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Description
Rachael sat at the bench table in the food court with Bradley and Jake's parents. She swung her legs lazily, not once looking at her food in front of her.

"Ok, what's the matter now?" Bradley asked the quiet Dewott after finishing his second hot dog.

Rachael let out a deep sigh, "I'm worried about Jake and everyone else."

"Tch, who cares," Bradley took a sip of his soda.

Rachael let out an even deeper sigh than before, the anxiety of not knowing how her friends were doing steadily building. There was no way of telling their wellbeing unless the came back; if they came back.

Bradley saw the concern in the little Dewott's eyes, "…Besides, you and I both know they can take care of themselves. So there's no point in worrying."

"Really?"

"They'll be back before you know it and with that stupid paw print or whatever it was."

Rachael smiled in relief, "You're right Bradley, thanks for cheering me up."

"Who said I was cheering you up," Bradley glared sideways, chugging down the last of his soda.

Rachael giggled and looked out over the food court with a far off gaze.

'I still feel a little worried, but Bradley's right. They're all probably doing just fine.'

---Meanwhile, back at the plot---

"AHCHOO! Dear Arceus, I freakin' hate cold weather," Jake chattered as he and his Blaziken, Haze, trudged through the icy hillside.

Haze, being a fire-type, was able to keep a better grip in frozen wastelands, but was in more or less the same funk as her partner thanks to how unbelievably colder it got as they climbed. After the fight with Raikou, Jake had flown the rest of the way to the base of the volcano with Ryo. He took a short break near an open path that led up the otherwise impossible vertical inclines, and tended to the injuries of his two wounded pokemon. Luckily, they hadn't sustained any life threatening injuries from their battle and now only need some well-deserved rest. Deciding it would be best to continue on foot, Haze had broken out of her pokeball (again) to accompany Jake one the long traversion. And even though Jake had prepared for a cold weather encounter with his most insulated clothes, it still felt like it was well below freezing through the thick layers of insulation he wore. A quick gust of cold air blew in his unprotected face as if the volcano was mocking him and making his teeth chatter even worse.

"I swear, I just absolutely hate cold weather. And this, on a freakin' volcano, AHCHOO," Jake ranted on as if the heat of his hatred was the only thing keeping him from turning into a solid block of ice.

Haze blew a small plume of fire into her hands to keep herself warm, "I heard you the first twelve times. And why can't we just fly up to the top of the volcano instead?"

"Because, this storm is making it impossible to see anything, and I don't want us crashing into the side of the volcano in the downdrafts."

Another gust of icy wind smacked them both in the face with amazing force. Jake cursed to the sky again; Haze got a small chuckle as she watched him do so.

"I seriously wish this damn blizzard would just disappear already," Jake muttered.

He was about to take another step when something other than the howl of the wind reached their ears.

"Jake did you hear that?" Haze asked, craning over the mounds of snow drift to listen.

Another echo filled the air; it sounded as if it were a cry from a pokemon, like a strong yet ancient voice was calling for them. Before Jake could reply, something extraordinary happened then and there. The howling winds shifted delicately to a mighty breeze, and the sky above was now casually sprinkling the air with soft flakes of powder rather than harsh hail like snow pellets. The scene was such a dramatic change from the unrelenting conditions that it felt as if they had just entered a dreamlike world. The far off echo from before came again, only this time louder now that the wind wasn't drowning it out. As if they knew where to look, Jake and Haze watched as a shadowy blue figure emerged from the haze of the snowy outskirts. The figure was now within the two's field of vision and was unmistakable, Suicune. The proud looking legendary took each step with care and precision, leaving no more than a faint trace of a foot print in the otherwise knee deep snow. He stopped a good 20 feet away from Haze and Jake and sat regally to observe the two newcomers.

"My brother Raikou has told me of your arrival human. I am Suicune, and I will be your next trial," Suicune spoke in the somewhat same strong yet graceful tone Raikou used, "If you can prove to me as you did to my brother of your worthiness, I shall grant you leave to your third and final trial."

"Sounds easy enough," Haze crossed her arms.

Jake stood ready and thought for a moment about which of his remaining pokemon would be best to use against the legendary. He was about to reach for two pokeballs on his belt when Haze held an arm up in front of him to hold him off.

"Haze, what are you doing?"

"I can handle this on my own; we're going to need all the power we have left for against Entei, right?"

Jake felt a twinge of worry graze over him before he nodded in agreement, "Ok Haze, I'm counting on you."

Haze gave a reassuring nod to Jake and turned around to face the legendary.

"As I said before," Suicune said, facing Haze, "You must prove your worthiness if you wish to obtain Entei's Paw Print. You will have ten minutes to land a single attack on me."

"That's it?" Haze said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Yes, be warned though that no task is as simple as it seems."

Haze readied herself to fire off a quick flamethrower, which would have easily completed the trial. But before she could take aim, Suicune roared to the sky with his echoing cry. The blizzard that was held at bay around them resumed with fierce intensity. The winds whipped every which way, kicking what felt like frigid shards of glass against Haze and Jake. Visibility for the two was now non-existent, it was like trying to see through ice cold fog at night.

"Haze! Follow my voice," Jake cried over the howling winds, "We need to stick together or we'll end up separated in the storm!"

Haze tried to zero in on where Jake's voice was coming from, but the overpowering sheets of hail and ice made it impossible to tell where it was coming from.

"Jake! Where are you?" Haze shouted desperately.

"Over here!"

Haze turned in what she believed was the direction of where the voice was coming from. She squinted hard and could barely make out a silhouette in the storm.

She ran toward the shadow in the veil of snow, "Jake!"

She stumbled a bit a patch of hardened snow before starting to make out the figure waiting in the snowy haze. Haze felt a short burst of relief wash over her as she approached the figure that is until the figure finally came into focus. In place of what at first looked like Jake's silhouette, stood the large form of Suicune starring back at her.

She gasped and was a split-second too late on the draw as Suicune fired an Ice Beam attack square in her chest. Haze yelped in pain and flew back into a mound of snow.

"Haze! What happened, where are you?!" Jake called through the blinding whiteout.

Haze got up in no time and brushed away the flakes of ice that clung to her.

"Come now," Haze froze when she heard Suicune's voice right behind her, "You have to be faster than that."

Haze whipped a Blaze Kick as fast as she could around her but caught nothing except cold air. An Ice Shard attack flew out of nowhere which Haze narrowly dodged.

"Haze, Haze!?" Jake continued to call.

Haze launched a volley of attacks in every direction she saw a shadow, hoping to catch the elusive legendary. Jake watched as bursts of light, no fire, shined murkily in the distance. He ran to get closer only to have to dodge a flamethrower attack that nicked his left shoulder. He wanted to help, but knew he wouldn't be able to get too close or end up getting mistaken for Suicune. Haze unrelentingly continued to hammer the open air with all her attacks, none of them even coming close to hitting Suicune.

Suicune, stop hiding and fight!" Haze panted in anger.

Another Ice Shard attack came in and clipped Haze from the side, "Blindly attacking anything will get you nowhere with only five minutes left."

Haze doubled her attacks with time ever increasingly shrinking. Jake stood as close as he could to see the fight rage on. He heard Haze scream again, 'Come on Haze, your stronger than this.'

Suicune padded across the snow effortlessly, avoiding the random stream of attacks and hurtling his own attacks back at Haze's exposed sides. Haze was tiring quickly; she felt every attack drain her of what little energy she still had. Suicune's barrage kept coming and now Haze was forced on the defensive, trying desperately to avoid any more damage. An Ice Beam was shot from behind and trapped Haze's legs in thick slabs of ice. She pounded vainly to escape, but was now being subjected to the full force of Suicune's Blizzard attack.

'No,' Haze's mind burned, 'I can't lose, I can't die here!'

The cry of desperation was all she had left, but a new fire was now burning in her eyes. Suicune watched as the fire spread to the rest of Haze's body, completely engulfing her. The flames grew from a dull red into a golden yellow, then a blinding hot white. The snow and ice around Haze vaporized as soon as it came even within a foot of her. Jake's heart missed a beat as he saw and felt the incoming heat, this wasn't good.

"Haze, listen to me! You have to calm down!" Jake's hoarse voice yelled.

