A cream-coloured orb of light appeared on the battlefield from Aurin’s tamer glove and, from within, emerged a golden alien with four large fists floating beside him. Zenoman watched Luna’s Cephelarock intently as the stone octopus wriggled his tentacles as though looking to lob a few boulders at his opponent.

“Rigid as he may look, he’s a slippery one,” Aurin warned his Minakai, who let out a low echoing call of agreement.

Cephelarock conjured four boulders in his tentacles and hurled them straight at Zenoman. As the heavy rocks flew through the air, the stone octopus put his tentacles in the ground. Rather than catch the boulders and toss them aside, Zenoman punched through them with his flying fists.

As wildly flailing tentacles sprung from the ground around him, Zenoman grabbed them with his hands and floated away to safety. Luna had a smirk on her face as she watched the golden alien land on the ground and summon his hands back to him. All four soared across the battlefield and hovered around Zenoman’s body with open palms, just waiting for another attack to come their way.

“Come on,” whispered Aurin. “Make a move.”

“Three-move-manoeuvre!” Luna called, catching Aurin by surprise.

The ground started to shake, startling Zenoman and breaking his focus on his fists. A rock cage then sprung up from beneath him, capturing his body and fists and keeping them held firmly in place. Suddenly, a stalactite appeared from above and fell straight towards his exposed head.

The alien looked up and suddenly the stalactite shattered an inch from his head and the pieces fell to the ground. In an instant, the rock cage exploded into thousands of sharp fragments and Luna had a look of horror on her face as four mighty fists shot towards her Cephelarock.

The stone octopus brought up a rock wall to shield himself and then burrowed underground, disappearing to safety as Zenoman’s hands flew over the wall in search of their target. Luna breathed a sigh of relief at her Minakai’s quick thinking and waited.

“Off the ground!” Aurin said to Zenoman, who levitated upwards as his fists returned to him.

Had he not listened, it would have been devastating, for Cephelarock burst out from beneath him and leapt upwards, trying to wrap his tentacles around Zenoman’s legs, but he was just out of reach. Instead, Zenoman’s fists grabbed the octopus and lifted him high before releasing him.

They did not simply let him fall to the ground and took it in turns to punch him, keeping him in the air like a volleyball being hit between teammates. Even when he encased himself in a ticker stone armour, Zenoman coated his fists in the same psychic barrier that he used to block the stalactite.

As Cephelarock’s eyes started to spin wildly and his eyelids drooped, Aurin’s Minakai decided enough was enough and they two fists grabbed him by the tentacles and flung him back to earth, knocking him out and leaving Luna with only a single Minakai left.

“Things are not looking good for Luna,” said the announcer. “Her last monster had better be her best one.”

“He is!” called Luna, casting a burst of blue light onto the battlefield and revealing Innogon.

Aurin knew that he would see that smiling blue drake before long. He was also very much aware of how powerful he was beneath that cheerful exterior. He had to act quickly.

“Spread out and move in!” he ordered Zenoman.

The alien obeyed without hesitation, sending his four hands out wide and then shooting them towards Innogon, but he wasn’t phased by this distraction. He shot a high-powered water jet with laser-like precision and it struck Zenoman on the forehead, knocking him down and sending his fists veering off course.

Upon sitting up, the alien refocused and kept himself moving, but Innogon remained smiling. Zenoman’s fists closed in on him, but he covered himself in a bubble shield and was punched around like a hamster ball, giggling wildly as he rolled around. No matter how hard he punched, Zenoman wasn’t able to break through the bouncy barrier that contracted and expanded to absorb all the force that sought to pop up.

“Now!” shouted Luna.

Innogon conjured up a wave that carried him away in his bubble and submerged Zenoman’s fists. He came closer and closer to Zenoman who tried to keep his distance, but he was running out of places to run as the water rushed towards him.

Innogon leapt in the air and dissipated his bubble as he spun around wildly with his head fin glowing bright blue. Even with a newly erected psychic barrier was not enough to keep the tired Zenoman safe from the whirling fin of the spinning drake. The alien was cut across the face and chest before collapsing to the ground while his fists unclenched and lay stretched out on the soaking wet grass.

“And Luna is making a comeback once more, folks!” called the announcer. “Aurin has two Minakai left, so what’s it going to be next?”

Aurin had a hurried debate in his mind. If he used the Minakai he had planned to be his fourth, it might not be able to stand up to Innogon who was almost at full stamina. The Minakai he wanted to use last however had an elemental weakness, but…he had been promised a chance to battle Innogon in a real test of strength and would be livid if he didn’t get that opportunity.

“Shamtile, you’re up,” said Aurin, sending out the masked earth elemental.

Innogon yapped merrily upon seeing his friend while Shamtile gave him a quick salute before immediately flipping the ground from beneath himself and torpedoing towards the drake while encasing his fists in stone.

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With a look of surprise, Innogon shot a jet of water from his feet and was thrown into the air and out of the way. Never one to let up, Shamtile landed on the ground and spun his arms around, hurling a barrage of conjured rocks at Innogon who desperately blasted them to pieces with his water jets as he fell back to the ground.

“On the offensive!” Luna ordered.

Innogon conjured a geyser from beneath Shamtile, throwing him into the sky. The drake started shooting more water jets, this time being the one to attack his opponent in the air. Shamtile summoned boulder after boulder in front of himself to block the attacks before landing and immediately burrowing underground.

“We planned for this,” said Luna and Innogon gave her a nod.

Suddenly the ground started rumbling violently and Aurin raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t Shamtile who was causing the battlefield to shake, it was Innogon. Suddenly, a dozen geysers sprung up around Innogon and, in one, was Shamtile who had been caught out on his way to strike his friend from beneath.

As he tumbled through the pillar of water, Innogon unleashed a pressure cannon that would have rivalled Steambot’s in intensity and struck Shamtile, knocking him out of the water and sending him flying into the wall at the bottom of the tamer box.

Hunter and Kyle immediately stood up and looked down, thinking that Shamtile was out of the match, only for him to fling a stone spear at Innogon who encased himself in another bubble shield and let the spear bounce off pathetically while pointing and laughing at the magical lizard.

Shamtile threw another handful of spears as he ran towards Innogon, but the water elemental continued to laugh hysterically. Suddenly the laughter ceased as Innogon spotted a crystalline spear made of diamond flying towards him. He screeched, closed his eyes and braced himself as the diamond spear pierced his bubble and grazed his arm as it soared past.

Upon opening his eyes, he spied Shamtile sprinting straight for him with his fists encased in diamond. Innogon threw himself aside to avoid a punch, but Shamtile was nimble enough to pivot and throw a follow-up jab that struck Innogon on the jaw and sent him rolling across the ground. Shamtile leapt into the air and drew his fist back, only to be struck by a water jet and threw off his angle and he landed beside Innogon who skittered away while Shamtile shook himself off.

“These two are relentless!” cried the announcer. “And neither of them seems to be letting up even after using many powerful attacks. They’re made of strong stuff, let me tell you, folks.”

“But one of them is stronger,” said Aurin quietly before calling out to Shamtile. “Time to unleash our secret technique!”

Luna had no idea what this technique was, but she knew that if whatever it was landed, Innogon was done for. “Defend with all your might!” she ordered him.

Shamtile placed his feet firmly on the ground and Innogon shot water jets at him, but he conjured stone armour to take the blows. As Shamtile raised his arms and waved them in a dance, Innogon tried to sweep him away with a wave, but Shamtile locked his feet in place by covering them in earth and becoming one with the ground beneath him.

The entire battlefield began to shake and Innogon tried to flee to somewhere safe, but there was nowhere to hide. A large chunk of earth, thick and wide enough to crush a building with ease, was pulled from the ground and raised into the air. Innogon shot a pressure cannon to try and break it apart, but it was only enough to take out a couple of chunks.

Harnessing the power of his element, Shamtile let out a warbling yell and threw the mass of earth at Innogon, but the drake wasn’t going to let himself be crushed so easily. He summoned up all of his strength and unleashed a huge geyser that pushed against the stone and soil above him, stopping it in its tracks.

Trying as hard as he was, Shamtile was finding it difficult to gain ground, even with gravity on his side. Innogon was in the struggle of his life as he strained and struggled against the monument to his friend’s power that loomed overhead. He stole a glance at his tamer, who was watching him with faith and determination, and found the power to keep the force of his geyser strong.

Shamtile looked to his own tamer and Aurin gave him a nod. Knowing what he had to do, Shamtile released his hold on the earth and watched as Innogon’s geyser tore it to shreds. It flew apart, scattering in the air as some of it filled the large hole it had left while other parts littered the rest of the battlefield.

As Innogon breathed a sigh of relief at withstanding the attack, he heard a sudden rumbling behind him and saw a diamond wall emerge from the ground. He turned back to face his opponent only to be met by a waving Shamtile who stomped one foot on the ground and flipped the earth up, catapulting Innogon through the air once more.

With his energy spent and unable to slow his momentum, Innogon knew he had nothing left to give. His shocked expression turned to one of acceptance as he collided face-first with Shamtile’s diamond wall before rebounding against it and flopping onto the ground. Upon Shamtile’s command, the wall shattered and vanished into diamond dust while Innogon lay unconscious on the ground with water dribbling from his mouth.

“And we have our winner, folks!” called the announcer. “Commiserations to Luna, who gave us one heck of a display against her fellow Hazelton qualifier, and a massive congratulations to Aurin who is the first competitor this year to qualify for the semi-finals.”

Aurin and Luna walked across the battlefield to cheers, Aurin with a thankful smile on his face. Luna returned it with a hint of tears in her eyes, but she was not sad. Rather than the usual handshakes, she threw her arms around him and held him tightly.

“Remember how I kept saying I would win?” she whispered in his ear.

“You may have said that a few times,” replied Aurin.

“I knew I wouldn’t, I just had to make sure that it wasn’t easy for you.”

“Well, you certainly came through with that.”

“Who was your final Minakai?” Luna asked, knowing now that it wouldn’t make a difference.

“Hmm,” said Aurin. “I’ll keep that a secret just to annoy you.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“No, not this time,” Aurin said with a laugh. “It was Leonite. He wouldn’t have been able to stand up to Innogon, that much is certain.”

As the two pulled apart, they could hear the audience laughing. They looked over and saw Shamtile slapping Innogon on the face to try and wake him up, but the little drake was out for the count. Joining in the laughter, Luna reached into her pocked and threw a berry to Shamtile.

The masked lizard scurried over to it and shoved it into Innogon’s mouth, almost making him choke, but upon it sliding into his stomach, he opened his eyes and then sat up. Awake as he may have been, the damage wasn’t undone and he rubbed his incredibly painful face to try and soothe himself.

Shamtile screeched something at him only for the frowning Innogon to spit water in his friend’s face before continuing to massage his nose. Not taking too kindly to the cheap attack, Shamtile thumped Innogon on the dome and the two started brawling again to further raucous laughter from the crowd.

“Should we break up their scrap?” chortled Aurin, enjoying the spectacle rather than being embarrassed.

“Sure,” said Luna, turning to the two Minakai and calling out to them. “Cut that nonsense out or there’s no post-battle milkshakes.”

The two immediately hopped away from each other and stood up straight with their arms by their sides. They had a look of seriousness on their face that only the threat of losing out on their favourite treat could bring out in them.

“I’ll meet you in the lobby,” said Aurin, smiling at Luna who gave him a nod in response.

Aurin and Shamtile walked back towards their tunnel while Luna and Innogon headed in the opposite direction. All the while, they were being applauded by the entirety of St Michael’s Stadium. Even though he had yet to win his next match, Aurin knew that Frederick would be his opponent tomorrow.