Chapter 14 - Piece of a Memory

James breathed a sigh of relief with his hard-won victory. He tried so hard to suppress the pain, which became unbearable towards the end. But when the game was over luckily it was gone. He spoke in a soft whisper:

"Fox..."

Knowing what he wanted her to do, Fox sighed before speaking. Then she spoke:

[Wait a second...]

Meanwhile, Lupus had a strange expression on his face. James looked at the system window that appeared in front of him, looked at Lupus and spoke:

"You don't need to give me your bakugan. Your compatibility with it is obvious."

It was true that he empathized with bakugans. But he was not a collector. Although having more Bakugans would increase his arsenal, he didn't like to use Bakugans of different attributes.

The system window that appeared in front of him read the following:

<2x Level Up>

<Gained: 1 UP>

Just then, the announcer declared victory. But James couldn't pay attention to him. In one hand, he was scanning the silver card with his eyes. In the other hand, he was looking at the system window in front of him. He sighed before closing the screen. He had a lot of questions to ask the system after he left here.

Lupus was surprised at first. But then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well then..."

Picking up the Bakugan from the ground, Lupus spoke graciously:

"Well played. And... Thank you."

James moved his hand slightly as he nodded his head in agreement. The silver card flew into his hand. He smiled to act naturally. At this moment, there was a huge noise!

"He... He won!"

"He really, really won!"

"Isn't this only his second challenge? How?"

"If there's a Spectra Phantom in this world, can't there be such talents?"

"Hey! No offense to Spectra! He's not even close."

"Why don't you come here for a bit?"

James wanted to leave because the noise was giving him a headache, but then he almost forgot something. He pointed his voice at the microphone for everyone to hear and spoke:

"Everyone, most of you are quite curious about me, James, and would like to see me, right? I'm at the Moonlight restaurant nearby, and anyone who wants to contact me can find me there. I will go on to claim more victories and... defeat the Spectra Phantom!"

He shouted in a very confident and arrogant manner. This drowned out all sound for a moment. James turned around in the moment of silence and started walking towards the exit. The pillar had already descended, but his voice was clearly heard by everyone

As he walked step by step to the exit, one could hear conversations of surprise, ridicule and excitement.

"Is he... Is he serious?"

"Did he just make a commercial?"

"He said he's going to beat Spectra Phantom? Fuck him."

"Haha! He's always counting on victory. What a joke. He almost lost just now."

"But he won in the end."

James didn't even bother listening to the rest of the argument and started walking away.

[Spectra Phantom, leader of the Vexos, aka the best bakugan brawler of the vestals. That's a bit of an exaggeration.]

James spoke while holding his head in one hand:

"Do you really think like that? I think it was appropriate. Isn't everyone interested in seeing someone challenge something that seems impossible?"

[Sometimes I question whether you really lost your memories.]

James sighed.

"Think of it this way: There are many puzzle pieces. Different squares from different moments of your life. Each one looks like it belongs to somewhere else. You try to put these puzzle pieces together, but there's always something missing. There is never a single picture."

Meanwhile, as he continued walking, he suddenly stopped and put his hand against the wall.

"My head... Damn bakugan side! It gives me nothing but discomfort."

Although he was able to hold on until the last moment, the pain he felt had once again reached high thresholds.

"I have to... I have to get out of here. I don't want any trouble."

He started walking faster to get out. As his consciousness began to fade, it wasn't hard to realize that he was going to faint for the second time. This feeling that came after the first fainting... First the headache would reach an unbearable threshold. Soon he found himself in the hospital.

James bit his tongue as he sped up and a sudden pain shot through his head.

"Oh, shit!"

Fox, meanwhile, spoke in a motivational tone:

["Hang on! The exit is just around the corner.]

As he continued walking, he could see the exit. But at that moment, he surprisingly ran into Siren!

Siren also had a fight today. She was running fast with her pink hair flowing. Just then she saw James looking bad. He was bleeding from his mouth. His movements were getting slower and slower. It was like he was coming out of a real fight.

"James, what the hell?"

Worried, she rushed to James and supported him. Even though he was able to walk on his own without any problems, his appearance did not give that impression. "I'm fine... Can you take me to the Moonlight restaurant?" James asked. His vision was getting darker and darker for no reason and James was sure he was going to faint soon.

"You're going to a restaurant like that? Stop talking nonsense and let's go to the hospital."

The world went completely black for James before he could hear Siren's second sentence. "James, can you hear me? James!" Siren shouted with the weight falling on him. But there was no answer. Siren anxiously put one hand on James's chest. She could only breathe a sigh of relief when she heard his heartbeat.

"He just fainted, I think."

With that, she began to walk slowly. Carrying someone was exhausting, to say the least. But it didn't matter to Siren, who at that moment was thinking of nothing else but helping James.

She had a duel, but that could wait. A vestal's health was above all other problems.

...

James found himself once again on that strange hillock. He was standing where he had been before, and there he was on the hill again. The figure that he couldn't see who it was.

During his free time he had thought a lot about who the figure was and the meaning of his steps. With each step he remembered something. But the more he moved, the less time he stayed here.

Instead of moving, he stood still and shouted:

"Tell me! Are you a remnant of my former self? Why are you standing there? Answer me!"

But there was no answer. He took a deep breath, even though he was angry. He set his eyes on the hill.

"You want me to come there? Fine, then. I'll get there and find out everything. That's what you want, isn't it?"

He spoke with a slight anger, but he was still unable to get an answer. With that, he started walking. Taking steps towards the hill.

One step, two steps, then quickly five steps. Many fragments of memories flashed through his mind. But on the fifth step he suddenly stopped. A scene came before his eyes.

He found himself quite small. He was in his room. He could hear a few voices. Two people were arguing. The woman's voice was unexpectedly loud. But the man's voice was not at all hoarse. It was just dull against her.

"Is it wrong not to want you to work there anymore? I know what shit the boss there is!"

"Do I interfere with where you work? Who knows what you're up to with those women!?"

He remembered how bad he felt listening to this argument. Yes, they were arguing in a different room, but their arguments were clearly audible. He himself was trying to play quietly with his toys without doing anything.

He muttered in a low voice:

"It's the same fight again. Grown-ups are stupid."

After that, he found himself on the hill again. But this time the hill had changed. All the vibrancy of the hill had been replaced by a gray tone. It was as if all the colors had disappeared. Everything was just shades of gray between black and white.

He looked at the hill, not sure what it meant. His feelings were largely of boredom and boredom. He wondered if it was a manifestation of that. But there was no answer. He tried to take a few more steps, to get closer.

But everything went dark with his second step and he woke up.