The Moon's Successor

Here We Are

Season 5, Season 5, Season 5. Season 5! SEASON 5!

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽Warrior Mountain ☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄Linwan⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

"Dad, what's with the early morning training mountain visit?" "It's not that early." Linwan blinked at Macaque a few times then looked at the moon that was still in the sky. "Uh-huh. Not that early my ass." She looked at her phone to see it was only... "It's only two?!" He lowered her phone with a single claw. "It's fiiiine." "You better have a good reason for cutting into my napping time, dad. I literally pulled a double at Pigsy's yesterday because MK was tired and-" "That's why we're here." She paused then raised a brow. "Why do you think he hasn't been sleeping, Li? I know you know the answer." A hand rested on her chin as she thought about it before she frowned. "... Oh... His monkey form." She averted her gaze a bit then sat down to stare off into the sky. "Alright, I hear the gears turning in your head. What's wrong, bright eyes?" "I want to help him... but I know he won't accept if I ask, so what do I do? What would you do?" The shadow user turned to her mentor then paused. "Ah, then again, you're a bit harsher when it comes to the whole 'don't hold back what you are' training. MK tends to do better with King's way... Sometimes." She looked at the sky and leaned back on her hands. "... It bothers me sometimes." Macaque crouched down next to her and relaxed on his haunches as he spoke. Him mentioning something bothering him peaked her interest. "Hm? What bothers you?" "Well, we know the kid has Wukong's powers." "Isn't that from him picking up the staff? No, wait, he'd have needed the power to do it first based on what he told me about Redson..." She thought about it then looked at him again. "Is it the fact he could pick it up in the first place?" He nodded a bit. "Oh... Does it... bother you when it comes to me then?" "Hm?" "Well, I have your powers and I sort of turn into a monkey that looks a lot like you, just like MK does with King. It's a bit strange now that I think about it." She began gently kicking her legs as she kept thinking, but hesitated when he spoke again. "Yeah, it does. Not your fault for that though." He pat her head. "You know what we haven't done in a while, dad?" "What?" "Stargazing. It's always too crazy for it." She gave him a smile. "Wanna stargaze?" He sat next to her then looked up. "Always." She smiled a bit more and went back to staring at the sky. They could figure all of it out together.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽Birth Stone Mountain☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄Macaque⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

"I just remembered! Uh, we uh- we uh, we got a surprise for you!" MK pointed to Wukong, making the king's eyes sparkle in excitement. "A surprise? Wait no. We should-" He frowned and tried to get back to the topic at hand, but MK cut him off. "Yeah, yeah yeah yeah, you're gonna love it! Just, just wait here!" The student jumped off the mountain and flew off on his cloud. "Kid, we need to-" Wukong let out a small groan. Perfect time to come in! Macaque stretched from the king's shadow to a nearby rock and spoke up to let his shadowy presence be known. "Well, that went well, bud." He came out of his shadow with a bit of a smug smirk and leaned back into the rock. "Ugh." Wukong rolled his eyes then pointed an accusatory finger at the ebony monkey. "Are you actually lurking here?" "Hey, this mountain's been my home just as long as yours." He turned away with his shit eating grin still present, making Wukong let out a sigh and move on. "You find anything?" That made the shadow user frown. "No, but... with the Jade Emperor gone, the Celestial Realm's... things aren't good." He let out a quiet sigh to himself as he prepared for the conversation that would be like pulling teeth from the ginger. "Wukong... the kid." "I know." He turned to the king and lifted a hand as if to motion him to go. "You need to talk to him." "I know! But..." His old friend turned to him with a scowl. "He's not ready." A smirk came back to his face as he leaned forward. "You mean you're not ready. You really are the worst mentor." He enjoyed the small growl given in response, but put on a far more serious expression. "He needs- We need to know everything we can." Wukong raised his brow and held both arms out as he began to attempt a negotiation. "He's just a kid. Can't he just-?" "He's not just a kid!" Macaque swung both arms out to emphasize his point then sighed and looked at the broken stone that had brought both Wukong and MK into the world. "Why him, Wukong? Did you know about-?" He couldn't find the words to he looked towards the other monkey and continued. "when you chose him?" "No, I didn't know! It just felt... right." "And that doesn't bother you?! This kid that just happens to have all your powers, that's at the center of all of these battles... and you never questioned why? None of us even knew he existed. How?!" By this point, he was in Wukong's face, causing the latter to bare his fangs and growl before looking away with a deeper scowl. That made him huff and turn away as he crossed his arms. "We have no idea who freed Azure from the scroll. All your old companions are just... here again? And you just-" "What about Lin's powers? No, actually, what about you? You just come back! You just-" "Ugh!" Macaque looked at Wukong as he prepared to spit more venom, but he saw him staring at the ground with a rather upset face, making him put his face in his hand and sigh. "Look, there's someone pulling all of our strings, especially both of the kids'. And they're not finished." "Are you, bud?" Both went quiet then got into each other faces as they started yelling at each other. "You were a villain five minutes ago and now you're showing me how to-!" "Do you want my help or not? You're such a di-!" Both stopped when they heard MK yell. "It's ready! Monkey King?" Macaque put a hand to his forehead and took a deep breath to pull himself together. "Look..." He began walking past the other monkey. "that kid idolizes you. You're his literal hero and you just..." "I just what?" He looked back at him. "He needs to know it's not all on him. You need to do better." With that said, he portaled himself away.