"By the way," Monkey said as the two of them were walking. "your theory, about being Golden Cicada?"
"M-hmm?"
"Might be true."
"Really?!" she looked at him with big eyes. "Why do you say that?"
He then explained how he saw her glow last night and what happened to Meilin (without revealing that they were all demons). (Y/n) was shocked, as she really didn't know about any of this.
"Not only that," he continued. "remember those crystals back in the cave?"
"The blue crystals?"
"Yeah they're not blue. Ever since I was trapped, they've been purple."
Her eyes widen again.
"But right before you broke me out, they started to glow and turned blue. They must've reacted to your presence."
"But..." she gestured to her face. "the eyes! And I was never able to conjure a barrier around a specific person before. And back then..." she trailed off and thought for a moment. "Maybe my powers sometimes peak, but then how come it's so inconsistent?!" she asked no one in particular, getting frustrated.
"That I don't know." Monkey shrugged. "Don't get worked up over it, you'll ask Guan Yin when you see her."
She sighed.

The two of them stood on top of a cliff. Ahead of them was a big palace, along with a wall that separated the mountain and the valley on the other side. From what they heard, this place recently became the only way to leave this side of the mountain.
"It must be the one Meilin was talking about." she spoke.
She looked over at Monkey and noticed his frown.
"What's wrong?" she asked, tilting her head.
"I recognize this place." he said. "Last time I was there it didn't end too well. And I'm pretty sure they still hold a grudge against me."
"What did you do?"
"Why do you assume I did something?!"
She just raised an eyebrow. A second passed before he looked away and folded his arms.
"Wasn't my fault." he mumbled. "The king was such an idiot it was just a crime for him to have such a cool sword."

She sighed, then opened her bag to look inside.
"I could turn my blanket into a cape for you. But do you think it'll be enough?"
"It'll do the trick, you might also wanna take off your necklace too when we get inside. We just have to get your travelling papers checked and then we'll be out of here in no time."
"...Travelling papers?"
They looked at each-other in a moment of silence.
"You don't have a passport?!" Monkey finally exclaimed.
"W-Well, I never needed one before!" (Y/n) stuttered in slight panic. "And I kinda left home in a hurry!"
Monkey slowly inhaled, his hands joined together and close to his chin.
"Okay." he exhaled, pointing his hands towards her. "This is fine."

"Do you know how to get a passport?"
"Obviously not! Tripitaka was the one who took care of that paper stuff." he looked over at the castle. "The only thing we can do is ask them to make new ones."
"A-Are you sure?"
"It'll be fine, the king there is a complete idiot."
"But what if the king changed since the last time you were here?"
"Then one of his sons took over the throne. And like father like son." he paused as he looked at her. "Why are you so tense?"
"Because I... It's the first time I'll be in a palace and addressing a king." she played with her fingers. "And I'll be lying to him."
"Get used to it."
She nervously chuckled and took out her blanket.

Standing in front of the giant door, (Y/n) felt completely out of her comfort zone. She asked to see the king in a shaky voice and followed the official to the throne room. They entered the room, decorated in red and gold. She didn't look up so as to not look stupid, but she knew the ceiling was high. Beside the king was a crystal ball set on a pedestal. Monkey didn't recognized him, and he's never seen that ball before, it made him wonder how many years have passed.
"Your majesty." the official bowed once they stood in front of the king. "These travelers are asking for new passports."
"Did you lose yours?" he asked them.
(Y/n) opened her mouth but no sound came out, she was sweating a little bit. Monkey discreetly kicked her ankle, making her flinch.

"Uh-yes!" she finally said, louder than expected. "We were ambushed by bandits and we lost them as we ran away."
"I see." he smiled. "I would gladly make you new papers. What are your names travelers?"
"My name is (Y/n)," she gestured to herself then to Monkey, who adjusted his hood to make sure his face was shown as little as possible. "and this is my companion Mmmmmm~..."
She was about to say his nickname but stopped herself. Well, kinda, she just kept humming as everyone in the room looked at her confused. Finally she stopped.
"...David."
'You went from M do D just like that?!' Monkey wanted to yell, but didn't want to get attention on himself. 'And what kind of name is David?!?!?!'
"I've never heard this name before." the king stoke his beard.
"It's...Western your majesty."
"Oh, I see!" he smiled. "How exotic!"
'I see he's also an idiot.' Monkey smiled as (Y/n) quietly let out a sigh of relief.

"And what business do you have in my valley?"
"Oh we are simply passing through. We have a long journey ahead of us you see."
"Of course of course, someone escort them to the customs office."
The two of them followed the official to a door on the side of the room, they walked passed the crystal ball, which turned purple soon after.
"Guards! Stop them!" the king exclaimed.

Two guards grabbed and dragged them back in front of him. The one holding Monkey took off his hood, he tried to bite his hand but failed on purpose just to scare him, and it worked, he could feel his hands shaking.
"What's up?" Monkey glared at the king.
"Haha! Think you could get passed us demon?!" he smiled widely. "You see, we recently heard that Sun Wukong was back. And when asked for help, we gladly accepted! After what he's done to my dear late grand-father!" him along with his subjects took a moment of silence before he continued. "And we were given this artifact to detect any monkey demons that walked by!"
"Yeah I'm a monkey, you gonna kill me for that?"
"Ah but we've also been given a key information." he waved his index. "For you see! That damn Sun Wukong has a particular seal on his back."
(Y/n) looked at Monkey in terror. He headbutted the guard and made a run for the exit. Suddenly, the royal shaman came out of nowhere and put a paper seal on his back as he was running past him. Monkey suddenly fell on the ground. He groaned and yelled out insults, but could only move his head and torso.
"Haha! Another gift from our friend." the king laughed.

As two other guards picked him up by his arms and dragged him back. (Y/n) shook herself out of her shock and put on a different kind on shock.
"Oh my god! You were *the* Sun Wukong this whole time?!" she pointed at him. "And here I thought you were just a regular 500-something year old stone monkey demon!" she looked at the ceiling very dramatically. "What am I to do now?!"
"So you didn't know of his true identity?" the king asked.
'Of course he'd fall for it.' Monkey thought, rolling his eyes.
"Yes! He forced me to be his servant!" she looked at him with puppy dog eyes. "I work day and night and never gain anything from it!"
"Oh you poor thing!" the king looked at her with compassion. "Say, are you perhaps good with kids?"
"Your majesty, I have been dealing with a big baby for more than a week straight."
"Hey!" Monkey shouted, offended.
"And before that, I've lived in an orphanage my whole life." she kinda lied.
"That is great news!" he clapped his hands. "We were just looking for a new nanny to care for my six sons!"
"Oh I would be honored!" she bowed. "You won't be disappointed."
"Someone fetch my oldest son to come greet his and his brothers' new nanny!"

"Your highness, before I go." she stood straight. "Could I hurt this damn monkey for all the things he put me through?"
"Why of course. Go ahead."
"Don't you dare." Monkey said as she walked up to him.
Unexpectedly, she leaned closer and whispered to his ear so that the guards wouldn't hear. She thought of taking the seal off, but she knew the guards would catch her before she does anything.
"It'll probably take me a while, but I'll get you out, I promise."
His eyes widen slightly. He moved his head to whisper in her ear.
"If he partnered up with demons, this won't go well for any of us once they get here. Be quick."
"You hang in there. Now act very offended."

"Um," the king leaned to the side. "you're not hitting him?"
(Y/n) smiled at Monkey before turning back to the old man.
"Your majesty I have hurt him in a more painful way:" she paused. "Emotionally."
"Oh-Oooooh!" Monkey moved his head around as if she made fun of his childhood traumas that don't exist. "How could you?! That was low! Just low!" he whined.

"Oh my, how effective." the king said. "Guards, lock him in the deepest darkest part of the dungeon until our friend sends someone to collect him."
At his words, Monkey froze and suddenly became agitated.
"Let me go! Don't you dare! Don't you dare! First thing I do once I'm out I will destroy you and everything you hold dear! You will regret the day your mama brought you on this earth! Don't you fuckin' dare!"
(Y/n) could only watched as he was dragged out of the room. She's never seen him like this before.
'Maybe the years of being trapped really left some after-effect...?' she felt her heart tightening at that thought.
"Greetings."

She turned around to see a rather young lad, around sixteen.
"I presume you are our new nanny." he bowed. "I hope we rest on good terms throughout your stay here."
'He sure doesn't talk like a sixteen year old.'
"Yes, I'm (Y/n). You're...the oldest, out of six?"
"Yes. I am Prince Jian."
'Well this will be fun.' she smiled to herself, not knowing if her statement will turn out to be ironic or not as she followed the young prince.
She glanced back one last time, hoping she won't make Monkey wait for too long.
"I still need a passport though."
"We can get you one on the way." Jian said.

As soon as he was locked in the dungeon, Monkey has been going through a cycle of biting off the chains restricting his limbs, only to have them replaced again since he still couldn't move with the paper seal on his back.
"Why do you keep doing this demon?" the guard asked as he replaced his chains again. "Don't you realize it's pointless."
He didn't say anything.
"If it is pointless," the second guard holding the torch said. "then why are we even chaining him?"
"You know what, you're ri-!"
"Nope." Monkey smirked. "What if I manage to get the seal off? You're never too careful with me. In fact you should put more chains on me."
"Mmm, he does have a point."
"I guess yeah. Better safe than sorry."
So the guard put more chains around him, so they stayed longer with him, and then they left. Monkey followed them with his eyes. As soon as the torch's light was out of view, he started biting. Maybe he'll convince them to put even more chains on him, so they will stay longer.
Problem was: the more chain they made, the more time it took him to bite them off, the more time he stayed in the dark, alone. He already felt like he's been here forever.
"She better hurry up." he said to himself.

Meanwhile, (Y/n) had her work cut out for her. Looking at the boys, she wondered why a nanny was even needed. They were all doing their own thing and not bothering anybody. One was reading, another one was practicing the guzheng, even the four-year-old was quietly talking to his doll in his corner. Having such a range of age, it will be difficult to put her plan to work, but she'll sure as hell try.
"So boys," she said after introducing herself to all of them and learning their names. "what do you say we go outside and play?"
"We're not allowed to play outside." Niu the twelve-year-old said.
"Oh." she paused. "Are you at least allowed outside?"
"Yes," Peng the fourteen-year-old said. "for our morning stroll, afternoon stroll and evening stroll."
"So besides that, you stay inside all day?"
"Yes, but we do play games."
"Ah, what kind of games?"
He then gave her a sheet of paper, on it was a list of board games. She recognized some of them, her father would play these with the other old monks. If they were all like this, then they were really time-consuming and oh so very boring.
"Do you..play any other games?"
The princes shook their heads.
"Father said he was afraid things would 'go crazy' if we didn't obey the rules." Jian said.
(Y/n) felt bad for them, even sympathized with their situation. Thinking of what he said, an idea came to her. She smiled and tossed the paper aside, a look of determination on her face.

"Well boys, as your new nanny, *I* make the rules." she pointed towards the door. "And I say we go outside!"
The younger ones gasped.
"But..." the oldest said. "What if we get caught and they tell father on us?"
"Think about it:" she leaned closer, her smiled turning malicious. "you guys are the princes, you can easily turn the tables around and say they'd get fired for telling on you."
Their eyes widen in wonder.
'Oh you pure impressionable children.' she chuckled.
"Now, let's go!"

She couldn't help but let out a long and admired 'woa' at the sight of the inner courtyard. It was like a compressed meadow, with a little river going through it, two wooden bridges, a koï pond, colorful flowers of all sorts, and most important of all: lots of space.
She turned to face the princes, all looking at her with curiosity. They reminded her of Bao when he was a kid, it was cute.
'I should start simple and then gradually raise the bar.' she thought.
"First game we could play:" she sat on the grass and raised her fist. "Rock paper scissors!"
She explained the rules, which they quickly understood and began to play together. And oh boy, she did not expect her plan to work so well.

This level one game turned into a real tournament, and the princes turned out to be very competitive. She did her best not to laugh out loud when they hyped each-other up during the finals, but she would lie if she said she wasn't into it herself.
"Kuo wins!" she exclaimed as the other brothers cheered, except the loser of course.
"What?! But I picked the well!"
"Only losers pick the well Jian!" his brother said. "It's an immediate lose just by using it!"
"Hey screw you!"
"Like I screwed your mom!"
"We're brothers!"
"Don't worry Jian." (Y/n) said before they argued further. "You'll be able to take revenge on the next game!"
"Oh yeah! What's the next game?! What is it?!" the princes gathered around her.
She couldn't help but chuckle.

