Edit:/ (13AUG15) minor editing
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Untitled
Training II: Allergies, Animosities, and Assessments
Note: Recalling that most of the stories in Fanfiction contains the title of the Anime itself, it loses its meaning and complete originality (which is probably why not many is reading this and is avoiding it) so for now I will call this story Untitled until a better title happens to pop into my head or if any of you have any suggestion. Oh and I slightly changed the summary. Instead of 'Amateur Assassins' I changed it to 'Scouters.' (like that's such a word from scout) Sounds better that way and more fun to write.
Not sure about the pairings since I haven't read any good ones...suggestions?
Without further ado, onward with the story!
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Birds chirped and sang merrily from its perch on the branches or up in the azure sky to the rising golden sun that continued to fingered its way through the remaining residue of the night, softly lighting up a new fresh day for all of its inhabitants; promising a sunny day with thin wispy clouds rolling along as well as a new start in life, leaving behind lingering memories of the past. . .
With the silver Porsche's top down—just the way Tsume liked it—the group drove to their destination on the highway, weaving through sparse traffic at cruising speed with Tsume occasionally stepped on the gas to shut Hige's bellyaching up ("Are we there yet?" "NO, now shut the hell up!"). They winded up in the middle of nowhere, aside from a gigantic building with two other fairly large building on each side along with what seemed to be two main tunnels connecting it to the largest building with multiple smaller buildings connected to one another through tunnels, smacked dabbed in the center of the forest clearing. If one didn't know any better, one would assume it was a castellated abbey of sorts.
Driving up the sandy roadway and parking in front of the door, the crew got out, scanning their surroundings thoroughly.
"I like it already!" Hige chirped as his nose twitched, sniffing the clean woodsy air compared to the polluted one back in the city.
"Feels like home," Toboe smiled excitedly and then it slowly turned into a frown. "Blue would've liked it if she was here."
"Well, she's not," Tsume shot a glare at the pup, "so shut it."
"Let's go," Kiba said, trekking to the door with his hands in the pocket provided by his jacket.
Tsume gave the youngest another meaningful glare before trailing after Kiba; Hige gave the pup a sympathetic glance prior to following the other two. Toboe sighed in defeat, glancing about his surrounding before following suit.
Upon entering the main building, the group was greeted with the harsh scent of metallic smell and bright yellow lighting up from the ceiling. The main floor comprised of few doors on either side. A single wide staircase in the middle led them upward to the second floor on a bridge, leading to both the right and left side of the two building by means of tunnels. Keen sights pinpointed a figure descending the stairway, already knowing at once who it was. It was Hubb, if his constant sneezing fit was of any indication or dead giveaway.
"Haven't found a cure for that damn allergy of yours?" Tsume inquired with a snort as he crossed his arms, hips cocked to one side.
"Apparently, no," the blond man croaked, and then covered his nose with his handkerchief as another sneeze erupted. "God, I thought they knew I was allergic to dogs!" Sneeze. Wipe. Sneeze again. Blow nose.
"Ugh," Hige blocked his ears, face turning slightly green as he felt breakfast made its way up. "Hurry up and get to the point. You're making me nauseous!"
"Right, right," nodding, Hubb cleared his throat (and nose one last time) before continuing, "As far as you know, this is a training camp to test your group's cooperation in missions. However, this time, the pack, Wolf's Rain, will be taken in consideration to be a Professional Assassins instead of Scouters that you currently are, once you complete this training."-sneeze-"Excuse me."-wipe nose-"On your first several missions, we will see if you are able to handle the task of killing the target without any after effects on your mentality. Should you succeed, you will be our designated Assassins."
"This sounds cool and all," Hige said, raising his hands up in understanding after his wave of queasiness passed, "but what happened with the previous pack? Did they get killed or something?"
"That is confidential information," was the curt reply, "Any other questions?"
"Yeah, one" Toboe piped up, waving his hand in the air as if to seek permission prior to continuing on.
"What is it?"
"What about Blue?"
"Dammit, runt, would you shut up about her?" The silver-haired man growled, shifted his gold eyes to the youngest with every damn intention to bore holes in the back of the kid's head, wanting to engrave it there for all eternity, if possible.
Their supposed superior was brooding over the asked question for a moment. Unsure, he responded quite carefully as he tucked the used handkerchief away in his inner jacket pocket, "I'm not sure if you should be inquiring me about that..."
"Then who should we ask about it?" Hige wondered aloud, eyes wandering about the place rather uninterestedly.
"Could you two idiots just shut up about Blue?" Tsume's already thin patience was on its last thread, ready to snap at any given moments and lay the blames on the two recruits, cutting off any chance for the blue-eyed man to reply. He growled to himself, "Can't believe that woman dumped us with wet-nose morons."
"Hey!" The two objects of his resentment cried somewhat indignantly.
"Why choose us if there are supposedly other packs?" the silent Kiba finally spoke up, silencing the verbal-brawl that had yet to be initiated.
"Because," Hubb took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair rather tiredly, "You're the only pack left."
"Wait, what?" Toboe blinked and then shook his head as if to clear it, "What do you mean 'you're the only pack left?' I thought there were other packs, like the Cleaners, Espionages, and all that?"
"If you mean 'pack' as in realhumans, yes," Hubb had his hat in one hand while the other one rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to alleviate the allergy although it didn't help. It was the thought that counted, "There's only a handful of your kind left and most of them didn't want our help."
"Who'd want to live like this?" Tsume snorted in disgust as he directed his glare at anything but the inhabitants, "Parading around like humans only to be used as a weapon and then be discarded at a later date."
"If you say that, then why are you here, Tsume?" Kiba turned around to question the older male, even crystal blue eyes slightly narrowing. "What did you expect from it?"
"I'm just stating the facts!" the silver-haired male snapped, taking a step closer to the brunette. "Why, I should be the one asking you those questions!" He leaned forward, glaring into those intense blue eyes.
Snarling grey wolf bared his canines as he lowered his head, ears pressed against his head in agitation, while the white one only continued to intensely stare at the other from an otherwise calm posture.
The human man had to take a few steps back up the stairs, fearing for his safety if the two should fight physically. He quietly sighed with a slight shake of his head, 'Goes to show how their friendship is going along. He would've stop it himself if it wasn't for two things: one, being that if he were to intrude, in all likelihood they would've shove him out of the way; the other was, well, they're wolves. Isn't that a good enough reason to stay out of it? And don't mention the fact that he's allergic to dogs.
"He-hey!" The mahogany wolf hesitantly intervene the two, intentionally blocking each other's view from another. Attempting to quell the hostility despite this being Toboe's first time actually witnessing it rather than hearing it on the scouting missions through irate growls, Toboe rather not see it. "We're a pack right? We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves; it'll just show our weaknesses."
Tsume snorted one last time before backing off, realizing that what the runt said made some actual sense for the first time while on this pack, even though this sort of breakout wasn't a first between the two.
"So we're settled now?" Hubb cautiously asked as he glanced about their faces, fighting back a sneeze as he put his hat back on.
"Guess you can say so," Hige shrugged with his fingers laced behind his head. "So I guess it's safe to assume to move forward?"
The uncertain question was met by silence for response aside from Toboe's vigorous nodding.
"Yeah." Kiba finally answered, turning around to face the man.
The blonde man nodded, turning around and ascended the steps, "Follow me. I'll give you gives a brief rundown here."
Reaching the bridge, Hubb stood in the middle, facing the group behind him; he took out an inhaler and pumped it. He knew the effects of it would last enough to get through this little introduction; however, he still didn't like the use of the inhaler. Hubb didn't know why he disliked it but he just did.
He jester to said buildings,
"Now, on the right through the main tunnel is: first floor the cafeteria; second floor the recreational floor; the third floor the sleep quarters with the bed, washroom, et cetera. We call that the Leisure Building. Here in the main building comprise of multiple of offices, major labs, meeting rooms and departments, whatever. We call this the Main Building. The left building and the smaller buildings throughout are the training grounds, including the surrounding forest of up to approximately a five-mile radius. We have cameras, securities systems, consisting of laser guns, mines, automatic guns with the camera system, the full artillery. We dubbed this, obviously, the Training Grounds. I hope you remember all of this." a pause. "Oh, yes, I believe it's almost time for your Assessments." He walked around the group of boys. "Right after your Examinations, of course. Come, follow." The blonde man descended the steps, straining his ears to hear footsteps following his lead and he did.
The man led the group to the door that had a title of 'Lab/Examination' on a small brass plaque and motioned for them to head in. "Cher will be in a minute. She's also going to do your Assessment with some of the other doctors." And with that said, Hubb disappeared to one of the several unknown doors.
Glancing at one another, Kiba was the first to enter and the rest trailed inside quietly, relaying the fresh new information in their mind for storage in a file cabinet.
The 'Lab/Examination' room undoubtedly held the obvious sterilized stench that went along with the completely white-washed walls and cabinets. The counter ran along the walls, filled with various instruments, paper works, racks, files, data sheets, the sorts that you would expect in such an uncontaminated place. There were several chairs for each counter, as if telling there were supposed to be more people in such a place. Another door led to another seemingly similar room, directly across from the entrance the group stood in front of. And from there emerged a blue-eyed blonde haired woman with her hair clipped up, donning a pair of glasses, absorbed in whatever she had on her brown clipboard as she strolled in, in her pale lavender suit underneath a white lab coat.
As if she sensed their presence, blue orbs-several shades of lighter blue when compared to Hubb's-glanced up and offered a slight warm smile. "Hello, there. You boys must be here for the Examinations." It was more of a statement to confirm her thoughts than a question. Without waiting for a response, Cher flipped through more papers as she moved towards the counter on the right of the group, taking a seat on the provided comfy swivel chair. "Going alphabetically, you would be first Kiba." A hand motioned to the chair at the end of the counter. "The rest of you can sit wherever you like, but please, do not touch anything unless I say so."
With a slight nod, the brunette sat down, watching the rest scatter with affirmative nods and 'Yeah's', to different counters, dragging their chair a bit closer to him and the female blonde.
She started off with taking notes on his physical traits, asking questions of his mental status, his well-being, nutrition and social life, taking his pulse, a brief testing of his reflexes by means of tapping his knee with an instrument of sort, and checked his eyes. It all took less than fifteen minutes with how Kiba was tersely replying to examination.
Scribbling down another note, Cher nodded, "Alright. You seem to be in perfect health excluding your anti-social nature. Hige, your next."
Kiba rose, allowing the comment to bounce off his seemingly impassive nature, and instead of taking a seat, he opted to stand by the doorway, observing intently.
The blonde woman did the same with the rusty-haired male and after a few moments, nodded, "Excellent health if not for your eating habits."
"Porky," snorted Tsume.
"Is it a problem to enjoy eating?" Hige huffed, slightly offended.
"Calm down," Cher soothed the adolescent as he rose and shot a glare in Tsume's direction that just bounced right off his own, "Toboe, your turn."
"Okay!" Toboe happily sat down on the chair.
Repeating the process, she again nodded, "You're in excellent health." She received a wide smile and returned it. "Tsume?"
Grudgingly, Tsume complied, striding over to the now vacant chair. She then started with the examination, ending up in with similar results to that of the brunette. The male grunted, muttering something crossly, though she couldn't catch what.
Before long, the four boys were led to the other door, finding that their previous thought of this room being similar was somewhat off. This room was twice-if not more so-as large as the one before it, still containing that completely sanitized feeling of devoid human contact.
There was no counter or chairs aside from various exercise equipment that was wired up to several monitors of its own placed about the expansive room. Upon entering, there were mirrors on opposite walls, endlessly reflecting off each other. Aside from the inanimate objects and sounds of humming machines, there stood several doctors donning the widely-known starched white lab coat, scribbling and absorbed with their clipboards in the same manner Cher was moments before, before noticing their presence.
Before long, each of the Scouters found themselves at a machine, with suction wires attached to their bare chest and thighs, after ridding themselves of their shirts and pants, donning the off-white shorts Cher provided for them, to the monitors reading their heart levels and such. As of now, Tsume was on the stair-master machine; Kiba the treadmill running; Hige the bicycle machine; and Toboe the bench press. Each with a doctor or two at their side, scribbling more notes and making quiet comments to one another, before moving on to the next.
After each half hour, the four males switched machines and found new ones, bodies slicked with sweat but they showed no sign of fatigue or weariness, doctors, including Cher, continued to take notes as if they were some experiment.
Quite a few hours passed, finding the group of males panting for breath on the cool floor near the entrance once they chugged several jugs of cold water completely empty. The unknown doctors left, leaving them with the female.
"I'm...so...hungry" huffed Hige as he wiped his forehead of excess sweat after tilting his head to rest on the wall.
"Aren't we all?" golden orbs rolled his eyes as he struggled to stand on his wobbly legs, only to see that he could barely manage that attempt, resulting him to lean on the wall with bent knees.
"Are...we...done...?" Toboe asked on behalf of the pack, turning over to lie on his back, staring up at the equally white-washed ceiling and then opted to stare in awe at how Kiba could still be standing after guzzling down his share of fluids.
"Mmm..." the blonde woman flipped through the papers, azure eyes skimming over the contents briefly, "for the physical part, yes. Now you boys need to do the Team Assessment over in the main building of the Training Grounds in Gym 008."
"There's more?" Hige's eyes widen in disbelief, "Man, and I thought the individual training was brutal!" His whole being slumped but then his head perked up, "But we do get to eat before that, right?"
"Of course," Cher smiled reassuringly. "Dress up. You only have another half hour before the next Assessment." With that said she turned around and departed to the opposite door that marked, 'Personnel Only.'
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Hmms, hope I got their character down right. Not completely satisfied with this chapter, but, bleh, better later than never, eh?