“To be honest, it’s a bit of a relief that I’ve been knocked out,” said Aurin, waiting for Gardner’s match to begin. “There’s no more pressure for a while and I can find my balance again before the national championships begin.

“You’ve said that three times already,” said Kyle. “Saying it another ten times isn’t going to make us believe you more.”

“But it’s true!” exclaimed Aurin, then sighing. He wasn’t glad to be knocked out, but he was enjoying having the weight of such high intensity matches taken off him for a short time. “You two can believe whatever you want to believe. I’m going to sit and enjoy Gardner’s match.”

“I can see him at the corner of the tunnel,” said Luna, pointing towards a shaking figure that was just out of sight of most people.

“He’s not looking too great, is he?” asked Kyle.

“He’s even redder than usual,” replied Aurin, “but this time it’s his face and not just his hair.”

The static from the speakers crackled and the announcer began. “After a thrilling first semi-final match, our next competitors have got their work cut out for them if they want to give a fantastic show. All kidding aside, please everyone put your hands together for Percival and Gardner!”

Everyone cheered and Aurin whistled an ear-piercing whistle to support Gardner, but Innogon spat water in his face to shut him up; it was hurting his ears. Luna and Kyle laughed as Aurin tried to dry himself off quickly.

The two competitors walked out onto the field. Gardner was looking terrified, not usually one to fall to the pressure, but his last few matches he had seemed a little out of sorts. Percival, however, was cool as a cucumber. The tall black haired tamer waved to the crowd and blew a few kisses through the air. He was a favourite from the start after he dominated his first couple of matches, and the teenage girls in town had started a small fan club for him as he was a rather dashing and charming fellow.

“He’s not so great,” said Aurin.

“Mhmm,” said Luna, not listening and eliciting a sneer from Aurin. He was definitely not jealous of the attention, not one bit.

In truth, he had spoken to Percival a few times and quite liked the guy for the most part. He was fierce and determined, but he had an air of superiority that escaped him.

“And begin!” called the announcer.

The two tamers summoned their Minakai, Gardner leading with his Desparee, while Percival brought forth his Cephelarock. The flat-headed stone octopus waved its grinding tentacles and pulled itself along the field. The two Minakai fought hard, but Cephelarock’s ability to control the earth element proved too much for Gardner’s Desparee and it fell before long.

Gardner’s Vinewolf managed to get the better of the Cephelarock, but Percival’s Frocean defeated both of Gardner’s remaining Minakai and secured him the victory. The Frocean, an evolved Tadpool, was large, rotund, and covered in icy boils in addition to the powerful ice shards erupting from its back. Luna stared at in awe, clearly tempted to start evolving her Minakai again.

“And there you have it!” called the announcer. “Our two finalists have now revealed themselves after defeating two very strong contenders. Tomorrow we will determine who is this year’s Hazelton Champion.”

*

Hunter’s Treebot slammed its tank-like body on Percival’s Chopchop, crushing it like a bug. The metal elemental had found it difficult to overcome its disadvantage against the nature-aligned robot and it had succumbed to defeat.

“Please give it up for our champion for the second year in a row, Hunter!” called the announcer as the audience all leapt to their feet, including Aurin, Luna, Kyle and Gardner. Shamtile and Innogon swung each other around by the arms, celebrating along with the humans.

Aurin in particular was pleased because, much like Luna the previous year, he was able to say that he was defeated by the champion. It was an ego thing, he would have admitted that openly, but it kept his spirits high.

Everyone sat in wait as Hunter received the ornate gold trophy, but what everybody was really waiting for was the egg. One of the tournament officials passed it to the mayor who, in turn, handed it to Hunter. The tamer held it up high for all to see and waved to the crowd.

“I wonder what’s inside this time,” said Luna.

“It wouldn’t be another Microbot, surely?” asked Gardner.

Kyle shook his head. “They’re going to mix it up, I would imagine.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“I remember hearing somewhere that it was brought in from Ludonia,” said Aurin, “so it’s probably something that’s either not in Harmony Tower or is much rare to find here.”

“That doesn’t help Hunter out much considering he lives in Ludonia,” said Luna.

Gardner brushed this off. “Hunter’s the sort of guy that makes an ideal team and sticks with it. He doesn’t mix things up much.”

“That’s true,” said Aurin. “When we first battled, he used Minakai other than his Microbot evolutions, except for Flambot, but in the time since he seems to almost exclusively use his Flambot, Steambot and Treebot.”

Everyone continued discussing Hunter’s strategy, each trying to measure the effectiveness of it, but Kyle had the final word. “He’s the Hazelton Champion and the three of you aren’t,” he said. Luna tried to interject that she hadn’t entered the tournament, but Kyle told her that his point still stood.

Luna, Kyle and the two Minakai headed back to the ranch, while Aurin and Gardner met up with Hunter in the town square. It was hard to get much of a word in as people kept coming up to him and congratulating him while several tried to pester him into hatching the egg on the spot. He laughed them off, saying that he didn’t have an incubator handy, but it kept happening.

“So, Ludonia?” said Aurin once the last of Hunter’s fans slinked away.

“The three of us…plus Percival,” said Gardner, a big smile on his face. “I can’t believe how much things have changed in a year. You were going it solo last year, Hunter.”

“Last year?” laughed Hunter. “I’ve qualified for the national championships more than twice, you know. This will be my seventh attempt.”

“Seventh?” cried Aurin and Gardner in unison.

“Seven times in eight years,” Hunter confirmed. “I had to pull out one year when my son was born, but I jumped right back on it after that.”

“I didn’t know you had a son,” said Aurin.

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. It’s difficult being here away from him, but I’ll see him first thing tomorrow morning. He wants to be a tamer just like his dad, but I don’t think he quite understands what it means yet.”

The three tamers talked about their lives, getting to know each other a bit more. Even though only one of them had come out of the tournament truly victorious, they had formed a strong bond since their first meeting in the town square a little over a year ago. They wouldn’t say it out loud, but Aurin and Gardner saw Hunter as a mentor; Aurin especially after all the advice he had received from the more experienced tamer.

“What’s Ludonia Tower like?” asked Aurin.

“You’re going to check it out while you’re in the city?” asked Hunter.

“Luna and I are leaving early to give us lots of time for sight-seeing.”

Gardner threw his head back. “My friend, you’re in for quite the time,” he said. “Harmony Tower is a combat-class tower, right? So is Ludonia Tower, but it’s a much more challenging one.”

“Everything comes in tiers with these things,” agreed Hunter. “Three types of towers, each of those types have a range of challenge levels. Harmony Tower is one of the easier combat towers, but calling it easy is like trying to be a stunt driver as soon as you learn how to drive. You learn quickly that easy in the world of towers is still challenging.”

Aurin contemplated this for a moment. “Well, that’s all the more reason to go. All I need to do is buy a key, then I’ve got the perfect training challenge waiting for me. How much are the keys?”

“Around two hundred ounces of silver, so about the price of a basic egg,” said Hunter. “They’re plentiful so while it isn’t cheap, it’s cheap enough that you’ll earn that back in a tower run or two if you can avoid being banished.”

“I can’t wait!” yelled Aurin, causing everyone in the square to look at the trio. A group of boys realised that Hunter was there and ran up to him to get autographs.

*

Aurin held the Lunar Shard up to his Gorungol, and it began to glow steely-grey. His form changed in the light, growling longer and sleeker, while his crystals retracted inside his body. The light faded and his new bronze body was revealed.

“I have to admit,” said Luna, “he looks formidable.”

Aurin patted his newly evolved Gorunze on the back. “Shamtile already covers my earth elemental needs and Dolissile is a speedy metal elemental, so I figured Gorunze was a better choice than Gorungra for his evolution.”

Kyle laughed. “Shamtile’s speedy, so why not use Gorungra as a sturdy earth elemental? He’s powerful, but incredibly defensive.”

“Ah,” said Aurin, running his hand through his dark blonde hair. “You know, that may have been a good idea too.”

“No going back now,” said Luna, skipping away to fetch something from her bag that she’s left inside Kyle’s house.

“It’s going to be quiet around here without the pair of you,” said Kyle.

“You going to miss me?” asked Aurin with a smarmy smirk.

“Only because I’ll have to do all the work here again.”

“I thought you said I was a lazy freeloader?”

“Oh yeah,” said Kyle, and the pair burst out laughing. “In all seriousness, it is going to be strange. Not to get too whiny, but you’re both good friends and it’s nice having you around.”

“We aren’t leaving for another week, so you don’t need to bring out the tissues just yet, Kyle.”

Luna jogged from the house with a sun-shaped, orange crystal in her hand. It was a Solar Shard. She whistled loudly, and her Heatpup came leapt over the fences and joined them at the front of the ranch.

“Ah, it’s finally time?” asked Aurin.

“Yup,” smiled Luna, squatting down beside her fiery dog. “Don’t you go changing on me too much, you hear me?”

Heatpup barked and playfully nipped at her ankles. Luna held the Solar Shard to Heatpup and seconds later, he had evolved into a Dogember. He didn’t look that much different outside of growing larger and his face changing from cute to fierce.

“Are you still my little pup?” Luna asked him.

Dogember barked and ran around her in circles, before stretching out and wagging his tail.

“Seems that way to me,” said Kyle, leaning down and scratching behind Dogember’s ears. The dog growled affectionately and lay down, very relaxed.

“It’s been a while since your team changed at all,” said Aurin.

“I thought I needed to mix things up a little,” said Luna. “We’ve had terrible luck recently in finding eggs, perhaps that’s going to change when we’re exploring Ludonia Tower?”

“It’s going to happen,” said Aurin. “I can feel it.”

Aurin, Luna and Kyle sat on the grass at the front of the ranch, as all of their Minakai played and fought in front of them. It was strange for Aurin to think that he didn’t have much time left here at the ranch before going to Ludonia, but it was an adventure he was excited to go on. He was determined to come back, having defeated Tobias and claimed the title of Bretonian Champion for himself. He didn’t care how unrealistic that may have been, he was going to try anyway.