The Aura Awakens

Chapter 3: Signs of Aura

Finally the last class of the day and it's none other than gym class for Ash Ketchum. Now don't get him wrong, gym might be the easiest class to pass; participate and you get the grade after all... No the problem is the teacher; Lt. Surge, the strictest teacher other than Mr. Rowan in the whole school

"Hey Ash! Ready for gym class?" asked Gary as Ash snapped out of his thoughts

"Wha? Oh ya, ready as I'll ever be for that new obstacle course that Lt. Surge must have made for us" Ash sarcastically said with a frown as he remembered the last time they had to go through an obstacle course and was filled with dread at the thought of having to crawl through spiky fences. Sometimes he wondered what the girls would go through, since some also had Surge as a gym teacher too

"The way you two make it out to sound, I'm glad I have Mr. Wulfric as my gym teacher" Brendan commented as both boys sent him a glare "Oh look there's Blue! Me and him need to present a presentation for Health! Don't want to have Mr. Brock on my back or get a detention" he said and ran away from the two childhood friends as fast as he could

"Let's go I guess and get changed fast before Surge makes us do 50 pushups again for being late" Ash said and dragged Gary into the boys' room, where many of their classmates were already inside

Once changed into their gym clothes, both teens only had to wait for a couple of minutes as Lt. Surge appeared with an expression that scared many of them "Listen up soldiers!" he shouted and everyone straightened up with full attention on their maniac of a teacher "Today I have a new obstacle course waiting for all you children outside" he declared, earning many groans out of the boys "This will count for a very big amount of your final grade. Now everyone line-up and after you hear me say your name, give me 3 laps around the field! First up Silver!"

A few minutes later

After everyone was done their laps they all stood in shock at the course before them. Many felt they were going to faint at what they were going to have to go through

'Is he trying to make us fail on purpose?' Ash thought as soon as he saw the course they would each need to complete, especially those already failing gym class to begin with

The obstacle course consisted of 14 different obstacles they would all need to get through. The first obstacle they saw they would need to get through was the low wall, followed by the tire run, stepping stones, water jump, rubble, tunnel, dodging panels, low rope, ditch, corridor, balancing bridge, windows, apex ladder and terrace

"Judging by the looks on your face you are all ready for testing. Remain below 15 minutes and you'll pass. Mr. Gold, go!" Surge yelled as Ethan jumped up surprised at being called first "Do I need to repeat myself Gold, or would you like a fail" the teacher threatened as Ethan shook his head and made his way towards the course

Many could only stare in pity as Ethan fell into the water after he let go of the rope during the water jump. He kept going of course, but kept on running into various problems, causing many to become worried. If a student like Ethan, who was on the Soccer team and the team captain of the Pool team was having trouble, what chance could they possibly have? Well at least he did get below 15 minutes which was good

Soon all that was left was Paul, Ash and Gary to do the course. Many had unfortunately been hurt in some of the obstacles that they needed to be rushed to the nurse's office "Oak, you're up!" Surge called out as Ash sent his friend a small nod of encouragement which helped Gary relax a bit. Although in the end, Gary also messed up in certain places, he was able to complete the course without any injury and got a good time with him taking only 12 and a half minutes

"Shinji you're up next!" as Paul made his way over, he passed by Ash and got an idea "Hey Ketchum, how about a bet?" he asked as Ash turned towards him with a confused expression "If you can beat this course with a blindfold on, I won't bother you or your loser friends for a whole 2 months" Paul challenged with a smirk