“Welcome to the second week of training camp. The maze you see is designed to test the communication skills of tamer and Djinn, to assess how well a tamer and his team can handle problem solving, how well they can creatively think in the moment, and how quickly a Djinn responds to its tamer’s commands. Each of you will be tested individually. Your Djinn will be placed in random positions in the maze and must find one another to complete the challenge. Obstacles and puzzles are placed within the maze to further test tamers and their Djinn. Tamers will be taken via elevator to a tower in the middle of the maze to direct their Djinn. This contest will be scored — the faster the maze is complete, the more points a tamer will receive. Good luck!”
The AI’s cheerful voice hardly did anything to make Jackson feel better about the upcoming challenge. She made it sound like a walk in the park, but he knew it would be anything but. Before he could think too much about it, however, one of the camp aides stood up next to Mr. Belmont and began speaking in a raised voice.
“All right, tamers, listen up! Your names have been entered into a drawing simulation. We will randomly select tamers and their Djinn to complete the maze. While you wait for your turn, you will remain within the fieldhouse. To keep things fair, there are no screens that tamers can access to watch previous entrants’s work at the maze. Several simulations within the maze will also randomly reset after each test. Upon completion, tamers will leave the fieldhouse. Communication between tamers who have completed the course and those still waiting is forbidden and will result in a ten-minute penalty. Wireless holo is also blocked during the duration of the event to discourage any cheating. Now, let’s get the first name!”
The camp aide tapped his holo-watch a couple of times and the projector showed a wheel with everyone’s trainer IDs. The wheel completed the circle a couple of times and finally landed on a number. The number glowed and the tamer’s name appeared.
“Raz Khatri — you’re up!” the camp aide said in the same loud voice. “Please proceed to the elevator lift. The rest of you, have a seat.”
Jackson watched the tamer as he rose in the elevator and was carried across the fieldhouse ceiling in the cable car. As soon as the tamer stepped into the watchtower, he disappeared from from view. The windows were tinted so that no one could see in.
With nothing else to do, Jackson settled down with Appleby and began guessing at the types of challenges that might lie within the maze. Although Jackson wasn’t timing, it seemed like the first tamer didn’t take long to complete the challenge. A horn sounded and a light flashed atop the tower about twelve minutes later. Once more, the camp aide went to the front of the group of tamers and opened the lottery wheel to select another participant.
One by one, the room started to empty. After the fourth tamer, Moto Rine was selected, followed by Hayden at number fourteen. Later on, Fiona and then Miguel went as well. The tamers from the barrack naturally separated themselves into groups — minus Akamu for Barrack 4, who sat alone on the edge of the field — and traded ideas about what awaited them.
“It can’t be too bad,” Tak said when the horn sounded announcing Miguel had complete the course. “I mean, Miguel, isn’t anything spectacular and he completed the challenge in like twelve minutes.”
“Yeah, but we don’t know how that stacks up against everyone else,” Appleby said.
Tak rolled his eyes. “Just because they aren’t posting the times doesn’t mean we can’t know. Unlike you scrubs, I’ve been keeping track.” He tapped the screen of his holo-watch a couple of times and a spreadsheet appeared before them. It showed every tamer who had already completed the maze challenge and their times, ranked in order from fastest to slowest.
“You can’t do that!” Lucia hissed. She stepped in front of Tak and glanced around, as if to hide his projection from any of the camp staff who might have been watching.
“Why not?” Tak asked. “Nobody said it was against the rules!”
Although Jackson felt they were definitely wading through a gray area, he couldn’t help but study the names. After some quick math on his own holo-watch, he determined the average time for the tamers so far was about twelve minutes. Looking over the names and comparing the tamers to the camp ranking board, the numbers were also skewed. A couple of the camp’s best tamers had already gone through the challenge. Jackson wondered if eleven minutes would be good enough by the time everything was said and done.
He didn’t have to think long. As soon as the horn sounded on the tamer following Miguel, the announcer spun the wheel. Jackson felt gripped by adrenaline and nerves when he saw his number flash on the screen.
