Kyle landed on the thirtieth floor with only his Wingbloom remaining, and the poor Minakai was not in great shape. Still, it had been an exceptionally poor run as far as loot had gone, mainly because he had been unable to find a single egg.

“We’ll get to the end of this floor and call it quits, Wing,” he said, at which his bird-like plant gave a soft coo.

The rancher pushed ahead, feeling quite tired himself. It had been a long time since he had climbed this high in the tower and, if he was honest, he had no intention of even trying to come this far. All he wanted was a single egg and now he was wondering if he would have been better just buying one in Hazelton.

As the last of Kyle’s hope faded, he suddenly saw one. There it was with its glistening sheen, illuminated by the lights on the tower walls. He reached down and picked it up, giving it a small tap with his knuckles. It was an old habit of his even though he knew he had no idea what was inside.

“Hand it over,” came a voice from behind. Standing before him was a man in full Zodiac gear along with a mask patterned like a ram.

“Not today, Aries” said Kyle, reaching for his Orb of Return.

The man gave a small chuckle as Kyle and Wingbloom disappeared from the tower in a burst of light.

*

“Happy birthday, Aurin,” said Luna, handing him a neatly wrapped package covered in hearts. She had even scribbled a small drawing of herself, Aurin, Innogon and Shamtile smiling and giving the peace sign.

“I love it already,” said Aurin with a grin. He shook the box a little, but he had no idea what was inside. Something soft as best as he could tell.

“Open it,” urged Luna, bouncing up and down on Kyle’s porch excitedly.

Aurin tore open the wrapping paper, revealing a box from somewhere called Streets of Ludonia. He lifted the lid and pulled out a blue suit jacket. Inside with it was a pair of trousers and waistcoat along with a silver tie and a pair of shiny brown leather shoes.

Aurin’s mouth hung open. “How much did this cost you?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Luna with a bright smile. “Do you like it?”

“It’s great,” he said. “I’m always showing up to formal occasions in casual wear.”

“What formal occasions?”

“Alright, I haven’t been to many, but now I don’t need to worry about it.”

He set the box aside and gave Luna a kiss on the cheek, which made her go as red as her hair. The two stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before they were interrupted by Kyle walking down the pathway looking exhausted with Wingbloom flapping along, clearly even more tired than his tamer.

“Where have you been?” asked Aurin. “I’ve had to do everything this morning.”

“I went late-night shopping,” he said as Wingbloom took to the skies and flew off into the ranch, no doubt looking for some breakfast.

“Have you been in the tower all night?” asked Luna. “I was wondering why I didn’t see you trotting about this morning.”

“Trotting? Am I a horse?”

“No but you are a question-dodger.”

Kyle smiled and nodded. “Yes, I have been in the tower all night.”

“I thought you said you were shopping.”

“In a manner of speaking,” said Kyle, pulling out the Minakai egg he had found. He threw it to Aurin, who only just managed to catch it. “Happy birthday, you big doofus. No wiser at seventeen than you were at fifteen.”

“Thanks,” said Aurin while examining the egg before suddenly realising what Kyle had said.

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Luna ran inside to get the incubator.

“How far did you have to go to find this?” asked Aurin.

“Thirtieth floor,” said Kyle, “I had an unlucky run. I sprung a few traps that didn’t make things easier.”

“That’s not all that far from your record,” said Aurin as Luna returned with the incubator in-hand.

“It was a smooth run as far as wild Minakai fights go, but I wasn’t there trying to ascend. I would have been happy enough leaving on floor one if I had found the egg.”

“I wonder what’s inside,” said Aurin, placing the egg in the incubator. “Anybody want to guess the element before I hatch it?”

“Water,” said Luna.

“Lightning,” said Kyle.

“I think it’ll be fire,” said Aurin, pressing the button.

The egg glowed white, disproving each of their guesses. Whatever was inside was a neutral elemental much like Aurin’s Leonite. As the shell shattered, it revealed a cloud-like shape and the light slowly faded so all three could see Aurin’s new Minakai.

“It’s an egg,” said Aurin bluntly.

There was no mistaking it. The Minakai inside was white with a yellow orb inside of it. On this yolk was a smiling face that stared up at him. It was pleased to see its new master, but Aurin was less than impressed.

“That’s a great find, if I do say so myself,” said Kyle smugly. “Meet your new Sunny.”

“What does he do?” asked Aurin, bending down and poking the egg white.

“She’s a female,” said Kyle.

“The first girl on your team!” said Luna, clapping enthusiastically.

