Path to Aura
Chapter I: The Blaziken Tribe
Located on a peninsula on the western part of the Water Continent, a tribe of Blaziken populated the area. This tribe is known for its powerful fire; however, the Chieftain of the tribe was a cut above the rest. His is a fire unrivaled, a fire that burned so brightly, it leaves the earth scorched wherever he roamed.
One faithful day, his wife laid an egg. Although this egg was different from the rest, it was cool to the touch. The average Torchic egg feels warm like a stone baked in the sun or the porcelain of a freshly poured cup of tea. A cold egg almost certainly means a stillborn, but, by some twist of fate, a Torchic hatched.
My eyes opened. As I scanned my surroundings, I noticed I was in a small hut where many eggs littered the floor. My gaze wandered the area until I noticed the only source of light, a round window in the back. The glow which trickled into the dimly lit room reflected off the dust scattered in the air. After a moment my instincts kicked in, and I cried. A Blaziken busted into the room and gave me a swift embrace. The warmth of her feathers against my large, bulbous head and tiny body was enough to quiet me down and lull me to sleep.
[2 Years Later]
“Take that, weak trash!” I yelled as the Beautifly, I had cut open, collapsed. I noticed the tree that he had been guarding. In the tree was a hole filled with berries and other miscellaneous trinkets. However, one of the items caught my eye, a small disc-like object tucked away in the back. With my beak, I managed to pull it out and drop it on the ground to better examine it.
“It’s a TM,” I shouted ecstatically. The disc was light brown and had several circular bumps and grooves throughout its radius.
“Hey, no fair,” my brother, in the bushes, behind me complained.
In the Blaziken Tribe, most of the members are related in some way, so it was pointless to call each other by kinship terms. However, for the past few weeks, I’ve been spending most of my time with him, and we don’t have real names yet, so I ended up calling him "my brother." I don’t know why he started following me, though.
He ran over to me and the deceased Beautifly, “I call dibs, you'd better fork that over.”
“Why would I do that? As I recall,” I pointed to the Beautifly with my wing, “once this waste of space appeared, you fled and hid like the coward you’ve always been.”
“W-w-well… at least, I don’t have to pretend to be the big tough guy all the time!”
“It's better than the alternative,” I said as I held the TM to my forehead, and thankfully it activated. My body moved by itself like it was compelled by some mysterious force. I began to dig into the ground, I tunneled under my brother and struck him from underneath.
He fell onto his face and yelped in pain, “What was that for?”
“I needed to test my new move out and you’re the only target around,” I replied, dusting the dirt from my feathers. “Besides the Acceptance Trial is in three days, if you don’t shape up, you’ll be rejected and I want you around as my servant when I become a Second-in-Command of the tribe.”
“Ha!” He jumped to his feet, “I’ll become one first!”
“Oh, how are you going to do that? By running away and hiding like a coward?” I snickered.
“I’m not a coward. In fact, I have an amazing plan that I’ve been working on for longer than I’ve known you.”
“And that would be…?”
“A surprise for the trial.” He spread his wings out as wide as he could, “Trust me, it’s this big, and it’ll blow you away.”
I didn’t believe him for a second, but I didn’t care enough to pursue the topic further. “Alright, whatever you say. Anyway, we should probably get back to the village.”
“Really?” My brother tilted his head in confusion, “It’s only midday.”
“Well, I, actually, want to pass the trial so I plan on spending the next 3 days practicing my moves.” I nudged him a little, so he’d start moving.
He sighed, “Fine, I get your point.”
We trudged through the woods on our way back to the village. Occasionally, some of the forest dwellers attacked us; however, it took barely any effort to put them down for good. My brother wouldn’t fight anything bigger than a Cascoon, but when he did fight, he never used any fire attacks. Also, he always liked scaring his opponent before delivering the fatal blow. He would say “It’s only a true defeat if your foe loses their will to fight.” I never cared how my enemy felt, a win is a win, in my book.
