Aurin, Luna, Kyle and Gardner were stunned to see Frederick standing before them. He stared at them, waiting for one of them to say something, but none of the four tamers knew what to say. The last they had heard, he was in jail awaiting trial for his role as part of the Zodiac Squad.

“Cubtem got your tongue?” he asked, his expression neutral despite his joke.

“What are you doing here?” asked Aurin, still in shock at the former Zodiac elite’s appearance.

“Not competing, if that’s what you’re wondering,” said Frederick. “I thought it best for me to keep myself out of the tournament. I would prefer not to be jeered at as I fought straight to the top.”

“You aren’t disqualified from entering?” asked Luna.

“That would require a criminal conviction and a ruling from the committee. I haven’t had the former, therefore the latter won’t even get off the ground.”

“I hope you aren’t saying that I think you’re saying, Leo,” said Gardner, standing up and clenching his fists in rage. “The next words out of your mouth had better not be that you were cleared of all charges against you, especially not after willingly turning yourself in.”

Frederick smiled, unable to resist taunting Gardner. “Then I won’t say it. I’ll let it stew in your mind for a little while what could possibly have let me walk around Hazelton so freely.”

“You approached us for a reason,” said Aurin, eyeing Frederick suspiciously. “Care to tell us what that reason is?”

“I merely desired to wish you best of luck in the tournament, Aurin. I would very much like to fight you in Ludonia when the time comes. The rest of you, I’m not too concerned about, but we are owed a proper rematch. Our battle in the Palace Royale was only won by you because I was not at my strongest, due to the limitations of Kensington’s format. In the national championship, however, I suspect we will truly be able to show each other a good battle.”

“What makes you so confident that you’ll be making your way to Ludonia?” asked Luna.

“He’s already qualified,” muttered Kyle.

“Very astute,” said Frederick. “I qualified in the Yorkgate tournament that finished yesterday. I only arrived back in town this morning.”

“Unbelievable,” said Gardner, furiously. “How could they let someone like you continue battling in official competitions?”

“I already answered that question and I am not here to talk in circles,” said Frederick flippantly. “I will keep an eye on things from the stands, Aurin. Good luck to you.”

With that, Frederick walked away from the river bank and back through the square. A couple of people recognised him and gasped as he passed by, but it seemed as though many others were too caught up in their own worlds to pay him the slightest fraction of attention.

“How…why…how?” asked Gardner.

“I don’t know,” said Aurin, “but I suspect Knot could tell us.”

Luna pulled out her phone and dialled the detective’s number immediately. After a couple of rings, he answered and Luna put him on loudspeaker.

“I’m a little tied up right now, Luna,” he said. “What is it?”

“Hello,” said Aurin.

“How many of you are there?”

“Four of us,” said Gardner. “Kyle’s here too.”

“Ah…I suppose you’ve heard the news then?”

“Frederick,” said Aurin bluntly.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Yes, that news.”

“He blindsided us today at the tournament registration. How could you not warn us that he was released?”

“Because I’ve been incredibly busy,” said Knot grumpily. “I suppose you want to know how he managed to wriggle his way out of even going to trial?”

“That would be a good start, yes.”

“For what it’s worth, he didn’t try to cut a deal. He simply talked, talked and then talked some more. Every Zodiac member that fled, he named. Every former Zodiac member that we’ve been trying to track down for an age, he named. Everything from how the organisation was set up to who knew the ins and outs of the plan to unlock the barrier protecting the tower…he told us everything. I still wanted him locked up, but even with my promotion…well, there’s always someone above you in a job like this. Everything he told us about checked out and he was deemed crucial, therefore an exception was made.”

Aurin, Luna, Kyle and Gardner stood by the phone in silence, mulling over what they had heard.

“Does that answer your question?” asked Knot. “Can I get back to work?”

“Yes,” said Aurin. “Thank you.”

“Bye, Detective Knot,” said Luna before hanging up.

