Heath and Sloan were each down a Djinn, leaving Rebel, Sabrina, the Smilaguar, and the Malanzee left to fend off against the three wild Djinn. One of the Trollavas — the one that had been the focus of their assault — looked like it was starting to flag, but the other two continued unleashing torrents of physical and fire attacks. Out of the corner of his eye, Jackson saw his Scoundrook, Scrappy barely manage to dodge a bolt of fire hurled at him through the air from the furious Volcanogre.
“Okay, we got this,” Jackson whispered to himself. His fingers moved in a complex series of taps and swipes to open Triton’s Move Set since he didn’t have it memorized yet. He swiped deeper into the menu, which gave him a very brief idea of what each Elemental attack did.
Elemental Move Set Descriptions:
Fountain Shot (10 EP) - A steady stream of water shoots out from the Aquestria’s mouth.
Aqua Torrent (15 EP) - A pressurized jet of water shoots out from the Aquestria’s mouth.
Whirlpool (15 EP) - Only possible in water settings. Creates a whirlpool that catches enemies and disorients them.
Tidal Charge (20 EP) - Aquestria sends a powerful burst of water cascading towards its opponent.
Wake Gallop (50 EP) - A more powerful version of Tidal Charge, which increases the pressure of the water, resulting in a higher-impact attack.
Okay, Triton, we can do it, buddy! Give them an Aqua Torrent!
The Aquestria reared back on its hind legs, front feet flailing at the air before it. As Trition came down, he released a blast of water that struck the Volcanogre in the middle of the chest, interrupting the wild Djinn as it pummeled Heath’s Smilaguar with its rounded club hand.
Since they were fighting a wild Djinn, Jackson only had a rough estimate of how much damage the Trollava and Volcanogre had taken, in addition to how many hit points they had left. While the Aqua Torrent had done a decent amount of damage, it had also drained a sizable fraction of his Aquestria’s Elemental Points. He’d have to be strategic with how he used it.
“Focus on the wounded Trollava, for crying out loud!” Sloan shouted. “If we can take one of them out of the fight, we’ll have better odds.”
Knowing Triton’s physical attacks would be all but useless against the high Defense of the Trollava and Volanogre, Jackson left his new Djinn in reserve and directed Scrappy in for a swooping attack. The Scoundrook dove down just as the Trollava was summoning another Fire-Elemental attack and released a gust of wind that blew the fire back into the Trollava’s face. It didn’t do much damage — only a dozen hit points or so — but it interrupted the attack long enough for Fiona’s Donkick to get inside the wild Djinn’s defenses and deliver a resounding Back Kick that sent the Djinn sprawling.
Before the weakened Trollava could rise, Heath’s Smilaguar charged the downed creature, attacking a soft spot that it hadn’t been able to form a lava shell over yet. At the same time, Rebel blasted the Trollava in the face with a Feather Needle. The Djinn gave a weak swipe and then collapsed to the ground.
Their victory was short-lived. As the Malanzee hopped over to the other Trollava, it was hit with a swing from the Volcanogre. The surprise physical attack was a critical hit that took out its remaining HP.
That still left two wild Djinn both above Level 20 to deal with. The remaining Trollava and the Volcanogre had knocked both of Sloan’s Djinn out of the fight, and only Sabrina and Scrappy had held the wild Djinn at bay from attacking the humans. Rebel and Heath’s Smilaguar were both showing signs of wearing down, leaving Jackson in a predicament.
Do I use all of Triton’s Elemental Power on another Aqua Torrent or let Asena into the fight?
He went with Triton, this time using one of the Aquestria’s weaker Fountain Shots to chip away and distract the Volcanogre while reinforcements arrived to help in the form of Scrappy and Fiona’s Donkick and Megala. This proved to be a solid strategy, as the Water-Elemental attack hardened the target area, allowing the other Djinn to land more solid physical attacks.
Triton continued to fight against Jackson’s control, but seemed to have realized the only way out of the situation would be to defeat the two Djinn attacking the party. Now, Jackson had to mentally rein the Aquestria back from mindlessly charging into the fray.
