Sakura P.O.V - Flower Fruit Mountain

MK and Wukong were training, while Uncle Pigsy, Uncle Tang, Uncle Sandy and Mei were busy rebuilding Wukong's house after Azure destroyed it. I would help them fix the house, but I've been really worried about MK. He has heavy bags under his eyes

'Has he not been sleeping well? I'm getting so worried about him' I thought with a worried expression on my face

"Ookay, Monkie class is back in session" I heard Wukong say to MK, snapping me out of my deep thoughts. I looked at MK and he was about to pass out based on how tired he looked

"Hmm, what?" MK asked as he shook his head

"You plant this Monkie Flag on your Monkie Mountain, you win. If I plant it on my way better Monkie Mountain, and I win" Wukong said as he pointed at the mountain where I'm currently at "Ready?"

"Ohohoho, I've never been readier! No holding back! LEGO!" MK said, but he looked so exhausted and I looked very worried

"You sure? Cause you're looking a little..."

"Uugghh..." Then MK shook his head to wake up himself up "Less talky, more trainy, Monkey King! I already said the thing!" MK said as he jumps onto his cloud

Wukong smirked as he spun his staff and threw towards MK

"What?!" The staff hit MK and he knocked off of his cloud "Hey! I thought it was keep aways, not... throws at mes!" MK spun around and he summoned his cloud again "Well, if you wanna play hardball... GEEEETTT READY TO PLAY HAAA-" MK didn't notice Wukong appearing behind him, he tried to knock MK out, but MK out smarted him by flipping and kicking Wukong away

'Not a bad move' I thought with an impressed look

MK flew his cloud towards his mountain to plant the staff, but Wukong quickly caught with him with his cloud

"Woah, bud, you're getting so much faster!" Wukong said

"Yeah! I-" Wukong caught off MK's sentence

"Not fast enough!" Wukong said as he charged forward and grabbed hold of the staff, and they both started fighting. While fighting, MK extended the staff and aimed it towards Wukong and headed towards his mountain to plant the staff

"Hahahaha! Here... comes... Monkie...!" Before MK could plant the staff into the ground, Wukong grabbed the other end of the staff

"KING!" Wukong threw the staff along with MK to his mountain

MK screamed all the way until he crashed landed. The dust cleared out, and I saw the staff planted onto the ground while MK was still holding on

"Hey! No fair!" MK complained, Wukong chuckled as he picked him up and spun him around, and placed him back on his feet "We said no holding back, but you held back the whole time till I was right about to win!"

"Well, bud, I was only holding back a teensy bit. Gotta keep something for you to look up to" Wukong said as he pulled the staff out from the ground and MK fell back on the ground "Beside, I'm not the only one holding back. Maybe if you'd tapped into your full power, you've won"

'His full power...' I remembered during our battle with Azure, MK and Iris unlocked their full power. But MK looked scared about using it again. I snapped out my thoughts when I heard MK let out a breath

"Uh... kid?"

"MK? Are you okay?" I asked as I approach the duo

"I-It's fine. I..." MK let out a gasp when he looked at Wukong's stone that lays on the ground

"Oh. Huh. My stone. I mean... our stone. You know it's not something we can outrun, right? Your monkey form? What it means?" Wukong said

"A-, uh-, can we... can we just not?" MK said

"MK, I know it's a sensitive topic to talk about, but Uncle Sandy's offer still stands if you want someone to hear your troubles and give you some tea to help you sleep" I said with a concern tone

"Thanks, Sakura. But I just- I just gotta- I just gotta keep moving is all!" MK said as he started to move around

"But MK... you should at least take a minute to rest" I said

"Kid, Sakura is right, it's okay to take a minute" Wukong said

"NOPE! Hehe, I'm a monkey now. If I stop, I die! I'm compartmentalizing!" MK said

"MK, that's for sharks, not monkeys" I corrected him

"Nope, definitely monkeys" Then MK stops moving for a moment as he remembers something "Oh! Oh, oh, oh! I just remembered! Uh... we uh... got a surprise for you!"

"A surprise?!" Wukong asked as his eyes widen with excitement, but quickly calmed down since MK tried to change the topic "Wait, no, we shoul-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! You're gonna love it! J-Just wait here with Sakura!" MK said as he jumps up and his cloud back down the mountain

"Kid, we need to-! Ugh..." Wukong slumped his shoulders

'Oh MK...'

"Well, that went well, bud" Appearing out of the shadows was Macaque

"Gaahhh... are you actually... lurking here?" Wukong asked looking annoyed

"Hey, this mountain been my home just as long as yours" Macaque said and he walked towards me "Hey, cherry blossom. How are you doing?" Macaque asked as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind

"I'm fine. Also, did you find anything?" I asked

"No, but... since the power of the Jade Emperor has been transferred to you, the Celestial Realm... things aren't good" Macaque said and I was sad about the news

"If only I was a bit stronger, then maybe the Celestial Realm..."

