Aurin sat on the porch of Kyle’s ranch with both the rancher and Luna standing before him. He had explained everything that had happened to him no more than an hour ago. Luna had rushed to the ranch the second Aurin told her there had been an emergency, keeping several members of her team close by at Aurin’s suggestion.

  Night had fallen on Hazelton and the atmosphere was thick as Luna and Kyle mulled everything over. Shamtile was sitting beside Aurin with a large chicken drumstick that he kept shoving under his mask to take a bite from. It had been part of Kyle’s dinner that the rancher offered up to the lizard, who gratefully accepted it.

  Luna’s brow was furrowed as she contemplated. She was the first to break the silence following Aurin’s story. “It must be someone you know,” she said. “Why else would he conceal his face?”

  “Agreed,” said Kyle. “And the fact that he attacked you, battle you fairly outside of the rift magic, and then left tells me that there’s a lot more to this puzzle. We’re missing a few pieces.”

  “That’s what’s annoying me the most. An ambush, I can handle. A battle, I can fight my way out of that. It’s the fact that he said nothing, tried to take nothing, and simply fled after he lost. If he wanted to steal my Minakai like The Collector had tried to do, he would have had some cronies lurking outside the dome and they could have jumped me.”

  “Or brought his people inside before triggering the magic,” said Luna. “Then you’d have been outnumbered and easier pickings, especially if he’s as strong as you say.”

  “He was tough, alright. This guy was no amateur and he’d hold his own in the National Championships, I’d bet.”

  “And you didn’t recognise the Splashard?”

  “No,” said Aurin, shaking his head. “It was about a foot longer than your one. I think it was a male too, but I’m not a hundred percent.”

  “Thicker fists and a shorter antenna?” asked Kyle.

  “Yes.”

  “He’s a male alright.”

  Luna waved her hand dismissively. “Alright, so you don’t recognise the Splashard. The masked man, Club. Who do we know that has some sort of grudge against you? There are countless former Zodiac Squad members who would happily jump you in the middle of nowhere. Damien, Scorpio, either of the two Sagittarius guys.”

  Aurin pondered this for a moment, but it didn’t take him long to discount those individuals. “It wasn’t any of them. If it was, I don’t think it would have played out so… fairly.”

  “I know you say he’s truly turned over a new leaf, but it couldn’t be Leo, could it?” asked Kyle.

  “It wasn’t him,” replied Aurin firmly. “I’ve fought him way too many times at this point to not know his style. It isn’t him.”

  “Jackson?” asked Luna. “He’s the only one of Sir Ashmore’s subordinates who managed to escape. And he wanted to beat you more than anything… which probably rules him out, doesn’t it? He wouldn’t have taken a one-on-one loss like that, would he?”

  “I don’t think so. This guy was less cocky than Jackson was.”

  “For the time being,” said Kyle, “go nowhere without a full set of summoning stones. Always keep your best on you. Spikruption, Dolissile, Steambot, Zeera. A couple of those will steer you right.”

  Shamtile stopped eating his chicken and thumped his fist on the ground while screeching irritably.

  “You go with him pretty much everywhere,” said Kyle. “I think we know that if any of Aurin’s Minakai can protect him, it’s you. Stop your fretting, you sensitive little iguana.”

  Shamtile seemed satisfied by this, insult and all, and returned to picking the last of the meat from the drumstick in his hand.

  “I’d say the same for all of us,” said Luna. “I know we may not be the targets, Kyle, but it wouldn’t be the first time Aurin’s enemies have gone after us.”

  Aurin sighed. “Why can’t I have a quiet life? Why does trouble always come and find me?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Luna sat beside him and put her head on his shoulder. “I know, baby,” she said soothingly. “It’s not fair, is it?”

  Kyle wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Enough of that in my presence,” he said with a snort. “Each of us is to start taking our training seriously. I’ve not done much lately because the ranch has taken an exceptionally large amount of my time the last few weeks. Aurin, you’ve been too busy building that house of yours. Luna, you’ve barely even sparred since you returned from the Castle Dojo. I think it’s time we all got ourselves back to peak shape and then pushed beyond even that.”

  “You’re right,” said Aurin.

  “And on that note,” said Luna, holding out her hand and summoning her Cryopillar from the nearby enclosure. “I think it’s time to give my weakest team member a power boost. Kyle, can I borrow a Lunar Shard and I’ll give you one of mine tomorrow?”

  “Sure,” said Kyle. “I keep them in the—”

  “Don’t worry, I know where you keep them,” interjected Luna, giving him a sly wink.

  “I need to lock my doors more often,” grumbled Kyle as Luna walked inside.

