Rivals

by Derek Alan Siddoway

  Jackson took a moment to gather his thoughts and figure out how they were going to move forward. His platform had just enough wobble in it that he didn’t dare have Asena jump to him as well — he had a sneaking suspicion the weight of a tamer and Djinn would topple the platform faster than he could say Lyote.

  Instead, Jackson decided to time their next jumps rather than one after the other.

  “One…two…three!”

  On three, Scrappy flapped ahead to the fourth platform, Jackson jumped to the third and Asena leaped to the second. The platforms held steady.

  Yes!

  Jackson’s celebration was cut short almost as soon as it had begun. In his excitement, Scrappy got carried away and flapped to the far side, off of his platform. Almost at once, Jackson and Asena’s platforms heaved. Jackson threw himself forward and barely managed to grab the edge of the next platform. He scrambled on top of it — fortunately, it didn’t tip over sideways — and twisted his head behind his shoulder to check on Asena. Luckily, she’d been able to hold her position on the next platform as well. After shooting a dirty look at Scrappy, who cawed in apparent confusion at Jackson’s ire, Jackson and Asena hopped forward onto the far side of the first obstacle.

  How long had that taken? Jackson didn’t know and didn’t want to waste time thinking about it. He ran forward, Scrappy and Asena trailing him, to the next obstacle. This time, they were greeted with a tall wall with divots and outcrops that looked like the artificial climbing wall from the rec center in Tyle. Instead of every spot being a hand hold, however, Jackson saw what looked like two climbing aids that could be held in each hand. Both were at the top of the wall.

  Jackson commanded Scrappy to fly up, but when the Magglecaw tried to pry one out with his beak, it held firm. When Jackson attempted to climb the wall without them, a warning buzzer sounded. He pulled his hands back at once. The message was clear — he needed the two grips.

  Growing frustrated, Jackson wracked his mind for an idea.

  Think…think…

  Nothing he’d done in camp had prepared him for this. Desperate, he commanded Scrappy to attack.

  Mocking Wind!

  Scrappy flapped his wings faster and faster until a torrent of blasts struck the wall. As soon as the attack hit the grips, the right one popped out. Jackson reached up and snatched it before it could hit the deck and bounce off the platform. The second grip remained firmly in place.

  All right, another Mocking Wind!

  Another blast from Scrappy’s wings hit the left grip. Nothing happened.

  Okay…Asena, Fire Bark!

  Asena tipped her head back and let out a yip. The resulting fireball shot upward and struck the grip like it was the bullseye of a target. Much to Jackson’s relief, the remaining grip popped out. Jackson grabbed it as well — luckily it wasn’t hot enough to burn his hand — and scaled the wall in short order. Now about thirty feet off of the fieldhouse ground, Jackson looked forward at their next obstacle.

  The platform narrowed ahead — no more than six feet wide. In the middle of the path sat a large, heavy weight that was as wide as the deck, leaving no way around it. A rope hung from the center of the weight to the rafter above in the top of the fieldhouse. The obstacle seemed to be clear, judging by the white and black checkered flag Jackson could see sticking off the far side of the narrow platform where it widened again. It looked like all they had to do was push the weight across the line and the course was done.

  Commanding Scrappy to hold back, Jackson charged forward and braced himself against the weight. As expected, it didn’t budge at all. He backed up and had both Scrappy and Asena hit it with a Mocking Wind and a Fire Bark. Nothing.

  Jackson braced himself against the weight in a pushing position and then commanded Asena to hit the weight with a Headbutt attack. His faithful Lyote struck the weight and Jackson felt the platform give a little.

  “Again!” he shouted to Asena while he braced and pushed. She struck the weight and it moved another few inches.

  While Asena continued her pushing and Headbutting, Jackson commanded Scrappy to hit the weight head-on with a steady stream of his Mocking Wind attack. The gust blew like a storm around Jackson and Asena, but Scrappy held the angle steady and the weight moved even more.

