"We just need to calm down, get back in order, forget the embarrassment and the stress and try to relax as much as possible." 

Vaal considered this before nodding. It was a pretty decent idea to be fair, only one small problem.

"And what do we do if the commissioner DID see our fiasco at the front door, for all we know he could be sat in front of the camera feed watching all the rookies come in."

"Yeah now that you mention it..." Ciel started to look worried again, his hands now down by his hips, grabbing onto his belt, his tail twitching out behind him.

Vaal gave it a moment of thought, before sighing, staring straight ahead towards the opposite wall, the room falling into silence. After a couple of minutes, Ciel spoke back up.

"What if it didn't matter that he saw it? Realistically speaking, it's a bad first impression if he did, but they will probably still give us a shot, we made it through academy after all." the Persian sounded hopeful. Vaal was still downcast, first impressions matter after all, and they had made a pretty bad one, they would likely be remembered as the guys that couldn't even open a door with help. How were they supposed to become LFP officers, dealing with kidnapping, murders, investigations and the like if they couldn't even open a door right?

"I hope that is the case Ciel, I really do" Vaal spoke in a low, dull tone.

Back in the security room, the giggling had long since vanished, in its place was an uneasy tension floating around. They could hear every word that they had spoken in the room; after all, it was an interrogation room disguised as the interview room. 

"Leeroy..." the commissioner spoke in a rough tone, anger barely being withheld. The LFP needed more officers as the city continued to expand; however, the LFP still had strict guidelines for recruiting. They had to as a lot of pokemon typically couldn't deal with what they have to deal with death, murder and other illegal activities. And now two promising recruits were having severe doubts on whether or not they would pass or not because one of their own decided to play a joke on them in front of nearly everyone in the building. Not a good start and it had damaged the confidence of the two.

"I'm sorry chief. The prank was not supposed to wallop the two's confidence..." Leeroy was currently sweating buckets in the corner.

"Lance..." the female voice spoke out with a warning tone. The commissioner just heaved a long breath out.

"Okay fine what do we do now then?" 

"Well, Leeroy needs to get the sign back on the door, first of all, these two are the first recruits to get into the building. We need to get on top of that first of all." the pressure in the room started to lessen, the commissioner gave his approval with a single nod.

"Leeroy get on that now okay."

"Also get the Reala to explain the situation to the two of them, tell them they have an hour to calm down and get ready for their test" the female voice added on almost immediately.

The commissioner turned to the female voice.

"Kath, you sure?" 

"I think if they are going to stand a proper chance in the formal interview, they need to know they have some time to calm down, this was caused by us" Kath glanced towards Leeroy as she spoke the last words.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Lance gave it some thought before nodding.

"Yeah that's fine, we will give them half an hour then we will start making things difficult for them that should give them long enough."

"Thank you, Lance, get on it, Leeroy."

"Yes, chief" Leeroy hurried out of the room, before heading to the reception to fulfil the tasks he had been tasked.

Ten minutes later there was a knock on the door, Vaal and Ciel looked up suddenly, and the Girafarig receptionist walked into the room as the two twisted around their chairs to look at the door, with the Girafarig was another pokemon, an Electivire. The Electivire had a somewhat embarrassed look on its face and was shifting side to side, avoiding the pairs questioning eyes, the Girafarig had a poker face, however.

"This is officer Leeroy, and he has something to tell you in regards to your interview" Leeroy looked betrayed as he shuffled forwards. Rubbing the back of his head, he stopped about a yard from the two pokemon before, surprising them both, he suddenly bowed down low.

"I am reaaaalllllly sorry about the door. It was just supposed to be a little joke, something to confuse the rookies like yourself; I didn't think the entire precinct would be watching the rookies come into the building for interviews. I took the sign telling pokemon about the button of the door, don't worry its back now, so only you will be the one to be embarrassed from that, I hope you forgive me" Leeroy rushed it all out, knowing full well that the upper brass was watching him right now. Vaal and Ciel went utterly blank, and they were currently trying to process what had just been said.

"Well anyway I will see you around" Leeroy turned and made an escape attempt, only to find the receptionist blocking the doorway with a smile that didn't quite reach her cheeks. Shhhiiieeeettt, Leeroy knew he had fucked up, but he didn't think he had fucked up that bad.

"So you mean to tell us" a voice so cold a glacier would shiver creeped up behind him.

"Our first impression to the job that we have worked, how long for?" a sickeningly sweet voice replied.

"Oh, a mere seven years of our lives."

"Riiiiggghhhttt, seven years of hell to be made almost useless because someone thought it would be funny to remove the sign on the door that needed a button to open, is that what he is telling us Pad?" 

"It certainly seems that way doesn't it Marsh."

Vaal and Ciel, needless to say, were genuinely pissed now. Sure they had made a terrible first impression, but if they weren't the only ones that did it, it wouldn't be too bad in the end would it? 

Now they had been told, not only was their first impression for their dream job ruined because of someone thought it would be a laugh and they would be the only ones that made a fool of themselves, dragging down how they look to the potential employer even further, yeah they were pissed.

The receptionist decided now would be the moment to break into the conversation.

"Chief Lance did witness the whole thing" Vaal and Ciel felt their hearts drop, before feeling even higher amounts of angry towards Leeroy. 

"However" there was a pause in the room, all three pokemon stared towards the receptionist, waiting for whatever came next.

"Chief understands your concerns that this incident has negatively impacted your chance of being hired. He sent Leeroy and myself to inform you that this will not impact your chances of being hired negatively" the partner pokemon shared a glance, still angry but now also hopeful.

"So, you will be given a 30-minute break to cool down, use it to get ready and the final test will continue after the break" the receptionist stated in a matter of fact manner. Vaal was still glaring towards Leeroy; however, Ciel noticed something contained in the sentence.

"Hold on; the test will continue? You mean it had already started?" Ciel asked wide-eyed at the receptions suggestion.

"Well yeah, the taxi here was the first part of the test. If you insulted the taxi driver or acted in a manner that would be considered rude or racist you would have gotten U-turned back home" Leeroy stuttered out, he was a little scared of ground types so Vaal glaring like he wanted to kill him wasn't helping.

Ciel sucked in a breath of air, realisation hitting him how they had already passed one part of the test, Vaal hadn't been paying much attention but could still understand that they had gotten past the first hurdle.

"You will recieve a debrief on what and how the tests were conducted and why you were tested in these manners should you pass the remaining tests, however, because you have been. Well, completely embarrassed in front of all your future coworkers the chief agreed to tell you that you already have passed 3 of 5 tests. I wish you the best for the remaining two tests" the receptionist gave a low bow before opening the door and motioned Leeroy out the door, the pokemon practically leapt out of the room.

Noticing that Vaal was still angry towards Leeroy, the receptionist smiled gently before informing him.

"If you still wish to take some steam out against him, should you pass you can challenge him to a duel in the training centre. Good luck, recruits. Oh, that reminds me" the receptionist had walked out of the room and was about to close the door turned and added breifly.

"If you do make it past the tests and get hired, all your drinks are on Leeroy tonight" she closed the door behind her, leaving the two pokemon to cool down.

Vaal decided to slump back into his chair before pulling out a bag of snacks from his utility belt. He opened it up and started munching on them, chucking handfuls into his mouth at a time. He had a habit of anger eating. Ciel, on the other hand, pulled out a water bottle, he took a swig before offering it to Vaal, in return Vaal offered some snacks and the two exchanged items.

"Fuck Leeroy" Vaal muttered between mouthfuls. Ciel just picked a couple of the chocolate snacks before agreeing.

"Fuck Leeroy"