“Come on Maly, let's get out of here. Hey Fitt, when's the money for this coming in?” Jet asked.

Fitt sighed. “You can ask the receptionist at the tamer's guild tomorrow. I'll have let them know by then.”

“Better luck next time, Peter. I'll be leaving this town in a few weeks, so just wait until then to try again.”

Peter's fists tightened as Jet was about to pass by him. As he looked at the laying form of Kalista, a thought flashed through his mind. His fists clenched even more, and his muscles began to strain. Jet took a few more steps and was now behind him. The tension in Peter's body relaxed, and he ran towards Kalista.

“She will be alright, I have stabilized her condition for now. Both her and the Dryad should be brought to the medical ward of the tamer's guild, they will need more healing to make a full recovery,” the Dryad said.

“Thank you,” Peter replied.

The Dryad smiled and turned to walk back towards Fitt. With him giving a slight nod, she turned to leave the room.

Peter placed his hand upon Kalista's wrist. “Thank you, Kalista. You put up a valiant attempt until the very end.” He desummoned both Kalista and Gaia, leaving only him and Fitt.

“You lost,” Fitt said to Peter.

“Yes,” Peter replied, a slightly angry tone in his voice. “I noticed.”

“What did you think about your fight with Jet?”

“What did I think?”

“Was there anything you could have done differently?”

Peter thought for a moment. “We definitely could have, I'm not sure if that means we could have won though. Gaia went up against the Mimic since the Trickster's Fireballs would be a big threat to her. Even fighting the Mimic the Fireballs were still a problem, but she was able to use a risky plan involving her taking a lot of damage to pull off what turned into a win against the Mimic. If she had fought against the Trickster, I'm not sure if the same strategy would work. If Kalista had fought against the Mimic, she would have copied the 'Blinding Flash' ability, so it would have been a difficult match-up for Kalista. But since Jet's Mimic can only copy one ability at a time, it might have caused less pressure on Kalista. It might be that the Mimic was a better opponent for Kalista, and the Trickster was a bad opponent for both of them, with Kalista turning out to have the more severe disadvantage against her, rather than Gaia.”

Fitt nodded. “Good.” He brought out a small piece of folded yellow paper and handed it to Peter. “What's written on there?” Peter grabbed it and unfolded it, his eyes scanning over the content. “Ah, apologies, can you read?”

“Oh, yes, sorry. It says 'Defeat Mimic or Trickster if defender uses both.'” Peter frowned. “What is this supposed to mean?”

“I wrote that before you two picked out your primals. It would have been a surprise to me if Jet had picked any other primals, since his others are still relatively new. Oops, you didn't hear that from me. I suppose you're lucky that he's the type to enjoy stomping on others. In essence, it means you passed. You get your first stamp.”

Peter blinked. “Wha- what?!”

“Jet has two stamps already. Normally we try to match challengers up with a defender of the rank they are looking to reach. But lately lots of tamers seem to be reaching their first stamp and ditching town, so we had to expand the search a bit. I decided to write down a condition that, if it was met, meant I considered you passed. Although winning these challenges is important mind you, at the lower ranks we have a bit more flexibility. After all, the system exists to help promote growth in tamers, and I think based on what I saw today you're on the right track.”

“Really? That's... that's great!” Peter exclaimed.

“Here, hand me your license.” Peter brought out his license and handed it over to Fitt, who stamped the symbol of Wildburry in the first position and handed it back. Happiness welled up from within him just by looking at it. “Now, a COMPLETELY separate matter,” Fitt looked serious, “and I mean COMPLETELY, you are under no obligation to accept.” Peter nodded. “Would you be willing to be the defender for a few challenges for the next week or so? I would compensate you for your time, of course.”

It was an opportunity to battle tamers around his level, and he got paid! It sounded like a great opportunity. Peter almost instantly said yes, before a thought occurred to him. “I...” he paused. “Do I need to reply today? I think I'll have an answer after tomorrow.”

After leaving the battle center, Peter went to the tamer's guild to get Kalista and Gaia healed. A few hours later, when they had woken up and were recovered, Peter told them the news regarding his stamp. Gaia was elated while Kalista seemed happy but distant.

After the group had returned to the inn, Peter had hoped to 'celebrate' with both Kalista and Gaia. As he sat down on the edge of the bed between them, Kalista stood up.

“Peter. I... I think you should leave town.”

“What?” Peter asked, shocked.

“Tomorrow morning is our battle with Serina. I will go to the battle center and face her. You should leave town beforehand. I doubt she will find-”

“No.” Peter interrupted. “I am not leaving you behind.”

“But she is going to-!”

“I won't do it Kalista!” Peter stood up, shouting. “You are going to win tomorrow! I know it!”

“But today!”

“Tomorrow is not today! Serina is not Maly! Kalista, I am happy that I got my stamp, but if I didn't get it I wouldn't have cared! We've been practicing with Evans for tomorrow's battle. Our focus was always on beating Serina, and you are ready. I know it!”

“Then... then we should have Gaia fight Serina tomorrow. She has been training as well. Serina said this was about making sure you could be protected, if it's Gaia, then, perhaps...”

“Kalista, is this honestly what you want?”

“No, of course not!” She sobbed. “But if tomorrow I lose...”

Peter stood up and firmly grasped Kalista's shoulders. “You won't. Is Serina strong? Yes!” He released Kalista and began to pace around the room, waving around his hands as he talked. “After the first time you fought her, I thought that high priestess what's her name was just a tamer role-playing as a religious fanatic and Serina was her Templar! It turns out that despite their stupidity around hating tamers and their primals, that doesn't make them any weaker. But you're strong too! And you have gotten stronger since then!”

Kalista stared at the floor. Peter's words were not reaching her. She sighed. “If I lose tomorrow,” Kalista made a stop signal with her hand as Peter began to open his mouth. “Will you hate me?” Kalista asked that question with the trembling voice of a scared child.

Peter hugged her. “No. I could never hate you. How could I hate someone whose done so much for me? Who worried and tried her best?” He pulled away slightly just enough to see tears welling in Kalistas eyes. “I would be sad. I would miss both you and Gaia. I would hate and curse this stupid world for tearing us apart. But I would never hate you.”

“What about your requirement to be a tamer for two years? You won't be able to do it.”

“Then I'll pay the fine, go to jail, do whatever the penalty is. That'll be my problem though, and not yours. I'll have to manage on my own. Who knows,” Peter chuckled. “Maybe this is just an attempt from the Church to turn me into a dependent groom.”

“They can't have you,” Kalista said as she hugged Peter tightly. She gave a light laugh and smiled. “Thank you, Peter. I failed you today. I promise, tomorrow will be different.”