Conscious, Conscientious

Deon stared at Skrili on the pearly white bridge, about to burst from anticipation.

“Fight in Conscious Competitions? Without being certified?” he repeated. “How?!”

Despite noticing his excitement, Skrili still kept her cool, taking her time to elaborate. “Well, a Legend Trainer reached out to Pang and I after our fight with Alex and Ving,” she revealed.

“A what now?”

“Haven’t you read that book I got you?” pressed Skrili. “A Legend Trainer—there are only a few of them in hidden places all over the Multiverse. Once a month, they’re allowed to invite one certified team to join them for infamously intense training. It’s a big deal; most teams go their whole careers without getting invited. But it’s supposed to be the ultimate experience for a consciousness team’s growth.”

Deon nodded fervently as he listened. “Sounds great and all, but you said ‘certified team,’ right?” he noticed. “You’re the only one certified out of the two of us.”

“That’s why I’m bringing this up,” said Skrili. “I was looking into it, and there’s an interesting rule about this. If a certified fighter is invited but they have a new teammate, that teammate is still welcome—certified or not. And Legend Trainers have the unique right to certify any pro they want.”

“Whoa—so this guy can get me into tournaments?!” Deon exclaimed.

“Well, we have to earn it,” explained Skrili. “The only way is to pass the Legend Trainer’s month-long training first. If we do, you can fight with me in Conscious Competitions.”

Deon shot his fists into the air. “YES!! I’m so in! Let’s do it!!” he shouted. He briefly imagined a mini Twitchy into existence, and they shared a high-five.

But Skrili remained serious. “There’s another catch, though,” she said.

“Huh?”

“The Legend Trainer invited me and Pang,” said Skrili. “So either of us are eligible, but if we’re on different teams, only one can pass each month. On top of that, these Trainers rarely pass more than one team a year.”

“Oh…and I bet Pang and Phillip want this opportunity, too,” Deon realized. “Which means…”

Skrili nodded. “We have to get to the Trainer first.”

Deon smiled with tenacity. It had been an intense several days here at Gloat Stadium, but he’d hardly fought or used his powers the whole time. He was itching to dive into their next undertaking—especially if it meant earning the right to fight in Conscious Competitions.

“Alright, then, looks like it’s a race!” He spun around, hurrying towards the end of the bridge. “Come on! No time to waste, Skrili!”

“You don’t even know where we’re going yet.”

“Oh—right. Where to?”

“Somewhere in Fiction Country,” Skrili replied, as he kept walking away. “It’s a secret location the Trainer sent to me and Pang in our Teamtracks.”

“Got it. To Fiction Country!!” Deon exclaimed.

But Skrili didn’t follow.

“W—wait…” she stuttered.

Confused, Deon turned back around. “What’s up?”

Averting eye contact, Skrili blushed. “Um…from what you said earlier, it sounds like I was in a weird state last night…” she said uncomfortably. “I didn’t…do anything…weird, did I?””

Instantly, Deon recalled how nice it felt when she placed her soft hand against his chest and gazed into his eyes last night. Heart pounding, he whipped back around and continued his way off the bridge.

“N—no, not at all! Of course not! Ha ha!” he said too loudly, increasing his pace unintentionally. “Let’s go!”

“Oh…alright,” uttered Skrili.

After checking to make sure Deon wasn’t looking, she brought the newly revived photograph of her brother back to her face, and bit her lip to conceal a smile. Then, she followed Deon off the bridge and onto their next adventure.

~~~

Lammy felt the chilly breeze he’d grown accustomed to as he and Zayza stepped outside Gloat Stadium. He’d never seen the outer platform so empty: aside from a few lingering fans, there were only a few other vendors packing up and transporting their equipment.

Most of them did so in much more efficient ways than Lammy and Zayza, who lugged bulky boxes along the walkway in a constant state of almost tripping.

“I must admit, I wish Rob had remembered to replenish the levitation devices…” Zayza uttered gruntingly.

“Yeah,” agreed Lammy. “You’d think these things would be easier to carry with less food in them now…”

Despite the hard labor, Zayza smiled. “They’re truly amazing, aren’t they?” she said. “Hiroko and Kotono…they saved the desert villages, us, and helped those other girls. I’m so happy they’re my friends.”

Lammy nodded. Their power was so immense it was almost terrifying, but these young women were on their team. He wished their time together hadn’t been cut so short.

“How do you think they’ll get back in touch with us?” he wondered.

“They’ll figure it out. I just know,” Zayza assured. “In the meantime, we’ll have to find somewhere to wait…somewhere safe.”

“Yeah…and since people think you’re a criminal, probably a place without so many people this time,” added Lammy.

He wondered just where that could be. Tailpiece was too far away, and while they lucked out here at the Conscious Competition, continuing to work for Rob and Pete in the bustling Conscious City would probably push their luck too far.

Lammy tried not to picture the possibility of Fewpar and Najinzu finding them again before Hiroko and Kotono were able to get them to a reconstructed Mainland Desert.

“I wish there was someone else we knew,” he said.

Suddenly, Zayza perked up. “Oh! That reminds me, Lammy: I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” she started.

“What is it?”

“I met someone who resembles you quite a bit a couple days ago,” she said. “He has the same hair and eyes. Out of curiosity, would you happen to know someone named Deon?”

Lammy froze.

His box dropped from his hands and slammed against the floor.

“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!” he screamed. “DEON?!”

“Um…” Zayza stammered worriedly. “Well—that’s how he introduced himself, yes.”

“DEON?!” Lammy repeated.

“Yes…is—is that a bad thing, or…”

“THAT’S MY COUSIN!!!” Lammy declared. “He left our home right before me, and—and I tried to stop him but then I supported him, and…and then he left and I fell through the thing and ended up in No Man’s Land but he was gone and WAIT YOU MET HIM?! HE WAS HERE?! WHEN? WHERE???”

He’d already begun searching all around before Zayza could reply.

“Um—um—oh, dear…in the seating…he ordered a few times…” Zayza recalled hurriedly.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?!!”

“There was so much going on! I’m so sorry!” Zayza wailed, dropping her own load of equipment.

“No—don’t be! This is amazing!! He’s my best friend, and he’s super strong! He’ll be there for us!” exclaimed Lammy. “Zayza, we have to find him again! He has to know!”

“R—right!” Zayza said with a big nod. “But…where do we start…?”

They looked around carefully, but the event was very much over, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows across the floating platform. Lammy doubted Deon would still be here.

Eventually, he sighed. “Maybe we’re too—”

All of the sudden, a circle of space just before them began rippling like a pebble falling into still water. As the ripple settled, they both saw two icy blue and two round, red eyes peering back at them.

Zayza shrieked and Lammy took a startled step back.

“Can you guys here us?” came an echoing voice.

Around the eyes, Hiroko and Kotono’s faces took form. Their somewhat transparent heads floated close together before them, with some sort of building in the background.

“Uh…yeah, we can,” Lammy said, managing to calm down.

“Kotono and Hiroko?” realized Zayza.

“Hi! Sorry about my powers almost killing you guys yesterday!” Kotono greeted cheerily.

“I told you to ease into that part…” mumbled Hiroko.

“How are you doing this?” Zayza wondered in a hushed tone, looking around carefully.

“No need to keep it down. This is magic—a rare, kind of expensive form of magic,” Hiroko explained. “We did some research and know some people. This magic can’t be traced, so it’s just between you and us. Only you two can see us. And while we’re talking, nobody else around you can hear anything any of us are saying.”

“You’ll just look like you’re moving your mouths like crazy people,” added Kotono. “S—so, how are you two doing?”

Zayza glanced at the mess she and Lammy had made on the ground after they dropped the restaurant boxes. “Um…we’re managing,” she said.

“Good. We mostly just wanted to make sure this magic works,” Hiroko shared. “This is how we’ll keep in touch while we’re waiting for my village to be habitable again. We met with Imagine Change—the organization we partnered with to fund a lake in my homeland—and they estimate the process will take about a month.”

“Do you have somewhere you can go before then?” asked Kotono.

“Well actually,” Lammy started, “we just found out Zayza saw my cousin here. We just don’t know where he is now…have you two met Deon?”

His high hopes lowered as he saw Kotono and Hiroko’s faces look back with uncertainty. They turned to each other.

“I don’t think we know a Deon, do we?” Hiroko asked.

“No…oh, wait!” Kotono peered closely at Lammy. “There was that one kid with Pang and Skrili…he looked kind of like you.”

Hiroko was looking beyond Lammy and Zayza now, watching something behind them. “Oh yeah…you mean that guy?” she asked, cocking her head.

Lammy and Zayza turned around to find what she observed: a large, floating screen against the outer wall of Gloat Stadium. On it, some sort of entertainment news program was broadcasting, flashing various images of the tournament’s competitors and more.

The words ‘The Latest with the Stars’ appeared on the screen.

“Runner-up and rising star Skrili Kay had quite a night after the championship,” a commentator said snarkily. “In this photo, reporters caught her totally drunk on the way back to her hotel, carried by who appears to be a mysterious boyfriend!”

