#tinytaka au

Wukong would even tend to do silly things like making silly faces just to make Tiny Master laugh, or on late nights during watch when Tripitaka struggled to sleep, and nobody else could possibly overhear, he'd sing little raspy lullabies or tell him stories, not about battle and triumph, Tripitaka's shock, but about the moon and stars and ancient cultures lost to floods and a lonely little prince who was jsut trying to do right by his people and made some very big mistakes.

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Tripitaka isn't happy, thats for sure!

The moments after reaching the shore of the Mother-Child River is absolute chaos.

The Boatwoman steers them towards safe shelter for the night, since the local women might be a bit too curious about the group of mostly-male monks to give them peace. The old midwife that takes them in jokes that "at least none of you got pregnant".

Wukong immediately has to step in as his (former?) Master's primary caretaker since everyone else except maybe the dragon-horse is useless.

Bajie is still genderbent from the river, so he initially thinks he's got this "raising a baby"-thing in the bag. Only to completely blank when he tries to pick Tinytaka up. Wukong howls with laughter as Bajie holds their Master at arms' length as if he were something foul-smelling.

Bajie, when becoming a woman didn't immediately give him god-tier parental instincts/skills:

Sha Wujing is a bundle of nerves. He's afraid of even holding the baby in case he shatters into a million pieces by touch alone. Prime "What if I hurt him!?!"-energy.

Ao Lie knows how dragon babies work since he's a new uncle, but human pups aren't his forte. Tries to feed the baby alligators and deer he's hunted - Tripitaka cried.

The deaged monk is nearly hysteric with emotion! He's going to be dead from neglect or predation, or worse; be forced to go back to Chang'an without having completed his pilgrimage!

Suddenly he feels someone lift him up and secure him to their chest. A weirdly furry chest.

Wukong, having tied the monk cassock into a sling: "Okay, okay, no more fooling around. I have experience babysitting little monkeys back home. I can keep him alive until we find a way to change him back." Baby!Tripitaka: (*completely puzzled. his baby brain instinctively clutches the monkey's chest fur and rests a cheek against the heart-shaped patch of skin *)

The citizens of the Women Kingdom are sympathetic to the pilgrims plight (probably a common enough river accident to be expected), and help them acquire the supplies needed for their newly-youthful Master. Wukong has to stop himself from wasting the little monkey they've saved up on adorable baby dudous and toys.

Scorpion Queen still makes an appearance; mistaking the crying human baby among demons as a kidnapping victim. The gang have to break into Pipa Cave to explain themselves to the demoness, and prove themselves as trustworthy caretakers. Wukong is the only one she dares trust after he instinctively leaps to comfort the baby when he began crying from the stress of the situation.

Guanyin finally appears, deciding that this unexpected transformation is a good team-building exercise. Bajie asks to be turned back to normal, Guanyin says no; "It's karma."

Tripitaka is having a weird time going forward.

Very quickly, he and the rest of the Pilgrims discover that the feared Monkey King is an attentive caretaker.

Wukong changes the baby's underclothes, gives him baths, chews up fruit for him to eat (preferable to the awkwardness of nursing in Tripitaka's opinion), and even hums lullabies without even a hint of malice or ulterior motives.

In the quieter moments, the monkey tells stories. History, myths, and memories of his home on Flower Fruit Mountain, and the beautiful island kingdom of Aolai. And stories of the King's own cubhood, his discovery of the hidden Stone Palace, the memorial for a people long past. His sudden ascension to being the King/Matriarch of his troop, his academic travels and teachings under a grand sage. The tyrannical Havoc King that took power in his absence, how he convinced the Dragon Kings to armour him for battle, and how he collapsed in the aftermath of his victory only to awaken to the most beautiful monkey demon he'd ever seen in his life. The Brotherhood formed with the saved demon royalty and celestial agents, and how it would lead the naive new King down the path that led him to that place under the Mountain.

Stories meant to lull the baby to sleep fail, as Tripitaka becomes extremely invested in his disciple's words.

Soon the deaged monk even meets the "most beautiful monkey in all the Realms, and my equal in battle" Wukong so wistfully speaks of. The Six Eared Macaque laughing as he grooms the human cub's wispy hair. Wukong trying his best to hide his joy at seeing his mate once more.

Tripitaka is even more confused when the shadow monkey ties him to his back with the sling, and continues on with the Pilgrims as if he were a planned travelling companion. Seems that both monkeys are attentive with babies - even though they argue over his upbringing.

They do get into some BIG Trouble in the Kingdom of Biqiu; where the King forces the surrender of newborn babies so he can become immortal. But thats a post for a another time. :)

It can be a very weird chapter, but it has its place in the lore.

The concept of an "All Women Society" is prevalent throughout world mythology. Including;

"Amazons/Scythia" of Classical Greek myth

"Isle/Land of Maidens" in Irish

"The Island of Women" in Japanese mythology

"Woman Kingdom of Western Liang" of which JTTW uses as inspiration.

