His response lacked Akamu’s gusto or Danai’s easy charm but seemed to satisfy the host enough.
“There are some pundits out there who think you’ve only been able to reach the success you have through your Djinn, Asena, who is a rare Lyote. Starting off your career with a Fire and Earth-Elemental combo Djinn certainly has lent you some advantages, wouldn’t you say? Do you think you deserve a place with the rest of the Fab Four?”
This guy really seemed to have it out for him and Fiona today. The other three looked at him, waiting to see how he’d respond. The nerves and self-doubt from earlier gave way to annoyance.
“Well, I would say that even if Lyotes are some of the stronger Basic-form Djinn, they’re also difficult to train in the early stages. It’s a tradeoff. My best friend Kay knows how tough things were from the start. It took a lot of hard work and countless hours to even get a fraction of the experience I needed to be good enough for my Lyote. But at this point, I think my record shows I’m good enough to hang with the best in the Bronze League.”
“Hah! Spoken like a true underdog — I love it! Fiona, back to you…”
The rest of the interview passed in a blur. That first question had been a tough one, and he couldn’t help but dwell on it, wondering whether or not it was the right thing to say. Whenever he was asked something new, his answer was curt and vanilla. Soon, the host stopped turning to him altogether, but thankfully the interview only ran fifteen minutes. When it was all over, the host shook each of their hands and made the four of them pose with him for a picture. Luckily, he didn’t go as far as to make them sign it. He’d heard some of the press liked to do that to help flatter them into future interviews.
The tamers parted ways as soon as they left the studio room — Danai and Akamu in one direction, Jackson and Fiona in the other — Fiona walking away at a much faster pace than Jackson, as though she had someplace to be.
While Jackson viewed Fiona as perhaps his biggest competitor, he’d grown to appreciate her for her no nonsense approach to all the minor celebrity work they had to put in. Nothing against Danai, who made the endless interviews and studio appearances a lot more fun, but Fiona mostly seemed to let her record speak for itself.
“Hey, Fiona!” Jackson called out. He started to run after her then slowed down, for some reason not wanting to look like an idiot fanboy chasing after a budding Djinn taming star. She turned around and Jackson took his time walking up, with what he felt was the same swagger he used when entering the battling ring.
Fiona frowned. “You okay, Jack? Did you hurt your hip or something?”
Jackson dropped the swag right away. “Uh…no, must’ve been sitting in the studio for too long or something. Anyway, I just wanted to say congrats on the season.”
“Thanks,” Fiona said. As usual, she didn’t seem very patient with the idle chatter. “You too,” she added when the pause got a little too awkward. “You’ve still got one more match tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah, kinda sucks. I’ve already clinched a playoff spot and it’s a two on two, so I won’t get a chance to rest Asena or Scrappy.”
“Name of the game, I guess,” she started to walk away.
Jackson gave a short, forced laugh. “Guess so. I uh… see you at the gala, okay?”
“Yep, you will,” Fiona was already tapping buttons on her holo-watch and hardly paying attention. “Catch you later, Jack.”
Jackson watched her walk away. Fiona had felt especially cold as of late, and for the life of him, Jackson couldn’t pinpoint why. The two of them had always been pretty friendly, and he even spent a good chunk of time working for her parents at Sato Breeders. They shared early matches, were in the same barrack back at the Bronze League Training Camp a few months back, and had even helped support each other when they were at their lowest. Perhaps it was an inevitability, given her competitive nature, but it still bothered him.
Jackson checked his watch and found he had nowhere to be for the next hour. Thinking about Sato Breeders and home reminded him he hadn’t called his grandma in a few days. A few taps on the holo-watch and a couple rings later, the translucent blue holographic image of her head hovered at eye level before him.
“Hey, Jack. It’s good to hear from you!” Jane smiled wide and pushed up the brim on her floppy garden hat to see her grandson better. Jackson saw she also had gloves on and guessed she was either working at the local greenhouse or in her small garden behind their apartment. “I didn’t think we’d talk until you came home this weekend.”