“THAT’S HIM!!” Lammy shouted. “That’s my cousin Deon!!”

In the photo, Deon was walking by coolly with a dizzy Skrili Kay in his arms. Lammy felt transported back to Tailpiece and forward in time all at once upon seeing his cousin again. Deon looked just as confident and driven as ever, despite being in a whole new, infinitely larger world now.

“Just what in the Multiverse is Skrili wearing? And who is this secret lover??” the commentator continued.

“He’s dating that tough Skrili girl?” Zayza repeated.

Lammy smirked. “That doesn’t surprise me at all,” he said with a chuckle.

“We’ll be investigating this more, trust me,” promised the commentator. “But for now, I guess we only know one thing for sure about Skrili Kay: she parties HARD!”

“Oh, please!” Kotono denied.

“She wasn’t drunk, the poor girl just got healed. Those idiots try to scrape a scandal out of everything,” Hiroko defended. She returned her attention to Lammy and Zayza. “So, you’re related to that guy? He’s trustworthy?”

“He’s the person I trust most in the whole Multiverse,” Lammy answered immediately. “And he’s strong.”

“Even stronger if he’s with Skrili,” realized Zayza.

Hiroko and Kotono exchanged glances, and then nodded.

“Well, after hearing what you did for Zayza, Lammy, and after watching what Skrili pulled, he hangs around the right crowd,” Hiroko decided. “I’ll take your word.”

Lammy smiled.

“Should we reach out to Skrili? We have her on TeamTrack,” Kotono suggested.

Hiroko shook her head. “We shouldn’t use anything traceable when we’re talking about Zayza in any way. And as far as her kingdom’s concerned, they’ll see Lammy as an accomplice in her escape,” she explained. “I’m not taking any chances.”

“Then how about using this magic again?” Zayza proposed.

But again, Hiroko dismissed the approach. “The magician we got this from said it’s easier to detect if we use it for too many different contacts. It’s most disguised when we only use it to speak to you. And besides…there’s the side-effect he warned us about.”

“Constipation,” Kotono clarified. “Like, insane constipation.”

“So our best bet,” said Hiroko, “is to find out where they’re going next, and send you there.”

Kotono brought her finger to her chin in thought. “Pang and Skrili did mention they got an invite from a Legend Trainer…I think in Fiction Country…”

Hiroko let out a chuckle. “They let it slip, huh? Teams usually keep that to themselves.”

“Th—they must really like us,” smiled Kotono.

“Alright then,” Hiroko said with closure. “That means wherever they’re going in Fiction Country, they’ll have to be there for at least a month. So that’s perfect: it gives you plenty of time to travel there on foot.”

“On foot?” Lammy and Zayza repeated.

“Normally, the smartest way to the Fantasy and Fiction Country border is by dragon,” said Hiroko, “but their minds are too powerful for enchantments. The earrings wouldn’t work. If any dragon recognizes Zayza—which is likely—it’s trouble.”

Man, feels like everything is working against us, thought Lammy. But if this plan really gets us to Deon, I don’t care how far we need to walk.

“So here’s the deal: we’ll reach out to Skrili and try to figure out where she and Deon are headed,” planned Hiroko. “We’ll be casual about it—we can’t let anything slip over TeamTrack,” she added clearly, glaring at Kotono.

“W-Why are you looking at me?” Kotono wondered.

“In the meantime, start heading for the Fiction Country border as soon as you finish with your jobs. We’ll give you directions.”

Lammy and Zayza nodded.

“Oh—there you two are!” they heard vaguely, coming from Kotono and Hiroko’s magic. “Didn’t you see my messages? You have the interview in ten, the photo shoot in twenty, and the podcast in an hour!”

“Oh—time’s up,” realized Hiroko in a mumble. “We’ll reach out soon.”

The couple’s faces began fading again until only their eyes remained.

“G—good luck, guys!” whispered Kotono.

Then, the champions were gone again. Lammy and Zayza stood alone in the pile of their spilled food boxes.

Zayza sighed. “I suppose our journey continues,” she said.

“Yeah…but now we have awesome people supporting us,” Lammy pointed out. “I can’t wait for you to meet my cousin—and I can’t wait to see him again.”

A smile formed on Zayza’s face. “And I’ll work hard to regain my memories of Kotono and Hiroko,” she said. “I promise I will.”

For once, Lammy felt nothing but hopeful for the future awaiting them. After weeks of fear and uncertainty, he was overcome with optimism: things were going to work out.

In the meantime, his mission remained: to keep Zayza safe at all costs.

“Oh—you two alright? We were wondering what was taking so long! Let’s clean that up.”

They looked forward to find Peter jogging their way. In all the excitement and plotting, Lammy almost forgot they still had a job to complete.

Zayza placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go, Lammy,” she said with a confident smile.

He briefly noted the black markings all over her hand, and remembered just how vicious their hunters were. But looking into Zayza’s eyes, he saw a glimpse of the liveliness she had lost for so long resurfacing, if only subtly.

“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s keep moving.”

~~~

In a dark, rainy alleyway, two hooded figures stood huddled close.

The taller one, a slender, well-postured man, observed the magical projection in the girl’s cupped hands beside him.

“Are you sure, my Lady?” he inquired, his voice low and gruffly.

The young girl nodded underneath her hood. “It’s her,” she said. “For some reason, she was working at our Country’s Conscious Competition.”

“But…why don’t I recognize her? I’ve never seen this woman before.”

“She must be using an enchantment,” the girl theorized. “But it doesn’t work on me. I know her too well…I know her more than anyone in the Multiverse.”

The man watched the projection for another moment, before nodding. “I see.”

“Your Sense-Enhancing is even more powerful than your brother’s, Raznizu, so I must count on you,” said the girl. “Your mission is simple: follow Zayza’s trail, find her, and bring her to me.”

They heard a cluster of horse hooves hurry past the alley against the concrete road, so they instinctually separated.

Raznizu turned his back to the girl, stepping away.

“I understand,” he said. “My loyalty is to you and you alone, my Lady.”

Silently yet rapidly, he vanished.