  Jackson risked a glanced up. They were about halfway across the narrow walkway. He knew one mistake from Scrappy would send either he or Asena flying off the platform into the safety foam pads below. There seemed to be no way back up — a fall like that would mean a huge delay penalty or outright disqualification.

  Steady, Jackson told Scrappy mentally while he gritted his teeth and heaved against the weight with all his might. Sweat dripped down his face from the obstacles and his entire body burned.

  Steady, boy, we’re almost —

  Scrappy let out an impatient caw and redoubled his attack. A powerful, turbulent wind struck Jackson and whipped his feet out from underneath him. He landed hard on his elbow and rolled over just in time to see Asena skidding toward the side of the walkway.

  Jackson shouted and scrambled forward. He lunged and managed to grab a tuft of Asena’s fur at the same moment she went over the edge. His body lurched forward but he clung tight. Asena’s full weight pulled on his arm and shoulder and Jackson let out a shout of pain. Fingers burning, he managed to roll over onto his stomach without being pulled off the platform. Asena struggled and yipped in his grip.

  “Grab me by the pant leg!” Jackson shouted to Scrappy between clenched teeth and then winced as the Magglecaw’s beak nipped at the back of his calf. After a few seconds, he could feel Scrappy’s weight helping. It gave him enough of a break to grab Asena by the scruff of her neck with his other hand and haul her back onto the platform.

  Jackson rolled onto his back and gasped for air. Luckily, he’d built plenty of muscle working at Sato long before the rigors and workouts of camp. That, and Asena was more fluffy orange and cream fur than weight. Before he could sit up, a blast of fire shot past his ear and struck Scrappy full on. Asena crouched low, growling with her hackles raised and Jackson jumped to his feet to separate her from the charred, dazed Magglecaw.

  Enough! Let’s get this weight moved. We’re not done!

  Not even bothering to see if his two Djinn would help, Jackson threw himself at the weight with reckless abandon. He had no idea how much time had passed, but knew they’d wasted valuable minutes with the near disaster

  Asena and Scrappy doubled down on their efforts too. The sudden force of their exertion took Jackson by surprise but he didn’t let up. One leg in front of the other, he drove the weight forward. Sweat dripped into his eyes and burned, matching the fire in his entire body. Feeling himself give out, Jackson roared and gave a final heave with the last of his strength.

  A horn sounded. Jackson fell to his knees and saw the white and black checkered line between his legs. They’d done it.

  Shaking, Jackson pulled himself upright. White spots filled his vision and his legs felt like he was out on a boat. Scrappy and Asena looked just as beat and sat with heads and tails bowed. Jackson hesitated and then looked up at the blank screen above the end of the platform.

  He expected the time to fill the blank screen, but there was nothing.

  After taking a few more seconds to catch his breath, Jackson descended down the back side of the platform, Scrappy and Asena close behind. Briggs and Coach Vanova were waiting when he reached the bottom. Jackson tried to read their expressions to get an idea on how he’d done, but they neither gave anything away.

  “Not bad,” Briggs said. “Could have been better — you were on pace to be the fastest completion minus those two little hangups.”

  “What’s my time?” Jackson asked Coach Vanova. At this point, that was all that mattered. The past was the past — he couldn’t change how his team had done in the obstacle course.

  “They’re not being posted yet, Hunt,” Vanova said. “As soon as everyone finishes, the barrack coaches will meet wit
h the tamers in their house individually. For now, go get your Djinn checked out and get something to eat.”

  The last thing Jackson wanted to do was try to eat something at the moment, but he had his Djinn checked out and then returned to the barracks to clean up and await his fate. The common room was only half full when he returned — Hayden, Appleby, and Lucia sat together around one of the sectional couches, discussing the course.

  “Hey!” Appleby said when he saw Jackson come through the sliding doors. “You’re done! How did it go?”

  Jackson shrugged. “It wasn’t bad — I think? They’re not telling me much. How about for you guys?”

