The spirit world is broken and in desperate need of a restoration. True heroes and ancient beasts that once walked are now a thing of the past. Between the empty spaces of forgotten treasure halls there are whispers of one who has returned. One lege...
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For this part, Dear Traveler, let's fast forward a little in time. A week had passed since Ritsu started training for the wondrous and true trial. Bodhi continued to keep things basic. They had Ritsu focus on breath control, identifying and absorbing different sources of natural energy, and getting better at transforming his staff with light mode.
At first Bodhi insisted on training Ritsu alone, but after all of the begging and harassment from Seven and Ham Song, the monk finally relented. So at the start of week two, Sun Seven and Ham Song began to join the other two for their sessions on the roof of the Lunch Hero.
Ham Song had just wanted to be in the company of his beloved monkey king, but Seven's true motivation made itself known when he hauled a mini cash register and portable receipt dispenser up on the rooftop.
The gold-toothed monkey spirit was ready to capitalize on Sun Ritsu's ever-growing fan base. He did everything from bottling up Ritsu's sweat and selling it for cash to charging for photo ops at the end of the day.
"It's five notes if you're looking to be in a polaroid with our handsome Sun Ritsu. Ten if you want his trainer in the shot too."
From where they were overlooking Ritsu's form, Bodhi barked over their shoulder, "I'm not posing for that crap."
Without looking back, Seven lifted a finger and adjusted. "Ah, I meant seven notes if the pig is in the shot."
Ham Song grumbled something about the unfairness of his picture being worth less than Bodhi's, but otherwise, he didn't complain. Not when he had a basket of free lunch heroes to work on throughout the day.
The three young grass spirits talking to Seven asked what was so special about the pig.
"You see," Seven waggled his eyebrows, "he's our champion's Lucky charm. Isn't that sweet?"
Seven went into an elaborate recounting of how Ritsu had taken pity on Ham Song and rescued him from the jaws of mountain trolls.
Ham Song wanted so very much to yell at the lot of them that it didn't happen that way, but he knew that he would only go ignored.
Besides...
Ham Song glanced over at Sun Ritsu, who was trying very hard and sweating so very much in order to follow Bodhi's instruction and get better at wielding that stubborn staff.
Who am I to step on Ritsu's path towards greatness?
The pig kept his mouth shut and let Seven weave his overzealous tales in order to swindle those poor teenage spirits.
Ham Song had another reason for not drawing too much attention from the Lemon Lime sponsor. A few days ago, Bodhi had pulled him aside to speak privately. He learned that Bodhi had reason to believe that Seven was betraying them to a company called Next Dimension, Inc.
