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(( This is open for Grunts and Trainees only! ))

"All right, listen up!" Seth's voice called out as he stood on the water's edge of a brackish water swamp.

Several vehicles were parked nearby, having transported the team of grunts and trainees. This was another training mission meant to break in the new guys and give a chance at catching Pokemon.

The elite stood at his full height, looking a bit annoyed at having to be here. The swamp wasn't the best place to be after all. It was hot, humid, and smelled. Not to mention there were insects. The elite slapping his neck as a mosquito buzzed near his ear and dared to land on his skin.

"There has been a sighting of a shiny Feraligatr here. I want all of you to pair up and search this swamp thoroughly. There are wading boots and extra pokeballs in the vehicles if you need them."

When he heard about this assignment, he signed up immediately, eager to get new pokemon. He did some research on the area, and stocked up accordingly, bringing mosquito repellant, not to be confused with Repel, swamp attire, full heals in case of poisoning, and plenty of revives and potions since he wasn't sure how well his eevee would fare against these pokemon, even with all the training they were doing. When Seth said they were pairing up, he relaxed just a little.

Oh good, as long as whoever I pair with isn't completely incompetent, I should be fine then.

He decided to look around for a good partner, scanning around to see who looked like they knew what they were doing, at least to a small extent.

Oh great partners, he thought to himself. Well it shouldn't' be too hard to find one... it seemed that several of the other grunts he knew were on this mission as well. And one of them... seemed to have stuck on to his back, well away from the elite. Not that he blamed her.

But were everywhere, but the full suit kept them off everything but his face, and for that, his hair and sunglasses were enough to cover the most of it. It seemed there was a shiny Feraligatr on the loose, that would be difficult to catch. he grabbed a set of boots, he didn't need the extra ball, he carried enough normally, and today he brought his back pack, for which he was glad, it had rope and a few extras heals in it. He didn't pay much mind to the other grunts, he was here hunting Feraligatr. This was more on his lines of preferred work.

The weather was hot and humid, just a little too hot for this dark hair grunt's taste. She trudged through the swam in wading boots, checking her backpack for all the essentials. Full heals, potions, fresh water, and pokeballs, all were there. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, yet loose strands still clung to her face. She wore her grunt uniform -not the most ideal choice for venturing in the swamp- with pants instead of her usually skirt. Although she was already sweating and panting, she was in it for the long haul. Catching the shiny Feraligatr would surely earn her some respect or recognition. It also wasn't a bad place to train either.

Cal kept her head low as not to catch the attention of the Elite. He had not seemed to notice her in their few meetings, but there was always the chance he would spot her and single her out. She didn't want to be put on the chopping block like so many of the other grunts.

She spotted two grunts in particular that she knew, but they had already chosen each other as partners. She scanned the crowed to see the selection of people there, a white lab coat catching her eye. This person was the closest to her and in the interest of time, she decided to ask him to to be her partner.

"Um... Excuse me," She reached up to tap him on the shoulder, "Would you like to be my partner?" Her voice was flat and dry compared to the atmosphere.

To his chagrin, most of the grunts already had a pretty clear idea of who they were pairing up with. Before he knew it, everyone except for one unlucky girl was left, and she looked like the wimpiest one of the lot.

He watched as Seth picked on her for her well kept but out of place hair, and as Seth drafted her to pair with him he let out an annoyed but resigned sigh. However, as the grunt got closer, his annoyance slowly shifted to appalled, as he noticed something he wasn't quite expecting. Wait, that's... a guy?! What kind of guy fixes his hair like that? Wait I already know the answer to that. Damnit.

Grinning as Panther agreed to partner with her, she quickly yanked off her shoes and socks, tossing them into the back of one of the cars. Yanking hard, she pulled on the wading boots as she heard Seth mention 'promotion'. She had a feeling that he probably wasn't planning on doing such a favor for her this early, especially after their last 'training' session, but hell, if she could slap something in his face and show that he was wrong about her, that was enough of a reason for her to try her damn hardest.

"Yeah, Gizmo just recently evolved too, so he won't be hit with recoil." She grinned to Panther and pulled the pokeball out as she followed after him, splashing through the swamp like it was a walk through a park. She didn't bring her pokemon out quite yet. "We could see if he'd work as a bug-zapper too, if you want... Shouldn't take too much energy out of him." She really didn't mind the mosquitoes; being itchy for the next week would be annoying, but it wasn't something she really cared about. Plus, it seemed they were more attracted to Panther.

Normally, Mau would have snapped his arm away and declined the offer to pair up. But as he had no choice, he turned to the person who addressed him. He recognized her face from the personnel files, but couldn't for the life of him remember her name.

"Sure." he said casually and plopped his hand on her shoulder. "What pokemon are you packing?" He asked, only half listening for her answer as Seth barked at some other recruits. He smirked a little at the promise of promotion, though he had very little faith in his luck to find such a pokemon. Though it would be great for research as to the genetics that play in making a pokemon the different colors.

"Mau." He replied curtly. "I've only got my vaporeon with me." He looked at the others around, then motioned for Cal to come along. "I'd hold off on the pikachu. The water in the swamp could backfire it's on us." He cast a glance to Seth as he walked past the elite towards the swamp. "I'd like to hold off the electroshock therapy for now."

He thought a moment about sending Aki out to scout ahead and toyed with the pokeball, but decided to wait a bit when the muck of the swamp decided to gab hold of his foot and threatened to pull his boot off. Freeing his boot he muttered "Gods I hate nature sometime." After a few more steps he asked "So how did you get put on this assignment? Dragged out here, or was this by choice?"