“I still can’t believe it,” said Aurin, tussling his mousy brown hair. “Underneath our noses this entire time.”

“Pretty much everything Zodiac has done has been underneath our noses the entire town,” remarked Kyle.

“Yes, but this one feels personal. Hazelton Stadium is my turf!”

“Mayor Boren was the one who had it built, right?” asked Luna.

“Yes,” said Kyle. “Maybe he always planned to move the Zodiac headquarters to underneath the stadium and you two stormed their old base before they had the chance to move.”

“You two?” said Luna. “You were watching from the skies above on the back of Wingbloom. You were just as involved.”

Kyle looked confused. “I never said I wasn’t…what’s your point?”

“I don’t know,” said Luna, sighing and fixing her blue hairband so that it swept her ginger hair away from her face properly. “I’m frustrated, that’s all.”

Aurin tapped his knuckles on the fence as he leaned against it. “What’s taking them so long? I told them all to be here at ten o’clock and not a second later. What time is it?”

“Eleven fifty-eight,” said Kyle, checking his watch and then looking towards the path into Hazelton. “There’s Gardner and Jimmy now.”

“Morning all!” called Gardner brightly, giving a pleasant wave, but his smile faded upon seeing how serious their faces were. “Jim, it looks like we’ve been drafted.”

“Drafted?” asked Jimmy.

“Astute as always,” said Aurin nodding. “We’ve got a plan to finish off the Zodiac Squad once and for all. Are you in?”

“I’m in,” said Jimmy with immediate certainty. “They need stomping out.”

“How about you, Gardner?” asked Luna.

“Am I in?” asked Gardner. “Of course, I am. Am I happy about it? Absolutely not. These guys could kill us and I like being alive!”

“Glad to have you both on board,” said Aurin, ignoring Gardner’s woes.

“What’s the plan?” asked Jimmy.

“We’re still waiting on two more,” said Luna, looking towards the forest. “There!”

“Hello!” called Emily waving enthusiastically as she and Hannah walked down the path.

“What’s going on?” asked Hannah, looking confused at so many people being at the ranch together.

“Welcome, everyone,” said Aurin, “to Operation Infiltration!”

“Oh?” asked Emily, cocking her head to the side.

Hannah looked uneasy. “Infiltration of…please don’t tell me…not the Zodiac Squad, right? You have to be joking.”

“We’re very serious,” said Kyle.

“You’re going along with this too, Kyle?” asked Hannah. “You should be the one talking Aurin and Luna out of doing something like this again. It’s incredibly dangerous!”

“Yes, it is,” said Aurin, “so if anybody wants to back out, that’s fine. All of you have been gathered because you’re trusted and having more trusted people on board makes the plan easier. We’ve already got Conrad of the Minakai Guardians and Detective Knot on board and briefed.”

“Wait,” said Gardner. “Conrad? The same joker who suspected you of being a Zodiac member and infiltrated the previous Hazelton tournament to investigate you undercover?”

“Yes,” said Aurin.

“Alright,” shrugged Gardner, holding his arms up. “If you say you’ve thought this through, I’ll trust you. Just tell us the plan.”

“Are you two on board?” Luna asked her friends.

“Sure,” said Emily looking uncertain.

Hannah sighed. “Only because I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Good,” said Luna, bouncing and clapping her hands together.

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“Plan time,” said Aurin enthusiastically. “Hannah, you’re the first person we need working on this. You’re good with your fashion, right?”

“I don’t know about good, but—”

“Yes, she’s very good,” said Emily while Luna nodded.

“Fantastic. You’ve seen the Zodiac Squad members up close before, right? I think we all have at one time or another.”

“Sort of, but not for some time…why?”

Aurin pulled out photographs of a couple of Zodiac members in their uniforms that Knot had given him and handed them over to Hannah. “Can you recreate these outfits?”

“I…think so,” said Hannah, looking through the photographs. “Didn’t you mug Zodiac members for them last time?”

“Yes, but we don’t want to do that again in case things go wrong.”

“How many costumes to do you need and when do you need them by?”

“One for me, one for Luna. How quickly can you make them?”

“I’ll measure you up before I leave. It might take me five days to make them if I start tonight.”

“Five days works fine,” said Aurin. “Getting the uniforms is phase one, then we move onto phase two and that involves the rest of you.”

“How much do you all like battling?” asked Kyle.

“Who are we fighting?” asked Gardner.

“Each other.”

Gardner, Jimmy, Emily and Hannah all looked at each other in confusion, then Kyle explained the plan.

*

“How many people have you enlisted for the rumble?” Aurin asked Conrad.

“About four,” he said.

“Four?” asked Aurin incredulously.

“I don’t know enough people in town,” he shrugged. “Ask Gardner.”

“I’ve roped in about twelve,” said Gardner. “I think Jimmy said he’s got five or six people interested.”

“Good,” said Aurin. “With the ones that Emily and Hannah have spoken to, we should have a good number then. It’ll be a big enough distraction that the Zodiac Squad will be drawn to it. They can’t resist a battle.”

“Especially if it’s right by their front door,” said Luna, looking at Hazelton Stadium in the distance.

“At twelve o’clock sharp, we begin,” said Conrad. “How long are you two going to wait before heading inside?”

“Fifteen minutes should be long enough to see if any of them take the bait,” said Luna.

“Yes,” agreed Aurin. “And Knot is posted by the stadium to see if anybody comes out to the square from inside.”

“Wasn’t the square outside the stadium where you fought Leo once before?” asked Gardner.

“Yes, over a year and a half ago now,” said Aurin, thinking back.

“Alright,” said Luna. “We can reminisce later; we should split up and we’ll reconvene. The less we’re seen together the better in case there are any spies around town.”

“Good luck,” said Conrad and Gardner un unison.

“Likewise,” said Aurin as Luna smiled and nodded.

Aurin and Luna headed towards the river walk where Shamtile had identified the entrance to the Zodiac Squad headquarters. There were a few folks walking their dogs and others walking their canine-like Minakai, but the entrance to the base was far enough ahead that the walkers shouldn’t be much of a concern.

“I hope this fits,” said Aurin, walking along the river with Luna, carrying the bag of Zodiac uniforms over his shoulder.

“You tried it on last night,” said Luna, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, but I had a big breakfast this morning,” shrugged Aurin. “I have to say, Hannah did a great job. They look exactly like the real thing.”

“She’s very talented, yes.”

The two looked around to make sure that they were alone as they approached the entrance to the underground tunnel. Once they were satisfied that they were, Aurin summoned Shamtile to his side. Shamtile began to squeal and wave his arms, but he caught himself and waved his arms silently.

“Good,” said Aurin, scowling at him. “Can you tell if there is anyone walking around inside?”

Shamtile stood and concentrated, but he could not detect anything. He placed the palm of his hand on the stone path to get a better feel for things, but still, he felt nothing. He stood up straight and shook his head.

“Excellent,” said Aurin, raising his glove and sending Shamtile away.

“We’ll need to lay low for another twenty minutes,” said Luna, checking her watch. The battle should be kicking off nearby very soon, we’ll hear it from here.”

Aurin summoned Budescent and Desparee and walked over to the bank. He sat down on the grass then patted the spot beside him for Luna to sit on too. Once she sat down, Budescent and Desparee weaved their magic to sprout a bush that wrapped around them, leaving them almost impossible to see from the path.

“Thanks,” said Aurin. “You two are to head up top and keep an eye on the battle, but I want you both in range in case this bush despawns, alright? I’ll summon you back if I need you.”

Budescent bowed his head while Desparee silently wept and rubbed the tears from his eyes. They both ascended the bank and headed closer to the stadium, where the crowd was starting to gather outside.

“What now?” asked Aurin.

“What do you mean?” asked Luna.

“I know the plan, but we’re going to be sitting here bored for twenty minutes.”

“We could always kiss under the bush,” joked Luna. “If anyone spies us, we’re just teenage lovers finding somewhere private.”

“As much as I would like that, it would draw more attention,” chuckled Aurin. “Most of the town knows my face because of the tournaments.”

“Reel in that ego, mister,” giggled Luna.

The two waited quietly. Luna continually checked her watch, but it felt as though time was passing slowly. Even hearing the furore of the rumble going on up in the square above wasn’t helping. It felt like the two were missing out on having good battles, but they knew they had to be patient. Minakai battling could wait.

“A quarter past twelve,” said Luna as the minute hand of her watch pointed to three.

Aurin focused on his summoning stone and Shamtile appeared. He stood on the path, looking around in confusion before realising that his master was hiding in a bush.

“Anything in the tunnel, bud?” asked Aurin.

Shamtile used his tremor sense to check and shrugged. It seemed clear. He looked up and down the path, there was nobody walking anywhere nearby. They were as alone as they could be.

“Good,” said Aurin, summoning Budescent and Desparee back to him.

The two nature elementals dissipated the bush and Aurin and Luna stood up. “Can you uncover the entrance?” Luna asked Shamtile.

The masked lizard did as he was told, uncovering the stone tunnel built underneath the bank. Aurin and Luna stepped inside and Shamtile closed it behind them while Budescent and Desparee fixed the grass so that everything looked undisturbed.

Aurin and Luna stood in the tunnel, both taking a deep breath, and then getting ready to change.