Around an hour later, thing definitely went out of control: the boys were hyped enough and (Y/n) brought them back inside to cause some good ol' havoc. Inevitably, officials noticed and tried to stop them, but nepotism will get you a long way. She would know, she had her fair share of it when she was a kid. Precious memories.
"Your majesties, could you at least keep it down. You could disturb the king's wor-."
"Can I get a 'Hoeyaa'?!" Peng shouted.
"Hoeyaaa~!!!" his brother repeated and laughed.
"I tried to stop them, but don't worry," she patted the official's shoulder. "I won't let things get too out of hands. And we will both keep our job." her smile became larger.
And every time, they would gulp and walk away.

"What other games could we play (Y/n)?!" Niu asked as he and the others looked at her.
She acted like she was thinking.
"There is one last game but..."
"But?" Kuo tilted his head.
She turned away, ready to say the one sentence that makes a child's brain go bonkers.
"You can't play, it's far too dangerous and cool."
"What?!" they all exclaimed and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to not smile.
"Tell us or we'll tell father on you!"
'Woa! Ready to betray me so quickly?!' she looked at them. 'They really are children!'
"Okay, okay." she raised her hand as if to say 'I give up'. "What do you say we gear up in the royal shaman's office and go raid the dungeons?"

The brothers looked at each-other, perplexed.
"Why would we do that?" Kuo asked.
"Tell me boys, what do you know about Sun Wukong, aka: the coolest being of all time?"
"We only know that he's despicable and that we should hate him."
"Did your father say that?"
They didn't respond.
"Let me tell you: he regularly breaks into Heaven just for the hell of it; he turned immortal five times; can lift 8 tons like it's a single feather; he rides a somersault cloud that could get him to the horizon within seconds; he is so powerful that the Jade Emperor had to call Buddha himself for help, and even he couldn't kill him." she paused. "Also, the second he was born, he activated his laser eyes and pierced through Heaven."
The boys let out a long 'woa~', their eyes filled with wonder.
"And guess where he is now."
"In the dungeons?!"
She nodded.
"Before I became your nanny, I was travelling with him on an epic quest to save the world. But then your father captured him just because he said your great-grandfather wasn't that cool. And because he was too reckless and didn't follow the rules."

Jian frowned and turned to face his brothers.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick and tired of these rules!"
"Yeah!" Peng said. "And I heard great-grandfather was not that cool!"
"Yeah he was old!" Kuo added.
"I'm sure Wukong would let you ride on his somersault cloud if you break him out." she casually said.
Suddenly the boys went wild, and now she just had to follow along.

Kuo and Niu asked the royal shaman for help, claiming there was an evil spirit in the kitchens. (Y/n) and the other princes watched from around the corner as the three of them left. The shaman took with him some incense and an artefact made of metal that she didn't recognize - But that didn't matter! - What mattered was that he didn't take any paper seals with him!
So as the boys picked up whatever cool-looking thing they found, (Y/n) picked up all the seals she could get her hands on and shoved them in her bag.
With this guy out of the way, the next step was to get rid of all the guards. While she wondered how they'll pull it off, the boys were already on the case: they started a fire near the dungeon's entrance, using various furniture.
"Oh my lord!" she exclaimed as she noticed the growing flames.
"Oh no!" a guard said as he stepped out to see where that smoke came from. "Not again!" he exclaimed before calling the other guards.

Now that they were busy with the fire, the kids made torches and they all ran into the dungeons, picking up the keys hanging on the wall beside the door. (Y/n) followed them through dark hallways and staircases. Once they reached the bottom floor, she saw that only one cell was occupied and she went ahead of them.
"Monkey!" she shouted as she reached his cell. "Are you ok-Ah!"
"(Y/n)!" Monkey exclaimed, his whole body wrapped in chains like a cocoon. "Get that seal off me quick my teeth are starting to hurt!"
She was too focused on the chains, and he spoke so fast, she didn't hear the genuine relief in his voice when he said her name.
"Your tee-Okay?" she said, confused, but still she didn't hesitate to step in as soon as the boys unlocked the door.
She stood behind him and reached into the massive amount of chains, looking for that piece of paper.

