Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy

by Derek Alan Siddoway

  Their strategy relied on Asena’s powerful Elemental attacks up front and Scrappy’s natural speed, whether in single or dual battles. Since the timed course, neither of Jackson’s Djinn had picked a fight with one another, but Jackson always felt on edge whenever something went wrong. He could tell both Asena and Scrappy still struggled to control themselves and fought for Jackson’s attention and praise.

  Briggs kept telling Jackson he was worrying too much and Jackson admitted Briggs was probably right. Half of him obsessed over every little detail, the other half actually felt pretty good about his chances in the tournament, in spite of his placement in the rankings.

  The tournament was a round robin structure. The twenty remaining tamers were divided into four groups of five tamers each. Each tamer would fight everyone in their group — two dual matches and two single matches randomly chosen before the battle. The two best tamers in each group, eight total, would make the final roster and compete in the Granite Region during the Bronze League season.

  Jackson couldn’t even dream of that possibility of actually joining the Bronze League right now. First and foremost, he had to focus on the playoffs in front of him, not the one several months away that he may not even be competing in.

  While he didn’t recognize two of the other competitors, when Jackson saw the breakdown of the tamers in each of the groups, he knew he had his work cut out for him:

  Group 1:

  Jackson Hunt

  Akamu Kaleo

  Antony Barranco

  Rando Vallez

  Charles Hickam

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Jackson worked hard in his last week. In spite of Briggs’s uncertainty, he insisted he’d work until Asena and Scrappy each gained a level. After some hemming and hawing, Briggs finally obliged, insisting that they try and accomplish it before Thursday so his Djinn had time to recover.

  Midnight didn’t seem to pull as many punches, although Jackson knew it would have been no competition in a real match. He fought Asena and Scrappy to the brink of defeat every single time. Every so often, it seemed like Asena and Scrappy seemed on the verge of working together, but as things grew tough, they would occasionally still snap at one another. Jackson supposed that hard-fought battles brought with it some level of irritability, but it still didn’t do much to stoke his confidence about the two of them working together. Nonetheless, his goals of leveling up came to fruition.

  Scrappy leveled up first, hitting Level 17.

  GENERAL STATS AND INFO

  Djinn: Magglecaw

  Level: 17

  Name: Scrappy

  Element: Wind

  Species Rarity: Common

  Master: Jackson Hunt

  HP (Hit Points): 10/236

  EP (Elemental Power): 42/88

  XP (Experience): 1,136 to Next Level

  DJP (Djinn Points): 2 Unallocated

  Attack: 75

  Defense: 82

  Speed: 145

  Accessories: None

  Items: None

  Status: Neutral

  Bond: 70%

  Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>

  Jackson was surprised by the base boosts gained by the Djinn. Usually he could only expect a few points added to Attack and Defense, but with a good chunk of his points coming from his fights with Midnight, it made sense there’d be more added to those stats. After a moment’s thought, he allocated the DJP to Defense and Speed — those would be helpful in the tournament. The two core stats rose to 86 and 149, respectively.

  A couple quick battles later, Asena’s level up followed.

  GENERAL STATS AND INFO

  Djinn: Lyote

  Level: 18

  Name: Asena

  Element: Fire/Earth

  Species Rarity: Rare

  Master: Jackson Hunt

  HP (Hit Points): 8/292

  EP (Elemental Power): 75/136

  XP (Experience): 1,382 to Next Level

  DJP (Djinn Points): 2 Unallocated

  Attack: 112

  Defense: 84

  Speed: 89

  Accessories: None

  Items: None

  Status: Neutral

  Bond: 72%

  Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>

  Jackson huffed at what he saw. His mind went back to when he first found Asena. She was a well-rounded Djinn, nearly equal across Attack, Defense, and Speed. He’d decided to capitalize on her slight edge on Attack back in the early days. Camp had made him a bit hasty in terms of leveling out the core stats, it seemed, and this edge in Attack seemed to be diminishing based on how he was allocating his DJP, with Defense and Speed slowly catching up.

  He looked at Asena’s Speed. He needed to start thinking about how his two Djinn worked together. Sure, there were going to be one-on-one fights in the future, but they were all going to be partners now, and he needed to treat them like it. Instead of thinking of how strong they are individually, he needed to make them complement one another. Jackson decided that, at least for now, he could forego Speed in favor of a couple of other stats — Scrappy could handle Speed, Asena could handle Attack.

  Jackson hoped their focus on Speed and Attack would make Defense less necessary and allocated both DJP to Asena’s Attack, bringing it to 120.

  He looked to Briggs, almost if asking for approval on his thought process, but Briggs only gave him a shrug.

  “I ain’t got no crystal ball, kid,” he said. “But I don’t hate what you just did.”

  That was as much of an endorsement as Jackson could expect from Briggs.

  The end of the week came quickly. After a day of rest and another day of easy training and fine tuning, it was soon time to board the monorail on Friday morning. Jackson had dinner with Kay and his grandma Friday evening in the hotel restaurant, and before he knew it, the day of the round robin tournament had arrived.

  Jackson dressed, following all of his pre-battle rituals he’d acquired between sports in school and the brief start of his career in Djinn taming. Before walking out the door, he checked his wardrobe one last time. He’d never had much money for or interest in clothes growing up, but all of the best tamers had a look. Going back to his fights in the Underground, however, he’d cultivated a careful image: black t-shirt, red cap, jeans, and his leather work boots from Sato Breeders.

  Although the hotel was Djinn-friendly, both Asena and Scrappy were in their rings in preparation for check-in at the stadium near the hotel. It left Jackson feeling very alone in the quiet, empty hotel room.

  “You got this,” he told himself after a deep breath. “Make it happen.”

  Continuing his rituals, Jackson ate a hearty breakfast — a bowl of oatmeal and eggs on the side — and washed it down with a couple of glasses of Bovan milk. He was surprised at his appetite but took it as a good sign, as long as he didn’t throw it all up on the field.

  Briggs, Grandma Jane, and Kay were waiting in the lobby when he emerged from the dining area. For Jackson, it felt like a bizarro version of the Vance McAllister tournament. There, he’d been alone with Kay. Briggs wasn’t speaking to him, and Jane still had no idea about her grandson’s budding career as a Djinn tamer. It felt much better to have Jane on his side and Briggs in his corner going into this tournament.

  “Oh, you look so handsome!”

  Before Jackson could dodge, his grandma grabbed him in a hug and then stepped back, beaming. Jackson’s face burned.

  “You ready, kid?” Briggs asked.

  Jackson nodded. Following their intense strategizing and game plan, he felt like he could take on the Gold League Champion at the moment.

  “Let’s do this,” Jackson said.

  They took a long walkway suspended over the city to the stadium just across the street. Once there, Jackson, Kay, and Briggs entered an area with a large sign that read “Granite Region Tamers” above it.

  Jackson was surprised at the number of people already mulling around in the concourse area of the stadium. There we
re only twenty tamers, and most had invited a dozen people or less to the tournament. With the competition being shown on all of the major DBL stations in the area, Jackson had thought only a few dozen locals would show up. He guessed there had to be hundreds already in the stadium, although the first match wasn’t set to begin for another two hours.

  They reached the registration portal and Jackson raised his watch. The camp program opened and sent an ID beam to the receiver sitting behind a desk and sliding glass doors. As soon as Jackson’s transmission reached the desk, a green light sounded and the doors opened.

  “Welcome, Jackson Hunt, Cassius Briggs, and Kendal Watts,” a pleasant voice said.

  The doors shut behind them and a member of camp staff — Jackson had seen her before but couldn’t remember if he’d ever heard or read her name — greeted them with a smile.

  “Follow this tunnel all the way down to the end and take a left — that’s the tamer locker room,” she said. “There are signs all along the way with the directions projected. You can’t miss it!”

  Jackson led the way down the long cement tunnel which opened up into the tamer locker room. Unlike a traditional dressing room for most sporting competitions, the tamer locker room was a wide open area with different mini habitat stations for tamers to release their Djinn in a comfortable environment before the battle. Several tamers were already there, including Miguel and Moto. Jackson waved hello but went off with Briggs and Kay to find his own spot. They might have been barrack-mates for the last month and still on friendly terms, but today was competition day and everyone needed their own space to get ready for the stretch of upcoming matches.

  The trio found an empty habitat module and Jackson released both Asena and Scrappy into their own five by five foot space. Asena’s slate gray chamber turned a bright crimson. The floor and walls instantly warmed and the temperature rose to the point that Jackson would have been sweating within a couple of minutes if he’d been standing inside of it. Asena, on the other hand, was in her element. She lay down and rolled over on her back, tongue lolling.

  Scrappy fluttered to a ledge on the inside of his space and after a quick scan, a series of fans blew a gentle wind across the square area to ruffle his feathers. Both stations featured a water bowl and a place where tamers could feed their Djinn if they desired. Scrappy jumped into his bowl and splashed around, cawing loudly. Since Jackson was one of the earlier bouts, he gave them both a light meal, but that was it. He didn’t want to overfeed them and have them get sick on the field.

  Fifteen tense minutes passed while the rest of the tamers filed in. Jackson forced Briggs to rehearse their tactics with him one last time even though he knew them backward and forward.

  “If there’s one thing you can expect,” Briggs reminded him, “it’s that your tactics will change. It’s one thing if you know your opponent beforehand, and it’s another not to know your opponent until minutes before. You have the core strategies down. Don’t rely too much on the minutiae, got it?”

  Jackson nodded, but it didn’t do much to calm his nerves. If anything, it almost felt as though Briggs had just stated the whole matter was out of his hands, which Jackson didn’t like.

  Afterward, Jackson asked Kay to do one last check-up on Scrappy and Asena just to calm his nerves.

  “They’re both fine, Jack,” she said, rolling her eyes after feeling both of Scrappy’s wings. “Honestly, just chill out!”

  “I am chill!” Jackson said in a loud voice. Why was everybody so on edge? He was the one going out to compete.

  Kay frowned and would have probably argued with him further, but before she could say anything, a member of camp staff entered the locker room and announced that the tamers had forty-five minutes to warm up with their Djinn out on the field.

  Together with Briggs, Kay, and Asena at his side and Scrappy on his shoulder, Jackson walked out of the long tunnel leading to the open-air stadium. Akamu was just ahead of them and did a double take when he saw Jackson behind him. His Flogadra flew just ahead but the Tandile remained in its ring.

  “I guess the coaches have more compassion than I thought,” Akamu said. “They must have to let in a certain quota of tamers from loser towns by some regulation.”

  Jackson ignored him, but Akamu wouldn’t be deterred. “You know that’s the only reason you’re here, right?”

  “Holy crap, will you just shut up for once?” Jackson said.

  Akamu smirked, as if pleased he’d gotten under Jackson’s skin. “Enjoy the fanfare while you can. You’re in my group, and I guarantee I’ll be the one to come out on top.”

  “Just ignore him,” Briggs said in a low voice at Jackson’s shoulder. Jackson did his best to keep his hands unclenched — he would have torn Akamu apart right then and there if it wouldn’t have disqualified him. “You’re gonna get your chance to beat him but it’s not now.”

  Fortunately, they reached the end of the tunnel and Akamu split off to the right, with Jackson going off in the opposite direction, happy to be away from the dude while he warmed up. They selected a quiet spot in the eastern corner of the stadium and Jackson started going through a number of physical and mental drills with both Asena and Scrappy.

  They began by throwing a number of lightweight rings into the air. As soon as Kay or Briggs let one go, Jackson would command either Asena or Scrappy to catch a certain colored one. This let him work with both of them at once and also ensured they were paying close attention to his mental orders. Following that, both Djinn did a series of sprints over a short space, followed by some agility moves. For Asena, that meant running in certain patterns that Jackson commanded. Scrappy did the same thing with aerial moves. By the time they’d finished, there were still ten minutes left but both Djinn were flushed and ready to roll.

  The pause allowed Jackson to look around the stadium for the first time. A gigantic board at each end of the rectangular field showed a huge screen. Right now, it displayed which tamers would be fighting and when. The field was divided into two rings — both of them standard grass turf — so that one match could take place while the other was cleaned from its previous fight. With Djinn shooting water, ice, gusts of wind, pillars of fire and more, the field crew had to be on their A-game to handle a whole range of possible damages.

  The chatter of the crowd, which now occupied about half the stadium, sounded like a dull roar to Jackson. It was like he could feel their tension and energy and it sent his heart racing. This was a stadium. This was more like it — not the scattered friends and family he’d battled in front of at Vance McAllister’s invitational. Briggs seemed to have noticed Jackson’s wide-eyed examination of the field and stadium because he came up and gave Jackson a light cuff on the back of his head.

  “Focus,” Briggs said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re fighting in the biggest arena in the country or in some field with nobody watching — the only things that matter are you, your Djinn, and the Djinn on the other side of the line. Don’t let the bright lights fool you, all right?”

  Jackson scowled as he readjusted his hat that Briggs had knocked crooked a moment before. “I got it, I got it.”

  A horn sounded, indicating it was time for the tamers to return their Djinn to their rings and exit the field. Before putting them in stasis, Jackson gathered Asena and Scrappy to him and then knelt down on the turf to look at them both.

  “I know you guys don’t love each other, but you’ve made it this far together. If the three of us work together, we can go even further. Let’s forget everything that’s happened before, okay? All that matters is today.”

  Scrappy fluttered into the air and cackled. Asena yipped in agreement. Jackson smiled at the pair and gave them each one last hug before storing them in their rings.

  They returned to the locker room area where the day’s officials and the camp coaches waited for them. They gave a refresher of the rules for the tournament as well as a reminder for everyone to be good sports, no matter the outcome of the battles.

&
nbsp; “This is your first real taste of the DBL,” the camp coordinator Mr. Golding said. “Whether you make the roster or not, what you do here today will be noticed — so give it your best shot and remember to be gracious in both victory and defeat. Good luck, everyone.”

  With that, they filed back into the stadium for the opening remarks and the tournament introduction. Jackson was so focused on his upcoming battle that he hardly heard a word. He looked but couldn’t spot Jane — although he knew she was out there somewhere cheering him on. That gave him a calm assurance he wasn’t expecting, but he appreciated it nonetheless, especially after the stress of going behind her back in his first tournament.

  Beginning with the highest-ranked tamer, each was called forward, a short bio was read, and their Djinn were introduced. Jackson felt more and more nervous the closer they got to him, but he managed to step forward and wave when it was his turn.

  “Jackson Hunt,” the announcer blared. “The Tyle representative, teamed up with a Lyote and Magglecaw!”

  The crowd gave a polite applause as they had for each of the other tamers. Someone whistled and Jackson looked at the sidelines in time to see Briggs give Kay a dirty look. She grinned sheepishly and waved to him.

  “And now,” the announcer said in a rolling, epic tone. “Let the Granite Regional Tournament begin!”

  With one final wave to the crowd, the tamers made their way back into the locker room. Since they were in a different group, Jackson hadn’t seen much of Fiona, but she managed to catch his eye on their exit as he yelled over the cheering crowd.

  “Good luck!” Jackson called out.

  Fiona gave him a quick smile and nod before she went off to her own section of the locker room.

  It felt like Jackson had just returned to the locker room when the camp staff member walked up to him, tablet in hand. “Jackson Hunt, you’re up.”