Like a tiny flame flaring to life, Jackson sensed Asena’s presence. It startled him — he’d never really tried to reach her while she was in stasis before. The connection flickered and pulsed until Asena recognized him. All at once, a wave of happiness enveloped him and he returned it just like he would a show of physical affection.
“Can you feel your Djinn?” Mr. Sakosha asked. “Can you understand them? It is not enough to be able to communicate in the midst of a battle. You must be able to understand and use this relationship at all times. Continue to focus. Continue to explore. I will speak again when it is time for us to move on.”
Excited at the prospect of this newfound connection, Jackson did as Mr. Sakosha instructed. In battle, Asena understood specific commands such as where and when to execute an attack, a dodge, or a defense. But now, Jackson struggled to convey the equivalent of what was small talk. Asena seemed raring to go as always and her excitement made it hard for Jackson to discern the wellbeing of his Djinn. Asena didn’t seem to want to answer if she was happy or jealous or stressed. She wanted Jackson to give her something to do: run, fight, eat, play, anything. In turn, Jackson only grew more frustrated as he delved deeper, which showed in Asena’s reactions as well.
No, no, no! Jackson let out a mental groan and a wave of irritation. Asena responded by pulling back within herself and Jackson felt an immediate guilt. He reached out tentatively and tried to convey a sense of apology and love. He could almost see Asena respond in his mind with a tail wag.
“Now, open your eyes.”
At Mr Sakosha’s prompting, Jackson blinked and looked around the meditation studio. A bright vermilion glow faded from Asena’s ring, so bright it looked like Jackson was sitting in front of a campfire. Jackson glanced around at the other tamers and noticed similar but much smaller lights fading from their Djinn rings. He couldn’t help but notice Akamu in the corner, scowling. His ring had only the slightest crimson tinge.
Mr. Sakosha’s eyes met Jackson’s. “Well done, Master Hunt. It seems you have a rare gift for the telepathic ability.”
Jackson muttered thanks and tried to avoid everyone else’s eyes, which were all focused on him. Fortunately, Mr. Sakosha gave them their next assignment right away.
“Now, you will do the same with your secondary Djinn. For those of you who had bonded with this Djinn over a shorter amount of time than the first, this task may be harder. Continue to focus and strive for the connection.”
After a few deep breaths, Jackson reached out to the Djinn ring on his right hand and searched for Scrappy. As Mr Sakosha had promised, the blip Jackson finally felt was much smaller and harder to grasp. Just like in the physical world, Scrappy flitted around; always moving, always making noise. Never still. Never listening.
It took Jackson several long moments to make Scrappy aware of his presence. At the first touch of their connection, the Magglecaw went into a frenzy, and Jackson felt his connection bouncing around like a ping-pong ball inside of his head. After several insistent pushes, Jackson was finally able to convey who he was. When Scrappy recognized him, Jackson felt a burst of happiness and laughter so strong that he almost chuckled out loud. Scrappy seemed overjoyed.
Hoping to learn about the Magglecaw, Jackson tried to convey a desire to understand. A few tries and different tactics later, the Magglecaw seemed to figure out what he meant. He flashed a series of images into their shared connection: a young Magglecaw beaten and attacked by its egg-mates, forced to live on the edge of the group — always hungry, always unwanted by its own kind. He felt the sum of Scrappy’s few short, hard years explode together in the attack on the Tandile — all that bottled up frustration and anger and hurt.
For a moment, the amount of raw memories stunned Jackson, and he almost lost the connection. He wasn’t sure if it was his practice with Asena, but it seemed he’d found a way past the initial meaning barrier that prevented him from doing anything more than issuing commands and general direction in and out of battle. Excited, Jackson tried to conjure a memory of Scrappy and Asena fighting one another the first night of camp. The Magglecaw recognized the moment but didn’t seem to understand what Jackson was trying to tell him about it. Once more, Scrappy’s rage boiled up at the sight of the Tandile, mixed with a cold indifference to Asena.
“And return once more.”
