#MK and Mei are not capable of taking this situation seriously

[amazingdeadfish]

How would MK , Mei,react to seeing macaque and mayor together , like they were bickering and just happend to bump into each other, post LBD death?

You know, let's take this one step further, because I like to rant even though it's completely unnecessary.

Let's picture a hypothetical scenario:

Presumably, Macaque is now on good terms with MK, Mei, and everyone else (somehow). Whether or not you think he made a proper apology or kinda just, gas lit everyone into thinking he's redeemed is up to you.

He's in Pigsy's Noodles, eating what is of course noodles. Pretty much the entire gang except for Sandy is there (because let's face it, Sandy is usually never there). Macaque doesn't know why the hell he's dining in, but he is. Maybe MK finally had a day off work and so there was simply no noodle delivery service for him. So dining in was the only option.

And then, the Mayor suddenly pokes their head out of one of their blue portals, right next to where Macaque is sitting. They exclaim a really really loud "OH THERE YOU ARE!!! IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE!!! :DDD" and the entire noodle store goes silent. Clearly, although the Mayor did not expect to find their favourite shadow demon in a room with other people, they are not phased by it.

Macaque is unphased too, having gone through this multiple times before and proceeds to have a conversation (or a petty argument for bickering to ensue) with the Mayor with their head still just poked through the blue portal. Perhaps they exchange something as it might be the reason Mayor is there. Or maybe Mayor just wanted to tell Macaque a silly little something. Like, how the bagels in the supermarket are on discount and that Mayor was going to buy a whole stack but they don't have enough space in their cupboard so they wanted to ask Macaque if he was willing to take a few of the discounted bagels. If that is the case, then Macaque agrees to take the bagels.

The Mayor then leaves eventually of course. The interaction doesn't last for any longer than three minutes. Macaque goes back to eating his noodles. The entire time, the noodle store is silent.

And then utter chaos.

In comes the words of "WAS THAT THE MAYOR WHO IS PROBABLY NOT ACTUALLY A REAL MAYOR?!?!" from Mei, and "I THOUGHT THEY LOST THEIR POWERS?!?!" From Tang, and "WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY DOING HERE?!?!" From Pigsy.

And then of course, from MK, "OH NO WE LEFT THEM IN THE LIBRARY DIDNT WE-" MK is mortified at this realisation, and genuinely feels rather guilty.

In a nutshell, MK and Mei are... Suprised.

Macaque will then experience a solid five minutes of very light hearted and not dangerous in any sort of manner interrogation. He's still eating his noodles even when Mei draws out her sword and asks whether or not the Mayor is out for revenge for the death of their lady.

Either way Macaque leaves that place with a full belly, and also leaving behind a noodle store filled with confusion and concern.

Were MK and Mei and the others hostile at this discovery that Macaque and Mayor are in contact? No. Not hostile at all. Were they confused? Yes. Of course they are. Are they going to do anything with this confusion? No. Because you know why? Right after Macaque leaves, Jin and Yin have started making havoc across the city of Megapolis, and now MK and Mei have to save the day. By the time they are done, they have already forgotten about Macaque and his strange relationship with the Mayor.

[lucagray813]

A Need to be Better - Chapter 2

Rating: Gen

Word Count: 3,602

Characters: Mei, Macaque, MK, Wukong

Relationships: Mei & Macaque, MK & Wukong

Summary: Mei is determined to be ready for whatever comes next and Macaque is going to help her whether he wants to or not!

Additional Tags: Mentor Macaque

CW: None

Link to AO3 Version

Chapter: 2/2

Chapter Navigation: 1 | 2

----

"Alright Shīfu, lay it on me! What's the plan?"

Macaque quirked a brow at the title but seemed to decide it wasn't worth commenting on. Instead, with a somewhat worrying grin, he said, "First off, why don't we set the tone for the day?"

With a snap of his fingers, Mei suddenly found herself staring at a blackboard from her new seat at the school desk that had materialised from the shadows. She stared uncomprehendingly at the ancient Chinese that covered the blackboard for a moment before the horror of the situation caught up to her.

"No! I did my time! You can't make me go back!"

This was like something out of her nightmares! She should have known that he was capable of something this sick and twisted!

But while she'd been manhandled into the chair, no shadows held her down, and while she thrashed about pitifully, she made no move to leave.

Macaque simply grinned, apparently pleased by her anguish.

Turning and gesturing to the board, he explained, "Today, we will be discussing your lesson plan. And at the end, you can decide if you want to take it or leave it. But keep in mind that this is your only option if you want me to train you."

She took a moment to lament her position before she resolved herself to focus. This was just to go over the plan, after all. Surely, this whole classroom get up was just a bit?

God, please let it just be a bit.

Despite feeling increasingly worried about what she might be signing herself up for, she nodded for him to continue.

Bizarrely however, he instead pulled a face before pinching the bridge of his nose with a groan, "Before we go any further, tell me, how do you feel about having classmates for the day? Otherwise I'm going to have to relocate today's lesson somewhere more remote."

A portal opened beside her and an oddly coloured butterfly and equally oddly coloured cat dropped out of it.

Immediately, she was on her feet, "Seriously?! You were spying again?"

A quick transformation from both of them revealed a sheepish Monkey King and an irritated MK.

Monkey King was quick to defended their innocence, "Hey! We were being responsible heroes and making sure that he wasn't torturing you!" He gestured at the setup and added, "And it's a good thing we did because it's even worse than I could have ever imagined!"

MK shot him an annoyed look before turning to her, "I wasn't spying, I was trying to stop him from spying!" He then took a step forward and stage whispered, "To be honest, I think he's a little bit sensitive that Macaque might upstage him as a mentor."

Wukong whipped around, aghast at his student's betrayal, "I am not sensitive!"

His brain clearly caught up with his mouth a second too late and with as much dignity as he could muster in the face of everyone's unimpressed and knowing looks he stood tall and awkwardly coughed, "I mean, I was just worried about Mei! Sorry for trying to look out for your best friend!"

At Macaque's derisive scoff, he turned to glare at him as if this was all his fault.

MK was clearly not in the mood for Monkey King's issues today, and shook his head in disappointment before focusing on her, "I'm sorry about this. I'll get him out of here and you can get back to it."

His comment interrupted the very mature mystic monkey mentor glaring match that was going on. And with a final sneer Macaque walked over and offered, "Or we can just get out of here and remove the temptation for Mr. Sensitive to spy all together."

It was tempting. And not that she didn't trust MK to keep Monkey King away but focusing in a "classroom" was difficult enough without any extra distractions.

So she nodded, "Let's go. MK, I'll fill you in when we get back. Monkey King, find something better to do with your time! God, go to therapy or something!"

His indignant spluttering was quickly lost to the shadows and she took a moment to take in her surroundings while Macaque quietly chuckled to himself.

It looked like he had brought them to some remote mountain range - all she could see for miles around was rocky terrain. And it was eerily quiet, with little to no flora or fauna - the polar opposite of Monkey King's island.

The words boring and depressing came to mind.

Macaque sighed contently and pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, "Ah. The look on his face. Priceless. Well handled, kid."

Her desk had come with her so she sat back down with a huff and asked rhetorically, "Why is he like this?"

Macaque shrugged, "Who knows? Maybe someone dropped him while he was a stone egg."

She huffed a small laugh before putting Monkey King to the back of her mind.

Glancing around again, she asked, "Where are we?"

"Just an old haunt of mine back before the Monkey King ever darkened my doorway. He doesn't know about it so we should be safe from any more interruptions."

She suddenly doubted the wisdom of her decision to blithely accompany Macaque somewhere unknown and isolated.

No one knew where they were.

She shook off the creeping dread. She and MK had prepared for this - they had spent all day yesterday making contingency plans on the off chance Macaque showed his true colours.

And, of course, she wasn't going down without a fight.

But for the moment she was giving him the benefit of the doubt.

She tried to find something nice to say about Macaque's former residence, "It's... homey?"

Macaque scoffed at her attempt, "Let's just get down to business."

He flipped over the blackboard and explained, "This is a rough outline of what I've got planned although it is subject to change as I get to know you better and depending on how you progress. But-"

She interrupted him, "Wait, wait, wait! If this is the plan then what the hell was on the other side of the board?"

He grinned, "Oh that? Just my way of having a little fun. Why don't you ask Wukong about it when you get a chance?"

She narrowed her eyes before guessing, "Did you know he was going to spy on us?"

Still smiling, he shrugged, "I knew it was a possibility."

A little incredulous, she asked, "So what? Did you just write out a whole load of trash talk that only he would be able to read on the off chance that he might see it? Dude, you need to get a life."

He laughed, "Hey, I've heard journalling is meant to be good for you. It was cathartic if nothing else. Now, we're here to talk about your issues not mine-"

She muttered, "Thank god."

He ignored her, "-so without further ado..."

Thankfully his lesson plan was more impressive than his "journalling".

He had broken it down into four sections - mediation, strategy, combat practice and dragon abilities. In her humble opinion however, two of those sounded leagues more exciting than the other two.

She was surprised by his proposal for mediation though.

Restraining himself to only being slightly belittling, he explained that he didn't foresee her having success with traditional meditation any time soon. And honestly, she didn't have much room to argue, just the thought of sitting and breathing for any amount of time was almost enough to bore her to tears.

Instead, he suggested she practice martial art forms in a slow and controlled manner, both with and without her sword. The aim was to focus on developing patience and mindfulness but obviously learning new forms would also be beneficial for combat.

While she had some reservations about the whole "patience and mindfulness" thing, form practice was a hundred times better than actual meditation!

Though Macaque made sure to stress that they would be working towards other mindful practices, such as the traditional meditation she so dreaded. But who knew when, or if, they'd actually get to that point so she didn't let herself worry about it.

Next came strategy, and it was easily the least exciting section.

It involved actual book learning, with pre-assigned materials she would be expected to comment on. And on top of that, Macaque would give her scenarios, both combat related and not, that she needed to create successful plans for. Plans that she then had to be able to defend as he tore them to shreds.

Some of these scenarios would take the form of a verbal discussion but unbelievably he expected her to write essays on occasion too.

Petulantly, she had pointed out that MK never had to do writing assignments or homework. But he had just relished in her suffering while reminding her that if she didn't like it then she could just walk away now.

Well, she'd come this far, she may as well see this through to the end at least. The rest of his proposal might win her over yet.

Although he really was doing his best to make combat practice sound as unappealing as possible. Labouring the point that it was going to be task specific - focused on a specific element such as blocking or dodging. They'd also be spending a significant amount of time reviewing her performance post-fight - highlighting areas of improvement as needed.

While she was initially very put out by the very limited nature of combat practice, he finally threw her a bone and told her that they would also have the all-out fight she craved every once in a while too. After all, all of this theory meant nothing if she couldn't put it into practice.

He refused to confirm exactly how often this would be but he advised it would probably be at least once or twice a month.

She was already plotting on ways she could bump that up to at least once a week.

And lastly, was his plan to explore her dragon abilities. He admitted this would be more of an experimental lesson, subject to change depending on what they discovered. But together they would try to uncover the full extent of her dragon abilities and how best to utilise them.

It was possibly the most exciting part of his whole plan but as ever he had to knock the wind out of her sails. Although she was pretty sure he hadn't even meant to this time.

"While I do have some knowledge of dragons, I'm no expert. You, however, are from a long line of dragons. I'd recommend asking about or checking out whatever resources you have at your disposal. If you find anything of interest then we'll see if we can work with it."

If only if it was as easy as that.

Unfortunately, her relationship with her family could be... difficult.

Don't get her wrong, she loved them and she knew they loved her but rarely did they see eye to eye. Her parents, in particular, never approved of anything she did.

And to that end, she hadn't really talked to them about what she had been through since MK had picked up the staff.

