“Keep shovelling,” said Kyle, relaxing against the fence while he worked Aurin and Shamtile to the bone.

“I’m exhausted and its hot today. Can’t we take a break for a few minutes?” asked Aurin, lifting the dung with his shovel.

“No,” said Kyle, drinking water just to rub it in. “This is your punishment for skipping your chores so you could go on a date, which I’m still surprised you didn’t tell anyone about.”

“I didn’t know it was a date at the time,” insisted Aurin.

“An attractive girl that you’ve met before calls you up out of the blue and asks you to eat with her,” said Kyle, not believing him. “Either you’re lying to me or you’re denser than I realised.”

“We were battling together in the afternoon.”

“Denser it is,” laughed Kyle as Aurin continued to move the Minakai dung into the wheelbarrow.

Shamtile threw his shovel down and started to raise chunks of the earth and use that to drop the excrement in, but Kyle scolded him and told him he had to use the shovel, or it wasn’t a proper punishment for his behaviour.

The gruelling and smelly work continued for a few hours, and once Kyle was satisfied that Aurin wouldn’t do it again, let him go shower. It wasn’t long after that that the ranch had a visitor.

“Hello, Aurin,” said Conrad, walking up the path alone. He was looking through the fence, trying to see if he could see his Minakai anywhere.

“Ready for your first training session?” asked Aurin, secretly excited to deal out a tough workout after what he’d been put through all morning.

“I’m as ready as I can be,” said Conrad, still looking around. “Are my Minakai here?”

Aurin laughed. “I suggest taking the lazy route and just calling them with a summoning stone. Kyle and I take care of hundreds of Minakai.”

“I do all the work,” called Kyle from the pens, but Aurin didn’t take the bait.

Conrad raised his hand and used the summoning stones in his glove to summon all three of his Minakai. His Cubtem, Hornber and Happynut all appeared in three distinct flashes of light, unaware of what they were going to be put through today.

Aurin and a well-rested Shamtile led Conrad and his Minakai to the gate, similar to how Kyle had done for Aurin when he first started training him. “Now,” said Aurin,” we’re going to begin by making sure that both you and your team are in tip-top shape. There is no good reason for a tamer to be fat and lazy while the Minakai do all the hard work.”

“Alright,” said Conrad, without a hint of complaint.

“I’m going to start by testing your endurance. You will all run laps around the ranch. It’s important that you do it together to help build your Minakai’s faith in you. You want them to understand that you’re in it together. If they suffer, you suffer. If they’re tired, you’re tired. You can’t take the hits for them, but you can certainly make sure that it’s harder for them to take hits.”

“I understand,” said Conrad.

“Good, now start running!” ordered Aurin, taking great delight in not being the one told to run.

Conrad took off and his Cubtem outpaced him, while his Hornber and Happynut fell behind quite quickly. Shamtile shaped the earth into stone chairs and he and Aurin sat on them and watched, enjoying a rest after such an intense time lately. It was not just the dung shovelling, nor was it the tournament, it was the intensity of their training. They had been fighting hard in the ranch and, admittedly, avoiding the tower so they could focus on battling tamed Minakai.

When Conrad finally stopped, unable to run any longer, Aurin called him and his Minakai over. “Perfect, now it’s time to start battling.”

“Okay,” said Conrad, clearly exhausted, but still refusing to complain.

Aurin was taken aback, but quietly impressed. “When you’re battling against wild Minakai, they’re just as the name suggests. Wild. When you’re battling against a tamer’s Minakai, you’re not only battling the Minakai, you’re battling the tamer too.”

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Just then, Kyle walked past. “When you fight against Aurin, tell your Minakai to aim for his head.”

“Shut up, Kyle,” said Aurin and Kyle walked away with a miserable look on his face. “You’re obviously not going to attack the tamer, but it’s a battle of wits and skill. Tamers will each train their Minakai in different ways and use different abilities for different purposes. Your job is to either face the challenge head on and find a way to overcome it or avoid the challenge entirely and find a way to counter.”

“Understood,” said Conrad.

“Alright,” said Aurin. “Shamtile, you’re up. Give him ten percent and see how he handles it.” Shamtile’s mathematics were not great, so he looked at Aurin in confusion. “Go easy on him,” clarified his tamer.

The tamers and their Minakai made their way over to Kyle’s training arena, standing at opposite ends. Aurin stood silently, happy to let Shamtile handle things his own way. He would only pull him back if things got out of hand.

“Ready?” asked Aurin.

“Ready,” said Conrad, sending his Cubtem forward first.

Shamtile hurled a large rock, which hit its mark and knocked the exhausted lion cub out immediately, while Aurin dragged his palm down his face. “I said to go easy on him!”

The masked lizard protested, as though he was saying that this was him going easy. He warbled and screeched, waving his hands erratically. Aurin calmed him down and assured him that it was fine and that he could just go even easier next time.

Just then, Luna walked up to the arena. “How’s the training going?” she asked, but she then spotted the look on Aurin’s face.

An idea came to Aurin. “Luna, you would be the perfect person for a test battle!”

“Why?” asked Luna suspiciously.

Aurin suddenly became very enthusiastic. “Your Dopefish and Rabbacat haven’t battled anybody other than me yet, and Heatpup hasn’t had a tower run in about a month. It’ll be good for both your teams.”

“Fine,” sighed Luna, having come to relax rather than do any work. She took Aurin’s place and summoned her Dopefish. The round fish bounced lazily on the ground with a vacant expression while Luna looked at him sadly.

“Hornber,” said Conrad, pointing at Dopefish, “fireball!”

“Water jet,” ordered Luna.

The fireball and small water jet collided in mid-air, leaving nothing but steam remaining. Conrad looked like he was panicking and didn’t say a word. His Hornber, of its own accord, ran with his head down towards Dopefish aiming to pierce him with his horn.

Luna wanted to see what Dopefish would do, so she too remained silent. As soon as the Hornber drew close, Dopefish opened his mouth unnaturally wide and swallowed Hornber whole.

“Oh no!” cried Conrad, finally losing his cool.

Luna was alarmed too, she hadn’t expected Dopefish to do something so effective. “Spit him out, Dopefish!” she demanded, her voice shaking ever so slightly. Aurin tried to hold back his laughter, but a few sniggers escaped.

Dopefish bounced around, with a Hornber still inside. He refused to open his mouth until he was certain his enemy had been dealt with. At last, he relented and released his opponent, who was already unconscious.

“Bad Dopefish!” scolded Luna, impressed but angered by his disobedience. “When I give you a command, you do it on the spot. I know you’re not exactly a brainbox, but you knew exactly what I meant. Her Minakai stared up at her vacantly, and she sent him back into the pens.

She summoned her Rabbacat to take his place, while Conrad summoned his Happynut. Happynut danced merrily on the ground, reminding Luna of when her Angree was at this stage of evolution. A much more upbeat time for the raging nature warrior.

“Happynut, headbutt that rabbit,” said Conrad.

“Rabbacat, dodge,” ordered Luna.

The Happynut broke into a run, something not so easy for a Minakai with such stumpy legs, while Rabbacat ran circles around the shiny seed. Conrad’s Minakai hadn’t a hope of catching up to Luna’s speedy little Minakai.

“Use your sharp leaves,” Conrad commanded his tiring Happynut.

It half-heartedly flung the leaves, but Happynut bounced over them with ease. Luna decided to end the battle and put Conrad out of his misery. He knew it was coming, so closed his eyes as Luna’s Rabbacat delivered a powerful kick to Happynut, sending him soaring through the air and out of the arena.

“Well…you tried?” said Luna uncertainly. It wasn’t as tactful as she intended.

“I’m hopeless,” moaned Conrad, getting on Aurin’s nerves.

“Don’t start getting defeated now,” said Aurin. “You and your Minakai were already tired. This was to see how well they could hold up under pressure. Clearly, they need to build up their stamina and so do you. I’ve got another match tomorrow, so I’ll see you again the day after.”

“That’s it for today?” asked Conrad.

“That’s it for today. I’ve still got a tournament to keep on top of and stuff here to do. I’m sparing you what time I have. Go home and get some rest, then you can start training again tomorrow without me.”

Conrad said his farewells and walked down the ranch path despondently. Luna walked over to Aurin with a peculiar look written on her face.

“Is something the matter?” asked Aurin.

“I think he’s faking how bad he is,” said Luna. “Nobody is that terrible and no Minakai are that weak, not even the wild tower Minakai on the first floor. He’s up to something.”

“Are you joking or are you serious?” asked Aurin.

“You’re telling me that you believe he reached a high enough floor by himself to enter the tournament with that team and those skills?”

“Maybe somebody carried him that high up.”

“I think he’s here to spy on you or win your trust for some reason,” said Luna, looking deadly serious. “What if he’s Zodiac?”

“You really think so?”

Luna nodded with certainty. “I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but something isn’t right with him. I think you should be careful around this guy. I don’t trust him, and neither should you.”