"Damn Jiang, you've gotten faster" Wukong noted with a smile as he dodged two very fast and well placed strikes. "But your leaving your side open to an attack!" He said, roundhouse kicking Jiang's side which sent her sprawling to the floor. "So, your a fight commentator now?" Jiang asked as she quickly got up again.

"What can I say. I like pointing out a person's flaws and strengths during a fight" Wukong told her before rushing in for an attack. "Huh, is that what got all the celestials annoyed by you?" Jiang asked him. She chuckled a bit after hearing a quiet sigh of annoyance, quickly ducking to avoid a fist that was going for her temple.

"Oh, don't tell me I hit a nerve?~" she said, a hit of playfulness in her tone. Jiang was surprised when Wukong swept her legs out from under her and immediately pounced on her. Bringing her knee up, Jiang kneed him in the stomach, the force of the move while they were still in the air sending them rolling head over heals.

But, Wukong came out on top, pinning Jiang's arms together over her head while bracing himself on his hand that was off to the side a bit. After couple seconds of light panting, Wukong said, "You've got a bit of a smart mouth on ya, don't you?". It took Jiang second to respond, and when she did, she did her best to keep her voice as normal as possible.

Why was it suddenly a little difficult to breath? And why did her cheeks feel warm? "What can I say? I find it easier to take down an opponent when their all riled up with anger" she said.

A strange feeling was beginning to makes it's appearance in her chest and stomach, and she wasn't sure if she liked it or not. Wukong's light chuckle brought her attention back to him. "You feeling alright? You look a little red there" he said with a light smirk as he leaned down a bit, getting closer to Jiang.

"Alright, I think it's time for you to get off" she said, beginning to move around to try and get up, but Wukong surprisingly tightened his hold on her, lightly forcing her back to the ground. However, before either of them could say anything, MK's voice drifted over to them. "Jiang?! Monkey King?! Where are you?!" He called out.

"We're over here MK! Just finished up on a sparring session!" Jiang called, moving to get up. This time Wukong let her, though Jiang detected a flash of disappointment appear then disappear so fast that she wondered if she had actually seen it. But, Wukong had his normal smile on as he took MK into the mountain, saying something about taking a wall down.

Once they were gone, Jiang let out a large puff of air. That weird feeling lingered, and her cheeks felt like they were burning. What the hell was wrong with her?!

Jiang sighed again. This was nothing more than a little complication. Maybe she had been on the mountain too long.

There wasn't as much oxygen up here as there was on the ground. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm not going to let this get in the way of anything" Jiang said to herself. A sudden loud bang startled her, so she went into the mountain to see what the boys were up to.

"You know, when I found out I was going to be trained by the Monkey King, Great Sage equal to Heaven, I had no idea, that I'd be stuck here hammering walls twelves hours a day! Why am I doing this again?!" She heard MK cry out as she entered the large room. Huh, that explained the loud banging sounds. "So I can make a nice little breakfast nook. Get some light up in here" Wukong told him.

Jiang watched the two with light amusement as she crossed her arms and leaned against a stone wall. "Oh, and Jiang, there's another hammer right by where your standing. Why don't you come join us?" She heard Wukong say. Damn it.

"But me and Jiang are supposed to be the Monkey Kids, not construction workers! How are we supposed to do the hero stuff if we don't know the fighting stuff?!" MK cried as Jiang lifted the hammer, with a bit of difficulty since it was rather heavy, and then walked over to join him. "Oho! So you guys want to know the, fighting stuff, huh?" Wukong asked with a half smile half smirk etched in his face. He hopped off of his cloud.

"Like this?" He asked before spinning his staff and then flinging it in such a way that it spun while moving at a fast rate. Jiang let out a light yelp before pushing MK down, she herself ducking a bit, and the staff went right in by, slamming and shattering the stone one MK had been hammering against. "...Yeah, that would be cool to know" Jiang said as she stood up straight, letting MK up as well.

