"I'm glad you all could come and see me," Whiscash Elder said as the six of us came and stood in front of him, "I'm sorry if I had called you out during a free day, but I wanted to talk to you six about something that's about you and is big news."
"It's no bother, sir," Sasuke bowed and replied, "So, what is it that you want to tell us?"
"Well, usually when we get registration papers from applicants for the Rescue Team Exams," Whiscash Elder went on, "We don't see a lot of outstanding teams that catch people's eyes. They're usually little kids to teenagers who just started and thus are not a big issue. However, recently, it has come to my attention that your team, Sasuke, has caught everyone's eye."
We all blinked in surprise as Sasuke asked, "Mine, sir?"
"Never before in the history of the Rescue Team Exams have we seen such a team filled with the unusual and unlikely teammates, in which I apologize for surprising you that Lucario and I added King and Batsu," he said, and continued once Sasuke nodded, "But think: A mysterious Pikachu… the best tracker… the strongest rookie… the son of the Legendary Lucario… the younger brother of one of the members from Team ACT… and the pickpocket of the Square… all coming together as one team. That's something that not even I would've expected."
I wasn't expecting it… I mean, when you have team, lesser members mean less troubles to deal with like personal problems and cooperation… yet Sasuke had five of us to deal with now. Yet again, there is that famous saying 'There's safety in numbers' yet I can think of at least two or three that I can't count on to have my back if I got in danger. Besides, in reality, that quote doesn't mean you're safe, because there's a greater amount of people to help. It means you have a lesser chance of getting hurt of picked off. The more members you have, the less odds there are at you getting attacked. I'm guessing that phrase was made from a weak coward who was in a group of twenty. But, however, I got off on a serious tangent; let's get back to the story.
"So, one of the reasons that I called you here is to tell you six that a lot of Pokémon have their eyes on you and are expecting you to do big things this year and pass. So, I'm warning you that you will be under a lot of pressure when you take the exams and if you pass, for your whole career," the Elder explained.
"We understand, sir," Sasuke replied, "If we have any problems, we'll bring them up with you. Now, what is the second thing?"
"Well… your registration is not complete," the Elder replied to my brother's surprise, "You have all ready except for a name for your team."
"I know that, sir," Sasuke apologized as he bowed, "It's just I thought it'd be better to think of a name with all my teammates."
"I see. Since you're all here, you might as well come up with a name now," Whiscash Elder said happily.
It was then we all turn to each other and began to think of a name. It wasn't much help that really most of that was arguing between King's choice 'Highwind' and Naruto's choice 'Excalibur', which I could've sworn some game had two characters arguing over those names. Sasuke tried to make peace, but because of the tension of the bully and my other brother, his suggestion of "Assistance" was ignored very casually. Add that to Zev and Batsu not giving the slightest amount of interest in the name, it didn't bode very well. I shrugged as the arguing just kept going.
"Why not Highwind!? Excalibur makes no sense! We don't have anybody with a sword in this group!" King said, trying to justify his reason.
"Highwind doesn't fit either; we don't have a bird Pokémon in the group!" Naruto pouted, making King angrier.
"Geez…" I muttered sarcastically, "If people want to think we're the next super team, they're just a bunch of believers…."
Zev suddenly heard me as he caught everyone's attention by asking, "Wait… Thomas, what did you say?"
A bit embarrassed that I had been caught, and afraid of being yelled at, I said softly, "I said that, um… if people think we're the next super team… they're a bunch of believers…"
Suddenly, everyone blinked; not in anger, but in consideration. I was a bit confused at what I had said that Zev started nodding his head and smirking at.
"Believers, eh?" he said as I realized what he meant, "I'd say that's a good name if I ever heard one."
Despite a bit of annoyance that their names weren't chosen, Naruto and King agreed with the rest of the team on that name. I blushed that Believers was chosen, and heck, I didn't even suggest it as a name.
"Then, it's official," Whiscash Elder said, "From now on, your team is Team Believers."
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Well, after we had our team named, the Elder gave us a slip of notice paper that told us what stages the exam was in. It was then after we said our good-byes to Whiscash Elder, the other three departed from us and my brothers and I went back to Kangaskhan Storage. After about a half-an-hour getting to know the two who would be my "guardians", my brothers led me back to our base as we got ready. It was still the afternoon, but we wanted to just rest up mid-way through our day. We sat on our bed as Sasuke looked at the paper.
"Well, at least we know what kind of parts to expect in the Rescue Team Exams," Sasuke said smiling happily.
"So? Tell us, bro!" Naruto said excitedly as I nodded too with the same excitement.
"Well… the exams are gonna be sectioned into three parts. In order, they are survival exercise, written test, and then it says that the third part is a secret for only those who pass the first two," Sasuke explained.
"W-Wait…" I slowly said as I feared, "D-Did you say… written test?"
"Yeah. What's the matter?" Sasuke asked.
Okay, for those of you who are bums that didn't take the time to read from the beginning of my story (LIKE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO) and just tuned in, I've never gone to the Pokémon School for any type of academics. I've never taken any kind of written test whatsoever, so I got nervous just from that.
"Oh, I get it. You never went to that school back at your home, so you're nervous about the test part, right?" Sasuke asked me.
I nodded as Naruto made me giggle by nuzzling my face as he said, "Don't worry, bro. I'm sure you'll do well on the test."
"It shouldn't be super difficult, and I can't say what the rules are for I don't know them, but I can probably guarantee that they won't be things you don't know," Sasuke comforted me.
"Well, I sure hope so," We heard King's voice say.
The three of us looked towards the entrance to see King, Batsu, and Zev with their stuff walk into our base. I blinked as I was about to ask a question, but Sasuke stood up and smiled.
"Great to have you guys join us," he said.
"Thank you, Sasuke," Batsu said as the other two nodded and all three went to the beds that were attached to the wall I mentioned about when I first was in the base.
"Just to save you asking another question, Thomas," Naruto winked at me and explained, "When members of a team are officially registered in a team, they must live together in the same base. It's the rules."
Yeah, that wasn't gonna make me uncomfortable at all… ugh…
It was bad enough having someone just be ugly at you, then have another being a bully and another grumpy… but now having them as roommates. Yeah, what a way to kill a beautiful day. Meh, it couldn't be that bad, as that thought would later be challenged.
After all were settled in, King turned to Sasuke and asked, "So, I'm guessing you read the paper about the exams?"
"Yes, I did and the three of us know as well," my brother replied with a nod.
"Good," Batsu said as he fixed his bed, "There's rumors going around that this year, a lot of upcoming applicants are strong and that the exams are going to be one challenge that is not to be underestimated."
"Yeah, we heard teams like Bui-Power, Memory, and Lightgale are gonna be in it," Naruto said with a nod.
"If that's the case, we can't falter at all tomorrow," Batsu said, "We must give it our all."
….. Wait… did Batsu….. say tomorrow…..?
"Wait….. when you say tomorrow, does that mean the exams are tomorrow?" I asked.
"Yes," he said as he turned to me.
With a lowered jaw and a slow turning of the head, I glared at my brothers and said, "You didn't tell me the exams are that close coming up!"
Realizing that they made a big mistake and that it would've been probably a better idea to tell me when the exams were happening the day I got to the Pokémon world, Sasuke and Naruto made huge nervous faces as sweat drops went down their heads. The other three turned to them in disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding me! You mean to tell us neither one of you told your own brother when the exams are?" King snapped at them in anger and disbelief.
Without a proper answer to give, Sasuke facepawed in embarrassment as Naruto shrugged and said, "Um… oops?"
Zev buried his face in one of his hands and said, "Great… not even day one of the exams and already, we're pitted to lose…"
"Okay, okay, so we made a mistake," Sasuke said, giving a bit of hope, "But hey, we didn't know King and Batsu were on our team until thirty minutes ago. We just became a team; mistakes are bound to happen. We'll get by this exam. I promise."
Although I want to agree with it, things were not in our favor however. My relationship with Batsu, King, and Zev weren't that great, not to mention despite me, there were rivalries and tension between different members of the team. Also… I hate having to admit this, but with no experience on written tests and only learning how to fight yesterday…
I fear that the only reason this team could fail… would be me.
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