Once we arrived back at the village, my brother ran off, either to slack off or to do some training of his own. It’s not like it makes a difference to me. I found a tree close enough to the main square for others to see me, but far enough away that it wasn’t too crowded. Then, I focused my energy and began to furiously scratch the tree, my claws were sharp enough to deeply cut into it. Eventually, I managed to carve enough out of the trunk of the tree that it fell over.
“Woah!” I shouted as the tree landed two feet away from me. “Damn, I could’ve been crushed.”
The stump remained firmly rooted in the earth, but I had an idea. I dove into the ground and lined myself up where I believed the stump would be and attempted to hit it from underneath. I leaped out of the soil, missing my target by several feet.
“(I need more precision, I guess when I hit my brother with it, it was just dumb luck,)” I thought. I tried again and again. Then on my fourth try, I managed to smack it with my head and the stump budged slightly but still clung onto the dirt with its large sprawling roots.
“(I need more power.)” I dug into the ground deeper as a sort of running start. Once I made contact, the stump, its roots, and a chunk of earth flew out of the ground, leaving me standing in a gaping hole.
I had perfected dig, but if I wanted to win the Acceptance Trial, I knew I’d have to devise a strategy. “I can think of one tomorrow,” I told myself. There was one last move I needed to try.
Every time I even thought of using ember a nervous and queasy feeling rose in my gut, so I never tried to use it. “(I guess it's now or never,)” I thought while pushing the uneasiness in my stomach down. I finally built up enough courage and deeply inhaled and let the heat build-up. In one continuous motion, I lunged forward and exhaled. Instead of several small flames spewing out of my mouth, as I had expected, a single, minuscule cinder came out of my beak, followed by a giant ball of fire that swallowed my entire being.
I will never forget that pain.
It felt like someone smeared tomato berries into my eyes, nose, and mouth. It felt like someone had shattered my bones and plucked my feathers. It felt like a million thunderbolts descended from the sky striking my soul. That experience lasted all of one second, though it felt like a thousand lifetimes before I was finally overwhelmed and fainted.
I came to hours later, the sky was dark, and the village was illuminated by moonlight, and as I regained my senses, the pain set back in. During my entire blackout, not one Pokémon in the entire tribe decided to help. By some miracle, I managed to hobble back to my sleeping quarters. Exhausted and delirious I crashed almost instantly. It was the first night I had that nightmare. It started with me alone in an endless void of darkness with no one around. I tried to call for help but I couldn’t speak, then flames rose out of nowhere and swallowed me whole. Terrified, I shot up out of bed, wide awake. I peered out of the small window in my little room just as the Sun was rising.
I don’t know why, but the Sun cresting over the morning horizon filled me with hope. “(I’m not going to let this minor setback make me fall apart,)” I thought. “(I only needed to try harder and gain more power, then I’ll be able to use my fire moves and I bet they’ll be stronger than anyone at the trial tomorrow.)” With a determined smile on my face, I set out for the most intense training of my life up to that point.
I pulled rocks, ran countless miles around the village and forest, focused my energy, chopped down trees, uprooted several stumps, and wiped out as many of the local Dustox and Beautifly as I could find. After two days of nonstop effort, I was exhausted when I returned to my hut. Once I got a good night’s rest, I knew I’d be ready for the trial.
I thought about trying to use ember again, but I was tired and that nervous pit in my stomach formed. “(I can figure out ember later. In the meantime, I needed to think of some strategy).” I curled up into my corner of the hut and stared up at the ceiling for hours, until I finally thought of something, right as I drifted to sleep.
“Dammit! I’m late!” I cried as I sped toward the arena. “I was up so late thinking up a plan that I ended up sleeping in.”
Torchic aren’t allowed into the arena until we’ve passed the acceptance trial, so it was the first time I saw the interior. It was a large pit, near the center of the village, dug into the ground, and made up of many layers of floors. Each floor was shaped like a ring, and each got progressively smaller when going deeper into the arena. In addition, they were crowded with numerous Blaziken and Combusken spectators, but they were all quiet for some unknown reason. At the bottom of the pit was the battle area, where the trial was going to take place.
I managed to squeeze my way down the stairs, past all the spectators, and into the battle area. Roughly 100 Torchic were lined up on the circumference of the bottom layer. However, I still managed to snag a spot next to my brother.
“You’re late.” He whispered. “It’s a really good thing we haven’t started yet.”
“Why hasn’t it started?” I asked.
“Are you blind? Look over there” He pointed straight at the Chieftain and his wife, arguing in the center of the battle area.
I had never seen the Chieftain, my father, before, but as soon as I laid my eyes on that Blaziken, I knew it was him. He appeared wildly different from the other Blaziken in the tribe, so it was hard to even believe he actually was a Blaziken. In addition, to the new horn on his forehead, he also had a short head crest, which pointed upwards, forming an “X” shape with the tuft of tan feathers on his shoulders and under his arms. He had no yellow markings anywhere on his body, instead, he had black feathers on his chest and from the top of his thighs to the top of his ankles. His most distinguishing feature was the fire that spilled from his hands. The flames from each cuff came out in two long strands.
On the other hand, I know I saw the Chieftain’s Wife once when I was a hatchling. I remembered how soft her eyes were and her soothing voice when she held me. However, when she looked at the Chief, there was no love or compassion in her gaze, it was only sharp and menacing like she was trying to stab him with her eyes.
I listened as best as I could and managed to catch the end of the argument.
“...and murder. How can a tribe of fire types be so cold?! it isn’t right, And I won’t stand for it anymore!” his wife screamed.
Without warning, she enveloped herself in a bright blaze that illuminated the entire arena. I could barely see her. The Chief seemed unaffected by the light, and as his wife struck him, he grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the ground with such force that the ground shattered. She stood up, undaunted, with blood cascading down her face and soaking into the tuft of feathers on her neck.
She leaped high into the sky and wrapped herself in a blue glow and dove directly at the Chieftain’s head, but he blocked it with only a single digit from his claw. Then he smacked her so hard that she flew into the side of the arena nearly crushing a few of the Torchic who were patiently standing there.
She staggered to her feet yet again, and her left arm was bent backward. She attacked him at every angle she could and with every skill at her disposal, but nothing proved to be effective. Throughout the entire ordeal, the Chieftain glared at her with an unfeeling expression like he was only waiting for this to be over.
The Chieftain’s Wife pulled herself up one last time. Her legs were shaking, and she was covered in a mixture of dirt, soot, and wet and dry blood. She managed to hobble over to the Chief, who didn’t have his guard up anymore. She stood there silently, that moment felt like an eternity, no one moved an inch. The tension covered the arena, everyone was quiet, itching to see what would happen next.
Flames erupted from her right claw, which was somehow brighter than her first flare blitz, it was as if her body was pouring every last drop of energy into that attack. The heat emanating from her hand was suffocating.
She struck him with all her might and her fist punched clean through his torso. The entire crowd gasped, no one believed it was possible, but the Chieftain of the Blaziken Tribe was beaten… or so we thought.
The Chieftain’s Wife’s satisfied look on her face quickly disappeared and was replaced with a face of utter confusion, surprise, and fear as she realized the Chieftain was completely unfazed.
“Are you finished?” were the first words I had ever heard him say. In an instant, he removed his wife’s arm from his thorax and severed it, at her elbow, in one swift chop. The wound in his body emitted a fire covering the hole in his chest. As the flames faded, the injury was completely healed like it had never happened to begin with.
I had heard the rumors that he was given divine right to rule, but I always believed that to be a legend.
She lay on the floor, defeated, while the Chieftain held his arm out aiming his assault on his wife. “Any last words?” he asked in a cold, monotone voice.
She struggled in defiance, but she was too damaged to move. With her final breath, she shouted, “Your lust for power and control has killed thousands of innocent Pokémon including the ones of our own blood, even if I can’t stop you, someone, someday, will.”
“Doubtful,” he said, as a gold-rose-colored flame released from his hand with an inconceivable intensity. Her body was engulfed in that fire for a mere second before the attack faded. All that remained of his wife was a pile of ash.
The Chief fixed his attention on the audience, “Now then, it’s time for the semi-annual acceptance trial!”
The crowd, who had remained silent up until this point, exploded in boisterous cheer and applause.
He didn’t even acknowledge what had just transpired. It was clear he felt no attachment to her, but rather a pest he needed to swat away, and it seems the other Blaziken and Combusken in the crowd felt similarly. “(I guess I shouldn’t care, either.)”
Other than a few craters and dents in the wall, the battle area was left mostly intact.
“As you know,” the chief continued, “once a Torchic reaches the age of 2, they must undergo the Acceptance Trial, which is a battle royale tournament made up of 100 Torchic. The purpose of this test is to determine a Torchic’s raw strength and aptitude for combat. Those who place in the top 50 are accepted as full members of the tribe, while the others shall be rejected.”
The Chieftain looked down at us. “For those who are participating, the rules are simple,” he gestured to the 15 Blaziken, who entered the battle area, “when a Torchic can no longer fight, one of my Seconds-In-Commands shall remove you from the field. Therefore, you should aim to knock out as many other participants as you can. If I see anything I deem strange or out of the ordinary, I will deal with it directly. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?”
We nodded in agreement, as we were all made very aware of what happens when someone crosses the Chieftain.
“Good.” He leaped above everyone else, to his seat, at the top of the arena. “Let the trial begin!”
“Ready?” my brother asked.
“More than you realize,” I smiled.
“Ha! Same,” he smirked right back.
Torchic rushed toward the center, embers scattered across the field, participants headbutted into each other, and spectators roared with excitement, as I dove into the ground.
“(Time to put phase one of my plan into action!)” For the first part of the battle, I dug several tunnels, some of them stretched the entire diameter of the arena while some connected to others, however, only one path led to the way out. I intentionally dug the tunnels close to the surface so I could hear if I was immediately under a Torchic.
“(Great, one more path, I can run across the field without any interr---)” I smashed into someone while I was about to finish my labyrinth. It was my brother. “What are you doing here?!” I shouted.
“What do you think I’m doing here?” He said sarcastically. “I followed you into your hideout. Nice plan, by the way! Hiding until 50 are gone then popping back up like you were there the whole time, it’s brilliant.”
“That wasn’t my plan. Unlike you, I’d never do something so cowardly!” I scoffed.
“It’s not cowardly,” He pushed himself up against the tunnel wall, trying to get comfortable. “It’s survival of the fittest out there, and I plan on surviving by fitting in right here.”
I was disgusted by my brother’s lack of integrity, but I also didn’t want to knock him out too early either. “So, hiding behind me was your special idea all along? That’s not impressive, at all!”
Once he found the correct position to lie in, he relaxed his body. “That’s not my plan, I’m just waiting for the right time to use it.”
“Fine, you can stay here as long as you stay out of my way, but if we’re the last two standing, I’ll knock you out without hesitation.”
Once I knew I was directly below another participant, I buried myself deeper into the ground and then shot back up, breaking through the battlefield’s floor. On my ascent, I saw the rocks and debris hit my target and they rolled onto their back, defeated. As the audience cheered, I felt the wind rushing between my feathers and the blood rushing in my body, and I loved every second of it. I wished I could fight forever.
Many of the other Torchic had already been eliminated, The Second-in-Commands were taking the fainted Torchic off the field and putting them into a large metal cage, the gaps in between the bars were narrow, probably so they couldn’t escape if they happened to wake up.
I descended back into my maze, and popped back up, striking another participant down. Then, it began to feel like time was moving slower. It took longer for me to fall, for the Torchic to faint, and for the Blaziken to collect them. I didn’t know what was going on, but, even with this newfound ability, I didn’t have enough time to worry about it.
I successfully managed to execute my digging strategy another 10 times. Over half of the Torchic had already been eliminated, I was guaranteed to be accepted, however, I wanted more; I wanted to win!
On my 11th attempt, I prepared to dive back into the ground, when suddenly, the exit holes that I dug to attack, combined with the weight of several Torchic caused a cave-in of the entire system, turning it from a labyrinth of tunnels to a maze of trenches. The screams of Torchic echoed through the arena as most of them fell in.
With my plan in literal shambles, I was forced to land in the center of the battlefield, narrowly avoiding falling into one of the trenches. Before I had a chance to regain my bearings, several embers bombarded my face.
