Hello there and welcome to chapter 2! :D Uber sorry for the long break in between chapters. I had a lot to work out with this story (I was too trigger-happy to post the first chapter) but I believe I now have everything kinda situated. So updates should be more frequent. XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D

Chapter 2: The Instructor

"Crap," Misty muttered to herself, frantically struggling with the zipper on the front of her new uniform as she peered down hallways, her quick walk slowly morphing into a run.

It was her second day working and first day of training and she was already lost. May hadn't been joking when she'd said that the Hunter's headquarters had a lot of halls. In fact, a lot was an understatement. There had to be hundreds, some narrow, some wide, all twisting and turning and confusing Misty the farther she went.

She'd woken up to a sound nearly as loud and piercing as an airhorn, also known as her sisters' singing. They'd burst into her room singing 'Happy Birthday' and wobbily holding a fat white-iced chocolate cake: Misty's favorite. It'd been a loud way to wake up, but after a belly full of cake, there were no hard feelings.

Her sisters insisted on giving her presents in the afternoon, after work, but that didn't stop them from gushing over how old Misty was and that they remembered when she'd been born or when she'd lost her first tooth. Even though their mother had passed away a while ago now, Misty sometimes felt like she had three mothers instead of one. Her sisters were very fussy when it came to her.

Without realizing it she'd spent much longer than she'd expected talking with her sisters and the hour hand inched ever-closer to the nine. She was late. Holy crap. And on her second day no less. 'Way to go,' she'd hissed to herself as she burst out the door with her uniform half-on and her shoes untied, already breaking off into a sprint toward where she remembered the metal building to be, the paper she'd read last night along with a piece of toast hanging out of her mouth.

Luckily she'd remembered the way to the mirror building –although she figured she should start calling it the Department of Services- and had made it inside, up the stairs, and to the Hunter's Headquarters in a record-breaking amount of time. There were people milling about in the Department's building, unlike the day before when she'd first arrived. A few of them had given her weird looks as she panted and headed toward the staircase, while most paid no attention, as if watching an exhausted girl with her breakfast flopping out of her mouth was a daily scene. Although, for all Misty knew maybe it was; she could see people being late… surely.

She'd made it to the Hunter's quarters exactly on time. The day before, just like the main room of the mirror build- Department of Services, Hunter's Headquarters had seemed empty, although today there were a few strangers walking about in the headquarters. None of them gave Misty the light of day, looking very serious, as if whatever they were holding or wherever they were going was a life-or-death situation… which Misty assumed it wasn't. Surely.

She eventually found her way back to the room she'd met May and Paul in the day before. She peered inside to find it empty aside from an older gentleman sitting in the chair where May had been, swiveling lazily. Figures her team couldn't just happen to be in the same place.

She shoved the toast a little farther into her mouth and looked down the hallway. She heard voices… perhaps if she followed them she could ask for directions. Misty unrolled the scroll as she began to walk. She'd be starting training today, but nothing had informed her of where that training would be. She followed the voices as they grew louder and louder and finally led to a propped-open metal door.

She breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she spotted a crowd of young people wearing the same uniforms as she was, including May who was sitting criss-cross on the floor talking with another girl and giggling like crazy.

Misty hesitantly stepped into the room and immediately caught May's eye. "Ooh, over here! Look see, this is Misty!" May motioned her over and Misty quickly obliged, scurrying over to sit to the side of the two. The girl May had been talking to held out her hand with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Mei!" She gave a light laugh. "I'm pretty sure I've been told almost everything about you from May here. You sound like fun!" The girl had long brown hair tied up into two buns, one on either side of her head with a strand of hair cascading out of each, down nearly to her hips. She had bright blue eyes which seemed to smile and a small golden chain necklace to brighten up the otherwise rather dull uniforms.

Misty blushed and took the girl named Mei's hand. "Thanks? I hope it was all favorable," she said with a smile. Second day and it appeared she was making yet another friend. So far so good; Mei seemed like a nice enough person.

"Oh yeah, don't worry I only heard good things. Are you kidding? Like May would say anything bad about her new partner. She's been pining after a third team member for pretty much as long as I can remember." May puffed out her cheeks in annoyance as Misty let out a laugh.

"I think I hear your team calling you," May said sarcastically, sticking out her tongue at Mei. The girl rolled her eyes and waved a hand at May, shoving herself up to stand and brushing off her pants.

"Fine, fine, you want time with your new recruit, I get it." She sent both May and Misty a wink. "I'll be lookin' forward to working with you guys. This'll be so much fun!" With that she gave a small wave and turned on her heel, jogging over to the other side of the room and nearly tackling another person in a hug.

Only then did Misty take a quick sweep of the room. It was barren, that was for sure. It looked just like the rest of the Hunter's headquarters: metal floors, walls, and ceilings made out of pipes and other scrap metal, all giving off a blue tint which seemed to light the entire room. She did a headcount and came up with eight other people in the room besides May and herself.

"Wait," Misty said, looking back down to May. "She said we'd be working together? Isn't she in a different team?"

May nodded. "Yeah, she is, but a few teams go through training together. I think we're called… a squad or something. I dunno. But we'll be doing our training with two other teams so we'll be spending quite a lot of time with them." May nodded down to the scroll in Misty's hand. "Did you read that last night?"

"Yeah, I did," Misty breathed. "It answered a lot… posed a lot of questions too, though."

May chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, it's a little vague in places. Super boring if you ask me. I think I fell asleep five times while reading it." May laughed as if it were a joke but Misty sensed in her tone that it was probably closer to the truth than her teammate would like to admit. "Anyway, any questions I could answer real quick before our training officer gets here?"

Misty's eyes trailed to the side as she tried to reign in a singular question. "Actually… could I just kinda run what I know by you and you can tell me if I've got something wrong?"

May nodded. "Sure."

"Okay," Misty sighed. "So I signed up to be a Hunter. The job in a nutshell is taking requests and bounties from the region and serving as aide to the military?"

May leaned her head to the side. "Well, not exactly. Only some of the graduated Hunters work for the military. The ones that graduate training with high marks and do well on their first jobs are usually sent to the military for international things, while most of us will probably be getting domestic jobs. The Hunters who work for the military are usually dealing with stuff overseas that's "classified" so they try to only take the best and brightest, if you get what I'm saying."

Misty nodded. "Yeah, I do. So most likely our job will be carrying out requests here in Kanto?"

May nodded. "Just bounties for criminals and whatnot. Which is what they're doing overseas too, just more secretive," May said with an eyeroll. It appeared she found the way that the system worked to be either flawed or stupid. Misty decided not to press on it at the moment and instead continued.

"Alright. So that's the job, but now we're in training. This said training would be for the mind, body, and soul?" Misty trailed off, looking back down at her scroll.

May nodded. "I've heard some stuff about what training is, but honestly I think it'd be better to wait for our officer. He'll probably explain more." Misty looked up to May, confusion still in her eyes and May nodded. "Alright. So we're in training with these two other groups," she said, motioning to the others. "Alright our team is you, me, and Paul. That over there is team 32C and that consists of Mei, which you met earlier, her childhood friend Hugh," she said, pointing over to a boy with very unruly blue hair, "Lyra," she said, pointing back over towards where Mei was, standing next to another brunette who had a very large hat atop her head, "and Calem, which is… over there, behind Paul," May explained, jerking a thumb back over her shoulder to where Paul was conversing with a brown-haired and very nice-looking boy with sunglasses atop his head.

"They're all one team?" Misty asked.

"Yup. They've only been waiting for training for two months. Lucky ducks," May huffed.

Misty raised an eyebrow. "Really? Only two months and you said your team waited two years?"

May frowned and nodded. "Mei and Hugh joined at the same time, being put with Calem. So they had a three man team and were eligible for training right from the beginning. It was only luck they got Lyra at the last minute before training started. She came in a day before you I think and they must've overlooked our group or something. I don't know."

Misty's eyes flicked to the people May had pointed out, trying her best to memorize their names. "So we'll be working with them for a while?"

May nodded. "Yup!"

"Which brings me to another question: how long is training?"

"It depends," May shrugged. "It all depends on the instructor and how well we do. I'd say average is about… a year? I've heard two years isn't uncommon but one is probably a safe bet."

