Aurin tucked into his pancakes while Hunter sipped his cup of tea. The two had decided to meet for breakfast ahead of their big match against each other that would determine who the winner of the tournament would be and who would move on to face the national champion, Tobias.

  “You were right,” said Aurin, gulping down a large helping of his barely-chewed pancakes. “This place is good.”

  “It’s been running for eighty-seven years,” said Hunter proudly. “My father used to eat here, so did my grandfather. I bought it over six months ago.”

  “You bought it?” asked Aurin in surprise, as half of his fried egg fell from his fork and back onto his plate.

  “Being a professional Minakai tamer can be lucrative,” said Hunter, nodding along. “You must have won your fair share of prize money over the last couple of years, no?”

  It wasn’t a topic Aurin talked about often, but he let out a dry laugh before answering. “Between the tower runs and the tournaments, I’m doing alright. I tend not to spend all that much, if I’m honest.”

  “What’s your dream? What’s the money for in the end? Surely it won’t just sit in a bank account for decades?”

  “It’s actually in a chest under my bed in the ranch.”

  Hunter chortled before realising that Aurin was serious.

  Aurin continued. “Firstly, I’d like to travel the world and learn more about Minakai. I’d start with Bretonia first and see what things I can discover, maybe even seeing if I can get my hands on every species of Minakai in the country before moving on. Seconds, I’d…well…”

  “Go on,” said Hunter. “I won’t laugh, I swear.”

  “I’d like to do something useful, like fund research…help build ranches…maybe even schools.”

  “That sounds good. I’m sure that if you need help in getting started, I can put you in contact with a few people.”

  “Yes, but I want to start on a small scale. Don’t tell Kyle, but I want to put some gold into his ranch as a thank you for everything he’s done for me. Not in the expectation of any return, just a donation that he’ll try and refuse the first dozen times I ask him. On the thirteenth try, he’ll reluctantly accept.”

  “Well, no matter which way today goes, you’ll make a few gold that can go towards that dream, starting with the ranch. It’s a good dream, my friend. I like it.”

  “Thank you,” said Aurin, breaming before returning to his plate. He smeared a large dollop of butter on his toast and began comping it down. “And I like your diner, Hunter. The perfect breakfast for champions like us, eh?”

  Hunter laughed and took another sip of his tea.

  *

  Aurin and Hunter stood at opposite ends of the battlefield, having shaken hands and now awaiting the countdown. Aurin was going into this battle clear-headed, knowing that if he had picked his team correctly then he was in with a shot at victory. If he had picked his team poorly, then Hunter would win.

  “And now, folks,” called the announcer, his voice booming louder than ever. “We decide who will face Tobias for a shot at the national champion title. For the final time of the tournament, let me count our two phenomenal competitors in. Three! Two! One! Fight!”

  Aurin’s hand shot forwards at the same time as Hunter’s. Before the two tamers, stood their Minakai; Shamtile and Flambot. It was a good start for Aurin, but that meant nothing unless he and his Minakai could battle well.

  “You know the drill,” Aurin said to Shamtile who coated his fists in stone. “Avoid that furnace.”

  The masked lizard nodded as he watched the fire swirling behind the metal grill on Flambot’s stomach. Shamtile stomped a foot and flipped the ground upwards, launching himself towards Flambot who started hurling a volley of fireballs at him while Shamtile threw jab after jab, knocking the fireballs away and sent them onto the ground where they wisped into nothing.

  The little Minakai landed near Flambot, who unleashed a wave of smoke from his palms that covered the battlefield and made it difficult for Shamtile to see, but his tremorsense told him exactly where his opponent was and he could feel every shift in weight that signalled an incoming attack.

  There was a rumbling and a blast of fire erupted from Flambot’s furnace, cutting through the smoke, but Shamtile dove out of the way and scurried towards his opponent through what was left of the smoke. He leapt into the air and delivered a heavy punch to the side of Flambot’s head, knocking the fiery robot off balance.

  As Flambot spun around and unleashed a wave of heat, Shamtile erected a wall of stone to defend himself. With a wave of his hands, the wall detached from the ground and slammed into Flambot before crumbling and leaving Hunter’s Minakai buried under a pile of rubble.

  “Eruption!” ordered Hunter.

  From underneath the thick pile of rocks came a plume of fire that carried Flambot free. He landed on the ground and threw his hands out. Another pillar of fire sprung from the ground and Shamtile narrowly avoided being burned to a crisp. Upon stopping, he felt another rumbling begin and hurried aside again. He now knew that he could not stop as the eruptions were going to follow him no matter where he went.

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  As he ran, Shamtile threw stone spears at Flambot, but he was too focused on avoiding the pillars of flame to aim and didn’t land a single hit out of his dozen attempts, all the while the flames grew closer. He suddenly halted and pivoted, doing a somersault to avoid another attack that burst from where he was running to.

  Aurin held his breath, glad that Shamtile was tuned into the ground so well that he knew where the attack would come from, however, the masked Minakai couldn’t keep running forever. Yet, at the same time, he knew that Flambot could not sustain these continued attacks for much longer.

  “Use your shiny on your feet!” called Aurin, trying to deliver a coded message to Shamtile.

  Thankfully, the magical lizard understood and coated the ground surrounding him in diamond. As the eruption of fire came, it sent Shamtile riding high into the sky on a disk of diamond.

  “Open up!” ordered Hunter, knowing that Shamtile was at his weakest in the air.

  Flambot opened his grill and a torrent of raging flame swirled out from within, shooting straight for Shamtile. Hurriedly, the little Minakai grabbed the disk of diamond and held it in front of himself like a shield to withstand the attack. As he fell back to the ground, Flambot tilted downwards and kept the rushing inferno strong.

  Suddenly, Shamtile’s grip on his makeshift shield weakened and it pivoted, allowing the flames to rush past. Aurin watched his Minakai fall down as he became engulfed in the intense fire that wasn’t letting up. Seconds that felt like minutes passed and, slowly, Flambot’s stream of flame slowed before petering out into nothing.

  “What?” shouted Hunter as the ground was revealed and there was no Shamtile to be seen. Suddenly he realised what had happened and called out. “Move!”

  Too late, Flambot’s legs became encased in diamond and he was unable to break free. Shamtile burst from the ground before him with a diamond spear in his hand and thrust it at the glowing blue eye within Flambot’s screen. With a horrible crack, the black screen shattered and Flambot let out a mechanical groan as he flopped over with his legs still fixed upright by the diamond restraints.

  “And Shamtile comes through victorious!” called the announcer. “Can Aurin hold this lead for long?”

  Hunter held up his hand and summoned his next Minakai to the battlefield in a flash of blue light. His towering Steambot stood before him and flexed before leaning forward and unleashing a pressure cannon from his pipes.

  Shamtile somersaulted out of the way of the high-powered attack and zig-zagged his way up the battlefield on all fours towards the blue robot. Upon seeing that Steambot was not attacking, Aurin realised that Hunter wanted Shamtile in close range.

  “Stay back!” he warned his Minakai, who stopped and started hurling stone spears across the battlefield, only for them to be blasted away by water jets.

  “I always have a contingency,” muttered Hunter to himself before speaking to his Minakai. “Tactic theta!”

  Steambot held up both of his hands and unleashed powerful streams of water that Shamtile dodged with ease, but upon landing, the billowing water turned in mid-air and followed him, knocking him to the ground and continuing to pulverise him as the stream continued to explode from Steambot’s hand.

  “What the…” muttered Aurin, having never seen water be manipulated in mid-air with such ease.

  As the water let up and started soaking into the ground, Aurin saw Shamtile lying unconscious on the battlefield. He had hoped his star Minakai could have taken out two of Hunter’s, but the early lead was enough for now and he threw his hand up with his next Minakai already decided.

  In a burst of pale blue, the jagged robotic iceberg that was his Glacibot appeared. He stood on all fours with the sharped point of icy body angled upwards while the blue diamond in his screen focused on his fellow Microbot evolution.

  “Now this is one I’ve been looking forward to,” said Hunter with a smirk. “Show him that ice can’t withstand high pressure!”

  “Ice wall!” ordered Aurin.

  As Steambot sent forth a powerful jet of water, a thick wall of ice erupted from the ground halfway across the battlefield and blocked the attack. A follow-up pressure cannon from Steambot struck the wall and broke it into miniature icebergs that crashed down, revealing a charging Glacibot sliding along an icy path that he continually generated in front of himself.

  Hunter’s Minakai conjured a massive wave of water that swept forward, but an outstretched hand from Glacibot froze it into a monument of ice. A flick of his wrist later and it shattered, tumbling down and letting him leap towards Steambot. The heavy ice elemental pinned his foe down and grabbed his pipes, focusing his elemental energy into them.

  As Aurin had expected, Steambot was powerful enough to through Glacibot off but, as Steambot stood up, he found himself moving much more sluggishly than before. Not only had Glacibot sealed his pipes with ice, he had frozen his joints too.

  Glacibot stood back up and charged forward. Steambot tried to raise his arms to use his water powers, but he struggled to even bring them to waist height before he was rammed in the chest by Glacibot’s pointed head. His metal casing was pierced and it splintered out as Steambot fell back, but Glacibot was not finished with him yet.

  The icy titan grabbed Steambot by the arms and flipped him in the air and throwing his opponent onto the large protruding icicle that sprung from his back. He let himself fall backwards and crushed Steambot, who was too weakened to fight back.

  “And Aurin regains the lead,” said the announcer. “Including that powerful Glacibot of his, he has four Minakai, up against Hunter’s remaining three.”

  Knowing that he had the perfect Minakai to gain the elemental advantage, Hunter threw out his hand. Appearing from an orb of purple light, came a white-bodied Minakai with black rubbery arms. From his back, came four electrically-charged golden prongs and a gold-tipped tail that crackled blue.

  “Icy terrain!” Aurin ordered his Minakai, who took a lightning bolt to the torso as he froze the ground around Shockbot.

  Hunter’s Minakai kept low, knowing that his rubbery feet were less than ideal now, but he was confident that he could win with range. He clapped his arms together and unleashed a sonic boom that toppled Glacibot over. Aurin’s Minakai twisted at the right moment to avoid his back spike wedging into the ground and leaving him stuck.

  Glacibot raised an ice wall while he righted himself, only for it to be torn apart quickly by lightning bolts, but it bought him just enough time. He hurled a rapid barrage of icicle spires that Shockbot was forced to zap out of the sky. Being the faster Minakai, Shockbot slipped a few extra bolts between the gaps in the assault from Glacibot.

  With a thundering crash, a large chunk of Glacibot’s icy body was blown off. He let out a chilling mechanical wail as the pain pulsed through him. He dropped onto his stomach and lay still, leaving the crowd gasping as he twitched and squirmed.

  “It looks like Hunter has won this—wait!” cried the announcer.

  Glacibot suddenly burst forward on his flat stomach, sliding along the grass with his head spike aiming straight for Shockbot. Hunter’s Minakai unleashed strike after strike, but he only sped up as he propelled himself along using his elemental force. Shockbot tried to dive, but slipped on the ice underneath him and Glacibot crashed into him. The two were carried towards the wall beside Hunter and crashed into the concrete. Both Minakai lay still, neither able to move an inch.

  “And it’s a double knockout!” called the announcer. “Aurin maintains his lead and Hunter’s elemental advantage was for nought.”

  “How about that…” said Hunter, looking to his tamer glove and readying his next Minakai while Aurin did the same at the opposite end of the stadium.

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