Hikari set off with a determined stride for the packed earth of the westward road. The path sloped gently upward, winding past orchards and smaller homesteads.
After about an hour's walk, the neat fields gave way to a more rugged landscape. He spotted a wooden sign that read: Balleyfoot Farm.
The farmhouse came into view. A weathered structure of grey stone and dark timber. But Hikari's attention was on the fields beyond.
A wide stretch of what should have been golden grain was sickly brown.
Cactyes, each the size of a ball, wandered through it.
They were round, green, and pocked with small holes, black eyes peering from deep within their armored hides.
One of them stopped, gave a low grunt, and fired a volley of spikes into a nearby fence post.
The farmhouse door slammed open. A grizzled man in worn overalls stormed out, face red with frustration, waving a wooden pitchfork at the monsters.
"Shoo! You spiky devils!" He shouted.
The nearest Cactye turned towards him, let out a chittering hiss, and tensed. With a sigh-like sound, it launched a spread of spikes.
The farmer yelped and ducked behind the doorframe. The spikes thudded into the thick wood.
"Okay. That's bad." Hikari stepped out from behind the wall, marching towards the field and forcing confidence into his voice. "Monster Tamer Hikari, here to handle your problem!"
The farmer peeked out, eyes wide.
"A Tamer? Then don't just stand there, do something!"
Hikari raised his gauntlet and took a deep breath.
Geminar shimmered atop his head.
The nearest Cactye finished attacking the door and swiveled its eyes towards the shining slime.
Hikari stepped forward.
The Cactye spun instantly. A tight cluster of spikes erupted towards Geminar.
Geminar launched itself off Hikari's head, landing with a soft plop in the dirt.
"Geminar, cover up!" Hikari shouted, running as the slime expanded.
From its mass, several thick globs fired through the air.
SPLAT. SPLAT-SPLAT.
Three struck the lead Cactye, coating its spiky hide. Two more hit the monsters behind it.
The lead Cactye gurgled in confusion. It tried to advance, but its movements slowed, joints gummed and weighted down. It shook, attempted to fire again, but the spikes emerged coated in silver slime and fell harmlessly to the ground.
Effective, but costly. Geminar had shrunk to half its size, a trembling puddle of quicksilver.
The other Cactyes hesitated, instincts warring as they watched their leader trapped.
Hikari sprinted for the hand pump by the well.
"Keep it up, Geminar! Slow them down!"
Geminar fired two smaller globs. They missed, splattering across the dirt and turning the ground slick. The Cactyes wobbled, shuffling uncertainly.
Hikari worked the pump. Icy water poured into the bucket. Muscles burning, he filled it and rushed back.
The water hit the dry soil and the slime, spreading into a sucking mire.
The trapped monsters sank, chittering in panic as they became hopelessly stuck.
The rest of the herd broke. With grumbling protests, they rolled away towards the rocky cliffs.
Hikari dropped the bucket, panting. He knelt and gently scooped up Geminar's exhausted puddle.
"That was so cool." He whispered.
Geminar pulsed faintly, warmth echoing through the bond.
The farmer approached, pitchfork hanging limply at his side. He stared at the retreating monsters, and the three still stuck in the mud.
"Well," he said, awe roughening his voice, "that's one way to do it."
He counted seventy-five silver coins into Hikari's hand.
"You've earned it, kid."
"Thank you, old man!" Hikari said brightly. "Should I… take these three to the Association?"
Hikari didn't have to drag the three Cactyes far.
Stuck fast in the hardened mud and wrapped in drying silver slime, they could only wobble weakly as he guided them onto a reinforced transport sled the farmer lent him.
Geminar rode proudly atop Hikari's head again, slightly dimmer than before but visibly pleased.
By the time he reached the Tamer Association, the afternoon crowd had thinned.
The doors creaked open, and the same nervous clerk from earlier looked up, then froze.
Her eyes went from Hikari, to the sled, to the three grumpy, immobilized Cactyes blinking back at her.
"…You're back already."
"Yep!" Hikari said cheerfully. "Mission done!"
There was a long pause.
Then the clerk stood up so fast her chair screeched backward.
"W-wait! Those are live captures?" She asked, leaning over the counter. "All three?"