"Yes! Exactly like that! I am ready for awesome!" MK cried. Jiang sighed when Wukong burst out laughing, already guessing all the things he would say. "Look, guys, you can't rush this stuff. Um, you'll get there, you just need practice" he said.

And that had been guess number eight. "But, this isn't practice" MK said, holding up the hammer. Wukong let out a light groan.

"I'm never going to teach you or Jiang things that you don't need to know, Kay?" He said, his voice a bit on the firm side. MK just looked away. Jiang could tell that he was severely disappointed.

She couldn't deny that she was a bit disappointed herself. It would have been awesome to perform awesome moves like what Wukong just did, but, they would get to it eventually. Right?

"Okay. Now this priceless anxiety mural isn't going to destroy itself, soon, remember, step into the strike" Wukong said before MK's phone began ringing. He answered it, and Mei actually sounded when she spoke, which made Jiang zoom over to MK's side. "MK! Jiang! We could really use your help!" She cried before tilting her phone to show a giant, dark purple humanoid creature.

The thing was massive! "What in the world, what the hell is that?!" Jiang said once she saw it. "A monster attacking the city? That's terrible! Damn, guess I gotta go do some boring hero stuff instead of, this" MK said, putting the phone away and beckoning at the wall.

"Okay, bye!" He said, running off and pulling a surprised Jiang with him. Once they got back, MK popped the question. "What did we miss?" He asked.

"MK! Jiang! What took you guys so long?" Mei asked. "Sorry sorry, Monkey King was making us do boring stuff" MK told her. "That, is one big bad guy" Jiang breathed.

She had to tilt her head almost all the way back to look at its face. "Alright, be right back. Here comes the Monkey Kids!" MK cried, ignoring Mei as she called out for him to stop and wait. Jiang barely had enough time to hold on to the staff before it extended.

However, the monster wrapped something around the two, and threw them back to the ground. "Yeah, we tried that" Mei said, which Jiang assumed is what she had been trying to tell them. Looking over, Jiang spotted Pigsy in his own crater with Sandy covering his head with a clothe.

Suddenly, something shot across the sky and began hopping over rooftops, headings towards the monster. "Whoa! Did anybody else see that?" Jiang asked quickly standing up. "Is that?" Mei asked.

"Monkey King?" MK asked. "Did he do a quick change or something?" Jiang asked, realizing that something was different about, whoever that was. "Come on!" She said, grabbing the staff and beginning to run.

"Whoa! Jiang! Wait up!" She heard MK cry out. But she didn't. After getting up high enough, Jiang realized that the person was not Sun Wukong.

His fur was black, and the markings on his face were a beat red color, where as Wukong had light orange fur and peach colored markings. Not to mention the staff was different, being dark purple in color with spiky ends. It also seemed to be made out of magic.

Jiang watched as the newcomer defeated the monster, doing an awesome staff spinning move that released a burst of energy and magic that was all directed towards the monster. The creature then turned into a floating glob that flew away and Jiang began her approach. But, of course, MK beat her to it.

"Yes! Monkey King!" He cried, making the stranger spin around, his tail twitching and flicking a bit. He and Jiang watched as MK lost his grip and fell, which made Jiang facepalm a bit. The stranger turned around, and for a second, his glowing golden eyes connected with Jiang's.

Then the stranger was distracted as MK darted up to him. "That was awesome! I can't believe you came back to-!" He started to say before realizing the same thing Jiang had noticed. "Oh, this is awkward. Your not Monkey King" MK said, looking thoroughly embarrassed at his mistake.

"You just now realized that?" Jiang asked as she came over. "I'm so sorry about him. Then again, you do look a lot like him... And that sounded a lot better in my head" Jiang told the stranger before realizing her mistake, which seemed to make him smile. The stranger chuckled as he crouched down a bit.