  She returned later and kneeled beside her Cryopillar who was trying to play with Shamtile. The masked lizard, however, was not in the mood and tried pushing the ice elemental caterpillar away, only to find his hands covered in frost each time he did so.

  “Come on, Cryopillar,” said Luna, picking him up by the tail and then setting him on the grass below the porch.

  She placed the Lunar Shard on his head and both the evolutionary shard and Minakai began glowing. Cryopillar’s form shifted, turning ovular within the icy blue light. Luna looked on in confusion as the little beast turned into a cocoon. A viscous white fluid oozed from the bottom of the egg-like ovoid, spreading itself over the ground to fix the newly evolved Cryocoon in place.

  “Agh,” said Luna, sweeping her hair back and then massaging her temples. “I forgot there was a middle stage between Cryopillar and Cryoth.”

  She picked him up and found the sticky substance rather stubborn. She had to pull her hardest to get the Cryocoon to budge. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s find somewhere for you to wait until I bring you another Lunar Shard.”

  “Well, I’ll see you both later,” said Aurin, arising.

  “Where are you going?” asked Kyle as Luna waved over her shoulder and blew Aurin a kiss.

  “I’m going to fill Knot in on what happened. I know nothing criminal happened, but I’m sure he’d be keen to know that there’s another masked man galivanting around Hazelton and challenging people to battles. Not to mention, the rift magic.”

  “Good idea,” said Kyle. “Make sure that you explain to him the rift magic The Collector used. We don’t want him thinking that it’s simply what the Zodiac Squad used when they had their cosmic elementals break the Harmony Tower. This stuff is portable and can be used by humans.”

  “I’ll tell him everything,” said Aurin. “Come on, Shamtile. Let’s get moving.”

  Shamtile opened up a small pit in the ground, threw the chicken bone, and then resealed it. Kyle shot the lizard a dirty look, but said nothing about his annoyance.

  As he departed from the ranch, Aurin held out his tamer glove and summoned Leonite to his side. If Shamtile couldn’t detect a lurking foe with his tremorsense, Leonite would surely be able to sniff out anybody hiding nearby.

  *

  Alfred Ashmore stood before the large vat of green liquid with a satisfied smile on his face. He ran his hand slowly over the surface of the glass, but the creature within did not stir.

  “And that is the last of the battle data uploaded, Master Ashmore,” said Dr Holmes, breaking his focus away from a nearby monitor. “It seems as though Club was able to transfer everything in good time. Considering the distance and the intensity of the attacks, I would call this a remarkable success.”

  “Yes, Dr Homes,” said Alfred, looking deeply into the green liquid where he could just about see the silhouette of the monster within. “I think it’s safe to say that the field research is going well already. Would you say it’s a good opportunity to give the others the green light?”

  Dr Holmes nodded confidently. “Yes. We will not bombard our systems with rapid data right away until we see how it handles smaller chunks, but the next of our combatants should be able to make their move.”

  Alfred smiled and took a few paces back from the glass. He inhaled, filling his lungs to the brim, and then exhaled everything out while cackling wildly. The other scientists in the laboratory turned to look at him, but swiftly averted their gaze.

  “You there!” barked Alfred, beckoning over a young woman with her hair tied into a black ponytail.

  “Yes, Master Ashmore,” she said, straightening her glasses and rushing over. “How may I be of service?”

  Alfred reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of playing cards. He shuffled them with his eyes closed and held them out to the woman. With a grin, he fanned them out with their faces hidden.

  “Pick a card,” he said, his voice low and smooth. “It does not matter which.”

  The woman looked nervous as she extended her hands. She took a card near the middle and slid it out from the deck. Raising it up, she flipped it over to reveal the seven of hearts.

  “Ah,” said Alfred, deeply satisfied with the choice. “You have chosen well. But, my dear, the trick is that there are no bad cards. I will make the call. Please, return to your work.”

  “Yes, Master Ashmore,” said the young woman, bowing her head respectfully before walking back to the screen she was monitoring.

  Alfred walked over to the vat once more and turned to face Dr Holmes. “You said the battle data is uploaded onto your system, correct?”

  “That is right, Master Ashmore,” said the doctor.

  “How long before it’s transferred from the system into Virtugil?”

  “I began the transfer while Adriana was choosing her card. I estimate it should take no longer than six hours. It is much more time consuming to infuse Virtugil with data than it is to simply send the data to our laboratory.”

  “Six hours is fine,” said Alfred, putting his hand to his heart and taking another deep breath. “We have nothing but time, my good man. We have nothing but time.”

  right here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: