Skrow flew across the sky carrying Aurin on his back with the sun high overhead. The fields and hills of Bretonia were spread out below them as they crossed the county, making their way back to Hazelton. It had been a tiring journey, having set out at the crack of dawn, but it was almost over; they were almost home.

“There’s Harmony Tower,” said Aurin, pointing downwards. “That’s Hazelton below and…there’s the ranch. We’re almost home.”

Skrow began his descent and Aurin clung to the undead bird tightly. The ranch grew closer and closer with each of the individual Minakai’s shapes becoming clearer as they flew downwards. A man was walking along the river that flowed through the ranch, throwing something into it that the aquatic Minakai leapt at to gobble up; it was Kyle.

He was not the only one at the ranch today. There was a girl with fiery red hair standing in the field that Kyle used as a makeshift battlefield. She was pitting two little drakes—one blue and one brown—against each other. The blue one spat water jets from his mouth while the brown one hurled hefty rocks; it was Innogon and Bakugon.

Innogon suddenly ceased spitting water and looked up to the sky, only to be smacked in the face by one of Bakugon’s rocks. Luna rushed over to him to make sure he was alright, then looked to see what had distracted him. Upon seeing Aurin and Skrow almost upon her she squealed in excitement and started hopping on the spot.

Skrow landed on the grass and Aurin hopped off as Luna ran towards him. She reached out her arms and jumped on him, wrapping herself tightly around him, still squealing something hard to decipher. She calmed down and kissed him a half dozen times before hugging him again.

“I thought you would be back later this evening,” she said as she released him.

“It was a much quicker journey back,” said Aurin, nodding towards Skrow. “He’s built up his speed and stamina a lot since we’ve been away.”

“I missed you,” said Luna, unable to wipe the wide grin from her face.

“I missed you too,” said Aurin as Innogon jumped onto his back. “And you, of course,” Aurin told the water elemental.

Bakugon wandered over and looked at Aurin in confusion. Aurin didn’t have the chance to see Luna’s newest Minakai much before he left for his training with Tobias.

“Baku,” said Luna. “You remember Aurin, right? You have to be extra nice to him.”

Baku looked at Aurin, then to his tamer and started frowning.

“Is he alright?” Aurin asked.

“He can be a little possessive,” Luna said. “He tried to bite Emily and Hannah when they came here last week. I think he thought they were going to kidnap me.”

“Weren’t they?”

“No!” screeched Luna before pausing to think. “Well, maybe they were…but I convinced them to spend time here instead.”

“The apprentice returns,” called Kyle, walking through the gate. “How was the training with Tobias?”

“Exhausting, but rewarding,” said Aurin.

“That’s not the detailed explanation I hoped for,” said Kyle with a raised eyebrow before laughing, “but I understand. It’s been a long journey, so I’ll let it slide. How about your team?”

Aurin reached into his bag and pulled out all of his summoning stones that weren’t already fixed to his glove. He summoned the rest of his team to join Skrow: Shamtile, Spikruption, Dolissile, Leonite, Desparee, Steambot, Gorunze, Chopchop, Arium, Sunny, Glacibot and Budescent. They emitted a cacophony of calls, roars, beeps and grunts, all very excited to finally have returned home from Briarwood.

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“Something is different,” said Luna, looking across the thirteen Minakai and trying to figure out what it is.

Glacibot reared himself up and punched the air before dropping his fists back onto the grass.

“Oh!” called Luna. “You evolved your Microbot.”

“And Petalcub,” said Kyle, pointing at Budescent who howled proudly upon being noticed.

“Don’t let me forget to reattune their summoning stones to the ranch,” said Aurin. “I think they’ll be a little disappointed to be sent back to the snow if I banish them.”

Kyle walked up and down Aurin’s lineup of Minakai, pausing to admire each of them at least once. “They all look stronger,” he said to Aurin.

“They are,” said Aurin. “We’re going to be a real force to be reckoned with next tournament.”

Luna and Kyle exchanged a glance.

