Monster Trainer Academy, page 21
“Well, look who it is.” Claudette stood in the middle of her tent with her fists propped up on her hips.
“Hey, Claudette, how’s it going?” I grinned at the vivacious woman as we walked into her stall.
“I’ve been set up for a few hours, got some sales already under my belt, so I’m feeling well,” Claudette responded in her lively voice that always made me feel like I was ready to run a marathon.
“Where’s Bawfa hanging out at?” Abigail asked as she reached up toward Claudette’s shoulder and gave Aki a little pet.
“He’s back at the inn. They have a little stable nearby for the pack monsters. He’s getting that luxury treatment, that’s for sure.” Claudette chuckled and shook her head.
“Lucky guy,” Sarah giggled.
“How was your very first class?” Claudette asked.
“It was pretty good. Tyler got put in the spotlight,” Abi giggled.
“I knew Rusty would do that, not just because you know me, but once he saw that skyr of yours, I knew he would take an interest,” Claudette mused.
A couple of people wandered into the stall and perused through all the leather items on display. Claudette gave them her full attention and helped them pick out some leather gloves and a belt before returning her attention to us. “So, what’s on the agenda for the day?”
“We thought we’d tour the city a little bit since we have the rest of the day,” I told Claudette.
“That sounds fun! I’ll probably stick it out here a while, but I can meet up with you in a bit.” Claudette’s voice sounded just a little sad.
“Why don’t we stay here and help you for a while?” I offered, noticing a glint of glee flash across her eyes.
“Actually, that works because I’d kind of like to peruse the market a little more,” Sarah said.
“Ooh, me too!” Dom excitedly added, which was maybe the most animated I had ever seen him. I guess he was pretty pumped about all the different kinds of food.
“I’ll take these two around the market, and then we’ll meet you back here,” Grayson suggested.
“Perfect. That gives me time to sell some more things, and then maybe we can all tour the city together,” Claudette agreed.
“Sounds like a plan.” I waved as Dom, Sarah, and Grayson disappeared into the crowd.
For the next few hours, Claudette, Abigail, and I chatted happily as we sold any and everything we could. Abigail and Claudette used their charm and charisma to draw as many people in as they could, and I did my best to keep up with all the sales we were getting.
When Dom, Grayson, and Sarah returned, we had sold nearly everything in the stall.
“Well, it looks like I’m all done for the day,” Claudette said as she looked around the mostly empty tent.
“Do you have to make more stuff?” I asked, wondering if she was going to have to go back out into the forest and hunt, but then I remembered all the sacks we had loaded onto Bawfa.
“I’ve got a bunch more. Don’t you worry, Tyler.” Claudette gave me a flirty wink, which I noticed made Dom blush more than anyone.
We spent the rest of the afternoon touring around Crona. Grayson said the city was so big that we’d do best to see sites from each region on separate days.
“We’ll be in the city for a little while, so we’ll have plenty of days to see as much as we can,” he reasoned.
Besides the Academy courtyard and the market, there were several neat little areas in the Crona District like the Columbine Fountains, which was an open plaza with three separate, but intricate fountains that spewed neon-colored water into their round basins.
He showed us Monster Madness, which was basically just a giant building full of all different kinds of monsters in their natural habitats. It was basically like a giant indoor zoo for monsters, which was pretty neat to see.
We ate at an amazing little restaurant along one of the canals, watching the sun set behind the glistening metallic skyline. It was another perfect ending to a perfect day.
We walked Claudette back to the Prada Inn before Grayson, Abi, Sarah, Dom, and I, along with our monsters, made our way back to the Academy. We did have a curfew that we had to abide by as students now, which I guess made sense. If you were staying there, they didn’t want people up and about at all hours of the night when they should be resting for their classes the next day.
We were cutting it pretty close ourselves, so we didn’t see a lot of other students around except for a few stragglers who rushed to get back to their rooms in time. If you didn’t make it back to the Academy in time, as soon as you entered the doors, your Trainer License was flagged with a mark. It wasn’t anything super permanent, but it did affect your school records and could keep you from passing if you had too many tardies.
“Crap, we only have like one minute before we’re late,” Grayson said as he checked the time on his watch.
“Come on.” I waved as I broke into a full-on run.
The five of us sprinted across the dark courtyard toward the looming building that was the Academy. Something about it seemed a bit more ominous now, maybe because, in about thirty seconds, I would try to cross the threshold, and it may or may not rat me out for literally being seconds too slow.
The large glass doors came into view, but we weren’t there yet. We kept running and running until they were just a few feet away. The automatic doors slid open, and I was about to set foot inside when I ran right into none other than Breck.
I hit the pretentious man and stumbled backward in both shock and because he was pretty solid. I had no chance to push through and make it inside the building on time because Breck had a pack of six Ruby Runners around him, including Benny and Penny, who made a solid wall of red and blocked the entrance.
Breck looked down at the fancy Trainer Watch on his arm. “Uh oh. It looks like you guys are late.”
“Can you just let us get by?” I pleaded, really not looking to start anything and thinking that my bed sounded like such a great place to be right now.
“Now that you’re late, you might as well just stay out here,” Benny said in his annoying voice as he sauntered up next to Breck.
“Actually, he does have a point,” Grayson admitted. “As soon as we set foot inside those doors, it’s a ding on our license. If we just stay out here until the curfew lifts at 6 a.m., we’ll be alright.”
“We could go stay at the inn with Claudette,” Abigail suggested.
I think both Dom and I really liked that idea, mostly because Claudette was there, but I was also down with anywhere that had a nice, comfy bed.
“Why not,” I shrugged, also not really wanting to get a tardy my first day of school.
“Why are you guys out here now if you were already inside?” Sarah asked.
“Hey, that’s a good question,” I realized out loud.
“We’ve got some business to attend to,” Breck replied a little mysteriously.
“Alright, well, you guys go have fun murdering people or whatever it is you’re doing.” I waved a hand and was about to turn and walk away when Breck stopped me.
“Wait. I have a great idea,” he said, and I could just hear the evil smirk in his voice, which I really didn’t like.
“I’m not in the mood for any shenanigans,” I yawned as I turned to face Breck and the Ruby Runners.
“You think you’re this big tough guy? Well, prove it.” Breck challenged, but I didn’t know what the challenge was.
“Prove what,” I shrugged as I stifled another yawn.
“Prove that you’re not just all talk,” he replied.
“Okay, how?” I asked, getting a little annoyed at this point. “I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“We’re going out into the woods,” Breck replied, a small smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
“Why the hell are you guys going into the woods at this time of night?” Grayson wondered with an incredulous scoff. “You know you can battle monsters all that you want in the daytime, right?”
“We’re going into those woods.” Breck pointed up at the forested mountains, the very same ones that we were explicitly told not to go into.
“Um… why?” I asked, very annoyed now. Of course, Breck, Benny, and the Runners would be dumb enough to do something like that.
“Bagluf,” Benny shrugged, sounding like he had a mouth full of peanut butter the way he mumbled it.
“He’s exactly why we shouldn’t be going into that forest. We don’t know what’s happening with him. It could be very dangerous,” Abigail scolded.
“We just want to see what all the fuss is about,” Benny interjected.
“What, are you guys too scared,” Breck goaded.
I yawned again, for like the fifth time, but instead of just turning away and walking across the dimly lit courtyard to the inn where Claudette was probably already sleeping soundly or was at least getting to relax after a long day, I looked at my friends to see what they thought.
“I know I shouldn’t even be thinking about doing this, but part of me is curious to see what’s really going on and part of me wants to make sure these idiots don’t do something even worse to Bagluf,” I whispered in the little powwow we had formed.
“Those are both valid reasons, but think about the risk,” Grayson uncharacteristically cautioned me.
“I thought you’d be the first onboard.” I grinned at Grayson.
“Yeah, normally I would be, believe me, but I got in trouble enough my first go around, and it isn’t worth it,” Grayson spoke with a lot of reason
There was just something in me that really wanted to go, though. “I’m going. I’m sorry, Gray. I won’t make you come.”
“Oh, it looks like he does have some balls,” Breck said from behind me.
“If you’re going, I’m going,” Abigail said resolutely.
“Hey, don’t get yourself into trouble because of me,” I told her. I did really want her to come with me, but I also didn’t want her to be in any danger.
“I want to make sure Bagluf is okay,” Abigail said with even more determination, and I knew that once she set her mind to something involving a monster, there was no backing out.
“I want to go,” Sarah said with a little weird smile that I realized was a hint of excitement. Apparently, Sarah liked a little adventure.
“I’m definitely going,” Dom said, giving me the biggest surprise of them all. “What?” he asked as we all stared at him. “I like to live a little dangerously.”
We all busted out into laughter, and when we had all had a chance to catch our breath, Grayson sighed. “Fine. If you’re all going, I’ll go. It’s not like I’ll be able to get any sleep thinking about everything you guys are getting to see.”
I held out a hand and smirked at Grayson. He slapped my hand with a loud smack. “Alright.”
I turned around and grinned at Breck and the Runners, shrugging as nonchalantly as possible. “Okay. We’ll go.”
Breck raised his bushy blonde eyebrows and glanced to either side of him at his friends. “Well, alright then. Good to know you’re more than just your words.”
“I think I’ll take that as a compliment,” I replied.
“If you guys are ready,” Breck began, “then follow us, and be quiet.”
We followed after Breck and his posse of red jumpsuit weirdos. They led us off across the courtyard toward the trees.
19
Our group now consisted of Breck, Benny, Penny, three other Ruby Runners, and my friends, minus Claudette. As glad as I was that Abi, Dom, Grayson, and Sarah were with me, I wished Claudette was also here, just in case shit really hit the fan.
I mean, I figured we could take care of ourselves, but something about Claudette made me feel just that much safer. There was no denying that she was a skilled and capable woman. Claudette was all cozied up in the inn across the dark courtyard, though, and I was hurrying across the moonlit park toward the dark silhouette of the forest.