After another round of Fountain Shots Jackson directed Triton to attack the Trollava once again and…nothing happened. His holo-watch vibrated.
Insufficient EP, it read.
Oh man, already?
“Where’s the water support?” Fiona shouted, jumping to the side as a blast of fire missed Rebel and hit the ground in front of her, spraying rock and flecks of magma everywhere.
“I’m out of EP!” Jackson yelled back.
“Hold on!” Kay’s voiced yelled from behind and a moment later, she ran to Jackson’s side and hurled something through the air. It struck the Aquestria in the side — a glass bottle with purple liquid — and burst. Immediately, Jackson saw Triton’s EP climb back to full. Kay had been keeping an EP Elixir in reserve.
Jackson shouted a quick thanks and then sent Triton into the fray at the Volcanogre.
“Have any Djinn Tonics on you, by chance?” Fiona said.
“None that’ll help with the HP mid-battle,” Kay said.
Just then, Sabrina took a blast of fire straight-on, dropping the rest of its HP down to zero. Fiona cursed and recalled the Donkick back to her ring.
“We have to be smarter, guys,” Fiona said.
“It’s easy to have a plan,” Heath said. “It’s a bit harder to execute it in the thick of battle.”
“And you wonder why you never made it into the Silver League.”
“Hey!”
“Shut it, you two,” Jackson said. “Hold off the Trollava and I’ll handle this!” Fiona and Heath redirected their Djinn — Fiona down to just Rebel and Heath’s Smilaguar almost done for too, by the look of it — at the smaller enemy Djinn. Jackson ordered Scrappy to follow suit before he directed his attention back to Triton. At full EP, Jackson had either seven Aqua Torrents or eleven Fountain Shots at his disposal. Or…
Go big or go home, I guess — Triton, Wake Gallop!
The Aquestria threw back its head and let out a hair-raising challenge. Water poured out of the Djinn and into the rocks as it thundered toward the Volcanogre. As the water hit the ground, the heat of Mount Ahina’s interior turned it into steam. A cloud of mist covered the two opposing Fire-Elementals as Triton’s attack hit the Volcanogre and remaining Trollava at a full charge.
A huge billow of steam erupted and the Volcanogre’s roar filled the chamber.
“Now, guys!”
But he didn’t need to say anything. Rebel, Scrappy, and Heath’s Smilaguar unleashed a barrage of physical attacks, made that much more effective by Triton’s recent downpour. Jackson saw as the trio chipped away at their two enemies.
After several seconds, the Volcanogre’s hardened exterior started to grow covered in lava once again.
Screw it, Jackson thought before commanding Triton to unleash another Wake Gallop. Steam once again filled the entire cavern, and the Volcanogre unleashed a loud roar as it was hit with another wave.
The ground shook and Jackson fell to one knee. And then, silence. A small vibration on Jackson’s holo-watch indicated that their enemies had been defeated.
“Everyone okay?” Kay’s voice came from somewhere behind Jackson. There was so much steam in the chamber, Jackson might as well have walked into a sauna. He glanced at his chart, waving a hand away to remove the mist blurring the projection. Triton still had a third of his hit points and when Jackson looked up, the weary Aquestria was making its way back to him through the mist.
“I’m okay,” Jackson yelled as he made his way to the new Djinn. It threw back its head in surprise but allowed Jackson to wrap an arm around its neck.
“Good work, buddy,” Jackson whispered in the Aquestria’s ear. He could feel the Djinn’s rubbery skin trembling against him. He patted it for several seconds.
Jackson felt his wrist vibrate, and he looked down at the notification, which indicated a Bond increase to 30%.
No better way to forge bonds than through the heat of battle, he thought. The fact that it had listened to him as well as it did was a miracle, and he needed to make sure the Djinn understood how much it saved them. “Take a rest.”
As Jackson recalled Triton to his ring, his wrist vibrated again:
SCRAPPY LEVEL UP
Scrappy swooped down out of the air and landed in front of Jackson. The Scoundrook chattered at Jackson, as if berating him for sending him into such a close fight with virtually no instruction.
“Oh, you’re fine, and no, you weren’t the one who saved the day,” Jackson said. “But thanks for going solo. Your new brother needed the extra help. But not you.” Scrappy chattered in appreciation as Jackson checked his stats.
GENERAL STATS AND INFO
Djinn: Scoundrook
Level: 23
Name: Scrappy
Element: Wind
Species Rarity: Fairly Common
Tamer: Jackson Hunt
HP (Hit Points): 295/295
EP (Elemental Power): 110/110
XP (Experience): 3,022 to Next Level
DJP (Djinn Points): 2 Unallocated
Attack: 115
Defense: 124
Speed: 200
Accessories: None
Items: None
Status: Neutral
Bond: 82%
Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>
Jackson allocated one more DJP to Speed (raising it to 203) and another to HP (raising it to 302) before he sent the Djinn back into stasis.
He hoped Kay would be able to work her magic on all their Djinn. With Asena all but out of commission, he wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight if any more Djinn attacked them.
“Where is everyone?” Jackson said into the steam.
“I can’t see anything in this mist,” Vega said somewhere out of sight.
“Rebel, clean some of this steam out.” Jackson heard Fiona’s voice and then a moment later, a wave of fresh, clean-smelling air, pushed the steam back enough for Jackson to see Fiona and Heath. Vega, Sloan, and Kay approached from Jackson’s right and together the entire group made its way to the body of the downed Volcanogre.
“Is it…dead?” Jackson asked when they got closer. His holo-watch picked up no scans from the Volcanogre.
“Serves it right,” Heath said, kicked the large Djinn’s lumpy stone foot. “We’re lucky that thing didn’t cook us alive.”
Jackson knew Heath was right, but it still saddened him that a Djinn had to die in their confrontation. He’d been so wrapped up in taking care of Asena that he hadn’t really considered the fact that they would be ending another Djinn’s life to acquire the Everore.
“Did the other Trollava get away?” Kay asked. “Weren’t there two?” Off to the side was the body of the first Trollava they took down, but other than that, the chamber was empty of wild Djinn.
Fiona winked and held up her hand. It was glowing with an orange light that Jackson realized was coming from a third Djinn ring on her finger.
“I took care of that,” she said.
“What?” Jackson said.
“I’m saying I caught it,” Fiona said with an excited smile.
“I know what you’re saying,” Jackson said, voice rising. “You never told me you had another Djinn ring.”
“And when should I have told you?”
“Maybe around the time you judged me for bringing a ring here myself.”
“I like to have an ace in the hole,” Fiona said. “Besides, I consider us even now that I’ve added a powerful new Djinn to my team!”
“Even?” Jackson said. “What about —”
“Please, please,” Vega said, waving a hand in between them, his attention focused on the dead Djinn. “Let’s remember what we came here for.”
Jackson pushed his anger to the side for the moment and shifted his attention to the Volcanogre. He had a whole ride home to steam about Fiona. For now, he had to do what he could to help Asena.
It helped that Jackson had dealt with many dead Djinn working at Sato — that, at least, made searching the Volcanogre’s corpse much easier. That and the fact that the Djinn had apparently dissolved into a pile of rubble, without any blood and guts to speak of. Other than the odd pool of magma here and there between the stones, it was like they were digging through a construction pile. The rock was surprisingly cool to the touch, although none of it looked like the glowing Everore Jackson had seen projections of.
“Where is it, where is it?” Vega muttered. He dug through the rock with previously unused vigor, scraping away the plain stones and gravel with both hands, any regard for his suit forgotten.
Jackson joined in as well — the fallen Volcanogre had left behind an almost ten foot area of rubble more than a foot deep. Through the grit and grime, Jackson spotted a faint glow. A moment later, he unearthed a stone about half the size of a person’s head, glowing with a faint, dark red light.
“I think I’ve found one!”
“Let me see!” Vega yanked the stone away from Jackson and held it up to get a better look in the light of his headlamp. “Yes, this is it! Quick, let’s see if we can find any more in the remains!”
A rumble sounded from somewhere even deeper in the bowels of Mount Ahina.
“Uh, boss,” Sloan said. “We better get going — we might have more company soon.”
“Then hurry!” Vega snarled, returning to dig through the rubble with reckless abandon. “I want those stones!”
Jackson shot a concerned glance at Fiona and Kay, but nevertheless returned to digging. Altogether, they found four more stones, for a total of five. Vega, who had been carrying the lightest load of the group, packed them all into his bag and would have stayed for more, if not for Sloan and Heath’s warnings. He might have even ignored them as well, until the rest of them put their foot down.
“Okay, we’ve got your stupid rocks,” Fiona said.
“Stupid?” Vega said, seemingly offended.
“You heard me. Now let’s get out of here — we can’t fight off another group of Djinn like the last one.”
When the rest of the group turned to head for the tunnel they’d entered the cavern through, a slight glimmer caught Jackson’s eye. He knelt down and dug through the rubble. Sure enough, a sixth Everore, smaller than the rest, no bigger than a breakfast egg, blinked through a layer of ash and gravel. Without thinking, Jackson tucked it into his pack and jogged to catch up with the rest.
He could hardly believe it. They’d found the Everore. His mom’s research and Crevajo College had been right. Now, all he had to do was get back to the mainland in time to make it count.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The trip down Mount Ahina’s slope proved to be much quicker than the ascent. Although the group was tired from the climb and battle, everyone seemed to be motivated to get back to camp and return to Black and the ferry. It was mid-afternoon, and the sun shining down on the bare rock made the trip hot. Jackson’s back ached but he didn’t mind. He was in too good a mood. Against all odds, he’d found the Everore — he’d found a way, just like always, even when others said there wasn’t one.
But his good mood was somewhat sullied when he glanced over at Fiona, who was hiking down the mountain ahead of him with a joyful gait. Things might have gone almost according to plan, but Jackson still couldn’t shake the fact that Fiona had lied to him. Well, not lied, exactly, but she definitely hadn’t been open with him about having a taming ring. Had the pair of them not been in mortal danger earlier on in their journey, it wouldn’t have bothered him. The fact was that even when they’d been on the verge of death, she didn’t feel it necessary to lay her chips out on the table. And it was all so she could retain a competitive advantage.
She’d been waiting for the perfect opportunity to capture a powerful Djinn with help from t
he others, whether they liked it or not. He supposed it shouldn’t have been a huge surprise. She’d flat-out told him she came along to help get an advantage over him, but the fact that she’d gone so far really rubbed him the wrong way. In the grand scheme of things, everything was secondary to her dreams of being the world’s best tamer.
If Fiona felt any remorse, she didn’t show it, and Jackson made no attempt to speak with her on their return hike to camp. He took a note out of Fiona’s playbook and put his taming goals at the forefront of his mind, pushing aside his frustration at whatever their relationship was or wasn’t.
Reaching camp, everyone tossed aside their packs and sat down to grab a drink and something to eat. They settled on a half-hour break before heading out. Everyone sat in a circle, and while the sentiment went unspoken, it felt like the battle with the Volcanogre and the Trollavas had brought them together as a group for the first time. Aside from the fact that Fiona used you to capture herself a new Djinn, Jackson reminded himself, fighting his own instincts to push the whole thing from his mind.
“That was some great fighting, you two,” Jackson told Heath and Sloan. Both of them nodded appreciatively but, as usual, didn’t have anything to add to the conversation. It was petty, but the compliment was really meant to be a jab at Fiona by the simple fact that he hadn’t included her.
“Well, I’m certainly glad we brought your friends along, too,” Vega said. “I can see why Ms. Sato is also a member of your Fantastic Four —”
“That’s not what they’re called.”
“And Ms. Watts, that was some quick thinking on your part with the Elemental Elixir!”
Fiona looked almost as unaffected by the praise as Heath and Sloan had been, but Kay murmured her thanks and dipped her head as she stroked Sunshine’s fur while he soaked in the sun on her lap. Jackson let out a long, deep sigh that he felt like he’d been holding for weeks. It finally looked like things were starting to calm down and work out.
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 74