Aurin woke up at the crack of dawn, cold as could be and sore all over after the previous day’s training. Upon finishing the battle against Tobias’s Zenoman, the expert tamer put Aurin and his team to work carrying heavy logs and tree stumps across the snowy mountain.

Aurin held up Shamtile’s summoning stone and called the Minakai in from outside. The small lizard appeared, but lay sprawled out on the floor as though he had been hit on the head with one of his own boulders.

“Can’t…move…” Aurin groaned to his Minakai.

“Ruuuuggggh,” agreed Shamtile, not bothering to lift his head up.

“This is far tougher than any training we did with Kyle, and he wasn’t one to go easy on us. We’ve only been here two days, mate.”

“Errgh,” squeaked Shamtile, unable to let out his usual warbling screeches.

The door swung open and in strode Tobias. “What time do you call this?” asked the Bretonian champion. “Up and at ‘em, Aurin. Let’s go!”

“Yes, boss.”

“Everyone is to warm up with five laps of the mountain and then get back to moving logs. The only ones spared are your Steambot, Microbot, Petalcub and Desparee. You’ve got five minutes to get yourself together and get outside.”

Tobias didn’t wait for a response and left the room. Aurin heard the backdoor close behind him.

“Shamtile, help me up.”

Shamtile lifted his arms up and moved them back and forth half-heartedly, but they flopped down before any of his magic was activated. Aurin banished his unhelpful Minakai back outside with the summoning stone and forced himself to his feet. He got dressed sluggishly, washed his face and headed outside.

“Alright,” said Tobias before Aurin had even closed the door, “I’ve sent your Minakai on their way already. Let’s get started.”

True enough, only Steambot, Microbot, Petalcub and Desparee were left in the frozen back garden. The two robots looked eager, but the two nature elementals weren’t finding the cold all too pleasant and without Spikruption to breathe enough flames to keep them warm, it was even worse.

“Do you know why I selected these Minakai for you?” asked Tobias.

Aurin looked closely at his Minakai. “It’s because Microbot is weak and Steambot was once a Microbot.”

“Good,” remarked Tobias. “And Petalcub?”

“My best guess is that they’re both nature elementals, even though they’re not of the same evolutionary family.”

“Precisely. Let’s try Microbot and Steambot first, shall we?”

“You heard him, metal boys,” said Aurin. “Steambot, make Microbot work for a hit, but don’t blow him to pieces, alright?”

Steambot beat his stomach with thunderous clanks and puffed out hot steam from his pipes. Microbot looked intimidated at the prospect of having to fight his much larger and more formidable teammate, but he stood as tall as he could on his tiny legs.

“Go!” ordered Aurin.

Steambot shot out a small water jet, which hit an unprepared Microbot in the screen. He flipped over backwards and landed in a heap in the snow. He kicked and swooshed his tail, forcing himself back onto his feet. He shook off the remaining snow and charged forward, this team dodging an incoming jet.

As he threw out his tail to jam his prongs into Steambot, the large blue hunk of metal casually jumped over the tiny robot and out of the way. Microbot wasn’t as slow as he would have you believe and whipped himself round. He harnessed his metal elemental powers to magnetise himself and fly towards Steambot. Upon clamping himself to his opponent, he jammed his tail into the top of Steambot’s leg and zapped him.

The irritated Steambot switched his polarity, grabbed Microbot and pulled him away. Holding him high, Steambot lobbed Microbot across the garden where he landed deep in another pile of snow, which collapsed and buried him underneath.

Steambot hurried over to the pile of snow and uncovered Microbot. He picked him up delicately and set him down on stable ground, apologising profusely with various beeps and groans. Microbot looked a little dazed, but didn’t take the attack to heart.

“A valiant effort,” said Tobias. “Next.”

Desparee strode onto the battle field, holding back his tears, while Petalcub bounded forwards enthusiastically. The two stood facing each other, until Aurin called the beginning of their battle.

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Petalcub dashed back and forth, trying to use his speed to his advantage, but Desparee knew the perfect counter. He conjured wild vines that whipped back and forth, limiting where Petalcub could stand. He conjured more and more, funnelling the small Minakai away from him.

The little green wolf summoned vines of his own and used them to launch himself into the sky. He yapped furiously as he threw razor sharp petals straight at Desparee, but he didn’t see the wooden Minakai’s nature beam coming. The solar-powered energy blast, tore apart the petals before striking Petalcub in mid-air and knocking him to the ground, where he too landed in a pile of snow.

Desparee fell to his knees and cried out in anguish at the thought of hurting his little friend. Once he had freed himself, Petalcub rushed over to him and placed a paw upon his back to comfort him.

“At least he’s still standing,” said Tobias.

“He’s tougher than he looks,” said Aurin. “I wouldn’t have won the Palace Royale without him.”

Tobias held out a summoning stone and brought his Grakadon to the garden in a flash of light. The brown dragon stood proudly, eager to see what his master had in store for him, all the while eying up Steambot and Desparee with excitement.

“Grakadon,” said his mater, “you’re not facing them. It’s the little ones.”

