Chapter 295: Winner Goes Through

Chapter 295: Winner Goes Through

The cut behind Glitch’s ribs had closed overnight. Jin found a thin dark line between the plates where yesterday’s fall had torn the hide, and carefully ran his thumb beside it.

Glitch lifted his head from the feed bowl.

"I’m checking. You can keep eating."

That was all the encouragement he needed.

The delegation medic crouched on the opposite side and looked at the seam before consulting yesterday’s scan. "His regeneration’s doing its job. Any trouble with the evening ration?"

"He finished it and tried to open the storage bin."

"I’ll take that as no." She moved to the bruising along his left side, pressing gently until Glitch shifted away. "This still needs time. Closing skin is easier than repairing everything underneath it."

Jin held Glitch steady while she examined his right foreleg. He bore weight comfortably, but a sustained push brought a slight hesitation through the shoulder. Jin had felt that same reluctance through the bond the previous evening, after the excitement had worn off.

He hated how easy it had been to miss while everyone was congratulating them.

"Ordinary walking today," the medic said. "No bursts or hard bracing. Tomorrow morning we’ll check him under load."

"And the contest?"

"We have two days. That’s why I’m checking now." She straightened. "If he’s ready, I’ll clear him. Today, let him recover."

Jin nodded and loosened his grip. Glitch immediately returned to breakfast, apparently satisfied that the interruption had ended in his favor.

Flicker flew down from the rail and landed on Jin’s wrist. She peered into the bowl, then up at him.

"You’ve had yours."

She chirped.

"Yes, I remember. I was there."

He carried her to her perch before she could investigate Glitch’s food herself. Behind him, the medic hid a smile badly enough that he noticed.

At nine, Marris put the standings on the hotel’s briefing screen.

[Novice Division — Group C]

[Cassel Ridge — 2 wins, 0 losses]

[Meridian Academy — 1 win, 1 loss]

[Ashfell Institute — 1 win, 1 loss]

[Verdance Hall — 0 wins, 2 losses]

"Cassel are through," she said. "Our last contest decides who joins them. Beat Ashfell and we finish with two wins. Lose and we finish with one."

Jin had checked the table before breakfast. Hearing it in a room full of the people who had to make it happen was worse.

"Ten o’clock, day after tomorrow. Arena Three." Marris changed the display. "Two full preparation days. We’ll use both."

Ashfell’s recordings began with a compact badger disappearing into packed earth. Its opponent wheeled toward the disturbed patch. The badger emerged behind it, struck, and dropped underground again before the returning blow landed.

Bex turned in his chair. "Astor, can Glitch feel that moving?"

"Through connected ground, yes."

"Even when it’s that far under?"

"He feels disturbances. Depth and distance make a difference." Jin leaned forward as the recording continued. "And if it stops moving, I can’t assume it’s still where we last felt it."

On the screen, the opposing beast attacked an empty patch of earth.

Marris paused the recording. "Shaleclaw Badger. Nine-Star, Peak Silver. Tomas Yerrin has fought third in both of Ashfell’s ties. Tremor Sense gives us a useful answer, Astor. Work through the recordings and tell me what it doesn’t answer."

"All right."

Bex passed him the scouting sheet without another question. Jin took it and turned to the relevant page, pleased in a way he didn’t want anyone catching him at.

At the first briefing, he’d mostly tried to look as though he belonged there. Now someone had asked for his help before the coach prompted them.

Yerrin’s older recordings were less reassuring than the first one.

Spade, his badger, did not simply travel underground and come up beneath a target. He stopped, doubled back, and changed direction without surfacing. Sometimes a patch of earth shifted, drawing an opponent’s attention, while the actual attack came from elsewhere.

Jin watched one exchange three times. The other tamer had guessed correctly where Spade was going, then attacked too early. By the time her beast reached the spot, the badger had turned away.

I’d have taken that opening.

He scrubbed backward until he could see the tamer’s command.

Knowing where something moved wasn’t the same as knowing what it intended. He understood that perfectly when it was somebody else’s match. Tomorrow he would need to practice understanding it with Glitch waiting for instructions.

He left the earlier guess in his notes, crossed out but readable. He wanted to remember how convincing it had looked before checking the next frame.

He wrote one sentence beneath the beast’s profile.

A turn is not an attack.

Then he added the times of three examples, so he could show Marris without making her sit through six entire bouts.

By lunch he had a page of observations and no reliable interception. That bothered him, though less than pretending he had solved the problem would have.

Glitch’s afternoon walk took them around the covered yard at a pace Flicker found unacceptable. She flew ahead to each rail, waited, and called until they caught up.

"Some of us have four legs to organize," Jin told her.

Glitch stopped to sniff a feed trolley. Flicker called again.

They completed the walk eventually. Once Glitch had settled in his stall, Jin sat beside the adjoining door with his phone and opened the Engine.

The quarry junction was familiar now. Flicker’s avatar delayed the gallery patrol while Glitch’s took the ramp, breaking the groups apart before they could converge. Four runs went cleanly. On the fifth, a climbing guard caught Flicker near the ceiling and Jin had to withdraw Glitch through a side passage.

He marked the turn for next time instead of immediately attempting another run. The scouting session started in twenty minutes, and real Flicker was trying to pull a thread from his cuff.

[Session complete.]

[Accumulated development: banked]

[Coins earned: 1,910]

Glitch was nine-Star. Jin still liked looking at that line.

There was more development to accumulate, and he wanted it. But reaching the last Star had not supplied a Bond Core or completed his awakening. Those preparations deserved more thought than he could give them between team meetings and medical checks.

He left the growth banked. No Sync today, and certainly no attempt to rush into Rank 2 because Lucian had made it look possible.

Flicker tugged the thread free.

"Oh, thanks. That’s much better."

He rescued his sleeve and put the phone away.

The delegation notice arrived during supper.

[Rank-2 Division — Round 3]

[Meridian: L. Vale vs Ironvale: A. Kesk]

[West Arena 1 — Tomorrow, 14:00]

[Novice delegates: spectator access only]

Jin opened it before finishing his mouthful.

Lucian had described his breakthrough before they left Meridian. Jin had felt the pressure escaping from him and his falcon, and had spent much of the conversation trying not to stare. Tomorrow he could finally watch them fight.

He checked the preparation schedule, then asked Marris whether he could attend after the morning assessment.

"Provided you finish your work," she said. "Watch both tamers."

Jin booked supervised care for his beasts and saved the arena directions. Four days in Highmarch, and he still hadn’t entered the west wing.

For once, he had somewhere to go where nobody expected him to have an answer.