I pushed the notebook away from me and stared at the wall, thinking.

My first hour of being a Bearmon trainer was terrible. I rushed into battle, wanting to test out Pando with hardly any knowledge about anything and I got trashed. Pando is still unconscious and I had no idea how to fix it up.

Shouldn’t that Help screen have some kinda info on this? It was practically useless, aside from telling me about the stuff on my card.

“Whoever you are that gave me this stuff, can you at least properly explain things that I need to know?” I said, crossing my arms.

[Request for help notified. Answers denied. Please purchase a Bearbase at your nearest Trainer Hub.]

“What?” I yelled. “So I’m gonna suffer because of a stupid plothole?!”

[Please refrain from insulting the author.]

Great. How am I going to find a Trainer Hub? I’ve never once seen a thing like it when I’m wandering around in the outside world.

Guess I’m gonna have to explore.

Before that, though. I sniffed under my arms and winced. I needed a shower.

***

Finally clean, I headed back to my dorm and slipped into a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I grabbed Pando’s trapper and my card, ready to head out. As I headed toward the door, my phone buzzed.

I scrambled back toward my desk, thinking, Shoot! I can’t believe I forgot that.

It was a text from...Rebecca Silver? My ex-girlfriend? We hadn’t talked in, like, 3 months and she just shot me a text out of nowhere. I contemplated not responding when she started calling me.

I really need to evaluate my type, I thought, my thumb pressing the hang-up button. Clingy and persistent even after a break-up is not cute.

“I know you’re in there, Ronald!”

Not cute at all. Should I escape through the window?

I turned to the tiny window above my bedroom, started toward it, and stopped when an incorporeal spirit bear no bigger than my child-hood Teddy floated through the wall. It looked at me menacingly, wagging its shaggy paw at me.

Besides the fact that spirit bears were extremely rare and it was really ironic that this Bearmon was a ghost-type, I was mostly concerned with this insane invasion of privacy. Had she used this thing to spy on me when I was unaware?

“Open the door before I’m forced to use lethal force!” Rebecca yelled.

“How about you just leave me alone?” I countered, inching back from the tiny, brownish-white Bearmon.

“So we’re doing this the hard way? Ghare, Spookuma!”

The Bearmon opened its paw wide, wider than it should’ve been able to. Its unhinged jaw practically touched its pelvis. I was so distracted by the fact the teddy bear sized Bearmon even had a pelvis that I didn’t notice the growing ball of purple light.

“Oh, shi-” I tried to duck, but the ball struck my shoulder.

A random spike of fear cut its way through my brain, kicking all functions of Ronald’s Brain into panic mode. With a squeaky war cry, I picked up the closest thing to me, which happened to be my math textbook, launched it at the ghost Bearmon, and ran for the door.

Ghare merely drifted to the side, easily dodging the projectile, but I had already reached the door and tried to pull it open. It was locked! Crap, crap, crap - where’s my key!

There! In my pocket! I fumbled with it, trying to lodge it into the keyhole only to realize there was no keyhole on this side of the door; it locked from the inside.

“I’m stu-AIYEEEE!”

The Bearmon had snuck up on me, hovering just over my shoulder. Its mouth was wide open, preparing to launch another one of its energy balls at me. I lurched backward just in time, tripping over a discarded pair of jeans and falling to the floor.

I scooted back on my ass until my back was pressed up against the far wall. Realizing I was defenseless, I grabbed the nearby hamper and positioned it in front of me.

But the next attack never came. Instead, I heard the lock turn and the door clicked open. High heels clacked against the ceramic flooring of my dorm room, growing closer until Rebecca Silver stood above me, hands on her wide hips.

“You look pathetic,” she said curtly, her lip curling at the sight of my quivering body.

And you-” I paused, considering that she actually looked as good as she always did, “-look...fine, I guess...What are you even doing here?”

“A new name popped up on the Trainer Leaderboard,” she said, gliding over to sit at my desk chair. She looked at me pointedly as she crossed her legs; her sitting position caused her velvety black skirt to shift upwards a bit, but she probably meant for that to happen - she lived for distracting unsuspecting men with such subtle moves - and so I tried to ignore it. “Your name.”

“Yeah, okay,” I mumbled, getting off of the floor. I turned my back on her to move the hamper back to its original place - and to look at something other than her. “I became a Bearmon trainer earlier today. Caught a decent one, I guess.”

