The sky was a deep red as the sun fell further behind the mountains. The air was chilly, as it had been all day, but Luna was only now starting to notice it with things being quiet. Most of the tamers had been eliminated and the constant adrenaline flowing throughout the day had subsided.

“This fountain is so pretty, isn’t it?” Luna asked Innogon and Frocean, remembering how she and Aurin had sparred here right as the tournament began.

Luna looked at the Minakai egg she held in her hands. She didn’t have much hope of finding an incubator this late in the game, but perhaps she would have one last stroke of good luck before the end. Whatever lay inside would be hers to raise no matter whether it was hatched here or hatched back home.

She turned her gaze towards the vineyards, one of the few stones left unturned for her. It was going to be dark soon and venturing towards the cliffs or the surrounding forest would be foolish. There were plenty of Minakai who had a much easier time seeing in the dark than her own so staying close to the palace was her intent.

“Tamer fifty-two, Master Oswald, eliminated by tamer one, Master Hunter,” announced Lord Kensington from a speaker attached to the palace.

“There are so few of us left now,” Luna said to her Minakai. “We just need to push a little bit further and we’ll be in sight of the finish line. We can do this, can’t we?”

Innogon yapped and roared happily while Frocean gave a deep and resounding croak. Her monsters had faith in her and she had faith in them. With a big smile, she beckoned them to follow her and they headed towards the vineyard entrance.

Luna unlatched the gate and walked through with Innogon following her. Frocean was too big and was forced to leap over the stone wall, but he had little trouble doing so. Luna took in the scent of the growing grapes and relaxed as the sweet smell floated around her. She could have happily pulled up a deckchair and spent the day here. The vineyard wasn’t especially large, but the rows of vines adorned with their purple grapes was a beautiful sight to see. She was almost troubled by the fact that a battle here would risk destroying some of them, but it mustn’t have bothered Lord Kensington that much.

“It’s nice to see another soul in here,” said a voice, making Luna jump a mile.

“Who’s there?” she asked as Clarke appeared from behind a shed. He was accompanied by a Rainbird and Sanguice, both of which were looking a little worse for the wear.

“No need to be startled,” said Clarke, calmly. “I’m not going to attack without warning.”

“Are you going to attack?”

“Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”

Luna stood there quietly and still tense, not reassured by Clarke’s word in the slightest. “You’re Clarke, aren’t you?” she said eventually.

“I am, yes,” he replied. “Forgive me, but I don’t recall your name. Have we met before?”

“No,” said Luna, “but I recognise you from Aurin’s table. He said that you two battled in the forest a while ago. My name’s Luna.”

“Ah, you know Aurin?”

“I do. He said you’re one of the most interesting competitors in this entire competition.”

“Did he now?” chuckled Clarke. “Well, I would say the same thing about him. There are a small handful that I’ve met and observed who seem to be a cut above the rest. Tamers that understand Minakai and truly want to see them grow and want to get to know them at a much deeper level. He is one of those tamers, there’s no doubt in my mind…are you?”

“Yes,” said Luna. “There’s nothing I’m more passionate about than my Minakai.”

“It’s all well and good being able to say that, but being able to demonstrate that is another matter entirely.”

“Are you proposing we battle?”

“I am.”

“Your Minakai look more exhausted than mine,” remarked Luna, “are you sure that’s fair?”

“I wouldn’t say that’s important, Luna, but I appreciate your consideration. It’s already clear that you’re an honourable competitor, but I would suspect that my Minakai are more powerful than yours so them being tired may balance the scales somewhat.”

Luna was not sure whether to be offended or not, but Clarke certainly had an air of experience about him. It wasn’t just his age, there was something that Luna couldn’t put her finger on. It was as though he had seen things that others could only imagine and he had no desire to win battles, he only desired to know more about both Minakai and his opponents.

“You seem hesitant,” said Clarke. “If it makes you feel better, Aurin defeated my Quetzalia. I’m down my ace.”

“I’m not hesitant about battling, I’m just trying to understand your motive in being here.”

Clarke laughed again. “If you can defeat me, I’ll tell you why I’m here. I think Lord Kensington himself was surprised when I showed up.”

“Alright, let’s battle,” said Luna, looking to Innogon and Frocean who were itching to show what they were made of.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Let’s make it one on one battles until we’re out of monsters, shall we?”

“I’m ready when you are,” said Luna. “Frocean, you’re up.”

“Rainbird,” said Clarke, nodding to the blue and purple bird perched on the shed roof.

“Let’s go!” called Luna, beginning the battle.

Frocean hopped across the grass towards his foe, but was immediately blasted by a powerful water jet and thrown backwards. Rainbird spun around in circles and conjured up a small storm over the battlefield.

“Don’t let him gather the water!” Luna warned Frocean.

Rainbird’s body was being slowly covered by water, giving it a rippling coating that encompassed its entire body. It beat its wings and the water cast itself off from Rainbird’s body and was rushed towards Frocean. The frog hopped out of the way, but the watery clone of Rainbird circled around and struck Frocean in the back before breaking apart and splashing onto the grass.

“Hailstorm!” ordered Luna.

Frocean focused and summoned a barrage of hail that replaced the rain. Rainbird was being beaten by the pellets of ice, but a second later it had summoned a bubble around itself to protect it. It charged at Frocean who erected an ice wall, forcing Rainbird to fly higher into the sky. It was smart enough to not go beyond the wall as Frocean had an ice spear ready to launch at the sight of his opponent.

“That won’t work so easily on me,” laughed Clarke.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Luna. “Break it!”

