Chapter 5 - Real Bakugan

He waited patiently in line. As much as the noise around him annoyed him, it was no longer unbearable. As the amount of Vestals reduced, his turn finally came.

The receptionist asked as soon as it was his turn:

"What is your name and what element are you playing?"

Since he had been waiting for a while, James answered by placing the gauntlet in front of the receptionist:

"James, Darkus."

The receptionist, who moved his hand under the table to give him the gauntlet, was surprised by his gesture. He asked skeptically:

"Sir, if you already have a glove, shouldn't you be registered?"

James shrugged.

"I have no idea. I had an accident, so my memory's a bit fuzzy. Can you take a look?"

The receptionist looked at James and then at the rest of the line before answering. No matter how reduced, there were still plenty of vestals waiting. "All right, please wait," he said with a sigh.

Then he connected the glove to the computer via a cable. Meanwhile James waited curiously. After some minor processing, the receptionist spoke:

"Hmhm, I see. Sorry about that, Mr. James. Your data here was not entered into the system... Strange, whatever it is, I'll take care of it."

James was relieved that the receptionist only found the situation strange. If he had said otherwise, he would not have been able to make an excuse for it. The receptionist spoke after a short while as he handed the glove back to him:

"Well, Mr. James, according to the information entered in your gauntlet, it says that you were involved in a collision and lost a bakugan. Therefore, you can only receive one bakugan from us."

James nodded his head in agreement. Two was ideal when he already had one bakugan. He thought for a short while and then asked:

"Do you have any Darkus Hammersaurs?"

The receptionist quickly looked it up on the computer.

"You said Hammersaur, right? Yes, there is one in the system. Do you want one?"

"Yes."

James nodded. As he did, a question suddenly popped into his mind. Even though the receptionist hadn't asked, what was his last name? Did he have a last name? He remembered from his memories that he had family, so he must have, but...

As the thoughts invaded his mind, he felt a headache. It was as if he had inadvertently poked something deep inside him.

As he started to hold his head with his hand, Darkus Hammersaur appeared in the receptionist's hand, which he could not see where he had gotten it from.

He took the Bakugan with his other hand. At this moment the receptionist spoke:

"We take no responsibility if you lose your Bakugan. Have a good battle. If you are challenging someone or participating in a tournament, please see the interested reception on the other side."

"All right. Thank you."

James nodded and started to make his way to the other row. He stopped holding his head with his hand. The line looked suspiciously less than the other line. When his headache was gone, he looked at his new Bakugan with satisfaction. It looked lifeless, like a toy. But he knew that the ball in his hand was very much alive.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

'I wonder... Logically it's alive, but it could be... Hm, well, I don't have the possibility to test it for the moment anyway.'

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense, but since there was no way to try it right now, he pushed the idea away from his mind without thinking too much. Just then it was his turn.

"I want to challenge someone."

The receptionist answered quickly:

"Okay. Who do you want to challenge?"

James thought for a moment. He had never looked at any of them before. As it was his first match, he didn't want to aim too high. So he tried to be as polite as possible and said, "Well... I'm a newbie. Can you guide me, who would be appropriate for me to challenge right now?"

Contrary to his expectation, the receptionist grinned without any problem and said, "Of course. You're a Darkus player, right?" he asked.

Surprised for a brief moment, but quickly recovering, James nodded. After a few transactions, the receptionist said, "I'll be right in... Yes, yes, that should do it. You can challenge the four hundred and eighty-eighth. He seems to have just joined, like you. I think you'll be fine."

James's eyes glowed with malice for a brief moment before he nodded.

"Sure, sure. If you say so, you can submit mJy application."

"I'll do it now!" the man said enthusiastically, but inside he was snickering.

'Hehe. Another hunt for that brat. There's really good money in this business as my friend said.'

Unaware of the man's inner thoughts, James felt even more awkward at his enthusiasm.

'Is it just me or are vestals really weird?

As he pondered this oddity, the man quickly arranged the match.

"Two days later, one o'clock in the afternoon. Is that okay?"

James wasn't too bothered. So he said, "Fine." in a normal way. The date of the duel and some kind of cyber-confirmation that he was the challenger were entered into the glove. And then James started walking away because he had no more business there.

He had a strange expression as he walked.

"You noticed it too, didn't you?"

Fox's response was immediate:

[Of course, it's likely to be a general trap set for newbies.]

James frowned.

"Could be. But this is better. At least I won't have a guilty conscience when I win my first fight."

At this he had raised his voice without realizing it. The mere possibility of a trap enraged him. Just then he heard a mocking voice behind him:

"Ouch. Sounds like someone's overconfident."

He turned angrily at the mocking voice but was surprised by what he saw.

There was a girl with a strange mask on her face. She looked about sixteen years old. The mask completely covered her eyes and the upper half of her face. Where the eyes should have been, there were three pairs of blood-red lines. The lines were the length of a finger. She had long pink hair.

Combined with her strange purplish clothes, James completely lost his momentary anger. "Who are you?" he asked in surprise.

She ignored his question. She spoke in a tone that, unlike her earlier sarcasm, held a little concern for him:

"Take care of yourself. That boy is a trickster. That's why he'll be hard for a newbie like you to beat."

James was even more surprised. So this woman had listened in on their conversation? He felt involuntarily uncomfortable, although it didn't really matter. Of course he didn't express it. She wouldn't have warned him if she had bad intentions. So he said confidently, "You're right, I can imagine it will be difficult, but just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's unachievable. Besides... No matter how much a cheater cheats in choosing the people to battle, a cheater can't cheat in a battle."

The girl was surprised at first, as if she had not expected this answer. But then she laughed as if she was impressed by what he said:

"Hahaha! I hope it won't be the end of your trust, newbie. I look forward to the result."

Then, before James could even react, she disappeared from sight. He stood dumbfounded by her sudden disappearance. He looked to his right and then to his left. But she had vanished like a ghost.

"What... is it?"

Fox answered his unconscious question in all seriousness [It's a girl]. James then put his head in hand at Fox's ridiculous answer.

"I know that too, genius. I mean... Fuck it. Let's get the fuck outta here. We still have to find a place to stay."

[Not me, you. I already have my own place.]

"Oh, you have a place. Then let me in."

Fox replied hurriedly. In his mind's eye, James could imagine him flapping his arms in haste.

[That's not how it works! I can't! I couldn't even if I wanted to.]

James smiled at her cute voices.

"Anyway... it shouldn't be hard to find a place to stay. Right?"

Unfortunately, things didn't go as James had hoped.