We get some more sweet Macaque and Miwa quality time. :D
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*In Macaque's dojo.*
"Looks like you've leaned more with my style, when summoning your own weapon." said Macaque, holding his staff. "Was that what your little test was about when we last trained?"
"Yeah, since a normal weapon easily breaks from my powers that I can't so easily control freely, but when using MK's staff I don't have to worry about it breaking." said Miwa holding her spear. "And with my bad left arm, I can change it between being a spear or a whip. Gives me better mobility."
"Smart idea, Starlight. But you still lack a lot of training, and more so control of keeping your weapon stable." Macaque charged at her without a warning, swinging his staff down on her.
Miwa's eyes widened and quickly blocked the attack with her spear, but the force of the hit was already breaking the stable form of the spear.
"Put more focus in, Freckles!" Macaque pushed further down with his staff, hardly holding back his strength as the ground under Miwa's feet was slowly breaking. "If you wanna be stronger, you need to give it all. No more holding back!"
Miwa gritted her teeth and began surrounding her spear in cosmic energy, making it more solid as she started pushing back. "I-I'm trying! But you aren't making it easy!"
"And you think your attacker is gonna go easy on you! No, they wouldn't! So I'm not gonna make this easy!" Macaque summoned his shadow clones and had them attack her from behind.
Miwa growled and acted quickly as she jumped into the air, dodging the clones. Running in the air while changing her spear to a whip, and swung it at a weapon rack. Catching a random sword and threw it at Macaque, who blocked the attack by swinging his staff.
Thinking quickly, Miwa summoned her own shadow clones and had them handle Macaque's clones, while she shifted into a red and white tiger. Running at Macaque, trying to bite him. But he countered it by shifting into a hawk, dodging her attack and aimed at her face.
Miwa quickly dodged his attack by changing into a red raven with white freckles on her face, Macaque then went on to change into an eagle and caught her in his talons.
But his hold didn't last very long as Miwa changed once more, this time into a mouse, and began climbing free of his talons and bite into one of his legs.
Macaque changed into a rat as they were now falling to the ground, but Miwa changed back to normal and summoned her spear, striking him with the sharp end. But once again, he countered her by also changing back to normal and blocked her attack with his staff.
However, a smirk appeared on Miwa's face as she had her spear change into a whip and had it wrap around Macaque's body, and then swung him into a wall.
Miwa was breathing heavily as she landed back on the training mat, her whip changing back to a spear as she used it to keep herself from falling over. She could already feel how exhausted she had gotten from the training, as a few drops of sweat were running down her face.
But the training wasn't over yet, as Macaque jumped out of the shadows and struck her with his staff, knocking her into some training equipment.
Miwa winced from the painful hit, and tried getting back up, her spear already getting unstable once again. And at the worst time, as Macaque charged at full speed at her. Swinging his staff at her that she was struggling to block until her spear was knocked out of her hands, and disappeared into the shadows as she fell to the ground.
Macaque pointed his staff right at her, in a threatening manner, before raising it. Miwa closed her eyes, scared of another hit, but it never came.
"I think that's enough." Macaque had his staff go back to the shadows.
Miwa opened her eyes, looking up at him as she was all beating up. "A-already? C-come on, I can.... keep going, a little l-longer."
"Don't get reckless with me, Little Star. I can already see you are out of energy to keep training." Macaque gently patted her head. "You did well, a lot better than I thought. But you're still lacking some."
Miwa groans and just laid on the floor, too exhausted to move much. "I think I liked you better, Papa, when you were going easier on me."
"If I kept going easy on you, it wouldn't have helped you much, and it wouldn't make you stronger." said Macaque, leaning over and glancing down at her. "Now, how about you take a bath, and we can head out after."
"Out?" Miwa slightly lifted her head. "What are we gonna do outside?"
Macaque raised an eyebrow at her. "I do have a job, Freckles, and I'm sure you would enjoy watching some of my shadow play."
Hearing this piqued Miwa's attention, and she quickly got up. "I'll be superfast!" She quickly ran up the stairs to Macaque's home and headed into the shower.
Macaque chuckled at her reaction and watched her speed off. "It's nice seeing her in a much better mood, it also helps that I can keep an eye on her while I work." His smile slowly faded away. "Both times she has been attacked, was when she was alone. And if I'm right about Lady Bone Demon being after her, then I need to make her ready for anything. I'm not sure how much I can protect her if Lady Bone Demon finds me."
