Troy's Fanfic

The Monkey Kings First Lesson in Martial Arts

           Characters

The Monkey King (Wu Kong)
The Jade Emperor
The Monk Tang Xin (Me)

Along time ago in Ancient China, stories abound of the legendary Monkey King and his formidable Martial Art abilities, but Wu Kong was not always so skilled in combat. Its true that Wu Kong was very gifted from a young age, and he had once saved the Jade Emperors life, that single act of valour opened the Jade Emperors eyes to his potential and eventuated into Wu Kong being sent to the White Lotus Monastery. It was in the Monastery where I first met Wu Kong, I would be tasked with the duty of teaching him real Kung fu and hopefully in time, how to humble himself.
 

I remember it like it was yesterday The Monastery was normally such a quiet place so when I heard all the noise I quickly went out to see what was going on. the Jade Emperor was arriving unannounced and people were running around frantically. We managed to prepare the alter room into a make shift guest house and as soon as the Emperor had entered, I was summoned.

The Head Abbot formally introduced me and I was requested to teach Kung fu to the young hero who had help save the Emperors life, he continued to explain that that same young hero was already in my training hall impatiently waiting for me.
 

 

My first impression of Wu Kong was less than flattering, it was clear that he was strong and athletic but it was his arrogant attitude which was pressed upon me. He was young at that time, his face was intricately decorated with war paint and he wore a yellow monk robe.
As soon as he seen me he begun pestering me about when he would be able to begin his study in Kung fu. I replied that in time he would learn real Kung fu, but first, I would need him to loosen up his muscles by lightly slapping his hands across a large terracotta bowl, which was filled with water. He stared at me with a look of confusion but listen to my instructions and he immediately began lightly slapping the water.

Several months passed and Wu Kong was starting to look a little bit frustrated slapping water day in and day out. He approached me and began explaining that he had been brought here to learn real Kung fu skills, and he felt he was wasting his time slapping water. He had a chip on his shoulder and was outwardly displaying it, after all he had personally been selected to study Kung fu by the Jade Emperor himself. I softly said "in time you will learn real Kung fu, but for now, I still needed you to keep slapping the water in this bowl". He reluctantly resumed his muscle loosening exercise but I could tell he was not happy to do so.

A full two years passed, the seasons were changing again and the Jade Emperor would be returning to the Monastery soon. The Monks would be holding an extravagant Dinner in Honour of him and Wu Kong would be expected to demonstrate all of his new Martial Art skills. This weighed heavily on Wu Kong, his ego was completely broken at this time, he had stopped pestering me about when he would start learning real Kung fu and I could see he had all but given up, time was ticking.

On the first day of winter the Jade Emperor returned to the Monastery. By now Wu Kong was extremely nervous, dinner would be served soon and afterwards it would be his turn to perform. He came to me in anger and asked "WHY DIDN'T YOUR TEACH ME ANY REAL KUNG FU?" I answered saying "in just a short time from now, you will understand..." He dropped his head and walked away.

The time had finally arrived, everyone was sitting around a large dining table and the patrons began asking Wu Kong to demonstrate what he had learnt during his time here. Wu Kong looked me directly in the eyes and said "I have not learned any Kung fu". The patrons at the table heard this and according to the tradition of that time began cheering. Tradition states that the better you are at something, the more modest and humble you are, so it stood to reason that the people at the table all heard what Wu Kong said and thought he must have learnt some incredible skills. The jeered him on, "show us your Kung fu" the all began shouting.
Again Wu Kong looked directly at me and shouted, "I DON'T KNOW ANY KUNG FU", the patrons all thought this was great, he really must have learnt some incredible skills. More people gathered around and they all started to cheer and shout. Finally Wu Kong could not stand it any longer, he slammed his hands down on the thick wooden dining table and to his surprise the table split in half. The patrons at the table were equally surprised and they all jumped to their feet clapping, everyone around him began shouting, "Wow" "Wu Kong's Kung fu is incredible"!

Wu Kong turned and looked at me one more time, he had suddenly realised his time here had not been wasted. In that single heartbeat he realised that I had been training him in real Kung fu the whole time. His eyes began to fill with joy and a smile broke over his face, this was not a egotistical smile, no, this was a humble smile which comes with a high level of skill.  This is my account of how I first met Wu Kong and how the Monkey King first began Martial Arts.
 

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