Thank you all for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this chapter, where we will be beginning the saga of the second trial. But first we will start up from where we left off. I hope you enjoy.
The Power Trials
Chapter 8: Through the Inferno
A sudden whirring sound came from inside the dark room, causing Eldon to flinch and tighten his grip on Ara's Pokeball. With the help of the hall lights, he reached up his hand and pressed the light switch. The lights didn't turn on. Cautiously, he edged further, the whirring sound growing louder every second.
His eyes began adjusting to the darkness slowly, and as Eldon moved towards the bed, he spotted a shadow on the balcony, working on something. He stopped. Eldon froze, fear crawling over him. The shadow turned to face him, the dark of the night clouding his face. In a flash of red light, the shadow was away in the sky, the lights in the room suddenly switching on.
Eldon took action. Pressing the button on his Pokeball to enlarge it, he yelled out into the sky. "Come back here!"
Ara appeared in a ray of red light, brandishing her claws and looking up at the sky. The shadow was long gone. But many questions were still in Eldon's mind as he stared into the darkness.
A loud shout broke the silence. "Hey, Eldon! What're you doing in my room?"
Eldon turned to face the voice, which belonged to a questioning John.
"Your door was open," Eldon stated, pointing towards the balcony. "This weird guy was there, working on something."
John stared at him for a few moments before his face lit up. "Oh! Remember that day when I was about to tell you something?" He began walking towards the balcony, and motioned for Eldon and Ara to follow him.
Frowning for a few moments, he began muttering. "What the frick? It was there yesterday…"
The balcony they were on was floor spread in marble tiles, the area around them covered with glass panes. To the left was a plain gray wall, and further ahead was the next person's room. Right on the left of John's balcony was a circular indent. This was where John put his hand on. He spoke up.
"You see this circle thingy over here? It's where a large golden Pokeball was before. The first day we came here, I fiddled with this thing and suddenly, the whole wall over here…" He indicated the area above the circle with his hands. "Slid to one side, like a door. Then there was this hallway behind it. I guess the dude you were talking about somehow took away the Pokeball."
Eldon stared at him. "Did you go inside?"
John shrugged. "Nope." Then he grinned. "I value my life."
oOo
The rest of the night passed on slowly as Eldon went to bed, troubled thoughts passing through his mind. He couldn't help feeling unsecure if some person could enter his room. He eventually fell asleep though, and was awakened at 9:00 to the sound of the loudspeaker blaring through his room.
All contestants report to the Stadium immediately. Breakfast will be held in the main lobby.
Quickly changing his clothes and brushing his teeth, while running a wet towel over his face, he grabbed his belt of Pokeballs and ran out the door.
oOo
After breakfast in one of the mini restaurants, the lobby was packed with different people of all ages entering the elevators. Surprised, Eldon struggled his way through the crowd of people towards the group of sixteen people huddled together around Harrison. He arrived just in time to hear his first words.
"Now you may be wondering why the lobby is so filled with people today," Harrison started off with a shining smile. "Today is the day of the SECOND trial, the Trial of Force. This trial is a standard battle tournament, and there will be preliminaries, semifinals, finals, and the final battle. Hundreds of thousands of people will be watching you today, all from all over the world."
At this, much chattering arose, some saying how they were excellent at battling.
Harrison raised his right hand with a solemn face. "But…" He stopped for effect, as the chattering stopped abruptly.
"There is a catch. Each battle stage, for example preliminaries, et cetera, will have a special stylized battle stadium. Many strange things will happen when you are battling, and they may harm you, or you can use them for a strategy. The tournament listing will be right over on your right. You are free to check."
The crowd of people moved on towards the direction, where a large chart was shown on a plasma screen. This was what it showed:
Preliminaries:
10:00am-10:15am) Bryce Ritz, Eldon Silver
10:15am-10:30am) Ty Carlson, Aiden Dasopatis
10:30am-10:45am) Lindsay Skies, Patali Rabora
10:45am-11:00am) Megan Rayme, Evelyn Tirene
11:00am-11:15am) Olivia Belldorm, Markus Pearl
11:15am-11:30am) Alessandra Cesarini, Wade Jones
11:45am-12:00pm) John Ocat, Chris Hanoski
12:00pm-12:15pm) Mastin Askuron, Ashara Odalion
A gruff voice interrupted Eldon as he scanned through the list.
"Guess it's just me and you then eh, Silver?"
Eldon turned and found himself looking at the chest of a large boy. Looking up, he recognized the same surly face and buzz cut from before. This time he was wearing a plain black t-shirt and brown combat pants, two large metal chains coiled around his Pokeball belt.
"Oh, so you're Bryce?" Eldon asked, reaching out his hand. "Nice to meet you."
Bryce eyed the hand as if it was something dirty, and turned away, pushing past the crowd of people.
"See you in battle, punk."
10:00am
Eldon and Bryce were directed towards the once "secret" third elevator to the right, and they went in respectively, followed by Harrison.
"We are only going to the second floor," He explained. "The stadium is right in the middle, and the top parts are opened up, exposing the sky. Both of you will go to different sides of the stadium. Eldon, blue corner. Bryce, red corner. Both sides will be clearly highlighted."
The elevator pinged and the doors slid open, revealing a large semicircle hallway like before. Eldon went on the right where there was a blue sign, and Bryce went to the left.
"I wish you luck," Harrison said.
As Eldon pushed the heavy door slowly open, a great rushing wind buffeted him. He could fully experience the cold, and teeth chattering, he stepped outside under the blue skies and bright sunlight.
The stadium was massive. Nearly the size of three standard soccer fields put together, the floor was rocky and rough, which not a very nice battlefield in Eldon's opinion. On Eldon's right, situated in a very far corner of the stadium, was a low, fenced area. An official standing beside it motioned for Eldon to come over. The fenced off area revealed a metal gate, which Eldon opened smoothly and entered. The official locked the gate, much to Eldon's surprise, but the fence was only up to his waist.
"It's to keep you from falling," The official stated, stepping back. Before Eldon could ask any questions, Harrison's voice boomed through the stadium.
"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The Power Trials, the first preliminary match!"
The audience clapped and cheered, the noise deafening in Eldon's ears. He wasn't used to so many people.
"From the red corner, let's welcome Bryce Ritz, from Sinnoh's Eterna City! He is well-known around the world for his teaching of whip techniques to his Pokemon, and is ranked fourteenth in the world!"
The audienced roared, some shouting, "Sock 'im, Ritz!"
Harrison continued. "From the Blue Corner, let's welcome young Eldon Silver from Johto's New Bark Town! Though he is not as well known as Ritz, he is a good battler and well-known for his well thought out strategies!"
The audience cheered, claps erupting through the air. Eldon didn't know so many people supported him.
"This battle will be a one on one battle, and will each trainer please choose out their Pokemon. Now, without further ado, let this battle begin!"
Eldon had just taken out his Vaporeon's Pokeball when the ground began rumbling beneath him. Stumbling to the ground, the platform he was on began rising steadily, higher and higher.
Soon the rising stopped, and he was high up into the air, about thirty feet into the sky. Now Eldon knew what the official was talking about. If he grew to excited anytime during the match, he might fall off if not for the waist high metal fence around him.
A loud crack in the air broke his thoughts, and he barely made out Bryce cracking one of his chains. From the point of the chain, a red streak of light hurtled through the air and onto the ground.
The shape grew larger, a massive blue bubble with dozens of tentacles reaching out from underneath, his dark eyes piercing through the battlefield. The two red orbs on his head shone in the bright sunlight.
"Meet Rampage, my Tentacruel!" Bryce yelled over the breeze. "Feel like dying, punk?"
Eldon raised Lutra's Pokeball to the heavens, pressing the white button in the middle. "Not at all."
The female Vaporeon appeared on the field smiling, stretching her many fins. Rampage glared at her, his many tentacles twirling around rapidly.
After quickly scanning his surroundings, Eldon called out his order.
"Hidden Power, Lutra!"
"Swords Dance, Rampage!" Bryce yelled, taking out his second chain and cracking it through the air.
Lutra stood her ground and dug her feet into the hard dirt. Swishing her head from side to side, a pulsing yellow orb appeared around her. Rampage began raising his lethal tentacles, a faint red aura of light forming around him. That was when he was hit by Lutra's Hidden Power. All five of the yellow orbs that shot out from Lutra's body slammed into him, crackling where they hit, causing Rampage to crash to the ground in pain, electric sparks dancing across his body.
"What just happened?" Bryce asked in shock.
"My Vaporeon's Hidden Power is electric," Eldon called out. "I'm careful with my move typing."
Bryce growled. "It doesn't matter. Rampage, use Poison Whip!"
Eldon's face grew puzzled. "Poison Whip? What kind of attack is that?"
"You'll see," Bryce answered smugly.
Rampage floated back up again, all of his tentacles bundling up into one long one, glowing with purple energy.
"Dodge!" Eldon called out in shock.
Rampage whipped his tentacles down at Lutra, who barely avoided the attack by jumping aside. The tentacles slammed into the ground, creating a colossal explosion, waves of energy and bits of rocks flying through the air.
Both Pokemon were panting, exhausted by the fight.
"Whip her again, Rampage!" Bryce yelled.
"Lutra, try and use Hidden Power again!" Eldon called out.
Both Pokemon weren't moving, and Lutra had one paw up, sniffing the air.
"What're you doing, Rampage? Watch out or she's gonna attack you!"
A ring of fire erupted around the stadium. It was a blazing inferno of flames, searing the air around the two Pokemon, and the audience gasped and shouted with shock.
"There is a catch. Each battle stage, for example preliminaries, et cetera, will have a special stylized battle stadium." A stylized battle stadium… Eldon thought, recalling Harrison's words. Could this be it?
"Well we're lucky that we both have water Pokemon, eh?" Eldon called out through the roar of the fire.
"Who cares?" Bryce yelled. "Rampage, you can get through the flames easily, whip her again!"
"Lutra, use Surf to wash the flames away!" Eldon ordered.
It was not the best choice. An orb of water appearing in Lutra's mouth, it spread out into a wide wave of water, streaking through all the fire and extinguishing them. They morphed into a dense steam, clouding up the whole arena.
There was a distant sound of the buildup of energy, and a squeal hit the air as bits and pieces of rock flew out of the steam.
The audience fell silent. Eldon clenched his fists, a trickle of sweat sliding down his face.
And that's all folks. =) The next chapter will feature every single person's battles, so don't worry, everyone'll be there. It'll be very long though. Tell me your thoughts on this chapter, everything is appreciated! Also, the confusing hallucinations from the previous chapter will play an important role in the future... Yeah, and with all that mumbo-jumbo, I hope you R&R.