Aurin, Luna and Kyle dragged their feet up the path to the ranch. It was not because of the thick frost of early December that made the path slippery, it was from sheer exhaustion. They had spent most of the evening giving Detective Knot statements about the events of the last few days.

“Must…sleep,” sighed Luna.

“Then you should have gone home,” remarked Kyle. “Why did you follow us back to the ranch?”

“I wanted to see the Minakai before turning in.”

“You were going to sleep on my sofa again, weren’t you?”

“No…maybe.”

“Can you pair not be apart for a few hours?”

“Why are you dragging me into this?” asked Aurin. “I had nothing to do with it.”

Shamtile and Innogon hurried up the path towards their tamers; Shamtile scurrying on all fours while Innogon slid on his belly across the ice. The two little Minakai hopped up and down excitedly when they reached the trio of humans.

“Is something wrong?” asked Luna as Innogon yapped and Shamtile screeched.

“Tobias?” asked Aurin.

Luna looked at her boyfriend and raised an eyebrow. “I know you can understand them quite well, but how did you come to the conclusion that they were talking about Tobias?”

Aurin nodded towards Kyle’s porch, where the Bretonian Champion sat on the stairs waving over at them.

“Oh,” muttered Luna, her cheeks turning as red as her hair.

“To what do we owe the pleasure?” asked Kyle as everyone made their way to the porch.

Tobias stood up and shook all of their hands in turn. “Well, I got word about what was happening in town and flew in to see if there was any way I could help, but it looks like the crisis has been squashed already.”

Aurin rubbed his neck. “I wish I could say it was skill, but if I didn’t have that Roche Fruit, things may have been much worse.”

“Don’t discredit yourself,” said Tobias. “You dealt with the disaster swiftly and minimalised casualties. From what I’ve heard, you did everything in your power to prevent the cosmic Minakai being used to break down the tower barrier.”

“I suppose so.”

“In any case, things have been dealt with,” said Tobias, waving away Aurin’s pessimism. “That said, it isn’t the first time in history that a few maniacs have tried to disrupt the magic of the towers and it won’t be the last. It never ends well.”

“Something like this has happened before?” asked Luna, surprised by what Tobias had just said.

“Many times,” said Tobias, nodding slowly. “Thankfully it isn’t usually as catastrophic as the Harmony Tower disaster, but there have been many problems throughout Bretonian history of these sorts of things. If you expand it to the whole world, it happens every couple of years.”

“And people never learn?” asked Aurin.

“Sadly not, but that’s why people like you exist, right? People who will do whatever it takes to right the wrongs of the wicked.”

Aurin didn’t say anything. He was thinking about the lives lost to the Zodiac Squad’s actions, both human and Minakai. Knowing that the troublesome group were now disbanded didn’t give him as much peace as he would have liked.

“So, what of Zeera?” asked Tobias.

“I almost forgot,” said Aurin, snapping back to attention. Aurin summoned Shamtile who he had ordered to hide the egg while he was in Hazelton earlier. “Where did you put the egg, mate?”

Shamtile looked around and shrugged his shoulders.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Don’t toy with me, this is important.”

Shamtile waved his arms and screeched like a maniac, desperately trying to convince Aurin that it wasn’t a ruse.

“After that big scene I made with Klaus…and the egg is gone!”

Shamtile punched Aurin in the shin and then rolled around on the floor, making his tamer scowl.

“You’re a going to be the death of me,” sighed Aurin as Shamtile ran towards Kyle’s house and then dove underground. Seconds later, he reemerged with the distinct Zeera egg in his hand.

“Ah, this takes me back,” said Tobias. “It’s rare to see a unique-looking egg amidst the slew of grey, undeterminable eggs.”

“Was your Arusom’s egg patterned as well?” asked Luna.

“It was, yes,” said Tobias. “That’s the thing about epic and legendary-tier Minakai. Their eggs stand out, so you’ll never miss one. That said, finding a legendary egg is a very specific process so you’ll know it before you see it.”

“Why are they patterned while the others aren’t?”

“Here’s the strange thing,” said Kyle. “Outside the tower, Minakai eggs are patterned. If your Splashard laid an egg right, it would resemble her species. In the tower, it would be stripped of colour and be completely nondescript.”

“Another strange phenomenon of the tower that we simply can’t explain,” said Tobias. “I doubt we’ll discover the answer in my lifetime.”

“Tobias, would you mind waiting around while I hatch this egg?” asked Aurin.

“Alright, but how come?”

“On the off chance the Zeera goes out of control, I want to make sure that there’s someone here who can handle it.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Aurin ran off to fetch the incubator that he brought back from the Palace Royale. He returned moments later and laid it at the foot of Kyle’s porch, placing his Zeera egg within it. With a deep breath, he pressed the button to activate it and the familiar forcefield surrounded the egg.

The egg started to glow an orangey-brown, but for once Aurin knew what the element of the monster within was before beginning the hatching process. As the glow grew brighter, the incubator began shaking vigorously.

“Something’s wrong,” said Aurin, moving in front of Luna in case Zeera broke free and attacked.

With a loud crack, the incubator shattered and the glow vanished, leaving the egg as it was before Aurin had tried to hatch it.

“My incubator!” yelled Aurin.

Tobias chuckled. “I thought as much.”

“What happened?”

“Do you want to explain this one or should I?” the champion asked Kyle.

Kyle nodded with a smug grin on his face. “If the appearance of the egg didn’t give it away, then let me be the one to tell you that this isn’t a normal egg.”

“So, I can’t hatch it?” asked Aurin.

“You can hatch it alright, you just can’t hatch it with an incubator.”

“Great,” said Aurin, sitting down on the wooden bench underneath the front window. “You both knew this would happen. You owe me an incubator!”

“Relax,” said Kyle. “You can just keep using mine.”

“How do you hatch an egg without an incubator?” asked Luna, having only ever used the powerful device to hatch her own Minakai.

“Did Aurin tell you about the Minakai den that I brought him to?” asked Tobias.

“The one inside the cave where he fought your Mindadam?”

“Yes, that one,” said Tobias with a nod. “It’s a bizarre anomaly in this world that links back to Minakai, but it’s far from the only one. There are places of great power that hold significance to these mysterious beings, but they don’t always have Minakai there. They have other magical properties that are of incredible value to tamers like us.”

“There’s somewhere I can go to hatch this egg?” asked Aurin, standing up again.

“There is, and perhaps you will find it for yourself one day. I had to go to an air shrine to hatch my Arusom, so you’ll need to find an earth shrine for your Zeera.”

“And where can I find that?”

“Truth be told, I don’t know,” said Tobias. “You would think that people would tell me these things, but I always need to put the work in myself.”

“Is that you saying that you do know, but won’t tell me?” asked Aurin, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“No, I promise,” laughed Tobias. “But if I do find out, I’ll put you through hell before I tell you. Got to earn it, my friend.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” said Aurin with a laugh.

“I wonder who would know?” asked Luna, tapping a finger on her forehead. “Maybe Hunter? He’s a smart man.”

“I would bet any money that Taurus knew,” said Aurin. “If he was able to orchestrate gathering the three cosmic Minakai native to Bretonia, then there’s probably a lot more that he knows. He was probably the one that told Frederick how to unlock the lost secret of Leofang’s evolution.”

“Such a shame to see such an amazing mind go to waste,” said Tobias despondently. “With all of the good he could have done with his knowledge…it saddens me.”

“Do you reckon we’ll ever see him again?” asked Luna.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” said Tobias. “From what I was told, he vanished when the tower was resealed, right?”

“Yes, while he was trying to fight another tower guardian from emerging through a portal.”

“It’s very possible that he’s left this world entirely.”

“You think he’s dead?”

“He could be, but that’s not what I meant. He may have been pulled into another dimension.”

Aurin felt a small hand tugging on the hem of his coat. “What is it?” he asked Shamtile.

The masked lizard rubbed his belly and groaned.

“We really should feed the Minakai,” said Kyle. “Their schedules have been erratic, so it would be good to get them back to a proper routine.”

“I’ll give you a hand,” said Tobias.

“You sure?”

“Of course, Kyle. I can’t sit around and be lazy just because I’m the national champ, can I?”

“Do you want to hang around for dinner before you head back to Ludonia?” Aurin asked.

“I could do that. Sounds nice, my friend.”

“Perfect,” said Aurin before smiling sinisterly. “Now I can prod you to see what you’re not telling me about my Zeera egg.”