Chapter 11: Dance, Trickery and Rumour

"Miss Eterna, your wand is ready."

Eterna took her sling bag and opened the door to find the same Delphox that had carried her before. He was bowing down and extended his two hands with the wand on them. She took it and felt a warm sensation from it, probably due to the fox held it tightly.

She responded with glee, "Thanks Delphox!"

"I would like to escort you to the same arena as before to allow you to test your wand. Are you ready to come with me?"

"Sure! Let's go."

They were back to the magic circle arena. As usual, the same group of Delphoxes created a barrier around Eterna and Queen Lilla was there to watch her process.

The queen spoke, "Alright Miss Eterna. Try to conjure something out of the wand."

Eterna acknowledged and thought of a fire attack that she could manipulate easily. A small blue fire appeared at the tip of her wand and flew up in the air. It multiplied and the fire swirled around her. Eterna instantly recognised that her new move was Will-O-Wisp, but it seemed she had forgotten an old move as well.

"Splendid!" applauded the queen, "Now try to use a psychic attack."

Eterna thought, "A psychic attack? Oh like what the group of foxes did to my friends. Hmm..."

She cancelled her Will-of-the Wisp and focused on a small sand mount in front of her, visualised it being scattered away. Then, a purple ball appeared above the mount and exploded. This move was called Psyshock. Not only it could stun the opponent; it could deal more damage if its physical defence was weak. And again, she had forgotten another old move of hers. She could not help but to ask the queen about it.

"Queen Lilla, I felt that I have forgotten two old moves of mine when I learnt new ones. Why is that so?"

"Each Pokémon can only remember four move slots; well that is how the way it is. It doesn't apply to a Pokémon's speciality though."

"Ooh..." Eterna thought of her move pool and she now had Psyshock, Light Screen, Will-of-the-Wisp and Fire Spin. Her attacks were like trickery moves now.

The queen slammed her bottom tip of her staff on the ground and said, "Now, how about you go into your powered up form? You need to get used to the immense power inside you."

"Umm…okay."

She closed her eyes and released the curse power within her. Her body colour turned mostly black this time, only her shoulder fur, fluffy ears and her most of her tail were white, and her eyes remained glowing red. Being in this state made her feel fearless and boastful as usual, but without induced rage in her. She wanted to try new attacks without using the wand this time. She placed it in her furry tail and lit up her hands with Inundation Flames, and she danced around and shot the flames at all angles by doing boxing style. She could even light up her feet and kicked the flames out of them. Good thing about dancing with the flames was that she could avoid attacks, protect and delivered the curse flames at her opponents. The technique was similar to a move shown in her favourite animation. Next she used the wand. Using the wand might help her have better control of her attacks, with a limitation that she could not use powerful wide range ones. She swung the wand in circular motion towards the sky and five holes appeared in the air around her in random position shooting black beams. The beams did not cause an impact on the ground, instead they were meant to cause the opponent to feel weak for a while if the beam was able to envelop it. Happy of what she had done, Queen Lilla went into the barrier and lifted her staff at Eterna's direction and said:

"Good. Now it is time to train you to control your powered up form. I want you to able to land an attack on me without using too much power."

"Okay, you ask for it."

Eterna shelved her wand in her tail and lit up her hands and feet, known as Mania Dance. Then, she shifty ran towards the queen to punch her using her right hand. The queen blocked the attack, and even managed to avoid the flames from Eterna's free hand. Eterna tried to kick her using her left, but again the queen dodged. Eterna was getting ecstatic of fighting a strong opponent that she used Essence Lock on her. However, the spell merely broke one of her protective enchantment.

Eterna was frustrated, "Geez. You are really well prepared Queen Lilla."

"Of course. And Eterna, try not to let your arrogance get the better of you."

"Hmph."

She did not mean to reply rudely but the queen was right about her increase of egotism. Nonetheless, she used her wand to create Devoid Dominance, which were the five holes she did before. The queen was surrounded by her the attacks, so she pounded her staff on the ground to reveal a trench. She continued to dig her way to the surface and came out right behind Eterna. Eterna was prepared for that and swung her wand to control the beams to aim for the queen. The queen immediately ran and all the beams missed her. She also eyed at Eterna to see her next move.

Eterna sighed and cancelled Devoid Dominance and the flames from her limb ends and fiddled with her wand. The queen stopped running and looking at her bewildered.

"What's the matter?"

