Journey to Somewhere New (Sun Wukong x reader)

Chap. 15 - Past Burdens; welcome back (2)

[Previously on Journey to Somewhe-!!! jk jk]

"So," Monkey paced in front of the brigade, rotating his staff. "you guys got the basics down." he faced them with a smile. "Now time for one final test. Come at me."
"What?" Shen blinked twice as the rest of the group murmured to each-other.
"If you can land *one* hit on me," he raised an index. "I'll say you're qualified to take on the demons in the mountain."
"...Just one?" Bao asked.
Monkey nodded and tossed his staff aside before putting his hand behind his back.
"Seriously?" he frowned.
Monkey shrugged.
"Think of it as evening things out."
"There's a dozen of us." Wu-peng gestured to his group.
"Then give it your worst."
The soldiers hesitated, first one to run at him was obviously Bao.
From where (Y/n) was, this was hard to watch. The boys were trying so much and every time Monkey would effortlessly dodge, push them or make them lose their balance. For a moment, they were all catching their breath.
"When...When does it stop exactly?" Wu-peng asked, panting.
"Once one of you lands a hit." Monkey casually said, not even breaking a sweat. "You can take breaks if you want. Hell, take the rest of the day off. I'll stay right there."
"What about the mountain palace?" (Y/n) asked.
"I already gave our inside men their own mission. They'll be busy with that."
Because yes, a strategy has been developing off screen.

Some of them sat down to take a break, some kept going. (Y/n) at some point of the day brought some fresh drinks and snacks for them. Even though Monkey joined them of their break, whenever someone would attempt a sneak attack, he'd dodge it like it's nothing.
"When do you train (Y/n)?" Bao asked.
"Mmh?"
"Do you have like special training after this?"
"Oh, about that...I'm not going."
"Huh?" his expression fell.
"Yeah, Monkey said it'd be better if I stayed here and try to improve my powers. Plus since I'm all out of these paralyzing paper seals, I don't think I'd be of much help..." she trailed off for a moment. "So I'll stay here and train, which is cool because, for once I actually want to go to the monastery's library." she chuckled.
"I agree." Shen nodded. "It'd be too risky for you to go. Plus someone needs to look after the village while we're gone."
"Right, I even learned some new sutras that I think I might be able to use."
"Really?"
"Yeah I tried and I just need to get the hang of it."
"That's great!"
She smiled proudly.
"B-but, what about the demon?" she looked at Bao. "You...You wanted to kill him."
"Short memory much?" Monkey asked, standing a few meters away. "Like I said, I'll avenge the old master."
Bao fell a twist in his stomach.
"S-Since when...?" he looked back at (Y/n).
"Um..." she tilted her head. "Since a while."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
She blinked twice, taken aback by his tone. It sounded pressing.
"I...I don't know." she honestly said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
He kept looking at her for a moment before going back to his drink, finishing it in one go, then he stood up and went back to Monkey, ready to fight.

When the sun started to set, most of the men left to rest, those who stayed ate dinner here on the training ground. At some point, only Bao was left.
"Are you sure you don't wanna come with us?" his comrades asked before leaving.
"I'm good, don't worry about me!"
"You sure about that?" Monkey asked, taunting him.
He frowned.
"How's that for my bite?" he asked before attacking again, well, trying to.

It was getting dark now, and the two men have yet to stop fighting. The only different (Y/n) could see was how tired and frustrated Bao was becoming. She stayed for a good while too. She was worried for him but couldn't think of anything to do to help. She thought back to when he 'protected her' from the ogre-mom. He gave up, but he looked like he was determined to give up, if that made sense... When she realized how much she was yawning, she decided to go to bed and slowly walked away. It was then Monkey got sick of this. To him, it was clear this guy wasn't driven by his determination to succeed. Bao tried yet again to attack him and he just pushed him away with his tail, making him drop his sword.