"What did you do to those kids?" he quietly asked, a bit weirded out by how they were staring at him with adoration.
"Not much." she said in a similar volume. "With all the rules they had, I figured they were trouble-makers at heart. I just shook that out of them with a few game I used to play back home."
"Didn't you say you lived in a monastery?"
"No matter where they're from, kids will always be kids." she finally reached the seal and snapped it away. "Got it!"
Immediately after she said that, Monkey broke himself free of the chains, grabbed her by the wrist and ran out of there, the princes following them from far behind.
"What about the somersault cloud?!" Peng shouted.
"I'll explain later I promise!" (Y/n) looked back at them as they became farther and farther away. "We don't have time!"

Thankfully, Monkey remembered where the exit was and the palace hasn't change its own structure since the last time he was there. Now that the seal was off and that (Y/n) had the rest of them with her, even the royal shaman couldn't stop them when he came back after hearing what happened. So after retrieving his staff (which was just laying there on the floor since nobody could lift it), Monkey very easily defeated him and the royal guard covering the doors leading to the valley in the back courtyard. Everyone was in a panic and left immediately.
"Okay." he said as he opened them. "Now let's get out of he-."
He cut himself off. Right behind the door was a tall tiger demon, his fist was raised, as if it was just about to knock. He looked down and a large smirk formed on his face.
"Pleasure to finally meet you Monkey King." he said.
Monkey quickly pushed (Y/n) away and backed off himself.

The tiger demon walked in but stood in front of the doors to block them. Monkey took a look at him, he didn't have any weapons and he was alone, which made sense, since he was told Monkey was powerless and paralyzed. Still there was something about him that made him wary. But obviously, his wariness only lasted a second and he charged towards him. With a swift swing of his staff, the demon was flung towards the wall, leaving a huge impact mark on it.
But to (Y/n)'s horror, he slowly stood back up. Monkey clicked his tongue.
He charged at him once again. This time, his opponent was prepared and parried his attacks. They seemed to be equally matched but (Y/n) knew it was only a matter of time before the demon used magic and gained the upper hand. She wanted to do something but couldn't spot an opening.

At some point, Monkey landed a hit and the tiger demon was thrown away again. He landed not far from her, and as he shook his head and sat up, he noticed her.
"Why hello there." he stood up and extended a hand towards her, his palm facing her. "How about this Monkey King?" he looked over at Monkey, who stopped running. "If you put your staff down and quietly come with me, I'll let your little companion in one piece."
"Pfff!" he waved his hand. "I don't even know this girl, she keeps following me around."
"Oh, you know what I think? I think she's the newest reincarnation of Golden Cicada I've heard so much about."
"If that's the case then you need her alive in order to eat her and gain immortality."
(Y/n) felt a cold chill at the idea of being eaten alive.
"Well that's the thing," the demon said. "being alive doesn't necessarily means in one piece." he looked at her up and down. "I've seen humans survive without an eye, an arm, even both of their legs." he looked back at him and chuckled seeing his frustrated expression. "But if you don't care, feel free to attack me right now."

He gritted his teeth, growling slightly. The tiger demon seemed to very much enjoy this moment. It was then (Y/n) spotted her opening. She ran towards his outstretched hand...
"(Y/n)!" Monkey called out.
...and high-fived him.
"Huh?!" the two demons said at the same time with the same level of confusion.
"What were you even trying to do, foolish human? Your pitiful attacks won't-Wait a minute!" the tiger demon exclaimed when he realized he was laying down, unable to move his limbs.
It was then he noticed the paper seal on the palm of his hand. (Y/n) let out a long sigh, panting slightly.
"You think this is the end?" she looked at the demon as he calmly spoke. "Let me tell you: you have not seen the last of me. You may be clever, but you will eventually perish. Remember my name human: Li-" just then, Monkey snapped his neck, making her flinch.

