#lmk s5 au

[fellow-fandom-fruitifier]

Dood els of 6EM dressing up as traffic light trio + SWK (bcz I’m obsessed w/ shadowpeach)

(More under cut✨✨)

Yes 6EM is wearing SWK’s hoodie✨💞✨💞✨✨💞✨, the Mei & 6EM 1 is me showing how the shadow visor thingy would look in my fic (mei doesn’t have horns or a tail in the fic I just felt like adding them)

(ISNSKSKWKKXUFGRB IT WONT LET ME PASTE MY FIC LINK‼️‼️‼️🗣️ it’s Apologies by Turning_Your_Local_Fandoms_Fruity on AO3)

[fluffypotatey]

MORE TOURNAMENT!!! (not ch2 but a side story)

Sneak Peak:

Something had happened while Mei and the rest of the city was asleep. She remembers only bits and pieces but one thing was for sure: the city was taken over by the new villain of the month (because it appeared that she and MK have leveled up from the classic villain of the week shtick). All Mei could grasp from the night before was smoke, rising stone, and cackling laughter. ~~~ Aka, the Tournament Arc as told by Mei

[chonggen]

This au occurred after MK sacrificed himself to save the world and the world was reset.

Next

[theweepingegg]

I need some soft Baba Wukong and his son, MK.

[pupi-pop]

Now that Season 5 has been out a good bit I feel it's been long enough to the point I can share arts of it. Also I've thrown my friend to the sharks and they've seen it too so spoilers are good to go Not that I don't love our new lil snake villain dude bro- But god he rOBBED us of that hand holding scene. So outta spite I decided to doodle some hand holding because I love them. Honestly everything about them this season tore me apart. These stupid chaotic monkies have my heart.

And this is an au idea I've begun playing around with involving canon lore of MK being Wukong's brother- Basically MK is taken in by Wukong where he's raised as Wukong's little brother and as a result when Macaque meets Wukong he ends up meeting MK as well.

This is actually more of a Sunburst based AU, but this was a scene I imagined in my head so yknow,,,

SO Mac has a tendency to get himself injured because he's always popping in and out of places causing mischief, and teenage MK takes it upon himself to get Mac bandaged up since he hates seeing him hurt. Mac will admit that the kid is pretty entertaining

Also I've made it clear in one of the art things I've posted that MK just likes to kidnap Mac's scarf whenever he's not wearing it because he thinks it's super cool. It's just a thing he does in every universe for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

--- Also GAHH where did you all come from. You all seemed to really like that lil quick doodle of MK being proud of himself for biting Peng. I am overwhelmed with the positive love on that oh my god,,

[skywillow28022]

You be the moon, I'll be the earth

And when we burst start over, oh darling.

Begin again, begin again, begin again.

Basically a trailer/prologue for the Old Cycle Au. Still struggling with how to draw MK's hair down

[chipper-smol]

@pupppppppy is to blame for this scene finally getting out of my head

Context: this is the split second when possessed Wukong punches Nezha into the ground and then turns to MK. These two are not on good terms in this au, so Wukong begging for Macaque to save MK is a pretty big deal

scene after courtesy of puppy

[quitealotofsodapop]

Spicynoodles with egged MK content.

The angst, the fluff, the hurt/comfort, all of it.

That's all I got right now.

That feel when the boy you have a crush/rivalry with is having a (literal) single-parent crisis, and he's just learned he's a primordial stone monkey that may die due to the unique process.

Red Son is confused af - when did *this* happen?! He was in a Scroll for a lot of the process, so he's a little out of the loop!

Not to mention, everyone's gut reaction is to look at them!! As if they had something to do with it!

Red Son and his family have been in more frequent contact with Sun Wukong and his prot��gé ever since the events surrounding the release of the Brotherhood. DBK forms an unexpected friendship with Pigsy over their shared journeys of cooking and fatherhood. The same occurs on a smaller scale with Tang and PIF getting together to gossip about immortal drama over cocktails.

The fact that Red's parents see MK's future cub as a surrogate grand-calf could be part of that. Red still blushes whenever she remembers her father's first assumptions on the matter.

