Aurin and Shamtile stood before the golden egg as it sat in Professor Socrates’s high-powered incubator. The impressive machine had been repaired three times already after failed attempts to hatch the legendary egg that was proving itself to be beyond mere stubbornness.
“I don’t understand,” muttered the professor, checking his notes for the fiftieth time. “I’ve matched the specifications exactly. I know where I went wrong the first two times, but this time it should have worked.”
“You must have overlooked something,” said Aurin, furrowing his brow. “I wish I was knowledgeable enough to help, Professor Socrates, but I haven’t got a clue about any of this.”
“Well, feel free to try,” shrugged the professor, throwing Aurin his notebook. “I’m out of ideas.”
Aurin held up the notebook and started flicking through the page, unable to understand half of the words inside, never mind the many formulas. There was something to be said for finding a magical solution to hatching eggs, like with Zeera, over relying on advanced technology to mimic the conditions.
Shamtile started jumping up and down, pointing at the book.
“What is it?” Aurin asked. “I don’t believe for a second that you’ve cracked the code, mate.”
Shamtile punched Aurin in the thigh and snatched the book from him. He flipped it around as Aurin rubbed his sore leg and then pointed to a drawing on the back cover.
“Um, Professor Socrates?” called Aurin, opening the back page and seeing that the notebook had been completely filled—including the inside of the back cover—the professor must have written on the back after he ran out of space on the final page. “Did you check this?”
The young man pointed to the picture of a strange ring with a jagged burst around it and showed it to the professor.
“My goodness,” said the professor, putting his palm to his forehead as his face turned red. “This is embarrassing,” he said, shaking his head.
“What is this orb?”
“How could I forget the most crucial element of all?” said the professor, taking the book and looking closely at the drawing. “I’m such an ignoramus. A halfwit. A nincompoop!”
Aurin stayed silent, not knowing where to look as the professor continued to berate himself.
“I know what to do now,” said Socrates, rolling his eyes. “This object is called a Life Ring. If you want to hatch Breminia from the golden egg, then this is what you need. It must be placed around the egg before you can hatch it.”
“That’s great news!” roared Aurin excitedly. “Where can I find one?”
The professor sighed. “They usually appear in the top couple of floors of the Bretonia monster towers, but they’re exceptionally rare. I only know the location of one and I very much doubt that its owner would willingly part with it, but I can certainly ask him…”
“Who?” asked Aurin, looking nervous.
“For his own privacy, I shouldn’t say,” said Socrates. “But I will see what I can do…”
“Oh no!” howled Aurin, seeing the time on the intricately-carved wooden clock hanging on the back wall and behind the professor’s desk. “I’m going to be late for my match if I hang around any longer.”
“Get moving then, son!” barked the professor.
Aurin ran outside and banished Shamtile, who screeched as he vanished. He then summoned Skrow and hopped on the black bird’s back, taking to the skies and flying over the buildings of Ludonia, aiming straight for St Michael’s Stadium.
*
Aurin panted as he reached the end of the tunnel. He was just in time for the match and kicking himself for not checking the time properly while he was at the professor’s lab. He was so distracted by the golden egg that he was risking the national championships and this was unacceptable to him. Now was the time, more than ever, to have his head in the game.
“Ten seconds,” said the tournament official, looking irked at Aurin’s poor timing.
“Thanks,” muttered Aurin, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket.
When given the nod, Aurin walked out onto the field.
“Returning from last year’s championships and the runner-up of this year’s Hazelton qualifier, it’s Aurin!” called the announcer to the cheering crowd. “And his opponent today is the winner of the Richbury qualifier is none other than Moon!”
The two tamers walked across the field to meet each other. Moon was a pretty, almost ethereal girl, with alabaster skin, wavy platinum blonde hair that reached her waist and a flowing white dress that reminded Aurin of elves he had read about in fantasy books and seen in films. She had a pleasant smile on her face as she shook his hand.
“Why are you so sweaty?” she asked with a look of curiosity, rather than intending to insult.
“I was almost late,” replied Aurin.
“That would have been an easy advancement for me. I hope it’s a good battle for both of us.”
“Likewise,” said Aurin and the two walked back to their positions.
“There’s something intimidating about her,” said Luna in the tamer box, “and I can’t quite work out what it is.”
“It’s like she’s gliding along the ground,” said Kyle airily as he stared at Moon.
“What, is she your type?” giggled Luna.
“I think she must be every man’s type.”
“She looks like a ghost to me,” shrugged Luna.
“Three. Two. One. Begin!” cried the announcer.
Aurin summoned his Glacibot to the field in a burst of icy blue light while Moon brought forth her Elephrock. The two heavyweight monsters stomped their feet, staring at each and watching for any sudden movements from the other.
