“Quick, catch them!” Gardner ordered his Vinewolf as he and Jimmy rode the green wolf through the streets of Hazelton.

Jimmy raised his tamer glove and summoned his Zenoman, who landed on the cobblestones and immediately threw his golden fists at the rolling Spikruption that were speeding towards the town square. The five large, red dinosaurs had wreaked havoc the second they had formed a pack.

Gardner’s Vinewolf threw forward his vines and the two humans leapt from his back as he constricted one of the dinosaurs. The Spikruption was desperately trying to continue rolling, but Vinewolf lifted it off the ground and then slammed it back into the cobblestones.

Zenoman rushed forward, spinning his fists rapidly. He unleashed them and pummelled the dinosaur furiously until it lost consciousness and it was banished from Hazelton in a flash of light.

“One down, four to go,” said Jimmy.

“Make that two down,” said Gardner, pointing towards Kyle’s Wingbloom and Knot’s Flaround who were revealed by the flash of another banished Spikruption.

Suddenly, a Dolissile sped past the two tamers and collided with another Spikruption that was about to smash the fountain in the town square. It was knocked onto its side and the Dolissile unleashed a burst of shrapnel that tore the dinosaur up before it disappeared.

“Coming through!” called Aurin as he sped past on Leonite’s back.

“Don’t just stand there,” Gardner told his Vinewolf.

The nature elemental howled and charged after Leonite while Aurin held on tight to his cobalt blue lion. The lion and the wolf struck one of the Spikruption, Leonite sinking his claws deep into the dinosaur while Vinewolf detached his petals and swung them through the air like sharp, pink blades. The Spikruption vanished from sight at the same time as Wingbloom and Flaround finished off the fifth and final monster.

The five tamers rushed to meet each other, all looking relieved to have backup show up.

“How are we doing?” asked Aurin.

“Nothing like a spot of Minakai hunting in the early hours of the morning,” said Gardner, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Still could use a sleep, mind. Tiring business this.”

“Our combined efforts plus those of the other tamers in town have thinned the Minakai nicely,” said Knot, “but there’s still a lot of work to be done. If we can deal with the ones in town, then we can advance back towards the tower.”

Kyle nodded. “Dealing with the Minakai as they spawn around the tower will stop more from flooring the surrounding area while the rest of us clean things up.”

“We’ll need a few tamers on watch at all times,” said Jimmy. “They’re spawning erratically with no set timings between the red lightning strikes.”

“Someone else can take first watch,” sighed Gardner. “I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”

“You’ve all done enough,” said Knot. “You’re not the only tamers in town and the citizens who didn’t show up to fight the Zodiac Squad outside Harmony Tower need to pull their weight. I’ll spread the word while you focus on the rest of the Minakai causing chaos in the streets. Take a few hours to rest up and we’ll reconvene tomorrow when you’re not so beaten down.”

At that moment, Luna and Emily rushed into the town square with Splashard and Petalcub by their sides.

“Are your parents alright?” Aurin asked her.

“Just fine,” smiled Luna. “They were more worried about me than anything.”

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“We must heave fought a dozen Minakai on the way here,” said Emily, looking at her Petalcub proudly. The scrappy little wolf barked excitedly, never having had much opportunity for battle.

“What’s the plan now?” Luna asked.

“Keep fighting, then rest up at the ranch while the rest of the town guards Harmony Tower and deals with any Minakai that make their way through,” said Aurin.

“Can they handle that?” asked Luna.

“They don’t have a choice,” said Knot.

“And what if the Zodiac Squad shows up and helps let the wild Minakai loose?” asked Emily.

“Then it’s time to take the gloves off,” said Aurin. “We are no longer attacking just their Minakai.”

“What?” asked Luna incredulously.

“He’s right,” said Kyle solemnly. “We’ve played nice with them for far too long. If they need to be beaten down to save the town, then so be it. They made their bed.”

“This is getting heavy,” sighed Gardner. “How did it come to this?”

“By not being more ruthless with them from the get go,” said Aurin. “We thought we could solve things by fighting with Minakai, disrupting their plans and trying to reason with some of them, but it didn’t work because they’re so intensely focused on their goals.”

“Detective?” asked Luna.

“We aren’t being left with many other options,” said Knot. “We need to get the summoning stones for the cosmic Minakai one way or another. We may not be able to control them because they’re not our Minakai, but at least we can ensure that Taurus is deprived of the tools used to cause this mess in the first place.”

“I’d like to see you try,” came a snide voice from nearby.

Damien walked through town with his Hoofreeti by his side. He looked carefree as he strolled towards the group. “Isn’t it great to see things returned to the way they ought to be?”

“You scumbag!” roared Aurin, making a beeline for Damien with his fist drawn back.

Damien’s Hoofreeti stepped forwards and drew breath, ready to unleash a blast of fire, but Dolissile burst forward and rammed into his stomach, winding the demonic goat before we could unleash his attack.

Aurin smashed his fist into the side of Damine’s face, knocking the Zodiac member to the ground. Damien rubbed his jaw and spat blood onto the cobblestones.

“You hit like a toddler,” said Damien, his voice trembling.

“Do you psychopaths not see what you’ve done?” yelled Aurin. “The wild Minakai are attacking people in the streets and smashing the town to pieces along the way.”

“Survival of the fittest,” said Damien, climbing to his feet. “This is the way things are meant to be.”

Knot approached Damien, pulling a pair of handcuffs out from his trench coat. “Damien Leclare, you’re under arrest for—”

“I don’t think so,” said Damine, holding up his tamer glove and summoning four more Minakai to his side; a Pyrofly, a Volcarrow, a Scarelit and a Fyrvern. Damine hopped on the back of his Fyrvern. “Let’s see how long you all last in this new world,” he said as he rose into the sky.

“Oh no you don’t,” said Kyle, climbing onto Wingbloom and chasing after Damien as he sped through the sky on the back of the red wyvern.

“Kyle!” Aurin called after the rancher. He summoned Skrow and climbed on his back, rushing into the night sky after Kyle and Damien.

Skrow and Wingbloom sped after Fyrvern, swerving and diving out of the way as Fyrvern spat fireballs at the two air elementals.

“Knock him off his Minakai if you have to!” called Kyle.

“You’re sure?” asked Aurin, terrified of what he was being driven to.

“Positive,” said Kyle confidently.

Skrow charged ahead and rammed his beak into Fyrvern’s back, making the Minakai wobble in the air, but was then struck by one of the wyvern’s claws in retaliation. Aurin held on tightly around Skrow’s neck, trying not to fall to his death while not choking his Minakai.

Fyrvern twirled around and spat a wave of flame at Skrow, but Skrow beat his wings furiously and whipped up a wind that sent the fire right back at Fyrvern and Damien. With a yell, Damien tried to bat away the flames, but Fyrvern recoiled and Damien fell from his Minakai.

Aurin’s heart sank as he watched Capricorn fall through the air, but suddenly Wingbloom darted forward and grabbed the Zodiac elite in his talons.

“Get his glove!” Kyle called while Damien was too dazed to react.

Aurin and Skrow flew towards the Zodiac member. For good measure, Aurin punched Damine in the jaw again and pulled his tamer glove from his hand. As Kyle flew back to the fountain, Aurin and Skrow finished off Fyrvern with a powerful razor wind, knocking the Minakai out and watching it fall to the ground. They would deal with it later, but without Damien to issue orders, the tamed Minakai should not cause much trouble when it awakened.

Upon landing at the fountain, Aurin found that Knot had already placed Damine in handcuffs. The Zodiac Squad members was completely disoriented by his near-death experience, but was mumbling something about being set free by his comrades.

“That’s one of them out of the way,” said Knot. “I’ll make sure that’s he’s kept secure. The less Zodiac elites roaming free, the better.”

“Alright,” said Aurin, looking to the others. “Let’s get to work and clean up the town.”

The tamers all nodded and headed into the streets, filled with renewed determination. Ensuring Damien was now out of the way gave them the burst of energy they needed to keep fighting.