She'd given them a basic run down, purposely excluding a couple of important details regarding the Samadhi Fire and the Memory Scroll, and that had been discouraging enough.

Obviously, they were proud of her but they clearly weren't a fan of her being a full time hero. They worried about her safety, of course, but also they worried about how her conduct reflected on them and the rest of the family.

So she had serious doubts they would be eager to help with her training.

That's not to say there weren't other people she could ask but there's no way her mother wouldn't hear about it. She didn't think there was a single soul in any of the dragon clans that would risk her wrath. And not telling her that her daughter had been snooping around behind her back? Oh, it'd be bad for everybody involved.

Especially her.

She hadn't realised how long she'd been silent until Macaque cleared his throat to get her attention, "I really thought my next suggestion was going to be the sticking point... Although maybe the two are related?"

Intelligently, she responded, "Huh?"

He, thankfully, didn't call her out on her lack of eloquence. In fact, he actually seemed to be gearing himself up for what he wanted to say next, "Well... I think it's fair to say that you've been through a lot..."

He coughed awkwardly at her unimpressed look.

At least he had the good grace to somewhat acknowledge that he'd had a hand in that, she supposed. Though she couldn't say that she wasn't looking forward to the opportunity to air out some of her grievances during combat training.

He quickly pushed on, "And that can have a detrimental effect on your progress. So that's why I think that you should consider therapy."

Whatever she had expected him to say, it wasn't that but honestly it was crazy that she hadn't thought of it herself. So after a moment of stunned silence, she responded, "Oh yeah, totally. I am way overdue getting myself a therapist. I guess I better talk to Sandy and see if he's got any recommendations."

Finally, it was Macaque's turn to be on the back foot, apparently caught off guard by her easy acceptance.

She laughed, "Dude, everyone goes to therapy these days! Did you think I was going to fly off the handle or something? Besides, if I go I can probably bully MK into going too because boy does he need it!"

He huffed, "You said it. Well, at least you've got a better chance of convincing him than you do Wukong, that's for sure."

She laughed sharply, "Can you imagine? Honestly, I feel for the poor sucker that landed the Monkey King as a client!"

A surprised laugh escaped him and she had a feeling that any dig made towards the Monkey King was probably enough to bring a smile to his face.

Maybe once she and MK were on board the therapy train they could team up and get their respective monkeys to go to therapy too.

She couldn't think of two people that needed it more.

Slipping back into teacher mode, Macaque picked back up from where he left off, "Well, therapy and dragon resources aside for the moment, that's the rough outline of the lesson plan. As for the schedule..."

A well organised folder appeared on the desk before her and she raised an eyebrow at it before flipping it open to reveal that the first page was the proposed timetable.

At a glance, it looked like he was suggesting training four consecutive mornings in a row and then taking a days break. She was surprised to see that Mr. "I'll work you hard!" had even factored in breaks on training days too.

She looked up as he commented, "Now, this is an area where there is some leeway. I don't know what you get up to during the week so if you're prepared to take this forward then we can discuss when and where we should train."

She turned her attention back to the folder and flicked through it.

She really couldn't get over the fact that he'd put this together for her - it must have taken him hours...

Why go to all this effort?

She wanted to be suspicious but she was finding it difficult in the face of a genuine lesson plan, tailored specifically to her.

This could be exactly what she needed.

Still, she had to ask, "Why are you doing this?"

He shrugged, "Getting to piss off Wukong and increasing my odds of surviving the apocalypse? It's a no-brainer really."

Doubtful, she responded, "Yeah, ok... But this is a lot of effort to put in just to spite Monkey King, isn't it?"

He huffed, "Unlike some people, if I'm going to do something then I'm going to do it right. Which is why it's my way or the highway. So on that note, what'll it be, kid?"

She wanted to say she gave it a lot of thought but the truth was that this was just too good an offer to pass up.

Sure, it was going to be hard and she was going to have to spend a disgusting amount of time with Macaque but where else was she going to find an opportunity like this?

She grinned, "When do we start?"

