CHAPTER 10
Six months have passed since Cubone first began his training with Grave Dig. Since then, Cubone has learned much about things that were previously unknown to him.
He has learned every known species of Pokémon that has existed, how to dissect and help an injured Pokémon, and how to take advantage of his surroundings, as well as how to fight like a marowak.
Eventually, Cubone's training has led him to the final trial, a trial that many previous Pokémon have lost their lives trying to overcome. Cubone is on his knees facing Grave Dig, who has taught him everything that he knows. They are both in Grave Dig's room where Cubone first saw him.
"You have learned much, Cubone." Grave Dig stated. "It is time to see if you are ready to be a marowak. It is time for the final trial."
Cubone just nodded his head to Grave Dig. They then headed upstairs to the second floor of the temple where seven marowaks were waiting for them. Cubone noticed that only two of them were holding their bone staffs.
"The final trial is a two part test," Grave Dig explained. "The first part of the trial focuses on hand to hand combat. You must defeat these seven marowaks all by yourself. You may use your bone that you always carry around as a weapon to help you."
Grave Dig then walked up to other marowaks and whispered to them. "Crush him." Grave Dig then stepped out of the room and left Cubone all by himself with the other marowaks.
It was hard at first for Cubone to fight the other marowaks. Some of the marowaks in the room were great friends to Cubone. But Cubone was trained to not let his emotions distract him.
Once Grave Dig closed the door and proceeded to walk away, he began to hear the sounds of screaming and the cracking of broken bones coming from inside the room. Grave Dig quickly ran up to the door to listen inside.
"Don't let him get too close to you!" one of the marowaks shouted that was immediately followed by the sound of another bone crushing crack.
Grave Dig quickly yanked the door open only to see Cubone break the legs of the last standing marowak. Cubone quickly kneeled when he noticed Grave Dig was in the room.
"Hmmm…" Grave Dig thought. "No outsider has been able to accomplish this part of the trial in the amount of time you did."
"Thank you, sir." Cubone said.
"It's time for the second part of your trial." Grave Dig instructed. Cubone tilted his head. "Already?"
"You did just take out seven marowaks with ease." Grave Dig explained. "Also, you must be prepared for multiple situations in a short amount of time. Your next phase of your trial is simple. Five marowaks are downstairs in the main hall; you have five minutes to take them all out."
Before Cubone left the room, Grave Dig grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "Be careful Cubone, these marowaks are all armed with assault rifles and have been ordered to kill you on sight, and they know you're coming."
Cubone hesitated for a minute to think. He recalled what Bone Crush had told him about previous outsiders. "I'm guessing this is the part of the trial where other outsiders have died."
"So someone did tell you about the previous trials." Grave Dig replied. "Yes, this is the part of the trial where others have died."
Cubone took the cautious approach and walked over to the ventilation system and yanked out the vent.
"Uh, Cubone what are you doing?" Grave Dig asked. Cubone turned around before crawling through the ventilation. "You'll see."
Cubone crawled through the ventilation to get to the main hall. When he got to the main hall, he was high above the entire room where he can see everything. He noticed that there were boxes and crates scattered throughout the room. Just like what Grave Dig said, there were five marowaks with machine guns. Three of them were patrolling the room, while two of them were guarding the stairs waiting for Cubone.
"Is he ever coming down the stairs?" one of them asked.
Cubone saw another vent that was closer to the ground and crawled over to it. Quickly, he scuttled out of the vent without anyone noticing and hid behind one of the crates. Cubone waited for one of the patrolling marowaks to walk by to silently take them out one by one. It took a couple of seconds for one of the marowaks to appear, and then Cubone snuck up behind him and grabbed him in a sleeper hold. To prevent the marowak from warning the others, Cubone covered his mouth and knocked his gun away. After a few seconds of struggling, the marowak eventually passed out.
Cubone quickly hid the unconscious body behind a crate and proceeded to do the same to the other patrolling marowaks. Now all that was left were the two guards at the stairs. The two were in the middle of a conversation when Cubone snuck up behind them and slammed their heads together knocking them both out.
Cubone had done it. He completed the final trial that no previous Pokémon had accomplished. Cubone heard clapping coming from up the stairs and looked to see who it was. It was Grave Dig who also smiling.
"I am truly amazed," he said. "For once an outsider has completed his training and is worthy enough to be called a member of the marowaks."
Cubone was exhausted and was too tired to kneel before Grave Dig, but Grave Dig didn't seem to mind.
"Tonight, we will have a feast to honor your accomplishment. I'll inform the others of your success. In the meantime, you can help the others get to the infirmary."
Cubone did so, and hours later he and every marowak were in the main hall celebrating. Cubone was congratulated by every marowak in the temple. The last one to congratulate Cubone was Bone Crush, the marowak who found Cubone in the desert.
"You did it. You're one of us now." he said.
Cubone was too overwhelmed to speak. He just stood there and nodded happily with Bone Crush.
"Say, could you do me a favor?" Bone Crush asked. "We've run out of napkins at the tables. There are some in a box down in the basement. Could you get them for me so I don't have too?"
"Sure." Cubone said as he headed to the storage area in the basement. He checked every box that was down there until he finally found the one with neatly folded napkins inside it.
As Cubone started to head back upstairs with the napkins, he heard a strange familiar sound. A spine chilling familiar sound that made Cubone immobilized. Cubone couldn't quite remember where he had heard the sound before. He knew though that the sound was something that he didn't like.
However, Cubone didn't know where the sound came from. Clearly, there was no one else in the storage area, which meant only one thing. The sound came from the room at the end of the hall that only Grave Dig was allowed to go into.
Against what he was told, Cubone went inside the room. He was to curious about the sound. He had to know what it was.
At first it was just a dark room. Eventually, Cubone found a light switch on a wall and turned on the lights.
"Uh, that's a lot … better." Cubone said to himself. He then dropped his bone when he saw the horrifying sight of the same Pokémon that ate his mother, sleeping in a cage. Cubone backed up slowly until he bumped into something. He turned around to see who it was. It was Grave Dig who was staring at Cubone angrily.
"You're not supposed to be in here." he said to Cubone.