Miwa had quickly finished her shower when she returned, wearing some clothes Macaque had let her borrow, while some of her hair was still a bit damp along with her tails. "I'm ready to go."
Macaque looked at her appearance and couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, my little wet monkey, let's go." He opened the door to his dojo and lead the way out.
"Wait, we aren't gonna portal to the theater?" Miwa asked as she followed him.
"We could, but it's not far from here. So we can just walk there." Macaque explained while they were walking.
"Ah, okay." said Miwa, and took a closer glance at their surroundings. "So, what kind of play are you gonna do today?"
A smirk grew on Macaque's face, glancing over at her. "Sorry, Freckles, but I can't tell you that. It would ruin the fun."
"Awww, and here I thought you would share it with me, your sweet and lovely daughter. I feel so hurt right now." said Miwa dramatically.
Macaque rolled his eyes at her dramatic attitude. "Even if you weren't my daughter, I wouldn't tell you. You're just gonna have to wait and see, like everyone else."
"Eh, worth a try." Miwa shrugged at that before tripping over but was quickly saved by Macaque's tail wrapping around her. "Thanks, Papa." She gave an awkward smile, scratching the back of her head.
"You can sit down when we enter the theater, rest your body a little from our training." Macaque told her but kept his tail wrapped around. Not wanting her to fall to the ground and injure herself.
"Alright." said Miwa as she changed her appearance to look more like her old human self. Since she knew, Macaque would be using his human disguise when performing his shadow play.
It wasn't long until they arrived at the theater, Miwa sat down on the first bench she saw closest to the stage. While Macaque went in the back to prepare for his show.
Miwa hummed softly as she waited for the show to start, and while waiting. She started thinking back to some of the things the white bone lady had said, back in the dream world, as Miwa had decided to call it. ".... She called me Red Star, I know I heard that name before. Probably in one of my own dreams... or was it a memory?.... I really don't like any of this."
Miwa took a glance over at the stage, thinking about her training with Macaque they would do later inside the dream world, along with the talk she had with him yesterday after having slept through the night at his place.
*Flashback.*
"While that is an awful experience for you, at least you still have your body parts here in the real world." said Macaque as he was sitting with a cup of coffee.
"Still doesn't make it better that I could still feel the pain when I appeared back here." said Miwa, while wrapped up in a blanket.
"True, but that also means we can go all out inside the dream, even though you'll return with the pain from it all. It will help you grow stronger." Macaque explained, drinking his coffee.
".... Maybe in my dreams, but will it really make me stronger in the real world?" Miwa asked, curling in on herself. "Real or dream, will it really make any difference?"
"Not with that attitude." Macaque let out a sigh and wrapped an arm around her. "But I will help you get stronger, both in the dream world and in the real world. That way, you don't have to worry about anything coming after you."
".... But there is just one thing I don't understand from all of this." said Miwa, frowning slightly.
"And what's that, Little Star?" Macaque asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Why are they after me? It can't be because I'm yours and Dad's child. That much is clear.... and they, for some reason, want me dead, hoping to be granted some wish. For some weird reason." said Miwa, both confused and worried. "And why do they seem to know me, yet I've never met them before?"
Macaque had an unreadable expression, making it hard to know what was running through his head with all of this. "That is a question I don't have the answer for."
*End of flashback.*
"..... Maybe I should do the training I did with Dad before, while it might give me a bad headache. It could give back more memories, I still haven't gotten my fur. So there must be something I'm missing." Miwa snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the shadow play had started, a soft smile growing on her face. Deciding to enjoy this for now.
Macaque went on to do an old shadow play he used to make for Miwa when she was little, one she didn't really understand at the time. But it was still interesting.
Miwa wasn't sure when, but at some point she had fallen asleep while watching. Probably from how exhausted she was from the training they had done before they came here.
By the time the play was over, Macaque had walked over and gently shook her. "Come on, Freckles, time to wake up."
"Hm?" Miwa slowly opened her eyes, letting out a yawn as she looked up at Macaque. "Already done?"
"Yeah, I was only able to get this time. Otherwise, the place is pretty booked today." Macaque explained.
