“Will you hurry up and get ready?” Aurin barked at Kyle. “It’s going to be starting soon and I don’t want to miss anything.”
“It’s an all-day event,” said Kyle, throwing on his jacket at his own pace. “If you’re that worried about missing the start of the festival, then go ahead without me. Of course, I’ll catch a ride on Wingbloom and still beat you there.”
Aurin headed to the porch and threw on his shoes and Kyle casually followed, still not in any rush to leave. Shamtile was bouncing up and down on the grass below, waiting for both of the humans. He scurried around on all fours, trying to make them hurry up.
“Don’t blame me,” said Aurin, shooting Kyle a dirty look.
“It’s easy for him,” said Kyle, nodding towards Shamtile. “He only needs to bring his mask.”
“He sleeps with it on, so he’s never not ready.”
“Who else are you bringing?” asked Kyle.
Aurin used his glove to summon Dolissile and Leonite. They appeared beside Shamtile, both as ready—albeit less enthusiastic—than the magical lizard. Kyle raised his own glove and summoned Wingbloom then headed down the steps, leaving a surprised Aurin standing on the porch.
“What about your other two Minakai?” asked Aurin.
“I’m not bringing any others,” replied the rancher.
“Why?”
“They’ll be just fine here.”
“You’re not entering any of the competitions?”
“No.”
Aurin was getting more irritated. “I waited all this time because I thought you were signing up too!”
“I told you yesterday that I wasn’t then less than two minutes ago I told you I could just meet you there.”
Aurin rubbed his temples in frustration. “Alright, let’s just go before I blow a fuse.”
The two walked down the ranch path with their Minakai following them. They headed straight through the forest, past the path to the tower and into Hazelton. The town was abuzz with people and their Minakai, all excited to take part in the festivities. There was no particular occasion other than Mayor Boren declaring that today, the 2nd of October, was to be ‘Tamer Day’ out of the blue.
There were to be food stalls, wares from the tower, egg peddlers and, most excitingly to Aurin, four different competitions. The first, a pageant, wasn’t remotely interesting to him. The second and third, however, were races. One on land, one on water. Lastly, there was a mini-tournament to be held. Each tamer was allowed to bring up to three Minakai and only one of those Minakai could each enter a competition. Aurin had chosen Leonite for the land race, Dolissile for the water race and Shamtile was his ace for the tournament.
As Aurin and Kyle wandered through the chaotic streets of man and monster, Luna waded her way towards them. Beside her was Innogon, Splashard and Dogember.
“Let me guess,” said Aurin. “Innogon for the tournament, Splashard for the water race and Dogember for the foot race?”
“Close,” said Luna with a wink.
“Dogember for the pageant, right?” asked Kyle.
“Bingo.”
“Was that so you had competition I wouldn’t win?” joked Aurin.
“Nope, I just think my orange dog is super cute,” said Luna, squatting down and scratching Dogember’s ears. He began licking her face and she recoiled a little, the heat from his tongue on the verge of burning her.
Everyone headed into the town square where the sign-up sheets were displayed. Aurin hurried from sheet to sheet, signing up his Minakai as Luna did the same. Kyle was content to only sign up to the fighting tournament.
“Did you see any names you recognised?” asked Luna.
“A few,” said Aurin, “Gardner, Jimmy, Devon, Sullivan, Eclare—“
At the utterance of Eclare’s name, Luna made an audible click with her tongue that she tried to disguise with a cough.
“Isn’t that the girl you went on a date with?” chuckled Kyle.
“What?” said Luna more loudly than she intended.
“I didn’t realise it was meant to be a date!” protested Aurin. “I told her I wasn’t interested. I haven’t even spoken to her since the last Hazelton tournament.”
“Didn’t she kiss you on the cheek when you beat her?” asked a red-faced Luna.
“She…um…” stammered Aurin.
“Don’t be so dense, Luna,” said Kyle slyly. “It was clearly to make you jealous. It worked a treat too.”
To Aurin’s relief, Emily and Hannah appeared at that very moment. Emily was accompanied by her Petalcub and Hannah was with her Chlost and a plain looking canine Minakai. Aurin bent down to examine it before realising it was just a regular dog. He stroked its head and pretended he had known it was a dog the entire time.