“Jackson Hunt, you’re up!”
Several of the tamers from Barrack 4 muttered good luck. Appleby gave Jackson a fist bump and Fiona took the time to stand and give him her best wishes as well. It felt odd to hear her tell him good luck, but he appreciated the gesture nonetheless. He noticed the dark circles around her eyes and Fiona’s gaunt expression and wondered just how hard Vance was pushing her behind the scenes.
Briggs surprised Jackson at the elevator lift. He gave his student a long look up and down and then nodded. “You ready for this, kid?”
Jackson managed to respond with what he hoped wasn’t too much of an unconvincing yes.
“Just stay calm and focused,” Briggs said. “I haven’t had a look at the course either, but don’t rush things. If you panic or start going to hard and too fast, you’re going to cause your Djinn to mess up. Got it?”
Jackson just nodded this time. Briggs slapped him on the back. “Good luck!”
Jackson stepped inside the elevator and the doors closed right behind him. The lift was small enough he would have barely been able to sit down, and the absurd thought crossed his mind that he really didn’t want to be stuck in the elevator. Moments later, the lift finished its ascent and then gave a slight jerk as it changed from a vertical direction to a horizontal one. A soft hiss of pressurized air and a soft electrical whirr sounded then the doors opened to reveal the observation deck on top of the tower.
The room was about ten square feet and had a panel on one side. A circular cut of glass extended all the way around, giving a three hundred and sixty degree view of the room. Jackson only got a quick glimpse outside before the glass blacked out. He stepped off of the elevator and the door hissed shut behind him,
“Welcome, tamer,” an automated voice said. “Please place your two Djinn rings in the console slots to begin the challenge. Once your rings are placed in the console, press the green button. Your Djinn will be released from stasis into the maze below and returned to you upon the completion of the challenge. Your communication with your Djinn will be limited throughout the course — telepathic communication is advised. Please return your Djinn to the tower when finished. Good luck!”
Once again, the well wishes of the automated woman made Jackson feel anything but lucky. He paused and then took off both his rings, placing them in the slots of the console. A small glass cover slid over both of them and then the rings sank down into the machine. Two glowing lights above each slot indicated that the rings had been successfully placed.
Jackson took a deep breath and then slammed his palm down on the start button.
“Challenge beginning in three, two…one — begin!”
The Djinn rings flared with light and the tinting on the glass of the tower winked out, revealing the maze below. Jackson’s first impression was to stare at the complexity of the course — a quick glance showed several obstacles and puzzles. He wanted to study more but the clock running on the screen above his two Djinn rings kicked him into gear. Where were his Djinn?
Jackson looked out from the tower at all angles and couldn’t spot Asena or Scrappy. He started to panic before remembering his mental Bond. Taking another deep breath, he calmed his mind and reached out first for Asena.
All at once, she responded with a mental bark and Jackson knew exactly where she was. He ran across the small room and looked into the
western portion of the maze. His heart sank a little at the sight. Asena was trapped in a cage.
With the clock running, Jackson glanced around for a button or something to release the cage. He smacked the start button a couple of times but nothing happened. He commanded Asena to blast the cage with a Fire Bark. Nothing happened. Panic started to set in but then Jackson remembered Scrappy.
The Magglecaw was positioned in the southern corner of the maze, a net stretching across the top, preventing him from flying over the walls. After promising Asena he would get her out as fast as he could, Jackson reached out to Scrappy. The Magglecaw’s mental chatter almost overwhelmed him but Jackson pushed it aside. If Asena couldn’t get out, then there had to be something else in the maze that released her. Jackson wagered it would be up to Scrappy to find it.
Jackson looked out at the twisting turning paths. Unlike the maze games Jackson had played on his tablet as a kid, the training camp maze featured no hard angles on the walls, just a mess of routes, some with tubes that twisted and turned over one another like out of control vines.
While directing Scrappy down the path leading from Jackson’s left of the Magglecaw’s starting location, Jackson searched for the finish line. The Djinn ran around the circular tower but found no telltale light or flag marking the goal. Then what was the purpose?
“What am I supposed to do?” Jackson asked the console. He hoped the female AI would give him a hint. She didn’t respond.
The flashing number of the stopwatch showed Jackson had already wasted two and a half minutes. He pushed down his nerves and tried to focus. Scrappy continued to fly down his path with no obstacles or obstructions in his way. Jackson wondered if he would have to lead the Magglecaw into Asena’s chamber to unlock the cage. He hoped not. The thought of Asena and Scrappy going through the maze together under a time limit sounded like the stuff of nightmares.
Think, think, he told himself. It had only taken the fastest of the tamers before him just shy of eleven minutes to finish the maze. What had they done? He doubted the maze was an exact replica every time, but surely if there was a shortcut or something, they would all have it.
Jackson took a step back and looked at the maze as a whole. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the different tunnels and paths were coded with colored paint or lights — red, blue, and green. A quick look showed Asena in a room from a blue path with only one way out. Scrappy had started in a room that had a red and green exit and was currently going down a green path. Jackson raised a finger to help him keep track of the path and traced its route throughout the maze. Unfortunately, neither of Scrappy’s paths looked like they led to anywhere that the Magglecaw could access Asena’s room from.
The clock now showed just under four minutes. In desperation, Jackson commanded Asena to hit the cage with another flame blast. He was so focused on his Lyote that he almost missed it. As soon as Asena let loose her Fire Bark, the colors of the path changed. Asena’s room was now red, and Scrappy was on a blue path. Unfortunately, the color change only complicated things more, and a few more Fire Barks and color changes from Asena didn’t make things easier. If anything else, it made the paths that much more complicated — like a somehow more frustrating color-coded puzzle cube.
With no other lead, Jackson guided Scrappy down the blue path. All of a sudden, things started to get hairier. Parts of the path were obstructed from Jackson’s view, but he could tell from his Magglecaw’s distress that Scrappy had come across some sort of obstacle. Jackson communicated to Scrappy that he needed mental images. The Magglecaw responded with images of a path choked with strings, almost impossible to crawl, let alone fly through. Based on the length of the tunnel Jackson could see Scrappy was in, and based on Scrappy’s own experience conveyed telepathically, Jackson guessed it would likely take his Djinn eight minutes to make it through. A look at the clock told him that would put him over twelve minutes total — before even getting to whatever finish line he needed to get to — way slower than the others.
What am I missing here?
Something was up. He highly doubted the camp staff would select him personally to give an unbeatable maze too. He’d missed something, but didn’t know what in the world it could be. With no other possible action, Jackson sent Scrappy back down the now-blue path to his starting room. The clock marked five minutes.
A beep sounded in the tower and Jackson looked around wildly, trying to figure out what it could mean. Nothing looked different inside. He scanned the maze and groaned. Now there were other Djinn in the maze, too. He didn’t know for sure, but Jackson thought they probably weren’t here to help. As if reading his mind, a Moldune suddenly popped up in the path in front of Scrappy and showered the Magglecaw with a Debris Shot. The bird went down in a mess of mud, gravel, and sand. Rather than pressing the attack, however, the Moldune disappeared back down its tunnel.
Come on, boy, shake it off. Jackson tried to keep the stress out of his voice and sound encouraging to Scrappy who responded with an annoyed caw as he flapped the last of the dirt out of his wings. The vain Djinn would be cleaning his feathers for days now.
Scrappy managed to climb back into the air, and Jackson could feel his ire at being covered in the Moldune’s spray attack. The Magglecaw made it back into his starting chamber and Jackson risked another look at the clock — six and a half minutes.
Okay, calm down and focus. There’s got to be something —
Jackson cried out at Scrappy’s rush of panicked emotion into his mind. A door had swung shut over the Magglecaw’s chamber.
