Batsu slowly nodded and said, "Yeah, that's got to be it. That has to be the reason this test is completely out there."
"Hm? What did you figure something out, Batsu?" Sasuke said.
"Yes, this is more than just the test itself," the Riolu stated, "The test just doesn't test our knowledge of the rescue team basics and tactics, but our ability to gather information."
…...Oh, wow... I never would've guessed it. That's completely amazing how clever the test was constructed as I shook my head at it. I heard more about as I listened to Zev speak.
"Yeah, that explains it... the "eagle-eyed" sentinels everywhere, these extremely challenging questions, and the fact that only two points are deducted from each caught glance of cheating. That's very clever..." he said.
"I see now... Tony himself said 'Sometimes, you must see through deception and find the true meaning.' He's not forbidding us to cheat; he's expecting us to. He wants us to try and cheat and not get caught," Sasuke said.
"Only a handful of exceptional teams could be able to gather information on a mission under extreme and strict circumstances, and that's exactly what Tony is looking for," Batsu added, looking around at the competition.
"This makes me wonder if any of the others teams have figured this out," King said, fiddling with his pencil.
"But this means, if the whole point of the test is to gather information, there's a major question: Who's got all the answers?" Zev asked as all of us began to look around for anything.
"I'm pretty much at a disadvantage here, then..." I said, scratching my head, "I'm way too far up near Tony and where I have really no tools to find answers."
"I also got the same problem as the pipsqueak. Not to mention, since we're in front, that decreases the odds of us getting a good shot atfinding someone who's got all the info," King added.
"How about we stay linked with Batsu's telepathy and when one of us finds an answer, we right it down?" Naruto suggested.
"Dork, that's the dumb... wait a minute, that's probably one of the best ideas we got right now," King corrected himself as he blinked.
"Maybe you should think more before you say something," Naruto teased as he heard a growl come from his taunted victim.
"That's a good idea. When we find the answers, we can just share our answers until the test gets to its final questions," Sasuke said.
"Okay, go ahead and read them, Batsu," I said, "We're ready to write them down."
"Very well then. Everyone, these are the answers for the first four questions," Batsu then began to read, "The first answer is Arcanine because..."
So for the next, oh I don't know, ten minutes, we continued to write down the answers and thus I was happy with four answered questions. I looked at the friends sitting next to me and it seemed that they had gotten the secret meaning to the tests. It seemed that somewhere in the room, Austin had gotten the idea, because I could tell that Alyssa was writing down answers in a fast mannered pace. Zoey though, I guess was just incredibly smart. She had already FINISHED THE TEST. Like DONE. Every question on the paper was answered and all she did was sit patiently for the rest of the time to be done. And Holt, God bless him, had answered at least three and then just did little drawings on his paper until the time was over. I kept my eyes on my paper, as suddenly I heard a voice that made me jump a bit.
"Number 30! You're out!" a female Pidgeotto said.
The female Flareon that was sitting next to Holt jerked her head up in horror as she looked over at the sentinel.
"W-wait, what?" she asked as I could tell she become regrettful.
"I'm sorry, but I caught you five times," she said, "That means your team is also disqualified."
"That means number 101 and number 66, you're out too," I heard a male voice say.
It was kind of startling to see that someone was that close to me when they were eliminated. The Flareon slowly arose from her seat and then proceeded to walk down towards the door, where soon her teammates followed, and left together. But the eliminations didn't stop there. They only began.
"Number 1, fail!"
"Number 122 and 79, you're gone!"
"Number 89, leave."
"Number 92 and number 23, go."
And the list kept going on and on and on. Seriously, for about several minutes, eliminations kept being read off and multiple teams started to leave the room. Some of the teams had to be escorted because they tried to argue that they didn't cheat, while others even teared up and cried at failing. Man, that was nerve rattling. To see more and more people be dismissed for cheating really makes you value the meaning of "fair". I finished writing our answers done as we talked telepathically again.
"All right, so how do we get the other five answers?" Naruto said.
"Sasuke, Batsu, you got any clue?" I asked.
"As much as it boggles my mind to say it, but no, I have no clue about the others," Batsu said as he looked at his test paper.
"Neither can I," Sasuke scratched his head confusedly, "So, we need to find a way to get the last five answers..."
Zev sighed as he rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of the whole test. He suddenly blinked surprised as his eyes slowly looked up at the ceiling. He slowly smiled as he got his pencil ready.
"Guys, look above on the ceiling," he said.
We all then looked up at the ceiling. Oh, my word! That was perfect! The ceiling's light casing was metallic and you could basically look up and see a bit of reflection of whatever is in front of you. And I could see the answer of question five in front of me. I secretely pretending to stretch my neck and back a bit as I glanced up and memorized the answer. I then wrote it down as Zev began to explain that, and the answer to question six, seven, and eight. We all wrote them down and then felt pretty confident with having these many answers down. But we had one more; the second hardest of the test.
"Okay, the ninth question... wow... this is the hardest written question here," King said, as he groaned.
I happened to take a look at the question and... Oh my freaking gosh... this was the EASIEST question to me. I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner. Okay, here was the ninth question...
"In the legend of humans, humans that would travel the world with Pokémon were called trainers. However, the trainers could start off in five different regions of the human world. Name in order the list of regions that were discovered."
Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova. There! Holy freaking crap, that was the hardest ninth question of the test? UUURGH! This is driving me insane. It's like this world is testing me to blow my cover as a human. I mean, I knew the answer, but for me to just say what it is, would blow the alibi away. I gritted my teeth and fidgeted my fists in a humorous way as Batsu then did something that made me calm.
"Don't worry... I'm using my ability to see aura to look through the candidate in front of me. The answers are in order..." he said, as he read off the answers in order for everyone else to write down (I had already taken the liberty of finishing it myself).
We all put our pencils down and relaxed a bit. No sentinel wrote us up or called us out, so it looked like we would make it out just fine. The test seemed much more easy now that the test paper I had was filled. It was surprising how this felt to finish a test. I don't know how to really describe it, but I felt so relieved and light after it was finished. But now that all the questions were all done, it all came down to the final twelve minutes.
"All right, we're coming up close to the tenth question," Sasuke said.
"This means that there's no ability to cheat off of this question," Naruto said, sighing a bit.
"It all comes down to the tenth question; whatever it is, it's what determines whether we fail or pass," Batsu stated.
I looked up at the clock and watched it count down, as I stared at it with anxiety and said, "Everything rides on that!"
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