“I had a few minutes and thought I’d call,” Jackson said. “How are things?”
Like usual, Jane changed the topic to him. “You sound tired, honey. Are you getting enough sleep?”
Jackson sighed and rolled his eyes, even though he knew he definitely wasn’t. “Grandma, we go over this every time —”
“Are you eating right? I worry about you being out with that Briggs all the time.”
“I’m fine, I —”
“How are my Djinn doing? You’d better be taking better care of them than you are of yourself!”
“They’re fine!” Jackson managed to get out in an exasperated voiced. He supposed he should have been grateful. Two years ago, the thought of Jane calling any Djinn “hers” or allowing Jackson to own them would have been less likely than Jackson learning to breathe fire.
“That’s good. I’ve got some special treats for them both when they get home.”
Another thing Jackson never expected to deal with: Jane loving his Djinn so much they were in danger of becoming obese before the playoffs.
“Grandma, you know they have a special diet. I can’t just —”
Jane scowled at him. “Don’t you be so hard on those poor creatures, after all they do for you. A little treat now and then doesn’t hurt a thing. Looks like you could use a little more nourishment yourself.”
“I’m fine, I promise,” Jackson said. It was in a resigned voice, though.
“How is Kay, dear? I know it’s still a few months away, but with the season ending, is she finally getting ready to head off to school?
Suddenly, Jackson didn’t feel like talking anymore.
“Yeah, Grandma, she’s great. Hey, I’ve gotta run, okay?”
“Okay, Jack, see you in a couple of days!”
Jackson forced a smile. “See you soon. Love you!”
Jane’s head retracted down the blue beam back into Jackson’s holo-watch. He let out a big sigh and rubbed the rings on his hands.
On to the next one.
Chapter Two
“I think I should take out the Bovan first,” Jackson said. “Last match I saw, he had less Elemental Power than the Glauco, which is the only thing that’s a threat to Asena.”
“Nah, you got it backwards, kid,” Briggs said. “We take out the Glauco first. Like you said, the Bovan’s EP ain’t gonna do a thing against Scrappy, even with the Elemental advantage, and Asena could wipe the floor with it singlehandedly.”
Jackson frowned in concentration and paged back and forth through his Djinncyclopedia pages for Glauco and Bovan. His final opponent of the season, Ron Shakur, employed both. As far as the rankings went, Ron was firmly placed in the middle of the Bronze League, and needed to win this fight in order to make it to the playoffs. Even though Jackson already had his spot secured, he still wanted to end the season on a high note. Nothing against Ron, but that meant not going easy just to help a fellow tamer make it into the playoffs.
Mulling it over, Jackson nodded. He usually deferred to Briggs’s judgment anyway, but since his mentor had started to give Jackson more input and consideration in their strategies, he wanted to make sure he continued to be worthy of the hard-earned respect.
“All right, then. Sounds like a plan to me.”
Briggs clapped Jackson on the back. “It’s been one hell of a season, kid. Let’s end things on a high note and take some of that momentum into the playoffs and championship, eh?”
Jackson swipe
d away the holographic page emanating from his watch and stood. At the same time, Kay entered the room, carrying both of Jackson’s taming rings on a small tray.
“All good to go,” she said with a smile as Jackson placed them back on his fingers. “Hard to believe that after today’s battle this will be the last time I heal them up for a match in the next several years.”
“Wait, you’ll be there to help out before the championships, though, right?”
“Right, right,” Kay smiled. “I meant the last time for the main season, then.”
“Had me worried there for a second,” Jackson said, forcing a chuckle.
Kay, his best friend ever since they’d been little, also served as his rehabber when either of Jackson’s Djinn went down. Any official fight had teams of trained professionals waiting on the sideline in case any of the combatants were seriously injured, but rehabbers served to patch up all the other small injuries that took place during training and practice. Also, whenever possible, Kay helped assist in the healing of Asena and Scrappy. She did, after all, know the pair better than anyone else out there, professional or otherwise.
