[Pokémon] Lucario and the 10 Ordeals (brought here)

On a day in mid-April, Zeke was returning home from a visit to his friend's house. He felt quite pleased with himself after entertaining his friend's family with experiences from his past. They were particularly interested at the big physical change that Zeke experienced when he was only three. Some say he was a victim, others say that the change was a blessing, and there are comments that lie in between.

Zeke was living with his family in a small town. Life was good as far as Zeke was concerned, and he thought it would be a good idea to venture into the surrounding forest. So when his parents were asleep, Zeke crept past them, and made his way downstairs. He opened the back door to avoid ringing the bell that was attached to the front door. He closed the door carefully, and took a few steps into the wilderness. He was fascinated by the landscape and so decided to go further.

Based on conversation among the people of the town, including his parents, and a few glimpses of pokemon, he thought it would be interesting to meet a few of these pokemon. So he traveled through the forest, and caught sight of a pink shape. Zeke was interested by this shape, and approached it, completely unaware of what was coming.

The pink shape, or creature more like, seemed to be unaware of Zeke's presence, and when it turned around, Zeke was close to it. The pink creature flinched and launched a stream of energy at Zeke. The multi-colored energy wave hit him, and while he did not feel any pain, Zeke began to lose consciousness. After several hours, he regained consciousness and picked himself up. To his surprise, he did not feel like himself. Then the truth came after he looked down.

He was covered with blue fur, had black, oddly-shaped legs, and had two white areas on the backs of his paws. Zeke put his paws on his head and discovered that his ears were now near the top of his head, rather than at the sides, and that he had two black flaps on the sides instead. He also found that he had a blue tail. Zeke was amazed at his new self, so much so that he began to smile.

As Zeke made his way back to town, his parents spotted him, and seemed ready to call for help. Others saw him as well, and began to approach Zeke with a curious look on their faces. One was armed with a pokeball, and was about to launch it when Zeke saw this attempt and shouted,

"Stop!"

The people were shocked, especially Zeke's parents, as they already noticed that their child had disappeared during the night. The person who had the pokeball dropped it from his hand.

"Zeke...is that you?" asked Zeke's mother.

"Yes" he replied.

Half of the people in the crowd began to gossip and look at each other, wondering what had happened. Things that were said included,

"How did he get turned into a Riolu?"

"I've never known a case like this before"

"I wonder what his parents are thinking"

"Do you think that a Ditto was behind this?"

The last statement caught everyone's attention. Zeke's father asked,

"Zeke, did you see a pink shape in the forest?"

"Yes" he answered. "It shot pretty colors at me, then I fell asleep"

The people began to gossip again.

"How do you feel?" a teenager asked.

"Great" said Zeke.

Eventually, the people went back to what they were doing, but Zeke's parents decided to move out the next day into a larger town. For a while, Zeke's parents were confused and were not sure on how to raise their child. But eventually, that feeling faded, and Zeke's parents thought it was interesting to have a pokemon as a child. However, life was not that easy as the years went by.

There was a lot of confusion about whether to send Zeke to school or not. Since he was once a human, they thought he had to go to school. But since he is now a pokemon, the situation became confusing. Zeke's parents thought he would have to be schooled at home, for the school might have feared an unstable environment and thought it would be best if the teachers came to him and taught him at home. They did not want any harm, physical, emotional, or otherwise to come to Zeke. But apparently, at school, the children there were amazed at Zeke. Most of them even wanted Zeke to come to school with them. Zeke's parents were reluctant to send Zeke to school with the other children, but the teachers as well as the students said they would protect him from any harm, and that bullies will be dealt with.

Zeke's first day at school was very pleasant, although confusing at first. He was very popular, and quickly learned the academics. Lunchtime was a bit of a problem though, due to Zeke's lack of dexterity with his paws. After that day, it seemed like nothing would go wrong. That was when the problems were about to reveal themselves.

Zeke had always been considered cute in kindergarten, and 1st grade because of his social blunders, but the socializing became difficult for Zeke as he progressed in 2nd grade. He could not interpret body language, and so the teachers had to make room for a social skills class. There he began to learn different forms of body language, but not quite enough of them to be as skilled at socializing as some of the others.

By the end of second grade, more problems became apparent. Zeke was showing peculiar interests in pictures that had no relevance to what was being taught in class. He developed a habit of kicking his legs while in a chair, and spinning while in a computer chair. After school had ended, he burned himself on a lit candle, and screamed so loudly, that the whole town could hear it. After that event, he was extremely scared of fire. Sometimes he would pace around the room, staring at things. The habit that convinced Zeke's parents to see a doctor, was his attachment to a folder with printed pictures inside it. He would carry the folder with him everywhere in home and at school. His social skills teacher calls it "his security folder"

This habit with a folder prompted Zeke's parents to see a doctor, who referred them to a psychiatrist. The fact that Zeke's parents had to explain to the various staff members of the medical buildings what happened to him as an infant became a burden. Then they met the psychiatrist, and answered some questions, carried out different tests, and eventually, it was discovered that Zeke had Asperger's Syndrome. The news was shocking to Zeke's parents, and felt that they had a great task ahead of them.

They were then referred to see someone who conducted an IQ test. The result was that Zeke's IQ was in the genius range, which is above 140. The doctor told Zeke's parents that he could do anything he set his mind to, but will he?

Zeke's parents were lost on what to do at first, but then they began to learn about Zeke's disorder by reading books, going online, and talking to other people who have Asperger's themselves. They began to feel less stressed out, and they were helped by the fact that their son had a very high IQ. They resumed their lives by the time 3rd grade had started.

Zeke was well-liked by his classmates, and they began to ask questions about his disorder. They were surprised by his answers, his vocabulary was amazing. He was using words from 9th grade English. People were having a hard time understanding what he was saying. He couldn't write because of the shape of his paws, but the school had made accommodations for Zeke to use a large keyboard with a screen for text.

As the years went by, Zeke realized that his words were confusing people, after a lesson in social skills, and so decided to talk in terms that children of his age would understand. He failed to pickup the way of speaking that the middle school children knew well. He was popular in middle school as well. Any person who tried to bully him in any way was greeted with either a witty response from Zeke, or a team effort from his friends. One bully tried to assault him, but Zeke had an unusual skill at counter-attacking. He used lots of what he called 'false moves', which are fake attacks used as a distraction before a real attack. Zeke was never in trouble for fighting with the bully because everyone knew that Zeke was only defending himself. After he struck the bully, he would run away, and while the bully chased him, Zeke had set traps for him, whether it was a jar of marbles, or a roll of duct tape as Zeke opened before the bully could stop. Then Zeke would inform a teacher, the principal, or whatever figure of authority he could come across in the hallways. The bully was dealt with, and the repercussions from the bully losing to Zeke every time, the punishments from the school, and the teasing from Zeke's friends, were enough to make him stop completely after a while.

High school became a problem though, not socially, but some of the subjects he had to learn were difficult at times. English was a problem because of the literature. Zeke said that he had a hard time seeing what the character's emotions, intentions, and thoughts were. On the contrary, his writing skills were brilliant. By 10th grade, he had "evolved" into a Lucario, and many thought he was beautiful. He had gained enormous popularity throughout his previous school years.

He is now in 11th grade, and has accomplished a lot since his first day at school. He was the first pokemon to attend school, which to some people might sound odd. Now, life was great, and his parents were proud of him. Nothing could stop him from accomplishing great things...until one night. When he ventured into another forest.

Chapter 1



Zeke was returning home from his friend's house after spending the night there. He was quite pleased with himself after entertaining his friend's family with his childhood experiences. After he reached home, he saw the clock and it read 7:15 PM. He decided to have a wander around the forest that was nearby, so he asked his mother if it was all right, she said yes, so long as he was back by 9:00 PM. Zeke agreed.

He walked out of the house, made his way out of town, and into the surrounding forest. Zeke had a fascination for forests, and any similar type of landscape. The incident regarding Zeke when he was three years of age, did not stop him from enjoying walks through the forest now and then. However, he does not fully understand the meaning behind danger. He knows it is real, but he did not seem to feel afraid of it most of the time. In fact, he often interprets it in a different way. He sees danger as a challenge, a game of sorts, even if his life was at risk. While this gave him the confidence and the nerve to try stunts that no one would dare to do, once again, he would often be unaware of the fact that his life could be in danger.

As a Lucario, Zeke noticed that he did not scare the pokemon in the forest nearly as much as humans did, but they were surprised at his capability of oral speech. They also noticed that Zeke did not seem to know how to use aura. That is because he was never taught. Eventually, he met another Lucario, but he felt something was not quite right. He remembered catching a glimpse of a pokedex that a trainer had, and it said that most Lucarios were usually around four feet tall. During his last visit to a special kind of doctor, his last reading was five-foot-six-inches.

The other Lucario stared at Zeke, surprised at the body language he was expressing. Zeke was in a thinking position and then shrugged. Then he mumbled,

"Why am I five-foot-six, when the normal height for someone like me is three-foot-eleven?"

The other Lucario leaned forward in interest.

"Are you looking for something?" asked Zeke. The other Lucario looked to the corner of its eyes, half-fascinated, half-worried. Zeke then said,

"I'll bet you're wondering how I became a Lucario"

The other Lucario stared at Zeke in amazement.

Zeke told his story, which spanned a good thirty minutes, but by then, the other Lucario had left while in the middle of it. Zeke wondered where he went, and shrugged again. Then he continued on his way through the forest. Something eventually caught his eye. It seemed to be glowing. Zeke walked over to the glowing object, and discovered that it was much larger than he thought. It seemed to be at least three times taller than Zeke was. It seemed to be a portal of some kind, but where it led, he had no clue. But he could not resist the urge to see where it would lead, so he stepped inside, and the portal closed behind him.

