb.
"(Y/n)!"
"I just wanna take a look!"
"Be careful!" Bao exclaimed.
But the boys weren't worry. (Y/n) wasn't the most athletic ('she's a girl after all', the ten, eleven and twelve-year-old boys thought) but she was one hell of a climber: one of her hobbies was to get on top of the main temple's roof to admire the landscape. Within seconds, she was sitting on the branch and carefully scooted over the nest.
"You're amazing." Bao whispered.
"Aww~ they're so tiny!" she leaned closer, surprisingly for the boys, the birds didn't panic. "I wonder if you have names."
Shen and Wu-peng glanced at each-other at her comment, reminded that this little girl has been living all her life secluded up the hill. Suddenly, loud footsteps, enough to shake the trees, made the babies birds panic. Holding the tree trunk, she looked down at her friends.
"Monsters!" Shen looked at the oldest.
"(Y/n)! Get down quick!"
"B-but the babies will be eaten!"
He clicked his tongue and picked up Bao, setting him on a branch. The boy was confused but started climbing up to join (Y/n) without questions.
"Bao, protect her! We'll go get help, we're faster anyway."
"Okay."
"Don't move you two, and be quiet. Be right back."
And with that, the two of them ran away. As the footsteps came closer and closer, (Y/n) squeezed her doll close to her chest and closed her eyes, Bao hugged her from behind as a way to protect her.
"Where are you going?" a loud and low voice asked.
"I heard some birds nearby," another similar voice, much closer, responded. "you know I never pass the opportunity to get a quick snack."
The two kids glanced at each-other in terror, holding their breath.
"Don't get off track! We gotta go! I am not going to be late again because of you!"
"Urh~ fine!"
The footsteps slowly faded away after that. (Y/n) and Bao waited a moment before letting out a long relieved sigh.
"Why do we even have to come to this meeting?" the voice continued. "It's just a report on this stupid monkey."
"Because if thing get out of hand, our lord will need his generals to act as soon as possible to deal with that damn monkey."
"Urh~!"
"Sun Wukong?" (Y/n) whispered, suddenly interested.
She let go of the tree trunk and slowly descended from the tree. Poor Bao clumsily followed her in a panic.
"C-come on, he's not the only demon monkey in China." he whispered.
"If a demon lord is so scared that he needs his whole army to protect him just in case, then the guy they're talking about is crazy strong. Who else could it be but him?"
"(Y-Y/n) please~, let's just go back while they're not looking." he whined.
"But if Sun Wukong is in trouble, we have to help him." she looked back at him. "And even if he isn't, it'd be good to know where the monsters' HQ is. Now ssssh, you're gonna blow our cover."
Bao gulped.
After a short while, they finally saw the monsters: two three-meters-tall beings with long hair and horns. One had purple horns, the other red.
"Demons." (Y/n) whispered, both scared and mesmerized.
Because she wasn't watching where her feet were landing, she stepped on a stick and broke it. Bao quickly pulled her behind a tree with him before the two demons could see anything as they turned around.
"Did you hear something?" one asked.
"...Maybe just the wind."
They looked at each-other because walking again.
Once again, the two kids let out a long yet quiet sigh of relief.
"Thank you Bao." she smiled.
He blushed.
"Huh-uh-hehe, you're welco-"
"Come on now." she came out of their hiding spot. "We're gonna lose them."
Bao was a bit disappointed, still this was one of the few times she thanked him for something he did and he will cherish this moment.
Following them at a safe distance, they eventually stopped once they saw them enter a cave.
"Okay, we know where their HQ is, can we go now?" Bao tugged on her sleeve.
(Y/n) kept watching with narrowed eyes. A few seconds passed before she nodded with a hum. As soon as they turned around, a whip wrapped itself around Bao and pulled him inside the cave.
"Bao!" she yelled as he screamed, running after him.
Once she stepped foot in the cave, she could hear the monsters laughing.
"I'm actually impressed that you didn't follow us all the way." the one with the red horns, holding Bao said. "Too bad you human children are so weak and stupid. Did you really think we didn't smell you from here?"
"Let him go!" she yelled. "Before Sun Wukong comes and kicks your butts!"