Knowing that Elephrock was a competent attacker, but an even more powerful defender, Aurin opted for the first move. “Double up a snowstorm and frozen terrain,” he ordered.
Glacibot’s blue eye glowed intensely within its screen and a relentless snowfall began while the battlefield was covered in ice reaching from Glacibot himself all the way to Elephrock, who quickly raised up a pillar of earth for himself to stand on that narrowly escaped Glacibot’s technique.
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“Shatter that column!” demanded Aurin and Glacibot launched himself along the ice.
He kept his pointed head low and rammed into the column like a spear as Elephrock spat rocks from his trunk like bullets, but Glacibot endured them and sent the pillar tumbling down, knocking the pale purple elephant onto the ice below where it lay unconscious.
“Aurin takes the first victory of the battle, but it’s far from over,” boomed the announcer.
“Impressive,” said Moon sweetly, but she was far too quiet to be heard over the crowd. She summoned her next Minakai in a flash of cream light.
Her four-handed Zenoman stood with its back to her, hovering just slightly off the ground so that the icy terrain was rendered useless. Not wanting to give the psychic neutral elemental the chance to strike, Glacibot conjured up four ice spears and launched one at each of Zenoman’s four fists.
Knowing it was foolish to try and block the attacks, Zenoman threw its hands out to avoid the spears and sent its clenched fists soaring through the air. It delivered a flurry of blows to Glacibot’s frozen body, leaving Aurin feeling smug. There was no way that it could leave as much as a dent in his iceberg-like robot.
Suddenly, the large spike on Glacibot’s body cracked, gobsmacking Aurin. “She’s stronger than I gave her credit for,” he muttered as his eyes narrowed. “Glacibot, unleash a powerful hail!”
As the fists continued to beat him, Glacibot brace himself and summoned large hailstones that rained down upon the battlefield, bouncing off him while pelting Zenoman much more vigorously and slowing his punches as his focus was pulled away.
“Barrier,” ordered Moon.
Zenoman coated itself in an invisible forcefield that made the hail bounce off of it effortlessly, returning focus to his fists. As Glacibot grabbed two of the fists and crushed them beneath his heavy body, the remaining two fists used the opening to strike him viciously in the screen, cracking it and knocking him out far too quickly for Aurin’s liking.
“Sloppy,” he mumbled, scolding himself. “She needs to be taken seriously. Gorunze, strike quick!”
Aurin banished Glacibot and sent out his bronze golem, who unleashed a powerful laser attack at each of two uncrushed fists, making them spasm as they fell to the ground. Gorunze charged towards Zenoman who flew across the battlefield just above the ground before turning to the encroaching Gorunze.
Zenoman let out a psychic blast intended to knock Gorunze over, but the metal elemental braced himself and kept himself upright. As Zenoman squealed in fear, Gorunze threw himself forward and headbutted the golden alien, knocking him into the wall and out of the battle.
“Moon’s down to her last Minakai while Aurin has his Gorunze and an unrevealed third remaining,” said the announcer. “Just how powerful could her last Minakai be, folks?”
“Very,” said Moon, throwing out a ball of energy from her summoning stone.
Everyone’s mouths fell open as the turquoise light summoned her Minakai to the field. The beast she called to her aid was teal-furred with a purple mane running down its back along with a segmented yellow underbelly and a burly frame. It pawed at the ground with one of its four legs as it watched intently, giving off a turquoise glow at all times.
“I don’t believe it,” muttered Aurin in horror as he stared at his opponent’s Ethruki. There was no time to waste. “Gorunze, attack!” he called out.
Gorunze threw his arms forward, shooting out two topaz spears that flew towards Ethruki at an impressive speed, but it was not more impressive than the counter. Halfway across the field, the spears slowed to a crawl and then dropped to the ground, stopped by the cosmic force of Ethruki’s element.
“What’s Aurin supposed to do?” asked Luna in despair.
“I don’t know,” said Kyle, sounding nervous. “I…I really don’t know.”
“Let’s hope she’s not a very good tamer,” said Hunter, watching Moon closely as she kept her serene smile on her face.
Aurin was starting to panic, not having expected to fight a cosmic elemental that wasn’t Frederick’s or Tobias’s. The last time he had fought against an Ethruki was when he battled Taurus and that had gone poorly at best. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his mind, knowing that the challenge had been laid out before him and he had to adapt.
“We need to tire it out,” Aurin told Gorunze. “Hit it with a relentless barrage.”
Gorunze unleashed three powerful attacks at once. First, he hurled topaz spears from his hands that torpedoed towards Ethruki. Secondly, he flung a wave of sharp shrapnel from his body, aiming to give as many fast-flung targets to his foes as he could. Lastly, he followed everything up with a yellow laser beam from his eyes.
Ethruki froze the spears, which fell to the ground pathetically, while the shrapnel only got a few feet closer before being frozen in mid-air. What the bull-like Minakai did not expect, however was the laser attack. It came within an inch of the cosmic elemental’s face before being halted, the other end still connected to Gorunze’s eyes.
“Go!” demanded Aurin.
With a clanking grunt, Gorunze put as much force into his attack as he could, making the lasers vibrate violently as Ethruki held onto them with its magical prowess. Gorunze knew he would not be able to defeat Ethruki with this one attack, but he just needed to muster up the strength for one stronger push to land a blow. He just needed a little more power.
“Graaaaaw!” wailed Ethruki as the laser beam jolted forward an inch before dissipating.
The bull started thrashing around wildly with two small wisps of smoke floating above its forehead. Gorunze was heaving up and down mechanically, his tired eyes fixed upon the singed, blackened fur on Ethruki’s head. The beast was livid as it bucked around and rolled over in what could only be described as a tantrum.
“Calm yourself,” Moon said to her Minakai in a soft, soothing voice, but it was no good.
Her Ethruki turned to her with daggers in its eyes. It charged towards her, leaving a trail of its ethereal aura in its wake as its tamer’s relaxed expression turned to one of utter terror.
“She…she can’t control it,” whispered Aurin, realising what was about to happen. “It’s too powerful for her to keep in check. Gorunze!”
The bronze golem’s head was spinning, but he knew he had to do something and his master’s order affirmed it for him. He sent a weak laser beam from his eyes, for that was all he could muster. It struck Ethruki on the back, injuring it no more than the sting of a wasp would, but it was enough to make Ethruki whip around and change course.
Moon dared not say another word, fearing that her Minakai would turn on her once again. The crowd were murmuring away, not knowing what to make of the situation.
“Rest assured,” said the announcer, his voice shakier than Aurin had ever heard it, “that we always have a team on standby should a situation get out of hand, folks.”
As Ethruki neared Gorunze, the bronze titan stood on his back legs and swiped a claw through the air, but Gorunze froze as he drew his arm across. A second later, Ethruki had knocked him across the battlefield with a shockingly powerful headbutt.
Aurin looked at the last summoning stone in his glove and prayed that this Minakai would be strong enough to defeat the infuriated cosmic elemental, who was continuing to ram itself into the unconscious Gorunze. With a deep breath, Aurin threw forward a green ball of light and Desparee appeared on the battlefield while Gorunze disappeared.
“He’s angry and out of control,” Aurin told his Minakai, who wept upon seeing the opponent he was faced with. “Time to utilise what we learned with Vai, Desparee. Understood?”
As Ethruki set its sights on the crying tree-like Minakai, Desparee hurled a flurry of razor-sharp leaves at the beast, forcing it to stop them in mid-air. Desparee used the distraction to create two small orbs of nature energy in his hands and brought them up to unleash at cosmic elemental, but his hands became frozen in place.
Desparee struggled and strained as Ethruki’s chest swelled up and down, focusing on maintaining its lock on the nature elementals arms. Desparee looked over his shoulder, hoping his tamer would have an answer for him. To his relief, Aurin had a small smile on his face; he knew that this Ethruki didn’t have half the power, control or concentration that Tauru’s one did, even during his first encounter with it.
“Remember what we learned with Vai,” said Aurin.
Desparee nodded and turned back to face Ethruki, who continued to restrain him with its magic, no matter how hard Desparee tried to move his arms. With a howling groan, Desparee spat a nature beam from his mouth and it struck Ethruki square in the chest, throwing it onto its back.
“Now!” called Aurin.
As the roaring Ethruki rolled over and climbed to its feet, it was met with a much more powerful nature beam from Desparee’s freed hands. The brutalising attack encapsulated Ethruki’s head, throwing it across the battlefield where it rolled over, its aura all but gone as it writhed on the ground.
“And it’s over!” yelled the announcer over the cheers of the crowd. “Aurin has defeated Moon and her Ethruki, securing himself a place in the second round.”
Aurin saw Moon let out a sigh of relief as the pair walked to the centre of the battlefield.
“How long ago did you hatch it?” Aurin asked, shaking her hand.
“Five days ago,” said Moon guiltily. “I thought I could handle him…but…well, I couldn’t. No point dancing around it. I hoped he would obey me long enough to take out tough opponents, but he doesn’t care about proving himself.”
“I have no doubt you’ll make a strong comeback next year.”
“Thank you,” said Moon, smiling again. “And thank you for saving me. I don’t know if security would have stepped in before it was too late.”
“You’re welcome,” said Aurin, returning the smile and then turning to wave to the crowd.
As he walked away, he breathed a sigh of relief of his own. Upon seeing the Ethruki, he feared that the first round would be the end of the line for him. Although having now taken one down, he was feeling good. Frederick’s Abysarex and Tobias’s Mindadam would prove to be much tougher opponents, he had no doubt about that.