Josh woke to a knock at his door, the teen let out a mournful moan as he left his blissful sleep. Another knock sounded but no one entered the room. The jock pushed himself up and sat on the edge of his bed. Shaking his head Josh fought off the urge to go back to sleep, instead he stood up and made his way to his closet to get dressed.
This was the second day since they returned from Harry Potter, Josh had spent the previous day locked away in his room. The loss of Claire and Gwen along with the pain of unlocking the genetic constraint had left the teen needing time by himself. He had ignored the knocking that had repeated all day and simply sat on his computer, drifting from one activity to the next without really thinking or feeling. The day had been purely to give his mind and soul time to heal and wouldn't let himself take another. After getting dressed in just a tshirt and jeans Josh took one last look at himself in the mirror and stepped out of his room.
Stepping out into the lobby Josh found three people standing under the ball of light that was God. Lance and Eve stood besides each other, Eve jotting down notes as Lance spoke. Crystal stood a little ways away looking at what appeared to be a playing card.She was the first one to notice Josh exiting his room. Putting the card into her pocket the young woman ran over to the Jock.
“There you are” she said in greeting “we were worried you'd spend another day locked away”
“No one day is enough” Josh said with a chuckle “Now i’m ready to get started on preparations”
“Well you missed my exchanges” Crystal said “Lance and Logan spent all day yesterday talking about the best way to spend points for the team”
“Anything i should expect?” Josh asked curiously
“I'm not sure” Crystal answered with a shrug “Most of what they were saying went over my head, besides i was able to afford everything i wanted on my own”
“Really?” Josh was a little surprised to hear this “How'd you do that?”
He knew Crystal had earned some points and rewards by killing a juvenile basilisk but that alone shouldnt have been enough to buy anything worthwhile in the system.
“With this” Lance interrupted walking up to the duo. In his hands he held what looked to be a tiara.
“Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem” Crystal said proudly
“We brought that from the movie?” Josh questioned
“She did” Lance said, motioning to Crystal “and was rewarded for it”
“We get rewarded for bringing in items?” Josh asked now intrigued
“Probably not” Lance said shaking his head “but we do for destroying horcruxes”
“What do you mean?” Josh asked, a little annoyed at how long this was taking.
“I confirmed this with Logan yesterday” Lance explained “There was a separate mission reward given to those who destroyed a horcrux”
“Which i did” Crystal said smugly
“Accidentally” Lance added “holding onto the diadem brought the item with us out of the movie but since Voldemort isn’t a member of our team God destroyed the part of his soul that laid in the diadem”
“And i was credited with the kill” Crystal finished “3000 points and a C rank reward”
“Which means she earned more than I did” Lance said
“What were your total points?” Crystal asked Josh
Josh closed his eyes to check and gasped in surprise “8240 points, two C, and one D rank rewards”
“Wow” Crystal looked surprised “Beat me by over 3000 points and a C rank reward”
Josh was extremely happy with the point total, he had saved a little under a thousand points from the previous movie. A profit of over 7000 points was a good haul in his opinion.
“Much better than I did” Lance nodded, Eve behind him made a note in her notebook.
“Did I get the most points in this movie?” Josh asked excitedly
“No Logan beat you by a lot” Lance answered “Just destroying the horcrux and killing the mother basilisk earned him 7000 points. With the other basilisks and bonus missions he was over twice your total”
“Wow, he should be getting a big boost before the next movie” Josh was impressed by the leader's point gain.
“No” Lance said, his expression shifted “Logan intends to share the majority of his points with the team”
“You have a problem with that?” Josh asked, curious why Lance wasn't excited for free points
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“He’s trying to keep the team’s strength low” Lance said “It’s not a problem now but he may start to struggle in the movies if he's not growing”
“He didn't seem to struggle much in the Harry Potter” Josh pointed out
“True but the team’s rating is still low from the wipeout before we joined” Lance explained “Now that the team is growing and you and Matt unlocking your constraint the rating is sure to be rising drastically”
Josh took a moment to think about what Lance was saying. It made sense that they would be getting more difficult movies. Even with the death of the newbies and Gwen they still had more members surviving and two who had entered the unlocked mode for the first time. That alone put them in a whole new league, maybe on par with what Team East Africa had been at the start of Jeepers Creepers.
“Should we decline his offers?” Josh asked his stepbrother
“You” Lance pointed Josh out “Shouldn't get any offers. You have more than enough to pay for your own exchanges this time”
Josh nodded at Lance words, the jock had enough points and rewards to upgrade his bloodline and his hammer.