"I get that a lot. The Monkey Kids, right?" He said. No way. "Sheesh" Jiang breathed as she looked at MK, who looked to be in awe that this stranger, who just defeated a giant beast, knew who he and his sister were.

"How did you-" MK started to say before being cut off by an amused chuckle. "The staff kinda gives the both of you away man. Not just anyone can weild that thing. Much less two people" said the stranger. "Oh my gods, I just realized we never caught your name" Jiang said.

The stranger glanced at her and gave a smirking smile. "How could you catch it if I never threw it qīn'ài de?" He asked, making Jiang chuckle and look off to the side with a smile. MK looked a little confused at the nick name.

Jiang guessed he never heard the word 'sweetheart' in Chinese. Eh, she would tell him what it meant later. The stranger caught her attention again by standing up.

"Macaque. Actually the, uh, Six-eared Macaque is, y'know, my full name. Well, see you around MK, Jiang" he said before beginning to walk away. For some reason, Jiang couldn't help but feel disappointed as she watched him go. For some reason, she wanted to spend more time with him.

Usually, she could read anyone like an open book, but Macaque, he was different, and for some reason, that fascinated her. Besides, she really wanted to learn that staff spinning move. Her brother suddenly ran up and stopped in front of Macaque.

"Can you teach us that awesome thing?!" He cried, making Jiang's facepalm. Sure, she wanted to learn, but she probably wouldn't have asked like that. "Uh, don't you two already have, a master? I thought, uh, Monkey King was training the two of you" Macaque said, looking a little confused.

"Well, he is, but, he, doesn't really teach us the things that we need to know" Jiang said as she walked along the roof ledge and sat down in it, hugging one knee to her chest. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that you can never have too many teachers, right? I'm sure Monkey King would agree. It's not like he would want to hold you two back" Macaque said, crossing his arms. "Oh, pff, he would totally be cool with it, right MK?" Jiang said, looking at her brother, who nodded in agreement.

"Alright then" Macaque said, putting his arms over MK's and Jiang's shoulders for a second before letting his arms drop. For a moment Jiang felt, strange, but the feeling disappeared as soon as it came, so she didn't think much of it. Later on, she winced a bit as she watched her brother get tossed like a rag doll into a set of spears and javelins.

Macaque proved to be very different than Wukong when it came to teaching things. He was a little more stern with things, and sparring with him almost seemed like you were actually trying to fight him, while with Wukong, you could easily tell he was holding back. Then again, Macaque was teaching Jiang and MK how to actually fight, so there was bound to be some differences with the teaching style.

"Not bad" Macaque said. He almost sounded a little disappointed. "Don't get me wrong, but, I was kinda expecting a little more from someone with your power" he said.

"Hey! I got more! I can give way more than that!" MK cried before he let out a little sigh. "I can do better" he rephrased without a loud tone of voice. "Okay. Maybe show me next time" Macaque said before turning around and walking away.

"For now, it's your sister's turn" he said once he got back to the center of the room. Jiang caught the staff as she and MK switched places. Taking up her position, she waited, and when Macaque gave her a light nod, she spun the staff and launched herself at him, bringing the staff down as hard as she could.

Her strike was easily blocked, and Macaque swung his staff around, aiming to hit her head, which Jiang noticed and quickly ducked. Things went on like that for a bit of a short duration until Macaque did something that allowed him to lift Jiang and throw her over his shoulder. She landed harshly on her back, and one end of Macaque's staff was pointed at her head.

"Not bad kiddo. Not bad at all. But, like with MK, I expected a bit than that" he said before moving his weapon away. Jiang got up, absolutely confused as to how he had managed to lift her up like that. Did she not weigh anything to this guy?

But, anyhow, she handed the staff off to MK, and the two switched places again. And that's how things went. Macaque did everything twice, once with each sibling.

Stop holding back. Stop trying to be nice.

The two learned from each other's mistakes, and built themselves up with the knowledge. And soon enough, one person was pulling ahead more than the other.