And thats just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

But a major aspect/mystery of these societies is; "Wait, if they're all women, how do they reproduce?" and each one has a slightly different answer.

Amazons are depicted either being fathered by the gods (usually Zeus) or have husbands that stay at home. The Irish Maidens are immortal sapphics who find GFs in the mortal realm to bring home. The Island of Women are impregnated by wind kami/spirits/gods when they choose to be. And the citizens of the Kingdom of Women drink from the sacred Mother-Child River (or "Child-and-Mother River"/Zimu he, 子母河) when they're about 20 years old.

A huge aspect of these myths is hammering that women get along just fine without men if they have a means of self-continuation, and that any man who thinks he'll have it easy if he just wanders in is in for a bad time. Which was a hard pill to swallow back in the patriarchal societies many of these myths originated.

The mpreg aspect of the JTTW chapter is a direct reference to Hindu mythology - heres a link to an article about it by @journeytothewestresearch.

In short: Tripitaka and Zhu Bajie end up pregnant cus they be different sides of the same male-dominated culture at the time; Buddhist monk who thought girls gave you karma cooties, and slovenly womanizers. By suddenly not having choice over their bodies, and being harassed, catcalled, and threatened along the way through the kingdom; they get hit with a fraction of what it's like to live as a woman in their own societies.

But enough of the context; lets have some fun with your idea! :3

I have seen some cool ideas that the Mother-Child River has tributaries/forks like irl rivers, and that these branches off the main source could have differing affects on the body.

The main body that separates the Kingdom of Women from the outside world still allows people to become pregnant when they wish - maybe a side effect is the river running thick with egg-heavy salmon or plant life. But it's "branches" have differing effects - like separating sediments via filtration.

The "Child" branch makes the drinker young once more. It's water teeming with tadpoles and fish fry.

The "Mother" turning the drinker into the form they would have if they were born female. Also explains why no men in the Kingdom in the first place. Probably a lot of beehives along this river.

So what happens when the Boatwoman has to maneuver around the forks to get to the other side?

A baby Tang Monk, and a very confused She-Bajie.

Wukong: "What the-!? I had my back turned for a second! What just happened?!" Tripitaka: (*now a squalling baby among his too-big robes*) Bajie, soggy and genderbent: "I dunno. I just leaned in, got the Master a bowl of water, and slipped in!" The Boatwoman, cackling: "Should have warned you about that before we departed! A few more metres down the bend and you'd both be pregnant instead." Bajie: (*thinking hard*) Bajie: "Eh. I can deal with this." Wukong holding Baby!Tripitaka: "WHAT ABOUT HIM!? How is he supposed to deliver the Buddha's scriptures when he can't even walk?!" Sha Wujing, joking: "Maybe he'll be old enough once we make it to Thunderclap Monastery."

Bajie is convinced he's a hot af woman, but it's literally just him with bigger boobs.

Tripitaka might not realise the situation he's in depending on if he retains his past-memories, but either way he isn't a happy camper. >:(

Wukong repurposes the monk cassock into a baby sling to carry his mini-Master close to his chest. As honorary Grandpa of his troop back home, he knows how to take care of baby monkeys of many kinds. Humans are just a bigger, more delicate monkey in his mind.

There are some bonuses to this incident;

Demons/Yaoguai planning to eat the Tang Monk know he's supposed to be a grown human man - so they ignore the group of demonic monks with a human baby.

Even the demons who do recognise the baby as having the Golden Cicada's divine soul, are hesitant to hurt a baby. They're demons, not monsters.

No marriage-happy demons trying to steal Tripitaka - he's too young for that. But they might steal him to have their own divine baby to raised as their own. Or some demons might kidnap him to promise him to one of their own little ones.

Babies can't recite the Headache Sutra if they don't know how to talk yet.

Macaque/Liuer Mihou doesn't even try to steal the scriptures. He sees what happened to the Pilgrims and just starts laughing. Wukong scolds him for making the mini-Master cry. Guanyin sentences Liu'er to Babysitting Duty as penance.

The celestials are all very confused. (Wukong counts it as a bonus) >:3

Human Official: "Where's the Tang Monk?"

Wukong: "He's dead. Here's his backup." (*holds up baby*)

Baby!Tripitaka, babbling: "Amifuoto!"

Tripitaka canonically missed out on a "normal" childhood due to the circumstances prior to his birth. He's never known to have a parental figure beyond the Abbot that took him in. Baby!Tripitaka gets very attached to the Monkey King as his parent.

Bajie is less likely to get into trouble with women now. He's still shoots his shot with the ladies (and a few men just to try it out), and actually finds moderate success in his new form. He does fail horribly when he tries to seduce the gang's way out of danger though. XD

Whether or not Tripitaka or Bajie get turned back to normal is up for debate. ╮(￣▽￣"")╭

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Absolutely.

Wukong would rather DIE than open his heart about his deepest fears and cultural losses! He thinks that since the de-aged monk is just a baby, he won't have the ability to remember what he's confided in him once they get him back to normal.