“How can you possibly tell?” Aurin asked Kyle.

“I’ve seen a few of these in my time,” said the rancher. “There was a tamer here who used to have half a dozen of these. We used to joke that he was collecting them to make a fantastic omelette. Trust me, she’s a female.”

“Who am I to argue?” shrugged Aurin. “I still don’t know what she does. Aren’t most neutral Minakai more on the physical side? She doesn’t look like much of a fighter.”

Kyle folded his arms. “It’s true that there’s a lot of physicality in neutral elementals but Sunny is one of the ones that specialises in magic. It’s mainly used as a support Minakai in the tower on account of its healing abilities. If your Minakai is in bad shape, Sunny can mend its wounds.”

“Woah!” exclaimed Luna. “I want one now. It would be a perfect fit for me.”

“I’ll get you one for your next birthday,” said Aurin. “I’m curious to see how good her healing abilities are.”

“She’s a hatchling, so not all that powerful yet,” said Kyle as Aurin summoned Shamtile to his side.

“Shamtile,” said Aurin to the confused lizard, “meet your new teammate. Let’s hope she doesn’t give us the same trouble Arium did when he was born.”

Shamtile walked over to Sunny and poked her egg white, much like his tamer did. Shamtile started speaking to her in garbled grunts and warbling yells. Sunny let out a happy squeal as she smiled, spinning around in the air.

“Alright, Shamtile, here’s the deal,” said Aurin. “Sunny is a healer so we need to test her powers. You’ve been selected as the guinea pig for this. Are you in?”

Shamtile threw up his hands and yelled.

“Of course, what was I thinking,” said Aurin, summoning Dolissile to his side too. “Dolissile, meet Sunny. Sunny, meet Dolissile. Now, Shamtile, you’re going to be used as target practice for Dolissile and then Sunny will patch you up after. Sound good?”

Shamtile gave a thumbs up and strolled into the middle of the battlefield before encasing himself in his stone armour. Luna and Kyle exchanged nervous glances, sensing that this was a bad idea, but neither said a word. They silently agreed to let Aurin learn the hard way if it was indeed a mistake.

“Dolissile,” said Aurin, bringing his other two Minakai to the edge of the battlefield. “Charge into Shamtile.” Dolissile stared at Aurin blankly. “I’m serious, go ahead. Tell him Shamtile.”

Shamtile yelled loudly and slapped himself on his stone breastplate. Dolissile relented and burst forwards, impacting hard on Shamtile. The little lizard’s armour shattered and he fell to the ground as Aurin and Sunny rushed over to his side.

“There aren’t any injuries,” said Aurin, backing away. “Again!”

Shamtile stood up and summoned a new armour. Dolissile exploded towards Shamtile, hitting him much harder this time. The masked lizard was flung through the air as his armour split into a dozen chunks that landed on the grass around him. That was much more like it.

“Okay, Sunny,” said Aurin to the fried egg Minakai. “Work your magic.”

Sunny pirouetted and started to glow in a warm light. Shamtile’s grazed chest glowed in turn and once the light from both Minakai faded, Shamtile’s injury was as good as new.

“Sunny,” said Aurin, picking up the egg and throwing her into the air. “I think you’re going to be very popular with the rest of the team.”

Shamtile bounced onto his feet and started clapping and dancing enthusiastically while Dolissile stared at the scene with no discernible expression; this, of course, was perfectly normal for the cybernetic dolphin. His tamer knew that he was impressed even if the Minakai didn’t show it.

“I really want a Sunny of my own now,” said Luna, bouncing in place. “My medicines are great and all that, but being able to heal with my own Minakai is a no-brainer.”

“There are other Minakai that can heal,” said Kyle, “but Sunny is one of the most proficient. Once trained to its peak, it can bring another Minakai back from the brink of death.”

Luna caught Aurin’s Sunny who was still being tossed into the air. “Do you want to join my team instead?” she whispered jokingly.

“I told you I’ll get you one for your next birthday,” chuckled Aurin.

“A Sunny egg is rare and on the pricey side,” said Kyle. “Why not just try and find one in the tower like I did?”

“You got lucky, admit it,” said Aurin.

“Admit it? I never said anything to the contrary. The only unlucky part was finding no eggs before this one.”

“Okay, that’s fair,” said Aurin before turning to Shamtile and Dolissile. “You two are going to need to take it up a notch. An all out battle between the pair of you and Sunny will handle the healing afterwards. Let’s go!”

Luna and Kyle exchanged another worried look as Aurin’s Minakai took their places at opposite sides of the battlefield.