Litehorn bucked and cast out a reckless lightning bolt from its horn, having been bested by Quetzel with ease. The air serpent was not trying to win, rather she had been trying to force the unicorn to dodge. Litehorn, however, had chosen to take her attacks head on, thinking himself much more capable than he was.

  “Careful!” snapped Aurin as the lightning bolt narrowly missed the arena’s sign. He approached the foal and strokes his mane, trying to soothe him. “You’re not the strongest Minakai, you’re going to have to accept that. How could you be? You’re fresh from your egg. These things take time, mate. Build up your skills incrementally and, before you know it, you’ll be a shimmering stallion with the power to bring the world to its knees.”

  Litehorn liked the sound of that and snorted at the thought. He could not truly comprehend what it meant, but the words filled him with hope. He was ready to give it another go.

  “From the top, Quetzel,” said Aurin, walking backwards to the stairs. “Litehorn, watch her moves and react accordingly.”

  Quetzel slithered across the ground and beat her wings, taking to the sky. She weaved through the air as Litehorn watched, waiting for an opening. She pivoted and her movement slowed as she conjured up a gust. Litehorn shot a charged-up strike, but Quetzel slipped out of the way effortlessly, leaving Litehorn to take the gust. He was thrown from the arena and rolled onto the grass.

  In a rage, he climbed back to his feet and threw lightning bolt after lightning bolt in every direction. Most of them either hit the ground, tree trunks, or were too weak to linger for long. One bolt, however, struck the worst target imaginable.

  Zeera threw his half-eaten whole chicken to the ground and stood up, his face twisted into a venomous sneer. He threw the chicken into the air, caught it in his mouth, and gulped it down without chewing once. Litehorn was too busy to notice the humongous dinosaur striding towards him until Zeera’s shadow covered him.

  Litehorn looked up at Zeera. He did not have time to panic as a thick fist thumped him on the head, knocking him out cold. Zeera roared with amusement, stomped over to his steps, and descended into his private cavern where nobody would bother him for the rest of the day.

  Aurin marvelled at Zeera’s remarkable restraint. Had it been as little as four months ago, the epic beast would likely have crushed the unicorn’s skull. It was good to see the dinosaur showing some level of concern for his teammates, even one he considered an insubordinate brat. Aurin pondered whether this was because Zeera too had been unruly and proud as a hatchling. Granted, Zeera’s immense power gave him more justification for his inflated sense of self-worth.

  “Alright, that’s training over, Quetzel,” said Aurin as the serpent coiled around his arm and draped herself over his shoulders. “Tell you what, why don’t you and Skrow practice your techniques while flying over to Kyle’s and back?”

  Quetzel hissed and flew towards the roof where Skrow was perched with his skull tucked under his wing. With a whip of her feather-tipped tail, Skrow was awake. He flew after Quetz, knowing exactly what being whipped by her meant. It was time for a sky brawl. His favourite.

  Aurin walked over to his porch and sat on the steps, looking past his arena and over the treetops that ran down the hill. It had been a peaceful morning, but he would be lying if he’d said he hadn’t a care in the world. Jackson’s words were eating at him and he wanted to get to the bottom of them. Who did The Blackjacks work for?

  It had dawned on him how little Aurin knew about Sir Arthur Ashmore. He was a wealthy man with a keen interest, both financial and personal, in technology and magic. He was obsessed with completing his collection of Bretonian Minakai. He was more than a competent battler, but relied too heavily on his Minakai’s inherent strength rather than advancing himself as a tamer.

  Aurin wondered how Logan was doing these days. His friend from the Castle Dojo had been so racked with guilt about Sir Ashmore’s banishment to an unknown dimension that he had forsaken his training, turned his back on the dojo, and headed off on a seemingly aimless journey.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  It had not been Logan’s fault. He had brought the Orb of Dimensions from the dojo as a last resort to banish Minakai the group couldn’t handle during their delve into the Ruins of Transference. It was not meant to be used on a human. In the confusion of battle, Sir Ashmore had found it lying on the ground and harnessed is magic, thinking it to be an Orb of Return.

  “Do you reckon he’s still alive?” Aurin asked Breminia as she floated past.

  The golden Minakai spun in mid-air and cocked her head to the side.

  “The Collector,” clarified Aurin. “Do you think he’s still alive wherever he is?”

  Breminia bowed her head, indicating that she did indeed believe Sir Ashmore was alive in another world.

  “Since we saved you, part of me has always wondered what would have happened if Sir Ashmore had escaped. Would he still be pursuing you? He certainly gave the impression he would, but who knows how things would have panned out?”

  Breminia did not know how best to comfort her master’s evident uneasiness. She floated up to him, tilted forward, and patted him on the head. Aurin chuckled, and she was assured that she had done a good job.

  “As you were,” said Aurin, patting her on the head right back.

  The legendary Minakai let out an echoing coo as she hovered away, her unevenly spinning rings twirling up and down her unusually quickly. Whatever she was up to, she was excited for it. Curious, Aurin stood up and followed her.

  Breminia drifted along to a patch in the woods where Shamtile, Steambot, and Sunny stood. The masked lizard was inspecting a large mound of earth with a hole in the top. It looked more solid than soil, but there was none of Shamtile’s glistening diamond to be found. Beside the mound was another hole, right by Steambot’s feet.

  The three Minakai turned to look at Aurin. Even with his mask covering his face, Aurin could read Shamtile’s guilty through his eyes. The masked lizard was about to do something very dangerous and stupid. Aurin, however, did not plan on stopping him. He was curious about this rudimentary contraption he’d built.

  “Go on,” said Aurin, gesturing to him.

  Shamtile looked at Steambot, who shrugged. He looked at Sunny, who squealed and somersaulted. Lastly, he looked at Breminia whose spinning rings revealed her continued excitement. Sighing, Shamtile climbed into the hole at the top of the mount and held his hands up high. He was snugly concealed up to his chest, and he grunted at Steambot.

  The metal titan lay on the ground and angled his pipe within the hole beside the mount. Aurin could now see where this was going and started snickering to himself. This was indeed dangerous and stupid, but he knew Shamtile well enough to know that there was a reason he had set this system up. Had it been Steambot leading the plan, it would have been purely for the water construct’s entertainment.

  “Graw!” grunted Shamtile, nodding at Sunny.

  The cloud-like Minakai floated over to him and he grabbed onto her tightly. After the lizard grunted once more, Breminia’s sapphire glowed brightly. At the same time, Steambot started rumbling as he prepared a powerful pressure cannon.

  “Gyagh!” screeched Shamtile.

  Steambot’s pressure cannon erupted and was bolstered by the power of Breminia. So fast that Aurin could barely react, Shamtile was launched from his makeshift cannon. He flew high into the sky at breakneck speed, clutching Sunny tightly for the inevitable painful landing. Shamtile flew so high that he could have reached the mountaintop had he been pointed the right direction. He became a dot in the distance as he descended, no doubt now braced by one of Sunny’s barriers.

  “Dare I ask?” chuckled Aurin, looking at Steambot.

  The robot pointed one of his thick fingers at his screen and drew a club, a heart, a diamond, and then a spade. He then began punching the air.

  “You plan to double-team next Blackjack battle, using Shamtile as a bullet?” the young tamer asked.

  Steambot gave his closest approximation of a thumbs up—which was surprisingly, convincing considering his lack of thumbs—and then began clapping.

  “Alright, let’s see the damage,” snorted Aurin, seeing that Shamtile and Sunny had fallen out of sight. He reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out their summoning stones, and called them back to his side.

  Shamtile’s chest was heaving up and down and he looked like he could throw up into his mask. Sunny, meanwhile, had an atypically wide-eyed look about her. She rarely saw combat and kept herself out of most of the training action except when she supported her comrades with her healing and protective abilities. Exploding from the cannon on an immensely powerful jet of water was a thrill that she had never experienced anything comparable to.

  “How was the landing?” Aurin asked with a smirk.

  Shamtile nodded, and then clutched his mouth underneath his mask. He sprinted into a bush and Aurin heard a guttural retching along.

  “How did you get roped into this?” Aurin asked Breminia, who gave an indecipherable response. “I see, I see,” replied Aurin, nodding along.

  Shamtile returned, adjusting his mask so that he was properly concealed. He waved his arms in the air victoriously, as though everything had gone perfectly smoothly.

  “We need a name for this new move,” said Aurin, stroking his chin. “We’ll call it the earth cannon. To have it at full power, we’d need all four of you. In a pinch, we could do it with just you pair.”

  Aurin nodded towards Shamtile and Steambot, who looked at each other gleefully, and then gave each other a high five.

  right here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: