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Chapter 4 - The First Challenge: Trial of Fire!

Long ago, the tribe of Alph flourished. However, a war between them and Ecruteak was destroying the habitat for the Pokemon and disrupting their lives. Suicune, Entei, and Raikou intervine, and a quest ensues. isuckatsummaries.

Chapter 4 - The First Challenge: Trial of Fire!

Chapter 4 - The First Challenge: Trial of Fire!
alph4Quick note first. I shortened Articuno’s name to Arti, because Uma and Mishiga got confused over whether he was a human or Pokemon. -----AlphChapter 4: The First Challenge! Trial of FireThe four humans and three Pokemon continued pressing through the woods. Piima sniffed the ground occasionally to make sure they were going the right way.Squirt looked around cautiously, clinging to Wara. The snorunt seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. “Oh, are you sure this is the right way, Piima?” The mareep stopped and slowly turned her head to Squirt. ::... You doubt my judgement?:: Zeni frantically answered for his trainer. ::NONONO, of course not, Piima, Squirt would never doubt you, please keep going, dontkillmeee...::Mareep couldn’t help but smirk at the feared reputation her pokemon had gained. “Keep going, Piima.”||*||Cleffa stood on her toes and reached upwards. Her small hands clasped around an apple, and she triumphantly twisted it, breaking it loose. “Catch, Pi!” The short-haired girl tossed the apple to her timid cleffa, who caught it and placed it in a basket beside her.Cleffa hopped off the stool she was standing on and strode over to her Pokemon. She kneeled down in front of it, and smiled sadly. “You know, Pi, apple-picking was more fun with squirt around...” But Pi didn’t seem to be paying any attention. Her gaze was riveted on the tree. ::Cleffa, what is that?:: She questioned, pointing up into the leaves.Cleffa looked back over her shoulder, and a glint caught her eye. “Eh..?” She hopped back up on the stool and grabbed hold of a branch, hoisting herself up. She balanced herself on the wood and reached up with one hand while holding another branch for support. “I almost have it...!” Cleffa’s fingertips brushed the edge of it, and she pouted. She jumped slightly, knocking it down. The object fell down into a bush.... along with Cleffa.::Eee!:: Pi quickly shut her eyes, and Cleffa halted in midair. She was turned upright, and slowly lowered back down. “Phew... Thank you very much, Pi-chan!” Cleffa smiled and picked up her Pokemon, then trotted to the bush to find the object.It was a smoothed square-shaped stone. Strange letters were carved clearly into it. Cleffa blinked twice and turned it around, studying it. “... What does it say? Do you know, Pi?” The timid pokemon shook her head. ::No...::Cleffa shrugged and put it in the basket of apples. “Well, I’ll ask mom about it tonight. We’ll see if she knows.”||*||“Yuuuuuuuuuki. WAKE UP.” Squirt kneeled on the ground, poking the sleeping boy’s forehead. He was slumped over a rock, dozing peacefully. Against a tree nearby, the guard who had ran was pinned by his spear to the trunk- the spearpoint was driven through his sleeves, above his head, deep into the wood.Mareep chuckled, smirking. “That idiot. He doesn’t know how much of a fool he is, acting all tough and then falling asleep like that.”Latias clasped her hands together, eyes wide. “Oh! We should draw on his face!” “Yeah!” Arti chimed in his agreement merrily.Squirt sweatdropped. “Er... Well, we’ll stop here for now, I gue--” :: .... No. The guard’s still there. He may be unconscious now, but he will wake up eventually.:: Piima interrupted.Latias nodded. “Yeah. We’ll just take Mr. Sleepy here somwhere else and set up camp.”||*||Camp came in the form of a small clearing, about an hour’s walk from where the guard was pinned. The sky had smoothed into a chilly afternoon, and puffy white clouds drifted gently through the sky.The group had managed to get a small fire going, and Squirt was currently cooking lunch over it.Latias and Arti had been the food-packers of the journey, and their haversacks were loaded with bread, canteens, potatoes, onions and carrots. Squirt had taken a small pot that Mareep had packed, filled it with water, and begun to boil potatoes and onions in it.Yuki was sleeping near the fire, under a blanket. Arti sat against a tree with Latias, and the two chatted energetically. Meanwhile, Mareep was guiding practice battles between Wara, Zeni, and Piima. ::... You cheated.:: Piima hissed to Wara, who sweatdropped and hid behind Mareep’s leg. ::I didn’t cheat, honest!:: ::I saw you. You did cheat.:: Zeni pointed out, folding his arms.Squirt smiled at the group and prodded at the soup with a wooden spoon. It didn’t seem like it would take very long to finish cooking...“... Yawwn..” Yuki slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he realized that he had been asleep, he shot up, sweatdropping, and shoved the blankets off of him.Squirt chuckled. “Latias and Arti wanted to draw on your face, but I told them not to. You woke up just in time, the soup’s almost done.” She remarked cheerfully. Maybe Yuki was better-tempered after sleeping? She knew that she herself was. “.. Whatever.” The boy shoved the blanket even further away, and looked up to the sky. From what he could tell, it was about 1 or 2 o’clock.Squirt sweatdropped and went back to tending to the soup. “... Eh?” She rubbed her eyes and stared back at the fire. She could’ve sworn something was in the flames...Suddenly, a ring formed around the flames and expanded rapidly, pushing everyone far back from the small campfire. A square forcefield formed around the campsite, and the object that had been in the flames floated upwards slightly. It was a tiny, yellow orb (about the size of a marble). Around it was a swirling silver substance formed into the shape of a Lugia’s head and wings. The bottom part faded out. The voice that the five had heard in their dreams boomed throughout the area. ||The time for your first trial has arrived. You will face several more trials similar to this later in your journey. These shall help you to find which shall be your partner: Suicune, Entei, or Raikou.||This is the Fire Trial. You must get to the Idol before the smoke fills the entire area. In each trial, one will win, one will lose. Once someone has completed the trial, then it will disappear. Let the Trial commence.||Suddenly, the fire exploded in size, rapidly filling the area. The camping materials and their Pokemon disappeared. When Squirt cried out Zeni’s name, the voice responded: ||Your pokemon cannot help you with the trial. They will return once it is completed.||Squirt whimpered and slunk behind Yuki, who was staring around as the fire crawled up bushes and trees.Mareep winced as fire shot up in front of her, and she stumbled back. “Gyah... it’s really friggin’ hot...” She peered through the smoke at the still-glowing Idol. Flames flickered around it protectively. “We have to get that, then, right? Then this will all go away?”Yuki nodded. “... Don’t talk if you can. Smoke is filling quickly. Conserve air.” Squirt, Mareep, and Latias nodded.“GAH!” Arti cried out- his shirt collar had gotten stuck on a small tree branch from the trunk he had been leaning against. Branches from other trees had begun to fall, flaming, as they were burned off their trunks. One landed near Arti, and he yelped and stomped on it to try and extinguish it.Latias bit her lip and darted forward through the flames, despite Mareep calling after her. The Priestess squinted through the rapidly-filling smoke, trudging through the flaming grass to find the Idol.Meanwhile, Yuki and Squirt had split up and were trying to find the idol. Smoke was consuming more and more of the air, and the group was now coughing and choking on the foul-smelling air.More flaming tree branches were collapsing around Arti, and the boy was frantically trying to extinguish the fire and free his collar from the tree.A loud crack sounded through the area, and everyone stared in horror to where a burning tree had begun to fall..... Directly towards Arti. He closed his eyes and waited for the worst, but when he opened his eyes, everything was gone.All the pokemon were back, as well as the camping supplies. The trees and bushes were all back to normal, and the barrier was gone. Pidgeys were chirping brightly as if nothing had happened.“.. What the..?” Arti scanned across the now peaceful site, awed.And there, in the center, stood Latias, her arms wrapped around the Idol, which was glowing. ||The winner of the First Trial is Latias. The loser is Arti.||The Idol dissolved into Latias’ body, and she glowed with a warm light. The brightness faded and she straightened up, blinking, and looked to everyone else. Blank stares coated everyone’s faces.“THAT WAS THE SINGLE WEIRDEST FREAKING THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO ME!” Arti cried out, tugging at his hair.Squirt nodded rapidly to prove her agreement. “Yeah. That was.... weird. How did you do that, Latias?”The Great Priestess looked surprisingly bright and strong. “I don’t know... I just saw Arti like that, and I wanted to help... I knew I couldn’t help him in any other way than to make this fire disappear.” She blushed slightly, shrugging.||*||Night had fallen, and the group had set out on the move again. Latias had announced proudly that she now had bragging rights, and the Pokemon merely went along with it. They had no idea of what had happened... To them, they had just blinked, and then everyone was somewhere else, with shocked expressions. Squirt had tried to explain what had went on, but she wasn’t to sure of it herself.As they trekked through the forest, they chatted amongst themselves. However, the conversations were interrupted as Squirt spoke out.“It said there would be more trials. What do you think it meant by that? Would they all be the same?”Silence fell over the group. Squirt was about to apologize, but Mareep spoke. “I don’t think so. Otherwise, they’d just be testing our ability to handle that one thing. There’ll probably be all sorts of tests...”Arti nodded. “Yeah, I hope so. That was unpleasent.”Yuki, who was leading the group, stopped walking. “This will be good for camping out tonight.” At the silver-haired boy’s command, everyone grouped together under the blankets, falling asleep immediately. Although they wouldn’t have minded dinner, they were all too exhausted from their first trial to try making any.Besides, none of them would want to look at fire for a while after that, anyway.

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mandy94t on April 4, 2006, 10:51:40 AM

mandy94t on
mandy94tsweeeeeeeeeeeet....Yuki ish bossy...

Mishiga_chan on December 1, 2005, 9:16:59 AM

Mishiga_chan on
Mishiga_chanIt's good! Posteh moooooooore!

sugar_high_water_uma on December 1, 2005, 8:49:53 AM

sugar_high_water_uma on
sugar_high_water_umagood, very good kiichigo, i love it!!XD