Once I got my act together, I decided to head back out. Before leaving, I checked to make sure I had Pando’s trapper (I needed a better name for these things now that Rebecca had put those thoughts in my head) and my card.

Looking at the trapper reminded me of the others stored in one of my desk drawers. I opened it up to find nothing but a crinkled piece of paper. Frowning, I took it out and read it:

Tiny oversight on my point. You weren’t supposed to get a pack; each Trainer only gets one! B-but in order to make sure you don’t report me to my superiors you get properly compensated from the misunderstanding, your next hibernation ball is 57% off! How’s that for a bribe, huh?

Well, that sucks. The guy who’d snuck in my room to give me this stuff must’ve snuck back in while I was dueling Archibald. It’s no use crying over spilled milk. I needed to get Pando fixed up and I didn’t have long before the sun went down.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of my dorm room and set off.

***

I found what I was looking for surprisingly fast. A guy lounged against the walls of the downtown campus library, tapping away at a brown DS while a grizzly bear sucked on rock candy. I didn’t fail to notice how sharp, grey stone lined the Bearmon’s entire body; the polished rock shone in the sun as the thing turned to look at me, eyeing me as if I might steal its snack.

“Hey,” its Trainer called. “You goin’ to the Hub?”

“Uh, yeah.” I looked up at the library, frowning at the simple red brick walls and small windows. “Don’t tell me this is it?”

He snorted and put away his DS. “What are you, a Newbie? Everyone knows the New Jenson Hub is in the Library. C’mon, Rozzy!” Snapping his fingers, he ordered the Bearmon to follow him. Rozzy sighed, adjusted its sweet stick so it hung out of its mouth like a cigar, and toddled after its Trainer.

“Here goes nothing,” I muttered, pushing open the metal doors. The musty smell of stale air and old books greeted me as I stepped into the lobby. The library was quite small, so the lobby was nothing but a reception desk and two halls that split toward the books and the restrooms.

The on-duty receptionist perked up at my entrance, her pig-tails bouncing around her head as she nearly leaped out of her chair. “Welcome to the downtown Rutherford Library! What can I do for you today?”

Taken aback by her forceful personality, I hesitantly walked toward the desk. Glancing down at her chest, the shiny nametag pinned to her shirt read ‘Megan’. “Uh, I was told there’s a Trainer Hub here?”

Megan deflated almost instantly, slumping back into her chair. “It’s always Trainers who come in here! Why does no one care about books? One of you can’t stop for a second and-”

“Miss,” I interrupted, already knowing where this road was heading “I’m sorry and all, but my Bearmon is pretty scuffed up. I got into my first fight and I got trashed, so I’m looking for a place to get my guy cleaned up, not another rant.”

Flushing, she muttered a quiet apology and gently tugged at her nose ring. “I need your Trainer id and Bearbase,” she said, acting decidedly professional now. “If you don’t have a Bearbase, that’s fine; I just need to scan your hibernation ball with this,” she held up what looked like a repurposed item scanner from a supermarket, “and you’ll be on your way.”

I easily slipped Pando’s globe (get it? Because it’s a spherical world for Bearmons?) and my card from my pockets and slid them over to her.

In one smooth motion, she took the card, tapped the keyboard, and clicked something on the computer screen. She swiped up the globe, pressed it against the scanner, and started talking to me in a bored, monotone voice. “Trainer Ronald Jackson, owner of the Bearmon Pan-”

She cut herself off and looked back at the screen, her eyes bulging as she reread the words.

“Something wrong?” I asked, already having an inkling of what was going on in her head. Is Pando really that rare? Legendary rank is obviously awesome, but seriously.

“Y-you have a Pando?” Megan shrieked. “It’s only been sighted three times ever since the Devs released the Game! How’d you catch it?”

“It banged its head on the ceiling of my dorm,” I answered truthfully. “Pretty easy from there on out.”

She gaped at me, mouth flopping open and closed like a fish. A fish with pastel pink pigtails. Were pigtails still in fashion? They seemed more like a little girl type hair-do.

Must be a part of her ‘quirky’ nature, I thought. She fits in more at an indie concert than some rundown college library.

Her high-pitched voice drew me out of my musings. “You caught one of the rarest Bearmon in the world through dumb luck?”

“Pretty much. Can I get to that Hub now?”

Megan grit her teeth and handed over my stuff before pressing a button on her keyboard. A loud swoosh came from the bathroom hall and I turned to find a metal door in its place.

“Restoration center is the first door on the right,” she grumbled. “And the market entrance is the second door on the left.”

I couldn’t help but tease her a bit further. “What’s the first door on the left?”

“Employee’s Only,” she growled.

Grinning cheekily at her, I set off with a wave and a brief, “Thanks.”

Pushing open the door, I entered my very first Trainer Hub. It was pretty much unremarkable, just a long hallway wide enough for three people to walk side by side lined with white tiles, uncomfortably bright lights, and doors of varying colors. I stepped inside and the door slammed shut behind me.

A little spooky, but nothing jumped out at me. I scanned the silver plates bolted to the walls next to the doors closest to me, reading their names.

Employee’s Only - ha, she was right, Revive Cave - terrible name, Honey Mart - even worse name. I’ll check out the Honey Mart after I get Pando fixed up.

I opened the bright red door and entered yet another room, this one looking far bigger than it should be.

[You’ve entered a Revive Cave! All services, including restoring Bearmon HP, are completely free!]

Well, that’s nice, I thought, observing the ‘cave’. An unmanned reception desk stood in the center of a room, holding nothing but a tiny plant, a computer, a globe scanner, a carton, and a metal bucket. Not many Trainers were around; a few sat and chatted with one another at the tables over to the right while one guy used one of the ancient computers set up in the back. Somewhat hidden behind a wall that separated the left corner of the room from the stairs sat a dozen contraptions holding tens of glowing Bearmon globes in weird bed type niches.

Some guy in a rumpled nurse’s uniform was manning the contraptions, pressing buttons and flicking levers. Every so often, he plucked a globe out of the bed, rushed over to the desk, scanned it, and put it in the rapidly filling carton next to the bucket before zipping back to the machines. A Trainer would glance down at a DS - like that guy outside the library - in their hands, grunt, and go back to their conversation.

I wonder if those DSes are Bearbases. If what Rebecca said is true and they’re personally tailored to each Trainer, do they get updates when their Bearmon is restored? That’s a pretty nifty system….

I decided to stop standing around like an idiot and strode over to the reception desk. The nurse came back, three globes in hand this time.

Calling out to him before he could leave, I held out Pando’s globe. “Hey, uh, what am I supposed to do with this?”

His blood-shot eyes bore holes into my head before he slowly reached up to rub the bags under his eyes. Snatching the globe from my hand without a word, he went back to the machines, muttering, “They never tell newbies anything these days….”

“Sheesh,” I muttered, rubbing the hand that the globe had been in. “Can’t a guy ask a question around here?”

I jumped as a gruff voice answered, “S’not your fault.”

A real bear of a man had snuck up on me, stepping forward to drop three globes into the bucket. He stared at me balefully as his unruly beard shifted and words flowed out of the hole that appeared: “Nurse Mike works ‘round the clock, healin’ up our Bearmons.”

Nodding, I retreated a few steps away from the giant. “Right, right. Of course, he’d be a little cranky.”

After a long, uncomfortable silence, the giant stuck out a calloused paw. “Conner Kerr,” he rumbled.

I shook his hand, wincing as my bones creaked under the pressure. “I’m, uh, Ronald Jackson.”

He grunted, taking back his hand. “You the new guy on the leaderboard?”

“Y-yeah.” Please, God, tell me he doesn’t want to duel!

“Saw you climb above Gaylord, then drop a few ranks down. That punk beat you when you’ve got 420 BST?”

I scratched the back of my head and shrugged. “Maybe BST doesn’t mean as much when you’re up against the wrong opponent.”

Conner grinned, revealing crooked, yellow teeth from within the rat nest on his face. “You’re utter horse shit at duelin’, aren’t ya?”

Flushing, I crossed my arms. “Yeah, well, I’m new to this. No surprise I’d lose my first duel with no idea what I’m doing.”

“Why the hell would you duel ‘im, then?” he asked, looking at me like I was an idiot.

I mean, I am. I don’t know why I thought that fighting after being a Trainer for barely three minutes was a good idea. Hindsight is 20/20.

Nurse Mike saved me from having to answer, having come up to scan my globe. He tossed it to me wordlessly, grabbed Conner’s globes from the bucket, and went back to the restoration beds.

I slipped Pando’s globe into my pocket and waved farewell to Conner. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Hold on just a second,” he said, grabbing my arm. “You got a Bearmon with 420 BST; that’s worth somethin’, I’m sure.”

Frowning, I tried to extract my arm from his hand. When that failed miserably, I smiled at him thinly. “It’s not for sale, I’m afraid.”

His grip tightened on my arm. “Wasn’t thinkin’ you’d sell it.”

Crap. Is he trying to fleece me in front of all these people?

I looked around the room and, much to my dismay, everyone else but Nurse Mike had disappeared. There was no one to help me but-

Nurse Mike appeared by Conner’s side, one hand reaching up to touch his shoulder. “If you intend to be a thief, Mr. Kerr, the Restoration Cave’s services will no longer be extended to you.”

Conner stared him down, but Nurse Mike hardly blinked. After a terse second, the giant released me. Without another look back, I zipped out of the Restoration Cave and into the hallway.