Skrow charged straight at the wild Melansprout before it had the chance to throw out vines. He knocked it out and sent it packing from the tower then weaving stylishly through the fireballs being hurled at him by a pair of Hornber.

“Sweep them away!” Aurin ordered his Minakai.

Skrow beat his wings wildly, conjuring up a strong gust that threw half a dozen Minakai—including the Hornber—across the room and slamming them into the wall. As Skrow turned to aim for another foe, he was smacked to the tiles by the sharp edge of a Slithice’s frozen tail.

As Skrow tried to recover, he was being surrounded by the monster den Minakai. Aurin held out his tamer glove and summoned Leonite to back him up. The ferocious lion dug his sharp claws into the Slithice and threw it aside, banishing it before it had the chance to hit the ground.

His bearings back again, Skrow propelled himself forward, beak first, and knocked out a Funglie who was rearing up to unleash toxic pollen. No longer able to fight, it was cast out of the tower. Skrow soared around the room, picking off foes one by one, while Leonite was embroiled in a savage scrap as many monsters teamed up on him. It was for naught, as Aurin’s two Minakai caused devastation to their foes, making quick work of them and leaving the room enemy-free once again.

“Good job, you two,” said Aurin, patting both of his Minakai on the back upon approaching him. “Any major injuries?”

Leonite stood proudly, with only a couple of minor cuts and scratches. Skrow looked physically unhurt, but he started cawing much hoarser than usual and suddenly winced.

“Let me see you,” said Aurin, approaching the bird. He looked at Skrow closely and the bird continued to shudder every so often. “The Funglie must have just got you with a few spores before you sent it packing,” said Aurin.

He reached into his bag and pulled out an Antidote Herb, then feeding it to Skrow.

“Very good,” said Tobias, nodding approvingly. “You would be surprised how many tamers miss something so obvious. Even some of the more experienced ones don’t always catch poisonings before its too late to heal up.”

“To tell you the truth,” said Aurin, “it’s Luna who has always kept me right with that.”

“And you’ve learned the lesson, haven’t you? As good of a tamer as she is, she isn’t here right now. That said, I appreciate that you haven’t forgotten those that have helped you become the tamer you are today.”

“I think it’s because I was so naïve when I first set out. I had big dreams of being the first tamer to conquer a monster tower on my first ever run.”

Tobias laughed heartily. “You’re far from the first to have had dreams as lofty as that. I once thought the exact same thing. How far did you get?”

“I was booted out on the first floor.”

“Did you at least win your first battle?”

“Yes,” said Aurin, thinking back. “I remember it clearly. Shamtile defeated a Flowl, but we were taken out by a tamer shortly after.”

“I lost my first ever battle in the tower,” said Tobias, shaking his head. “It was me and my Cryopillar. We came across a Dripper and thought we would freeze all of its water attacks. You know what happens when you freeze a water jet being shot towards you?”

“You make an icicle,” said Aurin.

“Indeed. And that icicle was all it took to end the run.”

“Lesson learned though, right?”

“Very much so.”

Aurin and Tobias pushed on through the rest of the floor, with Skrow taking the lead once again while Leonite was banished to conserve his strength. The next few floors passed without issue, although Aurin found no additional healing items along the way. The most valuable item he found was a Lunar Shard, which was still appreciated.

On floor sixteen, Skrow was knocked from the air and banished by a roaming Shamtile. Aurin thought it would have been fun to have his own Shamtile crush it, but without his summoning stone here, Leonite and Petalcub were the only two options. He opted for the latter, wanting to give the young wolf a chance to battle before the difficulty of the floors became too much for him to handle.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Stop it from waving its arms!” Aurin called.

Petalcub conjured vines that wrapped themselves around the Shamtile’s wrists, right as it tried to use them to rumble the ground. The Shamtile instead stomped its feet and kicked two large rocks at Petalcub, bashing him across the head.

Unwilling to settle for defeat, Petalcub yanked his vines and threw the Shamtile into the ceiling, releasing him to fall back to the tiles with a hard thud. The young wolf burst forward and headbutted the Shamtile right as it stood up. He then sank his teeth deep into its leg, until the Shamtile gave up. With a final headbutt, the Shamtile was defeated and ejected from the tower.

“Good job,” said Aurin to his Minakai. He reached into his bag and pulled out the Lunar Shard. “What do you think?”

