Chapter 5 - Main Quest

After a startled cry, there was a short silence. Lucy felt nervous. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She still couldn't believe what she had seen.

James watched as she stared at him, her eyes wide with astonishment. Then he tried to flap his wings.

"Yes... It was me, Di- Wait… I mean, it's me James!"

He shook the sudden thought from his mind and landed lightly on Esther's shoulder. Esther didn't know what to say to a bewildered Lucy.

"Boss, he's in a bit of an... awkward position."

Lucy sat down in the chair. She was trying to get over the bewilderment of the situation. It was so absurd...

James explained himself.

"As I wrote in the note to you, Lucy. I certainly could have been, and I was, but I found a solution, so don't worry."

James' eyes sparkled as he said this. He was full of confidence. Lucy slowly tried to digest the situation.

She remembered the note James had mentioned. The note looked like nothing more than a bunch of bullshit. But now, looking at the bakugan in front of her, it didn't seem like so. 

She tried to digest it slowly. The absurdity of this nonsense being real was not something she could easily wrap her mind around.

Still, she was relieved. At least he was okay. Relatively speaking, of course. 

She certainly had a lot of questions, but she had a feeling that if she asked James, she wouldn't get a straight answer. In any case, Lucy felt that she had learned more than she needed to.

James felt a weight lifted from his heart when he saw her relax a little. Nevertheless, the restaurant went on with its course. James sat at the kitchen table without doing much.

It was a bit boring for James. But it was not a bad time for reflection. He had enough time to draw conclusions from the information he had received. Of course, he still needed a partner for his plans.

To fight properly as a Bakugan, a partner was essential. With a partner of a sufficient caliber, there was no fight that could not be won. It could be seen just by looking at Dan and Drago. They had a partnership that was a near-perfect match for each other.

Granted, James didn't need such a great match. But he needed a partner in every way, and Esther was the best person to help him. And he knew that his plans would mean nothing unless she agreed. So he had to wait for the right moment to tell her.

The time passed. People crowded in. He watched as the boss and the employee struggled to get the food ready. The fragrance of the food mingled with the demanding voices.

He grew increasingly bored. There was nothing he could do. He could barely help with relatively menial tasks like stirring the food. 

As evening came and darkness began to fall, the vestals began to disperse. James collapsed exhausted. His wings were piled up on the table. The effort of his small body was too much for him.

As his gasps were heard, a new system window appeared in front of him, white with a gold frame.

<It has been determined that you have reached a new milestone in your life. Congratulations user, granted main quest livelihood.>

'Ah, right... I had a system.'

So far, the system had done nothing but give him purpose. Module screen? Come on, what was increasing G-Power going to do at that point? Functionally, it was completely useless.

Now, though… things had actually changed a lot. Modules could increase his G-Power to a ridiculous level!

The realization of this made his eyes light up. But he had to focus on the present. If he remembered correctly, the system could react to his thoughts.

'System, what is a main mission? Can you remind me?'

The system window in front of him disappeared and was replaced by a new one.

<Main Quest is the system's quest of presenting as quests possibilities that appear at crossroads user's life, defined a kind 'Path', taking into account current situation. Since these Main Quests are turning points, their rewards by far more satisfying than other quests.>

After reading the article, he realized that there was a continue button next to it. Since he couldn't reach it, he tried to think about continuing and succeeded.

<The only bad thing about the Main Quests is that they are defined as milestones and cannot be failed. When failed, system enters 'Failure Mode'. The quest function remains intact, but module switched off.>

It was the same as never developing again. It was a gamble, no doubt. James was not very keen to take that gamble, given the misfortunes life had dealt him.

'Is this Main Quest selection forced?'

<Negative. You can choose not to choose, you make your decision after see the quests.>

That was good. Then he could view the missions and make his decision. When he asked it to view the missions, three separate system windows appeared.

The first could be summarized as the human path. It wanted him to find a way to get rid of the bakugan that had become part of his body rather than transforming into a complete human. It could be interpreted as an unnecessary absurdity.

It was at odds with his current planning, which only aimed at restoring his human form.

So, he looked at the second mission, which was almost the exact opposite. It was a mission that asked him to embrace his Bakugan side and rise to the top of it. The conditions were a bit frustrating. It wanted him to have a Base G-Power of 1,000 and summon a Mechtogan and even a Mechtogan Titan!

What was Mechtogan? To James, it was like a godlike power. Bakugans were no match for Mechtogans. A Mechtogan couldn't take damage from bakugans. The system wanted such a powerful being, and on top of that, it wanted him to summon the Titan version of it, an even more powerful being.

He was not sure if he could do it. Even if he could summon a Mechtogan, Titan... it seemed too far-fetched at the moment. But it was better than this nonsense about accepting humanity and destroying his bakugan side.

And he finally read the last one.

<Rise of the Half-Bakugan (Stage: 1)>

<Description: You have failed miserably to maintain your humanoid form. are now a Bakugan. And you will remain so unless find way acquire human form once again. For ascension as Half-Bakugan, must first regain>

<Requirements:< p>

Regain human form.>

<Reward: Will be determined by the completion way of requirements.>

<Penalty: You will remain a Bakugan and die as miserable White One.>

Well, this was directly what he had in mind. It would not be wrong to say that it was almost the concrete manifestation of the path he was going to take. He saw no problem in making this his main quest. Besides, gaining a reward on top of it didn't seem so bad.

Now, all that was left to do... was to tell Esther about his plans.

As he was thinking about it, he suddenly felt his body being lifted off the ground.

"W-What's going on?"

He recovered from his surprise when he realized that it was Esther who took him between her fingers. Esther had taken him in her hand with a tired face.

"It's time to go. Lucy has already gone to bed. We'll close up and come back."

Obviously, although the day had started with far fewer people for some reason, by the middle of it, the popularity had skyrocketed. This made both Esther and Lucy very tired. So much so that the woman who normally insisted on closing up herself gave in to sleep.

Esther was finding it harder and harder to get used to the fluctuating popularity of this place. Still, it was hard to tell if she was enjoying herself in some way.

James, after looking at her face, nodded in understanding and returned to his ball shape. He was actually hoping to stay here. He hadn't thought for a moment that Esther would take him with her.

"Let's go then."

He felt a sense of relief as he found himself in Esther's inside pocket. He heard Esther mutter tiredly.

"I'm so tired. I want to go to bed as soon as I get home."

James knew very well how hard she worked. She was right to say so. But he said it anyway in a mature voice:

"And don't forget to change for a good night's sleep."

She had been in the same outfit since she woke up today. It was no longer uncomfortable to be in the same clothes all the time, it was not healthy.

Esther, who had closed the restaurant and was on her way home, felt a little warmth when she heard James' advice. Still, she complained in a complaining voice.

"Please don't talk like my mother, James."

James was quick to respond:

"I have my friend's best interests at heart, so if I'm acting like your mother, I think it's okay to do so."

Esther paused in the doorway. Her lips curled upwards slightly.

'Friend, huh?'

It was true when she thought about it. After all, the reason she was so interested in James was because he was her friend. He was one of the two people with whom she maintained a close dialog in both of her identities.

And while that was nice on the one hand, it felt weird on the other. It was a feeling she couldn't describe. Still, she chose not to think about it too much for now. She nodded her head slightly as if James could see it and said happily before opening the door:

"I think you're right, friend."

And with a chuckle, she entered the house.

As soon as she was inside the house, she made her way to her bedroom. After putting James on the nightstand, she took off her clothes. She wanted to change as quickly as possible and go to sleep. She could feel an uncomfortable muscle ache all over her body.

She unzipped the zipper on her back and pulled it down. She opened the closet and looked at the clothes. Her sweaty back glistened in the dim light and was clearly visible from James's angle.

He might be a Bakugan now, but he was human before. He instantly turned away in natural embarrassment. He could feel his heart beating fast. He reminded himself.

'You're an old man, James. Snap out of it!'

As old as he was, he was also a virgin who had never been touched by a woman. The feelings that came with that, combined with the emotional nature of the young body he possessed, were not very pleasant.

Although he averted his gaze, the scene still reflected off the broken glass that had not yet been collected. He could see the image of her in her black underwear. Although he normally didn't pay attention, at that moment, he could see her strikingly beautiful young body.

His logic, morality, and curiosity clashed at that moment. He wanted to watch more. But in the end, morality and logic prevailed and he decided it would be best to return to ball form and rest. However, that image had been imprinted in his mind once.

Of course, he had also seen the Siren, the mask, the wig and the clothes in the closet at the same time, but his mind would not allow him to focus on that right now. It would be best for him to bring it up another day.

With that thought, James forced himself to sleep.