“Everyone give a big hand for Aurin!” called the announcer as Aurin and Gardner walked onto the grass. “Facing him is another veteran of last year’s national champion and one of the strongest contenders for this year’s qualifier…Gardner!”
The two friends watched each other intently as they walked to the centre of the battlefield. They had both been preparing hard for this battle, knowing it was going to be the biggest challenge of the tournament so far. Aurin had won against Gardner more times than he had lost, but the last battle they had showed him just how much he had underestimated his friend. Not anymore.
“Ready for this?” Gardner asked as he shook Aurin’s hand.
“I’ve been ready since last year,” said Aurin, giving him a sly grin.
“Good luck, mate.”
“Likewise.”
The two took their spots as the crowd cheered. This was a match everyone had been looking forward to after the pair had built up such strong reputations as competitors. Luna and Kyle sat in the tamer box with Jimmy, all three of them wanting support both of their friends, but trying hard not to show each of their favouritisms.
“I don’t know if I can watch,” said Luna, squeezing Innogon tightly.
“Want me to commentate?” joked Jimmy.
“Please don’t,” said Kyle. “I don’t want any distractions. This is going to be a good watch.”
“Any idea who Aurin is using today?” asked Jimmy, no longer afraid to ask with Gardner not present.
“He wouldn’t even tell me,” sighed Luna. “He tells me everything!”
Kyle shook his head. “He shouldn’t need to tell you. He’s going to have prepared a team specifically catered to Gardner’s Minakai. Last year, he wasn’t so worried as he didn’t expect Gardner to use anything other than plant-class monsters and nature elementals, but he won’t be making that mistake again.”
“But we also know Gardner is savvy enough to predict what Aurin might do,” said Jimmy.
“Yes, so I think it may come down to who calls the other’s bluff. I’m certain Aurin’s team is—”
The announcer suddenly cut Kyle off. “Tamers ready? Three. Two. One. Fight!”
Aurin and Gardner held up their tamer gloves and summoned their first Minakai to the field. Aurin’s Spikruption slammed himself down and puffed smoke from his nostrils, eager to blast through Gardner’s entire team. Gardner, on the other hand, summoned a reptile of his own.
A waist-high magenta dinosaur appeared before him. It had a slight hunch and its short arms ended in sharp claws. Around its neck was a mane of seven long leave and, instead of a tail, it had another handful of leaves protruding from its rear. The dinosaur, a Frilleaf, growled loudly, unintimidated by the much larger Spikruption he was facing.
With no hesitation, Spikruption stormed across the battlefield, drawing in a deep breath. As he grew close to the Frilleaf, he unleashed a fiery wave that desecrated the grass, but Frilleaf was not so easily defeated. It spat a small nature beam from its mouth directly downward and threw itself over the fire.
From midair, it spat a barrage of heavy seeds at Spikruption who burned them to cinders before they came close, but it was only a distraction. A cluster of thick roots shot up from the ground and grabbed the dinosaur’s tail and legs, giving Frilleaf a chance to strike harder.
The leaves on Gardner’s Minakai started rotating. Slowly at first, then speeding up until they were a blur, they became like a razorblade around its neck. Frilleaf charged into the turned around Spikruption, cutting deeply into his tail as he tried to free himself from the roots. Spikruption was in agony, but he mustered the strength to turn his neck and spit a blast of fire at Frilleaf, who was stricken and forced to retreat.
Aurin’s Minakai pulled itself free as Frilleaf was unable to sustain the roots and rolled into a ball, propelling himself at the magenta lizard who spun his frill even faster. Before they collided, Spikruption came to an abrupt halt, unfurled himself and whipped his tail low, whacking Frilleaf’s legs and making it trip. With the top of his head exposed, Spikruption shot another flaming burst at the lizard, whose leaves ceased their whirring.
As Frilleaf tried to right itself, Spikruption grabbed his fellow reptile by the scruff of the neck using his sharp teeth and flung him upwards. As Frilleaf rose and then fell, a swing of Spikruption’s tail batted him into the wall of the stadium, knocking him out cold.
“And Aurin takes an early lead!” cried the announcer as the crowd cheered. “I’ve seen his Spikruption before many times, folks, but he’s on top form today. Gardner had better be careful, but he’s no slouch himself so perhaps he has something in the bag.”
“Desparee, you’re up,” said Gardner, dismissing his Frilleaf and summoning his Desparee.
Aurin’s first thought was that Gardner was going to mix up his elements again, but two nature elementals in a row indicated that he was playing with what he knew best. Perhaps he had indeed expected Aurin to try and outwit him after using an ice elemental in Ludonia. Aurin’s plan this time was to simply use various elemental types and then overpower him as best he could.
Desparee clasped his hands together and drew them back; Aurin knew exactly what the Minakai was about to do. He suddenly threw a single one of his hands forward and Spikruption dodged the nature beam, but Desparee followed up with his second hand and launched a second nature beam, that struck Spikruption in the leg, the red dinosaur having been caught off guard by the follow up attack.
“Agh,” grunted Aurin, knowing he should have expected a twist. “He’s got a beam attack, show him your own!”
Spikruption breathed in and held his breath for a second before firing a thin red beam of concentrated heat from his mouth. It was sharper and faster than a fiery blast at the cost of power. It hit Desparee in the chest and the Minakai staggered, but remained on his feet.
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Gardner’s Minakai waved his hands around and summoned a swirling vortex of leaves that stormed across the battlefield and delivered hundreds of micro cuts into Spikruption’s thick scaly hide. The fiery dinosaur tried to remain standing, but the pain was too much and he buckled at the knees. A few seconds later and another three dozen cuts and he was done for.
“And Gardner ties it up,” said the announcer. “This is shaping up to be an exciting battle!”
Aurin recalled Spikruption, sending him to the ranch. He focused his energy on his summoning stone and cast out a burst of icy blue light, from which his Glacibot appeared.
“You don’t see that Minakai every day!” called the announcer. “A Glacibot is a rare specimen folks, so you’re in for a treat.”
Not wanting to give Gardner the chance to pull any further fly moves, Aurin ordered Glacibot to summon a hailstorm. The icy titan let out a robotic screech, conjuring the storm and forcing Desparee to cover its face to avoid the beating.
“Bramble cage!” called Gardner.
The cage of brambles sprunt forth from the ground, but it was not aimed at Aurin’s Glacibot. It was largely to cover Desparee and protect him from the icy storm. Aurin noted the large hole in the centre of the cage and saw a faint green light appear from within.
“He’s about to use a nature beam,” he told his Glacibot. “Move!”
Glacibot was a slow Minakai, but he and Aurin had prepared for this. He shot a blast of ice upon the ground and threw himself onto it, sliding across the battlefield and adding more to his path as he soared along on his icy body. Desparee launched his beam and it narrowly missed Glacibot as he passed by the tree-like Minakai.
The iceberg-like robot stood back up and stampeded toward his opponent, who had broken away most of his cage with his beam attack. Knowing he would not be able to avoid him, Desparee raised his hands and grabbed onto Glacibot’s underside as he was barrelled over.
Aurin’s Minakai started to slow, looking weaker and weaker by the second. Something was wrong. What was Desparee doing? Aurin kneeled and saw Gardner’s Minakai’s hands glowing. He was draining Glacibot’s energy to replenish his own and Glacibot had no comeback for this unless…
“Jump!” ordered Aurin.
His Minakai complied, jumping six feet into the air and stretching out his arms. He dropped to the ground, crushing Desparee underneath him. Glacibot lay motionless as most of his energy had been taken from him and the jump was all he had left to muster, but Desparee made no attempt to escape.
“A double knockout!” cried the announcer. “Great moves by both tamers, but that now leaves them with a single monster each.”
Aurin and Gardner both banished their Minakai and watched each other from across the field. With a nod to each other, they simultaneously summoned their final Minakai. Two branching evolutions of the same family appeared in flashes of green; Aurin’s Lycavine and Gardner’s Vinewolf.
“Gardner has summoned his Vinewolf and Aurin has summoned his…” said the announcer before trailing off to a whisper. “Can I get a name check on this one, Paul?” Seconds later he came back with an answer. “Aurin has summoned his Lycavine! His Glacibot is a rarity enough, but pulling out something I haven’t seen before is quite the feat, folks.”
The two green wolves charged to meet each other with Vinewolf being notably faster than Lycavine. Before getting too close, the pair stopped and swung out their petal-ended vines and swiped at each other, trying to cut into each other with their pink daggers. The battle had immediately turned into a swordfight rather than one of tooth and nail as the vines whipped around, each trying to block the other while still aiming for the jugular.
The crowd watched with bated breath as neither Minakai seemed to be gaining ground on the other, but Aurin’s Lycavine had been quietly creeping closer to Vinewolf. The werewolf knew he had to take a hit to pull off what he wanted to do, but it would be worth it. He suddenly reeled in his vines and sprinted forward, taking two nasty cuts to the side form Vinewolf’s petals.
The gap was now closed and he swiped across Vinewolf’s face as Gardner’s Minakai tried to bite him, but it was no use. While Vinewolf was faster on land, Lycavine was faster still in paw-to-paw combat. Vinewolf recoiled as one of Lycavine’s nails scratched his eye, giving Aurin’s Minakai a chance to sink his teeth into his neck.
Vinewolf howled in pain and swung his claws in turn, leaving another deep gash in Lycavine’s side, but Aurin’s Minakai could handle the pain. He unclenched his jaw and took another deep bite, tearing a large hole in Vinewolf’s neck, making the Minakai stagger backwards as it bled.
“That’s gotta hurt!” cried the announcer as Vinewolf fell to one knee. “But he’s not out yet.”
Vinewolf’s vines shot forward again, delivering another series of cuts to Lycavine as he bounded and flipped while trying to avoid the barrage of attacks.
“Grab him!” ordered Aurin.
Lycavine did as ordered and grabbed two of the vines. He wrapped them around his forearms and tugged, pulling Vinewolf off his feet and making him eat the previously scorched grass. With a final leap and a swing of his mighty claw, Lycavine finished the battle. Vinewolf let out a whimper and did not get up again.
“And Aurin is the winner!” called the announcer. “Having previously been knocked out of the national championships by Gardner, he came back with a vengeance today!”
Gardner looked devastated, but he put on a brave face and started clapping along with the audience as he and Aurin walked to meet each other in the middle of the battlefield.
“No hard feelings, eh?” he said, holding out a hand.
“Never,” said Aurin, smiling and accepting the hand shake. “You’ve gotten more cunning.”
“Likewise,” chuckled Gardner. “Where did you get a Full Moon Gem to evolve your Budescent?”
“Some national champion gave it to me,” shrugged Aurin.
“Tobias?”
“Yep.”
“How am I supposed to compete with that?” gasped Gardner before chuckling. “All the same, you’ve trained him well, mate. Milkshakes are on you later, alright?”
“Of course. I’ll meet you there in an hour,” said Aurin as the two parted ways to thunderous applause from the crowd.
*
Aurin sat with Shamtile and Lycavine by the riverside, staring at the opposite bank. He had done it again; he had qualified for the national championships. It was bittersweet to him. He did not enjoy the fact that Gardner was now out of the running, but he truly felt as though he had earned his place.
“What do you reckon, you two?” Aurin said to his Minakai. “If I had lost, would Tobias have disowned the lot of us?”
Shamtile waved his arms and let out a screech while Lycavine gave a low bark as his vines danced in the spring breeze.
“Yes, I think he wouldn’t have been too impressed. Especially considering he was the one who gave me the Full Moon Gem to evolve you into a Lycavine, my friend.”
Lycavine let out a short howl and then licked Aurin’s face.
“Lovely,” he said, wiping away the lupine saliva. “Whether we’re through to Ludonia or not, we aren’t backing down. We’re still in this tournament to win and we’re going for that gold. We’re going to wipe the floor with our next opponent and then either Luna or Kyle is going down.”
“Is that right?” asked Luna, sliding down the grass with Innogon clinging to her back.
“Yep,” chortled Aurin. “Nothing is standing in my way, not even you.”
“We’ll see about that, my dear,” she said, lightly slapping Aurin’s cheek and then laughing. “Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, shall we?”
“How’s Gardner doing?”
“He’ll be fine. He’s happy for you, but he’s obviously disappointed. I think he just wishes that his battle with you was in the semifinals.”
“Understandable,” said Aurin. “I wished that were the case too.”
Innogon dived into the water and started splashing Shamtile and Lycavine, who started hurling rocks and spitting sap at the little drake who yapped and laughed hysterically as he swam around.
“And how about you?” Aurin asked Luna.
“Me?”
“One more match to go before you reach the semifinals. Are you nervous?”
“No,” said Luna, shaking her head. “I suppose that’s the thing, isn’t it? Even if I lose, it’s been a good tournament and I’m proud of my performance.”
“Now give me the honest answer.”
“Of course I’m nervous!” she yelled. “I don’t want to miss out on Ludonia by an inch.”
Aurin laughed as hard as Innogon.