It has been quite a while since this was updated... since September.... Oops

Anyway, just an FYI, things in this fic translate differently than how they actually are in the game. Like, there's a grading system for the ghosts' aggression instead of levels like Nightmare and Insanity. There's other things, too, but you'll find out later on.

Enjoy :]

‿෴•°•෴‿

"You wanted to see us?" Impulse asked Mr. Arcouri as he, Skizz, Tango, and Joker entered the office.

"Yes," Mr. Arcouri said. Next to him stood a very slim man about average height (though he appeared extremely tall next to short little Arcouri) with dirty blonde hair. "Gentlemen, meet one of our best investigators, Mr. Insym."

Insym laughed. "Just Insym is fine," he said. "No need for the formalities."

Mr. Arcouri smiled. "He's very humble, isn't he?" he commented, then quickly moved on. "He's going to give you guys a quick lesson on how to record your discoveries during your investigations."

"A lesson?" Skizz asked. "Didn't you already show us how to do that?"

"It's a little more complicated than just saying what the type of ghost you've found," Mr. Arcouri admitted, sighing. "There's different grades and levels, but I'll leave that to Insym to explain. You boys have fun." He patted Isnym on the back and shooed them all away, Insym not hesitating a second before ushering the four into what looked like a classroom down the hall from Arcouri's office.

"Alright," Insym said, then picked up some chalk to write on the chalkboard. He turned to them. "So, first things first, how much did Arcouri teach you?"

Impulse laughed a bit. "Not a lot," he said honestly. "I assuming you'll be the one to teach us, though."

Insym nodded. "So, first things first," he said, pointing to the chalkboard, which had the words 'GRADE' and 'CLASSIFY' written on it. "Grading and classifying. Every ghost has a grade depending on their level of aggression and a class depending on their level of interactivity. Agression levels are one to five, five being the least agressive and one being the most agressive. Their class is a letter given to them based on their level of interactivity with the living world. A being the most interactive and E being the least. For example," he turned to write on the board again whilst Tango and Joker looked at each other, confused, "a demon is typically in a 3-C to 1-A range, but every demon is different. Demons, however, will never be at a four or five grade and they'll never be in an E class."

Joker blinked. "What?"

Insym sighed. "Why are none of you writing this down in your journals?" he asked monotonously, and Impulse, Joker, and Skizz immediately pulled out their journals and pens.

"I didn't even understand half of what you said," Tango murmured, scratching his head. "Can you start over?" He reached for his journal and a pen from his pocket.

Sighing again, Insym turned around to face the chalkboard again, writing as he spoke. "Aggression level grades are given to ghosts based on how aggressive they are, and - write this down - the grades are numbers one through five. One is the highest, five is the lowest."

The four of them jot down Insym's words as he continued.

"Classes are based on how active the ghosts are and how much the interact with the living world," Insym said. "A is the mosf interactive and E is the least. Grading and classifying is the most important part of our job after idenitifying the ghost. To grade a ghost, you'll need to count the amount of hunts the ghosts initiates during a given amount of time, usually fifteen minutes. If it averages one hunt per minute or one hunt per ninety seconds, it's easily a grade one. If it averages one hunt per three minutes or one hunt per two hundred seconds, it's a grade two. An average of one hunt per five or six minutes, it's a grade three. If it averages at one hunt per eight minutes, it's a grade four. And if it averages one hunt per ten minutes or longer, then it's a grade five. Keep in mind that the longer you stay in the ghost's presence, the more hunts it will initiate out of agitation. You'll need to complete the grading process within the first fifteen minutes of being there.

"Now, for classification, it's the same general rule. You'll need to count the amount of interaction. If it does ten or more interactions within a two minute time frame, it's a class A. If it does eight or nine interactions within a five minute time frame, it's a class B. Five or six interactions in a seven minute time frame means it's a class C. Two to four interactions in eight or nine minutes means it's a class D. And finally, one interaction or no interactions during a ten to fifteen minute timeframe, or if there are no interactions whilst anyone is in the presence of the ghost - meaning there are interactions whilst no one is with the ghost - means it's a class E. Class Es are typically Shades."

Skizz bit back a comment about how stupid that whole thing was as Insym went on.

"An important thing to remember whilst identifying, classifying, and grading these ghosts," Insym said, "is to keep in mind that certain ghosts cannot be specific grades and classes. Like I mentioned earlier, Demons will never be a four or five grade and will never be in the E class. Very rarely are they in the D class, though that doesn't mean it's not possible. Shades will never be higher than a four or a D. 3-C and above cancels out the possibility of the ghost being a Shade. Thayes will often start at a 3-B or higher and deteriorate over time, meaning they will stop hunting and stop interacting with the living world. Keep in mind that if that happens and you don't have all of your evidence, you won't be getting any more evidence. Though it would be pretty obvious it was a Thaye at that point." Insym cleared his throat. "Any questions?"

All four guys raised their hands.

Insym sighed. "Slow bunch, huh?"

‿෴•°•෴‿

"This is so confusing," Skizz whined on the way back home, leaning into Impulse in the backseat. He flipped through the notes he took, which were mostly doodles of cats and dogs.

"Well, we'll get used to it," Impulse said cheerfully. "It might take a while, but it's just learning a new set of skills. We'll get there. Eventually."

Joker scoffed. "Yeah, right," he said. "We're total rookies and we know nothing about ghosts. Taking this job was a mistake."

"Hey, look," Tango said, stopping at a red light. "We chose this. Yes, maybe we should have done some research beforehand, but hey. We're in it now and it pays a real pretty penny. Unless you guys want to work at a McDonald's for the rest of your lives."

Everybody shuddered at that comment.

The light turned green and they started moving again.

Impulse bit back a chuckle when he noticed Skizz drawing in his journal. "I think that once we get serious about all this," he said, "then we'll be alright. We just have to, y'know... get serious."

"Like any of us are capable of that," Joker commented sarcastically, making Tango laugh.

"Hey, I'm serious," Skizz said defensively. "I'm serious all the time!"

Impulse quirked a brow at him. "You're drawing cats with sunglasses and top hats in your ghost journal."

Skizz's face turned bright red. "Like you don't have doodles all over yours," he pouted.

Impulse turned his head away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, yes you do," Skizz argued, then reached for Impulse's journal.

"Hey, give it back!"

Skizz opened it up to reveal an entire page of sketches... of Skizz. "Oh." He stared at them in disbelief, almost feeling warm inside as his eyes traced over the shockingly talented sketch markings.

Impulse's face turned redder than Skizz's as he snatched back his notebook. "You weren't supposed to see that," he mumbled in embarrassment.

Joker snickered. "Lovebirds."

"We are not!" Skizz protested.

"Yeah," Impulse huffed. "We are not lovebirds."

Joker rolled his eyes playfully. "Yeah, sure."

"We're not!"

"Are to."

"Are not."

"You definitely are."

"Jokerrr!"

‿෴•°•෴‿

"How'd the lesson go?" Seari asked as Insym walked into the office.

Insym quirked a brow at her, then looked at Mr. Arcouri. "Are you sure these guys are cut out for ghost hunting?" he asked. "I'm pretty sure I saw two of them drawing in their journals instead of taking notes, and the one with the yellow hair was practically asleep the whole time."

Mr. Arcouri chuckled. "They're just new to this," he said simply, then took a sip from his coffee. He set the mug down and sighed. "They need some time to get used to everything. Just like you did when you started out."

"I took it seriously from the start," Insym said defensively.

"Maybe, but not everyone does," Mr. Arcouri reminded him. "Give them some time. They'll warm up. Everybody does."

Sighing, Insym shrugged. "Whatever you say, boss."

Seari yawned. "I need a pick-me-up," she said, leaning against Arcouri's desk. "That Demon we found at that Asylum last night was rough. It was graded a 1-A. It almost killed three of us."

Insym's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" he asked. "You should've sent my team in, then."

"Seari's a professional," Mr. Arcouri reminded Insym. "So is the rest of her team. They can handle themselves. Besides, they've been doing this for much longer than you have."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Mr. Insym, you can go home now," Mr. Arcouri said. "I'll make sure to record that you picked up overtime for that lesson. Enjoy some time at home before your next mission tomorrow."

Insym huffed. "Fine," he said, then marched out of the office.

Mr. Arcouri sighed. "The ignorance and pettiness of youth," he said, making Seari laugh.

‿෴•°•෴‿

Skizzle Rizzle
im hunger
hungry
wait
who changed my name to that?!!

Jokes
ask ur bf

ImpSV
not his boyfriend

Jokes
that's funny cs how did u know i was talking ab u then
hmmmmm?

ImpSV
...
hush

Tango
I changed your name Skizz
And we have food in the fridge

Skizzle Rizzle
uggggghhhhhhhhhhhh
i know but im hungry nowwwww!!!!!!
i dont wanna cook!!!!!

Jokes
ur 5ft away from the fridge bozo
get some food

Skizzle Rizzle
no
dipple dop can you get me some fooooood???
pretty please :3

ImpSV
sure man
what do you want

Skizzle Rizzle
i dont care
just not anything with veggies
:p

Jokes
that sounds like caring to me lol

changed Skizzle Rizzle to Skizzleman

Skizzleman
shut up joker

Tango
Hey now be nice you two

Jokes
i didnt do anything tho

Skizzleman
>:P
that was me spitting at you
just an fyi

Jokes
HEY
you cant spit at me!!!

Tango
I said be mice
Nice

Jokes
ok
me rn 🐁

Skizzleman
he thinks he's funny

Jokes
cs i am

Skizzleman
keep dreamin

Jokes is typing . . .

Joker paused. "Hold on a second," he said, then looked around the living room. Skizz was on the sofa, Tango was in the reclinkng chair, and Impulse was getting up to get Skizz some food. "Why are we texting when we're right next to each other?!"

‿෴•°•෴‿

Impulse was busy doing the dishes after the rest of the guys had gone to bed (Impulse was quite the night owl, and much more productive after the sun goes down). He stared out the window at the moon and the stars as he subconsciously scrubbed a plate with a sponge, admiring the view. He thought briefly about earlier when Joker called him and Skizz 'lovebirds' and 'boyfriends,' and he thought about the drawings he made of Skizz and how Skizz reacted to seeing them. Impulse still couldn't tell what Skizz was feeling in that moment, but he looked sort of surprised, yet kind of disgusted, but also happy? Sighing, Impulse set down the plate on the drying mat. He had no idea what Skizz thought. One thing was for sure though.

Impulse was never going to slip up like that again. It was far too embarrassing for anybody to know that he actually liked Skizz.

It was one thing to be teased. It was another for people to know the truth.

‿෴•°•෴‿

"Good mornin', sleepy heads," Tango shouted to the otherwise quiet house. He had a stainless steel pan in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other. He crowed like a rooster before hitting the pan as hard as he could with the spoon, prancing up and down the hallway where their bedrooms were.

Joker was the first to open his door and say something. "Tango, you're crazy!" he shouted, though he wasn't much louder than Tango was, if at all. "It's five thirty!"

"All the better to get a head start on the day," Tango said, briefly pausing his ridiculous ruckus before returning to acting like a buffoon. "Wakey wakey!"

"Tango!" Skizz yelled, probably hiding under his covers in his room. "Shut up!!"

Tango smiled when he noticed Impulse's door was cracked open, then burst into his room, dancing. He suddenly stopped when he realised that Impulse wasn't in his bed. "Uhhh, Impulse?"

Joker yawned as he walked over to the doorway. "He fell asleep doing the dishes," he said, then snorted, a goofy, sleepy smile on his face. "He's sleeping standing up."

Tango blinked. "Oh... What?"

Joker led Tango to the kitchen and pointed at Impulse, who was standing with his head down at the sink. He was loosely holding a soapy sponge in one hand and a fork in the other. "I've never seen anybody do that before," Joker said, snickering.

Tango grinned. "Jokes, you might want to cover your ears," he warned, then Joker stepped back and did exactly that just before Tango grabbed another stainless steel pan and slammed the two pans together right next to Impulse.

Impulse shouted soemthing incoherent as he was jolted awake and threw the sponge and fork into the air. He looked around wildly for a moment, then stopped and scowled at Tango. "Tango!"

"It's wakey wakey time," Tango said calmly with a cheerful smile.

"Oh, you-" Impulse sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Whatever, I need coffee."

"We have another class to take today at work," Tango said, "so hurry up and get ready. Where's Skizz?"

Joker jabbed his thumb in the direction of Skizz's bedroom. "In bed still."

Tango laughed. "You know what that means!" He started down the hallway with his two pans and burst into Skizz's room. It wasn't long before there was metal clanging and a shouting Skizzleman.

"Get outta my room!"

‿෴•°•෴‿

Imagine you're a ghost and you're given an E because you didn't interact enough with the living world LMAO "You fail"