The words were lost to Haze though as she drowned herself in the encasing of fire. Suicune looked on, unsure of what to do other than stand and watch. Jake panicked as he knew what was coming and dug into the snow as fast as he could. Haze screamed in fury and pain as she unleashed the overcharged Blast Burn attack. It all happened so fast; a resounding 'boom' like an explosion sounded, Suicune tumbled backwards into an outcrop of frozen boulders, and the whole field lit up like a dozen flares being set off at once. The light dissipated as quickly as it came and Jake popped out of his now nearly destroyed shelter. He stumbled over clumps of ice to find Haze lying in the center of a twenty foot crater of charred permafrost.

"Oh no," Jake skidded to a stop and carefully hugged Haze against him, "Wake up Haze. Come on, I know you can make it, just wake up!"

Haze moaned, Jake gasped and choked up in relief. Jake dug in his bag for a couple Sitrus berries. Haze noticed her entire body ached all over, realizing what she had done.

"Jake, I'm sorry I lost control."

"Shush, its okay, I was lucky that there was a lot snow cover," Jake whispered and handed Haze the berries, "Here just have some of these."

Haze ate the Sitrus berries, some of her strength returning.

Haze cringed when she saw a small burn mark on Jake's left shoulder, "Jake, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"This? No, don't worry, it only caught to edge of my clothes."

Suicune's echoing cry pierced the frigid winds and the storm subsided again to a small snowfall. Suicune limped over to where Jake was tending to Haze. Jake tensed, ready to defend Haze if Suicune still wanted to fight.

"You pass," Suicune said simply with a chuckle.

Jake's jaw dropped in disbelief before Suicune turned to show a fresh looking burn mark running down his right hind leg.

"With nine seconds to spare I might add. You have proven your worth to me and I grant you leave to your next and final trial."

Suicune disappeared into the whiteout without another word. Jake and Haze smiled and locked hands together in victory.

"Thanks you Haze, you did an amazing job out there," Jake congratulated Haze as he pulled out her pokeball.

"No, thank you Jake," Haze replied weakly, "Thank you for believing in me."

Description
Rachael sat at the bench table in the food court with Bradley and Jake's parents. She swung her legs lazily, not once looking at her food in front of her.

"Ok, what's the matter now?" Bradley asked the quiet Dewott after finishing his second hot dog.

Rachael let out a deep sigh, "I'm worried about Jake and everyone else."

"Tch, who cares," Bradley took a sip of his soda.

Rachael let out an even deeper sigh than before, the anxiety of not knowing how her friends were doing steadily building. There was no way of telling their wellbeing unless the came back; if they came back.

Bradley saw the concern in the little Dewott's eyes, "…Besides, you and I both know they can take care of themselves. So there's no point in worrying."

"Really?"

"They'll be back before you know it and with that stupid paw print or whatever it was."

Rachael smiled in relief, "You're right Bradley, thanks for cheering me up."

"Who said I was cheering you up," Bradley glared sideways, chugging down the last of his soda.

Rachael giggled and looked out over the food court with a far off gaze.

'I still feel a little worried, but Bradley's right. They're all probably doing just fine.'

---Meanwhile, back at the plot---

"AHCHOO! Dear Arceus, I freakin' hate cold weather," Jake chattered as he and his Blaziken, Haze, trudged through the icy hillside.

Haze, being a fire-type, was able to keep a better grip in frozen wastelands, but was in more or less the same funk as her partner thanks to how unbelievably colder it got as they climbed. After the fight with Raikou, Jake had flown the rest of the way to the base of the volcano with Ryo. He took a short break near an open path that led up the otherwise impossible vertical inclines, and tended to the injuries of his two wounded pokemon. Luckily, they hadn't sustained any life threatening injuries from their battle and now only need some well-deserved rest. Deciding it would be best to continue on foot, Haze had broken out of her pokeball (again) to accompany Jake one the long traversion. And even though Jake had prepared for a cold weather encounter with his most insulated clothes, it still felt like it was well below freezing through the thick layers of insulation he wore. A quick gust of cold air blew in his unprotected face as if the volcano was mocking him and making his teeth chatter even worse.

