Whatever Jackson had been expecting when he received an invitation to train at Cassius Briggs’s gym, what he saw sure wasn’t it. On the other hand, he knew right away why he would never have suspected the former Gold League Champion was living in Tyle.

The gym was a large, run-down warehouse on the edge of town. In the past, Kay told Jackson it had been used as a co-op and storage shed for the local crops before they were sold and shipped out of town. Now, with the advent of the light rail and other more modern transportation, most of the crops were loaded right onto the freight carriers and gone the same night as the harvest.

That meant the warehouse hadn’t been used for over two decades…and it showed. Half the upper windows were busted out and some of the bricks were gone from the side, collected in small piles on the ground where they’d fallen out. The windows at the bottom floor were mostly boarded up. Water stains left long white drag marks down those still uncovered and the double warehouse doors were rusted and pitted.

Jackson wondered if Laila knew about it — the building would make the perfect place for an Underground fight. Stepping through the half-open door only confirmed those thoughts — the place was shady. Asena sniffed at the door frame and looked at Jackson, as if asking what they were doing here.

“It’s all right, girl,” Jackson said, petting her head.

“Right…” Kay muttered from behind them. Sunshine let out a short yip in agreement.

Inside was a different, but no less rundown, story. It looked like when Cassius had first moved to the location, he’d had a little money to spend. The dilapidated produce warehouse floor was filled with a random assortment of equipment and machines. Gazing around, Jackson could only guess at what most of them did. It looked like there were weight machines, race tracks, agility courses and much more.

In one corner was a shrine of sorts — a wall filled with tarnished trophies and old-school, analog yellowed photos. Jackson felt drawn to the area and took a closer look. Most of the pictures featured a much younger Cassius (the one he recognized from the fights he watched), standing next to his trademark Hurricanther, Midnight. The photos and newspaper printouts, medals, and trophies all told the story of the dramatic rise and subsequent fall of the Djinn taming champion, Cassius Briggs. The last shot, over twenty years old, showed Briggs and Midnight illuminated in the spotlight of an enormous arena. The tamer had his hand raised, seemingly bidding farewell to the thousands of fans surrounding him in the stands.

“Taking a stroll down memory lane, eh?”

Briggs’s voice made both Jackson and Kay jump. For some reason, Jackson felt like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t, although he couldn’t have said what he did wrong.

“Just admiring your achievements,” Jackson said in a nervous voice.

Briggs waved a dismissive hand. “Bah! They get dustier and older every day, just like me. And I see you didn’t come alone.”

“Kay’s my rehabber,” Jackson says. “She patches up Asena after fights.”

“And I had to make sure you weren’t some creepy serial killer or something,” Kay added.

Briggs shot them a wry look.

Mortified that his friend called a legendary tamer a potential murderer, Jackson quickly changed the subject.

“So where do we start?” he asked, looking around. There were dozens of pieces of equipment throughout the gym and he was eager to get Asena going.

“We’ll start with a quiz,” Briggs said. “Let’s see if your head is full of anything but hot air. What are the five main Djinn Elements?”

Jackson resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. “Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and Plain” he said. “C’mon man — everyone knows that!”

The older man ignored him. “And what are their various weaknesses and strengths?”

“Easy,” Jackson said. “Fire has a direct weakness to Water, Wind has a direct weakness to Earth. Earth has a weakness to Fire, and Water has a weakness to Wind. Plain has no real weaknesses or strengths. A Djinn can learn any type of move, except that of its direct opposite Element. So Asena can learn Earth, Plain, and Wind moves, but not Water. But her moves in those other Elements aren’t as effective as its Fire or Earth attacks. Oh, I almost forgot! There are also the complementary Elements —”

“Nah-ah,” Briggs said. “We’re sticking with the basics. Until you get those down, you don’t need to worry about the other stuff. Next question: why do you think I changed my mind about training you?”

Jackson had a couple of cocky answers at the ready but realized this was probably some kind of test. He thought for a long moment.

“Because…I didn’t stop fighting and got better?” he finally said.

Briggs gave Jackson a long look that made him wilt from its intensity. “Are you going to wait until I get it right or are you telling me?” Jackson asked. “You’re telling me, right?”

Briggs shook his head. “Before I give you the real answer, let’s get something clear right away: there is no ‘I’ in Djinn taming. You didn’t keep fighting and you didn’t get better. You and your Djinn got better together. This is a ‘we’ thing, got it?”

Jackson nodded.

“Try again, then,” Briggs said.

Jackson still couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t a variation of what he’d already said. He shot Kay a sidelong look but she only shrugged. He looked at Asena but she only stared back — no answer forthcoming there. The fact that she would sit at his side comfortably and not run off to inspect the gym without his permission made Jackson realize just how far they’d come. And then it hit him.

“Because of our Bond!” Jackson said. “Asena started listening to me so it showed you that we were getting along as a team.”

“You’re getting closer,” Briggs said. “A Bond between a tamer and his Djinn is the most important aspect of a battle. You’ve got to be able to trust each other explicitly and without even a moment’s hesitation.” He looked away from Jackson at the pictures of a younger version of himself and Midnight hanging on the wall. “Never forget that and never break that trust. Do you know the answer?”

“The answer to what?”

“The question I asked you at the beginning of this conversation!”

“Oh…” Jackson said, thrown off. He thought he’d already given a satisfying answer, but apparently not. “If I knew it, I would have said it by now!”

Briggs folded his arms and Jackson could tell this wasn’t going to be easy. “Let me help: think back to your fight against the Moldune. Your Lyote was buried in the sand. Most new tamers would have panicked, but you did something different. What was it?”

“I…told her to stay calm and wait for the next attack?” Jackson said. “I don’t see what’s so special about —”

“There!” Briggs hoarse voice grew excited and his drooping eyelids widened. Compared to his usual laid-back self, this new side of the retiree seemed almost alarming. He pointed at Kay. “Young lady, did you hear your friend say anything when his Lyote was trapped in the dirt?”

Kay frowned in thought and then shook her head. “No, actually. It was kind of weird — he got really quiet, I would have expected Jackson to freak out at that point but he just looked…focused.”

“Yes! Jackson, you didn’t know it then, but you were communicating with your Djinn on a telepathic level. You didn’t say the commands out loud, you transmitted them through your mind — that’s the true sign of a Bond between Djinn and tamer.”

“But…I didn’t even notice.” Jackson said. He looked down at Asena and tried to tell her to bark without saying a word. The Lyote just looked back at him, head cocked to the side, waiting for him to verbalize what he wanted. “See? Nothing happened. Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure!” Briggs said. He seemed offended by the suggestion that he didn’t know what he was talking about. “I’ve been a Djinn Tamer almost all of my life. For some tamers, that Bond can take years to develop. You seem to have a natural skill for it — which gives you an advantage over other novice tamers who have to use vocal commands or hand signs to communicate during battle.”

“But —”

“Don’t let it go to your head, kid,” Briggs said, cutting off Jackson. “When you just tried to do it again you saw how hard it was. You’re going to have to practice nonstop. And don’t think just because you got lucky and stumbled into it means you don’t have to put in all the other training.”

Jackson looked at Asena, more determined than ever. “I’m not lazy,” he said. “Just tell me — us — what we’re supposed to do.”

“Well, for starters,” Briggs gave an exhausted sigh. “I know I’m going to regret seeing this. Pull up your Lyote’s stats.”

“Um, okay.” Jackson obeyed, and pushed the holo out so they all could see it.

GENERAL STATS AND INFO

Djinn: Lyote

Level: 5

Name: Asena

Element: Fire/Earth

Species Rarity: Rare

Tamer: Jackson Hunt

HP (Hit Points): 95/95

EP (Elemental Power): 50/50

XP (Experience): 56 to Next Level

DJP (Djinn Points): 8 Unallocated

Attack: 26

Defense: 18

Speed: 22

Accessories: None

Items: None

Status: Neutral

Bond: 35%

Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>

Briggs scrunched his face, though whether it was in confusion or annoyance, Jackson couldn’t tell.

