“Welcome, once again, to the Underground Dojo,” said Rick, stretching out his arms in celebration of his kingdom. “All of our facilities are yours to use, other than people’s bunks and lockers.”

  “Thanks, Rick,” chuckled Aurin, itching for a battle.

  “The fridge is ours to raid for our pleasure?” asked Luna.

  Rick snorted. “Alright, alright. You’re limited on what you can use. Don’t ruin my grand welcome, Luna. I know what you both think of this place and I want that view turned upside-down. We’re in a new era now.”

  “I know,” said Luna. “It’s just fun pulling your leg.”

  Holly waded over, her long ponytail bounding behind her. “Ah, my favourite opponent, who I’ve yet to best,” she said. “Fancy a battle, Aurin?”

  Aurin shrugged. “Why not?” he said. “Time to put my Ethruki to the test.”

  Holly did a double-take. “Are you trying to publicly humiliate me again or something?”

  “You don’t have that much to worry about,” said Luna in an obnoxiously loud whisper.

  “Hey!” grumbled Aurin. “He’s coming along leaps and bounds, isn’t he?”

  “If you say so,” shrugged Luna.

  “Well, I’m never one to back down from a challenge,” said Holly. “Let’s see if I can last a full minute against a cosmic.”

  Rick strutted forward towards one of the makeshift arenas that two tamers were about to occupy. “Sorry, Sammy,” he said to one of them. “Mind if we swoop in and borrow this one for a couple of minutes?”

  “But we were just—” Sammy stopped abruptly when he noticed Aurin. “Of course,” he said, looking excited. “I want to see this up close. Come on, Don.”

  The two tamers retreated to the edge of the arena as Aurin and Holly took their places at opposite sides of the battlefield, standing barely twenty-five yards apart. As far as arenas went, this one was on the small side, more akin to a street fight than a stadium battle. It was a necessity, however, in order to fit several of these into the same room. From what Rick said, when the members were in tournament preparation mode, they redrew the battle lines to reduce the number of arenas and closer match the size of a stadium battlefield.

  “Everyone!” boomed Rick. “We’ve got a special guest in our midst today. I know you all know him and some of you have battled him before either in the tower or at various tournaments. If you’re not currently in the middle of a battle, this oughta be a show worth seeing as Aurin takes on Holly using his cosmic Minakai.”

  “Thanks, Rick,” muttered Holly, rolling her eyes.

  A crowd quickly gathered around before Rick counted down the commencement of the battle. “Three. Two. One. Fight!”

  Aurin and Holly’s hands shot forward, summoning their respective Minakai. Before Aurin, appeared his Ethruki to the oohs and aahs of the audience. Holly’s chosen Minakai for the battle, appearing in a flash of blue, was her Splashard. The oozing watery demon hovered above the ground, bashing its amorphous fists together.

  Several strategies ran through Aurin’s head, both about what he could lead with and how a Minakai like Splashard could pose a problem for Ethruki, but he had little time to consider them before Holly launched her first attack.

  “Water jet!” she ordered.

  Splashard unleashed a harsh stream of water the flew towards Ethruki. With a grunt, the cosmic bull focused his might on stopping the attack dead in its tracks. The stream of water vibrated violently as Ethruki fought to maintain control. After several seconds, he stomped his front hooves and the jet was redirected upwards and into the ceiling. It exploded into rain that soaked the battlefield.

  Holly’s Minakai sped towards Ethruki in the distraction, bringing its arms overhead. Clasping them together, it drew them down and tried to clobber Ethruki, only to be frozen in place. Ethruki shuffled aside and released Splashard, leaving it to continue its attack, but with no target remaining.

  As Splashard’s head twisted to look at Ethruki, he delivered a smashing headbutt into the water elemental, sending it falling to the ground. It skidded along the slickly wet surface, but it was far from defeated. With an echoing call, the water on the battlefield rose into the air. It clumped together as a dozen watery orbs before whooshing towards Ethruki.

  The cosmic elemental stopped the first half dozen before they hit him, but the other six landed. They were akin to a punch rather than a battering ram, but they had served their purpose. As Splashard charged towards Ethruki once more, he was unable to implement his stasis powers, taking a blunt smack to the face.

  Rick leaned close to Luna. “Is it just me or is Holly winning?” he whispered.

  “I told you there wasn’t much to worry about,” Luna answered. “Aurin’s Ethruki is a work in progress still. Powerful, sure, but building up his stamina has proved challenging.”

  The battle continued with Splashard continually whittling Ethruki down. After several minutes of the fight continuing, Ethruki’s stasis was unable to hold even a weak water jet back, forcing him to engage as a melee combatant. His speed and mass worked to his advantage, but when Splashard split itself in two, Ethruki was flanked by the two parts of the demon. He found himself unable to adapt to the multi-pronged attack, leaving him open to a battle-ending uppercut. Letting out a snorting groan, Ethruki fell flat on the ground, surprising almost everyone in the room.

  A dumbfounded Holly stood with her mouth hanging open, not sure about what to say. She thought Aurin was toying with her, even though that was not normally his style. She blinked gormlessly until Aurin shot her a smile.

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  “Good job,” he said. “He needed to be put through the wringer.”

  “I… I don’t… I don’t understand,” said Holly. “You can take us on with a Flowl, but you can’t defeat me with an Ethruki?”

  “I haven’t mastered his powers yet,” said Aurin with a shake of his head. “He’s definitely a night and day difference from when I first hatched him, but there’s still a long road ahead before he’s ready for the big leagues. Flowl has had a lot more opportunities to train and his fire element is much less complex than the cosmic elemental. Even though he’s small, he’s a plenty capable.”

  “Oh,” said Holly, as her recombined Splashard drifted over to her. She suddenly broke into a wide smile. “So… you’re telling me that I’ve finally beaten you?”

  “Yep.”

  Holly began laughing. “And you’re not angry about it?”

  “Do I seem like the sort to fly off the handle if I lose? I know we don’t know each other that well, but I hoped you knew me a little better.”

  “Alright,” said Luna, nudging Aurin aside. “I’m next. Who wants to take me on?”

  “I’ll do it,” said Rick, striding across the battlefield. “I’ve wanted to battle you for a long time. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  Luna’s Frocean delivered a spectacular beatdown to Rick’s Pillaberg, the frozen frog outclassing the one-eyed icicle in ice elemental prowess. Aurin and Luna then took it in turns to battle tamers, finding many of them to be more skilled than Rick and Holly were. Only Luna’s Cryoth and Beetabolt lost their battles, while Aurin was victorious in every battle, cycling through his monsters until only Sunny went unused.

  “Aurin,” said a burly man with a shaved head and stubble, stepping forward. On hire forearm, he had HUD tattooed, along with the image of a Panchi performing an uppercut behind it.

  “I’ve seen you around somewhere before,” said Aurin, wrinkling his brow as he thought. “Nelson, right?”

  “Well remembered,” replied the tamer.

  “I thought you quit the dojo?”

  “Nah, I stepped down from my leadership position after Gray offered to take over. To tell you the truth, the amount of admin required to maintain all this infrastructure wasn’t for me. Setting it up in the first place was a nightmare, but Rick and Holly are keeping things ticking along nicely for the time being.”

  “Wait, you were the founder too?”

  “That’s right,” said Nelson, cracking his neck. “We, however, have yet to have the pleasure of a battle. We can consider it a warmup ahead of Kensington’s tournament. Are you game?”

  “Too right, I’m game,” said Aurin, excited.

  “Let’s get set up,” said Nelson, walking away. He bellowed out for someone to count them in, and Holly dashed over eagerly.

  “Be careful with this one,” she whispered to Aurin as she passed him.

  “Not to be underestimated,” muttered Aurin. “Got it. Well, I’ve got the perfect Minakai, who shouldn’t be underestimated either.”

  “Tamers, ready?” asked Holly when Aurin and Nelson were standing opposite each other.

  “Ready,” confirmed the two.

  Aurin couldn’t help but notice the fire in Nelson’s eyes, but behind that there was something cold. He had the look of a man who wanted to win at any cost, but there was more to it than that. Aurin could not quite figure out what it was, but it left him feeling uneasy.

  “Three. Two. One. Fight!” called Holly, punching the air.

  Aurin and Nelson threw forward their hands, each conjuring forth a ball of cream light, from which their Minakai appeared. Sunny pirouetted through the air, a big grin on her yellow face, while a small golden alien with two detached fists floating beside it appeared before Nelson.

  “An Arium,” muttered Aurin, noticing that Nelson hadn’t yet evolved the creature into a Zenoman. Holly’s words about being careful rang in his ears. Much like with his own Shamtile and Luna’s Innogon, an unevolved Minakai did not necessarily mean it was weaker, although that often tended to be the case.

  Arium ran forward on its spindly legs, with its fists floating three feet in front of it, surrounded in a blue aura. With a squeaking yell, the fists soared ahead at lightning speed, aiming straight for Sunny. Before colliding with the invisible barrier Sunny had cast, the fists changed course, splitting off in opposite directions and then flicking inwards shortly after. They rammed into Sunny’s sides, bypassing the barrier entirely.

  Aurin clenched his jaw and his fists, realising he should have seen that coming. Rather than beat himself up about it, he ordered Sunny to go on the offensive. She let out a merry chirp and a mighty force erupted from her. The concussive burst knocked both of Arium’s fists to the ground and almost toppled the alien himself, but it somersaulted through the air and began hovering above the floor.

  “Not bad at all,” said Nelson, nodding approvingly. “Arium. Theta manoeuvrer!”

  Arium’s fists floated into the air once more and began circling Sunny. She attempted another concussive burst, but Arium’s fists became coated in a much thicker aura than before. Aurin could see the golden Minakai’s eyes glowing as it channelled its strength into the fists to keep them both circling and protected.

  Sunny ducked out of the way, but the fists followed. She flew higher into the air, yet they still followed. Soon, they had picked up enough speed to be a whirling blue of gold and blue. The egg-like Minakai’s face grew uncharacteristically frustrated, but her tamer spoke up.

  “Stay centred,” said Aurin, knowing that there would be an attack coming soon. “Watch for any sudden changes, and expect the unexpected.”

  Sunny’s distress faded and her smile returned. Rather than pay attention to the fists, her eyes locked onto Arium. The golden alien was so intensely focused on what its hands were doing that it was wide open. Sunny knew that if she moved too close to her opponent, the fists would be forced to intervene. At the same time, that would alert Arium to guard itself with whatever protective magic it possessed.

  Arium’s eye suddenly twitched and Sunny erected a powerful barrier. The fists slammed inwards, looking to knock her flat on the ground, but they rebounded immediately. They flew back in and began hammering at Sunny, who was motionless in the air as the attacks continued.

  “Stop!” barked Nelson. “That’s a decoy!”

  “Busted,” chuckled Aurin as the illusion faded and the real Sunny turned visible behind Arium.

  She headbutted her foe and then followed up with another concussive blast, knocking it flying towards her tamer. Arium rolled onto the ground, groaning weakly, as Sunny cheered for herself. Before Aurin could warn her not to celebrate too soon, a lone fist hurtled through the air and pummelled her straight in the mouth. Both Minakai fell limp, ending the battle.

  “And it’s a draw!” announced Holly, drawing her hand down in an arc.

  Nelson approached Aurin with his hand outstretched. “Well played,” he said. “I expected nothing less.”

  “Likewise,” said Aurin, accepting the handshake. “I’ve never used that decoy tactic in a battle.”

  Nelson smirked. “I’ve seen it elsewhere, but I’ve never seen it be used by a Sunny before. You’ve trained her well considering she’s not typically an offensive monster.”

  “Have to be prepared for all of my team to step into battle. The only problem is that she’s not all that sturdy.”

  “Neither is my Arium.”

  Aurin began laughing. “Now it makes sense,” he said. “You were testing the waters, weren’t you?”

  “Something like that,” said Nelson. “I’m sure we’ll battle again on the island, Aurin. Train hard in what little time we have left.”

  Once Nelson had wondered off down a back corridor, Luna sidled up to Aurin.

  “Reckon he’s a top contender for Kensington’s event?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah,” said Aurin, drawing a deep breath.

  “Cool,” said Luna, grabbing Aurin’s shoulders and giving him a shake. “I’ll let you two duke it out and then swoop in to claim the victory.”

  “Yeah, I reckon you could take him even without that.”

  “Him?” asked Luna, a conniving grin forming on her face. “I’m going to destroy both of you.”

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: