“Master Taurus,” Aurin heard Virgo say, as he landed on an unsuspecting Zodiac grunt. He rolled over onto the grass, his mind reeling from the events that had transpired on the tower rooftop. “Is it done?” asked Virgo.

  “It is done,” said Taurus. His many minions erupted into cheers at this simple declaration of victory. After all of their planning, all of their efforts had come to fruition thanks to their brilliant and powerful master.

  “No!” cried Luna, who stood completely stunned.

  Kyle rushed over to help Aurin up. “We… failed?” the rancher asked Aurin.

  “I reached the roof… only Sunny left,” muttered Aurin. The zodiac grunt he had landed on began laughing hysterically, and Aurin shoved him back onto the ground. “I was outnumbered by Taurus, Leo, and Sagittarius along with their cosmics. There was nothing left that could be done.”

  “What happened?” asked Kyle.

  “You lost!” called Capricorn snidely. “You will always lose when you go against Zodiac.”

  Aurin shook his head. “They touched a podium meant for some sort of golden egg and a portal opened, summoning a giant Minakai. I don’t know what it was, but it was larger than any Minakai I have ever seen. They used the power of the cosmic Minakai to stop the portal from opening and somehow that shattered the barrier shielding the top of the tower.”

  “Damn!” called Knot. The dozens of Minakai who had been brawling all day finally stopped fighting, knowing there was no point in continuing.

  It had been a hard grind to reach the top of the tower, but Aurin hadn’t truly appreciated the efforts put in by those battling on the ground. They must have been fighting for almost ten hours solid. There was a brief window for each Minakai to recover after they fell before being called back to the battle again. It was a true testament to the strength of the tamers of Hazelton, yet he had still failed them.

  “There he is,” said Gardner, pointing at Taurus. “Aren’t we going to apprehend him?”

  The eleven Zodiac elites surrounded their master: Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Gemini, and Cancer. There were elites here who Aurin had never even laid eyes on before, but each of them looked as though they still had some fight left in them after everything that had happened on this day. And what was worse was that Leo, Sagittarius, and Taurus himself had a full arsenal of Minakai they could use now that they were free of the restrictions of Harmony Tower.

  “You can try,” said Leo, “but it’ll be a wasted effort.”

  A red bolt of lightning struck the ground, almost hitting Conrad. Standing beside the Minakai Guardian, summoned by the lightning, was a Peekan. Conrad scoffed and his Titanitoise headbutted the tiny turquoise bird, knocking it out and banishing it from the world.

  “This was your big plan?” asked Conrad. “Low-level monsters being summoned to the world? I thought with the power of the cosmics you would—”

  Conrad was cut off by a thundering roar as the Grakadon from the tower roof descended upon the huge gathering of tamers, hurling its conjured rocks through the air. It did not aim solely for the Minakai; it was aiming for the tamers too.

  “Agh!” cried Emily as the Grakadon landed before her and drew back a claw.

  A flying hand from Jimmy’s Zenoman shoved her out of the way in the nick of time. The furious Grakadon was set upon by the Minakai, who refused to let it harm the humans. After another strike of lightning, it was joined by a wild Frogre. The snow-white ogre beat its chest with gloved fists and summoned forth a hailstorm that struck both human and monster alike.

  “Zodiac Squad, we retreat,” announced Taurus. “The world has been corrected and the natural order has been restored. The rift has been opened and the Minakai will now share our world with us, as we sought from the beginning.”

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  “See you later,” said Pisces, winking at Aurin and giving him a flippant wave.

  The Zodiac Squad retreated en masse, leaving the Hazelton tamers and their Minakai behind as they hurriedly made their escape. A further zap of lightning brought forth a wild Funglie. Without thought or care for those around, it unleashed toxic spores upon the tamers and their Minakai.

  “H-help,” coughed Eclare, struggling to breathe after inhaling a huge dose of the spores.

  Aurin and Luna rushed over to her, holding their breath, and pulled her back before she could take in more of the whirling airborne toxins.

  “I spoke too soon,” said Conrad, upon ordering his Titanitoise to take out the Funglie. “We’re going to get overwhelmed quickly if this keeps up. Not just our teams, but us too.”

  “We have to control the flow of Minakai into the world until we can find a way to undo what Zodiac did,” said Kyle.

  “Agreed,” said Luna, as Emily passed her the rest of her summoning stones.

  “Spikruption,” called Aurin as Gardner passed Aurin his. The large red dinosaur ran through the crowd to his master. “As soon as lightning strikes, take out the Minakai that spawns.”

  The dinosaur roared and puffed smoke, looking reinvigorated after a tiring day of battle. He was glad to have his master by his side once more.

  “How many Minakai have each of you got left?” asked Kyle, looking at each of the tamers.

  “Spikruption is my last one,” said Aurin, looking around the battlefield. “I don’t see any of the rest of my team.”

  “Stopod and Bakugon,” said Luna, willing the two earth elementals to her side from where they were standing by the tower a moment earlier.

  “I’m tapped out,” said Gardner.

  “Me too,” said Emily.

  “I’ve only got my Titanitoise left,” said Conrad.

  As more Minakai spawned, the tamers fought against them and sent them back while the injured tamers were helped into Hazelton by their friends and their Minakai. Everyone fought valiantly, but the spawning Minakai quickly started overwhelming them.

  “So… tired,” said Eclare, her eyes glazing over.

  “Eclare?” asked Luna, looking worried.

  “Mhmm…” she sighed, her eyes starting to roll. “You’re so lucky, Luna. So… lucky…”

  “You’ll be alright,” said Aurin, holding her head steady and trying to get her to focus. “We’ll get you some help.”

  “We’ve got to get her into town,” said Kyle. “We can’t keep going like this or we’re going to start seeing deaths.”

  A lightning bolt from a flying Wunder struck Luna’s Stopod, sending him spinning through the air. The Wunder followed up and dove towards Aurin, who ducked out of the way before the yellow bird’s beak pierced his chest.

  A furious Flambot suddenly spawned nearby, immediately opening its stomach grill and unleashing its fire upon the battlefield. It was aiming at nothing and no one, simply causing as much chaos as it possibly could.

  “We’re done,” said Kyle sternly, looking at the Flambot unleashing bursts of flame that torched the trees. A second later, it was joined by a Chopchop that swung its bladed arms wildly, cutting the trees down. “We need to go away, recover, and return with full strength.”

  “We can’t just leave this place to be overrun!” yelled Aurin.

  “And what do you propose we do?” asked Kyle. “We don’t have the resources to keep this up. Hazelton is a small town and there are only so many tamers here. Half of us have been fighting all day and our teams are spent. The other half, who aren’t Zodiac members, didn’t show up to help. We need to regroup.”

  “Fine,” said Aurin, accepting that Kyle was right.

  “Back to the ranch?” asked Gardner, looking on as another Debaba spawned and began bouncing towards Emily. It tried to wrap its vines around her arms to pull her in, seeking to devour her within its sack-like body.

  “Back to the ranch,” said Kyle, picking up a rock and launching it at the Debaba to distract it.

  “The rest of us will go into town,” said Knot, walking backwards and not taking his eyes off the encroaching monsters. “Hazelton needs to be warned about the wild Minakai. It’s only a matter of time before they attack the town.”

  “Please take her with you,” said Luna, passing an unconscious Eclare to Knot, who threw her over his shoulder.

  “I’ll get her to a doctor immediately,” said the detective. “Good luck to you all.”

  Knot hurriedly led the remaining tamers down the path, leaving the wild Minakai behind to continue wreaking havoc.

  Aurin, Luna, Kyle, Gardner, Jimmy, Conrad, and Emily ran from the small clearing in the forest where the unleashed tower continually spawned more and more Minakai. The tamers’ few remaining monsters followed them, watching the humans’ backs as they hurried towards the ranch.

  “Are you alright?” Luna asked Aurin.

  “No,” he replied, feeling like an utter failure. “Are you?”

  “No, I’m not. We’re in a bad situation right now and I’m not sure what to do.”

  “We’ll find a way,” said Conrad resolutely. “The Guardians should be on their way and we’ve had to deal with bad situations before. I don’t know what’s taking them so long, but they’ll be here.”

  “Well, they’d better get a move on,” said Kyle as the ranch came into view. “Who knows how long it’ll be before the entire town is in ruins?”

  “Too right,” added Gardner while Emily nodded along. “Let’s get it together, team.”

  As Aurin ran towards the fence, all he could think of was his failure. Even still, he knew he had to fix this disaster of epic proportions. He had to find a way to reseal the tower and make things right. He didn’t yet know how, but he would find a way.

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