Nil woke up to a sunbeam pouring through the window. Not only did he not remember falling asleep, but he barely recalled even walking to the room in the first place. He was sprawled out on top of the bed covered in crumbs with a line of drool puddling onto the blankets. Phantom was nearby, sitting completely still in the corner. The Bond barely beat–he was still resting. The cottage itself was tiny with a single bed aside an even tinier closet where he entered to find a toilet and shower.
A knock at the door.
He ran from the closet to find Phantom in a fighting stance.
“Room service,” the voice said with another knock. “Come on, it’s almost noon; you can’t really still be asleep.”
“Um, do not disturb?”
“God, some of you Trainers get on my nerves. I’ll be back in an hour!”
After a quick cold shower, a change of clothes and more snacks–he found a basket nearby he assumed was a welcome gift to all travelers who bought a room–he exited the room to find the noonday sun blinding him from the sparkling reflection off the lake. All around him was a cacophony of noise: some battled, others were splashing the lake, still others were lounging on floats or Thaeons in the water.
“Nil!”
He recognized that voice. It was Rose with Rager traveling behind her.
“You’re finally awake. You’ve been the talk of the town since winning that battle last night.”
“Hey, you know.” He rubbed the back of his head.
“Personally, I think she let you win. Her Thaeon barely did anything!”
There was the Rose he knew. Feeling refreshed from an untold amount of sleep, he didn’t let the frustration from her smart mouth get him angry. In fact, with the cool breeze coming off the lake, he felt at ease for the first time since leaving Fan Town. Out on the lake he recognized Pic and Poc also, with Toc rolling on a sheet of ice on top of the water with a web in its hand. Pic’s Thaeon was trailing behind, skidding over the water.
“We can fight, then, if you really think I suck so much.”
“Tch, as if. There’s a bunch of us grouping up later this afternoon on Pale Island to train before heading over to Pol City. You should join and get whooped around again. Dave told us all about it.”
“Pale Island?”
“Check your map, Nil! Anyway, catch you later. Or not. Also, your girlfriend was by here yesterday, but I think she left.”
Nil’s face turned red and he clenched his fists. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Whatever, dude. Come on Rager, let’s hit the spa.”
He checked his watch and zoomed in on the lake where, far from shore, a speck enlarged to an island. He looked off and saw the dark line in the distance; too far away to make out fine details. Training didn’t sound like a bad idea. Everything he knew about the ranking leaders was that they were fiercely strong and unrelenting. They held nothing back. Ever. Was he ready? He looked over at Phantom who stood facing the lake. A day of fun can’t hurt until we go to that island.
Phantom had another idea that he communicated with a tight squeeze through the Bond: fun later, train now. After all, what are more fun than getting stronger? They wouldn’t be able to win the rankings or rise to the league if they relaxed every chance they got. The path of a real Trainer was brutal for a reason.
Still, the water did look refreshing.
He dropped his backpack and walked to the water’s edge and saw, down the pebble-strewn beach, a man dressed in red, fishing. He would periodically cast, shake his head then try again. Curious, Nil walked over to him.
“Anything good in these waters?” he asked.
The man looked over at him with a stone expression, intently focused on the bobbing cork.
“Not sure yet. You fish?”
Nil had grown up by the ocean but never took to fishing. His dad had urged him many times to try, saying it was a way to relax and unwind. Except every time he caught a Thaeon it wanted to fight. Which got Nil to thinking.
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“Oh yeah, but I didn’t bring a rod.”
“Oh, you’re in luck. Would you like my old rod? I don’t use it anymore since I upgraded.” The man reached into his pack and unfolded a long pole to hand to Nil. “I just got here this morning. There’s a local legend that there are Thaeons deep below that carry certain treasures with them. But you know how legends go. Like the one of the mountains and something big sleeping underneath, or those silly nursery rhymes about ancient Thaeons still lurking somewhere. I don’t believe half of it, I just needed a day away from the city.”
Nil wasn’t listening, too busy trying to figure out how the rod worked.
“Oh yeah, sure, all silly stories. Say, thanks again. I’ll leave you alone to relax.”
“You aren’t going to get any bait?”
“Any–oh, yes, bait. Of course. Do you have any suggestions?”
The man squinted then reached into his pack for a small bag filled with tiny blue beads. “Thaeons are drawn to aspect essences like these. Attach to the end of your line and, boom, they grab on to it.”
He walked off away from the clamor and noise to a quiet nook tucked away in a small copse of trees around the lake’s bend. Phantom wanted to train, so they were going to train, but he didn’t want anyone else to see him doing it. At the end of the line was a tiny ball that opened and closed–where the bait went, he assumed. Right now he was kicking himself for not learning more about this from his dad.
After succeeding in baiting the line, and trying desperately for ten minutes to cast the line, it finally tossed it out far from shore.
“Now what? Wait?”
The string pulled.
“Nope, I guess not.”
He yanked the string and reeled as hard as he could, fighting the weight of whatever was at the end of the line. Out of the water burst a webbed hand, followed by a sleek body that looked like a frog in a turtle shell, scarily similar to what he had fought in the cave. Once airborne, the Thaeon retracted its limbs, spun and crashed back into the water, creating a small wave that barreled towards them, the creature riding high on top. Nil retreated onto a rock to evade the surf, sending Phantom back over with a flying kick into the opponent. With its powerful back legs, the enemy sprang up and shot a long tongue back into Phantom, slapping him in the face.
Nil wasn’t expecting that.
It landed, retracted its limbs into a rapid spin, then shot its body like a bullet. Phantom drew up his Void Shield to deflect the attack with a bash from the wall of black. Using the Thaeon’s momentum, he threw it back into a tree. Its limbs appeared back out in a moment of dizziness. Phantom closed in and bombarded it with a quick combo of punches, the final one sending it back into the water where it didn’t resurface.
Victory one.
Nil’s watch indicated his heart rate was elevated–as if he couldn’t tell. The more they fought, the more efficient they would become as a team and individually. This was similar to the aerobic training he had done as a kid in gym class: running around, playing dodgeball, swimming in the ocean. The Bond shared their exhaustion and made him hungry from high effort.
“We need more battles,” he told Phantom, who agreed with an eager nod. With another flick, he threw the rod back into the water. This time he swung back harder and a serpent Thaeon with two, clawed, front legs rose hissing. Its tail foamed the surf as it sent out jets of water from its fanged maw. A couple Void Strikes to the head collapsed it into the water, but not before it launched yet another wall of water towards them–a common theme, he was noticing and getting accustomed to. The Void Strikes were becoming more accurate and using less and less energy every time he let them fly. Now he just needed an excuse to redirect attacks with the shield to make it feel more natural.
And so he cast again.
This went on for a few hours. By the end, both were exhausted but Phantom was becoming more fluid in his movements. The shield, Nil learned, could adjust in size and not just be a wall of black that covered his entire body. Good to know, as it used less energy to maintain a small circle of black. His next idea was to figure out how to throw it or make it appear elsewhere on his body and not just the arm. He and Phantom had deliberated the point at length, but they simply did not understand the aspect enough to make major changes. What he hadn’t done for fear of being overwhelmed, was phase around too much. Only once had he been forced to when a giant clamshell Thaeon closed around Phantom trying to crush the life out of him. There was no choice, and even then it almost cost them the battle.
There had to be a way to use that more without exhausting themselves.
Back at the cottage, now clean, he noted, from the housekeep, he dropped his stuff and headed for the spa. All the Trainers in the area were scattered about, planning their trek to Pale Island in an hour or two. All eyes watched him, curious, wanting to fight, Nil felt, and see if they could best his strange Thaeon. He was too tired to care and entered the spa where a smiling attendant wearing a robe greeted him at the door. A blue blob sat behind her with two arms and a single eye, its arms out in a welcoming gesture.
“Welcome to the spa on the lake, would you like a refresh?”
“Sure?”
“Follow me.”
She led them through a long hallway with closed doors on each side. They reached the end and opened it up to a wall of steam. Inside was a small pool, piping hot by the looks of it. The blob Thaeon entered behind and stood by the pool.
“The warm water is infused with healing properties to restore the mind and spirit. My own Thaeon, Paul, will heal any minor injuries you have accrued.”
“Paul?”
The blob shivered and blinked.
Nil stripped down into his underwear then and Phantom dipped into the water and immediately felt relief from the day’s fighting. With a wide hand that extended from its blob body, Paul touched both of them and a second warm sensation revitalized him further. Similar, he thought, to Haven’s healing pulses, but it felt different in sensation. Her’s was more wave of light, while Paul’s felt like water gushing through his arms and legs.
“Throughout Specter there are many such spas designed to help Trainers recoup from their battles. We hope you will enjoy your rest. You have one hour.”
He closed his eyes and slipped into a relaxing doze, imagining what other training they would see tonight on this island. Whatever it was, he hoped it would be enough to push him and Phantom into being ready for this ranking leader coming up.