The next few days were rather calm. Instead of normal dungeon training they were sent on simple missions with silver ranked teams. Like he promised he went on the next mission with Damion and he had to admit that the Buizel was pretty good at it.
Craw had given the goggle specs to him and he surely used it.
Damion even saved the team that they were on a job with from a blast trap.
Of course the job was done flawlessly and the team they went with congratulated them for the good work.
He also went on jobs together with Ariela and Kathrin so he knows how they work in dungeons. Of course he kept his promise and spend some time with Kathrin just listening to her and talking with her and after some days she seemed to feel better. She even stopped giving Brighton glares like if she wanted to kill him.
Ariela asked Craw several times what was going on with Kathrin but he just told her that she shouldn't ask Kathrin and that Kathrin would need some time to get over it.
The days passed and the training went well and at the end of the week Anubis made another announcement.
He took out a pendant. This time it was a silver pendant with a topaz. "OK first of all the best of this week. They repeated the procedure that was common to them now. Again there was nobody with a fitting aura and the group already wanted to separate for dinner but Anubis cleared his throat. "There is something else I want to tell you. Tomorrow you have a free day but the day after tomorrow the exams will start. The ones who want to participate will meet in the classroom. There will be the theory exams. The next day the dungeon exams will be held. The maximum team size is four and you will be accompanied by a team that will watch every step you do. You will have to decide what rank you will aim for before the theory exams. If you do well you will become the rank you want but if you fail the exams you will stay a trainee and will have to do the exams in the next month. It is a part of the exams to know your limits."
The Pokémon started to discuss with each other.
Anubis sighed. "That is all for now. Now go to dinner."
The group talked loud and made their way to the guild.
Craw sighed. "I would like to discuss with all of you how we will do the exams."
Brighton nodded. "Yeah we should decide who is going with who to the dungeon."
The others nodded and they went to dinner.
It was the first time since the incident that they all sat together again.
Craw smiled. "Well I thought of it a bit. We have two power houses with Kathrin and me and two pretty fast Pokémon with Brighton and Fletcher."
Fletcher seemed to be proud of this and Craw had to chuckle.
He looked to Damion and Ariela. "You Ariela are a supporter and Damion you are an adjustable fighter so I would split us into two teams of three Pokémon."
Kathrin sighed.
Craw smiled. "Don't worry. Brighton will come with me and Damion. I would like to send Fletcher with you two. Is that OK for you three?"
Kathrin looked to Fletcher for a moment and nodded.
Ariela smiled and nodded. "I am sure you will be of great help."
Fletcher nodded. "I won't complain and will fight good for you."
Craw nodded. "I would prefer Kathrin as leader of your team if that is OK."
Kathrin looked to him. "Are you sure of that?"
Craw nodded. "I wanted to clear this anyway. Since Brighton declared that I am the team leader and you two accepted that I would like to make Brighton to the second in charge and you Kathrin the third in charge."
The both of them looked to him surprised. "What?"
Craw smiled calmly. "Well Brighton without you I wouldn't be here anyway and that is why I want you to be the second in charge. At the beginning I thought you would be the leader anyways. Kathrin you will be the third in charge because you are the best explorer of the team and you have the most knowledge about dungeons and I think making you the third in charge would be the only right thing to do." He looked to all of them. "Are you all OK with this?"
They all nodded and even Brighton and Kathrin seemed to accept it
Craw nodded. "Ariela I know you have some problems with it because of your father but I would like you to be the manager for the money and items. You know the most about trading of all of us."
Ariela sighed. "Yeah sounds logic..."
Craw smiled. "Don't worry. You won't need to do it so often. We will only use your knowledge for buying expensive items and big amounts of items like with berries and support items."
Ariela nodded. "OK."
Craw smiled. "Kathrin you will be the main strategist. You will help me working on plans for the jobs and we will decide together what jobs we will accept and who we will send to the jobs."
Kathrin nodded. "Sounds good."
