Queen, Ace, Joker

This was a world of second chances, of third and seventh and n-th. Until it wasn’t. Trainers who lost a gym could keep facing it until they ran out of money. Capmon could keep getting up until their trainer couldn’t afford to revive them or couldn’t get there in time. There were stories of cases where the nurse simply failed to resurrect a Capmon who had every right to live.

I held my paws in front of my face. A second chance. I had one, I had one and it left me in a surge of lightning. I hated ever thinking that I’d gotten unlucky. Sometimes it was a simple truth, that’s why we had second chances. Here, I questioned if I could have done something better. Stopped it or at least held it back. I knew once thing, it was possible to turn back- I would get it right. I just had to wait.

Zane wrapped me in his arms. At first, I shook at his touch. It had no meaning, my tiredness nipping at my heels. I fell asleep in his arms, a gesture I’m sure he deluded himself as affection.

When I woke, he was there tapping his foot against the ground. He was staring out the window resting his cheek in his hand. He exhaled slowly. The side of his face was slick, the pink-and-orange, dying daylight trickling down his chin in a thin streak.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

He spun around, “Oh-oh… Y-you’re up…” He scratched at the tears, flailing at them to hide them as quickly as possible. “There’s someone I really like who I met. I think she hated me.” I was surprised how quickly he responded. I didn’t know if he understood my question, or if he was trying to justify his emotions to himself.

I looked away. He went on, “Oh, I’m probably just looking too deeply into it, right?” He sniffled, “I don’t get it, Bianca. I feel like I’ve done everything right. I’ve only ever lost one battle, well you know that, and I got a badge already!”

“You’re doing half of everything wrong.”

“Well, I’m just preaching to the choir.” Of course, he didn’t understand what I was saying. He tapped his foot on the ground, “Fire said something about you… you were using Cyan’s strategy or something. I didn’t understand him, but I didn’t want to tell the champion that he was wrong.”

I nodded. There was simply no way to ever deny that I was using my own strategy.

“Just, keep up the good work. I need you at your best…” He took a deep breath, “I’ll become a champion so that Cyan will see the real me…” He bowed to me, “Please, Bianca. Make me a champion.”

The morning began with an earthquake. I sat calmly on the bed in our hotel room while Zane flung himself under the bedframe. He waited a while as the ground kept shaking. It wasn’t a strong quake, the building wasn’t going to come down or anything. The windows were in no danger of shattering. “Are you alright?” His voice trembled as the floor settled underneath us.

The sky out the window was still black and dull. The lakeside fog drowned out overhead stars, and the wink of the moon was low in the sky. The grandfather clock in the corner of the room clunked as its hour hand snapped into place against the three. He crawled out from under the bed, breathing heavily. “Oh… It’s finally over.”

I laid back down. I’d been woken in the night by plenty of things as a trainer, and I was rather quickly drifting off before Zane grabbed me and set me up on his shoulder. He grabbed his backpack, “Alright, let’s go…” He pushed the door of the hotel room open. I blinked, continuing to go so late in the night seemed unreasonable, neither of us was on a full night of sleep and the wilderness oft lurked with far more dangerous Capmon in the dark.

He stopped on the lower floor. The hotel rooms were a part of the hospital, creating a general place for trainers to stay overnight, even if they didn’t need medical attention. The white, sterile floors were lined with trainers. They were wide-eyed, the few that spoke muttered among themselves. Zane mumbled, “I don’t remember it being this crowded.” The benches were all full, and he had to step between people laying flat across the ground. They weren’t injured, just trying to get some sleep.

Zane stepped up to the counter and flagged down one of the attendants. She scurried over, her green-and-pink uniform barely catching up to her. Her elbows pressed down against the sterile, white counter, “No rooms! No rooms, no beds. Is it an emergency?”

“N-no! I was… I uh… We just want to check out.” Zane held his hands up, “We were in room 409,” he motioned to me, “We’re getting an early start this morning.” Some of the other patients perked up like vultures when they heard him.

The attendant pinched her opposite wrist. She pursed her lips, “Go- go. Have a nice night. We hope to see you again!” She cleared her throat as she waited for Zane to leave, pushing through a crowd that had formed. They all tried to reach the counter first, arguing for the next room.

Zane yawned as the brisk, lakeside wind licked us down the front. It was wetter and rougher than Nyaro’s tongue. Twice as wanting. It was misty outside. The lake was black, another night sky beside us. Zane’s boots sloshed deep through the mud. He stopped to dip them in the dark, shallow water in an attempt to wash them off. Instead he found himself shivering for much of the night as the water seeped through and into his socks.

Moreover, the soaked boots did little to prevent more mud from sticking to them. The mist was thinner away from the lake, and as we continued along the silent, dirt trail, it was his boots making what muddy stains there were. The trail’s well-groomed edges dimmed as the growing forest’s canopy hid the soft moonlight from us. Zane fumbled through his bag for a little flashlight. It did well to create a tiny, visible dot on the ground in front of us. Anytime he looked at me, he carelessly flashed the light over me like a spotlight.

I could barely make out the shadows in the distance. Even my eyes, better than a human’s in the dark, started to show me shapes like faces, leering, with wide mouths. Or blank expressions watching. A step and they drew further or nearer. Stalking us. I held myself tightly against Zane’s shoulder, constantly turning my head around to look out for anything.

Zane spoke loudly, his voice echoing through the treeline, “Do you think we’ll find anything cool at this time?” I flinched as a swish of wind in the air overhead. Wings? An Owloss hunting for her chicks? No. Owloss wings were silent, I wouldn’t have sensed her at all. What then? Just a breeze? The wind did tickle my fur, running across my chest and flicking against my tail, but I hadn’t been able to hear it all night.

The bushes beside the trail shook. Something terrestrial? Around Zane’s size. I steeled myself, if the flying creature was hunting, it would have come after me. That’s unless it was afraid of Zane, or if it was already running… running from something else. Electricity flickered around my cheeks. The bushes parted.

“Zane!” Chii whispered sharply as she pushed her way through, “What are you doing here?” I breathed a sigh of relief as Birtsie swished back around beside her and perched on top of her head. Nyaro was wrapped around her neck like a scarf.

“I was trying to get on to the next city,” Zane said, “what about you?”

“That earthquake could have been caused by a rare Capmon,” Chii beamed, “I’m gonna catch it.” I tensed up. There was a strong chance her whole team couldn’t bring down such a powerful creature if they all fought at the same time. I hadn’t thought one way or another if a Capmon had caused the earthquake, but even now, I figured it was unlikely. To create that much shaking, it would have had to be extraordinarily powerful, one of a kind. A walking legend.

Zane held his hand over his mouth, “I’ll help you find it!” He nodded, “Then, one of us catches it!”

“I get first dibs!” Chii snapped, “It was my idea.”