Tekai faced the marowak, and felt his skin crawl. His heart began to beat rapidly, and his breaths increased.
Unlike with the seviper-where he had somewhat of a chance-this was a foe who completely outclassed him in every way, shape and form.
There was no terrain to fight around, no outside source to intervene.
It was just him and the Pokémon within a nearly pitch black room.
He should feel fear, terror, or maybe even respect.
But all he wanted was to push himself to the limit, to see how far he could really go.
For the entirety of this second life, he had never fought another person his age. The only person he had to measure himself against was a middle aged man who very clearly outclassed him in every way.
But this marowak presented an opportunity.
Tekai recognized the inherent benevolence of this creature, and even after defeating Clair, had told her to return after training. Ironically, she had requested that the marowak share its wisdom with her, not techniques. If she learned anything at all from her encounter, it would be humility.
The only thing is, he didn't exactly have anything that made him special like Clair and Zinnia.
Clair seemed to be really well versed in special, long ranged ninjutsu, whereas Zinnia was very clearly a taijutsu specialist, and had grasped the inner workings of Dragon Claw mid fight!
All he was good at was the basic Ryu Clan ability: Dragon Dance. But when he tried to push the technique to the limit, he had injured himself in front of the entire clan…
'Wait a minute, that's it!'
The marowak had shown new things to both Clair and Zinnia based upon their strengths.
Plus, they had been brutally struck by the club to dismiss them from this mini realm. Such a hit in the 'real world' would probably prove fatal, or at least crippling to them.
Meaning, whatever damage was done here must not affect his body in reality!
He could push the Dragon Dance as much as he wanted, threat of injury be damned!
Beginning to move his body to the pattern he had practiced thousands of times, Tekai wasn't in a rush to lash out at the marowak, and began to run laps in the tiny black room.
Purple-blue electrical arcs of energy began to form and explode all around him as he ran. Yet the faster he moved, the less he was struck.
His heart felt like it would explode, his eyes felt like they were popping out of their sockets, and his every breath hurt as if a needle was being jabbed into his chest.
Yet the adrenaline high was like nothing he felt before.
As ragged as he was running himself, he felt alive.
'Focus. Absorb. Push.' The marowak commanded.
Tekai was snapped out his mindless running, and saw a bone club heading towards his face.
Skidding to his knees, he scraped underneath it, performed a forward roll, then ran into the black empty outline that was the wall to this room.
Kicking off of it with his feet, he launched a flying kick at the Pokémon, but he was struck midair by the lighting, causing him to spasm, and fall to the ground in pain.
'Anger. Rage. Gather!' The marowak repeatedly commanded, and began to perform the Dragon Dance.
Black storm clouds began to form around him, and he moved in a circular pattern that drew the purple-blue lighting to surround his body, and not enter it.
The ghost Pokémon was graceful in his movements, he was like a ballerina. Before Tekai knew it, a shroud of purple-azure chakra coated his form like Naruto's chakra cloak!
'Observe. Imbue. Item.' Marowak danced in another maneuver, and the shroud left his body, then suffused his weapon.
He then pointed it at a spot to Tekai's left, and all the concentrated energy left the weapon and exploded.
The marowak then slammed his bone club onto the ground, and looked at Tekai as if to say "now you try."
Picking himself up, Tekai recalled the words and movements of the Pokémon.
He started to accumulate the black clouds around him, and tried to accept the lightning, and imagined dispersing it into a shroud around his body, yet he fell short, and collapsed onto his back in exhaustion.
At this rate, he was running low on chakra.it was looking more and more as if he wouldn't be able to move on to the next step of the Dragon Dance!
'Anger. Rage. Ferocity!' Marowak roughly jabbed his club into Tekai's ribs, picked him up, then punched him in the balls.
Tekai fell to the ground as soon as he stood up. Pain, humiliation, and rage fueled his system and he growled at the Pokémon.
'Anger. Dragon. Rage!' Marowak swung its club at Tekai's sack, this time with enough force, he knew if he were to be hit, he would be dissipated.
Tekai saw the oncoming attack, and all rational thought left him, all he knew was that he wanted to make the marowak pay for landing such a sneaky blow.
"Ruagh!" Tekai lunged at the Pokémon.
A shimmering spark began to light up around him, and like a dam snapping in half due to the uncontrollable might of a flood, a waterfall of purple-azure chakra covered Tekai's form from head to toe.
The shroud around him tanked the initial impact of the bone club, slowing it down, and allowing Tekai to get his fist under marowak's guard, and slam an uppercut fist into his chin.