“Are either of you taking part in the events?” asked Aurin once Luna and her friends had caught up.
“I’m not,” said Emily as her Petalcub was being chased around by Dogember.
“I’m entering Chlost into the pageant,” said Hannah. “She doesn’t have much of a chance at either of the races and battling isn’t my thing.”
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“I remember,” said Aurin, “but I don’t think you would do too badly if you were to enter the tournament.”
Hannah smiled but didn’t say anything. Before anybody could say anything else, Mayor Boren took to a wooden stage that had been built in the square. He stood at the podium and cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Welcome, my friends, welcome,” he said jovially. “Today marks the first ever Tamer Day in our fine little town. I’m sure that many of you are a bit surprised that this came so out of the blue, as am I, but a good friend of Hazelton approached me recently and decided to sponsor this entire event. I would be most appreciative if you would give a hand to Lord Theodore Kensington. Come on up here, Lord Kensington.”
A tall man in a purple suit with slicked back grey hair and an equally grey goatee walked up on stage and gave a small wave to the politely waving crowd.
“Who’s that?” Aurin asked Kyle.
“A rich fella who has an estate a few miles out of town. He’s a big sponsor of Minakai events around here. You might have seen his name in the Hazelton Stadium somewhere, he helped fund it.”
“Yes,” continued Mayor Boren, “thank you once again, Lord Kensington. Today, I hope you all take the time to peruse the stalls of all of our fine vendors. Perhaps what they’re selling will aid you in your own adventures in Harmony Tower. If you’re interested in the competitive side of things, then we also have quite the treat for you today. Four competitions, the first of which is due to begin in fifteen minutes on Fountain Street.”
The mayor gestured towards a street to his right that war barricaded off and guarded by a couple of policemen. “Your signed up Minakai will run a circuit through the streets all the way until the finish line. I’m sure it will be a thrilling sight to see with so many fast critters in our presence today. I wish you all luck and I have no doubt I’ll speak to many of you as the day goes on. I hope you enjoy yourselves.”
The street was too crowded for Aurin to get Leonite warmed up properly, so he had the large lion climb onto the rooftops and run back and forth along those for a few minutes. Shortly before the competition was due to begin, Gardner approached.
“I thought I recognised that Leonite making a spectacle of himself,” he chuckled as he approached with his Vinewolf and Desparee.
“Only two Minakai?” Aurin asked him.
“Yes, mate. Just the running race and brawl for me today. You ready to head over?”
“Let’s do it,” said Aurin, calling Leonite down from the room.
“We’ll take our places along the street,” said Luna as she headed off to find a place with Hannah and Emily.
“I’m going to get a better view,” said Kyle, climbing atop Wingbloom and taking off into the sky. “Good luck,” he called down as he flew away.
Aurin and Gardner headed over to the barricade where their names were checked off and they were permitted entry. Around forty Minakai had been enrolled, but once their tamers saw the competition, it was whittled down to thirty-two.
“Not even giving themselves a chance,” said Aurin, feeling sorry for the Minakai.
“Not our problem,” shrugged Gardner.
Racing alongside Aurin’s Leonite and Gardner’s Vinewolf was a wide variety of Minakai, from a zippy little Rabbacat to mighty Spikruption.
An official approached and spoke to all of the competitors. “Alright, everyone. Your Minakai are to follow the red flags you see up ahead. Minakai capable of flight are not allowed to fly, Minakai capable of swimming are not to use a shortcut through the river. You follow the road, and they are to stick to their feet, hands or whatever they use to move along. There is to be strictly no brawling and any acts of sabotage of other Minakai will mean immediate disqualification. Understood?”
All of the tamers agreed, however a few looked annoyed that they couldn’t attack the competition. Afterwards, everyone lined up with their Minakai and Aurin, Shamtile and Dolissile gave the best encouragement to Leonite that they could; well, Aurin and Shamtile did.
“Don’t be afraid to duck and leap,” said Aurin, seconds before the race was due to begin, at which Leonite gave a growl.
“Minakai, ready!” called the official, holding a starting pistol high. “Three. Two. One.”
At the bang of the gun, the Minakai took off. Leonite sped down the street in the middle of the crowd, biding his time until he saw a chance to gain some ground on his opponents. He was of a naturally quick species, but all of the running he, Aurin and his teammates did around the ranch had him thoroughly prepared for the race.
Up ahead, a Litehorn tripped on something and a Gittup then proceeded to trip over the Litehorn. Leonite leapt over the two Minakai and weaved to the side, spotting the glisten of a thin patch of ice. There was already a Minakai breaking the rules, no doubt under its tamer’s orders. He would have to be careful.
As they rounded a bend, a Thundarun burst ahead of the rest of the pack. It charged ahead, much faster than the rest of the competitors, but suddenly it too tripped and rolled over awkwardly. Leonite looked to the right and spotted the icy culprit, an unassuming Slithice; the pre-evolved form of Anacondice.
Leonite roared towards Gardner’s Vinewolf, who tilted his head to look at the lion. Leonite flicked his own head backwards and Vinewolf spotted the Slithice. Neither the lion or the wolf wanted to fight back and risk disqualification, but nobody was intervening to stop the icy snake from cheating. It slithered its silvery body along the ground, its two small fangs escaped from its mouth as it gave a sinister smile and the icy shard on its head glistened in the Autumn sun.
The dozen competitors leading the race approached a bridge, upon which Leonite spotted Luna, Hannah, Emily and their Minakai in the crowd, cheering him on. With that split second distraction, Leonite fell forward on a spontaneously spawning patch of ice, but the agile lion rolled forwards and back onto his feet, not losing much ground. He could hear an angry hiss from behind him and he moved aside, letting the Slithice overtake him. He would not let the saboteur out of his sight unless absolutely necessary.
A man up ahead held up a sign that Leonite did not understand, but to the spectators they knew it meant that it was the final third of the race. A Spikruption who had been stomping along behind rolled into a wheel started to push to the front. Even at the next bend, it was savvy enough to keep its bearings and follow the curve around. It wasn’t long before it was in first place, but that’s when it drew the ire of the Slithice.
Leonite seized his chance and turned his run into a full-on sprint and charged to the front of the crowd, Vinewolf speeding up and keeping on his tail. The Slithice could see that it had fallen behind at this late stage and grew desperate. It summoned an icy wall in the middle of the street, leaving only a tiny hole for itself to creep through.
The crowd could see it was cheating, but it would do the competitors little good at this stage. Leonite sank his claws into the wall and climbed over while Vinewolf used his vines to launch himself over the top. The rolling Spikruption simply burst through, but its momentum had been killed and it fell behind.
There was only Leonite, Vinewolf and the Slithice left as the finish line grew close. Leonite could see Aurin cheering him on and he was now neck and neck with Vinewolf. Suddenly, the green wolf fell. In anger, Leonite finally snapped and slowed down. Once the Slithice was beside him, he grabbed it in his teeth, bit down hard and tossed him aside. The Spikruption rolled on ahead and Leonite nudged Vinewolf to his feet. The feline and the canine made a final dash for the finish as the other competitors who had fallen behind drew close.
“They’re neck and neck!” yelled Gardner as the two Minakai crossed the finish line.
“Whose Slithice was that?” shouted Aurin angrily, trying to find the tamer who had cheated so blatantly with the ice wall.
As the last of the competitors crossed the line, Aurin hurried over to congratulate his Minakai on how he tackled the race. He wasn’t sure whether Leonite had come second or third, but he was proud his Minakai had not let that Slithice get away with its unsportsmanlike antics.
An official approached the tamers and apologised profusely for not catching the cheating sooner. Amid protests for a do-over, the official said that it had already been decided to honour the outcome of the match, much to the anger of most of the tamers. The final results were the Spikruption in first place, Leonite in second place and Vinewolf just inches behind in third place.
“This better not be a sign of things to come,” muttered Aurin.
“We need to watch our backs,” agreed Gardner. “It looks like there are bad actors here.”