One by one, the serious-looking examinees took their stopwatches by neatly going forward and grabbing one. While everyone was doing so, Proctor Erika looked around.
"The whole place, as I said earlier, is laced with cameras to avoid cheating every one meter in all of the 4 cardinal directions from where we are standing up. In order to submit your stopwatch time, you need to put the stopwatch in front of the camera and wait for the red light around the lens of the camera to turn green. Be sure to put your face in it too; if you failed to do this, you will lose the point even if you completed the exam, and if you somehow manipulated the stopwatch, you will be snitched on by the bird Pokemon that you just groomed, so be sure to be honest on this exam."
Of course, all the examinees took this seriously, as being a breeder is a very high-paying job if they persevered enough, and some of the examinees pushed through to become a Pokemon Breeder because of their socioeconomic conditions. If they decided to get any ideas of cheating and got caught, they would be losing all of their 'golden goose' and would need to step out of one of the mainstream jobs in the world of Pokemon, so it's obvious that no one is willing to risk it.
After everyone got their stopwatches and tested it in front of Proctor Erika to see if it was working well, the examinees finally dispersed, and the start of the second part of the Breeder's exams has finally begun. Anthony walked towards his location, which is on the right side about 10 meters away from the entrance, and there are the 3 bird Pokemons that he would need to groom to pass this part of the exam: Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot, all of which seem to be a family, as the Pidgey and the Pidgeotto are casually sitting atop the head of the tall Pidgeot.
Anthony looked at their faces to gauge their moods.
_The Pidgey seems interested in me, while the Pidgeotto is puffing out its 'chest' while trying its hardest to look at me, with its whole face facing in front. Pidgeot, on the other hand, has the ends of its beak that connect it to its face curled up; it seems to be excited about the whole activity._
Anthony seems to have a trio with very varied natures. Though this is most likely the case for all the examinees' exam partners so that the exam can simulate true life scenarios. Stopping his analysis altogether, Anthony looked at the readily prepared bench that was directly being watched by several cameras with red light in their lenses. Anthony sighed once before gripping his stopwatch and looking at the Pidgey whilst tapping his lap.
"Pidgey, let's start the exam!"
Anthony tried his best to sound excited, which seemed a little jarring for the Pidgey Pokemons as they craned their necks away a little. Anthony felt quite nervous as a result, though in the end everything turned out alright, and the Pidgey flew down towards Anthony's lap, and as the Pidgey did, Anthony started timing himself.
"Priiiii~! Priiiii~!"
The jolly and curious nature of the Pidgey is evident as it waved its right wing towards the face of Anthony. Anthony waved his hand too before making a turning motion towards Pidgey.
"Hello there, please turn around for me."
The Pidgey obliged with rather tumbling feet and showed its back towards Anthony. The latter is not worried about his time since it's only one of the requirements of the rubrics that the committee would be using to grade him; in retrospect, treating a Pokemon patiently is more important than how fast the treatment itself is.
"Can you flap your wings for me?"
Anthony glanced at the young eyes of the Pidgey who made a 'prii~! priii~!' sound before nodding in affirmation and putting both of its wings to the side and flapping them at moderate speed. The Pidgey seems to be just enjoying what it was doing, which Anthony was quite grateful for; this means he would have added points on the theoretical 'liked by Pokémon' section of the Breeder exam's rubric.
"Now do it alongside your body."
Anthony said, and the Pidgey obliged, making all of the feathers in its body bristle up as it made its whole body vibrate. Anthony didn't even brush the feathers of Pidgey yet, something that's not really required all the time unless you're trying to pretty up the Pokemon or when one is dealing with a lot of objects lodged on them. This scenario only has one object to be found, though, which Anthony saw slowly surface in the back of Pidgey; it was a small piece of paper with a 'B' on it.
Anthony immediately grabbed it and stopped his stopwatch before putting both objects up to the camera that was focused on his progress and waited for the red light around its lens to turn green. When it did, Anthony looked at his time, which clocked in at 15 seconds, and while it's considerably slow for someone else who's not used to taking state-sanctioned exams, it's a perfectly good time for a breeder's exam examinee since a Pokemon is considered a question of their own, meaning if Anthony is to use 15 seconds as his average, he could answer 4 'questions' in under a minute.
This is so much faster than the prescribed 2 questions per minute speed during the written exam on social media and websites. Anthony looked at the proud-looking Pidgeotto as it looked at the Pidgey whilst the latter was going back atop the head of the Pidgeot.
"Priii?"
The Pidgeotto seemed to be talking with the Pidgey as the latter nodded and once again used its right wing to put up a thumbs up.
"Priii~!"
Anthony smiled slightly at this whilst the Pidgeotto flew up and landed in front of him. Anthony's eyes widened for a moment before going back to normal and nodding at the Pidgeotto that did the same gesture. Though in his mind he can't help but think:
_I wonder if me not needing to coax the Pidgeotto will add some points to my sheet..._
Anthony looked at the red-lensed camera for a moment before standing up on his bench and looking at Pidgeotto that has become many times bigger than Pidgey and will obviously not fit on his lap anymore. At this time, one should start using the gestures and sign language for big Flying-types despite Pidgeotto not being specifically big enough to have talons that can impale him to death.
Anthony held out his stopwatch.
"Can we start now?"