"Uh-huh. They were wrecking a farm. I just… stuck them." He gestured vaguely.
She stared at the monsters. Then at Geminar. Then back at Hikari. She cleared her throat, grabbed a stamped form, and slammed it down onto the counter.
"Quest verified. Full completion. Excellent work."
She signaled towards a reinforced side door. Two handlers appeared moments later, efficiently rolling the sled away.
As the last Cactye disappeared, the clerk hesitated.
"Oh, one more thing." She pushed her glasses up. "Because you captured them… you're eligible to form a bond with one, if you want."
Hikari blinked.
"…I can?"
She nodded.
"Yes. They are going to Adoption Home anyway."
Hikari looked down at his gauntlet. Then at Geminar, who gave a small, encouraging wobble.
He grinned.
"Yeah, I think I'd like that."
Hikari followed the clerk through a reinforced side door and down a short, dimly lit corridor.
They stopped outside a metal door marked:
HOLDING CELL
"You know how to form a bond, right?" The clerk asked. "You may attempt one. If you succeed, you will be responsible for its care. If you fail or choose not to, they will be transferred to the Adoption Home."
She produced a key, unlocked the door, and swung it open.
Inside was a small, circular room with stone walls. In the center, the three Cactyes were contained within individual energy fields, shimmering domes of pale yellow light. They looked less threatening now, more like grumpy, spiky gourds. The remnants of Geminar's silver goo had been cleaned from their hides.
"The fields suppress aggressive instincts and prevent projectile attacks." The clerk said. "You may approach. Use a blank Crystal Core to engage the bond."
Hikari nodded. He shrugged off his duffel bag and rummaged inside, pulling out a Crystal Core.
He stepped into the room, Geminar sliding down to perch on his shoulder, watching intently.
He looked at the three Cactyes. One was still vibrating with barely contained annoyance. Another seemed resigned, its black eyes half-lidded. The third one watched him with sharp, calculating intelligence.
Hikari approached the leader. He raised his gauntleted hand, the silver core pulsing softly in its slot. He didn't really know what he was doing. But he remembered the feeling in the chamber, the thread spinning out, the connection forming.
He placed his other hand, the one holding the crystal, against the energy field. It buzzed gently against his skin.
"Alright…"
He closed his eyes, feeling the tingling sensation of the thread emerging from the crystal.
The thread reached towards the Cactye, forming a circular pattern.
It stopped short.
The air between them felt taut, as if the thread had struck an invisible barrier.
Cactye did not recoil, but it did not respond.
Its eyes narrowed sharply.
It knew what Hikari was doing. In fact, it could sense the intentions of the boy standing before it.
It was a kaleidoscope of feelings.
Most monsters, when offered a bond, sensed power, ambition, utility, or fear. This human's emotional signature was… bizarre. A jumble of contradictions: reckless yet caring, clumsy yet effective, driven by a goal that seemed less about conquest and more about… inclusion.
Cactye observed the shimmering thread of Hikari's intent.
It did not answer.
Bonds meant loss. Change. The surrender of solitude.
The thread hovered between them, trembling faintly, as if unsure whether it would be received or rejected.
Then, from within its body, a thread answered.
The two threads met in the air between them, and slowly, deliberately, began to wind together.
With a sound like a rushing wind, Cactye's body flickered, then was pulled into a spiraling vortex, drawn directly into the Crystal Core in Hikari's hand.
The other two Cactyes recoiled.
One let out a low, uncertain chirr, and both lowered themselves slightly, eyes fixed on the core where their leader had vanished.
The core was no longer clear, but a deep forest green, with a single sharp black point at its center, like a focused eye.
The energy field died with a soft pop.
Silence filled the holding cell.
"Congratulations, Tamer Hikari." The clerk said, breaking the silence. "You've formed a bond with a Cactye."
Hikari stared at the core in his hand.
A warmth spread up his arm, firm and reassuring, like a hand bracing his own. The presence inside the crystal wasn't overwhelming, it was solid and certain.
His grin came slow, then wide.
This one hadn't just happened to him.
He'd done it.
"You can leave now. We'll take care of the other two."
Hikari blinked, tearing his gaze from the fascinating green core in his palm. He snapped his gauntleted hand into a crisp salute.
"Thanks a bunch, miss! You're the best!"