“Are you sure about this?” asked Aurin as Luna and Abby positioned themselves at opposite ends of the rippling pool as the waterfall ceaselessly crashed down into it.

“I’m positive,” said Luna.

“She’s a dark horse,” said Aurin. “She was sitting at the top table with the rest of us. I think she’s downplaying her skills.”

“Then it’ll feel that much better defeating her, won’t it?” said Luna undeterred.

“Alright,” said Aurin. “Make quick work of her. I know you can.”

Luna looked at her team. Tadpool was still injured and Innogon would be going up against his evolved form, that meant that Splashard was probably her best bet. “Are you ready for this?”

Splashard nodded and took her position at the edge of the pool eagerly.

“Aurin, you can be the referee and count us down, yes?” called Abby from across the pool as her Guilgon warmed up by swiping at the air with her sharp claws.

“Are you both ready?”

“Ready!” replied Abby.

“Ready,” said Luna.

“Three. Two. One. Battle!” called Aurin.

Splashard and Guilgon wasted no time in unleashing water jets at each other, the two streams meeting at the centre of the pond and exploding into a wave of water that crashed all the way to the edges of the pool.

The two water elementals charged towards each other as their rain poured down. Splashard punched with her amorphous fists while Guilgon batted the punches away and retaliated with ferocious swipes, cutting into Splashard who repaired her injuries almost instantly.

Splashard flipped around and smacked Guilgon in the face, only for the enraged blue dragon sink her teeth into Splashard’s neck, tearing a chunk from it and sending parts of Splashard’s gelatinous body flying across the pond.

Aurin watched from the sidelines and could see that he was right. Abby shouldn’t be underestimated for a second and Lord Kensington was right to put her at the top table. He suspected that she had gotten in over her head and charged head first into her competition only to be whittled down little by little by tamers that she herself had underestimated.

“Take the fight into the water,” ordered Luna as Splashard backed off to recover from Guilgon’s heavy assault.

Splashard flew around Guilgon rapidly, trying to find an opening to grab hold of the dragon’s wings and bring her down, only to be struck by her whipping tail and knocked back repeatedly. The water demon was growing frustrated and desperately tried to lunge towards Guilgon’s left wing.

Guilgon spun around and grabbed Splashard by the head. She spun around and around, picking up speed as Splashard tried to wrestle free only to find the dragon’s grip was too strong. Suddenly, Guilgon released Splashard and the gelatinous Minakai crashed into the cliff face and broke into a dozen pieces.

As her parts landed, Splashard pulled herself back together and reformed, but reforming from such a split state was exhausting. As soon as she had restored her physical form, the blue dragon rammed her into the cliff face once more and broke her in two. Splashard reformed once more, but found herself unable to float up off the ground. She lost consciousness and was out of the battle and out of the tournament.

“Oh no!” cried Luna, distraught at Splashard’s defeat. She looked at her two remaining Minakai and knew there was only one viable option. “Inno, your turn.”

Innogon ran onto the surface of the water and summoned a wave that carried him across the surface to the cliff where Guilgon stood. Knowing her advantage, the dragon took to the skies where Innogon could not easily reach her.

“You’ve defeated aerial opponents before,” Luna told her Minakai. “You can do this.”

Innogon threw himself into the waterfall and used his powers to swim up it as Guilgon swiped at him. He let himself drop to avoid the attack, then resumed his climb. With each swipe, he dropped and climbed up and Luna watched Guilgon carefully as the swipes grew slower. Defeating Splashard had fatigued the dragon and Innogon was spending more of her energy before striking back.

“It’s a trick!” called Abby, realising what was happening. “Don’t fall for it.”

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Guilgon backed away and Innogon burst from the waterfall, thrown by a water spout he summoned. He spun rapidly with his head fin glowing and slammed into Guilgon’s back, knocking the dragon from the sky and into the water.

Innogon spat a water jet downwards and sent himself shooting into the air as Guilgon righted herself and flew upwards to reach her mark. Innogon breathed in deep and spat an even mightier jet that struck Guilgon and knocked her back into the water. Each time Guilgon tried to escape, Innogon beat her back into the water with an intense watery blast.

The little drake finally allowed himself to fall back down into the water where Guilgon was trying to fly free from. He dove underneath and sank his teeth into Guilgon’s tail. Abby’s Minakai whipped its tail wildly, trying to shake off the little drake, but Innogon kept a tight clamp on the scaly tale, determined to avenge Splashard for Luna.

Guilgon finally flew up out of the water, and weakly beat her wings to soar higher. Innogon lifted his hands up and used his small but sharp nails to tear into Guilgon’s tail. She roared in anger and reached down to grab Innogon, pulling him off. He released his grip and smiled at Guilgon for a split second before spitting another jet into her face.

