“That can’t be right,” said Luna as she and Aurin ran up the bank, now back in their regular clothes. “Hannah couldn’t possibly be a member of the Zodiac Squad. That’s…that’s crazy. I don’t believe it!”

There must have been nearly two hundred spectators in the crowd watching the dozens of monster tamers taking turns to battle. There were cheers and jeers mixed with the cries and calls of the battling Minakai. As Aurin and Luna ran towards the crowd to find their friends, they heard Knot’s voice.

“That was fast,” said the detective, running over to them with his Flaround beside him. “What happened?”

“It was empty,” said Aurin, shaking his head despondently. “I think it’s been empty for at least a couple of days. There’s no sign of the Zodiac Squad except for Virgo who was waiting for us the whole time. He knew we were coming.”

“It was a set up?” asked Knot, running his hand through his greying brown hair. “This is unbelievable. Tell me everything.”

“We need to get everyone together and then I’ll explain everything,” said Aurin, looking into the crowd to try and pick out his friends, but to no avail. “Shamtile, fetch everyone.”

Shamtile scurried into the crowd, weaving in and out while on the lookout for Aurin’s friends. He narrowly avoided being stepped on a couple of times and was almost thrown into the battle, but eventually he returned and was followed by Kyle, Gardner, Jimmy, Conrad and Emily.

“What happened?” asked Kyle as his Wingbloom flew over the crowd and landed on the square beside the group.

“We’re missing someone,” said Jimmy, looking around.

“Hannah’s not here,” said Emily, sounding worried. “Is something wrong?”

“Check again, Shamtile,” said Aurin, desperately hoping his theory was incorrect.

“Look from above, Wing,” said Kyle.

Aurin glanced at Luna, who had a look of fear upon her face. Aurin couldn’t possibly have been right, there was no way that one of her best friends was part of the Zodiac Squad this entire time. It couldn’t be true. She had known Hannah for most of her life, after all. There would be a reasonable explanation for it and everything would be cleared up. Her fear would be quashed in a matter of minutes.

“No sign of her?” asked Kyle upon the two Minakai returning. Both Minakai shook their heads.

“Agh,” said Aurin, rubbing his forehead. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I think she ratted us out to the Zodiac Squad. The base was empty.”

“What?” asked Emily, her jaw dropping. “No, Hannah wouldn’t do something like that. Did you take a knock to the head, Aurin? Why would she do anything of the sort?”

“The uniforms,” said Kyle quietly. “They were awfully close, weren’t they?”

“An exact match,” said Aurin, nodding along.

“No way,” said Gardner, throwing his hands up and shaking his head fervently. “I don’t believe it. We can’t say she ratted us out just because she’s missing and the uniforms were a match.”

“One time, when Hannah came to speak to me, she showed up right as Virgo vanished,” said Aurin. “She hasn’t liked me from the start, but suddenly on that day a couple of months ago she decided to try and play nice with me. I think she was under orders to keep tabs on me and she can’t do that if she makes it obvious that she doesn’t like me.”

“It’s not that she doesn’t like you,” said Emily, “it’s just that…I…I don’t know.”

“More importantly, where are the Zodiac Squad now?” asked Conrad.

“They’re already at Harmony Tower,” answered Aurin. “Virgo said their plan is underway as we speak.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Jimmy, giving his Zenoman a nod. Zenoman started rubbing his knuckles with his other hands.

“We can worry about that Hannah girl later,” agreed Knot. “We need make our way to the tower at once.”

“Right,” said Aurin. He banished all of his Minakai except for Dolissile, and Luna banished Feathrus.

Everyone hopped on a Minakai they could ride and they sped past the rumble in the square, making their way through the streets of Hazelton as fast as they could. They dodged groups of people, they leapt and flew over cars, desperately trying to reach the path out of town to catch up with Zodiac. Aurin half expected to see Virgo walking somewhere along the way, but he was nowhere to be found. He no doubt had his own way of reaching the tower quickly.

All the while they were speeding along, Aurin racked his brain for all of his memories of Hannah. As certain as he was that he was right, for Luna’s sake, he hoped he was wrong. Much to his displeasure, everything seemed to fit in place from her attitude towards him to the unforms to the fact that Virgo knew they were coming.

The group reached the path out of town and hopped off their Minakai, running along the fork that took them towards the tower, but it was clear immediately that they were not alone. Surrounding the tower and blocking the way ahead was the Zodiac Squad, and not just a couple of members, but at least a hundred of them. Many of them bore masks that were not simply patterned with stars, but marked with their zodiac symbols. Standing front and centre was Virgo and his Terrastag, flanked by Pisces and her two Doripper, and Capricorn with his Hoofreeti.

“No one is permitted to pass,” said Virgo upon seeing the tamers and their Minakai. “I cannot say I’m surprised that you didn’t listen, but you were warned to stay away, Aurin.”

“If you feel like challenging yourselves, you can always try taking on all of us at once,” said Pisces, smiling devilishly.

“I’d love to see them try,” said Capricorn with a cocky grin. “This lot couldn’t battle their way out of a paper bag.”

“Where’s Taurus?” demanded Aurin, ignoring the insult. He wasn’t going to let Capricorn waste his time.

“He’s occupied,” said Virgo.

“Forget Taurus,” said Luna angrily. “Where’s Hannah?”

Virgo’s face contorted in anger. “Who?” he asked, but it was obvious that he was lying. The utterance of her name rattled him.

“Do not take the bait, Virgo,” said Pisces, stepping forwards. “Everyone, summon your Minakai.”

The hundred plus members of the Zodiac Squad summoned Minakai to their sides. It was an army that could destroy the entire town if it so wished. There were small Minakai, large Minakai and Minakai of every element save for cosmics. There was no way of defeating every single one of them and reaching the tower door.

“Let’s go,” said Kyle, grabbing Aurin’s arm.

“No,” said Aurin.

“Trust me,” urged Kyle, lowering his voice. “We need to regroup.”

“Do not force our hand again!” yelled Virgo.

“Hannah?” called Emily upon seeing a Chlost floating nearby.

“Come on,” said Luna, pulling Emily’s hand.

“That’s her Minakai. She’s there somewhere!”

“Now isn’t the time.”

The tamers and their Minakai walked away from the army of Zodiac members and their horde of monsters, leaving Harmony Tower behind them. They headed in the direction of Kyle’s ranch, nobody saying a word, all looking over their shoulders as they moved along.

“This is bad,” said Gardner, looking petrified as his Vinewolf placed a paw upon his master’s shoulder to comfort him. “Should we just sit here and hope their plan fails?”

“That would be foolish,” said Conrad. “They have at least two cosmic elementals on their side. That gives them power. If they fail, who’s to say they won’t use that power for further nefarious reasons?”

“And if they succeed,” said Aurin, “then they could wreak havoc across the entire world. Do you think they would stop at Harmony Tower and leave everywhere else alone? No, they would move from tower to tower unleashing Minakai everywhere. They need to be stopped and we need to get the cosmic summoning stones away from them.”

“Then lock Taurus up and throw away the key,” said Luna.

“Along with the rest of them,” added Knot.

“I recognised that man talking to us,” said Emily quietly.

“You did?” asked Aurin.

“Yes,” said Emily. “That’s Hannah’s father.”

“No…no, it couldn’t be,” said Luna. “I would have recognised him. Virgo…oh no…”

“Hannah’s father works with Damien,” said Aurin, dragging his hand across his face. “Of course, Virgo is Hannah’s father.”

“I’m so stupid!” said Luna, slapping herself on the forehead. “I’ve met him as Mr Williams and as Virgo, I should have pieced it together.”

“Stop beating yourself up,” said Kyle. “What matters now is that we do something to stop the Zodiac Squad.”

“How?” asked Gardner. “We’re massively outnumbered.”

“Then we need to shift the odds in our favour,” said Kyle. “We shift the odds in our favour, we storm the tower and we banish Taurus and whoever he’s with outside where they’re vulnerable again. That’s how we stop this.”

Conrad looked irked. “It’s all well and good saying that’s how we do it, but we have precious little time. I could call in dozens of men for backup, but they wouldn’t be here quick enough. How exactly are we supposed to get a large group of tamers to shift the odds in our favour.”

“We already did,” said Aurin, his eyes moving across everyone. “There’s a large group of tamers already assembled and many of whom have been wronged by Zodiac at least once.”

“The rumble?” asked Jimmy.

“The rumble,” said Aurin.