"Don't let it get to you. You're doing the best you can trying to balance everything since you have work, then you have your lessons about being a goddess and now how to be the new ruler of the Celestial Realm. Just take things one step at a time and you'll be fine" Macaque said and he turned to look at Wukong "Wukong, the kid"

"I know" Wukong looked away

"You need to talk to him" Macaque said as he unwraps his arms from my shoulders

"I know! But... he's not ready" Wukong said

"You mean YOU'RE not ready. You really are the worst mentor" Macaque said and Wukong growled at him "He needs... We need to know everything we can"

"He's just a kid. Can't he just-"

"He's not just a kid!" Macaque cut off his sentence

"Macaque, deep breaths, please" I said and he took a breath and let it out

"Why him, Wukong? D-Did you know about... when you chose him?" Macaque asked

"No, I didn't know!" Wukong looked away again "It just felt... right"

"And that doesn't bother you?! This kid that just happens to have all of your powers, that's at the center of all these battles, and you never questioned why?! None of us even knew he existed! How?!" Macaque shouted, Wukong growled again and looked away again

"Can we please calm down? I can understand the situation, but what I'm more concerned is who freed Azure from the scroll even though the scroll was being kept by the 10 Kings of the Underworld" I said

"That's also in my mind but..." Then Wukong looked at Macaque "What about YOU? You just... come back... you just-!"

"Tch! Look, there's someone pulling all of our strings. Especially the kid's" Wukong and I looked at Macaque with a surprised expression "And they're not finished"

"And you? Bud?" Then they were silent until they started arguing

"You were fine five minutes ago, and now you're judging-/Do you want my help or not?! You're being such a-!"

"Will you both knock it off!" I shouted as I push them apart

"It's ready!" MK shouted "Monkey King? Sakura?"

"Look, that kid idolizes you. You're his literal hero and you just..."

"I just what?" Wukong glared at Macaque

"He needs to know it's not all on him. You need to do better" Macaque said as he disappears into the shadows

"I agree with Macaque, Wukong. I may not know the whole situation that's going on, but you should talk to him and reassure him. Then maybe he wouldn't look so exhausted" I said

"I know... And I'll try. If he let's me" Wukong said

"Ooooooohhhh, Monkey King! Sakura! Where are you guys?" MK's voice echoed

"We're coming! Be right there!" Wukong said as he picks me up in a bridal style and he hopped on his cloud and we headed back down

No One P.O.V

As Wukong and Sakura left the top of the mountain, they were unaware of a glowing creak forming on Wukong's stone

Wukong's cloud headed inside the cave where his house used to be, but didn't notice Pigsy hammering something

"Okay, okay, I'm here everybody" Wukong said as his cloud was about to land

Both MK and Pigsy were freaking out

"W-Wait, wait, no! We're not done yet! Sakura cover his eyes!" Mei said

"Forgive me for this!" Sakura said as she immediately covered his eyes, but it resulted them falling off the cloud

"Ah! Just a second!" MK shouted as he climbs onto Wukong's shoulder and helped Sakura with covering his eyes

"What? You called me" Wukong said

"I said just a second!" Mei shouted

"This is- kid! This is important!" Wukong said

"Ahahaha! No, we're doing this now!" MK said and Wukong uses his tail to remove MK from from his shoulders and tried remove Sakura's hand from his eyes

"Kid, Sakura, you both can't just- Bud! Sakura!"

"Done!" Pigsy said

"Oh, thank goodness!" MK said as he slips off of Wukong's shoulders and Sakura removed her hands from his eyes

Wukong was surprised at what he saw, his house re-built like it was never destroyed

"What?"

"Tadaaaa!" MK said

"What is this?" Wukong asked looking dumbfounded

"It's your house. After your old house destroyed from the battle, you tried to make a house from your hair and it... failed badly" Sakura said

"So, yeah, we uh..." Before Pigsy could finish his sentence, he was pushed to the side by MK

"We all pitched in and rebuilded your house!" MK said

"Like MK said earlier, Tadaa!" Sakura said

"Hmph! Some more than others" Pigsy said as he looked at Tang who was pretending to have a heat stroke while Sandy was fanning him to cool him off

"What happened to Jangles?" Wukong asked

"Yeah, apparently it's ah... heatstroke. Eh?" Then he looked at Tang who was peeking "I SEE YOU TANG!" Pigsy shouted

Then MK dragged Wukong towards the house and led him inside

"Welcome to your new old house!" MK said

Wukong looked around, he saw some new additions his house, pictures from their previous adventures, New Years, the Ring of Light Festival, their victory meal after defeating LBD, Konohana's homeland including her family, the fun time at the beach, Halloween, and a couple of MK's drawings, on the table were a couple of origami figures of his friends during the Journey to the West and a small cherry blossom bonsai tree. Wukong smiled

"You... you did all this?" Wukong asked

"Ahem! Gotta leave Monkey King houses better than we found them! Right?" Mei said as she places a picture of her and Wukong on the TV

"It's... It's what friends do" MK said and Wukong hugged him

"Kid"

"You're... welcome..?" MK said as he patted his back

Then they heard the Monkie Kid opening song from Pigsy's pocket. He pulls out his phone and noticed the alarm

"Oh! Dinner rush is about to start" Pigsy said

"It's that late already? Guess we better start heading back and get ready" Sakura said

"On it, boss!" MK said

"MK, you know you could stay here for a bit to rest" Sakura said

"Nope!" MK grabbed Mei, Sakura and Pigsy and dragged them out where Sandy, Mo, and Tang are "Noodles need delivering! Soup needs simmering! We can't let the people down!" MK said as he grabbed Tang's staff while Tang was holding it and teleported out

Wukong let out a sigh

Night time

After the dinner rush was done, Pigsy, MK and Sakura were cleaning up the shop

"Ah, good work today, you two! But uh... kid, you can go ahead and finish up" Pigsy said

"I'm good! Let's keep going! Maybe try and beat that World Longest Noodle record? Huh? Huh? Huh?!" MK said

"Uhh... kid? When'd you sleep last?" Pigsy asked

"Ahh, sleep's for the weak! See? They stopped moving and Mei's sleeping with the noodles" MK said and Mei's head fell out of the bowl of noodles, but was still eating. Both Sakura and Pigsy gave them the look "I can't sleep. Everytime I-" Then his eyes started to glow and he remembered what the curse said about him being the harbinger of chaos

"Well, Uncle Pigsy, looks like we need to pull out the pot again" Sakura said as she pulls out Pigsy's recipe book

"Looks like it. Since sleep's off the menu, and if we're staying up... you're learning a thing or two!" Pigsy said as he turned to the page to his special noodles "You see, the thing about good is when you make it just right. The smells, the flavor, the feeling" Pigsy explains as he, Sakura and MK were prepping the ingredients "It all just kinda comes rushing back. But when you make it just right, you've made more than just food. Do you see what I'm saying?" Pigsy asked while MK was staring at the pot that was slowly boiling the broth and the ingredients

"Got it! Follow the recipe. Mhm" MK said

"That is true" Sakura grabbed a spoon to take a sip of the soup "But something is missing"

"Oh! I-I followed the... D-Did I not...?" Then Pigsy the spoon with the soup in MK's mouth. Then MK started to taste it and he instantly knew what the soup needed. He went to the cabinet and took out a small container of soy sauce (I'm not sure if I got it right) and added it in the soup

"You see kid, it ain't always about following the recipe like it's written" Pigsy grabbed three bowls from the shelf "Sometimes, ya gotta feel it" MK grabbed a couple of chopsticks and Sakura added the noodles and the soup "And when you do... Well, it's more than food. It's home" Pigsy said and MK was savoring the delicious flavor of the noodles

"Mmm! Ahhh! Haha, oh it's so good!" MK said as he continues to eat his noodles happily, while Pigsy looked down was a sad look

"When Sakura found... When you..." Pigsy let out a sigh as he looked at a picture of himself and little MK and little Sakura "When you were a kid, this was your favorite. I don't know when you stopped liking it so much, but.. it always helped you sleep. So, I figured..." Then Pigsy felt Sakura tapping on his shoulder, he looked and saw MK sleeping on her shoulder. They both smiled

"Looks like your noodles still works, Uncle Pigsy" Sakura said

"Yeah. Help me get him to bed" Pigsy said as he held MK under his arms and Sakura helped by carrying his legs all the way to his room upstairs. When they got to MK's room, Pigsy changed MK's clothes and Sakura helped him put MK to bed

"I don't know how I ended up with you, but I'm so glad I did. I love you, son" Pigsy said and Sakura almost let out a loud squeal, but she held it in

"He'll be so happy if he heard you say that" Sakura said as she held back her squeal

"I know, but I have feeling he already knows" Pigsy said as he and Sakura both left MK's room and turned off the lights, but they missed the creak in the sky and a voice echoed

"It's time to wake up" The voice said as a light blue portal appeared underneath MK's sleeping form and he fell through, but he wasn't the only one, the same thing happened to Wukong and Macaque

To be continued in Collar the King

Well, I hope you guys liked the chapter! And stay tuned for the next one!