Evergreen Academy and the Golden Club
Chapter 14
The Monkey King
On Monday, an announcement was posted on the bulletin board. It urged everyone to enter the combat competition. There was a box outside the student government office. Anyone who wanted to enter could just write down their name and year on a piece of paper and put it in the box.
"What's the combat competition?" Daniel heard some first year asking.
"It's sword fighting while flying on your sword," a third year girl answered.
"So we're supposed to have two swords?" asked the boy. He was small and pale.
"Are you going to enter, Whiny?" one of his classmates asked. A few students laughed at the comment.
They were not in the same class, so Daniel could not remember exactly what their names were.
"So what if I am?" the boy answered back, but everyone got quiet when the girl spoke again.
"Yes, there are two swords. One is your own sword that you ride on and the other is a wood sword. Sometimes, the fighting can get ugly. Using wood swords prevents injury, and it is really hard to do tricks with a wood sword."
Daniel took a look at Owen. He'd only seen the same look when Owen was looking at the Golden Club. He knew that Owen was going to enter the competition.
They went to the library afterwards. Daniel wanted to check out the biography of the Monkey King. Naturally, Daniel and Owen spent a lot of time looking though the monkey section and king section, but didn't find any book about the Monkey King. They could have asked the librarian Miss Leventis, but Daniel liked to avoid her as much as possible. Colossa followed them around. At first he looked at them with a mild fascination. After a while, he seemed to get frustrated by their slow progress.
"Try his training name," he said.
"What's his training name?" asked Owen.
"Ask me properly," said Colossa with a smug look.
"Could you please tell us what the Monkey King's training name is?" asked Daniel. He just wanted it to be done with.
"Snobby little rat," said Owen in a low voice, but Colossa acted like he didn't hear the comment.
"The most powerful immortal of the time gave the Monkey King the name Wukong, which means comprehending the emptiness," said Colossa with his head held high. "The immortal wanted him to see through the fame, the money and political power..."
He still kept going on, but Daniel and Owen had moved to find the books.
"Oh, the Monkey King," said Miss Leventis with a knowing smile when they checked out the books. "There seems to be a lot of interest on him lately. I didn't think that your history class was covering him already."
"No, not yet," said Owen.
Daniel knew quite well who checked out the book before him.
"Your classmate Tao checked out a few of the biographies a couple of months ago. I kind of understand why he was interested..."
Daniel wondered if she was going to tell other people that he checked out the book later. He was sure that she wouldn't be able to resist telling Tao if she saw him again, which he believed was going to set off an alarm to Tao. Daniel felt like telling her that she wasn't supposed to tell people that information, but he was afraid of upsetting her.
"Bit chatty, isn't she?" said Owen.
"I think she does it on purpose," said Daniel when they were a safe distance away from the library. "I wonder how old she is and how much information she has in her mind."
"What do you mean?" asked Owen.
"She's bored. She is playing a game. I remember she told me that she did bit of stealing and detective work when she was young. I'm afraid she's still doing the same thing, but with information."
"You mean she passes out information and observes our reaction and try to figure out what's going on?" asked Owen in a low voice.
"Yep, that's my guess," said Daniel.
"That's scary either way," said Owen, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe it.
"If you're right, she's one scary women," said Owen half jokingly. "I've got to watch every move around her. If you're wrong, then I have to watch every move around you."
Daniel knew that he meant it in a way, but he asked anyway: "Why am I scary?"
"I don't mean that," said Owen. "Just you think too much. You don't trust people-you're not mad, are you?"
"No."
Daniel knew that Owen was probably right and he wasn't offended, but he wasn't comfortable talking about himself.
"Speaking of distrust, Tao is probably the champion," he joked.
