#I know I'm missing stuff and don't take this all to heart it's more observations from a single person and all that.

[the-monkey-ruler]

Is there a list of all the challenges the pilgrims went thru and what they mean/represent?

There is a list of all the challenges that the pilgrims went through as graciously given by GuanYin in the last chapter.

What they are meant to represent, though I think would be more up to the reader's interpretation, and while I would love to give each trial its own literary analysis, afraid that for 81 trials, that would come out to be more of an essay worthy of being a thesis than anything else.

But I could try to give a little snippet to each one.

1. Gold Cicada banished is the first ordeal [chap. 8]; Particularly the first few ordeals are just for Tang Sanzang (唐僧) in particular and that Sanzang's first life being banished from heaven does have a lot of meaning when it comes to how important both being attentive in a lesson and the rice the Golden Cicada (金蟬子) spilled. We do not know a lot about the Golden Cicada in particular beyond his role as the Buddha's second disciple, and his friendship with Immortal Zhen Yuanzi (hence why he wanted to give him the ginseng fruits). Also that the information about Sazang being the Golden Cicada was leaked and wasn't intended to be well-known among demons. For a more in-depth look at him, try here! Sanzang is based on the Monk Xuanzang who went on his own 17-year-long journey to India and from there recorded his own called the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions and was popularly re-told again and again until it was what inspired the Xiyouji we have today! Despite being the reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, Sanzang was chosen for his own merit, being a kind and compassionate soul, hand-picked by Guanyin herself. He is to face many tribulations in his life starting at his birth.

2. Being almost killed after birth is the second ordeal [chap. 9]; Sanzang was about to be murdered by his stepdad Liu Hong with the help of his fellow boatman Li Biao until his mother had to save him. Liu Hong murdered his father, Chen Guangrui, but luckily he was saved by a river dragon that he contingency saved him before when he was trapped as a carp and Chen Guangrui put him back into the river. Moreso just highlights how he was separated from his parents and his mother's love which is something he’s leading bullied for. The river does have a lot of symbolic meeting later down the line, especially when they get to the end of the journey and again, they have to cross the river. But this is definitely the start of his new life and can also show how it’s also the start of his next life.

3. Being thrown in the river hardly a month old is the third ordeal [chap. 9]; That is kinda symbolic of him being put into fate's hands to lead him on his path to being a monk but more just setting him up for his monk life. He was founded by the Jinguang Temple and was raised as Jiang Liuer or River Float. Again this touches on how this is the start of his new life from the one that he could’ve been born into, but instead due to circumstances he was directed into a life of being a monk. I believe that the original Xuanzang started being a monk around 10 years old but here it shows that even before he was a year old he was adopted into the monastery.

4. Seeking parents and their vengeance is the fourth ordeal [chap. 9]; Sazang at the age of 18 was really pushed to find his parents after being bullied by his classmates. I did find it interesting as this was like the first time Sanzang was upset enough to get revenge for his parents, finding his maternal grandparents and blind fraternal grandmother and rallying soldiers to arrest the men that 'killed' his father and have them executed. All within the confines of the law of course but still the only time we see him trying to seek out that kind of justice. While the men were still brought to justice, his mother was in a horrible depression after being forced into marriage with her husband's murderer. Luckily the after does come back from healing underwater right now. Would have been a big happy family but his mother still took her own life despite clearing her name...

5. Meeting a tiger after leaving the city is the fifth ordeal [chap.13]; This was when General Yin (寅將軍) came and captured them as General Yin is the first yaoguai that Sanzang encounters and he is a tiger yaoguai.Kinda interesting as his element is meant to be fire and the tiger is a fire element as well. Hence why I believe why that Sanzang was the one to make Wukong's tiger pelt to show their connection and later down the line, he becomes a tiger as well. There is a legend that in the Han Dynasty Li Guang shot a tiger despite there being a lack of known tiger populations suggesting General Yin is an extinct North China tiger.

6. Falling into a pit and losing followers is the sixth ordeal [chap.13]; Sanzang losing his first two disciples sounds pretty traumatizing (though we never get their names) I know some media has it that they ran away to save themselves but these guys really tried to keep him safe but ended up dying as well. They were eaten by the Bear Mountain Lord (熊山君) and Occupier of a Special Place (特處士) These were the three monsters right outside Gongzhou city and it is said that because Sanzang was so eager to leave that morning extra early was the cause of their meeting. He was in such a rush they fell into his trap. To think he just started and just for his own enthusiasm he and others are to be punished for that. Horrible start to a journey. It was an a lot to say about these demons in particular, except that they were able to get away with their crimes and never address again. It was only because of Taibai Jinzing that he was able to survive.

7. The Double-Fork Ridge is the seventh ordeal [chap.13]; This is where he lost his followers and he was on his own, about to be eaten by just normal animals SEVERAL times. Very nature vs man fight right there as it was clear he was not able to handle it himself. Maybe this was the start of his having to humble himself that he really can't do this on his own. After losing his disciples and being saved Sanzang had to go up the mountain alone. It was only when Liu Boqin the hunter was able to save him last minute from being eaten alive that he was even able to make it to the next mountain. He did exercise their home of their relative's spirit free of charge for spending the night and they gracefully made him a vegetarian diet when he excused himself from dinner.

8. The Mountain of Two Frontiers is the eighth ordeal [chap. 13]; This is where he had to save Sun Wukong (孙悟空), and the start of where they are going through ordeals together. These two come from such different backgrounds with one being an ex-warlord and the other being a young monk. Ther are so many different dichotomies to be played with how Wukong and Sanzang reflect each other with how they but heard to how they interact with one another. Wukong being a symbolic meaning of the Mind while Sanzang is the symbolic meaning of the Heart. This being in the character 心 that they would both share. Esnically they are to both play the struggle on the journey as while they are struggling with different battle, both can reflect the other. Sanzang is battling a mental fight while Wukong’s battles are more of will. And both endure physical fights as well. Wukong Wukong it is about endurance while Sanzang it is about survival. Sanzang is going into the world to be question and tempted on everything he has ever known, while Wukong must learn how to rain in his desires for bloodshed and temper, both fighting an uphill battle. There are so many connections between the two but this start does show that Wkong was more than grateful to Sanzang for saving him from under the mountain and even comes back on his own because he does want to keep that promise. Sazang is more than happy to take him on but within their week he has already see how bloodthirsty Wukong is when they encountered 6 robbers. Wukong plays with them before killing them soundly which led to their first fight about what it means to value life. This was a lot about trying to have two flawed people with different worldviews can be around one another, knowing that one needs the other but the other knowing he has to repay him back while also having them both being on equal footing. Wukong is so much more powerful than Sanzang and Sanzang is just a normal human being trying his best in a terrifying situation. It’s also to be noted that symbolically they are two different philosophies as well, Sanzang has been written to be more Confucius in this version and Wukong practicing a more Daoist attitude. The start of their relationship is fascinating in that Wukong can show such gratitude but also let his rage get the best of him whenever he is met with criticism and Sanzang also has a quick temper and hates being proven wrong but is forced to see the world with new eyes full of dangers he never knew and has to keep moving on. They both are lost in their own worlds at the start but it is fascinating to see how they grow as the journey continues.

9. Changing horse at a steep brook is the ninth ordeal [chap.15]; Wukong fighting with The White Dragon Horse (白龍馬) and changing out the horse can have a LOT of meaning in a previous post. Paricualty how the horse and the monkey have such a deep meaning with one another when it comes to the Mind Monkey and the Horse of Will and what they mean for one another. Before the Havoc in Heaven with Wukong rejecting to be the Bimawen he wasn't ready to practice self-control and train his mind but how he captured Bailong and started the journey shows how this journey is his path to self-reflection. He is finally putting in the work and dedication needed to change who he is, at first as a sign of gratitude for his life being saved, but now it is also seen as him having the inner perspective that he needs to change if he wishes to show his gratitude and perhaps becomes a better version of himself. Bailong is the third son of Ao Run, the Dragon King of the West Sea, and is called the third prince of Yulong. He was sentenced to death by his biological father for setting fire to the jewel in the temple and was rescued by Guanyin. He was waiting in Yingchou Stream of Snake Pan Mountain but he did lose his scales, horns sawed off, and formed into a horse for most of the journey.

10. Burning by fire at night is the tenth ordeal [chap.16]; this was mostly how Wukong rather than stopping the fire that the Jinchi Elder (金池长老) at the temple tried to kill Sanzang for his cassock, Wukong actually increase the flames so that Sanzang was the only one safe but everything around them burned to the ground. This could be about these monks' own hubris and how it was their own downfall, Wukong just took the chance to push it over the edge. But it is to show that anyone could be an enemy within the journey as well, there are good and bad yaoguai, good and bad celestials, and even good or bad monks, whether they be Daoist or Buddhist. Anyone can make mistakes and be pushed to the edge if the temptation is there, hence the need for constant struggle to keep oneself in check. This abbot, in particular, couldn't handle that he just lost everything in a fire and did commit suicide before Wukong could question him about the cassock. In his moment of greed, he let himself try to take the life of another person and instead lost every material wealth he valued, valued more than his own life apparently as he did not wish to continue to life without it.

11. Losing the cassock is the eleventh ordeal [chap.16]; this was Wukong's own hubris being his downfall as none of this would have happened if he listen to Sanzang and didn't show off their cassock. Sanzang was against the idea claiming that he didn't want to show off and perhaps draw attention to his own treasures but Wukong has always been a shameless individual (and we love him for that) and loves to show off even what isn't his. Letting the Jinchi Elder at the Abbey look at their cassock, leading to being taken by the Black Wind King (黑風怪) who was the one teaching the Jinchi Elder how to live longer in exchange to learn more about Buddhist scriptures. Funny enough it might be this that saved him as when Wukong got Guanyin to help capture him he was taken under his wing as the Mountain Guard of her sanctuary. At this point, more humans have died on this journey than demons lmao. Also Wukong first instinct of using vore as a tactic. This whole chapter was to symbolize greed and what it can do to a person. Even Black Wind King intended to go to the abbey to help stop the fire but was so intrigued with the cassock that he forgot about his friend, the Elder, and left with the treasures. One can't be able or willing to help their friends in a time of need if they are blinded by their own greed and this need to get rid of that greed. It is also in this chapter that Guanyin disguises herself as Lingxuzi (淩虛子) a wolf spirit that Wukong had killed Wukong jokes that Guanyin has turned into a demon, and Guanyin laughs along but does say how "One's origin means nothing." She is suggesting that it doesn't matter if one is a human or a demon for it is what is in the heart that matters, and Guanyin shows that if someone still has greed in their heart, then it is what makes them a demon. Even she could become a demon if she allowed greed in her heart for greed, hatred, and ignorance (plus two others) at the roots are suffering. Black Wind Demon's own greed led to the death of two of his friends White Robe Scholar (白衣秀士) and Lingxuzi despite their friendship.

12. Bringing Eight Rules to submission is the twelfth ordeal [chaps.18-19]; Zhu Bajie (豬八戒) being the 12th ordeal! I have definitely gone off about Bajie and changes throughout the story here but I do know there is a lot I didn't get a chance to say. Once a Marshall of Heaven was sent to earth after coping a feel on Chang'e when he was drunk he was reborn as a pig to regain his merit. Wukong pretending to be his wife Gao Cuilan to lure Bajie into a false sense of security is just hilarious all the way around but our first taste in how Bajie was pretending to be a hardworking man only to stop working once he thought he finally got what he wanted. I think this was kinda a jab at how people once they get what they want change into who they truly are. Bajie is to represent the desires, most of the body and mind as he lets his jealousy of Wukong cloud even his own judgment. His own slander and need to provoke Wukong is played both for comedy and drama within the story as it is only when Bajie started cutting off the desires of his heart does he becomes a team player, even becoming Wukong's best helper in fights as they work together to defeat demons and ride west. Although he never makes it to the point where he loses all his vices as Wukong or Sanzang did in the end, he still showed much more sincerity and concentration than at the start, the genuine desire to help others finally coming through. He is to represent a human's hard-working, simple, and straightforward qualities; you don't have to be the smartest or the strongest to still be valued by those around you. He is to represent a human's greedy and selfish nature but also that people have the ability for more than that as well. He is a to be a human, a god, and a pig in his nature. Even his name is a limitation set on him of what he can and cannot eat, a constant reminder that he is supposed to abide by these new rules for his own good. He is the clown of the story, there to offer entertainment through more low-brow humor while Wukong covers more high-brow human (piss jokes aside) but also Bajie is to be seen as what one's own insecurities can do to a person if they are overwhelmed by them, only being a harm to others and themself. I think a lot of people can relate to Bajie as well, as while Sanzang and Wukong are to be the heroes of the story Bajie is to be the one that still has vices that he must battle. Wukong struggles are far different from Bajie's own struggles and it depends on the person to who they can relate more. Bajie's different personality does make him hard to work with but more often than people find him cute and even relate to his desires for a simple life. He is a selfish, lazy, simple-minded, playful, and hard-working coward full of dichotomies and changes. They say his origin may lie with the story "猪臂金铃" by Gan Bao in Jin Dynasty. Or that he was inspired by He Bo Feng Yi, because the prototype of Feng Yi is a pig. Wu Zimu's "Meng Liang Lu" mentioned that "Tianpeng" was originally a Taoist fairy official. Some people also think that the prototype of Zhu Bajie comes from Indian Buddhist scriptures, as Chen Yinke said. There is a portrait of "Pig Head Bodhisattva" in the Thousand Buddha Caves in Kizil, Xinjiang, excavated in the early Tang Dynasty. He is called "Marizhitian" in Buddhist scriptures. Zhu Bajie has something in common.

13. Being blocked by the Yellow Wind Fiend is the thirteenth ordeal [chap. 20]; This one is funny cause Sanzang actually was worried about demons down this path, only for Wukong to assure him that he could handle it. And of course, Wukong got excited in a fight and left Sanzang alone so he can join Bajie in his fight against a Tiger Vanguard (虎先鋒). He was the one to actually use the "Golden Cicada Escape" to shed his tiger pelt and escape Wukong... which is gross. But he was killed by Bajie eventually. The first time I think Wukong gets his taste that he can't just fight he needs to learn how to protect. However, Wukong was blinded by Yellow Wind Demon (黃風怪) and his Samadhi Wind leading to Bajie having to help him out to be healed. Yellow Wind Demon is our first demon that is an escaped Heavenly beast that needed to be subdued and captured. He was able to gain his humanoid form by listing to scriptures at the food of Lingshan and stealing oil in a glass cup. Funny enough he is to be considered a demon that didn't see Saznag worth eating as he was already tired of cultivating from Taoism.

14. Seeking aid with Lingji is the fourteenth ordeal [chap. 21]; This was more just for them searching for someone that can subdue Yellow Wind Demon and they finally found Lingji Bodhisattva to get his weasel. Think this could be the first time Wukong starts to let it sink in that he needs to rely not only on other people but even start to get help from even immortals, celestials, or other Yoaguai if need be. It was also here that Wukong was the first time critically injured forcing him to rely on Bajie in his blinded state until Guanyin was able to heal his eyes.

15. Hard to cross Flowing-Sand is the fifteenth ordeal [chap. 22]; this is when they meet Sha Wujing (沙悟淨)! I do love this arc myself as they were only fighting because of miscommunication and Wujing didn't know that was the monk he was waiting for and that Wukong's first choice is often "hit first ask questions later." Also that Wujing possibly ate all of Sanzang's past lives. But needless to say, they were having trouble crossing the Flowing Sands River as it was far too long and too deep for anyone to travel without a boat. I did talk about Wujing's importance in the novel before and his importance to the book desire for his quiet role. He claims he made the monk's head into a necklace, not knowing what else he wished to do with them as not even a goose feather was able to flow on the Flowing-Sand River, so he knows they must have been special. Wukong and Bajie did make a plan to lure Wujing out of the river but because of Wukong's impatience, Wujing was able to get away from them time and time again. This led to Wukong having to get Guanyin who cleared up the whole miscommunication.

16. Taking in Sha Monk is the sixteenth ordeal [chap. 22]; I do find this funny that by crossing the river and then actually finally communicating with Wujing, Wujing has able to have the upper hand against two stronger opponents because of his location in the river. Maybe this could suggest this was harder on the group as either this was more than just replacing the previous guards, or that Wujing being an ex-cannibal was a larger hurdle to overcome. Wujing was the Rolling Curtain General in Heaven who broke a glass cup at the Peach Blossom Festival. Whether this is an act of anger, defiance, or even an accident is hard to tell but he was punished by being sent to the Flowing-Sands River to be pierced by flying swords for every seven days, being spared the death penalty. This is what lead him to hide in the river to avoid this punishment and eat all the fish in the river and started eating humans as well. Wujing plays the role of more of the last line of defense if Bajie or Wukong is out of the picture at the moment, leading to him having fewer moments of both skill display and power as his elder brothers are the ones to take the spotlight first. But he is the best when it comes to guarding and even underwater adventures, proving to be a reliable and level-headed member of the team. Though his anger and emotions do start to become more prevalent as time goes on, his stoic behavior melts as he becomes more emotive, both with happiness and sadness, throughout the journey. He is to be considered both gently and conservatively but not afraid of hardships and indispensable. He is considered rough after years of isolation but he is true intentions, and despite his brutish looks he has spiritual wisdom that he speaks a few times. he is to be loyal and selfish, he is most willing to bear the more laborious tasks of carrying the luggage but another sign of his dedication. While easy-going and obedient, he doesn't stand out too often due to his more quiet nature and thus being overshadowed by his louder elder brothers. While his obedience is noted he rarely gets a chance to speak his own thoughts, only showing more willingness to speak as the years go on. He is the least distracted of his brothers as he takes his role as a protector very seriously, trying earnestly to learn but also very laid back when it comes to participating otherwise. He's a symbol of 'clarity of mind' showing his obedience and kindness but at the cost of showing his own emotions. It is only in moments of crisis he is able to express himself, either expressing great anger or great encouragement to his brother in times of need. People see him often as the most unlucky of the pilgrims suffering the most for one of the weakest crimes, leading him to have a subdued spirit and lacking resistance to fighting back. But he has shown to be a righteous fighter with a strong will in both words and deeds and while he is content with his life, a contract to those that are eager for quick success and instant benefits, Wujing is able to enjoy in the present. Some scholars believe that the Wukong comes from the image of the deep sand god of Esoteric Buddhism from "The Poetry of the Tripitaka of the Tang Dynasty" as Shensha. Shensha God exists as an authentic Buddhist god however, in the scriptures translated by Zhu Tanwulan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Shensha and Fuqiu existed as evil spirits, rather than Dharma protectors. In the Tang Dynasty, the worship of Shensha God was serious

17. The Four Sages' epiphany is the seventeenth ordeal [chap. 23]; this was when they were met with Lishan Old Mother, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Manjusri Bodhisattva, and Puxian Bodhisattva disguised as a widow with three daughters. Of course, they were tested to give up the monk lifestyle for a good wife and a land full of luxury. And each one gave up that temptation. Sanzang for his mission, Wukong had no interest, and Wujing would rather focus on his redemption, but Bajie was the one to give in in the end (after being bulled a bit by his fellow brothers). This was more for comedic effect was Bajie was greedy and wanted to marry all three daughters, leading him to be blindfolded and resulting in a buried face and nose. He got trapped in a pearl shirt over it and when he woke in the morning tied to a tree he promised to give up the idea of finding a wife and focus on his goal to get the scriptures in the end.

18. The Five Villages Temple is the eighteenth ordeal [chap. 24]; this would most likely be when Wukong and the gang stole the ginseng fruits and were being punished for it. Sanzang denied them being off put how human-like they looked while Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing enjoyed three for themselves, Bajie wanting more afterwards. Because Qingfeng (清風) and Mingyue (明月) (both are to be about 1,200 to 1,300 years old but have child bodies) wouldn't stop insulting Sanzang and the gang Wukong lost his temper and destroyed their tree. The Great Zhenyuan Immortal (鎮元大仙) of the Abbey (a friend of the Golden Cicada) was going to boil them alive for ruining his ginseng fruit tree. Wukong was able to get away about twice times I think but they would run away all night only to be caught in the morning, meaning they went three days without sleep trying to run away. This was the first time Bajie, Wujing, and Wukong did something together and the first time the fillet was even mentioned to Bajie and Wujing. But otherwise, Wukong did feel responsible for Sanzang being punished when he was defending his students against the other immortals' accusations, even going so far as to say he will repay them back for the fruits himself because his disciples are his responsibility. But Wukong let his anger get the best of him and ruined the whole tree which only escalated the situation.

19. The ginseng hard to revive is the nineteenth ordeal [chap. 26]; Wukong tried serval times to trick Zhenyaun with imitation clones to avoid their beating without it working. This is where Wukong went to Gaunyin to fix the tree after he found he couldn't fix the tree himself. He relies on Guanyin a lot in these ordeals as she was able to heal the tree without huge issues from her previous experience. In the end, they were able to enjoy another taste of the ginseng fruits and even got the Immortal to be his sworn brother after that. The ginseng fruits are to be considered a sign of spiritual roots that needs 10,000 years to bloom, bear fruit, and ripen and giving 47,000 years on someone's lifespan if they eat one and 360 years just by smelling one. Zhenyaun is a master when it comes to roots and how everyone has spiritual roots and can return to these roots instead of the obstinate learning of emptiness and extinction, mistaking the human root and ignoring the immortal root

20. Banishing the Mind Monkey is the twentieth ordeal [chap. 27]; This was def the hardest time in the pilgrimage I have already talked about this a lot here about how it means who is right versus giving someone the benefit of the doubt. White Bone demon (白骨精) is clearly the bad guy and obviously wants to eat and kill Sanzang but also despite her intentions she hasn't done anything yet either. Wukong just knows demons enough that any demon trying to hide their true self is simply just trying to lure their prey into a false sense of security. And while Wukong is so very right to be suspicious, Sanzang also has that mindset that he should give everyone a chance until proven wrong. That whether Wukong is right or wrong, if he should be allowed to kill someone who hasn't hurt them yet and that Sanzang should trust Wukong's judge of character when it comes to how demons operate. Sanzang is still naive in his thinking of course but not having faith in his own disciples as well. Wukong has shown that he doesn't hesitate to distinguish between human and demon at this point but still, Wukong's understanding of how demons operate should have been listening too. Didn't help that every time Sanznag was about to believe him Bajie would turn up for payback at the teasing for being hung by Guanyin. This was the true test of the pilgrim's loyalty to only another as Sanzang let his anger get the best of him while Wukong was quick to show that he was right before risking Sanzang being kidnap and risking his life. This was all part of White Bone Demon's plan to separate Wukong from the group, allowing her to finally prey on Sanzang, until Wukong used the other gods of the day and night to hold her to finally get rid of her. Her plan still worked as Sanzang banished Wukong thinking he was out of control and not even he could help. She was the first demon to learn about eating Sanzang would give one a longer lifespan, something not even Yellow Wind knew about. This one is really a test of character and if you can to should judge a person on what they are or rather their action, but even then if their intentions are true or not. There is giving people the benefit of the doubt but there is also being naive and too trusting with one's own safety. The Bone Demon some inspiration from the drama "The Peony Pavilion", which was written almost at the same historical period as "Journey to the West", the heroine Du Liniang in the play was exhumed and opened by Liu Mengmei three years after her death, and was resurrected. The two married in private and Tang Xianzu clearly stated in the script "Inscription" that "it seems that the capital of the Jin Dynasty guards Li Zhongwen, and Guangzhou guards the affairs of the sons and daughters of General Feng Xiao." What is said is all about the "resurrection" of the young girl who was born in the sky in traditional Chinese culture.

21. Getting lost at Black Pine Forest is the twenty-first ordeal [chap. 28]; This was def how Sanzang was kidnapped by the Yellow Robe Demon (黃袍怪) right off the bat. He is another example of a celestial coming from heaven, but instead of being a beast that cultivated and came to earth, this is the first human/deity that does so. He was the Kuimu Wolf Star of the 28 stars in the sky but he wished to be with a Jade Servant and together they planned to escape heaven and meet on earth (because getting married in heaven is taboo). It was only when Bajie went to find food did he fall asleep on his duties, and as such Wujing follows after him thinking he got lost. And of course, Sanang is about to faint he gets so hungry and wanders off to get food and WALKS RIGHT INTO A DEMON LAIR. It was disguised as a pagoda and he thought he would find monks there but still. From there, Sanzang meets the princess to rely on her family where she is. But Yellow Robe Demon only let Sanzang go when the Princess asked him to and Bajie was under the delusion that he could protect Sanzang without Wukong's help. There is a lot of good Wujing and Bajie moments here since they are the one playing off each either but Bajie is getting a bigger head than he should have head only leads to more trouble down the line.

22. Sending a letter to Precious Image Kingdom is the twenty-second ordeal [chap.29]; It was only through the princess's mercy that Saznag was the one to send the king the Princess's letter about her kidnapping. This task was easy enough in itself but does lead Yellow Robe Demon to know that the monks gave away their position and thus starts his plan for revenge. Bajie of course volunteers himself to go save the princess thinking it would be fine, but Sanzang urges Wujing to join else he knows that Bajie is going to get killed. I do like how they worried about each other but now they are the ones to save a princess. I really think this is more Bajie's journey at this point, him being so full of himself now that Wukong is gone only to be knocked down to his lowerest when he sees that he really can't do all this on his own. It is given here that the gods of day and night do assist Bajie and Wujing when Sanzang in near, kinda like a boost, but without Sanzang near Bajie and Wujing lost the battle horribly. More great scenes of Wujing protecting the princess too. It is said this trial could be about the relationship between a husband and wife. Yellow Robe and the Princess are like the wood that restrains soil. The one who restrains the husband is a wife, the earth color is yellow, and she is a yellow woman; The "robe" is covered with wood and soil, but it is a loess garment, and the yellow robe is added to the body, which is also an image of exercising power at the right time. It describes the appearance of a devil, and it is called "blue face and blue hands", and the general shape is green with the color of wood.

23. Changing into a tiger at the Golden Chimes Hall is the twenty-third ordeal [chap.30]; This one is another connection between Sanzang and the tiger as he was turned into one by Yellow Robe Demon and hunted by the people of the palace. He was stabbed, whipped, and captured and it was said id he didn't have the spirit protect him and that it isn't his destiny to die that night HE WOULD HAVE DIED from the torture. It was said that it was enough pain that 20 other monks would have died over it and reduced to minced meat. I cannot stress enough that he was TORTURED. He couldn't speak, he couldn't communicate, and no one believed him when he said he wasn't a demon... but no one listened. I really think this reflects how Wukong felt when Sanzang didn't listen to what he said. The tables were turned and Sanzang felt what Wukong felt in that moment of what it is like not to be listened to and being punished for trying to be honest. Yellow Robe was able to completely have everyone on his side with his good looks and magic abilities but at the same point, Sanzang was the object of ridicule here. And sadly this isn't included here but Bailong stepping up and trying to attack the Yellow Robe Demon himself. He didn't succeed but he did succeed in getting Bajie to go get Wukong which I really think it the crux of the story itself. Bajie knew he had to right to ask Wukong, he was the one that made Sanzang push him away even if that wasn't his intention. It was Bajie finally humbling himself and while he still wasn't honest in his intentions Wukong would clearly see that Bajie was trying to downplay his own grievances. There was a single scene where when Wukong was done teasing Bajie in that he wasn't coming he does ask to stop and let him bathe. He had killed about 10,000 hunters when he was back home and I think this was him trying to cleanse himself of that sin before going back to meet his brothers. I don't think he regrets what he did... but he defiantly didn't want them to know about what he has done when he was gone. That he was so quick to go back to being violent and murderous without any supervision and this single act was his only way to try to rid himself of that past. Even in the end when Wukong meets with Sanzang again, he acknowledges that Sanzang is the kind of man that even pities demons, not that he didn't believe him that she was a demon, but that even human OR demon Sanzang didn't agree to kill her before she commits any crimes (yet). And whether he was wrong or right for having that stance, he was still the one to push Wukong to leave which was his own downfall in giving up on Wukong. Wukong knew that White Bone was going to attack and his mission was to protect but over and over again Wukong shows that in coming back was how he recognizes the differences between them. Wukong was the one to accept that they may not agree on everything but didn't have to make them at odds. And it was in the end that Wujing and Bajie other addressed how they stood by and let Wujing get kicked out, kneeling down to show their regret for their inaction or sabotage. Wukong has the stance that he doesn't forgive easily, rather than dealing out punishment harshly but it was only here that we see him saving Sanzag in his tiger body. Sanzang even says that he owes everything to Wukong and that he should have all the merit for his actions. I think that Sanzang could learn through his own struggles what it means to be looked over and ignored when they were in the right as well, and only then could he see what he was putting Wukong through as well.

24. Meeting demons at Level-Top Mountain is the twenty-fourth ordeal [chap. 32]; this was the chapter they meet Golden Horned King (金角大王) and Silver Horned King (銀角大王). These two are also heavenly beings that fell from heaven, being Laozi's fire tenders that stole five of his magical weapons and wanted to make it big on earth. Funny enough Bajie was the first to get kidnapped here because he went on ahead after being bullied a bit more into it. Good stuff. Wukong just thought if worst came to worst he could save Bajie himself... but it did lead to Sanzang and Wujing being kidnapped as well while Wukong was trapped under ANOTHER mountain and very pissed about it. This is where we get to see Wukong's greatest show of strength when he was about to run a comet speed with a demon weight about two mountains on his back. But Wukong was sadly put under ANOTHER mountain and forced to stay there until he bullied the mountain deity to GET IT OFF HIM. From there he was about to infiltrate and learn about the Brother Kings from Sly Devil (精细鬼) and Wily Worm (伶俐虫) not to be caught in their treasure... only to be caught in their treasure.

25. Being hung high at Lotus-Flower Cave is the twenty-fifth ordeal [chap. 33]; this was when Wukong finally was able to infiltrate the cave as Nine-Tailed Vixen (九尾狐狸) who might be the same fox from Fengshen Yanyi. There is a lot of history to the Nine Tails, especially in other media but she isn't a major enemy in Xiyouji as she is in other media. She is meant to be a punishment to Kong Zhou (along with two other demons) when he claimed to make Nvwa his concubine and thus Nvwa sent the Nine-Tails (and company) to reach havoc for him and his kingdom as his new concubine. She was only taken out by Jiang Ziya in the end as he was the only one to overpower the control she had in the courts. The idea was while they were created for the sake of chaos they got addicted to and disobey's Nvwa's decree in the end. That all being said in Xiyouji It is noted that this is the ONLY demon that Wukong has ever bowed to, even under the disguise of the servants Hill-Pawing Tiger and Sea-Lolling Dragon. He was forced to show her the same respect as a servant would their superior, leaving him to tear up from pure frustration. But she is killed by him without much fanfare or acknowledgment of her heavenly ties or connections with Nvwa. This chapter was especially good as while the gang was tied up in the cave being hung up and Bajie was up there and saw Wukong's ass just knowing it was him. But Wukong is founded out and they had to battle Nine Tail's little brother King Fox Number Seven (狐阿七). I can't say much here as Bajie was the one to take him out and Laozi was just able to save his fire tenders before Wukong beat them both to death (he already beat Silver Horn to death Golden Horn was just left). These two had the most treasures out of any of the demons they have fought before but at the same point, they only used two out of the three in a useful manner. They were both cautious in their planning but in the end, they were still overwhelmed but Wukong's own cleverness and cunningness as they got lazy and allowed Wukong to take advantage of their laziness. If anything there is something to be said about how the heavens are making trials for the pilgrims and purposely making their road harder, yes it is for the sake of them reaching the 81 trails mark to be enlightened but at the same point Wukong is right to call them out on that behavior.

26. Saving the ruler of Black Rooster Kingdom is the twenty-sixth ordeal [chap.37]; This was when Sanzang was met with the Black Rooster Kingdom's dead king and how they had to save him from the well. This was surprisingly similar to how Sanzang's own father 'died' and then revived as well. Might be a call back to his own trauma. Pretty much the kings advisor, someone he thought, as a Daoist Immortal came by to help him with his drought issues and while the drought was dealt with the king gave his utter trust in the immortal. Sadly, the Daoist was actually a cultivated demon in disguise as he tricked the king into getting closer to a well to push them down, and essentially kill him. From there the demon transformed himself into the king, and took over his life, from his kingly duties to his family. It shows that people that help you and you come to trust can still be using you and stab you in the back.

27. Running into a demon's transformed body is the twenty-seventh ordeal [chap.37]; So this is the Lion-Lynx demon (獅猁怪) or rather the Azure Lion (青毛狮子怪) as he will become to know later in the novel when he returns but right now he is solo and pretending to be king of the Black Rooster Kingdom. Saznag was visited by the ghost of the king, whose body was preserved in a well, VERY similar to how Saznag's own father's body was preserved as well. But Wukong was able to have the King's body become alive again with a immortal pill from Laozi and this trial took a more diplomatic approach as it was their goal to convince the prince first that Lion-Lynx that has been pretending to be his father. This leads to a lot of reveals and can't say too much there besides a family being reunited which is lovely and might be how Sanzang was reflected with his own. (He was lucky that the Lynx-Lion was gelded else his mom could have made some baby demons.) I can't say much beyond it was seeing a demon wanting to take another person's life, and while he served as a fine king, he still murdered someone that trusted him and took over his life.

28. Meeting a fiend in Roaring Mountain is the twenty-eighth ordeal [chap. 40]; this is when Red Boy (紅孩兒) was on the trail, mostly trying to get the guys to come and save him. Wukong actually does a good job of steering Sanzang away from Red Boy until Sanzang heard a child's cries for help and can't help but need to help him. Another trap of course but it shows that Sanzang still wants to help anyone he can even if there are demons after him and that is still seen now when Red Boy says that his parents have died and he is all alone. Wukong either in a moment of lack of empathy or can see through Red Boy's lies suggests that the kid would be better off dead since his family is dead is actually funny not going to lie. Red Boy is the son of Princess Iron Fan and Demon Bull King but his inspiration comes from Shancai, who is Guanyin's faithful servant. Shancai in Buddist legends once traveled south to visit 53 teachers and achieved Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism is used here as an example of becoming a Buddha in one body, and its process of seeking the Dharma represents the various stages of Huayan entering the Dharma Realm. According to the 54 entries into the Dharma Realm of the old Huayan Sutra, Shancai is the son of the elder in Fucheng. When he is in the womb and born, all kinds of treasures emerged, so he was called good fortune boy/child of wealth. Later, he was taught by Manjusri Bodhisattva and traveled all over the southern countries to visit Bhikkhu Gongdeyun, and received the samadhi of reciting Buddha. It is more so that Red Boy is meant to be a reference to Shancai as while they have different backstories they are meant to be the same character as well.

29. The sage monk abducted by wind is the twenty-ninth ordeal [chap. 40]; Wukong gladly took the opportunity to carry Red Boy as they were traveling up the mountain as he thought this would be a great time to finally kill him. He attempts to throw Red Boy off a cliff he turns into a wind and kidnaps him right off the horse. They are getting more creative with how they kidnap him, even just taking him right in daylight without Wukong just being nearby. It might be another example of how Wukong was more focused on killing his enemy rather than trying to protect at the moment. This was a sweet moment for Wujing as he was the one to cheer Wukong on after they lost Sanzang, Wukong thought at this point, even if he tries to kill demons BEFORE they attempt to kidnap Sanzang it still doesn't matter. Really hits him hard that he thinks he is a failure and for the first time it shows that he really thinks he can't do it. That is until telling them how they are untied in this front, and no matter what as long as they stick together they can overcome any obstacle. Even Bajie is moved by his speech and agrees they must always try and says how he is sorry for even doubting their group. It was only then that they were able to move forward to save Sanzang.

30. The Mind Monkey being injured is the thirtieth ordeal [chap. 41]; this was honestly so sad with how Wukong was teary up from the smoke and sire and how it affected his eyes. Legit it looks like his old injuries from Laozi's furnace affecting his eyes as he feels that burning smoke, so painful that he passes out. It was here that Wukong is truly defeated in a combat situation and it's from someone he saw as family. He was going in with the hope to appeal to that family loyalty as he was DBK's sworn brother but was rejected again and again by Red Boy that he both didn't believe Wukong or that he just didn't care about those relations either. This lead to Bajie having to be the one to resuscitate Wukong while Wujing is terrified over his life. Wukong didn't want to attack Red Boy at least not when he found out that they were, what he considered, family. But in the end, it was not enough and while Wukong through he could handle the flames the pain from the smoke in his eyes lead him to faint. This is the ONLY time that Wukong has never been in such pain that he has fainted. No other treatment has ever put him in such a state, maybe the Yellow Wind demon but even then he was blinded, not down. Wujing really thought he died, starting to cry over Wukong's body because he thought he lost their brother. Bajie instead didn't believe it for a second, didn't think for a moment that Wukong was dead, and instead started right away to resuscitate him. It was like Wujing was overwhelmed with sadness while Bajie just couldn't even think of Wukong being defeated like that. It was only because they got to him in time that was Wukong not permanently hurt or perhaps even dead from such an attack.

31. Asking the sage to subdue monsters is the thirty-first ordeal [chap. 42]; this is when Wukong went to ask Guanyin to help subdue Red Boy which she does so as Red Boy himself was disguised as her and using her image to trick Bajie, leading to his capture. Gaunyin actually comes with the lotus platform of swords to capture Red Boy and I think that there is actually a big connection with how Red Boy and Wukong were similar when they were starting off as their own kings of the mountain. Similar to how Wukong was so powerful at the start of his warlord career, Red Boy as well showed great powers from the start, being more than powerful to run his own mountain. And that Red Boy is trying to fight people that are arguably stronger than him, only to be taken down by a Bodhisattva that being GuanYin while for Wukong it was Buddha. From there, after he tried to attack Guanyin again she subdued him with golden bands and was taken under to be a disciple. They are not exactly a one to one, but I like to think that Wukong saw a lot of his younger self in Red Boy and how he was going down that path of destruction that could only lead to hundreds of years of punishment if he wasn’t taken down at the moment. Maybe Wukong thinks about how he could’ve avoided a lot of the mistakes he made if he just had someone stronger than him make him see reason. Also that Red Boy is the one to become Shancai who does have a different origin story in Indian lore but in Xiyouji, Red Boy is the one to become the Child of Wealth and be at Guanyin's side forever, along with Muzha and Longnv.

32. Sinking in the Black River is the thirty-second ordeal [chap. 43]; This one is what I remember this is a more underwater adventure with Tuolong Black River God (鼉龍 or Xiao Mojie) and Wujing getting his timeline a bit more as it’s very much underwater. Wujing went underwater to find out who took Sazang again and it was Four Dragon King's sister's (I guess there are five siblings now) ninth son. But after the death of her husband Dragon King of Jingehe (The same dragon from the start of the novel actually), Ao Run (Bailong's father) was the one in charge of raising them. Surprisingly very little is being said about Bailong despite his imminent family being involved in this trial. Tuolong played a boatman as Sanzang and Bajie got on his craft only to flip the boat sending both Bajie and Sanzang into the water. Toulong was going to invite Ao Run to eat Sanzang (and Bajie is there) WITH him as a way of showing thanks for raising him all these years but in reality, it was because he has not done anything with his life and has been causing mischief, trying to get back in his Uncle's graces. Ao Run after being confronted by Wukong with these accusations of trying to eat Sazang admits that he thought his nephew was cultivating and had no idea of the trouble he was bringing. Ao Run sent his eldest son, Ao Moang, Bailong's eldest brother, to go subdue Toulong else Wukong was going to kill the guy himself. Wukong and Ao Moang were able to subdue him and Ao Moang took him back to Ao Run to be punished for his crimes. Wujing in this one finds Bajie and Sanzang and frees them luckily. This might have something to do with the youngest sibling, trying to prove himself by capturing Sanzang and giving it to Ao Run in honor of him, being his father figure, but in reality, he’s just being selfish, and jealous that all his other brothers were able to integrate with society just fine with respectable jobs but he has not. But this story does touch on children that grow up without a father, especially losing them quickly is to be seen as more sensitive. And how Toulong losing his father to the rules of heaven, shows his defiance of not falling the same rules that lead to his father's death. Toulong's sense of rebellion also comes from a sense of entitlement that he should be the exception to the rules for his own suffering as if trying to justify his actions to bring suffering to others.

33. Hauling at Cart Slow Kingdom is the thirty-third ordeal [chap. 44]; this one is definitely a personal favorite due to the humor, but there is a lot to be said when the gang comes to the kingdom that is enslaving Buddhist monks in favor of Taoist monks. The ones pulling the strings behind this abuse are Tiger Strength Great Immortal (虎力大仙), Elk Strength Great Immortal (鹿力大仙), and Antelope Strength Great Immortal (羊力大仙) that are controlling the king. This is the chapter most would recall Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing trick these three immortals into drinking their piss but I do find it fascinating how Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing take the places of the three pure ones when they are crashing the feast and take the places of the most important figures in heaven. Wukong as Laozi, Bajie as Yuanshi Tianzun, and Wujing as Lingbao Tianzun. I’m not sure if that was supposed to be meta-commentary about anything like how the three might be bringing in a new heaven or Age of Enlightenment themselves, but I did greatly enjoy the political symbolism that it could provide. This one definitely highlights how there were a lot of religious tensions between Daoism and Buddhism and how is that even because of these acknowledgments of the tensions, this book was banned in certain areas. But rather than Sanzang or anyone in the pilgrimage trying to refute Daoist beliefs, rather acknowledge that both are looking for the same thing when it comes to personal self-improvement and how well they can be different they can still respect one another (though there is some bias is that Buddism is better). Wukong saving the monks also shows how they put so much faith in waiting for Wukong and how he even gave each one of them a hair to keep them safe. It shows a great deal of compassion on his part from what I believe at this point. Not to mention I really think that this is the arc that is important more generally when it comes to character interactions as we get to see a lot of how they start to become more comfortable with one another. And this is just like in the Ginseng Fruit arc where they are all stealing food similar to before, but rather this time, they all agreed to cover each other’s backs.

34. A mighty contest is the thirty-fourth ordeal [chaps. 45-46]; In each of these test the immortal either loose face or die and honesty if they have kept the challenges simple with Saznag then they could have lived... sucks to be them. This one I do find to be one of my favorite segments personally only because it’s toeing the line of monks should not lie which Sanzang refuses to do however, it’s not lying because Wukong is simply changing the answers, kind of proving that the Yaoguai either had prior knowledge of what the answer should have been and can’t work around the new answers and rather Wukong is the one cheating for Sanzang rather than Sanzang cheating himself. Wukong definitely does most of the heavy lifting, but it shows his increasing durability throughout it all. Personally, think this was meant more to show off his powers and I could be missing the significance of each one of these powers, but that is what I am aware of. The first test of one of bringing the rain. Sanzang can't bring rain (he says a much) but Wukong goes up and THREATENS the people if they make rain for the Tiger he will beat them to death... so they don't and do rain on Sanzangn's turn. Diplomacy! Elk and Saznang have meditation content in which they try to cheat and a bug tries to break Sanzang's concentration. But Wukong turns into a bird and eats that thing and then turns into a centipede to break Elk's concentration and it works! Last is where they guess within the box and Antelope guesses fine clothes, peaches, and a Toaist disciple. Wukong goes into each box, tears up the clothes, eats the peaches leaving only pits, and shaves the disciple's head to make him a Buddhist monk. In each segment, Wukong was pulling the strings as Sanzang followed Wukong's instructions on what to say. They could have lived if they stop there but... nah. Tiger continues to have a head-cutting-off contest. Wukong has his head is cut off and it is kicked away, but he just regrows a new head while Tiger loses his head, and when he can not put it back on in time he dies. Elk tries to have a disemboweled contest but Wukong easily took out all his guts to "clean in there" while Elk died as he tries to gouge out his own heart. And finally, Antilope and Wukong could see who could live in boiling oil. Wukong pulled a prank and pretended to be dead but showed that he was just fine. Antilope did try to cheat and keep his oil cold but Wukogn quickly fixed that and he boiled alive. Overall a decided victory.

35. Expelling Daoists to prosper Buddhists is the thirty-fifth ordeal [chap. 47]; When the king saw that his advisors were indeed three Yaoguai that were most likely planning to kill him (similar to Lion-Lynx’s plan) he was shaken out of his stupor and saw the error of his ways. The monks that escaped at the start of this chapter were able to come back home and gave him back his hairs as they were finally freed from their sufferings. This kind of goes back to how the tensions between the two religious groups were high but I believe the intention was for there to show how despite differences there can be bridges to connect those gaps. Wukong being one of those bridges as he trained in Daosim and even received all his powers from it, but he is still a proud Buddhist monk as well. Having both knowledge did not hinder him, and either way, but if anything, it allowed him to excel in both philosophies. Wukong is nearly as familiar with scripture as. Sanzang is and even knows it a bit better in some cases. It kind of shows how that kind of relationship gap can be bridged through a general respect for both practices, and I think Wukong was meant to be that kind of representative for that respect.

36. Meeting a great water on the road is the thirty-sixth ordeal [chap. 47]; They are blocked by the very large river and as such stay with the Chen family (which funny enough is also the surname of Sanzang) and find out they have had to sacrifice their children to this demon for the past few years and after Sansang saying they have to help (Wukong suggesting buying more kids to sacrifice to save their own kids, no that is not a solution) Wukong and Bajie agree to go undercover as the children and fight the demon King of Spiritual Touch (靈感大王). The demon does get away but everyone thinks that is the end of that while the demon does see Saznag and plots to kidnap him being suggested by the Perch Mother. That was the trial itself rather than actually fighting The Spiritual Touch King. I’m not sure if there’s a lot of significance here besides perhaps highlighting how Sanzang misses his home, especially surrounded by people with his surname. That might be more of a plot detail, than huge significance allegory-wise.

37. Falling into the Heaven-Reaching River is the thirty-seventh ordeal [chap. 48]; this one was an elaborate trap as the gang is forced to walk across the huge river as it has iced overnight. I do enjoy this part only as Bajie was the one to make sure Bailong's horseshoes can walk on ice and Wukong even makes sure that the ice is thick before walking across it. Sadly while they were in the middle of the river this is when the Spiritual King breaks the ice and despite best efforts does kidnap Sanzang. As much as I did love how there was a lot of teamwork between Wukong, Wujing, and Bajie, as they were trying to lure the demon out of the water for Wukong to fight him properly, Spiritual King was able to escape due to its advantage of being underwater. As such this is what led to Wukong getting GuanYin again as he saw no other way that Bajie and Wujing could handle him on their own as the King locked himself up in his palace and no amount of goading was going to get him out again. Even faking they were hurt, to faking defeat wasn't enough to get the Spiritual King is risk fighting against them as he knew he was eventually going to lose.

38. The Fish-Basket revealing her body is the thirty-eighth ordeal [chap. 49]; I do find this particular way of entrapment to be very interesting as it touches upon Gaunyin and her connection with the fish basket. There’s actually a famous story about this as well, but the story is about a beautiful woman who is selling fish and comes to a village, and how every man in the village wants to marry her but she would only marry someone that would recite Suntras every day and release all the fish she has, and whoever could memorize the Suntras, would be able to marry her and pretty much it was inspiring people to learn more about Buddhism. The one man that was able to memorize all the scriptures she called for, decided to continue his life and still teach in her honor. It was a famous story, showing the fulfillment of learning scriptures. This arc was made in reference to that story and I do find that a great way to tie her into the narrative as well.

39. Meeting a fiend at Golden Helmet Mountain is the thirty-ninth ordeal [chap. 50]; This chapter I do find interesting the fact that this is another heavenly beast that escaped heaven Single Horned Rhinoceros King (獨角兕大王) and at this point, it’s almost standard for heavenly steeds to be the enemy for the sake of there being enough trials. This time Sanzang and the gang are in the middle of a snowy mountain and Wukong goes off to find food while leaving them in a circle. There’s actually a lot of symbolism in this chapter, especially when it comes to circles. Wukong creates a circle around his party as he goes off to try to find a village for food, a creation of his own making intended to keep them safe as long as they follow the instructions that he has given them. While, in the meantime, his party escapes the circle and put some of themselves in danger. This kind of circle symbolism is also seen in how Wukongs two iconic symbols are also circles that being his fillet and his golden hoop rod. His fillet is a circle that constraints, created for the purpose that he is to act in a certain limitation that he can't act solely on his own desires but rather focus on his own self-restraint to work with others but his staff is a circle that breaks his limits, allowing him to transition the limitation said he has been given through sheer force of will and power to overcome obstacles in his path. And it’s specifically here that Wukong gives his own limitations to the party but they bypass those limitations, and find themselves in danger. Similar to how when Wukong breaks his own limitation he puts himself in danger and others when he acts without thinking. It is almost karmic when Wukong tries to impose limitations on others when he himself is known for breaking these limits again and again and seeing what it feels like to be unheard when he only has the best intentions for his party. When Wukong tried to break into a new realm as the Jade Emperor he also had to except the dangers that came with that, hence, his punishment. It’s that kind of symbolism I personally think of when it comes to breaking barriers you have to also expect the risk that comes with it and accept it. Sanzang and the gang fall right into the Rhino King's trap and are taken in by him.

40. Heaven's gods find it hard to win is the fortieth ordeal [chaps. 51-52]; Not much to say he’ll personally except that this enemy has proven to be stupidly strong because of his magical item. The amount of extra power that this item has given him is insane, considering that Wukong needed to get the heavenly armies and Nezha in order to fight this guy, and it still didn’t win. But even Nezha lost all his weapons due to the Rhino King's Golden Ring to simply steal magical weapons from other people. Wukong lost his cudgel here, a symbol of his ability to break limitations and overcome the odds, and thus is left powerless without gods that also lost their magical weapons. And this is where I really enjoy seeing that Wukong really understands that he canceled all his problems through brute strength, but rather he needs to understand his problems in the first place in order to overcome them. He has the entire army of Heaven on his side but he can’t defeat this demon and it’s because he doesn’t understand how his powers walk in the first place but once he does understand where his powers came from. Once he learns even more about his enemy, he’s able to defeat him properly showing how cunning and willing Wukong can go when it comes to figuring out battle strategies and finding weaknesses in others. The amount of times that Wukong actually had to play peacemaker amount the troops because the armies were getting discouraged over losing the weapons is amazing, I don’t think it really shows how Wukong is also a great leader, especially when it comes to facing horrible odds against him. This is most likely the strongest enemy that Wukong has faced during the journey. Sun Wukong not only asked the Jade Emperor to find out the origin of this person, but also asked Li Tianwang, Nezha, Lei Gong, Huode Xingjun, Huanghe Shuibo, Tathagata, Eighteen Arhats and many other masters in the world of immortals and Buddhas for help

41. Asking the Buddha for the source is the forty-first ordeal [chap. 52]; Pretty much Wukong couldn’t find how to get any more information about his enemy, and of course had to go to the highest level to know who this guy was, and how to defeat him. If anything, I think it’s more of a humbling moment that Wukong had to do in order to ask than anything else, and it kind of shows how far he’s willing to go when it comes to protecting his party even if it means admitting that he needs help in the first place. And considering how prideful and arrogant Wukong is at the start of the story I think that’s a trial within itself. Even Sanzang at the end, admits that he should’ve listened to Wukong and promised to try to do better. A lot of humbling in the chapter. There is an actual legend to how Laozi got this Rhino in the first place as when Laozi was 8 or 9 years old he found a rapid divine bull that was eating people in the wild. Laozi and his brother at that young age went to cut the grass for baskets and play games. The bull came out of nowhere that has been eating people and the two confronted it for all its crimes to their neighbors. Laozi knew better than to hit it head-on rather than wait for the bull to run over him and stab it in its underbelly with his sickle. It ran away and they chased after it and after a fierce battle, they rode the bull down the mountain in their victory. From there Laozi took the bull as his own and domesticated him to eat only grass and pull plows and carts.

42. Being poisoned after drinking water is the forty-second ordeal [chap. 53]; it was actually a lot of symbolism when it comes to the Mother-Birthing River especially when it comes to Hindu mythology. There is an old legend about how a prince got pregnant himself when it was supposed to be his wife but he was still able to give birth. And that’s kind of reflected here as well when it comes to finding that kind of in qi energy and reaching enlightenment, I believe. It is quite interesting that the ones chosen here are Sanzang and Bajie. I think Sanzang was chosen for the symbolical representation similar to the prince while Bajie was for all the jokes that Wujing and Wukong absolutely throw his way because they find the whole situation Absolutely hilarious. They had to face off against Immortal Ruyi (如意真仙) who is Bull Demon King's younger broth and the Uncle of Red Boy. He was more of a nuisance than a threat as he kept making Wukong spill the Aborition Water so he had to get Wujing to help him out. Wukong claimed he only pared him because he is Demon Bull King's younger brother, or else he would have beaten him to death.

