Wunder collided with Gittup, flinging the hair blue beast backwards as lightning coursed through him. There was no question he would be overpowered by the more experienced foe, but Aurin had to admit, he hoped one of his newest Minakai would be able to withstand the attack.

  Aurin winced as Gittup rolled to a stop, his fur standing on end as the monster lay unconscious. “It’s alright, mate,” said Aurin, looking to Shamtile. “You’ve seen that this one isn’t to be trifled with, mate. End it quickly.”

  Shamtile screeched in agreement and scurried forward on all fours, gunning foe Wunder. As the yellow bird took to the skies, Shamtile erected a pillar of earth that carried him consistently level with his foe. He summoned fragments of stone around himself and threw them forward. Wunder was pelted by the barrage, only able to zap away half of the stones. It wobbled in the air, but regained itself and readied a lightning bolt.

  Before it could unleash its attack, the bird’s wing was skewered by a sharp spear. As it spiralled to the ground, it summoned storm clouds over head. They brushed against the dome, blocked from leaving, and several lightning strikes zapped Shamtile’s pillar, but the quick-footed lizard had already leapt out of the way, conjuring a series of columns to use as a staircase back to the ground. The columns were blown to smithereens as he descended, while the badly injured Wunder maintained his storm.

  Now on the safety of the ground, Shamtile opened a small hole and dove inside. He burrowed around the battlefield, and both Aurin and Spade knew Shamtile’s destination. Unable to move faster than a light trot, Wunder was thrown into the air by the erupting lizard, who followed up with a series of stone-coated punches to the bird’s torso.

  “An expected outcome,” said Spade, “but it matters not. Two Minakai will be enough to put a single lizard down.”

  He threw out an icy blue orb of light, and a flapping little figure appeared; a Cryoth. Aurin recognised this Minakai too. He had seen it in the Ruins of Transference a few months ago; he was certain of it. Any lingering doubt in his mind about the identity of Spade had been quashed in that moment. He would hold back nothing, and win this fight.

  As Cryoth zoomed across the sky, sprinkling its twinkling gust across the battlefield, Shamtile encased himself in a stone cage to avoid the freezing trick. While hiding in his shelter, he was aware of how vulnerable he was.

  As he had expected, a barrage of icicles smashed his cage to pieces, but the second layer; a diamond layer, repelled the icicles with ease. Icicles erupted from the ground, tearing chunks from the earth and flinging the small diamond dome into the sky. While it was not easily destroyed, it was easily enough moved.

  Cryoth looked down in surprise, finding no sign of the masked lizard. What there was in his place was a small hole; he had burrowed again. Cryoth moved hurriedly through the sky, zigzagging in anticipation of an attack. It twirled and pirouetted, knowing that Shamtile was up to something. The icy moth had been made keenly aware of just how tricky his foe could be by its master.

  “Are you really going to play the coward?” called Spade.

  “Coward? I would say it’s much more cowardly to attack an unsuspecting Minakai ahead of a battle just for a tiny advantage.”

  Suddenly, Shamtile’s diamond cage flew into the air, flung by a chunk of earth. It shattered into thousands of tiny fragments and exploded outwards. Cryoth was hit by a handful of the fragments and, while they were not enough to deal significant amounts of damage, they left it unstable.

  Shamtile himself soared from within the trees, a large stone bat in his hands. He curled his arms back and swung. The bat smashed into the back of Cryoth’s head, and the little moth plummeted to the ground. It bounced off the path, knocked out cold by the impact.

  Spade held up his arm and his bracelet glowed grey. Before him, appeared a sturdy-looking Chopchop. This was another Minakai Aurin recognised. He knew his opponent was tough and that Shamtile was tiring after utilising so much stamina to take down his first two opponents.

  “You can do this,” said Aurin to the panting lizard, who grunted and gave a thumbs up.

  Shamtile coated himself in diamond armour and conjured a diamond spear. He ran to meet his foe, who had drawn back his blade arms, preparing to unleash an attack the second Shamtile was in range.

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  The lizard jumped into the air and hurled the spear, forcing Chopchop to bash it aside. Summoning a second spear, Shamtile thrust it at Chopchop, who rose an arm to meet the attack. The two went back and forth, exchanging blows. As tough as the diamond spears were, Shamtile was not an expert melee brawler in the same way Chopchop was. At the same time, he could see his opponent was tough and its armour thick.

  The masked lizard opened up the ground, trying to drop his foe into a pit, only for Chopchop to backflip and avoid the attack. It swung its arms, sending a wave of shrapnel at Shamtile. His armour took the brunt of the damage, but he had to duck to avoid being knocked out cold. This small window gave Chopchop an opportunity to strike.

