Reward

Chii also won. It helped her that I’d just demolished Pebble’s primary team, and the Badge Trainer had to use a group of Capmon that were secondary to her. Chii swore never to allow Zane to challenge someone before she did again. She got her badge, the same one Zane got, but she insisted that she felt cheated. The champion hadn’t stayed to watch her match- a blowout in which Pebble stood virtually no chance.

I slumped over Zane’s shoulder tiredly as he waltzed out of the stadium, humming a cheery tune. Pop! Goes the Wizzel. I caught someone slinking into the forest just across the from the lake out of the corner of my eye. She wore a black, sparkling uniform. It was similar in design to the Starlight Gang, but it was more elaborate. Their commanders had worn such getup before, but I shook my head. This was a place where people came to watch Capmon matches, a gathering place for what Capmon fans were so dedicated that they were interested in watching brand new trainers challenge their first gym. A member of the real Starlight Gang would never show their face with Fire or me around. We’d destroyed their captains and commanders, and even took the fight to the kingpin himself.

Zane didn’t even notice the woman. I guessed that was for the better. There wasn’t anything terribly bad she could be doing here, anyway. If she was capable of pulling off something truly dangerous in a bustling town around a sporting arena, Zane couldn’t defeat her. Especially not with me so exhausted I had to lower myself to lying flat across his shoulder. Not while Prince was barely conscious inside of his Capture Ball and Squirm was out cold. We were headed to the Capmon Hospital anyway.

He didn’t pay the coins for the hospital up front. It became more expensive the more badges you had. That way, beginning trainers had the ability to get into the game without going bankrupt. Experienced trainers were expected to be much more careful. Sitting Badge Trainers, the Four Guardians, and all Champions were given free treatment. I was supposed to be, but Zane still had to pay for the nurse’s patronizing checkup. I never resisted. I’d be sedated if I did, or at least the demeaning process would take longer. Apparently I was growing slower than a baby Kichi was supposed to be, I snorted at the fact that the nurse decided on such a thing after only knowing me for a few days.

Still, the hospital bed was fluffy and comfortable. There was a heating pad under it that slowly warmed up. The warmth got caught in my pelt as it radiated upward, and I only started realizing how my legs were sore. I squeaked and murred as the fur on my back shook softly. My tail twitched and stretched before slowly curling around myself. I was snoring a minute later.

I jolted awake, breathing heavily. My lungs burned. I was lying on the forest floor just outside of Verdant Shore. My fingers twitched as I slowly pushed myself to my feet. There was a long stain on my skirt, and mud was splattered across my fingernails. My head was ringing. I looked out over the water and reached down to touch my hairless belly as I saw my human reflection. I fell from a cliff days ago, and that was in a different forest at least several hours of walking away. I didn’t know why I was waking up from that nightmare here.

I took another step toward Verdant Shore. I fell asleep somewhere else, so I must have been brought here for a reason. I was dreaming about a battle here. It felt so real. I held my hand up to my face, studying the wrinkles on my palm. I gasped and pulled my sleeve up over my hand, hiding it. Tiny jolts of electricity crackled between my fingertips.

“No!” I yelled and pinched my cheek. “This is real! This is real!” I swore to myself. “This isn’t the dream. It’s real.” I kept breathing heavily, no fantasy melting away around me. Instead, a reality within a reality when both should have been nightmares.

It was midmorning already. The orange sunlight flashed across the lake, dimming itself through a thin layer of fog. I tried to wipe the mud off my skirt, but it had dried against the fabric for days. It stuck like glue. Verdant Shore looked exactly as it had when I went to sleep the night before. A group of people were standing around the Capmon Hospital, that was a normal occurrence. The hospitals had hotel rooms of a rather high quality meant for trainers passing through. A champion had been in town yesterday, so I bet to myself that all of these people would have been looking for him.

