Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Aaaaannnnnddd now, in our first match of the day: Jackson Hunt versus Rando Vallez in a one-on-one match!”
Upon hearing his name, Jackson jogged out the tunnel, mouth dry, legs like rubber. He gave a half-hearted wave to the crowd but then focused solely on Rando when he reached his tamer’s box. Briggs and Kay stood a few yards back in the support sideline box area.
“Stick to the plan and you’ll do fine!” Briggs shouted through cupped hands.
The crowd had been one thing during warmups and the opening ceremony, but it was an entirely different creature now that its sole attention focused on Jackson and Rando. At some point, the hundreds of fans seemed to have grown to thousands. The very air shook with their cheers. Jackson felt a surge of adrenaline and stood a little straighter. It was just like he’d imagined it over and over as a kid.
The official beckoned them to the center of the arena and Jackson’s whole body thrummed in anticipation
“Tamers, this is a one versus one match,” the ref said. “You will each select one Djinn and use that Djinn alone for the entirety of the match. No items are allowed. No armor allowed. No modifications of any kind allowed. The first Djinn whose HP reaches zero loses. Any questions?”
Neither Jackson nor Rando said anything.
“Then shake hands!” Jackson and Rando gripped for a moment, gave curt nods, and then resumed their places in the opposing tamer’s boxes. The fingers on Jackson’s right hand twitched, waiting for the countdown to begin.
The plan against Rando was for Jackson to go with Asena. Not only was she his stronger, higher-level Djinn, but Rando’s two Djinn were a Earth-Elemental and Wind-Elemental — weak and neutral Elements against Asena’s Fire-Elemental moves, and neutral and weak against Asena’s limited Earth-Elemental move set. He didn’t know which Djinn Rando would use, but if Jackson brought out Scrappy, there would be a fifty-fifty chance Rando’s selection would have the Elemental advantage. The choice was clear. He had to use Asena.
“It’s not a game of survival,” Briggs had told him over the course of tournament prep. “You aren’t trying to win one match, you’re playing for the long-term. You’ve got to know how and when to use which Djinn. The tamers that play it the smartest will be the ones who come out on top.”
Beep. Beep. Beeep!
The clock sounded and both tamers punched their fists forward. Asena appeared in a burst of vermillion light and across from her, a dark brown light materialized into the form of Rando’s Earth-Elemental, a Badgerage.
Jackson pulled up a quick scan even as he sent Asena a mental command to circle but not make contact with her opponent. It looked like in the context of an official battle, the charts changed to give a bit more info than he was used to.
GENERAL OPPONENT STATS
Djinn: Badgerage
Level: 19
Element: Earth
Species Rarity: Common
HP (Hit Points): 306/306
EP (Elemental Power): 82/82
Attack: 115
Defense: 90
Speed: 65
Status: Neutral
This was a much more useful chart to use. Here he could see, for better or worse, whether or not his Djinn actually stood a chance. On a separate screen, he noticed a nice, prominent health bar he could keep track of that was much more visual. Similarly, on the holo-screens around the stadium, he noticed the Badgerage’s and Asena’s HP were also present for everyone to see. So this is what it was like in the big leagues. Jackson couldn’t help but smile. He brought up Asena’s own chart to compare, which had its irrelevant categories filtered in the context of the battle.
GENERAL STATS AND INFO
Djinn: Lyote
Level: 18
Name: Asena
Element: Fire/Earth
Species Rarity: Rare
HP (Hit Points): 292/292
EP (Elemental Power): 136/136
Attack: 120
Defense: 84
Speed: 89
Accessories: None
Items: None
Status: Neutral
Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>
A growl from Rando’s Badgerage brought Jackson back to reality. It bared its teeth and dug into the turf with claws as long and thick as Jackson’s fingers. Asena prowled around her opponent, warily waiting for Jackson’s next order. After a few moments of feeling one another out, it appeared Rando was going to play the defensive — which made sense. His Badgerage was slow but could take a walloping and only had to land a few hits. On the other hand, Asena’s Speed compensated for her average Defense. And then, there was, of course, the Elemental advantage Asena had.
Fire Bark!
Asena tilted her head back in a howl as a ball of flame formed and grew between her teeth. A moment later she dipped her head and sent it shooting toward the Badgerage just as its tail disappeared into the turf. The ball of flame shot past the opposing Djinn and dissipated harmlessly against the protective forcefield raised for crowd safety when the match had begun.
But Jackson had fought plenty of Earth-Elementals to know what was coming next. He sent Asena into a sprint around the perimeter of the match ring and then in a figure eight pattern so Rando couldn’t get a read on where to have his Badgerage pop up with its burrowing move. The Badgerage burst out of the ground just behind Asena after a few seconds underground — a miss.
Asena didn't hesitate. As soon as the enemy Djinn appeared, she let out an ear-piercing Fierce Cry that froze the Badgerage in place just long enough for her to let loose another Fire Bark that struck the Djinn in the face.
Jackson glanced up at the screen and saw the Badgerage’s health bar dip by a third — the Djinn may have had a strong Defense, but between the Elemental disadvantage Fire had over Earth and Jackson’s strategy early on of allocating his Djinn Points to Asena’s Attack, it was all but expected.
Asena prepared another blast as the Badgerage rushed her head-on and barely got it off before the creature struck her in the chest and bowled them over backwards.
Disengage! Disengage, girl!
The Lyote and Badgerage were a twisting blur of brown and orange fur. In single combat like this, even though the Badgerage was smaller, it packed a punch, and given that its physical attacks were of the Plain-Elemental variety, there was no Elemental advantage to protect Asena. Asena’s health bar dropped by a quarter with no sign of stopping until she at last pulled away. Jackson grimaced when he saw her limping on one of her hind legs, but the Badgerage hadn’t come out unscathed either and had only about a fifth of its own HP left.
Fierce Cry!
Asena let out another howl and the Badgerage slowed again, impacted by the intimidation effects of Asena’s move. Jackson followed the move up with another Fire Bark, but the Badgerage showed a surprising burst of evasiveness and managed to roll its compact body out the way to avoid all but a glancing blow from the fireball.
It countered at once by jabbing its claws into the ground. The action sent a tremor followed by two furrows of earth shooting toward Asena. She tried her own evasion but got caught between the two tracks and flipped into the air, landing hard. The Badgerage scuttled after her and was upon the Lyote before she could recover.
This had been more challenging than he’d expected. Given the Elemental disadvantage, Rando had purposely taken to using mostly Plain-Elemental physical attacks. Sure, Asena still had more than half her HP left, but if he wasn’t careful, the Badgerage’s superior Attack could take down Asena if a solid hit landed. The pair snarled and bit and rolled about, with Asena taking the worst of it.
Wild Bite, Wild Bite! Jackson commanded anxiously. The smaller Djinn made it hard for Asena to latch onto him with her teeth. The Badgerage went down hard on her injured leg, but at the same time, Asena managed to get a firm hold of the Badgerage around its torso.
The enemy Djinn snarled and swiped with its claws, but Asena shook for all she was worth, letting loose a
Fire Bark in the process, which took down the rest of the Badgerage’s HP. Asena threw the Badgerage across the ring. It landed in a heap and did not rise.
“And Jackson Hunt is the winner!”
A loud applause sprang from all sides as Jackson walked forward to shake Rando’s hand. They told each other good luck for the rest of the tournament and were whisked off to heal their Djinn before their next match.
“That was a little too close for comfort,” Briggs said. “With Asena’s Elemental advantage, that should have been an easy one. You were too slow with your commands.”
“I was feeling out the other Djinn.”
“You were too afraid to charge forward, is what it was. That gave your opponent the opportunity to strategize a way around their disadvantage. Luckily, this isn’t an Iron Djinn tournament where you aren’t allowed to heal between matches or we’d be in trouble. Asena took a pretty good leg injury.”
Jackson wanted to argue with Briggs but knew it was pointless. He knew the old man was right. Given Asena’s advantage, he shouldn’t have spent all that time having Asena circle her opponent.
