Pretty Peaches

Familiar Frenemies

DISCLAIMER: This may not also be accurate as I have NOT read JTTW

"Bàba! Bàba!" A little monkey girl yelled, a wide smile painting her petite face as she ran up to the Great Sage, small fruit in hand. Her small tail wrapped around his leg as she buried her face into his orange fur affectionately. The Monkey King stepped back a small bit, slightly startled by the sudden contact between the little child and his leg. He was about ready to kick back in case it was another small demon about to bite his ankles again. Unfortunately, it was much worse. It was his young successor in training that was hugging him as she held out a bunch of either rotten or unripe berries. How… pleasant.

"Oh, what nice-looking trinkets you have there! But I recall asking you to go get a bamboo stick if I'm not mistaken." Wukong replied, leaning down and peeling the small child from his calf. He held her up to his face by the small scarf she wore around her neck. It was red, much like his as it was made from the scarf he had cut off for her. "Remember, you're here to train. I started training only a few weeks after I was born from the boulder. Heck, I had my powers come at the moment I was born from stone. I shot up little beams of light up to the heavens and all you have done right now is cling to my leg with extreme stubbornness. I am convinced that is your power. Extreme stubbornness and clinginess." He playfully smiled down at the child. He lowered her as she looked up at him with wide, teal eyes. She looked so pure and innocent that Wukong regretted having her chosen to be his successor. Maybe… no. She would never have survived if he left her on that island.

"But, Bàba, I didn't want a stick! I wanted berries and wanted to share them with you!" The monkey girl pouted while crossing her arms. She was adorable, it made Wukong rethink his decision to train her. He decided to keep to the plan. He had grown up all alone and didn't have time to be a child and look how he turned out. If he raised this little monkey demon like he was, except she had a mentor to guide her, maybe she could truly become his successor. Of course, nobody could ever beat him, but they could get close and he would respect that if his successor reached such a level of power. He was snapped out of his thoughts by sharp jabs to his knee. He hissed and looked back at the monkey girl, who had found a bamboo staff and was angrily poking at him. "See! I found one, Stupid Sage!" She was mighty sour about now being able to pick up any more rotten berries. A strange one she was.

"This… this needs a bit of carving. I'll be right back." Wukong left with the bamboo stick he had snatched. She had to learn with at least a sense of taste in weapons. He left the young demon alone as a few monkey children tumbled around her, having fun and being children. Wukong was only about three thousand years old at that time, so some could consider him a young immortal. Sometimes he even acted like an angry teenager. Most of the time he just acted like a man in his early twenties with the maturity of a seventeen-year-old boy, but with the wisdom of an old man.

The monkey girl sat down on the grass, playing with the bright green, spring blades. She felt a little bit uncomfortable. Wukong had left her alone, but she still felt eyes. The eyes of something more sentient than monkeys watching her through the thick foliage surrounding her. The young demon picked up a stick and pointed it at the bushes, leaning back. "Show yourself! My bàba will be here any minute!" She yelled out into the leaves. There was a loud rustling noise behind her as she turned to point her stick similar to the way she had to the bush which was now behind her. A loud croak cane from the culprit. It was just a loud, brightly colored frog. She immediately dropped the stick and went to admire the neon pink and yellow frog. She still felt eyes on her, but she didn't mind now that there was a beautiful little frog!

A pair of yellow eyes were watching the monkey girl play and talking to the frog, which seemed to not even care about being alive anymore. "Hmmm… Wukong has a kid, eh? Doesn't look like she's related to him…" a voice hissed to itself. His six ears twitched as he picked up the conversation between the frog and the little monkey demon. She was pitiful and naive, but strangely endearing. Before they could study the child anymore, they returned to the shadows with not even a single trace of their presence.