Dean walked into the IFA and saw the different types of people that were there. Some of them were human and some of them were not. It was jarring for Dean to see people that weren’t human, he would never get used to it. Dean saw the counter for applications and walked over to it. He was greeted by a lady behind the counter.
“Hello sir, what can I do for you today?”
“I’m looking to register myself as a fixer,” Dean said.
“What office do you wanna sign an application for?”
“The Sun Office.”
“Wow, you're lucky. There was only one spot left.”
Dean sighed, “I had a group I was going to apply with, but I guess that’s out of the picture.”
The clerk looked behind Dean and saw the group. “Even if you went to another office one person would be left behind. Offices usually only allow 4-5 people to apply at once.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Rei said, “I guess we’ll have to split up anyway.”
Dean turned around, “Yeah, you guys just met me anyway, but I’m sure we can see each other again eventually.” Dean signed the application, “What now?”
“You will now have to take a portal to the HQ and they will send you to a branch to start your work.” the clerk explained, “I will escort you to the portal room when you are ready.”
“Alright,” Dean said, “I guess I’ll say my goodbyes.” Dean turned around and said goodbye to the group. They were sad but knew that they had just met him. They would most likely see him again, so they didn’t stress too much. Dean was about to leave when they called back for him. “What is it?”
“Stella wants to apologize for this morning,” Robin said.
Dean watched as Stella approached him and bowed her head. “I’m sorry for what I did this morning.”
“No problem,” Dean said, “Just don’t let your toughness get to your head.”
Dean followed the clerk to a room with a huge portal. She input some numbers into the gate and it lit up with a blue glow. “Here you are, just walk through the portal and you will be sent to the testing grounds.”
Dean nodded, put on his mask, and walked through the gate.
-----
Dean arrived in a grass plain. 4 people were standing next to him, waiting. A portal opened up in front of him and a woman dressed in a knight’s armor came out of it. ‘Way to show off,’ Dean thought.
The woman stood in a very proud way with her blond hair flowing in the wind. “Good morning cadets, I am Elizabeth, your evaluator for this test. You will be evaluated on your strength and positioned where your skill will be needed the most, or you will be deemed unworthy and kicked back to the curb. You will be tested by fighting three goblins at once.” Elizabeth snapped her fingers and another portal opened, this time releasing three goblins. They were one of the monsters Dean had read in the monster manual. Short in height and had green skin. They mostly worked in groups and were vicious and cunning. They were also known to completely violate women they had captured for their interests. Goblins mostly used their height to their advantage, usually going for the legs. For Dean, who was 6 feet tall, the height would pose a problem.
“Who wants to go first?” Elizabeth asked.
One of the people, a man, raised his hand. He had long black hair and was dressed like a samurai; his name was Izumi. He walked up to the three goblins and prepared his katana. The battle lasted about 30 seconds and nothing interesting happened. Izumi had successfully dispatched the goblins. Elizabeth nodded her head in approval and summoned three more goblins.
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The next person to go was a girl named Rachel. She had short pink hair and was holding some sort of wand. After she walked up to the goblins, she muttered something under her breath. Then, out of nowhere, she shot a bolt of electricity at the goblins and completely obliterated them. Once again, Elizabeth nodded in approval and summoned more goblins.
Now it was Dean’s turn; He readied his gloves and walked towards the goblins. “Where is your weapon?” Elizabeth asked.
“They’re on my hands.”
Elizabeth looked at Dean’s gloves and looked like she was about to laugh, pissing off Dean in the process.
Dean angrily walked up to the goblins and stared at them. Eventually, one of them decided to attack. Dean formed knuckle dusters on his hands and proceeded to bash the goblin’s skull in. Blood and brains sprayed all over Dean’s mask as the goblin’s skull was being crushed. The other two goblins were shaking in fear, urine flooding the floor below them. Dean sighed in displeasure and walked to one of the other goblins. Once Dean was at least 5ft away from it, the goblin ran full sprint toward Dean, hoping to do some damage. It swung its tiny sword and screamed. Dean grabbed the sword and picked up the tiny thing. He grabbed its face and proceeded to slam its head into the ground. Dean released his grip and blood dripped from his hand and fell onto what was once a goblin’s head. Dean turned to the last goblin and saw that something was off.
“Boss, can you hear me?” Dean heard Nancy’s voice in his head.
“What the hell, since when could you use telepathy?”
“I’ve been trying to contact you about that goblin, it seems to be evolving.”
“What!”
“Uh Boss, you shouldn't yell like that, please use your head.”
“Oh yeah, right. Anyway, what do you mean by evolving?”
“It doesn’t happen too much, but when I was alive, monsters did something like evolution. It’s when a monster gains a huge amount of power at once, or a monster becomes strong enough to evolve. In this case, it’s the former.”
“Well, where did it get this much power?”
“From the anger of you killing its comrades I’m assuming.”
“You gotta be shitting me.” Dean watched as the monster began to glow a bright red light.
“What are you doing Boss, kill it when it’s vulnerable.”
“What does it turn into when it evolves?” Dean asked.
“A hobgoblin.”
“How strong is it?”
“A lot stronger than a goblin, that’s for sure.”
“Good.” Dean stood there, smiling as he watched the goblin evolve.
“You turned into a battle junkie haven’t you,” Nancy said.
“Well, anything to make this test more interesting.” Dean smiled as he saw the bright light fade and a tall, green creature walked out of it. The hobgoblin was now 6’ 2” and was built like a swimmer. Somehow, its clothes stayed intact.
“What are you doing, get back,” Elizabeth screamed.
Ignoring Elizabeth, Dean put up his fists ready to fight. The hobgoblin was seething with anger and, he too, put up his fists. The hobgoblin rushed at Dean and tried to throw a punch. Dean kicked up some dirt and it hit the hobgoblin's eyes.
“What? Did you think I was gonna play fair,” Dean taunted.
The hobgoblin was now livid. He wiped his eyes and rushed at Dean again, throwing one punch after the next. Dean barely slid past each of the punches and landed some of his own. One in the gut and one in the chest; the hobgoblin was now tired from all the punching and Dean was still jumping around. The hobgoblin drew some sort of energy to its fist as it began to light up. ‘Oooo, magic. Way to make this even more interesting.’ Dean’s fist began to shroud in a black mist as he too began to power up. The hobgoblin threw a flaming punch at Dean. Dean grabbed the fist and pulled it back as he kicked the hobgoblin in the chest, ripping off its arm. Dean brought his magically amplified fist down on the hobgoblin, ending the fight.
Dean stood there disappointed at the fight. “Man, I thought it was gonna be more fun.” He then walked back to his place in the line.
-----
The last two members did their test, and Elizabeth came out with the results. Unsurprisingly, everyone passed. The four other trainees were sent to their locations and Dean was kept behind. Elizabeth walked up to Dean, “Follow me.”
“Dean sighed and followed Elizabeth through a portal she had made. They walked into a building that looked like it was made in the middle ages. “Wait right here,” Elizabeth said. She walked away and Dean was left standing in the mysterious hallway. After a few moments, Elizabeth came back, but with an unexpected guest; It was Angelo.