“I can’t believe you drew so much attention to me,” said Luna, looking nervous as her opponent, Mya, took her spot at the far side of the Battle Carriage rooftop.

  “They had already recognised you,” said Aurin, massaging her rock-solid shoulders. “Now loosen up because my little introduction drummed you up some support. Remember that the crowd aren’t against you here, alright? You know what you can do, they know what you can do. It’s time to show it once again.”

  “Right,” said Luna, trying to sound confident. “Inno, stay with Aurin and Shamtile, alright?”

  Innogon yapped and jumped onto Aurin’s back. Shamtile, who was already on Aurin’s shoulder tried kicking him away, but a blast of water to the chin stopped the masked lizard.

  “I’m looking forward to this,” said Mya, throwing back her shock of curly blonde hair. “I was fighting in the National Championships too, you know?”

  “Then this will be the battle we didn’t have,” said Luna, holding up her glove. “I’m ready when you are.”

  “Three,” said the conductor. “Two. One. Begin!”

  Luna sent forth her Bakugon in a burst of orange light, while Mya summoned her Haniwizard. The brown drake stood with his sharp claws raised while the clay figure in the wizard hat swung its knobbly arms around, looking shocked to be here; although, that was the default expression of the curious species.

  “Show him who’s the stronger earth elemental!” called Mya, swinging her arm out and pointing at Bakugon.

  As Haniwizard’s arms spun, he started conjuring rocks into them. With each rotation of his arms, he hurled a new rock at Bakugon who swiped his claws and smashed each of them to pieces. As fast as Mya’s Minakai’s speed grew, Bakugon rose to match it, sending a tumbling of small, broken stones all across the rooftop.

  “Now!” ordered Mya.

  Luna realised that her trap had been set and watched as Haniwizard brought the debris up and into the air, sending hundreds of the small jagged stones straight for Bakugon. The drake’s sharp orange eyes widened as he braced himself and the rocks pelted him.

  “Easy,” said Mya with a smirk, only to recoil a second later.

  Bakugon was still standing and the rocks hadn’t hit him and bounced off. In fact, all of the debris had clung to him like heavy armour. With a squeaky roar, Bakugon ran across the carriage like a miniature golem and swung his rock-coated fist at Haniwizard. The clay wizard dove aside, but the top of its hat was snapped off by Bakugon’s punch.

  He dispelled the stones and leapt into the air, swiping his claws downwards as his opponent tried to climb to his feet. No longer bound by the slow armour, Bakugon revealed his impressive agility and struck Haniwizard across the chest, cracking its chest. Not to be defeated so easily, Haniwizard conjured a stalactite in the air and dropped it on Bakugon, making the drake howl in pain.

  Luna wanted to erupt a pillar of earth and shoot the clay wizard into the sun, but derailing the train and killing most of the passengers seemed excessive. Instead, she opted for the more straightforward approach.

  “Stone bat!” she called to Bakugon, who stood up to face his enemy again.

  He conjured a large club in his hands and drew it back. With a smirk, he swung it forcefully into the Haniwizard as it tried to conjure a shield, but it wasn’t quick enough off the mark. He struck it in its injured chest, flinging it into the forcefield enshrining the battlefield. Haniwizard bounced off it and landed flat on his face on the ground, his arms still swinging around, but he did not appear conscious.

  “And the winner is, Luna!” announced the conductor.

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  “We did it!” said Luna, scooping up her Bakugon and throwing him into the air.

  Innogon hopped from Aurin’s back and started dancing around Luna and Bakugon with a wide grin on his face as he yapped excitedly. The clapping audience started laughing at the blue drake, who did not quite have the stylish moves of Shamtile, who remained on his tamer’s shoulder.

  “Yes, you’re still the best dancer and the top earth elemental,” said Aurin, reaching over and patting his Minakai on the back. “We’ll find you a foe to crush soon, don’t you worry, mate.”

  Shamtile growled in agreement, having grown to love the adoration of the crowd after his recent success in both the Hazelton and Ludonia tournaments.

  “Well done,” said Aurin, as Luna and her two Minakai walked away from the battlefield to let the next tamers prepare themselves. “You didn’t even break a sweat.”

  “Thank you,” said Luna, smiling so widely her eyes were no longer visible. “Shall we go back to our cabin?”

  “Let’s,” said Aurin, leading the way.

  As he made his way over to the steps, a young boy approached him. “Excuse me,” said the boy, who couldn’t have been much older than thirteen. “Will you sign this for me?” he asked, holding out a ticket from the National Championships and a pen.

  “Um, alright,” said Aurin, caught off guard. “What’s your name?”

  “Liam.”

  “And are you a tamer too?”

  “One day, I want to be a great one just like you!”

  “I hope you fulfil that dream,” said Aurin, writing an encouraging message and then passing the brochure and pen back to Liam. “When you do, come find me and we’ll have a battle. I’ll probably be in Hazelton somewhere.”

  “I will!” said Liam excitedly. “Thank you, Mr Aurin.”

  “Mr Aurin?” giggled Luna as she followed Aurin down the stairs. “He couldn’t have been more than four years younger than us.”

  “It’s the respect that comes with being recognised for my great talent,” said Aurin with a grin.

  “Will we be able to enter our cabin if your head can’t fit through the door?”

  The two and their Minakai edged past the crowd of the lower deck of the Battle Carriage where a Debigger was taking large bites out of an Anacondice, and walked back through the train. Once they were comfortably back in their carriage, they sat by the window and stared out as they whooshed past a small lakeside town.

  “You think when that boy is older and comes looking for you, you’ll still be living in Hazelton?” asked Luna.

  “I’m sure we will,” said Aurin, looking over to her. “It’s home to me now, and it’s always been your home. I reckon that no matter where we go, we’ll eventually find ourselves on the road back.”

  Someone knocked on the door and the two tamers glanced over. Shamtile, Innogon, and Bakugon, who had been playing on the floor hopped over and slid the door open for Mya, who stepped inside the cabin.

  “I hope I’m not intruding?” she asked.

  “Not at all,” said Luna brightly.

  “I wanted to thank you for the battle. It was a good way to test my Haniwizard out against a fellow earth elemental. I picked up a few tricks that we’ll work on during our training.”

  “It was a good battle,” said Luna. “The debris move was smart. The only reason we knew how to counter it is because Aurin has used it before and Bakugon trains with his Shamtile.”

  Mya looked to Aurin. “Ah, the almost-Bretonian Champion,” she said with a wink.

  “That’s me,” said Aurin, giving her a thumbs up.

  “I hope you didn’t take what Richard said to heart. I think it’s an honour to have someone like you fighting here amongst non-professional tamers. It’s a good opportunity for us to watch and learn up close and it shows that you’re not some snob who thinks he’s above us all.”

  “I would never think that. A couple of years ago I started at the complete bottom. Knocked out in Harmony Tower on floor one. The Minakai who got knocked out is one of your three doormen.”

  Shamtile sprung to attention. He encased his fists in diamond and started flexing, showing how powerful he had since become. Conjuring diamond was something that precious few earth elementals could do and Bakugon growled lowly, incapable of mimicking the technique.

  “Well, you were very impressive in the tournament. I hope that I have the chance to fight against you one day. Will you be entering the tournament again next year?”

  “Probably,” shrugged Aurin. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

  “Well, I look forward to seeing you if we both qualify. Enjoy the rest of your journey, Aurin and Luna.”

  “Bye, Mya,” said Luna as the curly blonde tamer closed the door and disappeared down the corridor.

  Luna put a finger to her chin and pursed her lips. “It’s funny how she mentioned battling a high-league tamer like you here, when our first experience with battling someone like that was against Tobias in the Battle Underground.”

  “I forgot about that,” chuckled Aurin. “What did he call himself again? The Masked Man? Phantom Mask?”

  “Sir Mask,” giggled Luna.

  “That’s the one,” said Aurin. “I wonder if I should make up a secret identity of my own. I’ve already got a masked sidekick to come along with me. We can be Shamtile and Golden Boy!”

  “You want to enter adulthood with a nickname like Golden Boy?”

  “Alright, the name needs work, but the idea is a good one.”

  “If you say so, dear,” said Luna nonchalantly, returning to staring out the window.

  “Don’t listen to her, Shamtile,” said Aurin as Shamtile continued flexing, even with Mya gone. “We’ll come up with a superhero concept that’ll blow her mind.”

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