MK becomes a bit of a recluse in the days after S4. Not only because of what he's learned about himself and his Egg, but because his energy is severely sapped.

At Mei's insistence, Red Son agrees to come over and spend some time with their fave monkey-boy. MK appreciates the company. The Egg absorbs so much life energy that he can barely get out of bed some days.

After a few weeks MK breaks down into hormonal tears. Sobbing into his former-enemy's jacket.

MK: "Everything I do leads to pain.... I'm sorry. You're the last person I should cry to." Red Son, rubbing MK's back: "It's ok. This is all... very new for all of us. You being the only other known celestial monkey besides Sun Wukong and Macaque has been a shock to everyone." MK, sniffling: "No. Not just that... this... I don't think I'll be able to be there for them." Red Son, stiffens: "What do you mean?" MK: "I'm..." (*gets quiet*) Red Son, thinks for a bit: "My mother does share the stories you know. How she almost died bringing me to life. To make that risk... It's admirable." MK: (*quietly leans head on Red Son's shoulder*) Red Son: "You've stated your intentions many times before to continue the pregnancy despite the risks. All I can offer is that I'm allowed to be there to see you through it." MK, looking up with surprise: "You will?" Red Son: "Yes." MK, regaining cheeky smile: "Not just because your parents are convinced it's yours?" Red Son, coughs awkwardly: "WELL uh!" *cough* "Uncle did mention that proximity to a preferred... partner, could help alleviate the worst of the symptoms caused by lack of life energy. But that the child could become peppered with the Dao of the partner and therefore their DNA..." MK, happy laughing: "I don't mind having a baby with red hair or horns, if thats what you're worried about!" Red Son: (*blushing furiously*)

So Red Son unofficially deems herself "the sire" of the Egg so she can donate her life energy to the depleted MK.

Then Season 5 happens...

MK actually manages to fight back against the restraints of the Ten Kings - his body providing a beacon of Life that they have no power over. Li Jing still handles the pregnant creature roughly, father or not - he sees MK as a beast that needs to be tamed. Nezha growls at his father's actions, and quickly comes to MK's aid - declaring his duty as a Protector of Children (although stretching the definition considering said child could be MK himself or the unborn cub) to preside over Li Jing's orders.

Somehow, knowing about his Egg, makes MK even more self-sacrificial. Because in his mind; if his Stone Egg is going to kill him anyway - why not sacrifice himself to repair the Heavenly Pillar?

Everyone reacts even worse than in canon.

The Nine-Headed Demon certainly didn't expect the Harbinger to "sprout off" so soon! They tease and prod MK - pointing out that he's accomplishing something not even the Monkey King has done; have a child of his own.

Wukong and Macaque snarl and bite at the snake for that comment...

Xiangliu is kept busy from trying to stop multiple heroes and anti-villains from tearing him apart.

Wukong can't even bring himself to fight MK's sacrifice, only able to hang onto his successor in a desperate hold. Begging him to please think of himself. His family and friends! His Egg even!

But MK still makes that leap.

Upon entering Nüwa's sanctuary within the Pillar and learning that his sacrifice was to only upkeep a destructive cycle, MK... has the expected reaction.

MK: "You expect me to sacrifice myself to when my kid won't even live to see the world?!" Nüwa, surprised: "I... I will admit. I had not known you would be able to do that."

After hearing her Harbinger's tearful plea, the goddess can only smile and sigh.

Although the safest option is to continue the cycle, she knows any child of her blood or clay would not dare leave the world or people they love so dearly. Heavens weep when a mother/father sets their mind to something. Something she struggled with many eons ago...

She gives her Little Heaven the Five Stones and the instructions for how to split their powers evenly across the cosmos. Humanity has certainly increased in number since her time!

She also gives blessings to her future grand-creation! The little stone monkey will be the first born naturally since Sun Wukong after all. She can spare a blessing or two to ensure their safe arrival!

MK leaves the Pillar, seeing his friends and family clasped together - all believing that the world was truly coming to an end.

Red Son, emboldened by the coming apocalypse, suddenly declares something that's been on his mind for a while now.