Misty's eyes widened for a moment. An entire year? She'd expected training to take a while, yes, but not that long. It'd be an entire year before she really even got to technically start her job? Well, she guessed she couldn't complain. May and Paul had been sitting idle for two years before this. Someone always had it worse. "Oh and who are the other people?" Misty asked, watching as a green-haired boy sauntered across the room.

"Beats me," May shrugged, also peering over at the other three people in the room who were sticking together for the most part. "They're team 4S I think. They've never worked on this level before, always one story up in Headquarters so I've never met them. Apparently they're really skilled though. Although, they don't look like anything special to me…," May trailed off with a frown.

Misty nodded. That team only had three members as well. She wondered how long they'd been waiting for training.

"Oh, but to finish," May said, clearing her throat and leaning backwards on her hands. "We'll be doing some physical training, some emotional training, and some training with the Vessels as well. All with these people who'll be our squad. I guess we're stuck with them for at least a year."

Misty's heart jumped at the mention of a Vessel. "So we'll be training with the Scientists' Vessels?"

May nodded. "Not at first, but yeah. I think we get them about halfway through. We've got to train with them before we're sent out on jobs, right?" May said with a wink. She seemed to sense Misty's excitement and nodded. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. Oh, but go ahead and finish what you were running by me? We got kinda sidetracked."

"Oh yeah," Misty said, trying to remember where she'd been. She'd talked about what they'd be doing after they graduated, she'd gotten some new and valuable information about training, and she figured more would be answered by whoever their instructor was, and honestly… she didn't have too much beyond that. "I guess that's pretty much it," she admitted. "Oh, but it talked about ranks at the end of the note," Misty said, again motioning to her scroll. "What's that all about?"

May nodded. "It's partially just to make things easier for the Bounty Hunter's Union. We're Kelima ranks right now," she said, tapping on her shoulder where the yellow shield was emblazoned on her uniform. "That means we haven't been through training yet so no one should assign us real jobs or expect us to have Vessels." May grinned. "Although we'll be Keempat rank soon which is… I don't know what color it is but that means we're undergoing training. So basically we can't take missions still, but we may or may not have a Vessel."

Misty nodded eagerly. "So we'll be getting new uniforms?"

May shook her head. "Nope, they have some way of switching out the colors." May tugged on the shield on her uniform. "I honestly don't know how. I've tried to get this thing off for years but it won't budge. We should have the same uniform until we graduate, just different colored patches."

Misty gave a nod and took a deep breath. The day before it'd all seemed so complicated and overwhelming. Granted it still felt complicated and a little scary now, but it was a lot more… doable. It seemed less impossible and more like maybe a job she could get through without having a heart attack in the process. She'd have friends with her the entire time as well, well… May anyway, she wasn't sure if she could consider anyone else as a friend yet.

"Well aside from all that boring stuff," May said, leaning forward and taking Misty's hands. "Happy Birthday! How's it going so far?"

"Oh," Misty said with a grin. "Good Arceus I'd almost forgotten," she laughed awkwardly.

May playfully tsked at her. "You shouldn't be forgetting your own birthday, now. Especially your eighteenth! Which means…." She pointed down at Misty's arm.

That's right! It'd been her eighteenth birthday therefore when she'd awoken she should've had her Inscription! She'd been so startled by her sisters' singing in the morning and then eating as much cake as she could, followed by a near-sprint to her job, it'd slipped her mind. Without hesitation she furiously rolled up her left sleeve and tilted her head to read the elegant black cursive mark that was inevitably there.

'You want to pet 'im?'

Misty stared at it for a moment, internalizing it before trying to place it to a possible situation. Her nose crinkled. What on earth would happen that the first words her mate would say to her would be… 'You want to pet him?'?

Misty, in the past, had sort of scoffed at Inscriptions. They were silly. They took all the fun out of it. But she had to admit she'd been awfully excited and her heart had been pounding awfully hard when she thought about looking at it. Although, she wasn't exactly sure whether she was satisfied with what it said or not.

"Hmm," May hummed. "I wonder what would happen for him to say that…."

