Aurin stood with his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out, marvelling at the sight before him. Not only did his house now have reinforced walls and a roof, but running water too. It had cost him an arm and a leg, especially with the mains pipe being so far away from his house on the hill, but it working as smoothly as could be.

  While the plumbers and workmen had been busy installing the pipes, sinks, toilets, and shower, Aurin had been working on something he deemed equally as important; living spaces for the Minakai.

  Shamtile was easy to please and Aurin had simply gathered a few carefully chosen rocks that the small lizard had found in the forest. At least, Shamtile tried to insist they were carefully chosen. Aurin suspected they’d been picked at random and the masked lizard was enjoying making his tamer carry them. They were set up in a circular formation and three of the smooth ones were laid side by side like a bed.

  Spikruption was even easier to please than Aurin with a small patch of grass cleared so that he could lie on the hard soil without the bristly grass to make the dinosaur itch. Aurin could see him lying there, curled up and with his eyes closed, all the while his tail thumped the ground repeatedly. Spikruption couldn’t have been more content unless he’d crushed one of his enemies.

  Dolissile, Steambot, and Breminia had a pool of water by the edge of a small manmade cave to enjoy. While Steambot did not spend much time in the water, preferring to bathe his feet and then play about near the arena, Dolissile and Breminia floated in the water peacefully. Every now and then Breminia’s spinning rings would make her pivot and knock Dolissile, but he calmly nudged her aside with his tail.

  Leonite, when asked, denied wanting any sort of special place for himself. He did, however, nest himself under the trees most of the time, preferring the shade to the sunlight. This was fine for Desparee, who set up his own small garden nearby, and liked the company. Lycavine, however, felt cramped having too many of his companions nearby and opted to move deeper into the forest while remaining within earshot.

  Skrow had a specially made perch placed on the peak of the house where he could see the entirety of Aurin’s property and for many miles around. Quetzel, having no legs with which to perch, had a small platform protruding from the edge of Aurin’s house where she could curl up, but it still give her the space to take to the skies anytime she pleased.

  Gorunze and Chopchop had no desire to live amongst metal, despite Aurin’s assurance that he would grant them whatever they wanted, as long as it was within reason. The two put their heads together and came up with something they would appreciate. A round, one-foot-deep pit in the forest with wooden and stone training dummies they could practice on. The dummies were destroyed at least a couple of times a day, but the earth and nature elementals were happy enough to take it in shifts to repair the damage.

  Zenoman, Sunny, and Gittup preferred to remain around the house, with Zenoman spending most of his time lounging on the roof while Sunny pestered him. Gittup, however, liked sitting on the porch. Here, he was close to the electrical appliances which his lightning element gave him a strange fondness for. Installing the electric in the house had been a much easier task than the water, with Aurin purchasing a special Minakai-chargeable generator which Gittup was happy to supply the energy for. It was extremely expensive, but after a couple of years, Gittup recharging it for free would make him his money back.

  Glacibot stayed in the man-made cave near the pool that Dolissile, Steambot, and Breminia called home. It was filled to the brim with ice and anytime Aurin stepped inside, he immediately wanted to leave—as did the other Minakai. Glacibot, however, was thrilled with his new living space, and made an ice statue of his tamer as a show of thanks. It, of course, couldn’t leave the cave without melting, but Aurin appreciated the kind gesture.

  Flowl had no space of his own, instead preferring to spend time near Spikruption, much to the dinosaur’s annoyance. Aurin had promised the fiery chick that once he had evolved into Volcarrow, he would give him his own dedicated stone perch so that his fiery body didn’t accidentally ignite the mostly wooden house and undo all the hard work Aurin and his friends had put into building the place.

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  Lastly, there was Zeera. Of all the Minakai, he was the most excited to leave the ranch. Aurin had thought about making him a cave like Glacibot had, but without the ice, however the hulking dinosaur scoffed at the notion. Zeera tore ahead and created his underground cavern, complete with difficult to descend stone steps. The epic Minakai spent most of his time sleeping down there, only bothering to return to the surface when it was time to eat or train. Being forced to socialise in the ranch had been painful for him, but Aurin was convinced it had done the dinosaur the world of good as he was much less prone to rage-induced tantrums and destruction than he would have once been.

  Satisfied with how everything had played out, Aurin called for all the Minakai to meet him at the arena. “Team,” he said, once they’d assembled, “I know many of you have settled in here already, but I’ve got Kyle’s assurance that you’re all welcome at the ranch whenever you please. If you want to spend time with any of your other friends there, do some training, or even leech off of him for food, feel free to do so. My only request is that you don’t stray too far from either here or the ranch for long. We all know what happened with Breminia and The Collector, and I don’t want a repeat of that.”

  Several of the monsters turned to look at Breminia, who ignored them and stared straight ahead. As much as Aurin had assured her that nothing that had happened at the Palace Dojo or the Ruins of Transference had been her fault, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. Once, Shamtile thought enough time had passed to tease her about it and was promptly blasted over the roof of Kyle’s ranch.

  “Alright,” said Aurin, clapping his hands. “Time to grab some lunch, and then we’re all going to train.”

  As he set about shovelling out the bags of food, he was reminded of how much work was involved in running Kyle’s ranch. He never had to do inventory, but it now dawned on him just how much of Kyle’s earnings was reinvested into food for the Minakai he housed. The rancher had always insisted he had never had an unprofitable month after his first year, there had been times where he had only narrowly avoided being in the red due to tamers paying their rent late or pulling their Minakai out before a payment was due.

  “I don’t want to see a scrap wasted,” Aurin told his team. “We’re going to run this ship tightly. With your new living space comes extra responsibility, and that means eating your fill and not wasting anything.”

  Once the Minakai had finished devouring their food, Aurin was pleased to see that nothing had been wasted. The one small chunk of meat he’d spotted lying near Gittup’s bowl was soon wolfed down by Spikruption and Leonite, who had a small game of tug-of-war over it. Fortunately, the meat was torn in two and they were able to share it. Aurin knew rightly that Leonite would have let it go if he’d lost, but Spikruption would have sooner crushed his comrade to a pulp if he’d been the one to lose.

  With lunch over, the team set about training. Aurin assigned them all tasks, starting with a run through the forest. He’d scouted out the perfect trail, which ended with a punishing uphill run. Even he struggled with this one, but he knew he had to finish the route or he'd lose the respect of his Minakai.

  Once the monsters had mostly splintered off, Aurin was left with Sunny, Steambot, and Flowl. Sunny knew what her job was before Aurin even opened his mouth; healing.

  “Flowl,” said Aurin, looking down at the flaming chick, “your biggest weakness is that you can’t take a punch. Your attacks have decent power behind them, but the second you’re walloped, you drop. That’s something that needs to change and we’ve got the hard-hitting Steambot working with you today. He volunteered to be your training buddy.”

  Steambot stood up straight, gave a salute, and then punched a fist into his free hand. “Gruuuugh,” he groaned mechanically before letting out a hiss of steam from his pipes.

  Flowl bounced in the air, squawking frantically at the thought of having to battle Steambot.

  “Never fear, my fiery poultry friend,” said Aurin with a chuckle. “We’ve got Sunny here to back you up. If an attack looks to be too strong, she’ll use her barrier to keep you safe. If you take the hit, she’ll have you as right as rain in seconds. Won’t you, Sunny?”

  The cloud-like egg squealed enthusiastically and spun around in the air. She then drifted down to Flowl and nuzzled him affectionately for a second before recoiling in pain. She glowed warmly, healing her burn, before smiling once more and drifting upwards into the air.

  Aurin pumped his fist. “Alright, team. Let’s hop into the arena and get this training session on the road. I swear that by the end of the month, Flowl, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

  With that, Aurin rushed to the stairs as his Minakai took their places in the battle arena. At the call of his tamer, Steambot unleashed a low-powered water jet and immediately knocked Flowl out of the arena, where the small Minakai stared into the sky in shock.

  Aurin furrowed his brow. “Sunny, I hate to call you in so early, but would you take care of that?”

  Sunny rushed straight over, glad to be of service.

  right here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: