The aerial view of the center of the Daycare Center, which is also a lab for different branches of Pokemon research, looks like something out of a human-harvesting factory horror for Anthony. Except, of course, everything is not scary and is just really, really vast. Anthony can estimate around 60-70 ranches of different Pokemons; some are for individual types, and some seem to experiment on how unusual and seemingly unrelated types will interact, thus are more diverse.
The main building is also enormous and seems to be a separate complex by itself, having a residential area for researchers with their roofs painted 'Residential Area for Researchers'. It also has a quadrangle, an all-purpose court, several battlegrounds, and a separate number of buildings that have a painting on them saying 'Dorms for Breeder Exam takers'. Anthony is specifically amazed by this.
This is because Anthony researched that, on average, there are about 10,000 total examinees, and the main Daycare Center of Kanto houses all of them, as the families that are trying to volunteer may enter a controversy, as they're the Joy and Jenny families who are known to have members that pioneered parts of the Pokemon Breeding science. That means that the whole apartment building is being used by 10k people and more every year for 3 days, while no normal operations of the center are being disrupted because of the sudden pressure on their budget.
As Anthony pondered over this, Dr. Melissa Edison finally landed in front of the landing spot of flying types and helped Anthony go down, and when he did, he couldn't help but say.
"Daycare Centers are rich, huh? One biome is as big as our whole house already."
Hearing this, Melissa smiled as she patted the head of Anthony, which looked odd as she's not that much older than the boy she just patted. The newly appointed Dr., however, seems not to think about it at all.
"Ha! This is just the most normal ones, you know? Some private ones are atop volcanoes or at the bottom of the sea. As an example, the elite 4 Agatha once had a horror house as a daycare center that got into a controversy."
Anthony nodded at this; he remembered this piece of history being vividly told by Prof. Oak during their 'prank with Ghastly' activity, which is their last activity before graduating besides their long-term Pokemon raising project and publication. After seeing this, Melissa put her hand away from Anthony's head and looked at the bunch of people going inside the entrance of the Daycare Center before once again looking at Anthony.
"Alright, you go there and pass your requirements. After that, you will wait around an hour for confirmation that you are qualified, which you are, so after you qualify, you will be staying in a dorm room for 3 days. That dorm is very wide, so don't get lost. Also, you will get disqualified if you put anything on the walls; those have to be plain white when you finish the exam. I did the exam twice because of that, so be careful."
Hearing this, Anthony nodded and also looked over the fence; in there, a girl was waving her hand in his direction whilst riding an Arcanine. Anthony faintly smiled and also waved his hand to Mary before looking at Melissa.
"I'd have to go; I will keep that in mind."
Anthony nodded slightly to Melissa once more before putting his bag on his back and tucking the envelope that holds his requirements, like a photocopy of his birth certificate, a photocopy of his IQ and EQ test, among others, into his hand before walking towards his friend, Mary. Seeing that her friend was already entering through the door of the fence, Mary also went down to her Arcanine and ruffled its mane before asking it to go play in the open field of Route 5 with other big Pokemons the same size as it, frolicking around.
When Anthony was already in front of Mary, they high-fived each other before Anthony spoke.
"Hey, have you seen Andrew?"
Whilst Anthony asked this, the two started to walk slowly together towards the entrance of the Daycare Center. Mary then looked at Anthony.
"No, I just got here."
As Anthony nodded whilst Mary looked forward, the girl suddenly snapped her neck towards Anthony's face, which made Anthony stop and jerk his head away a little. Mary squinted her eyes a little before smirking.
"We got a fashionista here; did you wax your hair?"
Anthony, if not for her stiff face, would have looked troubled already. While he styled his hair to look like that so he could be praised, he prefers it if it's not a 10-year-old kid. Which is normally a common occurrence because he's, in fact, a 10-year-old too.
"Yeah, it's straight hair, so I don't need many despite it being long. The conditioner is a different story, however."
In order to take revenge for making him uncomfortable, Anthony also looked at Mary's face as they continued walking.
"You're not half bad yourself."
Mary nodded at this whilst she started skip-hopping on the stairs; she seemed to be happy when she got praised.
"My father insisted on giving me a backpack instead of the sling bag I chose; I would've been a fashionista like you if I had it."
Anthony smiled faintly at this.
"Well, that's better than the comically large belt bag of Dr. Melissa when she was collecting data from my mom."
For a moment, Mary wanted to look around, seemingly wanting to see if Hana accompanied Anthony in his registration; however, she soon stopped when she saw another friend of hers, Andrew.
"You guys are late; there's some line already."
Andrew, unlike Anthony, who found wearing a lab gown before being an official associate field researcher ridiculous, feels proud about wearing one despite also having a T-shirt and shorts as his undershirt. It seems like Andrew cares more about the fact that he is about to wear a lab gown than his style. Anthony pushed his glasses by pinching the right lens before looking Andrew in the eyes.
"You're quite early, however."
Andrew nodded.