Petalcub yapped excitedly and bounced around the room, eager to evolve and take his strength to the next level. Tobias simply smiled and said nothing, even when Aurin glanced at him to see what he thought.

“I believe he’s ready,” said Aurin, unphased by the champion’s lack of reaction.

The tamer bent down and held the Lunar Shard against Petalcub and the small wolf cub began to glow green. His limbs and tail started to lengthen, his torso thickened and his ears stood up much more rigidly than before. Upon his neck, a ring of small buds sprouted, revealing themselves more clearly as the glowing green light faded.

“Ready to keep fighting, Budescent?” Aurin asked the newly evolved Minakai.

Budescent barked much more harshly than he would have as a Petalcub, and the look of excitement was replaced with a look of determination. Now that he had this new and enhanced power, he wanted to prove that he could use it effectively.

The nature elemental led the two tamers through the floor, crushing all of his foes and outwitting them at every turn. Budescent whipped his vines with newfound strength and cast out sharp petals with greater speed than ever before. He entangled his foes and he sapped their strength, showing off how much he had learned since coming to Briarwood and how his evolution had cemented it.

Aurin couldn’t help but be impressed as they arrived on the twenty-first floor. As they rounded a corner, Budescent charged headfirst into a room to tackle a Rabbafat, but a sudden click and he was ignited in flame. Aurin rushed to try and put the fire out, but Budescent dropped low and tried to roll out of it, batting the flames with his own vines. Looking through his bag for healing items, Aurin remembered that he was tapped out, and was stomping towards them.

“Leonite!” called Aurin, summoning his lion to aid his wolf.

The still rambunctious Budescent threw himself at the Rabbacat, flailing his vines weekly. He wanted to show that a few burns were not enough to slow him down, but a heavy thrust of the Rabbacat’s formidable belly threw him across the room and ended his run. Aurin let out a heavy sigh as he watched Budescent disappear in a flash of green.

Leonite skirted around the Rabbafat, who was not one for turning quickly, and struck at its back. Having had trouble with this species before, Aurin had trained extensively against Luna’s Rabbafat at the ranch. The Rabbafat tried to get one over on Leonite and threw itself back to crush him, but the lion rolled aside and leapt onto the huge rabbit’s head, clawing viciously at its face. It wasn’t long before Leonite’s speed and strength took out his foe without giving it the chance to land a single hit on him.

“A trap,” sighed Aurin again. “It had to be a trap. Such a rookie mistake.”

“It happens,” said Tobias.

“Do you still set them off?”

“Not often,” Tobias admitted, “but I can spend days in the tower on a single run. I can be cautious to an extreme extent, which may not be suitable for everyone.”

Leonite was now Aurin’s last remaining Minakai and he guided them through the twenty-first floor. He them tackled the twenty-second, then the twenty-third. The twenty-fourth gave him some trouble, but he came out swinging and he brought Aurin and Tobias successfully to the twenty-fifth.

As they pushed through the challenging floor, Leonite took a beating, but Aurin spotted the elevator in a side room and brought everyone up to it. Right as he made to place his hands on it, Tobias caught his wrist.

“I think that’s enough for today,” said Tobias.”

“Are you sure?”

“Certain,” said Tobias. “You’ve shown me what you can do and it will be late evening. I’m sure you’re hungry and there’s no point pushing Leonite to exhaustion when you already have two Minakai that need to recover. We’re calling it here.”

Aurin brought out an Orb of Return that he had found on the thirteenth floor. He harnessed its energy and he, Tobias and Leonite vanished from the tower. Seconds later, they were standing on the snowy ground outside with the moon hanging in the sky above. Aurin shuddered from the cold, being caught off guard. He was to used to leaving a tower and appearing in the much more moderate climate of Hazelton.

“It was a good run,” said Tobias. “I have to say, I’m impressed. I expected Skrow and Leonite to carry you most of the way, but Petalcub proved himself in his base form and even more so as a Budescent. I’m curious to see just how far you could get if you used your three strongest Minakai.”

“I’m curious,” said Aurin. “Who would you say my strongest team for a tower run would be?”

“At this moment? I believe it would be Shamtile, Spikruption and Steambot. Your Triple S team.”

Aurin laughed while Leonite scowled. “I think you’re probably right, but I wouldn’t rule out Dolissile and Leonite here.”

“They would probably do almost as well,” said Tobias, stroking the growling Leonite’s mane. This seemed to placate the Minakai for a short while, but upon Tobias stopping, Leonite began growing angrily again.