Zilo and the gang sit with their new acquaintance, Jin Shi Wukong.
"So you guys stowed away to get out of the city after killing the king!? Wow"
Maldrek side long stares at Zilo, who gave away the part about regicide. Zilo smiles obliviously. Jin drinks a bit from Alaroc's flask which he is holding with his tail. He seems to be taking all of this rather well. He flicks the flask back to Alaroc with a swipe of his tail.
Leo rubs his chin and says, "What about you, it's rare to see a Vanara off their islands. How did you come to be here in this troupe?"
Jin dramatically back flips up and points into the distance.
"I am on a journey! A journey to find my destiny! One day I will be great, as great as a God!" He then slumps back down to the ground and says, "But for that I need money to get food, so I'm this groups's acrobat and they feed me."
"Lively fellow aren't you" Remarks May.
"Me like him." Says Spark, Zilo and Alaroc nod in agreement.
Jin rubs his head and smiles, "Like you too little guy, even if you are a bit ugly to look at."
Spark's smile disappears and Crusix chimes in, "That was kinda harsh buddy."
"I'm sorry, I took a vow to always tell the truth, in return I can focus my ki better."
Maldrek finally looks away from Zilo and back to Jin saying, "Ki? I've heard of practitioners that use ki, are you a monk?"
Jin waves his tail at the notion, "Nah, monks are too boring, I'm what some refer to as a Drunken Master. I gain my power from meditation and inebriation."
Alaroc's eyes go wide, "You gain power from drinking!?"
May smacks Alaroc and says, "No you don't we do not need you to get more drunk."
Maldrek looks back to Jin and asks, "Are we out of the city limits by now?"
Jin looks back "Should be, so you guys should be in the clear, I never like the musicians anyway so I'll keep your secret."
"Thank you, We appreci-"
Suddenly from out side the cart comes an inhuman Screech.
"KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEE!"
Jin rolls back and flips out the back and the rest of the group follows. When they arrive outside they spot 3 giant bird-like reptile creatures with long necks circling around an open cage with a tarp over it. One of the circus members is running around the cage shouting, "THEY GOT OUT RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"
Maldrek squints looking at the creatures and says, "I've never seen anything like those, Leo, you're from this country what are those?"
"They escaped from the cage there, I think they are some kind of dinosaur but-"
Cruxis' eyes are wide and he says, "Quetzalcoatlus, larges of the pterosaurs, you can tell from the giraffe-like neck length and their huge wingspan."
Everyone in the group turns and stares at Cruxis, quizzically. After an uncomfortable silence the paladin responds with, "What!? Areti isn't my only thing, I can have a hobby."
Alaroc looks back up and says, "Either way, we need to stop them, they will die out here in this desert, or worst kill travelers."
Maldrek stares at his spell book and says, "I would, but I haven't had time to prep new spells."
Zilo points over to the cage at Jin, running. "Um guys, what is Jin doing?"
The group turns and sees Jin doing a cart wheel flip up onto the giant cage that the creatures were stored in, he then shouts up to the creatures.
"OOOOO OOO OOO AH AH AH!!" He sounds just like a monkey, and one of the beasts takes notice, swooping down to strike him with it's razor sharp beak. Jin prepares for this and leaps up at least 3 meters into the air, making the giant creature miss him entirely.
Then the Monkey maneuvers his body to shift his weight and impact with the creature as he comes down. The creature is most definitely hurt, but not down, flying back into the air to get help from one of it's friends with the monkey on it's back.
Jin is pummeling the creature on it's back at blinding speed as it flies up. A bone cracking sound emanates from it with every strike. The creature eventual can't keep flying any more and it's wings stop beating as another one of them swoops in trying to get Jin.
Jin runs up the full length of the one he is on and twists in the air, unfortunately the one attacking nails him with it's beak in the shoulder. Jin manages to stay in the fight as it swoops up into the air. he braces his arm against the beak in his shoulder and brings his other arm into a chop on it's beak.
The beak cracks with a sickening sound. The beak opens in pain and Jin's tail hooks onto the top part of the beak as it fling open. he flings off the beak with his tail and grabs onto the creature's wing. He then swings hanging onto the wing and forces it closed.
He then hangs on, holding it in place and grabs the base of it's other wing, and brings it in as well. Jin holds both wings in, forcing the massive creature into a dive bomb. He maneuvers the wings as best he can to aim for the last beast, flying farther down.
He quickly snaps a rope out of his bag and twirls it around both wings, forcing the dive bomb to be permanent, at least for now. He then gauges his timing and leaps off the falling creature directly at the last one.
He uses his tail to spin as he falls like a corkscrew and he shouts as he falls at the flier.
"Drunken Strength! Stunning Fist!"
The monkey lands his fist into the enemy's skull. The strike is like a master painting from the ground, the sound of the shock wave emanates across the desert, shaking every grain of sand within the next mile. Both then fall to the ground with Jin landing directly in front of the group, with all three of the creatures behind him in a heap.
Sparky gives him a quick little applause as the ring master walks over to the scene.
"Jin, nice work! Can you help use get them back in the cage?"
Jin turns angrily over to the ring master and says, "Boss, you told me that every animal here was happy to be part of our circus, and that cages aren't a thing."
"Well yeah, but you won't join them unless- I MEAN- well maybe some of the creatures need to be trained first."
"I would just like it noted that we don't cage animals." Says Cruxis from behind Jin.
Jin turns in a huff away from the ring master and walks over to the group, saying "Hey, would you mind if I went with you guys for a bit, I don't want to work with a man who is cruel to animals like this."
The group nods other than Maldrek who is still staring at the creatures. As the group begins to walk away Maldrek raises his hand and says, "You're hired."
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