  Each of the three tamers explained how they’d done on the course. Somehow, it sounded like some of the obstacles had been changed throughout. Jackson had no idea how the staff had swapped things that fast between contestants but it didn’t surprise him that camp staff had pulled all the stops on the final challenge.

  After listening to the trio for a few more minutes, Jackson excused himself and returned to his quarters. Once the door was shut, he fell down on his back on his bed and let out a groan. The challenge had taken everything out of him, mentally and physically.

  Though Jackson didn’t want to get up, he forced himself to get showered and dressed before grabbing a couple of the recovery drinks supplied by some Bronze League sponsor in his mini fridge. He was just deciding if he wanted to return to the commons and potentially deal with Akamu when his watch vibrated and spoke.

  “All tamers please report to the common area of your barrack as soon as possible.”

  Jackson headed down the stairs, running into Moto Rine and Fiona along the way. Unlike the chattier group he’d been welcomed by earlier, neither Fiona nor Moto asked anything more than a polite “how did it go?” Jackson gave the same noncommittal answer and asked them the same.

  “It was fine,” Moto said. “Just another day in the life, right?”

  Jackson nodded but inside couldn’t believe the ice water flowing in her veins and was envious of her confidence.

  Coach Vanova waited for them downstairs. Miguel and Akamu were the last two to arrive and then she began.

  “Congratulations on your efforts today, tamers. We have completed the obstacles in both fieldhouses and have prepared your final scores and rankings. Unlike previous challenges, these rankings will not be posted. I will meet with each of you and give you a small amount of feedback on your course before I give you your final rankings and position in camp. Hunt, let’s start with you.”

  Jackson felt his stomach flip. Why was he going first? They obviously weren’t going in the same order as the challenge — he’d been the last one in Barrack 4 to compete. Was Vanova getting the cut list out of the way first?

  Jackson followed Vanova into her office, located in an extension of their barrack. Inside, she gestured to a seat on the opposite side of the table. It was the first time Jackson had ever been in the space. Monitors covered the back wall behind him as well as a Barrack 4 roster on the side wall. Various holos displayed random workout modules, training exercises and more. Having only worked with Briggs, Jackson didn’t know if all coaches’s offices were supposed to look like this or if it was just how camp was organized.

  “I must say, Hunt, you’ve been a wild card since the day you showed up at camp. Half the time you look like you’re one of the best tamers in the Granite Region and the other half, well, you look like you hardly have control of your Djinn, if you’ll excuse me saying so.”

  “Yeah…” Jackson said. So much for a good start to the meeting. His prospects seemed to dampen by the second. “I think I’ve improved, though. I’m getting there — it’s just been a tough transition since I caught my Djinn a few weeks before camp started. The extra time I’ve been putting in with Briggs seems to be paying off.”

  He didn’t think he could talk his way out of being cut, but he sure wasn’t going to sit there and not defend himself. Jackson knew he’d given everything he had the past four weeks. If it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough. But he’d done all he could and didn’t want Vanova or anyone else thinking otherwise.

  Vanova snorted. “The fact that you made it this far with Cassius Briggs as your coach is probably a testament in and of itself. He’s about as sporadic as you these days. We’ve spent a lot of time together over the last four weeks — the individual coaches actually play a large part in camp as consultants. Half the time he’s still a Gold League Champion, and the rest, well…”

  She trailed off and then gave an awkward cough in the silence that followed. “Anyway, bottom line is, I think you’re a better tamer than what the scores says. And don’t you think I’m just saying that, either. I don’t really give a damn if your feelings are hurt or you go home crying. My job is to prepare the tamers of Barrack 4 the best I can and to find the best talent for the Granite Region to put on its Bronze League Roster — I’m not just filling you full of Bovan Djinn crap.”

  So that was it, then. He believed Vanova when she said she wasn’t just trying to make him feel better, but the fact that she’d led with the hint at how bad his scores was what sealed the deal for Jackson. He wanted to say something, to let her know he’d be back again and again, but he just didn’t have the heart in him. All he wanted was to get out of the room, go home and go to bed. The prospect of another year of paltry training in Tyle and another training camp was too much to consider at the moment. He gave no reply.