Both of Jackson’s Djinn were trapped.
CHAPTER 22
Jackson yelled and smacked the console panel in frustration. Before he could think of what to do next, however, a mental flare from Asena sent him running to the other side of the observation tower.
He realized that both her and Scrappy’s doors were connected by a blue tunnel. Unfortunately, the tunnel was sealed off by doors on either side. Jackson commanded Scrappy to hit it with a Mocking Wind, and to his immense pleasure, it exploded inward. A rush of excitement hit him and Scrappy entered the tunnel, hitting the other door on Asena’s end with another Mocking Wind. It exploded outward and the two were finally together.
Jackson was then hit with an unexpected feeling of elation, but the emotion wasn’t his own. Rather, it was Scrappy’s who was apparently amused to find his partner trapped in a cage. Scrappy flew around just out of reach of Asena in a taunt that wasn’t making Jackson’s job any easier.
Scrappy, that’s enough! Jackson scolded his Djinn. Find a way to help her out.
Scrappy flew around Asena’s cage, and after disappearing behind a blind spot for a few seconds, Asena’s cage opened up. Looks like they’d purposely hidden the switch out of view of Jackson and out of reach of Asena.
The female AI’s voice filled the room. Apparently, now she was letting Jackson know just how bad he was doing.
As soon as Asena was free, however, she started to growl at the trickster flying above her.
Stand down! Stand down, stand down, stand down!
The two Djinn almost set upon each other at once, but the overpowering wave of Jackson’s mind held them in check. The only way out of the chamber at this moment was into where Scrappy was previously being kept. Luckily, it seemed like that room’s pathways shifted every minute or so. He needed them to be in that room if he didn’t want to miss his window, so he sent the pair through the tunnel without a second thought.
Jackson couldn’t have cut it any closer. As soon as they entered Scrappy’s chamber, the door disappeared. Now, only one pathway was available from the chamber — a green one. He sent the two Djinn down it as fast as they could manage — Scrappy in front so he wouldn’t try any funny business with Asena’s tail.
About thirty yards down the twisting, turning path, they came across another pair of Djinn. Jackson juggled both Djinn’s connections in his mind and commanded them to attack. As soon as Scrappy’s Mocking Wind hit his o
pponent, however, the enemy Djinn disappeared — a projection. Asena’s foe took the Fire Bark and blinked out as well.
So not all of the Djinn are real. This changed things. Jackson had been mapping a route along the green path to avoid as many Djinn as possible, but he realized that might be a waste of time.
“Nine minutes.”
Jackson tried not to freak out. According to Tak’s records, the fastest time so far had been ten minutes and forty-five seconds. On the plus side, Jackson now saw two finish line flags placed throughout the maze — projections that had appeared after Asena and Scrappy entered the same room. The blue and red paths had a finish flag. Unfortunately, Jackson didn’t see a finish line for the green path. He knew that certain actions within the maze switch the colors, but would that switch the location of the finish lines as well?
While he tried to puzzle this out, he continued to push Asena and Scrappy down the path. To their credit, or perhaps due to their mounting fatigue, they mostly ignored one another and focused on Jackson’s commands.
The next obstacle they came to was a wide section of rushing water that looked like it would suck Asena into a whirlpool if she tried to cross it. Jackson held her in place and sent Scrappy flying across where a small pull chain stopped the flow of water. Following that were two tunnels set within the path. After some quick trial and error, Jackson realized both Djinn had to pass through at exactly the same speed and time to not get flung back out. He allowed a brief celebration when Scrappy and Asena made it to the other side. Their mounting success seemed to be drawing them into an accord, even if he could still feel their dislike for one another simmering through their mental connections. But he was almost done. He could feel it.
Then the floor beneath them collapsed, and both Djinn fell into a mess of sticky tar-like goo.
“Ten minutes.”
Jackson thought he might have a nervous breakdown. He was a few short minutes away from finishing with the slowest time and his Djinn were completely trapped.
Rivals Page 18