60.i First in the West; The Scattered Cloud

Interlude: Sun Tang

Two things, Dear Traveler.

One. I am not supposed to be here.

Two. Close your mouth. Your breath stinks.

Anyway, right. Where’d that lazy good for nothing stoner Sun Leaf leave off with you? Catch me up.

…?

…???....?!

?@&*%!!

What’s that? Didn’t even make it to – Back up! Back it up!

Right. Right. Okay. The Barefoot Sun hands his staff over to Sun Ritsu. Got it. Then what?

Are you sure about that? You mean to tell me that that Leaf left off right where – sweet immortal peaches, I cannot stand that guy. He didn’t even get to Sun Ritsu’s performance for the Wondrous and True trial. What a mess.

This is just great. Now my intro is all jacked up. What’s the point of even – oh, sorry. Did you say something?

My… two things from before? You mean the one about how I’m not supposed to be here? Yeah, what about it?

Well, since you asked. You know that guy, that hero of ours? That oh-so-benevolent monkey king? With his golden brown eyes and handsome sideburns and his superior fry cooking abilities?

Yeah – the main character of the story – I KNOW. I’m orange, not stupid, Dear Traveler.

Well, the truth is, that guy. Stole. My. Spot.

Mine!

It’s the truth. That hot mess of a monkey king is the reason I am stuck here with the likes of you right now instead of completely slaying the competition down at the Sevenfold Peach.

Do you want to know why? Of course you do.

Because I, Sun Tang the original Orangutan King, was supposed to have that eighth finalist seat! You can check the tape recording and see that I was the last sun clone hanging onto the edge of the platform for dear life. If Sun Ritsu hadn’t been there – and practically KO’d at that! – that spot would have gone to me! I simply know it.

It’s not fair that he got by in his freaking sleep while I still hadn’t given up the fight! I was actually doing something to be connected to the platform!

Maybe it was karma or Luck or a cruel joke played on me by the gods, but this is how it happened. I may have unfairly lost the chance at greatness, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to walk away. Not a chance. I want to see this through to the end.

You and I, Dear Traveler, are going to shine a microscope on this sloppy excuse for a hero and see just how far his Luck can take him through the Sevenfold Peach.

All right, then.

*Cracks knuckles.*

Let’s do this.

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We will start this part of the tale with our hero Sun Ritsu on one knee at the shoreline of the Heavenly River. Overhead stretched the now complete bridge that joined the Rabbit Province with the Void.

Soon visitors would no longer be limited to boarding the single ferry to cross the river. It was easy for residents of the Rabbit Province to forget about the accident when they were distracted by the concept of easier ways to move between the giants across the Void Sea.

Even so, there’s always going to be some who will never forget the sacrifice it took to make that bridge. Sun Seven, for example, who lost his best friend to the construction project. And of course, our hero, whose heart bleeds for just about any pitiful schmuck. The one. The only. *cough* – bastard.

Team Lemon Lime’s champion: Sun Ritsu

So there he was, like I said, kneeling in the sand under this massive bridge. As he picked up handfuls of sand crystals and let them waterfall back to the shore, he thought he felt tremors coming from the base of the bridge. As if something were crying out to him.

The sand seeped through his fingers. The sun’s glare made each grain shimmer like raw iridescent glass.

Take a look at Sun Ritsu’s eyes – two seething gold embers. In them, quiet flames licked the sky.

Not far from this site, a Spider looks out of a window, quietly cultivating her venom – something her boss hadn’t instructed her to do, but was important to her all the same.

And not far from there, we find a monk poring over magazines, trying to absorb more, to see if they had missed something. Anything to help their student overcome the odds. Without them being aware, their new obsession had replaced the addiction from before.

Then somewhere else, we see a pig rich in Luck and nothing more than that. He could feel the very same pressure that his hero was under. The dragon in him longed to make moves – truly powerful ones that could turn the favor for his handsome monkey god.

He brooded, wondering how he could overcome his circumstance to assert himself as a proper advisor. His initial sense had not been wrong when identifying a chosen one inside his monkey king.

The cursed dragon would see his hero’s journey to the end, whatever path it takes.

Bodhi

It was a sunny day in Kawaii Village.

Hundreds of tailgate tents peppered the parking lot of the The Divine Cave of Three Stars arena. Attendees milled about, doing their best to stay in the shade and wait out the long break.

Amidst all of this was a humble green and yellow tent where our cadre waited for their champion’s return.

It would be hours before Sun Ritsu could finally be seen making his way through the parking lot, hands hidden in pockets, gaze hooded against the glaring sunshine.

Bodhi the monk bolted out of a cheap folding chair. When Ritsu was within earshot, they hit him with a, “And where the hell were you?”

The last thing Bodhi wanted was for Ritsu – or anyone for that matter – seeing how worried they had been during the champion’s absence. With their piercing gray eyes, they tossed daggers in Ritsu’s general direction. To the monk’s confusion and frustration, Ritsu easily avoided their gaze and seemed only half-present as he helped himself to a vacant lawn chair and glanced around before lighting up a pink cigarette.

The way the sun clone’s eyelashes shuttered and his chin jerked involuntarily as he took in that first drag made Bodhi sick with envy. If only they could lean on their own vice in times like these!

That’s when Ham Song nearly knocked Bodhi out of the way. The pig pushed and shoved a path to Ritsu, shouting all the same things that had been on the monk’s heart.

“Benevolent monkey! Where have you been all this time? We were all worried sick about you!”

Sun Seven, Ritsu’s self-proclaimed manager, lifted a hairy hand. “I wasn’t.” He simultaneously flashed a gold-toothed grin and a thumbs-up before going back to reading his magazine.

Ritsu did his fair share of coarse exhaling, consoling the pig, and taking drags in between to calm whatever nerves were passing through him.

“I didn’t go far, Ham Song. I just went down to the Heavenly River to clear my head. All I did was look out at the water.”

A half-truth, Bodhi suspected, but they weren’t in the mood to press Ritsu about it. Instead, the monk tried to redirect the conversation.

“Did you build up your qi in the meantime? You’ve only got three more contestants ahead of you.”

Before Ritsu could answer, Sun Seven interrupted, “Sun Chop is going next, followed by Sparkplug. Sun Liu is going last. But you know, I wouldn’t get my tail in a knot if I were you, Ritsu. Sun Chop talks a lot, so he’s bound to drag out the trial from his introduction on stage alone.”

Once the Sevenfold Peach tournament committee reopened the arena, it became clear that Sun Seven wasn’t exaggerating about the next contestant, Sun Chop aka Zheng Zheng.

Ham Song struggled to see over the edge of the aisle. He sniffed the air. “Why do they call him Zheng Zheng?”

Bodhi was ignoring the pig, eyes laser focused on the sun clone taking the stage, but Sun Seven was happy to provide an explanation.

“It’s the sound wood makes whenever he cuts it with his axe. You wouldn’t be able to tell by the looks of it, but Sun Chop used to be a humble woodcutter. Kind of a nobody, actually.”

Ham Song reevaluated the sun clone dressed in glittery bell bottoms and had to admit that it was difficult to imagine him being something of a lumberjack.

From this moment on, Sun Seven didn’t really need to do any more explaining because the casters were already doing what they do best – getting the whole crowd caught up on the champion’s backstory.

Sun Xiao Dan and Chow Jia Hui went back and forth describing Zheng Zheng’s origins as a traveling woodcutter.

“So after traveling all the way from the Western Region of Ultimate Bliss, he stumbles upon the Dog Province, right Chow?”

“That’s correct, Dan. Back then, Sun Chop was just another resident of the neighboring Dog Province. Unfortunately, he had used all of his savings to acquire passage on the ferry and now he was stuck. He quickly learned that his woodcutting skills were not in high demand in this region. So he had to think of something else in order to pay for living expenses.”

“Oh, oh! I know what happens next! Let me tell it, Chow.”

“Go on, Dan.”

“First thing Sun Chop does is sell off all his tools and only keeps enough materials to make finer instruments, like small scissors, shears and the like. Then he starts stopping dog spirits on the street, offering up hair cuts for a little cash.”

“That’s right, Dan. From there, his business grew and so did his popularity. Zheng Zheng got his nickname from the song he used to sing whenever he groomed his customers. Many here are probably familiar with the first line: I chop at wood, zheng zheng the sound.”

“Oh, yessss! It’s giving me chills, Chow!”

“The crowd seems to share the same sentiment. Sun Chop has many fans in this arena. His skills as an expert woodcutter transferred over to his hair styling. He was able to take on many clients at once. And to this day, Zheng Zheng has become for the Dog Province what Sun Surina is for the Rabbit Province. A local, beloved celebrity.”

“It’s also why residents of the joint provinces often say Zheng Zheng is First in the West. Because the Dog Province lies west of the Rabbit Province and the Kawaii Villagers saw his rise to fame before Sun Surina came around.”

“True, Dan, but did you just lean over and read that off of my note card?”

“Guilty!”