The first strike should be your last strike. Every time you attack, give it everything you've got. Other people are going to tell you to be patient.

"Patience and focus!" Wukong called out as Jiang and MK both hammered away in a stubborn wall. Jiang narrowed her eyes in frustration and gave a particularly harder strike in the wall. She was pretty sure they were wearing the hammers down faster than the wall.

"Step into the strike!" She heard Wukong say before he shoved another peach chip into his mouth. Jiang closed her eyes as she panted, sweat running down her face and body. Macaque's words from the times he had been training her and her brother kept replaying themselves in her mind.

They're slowing you down. You have power inside you. She recalled the moment when the staff she held glowed purple and then broke, all the pieces being held together with small chains.

Use it. Take the power and destroy! Remember, you don't use a weapon! You are a weapon!

Jiang wasn't fully aware of what happened next, but when she opened her eyes and came back to the present, the wall in front of her and her brother was gone, Wukong looked absolutely shocked with his jaws hanging open, and MK dropped his hammer, looking rather happy with what Jiang had just done. "Whoa!" Wukong cried as he flew up on his cloud to the large hole in the wall. "How'd you learn to do that?" He asked.

Then, he gave a sudden half offended half shocked gasp and flew down, coming to a stop in front of Jiang. "Have you been running around with other mentors?!" He cried. Jiang turned around, and with a slightly hollow and emotionless voice, she said, "Patience and focus. Isn't that what you told us time and time again?".

"Look, Jiang, using that much power, your body can't handle it" Wukong told her. And with that, Jiang lashed out at him. "You, of all people, don't get to tell me what my body can or cannot handle! I'll be the judge of that! And you know what? I think your upset because there is someone out there who's actually teaching me and MK, what we need to know!" She shouted before she walked away.

She needed to leave, to go somewhere that wasn't here. She needed to blow off some steam. And she knew exactly where to go.

Jiang let out slightly ragged breaths as she kept one hand in the staff and the other on her knee. After her outburst on Flower Fruit Mountain, Jiang headed straight for Macaque, who was more than willing to help her blow off some steam, and somewhere in the middle of doing that, MK had came around, and now he was the one hanging off to the side. Jiang looked up at the feeling of a hand in her shoulder.

"You and your brother are ready" Macaque told her. "...Ready for what?" Jiang asked after a moment's hesitation. "I've found out where it lives" Macaque said, and intuition told Jiang that he was referring to the monster from a few days ago.

After getting up a tall mountain, Macaque told Jiang and MK a bit of info. "The smoke monster is actually an ancient demon, a very, very powerful one. We need to destroy it, once and for all" He said. Jiang peeked out from the wall of rock everyone was behind, and let out a soft breath.

"Damn, that thing is a lot bigger once you actually get close to it" she muttered. "As it is with everything. Now go on" Macaque said before he gave her a light push. "Wait, what? But last time, neither Jiang or me could hit it" MK said.

"Totally. But, since then, you've had me teaching you". Macaque's voiced faded slightly as Jiang held out to the staff and went out. The large demon hadn't noticed her yet, and she hopped to keep it that way. She would never admit it, but she honestly felt a little terrified.

Or maybe she was just intimidated by her opponent's massive size. She was startled out of her thoughts when MK bumped into her, making her whip her head around to lightly glare at him. "Hey, he pushed me!" MK whisper shouted at her.

"Okay, fine, that's excusable. But I would like to not get-" Jiang said before MK grabbed the staff and launched himself at the demon. "-caught" Jiang finished before letting out a sigh. "Well, so much for that" she said.

Then she also launched herself at the demon. However, before she or her brother could really land a hit, the demon began to change. It maintained it's dark purple color, but changed forms, before turning into what looked exactly like Macaque.

Except, the right eye was completely white, with the once short nick in the eyebrow now becoming a full scar that traveled from the forehead to his cheek. This version of Macaque then hit MK, hard, in the stomach, and a dark purple, thing, shot out of her brother. The twin then kicked Jiang right on the ribcage, and Jiang felt pain explode there.

