Worst Mistake.

Chapter 1 // The Mistake.

Tripitaka had always been pretty harsh in his judgement towards his first disciple, Wukong. The Great Sage was the strongest creature he'd ever met. He was capable of lifting mountains, raising fires and calming oceans, powerful enough to defeat the best warriors of heaven and the most evil monsters of hell. Shapeshifting, speed, strength and wit, he had it all. So naturally, the monk was afraid of him.

He knew Wukong was loyal to him, and would never do anything to harm him. But the problem was with how far Wukong was willing to go in order to keep him safe. He'd destroy anything in his path to keep his promise of delivering the monk to the west. And that was terrifying.

Tripitaka cared for all creatures, and believed that anyone could be redeemed once enlightened. In his mind, killing was never the answer. In order to keep his first disciple from slaughtering everyone they came across, Tripitaka was gifted the tightening hoop and the words to activate it.

The hoop and spell were given to him by Guanyin, the Goddess of Compassion. She knew that it was necessary in order for their journey to succeed. Once the hoop, or fillet as it came to be known, was placed on the Monkey King's head, it took root against his flesh and could only be removed by Buddha themself.

When the spell was activated the fillet tightened, and caused the person's head to swell and ache to the point where they thought their brain was going to explode. Wukong, while suffering this pain, would trash around and do cartwheels and somersaults. His face and ears would turn red, his eyes bulged and his body grew very weak. He would cry and plead for the monk to stop.

The fillet was so effective, that by simply moving his hand to position to recite the spell, Wukong would stop whatever he was doing and plead him not to recite.

The further they got on their journey, the less Tripitaka needed to use the spell. He'd been able to teach Wukong other methods of dealing with demons and criminals. Instead of using violence, the Great Sage had learned to use his wits instead, often tricking the demons into submission.

Handling demons and conflicts this way took longer of course, causing their journey to drag on years longer than any of them anticipated.

On such a long journey, tension would often run high and the pilgrims would get into arguments among each other, especially the disciples. However, it was usually nothing a good meal and sleep wouldn't fix.

The arguments between Wukong and Tripitaka however, were more difficult to resolve due to their opposing personalities and equal stubborness. Their fights affected the whole group, and usually required a lot of time to blow over.

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On their way to the Western Heaven, pretty early on their trip, they came across a scene of crime.

They heard it before they saw it. As they rushed through the woods to a clearing, they saw a group of bandits attacking a traveling family. An older man, presumably father and husband, lay on the ground with his head open. It was obvious he was dead from the way hi skull peeked out through his hair, blood splattered around all over. Next to him was another man, younger, but with a similar faith.

Screams and cries of women filled the forest as they fought back against the bandits. There were three women. The oldest, presumably the wife and mother, had been forced on her knees while a sword was pressed to her neck. She wept, crying for his murdered husband. The two other women were fairly young, but old enough to marry. They screamed in fear as the men around them tied them up and forced them on the ground.

Wukong watched with hatred as one of the men straddled the young woman, pushed up her skirt and spread her legs with a disgusting grin on his face.

The Great Sage didn't need to see anything else before jumping into action. In an instant, he leaped across the clearing and threw the kneeling man aside. The bandit got smacked against a tree and let out a yelp of pain.