“Registration for the Goat Battle Royal will start in an hour. Ranchers please form and orderly line in front of the desk,” a loud speaker blared, “Please form an orderly line, please people, just form—MAKE A LINE YOU SIMPLETONS!” That seemed to do the trick. “Thank you.”

“We’d better hurry, or the spaces’ll be filled up.” Hannah said excitedly. “Come on, get up ya lazy bum!” Julius went on snoring, so Hannah gave him kick.

“Oof! What’d’ya do that for? I was sleepin’!” Julius said, very annoyed.

“Fine, I’ll go register myself!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!” Hannah stomped off towards the registration booth thinking to herself, “Man, is he cranky in the morning or what!” It was then that she realized that the stadium was humungous. Just getting to the registration booth took about thirty minutes. She finally got there, and to her dismay, found it empty. “Shoot!” she thought, “I knew I was too late!” She walked up, anyway, and asked the lady at the booth. “Excuse me, but are there any spots left for the tournament?”

“What? You want to put a blot on my coffee mint? Crazy kids!” the woman was old and obviously had some hearing problems.

“I said, is there a spot left for the tournament?”

“You gave a shot to a monkey’s pinto? Where do you kids come up with these things?”

Hannah became exasperated and resorted to yelling. “I SAID, IS THERE A SPOT LEFT FOR THE TOURNAMENT!” This shocked the old woman.

“I heard ye, missy, no need to yell. I’m not deaf you know! There is one spot left, but don’t think about enterin’ two monsters at once. We had to guys try that already, saying it was possible ‘cause of some rule made. Well, missy, we don’t run things that way here in Goat, no we don’t!—“

“Ok, ok. Put down Julius as the rancher and Angelo the Pure Beaklon as the monster.”

“What? Shoot down Julie the itched and Bunglo the for sure freak-on?”

“*exasperated sigh* I SAID, PUT DOWN JULIUS AS THE RANCHER AND ANGELO THE PURE BEAKLON AS THE MONSTER!!!”

“No need fer yellin’, missy. I’m old, not deaf,” Hannah left the old woman ranting on about something for other, “You know, in MY day, we respected our elders, yes we did. Yelling got you a whippin’ or a paddlin’…or…a…--“ Hannah quickly ran back to Julius, who was actually up and cooking breakfast, with a large grin on her face.

“What are you smiling for?” he asked suspiciously.

“Nothing…where’d you get the food from, I’m starving!”

“I found a little money in our bags, and bought some food.”

“What bag?”

“The green one, why?” Hannah got a look on her face like the apocalypse had come down upon her.

“W-w-what? Was this coin money?”

“Yeah…”

“You idiot! That was the coin my father gave me before—before—he left! It means the world to me!” She broke down, sobbing.

“It’s ok, it’s just a coin. We can buy it back if we win the tournament.”

“If? IF? You don’t understand!” Hannah said between heaves, “When I got that coin, it was the last time I ever saw my dad. He went off the to do exactly what I’m doing now, and never came back. This coin means more to me than this whole stupid thing! You HAVE to win!”

“What do you mean I have to win? You didn’t.”

“I had to. They wouldn’t accept Cookie-Dough and Cat’s Eye as an entry. Angelo was my only choice.” She again began to cry.

“I’m not so sure that was good, you see, I don’t fight much with Angelo.” Julius looked worried. “I’m sorry I spent you coin. Don’t worry, I’ll get your coin back, even if I have to resort to begging.” Trumpet sounded off loudly.

“Looks like you’ll get your chance,” Hannah said, wiping her eyes, “That’s the signal for the matches to begin.” They walked up to the entry gate, but they would only let Julius and Angelo enter. “I’ll wait in the stands,” said Hannah sullenly. Julius and Angelo entered the stadium. It was the most spectacular thing he had ever seen. The stands must’ve had over twelve thousand people and monsters in them. The sides of the battlefield were carved and painted with ornate depictions of water monsters: Ogyos, Lesiones, and many others with their sub-breeds. Then Julius saw what he had dreaded: the actual battlefield. It was a giant pool filled with Goat Sea water.

“Ok, Angelo,” he said to his giant beetle of a monster, “we need to do this. I let Hannah down, and I need your help to make it right. Can you do it?” Angelo let out a long, low rumble that could barely be heard. He only did this when he was most determined. “Good. Now, my strategy is for you to hover above the water and only attack when the opportunity arrives. Think it’s a good plan?” Angelo gave an approving grunt. “Alright, let’s do it!”

“WELCOME MAN AND MONSTER TO THE ANNUAL CLAM FESTIVAL TOURNAMENT! TODAY’S MATCH WILL BE TWO ROUND ROBINS WITH THE WINNERS OF BOTH FIGHTING A DECIDING MATCH! FIRST UP IS JULIUS AND HIS BEAKLON, ANGELOOO!” the crowd roared and cheered. “THEY WILL BE FIGHTING ALTEK AND HIS LESIONE, JENSEN!” the crowd roared and cheered. “THE MATCH WILL START IN FIVE MINUTES, BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR SPONSER, BUCCANEER BOB’S CLAM STRIPS…”

Julius didn’t pay attention to the last part. He was having a hard time paying attention to anything at this point. He was about to go into his first match with something invaluable at stake. “I have to do this,” he thought, “for Hannah.”

“RANCHERS, MONSTERS GET TO YOU OPPOSITE ENTRYWAYS. THAT MATCH WILL START IN ON MINUTE!” If there was a time for Julius to be ready, it wasn’t now, but Angelo gave him an affectionate nudge, and that made him feel better. He walked out onto his platform and Angelo flew out to his position. The crowd roared. For the first time, he saw his opponent. He was tall, tall and lanky. His Lesione was just the same: long and thin. Julius let out a small chuckle.

“Kinda scrawny for a Lesione, eh?” he said to Angelo. Anglo also chuckled.

“RANCHERS, ARE YOU READY?” Both Julius and Altek gave a sign of readiness. “OK THEN, THE MATCH WILL LAST FOR FIVE MINUTES OR UNTIL ONE OF THE MONSTERS ARE KO’D. IN THE EVENT THAT THE TIME LIMIT EXPIRES, THE MONSTER WITH THE MOST POINTS SCORED WILL BE THE WINNER. AAAAAND….START!” A loud bell rang, and the match was begun.

Jensen dove into the water like a bolt of lightning, with speed unnatural to a Lesione, while Angelo took to the air. Shooting in and out of the water, Jensen instantly started on the offensive. He launched off a few rounds of water, forcing Angelo to fly even higher just to dodge. Angelo tried to dive for an attack, but each time he got close, he had an array of jets of water to deal with. Julius looked up at Altek, who had a smile that both disheartened and enraged him.

A plan began to form in Julius’s mind. A little known fact about Beaklons, is that they have the best hearing of all monsters. If listening, a Beaklon can hear a whisper amidst the loudest noise from a long distance. Julius used this to his advantage. “ANGELO!” he yelled, “LISTEN!” Then, in a whisper, he said, “If Jensen wants to stay in the water, and not let you get close to him, let him. Dive into the water, far away mind you, and use your Beabrate. Either he’ll have to stay in the water and suffer, or come up to the surface and fight you there. If he should chose the latter, then we have him. Make him shoot more water at you, then go while he’s reloading.” Angelo let out an affirmative grunt.

He dove in for one more direct attack on Jensen, but, as always, he blasted missiles of water at him. Instead of going higher to dodge, Angelo changed directions and dove into the water. This water was a new sensation for the Beaklon; he could breathe in it. Once he got used to swimming, he swam towards the Lesione. Jensen saw him, and went in for the attacked, moving at an enormous speed through the water. When he got close enough, Angelo started vibrating his wings. Waves of sound emanated from him through the water, instantly stopping Jensen in his tracks, twitching. To escape the pain, he went for surface.

When he saw Jensen’s head pop out of the water, Julius’s heart filled with hope. His Beaklon emerged from the water right after and attacked his defenseless foe. With a Spin Bang here, and an Upper Charge there, the Lesione was down, but not fully. Angelo took to the air. Higher, higher, and higher he went, and then dove down, striking Jensen for the final blow. “I love Beattack,” Julius thought to himself. A bell was rung, and the match was over.

“WOW! AN AWESOME KO BY ANGELO! JULIUS HAS GOT TO BE HAPPY WITH THIS ONE. OK FOLKS, THE NEXT MATCH IS…BETWEEN…” Julius didn’t pay attention. He didn’t even care. He had won!


Here's part XVII, in all of it's glory. Enjoy!