“That was a lot better,” said Aurin, as Conrad’s Happynut delivered a hard-hitting defeat to his own Heatpup.

“Thanks,” said Conrad, looking relieved to have some praise for a change. “Are we finished for today? I know you have tournament preparations to make.”

“I’m as prepared as can be, to be honest,” shrugged Aurin. “I’ll keep it light for today’s training, then I’ll let my Minakai rest so they’re at full-strength for tomorrow.”

“Do you think you stand a good chance then?” asked Conrad. “I mean, I expect you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

“I don’t want to get cocky about it, but I think I’ll survive the next match, albeit not as easily as the previous one. I’m against a tamer named Simeon and he’s varied his team much more than previous opponents I’ve studied, so I’m going in with a lot more guesswork.”

Conrad was nodding along as Aurin spoke. “Good luck,” he said. “I’ll be cheering you on from the tamer box. That’s one thing I’ve enjoyed about my early elimination, a good view of the rest of the matches.”

“I’ll see you later,” said Aurin as Conrad departed.

The tamer-in-training walked down the path and away from the ranch, whistling into the wind as he did so. He was very upbeat, a far cry from how he was after his defeat by Aurin. He was so upbeat in fact, that he didn’t notice that he was being spied on from the bushes at the side of the road.

“Now we’ll see what you’re up to,” muttered Luna. She was alone today, not trusting the excitable Innogon not to give her away.

Luna had thought there was something suspicious about Conrad from the start and, today, she was determined to confirm it. She would follow him all day if she had to. She crept alongside the path, masked by the bushes and keeping a safe distance from Conrad so that she didn’t get rumbled.

She followed him all the way into town, switching from hiding in the bushes to slinking through side streets and blending into the crowds. Conrad finally his reached his destination, walking into a small café. Luna donned a pair of sunglasses, a hat and a long coat and followed him inside.

Conrad had sat down and was promptly joined by a man with greying hair and a wispy black moustache. He wore a black suit and had a facial expression that gave the impression that he had smelled something foul. Luna did not find him approachable at all, which was good as she had no intention of approaching him. She quickly ordered a tea and sat down at a table just close enough for her to overhead the conversation between Conrad and the mysterious man.

“Klaus, I’m trying my best to find out what he knows,” insisted Conrad. “I’m starting to think that maybe he is innocent in all of this. He’s been nothing but friendly to me this entire time.”

“That must be his public persona,” said Klaus, before lowering his voice. “You know how these Zodiac fellows operate, right? You’ve had access to all of the same reports that I have.”

Luna’s brow furrowed. Surely these two idiots didn’t think Aurin was part of the Zodiac Squad? It was Aurin who had given them the most trouble. If anything, Luna was convinced that Conrad was a member of the villainous group.

“Surely, he would have slipped at some point?” asked Conrad.

“You never know with these people. They’re a dark and sinister force that are top-notch actors. My theory is that he tried to do in two of his own members for insubordination and that’s why that former policewoman is locked up and her pal is on the run. You think she was suspected before? I certainly don’t.”

“Thank you,” said Luna quietly as the waiter brought her a tea.

“I’m telling you; I think we’ve made a mistake with this one. We’re best to cut our losses and move along,” urged Conrad.

“Do you know how expensive it was to ensure that you two drew each other in the first round of the tournament? I had to call a lot of favours in for that one.”

“I told you that it wasn’t necessary. We could have found another way to lower his guard.”

Klaus scoffed. “And you think our boss would have let you just traipse up to him and question him directly? We operate in secrecy, you know that. Keep prying and I’m certain you will uncover the truth.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Surely there must be an easier way to find out where his Ethruki is?”

Luna choked on her tea at the mention of Ethruki and began coughing loudly. Conrad turned towards her, and his eyes grew wide upon realising who was under the hat and behind the shades. Luna threw a few silvers on the table and ran for the door, while Conrad and Klaus hurried after her.

*

Luna arrived back at the ranch, breathless and ready to collapse. She had managed to lose her two pursuers in the streets of the town, but she knew that they would more than likely show up here eventually to keep her quiet.

“Aurin!” she called, not seeing her best friend training nearby.

“What?” he replied, emerging from the pens, a sack of food hanging over his shoulder. Shamtile followed after him, waving his arms excitedly.

“It’s Conrad,” Luna said, mustering the energy to run over to him.

“What about him?”

“He’s not what he seems.”

“This again?” asked Aurin, not wanting to hear it.

“No, please,” said Luna. “I followed him—”

“You what?”

“I was right!” Luna shouted.

Aurin didn’t say anything and let her explain what she had heard. He found it hard to believe, but Luna wouldn’t lie about something like this.

“Me? Zodiac? With an Ethruki of my own? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Conrad believes that, but this Klaus guy is convinced of this nonsense.”

At that moment, two figures emerged from the trees. Conrad and Klaus walked towards Aurin and Luna, who had their tamer gloves on and readied in case things started to get out of hand.

“Will you hear me out?” Conrad asked Aurin.

“Hear you out? I thought I was helping you and you’ve been wasting my precious training time, all the while you’ve been trying to gather information on about who you think I am.”

“I’ll tell you who we think you are,” barked Klaus. “You’re a member of the Zodiac Squad and you’ve captured an Ethruki for yourself. Where are you hiding it?”

“Klaus, please,” begged Conrad before turning to Aurin. “Give me a few minutes, then we’ll leave.”

Fighting the urge to punch Conrad, Aurin nodded.

“We’re part of an organisation called the Minakai Guardians,” began Conrad. “We track down hard to control Minakai; ones that are exceptionally powerful of dangerous, and make sure that their power won’t be abused. There are many Minakai, especially cosmic elementals, to epic beings and even near-unique legendary Minakai, that pose a great threat to human society. If they’re left unchecked, who knows what could happen?”

“What could happen?” asked Luna.

“Thousands of lives could be snuffed out and entire towns could be wiped off the face of the Earth. Do you know the capabilities of some of these creatures? Ethruki has powers that we’re still only learning about, and he’s not even the most powerful Minakai out there. Before Minakai ownership and summoning stones became widespread, it was chaos out there. It took untold amounts of human effort and sacrifice to get the Minakai under control. We’re making sure that we don’t return to that world.”

“And what do you do with tamers who refuse to hand over their Minakai to you?” asked Aurin.

Klaus stepped forward. “We do what needs to be done,” he said gruffly. “Now if you’ll hand over your Ethruki, we will be on our way.”

“I don’t have an Ethruki!” shouted Aurin. “Why do you think I do?”

“Because an owned Ethruki was spotted in the Harmony Tower, and it followed shortly after you dealt with two of your former colleagues, Sagittarius and Libra. We managed to painstakingly track a stolen Roche Berry back to them and there was no trace of it after you battled them in the town square.”

“That’s what you’re basing this off of?” asked an exasperated Aurin.

“That’s not exactly great evidence,” said Kyle, walking across the field.

“It is by far the best lead that we have,” said Klaus. “Your friend here turns up at the same place as the Zodiac Squad all too often.”

“He’s been nothing but a thorn in their side.”

“You could say the same about Detective Scarlett, or Libra if you prefer, but she was one of the higher-ranking members, was she not?”

“Leo,” said Aurin.

“What about him?” asked Luna.

Aurin turned to Klaus. “I can tell you who probably took the Roche Berry. It’s another Zodiac member called Leo. It was him who came up with the plan of drawing Sagittarius and Libra out in the first place?

“So you admit that you worked with Zodiac at one point?”

“We didn’t work with him,” said Luna. “We used the information he gave us against two other Zodiac members and made sure that they wouldn’t give us any more trouble. And it worked, I might add. We haven’t had seen another Zodiac goon since.”

Klaus stayed quiet for a moment. “If you’re as innocent as you claim—and I’m not saying I believe you—then can we count on your assistance in tracking down this Ethruki?”

“If it’ll get you to leave me alone, then fine,” said Aurin. “I’ll help you after the tournament.”

“After Ludonia,” interjected Luna.

“After Ludonia, if I’m fortunate enough to qualify for the national championships. You two can do…whatever it is that you do, then I’ll help you out once I’m not in the middle of an important tournament.”

Conrad pulled Klaus aside and the two quietly argued for a short while. “Very well,” said Klaus, turning back towards Aurin, Luna, and Kyle. “I’ll give you this chance to clear your name.”

“My name doesn’t need cleared,” said Aurin. “I’m doing you a favour.”

Conrad looked agitated. “Aurin, I’m sorry about this,” he said.

“I don’t accept your apology,” said Aurin. “You interfered with the tournament drawings, you’ve lied to me, you’ve wasted my time. When everything you do is through deception, you’re lucky I haven’t thrown you out of here.”

Conrad walked away. “We’ll be in touch,” said Klaus, before following him.

“How do we keep getting ourselves into these situations?” Aurin asked Luna.

“We’re trouble magnets,” sighed Luna.

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh at the look on the pair’s faces as they marvelled at what had just unfolded before them.