"All right, now that we are all here," Batsu said to us, the whole team after all together gathered in our base, "We can begin. Now, as you all know, the Rescue Team Exams are going in order by survival exercise, written test, and the ending of the exams. But because you know of who my father is, I happened to be told about the specific details of the Exams."
"You serious about this, man?" Zev said, raising an eyebrow and being a bit skeptical as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall.
"My father would not lie about this, and especially not to me, Zev," the Riolu looked him in the eye and said, "He said that we should know since that we're one of the looked at teams this year, he decided to give us the details of what each stage has, except the last one."
"What, even your dad doesn't know about the last stage?" Naruto said, with his eyes widening.
"Yes," Batsu replied, "I cannot believe it either, but Whiscash Elder and those who are organizing the whole Exams this year want to keep it a secret. But I do know about the first two stages."
"Well, for crying out loud, just tell us already," King said impatiently, "I'm not gonna live forever, dude."
"Very well," Batsu sighed, a bit tired of King's consistent annoying impatience, "Well, the first stage actually is happening right in the Pokémon Square. Surprisingly, it's a crystal hunt."
"A… crystal hunt…? As in we search for REAL crystals?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Batsu nodded to me and said, "Apparently, each team starts out with a set of crystals, and each color represent a different amount of points. There will be crystals hidden out all around the Square. The object of the stage is to gather as many as you can before the time limit finishes. It's being proctored by Arcanine of Team Tactics."
"Oh, wow! Tactics' Arcanine is gonna be in charge of this!" Naruto panted happily, signaling to me that Arcanine was probably someone he looked up to.
"Tch, a simple treasure hunt? A kid's game? Seriously, I'm disappointed; that's not a challenge at all," King scoffed at the idea, folding his arms, closing his eyes, and turning his head away.
"Actually, that's not entirely true, King," the Riolu said, cutting him off, "The rules state that other teams can attack each other to get their crystals. So that means we can fight if needed."
There was an evil sparkle in the Charmeleon's eyes as he grinned, showing his sharp teeth as the pupil became smaller, showing he was getting a bit feral.
"Oh, yeah, now I'm excited for these exams!" he said as he grinned wider.
Okay, I gotta say some things off my chest. Although I respect what the Rescue Team Exams stand for, really? Crystal Hunting? A mock off of a scavenger Easter egg hunt was what the Exams were gonna determine which of the best candidates become official teams? I mean, I understand the morals that it taught in doing it, but I still don't kinda get it now that I'm recalling it.
And I hated how King acted during this time of being a Pokémon. I mean, what was his problem? He always acted angry and tough for some reason, wanting to prove himself for some reason. And his grin always rubbed me the wrong way when he did it in a mean or evil fashion. It's like the kind of bad guy vibe you get when someone smiles that way that makes you wanna smack them in the face. I just didn't like King… well, at that point anyway. Of course, even if I smacked King, I'd never live another day… or for a couple hours.
"Well, then we just need to stick together," Sasuke said, gaining all of our attention, "As long as we don't split up, we've got nothing to worry about. Plus, we got Zev, THE Pickpocket of Pokémon Square. With his expertise on stealing, we got a major advantage."
Zev smirked as he chuckled and nodded about it. That was indeed true. What better advice doesn't anyone have than a thief himself? We watched as Batsu nodded to this and slowly continue.
He then cleared his throat and said, "Now the next one is a written test. Whatever teams pass through the first stage will be brought to the Everfountain Falls Building and put in a class room together. All will then complete a written test that has certain rules that will be explained by the second proctor, Tony."
"Tony? You mean the blue-fire Typhlosion that is in charge of the Rescue Team missions?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, the very same," Batsu said.
Wow, a Typhlosion with blue flames? That I had to see. But that place Batsu mentioned. I didn't remember hearing about that when Sasuke and Naruto were taking me around here for the first time.
"Everfountain Falls?" I asked.
"You know that waterfall behind Whiscash Pond?" Sasuke said to me, "Near the river before the falls, there's a couple more buildings. That's where we'll be heading if we continue."
"So… Is this test like normal tests? Just briefly our knowledge about Pokémon and rescue missions?" Naruto asked.
Batsu shrugged modestly as he replied, "That is another thing. My father refused to tell me what the contents of the test would be about. I honor that, because it would be technically cheating. It means we're gonna get plenty of rest for this test."
Sasuke nodded and said, "Agreed. All right, everybody, we keep this info to ourselves so we can have an edge and prepare for this. Thomas, Naruto, I wanna speak with you alone for a bit. Everyone dismissed."
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My brothers and I gathered back to the special spot in Tiny Woods where we trained. We all sat down next to each other in a circle as Sasuke looked at me.
"Okay, the reason why I wanted to talk to you to as brothers is that no offense, Thomas, but with you on the team, the written test is gonna be a problem," Sasuke told me the truth, but trying to soften the blow.
I felt a bit embarrassed as I muttered, "Geez, now I know why arguing with Mr. Pepperridge for so long can now bite me in the butt in the future…"
I lowered my head in shame as Naruto added, "We're not trying to hurt you, Thomas, but if you're really telling the truth about not going to Pokéschool or ever taking an exam, then we're gonna have a bit of an issue and that could fail our chances of passing."
"Naruto! That's really not necessary and too harsh!" Sasuke scolded.
"Brother, there's no other way to say it!" the Poochyena defended himself, "It's the truth; I don't like being mean, but it's the truth!"
Sasuke sighed and nodded, "No, no, you're right. Thomas, I want you to look at me."
I raised my head as he looked at me and asked, "I want you to be perfectly honest with me. You have NEVER taken any kind of test or exam at all in your life?"
I slowly shook my head, "No, not at all, Sasuke."
"YOU WHAT?!" we heard King's voice roar behind us, as we whirled around to see that he, Zev, and Batsu came walking towards us.
King kept starting wide-eyed and angry at me as I groaned. Again, here we go…
Naruto let out a frustrated sigh and said, "Okay, guys? What part of 'Thomas, Naruto, I wanna speak with you ALONE' do you NOT understand?"
"Our apologies," Batsu nodded, "but we've been getting a bit interested in Thomas and we wanted to know what you three talk about. We just got here to the part where Thomas told you he's never taken a test."
Called it.
"So, basically, you're saying you guys are spying on us?" I asked.
"Batsu, I'm kinda surprised and angry now," Sasuke said, standing up, "You guys disobeyed me in wanting to talk to my brothers alone. How can I trust you to obey my orders as the leader of Team Believers if you can't even respect what I want now, before we even take the exam?"
"Thomas, are you freaking serious? You've never taken a test!?" King roared at me, ignoring my brother.
"…N-No, I haven't…" I said as I looked away.
"What the heck is wrong with you!? Why did you wait this long to tell us about this?" he demanded me to answer.
"King, it's all right," Sasuke tried to say.
"No, it's NOT all right, Sasuke!" King yelled, "If he's never taken a test, then he's gonna ruin our chances of passing! If we keep him on the team, he's gonna fail!"
I lowered my head as he closed my eyes. I literally started to feel like crying. Good gosh, King was right. I was the highest chance of failing on this team. I started to lose confidence as I began to feel like crying more.
"King, if I recall, you've never taken a test either," I heard Batsu said.
….What? Was Batsu telling the truth? You mean to tell me King was gutting me like a Magikarp out of water for not taking an exam, yet he's NEVER DONE A TEST EITHER? I opened my eyes to see him immediately pale up in embarrassment and slowly look down with wide eyes. Zev scoffed and folded his arms.
"And King, news flash; I've never taken a test either. You honestly think a thief could have a chance to sit down and take a test?" he said, raising an eye at King, who slowly went completely silent.
I slowly got extremely angry at King as both Naruto and I growled at him. We both stood up and literally bared our teeth at him.
"What the heck is your problem, King!? Why do you always pick on me!?" I shouted.
"You try to belittle Thomas for not taking a test, when you're guilty of the same thing!? What gives you the right to do that to my brother!?" Naruto growled.
Suddenly, the both of us felt Sasuke's paws gently pet us, instantly calming us. We looked up to Sasuke, who had a calm look on his face, as he walked to King.
"Let me handle this," he said.
With that, he walked over slowly and literally stood right in King's face. The Charmeleon looked at him with guiltiness as Batsu and Zev moved out of the way, just in case for the worst. I hoped Sasuke wouldn't hit him, but when it comes to someway hurting me…
"King, I'm speaking to you not as Thomas' brother, but as the leader of this team," Sasuke said gently yet sternly, "You need to stop degrading Thomas and start treating him with respect. Picking on him and pointing out his flaws doesn't make you tough or cool; it makes you look like a jerk. And from what Batsu just stated, you should focus on YOUR OWN flaws before targeting someone else's."
After taking a little sigh, Sasuke continued, "Whether you like it or not, my brother is a part of your team now. And this goes to all of you," he looked at all of us, "A team functions with trust and teamwork. There is no 'I' or 'star player' in a team. We all function together. If one of us doesn't trust another member, then we're NEVER GOING TO PASS THE EXAMS. Now is the time to lose all negative feelings about each other and start anew. We're Team Believers; so let's start making them believe we are a team and give others hope through our actions."
I smiled as I felt empowered by Sasuke's speech. Something about how he said it made everyone feel the same way and agree. I felt lucky how he was my brother and the leader of this team. Naruto snuggled against my side, making me smile. King slowly nodded and took a deep breath.
"Y-You're right. It was stupid of me to do that. I'm sorry," he apologized.
"But now that makes me even more worried for the exams," the Buizel said, looking at him, Zev, and me, "because now, HALF of our team has never taken a test, and that makes me worried about how well or poor you three will do in the second stage."
As the three of us looked away in embarrassment, Batsu asked with a curious look, "So, what do we do now, Sasuke?"
"There's only one thing we can do. Naruto, go get our study books from Auntie Kangaskhan's storage," Sasuke said to my brother as he nodded, "Zev, King, Thomas; all three of you report back to the base immediately. You're doing some studying."
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