Monster Trainer Academy, page 36
Claudette, Rusty, Dom, Sarah, Grayson, and I soared over to join in while another host of Minders dive-bombed the platform and took out the Golden Hawks who couldn’t fly.
Arkan bellowed and screamed at Tartarus, who kept trying to fire off his light attacks, but Shadow’s darkness was strong enough to keep us protected. The darkness slowly wrapped around the pair until a giant ball of dripping black surrounded them.
“Get ready to give them everything you’ve got as soon as the ability wears off!” Eleanor shouted.
I glanced around. The sky was dotted with Minders, townspeople, and their monsters, ready to attack Arkan and Tartarus as soon as the darkness dissipated. The rest of his Golden Hawks were easily being picked off by our garrison, even as they tried to come to help their leader.
We had Arkan surrounded. There was no way he would get out of this.
Another bellowing laugh echoed through the sky from inside the ball of darkness.
“I see you think you’re pretty clever, Eleanor,” Arkan spat with venom dripping from his tongue.
“Surrender or die,” Eleanor spat back.
“All your men are dead!” I shouted, unable to contain myself. “You’re not taking Karatok today. You’ve lost!”
Arkan let out a low, rolling laugh. “Such bravado from this young one who almost died at my monster’s hand just a minute ago.”
“You’re the one who’s about to die!” I yelled.
“I must commend your confidence, young boy,” Arkan ridiculed me, still stuck inside the black, swirling orb, “but you’ve surely made an enemy out of the wrong person.”
“Ah, give it up, why don’t you,” Rusty interrupted. “You’re fucking surrounded!”
Arkan cackled like a witch. “I may be surrounded, but I have other tricks up my sleeve.”
Shadow’s ball of darkness turned into wisps, revealing Tartarus and Arkan for a split second. The whole garrison unleashed their readied attacks directly where the pair had been. It was a moment of chaos.
Spouts of water, gusts of wind, burning balls of fire, and all kinds of earth attacks launched toward Arkan. Titan unleashed tornado and then almost immediately activated Root of the Mountain.
Titan’s body lit up in green light, and the little dragon blasted rocks and razor-sharp leaves into his spinning cyclone, creating a tornado of debris. The earth twister sailed straight toward Arkan, and I caught just the briefest glimpse of the crazy man spinning around in the tornado.
Lines of red wounds opened up along his face, and large tears appeared along his clothes as Titan’s mighty attack tore Arkan up. He screamed and yelled in pain, but when the attack subsided, a ragged-looking Arkan smiled back at us in the momentary calm.
“That won’t stop me!” Arkan shrieked.
Tartarus’ body lit up as he readied for another light attack, but before the dragon could release his blinding light, Karatok shot out of the water. The Kraken’s flailing limbs reached up toward the black dragon and wrapped around his hulking body. Arkan’s eyes went wide as Karatok pulled them both down toward the ocean.
We all watched Karatok, Arkan, and Tartarus fall back toward the water. It seemed like time had slowed down, but something in me said to not let up. Titan felt it, too. The skyr dove after Arkan, firing all the air and earth attacks he possibly could. My friends’ monsters, the dragons, and the Minders’ monsters unleashed everything they had as Tartarus and Arkan struggled against Karatok’s slimy tentacles…
But before Arkan submerged under the water, the bloodied, battered man snapped his fingers and vanished.
30
The feelings that welled up in me as we flew back to Wilko City were a mix of bittersweet highs and lows. We had stopped Arkan and the Golden Hawks from taking Karatok, that much was true. Eleanor had left a good group of Minders to tend to the poor kraken and make sure he was okay before he submerged back into the depths of Lake Wilko, where he would recover.
Believe me, the news overjoyed me, but I couldn’t help thinking about Bagluf. Arkan still had the turtle, and he had also escaped. Who knows what kind of torture and torment the crazed man might inflict on Bagluf because of our inability to stop him yet again?
We flew over the lake to the smoldering city on the island hill in silence. Everyone was feeling the pangs of our half-win, half-defeat, but Eleanor tried to raise our spirits.
“The Ministry is either going to have to take action, or they will have to reveal themselves for what they truly are. Something this big with so many Minders, Masters, and civilians involved can’t just be swept under the rug,” Eleanor assured us.
“She’s right, you know,” Rusty tried to encourage me as he flew his giant hawk, Terrace, next to Alwin. “I know it feels like a defeat because Arkan escaped, but he’s not going to be able to get away with something like this again, not unless the Ministry turns on its people.”
“I mean, is that a possibility?” I asked.
“I guess it is, but then we’d have an all-out civil war on our hands,” Rusty chuckled. “That would suck.”
Rusty’s casual tone and demeanor got me to chuckle, at least. I smiled at him, then at Claudette and all my friends flying around me. I couldn’t be too upset. We were all okay.
We landed in the courtyard of Wilko City, where we had fought the first little battle against the Golden Hawks. The city was in ruins, but a group of Minders, led by a dark-skinned man in silken robes, approached us.
“Good to see you’re alright, Eleanor,” the man gripped Eleanor’s hand tightly.
“You too, Jace. These are the ones I was telling you about.” Eleanor turned and gestured to my friends and me.
“You’re the beginning level trainers that risked your lives to help.” Jace smiled as he approached us. He stuck both of his arms in his long, flaring silk sleeves and bowed his head. “Thank you.”
The man raised his head and looked at me with deep brown eyes. “I am Jace Tarwin, leader of Wilko City.” He looked around us at the crumbling, smoking buildings. “Well, it’s not much right now, but I promise, the city is beautiful under other circumstances.”
His comment got a little laugh out of everyone around us.
I smiled at the man. “I’m sure it is. I’m sorry for what happened here.”
Jace smiled and shrugged. “It’s not your fault, young man. You have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing to be ashamed of. You did more than most people would. Come. Let us meet with the others.”
Jace led us into the remnants of a large building that must have been an arena. It wasn’t on fire, but a good chunk of the roof was missing. People who must have lived in the city had gathered in the stadium, all huddled together in their seats.
Minders were also there, some still in full armor, others in various states of undress because of wounds or just because of sheer exhaustion after the battle. Jace led us along one of the long rows of seats and gestured for us to sit down near the arena floor.
As soon as the man stepped out into the center, a hushed silence fell over everyone except for some crying children.
“Today has been a terrible day. One of the worst in our city’s history.” Jace’s voice echoed up into the sky through the hole in the roof. “We have lost loved ones. We have lost homes, but this is not the end. We will rebuild.”
As I sat there, listening to Jace speak to his people, I realized how much I really had to be thankful for. Arkan had ripped through this city without care and had completely turned everyone’s lives upside down.
“I want to thank all the Minders, all the Masters, and everyone who heard our call and came to help. Without you, we surely would have nothing left.” Jace bowed his head again in a show of respect. “I especially want to thank this young group here.” Jace motioned for us to join him on the arena floor.
I hesitated, but Claudette pushed me up out of my seat. I slowly walked toward Jace with Abigail’s hand in mine and Grayson, Dom, and Sarah following.
“Let me tell you a little story about these fine young trainers you see in front of you. Only a month ago, the five of them enrolled at the Haven City Monster Trainer Academy for their very first class,” Jace began.
“Um… my second one,” Grayson spoke up a little sheepishly.
“Ah, true, but my point is that you fine young students were only level 1 or level 2 trainers, is that correct?” Jace asked.
We all nodded.
“These students were there when Arkan Haq, the man who single-handedly destroyed our city, took the great Behemoth, Bagluf. They were there. They fought him. They could have lost their lives, but you know what they did?” Jace paused, letting a silence fill the broken arena. “They pushed on. They knew they were the only ones that could do something about Arkan. They pushed themselves, and they made it to Sono even though they had just graduated. They came here. They helped free Karatok. They helped fight back.”
My cheeks and neck grew hot as I felt the entire arena staring down at us.
“If that is not a lesson in perseverance… in continuing on even in the face of insurmountable odds, then I don’t know what else is,” Jace continued, raising his arms in the air. “Let these five students be an inspiration to all of us. We will rebuild our city. We will fight back against Arkan. We will tell the Ministry that they must step up and do something. We will rise from the ashes.”
The whole arena broke out in cheers, but these were different from the cheers I had heard from my classmates after winning battles against Breck. These were the collective cheers of people who had lost so much but were determined to carry on.
Warm tears bubbled at the corners of my eyes. What a wild ride I had been on. Only a few months ago, I had woken up in this strange world with no idea who or where I was.
I had met a little blue dragon and a girl with a big smile and had embarked on a crazy adventure with them. I thought it was just an adventure to become a Monster Trainer, but what I realized at that moment was that I was on a much larger journey.
Day by day, I was discovering new things about myself, about my friends, about the world. I was learning the true meaning of what it meant to be alive, and more importantly, I was learning about the importance of the connections I made, with people, with monsters, and with myself.
That’s what it meant to truly be a Monster Trainer.
Author’s Note
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Archer, S. A., Monster Trainer Academy