He huffed, glaring down at his corpse.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah. But we better get out of here before his boss notices his absence."
She looked back at the palace, feeling bad for leaving the kids.
"You'll explain later right, later will just be a long while"
"I guess..." she said as she followed him towards the gates. "I wish it wasn't though."
"(Y/n)!!!"
She turned around and saw the kids running towards them, some were glad, some were angry, others were confused.

"Boys!" she smiled as they stopped in front of her. "I'm sorry we ran off like that, but we had to go back on our really epic and important mission."
"You promised we'd ride the somersault cloud!" Kuo exclaimed, upset.
"Sorry kid." Monkey crouched in front of him and ruffled his hair, speaking softly. "When we're done with the hero stuff, we'll come back here and I'll take you all for a ride. How's that?" he smiled.
The young boy looked at him with stars in his eyes. This deal seemed to satisfy everyone.

"Woa! Dead demon!" Peng pointed at the corpse.
"He's the one who came here asking for help!" Jian exclaimed.
"He always acted all mysterious and cryptic!" Niu added.
"Well let that be a lesson boys." (Y/n) raised her index as Monkey stood up. "If a demon acts all cryptic and talks all machiavellian and whatnot, that means they're evil." they all nodded. "Look at Monkey: he talks like a normal person, so he's not evil."
"If only people thought the same way." he sighed.
"We don't think you're evil!" the boys exclaimed. "You're the coolest and strongest!"
He laughed and ran a hand through his hair/head fur.
"You forgot the most handsome and most clever of all." he said with a large smile, his index and thumb in the shape of an L under his chin.

The boys kept praising him and he did a few tricks with his staff to impress them. (Y/n) giggled.
"What happened to 'we better get out of here before his boss notices'?"
"Right!" Monkey said before looking at the kids. "We gotta go boys. Stay true to yourselves and follow your instincts even if they go against rules!" he gave them a thumb up. "And thanks for breaking me out of jail." his cool expression made them squeal.
"And please don't let your dad chase us down."
"Okay~! Goodbye Sun Wukong! Goodbye (Y/n)!"
They waved at each-other before the two travelers went on their way to the valley.

"Didn't expect you to be good with kids." (Y/n) smiled at him. "I thought you'd ignore them or badmouth them."
"'Course I'm good with kids!" he huffed. "Back on Flower Fruit Mountain, all my monkeys are like my children. I'm basically a father figure to all the youngest ones."
'Aw that's cute.'
"And I didn't expect you to get wild like that." he continued.
"What do you mean? I've always been like this."
He stopped and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, skeptical of that statement.
"Ever since I met you, it's mostly been 'don't do this', 'do that', 'go there'." he said in a silly voice.
"Oh come on now, I'm not that bossy!" she lightly hit his arm. "I just don't wanna be a criminal."
"You literally set a fire in a palace."
"The boys did! It wasn't me!"
"But you kinda pushed them in that chaotic direction." he started walking again. "What games did you play to make them like this exactly?"

"Well, we started with rock paper scissors-"
"Really? You started with *that*?" he asked, not impressed.
"Hey, it's actually a cool game with lots of layers."
"Yeah I don't believe it."
"Oh, you wanna try?" she raised her fist. "You ready?"
"Ready to prove you wrong." he smiled and raised his own fist. "Everybody knows the well wins every time-"
"Oh no!" she burst out laughing. "Not you too!"
Monkey blinked twice, confused and surprised. It was the first time she laughed like that. He smiled.

"I don't think you understand the Flower Fruit Mountain style of rock paper scissors. The way you humans play is so lame."
"Oh I," she wiped a tear away from her eye. "I *must* know what that is!"
"Okay: first of all, there's nine more choices, and you can play in teams so that you can combine your attacks. For example you take the rock, you take the wood, you put 'em together and you get the slingshot. And so with that you can stop the snake even without using the bear - Unless you combine the snake with the peach, it gives him energy and so he deflects the rock. But you can also betray your partner by nullifying their own attack. So you see it's all about having a good knowledge of who you're teaming up with. For example when you use the cage-"
"Oh boy..." she mumbled, ready for a whole lecture that'll probably go on for hours.
Still, with how into it he was, she couldn't say it wasn't boring to listen to.