The Ace

I was back in Garden City. Even though I didn’t need to be resurrected this time, the nurse still insisted she inspect each speck of my fur. My little arms were pulled up and stretched about like taffy. She tugged on my tail, then softly flicked it back and forth. Human doctors weren’t half as interested as playing with their patients. I was suddenly resolved to tell nobody what had happened, not even if I ever got back to being myself. They didn’t need to know about a Capmon nurse gently petting the fluff on my belly, or scratching me behind the ear, or meticulously measuring me only to say I’d grown a fraction of a fraction of a millimeter in the two days since I’d seen her last. She forced a little treat in my mouth and bounced back cheerily, “There ya go!” It had the pulpy texture and sour piquant of mashed berries, but the sweetness was replaced with something saccharine and starchy.

I forced myself to swallow it without retching. She could keep me here longer if I’d done that. My throat wanted to repel it. There were humans who had eaten Capmon food before, some as a joke or dare, and others who had actually liked it. They seemed braver now, dumber. If the processed garbage they made for meat-eating Capmon was this rotten, it made sense why they preferred to just try eating their opponents during a battle. This stuff was cheaply made and sold by a popular company. Brand name. I’d always given it to my own Capmon when I was a trainer. Everybody did.

Fire and I had made an advertisement at one of their offices. “The choice of trainers who really care… SolveCorp.” The cameras rolled while I scratched my Nidlord’s scaly belly. He was always a fan-favorite. Fire let his Kachi slump lazily over his shoulder. He took the money for making the ad, but refused to actually give any of their food to his Capmon. He had to repeat their slogan a second time, “The choice of trainers who really care.”

“Your Catterlett is all better,” The nurse handed the Capture Ball back to Zane.

“His name is Squirm.”

“Uh-huh… Anyway, Kichi is a bit small for her age, and underweight too. Young Kichi are supposed to be a bit plump, you know! Pengli is in tip top shape.” I snorted and shook my head. I wasn’t getting fat no matter how healthy this nurse thought it was.

Zane nodded, “Prince is super tough! And, Bianca is doing great how she is. She won’t eat much anyway.”

“I didn’t see any signs of illness…” The nurse blinked.

“She’s just a bit bratty,” Zane lifted me up and set me on his shoulder, “She zapped me really bad because I wouldn’t get out of bed on time.”

The nurse giggled, “My mother used to do that!” Her eyes flashed with nostalgia.

“What?” Zane stepped back.

“Oh nothing…”

Zane took us to a nice restaurant on the other side of Garden City. Of course, it was in the middle of the grimy, eastern ward where we’d been confronted by criminals before. Zane had three Capmon instead of one, so he was ninety times as confident. Maybe he was lying that he was exactly a day older than me.

This little restaurant he found was a family establishment between two boarded up buildings. A half-living neon sign flickered in the window. A quiet bar sat, abandoned in the back near the kitchen. These places were great for trainers, since they often allowed Capmon to be allowed inside while other restaurants would require them to be recalled to their Capture Balls. There were red carpets that had been stained so many times, their color was slightly darkened. Warm candles sat in the middle of every table.

He asked for crayons from the restaurant’s hostess so that he could draw on the back of his paper kids’ menu. He sketched a stick figure of himself next to little collections of unrecognizable circles in different, pastel colors. It was the worst thing I’d ever seen. His finger dragged over me. “There’s Bianca! And, there’s Prince and Squirm!” Zane kept drawing, “And there’s the champions, there, Fire and Cyan! Here’s Knight, and Elizabeth, and the rest of the Four Guardians. They’re smiling ‘cause we just beat them all.” He laughed.

Prince lay flat across the table. He lifted up his flipper-wing as if to flex it, “See, he knows how tough I am.”

I rolled my eyes, “You know the Four Guardians are some of the best trainers in the world, right… Not to mention the champions.”

“I’m one in a million, Baby,” Prince winked, “no champion has a chance against me.”

“Cyan would see Zane as a complete joke. She wouldn’t even give him the honor of going easy on him!”

Squirm flicked Prince with his antennae, “Can’t argue with a superfan.”

“Superfan?” Prince clicked, “You can always see the eyes of a Capmon in love. Right, Baby? Longing, quiet, lost and found.”

“Do you ever shut up?”

“Just say yes.”

Squirm slithered between us, “She is a hatchling, Pengli.”

“She helped more in the last battle than you did!” Prince laughed wildly, “Well, I’m sure you made the enemy real, real happy. Oh, and. It’s Prince, Baby.”