"Okay." Miwa got up from her seat, and followed Macaque as they left the place. "Anything else?"
Macaque glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow. "Aren't you gonna see MK and your friends?"
Miwa grew slightly hesitant, she placed her right hand on her left arm. "..... I don't feel ready to see them yet, not after what I went through..... I wanna grow stronger so they don't have to worry about me."
Macaque let out a heavy sigh, scratching his head. "I can understand that you wanna get stronger..... but if you keep doing that. You're gonna end up following the same path as Wukong."
"Then what about you, Papa?" Miwa glared over at him. "You wanna get stronger too, but only because of your petty revenge against Dad, after what he did to you."
"How we search to get stronger is entirely different, Miwa. I do it for revenge, yes, but you are doing it because of your own weaknesses and insecurities." Macaque told her in a harsh tone.
Miwa crossed her arms and started pouting in annoyance, wanting to say more but decided against it for once.
"Go and see your friends, Little Shadow. Have some fun, we won't be doing any training until tonight." said Macaque as he placed a hand on her head and started ruffling her hair.
"Fine, fine! Now stop messing with my hair, Papa!" Miwa batted his hand away from her hair. "You can be so annoying sometimes, just like Dad."
"At least I know how to be a parent, unlike that other idiot." said Macaque, rolling his eyes and went through a shadow portal. "Be back by seven at least tonight, the sooner we start, the better."
Miwa let out a heavy sigh after he had left and began heading to Pigsy's Noodles, knowing they would all most likely be there.
*At Pigsy's Noodles.*
"Pick up the pace, kid!" shouted Pigsy from the kitchen at MK, who was busy taking customers' orders.
"On it, Pigsy!" shouted MK, running around taking and bringing orders.
"MK, don't forget about my noodles!" said Tang, waving at him.
"MK, don't you DARE give that freeloader anything! Unless he pays for it!" shouted Pigsy from the kitchen.
Mei was sitting at a table just watching while trying to use her phone to get in contact with Miwa, but so far, she hadn't gotten any reply.
Miwa had just arrived at the entrance to the shop and let out a heavy sigh. Already getting kind of nervous, but she had to confront the others at some point.
With another sigh, Miwa opened the door and was surprised to see a busy line of costumers wanting on their orders, while most of the tables were already full. She then saw MK running around like a headless chicken with a few noodles and stains on him, while carrying five bowls of noodles, two in each hand and one on his head.
"... Oh, I forgot this is one of the busiest hours for the shop at this time." said Miwa as she took in everything she was seeing.
"Miwa?!" Mei tackled her into a tight hug, causing both of them to fall to the floor. "Where did you go, girl?! We've been looking everywhere for you, and you didn't answer any of my texts or calls!"
"M-Mei.... you are c-c-choking...me." Miwa struggled speaking as Mei's arms were wrapped around her throat, slowly choking her.
"Miwa! You're back!" MK dropped everything he was holding, ignoring the sound of breaking bowls and noodles on the floor as he ran over and joined the hug. "We were so worried about you! And when you left, we couldn't find you anywhere! If Monkey King came back, I wouldn't know what to tell him!" He cried as tears were running down his face.
"C-can't.... breathe...." Miwa struggled as she was patting Mei and MK, signaling for them to let go.
Mei and MK quickly let go of Miwa when they noticed her struggling.
"Sorry, might have overreacted a bit." said Mei, scratching the back of her head.
"Sorry, Lulu." MK held out a hand and helped Miwa back up. "But are you okay? We got really worried after what happened two days ago."
Miwa rubbed her throat after getting back up, finally able to breathe again. "Sorry for worrying you all—"
"You can talk about it later! Now get back to work, both of you! We still got lots of customers, and I need some extra help back here!" shouted Pigsy from the kitchen. "AND CLEAN UP YOUR MESS, MK!"
The M squad took a glance at the mess MK had left on the floor after having dropped people's orders. "..... Oh."
MK went and began cleaning up his mess, while Miwa went out back in the kitchen, and began helping Pigsy making some noodles.
With Miwa helping Pigsy in the back, everything went a lot faster and a few hours later, everything had slowed down with hardly any customers left. Finally giving the gang time to sit down and talk.
Miwa was sitting at a table, eating some noodles that Pigsy had brought to her, since she seemed pretty hungry by how her stomach had been growling for the last hour or so.
"Now with everything calmed down, you mind telling us what happened?" Pigsy crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.
Mei and MK were sitting on the other side of her, waiting for her to speak up and tell them.
"... To be honest, I'm not completely sure.... at least with the start. One moment I'm laying on the couch at Dad's place, the next I'm somewhere weird. That I believe to be, what I call the dream world." Miwa rubbed the back of her neck, already growing a little nervous.
The others gave each other a confused glance and then turned back to her.
"Dream world? What kind of place is that?" Mei asked.
"I've never heard of a dream world, not from any book I've read. Maybe you had some kind of weird dream, when everyone got affected by the sleep bug." said Tang, while fixing his glasses.
"Then explain why I ended up entering you guys' dreams." said Miwa raised an eyebrow.
"What?" said MK, growing more confused.
"You can enter people's dreams?!" Mei grabbed Miwa's shoulders and started shaking her. "You need to tell me everything! What did you see? How do you go from dream to dream? Can you affect a person's dream?"
"Okay, slow down Mei and let her speak." said Pigsy as he forced Mei to stop shaking her. "I don't really believe that you can enter someone's dream, unless you have some way to prove it."
Tang had taken out a notebook and had started writing down everything Miwa was telling them, finding this about a dream world and being able to enter others dreams very fascinating.
"Mei was having some crazy party, Pigsy somehow ended up with a big restaurant and Tang..... I don't even wanna talk about that. I left the moment I saw it." Miwa explained as a chill went up her back just the thought of his dream. "And then...."
"Then what?" asked Mei and MK, growing curious.
Miwa glanced over at the shadows, slightly nervous about how much she should tell them. "When I entered someone else's dream..... I got attacked.... my b-body got ripped a-apart. I thought I was gonna die." Her body started shaking as the memories came back. "B-b-but I was able to get back to the real world a-a-as you all saw.... with no injuries, b-but the ghostly pain w-w-was still there. W-which is why I.... l-lashed out like that, when I g-got touched."
The others were shocked to hear this, and seeing how shaken up she was when telling them, it must have been really horrifying for her.
Mei and MK hugged Miwa, trying to comfort her after going through something so scary.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't be there and help you! After finding out what was happening to everyone else, I completely forgot, and thought you were all good!" said MK as he had started crying again.
Miwa gave a small smile, already feeling better after seeing her friends. "I guess, Papa was right about seeing the others, though I'll never admit that to him."
"But where did you go after you left the shop?" Mei asked after pulling away from the hug. "We looked everywhere but couldn't find you anywhere, you didn't even answer your phone."
"I went to some place I could be alone for a while, so I never went to get my phone back at Dad's place." Miwa explained, looking down at her bowl of noodles.
"Then why don't we go and get it right now? You don't have any other plans, do you?" MK suggested.
"Uuhhh." Miwa snuck a glance over at Mei's phone, checking the time. "Oh great, I still have three hours left until I need to go home to Papa." She turned her attention back to MK. "Sure, unless Pigsy has some more work for us?"
"Naarh." Pigsy shook his hand at them. "I'm still recovering, so I'm closing early. So you go and have fun."
"GREAT!" shouted Mei and MK in unison, and then began dragging Miwa with them.
"But I didn't finish my noodles!" shouted Miwa as she got dragged away.
In the end, Miwa and MK went to Flower Fruit Mountain and got her phone, after that, they returned to Mei, who was waiting for them in the arcade.
The three stayed in the arcade for all three hours, just having fun and playing games and music until Miwa had to leave.
"Lulu, wait!" MK quickly caught up to Miwa, just as she was about to go through a shadow portal.
"Hm? What is it, MK?" Miwa asked, watching him trying to catch his breath.
MK took a minute until he caught his breath and looking at Miwa. "I just wanna apologize for not being able to help, when you really needed it."
"It's fine MK, you've already apologized, and I don't blame you for what happened." said Miwa with a small smile.
"But I still should have done something." said MK as he gently took one of her hands in his. "I'm meant to be a hero like Monkey King, yet I couldn't even save you, let alone protect you when you really needed it."
Miwa's face was slowly turning red, but she didn't pull away from his touch.
"You're important to me, Miwa, so I don't want anything bad happening to you." MK stared into her eyes, with a determined look. "I promise, Lulu, I'll always be there for you. I'll even wish it to those wishing stars, or whatever they are called." A big grin on his face.