From the biography, Daniel learned that no one really knew who the Monkey King's parents were. The folk tales said that he was born from a stone, which Daniel didn't really believe. Nor did most of the historians. Most of them believed that he didn't want to mention his parents either because he was ashamed of them or he hated them, most likely the later. Most of his powers came naturally; but some historians believed that he had a master who helped him refine his powers. He later either was expelled or left his master because he didn't respond to discipline. He liked his freedom. That was why he joined a group of monkeys. They led a carefree life. When they were hungry, they ate wild fruit; when they were tired, they slept in caves. Naturally he became their leader. The rest of the story Daniel had already learned in the history book. In most historians' eyes, the Monkey King was a hero produced by the times. He was not an ambitious person. He formed the army more out of curiosity. He was a great fighter, but he was not aggressive by nature. He just wanted to be left alone and enjoy his life on the mountain. Even the idea of being a high king was more like a game. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken such a long time for him to realize he was just given an empty position. The following riot was just a rebellion because he felt fooled. He had not been treated well by human kind before he became powerful either.
Daniel saw Kerri reading the announcement about the combat competition the next day when there was no one around. He caught her wandering by the student government a few times during the week. On Thursday, when he saw her outside the student government office again, he walked up to her.
"You should enter the competition," he said.
Kerri seemed to be in deep thought, because she almost jumped.
"But I'm not very good," she said.
"You did well on your mid-term, didn't you?"
"That's because of Owen and you," she said, but Daniel could tell she had made up her mind already.
"I can help you this time too," he said. "I'm sure Owen won't mind either."
"He's entered the competition himself, hasn't he?" she asked.
"Yes," said Daniel. "You don't think that you are going to beat him, do you?"
"Of course not," said Kerri.
On Friday, the names of the people that entered the combat competition were posted on the bulletin board. When Daniel and Owen got there, they found a big crowd already gathered in front of the bulletin board. Most of them were talking about the contestants. Some were laughing at those who, in their opinions, were not supposed to be in the competition. On the first year's list, Daniel found Kerri's name and Nick's name. Mike was also in the competition. To his surprise, he didn't see Owen's name on the list.
"There must be a mistake," Daniel heard Owen say.
Owen turned around and walked away quickly. Daniel had to run to keep up with him.
Daniel was not surprised when he saw Michelle in the student government office.
"There must be a mistake," said Owen. "My name is not on the list. I know I put my name in."
"I was expecting this," said Michelle.
"Hey, Daniel." She gave him a warm smile.
"You see, the competition is only for the students who don't have special powers that enhance their combat ability."
"That's not fair," said Owen heatedly.
"Think about it, Owen. How fair would it be if you were allowed to compete?"
Owen opened his mouth to say something but Michelle stopped him.
"You see, we didn't let Jared in either. We had a big fight about it. He thinks that we should change the rule too."
"That's why they were not talking to each other," thought Daniel, but he didn't say anything.
"You'll have your chance next year, OK?" said Michelle to Owen patiently. "The national combat competition is next summer. Our school happens to be hosting the competition this time. Every school sends their best fighters, usually the students with the greatest combat powers."
Daniel saw Owen's eyes light up. He knew quite well how bored Owen was in the combat class. A real challenge was what he craved.
"What do I need to do? I want to sign up right now."
"Calm down," said Michelle with a smile. "The school team will start training soon. I'm sure your name is on the list already."
That seemed to really satisfied Owen.
"I can't wait for the competition," said Owen on their way out, "but it's still more than half a year away."
"You can help Kerri win the first year competition," said Daniel. "It's a bigger challenge than winning it yourself, right?"
"She's already asked me," said Owen.
"So what do you think?"
"I think it's a bigger challenge too," said Owen with a playful smug look. "She is kind of clumsy you know."
"I know. So what did you say?"
"I said yes," said Owen. "What else could I say? One thing I'm sure is that I'm going to help her beat that rat Mike."
"You're not still holding a grudge against him, are you?" asked Daniel in disbelief.
"I just don't like him. You know, there might be a reason that people pick on him."
"You're not serious about that, right?" asked Daniel.
"Right," said Owen with a grin, but Daniel was not totally convinced.
The book is available at barnes and noble, amazon online bookstores. Search by the title. Author's blog: 360.yahoo.com/gcgustopher