"Ahem. Everyone, attention!"
Everyone turned around to see that Lucario had walked towards the middle of the pond and had spoken. Batsu had hurried over to us as we stood as everyone quieted down. The citizens of the square watched from the back as he continued.
"It's time that we started this, so welcome to the Rescue Team Exams. We are so honored to have you hear in celebrating a generous tradition that we hold and value so dear and highly. As you know, the Rescue Teams were founded for the protection of those that cannot fend for themselves and the ones they love. With virtues of honor, love, care, honesty, responsibility, and courage, we strive to uphold our moral code. We live by the motto of this famous saying: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' If you cannot live by this motto, you shall never be a Rescue Team, not as long as I'm here. You will be tested not only in strength and abilities, but heart and truth to see if you stand through this challenge. Even if you fail, never give up hope, for you may hold someone's life in your hands tomorrow," Lucario started an impressive speech.
As he continued, I could feel just how serious that everyone was taking this… and how I needed to take it. I looked at my brothers and the rest of Team Believers, as they listened with serious faces. I felt a bit of pride that I was able to compete in such a thing.
"In a few minutes, you will have your first proctor come forth to talk about the first stage about the exams. I bid you all good luck," Lucario finished as he left the middle and everyone cheered.
I smiled as I turned to look at Batsu and say something.
"Hey, Batsu, your dad was incredible!" I said happily.
But to my surprise, I forgot that Batsu was on the left side and I was addressing a Riolu with long hair on his head and ruffled chest fur. He blinked at me in surprise as he chuckled.
"Hehe, sorry, man. I think you got the wrong Riolu. My name's Austin," he said to me.
"Oh, geez, I'm terribly sorry. My name's Thomas," I apologized, embarrassed as a sweatdrop went down my head.
"It's okay. So, I take it you're from the Pokémon Square?" Austin asked.
"Yeah, but technically, I just got here only a couple of days ago. I was attacked by multiple Pokémon and lost my memory as well as took a huge beating. So, the leader of my team took me in and now I'm living here for now," I explained to him.
"Ah, cool," he said smiling, "So, what's your team name?"
"Team Believers. You?" I asked.
"Oh, my team's name is C-12," Austin smiled, rubbing his head.
"C-12?" I asked, blinking, "What does that mean?"
"Well, I really don't know myself, but the other members of my team really liked it, so that's the name," Austin smiled a bit embarrassingly.
"So, who are the members of your team then?" I said, looking around, "I don't see anybody with you."
Austin began to say, "Well, they went off to make sure we were registered properly for the exams a-"
"SUUUUUPPPEEEEERRRR-FRRRRIIIIIEEEEEND!"
Out of nowhere, a pink flash swooped in front of me at blinding speeds and knocked Austin backwards, causing him to yelp in surprise. My team and nearby onlookers whirled around to see that Austin was completely dizzy on the ground with a Skitty on top of his head smiling happily. I blinked several times as Sasuke came over and stood by my side.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh, don't worry, my super friend likes it when I do that," the Skitty said.
"S-Speak for yourself, Mia," Austin said, as he tried to sit up.
"Honestly, Mia, did you have to tackle him and create this much of a scene?" we heard a female voice say as it came from behind them.
I looked over to see a Kirlia with glasses walking over towards the group as she slowly with Sasuke helped Austin up. With a cautious look on her face, she slowly was able to wedge Mia off of Austin's head as the rest of my team came over.
"Maybe, I had to," Mia said proudly with a grin.
"Wow, she has wicked speed!" Naruto said happily, "I wish I could go that fast!"
"I'm sorry for that embarrassing scene right there," the Kirlia bowed to us and said in apology.
"No, there's no problem at all," Sasuke said smiling, "You must be Team C-12, and you the leader Alyssa."
She slowly smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we traveled here from another Rescue Team H.Q town to take the exams."
"Why the hell did they have to put the exams here in the rundown place? They should've done it back in our town so we wouldn't have to travel," Mia grumbled.
"M-Mia! That's not nice!" Alyssa said in shock, and then turning to us, "I-I'm sorry for that comment too…"
"Well, Mia, the reason the exams are here is because not only is this Pokémon Square's turn to host the exams here, but to help teams from all over travel in a shorter distance. Believe it or not, this place is in the middle of travel distances, so it's shorter and easier for people all around to come here for the exams," Batsu explained (despite Mia's grumblings of how she didn't want to accept Batsu's reasons).
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to the exams. I am your first proctor for the first part of the exams."
As we heard a deep male voice say that, Naruto's eyes immediately sparkled with joy as he made an excited look on his face. He slowly wagged his tail faster as he grabbed Sasuke's paw with his mouth gently and tugs.
"Sasuke, come on! It's him! Come on, come on! I wanna see him!" he said happily as we and Team C-12 made our way towards looking at the middle.
When we got a clear view of who was talking, we saw that it was an adult Arcanine talking. He looked very gentle, wise, and kind as he spoke with a smile to the crowd. My brother immediately panted with excitement as his tail wapped me in the face as I walked closer to see the Arcanine. I giggled as I looked at him.
"So, I'm guessing that's someone Naruto really likes, Sasuke?" I asked.
"Sasuke, who is that?" Austin asked.
"That's Arcanine, the leader of Team Tactics, one of the five strongest Pokémon Rescue Teams. His team specializes in using speed and strategy to win battles," the Buizel explained.
"Oh, he's my idol!" Naruto said proudly, "I've always wanted to see him in person, and there he is. Ohh, I'm so happy. I gotta make sure I do my best if he's watching!"
"Wow, the little guy's got determination in proving himself," King said with a smirk, "Guess he has more guts and bravery than I give him credit for."
"When do you ever give him credit for anything?" Zev asked raising an eyebrow, only to have King reward him with a glare.
"I'm sure that most of you are ready to kick this thing off, so I might as well start explaining the first stage of the Rescue Team Exams. The first stage is to test how well you all function as a team in finding things or clients in a limited amount of time. For this stage, you will go around Pokémon Square and Tiny Woods, collecting the crystals and point materials before the time limit ends," Arcanine explained.
He slowly walked over and signaled to a few Pokémon to bring a board over that showed several pictures and numbers next to them, as well as a small bag that looked like it only had two items in it. Once this was done, he continued speaking.
Thus, Arcanine continued, "Each item has a certain amount of points. The items that have less points are more easy to spot around the square and woods and are larger in amount, while items that are more valuable are fewer and hidden. Most of the items are tiny crystals that are in different colors. The blue crystals are 1 point, red are 2, white are 3, green are 5, yellow are 10, and black are 20."
Arcanine then reached into a bad and pulled out a Pokémon plush doll. It was a cute Charmander, which really looked like King's little brother Pyro. Some of the teams chuckled a bit as Arcanine started to smile.
"Hehe, I know, I know. This looks a bit silly, doesn't it?" he said as he chuckled, "But believe it or not, these plush dolls are actually very important, so you better listen. These plush dolls will represent a client. If you find one of these plush dolls, you will get 100 points."
Everyone started to talk excitedly as I blinked at what I just heard. You mean to tell me that a tiny kids plush doll equaled THAT many points? Wow, I thought that the crystal hunt itself was silly; now they're encouraging us to pretend little kid toys are clients.
"But some of you might not find them. There are only 20 plush dolls, and only three are in the woods, so you're gonna need to look hard," Arcanine smirked, "But that's not even the biggest amount you can get."
He slowly pulled out an item out of the bag that shocked me out of my mind. It was an ipod! I'm not kidding! You know, the ipod device that you can listen to thousands of songs? I blinked in shock as everyone gasped in shock.
"Yes, that's right!" Arcanine said grinning, "This is an electronic device that the humans from the legends once used. They are worth a whopping total of 200 points! But there's only 5 of them. And the teams to collect these items, if they pass the exams, get to keep them."
As everyone talked amongst themselves, he continued, "Now, onto the rules. For you teams to pass this stage, you need 300 points to be safe and move on to the next round. Because to be honest, they are 128 teams here, but only half of you will move on. You are allowed to attack other teams for their items. You will notice that when you're searching, that there will be Pokémon Rescue Teams out in the square and in the woods. They are there to make sure that no teams move items so that others cannot get them or that battling teams don't go overboard on fighting."
To conclude, he then said, "Now, as you leave, your team leader will be given a name of a place either in the woods or the square as well as a bag to hold your items. That's where your team will start off. The hunt will begin when a siren is played. It will play again to signal when the hunt is over. Once that happens, you are to stop what you're doing and immediately come back here for your points to be added or you can come back at any time that you've completed over 300 points so that you'll pass and remain safe. Until then, good luck."
As everyone clapped and cheered and the teams started to head over to the exit, Austin turned to me and offered a fist-bump. I grinned and fist-bumped as the others of both our teams smiled.
"Good luck, Thomas," he said smiling, "I better see you in the next stage!"
"I promise, Austin," I said grinning, "Good luck!"
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