Sakura P.O.V

Uncle Sandy was driving the newly built truck, while driving, MK explained about the stones, Kyubi was watching over Iris as she sleeps. MK was looking though the window as the creaks in the sky grew

"Feels like we're just jumping from one apocalypse to the next" MK said as he slumps down on the seat

"But you said there was a way to fix this, right little man?" Uncle Sandy asked

"Somethin' about uh... stones?" Mei said

"Mhm. Six colored stones" Wukong said as he rubs his head and Uncle Tang went into fan boy mode

"The Stones that the Goddess Nuwa used to mend the Heavens?! I didn't think they were real!" Uncle Tang said excitedly

"Mhm, mhm. They are! They're just hidden and guarded, and we have no idea where to find them!" MK then chuckled nervously as his face started to shrink down

"WHAT?!" Uncle Pigsy shouted

"It's fiiine. All we gotta do is gather the five stones and the creaks of reality, and fix... everything!" MK explained as he drew the plan out in his notebook "Bingo-bango, good as new"

"Oh, what about the thing like WE DON'T KNOW WHERE THESE STONES ARE!" Uncle Pigsy shouted

"That's why... ready? We're gonna ask someone who does" Then MK opened a page in his notebook with a drawing of Nuwa "Nuwa!"

"Yeeeesssss! She's gotta have a temple we could go to, right?" Mei asked

"At the Burning Mountain!" Wukong said as he recalled and both MK and Mei were cheering

"WHAT?! No! We're not going to the Burning Mountain! It's BURNING!!!" Uncle Tang shouted

"Uncle Tang, are you gonna tell us the lore or keep complaining?" I asked with a deadpan look "Because Iris is about ready to beat you" When I said that Iris was about ready to beat the living daylight out of him. Uncle Tang cleared his throat and started telling the lore

"The Burning Mountain rises high above the Sunrise Jungle of the East. Legend tells of a fiery beast that guards secrets from past calamity, and a hidden temple to Nuwa herself" Uncle Tang explained

"There's always a temple" Mei whispered to Uncle Pigsy

"Mhm. Yeah. Mhm" Uncle Pigsy said

"But if that's where you're going, count me out! I've had enough trials by fire without getting literal about it!" Uncle Tang said

"Sounds like Tangy is on board! Leggo!" Uncle Sandy as he drove at high speed

I looked at Kyubi who was lost in thought

"Kyubi, you okay?" I asked

"Hm? I'm fine. I was just thinking" Kyubi said

"Thinking about what?"

"The colored stones. I feel like I seen one like that back at my old village from centuries ago" Kyubi said

"Did it look like any of the colored stones that MK showed us in his notebook?" I asked

"No. The color was different. I think it was pink" Kyubi said as he tried to remember "Once we get to the Burning Mountain, I'll make the journey to the village"

Once the truck stopped driving, Kyubi was about to leave, but Iris stopped him

"Brother, let me come with you" Iris said

"You can't come with me. The village where you were born left you unpleasant memories, especially with ones with that good for nothing father of ours" Kyubi said as he clenches his teeth in anger

"I don't care. I want to help you, brother. I know I have terrible memories about the village including father, but with you by my side, I think I'll be able to handle it" Iris said

"*Sigh* Alright. But let me know if it's too much" Kyubi said and Iris nodded

"You guys ain't going nowhere" Then jumping down from a tree, it was none other than Huli "Not without me" Huli grinned as he wrapped his arm around Iris's shoulders

"H-Huli!" Iris stuttered as she blushed when her boyfriend appeared

"No way! You're not coming with us!" Kyubi objected as he glares at him

"Well, too bad. No one messes with my girl and gets away with it. But since it was the general who put the circlet on her head, I knew I can't even lay a finger on him or I'll be imprisoned in that pagoda" Huli said and Kyubi let out a frustrated sigh

"Fine. You better not slow me or my sister down!" Kyubi shouted and Huli nodded in understanding "Let's go" The three kitsune then left the group

'I hope they'll be alright...' I thought to myself

No One P.O.V

"We're really gonna climb all that?!" Sakura jumped from fright when MK shouted "Noooooooo...."

'That's a lot of stairs...' Sakura thought to herself with a sweardrop

"Alright! Alpine Sandy's good to go!" Sandy said as he put on his climbing gear and tossed the climbing pickaxe towards Tang, but he quickly moved out of the way

"Ohohoho! Ah, climb? Me?" Then he started chuckling "Oh, my sweet blue" Tang pulled out his staff

"Yeaaa, son! Time for the classic Tang-aportation arc!" Mei said as she jumps on Tang's shoulders

"Woah! We're not gonna be able to use THAT kind of big mystic energy, Jangles" Wukong said as he threw Tang's staff in the sky, but it reappeared in Tang's hand

"*Gasp!* Cause it'll count as cheating! We can't fail the TRIAL! BY! FIIIIIIIRE!" MK said

"Uhhh, I think that 'Trial by Fire' is just a metaphor, right?" Pigsy asked, while Mei shrugged her shoulders and Tang shook his head

"There's no trial! We just can't use magic cuz Li Jing will track us" Wukong said

"I see. That makes sense" Sakura said

"You're goin' dooooooown staircase!" MK said

"Ooooooor, we're goin' up!" Wukong said as he picked up MK with his tail and picked up Sakura with one arm, and he summoned his cloud and went to the top "Meet you at the top!

