“Feeling confident?” asked Hunter as he stood beside Aurin in the waiting room ahead of the young tamer’s quarter-finals match against Luna.

  “I wish I could say yes,” sighed Aurin, “but this won’t be an easy battle. I’ve worked incredibly hard, sure, but so has she. There’s a very real possibility that she’ll win, especially considering how far she’s come in the last year.”

  “And you wouldn’t hold it against her if she wins, would you?”

  “Not at all,” said Aurin, shaking his head fervently. “I’d be her biggest supporter for the rest of the tournament. If I can’t win, I want her to be the one who wins…no offence.”

  Hunter laughed. “None taken,” he said. “But you’ve given me the answer I wanted to hear and the one I think you need.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you had even an inkling of bitterness in losing to Luna, you would be in all of this for the wrong reasons. Were you bitter about losing in the semi-finals to me in last year’s Hazelton tournament?”

  “No.”

  “And I was content with my loss against you in the Palace Royale. Why? It’s because those are losses that we deserved. We gave it our all, but one had to come on top and the other could rest satisfied that he had lost without having held back. It then drives you forward for further greatness next time.”

  Aurin said nothing, giving Hunter a slightly puzzled look.

  “My point is that you and Luna will both be battling with your hearts on your sleeve and the winner will be the one who deserves it. You both recognise that and will still have each other’s backs, no matter the outcome.”

  “So, we can fight without regret?”

  “Exactly,” said Hunter with a smile.

  “You couldn’t have just said that?” chuckled Aurin.

  “Sometimes a point hits harder when it smacks you across the head a few times,” said Hunter, slapping the back of Aurin’s head. “Now, take a few deep breaths and gather yourself before heading on out.”

  “Thanks, Hunter,” said Aurin sincerely.

  “No problem. I’m going to go meet Kyle in the stands. I’m sure he’s finished giving Luna her pep talk by now.”

  “You mean this encouragement was some concoction between the pair of you so that we didn’t psyche ourselves out?”

  “If it worked, yes. If it didn’t, no,” said Hunter before departing.

  *

  “Three. Two. One,” counted down the announcer as Aurin and Luna locked eyes across the battlefield. “Fight!”

  Without hesitation, the two threw out their gloves hands and summoned their first Minakai to the battlefield. Before Aurin appeared the hulking lump of blue metal that was Steambot and, before Luna, the boil and icicle covered frog, Frocean.

  Knowing that he would have to chip away at such a sturdy opponent, Steambot leaned over and let rip a pressure cannon from his pipes, while Frocean had a similar thought and conjured a pair of powerful icicles and hurled them at Steambot with incredible force.

  The two attacks collided in the centre of the battlefield with the water tearing the icicles apart, but they succeeded in halting the momentum of the pressure cannon. To take the rest of the high-pressure blast, Frocean hurriedly brought forth an icicle wall and merely got sprayed by the water that made its way over the blockade.

  As he retracted the wall, he let out a croak of surprise as Steambot launched himself at him with a raised fist. He threw out his belly which absorbed the attack, giving him enough guttural force to spit out a wave of chilling frost from his mouth that caught Steambot’s joints.

  The metal titan tried to back away to thaw himself, but Frocean unleashed a burst of icicles from his boils that pierced Steambot’s torso before knocking him over. The large frog gave a ribbit of satisfaction, revelling in victory, only to be toppled over by a water jet cast by his downed opponent.

  With an icicle sticking out of his chest, Steambot stood up. He grabbed the frozen spear and pulled it free before flipping it around the throwing it at Frocean, who was impaled in the side by his own weapon. Injured as he may have been, Steambot darted forwards and grabbed the dazed frog between his hands. He groaned and clanked as he lifted him above his head, holding him on top of his pipes.

  Suddenly, there was an eruption of hot water that sent Frocean flying into the air and melted his boils and the icicles upon his back. He looked to already be unconscious as he fell, but slamming down hard on the ground made sure of that and guaranteed that he was out of the battle.

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  “And Aurin claims the first victory, but his Steambot isn’t looking so great with his pierced armour,” said the announcer.

  “He’s weak!” called Luna, sending out an orb of blue light that materialised her Doripper.

  The many-finned and many-toothed shark summoned a wave of water that carried him towards the heaving Steambot, who braced himself to stay on his feet. As the wave swept past him, Doripper sank his teeth into his fellow water elemental and began bashing his tail against Steambot’s screen.

  Aurin’s Minakai bashed his fist against the ferocious fish’s side, but he was failing much more quickly than his opponent, especially with his weak spot being struck to viciously by the endless thumps of Doripper’s tail. With a loud shatter, the screen cracked and Steambot toppled over, leaving Doripper free to finally unclench his jaw and release his defeated opponent.

  “And Luna has evened up the playing field quickly!” yelled the announcer.

  “Let’s see if you can counter this,” called Aurin, holding up his hand and focusing on a metallic-grey summoning stone.

  “Bring it on!” replied Luna with a determined grin.

  Dolissile appeared on the battlefield and sped towards Doripper, who was eager to sink his razor-sharp teeth into another chunk of metal, but Luna couldn’t let her water elemental get too eager.

  “It’s a feint!” she warned her Minakai.

