Growth and tests

The judges stepped forward again as they lead everyone towards a new room where another test would take place. "This will test your own and your partners ability to act under pressure. There will be one person and their partner who will do their role to halt their opponents advancement to reach the objective while the other must collect and bring back their item safely. The roles will be reversed afterwards and only non harmful methods can be used along with some restraining type moves. We do not want anyone injured from this exercise so play fairly."

Kimi thought to herself. 'Ah.. I remember now.'

Just as her own turn came along, there was another Growlithe and a young boy around the same age as herself which was on the opposing side.

He was dressed up smartly and had an arrogant look on his face as if he was sure he would win.

The way that the Growlithe looked towards her own was not normal as it was very aggressive so Kimi thought to herself. 'Is this what I had missed?'

She could faintly sense the hostility and smugness coming from the other Growlithe while her own was becoming more agitated.

Kimi tried to establish a connection even if it was very faint between herself and her partner. 'Focus only on me and the task. If we work together then we can beat them.'

She did her best to help Growlithe regain her confidence but Kimi could sense that Growlithe needed to overcome one of her past events.

The judge then shouted. "Begin!"

Kimi and Growlithe jumped behind the first obstacle for cover when a beanbag had struck nearby and intimidating growls and snarls were coming from nearby as the Growlithe was getting closer. 'This time we need to work as a team but also achieve our objective. So this is what we will do..'

The next moment, Growlithe went left and then Kimi went right as they split up and left the boy and his own Growlithe in confusion but they quickly recovered. "Get their Growlithe then they cannot do anything."

It was always the belief that humans without their Pokémon were far more useless so it was a good tactic to subdue Growlithe but they had ignored Kimi's presence and her cooperation with her own partner.

The boy stayed nearby his own Growlithe as it chased after Kimi's through the various walls and obstacles in the way while Kimi went looking through the room.

Her own Growlithe continued to run away and not confront the other Growlithe so that a confrontation would be delayed and more time would be bought for Kimi.

By the time that Kimi had searched the area thoroughly, she had already found a small metal medallion and then crept around while avoiding the sight of the other trainer and their Growlithe.

She sent her thoughts towards her partner. 'Lead them away a little more to the right then circle back around.'

As it had happened, the opponents were quickly distracted by her Growlith which had continued to keep them occupied while Kimi slipped past them.

Just as she was reaching the end, Growlithe had made it back around and then ran from cover to cover until she finally reached the end safely.

They had completed the task by distracting the opponents who wished to target her Growlithe but by avoiding a confrontation and running away, Kimi was free to move about and complete her task.

She got closer to her Growlithe and placed the medallion under the nose and said. "Remember this smell. It will be important for the next half. If you want to win this perfectly then you must be able to find it first."

Many that were defending the area did not know about the whereabouts of the medallion so they usually targeted their opponents and prevented them from looking for the medallion or attempted to subdue them.

She could detect it herself by searching with her aura once again but she wished to leave the task to her partner.

Kimi was then given many beanbags to throw as she entered the middle of the room.

The boy and the Growlithe entered the room and a beanbag flew towards the boy but it was then grabbed by the Growlithe which jumped up and caught it in its mouth.

As Kimi was hurling the beanbags at them, Growlithe had disappeared and then went to find where the medallion had been placed.

The main advantage that Kimi had was that she could remain at a distance and target the boy from far away while the Growlithe was forced to defend him.

As part of the rules, if a trainer was hit by one of the beanbags then it would be a direct failure for them.

Kimi was able to take that risk because she could avoid them without her Growlithe's assistance but the boy was not able to so it caused them both to be delayed.

Before the team could make their way further into the room, Growlithe had returned to her side with the medallion in her mouth as her tail was wagging. 'Good job. Now we can just delay the time.'

Kimi took the medallion and placed it in her pocket then ordered Growlithe to continue to stick by her side.

They both used the surroundings to their advantage as Kimi could continue to throw beanbags at the opponents from a distance and Growlithe could guard her closely if the opponent decided to target her suddenly.

After moving around for a while, the time had come to an end and the opponent rarely had time to search every location for the medallion.

Kimi took out the medallion and raised it up with a smug look on her face while her Growlithe had a much better mood than before after she was able to overcome her past.

Kimi won both the offensive and defensive part of the test so her position in the test had went up by many ranks while her opponent had lost both and not earned any merits as they fell down from their previous position. 'Do I feel bad for abusing that kid? No not at all! He probably deserved it.'

Growlithe was much closer to her and started to trust in her much more after they achieved victory over their opponents so their bond was slowly becoming stronger.

They continued to do some search and rescue simulations as trainers and Pokémon entered the next room and acted together while being judged.

There were different types of obstacles which were cardboard cutouts of criminals, flames and dolls of survivors laying under some light pieces of wood or foam shapes.

Kimi and Growlithe were able to carefully navigate the various obstacles and dangers as they cooperated together.

Kimi lifted and moved the fallen debris while Growlithe pulled the dolls to safety then Kimi acted as if she was helping the doll through the various obstacles and got them to safety.

When an enemy cutout appeared, Growlith let out a growl and then jumped up to the enemy cutout as she used bite and knocked them over.

Kimi came close as Growlithe held onto it then Kimi tied a piece of string to it as she dragged the cutout away from the potential danger zones and called for help.

Another trainer came to carry off the cutout out of the danger zone since they had been recognised as being subdued.

While that trainer would get cooperation points and points for bringing the villain to safety, Kimi would be rewarded for not taking on too much on her own.

There was a wide variety of different things to look out for within the room that could only be accomplished by a certain type of Pokémon so while there were fire cutouts for water types to attack with their water moves, the criminals could be wrapped by web or string shot but also be subdued by many others.

Some of the heavier obstructions needed to be moved by stronger trainers or Pokémon while there were some places that had a danger and electric sign on the cutouts which required an electric type to make contact with it before it would be collected as if the power had been disrupted or absorbed by the Pokémon so it did not cause a power overload or a loose wire did not pose another potential danger to the team acting within the room.

Many fire types were often at a disadvantage because their moves would only cause further harm but Growlithe was an excellent partner for search and rescue tasks and defeating enemies quickly so Kimi and her Growlithe were both able to earn many points together.

Growlithe had to be put back into her ball for the written test but Kimi did not find it too difficult as it mainly had basic questions related to how someone should act in different situations along with some basic Pokémon mon questions.

Kimi reached the final question which asked what the claw marking was on the paper so she wrote down 'Houndoom' which was one of the favourites for fire type Pokémon among Team Rocket members along with its pre evolution.

The judges came forward again after grading everything and counting everyones points. "Those not within the top twenty five will be failed while those above will qualify for their provisional officer pass which will be useful for when you apply for further training or wish to apply for a job. It also has some other uses like allowing you access through stop points without having to pay."

He then continued. "Those that have qualified will all receive three Pokéballs while first place will get to choose from the three prizes. There is an egg, an Eevee with a higher green talent or a choice between one of the original three starter Pokémon with a low blue talent."

The egg was a mystery choice which would only be revealed once it hatched so it could potentially be useless but it could also be a great help to a trainer in the future.

The Eevee option was an option that was good depending on how it was raised but not all evolution paths had been discovered so many would choose to avoid it.

The choice of Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirltle could be used by those in first place while those in second or third would have to choose between the remains if more chose the third option but they were guaranteed a blue grade talent.

Kimi and Growlithe had been given many additional points because of their teamwork together, their ability to come up with their own strategies and their lack of selfishness in the group practical test but Kimi's written test had been perfect so when everything was put together, she had come in second place even if her first test was slightly lower than the rest. 'Not bad!'

A young girl stepped onto the stage as she looked completely identical to most other officer Jennys then accepted the Squirtle happily.

The time for Kimi to make her own choice had come so she walked up and started to carefully consider her options.