“A training dojo, you say?” asked Aurin, raising a curious eyebrow. He had thought Rustvale to be a rather bland town, but the notion that there was somewhere nearby dedicated to the study of Minakai was exactly the sort of hidden gem he’d been hoping to find during his journey across Bretonia.

  “Yep,” said the man, ruffling the feathers of the Peekan who sat on his shoulder. “Got turned away when I applied a few years ago, but I’ll show them. I reckon you could take them, champ…well, almost-champ.”

  “That’s me sold,” said Aurin, looking to Luna. She gave a smile and a nod, making Aurin’s grin stretch wider. He took out his map and a pen and passed it over to the man who drew along the road leading out of town.

  Shamtile hopped up and down as he heard the scratching of the pen on the paper and knew that his master would soon guide him to somewhere that may prove a genuine challenge for him, for that was what he longed for. It was one thing battling against his teammates and friends, but another thing altogether to be pitted against an unknown foe who could surprise him with techniques he had never even considered possible. That was what he loved the most, the thrill of battling the unknown and overcoming it.

  “Who should I bring with me?” asked Aurin slowly while giving Shamtile a sly side-eye.

  “Graaaw!” screeched Shamtile, falling to his knees and clasping his hands together. He shook them vigorously, begging to be chosen.

  “Of course, you’re coming,” said Aurin, chortling as Shamtile sighed in relief.

  *

  Aurin and Luna had spent most of the morning walking along the roads leading away from Rustvale and into the hillier regions of Bretonia. It was a pleasant morning with the sun sitting high and the clouds intermittent, made all the more serene by the trickling stream flowing along beside them.

  Innogon had joined Luna for the walk and the small drake was skipping in and out of the stream without a care in the world. Aurin was accompanied by Shamtile but, as the road turned into a cross-country path, he summoned Glacibot, Quetzel, and Zeera to join his lizard. He knew he could rely on Glacibot and Quetzel, but he thought this would be a good test to see if Zeera could remain on his best behaviour away from the ranch and Kyle’s watchful eye.

  Things were going swimmingly as the group plodded through the countryside where the hills started turning into small mountains. They passed by old ruined walls and saw the occasional crumbling tower perched in the distance. It reminded Aurin of old movies and he wondered what battles had taken place here in the past.

  “Anybody feel like sparring?” asked Aurin, shadowboxing the air.

  “Here?” asked Luna with a raised eyebrow.

  “Up there,” said Aurin, jerking his head to the ruins. “I can’t think of a better battlefield.”

  Zeera roared furiously and slammed his tail on the ground, startling Innogon who leapt from the nearby river and then hid his face in embarrassment. Shamtile pointed and laughed at his friend, only for Zeera to pick him up by the tail and hurl him up the hill towards a crumbling pillar. The huge reptile charged after the smaller one, kickstarting the sparring session early.

  Aurin grabbed Quetzel’s tail and soared into the air to catch up quickly. When he was above the battlefield, he released her and landed deftly on the ground. “No instructions from me, you pair,” he said. “Let’s see how you can handle each other’s powers.”

  The two could barely here Aurin over their clashes with Zeera swiping at Shamtile only to be blocked by walls of diamond. Shamtile’s retaliatory diamond spears were then caught and snapped by Zeera, so immense was his strength. As Luna and the other Minakai caught up, Shamtile was leaping around on stone pillars while Zeera threw boulder barrages to try and knock him back down to the ground.

  Shamtile dove underneath the earth and Zeera stomped his feet, shaking the ground and then expelling Shamtile with a stalagmite. As Shamtile fell back down, he trapped Zeera’s feet in a stone cage. As the dinosaur pulled himself free, he took a diamond-coated fist to the chin that momentarily dazed him.

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  “They look like they’re really trying to hurt each other,” remarked Luna as Shamtile flung another spear at his teammate.

  “Oh, they are,” said Aurin with a grin. “These two can fight until they’re a bloody heap on the ground. They know Sunny will take care of them if things get too out of control.”

  “Shamtile knows that, but does Zeera?”

  Of course, he does. He’s a rambunctious one, but he’s a good monster. We’ve come to understand each other a lot since his hatching.”

  “Which was only a couple of months ago.”

  “I bond with my team quickly, Luna. You know that.”

  “Alright, as long as you know what—”

  “Agh!”

  Luna screamed and ran down the hill with Innogon. Aurin turned to see what had happened and saw Zeera punch one of the old stone columns of the ruin. It fell towards Shamtile who knew it should not have been destroyed and the small reptile held up his hands and caught it, letting out a gasp as the massive weight hit his palms.