Misty opened her mouth to respond but instead she was startled by a loud 'thwack' and closed it again in surprise. All eyes turned to the back of the room where the sound had come from and found a tall and very burly blonde man standing in the doorway. He had beady black eyes that swept over the room like a plague as he took in every detail. The room's constant chatter quickly died down as all of the Hunters stared at the man, waiting for him to say something.

"Alright!" the man barked and nearly everyone in the room flinched, including Misty and May who scooted a little closer to each other. His presence was overwhelming. The man slammed the door shut behind him with a loud 'boom' and stalked into the room, his thick black boots thunking heavily on the metal flooring. "My name is Lieutenant Surge," he barked, making his way to the other side of the room and swiveling around to face the crowd. "I'll be your commanding officer and your training officer for the entirety of your schooling as well as after you graduate. You will report to me and me only. You little kids better listen up and listen well because I only say things once! One time. One time only, and I don't take any crap. Anyone who wishes to defy what I say can go right ahead and haul ass out that door right now because that is not tolerated under my roof, am I clear?"

His eyes swept the room and everyone seemed to cower. It appeared he didn't have any objections and he nodded once. "Alright. This training will be grueling to you maggots so you better be ready for a hard time…," he said, his eyes sweeping the room once again. "But it'll be rewarding," he finished. "I'm sure you all knew that when signing up, though." He cleared his throat and opened a file folder in his hands that Misty had overlooked the first time, possibly because of his intensely terrifying stare.

As he looked down at the folder, flipping through a few sheets of paper, Misty brought her heartrate back down to a normal pace as best she could. She'd pictured her training officer to be tough but not… like this. This man had to be at least six five and looked as if he'd captured his muscles in his shirt and they were still trying to escape. He wore a camouflaged shirt with black pants and small silver dogtags hung around his neck. He looked like the sort of guy who could crush sculls in one hand, and he had the booming voice to back it up.

He looked up from the folder and Misty felt May flinch. It was comforting she wasn't the only intimidated one.

"Break off into teams and sit down in a straight line," Surge barked. There was a great scrambling in the room, everyone making it to where their teams were and quickly sitting down next to one another. Misty and May positioned themselves to face Surge and Paul sauntered over to take a seat on the other side of May.

Surge surveyed the line of young adults in front of himself before nodding and clearing his throat. "Alright, I know you all know a bit about what training is about but you don't know everything." His voice was a bit softer this time and Misty was glad. "Today's the first day of many, so we don't need to shove your little pea brains too full of information just yet. You'll learn lots of things in many different subjects, but this first day, and probably this first week, we'll be transitioning into it."

He looked across the line of students again before nodding. Apparently he was satisfied. "First thing's first. I'm Lieutenant Surge as I said earlier. Born and raised in Vermillion City I became a hunter just like you when I was sixteen. It was very different back then but the principles are the same. Graduated top of my class and served overseas with the military for twenty years. I came back here to teach pipsqueaks like yourselves because the Hunters Union was the best place I could've imagined being and I'd like the next generation to feel the same." He cleared his throat. "That's all you need to know about me. That's all you'll ever know."

And something told Misty he was telling the absolute truth and she wouldn't know a single thing more about him for the rest of her life.

"Next a few things to get out of the way. I will be your one and only training officer, however from time-to-time we will have guests, either helping us out or observing. Give them the utmost respect and show your best when they're here. Your performance reflects on me, y'know." He shut the folder with a smack before tucking it under his arm. "This is room C39. This will be the room you report to every day at nine thirty sharp until you have graduated. We will do all of our training in here, and outside in our designated area. So get used to it. This is your new home." He motioned around himself.

"Like I said before, you better abide by my rules or Arceus help your poor soul for the punishment." May and Misty both gulped lightly. "You better be here on time or have a valid excuse for absence sent in to the Department by at least five in the morning. That's rule number one." He sighed.

"Anyway, what we'll be doing today is short and simple. You all losers aren't gonna learn any of the actual meat of the course today, but instead start developing something else which sounds pansy-ass but is crucial to a team: teamwork. Simple. You all are part of the same squad so let's all start acting like one. Having rifts in teams or squads can cause not only trouble, but put you and your members in grave danger if on a job so keep your shit together and don't fight with one another, alright?" he barked.

