Chapter 287: The Five on the List
Dinner began before the briefing, and for a while Jin forgot to be nervous about the lineup.
Corin Faile sat opposite him and described getting lost between the registration counters and the warm-up hall. He had followed an officer whose directions turned out to be intended for someone else, then waited outside a staff laundry until a cleaner asked whether he needed help.
"You stayed there?" a girl beside him asked.
"He said to wait by the blue door."
"There were blue doors everywhere."
"I know that now."
Jin nearly choked on his drink. Corin looked pleased to have made somebody laugh and continued eating.
The food was good, the beasts were settled, and nobody at the table seemed interested in his wrapped hand. He answered a question about Glitch’s ration, listened to two seniors argue over tomorrow’s breakfast time, and went back for another serving before the hall was rearranged.
At seven-thirty, Marris called them together.
"Last year, Meridian finished second from last in the Novice category," she said. "You’ll probably hear about that while we’re here. You might as well hear it from us first."
The room quieted.
"Most of you weren’t in that delegation. I’m not asking you to carry their result around as a punishment. I am asking you to help improve it."
She brought up Group C and the three fixtures.
"Our immediate aim is to advance. Cassel Ridge comes first. Deal with that before worrying about where we finish overall."
Jin looked around the room. Dray was watching the display, expression unchanged. A student near the front had straightened in his chair.
Second from last was worse than Jin had expected. He had spent so long trying to qualify that he hadn’t thought much about what Meridian’s name meant to the other academies.
Marris moved to the likely Cassel Ridge starters. Their recent records favored opening with pressure and saving two reliable fighters for later, but the staff did not have tonight’s order yet.
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"Expect nine-Star development throughout," she said. "We know more about some of these beasts than others. Do not confuse a short recording file with an easy opponent."
Lowe’s profile had current registration details but little useful match footage. One instructor marked it for further checking.
Then Marris read Meridian’s five, in order.
Nessa Yun. Corin Faile. Bex Arno. Hollis Dray. Tobias Renn.
Jin listened to the last name before looking down.
He had told his family this could happen. He had understood it when Marris explained selection and understood it again while watching the warm-up hall.
I still wanted to hear mine.
Across the aisle, another student sat very still. Corin, who had been joking through dinner, was staring at the second line as though someone might remove it if he stopped watching.
Jin lifted his head. He could be disappointed without making the people selected feel guilty about it.
"Astor," Marris said. "Review with Dray tonight. Tomorrow you’re taking notes from the team area. Particular habits, changes between exchanges, commands that get a different response than expected."
"Every Cassel Ridge beast?"
"Yes. We may meet them again if both teams advance. Even if we don’t, comparisons with their later opponents could be useful."
Jin opened a fresh note beneath the roster. Having a job didn’t erase the disappointment, but it gave him somewhere to put his attention.
The staff submitted the order before nine. At half past, the individual pairings appeared.
[Meridian vs Cassel Ridge — Arena 2]
[1. Nessa Yun vs I. Cobb]
[2. Corin Faile vs D. Sarr]
[3. Bex Arno vs T. Lowe]
[4. Hollis Dray vs Emery Sun]
[5. Tobias Renn vs Marisol Quay]
Dray found Jin across the hall and raised her tablet.
He took his phone over before she asked.
Nearby, Arno leaned toward an instructor. "Anything more on Lowe?"
"Not enough yet. We’ll go through what we have."
Renn had drawn Quay, whose razorleg strider was registered at nine-Star, Silver (Peak), matching his granite ape’s development. Jin recognized both profiles from the public terminal.
One of the coaches sat beside Renn and brought up a recording. "Watch her hand as well as Pike. She uses the wind sparingly, but don’t expect her to stand out of it."
Jin turned back to his own assignment.
Dray already had Wren’s loaded shoulder frozen on the screen.
"We know the recovery," she said. "Assume Emery changes it once we catch her."
"To the right?"
"Or she stays close. Or abandons the hook for a while." Dray moved the recording forward. "I can’t keep calling the same interception if the answer changes."
Jin watched Wren transfer her weight. They had found examples of other Hookclaw Lynxes recovering differently, but this one had used the left even when it gave her less room.
"The right recovery should be less comfortable," he said.
"Probably. I need to see it before I act as though it’s guaranteed."
He brought up the comparison footage. The other lynx’s outside hind leg tucked in sooner; its head and shoulders came around together instead of finishing the hook and then correcting.
Dray watched it twice.
"If Wren does it late, we can pressure the landing," she said. "Make her choose again before she settles."
"And if she stays in?"
"Argent braces and we stop trying to race her sideways."
Jin nodded. The drill had felt satisfying when they finally got the timing. This was less tidy. Emery could see the same arena and make decisions too.
He hesitated, then pointed to the first clip.
"Could you make the first interception look accidental? A bad turn that happens to work?"
Dray looked at him.
"Maybe her coach waits another exchange before being sure," Jin said. "Only if Argent can do it without leaving himself open."
She considered the floor markings in the recording.
"I won’t waste the contact to sell it. But I can disguise the recovery afterward."
They discussed it once more, then Dray closed the file.
"That’s enough. If we watch her hook another thirty times, we’ll start seeing it when she scratches her ear."
Jin smiled and stood. He had already caught himself following the lynx’s paw during the hotel conversation.
Upstairs, Flicker was waiting on the wardrobe. Jin held out his hand and she flew down, landing neatly enough that he praised her before remembering he had meant to be annoyed.
Glitch lifted his head when Jin came down the stair. The foreleg showed no renewed tenderness, and he tolerated the check in exchange for a scratch beneath the jaw.
Tomorrow’s feed was ready. The carrier fastenings were sound. Jin set his alarm for six before opening the Engine.
He ran the junction route while seated beside Glitch, directing Flicker’s avatar through the familiar delay and taking the patrols separately. There was still room to improve the timing. One early queen pulse forced him to abandon a run rather than lose both avatars trying to recover it.
The later runs went cleanly.
[Accumulated development: banked]
[Star advancement: unavailable — insufficient]
Jin looked at the second line longer than necessary.
I know. I’m working on it.
He checked his alarm again and closed the session. Staying awake until his eyes hurt wouldn’t make him more useful to Dray in the morning.
From upstairs, Flicker called once.
"Coming," he said, easing himself out from beside Glitch.
He took the phone to bed with the pairing notice still open, read Dray’s line one last time, and put it facedown on the desk.