Soon, the clock had hit the final ten minutes of the test, and Tony then knocked on the chalkboard to get our attention. All of us looked up to see a serious look on his face as he began to speak up and Batsu disconnected the telepathic link we had.
"All right, listen up closely. It's time for the tenth question," Tony said as he folded his arms as he grinned.
Okay, this is it; the final obstacle. After this, there is only one more stage of the exam and then we'd pass. I could feel my heart beat as the adrenaline went through my body. I got excited as I looked on at Tony. I was ready. I felt cold, yet I was ready.
"But... before I can give you the final question," he said as he looked around the room at all of the candidates, "There are a few more rules you need to know before I give it. These rules are unique to it, so listen carefully."
Wait, what? There were MORE rules to this test already? And only for one question? Geesume crow, how difficult is this one question supposed to be? I scoffed silently in frustration and confusion as he nodded to the sentinels. Watching him carefully, he began to speak the rules.
"All right, rule number one. Each of you are free to choose whether or not you wish to answer the tenth question," he said.
Everyone gasped as Sasuke jerked his head up and pondered, "Wait, what...? We're free to choose whether to answer or not?"
"Whoa, hold on!" I jerked my head up to see in front of me that a male Machoke said, "So, what's the catch!? Suppose we don't wanna take the tenth question! What happens then?"
"If you choose to skip the tenth question, regardless of how many answers you put down and/or how many you answered wrong to the other nine, you'll be given a zero. In return, the whole team will be given a zero and thus will fail the exam," Tony said.
Everyone immediately started to talk amongst themselves, saying things like "What? Then there's no other choice. Of course we'll take it!", "You think we'll fall for a stupid choice like that?", and "How can he just ask us such an easy choice like that?" I knew immediately that there was something there that made purposely not answering the question a possible GOOD choice. Tony then began to speak, as he then closed his eyes.
"Hold it, be quiet. You didn't let me finish," he said.
King grunted as he groaned in his mind, "For crying out loud, MORE RULES!? Enough already, just let us take this stupid test!"
"If you choose to do the final question, but if you or any of your teammates answers it incorrectly..." Tony said as he raised his head and said with the darkest looking face ever, "YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO TAKE THESE EXAMS AGAIN AND EVER BE A RESCUE TEAM!"
My eyes widened at that. Is he freaking serious!? One wrong answer on one question will prevent you from EVER becoming a rescue team at all?!
A male Monferno stood up out of his seat and pointed his finger at Tony as he proceeded to yell, "Hey, man, that's freaking cheap Grimer crap! What kind of bogus rule is that? There's a lot of candidates here who've taken the test before! So, why are you making it so we can never have a chance again?"
(I have no idea why... but suddenly I was reminded of Tucker... XD)
Tony slowly chuckled as he closed his eyes. Soon, his chuckling came into downright laughing. It wasn't creepy laughter, but it sent chills up your spine how so easy-going he was at this rule. It sorta made you feel he had bad intentions up his sleeve. He smiled at the Monferno as he grinned.
"I guess you're just unlucky this particular year," he said, "I'm not the one who made the rules before, but this year, I am now. Of course," he said, becoming more optimistic feeling and cheerful looking, "if you don't feel up to the challenge and wanna take the exams, that's perfectly fine."
The Monferno was a bit taken back at this as Tony said in a calm voice, "By all means, if you're not confident enough to take the challenge, you're allowed to decline the question and fail. Even by failing, you're guaranteed to be able to take the exams again next year. So, those are your two choices right now as we speak: Either take the question and risk never be able to go for the exams again if wrong, or back out now and have another try next year. Your choice."
Wow... this was incredibly difficult... either give up now or risk never going at it again... I mean, I didn't want to be a burden, so I was definitely going to go for it. Yet, the back of my mind kept saying that I would be the biggest failure if I messed up. And also, what were the other five thinking? Were any of them going to give up? Man, this was so hard...
-
Meanwhile, while Thomas and Team Believers were being told the rules to Question Ten, you could feel the tension of the square, wondering who would be going home and who would still be in the exam. But despite that it was this sudden and scary of the unknown, Elek seemed to take it rather easy. He was sitting on a bench near the south side of the square's middle with Machoke and Arcanine, talking.
"Wow... it's rather quiet without those young people running around with excitement for missions," he said, relaxing on the bench.
"I sort of miss that feeling of seeing youth always ready for the next chapter of adventure to loom in their path," Arcanine said, feeling the breeze on his fur.
"Oh, you might be getting ready soon to see them come back," Machoke said, grinning, "The second stage proctor is a pretty tough one at that this year."
"Oh? I didn't get to hear who was chosen. Who is it?" Elek said.
"It's Tony, from the interrogation division," he was answered.
The Blaziken closed his eyes with a serious look on his face and pondered, "Tony... so they put him in charge this year... Already, the teams' percent of passing are shaking rapidly and unstably..."
Elek sighed and rolled his blind eyes as he groaned, "Wonderful, they put the cheerful-go-lucky-guy who can turn into a sadist anytime he wants to as a proctor? What in the world are they thinking?"
"Hmm? Am I missing something? What do you mean?" Arcanine asked, baffled by the reponse.
"Oh, that's right. Your team recently was moved here and only became part of the five strongest teams of the Rescue Team foundation two months ago, so you don't know much about certain specific members of the organization," Machoke said, looking at him.
Arcanine slowly blushed in a bit of embarrassment as he cleared his throat and said, "Okay, so I'm new and a bit naïve. Who is he?"
"Tony is a part of the interrogation tactics division in the Pokémon Square area and one of the highest interrogators of the Rescue Team foundation," Elek explained, "But he's sort of what you call a 'specialist' at his job."
"A specialist?" Arcanine asked looking at them.
"Yes, at not only interrogation, but torture," Machoke said, as it caught the captain of Team Tactics a bit shocked and off guard, "Of course, he won't use physical torture to the candidates; he'd never harm innocent people, but it's more of he won't need to. Despite him being a professional at it, that's not really his thing. He likes to get into people's minds, making you doubt yourself and choosing what he wants you to choose. He's famous for it."
"It's why when most criminals immediately cooperate with the interrogation tactics division if they learn that Tony will take part," Elek explained, "He's that deadly, that they beg for him not to do anything. Only the stupidest and sickly tough scumbags are the only ones who are DEAD WRONG, thinking they can handle it."
"Geez, he sounds completely horrible," Arcanine said, whimpering a bit.
"Oh, no, he's actually one of the most cheerful and optimistic friends you'll ever have, as long as he's not on duty," Machoke said with a smile, "He really loves being friends with people more. You should hang out with him when he's not working."
"I see... I will. Thank you," Arcanine said, nodding.
"Well," Machoke said, standing up, "It's only a matter of time before the last stage of the exam is set into place. I need to go prepare for it and get ready."
Elek stood up and sighed, "Which means I need to get ready, considering if my team passes, I'm gonna be involved."
"Oh, right, you're going to be playing that role during the final stage," Arcanine said with a smile.
"Yes, so we'll be seeing you later, Arcanine. I can't wait for my stage to start," Machoke said with a grin as he headed towards the pond.
-
I watched Tony cleared his throat after everything quieted down and nodded to the sentinels. All of them, including Zeke, got their clipboards and pencils ready. He then called out in a loud voice:
"All right, listen up, maggots! Those who don't want to take the tenth question, raise your arm in the air. The sentinels will record your number and then you're free to go."
I suddenly saw several candidates stand up behind me as I looked around the room. Multiple Pokémon starting raising their hands and then the sentinels began reading off numbers. Masses of teams then began to leave the room as the room kept getting more roomy and spaced out. But it I wondered if any of the team would at all raise their hands. That's when my answers were replied to as Batsu connected us one again.
"Okay, you guys, this is it," Sasuke said to us through telepathy, "No backing out... we do this together. No matter whether we lose this or keep going, we know we did our best."
"That's right! We're gonna do our best and be proud of it!" Naruto happily chimed in.
"It'll be a pain if we end up losing, but I'll live knowing we went out like men," King said, agreeing.
"Okay, let's do it," Batsu replied.
"I'm ready to do this question," I said, smiling.
"Let's get this thing over with already," Zev groaned but said with a smirk.
When the connection was cut, it was when seven of the final ten minutes went by that Tony looked around and saw that nobody else was going to quit. Tony looked around and nodded to the sentinels, who seemed to relax. He then turned to us and closed his eyes.
"I don't see any of you wavering, so I guess that's it. Very well, now that all the cautious ones are taken out of the picture, I can see the determined ones sitting before me. With that, there's only one more thing I can say," he spoke.
I made the grip of my hands tighten with anxiety and anticipation. No matter how difficult it was or how tiresome it may be, I was ready for it. So, you could bring it, Tony. No matter what you throw at Team Believers, we'll come right out on top!
Tony then lost his creepy attitude and turned back into the cheerful relaxed true self as he grinned and said, "And that is for me to tell you all that you've passed the second stage of the exams!"
…..WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?
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