Hi everyone. You know, it's funny being the author or the reader. When I was writing it, it was really tiring, but when I read chapter 3, it actually wasn't that boring. Anyhow, Thank you Somepersonoutthere, Legendary Fairy, and Fire Drastar for reviewing. Somepersonoutthere, I will use Lindsay Skies in chapter 5 maybe, but not 4, and another thing – you didn't tell me who Spirit was. I'm guessing it's Misdreavus? It'd be better if you tell me.

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*If you're used to the metric system, it's about 4.5 meters.

Chapter 4: The Trial of Endurance

Harrison let the competitors enter the elevator first, and then made his way in, pressing the "close" button. The doors slid shut.

"This trial will take place on the top-most floor of the dome," He said conversationally. "Each of you will be sent to a specific door, and then the trial will begin. There will be no spectators this trial, but the other contestants will be able to view your progress via T.V. screen."

Eldon half listened as he looked through the glass window. All he saw was that he was moving up into the sky and that the forest and the sea were beneath him. After twenty fifteen-foot high floors*, the elevator pinged and the doors slid open. Harrison coughed slightly and led the group of people outside to a circular hall. The hall was curved and stretched to the length of half a semi-circle. On each of the walls were doors spread wide apart, and they were labeled 1-5.

Harrison broke the silence once more. "Behind these doors is a naturally planted ecosystem, and in the very middle is a high mountain. Whoever is able to reach the peak first is granted 100 points on a scale of 0-100. The people before that person will be graded on their skills and endurance. Each one of you will be given…" Harrison paused for a quick moment, fishing out five black bands. "These. There are slots on each of these bands for you to place your Pokeballs, and they are very high-tech. All you need to do is to call out your Pokemon's name, and they will pop out automatically to help you." He handed one each to John, Megan, Alex, Markus, and Eldon, and he waited for them to strap them on. "There will be many obstacles along the way, and you will need your Pokemon to assist you. There are only two rules throughout the whole trial. One, you are only allowed to choose three of your Pokemon, no flying Pokemon are allowed. Two, you may have all three of your Pokemon with you in the end, but you are only allowed to send out one Pokemon per obstacle. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Megan said. "Is there a time limit?"

"No," Harrison replied. "You may have all the time you want."

"And are there only three obstacles?" Markus asked.

"Nope," Harrison answered again. "There are many more… So, I'll give you time to choose your Pokemon, and then we'll begin."

Eldon thought carefully, and he selected his Weavile, Porygon-Z, and Jolteon. With that, he placed his Pokemon onto the slots of his band, where they fit perfectly with a click.

"Done," Eldon said, and pretty soon, there were more choruses of "Done."

"Perfect," Harrison said with a smile. "John, Door 1, Megan, 2, Alex, 3, Markus, 4, and Eldon, 5."

Everyone took their places.

"Get ready…" Harrison said slowly.

Eldon took a deep breath.

"Begin!"

The door slid open and he charged in with full speed. At first, all he could see was that he was in a very large and realistic tropical forest. There were many noises from wild Pokemon, but he couldn't see any mountain. But suddenly, there was a large creaking sound. He looked up, and saw the curved ceiling of the dome slowly open up to show a sunset streaked sky. That was when the rumbling began. It started from the ground, and then a small rocky hill started emerging through the ground. It kept on sliding up until it was a massive mountain, piercing the clouds. Eldon gaped at it, but kept on running towards the mountain. He was completely in the forest now, and he heard the sounds of a waterfall and the rushing of the river. But the canopy of the forest was so dense he couldn't even see where the mountain was, but he could hear the sounds of bird Pokemon chattering through the air. Three minutes had passed, and he was tired of running in the endless forest. There weren't any obstacles, as far as he could see.

Eldon had reached a small path in the forest, and decided to walk. All of a sudden, he heard a low growling sound. Frowning, he looked around to see the source of the noise, and finally, his eyes rested on the spot in front of him. A colossal boulder three times bigger than him was rolling at an unnatural speed towards him, and the growling noise was explosive now.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Eldon yelled, dodging to his right side and running as fast as he could through the trees. Bird Pokemon squawked and flew through the air as he charged through whatever was in his way. But it didn't matter, the boulder had also changed direction and was now following him at two times the speed. Gasping, Eldon pointed his banded arm at the boulder and yelled, "Aira, Brick Break!"

Almost immediately, a red light zipped from one of the Pokeballs on the band and Aira appeared with a glowing claw, slamming it into the boulder, making it explode. Both Aira and Eldon were thrown backward into a small swampland with a big splash.

"Ow…" Eldon said, rubbing his forehead with a muddy hand, and smiled weakly at Aira who crouched up, sniffing the air.

"What's wrong?" Eldon asked, concerned. "I mean, we're safe now."

A low growling sound from beneath him interrupted him. Eldon made an expression as if to say, "Oh no, not again…"

He found himself rising up into the air, and he looked beneath him. He was now face to face with a humongous Feraligatr. And it was furious.

oOo

Markus Pearl was running as fast as he could with his fingers plugged into his ears while multiple Yanmega were chasing him. From his experience, Yanmega's wing generations were incredibly harmful to the ears and internal organs if listened to, so he was running with all his might, for fear of the damage. The Yanmega were also moving too fast, so he didn't have time to send out a single Pokemon. As he was cursing quietly to himself, a Glaceon dropped down from the trees, Ice Beaming the group of Yanmega, causing them to all freeze up. A second later, Alex jumped down from the trees, and glanced at the ice cube full of Yanmega.

"Wow, that was close," Alex commented. "The ice cube won't hold on for long, let's go."

"Wait," Markus interrupted her. "I think I've found the way to the mountain. It's the path I was running from, and over there I accidentally ran into their nest." He indicated the frozen block of Yanmega.

"Okay," Alex replied gratefully. "What're we waiting for then?"

oOo

Megan Rayme was walking with her Lucario cautiously across a narrow path between two faces of rock, and she was pretty sure it led to the mountain. Just a few minutes ago, she narrowly escaped falling into a deep ditch layered with broken bamboo. The complete silence was now making her even more cautious, so she consulted her Lucario.

"Vera, do you sense any danger?"

"Lu-Lucario…" She answered, shaking her head. Not that I know of…

"Okay," She answered, and the stone faces of wall ended at a rocky archway. "I just have a bad feeling about this…"

The archway exploded.

oOo

"Aw crap! Aw friggin' crap, holy crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap…"John was dodging small jagged rocks that repeatedly fell from the cliff-face he was beside. Taking a split second chance, he aimed his banded arm at the rocks and yelled, "Savior, Waterfall!"

A jet of red light sped from John's arm, and within one second and a flash of blue, all of the rocks had shattered.

"Thanks, Savior," He said, breathing a sigh of relief. Savior climbed onto his shoulder and the two of them looked up. A long flight of stone steps awaited them, looming into thesky.

"If the mountain's base is already in the clouds, then I don't know how we'll ever get to the peak. We'll need oxygen masks…"

Darkness had fallen. It was already night.

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Wow, that was a bit fun to write, and also a bit hard. Well, tell me what you thought about it! R&R…