"This is the day you have been waiting for," Symon's voice boomed around the clearing. "These three have been learning the ways of the aura guardians, and are now ready to take the final exam. Passing of this exam will give them the title of Aura Guardian, and they shall be assigned to their Cults to continue to try to protect the balance of nature. However, if they fail, they must take the exam again at a later date."
Symon turned his gaze to the three 18 year olds in front of him, their Pokémon by their sides, all staring at him, excitement and determination glinting in their eyes. There was a small crowd of the other Aura Guardians that lived around the clearing behind them, there to show their support to the three teenagers who had been in their care since they were born.
"Here to examine you," Symon continued, "Are the Alpha Cult. The members Alexander, Aqua and Arthur, will test you on your skills in using Aura, as well as your team work with your Chosen Pokémon." He stepped out of the way of the three adults as they stepped up the teenagers. They still had the same cloaks on as when they had arrived yesterday, the hoods up, obscuring their faces. Xan, Antonio and Liz all looked into the shadowed faces, a sense of fear starting to snake up their spine.
"Elizabeth, you shall be examined by Aqua," Symon continued, "She is of the Range class, excelling in using her Aura from afar. She also has the skill of being able to manipulate other Auras around her, getting them to do her bidding." Liz looked at Aqua. She was shorter than the two men, but she looked just as scary as them. This is going to be tough.
"Antonio, you shall be examined by Arthur," The tallest and bulkiest of the two men stepped forward in front of Antonio, towering over him. Antonio gulped loudly, "Arthur is of the Warrior class, excelling in using his aura for strength and weapon handling."
"And Finally, Xan," Symon said, looking at him, "You shall be examined by Alexander. He is of the Assassin class, excelling in using his Aura for speed and acrobatic moves." The last cloaked person standing in front of the teenagers stepped in front of Xan. Xan looked into the shadows, but didn't see any details, or any emotions. His Pokémon behind him stood defiant, not backing down from the commanding Aura around this figure.
"After the exam, the Examiners shall report to Councillor Stone, and they shall decide whether you pass, or fail. Good luck to you all."
The teenagers looked at each other as their respective examiners turned on their heels and walked in different directions out of the clearing to the cheering crowd.
"Good luck guys," Xan said, putting his hand out. Antonio and Liz reached out to shake it, but as soon as they were about to make contact, there was the sound of an explosion from the south, and the trees shuddered as the wind caused by the blast swept through the clearing, kicking up dust.
"What the hell?" Antonio yelled as he shielded his eyes with his arm, coughing as the dust went into his lungs. Everyone in the clearing were covering their eyes and coughing. Xan closed his eyes and activated his Aura, seeing the world in a blue haze, and seeing everyone's aura. It wasn't as good as actually looking through his eyes, but it was better than being blinded by the dust. He pulled out a black piece of cloth from his pocket and tied it around his mouth to prevent the dust from clogging up his lungs.
"Antonio, Liz," Xan called out, spinning around. In his Aura vision, he saw others activating their Aura with a small pulse of white light, "Where are you guys?" Suddenly there were two shapes in front of him. He recognised them as Infernape and Lucario, Infernape was coughing with the dust in the air whilst Lucario remained unaffected.
"Lucario, Infernape, we need to clear the air," Xan said to them through his bandana, "Lucario, see if you can use your Aura pulse. I know it's a new move we've been trying, but this would be a good time to practice," He saw Lucario's Aura start to glow white as he concentrated his energy into the centre of it, "Infernape, I need you to try and get everyone on the floor." Infernape nodded and jumped away, literally tackling people to the ground.
"Xan?" Antonio's voice called out across the clearing, "Where are you?"
"Over here, by Lucario," Xan called out, "He's about to clear the dust. Get down on the floor." I glanced a look at Lucario's Aura. It was glowing pure white, indicating he was ready to release it.
"Alright Lucario," Xan said as he dived to the floor, "Release it!"
Lucario gave a roar as the Aura Energy blasted out of his body, causing a shockwave to blast out, shifting the dust in the air out of the clearing. Xan felt himself slide across the ground with the force, but it passed quickly. He opened his eyes to see the air as clear as it was before.
"Antonio, Liz," Xan called out, as he helped people up off the ground, "Where the hell are you guys?"
"Here," Antonio and Liz called out in unison as they came over to Xan, helping people as they went, "What was that explosion?"
"No idea," Xan said, looking to the south to see smoke rising into the air, "But it came from over there."
"Do you recon our exam will still be going on?" Liz asked, as her two Pokémon came up to her, covered in dust.
"Well, I'd assume so," Antonio muttered, brushing dust off himself, Pikachu and Gallade, "Maybe this is part of the exam?"
"Bit dramatic isn't it?" Xan asked, looking at Antonio, "Don't really need the dust in the clearing to set the mood, they could of just given us a briefing."
"Urm, I don't think it's an Exam," Liz said, looking into the sky. Xan and Antonio followed her gaze.
"Oh shit." Antonio muttered under his breath. In the sky above them were fifty Charizard, all of them with New World Council soldiers on their backs, and engaged in a mid air battle with the Alpha Cult.
"What do we do?" Liz asked, turning her fear filled eyes to Antonio and Xan
"Just like the drill we practice," Xan said, "We evacuate everyone to the nearest camp. Alpha cult are buying us time, we need to move."
Antonio and Liz nodded, and they split off to different ends of the clearing, telling everyone to head north toward the Silver Mountain Range. Xan went to the south of the clearing and took a fighting stance, alert for the approach of any foot soldiers that might be approaching. Infernape and Lucario followed suit, eyeing the forest, watching for any movement.
"Xan," A deep voice bellowed over the commotion of evacuation in the clearing, "We're moving out, stay there as long as you can,"
"Yes Teacher," Xan called out. Suddenly Lucario flared up his Aura and shot an Aura Sphere into the forest. Xan heard it meet its target with an explosion and a cry of pain as the soldier was knocked out.
"Damn it," Xan muttered, as he fired up his own aura, his senses becoming super tuned, and he felt his strength increase as it spread over his body. Infernape let out a battle cry as it leapt forward with a glowing mach punch and landed the blow on another New World Council Soldier, causing the man to yelp with pain and fly back ten feet, slumping to the ground, knocked out cold. Xan drew out his dagger and pushed forward with Aura, flying toward the army that was now advancing through the forest toward the clearing.
Xan charged into a soldier and with the energy created by his fast speed the soldier when hurtling backwards into a tree, slumping to the ground, out cold. Lucario was using bone rush as a staff, blocking swings from swords and hitting the soldiers back. Infernape was dancing through the tree tops, occasionally landing a close combat on soldiers and then going back to the tree tops to use flame thrower. Xan was using his speed to 'appear' in front of soldiers, hit them with an Aura charged punch, then 'Disappear' as he sped toward his text target.
"Xan!" He heard a male voice call out as he stopped in front of a soldier, whose eyes widened behind his helmet. Xan grinned a mischievous grin, and then thrust his palm into the man's chest armour. The man was thrown back, carried by a shockwave coming from Xan's palm, carrying him back ten feet. He turned to see Antonio charging his way into the fray, holding his sword above his head, his Gallade and Pikachu charging along behind him. Xan used his Aura to appear in front of his next target, who tried to take a swing at him. Xan grinned and then used the Aura to appear behind the man. He continued to tire out the soldier in this manner for a few seconds, appearing in a different spot as soon as the soldier took a swing with his sword. Soon Antonio was at the soldier, and used his Aura to lift the man up and throw him into the nearest rock. There was a crack as he landed, and he was out for the count.
"Antonio, what you doing here?" Xan asked as he fended off another soldier with his dagger held back hand.
"The others have managed to get away," Antonio grunted as he used his sword to get a soldiers sword stuck in the ground, followed by a brisk punch to the helmet covered face. The man flew back, out cold, "Alpha have managed to fend off the Air attack, and should be helping us soon."
"What about Liz?" Xan yelled as he held his palm up and fired another shockwave of Aura from it, causing the charging soldiers to fly backwards
"I'm right here," a female voice called from above him, and he looked up to see Liz riding on the back of her Sceptile as it charged through the trees toward the army. She leapt off its back, landing with her fist hitting the ground. A blue ripple of energy shot from her fist across the ground, knocking the soldiers within range to the floor, "Sorry guys, I got a bit hung up back there."
"About time you showed up," Antonio grunted as he kicked another soldier back, "What's with the Alpha Cult, I thought they'd be here by now?"
"Maybe," Xan said, as he used his dagger to disarm his opponent, and then with a Aura powered upper-cut, send him flying into the branches only for Infernape to use a mach punch into the guy's stomach to send him straight back down to earth, causing him to land on some more advancing soldiers, knocking them all out of the fight, "They're testing us on our fighting skills."
"Would make sense," Liz said as she sent out a shockwave of Aura from her palm, causing a few of the soldiers to freeze in their tracks. She did a backwards summersault as Ninetails appeared where Liz was once standing and used flamethrower on the frozen targets. Liz landed behind Ninetails and turned to face Xan and Antonio, "Would also explain why they aren't in a rush to get here."
"Great," Antonio muttered as he picked up a soldier and threw him into the air. Pikachu shocked him, and Gallade then used a well placed Psycho Cut to send the man flying away. Xan used his speed to dodge around another soldier and grab his sword hand. Lucario then charged in and used close combat on him, finishing with a well placed force palm.
"They just keep coming!" Antonio moaned as another wave of attackers charged towards the group. Liz, Antonio and Xan all took up their aggressive stances, when multiple roars from above the tree line signalled the Arrival of the Alpha Cult.
"Alright Kids, we'll take them from here," Arthur yelled, as he jumped off his Salamance and landed in front of Antonio, his massive Claymore Sword raised in both hands, his large muscular obscuring Antonio's view of the advancing soldiers.
"But," Antonio began, but Aqua and Alexander landed in front of the group, weapons out.
"You've done good here," Aqua said calmly to them, "Get back to the others. We shall be with you shortly."
"What about our exam?" Xan asked, knowing very well it was the wrong time to ask.
"We'll talk about that later," Alexander said, as he dropped his hood to reveal short blonde hair and deep grey-blue eyes, "Now return to the others, you will need to lead them to the second position."
"Come on Xan, Antonio," Liz muttered, pulling on their sleeves, "We need to do as they say." Xan sighed and turned to go, signalling to Lucario and Infernape to follow them. Antonio, Pikachu and Gallade remained where they were, glaring at the back of Arthurs long brown haired head.
"Antonio!" Xan called out. Antonio seemed to snap out of the angered trance he was in, and followed them back out to the clearing, where they crossed it, heading North to catch up with the others.