  In the nick of time, Doripper shot himself into the air with a geyser as a heavy pulse erupted from Dolissile, who had veered to the side. With his opponent now in the air, he tilted himself upwards and shot a burst of metal spikes towards Doripper, who knocked each of the sharp projectiles away with well-placed water jets.

  “I remember when she used to scoff at her Doripper, back when it was a Dopefish,” said Kyle to Hunter, while watching Dolissile and Doripper continue to exchange attacks while manoeuvring around the battlefield.

  “Many do scoff at such an unassuming little monster,” said Hunter, “but she eventually looked beyond that and saw the potential.”

  “She did,” agreed Kyle, recoiling slightly as Dolissile was sent spiralling upon being struck by Doripper’s tail. “Now he’s become one of her strongest fighters.”

  “Indeed, but we’ll see how—”

  Hunter stopped dead as Dolissile rammed Doripper in the side, sending the fish flying through the air and spinning around as rapidly as he had done seconds before.

  “You were saying?” asked Kyle.

  Hunter exhaled and shook his head. “I was saying that we’ll see how Aurin counterattacks, but…well, you saw it for yourself.”

  “Now!” called Aurin as Doripper hit the ground.

  Dolissile exploded towards Doripper, who conjured a dozen poorly aimed geysers in a rapid chain, hoping to stop Dolissile, but it was no use. The cybernetic dolphin rammed his foe in the side one again and flung him into the walls of the stadium. The concrete cracked from the immense force and Doripper dropped down unconscious.

  “We won’t let him get away with that now, will we?” Luna asked, summoning her Rabbafat next.

  Aurin cocked his head to the side, wondering what she was thinking in summoning a neutral elemental that couldn’t hope to match Dolissile’s intensity. He knew he had to be cautious as there was clearly something afoot and Luna’s devious smile didn’t make him any less concerned.

  “Ready?” Luna asked her Rabbafat.

  “Hold off!” Aurin called out as Dolissile readied himself to jet towards the rotund rabbit.

  With a deep inhalation, Rabbafat tensed herself and her fat redistributed itself around her body, giving her hulking arms and a much leaner lower body. Aurin’s mouth was agape, not knowing that such a technique was even possible. He now wished that he had struck and not given Luna the chance to prepare her Minakai, but he had to do something.

  “Metal wave!” Aurin ordered and Dolissile sent out a sharp wave of elemental energy at his opponent from across the battlefield.

  Rabbafat, however, was prepared and summoned an invisible barrier that took the attack and left her unharmed. The pumped-up rabbit started hopping up and down while flexing her huge arms, as though to taunt Dolissile—something which wouldn’t work on such a focused and emotionally controlled Minakai like him, but it worked on his tamer.

  “Show her that no matter where it moves to, fat isn’t muscle!”

  Dolissile torpedoed forwards as Rabbafat cranked her arm. Upon Dolissile coming close, she swung for him, but the metal elemental was not going to simply walk into an attack and slowed himself. Rabbafat swung and missed as Dolissile burst past a second later and struck her in her now-unprotected side, sending her flying backwards.

  “It’s not that easy,” Aurin muttered while looking at Luna, who was looking nervous. “Fusion fin!”

  Dolissile sped after Rabbafat, who was hurriedly moving her fat back to her centre, and his glowing wing struck her across the arm. As she winced and tried to stand up, Dolissile pivoted and shot out a pulse that knocked her back to the ground before exploding forward again and sending her flying across the battlefield where she landed near Aurin’s feet.

  The incredibly robust Rabbafat stood up as Dolissile shot a barrage of metal spikes at her. She punched each of them out of the way, but upon striking the last one, she saw Dolissile following behind it. She closed her eyes as she was struck and knocked into the stadium wall before falling unconscious.

  “And Aurin is claiming the lead!” called the announcer. “Luna has two Minakai remaining while Aurin still had four. It’s going to be an uphill battle now, but I wouldn’t count Luna out just yet.”

  “Nor would I,” said a disappointed but determined Luna. Her tactical error had cost her, but there would be no more of those. She held out her hand and summoned her Cephelarock.

  As soon as the orange glow cleared, Cephelarock stuck his tentacles into the ground.

  “Move!” called Aurin, but it was too late.

  Large tentacles of stone sprung from the ground around Dolissile and flailed wildly, battering his armour. He tried to twist and turn away, but he couldn’t break past the relentless assault. He changed tactics and let loose pulse after pulse to try and shoo away the tentacles, but there were too many and coming from so many different angles that he couldn’t keep up.

  Dolissile had exhausted himself battling Doripper and Rabbafat and felt the strain growing greater with each failed attempt at escaping. Had he been full strength, he might just have managed it but, in his current state, it was too much. A final strike to the head and he was knocked out of the battle.

  “What a comeback!” called the announcer. “See, folks? This battle isn’t over yet.”

  “It’s far from over,” said Aurin, determined to retaliate with full force.

  “You’re right,” agreed Luna, giving him a thumbs up and a wink. “Let’s see what else you’ve got.”

  Aurin nodded at her and raised his tamer glove, revealing one of his summoning stones. He called out his Minakai’s name and sent out a burst of light, summoning his next monster into battle.

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  Aurin's Team:

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