Tripitaka be the kinda guy not to mention that he did remember everything about being an infant again.

Tripitaka really empathies with Wukong's experience growing up without a mother - given that he himself was Moses'ed to protect his life against his mother's captor + only knew her a brief amount of time before she passed.

Not sure if the Pilgrim gang actually know Tripitaka's birth name (Jiang Liu'er) or if that would be in his travel papers, but I could see them dubbing him "Little Master" or " Jiang'er" ("little river") while he's in his de-aged state. Calling their master "Liu'er" ("流儿/little float") causes confusion when the shadow monkey shows up due to the similar pronunciation to *Liu'er* ("六耳/six eared"). Macaque still calls him "A-Liu" ("floaty") tho - mostly as an ego boost thing.

Most of the time on the road; Wukong holds onto Tripitaka while cruising on the Nimbus Cloud. Occasionally they touch down to stretch the leg muscles. Or in Tripitaka's case, embarrassingly re-learn how to walk as the monkey demon enthusiastically encourages every step his underdeveloped feet make. You know that thing where your parent has you stand on their toes while they hold your hands and step forward? Wukong does that with BabyTaka a lot. As well as standing a few feet up the road; arms-out-stretched to encourage the little guy to crawl/toddle towards him.

The monkey image is of an actual wild mama teaching her baby to crawl/walk. In the Video on Reddit we even see the mama kiss and support the baby when they stumble a bit, and give big congratulations hug. Thats Wukong's parenting vibe in my opinion.

Also since the gang are down one rider, Ao Lie is more comfortable being out of horse-mode. Tripitaka shrieked when he saw his white horse turn into a whole royal dragon - which prompted Ao Lie to shrink to his more human-size and start cooing in attempts to soothe him.

Bajie tries to convince the others that since he's now "a delicate maiden" he should get to ride on horseback. Ao Lie agrees only because it's funny to see Bajie try to act graceful when he's still very much a giant pig demon.

There's also rumours floating around now that the Monkey King seems to have a human infant under his care. Rumours that reach a certain salty ex-partner of his... >:3

Macaque's chapter is less "trying to hijack the Journey" and more "my mate isn't paying attention to me, so Imma do the natural monkey thing and steal his baby so he sees how good I am at taking care of them".

Macaque: "If I have you, then Wukong has to talk to me. Now, I should probably gather some food, clean you, and make a nest for the night. That'll show him." Baby!Tripitaka: (*confused "Waa?"*)

Macaque spends much of the time caring for Tinytaka; talking about his former mate with a mixture of bitterness, annoyance, and unquenched adoration. Even with his poor natural eyesight (headcanon from LMK Tang), Tripitaka can see that monkey simping.

Once the Pilgrims finally catch up to the shadow monkey, Tripitaka has already vetted Macaque as an "Ok" guy for Wukong to date. Kidnapper or not, clearly this is just how these two flirt. Even through Wukong's angry chattering, and Macaque's teasing remarks; the shadow monkey isn't chased off from the group. Instead he just sort of... joins the party as a bonus babysitter.

Bajie tries to comment on this sudden addition, but Wujing points out that they probably need the extra backup until their Master is brought back to normal.

As for anyone actually understanding what Tripitaka is trying to communicate; a certain God of Children is present during a later part of the Journey...

Baby!Tripitaka: (*excited babbling!*) Nezha, smiling: "Hello, Tang Monk. It's good to finally meet you in person." Baby!Tripitaka: :O!! Wukong, confused: "Wait... you can understand each other?" Nezha: "It's a side effect of my domain. As the patron god of children, I am able to understand them even when their voices are inexperienced." Wukong, mildly worried: "Do you think he's... Is he still Master? When we change him back, will he be a different person than before?" Baby!Tripitaka: (*looks up at Wukong with a calm smile. reaches out a little hand to pat his face reassuringly*) Nezha, knowing smile: "He's still in there. Whether or not he remembers his time since the Mother-Child River is up to chance." Wukong, relieved/disappointed: "Ah. That's good to know." Baby!Tripitaka, in baby babble: ("No matter what comes to pass, monkey, this experience has transformed my opinion of you. I had not realised you were capable of such kindness, such gentle nature. To think I had to be reduced to my most vulnerable form to understand this is humbling. I apologise forever doubting your humanity.") Wukong, intrigued: "That was a lot. What did he say?" Nezha, cheeky face: "Dunno, I wasn't listening." >:3 Baby!Tripitaka: (*angry lil scowl!*) >:x

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Genderbent!Zhu Bajie thinks he/she looks like Miss Piggy.

In reality its more like uh...

Zhu Bajie Big Naturals. So no change really.

The river just made his sex phenotype female, nothing else really.

Ha! She's a good voice actress (she certainly has fun on Family Guy), and I remember her from a few childhood faves.

But for fem!Bajie? I keep thinking of Jennifer Cooliage. Esp her performance as Paulette in Legally Blonde: