The gang wanted to get training right away. They needed to train harder than they ever had in their lives if they wanted to make sure that the Midnight Brotherhood was down for the count this time. However, someone wanted to meet our group of heroes. Naturally, the group was excited, but a little anxious to meet this renowned hero. Gardevoir, especially, was trying not to embarrass herself. Who would this mysterious guest be? She was racking her brain. Maybe Blaziken? Oh, what if it was Charizard?! He was a legend! She had to calm down, lest she end up passing-
"Hey! How's the daughter, you old, bastard! " yelled an older voice of someone in their sixties. Everyone looked over to see the legend who stood alongside Blastoise. An orange dragon with a flame on his tail. Charizard. The friendly fire dragon walked towards them as he and Blastoise shook hands. Two legendary heroes in the same room. The duo that managed to defeat Mewtwo and save the world from destruction.
Gardevoir passed out. Garchomp caught her. Charizard looked at the fangirl and smirked,
"Well, lookie here. Looks like I've got a fan," he then walked towards the psychic type, who was now recovering her senses. She stood up and immediately bowed,
"H-Hi! My name is Chrona Jigamasa! It's an honor to m-meet you, sir!" Charizard laughed,
"Gra ha ha! No need to be so formal for an old codger such as myself. Bah, but keep going!" he said
"I am a massive fan! I used to watch you, Blastoise, and Venusaur defeat Mewtwo all the time!" said Gardevoir with stars in her eyes.
"Uncle Chari!" said Lopunny as she ran towards Charizard and hugged him. Charizard was more than receptive and patted her on the head,
"Hey, my beloved niece! I've heard great things about you these past couple months!"
"Yup!" said Lopunny, "There isn't enough time in time in the day! Oh, but I got a boyfriend!" That last part surprised Charizard,
"Oh…Oh really," he said. His eyes looked towards Aggron, "Damn, you got yourself a hunk," he said. Aggron shook his head,
"No, no. Lee here is her boyfriend," he explained while gesturing to the fire-type. Infernape waved his hand and grinned at Charizard, who looked almost disappointed.
"Huh, he's a lot smaller than I'd thought he'd be," he said. Lopunny let him go and walked towards Infernape, leaning against his shoulder.
"Well size doesn't matter," said Lopunny, "Lee is a superstar, and I'll gladly die for him." Those kind words made Infernape blush. Charizard, seeing how much she cared about him, just grinned to himself before getting to the point as to why he was here.
"I just came here to give you all a heads-up. This year's tactical exam is going to be run by Beedrill. Real hard ass, he is. He's gonna put you guys through the ringer this year. What I am saying is, if you're gonna fail any of the exams, it's gonna be the tactical exam," he explained. That knowledge wasn't exactly reassuring. However, all that meant was that everyone was going to train their butts off.
A month had passed. After an immense amount of study and training to prepare for the exam, the group was ready. For obvious reasons, Blastoise and Sceptile would not be taking the test. Our heroes would have to take three exams, the written, tactical and the physical exams. They only had to pass two to become Senshi. The first test would be the written exam designed to test general intelligence. The examinee's were sat down in a large facility and they were given a one hundred question test. The examiner gave out the standard speech about cheating and the test began. Every single one of the attendees prepared for the long haul. A test that could take hours and push their minds to the-
"Done!" Infernape yelled out within a matter of seconds.
"HOW DID YOU FINISH THAT FAST?!" Everyone in the hall yelled. The examiner walked over to Infernape with a grin on his face,
"Oh, you're already finished. Maybe you shouldn't rush this exam." He mocked as he took the paper from the fire type and scanned it into the machine.
"ONE HUNDRED PERCENT?! The examiner screamed in complete and utter shock. Infernape smirked at the examiner,
"Maybe you should design a harder test." He mocked. The examiner just sat down and gestured for the rest of the testers to continue. Lopunny stared at Infernape,
"Of course he gets a hundred." She muttered,
"Jealous?" asked Garchomp . Lopunny nodded furiously,
"No!" She insisted, "I'm just…worried that he's showing off." Lopunny was about as subtle as a neon sign.
The rest of the group had performed pretty well, all things considered. Except for one. Lopunny had failed the written exam with sixty seven percent. Just barely failing. Lopunny's face was flushed. Infernape looked over her shoulder and and hissed,
"Oh, that's rough," he said sympathetically. Lopunny immediately hid the test results and yelled at Infernape,
"It was a bullshit test!" she exclaimed, "When am I ever gonna need to use Pythagorean theory to fight a bank robber?"
"Yeah, I guess that's fair," said Infernape
Next was the physical exam. As one might imagine, it tested the physical strength of the examinee's. Aggron and Garchomp were the strongest of the group as they passed with flying color's. Lopunny also scored pretty high. Gardevoir was up next. She gulped as she approached the strength part of the physical. She got to the bench press and sat down whilst shaking.
"It's fine. I can handle this."
"Oh," an examiner suddenly yelled, "by the way, you cannot use psychokinesis. Should've said that at the beginning."
"I can't do this." She whimpered. Garchomp shook her head,
"Yes you can! Just believe in yourself!" she motivated. Lopunny also yelled in support,
"Yeah! Not everyone can lift a car with one foot." Gardevoir furrowed her brow and clenched her fists.
"You're right." She then grabbed onto the 100lb barbell and lifted.
It immediately slammed onto her chest, she gasped as examiners lifted the barbell off of her. She rolled of the bench, gasping for breath. Ampharos squatted next to her,
"You too, huh?"
"You failed as well?"
"Yup."
It was during Infernape's turn that complications arose. He tried his best to do the assigned 300lb bench press. His right arm seared in pain like it was being split open with a carving knife. Agony slowly made its way down his arm. He started to yell, tearing apart his vocal cords as he tried desperately to do the required number of reps of 50.
He couldn't do it. The pain was just too unbearable. He dropped the weight onto the bench and rolled onto the floor, screaming in agony. The group rushed to his side, as were medical workers. Tears streamed down his face. Lopunny rushed to his side,
"Lee, what's wrong?!" she asked. Infernape, after a minute, was able to speak with words,
"My-my arms!" Medical personnel immediately went to his side and examined his arms. One of them covered their mouth with their hands. Another one stared, surprised at the state his arm was in.
Infernape's right arm was heavily scarred. His hand had a scar down to his wrist, like his hand was split in half. On his elbow was a massive spherical scar with a slice incision that looked like the bone pierced through it. Between the elbow and wrist scars was a large slash wound, it was easily the newest for it was more red than the others.
Lopunny, as were the others, could only stare at these injuries. It was like driving past a violent car crash, it was impossible to look away. Each one told their own story, stories that the group were able to piece together to specific moments. It was a horrifying display of just how much punishment the fire type had taken. Infernape was carried off on a stretcher to a medical wing. While he was being carted off, Infernape looked towards everyone and told them,
"Don't wait up on me. That cult isn't gonna wait for me. I'll be f-fine," he said between haggard breaths. The group was reluctant but he had a point.
The final test was the most important: the tactical exam. Everyone met at an observation deck overlooking a massive black room. Blastoise wanted to watch his daughter perform and as such, was standing alongside Beedrill, the examiner.
"ALRIGHT, MOTHERFUCKERS! WELCOME TO THE TACTICAL EXAM!" Beedrill yelled. Everyone was caught off guard by the bug types yelling.
"Language, Beedrill," said Blastoise. Beedrill lowered his voice and began to explain the test,
"Listen up, maggots! You'll be put into teams of three and given a random scenario. You'll then have to navigate your way through this scenario with your teammates. Blah, blah, blah! You'll be scored on how well you adapt and how you work with your team."
Lopunny and Aggron as well as a third person: a Tyrantrum were chosen as the first to test. They entered a strange chamber. It was very dark. They were caught off guard as it felt like they were descending. Lopunny decided to introduce herself,
"Hey there, Tyrantrum. How are you?" Tyrantrum moved his hands around in a way that Lopunny couldn't understand. Aggron's eyes widened,
"He's signing." he said. Lopunny looked back at the steel type in surprise.
"It's been a while since I've signed but let me try." Aggron then signed to Tyrantrum, "Are you a mute?"
"I'm deaf so I don't have much choice." Tyrantrum answered. Lopunny immediately bowed and apologized once she received the translation. Lopunny then noticed a balcony high up where people could watch the exams
The elevator stopped and the door opened, revealing a gray metal sea. The three watched on as the sea swirled together and began to make shapes. It formed into a cityscape with a bright sky. In front of them, down the street, was a school.
"Listen up!" Beedrill yelled from a speaker, "Your scenario is a hostage situation in a school! You won't have to deal with negotiating. So unless you wanna be an anti-vaxxer and murder the children, be careful! You'll have five minutes to prepare before the scenario begins."
The three united and began to think of a plan,
"I say that we charge in and catch them off guard!" Lopunny suggested, cracking her knuckles as she did so. Aggron shook his head,
"That's not a good idea," he said. Tyrantrum nodded in agreement,
"We should probably do recon. Lopunny, you're fast. You should scout the school." Lopunny rolled her eyes,
"Come on, there are children in there! I'm not just gonna sit around and wait for them to die!"
"We aren't saying that. We need to understand what is happening before we make a decision." Aggron argued. Lopunny crossed her arms like a brat,
"...Fine."
She jumped off to the school. She landed on the roof and leapt down to the windows. She saw a truck outside what appeared to be the gym. It certainly didn't look like it belonged. She snuck her way to the gym and peaked inside. She saw a bunch of dummies and robots watching the dummies. She assumed that the dummies were supposed to be the children and she jumped back over the school, back to Aggron and Tyrantrum.
"The kids are in the gym. There was a truck right on the exit." she explained. Tyrantrum thought for a moment,
"There should also be guards in the hallways. Here's the plan: Aggron and I stand no chance of sneaking around. You'll sneak around back and, on our que, you'll go in and evacuate the kids." He stated.
"THINKING TIME'S UP! GO! GO! GO!" Beedrill yelled from the intercom. Aggron and Tyrantrum started to charge towards the entrance as Lopunny went around back, hiding behind the truck. Once she got into position, Lopunny waited for the signal, which was apparently the sound of a glass door breaking. She jumped out from her hiding space and ambush the robots surrounded the dummies. She tore them apart like they were cheap toys. Once that was done, she was now stuck with the conundrum as to how to evacuate an entire school's worth of children.
Up in the observation deck, Beedrill, Blastoise, watched the examinee's and smirked,
"So far so good. Let's see how you handle a twist." he then pressed a button.
A loud noise erupted from behind the school. Lopunny looked for the source of the noise. She saw a large armored vehicle burst from the street. It turned the corner and rapidly drove to the school. Lopunny looked back to say something to Tyrantrum and Aggron but the surrounding noise made direct communication impossible.
"TWO, FOUR, SIX, EIGHT! WHO DO WE APPRECIATE?! NOT YOU!" Beedrill drilled from the loudspeaker.
Lopunny began to plan. This certainly threw a wrench in the works. Sure, she could stop it, but what about the collateral. Beedrill would definitely dock them points there. Regardless, Lopunny lunged towards the armored vehicle. Destroying this vehicle was her best bet of ensuring the children got out of here safe, or it would be if they were dummies. Her eyes dilated as her breathing intensified. The truck looked massive and if she made a mistake, she would suffer a similar fate to...
She gritted her teeth, shaking off this feeling. She wasn't that same weak little girl that she was before. Now, she was a beast. This was her chance to show that she had grown since that fateful day. That Shurui's sacrifice wasn't in vain. It was that which allowed her to access her second mega form. In a flurry of rainbow, she evolved into the same form she was in during the festival. She roared as she kicked as hard as she could. The front of the truck was launched up about ten meters into the air. Realizing that it would land on the school, she mustered up her cryokinetic abilities and pushed them to their limits, forming a large ice sculpture to catch the truck before it landed. More robots emerged from the truck with guns and Lopunny's combat prowess was fully demonstrated.
She immediately covered her limbs in ice and she froze the street. She skated towards the robots and swiped her leg like a sword. It tore through the first robot with ease. She then kicked It's head at another like a soccer ball, destroying the two on impact. Pseudo attacks whizzed past her as three more robots shot at her. She stomped her foot into the ground and a wave of ice rose from the frozen ground, slaughtering the robots.
Once the last robot had been slain, a buzzer rang out as Beedrill yelled out,
"The children have been evacuated. The test is over." Lopunny cracked her knuckles,
"Oh come on!" she remarked, "I was just getting warmed up!" She and the other three returned to the center as Beedrill descended as he held a piece of paper and a pencil.
"Listen up. Your coordination was well done, but you banked entirely on a lack of fighting type opponents. Had those been real terrorists, they would have type coverage. Lopunny, your part of the plan was fine, but attacking that truck was entirely necessary and you needlessly risked the lives of the dummies. That being said, you three did surprisingly well, 84%
Lopunny cheered as she fist bumped Aggron,
"YES! I PASSED! GRANDPA!" she yelled in excitement. In the observation deck, Blastoise watched on with a bright smile on his face. He was so proud of her, and he knew that up in heaven, Shurui was proud of her as well.