“Asena will be fine,” Kay said, looking up from examining the Djinn.
After Asena had already been placed in a healing tank and cleared by camp trainers, Jackson still had Kay look her over. No matter what degrees the camp staff had on their walls, Kay knew Asena better than anyone after months of looking after the Lyote. There was no one Jackson trusted more with his Djinn. Even if she didn’t have her degree yet, Kay just had a way with Djinn.
Jackson spent twenty minutes formulating a strategy with Briggs and then another twenty warming up Asena and Scrappy.
By the time the bell sounded announcing he was two fights away, Jackson felt confident. Asena and Scrappy both looked crisp and seemed focused on his commands, not one-upping each other. Charles had a formidable team of a Wind-Elemental Siercle and a Plain-Elemental Buffaroam (meaning that neither Jackson nor Charles had an Elemental advantage). Sure, Asena could use Earth-Elemental attacks, but it’d be hard for her to hit the flying Siercle, so it almost made that advantage null and void. But Jackson still liked his odds. When all went well, Asena and Scrappy made an awesome complementary pair.
Jackson pulled up Charles’s Djinn’s stats as soon as the battle began.
GENERAL OPPONENT STATS
Djinn: Siercle
Level: 20
Element: Wind
Species Rarity: Somewhat Rare
HP (Hit Points): 285/285
EP (Elemental Power): 126/126
Attack: 95
Defense: 85
Speed: 125
Status: Neutral
GENERAL OPPONENT STATS
Djinn: Buffaroam
Level: 19
Element: Plain
Species Rarity: Somewhat Common
HP (Hit Points): 360/360
EP (Elemental Power): 65/65
Attack: 125
Defense: 105
Speed: 60
Status: Neutral
Jackson took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy. In terms of both core stats and Element, these two Djinn complemented each other very well, It actually wasn’t too different from how Asena and Scrappy were coordinated. The bad part was that these two were slightly higher levels and therefore trounced his Djinn in the core stats department. Jackson wouldn’t be able to make very many mistakes without paying the price.
Right out of the gate, Jackson knew things weren’t going to go well. Although Asena and Scrappy had both warmed up in the big stadium, and Asena had fought in it only an hour previous, the two Djinn seemed completely undone by the massive crowds. Jackson wasn’t sure if it was his reduced mental focus, which had to be split between two Djinn, but something definitely wasn’t right.
Charles came out swinging and sent both of his Djinn after Asena, making it clear his strategy was to knock her out first thing. While Jackson kept Asena evading, he tried to have Scrappy hit with a Mocking Wind counterattack on the enemy pair. The ruffled Scrappy missed wide and ended up clipping Asena with the attack.
It took all of Jackson’s will to keep Asena from charging across the arena circle at Scrappy. Charles saw the division between Jackson’s Djinn and hit Asena hard with a combination of attacks from the Siercle and Buffaroam. The crowd let out a gasp as Asena’s health dropped down just under a third.
As if blaming the whole situation on her partner, Asena launched herself at Scrappy, who narrowly avoided her snapping jaws.
“Looks like Hunt’s got some issues with his Djinn — they’re at each other’s throats!” the announcer blared. “Hickam is quick to take advantage!”
Stop it, Asena, he called out to her. Now is not the time for this. Asena begrudgingly listened and focused her attention back on the opponents.
Hoping to keep his two Djinn away from one another, Jackson tried to order Asena and Scrappy to split duties on Charles’s Djinn — Asena against the Buffaroam and Scrappy against the Siercle. The move proved to be ineffective, as Charles was adamant on keeping the focus on taking Asena out. Immediately, Jackson put Asena on the defense, using her Wild Sprint to keep out of reach of the other two.
Every so often, Jackson had Scrappy come in with an attack, but so focused was he on keeping Asena in the match, he had a hard time even thinking about Scrappy. After a couple minutes of failed attacks on Asena, the two Djinn turned their attention to the Magglecaw.
Even while fending off Asena’s Fire Barks, they still managed to knock the Magglecaw out in a matter of minutes. Without Scrappy to help distract them, it didn’t take long for the pair to surround and defeat Asena as well.
“Ouch!” The announcer said as Jackson recalled his Djinn and begrudgingly shook hands with Charles. “Hunt came out of the gates swinging in this tournament, but I rather think he’d like to have this match back.”
Every clap of the crowd smarted like a slap on bare skin as Jackson stalked off the field, barely keeping his temper in check. Kay and Briggs fell in behind him. When they reached the locker room door, Jackson let out a frustrated yell and punched the door. Several tamers and stadium staff looked up. Briggs grabbed Jackson by the shoulder and steering him to an empty bench in the corner.
“Get a grip, kid, this ain’t over yet,” he said, gruffer than usual. “Like I told you after your first match, this is a marathon. We can come back from a single loss, but you’ve gotta keep it together.”
He pointed to Akamu, who was sitting over in the corner watching and grinning. “See that dirtbag? You’re playing right into his hands. Chill out for a minute and then let’s talk about getting those two back in shape.”
Despite his boiling anger, Jackson felt much calmer after a few minutes. He forced himself not to replay the match with Charles over and over. What had gone wrong with his Djinn? Things had been just fine during warmups.
He took Asena and Scrappy to the healing tank and again had Kay assure him everything with the Djinn was fine. Then Briggs sat down next to him, tablet in hand, and they dissected the match. Jackson explained how his Djinn seemed completely flustered in the center of the spotlight. Briggs nodded and waited for Jackson to finish before giving his feedback.
“Okay…okay, we can fix this. Probably just some first-time jitters — especially with Scrappy. And I’ve told you before, it’s different for a Djinn to have its mental link split with a tamer. Your Djinn might have been used to it, but throw in the live speed of an actual battle with the crowds and that’s what happened. I should’ve thought of that. Here’s what we’re gonna do next time you’ve got a dual battle…”
Briggs outlined a defensive strategy allowing Jackson to keep his Djinn on tight control. The idea was to wear down opponents with small hits here and there, rather than wading into the thick of things as was usually the plan when fighting one-on-one with Asena. Jackson felt better by the time they’d finished and was in awe at the flash of greatness Briggs exuded in working out a new plan. In a
nother rare moment, Jackson saw the shadow of the tamer that’d once been the best of the best. No matter the quirks and saltiness, he was glad he had Cassius Briggs in his corner.
Even so, Jackson couldn’t help but let his nerves get to him when his next matchup was announced: Jackson Hunt vs. Antony Barranco.
Chapter Thirty
“Appleby’s the best strategist in your group and one of the best in this current generation of campers,” Briggs said. “I had a few chats with his uncle while we were at camp. The kid makes up for his average Djinn with some serious book smarts.”
“We knew that coming in,” Jackson said. It felt weird talking about his friend like some kind of stat sheet, but that’s what they’d boiled down the competition to. “He’s smart, but he’s hesitant. I just need to go in swinging and not give him too much time to think.”
The battle was one-on-one. So far, Appleby had won his first match, a two-on-two against Rando. He’d relied heavily on his Moldune and kept his Water-Elemental Djinn — a Glauco, an odd mix of a turtle and a squid-like creature with no shell — Djinn in reserve. Though, given the fact that Rando’s Wind-Elemental Djinn had an advantage against any Water-Elemental, and that his Earth and Wind-Elementals were weak and neutral against the Moldune, respectively, it made sense.
What bothered Jackson most was that Appleby had gone up against Rando with one Elemental disadvantage and come out on top. Jackson had an Elemental advantage in the form of Asena, and he still only managed to just scrape by. This wasn’t going to be easy. Appleby was a much stronger tamer than he was when they’d faced off back at the invitational.
So how could Jackson take him on?
The trick was figuring out which Djinn Appleby would go with. His Glauco was a pretty common Djinn and wasn’t nearly as strong or high of level as the Moldune, Wacky. On the other hand, the Elemental advantage the Glauco had over Fire would give him an even playing field against Asena, assuming Appleby thought Jackson would go with his Fire-Elemental Lyote.
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 49