It was a rainy morning in Hazelton, but that didn’t deter Aurin. He was up and ready to go, but the previous night he had agreed to meet up with his next opponent for breakfast in town before they had their match.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Kyle as Aurin walked down the path away from the ranch. Shamtile was with him, crawling on all fours to try and catch a butterfly.
“I’m going to be late for my match,” said Aurin, breaking into a run.
“Your match is three hours away and you’re on dung duty today. Get back here and start shovelling.”
Aurin pretended he couldn’t hear Kyle. He and Shamtile got as far away as they could, fearing his wrath should he try to catch them. “We’ll make it up to him after our battle,” Aurin said to Shamtile who screeched in agreement, conjuring himself a stone hat to keep himself dry from the rain.
The two walked into town and shook themselves dry when they reached the café. Aurin ordered a full Bretonian breakfast of sausages, eggs, bacon and toast, while Shamtile tugged on his arm. “Yes, yes,” he said. “One peanut butter and banana milkshake for my Minakai too.”
A blonde girl of around eighteen walked in and shook her umbrella dry, hanging it by the door. She waved over at Aurin who waved back, then walked to the table and sat down. “I can’t believe it,” Eclare said to him.
“Can’t believe what?” asked Aurin.
“I told you in the tower that I hoped we wouldn’t battle in the first three matches, right?”
“Maybe,” laughed Aurin. “That was how long ago now? Over half a year at least. To be honest, I was surprised when you called the ranch.”
A waitress came over and Eclare ordered a coffee. “What’s so surprising about it?”
“It’s just strange, that’s all. We’re about to have a high stakes battle and we’re just sitting here talking.”
“I still don’t get why it’s surprising or weird,” giggled Eclare.
“I suppose…I’m not sure either,” said Aurin awkwardly while Shamtile poked him impatiently in the side. “Your milkshake will be here soon, relax.”
The food arrived and the two started eating while Shamtile greedily threw half the milkshake into his mouth at once. He was pleased Innogon wasn’t here to try and steal it from him. He was close to the final straw with that little drake when it came to milkshakes.
“Are you and your girlfriend still together?” asked Eclare.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” said Aurin.
“Oh, I’m sorry. When did you two break up?”
“Wait a second, do you mean Luna?”
“I think so? The cute girl with the brown hair that’s always smiling. I’ve seen her around with that little blue thing that always sits on her shoulders or grabs onto her back like a backpack.”
“Why does everyone always think she’s my girlfriend?” asked Aurin, not sure why it mattered. “We’ve only ever been friends.”
“Ah, that’s good. She won’t be jealous that we’re on a date then,” said Eclare with a wink. She stuck her tongue out after and laughed.
Aurin’s face turned red, not sure if she was serious or not. She was two years older than him for a start. “I…um…” was all he could say. He started eating his breakfast much more quickly.
Shamtile started rummaging in Aurin’s bag and walked up to the counter with a few silver pieces. He massively overpaid for a second milkshake while the waitress was thrilled at such a large tip.
“Have you been preparing for our battle?” asked Eclare. “I’ve made a lot of progress since we last spoke, so it won’t be so easy this time.”
“I wouldn’t say it was easy last time,” said Aurin. “If I remember right, you didn’t want to risk being kicked out of the tower so we ended the battle early.”
“I still count that as a win for you,” said Eclare. “We’ll really see who’s the better tamer this time. How about a little bet?”
Aurin grinned. “I’m in. How much?”
Eclare shook her head and a sly smile crept onto her face. “If I win, we go out again tomorrow and I get to pick the date. If you win, we go out again tomorrow and you get to pick the date. You can pick anything you want, even if that means you’re dragging me into the tower all day.”
She was serious, and Aurin turned redder than ever. “Sure,” he said without thinking. She was a nice girl, she was beautiful, but he wasn’t interested and didn’t know how to say it.
“Perfect,” she said, smiling brightly as Aurin looked for his wallet to pay for their food. “I will see you at the match then. Don’t think I’ll make it easy for you just because you’re cute.”
Eclare stood up and left while Aurin snatched his wallet back from Shamtile. He paid for the food and dragged his Minakai outside, annoyed that half of his silver was missing. Of course, that wasn’t the only thing making him snappier than usual.
“How did I get myself into this?” Aurin asked Shamtile, who responded with only a grunt after being scolded about the money.
“I know I’m smart, charming, handsome and a fantastic tamer, but does that make me such a catch?” he asked, jokingly.
Shamtile warbled and gargled, waving his arms wildly.
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“Yes, let’s skip town before the match starts. I’ll enter a tournament in another town under a fake name. Hmm…but then if I make it to the nationals, I’ll be identified. Perhaps I need to get one of those Zodiac masks?”
Shamtile, not understanding the joke, screeched horrifically. He started punching his tamer on the leg and Aurin was very lucky that the magic lizard wasn’t using his stone fists.
*
“An unbelievable hit!” cried the announcer. “Aurin’s Dolissile has just put an end to Eclare’s Totempo. That leaves each tamer with two Minakai remaining.”
Aurin and Eclare’s battle was well underway, with Eclare’s Totempo stampeding straight through Desparee before Dolissile avenged his teammate. Luna was biting her nails in the stands along with Kyle.
“I hope he loses,” said Kyle, still bitter about this morning. “The nerve of him to make me shovel dung for him.”
“If he loses, he’ll never move out of your ranch,” said Luna.
“Go Aurin!” yelled Kyle while Luna laughed. Innogon didn’t understand and stared at her.
With her early lead gone, Eclare summoned a Titanitoise. “Just like we practised,” she said as the metal-shelled tortoise stomped forwards, shaking the ground with each step.
“Shatter that shell,” ordered Aurin, pointing at Eclare’s Minakai. “It’ll be vulnerable without it.”
Dolissile burst forwards at lightning speed, aiming to smash Titanitoise’s shell. Suddenly, the Titanitoise ground to a halt and focused. Its shell glowed a mysterious grey and Dolissile collided with it, sending him spiralling off course and crashing into the ground.
“With an unexpected titanium shield technique, Aurin’s Dolissile is don…wait just a minute!” cried the announcer.
To everyone’s surprise, even Aurin’s, his Minakai floated up. His blue metallic plates were cracked, but he was still standing, figuratively at least. He was wobbling somewhat, but he wasn’t out just yet.
“Unbelievable! The aquatic cyborg is still going after charging head on into his heavily defended opponent. Aurin’s team is full of surprises this year.”
“New tactic,” shouted Aurin. “Disorient and hit him where he’s slowest.”
Dolissile charged again as Titanitoise focused, making steel spikes erupt from the ground, but Dolissile’s wobbling helped him steer clear of the attacks. When he got close to the giant tortoise, he sent out a pulse that confused the Titanitoise. He couldn’t focus and Dolissile used the opportunity to spin around.
The dolphin’s fins started to glow and he charged past Titanitoise’s two front legs, slicing them with his fusion fin attack. The tortoise collapsed to the ground, unable to support his enormous weight on such heavily injured legs.
Dolissile backed off and gathered his strength for one more burst of energy. He finished him off Titanitoise with a head-on charge, knocking Eclare’s second Minakai out and giving Aurin the lead for the first time.
Eclare gave a small smirk. “Let’s see how you handle this one,” she said.
She summoned her final Minakai. It was a large green reptile with a spiked tail and four spikes erupting from its head. Adorning its face was a wooden mask with green markings. It was a Shamasaur, an evolved form of Shamtile.
It was an unexpected move, Aurin had to hand it to her, but he was confident that he could take down the masked monster. He ordered Dolissile to send out a pulse, but Shamasaur stomped his feed and a rock wall sprunt up from the ground and blocked the attack.
The Shamasaur ran behind it and smashed it to pieces with his club-like hands and began to wave his arms. The rocks floated in mid-air, and with a single stomp, Dolissile was barraged with the heavy stones. Already weakened by his fight with Titanitoise, Dolissile was finally finished.
“Dolissile is out!” cried the announcement. “What a fight Aurin’s Minakai put up, but that was a fearsome attack from Eclare’s Shamasaur.”
“Shamtile!” called Aurin, summoning his unevolved Minakai to the field.
The crowd were murmuring. “It’s Aurin’s Shamtile,” said the announcer. “It’s going to be a tough match for the little guy, but can he pull it out of the bag? The odds are stacked against him.”
The Shamasaur bolted forwards and Shamtile scurried out of the way. He conjured his rock armour and held his ground while the Shamasaur summoned a large stalagmite. The large reptile pulled it from the ground and swung it around like a bat, while Shamtile ducked and dived, narrowly avoiding each attack. The rock armour made it hard to manoeuvre.
“Ditch the armour,” ordered Aurin. “It’s only going to slow you down and you’ll need your speed to win this one.”
Shamtile cast off his armour and flung the remnants at his opponent who batted them away, knocking them out of the stadium. Large sections of the audience ducked, fearing that one of the rocks would be the end of them.
Eclare’s Shamasaur hurled his stone spike at Shamtile who took a hit to the arm. He was knocked down by the blow, but quickly opened up a hole in the ground. He plummeted inside so he could hide, but the Shamasaur opened a bigger hole and dug his way towards Aurin’s Minakai.
“Where did they go?” called the announcer. “I won’t be able to give any commentary on this part, folks.”
Shamtile was thrown out of the ground by the Shamasaur, who leapt on top of the small Minakai. Shamtile scurried between his evolved form’s legs and towards Aurin. He was panting heavily, exhausted from the intense fight.
“What’s one way to anger a Shamasaur?” asked Aurin. “We’re going to have to do something you don’t like to win this one.”
Shamtile grunted in reluctant agreement and darted forwards on all fours. He summoned a pillar from the ground which threw him into the air. He hurtled towards the Shamasaur who made to grab the small Minakai but missed. Shamtile slipped through his arms and clung onto his neck.
Aurin’s Minakai grabbed onto Shamasaur’s mask and pulled, sending the large beast into a berserker rage. If there was one thing his species hated, it was having its face revealed. Even Aurin didn’t know what Shamtile looked like under the mask.
Shamasaur wildly tried to grab at Shamasaur, but wasn’t nimble enough to catch him as the small lizard moved around the surface of the larger lizard’s body. Shamtile opened another hole in the ground and Shamasaur dropped into it. No sooner had he fallen in than Shamtile closed it, trapping the beast’s lower half in the earth.
The Shamasaur was far too frenzied to focus and started punching the air, trying to hit Shamtile. The small lizard backed off and did a dance. He danced with all his might, then threw his arms upwards. The earth opened and Shamasaur was launched upwards by a pillar of stone.
The audience all looked upwards as Shamasaur shot straight towards the sky, then began to slow. He started to fall back to the ground, but brought up his own pillar to catch himself. Shamtile waved his arms once more and moved the pillar aside. Eclare’s Shamasaur crashed into the ground with a heavy thud and lay motionless.
“Unbelievable!” shouted the announcer as the crowd went wild with applause. Luna rose to her feet and clapped wildly, while even Kyle looked impressed with Aurin and Shamtile’s performance against the stronger foe.
Aurin and Eclare walked to the centre of the battlefield. “We’re not going on that date, are we?” asked Eclare.
“You’re a great girl, but…”
“You don’t need to say it,” she said, looking up into the crowd. “I have an idea that may help push you along a little bit."
She leaned in and kissed Aurin on the cheek, which was shown to the whole stadium on the large screen. The crowd whooped and wooed, while Luna’s face turned red. She sat down and folded her arms with a sour frown on her face.
“What’s the matter with you?” asked Kyle trying to hold back laughter.
“Nothing,” said Luna grumpily.
Aurin’s face was as red as Luna’s but for different reasons. “That was…something,” he said.
Eclare looked towards a spot in the crowd again. “She was watching,” she giggled. “Good luck with that and with the rest of the tournament. I’m sure I’ll see you around Hazelton.”
Aurin thanked her and said goodbye, then left the battlefield with Shamtile by his side. The pair were elated, having survived the first two rounds, and making it into the top sixty-four. Five more wins and they would make it into the finals, a challenge which both the tamer and his Minakai were determined to conquer.