Going Pro

Chapter 17: A Long Way from the Edge

"Bi-bi-bii?"

"Nuh…" Jesse tried.

"Ruby-bi-bii!"

Jesse slowly woke up with a groan. It was way too bright to open his eyes. Everything was white. Light was shining in his face.

"Jesse? You awake, man?" Sean's voice asked from beside him.

Jesse covered his eyes with his hand. "Yeah? I think so."

"I'll go get the doctor," Sean said. Jesse heard a metal chair creek and then it scraped against the ground as the other boy moved it back to the wall.

Ruby Carbuncle was sitting on his chest. Jesse could feel the small spirit slightly, but mostly sensed. He used his other hand to pet the small spirit calmly. Finally, he removed his hand from his eyes to sit up and was able to look around.

He was in an infirmary. "What? How did I get here?"

"You have your friends to thank," a somewhat elderly man said as he came in. "I'm just going to check your vitals and you can either rest more here or we can get you checked out so you can rest in your dorm."

Jesse nodded. "Okay."

"You were lucky that wasn't even a very bad storm since the season just started, and that you weren't stuck out there, but we'll keep an eye on these red patches here and here," the doctor gestured Jesse's ears and cheeks, "for signs of frostbite, but trust me when I say I know what frostbite looks like, and I think you'll be fine. Little bit of lotion and take it easy and it should heal right up."

Jesse felt the skin on his face and ears. It did hurt a little. He was mostly wind beaten and dried out right now. He was glad to hear he was going to fine.

"From what those boys said, you didn't look too good when they found you, but I'm glad to see everything will heal right up. It just looked worse than it was for a bit there."

"Oh…" Jesse wasn't sure what to say. "Wait", what happened?"

"You don't remember?"

Jesse shook his head.

"I heard you ran out into the storm because someone threw your cards over the wall. They must have blown away pretty far. You were unconscious when they found you. It took over an hour before you let go of that card," he pointed to the table next to them where the Ruby Carbuncle card rested face up.

"Ruby!" Jesse gasped and took the card. He sighed with relief knowing he managed to find all of them.

"Alright, so we'll just check your temperature…" the doctor trailed off as he retrieved the device and placed a new cap the earpiece. It only took a few seconds to get the reading. "You're still a little high right now. When you first came in we feared hypothermia, your recovery is amazing."

Jesse nodded. He could feel the heaviness of his fever. When he was getting his blood pressure checked he heard Ray's voice from outside the room.

"Sean! Is he awake yet?" Ray shouted.

"Shh! You're supposed to be quiet in the medical cabin, Dummy!" Sean hissed.

Jesse saw Ray pop his head in. "Jesse!"

"Hey," Jesse forced a small smile.

"You really freaked us out! Do you have any idea how close you were to walking off a cliff?" Ray barged in to scold, but Jesse could clearly see the concern.

"He's in a hospital bed and you're scolding him, Ray?" Sean placed his own forehead in the palm of his hand. "Geez, and you would have done the same thing…"

"Alright boys, I know you want to talk, but you have to be quiet in here, he'll be ready to go soon," the doctor said as he stood up. "Your contacts are in this cup here. The nurse removed them so they wouldn't dry out and contact to your corneas, I believe one of your dorm members went to get your glasses."

"Got them!" Ray held them up.

"Huh?" Jesse was confused. He could see just fine and thought he was already wearing his glasses. "T-thanks," he said and took the glasses but held them in his hand. He looked at the Crystal Beast cards in his other hand, wondering if they had something to do with his recovery.

"And I'll go get you the ointment for your skin and you can go back to your dorm to rest," the doctor said.

"I wonder how they took out your contacts?" Ray wondered.

"They have this tiny suction cup thing they use so they don't have to use their fingers, just lightly press and it comes right out," Sean explained.

"Oh okay," Ray nodded.

Jesse put on his glasses and found they made his vision worse so he took them off again.

"Something wrong?" Sean asked.

"U-uh, no, not really," Jesse said unconvincingly.

Jesse was given the ointment for his wind beaten skin and was sent on his way. "Alright boys, make sure he goes straight to his room, no stops," the doctor told them.

"Yes sir!" Ray saluted and Sean nodded.

"So um…" Sean started when they were walking back. "You really do have spirits in that deck."

"Huh?" Jesse blinked.

"Earlier, when you were asleep after we brought you here… you were kinda glowing, and so were your cards," Sean explained.

"He was?" Ray titled his head to the side.

"Oh, I didn't know we were…" Jesse looked at the cards.

"It was when I was the only one there," Sean explained. "Did the spirits… heal you?" Sean asked, sounding skeptical in his own words.

"Couldn't tell you," Jesse shrugged. By now they were all stepping inside their cabin and Jesse went to his room.

Jesse made sure the window was secure and his deck remained with him when he got back into bed. His fever would take a little more time to go down no matter what and he even if the Crystal Beasts were healing him before, he wasn't going to ask them to do more. They were probably just as tired as he was since not one of them has spoken to him yet since he woke up, aside from Ruby Carbuncle's wake up chirps.

He pulled the covers up to his chin and let out a relaxed sigh. He was just glad they were okay and that he didn't lose them out there. "I'm glad you're safe," Jesse said aloud. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost any of you." He could feel the Crystal Beasts' presence with him. They were also very tired and were resting. He wasn't sure if he could handle another loss ever again. Maybe someday he will, but not now. He was determined to do anything to make sure he wouldn't lose anyone. His heart still felt too fragile, and needed more time to heal.

Somewhere in the back of his mind as he drifted between dreams, he remembered his mother's humming. It was a gentle tune just for him when he was little and crawled into bed with her when he was scared or sick. The scent of the wildflowers in the field always drifted through the windows in the spring. The wild frogs, birds, and insects made plenty of noise at night.

This place felt empty in comparison. The campus was without any green to speak of, surrounded by a tall wall so they couldn't even see the horizon's sun. Besides the wind and the icy water nearby, there wasn't much sound at night. Even the wind and water were faint.

He was homesick. Not that he wanted to return, but he did miss some things. Now they were all memories. He couldn't return even if he wanted to.

By the time he woke up, it was hours later. His room was completely dark, so it was late at night since even the outside lights on some of the buildings had shut off.

"No one saw?" He could hear Evan's voice just outside.

"Afraid not," Sean said next. "We've been instructed to make sure all our windows are closed and locked so this stuff doesn't happen again."

"It only happened to Jesse right? Why do you think that is?" Evan asked.

"Not sure. Envy or something is my guess, but maybe they just wanted to mess with the new guy. Who knows?" Sean sighed.

"I heard somebody complain about how he didn't have to do the forty card challenge," Evan said.

"Kind of a stupid reason to steal someone's cards and throw them over the wall, and we all did the challenge in the summer, not winter," Sean said. "But if that is the reason, then the rest of us don't really have to worry about our cards being stolen."

"Still sucks it happened," Evan added. "I hope it doesn't give the rest of us a bad rep, we're usually a pretty cool place with really cool guys, and this kind of crap isn't what we're about at all."

"Indeed, and it only takes one to ruin it for the rest of us," Sean sighed.

"Hey, what are guys talking about?" Ray's voice chimed in.

Jesse looked towards the door when someone tried to open it. Then they knocked. He sighed before getting up to open the door.

"Hey Jesse!" Ray grinned. "Are you hungry yet? The dining center is already closed, but we're making soup and cocoa! Want some?"

"What brought that on?" During his short time living in this cabin, he noticed there was almost always someone making something afterhours to snack on or for a fourth meal at night.

"It's extra cold tonight and the heating system can only do so much to keep us warm, so we're keeping our stomach's full and I'm even adding my other blanket to my bed tonight," Ray smiled.

Jesse felt his stomach. "Good idea, I should eat," he smiled.

Ray grinned. "Great! And Sean said he was going to play the first Battle City DVD in the common room so we're all going to do that too!"

"Sounds great," Jesse nodded. He patted his zip-up's inside pocket and felt his cards were still there before he followed the other boy to the common area.

Nothing fancy was going on in the kitchen area. Hardly any of them knew how to cook and Jesse was pretty sure he wasn't the only one that could manage to mess up even simple dishes. There was a fire already going in the fireplace to help heat the cabin. It was going to be a cold night with the stormy weather out there.

