The requirements to be an associate field researcher are only 3: a Pokemon trainer license, a Pokemon Breeder license, and a certification of a person's internship completion to become one. There is no required or fixed pattern for when you should acquire them, though the training license can only be approved and given to a child when they turn 10, and the cutoff age for the breeder's exam is 10, so it's either they would first get the internship certificate, or they would first get their training license.
Now, the Kanto Research Lab is not allowed to recommend any chronological order whatsoever; however, they did make a research paper finding out that those who have taken the internship before taking the exam have a higher chance of having a high standing and passing the exams than those who don't, and it was pinned on their social media accounts. Though, of course, not everyone is inclined to read mouthfuls of research papers, so their program is still littered with trainers who wanted a monthly salary or suddenly got the urge to become a researcher.
However, in the batch of 7 students who are descending in front of the research lab complex of Kanto in Pallet Town, the oldest passer is a 15-year-old veteran Pokemon Trainer without parents, has an estranged relationship with his relatives, and was unable to vouch for the internship, so he ended up being a topnotcher too. Anthony and the other interns, upon seeing that the Professor himself, as well as the different heads of the subsidiary labs of the Kanto Region, are the ones who are officially congratulating them on their top-notching in the exam, are pleased and release varying levels of smiles.
Apparently, this is already an ongoing tradition, and the interns are all for it.
"Ma'am Josiieee! Hiiii!"
Upon landing and stirring up the hair of everyone in the back of the Pidgeots and the ones that are on the ground, Mary, one of the advisees of Prof. Josie Ford alongside Anthony Dover, immediately landed on the ground and ran towards the Professor, who seemed to be startled because Mary shouted, though she still accepted the hug of Mary Hane and looked at Anthony, who made his Pokémon come out of their Pokeballs as the two jogged (though Zubat flew) towards Prof. Josie.
"Zuu! Zuu!"
"Miiii!"
While Anthony just bowed rather deeply to show his respect and greet Prof. Josie, Zubat and Miltank also clung to the professor. Well, the two jolly Pokemons always see the professor with their trainers when they were getting floored by her meticulous hands; thus it's inevitable for them to not befriend the Professor. Pikachu, Skitty, and Arcanine (for some reason) of Mary joined in too.
Prof. Josie caressed the head of the two Pokémon whilst looking at Mary and Anthony. Her face was still stiff, as if neutral to the achievement of her advisees, who were the 4th and 6th placers of the whole breeder's exams, and if not for the fact that the two already knew of the attitude of their research adviser, then Anthony and Mary would've already been crestfallen. However, they already knew of the neutrality of the face of their Professor, so they didn't say anything and waited for the word of Prof. Josie.
"I'm proud of you two; congratulations on becoming my coleague. I hope to read more research and good headlines that you're involved in; some research with some of us as co-authors will be nice too."
Prof. Josie seems to be quite proud of what she said, though she unknowingly made all the professors besides her, from left to right, snap their heads towards her. Anthony and Mary also seem to be quite shocked. The interns are also stunned.
_That's some message._
Anthony and Mary nodded whilst expressing their gratitude, seemingly already used to the ridiculousness of the words of Prof. Josie. In any case, Prof. Josie is kind of famous when it came to researching things in her field, so she did have some backbone to support those words. In order to break the awkward atmosphere, however, Prof. Josie has a lot of talent to bring every time the board of professors meets up for anything. Prof. Oak clasped his hands and started his pre-rehearsed speech.
"Congratulations to your batch for eating up most of the topnotcher spots of the breeder's exam. I know your internship was not the best and was not experienced to its full capacity; however, you proved that your decision and, most probably, arguments with your parents to stay in the internship program despite the possible dangers to your safety and your life are worth it. As Prof. Josie said, while some of you might just want to be here for the monthly income and experience in handling different types of Pokemon, I hope to read and write research with you."
All of the interns, even Anthony, clapped at this whilst being hyped at the idea of working with the Kanto Pokemon Professor himself. Of course, Anthony wanted to work with the best to learn the ways of the best, so he did plan to grab an opportunity if it presented itself, though he would be focusing more on self-improvement and doing research in different fields to see where he would be focusing when he enrolls in his PhD.
Prof. Oak continued.
"Now, you will need to go to the distribution area of your license. There will be printers there and also additional instructions for you to follow; it's in the left wing, right after the entrance of the main hall. Unfortunately, we won't be able to accompany you because we will be having our own meeting."
After saying that, Prof. Oak nodded to the other professors, all of whom waved their hands or patted the heads of their former advisees and future colleagues. The interns also waved their hands before walking towards the door of the main hall and going to the left wing; sure enough, there was a room with a sign saying 'Distribution Area', a place without a door and seemed to have a transparency policy. Seeing this, the interns walked in and were greeted by wads of instructions pasted on the wall on their left side.
There are 2 people; both men are inside. One is in front of a desktop, and the other is holding a camera; both of them looked at the interns, their bored faces suddenly released a business smile whilst the computer guy pointed at the 5 printers on their right side.
"Please photocopy your requirements there; after that, you will go with your big brother here to the photoshoot room one by one to take your license photos. After that, your partner Pokémon will also be photographed one by one for the design of your license. Then you have to wait around 30 minutes combined for us to process it."
As Anthony and the interns started to fill their lines to the printer, which consisted of 2 people needing to be behind another person, he suddenly squinted his eyes.
_Huh... we're the only interns that got our license this year? Probably because the interns in the past 2 years after the incidents are mostly adults and thus already trainers and simultaneously can go to the breeder's exam the next year, this year's graduates... don't have enough time to review since they graduated last December, so they will be doing it next year... at least those that are old enough will._
Anthony, monitoring his 'juniors', knew that the reputation of the internship program was yet to recover fully, and last year they gathered their highest number of interns since the attempted kidnapping incident. This was something that he was thinking whilst printing his documents, stapling them together, and putting it in the desk of the desktop guy who seemed not to bother introducing himself before lining up to the photobooth and making Zubat line up too.
The process of taking pictures, where Anthony is required to remove his glasses and wait for the ID itself, took around 30 minutes in total for all the interns who waited for the whole process. As Anthony and co. smiled and giggled due to the very accepted gimmick of the ID having the picture of their partners peeking around the sides and corners of the ID, the desktop guy put a pile of paper with 1 page each, totalling 7 papers most likely for each one of them.
"Everyone, as for the tradition, please pick up any papers from here to select your very first mission as an associate field researcher. All of the things that you're set to do here are basic, just so you can see how it goes; however, if your parents are field researchers like all of you are now, you should believe all of their tales, like flying atop volcanoes, going to the bottom of the ocean, and more. Some might even be more focused on apprehending poachers, though they should have a fair share of tales on their unusual data collection places."
The newly appointed Associate Researchers looked at each other.
"Shall we go with our rankings?"
Anthony, who was usually quiet in these kinds of discussions, immediately suggested, which the 7 topnotchers inside the room immediately agreed on. Just like that, they immediately lined up and got their first missions one by one. Anthony glanced at his paper, which made his eyebrow raise a little.
"Retrieval of memory card data from cameras surrounding the secret habitat of the Venusaur line inside the Viridian Forest.
Description: To collect data about the traditions and customs of wild Bulbasaur lines, the Kanto research lab hid the fact about the location of this habitat and placed 5 cameras around the habitat. At the start of the year, the SD cards in these cameras were retrieved and replaced with new ones. Your mission is to get these SD cards from the 5 cameras; this is of utmost importance, and you should take it with utmost seriousness."
Anthony can't help but smirk at this.
_... It's important, alright... though I remembered what my mom and dad said: the wild Bulbasaurs in the Viridian Forest that are very occasionally being sighted and caught are escapees in these and are being brushed off as an isolated case. There are also ghost types that make any attempt to find the habitat of these Bulbasaurs for naught, as they make the Pokemon trainers get lost; it has even become an urban legend at one point._
Whilst Anthony was thinking about his new mission alongside his peers, the desktop guy spoke once more.
"If you already read and pondered about the description, then you can go outside to meet your team leader. After this mission, all of your data-gathering missions will be sent through your phone or, if it's more important, to the PC of a dorm room inside the nearest Pokemon Center in your location or through paper. Good luck to all of you, and I hope you attain great things as a researcher and/or as a trainer."
The interns nodded at this and said their gratitude towards the encouraging words of the desk guy, whose name they were unable to get, as they went outside and met with their 'Team Leader'. Anthony's Team Leader is a rather normal-looking guy who immediately smiled at Anthony.
"Good day, sir. I will be your one and only team member for today's data-gathering mission; my name is Anthony Dover. I hope we get along well."
Anthony already embraced his personality in this world as someone who doesn't say a lot of things using his mouth, so he made his greeting short and brief. The Team Leader seemed to have immediately noticed it and also promptly nodded without asking anything in return, which Anthony admired.
"I see. Well, I'm William, one of the reviewers of your research with Mary Hane during your internship. I must say that your research has become well-cited and made many researchers start focusing on noise pollution as a major cause of pollution. I myself am publishing a paper inspired by and branching out from yours. I hope we can have a good team-up here and more team-ups to come."
Anthony's eyes widened at this before squinting. It seems like chance (or not) made him have one of his reviewers as his senior guide on his first mission; as for team-ups, well, only time could tell, and Anthony is up for everything as long as it will give him ample experience.
"I also would've loved that to happen, Sir William. I hope to learn many things from your experiences today and for the years to come."
As the two stopped making pleasantries, William looked at Anthony's attire: a thick jacket, even though the snow was thin to none this day, on top of a black T-shirt.
"Then, for your first experience, go back inside and wear your lab gown."
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Read my novel Sophia Demiurge, remove the open and close parentheses
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