A loud smack, and the sound of bones shattering resounded in Tekai's ears, and the dark black room was illuminated in an extremely dense purple-blue light.
Falling to his knees due to chakra exhaustion, his body felt heavy, and the pain of taking those lightning bolts into his body almost overwhelmed him. He felt like he could pass out, and dissipate into smoke at any time.
'So this must be Dragon Rage, huh?' Tekai thought to himself.
While he contemplated the meaning of life, he heard something odd from within this supposedly empty, tiny black box of a room.
It was clapping!
Clapping, and boots squeaking down a long stairway met his ears.
"Come back when you notice yourself turning more draconic the more you push the Dragon Dance to the limit. The rest of my team will be waiting." A masculine teens voice whispered in his ear.
'Why does that sound like what happened to Orochimaru's minions when they used their Cursed Seal of Heaven? Is this guy really the one on the plaque?' Tekai thought, and wanted to see what the young conqueror looked like.
When Tekai tried to look up, to get a glimpse of what this man looked like, a fist caught him in the jaw-the same place as he had struck the marowak-and he felt his entire skeleton shatter.
"That was for my marowak. Oh, and if you see yourself turning to stone, stop the Dragon Dance immediately. Hmm, I think that's it? No, no that's right, marowak left something for you. Treasure it greatly." The man said, then all turned to black.
Turning into smoke, Tekai was returned to the real world. But before he did, he swore he saw the gleaming outline of something between worlds.
'Giratina?' Tekai had a split second to wonder.
The shadow must have had some extrasensory ability, because the moment Tekai thought that name, it turned a pair of red eyes at him, and flew straight for him!
Thankfully, before anything could come of that encounter, Tekai found himself back in his own body.
Snapping his eyes open, Tekai found himself in a meditative pose in front of the shrine to his ancestors.
Patting himself all over, he found he was uninjured, and was only missing a tiny amount of chakra due to the excursion.
However, something in his pocket was poking his side.
Taking it out, it looked a little like a piece of the marowak's skull fragment…it also looked a lot like the Dragon Fang item from the games!
Bowing deeply at the plaque of his ancestor, Tekai cupped his hands, and muttered his thanks.
The Dragon Fang was a significant trinket. In the games, it boosted Dragon type attacks by 20%. He would have to find some time to experiment with it after he had left the Dragons Den.
This solemn moment of serenity was broken as the sound of two girls fighting in the background reached a crescendo.
"Stop being so pathetic, and just trade fists with me!" Zinnia ran at Clair, and spammed Dragon Claw.
"It is a waste of time. The trial ends at dawn, what are you thinking?" Clair scoffed.
"Not without Tekai! He only came down here cuz he was worried you were suicidal! Take responsibility, and wait for Tekai to finish!" Zinnia continued to run at Clair, and parried aside a Dragon Breath.
The tan tomboyish girl knocked Clair to the ground, and held her down.
"So what? He's a jerk liar feebas faced two timer! A traitorous luvdisc who messed with my heart." Clair looked to the side with tears in her eyes.
'Oi lady, I don't even know you!' Tekai scratched his head as the drama unfolded, but kept silent as he wondered if she would go for an Orochimaru backstab after applying the water works.
She had already shown that she was willing to resort to tricks when she interacted with the marowak. How she answered next would let Tekai know if she was even worth trying to befriend. Skill level be damned, he could work with someone who was devious, this was a world infested with shinobi, he got that. But he would never trust his back with someone who was two-faced at all times.
"Tell me, or you aren't leaving without a welt on your pretty forehead!" Zinnia threatened.
Leaning forward, Tekai awaited Clair's response.
"...Grandpa always talks about him. Always telling me how hard working Tekai is, that I should be more like him, to befriend him if I want to get close to Lance.
When I was 5, and attended my first Egg Ceremony, I was separated from my Grandpa, and got lost in an alleyway. There, I saw this dumb kid sweeping the floor, and he scared away a zubat that had tried to Leech Life me. When I tried to thank him, he turned his back on me.
Then, every time I would approach him, he would run away with the Dragon Dance and mop the floor somewhere else! The first…only friend I had made, and he would never talk to me!" Clair started off in a sad, disappointed tone, but gradually became more and more angry as the story progressed.
"That bastard!" Zinnia clenched a fist in outrage.
'Oi, oi, oi, none of that happened, right?' Tekai scratched his chin as he thought back to his youth.
He vaguely recalled beating up a zubat as a little boy. He was so scared that it was someone else's companion, he had fled the scene in a hurry.
As for Clair, he recalled running away from the clan's young genius every time she came near. She had a habit of reprimanding the cleaning staff, and was notorious for shouting "why aren't any of you as good as he is?!"
Tekai always assumed she was distraught over the death of an older brother or something. Most people didn't live past 30 in this universe, so it wasn't that wild of an assumption.
Little did Tekai know, that he was the 'he' in question.
Palming his forehead, Tekai sighed.
Had he been so obsessed with training, and staying out of trouble that he ignored possible friendships, and sparring partners? While the genius learned cool stuff like Dragon Breath, all he could do was mobilize his chakra, and harmonize with nature to move faster and hit harder.
Tekai was about to apologize, or say something, anything at all, when the Valley of Bones began to shake, and a sinister chakra began to suffuse the air.
At the back of the chamber, an orange orb with three stars on it began to rumble, and crackle.
"It's time for you children to go. The ancestors won't be available until this…disturbance has been put down. Run along now." A smiling, middle aged woman absolutely festooned in Dragon Fangs came out of nowhere, and spoke to Tekai and the rest.
Although she wasn't releasing any chakra, her mere presence seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room, and Tekai felt as if he would pass out.
Furthermore, if all of those Dragon Fangs were gifts from the ancestors for completing their challenges, then this was one frightening woman.
Her smiling face, cool demeanor, and permanently closed smiling eyes heavily reminded Tekai of some cross between Gin & Unohana from Bleach!
In fact, he thought he remembered her from one of the Pokémon games. Although he didn't play the game she came from much, if he wasn't mistaken, she should be a member of the Elite Four!
Rising to his feet with some difficulty, Tekai grabbed the two girls by the arm, and drag-ran with them until they passed by the large arch leading to the ancestral hall.
Breathing heavily, and sweating profusely, Tekai noticed that the runes to the portal were glowing brightly as if they were working at max power to contain something.
'Giratina.' Tekai thought to himself as he looked back.
"Tekai! You jerk! Clair was going to kill herself, and it's all your fault!" Zinnia grabbed him by the collar, and yelled in his face.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Clair flashing him a calculated smile filled with schadenfreude. Although he detected no malice in that smile.
Tekai decided he would play along, and one up the blue haired girl at her own game.
"You're right, but thankfully, I know how to evolve her seadra into a kingdra. Helping her companion Pokémon should even the score between us. Now, we can all spar with one another, and be great friends. In fact, Clair is so strong, we should take her on together when we get back." Tekai advised with a serious face.
"Ah! You're right, why didn't I think of that! Clair, we have to spar when we get back!" Zinnia slammed her fist into he open palm, and repeatedly nodded her head.
"As if I could trust someone who's best skill is running away." Clair muttered and rolled her eyes.
'Ouch.' Tekai scratched his cheek at the burn.
What could he say? Run was one of the four options in any Pokémon game. What was wrong with living to fight another day?
It wasn't his fault that Dragon Dance and the movement technique Uncle had taught him were so good!
"Ahem. Anyway, we should return to the surface. Dawn must be approaching soon, and we don't want to fail." Tekai coughed in his hand, and suggested.
"Good idea! The sooner we get back, the sooner we can fight!" Zinnia took the lead, and ran away in a random direction.
"Idiot." Clair muttered, sounding every bit like a teenaged girl with attitude.
Noticing the direction they were heading in, Tekai cupped his hands so he could be heard by Zinnia who was starting to pull ahead.
"You guys know you're going the wrong way, right?" Tekai shouted, his voice echoed off the cavern walls.
"Ohhh, why didn't you say something earlier?" Zinnia shouted back.
Clair, meanwhile, had the tips of her ears glow red in embarrassment as she turned around.
Her arms were crossed, and she ignored the wide grin that was spread across Tekai's face.
Of course Gil chose that moment to chime in, and make it awkward for Tekai.
'Fight. Conquer. Mate.' Gil sent across their bond.
Rolling his eyes, Tekai dismissed the overactive magikarp.
They were all only 12, nothing was happening. Besides, this was a crazy death world with shit like Gira-mother fuckin-tina in this world!
How could he worry about a girl when he had to focus on surviving first?
Shaking his head, Tekai moved to lead the way. He swore, these 12 year old girls might be strong enough to bench press an automobile, but following directions, and back tracking their steps must be like nuclear mathematics to them.
Taking a deep breath, Tekai rubbed the Black Apricorn pokeball with a sense of nostalgia.
He was finally a Pokémon trainer. The start of his journey had begun.