Mr. Sakosha’s words startled Jackson and he hastily bid farewell to Scrappy before slipping out of the connection. Unlike when the Djinn were physically before him in the real world and their presence always in the back of his mind, a connection in the ring required specific attention and focus. Jackson cracked open his eyes again and saw his ring fading like the others. Most of the Barrack 4 tamers stared at him.
“Well done again,” Mr. Sakosha said. “It a rare ability to be able to connect with Djinn at such strength this early in your career, especially while they reside in stasis.”
“Uh…thanks,” Jackson didn’t really know what to say and found himself uncomfortable under the attention of his barrack-mates. He focused on the wood floor until everyone looked away and Mr. Sakosha resumed the lesson. He felt a vibration in his holo-watch that indicated an increase in Bond with Scrappy up to 55%. This wasn’t a huge surprise given how quickly Jackson’s Bond with Scrappy had been increasing since camp, but who knew that meditation could even have an effect on Bond?
For the remainder of the class, Mr. Sakosha gave them a number of practice meditations designed to strengthen the bonds with their Djinn while they were in stasis within their rings or in the outside world but not in battle.
“Wait,” Tak said near the end of the lesson. “Aren’t you actually going to give us any coaching on actually commanding our Djinn in battle?”
Mr. Sakosha gave Tak a broad, close-lipped smile that stretched across his face. “Ah, Master Rito, I am glad that you asked. I can assure you that if you practice the meditations and exercises I have given you this day, the telepathy you experience with your Djinn will be increased in all settings.”
Tak — and several other people for that matter — didn’t seem convinced. The way Mr. Sakosha put it, however, didn’t leave room for argument or debate. Jackson glanced at Akamu in the corner, who still wore a deep scowl across his face. Had he struggled or been unable to establish a connection with his Djinn while they were in stasis? It might have been petty, but Jackson hoped so.
The class ended shortly after, just in time for the tamers to grab lunch and prepare for the afternoon exercises. The drills of the day involved both tamers and their Djinn and, for some reason, the coaches seemed to be in especially foul moods. Not only did Coach Vanova yell at Jackson when he tripped over Asena as he chased Scrappy, but Briggs got in on the vocal berating as well. At the end of the agility drills, everyone ended up running gassers — sixty-yard sprints back and forth — until the coaches dismissed them with disdain.
“If you all think you can just waltz through camp and earn a spot on the Granite Region roster, you’re up in the night,” Vanova said in their end of practice huddle. “The other regions will eat you up if you wannabe tamers don’t pull your heads out of your rear ends. Now go get some rest and try to bring a little more effort in the morning.”
They gathered together in a rough huddle and stuck their hands out in a half hearted attempt at team unity.
“Number Fours!” everyone but Akamu chanted. They broke the circle in tired unison and dragged themselves back to the barrack. Jackson could use the rest, but he knew he still had more to do when he got back.
Chapter Nineteen
After a quick physical therapy session for Asena and Scrappy, Jackson enjoyed a long shower and hearty meal. Given the day they had, he wanted nothing more than to plop down on his bed and pass out for the next week, but if he felt like making it to the next week, he knew he’d have to take advantage of every waking hour he had.
He settled down in the common area and set to work studying more battle tactics. Following the first week, all the tame
rs in Barrack 4 began to notice issues with wi-fi and holo connectivity in their rooms, meaning if anyone needed to get online for anything, they had to leave the barrack or use the common area. Mysteriously, connection seemed to be restored after ten at night and then it went out again around six in the morning.
Jackson guessed it was done on purpose, and he wasn’t the only one. All the other tamers seemed to agree, and not just the ones on his team. The only thing that made sense was that camp staff were forcing the tamers to socialize in the living area of the barrack. Jackson didn’t mind too much except that it made his private calls with Jane and Kay even later — he really didn’t want either of them to have a chance encounter with Akamu.