Tang placed his hands and Pigsy's shoulders and gave him the puppy eyes

"Egh... I'm not carrying you" Pigsy said

At the top of the Burning Mountain

"Talk about skipping a step" Wukong said as he landed and put both MK and Sakura down "Am I right? Hehah!!"

"B-Buh... but we cheated! We didn't climb the stairs like the trial wanted us to!" MK cried and Sakura calmed him down by petting his head

"Agh, bud, there's no trial! Besides, the cloud's not even technically magic. It's just my good fluffy boy! Aren't you?" Wukong said as he hugs his cloud "Loopholes, baby! And you know what? If this is a trial, there would be consequences for cheating, duuuh!"

Appearing before them was a giant red bird, it let out a loud screech and tried to stomp on the trio, but they quickly moved out of the way

"You were saying?" Sakura asked she lifted up her brow

"THIS PROVES NOTHING!" Wukong exclaimed

Then the red bird fired a fire at Wukong, he quickly moved out of the way. The red bird looked around for the trio as its eyes dimmed down, then it heard a noise. The bird turned around and saw MK who was in a crane pose

"Hehehe..." MK chuckled nervously and the bird made its way towards him "Uuh... nice birdie? Nice birdieeeeee!!!!" MK quickly summoned his staff and moved away before the bird could crush him. He deflected the fire balls that were heading towards him, then the bird flew up in the sky and blew fire towards MK. Both Wukong and Sakura quickly got in front of him and they both summoned their shields, but the bird put more power in the fire and it pushed both Sakura and Wukong back a little. A piece of MK's hair was caught on fire and was trying blow it out

"HOT! HOT! HOT!" MK shouted, then his hand touched the mountain's walls and a symbol appeared, MK was about to fall through, but he grabbed Sakura's hand and Sakura grabbed Wukong's tail as they fell through. As they fell, they soon landed on the ground "Uaaahh!! I'm a sentient god monkey!! Trials are real, bud! I know everything!" MK said as he mocked Wukong, and Wukong turned MK's head around to see the temple of Nuwa "It's... It's real! The temple of Nuwa! Uh... I didn't know she'd be so... snakey"

"MK, look" Sakura pointed at the mural on the wall that showed Nuwa and the six colored stones

"*Gasp!* This is Nuwa mending the Pillar of Heaven! And there's the stones! This really is how we fix everything! Isn't it?!" MK asked as he turned to look at Wukong

"One step at a time, kid. We gotta find the stones first" Wukong said as he tossed a vase and broke it

"Hey, wha- what's Nuwa the goddess of?" MK asked

"Nuwa is the goddess of nature, order, fertility, and marriage, but she's also known as the creator of humankind including animals" Sakura explained

"She made...?" Then MK gasped as he remembered seeing a woman creating a stone monkey in her hands

"Bud, you okay?" Wukong asked

"Yea- uh... y-yeah! Yeah" MK said

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked and he nodded

"Um... hey, Monkey King, did you ever jump into a... giant light pillar...?" MK asked as Wukong bends downs to look at other stuff, in front of another mural that showed the six colored stones and a monkey, but the face was scratched off

"Me? Oh, sure, hundreds! Classic final boss aesthetic" Wukong said

"Oh, fair point" MK said and he looked at the mural "So this..."

"Uuuuh... Hey, bud. I don't think the answers we're looking for are in this room. Let's focus up" Wukong said

"Right! Back to the trial!"

"Back to searching!" Wukong corrected since he won't admit its a trial

"We got this! I'mmmmmmm feeling confident!" MK said, but as the looked for any clues for the locations of the colored stones, they encountered a lot of traps along the way "I'm feeling less confident!!"

The trio were standing on different floor plate without moving a muscle since they don't to trigger anymore traps

"Okay, if we stand VERY still..." Before Wukong could finished his sentence, MK was trying to think "And you're still doing it"

"Well, MK is trying his best, he's trying to understand what the temple is trying to tell him even though he triggered too many traps..." Sakura said

"Smartie Kid will solve this trial! We need to dash through without hesitation! No, wait! Maybe this is a test on patience! O wise temple... WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TEACH ME?!?!?!?!?" MK shouted as he took a step forward, but it triggered a trap and MK laughed nervously

"Uuughhh..." Both Wukong and Sakura groaned

In the next room, both Sakura and Wukong were sitting on the ground. Sakura's hair and clothes were a mess including Wukong as he touched a piece of his hair to burn out the small fire

"Ooooohohohoho! The sand in the bag represents the sand in my heart. If it weighs the same as the statue, I win!" MK said as he quickly switches out the statue with a bag of sand, but it triggered another trap

"I hate this temple" Wukong said as a giant round boulder fell from above

In the next room, there was a single rope over lava with lava snakes. Wukong was on his cloud along with Sakura

"Argh! Gotta focus on the lesson. Do the snakes represent my childhood? NO! They represent my many, many dads!" MK said, then a snake bit through the rope. MK quickly grabbed hold of Wukong's tail as they both fell down, and Sakura grabbed Wukong's hand as she tries to lift them up with all her strength. MK, Wukong and Sakura were looking at the two paths in front of them and MK was thinking on which path to take "I don't know! Which one do we pick?! Help me Temple Gods!"