The portal opened and deposited Zeke near the base of a mountain with an entrance to what looked like a mine, with cart tracks leading out of it. It was still as dark here are it was before Zeke entered that portal, only that the sky was a slightly different color. Plus, the moon was full, whereas a minute ago, only half of it was visible. Zeke could hear a faint crackling sound coming from the inside of the mine.

As he approached the mine, a small boulder rolled down the mountain, landing only a few feet away from him. Zeke then tightened his lips, raised the top of his eyes, and looked in another direction. His curiosity seemed impossible to resist, so he ventured into the mine. Then, Zeke heard a faint rumble, then thumping sounds, and before Zeke had a chance to escape, huge boulders piled up at the entrance. He was trapped inside.

It took a while for Zeke to stop staring at the now blocked entrance to the mines. After he was done, he noticed that the inside of the mine was lit by some kind of flickering light. It seemed to be a fire. He took a few steps deeper into the mine and discovered that there was a campfire in the center of the room. Only there was a shocking characteristic about the room that Zeke was in. There were several patches of pitch-black darkness on the walls, on the ceiling, and on the floor, even one next to the campfire.

This instantly grabbed Zeke's attention, and he raised the top of his eyes. He looked around the room nervously for a moment, and then approached the campfire. He sat down on one of the small green carpets that surrounded the fire. Then he began to stare at the closest dark spot next to him, taking note of the fact that the light from the fire should be revealing what was in that dark spot, but for some reason it was not. Zeke slowly turned his head away from it, but still uneasy.

Then he heard a sound from the dark spot. Zeke quickly turned his head toward the sound. He began to feel afraid and his heart was starting to beat faster. He was trying to figure out where exactly the sound came from, when he saw something move. Zeke gasped silently. What looked to be a piece of black clothing was moving slightly, and Zeke felt his heart begin to pound.

He was caught between two decisions, ask for identity, or walk away. His mind leaned towards running away rather than walking. He slowly rose to his feet, and looked around for an exit. The gate at the end of the room was no use, since the figure was in front of it. To Zeke's relief, he found an alternate path, so he decided to take that route. What he was not aware of was that something had already been here.

As Zeke entered the passage and took a few steps, he noticed two gray points jutting out of the walls. Zeke began to feel terrified.

"Someone doesn't want me here" he murmured to himself. He then remembered a theory that he began to think about when he was still a Riolu. He edged closer to one of the menacing objects in the walls, put his paw underneath it, and a spear zoomed past him. His theory seemed to be true. All physical traps have some type of mechanism. He placed his paw underneath the second pointy object and another spear shot out of the wall. Zeke was relieved to find that these traps were navigable. These ones anyway.

Zeke saw a rather primitive-looking door at the end of the passage. He began to calm down, and feel better. He began to walk toward the door and had almost reached it, when three spears shot out of the ground, nearly catching Zeke in the chest, and then receded. The shock and the lack of warning about the traps caused Zeke to stumble and fall on his back.

Zeke began to feel terrified again. He realized that he would not be likely to survive in a place like this without knowing where the traps are. He decided to take one of the spears that was on the ground from the previous trap and use it as a trigger for the traps. Obviously, these traps detected motion, but Zeke wondered how they could sense nearby objects. Then he dismissed the thought, and grabbed a spear. It felt awkward trying to hold it, due to the shape of his paws.

He managed to make the spear stable by holding one area between his paws and holding it that way. He slowly made his way toward the door, waving the spear about. When he made it to the door, he waved the spear again, activating two separate spear traps. Seizing the opportunity, Zeke opened the door and rushed through, dropping the spear as he went inside.

He found himself inside what looked to be a small storage area. Crates were stacked up to heights nearing the ceiling. But the thing that caught his eye was a rather powerful, although confined glow. Then he realized that the entire room, the trapped hallway, even the outside of the mine was not shrouded by darkness, even though there was no apparent light other than that room. He wondered if he could see in the dark, then decided to see whatever was glowing. He found a little, highly-decorated bottle. It was full of liquid that seemed to have all of the characteristics of water, but Zeke sensed that it was different. He decided to take the bottle with him, thinking that he might need it later.

As he brushed aside a few cobwebs, he saw the entrance to another room. When he reached the end, he did not like what he saw, more dark spots. But then he saw a gate, with a door in the center, very similar to the one Zeke had opened recently. He hugged the right wall, trying to avoid slipping and falling into the largest dark spot in the center of the room, his heart beating rapidly. He reached for the door, but upon trying to open it, realized that it was locked.

Normally, Zeke would not be aware of the possible danger that he faced, but due to recent circumstances, the traps, the dark spots, and the figure, he felt ready to faint. He saw a key that seemed to match the keyhole in the door behind him, but it was on the border between light and the dark spot in the middle. Zeke broke into a cold sweat. Then he saw the same piece of clothing in the dark spot as the one that belonged to the figure that Zeke had feared so much.