Jackson scrolled through various entries in his Djinncyclopedia. He specifically wondered if there was any way to teach Scrappy some more advanced attacks by the end of camp — as Briggs had warned, the Magglecaw’s move set wasn’t overly impressive. Neither were his Attack, Defense, HP, or EP (Jackson really knew how to pick ’em). Instead, Scrappy had to rely on Speed to execute numerous, low damage moves and avoid taking hits of his own. Jackson’s research hadn’t found anything to the contrary. All of the Magglecaw’s move set remained limited, at least until it evolved into its Intermediate-Form: the Scoundrook. At the rate they were going, Jackson doubted that would happen before the end of camp as it required the Magglecaw to be Level 17 before evolution was even a possibility — and even then, evolving required extreme duress.
Movement out of the corner of Jackson’s eye caused him to look away from his screen. Hayden, Miguel, Lucia, and Appleby approached in a group. Appleby led the way, looking somewhat nervous. Jackson had no doubt they were coming to talk to him and hoped it wasn’t a tactic of Appleby’s to get him to help him out with telepathy.
“What’s up, guys?” Jackson asked as they all sat down across from him. “I take it you all want something?”
The tamers’s arrival woke Asena from her nap and she gave the intruders on her sleep time a long, baleful look. Since the first evening, tamers were allowed to have one of their Djinn out with them in the commons and across the grounds, providing it fit into the space they were in — somebody had tried to bring a Buffaroam into the lunch area and almost destroyed a doorway in the process — and that they didn’t engage in any battles outside of drills.
“I wanted to ask you about helping me out again,” Appleby said. Noticing Jackson’s expression, he held up his hands and spoke faster. “No, no, just hear me out. We all saw how well you handled the meditation exercises today, and none of us are that great at mental commands. You don’t have to take any time to teach us, we just wanted to know if you could give us a few tips in the next couple of minutes. Then we’ll leave you alone. Promise.”
Jackson glanced across the room where Fiona sat next to Rebel, studying something on her holo-watch while the Megala preened it’s long, delicate, bejeweled feathers. She’d overheard the conversation and shook her head at Jackson. Jackson realized she was discouraging him from giving up any secrets that might help him beat the very tamers before him later on at camp.
The four tamers watched him, waiting for an answer. Jackson sighed. If it had been anyone but Appleby, he’d probably have told them no. But as soon as he worked up the words, he remembered Appleby’s brothers and sisters he’d met at the Vance McAllister Invitational. Appleby had told him then that’d he’d become a tamer partially to help support his family. The same reason Jackson sort of had, but no matter how cute of an old grandma Jane might be, it didn’t put Jackson’s motives anywhere near that of a big brother trying to feed his younger siblings. Jackson relented.
“All right, I’ve got like a half hour before bed — what do you guys want to know?”
The questions started pouring in at once.
“How do you even reach out to your Djinn when it’s in the ring?”
“How do you manage to communicate with two Djinn at once?”
“When I’m trying to mentally communicate, my Djinn —”
Jackson held up his hand to fend off the bombardment. “Whoa, whoa. Chill out, everybody. Like I said…I can’t really explain it. I’m not just being modest or cagey about it. I seriously don’t understand a lot of it. I just try to mentally picture my Djinn in my head and sort of form an image.”
“You do that in the middle of battle?” Hayden asked. “How do you focus on fighting and thinking about this mental image of your Djinn?”
“Battle is different,” Jackson said. “It’s like you’ve got to actually command them, not just think of the attacks you want performed.”
Everyone looked at him skeptically.
“No, serious,” Jackson said, growing frustrated. “It’s like the difference between whispering and shouting a command out loud. Your Djinn isn’t going to hear you if you aren’t being clear and simple — that’s important too. When you’re just working on the Bond, you’ve got to keep things as easy to understand as possible.”
Akamu, who’d been in the opposite corner flipping trail mix into his mouth and lounging on a chair, scoffed. “Whoa, that’s some deep stuff right there. You should start your own holo-cast.”
Asena’s head raised and a deep growl reverberated across the commons. Jackson laid a hand on her head to calm her, but before he could say anything to Akamu, Fiona crossed the room.
“Lay off,” Fiona said. “You’re just mad because you can’t figure it out. Jackson’s been able to mentally bond with his Djinn since practically the beginning — several months at this point.”
“Wait, months?” Akamu said, the shock on his face all too obvious before his self-consciousness took over and he reverted to his normal laid-back state.
