Chapter 44
The Tree of Life
The trip to the island took almost twelve hours, Oleanna seemed twitchy as they got closer to the island but Alex and Blaze dismissed it as nervousness from the long trip in uncharted waters.
"There it is!" Oleanna announced as the island appeared on the horizon. It was perfectly circular and covered by thick trees. As they came to the beach Alex and Blaze noticed the lack of a dock. This was clearly an uncolonized area.
The duo dismounted as Oleanna took a deep breath and said "upon completion of your task, tell your expedition orb the following command to teleport back to the guild- two to transport, Wigglytuff Guild, code 4729"
"Ok! Any idea where the tree with the golden apples is?" Alex asked.
"There's a path right over there, follow it straight ahead to the center of Primeval Forest. The tree you're looking for will be there" the shiny Lapras said with a head gesture to a path a few yards away.
"Ok, thanks for the ride!" Blaze said, earning a smile and a nod from Oleanna before she sailed off into the distance.
It was time for their graduation exam….
"This place is weird" Alex stated bluntly as the passed through the thick forest.
"What makes you say that?" Blaze questioned.
"There's energy flowing through these trees, and there's no Pokémon here for such a lush forest" Alex observed as he pointed to a nearby tree, it had lines of energy flowing through it, kind of like Dialga's body.
"Good point, let's keep on our toes for…." Blaze didn't finish, as they came to a clearing there was a massive tree. Massive may have been an understatement. This gargantuan plant was over 50 feet tall, with energy flowing from its massive roots that were as big around as trees themselves.
There was a canopy of leaves above them, every color of the rainbow and as thick as sheets of wood.
"Incredible!" Alex said, almost at a loss for words.
"Look, there they are!" Blaze exclaimed as he pointed to a branch about 15 feet up, gleaming golden apples twice the size of normal ones were hanging in perfect spacing between each other, almost like someone had arranged where they grew.
"Alright then, let's get one!" Alex said as he stepped forward only for a flash of pink light to blind him, when it cleared a Pokémon was standing above him.
It was a quadruped, stag-like Pokémon with four large pairs of antlers. Its main body was black with a blue stripe down its back and a short, bushy tail. Starting at its knees there was a gold, blade-like trim around each leg, which formed a point under each hoof. There was an upside-down, V-shaped marking on its chest in the same color as the trim on its legs. Its head and neck were blue, and there were two large tufts that extended onto its chest and curve upward. Its first pair of antlers extended onto its head and curved around the underside of its eyes. The second pair extended off the back of its head and nearly touched the branches above it. Its eyes were blue with black, X-shaped pupils.
"You will not defile the tree of life, begone" the Pokémon ordered in a calm female voice.
"Who are you?" Blaze asked.
"I am Xerneas, anyone who threatens the Tree of Life will answer to me" she announced before her horns glowed, after a brief moment a ball of pink energy hit the ground in front of the duo, sending them flying.
Both of them got up, but Alex was slower to his feet.
"Guess this is our test!" Alex assumed before unleashing a dragon breath.
Xerneas made no attempt to dodge, the attack simply vanished as soon as it hit him.
"Wait WHAT?" Alex said, dumbfounded that it did nothing. Sure it was a legendary Pokémon but even Dialga at least winced when he was hit.
"You've never faced a fairy type have you?" Xerneas scoffed before a sparkling pink wind blew through the area, Blaze was mostly unharmed but Alex was sent skidding back as the Fairy wind seared his skin. His dragon type resistances had always been his best fallback, but now they were a crippling weakness.
Blaze tackled his friend to the ground behind a tree on the outer edge of the clearing. Xerneas fired another Moonblast, causing them to scatter left and right as the tree exploded into splinters. Oddly though the nearby foliage glowed before the tree instantly regrew.
"You cannot hide!" Xerneas warmed as she closed her eyes and began channeling the energy of the massive tree behind her. Its energy flowed through every inch of this island, and they wouldn't stay hidden for long.
Alex looked over to Blaze and asked "there's a fairy type?"
"Yea forgot to tell you that, they're immune to dragon-type moves and super-effective against dragons" Blaze conceded as another Moonblast sailed between the two of them.
"Why hadn't this happened before?" Alex demanded.
"Fairy types are unnaturally rare on the Grass Continent. In fact, Wallace and the sisters with the water float are the only ones we've met!" Blaze clarified.
"There you are!" Xerneas called as the vines ensnared the two appreciates and tossed them back into the clearing.
"You've lost, surrender" Xerneas offered.
"No, I've come too far to give up now, WE BOTH HAVE!" Blaze shouted as his body began to emit steam. Alex was worried his passive ability was activating again, but Blaze's determination rendered a different result.
For the first time, the Monferno channeled his rage properly, losing Alex had given him a lot of perspective on things, most importantly that he couldn't afford to lose his head when everything was on the line like he nearly did when he had to travel through the ravaged hidden land.
Blaze pushed his arms out, the ground simmered for a moment before a spray of red hot lava erupted from the earth. Xerneas was completely caught off guard and sent flying back by a literal wave of lava.
"How are you doing that!" Alex asked in shock.
"I don't know?!" Blaze admitted as he looked at his hands in shock"
"Well keep doing it! I'll try to stun her, get ready to hit her hard!" Alex said as he grabbed an item from the treasure bag and ran forward with a dragon claw.
Xerneas has just gotten back on her feet, legendary or not a direct blast of molten rock was not something she could just shake off. The lava had already cooled and hardened, much like the trees though, the grass instantly regrew over the rock.
She saw Alex rushing towards her with his claw glowing blue. Xerneas smirked and stood still, goading the Fraxure into hitting her, "he really had never faced a Fairy-type had he?!" Xerneas thought.
Unfortunately for her, Alex was banking on her taking the attack, at the last moment the energy around his claw dissipated as he shattered a stun steed on Xerneas's chest.
"Now!" Alex ordered as he jumped out of the way.
Xerneas's eyes looked down in shock as the ground beneath her stunned body erupted, completely covering her in lava.
Xerneas's wailed as her body dissolved, leaving nothing but a pile of black rocks from the lava, even then the grass-covered it up again.
"Did we just…." Blaze was too afraid to say it.
"No, I am much harder to kill than that" Xerneas's voice said, this time echoing throughout the entire area.
On cue, Xerneas appeared in front of the massive tree completely unharmed. Her gaze softened as she said "well done
"Did you teleport!?" Alex asked in confusion.
"No, I am the tree of life made physical, destroying my body is harmless as I can just reform it. I must congratulate you though...I never expected you to be strong enough to destroy my physical form. Wallace and Tesla were telling the truth about you. Though please be careful with that new skill of yours" Xerneas stated in a friendly voice with a look to Blaze
"This was all a…" Blaze didn't finish as Xerneas revealed the truth.
"A test, one you passed with flying colors!" Xerneas said proudly.
"How did Wallace and Tesla set this up?" Alex asked, taken aback by the legendary Pokémon's instantly friendly demeanor.
"Tesla discovered this island on his own after he fell off a Wailord liner he washed up here and ate a golden apple to heal himself. I appeared and after he explained his story and his role in charting the seas I asked him to keep this place a secret" Xerneas revealed.
Blaze frowned and said, "I feel stupid asking but what makes this place important?"
"This is the Tree of Life, its energy gives the planet's surface and oceans fertility and life. Should anything happen to it the planet would die within days. The energy in the forest flows out all over the world" Xerneas explained.
"Ah, that's why super healing golden apples grow here" Alex realized.
"Exactly, and on that note, I present you with the item to prove you defeated me," Xerneas said before her horns glowed. A single golden apple broke off of the tree and hovered down to Blaze who grabbed it and put it in the treasure bag.
"Thank you Xerneas, sorry about hurting you…" Alex apologized.
"Do not concern yourself, as I said before, I am fine. In fact, I have a gift for you two. I owe you two this much for stopping the destruction of time" Xerneas admitted before her horns glowed again, wisps of rainbow-colored light swirled into two orbs before condensing into two gems. One was dark red with a blue symbol in the middle while the other was a metallic dark yellow with a red symbol in the center.
The two stones floated down into Alex and Blaze's hands. Alex got the dark yellow one while Blaze got the red one.
Alex and Blaze didn't recognize them at first, but Blaze looked closer at the symbol and recognized the same sigil as the ones in Tesla and Lana's stones that they used to temporarily evolve against Nigel in the quicksand cave.
"These are….mega stones right?" Blaze asked.
"Yes, when you evolve into your final forms you can use those to temporarily evolve beyond your normal limits. I suggest you teleport away!" Xerneas confirmed before dissolving into wisps of light, the light then vanished back into the massive tree.
Alex shrugged and said "I guess that's that!" before pulling out the expedition orb.
Blaze nodded and said "two to transport, Wigglytuff Guild, code 4729"
On cue, the orb glowed and warped the duo away in a flash of blue light…
Alex and Blaze appeared in the main room outside Wallace's office, as they blinked their eyes from the teleport they realized they were surrounded by the entire guild.
"CONGRATULATIONS!" The entire crowd, including Wallace and Cleft, cheered.
"Thanks, guys!" Blaze said, caught off guard by how much of a deal the others were making.
"It was quite a test" Alex admitted.
"I'm sure it was," a familiar voice said.
Alex and Blaze turned to the voice to see Wallace, Tesla and Lana stepping aside, the crowd parted to reveal a Feraligator, Meganium and a Charizard with a smile on their faces.
Paul chuckled and said, "Long time no see!"
Author's note- one more chapter after this and then it will be back to my usual 3 chapter uploads. A few things to unpack...
1. It's good to have Team Go-Getters back for a bit, I have one or two more times for them to show up after the celebration next chapter.
2. Blaze's lava manipulation is my own creation to an extent. More information on it will be provided later. It makes sense to me when Fire types can learn earthquake via TM. Alex will have a new ability soon so that both of their fighting styles will be mixed up for Act 2.
3. Custom Mega Evolutions are going to be in this story, just for Alex and Blaze though. I've created them by mixing some fanart and making them my own. Fair Warning that they are a LONG WAY from being shown off. Even when both of the main characters evolve again, it will still be a bit.
