After Jason Left

Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.

Everyone in the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Kingdom stared as the Emperor himself blew Jason through the gate with his subtle yet powerful breath. Everyone smiled encouragingly at Jason as he fell backwards in a graceful arch through the gate into his land in the Earth and disappeared in a mystic fog.

"It's done," declared the Jade Emperor. "And now, it's time to resume life as it was and to undo all the doings of the late Jade Warlord. As for you, Monkey and you, Drunken Immortal..." He looked at the Monkey King and Lu Yan with an amused glimmer in his eyes. "...Although you have done greatly in aiding our Young Traveller and the late Orphan Warrior, you will both have to be punished for one little mishap."

"WHAT? What did we do?" Lu Yan yelled in shock. "Yeah, what?" asked Monkey.

"You, Monkey, in your Silent Monk form, were a part of the Traveller's plan to give the Elixir of Life to you, the man, who was once just a mortal."

"So?" said the always cheeky Monkey King.

"You both do realize that there is no more Elixir for us Immortals to drink. Therefore, or having finished up the Elixir, you will both have to help my servants make the Elixir." With that and a small smile, the Emperor disappeared.

"Why, you, you dare drag me into your punishment..." Monkey stared so angrily at Lu Yan that they were almost nose-to-nose.

"What are you going to do, kill me?" the latter mocked him and laughed. "Hoo! I'm an Immortal, crazy Monkey! Woo hoo!"

Suddenly, Monkey smiled widely. He jumped up to a peach tree and smiled in thought, as he speedily ate one juicy peach after the other. He felt content. After all that stress from being stuck in stone for 5 centuries(give or take a decade), then his last fight with the Jade Warlord, then witnessing Jason tearfully burying Golden Sparrow before he said goodbye, he deserved a treat. Then again, his new idea might require him more energy coming from peaches...

"You were saying, Sun Wukong?" Lu Yan jumped up in front of him.

500 humongous peaches later, the Monkey King straightened to his feet and grabbed the staff that had changed Jason's life. "You did say that we can kill each other, when we were done teaching Jason kung-fu, right?" He jumped back down to the ground and did a silly little monkey dance.

"Did I really say that?" Lu Yan thought and then he remembered. Jason was being quite a handful to teach and they were arguing over who would be the teacher. Come to think of it, they were arguing like monkeys. Two tigers, one mountain...Hmmmm..."How was I to know that YOU were the Monkey King at that time! Oh well, let's warm up! HAAAAAAAIIIII...!

They jumped to the ground, Sun Wukong grabbed his staff and another epic never-ending fight began...

"What is this?" A calm voice stopped them in their tracks.

It was the Jade Emperor again. Lu Yan and Monkey hesitated. "Well, er...uhm...we..."

"No need to tell me, I know. Now, you two must come along and start making that Elixir," The Emperor smiled calmly.

The two star warriors sulked and made faces at each other behind the Emperor's back as they followed him. Then, Lu Yan noticed something gold poking out of the Emperor's robe pocket and gasped. That bulgy shape, that tip, it looked familiar! He dived forwards and fished it out. It was the Elixir Vessel! And IT WAS FULL!

"Emperor, are you trying to play the fool with us?" he shouted angrily.

The Emperor smiled wisely, which annoyed Lu Yan, "As a matter of fact, yes. I always kept an extra in case of emergencies. Even Immortals deserve a laugh, don't they?"

Then he burst out laughing. Monkey, who had been giggling with his hands clamped to his mouth, followed suit as well. Lu Yan's cheeks burned with humiliation. Suddenly, he remembered something.

"Jade Emperor, after making the Elixir, can I please go down to Earth to be near Jason? I'm sure that he will never forget his teacher."

The Jade Emperor stopped walking, then turned around to face Jason. "That is a good idea indeed. But, remember, it will take a long time for him to remember. After all, he is a child of the future. When you get to Earth, you will own a shop in your name and the Young Traveller will be there. And the staff, too. It will take years...''

'I'll do anything, I'll wait..."

"Brave words, O Drunken Immortal," Monkey interrupted, "Are you sure that you've got the guts?"

"Yes," said Lu Yan firmly, "Yes, I do. After all, he did promise to remember me. That, perhaps, is what being immortal is all about."

Then the Emperor spoke, "All will happen as you speak then...And the Orphan Warrior. She will be incarnated into a spitting image of her former self, without any memory of her former life, of course."

And, of course, from that day onwards, what was meant to happen, happened...Strange, isn't it, after all, the way time works?

The End.