Eterna faced her and looking bored, "You have been avoiding all my attacks and you haven't even hit me once. This is retarded."

"I didn't say I will strike you down; I only asked you to attack me. But if you insist, I shall do it."

Queen Lilla raised her staff and chanting a spell. Eterna smirked as the queen was wide open and she used Shadowable to pin her on the ground.

She spoke, "I should have done that earlier huh; deceiving you." Then, she ceased her attack to release her.

The queen got up and replied, "That is smart tactic. Now you know that being powerful doesn't necessary mean you can win a battle. Alright, the training ends now. You can return back to your normal form Miss Eterna."

Eterna tried to seal her Obliteration Form, but she had no idea how to do it. Queen Lilla recognised the trouble and instructed Eterna to try to use light power to seduce her curse power.

Eterna refused. When she was in her normal form, the light introduced by Xerneas into her body balanced with her dark power. But since she was in her Obliteration Form, her unsealed power contained her light power. If she purposely released her light power, it might purify most of her unsealed power and endangering her life. Eterna tried to think of other ways and the only thought that came in her mind was to use all the power she had.

She told the Delphoxes that were maintaining the barrier to reinforce it to become even stronger for she was about to explode her power. The queen was hesitant, but she understood her for choosing the alternative solution. She joined in with the other foxes and strengthened the shield to have ten layers of protection. As doing this would drain their energy quickly, Eterna wasted no time and performed Retribution. Massive black flames gushed out of her body and pressed against the barrier. The first layer broke easily, followed the second and when it broke the eighth layer, the flames disintegrated and revealed Eterna in her normal form. She knelt on her knees in exhaustion. The Delphoxes were tired as well and they pulled down the barrier so that they could at least recover a little.

The queen spoke, "Whew…Miss Eterna, I advise you to find a better way to return to your normal self. It is my deepest regret that I can't teach you how to utilise your light power to do so."

"Yeah…Point taken. And no worries, I will be seeking another teacher to help me to do so." replied Eterna.

"Oh I am relieved. Alright then, that is all I have to teach you. You are free to return back to your friends. I am aware that they are nearby."

Eterna was surprised that she knew about that as well, "Ah! Uh…I shall make my move now. Thank you for teaching me Queen Lilla, and the foxes that helped me in my training as well."

The Delphoxes cheered for her gratitude.

The queen answered, "You are welcome. Feel free to drop by here when you are done with your journey. We will celebrate of your return!"

"Yes I will. And so…see ya!" she waved and the others did it as well.

She used her remaining strength to use Abyss's Door and warped away to her friends. This time, they were near a shallow lake. The lake was unusually clear and there were no fishes living in there. As expected, her friends greeted her upon her arrival.

"Welcome back Miss Eterna!" said Ice Kacang.

Eterna grinned but still panting, "Whew…yup. I did some practice using my wand just now."

"So is that a wand you are holding? Can I touch it?" asked Chestnut.

"Sure! Go ahead and play with it. In the meantime…"

She dived into the lake. That action of hers made her friends panicking.

Chestnut screamed, "What are you doing!? Isn't water is your weakness?"

She emerged out of the water and answered, "I am not weak to water, silly! I just can't take the sudden coldness of it. The lake water is cooling so I am fine with it."

Loggerhead scratched his head, "Huh what?"

"Why will I be suddenly weak to water just because I am a Fire Type? I have been swimming since I was a baby! And with the right technique, I can speed up my recovery for I pretty much exhausted from training just now. Okay, here I go!"

Her furry coat dragged her down, but she managed to kick strong to keep her lower body afloat without hitting her tail. The group seen her swam slowly up and down the lake and were amazed of her swimming strokes. After ten laps of warming down, she got up and shook the water out of her fur. Then, she used Fire Spin to quickly dry her fur. Her fur puffed out, making her looked like a standing lion. Her friends could not stop laughing at her.

She argued, "Hey! If I have a towel, it will not need to resort to this method."

Chestnut was still chuckling, "Haha yeah. Anyway I have restocked the food supply for our journey. Do you need to do yours Eterna?"

"Hmm…let me check my sling bag."

She had Four Oran Berries, Two Mago Berries, three Revival Seeds, two Heal Seeds, two Max Elixirs and a Health Orb. Since she loved the berries here so much, she thought of maximising her bag with food. Ribbons and orbs were not important to her since she herself was like an emergency item that could aid others in need.

She questioned her friends, "Are there berries that can last for days without rotting?"