Misty and nearly everyone else in the room nodded vigorously even though Surge had been rather vague and she was nearly positive it'd been a rhetorical question.

"Okay so first step to teamwork is getting to know you kids. I'm sure you're all pretty familiar with your own teams, aside from the two newbies we have," he said, nodding once towards Lyra and once towards Misty who shrunk a little under the pressure of his gaze. "But you all don't know the other teams too awfully well. This is very redundant so I'll keep it short, but let's get the introductions over with. Alphabetically by last name," Surge barked, taking the folder out from underneath his arm and studying its contents again. "N Harmonia."

The boy sitting directly to Misty's right raised his hand. He'd been completely quiet thus far, not flinching or nodding or really much of anything. Misty found herself scooting closer to May and farther away from the boy, simply because she didn't know him. Although now, she knew his name. N? Like the letter?

Surge nodded, looking down at the paper. "N Harmonia, born and raised in Northern Unova by his father. Immigrated here at the age of seventeen to immediately join the Bounty Hunter's Union. Stood out in all respects and within the first week was put into his elite team." He nodded, as if impressed. "It's nice to meet you, son."

The boy looked a little shocked, blinking to himself as if he wasn't sure what to do before lowering his hand and giving a quiet nod. The girl on the other side of N elbowed him, pointing at the corner of her mouth to remind him to smile. Misty watched in horror as the most awkward smile she'd ever seen was forced upon N's face. He looked like he'd just eaten something sour, or maybe stubbed his toe. It was… not a smile. Did he not know how to smile?

Surge stared at the boy before apparently deciding to move on, not wanting to address whatever monstrosity of a facial expression had just occurred. "Hugh Hyuu!" Farther down the line, the boy with crazy blue hair sitting next to Mei raised his hand. Misty leaned forward so she could see down the line and at the boy. "Hugh Hyuu, born in Aspertia City during the Plasma uprising. Moved with his mother and younger sister to Kanto. Joined as a Hunter when he was sixteen, with fellow recruit Mei Rosa. Both were placed in team 32C and he has done well, but not exceptional, since." Hugh lowered his hand and Surge gave him a nod of recognition. Misty didn't miss the completely bored look on Hugh's face. As if perhaps he was utterly uninterested, if not a little peeved he was having to be introduced.

Surge cleared his throat, tracing a finger down the sheet in his folder. "Lyra Kotone!" There was a surprised squeak and the girl with the hat that May had pointed out to Misty straightened, raising her hand. "Born in Johto. Parents moved to Kanto when she was nine months old. Has no public record of activity until she was seventeen and applied to an artists' guild. She was rejected, and instead joined the Hunter's association." Surge frowned deeply, and Misty could nearly hear this thoughts: he wasn't pleased that being a Hunter hadn't been Lyra's first job choice. "Joined team 32C last week. No one knows her strengths and weaknesses yet." He looked up and Lyra flinched again. Misty sensed she was trying her hardest to keep her composure. "Loose the hat. No hats allowed," Surge barked, moving onto the next name.

"Yes sir!" she squeaked, immediately nearly throwing it off of her head.

Misty didn't miss the fact that all three of the people introduced all had immigrated to Kanto. She looked over her shoulder at May with question, mouthing the word 'other regions' as a question. May nodded, holding up a finger and letting her know that after it was over, she'd explain. Misty hadn't expected a single student to be from another region. Bounty Hunters were Kanto's pride…

"May Maple!" May shot up straight, raising her hand with a smile. Surge made eye contact before beginning. "May Maple. Born in Hoenn, to former Gym Leader Norman. Moved to Kanto as a small child with her younger brother and parents. Joined when she was seventeen and has been working on a two-man team for the past two years…" Surge trailed off, his eyebrows raising in surprise at the amount of time she'd been awaiting training. He looked back up to her before nodding. "I apologize for the wait."

May laughed awkwardly, waving a hand to dismiss him and to say it was fine before he moved on.

So May wasn't even from Kanto…

"Mei Rosa!"

"Here~!" Mei called from all the way down the line, raising a hand with a grin.

Surge looked slightly caught off-guard that she'd answered him but continued in stride. "Mei Rosa, born in Unova in Aspertia City. Moved to Kanto with Hugh Hyuu and her mother. Applied to be a Hunter the same day Hugh applied, and has been seen with him ever since. Also has not had any outstanding strengths or weaknesses noted." Mei gave Surge a thumbs up and he stared for a moment, looking as if he was contemplating scolding her before shaking his head and moving on with a sigh.

"Paul Shinji!" Misty's gaze swept the other way, as Paul raised his hand next to May. He looked just as bored, if not more so than Hugh had. Although, if the past day was any indicator, Paul was just quiet and stern, not really unenthused. "Born in Sinnoh. Moved to Kanto on his own at age eight. Enrolled with the Enforcement Agency and got a job as a Police Officer, before being recommended for transfer to the Hunter's Union. He did not object, and was transferred two years ago to be placed in a two-man team." Surge looked up and made the connection between Paul and May forming that two-person team. He looked a little confused, if not curious about Paul… but apparently decided once again not to voice any of his opinions.

"Drew Shu!" A boy a few down from Misty, who had green hair nearly matching N's raised his hand. He was another from the team May hadn't known much about… Rather than the fact that they were considered a more elite team. "Drew Shu. Born-"

Surge was cut off as Drew interrupted. "Grew up moving around a lot, although I would like to call Hoenn my first home. I was put into team 4S after showing exemplary skill in certain school subjects that pointed toward the job of a Hunter." He paused for a moment, looking up and down the line of his pupils lazily before shrugging and blowing his hair out of his face. "I'd hoped my team would be placed with more… acceptable teams that would actually stand to aid us but it seems we'll be helping along the slow students."

There were many annoyed sounds and scoffs amongst the room, even Misty felt a twinge of irritation toward the boy. Who did he think he was? It was glaringly obvious he had some sort of hair up his butt because he was considered "elite", which just made him more annoying. The mutters continued, although no one apparently wanted to actually argue with the boy… well, no one except May, who stood up in a blur to point down accusingly at him. He'd definitely gotten under her skin. "Hey! Just because you're in some "elite team"," she said, rolling her eyes as if the title was a joke, "doesn't mean that you're anything special, you grasshead, and you'll figure it out. We're all just as good as your stupid team, if not better, and we'll be sure to prove it!"

Drew stared up at her for a moment, his haughty facial expression wavering for only a second before he again tossed some hair out of his face with a nonchalaunt, "Hmph."

"Sit down!" Surge thundered and May jumped in shock. "Speak only when in turn. Do not fight with your comrades." Drew let out a smirky snort as May sat back down angrily with a thud, crossing her arms. "And never interrupt me when I'm talking," Surge finished, his reprimand this time aimed at Drew.

Misty slowly looked over to her partner to make sure she was alright. For some reason Drew's words must've resonated with something in May to really tick her off. Although, Misty didn't have a guess as to what. She noticed May didn't look as angry anymore, as much as completely shocked. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and her face was red as a beet as she rocked back and forth slowly. Misty leaned over farther to get a better look at May's face. Yup, she was definitely looking a little flustered. Why? Was it because she'd completely lost her temper – which seemed a little out of character from what Misty knew of May- and gotten in trouble in the middle of her first day of training? Was she afraid she'd made a fool of herself?

It was then that Misty noticed May was rubbing her thumb across her left forearm as she rocked and slowly but surely she made the connection, and her eyes shot open wide. May had said she hadn't ever interacted with team 4S before, so those were probably the first words she'd ever spoken with that Drew guy. And therefore, the first words she'd heard as well. And sure enough, his response hadn't been anything exactly normal, instead a 'Hmph.' Which had been what May's inscription had said. Just a huff. No words.

Misty looked over at Drew then to see he also had his arms crossed, eyes closed, and didn't look as if he was phased in the least. In fact, he looked like he was asleep.

Misty looked back to May. Was she alright? What a way to find out who your future husband was going to be. Their first conversation was a bit of a fight. What an odd way to find out. Misty hoped hers would be a little more… normal. Although she still hadn't been able to think of a situation for her Inscription.

Instead of focusing on it too much she turned back to listen to who was called next. She needed to talk with May afterwards about more than one thing now. About all the immigrants from other regions in their class, and also the Inscription… maybe May had talked to Drew before without realizing it and he wasn't the one after all… or maybe he just wasn't the one period. She hadn't heard of someone going against their Inscription, mainly because it truly was a "soul mate" and they usually hit it off right away, but she supposed it could happen.

"White Touko!" The last member of team 4S raised her hand. She sat between Drew and N, looking like a very normal civilian situated between two crazy bookends. "White Touko. Born and raised in Nuvema Town with friends Bianca and Cheren, whom are both already undergoing Hunter training in a different squad." Surge looked genuinely surprised. "Moved to Kanto when she was fifteen, immediately showing her skills in all areas, and quickly relocated to the elite forces." Surge gave her an approving nod and she lowered her hand.

That was almost everyone… Misty figured she was probably the next. "Misty Waterflower!" She jumped nonetheless, despite guessing her name would be called. She raised her hand shakily. "Misty Waterflower, born in Cerulean City and raised by her mother and three sisters, the former leaders of the Cerulean City Gym. Had high marks in school, and joined the Hunter's Union yesterday, the day before her eighteenth birthday." Misty noticed the surprised look on Surge's face that came with the realization she'd only gotten her job one day before her birthday came and she was forced to have one. She wasn't sure if that was the best impression to give to a man like this who seemed to have a never-ending work-ethic, but he didn't seem too phased, instead giving her a nod and moving on to the last member.

"Calem Xavier!" The boy with the sunglasses atop his head raised his hand. "Calem Xavier. Born in Kalos. Traveled with his family around the globe before finally settling in Kanto. At first objected to being a Hunter, although his parents forced him into the career. Has since had a good attitude and gotten high praise from his seniors." Surge looked up to Calem who gave him a genuine smile in return. "Loose the glasses," he barked, not giving Calem the light of day.

Ouch, it seemed Surge didn't like that he hadn't wanted to be a Hunter.

With that Surge smacked his folder closed again, putting his fists on his hips as his eyes narrowed. He looked up and down the line, scrutinizing, before he gave on nod. "I welcome you to the life of Hunter. I can guarantee you it is rewarding and it will be an experience you remember forever. You ten will be in a squad together for the rest of your working lives. You may not work in close-quarters with the other teams, but you will still be considered as a single squad, and could possibly be assigned missions as such. For the next year or longer, you will be being trained together. I cannot stress enough how much you all need to get comfortable with one another. You trust a friend with your back more than you would a stranger."

Surge stepped forward, clomping in his boots as he walked over towards the door again. Misty's head turned mechanically as she watched him. He heaved open the metal door to their training room before giving a single nod. "For today, you will return to your regular posts. This will be the last day as such, so take it all in. You will turn in your uniforms at the end of the day. They will be returned to you tomorrow, as you will enter a new rank and our training will officially begin. More details will be given tomorrow." He motioned for everyone to stand and they followed in suit. "You will be released two hours early today and most everyday forward during training. The Union encourages members of the same teams and squads to interact outside of training and work, to form closer bonds. No, this is not optional. You must spend time with your fellow Hunters in this class in the outside world. Use your two free hours –if not extra time- to do so." Surge looked as if it pained him to give such a trivial assignment. "Get close with your peers and get outta here," he barked, standing straight and motioning out the door.

cwc: 12,472

So there it is! I hope you enjoyed! I'm hoping to tie in a lot of canon characters into this story somehow. We have a nice little array of protagonists from different regions, as well as Lieutenant Surge now. Along with Tracey from the last chapter of course. XD

Lookie, the first little hints of Contestshipping are taking place *rubs hands together*. It'll be a little bit before Pokeshipping arrives, so Contest will be the main pairing for a bit. However, Misty is our main character so she'll of course have the spotlight pairing wise. I'm rambling... someone stop me. XD

Once again if anything was at all confusing I sincerely apologize and feel free to ask questions! However, all will be revealed and answered in due time, so hopefully I'll eventually have all bases covered. XD

Thank you so much for the amazing reviews and whatnot last chapter! They were amazing! I'm very curious as to what others think when reading, especially for AUs like this one. :D

~Foxtail-chan