Journey to Somewhere New (Sun Wukong x reader)

Chap. 3 - A sad old man

After a few minutes, (Y/n) had to switch her spot on the Horse's back to Nian Zhen, the poor girl was getting exhausted. And it was a sunny day, so (Y/n) also lent her the straw hat she made.
"Good thing honestly." Monkey said as he placed her on the animal's back. "Or else we'd take a break every five minutes."
"And what about it huh?!" she glared at him, holding the mane for support. "Thank you Horse." she pet him.
"Yeah, thanks Horse."
He neighed as a 'you're welcome'.
"See?!" (Y/n) pointed at them. "The name rolls off the tongue!"
"You're still upset about that?" he blinked twice.
"Yeah, we already moved on from that like five minutes ago." Nian Zhen added.

She scoffed and turned away, now even more embarrassed. She picked up the pace to walk in front of the group and to hide her face from them.
"Aww~!" Monkey rushed up to her and wrapped his arms around her neck from behind, pulling her closer. "You know I love you Peaches!" he poked her cheek.
She frowned and smacked his hand away. He snickered.
"Come on~ say it back!"
She huffed and tried to keep walking, even though his weight was holding her back.
"C'mon~!" he swayed from side to side, taking her with him.
Nian Zhen watched, cringing. The Horse suppressed a laugh.

For the next few days, a certain routine settled within our new group of protagonists. The Horse really was a nice addition, now, anytime they were attacked - by bandits, or demons, or demons bandits - Monkey and (Y/n) would fight them off while the Horse would take Nian Zhen to a safe space. Too fast for the enemies to catch him. The young demon girl would regularly check on him, using her special lens to see if the parasite's egg has hatched. He would get headaches sometimes, as an after effect of the corruption - and they'd take breaks or Monkey would carry him whenever that happened - other than that, he seemed to be fine.
"Why not turn into a dragon then?" Monkey asked at some point. "Before it hatches."
"We don't know when that'll happen though, better not take risks." she said. "And, for all we know, maybe using more of his powers could speed the parasite's development."
"But isn't he already...disguised?" (Y/n) asked.
"Shape-shifting takes very little energy." he explained. "Which explains why this weakling can keep up that appearance." he pointed at Nian Zhen.

"Look, I like looking like this!" said young woman gestured to herself, up and down. "Gimme a break!"
He just snickered.
"He doesn't seem to mind at least," (Y/n) looked at the Horse and smiled. "that's good."
He moved his head up and down a couple of times, his tail wagging.
"You know, despite being a horse, he kind of acts like a dog sometimes."
"It's not a horse (Y/n)!" Nian Zhen frowned.
"The point stands kiddo!" Monkey frowned back.
(Y/n) ignored that and petted the Horse, her hands on either side of his face, he seemed happy about it.

Later that day, they approached a small town in the middle of a wide meadow with a river. Something was clearly off however. A big crowd was gathered outside of the town, chattering amongst themselves, they all looked either panicked or annoyed. Our protagonists looked at each-other, confused before asking them what was happening.
"Soldiers have arrived from Heaven!"
"What?!" they all exclaimed, shocked (except the Horse of course, but he looked like he would say it too).
"They surrounded this sad old man who moved here a few days ago." a second one said. "We don't know why, they just asked us to leave until they were done."
"But they've been at it since this morning!" a kid exclaimed. "I'm hungry!"
"Wait." another one stepped closer to Monkey. "You're the Great Sage Sun Wukong aren't you?! Can you help us please?" they joined their hands together. "They'll listen to you for sure!"
"Oh please help us Great Sage!" everyone pleaded.
This of course put Monkey in a good mood. With a big smile and a huff, he rubbed the underside of his nose with his index.
"Step aside people." he moved his arms to either side and the crowd followed his movement, like opening curtains without touching them. "I got this." he said with a smirk and walked inside the town.