“I hope we have a good battle, Dove,” said Luna, reaching out her hand to her next opponent.

“Whatever,” muttered the young woman, ignoring Luna’s offer of a handshake and walking on down the corridor of the stadium.

“W-what…what was that?” spluttered Luna, seething with rage. “How can someone be so rude?”

Aurin had never seen Luna’s face so red and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Relax,” he said. “She probably wants this reaction from you to throw you off your game. Keep a lid on it for now and channel it when you take to the battlefield, alright?”

“I can’t believe it!” screeched Luna. “She’s one of those Underground Dojo tamers, isn’t she? They think they’re all so tough when we’ve been wiping the floor with them. Agh!”

Aurin took a step backwards, pulling Shamtile and Innogon along with him, terrified that Luna may actually explode. “We…we’ll just go wait in the stands, alright?”

He and the two Minakai started to walk away, but when Aurin looked down Innogon was walking in place while Luna was squatting down and holding onto his tail. “Where do you think you’re going, mister? There’s been a change of plan.”

Innogon let out a nervous roar.

*

Luna’s chest heaved up and down as she tried to control her temper. It was obvious to Aurin as she walked across the battlefield that she was still enraged. Suddenly, the camera focused on her face and he could clearly see how puffed out her cheeks were and her nose was scrunched up as she marched towards Dove.

“Is she alright?” Gardner asked Aurin.

“She’s absolutely peachy,” said Aurin dismissively.

“She doesn’t look it, mate.”

Dove held out her hand for Luna to shake, smiling politely and contrasting with her much colder attitude earlier. Luna knew it was a façade and she was going to wipe that smile off Dove’s face, but she shook her hand and said nothing.

“I hope we have a good battle, Luna,” muttered Dove sarcastically. She had an unbecoming smirk on her face.

Luna wanted to slap her there and then but she refrained. She walked back to her side of the battlefield angrily, but holding her rage back with all of her might. She had been wanting to save Innogon for her quarterfinals match, but she needed to pull out the big guns for this one. She knew she was being spiteful, but she did not care even a little bit.

“Ready?” she said to her little drake as he waited by the tunnel, sitting on his rear and scratching the wall. He gave a positive yap, but he suddenly looked frightened upon seeing the look on Luna’s face and jumped to attention.

“Fight!” called the announcer, Luna having missed the full countdown.

She used her tame glove to teleport Innogon twenty feet ahead, while Dove summoned her own Minakai; Wunder. The yellow bird crackled with electricity as it took to the skies, wanting to keep as far out of reach as it could manage, but Luna had chosen Innogon for this very purpose.

“Up you go,” she told him.

Innogon summoned a small wave that carried him along the grass. As lightning strikes shot down at him, he surfed out of the way until he was close enough to launch himself upwards with a jet of water and reach Wunder. The bird squawked, surprised the smiling blue reptile had propelled himself so high up.

With a yap, Innogon unleashed a pressure cannon that he had perfected by studying Aurin’s Steambot, blasting Wunder over the stands and past the boundaries of the stadium. Innogon tilted his head downwards and shot a jet of water at the ground, slowing his descent and landing merrily on the grass while Dove looked on in shock.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The announcer laughed loudly. “That’s the first time we’ve seen a Minakai launched out of the stadium this tournament, folks. Dove, how are you going to respond?”

Wiping the stunned look from her face and furrowed her brow angrily. “Skrow!” she called, summoning her black-feathered undead bird.

No sooner had Skrow appeared than Innogon was sailing towards it. Even as it tried to fly out of reach, Innogon leapt and spun rapidly with his fin glowing blue. He whirled around and around like a razorblade, colliding with the Skrow and flinging it back again the stadium wall and ending its time in the battle before it had made a single attack.

“Luna is not messing around today, is she?” asked the announcer as the crowd cheered.

Aurin and Gardner were laughing hysterically in the tamer box. “What’s gotten into her?” asked Gardner.

“Dove was rude to her in the hallway,” replied Aurin, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes.

“And she flipped her lid?”

“Yep.”

“Note to self, don’t tease Luna if I ever have to fight her,” chuckled Gardner. “My days…I don’t know what to say.”

Dove summoned her final monster to the field, a particularly large Peekawe which stared at Innogon menacingly. It sped towards the little drake, but Innogon slid underneath it and playfully spat water on its stomach.

Peekawe called out furiously, not wanting to be mocked by its much smaller opponent. It whipped up a razor wind and Innogon created a shockingly tough bubble shield around himself and let himself be rolled around the grass while laughing and throwing his arms up in excitement.

Dove was mortified at being humiliated in such a way. “No mercy!” she called, but Innogon had already made his move.

As the drake bumped into the wall right beneath Aurin and Gardner, he waved to them and spat a water jet into the wall, propelling himself across the battlefield in a bubble. When he reached the far wall, he did the same. He picked up more and more speed, looking like a pinball in a giant table, while Peekawe struggled to follow him. Innogon conserved most of his energy, letting the momentum carry him, but Peekawe was tiring as it chased him.

Once Peekawe was noticeably dishevelled and slowed down, Innogon sprung free from the bubble beside the bird and roared loudly. There was a sudden rumbling underneath the ground and everyone in the stadium held their breaths, especially Peekawe who had a look of terror upon its face.

In a sudden flash, a geyser that sprung up underneath Peekawe, shooting Dove’s Minakai high into the sky and scalding it with the hot water. Almost a full minute later, Peekawe spiralled back down to the battlefield and crashed in a heap with its wings twitching weakly and its beak hanging open.

“Luna has steamrolled through Dove’s entire team with just her Innogon!” cried the announcer. “What a showing that was from her, folks. Can you believe that?”

Dove was hunched over, her mouth hanging open like her Peekawe’s, but she was very much alert. She had thought that Luna would have been an easy opponent to roll through, but she had been left dumbfounded.

Luna walked to the centre of the battlefield and waited for Dove, who dragged her heels forwards.

“It was a good battle, Dove,” said Luna with a sly wink.

“I…I…I…” stammered Dove while Luna smiled, no longer angry, but very much satisfied. She weakly shook Luna’s hand and slumped away while Luna waved to the roaring crowd.

Aurin caught her eye and he gave her a thumbs up while she blew him a kiss. A far cry from her nervousness at the start of the tournament, Luna was starting to revel in the attention of the crowd. They were cheering for her. They loved watching her succeed. She knew she could use this energy to carry her through the rest of the tournament and to more victories.

Gardner turned to Aurin. “How would you feel if you had to battle her in the next match?”

“Utterly terrified,” Aurin replied Aurin. “How about you?”

“Terrified doesn’t even cover it. Innogon is really something when he’s motivated, isn’t he?”

“Just bring him a chocolate milkshake and he’ll be too busy slurping it down to fight. That’s my strategy if I have to battle against him.”

“And what about the rest of her Minakai?”

“Yes…they might be a much bigger problem because they can’t be so easily distracted.”

“I weep for my team,” chortled Gardner. “In any case, I’ll have to get through you first.”

“One more opponent each and we’re in the quarterfinals, my friend. Then it’ll be showtime.”

“Too right.”

“Shall we go greet Luna and then grab lunch?” asked Aurin.

Aurin and Gardner stood up and walked away, not too fussed about watching the next match as their stomachs rumbled. They walked out to meet Luna at the front of the stadium where she was throwing Innogon in the air and catching him—no easy feat because he was deceptively heavy.

“You wrecked her,” laughed Aurin.

“That will hopefully humble her,” said Luna, wagging her finger as Innogon bounced around her in circles.

“Or give her an appetite for vengeance,” remarked Gardner.

“Well…yes,” muttered Luna before smiling.

Aurin summoned Shamtile to his side. “Milkshakes anyone?” he asked.

The two little Minakai immediately started hopping up and down in excitement and then sped off through the square, heading straight for the café as the three tamers rushed to keep up.