Aurin walked outside on a typically frosty morning, prepared for another day of training before he departed from Briarwood the following day. It was bittersweet to be saying goodbye to the quiet mountain town, but he was longing to see his friends and get back to the more moderate cold of late Autumn in Hazelton.
“Team,” called Aurin to the Minakai, most of whom were already playfighting in Tobias’s back yard. “This is our final day so we’re going to make it count. I’m going to push you harder than ever and we will be sure—”
“Hold that thought,” said Tobias, stepping out from his house. “I’ve got something else in mind for your grand finale, Aurin.”
“What is it?” asked Aurin, his interest piqued.
“The time has come for us to put all of our training over the last month to the test. Are you prepared to fight against me in a five-on-five battle?”
“Yes,” said Aurin immediately. He was certain that he didn’t stand a chance, but he wanted to show Tobias just what he was capable of.
“That was a much faster response than I expected. Not even a second thought?”
“Not a second thought.”
“Good. Use that fire and that drive. I want to see you fighting at your best today.”
“Likewise, Tobias,” said Aurin with a grin. “I don’t want you to hold back one bit.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” said Tobias, placing his tamer glove upon his hand. It was embedded with five summoning stones and Aurin deliberately avoided looking at it so he could go into the battle blind.
“One Minakai after the other?” asked Aurin.
“Tournament rules,” confirmed Tobias.
Aurin turned to his Minakai. “Change of plan, team. Are we ready?”
The Minakai exploded with agreement and excitement, except for Desparee who wept tears of anxiety.
“Let’s show him what we’ve got.”
Aurin took his place at one end of the yard with his Minakai all lined up behind him, while Tobias stood at the far side alone. The Bretonian champion usually looked happy, but he now bore a very serious face that he didn’t wear very often. He meant business.
“On your count,” he called.
“Three, two, one…fight!”
Both tamers threw their hands forward with their tamer gloves glowing; Aurin’s red, Tobias’s blue. Spikruption warped onto the battlefield from the sidelines, only to be faced with a Guilgon summoned by Tobias.
“Watch out if it takes to the skies,” Aurin said to Spikruption as the large red dinosaur charged straight in.
Tobias’s blue dragon bore a look of determined smugness, then breathed in and spat out a jet of water. Immediately, Spikruption rolled into a ball and charged straight through the water, which failed to hold him back. As he drew near Guilgon, he unfurled himself and spun through the air, slamming his tail downwards.
Guilgon leapt aside as Spikruption’s tail compacted the snow. The dragon took a swipe at the dinosaur, but Spikruption threw himself backwards and fireball that struck Guilgon on the arm. Aurin clenched his fist, glad to have landed the first hit, but Guilgon did not look to be angered. Tobias’s dragon maintained its cool and ran backwards, flapping its wings and raising itself off the ground.
It soared high into the air and Spikruption roared mightily, conjuring a rain of embers from the sky that Guilgon was forced to weave between to avoid being hit. The dragon tipped itself shot a burst of water from its feet and propelled itself at Spikruption. The dinosaur spun, ready to thump the dragon with its tail, but Guilgon spun in mid-air and its head-fin glowed brightly.
Spikruption had too much momentum to abandon his attack and Guilgon was whirling around like a razorblade. It collided with Spikruption’s tail, cutting a large gash into it that made Aurin’s Minakai recoil and the embers ceased their rain.
As Guilgon aimed to follow up with a point-blank water jet, Spikruption thrust his head forward and jabbed Guilgon in the nose with his horns, breaking the skin and making the dragon bleed. Guilgon roared in pain and Spikruption breathed out a wave of flame, burning Guilgon’s face. The dragon threw itself backwards, rolling into the snow to cool itself down before standing up, now visibly angered.
Spikruption charged forward, sidestepping the water jets spat out by Guilgon. As he was on the verge of striking the dragon, Guilgon summoned a bubble shield to take the attack. He harnessed all of his elemental might and unleashed a pressure cannon to rival that of even Steambot. Spikruption was thrown across the yard, but Guilgon was not prepared to let up.
The dragon flew towards the tumbling Spikruption and tore into him with his claws. The assault was relentless, Spikruption being too disoriented to fight back, and it wasn’t long before he fell limp and he was done for.