He looked to Brighton. "Brighton. Beside myself you will be responsible for the team members. That means we will together decide who will join our team and we will be there for team members that have problems. Be it personal problems or team related problems. I want to make sure everyone is happy."
Brighton nodded.
He looked to Fletcher. "Fletcher you will continue your training with Peggy for now but as soon as you are finished with that you will be the messenger and pathfinder. You will send messages and you will explore the paths to the dungeons for us. Since you are a flying type you are the best for this job. Also when we go to a dungeon you will fly high above us taking care that we don't run into any surprises like groups of feral Pokémon, traps or even Aura-less."
Fletcher nodded. "That sounds good."
Craw nodded. "Damion your task will be the supplier. You will make sure that the team that goes on a job has everything they need. You will have to work together with Ariela to make sure that our storage has everything we need. Also you will have to take care that the team don't take too much items with them or we will spend more money than we earn."
Damion nodded. "OK."
Craw nodded. "I know it's not as much as the others have but on the other side I am sure I will find some other task for the future..."
Damion shook his head. "No that is fine. If we get more members it will be an important task. Especially if we send more members in separated teams to different jobs. Then it will be enough work for me."
Craw nodded. "OK."
After some time they decided that they had discussed enough and that they would discuss the rest after they finished the exams.
As Kathrin asked Craw if they could speak he looked to Ariela.
Ariela smiled and nodded.
Craw was a bit sad about it since they planned that the next day would be used for preparations for the upcoming exams so they actually wanted to spend the evening together but it was more important that Kathrin would feel better now. "OK. Let's go on a walk then."
They left the others and after some time they were walking on a small path along the lake near the city.
Craw didn't say a wort waiting for Kathrin to start talking. He had done this the past few days and it seemed that it was the best way to handle it.
Kathrin sighed. "I want to thank you that you handle my shit so well..."
Craw smiled calmly. "It's fine. You are part of the team and I count you as my friend too." He looked to her. "I want that all of you are happy."
Kathrin nodded slowly. "It is so frustrating... Why of all the Pokémon it had to be Brighton?"
Craw chuckled. "You love him don't you?"
She widely blushed. "W-What!? N-No!"
Craw giggled. "It's pretty funny that everyone seem to see this except for Brighton himself. Even Fletcher asked if you two would become a pair."
Kathrin looked to him shocked. "E-Even he can tell?"
Craw smiled. "Yeah. Maybe his instincts tell him something that we don't see. Ariela also noticed it. She bugged me to tell her everything but I didn't."
Kathrin sighed. "I am sorry... That surely doesn't help you two."
Craw shrugged. "Everything is OK till now. She seems to be curious about it but she isn't angry that I won't tell her."
Kathrin looked down nervously.
Craw smiled. "Do you want me to talk with Brighton about it? I mean that you actually love him?"
She widely blushed and shook her head. "N-No!" She looked ahead. "He surely hate me for how I treated him..."
Craw shook his head. "No. He is just very worried about you. I can't read him that much but I think he loves you too... He never had someone treating him like a normal Pokémon... You maybe didn't notice but he always kept an eye on you since that happened..."
She looked to him surprised. "What?"
He chuckled and nodded. "He is really worried that you hate him now. After all he doesn't know a thing about why you freaked out like this... He just wishes that you would treat him like before again."
Kathrin sighed. "I don't know if I ever can treat him like before again..."
Craw grinned. "I think if he would know what you feel for him he wouldn't mind at all."
She sighed and nodded. "Maybe..."
Craw smiled. "Don't take it too serious. Take your time to recover and get a clear head again. After that you can think about how to win the prince's heart."
She blushed and punched his side. "Shut up already."
He chuckled rubbing his side. "At least you seem to feel better already. After all you start punching me again."
She rolled her eyes and sighed but grinned a bit.
