Chapter 1, Trainee Test

WOOF! WOOF!

Groaning, a slim teenager with black hair and blue eyes rolled to the side of the bed, before standing up, then started stretching and yawning. He grabbed his black mobile phone sitting on the top of the brown night stand. Flicking on the screen to check the time, he then made his way out of his bedroom, leaning down to pat the black pup barking outside his bedroom as he opened the door, before moving into the living room with the pup following while nipping at his heels playfully. In the living room was a women in a loose green cotton pajamas with smooth white skin, emerald eyes and long red hair sitting on the sofa, watching the T.V. with a frown on her face while sipping out of a white coffee mug.

On the screen, there was picture of a park with a blue, shimmering portal in the background. A portly male in a suit was in front of it, saying "There has been another portal that has opened up at Hastrood Gardens, since 5:00am this morning. A Beast Tamer has been dispatched along with police to monitor the portal and eliminate and hostile creatures emerging. People are advised to stay away from the area."

As the teenager, Jamie, made his way into the living room, he heard the women mutter under her breath "So weird. After all this time, this is still weird."

Jamie said "Good morning Mum. Isn't this normal? A portal opens up once per week somewhere in the country."

Smiling wryly, the women, Laura, shook her head and answered, "this may be normal for you, but the portals have only started opening just after the mystic rock touched the earth, in the same year you were born. Beast Tamers, Battlepet Masters, and Martial Warriors only started emerging after the Mystic Rock touched Hanet as well, along with all the changes in the environment. Half my life this never existed."

"....I guess that makes sense."

A bright smile appeared on Laura's face as she said "By the way, happy seventeenth birthday. Are you excited for the soul test today?"

"Yeah, I plan to buy the Triple Eyed Viper in Battlepets Galore once I pass the test."

Laura shook her head at that. "That snake pet is at stage 3. You may not be able to tame and bond it yet. Most can't at seventeen, so don't fixate on that pet."

Jamie rolled his eyes at that and moved to the kitchen to eat. As he was entering the kitchen, Laura called out "by the way, you have to catch the bus today. I'm leaving later today, I want to finish my book before heading to work."

"WHAT!!!!!. You promised to drive me to school today."

"Then maybe someone shouldn't roll their eyes at their mother. Besides, if you can buy a Battlepet, you can certainly afford a second hand car."

"F**K!"

>>>>

After getting off the bus at Trinity High, Jamie headed to the basketball court where he was greeted by a lanky teenager with black eyes, and baggy pants, who was sitting on the side bench, covered in sweat, with a half empty water bottle at his feet.

"Hey man, your late. Congrats on your birthday."

"Thanks. I had to catch the bus today."

At that, the lanky teen, John, smiled. "You really should have bought the car, instead of saving it for the battlepet you may never get to use. You should just focus on being Martial Warrior. Your brother is unmatched in his age group, I'm sure you have the same talent."

"Hell no. I saw the video of when Ardar was breaking through to stage 9. The way his body was essentially breaking in every way possible, and all that blood. No thanks.. I'm not into self torture. Plus, Battlepet Masters at the same stage can simply gang up on the Martial Warriors with their pets."

John shook his head. "That's true, but you have to spend a lot of time with your pets, and train your battle pets to that level, including evolving them. That's hard. There are only 15 pets, where it's publicly known how to get them to reach Ardar's stage. Good luck with that. Unless you get your hands on those pets, you need to guess your way through. Those pets always are being sold out, and captured whenever spotted. Same with the materials needed for them. So, again, good luck with that."

Just as Jamie was about to respond, the bell rang. At that moment, he took a deep breath. He then said, "Well, guess it's time to go to the evaluation. Wish me luck."

John slapped Jamie lightly on the back and responded "Good luck. Don't beat yourself up if you don't pass."

Jamie started slowly making his way to the indoor gymnasium, in the center of the school. As he got closer, his hands started to shake. He had been training his soul to become a Battlepet Master since he was 7. He had been spending at least 2 hours every day training his soul, and now, he would find out if he was qualified to be an aspiring Battlepet Master. For safety reasons, the government made it illegal to check the soul of people under 17, as there have been cases where a person has exploded after being inspected. Even after seventeen, there were stringent requirements on people before they were permitted to inspect someones soul.

Jamie entered the gym and sat down at the back with the other teens. There were about 18 teenagers sitting in the room, including himself. After sitting down, he took a good look at the people in the center of the gym. Standing at in the middle of the gym were 4 people, with one standing in the front. He was bulky, and had a scar on the right side of his face, with a stiff back and military uniform on. Standing behind him were 3 people with in police uniform. The one to the left had a hawk like nose with an intense gaze, with a gray eagle perched on his shoulder. The one in the middle had a frowning line on his brow and had wrinkled skin, with a large black snake with yellow stripes curled at his feet, reaching up to his knee. The last was a female, with her red hair tied up into a ponytail and a large white stripped tiger lounging at her feet. Seeing Jamie looking at her, she smiled and waved to him, leaving Jamie confused. he thought to himself

"I don't think I know her. Is she just really friendly?"

At the back, there were 3 portable booths set up with black cloth all around, blocking people from looking inside. As the last student entered the gym, a teacher with a clipboard walked over to the to the man in the military uniform, saying something to him in a low voice before making his way to stand besides the students. The man cleared his throat and started speaking.

"Hello everyone, my name is Mark. It's good to see so many aspiring Beast Masters and Battlepet Warriors. Before we start the testing, I need to say a few words. As I'm sure most, if not everyone here knows, approximately 75% off all the people tested to be a trainee Beastmaster or Battlepet Master at seventeen fail to reach the required criteria for the Astral Body. What isn't made public knowledge, and outright forbidden for people to talk about to people under seventeen, are what the requirements are since some teenagers have tried to alter their Astral Body to fit the requirements and end up...combusting. I'm sure you can find many examples online. The Astral Body is fragile until seventeen years of age. It is for that very reason people aren't allowed to form contracts until they reach seventeen.There are three things that are needed for Beastmasters or more precisely Battlepet Masters are tested for. That is the Astral links, Astral Body size, and Astral Body purity. The number of links dictate how many different Battlepets you can contract, the Astral Body size dictates the strength of the Battlepets you can contract, and Astral Body Purity gives you access to new abilities, such as allowing you to communicate easier with Beasts, and storing your beast in your Astral Body making it easier to move them about, and call them out to help, like so."

FLASH

A bust of light flashed through the room, temporarily blinding the students. Rubbing their eyes and blinking, they could gradually start to see the Mark and a large outline next to him.

Jamie froze, shocked, before thinking "A freaking Dragon."

As their eyes cleared up, the teens could take in the features of the dragon. It stood at 6 meters tall, and 10 meters long. It stood on four legs and had glistening, sturdy red scales. It's teeth were sharp, pointed, and looked like it could tear apart a human with ease. It's wings were folded in, and its tail was curled in. The temperature started to steadily increase as the students just stared, in shock and fear of the killing machine.

Then Mark reached up his hand, and the dragon lowered it's head to receive a light rub. With another flash of light, the dragon was gone. He continued to address the group.

"Now, Ember is still growing, but already it's size makes it impossible to take into most buildings. I'm sure you can see how storing a Battlepet in your soul can be useful. All Battlepet Masters are Beast Tamers, they have to be able to effectively communicate and get along with their bonded Battlepets in order to be able to order them about in dangerous situations. All Beast Tamers are not all Battlepet Masters though, as the key requirement of a Beast Tamer is to communicate and placate various creatures, to convince them to bond with others, As the creatures grow stronger, their intelligence does as well, making it harder to get a creature to bond with a human willingly. Each Battlepet Master behind me is going to call out a different person. Follow them to a portable booth and be completely open with them. They will inspect your Astral Body and talk to you about your situation. And keep in mind, if you fail to meet the requirements, it's not the end of the world, most people do and get along just fine."

With that Mark walked off to the side, with the teacher joining him and they started conversing in hushed voices.

Jamie was still thinking about the massive dragon before a melodious voice echoed throughout the gym, snapping him out of his thought.

"Jamie, please come with me."