Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy

by Derek Alan Siddoway

  Jackson could understand Fiona’s concern. Her luck in Training Camp wasn’t the kind of thing that gave you a lot of confidence going into a season of the DBL, but since then, it hadn’t seemed like Fiona had let her foot off the pedal at all. Jackson knew the Training Camp performance had been a fluke, even if she didn’t. If it had happened to him, though, he would have had just as hard of a time not letting it get to his head.

  “Fiona, you’re a great tamer and you’re going to do fine in the playoffs,” Jackson said.

  “There’s got to be something you can do, right?” she said.

  Guess we’re talking about me again.

  Jackson thought of Vega. He felt pretty confident that the researcher’s offer still stood, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this guy wasn’t on the level. Plus, he wasn’t sure about haggling with the guy on the terms of the trip. Vega was the researcher, not him. He said as much, but Fiona just shrugged.

  “Okay, but I have a question. If you go to this island, you may be able to find a way to keep her in her current state while still advancing in terms of overall stats?” Fiona said.

  “Yeah.”

  “And this is the same island where you’d actually be able to evolve her properly?”

  “Yeah.”

  “If you don’t mind my asking, why not just go for the evolution rather than spend your time on something you’re not sure about?”

  “I…” Jackson started and felt his face go red. “It’s dumb, okay. I know that.”

  Fiona took a step closer and for the first time in months, Jackson felt her competitive mask slip away. “I’m sure it’s not as dumb as you think. If your instinct as a tamer thinks something is wrong with evolving her, I don’t think you should dismiss it outright.”

  Jackson then suddenly realized how close together he and Fiona were. All at once, Jackson forgot everything about Asena, Vega, Dr. Williams, and Lombardia. His mind was filled with Fiona Sato, in that dress, so close…

  Their eyes met and Jackson could feel his heart pounding in his ears. Fiona seemed to recognize how close they were standing and Jackson watched a blush spread up her neck and onto her cheeks. Part of his mind went completely blank, while the other was screaming out a million different things all at once. And then, against all probability, Fiona closed her eyes and leaned in. Jackson’s breath caught in his throat and he closed the gap between them, tilting his head and —

  “Whoa-ho-ho!”

  Jackson and Fiona split apart like they’d been hit with a blast of lightning. Turning, Jackson saw Akamu leaning against a pillar not far away, shaking his head.

  “Look at you two! Never in a million years would I have seen this happening. I guess you never know what to expect in the wild world of Djinn taming, huh?”

  Jackson’s fists curled in anger and he opened his mouth to tell Akamu to beat it, but Fiona was quicker.

  “Akamu, I swear, I’ll pound your pretty boy face into the ground if you don’t keep it shut!”

  Raising his hands defensively, Akamu started to back away. “Take it easy, Sato — your secret’s safe with me.” He held up a finger to his lips and winked. “There’s no rules against a little fun between tamers. I’m certainly not one to judge.”

  He gave another wink and turned around, leaving Jackson and Fiona in what was now a terribly awkward situation. Swallowing, Jackson took a stab at breaking the newly-formed ice.

  “I —”

  “Don’t.”

  “But just —”

  “I said don’t.”

  “Fiona —”

  “Goodnight, Jackson.”

  As Fiona strode away as fast as her heels and gown would allow, two thoughts filled Jackson’s mind. The first was that he had no idea what was going on with his life anymore. The second wasn’t quite as abstract: gold looked good on Fiona Sato.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Come on…come on…”

  Jackson drummed the fingers on his left hand while holding out his right wrist, waiting for his holo-watch to connect to the call. After a dozen or so rings, it went to the same voicemail that it had on the previous nine attempts.

  Hey, you’ve reached Fiona Sato. I can’t chat right now but leave a message and I’ll get back to you. Thanks!

  Jackson rolled his eyes at Asena while he waited for the tone, then started in on his tenth different approach.

  “Fiona, I feel like you’re making this weirder by not answering. Look, I just want to talk — it’s not like I’m going to propose or anything…” Jackson trailed off and shot Scrappy a horrified look. The Scoundrook tipped his head to the side, looking as confused as his tamer at what had come out of Jackson’s mouth.

  “Nope. Shouldn’t have said that. That was stupid. Anyway — just call me back when you can. Bye.”

  Jackson swiped a hand through the projection, ending the call. He groaned and collapsed on the bed between his two Djinn. It had been two days since the Bronze League Awards Ceremony. They’d spent all day yesterday traveling, made even more fun by a salty and hungover Briggs, only to get back to Tyle late the night before. Jackson had hoped giving Fiona a day to chill or think about things would have been enough, but judging by her silence, that wasn’t the case.

  As promised, Jackson hadn’t told anyone. Not Briggs and not even Kay. Since they couldn’t betray his secrecy, Jackson had settled for venting to Scrappy and Asena in his room, until Jane had heard and asked who he was talking to. A mumbled lie about a speech for the Battle Royale was all Jackson could come up with. It seemed to do the trick, because he heard her head back to the living room immediately after.

  “You know what? If she wants to be like that, then she can go for it,” Jackson said to his Djinn. “I didn’t do anything wrong — we didn’t even kiss.”

  You’ve got enough problems to worry about, without throwing romance into the mix, dude. He wasn’t even sure it was romance. They hadn’t done anything. Jackson hated Akamu more than ever. Even if he’d intruded after the kiss, at least there would have been a sort of resolution to the exchange. Now the what-if just hung there between Jackson and Fiona.

  “You know what?” Jackson said aloud. “I’m not even going to worry about it. The match is in her stadium now.”

  Asena and Scrappy looked his way but Jackson wasn’t sure how much of the conversation they could even understand. At least as far as he’d progressed with his Bond, his Djinn could understand complex attacks, sense his thoughts almost before they came to mind, and comprehend a wide array of emotions. They knew Jackson was frustrated, but outside of a battle situation with an obvious stimulus for the emotion, he didn’t know what the extent of their empathy might be.

  Jackson pulled up his holo-call app on his watch again, ready to make his second unpleasant outreach of the morning. After deliberating the entire flight home, he only saw one solution to his problems with Asena. No matter how unpleasant the experience might be, Jackson knew if he wanted to do anything before he playoffs and possibly save Asena’s career as a professional battling Djinn, he had to call Vega. The matter was sealed when Jackson told Briggs about the call to Crevajo College and Dr. Williams’s research.

  “I’d be a pretty bad coach if I didn’t tell you to do what you can to keep Asena in the mix for the Silver and Gold League,” Briggs had said. “If this Everore thing really exists, it’s just what you need. And even if you can’t find it, perhaps finding a way to evolve her while there could be in the cards. Either way, it sounds like you should probably head to Lombardia. I can tell you that you’re not going to make it to the Gold League Championships with a Lyote with only Basic-form moves and stats, and a Scoundrook. A good tamer can overcome one weakness or exception on his team, but not two.”

  And that settled it. Pushing almost-kisses with rival tamers out of his mind, Jackson scrolled through his call history until he found Vega’s ID number. The call rang once before the annoying lab rat picked up.

  “Jackson!” He dre
w out the vowels in Jackson’s names like they were long lost friends who’d bumped into each other on the street. “Great to hear from you. Change your mind, I take it?” It was almost as if the man had been waiting on pins and needles for the call for weeks and was trying to play just a little too casual. Not that it mattered.

  Jackson took a deep breath and tried to sound as professional as possible. He was just glad Vega hadn’t asked him to sit in another stupid virtual coffee shop. “Sort of. I wanted to see if I could take you up on your offer to travel to Lombardia. I’ve been doing some research on my own with someone at the institute at Crevajo, and I think I may have a solution.”

  Vega’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Solution? What kind of a solution?”

  “Well,” Jackson said. “None of this has been verified or peer-reviewed. It’s all just theoretical at this point, but there may be an object that can unlock Asena’s future growth stats without her having to evolve. Something that can be found on Lombardia. Something called an Everore.”

