58. Nebula's Parting

~ Sun Ritsu ~

“Everyone just sit tight! We’ll be moving on shortly now.” Sun Surina gripped her star-tipped scepter, which she had bewitched to function as a microphone.

“By the way, the referees just wanted me to remind everyone that forfeiting is totally not cute.” She said the last bit with a chiding wag of her finger.

It seemed that the officials were still scrambling to adjust for Sun Yong Kid’s sudden departure, which resulted in them not noticing Sun Ritsu’s leaving and coming back.

Upon returning, our hero didn’t expect three members of his competition to be huddled around his seat, watching him closely as he jogged up to them.

Like students hanging out in an afterschool club, the three graduates from Sheer Will Academy had arranged their seats to be very close to one another, while also leaving Ritsu’s spot open right in the center. He couldn’t help but notice that Zhaoling had taken up Yong Kid’s empty seat.

Sparkplug looked pretty happy to see Ritsu return. Zhaoling tracked him with a curious, reserved expression. Tie Quan still glared with distaste, but he seemed to have dropped the intimidating front from previous encounters.

It was Blue Force that spoke first. “Went to go rub salt in the child’s wound?”

Sparkplug spoke up for Ritsu. “Tch! Come on, Senpai. Ritsu’s not that kind of guy.” He gave our hero a friendly punch to the bicep. “You were trying to get the kiddo to come back, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, but…” Ritsu looked sheepishly at his hands. “I didn’t try hard enough.”

“Where do you know Sun Yong Kid from?” Sun Zhaoling asked, leaning a bit closer for the information.

At this proximity, Ritsu could tell that the color of the Barefoot Sun’s eyes were an earthy hazel, leaning more into the brown side of the spectrum over the green. His scent of crushed cherry blossoms and tree resin caught Ritsu off guard. None of these revelations were helpful while Ritsu was trying to answer the contender’s question.

Fighting the urge to draw back, our hero looked from Zhaoling to Blue Force to Sparkplug before answering truthfully, “I didn’t know Yong Kid before this tournament. We ran into each other yesterday at a theme park, but that’s it.”

Blue Force finally leaned back in his seat, retreating further into the second row. “So, in other words, you failed to convince the little twerp to reconsider.”

This time Zhaoling straightened up and narrowed his eyes at his companion. “None of us had the guts to talk him out of it. Sun Ritsu might have been successful if we all had gone together.”

Blue Force didn’t argue, but he didn’t seem pleased with being chastised in front of other sun clones.

Ritsu tried to settle the tension between them. “It’s okay. Sun Yong Kid is kind of hard to talk to sometimes.”

Sparkplug said, “Zhaoling’s right though. We were taught this kind of thing at the Academy. Motivating each other to get to the next level is kind of a big thing they strive to drill into our heads.”

“You don’t let other rivals fall behind if you can help it,” Zhaoling recited, maintaining eye contact with Blue Force as he did so.

The latter finally dropped the scowl and huffed, “You’re right, I know. We… we shouldn’t have let someone who could have been our underclassman lose faith in himself.”

“Good grief. Give it a rest.”

All four of their heads turned to the third row where Sun Chop sat with his legs crossed, idly filing his nails.

“You shonen lads really know how to take a moment as plain as bread and drag it out, don’t you?”

Sun Chop’s silvery sideburns were smooth and evenly combed. The rest of his hair was the color of salt, slicked back with the right amount of lift on top and wave at his nape. His hairstyle went well with the rest of his garment – a shiny, metallic suit with bell sleeves and flared hems. The opening at his collar revealed an artificially tanned chest along with a fine dusting of body glitter.

This glamorous monkey king bobbed his white vintage boots to the beat of the interim music playing over the speakers.

Blue Force was the one who was the first to address him.

“Yeah, well what would you know about it?”

“You all are acting like the little Sun is dead,” Sun Chop chuckled. “Why don’t you save all of those brotherhood tears for the champion banquet, m’kay?”

“I agree with Zheng Zheng,” Sun Liu interjected serenely from just outside of Ritsu’s periphery. “We should not be hanging our heads for someone who didn’t even want to be here. If you don’t have a strong fighting spirit, then be on your way is how I see it.”

Sun Chop tapped the air with his nail file. “See. She has the right idea, fellas.”

Sun Ritsu was burning to say that Sun Yong Kid wasn’t lacking a fighting spirit. The kid knew his limitations and that was probably the first time he ever paid attention to them in order to make the right choice.

Our hero wondered if the Artist and Zheng Zheng would change their minds about Yong Kid if they heard this.

But… was Yong Kid’s realization that he was outmatched the same as losing one’s will to fight? If Ritsu looked at himself, was he also relying on something as mercurial as willpower to stay in this competition when he should otherwise quit?

Our qi-less hero still wasn’t sure…

Blue Force looked like he wanted to say something else, but the music reached a roaring crescendo and Sun Xiao Dan’s energetic voice blared over the speakers.

“What a show so far, huh, folks? The judges were beyond impressed by Sun Zhaoling and Sun Tie Quan’s performances. I wonder how Sun Terra plans on topping that.”

A calm voice from two rows back commanded the attention of the remaining sun clones.

“So then. This is the sort of thing that impresses the judges. Mutilated trees and fake beastkin. The curriculum at these so-called academies has always perplexed me.”

It was Sun Terra, getting to her feet and fitting herself with a pair of fingerless gloves.

She kept up her even toned lecture as she focused on fastening the gear. “That is why nothing beats training in the wild. Your head is clear of all of this artificial circus. I have to say that I am disappointed in what I’ve seen so far today.”

To Ritsu’s surprise, her words seemed to cause both Tie Quan and Zhaoling to visibly sulk. Strangely though, Sun Terra’s observations did not come out in a way that seemed like it was meant to hurt or discredit her competition.

When the Earthbound Sage was ready, she excused herself from the section and stepped onto the lawn. Ritsu was once again intent on following Bodhi’s advice and learning everything he could from watching her.

Most of Sun Terra’s coppery red hair was piled up in a messy knot. Like Sun Surina, she had tassels in the place of sideburns. Hers were considerably longer than Suri’s, each tied off every few inches with wooden beads, twine, and tiny chimes. Her leathery, organic armor was decorated with more chimes and strange animal talismans. Despite every article on her person looking aged and weathered by sun and rain, it somehow gave the impression that Terra was wealthier than most of the competition present.

“What will Sun Terra give us today? A glorious rockslide or a volcanic eruption for the ages?”

“Careful, Dan. You could be spoiling her performance for all you know. And don’t forget that she’s also a registered summoner.”

“Ohhh that’s right. We have two summoners here with us in the champion pool today! The Earthbound Sage and Sparkplug.”

“Correct. Sun Shan specializes in collecting thunder beasts while Sun Terra is known as one of the greatest generalists in the summoning community.”

Ritsu turned to Sparkplug. “You’re a summoner?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, but Sun Terra and I are nowhere in the same league as each other. She’s a freaking legend with a real summoning staff! Meanwhile most days I can barely get a lightning gecko to cooperate.”

Zhaoling, who was slumped in his seat with his ankles crossed and his eyes closed, chided, “You’re selling yourself short again, Spark.”

“Okay, but can you blame me?” Sparkplug gestured to Sun Terra’s form. “She’s like my idol.”

No one asked Sun Shan to explain what he meant, but he went on to say, “There’s a lot I can learn from her. I have always wanted to be more connected to the beasts that I capture. Beastkin should follow you on their own. And she’s a testament to that. Just watch!”

“By the way the Earthbound Sage is assuming her stance, I’d be willing to bet that she’s taking the summoner’s route this time around.”

“I think so too, Dan. Everyone knows Terra for her rock-style martial arts, but she’s also one of the strongest summoners in the world.”

“It’s my understanding that summoning can be a touchy subject, right, Chow?”

“It’s true. Summoning has a reputation for being somewhat of an archaic practice. And in some circles, it is even regarded as barbaric. This is compounded by the fact that there are only six true summoning quarterstaves in all of the Ninth Heaven. The rest are replicas. Though Sun Terra wields one of the Original Six, not all of them have owners. They are known to be finicky in who they select to wield them.”

“Incredible! Chow, do you mind elaborating on those circles where spirits think summoning is a barbaric practice? What’s the reason behind the negative attitudes?”

“It’s complicated, Dan. There are spirits out there calling themselves summoners who abuse the practice and capture beastkin no matter the consequence. Sometimes to the point of harming the creature or disrupting whole habitats. It makes authentic summoners like Sun Terra and Sun Shan look untrustworthy to the masses.”

While Ritsu thought the casters’ commentary was informative, it wasn’t what he was interested in right then.

He paid more attention to Sun Terra – the way she moved, using her staff as an extension of herself in a very grounded formation. He recognized the repetition of horse stance and Terra’s center of balance localized in her pelvis and feet.

The rings at the end of her brass staff went shink, shink with each shift in her slow series.

Sun Terra closed the routine with a more fluid motion, bringing the elongated staff upright and center. Then she raised it up between praying hands.

There was a deep pause and then… the earth hummed.

The crowd murmured with excitement as the vibration traveled up the tiers in the stadium. On top of that, the air in the arena dropped to something very close to frigid.

The vibrations grew into a thundering chorus. It continuously built until each sound became articulated.

That’s when Ritsu noticed that Blue Force and the Barefoot Sun had repositioned themselves a few seats away from where he sat with Sparkplug.

Zhaoling shot Ritsu an apologetic smirk, “I would move if I were you.”

Ritsu glanced around. “Why?”

“Ohhhh my-my-my – OH MY SWEET IMMORTAL PEACHES! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! LOOK AT THAT!”

Sparkplug had our unprepared hero by the throat, jerking him back and forth while the former pointed to the top of the stadium.

“Shell-backed elk! She summoned shell-backed elk. She actually did it. Holy cow there’s like twenty whole herds of them!”

Sun Shan was not exaggerating, Dear Traveler. Tens of thousands of mythical elk, guardians of every sacred mountain you can think of, poured into the arena.

The beastkin seemed to carry the mountain air on their backs, baptizing the stands in another wave of arctic atmosphere. They stampeded inside at a near vertical angle. And they came in fast, as if a horde of demons was chasing them.

When there was no room in the aisles for the elk to advance, they merely leapt over the heads of awestruck spirits. Many spectators were too stunned to move, afraid that they would get an arm or an ear ripped off by the momentum of the descending herd.

It was wise to be still during this time, Dear Traveler. The members of the herd had their foreboding horizontal irises focused on one thing and one thing only – their leading bull.

The bull elk’s neck stretched higher than the others, his larger breast coated in molting shag. Primordial moss and avian skeletons hung from his cradle-shaped antlers.

By this time, Sparkplug had let go of Ritsu’s windpipe and quieted down some. But he was still clinging to Ritsu’s jacket and crazy-whispering into his shoulder.

The alpha skated to a stop on hooves the color of punctured pomegranate seeds. Sun Terra did not flinch in the slightest as the animal nicked the air with its great antlers and approached her head on.

While this meeting was happening, the rest of the herd was still going hard, making exhaustive laps around the sun clone and their leader.

When the bull got close enough, Sun Terra helped herself to it, climbing into the cradle of its antlers as she would the face of a steep cliff.

“Sun Ritsu, did you see that?”

Ritsu did not know how or when Sparkplug got up on his shoulders…

“She just stepped on the alpha elk’s face and he let her – I’m die-yeeng!”

“Yeah, I saw,” Ritsu grunted, trying to disengage from the zappy fanboy before he got electrocuted.

Sun Terra made herself comfortable in the crown of moss and bones. She tucked her legs into butterfly style, breathing out a long sigh. Despite the relaxation in her demeanor, Ritsu could not have imagined the amount of qi required to summon something so wondrous and true.

As if to confirm this, Ritsu noticed that on her second exhale, Sun Terra’s jaw shuddered slightly. The bull elk snorted and shuffled its red heels in the turf, but Terra steadied it with her hand before it could bolt.

This isn’t easy for her, Ritsu realized. And yet, even in the eye of the storm amidst thundering hooves and heavily panting beasts, Sun Terra remained a pillar of calmness, maintaining her internal compass.

When the herd finally settled and looked toward their leader for direction. Sun Terra opened her eyes at half mast and once again engaged her staff. The stadium was quiet except for the ethereal shink-chinkle-shink of the ringed staff.

The murmuring started up again.

“Wait, she’s not finished yet?”

“What’s she gonna do next?”

The answer came when Ritsu was approached by one of the herd. In fact, every single spirit in that stadium was approached, Dear Traveler.

For the shell-backed elk guardians from the sacred mountains had come bearing gifts…