It was two weeks’ sense they had received their eggs. In the mean time Jace and Creidi had been training; carrying the eggs with them in safe, warm pokeballs. Their teams had flourished under all the training. Natu, Houndour, both Mareeps, and Cyndaquil had all evolved. Artico was on the verge of evolving as well; Creidi could feel it. Creidi’s eevee had become an Espeon and Jace’s an Umbreon. Growlithe was also ready to evolve, but Creidi didn’t have an evolution stone to use on it.

Yesterday Jace’s egg had hatched into a beautiful Aquatro. A beautiful sea blue bird with powers over water. Today Creidi’s egg was shaking and making noise. The two girls had been training in a clearing when it had started. Creidi Held the egg in her lap and waited. The eggs golden-brown shell had formed a thin crack in it. The egg gave another shutter and the two halves fell away leaving a golden dragon about 5ft long curled up in her lap.

"Cool! A Radianz!" Jace cried, "They are really rare and powerful."

"So another reason for the other not to like us." Creidi said sarcastically.

"Basically." Jace replied. The girls returned to camp for lunch (sandwiches). They sat at their table and between themselves until…

"So!" A blond Boy, who had appeared at their side, said, "What did the councilors pets get?"

"We aren’t counselors pets and what we got is none of your business." Jace said calmly.

"Oh yeah!" the boy said, "yeah well…uh…yeah!"

"That will do." Phillip had come in. "Has everyone’s egg hatched?" everyone gave a positive answer. "Good. Now, on to the next task. You will each be required to complete an optical course with the help of your pokemon. We will begin with cabin 1 and go through cabin 16. Please return to your cabin until we call you." He spoke hastily and left quickly. All the trainers returned to their cabins.

Jace and Creidi didn’t have to wait long for their turn. They had just barely healed their pokemon when their number was called. They headed for the main lodge.

"You will face the course one at a time," Jeff said, "Who wants to go first?" The girls looked at each other and shrugged.

"I’ll go." Creidi said. Jeff simply pointed her out to the arena. Once outside Creidi found Phillip waiting with a stopwatch.

"You will race the clock. The course is set in a circle. First you must get past the trees, you may go over but not around. Next you must get past a pokemon without hurting it, then collect the continence of a balloon. Following that you need to move a herd of Tauro through some flags into a pen. Next is the pond, again you can’t go around. Finally you must capture a pokemon and cross the finish line. Got all that?"

"Yap."

"Good. Now you may use your pokemon as you wish. Ready? GO!"

Creidi took off at a run heading for the trees. She wondered how she would get through them. She didn’t have a flying type, so she couldn’t go over. She didn’t have a ground or rock type, so she couldn’t go under. The trees were thick, dense, and dark. Dark, of course.

"Go Houndoom!" The hellhound materialized at her side, "Lead me." Houndoom showed his acknowledgement with a nod and dove into the trees ahead of her. He leapt and bounded and dove and darted, cutting the perfect path for her to follow.

They emerged on the other side unscaved, only to find themselves face to face with a large male Charizard. Houndoom gave a furious growl. The Charizard was unswayed; it simply looked at them. Inspite of this, Creidi had a feeling it wasn’t just going to let her walk by. Houndoom wouldn’t be much help so she recalled him. The clock was ticking; she had to think fast. Or move fast!

"Artico, I need your speed." Creidi jumped on Artico as soon as he materialized and they took off around the fire lizard. Just as she expected, as soon as they were in range the Charizard released a huge Flamethrower. Creidi knew that Artico’s Ice type made him very weak to fire, but his speed far out strided the Charizard’s. With the speed only a horse pokemon could posses, Artico carried Creidi away.

In front of them now hung a balloon. It was rooted to the ground by about a meter of string.

"Artico Ice beam!" Artico cocked his head back, snapped it forward, and released a beam of chilling blue light. It struck the balloon and froze it instantly. The now considerably heavier balloon fell to the ground and shattered. Creidi reached down and scooped up and ultraball that was left in the balloon’s wake before urging Artico on.

They covered the ground to the herd of Tauro quickly. The bull pokemon were grazing lazily and took no notice of their approach.

"Go Growlithe and Houndoom! Move that herd through the flags and into the pen." The two dogs nodded and took the lead. Growlithe took the right, Houndoom the left. Artico came up the middle. The two firedogs ran on either side of the herd barking and nipping. Artico took a slow trot behind the herd to prevent straggling. None of her pokemon had been taught to herd but they got the job done. Creidi closed the pen gate and recalled her dogs. She turned and spurred Artico towards the next obstacle, the pond. This one didn’t take much thought.

"Artico, Permafrost!" Without slowing down Artico glowed softly and the water turned to ice. Artico galloped across the frozen water with ease.

That obstacle cleared, Creidi turned Artico to head in, then she saw it. It looked like a white tiger except it was 1.5 times the regular size and had 1ft long saber canines protruding from its upper jaw. The pokemon was passing back and forth between her and the goal. The tiger stopped and looked at her. For a moment they stared at each other, then the tiger roared. Artico stood rooted to the spot in fear.

"Growlithe Go. Flamethrower!" Again growlithe materialized next to her, this time shooting off a column of fire. The attack hit the tiger square in the chest. It reeled back but appeared unhurt. The tiger took its turn with an Icy Wind.

Growlithe took the hit hard and was frozen. Growlithe was Creidi’s strongest pokemon, if he couldn’t beat this pokemon she would just have to take a chance. Creidi pulled out the ultraball from the balloon and throw it. The ball bounced off the tiger and sucked it in.

The ball shook very slightly and then stood still. Creidi knew this was odd but didn’t take time to ponder it. She scooped up the ball and spurred Artico on.

"5 min 50 sec." Phillip said as she crossed the line. "Good Time."

"Can I ask you something?" Creidi asked as he took the ultraball from her.

"I believe you just did, but why not."

"What is that?" she gestured towards the ultraball, "And why was it so easy to catch?"

"That was two questions, but anyway." He said with a smile, "The pokemon is called a Smiladon: The Ice Tiger. And it is trained to let you catch it." He released the Smiladon to go back to its post and put the ultraball in a new balloon. "Would you send Jace out on your way back?" Creidi turned Artico back towards the main lodge at a trot. Jace was waiting outside.

"Your turn." Creidi said as she passed, "Good luck."

"Thanks. See you back at the cabin." Jace replied as she headed to the obstacle course.

When she arrived at the cabin Creidi healed Growlithe and let her pokemon out to rest and play. Jace joined her soon after and they began to discuss how they got through the course. Jace had used her Xatu psychic powers to get her over and through the obstacles but lost time with the Smiladon. Creidi told Jace how she had gotten through on Artico.

"If you were riding Artico almost the whole way, why is he so hyper?" Jace commented. She was right; Artico was acting weird. He was pawing and pacing.

"I don’t know. Artico, you ok?" The ice horse responded by nudging the door. "Guess he wants out. Want to come with?"

"Sure." They gathered their pokemon and headed for the woods. Artico was nickering, snorting, and trotting circles around them.

"You Know…" Jace said after a while, "Maybe Artico is getting ready to evolve."

"Why do you say that?" Creidi asked as she watched her horse chase a Furret up a tree.

"I’ve been watching him. He keeps trying to get the wild pokemon to fight him. He’s looking for that last little push to set evolution into motion."

"Then let’s find him a good opponent!" Creidi said. The girls began to scan their surroundings. After an hour they found the perfect subject, a Syther. Syther had too much pride to turn down a fight, even if it was at distinct disadvantage.

"Artico, use your Ice Beam!" Creidi’s voice rang out. The ice horse responded with the great speed attributed to its kind. The Syther retaliated by slashing at the horse with its blade like arms. Artico dodged nimbly and quickly, but not quickly enough. One of the Syther’s left a deep wound in Artico’s shoulder.

"Artico, Ice beam again." With the Syther so close Artico couldn’t miss. The beam hit the bug square I the chest. Syther was slammed into the trunk of a near by tree. And was knocked unconscious.

Jace’s theory had been correct. As soon as the battle had ended Artico began to glow. His body size more then doubled, the ice flames of his mane and tail grew larger, and a single horn sprouted from his head. When the glow faded Creidi’s Artico had grown into a beautiful Articolt. As if to make sure Creidi knew him he lowered his head, nuzzled her ear, and gave a soft nicker.

"I’m so proud of you." Creidi congratulated him as she stroked hi velvet nose.

Hey Creidi, what should we do with the Syther? We can’t leave it here, we don’t have any balls to catch it with, and if we revive it it’ll probably attack us."

"Your right. We can’t leave it. I guess we’ll have to revive it, jump on Articolt, and out run it."

The two girls climbed onto Articolt’s back. Creidi was in front holding Articolt while Jace leaned over and poured a potion down the Syther’s throat. They didn’t have to wait long; almost at once the syther was on its feet, but Articolt had taken off, girls in tow, down the path before the bug could give decent chase.