"There is one, but I am not sure whether you like the taste." he answered.

"Just show me what it is."

Chestnut led the team to a berry tree that had berries that were black with white exclamation designs. He plucked one of them and passed it to her. She smelt the berry and detected a strong spicy tang from it.

"So what is the name of this berry?"

"Enigma Berry. It is very rare. It only grows in high concentration of mana in the air. It is spicy and dry, but it is these factors that make this berry able to last three months without decaying. It is indeed the most puzzling berry in the world."

"You mean it has magic in it as well?"

"It is rumoured to have it. Well, I tried it but there is no effect at all."

Eterna looked at the berry with anxiety, bit a small chuck of it and swallowed it down. The spiciness stung her mouth and her throat which made her almost want to gag. But there was something special about it. She felt her dark power regenerating faster than usual. This berry could be the potion that she needed! She plucked all of them and put into her bag. Her friends just stared at her, confused.

"Why did you harvest all of them? Did they aid you in something?" asked Ice Kacang.

"Yeah! It can help me recover my lost energy! Hmm…maybe if I blend it with Max Elixir, it will be a wonderful drink!"

"Ooh! We can do this later at night."

"Hmm! Well you can have the rest of the berry Ice Kacang. I need to rinse my mouth to get rid of the spice bleh."

"Okay."

While Eterna was raising her mouth, Ice Kacang passed the berry to Loggerhead instead since his friend liked to eat spicy food. When Eterna was done, she used her hands trying to flatten her fur and addressed to the group.

"Okay, time to go back to travelling above the gloomy forest. Shall we go now?"

"Yes." they responded.

They entered the Abyss's Door and they were taken to where Aura was. Aura was pleased to find them back safe and sound; and it was astonished to find Eterna had evolved and of her conjuring Divert Deviation to protect themselves.

"We are back!" said Loggerhead to it.

"Welcome back, all of you. Why is there a need for a barrier?"

"Well…I just need to do this to protect us from invisible harm." answered Eterna

Aura thought that that was not the answer it was looking for but decided not to ponder about it. It spoke, "Alright. So should we continue our journey till nightfall? It is late afternoon now."

Chestnut agreed, "Yes we should. It would be better if we find a safe place beyond this treacherous place."

They rode on it and flew above Thorn Fortress. It was situated at the North-East of Unfathomable Cavern. Eterna found the name horrifying. If they were walking in there, it felt like going through a city of barb wire. The huge thorns were gra

y in colour; like a sculpture of some sort. This place had no Pokémons roaming around. Based on the looks of it, it seemed to hide something. After two hours of flight, she spotted something sparkling: a small golden thorn on the ground. She told Aura that she wanted to inspect it. It lowered near the ground for her to alight. Eterna walked closer to it and saw a black engraving that looked like a ring on the golden thorn. She wanted to touch it, but due to the influence of television shows she watched before indicate traps were usually placed near a treasure item. And her instincts warned her that there was something evil from it. She stepped back and climbed back on Aura's back.

Chestnut could not help but to question her, "So what is that golden thorn? It is weird for it to be guarded so tightly by the big grey thorns."

"I have no idea, but definitely not be trampled on." replied Eterna truthfully.

"Well…if you say so. It is similar in mystery dungeons. In some rooms with Deluxe Treasure Chest, there are Power Points Zero Tiles surrounding it. Once step on it, one of the moves you know will be disabled until you drink Max Elixir. That trap is such a pain in the butt."

Ice Kacang agreed, "Oh yeah. I don't like that trap at all, especially when my most powerful move was sealed in Shell Coast Mystery Dungeon."

Loggerhead speculated, "You know, I wonder if that golden thorn is a seal or something?"

The rest of the group gasped.

"You may be right! There is a marking on the thorn. It looks like a ring." she said.

Chestnut pondered, "A ring? Hmm…I heard a legend of a ring user terrorised this continent and almost caused the land to disappear."

"What!? Are you serious?" astonished Ice Kacang.

"Yes. And it is rumoured to be more powerful than The End."

"If this rumoured Pokémon is revived and is more powerful than Evil's Bane, I am not so sure whether we can even damage it at all." feared Loggerhead.

Eterna crossed her arms and nagged, "Oh what the heck, let's not think about this and move on!"

They agreed. There was no point speaking about the past and they should be worrying about the present. Aura took them to the sky once more and moved towards the north, and the sun set below the horizon in front of them.