Gardner’s Debigger stared at Skrow as the black bird circled above him in the air. The large green sack had a look of sheer malice on the face centred on its body while its snapping vines swayed menacingly; each mouth biting in Skrow’s direction.

“I haven’t seen Gardner use this Minakai before,” said Luna to Kyle.

“Why would he show you all of his Minakai?” asked Kyle. “If he was smart, he would keep a few of his monsters a secret when he knows its inevitable that he and Aurin will face each other in a tournament. It’s only good sense.”

“Isn’t that a bit deceptive?”

“It’s tactics. You need to get friendship out of your head right now and remember that this is a competition.”

“And do you think Debigger is strong enough to take out the rest of Aurin’s Minakai?”

“No,” admitted Kyle, “but it is not a weak opponent. Aurin needs to be cautious because it’s a demon-type Minakai, which means it has all sorts of tricks up its sleeves.”

“Isn’t my Spritzard a demon?” asked Luna.

“Yes, and you haven’t exploited its demonic side yet,” said Kyle with a devious grin. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll figure out how to.”

Aurin’s Skrow beat the sky with its wings, conjuring forth a razor sharp wind, but Debigger swallowed it whole in his sack, expanding to nearly three times its normal size, before contracting itself and sending the wind straight back.

Skrow wobbled in the air, managing to stabilise himself, but he didn’t expect the next attack. Debigger’s vines stretched into the air and its two chomping mouths clamped hard around the bird’s ankles. Debigger pulled Skrow out of the sky and tossed him to the ground, but it did not relinquish its grip.

Rather than retracting its vines back into itself, it retracted them and pulled itself towards Skrow. He opened his large mouth and devoured the bird, munching the Minakai for a while before spitting him back out.

“Give him a second,” said Gardner calmly.

Debigger watched and waited while Skrow stumbled around, completely imbalanced. Once he finally started to recover, Debigger whipped him relentlessly with its vines until the bird crumpled to the floor and Aurin was forced to recall him.

“And now we’re back to an even playing field,” said the announcer. “Both Aurin and Gardner have two Minakai remaining. Gardner’s Debigger is a tough opponent, so what’s Aurin going to do about it?”

“Here’s what I’m going to do,” said Aurin, summoning Steambot.

The hulking golem’s metallic blue body sparkled in the daylight as he gave an impressive flex that got the crowd going. Debigger screwed its face up into an ugly grin and then it began cackling. Steambot’s size and strength did not impress it even a little.

“Pressure cannon!” ordered Aurin.

Steambot’s signature attack erupted from him and the mighty jet of water shot towards Debigger at an immense speed. Gardner’s Minakai opened up its large mouth and swallowed the flowing water with ease, only suffering a knockback in the process. It expanded to about five times its normal size and closed its mouth, storing the water within itself.

“Flatten him!” ordered Gardner.

Debigger was too heavy to move himself, but large roots grew from the earth and launched him into the air. Steambot hurried out of the way as Debigger hit the ground, still holding the water in his sack-like body. Debigger continued to throw himself with roots around the battlefield while Steambot moved out of the way each time.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” said Aurin. “He can only take so much.”

Steambot shot another pressure cannon and Debigger swallowed it whole once again, his skin stretching to near breaking point, but he held strong.

“Now!” cried Gardner.

Debigger squeezed and unleashed the water which ripped across the battlefield like a wave in a storm. Steambot braced itself, but was swept away with the water, only to find itself caught in an entangling net of vines that had appeared behind it.

Debigger scurried towards Steambot who was pulling himself free, then swallowed the robot whole. Unlike with the fleshy Skrow, the metal Steambot wasn’t easy to chew on.

“Steambot’s going to be able to rip right through him,” said Luna.

Kyle was staring intently. “Wait for it…”

Debigger began to glow an intense green as he spat Steambot out in a beam of light. It had charged a nature beam and shot the Minakai into the air, ravaging it with elemental energy the entire time. By the time Steambot hit the ground, he was already whirring and beeping; hitting the ground was the end of him.

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“And Gardner takes the lead!” the announcer called out.

Aurin was dumbfounded. He did not know that Gardner even had this Debigger, never mind how tough it was. He had one Minakai left and he was starting to fear that it wouldn’t be enough. He could see Debigger panting, so he had to strike fast.

“Desparee, he’s exhausted” he said, raising his tamer glove. “Hit him with your own nature beam.”

Aurin’s depressed tree appeared on the battlefield; a nature elemental to rival Gardner’s own preferred element. He drew his hands back and shot a nature beam of his own through teary eyes. It collided with the Debigger and tore chunks from its already weakened body.

Gardner gave his Minakai a small smile before recalling him. “This is it,” he muttered as he glanced at his tamer glove.

“Desparee versus Desparee,” said Aurin quietly to himself. “Who has the strongest one?”

Aurin watched as a light blue light was cast from Gardner’s tamer glove. Something was wrong. It should have been green.

“Oh no,” said Luna, watching a Snowlem appear on the battlefield. “An ice elemental has a big advantage over a nature elemental.”

“He knew exactly what Aurin was expecting him to do,” said Kyle, his fear being confirmed.

“It doesn’t matter,” Aurin told his Minakai. “We take it down anyway.”

The large snowman tweaked its wooden arms and a snowstorm appeared from thin air, beating Desparee with its ferocity and obscuring his vision. The two Minakai ran at each other and began to brawl. Desparee delivered punches that would have made an Angree jealous, while Snowlem tackled and threw the nature elemental around the battlefield.

As the battle continued, Desparee began to slow. He was in the cold snow for too long and his reactions were slowing. Snowlem now had the edge and the evenly returned attacks from Desparee were now becoming fewer and fewer.

“Get back!” demanded Aurin as he saw Snowlem’s arm begin to conjure an ice spear.

Desparee threw himself onto the ground as the spear whizzed past, only managing to graze his shoulder.

“Blind him,” ordered Aurin in a desperate move to buy Desparee some space.

The nature Minakai spat a large wad of sap at the approaching Snowlem, covering his coal eyes. As he wiped it off, Desparee scrambled away and loud wail escaped him. This was all too much for the sad Minakai. He was cold and running out of energy, but the snowstorm was starting to fade.

“He’s distracted and can’t maintain his attack,” said Aurin. “Nature beam immediately!”

Desparee clasped his hands together and harnessed the returning energy from the sun that shone overhead as Snowlem was forced to freeze the sap and scrape it from his face. His eyes were cleared right as Desparee’s blast of energy struck him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

“It looks like it’s over for Gardner!” cried the announcer. “Aurin has—”

The announcer was cut off as a spear of solid ice smashed into Desparee’s face. Snowlem was on the ground, its arm outstretched; he was hit hard but he had survived the attack. Aurin’s Minakai slowly climbed to his feet and clasped his hands together for another attack but before the nature beam could be let loose, he fell forward and lay rigidly on the battlefield.

“Gardner has won the match and will advance to the next round,” said the announcer to the cheering crowd. “Commiserations to Aurin, but what a battle what was. He’ll be going back to Hazelton proud of what he’s achieved here.”

Aurin was staring at Desparee, numb. He realised how badly he had miscalculated what Gardner would hit him with…no, he had not. It was his own team. He had made himself too predictable. It was his own fault and Gardner had outdone him both tactically and in battle.

The defeated tamer walked over to his Minakai and gave him a pat on his wooden shoulder. “I’ll see you back in Hazelton, Desparee. You did a great job today,” he said as his Minakai disappeared in a flash of green light.

Gardner was waiting at the centre of the battlefield with his Snowlem by his side and Aurin approached him.

“I didn’t even know you had a Snowlem,” said Aurin as he shook his friend’s hand. “Congratulations on your win.”

“Thanks, mate,” said Gardner. “I got him around Christmas time, funnily enough. I’ve kept him under wraps because everyone always expects me to use a plant type or a nature elemental. I need to have a secret weapon to unleash when the time is right.”

“Well, it worked,” laughed Aurin. As disappointed as he was to have lost, he was glad it was Gardner he had lost to and he could honestly say he was proud of his friend. “You’d better defeat Hunter in the next round, you hear me?”

“I’ve been looking forward to a good battle with him for a long time,” said Gardner. “You came close to defeating him in Hazelton and I’ve got extensive notes on that battle.”

Aurin chuckled, unsure if Gardner was serious or not. The two parted ways as the crowd cheered for the two competitors from Hazelton. It was a fitting end to have two competitors from the same qualifier fight at this stage of the tournament and one more would be joining Aurin in defeat no matter whether Hunter or Gardner won the next battle.

As Aurin entered the waiting room, Luna and Kyle were already there. How they had gotten here so fast, he had no idea.

“How are you?” asked Luna tepidly.

“Disappointed,” admitted Aurin, “but I’ll be alright.”

“You’ll come back swinging next time,” said Kyle, slapping Aurin on the back. “It was a good battle even if you got outplayed. I’m sure that’s just more incentive to expand your time.”

“It definitely is,” said Aurin, “but…”

“But?” asked Luna.

“This is going to sound terrible if I say it out loud.”

“Tell us.”

Aurin sighed. “I’ve always thought of myself as a better tamer than Gardner. It makes me sound incredibly arrogant, I know that, but it was honestly what I thought. It’s not that I ever doubted he was a strong competitor, it’s just that I’ve always came out on top when we’ve fought and even the rare occasions when we’ve sparred.”

“That does sound bad,” said Kyle, nodding his head before letting out a chuckle. “Nah, I know what you mean. I think the difference is that you didn’t feel you had something to prove in defeating him, whereas he did. It fuelled him.”

“In any case, I’m happy for him,” said Aurin. “I’m just going to use this loss to fuel me. We’ll enjoy the rest of the tournament while we’re here and then head home. I’ll get myself back in the zone and start training again.”

“You two enjoy the next week here,” said Kyle. “I’ve got a train to catch in a few hours.”

“Good,” said Aurin. “You can take care of my Minakai when you get back. They took quite a beating today. No more rest for a lazy rancher like you.”

Kyle simply glared at Aurin in response while Luna giggled away.