Microbot and Petalcub booped and howled upon seeing their next opponent, but Aurin was much less surprised. After all, who better to train against than a Minakai who had full control of his own strength. So much so that he was one of the strongest in the entire nation.

“Begin!” called Tobias, giving the smaller Minakai no time to prepare themselves.

Grakadon held out his clawed hands and conjured rocks into his palms. He threw one each at Microbot and Petalcub, both who deftly dodged the attacks. Aurin suspected it wasn’t intended to hit, but was rather Grakadon trying to get a feel for how quick his opponents were.

Petalcub threw out his vines, whipping at Grakadon, who swapped the striking whips away as though they were pesky flies hovering nearby. Microbot used the distraction to try and jolt the dragon in the leg, but a split second before the little Minakai made contact, the dragon coated his leg in stone armour.

Petalcub threw out a barrage of cherry blossom petals and flung them like razor blades through the air, but Grakadon swept them away with his wings. Microbot launched himself like a cannonball, but was beat aside by a large swing of a tail.

The battle continued on and on, the two little Minakai determined to do the smallest mark of damage, but Grakadon blocked and deflected at every turn, his offensive retaliation being light strikes at best. It seemed as though the two tiring Minakai were gaining no ground against their opponent, but Aurin was watching Grakadon rather than his own Minakai. Compared to the beginning of the battle, he was exerting a little more effort to combat Aurin’s Minakai. It was not a big difference, but the intensity had picked up.

“That’s enough,” said Tobias, and his Grakadon immediately stopped fighting.

“Stop,” Aurin told his exhausted Minakai. “You both did well.”

Microbot and Petalcub both fell down, Microbot beeping rapidly while Petalcub took deep inhalations and exhalations. The poor Minakai were spent, but they’d put up a good fight.

“There is a lot of potential there,” said Tobias, looking upon the two Minakai. “More training, more sparring and more real battles will show you what they’re truly made of. The fact that they could adapt so well to a tough opponent like Grakadon tells me they’ve got a bright future with you.”

“Thanks,” said Aurin. “Even with Grakadon taking it easy on them, they impressed me.”

“That’s a good thing. You should continue to be impressed by your team and they should continue to be impressed by them. It shows that you’re growing. Even after so long, me and Grakadon keep trying to one up the other. Isn’t that right?”

Tobias’s Grakadon let out a loud roar that shook the snow from the tree tops.

“See what I mean?” chuckled Tobias. “He’s trying to show off.”

Aurin’s stomach suddenly growled loudly. “Excuse me,” he said, embarrassed.

Tobias laughed some more. “It’s alright,” he said. “I’ll go put an order in with Leanne. You wait here until your team are finished and them come meet me. We’ll eat and then hit the training much harder.”

“Can I use your phone?” asked Aurin, suddenly having an idea. He was waiting anyway, so why not?

“Be my guest,” said Tobias as he walked over to the small fence and hopped over it. “It’s inside.”

Aurin headed in through the back door, leaving his Minakai to recover outside. He looked around, spotting the phone in the kitchen, picked it up and dialled Kyle’s number. It rang for almost a full minute before someone picked up the phone.

“Hello,” said a familiar voice. “This is Kyle’s Ranch in Hazelton and my name is Luna. Kyle’s a little preoccupied at the moment, can I help in any way?”

“You have a great phone voice,” joked Aurin.

“Aurin!” screamed Luna down the phone, nearly deafening him. “I’ve missed you.”

“It’s only been a couple of days,” chortled Aurin.

“You haven’t missed me back then?” Luna teased back.

“Why do you think I’m calling?”

“You called the ranch.”

“I knew you would be there, and if you weren’t, I would have called your house.”

“Mmhmm, yes, yes,” said Luna trying to hide her laughter. “How’s your training with Tobias going?”

“It’s tough, but I feel like I’m learning a lot. It’s freezing where we are and the Minakai are having a hard time of it. Hazelton will feel like a tropical paradise in comparison when we finally get back. With that said, I reckon we’re going to come back stronger than ever.”

“Good,” said Luna. “That’s the whole point, right? If anyone is going to take you to the next level, it’ll be Tobias. He didn’t get where he is by accident, that’s for sure.”

“What about you?” asked Aurin. “How have you been?”

“You know me, I’m not one to complain. Innogon has been enjoying not having to fight over milkshakes, but I think he’ll soon realises it’s tastier if he steals it from Shamtile.”

“No trouble from the Zodiac Squad then?”

“No trouble,” said Luna. “I’ve spending time with Emily and Hannah during the day and coming here in the evening rather than going to the tower, so I don’t think I’ll see much of them.”

“I’m sure they’ll be glad to see the back of me for a while.”

“They’ll be gladder you’re gone than you will to not have to see them.”

Aurin laughed. “That’s true,” he said. “So what exactly is this incident at the ranch you were talking about?”

“Oh, that…” muttered Luna. “A tamer with a rather excitable Flaround checked his Minakai in here. A few fences have gone up in flames and Kyle’s having to put them out and see if the nature elementals can mend them.”

“Tell me everything from start to finish,” said Aurin.

Luna giggled and then launched into the story from the beginning while Aurin listened to her voice, taking it in more than the story itself.