Aurin breathed deep and stepped forwards. His heart was pounding a million miles a minute and the sweat dripped from his brow as he exited the stifling tunnel. He walked forward, the gaze of thousands upon thousands of people upon him from both the stands and anyone viewing from the comfort of their homes. Today was the day that the world would learn his name and he could not let them down.
“Aurin, a native of Buckstone, comes here after placing in the top four of the Hazelton qualifier,” said the announcer. “I’ve had the pleasure of watching him battle before and you’re in for a treat folks. His opponent today is all the way from Stockton, it’s Charlie.”
The audience was cheering for both tamers, and Aurin finally saw his opponent’s face in person. Charlie was a short and stocky man that looked like he would fit in nicely with a biker gang, from his shaved head to his rugged beard and leather jacket that was much too heavy for the hot summer in Ludonia.
“Let the battle begin!” called the announcer once both tamers had taken their places.
Aurin threw his hand forward and unleashed a blue light. Steambot stomped across the field, puffing hot steam from his pipes as he did so. The fairly jovial Minakai was all business today and the crowd was clearly impressed.
From within a purple light, emerged Charlie’s Thunding. The grey Minakai clad in gold armour ran forward with its lightning spear raised, as eager to start the battle as Steambot was.
“Keep it at a distance,” ordered Aurin while Thunding drew its arm back to throw its spear.
Steambot shot jets of water from its arm, knocking the spears aside as fast as Thunding could spawn them. With each throw, the Minakai crept closer, while Steambot backed off. Aurin knew that neither was gaining ground, but he wanted to see how Charlie and his Minakai would battle.
“He’s a coward,” said Charlie to Thunding. “Stormbringer!”
Thunding leapt into the sky, propelled by a burst of electrical energy. He raised his spear high into the air and it began glowing brighter than ever. He hurled the spear towards Steambot and everyone in the stadium was blinded by its crackling light. If it hit its target, Steambot was done for.
Aurin shut his eyes tightly. “Pressure jump!” he ordered, praying that Steambot reacted in time.
There was a sudden explosive burst, but the crowd could only see indistinguishable shapes through the steam . “What’s going on?” asked the commentator. “I need to wipe my glasses, folks.
Everyone forced their eyes open and Steambot was nowhere to be seen as Thunding landed on the ground, conjuring another lightning spear into its hand. It was ready for the next foe.
“Gragh!” it yelled as a blue cannonball slammed into it.
“That’s gotta hurt!” yelled the commentator.
Steambot had escaped in time. He had propelled himself into the sky with his pressure powers and flattened the small Minakai. Aurin would be shocked if it didn’t leave his unfortunate foe with a few broken bones. Even a Minakai would take a couple of days to recover from that impact.
Charlie recalled his broken Minakai. “Angree, time to get revenge,” he said, summoning his next monster to battle.
Aurin was quietly confident as Charlie’s Angree appeared on the field. It was true that the furious wooden puppet was a much sturdier Minakai than Thunding, Steambot had fought against Luna’s Angree more than enough times to get to grips with how the species fought.
The Angree beat its wooden chest and yelled violently before pulling a pair of thick wooden vines from the ground, then cracking them like whips. Steambot shot a water cannon, but the Angree dodged with shockingly its quicker-than-Luna’s reflexes and sped forward.
It reached back and whipped its arms forward, wrapping the vines around Steambot’s arms. The bulky robot tried to wrestle free but Angree harnessed its nature powers and the whips tightened as if by their own accord. Angree screamed violently and pulled Steambot forward, forcing the robot to fall flat on his porthole.
As Steambot tried to regain his composure, Angree whipped and whirled, flinging the hefty Minkai around—which was an impressive feat of strength, Aurin had to admit—and doing a lot of damage to the water elemental.
“Use your cannons when you’re in the air,” ordered Aurin, trying to come up with an escape plan quickly. It was a gamble, but perhaps this would work.
Steambot complied and shot an intense burst of water when he was upside down in the air. He flew upwards, dragging the Angree along with him. As they were propelled high into the sky, Steambot threw his arms forward, swinging Angree above him. As they reached the apex, Steambot shot his cannons once more and shot both himself and his foe towards the ground where they collapsed in a heap.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“And it looks like a double knockout!” cried the announcer as neither Minakai stirred. “Aurin has two Minakai remaining while Charlie has only one. The odds are in Aurin’s favour right now, but we’ve seen the tides turn quickly before, haven’t we folks?”
He was doing fine, Aurin told himself. Nothing majorly embarrassing so far and he was ahead by a Minakai. Not bad for his first nationally televised tournament to an audience of millions.
He raised his hand and summoned Desparee as Charlie’s final Minakai met Aurin’s. The blue-skinned humanoid Minakai stood in a fighting pose, its purple tuft of hair flowing backwards like as though a wave. It wore green trousers with a golden-beaded belt keeping them secure. It was a Panchi—a water elemental warrior—and its appearance suited its owner nicely, reminding Aurin of a cross between a biker and a monk. It stared intently at Desparee with its yellow eyes.
The Panchi started shadow boxing the air, pumping itself up, but Aurin wouldn’t let the small warrior get close. Desparee jumped into the air and landed on the ground, causing a bramble cage to spring up and entrap the Panchi. It stopped moving, remaining still and calm so as not to catch itself on the thorns. It was a sitting duck in here; time to finish the job.
“Nature beam!” ordered Aurin and Desparee put its hands together and unleashed a mighty beam of nature elemental energy. Seconds before impact, the Panchi slipped through the floor and vanished from sight.
The announcer began to call out. “Where did it—” but Panchi answered the question. A small whirlpool appeared behind Desparee and Panchi leapt from within and began striking the tree-like Minakai in the back. Desparee fell forward but rolled out of the danger zone and climbed back to his feet, weeping in sorrow all the way.
Aurin’s Minakai tried to create more distance, but Panchi let out a hearty grunt, then began shadow boxing again. This time, however, its fists glowed blue and heavy jets of water flowed from every punch at an immense speed. Caught off guard, they pummelled Desparee repeatedly. Unable to fight back, the nature elemental collapsed, and Aurin recalled him.
“Charlie’s Panchi is among the more impressive I’ve seen!” called the announcer. “This little pugilist has evened up the playing field without even taking a scratch. What’s Aurin got left in the tank?”
In a flash of silver light, Gorunze appeared on the field. He growled metallically and scratched the ground with his sharp claws. He charged forward and Panchi disappeared before he could be hit. Panchi reappeared behind Gorunze and punched the bronze construct, but the metal plates kept Gorunze from taking any notable damage.
“What is it that they say, folks? The best offense is a good defence,” quipped the announcer.
“Not for long,” said Charlie with a smirk.
Panchi grabbed onto Gorunze and leapt onto the metal beast’s back, striking at him with its watery fists. Little by little, Gorunze’s back was being dented. Aurin wasn’t sure what to do against a smaller foe that could teleport quickly. Gorunze was strong and sturdy, but he wasn’t fast…unless.
“Roll over and use your eyes when the moment comes,” ordered Aurin, inspiration striking him as Panchi struck Gorunze.
Aurin’s Minakai obeyed and threw himself onto the ground, forcing Panchi to leap off. Gorunze tried to roll back onto his feet, but Panchi used its water warp and uppercut Gorunze from below, throwing him into the air.
“Now!” ordered Aurin.
Gorunze looked right at Panchi and unleased a topaz-coloured laser blast from his gemstone eyes. The beam swept across Panchi’s chest and the Minakai fell back in pain. Gorunze landed and charged at Charlie’s Minakai as it scrambled away, much less calm than before.
Panchi threw a last-ditch punch and its fist collided with Gorunze’s sharp claw. Panchi drew back its fist, on the losing end of the collision and Gorunze trampled all over the warrior, crushing it with the full weight of its metal body. Panchi wasn’t coming back from this and Charlie recalled him, defeated in the first round.
The crowd cheered for Aurin and Charlie himself even clapped politely.
“And Aurin has pulled it out of the bag!” called the announcer. “Both he and his fellow Hazelton qualifier Gardner have won their first matches and will be advancing onwards. A strong showing from the small town.”
Aurin exhaled and then breathed in deeply, having held his breath for the last half a minute. As elated as he was to have won his first battle at the national level, he knew the difficulty Charlie had presented was a sign of things to come.
The two tamers walked forward and shook hands. “Thanks for a great battle,” Aurin said.
“Nah, it’s all good,” said Charlie, who didn’t seem all that disappointed. “I only made it to the top four in my regional tournament, so I’m just pleased to have gotten here.”
Those words didn’t bring much comfort to Aurin, who was in the same position. There were winners and runners-up in other tournaments that were now standing in his way on the road to face Tobias. Every time he started to feel confident, reality slapped him in the face once again. Was he in over his head? No, he just needed to clear his mind. He won today and that was the main thing.
Aurin departed as the crowd continued to cheer for him. To them, it didn’t really matter how won or lost; it was all about getting to see the best battle fought between two superpowered beings capable of the seemingly impossible. They were satisfied no matter what.
Luna met Aurin in the hallway outside his waiting room. “You did it!” she cheered, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.
“Did you doubt me?” he asked jokingly.
“Not for a second,” she said with a bright smile. Aurin could tell that she meant it.
“Well, I’d better keep winning and make sure that your faith isn’t misplaced,” he said, feigning his previous confidence that was now shaken. He held out his arm for her trying to push his feelings down. “Shall we go watch the next match?”
“Let’s,” said Luna, locking arms with him.
The two headed towards the stands, Luna excited to see what would happen next while Aurin’s mind dwelled on the different strategies he had planned out for the tournament. Now, they didn’t quite seem enough, and he was starting to panic.