“I would strongly suggest you do what he says and try not to get killed,” said Kyle once Aurin had filled him in regarding his encounter with Taurus the previous evening. Aurin didn’t tell him the night before, taking his time to think about everything that had happened by himself first and foremost.

“I think that’s a good idea for now,” agreed Aurin. “He used a single Ethruki to take out three of my best. Maybe I could defeat his Ethruki with my entire team, but what about his other Minakai? What about the rest of the Zodiac Squad showing up to back him up? What about what he said about their organisation being a hydra?”

“Are you going to let me comment on any of that before shooting off more hypotheticals?” asked Kyle.

“Sorry, go ahead.”

“Cosmic Minakai are powerful because of their elemental type, but they’re not invincible. Their biggest weakness is the immense amount of power their abilities consume, meaning that they tire easily. I would guess that that’s how Taurus subdues Ethruki if it goes on these rampages regularly. I do agree that you could probably defeat Ethruki using your whole team together, you would probably win quite effectively if you had Steambot and Desparee helping while Sunny backed your Minakai up with her healing powers.”

“Maybe so,” nodded Aurin.

“That said, he likely does have other Minakai and if your encounter is in the tower, you don’t get to play the numbers game. Outside of the tower, that means that he can also summon his own army of who knows how many Minakai.”

“And his squad mates too.”

“Yes. If there are twelve elites, that’s a gargantuan force against you without even accounting for all the grunts they seem to have influence over. Leo has given you enough trouble and Pisces is no pushover either, never mind the rest of them. No matter which way you cut it, you only have the advantage if you can isolate him and ensure he only uses Ethruki.”

Aurin nodded in agreement and looked around the ranch. “Even two elites and a cluster of grunts made short work of this place.”

“Don’t remind me,” sighed Kyle, “I keep trying to put that at the back of my mind.”

“Sorry,” said Aurin, rolling his egg around the grass with his foot. “Shall we hatch this thing then?”

“It’s your prize,” said Kyle with a shrug.

Aurin placed the egg he won at Tamer Day in the incubator sitting on the grass and pressed the button to activate it. It unleashed a silvery grey light and a small bipedal robot with a plug for a tail and a glowing blue light within its monitor-like body appeared.

“Huh,” said Aurin in surprise.

“Another Microbot,” laughed Kyle.

Aurin squatted down and tapped on the Microbot’s silver frame. “I knew I would hatch a Minakai I’ve had before at some point. I just didn’t think it would be my rarest species.”

“Better Microbot than pretty much any other species, right?”

“For sure,” said Aurin, thinking about the possibilities of Microbot’s future evolutions. “If I use a Solar Shard, I run the risk of him evolving into another Steambot. Whenever the time comes, a Lunar Shard is my best bet. I don’t have any of those evolutions so that would give me more tactical options.”

“You still don’t have a lightning or ice elemental in your team. Maybe you’ll get a Shockbot or Glacibot?”

“You don’t think there’s a possibility I could find a way to evolve this little robot into Microbot’s cosmic form, do you?”

Kyle laughed heartily at the very notion, answering Aurin’s question. “Many have tried and almost all of them have failed. It’s said to involve using an Astral Shard, but it doesn’t seem to be that simple. There’s likely another condition involved that triggers the fork from a neutral evolution to a cosmic evolution.”

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Aurin picked up his new Microbot and called over Steambot. “Steambot, I want you to take our newest team member under your wing. He seems less anxious than you when you were a hatchling, but it’s still good for him to have guidance from a wiser family member. Consider him your nephew.”

Steambot enthusiastically puffed clouds of steam from his pipes and punched the air as Microbot beeped and booped. Aurin was looking forward to seeing these two robots working together and programming Microbot into an unstoppable force.

*

“Floor nineteen!” yelled Luna, jumping for joy as she and Aurin materialised on the new floor with their Minakai—Rabbafat and Skrow—by their respective sides.

“And not a single loss yet,” said Aurin proudly, rapping his knuckles on Skrow’s boney beak. Skrow cawed loudly to warn Aurin not to do that.

“Zodiac who?” joked Luna, her initial fear of Aurin’s encounter now subsiding.

“Exactly,” said Aurin. “We’ll focus on ascending the tower and being able to defend ourselves, but no more picking fights.”

“I think that’s the right decision.”

Aurin fully intended to stick by what he said…for now, but what he hadn’t told Luna or Kyle was that he was simply biding his time. When he was powerful enough to put a stop to the masked group’s endeavours he wouldn’t hesitate to do so. If along the way he was able to find even more powerful Minakai, whether a cosmic elemental or an epic Minakai then that time would be sooner rather than later.

“It feels like the dawn of a new era,” said Luna brightly. “I’ll call this the Tower Climber Era!”

“Haven’t we been climbing the entire era since I arrived here?” asked Aurin.

“Yes, but we’re newly motivated to push our way further towards the top!”

“I’m glad to see you so cheerful today.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I thought you would worry yourself silly about the whole Taurus situation.”

Luna held a finger to her cheek. “To be honest, normally I would. I think that because he called his Ethruki away before it hurt you means he’s serious that he’s only giving you a warning. And the fact that you’re going to heed that warning and no longer seek out a fight with them puts me at ease.”

Aurin and Luna continued into the tower and set about conquering floor twenty once more. Skrow made short work of a Vambra that tried to hypnotise him with its large eye and Rabbafat flattened two Budescent in a single body slam, leaving only their vines dangling out from underneath her before they were banished from the tower.

The rest of the floor went by without issue, but when they reached floor twenty-one they were blindsided by a wild Angree who unloaded a flurry of blows into Rabbafat while incapacitating Skrow with a spiked cage of brambles. Skrow broke free, but he and the Angree finished each other off with a hard collision and both Aurin and Luna were forced to summon their second Minakai each; Aurin brought forth his Dolissile while Luna chose her own Angree.

“It was a good run,” said Aurin without worry, proud of what Skrow and Rabbafat had achieved.

“We’re going at least halfway today,” said Luna still positive and holding onto Aurin’s arm. “There’s nothing that could dampen my mood today.”

Suddenly a man cleared his throat from the shadows of the next room. “If you two would be quiet for a minute, I’m trying to take a rest,” came Virgo’s voice.

Aurin and Luna both sighed, dreading what was to come. They walked into the room and spotted the Zodiac member lying on the floor with his head resting in his hands and his legs crossed. You would think he was taking a nap under a tree in the sun rather than a deadly monster tower.

“You’re not right in the head,” said Aurin.

“Why’s that then?” asked Virgo nonchalantly.

“Aren’t you worried a Minakai will wander in or spawn in here?”

“Not especially,” replied Virgo flicking his hand dismissively before placing it back behind his head. “Sorry about before, little miss,” he added.

“What, sucker punching my Minakai and getting me booted from the tower?” asked Luna, her face suddenly sourer than it had been all day.

“Yes, that,” chuckled Virgo. “I take it that that you’re going to listen to Master Taurus, Aurin?”

“I’m not going to go looking for a fight with you lot, if that’s what you mean. It doesn’t mean I won’t defend myself should any of your people come for me first.”

“Taurus is a lot more persuasive than I. It’s clear that words and reason is not enough to sway you, but a display of power will do just that.”

“Where are your Minakai?” asked Luna, looking around the room and realising that Virgo was alone.

Upon her saying this, Aurin realised that Virgo was always alone. His Minakai were nowhere to be seen, yet he couldn’t enter Harmony Tower without either a Minakai by his side or a summoning stone attuned to one in the outside world.

“I have no need for Minakai in here,” said Virgo, still resting on the ground. “I prefer to fight monsters by myself.”

“By yourself?” asked Aurin, more than a little surprised by the unusual statement.

“Aurin’s right,” said Luna, “there’s no way you work your way through the tower by fighting Minakai without Minakai of your own.”

“What’s so hard to believe about that?” asked Virgo.

“We’re on floor twenty,” replied Luna. “It’s impossible to climb this high without Minakai by your side.”

“Really?” asked Virgo, finally sitting up with a big smile stretched across his face. “Would you like to test me?”