Chapter 15: Chapter 14

Eden's eyes twinkled at the Captain's words, that was exactly what she needed to hear. This was the moment that she had been waiting for all her life.

"Alright. I'll test you to see your performance levels." The Captain was saying, pacing a bit. "This will determine the level of training we would begin at." He made a gesture with his hand and Lotus hurried over with a file in her hand.

"There are three categories of training." The petite Fairy with pink hair spoke up, her pink dress matching her hair. "The Physical Training, Power Training and Weapons Training." She read out from the file.

The Captain continued from where she left off. "Weapons are usually chosen depending on a Heroe's power and it'll be the last category because physical strength and overwhelming power are required to wield a weapon." He pinned each and everyone of them with a stare.

"You can begin your mission tomorrow or right now, it depends on you. If your strength and ability isn't up to par, I assure you that you aren't leaving the Camp until I'm satisfied and I should probably add this now that you're either leaving as a team or not at all."

Sharp inhales cut though the air at this piece of information.

"Now if there aren't any questions, let's get to work." The Captain added in a softer voice, as he took in the expression on the Heroes faces, they where nothing but teenagers after all.

His moment of softness only lasted a couple seconds and soon his intimidating features hardened again. "Today will be dedicated to testing your capabilities!" He ordered in a booming voice. "You're Trainees now, I won't call you a Hero until you're worthy of the title." He said curtly, impressed at the way the Fairies took his shocking announcements in easy strides.

"Now Trainees! Go on a brisk walk around the track, the last two people will have weights attached to their legs on the next lap.

The Captain stood back and watched as the Fairies immediately lined up at the starting point of the track, it looked like any average track if a little bit crude because it was just packed Earth and separated with sea salt.

The track went around the entire Training Facility, which meant some parts of the track was hidden by some buildings, the hidden parts of the track held surprises for the Heroes in Training.

Lichen was dressed like a referee, blue shorts and a plain top, a wooden whistle tied by a vine, hung around her neck.

"You must remain on your lanes." She started to read out the rules in a soft voice. "You must not use your wings. You must not help anyone. This is a simple test, no one is in danger." She added in a firm voice when Lily looked like he was going to protest.

"There are Fairies flying over, scoring you." She continued. "If anyone is in danger, they will know." She looked back into the file in her hand. "You must remain on the track at all times, leaving the track automatically ends your race. Now if there aren't any confusions, the race may begin after I blow my whistle."

The Six Heroes settled into their lanes, Daisy at the edge and Aster at the far end. Poppy stood beside Daisy and Eden after her. Orchid was next, then Lily.

They had all dressed appropriately for training, in loose pants and sleeveless tops, boots high on their shins.

At the sound of the whistle, they started off.

Captain Evergreen studied them intensely as they started their walk, he chose walking for an important reason and he would be surprised if any of them made it to the end.

Fairies simply weren't made for walking, at least normal Fairies weren't. To be a strong Fairy, you have to be able to accomplish the impossible.

"Captain, don't you think it's a little too much, making them go all the way to the end at the first try?" Lichen found herself asking.

Lotus was at the other side of the clearing where the track ended, it was shaped in a 'U' form.

Captain Evergreen grinded his jaw. "I don't expect them to complete the track, it's a mental battle. If they are daunted by this small task and come back with broken spirits, I'll tell the High Council that this is a lost cause and well be better off petitioning our freedom to retrieve the Heart."

Lichen placed her hands behind her back, a tense look on her face. The Fairies where keeping pace but they were about to go out of sight, it was up to them now.

Orchid panted as she struggled to keep up, she had started the race with the confidence that she was definitely going to win because she walked at every chance she got and could run farther and longer than any other Fairy she ever met back in the South.

At the start, she noticed that the others quickly dropped their wings, dropping it low but not actually letting them hang and rest or it would trail on the floor and pull them back.

She hadn't realized how difficult this technique was, even Daisy who looked like he would break if anyone so much as breathed on him, was effortlessly carrying out this technique.

She noticed it helped them moved faster and easier because leaving your wings up and spread out collected more air resistance but she couldn't seem to get it right, either it was too high or her wings ended up dragging across the floor.

Soon she gave up and just pressed her wings together, it was still up but at least, air resistance was reduced.

Eden breathed easily as they covered the first twenty meters, she was glad when the Captain had said they would be walking because she could walk consistently for over 50m but running was another entirely different issue.

They couldn't see what was in front, like magic was being used. Eden wasn't surprised though, she had guessed that the test wouldn't just involve walking quickly over packed earth.

As soon as they got close enough, the weird dark spot in front of them changed into a forest scenery, including the trees, vines and everything, they even heard a creek splash in the distance, it was like they entered another world.

The Trainees were only momentarily stunned by this new development before they continued their race, this new level was even more daunting that the last.

Somehow, most likely with the help of enchantment, the lanes continued clearly through the forest.

Some people's lanes had trees in it, actually most of them had trees if not all. The forest felt like it was designed to slow them down, branches tugged at their clothes and branches tripped them.

Orchid was getting really winded but she refused to stop, her side hurt, her legs were like jelly and she was panting but her pride wouldn't let her stop. She had boasted of being the strongest, she couldn't fail now.

Her mind was too foggy to notice a particularly high root smack dab at the very center of her lane, she was too caught up in trying to catch up.

Her tired legs were unconsciously slowing down and no matter how hard she pushed, they wouldn't go faster or increase their speed and instead, were gradually slowing to a stop.

She gave herself one last and particularly vicious push but it was all wrong, she tripped at the same moment and went down, blacking out before her body even touched the ground.

The rest where too far away to notice and even if they did, they couldn't have done anything to help.

Poppy was slowing down too but she still had enough fight left in her and would have probably made it to the next level but she saw Orchid fall out of the corner of her eyes and not get up again.

She slowed down even more, unwilling to break the rules but also not wanting any harm to come to her Team Mate, after all that was what the Captain said that they were only graduating as a Team.

She stopped completely and turned to look at Orchid lying in a distance, possibly deeply injured.

There where supposed to be Fairies watching over them but they were nowhere to be found, maybe they thought that the two girls were with the rest? Poppy couldn't be sure.

After a while, she made up her mind, she was forfeiting the race. It didn't matter what she was scored, she couldn't let Orchid get gravely injured because of some people's perception on how she decided to run a race. If they were watching her, they were free to give their own opinions of her decision.

She raised both arms and made a fist, crossing it above her head. She wasn't sure if anyone could see her but the hand sign she just made was a way to show that one was forfeiting a race, for reasons of injury, ill health or any other numbers of reasons.

After this, she ran flat out to where Orchid was laying against the ground, the Fauna Fairy was looking a little pale and breathing with obvious difficulty, sweat on her face and Poppy started to panic.

She would have to carry her back to the starting point or Orchid could be in grave danger!