  Vanova flipped open a screen on her holo and a page pulled up in front of Jackson. It showed his total scores leading up to the final obstacle. In addition to the battles, challenges, and drill times, Jackson was surprised to find a number of other comments and grades for things such as inventiveness, perceived Djinn loyalty, and more.

  “Like I said, you’ve been a wild card the whole time you’ve been here,” Vanova explained, scrolling through some of the numbers with her finger. “Just when we thought we had a read on you, you’d go and surprise us. As you can see, your rank leading up to the final challenge placed you well outside the top tamers.”

  Jackson’s heart hammered in his chest as she pulled up another page — his results from the obstacle course. He, Asena, and Scrappy were all given separate scores which then figured into his time.

  “Briggs and I watched your run through the course,” Vanova said. “Eleven minutes and twenty-four seconds was your time, by the way. Kind of middle of the pack. But Briggs wasn’t kidding you when he said you were on pace to be the fastest of the day. Once again though, those two half-tamed Djinn of yours decided to throw a wrench in things.”

  Jackson wrinkled his nose. Sure, Scrappy was a half-tamed troublemaker, but he felt Asena at least deserved a little bit of credit. Jackson pushed that aside and focused on the information in front of him. Vanova pulled up his total score, including the time, but without the other tamers’s scores to put it in context, he had no idea just how bad he’d done, comparatively, which was a tad infuriating.

  “Fortunately, you were able to earn back a few of those lost points by pulling your Djinn back together at the end, and you still had a decent time in spite of it all,” Vanova said. She swiped a hand and the screen disappeared, leaving Jackson and her face to face across the coach’s desk. “As it stands, I can honestly say I’m happy to let you know that you still made the cut. Congratulations, you’re the twentieth tamer on the list for the camp tournament. You’re going to get your chance to make the final roster.”

  CHAPTER 27

  “I — what?”

  Jackson shook his head. He had to have heard Vanova wrong. “Did you just say I was the twentieth tamer?”

  Coach Vanova’s normally stern face broke out into the first smile Jackson had seen from her throughout the entire camp. “You’re in, Hunt. You’ve got a spot at the camp tournament.”

  Jackson jumped out of his seat and knocked his chair over backward in the process. He didn’t even notice.

  “I — I mean… I just. I don’t…”
>
  Vanova laughed. “Settle down. You’re not there yet. You’re the twentieth tamer on the tournament roster. It’s going to take some serious underdog work for you to make the Granite Region team. But you’ve got a shot.”

  Jackson couldn’t contain himself any longer. He let out a shout of triumph and pumped his fist in the air, not caring that he was celebrating in the coach’s office. “Yes! Thank you! Yes, yes, yess!!”

  “All right, all right, chill out,” Vanova said waving her hands for him to settle down. “You’re not the Bronze League Champion yet. Go let your family know then get some rest. I’ve got to get through the remaining Barrack 4 tamers.”

  She excused Jackson out of a side door that connected to a back stairway up to the dorms. As soon as he got to his room, Jackson sent Kay, Jane, Briggs, and his other friends a series of celebratory holo-clips (though they were a slightly calmer version of his celebration from Vanova’s office). His holo-watch lit up all at once with congratulations. Before Jackson replied to any of them, however, he released Asena and Scrappy from their rings.

  “We made it!” Before either Djinn knew what was happening, Jackson yanked them into a tight group hug. He didn’t let go until both Scrappy and Asena forced themselves loose and then he fell back on the bed, laughing.

  Scrappy fluttered into the air, cackling, and Asena spun around in circles and yipped. It took Jackson several seconds to catch his breath and several more to calm his Djinn down. Even then, he grinned at both of them like an idiot.

  “I’m so proud of you two,” Jackson said. “It’s been rough and we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but when it mattered most, we came together as a team. If all three of us work together, there’s nothing that can stop us.”