Guilgon dropped Innogon and plummeted into the water once more, but this time she did not resurface, and Abby was forced to banish her with a summoning stone. It had cost her Splashard, but Luna had won the battle against the renowned pageant queen.

“Tamer eight, Lady Abigail, eliminated by tamer fourteen, Lady Luna,” came Lord Kensington’s voice from a speaker.

Abby walked around the pond to Luna with a big smile on her face. “You were right about going out with a bang, that was a great battle,” she said. “For your Innogon to defeat his evolved form like that…he’s really something.”

“He’s great,” said Luna as Innogon bounced out of the water and bounded over to his allies. Shamtile and Snippet danced in celebration along with the little drake.

“How did you lose your first two Minakai?” asked Aurin.

“I thought I would show off a little and take on three tamers at once,” said Abby, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “Arrogance got the better of me, it seems.”

Aurin’s theory was confirmed. He could only imagine what Abby could have pulled off if she was at full strength. It just further proved to him that playing the tournament with strategy rather than brute strength was the way forward.

“I’d better get back to the palace before Lord Kensington scolds me,” she said, waving goodbye. “Best of luck, you two.”

“Thanks for the battle, Abby,” said Luna. “We’ll see you soon.”

Aurin and Luna stood by the pool with their Minakai watching the waterfall crash down. They didn’t say anything, trying to think of the best way forward.

“Should we head back towards the palace and see if there are any items people might have missed?” asked Aurin.

“I think we should go our separate ways for now,” said Luna, looking at Tadpool who was bathing his feet in the water. “We’ll only slow you down.”

“Gorunze won’t mind carrying him for a while, will you Gorunze?” Aurin asked his metallic golem who groaned in agreement.

“I love you for offering,” smiled Luna, “but we’ll find a way. I should have listened to you earlier and my mistake lost me Splashard. You keep going and we’ll meet up again later if I can find a way to heal Tadpool.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” said Luna with certainty. “We’ll be alright, won’t we boys?”

Innogon yapped happily and Tadpool croaked as enthusiastically as he could muster. Shamtile walked over to his draconic friend and patted him awkwardly on the head before hopping onto Gorunze’s back.

“We’re going all the way, you hear?” said Aurin, picking up Snippet and also climbing onto Gorunze.

“We are,” said Luna with a big smile and a nod.

Aurin and his Minakai rode into the trees and away from the pool where Luna and her two remaining Minakai still stood. He was going to hunt for items while the remaining competitors eliminated each other. Once he had built up an arsenal, he would aim for the strongest opponents and rise all the way to the top.

*

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t big red,” said Frederick, stepping around the corner of the palace.

“Big red?” asked Gardner, stopping dead in his tracks as the Zodiac member approached him with two Leonite following him.

“I always forget your name and mnemonics don’t seem to do any good,” replied Frederick. “You’re just that unremarkable compared to actual good tamer like Aurin and Hunter.”

“You’ve got some nerve, Leo,” said Gardner, shaking in anger with his Desparee, Angree and Vinewolf stepping in front of him. “After everything you’ve pulled in Hazelton, you think it’s smart to show up here in front of me? I’m going to make you pay.”

“A full team, I see,” said a bemused Frederick. “I’m surprised you haven’t been eliminated yet.”

“And what happened to your third Minakai?” asked Gardner. “I’m sure your overconfidence was the end of it.”

Frederick clicked his fingers and a large cat with two long fangs and a red mane that shone in the afternoon sun emerged from behind the palace. It walked over to its tamer proudly with even the black stripes on its fur showing off a sheen. It looked far more wild and vicious than his two Leonite, who it resembled somewhat in appearance.

Gardner’s jaw dropped. “Is that…is that?”

“It is,” smirked Frederick.

“But…how?”

“While you’ve been playfighting, I’ve been doing some very important work and picked up my new warrior here along the way. I’ve been itching to test out his full potential, but a weakling like you will have to do. I’ll treat you as a warmup before I take on the better tamers.”

“You’re going to pay for your arrogance,” said Gardner.

“I thought I was going to pay for what I did in Hazelton?” remarked Frederick with a smug grin on his face.

“This number three is going to wipe the floor with a lowly number seven like you.”

For the first time, Frederick looked angered by something Gardner had said. To be regarded as an inferior tamer when he knew he was stronger was a great insult. “You will not walk away from this fight,” spat Frederick, stepping behind his Minakai.

“Attack!” called Gardner, sending his entire team charging towards Frederick’s trio of lions.

“No mercy,” said Frederick, as his team leapt into battle against Gardner’s.