- Chapter Two: Twist of Fate -

Silence greeted me when I awoke. Outside of my window, the dawn's light filtered faintly through the trees. I breathed in deeply, relishing the fresh morning air. Today had been a day long anticipated. Today, I would take my first finals.

Leaving my bedroom area, I prepared a small breakfast of dry berries for the family. Mom rose before Dad did, as always, and joined me at the table. We said nothing, favoring the sounds of the morning birds over idle conversation. Mom stole glances at me as if she wanted to say something, but she purposefully trained her gaze on the table whenever I tried to make eye contact.

Deciding to keep my eavesdropping a secret, I said, "Mom, I'm going to be back earlier today. The teachers broke up the finals into two days this year. All the math, history, and language studies exams are today, and the battle exam and exploration and rescue exam are tomorrow and the day after. I just wanted to remind you." She already knew the exam schedule, but I wanted to break the ice between us and allow her to speak her mind with some measure of confidence.

Mom smiled at me. "I know that," she said. She then reached a paw across the table and laid it in front of me. "Mona, I've been meaning to say this for a while. Deep inside, I know you are a mature adult. I know you can make the right choices when you need to," she spoke softly.

After a pause, she continued, "I love you very much, and I want to see you strive to achieve what you desire. Sometimes, though, we have to make choices that we don't like or feel like we're not ready for. We don't have the time we think we have, and you can't ponder something for forever. You may never have the chance to do so again. I just...want you to know that."

I met her paw with my own. "Thanks Mom. I'll be sure to remember that."

We held the position for a few seconds longer, then sat back down on the ground. "I better get going. I don't want to be late," I said.

Standing up, I grabbed my platter and dropped it next to the dishes from last night. I'll have to wash these when I come back home, I thought. Shouldering my bag, I exited the leaf curtain entryway as I heard my mom drop her platter in the washbasin.

The path seemed shorter this morning; maybe it came from my slight anxiety or my prevalent need to be early. All the same, I arrived at the intersection where Eris and I had parted yesterday. The breloom appeared a scant few minutes later.

"H-Hi, Mona. Today's gonna be fun, huh?" she greeted.

"Hi. Yeah, no kidding," I greeted back.

Together, we trekked to the school. I attempted to allay Eris's anxiety, but my words did not have much of an effect.

Honestly, I could not say that I was much better. A peaceful night's rest had not cured me of the plaguing doubts in my heart. My parents' voices still rang in my head. They tried to trust in me, to have faith, but they could not wait any longer.

How can I tell them? I thought desperately. How should I tell them? Will they believe me, or will they take it as another attempt to stall for time? I don't know what I should do…

Hanging my head, I trudged onward. I was not even halfway to the school yet.


I sat outside the school, lounging in the grass field behind the building. My posture was not hunched with anxiety this time. Instead, it spoke of self-confidence and collectedness.

The math, history, and Language Studies exams had gone wonderfully. The difficulty they had surprised me, despite me being an excellent test taker. Despite that, I knew practically all of the material.

Right now, I was waiting in the front of the school for Eris and Lucy. I did not have to wait for long before a familiar glaceon and breloom traipsed out of the school's front entrance. Eris seemed the worse for wear; she barely looked up from the ground to wave at me. On the other paw, Lucy stepped lightly over the ground as if her paws only touched air.

"Mona! How did your tests go?" Lucy asked as she approached me.

"Good. They weren't really that bad. How about yours?" I asked in kind.

"Splendid. I think I aced them," she boasted, lifting her chin a little.

"How did go for you, Eris?" I questioned the breloom. She did not answer immediately, opting to sigh deeply.

"I did terrible," she mumbled. "I bombed math."

"Oh, come now, Eris! I know for a fact that she did well," Lucy interjected, directing her words toward me. "We talked about our answers, and she got many of the same that I did. I'm sure of my answers, so I know that she's going to get a good grade. Most likely a B+?"

"I don't know, Lucy. I…I just think it's not going to be great," Eris said dismissively.

