“Come on, come on,” said Aurin, punching his thighs as he jittered in anticipation. “I have to see what he’s got waiting in the wings for the end of the tournament.”

He, Luna, Kyle and Hunter were sitting in the tamer box awaiting Tobias to take to the stage and perform for the crowd. Last year, he had wowed the crowd with his Arusom, one of the two epic Minakai native to Bretonian towers, along with Zeera.

“What makes you think he’ll show off his best and all they can do?” asked Kyle.

“He won’t, but I need to see if he had any new Minakai that I haven’t seen before,” said Aurin.

“Did he show you many of his Minakai while the pair of you were training?” asked Hunter.

“Fishing for information, are we?” asked Aurin slyly.

“Yes,” chuckled Hunter. “I want to win as badly as you do and I’ll take whatever edge I can get, even if I don’t get far enough to use it.”

“Fair,” laughed Aurin. “I trained with a few of them, but the biggest challenge to fight against was his Mindadam. Cosmic Minakai are truly no joke.”

“While they’re often not the sturdiest if you can land a hit, landing a hit is usually the problem,” nodded Hunter. “I’ve had the misfortune of fighting against a few of them and, across nine battles, I’ve only defeated two.”

Luna looked uneasy. “Place one in the hands of Tobias, a tamer who would know how to use it effectively, and it’s an almost impossible monster to overcome. I hope there aren’t other cosmics lurking in the other tamers’ teams.”

“We know there’s at least one,” said Aurin in a low voice, looking towards Frederick.

“Abysarex is the opposite of many other cosmics,” said Tobias. “Easier to hit, but can take the punches well. Unfortunately, he can deliver incredibly powerful punches of his own.”

“We’ll have to—”

“Ladies and gentlemen!” called the announcer and the chatter of the thousands in the audience fell silent as they all eagerly awaited the opening of the tournament. “Allow me to welcome you all to the Bretonian National Championships here in the great city of Ludonia!”

The silenced crowd then burst into cheers as they awaited what they knew came next.

“And to open up this grand event, we have a special show for you tonight by a man who needs no introduction after so many years at the top. Give it up for your national champion, Tobias!”

Everyone rose to their feet and cheered as Tobias walked onto the battlefield below, looking calm and stoic as he did so. He stopped in the centre and looked around at the crowd, slowly rotating so that he could take the audience in. With a wink and a smirk, he suddenly disappeared through a portal in the ground.

“What was that?” asked Luna, looking stunned.

“Mindadam,” whispered Aurin, unable to raise his voice louder. He needed to pay close attention.

“Where did he go?” asked the announcer, sounding genuinely surprised. “Wait. There! Standing atop the screen!”

Everyone turned to look at the giant monitor at the edge of the stadium where the battlefield below was being shown. Indeed, standing on top of it, was Tobias. He smiled confidently and then leapt from it, falling into the crowd, but before he could hit them and break his neck another portal opened and he vanished through it.

Tobias erupted from a portal that appeared on the wall of the stadium, but he was no longer alone. He was riding the brass horse that Aurin knew very well. He rode his Mindadam across the battlefield and it opened up another portal. It ran straight through and reappeared at the opposite end of the field. He opened one in the air and leapt into it, suddenly erupting from the ground and landing in another portal that opened.

Everyone in the stadium twisted and jerked their heads, trying to follow the national champion and his cosmic elemental, but they were disappearing and reappearing so fast that it was hard to keep track of. The crowd were utterly mesmerised, but it suddenly came to an end.

Mindadam stood tall in the centre of the battlefield and everyone watched, waiting to see what would happen next. Tobias held out his two hands and the audience clapped for him. He slowly raised his arms up until they were pointed up and, as his arms moved, the audience grew louder until they reached a crescendo. With a clap of his own hands, Mindadam let out a mechanical neigh and four portals appeared around the stadium, from which more Minakai emerged.

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Tobias’s Grakadon, Titamet, Guilgon and Arusom all sped towards the brass horse, readying powerful attacks. Grakadon’s earthen spear was hurled towards Mindadam, but it vanished in a portal and struck Guilgon, who spat out a jet of water before collapsing. The water jet was sent into another open portal, smacking Titamet in the face. Arusom unleashed waves of poisonous spores from its wings, but they too vanished into a portal and were released a hundred feet in the air where they would harm nobody.

With another loud neigh, the attacking Minakai were all sent back through their portals, banishing them from the battlefield and leaving Tobias and Mindadam alone before the crowd. The audience exploded, amazed to see the power of a cosmic Minakai used in such a way.

Aurin, who had been holding his breath for most of the showing, finally relaxed and clapped louder than anyone else. As the camera zoomed in on Tobias and Mindadam, Kyle nudged Aurin and gestured towards the giant monitor.

“You see what I see?” he asked Aurin quietly.

“Mindadam’s heaving,” said Aurin with a nod.

“That many portals, some of them appearing simultaneously must be very draining,” said Hunter. “He couldn’t keep it up for much longer, could he?”

“I would say not,” said Aurin.

“Can you believe it, folks?” boomed the announcer. “What a display of power that was. I don’t envy the tamer who will be going up against Tobias at the end of the tournament. He’s going to be tough to dethrone, that much is clear, but maybe this year is finally the year it happens. What do you think, Tobias?”

Tobias let out a visible laugh and gave a shrug, mouthing the words. “Who knows?”

“Let’s make it happen,” said Luna excitedly.

“Where did this confidence come from?” laughed Kyle.

“After watching all of that, I feel inspired!” she said, clapping her hands together with a wide grim upon her face.

*

“I don’t believe it,” said a wide-eyed Luna as she stared at the tournament bracket on the screen in the entrance hall of St Michael’s Stadium. “I’m not seeing things, am I?”

“No,” said Aurin, patting her on the back. “You’re up first.”

True enough, Luna’s name and face were displayed on the top left of the screen. She was in the first match of the tournament against a tamer named Mario. He was a burly-looking fellow with a moustache and menacing eyes who would have been an intimidating bouncer. Aurin wondered if his Minakai would be able to compare to their tamer’s fierce appearance.

“I can’t believe I’m up first!” wailed Luna.

“Why does that make a difference?” asked Kyle.

“It…it just does! That means I have to set the pace for the entire tournament. If it’s a disaster, then everyone is going to remember it?”

“Nobody would care after a few matches.”

“Of course, they wou—”

“Luna,” said Aurin, grabbing her by the shoulder and looking into her eyes. “I’m with Kyle on this one. Nobody would care if the match was a trainwreck because there are always trainwreck matches, even at this level.”

With a sigh, Luna nodded. “Yes…yes, you’re right.”

“Now snap out of it and get your game face on because you’ve got a match to win. Get yourself psyched up and select your monsters, alright?”

“Hmm,” said Kyle, locating himself on the bracket. “Now that’s even more interesting than Luna being up first.”

“What is it?” asked Aurin.

“I’m fighting our old friend, Frederick.”

Aurin’s eyes scanned the chart and spotted Kyle and Frederick, placed next to each other on the left side of the chart. Aurin’s own name was somewhere between Luna and Kyle’s meaning that he was in line to face both of them before the finals—presuming they all won their matches. Hunter, however, was situated on the right of the bracket.

“Well,” said Frederick, approaching from behind and making everyone jump. “It looks like the Hazelton champion is going to be knocked out on his very first match of the national championships. How about that?”

“We’ll see who’s knocking who out,” said Kyle scornfully. “Lost evolutions or cosmic elementals, I don’t care what you use. My team is ready to take you out, Frederick.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” said the former Zodiac elite with a smirk. “It’s been a while since I faced a true challenge. Hopefully you can deliver at least that.”

“What happened to that humility you had right after the Zeera Crisis?” asked Luna, shaking her head in exasperation. “I thought you had changed.”

Frederick raised his eyebrows. “Can’t handle a few fighting words? I’d be amazed if you knocked out a single one of your opponent’s Minakai, Luna. It looks like two of the Hazelton qualifiers will be going home in disgrace after their first matches.”

Luna’s face was bright red and she was shaking uncontrollable as Frederick walked away chuckling. Aurin had to hold her back from running up behind him and punching him in the back of the head.

“Don’t take the bait,” he told her. “The last thing you want to do is get disqualified for assaulting another competitor, right?”

“Right,” said Luna through gritted teeth. “But it would be worth it.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” said Kyle sternly before suddenly looking brighter. “Leave him to me. Leo isn’t going to know what hit him.”

“Can we go grab dinner now?” asked Aurin, releasing Luna’s arms. “I’m starving.”

“How can you think about eating at a time like this?” demanded Luna. “I’ve got last-minute preparation to do and not enough time to do it! Kyle, go pick up some food for us and bring it to Baxter Park. We’re all training together.”

“What about letting your Minakai rest?” asked Aurin.

Luna waved her hand dismissively. “Healing items before bed and they’ll be right as rain by morning. Now let’s get to it!”

“Yes, captain!” barked Kyle mockingly, giving Luna a salute and then marching away while Aurin tried to hold back his laughter.

Luna, however, had a look of furious determination on her face. Frederick’s words had rattled her, but rather than throw her off her game, it gave her the fuel she needed to leave her fear and anxiety in the dust behind her.