Page 50 of Jinxed

‘Come on, guys,’ I mutter under my breath.

Jinx informs me that the status of the Persian, Lista, is now critical; the poor baku is on her last legs. I think she’s going to be totally beyond repair, thereby leaving Team Dorian out of the points. Two levels down, and not a single point scored.

With Lista down, the clouded leopard, Frost,turns to Jupiter, flicking his tail menacingly and baring his teeth. I see that Elektra has made cosmetic alterations to Frost in order to make him look more intimidating – with extra sharp teeth and dark, pointed eyebrows. I never really understood it before – the bakus were battling each other, so they surely didn’t care how menacing the other one looked? But now that I see it up on screen, I understandthe importance of showmanship. He looks intimidating, powerful, and as the ‘underdog’ baku – the only one from a pointless team – he has the crowd on side. Poor Ashley is shaking with nerves now, even though I can tell she is really attempting to hold it together. Oka and River are engaged in a battle with Stripe and Bones, needing to use every ounce of concentration to take on the tiger.If they’re going to have any hope, Jupiter is going to have to step up in the battle against Frost and inflict at leastsomedamage.

Ashley takes a deep breath and tries to draw herself up to stand tall. She wants to project confidence. Her battling skills have definitely improved.

The clouded leopard is lightning fast, rounding on poor Jupiter with barely a delay. Ashley sends commands forJupiter to move out of the way, but too late – Frost swipes out with a sharp paw and part of Jupiter’s surface panelling is torn. Nothing too critical, but his damage level moves instantly to 75% on the jumbotron. Jinx winces as if he was the one hit, rather than Jupiter. I know the feeling. I pray that Ashley can get her head in the game and figure out how to counter Frost’s speed.

Ashley seemsto remember some of her drills, and gets Jupiter to take aim at Frost’s tail. If she can dislodge the mechanisms there, the baku will be thrown off balance – making it much more difficult to move with speed and accuracy. No point moving quickly if you can’t move in the right direction. It’s an easier target than the body – we already noted in our opposition studies that Frost likes to show offby swinging his big bushy tail from side to side. All Jupiter needs to do is to get close enough to take a bite.

Ashley deploys a risky strategy, allowing Jupiter to be a bit more vulnerable, luring Frost into making another attack without thinking through the consequences. It works: the leopard leaps, taking aim at Jupiter’s shoulder, but Jupiter darts around to take a bite out of the leopard’stail.

A cheer goes up from the crowd at the plucky move. Frost’s damage rate sits at 65%, and Jupiter’s drops to 50%. Not bad. This is exactly what Ashley needs to be doing.

‘Come on, Jupiter!’ shouts Tobias from beside me.

Jinx stands on my knees so his paws are propped up on the railing, peering intently into the arena and down at the battle between Frost and Jupiter. I shift my attentionto the other raging battle between Oka, Lizard, Stripe and Bones. The boys from Team Tobias are making good progress and Bones’ stats are dropping rapidly. Gemma is barking orders at Carter, telling him to hold Hunter back. Hunter is pacing as if he’s itching to dive headfirst back into the action, and Carter looks equally frustrated at being left out of the action, his hands opening and closinginto fists. But I can see Gemma’s plan. She wants to weaken Oka and Lizard as much as possible before sending Hunter in for the kill.

There’s a groan throughout the audience that snaps my attention back. Jinx hisses loudly, and I wince as his claws extend into the meat of my thighs. Jupiter has been hit badly by Frost – even with the tail damage, he’s a lethal weapon – and Jupiter’s stats dropto 29%. Almost critical level. I can see Ashley’s eyes dart to Tobias, waiting to see when she can pull her baku out of the battle.

But Tobias doesn’t look at Ashley. Instead, he signals something to Kai, who nods from his position in the arena. Oka suddenly switches tactics, leaving Lizard alone against Stripe and Bones as he goes after Hunter. Carter is taken totally by surprise, and the boardoesn’t defend himself – his stats knocking down to below the 20% threshold with one hit. Hunter is down and out, just like that. I let out the loudest whoop that I can.

Kai sends Oka back to face-off against the tiger. Lizard is taken out by a direct hit by the Stripe’s paw. In the meantime, Frost gets one final swipe at Jupiter – dropping the baku finally down to 20%.

‘Get out of there!’ Iscream at Ashley, jumping up out of my seat. Jinx leaps from my lap to the floor. She turns her head up to look at me.

Because I can see now why Carter looked so smug at the beginning of the battle. He’s been offered a revive chip by Dr Grant – he must have earned it doing some extra credit – and even though Hunter is out of action, with the revive chip he surges back up to 50%. With one targetin sight: Jupiter.

Ashley isn’t able to drag her baku out of the arena in time. Hunter slams into Jupiter, the spaniel baku crumpling in on itself, all our careful repairs being turned into dust. Hunter isn’t content to just tear it apart. He stomps over the little spaniel, grinding parts between his teeth. It’s an unfair power-up, something that shouldn’t have been given to Carter, no matterwhat he’d done to earn it. The entire audience gasps at the impact, and I feel my heart lurch. Ashley releases a scream that is something primal: the second time she’s had to watch as her companion is ripped into shreds. But this time, as I watch Jupiter’s stats sink, I know if it continues this way, there won’t be any way to repair her. Carter is making absolutely sure of that this time.

Hunteris annihilating the baku.

Carter looks triumphant. He fist pumps the sky, drinking in the attention from the crowd.

But there’s more. Something is happening on the arena floor, something my eyes can’t take in fast enough for me to understand. There’s a flash of shadow, quick as a bullet, entering the damaged hole in Hunter’s side. The boar falters, twitching and convulsing, as something is destroyinghim from the inside out.

Carter’s face is a picture of confusion and horror, his jaw hanging open, watching as his baku’s stats drop to 0% – utterly ruining any chance he would have of using his baku in the final round. ‘What the hell is going on?’ his voice is a high-pitched shriek. ‘Gemma!’ he yells to his captain. ‘Attack whatever is doing that!’

I lean forward against the barrier to geta better view. Then a face emerges from the hole in Hunter’s side. A face that stops my heart. Jinx.

The boar collapses to the ground as Jinx hops out, barely a scratch on him.

Gemma’s tiger drops into a low pounce, her jaws snapping and snarling. But Jinx is impossibly nimble. With a few moves, he’s darted around Stripe, sliding underneath her belly and gutting the baku so that her electronicsare entrails on the arena floor, her stats plummeting to 11%. Gemma has no choice but to pull her baku from the battle.

‘Lacey, what are you doing?’ Tobias yells, grabbing my arm, but I can’t look at him yet. I’m transfixed by the battlefield.

It’s all happened so quickly, the other bakus left on the field – Oka and Lizard and Bones – are still locked in battle. Frank pulls Bones from battleat 22% – still within repairable range.

Everyone is confused, the crowd tittering, Mr Baird and Dr Grant gesturing frantically at each other, all wondering who the rogue baku on the arena floor belongs to – but the few people who recognize Jinx all have their eyes tuned on me. Including Tobias. I finally risk a glance at him. The look on his face turns my stomach. His expression is thunder andconfusion and even a bit of fear. All his carefully laid strategies – everything we discussed – have fallen to pieces.

I’ve changed the game.

Or rather... Jinx has.

Jinx stands, hackles raised, staring at Oka. Jupiter is behind him, saved from total annihilation, still attempting to stand upright. I remind myself that these are robots, not real animals – even as it pains me to watch Jupiterattempting to fight until her very last percentage point. Ashley pulls Jupiter from the arena before any more damage can be done.

I turn my attention to Mr Baird. He can black-mark Jinx, put a stop to this right now. Tobias is looking over at him too. But Mr Baird is looking at Jinx, his brows knitted together in an expression of anger... but also a hint of curiosity. Then he draws up themicrophone and announces: ‘There are still two bakus remaining in the arena. The battles continue.’

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