Pokémon - The Final Journey in Fenyuu
Chapter 35: The Maze
Matt walked out of the classroom with his report card in hand, gently closing the door behind him. He looked at the marks he received with a smile. "Not as good as I hoped it would be, but I suppose it's good enough." He walked down the hall into the main lobby of the school and sat down on one of the couches. He looked around the room; he found it nicely decorated with tall plants, oil paintings, and deep, yet vibrant wallpaper.
After a few mintues, Matt looked at his watch impatiently. "I'd like to know where Lizzie is. It shouldn't take that long to receive a report card."
A few minutes later, Matt saw a figure walking out at the corner of his eye as she then walked into the ladies' restroom. He stopped and stared for a few moments. "She probably really had to go."
"Hey," a quiet voice beside him spoke. She took the seat beside him.
"Rachel? Is something wrong?"
"No, not me. Lizzie."
"Why? What's wrong with her?"
"Oh, Matt, you should have been there; it was terrible. As soon as that instructor handed Lizzie her report card, he made a VERY rude remark to her, and she ran out of the room trying to hold in the tears."
"Wait a minute, what remark...?"
"I don't know if I should tell you. We were the only ones left in the room, and she'd probably prefer that you didn't know."
"Why the hell can't I know? That's my friend; if she's insulted, I'm insulted!"
"Just drop it; when she comes out, don't say anything to her about it, all right?"
"Why the hell not?"
Lizzie walked out of the restroom, wiping her eyes, and sniffling every couple of seconds. She approached Matt and Rachel, who were sitting. "Hey, come on, we should take the entrance examinations to Fenyuu as soon as possible, right?"
"Is there any rush?" Matt asked. "What happened, are you all right?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just...forget it, I'll tell you later."
"As long as you're all right, I'm not leaving here until you are."
"I'm okay, I'm okay, can we just go now...?"
* * *
Matt placed his backpack containing his Pokéballs and healing items at the front desk as he walked into the final examination room. It was not quite as busy as the other places of the building, Matt noticed. "Since Lizzie only needs to take one of the tests, and Rachel needs to take both, I might as well go now."
As he walked into a large room, and sat down on a chair; instructions were being given out. It looked similar to the classroom in which he spent the last week, and noticed there were only a couple of other trainers there. "One at a time, you will be let into this examination called 'The Maze'. It is a maze with many twists and turns, along with a few riddles that need to be solved. They are not very difficult, however you must save time for the addition added in the end. You will be given one Pokémon to use during this entire examination to help you with certain parts of the maze.
"You have a time limit of one hour. If that goes up before completing the maze, then you fail the examination and must not take it again for two whole weeks. Any questions...?"
After a few moments of silence, Matt was called up first to enter The Maze. A large, steel door was unlocked, as he passed through it. As he entered through a long dark hall, the door slammed shut behind him, locking it.
Matt looked ahead, seeing a maze with bright brick walls and brightly tiled floors. Realizing that he only had one hour to complete the maze, he began to walk as fast as he could, walking down the many different paths, then finally, he find himself at a dead end with a riddle.
Matt read it carefully aloud to himself: "'The brightest one of the brothers tends to be the most reckless, and often falls out of its place. Inside obtains the key to the next level.'" Matt re-read that riddle a few times and looked around him for any clues. "Hmm, it has to be a loose brick somewhere. But they're too many."
Matt looked down the walls back and forth and began to examine them one by one, eventually finding one that seemed out of place. He tugged it as it eventually popped out, coughing from the instant release of dust. Looking in the slot in which the brick was, he saw a small switch as he flipped it. Soon, the wall that contained the riddle suddenly slid aside as Matt was able to move onto the next stage of the maze.
"That didn't seem too bad," Matt commented, walking through the door as it suddenly slammed shut behind him. He looked ahead at the new stage of the maze; it seemed like a forest. There were trees, grass, flowers, even the sound of running water. He felt like he was in an actual forest, but the ceiling along with the florescent lighting helped remind him that he is in a maze and every second counts, but there was no need to panic just yet.
Matt began to follow a dirt path and after about twenty minutes or so, he found himself placed just behind savage rapids. He looked at its rapid, flowing speed and shook his head. "If I step in there, then I don't think I'll be able to get out. I won't drown, but it will waste a lot of time trying to get out of there."