“You better enjoy it now, buddy,” Kay said. “When I get done with vet school, you won’t be able to afford me!”
“You’d better hope I still remember you by the time you finish school,” Jackson said. They were clearly joking, but he had to force himself to keep up the jovial facade.
“Why, because you’ll just be some small-time Silver Leaguer? Please!”
“Small-time? I’m talking medium-time, at least! Do you forget who you’re talking to?”
“Sorry, was I not talking to the kid who lost all his money as an Underground tamer?”
“Ouch, okay, okay. I give in.” Jackson said, bringing her in for a hug. “Thanks for everything, Kay.” Jackson knew their little banter was an attempt to distract from her inevitable departure, but there was no distracting from how unsettled he was feeling about her leaving. Aside from being his best friend, Kay had been there from the beginning of Jackson’s taming career, and he hated the idea of going into a battle without her in his corner.
“All right, let’s leave him alone to prep for the match,” Briggs said, putting a hand on Kay’s shoulder and guiding her out of the room with him. “Remember, kid, don’t show any mercy just because you’ve got a playoff spot — winning mentality!”
“See you out on the field!” Kay shouted over her shoulder.
The locker room door closed with an empty metallic thud. Jackson looked around the room, feeling the emptiness like a weight. In the past, Jackson always imagined it would be him, Briggs, and Kay — and his Djinn, of course — at every stage in his career. Though Briggs assured Jackson they’d find someone else they could trust to care for the Djinn, it wouldn’t be the same without Kay.
Stop moping around — you’re living your dream and you love it, Jackson told himself. Pushing all the self-pitying thoughts from his head, Jackson clenched his ringed hands together and leaned over the bench he was seated on, his ritual for getting in the zone.
A loud bang made him jump. He looked up, expecting to see Briggs or Kay rushing back in with some last-minute advice, or to let him know there’d been a change in the match. It was neither.
A man with pure-white, slicked back hair cut short on the sides gave him a sheepish grin as he tried to close the door quietly behind him. “Sorry.”
Jackson stared, confused. The man wasn’t dressed in DBL attire — probably some tamer barging in on the locker room before it was his turn. An awkward pause grew following the man’s apology.
“Are you looking for…” Jackson thought for a moment, but couldn’t think of any reason the man would be there. “Who are you looking for?” Jackson asked. If this dude was a tamer, he was breaching some serious etiquette. You didn’t bug people before matches when they were in a locker room alone.
The man fidgeted with his glasses and then pushed them back up the bridge of his nose. Not only was he not wearing any DBL uniform, the guy looked like he’d stepped out of a lab with his checkered shirt, too-short pants and vest. The look was stylish, but for some reason Jackson got the impression he was probably a scientific shut-in rather than someone up with current fashion trends.
“That depends,” the intruder said. He seemed to have composed himself and plastered on a grin as greasy as his hair. “Are you Jackson Hunt?”
“Yeah,” Jackson said. He’d had a few exchanges like this throughout the season. The guy was probably some sponsor of a local ice cream parlor or had a child that wanted an autograph. Jackson usually didn’t mind the interruptions — he certainly wasn’t above giving someone the time of day — but right before a match was still a little annoying. Where was security?
The man beamed. “That’s great! I’ve been looking all over for you the last couple of days. You’ve sure been hard to track down.”
Jackson had no idea what the man was talking about. Usually Briggs passed along any messages of people he needed to get in touch with, and his number was easy to find if you knew where to look.
“Uh, I’ve got a match coming up in like five minutes so if this could wait until after…”
“Oh, sure, sure. Sorry — I didn’t meant to interrupt!”
Jackson stared pointedly at the guy, waiting for him to leave. Outside of the Djinn arena, not many things got him fired up, but this guy was definitely on the path to get on every last one of his nerves.
“If you could go now —”
“Of course!” The man reached into his pocket, fumbling and nearly dropping a small, metal container. He popped it open and pulled out a plastic business card, of all things. It was white, with a gold band above the name. “I’m a Djinn Growth Specialist researcher. It’ll be in your best interest to get in touch with me. If you want to keep competing with that Lyote of yours at a higher level, that is. Good luck with the match!”
Jackson stared dumbfounded at the door, now thankfully swinging shut. He looked down at the card, which read:
Vega de Rivera
Djinn Growth Specialist
EVO Institute
He stuffed the antiquated business card into his back pocket and forced the whole exchange out of his mind. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any stranger.
Looking at the countdown timer on his watch, Jackson saw he had a few more minutes until he had to report to the tunnel for introductions on the field. He could hear the faint sounds of a battle underway outside in the arena, the buzzing, booming, and whooshing of Elemental energy released between Djinn.
Jackson clenched both hands and held them out away from his body. In a flash of vermillion and violet, his two Djinn appeared on the locker room floor in front of him.
Asena barked happily and ran to greet him. She knew better than to jump up on him unless it was a really special occasion, but the Lyote still wove in and around his legs, her entire orange and cream colored body wagging with her poofy tail. She hated being kept within stasis in her Djinn Ring. Jackson guessed it was a side effect of the years she’d spent in there between the time his mother captured Asena and the time Jackson found her in a hidden vault in their old house.
“It’s good to see you too, girl,” Jackson said, running a hand through her soft, thick fur. As he did so, he could feel the heat trapped by the glossy coat. It was hot enough near Asena’s skin that he couldn’t hold his hand there for long, as if there was a burning flame beneath the surface.
The Lyote licked his hand and Jackson smiled. Before he could give Asena any more attention, a disgruntled caw made him look up. Scrappy, his Scoundrook, hovered in the air, impatient for his turn. Jackson held out an arm and the Djinn landed, his mottled array of black, purple, gray, and white feathers shimmering in the locker room light.
“Whoa,” Jackson said, feigning like he was going to drop the arm Scrappy roosted on. “You better stop eating so much or I’m not gonna be able to hold you up!”
The Scoundrook chatter
ed and gave a friendly nip at Jackson’s ear. Jackson had tamed Scrappy as a Magglecaw just prior to the Bronze League Training Camp a few months back, and since the feathered Djinn’s evolution during Jackson’s final battle with Akamu, Scrappy had grown up to be an excellent complement to Asena. Jackson’s strategy with the two involved Scrappy hanging outside of the fight at the beginning, hitting their opponents with taunts and other distracting debuffs while Asena dealt out some serious literal firepower. Seeing them in action together now, it was hard to remember how much they hated each other when they’d first been paired together. Jackson pulled up their stat sheets on his holo-watch, giving the obligatory once-over on every number, as he did before every fight.
GENERAL STATS AND INFO
Djinn: Lyote
Level: 23
Name: Asena
Element: Fire/Earth
Species Rarity: Rare
Tamer: Jackson Hunt
HP (Hit Points): 344/344
EP (Elemental Power): 162/162
XP (Experience): 1215 to Next Level
DJP (Djinn Points): 0 Unallocated
Attack: 143
Defense: 105
Speed: 142
Accessories: None
Items: None
Status: Neutral
Bond: 85%
Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>
GENERAL STATS AND INFO
Djinn: Scoundrook
Level: 22
Name: Scrappy
Element: Wind
Species Rarity: Fairly Common
Tamer: Jackson Hunt
HP (Hit Points): 295/295
EP (Elemental Power): 110/110
XP (Experience): 1432 to Next Level
DJP (Djinn Points): 0 Unallocated
Attack: 109
Defense: 120
Speed: 195
Accessories: None
Items: None
Status: Neutral
Bond: 82%
Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 54