Chapter 5

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="14800640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <B>Dark Reflection (Beginning):</B>  <A HREF="dr_pro.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prologue"><U>Prologue</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr1.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 1"><U>Chapter 1</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 2"><U>Chapter 2</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 3"><U>Chapter 3</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 4"><U>Chapter 4</U></A>   |   <B>Chapter 5</B></div> <div> <B>A Master in the Making:  </B><A HREF="mim18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 18"><U>Chapter 18</U></A>   |   <A HREF="mim19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 19"><U>Chapter 19</U></A>   |   <A HREF="mim20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 20"><U>Chapter 20</U></A>   |   <A HREF="mim21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 21"><U>Chapter 21</U></A>   |   <A HREF="mim22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 22"><U>Chapter 22</U></A>   |   <A HREF="mim23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 23"><U>Chapter 23</U></A>   |   <A HREF="mim24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 24"><U>Chapter 24</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id734.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 25"><U>Chapter 25</U></A>   |   <A HREF="mim26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 26"><U>Chapter 26</U></A></div> <div> <B>Dark Reflection:  </B><A HREF="dr6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 6"><U>Chapter 6</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 7"><U>Chapter 7</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 8"><U>Chapter 8</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr9.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 9"><U>Chapter 9</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 10"><U>Chapter 10</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 11"><U>Chapter 11</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 12"><U>Chapter 12</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr13.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 13"><U>Chapter 13</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 14"><U>Chapter 14</U></A></div> <div> <B>Dark Reflection (Finale): </B><A HREF="dr15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 15"><U>Chapter 15</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chapter 16"><U>Chapter 16</U></A>   |   <A HREF="dr_epi.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Epilogue"><U>Epilogue</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#000066" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/oldnews.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethralti"><U><B>Old News</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://members.fortunecity.com/zethraltier/zrfic/" TARGET="_top" 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friends while we're here."  The fire puppy barked out his thanks, and ran off before Zeth could turn on his translator and ask him to repeat what he said.  "I guess he's glad to be back."</div> <bR> <div>     Sani watched the Growlithe disappear down a tunnel that was half filled with glowing lava.  "There's no place like home, especially if you live in a volcano.  I think it's a little too hot for my liking, though.  Not to mention the smell." she grimaced, clasping one hand over her nose.  "What <B>is</B> that, anyway?"</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth shrugged.  "It's just a little bit of sulfur and toxic gas.  It won't kill you or anything unless you breathe  in a whole lot of it."</div> <bR> <div>     Sani stared at Zeth in disbelief, "You mean we're breathing poison in here?  That's even worse than the heat!"</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth chuckled as he pointed at one the smoking lava pools, "Just don't breathe too much of those fumes, and you'll be fine.  We won't be here that long, anyway.  All we have to do is check out the temple and get the Orb of Fire, then we'll be able to get out of here."</div> <bR> <div>     Destiny nodded in agreement, "Sounds good to me.  I don't want to stay down here any longer than I have to.  Just don't tell Blaze I said that."</div> <bR> <div>     "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me.  I think he knows that we can't really tolerate this kind of environment, though, so I don't think he'd be too disappointed to hear you say that."  Zeth opened his backpack and pulled out a flashlight, but Sani put her hand on his shoulder before he turned it on.</div> <bR> <div>    "You won't need to use that, I can light this place up easily."  Sani waved her hand in a circular pattern, creating a glowing sphere of bright light, which she handed to Zeth.  "See?" she said, winking, "A 'Sani Day' ability to go along with my psychic Rain Dance."</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth rolled the glowing ball back and forth on his hand.  "Wow, that's really neat.  Now I'm starting to wish that I could be a Mew instead of a pokémon trainer."</div> <bR> <div>     Sani shook her head, "Nah, you're probably better off as a human.  Nobody wants to make a superclone of you, and you don't have to hide from everyone all your life."  Making two more balls of light, Sani handed one to Destiny, keeping one for herself.  "Come on, let's go check this place out."</div> <bR> <div>     The Fire Temple was quite a bit larger than the Sea Temple was, and its carvings were still intact, somehow surviving the eruptions that must have happened during the hundreds of years it had been standing.  Perhaps it had been maintained by the same force that had rebuilt the Sea Temple the previous day when they placed the Orb of the Sea on its stand, or perhaps the rock it was carved in was extremely resistant to heat.  Whatever had protected it had done an excellent job, though.  As the three friends walked to the center of the huge chamber, they could see beautiful renditions of the fire bird Moltres -- some so detailed that they seemed as if they would fly right off the wall.  Two large statues of the fire bird guarded an empty ledge at the rear of the temple, where the Orb of Fire probably used to rest.</div> <bR> <div>     Sani set her light sphere down on the Orb's ledge, then touched the expected depression just above the ledge.  "Here's your pendant mark, Zeth.  Are you ready to win this next Orb?"</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth pulled off his talisman, which he now wore on a cord he had found at the Ruby Pokémon Center, where they had stayed the night.  Fortunately, Sani had managed to stay out of sight the entire time they had been there, even though she had played quite a few practical jokes on the Chanseys, who now thought that they had a resident poltergeist.</div> <bR> <div>     "Well, here we go!" Zeth said, pressing the medallion into place.  It quickly began to glow even brighter than Sani's spheres of light, filling the temple with light.  Two torches by the entrance suddenly lit up, although no fire had gone anywhere near them.  The flames from them jumped toward the ceiling, impossibly growing larger and curving toward each other.  They met in a spectacular flash, escaping from the torches they had started from and flying across the room towards the shrine.  As the fire bore down on them, Sani squeaked in panic and set up a psychic barrier to block it.  Just before it hit the glowing wall, it suddenly stopped and landed on the ground in a whirlwind of flames.  The fire parted and disappeared, revealing Moltres, the lord of the temple.</div> <bR> <div>     It called out something, and Zeth quickly pulled out his pokédex to translate.  {...have returned to my temple yet again, young one.  This time I see you have not come for a pokémon, but for the Orb of Fire.  Do you know what you must do before I may give it to you?}</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth nodded cautiously,  "Lugia said that I must battle the master of each Orb before I can receive it.  I don't know how my pokémon could possibly defeat you; but I will try, if that is what is required of me."</div> <bR> <div>     The huge fire bird stared down at them, sizing them up.  {You are courageous, young one.  I respect that.  I remember what you did for the pokémon in my realm two months ago, and I am thankful to you.  However, I shall not go easy on you because of that.  This battle will be quite difficult for you, and only your pokémon may participate in it.}  The Moltres waved one wing at Destiny and Sani.  {The two of you may stay and show your support for your comrade, but you may not interfere.  This battle is for him alone, understand?}</div> <bR> <div>     Sani looked worried, "Yeah, we understand.  We will not interfere in your battle."  She gave Zeth a quick glance.  "Are you sure you can do this?"</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth shook his head, "No, but I don't have any choice if we're going to try to get all eight Orbs.  I'll just do the best I can, as always."</div> <bR> <div>     The lord of fire flapped his great flaming wings, motioning for Sani and Destiny to stand back.  "Then let the match begin.  We will battle right here, in the temple.  You may send out all your pokémon to fight me at once, or have them battle one at a time.  It does not matter to me."</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth pulled the pokéballs from his belt, "Come out, everyone, it's time for the biggest battle we've ever had."  Zeth's five remaining pokémon appeared, gasping when they saw the opponent they were up against.</div> <bR> <div>     {You've got to be kidding!} Florio complained, {He's gonna toast us!}  At that proclamation, Eva shuddered and took a quick step back to hide behind the Ivysaur.</div> <bR> <div>     {Don't be such a coward,} Talon rebuked, {We'll never win with that kind of attitude!}</div> <bR> <div>     "Talon's right," Zeth told his pokémon.  "We're only going to win if we believe in ourselves.  I know that you have the strength to do this.  Now let's fight this battle, so we can all go take a nice long rest at the nearest pokémon center.</div> <bR> <div>     {Yeah, in the emergency ward,} Florio grumbled, crouching down into a defensive position.  {I suppose I'm  ready as I'll ever be.  Let's go!}</div> <bR> <div>     The Moltres took to the air, trailing flames behind it.  Sting and Talon followed him, soaring close to the ceiling of the huge temple.  For a moment, the three pokémon just circled gracefully, then Zeth called out commands. "Talon, Drill Peck!  Sting, Pin Missile!  Aqua, Teleport and use Water Gun!"</div> <bR> <div>     Florio called over to Zeth, {What about me and Eva?}</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth spared a quick glance in the Ivysaur's direction.  "I don't know... Use Razor Leaf or something.  Eva can use Swift."</div> <bR> <div>     The Ivysaur shook his head and gave the Eevee beside him a quick smile.  {I have a better idea, Eva.} he said, leaning over to whisper in her ear.  {Let's try this...}</div> <bR> <div>     Talon slammed into the fire bird, pecking it on its back as hard as he possibly could.  Before he could pull away, the Moltres burst into flames, lighting the Spearow on fire.  Talon dove to the ground, where Aqua quickly doused the flames with a light burst of water.  Sting shot past the Moltres' head, scratching the bird with one of her stingers as she flew.  The enraged Moltres spun around and released a huge fireball, which hit the Beedrill dead center.  To the everyone's surprise, Sting vanished as the inferno hit her.  The Moltres glanced around in confusion, then plummeted to the ground as a blast of water hit him from above.  Sting swooped down, carrying Aqua, who released another round of water to soak the fire bird.</div> <bR> <div>     The Moltres shrieked out a war cry, spinning in a tight circle to create a raging whirlwind of fire that roared toward Sting and Aqua, surrounding them in a massive inferno.  Bursting out of the top of the whirlwind, the Moltres flew after Talon, leaving his scorched victims behind.  Sting fell to the ground, too badly burned to continue the fight.  Beside her, Aqua peeked out of his blackened shell, resembling a piece of charcoal with a tongue.  Zeth recalled both of them so Moltres could cause no further damage to them.</div> <bR> <div>     Meanwhile, Talon juked from side to side, trying to escape the flaming blasts from his opponent, with varying degrees of success.  One of the streams of fire rushed past him, scorching the tip of his left wing.  In reflex, he dove to the right, accidentally smashing into one of the columns.  The Moltres flew in a wide circle, coming around to finish off the dazed Spearow.  Suddenly a brown streak flew through the air, landing on top of the fire bird.</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth tried to see what was happening, but he had a bad angle.  From the sidelines, Sani called out to him.  "Your Eevee is crazy, Zeth!"  He looked back up in shock as the Moltres turned upside-down, revealing Eva, hanging by her teeth from the front of the bird's wing.  The little fox bounced up and down as the Moltres flapped his wings, but she still held on, scratching and kicking whenever she could.</div> <bR> <div>     When the Moltres started spinning, the little Eevee could hold on no longer, falling towards the floor far below.  From out of nowhere, two vines shot up and grabbed her, boosting her back up to the Moltres, where she once again clamped onto a wing.  Zeth turned to see Florio, the source of the vines, glowing from a Solarbeam charge.  {Ok, Eva, now!} the Ivysaur shouted.  Zeth looked up just in time to see the Eevee launch herself from the Moltres' back, as Florio released his Solarbeam directly into it.  Once again, the Ivysaur grabbed her out of the air, bringing her down to a less precarious height.</div> <bR> <div>     The Moltres landed hard, shaking the wing that Eva had been biting.  {Very good...  I had not expected such a daring move on your part.  I am still not beaten, though, so prepare to defend yourselves!}  Florio dove to the floor as the bird sent a stream of fire burning overhead.  Eva took the opportunity to slam into the Moltres with a Take Down attack.  In retaliation, the lord of fire spun around and spat a fireball at her.</div> <bR> <div>     The attack never hit.  Instead, it was deflected by a second ball of fire that knocked the first one into the wall.  The Moltres hit the ground, bowled over by a familiar orange-and-black pokémon.  {Hey!} Blaze complained, as he jumped off the surprised bird.  {Why'd you start a firefight without me?}  The Growlithe quickly jumped back as the Moltres swept a wing at him.</div> <bR> <div>     "Good job, Blaze!" Zeth called, "Keep it up!"  Blaze winked at Eva, then dashed towards the fire bird, running around behind it instead of ramming into it.  The bird instinctively turned to follow the Growlithe but was thrown off balance as Eva also rushed past, biting at his feet.  Florio pushed with his vines, knocking the stumbling avian over.</div> <bR> <div>     The three pokémon were all thrown back as the Moltres unleashed another whirlwind of fire.  A moment later, the flames covered the three pokémon, hiding them from sight.  The inferno burned past, leaving behind its three badly scorched victims.  Moltres nodded in satisfaction, turning to regard Talon, who had partially recovered from his collision with the column and was now glaring at the fire bird from the perch he had just taken on the Orb of Fire's ledge.  The Spearow grabbed the ball of light that Sani had set down there, then flew toward the Moltres at high speed.</div> <bR> <div>     The Moltres let loose a huge Flamethrower, which Talon skimmed the edge of.  He flashed past the fire bird, releasing the glowing sphere.  {Florio!  Use Solarbeam again!} he ordered, as the ball hit the Ivysaur's bud and was absorbed.  Although Florio was nearly unconscious from the inferno he had just been through, the energy from the ball of light gave him the strength to unleash one more Solarbeam.  The beam of light slammed into his fiery opponent, knocking him to the ground yet again.  Out of energy and badly charred, Florio fell back down, and Zeth recalled him.</div> <bR> <div>     The Moltres rose, knocking Talon out of the sky with a wave of fire.  The great bird looked around, searching for another enemy.  Lying beside the fallen Ivysaur, Blaze climbed to his feet and limped toward the Moltres.  {This match isn't over yet} he stated stubbornly.  Behind him, Eva stood as well, having been shielded from the bulk of the fire by her Growlithe teammate.</div> <bR> <div>     {Yes it is,} Moltres said, {You have no chance of beating me by yourselves.  Quit now, before you really get hurt.}</div> <bR> <div>     Blaze growled, {Not a chance.  I'm not giving up until I win.}</div> <bR> <div>     Eva crouched beside him, ready for another attack.  {That goes for me too!}</div> <bR> <div>     The fire bird laughed, {You two are too stubborn for your own good!  Very well... You have all fought with great skill and courage.  So... I now concede this battle and deliver the Orb of Fire to you.}  A spinning fireball appeared on the Orb's ledge, dying down to reveal the second Orb, which Zeth quickly retrieved.  As he picked it up, a whirlwind of fire slowly started to surround the legendary bird.  {Farewell, travelers.} he said, fading from view, {May your journeys go well, and your courage prevail.}  The flames jumped back onto the torches, which flickered and died, leaving no trace of the encounter with the legendary bird, except for the burns that covered Zeth's pokémon.</div> <bR> <div>     {You know, I think he was going easy on us,} Blaze remarked, as he, Zeth, Destiny, Eva, and Sani walked out of the temple.  </div> <bR> <div>     "I know he was," Zeth replied.  "But do you actually want to go back and ask him to <B>really</B> fight you?"  He reached for Blaze's pokéball.  "Come on, time to go back inside.  You too, Eva"  As the Growlithe and Eevee went back into their pokéballs, Zeth shook his head.  "That was awful rough on my pokémon," he said to Destiny, "I hope we don't have to do that too many more times."</div> <bR> <div>     Sani pointed to Zeth's backpack, "You already have two Orbs out of the four you need to collect.  Destiny and I haven't gotten any of ours, though.  I'm afraid that we're going to have to part company with you soon, so we can go back to the alternate world."</div> <bR> <div>     Zeth nodded, "I know.  It had to happen eventually.  We'll meet up again, though, once we have all the Orbs.  If you wouldn't mind, you could drop me off by Emerald City and I'll continue my journey from there.  That way, I could continue earning badges while I look for my last two Orbs."</div> <bR> <div>     Destiny smiled, "Emerald City it is, then.  Sani?  If you would kindly do the honors?"</div> <bR> <div>     "Of course," Sani responded, lifting the three of them into the air.  "Anything to get out of this sulfuric stench!"</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>