As the final minutes of the whole first stage of the exam counted down, we watched more and more teams come towards the pond area. There were still quite a few minutes left, but around the time that it was coming to, soon this thing would be over. Once we were finally able to rest and relax, Arcanine came over again to be able to chat.
"Now that King has been perfectly taken care of, I'm finally able to talk to you. And I would like to start by saying that I congratulate you on passing this first stage," he said smiling.
"Thank you so much," Sasuke said and smiled, "We really feel proud to keep going in this exam."
"I'm glad you feel that way. Being a Rescue Team is a big responsibility, but an even bigger honor," Arcanine said as he then realized that a certain Poochyena was wagging his tail and panting loudly, "And am I to assume that this little guy is Naruto?"
"Ah, he knows my name!" Naruto said happily in a fanboyism kind of way.
"Heehee, yup!" I said grinning, "This is Naruto, and apparently he's a fan of yours."
"A fan? A FAN!? I'm a HUGE fan of yours!" Naruto jumped up and barked happily.
"Well, it's a wonderful priviledge to meet a fan of mine. I'm guessing since we still have about several minutes that you want to talk with me?" the wise Pokémon said to him.
It was then that Naruto's face just seem to light up incredibly as his eyes sparkled brightly with excitement. Sasuke and I smiled at our brother getting so excited about the chance to speak with his idol. He barked happily as he nodded super fast. Arcanine laughed as Naruto walked over quickly and kept staring at him loyally.
"I'll take that as a yes, little one," he said, "I'd be flattered to talk with you for a bit. Come with me."
So with that, Naruto left with Arcanine for a little while to talk while we stayed put. As that happened, in a bit of a coincidence, Elek and his wife Arty happened to be checking on who had passed the first exam. We were alerted by their presence when the Articuno spoke to us.
"Oh, wonderful! Elek, Team Believers passed the first stage! They're right over here," she said, walking with him as they approached us.
"I knew deep down they would. Congratulations, Team Believers. Well done," Elek clapped, praising us.
"Thank you so much, Elek," Sasuke said smiling, "It was a bit frightening during the hunt, and even King got injured badly during it."
"But I'm perfectly fine as long as I wear this elbow pads the nurse gave me," King immediately added so the Blaziken and his wife didn't worry.
"That's great to hear. So, my wife has a question for you though," Elek said, smirking a bit.
"Did you happen to be in the slightest chance one of the six teams that got one of those human devices?" Arty asked impatiently.
"Lemme guess. You want it for your research?" Zev smiled as he folded his arms.
"Yes, it might be very crucial to my research about the humans. If I could just maybe take a look at it or how it functions, I could learn some crucial stuff about the culture of the society they once dwelled in," she said, speaking all smart and researchery (I know that's not a word, but that's pretty much the perfect way to say it).
"Well, the rules are that teams that only pass the exam fully can keep them, but I bet I can get it for maybe a few minutes for you," Batsu said, "Please excuse me as I go check."
To be completely honest with a lot of you reading this, I kind of got a bit nervous to be around Arty. I mean, she wanted to examine an ipod device: something I knew everything about. It made me a bit insane because I wanted to say what the machine was or how to use it, but that would blow my cover and I pretty much would be at the mercy of this whole world. Even Sasuke gave me a bit of a glance that said "Don't say anything; act unknowing". After a tiny bit, the Riolu came back with the device. With a gentle swipe and thank you said, Arty began to look at it.
"Hmm... it appears you turn it on with this button... and... Oh, I see!" she said smiling.
"Huh? Did you already figure something out?" Zev asked, blinking.
"Yeah, it seems that this device is a holder of music that they used to play. And it appears that you can file certain songs in band names so you can find it better. Hmmm... this one is called... Me... Metal...ica... Metal-ica," she said.
Now, I do not listen to that band, but even I know how to pronouce their name. So, unconsciously, my human side accidentally snuck out of my mouth and made me mutter.
"It's Metallica," I said quietly.
However, it appeared that even that wasn't quiet enough for the others to hear, especially Arty herself (DANG IT). She immediately perked her head up and looked at me as I was currently looking at my left side. This dumb act of mine would be the start of a constant back and forth battle between me and her.
"Wait, what? What did you say?" she asked, suddenly interested in what I said.
"I... um..." I tried to say, as Sasuke gave me a worried look, "I was thinking that the weird name could be prounced 'Metal-icka' or 'Metallica'."
"Hmmm, you sure about that? You sounded like you know what it is," Arty said, raising an eyebrow.
"Honey, I doubt that a Pikachu teenager would secretely know a human music band name," Elek said, trying to calm his wife down.
"Yeah, the pipsqueak knowing something as important and mystifying as that?" King said, grinning and shaking his head, "There's no way."
"Quiet, you!" Arty snapped at him, actually bonking his head with her wing, "That doesn't rule out how he looked like he might've known something. As a researcher, You need to accept the possibility of anything happening."
"But I don't know anything about humans!" I said, sadly lying.
"...All right, then," Arty said, nodding to me as she handed the device back to Batsu, and he took it back.
I was a bit comforted that she dropped the issue about the ipod for a bit, but the way she looked at me and just had an air around me definitely hinted at the fact that she was not letting the fact go that I COULD know something. Luckily, Elek would be there, but that's spoilers and I don't like those.
It was then that I heard a familiar voice call behind me by saying, "Yes, Thomas! I knew you'd make it into here!"
I turned to see Austin come over and high-five me with a grin. He chuckled as I walked over a to him after excusing myself from the group. We high-fived and then began to have a conversation.
"Thanks, it's good to see you made it as well!" I said grinning too.
"It was a bit hard to collect the crystals on the hunt, but we did manage to get a human device and two plush dolls that helped massively," he said with a sigh.
"Huh? You had trouble finding crystals? But they were the most common item to find," I said, raising an eyebrow at that statement.
Austin began to explain, "Well, we did find crystals, but the problem is tha-"
"NOOO! MINE! SHINY THINGS ARE MINE!"
We turned to see that Mia was holding a bag of items and covering it with her body, hissing at the staff who were in charge of collecting the items. Alyssa was hiding her face in shame a bit as she blushed. Upon hearing that, Mia reminded me of Molly. (Yeah, remember her? One of the trainers from Kilyla City long ago?)
"Mia, let go of the crystals! They're not yours; they belong to the staff here!" she pleaded embarrassingly to her friend.
It was then Austin turned to me and gave me a smirk as he said, "Once again, Mia can't seem to let go of shiny things..." which caused me to laugh out loud.
"Well, at least we both passed, but now comes the harder part," I said sighing.
"I know, the written test," Austin said nodding, "I heard that it's extremely difficult, that the question will be pretty advanced material."
"Oh, very true, young man," I heard yet another familiar voice say.
We both looked to see Tony again walking towards us with a grin. It seemed that he was about ready to kick off the second part of the exam. It was at the exact same moment the siren went off, signaling that the hunt was over and everyone would be back in the pond shortly.
"Hah, all right! Finally, this stage is over and I'll get my turn!" Tony said excitedly as he looked at us, "Better get with your teams, you two. This is going to get really good in a little bit."
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