"Tell me Gurk, do you remember anything from the session you just had with BRUTE?" Itzel sat next to the crocodile on the back of the public carrier. Gurk had regained his senses and was able to sit himself upright. He stroked the bottom of his elongated chin with his thumb as his eyes angled up towards the roof of the vehicle.

"Hmm..." he said lowly. "Need strength." Gurk flexed his right arm upwards, showing off the massive bulge of muscle of his bicep.

"I not just strength that you need, big guy. You've got to have strategy too!" She tapped her forehead with her finger. "Here, let's take a look at this replay. There's a single moment in this fight where I think you made the biggest mistake." Itzel showed Gurk his session BRUTE, playing the recording in slow motion. She paused it right when Gurk took in the deep breath for his Frigid Fissure. "Right there!" Itzel said with one finger poking at Gurk's chest on the projection. "Why did you choose to use all of your EV right there?"

"Damage," The crocodile retorted.

"But you ended up missing! BRUTE got away from that attack unscathed. If you had managed to save your EV, you could have used more Enhanced Variants of your Special Techniques. That would have given you more options in a wider array of scenarios. You need to think more about how you use your resources, big guy. Both in Ranked Challenges and when it comes to your Tokens."

"Whatever," Gurk moaned as he leaned back in his seat. He turned his head to look out the window and crossed his arms in huff.

"Whatever? I'm just trying to give you some sound advice. Keep in mind that I do have a higher rank than you."

"Not now."

"That match with Eni didn't count! Just give me two weeks and I can guarantee that I'll be at the same rank, if not higher!"

Gurk opened his mouth to respond but his attention was swiftly taken away from the conversation. "Call," he said as he activated his projection.

"Is it Galo?" Itzel asked.

"Nah," Gurk said, wagging his head. "Enidri."

"Oh. What does she want?" Itzel and Janus both looked at the screen. It did indicate that he had an incoming call from Enidri Saelex.

"Dunno."

Gurk accepted the call. Enidri's face took up the majority of screen space. Her eye darted around the screen as if she were trying to figure out where Gurk was.

"Hello?" the crocodile asked.

"Oh... hey Gurk." Enidri's tone came off as stilted with the way she paused in between words. "You... uh... called earlier?"

Gurk moved his head from left to right. "Nope."

"Oh. Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"It... uh... says I missed a call from you. Just thought I'd... call back. You know. Just to make sure that everything was fine. And stuff." Enidri kept her eye looking to the side as she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand.

"I'm good."

"That's nice to hear," Enidri replied. There was a silence in the call as the swordswoman refused to look at Gurk head on despite the crocodile staring straight at the screen.

"Eni," Itzel declared as she poked her head into the call.

"Huh?"

"What's the real reason why you called?" Itzel asked curtly.

"I told you already!" Enidri said with a raised voice. She managed to make eye contact with Itzel. "I missed a call from Gurk and I just wanted to check up on him."

"You sure about that missed call, Eni?" Itzel pushed her head further into the screen and then had her eyes cut towards the woman on the other end of the line. "Or did you just want to have a friendly chat?"

"Maybe my connection to the Network is acting up," Enidri said shakily.

"Uh-huh," Itzel said. She moved her head back so she was out of view. "Sure."

"How's Donva?" Gurk asked.

"Not sure. He's still in custody of the Labrisson Justice Department. Don't know when they'll releasing him. If at all."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Enidri said as she waved a hand. "You and the others did a good job in rescuing all of those missing Exterminators. It's not like you had anything to do with Donva going crazy. He's got his family back in Scholburn sending over some funds to help with his legal defense, so who knows what's going to happen to him."

"So there's a chance Donva could go free?" Itzel jumped back into the frame of Gurk's call. "If what he said about that Essencima that dug into his neck was true, it's not like he was in control of his actions."

"That's the defense he and his family are banking on."

"I hope he doesn't get incarcerated for too long," Itzel said. "Everyone that went missing was accounted for, so it's not like anyone was hurt too bad. And his knowledge on Essencima is invaluable."

"Yeah, that's true. But why are you so concerned about my brother? The only time you met him, he tried to kill you and me!"

Flustered, Itzel's eyes avoided looking at Enidri directly. "Why? Because he seems like a nice guy...." she tapered off from the last word of the sentence.

"You didn't even say more than a few words to him once he had been freed from the control of that Essencima. I'm just wondering why you seem so invested in someone that you barely even know." Enidri squinted at Itzel, waiting for her to look back.

"You sure are talking a lot for someone who has to lie about missing a call!" Itzel snapped back. “Why don't you get to right to the point as to why you called Gurk in the afternoon?"

"Maybe she's lonely," Janus said with a hush before Enidri had a chance to respond.

"I'm not lonely!" Enidri exclaimed. "And I wasn't lying, either."

"If that's the case, then you wouldn't mind us cutting the call short then." Itzel reached forward towards Gurk screen, ready to press the "End Call" button. There was a frown on Enidri's face as she watched Itzel's hand slowly hover over the button. Gurk then placed his hand in front of Itzel's to stop her.

"Wait," he said to Itzel. He then faced the floating screen. "Wanna hang?" he asked.

Enidri opened her single eye wide. "You want me to hang out? Like, in person or something?"

Gurk gave her a nod.

"I don't know. Do you want me to?"

Gurk nodded again.

"Well, you did help me save my brother. So if 'hanging out' with you is one way for me to pay you back, I might as well start paying my debt off now." Enidri's arms were crossed in front of her chest as she angled her head up and to the side.

"You're the one doing Gurk a favor, right?" Itzel replied smugly. "And maybe that's the reason why he made that 'missed' call. Because he was just dying to spend time with you."

"You said it, not me," Enidri replied.

"You want to give her the invite to watch your match with Siergi, Gurk? Dad's not into Rumble Circuit in the slightest, so if you want to give the spot to Eni, I don't think it'd be too bad of an idea."

"Siergi?" Enidri said with awe. "I assume you're talking about the guy that the younger folks are always watching."

"That's the one."

"I... guess I could try to set aside some time in my schedule to stop by and make a visit. No promises though!" Enidri replied. "Just send me the location and time when you get a chance."

"Sure," Gurk said.

"Alright! I'll be there. Err... maybe." The call ended immediately. With the screen now gone, the three looked at each other, with Janus and Itzel carrying a perplexed look while Gurk had a placid grin.

"Definitely seems like a case of loneliness to me," Janus said.

"Probably. But is that all too surprising? It's not like Enidri is known for her friendly personality."

"It was nice of you to offer her a spot to view Gurk's fight tomorrow."

Itzel shrugged her shoulders. "Almost dying with someone is enough to make you change your mind about them. Who would have thought, huh?"

"Fair point."

"I don't mind Enidri showing up to Gurk's match. As long as she doesn't try to coach him! That one ranked match of hers has made her a bit too confident."

"Should've told her that before she hung up," Janus chided.

"I'll let her know. If she even shows up., that is. I wouldn't be surprised if she bailed out at the last minute. Her brother's situation could change at any moment, and I'm sure that will take priority over Gurk's fight."

Gurk leaned back as much as he could along the back seat of the public carrier, closing his eyes as head tilted towards the ceiling of the vehicle. He let out a long groan and rubbed his shoulder with his hand.

"Aching," he said.

"Let me guess. You're tired, big guy?"

"Yeah."

"Seems to me that Gurk isn't in much of a training mood anymore," Janus said.

Itzel plopped back in her seat and rolled her eyes. "Alright. We'll just head home then. Maybe get something to eat on the way. No point in trying to cram some last-minute practice after that rough session with BRUTE. Maybe we can discuss tactics later."

"Sounds... good..." Gurk said as snuggled himself inside his jacket and shut his eyes. He took in a series of deep breaths as he rested, letting out soft snores once he had gotten comfortable.

"Is he asleep already?" Janus got up and waved a hand in front of the crocodile's face. Gurk remained motionless save for the steady rise and fall of his chest. "I wish I could nap like that!"

"Seems like I care more about this fight than Gurk himself does," Itzel replied quietly. She leaned forward in the seat and rested her cheek on the palm of her hand. "Do you think I'm putting too much thought and effort into this, Janus?"

"I don't know. Gurk sees this very differently for you. He's about to meet one of his favorite personalities. For him it's probably more like a fun event rather than a career opportunity. But you've presented some valid points too. If this match with Siergi is going to be Broadcast to tens of thousands of people, it couldn't hurt Gurk to put a bit more effort into getting ready for it."

"He's in it for the fun," Itzel said as she glanced towards the sleeping crocodile. "That's what Broadcasts are for, right? To provide entertainment. I guess I'm just thinking too deep into this. Gurk's getting paid. He gets to meet his hero. That should be enough to make me happy, right?"

"Gurk doesn't take Rumble Circuit as seriously as you do. He seems fine with slaying some Essencima every day and getting some cauliflower once in a while. He's easy to please."

"You're right," Itzel sighed. Like Gurk, she plopped back into the cushion of the back seat. "Sometimes I wish being content was that easy for me."

Janus chuckled. He kept his arms crossed as he angled his head enough to look out the window. They were closing in on Rilcoe, evident by the abrupt change in the quality and condition of the architecture below. "Yeah, if only it were that easy."