“Faster,” called Aurin as he rode Leonite down the forest path and through the parade of escaped Minakai aiming for Hazelton. It was a dark, cold night and Aurin was more tired than he had ever been, but that could not stop him.

Leonite sped towards the town, followed by Kyle riding his Wingbloom, Luna and Emily riding on Luna’s Splashard, Garder and Jimmy riding Gardner’s Vinewolf, and Conrad manning the rear on his Titanitoise. Conrad in particular was less focused on speed and put more effort into trampling the wild Minakai that got in his way, banishing them from the world.

As the dirt road turned into cobblestones, the number of wild Minakai only grew. The town would usually have been very quiet so early in the morning, yet there were lights on in almost every single building and the yells and screams of the citizens filled with air.

Aurin caught sight of a group of Tadpool running towards an old lady who was trying to flee in her dressing gown. She had a look of terror on her face and the Tadpool could use their magic at any time.

“Dolissile!” called Aurin, summoning his cyborg dolphin.

Dolissile appeared and knew immediately what to do. He pulsed and unleashed a shockwave that knocked the ice elementals flat on their faces, then sped towards them, taking them all out with his fusion fin technique. The wild Tadpool burst into light and were pulled back through the portal at the top of Harmony Tower.

“Get inside!” Aurin called to the lady and she nodded, her face white and fixed in an expression of stunned relief.

“I’m going to make sure my parents alright,” said Luna as she and Emily sped past on Splashard.

“I’ll come with you,” called Aurin.

“No, you’re needed here!” Luna shouted back.

The remaining tamers dismounted from the Minakai and spread throughout the streets, looking for any wild Minakai that were lurking around. It was not an especially hard task as the Minakai were far from quiet and the citizens themselves continued to call for help.

“Take that, you rotten little beast!” grunted a gruff voice from down the street Aurin was on, but it was followed by the man’s harsh yell of pain.

Aurin rushed over and found the man being attacked by a Cephelarock that was beating his legs with its stony tentacles. Dolissile charged forward and knocked the Minakai away while Leonite finished the octopus off with a vicious swipe of his razor-sharp claws.

“Are you alright?” Aurin asked the man.

“Aurin, is that you?”

It was Cedric, the owner of Taming Solutions, Luna’s prime choice for Minakai shops in Hazelton. Cedric had never liked Aurin much, but was good friends with Luna’s father and often gave her discounts.

“Cedric? What happened?” asked Aurin.

“Came outside to see what in the world was going on and didn’t even think to bring my tamer glove. What a foolish mistake that was.”

Aurin reached out his hand to help Cedric to his feet. “Is your leg okay?”

“It’s been better, but I’ll live,” said Cedric letting Aurin help him up. He hobbled over to the wall of his shop and leaned against it for support. “I appreciate the help, lad. Things would be a lot worse if you hadn’t shown up. I owe you one.”

“You don’t owe me anything, I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Why are all these Minakai roaming around? Are Zodiac attacking again?”

Aurin shook his head. “It’s much worse than that. They used the power of cosmic Minakai to break the barrier at the top of the tower. Now the Minakai are spawning outside of the tower and running rampant.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Dear Lord…” muttered Cedric. “Then we’ll need to arm up and wipe each and every one of them out. Get this situation under control until we can find out how to fix things.”

“That’s the plan,” said Aurin, “but you should see to your leg before anything else.”

“No time for that, sonny. These wild Minakai aren’t going to wait for me to get back to full strength now, are they? You keep fighting the good fight and I’ll join you soon enough.”

With that, Cedric limped over to the door to his shop and headed inside, leaving Aurin in the street with Leonite and Dolissile.

“He’s right,” Aurin told his two Minakai. “We’ll take care of things for now while the rest of the team recovers their strength. If things get too intense here, we’ll call for backup.”

Leonite roared in agreement while Dolissile remained stoic. Aurin knew the dolphin well enough to know that he had no objections to that plan. The three continued down the street, following the cries of the monsters.

*

“Please be okay,” muttered Luna as she and Emily rushed towards her house on Splashard’s back.

“They will be,” said Emily confidently.

Splashard slowed her flight, bounced over the gate to Luna’s house and stopped outside the front door. The two humans dismounted and Luna rushed inside her house, looking around frantically for her parents only to find them standing in the kitchen and looking out the side window onto the street.

“Oh, thank heavens,” sighed Miriam, Luna’s mother.

Her father, Clyde, rushed over to her and put his hands on her shoulder, looking over his daughter to see if she was injured in any way. “Good,” he said, assured she was fine, “we feared the worst.”

“Of course, I’m fine,” said Luna, hugging her dad. “The ranch is well protected. It was the pair of you that I was worried about.”

“Emily, what about your parents?” asked Miriam.

“They’re on a trip to Ludonia for the week,” said Emily. “Perfect timing, right?”

“And Hannah?” asked Clyde. “Why’s she not with you?”

“She’s…probably with her dad,” said Luna, avoiding eye contact.

“What about your friends?” asked Clyde. “Aurin? Kyle?”

“They’re trying to deal with the Minakai in the streets, Dad, but I’m afraid that things are going to get worse before they get better.”

“The Zodiac Squad did what they said they were going to do?” asked Miriam, holding her hand to her mouth.

Luna had already told her parents everything. After the original Sagittarius’s attack on her and Aurin in the tower, her parents made her promise to tell them everything that the Zodiac Squad were up to. After some initial hesitation before Sagittarius and Libra were publicly unmasked, Luna had kept to her promise.

“They did,” said Luna. “We tried to stop them, but we were too late.”

“Well, there’s nothing else for it than to make sure they don’t get away with it,” said Clyde. “Those pests have plagued our town for far too long now. Do whatever it takes to stop them. Is there anything we can do to help?”

“No,” said Luna. “Stay inside and let those of us with Minakai do the fighting, alright?”

“But—”

“That’s the way it has to be,” said Luna as Emily nodded along.

“Alright,” said Clyde. “Don’t get yourself hurt, honey.”

“If you do, you’ll be in serious trouble, young lady!” said her mother sternly before smiling at her daughter.

“Let’s go,” said Luna.

“Right,” said Emily, summoning her Petalcub to her side.

The two ran back outside to where Splashard was waiting for them and head off to fight.

*

“Kyle!” called Knot, running through the town square with his Flaround. He waved at the rancher who was flying through Hazelton taking out the aerial Minakai while on Wingbloom’s back.

Kyle ordered Wingbloom to descend and the two sped towards the detective, who was looking from side to side to make sure that the coast was clear and no wild Minakai were waiting to pounce.

“How are things here?” asked Kyle.

“Not great, but getting better,” said Knot. “There are more than enough townsfolk with Minakai they can use to defend themselves, but having stronger tamers like you here to keep thin the herd is exactly what we need.”

“And what about the Zodiac Squad? Any sign of them?”

“Not in their Zodiac uniforms, but there are a few that I’m certain are Zodiac members that I’ve seen wandering around. It’s almost as though they’re going for a stroll in the park, completely oblivious to the fact their town is under siege. It’s a disgrace, but I would expect nothing less from those cretins.”

“And Taurus?”

“Not a word from him,” said Knot with a look of disdain on his face, “but he’s not going to get away with this. I’m going to do everything in my power to bring him down, even if it costs me everything.”

“Count the rest of us in,” said Kyle. “Once our Minakai are back to full strength, we’re going to separate them from their cosmic Minakai so they can’t unleash any other towers.”

“You think they would dare to do such a thing?”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“A fair point,” said Knot with a grim chuckle and then shaking his head in frustration. “I can’t believe that such psychopaths exist, never mind having this many of them here in Hazelton.”

“We will fix this,” said Kyle. “Nothing will stop us from—”

There was a sudden crash as large chunks of brick were flung across the town square. A pack of five Spikruption were rolling through the streets, smashing up buildings they crashed into and spreading debris everywhere.

“Back to work,” said Knot, pointing towards the Spikruption.

Kyle jumped off Wingbloom’s back and both his own Minakai and Knot’s Flaround sped towards the destructive dinosaurs.