"Jesse? I didn't expect to see you up already," Kale commented.

"I got him!" Ray jumped up to raise his hand. "No one should miss out on this!" he grinned. Jesse had a strange feeling about those words.

"What?" Jesse started.

"Here," Sean said and pushed a mug into his hands. "It's hot chocolate," he said.

"Oh thanks," Jesse blinked.

"Soup, soup, soup~" Ray hummed to himself as he ran off. Jesse wasn't sure how Ray was always so… enthusiastic? He knew what it was like to have too much energy, but Ray seemed to be just short of bouncing off the walls most of the time.

When Jesse looked back, he saw Sean inserting the disc into the side of the TV. Jesse didn't even realize it had a built-in disk reader. How convenient.

"Kale and Daniel are going to be taking notes for the essays they have coming up in their classes, but since the rest of us are first years, we can just watch," Sean explained.

"It's kind of like a party!" Ray popped up, causing Jesse and Evan to nearly spill their mugs. "Soup's done, nice and hot!"

Some party. Jesse thought wearily. It was freezing cold, he's still very tired, and two of the six Celtic Guardian Cabin boys were going to be doing their schoolwork. Jesse could still see the ways in which this could be considered fun, like staying up late with cocoa, a movie, and friends, but he was just a little grumpy from not only being woken up, but also from recent events. He patted his cards in his jacket again just to be sure they were still there.

The six of them starting watching the video, while two of the boys took notes between mouthfuls of soup. Jesse found himself feeling a lot better after only one bowl. He was already feeling less grumpy. By the end of the video, he was nearly asleep. He was warm and his stomach was happy and it was so late.

"I want to join a Battle City tournament someday!" Ray exclaimed when Sean removed the disk.

"One would have to be open to amateurs," Sean taunted.

"Aww…" Ray pouted.

"The only one of us that could even qualify at all right now is Jesse," Sean pointed out.

"Huh?" Jesse forced himself to stay awake.

"I said 'someday'," Ray grumbled.

Those two continued to bicker even as Sean pulled out a heavy-looking backpack and opened it up. Jesse's face flushed red when he saw what the other boy started taking out of the bag. He quickly wondered if he was actually seeing what he thought he was seeing.

"I hope that isn't what I think that is…" Jesse mumbled, but Ray heard him and laughed.

"Sean, you forgot to warn Jesse didn't you?" Ray accused.

"I told him I had the contraband material when he first joined," Sean defended. "I haven't had a chance to get you guys the new stuff without possibly getting caught, just don't rat me out and don't get caught with it because we'll all get in trouble."

"Remember what happened to the Curse of Dragon Cabin last year?" Kale asked Daniel, to which the latter nodded and shivered.

"I don't even want to think about it," Daniel shook his head.

"What happened?" Evan asked.

Kale looked at Daniel before he answered. "They were caught with alcohol, so first they had to do a supervised sweep of the whole cabin, and then they were all forced to run many laps around campus every night for a month to make sure they would have the time or energy to party like that again."

"Hey Sean," Ray started and grabbed a magazine. "What's this type of thing called again?" The image on the cover had two identical women in frilly dresses and long stockings with big eyelashes and perfect hair. They were mirroring each other, but one was pulling up the side of the other's dress while pulled on the sleeve of the first girl. It was certainly suggestive.

"Twincest or Lolita?" Sean asked, not sure what about the cover Ray was asking about.

"Oh okay," Ray put it down and asked about another one. "What about this?" There was a woman with cat ears and a tail on the cover.

"Neko-something I think," Sean answered.

"I'll be taking that one…" Evan muttered shyly as he slowly took it from Ray's hand.

"I don't see any swimsuits," Ray pouted as he spread out the magazines.

Sean rolled his eyes. "Ray, as long as they aren't naked, it's not really contraband," he explained.

"It's not?" Ray tilted his head to the side.

Sean sighed heavily. "Just take this," he said and shoved a high-end swimsuit catalog at him. "You're a weird one, Ray."

"Nuh-uh!" Ray made a rude gesture with his hand at his friend.

"Where do you get all this stuff?" Jesse finally asked.

"I have an older brother who buys it for me, he knows a lot about this stuff," Sean shrugged. "I just make sure to get something for everybody. While we're stuck on this island learning all we can, this is as close as we can get to girls," he said and held up another naughty magazine, this one being more explicit than the others so far so Jesse averted his eyes.

Sean noticed and looked at it for a second. "Yeah, this one's a bit too hardcore, but let me guess, you'd like something soft…" he flipped through a handful of magazine titles. "Ah here we go, this type isn't very explicit at all, more like… suggestive, I think."

Jesse wasn't sure why he accepted it when it was handed to him. The woman on the cover was glamorous, with long hair swept over her shoulder as she leaned forward in her seat facing the viewer. The pendant of her necklace was almost in her cleavage. Her knees were touching as her feet were apart and the straps of her dress hung fallen off her shoulders. While slightly suggestive, it wasn't completely unusual for the cover of a magazine. He knew the more suggestive stuff would be on the pages inside, but wasn't going to look yet.

"If you like the cutesy stuff better, I only had one for Kale, he says his girlfriend back home is super cute so…" Sean trailed off and then ended with a shrug, like he didn't really know or didn't care. Maybe a bit of both. "But this all I've got this term, you can keep it as long as you hide it well," he addressed the rest of the boys.

"What about you?" Jesse asked, seeing Sean empty handed.

"Well…" Sean scratched the back of his head. "I don't really… I'm fine, I have all I need."

Jesse didn't press the matter further and set the magazine aside. It was a gift so it would be rude to return it, right? Jesse wasn't sure what to do. Ray was the only one actually flipping through pages and looking at the images, but he seemed more enthusiastic about the beach than the anything libidinous.

"Someday when I have a girlfriend, I'll take her to the beach all the time and I'll buy her tons of swimsuits to wear each time," Ray fantasized. "Cute ones, sporty ones, sexy ones, anything at all!"

"That's great, Ray," Sean deadpanned before he stood up. "Well enjoy the reading material guys, I'm going to sleep." He packed up the few left over magazines into the bag to put back into hiding.

"Me too," Jesse stood.

"Don't forget to hide yours," Ray smiled and gestured the 'suggestive' magazine.

"Oh, right," Jesse said as he reached for it to take with him to his room. He supposed he could look at it later, when he felt like it. For now, it was going to get shoved under the mattress and forgotten about while he passed out in a warm cocoon of blankets for the rest of the night.

By the time morning came, Jesse was woken up by Amethyst Cat rubbing her face and neck on his head. It gave him a bit of a start when he finally cracked his eyes open and saw her light pink feline face only inches away.

"You're okay!" Jesse sat up to see his Crystal Beast spirits around him.

"Thanks to you," Amethyst Cat responded.

"We weren't sure what that masked guy was going to do with us!" Cobalt Eagle exclaimed.

Realization washed over Jesse. "So you don't know who it was that took you?" He watched as they regretfully shook their heads in confirmation. "I see," he said. "I will try to make sure something like that doesn't happen again," he promised.

"Jesse," Sapphire Pegasus stepped forward. "It is our duty to protect you. We will do everything in our power to protect you."

Jesse frowned at that. "But…"

"It's okay Jesse," Amethyst Cat rubbed her head against his shoulder. "We know how you feel, how you want to protect us, because we feel the same." She sat down with a soft feline smile as the others began to smile as well, almost knowingly. "We're a family."

Jesse felt those words deeply. All he could do was match their smiles as he gave a nod in assurance.

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Author's Note:

Yes, this chapter begins the same as the last one on purpose.

I just realized while writing this chapter, if you want a better idea of what Ray is like, think of Momotaru Mikoshiba from Free!, always wide-eyed and smiling, excitable, and lack of personal space. I didn't expect this to happen.

With the campus internet blocking all the stuff teenaged boys would be getting into, they naturally find ways to sneak in all sorts of things and share it with their friends. What's a school story without some rule-breaking?

Sorry for the delay on this chapter, between the holidays, some birthdays, a convention, and working two jobs, I just didn't have much time to write as much as I could otherwise when the muse comes up. It was a slow going process for a while there when I could write before bed but my eyes were already so heavy that I couldn't get very far. Made my editing a bit slow at times too. Sorry for any typos or missing words. I'll keep fixing them as I find them.