Matt looked around to see if there were any separate paths he could take. "Nope, it looks like I'm going to have to walk straight through it." He began to walk towards it but suddenly stopped. "That's right, I was given a Pokémon. I'm really going to need its help right now." Matt reached for the minimized Pokéball that was placed on his belt, enlarged it to its original size, and opened up the bottom hatch, allowing a bright light to temporarily blind him.
After the light dimmed, Matt took a look, and saw a very large, blue and white dragon-like Pokémon with its long, wide body placed in the rapids, the quick speed of the water not even seeming to disturb the balance of this Pokémon.
"Perfect, I was given a Gyarados." Matt smiled. "Had it been another one, besides a flying type, I don't think I would have had a very good chance at crossing."
He approached the large Pokémon and stared it straight into the eye. "Please, let me cross on you. I don't have all that much time left to complete this maze."
After a few moments, the Gyarados lowered its head, almost inviting Matt to step on it. He graciously accepted, and as calmly as possible walked towards the other side, watching as its long body extended to reach the other side of the river, even though if it wanted, it could have extended much further. After nearly losing his balance a few times on the rough-scaled body, Matt had at last arrived to the other side, wiping the nervous sweat that appeared from his forehead.
He looked at his watch. "I started this thing at 11:23, and it's 11:47 now. It's only been twenty-four minutes. I'd better start picking up the pace, I don't know how much of this thing's left."
Matt started walking, but suddenly remembered the Gyarados that was still in the river with its body extended. He turned to face is and aimed the Pokéball at it. "Thanks for your help; you should return now." A thin, red beam allowed the Pokémon to be compressed back into the small ball, as Matt minimized it and placed it back on his belt.
A few minutes later of walking completely straight, Matt found his next riddle. "'Upon the fortresses of brown with green rests a small sphere with special protection that allows one to gain impressive strength...'." Matt looked underneath the written riddle and saw a small slot in the shape of a small sphere. "How strange. It's about the size of a marble. Not to mention they've practically given it away; this seems a bit too obvious."
He suddenly turned around and saw many trees surrounding the area about which the riddle was speaking. "Wow...then again, this could take a long while searching." He pulled out the Pokéball that contained the Gyarados inside. "Okay, help me search!"
The Gyarados stared straight at Matt, waiting for its orders. Matt was very surprised at the obedience of the Gyarados, for he had heard that they could be extremely difficult to tame. Not to mention that the Pokémon was not even his. Regardless, he was glad he had a large companion for the moment. "Okay, Gyarados, there's supposed to be a really small ball with...some sort of wrapping on it, I think, and it's placed inside on of these trees, so you have to inspect them carefully, okay?"
As the Gyarados began searching in one area, Matt grabbed one of the branches of a nearby tree and pulled himself up, inspecting the remaining branches there. After finding nothing in one tree, he suddenly jumped to a branch in another tree, looking for the item there. After finding nothing in the next few trees, he jumped down to the ground, and noticed a smaller tree.
Matt examined it. "That's strange, I've never seen trees grown this close apart." He then noticed a strange ball in one of the branches, as Matt had to climb on his tip-toes in order to see it clearly. "Spherical shape, protective casing...it's a candy. Hey, this is a rare candy! Sophix brand, the best kind around! This has is it."
Matt turned around, and pulled out the empty Pokéball. "It's all right Gyarados, you can come back now; I've found it!"
After absorbing Gyarados back inside, Matt turned around to notice that the tree that was originally there had vanished. "What the...?!" He looked ahead and saw it begin to walk away.
"Wait a minute, that's no tree...that's some sort of Pokémon!" Matt took out the Pokédex, surprised at first that he was allowed to keep it, but pointed it straight at the fleeing Pokémon. "'No data?' You've got to be kidding me!" He pulled out an Ultraball that he managed to smuggle in as well, and took aim to the quick fleeing Pokémon.
With a wind-up, and a quick toss, the Ultraball landed at the feet of the Pokémon, tripping it as it collapsed directly on top of it, absorbing itself inside. Matt quickly rans towards the Ultraball, so he could try to obtain the small rare candy it if it burst out. To his surprise, when he arrived there, the Pokémon had already been captured. "This is a nice break for me." He picked up the Ultraball, and was about to release the Pokémon, before he noticed that it had dropped the rare candy, just before its capture. He minimized the Ultraball, and placed it back onto his belt, wondering why it didn't transport itself to Professor Oak. Although he didn't have any Pokémon with him at the time, his other six Pokéballs were temporarily confiscated.
He then returned to the riddle, and placed the rare candy in the slot provided as the wall opened up. Matt quickly walked inside as the door slammed shut behind him, leaving him in a dark cavern with practically no lighting provided.
"Well, this stinks." He looked at his watch. "Just under half an hour left; I'd better keep walking."
Matt began to pick up his walking pace, as he started to feel fatigue and burning near his feet. He felt rather frustrated; just simply walking in the dark with no idea how much he had left to walk and if he would just suddenly find himself walking right into a wall.... The thought disturbed him.
After about ten minutes, Matt saw a lit message up ahead. He noticed that this was his next riddle. He looked straight at it and began to read it. " 'Name this Pokémon...wings like a bug, large stinger, stripes, along with a large blue horn to match its antennae...'."
Matt began to think hard. He was tempted to choose Beedrill, but read the question again. "Blue horn, like a bug? I don't even think that Pokémon exists!" As soon as he answered, the door containing the riddle suddenly shifted aside into the wall, as Matt walked through with it slamming shut behind him.
He found himself walking down a large, bright corridor with wallpaper that reflected the bright lighting. Matt was afraid to slow down at this point; he was unsure whether there would be a riddle at the end of this long hall as well, but it seemed so long that he couldn't even tell.
At the end, Matt decided to stop and take his breath. He had been walking non-stop for the past forty-five minutes, and he really began to feel tired. However, at the end of this hall, he was surprised to find a door. He twisted the knob and pulled it towards him, opening it. On the other side, he saw a large gym floor with a large digital clock including the time he had remaining in the maze. The walls and ceiling of the battlefield seemed confusing to Matt; it was covered in shining black tiles, which gave off a slight reflection of whoever was standing near it. The gym floor itself was crafted out of wood.
"Well, it looks like my challenger has arrived. How are you this morning?"
Matt continued gasping for breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He saw the trainer wearing some kind of white and blue uniform, with short blonde hair, and blue eyes. He was unable to determine the age of this trainer.
"I guess we should cut to the chase. One on one Pokémon battle. Should you beat me, you are admitted into the Fenyuu League." He pulled out an enlarged Pokéball and tossed it into the arena. A large bird-like Pokémon, which seemed to be a very large Pidgey, except it had a long mane which shone with gold and red had sprung out, prepared for battle.
Matt grabbed his Pokéball and tossed it out into the battlefield. He knew that he would have to fight quickly, or else he wouldn't get in.
"Pidgeot, start with a Wing Attack!"
"Gyarados, use Tackle!"
Pidgeot flapped its wings at a rapid pace; the speed of how quickly it lifted itself off the ground surprised Matt. It then swooped down to strike the Gyarados with a vicious, slicing wing. However, Gyarados had jolted its head forward, in an attempt to strike the Pidgeot. Both of the Pokémon's attacks collide, as they are both forced back from the impact.
Matt noticed how the Pidgeot slightly became hindered with its flying, and smiled. "Okay, Gyarados! When it comes in again, try another Tackle!"
"Pidgeot! You have to attack from far off! Move away and try to fight with a Swift attack!"
Pidgeot flapped its wings and moved its position a bit backward and began to release several energy star-like beams, each one striking the Gyarados, causing it to howl in pain. It was unable to carry out its trainer's last command; the Pidgeot was too far up in the air.
Matt wiped more sweat from his forehead. "This is looking bad, Gyarados seemed to receive a lot of damage from that last attack. We have no choice, you have to charge up for a Hyper Beam!"
Both trainers began to watch as Gyarados' mouth began to charge with multicoloured energy, keeping its sights on the Pidgeot, who was its target.
"Pidgeot, you have to take it out now! Move in for a Wing Attack!"
Instantly, the Pidgeot dashed towards the Gyarados the instant the beam was fired. After a quick flash, the large wide beam spread and struck the wall, creating a thunderous, crashing sound, causing a slight tremor in the building. The attack left a large cloud of smoke, blinding both trainers.
Matt suddenly took a quick peek and noticed the Pidgeot was flying towards Gyarados, prepared to finish it off. "Gyarados, quickly! It's coming towards you; move to the side!"
Gyarados managed to sway its head just enough and only managed to be slightly grazed by the attack as the Pidgeot was unable to stop itself at its flying speed and colided right into the black, shining wall.
"Gyarados! Tackle! Finish it!"
Gyarados quickly twisted around and hurled its body towards the Pidgeot crushing it under its hard, scaled body. After it removed its body, Pidgeot fell to the ground, and was no longer moving.
The trainer smiled and called Pidgeot back inside its Pokéball. "I was quite impressed the way you handled that Gyarados during battle. Do you own one?"
Matt shook his head. "No, this one was given to me just for this exam."
"Then it's yours," the trainer replied, smiling. "Now, call it back inside and come with me."
Matt followed the trainer to another room with a large computer surrounded by hardware. No longer were the walls and ceiling surrounded with that black tiling. Matt was asked to hand over his Pokédex for both an upgrade, and verification to prove that he has as a matter of fact succeeded into entering the Fenyuu League.
"Matt, congratulations. Your backpack with all of your goods have been transported to the first Pokémon Center you'll see. It's at the top of a very long hill."
Matt smiled, shaking the trainer's hand. "Thank you, sir; entering this league wasn't easy."
"But you handled yourself very well. It'll prove very helpful with future battles with the trainers here, and for going to the many gyms that Fenyuu has to offer. Now, I'll just enter the security code, and you'll be on your way here."
Matt looked to his right to see a large steel door swing wide open. As he walked to the other side, he saw the clear, blue, afternoon sky, along with dark green grass, and many trees and flowers surrounding the entire area. A breeze swept through, cooling Matt, as he wiped the remaining sweat from his forehead. "This place...is magnificent," he commented, as he started towards the hill to the Pokémon Center, where his new journey would soon begin.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Chapter 35: The Maze
Matt walked out of the classroom with his report card in hand, gently closing the door behind him. He looked at the marks he received with a smile. "Not as good as I hoped it would be, but I suppose it's good enough." He walked down the hall into the main lobby of the school and sat down on one of the couches. He looked around the room; he found it nicely decorated with tall plants, oil paintings, and deep, yet vibrant wallpaper.
After a few mintues, Matt looked at his watch impatiently. "I'd like to know where Lizzie is. It shouldn't take that long to receive a report card."
A few minutes later, Matt saw a figure walking out at the corner of his eye as she then walked into the ladies' restroom. He stopped and stared for a few moments. "She probably really had to go."
"Hey," a quiet voice beside him spoke. She took the seat beside him.
"Rachel? Is something wrong?"
"No, not me. Lizzie."
"Why? What's wrong with her?"
"Oh, Matt, you should have been there; it was terrible. As soon as that instructor handed Lizzie her report card, he made a VERY rude remark to her, and she ran out of the room trying to hold in the tears."
"Wait a minute, what remark...?"
"I don't know if I should tell you. We were the only ones left in the room, and she'd probably prefer that you didn't know."
"Why the hell can't I know? That's my friend; if she's insulted, I'm insulted!"
"Just drop it; when she comes out, don't say anything to her about it, all right?"
"Why the hell not?"
Lizzie walked out of the restroom, wiping her eyes, and sniffling every couple of seconds. She approached Matt and Rachel, who were sitting. "Hey, come on, we should take the entrance examinations to Fenyuu as soon as possible, right?"
"Is there any rush?" Matt asked. "What happened, are you all right?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just...forget it, I'll tell you later."
"As long as you're all right, I'm not leaving here until you are."
"I'm okay, I'm okay, can we just go now...?"
* * *
Matt placed his backpack containing his Pokéballs and healing items at the front desk as he walked into the final examination room. It was not quite as busy as the other places of the building, Matt noticed. "Since Lizzie only needs to take one of the tests, and Rachel needs to take both, I might as well go now."
As he walked into a large room, and sat down on a chair; instructions were being given out. It looked similar to the classroom in which he spent the last week, and noticed there were only a couple of other trainers there. "One at a time, you will be let into this examination called 'The Maze'. It is a maze with many twists and turns, along with a few riddles that need to be solved. They are not very difficult, however you must save time for the addition added in the end. You will be given one Pokémon to use during this entire examination to help you with certain parts of the maze.
"You have a time limit of one hour. If that goes up before completing the maze, then you fail the examination and must not take it again for two whole weeks. Any questions...?"
After a few moments of silence, Matt was called up first to enter The Maze. A large, steel door was unlocked, as he passed through it. As he entered through a long dark hall, the door slammed shut behind him, locking it.
Matt looked ahead, seeing a maze with bright brick walls and brightly tiled floors. Realizing that he only had one hour to complete the maze, he began to walk as fast as he could, walking down the many different paths, then finally, he find himself at a dead end with a riddle.
Matt read it carefully aloud to himself: "'The brightest one of the brothers tends to be the most reckless, and often falls out of its place. Inside obtains the key to the next level.'" Matt re-read that riddle a few times and looked around him for any clues. "Hmm, it has to be a loose brick somewhere. But they're too many."
Matt looked down the walls back and forth and began to examine them one by one, eventually finding one that seemed out of place. He tugged it as it eventually popped out, coughing from the instant release of dust. Looking in the slot in which the brick was, he saw a small switch as he flipped it. Soon, the wall that contained the riddle suddenly slid aside as Matt was able to move onto the next stage of the maze.
"That didn't seem too bad," Matt commented, walking through the door as it suddenly slammed shut behind him. He looked ahead at the new stage of the maze; it seemed like a forest. There were trees, grass, flowers, even the sound of running water. He felt like he was in an actual forest, but the ceiling along with the florescent lighting helped remind him that he is in a maze and every second counts, but there was no need to panic just yet.
Matt began to follow a dirt path and after about twenty minutes or so, he found himself placed just behind savage rapids. He looked at its rapid, flowing speed and shook his head. "If I step in there, then I don't think I'll be able to get out. I won't drown, but it will waste a lot of time trying to get out of there."
Matt looked around to see if there were any separate paths he could take. "Nope, it looks like I'm going to have to walk straight through it." He began to walk towards it but suddenly stopped. "That's right, I was given a Pokémon. I'm really going to need its help right now." Matt reached for the minimized Pokéball that was placed on his belt, enlarged it to its original size, and opened up the bottom hatch, allowing a bright light to temporarily blind him.
After the light dimmed, Matt took a look, and saw a very large, blue and white dragon-like Pokémon with its long, wide body placed in the rapids, the quick speed of the water not even seeming to disturb the balance of this Pokémon.
"Perfect, I was given a Gyarados." Matt smiled. "Had it been another one, besides a flying type, I don't think I would have had a very good chance at crossing."
He approached the large Pokémon and stared it straight into the eye. "Please, let me cross on you. I don't have all that much time left to complete this maze."
After a few moments, the Gyarados lowered its head, almost inviting Matt to step on it. He graciously accepted, and as calmly as possible walked towards the other side, watching as its long body extended to reach the other side of the river, even though if it wanted, it could have extended much further. After nearly losing his balance a few times on the rough-scaled body, Matt had at last arrived to the other side, wiping the nervous sweat that appeared from his forehead.
He looked at his watch. "I started this thing at 11:23, and it's 11:47 now. It's only been twenty-four minutes. I'd better start picking up the pace, I don't know how much of this thing's left."
Matt started walking, but suddenly remembered the Gyarados that was still in the river with its body extended. He turned to face is and aimed the Pokéball at it. "Thanks for your help; you should return now." A thin, red beam allowed the Pokémon to be compressed back into the small ball, as Matt minimized it and placed it back on his belt.
A few minutes later of walking completely straight, Matt found his next riddle. "'Upon the fortresses of brown with green rests a small sphere with special protection that allows one to gain impressive strength...'." Matt looked underneath the written riddle and saw a small slot in the shape of a small sphere. "How strange. It's about the size of a marble. Not to mention they've practically given it away; this seems a bit too obvious."
He suddenly turned around and saw many trees surrounding the area about which the riddle was speaking. "Wow...then again, this could take a long while searching." He pulled out the Pokéball that contained the Gyarados inside. "Okay, help me search!"
The Gyarados stared straight at Matt, waiting for its orders. Matt was very surprised at the obedience of the Gyarados, for he had heard that they could be extremely difficult to tame. Not to mention that the Pokémon was not even his. Regardless, he was glad he had a large companion for the moment. "Okay, Gyarados, there's supposed to be a really small ball with...some sort of wrapping on it, I think, and it's placed inside on of these trees, so you have to inspect them carefully, okay?"
As the Gyarados began searching in one area, Matt grabbed one of the branches of a nearby tree and pulled himself up, inspecting the remaining branches there. After finding nothing in one tree, he suddenly jumped to a branch in another tree, looking for the item there. After finding nothing in the next few trees, he jumped down to the ground, and noticed a smaller tree.
Matt examined it. "That's strange, I've never seen trees grown this close apart." He then noticed a strange ball in one of the branches, as Matt had to climb on his tip-toes in order to see it clearly. "Spherical shape, protective casing...it's a candy. Hey, this is a rare candy! Sophix brand, the best kind around! This has is it."
Matt turned around, and pulled out the empty Pokéball. "It's all right Gyarados, you can come back now; I've found it!"
After absorbing Gyarados back inside, Matt turned around to notice that the tree that was originally there had vanished. "What the...?!" He looked ahead and saw it begin to walk away.
"Wait a minute, that's no tree...that's some sort of Pokémon!" Matt took out the Pokédex, surprised at first that he was allowed to keep it, but pointed it straight at the fleeing Pokémon. "'No data?' You've got to be kidding me!" He pulled out an Ultraball that he managed to smuggle in as well, and took aim to the quick fleeing Pokémon.
With a wind-up, and a quick toss, the Ultraball landed at the feet of the Pokémon, tripping it as it collapsed directly on top of it, absorbing itself inside. Matt quickly rans towards the Ultraball, so he could try to obtain the small rare candy it if it burst out. To his surprise, when he arrived there, the Pokémon had already been captured. "This is a nice break for me." He picked up the Ultraball, and was about to release the Pokémon, before he noticed that it had dropped the rare candy, just before its capture. He minimized the Ultraball, and placed it back onto his belt, wondering why it didn't transport itself to Professor Oak. Although he didn't have any Pokémon with him at the time, his other six Pokéballs were temporarily confiscated.
He then returned to the riddle, and placed the rare candy in the slot provided as the wall opened up. Matt quickly walked inside as the door slammed shut behind him, leaving him in a dark cavern with practically no lighting provided.
"Well, this stinks." He looked at his watch. "Just under half an hour left; I'd better keep walking."
Matt began to pick up his walking pace, as he started to feel fatigue and burning near his feet. He felt rather frustrated; just simply walking in the dark with no idea how much he had left to walk and if he would just suddenly find himself walking right into a wall.... The thought disturbed him.
After about ten minutes, Matt saw a lit message up ahead. He noticed that this was his next riddle. He looked straight at it and began to read it. " 'Name this Pokémon...wings like a bug, large stinger, stripes, along with a large blue horn to match its antennae...'."
Matt began to think hard. He was tempted to choose Beedrill, but read the question again. "Blue horn, like a bug? I don't even think that Pokémon exists!" As soon as he answered, the door containing the riddle suddenly shifted aside into the wall, as Matt walked through with it slamming shut behind him.
He found himself walking down a large, bright corridor with wallpaper that reflected the bright lighting. Matt was afraid to slow down at this point; he was unsure whether there would be a riddle at the end of this long hall as well, but it seemed so long that he couldn't even tell.
At the end, Matt decided to stop and take his breath. He had been walking non-stop for the past forty-five minutes, and he really began to feel tired. However, at the end of this hall, he was surprised to find a door. He twisted the knob and pulled it towards him, opening it. On the other side, he saw a large gym floor with a large digital clock including the time he had remaining in the maze. The walls and ceiling of the battlefield seemed confusing to Matt; it was covered in shining black tiles, which gave off a slight reflection of whoever was standing near it. The gym floor itself was crafted out of wood.
"Well, it looks like my challenger has arrived. How are you this morning?"
Matt continued gasping for breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He saw the trainer wearing some kind of white and blue uniform, with short blonde hair, and blue eyes. He was unable to determine the age of this trainer.
"I guess we should cut to the chase. One on one Pokémon battle. Should you beat me, you are admitted into the Fenyuu League." He pulled out an enlarged Pokéball and tossed it into the arena. A large bird-like Pokémon, which seemed to be a very large Pidgey, except it had a long mane which shone with gold and red had sprung out, prepared for battle.
Matt grabbed his Pokéball and tossed it out into the battlefield. He knew that he would have to fight quickly, or else he wouldn't get in.
"Pidgeot, start with a Wing Attack!"
"Gyarados, use Tackle!"
Pidgeot flapped its wings at a rapid pace; the speed of how quickly it lifted itself off the ground surprised Matt. It then swooped down to strike the Gyarados with a vicious, slicing wing. However, Gyarados had jolted its head forward, in an attempt to strike the Pidgeot. Both of the Pokémon's attacks collide, as they are both forced back from the impact.
Matt noticed how the Pidgeot slightly became hindered with its flying, and smiled. "Okay, Gyarados! When it comes in again, try another Tackle!"
"Pidgeot! You have to attack from far off! Move away and try to fight with a Swift attack!"
Pidgeot flapped its wings and moved its position a bit backward and began to release several energy star-like beams, each one striking the Gyarados, causing it to howl in pain. It was unable to carry out its trainer's last command; the Pidgeot was too far up in the air.
Matt wiped more sweat from his forehead. "This is looking bad, Gyarados seemed to receive a lot of damage from that last attack. We have no choice, you have to charge up for a Hyper Beam!"
Both trainers began to watch as Gyarados' mouth began to charge with multicoloured energy, keeping its sights on the Pidgeot, who was its target.
"Pidgeot, you have to take it out now! Move in for a Wing Attack!"
Instantly, the Pidgeot dashed towards the Gyarados the instant the beam was fired. After a quick flash, the large wide beam spread and struck the wall, creating a thunderous, crashing sound, causing a slight tremor in the building. The attack left a large cloud of smoke, blinding both trainers.
Matt suddenly took a quick peek and noticed the Pidgeot was flying towards Gyarados, prepared to finish it off. "Gyarados, quickly! It's coming towards you; move to the side!"
Gyarados managed to sway its head just enough and only managed to be slightly grazed by the attack as the Pidgeot was unable to stop itself at its flying speed and colided right into the black, shining wall.
"Gyarados! Tackle! Finish it!"
Gyarados quickly twisted around and hurled its body towards the Pidgeot crushing it under its hard, scaled body. After it removed its body, Pidgeot fell to the ground, and was no longer moving.
The trainer smiled and called Pidgeot back inside its Pokéball. "I was quite impressed the way you handled that Gyarados during battle. Do you own one?"
Matt shook his head. "No, this one was given to me just for this exam."
"Then it's yours," the trainer replied, smiling. "Now, call it back inside and come with me."
Matt followed the trainer to another room with a large computer surrounded by hardware. No longer were the walls and ceiling surrounded with that black tiling. Matt was asked to hand over his Pokédex for both an upgrade, and verification to prove that he has as a matter of fact succeeded into entering the Fenyuu League.
"Matt, congratulations. Your backpack with all of your goods have been transported to the first Pokémon Center you'll see. It's at the top of a very long hill."
Matt smiled, shaking the trainer's hand. "Thank you, sir; entering this league wasn't easy."
"But you handled yourself very well. It'll prove very helpful with future battles with the trainers here, and for going to the many gyms that Fenyuu has to offer. Now, I'll just enter the security code, and you'll be on your way here."
Matt looked to his right to see a large steel door swing wide open. As he walked to the other side, he saw the clear, blue, afternoon sky, along with dark green grass, and many trees and flowers surrounding the entire area. A breeze swept through, cooling Matt, as he wiped the remaining sweat from his forehead. "This place...is magnificent," he commented, as he started towards the hill to the Pokémon Center, where his new journey would soon begin.
TO BE CONTINUED.