  For a brief couple of seconds, Vega’s face was impassive. Would this be a dealbreaker for him? And then a crease tugged at the corner of his lips. “An object, you say? I’ve heard of certain chemical compounds that achieve this effect in Djinn but to think that it could be possible with a Lyote would be groundbreaking. I take it you’d still want to head to Lombardia to explore this opportunity, is that it?”

  Jackson gave a hesitant nod. “I…I’m not exactly sure what you could publish from this. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”

  Vega’s hand appeared in the holo-graph to make a dismissive gesture. “You let me worry about that. We’ve actually done a number of joint research projects with Crevajo over the years. Let me make a few calls and ask them if we can build on your mother’s research. It doesn’t sound like they had planned on doing anything with it anyway — otherwise it would have been acted on by now. I’ll wager we can sign an agreement with them to split the ownership of the findings since we can supply the trip. In all honesty, any opportunity to study a Lyote at any stage of evolution in its natural habitat is the envy of any researcher. I’m just happy to have the Lyote locked down. That’s the missing ingredient I’ve been searching for.”

  “So, are we going?”

  “I’ll have to check into our connections at Crevajo, but as I told you, I already have the necessary clearances.”

  Jackson’s excitement rose. He suddenly wasn’t sure why he’d been so obstinate to Vega. Sure, the guy was annoying, but he’d also proven to be extremely helpful — a small price to pay to put up with the dude’s quirks. “Thank you so much!”

  “No. Thank you, Jackson,” Vega said. His smile stretched ear to ear, like a kid who’d just found out school was canceled. Or, in Vega’s case, a bookworm who’d found out the teacher was assigning extra homework for the weekend. “You’re the one with the Lyote — without you and Asena, none of this would matter. If this solution you’ve found proves to be true, it could unlock a whole host of possibilities we’ve never considered with the species! I daresay it’d be even better than observing a standard evolution.”

  Jackson realized he’d risen to his feet at some point and was now pacing back and forth across the room. “So what’s next? Do I need to wait for you to hear if the trip is a go? We have a pretty tight window — I’ve got about ten days before I have to report to Alloy City for the playoffs. I’ll also need to see if Kay can make it and —”

  Vega’s face flashed with concern. “Kay? Your rehabber? I don’t necessarily think that —”

  Jackson stopped pacing and stared at Vega’s projection. “This is a trip into wild Djinn territory. I’m not going to go without my team. Briggs and Kay have to come.”

  “Well…” Vega glanced somewhere off to the side as if checking something and bit his lip. He looked nervous and Jackson was afraid the entire trip might be called off.

  “Look,” Jackson said. “You don’t need to give me any credit for the research, I just want to help Asena. But to do that, I need my rehabber and trainer with me.”

  Vega gave a slow nod. “It shouldn’t be a problem for you to bring two people along — but no more! I’ll have a couple individuals of my own accompanying me and we have to keep the group limited to six people at most.”

  “Deal,” Jackson said at once.

  Vega’s giddy disposition blossomed again and he shoved his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, licking his lips in anticipation. “Let me make those calls right now. In the meantime, start packing! We’ll need to get plane tickets purchased and a charter bus to the ferry. I’ll be in touch!”

  As soon as Vega’s head dissolved, Jackson ran from his room to tell his grandma the news. Propelled into a similar state of frenzy from their tamer’s emotions, Asena and Scrappy barreled after Jackson, causing the entire apartment to shudder.

  “What in the world is going on over there?” Jane said, looking up from her tablet on the couch. “Ten minutes ago you were in there moping and letting your breakfast get cold, and now you’re thundering around like an Auroxx in a porcelain shop!”

  Jackson blurted out the news about Asena, trying to fill in Jane as fast as possible so he could give Briggs and Kay a call. He was so excited that he didn’t notice Jane’s reaction until he was halfway through explaining where Lombardia was.

  “Wait, what’s wrong?” Jackson said.

  Jane’s expression was strained. “Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just a silly old woman. When you got started talking about this expedition of yours, it made me think of your mother and — Jackson, you’ve got to promise me you’ll be extra careful!”

  Jackson walked over to Jane, sitting next to her on the couch and giving her a big hug. She trembled in his arms and when he pulled back, Jackson could see she was fighting tears.

  “It’s going to be okay, Grandma, I promise,” he reassured her. “I’ll have Kay and Briggs with me to take care of anything that might come up and there should be service off and on in Lombardia as well. This isn’t dangerous. It’s kind of like Rocky Point. It’s a protected preserve.”

  What he didn’t tell her was that unlike Rocky Point Preserve — where he’d acquired Scrappy prior to his time at the Bronze League Training Camp — this one rarely had any human visitors, and as a result, likely had far more dangerous and untamed Djinn roaming unchecked.

  Jane drew in a deep breath and let it out with a shudder. She swallowed hard and nodded, still blinking back tears. “I know, I know. It’s just hard sometimes. You promise me you’ll stay in touch and take care of yourself?”

  Jackson held her at arm’s length and nodded. “As often as I have service. And you know Briggs. What could possibly happen to me with him around to keep me out of trouble?”

  “The last thing I need to do is traipse halfway across the continent to keep you out of trouble.” Briggs’s voice sounded resolute, and more than a little annoyed.

  Jackson couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “How can you say that? You’re the one who told me that I had to do this!”

  “I didn’t say I needed to have any part in it,” Briggs said. “It’s not like you’re going on an extended trip. You’ll be there five days at most. Even you can’t screw much up with your Djinn in five days.”

  Briggs paused as if reconsidering the last point.

  “I take that back. There are about a hundred different things I can imagine you doing that will screw up our chances in the playoffs —”

  “Battle Royale.”

  “It’s been called the playoffs for as long as anyone’s been alive, dammit,” Briggs said as if the name change had been weighing on him. “I’m calling it the playoffs. But back to the matter at hand. I believe the reward is worth the risk. You can power through and win with Asena the way she is now, but I’m almost positive at her current growth rate that she’ll pass the evolution window before the championship is over with. She’s, what, a Level 22?”

  “Level 23.”r />
  “And the level window ends where?”

  “Level 23,” Jackson said.

  “And between you going to Lombardia and general practice and prep, Level 24 is a real possibility going into the final match. So this is your last chance. Don’t screw this up, Jackson.”

  “Then come with me!” Jackson found himself pleading, like he had when he’d first attempted Briggs to coach him. This time, however, the stubborn old man wouldn’t budge.

  “I know what kind of planes they fly out to those remote towns,” he said. “It ain’t gonna happen. And besides, I’m all hung up anyway.”

  The old tamer shifted the focus of his holo-projector onto his foot, which had a big boot strapped over it.

  “You just put that on when you found out where I was going,” Jackson said.

  “Like hell I did! That damn Hurricanther got under my feet when I got up to go to the bathroom last night after we got home. The last thing I’m going to do is wander around the jungle with crutches.”

  Jackson groaned in exasperation, still not sure he was buying the story. “Then why didn’t you tell me that at first?”

  Briggs scowled through the holo-call. “I’m your coach! I don’t need to ask for a sick note from you! But I would recommend you take someone else with you. Someone strong. Someone you can count on to actually hold their own when things get tough — especially since you may have to rely on them to fight some battles for you so Asena doesn’t accidentally level up.”

  “No.”

  “Listen, I —”

  “Nope.”

  Jackson ground his teeth and fought to keep his temper. He was standing outside of Fiona’s house at Sato Breeders, his last ditch effort to contact her after she continued to ignore his calls. She was in the doorway and looked ready to go back in the house the instant he said the wrong thing. A hundred different arguments ran though Jackson’s mind. He felt like he was grasping at straws at this point. It seemed nothing he could say would convince Fiona to come with him and Kay to Lombardia.