“Unfortunately you and Crystal are the only ones in that situation” Lance said sadly
“Some of us have to be self sufficient” Crystal jabbed good naturally
“You didn't make enough for your upgrades?” Josh asked Lance, a playful smile teasing on his face
“I have enough to upgrade my bloodline” Lance explained “Eve’s bloodline and my papyrus are out of my price range. Unfortunately that's the problem with having to pay for a human creation’s exchanges”
“I earned some at least” Eve pointed out
“How many points did you earn?” Josh asked, he hadn't had the time to ask before.
“750 points and a D rank reward” Lance answered “The points and rewards came directly to me. Like i suspected human creations can’t possess points”
“So you were rewarded without actually being there?” Josh asked annoyed
“Exactly” Lance answered with a cheshire grin.
“That's cheating” Crystal said
“Irrelevant” Lance gave a shrug “The point is that we need to work on earning more points and having them distributed more evenly next movie”
“Do we know what the next movie is?” Josh asked
“Scream” Lance answered “The first one as far as we can tell”
“A slasher film?” the jock was surprised by the film choice “It’s not even paranormal. What kind of threat are a couple of teens going to pose?”
“Unfortunately i thought the same thing” Lance agreed “The only conclusion i can come to is the plot will be changed before we enter. There has to be danger or God wouldn't send us there”
“Does Logan have any ideas?” Josh questioned
“Nothing helpful” Lance answered “He had no information on the movie or how it could be changed”
“At least it's still a modern time period” Eve pointed out “Communication won’t be an issue”
“That’s true but we wouldn't need to use phones if he would work with us” Lance said with a grumble.
Josh was confused for a moment before remembering who else survived the movie.
“Has Elijah been a problem?” Josh asked worriedly.
“He’s been a pain” Crystal stated flatly “Came out a couple times demanding answers to questions like how to get food and clothing then ran back into his room”
“Laughed at me when i tried to talk with him about exchanges” Lance added “he might be a liability if we can’t get him to work with us”
“Do you think we can do that?” Josh questioned
“That’s why we were trying to get you” Lance answered “Logan and Matt agree you and I working together would be the best chance of recruiting him”
“I’m willing to try,” Josh said, seeing right away why they wanted him to do this. Between him and Lance they had both intelligence and emotion covered to hopefully bring the psyche force user to their team.
“Before you go” Crystal interrupted “I want to introduce you to someone”
Crystal pulled out the card she was holding earlier, Josh could now see a black and amber pattern on the back of it. Instead of flipping it over like Josh had expected, the young woman tightened her grip on the card and crushed it. The crumpled card vanished and behind Crystal a monster appeared. A nine foot tall teal humanoid towered over the group. Its single eye was bloodshot and focused directly on Josh. It let out an unnerving cry, revealing its pointed teeth. Josh immediately began to pull his hammer out of the carrier but the sound of laughter stopped him.
Lance Eve and Crystal were all laughing at the teen’s expression, none of them looked concerned about the giant besides them. Crystal even put a hand on the beast and gave it an affectionate pat.
“Josh meet Hitotsu-Me Giant” the young woman introduced the two.
“What?” Josh was stunned almost to silence. The appearance of the monster but lack of danger threw him off.
“I’ve decided to become a summoner” Crystal explained “the Summoner's Heart cost me most of my points and rewards. This big guy was the only one i could really afford”
Before Josh could speak he felt information from God being sent to him.
Heart of the Summoner
Gives the user the ability to summon and control powerful creatures. Reliant on the user’s Mental capacity on what monsters can be summoned and how many can be out at the same time. Costs C rank reward and 2500 points.
Hitotsu-Me Giant
A summoning card that calls forth the powerful Beast-Warrior Hitotsu-Me Giant. Requires Heart of the Summoner to safely control the giant. Mentally taxing on the user to summon and control. Cost D rank reward and 1200 points.
“That’s incredible,” Josh finally said, looking up at the giant.
“Yeah” Crystal agreed “so now you’ll have some more back up on the battlefield”
“I never even thought of becoming a summoner” Josh said honestly. Having a powerful monster to fight alongside him was actually very appealing, maybe he could look into it after his regular exchanges.
“Don’t know if that’ll work well for you” Lance cut in “Looks like mental capacity would be the defining stat for summons”
Josh frowned at the information, mental capacity was his lowest stat and didn't get boosted by his bloodline.
“Guess i’ll leave it to you then” Josh sighed and nodded to Crystal. The young woman just smiled, the giant besides her faded away. The playing card reapered in the summoner’s hand.
“Any other surprises I should know about?” Josh asked
“Not yet” Lance said “Crystal is the only one to make her exchanges since she’s self sufficient”
“Then I guess it’s time we talk to Elijah” Josh decided.