SANDY DROVE THE VAN toward the Lantern City where the last ring would be. After regaining your memories that day, you regrouped with Mk, Mei, and Sandy after Macaque had deceived them into a fake van.
Surprisingly though, Mk found the first ring in DBK's position and next one was found in Chang'e's kitchen on the moon. Right now, you were on your way to fetch the last ring in Lantern City. Mk was doodling something which earned your attention, "So, what you doing, MK?" Mei spoke up, looking at Mk's drawings.
"Just doodling." He replied with a smile.
You grabbed some papers and watched his drawings, "Looking good, bud." You complimented him, ruffling his hair as Mei tried to grab the papers from you. Tang joined you, looking for any drawings of himself, "Oh. Did you do any drawings of me, MK?" He asked with hopeful eyes.
"Yeah. They're over there. I didn't like how any of them turned out, though. It was hard to make you look, uh, cool. You know, you get it." He said, pointing at a trash bin filled with papers with doodles of himself.
"What? But I'm like the coolest guy you know." He said with a hint of disappointment.
"Hey guys. Land ho!" Sandy exclaimed as the van reached the city. Everyone gasped in awe while you smiled with pride, "Hasn't changed a bit."
Well...
"Okay, maybe it's changed a little." You stated, feeling annoyed that you were stuffed between the crowd in the train. You were wearing a hoodie and sunglasses to hide your identity. Once the train stopped, you immediately stormed out and let out a breath of relief. You all instantly went to look for the ring, "All right. I remember throwing the Ring around here somewhere." You said as you looked through some stuff. Mei looked at you with questioning look, "I thought you hid it?" She asked you, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, by throwing it, into the crust of the Earth, where no one could find it. Keep up, Dragon Pony Girl."
"Is there some kind of festival on?" Mk asked with a hand on his chin.
He quickly went to one of vendors and asked him about the festival. It turned out that they were celebrating the Ring of Light that you threw at them and that made the others glare at you, "So much for the Rings being a secret." Pigsy said while you laughed nervously, slowly moving away from them. Mk of course had to buy so many souvenirs for everyone from the vendor, typical Mk behavior. You went to a high place and stared at the giant lantern, "So what? We're just going to wander around until we stumble upon the Ring, or-" Pigsy spoke up.
"Of course not, Pigsy. I think I know exactly where the Ring is." Tang replied, cutting Pigsy off.
"It's in the giant lantern in the middle of the city." You told them.
"Hey! That's what I was going to say!"
"How do you figure?" Mk asked you.
"Somehow, the villagers found my super well-hidden magic ring, there's a giant magic lantern in the middle of the city, I'm going to say they put it in that. It's two plus two, bud." You explained as you pointed at the lantern in the middle of the city. Mk got really excited and climbed on your shoulders, "And two plus two is three. The third ring." He said with a big smile on his face. Mei laughed along her friend, "Big brain boy coming through." She added, giving Mk a high-five. You saw a poster and gave it to Sandy, "There you go, blue guy. You haven't said anything in a while. Read this." You said just as the blue guy took it from you.
"Can't read?" Mk asked you.
"I get stage fright. Or something..." You replied with a shrugged.
"Join the talented citizens of Lantern City as they try to win the coveted Ring of Light and bring the city to life."
And just like that, you all went to this talent show. You were busy looking around to pay attention to what Mk and his friends were saying. That was until Mk decided to drag you along on their show after handing his friends musical instruments. You quickly pulled him away to declare somethings, "Remember when I said the whole stage fright thing is kind of a joke?" You whispered, sweating a bit. Your student looked at you with a raised brown, "Wasn't a joke?" He asked you as a matter of fact.
"Not even a little bit."
"Y/N, self-proclaimed Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, is scared to perform in front of a crowd?"
"I know, I know. It doesn't make any sense."
"Okay."
"I can work with this."
His words took you off guard before he pushed an instrument in your hands, "And Monkey Queen can play the gong." He had actually put you in the position you hate the most. You were a bit upset that you had to stand on stage and people had to watch you, but didn't argue nonetheless.
"And what about me?" Tang asked with that same hopeful spark in his eyes. Mk quickly approached the man, "Oh, Mr. Tang. For you, I've saved the most important role of all. There isn't a band on Earth that can have any hope to win the Ring of Light without the band manager." He said, handing Tang a clipboard which broke Tang's heart.
"Wait, what? You're benching me?"
"Pretty much. All right team. Let's go win ourselves that last Ring of Samadhi."
As the others cheered, you were about to follow them. However, you froze in place when you felt a familiar presence near you. You looked behind and saw no one, "I can sense him, but he is not here." You thought, pushing the ominous thoughts away and went to join your group to prepare for your perform.
The show started and your turn came. Of course, you froze most of the time, your stage fright getting into you horribly. Mk and the others played the music like experts while you just stood there frozen in place. None of you were aware of what Tang was going through. Pigsy grabbed the mic and started to sing, his voice was sure like the choir of angels as Sandy described. When Pigsy was done, you hit the gong, still looking stiff.
"Okay. So there is no way we didn't just win this thing." Mk said.
Just then, Tang fell from the sky right into Pigsy's arms, the third ring in his hands, "The ring!" Mk exclaimed with excitement. The others cheered for Tang, but he looked scared, "Guys, Macaque is here. He's after the Rings." He told you all, laughing anxiously. Without wasting time, you all rushed to the train to escape from Macaque before he gets you.
"If Macaque knows about the rings-" Mk started.
"He'll stop at nothing to get his hands on them." You stated with a frown.
And just like that, the three Rings of Samadhi were in your position. You only needed to put your plan in action. However, you still hated the fact that Lady Bone was using Macaque like a puppet... If anything, you had to save him as well.