Miwa looked at him, shocked to hear this. Her eyes for a second flashed red before going back to normal, a soft smile grew on her face. "You idiot, you don't have to wish on some random stars. Just for something like that." She playfully punched his shoulder. "Just knowing you have my back, is all I really need."
MK let out an awkward laugh and started scratching the back of his head. "Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little with that."
"Just a little?" Miwa teased, and let out a soft laugh.
MK chuckled a little, but smiled when hearing her laugh, seeing her being her normal self again was what he wanted. Only then did he notice that they were holding hands, and none of them had even thought about letting go, his face slowly turning red.
Miwa stopped laughing when she took notice of MK's red face, she raised an eyebrow until she saw that they were holding hands. Her face turning just as red once more, she quickly let go of his. "I-I should get g-going."
"R-right! Sorry!" said MK, all nervous while still blushing. "S-s-see you tomorrow?"
"Y-yeah, t-t-tomorrow." Miwa slowly went through the shadow portal and were then gone.
*At Macaque's place.*
Miwa let out a heavy sigh after coming out of the shadows, only to then get tripped over by someone's tail. "Aah!"
"Late, and even letting your guard down, Freckles?" said Macaque, leaning over and looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Looks like you have a lot more to learn."
"Not fair, how should I know you would do that?" Miwa pouted as she got back up and changed back to her normal form, as she had been in her human form up to now.
"You wouldn't know, but should still have expected it." said Macaque as he flicked her forehead. "But now that you are here, we can finally get started." He walked over and jumped onto his couch.
Miwa rolled her eyes while rubbing her forehead. "Are you able to fall asleep on the spot?"
"Not unless I'm taking a drink that makes me fall asleep, or someone casts a sleeping spell on me." said Macaque, crossing his arms and looking at her.
"I see..... so, do you have something that can make you fall asleep?" Miwa asked.
"Why don't you sing me a song, Little Star? I know you have the power to make people fall asleep whenever you sing." said Macaque with a smug grin.
Miwa started growing slightly flustered by this as her face turned red, and her tails wrapping around herself. "Do.... do I have to? I'm not that comfortable with singing in front of others, more so knowing it will cause people to fall asleep."
"Too shy to sing for your parent?" Macaque chuckled at this as he observed her. "Then why don't we add this to your training too? Whenever you sing, you must learn to control that power, so you can decide when to use that power when you are singing."
"More training, urgh!" Miwa groaned in annoyance, hearing this.
"You're the one who wanted to get stronger, so yes, more training. Now stop complaining and sing me something that can have me fall asleep." said Macaque as he rested an arm behind his head, getting himself comfortable.
Miwa mumbled a few choice words, but complied as she opened her mouth to sing, only to then realize something. "How do I enter someone's dream from the real world?"
Macaque gave her a puzzled look, and shrugged. "Don't ask me, I don't know. Maybe try doing it like the time you left the dream world."
"..... I don't know how I left." said Miwa as she rubbed the back of her neck.
Macaque had a deadpanned look on his face, and let out a small sigh. "Like Wukong and like daughter, they are both idiots at times. One more than the other." He sat up and patted the couch for her to sit down.
Miwa went and sat down on the couch, a little unsure of what they were gonna do now.
Macaque placed a hand on her head, and slightly patted it. "Try and put what I taught you with the shadows, into using the power to enter people's dreams."
Miwa was a little surprised by the gesture, but didn't really mind it, as her tails couldn't stop themselves from wagging. "You think that would work?"
"It's worth a try, Freckles. But you need to trust yourself, and not hesitate when you see the moment." said Macaque, giving her a soft smile.
"... Okay, I'll give it a try." said Miwa with a small smile, and took a deep breath.
"Wait! Before you sin—" Macaque didn't get the chance to finish what he was about to say, as he fell straight to sleep and ended up falling out of the couch, and hitting his forehead on the coffee table.
"Oops." Miwa slightly giggled before helping him back on the couch. "He isn't gonna let that slight, both inside and outside the dream world."
After making sure Macaque was laying on the couch, Miwa did as he suggested and put her focus into entering his dream.
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"Ready to start training in your dreams, Starlight?" asked Macaque with a smirk when she appeared.