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From the moment Mk picked up Monkie King's staff, the boy became a hero that the media started talking about. They described his young age, powers identical to those of Sun Wukong, his passion, his friends, and his great courage in the face of many dangers, often calling him fearless.
It was true that the boy had bravely faced many dangerous criminals, demons, or situations, but he was not unafraid, as his family knew best. Big monsters? Mk swings his staff a few times and the problem is solved. Risk of the end of the world? The boy runs for crayons and draws a plan. Yin and Jin? They are probably no longer considered a threat even by the inhabitants of Megapolis. A demon with a desire to take over? First, the boy will give him a talk and then destroy his ambitions. And there was one thing that made the boy's blood freeze in his veins and he was in a pre-heart attack state. The thing that millions of people, apart from him, are afraid of, a little creature that everyone has encountered in their lives...
"Spider!" Mk screamed in terror, jumping onto the closest person, who in this case was surprised by Macaque.
"What?" asked the surprised demon, who had been arguing with Wukong a moment earlier, about some detail in the story being told to the fascinated Tang and now he had his child in his arms, clinging to him like a baby monkey to its mother, using its tail to keep from falling.
"Spider." repeated the terrified Monkie Kid as he held on to the demon with all his strength, almost choking him.
“So what about the spider?” the monkey demon barely choked out, hugging the boy so he wouldn't fall, although considering how tightly he was hugging him, it wasn't really necessary.
“Mk has arachnophobia.” Tang explained, dispassionately.
“What is arachnophobia?” Sun Wukong asked, scratching his head and wondering if it was some kind of disease.
“It's a huge fear of spiders.” Tang explained.
“Oh! I remember when we fought Spider Queen on New Year's Day, Mk panicked when he saw her robotic army!” mentioned Monkie King.
"Exactly. Phobia is an anxiety disorder that involves feeling irrational, strong, and disproportionate to the threat of fear when faced with specific situations, objects, or animals. In the case of our favorite Monkie Kid, it's arachnids." the scholar replied in a scientific tone as the boy slowly began to calm down.
"I have it!" Mei screamed, holding a glass in her hands and the pad holding it, on which sat a small brown Tegenaria domestica.
“Aaaah!” Mk squealed at the sight, tightening his grip and almost suffocating dad number four until Wukong intervened quickly, tearing his stepson away from Macaque and taking him into his arms himself. “Take him away! Take him away! Take that bug away!”
“Spiders aren't insects, they're arachnids, but okay.” muttered the unimpressed girl as she left the restaurant to get rid of the eight-legged beast.
“I thought that after the Spider Queen incident, your phobia wouldn't scare you as much anymore.” Pigsy said, drawn by the noise.
“Exactly, apart from that I thought you were on fairly neutral terms with Huntsman?” Tang asked.
"I am! They just don't look like spiders to me anymore. I know they're spider demons, but somehow I can tell them apart." Mk explained uncertainly.
“Maybe we should start there?” Mei suggested.
“Start what?” Macaque asked.
“Mk's therapy! To help him get rid of arachnophobia.” the girl replied.
"What?" asked the young hero.
“Mei is right, everyone is afraid of something, but your phobia is interfering with your life, so it's time to fight it.” Pigsy said.
“Well Piggy's right, just look at what your fight looked like on New Year's Day. But how is it treated?” Sun Wukong asked suddenly interested, dropping his adopted son to the ground and ignoring the cook's snort.
“I think Sandy might know something about this.” Tang replied with a shrug.
“So Mk, do you want to stop being afraid of little spiders?” Mei asked excitedly.
"I think so?" the teenager replied with a shrug.
“Then direction Sandy!” announced the descendant of the great dragon as she dragged her friend out of the restaurant.
“Why do I have the feeling this will end badly?” Macaque asked as the kids left the building.
“Because it always happens.” Tang replied completely calmly, adjusting his glasses. “So where did we end up?”
“I was just telling you how I kicked ass…” Wukong returned to the interrupted story.
~~~~~~
“Sandy!” Mei's scream was the only warning the blue giant received before the two teenagers appeared on board.
“Mei, Mk, nice to see you! What brings you here?” the river demon asked happily as he poured tea for his partner.
“Hey Sandy, hey Huntsman! We're here about Mk's little phobia." the girl replied easily, jumping into the seat next to the spider demon.
“Hmm?” the giant only asked, also sitting down and adding two cups for the guests.
"Yeah, you know, it's about... How should I put this..." Monkie Kid began to ramble, blushing with embarrassment, not really wanting to admit his fear of spiders in the presence of the spider demon.
“It's about Mk's arachnophobia.” a friend helpfully interjected.
“Arachnophobia?” Huntsman repeated and Mk became even more nervous, nodding.
“It's making my life a bit miserable and Mei suggested there's a chance I could get rid of it?” Mk replied hopefully, glancing at his adoptive uncle.
“There are therapies to overcome arachnophobia, one of them and the most effective is in vivo therapy.” Sandy replied thoughtfully.
“In vivo?” repeated Mk interested.
“It involves slowly bringing the person suffering from the disorder closer to the object causing the phobia, in this case a spider. The effect of such therapeutic treatment is a gradual reduction of the strong emotional reaction associated with the object.” the friendly giant explained and the boy paled.
“Is there another option?” asked the teenager.
“Of course, but I think this form would be best for you.” replied Sandy.
“So now we will slowly tame Mk to spiders? How?" asked Mei, who liked the idea.
“I think it would be best if he first looked at a photo of a spider, then a spider in a terrarium, then touched it with an object, and finally he would be able to hold it in his hand.” described the blue giant.
“Well I can help with any part, after all I live in a place where they are full of them. And there are different species, sizes and colors that you will even be able to choose from." Huntsman laughed and Sandy just smiled.
"It's very good idea." commented the giant.
"What?" asked the spider demon and the monkey demon at the same time.
“Huntsman will help you with your phobia and involve the rest of the clan in the process.” Sandy announced.
"But why?" his partner asked.
“Because you signed up and it's a very nice thing to do.” the river demon replied without hesitation, and his partner muttered something under his breath.
Mk swallowed hard, afraid of what was to come.
~~~~
His fears were correct to some extent.
Over the next weeks, his phone received text message notifications from the spider demon at various times, containing pictures of various spiders with captions and some with names. Meta menardi, Mk learned, were the most common photo models, followed closely by Pholcus phalangioides, which the boy learned are found wherever humans are, and many Tetragnatha extensa, which occur on aquatic vegetation. The boy, of course, blocked the spider's number when it started sending him larger and larger spiders and adding more information, which Tang read with curiosity. However, when the text messages stopped coming, the demon did not give up, two days later all of Pigsy's customers were scared away by the screeching of Mk, who turned on the phone only to come face to face with Atypus muralis on the wallpaper, as the caption said.
However, the photos had some effects, because at some point Mk only winced at the subsequent changes of wallpaper by Syntax or Huntsman's messages, but he did not feel a huge need to throw away the phone and hide in bed forever.
At the same time, it marked the next stage. A spider in the same room.
Huntsman thought the perfect idea would be a Cyriopagopus lividus, which he kept in a terrarium on Sandy's boat, where Mk had to come and stay. Of course, Huntsman didn't spare him some interesting facts about the spider.
“Young spiders are brown, becoming blue as they grow. Even immature males have this shade.” the demon explained while lounging on the boat while Mk tried to help paint it, but his gaze kept returning to the cyriopagopus lividus, sitting in a carefully created terrarium, in a hole he had dug.
“Uh-huh.” the teenager nodded, almost jumping when Sandy returned with the tea, grabbing his arm.
“Don't worry, Huntsman won't let him get out.” the blue giant announced, wanting to help the younger one.
"Thanks." replied Mk weakly.
“Of course I won't let him hurt this innocent baby.” the demon replied, pointing to the spider as his partner handed him the tea.
“Mk, did you know that spiders court you by offering food? By demonic standards, this extends to drinks as well. This is a very effective method of courtship, although it can be confusing considering I offered Huntsmen tea the first time we met one-on-one, but most importantly he accepted it.” said a smiling Sandy as Huntsman began to choke in the background.
“You were supposed to keep quiet about this!” the spider demon choked out in embarrassment as he stopped choking on his tea as Mk started laughing.
~~~~~~~~
The teenager's next and possibly last test was performed by Spider Queen, whom Mk met in the company of Mei, Sandy and the Huntsman. With a sigh, the demoness reached into her sleeve, but before she pulled out the creature hidden inside, Mk squealed quietly and with the help of seventy-two transformations, hiding in the form of a bee.
“You know you're in a cave with hundreds of insect-eating spiders, right?” asked Huntsman, who still thought the whole idea was a bad decision.
"Sorry." Mk replied, returning to his form.
“Come on Monkie Man! You can do it!" Mei was cheering for him.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Last time you ran away.” commented the unconvinced queen.
“I can handle this.” the boy nodded, trying not to let on how scared he was.
“You're welcome, but try not to scare her with your screaming, okay?” Spider Queen asked, pulling a small spider out of her sleeve.
Surprised, Mk came closer, not believing his eyes. The creature wasn't even a centimeter long! It had short legs, a wide cephalothorax and brown and white coloring, and what attracted the most attention were two large eyes at the front, glassy like pebbles in water, and smaller eyes on the sides of the head.
“This is Salticus scenicus.” the demoness announced calmly, seeing the boy's interest.
“But she's not the least bit scary.” Monkie Kid replied, surprised by his own discovery, making the Queen giggle. “She's almost... adorable.”
"I'm glad you think that way." replied Spider Queen, and Mk made a hesitant gesture with his hand, as if he wanted to pet the spider, but withdrew.
Salticus, however, seemed to think otherwise, because he quickly jumped on the boy's wrist, causing everyone in the room to gasp nervously as they waited for Mk's reaction.
"Hi?" the boy asked hesitantly as the spider began to clean itself.
“Mk, you're holding a spider.” Mei whispered in delight as she took lots of photos.
“It's hard to say that I'm holding her, but I think she's comfortable.” the boy laughed, observing the little creature.