Word had spread fast.

People watched and whispered as Carmine walked past, his new protector in tow.

“So what's your name? It’ll be weird to keep calling you Zan in my head.”

“I have no name, though you may call me Zan Six. It is tradition for us to earn our names through feats of strength.”

He raised an eye at that. It was unusual for public organizations to go that far.

“Wow, you guys really go all in don’t you? I thought only feral born did that ‘earning a name’ thing.”

“The institute has found that the tradition has noticeably improved performance.”

Hard to argue with that.

Carmine saw that one of the ranches was holding exhibition matches.

“You want to get some exercise?” He asked. “We could practice our coordination for tomorrow.”

While the first day of the festival was focused on the forming of bonds, the second and third day held a tournament to forge and prove those bonds in battle. At least, that's what the official line was. Carmine thought that the city just wanted to make more money. People loved watching fights, both to admire the display of power, and to feel safe knowing that power was being used for their protection.

Six looked at the Rustacean and Silverarm that were currently wailing on each other.

“I do not think that opponents of such a level can help us practice anything.”

Carmine nearly laughed at Six’s natural arrogance. They really were a natural match.

“So true! Let's do a quick check for anything interesting, and then I’ll introduce you to Celine for some real practice. She’s not a fighter, but she’s pretty old, so she should be a decent challenge.”

Carmine continued walking through the fairgrounds, taking in the sights. He didn’t really expect to see anything, but it was a once a year event, so he felt that he should take the time to fully experience it.

The two of them chatted as they walked. Carmine learned that Six had been an import from Akitsushima, all the way across the sea. It had come from one of the largest hives in the country, born as one of the elite queen guards. Unfortunately, it's off color purple carapace had it exiled from the hive and sold to humans, passing through a few hands before it was eventually handed to the Pinnacle Institute.

The hives in Onyx were small and quickly eradicated, so Carmine found it quite interesting to hear about the cultures that developed in larger hives with access to human support.

“That seems interesting.” Six sent, pausing to look at a water show that had been set up at the outer edges of the festival. The sign read Rhiner Aquaculture, the only water specialized ranch in the region. Carmine had fond memories of visiting their stand as a kid and clapping as the Magikoi and Liberions danced. He had once considered asking his parents for a Magikoi as a pet, only stopping once he realized how weak Magikoi really were. Even back then, he knew his path, and a soulbeast that couldn’t even protect itself would just be a liability in his travels.

“You want to check it out?”

“Yes. The institute only provided a limited amount of water during matches, so it would be informative to see how water types operate in their natural environment.”

The two of them entered and spent some time watching the aquatic soulbeasts swim around in the lake and clear tanks. Carmine let out a nostalgic smile as he watched a group of kids laugh and clap at the watershow put on by the Magikoi and Liberions.

“Do you wish to join in? The other children seem to be enjoying themselves.”

“Hey, I’m a legal adult now.” Carmine rejected his status. Due to their rights and responsibilities, all trainers were automatically considered adults in the eyes of the law. You wouldn’t be going to juvie if your murder puppy started killing people. “I know how to do taxes and everything!”

“Are you sure? Some of the humans there are taller than you.”

It said a lot about the Zan that Carmine couldn’t even tell if it was being sarcastic.

“They’re probably older siblings or something.” Carmine weakly claimed. He knew that he was slightly shorter than average for his age, and while it usually didn’t bother him, being compared to actual children like that was slightly embarrassing.

Still, despite his embarrassment, Carmine didn’t leave. He stayed at the back and watched the show from afar, eventually throwing himself into the mental gestalt that the show had formed.

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It was just as he had remembered it, a wave of childish joy and fulfilled pride. Carmine could almost let himself be swept up in the nostalgia, but he wasn’t a kid anymore, and his senses were now far more developed.

He could feel the tang of childish impatience as the show built anticipation. There was an undercurrent of competitiveness between the soulbeasts, each Liberion seeking to outperform the others, drawing more attention and praise. A weight of tiredness grew among the Magikoi as the show drew on, not having nearly as much stamina as the combat species. He could even sense a slight twinge of envy and… hate?

Carmine’s eyes snapped open as he brought forward his full attention.

“Something wrong?” Six asked, sensing the shift in its trainer.

“Something interesting.” Carmine replied, dedicating his focus to tracking down the thread of hatred.

The gestalt was a mess of thoughts and feelings, more than enough to hide a few stray thoughts. But the blip of hate and envy was far from that, constantly repeating in a pattern that implied suppression instead of random generation. Eventually, he tracked the emotion to one of the smaller Magikoi, a white fish with black and gold patterns.