“A ‘decent’ one? Ronald, a Bearmon with a BST of 420 isn’t just decent. With such impressive stats, it must have a high rarity. Rare, perhaps? Maybe Epic? I wouldn’t count on your luck getting you any higher than that, but-”

“It’s Legendary,” I snapped, turning around to face her. “My first Bearmon is Legendary rank.”

Rebecca paused, staring at me with the slightest bit of uncertainty. I felt pride spring up in my chest at shutting her down; she wasn’t going to tell me anything about my luck, even if it was crappy.

Then she narrowed her eyes and covered her mouth with one delicately manicured hand, squashing the confidence I had started building up in hopes that I might actually survive this conversation.

“I don’t like being interrupted, Ronald,” she said, her glare chilling the blood in my veins.

I almost reflexively said, “Sorry, Becca” when I remembered she didn’t like that nickname. Or, at least, not when I called her that. Sean Murphy, captain of our college soccer team, she didn’t mind. Everything Sean did was perfect, of course. Leave it up to some sports overachiever to ruin everything you’d-

Stop, I thought, closing my eyes and taking a deep steadying breath. Don’t do this to yourself, not in front of her.

Gritting my teeth, I steeled my frazzled nerves and crossed my arms. “What do you want?’

She arched one eyebrow, surprised as she’d been expecting an apology. Not anymore.

“You’re a new trainer,” she said. “One without any experience or knowledge of the true Bearmon world. I want to help you change that.”

“Help me how?”

She stood up and walked toward me, reaching up to place her hands on my shoulders. Softening her gaze just a little bit, she squeezed my shoulders gently and murmured, “I want to enlighten you, Ronald. Tell me, have you ever heard of the existence of Bearmons before you received your card?”

I looked away from her, uncomfortable. “No…”

“And why is that?”

I scoffed, pushing her hands off of my shoulder and taking a step back. “How should I know?”

“You wouldn’t because the Devs restrict that knowledge to Trainers alone. They hide these-” she raised her arm and Ghare floated to it, nuzzling its head against her fingers “-they hide these beautiful creatures from our normal brothers and sisters, to hide their glory from all Non-trainers.”

Rebecca looked at me, her eyes shining with indignant rage. “The Devs would have us believe that their way is key to protecting them but who are the ones handing out cages to trap them? They convince Trainers to beat down wild Bearmons and force them into tiny prisons to fight for little more than an ego boost and a place on the leaderboard. It’s disgusting,” she spat, slamming her fist onto my desk.

I gulped, hoping she didn’t think to read the notebook I’d haphazardly tossed into my folder bin. “I, uh, I didn’t know you were such an...advocate for animals.”

“You wouldn’t have believed me even if I told you,” she shrugged, taking her Bearmon into her arms and stroking its ghostly head.

“Sure,” I lied, clasping my hands behind my back. “So, what, you don’t use tra-uh, Hibernation Balls? How’d you capture-”

She looked at me sharply and the words died in my throat. “I didn’t capture, Ghare, she snapped. “I found her, beaten and abused by her former Trainer, who was upset that she’d lost a duel.”

The Bearmon shuddered at her words while Rebecca hugged it - her? - tightly. “I took her away from that miserable bitch and nursed her back to health. When she was finally healed, she decided to stay with me and we’ve been together ever since.”

“Right. That’s...cool, I guess.”

The conversation lapsed as Rebecca affectionately cradled her Bearmon, rocking the Ghare back and forth. I, on the hand, processed the rant she’d just had.

People...abused their Bearmons? It was totally possible; not everyone had a good heart inside of them. I do think it’s a bit overkill to hurt them for losing a duel. Sure, I was pissed about losing to Archibald, but it wasn’t Pando’s fault.

I was inexperienced and going up against somebody who knew what he was doing. I tried my best, but it’s only natural that I’d lose against someone who was used to fighting.

Rebecca’s story made me wonder if Archibald had ever hurt Grizzooka. He sounded like a snobby, self-righteous prick but he’d been ecstatic when his Bearmon one, kissing it all over its adorable head. He cared about it, that I was sure.

“Ronald,” Rebecca said, snapping me out of my thoughts, “I came here today because I wanted to save you from falling into the sickening trap the Devs have set up.”

She released Ghare and stepped forward, grabbing my hand in hers.

“I’d like you to join the Order of Transcendence.”