There weren’t many people out and about around the Academy at this time of night, considering all students were supposed to be inside the building, safe, sound, and getting ready for bed. I hoped there weren’t any kind of guards or Minders around keeping track of any students out of bed, but neither Grayson nor the Runners seemed too concerned about it.
Still, we were a group of eleven people with monsters who were clearly young Trainers, so if anyone saw us sneaking through the courtyard and had some common sense, they would know that we had missed curfew. If anyone saw us headed toward the forest, they would also be able to guess exactly where we were headed.
These anxious worries swirled around my head as we crossed the park, so as soon as we made it into the cover of the dark trees, I sighed in relief. Breck was at the head of all of us, pushing ahead into the forest like we were running some kind of marathon.
A whole new host of worries crossed my mind as we ran through the trees. First of all, I had absolutely no idea what types of monsters or creatures lived in the Cadda Forest. That meant at any minute, anything could just pop out to attack us without warning. I didn’t even have my pack with me, so I wasn’t very prepared.
The fact that we were also heading straight into the prohibited section of the forest was also a worry. It was obviously forbidden for a reason, meaning we now headed into some very dangerous territory. Not only that, but if we got caught, I was sure we could lose our Trainer license.
Also, we were now traveling with a group of seven Ruby Runners who could all turn on us at any moment for all we knew. The paranoid thought definitely crossed my mind multiple times as I trailed behind the Runners. I didn’t want to think that the whole group was downright evil, but my encounters with them so far had been pretty bad.
I thought this could all be a part of some elaborate trap, but Breck the Runners couldn’t have known we would show up to the Academy right at the last minute before curfew. No, we just got roped into their crazy plan.
There were several times while we were running through the trees that I had to ask myself why I was actually doing this, but when I saw Abigail jogging along intently by my side, I remembered that the real reason we were going was to make sure Bagluf was okay.
Honestly, though, the deeper into the forest we traveled, the more I just wanted to challenge them all to a battle to stop them from going any further, but I realized even if we won, it wasn’t like we could actually stop them from going. So, I reasoned that our best option was to just keep going and see this thing through. It was a little late to turn back now.
“How far is Bagluf?” I whispered to Abigail after we had been in the forest for about thirty minutes.
“It depends, but from all the rumors I’ve heard, he was pretty far south from his usual grounds,” Abigail replied.
“Rumor is, the hunters pushed him out of his hole so they could get at him easier,” Breck chimed in as he came up on the other side of me.
I flinched a little bit, not exactly wanting to be next to this big bully for any amount of time, but I had to admit he wasn’t acting like a total ass to me currently, so I would be cordial.
“What do you think they did to him?” I asked, still not sure what exactly was going on with Bagluf. Then again, it didn’t seem like anyone really knew.
“He must have gotten blown up or something,” Benny interjected, appearing on the other side of Breck, looking a little red in the face.
“Would an explosion explain the earthquake?” I wondered aloud.
“If the explosion were big enough, it totally could cause tremors, or Bagluf himself could have caused the earthquake,” Abigail speculated.
“It’s just like those dumb Behemoths to cause more trouble than they’re worth,” Breck scoffed.
I thought I might have to stop Abigail from reaching over and socking Breck as hard as she could, which I knew was probably pretty hard considering she had only ever play hit me, but she steadied herself with a deep breath before speaking in an obviously frustrated voice. “How can you even call yourselves Monster Trainers when you treat them like they’re nothing?”
Breck laughed in his conceited way. “I just don’t think monsters are much different from animals, that’s all. We use animals for our benefit, and that’s basically what Monster Trainers do. You just use monsters to climb the ladder or get to where you want to go.”
“Hey, at least he treats his monster better than Benny does,” I commented as I watched Hank trot alongside Benny.
Abigail definitely was fuming at Breck’s statement, but she had to agree with mine. “Some of you Runners are truly despicable.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Breck grinned, clearly not feeling sorry at all.
Breck and Benny, along with their poor monsters, ran back up to the front of the group, leaving Abigail steaming with rage. She huffed as we continued our jog, but stayed quiet.
Finally, after what felt like a few hours of wandering through the dark forest with no hint to where we were going except for assurance by Breck and a couple of the other Runners who were apparently navigating us to where Bagluf was maybe rumored to be, the group came to a complete stop.
The pale light of the moon was enough, even under the trees, for us to see a giant mound of a rock that was more like a small mountain rising up in front of us. Knotted trees grew out of the rock haphazardly, making it look kind of strange. There was that, and then there was also the red, glinting holo perimeter that had been set up around the rock formation. Our group stood on the edge of the perimeter, about thirty feet away from the giant rock.
“Is that…?” Abigail started tentatively as we stood out across the moonlit forest. “Is that him?”
“It looks like a big rock to me.” Benny shrugged.
Breck stood quietly, peering through the moonlight. “That’s definitely him. That’s the Behemoth.”
“I really wish Claudette were here to see this.” Abigail inhaled sharply, and her eyes sparkled with tears. I put my arm around Abigail.
“She’s going to be so pissed when we tell her.”