----

Wukong managed to stop spluttering long enough to gesture at the spot Mei and Macaque had disappeared, "Can you believe those two! The nerve! Where do they get off-?"

"Monkey King."

Oh, that wasn't a happy sounding MK.

Turning around warily to face his successor he was immediately cowed by the disapproval he was met with.

He tried to reason with him, "Now, bud, I can see that you're unhappy but-"

"But what, Monkey King? I told you to leave it but you came and butted in anyway."

Shame and indignation started to war within him and he immediately defended himself, "I didn't "butt in"! I was a butterfly about a mile away! It was Macaque that portaled us into the middle of it all!"

MK was unmoved and his disappointed stare was really starting to get to him. But he wasn't in the wrong here! He had every right to be suspicious of Macaque and he had a responsibility to ensure no-one got caught up in the crossfire between the two of them.

The occasional check in with his golden vision had confirmed that Macaque had spent an excessive amount of time working on this supposed lesson plan and he just couldn't figure out why he was willing to go to such lengths for Mei of all people.

Had they had some sort of serious bonding experience while fighting Peng or something? It just wasn't like him to go out of his way like this for someone he wasn't close to.

Ok, sure, he could very privately admit that he was curious as to how he measured up against Macaque as a mentor - sue him - but that wasn't his primary motivation.

No-one knew better than him how dangerous Macaque truly was and he refused to take the risk that this wasn't all part of some scheme to get to him.

But at the same time, good intentions or not, he had still ignored MK's warnings to leave well enough alone, waving off his concerns while knowing full well he was planning to spy on them.

And that encouraged him to come clean.

"Look... I'm sorry I didn't listen, alright? I know that you're trying to give Macaque his "redemption arc", or whatever, but you have to understand, we've been at each other's throats for a long time. I can't just believe that he's suddenly turned over a new leaf."

MK's expression softened but he still wasn't happy, "Then say that. Talk to me instead of going behind my back. I know you're still getting used to having people around but you've got to be realising that it's so much better when we work together. If you had just talked to me about it instead of going off on your own then..."

He trailed off with a tired sigh and with that shame had officially won out over any indignation. He was supposed to be working on this, to be restoring his faith in him and proving himself worthy of his trust.

Sincerely apologetic, he responded, "You're right, kid. And I'm sorry. I promise I really am trying to get better at talking to you... But I guess I just didn't even think about it this time. I just slipped back into the habit... just like that."

His master would be ashamed of him.

MK took a breath, before offering him a small smile, "I know. Look, we're not going to solve this overnight so how about we have our own training session and then I'll tell you all about the safety precautions me and Mei have set up to ease your concerns about Macaque?"

That caught his attention, "Safety precautions?"

MK walked towards the edge of the cliff as he explained, "We're giving Macaque a chance but we've not forgotten what he's done or what he's capable of. We've got panic buttons, we've got trackers on our phones, and we even found some nifty artefacts in the vault! But most importantly, we talk to each other - Macaque's not going to say a word that the other's not going to hear about. He's not going to be able to manipulate us that easily."

He caught MK's pointed look at the "talk to each other" part and while he had the good grace to be contrite, he was incredibly reassured that they weren't just blindly trusting Macaque.

He couldn't help but grin as he brought a hand to MK's shoulder, "And this is why you're the plan man."

MK shot him a smile before he and Wukong jumped in tandem and took to the skies.

As they flew, he silently promised he was going to take MK's words to heart. If he'd just voiced his concerns earlier then he could have avoided this whole mess, maybe could have even added some safety precautions of his own. He still could when they talked later.

He could only be grateful MK was so forgiving but he swore he was going to prove himself worthy of that forgiveness.

He was going to be better.

--End--

Previous Chapter

LMK Fanfic Masterlist

[lesser-mook]

Lego Monkie Kid Season 1 (Show Recommendation)

Goku voices Sun Wukong and Sokka voices M.K, and the animation really had me like:

What else needs to be said.

Legendary Hero, greatest “1#”hero in the world that mentors a nobody that no one took seriously

Main protagonist is destined to succeed said hero

Inherits his fight against an ancient evil

Hotheaded rival with explosive temper

ect ect. You can see where i’m going with this

Wholesome

Pros:

The main character is THE MAIN CHARACTER, and he learns good lessons and trains. 

Good choreography in the fights

Great side characters, including villains

Voice acting is well done

Art direction is amazing & colorful for such a simple artstyle 

Set pieces are 100% eye candy, the art director did their due diligence. Almost all the establishing shots look like cartoonish concept art.

5-6 titular characters, not 20, not 30, not 50 that are ALL the main protagonist. Less than 7 in this show get focus. 

Mei (Titular Female lead) is very fun and likable, she’s full of so much energy. Not only is she in the action in Episode 0 but by Episode 3 she gets more characterization and an upgrade so she can get even more involved. (Won’t say any more tho)

Her character arc isn’t revolving around liking the main character, it’s regarding personal situations pertaining to her life. Not her life revolving around what someone else does.

She’s allowed to be cool and get W’s, not just the boys 24/7

Mei & MK have the most pure & cute platonic relationship, something people/society/kids need to see more of. We need more platonic.

(Now, be advised, i just finished Season 1 so things could change between them but seriously M&MK have interacted so much whatever they choose to do for them as a couple or NOT do, works regardless because they have an actual relationship vs this shit:)

Than Carrot dangling “will they, won’t they’s” for 6-7 years

YES, i’m looking at YOU “MY HERO”

Plus, her Jumpsuit getup screams a cool fusion between White Ranger & Green Ranger = Mei is who you get.

Ivory/Jade Dragon Warrior Mei

Episodes post the premieres are only 11min a piece, makes for great binging

Humor’s fast paced and the gags are ACTUALLY funny

Wholesome

Monkey King is 100% BADASS, lore accurate feats/representation of what this Monke is capable of. 

Sun Wukong China’s Superman for a reason, and if nobody considers him to be, ya’ll really should. 

There’s a reason why Goku’s base character traits took notes from both Superman and Monkey King

Cons:

Breakneck pacing (because it’s 11min, and the style is very fluid; The content is coming at you a little fast)

It is a kid’s show, so it’s not going to get super edgy or show serious blood or anything like that. That doesn’t mean people aren’t dropping the word “Kill”, this show gets serious, edgy. But not super edgy. 

(The writing is good despite it gearing to kids to buy Lego toys, Avatar style. Just because it’s family oriented doesn’t mean it can’t compete with Anime, boom. That’s what matters)

Just because it’s a “kid’s show” doesn’t mean lower the bar, doesn’t mean be lazy and treat your audience like they’re stupid because they’re children. And Monkie Kid did the exact opposite of settling for less.

Again, the episodes are 11min, so if you don’t like short watches, watch the show anyway. Trust me, it’s a good time.

The show’s aesthetic is like Rise of the TMNT (Which i’ll admit, i was a hater of due to my admiration for the 2012 take. But i’m going to give it a chance, i’ve seen some clips of the show, and i actually like what i see.)

Otherwise, the breakneck pacing which is personally NOT my style, but it’s not a deal breaker. Especially since this show is adapting a source material i admire: Journey To The West

Jokes are pretty good, wholesome show, the action is directed like i was choreographing this shit, just look at this gif:

These ARE LEGOS people, why are they really throwing hands on par with ANIME fight scenes (With the difference being if you pause it, you’re not looking at a derp frame, ALL THE FRAMES are for the most part consistent quality)

And the sound design, HOLY shit man.

I have at least a 3GB+ folder just for SFX for my edits, i love a good explosion and shockwave effect- so when i say it’s got good acoustics, that means it’s good.

First time through this show tho, Episode 0 is basically a movie (MAR 2023), starting Season 2 soon

First episodes per season are like 30min to an hour, all the episodes after are standard 11min stories- PER Season.

As of MARCH 2023, only 3 Seasons, so far. 

It’s not 11/10 or anything, but it’s a really good show, recommended.