She also felt like something had completely drained her of energy, but she still managed to land almost unscathed against the Earth. She lightly curled in on herself, pressing her hand against where the strange version of Macaque had kicked her. She probably had a couple of cracked, if not broken, ribs.

"You know, you guys really are good kids" the real Macaque said as he ruffled MK's hair and patted Jiang's shoulder before fading into the ground, which greatly surprised both siblings. "And super nice" Macaque's shadow said as it grew longer, heading towards his double. Once he got to it, Macaque clenched his fist around a small ball of golden flames, and the smoke monster appeared around him.

A large and powerful gust of wind, or maybe it was a shockwave, pushed both MK and Jiang back against the stone wall. And the staff slammed against MK, trapping him there while a large and heavy piece of rubble landed hard on Jiang's foot trapping her while making her cry out in pain. "Thank you, for giving me all of Monkey King's power" Macaque said before chuckling.

Dread and slight horror filled Jiang as she realized that MK couldn't move the staff. He was stuck, trapped, and Macaque seemed to know it too. "Oh, nohohoho" he chuckled.

"Can't you hold the magic staff anymore? Well, you know what that means, there really isn't anything special about you" he said before flying forward, quickly coming to a stop right in front of the boy, which made him yelp out of fear and slight surprise, and pressing his foot against Jiang's abdomen, making her hiss in pain. "Your just some kid with a heavy stick, and in her current situation, I doubt your sister would even be able to get the energy to help you" Macaque said before chuckling a bit. "Enough!" A familiar voice shouted.

Something flew between Macaque and the siblings, forcing the monkey demon to back up. Then, the newcomer stood up. It was Sun Wukong.

"Monkey King!" MK cried out, but he and Jiang both sweat dropped at the slightly ticked off side look the Great Sage gave them. Jiang looked away, then back again as Macaque started talking. "Monkey King! Good to see ya bud" he said.

"Are you ever going to get sick of living in my shadow?! It's time to give back what you stole" Wukong snapped at him. "You are such a gem. It's going to be so satisfying killing you with your own powers" Macaque told him before launching himself at the second monkey, who quickly retaliated. While that was happening, Jiang turned her attention to the heavy rock that trapped her foot in a painful position.

"Jiang?" MK asked after she hissed in pain. "Don't worry about me, I'll be alright, wounds heal" she said before she began to pull at the rock. She glanced over, seeing multiple purple and gold colored explosions in the air that quickly faded away before turning her attention back to the rock.

After a couple more harsh tugs, the rock came off, and all the pain in her foot disappeared. Grabbing on to the staff for support, she pulled herself back to her feet. Just in time to see Wukong take a punch to the face and fly through two mountains, landing on the surface of the third.

"Monkey King!" MK cried. "We could maybe help him, if I can just, get this thing, off of you" Jiang grunted as she struggled to pull at the staff. "Sorry kids. Nothin personal!" She heard Macaque call out from behind her.

Turning around, she watched as Macaque formed the shadow monster. "...oh shit" she breathed before MK let out a fear-filled scream, which made Jiang since while she stood protectively in front of him. She held her arms up in front of her, bracing herself for the hit after seeing the shadow monster drawing a fist back, but the blow never came.

Opening her eyes, Jiang was slightly surprised to see Wukong holding the large fist back, though he seemed to be somewhat struggling a bit. "Come on! Show me the real Sun Wukong! The old you would have leveled this whole mountain range to stop me! But your scared of hurting some kids? Pathetic!" She heard Macaque shout. "Come on staff!" MK said as he struggled to move the weapon before giving up.

"I can't, I'm not strong enough" he said. "Kids!" Wukong called, making Jiang and MK look at him. "We're definitely going to have words later, but right now, it's time for the hero stuff!" He said.

Wukong really began to struggle when he had to block the shadow monster's second fist. Jiang glanced between him and her brother before wrapping her hands around the staff. "Come on. You push, I pull" she said to MK, who hesitantly nodded and began to push against the staff again.

Both kids gave it their all, and Jiang mentally rejoiced when the thing came loose. "You got this MK. I did it the hammer, you can do it with the staff!" Jiang said with an encouraging tone of voice paired with a smile. MK began to try multiple times to lift the staff, all while Jiang was encouraging him.

"Remember, patience, focus-" she said. "Step into the strike!" Both kids chorused before MK flung the staff. The weapon spun as it moves, and then, it collided with the neck of the shadow monster.

The thing exploded, and Jiang quickly held on to her brother as he clutched the staff. She felt Wukong pull them both to his chest, holding them tightly in a protective hold until the explosion, and the winds and shockwave caused by it, disappeared. Once everything cleared up, Wukong let the two go, and Jiang spotted the sky lighting up with the oncoming sunrise.

She had been so caught up in everything, that she never really noticed it until now. She looked away once she heard Wukong sigh. "You did it guys. You remembered what I told you" he said, though Jiang detected an underlying hint of disappointment in his voice.

She hated it. She would rather have some random person screaming and yelling obscenities at her rather than Wukong be disappointed in her and MK. "...I'm sorry" she said, not having the courage to look at him. That made Wukong turn on the siblings.

"Oh! Oh, you totally should be! I can't believe the two of you two-timed me on your training!" He said, looking rather ticked off. "We just wanted to be good enough. Like you" MK said. Jiang heard Wukong sigh, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him rubbing his neck, probably contemplating on what to do next.

He then sat down next to MK and put his arm around the boy's shoulders. Then, he patted the spot on the other side of him. Jiang hesitated, but she walked over, and sat down crosslegged, hunching over a bit. She still did not have the courage to really look Wukong in the face.

However, she didn't do anything when he put his other arm around her shoulders. "Hey, your guy's hearts are in the right place. We can work on the rest" he said, pulling both kids closer to him. Jiang perked just up a bit as she realized what that meant.

"So, you'll keep training us?" MK asked. "Of course bud. I have something, special, in mind" Wukong told him. The special thing, turned out to be cleaning the entire inhabited area of the mountain, both inside, and outside.

Jiang was lost in her own little world as she moved the mood Wukong had given her back and forth, cleaning the dirt and dust away from the stone that lied underneath. Honestly, she felt horrible. She had put her trust in someone she had known for only a few days, which was a rookie mistake, and she had payed for it.

She had been blinded by wanting to become better, that she not only put herself in danger, but also both MK's and Wukong's lives in danger. Her actions had almost led to her brother being killed. If Wukong hadn't shown up, which he wouldn't have had to in the first place if it hadn't been for her mistakes, well, she didn't really want to think about it.

"Jiang!" MK practically screamed, startling Jiang so much that she fumbled with the mop a bit. "My gods, MK, you don't have to shout like that man" she said. "I called your name three times after you didn't laugh at a joke I had just made. Are you okay?" MK said then asked.

Those three words made Jiang freeze, and for a moment, she debated on saying how she felt. But MK had been through enough, he didn't need to add worrying about his sister to that. So, "Y-yeah. Um, I'll be alright" Jiang told him in a slightly cheerful tone that was paired with a forced smile.

She had fooled him with that so many times now that it was as easy as breathing. However, Jiang quickly focused back on her work when she spotted Wukong glance in her direction. "Jiang, are you sure your alright?" She heard him ask after hearing his footsteps getting closer.

She was somewhat grateful that he was keeping his tone on the low side so that MK didn't hear anything. "Yes. I'm fine" Jiang said again, but she didn't look her mentor in the face. She guessed that Wukong seemed to realize that he wasn't going to get anything out of her, cause she heard his footsteps fade away.

Good.

That meant she could keep everything to herself.