“I figured as much,” Briggs said. “Too often, you lot are too damn excited to get started, and you neglect the basics.”

“What?” Jackson said, almost too afraid to ask. He squinted at the stats. “What’d I miss?”

Briggs pointed to the tenth line in Asena’s stats. “That. DJP. Do you know what those are?”

Jackson stood, wide-mouth and stupefied — not because he had no idea what they were, but because he had, in fact, made that very mistake because he was too excited, just as Briggs had said.

“Oh, shit,” Jackson said.

“Yeah, ‘oh, shit,’” Briggs repeated.

“Can someone explain this to me, please?” Kay said from behind the two of them. “What are Djinn Points?

“Your friend here made a rookie mistake. When a Djinn levels up, it gets a base boost in its stats, and the number of points boosted in each area varies depending on how the level was gained, the type of Djinn it is, and countless other factors. But when it levels up, it also gets two Djinn Points, and if you really want to get into the weeds and make the Djinn yours, you can take those Djinn Points and allocate each one to the five major areas: HP — hit points or health, EP — the Elemental Power that allows them to use their Elemental attacks, Attack — its attack strength, Defense — basically how well it protects itself against physical and Elemental attacks, and Speed — which I think is self-explanatory. Once allocated, they will give random upgrades to their respective areas to help make your Djinn stronger as you see fit.”

“So basically bio-hacking,” Kay said.

Briggs nodded. “Welcome to some of the most fundamental, core aspects of the job. But Jackson, apparently, didn’t see fit to allocate. Sometimes that is a sign of a tamer not willing to commit to a specific direction for a Djinn, which I think is admirable.”

Briggs’s tone then got hostile. “But in Jackson’s case, he clearly just forgot about them.”

“I feel like an idiot,” Jackson said.

“You should,” Briggs said dryly. “Take in that feeling. Feel it. Hate it. Now move on. What do you want from your Djinn?”

Jackson smiled. While he hadn’t taken the time to allocate the points, he very much knew what he wanted.

“That’s the look of a kid with a plan,” Briggs said. “Now do it. I want to see where your instincts take you.”

Jackson tapped on the “8 Unallocated” line on the stats, and was instantly greeted with a sub-menu. On the left were eight large dots and on the right were each of the five categories. He dragged four of those dots over to “Attack,” two of them over to “EP,” and two more to “Speed.” As he dropped each dot over its respective area, a rewarding “ding” sounded.

“Interesting,” Briggs said. “I can tell already you’re as hot-headed as your Djinn.”

“I thought about it,” Jackson said, feeling strangely confident in his direction. “Defense is important, but I know that Lyotes already have an edge in their HP, and at this early stage in the game, it’s the Attack I should focus on. I’ve noticed a lot of newts tend to focus on Defense because they’re scared of losing. If I can leverage the Speed, Attack, and its Elemental abilities, I can really throw them off, right?”

Briggs shrugged. “No wrong answers here, kid. Just interesting.”

Jackson smirked and tapped “Done.” He was pulled back to the general stats, where he saw the incremental increase in each of his categories.

GENERAL STATS AND INFO

Djinn: Lyote

Level: 5

Name: Asena

Element: Fire/Earth

Species Rarity: Rare

Tamer: Jackson Hunt

HP (Hit Points): 95/95

EP (Elemental Power): 63/63

XP (Experience): 56 to Next Level

DJP (Djinn Points): 0 Unallocated

Attack: 40

Defense: 18

Speed: 28

Accessories: None

Items: None

Status: Neutral

Bond: 35%

Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>

The old tamer smiled wide. “Now, let’s step into the ring and see what you’ve got.”

Jackson, Asena, Kay and Sunshine followed Briggs into the middle of the warehouse where a large ring was marked out by crooked fenceposts and some dirty, fraying rope. Briggs motioned for Jackson to take his place on one side and then assumed a position across the circle from him. Reaching into his pocket, Briggs pulled out a silver tamer ring set with a large ebony stone.

“No way —” Jackson said in awe. A flash of dark blue — almost black — light shot from the ring. When the light faded, a large Hurricanther filled its place. Jackson recognized the Djinn at once. Midnight looked just like the pictures hanging on the gym wall. It mostly had a dark-blue coat, which was accented by splashes of light-blue. The way the fur sat, it almost looked like scales. Its tail was made up mostly of that sky-blue color, and at its end was a tuft of white that resembled a cloud. But perhaps its most distinguishing feature was another cloud-like tuft that ran across its snout, which made it look as though the Djinn had a mustache.

Except for a few streaks of gray around his muzzle, there was little indication of its age. The Hurricanther had just as much muscle on its lithe frame as he had back in the day. A chill ran down Jackson’s back. Without thinking, he raised his watch and could hardly control his excitement when the Djinncyclopedia read out the famous Djinn’s stats:

Djinn: Hurricanther

Level: 93

Element: Wind/Water

HP: 2,356/2,356

Hurricanthers are an Elite-Form, Wind-Elemental and Water-Elemental combo Djinn. Hurricanthers, and all of its more lesser evolved forms, are all but extinct, with only seven known in existence. Many attribute this to the lone nature of the creatures, which, upon birth in their Basic forms, are rejected by their mothers and left to fend for themselves. Taming Hurricanthers is near-impossible, and can only be accomplished when raising them from their Basic form, the Leposeidon.

Jackson couldn’t believe what he was reading. What’s more, he was surprised Briggs had allowed random users to see his Djinn’s level and HP. Was he trying to show off?

“Well?” Briggs asked. “Are you going to stand there with your mouth open or send your Djinn into the ring?”

Jackson shook his head and reminded himself why there were here. “You heard him, girl,” he said to Asena. “Get out there!”

In a flash of orange, the Lyote streaked across the dirt floor and stopped a few paces away from Midnight. Jackson didn’t know if they were officially starting a fight or if he was supposed to wait. He looked at Briggs.

“Mentally communicating with a Djinn in the heat of a battle isn’t easy,” the old tamer said. As he spoke, Midnight started prowling around Asena, as if conveying the same lecture to her. “You’ve got to be extremely focused. One distraction and the Bond will be temporarily broken. That’s all it takes for a good opponent to defeat you.”

Gaze locked on his Djinn, Briggs said nothing as the Hurricanther performed a number of leaps and swipes, all without a word from his tamer. Even so, Jackson could tell Briggs was directing Midnight. He watched in awe as the Hurricanther responded to a variety of silent commands without pause. Its dark body flowed like water, so fast and agile and quiet that Jackson could hardly keep track of it with his eyes.

“But I thought people gave commands through their holo-watches,” Jackson said, his mind going back to the countless matches, which showed the trainers furiously flipping through their menus.

“Holo-watches are a crutch,” Briggs said. “Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise. Sure, they help with precision and with big crowds, but to use them to actually input my commands? Never. Not me, at least. Though I’m a purist.”

“Right,” Jackson nodded with a gulp. He hadn’t expected Briggs to grow so deadly serious in that moment.

“Now,” Briggs said when Midnight came to a stop and sat on its haunches in front of Asena. “Tell your Lyote to roll over using mind communication through your Bond.”

Asena swiveled her head around and looked at Jackson. He furrowed his brow in concentration and stared at Asena, willing her to roll over. Whereas before, he’d thought he’d been speaking out loud, nothing happened. After a long moment, Asena let out a whine and rolled over.

“No!” Briggs said. Asena jumped up like she’d been kicked and tucked her tail between her legs. “You didn’t receive the command from your tamer, you just did what you heard me tell him a few moments ago. Again. With a different command — and don’t try to fake it. The fastest way to lose a battle is when a Djinn and its tamer are trying to guess what the other is going to do without knowing.”

Jackson gave Asena a sympathetic shrug and sighed. This time, he didn’t focus as hard on the Lyote, but rather tried to recapture the headspace he’d been in during the fight. It wasn’t just about what Asena was doing, he had to be aware of everything going on inside the ring — and simultaneously ignoring everything outside of it. Here, in the warehouse, without roaring crowds and people waving their hands and arms it wasn’t so hard to tune the rest out. At the same time, Jackson found it harder to get in the same zone.

