James, lying on a bench, had the expression of a gambler who had gambled away all his money. He said with a sigh:
"Fox, I think we screwed up big time."
[Let's look on the bright side. The weather's fine.]
"Of course it will be, it's kind of artificial here."
James explained calmly, then paused. Staring up at the sky, he asked:
"I got my first real Bakugan, now I need to earn as many points as possible. But I also need to make sure I don't level up, any advice on that?"
There was a short silence before Fox answered.
[It's a difficult situation. But you can't gain without risk. You haven't gotten a new quest from the system yet. Since you're going to level up anyway, it would make the most sense to enter duels with your level in mind for the time being].
James frowned and said, "You're right, but that comes with a big risk."
[As I said, you have to take risks to gain from your current situation.]
James sighed. He was well aware of that. But he had only asked if Fox could think of another way. He was demoralized. Fox realized this and quickly changed the subject:
[Isn't it strange what happened today, especially that girl?]
James was about to open his mouth but then paused. He looked thoughtful and then spoke:
"I don't remember anyone like that in my memories of this place."
Fox replied quite normally:
[Naturally. Not everything that happens in the story is 100% going to happen in real life. There could be a lot of differences. We both know that].
James was aware of that, of course. His main reason for saying that was that if it wasn't in the story, it was highly unlikely that it was someone important. But ignoring that, he asked curiously:
"Well then, who the hell was that girl?"
Fox answered in an embarrassed voice:
[My guess is that she's a new celebrity. She wears a mask to avoid being recognized. She probably heard about your match by coincidence].
James thought about it and then spoke:
"You're right, but why would she wear a mask? What does she have to h- Or never mind. Everyone has their reasons."
He fell silent as a few people he had in mind about this came to mind. Then he gave up lying on the bench, took a sitting position and spoke again:
"Let's forget about the girl for now, but I need to ask you a question."
[Sure, what's wrong?]
James took on an extremely serious expression. He took a deep breath before speaking.
"When I thought about my family today... I felt a stabbing pain, as if my brain was warning me. I can understand the wish, you mentioned it was a mistake. And about the disintegration. But shouldn't I still have the memories? Why are my memories missing?"
There was an awkward silence. Then Fox spoke:
[Ah! Well... I can't really answer that. Because I don't really know either].
James frowned.
"So you know something, but not exactly."
Fox's sad voice was heard in response.
["Yeah, but I can't... I can't explain it even if I wanted to.]
"Why?"
[I... can't... say... Sorry.]
Hearing Fox's sad voice, he frowned even more for a moment. There was a short silence. James's expression changed several times. It was unknown what he was thinking. Finally he sighed and spoke:
"Well, you don't have to say it. Even though I'm still angry with you... you're still the only person I can trust right now."
Even if he didn't want to admit it, the fact was that she was the only person he could trust. There was no personal grudge. No anger, no resentment, no hatred. Maybe it was because she was the only person he could talk to. Or... he didn't know. James preferred not to think about it too much.
There was a brief silence. James got the impression that Fox didn't know what to say. So he posed another question.
"Come to think of it, what happens to my other side once the match starts? After all, the battlefield is where Bakugan can show their true form."
[This... is something I'm not entirely sure about.]
James continued to listen in silence.
[This is something I had no previous knowledge of... It's usually referred to wuxia or pure fantasy fiction. But this is... unheard of].
"Sure."
Fox continued as James rolled his eyes.
[But I'm guessing, from others and my own experience, that there may be a transformation of certain parts of your body. In any case, the transformation would be minor for now.]
"What do you mean minor?"
[You may see scaling or hair growth on your arms and legs. It all depends on what kind of Bakugan you are.]
"As the one responsible for this, you at least know what kind of Bakugan I am, right?"
[Nope.]
"Fuck."
It didn't take James long to realize that he was in a big predicament.
He had to complete quests or participate in battles to get the mode he needed to maintain this form. But if he participated in battles, the Bakugan side would gradually take over his body like some kind of disease and he would become a full bakugan.
