The Fairy's Poison: FD 2 (Pokemon) ||Complete||

Chapter 36: The Air and the Earth

Hi everyone, SK here.

Valerie has started her Queen's test, well the first one at least.  She and her eight friends have entered the first stage together.  Let's see what's gonna happen next.

Bit of a warning (don't worry, not an actual bad warning like, for example, chapter 30 XD), there'll be lots of POV changes (but only two POVs hehe) and this will probably be a longer chapter but don't count me on it.  Don't worry though, there's art from a while ago that'll be used to help signify the progress.

Also, note: I am not doing a full-on description of each of the nine test stages.  The first will get one, and the last, but the ones in between will get summaries.  Why?  Each stage will be about 2K-3K words worth, the last one being much much longer, and it will be boring reading the same thing over and over again with a slight twist.  Trust me.

Okay okay enough of my super long A/N, let's begin.  Please enjoy.

!!! WARNINGS: Bad Language

Valerie

"Are you guys all insane!?" I shout as we land upon a fluffy surface.  As I try to stand up on what appears to be some sort of cloud I partially lose my balance, but luckily Nate props me up pretty quickly.  "Why... why...!?"  

"Her Majesty told us what you needed, and we weren't about to let a complete group of strangers stick with you for millions of years," explains Hilbert with a small smile. 

I can't even begin to comprehend their reasoning.  "You guys realize what you've done, right?  You've given up your lives, your lives that all of you had to live, and you can't... you can't go back.  Why would you give all of that up for me..."

All of them look like they're going to give me an answer, but Reza's voice pierces through the air before they can.  "Welcome all of you to the first stage, Air."

My head spins around and I see Alara's Spirit Soldier of Air hovering in the sky.  "Reza, there's a mistake, I don't have nine people with me!  You have to let me out so I can fetch a ninth!"

He gives me a sly smile.  "There's been no mistakes, Valerie.  You have nine; perhaps you've miscounted.  She's standing right beside you."

I turn around in all directions, but none of my female friends are standing, as he said, "right beside me".  What is he going on about? I wonder, but there's no time to worry now.  If Reza said everything was fine, then unfortunately I'm forced to believe him.

"Let's go over the rules, shall we?" he checks.  Once I nod, he continues.  "You cannot use any spells, hexes, or powers in each stage unless they are related to the Element you are about to claim.  Each stage will essentially act like a game of hide and seek.  The Spirit Soldier, me in this case, will be hidden somewhere in each stage, and you and the humans you have with you will seek them out.  Once you find me, you will have passed the stage and you'll be allowed to move forward and claim the Element.  

"However," he adds in a more grave voice, "there are no protections in place, no safety spells to stop you from dying, any of you... but I assume that you've already been told this."  I nod, and thankfully the rest of the group does too.  "Are you ready?"

"Hold on a moment."  I step forward on the fluffy cloud to be closer to the Spirit Soldier.  "I know I'll have their help, but how are we supposed to find you?"  I gesture to the vastness of this stage.  All of us are standing amongst the clouds.  The sun is clearly starting to head toward the horizon line, so its light is a little less intense despite the sky remaining relatively blue.  From all the way up here I can see the planet curve, the distant silhouette of stars only slightly visible.  The ground below is nowhere to be seen, and a wind whips through all of our hair.