I wandered into one of the little boutiques near the stadium. I used their changing room to get rid of my ruined clothes and change into something else. A little sundress with a pattern of white daisies across it. If anybody asked me, I’d have told them it was the only thing that would fit me. In fact, I simply liked it. I also purchased a silver beret which I hoped would cover enough of my dirtied hair. It wasn’t uncommon for trainers to be less than perfectly clean, most slept outside during the difficult parts of their journeys. But, champions were meant to look more put together.

I took my Capture Balls off of my belt and bought a little purse for them which I slung over my shoulder. Finally, I strutted back into town to see the commotion around the hospital. I still imagined they were all here for Fire, and if they were, that meant a chance to steal one or two of his fans. Instead, they were yelling wildly at the nurse. A Capmon had disappeared in the night, and they needed to know that their own partners were safe.

“Hey! Can someone tell me what’s going on?” I forced myself through the crowd.

They turned and stared. One man sighed, “Champion Cyan. This crooked nurse won’t let us in to see if our Capmon are well!”

“They’re fine…” Evidently, I was not inside of the hospital, nor was I a Kichi anymore. Bianca wasn’t going to turn up, unfortunately for Zane. That was his loss and rather my boon. I was going to laugh wildly when I broke the news to him. I doubted he would take it well. I hoped he wouldn’t.

“But, Champion…” Another woman picked at a scab on her neck as she spoke. Her voice trailed off and sped up randomly, “There was– another-boy-who-he– and he went looking-for-his– this Capmon of his– it disappeared. He was chasing after-a-strange– a strange lady!”

“I heard Fire was in town,” I changed the subject, “did anyone see where he went?” My eyes scanned to the edge of the woods. That was where the uniformed woman had been last night. If she was as strong as the Starlight Gang’s captains had once been, and if Zane was going after her…” I started off toward the forest, stomping as hard as I could against the road as I did. With each heavy step, the ground boomed with a tiny thunderbolt. Little sparks fizzled upward. I refused to stop myself. It was his business if he had some death wish. It was his business if he wanted to pick a fight he couldn’t win like an idiot. It wasn’t my responsibility that I’d made him think he could actually win. It wasn’t my job to protect him, and yet I pursued Zane instinctually.

I followed a line of footsteps through the mud at the edge of town. My fingertips rustled through my purse until they clutched a specific Capture Ball. I held it at the ready, looking past it like the sights of a rifle. I didn’t have to go far before having a more clear sense of direction. Zane’s voice called out from deep within the trees, “Who’s there!?” He yelled, “Bianca. I’m looking for a Kichi named Bianca, have you seen her?” I couldn’t quite make out the woman’s voice responding to him.

The trees parted as I pushed myself between them. I stood atop a ledge overlooking a little clearing. Zane was inside of it with the uniformed woman staring at him. She smiled, “Do you know who I am, Boy?”

His eyes finally darted over her uniform. He took a step back, “You’re with those two weird guys!”
“Weird guys?” She shrugged, “I don’t know. There are a few weirdos in my organization. Captain Mary, that’s my name. I’m a member of the New Starlight Gang!” I finally recognized her. Mary was around twenty years old, and she’d grown popular as a teenage trainer around the time I was six or seven. She got her eighth badge, and people were suddenly rooting for her to become a champion, but she never made it. She’d been a part of the Starlight Gang when I fought her before. She was almost as strong as one of the Four Guardians, just never quite strong enough to become a champion.

Zane snatched a Capture Ball from his side, “I’m not giving you anything!”

“Look, Kid,” she yawned, “you said you’re looking desperately for a Kichi. It got stolen, that happens sometimes. Just move on.”

“No!” Zane yelled. I sighed as I watched him. She was right, there was no use in him continuing to dwell on this. I wasn’t dead, but coming back was out of the question.

Mary smirked, “Sure. Why don’t you come back to my secret base, and I’ll show you some tricks to find lost Capmon, then? That is, if Kichi hasn’t already been eaten by an Owloss or a Nyaro or anything else!”

“You’ll really show me?” Zane stepped toward her cautiously.