As he reached for the key, he could feel his consciousness dwindling, his vision started to become blurry, he began to pant a little, and when he finally touched the key, a hand grabbed his arm. Zeke lost all strength, moaned faintly, and collapsed dropping the bottle he was holding.

Chapter 2


After Zeke had collapsed, whatever was in the dark spot dragged him to the corner of the room. Zeke was either asleep or unconscious, but he could not tell the difference. He began to dream about a waterfall with a lot of vegetation around it. The sky was overcast, but did not look as if it was going to rain. He could hear music playing in his head, both soothing and somewhat refreshing, which he felt he needed after the incident in the mines. The dream continued for another ten or fifteen minutes, and then began to disappear.

As he woke up, he felt something, stroking his chest. He saw a hand, a rather small one, of a teenage girl. He began to see that the black clothing which frightened him the most was part of a black robe, with blue stripes around the edges of a sleeve. Zeke did not move, fearing an unpleasant response. After a few minutes he said,

"Who do I know with a black and blue robe?"

"I don't know, I've never seen an animal like you before" The voice sounded quite gentle, which contradicts what Zeke was originally thinking the voice would sound like. Zeke turned his head and discovered that it was no monster, but a teenage girl. She looked peculiar in the robe because of her hair color. She had long blonde hair, brown eyes, and she looked to be fourteen or fifteen years of age.

"Please do not scare me like that again" said Zeke. "I thought you were a heartless murderer for a while"

"You scared me as well, a lot in fact" said the girl. "I only hid in the shadows to protect myself. Sorry about that, I should have asked"

"You realize that those traps back there nearly got me, right?" asked Zeke. The girl closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Those were there to keep intruders away. I was hoping that the steel points would be enough to scare them away, rather than actually fire. The last ones though were intended to ward them off, should it ever come to that. But now that the entrance has caved in, it looks like we will have to take the back way out...if I can remember where it is"

"There's a way out?"

"Yes...in fact there's two, but I can't remember where either of them are...what a shame"

"How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen...why?"

"Just curious...I'm sixteen as well" said Zeke. The girl gave Zeke the key that he was trying to reach before he collapsed.

"Did you want this?" asked the girl. Zeke began to smile a little.

"As long as it's for that door" he said, trying to hold the key properly, but failing. The girl nodded slowly.

"Looks like I might have to use it" she said. They walked over to the door at the end of the room. The girl inserted the key, turned it, and opened the door. Then Zeke realized something he felt was important.

"Hey" he said. "What happened to that blue bottle I had?"

"I have it" said the girl. "You dropped it when you fainted, fortunately no damage"

"What's inside it?" asked Zeke.

"Basically, it heals any injuries you have. Apparently even cures diseases. Pretty hard to come by, so only use it if you're in a lot of pain or at death's door"

"Where does he live?"asked Zeke. The girl started to giggle.

"Have you ever heard of a figure of speech?" she asked.

"Yes...can't say I remember what it meant though" answered Zeke. The girl sighed.

They began to explore the mine, using common sense not to separate. They passed some of the time exploring, the other portion was spent on introducing each other. The girl's name was Alice. Zeke told her his life story and she was fascinated. Alice told Zeke that he no doubt looked better as a Lucario, as she liked animals, especially furry ones.

Something glittering in the wall caught Zeke's attention.

"What's that thing in the wall?" he asked.

"I think that's gold...it IS...amazing" said Alice.

"Can't imagine why this mine would be abandoned" said Zeke, holding a gold nugget. Alice thought about this statement for a moment, then began to look horrified.

"Uh, Zeke?" said Alice nervously.

"Yes?"

"You remember those dark spots near the cave entrance?"

"Yes"

"I didn't make those"

Zeke tilted his head and raised the top of one of his eyes, not quite understanding the message she was trying to give.

"Really? You did hide in them after all" said Zeke, slightly confused.

"Yes, but that was before I realized..."

"Realized what?"

"Notice that the place is abandoned" said Alice, looking around the room that they were in.

"Did something happen?" asked Zeke, still confused.

"Could have, and I have reason to believe...that this place might be haunted"

"You're kidding, right?" asked Zeke.

"No" said Alice, with a worried look on her face. "and if that's the case, what you've seen before is nothing compared to what could happen if we're not careful"

"What can we do to survive?"

"Simple, don't get caught. Also, listen for noises...some of them might signal danger to us, others may be of no use"

Sure enough, Zeke and Alice began to hear noises. One of them was constant, but seemed to fit in with the environment. It sounded like wind, only it was the type one would normally find in a cavern. The other was similar, only it was lower in pitch. Zeke found it soothing and wanted to listen to it. Alice had to talk him out of it.

Zeke, still holding the gold nugget that he found, wondered if this mine scenario could turn into a treasure hunt. He tapped Alice's shoulder.

"Alice...hold on to this. There might be more"

Alice placed the nugget into one of her pockets.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Alice.

"I can't read minds" said Zeke. "I tried last week and it didn't work" Alice started to giggle.

"I mean that the mine probably isn't as bad as we thought. Why don't we take our time?"

"Sure" said Zeke.

And so they began the search for two things: an exit and treasure along the way.

Chapter 3


Zeke and Alice were having quite a fun time looking for valuables. Already they found a number of nuggets, some of them gold, some of them silver, and even a few precious gems. So far, they had left the room with the dark spots and entered a series of tunnels, interconnected by mine cart tracks. The gold and silver nuggets were not the only things that Zeke and Alice found, however. They also found evidence of battles; weapons lying around on the ground, some of them broken in two. Several support beams were on the ground, scattered throughout the mine tunnels, but surprisingly, the mine did not even shake.

At the moment, Zeke and Alice were in a room that was nearly square in shape, connected with tunnels in different directions. They noticed an elevator in the center of the room. The problem was that while the elevator was still in working condition, two of the buttons were missing. Zeke was having a hard time deciding which route to take.

"I can't decide," said Zeke. "Any one of them could lead to more treasure, or more...evidence"

"My uncle works in this mine," Alice responded. "He told me once that miners usually set up their living areas near the top of the mine. They work down in the lower areas in the daytime, and return to the top to do the other things"

"Then why is absolutely no one down here?" asked Zeke. "The way I see it, there's at least a few people working at night. Some of the workers might want to work overtime, or maybe there's an inventory person counting the items? What I'm really concerned about is the weapons. Why are they scattered all over the place...and why are some of them broken?"

"The miners could have done three things: retreat back to the top, escape out the building, or die trying. Obviously, there was some sort of attack," said Alice.

"In that case, why don't you grab a weapon, just in case?" asked Zeke.

Alice hanged her head, feeling silly that she did not take a weapon before.

"You want to go back and get one?" asked Zeke. "I know I can't"

"Why not?" asked Alice. Zeke showed her his paws, and Alice realized that it would be extremely difficult for him to use a weapon, due to the shape of his paws.

"Oh...hey what's that over there?" said Alice, catching sight of a long shiny object and a bag.

"Looks like a staff of some kind" Zeke answered. He and Alice walked over to the peculiar-looking collection of items. They discovered a decorated silver staff, and a bag full of scrolls. Zeke tried to pick up the staff, and for some reason, it stuck to his paws. Zeke liked this fact, and soon discovered that he could swing it in any direction. There was also a three-foot wand inside the bag. It was a beautiful item. The wood was painted black and there was a shiny blue orb at the end.

Zeke began to search through the various colored scrolls that were also in the bag. The colors were vibrant and had labels written on the outside. Some of them were particularly interesting. Things like "Hypervelocity Bolt", "Levitate", "Contorted Blast", "Prismatic Laser", "Ethereal Fire", and "Oral Energy Ball". He also noticed numbers beside the labels. Alice saw these numbers and was eager to find out what they meant.

Zeke reached the bottom of the bag, pulled out a note, and saw that it was a list of instructions having to do with activating the scrolls. Zeke nodded slowly and smiled. The instructions themselves were interesting, but what really caught Zeke's attention was the fact that with practice, he could learn how to use the spells in the scrolls without using the scrolls themselves. Basically, he could shoot magic from his paws, just like that.

He gave Alice the wand and a few of the scrolls, put the bag over one side of his neck, and realized that he could make the staff stick to his back, freeing his paws to do other things. The bag was easy to carry and the staff did not bother Zeke when he moved about.

"Right," said Zeke. "Now that we have the weapons…what do we do now?"

"I know," responded Alice. "Why don't we go see if my uncle's all right?"

"Will we run into anything dangerous?" asked Zeke.

"Not if we're careful," said Alice. "Although, we'd be better off together…especially in a place like this"

Zeke remembered Alice's statement about the miners and decided to take the elevator to the top level. He did so, with Alice next to him. When they reached the top, they discovered more battle evidence: ruined furniture, broken weapons, and a peculiar ambience noise. There was definitely something grim about this place.

The ambient noise added to the unpleasantness because, while it soothed Zeke, it worried Alice. The noise was something very much like wind, only it was muffled, and the pitch seemed to fluctuate slightly. It gave the impression that something happened here and it turned a once busy mine, into a bleak, gloomy, and possibly dangerous place.

Alice took all of the environmental information and began to see the misery that this place had gone through. Zeke, on the other hand, was oblivious to all this and was only concerned that something might be hiding in a corner, waiting for a false move. Nevertheless, they were both nervous.

Zeke suddenly remembered one of his social skills classes in school and decided to put it to use. He remembered a lesson about gestures, and although his paws would not allow him to use some, he knew that he could try this one.

"Alice," said Zeke. "You know what this gesture means?" He put his paw to his mouth and moved it quickly from right to left, implying a request for silence.

"No, sorry," said Alice.

"It means be quiet" said Zeke. "If what I'm thinking is true, then it will come in handy later".

They left the elevator and walked down the path in the middle, but they soon came to a fork. Neither of the options looked safe. The one on the left started to make noises, creepy ones. The one on the right was just as bad with its unnerving scenery. The lights were flickering, furniture was crushed, and of course the weapons on the ground. All of these factors created an atmosphere that suggested something greater than a simple battle.

"Why this way?" said Zeke, taking note of the number of choices back near the elevator.

"This is the way to where the miners should be," said Alice. "The only way"

"I choose…right" said Zeke. "At least we won't have to deal with the noises and the things that are making them"

"Who's to say we won't?" asked Alice.

"It's worth a try"

They slowly crept through the path on the right, unaware of the surprise that was waiting for them near the pile of crates at the end of the central passage.

Chapter 4

Chapter 5: Preparations

Chapter 6: The Mission

Wouldn't it be wiser to wait for reviews, and then post the next chapter? If no-one's replying, then there must be a reason.

I do wait for reviews as I'm posting my chapters.

On my other site, I posted the same story. I got 21 reviews. All of them were good.

Yet, it would be wiser to wait on this site as well. It's pointless saying abot how you've got some on another site, because lot's of people might not even know what other site your talking about, much less be members of it.

This seems very interesting, though fast paced.
I once posted a very long story all at once, and no-one reviewed it because they couldn't be bothered to go through the whole thing at once.
But I do hope that you continue this.

Chapter 7: What Lurks Within


Zeke and his friends were about to enter the mine through the entrance that converged three paths, that ran to separate mines. Their goal was the book, but they knew by now, it would not be easy to retrieve. After the warnings about the undead in the mine, the time had come to see if Zeke and his friends can survive what lurks within.

Meanwhile, Zeke was having trouble solving an inconsistency. It involved the elevator.

"Cedric?" asked Zeke. "Did we use a second elevator when we went to the top floor? I could have sworn that we pressed the exact same button if we didn't"

"Yes, we did," replied Cedric. "We used the emergency one, as from what I've heard, the other one's damaged"

"Oh...okay," said Zeke.

And with that problem solved, Zeke and his friends entered the mine, and the minute they did, they began to hear noises. Noises that only the Threat Detector would make. It sounded like rumbling intermingled with rattling chains. It gave the message that there were dangerous enemies in the mine, and a good number of them as well.

As Zeke and his friends reached the end of the entrance, something quite frightening happened. The gate at the entrance began to close. Zeke was not concerned though.

"Don't worry...for every gate, there's a lever that opens it somewhere," he said. Then he realized that he was talking out loud and pulled out the Telepathy scroll. He opened it, followed the instructions, and talked to the others, using telepathy.

"Let's try to talk to each other through our minds. We don't want to attract attention, especially in a place like this," he said.

He noticed that the number on the Telepathy scroll when he first found it was twenty-five. Now it was twenty-three. He began to understand how the numbers on each scroll work. The numbers indicated how many times the scroll could be activated, before it became useless.

Somehow, Zeke was beginning to feel good about the situation that he and the others was in. Although he knew that the mine was dangerous, he did not see the real meaning behind the danger. Alice and Cedric did not catch on to this fact, until Zeke said,

"This is kind of exciting, don't you think?"

"Exciting?" asked Alice, surprised by Zeke's question. "You worry me sometimes, Zeke."

Zeke and his friends came to a halt as they were faced with two different paths. One that wandered off to the left, and another to the right. Zeke chose the one on the right. He did not know why.

"Since this mine has been used before, and since the book is in this mine," said Zeke. "Why don't we look...ah, hey!"

He broke out of telepathy as the floor seemed to neatly collapse around him. Zeke fell through a trap door.

"Zeke!" shouted Alice.

"That's not fair!" shouted Zeke as a last comment before fading in the distance. The surprising thing was that it did not seem like an instant end for Zeke by plummeting to the ground, but instead he seemed to be sliding diagonally downwards. Still, the sudden separation of Zeke from the others was shocking, especially to Alice.

"We've got to find Zeke, wherever he's landed!" shouted Alice. "We've got plenty of equipment, so let's not waste time!"

"Where do we go now?" asked Cedric.

"Over the trap door," responded Alice. "That's the direction Zeke is heading"

"All right, let's go!" said Cedric.

And they ran down the hallway, looking for Zeke's landing place.

Meanwhile, Zeke had no idea where he had landed, but he felt dizzy after falling through the trap door. He could see nothing but the ending point of the trap door, iron bars, and the fact that he was suspended in the air. He was in a cage, and was just about to try and climb back up the slide in the trap door, when the cage began to lower itself. Suddenly, everything began to light up. What Zeke saw next, surprised him.

Zeke saw a large room, lit up with electric lights. It was densely populated with undead, who were talking and socializing with each other. All faces turned to Zeke. One of the skeletons in the room spoke to Zeke,

"Look what we've got here," he said. "Lower the cage!"

Once the cage was lowered to the ground, everyone came closer to Zeke, with the skeleton who spoke to him making his way through the crowd. He was wearing a suit of chainmail with a breastplate. The chain was worn much like a robe. The skeleton was also carrying a staff with a red orb at the end.

"My, my...I don't think anyone in the world has seen an animal like this before," said the skeleton.

"Actually there are a few that have," said Zeke, suddenly thinking of an idea. The idea involved talking to the undead to see if they can make some sort of deal to let Zeke go free. Zeke always knew he would never do something bad on purpose, so he brainstormed for ideas.

"It can talk too," said the skeleton. "Who are you...what are you...how did you get here?"

"To make a long story short, my name is Zeke, I'm a Lucario, and I got here by falling through a trap door. Why did you block up the right entrance hallway with a trap door? Don't you use it anymore?"

"We never used it," replied the skeleton. "We wanted to catch intruders like you before they do something dreadful"

Zeke began to feel awkward. He was faced with a difficult decision. Tell the truth and possibly cost him his life? Or lie and save himself from death, but tarnish his honesty. Zeke weighed the two choices, and seeing as the undead can talk and do not seem like the traditional, aggressive, mindless beings that other people learn from books, he came to a decision. He was going to tell the truth, but seeing the delicate situation he was in, he knew it was not going to be easy.

"Okay, I'm going to be honest," said Zeke. "I'm looking for a book that was lost in here when you guys supposedly attacked the miners"

"All right, I'm going to be honest too," said the skeleton. "We destroyed it, and also, we didn't attack the miners. It was the exact opposite."

"I'm not going to ask why you destroyed the book," said Zeke. "But there's one thing that puzzles me. I think that all this fighting could have been prevented if all of you spoke when you met the miners first saw you. I think they were only trying to protect themselves, but from what I can tell now, it spiraled out of control"

"Only, we didn't attack them first," said the skeleton. The undead in the other mine must have done that"

"So there are two groups of undead in the mountain...one that is savage, and the other, I can actually have a conversation with?"

"Seems so," said the skeleton. "Listen...will you do us all a favor?"

"That depends...will it involve attacking the miners?" asked Zeke, seeking a simple answer.

"No...in fact we need help from the miners to pull this one off, but I fear that they will attack us because we're undead ourselves," replied the skeleton.

"I can fix that problem...but how can we tell you guys apart from the savage undead?" asked Zeke.

"We have glowing eyes," responded the skeleton. "The others don't. Please be sure to tell the miners that"

"Don't worry, I will," said Zeke.

"Why don't we see the miners and introduce ourselves?" asked the skeleton. "Maybe then we can discuss the first phase of our plan, once the miners get to know us"

"But first, we have to find my friends. One of them is a teenage girl, and another is a miner. You'll have to tell them that you and your people are not savages. Be careful though, they're heavily armed and alert. Stick with me because once they see me with you, they will think twice before attacking"

"All right," said the skeleton. "That sounds like a good idea"

He then turned to the crowd.

"Everyone, listen! We are going to attempt an offensive on the enemy undead, but we'll need the miners' help with this one. Treat them as you wish to be treated. Do not attack them, or do anything that will cause tensions between us and them. I will be back in a while. And another thing...there are two others in this mine, one of them a teenage girl, and another is a miner. Tell the guards to watch for them, and if they see you or you see them, tell them that Zeke has spoken with us and that we wish to help the miners. I really think we have a chance this time, now that Zeke is with us"

Everyone in the room then started to move about, searching the hallways for guards to inform.

"Right," said Zeke. "I can still talk to the miners from here...with this thing"

Zeke pulled the Quasi-Phone out of his bag and spoke into it,

"Quince, you there?" he asked.

"I'm still here," Quince responded. "And I heard the whole conversation between you and your new friend. I'll be sure to tell everyone the good news."

"Great," said Zeke. "Let's go"

As Zeke and the skeleton left the room, both of them had something else to say. Zeke began first,

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Devlin," said the skeleton.

At the moment, Zeke and Devlin were at the entrance of a long hallway. Then they heard distant voices that seemed to be coming closer. Zeke recognized them immediately.

"That's Alice and Cedric," he said. "This is it, Devlin. Stay with me in case they haven't heard from you yet"

"Is that you, Zeke?" asked Alice.

"Yes it is, and I've got someone with me," replied Zeke, trying to be tactful.

"Is it Devlin?" asked Alice.

Zeke was relieved that they knew about Devlin.

"Yes it is," said Devlin. "Now that we've found you two, we can head to the miners' camp and remove all doubts about us"

"Great," said Alice. "Let's get moving"

Before they were about to leave, a skeleton with a suit of armor came into view. He caught sight of Alice and Cedric and disappeared, telling others that Zeke and Devlin had found Alice and Cedric.

Zeke and the others walked out of the mountain and into the path that now split into three directions. They followed the one on the left, admiring the scenery and the mysterious music that the Threat Detector was playing. It did not sound threatening or ominous in any way. Then, they entered the passage leading to the elevator, took the elevator down to the floor at the start of the mission. It did not take long for them to find their way back to the living complex. There were several miners there waiting for them. Among them was Quince.

"Greetings, Devlin," said Quince. "We've been expecting you"

"I should think so. Now, where can you take me so that I can formally introduce ourselves to you?"

"In the dining room, I think," said one of the miners. "Follow me"

Everyone followed the miner to the dining room, where Cedric and Quince introduced themselves, and after a while, discussed their plans for the offensive against the savage undead. Meanwhile, Zeke and Alice were having a conversation of their own. Alice already knew Zeke's backstory, so she explained her's.

Alice came from a town that was close to the mine. Her house was old, but well-maintained. Her father was the owner of an inn that was quite popular. Her mother had equal responsibilities with the inn as well. Alice always appreciated nature and she liked animals, and even ventured into the forest quite a few times. For some reason, whenever she saw a wild animal in the forest, like a wolf, the wolf would not attack her. She had something about her that convinced the animals in the forest that she was not a threat to their safety, so they just continued on, sometimes approached her, and sometimes even befriended her.

When Alice told her parents that she had a "special relationship" with the animals in the forest, her parents cautioned her about the dangers of the forest. But one night, Alice's parents hid behind a bush and watched to see what would happen to Alice when an animal approached her. And as expected, the bear that she saw that night acted friendly, with no hostile feelings at all. Her parents were amazed at this, but still decided to remain silent and hidden, just in case.

Zeke was fascinated by this story, and by the time Alice had finished, Cedric tried to recieve their attention.

"Zeke, Alice...listen. Thanks for your help. We now have the forces to drive the savages out of the mine and the mountain. We couldn't have done it without someone like you. Someone who has the guts to pull something like this. As a reward, you two can keep the equipment I gave you"

Quince gave Alice the other part to the Quasi-Phone.

"We'll put it to good use, don't you worry," said Alice. She then realized that her mother had wanted her to return home by midnight. "But now, I have to go home. I hope the offensive goes well. Thanks for the gadgets and spells. Zeke, are you coming with me?"

Zeke saw no reason to refuse.

"Okay, I'll come," he said.

Zeke and Alice made their way out of the living complex, into the mines, all the way to the elevator, up to the exit that they both used when they were looking for the book, and out. Once again, they saw beautiful scenery, but this time, the moon had changed position in the sky. It was getting very late.

They slowly made their way down the mountain, enjoying the cool air that was present. By the time the reached the bottom and a short distance away from the mountain, a blue oval of energy opened up. Alice was shocked.

"What's that thing?" she asked.

"That must be the same portal I entered when I first came to the mountain," said Zeke. "This may be my only chance to get to my home, but I don't want to leave you, you've been a good friend"

"I wonder if this is a two-way portal," said Alice. "If so, then I can come with you. Even if it's one-way, another will open up eventually if another one has already appeared. I don't want to leave you either. In fact, I'm coming with you"

"All right, prepare yourself," said Zeke. "On the other end lies the world of Pokemon"

They walked into the portal, closing it behind them. They had made it through the Test of Courage. But instead of going to the world of Pokemon, the portal took them somewhere else. Someplace where it would take more than courage to escape. Now, the Test of Resourcefulness was about to begin.

Chapter 8: Unfamiliar Territory

Chapter 9: A Turn for the Better

Chapter 10

Chapter 11: The Art of Stealth

Synthrâx said:

The second, is the font in some of the chapters. The large-sized type is just assaulting on the eyes, to put it bluntly.

Click to expand...

When I uploaded my chapters, I wasn't paying attention to the font. You see what happened was that the font size seemed to change as soon as I uploaded it. It must be because of the difference between my font and PC's font.

I was typing at Times New Roman, size 12.

But thanks for pointing that out. I'll be sure to shrink the font next time (so long as it doesn't erase every space in the chapter).

I'm still reading this, and enjoying it. A couple of small spelling and/or grammatical errors like

"Oh, ghostliness has its advantages you know," said the woman. "I'm no longer in danger by the undead. We leave each other alone, so everybody's happy."

Click to expand...

where it might be better to use in danger from the undead, but other than that it's fine.
For a moment, I thought that Samuel was an alternate universe's version of Oak, but yeah...

Keep at it, AL.

~ La Pompa

i

i think that the lady is the evil that was put in the castle.i mean she cant remember the notes she is in a borded up room and she is a dead spirit with a conncence. thats what i think