Speed Is King

His armor was studded black with red trim, and a mystical red cape flowed behind him, giving him a heroic look that would make any female monkey in their right minds swoon.

Two huge feathers flowed out of his open faced helm, and his red rod was inlined with gold.

He stood as tall as Monkey King, and the aura he gave out was no less powerful and no less intimidating than him! On a personal level, it would even be difficult to guess who would win in a fight!

Of course if allowed to exert all of his might, Monkey King, being a full fledged Beast Master, would definitely win.

But Wu Kong would definitely give him a run of his money if it was a one on one fight.

Being completely clueless of how complicated Monkey King’s feelings must be at that moment, Jessica innocently voiced out that thought.

“Hey monkey! The little monkey looks really good in that armor. I bet he is as strong as you! In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could beat you in a fight! Haha!” She shouted loudly!

Jul’Taras was so incredulously shocked by Jessica’s tactless words that she actually had a vision of herself receiving a massive punch in the face from Jessica and her head flinging backwords with blood spurting out of her nose!

“Jessica Sands!” She roared angrily.

“What? Why are you shouting at me so suddenly?” Jessica shouted in alarm.

“You! You!!” Jul’Taras wanted to scold her for being insensitive to Monkey King, but if she did so, wouldn’t she be admitting that Monkey King was weaker than Wu Kong?_{pᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ.ᴄᴏᴍ}

But if she didn’t then what if Monkey King felt that he was weaker than Wu Kong, and was hurt by Jessica’s words? How could she leave Jessica unpunished for being so insensitive to Monkey King?

Thankfully, Wu Kong broke the awkward situation by putting forth a very bold initiative.

“If I may be so bold to ask uncle for some pointers?” He asked softly.

“HAHAHA! Great! Great! Great!” Monkey King was so happy by Wu Kong’s outrageous request that he actually shouted “Great!” Three times!!

“That’s exactly how youngsters should be! Come! Let us have a great fight! Hahahaha!” The joy and the excitement in Monkey King’s voice was unmistakable. And of course, so was his supreme confidence.

But the fact remains that there must be a story behind that suit of Ancestral Grade armor and weapon. One that was close to Monkey King’s heart as well apparently, for him to be so happy over such an outrageous request by an obviously young monkey.

Once again, Wu Kong prepared himself for battle. But this time, he was entering a fight with thoughts of his father bursting forth in his mind.

The upcoming fight was in memory of his father. And if he wasn’t mistaken, Monkey King also wanted to fight him due to his great yearning to do exactly that too!

In a sense, to Monkey King, Wu Kong was representing his father in the fight. And if that was so, all the more reason for Wu Kong to give his all.

“Come at me, boy!” Monkey King hollered and hefted his own massive golden stubbed rod. His armor was resplendent and his countenance, joyful. _{pᴀɴᴅᴀ ɴoᴠᴇʟ}

Wu Kong raised his rod in salute, and then charged forward with a powerful roar!

Caught completely by surprise by Wu Kong’s salute which was exactly how his father used to do, Monkey King was slightly late in his response.

But no matter, the adrenalin pumping in his veins gave him such a huge surge of energy that he immediately caught up with Wu Kong’s momentum!

Groarrr!!!

He roared passionately and raised his rod as well!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The two of them exchanged a flurry of hits that was completely devoid of skill.

There was no Astral Steps, no Darklight Energy, nothing but raw, unadulterated physical strength.

It was pure and primal, and it was exactly how Wu Kong’s father would have fought if he was still alive.

Their fight completely gave vent to the nostalgia, the yearning, and the sadness that shrouded their hearts over the passing of Wu Kong’s father, the self-proclaimed The Great Mountain Sage Which Rivals The Heavens. _{ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​}

One missed his father terribly, and yearned to hear his comforting voice, feel his protective touch and see his smile that made him feel like he could do anything in the world as long as he is with him.

The other… well his story remained to be told. But although the why was as yet unanswered, the passion and the emotions that Wu Kong felt through his strikes were as real as real can be.

In fact, the depth of their emotions were so unbelievably strong that the rest of the group who were watching could feel them very clearly.

For the tender hearted Jessica, she was already tearing up uncontrollably, much to her confusion.

“Why are tears coming out of my eyes? I am not sad, am I?” She sobbed.

The others couldn’t answer her as they too were fighting back their tears.

Before them, the fight went on with unparalleled ferocity! Both wielded their rods with extreme skill and even after pushing themselves to their physical limits, they still couldn’t break past each other’s parries!

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

Each hit dispelled just a tiny bit of the yearning in their hearts, and replaced it with a growing sense of brotherhood that only grew and grew and grew.

They would honor the Great Sage with their fight, but they would also not forget to look ahead and forge a brand new relationship that would carry on the Great Sage’s Legacy!

The fight lasted for exactly two hundred moves.

After they had exchanged their two hundredth move, they separated.

Both were panting hard, and were completely drenched in sweat.

Their sharp monkey smell made all the others scrunch up their noses, but the smiles on their faces warmed their hearts endlessly.

“Big brother!” Wu Kong shouted through his gasps for fresh air.

“Good! Good!” Monkey King panted heavily. “I have a… brother now!”

SNIFF. SNIFF.

Jessica sniffed loudly as she wiped tears at the touching scene.

“This must be an onion plantation island.” Jessica said emotionally. “There must be huge onion trees everywhere deep in this island! And the locals in this onions are cutting those onions really quickly!”

“Onion trees…?” Jul’Taras asked with red eyes.

“Big, bad onions and onion cutters…” Jul’Taras could only repeat Jessica’s words with a small smile.

“It must be a local specialty.” Aunt Hillary said quietly with a sigh.

“Yes! A local specialty! How can you call yourself a spymaster if you don’t even know about onion trees and the onion cutters?” Jessica shouted at Jul’Taras.

Jul’Taras merely smiled at her and shook her head lightly.

She kept her eyes on Monkey King, who had caught his breath and was about to share his story.

And if the fight earlier was any indication, it would be a very, very personal story.

She didn’t want to miss a single word.