“Well, isn’t that something?” asked Kyle. “He turned himself in, confessed to everything, threw everyone else under the bus and he still managed to walk free. Only someone like Leo could manage to pull that off.”

“He did confess,” said Aurin.

“No,” said Gardner, pointing at Aurin. “Don’t you let him get in your head. You know everything he’s done. Just because you want to kick him around the battlefield doesn’t mean you should be fine with him getting to walk away.”

“Don’t get me wrong! I’m not fine with it,” said Aurin. “But what’s he supposed to do, lock himself up?”

“It would be a start.”

“You really want revenge on him? Then we need to be the ones to get all the way to Ludonia and one of us has to defeat him there. If you don’t want him to have a shot at the top, then knock him out of the tournament.”

“It’s the best we can do, isn’t it?” sighed Luna.

“We can rise to the top and then smack him across St Michael’s Stadium, can’t we?” Aurin asked his team.

Spikruption roared impressively and shot a jet of fire into the sky, Chopchop clicked his feelers and slashed his blades through the air, and Lycavine howled loudly, whipping his petal-bladed vines through the air. They were ready to win.

“Bring on the first battle!” Aurin called out.

*

The opening ceremony was winding down and the brass band’s music faded out. The juggling Cephelarock’s dragged themselves by their rocky tentacles to the sidelines, clearing the grass as a stocky gentlemen in a top hat appeared.

“Lord Kensington?” asked Aurin, looking to Kyle.

“I suppose with Boren gone, they needed somebody with prestige to take over,” replied the rancher. “Better someone from the area rather than a random representative from the league that nobody has heard of.”

“Can’t argue with that,” said Aurin as the lord stepped onto the stage and adjusted his microphone. “Without the Roche Berry from his battle royale, Zeera would have caused even more trouble.

“Greetings, people of Hazelton, one and all,” boomed Lord Kensington. “It is a great privilege to be here today to welcome you all to the third Hazelton qualifying tournament organised by the Bretonian Tournament League. I was invited to speak to you on their behalf on account of the mayor’s office currently being vacant, and I knew that I must accept after meeting so many young and outstanding tamers at Tamer Day in the latter half of last year.

“This wonderful town has been through so much the past couple of years and I believe that it has only made each and every one of you stronger, tamer or not. I know that this grand event will show the world that Hazelton is a force to be reckoned with. We will all be united in the sport of battle, united by the mighty Minakai that will collide with tooth, nail and element.

“Tamers, I trust that you are all well prepared. I recognise most of you from my many ventures, but it excites me even more to see some of the top competitors of my own Palace Royale tournament ready to compete here. This will be a tournament for the ages and I cannot wait to see you fight. Give each other hell, tamers. Battle on!”

Everyone cheered for Lord Kensington who took a deep bow and then walked off the stage. The tamers could not contain themselves and were on their feet the second he disappeared. They rushed as a herd to the main lobby to check the brackets and see who would be standing in their way on the way to the final round.

Aurin scanned the bracket for his face and found himself near the top left, placed to fight against a tamer named Atticus. He spied Luna and Kyle on the right, nicely separated from each other, however, he couldn’t see Gardner anywhere.

“Oh no,” gasped Luna, spotting Gardner’s name and picture.

“What?” asked Aurin.

“Ah,” said Gardner, following Luna’s eyeline and finding himself. He clapped Aurin on the shoulder. “It looks like it’ll just be one of us going to Ludonia, mate.”

Aurin found where they were staring at and followed the brackets all the way to the quarter-finals, where he and Gardner would face if they weren’t knocked out beforehand; only semi-finalists would be qualifying for Ludonia.

“If three of us can make it, consider it a win,” said Kyle. “It doesn’t matter who it is. Cheer up, the pair of you.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you were in this situation,” said Aurin with a frown.

“I know,” grinned Kyle, nudging both Aurin and Gardner in the ribs with his elbows, “but it’s not me, is it?”