The entrance of the cave howled with the passing wind. It was a rocky entrance, with big jagged stones forming an arch surrounded by the dirt of the cliffside. In front of the cave was a bunch of signs, mostly written with the same warnings about how its off limits and that its owned by Sacred Strength. The biggest sign wasn't in front but instead hung up on top of the stone arch, and it read "Testing Grounds."
In front stood Row and Chester, equipped with bright pink scarves wrapped around their necks. Row looked down at a small sheet of paper with instructions on what to do. It was a ragged sheet too, with the edges torn up slightly and the white paper turning yellow. It felt like it would disintegrate in the wind.
"Hey." Chester spoke up, "Are... you feeling ok?"
Row looked over at him and nodded, "Fine. Are you ok?"
Chester sighed, "I just... can't believe I'm really doing this."
"We just gotta do this test, and we'll be in." He patted his ally on the shoulder, "Just like you always wanted right?"
"Yeah. ...Yeah!" Chester smiled. "And I have you to thank!"
Row blushed, "It's..." He shook his head, but kept a big smile. "Come on, we got a cave to go through."
They walked forwards, entering the cave. The walls inside looked to have been smoothed out compared to the more natural entrance. A few more steps in, and the walls suddenly lit up with a bright green glow from some large clear crystals embedded in them. Chester stared in awe at the lights while Row continued to read the sheet in his hands.
"Ok, so first we need to find a big rock, then go down towards a chamber and..." He squinted, "That's it."
"Big rock and chamber." Chester repeated. "Got it!"
It took only a few steps further in before they came across that big rock. It was indeed big and a rock, and it was smooth and shiny. On it read "Touch" and two lines craved under. The two stared at the rock, then at each other. Chester looked back at the rock and placed his hand on it. Row followed and placed his. The rock started shining, enveloping their hands in a golden light. A few seconds later, and a wall nearby disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal a long path going down.
"Wonder how that works..." Row pondered out loud, looking down the path. Then from below, an Impidimp, coloured blue and white instead of the usual pink, ran up to greet him.
"Hello!" He grinned, "Come on down! There's a super big treasure down below and you need to see it!". He laughed evilly before running down as quickly as he came.
Row looked back at Chester, who gave him a confused look before heading down with Row following behind.
The two walked down, their path lit by the green crystals still adorning the walls. It was clear by now a lot of effort went into the creation of this supposed test, though what it was meant to test was still unclear. Eventually, they reached the bottom, where a big stone door stood. Chester quickly pushed it open, revealing the chamber.
The chamber was massive, almost the size of the Sacred Strength's entire building. The floor was smooth and tiled in a checkboard pattern. The ceiling was a dome, with a symbol just like the badges of Sacred Strength in the center. At the far end of the room stood what seemed to be a shrine, with a big glowing orb of gold floating on it. The Impidimp however, was nowhere to be seen.
Chester nodded, "I get it... we gotta go grab that orb and our test is complete!" He looked around the room, his eyes darting all over. He turned back to Row, his hand stretching out. "Give me the paper."
Row handed it over, and he proceeded to crumple it up and toss it forwards. It quietly landed a good few inches away without coming into contact with anything invisible. They waited a few seconds to see if it would explode or something, but nothing happened.
Chester shrugged, taking a step forwards. He then found himself being lifted off of the ground, and then flung forwards. A bubble formed around him, trapping him in the air right in the center of the room. He tried to push against it, but found he couldn't move.
"Chester!" Row cried out, rushing forwards. Before he could get under him, four glowing green panels formed under the Ralts each with a different symbol. One had a picture of an iron ingot, another a leaf, the third a flame, and the last an eye. In his bubble, Chester saw those same symbols flash in a pattern in his vision.
"T-This must be the test!" Chester yelled, "I think you gotta press those buttons in the right way!"
Row nodded, scanning the panels in front of him. "A test of teamwork?" He muttered to himself.
"Eye!"
Row stepped on the eye.
"Uh, the bar thing!"
He stepped on the iron ingot.
"The fire!"
Stepped on.
"And then the leaf!"
Row stomped on the last one. The panels disappeared and the bubble lowered itself, and now it was within reach. Row reached forwards and touched it. His hand burned against the water-like surface, causing him to recoil and wave it around in pain. A small hole formed where he touched, but it quickly sealed up.
"Wait, there's more symbols!" Chester saw two symbols this time: a blue rock and a red feather. Each symbol flashed in a pattern, starting with the blue, then red, then blue, then blue again. Panels formed behind Row, both glowing bright.
"Ok, you gotta press the blue one, the red one, and then the blue one twice!"
Row rushed over and did so. He hopped on the blue, then the red, and then hopped twice on the blue one. "What does this mean?" He muttered again. "These are just... shapes."
The bubble lowered again. but still remained unopened. More symbols and panels appeared, this time of lines and shapes like a zigzag and a square. "Ok now press-" Chester yelled, but was quickly interrupted.
"Wait!" Row raised his hand, "What does this mean?"
"Huh?" Chester wasn't sure what he was saying.
"These are just shapes. They don't mean anything." Row scanned all the panels before him, "These are meaningless!"
Chester was completely lost.
"I think... I think these don't do anything! I think... I have to free you myself!"
"But you got burned trying to open it!"
Row shivered, "...I think I know what the real test is."
With a deep breath, he ran over to the bubble and shoved both his hands in. The burning feeling was strong, and hurt a ton as he pulled open a hole in the bubble. Chester once again tried to struggle to help him, but remained immobile. Finally, the bubble popped and freed the Chespin. Row fell to the ground, completely drained of energy.
"Row!" Chester screamed, going over to his ally, "C-Come on get up!" Tears started forming in his eyes.
Another symbol formed in the floor, this time a circle.
"The orb!" Chester exclaimed. He quickly ran towards the golden orb. Before he could reach it, a small wall of solid golden light formed in front of him. Without stopping, he jumped over it and cleared it easily. Another larger wall formed in front of him, and he just decided to plow through it like paper. He reached the orb quickly and picked it up off the shrine. It was heavy, but he managed to lift it above his head. With no hesitation, he began running back to Row.
"Wait!"
From nowhere, the weirdly colored Impidimp ran in front of the Chespin, stopping him in his tracks.
"What do you want now?" Chester said angerly.
"Don't you know what that is? That orb is amazingly powerful! You can-"
"Out of the way!" Chester yelled, trying to go around him. But matter what he kept getting in front and stopping him from going forwards.
"Listen you idiot! That orb could make you invincible! Think about it!"
Chester paused.
And gave his answer in the form of slamming the orb down on the Impidimp's head, knocking him out. He stepped over the unconscious Pokémon and quickly returned to Row's side. He placed the orb down on the symbol on the ground.
"Come on! Do something!" He started pounding on the golden orb.
The orb suddenly went from a bright gold to black as a light poured out of it. The light waved over Row, who let out a loud gasp as he slowly stood back up. "Uuugh." He moaned.
"Row!" Chester cheered, giving him a big hug from behind.
"Ow." Row sighed.
"S-Sorry!" Chester released him.
Before the two could catch their breath, a massive wave of light washed over them. Suddenly, they were back at the smooth stone with their hands resting on it. They recoiled, pulling back and nearly falling over.
"W-What was that?!" Row gasped, placing a hand on his chest. "A dream?"
"My head hurts..." Chester moaned.
There was a massive pause that hung in the air.
"...You saved me." Row looked at Chester in awe.
"Well duh, why wouldn't I?" Chester shrugged, "You think I care about some orb's power? I can get that on my own." He gazed into Row's eyes, as best as he could given the green bangs over them. "But you... you hurt yourself to help me."
Row stared at his hands. He really did do that. He thought hard about what to say next.
"...Chester." He started, "It's been only a few days since we met. I still have no idea what's wrong with me or if I even have a past to go back to. But between running into that forest and that test, I think I've learned something."
He looked up and gave off a big smile, "You're a good friend."
Chester gasped, and suddenly hugged Row tight. It was then he finally took notice of the pink scarves around their necks having turned golden. "H-Hey, our scarves!"
He released his friend and examined the scarf around his neck. Row did the same. "Guess this means we passed the test? Let's go show this to Messa."
They walked out of the cave, not noticing the paper they came in with was left behind on the stone. It suddenly turned to dust with a gust of wind...