The next day they prepared themselves with getting the best items for the upcoming exams and exchanging their experiences they made in the dungeons again to make sure everyone knew what to watch out for. Craw told them about what Sam told him and that they should be prepared that really every mistake will be considered and that they should watch out for unexpected enemies because of what happened with the Rhydon. They even made some extra fighting training by sparring with each other. At the end of the day they all were very exhausted and after a good dinner they decided to go to bed early to be well rested for the next days.
Craw needed some time till he fell asleep but as he finally drifted into a dream he found himself in the hospital room again that he had seen several times now. It was in the middle of the night and he sat up looking around. Craw already knew he was just a visitor in his old memories and wasn't able to control any movement so he tried to relax and just observed everything.
As he looked to the others in the room he saw the blonde haired boy and the brown haired boy again but also another boy with completely black hair. In fact it nearly looked unreal how black the boys hair was. Craw sighed and stood up holding on the pole that was holding a transfusion bag. He actually felt that walking was painful for him. The human Craw made his way to the corridor and peeked out of it before leaving the room. He went left and walked down the corridor a bit before entering another room. It seemed to be a waiting room and Craw closed the door making sure nobody has seen him. He sat down and took out a pack of cigarettes and a zippo. He took out a cigarette and lit it starting to smoke. He sighed and a cloud of smoke left his mouth. Craw was surprised. He never thought he was someone who would smoke.
"Smoking again?"
Craw nearly threw his cigarette away startled and looked to the door. He was surprised by how quiet the nurse entered the room. He sighed. "Hey there... Want one too?"
She chuckled. "You know it is forbidden. Also it's not good for you."
Craw smiled. "I am dying anyway. Also I have a tumor in my brain not in my lungs."
The nurse looked to him angry. "That doesn't matter." She sat down next to him and pulled a cigarette out of his pack lighting it with his zippo. "Are you OK? I mean sure you are depressed with the tumor and all but beside that is everything OK?"
Craw nodded. "Yeah. Everyone is friendly and the only annoying thing is that I have too much time..."
She nodded. "How about your room mates? I mean Brighton, Damion and Theodore?"
Craw nodded. "Damion is still pretty young and he is very depressed but he is friendly. Brighton is always good for a joke but he seems to hate his father... Theodore on the other side... He is a bit snobbish and thinks he will get out here soon. He doesn't accept that he will die."
The nurse shook her head. "You all still have a chance... I know it looks bad for you but you all can survive this. Just give it a chance."
Craw sighed. "Yeah... I know everyone is telling us the same. But seeing one after the other die you start to see everything from a different light..."
She nodded and stood up. "You will see. Everything will be good. I have a good feeling with you."
As Craw woke up the next morning he still remembered everything from his dream. Now even Damion... Something about his memories were really strange... But who was that Theodore? He never heard that name before... But maybe that showed that he was filling holes in his memories with random things.
It was still dark outside but soon it would become morning.
Craw stood up and a bit surprised he noticed that Fletcher was already awake.
The Fletchling looked to him. "You had a fidgety sleep." He was talking quiet to make sure the others won't wake up.
Craw sighed and nodded. "I had one of these strange dreams again."
Fletcher looked to him. "You mean your memory dreams?"
Craw nodded.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Craw shook his head. "Not right now. I will have to think about it for a moment. Thank you for your concerns."
Fletcher nodded and looked to the window.
Craw looked to him for a moment. "Do you miss it? The life as a feral Pokémon?"
He tilted his head and looked to him. "Yes and No. Sometimes I miss the simple life... Just eating, sometimes a good fight and... other things."
Craw looked at him. Of course he knew what Fletcher meant.
Fletcher looked to the window again. "But this life is also good. Of course it is hard work but on the other side it is much more secure. I never need to fight for my food and I don't have to fear that someone tramples into my home and kills me." He ruffles his feathers. "Of course I now know it was never your intention and that you just wanted to pass through."
Craw smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry for that."
Fletcher looked to him confused. "I thought I made clear that I now know you didn't do anything bad."
Craw sighed. "True. Fletcher may I ask you something personal?"
Fletcher nodded.
Craw looked to him with curiosity. "Why did you follow me?"
He looked to him with. "Well. There are different reasons. The first thing was that you beat our swarm leader. I already thought you would kill us all after that but as you didn't I was very confused. I decided to watch you and as you sat down together... All these different species... I mean as Riolu you would have killed and eat the Plusle and Minun normally and you would normally have tried to dominate and mate the Vulpix..."
Craw blushed and shook his head. "Please don't say it like this."
Fletcher tilted his head. "It is how I was thinking." He looked to the window again. "You all should have killed each other but instead you sat down with them peacefully and you ate and communicated with each other. That was so different to everything I knew. I wanted to know more about it. That was the reason why I joined you first. Then I saw all these different Pokémon and after you gave me these gummies and taught me all this about how Pokémon were living together even though they were natural enemies and after learning about the profits of the civilization I decided I would stay."
Craw looked to him with curiosity. "Are you happy here?"
He chirped quietly. "I enjoy this life. I mean I am missing a mate till now but I am sure that I will find one and then my life is perfect. I don't mind hard work and always having food is very good. Also I can see so many different new things. There is so much to see. They are interesting and funny and sometimes surprising."
He smiled. "Well. Nice to hear you are happy."
Fletcher nodded.
He stretched himself. "Well I am taking a shower now."
Damion sighed. "This exam is horrible... Especially the scenario question with the Houndoom was hard."
Kathrin ate her sandwich. "Use the Lock On goggles and then Cross Chop."
Damion looked at her nervous. "Really? I nearly used all the items in the bag..."
Kathrin shrugged. "The easiest solution is the best."
Damion sighed. "Damn it..."
Craw sighed and nodded. "Yeah... Some questions are pretty hard."
Kathrin sighed. "You two just didn't learn enough."
Ariela shook her head. "No actually they are."
Brighton nodded. "We aim for the silver rank after all. We get some harder questions than the others."
Craw nodded.
Kathrin looked to them surprised. "Am I really the only one who thinks that the exam is really easy?"
The others nodded.
She sighed. "Well then it really was a good idea to promote me to the main strategist."
Craw nodded.
Brighton sighed. "Well... Lunch is nearly over... We have to get through it with good grades."
Craw nodded. "We have to give our best. Even if we don't get the best grades today we will have the possibility to get the best notes tomorrow."
Kathrin nodded. "Just do your best."
Everyone nodded.
Craw looked at his papers. This was ridiculous. Sure math was a thing that everyone should know the basics of but this? From parable calculation to four dimensional space calculation everything was there. Even more concerning was that he knew all of this. It was as easy to him as breathing was. He quickly pushed the thought aside. Maybe he knew all this from his previous lives. What really bothered him was that he was sure the others of the team surely had problems with these calculations. He sighed and shook his head. He had to worry about that later. He solved the questions as fast as possible and as he finally finished he turned in the sheets and then left the classroom. He took some deep breaths and looked around. Kathrin was already finished as well as Ariela.
Kathrin looked to him. "What did you get?"
Craw looked to her surprised. "What do you mean?"
Ariela looked to him nervous. "Well I had medical science."
Kathrin looked to him. "I had physics."
Craw looked to them confused. "I had math... Wait... did everyone get something different?"
Kathrin nodded. "I think it's even more. I think everyone got in their second half of the exams their strongest knowledge."
Craw looked to them. "Wait... Does that mean you had no problems with the tasks?"
Ariela shook her head. "Everything was very easy."
Kathrin looked to the door. "Nearly as if they wanted to tell us something with that..."
They decided to wait for the others and after a while Brighton came out as well.
Craw looked to him seeing he was a bit worried. "You OK?"
Brighton nodded. "I am sure I finished everything just fine I am just pretty confused... I mean how should someone know about politics if they didn't learn that before?"
Craw looked to Kathrin and Ariela. "So you were right. Everyone got questions fitting to their strongest side."
Brighton looked to them confused. "What do you mean?"
