The train rolled into the station and the man sitting in one of the carriages drummed his fingers on his leg eagerly. He had heard so much about Hazelton from so many that he was itching to see what it had in store for him. Unfortunately, his visit was a surprise visit so he would not have the luxury of a guided tour right off the bat.

  With a heave, the man arose and walked to the carriage door. The wheels ground to a halt and the doors opened automatically, allowing a whoosh of fresh air to flow into the man’s nostrils. He breathed it in, held it for a moment, and then exhaled. Fresh, crisp, countryside town air. Beautiful.

  He stepped off the train, walked across the open platform, and walked down the steps leading into a small cobblestone street. The town was not as small as he had remembered, but it was far from a city. What he could say for sure, however, was that it was still a charming place. As the man walked along, he admired the neighbours casually chatting to each other over their fences, the hanging baskets adorning several of the old street lights, and the ivy creeping up several of the buildings.

  The man had spent so much time exploring Bretonia in his younger days that he truly appreciated these small details. Recently, however, most of his time had been spent abroad. The nature of Minakai taming led him across several countries from Eiranth to Sinotai, but no country did things quite like they did here in Bretonia. To him, it was home.

  Looming to the north, he could see one of the few places he clearly recalled from his one prior visit; Hazelton Stadium. It was here that he’d stopped by to watch a single match before heading straight to the airport. This time, however, he was going to give Hazelton the time of day.

  Hoping his mother had given him the right directions, he strolled towards the south road out of town. He had expected it to be covered in tarmac, but the road was more of a dirt path with patchy grass growing where feet had not trodden it away. Somewhere along the way, the path forked. He could see over the treetops that one of the roads led towards a tower; Harmony Tower. The other path must have led to that ranch he’d heard so much about. Neither location was what he sought, although he would no doubt have the chance to explore both before long.

  He followed the path towards the ranch for a minute before taking a cleared path through the woodlands. He could see where the earth had recently been dug up and the grass slowly starting to spread atop the recovered land. The man chuckled to himself.

  “At least he’s got running water,” he said with a grin. “It looks like he’s getting savvier with age.”

  The man continued to follow where the water pipes had been lain and it eventually led him to the bottom of a large hill. At the top of the hill, he could see the wooden pillars of a small battle arena and he immediately knew he had found what he’d been seeking.

  With his enthusiasm reaching its peak, he strode up the grass, taking in the small arena and the house that sat a few dozen yards behind it. Perched atop the house was a Skrow and it cocked its head to the side curiously as the man approached. It unfurled its wings and soared down to meet the man, who extended his arm to allow the black bird to land.

  “How’re you doing, Skrow?” asked the man, receiving a small nap to the finger as a greeting. “Is he inside?”

  Skrow cawed affirmatively and took off once more, flying over the arena and landing at the front door of the house where a sleeping Gittup had taken up residence. He reached over the blue beast and pecked the door several times. The loud knocks rang out and, seconds later, the door opened.

  “Hello,” said Aurin, expecting to find the postman. When he saw Skrow, he looked at his undead Minakai curiously. “Everything alright, mate?”

  Skrow stretched out a wing and the tip of it pointed to the man who had arrived. Aurin’s jaw just about hit the floor when he saw who was leaning against the posts of his arena.

  “Jaden?” he asked, almost tripping over Gittup as he rushed to meet his brother.

  “Marnin’, pardner!” called Jaden, tipping an imaginary hat at his little brother.

  Aurin leapt up the small ledge and landed on his arena. He reached out a hand for his brother to shake, but Jaden pulled him into an embrace.

  “You don’t shake hands with family, you rascal,” Jaden chuckled. “You bear hug ‘em.”

  With that, he squeezed Aurin tightly and lifted him off the ground. Aurin kicked and struggled before going for Jaden’s arm. He twisted it and broke his older brother’s grip, freeing himself from the sneak attack.

  “Alright,” said Jaden, looking impressed. “You’ve certainly gained a few points in strength since I last tried that. It’s good to see you’re not slacking.”

  “What’re you doing here?” asked Aurin, still baffled by his brother’s surprise appearance.

  “Just thought it was about time I came to visit. I’m on the verge of embarking on my next adventure and I don’t know when I’ll be back so there was no better time to come than now. Frankly, I’d intended to visit earlier, but I didn’t have a good opportunity for it. Best laid plans and all that.”

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  “Want me to show you around?” asked Aurin, gesturing towards his house and the areas many of the Minakai occupied.

  “Sure,” said Jaden, leading the way himself. He sauntered down the steps and strolled across the yard towards the house. “How much of this did you build yourself?”

  “Most of it,” answered Aurin, following his brother. He prodded Gittup in the side and asked the lightning elemental if he could sleep off to the side rather than directly in front of the door. Gittup frowned as he shimmied along before promptly falling back to sleep in his new position.

  Jaden opened the door and stepped into the living room. “Very nice,” he said, but Aurin caught him by the arm.

  “Shoes off,” said the young man.

  “Ah, it’s one of those houses?” asked Jaden with a snort. He kicked his shoes off and set them beside the door.

  Jaden wandered through the house as Aurin gave him a running commentary of how difficult parts of it had been to build. While Aurin had said he done most of it himself, truthfully, the bulk of the work had been done by the Minakai with Aurin giving them careful instructions. Even then, he’d had to consult with the foreman of a local construction business to make sure he didn’t make a house that would fall apart if it rained just a little too heavily.

  “And the electric?” asked Jaden as he tapped the kettle in the kitchen.

  “I paid someone to install and wire the generator, but Gittup provided the electricity for that,” said Aurin. “I wanted to do it myself, but Luna said I’ll get no sympathy from her if I electrocute myself in the process.”

  “Too right. I’m amazed you did as much as you did and things didn’t go wrong. And I don’t mean that as an insult, I wouldn’t have dreamed of being anything but a decision maker for the actual planners and builders. Nice work, little brother.”

  “Thanks,” said Aurin, grinning from ear to ear. “Should we head into town? I was going to go and meet Luna in an hour anyway.”

  Jaden raised an eyebrow. “In an hour, you say? That means you’ve got some free time.”

  “Yes, and your points is?”

  Jaden raised his hand, showing off his black tamer glove with gold trim. Inserted into it were nine summoning stones; one for each element bar cosmic. “It would be a shame to not use that battle arena you built, right?”

  Aurin grabbed his own tamer glove from the table and pulled it over his hand. “A one-on-one battle and the loser pays for lunch?”

  “Done.”

  The two marched outside, climbed the arena steps, and took their places at opposite ends of the battlefield. While only half the size of the field in Hazelton Stadium, there was more than enough space to utilise. Aurin stared stoically at his brother, trying not to give anything away with his face. Jaden had a knack for reading people and it had always steered him well in his battles.

  Aurin knew that Jaden had seen him fight several times over, most recently at the National Championships a few months prior, but he had yet to see Jaden battle other than some light sparring in Baxter Park in Ludonia. He did, however, know what Jaden’s ace Minakai was. While he wanted to play to his elemental advantage, one of his own monsters had been promised the next big battle after doing so well in assisting Flowl with his training.

  “Count us in,” said Aurin.

  “Alright,” said Jaden, a cocky smile stretched across his face. “Three. Two. One. Fight!”

  The two thrust their clenched fists forward, summoning their respective Minakai. The ice blue stone in Jaden’s glove glowed brightly, sending a burst of light onto the battlefield. As it faded away, it revealed a hulking white beast covered in dark grey fur. Its red eyes glowed and its mere presence emitted an unsettling aura. The undead beast that was Unbominable looked hungry for battle and let loose a rumbling growl as Steambot appeared before him.

  The metal titan wasted no time in leaning forward and letting loose an intense pressure cannon from his pipes. The powerful blast was swiftly countered by an icy wall from Unbominable. As the streaming water died down, the undead sasquatch smashed through his own wall and tackled Steambot to the ground. The two exchanged forceful blows with Unbominable losing large clumps of hair while Steambot suffered dents that would not be so easily fixed.

  “It’s a stalemate on the ground,” said Aurin. “Use your elemental powers!”

  “Don’t let him!” barked Jaden.

  While Aurin’s meaning went over his brother’s head, Steambot understood his master’s implication. He channelled a water jet into his feet and blasted himself upright, bringing Unbominable with him. It had taken a lot of strength, but the surprise of being lifted had loosened the sasquatch’s grip, allowing Steambot to throw him backwards.

  Before the icy Minakai could arise, Steambot summoned a mighty wave that swept across the battlefield. To Aurin’s surprise, however, it did not carry Unbominable away. Jaden’s monster rose up on a pillar of thick ice, giving him the chance to right himself. It was reminiscent of something Shamtile would do with his stone pillars, but he did not often see such large Minakai trying something like that.

  Unbominable threw himself off the pillar, clenching his fists together, and drawing his arms overhead. He swung them down and delivered a mighty thump to Steambot’s screen, disorienting the water elemental and sending him staggering backwards.

  As Unbominable charged in for a follow-up uppercut, he was blocked by Steambot. While Steambot still looked a little out of sorts with his glowing blue eye moving about unsteadily, he still had some fight left in him. Unbominable’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Steambot, whose eye suddenly jolted back to the centre of his screen.

  The metal behemoth thrust his head forward, smashing into Unbominable’s face. There was an audible crack as the sasquatch’s nose broke. Jaden looked surprised at how tough Steambot was proving to be. Wanting to show his master’s brother just how powerful he was, he leaned forward and launched another pressure cannon.

  It struck Unbominable square in the chest and threw the Minakai across the battlefield. He smacked the ground and rolled towards his tamer as a large grey hairball. As Jaden looked down at his Minakai, he saw no red glow coming from within his monster’s hair-covered face.

  Jaden shook his head and sighed. “You got me,” he admitted. “Best two out of three?”

  “Only if you’re still paying for the meal regardless of the outcome,” said Aurin with a smirk.

  Jaden feigned contemplation, furrowing his brow and loudly groaning. He was really stretching the joke out, but Aurin knew what his answer was going to be. This was very much how Jaden acted even as they were growing up.

  “Alright,” said Jaden at last, giving an exaggerated shrug. “But you’re not allowed to charge me for a tour of Hazelton, yeah?”

  “Done,” said Aurin. “Now hurry up and summon your next monster.”

  Jaden let out a loud cackle and threw his hand forward, sending a glowing burst of red light onto the battlefield.

  right here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: