I made my way to the Training Ground the next day and met up with Kaina and Shisu. Kaina had longer lavender hair and Shisu was more or less the same. There were a lot of pupils around who wanted to rank up. We waited around for Elder Grah to arrive.
"Are you ready for the trials?" Kaina asked.
"I've been train for four years for this. I will rank up and finally be able to leave the village." Shisu said. "I have something I want to achieve."
"Me too. What about you Kuyori?" Kaina looked at me.
"I have something I need to do. Someone I have to destroy and avenge my father." I said and closed my eyes.
"Yeah..that guy has to pay for what he did to your dad." Shisu said.
"We'll support you no matter what." Kaina smiled.
Elder Grah finally arrived and walked towards the front with his cane and looked at us then spotted me, Kaina, and Shisu. He closed his eyes then looked at everyone.
"Today is a momentous day for all the Pupils of Rede Village. You all have trained long and hard to be able to rank up, but only three will be victorious and leave this Village an Apprentice. You will leave this Village a skilled fighter. Those who fail the trials, you will be able to retake the trial next year. Everyone do your best!" Elder Grah held up his cane.
The crowd cheered loudly. Elder Grah walked off to the side and the doors opened, revealing the first Trial.
"The first Trial is a test of speed. Each of you will race in this obstacle course and the top 10 people will be able to move forward to the second trail. Now! Get ready!" Elder Grah said and everyone got in a running position. "Get set...Go!"
Everyone ran off as they heard Elder Grah say go. We all ran towards the first obstacle and the Pupils who controlled fire burned down the obstacle and passed with ease. I ran passed the first few people and saw Shisu ahead and Kaina trailing behind. She didn't have much stamina even when we were younger she wasn't much of an athlete and relied most on magic. I slowed down and met up with her.
"Hm? Kuyori, why are you slowing down?" Kaina asked.
"Because you're trailing behind." I said.
"But if you worry about me, you won't be able to complete your dream." Kaina said.
"Don't worry." I said and grabbed her hand then picked her up bridal style and my red aura appeared then sparks came from my feet then I began running ahead with Kaina in my arms at blazing speeds.
Kaina squealed and I stopped as everyone was stuck at one obstacle. They couldn't burn it down and couldn't climb over it. This trial required some brain as well. I set Kaina down and put the Fire Spirit on standby and my red aura turned Amber then I focused my energy then vines emerged from the ground and I climbed up then everyone else followed. I jogged my way towards the finish. Kaina and Shisu were behind me. Elder Grah looked at the top 10 placers and nodded.
"Good job to those who made it in the Top 10. The rest of you did a good job, but with enough training you'll be up here as well. Now for the second trial. There will only be Top 6!" Elder Grah said. "The Second Trial is a test of skill. You will have to break all the targets the six who have the most targets will move on to the final trial."
The second gates opened and we saw a bunch of targets. Some moving some with an X on them and some gold. The normal targets offered one point and the gold ones offered 3. The X Targets made you lose 5 points.
"Alright, everyone get ready. Get set...Go!" Elder Grah said and everyone ran through the gates and began breaking targets.
I managed to use vines to break some targets. Kaina used wind to break targets and Shisu used fire to break targets. I saw a golden target and ran towards it and drew my sword from the scabbard and was about to destroy it, but someone used wind magic to push me out of the way and broke the target. I rebounded off one hand and saw a male with long brown hair in a ponytail smirking at me. I brushed it off and focused on making it to the top six.
"Who was that?" Someone asked the male.
"That's the son of Master Ichigami. Supposedly he's the son of a Prodigy...I won't let him pass this trial." The male smirked.
Shisu looked at the male and glared. I broke more targets and saw another gold target and went towards it, but the same male prohibited me from breaking the target and I stumbled back. I looked at him and noticed his plan to stop me from getting big points. I turned towards the moving targets and looked at the male. His target was me. I dashed towards the targets and went towards a gold target and he shot a gust of wind at me. My spirit got done charging and my aura turned red and I shot a fire ball at his wind then it began burning. He panicked and released the wind and I destroyed the gold target and a whistle blew. I landed on my feet and looked back.
"That look in his eyes.." Kaina said.
"Yeah...he's serious about his goal.." Shisu said.
"What's with that look in his eyes..?" Someone asked.
The male looked at me and froze. My aura disappeared and I closed my eyes then walked off. Everyone looked at the scoreboard and saw I was in second with Shisu being in first.
"He still passed even when you stopped him.." A girl said.
"Kaina." Shisu walked off.
"Coming!" Kaina followed Shisu.
The Top 6 walked where Elder Grah was and we stood in our spots and listened to his words.
"The final trial is a team battle. This will test your teamwork and strength. How well do you work with people?" Elder Grah said. "Assemble your team now."
Kaina, Shisu, and I were on a team and our opponents were two water users and a wind user. Elder Grah looked at us and nodded.
"Enter through the gate and step upon the battlefield. I will explain the rules there." He said.
We nodded and the gate opened and we walked in and stood on the battlefield and he teleported in front of us. He looked at us.
"The rules are simple. Win. You are prohibited to kill hence why we have wooden training swords for you to use. The battle ends when one team is unable to continue. Now the rules are said, get ready for battle!" Elder Grah said. We picked up our wooden swords and got prepared to battle. "Begin!"
Shisu was the first to get into combat and slashed at the wind user. They clashed and the water user summoned ice then shot it at Shisu. I dashed to his aid and slashed through the ice. He looked at me and I looked at him. We both nodded and the water users summoned water balls and shot them at us. We dodged and Shisu shot a fireball at the wind user. The wind user dodged then I slammed my sword to the ground and caused a small quake and it damaged the wind user then sent him in the air.
"Starburst!" Shisu said and his fire aura surged and he shot the wind user and blew him away.
"Kaina!" I looked back and sent my flame spirit towards her and it fused with her body.
Kaina's wind aura grew more powerful and her eyes glowed. She nodded and dashed towards the two water users and dodged their water shots then slashed and released a blade beam of wind. The blade beam hit them and sent them in the air. Vines grew from the ground and wrapped around the water users and slammed them to the ground. The enemy team was unable to battle and we won the battle.
"Congratulations, Appreciate Kuyori, Apprentice Kaina, and Apprentice Shisu. You have successfully passed all three trials and with little to no difficulty. I'm happy to announce that you three are finally apprentices!" Elder Grah smiled.
"Yes!" Kaina jumped in the air in happily.
"Hmph...it was almost too easy." Shisu said.
"Father...I am one step closer to avenging you.." I said and closed my eyes.
We got our proof of completing the trials and we headed out of the Training Grounds then went to celebrate at our favorite spot at the lake.
"Finally we are able to leave the village...Our hard work paid off." Kaina held up her Apprentice License to the sky and smiled.
"Yeah...four years of training." Shisu smiled and looked at his.
I looked at my card and had a small smile on my face. I was happy, yet sad about leaving the village. Separating from our home out to the big world, but this was something I had to do. I needed to do this and the same goes for Kaina and Shisu. We spent a lot of time looking at our license and talking by the lake about our dreams. We were gonna stick together and help each other complete our dream.