"Well, how did you do on your other tests? I know you did good on history; you love history," I said emphatically, trying to draw the subject away from math.

"Yeah, I guess I did pretty good in history. And language, too, I guess," she added.

"See? Eris, it's not all that bad," Lucy said. She jostled Eris playfully, apparently trying to lighten her mood. Eris gave a soft smile and perked up some.

"I guess so" was her only response.

After a pause, Lucy glanced at the sky and said, "Well, the test took longer than I expected. My parents are expecting me to be home soon to help out with tonight's big corporate dinner. It was nice catching up with you guys."

"Yeah, same, Luce. Good luck tonight," I said. We hugged each other; then, Lucy hugged Eris goodbye, too. Giving a great huff, she strode purposefully to the road, turning east toward Apple Woods.

"I… I still can't believe she got accepted into that nurse's school," Eris said.

"Yeah, but she's Lucy. She's got too much of an ego to not get accepted," I joked.

"Really? You think so?" she asked.

I blinked hard. "I'm just kidding, Eris."

"Oh."


The next morning, I awoke before dawn. An anxious eagerness took ahold of me. In a short few hours, I would be taking the two most critical finals of my life. My anticipation increasing, I scarfed down my breakfast in the blink of an eye. Hurriedly, I shouldered my bag and flew out the door before my parents had even finished eating their food.

I could barely stand to wait for Eris that morning. When she eventually arrived at the time she usually did, I none-too-subtly goaded her into walking faster to the school. She appeared rather nervous as well, which, given the nature of today's finals, I could understand why she would be.

"I'm…I'm not sure I can do this," Eris said.

I frowned. Eris was never a fantastic fighter. Even after all these years, she could barely work up the courage to throw more than three punches.

"You're good at defense, though," I said, partly in continuation of my thoughts.

"Hmm," she said in a perky tone.

When we arrived at school, a surprisingly large crowd had gathered near the back field. We trotted over to back, seeing Lucy waiting for us there. We had just said hello to each other before a loud voice bellowed over the crowd.

"Good MORNING, students," the person shouted. I flinched, recognizing him to be our announcer, an exploud. I never could remember his name.

"You all managed to arrive on time today," he said. "GOOD! That means MORE to time to WATCH you pummel each other."

He paused for effect, expecting some laughs, but nobody uttered even a snort. I shook my head. This guy always has a terrible sense of humor.

The exploud awkwardly cleared his throat. "ANYWAY, today, you will be completing your BATTLE and Exploration and Rescue FINALS. SIXTH years, stay here for your battle final. Fourth and fifth years, head to the FRONT of the school."

When the exploud fell silent, teachers along the edges of the crowd herded the fourth and fifth years away from us sixth years. After a while, only my class milled about in the field.

A wave of silence flew over the crowd. Curious, I strained to spot what had caused us to quiet so suddenly. Eventually, in a gap between two tall students, I spied an alakazam standing before us, his hands clasped behind his back.

The alakazam, our school's headmaster, cast his knowing gaze over the crowd, then spoke. "Thank you for giving me your undivided attention. This year, I have decided to give the opening speech. I will not be supervising this final, but as advice from me, give it your all.

"Now, onto the information you've all been expecting. The Battle final for this year will be held in the form of pre-determined matchups. We have watched all of you over the course of your years at this school, and we have determined the two best opponents for you to face for this final. You can find your matchups on the board behind me. You win by incapacitating your opponent."

The headmaster paused for a small breath. "I must apologize for not sharing this information with you earlier. We were still arranging the finer details. We want to see how you perform under sudden pressure, not how you perform after careful planning. Adapt well, and you will dominate. May Arceus be with you." He stared at the crowd for a second longer, then vanished, leaving swirling dust in his wake.

Before the crowd exploded out of control, several teachers immediately directed us to file toward the board in an orderly fashioned. As I shuffled to the board, I gazed at the pokémon around me, the most advanced fighters of the school. I felt out of place, despite being where I should belong.

Can I even properly belong here? I thought worriedly. Everyone's already... No. Don't do this again, Mona. You need your confidence now.

From my left, Mr. Horace broke out of the dense crowd. He clapped his two sets of hands for attention, then said in his gravelly voice, "Attention! I need everybody's attention!"

The crowd immediately fell silent. Mr. Horace continued. "Find your arena number and opponent and go to your arena. There is a judge at each arena already, so when both you and your opponent are ready, you may begin. The faster we're done, the faster you get to your second final of the day. Now, move!"

When he finished speaking, the students rushed toward the board. Various pokémon shouted out the names of others and their arenas, beckoning their opponents to the field. After the crowds had mostly cleared, I strode up to the board and scanned it for my name. I found it after a minute of searching, and my insides curled upon seeing my opponents.

My opponents were Harold, a haunter, and Zane.

Are you—? Zane? Are you freaking kiddingme?I thought.

"Well, Mona, I guess we both saw this coming."

Startled out of my train of thought, I turned to my left. Harold floated beside me, his expression bemused.

"I guess so, Harold," I distractedly replied.

"Our arena's over there," he said. He gestured in direction of the far side of the field.

"Alright, let's get going. But just say to say, I'm going to crush you," I said. Being immune to his ghost-type moves and having Shadow Ball, I had the clear advantage.

"We'll see," he said.

As it turned out, there ended up being nothing much tosee. Harold and I arrived at our arena and started our fight not soon after. While I had expected him to use his only move that could affect me, Sucker Punch, I soon learned that he could use Sludge Bomb.

However, it seemed that he had only recently acquired the use of that move; his technique was beyond sloppy. Our battle only lasted roughly ten minutes. I knocked him down with Shadow Ball, and the judge called our match when he did not float back into the air.

He was the only opponent that I could truly beat.

"Good match, Harold," I said.

He grumbled incoherently, then, after several moments, slowly levitated off the ground. He floated off of the arena, heading toward the opposite side of the field. Instead of following him, I sat down on the ground. Zane was supposed to come to my arena.

Dread curled in me when I thought about my upcoming match with the luxio. Who in the name of Arceus decided that I should be matched with him? I pondered angrily.

To my dismay, he did not keep me waiting for long. He strode into the arena from the same side that Herold had left it. When he beheld me, a snarl crossed his face.

"Why do I have to waste my time with you? Could the staff not have arranged for me to have a worthier opponent?" he uttered darkly. "No matter. You're a pushover. This'll be done rather quickly."

I grit my teeth in anger. He thinks he can just push me over? He has another thing coming!

The judge ordered us to opposite sides of the arena. When we had positioned ourselves as directed, he slashed his leg down, commencing our battle. Zane immediately began to circle toward me. I matched his movements with quick steps of my own.

Winning this battle will be difficult. He's got both long-range and short-range attacks, not to mention he outweighs me by a lot and is taller than me by a lot. Plus, I've never beaten him, I thought in steadily declining hope.

Zane and I still paced in circles, facing each other in silent concentration. When I stared into Zane's eyes, I glimpsed a large amount of arrogance and coldness. His tail swished, its star-like tip flowing with the wind.

His pace picked up; I followed suit. Sensing the beginning of the true battle, I moved my affinity energy to the edge of my skin. My focus narrowed until I only noticed Zane and his movements. I distinguished a slight change in his gait. I tensed and launched my Swift at the same moment he discharged a beam of electricity from his mouth.

The two attacks collided, and the resulting collision rocketed their energies outwards. Dust soared into the air and obscured my vision. I quickly backed away to leave the cloud. As I just exited the dust, a lightning-coated set of teeth clenched my scruff. Electricity coursed through my fur and into my body, almost making me black out.

The teeth suddenly let go, and a paw slammed into my side. My body sailed through the air and landed roughly on the dirt. As I struggled to stand, another beam of electricity soared to me, slamming into me. Yellow colors consumed my vision.

After painful moments of being electrocuted, the blinding yellow slowly died away. I slumped onto the ground, drained from the electricity flowing through my body. Teeth once again latched onto my scruff and tossed me several feet. My breath flew out of my lungs, leaving me gasping and huddling on the ground.

"This is really pitiful, Mona. You're worse than Eris. At least she ran around a little more than you. Too bad she fell victim to paralysis," Zane said haughtily. He stalked toward me menacingly.

A spark of anger lit in me. He did what to Eris? I thought past my pain, a fury building with me.

Gathering my strength, I shakily stood on one forepaw. My other forepaw followed, then my hind legs pushed the rest of my body off of the ground. Dark energy pooled into my teeth, elongating them into brutal fangs. I leapt at Zane, but my muscles responded clumsily from the beating they had endured from Zane's electric attacks. He easily dodged me and forced me onto the ground with his forepaw.

"Do you submit?" he said.

Furiously, I responded, "No! I will not submit!"

He lightly clicked his tongue against his teeth. "Wrong answer."

A sudden pain exploded on the back of my neck. Jaws grabbed my scruff, picked up my head, and bashed it on the ground.

"I will ask you again," Zane mumbled past my fur. "Do you submit?"

"No! I won't. You won't make me do it."

He pressed down onto my back harder, squeezing the air out of my lungs and constricting my breathing. Another blow smacked into the back of my head. I stifled a groan and tried to roll out from under Zane's paw. He noticed my move and dragged me back under him.

Electricity once again blazed through me. I desperately wanted the pain to end, but for it to end, I would have to submit. I must...keep fighting. I can't back down…not to him…

The electricity increased in strength. "I grow impatient. I will be forced to take more drastic measures if you do not yield. I will ask this only one more time. Do you submit?" Zane impatiently posed.

I could not speak; I was in too much pain. My only response was a slight shake of my head. I thought I heard him sigh, but the electricity had begun to dim my hearing.

"I would admire you if I did not hate you. I truly did not want to have to do this," he said, a false regretful tone filling his voice.

Compared to the past treatment I had been receiving, the weak wave of electricity that entered into me felt like a love tap. Thinking he had let me off easy so he could prepare for a final attack, I tried to surge upwards and dart out of his range. However, my muscles would not respond. Then, the meaning of his words clicked in my head.

He used Thunder Wave, the same move he used on Blade two days ago! I realized in shock. I can't believe he just used that move on me! I don't care if he said he didn't want to use it originally! He still pulled a dirty trick!

I heard a shuffle of footsteps behind me. "Judge, I believe the victory is mine."

Silence reigned for several moments. Then, the judge spoke. "This match is over. The victor is Zane."

Having finished, the judge called out for a nurse. Zane gazed at me smugly before walking away. I vainly attempted to shout something to him, anything, but my jaw and tongue barely budged.

After several minutes, the nurse arrived and carried me to a medical tent constructed in the middle of the field. She laid me on a bed of leaves, then retrieved a bowl of some poultice. She force-fed me the medicine, telling me that my paralysis should wear off in a few minutes.

When she moved on to another student, she left my thoughts broiling over my loss to Zane. Despite my tenacity, Zane's fighting prowess had still overpowered me. My defeat only served to remind me of the reality that my fighting ability was pitiful.

"Mona," a voice called from my right. Not able to turn my head, I grunted something that I meant to sound like, "Hey, Eris," but came out more like, "Ehh, Eh-es."

"You…fought Zane, didn't you? He, um, paralyzed me, too," she said.

"Ehhhs," I affirmed.

"Ah," she stated simply.

Minutes passed, and I gradually regained control of my muscles. Once I could shift myself into a sitting position, I sighed and glanced at the field in front of me.

"So, were you able to win your other match?" I asked Eris.

"Um…no. I lost it to Gerry," she said, referring to the floatzel in our class.

"Oh, geez. He's tough," I said. "I fought Harold and beat him. That's really not saying much, though, huh?"

Eris did not reply. I flicked my eyes over the field once more and spotted a crowd around one of the arenas.

"Wanna check that out?" I asked, gesturing to the field in question. After a couple of seconds, she spotted it and nodded. Brushing herself off, she stood and ambled out of the tent. I quickly followed.

Loud cheers and whoops sounded from the crowd as we drew near. Taking a spot at the edge, we peered down the arena to see who the competitors were. Kyle and Blade were fighting at the far end, exchanging a rapid volley of blows and parries.

"Well, isn't this a coincidence," I thought aloud.

As Kyle dodged a wide swipe from Blade, his right leg erupted into flame. Using his momentum, he swung his blazing leg around and struck Blade square in the chest. Blade stumbled backward, his hand flying to his chest. A pained scowl crept over his countenance.

Dropping his hands to his sides, Blade stomped his foot to the ground. A ring of translucent blue swords phased into existence. They rotated around him, then clacked together above his head. As the swords dissolved, their essence flowed into Blade's body.

Noticing Blade's action, Kyle paused as well, and an orange hue surrounded him briefly. He had barely finished his move when Blade roared and slashed at him, Blade's arms glowing a blinding white.

Kyle intercepted Blade's attack with his own. With sheer strength, Blade shoved Kyle into the dirt. Nimbly, Kyle rolled away from the bisharp.

They traded blows once more, Blade clearly having the edge in terms of brute force. Kyle was forced to either dodge or deflect Blade's onslaught.

As this continued, Blade's attacks began to noticeably flag. His slashes morphed into tired swings. His kicks barely reached Kyle's chest. Eventually, he disengaged from Kyle, his breath heaving. His hand raised to his chest once more.

Kyle's eyes narrowed, and before Blade could react, Kyle leapt into the air. He bore down on Blade with his legs burning in a ferocious inferno. The combusken struck the lethargic bisharp in his head, knocking Blade into the dirt.

Blade did not move. His chest, now exposed, displayed Kyle's earlier wound. It flared like dying embers in the open air.

"Blade can no longer continue! The winner is Kyle!" the judge declared. A collective cheer flew from the crowd.

Kyle's gaze roved over the crowd. When it reached me, our eyes connected. He stared at me for a moment; then, he walked away.


"This is it: our last day," Lucy stated in a dramatic air.

Lucy, Eris, and I milled about the entrance to the school. The rest of our class surrounded us.

I stood a few paces from Lucy and Eris, watching Mr. Ace speak with an ambipom and a blastoise. The ambipom waved her tails in emphatic gestures, and Mr. Ace nodded and spoke occasionally. As they conversed, I noticed that each of them sported black winged badges on their chests. My eyes widened in surprise when I realized that those badges were indicative of a Master Rank exploration team.

I knew that Mr. Ace is an explorer, but he's on a Master Rank team? I thought. I wonder why he never told us. I should talk to him about what exploration guilds he recommends.

"Hey, Mona, what are you doing?" Lucy called out to me. Snapped out of my musings, I trotted over to her and Eris.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," I apologized. "What's up?"

"Mr. Ace just, um, slithered up to the top of the steps," Eris explained, pointing to the entrance of the school. I followed her point and nodded when I saw Mr. Ace gazing down at us.

"Students, may I have your attention?" Mr. Ace commanded. Quickly, we quieted.

"Now, your finals are about to begin. I am going to use Entercards to open up the pre-selected dungeons. You will enter in randomly selected teams of nine or ten. My teammates, Maple and Sculle, will assist me in proctoring your exams. I will read out your teams now," he said.

He divided the class into four teams. I waited to be named in the first group; instead, I was named in the last group.

"…Mona, Eris, Pepe, Rou, Lucy, and Zane," Mr. Ace finished. "Those are your teams. Please assemble into your groups.

"Ugh, not Zane," I groaned.

"I agree," Lucy hissed.

"At least we're together," Eris said optimistically.

After a few moments of chaos, the class arranged itself into the four groups. When we finished, the ambipom from earlier walked in the middle of our groups, holding four slates of wood.

"Maple will hand out slates to each group. They will dictate the order in which you will take your assessments as well as which assignment you will have," Mr. Ace explicated. He gestured to the ambipom to hand out the slates.

"I'll take it," Zane said brusquely. He already stood at the edge of our group. Maple raised an eyebrow at him and dropped the slate down in front of him. Growling, he pulled the slate close to him.

"We're number four. We have to find three luminous orbs and bring them back undamaged," he read aloud.

"Great. We're last. Joy," I grumbled, shaking my head at my luck.

"Then we just wait," Lucy said with a shrug.

"Group one, if you would follow me," Mr. Ace ordered. He slid down the steps and to a clear area near us. Group one trailed after him.

"Your finals begin as soon as you enter the dungeon. I trust that you all know your task?" he inquired. A few heads nodded.

"Good. Now, let us begin."

He lowered himself over a short, rectangular block on the ground. The block contained four identical square depressions. Next to the block laid four cards, each marked with strange symbols.

Using his tail, Mr. Ace set the cards in a particular order and orientation in the slots. As soon as he set the last card in place, raging winds swirled around him. The students nearest to him involuntarily stepped backward.

White light poured from the cards. Concentric yellow rings exploded from the light, settling on the ground and slowly rotating. Yellow streaks of light zoomed above the rings and formed a dome. When all had settled, the cards disappeared into the light.

The Magnagate, I thought in awe. Its radiant beauty never ceased to amaze me.

"Alright. Let's go," Mr. Ace said. He slinked into the center of the Magnagate, and the students poured into the gate behind him. Maple and Sculle brought up the rear. The rings on the ground dissipated one by one until only the white light remained. With a whoosh, the light enveloped the group, and the entire Magnagate collapsed onto them, transporting them to the "normal" Mystery Dungeon.

I started at the swirl mark that the gate had left in the dirt. My anticipation chipped at my patience; I could barely wait for my group's turn.

"I hope they do okay," Eris said.

Much time passed, and the group eventually returned. While Mr. Ace and his teammates appeared just the same as when he had entered, the students could not say the same. Many were coated in dust, and one student seemed on the verge of passing out.

What the heck happened to them? I thought.

As Mr. Ace, Maple, and Sculle proctored the next two groups' exams, I could not help but wonder what sort of trials he had set up in the dungeon. Obtaining three luminous orbs was a novice task; how exactly did he make it so difficult?

"Group four, you're up," Mr. Ace said, having returned with group three minutes earlier.

Finally!I mentally cheered. Tailing Lucy and Eris, we ambled over to the serperior. He roved his eyes over us, then turned his attention to the Entercards. He placed the cards in their slots, opening the Magnagate. I could not help but gasp as it formed right in front of me.

"Get in the gate," Mr. Ace commanded. He slithered away from the Magnagate, allowing us room to enter it. The outermost ring disappeared. Before Mr. Ace could enter the gate, however, he was blasted backwards by a wave of energy.

A collective gasp flew from the two groups. I gaped in shock. What?! How did the Magnagate do that? I've never seen it do that before!

To my horror, the gate discharged another powerful wave, sending Mr. Ace, his teammates, and several students flying. Groans came from the fallen pokémon, instilling terror in me. Another ring disappeared from the earth. The yellow color of the gate began to bleed down, and a blood red color filled its place.

I gasped and pressed away from the edge of the gate, anxious to avoid the now-red wisps darting frenziedly around the gate's sides. When the red reached the white light in the center, a boom resounded from the gate, and the final ring vanished.

"Noooo!" I heard a voice shout. I whipped my head around and watched Mr. Ace speed vainly toward the gate. Moments before he could reach us, a white light obscured my vision. I felt my body shift without any conscious movement. An indistinguishable yell faintly reached my ears; then, all sense of matter and motion faded in oblivion.


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