“There’s more where that came from,” my new opponent taunted.
“You’re very cocky for someone who got a lucky shot,” I shouted back.
“’Lucky shot?’ Are you sure about that?” She spewed out another flurry of cinders.
The fiery pellets flew through the air, and I could have dodged them easily; however, the ditches restricted my movements. In a snap decision, I ran through the cinders, each one that made contact caused a throbbing pain, my mind screaming at me to get away from there, but I pushed those urges down. I broke through her attack, and I managed to dig my claws into her face and pull down with rapid speed, then in quick succession, I slashed upward, knocking her off her feet into a trench.
I was deeply and excessively panting, trying to catch my breath, as I scanned the arena. The final few participants had collapsed and were being carried over to the sideline, where the other accepted Torchic were. For a brief moment, I thought I had won until a giant fire shot out from the trench. I had seen the Blaziken and Combusken use flamethrower before, but these flames were far more powerful.
The one, who unleashed that attack and climbed out of the ditch, was my brother. Not only did manage to endure the cave-in, but he was barely bruised. “How are you still standing?! That should’ve crushed you!” I shouted.
“I wasn’t crushed, I got trapped, but a few rocks aren’t an issue for me,” he smirked. “Actually, I’d like to thank you for doing all the heavy lifting.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, still short of breath.
“I had you eliminate everyone else. And as you wore yourself out, I bid my time, conserving my energy, so I knew for sure I could beat you.”
“So, you were only acting like a weak, lazy coward?”
“Exactly, I only pretended to be weak, since if you knew my true power, you would have tried to knock me out immediately, meaning I’d have to put in the work to win.” He said as he took a running stance.
I stumbled back and was completely blown away, I couldn’t speak. “(Dammit, I was played for a fool. It’s not the end of the world, but I won’t be beat by some lazy asshole. I’ll show him hard work always pays off!)”
“Come On!” he continued, “I thought you said if we’re the last two standing, you were gonna knock me out without hesitation… so quit hesitating!” He cloaked himself in a massive fireball and ran toward me at full speed.
“(I need a plan and fast, the terrain is too messed up to use dig effectively and when he is wrapped in that fire, I can’t physically attack him, either. And on top of it all, I’m too tired to run away. That only leaves one option… please work.)” I let the heat in my chest build as much as I could withstand, then I tried to let it out, but only a puff of ash came out, followed by uncontrolled, agonizing flames spewing from every pore of my body. My brother stopped in his tracks, and I passed out.
It was nighttime when I awoke to the sounds of clanking metal. As I lifted myself off the floor, I noticed I was in a cage with several other Torchic. The cage was on a large cart with wheels being pulled along a bumpy trail by the two Blaziken in the front. I quickly realized that this was the cage reserved for rejected Torchic.
I alerted one of the cart pullers, “There must be some sort of mistake, I got 2nd place in the trial, I shouldn’t be in here.”
He didn’t bother to turn around. “The tribe has no use for a member who can’t use fire,”
I started to become light-headed, and my knees felt weak. This was the worst possible outcome! “That’s not fair!” I shouted in a panic “The Chief sa---”
He cut me off, “It was the Chieftain who demanded that we put you in here, so shut up and be grateful that you are worth more to us alive than dead.”
The other rejects in the cage all looked miserable, some of them hung their head down, some were trying in vain to squeeze their head through the bars, and others were trying to melt the bars with ember.
I looked at the Torchic sitting next to me. “Do you know where they're taking us?” I asked.
“No…” she softly replied.
“Wherever we end up can’t be good!” I began to scratch at the back of the cage. My claws barely left a mark, but I was persistent. I swore I would make it out of this in one piece.
We were stuck in that cage for hours. As the cart was pulled along, the temperature dropped drastically, and the forests and lush grassland that I was used to disappeared behind us, replaced with an unfamiliar barren wasteland. The wind was harsh, pelting us with grains of sand, which felt like pins and needles being jammed into my flesh.