Red Son: "I like-like you, noodle boy! I did not lie when I said I want to be by your side through it all! If the world is to end now, I do not wish for it to end without saying I wish we could have been courting!" MK, touched: "Aww!!! Thats really sweet, Red Son! But I actually have a plan to save the world!" Red Son, stuttering: "Oh um. Ok?" MK: "I totally reciprocate the feelings though!" Red Son, excited: "You do!?" Macaque, interrupting: "Excuse me, lovebirds. End of the world?" MK, fumbling the five stones: "OH YEAH! RIGHT!"

The stones are still destroyed, and the Queen Mother of Heaven watches as the power her husband harboured for so long spreads across the universe like petals on the wind.

It takes some time for MK's egg to be fully ready, so him and Red Son have some time to do some courting before the little guy arrives!

PIF and DBK totally called it.

Also it turns out harbouring the Five Heavenly Stones while pregnant has some... unexpected effects on the Stone Egg within...

The Whole Family: "..." Baby: (*eyes glowing with a rainbow shimmer*) Baby: *chirp*! Pigsy: "Why does my grandson look like a Lisa Frank drawing?" MK: (*tired shrug*) Mei, taking photos: "He's so pretty!!"

The baby is named "Haoyu - the "Vast Universe/浩宇" to MK's "Little Heaven/小天". Depending on the characters it can also mean "cloudburst/豪雨" aka an unexpected rain.

[lunar-wandering]

Welcome to the most insane monkie kid Macaque AU idea

im gonna Furina him

aka what if he was a shade/shadow of like. a different Macaque. a more powerful one. with white fur (representing Yang) and he was made and given the task to stay by Wukong's side in order to bring about a better future. cause Yang!Macaque remembers the previous cycle and wants to create a better future.

Yin!Macaque was not meant to deviate from his task of staying by Wukong's side. the under the mountain argument and Yin!Macaque's death came as a genuine surprise to Yang!Macaque because Yin!Macaque wasn't MEANT to be able to rebel. so Yang!Macaque pulled a few strings and gave LBD another vision or something so that she'd revive Yin!Macaque-

Yang!Macaque at some point needs to sacrifice himself to restore balance via recombining Yin and Yang,,, Yin!Macaque is the one who gets to stay (with some bonus extra powers now aka his hearing has increased and he's not loving it). what makes this part extra insane is that i think Yin!Macaque would die before this sacrifice, and after it he'd be brought back to life again.

ALSO the idea of Wukong getting to have a whole meeting with Yang!Macaque before the sacrifice and asking something along the lines of "which one of you was the one who became my friend?"

which would make Yang!Macaque respond with "neither, he was just performing the task i set for him. at least, he was at first. you'd have to ask him what his opinion of your relationship with him is now."

and hey, that's a weird sentence, because Yin!Macaque is *dead*, and Wukong's *about* to get mad about it, but then the realization, the thought that that sentence means Yin!Macaque is actually alive, truly hits, and he practically almost collapses out of the sheer relief-

[sixears-macaque-yt]

Did you kill him?

YOU UNLOCKED A SECRET CLIP!!

[ryin-silverfish]

LMK S5 trailer, Chinese pantheon infodump, and some ideas

…Man, normally, I feel the urge to write fix-it AUs after rewatching episodes and coming across particularly bizarre theories and takes, not before the new season's even out.

Thanks, S5 trailer.

Consider this your spoiler warning, because the rest of this post will all be my personal opinions about a few major story beats that were revealed + the rough outline for a fix-it AU.

It's also a bit ranty, and features some criticisms of the general narrative, so if that's not your cup of tea, feel free to avoid this one.

Li Jing becoming JE/the regent of the Celestial Realm is just hilariously absurd. I mean, it makes a teeny tiny bit more sense than the "Nezha will be the new JE" fan theory, but that's not a very high bar.

1) In-universe, he had done a grand total of nothing while shit was hitting the fan, and only showed up after it was all over. Which, tbh, isn't too far from his role in FSYY. No, wait, at least in FSYY, he killed Luo Xuan via a pagoda to the head, after the guy had all his fire-based magical treasures neutralized and taken away by Princess Longji.

Yeah, congrats, LMK's Li Jing, you've somehow become even more useless than your FSYY and JTTW counterparts——which is a true feat.