“What?” asked Aurin.

“You may be testing that strength before long,” said Luna.

“Zodiac?”

“Leo is back in town, or Frederick? I saw him walking through the town square a couple of days ago. I think he’s back for good after Lord Kensington’s battle royale.”

“I thought that might be a possibility,” muttered Aurin. “What about Taurus? Virgo? Pisces?”

Kyle shook his head. “Neither of us have seen head or tail of any of the other elites, but Luna has run into a few grunts in the tower.”

Aurin watched as Shamtile and Innogon started wrestling on the grass. It must have been their way of greeting each other seeing as they didn’t have any milkshakes to fight over at the moment.

“I wonder,” he said, “if Frederick being back means that all of the elites are in town.”

“Do you think Sagittarius is back too?” asked Luna. “Libra couldn’t be, seeing as she’s still in prison. I spoke to Knot last week and he confirmed that for me.”

“Those are titles that can be passed on. Just because the old Sagittarius and Libra aren’t here doesn’t mean that there aren’t new ones to take their places.”

“Do you reckon they’re close to exacting their plan to unleash wild Minakai upon the world?”

“Could be,” shrugged Aurin.

“And how would we go about stopping them?” asked Kyle.

“By defeating them each time we meet them.”

“You’re a smart guy, Aurin, so you know why that plan makes no sense. We can’t keep watch over them all day and night. We don’t have the resources and we don’t know the identities of most of them.”

“Then we’ll just have to pray that Taurus doesn’t learn how to control Ethruki.”

Aurin suddenly started walking towards Kyle’s house.

“What are you doing?” asked Kyle.

“I need to make a phone call,” said Aurin.

He stepped inside and headed towards the phone. He picked up a small notepad beside it and flicked back a few pages until he found the number he was looking for. He dialled it into the phone and listened to the tone as he waited for an answer.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Conrad.”

“Aurin?” asked the Minakai Guardian.

“I need to check with you about cosmic elementals in Hazelton,” said Aurin. “Have there been more identified since we last spoke?”

“That depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“On whether Frederick Acton is in town.”

“He is…”

“I think it’s better that we talk in person. I’ll take a train to Hazelton tomorrow and I’ll fill you in on what we know. I’ll meet you for lunch at Benedict’s. I should be able to make it for noon.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Aurin hung up and stood still for a few moments. Had Frederick really acquired a cosmic Minakai of his own? If he had, then it must have taken him some restraint to not use it against Aurin during the Palace Royale. He dragged his hand across his face and shook his head. He would worry about this tomorrow after Conrad explained what he knew.

Aurin headed back outside to find Luna and Kyle who were talking as they inspected Aurin’s Minakai, most of whom were trying to show off their new strength by throwing sneaky attacks at each other. Spikruption was less subtle than the others, launching entire waves of flame at his teammates while Steambot doused the flames to protect the others.

“Calm down, the lot of you,” Aurin scolded them.

“Everything alright?” asked Kyle.

“Yeah…yeah, I’m fine.”

“You look worried,” remarked Luna.

“We’ll see tomorrow if I have reason to be,” said Aurin. “Shall we go get something to eat in town? I haven’t had anything since last night.”

“Not even breakfast?” asked Luna.

“Nah, I wanted to get back here as quick as I could.”

“You really did miss me, didn’t you?” said Luna with a wink as she nudged her boyfriend with her elbow.

“Maybe I’ll sit this one out,” said Kyle, rolling his eyes. “I’m sure you two lovebirds will be just fine without me.”

“Nonsense,” said Aurin, “you’re coming too. We haven’t had a proper chance to catch up yet.”

“You’re stuck with us, Kyle,” agreed Luna, grabbing the rancher’s arm and pulling him along.

“Shamtile?” Aurin called back as Luna waved at Innogon.

Shamtile bounded over with the blue drake chasing after him. The three tamers and the two Minakai walked down the ranch path towards town, all of them reunited after a month apart. Aurin knew that no matter what Zodiac tried, they would find a way to stop them together.