"My house's at the end of Cerulean City's road, so I'm their first applicant. I just got my confirmation that I'm qualified, as well as my keys to my dorm. Let's go together to the dorm since I won't be doing anything, anyway."
As the 3 agreed to go inside the entrance building of the daycare center, they saw a quickly elongating line that was about to go past the registration hall. Anthony and Mary's eyes widened before immediately securing a spot so they wouldn't be late any further; after that, they silently waved their hand to Andrew, who just smirked, amused at their expense.
There are actually 3 facilitators who would assess the applicants for any missing documents; if there are any, they're recommended to finish them within the day, and if there are none, the document will be given to a helper Lopunny, which will then deliver it to the room at the back of the 3 facilitators. While the technology of the world of Pokemon can technically make this process have an online application model, some organization heads of the government don't believe in non-face-to-face processes; the government seems to also permit the heads to hold on to their stubbornness.
That being said, it's not like the line takes too long, as the facilitators are only checking 4 documents, which are the IQ and EQ test passing certificate, birth certificate, and the certificate of residency. If all of these are present, then you automatically wait for an hour or so for another set of verifications, like no Pokémon and human-harming crimes, being a real and stratified individual and not a double agent of some criminal organization or middle-sized poachers that wanted to receive rare Pokemons or items in exhancge of deep seethed information inside the organization.
This is not a speculation and is something said to Anthony by his parents. Well, every organization has a time to learn their lesson and tighten their belt, that much Anthony can say, as he passed his requirements, was confirmed to have no lapses, and then finally asked to wait for an hour or so. After waiting for Mary, who was right behind him, Anthony went to the waiting area with Mary and Andrew.
"Are associate field researchers allowed to travel together?"
In order to pass the time, Andrew started a conversation. However, from his eye bags, it was apparent that he was unable to sleep the day before his official appointment as a Pokemon trainer and seemed not to have any time to read the specifics of being an associate field researcher given to him by his parents.
"Apparently yes, but only as a veteran-subordinate pair. We have to go solo for easy missions and data collection, and a team has to be gathered for much harder ones, so the 3 of us may not be able to be around each other until we got some research papers and years up our sleeves."
If Anthony is to compare this setup to anything he knows, it's kind of like the 3 genin 1 jonin setup of shinobi in Naruto, though the world of Pokemons is more lenient and makes children go alone if it's established to be safe enough.
"Huh, I see..."
Just like that, the 3 passed the time talking about what they wanted to achieve in this new journey of theirs as a trainer; one wanted to be more known as a researcher, one wanted to be a champion, and one wanted to be recognized as both. After around an hour and some minutes, they were able to get their exam permit as well as their room key to their dorm; the 3 then talked if they should hang out more. However, when they remembered that there were only 3 days left before the exam, they decided not to do that and focus on reviewing.
This made Anthony sigh as they walked towards the apartment building.
"Why do I have to review in my first 3 days of being a Pokemon trainer..."
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The crescendo of doors opening and knobs being locked reverberated through the apartment building of the Route 5 Daycare Center and the main daycare center of the Kanto region as the 3-day final review period for the Breeder's exam was drained by all the takers that started to excitedly, yet organizedly, go down the hallway of the complex and to their respective class designations, which is inside the exam permit given to them on the day of the registration. Anthony entered the exam room area, which is in the entrance building of the daycare center, whilst looking at a general floor plan plastered on a wall to see where his room should be.
He and his friends Mary and Andrew decided not to meet up before the exam started so that they wouldn't be pushing for their time. This is because the exam is very strict with punctuality. Furthermore, Anthony is in room 5, Mary is in room 40, and Andrew is in room 97, so they would need to haul assing just to be able to arrive on time if they tried to meet before the exam. They instead decided to meet after the exam to see the results instead.
Anthony was soon able to see Room 5, which is just 4 rooms away from his current position to the right. Anthony nodded silently at this while thanking him that he has a surname in the first 4 letters of the alphabet before walking towards the room and entering it. Inside were people of all ages who wanted to either add the breeder's exams to their credentials, wanted to change careers, start off as a pure Pokemon Breeder, or wanted to take care of their Pokemons better.
Anthony remembered the civil service exams in his country, which had a very colorful bunch taking it. He himself is just using a paid leave to its fullest, though he barely passed it still. As Anthony sat down and reminisced on his past, he nodded and said a casual 'good morning' to his seatmate before pushing his glasses up and putting his phone and Pokedex in his desk and sighing.
_It's still nerve-wracking even with all those reviews..._
As Anthony shrugged off his nerves, the door of the exam room opened once more, courtesy of a man with chestnut-colored hair brushed up and gelled so much that a lizard would die from impalement if it got dropped to his head. He was wearing a simple polo shirt and navy blue baggy pants.
"Hello, I'm Sir Eric. I will be the proctor of room 5."
Anthony sighed once again before straightening up his posture. The exam is about to start.
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Read my novel Sophia Demiurge, remove the open and close parentheses
http://wbnv.in(remove this)/a/3ak49Kj