Reader (Male) X Zoroark (Female) A Dark Bond

Forerunner

You were escorted out into an area that was thick with trees. The place itself was rough. Hills, plenty of bushes, some short cliffs, but the trees were tall, and you meant TALL. Just looking up, it made you feel almost like you were in a different place itself. Zora had been taken to another area where others would be watching you. The Zoroark that was talking with you guided you to a different location. Despite how the others were supposed to be able to watch you, you found it a little difficult with so much foliage in the trees. You half expected some kind of bleachers or something for them to be sitting at. He took you to a spot that was on top of a small hill, then turned and faced you. You looked around, taking in your surroundings.

"This initiation consists of three tests." He raised up one of his claws. "The first, you must make it through in the fastest time possible to show that you can lead the pack swiftly, as well as to make sure you can keep up." Raising a second claw, he continued. "For the second one, you will have to show how agile you are by avoiding a number of projectiles while making your way towards the end of the course. This is to show that you can react, even in a short amount of time." He lowered his hand, but was still looking you in the eyes, making sure you were paying attention. "The third and final test, you must prove your strength by fighting one of us." You shot your eyes at him in surprise. He didn't even blink as you gawked at him in shock. He pressed his foot into the ground and drew a line.

"When you cross this line, you will begin the first test." He stayed quiet for a second, then turned away from you, but was still looking at you. "In your current condition, I wish you luck." Before you could even talk back, he jumped into the trees and out of sight. You groaned, then looked at the line he drew. You got the feeling that this wasn't going to be easy, but you already somewhat knew that. You didn't really know where to go, but you just decided that the path in front of you was the only way to go. You got to the line, staring down at it before looking around. You tried one more time to see if you could spot any others, but the branches and leaves were covering up too much. You gave a sigh, then looked forward.

You gave the path a quick glance before running forward into the forest. As you did, trees closed in around the path quickly, but not in the path. Thankfully, all the running had gotten you into better shape with endurance. Although, your body was still trying to heal, so it hurt whenever you pushed yourself harder than normal. Unfortunately, to add to it, with all the running you had been doing recently, your body was really starting to take its toll. The path never went straight enough to know what was ahead for too long. It curved a lot, constantly making you slide on the dirt. As you went on for a little bit, you turned a corner and had to screech to a halt, falling back and landing on your butt. You winced a little bit, but when you looked at the blockade of boulders in front of you, you let out a large sigh. This was all about speed, and you needed to think fast.

Going through it was out of the question. It looked like there was a lot of rocks. You wouldn't even be able to squeeze through most of the cracks. You thought about going around, but you didn't see how wide this was. Skepticism may have had a role, but you didn't want to end up trying to run around for a long time. Frustrated, you decided to do the only thing that made sense. You picked yourself up and walked towards a tree. Without even looking up, you ran up the tree, grabbing onto the first limb it had sticking out. It wasn't strong, but it was enough for you to pull yourself up to the next one that was much sturdier. After straining to pull yourself up to it, you grabbed onto the trunk to steady yourself as you stood on the branch. After balancing yourself, you looked over the blockade you saw earlier. Not only was it farther than you thought, but it was wide as well! It looked like the only way was to go over it by tree. Giving another sigh, you saw a path forward. Going by tree was something that you weren't too out of the normal for you. Zora had made you do that while you were in Unova to help train you.