"That's it!" Both Wukong and Sakura shouted, and it made MK drop all the things he collected

"My macguffins!" MK cried

"MK, that's enough. Forget about the two paths in front of you" Sakura said

"She's right. What is YOUR path?" Wukong asked

"My... path...? I..."

"Look, kid! Life is gonna throw a lot of challenges at you. But c'mon! You saved the world twice!" Wukong said

"Uh, three times, actually" MK said

"Cities don't count, MK. So don't get cocky" Sakura said as she lightly punches his arm

"Anyway, the point is the obstacle in your way is yours to overcome, how YOU choose! There is no right solution! *Sigh* Look, I don't know how many times you have to learn this, but I'll tell you again. Stop trying to figure out what some temple, or trial, or destiny wants. And find your OWN path!" Wukong said as he punches the wall to reveal a third path

"You know you just gave me a third path I have to choose from, right?" MK asked

"BUD!!/MK! You know what I/he mean!!" Both Sakura and Wukong exclaimed, and MK chuckled

"Heh, kidding! Thank you" MK thanked them

The trio entered another room, but it looked different from the previous rooms they've been through. In the center of the room was a very tall pillar and something a shining at the top

"I think that's the stone. I can sense it" MK said

"Wait, what? For real?" Wukong asked

"What do you mean you can sense it?" Sakura asked

"I thought maybe we'd find a map we'd never end up using. Buuut... one of the six stones? Jackpot! Now, how do we get it?" Wukong asked

"This monkey squad makes their own path" MK said as he summons his staff "Here. Comes. Monkie Kid!" MK extended the staff, heading to the top

Wukong summoned his cloud, he picked up Sakura bridal style and started flying to the top. When they got to the top, MK was the first one to jump off, and Wukong's eyes widen

"Kid, wait!" But it was too late, waiting for them was the same big red bird from earlier. It let out a loud screech and it sent the trio flying. Then the bird's eyes glowed white along with MK, Wukong and Sakura as they saw a vision. It showed Nuwa offering the six colored stones towards the damaged Pillar of Heaven

"Could you do as she did?" The red bird asked and showed another vision of Nuwa heading towards the Pillar of Heaven, and the creaks in the sky disappearing "Give up everything you are..." The next vision showed MK standing by the edge of a cliff where the Pillar of Heaven is, while his friends were laying on the ground "...to save the world?" The vision showed MK changing into his monkey form

"MK! Stop!" Vision Mei shouted

"MK! Please! Don't do this!" Vision Sakura cried

"Kid! No! We'll find another way!" Vision Wukong said

"This is the only way" Vision MK said as he jumps off the cliff and headed towards the pillar with the six stones with tears running down from his eyes

Then the vision ended and they were placed back on the ground

"Your hearts have been measured. You have seen the path. My task is at an end" The red bird said as it disappeared into the flames leaving behind a red colored stone "My stone is yours"

"Huh. Guess it was a trial after all" Wukong said as he cleared his throat "But all that other cool mentor-y stuff I said, that all still stands"

"It was just like that mural... Monkey King, I saw..."

"You don't know what we saw, kid. They all think they know exactly what's going to happen. That they have all the answers. Every one of them is wrong. No one knows what's coming" Wukong said

"Choose our own path" MK said and Wukong nodded

MK looked at the red colored stone and he let out a gasp as he saw a reflection of his monkey form with an evil smirk, but the reflection changed back to normal, showing his scared expression

"MK? Are you okay?" Sakura asked

"I... I think so. Let's get out of here" MK said as he started to leave

'MK...'

Outside of the Temple

Mei was out of breath from climbing all the stairs

"We finally... made... it..." Mei said as she catches her breath, Sandy was exhausted from the climb as well

"Oh, thank the great sage! My ankles wouldn't have survived another step!" Tang said even though he didn't climb a single step of stairs. Then Pigsy threw him off his shoulders with an angry look

"YOUR ANKLES?!"

"Aaaaight, let's go find our monkeys and our cute niece!" Sandy said, then the wall behind them broke down revealing MK, Wukong and Sakura "Our monkeys! Our niece!"

"Heyyy, you guys made it! Welp, that's a wrap on the first stone! Great work gang! See you down at them bottom. Okay, byeeee!" Wukong said as he took MK and Sakura back down

"Come on, team! No pain, no gain!" Then Tang jumped on Pigsy's shoulders "Pigsy?" But Pigsy fell on the ground "Ooh! March!"

After a long, long journey back down from the mountain, Sakura made everyone a huge portion of curry since she knew they'll be very hungry. Once they're bellies were full, they decided to call it a day and resume their journey for the next colored stone the next day

To be continued in The Storm Within