He continued tracking it as the show progressed. The Magikoi glowed brighter, jumped higher, and swam faster than any of its peers. Even as its tiredness grew, its will never flattered. Continuously pushing far beyond its limits, always accompanied by a restrained core of hate, fear, and envy.

This could be fun. Carmine’s face broke out into a smile.

When the show ended an hour later, Carmine walked up to the tank, observing the Magikoi that was now lazily floating in the water. It was asleep now, but even its dreams were a nightmarish swirl of jealousy and doubt. He had never seen anything quite like it.

“Can I help you sir?” Carmine turned towards the scruffy, middle aged man that came up to him. He was wearing a watersuit with the Rhiner Aquacultures logo on it, marking him as an employee.

“Ah, hello. I was wondering if I could talk to somebody about the Magikoi?”

The man’s eyes flashed toward the Zan following behind him.

“That would be me sir.” He replied cautiously. “I’m Alan, handler for the Magikoi at Rhiner Aquacultures. What can I help you with?”

“Could I inquire about your prices? I remember an advertisement saying that you had trained Magikoi for sale.”

Alan sent a hostile glare at him, dropping all pretense.

“Sera’s not for sale.”

Ah, so he had noticed then. At least he wasn’t a total incompatant.

“She isn’t? Have you asked her about it?”

“I don’t want you to give her any dangerous ideas.”

Carmine smiled, calling the Magikoi with a thought.

“Oh don’t worry. All ideas will be her own.”

He could feel the man from a private connection with the Magikoi, probably telling her to stay away. It was useless though, as he felt a flash of recognition as the fish saw him. There must have been quite a few gossip mongers around, if tales of his actions had already spread to this point.

Carmine wrapped his mind around the Magikoi, locking Alan out. He could tell that the man noticed from the way his fist clenched, but with Six here, he wouldn’t be able to try anything.

***

Sera tried to suppress her nervousness as she swam towards the boy. She had been hearing about him all day now. The child that had faced down an army of challengers to prove his strength, gaining the respect and service of a potentially legendary Zan with his will and tenacity. It was like a myth out of a storybook, and if the subjects of those rumors were not standing in front of her, she wouldn’t have believed any of it.

“Sera! Do not come here! Don’t!”

She ignored the voice of her father. Sera was thankful for his gift of thought, but he always tried to keep her from talking to any trainers. No matter what she did, they always left soon after he appeared and started talking to them in human. This one stayed though, so perhaps this was her chance?

The other soulbeasts had already noticed the event, stirring up the currents in a fury of activity. Her telepathy wasn’t good enough to notice messages not directly sent to her, but Sera just knew that they were talking about her. She didn’t want to think about what those messages were saying.

“He-hello.” She nervously sent once she had swam up to the wall. Sera saw her father gritting his teeth and shaking. She felt guilty hurting him, but she needed to do this.

“I’m Sera.” She introduced. “How can I help you?”

The child smiled. Sera wasn’t that good with human facial expressions, but his face looked an awful lot like the faces of those kids that would throw stones into the water just to see them try to dodge.

“You’re quite the ugly creature, aren't you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not criticizing. In fact, I find your inner thoughts to be quite interesting. And it's not like you’ve been all that good about hiding it. Something like that requires dedicated training for a nonhuman.”

What? How did he-

“How did I read your mind? Like I said, soulbeasts need dedicated training to hide anything. Even your handler here noticed, and I’m quite a bit stronger than he is.” She felt the full weight of his mind press down on hers, and Sera knew that if he wanted, he could break her. Shatter her fragile ego and turn her feral. Instinctively, she felt that familiar sense of fear and helplessness rise up.

“But I’m not here to talk about me,” He continued. “I’m here to talk about you.”

The boy waved his hands at the other side of the tank, where the Liberion were preening under the attentions of the crowd. A few trainers were even talking to another employee about purchasing them for their teams.

“You hate this don’t you? Being a side show, a decoration. Even if somebody notices you, you’ll be a side character at best, offering support and encouragement to those that are truly important. But you’re not satisfied with being a member of the supporting cast. No, you want to be the star of the show, powerful enough to control your own destiny.”

Sera tried not to flinch at the sound of the boy rapping his knuckles against the glass. She saw the boy laugh.

“I think you know how impossible that is. No matter how hard you try, you’ll still be a Magikoi, a species bred to be food and pets. Did you know that a century ago, awakened Magikoi didn’t exist? You are quite the modern luxury.”

Sera didn’t want to listen anymore. She tried to push him out, but his presence was like water, slipping through any defences she tried to erect.

“Don’t run from it. You know it's the truth.” Carmine frowned as the handler tried to charge over, only to be restrained by Six.

“Well, looks like our time is up. Try to think about what I’ve said.”

She felt the pressure in her mind grow to a peak as she blacked out.