Craw sighed. "I had math questions... Really hard math questions but to me they were so easy and I have no idea why..."
Kathrin shrugged. "Physics. It's my secret talent."
Ariela looked to him. "Well it's not a real secret that I know the one or other thing about medical science..."
Brighton looked to them confused. "What does that mean? Do they choose topics depending on what we know? But if they do then why? It doesn't make any sense..."
Some minutes later Fletcher left as well. He looked to them with curiosity. "Is music something every explorer have to know about?"
Craw shook his head. "Everyone got different questions."
Fletcher nodded. "So it was a test within the test."
Craw looked to him confused. "What do you mean?"
Fletcher tilted his head. "I already thought that something was wrong. After I finished the test I thought why they would put that kind of stuff into an exam. Then I remembered something that Peggy told me. She said that sometimes we get riddles in a dungeon that can't be solved normally and that she once had a riddle where they had to complete an old rhyme."
Brighton looked to him. "Of course! They wanted us to think about how to use our strengths for the team!"
Craw looked to him with curiosity. "You mean like you would be a good negotiator for the group because of your knowledge in politics or Ariela would be good as the medic of the group?"
Brighton nodded. "Your math skills would be great for many things like calculating the resources or math riddles in a dungeon. Kathrin would for sure be good in physic riddles but also many other things that are physic related. Fletcher is good in music what can be used to lighten up the mood with some songs but at the same time solving music related riddles."
Craw nodded. "That makes sense... We should think about that more in future. I wonder what Damion is good in."
The others nodded and together they waited for Damion.
It needed some time till he came out of the classroom He was one of the last ones who left. "Damn... That was a hard one... first I was totally confused. I mean who would have guessed that they want us to translate ancient languages?"
The others looked at him very surprised.
Craw was the first who spoke. "Wait... Do you want to tell us you are able to translate ancient languages?"
Damion looked to him confused. "Yeah? Wait... What is going on?"
Craw sighed and explained everything to him. "But damn ancient languages? That is really amazing!"
Damion blushed embarrassed. "Well... When you spend so much time underwater like I do you find the one or other ancient thing here and there... I just was interested in what is written on those old things I found and started learning it..."
Craw looked to him surprised. "Well that makes you very special."
Damion looked down. "Nah... Everyone can learn that."
Craw sighed. "Yeah but not everyone does learn it. Its something hard to learn and you seem to be good in it..."
Damion shook his head. "Nah, that's nothing special..."
Kathrin looked to him. "Don't be so humble. That is something really special and you should be proud about it."
Damion nodded still embarrassed.
It was about ten minutes before dinner time as Anubis called everyone back into the classroom. As they all were sitting again and everyone was quiet he stood up from his desk and looked to them. "I will finish the evaluation till tomorrow. For everyone of you who is confused about the last part of the theory exams let me tell you something. It is some kind of test that we want to finish tomorrow. For finishing that part of the exam you have to ask yourselves why we put these questions into your exams. Or better. Answer me this question: Why did we give everyone different questions." He looked to them. "Thats all for today. Tomorrow we will meet here again to put you into the teams that you will go with into the tower. It seems to be save again but to be sure you will be accompanied by diamond ranked teams. You better go to dinner now."
Craw, Brighton, Ariela, Kathrin, Damion and Fletcher went to the canteen and sat down at the table.
Craw sighed. "I am sure he wanted us to think about how to use our talents for jobs and missions but since I asked him to train me harder than anyone else I fear it will hit you all this time too."
Ariela shook her head. "It's fine."
Kathrin nodded. "It wouldn't be fun if it was easy."
Craw chuckled. "Nice to see you are back to your old self." He regretted it immediately as Kathrin punched his side. "Ouch..." He rubbed his side. "However... He will for sure only accept the best answers from us so we will probably have to think the half night about it... On the other side he will surely send the best team with us so they will watch every step we do in the dungeon. That means we will have to be fit for it or we will be screwed."
Brighton sighed. "So we won't get much sleep but have to be fit... just great..."
Damion grinned grimly. "What did you say Kathrin? It wouldn't be fun if it was easy..."
Everyone sighed.
At the next morning everyone waited in the classroom.
As Anubis entered it got eerie quiet. Everyone stared at him nervous as he went in front of them. "I will now call out the Pokémon that didn't made it through the theory exams. If you hear your name you go back to your room and have free for the rest of the next days. You will start over again with the new trainees next week."
Everyone was quiet but like Craw they looked around nervously.
Anubis started calling out names.
Craw was sure his team made it with good grades through the theory exams since they checked their answers and only Fletcher, Damion, Ariela and he himself seemed to have some mistakes but he was still very anxious.
Then Anubis called out a name Craw knew good. "Tira..."
Craw was surprised. After all the Alolan Vulpix was very skilled and tough. He was sure she would finish the exams and become at least bronze rank but it seemed like if she didn't made it through the theory part...
As Anubis finally ended none of Craw's team was called out but nearly the half of the trainees were out. He looked around nervously. That was bad... Especially since the hardest part was still to come. Anubis would for sure have a surprise for them in the dungeon and that was something that bugged Craw even more. Then it dawned him These words that Anubis said the day before...
"OK now that this is sorted out I want to say that the most of those who made it through the first round only made it barely so you will have to show even more in the dungeon how good you are." He looked to Craw and his team. "Only a few of you made it with really good grades and only two had no mistakes. Kathrin and Brighton please come here. You will be the last ones who have a chance on this before we go to the dungeons." He pulled out another power enhancer. This time it was a golden pendant with a clear gem on it. Probably it was even a diamond.
Both Brighton and Kathrin touched it but it didn't show any reaction so Anubis put it away again.
Anubis sighed. "For those who didn't know the answer to the question I asked you yesterday: this is your last chance to think about it till we are at the dungeon tower. But I warn you. If you answer it wrong you will have to leave as if you didn't pass. Also if none of you answer the question you will all have to go back and start over again.
Craw grinned. "May I answer the question right now?"
Anubis looked to him with a grin. "If you want to test your luck you can."
The team looked at Craw surprised and very nervous.
But Craw looked at Anubis nearly challenging and widely grinning. "I thought about it yesterday for quiet a while. First I thought that it was to show us that we have hidden talents that we shouldn't forget but that is not entirely true. Yes some of us didn't know how good we actually are at these things but others were well aware so it was just a little part of the answer. Then I thought it might be because we should know and think about the hidden strengths of our team so we could use them even more efficient in our jobs as explorers but even that was only the half of it. The real answer dawned me just now as I thought about why you would do this right now and not before in our lessons. If you wanted to teach us something then why not back then already? What was the intention of this? But now I know you did it to get us off guard. This final part of the theory exams was already part of the dungeon. You wanted us to talk about it and this way we should think about where we could get better as individual. You wanted to show us that there is so much more to learn that we will need for exploring dungeons. Unknown riddles and ridiculous obstacles that we will face that wait in dungeons that we are not familiar with. Things that if we don't know of them will be in our way that we can't overcome if we don't know the answer to them. We should be prepared for the things we can't prepare ourselves. Like the ones you prepared for our final exam. You prepared such riddles for our dungeon am I right?"
Anubis nearly beamed with pride. "Very good Craw. The answer is completely right. Yes I placed riddles in the dungeon that you probably won't be able to overcome if you aren't prepared for much more than just a simple dungeon exploration."
Brighton, Damion, Ariela, Kathrin and even Fletcher looked at the Riolu surprised and shocked.
Craw grinned. "Then let's do this. Show me what surprise you got for us."
Anubis chuckled. "I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. But you wanted it this way."
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I actually like it and I am really thrilled for the next one especially since it holds the one or other surprise. Just one last warning for those who didn't realize it yet. This is a mature rated story. If you are not comfortable with mature content you should stop at this chapter. From now on things will start getting really dark.