First Battle

"I'm home!" I yelled to inform my dear parents that I came back from the guild branch.

Woof!

Whitey and Ivy immediately greeted me at the door and startled the sleeping Kuro.

Nyaa!?

"Whitey, Ivy, meet my partner, Kuro. Kuro this is Ivy and Whitey." I introduced them to each other though I do not know if they understood.

Whitey did not really care about Kuro and just came to me for a pat in the head while Ivy was a friendly summon and greeted Kuro after hugging me.

Kuro in the other hand did not really care about Whitey. He returned Ivy's greeting and returned back to sleep. I guess sleep is what this cat only does.

"So, what summon did you get?" Dad went out of his study and asked me.

"Kuro meet my dad" I wrapped Kuro in my arms and introduced him to my father.

"A shadow cat? That is interesting." Dad placed his hand on his chin and looked at Kuro. "Wanna have your first battle? It's ok I will give you a handicap."

"Sure Dad." I became excited. "Let's meet at the arena." I ran to the arena first.

By the way my house is located inside this city's fort since my father is the fort master in the area. Which is why we got an arena.

When I arrived, I immediately placed Kuro down and waited for my mom and dad to come.

"Are you ready?" My dad asked as he walk towards the arena.

"What a cute little cat." My mom who was walking with him got charmed with Kuro. "You need to be careful not to hurt them dear. I'll be the referee for this match."

"Yes, I already know." Dad said as he positioned himself at the other side of the arena.

"This battle is 1v1 match between Mark and the Whitesnow City Fort Master. The match will end when one side is unable to battle."

"Book!" Dad summoned his Gold Bestiary, "Which summon do you want to fight with, son?

"Any will do Dad." I yelled.

"Well you only have a single summon so I'll just use this." He grabbed a card from his bestiary. "Come out my friend!' He chanted his usual cheer and threw the card forward and summoned a humanoid ice that was about five-feet tall. This summon was from the Ice Golem species but a young one just from seeing its size.

Ice Golem ★★★★

"Let's do this! Go Kuro!" I pointed my finger to the battlefield and Kuro who was usually sleeping, prepared himself for battle.

"Begin!" Mom announced.

"Let's see what you've got son. Golly use your Ice Bullets and test the waters." Dad commanded his golem.

The ice golem raised his arms then pointed it at Kuro. It released a barrage of Ice Bullets that was targeting Kuro.

"Dodge it Kuro!" I yelled in panic. Watching a battle was different from being in one.

"Nyaaa!" Kuro jumped and ran leftwards. The bullets continued to fire as my little cat run away from it.

"Is running, all you can do Mark?" Dad made a mocking smile

"Tsch, Kuro stop running sideward and run towards the golem while dodging the bullets." I commanded Kuro who was having trouble running from the attack.

Listening to my command he changed his direction and ran towards the golem. He ran in a zigzag form to dodge incoming barrage of ice bullets. Finally, Kuro was near enough for us to launch an attack.

"Kuro use Shadow Claw now!"

Kuro enveloped his claws with a gray-colored aura and jumped towards the golem to slashed it with his claws.

"Did you really think you can attack like this?" Dad said then commanded his golem. "Golly deflect his claws with your fists."

Golly used both of its fist to block Kuro's incoming attack thus deflecting it. Kuro was blown away by the force and was knocked away from it. Making Kuro unconscious and return inside his card. I kept the card inside the bestiary and was disappointed in the result. Defeating a fort master in my first battle seemed impossible.

"Shadow Cat is rendered unconscious and unable to battle. The fort master wins!" Mom declared the results.

Ice golems were known to have very hard bodies and even when it is still young, as a summon raised by father it is not an ordinary golem. Thus, making it have a harder body than the normal ones leading it to rendering the small cat unconscious just by deflecting it with physical force.

Dad returned Golly to his card and kept his bestiary.

"Not bad for your first battle." My dad comforted me. "But you still have a lot to learn."

"I know. I will defeat you in the future just wait." I told him with confidence.

"I bet you guys are already hungry. Dinner is already waiting." Mom said as she was approaching us from the referee's stand.

My stomach growled and made me embarrassed. "Let's go I'm so hungry." I ran on the way to the dining room.

After eating I went to my room and summoned Kuro.

"Nyaa!" Kuro wore an apologetic face as if he was saying sorry that he lost.

"It is okay. Dad was just too strong. We just need to get stronger than him." I comforted my little summon as I pet his fur. I placed him on my bed and surfed the internet using my computer.

Tonight, was the finals of this year's Summoner's Duel. On the screen was a boy and a girl competing with their last summons. Summoner's Duel was a 5v5 battle and this was the climax with only their last summons remaining.

The boy's summon was a brown colored boar with huge drill-like tusks. This was a summon from the Earth Boar species. On the other side was the girl's summon, a golden falcon that had visible sparks that surround it every time it flapped its wings. This was a Bolt Falcon.

"Use Drill Charge!" The boy commanded his summon to attack the flying falcon.

The boar's tusk rapidly rotated like a drill and it charged towards the flying falcon. Sadly, the falcon had wings to fly higher and the boar does not. This showed a very important thing in Summoner's Battle. One must have both range attacks and melee attacks to defeat different enemies.

The falcon flew higher waiting for its master's orders.

"Humph, won't you give up already?" The girl was arrogant and hinted that the boy should surrender.

But the boy didn't and commanded his boar again and again. However, this made the girl tired and eventually commanded her falcon to finish it.

"Use Bolt Strike."

The falcon screeched and flapped its wings to release a strong electric bolt to the helpless boar making it faint.

"Earth Boar is unable to battle! Elaine is the champion of this year's Summoner's Duel!" The referee announced.

I turned the computer off. I was quite pissed off by the actions of the girl. But even I can't do anything with my present capabilities.

I attended the Summoner's School for a week. I learned the basics of camping and everything I needed to learn to travel around the world. Most summoners have the goal to embark on a journey and participate in the Summoner's War. To join this, they travel around their nations to challenge different fort masters.

Today was the day that I will finally start my very own journey. I got up early and played with Ivy and Whitey since it would be quite a long time before we will meet each other again.

"Remember to call us once in a while." Mom was in a verge of tears sending her only son off. Quite different from the usual mom.

"I know mom. I have the phone that you gave me." I smiled and tried to comfort my mother.

"Dear, we were once like him. It is time for him to experience what we did." Dad placed his hand on mom's back. He turned his face towards me, "Remember to come home when you got your 9th emblem. I'll test you if you are suited to participate in the Summoner's Duel." His eyes turned serious when he said those words.

"You don't have to remind me twice." I smirked and waved my hand as I went out to start this journey of mine.