2) Even if someone's making him JE/regent, it wouldn't be the Ten Kings. To put it simply: the Underworld doesn't have that authority. They are the most pathetic of all divine bureaucracies, who pretty much only show up to get pushed around and revive the occasional dead guy in JTTW (and I still love them).

Like, they ain't no Hades or Satan. Just the 10 judges of the Dead People Supreme Court. To heavily paraphrase Di Ting in the original JTTW novel:

"How much power do Underworld gods really have? (幽冥之神，能有多少法力)" "...Certainly not enough to stop a rampaging demonic macaque who's as strong as SWK, if I say the truth out loud in here and piss him off. Just send them to the Buddha, please."

An analogy: if the Celestial Host is the imperial court, the Underworld is the ministry in charge of judicial processes and prisons. They don't even have authority over the imperial censors who answer directly to the emperor, let alone the power to determine a successor to the throne during a major crisis.

If this was to make the tiniest bit of sense, Li Jing would be the one commanding THEM, not the other way around. Or if it's Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha himself giving orders to Li Jing…for some reason.

But we know that ain't happening bc of the show's strange aversion to showing Buddhist deities on screen, not to mention it would be very OOC for Ksitigarbha, whose job is granting relief and salvation to souls in the Path of Hell, not judging and punishing them like the Ten Kings.

3) If you must make Li Jing the emperor/regent, you have a more mythos-accurate and obvious choice than the Ten Kings, considering you already got the Four Divine Beasts involved!

Yes, I'm talking about their bosses, the humanoid "directional + elemental gods": Lord Father of the East (Wood), Queen Mother of the West (Metal), Emperor Zhenwu of the North (Water).

No South though...because our mythos can't agree on a single directional god of the South, but for shit and giggles, just imagine Zhurong, Yandi, Huaguang, and the Star of Fiery Virtues all sitting on the same narrow bench, staring awkwardly at each other.

Maybe we can have Ziwei, Great Emperor of the Central Sky and North Stars, who is one of the Four Sovereigns(四御) in Daoism (two of which could also be an alternate choice, but maybe a bit too obscure for foreign audiences).

He commands the stellar deities and heavenly bodies——which the Four Divine Beasts would technically fall under, as guardians of the four quadrants of the sky, each in charge of 7 Lunar Mansions.

4) But if you already have these deities, why the hell would any of them make Li Jing the regent? Wouldn't it be more likely for them to create a Celestial Council of Regents themselves, with Devaraja Li Jing under their command as the leader of what's left of the celestial army?

Like, you can still have them, or one of them, going after the gang and ordering Li Jing to put the fillet on SWK.

I can see Zhenwu the Demon-Vanquisher doing that, since the fillet isn't too different from what he did to Huaguang and a lot of the demons he subdued in JTTN: feeding them magical water/fire pills that would corrode/ignite their insides whenever they tried to resist.

(Yeah, compared to that, the fillet would look like the lenient option, since it's just pain and won't actually dissolve/cook you alive from the inside out...)

And it wouldn't be bc he thought SWK was to blame for the Brotherhood's epic fuck-up...somehow. Like, what even is that logic?!

I mean, I can kinda see the Ten Kings doing it as a pre-emptive "Don't blame us for our shitty security, blame that guy over there!" move...except they are no longer answering to any higher authorities who'd hold them responsible at that point!

"What about Li Jing?" You may ask. Yeah, WHAT ABOUT LI JING? Why does Li Jing have to get involved in this?

If he's forcing the Ten Kings to pass judgement on the gang (which surely doesn't look like it in the trailers), why's he enlisting the help of the weakest faction and not, y'know, his celestial soldiers and other gods?

If the Ten Kings get Li Jing to be their enforcer...well, how the Eighteen Hells did they manage that? What could the Ghost Supreme Court and their crappy prison-torture chamber-soul customs office complex even offer Li Jing as a bribe?

And if their goals were to avoid responsibilities by blaming someone else, how stupid did they have to be to actively involve/create a higher authority who can punish them once the cat gets out of the proverbial bag, instead of, I dunno, just stay where they are and keep their head down???

So in my fix-it AU, it's more of a "Better safe than sorry" scenario, where every demon working for the new Celestial Council must prove their loyalty via swallowing the water/fire pill, now that even more dangerous demons have escaped and are running around in the aftermath of S4.

And Great Sage and company are not exempt from that new law either——"If you are truly righteous and Not Like Them and not planning to rebel, what's there to be afraid of?"

Horrified by the Demon-Vanquishing Mansion's 16th century standards of "justice" and "mercy", they naturally would not have any of it, and thus the conflict begins.

Not only would this show the fallout of Azure's misguided rebellion——that, in trying to make a better world, he had made it 120% worse for both humanity and demonkind in less drastic and more realistic ways aside from dooming reality to irreversible destruction, it would also help with the major show-not-tell problem about Celestial cruelty bc the "good guys" in power saw no problem with this kind of shit.

If you want your lawful antagonists who take Order to its extremes, the warrior sovereign in black leading an elite army of demon-hunters + penal legions made of "reformed" demons would be a better choice than the Ghost Supreme Court, don't ya think?

(Fun fact: in Zaju plays, Zhenwu was often said to be the boss of Nezha and Erlang, so him commanding Li Jing wouldn't be too out of place either.)

Now, you may ask, why do I even care? After all, isn't it clear that the show is neither mythos-accurate nor trying to be, considering the JE got K.O.ed by a Bodhisattva's cat of all things?

Not to mention the season's not even out yet, so why jump to conclusions so quickly? Maybe the actual episodes will have explanations that make sense. Relax.

...Cause I don't mind less-than-stellar animations if the story's good, and since I keep noticing the less-than-stellar animations, it clearly isn't good enough.

Also, it's not like it's only the implications that are absurd——my problem is with the whole premise of "Li Jing becoming the new JE/Regent" and "The gang is prosecuted by the Ten Kings for bullshit reasons, even though these guys should not, and never have the power to enforce anything over SWK."

I don't like calling narrative choices "wrong" per se, and prefer to see it on a gradient of "least to most narrative potential". When it comes to adaptations, if the option that is faithful to the original work will result in a less interesting story, then I'll happily take the one that isn't as faithful and takes creative liberties, but makes a better story.

And here, I feel like being faithful to the Chinese mythos inspirations will add to the narrative potential instead of subtract from it, and the idea they come up with kinda...goes against how Chinese pantheons work, in a very simplified and "westernized" manner.

Mostly bc I am a Chinese Underworld mythos lover and think they deserve better than being ominous Hades/Grim Reaper knockoffs. And out of all the possible Chinese gods, Nezha's asshole dad is the least qualified or interesting candidate to fill in the power vaccum left by JE's death.

[fellow-fandom-fruitifier]

FUCKING HELP ME THAT TOOK SO LONG😭😭

[fluffypotatey]

Since Tang is the one who named MK "little heaven" I wonder how they'll get the same emotional depth in ENG, bc saying MK the Monkie Kid doesn't quite hit the same as knowing your other dad named named you after the great sage equal to heaven XD possibly before his Monkey king phase?

well we do know that MK isn’t his full name (as teased in 2x01) so maybe we’ll finally get to know 👀

but 🥺 it just warms my heart that freenoodles have been with MK since the beginning. Tang telling MK stories since he was small and naming him after the legends Tang adores the most (even before either of them knew their true connection to them) that MK can only learn new lore if told in Tang’s story voice like 🫠

brb imma go lie down thinking about MK, Pigsy, and Tang being a found family trio for so long

[chonggen]

I’M SHIPPING THE CREEPIEST LMK SHIP

(Idk why I keep think about it)

PLEASE DON’T BLAME ME

Holy shit I feel guilty of this ship. Help me name this ship.

[ryversreality]

what do they do all day? NOTHING 👹

just kidding, it’s just Wukong and his generals waiting for Beng as she finishes her prayers.

[technicallyasizzlingmonkey]

Have an idea for an AU. What if, right after MK got sacrificed, Wukong decided to break into heaven and go on a rampage, trying to find a way to being MK back? When the Celestial realm tell him that he was meant to be a sacrifice and its his destiny, Wukong goes berserk and starts threatening people and meanwhile MK is alive and now MK has to track down Wukong with his gang!? RAMPAGE AU!?