Canterlot Academy Trials

Meanwhile, with Bai Se and her daughter…

The white-furred monkey’s tail flicked as she noticed what was going on in the front yard of the palace. “Ah, so the filth has arrived. I still don’t get what you see in him.”

“He was the only one who treated me as more than a mere object of affection!” Lee snarled, “Or some mere prize to be won! The nobility is a farce, mother and you know it. It’s not worth my time and I refuse to be held to such standards.”

Bai would remove her hood and expose her body underneath so that she could fight more easily. She was wearing gold-plated armor around her breasts and pelvis. Essentially bikini armor that allowed her to move freely.

“So you’re intent on running away, then?” she asked, “All you’ve done your entire life is avoid everything, you even ducked out and attended some academy out West so that you wouldn’t have to face us.” She folded her arms under her chest, pushing up her bosom in the process, “Sounds to me as if you don’t even believe in what you say. I may be as corrupt as you call me, but I at least stick to my ideals. I don’t quit when it’s convenient for me to do so!” She rolled her eyes and sighed, “But a defect such as yourself wouldn’t understand. You’ve been tainted…”

“...” Lee fell silent and thought about what her mother had said.

Even now, she came to the realization that she put herself before the subjects in the Shu Region as a result of what she’s done. Because of the fact that she ran away, her parents were closer now more than ever to toppling Chang’s rule with all of their underhanded tactics.

Tactics that she hadn’t been aware of until now.

“...you’re right.”

“Hm?” Bai raised an eyebrow.

Lee balled her fists and looked down at the ground with her eyes shut. “...I have been running away. Seeking to avoid thinking about anything to do with my home. I wish I never had to be born into this life…” She opened her eyes and glared at her mother, “But that’s not how things went. I have to take responsibility for my people. And protect them from you.”

Bai Se simply smirked, then chuckled in response. “So you’re finally going to grow a spine, then? Instead of merely sitting on your behind and expecting someone else to take care of you? How ironic. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it seems as if hanging around those Western commoners have ruined your ambition and turned you into a mindless, self-absorbed woman who only wants a man’s help.”

“I’ll show you!” Lee screamed, “I can stand on my own two feet with or without him! He’s not the only thing I want out of life, you callous witch!”
“Then show me!” Bai readied her dao with a crazed smile on her face, “Show me that you aren’t a coward who runs away at the slightest of inconveniences!”

It was more than a slight inconvenience, but Lee knew that she couldn’t shy away from the place she was born from any longer.

With a quick flick of her hand, she flung her rope dart and tied it around her mother’s right leg before yanking the white-furred monkey towards herself. Bai gasped and grit her teeth as she was pulled forward but used this as a chance to ready her dao and fire a few shots from its built-in firearm system.

Lee dodged the first bullet, but the second one just barely grazed her tail, leaving a small cut as she leapt upwards and kicked her mother across her face hard enough to force blood from her lips and send the primate lady flying backwards into the nearest hedge. But she wasn’t down for long.

Lee had retrieved her rope dart in the process of the kick and rushed her mother down. Bai responded with a few quick slashes of her sword to keep Lee at bay. Lee would then use her dagger to block another slash from her mother’s dao, only to be met with a fierce palm strike to her abdomen that nearly cracked one of her bones on the spot and caused Lee to crumple to the ground.

“Get up,” Bai spat coldly.

And she would. Lee grit her teeth and forced herself to muscle through the pain as she rolled over and sprang to her feet. With a spin, Bai would aim a kick at Lee’s midsection to further exacerbate the injury she had just given her. But Lee managed to block it just in time with her fist, barely able to push back against the stronger monkey’s leg as she grit her teeth with an intense expression on her face.

In a flash, Lee would stab Bai in the thigh with her dagger, and push her away. But Bai was quick to counter this by tackling Lee to the ground where she’d proceed to straddle her body and punch her in the face multiple times, leaving her daughter battered and bruised with visible blood leaking from her mouth. Her face became more enraged by the second, teeth clenched as she glared at her daughter with intense, bloodshot eyes.

But to her surprise, Lee was…smiling?

“...what are you happy about?” she muttered out of confusion, then screamed, “…why won’t you give up already?!”

“,,,because…that’s what you want me to do,” Lee sputtered in between coughs, “...and knowing that…I won’t…give you the satisfaction!”

Her daughter’s words only fueled the woman’s rage further. All she could think to do was reel her hand back for one final punch. “Tch…grrgh…DAMN YOU!”

CRICK!

As soon as Bai tried to punch her, Lee retaliated by grabbing her fist with her hand with enough force to crack all of Bai’s knuckles in the process. The white monkey lady glanced up in horror with wide eyes as soon as she realized that her hand was broken.

“...Ao Guang’s claw.”

With her other hand, she punched her mother dead in the face and sent her flying back a few paces where she’d lie unconscious on the ground as Lee stood up as the victor, clutching her sore abdomen.

“...you may have birthed me, but you are no mother of mine.”