  “Oh dear,” said Aurin. “The fight’s over, gentlemen!”

  Zeera smirked and roared so loudly that the ground shook, almost breaking Shamtile’s focus on supporting the column. Glacibot ran over and helped push it back up to a standing position while Shamtile weaved his magic to try and reattach the broken part of the column to its base. Zeera was unphased and stood proudly by, watching as the loser of the battle did the cleanup; it was fitting, really. Why should the victor do the dirty work?

  “You were saying?” asked Luna as she and Innogon slumped back over.

  “No permanent damage done,” said Aurin awkwardly. He kneeled by the column and inspected it. “At least none that will go noticed.”

  “You’re going to make an anonymous donation to whoever maintains these ruins, aren’t you?”

  Aurin sighed. “Yes…once I find out who that is.”

  “Come on, everyone,” said Luna to the entire party. “The fun’s over.”

  The humans and their Minakai returned to the path and followed it along until they reached a small side path through a narrow valley. Aurin banished all of the Minakai back to Hazelton save for Shamtile and the duo continued along with Luna and Innogon following closely.

  There was no mistaking that the path here had been walked many times and with it being narrower than the one outside, the footprints were that much more evident. This was undoubtedly the way to the dojo and a few minutes later, Aurin’s speculation was confirmed. Standing before them, backdropped by hills and cliffs was another ruin that looked like an abandoned temple.

  Standing around in the clearing before it was a dozen tamers pitting their Minakai against each other’s while the tamers themselves sparred in hand-to-hand combat. Each of the humans wore loose black trousers and sleeveless white vests to match. There were no boxing gloves and no pads in sight, with the tamers taking forceful punches to the face and throwing each other to the ground mercilessly. They were as brutal with each other as the Minakai and they lacked the healing factor the otherworldly monsters possessed. It reminded Aurin of an old martial arts movie.

  “This really is a dojo, isn’t it?” asked Aurin excitedly.

  “You can’t possibly want to fight other tamers!” decried Luna.

  “Why not? I’m bigger and more muscular than most of them,” said Aurin, flexing. “I’ll have the weight advantage in most of these matches.”

  “And with no technique to back it up.”

  “Technique can be learned,” said Aurin dismissively and walking forward with Shamtile.

  As Aurin strolled confidently towards the gates, a pair of tamers stopped fighting and ordered their Minakai to cease their own battle. They walked over to Aurin with confused looks on their faces.

  “Hello there,” said Aurin with a friendly smile.

  “Are you here to see Master Lucius?” one of the tamers asked.

  “Is he the one in charge here?”

  “I said he was Master Lucius, didn’t I?” scoffed the tamer.

  “You never said Grandmaster Lucius, did you?” retorted Aurin.

  “Tell you what,” said the other tamer with a cunning look on his face. “We’ll let you see the master if you can defeat the pair of us in a battle. Minakai only because it’s clear you wouldn’t stand a chance against us physically.”

  “You’re going to eat those words,” said Aurin, swelling up. “Luna?”

  “I’m in,” she said, relieved there would be no fists swinging in her direction. She was, however, mildly irked that Aurin rose to the bait so easily.

  “What are your names?” said the first tamer.

  “Aurin.”

  “Luna.”

  “I’m Dirk,” said the tamer. “And this is Brent.”

  “Names you’ll want to remember,” said Brent with a cocky grin. “Are those two pipsqueaks your chosen Minakai?”

  “You want us to give you the opportunity to get the elemental advantage?” asked Aurin. “That’s not happening.”

  Shamtile and Innogon groaned in disappointment. They had been looking forward to a battle after all of the disrespectful talk and Shamtile wanted to let off some steam after the disaster that was the brief sparring session with Zeera.

  “Ready?” asked Luna.

  “Ready,” said Dirk and Brent in unison.

  The four tamers threw forward their fists. On Aurin and Luna’s side, appeared a flash of yellow and a flash of blue. On Dirk and Brent’s side, appeared the same exact same colours. Once the lights faded, Skrow and Doripper appeared before Aurin, but a larger black bird and a more devilish-looking fish appeared before Dirk and Brent.

  Dirk laughed. “Would you look at that, Brent?”

  “What are the odds?” replied Brent with a sneer.

  The Minakai they had summoned were Skullture and Doreaper, respectively; the evolutions of Skrow and Doripper, and they both looked hungry for victory.

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