The whole classroom went dead silent in surprise and confusion as Tony smiled at us. I literally dropped my pencil from shock as I blinked in dead silence. I shook my head as I gave him the funniest yet most dazzled face I had.
"W-whoa, hold on! What just happened? What do you mean we all passed? Where's the tenth question!?" I heard King stand up and shout out loud.
Tony slowly grinned and began to chuckle as he grinned and explained, "There was no tenth question, not a written one at least! To be perfectly honest, your decision on whether to stay or leave was the answer to the tenth question."
"So, wait a damn second!" a male shiny Shinx said from his seat angrily as I turned to look at him, "So this whole freaking test was pointless! Is that what you're saying!?"
"Haha, oh no!" Tony said smiling, "Actually, there is a meaning towards all those questions. The whole point of the test is this: to test your abilities to gather information secretely under the most advanced circumstances."
Even when Tony explained the point, the majority of the teams didn't understand what the heck he meant. It sort of made me chuckle at what I knew, but... well, lemme explain. Basically, it's funny to me when an adult explains something in an intelligent manner, but uses complex words to the point that a person doesn't know what they're saying. So, to hear them say something that can be understood with simple words, but choose to confuse people with outdated or longer words makes me kinda laugh at that.
"Oh, yeah... that makes perfect sense..." I could hear Zoey roll her eyes a bit as she tapped her paper impatiently.
"Sir, I don't think I understand," I saw Karine from the front row say, "Can you please explain it a bit better?"
"All right, here's really what the meaning of the test was," Tony said, "The test was purposely made to be difficult, in fact, much more difficult than a standard normal test. We knew that a lot of the candidates would get frustrated and be baffled by some of the questions on it, which would in return apply pressure to one of our main goals. We purposely set the test up so that not only would it test you as individuals, but as a team and what role you played as a team. It was set up purposely on a team basis, so that you know what you did or failed to do would effect the team. I wanted to see how you would handle the pressure."
I started to smile as I understood it. It was no wonder I couldn't do it on my own. It came down to the simple rule; there is no "I" in team. We had to work together in order to do it right, and we ended up coming through in the end. I looked up as Tony leaned against the chalkboard.
"Sorry to repeat what I said earlier, but the nine questions on the test paper were difficult. TOO difficult for any of you Rescue Team candidates to know. I could see that a lot of the teams in the first half-an-hour, soon came to the conclusion that you needed to cheat and get information in order to have a chance. To be perfectly blunt, the test was DESIGNED to purposely make you tempted to cheat; in fact, it demanded it," Tony explained.
He chuckled as then a male Squirtle in the middle, a female Vulpix in the back left, a female Cleffa in the right middle, and a male Luxray in front of me raised their arms in the air with a smile.
"Of course, the test would be pretty much useless without somebody to steal the answers from, so we disguised four official Rescue Team members from different teams to sit in, who had the answers, and be potential candidates to steal the answers from," Tony said.
...Unbelievable, the answers were right in front of me. Man, that just annoyed me to no end. Man, I hate when that happens to me...
"Those who were caught cheating were immediately failed, because if they were in a situation where you had to steal information without being seen on a mission, they would've been noticed," the proctor continued as he slowly pulled off his jacket, "Information can be the vital blood that runs a mission's success. It can be the very thing that determines whether a client is found safe or criminals are stopped."
Suddenly, I gasped with everyone in the room as the body of Tony revealed a massive scar near his left ribcage. It looked like he had been cut open or sliced repeatedly with a huge blade. He also had some little scrapes near his chest and right side as he slowly looked at us.
"Oh, don't worry. These aren't permanent, but..." he said as he put his jacket back on, "but sometimes, you gotta risk your body to get information. Of course, not all the time info that you gather can be trustworthy, but hey, sometimes it's the best you got. But sometimes, incorrect information is worse that no information. It can lead to death of innocent people or towns and cities being ruined. That's why you were put into a difficult situation where you needed to gather accurate answers to succeed. That's why the ones who wouldn't be able to gather the correct information without being spotted were weeded out."
"Okay... but that doesn't explain the tenth question at all..." I heard Zev speak from the back.
"Really? But the tenth question was also a main purpose of the exam... Sigh, all right, but before I explain," Tony said after a disappointed sigh, "Zeke, bring them in."
It was then Zeke nodded and stood up from his seat. Putting down his pencil and clipboard, he walked over towards the door and opened it. It was then a male Blastoise sentinel led in the group that had raised their arms in the air and passed on the final question. They all stood in the front of the room as the classroom murmured with confused talk. It was then Tony cleared his throat and explained once we quieted down.
"As mentioned before and since I know you all from the other room have been listening, the test was testing you as individuals AND as a team. Therefore, the tenth question had two choices, both being extremely difficult. You could either play it safe and choose to opt out, meaning that all of your team would fail, or you could be brave and choose to answer it, which if you got it wrong, you'd lose your chance of ever getting back into the exams again to try being an official rescue team," Tony explained.
We all nodded as he continued, "It was set up as a no-win situation, which was what rescue teams have to deal with almost every mission. For example, let's give you all a hypothetical mission. To rescue a young Pokémon from an enemy stronghold. You have no idea how many hostile Pokémon there are, or how well or poor the stronghold is structured. You also believe the enemy knows that you're coming, and the helpless person you're trying to save might not be there, meaning you could be walking into a Monster House or trap. Now, do you say that you'd like to take a pass at saving an innocent life, that you and your comrades would rather live to see and fight another day? Could you honestly refuse a mission that has danger in it?"
He then took his fist and smashed it against the chalkboard as he said passionately, "No! I will admit to you here. There will be many missions that can end team's careers and can almost seem suicidal if you think about it, but you DO NOT think about it. You think about saving the innocent lives and helping those in need with courage and discipline. These are what's required of a Rescue Team."
The ones sitting down began to smile and grin as I listened to him say, "Those who seek to save their own skin, those whose determination falters in the face of death and conflict, those teams will never become official; at least not as long as I'm here. As for the teams sitting down, you have successfully answered the tenth question and are allowed to pass through the final stage... However..."
It was then he turned to the group standing near him and said, "That doesn't mean you all fail. In reality, although it was set up to LOOK like it was a no-win situation, it was a win-win one. Sometimes, jobs can be too dangerous, the team picked for the job might not be able to complete the details, or the client who's requesting help could be using you to hurt innocence or their job is completely illogical and unreasonable. Therefore, sometimes it's the right acceptable choice to turn down a mission. Yet, most times it is the most chosen answer to accept. Therefore, the teams that passed the final question will be given a penalty, but as long as you were not caught cheating, and you made it to the final question regardless of what path you choose, you were soon going to hear these words, in which I say with happiness and pride."
It was then Tony had the most hilariously cheerful face as he put his paws into his pockets, pulling out colored confetti, and with throwing it into the air, he said happily, "You all pass the second stage of the exam and thus move onto the final stage! Congratulations!"
All of us ended up laughing as we cheered and celebrated. Holt clapped happily in his seat giggling, as Alyssa and Zoey hugged each other. I grinned as I looked back at my teammates. Naruto had run over to Sasuke and both waved at me with smiles. Zev smirked while folding his arms, Batsu was celebrating with his girlfriend Karine, and King grinned as if he knew that he would pass (Heh...). I laughed to myself as I felt good about continuing this exam!
-
Soon, we all started to head out of room as I walked towards the door. I soon was stopped by Tony as he giggled at me with a grin.
"Yo, Thomas! All right!" he said as we high-fived, "I just knew that your team would make it! There's no way you would've failed."
"Thanks, Tony, but man, that test was difficult..." I shook my head groaning.
"Hehe, sorry, but I can't help but smirk at you. I saw you having a bit of problems in the beginning. It looked like you've never taken a test before!" he laughed, naively knowing that was the case.
"Yeah, you can say that... heheheh..." I laughed a bit nervously, but smiled.
"You know what? I'm gonna let you in on a secret... we actually designed the test based off of a human legend," he said as he bent down to me.
"R-Really?" I asked taken back.
"Uh-huh, and if you keep quiet about this, you can have it," he said as he handed me a small brown hard-cover book, "Just drop it off to the elder and secretly tell him I said you can have it. He'll understand. Anyways, I gotta blow this place. They need me back at the interrogation tactics division! See you later, Thomas, and good luck!"
With that, I waved to him as he left my sight. I was one of the last leaving, so I decided to quickly open the book and take a peek. I soon opened the pages to find... out... that... the freaking test was designed off of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto story. Oh my gosh! NO WONDER I suspected the test seemed so familiar to me. It was the same exact exam taken in the Chunin Exams of the story! And they actually believed this comic book was a real human legend!? Seriously, I facepalmed as I closed the book and groaned walking out. Man, this world is REALLY tempting me to blow my cover...