Chapter 9 - Sudden Fainting

As he walked step by step down the corridor towards the exit, his excitement slowly subsided. He had a headache. James thought it was from hearing the annoying chants of the vestals.

As he continued walking there was a white system window in front of him. Inside the window was a bronze card.

<4>

<Energy Bar>

<G-Power increases by +15.>

<(Damaged)>

<0/3>

<User>

Inside the bronze card was a knight holding a spear. This black knight was pointing his spear to his right and looked menacing. You could say he looked quite powerful. But there were cracks in this picture.

James frowned. It was a damaged and useless module.

"Can I use this thing on a bakugan?"

Fox answered after a short thought:

[According to the text, no. It says user, right? To install it to a live bakugan, Companion, to install it to a robot, it has to say Mechs or something similar].

He nodded his head in understanding. Meanwhile, he continued to move forward. He was stopped by a mysterious girl with her back against the wall.

"You were better than I expected."

James looked at her face, sighed and said irritably.

"You again? Thank you for the praise, but could you tell me who you are?"

The masked girl giggled at his words.

"Hahaha! Calm down, champ. You can call me Siren if you want to know that much."

James frowned. He started to say something but then sighed. One eyebrow raised slightly.

"Well then, Siren, what are you doing here?"

A smile appeared on Siren's face.

"No reason. I'm just intrigued. That's all."

James looked at her, not understanding. Thanks to the mask on her face, it was hard to tell who she was. Her sudden arrival and demeanor were too confusing. He could not understand the other's intentions. Fox, strangely silent, was not helping in any way. His headache added to the math and he gave up thinking about it.

"If you say so. See you later."

He walked away without asking anything more. He had questions, yes, but... Right now he just wanted to go somewhere quiet.

Siren, who thought he would be more curious, stayed where she was in surprise.

'He didn't ask anything.'

She didn't know what to say. Was she too reckless or was she a complete idiot?

"Interesting."

Siren was clearly on the side that thought he was uncaring and she found it interesting. Different vestals were always interesting. So she decided to watch James more.

Just then, suddenly, her communicator rang. Immediately opening it, an elderly male voice could be heard saying something harsh. Siren answered the speaker in a normal voice.

"Yes? Against whom? Hm... Okay, okay. You said tomorrow, right? Good."

Then she turned off the device.

"At least I have some time today."

When she looked around, James was already gone.

...

James breathed a sigh of relief and kept walking. He had escaped, taking advantage of the opportunity to get away. At this moment he heard Fox chuckle. He realized that she was enjoying the situation.

[Anyway, what do you think you're going to do now? You could work in a restaurant to stay. Although they might employ robots here...]

James sighed. He had made it out of the arena while watching more space open up on the map in the corner that he hadn't used for so long. At this point he said:

"That's what I'm thinking of doing. I hope it's nothing like you say."

[Not a bad idea. You can stay in the restaurant. But you might run into a main quest soon. Watch out.]

"What main quest- Agh! My head!"

He groaned in pain as he held his head. His headache was getting worse and worse. This increasing headache was unbearable.

[James? Are you okay?]

James could barely get away from the arena as he held his head tightly. He started looking for a place to sit nearby. His vision was wavering. Yet despite this, he said, "I-I'm fine..." as if nothing was wrong. Immediately he blacked out and collapsed.

…

When he opened his eyes, he saw the black-haired nurse hooking up an IV drip. He was once again in the hospital. When the nurse realized that he was awake, she explained the situation by saying, "You're here again, sir."

As if trying to make a joke of the situation, James said with a smile that was obviously fake, "Hahaha! What can I do, I like it here."

The nurse ignored this, finished the binding, and stepped back. Before leaving, she said, "If you say so. The doctor will be with you soon to tell you the results. Take better care of yourself, sir."

James waved his hand and sent her off like a child, saying, "Goodbye." Immediately afterwards he spoke in a low voice:

"That headache... Why is it so bad? What's going on, Fox?"

He was worried. Loss of consciousness after such a severe pain... He had questions. Fox took a deep breath before answering.

[It's... It's something I predicted. Remember what I told you before? That as you level up, this will progress. But that's only one side of it. Every time you get into a collision or the dimension controller in the sky gets weaker, it will speed up the process].

He rubbed his head in distress, even though his headache was gone.

"Is there any way to slow this down?"

Fox sighed.

[Sadly, no.]

With that, he spoke with rising anger:

"Isn't there, I don't know, some kind of protective serum or something like that? Anything to keep the Dimension Controller slowed down even if it's gone?"

One question after another, Fox said, stunned, [I don't know. I just don't know...]. With that, James, who was getting more and more frantic, angrily shouted at this useless guide.

"THEN MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL!"

She shouted back.

[I'M USELESS? I'M GUIDING YOU!]

"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME HOW TO CONTROL IT! AM I GONNA FAINT LIKE THIS AT THE END OF EVERY MATCH!?"

[THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO!? DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO'S BEEN IN THIS SITUATION BEFORE!? YOUR ONLY CHANCE IS TO COLLECT SP!]

"TELL ME A FASTER WAY TO GET SP! YOU USELESS THING."

[DO A QUEEEEST WAAAAA!]

"DON'T CRY AND GIVE ME QUESTS TO GET IT FASTER!"

[I'M NOT GIVING YOU QUESTS, GO ASK THE SYSTEM!]

"I DON'T CARE, GO FIND IT AND BRING IT TO ME! IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M LIKE THIS, REMEMBER?"

[I'M SORRY! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE?]

"UNTIL I'M SATISFIED AND I'M NOT SATISFIED YET!"

At that moment, as a result of his shouting to himself, a nurse rushed in. Right behind her was the doctor she had seen earlier.

"What's going on here, Mr. James, who were you yelling at?"

Realizing what was coming, he covered his hand in shame and thought about how to explain what he had done.

'Think James think... I've got it!'

He looked at the doctor with a small cough.

"A kid was making fun of me earlier and I exploded. I'm sorry. I think he's gone now."

The doctor and the nurse looked at him with a strange expression. Neither of them had seen any children on their way here. Doctor sighed. Maybe this could be related to memory loss. So he took notes and asked:

"So, Mr. James, what brings you here this time?"

Doctor's demeanor put James at ease. He was glad he didn't push too hard.

"Doctor. I had a severe headache at the exit of the arena. Just as I stepped out, I fainted."

Doctor asked a few more questions while thinking about the symptoms.

"How is your arm and leg?"

"Oh, them? They are quite good. There is nothing wrong with me, thank God."

"And did you become like this after the Bakugan battle?"

"Yes."

The doctor took notes as he considered the diagnoses. After a few more trivial questions, he gave James the verdict.

"All right, Mr. James. You're probably in this state because the excitement of Bakugan battles is too much for you. I suggest you stop. Otherwise these fainting spells may become much more frequent."

James hesitated for a moment when he heard this, but then he laughed with a slight sadness that contained a meaning that the Doctor could not understand.

"Haha! I can't stop even if I wanted to, doctor. I love this excitement. I love the feeling of battling."

Doctor nodded his head in understanding. Since their arrival on this new planet, Bakugan had been the favorite of children and young adults. There were many obsessed ones who would not stop fighting, even if it meant dying.

Doctor sighed: He was worried that his sudden fainting was connected to his loss of memories, but he had no concrete corroboration, so he said nothing.

"Then it looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of each other, Mr. James."

James then said jokingly, "I suppose so. Take good care of me, Doctor." He extended his hand towards the Doctor.

Doctor sighed as he shook his hand back:

"That's my job. Anyway, stay for a few more hours. Then you can be discharged."

"Thank you, Doctor."

As James was thanking him, he suddenly had a problem in his mind.

"Doctor. As you know, I have no memory and I don't know anything about my family, so I don't have a place to stay. I want to work to find a place to stay. Is there any place you can recommend for me to work?"

Doctor thought a little when he heard his question. In fact, when he looked at the records, no one named James was found anyway. So he could have been someone who entered illegally or someone who was not registered. It was not possible to identify him in any way.

James, meanwhile, hoped that there was a possibility in his thinking. That was one of the things he needed most right now. He didn't want to look like a crazy, broke man in the middle of the street.

Doctor spoke up at this point:

"Well, I think... Yes, there is a place. The restaurant my little sister runs, they must be short-staffed at the moment, it's on the west side of town. Check it out."

James told Fox not to forget the information he had received. In the meantime, he thanked the doctor politely. He could barely breathe when the doctor said a few more words and left.

"It's a good thing he didn't push too hard. Otherwise, I would've looked at you like you were crazy."

[It's your fault for saying those words to me. Hmph!]

There was a short silence as they both blamed each other. Then James couldn't take it anymore.

"Pft! Hahahahahahhaha!"

[Hahahahahahaha!]

They were both laughing at themselves right now. If Fox had been with him, it would have been a pretty sweet picture. Right now he looked like a madman laughing to himself.

James was laughing like he couldn't believe himself and said, "Hahahahahahaha! I can't believe we're fighting like kids." This little argument had done them both a lot of good.

[Hahahahaha! You're right, but you started it.]

"Okay, okay, if you say so," he said resignedly, his own laughter subsiding a little in response to Fox's response. Then he changed the subject.

"So, what do you think about working in a restaurant, would that be challenging?"

[I don't think it's going to be difficult, it might even be good for you].

James was surprised for a moment.

"Good? What good could it possibly be?"

[Well, working in a restaurant means you're constantly on the move. That tires your body and uses up energy. So at least this way you can make it affect you less].

James thought for a moment before agreeing.

'Hmhm... Yeah, she might be right. I wonder what that place is like?'

Although he could roughly remember what the restaurant was, he couldn't imagine what kind of work he would be doing there. So he was quite curious.