Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy

by Derek Alan Siddoway

  For a moment, Jackson was tempted to share his theory of being targeted with Danai. Before he could make up his mind, however, her eyes widened as she looked at something behind Jackson. He turned around and saw the two tamers approaching — Brindon Wright and Stephanie Hallberg, another pair of Salvage Tamers who’d been in the league for several years.

  In conjunction, both Jackson and Danai’s holo-watches beeped. Jackson looked down and saw another tamer had been eliminated, bringing their total number to twelve.

  “Look!” Danai said, pointing to the perimeter indicated on her holo-watch.

  The ground around the edge of the playing field was covered in a blue, hexagon pattern that seemed to be projected from the forcefield itself. It covered almost fifty yards of ground, significantly reducing the size of the field.

  “Twelve tamers remains,” the computerized female voice said from both of their watches. “The playing field has been reduced accordingly.”

  “I’ve got to go,” Jackson said. The two tamers were closing in now, but luckily both seemed winded. He knew he couldn’t run forever, though. If the tamers got within the range and challenged him, he’d be forced to fight or be disqualified.

  “I won’t pretend I’m not disappointed you aren’t challenging me, but I understand. Good luck,” Danai said. She pointed uphill toward the center of the map. “There’s a healing station just beyond those rolling sandstone hills. You better last long enough to give me a fight!”

  Jackson gave her a quick thanks and took off.

  “Hey, you two! Come over here!” Jackson heard Danai call out. “You’re ranked lower than me, right? Challenge me!”

  Jackson was tempted to look back, but fought the urge. He had to get to a healing station soon, or risk defeat.

  “Oh, come on! Why’re you running away?” Jackson heard Danai shout. There was no mistaking it now. Jackson had a target on his back.

  After making his way over the hills, Jackson arrived inside the safe zone area — just seconds before Brindon and Stephanie came within range to challenge him. The two of them stalked the perimeter of the safe zone like a pair of Arkodon as Jackson shoved both Asena and Scrappy’s rings into the healing slot and watched as the light on each of their stones glowed brighter and finally flashed.

  “That Danai girl is a class act,” Briggs said. “Good thing you made it — the way things are shaping up, I don’t think you’re going to be going anywhere else the rest of the match. Good thing Asena’s got the Elemental advantage in this quadrant. Get healed up and then go just outside the safe zone. We’ll have to fight and duck back in each time, I think.”

  “Okay,” Jackson said. “I’m switching in Triton. Brindon’s best Djinn is a Fire-Elemental Sudang and Stephanie’s is Plain-Elemental Zenix.”

  “You sure about that?” Briggs said. “Remember, you’re in the Fire Quadrant now, so the playing field won’t exactly be in the Aquestria’s favor.”

  “Yeah, but at least in this case, I have some sort of advantage.”

  He could almost see Briggs nodding in approval. “Okay, then. Go for it. But remember, Triton is raw, so you’re going to have to take that into account. I’d recommend Asena as your second. She’s stronger than Scrappy and is, at worst, neutral against the Fire-Elemental. But this won’t be easy, as you’re still getting used to Asena’s new form.

  “Also, don’t stray too far away from the edge of the safe zone. As soon as the battle’s over, you’re going to need to heal again — with the number of tamers left I don’t want to use the items we’ve got unless it’s an emergency. The heavy hitters are still to come. From what I’ve seen so far, none of these other tamers are going to hold a candle to Akamu, Fiona, or Danai.”

  Stephanie and Brindon were waiting as soon as Jackson reached the edge of the no-battle zone. Jackson looked at each of the opposing tamers, trying to gauge their expressions. Were they there to take him out of play because Vega had paid them? It seemed the only explanation for how they could or would have tracked Jackson specifically halfway across the map. Not to mention their passing up Danai when she very clearly challenged them.

  “Go get ‘em, kid!” Briggs said a moment before the comms blinked out for the match.

  Neither tamer spoke to Jackson as he approached, other than to officially challenge him and summon their Djinn for battle. Jackson did the same as soon as he crossed the threshold and the stats in his retina display flared to life once more.

  Brindon Wright and Stephanie Hallberg challenge Jackson Hunt!

  Selected Battle Type: Simultaneous 2v2 Match

  Jackson saw the enemy charts pop up on his display.

  OPPONENT STATS

  Djinn: Sudang

  Level: 22

  Element: Fire

  HP (Hit Points): 306/306

  EP (Elemental Power): 200/200

  Attack: 135

  Defense: 165

  Speed: 102

  Djinn: Zenix

  Level: 20

  Element: Plain

  HP (Hit Points): 260/260

  EP (Elemental Power): 122/122

  Attack: 115

  Defense: 120

  Speed: 170

  Unlike the last fight, Jackson wasn’t going to give them much chance to strategize. Given their relative weakness compared to him, it made sense.

  Asena, let’s hit the Zenix hard with your Headbutt! Triton, Aqua Torrent against the Sudang!

  Jackson would have preferred to save some of Triton’s EP, but even though the Aquestria had an advantage against the Fire-Elemental rhino Djinn Sudang, the surrounding rock and heat served to lower the effectiveness of Triton’s attack. If he was going to try and capitalize on this advantage, he couldn’t pull any punches.

  Thankfully, Asena’s attack hit the Zenix Djinn full-on, though she took a snagging blow in return — a blow she normally would have dodged out of the way with ease. Jackson cursed the timing of her evolution. It made her stronger, but there were definitely some growing pains to overcome — mistakes that they couldn’t afford to make against more talented tamers.

  Triton’s Aqua Torrent hit the Sudang directly, and the HP bar of the enemy flashed to announce a critical hit, which drained a fifth of its HP (Jackson couldn’t help but wonder how effective it would have been in a different Elemental setting). However, unlike with Teresa and Monty, Stephanie and Brindon were more in sync with their attacks. No matter how much Jackson directed Asena to attack the Zenix and Triton to the Sudang, his opponents managed to cover one another’s Djinn almost half of the time. Jackson was able to nail his opponents’s Djinn head-on with his initial attacks, but that was the only easy hit they’d offered him before their strategy of targeting Asena went into play.

  Neither the Zenix nor the Sudang had any especially powerful moves, but they made up for it with the speed and quantity of attacks. Little by little, Asena’s health drained down to a third and then a quarter. Triton landed some powerful hits against the Sudang, but not enough to knock it out. Even worse, when Triton shot an Aqua Torrent, the Sudang flared up unexpectedly, and between the Fire-Elemental surroundings and the Flare attack, a good portion of the Aqua Torrent attack turned into a blinding mist.

  Jackson also had continued difficulties with Asena. While she was faster and stronger than ever, her unfamiliarity with her new body left them to deal with some unfortunate growing pains. She had a hard time aiming her Fire-Elemental attacks, and even simple attacks like Wild Bites and Headbutts saw her occasionally diving into the magma-laden dirt.

  For a Djinn who relied on agility, speed, and precision to land attacks, her recent evolution was proving to be a major detriment. Stephanie and Brindon were all-in on the Lobolf, almost completely ignoring the weakened Triton. Jackson cursed himself for pulling out a Water-Elemental for a Fire-Elemental-set fight. Jackson’s mind buzzed with the mental commands between the two Djinn — it was all happening so fast he didn’t even have time to wait and see if Triton and Asena listened. He had to
keep up the steady stream of telepathic commands or the match would be over.

  And then it happened. The Sudang hit Asena with a glancing Fireball attack. Aside from not landing a good hit, the Elemental move hardly did any damage to the Lobolf, but it did serve to distract Asena just long enough. The Zenix charged forward and struck the Lobolf hard in the side. Asena went down in a lump of fur and her HP hit zero.

  Crap, crap, crap, crap!

  Jackson forced the panic out of his mind — he couldn’t get distracted now, especially not with the weaker Bond he had with Triton. Both the Zenix and Sudgang turned toward the Aquestria, but Jackson was ready for them. He blasted both with an Aqua Torrent. The attack knocked the Sudang down to about a fifth of its total hit points and dealt a decent amount of damage to the Zenix as well. But it had cost a colossal amount of EP, leaving Triton to his physical attacks and perhaps one weaker Fountain Shot. That simply wouldn’t do.

  No point saving these for when I’m sent home packing, Jackson thought. He swiped away his command projection on his holo-watch and triggered the Elemental Elixir for Triton just as the Zenix and Sudang both rushed him. Jackson watched, heart pounding, as the Aquestria’s EP shot back up just in time to pull off another Aqua Torrent. The attack hit both enemy Djinn when they were less than a yard away from Triton and sent them sprawling. As soon as the water hit the hot rock, it sent billows of steam cascading into the air.

  His retina display went off, the Sudang’s HP hit zero — leaving the Zenix by itself. It may have been a Plain-Elemental, but any Djinn taking an Aqua Torrent that closely would feel it. Jackson wouldn’t give it any time to recover. He sent Triton bounding after it with one final Charge attack, which sent the fox Djinn flying and skidding through the dirt.

  CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE DEFEATED BRINDON WRIGHT AND STEPHANIE HALLBERG.

  He’d won, but just barely. Triton had 15 hit points left and seemed completely exhausted from the stress of battle and the dry heat of the Fire Quadrant. The Elemental disadvantage of the surroundings alone had been enough to make the fight painfully close.

  Jackson let out a long breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. As the steam thinned, he spotted Stephanie and Brindon shaking their heads in disgust. Just like before, the two-versus-one battle meant they couldn’t use the rest of their Djinn party to fight Jackson. He didn’t wait to see his two opponents airlifted away, or try to gather any more clues that might associate them with Vega. Briggs was right from the get-go. There was no point in being distracted by that. He just need to survive.

  Although he knew it wasn’t the best idea, Jackson risked a quick glance at the standings to see who was still in the Battle Royale:

  BATTLE ROYALE PARTICIPANTS

  1. Akamu Kaleo

  2. Fiona Sato

  3. Danai Azikiwei

  4. Jackson Hunt

  7. Rita Antonius

  9. Thomas Pascal

  14. Emily Lasal

  18. Ron Shakur

  So, the playing field had been leveled quite a bit. Jackson had secretly hoped that one or even two of the Fab Four might have been upset, but at the moment, his more immediate concern was with the four remaining tamers below him. He needed to get back into the healing area ASAP. The battle had carried him farther from the threshold of the safe zone than Jackson had realized. It was funny how different standard tournament matches were from brawls in the wild. Perhaps there was something to be learned from this weird publicity stunt of a competition after all.

  “That’s it,” Briggs said as soon as their comms came back online. “I’m going to notify an official. Something is definitely going on here.”

  “No!” Jackson said. “I don’t want to stop the match.”

  “Jackson, think about it. You have a target on your back here, and I’ll be damned if —”

  “They might be targeting me, but if we end it now, then Vega’s won.”

  “And if you lose, Vega’s won anyway.”

  “If I know Vega, he’s stewing in his boots already after these two fights. He’s used to getting what he wants. I’m going to play through it.”

  “You sure?” Briggs asked.

  “I won’t give…”

  Jackson’s voice trailed off. The healing and exchange zone sat on top of a sandstone hill only a few yards away. But a tamer had just emerged on top of the rock, directly between Jackson and the safe area. With a sickening feeling, it hit Jackson that he hadn’t even bothered to check the map for nearby tamers. He’d been too zoned in on who was still left in the tournament.

  And it looked like it would cost him.

  “I think I’m having déjà vu,” Ron Shakur said from on the hill above Jackson. “What are the chances I get to upset you twice in one season?”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Mind racing, Jackson tried to formulate a plan.

  He would run into Ron Shakur right in front of a health station. Vega really seemed to have it out for him…but he’d already committed to following through with the rest of the Battle Royale. He couldn’t back out now.

  But what was he going to do? He only had one Djinn Tonic. If he used it now, he’d be down to just the two remaining Elemental Elixirs for the final battle, items he’d probably need to face off against other members of the Fab Four.

  Jackson felt his heartbeat pounding in his ears and Briggs cursed loud enough that Jackson twitched in surprise at the sound.

  “Hey, Ron,” Jackson said, eyes peering past Ron to the healing station behind him.

  “Jackson,” Ron bit his lip, a torn expression on his face. “You know, I’ve been wondering ever since our fight if I was actually good enough to take you.

  “Well, you did beat me,” Jackson said.

  “My Glauco evolved mid-battle. You know, some of my friends back at home still give me a hard time about that. They think it was the only reason that I won,” Ron said.

  “Sounds like you have some pretty harsh friends,” Jackson said.

  “They’re the reason I’ve made it this far to begin with,” Ron said, a layer of irritation coating his voice. “I know I should take you on right now. You just finished a battle and are likely low on HP and EP. It’d be an easy win.”

  Jackson clenched his fists. He would have said something, but he could tell Ron was fighting a battle in his own head, and he didn’t want to push him over in the wrong direction.

  After several long seconds, Ron motioned over his shoulder to the healing zone just a few yards behind him. “Go on, heal your Djinn first. If I beat you, I don’t want it to be on another fluke. I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  Jackson felt a huge knot of tension unwind out of him and he climbed up the hill to Ron and extended his hand. “Thank you.”

  Ron smiled and shook his head. “I’m just leveling the playing field.”

  Any thoughts of Vega having a hold over Ron diminished immediately. If Ron wanted Jackson knocked out of the tournament, he never would have let him heal his Djinn. Although Jackson knew the coming match would be tough, he was also a little relieved. Fighting another tamer in an honest match would be a break after the brutal fights he’d just been through.

  “Battle type preference?” Ron asked, switching through his holo-watch.

  “You can choose that?”

  “Being ranked on the lower side has its perks,” Ron said. “What about two v. two, one at a time?”

  “Works for me.”

  Still not quite believing his luck, Jackson crossed over the threshold and put both of his rings into the healing slots. He also took the time to swap out Triton for Scrappy. The Scoundrook would have an Elemental advantage over Ron’s Loquatic and Jackson knew what a punch that Djinn packed firsthand. He needed every edge he could get.

  “I’m going to swap out Asena for Scrappy,” Jackson said in a low voice just loud enough for Briggs to hear over the comms.

  “You sure about that?” Briggs didn’t sound opposed, but definitely hesitant. “That Lobolf of y
ours packs more of a punch than most of the Djinn in this tournament, even if she’s still going through growing pains.”

  “I’m sure,” Jackson said. “He has a Plain-Elemental and Water-Elemental. I’d rather not give him an accidental edge if his Loquatic takes on my Lobolf. Even if we are in a Fire-Elemental playing field.”

  There was a long pause before Briggs responded. “Go with your gut, kid, and good luck!”

  While Jackson finished up, Briggs talked him through the coming match. It almost felt like a recap of their first fight against one another, but this time Jackson was determined not to lose.

  The only question was if Ron would lead with his Loquatic or his Bovan? Once both tamers had released their Djinn, the rules state the battle has to be conducted to knockout. That meant a recall was the same as a withdraw, meaning that Djinn could no longer be used in that match. And as strong as Triton was, Jackson didn’t want to put him up against the Loquatic. Although it was only a second-tier evolution, the Loquatic was a final form, compared to Triton, whose Aquestria form was only its second of three forms. Plus, the Glauco had been Ron’s first Djinn and would naturally be his strongest and highest Bonded team member.

  A couple minutes later, Jackson walked out of the safe zone and nodded to Ron. “Let’s do this.”

  Ron Shakur challenges Jackson Hunt!

  Selected Battle Type: 2v2 Match, Alternating

  “Good luck!” Ron said, grinning. “Go, Bella!”

  Forgoing any shout, Jackson summoned Scrappy and almost cursed. He’d made the wrong call.

  OPPONENT STATS

  Djinn: Bovan

  Level: 23

  Element: Plain