43. Detained for marriage at Western Liang Kingdom is the forty-third ordeal [chap. 54]; this one was interesting, and the fact that the main villain, for most of the arc, wasn’t the scorpion demon, but rather it was the Ruler of Women's Country (女兒國國王), because she absolutely refused to let Sanzang go and holding him hostage until he agreed to her demands for marriage. Wukong of course says they cannot attack else they would have to kill all of her soldiers as well and does push for Sanzang to play along with her fantasies, even though Sanzang is absolutely terrified that he would be forced to fulfill the “marriage vows.” But I do think this one shows how much trust Sanzang has gathered for Wukong because he follows the instructions to play along in order to avoid fighting with the entire kingdom or the army and they just leave the kingdom last minute… which honestly would’ve worked if it wasn’t for the last-minute demon. I do love how protective Bajie gets in this one, even Wujing lifting Sanzang off the carriage to get him away from the queen, kinda reflecting on Bajie's own past actions with women and how he is coming around to the importance of boundaries. In the end, the queen admits to feeling ashamed of her actions once she sees how Sanzang and Wukong and gang had such powers and were meant for greater things than just being kings. She was convinced that their union was set up by the heavens and refused to let him say no. She was very direct in her approach, very different than before trying to seduce Sanzang with no hope as he was more frightful than tempted. She is the only woman that isn't a demon that has tried to seduce Sanzang and while she is honorable and respected she shows that same kind of tenacity. There are not all good humans in the book and at times the gang has to be creative with how to get around them. She was willing to give up her own country based on Sanzang's own beauty showing a single-minded desire to have him as their own.

44. Suffering at the Cave of the Lute is the forty-fourth ordeal [chap. 55]; if anything, this one just shows how another heavenly animal escapes and this being the Scorpion demon (蠍子精). This is one of the only times we see an attack actually affect Wukong beyond the samadhi powers as this kind of venom does hurt him extremely. He got horrible headaches from the poison, enough to take him out of the fight for quite a while. Wujing and Bajie were unable to help in that case. Funny enough this is also just because of this one power that Wukong acknowledges that brute strength cannot win against her, and hast to go to another person for help. In the end, they were able to sub to her and she has to be sent back to heaven, but this was definitely kind of leaning into the idea of being trapped by lustful desires. She was more of a pest that was listening in on Buddhist scriptures than anything else being brushed away by Buddha until she stung at him, being the only demon known to inflict damage on Buddha. She took Sanzang in his moment of freedom only to trap him in a similar hostage situation of being forced to marry but I do notice how she did prepare vegetarian meals for him alongside her human meals... so awkward but how polite? Sanzang rejected her every time until she was annoyed enough to tie him up until he changed his mind. It wasn't until Wukong at the Pleiades Star Offical (a rooster) to subdue the Scorpin Demon was about to be killed by Bajie as well. A noticed trait is that Bajie is usually the one to kill female demons that have committed similar crimes as him when it comes to sexually harassing people. I like to think it is to show Baije's own personal fight with his own sexual and romantic desires. The Scorpion Demon is taken from the Xiyouji Zaji play when they have the 17th episode "The Queen's Forced Marriage where the Queen's brutal side is the direct reflection of the demon and how the two are more connected in the play. Considering that the only other demons in that play were the Demon Bull Family it shows how she was considered quite popular with this arc as well.

45. Banishing again the Mind Monkey is the forty-fifth ordeal [chap. 56]; this is the Six-Eared Macaque (六耳獼猴) Arc and I kind of did a deep dive about the symbolic meaning of the monkey mind and all this here, but this is definitely one of the defining points of the chapter is right in the middle of the journey. I didn’t know that this was such a big question but apparently, a lot of people did wonder why did Wukong progress back into violent killings in this chapter in particular with the robber and while I do admit that Wukong has come a long way there hasn’t been yet a really defining point of him, addressing the fact that he does go overboard when it comes to his enemies when he believes that it’s justified. He has been doing a lot to show more empathy to his companions in even to other people, but I really think halfway through the journey. This is him trying to find more empathy for people that he believes don’t deserve second chances despite him receiving a second chance as well. It’s almost hypocritical for him to think that people he believes others should have to die for their crimes, and that he should be the judge, jury, and executioner in these circumstances. It might have been because even the family itself never really said they valued the son's life more so they only want to keep him as he has no other heir, which is also sad within itself that a family only sees value in the son at this point because he can continue the family rather than value him as a person that he’s just done so much damage. And Wukong also has such filial respect, and how much importance he puts to family and elders. Kind of pushed him to his limits even when this particular burglar has been given a second chance by Wukong by not killing him the first time he met with his group rather than just killing his leader. If anything Wukong probably thought he was already justified in showing him mercy and the guy just came back again trying to hurt his party after being shown that mercy was pushing him over the limit.

46. The macaque hard to distinguish is the forty-sixth ordeal [chaps. 57-58]; This shows the progression of how far Wukong has come, both were fighting enemies and fighting with himself and who his identity is. Wukong not fighting with his identity is one of the main things in Xiyouji that I think anyone could take away from it as Wukong has been shown to be defying limitations on himself but also never really having that kind of ability to fit in a category, either making him very alone as well. And I think this chapter really highlights how Wukong can either be seen as a character that fits nowhere or the only character that truly is able to bridge the gap between different realms and be able to fit everywhere thing. He was able to see the worst traits of himself being pushed into his face and overcomes what those traits inside of him mean and even what they represent. He never denies who he is but rather shows that he is much more than what he sued to be, that he can grow and change and learn and become more than what he once was. When Sanzang sent Wukong away in this arc he really thought that he could not help Wukong anymore and that he has failed as a teacher but rather it was Wukong's own battle that he had to fight first as no one can force himself to change besides Wukong. The Six-Eared Macaque created duplicates of the entire gang, planning on killing them all and replacing them so he can gain credit and glory for bringing back the scriptures and becoming the "Sun Wukong" of legend. It was only under Buddha's eyes that was he able to discern the two (and a hell cat) and the truth of the matter came to light about the four spiritual monkeys that are the same species as Wukong. The phrase "Six Ears" has two different meanings. 1. meaning "A third party, outside intervention," such as an eavesdropper when two people are to be having a private conversation. Like saying make sure a sixth ear isn't listening in. Something that Wukong even says at the start of the book when talking to master Puti about their classes. Guan Hanqing's "Butterfly Dream": "Three people make big mistakes, and six ears do not conspire." In the novels of the Ming Dynasty, there is also the phrase "six ears do not preach", and "six ears" has gradually become an external object that refers to the hindrance of "preaching". The 2. meaning in from Buddhism has the theory of "six roots" of "eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind". From the "six roots", "six consciousnesses" are born. It should be eliminated first on the road of practice. At the end of the story, when the demon is eliminated, this point is also pointed out: "God returns to the heart, the Zen formula is fixed, and the six senses eliminate the pill." This is to show how those that now the truth cannot be tricked by falsehoods as such, discerning between the true and false monkey. The truth must be false, and the truth will be let go; the false will be true, and the false will be attracted. It is because real practitioners are regarded as false practitioners, and false practitioners are also mistaken for real practitioners. Those who are "four monkeys mixed with the world" have the four minds of greed, anger, ignorance, and hindrance. Sun Wukong symbolizes the "mind", and the six-eared macaque is the "evil" that deceives it. " Longing and the contradiction of "superego". Just because Sun Wukong's mind is turbulent, and he is often in a state of "ego" but "ID", so "evil" has an opportunity to take advantage of. The process of Sun Wukong destroying the demon is the process of "doing good and eliminating evil" in one's heart. In fact, the Six-Eared Macaque not only symbolizes the delusion of Wukong alone, but also the delusion of the party as whole as they are originally one. Therefore, after the "false heart" was destroyed, there was a description of the master and apprentice and the other three also "cutting the two hearts", and the team worked together and went to the west.

47. The road blocked at the Mountain of Flames is the forty-seventh ordeal [chap. 59]; this one was a hard trial to get past as they were literally trying to go around flaming mountains, but this is like the first time I’ve actually seen where Wukong’s past actions have influenced the road ahead as the fire only started due to Wukong pushing Laozis furnace to earth. Not only did this cause tremendous changes to the landscape, but also it led to the people of us being punished as well in the crossfire. Innocent people were forced to enter these harsh heats and we’re only able to five because Princess Iron Fan (鐵扇公主) took advantage of the situation, making herself the immortal of the mountain. From there, she was actually able to gain power because of these grievances. I think this is very interesting and how even unintentional consequences can have large repercussions. Princess Iron Fan is a Rakshasa within the novel and mother of Red Boy and the wife of Demon Bull King. Princess Iron Fan is a symbol of material love but also envy as she is alone without both her son and husband at her side, taking her anger out on one she could without restraint at least. Her Xiyouji creation was inspired by three different courses the first being the 10 Rakshasa who is in charge of guarding and reciting the Lotus Sutra from Buddha lore. The Guizimu God also from Buddhism lore who lost her own child in a miscarriage sworn in the neck life to be a demon that eats other's children which did happen. She saw the error of her ways and came to the heavens to protect the Dharma. And the last is the Iron Fan Immortal who is a Taoist Immortal from the Xiyouji Play where she has different family relations such as being the sister of Li-shan Laomu and is connected to another legend where she was a Taoist Wind goddess that was friends with the Queen Mother (and Pilanpo), however after a slight party over the Queen Mother bringing her own wine Princess Iron Immortal went to earth where she became a demon. She never married in this version and plan to keep it that way and thus she was greatly offended when XingZhe kept hitting on her. All these inspired her Xiyouji debut.

48. Seeking the palm-leaf fan is the forty-eighth ordeal [chaps. 59-60]; this one was definitely the most elaborate, as this was a lot with the family situation. Wukong encountered their son Red Boy just a few years ago, and because of his intervention, Red Boy became a disciple under GuanYin, a position that could be considered even higher than being claimed as a deity in Eastern Heaven. Wukong isn't wrong in saying that their son is better off being a disciple under the goddess of mercy, rather than running amok on his own mountain, being a king, yes, but only building himself up to be taken down in a few years, similar to what Wukong had to go through. If anything, he could’ve saved him a lot of pain and suffering in the long run because his power and arrogance were going unchecked. But of course, no parent wants their child to be dethroned, and as such Princess Iron Fan wishes to get revenge on her son’s behalf. Wukong may have saved Red Boy’s life in the long run, but he did separate a family as well. There is something to be said when it comes to seeing two choices that both have negative consequences within them. At the time I’m sure Wukong wasn’t even thinking about how Princess Iron Fan or Bull Demon King (牛魔王) would react to seeing their son gone but definitely doesn’t make it any easier when he has to be the one to take responsibility for that separation. Wukong had to pretend to be Bull Demon King while he was away with his new concubine Jade-Faced Princess (玉面狐狸) who wanted to keep him to herself. She was the daughter of the Long Live Fox King who left behind all his fortune and Princess Jade Faced wanted someone strong enough to protect her and her territory. Wukong was able to get the fan but it was taken again by Bull Demon. This led to a confrontation between brothers and after Wukong's change of heart and mind, he sees how that change is being put to the test, being forced to fight someone he sees as a brother.

49. Binding the demon king is the forty-ninth ordeal [chap. 61]; Wukong is fighting someone that he sees as a brother, someone that he has looked up to for many years, and still looked up to him, even while they were fighting. They have similar paths and similar backgrounds and of being similar minds, these two really reflect each other but while one was able to hone his mind the other did not. He wanted to go easy on him because of their brotherhood and in fact, does time and time again, going easy on them because he doesn’t want to hurt his family. He sees Iron Fan as his sister-in-law and Bull King as his brother but because of his actions toward the child, they refused to help him in his quest. And this kind of tension and stress kept building and building until Wukong had to completely destroy their brotherhood and arrest Bull King, Wukong knew he couldn't leave without the fan else their entire journey would be put to a halt but both Iron Fan Princess and Demon Bull King refused to help Wukong, rather wishing to hinder his quest. And I think that kind of betrayal, no matter how emotionally justified, still hurts because Wukong is a very family-oriented guy. And I think that this arc being right after the Six Ears arc is a coincidence as that arc was supposed to symbolize Wukongs own turning point within the journey and now we get to see how Wukong is shedding his past relationships in order to move forward with his new life. Bull King was another reminder of his warlord years and well I’m sure he would never want to hurt his family… sometimes cutting people out of your life is the best way to move forward and heal at least in the circumstances. Also, Bajie being constantly there assisting Wukong and all the fights kind of shows how Wukong has moved on from his old brotherhood and has gained a new one. Wukong faced off against Bull Demon but at the same time, they are at a stalemate until Wukong gets backup from Nezha. The prototype for Bull Demon was Demon Bull Xisuo from “往世书” where Xisuo was an incarnation of Ashura and planned on doing harm to the world and was only stopped because the multi-armed goddess Durga was able to subdue him. This might make a connection to why Nezha who also had a multi-armed form, was the one to subdue Demon Bull King. this one I think, is without a doubt, the hardest fight that Wukong has to go through at least emotionally.

50. Sweeping the pagoda at Sacrifice Kingdom is the fiftieth ordeal [chap. 62]; this within itself wasn’t too much of a trial, but it was a moment that I really enjoyed between Wukong and Sanzang in how Sanzang has made his own promises to himself about sweeping pagodas they visit and how Wukong is insistent, that he still helps and stays up with him. There was no reason for this, no obligation, just Wukong and Sanzang cleaning a room together, which, of course, let the funny to encounter with Benbo'erba (奔波兒灞) and Babo'erben (灞波兒奔) at the top of the tower who just so happened to be bragging about the sacred treasure their master stole and how the monks took the blame for the fallout. Their boss has been causing the town a lot of grief and trouble and as such the monks were being blamed. The first two generations of monks were tortured to death so... extreme. But that wasn’t the trial itself. The real trial was the cleaning aspect, which I think shows that, despite all the demon fighting that was to still be considered of the utmost importance. This is probably the first time we see Wukong and Sanzang doing so domesticated together and I think it hits home how Wukong's change of mind and heart has affected how he interacts with those around him.

51. Recovering the treasure to save the monks is the fifty-first ordeal [chap. 63]; this one was more for the sake of clearing, the monks of this kingdom were blamed for the stolen treasure which is the Rishi mushroom (part of transitional Chinese medicine). It was stolen by the local dragons, and also the Nine-Headed Insect (九頭蟲) that convinced the Wansheng Dragon King (万圣龙王) his father-in-law and Wansheng Princess (萬聖公主) his wife and to do so. Wanseng Dragon wasn't always this high and mighty, between his Son-in-law's persuasion and his backing from Bull Demon King he became quite bold with his power. He was the one that Bull Demon King stopped his fight with Wukong so go have tea with. Friendship with Wukong has died, new friend is Wangsheng Draong King. This arc does tie in with another legend about the Nine-Heads which is why he got away with the story. It is because he’s actually connected to another legend. The Nine-Heads was most likely inspired by the Nine-Headed Bird from "Shan Hai Jing Da Huang Bei Jing" and how the legends grew that a house of blood drops will be blamed on them, similar to what happened in the story. Quan Xiaotian was about to bite off one of his heads before he ran away. And also it was just great to see Erlang Shen and how he and Wukong became sworn Brothers as well. (Please note that for years I was duped by the 1986 series into thinking the Wansheng Princess and Bailong were ex-finances like I believed that for YEARS). But also I have already done a whole thing as to why Wukong was so grateful to Erlang in the first place, mostly being that he was under the family-ties punishment order and he was supposed to kill all of Wukong's little suns, but give them time to hide and let them live, hence why Wukong is so grateful that he had a family to come home to. I could go on for days about Erlang and his importance and how he foils Wukong's own story but this is his only major character appearance.

52. Chanting poetry at the Brambled Forest is the fifty-second ordeal [chap. 64]; this one was particularly said, in some instances as this was one of the few times Sanzang was kidnapped by demons (that is common enough) but rather than trying to eat him or sexually harass him, instead spend the entire chapter reciting poetry to one another and talking about philosophy. Sanzang spends most of this chapter with three spirits Shiba Gong (勁節十八公), Guzhi Gong (孤直公), Lingkongzi (凌空子), and Fuyun Sou (拂雲叟), and their servants Naked demon (赤身鬼) and Apricot Immortal (杏仙) Sanzang has shown time, and time again that he does value all life and that includes demons as well. He doesn’t like the idea of Wukong killing them he does ask Wukong to spare them when he can... he just usually never gets a chance as they are already dead by the time he is recused. He never really gets a chance to show this kind of appreciation for life, because while Wukong does try to kill the demon to save Sanzang there are a lot of demons that are arrested and sent back to heaven. And I think that this is a great chapter to show how Sanzang does enjoy talking philosophy with other people, but it also shows how he would ever enjoy interacting with other Yaoguai when they are not harming him. Sanzang even asks Bajie to spare them in his rampage as while they did try to push Sanzang to marry Apricot Immortal he didn't think they actually hurt him. Wukong claims that even yaoguai that go through self-cultivation eventually give in and try to mooch off qi off of humans, as that is the quickest and easiest way to cultivate. Wukong has always had a “hit first, question later” mindset and I think it’s really submitted hear how he even treats Yaoguai similar to his warlord days with an iron fist. And perhaps how his empathy still needs room to grow.

53. Meeting disaster at Little Thunderclap is the fifty-third ordeal [chap. 65]; this was doing the fight with Yellow Brows Great King (黃眉大王) and when he was impersonating Buddha. Something I find very interesting is how Wujing, Bajie, and Sanzang all fell for his track, but Wukong KNOWS Buddha. Yes, fought with him, but definitely knows a fake when he sees it. Funny enough this guy isn’t trying to kill them for the sake of trying to gain immortality rather it’s similar to Six Ears desire for fame and glory particularly he says he’s after the right fruit. He wishes to be the one to deliver the scriptures to China and I think this is because he is also a fallen celestial that was a disciple of Maitreya Buddha. This one is a lot of Sanzang lamenting that Wukong was right and how he should’ve listened, which is very cathartic. But this could be an allegory about how the heavens aren’t perfect either and how anyone can be susceptible to their own desires if they let them get the best of them. Hence, why cultivation and practice are always a continual thing rather than a destination and you always have to keep yourself in check

54. The celestial gods being imprisoned is the fifty-fourth ordeal [chap. 66]; But also, this is another enemy that is extremely hard for Wukong to face head-on because of the magical items that he possesses the Golden Cymbals. While they did break that treasure he had another treasure to trap Wukong and his reinforcements in a bag. Twice. It starts to get very frustrating every time Wukong has to get more reinforcements to help his previous reinforcements. This leads to a lot of humiliation on Wukongs enough to make him cry and leads to him also having to use more elaborate schemes in order to defeat him… schemes which include turning into a watermelon seed to be eaten and jumping inside his belly until he gives up. Always a classic.

55. Being blocked by filth at Pulpy Persimmon Alley is the fifty-fifth ordeal [chap.67]; this one’s probably a very forgettable chapter as Python Demon (蟒蛇精) in this chapter doesn’t actually speak because it is said that she is not cultivated enough to speak. She has to rely on eating humans to cultivate rather than practicing, hence the increase in human killings. It is definitely a larger version of his animal form but she has not yet reached a humanoid form, just making her a giant monster at the moment. This one’s more banter between Wukong and Bajie when it came to them, trying to trap this demon together and honestly, I really did enjoy more of the interaction, in this chapter rather than any overarching themes, I believe. Wukong is again eaten by this demon and just grows until he punches a hole in her belly to kill her. Wukong considered this one of the weak demons he has encountered due to her low cultivation. But overall this was a good example of how Yaoguai try desperately to eat humans in order to take on a humanoid form of their own. Another popular legend of a snake demon is from “The White Snake,” where a Yaoguai and a human fall in love and it’s a forbidden tragic romance. That actually has no connection with this demon sadly, but I still thought that referencing other similar demon types could still provide some kind of insight.

56. Applying medication at the Scarlet-Purple Kingdom is the fifty-sixth ordeal [chaps. 68-69]; this is one of my favorite chapters, mostly because of the comedic aspects again. This one is about how Wukong ropes Bajie into agreeing that they are going to heal King Zhu Ziguo by taking a piece of paper and Wukong shoving it in Bajie's back pocket for a prank. The entire palace is terrified of what they look like having Wukong before medical practices behind a curtain at first. But this really shows Wukong's ingenuity and creativity when it comes to talking his way out of situations. The best example of this is how Wukong demands a little bit of every kind of medicine they have just so when he creates the end product no one in the kingdom is able to replicate what kind of medicine he did create. The creation itself has actually been of soot from a frying pan and Bailong’s own urine. Apparently, it has magical properties which I cannot deny but also that they had to ask BaiLong in the first place is absolutely hilarious to me. And then he proceeded to ask Ao Guang for rain, which last-minute the best he could do is sneeze a few times without his rain equipment leading to two kinds of dragon fluids in the medicine.'

57. Healing fatigue and infirmity is the fifty-seventh ordeal [chaps. 68-69]; Despite the questionable materials that Wukong used within the medicine in the end he was actually able to heal the king from his ailments, as he has shown that he just needed another, push to finally get himself out of bed so to speak. I’m not sure how much of the dragon fluids what part of that or if perhaps it was a placebo effect, but in the end, what mattered was that king was more than convinced that he was all healed up and then proceeded to say the source of his ailment started when he game depression from losing his wife. The reason he was fated to lose his wife was that he once shot two young birds, male, and female, children of the Bodhisattva Peacock King. After the Peacock King repented and the Buddha Mother ordered the king to suffer for three years losing his own mate, and he became ill. 

58. Subduing monster to recover a queen is the fifty-eighth ordeal [chaps. 69-71]; Wukong was able to infiltrate Sai Tai Sui (賽太歲) lair and even have the kidnapped queen who was his hostage help steal Saitaisui's magical treasures the Purple Gold Bells while he was under the disguise of Spring Grace (春娇), the queen's demon servant. It was with this help that Wukong was able to defeat him. The queen was protected all these years with his own treasure the Five-Colored Dress which made it impossible for anyone to touch her from Immortal Ziyang. It’s actually quite lovely to see how Wukong even cooperates with the captives in their own escape plan, as they already have a trusted position with the demon. Wukong disguises himself as Going and Coming (有来有去) and once he gets the treasure he still wanted to keep the treasure for himself, but in the end, Wukong shows how his patients and planning were able to win another battle. This demon was Guanyin's celestial beast that escaped heaven, her wolf mount, and she was glad to take him back to heaven.

59. Delusion by the seven passions is the fifty-ninth ordeal [chap. 72]; this one was quite sad to me, only in the fact that Sanzang insisted on being the one to get water on his own, as a thank you to his disciples for always being the ones to get food and water for him. He wanted to start putting in his own work, despite just being a human and leading by example. Sadly, this does lead him to be the only one to encounter the seven Spider Demons (蜘蛛精) and of course, being taken back to their home. Despite all his attempts to leave peacefully, he was unable to do so and even pleaded with them to let them go else they might have to face his disciples. In the end, I just find it quite sad to think that, despite him trying to just get something as simple as water he was punished for such things. The seven spider sisters are supposed to resemble the seven emotions so there’s a lot of symbolism with the sisters themselves. There is also an appearance of Wukong fighting the seven sisters and seven adopted sons, listed as Bee (蜜), Hornet (蚂), Cockroach (蠦), Cantharis (班), Grasshopper (蜢), Maggot (蜡), and Dragonfly (蜻). All of them were given the choice of either being adopted or eaten by the sisters... they choose "forced adoption".

60. Being wounded by Many Eyes is the sixtieth ordeal [chap. 73]; Wukong was very much solo in this arc of this kind of journey as his companions have been poisoned and leaving them unconscious by the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord (百眼魔君) who is the elder brother of the seven spider sisters. But their brother they did not share a cultivation master, but rather simply cultivated together by proximity. Wukong is actually very distraught for a lot of the chapter over the idea that his companions might really be dead. Hundred Eyes is powerful in that his eyes can produce golden lights that still inflict damage on Wukong's body of gold and steel. It’s only when he’s able to receive help by searching for his natural enemy himself that he was able to get what he needed not even from a person, but rather the same person that he used to fight the Scorpion Demon, the Star official Pleides... who is still a chicken. It was only with that chicken they were was able to subdue the centipede demon at the cost of his sisters. While the sisters call Hundred Eyes when Wukong held them hostage, Wukong offered to release them for the exchange of his party. The sisters begged their senior brother, but the senior brother abandoned them for eating Sanzang and as such Wukong took the sisters lives for his choice. The man was able to be subdued himself and even taken in by Plian who said he will keep him as his mountain's guardian, similar to Balck Wind Spirit and Gunayin. He was able to keep his life but this shows that even those that you considered family do not always have your best interests in heart and might betray you for their own selfish needs.

61. The way blocked at the Lion-Camel Kingdom is the sixty-first ordeal [chaps. 74-75]; this is arguably the largest amount of enemies that Wukong was forced to face and it is a possibility that Wukong could just go headfirst and defeat all of them. He does say he could make his staff as larger as a mountain range and smash his enemies to death. But the amount of damage that it could cost to the landscape and even leaving his party behind could have unspeakable consequences. Rather, it was so clever and amazing for Wukong to go behind, enemy territory, disguised himself as Small Wind Cutter (小钻风), and uncover information about his enemies, which is always a delight to see how Wukong it’s very clever and so charismatic that he’s able to sync on his feet quickly. Immediately he is indoctrinated within a demon army that they just give him all the information about their kings, Golden Winged Great Peng (金翅大鵬雕), Yellow Toothed Elephant (黃牙老象), and Azure Lion (青毛獅子) and be able to make plans for how to counteract the demons of camel ridge. We see a lot of changes in his reaction throughout this journey especially now that he’s actually becoming more remorseful when it comes to killing Yaoguai and especially when it comes to the protectiveness he feels for his group. If anything, this is a great chapter as it’s three-on-three with Peng, Elephant, and Lion verse Wujing, Bajie, and Wujing respectively. The Lion has the power to swallow enemies whole, Elephant can use their nose to capture people, and Peng with his golden wings to move faster than anyone else. Peng ate the king of Lion Camel Country 500 years ago, right after Wukong was imprisoned. He was the one to team up with Lion and Elephant to defeat Sun Wukong with their combined strength.

62. The fiends divided into three colors is the sixty-second ordeal [chaps. 74-77]; Wukong's first mission in order to counteract these demons is when it comes to trying to separate the group into three parts, leaving them far more defenseless than they have originally been. By creating rumors and lies within the ranks, he was able to disband the army by the thousands as they all left the stations leaving the path between his party and the other side of the mountain more unguarded than they originally planned. It was also through this that Wukong was able to even infiltrate their own caves and see these demons firsthand. Honestly, the amount of gaslighting Wukong does on these demons is actually masterful, and it kind of goes into that saying how knowledge is the most powerful weapon in any warfare kind of ideology. Also, very interesting to see Wukong very much voicing out to the younger demons that they are not going to get any benefits from serving their kings, very much a kind of rebellious attitude that I think follows him heavily down the line. While Wukong does disband the armies he still gets caught by the kings for a moment, first in Peng's flask which he had to use his three hairs gifted by Guanyin to escape, and the second being drunk by Lion and punishing his way in his stomach. He also breaks his teeth when trying to bite down on him but he bit on his Iron cudgel instead and then tying him up and has the other two surrender... only to fight Elephant later.

63. Meeting calamity in the city is the sixty-third ordeal [chaps. 76-77]; Sadly despite best efforts Sanzang is still captured and taken to the demon city that we have created. This is only because Wukong was able to capture Elephant and keep him hostage. He knew when he was captured by his trunk to just stab him from Bajie's advice, but Sanzang truly believing that the demons have learned a lesson asks for Wukong to let them go once Elephant says they will just escort them out of the mountain and they can continue living in their demon city. Sadly, Peng finds that he cannot live with a slight. Despite Wukong subduing Lion and Elephants he still left them alive and Peng organized another attack, tricking the party and leading to Sanzang being captured. This again leads to another battle between all six of them with Wukong fighting Peng, Bajie fighting Elephant, and Wujing fighting Lion. Which does end with the entire pilgrimage being captured due to their secret abilities until Wukong is able to escape and stop them from being cooked alive in a giant steam pot. However, Peng hearing this, spreads the rumor that Sanzang has already been eaten, trying to deter Wukong from saving him. Instead, this plan backfires and leads to Wukong and Bajie destroying the entire demon city and the entire mountain once they heard rumors that Sanzang was eaten and plan to avenge in a single night by destroying the entire demon army and kingdom. Teamwork makes the dream work!

64. Requesting Buddha to subdue the demons is the sixty-fourth ordeal [chap. 77]; Wukong actually goes to Buddha himself once he believes that Sanzang is dead to complain about how he could do this to him. Wukong went in and destroyed the entire city of demons to avenge his master but it still didn't bring him back, he was distraught and blamed Buddha himself for doing this to him. He goes right to Western Heaven to blame Buddha for this enough and there he demands that he fulfill Sanzang's mission himself as his last wish or for Buddha to let him go since he just plans on playing these games. Of course, Buddha explains to him that Sanzang is not dead in his mission and isn’t destroyed, but in fact, goes himself to take down the demons as one of them is, in fact, his uncle, due to interesting relationships. This is what led to the Lion, Elephant, and Peng are to be taken back as heavenly beasts. Lion is the steed of Manjusri Bodhisattva and escaped earlier as well when he was the Lion-Lynx King and pretending to be a prince's dad. The Elephant is the steed of Puxian Bodhisattvawho was actually blown down to earth by the Yellow Wind Demon who was one of the first demons. Being the six-tusked white elephant means he was most likely inspired by Sakyamuni and his white elephants that he road with six tusks as well. The white elephant holds a lot of symbolism connected to Bodhisattvas showing his connection to heaven. And Peng is the most connected to the heavens, making him the eldest brother of the trio as he is to be subdued by the Tathagata Buddha himself, similar to how Wukong had to be subdued by him. Peng tried to fight off Tathagata but as Lion and Elephant were panicking at their own masters he was quickly taken down. Peng was a descendant of a phoenix and his sister a Peacock as another demon that ate Tathagata Buddha. Instead of killing the Peacock, Tathagata Buddha made her his godmother, making Peng his Uncle, hence their connection. Pengs, or rather Garudas, are known to be dragon eaters in Indian mythos, being their natural predators but they are usually seen as more positive symbols in literal beyond Xiyouji or even Fengshen Yanyi. The Golden Peng here is VERY similar to Wukong in both his arrogance and his symbolism. Great Peng is also an of the unity of the Buddha and the demon, similar to Wukong as well, but while Peng was given his stance in Buddhism, he rejected it for the sake of glory, while Wukong is working TOWARDS that stance of enlightenment. They are reverse mirrors of each other, coming from different backgrounds but having similar fillings in life for their pursuit of powers. Peng and Wukong are both cunning and clever but while Peng was fighting to become glorious, Wukong fights with himself to become a better person.

65. Rescuing the lads at Bhiksu is the sixty-fifth ordeal [chap. 78]; this one was definitely one of the most convoluted trials as this was a White Deer Spirit (白鹿精) tricking the King of Bhiksu into thinking that his illness can only be healed with the hearts of 10,000 baby boys. Sanzang is moved to compassion and asks Wukong to save the boys he gets thousands of local spirits to take the boys into the woods, and feeds them fruits until he’s cleared up the mess with the kingdom. The mess was White Deer being the King’s father-in-law, and saying that this was the best way for him to heal. There’s a very funny moment where Wukong is pretending he is Sanzang because now the White Deer is saying that they should just eat Sanzang and I’m not sure if a human would gain immortality by eating Sanzang but I think it’s safe to say he’s been very much manipulated. Wukong pretends to be Sanzang when he is asked for his heart, Wukong literally starts ripping out nine hearts from his chest and says he doesn’t have a black heart to give. I think this shows how he thinks of Sanzang and how he greatly enjoys using his body to scare his enemies. White Deer Spirit was originally the mount of the Star of Antarctica and escaped when he was not paying attention, also stealing his panlong crutch as a weapon.

66. Distinguishing the true from the deviate is the sixty-sixth ordeal [chap. 79]; Sadly White Deer's plan to use his adopted daughter White-Faced Vixen Spirit (白面狐狸) is what leads to her own death as she was the one in charge of feeding lies to the king and uncovering her as a demon trying to use him for power. White Deer has the audacity to try to defend himself saying that he should be allowed to practice his own beliefs, but Wukong quickly shuts that down when he says that it doesn’t come at the cost of sacrificing literally thousands of other lives for his own selfish benefits, which I think shows his own kind of growth of how he shouldn’t sacrifice other for the sake of his own gains. Similar to how Wukong showed very little empathy for his sworn brothers' armies in the past (while Wukong's army was safe his sworn brothers' armies were captured by the heavens), and now see how he is changing his worldview that it doesn’t matter who you sacrifice know when it should be the cost of your own benefit. Similar to how White Deer is subdued, but in the end it cost him his own adopted daughter White Vixen who died. The Vixen is a symbol of how often foxes are used to symbolize the fall of a country, like in the Nine-Tails Fox story, White Vixen here was poisoning the mind of the king with false promises and using her beauty to cover her scandals. She is killed by Bajie again showing the continuous trend of Bajie being the one to fight demons that use their power of seduction to get what they want.

67. Saving a fiend at a pine forest is the sixty-seventh ordeal [chap. 80]; I find this trial to be absolutely fascinating, especially when it came to like how far the journey mates have come, but also shows that Sanzang still refuses to compromise on his own beliefs. Lady Earth Flow (金鼻白毛老鼠精) is of course, pretending to be a woman in need and while Sanzang is all for helping her Wukong tells him that she could be a demon in disguise that could hurt him. And of course, Bajie says otherwise. If anything Sanzang was actually more prone not to believe Bajie at this point, especially when he accused Wukong of just wanting to sleep with the woman himself, and Sanzang knowing Bajie is lying at that point started to walk away from the fiend. But she played the old “what kind of monk doesn’t help someone who asks for help” and Sanzang does feel guilty for compromising his morals. He explains to Wukong that while he does agree that there was a high chance that she could be a demon in this could all be a trick, he cannot give up a chance to help someone that still calls for help, human or a demon. And it’s that kind of mine said that put him in danger a lot but it’s also that kind of mine said that I think is very hard to keep especially after everything he’s been through. He’s still willing to put himself in danger if that means he can help someone that’s actually in need. Yes, that could be considered very foolish of him, but I think it also shows that he’s still very brave as well, that he doesn’t want to become someone that questions every single person he helps just for the sake of himself.

68. Falling sick in a priestly chamber is the sixty-eighth ordeal [chap. 81]; this chapter is very interesting because it actually dives into what the Golden Cicada actually did in order to be forced down to earth to live out 10 lifetimes. This is the only real connection we get to learn about the Golden Cicada as a lot of this before it’s just brushing off his punishment of defying the scripture in a vague way. And honestly, it’s understandable because the Golden Cicada really isn’t that vital to the story, rather, this is just about Sanzang’s own merit. I think a lot of people get confused that Sanzang was chosen because he was the Golden Cicada, but I really don’t think that’s the case. Rather Sanzang was chosen because of what he has accomplished, hence why GuanYin had to go look for someone to complete the mission in the first place. She didn’t immediately suggest him and that wasn’t the entire plan, but rather it was just the perfect opportunity for Sanzang to live out his final 10th lifetime and because of what he has accomplished in the past before. Sanzang has done a lot of work himself, and it is a shame when people usually brush it off to think it’s just because of who he used to be rather than who he is. He does fall ill and Wukong and the gang stay at a monastery for him to heal up and rest. Meanwhile, a certain female demon is keeping her distance but rather aiming for OTHER monks in the meantime.

69. Being imprisoned at the Bottomless Cave is the sixty-ninth ordeal [chaps. 81-83]; this is of course when Lady Earth Flow finally shows her true colors, and it shows that she is in fact, a Yaoguai. Surprisingly took quite a while, and she even waited until after Sanzang was feeling better to kidnap him, of course. In the meantime, she kidnapped other monks, making the whole vibe of the arc kind of like a murder mystery, but it really wasn’t in murder mystery because it’s very obvious that it was her. But to the rest of the monks, they were just wondering who could be attacking them while Wukong immediately confronted her but sadly she was able to slip away and steal Sanzang. Wukong was able to infiltrate the cave and see that she recognized King Li and Nezha as both her godfather and godbrother that he went to heaven to confront them. From there, they accused him of lying and tired him up with rope and the whole debacle of Wukong not wanting to sue King Li. This led to one thing after another, honestly of trying to appease Wukong who wanted to roll all the way to the jade emperor’s court to sue. Luckily, the star of Venus was able to come and down, and of course, Nezha and King Li were able to get the lost adopted relative under control. She was a heavenly pest in heaven, a golden nose albino rate, and was considered to be the Banquan Guanyin as she took two candle sticks from Tathagata after being vouched by King Li and Nezha she was renamed Banquan Guanyin and took on the mantle Lady Earth Flow.

There is legends of Cintāmaṇi or the 如意寶珠 a wish-fulfilling jewel within both Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The Cintāmaṇi is one of several Mani Jewel images found in Buddhist scripture. Later texts portray the Mani Gem in an unexpected way. It was said to have been owned by the god Indra in the beginning, but it fell to the ground during a conflict with the Asuras, granting the wishes of those who possess it. The Mani Pearl is also spewed out by the Treasure-Vomiting Rat/Ferret(吐宝鼠) in Vaisravana's hand. The rat is on a lot of statues of Vaisravana in the Devaraja Halls but the few Tibetan buddhist temples have the rat actually spewing out pearls that gathered in a bowl at the bottom of the wall painting. This rat is probably an inspiration for Lady Earth Flow being the adopted daughter of Li Jing, who merged with most of Vaisravana's iconography

70. Difficulty in going through Dharma-Destroying Kingdom is the seventieth ordeal [chap. 84]; this one was more insane over how in the first place this all came to be. The Ruler of the Kingdom of Miefa (滅法國) has slaughtered 9,996 monks within his kingdom within just 2 years and was aiming to go for 10,000 monks to kill. Not only is this just a ludicrous amount of people dying within the time frame, but specifically that he wanted to kill monks because priests in the past have 'slandered' them. Gee, I wondered why. The gang tries to bypass through under the disguise of merchants but are trapped in wardrobe boxes when trying to hide and are taken to the king directly as the boxes were "stolen goods." But Wukong at this point has stopped himself from attacking first and asking questions later, showing that he rather use manipulation tactics to show people the error of their ways. Wukong in the middle of the night, he made thousands of razor blades and decides to shave every head within the kingdom, not a single head was spared in that whole kingdom to make them all look like monks as well. Luckily this entire act was met with the king humbling himself a great amount when Sanzang and company came in to ask for permission for the travel receipts. If anything Wukong was the one really leading the situation, changing the foundation of an entire kingdom enough that they changed the name to Dharma-Honoring Kingdom. Really shows what a leader Wukong can be and how intelligent he is to convince an entire kingdom.

71. Meeting demons at Mist-Concealing Mountain is the seventy-first ordeal [chaps. 85-86]; this one, in particular, is one of the most emotional chapters, without a doubt as this is another chapter where the King of the Southern Hill (南山大王) tricks Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing into believing that Sanzang was eaten, and in fact, he gives them a fake human head to sell it. Wukong at first sees through the first deceptions but when they are given a real human head (of someone else) this lead to them all mourning Sanzang. This demon knows that he is not strong enough to actually fight Wukong head-on, and is one of the few demons we see that doesn’t have a treasure or special ability to fight Wukong. He understands he’s not strong enough and thus he has to use more tactics than usual with the help of his vanguard Iron Backed Grey Wolf (铁背苍狼). It’s actually very sad to see how much the gang goes through the morning process because they think Sanzang is truly dead. Big mistake on the Southern Hill King's part in thinking that they would leave after three days of mourning because instead of leaving or anything like that, Wukong and Bajie both agree that they should avenge the master and kill every demon within the cave, and then burn the cave to the ground. Not a lot of symbolism, though it’s very straightforward, especially when it comes to avenging one's master but it’s great teamwork to be seen and the reunion is absolutely adorable. Wukong back and forth between saving Sanzang from his ropes and killing the passed-out demon not knowing which is the better option. But Sanzang gives thanks to the dead man whose real head was used because if it was not for him, his disciples wouldn’t have tried to invade the cave and then save him in the process. The demon was said to cause havoc in the Zheyue Lianhuan Cave of Yinwu Mountain, referring to Mount Zhongnan, which is one of the birthplaces of Taoism and an excellent place to cultivate immortals. This leopard spirit claims to be the king of the southern hill, but he is boasting as the narrator in the original book calls him the old monster of the southern island.

72. Seeking rain at Phoenix-Immortal Prefecture is the seventy-second ordeal [chap. 87]; this one, in particular, is more about how Heaven interacts with the Earth, and how heads of state or responsible for their people in particular. It’s common in Chinese mythos, that if there’s ever a great famine, or if there are just natural disasters, it is to be blamed on the current king or person in charge of the province. And this was a way of saying the person in charge at the moment is a bad omen, and that should either be removed from power or they appease heaven forever for crimes they commit. This includes usually tax refunds, pardoning people, and giving back to the community in some way or form in order to not only appease the community doing these hard times but also to appease heaven. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. And in this case, the King of Phoenix-Immortal Prefecture (凤仙郡王), insulted Heaven by flipping a table when his wife gave him some terrible news. As such the land around him with the drought for about three years. The king was unaware of his crimes because he was in a fit of rage and once he was able to rectify said crimes rain was able to come back to the prefect.

73. Losing their weapons is the seventy-third ordeal [chap. 88]; this chapter is focused on Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing's weapons because this is the chapter where the three all take on disciples that is in the form of three princes. They were so incredibly amazed by the gang's magical powers and weapons, that they practically beg to be taught under them. Of course, because the princes want little copies of the masters' weapons, the weapons were sent to the forge to get measured. Sadly, when they were out of the sites was when Tawny Lion Demon (黃獅精) was able to snag them in the middle of the night. This does lead to more shenanigans than originally thought, but it’s quite interesting to see how Wukong was able to bless these princes with supernatural powers in order to keep them strong and young even longer than they originally intended. Luckily, Wukong has about to find out where their weapons were taken thanks to Shifty (刁钻古怪) and Freaky (古怪刁钻), two demons that were talking too loud. It is noted that these demons do not usually involve themselves in the affairs of humans and were considered to be very low-key until this point.

74. The festival of the rake is the seventy-fourth ordeal [chap. 89]; the original weapons were going to be taken by the Tawny Lion and like his six other brothers, Gibbon-Lion (猱獅) Snow Lion (雪獅) Suanyi (狻猊) Baize (白澤) Wildcat (伏狸) Elephant-Baiter (摶象) who just wanted to go for that fame and recognition from the weapon festival that was to be held soon. Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing designed themselves to be Shifty, Freaky, and a goose header to infiltrate inside. I do enjoy this as this is the first time we see Wujing use his transformation powers and the group's first infiltration mission together. The demons seem to have often made trade with humans and even buy their food stock supplies from them. they were not about to make it far as another demon Child Blue Face was able to call them out on their inconstancies. It is revealed that these seven brothers are the god-grandson of a heavenly beast Grand Saint of Nine Spirits (九靈元聖) and feel the right to take the weapons. I can’t say too much about the implications of this battle but I do want to just reiterate how the heavenly beast often wants to go down to earth, and why did they adopt other demons into the family or simply create a new family it is quite often to be met with disaster, how they brought them into the schemes. Funny enough while Nine Spirit is high in power he does not have a humanoid form yet, whether it be from his own choice or that he hasn't had enough time to cultivate one, he still was able to amass an army and speak without any trouble. But it is nice to see demon civilizations that are not hunted down just for being demons, rather it is always a moment of being provoked on either side that starts this conflict, and in this case, it is theft.

75. Meeting disaster at Bamboo-Knot Mountain is the seventy-fifth ordeal [chap. 90]; it was definitely at the height of the battle after losing his grandchildren does Nine Spirits finally joins the battle, does more clever tricks of trying to figure out who these people are, and from there Wukong finds Nine Spirits' owner Tianzun in order to wrangle him in. In the end, it’s very sad to say that the runaway heavenly beast lost all his grandchildren because of this constant battle between the two. If anything, I do find it kind of a reflection of how Wukong also treated his subjects as his own grandchildren and what kind of devastation it would feel to lose any of them. Wukong lost his own subjects, those that he saw as his own adopted grandkids and similar Nine Spirit lost all seven of his adopted grandsons. Nine Spirits at this point did not kidnap Sanzang for the sake of immortality but rather wanted vengeance for his own children’s lives. While he was a loving grandfather he still indulged in his grandchildren's theft when he knew they were outgunned from the start, leading to the loose of all his family. He does kidnap the princes and all of the group other than Wukong but the main idea was to have revenge for his little lions rather than the idea of eating.

76. Suffering at Mysterious Flower Cave is the seventy-sixth ordeal [chap. 91]; this one was just sad how Sanzang can’t even do a simple thing like worshiping without the risk of being kidnapped. Wukong just let him out of the site for a single second and the Yaoguai pounced on it, just a second before Wukong could warn Sanzang to look out. This one is mostly dealing with three demons King of Cold Protection (辟寒大王), King of Heat Protection (辟暑大王), and King of Dust Protection (辟塵大王) that have been tricking a monastery into that they are Buddhist deities and have been stealing the oil supply the entire time. At this particular moment, when Sanzang was bowing to give respect Wukong was just a fraction too late to tell him about his suspicions and Sanzang was quickly winded away. I actually really enjoy this chapter for the sole purpose that Sanzang tries to warn his kidnappers not to take him, and actually brags about his disciples. It makes the demons more alarmed, but he did try to spare their lives. At this point, Sanzang knows strong demons versus weaker demons and does try to give them a warning about his disciples for their own sake. Even when the rhinos plan to eat him quickly, Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing are already at their door and they try to hide Sanznag.

77. Capturing the rhinoceroses is the seventy-seventh ordeal [chap. 92]; Sadly despite being on time to stop the demons, Wujing and Bajie do get kidnapped themselves and Wukong need it back up to save them. This leads to him asking the four-star offices to help with taking them down, and they tried to run away to the west, the Dragon Prince of the West Sea, Ao Moang, (Bailong's brother) stops them and helps Wukong in their capture. They are about to free Bajie and Wujing and Bajie killed Cold Protection, but they were able to arrest Dust Protection and Heat Protection who would be executed. Kind of brutal, but it is interesting to see how Wukong how has become very well-versed in which criminals go where to be properly charged for their crimes rather than being the executor himself. Something that he has brought about is that he knows exactly who to go to, and for what solution as he has ties with every person. I think it kind of just pushes on the fact that Wukong rather than being seen as the only one of his kind, rather sees himself as being connected to everyone and therefore can go where he pleases to get help, advice, or backup.

78. Being forced to marry at India is the seventy-eighth ordeal [chaps. 93-95]; this one is a personal favorite as it doesn’t get a lot of attention, but the Jade Rabbit Spirit (玉兔精) is the enemy of this particular arc where she is trying to sleep with Sanzang under the guise of being the princess. The Jade Rabbit already has a lot of lore behind them, and this one is quite interesting how instead of playing a pet, or at least a supporting role, they are the antagonist within the story. In the end, it actually touches back to Bajie and his connection with Chang’e as they had to get her to retrieve her pet back to the Moon Palace. They have to go to a kingdom to find the real princess but once the real princess has been revealed, Jade Rabbit does kidnap Sanzang for a while instead of trying to play princes any longer. This is supposed to be another test of preserving one’s body, which Sanzang completes flawlessly, and even Wujing has some great one-liners in this. Bajie despite all that he has done so far, still shows that he is head over heels for Chang’e still for one seeing her Wukong has to slap him out of his stupor. The Jade Rabbit usually smashes medicine in the Moon Palace but this time they slipped out of the palace and fled to earth and took over the appearance of Princess of Tianzhu who was reincarnated by Su'e. Su'e was a fairy that kicked the Jade Rabbit while in the Moon Palace, something that the Jade Rabbit still has a grudge against, and thus in Su'e reincarnation, the Jade Rabbit planned to have revenge by taking her likeness and kidnapping Sanzang to be her husband as the cherry on top. There are serval legends of the Jade Rabbit, one being that they are Hou Yi transformed by the Jade Emporer after his shooting of the ten suns and another is that they were once owned by the Queen Mother and a gift to Chang'e who was turned into a toad when she came to the Moon Palace to have a partner to help her create medicine. However, the toad legend was dropped cause it wasn't that popular with people when it came to Chang'e's beauty. Another legend has it that Wu Gang, the woodcutter on the moon was offered a meal by a fox, monkey, and rabbit. The fox and monkey gave him food but the rabbit offered itself and threw itself in the fire. As such Wu Gang and Chang'e were so moved that the rabbit became immortal and became the Jade Rabbit. Another is that the Jade Rabbit is one of the zodiac animals under the Jade Emporer. Or that the Jade Rabbit is actually the incarnation of Chang'e. In Taoism, the Jade Rabbit is often opposite to the Golden Crow, representing the coordination of yin and yang in the cultivation of the golden elixir. There are a lot of legends is what I'm trying to say.

79. Jailed at Bronze Estrade Prefecture is the seventy-ninth ordeal [chap. 97]; this one is absolutely one such defining chapter because it is a reflection of the first arc that Wukong and Sanzang went on together. Because in this one, they also face robbers that have come to steal from them. But rather than in the original site where Wukong fought the six robbers and let them get a few hits on him so he could kill them… can you freeze in them all and ties them up so they can be properly arrested for their crimes. This is such a big difference from where he was at the start of the journey, where he would just kill them for their transgressions, but it shows that he found it recognizes that he knows how powerful he could be, and while yes he could kill them without any effort, he decides to subdue the humans rather than killing them, and I think this shows growth from his past actions to his present actions. Of course, they still get blamed for the murder of Squire Kou (寇洪) because they were the 'last people there' when it was actually the robbers they just arrested. Kou was a kind man trying to feed 10,000 monks and he just reached 9,996 when he was luckily visited by the gang to complete his number. Sadly, he was killed the next morning and his family wanted swift justice, and his wife made it to frame Sanang and the gang as she blamed them for this calamity in the first place. They have to spend the night in jail but Wukong just pretends he’s a ghost, and told them to let them go, get the robber's testimonies, or else he’ll still haunt them. The wife admits her false allegations from fright and the four are sent off again. Wukong even goes to Hell to make sure that Kou gets his life back and even gets to live longer for his good deeds.

80. Delivered of mortal stock at Cloud-Transcending Ferry is the eightieth ordeal [chap. 98]; this one it’s kind of tricky, as technically Sanzang "dies" in this circumstance of events. He goes through a transformation, similar to that of a cicada when he loses his mortal shell in favor of his new immortal body as they watch his old body float down the stream. This can be similar to how he was first brought into the world, floating down the stream to keep him safe and now he is still watching himself float as he enters a new life for himself. The gang watches his body go down the stream as Bajie, Wujing, and Wukong are already immortal and when they finally cross from then on, he finally reaches his long way to go of reaching the Mount. It’s very emotional probably what he has to go through seeing his own model carcass leave him, but in return is the new body he attends. And while this most likely is not a trial I do want to say they were almost ricked by Ananda (阿傩) and Kasyapa (伽叶) two of Buddha's disciples that if they did not bribe them with material goods they wouldn't give the scriptures and while Wukong wished to report them they give in... only to give them FAKE scriptures. They were only aware when White Heroic Honored One warned them and they went straight back to complain and get the real ones. Buddha pardon them saying that since they came in with empty hands they were to get empty scriptures and they could be used as scriptures if one was already enlightened... which is kinda rude considering the scripture were there to help that in the first place. But in the end, gave them his alms bowl, the one that was gifted to him by Gaunyin and funny enough the whole room called the two out for their shameless behavior of asking monks for gifts in the first place. But they still kept the bowl.

81. Thrown off by the White Turtle [chap. 99]; and the final last-minute trial in order for them to reach enlightenment was being thrown off by the Great White Turtle (大白老鼋) and soiling in the scriptures they work so hard to attain. This is the same turtle whose home was taken away by the King of Spiritual Touch and once he was taken back to Guanyin this turtled offered to take them across the large river in promised that Sanzang would have how long he has until he can cultivate into a human body as he is already so old. However with all the confusion, Sanzang forgot to ask Buddha and thus the turtle shakes them off his back, ruining some of the scripture. The four try desperately to salvage what was wet by drying them on a rock and all throughout the night man deities, demons, and spirits tried to take the scriptures if not for Wukong and Sanzang mere presence of enlightenment. Heaven and Earth were both so envious of the descriptions that both gods and demons were trying to snatch them away. The scriptures was dried by some were ripped, leaving their make on the rock and thus it is called Scripture Drying Boulder or something. Wukong in all his wisdom says it is because neither the Heavens nor the Earth is perfect either and as such having perfect scriptures, would not fit such a World. Instead, there should be room for doubt and should be room for ambiguity in order for the world to resonate with the scriptures. I do find it quite philosophically and interesting that a book that is saturated with religious allegories still tries to push for the idea that there should be a sense of searching for one’s own path as well and not all the answers are going to be in scriptures, but rather you’re going to have to take things into your own account of what you believe as well. Also, this is supposed to reference Xuanzang’s own pilgrimage back home and how he also lost some scriptures in a river and spent many years trying to recover that lost information. It’s such a tragedy that he spent so many years getting them, only to lose some on the way back, but I greatly enjoy how Wukong within this novel explains that not everything in the world can be perfect and as such fits to have imperfect scriptures in an imperfect world.

AND THAT IS ALL THE TRAILS IN THE 14-YEAR JOURNEY!

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

childhood friend turned celebrity headcanons

DON'T ASK WHY OR HOW COME, JUST CONSUME THESE QUIETLY AND MOVE ON 🤡

Curiouser and Curiouser...

You never thought you'd see the day where your bestie makes it big in the world of entertainment. Ace had always been bright-eyed whenever he talked about those ambitions—to dance among the stars, to shine like them, to be gazed at by tons of adoring fans. He’s been training really hard to make it here, and you’ve been cheering him at every milestone.

He'd show you his latest routine (he's been practicing hard to be noticed at the upcoming auditions!), finishing with a flourish--breathless--as he looks at your expectantly for your feedback. "Well?" Ace would demand with a smirk. "Did that make your heart skip a beat?" It's been so long since then, and he still makes every movement look so effortless, like he’s not even trying.

He's currently known in the entertainment industry as a jack of all trades, a man of many talents. Besides the singing and dancing, Ace does some VA work on the side (you're not surprised; he's always been good at doing vocal impressions). On variety shows, he even pulls out a deck of cards to do magic tricks—tricks he has practiced with you time and time again. The nostalgic memories well up inside of you every time you're flicking through the channels and catch Ace doing a trick or pulling a voice he has tested on you no less than twenty times.

You heard his latest song playing in a store the other day. His voice had floated over to you as you perused the items on display, some cheeky pop song (Fitting for him, you think), the lyrics telling of distant love. Listening to it makes your heart ache with longing. If you close your eyes, it feels as though Ace is right there beside you, serenading, as he did all those years ago.

He still has your number, still texts you whenever he has a few minutes of break on set or backstage. Ace is hot shit and he knows it. He tends to brag about his latest projects ("I'm in high demand, you know!") or asks you've seen that one film or music video he starred in. If you have, he'll fish for compliments ("Sooo, what'd you think? Was I cool or what?"). If you haven't, he'll goad you to give it a shot. ("Who knows~ You might come out of it appreciating a whole new side of me!”)

He enjoys using his connections in the fashion world to dress well daily; Ace will send you selfies of new stuff he’s wearing for a music video shoot or whatever he got gifted from a fashion brand he worked with. He demands to know your opinion—he wants to hear you tell him how cool and handsome he is!

Ace will frequently tell you about his fans and how dedicated they are to him. It's not that he cares about them any more deeply than their relationship as an idol and a fan, he just does it to observe your reactions and to see if you get jealous when he mentions them.

Sometimes he'll play coy when you initiate the texts; he'll leave you on read and then respond veeery late into the day with a joking "Didja miss me? Desperate for my attention? Don’t worry, I know you’ll always be my biggest fan.”

He shamelessly saves you VIP tickets to his live shows (though he’ll claim he just “happens to have it” on hand). While he’s performing, Ace makes extra effort to throw fanservice your way—and while the fans around you squeal and insist he’s looking at them, you know deep in your heart that his heated gaze is reserved for you and you alone.

After those shows, he’ll of course insist that you come see him backstage. You’ll sit on the couch and wait for him to change into his plainclothes—complete with a baseball cap, sunglasses, and mask to hide his identity—then he’ll walk you home, an arm wrapped around your shoulder. “We could take my private car,” he mutters, “but I think I like having you all to myself, without the chauffeur butting in.”

You worry that someone might spot you, that there will be a massive scandal—but Ace takes it all in stride. “Yeah? Well, if it happens, it happens. Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to have you as my partner in crime~”

This wasn’t the career path Deuce thought he’d end up in, but life works in strange and mysterious ways. You were out chilling with him one day when a recruiter came up to Deuce and offered his card. He wasn’t going to entertain it until you encouraged him, and well… from there, it snowballed into unexpected stardom.

A lot of his work comes in modeling, just because it’s simpler for him to not overthink about answers to give or how to act on set. Often you’ll be browsing a fashion magazine and stumble across a full page or even a spread of Deuce in a bomber jacket posed against a vehicle—a magical wheel, a car. Sometimes he’s staring wistfully at the scenario, his profile cutting a sharp figure, and other times his gaze is right on you, intense as the sun on the ocean blue. When did he become so manly? you wonder. It must be the professional lighting and styling.

Deuce has had to work twice as hard as his peers to get to where he is. He isn’t super coordinated, and he’s pretty slow at learning new things—but it’s his passion and his willingness to get back up again and again that’s admirable. You stay up late with him, clapping to the beat of the music and calling out numbers to help out, but really Deuce thinks it’s your company that’s motivating him to keep going.

His public image is that of a cool and tough beauty with a vulnerable side. In interviews, he tends to bring up being raised by a single mom and how tight he is with her, as well as his love of eggs and baby chicks—all things you already knew about him well before his era of popularity, That always gets the audience tearing up or cooing about how cute he is. When he trips over his words or stumbles, that only adds to his appeal. That clumsiness contrasts well with his coolness, and you’re just glad that the rest of the world can appreciate that about him.

His mom, Dylla, still chats with you! You remember her hosting you as a kid, offering cute little hard boiled eggs cut up into little white rabbits and gushing about how cute her son looks in the fuzzy bunny onesie she got for him with her savings. These days, Dylla doesn’t want for much but still keeps in touch. You’ve noticed that she’s been asking a lot about her son and what you think about him. You reassure her that you’re close, which makes her laugh in a boisterous way.

In one of the talk shows he’s on, Deuce is asked what his “type” is. He takes a long time to mull it over, taking the question very seriously, then settles on… “Truth be told, there’s someone I’ve had a crush on for the longest time. They’ve been with me since the start of my career, and I don’t think I’d even be where I am now without them. They’re always so kind and supportive, but… I worry about things changing between us. Every time I think about telling them how I feel, I chicken out.” The crowd awwwws and the host asks the viewers to hype Deuce up, turning the atmosphere in the studio electric.

He’s not totally sure how to deal with fans quite yet. He has confided in you that he doesn’t think he will ever truly get the hang of it. At meet-and-greets, Deuce will shake their hands, smile, bow at a 90 degree angle to thank everyone for their support. But then his face lights up when you make it to the front of the line, and his posture completely relaxes. “You came to see me,” he whispers in disbelief. “I wanted to surprise you,” you say, taking his hand. And suddenly, he feels warm and safe, right at home with you.

He gets so embarrassed when he sees that you own his merch and even save magazines with his image on them. “I gotta archive your journey to higher and higher heights,” you joke. “Hey, remember how I’d always tell you to remember me when you’re rich and famous? You stuck to your word.” But Deuce says he’s nothing special, that he only got lucky because you’re by his side. Of course he wouldn’t forget you. “To me, you are…” but his words hang there, not knowing how to finish.

Deuce is still careless at times when he hangs out with you. He will usually forget to wear a disguise, so you have to tut and help him sort out something on the fly. You lend him your jacket (wrong size), your hat (oof, it’s going to smell like your shampoo), even comb your fingers through his hair to try and get it to look different. Deuce accepts the items and swears he’ll wash them and return them to you when next you meet.

Despite it all, Deuce stays humble. The same old Deuce you’ve known since you were kids, the guy promises to beat up the schoolyard bully that made you cry and carries your stuff when your arms are full. He promptly replies to your texts and calls—and once, he left on his magical wheel in the middle of a gig when you said you needed him. (His manager wasn’t too happy about that, but Deuce gladly took the scolding.)

You tease him about how he presents in public versus in private. He comes off as so stoic in those glossy high fashion mags, but he’s always so earnest and open with you. He flushes and turns away, muttering, “I-I guess I feel comfortable around you. I don’t feel like I have to pretend to be someone I’m not.”

[lycheedr3ams]

Choke on It ~ (part 1)

Fem!reader x hard!dom!konig

MDNI! NSFW!

Part 2

This is complete filfth and probably the most sinful thing i've ever written. not proofread

TW: gun kink, mean konig, hard dom konig, choking on his massive dick, slight masochism, hair-pulling, mask kink, swallowing his cum, lmk if I missed anything

(I'm not sure if a gun kink counts as dark content, so just be aware of this. Always use safe words and enthusiastic consent! Don't try this stuff at home.)

A few weeks ago, you told Konig that you'd like to...experiment in the bedroom a bit. He was usually a little rough, given his massive size and strength, but his words and the way he looked at you was always so gentle and loving. And you were fucking tired of it. You wanted him to just use you like you knew he could.

"I just want you to be really rough, for once," you explained to him one night. "I know you can use me however you want. Please, just do that."

His eyes widened in surprise, with a hint of worry. "Are you sure, Liebling?" he asked, concerned. "I don't want to hurt you."

You looked him right in the eyes as you said, "That's exactly what I want, Konig. Show me that I belong to you. I want you to do anything. You can even... bring a gun into it. I don't care."

His breath stopped for a moment as he stared at you like a deer in the headlights. This massive beast of a soldier, who has killed so many people, is frightened by your words.

"If...if that's what you want...." he said nervously. But he couldn't help the excitement that started to blossom in his chest at the thought of finally being in control in the bedroom for once. He was always so willing to submit.

"Just surprise me, okay baby? Really, nothing is off the table."

Konig nodded and thought hard for the next few weeks.

.......

You didn't think it would happen tonight. You were just laying in your shared bed in you and Konig's apartment when he came back from maintenance training during his time off. When you heard the door shut as he entered, you got off the bed and happily walked up to him with a smile.

"Glad you're back from work," you say as you wrap your arms around his massive frame. But he doesn't hug you back. You look up at him, confused. "Are you all right? Did you have a bad day?" you ask.

His sniper hood was still on, and he was wearing the more casual camo pants and a tight black shirt, still drenched with sweat from his workout. He looked down at you without any emotion in his eyes.

"Kneel," he commanded with a low, raspy voice.

You looked up at him, blinking in confusion.

"Did you fucking hear me?" he asked as he looked down at you.

You gasped. "Y...yes. I was... just surprised, is all," you say as you begin to sink on your knees. Before both of your knees can even reach the hardwood floor, his gloved hand tangles tightly in your hair, and he pushes your face right into his crotch. You can smell his musk through his pants.

"You fucking wanted this, so you'll take it," he growled from above you. "You know what to do."

You look up at him with wide eyes before nodding and quickly undoing his belt and sliding the zipper down. Before you can even reach to pull him from his boxers, you can feel how hot and hard he is.

"You're so hard, Konig," you observed. He pulled your hair, and you yelped in pain.

"I didn't tell you to speak, now did I?" he said punishingly. "The only time your mouth should be open is when you're choking on my fucking cock. I haven't got all night."

Your heart fluttered in your chest at his words. This is it - this is exactly what you wanted, and you felt shame as you could feel yourself drenching your panties. You quickly pulled his hard length out from his sweaty boxers, and the scent of his sweat almost made you faint. You pumped his thick, hot length in your hand before roughly pushed your hand away and shoved your mouth down on his cock with his thumb and index finger prying your mouth open. Tears instantly sprang into your eyes from the sting of his entire length shoved into your mouth so quickly. You could feel his thick, hot tip poking the back of your throat.

He groaned above you and shoved your face down so that your nose brushed against his pubes. You coughed and sputtered with him still in your mouth, and he shook his head at you.

"Come on, you're used to my length by now, are you not?" he mocked with a teasing smirk hidden by his sniper hood. "Fucking. Take. It." He commanded, each word punctuated by a thrust of his hips into your throat. His cock touched your tonsil each time and you couldn't stop choking. He roughly pulled you off his cock by your hair and stared down at you, shaking his head as you choked and spit dribbled out of your mouth and onto the hardwood floor.

"Fucking pathetic," Konig spat. You looked up at him, hoping for some sort of comfort from your normally loving boyfriend, but only saw a demon in that moment. "Relax your throat, yeah?" he said before suddenly shoving your mouth onto his wet cock again. You were more prepared for it this time, but nothing could stop your gags when he thrusted past your tonsils. He pulled you off his cock again and let go of your hair as he reached for something tucked in a back pocket.

Your eyes widened as you coughed when you saw him holding the hand-gun that he always conceal carries. He stared at you as he turned the safety on. But it was still loaded. You looked up at him, and he almost felt pity before he harshly reached down and dragged you back to your knees by your hair.

"You're going to fucking take it, and not choke, do you understand?" he commanded as he held the end of the gun right against your head. The cold metal poked into your skull, a contrast from the warm fingers of his gloved hand in your hair. You gulped as you look up at him. He shoved the gun deeper in your skull.

"I asked you a question," he growled as he bent over you.

"Yes! I understand!" You squeaked as you nodded.

Satisfied with your answer, Konig shoved you on his length again. One hand holding the back of your head and forcing you on his cock, the other holding the gun that was shoved against the side of your head. You felt completely powerless as he thrusted deep into your throat and groaned above you. You hollowed out your cheeks and wrapped your tongue around him, trying to focus on that rather than your gag reflex and the gun against your head.

"Scheisse," Konig hissed. He looked down at you and saw your heavenly face: your nose shoved right against his pubes, the tears flowing freely down your cheeks, and your throat bobbing as you struggled to take him.

"All you need is a gun to your head to make you behave, is that it?" he teased as his cock twitched. "I know you're so fucking wet right now. This is what you asked me for, remember?"

You closed your eyes as you tried to nod with his length halfway down your throat. Spit was dripping down your chin and down your throat, and Konig laughed at the sight.

"So desperate for this cock, aren't you?" he teased further. He suddenly stopped thrusting and instead used your hair to move your head up and down his cock, your lips wrapping perfectly around his thick length. You could feel one prominent vein slide against your bottom lip with each stroke. You sucked hard on his tip each thrust, and he began to tremble.

"Don't fucking stop," he said as he gripped your hair tighter. The tingling pain of having your hair pulled was almost just as unbearable as his cock down your throat. He dropped the gun and placed his hands on either side of your head as he thrusted into your mouth at a frantic pace before he came loudly down your throat. You could feel his hot cum spurting and sliding down your esophagus. He finally pulled you off of him, and you nearly collapsed on the floor as you gripped your throat, coughing loudly and with spit dripping down your chin.

Konig took off his sniper hood and sat on the floor with you. He placed his hands on your shoulders and squeezed gently.

"My love, are you okay?" he asked with worry plainly laced in his voice. "I hope I wasn't too rough with you..."

You shook your head, your throat unable to form words. You offered him a tired smile as you placed your hand on his thigh.

"Oh, you can't speak?" he asked as you shook your head "no."

"I'm sorry, Liebling, here," he picked you up easily and set you down on the couch. Part of you wishes he would throw you around the living room too. "Let me get you some water." Konig disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, which you drank gratefully. He sat next to you and you cuddled close to him as he gently stroked your hair and undid the knots he created.

hehe

[shatcey]

Dark IF (William)

William Harrison

@.archiveikemen made a wonderful translation of the prologue to this event. I recommend reading it in advance so that there are no questions about how we got into this story.

@.kurishiri has compiled an amazing masterlist on this event. I'm doing summaries, so I'm not there. If you prefer to read the full translation, you have that option as well. Not necessarily for this story… This is the main reason why I'm making a summary to fill in the missing parts.

The main part of this event basically coincides with William's main story. I'm not even kidding. The same situations, the same words… At first I was pretty sad about it but… the endings are really good.

Of course, I finished both of them. I liked the bitter ending better. Perhaps, like certain someone (who say the exact opposite), I love drama too much.

After Victor send Kate to the twisted word with parting words "it's in you hands to find the happy ending..." Kate recalled...

Not creapy at all... all things considered...

As soon as Kate appears in the twisted world, she meets Cheshire cat Liam. Who introduced himself quite happily. Suddenly the bell rings. And Liam explained that this meant that someone had been beheaded on the orders of King of Hearts William. And this is a common occurrence in this world.

Kate seemed to ask too many questions about William, and Liam asked if she was interested in him. But no, she just needs to find what's missing. The lying Fox Harrison appeared. And Liam recommends him as an informant.

I'm not in a position to judge, but if someone was presented as a "liar"… why would you trust him? And even more so to buy information from him? Who knows what he's telling you. Well, we all know that we can trust Harry, but this is her first time meeting him. There's no way she could have known about it.

Kate had nothing to pay, so she decided to look for information on her own. Liam told her about William's abilities and advised her to be cautious around him.

She decided that it would be very stupid to meet William without preparation. This guy must be crazy (these are her thoughts, not mine). She resolutely went to the city and… found herself in front of his castle. It's really a destiny.

She looked at the strangely familiar castle (familiar to me, not to her), but decided that she shouldn't go there…

How did he manage to jump so high? Is he magical? Don't tell me it's Benjamin… Wait a minute… Jewel? Victor? Are you playing matchmaker again, you little... rabbit?

And, of course, there were no guards or servants in this castle, so no one stopped her, and she ended up in the dining room with William… There may have been servants there, but they've been turned into furniture or something. Oh, sorry… the wrong fairy tale…

How did he know her name? He… сan't read minds for real this time, can he?

…and we on his main route. Do fun stuff and became free from the morality and expectations of society. And, of course, Kate fell for him very hard. Nothing new.

A sudden thought…. Are we stuck on Groundhog Day by any chance?

She couldn't find what is missing so returned to Harrison. Harry asked her what she would give him for this information.

Harry replied with his canonical "that's not half bad" and told her about William.

It turns out that the people William executes have committed terrible crimes in the past, but cannot be judged by the law. So he chooses the path of destroying "evil with evil". Strangely familiar isn't? And since the bells were ringing at that time, many people were so scared of it that the number of crimes in this country decreased significantly.

And as a bonus, he added that there is Mad Hatter who is plotting something against William. He wants to dethrone William and take his place. Indeed, this guy is crazy.

Kate returns to the castle and asks William to explain himself. So he tells her about why he frees people. He said exactly the same as he said on his route. A selfish observer… something like that. And he asks her what she wants, and… she tell him. And in the morning she wakes up in his bed, remembering last night and blushing. Typical Kate.

But she noticed opened letter and read it…

And here we have two endings. The developers don't give any recommendations, but it seems to me that chronologically the bitter ending comes first. You'll understand what I mean.

Bitter ending

Kate remembered her conversation with Harry and decided that she needed to warn Will about Mad Hatter. But she searched the whole castle and couldn't find him. She thinks he's probably gone to the court, and she has a very bad feeling about it.

She ran out of the castle, just wondering for a moment where exactly the court was, and Liam ran up to her. Explaining that there was a commotion in the court, but he didn't see her and became worried. Kate asked him to show her which way the court was, which he did.

In court, the final verdict is announced by the judge

I'm so glad it's not Vivi. This guy is really crazy.

The guards pulled out their guns and pointed them at William. Wait a minute… Are you going to do it right here? There will be blood everywhere… Oh, you have red carpets, so there's nothing to worry about. Okay, continue.

At the last moment… Kate jumped out of nowhere and covered Will with her body. I really thought he was going to die this time… But that's impossible when Kate is around.

Right, we need Roger! Roger, where are you? Oh... right... the wrong fairy tale... again

He asks her why she did it, and she replies that she doesn't know, her body moved on its on. She loses consciousness due to blood loss and doesn't hear his words.

I have goosebumps. This is so…

She thinks that she still cannot leave, she has forgotten something… In the black void of nothingness, she finally remembered. Then she was a child and could do whatever she liked, she visited Wonderland and met the king of hearts. They spent several days together, and she did whatever she wanted, and if she was in danger, William protected her. But he said she had to come home. As parting words, he asked her to be honest about her wishes. She asked him what if she became the one who wouldn't do it?

Oh, so this is what she heard at the beginning?...

Kate opens her eyes and find herself in the library. There is no pain or blood on her. She's definitely returned back to the real world. She remembers everything. She promised to protect him when they met again, but she forgot about it. And because of that, she faced such a bad ending. She looks around and thinks that, despite the fact she return to the real world, this place seems bleak. Because her lover is not here…

She thinks that even if she finds herself in Wonderland again, the same ending may await her. But her heart is free, and it screams that she wants to see him again… And this time with determination to find her happy ending… she "jumps" into the book.

Victor and Harrison are in the theater-like place. Harry informs Victor that Kate will be coming back to them soon.

I'm not sure if Vivi said "you", he could say "we" or "me"… I didn't take a screenshot with JP's text.

So… this endless sad circle can only be broken with a happy ending. And for that, she just needs to find what is missing…

Premium ending

Kate read the letter and decided to warn William again, but this time he came up to her with a tray of tea.

Oh, can you make tea? Why am I even surprised, you're the same perfect self.

She asks him about a letter and what he plans to do. Of course he will come, because that's what he has to do to stay true to himself. She reply he could be killed… But he doesn't think that's a big deal. Kate clings to his jacket to keep him from leaving… And we're back to his route…

Kate begged him to cancel the order, not to leave her… But he only smiled and kissed her on the forehead. The door closed and Kate wondering why this William's kiss seemed so familiar to her. And she remembered memories from her childhood. When they parted, she promised to protect him the next time they met, he laughed and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

They must be magical…

So… Remembering everything, she was even more determined to help him, but that she could possibly do… Scream, girl, it always works if you need to attract attention.

But she didn't even have to do that, Liam came in. She's freed from Will's order and can run after him, and the same as it was at the Bitter ending, she asked Liam to show the way.

In court, the judge passes the same sentence, the guards point guns at Will, and Kate jumps in front of him again

Will laughs and asks her why she acted like it was the end. Kate suddenly realized that she didn't feel any pain. She looked at the place where she thought she had been shot.

As I thought… The watch is magical… It catches all the bullets.

Will looked around at the people in court, ordered them to "Not move" and called Harrison over. Harry showed up and explained that Mad Hatter was spreading false rumors about William, but in fact these were his crimes. And members of parliament take bribes to hide them. Criminals!

William said that if it was only Mad Hatter's sincere wish, he would have allowed himself to be killed. But Mad Hatter started destroying other people's lives, and he can't forgive him. So…

And again, it's good that they have red carpets… What am I saying?..

Several days later Kate and William are having a crazy tea party for two in the dining room. Kate asks if he knows what is missing. She hasn't returned home, so she still hasn't found it. He says if she wants to come home, he won't stop her. But she means exactly the opposite. If she had known what was missing, she would never have found it to stay with him forever.

So he has a theory, but...

This kind of won't help… I'll definitely forget what we talked about in an instant…

I didn't buy epilogue, but I probably will… if so, I will write about it later. If there's anything in it besides "hot stuff". And… if there's still a point in it. This event will most likely take place on the EN server in late November or early December.

My thoughts

I really like the way they combine everything together. The clock, the voice she heard, the feeling that she had forgotten something important… It's really amazing. At first, I was really upset that story was repeated. But the developers managed to create a new version based on the old one, and it's really amazing. After a slight change in the key points, everything looks completely different. Will's magic call was presence on the main route, but it was a subtle hint like her deep thoughts. This is the main key here. He called her, he lured her into this world. The first, the second time… maybe millions of times. And she continued to follow his call. It really feels like destiny.

I'm actually really curious… If William's story is so similar with his route, maybe other's stories as well? I haven't read Alfons's story, I was waiting for it to appear on the EN server, so I can't be sure.

I really like the idea of Victor as a god-like character, a kind of storyteller… who knows how the story should be like… and don't stop until it's exactly like that. Or… I have goosebumps… he is destiny itself.

And I'm really interested to know what the role of the Fox is in this world… Why does he remember everything, even if everyone's memories supposed to be reset?

In addition, I want to say that the part in the real world on the bitter ending is written so well that I was tempted to show you the whole scene. But I was stopped by the number of screenshots that I could put in one post. I really like it, it gives me goosebumps, no matter how many times I reread it. And yes, I cried… It's too good…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🔝 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 ℙ𝔸𝔾𝔼 🔝

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[bloodycyrano]

K, so I'm in a depressive episode, and I'm craving chocolate. Nobody probably cares, but here's what type of chocolate members of Team Tadpole prefer and how I think they'd react to receiving it as a gift! This is purely headcannons, and I haven't been able to play the game in a few months, so if I get something wrong, don't be mad at me, lol.

Shadowheart: She absolutely adores dark chocolate, and she's absolutely one of those pretentious fuckers who hate milk chocolate, and take anything other than 90-100% cacao as an insult on their fucking bloodline. She does think that she's better than you for liking Dark chocolate- This does not change if she gets her 'good' ending.

If you bring her her favorite type of chocolate, she will not only be impressed but grateful. I feel like she probably has chronic migraines or something and would enjoy sharing it with you some late night with a bottle of wine and a charcuterie board. Probably making flower crowns or feeding animals in a meadow, basic cottagecore lesbian romance stuff. I could be wrong, I've never romanced Shadowheart, but it's just a gut feeling.

Karlach: Karlach likes milk chocolate best, and doesn't see the point in putting up with something bitter just because some people think it's 'better'. More than anything, it reminds her of her mums baking, back when she was a kid. Chocolate is expensive and hard to get your hands on, but by god when the holidays came around or her birthday, I feel like her mum would've baked her the best cookies or chocolate chip muffins after working extra hard to afford it.

Karlach would love whatever type of chocolate you gave her, but I think especially if you brought her hot chocolate or chocolate chip cookies/Muffins/etc, she might even tear up a little. After all, she hasn't had something like that since her mom died.

Wyll: Wyll is a proud enjoyer of chocolate in general, but actually seems to favor white chocolate and dark chocolate the best. He likes to enjoy the contrast in flavors.

I feel like Wyll would just be grateful to be given chocolates, and wouldn't care much what form they came in. He'd probably invite you to enjoy them alongside him, and simply spend time with one another. I do believe he loves dark hot chocolate with whipped cream, and would probably try to set up a day to go to his favorite cafe in baldurs gate for hot chocolate, to return the favor. It's a treat for him, too, since he hasn't been there since his father cast him out. It'll bring a wave of nostalgia, and maybe some unkind memories.. But he will feel happy to be there. Especially to be there with you. And maybe, it'll become a much more common thing.

Astarion: I feel like he prefers dark chocolate, if he's able to eat it at all (I don't remember how vampires work in DnD.)..

If he can't eat it, I feel like he'd miss it.. the simple things. Pleasures like imported chocolates. He might go on a monologue about things he enjoyed as a Mortal that he no longer can.-.. If he can, however, eat chocolate.. I think he'd be surprised. Surprised you thought of him, surprised you spent the money, surprised you wanted to give him anything at all. I think he'd be very happy, but he probably wouldn't want to show it. He'd brush it off with a sarcastic comment or something, yet still taking the mental note that if nobody else cared, at least you did.