"I swear, I just absolutely hate cold weather. And this, on a freakin' volcano, AHCHOO," Jake ranted on as if the heat of his hatred was the only thing keeping him from turning into a solid block of ice.

Haze blew a small plume of fire into her hands to keep herself warm, "I heard you the first twelve times. And why can't we just fly up to the top of the volcano instead?"

"Because, this storm is making it impossible to see anything, and I don't want us crashing into the side of the volcano in the downdrafts."

Another gust of icy wind smacked them both in the face with amazing force. Jake cursed to the sky again; Haze got a small chuckle as she watched him do so.

"I seriously wish this damn blizzard would just disappear already," Jake muttered.

He was about to take another step when something other than the howl of the wind reached their ears.

"Jake did you hear that?" Haze asked, craning over the mounds of snow drift to listen.

Another echo filled the air; it sounded as if it were a cry from a pokemon, like a strong yet ancient voice was calling for them. Before Jake could reply, something extraordinary happened then and there. The howling winds shifted delicately to a mighty breeze, and the sky above was now casually sprinkling the air with soft flakes of powder rather than harsh hail like snow pellets. The scene was such a dramatic change from the unrelenting conditions that it felt as if they had just entered a dreamlike world. The far off echo from before came again, only this time louder now that the wind wasn't drowning it out. As if they knew where to look, Jake and Haze watched as a shadowy blue figure emerged from the haze of the snowy outskirts. The figure was now within the two's field of vision and was unmistakable, Suicune. The proud looking legendary took each step with care and precision, leaving no more than a faint trace of a foot print in the otherwise knee deep snow. He stopped a good 20 feet away from Haze and Jake and sat regally to observe the two newcomers.

"My brother Raikou has told me of your arrival human. I am Suicune, and I will be your next trial," Suicune spoke in the somewhat same strong yet graceful tone Raikou used, "If you can prove to me as you did to my brother of your worthiness, I shall grant you leave to your third and final trial."

"Sounds easy enough," Haze crossed her arms.

Jake stood ready and thought for a moment about which of his remaining pokemon would be best to use against the legendary. He was about to reach for two pokeballs on his belt when Haze held an arm up in front of him to hold him off.

"Haze, what are you doing?"

"I can handle this on my own; we're going to need all the power we have left for against Entei, right?"

Jake felt a twinge of worry graze over him before he nodded in agreement, "Ok Haze, I'm counting on you."

Haze gave a reassuring nod to Jake and turned around to face the legendary.

"As I said before," Suicune said, facing Haze, "You must prove your worthiness if you wish to obtain Entei's Paw Print. You will have ten minutes to land a single attack on me."

"That's it?" Haze said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Yes, be warned though that no task is as simple as it seems."

Haze readied herself to fire off a quick flamethrower, which would have easily completed the trial. But before she could take aim, Suicune roared to the sky with his echoing cry. The blizzard that was held at bay around them resumed with fierce intensity. The winds whipped every which way, kicking what felt like frigid shards of glass against Haze and Jake. Visibility for the two was now non-existent, it was like trying to see through ice cold fog at night.

"Haze! Follow my voice," Jake cried over the howling winds, "We need to stick together or we'll end up separated in the storm!"

Haze tried to zero in on where Jake's voice was coming from, but the overpowering sheets of hail and ice made it impossible to tell where it was coming from.

"Jake! Where are you?" Haze shouted desperately.

"Over here!"

Haze turned in what she believed was the direction of where the voice was coming from. She squinted hard and could barely make out a silhouette in the storm.

She ran toward the shadow in the veil of snow, "Jake!"

She stumbled a bit a patch of hardened snow before starting to make out the figure waiting in the snowy haze. Haze felt a short burst of relief wash over her as she approached the figure that is until the figure finally came into focus. In place of what at first looked like Jake's silhouette, stood the large form of Suicune starring back at her.

She gasped and was a split-second too late on the draw as Suicune fired an Ice Beam attack square in her chest. Haze yelped in pain and flew back into a mound of snow.

"Haze! What happened, where are you?!" Jake called through the blinding whiteout.

Haze got up in no time and brushed away the flakes of ice that clung to her.

"Come now," Haze froze when she heard Suicune's voice right behind her, "You have to be faster than that."

Haze whipped a Blaze Kick as fast as she could around her but caught nothing except cold air. An Ice Shard attack flew out of nowhere which Haze narrowly dodged.

"Haze, Haze!?" Jake continued to call.

Haze launched a volley of attacks in every direction she saw a shadow, hoping to catch the elusive legendary. Jake watched as bursts of light, no fire, shined murkily in the distance. He ran to get closer only to have to dodge a flamethrower attack that nicked his left shoulder. He wanted to help, but knew he wouldn't be able to get too close or end up getting mistaken for Suicune. Haze unrelentingly continued to hammer the open air with all her attacks, none of them even coming close to hitting Suicune.

Suicune, stop hiding and fight!" Haze panted in anger.

Another Ice Shard attack came in and clipped Haze from the side, "Blindly attacking anything will get you nowhere with only five minutes left."

Haze doubled her attacks with time ever increasingly shrinking. Jake stood as close as he could to see the fight rage on. He heard Haze scream again, 'Come on Haze, your stronger than this.'

Suicune padded across the snow effortlessly, avoiding the random stream of attacks and hurtling his own attacks back at Haze's exposed sides. Haze was tiring quickly; she felt every attack drain her of what little energy she still had. Suicune's barrage kept coming and now Haze was forced on the defensive, trying desperately to avoid any more damage. An Ice Beam was shot from behind and trapped Haze's legs in thick slabs of ice. She pounded vainly to escape, but was now being subjected to the full force of Suicune's Blizzard attack.

'No,' Haze's mind burned, 'I can't lose, I can't die here!'

The cry of desperation was all she had left, but a new fire was now burning in her eyes. Suicune watched as the fire spread to the rest of Haze's body, completely engulfing her. The flames grew from a dull red into a golden yellow, then a blinding hot white. The snow and ice around Haze vaporized as soon as it came even within a foot of her. Jake's heart missed a beat as he saw and felt the incoming heat, this wasn't good.

"Haze, listen to me! You have to calm down!" Jake's hoarse voice yelled.

The words were lost to Haze though as she drowned herself in the encasing of fire. Suicune looked on, unsure of what to do other than stand and watch. Jake panicked as he knew what was coming and dug into the snow as fast as he could. Haze screamed in fury and pain as she unleashed the overcharged Blast Burn attack. It all happened so fast; a resounding 'boom' like an explosion sounded, Suicune tumbled backwards into an outcrop of frozen boulders, and the whole field lit up like a dozen flares being set off at once. The light dissipated as quickly as it came and Jake popped out of his now nearly destroyed shelter. He stumbled over clumps of ice to find Haze lying in the center of a twenty foot crater of charred permafrost.

"Oh no," Jake skidded to a stop and carefully hugged Haze against him, "Wake up Haze. Come on, I know you can make it, just wake up!"

Haze moaned, Jake gasped and choked up in relief. Jake dug in his bag for a couple Sitrus berries. Haze noticed her entire body ached all over, realizing what she had done.

"Jake, I'm sorry I lost control."

"Shush, its okay, I was lucky that there was a lot snow cover," Jake whispered and handed Haze the berries, "Here just have some of these."

Haze ate the Sitrus berries, some of her strength returning.

Haze cringed when she saw a small burn mark on Jake's left shoulder, "Jake, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"This? No, don't worry, it only caught to edge of my clothes."

Suicune's echoing cry pierced the frigid winds and the storm subsided again to a small snowfall. Suicune limped over to where Jake was tending to Haze. Jake tensed, ready to defend Haze if Suicune still wanted to fight.

"You pass," Suicune said simply with a chuckle.

Jake's jaw dropped in disbelief before Suicune turned to show a fresh looking burn mark running down his right hind leg.

"With nine seconds to spare I might add. You have proven your worth to me and I grant you leave to your next and final trial."

Suicune disappeared into the whiteout without another word. Jake and Haze smiled and locked hands together in victory.

"Thanks you Haze, you did an amazing job out there," Jake congratulated Haze as he pulled out her pokeball.

"No, thank you Jake," Haze replied weakly, "Thank you for believing in me."