If he didn't do battle, it was only a matter of time. Even if he just did quests, he would get levels, but not all of them, and it would accelerate. In the end, nothing would change.
It was a double-edged sword. But...
"Haaa... Everything I do has the same result. Fuck! I'll take a risk then."
After angrily shouting it out, he felt a sense of relief, but it wasn't long before he was the target of many stares. So he quickly said sincerely, "I'm sorry, I got carried away."
Meanwhile, he heard Fox's voice in his mind:
[Now that's what I call motivation! And don't worry, this progress will be as slow as it can be unless that device at the top is destroyed].
Even though Fox's information was reassuring, he had to apologize several times for getting carried away earlier. Then he lay down on the bench and fell asleep. Even if he wasn't physically tired, his mind deserved a rest and, frankly, he liked to sleep.
...
"Next battle tomorrow? Okay, okay. Got it."
She sighed as she closed the strange device in her hand.
"How exhausting. It's really hard being a wanted girl."
Having said that, she chuckled to herself and took off the mask. Her deep blue eyes became visible. They did not contain any light. But it was quite beautiful. She just put the mask on the table next to her. She took a deep breath and looked at the moon.
"The battles are starting to get tiring. Sometimes I feel like quitting. But for some reason I keep going. Hah! How troublesome."
She said to herself.
"That strange newbie at the exit. I wonder what he will do?"
In boredom, she sat down on her rather fancy bed and continued to grumble.
"I have to admit he's really brave for a newbie. Even though he knows the battle has an obvious ploy in it. What's he so confident about?"
She couldn't help wondering.
"If I have time, I might watch him play."
Inwardly she was surprised at herself. Normally she wouldn't be curious about someone like this.
"Interesting. Very interesting."
Even though she was curious, tomorrow would be another tiring day, so she stopped thinking and went to bed.
…
So the time passed quickly until it was time for the match. It was fast approaching noon and James was in the waiting room.
He surveyed his surroundings with a calm face, but there was an excitement he could not hide. It was like the feeling a warrior gets before entering a battle. It was like adrenaline pumping.
'Excitement. I think it's called excitement. It's good...'
He had a strange smile on his face as he experienced the feeling of excitement for the first time in his life.
"I will win this battle."
As he shook his hand, he was finally called.
"Let's go, Fox."
[You'd think I was Bakugan.]
"Whatever."
And so they proceeded to his first match.
...
"Well, Bakugan fans, we're back with another match. On one side, the newly listed Tatsuki, the fearful dream of novices, who is currently undefeated!"
The audience was sparse, perhaps due to the fact that Tatsuki was constantly battling the newbies. In the silence, a pillar rose in the arena. The monitor on the front of the pillar showed a young man. He had lush green hair. His eyes shone with slyness. He was wearing a strange jacket of red and orange colors. Underneath he was wearing white pants.
Some of the people who saw him booed and jeered, while others just looked at him with contempt.
"Haha! Thank you for your praise!"
He had a grin on his face as he brazenly accepted all the boos.
'One more today. And then I will be promoted haha!
He laughed inwardly as he eagerly awaited his new prey. After the presenter finished introducing him, he moved on to his opponent.
"On the other side is the newbie James."
The introduction was quite simple. James was a little uncomfortable with it, but said nothing and pointed to him as the column rose once more.
With his unkempt black hair and blank stare, he looked like a broken man. When the audience saw this, they were almost certain that James was going to lose. James' face and general demeanor seemed to accept defeat for the audience. Still, they were curious to see how hard he would be crushed, so they chose to stay and watch.
Finally, the two rivals were facing each other.
"You know the rules. Let's go!"
Hearing what the referee said, James and Tatsuki simultaneously put the activation card on their gauntlets and raised them against each other.
"Gauntlet... power strike!"
"Gauntlet power strike."
Thus began the battle between a cheater and a beast.