Bark, he thought.

Nothing happened.

Bark!

Still nothing.

ASENA, BARK!

Jackson growled in frustration when the Lyote looked at him with a confused whine. She wanted to please her tamer, but she clearly had no idea what he wanted her to do.

“This is stupid!” Jackson said. “How can you be so sure I already did this? I feel like an idiot.”

“I’m telling you to jump,” Briggs said, his tone getting serious. “Now jump.”

“How can I jump if I don’t know how?”

“You’re thinking about it too much,” Briggs said. “Just do it.”

“How can I communicate something with my mind if I’m not thinking about it?” Jackson said, voice rising. Maybe it’d been a mistake to come here after all. The longer he hung around Briggs, the more Jackson started to think he was off his rocker.

“It’s the same way you and I are talking,” Briggs said. “You don’t have to tell your tongue and lips what words to form. You just talk. Again.”

Bark, dammit, bark!

Asena sat down on the ground and let out another low whine. She wanted to do something — anything — but still didn’t know what.

“Let’s try something else then,” Briggs said. He made his way over to Asena and whispered something Jackson couldn’t hear. “Do you understand me?”

Asena growled, but obeyed, turning around, facing away from Jackson.

“Good. Now, Jackson,” Briggs said, lowering his voice to a whisper and standing close to the young tamer. "I want you to go home.”

“Home?” Jackson said, his voice just as low. Now he was sure the old man was off his rocker.

Briggs nodded, looking over his shoulder, as if making sure Asena still couldn’t hear them. “Go home. Asena can only come with you if you can tell her to come with your mind. Leave.”

Jackson hesitated.

“Now!” Briggs shouted.

“Okay, okay!” Jackson held up his hands and turned to leave the ring. The next instant, a wild cat’s scream cut through the silence of the warehouse. Alarmed, Jackson spun around and saw Midnight racing toward him, fangs bared in a vicious snarl. Kay screamed. Jackson tried to yell out a command, but the words caught in his throat. This was it — the old man’s Djinn was going to tear him to shreds!

Asena, help me!

The orange Lyote burst up from the sand fast enough to catch the Hurricanther by the tip of his tail with her teeth. Screaming in outrage, Midnight whipped around and swiped a massive paw at Asena. The Lyote ducked out of the way a split second before the claws would’ve connected with her head.

Fire Growl!

In the moment, Jackson forgot the Hurricanther was a water Djinn. But Asena complied, letting out a bark that shot a ball of flame into Midnight’s face. Midnight shook the attack off and then, surprisingly, sat down. In contrast to a moment before, he was calm as a kitten. Briggs laughed on the other side of the arena.

“You tried to attack me with your Djinn!” Jackson shouted, adrenaline still coursing through him. It was illegal for tamers to attack other tamers using their Djinn — Briggs had to know that.

“Midnight wasn’t going to hurt you,” Briggs said. “We just wanted to get you into the right state of mind.”

“Oh yeah?” Jackson said. “What was that? Full-on predator mode?”

“Until you get better at it, you might have a hard time communicating telepathically with your Djinn outside of battle,” Briggs said. “But it worked. I told Asena not to face you until you called her telepathically, and that I promised not to hurt you. But you’ve got to keep working on it. Now you know you can do it — I want you to practice every chance you get.”

Without another word, he walked away. Midnight gave Asena a reproachful, salty look and then followed his tamer out of the ring.

“What’s next?” Jackson shouted after Briggs.

The old tamer waved a hand. “That’s all for today. I can’t teach you anything else until you can communicate through your Bond!”

“I cleared up my whole day for this!”

“Good, then you have a whole day to practice.”

Jackson sighed and tried to command Asena to his side using his mind. It didn’t work. After several tries, he gave up and whistled.

“Not a word,” Jackson said when he saw the smirk on Kay’s face.

She ignored him. “Not as easy as it looks on the holo-vision, huh?”