I snorted and pointed at Zane, “And, I used to hear Capmon look like their trainers. Right, Prince?”

“I’m the only strong Capmon here.”

“I’ve seen better!” I protested, “Nidlord, Keradon, Impferno!”

Prince smacked me with his flipper, “Don’t lie to me, Baby. Any of these- these uh… things… they are things a little one like you cannot how-to-say? Heh. Understand. So big as a big house. And teeth so sharp as sharp teeth. These things would eat Kichi just like a Kichi…”

Squirm grumbled, “You need two different things for a metaphor, not the same thing twice.”

“You sounded way different when we met you in the forest,” I shot Squirm a glance.

“Bah! I had that kid’s leg in my mouth. Of course, I couldn’t speak clearly.”

I laid myself down flat on the table, “Yeah. I want to bite him too, sometimes. I used to be human.”

Squirm looked at me, concerned, “H-hey, don’t be getting into crazytalk, Hatchling.”

“Right… Bianca,” I held my paw up as if to introduce myself. It was the first time I’d ever called myself by that name. This was temporary. I wasn’t friends with some random kid’s Cattalett. Actually understanding what he was saying, he was kind, thoughtful even.

Before I could respond, a series of loud stomps echoed across the carpet followed by an amused screech. Chii forced herself into the booth beside Zane, “I didn’t know ya were around here. Didn’t pay your tab yet?”

“Are you asking me to pay for you?” Zane laughed uncomfortably.

“Waiter!” She waved her hand as if to a departing cruise ship, “Waiter!” She clicked the buttons on her Capture Balls causing Nyrao and Birtsie to appear in the middle of the tablecloth beside us. Between them was a long, thin insect with hooked legs and a body resembling a stick. A rare bug called Twigbo.

I flinched back away from Nyaro. Its ears perked up, “Are you alright? We’re not supposed to be battling.” She padded toward me and forcefully rubbed the side of her cheek against me, “You’re not scared of me, are ya?”

Birtsie turned its head to the sky. It chirped, “Don’t be rubbing on the enemy!”

“I rub on anything that belongs to me,” Nyaro mewed, “right, Kichi? Besides? Enemy? We’ll probably battle again, but we’re not now.”

I reluctantly ran my arm through the Nyaro’s fur. Her fur bristled softly. “So human of you…” She murred like she was in a perfectly made bed with warm sheets just out of the drier. “Keep going…” She suddenly licked me, “mmmmm….”

Birtsie put its wings over its eyes, “Bad kitty! Weirdo! Crackpot! Nutscrewer!”

“You’re no fun…” Nyaro licked me again.

“There can be no infighting but the infighting we believe in!” The newcomer, Twigbo, creaked, its long abdomen swaying back and forth on its bent legs, “Trainer-Chii said to make theater of Zane’s friends. Then learn strategy as friends would. Remember!”

I nodded slowly, “I’ll tell you everything…”

“Stop!” Prince threw his flippers up, “You can’t go on betraying us, Baby.”

“Really? Strategy. There is no strategy. Zane is a broken lightbulb plugged into a spoiled lemon. It’s a miracle there’s anything there at all.” I shrugged, “I’ve been trying to whip this kid into shape.”

Nyaro blinked, “Now, I really can’t wait to battle you guys again. No more flukes, right Birtsie?”

Birtsie pecked the tablecloth sharply until she tore a hole in it, “No-no-no! You’re the one! You ran away from a couple drops of water! Stupid kitty! Stupid! Dummy!”

Nyaro poked my belly with her claw, “That’s how you know she’s a keeper. Watch, watch…” She whispered, “Birtsie, will ya marry me?”

Birtsie’s beak hung open. Her eyes widened. She just sat there silently for a moment, “N-Nyaro… I…”

“Haha! I’m just kidding!” Nyaro cackled, “I wanted to eat her when we first met her in the wild, but now that Chii captured her, she’s my girlfriend. She has no choice.”

“I-I don’t think that’s how that works…” I muttered.

Nyaro licked me again, “C’mon I thought you were fun. Obviously she has a choice. It’s just fun to act like she’s all adorable and helpless. I like things that are adorable and helpless and yummy.”

When our food arrived, Nyaro nudged her platter of steak in front of Birtsie. They shared it together. I wished I could order something meaty as well, but I had to settle for a little salad with big, squishy tomatoes. Twigbo watched me push one of the tomatoes into my mouth. His blank eyes settled on me as I chewed. “Mother of plant is now sad. Imagine her tears. Let them warm you.”

I swallowed, “What?”

“Ignore him. He’s broken…” Birtsie shook her head.