“His mom was a Djinnologist who was famous for her studies into Djinn connectivity with humans,” Fiona said. “Maybe part of it is inherited?”
Jackson flushed. He didn’t like to talk about his mom with strangers. One, because even though Jessica Hunt had been somewhat famous in her field, the majority of the public didn’t recognize the name. And two, it made him angry when people who’d never known her and didn’t really know him wanted Jackson to rehash his mom’s work as if it was the only thing she’d ever done. He didn’t like that her legacy boiled down to a bunch of tests between Djinn and humans.
“I doubt that’s the case,” Akamu said, his dour expression jerking into a lop-sided smile. “If he inherited any of that, he wouldn’t have trouble controlling a common Magglecaw.”
“No one really cares what you think. We weren’t even talking to you,” Appleby said. “So how about you just shut up?”
Akamu stood and crossed the room, stopping just inches from Appleby’s face. “Listen, you fat slob, I really don’t care what you, or any of you think. You’re just a blip on my radar until camp is over and the regular season starts. And that’s the only thing keeping me from kicking your ass right now.”
“If we’re just a bunch of blips, why do you even bother picking a fight with us constantly?” Appleby said.
“Oh, fight! Fight! Fight!” Tak Rito called from across the room, his fist pumped in the air. “Kick his ass, Appleby! Honestly, if I were still a betting man, I probably wouldn’t bet on you, but you can at least try!”
Appleby didn’t back down. Hayden, Miguel, and Lucia came to stand by his side, arms folded. Akamu looked around at them and then rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
No one moved until Akamu gathered his things and disappeared up the stairs to the dormitories.
“Man, that guy is a piece of work,” Lucia said. “I would give almost anything to see him kicked out.”
“He’s too smart for that,” Moto said. She hadn’t joined them but had watched the fight from the other side of the couches. “The Kaleos are infamous for bending the rules just enough not to break them. And even if Akamu did get into a fight, his dad has enough pull in the DBL that he’d only get a slap on the wrist anyway.”
“It’s not worth it,” Hayden said, layin
g a hand on Appleby’s shoulders. “You’ll be the one who gets punished, not him.”
“I dunno,” Tak said. “Accidents can happen…”
The conversation had gone far enough for Jackson’s liking. “No,” he told them. “I don’t need any of you fighting my battles for me.”
“Who said anything about fighting battles for you?” Tak said. “Dude’s just an A-hole.”
“Moto is right,” Jackson said. “It’s just better to leave Akamu alone and get through camp. I’ve seen enough of him and his dad to know they’re trouble. And I’m sorry I can’t help you guys more.”
“Hey man, it’s all good,” Miguel said. “I mean, I think what you said kinda helps. Guess I won’t know ’til I try it.”
The others muttered their thanks and headed off to bed, leaving Jackson and Appleby together, with Fiona and Moto studying in opposite corners.
“Really, thanks, dude,” Jackson told his friend again. “Just be careful.”
“Yeah,” Appleby said. He sounded discouraged. “I doubt Akamu is worried about me — he’s right, I probably won’t make it long enough to be a threat.”
“You’re a great tamer, Appleby.” Jackson looked Appleby in the eye. “Don’t let him tell you otherwise.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I just don’t know if I have what it takes to go pro,” Appleby said. “I mean, if just training camp is this brutal, what’s the regular season going to be like? I’m really worried more than anything that the Djinn I’ve been able to tame aren’t enough. It’s very clear people like Akamu, Fiona, and Moto have a certain caliber of Djinn I could only dream of. I mean, this really could be the end of the line for us.”
Appleby said goodnight, leaving his thoughts to linger in Jackson’s mind. Jackson returned to his room soon after, but couldn’t stop thinking about what Appleby had said. Jackson was quickly learning the world of professional Djinn taming wasn’t all of the glamor and glory the league made it out to be. Would it really be like this for the rest of his career, no matter how far he went? Would there always be someone breathing down his neck, some new challenge to rise to the occasion? Did he really have the stomach to put up with that for the rest of his career?
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 40