They both laughed.
"You know," the other one with purple horns said. "that monkey isn't that big of a deal. We're waaay stronger!"
"That's not true! You're lying!" her cheeks were getting red from anger. "The only one who was ever able to defeat him was Buddha himself!"
They laughed again.
"Oh you naive child." the red one shook his head. "Sun Wukong has indeed been defeated by our lord a long time ago."
"Shut up! You're lying again!"
"No we're not."
"Yes you are!"
"I'm getting hungry can we eat them now?" the purple one asked, his mouth salivating.
(Y/n) took a nearby pebbles and threw them at the demon's face, he was unfazed by this attack.
"Let Bao go!" she kept throwing rocks. "Let, him, go!"
"This is getting annoying."
"Well now you know what it's like to deal with you." his colleague said as he brought a struggling Bao closer to his face and opened his mouth.
"No!!!" (Y/n) shouted, extending her arm.
Suddenly, a bubble of blue light formed around the boy. Though it disappeared within seconds, the demon hissed in pain, feeling his hand burn, and dropped him. Bao didn't waste time and ran up to his friend.
"What was that?" he asked.
"I don't know!" she said.
"It can't be..." the demon mumbled, holding onto his painful wrist. "Your eyes aren't even cyan."
"Huh?" she frowned in confusion.
"Brother," the other one pointed at her, whispering harshly. "are you seriously implying that this female human child is the Golden Cicada?"
"I'm not sure." he whispered back and paused. "We have to bring her to our lord and figure this out."
With his other arm, he reached for her at an incredible speed. She shielded herself and praised for impact, but nothing came.
"Master!" she heard Bao exclaimed.
She looked up to see the old monk, standing in front of her, his necklace in his hand and conjuring a shielding spell. Shaking slightly, he looked back.
"Run! Now!"
(Y/n) stood there motionless.
"Come on! Let's go!" Bao grabbed her hand and dragged her out with him.
Because of the sudden pull, she dropped her doll.
"Sun Wukong!" she extended her arm as the two kids left the cave.
"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily!" the purple one took out a qiang (a chinese spear).
From the look of the weapon, anyone could tell it didn't belong to a demon. He probably stole it somewhere.
"No you idiot! It's far too powerful!" his brother exclaimed.
But it was too late, the horned demon swung it. He must've not be using it a lot, because it missed its target and landed on the cave's wall instead. The ground shook slightly.
"Oh-ho." he said.
Then the cave began to collapse.
"Master! Hurry!" the monk heard his disciple outside.
While the two demons started to argue, he took the opportunity to run. But he stopped and turned around towards the doll he made for (Y/n) when she was a baby. He went back to pick it up and ran towards the exit again.
"Hurry!"
As more and bigger rocks came down, the two demons were eventually knocked out and the monk made one last jump forward before the cave was completely sealed.
"Okay that was a bad idea." the demon responsible for this, on all fours to create a tiny bit of space with the rumbles crushing his back, took off his earring which then turned into a golden snake. "Tell our lord we found the Golden Cicada quick."
With that, the little snake left the cave through the cracks, unnoticed. Once it delivers its message it will turn back into an earring until the next message.
"Wait." the demon said to himself. "I forgot to say where. Dammi-"
And with that, his last bit of energy was gone and he let the cave crush him.
The two children protected their eyes from the cloud of dust. (Y/n) looked up and ran towards the cave, now just one big pile of rocks while Bao watched, paralyzed by shock.
"Master!" she cried.
His upper body was peaking out, lying on his stomach, beneath the rumbles. She tried to push them away, but to no avail, using all her strength made her feet slip and she kneeled in front of him.
"Master...?"
The old man twitched. Without looking up, he lifted his hand, holding both his necklace and the doll. She took it but still held onto his hand, tears growing in her eyes.
"I..." he said in a weak voice. "I'm sorry I never got to call you my daughter before. This stupid old man couldn't swallow his pride."
"Mas..." she sniffed and squeezed his hand, her tears now flowing down her face. "Dad!"
He chuckled faintly. Suddenly his hand went limp, it almost slipped away but (Y/n) held it with both her shaky hands, sobbing.
"Dad!!!"