Sun Ritsu

When the Fry Cook Hero finally woke up from his painfully induced slumber, he found himself huddled on a large rug along with the rest of the contestants from the last round, minus Sun Zhaoling and Sun Terra.

"Wha–" he mumbled, rubbing his eyes, "what happened?"

"You won the round," said a familiar voice off to his right. Ritsu turned, trying to match the face to the voice, but what he saw didn't fit.

"It's Sun Tie Quan." Zheng Zheng chuckled from behind. "Doesn't he look positively gaunt?"

Sun Tie Quan?

If Ritsu squinted his eyes and concentrated very hard, maybe he could imagine the sun clone being a shadow of the former muscular, long-haired contestant.

"Sun Tie Quan? What happened to you?"

"I lost, you dolt." he growled as he turned away and chugged a protein pouch.

Sun Ritsu had more questions, but Sun Liu grabbed his shoulder and turned his attention to the field. "Fry Cook Hero, look there. You're going to have to go up against whoever wins this tiebreaker."

Sun Ritsu took in the sight before him. Stretched out on the main platform was a balance beam with the Barefoot Sun and the Earthbound Sage standing on opposite sides of it. Both looked weary and in no shape to be competing in another trial so soon.

A sharp sword of concern lanced through Ritsu for both of his fellow contestants, but especially for the hunched-over Sun Zhaoling, whose battered feet had definitely seen better days. Ritsu cursed himself for not waking up in time to give Zhaoling a few words of encouragement before the tiebreaker.

Sun Terra, on the other hand, was leaning most of her weight on her ringed staff. She was maintaining a brave face, but it was clear that going through the meditation round with no buff had taken its toll on her.

"Well, here we are, Chow. This is probably the tiebreaker everyone wanted to see, but looking at our contestants, I'm a bit worried."

"As am I, Dan. Maybe we can cheer the audience and ourselves up with some wordplay?"

"Oh oh, good idea, Chow. Well... normally, in a contest like this, Sun Terra's performances are rock-steady. So perhaps there's nothing to worry about."

"I think that no matter how difficult the challenge, Sun Terra would let Sun Zhaoling cut footloose and run away with the match. Not without giving him a hard time."

"Agree. And since I'm getting word that we are almost ready to start, let's get everyone updated on the rules for this tiebreaker."

"Right away, Dan. Since the Barefoot Sun and the Earthbound Sage are dead even in points and both hit the ground at the same time when they fell off of their staffs in the last round, it calls for a tiebreaker. The contestants will stand on this beam and try to knock the other off with the help of their staff."

"Seems simple enough."

"Yes, it does. The complicated part will be overcoming their exhaustion from the last match. In many ways, this tiebreaker is an extension of the last round. It will test each contestant's level of concentration when they have reached their physical limits."

"You know, Chow, at first I was bummed about the immortal peach ban. But now, seeing the contestants push themselves without the help of holy peaches has become very intriguing to me."

"I know what you mean, Dan. It's like each contestant is stripped down to their core. We get to witness the raw connection they keep with their quarterstaff. Now it's time to shift our focus to the event. The contestants are about to mount the beam."

The arena got eerily quiet. Since the last trial went into the night, there was a sleepy stillness in the air as the stadium lights put a spotlight on the beam in the center.

The horn blares through the stadium. The trial has begun.

Everything changes on the faces of the Earthbound Sage

and the Barefoot Sun.

Their exhaustion from before? A clever facade.

They hide their pain well

Each Sun takes lift, planting the staff, sweeping the legs

Their auras take on the paths of their movements

Colorful arcs bending over the beam

They find their balance opposite each other,

quarterstaff flexing at dangerous angles

Until they connect. Once. Twice.

Three times the Earthbound Sage tries

to take out the ankles of her opponent

Where she is steady, he bleeds and favors his footwork

The beam yawns and squeaks from the pressure

of the Sage determined to find her finish.

The stadium shakes with every strike

Like a mountain ready to split

to make way for the rupturing volcano

Sun Terra's aura is fire bursting from earth

She is the quake that forces rock to make

something out of itself

And the Barefoot Sun knows this

enough to let his resolve crack

He respects this volcano. He throws out his arms

swinging wildly, trying to recapture his balance,

turning Nebula's Parting into a propeller

to save him again from another quake

He lands on the other side on shaky feet

How much longer can he last?

While you are strong, Barefoot,

You have yet to enter Sagehood

You don't know what it is yet

to go beyond

Was this it, was it now

that Sun Zhaoling's feet would fail him?

In his heart, he wanted to keep fighting

So why then, does he fall

backwards, tossing Nebula's Parting

Up... up... away from his grasp

Why beat himself up?

Why abuse his feet for this when

he could simply stand up

on

his

hands?

Blood whipped the air and landed in the sand pit as Sun Zhaoling dove into a hollowback handstand, catching Nebula's Parting between his wounded feet. He adjusted his posture, settling into his hands and gripping the beam with a rested set of limbs. Meanwhile, he used the finer, dextrous muscles in his feet to wield the staff and fend off Sun Terra's blows.

"You're correct, Sun Terra," Sun Zhaoling wheezed down by her feet, "I'm no Sage yet."

Sun Terra was on the backfoot now, changing her stance and defending as Zhaoling suddenly surged forward with new zeal, working his staff better with his feet than anything she had ever seen.

For the first time, Sun Terra stumbled and the collective gasp could be heard from the crowd.

"You are steady, Terra," Zhaoling said. "Steady as a rock. You always have been. But rocks fall. They eventually submit to gravity."

Sun Terra was tired. She had meditated all day. She had hid her exhaustion in the beginning in order to take Sun Zhaoling out. Her legs shook just as her opponent's. But she was still standing on hers.

"I may not be a Sage like you."

Zhaoling swung his staff out far enough to make Terra duck.

"But I am on my way to it."

He used her moment of distraction to jump. His hips came forward, dragging his torso and the rest of him rightside up in midair. He landed on the airborne staff before twisting his long arms enough to put a spin on his lower half.

"And I thank you!"

With no time to stand or retreat, Sun Terra threw her staff up in defense and braced herself. Their weapons locked up, but there was too much force behind Zhaoling's.

Terra went down.

I thank you because... you will always be a part of my journey, Sun Terra.

The Earthbound Sage opened her eyes to see that her opponent had vacated the beam. He had joined her in the sand and was bowing deeply, his sweaty mop of bleach blond curls nearly kissing his torn-up toes. His feet... they must have felt worse than hell, yet he was using the last of his strength to stand on them and bow to her.

Sun Terra smirked as she propped herself onto her elbows. This wasn't something a spirit got to see everyday. She considered herself quite Lucky. To watch it up close.

A sun clone's awakening.