Frocean slammed his hands into the ice wall which shattered into dozens of shards. He stamped his webbed feet on the ground and the shards raised into the air. One by one he sent them flying at Rainbird, who weaved in and out. At full speed, it wouldn’t have had much trouble, but its tiredness worked against it. It took three hits to the body and was knocked out of the air.

“Well played,” said Clarke. “Sanguice. Let’s show them what the true power of the ice element is.”

The pale bat flew into the air and sped around at lightning speed. Luna was having a hard time keeping up with it. When she finally got a clear focus on it, Sanguice covered its wings in ice and charged towards her Frocean who could not bring up a barrier in time. Its frozen wings cut into Frocean’s body as it flew around and around. Frocean dropped to the ground, unable to fight on.

Luna’s mouth hung open in shock. “So…so fast,” she said.

Innogon leapt into the fight without an order and shot a strong water jet at Sanguice, who was knocked back and into the shed. It was vulnerable after exerting itself with its attack. Innogon burst forward and flipped around, trying to cut into Sanguice with his fin, but the icy bat recovered in time and avoided the attack, taking off into the air once more.

“A taste of their own medicine,” said Clarke.

Sanguice summoned a hailstorm and Innogon was struck by the icy rocks that fell much more forcefully than Frocean’s. He collected himself and then summoned his own bubble shield to defend against the hail.

Clarke smirked upon seeing Luna counter the same way he did. “That won’t stop us,” he said. “Finish them with an ice bomb!”

Sanguice flew high into the air and focussed its energy. A large ball of ice appeared before him and he launched it towards the ground. Innogon knew that if that hit him, it would explode and freeze him solid. He harnessed all of his might and spouted off a pressure cannon to rival Steambot’s and blasted the bomb to pieces in the sky.

“That took a lot out of him,” said Luna.

Innogon knew what to do and waited for Sanguice to fly down and close the gap. He conjured a large tidal wave and rode it straight towards the icy bat. As Sanguice tried to move out of the way, Innogon spat streams of water all over the sky. The bat thought the drake was aiming for it, but Innogon had something else in mind.

He continued to shoot water, forcing Sanguice to dodge. Once the bat was thoroughly distracted, he spun around and shot the ground, blasting himself backwards and to his foe. He spun around rapidly and slammed into Sanguice with his head fin. The rapidly spinning fin was like a razor blade and cut into the bat, making him drop to the ground. He tried to fly up again, but Innogon ended the battle with another water jet that blasted him straight through the grapevines.

“Very impressive,” said Clarke with a smile. He looked satisfied, even in defeat. “Although Lord Kensington might not be happy with the state of this waterlogged vineyard.”

“Tamer five, Master Clarke, eliminated by tamer fourteen, Lady Luna,” announced Lord Kensington.

“So why are you here?” Luna asked.

Clarke looked to the setting sun. “I’m a traveller, Luna. I go from tower to tower, anomaly to anomaly, from Minakai to Minakai. I’m always looking to learn something new and I’ve got many friends and acquaintances who know things about Minakai that you could only imagine. The magic they possess is nothing short of astounding, and I mean the people not the Minakai, but there’s one thing I’ve missed in all that.”

“What?”

“The thrill of competition. The thrill of seeing what’s going on in my opponent’s head when they’re fighting for survival. I have no desire to battle in front of crowds anymore, that period of my life is done and I don’t intend to ever make a comeback in a major tournament.

“I know what Kensington is like. He throws spectacles like this for his own entertainment and love of battling. When I got my invite for this, I knew it would be a big affair, but a quiet one. I would be able to see the youthful exuberance of young tamers like yourselves who are itching to prove themselves. Some are not so good at it, but others like you and Aurin…you’ve got something special. It just needs to be focussed in the right direction.”

Luna was puzzled. “What direction is that?”

Clarke smiled. “I’ll let you figure that out for yourself in time,” he said. “Maybe if we run into each other again in the future, you can tell me if you’ve got an answer for that. I had better go before Kensington sends his heavies to throw me out of the castle grounds for not returning to the palace quick enough. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Clarke,” said Luna as he departed.

Luna stood holding her egg while Innogon looked up at her. He seemed to be less chipper than usual as though it had donned on him that he was now Luna’s last chance at staying in the tournament.

“We’ll be alright, Inno,” said Luna with a big smile. “No matter what, we’re in it together until the end.”

*

Aurin walked towards the vineyard and spied Clarke emerging from the gate. He had heard Lord Kensington’s announcement no more than a minute ago, so he knew that Luna must be somewhere inside.

“Sorry, Aurin,” said Clarke. “I’ve been eliminated by a friend of yours.”

“So it seems,” replied Aurin.

“She’s very talented, you know. Tobias said she was.”

“Tobias mentioned Luna too?”

“Yes, but I didn’t tell her that. I let on that I didn’t know who she was. I suspect that if I had mentioned that, she would have felt more pressure to do well and it would have held her back.”

“That sounds about right,” said Aurin before laughing. “Her biggest weakness is that she panics when a spotlight is shone on her, but she’s very strong.”

“Tamer twenty-three, Master Remy, eliminated by tamer one, Master Hunter,” announced Lord Kensington.

“I’ll see you when this is all over,” said Clarke. “Maybe we’ll get the chance to battle another time.”

“I’d like that,” said Aurin.

With that, Clarke departed for the palace and Aurin walked over to the vineyard gate with Shamtile, Chopchop and Petalcub by his side. He wanted to find Luna and give her the Lunar Shard he had been saving for her.