I Became A Starter Beast

It is said that time moves fast for people who are enjoying the moment. Slowly the joy of the new season starts to wane, but the bond between Twy and Aster continues to grow.

After the match with the Scammer Clark, the two of them kept on battling against other Battle Masters in a scheduled manner.

Counting their first battle, they already fought four times, and all of those battles are against people who are stronger or more experienced than them.

In the span of two weeks, they trained, battled, and rested.

Trained, battle, and rest.

Trained, battle, and rest.

Trained—

“Start!” the referee bellowed, giving the stage solely to the battlers.

“For you to challenge me again after you lost, you have some guts, brat.” A middle-aged man stands before the pair. He's wearing a brown sleeveless martial uniform, showing off his well-toned body to the world.

“Eeek! Eeek!” a small-statured monkey cackled on top of his head, it had yellow-brown fur and noticeably wide hands.

These two were Aster and Twy's enemies for their fifth battle on top of this stage, inside the Arena Hall.

Aster spread his feet wide and pointed his sword forward. “This time we'll win, old man.” 

“Hahaha.” the man cheerfully laughed for a while, but the moment he stopped the whole stage turned heavy and suffocating. “Then come, you brat!”

The young man and his partner both looked at each other, in their eyes there was no fear only confidence, they both smirked before they charged with a loud cry.

•••

There are many Beast Masters that are fighting against each other inside the Arena Hall's stages, but the eyes of the crowd are concentrated towards the 7th stage.

“Who do you think would win this time?” a man with a red baseball cap asked, turning to look at the young man on his side.

“I want to say Aster 'cause he's my friend, but Old Man Hooper and his partner both have 3 stars.” Johnson scratched his head in worry. “It's going to be a tough fight against them...”

“You're right.” the red-capped man nodded in agreement, yet still his eyes were wavering. “Still, that Giant Killers is challenging Hooper again after he miserably lost against him four days ago, so he must've some kind of trump card no?”

Johnson turned his head to the side, looking confused. “Giant Killers?”

The man's eyes widened. “You don't know?” his voice went a pitch higher as he started explaining, “It's the nickname others gave to the two after they beat Tyrant Mike last week!”

“But, Mike isn't a giant you know?” still with his murky eyes and a stupid expression Johnson asked.

The man in a red-capped sighed. “Forget about that! So... Do you know if your friend has some kind of plan against Hooper?”

“No, but I hope he does or else, what happened the last match—” Johnson's words were suddenly interrupted by a reverberating sound.

It came from below the bleachers, on top of the stage, it was the result of the collision between fist and shield.

The trajectory of the punch veered off at the last moment, and Aster had no choice but to block Hooper's full-strength punch.

He slid through the cemented floor of the stage, almost going out of bounds, and the moment he stopped he immediately rolled to his right side.

*Bam!* 

His quick decision made him evade Hooper's left punch that followed, it left a dent on the concrete slab that Aster was standing before.

However, Aster's goal was not only to dodge him but to create an opportunity for a counterattack.

As soon as he found his center of gravity, Aster thrust his sword towards the side of Hooper's abdomen.

Sadly, his attack was effortlessly parried by the monkey beast's feet—commonly called Bempong—while it hung on the man's left arm.

The result of that thrilling exchange made the crowd go wild, but they were wrong if they thought that the rally was over.

Twy whose presence was quite thin finally attacked, dashing from the left of Hooper.

'Got him.' Aster confidently smiled as he pushed himself towards the man, his iron shield was glowing in mysterious light.

“Hooper's trapped!” Everyone thought so, the moment they saw Twy use his signature technique—Quick Attack.

The kitten vanished from his spot before appearing next to Hooper, to untrained eyes it seems like he teleported.

What everyone, including Aster and Twy, didn't notice was that Hooper's lips curled into a smile. ”You're still wet behind the ears, brat.” 

The man who didn't react that fast to Aster's counterattack and was helped by his companion to fend it off suddenly moved as fast as a lightning bolt.

*Bang!*

In front of everyone's eyes, Aster's shield was totaled like scrap metal in the junkyard, while its bearer flew out of the ring and heavily crashed against the wall below the stands.

As for Twy? He's also unconscious after that Bempong smacked him down to the floor.

Silence descended among the crowd, and wasn't broken until the referee announced. “Winner: Hooper!” 

The crowd has gone wild, like a beast in their heat.

”Hooper! Hooper! Hooper!”

Triumphantly standing under their praise, the man called Hooper proudly accepted their cheers before leaving the stage.

The two losers meanwhile were tended by the medics who swiftly appeared.

The red-capped man looked disappointedly at the betting ticket in his hand. “I guess even for the Giant Killers winning against that old man is impossible.” 

Johnson stood up and looked at the person next to him. “Wait here, I'm going to look at them.”  

“Okay, go cheer them up.”

•••

'Uh... Where am I?

Wait, that white ceiling, these medium soft bedding, and that window that gives a view to a beautiful garden...

Isn't this the infirmary!?'

“Look like you're awake now.”

I turned my head and saw Aster beyond the bars of the crib I was on. He's sitting on the bed while enjoying some fruit.

'W-What happened?'

“We lost,” he said without much change in his expression.

There's no sign of fiery passion in his eyes, it seemed like what happened was just a very bad dream. 

'I see! This is after our fourth battle where we face that martial dude—they caught us off guard! That monkey he's going to pay for it!'

“It's not a dream. We lost against them for a second time today.”

“Meow!?”

We lost? For the second time?? Are you joking???

“Hooper and his Bempong are strong and experienced, all our tricks and plans couldn't bridge that gap.” Aster is seriously looking at the apple in his hand, but I don't care about what's on his mind.

'Didn't you say we're going to win!?'

He turned his eyes towards me and shook his head. ”I didn't promised anything. What I said is that 'we might win.'”

“Meow!!!"

'Sophistry!

'You said that we were lacking information in the last battle; that's why we lost, but now, even after researching that dude, we still lost!' 

“Don't let the loss get to you, Twilight.” Aster narrowed his eyes. “Even though we're the losers, at least we learned something that can be helpful in Mustivos.”

'...What is it?' I tilted my head and pretended not to notice the apple in his hand that was slowly getting crushed.

“We learned that if we met a demon as strong as Hooper...” he dramatically paused, leaving me gulping my saliva. 

“... We need to run immediately to survive.”