Back at the station:
The door to the break room opened as Freddy and Alice walked in, a little battered but looking proud of themselves as they had managed to pass the test.
"Hey look who it is, it's the happy couple" Ciel crowed over towards the pair, a grin spreading on his face, Freddy blushed lightly as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as Alice just pouted lightly putting her hands on her hips.
"As if, Freddy wouldn't know the first thing about romance, and I ain't holding his hand through the whole thing" that got a laugh from most of the others, the only exception being Charly and Sophia who were still a little down about things.
"So what's next?" Vaal asked around, "no one has exactly told us what will happen next after all" Ise was the one to reply.
"Honestly, I think we just have to wait for the commissioner mate, probably to give a welcome speech and guide around the building." she reasoned, everyone nodded at that, it sounded about right. Fortunately for them, they didn't need to wait long. A minute after Freddy and Alice had walked back in, Lance and Catherine entered the room, followed by a range of other pokemon. Vaal and Ciel recognised Leeroy immediately, Vaal's face hardened slightly as his eyes followed the electric type move across the room. Ciel nudged Vaal with his shoulder as he pointed towards someone in the crowd.
"Isn't that our taxi driver from this morning?" he asked in hurried tones, narrowing his eyes towards the individual who grinned slightly, having noticed the Persian.
Eventually, around 30 pokemon entered the break room and stood in a line, eyeing up the recruits. Lance stood a couple of feet ahead of the line, holding himself tall and proud, hands behind his back as he surveyed the room.
"Welcome to the LFP everyone, everyone in this room has successfully passed the final three tests, through their merit," he directed that comment towards Charly who looked up towards him. "As I told you earlier, not everyone that applied has successfully passed; however, four pairs, eight individuals have unfortunately failed to meet the standards we expect of an LFP officer. They have become members of the standard police force with the ability to work towards becoming an LFP officer in the future, so expect to see them as co-workers in the future, possibly." Catherine stepped forwards as he finished.
"Some of you will be wondering what the purpose of the three tests were, well five tests. The five tests in order are; the academy's written exams, the double battle test, the taxi journey here, the stress room and the one on one interview" at this point all of the recruit's eyes were on the Kingdra. She placed her hand on her hip as she tilted to the side as she motioned with the other.
"The exams, as you can imagine, are a test of your ability to learn and problem solve. The double battle is a test of your battle skills and partner communication." she paused as Lance took over the next segment.
"The taxi journey allowed us to gain an idea of your personality when you acted naturally, without the knowledge you were being tested. A lot of pokemon pretend to be someone they aren't when they reach the building." some of the recruits showed understanding and started whispering between each other. Catherine smiled as she took the next part.
"The stress test is, so we gain an understanding of how you all act under pressure. We need pokemon that can remain cool under pressure after all. If you had resorted to violence or had lost your cool in some manner, then this job is clearly not for you." she glanced towards Zed who rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. A couple of the veteran officers chuckled at the sight of Zed, then one of them spoke up, explaining the joke.
"Big guy over there nearly smashed the glass" that got a couple of whistles of appreciation from some of the other officers standing in the line. Lance cut in smoothly.
" The final test is a test to see if you can hold your own in single combat as well as to find your reason for joining us as well as other essential information and give us a chance to evaluate if you will be a good fit for our location." Lance smiled.
"While it all sounds like a lot to go through, the only pokemon we fail are anyone that shows clear indications that they are not fit for service. The fact that everyone here made it through the academy successfully already qualifies you to be LFP officers, the final tests are there as a just in case measure" the recruits relaxed slightly as Lance finished his part. Catherine coughed into her hand.
"I would like to say something. Today has been a difficult day for some of you, none of which was your fault. The fault lies with us, and for that, I apologise. Especially towards Miss Springfeather."
That caught Charly by surprise. She sat upright, eyes wide in shock that she had been singled out. Lance flinched slightly as he knew that he was being called out in front of all his officers, wife included. However, deciding this would probably be for the best, he closed his eyes as he said apologetically.
"I must apologise for how I phased my earlier words towards you, officer. In reality, you had already passed the test. However, I did not inform you of that fact over concerns that the remaining pair would use it as an excuse to aid each other during their test." he opened his eyes and matched Charly's gaze, till someone in the line snickered.
"Leeroy you owe me ten bucks", and with that, the entire line of officers burst into laughter.
"Awww chief you really do have a soft heart under those scales don't you" Spark, the Manectric that drove Vaal and Ciel to the station called out in a cheerful voice. Lance just coloured as he realised his image had been broken down in front of the recruits. They had planned this out and even bet on the outcome.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Damn you all, none of you has any respect for me, do you" he turned and roared out of embarrassment.
"No, sir!" the officers hollered back before laughing, even Catherine was giggling as she saw.
"Dear, were you trying to appear stoic to the newbies again?" Lance just gave an exasperated sigh before giving up, rubbing his eyes and he turned back to the recruits, who were all a little confused by what was going on.
"Okay, listen up I will only explain this once" he spoke in his usually frosty tones.
"Each pair will now be placed with an existing pair, and they will be your direct superiors. They will be in charge of showing you all the ropes, and any does and don'ts. You will be working with the pair you are placed with on any existing and future assignments for the next six months. Your task for the next six months is a supporting role, following up leads, running tests, helping with interrogation etc. Grouping will now take place." and with that, Lance and Catherine walked to the side of the room, letting the veteran officers have clear access to the recruits. The recruits were completely confused, standing or sitting where they were, they hadn't moved at all, Cath just nudged Lance who groaned quietly, rolling his eyes.
"Officers pair up!" he ordered. Everyone in the room shifted, standing next to their partner, the rookies on the right, veterans on the left side. On the right side were five pairs and on the left were 14 pairs.
"Officer Marshtail and Officer Padfoot, step forwards!" Cath shouted out in a clear demanding voice. The two pokemon complied, awkwardly shuffling forwards, while the veteran's started murmuring and pointing before giggling lightly, of course, they remembered who they were. Ciel just blushed as he scratched his cheek looking sideways, avoiding eye contact. Vaal just started patting his belly lightly as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Who will take them?" Cath called out, and suddenly 13 pairs stepped backwards, indicating they weren't interested in the two of them, leaving just one pair. Roland let loose his booming laughter.
"We bagged you first chance we got, don't worry about it" Rusty he told the pair, giving them a toothy smile.
"Get your asses over here and stop standing like a lemon!" Roland called them over, motioning them to hurry up with his hand. Ciel tapped Vaal on the shoulder, who glanced at his partner before nodding with a smile. They walked quickly over towards the pair who held out their hand in a formal greeting.
"Names Roland Metalica, Aggron"
"Rusty Highpeak, Skarmory"
Vaal shook Roland's hand, and Ciel took Rusty's.
"Vaal Marshtail, Quagsire"
"No shit" Roland barked as he clasped Vaal's hand and shook it hard.
"Ciel Padfoot, Persian"
"Never would have guessed," Rusty remarked, a cheeky grin spreading over his face as he shook Ciel's hand.
"Officer Deepwater and Officer Fellowfae, step forward" Cath called out as Vaal and Ciel stepped behind the rest of the line with Roland and Rusty. Ise and Callum stepped forwards, Ise was nervous and standing just behind Callum who was stone-faced and standing tall and defiant.
"Who will take them?" Cath shouted out, and this time only 8 out of 12 pairs stepped back. "We have a split!" Cath announced.
"You have a choice here, rookies. These four are all interested in you, your call who you partner with." Lance informed the two rookies as they eyed up the four pairs ahead of them. Callum walked up towards an officer that had a confident smirk on his face that was visible through a large white bushy beard.
"You were the one that drove us here, yeah?" the officer's smirk grew slightly as he nodded, answering.
"That's correct" Callum gained a smirk of his own as he turned to Ise.
"What you think, Ise?" the ghost type paused as she considered what to do before nodding in agreement walking over to join Callum in front of the officer. Callum stuck his hand out, giving the officer a full tooth smile.
"Callum Deepwater my friend, Huntail" the officer gave a deep barking laugh before slapping his hand into Callum's.
"Jokul Glaciaseeker at your service, Walrein!" his partner, offered Ise her hand.
"Lavender Evergrow, Roserade" she spoke softly as she shook Ise's hand.
"Ise Fellowfae, Mimikyu"
"Okay, next up!" Over the next ten minutes, the remaining three rookie pairs were matched with a veteran pair. Zed and Lee end up with a Carracosta called Bernard Archelon and his partner Eastyn Mugenkane, a Bronzong. Charly and Sophia ended up with Enid Murkgrown and Saren Stormcaller, the Parasect and Plusle that attacked Ciel as part of his test. Freddy and Alice went with Alexa Emberran, a Cinderace and Viviana Vinecaller a Serperior.
"And that is all of the seedlings then, sorry everyone but that your lot, back to work" Cath bellowed out, there was a loud groan from the remaining pokemon that hadn't been partnered up. They started to shuffle out of the break room to get back to whatever they were doing beforehand. The only pokemon left in the place was the pokemon that had been paired up, Lance and Catherine.
"Okay, now that you have been partnered up you have the next hour to teach your new partners the basics, at which point it will be lunchtime. Any questions?" Lance looked around, making sure that the instructions were clear.
“Sir yes sir!” the veteran’s called out before laughing at the face Lance pulled.
“You're all a bunch of children” Lance muttered in a low tone as he stomped out of the room, Cath patting him on the back as she walked with him giggling slightly.
“Aww come now sweetie, it’s just a bit of fun” the door closed behind them as the veteran’s turned to their new charges.
“Now then, first things first congrats on passing the final exam and welcome to the LFP!”
Rusty opened his arms wide as he gave a broad smile, he was addressing Vaal and Ciel on a separate table from everyone else, the groups of four had each taken a table and were sitting about them discussing things.
“I knew you would pass the final test, hell I even bet on you, you netted me 150 bucks! grahaha” Roland threw his head back as he whacked a bemused Vaal on the back. Ciel raised an eyebrow as he eyed the Aggron up.
“That much? Were the odds that bad?” Rusty just sighed as he shook his head.
“No, he only got that much because he can’t help but bet big. He put down £75 on you two passing and three of the others” that made more sense to the two pokemon, but the Aggron kept smiling as he stuck his hand up in a victory sign.
“And it worked out! Six hundred pokedollars to me!” it was the Skarmory’s time to smile after he said that as he pointed out.
“Which means you're also buying the first round tonight at the bar, dumbass” Roland’s face froze as he remembered the rules of the betting pool.
“Shhhhiiiiittttt” Roland deflated as he slid down his chair, a depressed look on his face as he realised that his winnings would take a rather massive hit tonight. Ciel chuffed before throwing the pokemon a lifeline.
“I can help pay for the first round” Roland performed the greatest 180-degree change he had ever seen as he rose from the depths of his table a sparkle in his eye as eyed the Persian like he was the lord All-mighty.
“Arceus bless you, you need anything, let me know” he promised Ciel with a vigour that led the pokemon to believe he was overreacting.
“Hope your wallet can take the beating” Rusty warned Ciel in a cautionary tone. Vaal huffed as he grinned, shaking his head.
“Trust me. The bar will run out of liquor before he runs out of money” Roland and Rusty’s head spun around to Ciel who put up his hands defensively.
“Only the first round!” he clarified, now sweating as the eyes of both steel types sparkled brightly.