Kyle tossed a green summoning stone in his hand as he waited to be called forward. He knew that Frederick would be no pushover, but he had prepared himself as best as he could for the challenge and knew that stressing over it would only hamper his performance. He was clearheaded and ready to go.
The tournament official gave him the go ahead, he slotted the summoning stone back into his tamer glove and then the announcer’s voice filled the stadium. “Returning to the national championships after many years, everyone please give it up for Kyle!”
Kyle waved to the audience who cheered for him. Aurin and Luna caught his eye as they waved a homemade banner, but the writing was so small he couldn’t read it. He let out a dry laugh to himself as the announcer called out Fredrick.
“After reaching the national championships two years ago and taking a year off, welcome back Frederick!”
The former Zodiac member strode across the battlefield confidently and smiled as he gave a less enthusiastic wave to the crowd, keeping his eyes on Kyle the entire time.
“Don’t pull any punches,” said the rancher. “I want to beat you at your best.”
“I never pull punches,” said Frederick, shaking Kyle’s hand.
That comment confirmed Kyle’s belief about which Minakai Frederick had in his team. While Aurin was saving a number of his most powerful for later matches, Frederick had his best monsters at the ready at all times. It made him predictable but, with such powerful Minakai at his disposal, it didn’t matter all that much. As Kyle walked back to his side of the field, he was glad that he too wasn’t going to pull punches.
The speaker crackled as the announcer called out. “Three. Two. One. Fight!”
“End it quickly, Wing!” ordered Kyle, unleashing Wingbloom with the power of the green summoning stone in his hand.
“Leofang!” roared Frederick as his red-maned and cobalt-furred lion appeared in a flash of light. Its sharp fangs glinted in the stadium lights as it watched Wingbloom fast approaching.
Leofang pounced at the bird-like plant as Wingbloom drew close, but a pirouette let Wingbloom glide on past and send a mighty razor wind from his wings that cut into Leofang’s back, knocking him flat on his stomach and leaving him roaring in anger as he leapt back to his feet.
“Use your rage,” said Frederick to his Minakai.
Leofang spun around and watched as Wingbloom took to the skies, keeping well out of range. Another burst of air shot towards him, but a well-timed jump let him dodge and a swift roll cleared him from a follow-up attack. Knowing that staying too far away would be a waste of energy, Wingbloom closed the gap.
“He’s not as agile as you, but don’t underestimate him,” warned Kyle.
Leofang’s throat rippled for a split second as Wingbloom readied a gust of wind. Suddenly, a howling force burst from Leofang, shaking and disorienting Wingbloom just enough to make him dip lower. With a running jump, Frederick’s Minakai leapt into the air and opened his mouth, readying his sabred fangs.
The ferocious feline sank his teeth into Wingbloom’s wing as the flying plant left the battlefield behind him. The pain was immense and the sharp claws cutting into his torso made things much worse, but he wasn’t going to lose this battle. No, he would not give up and let his opponent get the better of him.
Digging deep, Wingbloom began to spin, swinging Leofang around as he twirled. He picked up more and more speed, but Leofang was wedged into his wing and would not simply be flung off by the increasing force that tried to throw him away. It did, however, leave the large cat’s limbs flailing wildly and Wingbloom’s torso was no longer being struck by sharp nails.
Kyle’s Minakai burst forward and flew towards the battlefield, pulling up slightly as he headed straight for the ground and then soared along with Leofang’s being dragged along for the ride. He redirected himself to fly alongside the wall and picked up speed, inching closer and closer to the concrete. He had to be careful so as not to take himself out too.
A couple of inches later and Leofang’s flailing body was being burned by the intense friction of being dragged across the wall, while Wingbloom’s wingtip kept just out of reach. He focused on maintaining the perfect distance, letting the wall burn the fur from Leofang’s body and graze his skin until it was raw.
“Enough!” called Kyle and Wingbloom immediately pivoted and landed on the battlefield with the now-unconscious Leofang still hanging from his wing.
“Yes!” cheered Aurin, now clutching the banner alone; Luna had discarded it to bite her nails.
“And the first point of the battle goes to Kyle!” called the announcer.
“And it will be the last,” said Frederick, freeing Wingbloom by banishing Leofang and holding up a turquoise summoning stone. “Abysarex!”
The hulking red bipedal lion stood on the battlefield, beating its fists together as the crowd all exclaimed in shock.
“What do we have here, folks?” asked the announcer. “This is the second cosmic elemental of the tournament and we’re only in the first round of matches. My goodness, what a thrilling ride we’re in for this year.”
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“Finish him off,” said Frederick.
Abysarex charged forwards as a tired and battered Wingbloom forced himself into the air, but the cosmic elemental didn’t need to punch him with his fists. He threw a few jabs into the air and a powerful force exploded from them, knocking Wingbloom back down to the ground. Abysarex ran in and delivered a final punch to Wingbloom’s chest, taking him out of the battle.
“Frederick evened up the score very quickly!” called the announcer.
“He’s got range, but so have you,” said Kyle, summoning his Hogannon in a burst of red.
The bipedal orange pig immediately started unleashing a barrage of fireballs from his cast iron cannons. Abysarex threw a few more punches, sending spectral forces through the air that snuffed out the fireballs before they got anywhere close to him. He snarled, as the light caught his pale gold segmented stomach plate and spiked knee coverings.
Hogannon watched and waited, taking in the fact that his arms were his least protected parts, but also his most deadly ones. If he could take out his opponent’s arms, he knew he could win. Kyle was thinking similarly to his Minakai and knew that he needed to break Abysarex’s concentration.
“Make it rain,” Kyle said, and Hogannon snorted loudly as he summoned flaming embers above the battlefield to rain down upon it. “Now set the field ablaze!”
Hogannon unleashed torrents of flame from his arms that lit up the ground, closing Abysarex within a large ring of flame that crept towards him. Frederick, however, looked unphased.
“Blind him with smoke so—”
Hogannon let out a pained squeal as Abysarex’s fist collided with the back of his head. The fiery pig fell to the ground and lost consciousness before his chin hit the dirt while Abysarex’s portal closed behind him.
“I didn’t know Abysarex could use portals too!” lamented Aurin to Luna.
She shook her head despondently. “That’s because we don’t know half of what we need to know about cosmic elementals and which ones can use which abilities.”
The ember rain faded away and the flames on the battlefield died out as Kyle banished Hogannon back to the ranch. He knew his mistake was trying to stack the battlefield in his favour all at once rather than keeping his defences up. Now that Abysarex’s teleportation powers had been revealed to him, he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
“Feel free to give up,” chided Frederick with a smug grin, but Kyle wasn’t to be deterred.
“Snowlem,” he said as he summoned his most powerful ice elemental.
The large snowman appeared on the battlefield with his coal smile, carrot nose and flowing red scarf. Abysarex wasn’t intimidated in the least and hurled two forceful punches at his opponent, sending out his mighty shockwaves, but a swiftly erected ice wall took the blows before crumbling.
Kyle gave his Minakai a quiet order that couldn’t be heard by the rest of the stadium. Snowlem suddenly whipped around and threw a punch of his own with an ice-coated fist and met the incoming blow from the warping cosmic elemental. Abysarex snarled as Snowlem continued to grin his black grin.
Abysarex vanished again and appeared from above with his fist drawn back, but Snowlem created a shield of ice above himself and Abysarex punched through it. The shield slowed his momentum, giving Snowlem the chance to grab him and throw him to the ground before he had the chance to warp away.
Snowlem leapt at his foe with a conjured ice spear in his hand, aiming to skewer him through his exposed arm, but Abysarex rolled aside and teleported halfway across the battlefield.
“When did you learn this new power?” Kyle called out to Frederick.
“Two months ago,” said Frederick smugly. “Quite the trick, isn’t it? Much more effective than Mindadam’s portals.”
Kyle smiled in response, holding his tongue. It may indeed have been more effective than Mindadam’s portals, but he knew it would also require that much more energy to perform. Like with the other cosmic Minakai, especially the ones that haven’t been training for years, their biggest weakness was their stamina.
“Make it hail,” Kyle said to Snowlem.
As the snowman harnessed the power of icy weather, Abysarex warped again and threw a punch from the side. Predicting the move, Snowlem threw himself backwards and tossed an ice spear at his opponent. Abysarex, however, was not so easily hit and caught the spear in mid-air before throwing it back to its owner, who used his elemental power to shatter it into glittering dust before it struck him.
Throwing himself back to his feet, Snowlem charged at Abysarex, aiming to tackle him to the ground, but Abysarex warped away once more and reappeared behind Snowlem, kicking him in the back and knocking him onto the ground as hail rained down upon him.
Before Frederick could look too smug, Snowlem wrapped his feet around Abysarex’s leg and flipped him over, taking him to the ground. Snowlem leapt into the air and spun around. The crowd gasped as they watched his wooden right fist become coated in an aurora-like ball of energy. He punched Abysarex in his unprotected shoulder.
The cosmic elemental let out a roar of fury and clutched his arm before warping away again. When he reappeared a few yards away, he was panting and rubbing his wound. Frederick was taken aback, but he regained his composure.
“He wants you drained. Don’t give him that chance!” he called out to his Minakai, who shook himself off.
Abysarex sprinted forward towards Snowlem, ignoring the hail that pelted him. Kyle’s Minakai froze the ground beneath him, trying to trip him up or force him to teleport into melee range, but Abysarex teleported into the air. He roared loudly, emitting a cosmic burst of energy that shook the battlefield and flung Snowlem backwards.
The cosmic elemental hurtled towards his opponent, unleashing a flurry of spectral punches that beat his downed opponent. Not one to show mercy—much like his tamer—Abysarex grabbed Snowlem by the feet and lifted him high before slamming him over his spiked knee guard.
“Get up!” Kyle ordered his Minakai, but Abysarex was relentless in his assault and continued punching, kicking and throwing Snowlem like a ragdoll.
With a final punch, Snowlem was smacked into the concrete wall and he collapsed in a broken heap, unable to continue fighting. Kyle closed his eyes as he dismissed his Minakai, devastated to have lost, but proud of the fight that his monsters had put up against an opponent that outmatched them.
“And it’s the end of the line for Kyle!” called the announcer. “Frederick’s Abysarex stormed through three of Kyle’s Minakai, winning him the match.”
Kyle and Frederick walked to the centre of the battlefield and shook hands as the crowd cheered, in awe of the intense battle and the power of the cosmic elemental force they had witnessed.
“Well played,” said Frederick. “Your Wingbloom is as powerful as I knew he would be.”
“And your Abysarex more powerful than I presumed,” said Kyle. “Good luck for the rest of the tournament, Frederick.”
“No jabs? No jibes?” asked the former Zodiac member.
“I don’t need to do any of that. You won and I lost in a fair fight, so that’s all there is to it as far as I’m concerned.”
The two parted ways. As calm as Kyle had sounded, he wasn’t finished. He was going to train Aurin and Luna further to make sure that they could stand against Abysarex when their turns eventually came. Frederick was not going to reach the finals and Kyle would make sure of it.