Gale: Gale is the most pretentious motherfucker there is, are you kidding me? I think he, himself, loves milk chocolate and it's a major guilty pleasure, but he tells everyone it's dark chocolate. He doesn't shame anyone for their preference, but there comes an air of arrogance whenever he says he likes dark chocolate.

He will definitely be grateful no matter what type you give him, but if you give him milk chocolate and tell him you know it's his favorite? He might try to deny it at first, but his heart is beating a mile a fucking minute knowing that you've been observant enough to bring him his actual favorite type without making a big deal about it, or calling him a liar.

Lae’zel: Has never had chocolate before, and doesn't know why you're giving it to her. She does, however, adore white chocolate after you get her to try some. You'd assume she'd prefer dark, but she doesn't. She believes that if you're going to have a sweet, or a desert, it shouldn't be bitter because that defeats the purpose.

After you get her to try it the first time, she'll insist she doesn't like it or see the reason for it, but at any party or gathering or anything where there's chocolate? She's sampling the fuck out of that snack table, and hovering over the bowl of sweets like a dragon guarding a hoard of treasure. She actually really likes fancy chocolates and truffles. If you bring them to her while in an established relationship, she won't act very different, but she's very happy and feels very loved.

I might do Halsin, Jaheira, Minsc, and Minthara later. Idk.

[misc-obeyme]

OKAY So I've had an idea that could be either funny, angsty, or smutty depending on your mood. So imagine Mammon and MC had sex before Mammon became invested in them back when he was kind of a shit to them (I'm imagining the in original Obey Me timeline, not NB). Mammon didn't care much abt them so he was pretty selfish and it was kind of shit for MC... but imagine if it was MC's first time!

It could be funny if later they don't hold it against them and use it to tease him, could be angsty if they're upset abt it or it just kinda leads to them being uninterested in him, or could be smutty if they tell him he can have a second chance :D)

I just like to imagine all the ways this scenario could go lmao

NSFW MDNI

I feel like my response to this depends on whether or not Mammon knew it was MC's first time. Like to be fair, I'm pretty sure most first times aren't exactly a transcendent experience, but if he was aware of it and still didn't care, that's pretty bad. I could only go with angst for that scenario because any MC who would forgive him for that is a bigger person than I lol.

BUT I think the other two options could work if Mammon found out it was MC's first time later. Like he didn't know at the time, but then MC tells him in order to tease him and then also possibly elicit a second try? I think Mammon can be kind of oblivious in general, so it makes sense to me that he wouldn't even be aware of the fact that it was MC's first time. Uh oh. I actually like that idea. Oh what have you done, anon? Fine, fine, here's a drabble. I had to work really hard to keep it under 500 words and it's only missing that number by two.

It was a quiet night in the House of Lamentation while you watched Mammon counting the Grimm he had earned from his latest modeling gig. You were sitting next to him on the couch in his room and he seemed to almost forget that you were there. This gave you the chance to observe him, to watch how serious he became as he calculated his finances. A look that said he was focused only on his task.

It was a look you wished he had given you back then, when you found yourself beneath him.

You smirked, nudging him. "Hey. Remember that time we had sex?"

Mammon froze for a moment as a blush exploded across his face. He frowned and put down the Grimm he'd been counting.

"'Course I remember," he said, not looking at you.

You leaned toward him. "Did you know you're my first man in more ways than one?"

Mammon's eyes snapped to you. "W-what-? MC!"

You laughed at his dumbfounded expression.

"Why didn't ya tell me?!" he demanded, covering his face with his hands. "Damn it, I was such a jerk. How can ya even stand to be around me?"

You pulled his hands away from his face. "Don't say stuff like that. You sound like Levi."

Mammon still wouldn't look at you.

You turned his face so he would meet your eyes. "How about I give you a second chance?"

His expression became determined and he grabbed your hand in both of his. "You'd let me make it up to ya?"

You answered him with a kiss.

Mammon wrapped his arms around you, pulling you onto his lap, his hands already beneath your shirt.

The kiss became hot and heavy so fast your head began to spin. You pulled away with a gasp and Mammon's lips fell to your neck. Then you felt yourself being lifted. He carried you over to his bed where he wasted no time removing your clothes and his.

Here you were again, beneath the Avatar of Greed. You looked up at him and your heart swelled when you saw that look of concentration, the glimmer of feeling in his eyes. You saw a demon who wanted nothing more than to take care of you, to do what he should have done back then.

That night, Mammon fucked you gentle and slow, taking his time and savoring every moment. You would never forget the sound of his moans mingled with yours, the way he listened to whatever you asked for, how he couldn't stop saying your name.

When you woke up in his arms, Mammon was watching your sleeping face. You blushed a little at the memory of the night you spent together.

"I'm sorry about back then, MC," he said quietly. "Did I… did I make it up to ya?"

You smiled at him. "Don't worry. I don't regret that you were my first man."

Mammon blushed furiously and then tried to hide it by kissing you.

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[licncourt]

God I know it’s annoying to be one of those people who rains on people’s party by preferring original works instead of adaptations but the way book fans have kind of been pushed out of the fandom sucks lol Like I totally understand why people love the show and that it naturally has a huge fan base due to its wide reaching platform, it’s just I’ve noticed a good portion seem to dismiss book fans as small minded, as if you can’t be fans of both. Specifically with Louis of course. It just sucks that Lestat is seemingly embraced by fandom at large in both book&show form while bookLouis is basically nullified. Which is why your blog is such a joy to browse through as a Louis girl! Because I thought we were all on the same page that these are all horrible and terrible beings? lol And honestly both book&showLouis are so different yet so similar in ways that I find fascinating as they are both interesting characters with their own complexities. Anyway thanks for this blog and all your shared thoughts it’s much appreciated.

ps. I kind of miss the dynamic between L&L in fic where it was a bit more of a blurred line of push and pull. No one pulls off Ice Queen quite like Louis and I personally love fic where he’s the one who has Lestat crying and eating his heart out lol

I don't like to talk about the show/show fandom a ton on my blog these days because I don't want to invite any drama but I do agree with you for sure. I find it frustrating, like there's an infinite amount of space for everyone as long as you're nice, book fan, show fan, or both. It's definitely the only fandom I've observed with so much vitriol for the source material from a huge chunk of the extended fanbase..? A lot of the really intense hatred for even the IWTV book feels like the weird moral purity discourse that shows up in other fandoms and it just feel so out of place for something as inherently dark and morally ambiguous as VC/AMC IWTV. They're just dark in different ways (and many of the same).

The Louis stuff probably bothers me the most. I've made jokes before about people needing to hate him in the right way if they're going to hate him, but it's not really a joke tbh. If people don't want to engage with book Louis because they're uncomfortable with the plantation/slave owner aspect or they find his hypocrisy annoying or his personality too dour and unpleasant and not fun, I totally get it, he's an acquired taste!

My frustration is that a large group of people who hate book Louis as show fans commonly state that he's boring or has no personality or that he was a nothing character made into something interesting by the show and I hate that take SO much.

His character is more subtle and understated than Lestat or Armand, but incredibly rich and layered and he absolutely comes to life in the subtext in way that's really magical. I think show Louis is a fantastic character, but he's also designed to be easier to digest because it's a show on AMC designed for mass consumption and modern tastes.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but by comparison book Louis takes a little more effort to understand and absorb and evokes way more complex emotions in the reader. If that's not someone's thing and they just want to have fun, that's totally fine (I feel that way about other media sometimes), but I'm always bothered by people who feel that way speaking badly about the book/his character without giving it an honest try. I don't know how anyone could say that this character written as a mirror image by a grieving mother in a toxic relationship who has just lost her child and her faith while battling alcoholism and grappling with her relationship with death, sex, gender, and cycles of violence could be considered one dimensional.

It feels disingenuous to paint him as a lazily written stock narrator and spread that analysis across social media so that other people go in with preconceived notions and hate on it blindly.

[saeist]

there was a faint tapping on his window late at night again, interrupting nagi's rare late night thoughts of missing his own home back in kanagawa. nagi sighs and walks over to his window to open it a bit to let you in.

“you look like shit” was the first thing you say upon entering his dorm room late at night. nagi rolls his eyes and closes the window. “hello to you too i guess” he mumbles. nagi watches you drop your bag on the foot of his bed

“what brings you here today?” he asks, eyes watching you maneuver your way around HIS dorm room like it was yours. to be fair, his dorm was basically your dorm now too. 

nagi recalls every little thing you left in here whenever you decide to crash at his place just like your spare toothbrush in his bathroom, your fluffy slippers hidden in the depths of his closet. (god forbid reo ever finds that or else nagi will never hear the end of it), your unkept notes just lying there on his desks and drawers and many more

“i’m always here” you smiled lazily, finally settling in on your side of his bed. nagi simply hums and crawls inside his duvet. pulling them just below his nose where half of his face is covered. 

you take a peek at his lying figure. he was staring up at the ceiling and not playing on his phone for once in his life. usually, he’d be yapping about how the reo forced him to run five laps around the field that day or how his team in the game sucks literal ass but tonight, he was too quiet for your liking.

obviously it bothered you quite a bit. he was your best friend after all 

“you okay?” you ask. breaking the quiet tension in the room. it took a while for nagi to respond. “... i guess” he answered quietly. you sit up and watch him beside you silently. 

you observe how his breathing was shallow almost as if he’s calming himself down. you opted on just keeping him company without saying anything. one of the very few activities you two do together. 

not like he’d admit it out loud but nagi does like having you around. you don’t suck the energy out of him unlike the rest of the world that basically drain him for no apparent reason.

but that goes out the window when you hear quiet sniffles. you scoot closer next to him, hovering over his lying state. “sei?” you call. nagi clears his throat and mutters a quick “what?”

“are you really okay?” you ask the question once more. there’s no point of lying to you now. nagi was always there for you when you need someone to talk to and now here you were, returning the favor.

“.. i'm not sure” he confessed. sitting up so he could look at you with puffy eyes. it was rare for him to open up his emotions to someone. he thinks you might be the second person who has seen him this vulnerable. the other being reo.

your heart aches at the sight of him like this. he was usually the laid back person in the room, the ‘i don’t give a single fuck’ type of person but everyone has their limits.

after a few minutes of silence, nagi speaks up. “i just feel a little overwhelmed recently” he opens up, scratching his ear as a nervous habit. 

“things have been pretty overwhelming during practices sometimes.. i don't know, i really don't know..” nagi rambles, brows furrowing in annoyance just thinking about everything

you don’t say anything as you let him continue rant about his own misfortunes for the past few weeks. it’s all you could offer. by the time he finishes, he was panting. his shoulders tense as ever and it looks like he won’t be sleeping anytime soon.

nagi's eyes snap open when you wrap your arms around him. he barely noticed you creeping closer when he was going off about everything. hesitantly, he hugs back. his long limbs circling around your frame. 

nagi catches a whiff of your hair that smelled faintly like mint, just like his own shampoo. even if it was just for a second, he got distracted that you do in fact use his stuff in the bathroom. strangely enough he feels the weight on his shoulders slowly lift just by a simple gesture from you. his mind going blank the longer you hold him. 

you are warm. the exact opposite of nagi. to nagi, you make him feel like he's okay. maybe that’s why he liked being around you. maybe that’s why he lets you stay over at his dorm room at any given time. maybe you bring a sense of home to him that nagi yearns for

you are nagi's safe space and tonight is the night he realizes that. 

another rewrite from one of my old blogs :p

[toskarin]

I agree that the movies mess up a lot of the story, but I always chalked that up to them not having enough time to include everything, and having to sort of "speedrun" the route, and I know this is probably an empty exercise, but given how much time they had, how would you include all those left out bits into the movies? because there's so much they just couldn't put in, especially illya and kirei's stuff, that the third movie feels incredibly hollow, but I just don't know how they could put in everything. I don't get why they decided to cram the longest route in the vn into a movie trilogy

three movies wasn't the ideal format for adapting heaven's feel, but it's shocking how much filler (and I'm using this to refer to actual empty content which doesn't progress the story or anyone's character) was added to reach feature length

free up maybe 15-20 minutes per movie by trimming dead air from the fight scenes that weren't in the vn. they can even keep them! just take about five or ten minutes of random back-and-forth from each one

scenes like the slow-mo walk to sakura are bewildering. literally just fade to black before shirou starts walking and then fade in as he hugs her. that's all that scene needed, and it's a perfect microcosm of the over-animation problem that the movies have

illya's conversation with shirou where she lets on that she knows someone has to die at the end of the story needs to be reinserted. otherwise illya has basically nothing to go off of and just kind of leaves the narrative emptily in the finale

somewhat controversially, I think Nine Bullet Revolver could be cut down to about a quarter of its length and still have the same impact. make it sudden and violent and intense. explain things less.

the school flashbacks in the intro are fine, but if it's between them and getting more content in the first movie so that we can hacve die lorelei later on, you know which one I'm voting to keep

if we have time for both, insert the conversation between illya and sakura about what it means to be a grail and keep illya overhearing taiga talking about kiritsugu's overseas voyages. that's a fine way to adapt the scene where illya looks for kiritsugu in the emiya household without relying too heavily on someone knowing the full context

changing none of the pacing, just have rider and rin in-frame during the final walk to the flower viewing. it's such a disservice to every character in that scene to tighten the scope like that. it feels so cold, utterly devoid of the cathartic warmth that scene is supposed to have

move kotomine's recollection of claudia's death forward. start it when assassin hits him with zabaniya, then reveal the missing heart as the story ends (in contrast to how it happens now, where the story ends right before assassin uses zabaniya)

get rid of the random ninja jumping shirou does in the angra mainyu finale. just have him walk towards her. it's startling how much the movies would be improved by just letting shirou walk normally towards sakura more often

and lastly, to correct for the fact that so much of everyone's characterisation in the vn comes from shirou's monologue being able to describe subtler body language, move the camera to rin once or twice. have a few scenes that are framed from her perspective which make it clear that shirou's acting weird to the outside observer. he comes off as too much of gigachad otherwise

[cannedbeefaroni]

remember when I wrote this? I had my friend voice act it because i thought it would be cool. was wondering if u guys were interested in this kind of character audio stuff?? might do more in the future if people want it (full text under the cut)

My dearest, (insert name),

Over the past several weeks my mind and heart have been overflowing with feelings I can't even begin to describe with words. Fate has brought us to the same dead end office job; as well as bringing us to neighboring cubicles. I've spent centuries in this hellscape, quietly observing the world around me. I've become accustomed to reading people; and I conclusively draw that everyone who sets foot in this office are nothing more than annoyances. So many individuals come and go, and I can't ever recall missing anyone. You've disrupted my way of living.

Ever since you started showing your face around here, I'm inconclusive. I've tried reading you, but every time I try it leaves me with more questions than answers. I'm afraid you're a mystery I cannot solve, and it keeps me awake at night. Your inconsequential kindness, your gentle, radiating smile burning through my skin, into my core, and the simple knowledge of your presence is driving me to madness. I want to figure you out. Figure out why you're like this. Why do you of all people make me so weak? But simultaneously, this insanity might be the closest feeling to heavenliness I'll ever see.

You don't know me all too well, but we are one in the same. I see how none of the scum at work acknowledge you. They take advantage of your kindness, then return to pretending you don't exist. They treat you like you're stupid, but they're all idiots themselves. I know you're not stupid, because you're smart enough to never sink to their level. You are above them. You behave angelically despite how horribly they all disrespect you. They don't deserve you.

I see you. I notice how hard you try, and I admire everything I've ever seen of you. Your a shining light in this dark world. An angel with a blinding presence. You're my songbird, as your voice sounds like music to my ears every time you speak. I swear I will protect you until the day I die. You are my sun, and I would love nothing more than to stare at you until you're the only thing I can see.

Love, your secret admirer (very obviously Edward)

[shuusagi]

One Month (part 2/?)

Hi lovlies I hope you enjoy! This is super self indulgent so I hope you all don't mind that haha. I tried to rearrange some situations so they weren't exactly the same as the movie. I promise I'll get to the good stuff soon enough!

Warnings: I re-read these but I'm not the best at writing so it may show. dubcon, somnophilia, sexual assault (past, Brahms could NEVER), abusive ex, scars (none self harm), blood.

Brahms:

You were sound asleep on the queen size bed, one leg sticking out from under the blanket laying on your back with your head tilted to the side. He observed your chest rise and fall and can't help but get caught in the rhythm of it. He carefully steps out of the closet, being sure not to stir you from your rest. Each creak of the stairs causes him to stop in bated breath. Hovering above you, he takes in more of your features up close. You had beautiful lashes that fluttered every once in a while, making him nervous that you'll wake up.

Tentatively he uses the back of his hand to brush the hair from your face. He got to see a better look at the scar crossing your eye. He wondered who would ever hurt his dear y/n. Maybe it was a cat? He hoped no one would hurt you out of malice.

God, you were so attractive to him. Your (h/c) hair once a nice and long, brushed nicely along your back was now splayed out in a messy crown. His heart beat picked up, just barely brushing past your skin. How he wished he could just squeeze and play with your soft body.

You shift to your left side, startling him. He slowly backed away as to not disturb you anymore, back into his secret door within the closet.

Y/N:

You had awoken to the sound of birds chirping and the sun shining a lovely warmth into your room. You sit up, letting out a long yawn with a big stretch. You feel your back muscles loosen with each second you're in that position. Walking down the stairs, you go to the kitchen to make yourself a cup of coffee.

You were met with a knock at the door. Curiously you open it, you become face to face with a handsome man. He's about 5'9", lovely brown hair and a cheeky smile. Must be the delivery man Mrs. Heelshire mentioned.

"Hi its nice to meet you! I'm Malcom. I own the Grocery store downtown. " you shake his hand, noticing a firm but not too tight handshake.

"Ah yes, you must be the delivery boy." You match his cheeky smile. He shuffles in several bags of groceries, and you begin taking the ingredients out and putting them away.

"So... let me guess. You're American?"

"Close", you say "I'm from Canada." You let out an awkward laugh. Turning back to the jam you had in your hand.

"Darn, you know, my mother and grandmother were fortune tellers. Canada would have been my second guess."

"Ah, yes I can tell it was passed down the generations." You joke.

~~~~

You run to Brahms room completely forgetting that you had to wake him up to start his day. Ugh, this is gonna be a long few months.

Busting through the door you notice he's still in bed. But he's sitting up. You could have sworn you laid him down to bed yesterday. Maybe your mind is just playing tricks on you.

You take him downstairs for lunch, berating yourself for forgetting about Brahms. Wait- why are you being so hard on yourself? It's just a doll, it's not like the Heelshires will see you doing this. Still, you look down at the doll in your hands and can't help but feel bad. Sure, it reminded you of every supernatural movie revolving around creepy dolls, but it also had a certain charm to it. He was dressed in a lovely dark tuxedo, with brown hair brushed so nicely against his head. The painting on him was immaculate, he really did look life-like.

You decide on making him eggs and toast since you missed breakfast for him and yourself. You truly had a bad memory when it came to feeding yourself, how you managed to last this long is beyond you. Hopefully Brahms wouldn't end up starving himself, you giggle.

Making the eggs sunny side up, and extra crispy for yourself. You loved the crispy bits that come from the edges of the eggs, they were your favorite. As for toast.. well it was pretty easy, just pop it in the toaster and make sure it doesn't burn.

"Well Brahms, it isn't a Michelin five star meal but it's something!" You sit across from him in the kitchen, slowly eating your eggs and toast.

You fidget in your chair, feeling awkward with the silence in the room. Surely this isn't any different than usual, as you liked to spend your time alone and didn't have many friends to rely on but still. Something about this home felt off. Like you weren't truly alone, despite it just being you and Brahms.

You get up out of your daze and put Brahms meal in the freezer as specified.

Brahms:

Finally, you were following the rules. He was hesitant to begin causing a stir within the house, as its only been 2 days since you arrived at the Heelshire manor. He didn't want to scare you- not too soon at least. His belly filled with butterflies at the thought of your eyes wide with fear, something so enticing and also odd about scaring you. He had a mixed reaction to this side of himself. But not hurt, no He could never hurt you. He only wanted to play some games. That's all.

Think of tag, or hide and seek. He wanted to have fun with you. Slowly he will incorporate bangs on the walls, echoed voices of a child- Brahms to be specific. He already noticed how you would awkwardly look around, he knows you can sense him in a way. It gets him going, the thought of you finally meeting with him. You were so small, he would easily tower over you.

He peeked through a hole in the wall, watching you put doll Brahms to bed. He waited with bated breath, as you slowly knelt down to kiss him on the forehead. He touches his own, a fuzzy feeling at the thought of you doing that to him- the real Brahms. A twinge of jealousy struck him, oh how he wished he could be in your arms already. But no, it's far too soon.

[zoeykallus]

Hiiii!!!! I love ur work sm <<<<33333

If you get the chance could you do reader with an anxiety/panic disorder + platonic bad batch

Maybe with some snuggles from wrecker bc I love him SO MUCH <<<<<33333

Aloha! Thanks a lot! Love to read that! 😊 Okay, I'm not really sure if you want this as HCs or a One-shot. But it sounds like a One-shot, with all of them but focus on Wrecker? Let me give it a try. I'm not really a proffesionell, so I can only draw from my own experience regarding anxiety and panic. I hope that works for you. If not, I would need a little more details.

The Bad Batch x Platonic Reader One-Shot - We Have Your Back

Warnings: anxiety/panic disorder/Hurt/Comfort/Fluff

____________________

You let yourself be persuaded to go to the market with the boys. Actually, it's not a good idea, today is not a good day, you feel it in your bones, but you don't want to be a killjoy. Against your better judgment, you go along anyway.

While you stroll through the market, you concentrate on the boys as your fixed points, your safety buffers. But there's really a lot going on at the market today. So many people, so many smells, sounds, voices. It's actually not that warm, but you start to sweat a little.

Your eyes twitch back and forth, you don't know what to focus on first, you feel harried and lost at the same time. You constantly have the feeling that you are being watched, subliminally you expect to be grabbed by some stranger at any time. It's not a full on panic attack yet, but you know it's about to happen.

You feel helpless, trying to fight that upcoming feeling of paralyzing fear, but it only seems to get worse.

Suddenly, Hunter stops and turns to you.

"Hey, is everything okay?"

You force yourself to smile and say, "Sure."

His gaze is critical, but he doesn't contradict you.

"Okay, if you say so"

It's only a small gesture, and if you weren't so observant you might have missed it, but you see Hunter barely noticeably giving hand signals to his brothers. Like a ring of protection, the boys form around you almost unobtrusively, enclosing you in their midst like a shield.

You look up and Echo smiles gently at you. Tech shows you something on his holopad and distracts you with a few facts about the planet. Crosshair lets you nibble on some dried fruit he bought.

The guys already know that you suffer from these attacks from time to time, by now they know how to deal with it quite well. Wrecker takes your hand very gently. When you look up at him, he smirks at you.

"We've got you, dear."

Your heart beats faster with joy and relief. You take a deep breath and return his smirk. You are incredibly grateful.

Carefully, Wrecker puts his arm around your shoulders and gently presses you against his side.

"You're perfectly safe here," he says softly.

Touched, you say, "I know Wrecker, thank you."

Tech suggests buying stuff for a picnic or barbecue and going to a quieter place. You're not the only one who likes the idea.

That evening you sit together in the middle of nowhere around a campfire, the Marauder hidden not far from you between some trees. Over the fire is a rack that Tech has put together, on which vegetables and pieces of meat are roasting.

You are leaning against Wrecker's strong chest, he holds you gently in his arms. It feels wonderful, safe, warm, secure. The food over the fire smells so good, the night sky is starry. It seems like a perfect evening, it feels like the world is in order again. There is no fear lurking somewhere in the back of your mind, not now.

You sit back in relief as you hear Echo say, "It's okay if you say no, by the way, you don't have to go along with everything if you don't feel like it, dear."

You blink and look at him in surprise.

Tech adds, "We want you to feel comfortable, but to assure that, you have to be honest with us."

Hunter nods in agreement and says, "None of us are judging you."

Crosshair growls, "Stop saying only what you think we want to hear."

Wrecker squeezes you gently with a soft laugh and says, "What Crosshair is saying is that we want you to be comfortable, so you need to tell us honestly what you want and how you feel"

You smile cautiously and say softly, "Sounds reasonable. Thanks guys"

Hunter assures you, "We'll always have your back, never hesitate to let us know when you need something"

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

@rintheemolion

@andyoufollowyourheart @clone-whore-99

@brynhildrmimi @kaliel2310

@misogirl828 @tech-deck

@meshla-madalene

@chxpsi

@thebahdbitch

@nahoney22 @ladykatakuri

@darkangel4121

@ttzamara

@arctrooper69

@padawancat97

@agenteliix

@allsystemsblue

@palliateclaws

@either-madness-or-brilliance

@ortizshinkaroff

@andy-solo1

@hunterssecretrecipe

@heyitsaloy

@greaser-wolf

@extrahotpixels

@hated-by-me

@hunterxcrosshair

@malicemercy

@bebopsworld

@echos-girlfriend

@taskfork-archive

@cpnt616

@starwarsnerd111

[teddybeartoji]

Mmm thinking about Gods Satoru and Suguru, they have a little cult following and the leader of the cult is male Lamb! Reader. Despite both gods being rather hostile and cruel in legends and stories, this little lamb sort of keeps the entire flock from killing each other.

He's the only damn one with some brains, makes all the meals, deals with any deaths, expands the flock, etc, etc. Without question this devoted lamb is both Satoru and Suguru's favorite. The only one spared from punishment when the rest of the flock does something fucking stupid like not bury a body after it's been dead for like three days and the lamb isn't there to take care of it.

Lamb!Reader is just so busy, especially when he's gathering stuff for weekly offering. Both gods being cannibalistic, Lamb!Reader is always coming back to the flock after being gone for a day or so with a bag of their favorite body parts; hearts for Satoru, their God of Infinity. And kidneys for Suguru; I'm thinking God of corrupt or desolation or something along those lines.

The rest of the flock gets sick? Oh, Lamb is doing just fine and the worst they've ever had was a small sickness that kept them in bed for maybe a day (Satoru was a little pissy that Lamb!Reader didn't dream anything of him the night before). The others of the flock gardens all wilted and refusing to grow? Lamb has only had issue with maybe a leaf going a little yellow for a day or so.

Just..Lamb!Reader and Gods Satoru and Suguru~~~~

Sighs dreamily 💖💖

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW BB!!!!!!! YOUR MINDD?!?!?! HOLY FUCKKK I LOVE THIS SO MUCH AAAAAAAAAAAA THEY WOULD LOVE THEIR LITTLE LAMB SO SO MUCH!!!!!! oh and i am very into the idea of you knowing that they have a sweet spot for you too.. i don't mean that you'd necessarily fuck up more to see the others suffer or anything i just think seeing the gods, satoru and suguru, being more kind to you than to the others would have a bit of an effect on you too. you work so hard for them and it pays off, so your chest swells with pride whenever they praise you. their eyes linger on you for way longer than anyone else in the cult and it's hard to miss.. their gazes heavy as they observe you guiding the flock with a steady hand. they're proud too, they really are...

maybe they invite you to their quarters sometimes aswell, maybe they offer you some food in return. and you always try to say no because how could you.. you are but a mere follower you don't deserve this but then there's a hand on your lower back, leading you to the dinner table. they watch you eat with sly grins on their faces, quietly telling you to keep going whenever you try to stop. they are still your gods, you don't want to refuse them now do you? this is their entertainment for the night - their pliant little lamb, their sweetest little follower. mmmmm they just might love you, you know...

[therecordconnection]

Playlist: The Record Connection's Top Thirty Hit Songs of 1981

(Bear with me, gonna try something new here.)

Playlist Cover Border Created By: @ohmarigold, Font provided by: https://www.fontspace.com/las-enter-font-f19041

The Record Connection's Top Thirty Hit Songs of 1981

Playlist Description: "Exploring the strange year of 1981 by choosing 30 of the best representatives from Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 1981"

Track Listing:

"(Just Like) Starting Over" - John Lennon

"I'm Coming Out" - Diana Ross

"Another One Bites the Dust" - Queen

"Sukiyaki" - A Taste of Honey

"Together" - Tierra

"(There's) No Gettin' Over Me" - Ronnie Milsap

"Queen of Hearts" - Juice Newton

"9 to 5" - Dolly Parton

"Suddenly" - Olivia Newton-John & Cliff Richard

"Guilty" - Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb

"Just the Two of Us" - Grover Washington, Jr. & Bill Withers

"A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)" - Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio

"Lady (You Bring Me Up)" - Commodores

"Celebration" - Kool & the Gang

"Don't Stand So Close to Me" - The Police

"Urgent" - Foreigner

"Take It On the Run" - REO Speedwagon

"Too Much Time on My Hands" - Styx

"Miss Sun" - Boz Scaggs

"Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" - Christopher Cross

"Hey Nineteen" - Steely Dan

"Tell It Like It Is" - Heart

"Boy From New York City" - The Manhattan Transfer

"Hungry Heart" - Bruce Springsteen

"Hold On Tight" - Electric Light Orchestra

"Kiss On My List" - Daryl Hall & John Oates

"Jessie's Girl" - Rick Springfield

"Time" - The Alan Parsons Project

"For Your Eyes Only" - Sheena Easton

"The Winner Takes It All" - ABBA

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Few Words About 1981

Time, Electric Light Orchestra's 1981 science-fiction concept album tells the story of a man who is transported to the far distant future of 2095. The album explores his homesickness while observing the many ways the world has changed around him. During "The Way Life's Meant to Be," bandleader Jeff Lynne sings, "I wish I was back in 1981." Lynne has never explained why he chose to use the year the album was made as the year the time traveler comes from (probably just convenience), but I've always found that yearning to return to 1981 in particular to be funny, because if people had a time machine to go back to the eighties, I highly doubt anybody would pick 1981.

For a long time, I've loved looking through Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles list for [insert year]. I think it's really fun to look through them and often times you can really get a good idea of what was insanely popular during a given year. Lots of stuff gets big or falls through the cracks in a given year, but this one is the stuff that everybody vibed with (or got utterly annoyed with).

1981 is a weird one. 1980 is considered a much worse year (a lot of really boring, nothing ballads got super big that year) but '81 isn't the winner that the '83-'85 years are considered. When people (over)romanticize the eighties, they're mostly going crazy about that chunk of the decade and 1987. The early eighties have no idea what the hell they're going to be yet. Then again, no decade ever knows what it's gonna be right out the gate. I think people tend to have this idea that the ball dropped on December 31st, 1979 and suddenly it was THE EIGHTIES! It doesn't work that way. Often times, the first two years of a decade are strange and they serve as a transition point.

1981 is definitely a transitional year. It's one of my favorite years in music due to just being an oddball time. Lot of strange new wave stuff was slowly crossing over, arena rock bands were really ramping up and beginning their reign, early eighties R&B was starting to find its groove, and more. The Hot 100 list doesn't reflect most of what was happening. It rarely does, but it is a really good starting point when trying to figure out what some of the biggest stuff was for a good chunk of the year. If you ask me, the eighties don't become the decade everybody loves until Duran Duran releases Rio and Michael Jackson makes the video for "Thriller." You can start to see the beginnings of what the eighties will become with 1981, but it's also not quite there yet.

So, this playlist explores that Year-End singles list and attempts to give a good overview of what was going on at that time. I listened to all one-hundred songs and cut it down to the best thirty. It was originally going to be twenty, but I found that I liked too much of the list to limit it that small. These songs are not arranged from #30 to #1, rather they're arranged in a way that highlights connections between certain songs, common themes, and hopefully ends up highlighting all the different musical worlds that were enjoying success during the year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some Words Regarding The Process Behind This Track Listing

There were three John Lennon hits that year, which is fitting, considering he was killed in December, 1980 and everybody was still shaken about it for most of '81. I picked "(Just Like) Starting Over" as the representative, since I think it's tragically ironic and also reflective of why people were so upset about Lennon's murder. (Note: For the curious, "Woman" and "Watching the Wheels" were the other two hits that got big from Double Fantasy).

After Lennon, the next four songs highlight the last of the disco refugees (Diana Ross, Queen, and A Taste of Honey) and the final whispers of the previous decade (Tierra). "I'm Coming Out," "Another One Bites the Dust," and "Sukiyaki" are the songs that are just on the cusp of being eighties funk, but they're still clinging to disco in a lot of ways. "Together" by Tierra sounds has all the sonic hallmarks of a seventies one-hit wonder... but somehow came out in 1980. That's what I mean when I say that you can hear those final whispers of the previous decade.

There was a good deal of country crossover on the list. Not a lot of it survived the cut for me, mostly because a lot of it is corny and lame in a bad way. Kenny Rogers had three soft ballads get big in 1981 and I dislike all of them. Unless names like Eddie Rabbitt, Terri Gibbs, or Rosanne Cash mean anything to you, I don't think you'll be upset. Personally, I'm a much bigger fan of country in the nineties. The very best of the country crossovers are represented here. I went with Ronnie Milsap's "(There's) No Gettin' Over Me," Juice Newton's cover of "Queen of Hearts," ("Angel of the Morning" almost beat it, but I think this one is more fun) and finally, "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton. The three country songs here are light and super fun and I think represent that the country music world was having fun during the start of the decade and finding crossover appeal with the masses beyond Nashville.

After our journey to country, we explore some of the team-ups that got big during the year. "Suddenly" (a great love song from the not-so-great movie Xanadu) sees Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard together, "Guilty" sees Barbra Streisand and Bee Gee Barry Gibb at their best, and Bill Withers lends his vocals to an all-time classic Grover Washington, Jr. cut ("Just the Two of Us").

Ray Parker Jr. (still with his band Raydio) shows us some early eighties R&B magic and good advice with "A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)" and the Commodores and Kool & the Gang bring the funk and the party with the classics "Lady (You Bring Me Up)" and "Celebration" (the definitive party song to end all party songs). These songs are missing the disco elements that were still found with Diana, Queen, and A Taste of Honey and represent the direction funk music was heading in. Lionel Richie would pivot away from the funk as the decade went on, but the funk was just getting started for Kool & the Gang.

After the funk, we take a look at what arena rock bands were doing. In 1981, they were worried about romantic relationships. "Don't Stand So Close to Me" finds a teacher being in a secret relationship with a young student and worried about people finding out. "Urgent" finds Foreigner in panic mode. The narrator is worried that his love is being taken advantage of and only used for one night stands. REO Speedwagon enters into the frame, worried that a certain someone has been doing some cheating (though they heard this from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another...) Styx lightens things up by having fun and goofing around while Tommy Shaw laments that he has "Too Much Time On My Hands." These four bands are good indicators of where rock was heading in a world where a lot of the seventies rock giants were beginning to find themselves in unknown waters.

Speaking of unknown waters, Yacht Rock was still sailing the seas in the early eighties and three representatives are found here. Cool cat Boz Scaggs sings a groovy song for "Miss Sun," Christopher Cross sings about the movie Arthur and tells you the best thing you can do when you're caught between the moon and New York City in "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," and Steely Dan tells the tale of pathetic older dude pining for the past and finding it hard to relate to a nineteen year old girl he's trying to pick up in "Hey Nineteen." These three represent the smooth cool cats that weren't pop, but weren't rolling with the arena rock of the moment either.

Speaking of pining for the past, 1981 was a year where some bands and artists gave us some throwbacks and tried to capture that old rockabilly jukebox sound that Lennon was doing at the start of the playlist. Heart provides a wonderful cover of the 1966 Aaron Neville classic "Tell It Like It Is" and The Manhattan Transfer present a lovable and fun little cover of the 1964 Ad Libs song "Boy From New York City." Bruce Springsteen gets in on the throwback fun with the awesome "Hungry Heart," and Electric Light Orchestra lead us into the future while still writing a love letter to the past with "Hold On Tight." These songs all have the common thread of "everything old becomes new again" and are the earliest examples of the eighties bringing the sixties back to life and turning it into something brand new.

The last five songs presented have no unifying theme, they just ended up being my five favorite songs on the list. "Kiss on My List" and "Jessie's Girl" are both fan-fucking-tastic songs and show how good both Hall & Oates and Rick Springfield were as songwriters. I never get sick of those songs. "Time" by The Alan Parsons Project is my favorite ballad on the list. Vocalist Eric Woolfson had this whisper like quality to his delivery that nobody else had. The entire song is just this beautiful, melancholic, transcendent song. The whole thing feels like it's floating. It sounds the way that the bright stars at night look. Just wonderful.

The final two songs feature fantastic performances from two dynamite women. Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only" is my second favorite Bond theme ("Nobody Does It Better" beats it) and "The Winner Takes It All" is the greatest song ABBA ever laid to tape. Both are these sweeping pop masterpieces and Sheena and Agnetha Fältskog deliver some of the finest performances of their careers on them. You feel every emotion and every detail is done so incredibly well. I'm hopeful that you'll find the playlist ends on a high note!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Thank you for indulging in this little experiment. :) Making playlists is a lot fun and I'd love to make this a semi-regular thing if there's an interest for it. So let me know your thoughts and opinions if you have them! I would love to hear from you! Thank you.)

[whencallstheheart]

Taking this long anon message and breaking it up so I can respond easier. Most of it's under the cut.

--

I agree about the Elizabeth/Lucas storyline being a waste of time. It was obvious what the decision was.

If her Aunt said something like testing Lucas. To make sure that he had Elizabeth's and Little Jack's best interests at heart, then maybe it would redeem it a little.

Yeah, there was very little substance to it. Aunt Agatha has always bene supportive of Elizabeth and her choices so it felt really odd for this to be happening now. Surely Elizabeth has been writing to her and calling her so she knows of the relationship and what kind of guy Lucas is. She's also shown zero interest in moving back to Hamilton so to sort of ambush her with that was strange. Of course they'd like to have her home but the train goes both ways. I doubt Agatha is up to much. She could've visited several times by now.

The whole Nathan & Faith storyline is just weird. Their so called relationship happened off screen. All I saw in S9 was Doctor/Patient relationship and unrequited feelings on her part. A Nathan/Faith pairing makes no sense to me.

The fact that we're supposed to just believe all this stuff happened really doesn't work for me at all. I didn't want to see it in the first place so I definitely don't want to imagine it.

Mike is basically all puppy eyes for Faith. I wanted him to Man Up. Ned and Florence pushing(matchmaking)Nathan to escort Faith on he patient rounds. He's the town's Mountie, and is needed in town. Faith is not exactly a damsel in distress. Another missed opportunity for Mike.

Yeah, I'm hoping this means it's not 100% for Nathan and Faith now. Mike and Faith would be really cute and they'd make sense. Hopefully he'll talk to Lucas or Fiona or someone about his crush and they'll give him the push he needs to be more forward with Faith.

Then, there's Mei looking jealous/rejected. She's the one who friendzoned him. The writers/showrunner were probably going for drama/angst. But, it felt more like playing games to me.

Nathan is written as a serious character when it comes to love. I would rather he stay single or paired with Fiona.

She's an outgoing extrovert, while He's a guarded introvert.

I think it would be fun watching Fiona breakdown Nathan's walls. Maybe it's just wishful thinking.

I could definitely see Mei taking a step back to not get in Faith's way which is probably where the tension was coming from with those two. She has to still have feelings for Nathan but that hasn't been how it's been portrayed in these 2 episodes so I don't know. If it's not Mei then I'd totally love a Nathan and Fiona pairing. They'd be a lot of fun.

The preview for next week looks amusing. Rosemary is the most observant person in Hope Valley. She has a talent for finding out secrets. How will the ladies hide the surprise baby shower from her? Can't wait to see this!

Yes, looks like a comical one next week. It seems like they're just telling her it's happening on a different day so the fact that they're throwing a baby shower isn't actually a surprise. They probably know they can't pull that off.

Finally, why is Henry's storyline the only consistent storyline on this show?! I love how he just said guilty, then walked out of the room. The whole town has his back, so why isn't he fighting for his freedom?

Maybe they will bring Christopher back. His son may be the only one to get through to him, and find out why Henry is acting like this. I would love to see more Father/Son bonding between them.

We will just have to wait and see.

Henry continues to be the best. I think he's struggling to find his place in the town and doesn't think he's needed there despite everyone supporting him. He'd be content to go sit in jail because he still thinks that's where he should be. The town might have forgiven him but he hasn't forgiven himself.

It would be nice to see Christopher again but I doubt we will. Henry has a lot of people looking after him so I imagine we'll be getting more scenes with Joseph, Bill, and/or Elizabeth. It'll be interesting to see what comes next for Henry.

[blorbfoosh]

PART X - Resolution

Polar’s eyes scanned the girl’s torso, hands deftly massaging the sore muscles. This was certainly new- and very odd. Last she heard, there was a large, deep gash that spread diagonally across her abdomen- But all that remained of it was a faint scar, thin and reddish. As if she was just lightly grazed.

..The raven-haired individual wanted to take a blood sample to be sure, but it was a little too sudden for the kid. She had just broken out of a lab- Where she probably was used to getting samples taken. Polar was a curious soul, but she was still a mother at heart.

Testing’s gonna have to wait.

“Is.. is it bad, miss?”

Her quiet, slightly accented voice broke the cat out of her thoughts, and she found herself staring into those garnet eyes once more. It was odd, seeing such a familiar face so.. young and whole. 

“You’re quite the surprise, Fyrligh. Nothing's severely damaged- Just pretty tense. You heal up nicely, even without magic. I wouldn't strain myself with physical stuff for a week if I were you- But considering you, and your.. Experiences, you might need just a few days to fully recover.”

The child nodded, bringing down her shirt, before looking around quietly, her legs swaying softly. Polar took a small breath, before starting to pack away her supplies. Nillyx had called her over earlier to update her on everything- and to do a checkup on the kid and Rou. Seems like R30N gone feral and both were attacked, according to the older redhead.

Gods there were two of them now.

She just realized that.

“Miss Polar, do you think I-”

“You good, Ris?”

Rou popped her head out of the hallway and into the living room, a faint smell of burritos following her. Of course she'd be making that for lunch. Whatever Fyrligh was going to say soon died down, and the kid shut her mouth.

“Yeah, just packing up. Food’s done?”

“Mmm. Psyche here's a real help. She's making some sushi home mix.”

“I'm sure that'll be delish. Right, Fyrligh?”

The two older women turned their attention to the kid, sitting on the couch, holding Crumbles, Polar’s little toast dog plush. She nodded, looking around. A little awkward- But then her stomach let out a growl. Her face reddened, eyes wide with embarrassment as Polar and Rou chuckled. The badger nodded at the kid, gesturing her over.

“Wanna help out too? We're making an extra-large batch. Polar's kids are coming over later to meet you, so we're gonna be making a lot. Pluck and Killa- Whew, those two have an appetite. Never knew a plushie could stuff so much in itself.”

“Don’t forget, we also have Ryso and Rei coming around. Any news from the others?” 

Now Nillyx popped up, hands a little wet- Most presumably from washing the dishes.

“Eh- Kay's still recovering from yet another failed attempt at healing, and we already know the bros. Medai has a meeting with Cosmos today- Lyme can't come by as well, I think. He went a lil late today due to.. Circumstances.”

Rou cleared her throat softly, before looking away. Ah. So he did spend the night here. Must’ve gotten too comfortable with the badger and overslept. But could Polar blame him? Nearly a month of no talking, no contact, no nothing with your partner, only relying on updates from her cousin who refused to give away too much- Or a cousin that gave more questions than answers.

“A-anyways. We don't need a whole army here, and Nils doesn't need that much to wash.”

“You're right, but I'm still making something.” 

Polar stood up, placing her bag to the side, watching as Fyrligh placed Crumbles down with a gentle flourish and head on over to Rou- The latter giving the kid a good ruffle.

Hm. This certainly was a dynamic. She'll have to observe them further.

———

It's getting worse. 

There were so much limitations to what she could do- Not even any of the Voidkind could help out with this. The Foltir looked after the Husks and Smilers, fighting back to beat down their numbers lest they overran an area, damaging the balance and risking harm to the beings that lurked within. The Adevoi patrolled the open spaces and the Barrier, alerting the entity to any new arrivals or Lost SOULS. She couldn't think of asking Aba to assist- He has his own realm to look after- So does Daza. Both had their own lives and issues to get to.

But stars, did the Aspect of the Void feel helpless. Sometimes she wanted to do more than just watch and guide, but that was all she existed for now. To lie on the sidelines. Sometimes she just wanted to childishly stomp out and plead to the Planner about all her woes- But she’s long outgrown that stage.

“Vuiden-!”

The familiar voice broke Vuiden from her brooding state, and she felt a smile creep up on her face. Turning, she found herself in front of a large entity- Seemingly made out of a mixture of materials- Discarded junk, rooms, and waterslides. Two large slides poked up from the side of their head- Eerily reminiscent of a cat, and just behind them, a large, surly goat beast stood. They both looked down at the smaller entity- The goat with indifference(and slight concern), and the entropy.. Thing with clear worry. She accepted the loose hug from the catlike entity, nodding at the latter.

“Ah, Aba, Daza. That time of day again?”

“You betcha~! Now, lemme take a look at you. The open spot’s been spreading- A few cloves of Husks have been heading over. Daza and I took care of that though, so you needn’t worry.”

As the catlike entity pored over the new changes to her wound(the dripping has gotten worse, there was less of a searing, burning pain, and more of this chill-), Vuiden noticed something. The Root.. He was more tense than usual, a dull spark in his sockets as he looked at the vast beyond.

“This.. Matiz. How do you plan to get rid of him?”

“Daza!” He shook his head, continuing.

“He’s the cause of all of this. Shouldn’t he have what he deserves? Just the same treatment?”

..The goat was not wrong. If it were not for Matiz gaining power and escaping- She wouldn’t be ‘bedridden’ as such, needing to be looked after. Not that she minded- It was.. Nice. The company.

“We’ve located the Keiyan’s vessel. All we need is the will to let go- And the body to do so.”

That response gained a look of suspicion from the other two.

“Isn’t there one vessel per Keiyan?”

“Yes, but it seems as if this vessel has a.. Partner. Not a successor- A partner. Someone to assist her in this, approved by the stone itself. A Keiyan can choose a vessel, and the vessel a successor- But this is new.”

The goat nodded, his frown deepening in thought. The other entity frowned, before shaking their head and waving their hands lightly.

“Wait, wait, wait- So there’s two of them? Can’t we just lure the skeleton over to Daza and be done with it? He can suffer for the rest of eternity there. Let him burn, dust, form back, and repeat. Be torn apart slowly and lie there, floating, thinking about all he’s done. Make him go through the w r i n g e r.”

…Woah. Vuiden wasn’t expecting Aba to say that. “Excuse?” “He hurt you. :( Treat the other realms like this? Boop, get pushed into eternal timeout! No one deserves to bleed and fade away into themselves. >:| Plus- The state of the Void is just getting more worrying the more the Keiyan holds it open. Your state’s worsening, for starssakes.” Aba leaned close, placing a lil hand on Vuiden's shoulder reassuringly. “We’re family now, whether you like it or not. >:] You’re stuck with me neow there’s no escape~!” Surprisingly, the goat let out a small, rare smile at Aba’s antics. “And I.” ..They were family. Oh, you absolute geniuses. I’ll never thank you enough. Sitting up suddenly, Vuiden opened up a star beside her- The other two Aspects looking on in curiosity. “I’ve a plan. But- I’ll need help.” Reaching into himself, the catlike entity rummaged around, before pulling out what seemed to be a pool table. He got looks from the goat, but soon shrugged it off. “Well? We’re listening.” ——— Lunch was going splendidly, as far as Nillyx could tell. Psyche and Ryso took to Fyrligh well- And as awkward as the kid seemed right now, she seemed to be slightly enjoying herself. If the kid was any of the Rou she knew- She’ll fit in, no problem. The badger had a talent like that, always finding a way to break tension- Or make it.

Sitting down on the stairs leading up to the loft, the onyx-haired woman sighed with a smile, plate in her lap as she observed the commotion beneath her. The kids were huddled up in the middle of the living room, talking amongst themselves- Rou chatting with Pluck- Most probably about the recent mission or a new training regime. Nillyx had observed the reptilian Darkner’s interest in such topics- Most likely to Vercos coming home with new tales to share. Rei was sitting beside Rou, listening along as the duo talked- And speaking of the duck, he was here as well, sitting in the loveseat that Nillyx purchased specifically for the larger FAM members, Polar at his side. Ever since the whole slime incident, Polar’s been adamant on keeping him in sight, or at least in a 25 foot radius from her- Which was as far as the Fill can reach, apparently. If she didn’t know any better, Nils would have called her clingy. But Polar has some stuff to work out within herself, and her past. Nodding, the Guardian took another bite of sushi-rrito mix. Stars, the food combos just got more unique by the day- But hey. It was good. No complaints anywhere. ‘Psst. Nils.’ The familiar echoing of her stickman companion made her perk up and glance around. Nia never interrupted mealtimes- Especially with family. Unless of course the thing had something to share- Which was often. Yes, Nia? What’s up? ‘Can you come to the panic room quick for a sec? It’s urgent.’ Sitting up straighter, the woman glanced around, looking for a free soul to alert. It was just rude to leave without saying goodbye, of course- Even if not for long. If she had more control over the Void, Rou would’ve known by now.. But alas. Polar did pick up on her state, however, nodding slightly in acknowledgement. Nillyx nodded in gratitude, placing her plate down and heading down the hallway. Once there, she shut the door, and sighed, looking around the padded, scarred room. Notes and papers lined the walls, a remnant of a more agitated self. It’s been a while since she’s used this place…

Thick, gray tendrils surrounded her figure, wrapping around the Guardian in a gentle embrace. It was cold, but you can't really expect warmth from matter that takes warmth, can you?

After a few moments, the Void melted down- Dripping away, and building up slowly in front of her. A kindred figure started to climb up from the nothingness- Black, fluffy hair that covered her eyes, a crystalline halo that clinked and swayed with her movement- Segmented limbs hanging by her side, only being connected thru silver strings.

Her mother, and creator.

Vuiden.

“It's been a while.. Mother.” “Nillyx. I don’t mean to intrude on the family meeting- Apologies.” The entity looked to the side, slightly bashful. The guardian reached out, patting her shoulder- Trying to ignore the gaping, dripping wound that stretched across the entity’s torso. Seems like she wasn’t the only one with issues. “Nonsense, you’re family. Now, what’s wrong?” “..It’s the Void. Have you felt it?” She was familiar with what Vuiden spoke of. It’s changing. Adapting to the new spaces. If it got too comfortable with where they stood now- It could pose dangers to everyone. If the Barrier broke- And the Void ran free… “It won’t break. But there’s always a chance. Which is why I’ve come to you today. I’ve.. A plan. It’s risky, but it’s something nonetheless.” Nodding, Nillyx let her hand drop, sitting down on the floor and listened as Vuiden explained her plan. The Aspect wasn’t wrong- It was flawed, rushed, and very, v e r y risky. But.. It was all they had. The time was ticking. This was their only chance to act. “We’re taking it. This needs to end, now.”

———

“..Atticus.. You were a wise soul. What would you do when faced with such failure?” R30N let out a sigh at Matiz’s mumblings, his ears pinning back slightly. He knew that the skeleton was talking about him. It was nothing new. Ever since, he’s been fixed up- But set on much, much more limitations. And since the latter didn’t know that his creator pass has been stripped from him, the dog had to play nice. It was tiring. But surely worth it. Not for long. A low buzzing from his inner sensors alerted the dog. There were three new visitors-

[ ADMINISTRATOR: NILLYX VUIDENNE HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING. ] [ KEIYAN VESSEL HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING. ] [ UNIDENTIFIED USER HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING. ] INITIATE PATROL SEQUENCE ?

..tempting. If he went on patrol, he could go to Nillyx and then ask her about his past. But then Matiz would be alerted to where she is- And then possibly endanger the others. They were probably here for the Keiyan.. But if he didn’t go on patrol, he would have to stay here, useless. They’d be safe- But Matiz would know eventually. And when he goes on a hunt.. He leaves no survivors.

[ PATROL SEQUENCE INITIATED. PROCEEDING TO ADMIN. ]

“Oh~? Seems like we have some visitors.. Bearing gifts. Go ahead, R30N. Do something useful for once.” Standing up, the metal-plated dog shook himself off, casting a stink eye towards the skeleton before padding softly out the door. Nillyx seemed to be heading straight down to the labs.. So was the kid. Only the unidentified person- which was probably the older version of Fyrligh, was heading up, straight to Matiz.

Why would you even head to someone who clearly wanted you dea- oh.

It made sense. Matiz would be focused on trying to kill her, and seal the deal between the Keiyan and the skel itself. And considering how adept he's become at using the color- Calling the Tainted Void ‘Blessed,’ as if that meant anything- R30N was sure that the larger redhead was in for quite the scuffle.

[ GASTIEL MATIZ IS TRYING TO ACCESS TRACKING SYSTEM-0364. ]

Of course you would. You'd want to know everything, know all I'm seeing.

[ GRANT ACCESS ? ] ACCESS DENIED.

Not today. 

Huffing, the dog picked up his pace, the grey dot of the bell blinking and glowing in the distance. He'll get to the bottom of this.

———

‘Go inside, get the Keiyan, and head back to the van right after, no matter what. Stay safe. And whatever you do- Don’t get caught.’

These were Rou’s last words to her before this whole mission thing began. It was so sudden- First thing she was eating sushi-rritos, listening to Psyche, Ryso, Pluck, and Killa exchange tales whilst giving some of her own, then she was being ushered away to the side to get a swift low-down by Aunt(the kid felt more comfortable with that than ‘Miss’) Nilly. They were gonna go get Matiz kablooey-d. How? The details were still pretty muddy to the kid- But they were gonna attempt to open the Void and somehow lure Matiz into it?? Aunt Nilly said that they had ‘allies on the other side’ and that Fyrligh shouldn’t worry about it. But it concerned lives so of course she would.

..That shouldn’t be her main focus right now, though. She needed to get the Keiyan away from the Void. That’s what was keeping the Void open all this time- Once removed, the Void would probably stop reaching out- But would still remain open. That’s why they needed Matiz. ..As far as she was concerned, her spot was gonna be the last of the plan. Which is why it was best that she make it to the Keiyan first- And quick. Please don’t get caught.

Hurrying inside, she dashed through the familiar hallways of the lab- Heading downstairs, retreating into the deep shadows. The lower you go, the more chance you’ll get of finding gold. 

———

Rou took a deep breath, glancing down at the utter mess in the hallway. Guards lay to the side, unconscious- Mounds of crystal binding them to the ground, holding them in place if ever they woke up. She had taken care to escort the standby above-floors out of the building with a few well-placed smoke bombs and alarms- Nilly taking care of the workers below.

Now it was just her and mister osteo sci-fuck the original.

“Matiz,” she growled, wiping away a few drops of sweat from her brow as she glared the skeleton down with malice. He stared back at her, a calm, sly smile on his face. Gods, how she wanted to reach out and claw, stab, b i t  e -  Make sure that he was unrecognizable. But she had to calm down. Her mind was running, way too fast. Fyrligh was running about, looking for the Keiyan. Nilly was looking for Areon. It was up to her to stall for them. Just when she thought she was over with him. Of course not. “Roulette. Come back to visit your savior, I see.” He snapped his long, sharp phalanges with a lazy grin, blasters appearing behind him. They hovered lazily, eyes staring at her with cold contempt and judgment. “We can take this the easy way, you know. Just surrender.” “Over my thrice-dead body, fucker. This ass is mine.” And Tafs. He pushed those fears down for you, Roulette. Tafs did it for you. Now it’s time for you to push down this fear for yourself. For Fyrligh. For Nilly. “Well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ve learned a few new tricks since I’ve been gone, you know.” Reaching for the handle of her extendable hatchet, Rou took a breath, and let the adrenaline seep in. “Bring it then, old man.”

He was just a Gaster. Just another bonehead. ..With the power of a fucking gayass spider cat. There wasn’t gonna be anything wrong. Just your usual battles. Spikes of color-tainted Void rained down on her, splashing on the floor around and sizzling like no tomorrow. Rou brought up waves of crystal, pushing back- Sidestepping to shoot large cranades at the skel. They exploded in his face- Giving her time to throw a few more bombs at him. The two blasters from before flew close- Shielding their owner like the dogs they are. Fucking pathetic. But that wasn’t the end of it. Bones, bones, and more bones. They erupted from the floor in waves, grazing her skin, leaving spots open for the tainted matter to drip and eat away at her skin. The badger winced, biting the top of a Rosen ichor crystal and downing the liquid within, watching as the blood quickly ran to the wounded areas and patching it up. “Boo.” SHIT- ROU, BEHIND YOU- Lu’s warning came too late. A swift kick from behind threw her into the floor- More bone structures coming up and hitting her square in the torso. She found herself flying through the air like a ragdoll- Before catching sight of a white beam, headed straight for her figure. “Oh, so THAT’S how you wanna play, huh? LET’S FUCKING GO, BONEHEAD.” This hadn’t even just begun. Twisting her body mid-air to avoid the beam, she called waves of crystal to rise up- Providing her with a smooth slide to safety. “Try again.” A sea of tainted Void opened before her- Just lapping at the edge of her little slide. Rou had to whip out her hatchet and bring it down on the crystal before her to slow down- Gods she was not getting drowned a second time please no. Leaning back, she looked up at the skeleton standing above her with a deadset stare. She wasn’t giving up. Not now. Wherever Nilly or Fyrligh was- She desperately pleaded that they were better off than she is.

———

Bangs and blasts rocked the floors above her- And Nilly knew that her time was decreasing swiftly. Rou couldn’t hold Matiz’s attention forever- Areon, Areon, c’mon, where are you-

Sprinting forward, the guardian found herself with another dead end, being lit up by flashing red lights. She seethed in frustration, turning around and heading down another hallway. How large was this lab even-?! These paths just seemed to stretch on forever the more she wandered- And Nillyx knew endless.

She hated this feeling. It was all too familiar- Being stuck underground, running for her life, lost, without a sense of direction. It brought back memories- ones she'd rather keep in the back of her mind.

‘GO, GO, GO- SHE'S SOMEWHERE HERE. BRING HER TO ME, ALIVE.’

Nillyx shook her head, taking a left and heading on down. It wasn't the time to go trauma walking. Doors sped by her in a blur- Offices, labs, baffled humans and monsters alike just standing by as she sped past in the opposite direction, most probably wondering what could bring the onyx-haired individual around in such worry when they're all running out- Or why there was such commotion above.

To add to all the things going on in her head- You got the alarms. They were loud and irritating, amplifying the tremors throughout the halls and making it all the more complicated to find her way.

It wasn't her fault. But stars did she absolutely loathe it. The ever-growing pain in her side didn't do much to help.

Faced with another dead end, Nillyx couldn't help but let out a sharp groan of vexation, her scymitar finding its silver blade stuck deep in the plated walls. 

“Why are you so.. Like this?”

She muttered, a short breath leaving her lips as she pulled her weapon out. Stay focused. You can't afford any distractions..

“Do it for him. Your kid's down here somewhere, woman, pull yourself together.”

A soft clink sounded behind her, quiet, mechanical whirring akin to a computer engine slowly approaching. The guardian froze up, hands tightening on her blade. It couldn’t be. Could it? She let her shoulders drop, slowly, painstakingly turning around- And mauve met dark hickory. There stood R30N in all his glory- Warm and human will shining in those orbs. He was him. There was a new air around the kid, as if something’s been lifted off of his shoulders. His ears twitched, facing forward with calm curiosity, his head bowed as he padded near. The woman found herself coming closer as well, her weapon clattering to the floor as she ran towards the dog- Her boy. Falling on her knees in front of the kid, she shakingly reached out, hands softly grazing metal mixed with skin. “Areon. Areon. My boy.. What did they do to you?” She whispered, trailing her hands down his face. His eyes widened, ears flattening with that. A low whine escaped his throat as he pushed against her hands, his snoot softly resting in the crook of her neck. The onyx-haired woman couldn’t take it any longer, wrapping her arms around the bio-weapon. He was still just a kid. Her kid. No matter what, he’ll always be her kid.

Another blast shook the halls, a few pieces of rubble starting to rain from the ceiling. It was clear that they couldn’t stay. The dog slowly backed away from her embrace, quiet urgency shining in his eyes. She knew that look all too well- Having worn it herself many times before. She nodded at him, before grabbing her scymitar. It was time to go. “Lead on. I’m right behind you.” R30N watched as the guardian rose to her feet, wincing slightly as another wave of pain rolled through her body- Stars. They were getting in the way. Concern flashed in his eyes, but she shook her head. They needed to go. 

Fyrligh’s small voice crackled through the speaker in her ear, quiet and hushed. “I found the Keiyan. You got R30N?” “Yes. Where are you? We’re on our way.” “Floor 3, fourth floor down the hallway to the right.” ..That was two levels above her. They could make it if they were fast enough. “Just stay put, alright? Don’t walk straight into the Void without us.”

———

The elder woman’s voice faded into quiet, and Fyrligh sighed- Glancing at the shimmering blue orb floating within the blankness before her. The child should stay. Who knows what would happen if she stepped forward? Would the Void welcome her and let her roam? Or would it climb up her body and slowly drain her, like what Matiz’s Void did? ..The will you have. Accepted. The body is not mine to take.

The Keiyan’s gentle whispering tickled her ears, as it hovered closer and closer. She could see Matiz, hollow and cold, encased within the crystal. Cracks ran around the artifact, seeming to weep into the Void that surrounded it. If Fyrligh squinted enough- It looked as if it was trembling. On the last edge, much as she was. Reaching out, she took the orb in her hands, and watched as more cracks started to fill up the thing. A faint memory of R30N sprung up before her, and the child frowned, her brows furrowing in thought. What was up with that dog? It just seemed odd. The closer she was to the Keiyan, the more she thought about him. As if he had something to do with the glowing sphere. “He does.” Flinching, the redheaded child scrambled back from the lapping blackness, a dagger in her hands as she tried to locate the source of the new voice. It was quiet, echoey, and oddly ancient. Ethereal. The stranger chuckled, and Fyrligh couldn’t help but watch in awe as the Void started to build up and form in front of her. Curly hair black as night covered this new person’s face- A silver halo tinkling over their head, floating lines swaying with their movement. Even in the darkness of the Void, they seemed to glow- A gentle grey light seeming to bloom from their skin. An iridescent, four-pointed star gleamed on their chest- Seeming to protrude from the bodysuit they wore. Their limbs were segmented- Arms seemingly cut off from their torso, connected only by silver strings- ..Their torso. A large, gaping hole stretched across the side of their torso. It was gruesome. Drippy, and looked incredibly painful. It wasn’t like the drips that came off this person’s body. These ones seemed forced, tense- Like they’re trying to hold it together. “Hello, Fyrligh. I’m on your side, don’t worry. I’m Vuiden, Aspect of the Void.” They nodded warmly at her, hands folded in front of them. ..So this must be what Aunt Nilly meant by allies on the other side. “..Aspect?” “It’s a long story. Basically I am the Void in itself, so whatever happens to it, I know. Which is why I’m helping. It’s dangerous, leaving the Void open as such. You probably know what it can do- Being a project of one such as Matiz.” Fyrligh softly nodded, recalling how skinny and rotten her legs looked after each new wave of getting Voided- Matiz’s efforts of trying to get the child to accept the Keiyan. “You’re here safe. That’s all that matters.” “What’s the plan?” The Aspect frowned, glancing at the orb. “Rou’s tiring Matiz out. You know what’ll happen if she dies at his hands, yes?” “He’ll be officially free.” “Good. The essential plan is to lead him on a goose chase all the way over here- Where Nillyx and I open the Void- Since this isn’t an open spot, just a place where Void can inhabit due to the Keiyan.” Nodding, the Aspect continued, stars blooming around them as they showed the child a loose outline of what was to go down. As Fyrligh listened, the more agitated the Keiyan got. Whisperings just seemed to grow louder in the back of her mind- Closer, closer. It’s getting closer. Hurry. “Wait, wait- How does R30N tie into this?” Vuiden paused mid-sentence, the stars around the gray-skinned individual flickering and shutting down. “..I’m not exactly sure, but it has something to do with physicality. It seems like this Keiyan has two eyes.” Upon noticing the child’s confusion, the Aspect raised their hands and continued. “I think it’s due to the fact that neither you or the boy is whole, and that you two are a by-product of Matiz.” Vuiden paused, coughing softly. “No offense to you, of course.” The child shook her head. None taken. At this point, she was just glad to be aliv- “We’re here-! Rou’s on her way.” Aunt Nilly! She was still whole- And R30N was with her. The dog’s ears pinned at the new person, but the older woman shook her head, instead greeting the Aspect with a smile and a hug. ..Oh woah. Okay.

“Do you know what to do, Fyrligh?” Vuiden looked at the child with a worried frown, the Keiyan’s shaking slowly increasing the more the child held it. She gripped the ball tightly, staring into the black diamond- Matiz’s SOUL. He was the start of this- All of this. Rou, R30N, the Void bleeding out- And it had to end. She knew what she had to do. The walls around them rumbled and shook with a few more blasts- A faint yell coming straight from above them. Time was up. They had to move. Aunt Nilly wasted no time whatsoever, heading to the right end of the room- Vuiden to the left. They both looked up, hands outstretched- The Void within the room starting to slowly swirl and tunnel down. The seconds seemed to tick by painfully. It was moving all too slow. Everyone was on the edge, just waiting for when it’ll all fall- “OHOHO, YOU CAN’T RUN FROM ME ANY LONGER.. LITTLE BADGER.” D u c k. A loud explosion shook the walls, rubble and pieces of metal, glass and wood flying from where the door once stood. In its stead was a bruised-up, battered, and bleeding badger- Followed by an absolute m o n s t e r of a skel- Oh gods what the hell. Matiz. His body was stretched and elongated- To the point it looked painful to move. His face was severely disjointed, jaw hanging off of just pure Tainted Void. His suit was ripped and leaking the forbidden matter in some places- All while a hollow, sadistic laugh boomed from his ribs. Cold, calculating, raspy- It was terrifying. Not to mention how alive he seemed- Leaning down, tilting his head, trying to grab at the badger with sharp, deadly talons. The Color that surrounded him spread around, wrapping itself about each and every surface it can touch- Breaking it down, making them fall to ash. Disintegrated. “Well, well, w e l l. Look what we have here.” He glanced to the Guardian and Aspect in the corner, then to the badger- And finally, to the child and the metal dog. R30N growled at the tall monster, his ears pinning back, body going in front of the child defensively as she held the Keiyan close. “A puppet, a traitor, a cursed soul, and.. A piece of firewood.” He grinned, his neck tilting to the side dangerously- A sharp cracking resonating from his bones as he leaned near. “This’ll be f u n . . .”

———

R30N backed up further, making sure the child was defended and behind him at all times. From what Nillyx(Apparently his to-be adoptive mother) said, Fyrligh was a crucial component in their plan, for she was the key to getting Matiz out of here. And knowing how far the skeleton went with his projects? He wanted him gone as much as the others did.

[ WARNING! THREAT DETECTED. DEFENSE PROTOCOLS ENGAGED. ] OBJECTIVE/S:  PROTECT ALL INNOCENTS DEFEND FYRLIGH [ AND KEIYAN ] ASSIST WITH ANYTHING POSSIBLE. Stay true.

Those words struck him deep- Ever since he woke up, those words have been haunting him. Now, he felt as if he knew what they meant. This was the truth. This is what he was meant to be.

Now being faced with this just made the realization sink all the more deeper.

“R30N.. What a disappointment, truly. Out of all of them- You should be the first to go.”

That statement was met with a swift bash of crystal to the face- The skeleton staggering back, tainted matter seeping from his right eye socket. He screeched, a chilling, nerve wracking sound that sent vibrations around the hallway and into the ground- Light tremors reminding the dog that the longer they stayed here, the more unstable the building became.

He saw what the mixed Void did to the lower floors. They burned and popped, leaving behind no trace of what was- Only a smoldering pile of black, gooey gunk.

“Touch that kid and I’m gonna rain hell on ya, Matiz. Mark my words. Your little stunts have just- H e h- Got me a lil battered, but this tank’s still running.”

Rou stood up before him, a tired, yet triumphant grin on her face- Determination flashing in her eyes. Matiz didn’t take that long to recover, however, soon standing up and with a swift throw- Blasted the crystal to bits. He chuckled lowly, slowly advancing.

“Suppose you are good for something, you b r a t.”

R30N glanced worriedly at the kid behind him- His sensors showed that her heart rate was rising, showing clear signs of agitation. She gripped the blue orb close, glancing up at the tall monster, and back down at the Keiyan. Matiz was too far from the Void. He needed to be closer.

But Matiz wouldn’t do that. He was much too smart. He had to be forced.

To fall.. Just like he’s made so many others.

The skeleton’s sockets seemed to catch glimpse of something, his dislodged smirk stretching across his face more. It irked R30N how large a smile could get- Eugh.

“Just give up already, Matiz. We all hate you.”

“What about.. N o.” <3

A wave of fractured bones suddenly appeared beside the monster- Aiming straight at Rou, firing speedily one after the other. The used bones just sunk straight into the open Void- Some catching on the walls, others slightly grazing the redhead as she ducked, feinted, and ran. Grunting softly, the badger bit off a crystal and.. Chugged the contents??

..No time to waste.

You’ve made up your mind. Hop to it.

Nudging Fyrligh away from everything, the dog tossed the kid on his back- taking the Keiyan in his mouth, depositing the creator bell in her hands before placing her down near a window, far from the battle. There was already a slide of crystal there, made by Rou beforehand for an easy exit. The smaller redhead glanced at him bewildered, before her eyes caught the lower half massive skeleton- And she nodded. The two exchanged a long, silent look- One that didn’t need words. It was enough. They both understood each other. They both understood that there was a high chance that someone wasn’t making it out alive. Another explosion rocked the building- And it was over. The moment was gone. The orb of blue was back in her hands, and the child was down the slide- As the dog ran back in the hallway. “You’re holding b a c k, girl. Face me.” “Are you sure? You might just break your wee old bones~! Catch me.” Just a little closer. Matiz raised a hand, blasters at the ready, powering up, beams of pure magic being shot out at the red blur- Missing completely, instead, hitting tower by tower of crystal. Rou surely knew how to keep him busy. A quick scan of the room told R30N that whatever it was Nillyx and the other Void-user was doing- It was nearly done.

[ UNIDENTIFIED PERSON..SSSS? SPOTTED. ] [ INITIATE SEARCH PROTOCOLS? ]

His sensors couldn’t distinguish if it was one or two new people in the area- But they seemed to be wherever the Void was, just lying in wait. A low, quiet grumble sounded from the gaping hole- He couldn’t wait long. They had to go quick.

[ SEARCH PROTOCOLS CANCELED. ]

Tainted Void wrapped around the skeleton, reaching out below, snaking around the two Void-users. Nillyx cried out in pain- A faint smoke coming from where the matter touched. The other grit their teeth, hands balling into fists as they tried to keep control. “Go, help Rou. I’ll keep it open,” they called, gesturing swiftly to the larger battle going on in front of them. The latter shook her head, stubborn as she tried to kick away the burning, crawling liquid-like matter.

“Ah.”

Amused, Matiz took a step forwards, before surrounding the Void-users in the Tainted Void again, this time using thicker tendrils, slowly, painstakingly wrapping itself around their bodies. Rou’s eyes flashed a dangerous hue- Picking herself up from the ground and rushing to face the skeleton head-on. He dodged a few spikes of crystal, before a long hand reached out- Completely grabbing Roulette mid-jump. She yelped, curling into a ball- Crystal attempting to form around her, to shield her, to blast her way out- But Matiz held strong, squeezing her tighter. “Guess you can’t run for long before you get chained, eh~?” Dangling her from just his two fingers, he stretched out his hand over the open Void, a smile evident on his face. R30N hated this. There was so much going on in front of him- And he could do nothing but watch. Move forward, Matiz. Just one.. L a r g e step. “Wonder what happens if I just.. Drop you?”

The dog couldn’t see what Rou did- But apparently it wasn’t what Matiz wanted, for he growled, throwing her away to the opposite edge of the room- Landing her straight in the rubble he caused earlier.

Turning, the skeleton let out a flat, humorless laugh, a clawed hand making it’s way to his right eyesocket- Long phalanges reaching in, seeming to rummage about, before pulling out his eyelight completely. It ripped away from his face with a sickening, fleshy-sounding R-R-RRRRRIP- One that R30N wasn’t even sure skeletons could make.

The tainted matter just seemed to flow more freely from his bleeding, empty socket, untamed and wild.

“Oh.. I really, really didn’t want to use this- But you’ve left me n o.. Choice.”

A choice? He didn’t give Fyrligh a choice to be the vessel of the Keiyan. He didn’t give R30N a chance to be human- To be with a family. He didn’t give Rou a chance to live free, without the fear of him coming back. You can’t speak about choices when you’ve given none.

R30N didn’t feel it happening. He just knew that once, he was at the edge of the room, attending to Nillyx and Rou(the other person just vanished), And then he was sailing through the air, paws outstretched in front of him, watching as Matiz flew.. Down.

Thick, dark roots of red started to grow from the nothingness, wrapping around the skeleton as he yelled, flailing and writhing- Throwing his colorful eyelight in a last retort to escape whatever prison he put himself in- A small blip of color flashing in the darkness(a waterslide??) before the Void closed with a small zip, and in its place, burst wells of tainted matter. It caught his hind leg, searing through the metal and bone- Making him wince. But he couldn’t focus on that- He had to help Rou and his mom.

Mom.

That title seemed so foreign to him, yet so familiar. The grounds shook once more with an explosion- The color was breaking out, catching, making everything it touched burst into flames. Thick, pungent smoke started to pollute the air around them- They couldn’t stay much longer. Rou dashed straight out of the room, Nillyx and R30N at her side, the dog assisting the onyx-haired woman with her bad leg. It was bleeding, badly. He had to take care of it. “So close, buddy- The window’s just over there, see?” The floor underneath them trembled- His sensors warning him that the below levels had become flooded with that same matter. Seems like whatever barrier Matiz had on it had vanished, letting it run free. Nillyx’s eyes darkened with urgency, as she tried to hobble faster- The dog’s ears pinning with concern as he tried to keep up. “QUICK, QUICK, THIS PLACE WON’T HOLD UP MUCH LONGER.” A sheet of crystal materialized above them- Shielding the duo from a large chandelier that was about to hit them. Quiet realization hit. She couldn’t move much faster in this state. Going behind her, R30N gently pushed her forward, each step leading her closer to the end. Warning signs flashed in the back of his mind-

[ WARNING. BATTERY SIGNIFICANTLY LOW. CHARGE IMMEDIATELY. ]

..HE DIDN’T CHARGE-!? ..C r a p. With all the more urgency- He pushed the onyx-haired woman forward. Just a few more paces. Just a few more paces, please. Nillyx stumbled forward at the force of his push- Landing right into Roulette, who.. Tripped over her own feet and fell down. Yeesh. Looking back, Nillyx waited for R30N to get on- But he shook his head, sitting her down. “No- No, Areon, come on, you’re coming too.” With a determined pull, he found himself sliding down beside the Guardian. Man. She was stubborn.

But y’know what? Maybe that’s how moms were. R30N’s just gonna have to come to terms with that- He already was.

———

A month. It had been a month ever since the Woven Hues case. A month ever since the Keiyan shattered in her hands, a month that damned lab burst into a brilliant flame- Burning into the ground, never to be seen or heard of again.

There was a lot of things that happened in that month. First.. R30N didn’t die. He just shut down mid-journey to the house- Which worried Aunt Nilly extremely. But lucky for her, all the dog needed was a lil charge- And of course, a shiny new leg(props to Lyme). From what Fyrligh heard, it wasn’t just the Guardian who got(apparently, another) bite of no-leg time, but R30N as well. Second, she was kinda-sorta officially adopted by Rou and Lyme? ..Which was weird because Rou was literally an older her- But Fyrligh didn’t really mind. They’ll figure it out, either way. The kid really liked living in San Fran with them- Uncle Xe and Uncle Ley were really heckin’ fun to be around. Although Miss Polar didn’t quite like some of their ‘teaching habits-’ They did make life all the more interesting. She’s grown closer with everyone ever since then- Especially Psyche and R30N. At first, the teen was hesitant- Poor girl did just learn that her supposed-to-be brother turned into some cyborg dog bioweapon, after all. But she didn’t really dwell on the matter much- At least she had R30N and Fyrligh, her new cousin. But that wasn’t the end of it. Turns out Aunt Nilly’s family was big. Really, really big. As of the moment- They were currently packing to go on a family picnic! “E y- Bae? Did you see the new jumper cables I ordered? I can’t find ‘em- And I need to finish fixing up the wheeler for all of us.” The familiar pink ears of her now-dad, Lyme, poked through the door into the kitchen, where Rou and Fyrligh were cooking. The taller redhead mightn’t be as good in the kitchen as the bunny was- But damn did she know how to make good, fast wrapped stuff. “No, sadly. Didja ask Xenon? I remember him looking around for summa that- He might be using it for a few lil ‘experiments,’ y’know.” A small bang sounded from the garage- A happy little bark of laughter echoing down the hallway. Lyme rolled his eyes, a hand coming to his forehead. Rou chuckled softly, walking closer and tapping at his lips with a small, wrapped bun. “Open.”

He opened his mouth, chomping down happily, his eyes widening- Bunny tail twitching behind him excitedly. It was a funny thing to observe- His reactions were all so interesting. “Mmh- Dijew maggf thisf?” Rou shook her head, folding her arms and glancing to the smaller redhead with a proud grin. “Nah, Rookie did. She’s shaping up well. Also, chew ya food first, dumbass.” The taller bun swallowed his food, letting out a laugh, before walking over to ruffle the girl’s head. “Well, Fess betta be ready. He has com-pe-ti-tion.” Winking at the kid, he snagged an extra bun(Much to the dismay of Rou,) and left- Presumably going to yell at Uncle Xenon for snagging the jumper cables. “This is new. Completely different from the Oasis,” Fyrligh muttered as she and her older self went back to wrapping buns. The latter nodded, a small spark of nostalgia fluttering in those familiar garnet orbs. “Yeah, I suppose it is. Never thought in my life that I’d end up somewhere here- A mentor.. Mother thing.” 

Roulette laughed, shaking her head, wiping a stray piece of flour on the kid’s nose. “But honestly, now that I’ve actually given this whole parenting thing a chance? I’m not giving it up. I see what Nilly means now.” She looked down at her white-stained hands, another bun being placed to the side. “Sometimes life’s just more complete with a family. There might be some screw-ups and struggles, sure, but like- It’s all worth it in the end, yanno?” ..Huh. The redhead continued. “I used to think that actually starting one was useless- Cause what was the point, if you were all just gonna.. Y’know, be like the one we had back at the Oasis? And then when I grew older, I was thinking that I just wasn’t built for that kinda lifestyle. Cause you know me- A major fuck-up, no matter where I went.” “..You’re not though.” “Rookie, I am. In so many ways.” “No, you’re not. You had the balls to take care of a kid. That just shows that you’re not a major screw-up in more ways than one.” Fyrligh took a breath, looking her older self in the eyes. “You know how I know you’re not a screw-up? It’s cause you’re taking the responsibility to do this. To actually raise me. Unlike our mother.” That statement made the two of them freeze. Fyrligh wasn’t expecting all that to come out of her 11-year-old mouth. That was so…

“Woah.”

Both of them burst into laughter, Rou shaking her head and nudging the kid with her hip.

“Well shit. You really are just a lil me.”

- End. -