I hopped down from the ledge, landing with a thud. My beret flew off and my hair stood on end, as if it was about to be struck by lightning. I ran in front of Zane and held my hand out behind me, defensively. It was a stance I’d naturally taken several times over the last few days, and it must have looked ridiculous to see a human take. I corrected myself, shifting my outstretched hand into a dramatic pose, “I thought I got rid of this little Starlight Gang…” I turned my head slightly, “Get out of here, Zane.”

“Champion Cyan…” He mumbled, “Can I get an autograph!? You’re my favorite champion!”

“I said get out of here! Scram! Leave!” I hissed. My fingertips crackled, the electricity running between them becoming brighter and fiercer.

Zane’s eyes were drawn to my fingers, “Cyan, your hands…”

“Champions are supposed to do cool things, right?” I smirked. My hands definitely weren’t supposed to be generating enough energy to power a small city.

Mary stepped backward, “Don’t get in my way again, Cyan…”

“Nidlord, go!” I opened the Capture Ball I’d been holding. The towering figure of the purple, spined reptile appeared beside me. He sniffed me as he came out. His face scrunched up, confused. I winced, “I get it, I smell weird. Don’t worry about it.”

A red, flaming reptile emerged from Mary’s ball. Its lower half oozed with molten rock, and its long, fanged maw hissed with smoke. Its eyes narrowed on Nidlord. Two wide fleshy wings cracked up and down like a whip behind it. A series of horns on its back turned red as fire built up inside of them. The muddy ground melted under Flarizdon as he blundered forward. His claws burned at over a thousand degrees.

I watched Nidlord silently. He waited calmly as we both thought about Farizdon could do. It was a strange choice to show a flame type, a traditionally weak Capmon against an earth type like Nidlord. Its wings made it difficult to hit.

“Rock Rush!” Zane called out the name of one of Nidlord’s most famous moves, “Farizdon is really weak to that move!”

“Just wait,” I shook my head. My hand flicked over toward Zane’s cheek as if to stop him. My fingertips stopped just before him, stinging as the hissing electricity ran through my veins and froze in my wrist. I yelped and only regained control of my wrist a moment later. I smirked to Zane, “someone really needs to whip you into shape. For Prince’s sake, right?”

He blinked, “You know my Capmon?”

“F-Fire was telling me about them after the match yesterday!” I turned back toward Mary. She was also waiting for some reason. If I raced in with some attack like Rock Rush, she could use the positioning near the edge of the clearing- the foliage. I smirked, Mary was planning to set the forest on fire once Nidlord got too close.

“He told you!” Zane blushed.

“He said you fought like an idiot and only got lucky in a bad situation. He said Bianca makes better decisions than you do,” I stepped forward, “Nidlord, step back.” He did as I said.

“You have the advantage…” Zane mumbled, “Just attack!”

“Would you ever just listen to me!” I snapped at him. My hands swirled with buzzing, growing electricity. The surge ran through my veins and sparkled through my hair. “For once in your life, forget your own stupid, brainless ideas and learn your place! You’re not me. You’ll never be me. You’ll never know better than me. So just shut up, and listen.”

“We’ve never met before…” He backed away from me slowly. “I’m sorry- I’m sorry. You’re right, you’re a champion…”

Mary quietly commanded her Farizdon back as well. I watched her retreat and tried to catch my breath. I struggled, coughing and sputtering. My head was burning, the electricity around me wasn’t slowing. I winced and looked up at my opponent, “A draw?”

She scoffed, “Fine… I’ll get you another day.” Mary recalled Farizdon and ran off into the woods. I quietly recalled Nidlord. I wheezed as I did. My breath caught in my throat, burning in ears. Something was pushing against me, crushing. The air around me flashed with bright light as more sparks flickered away from me.

“A-are you alright?” Zane mumbled.

I walked away from him. He tried taking a step in my direction until I held my hand behind me, “Don’t you dare follow me…” I struggled to say. My knees trembled under me, the joints burning. As soon as I was out of Zane’s sight, I collapsed.

When I woke up, Zane was towering over me, “Thank goodness!” He almost melted, “I found you, I found you!” There was fur covering my chest again.