“Sunny, go to the barn and tend to him,” Aurin ordered his smallest Minakai. She sped away and Aurin used his summoning stone to banish Spikruption from the battlefield. “Desparee, it’s tired. Finish the job!”
The tree-like Minakai ran onto the field as Guilgon was heaving up and down, exhausted and bloody from the fight with Spikruption. Desparee drew his hands back, generating a small amount of energy for a nature beam. Guilgon saw what was happening and charged at the Minakai, wanting to end their fight quickly.
Suddenly, vines burst from the ground and wrapped themselves around Guilgon’s feet, holding it back. Desparee unleashed a small nature beam that struck the dragon, but it was only enough to daze it. He summoned more vines to hold Guilgon in place, then conjured a cage of brambles around the dragon, trapping it inside.
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Guilgon fought against the vines and cage, cutting them with his sharp claws one by one, but Desparee had moved in on him. The dragon spat a desperate water jet as Desparee fired a more powerful nature beam. The green blast of energy powered through the jet, striking Guilgon and pushing it into the brambles encircling it.
Tobias summoned his Titamet, a burly humanoid Minakai of swirling purple gas with metal gloves and boots, along with a metal mask with a pointed nose that rested upon its face. Aurin wondered what Tobais was thinking sending out a metal elemental that would be weak to a nature elemental like Desparee.
“Armour up!” called the champion and Titamet let out a fuzzy shout, its body now covered in metal plates.
Desparee ran forward, his fists glowing green and ready to destroy the armour. He reached his opponent, who stood still and, as his Minakai swung, Aurin realised the trap they had fallen for.
“It’s not in there!” called Aurin, as the undead Minakai appeared behind Desparee.
Titamet grabbed Desparee, held him high over its head, and then slammed him forcefully into the snow. It raised its fists and unleashed a flurry of punches against Aurin’s writhing Minakai until he fell unconscious.
Aurin threw back his head in frustration. He was annoyed he had thought of Titamet as purely a metal elemental rather than considering its properties as a gaseous undead; a sloppy error on his part.
“Arium!” called Aurin, banishing Desparee and summoning his golden alien. Tobias raised his eyebrows for a second before returning to his serious face.
Arium ran straight into the battle, his fists spinning around and ready to be launched at the huge Minakai before him. Titamet almost laughed as the neutral elemental ran at it. It swung its fist and Arium moved aside, throwing his own. It whacked Titamet’s mask, surprising the large undead.
As Arium threw another fist, Titamet phased behind him, but Arium’s other fist jabbed Titamet in the mask once again. Frustrated by the slippery little Minakai, Titamet teleported out of range and roared loudly. Large chunks of shrapnel erupted from its body and, as they neared Arium, the shards of metal before the little alien stopped in place.
Arium focused his telekinetic energy and threw them back at Titamet, who phased out of the way of its own attack. As Titamet reappeared, the golden alien sent his fists soaring through the air and delivered a series of punches to Titamet’s face. The large undead was not especially hurt, but he was growing angrier by the second.
“Do not let him throw you off balance,” urged Tobias, but Titamet could not hide its anger.
As Arium’s fists retracted, Titamet teleported behind Arium. He picked up the little Minakai and threw him towards the ground, where he crunched against the snow. Titamet raised its fists to deliver the finishing blow, but Arium threw the snow at it, blinding and distracting it.
“Full power!” called Aurin.
Arium harnessed his telekinetic energy. So much so that his fists fell to the ground as he focused on Titamet. He raised Titamet up, sending him high into the sky; for such a large Minakai, his gaseous form made him deceptively light. With a loud screech, Arium slammed the huge Minakai into the ground, knocking him out of the battle.
Tobias laughed and clapped slowly. “That was unexpected,” he said, then raised his tamer glove again.
From a brown gem, he summoned his Grakadon, who slammed onto the battlefield; this opponent would not be so light. As Arium threw his fists, Grakadon raised a wall of rock and the alien’s fists stopped dead, badly bruised from punching into the solid stone.
As Arium brought his fists back to him, the rock wall split apart and Grakadon flew through it at shocking speed. He slammed into Arium, knocking him back towards the fence, where Arium crashed into it, breaking a couple of planks. The alien tried to stand up again, but he fell back, too spent to continue.
“Chopchop!” ordered Aurin, bringing his armoured insect in from the sidelines.
The metal elemental spawned in a flash of steely grey light, swinging his blade arms and assuming a defensive stance. Grakadon charged at him, throwing his own burly arms out. Chopchop swung, colliding with Grakadon’s arms, but found them suddenly coated in stone armour. Chopchop tried to drive on through, but Grakadon headbutted him, knocking his helmet askew.
The brown dragon kicked the insectoid swordsman back and summoned a rock cage. As Chopchop cut through the stone, Grakadon summoned a stalactite. Upon the cage shattering, the stalactite fell and smashed into the top of Chopchop’s helmet, knocking him out before he even had the chance to get started.
“He’s so powerful,” muttered Aurin, hurriedly debating which of his Minakai to use next. Dolissile wasn’t versatile enough, Shamtile wasn’t as powerful of an earth elemental, Glacibot was untested. He was going to get hit, so he needed a Minakai that could take it. “Gorunze!” he called.
Gorunze slammed onto the battlefield and immediately shot a topaz laser beam from his gemstone eyes. Grakadon hadn’t expected the rapid attack and took the blast straight to the chest, throwing him back. The bronze golem charged forwards on all fours, shaking the snow from the trees and the rooftop. He leapt and threw himself onto the earth dragon, who let out a roar of pain upon being crushed by Aurin’s Minakai.
Grakadon grabbed into Gorunze and pushed hard, straining himself intensely. He forced Gorunze aside and then climbed back to his feet. He flew to the sky as Gorunze fired laser beam after laser beam at him. He clipped Grakadon’s wing, sending the dragon spiralling back to the ground.
As Gorunze moved in to attack, a pit opened up beneath him, trapping him down low. Grakadon hit the ground and let out a roar, swinging his arms down. A pile of boulders appeared over the pit, then fell upon Gorunze, who tried to hurriedly break them with his laser blasts and claw swipes.
Grakadon stood up, shaking vigorously as Gorunze desperately sank his nails into the side of the pit and climbed. A boulder, larger than Grakadon himself appeared above the chasm and plummeted in, knocking Gorunze back down in and flattening him.
Aurin let out a long-held breath and sighed, knowing that the battle was over. He raised his tamer glove and banished Gorunze to the barn as the rock faded from sight and the base of the pit raised back to ground level.
Tobias was clapping as he approached Aurin. “It was a good match,” he said jovially. “I didn’t think you’d be able to get past Titamet…and with Arium no less!”
“He was the best counter I could come up with,” laughed Aurin, rubbing his neck. “It’s just a shame you sent out Grakadon afterwards…he didn’t stand a chance against him.”
Grakadon let out a proud roar and threw his arms into the air.
“It was a good showing by all of your Minakai,” said Tobias, “but I think your Chopchop was a misstep.”
“In hindsight, I agree,” admitted Aurin. “I should have gone straight in with Gorunze and, once Grakadon had tired himself, I could have followed up with Steambot.”
“All in all, it was a good battle. You did very well and have gotten notably better since we began.”
“Thank you.”
“And with that,” said Tobias, drawing in a deep breath before exhaling, “our training together is complete.”
“Just like that?” asked Aurin.
“Just like that.”
Aurin held out his hand and Tobias took it and shook it. “Thank you, Tobias. I’ve learned a lot from you in so many ways…I’m not sure how to repay you other than finding out how Frederick evolved a Cubtem into a Leofang.”
“No repayment necessary! Just make sure that when we have another battle in the future that it’s one that we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. I’m expecting you to reach the finals of the tournament at a bare minimum, alright?”
“I’ll be the national champion after our next battle.”
“Maybe so,” chuckled Tobias, reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulled out an obsidian gem that bore a glowing off-white orb in the middle then tossed it to Aurin. “A final gift for you.”
Aurin caught it and looked at it closely. He had never seen this before. “What is it?” he asked.
“That, my friend, is called a Full Moon Gem. It’s a very rare item to unlock a rare form of a Minakai. Can you guess who in your team it’s for?”
Aurin looked across the snow-covered yard at his team. His eyes wandered over each of his Minakai until they settled on his green wolf. He looked at the Full Moon Gem and then back to Budescent before smiling.