  Leaping through the air, its blades raised high, it descended on Shamtile. Shamtile summoned a small diamond wall to block, but was not quick enough. Chopchop swung down and smashed Shamtile’s armour to pieces, knocking the lizard back. With a second swing, Shamtile was cut across the chest and the little lizard could not continue. He raised his arm weakly, trying to find the strength, but it flopped to the ground.

  Spade stretched out his arms, bellowing with laughter as he stood in victory. “You failed, Aurin,” he said. “You are nothing.”

  Aurin smiled at his opponent and pointed to the dome still encircling them. Spade looked up and did a double-take, realising that something was amiss.

  “What?” he spat. “How can it still be there? The battle is over!”

  Aurin held up his tamer glove, and Spade counted the stones within.

  “Where’s your orange summoning stone?” he asked, realising there was a blue one where he expected Shamtile’s stone to be.

  “Oh, I never had Shamtile’s stone with me,” said Aurin. “His sole duty was to be on guard outside the tower. I had another Minakai lined up as a third during my run.”

  Aurin focused on the blue stone, which glowed brightly as it called forth a monster from Aurin’s not-so-far-away house. Breminia materialised, hovering just above the grass, her three sapphire eyes shimmering brightly as the golden rings spun around her lower body.

  “I don’t believe it,” whispered Spade, his voice barely audible.

  “Oh, believe it, Jackson,” said Aurin. “You didn’t think you’d come face to face with her again so soon, did you?”

  Breminia’s stones glowed a dazzlingly bright blue and spat forth triplet water jets. They soared towards Chopchop who braced itself for the attacks. It kept its footing as the water struck him, but the jets did not peter out. Instead, they grew more and more intense as Breminia channelled further elemental might into them. Chopchop started sliding backwards before slipping in the now-muddy ground. He was thrown towards the dome and the jets continued growing in intensity. The dome suddenly faded, indicating Chopchop losing consciousness, and Breminia finally ceased her attack.

  “No!” roared Spade, sliding his visor up.

  Aurin had guessed correctly, and the Blackjack knew there was no point denying it. The face behind the mask was none other than one of The Collector’s henchmen; Jackson. The same man who had kidnapped Aurin’s Breminia a couple of months ago. The same man who had fallen to the joint power of Luna and Kyle’s Minakai in the Ruins of Transference.

  “What do you want, Jackson?” demanded Aurin. “Why are you here?”

  The tamer scoffed and shook his head. “In the grand scheme of things, my loss means nothing,” he said, his face lightning from a disgusted grimace to a sneer. “You, Aurin, will get your comeuppance. And I will defeat you before we’re through. Mark my words.”

  “I’ll be waiting,” said Aurin. “No matter what you and your goons throw at me, I’ll bat it away.”

  “My goons?” laughed Jackson. “Do you think I’m the one behind all of this? No, my nemesis. I’m not the architect of your undoing, but I relish the chance to play my part.”

  “What do you mean? Ashmore is gone.”

  Jackson smirked as he pulled out one of his smoke bombs. Aurin did not bother trying to stop the man’s flight, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before the two fought. Whatever The Blackjacks wanted, they had yet to get it. They would be back, and Aurin would make sure he was ready to take all four of them down once more. And when he did, he would find out who sent them.

  *

  “Spade, you fool!” growled Alfred into the phone. “How could you unmask yourself in front of the target? What were you thinking?”

  “Aurin’s not stupid, sir,” said Jackson. “It would be unwise to treat him as such, considering all he’s achieved so far. He worked out who I was pretty quickly. Denying it would have been fruitless. I don’t see what it changes.”

  “The game should be played the way I say it should be played!”

  “With all due respect, Master Ashmore, knowing who I am will only force him to utilise his most powerful Minakai. He knows that I am no rank amateur. This will only further your goals. My mask did not come off until after the battle was through, so you’ll see that the data was uninterrupted.”

  “Dr Holmes!” barked Alfred. “Is the data Spade sent through complete?”

  “Yes,” confirmed the scientist, reading the information as it appeared on his monitor. “We’ve got trace data on Gittup, further data on Shamtile, and our first batch of data on Breminia.”

  “I take my job seriously,” said Jackson, having heard the exchange through the phone. “I promise, I will not let you down, boss. Just give me the opportunity to fight again, and I will.”

  Alfred reached into his pocket and retrieved his deck of cards. He shuffled through them, and then drew two cards. “Seventeen,” he said bitterly.

  He shuffled the cards back into the deck and then drew two more cards. Twelve. He shuffled again. Eight. He shuffled once more, and a smile crept across his face upon seeing his two cards.

  “Blackjack,” he uttered.

  right here.

  Aurin's Team:

  Luna's Team: