"Xan, Wake up!" A gruff voice called out. Xan rolled over in his hammock and tried to ignore the poking in his side.
"Another five minutes," He grunted, not opening his eyes. The poking stopped, and Xan smiled to himself. For once, he thought, it had worked. How wrong he was. Soon he landed on the earthy floor with a nasty thud as he was tipped form his Hammock. He opened one ice blue eye, and then the other, getting use to the bright daylight that was streaming into the little wood and leaf shelter that was his home. He looked at who had tipped him out of bed to see a very tall and muscular man standing there. Xan staggered to his feet, brushing dirt out of his long, messy brown hair.
"Xan, you need to learn to get out of bed and to training quicker," The man said in a deep voice, his small dark eyes glinting with humour at the sight of the teenager in front of him, dressed in nothing but some sleeping trousers, "This is the last tutorial session before the exam tomorrow."
Xan stretched and let out a long and loud yawn. He had forgotten all about the exam tomorrow. The words Exam and Tomorrow slowly worked their way into his mind. After a few seconds, he realised what the man had just said.
"The Exam is tomorrow?" Xan exclaimed, "I'll be ready for my training soon teacher." The man nodded silently and left the shelter.
"I'll be waiting for you in the centre," his deep voice boomed from outside. Xan quickly changed out from his sleeping trousers and pulled on a set of dark blue trousers and brown boots, with a black shirt and Brown leather chest piece. He tried to organise the mess which was his hair so that it roughly all pointed down, rather than up at odd angles, and then went over to the far corner of the shelter.
"Infernape, Lucario," Xan called out, "We have some training to do. Let's go!" There was a shuffling sound as the Fire Monkey sat up and ignited the flame on his head, rubbing his eyes. Lucario was sitting in a meditation position in the corner, and opened an eye to look at Xan with its normal emotionless stare. Soon the two Pokémon were following Xan out of his hut and into the clearing in the forest.
It wasn't a large clearing, about a house length across, and it only had grass in the middle. All around the clearing hidden in the undergrowth and trees were a few huts made of wood and leaves, all facing the clearing. There were several people already in the clearing, along with a few Pokémon. Xan walked over to the middle of the clearing where there were two other teenagers. One of them had messy, black hair and green eyes, with a small build but rather toned body. The other was a rather attractive female with blonde hair with sky blue eyes and slender body.
"At last, Xan arrives," The black haired boy said, turning around when he heard Xans footsteps, "I hope you're not like this tomorrow, what with the exam and all."
"I won't be, Antonio," Xan said, "Or should that be Ant?"
"Very funny Xan," Antonio said, raising an eyebrow, "At least I don't sleep in."
"Oh, cut him some slack," the blonde hair girl said, pushing Antonio lightly on the shoulder, "The thing that matters is that Xan is here now."
"Thank you Elizabeth," Xan said.
"Xan, we've been over this before, I prefer Liz now," she said, smiling kindly at him.
"Alright, Liz," Xan said, smiling back, "Where are Sceptile and Ninetails?" He looked around. As far as he could tell, he was the only one of the three of them who had his Pokémon with him.
"They should be here soon," Liz said, looking over toward her hut, "You know Ninetails, never showing herself until she has cleaned herself.
"What about your Pikachu and Gallade?" Xan asked Antonio.
"Pikachu is on his way," Antonio rolled his eyes, "and Gallade is doing some training over there," he pointed to a tree that was shaking slightly every few seconds.
"Well, he better be here soon, or we will have to start without him." The deep voice of the teacher said from behind them. The three turned and saw him standing there, with a large Staraptor and Blaziken behind him. Soon all of the Pokémon were standing behind their respective partners.
"Alright," the teacher began, "Since this is the last session before the exam, I thought we would go over the areas that the Exam will test you in; Speed, Skill, Strength and Stamina in both Aura and weapon skills, as well as Pokémon combat. If you fail any one of these areas, you shall not be accepted as an Aura Guardian, and will not be able to participate in any campaigns or missions until you pass the exam. Are we clear on this?" The three teenagers and their Pokémon nodded at this.
"Excellent," the teacher said, clapping his hands together, "We shall begin with Stamina first. I want you all to run to the river to the south, follow it to the Big Oak, where you will climb it to the top, and then make your way to the stone pile via the trees. Once you reach the stone piles, you shall climb the cliff face that is there, and then return back here. I am giving you a time limit of an hour and a half. Go." He said as he turned over an hour glass. The three teens looked at each other and began to jog out of the clearing, their Pokémon in tow.
The Teacher watched the three leave, a sense of strong pride growing inside him. He had watched the three grow up from when they were babies. When they were born, he had sensed strong Auras in them, and it had only grown with time. Of all the Guardians here, those three had the greatest Auras around. He had taken them into training from an early age, and they had grown with the skills, excelling in each area.
There had been one thing that had concerned him however, and that was that they did not seem to show a greater ease with a certain field of the Aura. They were equal in aspects. The man put the thoughts to the side as he knew that the three would all pass the test with flying colours tomorrow.
"Do you think they are ready?" a quiet voice asked behind him. The man didn't need to see who he was; the Aura he was giving off told him everything.
"I believe so, Councillor Stone," The man said, not taking his eyes off where the trio and their Pokémon had disappeared, "I believe they will all be a great help to our cause."
"I've never seen you look this happy with any selection of students before Symon," Stone said, now standing next to him, his grey, short neat hair shining in the morning sun, and his grey eyes glinting with humour, his grey cloak billowing slightly as he moved forward, "Your aura pulses with pride for these three."
"They have the strongest Aura I have ever seen," Symon replied, crossing his arms, "They learn everything quickly. They even earned the trust of their Pokémon with exceptional speed. It took me years before my two chose me to be their master, yet they managed it in two days."
Stone chuckled softly. "Ah yes, they do seem to have a good control on their Aura don't they."
"I would go to say a greater manipulation of their Aura than I have on my own," Symon sighed, stroking his Staraptor under its beak, "Well, if you will excuse me Councillor Stone, I must make sure they are actually doing as they're told for once."
"Of course," Stone chuckled, "The troublesome Trio shall always be so." and with that, Symon laughed a little whilst jumping onto his Staraptors back. The Bird Pokémon took flight, and headed South, with Blaziken bounding along behind it.
"I hope for everyone's sakes they are ready," Stone muttered before pulling up the hood on his cloak and walking out of the clearing.