After hours of travel, the cart stopped, but by then, all the Torchic gave up trying to escape... except for me. Unfortunately, I made virtually no progress in breaking the bars. We arrived at the front of the mouth of a cave. It was too dark to make out any distinguishing characteristics, but I could see lit torches, leading deep inside.
“Houndoom, get out here!” one of the cart pullers yelled. “We got what you wanted!”
From the cave, emerged 10 vicious-looking Pokémon of the same species. They walked on all fours, had two gray curled horns coming from their head, and were covered in black fur, except their snouts and underbellies were orange. They had two white bands on each of their ankles, as well as 3 rib-like ridges on their backs. Their tails were thin and ended in a triangular tip.
Everything felt very slow to me like what happened during the trial. I still didn’t know what exactly was going on, but it meant I had more time to attack the bars.
The entire pack surrounded the cart, but the largest one in the group, most likely the leader, stepped forward and gave the large brown sack that he was holding in his mouth to the Blaziken. “Here’s your payment. Now, it’s time to hold up your end of the deal.”
One of the Blaziken peered into the sack and counted what was inside, then, gave a key to the leader Houndoom, as the other Blaziken proceeded to lift the cage from the cart and drop onto the ground.
“We will see you again in half a year,” they said firmly. The Houndoom made space so the Blaziken could wheel the cart through. As I kept scratching at the cage bars, they vanished into the night.
As the pack of Houndoom showed their fangs and growled at us, the Leader Houndoom circled the cage, licking his lips. “My favorite, a 50-piece Torchic meal. You’ll taste much better than the dungeon Pokémon we must put up with.”
“(Crap! Are they actually going to eat us?)” I began to panic and hyperventilate as I swung at the bars faster and with greater force.
Some of the Torchic tried to attack the group Houndoom with ember, but they didn’t even flinch, in fact, they were running into the attacks.
“Thanks for the firepower,” he grinned. “Cooking you evenly should be much easier, now.” He exited the circle and spoke to his pack, “It’s very rare we get food of this quality, so on my command, I want you to hit them with your fire as hard as you can and stop as soon as I say so.”
“(He baited us into attacking, if the other Torchic hadn’t attacked, the Houndooms’ fire might have not been strong enough to work.)” I thought.
“Are you ready?” He shouted.
The pack members excitedly howled in agreement.
“All right, on my count. 3-” he ordered.
My heart began to beat quicker. “(Am I really going to die?)”
The pack lifted their heads into the air.
“2-”
My heart was nearly beating out of my chest. I struck the cage bars again. “(I don’t want to die!)”
The Houndoom eyes and breathed in, the other Torchic braced for impact.
“1-”
I was scared, I could hear the roaring sound of blood rushing in my ears. It was like something clicked inside my head, the fear that had built up vanished, instead, all I could feel was rage. “(I REFUSE TO DIE!)”
They looked back down right at the cage.
“Fire!”
I slashed at the cage again, it was much more powerful than any move I had previously used. I broke the bottom of the bars, and on the returning strike, I broke the top.
All at once, the Houndoom unleashed its flames directly at us.
I jumped through the hole in the bars that I created. The attack grazed my feathers, while I dove into the ground. As I covered my entrance hole, I heard the blood-curdling screams of my brethren, being cooked alive.
The glow of the fire may have obscured the Houndooms’ vision; although, I wasn’t sure. Also, I did not know how far the Houndoom could track me, so I dug for hours, as far away and as fast as I could. The only thing that kept me going was my anger. “(Why did I have to the one to get screwed over? Why was I betrayed? Why does this stupid, god-forsaken world hate me?)” These were the only thoughts that rang through my mind as a fled like a coward. I hated that feeling, that weakness, so much.
After what felt like an eternity, I popped my head out of the surface. The Sun was rising out of the horizon. I may not be able to use fire, but my spirit was burning brighter than any blaze on the face of the globe. I shouted at the sky with all my energy. “This unjust world can rot in hell. I swear, I will make them pay! I’ll get stronger! I’ll beat the Houndoom! I’ll beat my brother! And I’ll beat the Chieftain!”
I pulled the rest of my body out of the ground. “(But for now) I swear that I will survive!”