The Pidgeotto, its chest still puffed out proudly whilst looking at Anthony with its rather condescending eyes, nodded, which eventually made Anthony push start on his stopwatch before putting it on the bench. Anthony then pointed at the wings of the Pidgeotto and then spread open his arms, which Pidgeotto followed. This is one of the basic signs in all manuals on how to check up on and groom a flying-type bigger than a Pidgey that involves physical contact; this is also one of the things Anthony saw Dr. Melissa do often every morning with her Pidgeot during his time in the lab of Prof. Oak.
Anthony then pointed at his chest with one hand whilst his other hand was still spread open.
"Please shake your chest feathers."
Hearing this, Pidgeotto, who still has its wings spread wide, nodded and did as it was told. However, Anthony wasn't able to see anything that had a semblance of the paper that had the B on it. Seeing this, his unspread hand pointed at the chest of the Pidgeotto before producing a thumbs up. For a moment, the Pidgeotto tilted its head, seemingly confused before nodding silently.
Anthony slowly walked towards the Pidgeotto and groped around its chest.
_Hm? Is this plastic...?_
Anthony suddenly felt and heard a plastic-like texture and sound, respectively; however, upon tracing its origins and realizing it had an end, he knew that it was tape, which made him once again look at the Pidgeotto.
"I'll take off this tape, okay?"
Pidgeotto nodded, not even making any sound besides the usual 'coo coo' that every bird, both on Earth and in the world of Pokemon, makes. After gaining consent, Anthony still slowly peeled off the tape from the flesh of Pidgeotto to make sure that it wouldn't get hurt before finally getting out the paper with a 'B' on it and stopping the clock on his stopwatch. Upon looking at it, Anthony saw 1 minute and 57 seconds.
_Huh, that's quite long... it brought up my average to 44 seconds per Pokemon..._
Anthony didn't delve into it too much and immediately did the same process of submission: putting up the stopwatch and the paper before pocketing the paper badge and resetting the stopwatch before nodding at the Pidgeotto to say its thank you. Anthony can't help but think that the said Pokemon is someone with a stiff face like him instead of condescending now that he pondered about it for a minute.
"You're next, big guy."
Anthony pointed at the Pidgeot that was towering over him, causing Anthony to look up quite excessively; if not for the fact that he was doing rock climbing for 2 years straight by the mandate of his mom and dad, he would've had a sore neck already. Like the Pidgeotto, the Pidgeot didn't make any sound; however, Anthony noticed that as it wobbly used its feet to go in front of him, its eyes were more animated than the Pidgeotto's, whilst its cheeks seemed to bob up and down repeatedly.
_They picked the wrong Pokemon for their hardest part, huh? I will not complain though._
Of course, only someone with good eyes can see the cheeks of a bird, specifically because it doesn't exist and is actually just the soft part of their beak that connects it to their head. Anthony didn't do or say anything further and instead started his stopwatch immediately and made his hands spread again before pointing at his head and into the Pidgeot that still kept its silence all this time, just using an excited nod as it slowly followed the fingers of Anthony before it was finally at the eye level of the trainer.
Anthony then pointed at his mouth and then at the beak of the Pidgeot before opening his mouth, which the Pidgeot copied as it revealed its sharp and pointed tongue, which a metallic badge covered in slimy saliva with a 'B' in it. Anthony nodded at this, confirming his suspicion, and spread his hand and let the Pidgeot spit out the badge, turning off his stopwatch and flicking the saliva off the metallic badge before looking at his stopwatch.
_That would be a hard find if this big guy isn't too excited for me to guess where it is..._
As Anthony thought of that, the Pidgeot started jumping around whilst making loud 'Pidgeaaah!' sounds; well, more than a cry, it sounds like a laugh. Anthony slightly dodged the direction where the Pidgeot was releasing on its little hide-and-seek game with him as he put up the metal badge and the stopwatch with '8 seconds' in it.
"Right, I was done in the exam for about an hour and 2 minutes, only 2 minutes if you don't count the briefing..."
Anthony sighed as he pulled out a handkerchief after making sure that the red lens had turned green to wipe off the saliva that was still lingering on the metallic pin badge. He then looked at the 3 Pokemons, Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot, that seemed to be on their way to go back to their lair after having fun with him; the two Pokemons also looked at him. Seeing this, Anthony forced his stiff face to produce a light smile before waving his hands.
The 3 Pokemons also waved their wings at him; well, most, as Pidgeotto just nodded like it always does before flying off to the sky as fast as it can. It seems like the 3 is having a race. Anthony looked at the entrance of the Flying-type Pokemon ranch of the Daycare center that's actually just 10 meters away from him before walking towards it, and as he did, he could see a flock of Taillow nibbling on some dried nuts that were being thrown by someone.
_Huh, is someone finished earlier than me?_
Anthony can't help but wonder; however, he soon saw that the hands that were feeding the bird Pokemons were the proctor of the Flying-type examinee group of Anthony: Erika. The latter didn't take long to see Anthony, causing her to widen her eyes; as obvious from Erika's bored look, she wasn't expecting anyone to come back so early, and for a moment, Proctor Erika's so-called 'someone cheating' sensor started to ring; however, when she saw the unusually neat hairstyle of the boy for someone around 10 years of age, Erika remembered the description of one of the topnotchers of the written exams by his colleague Eric.
"You finished early, Anthony Dover, right?"
Anthony nodded politely and surrendered the stopwatch and the 3 'B' badges to Proctor Erika.
____________
Read my novel Sophia Demiurge, remove the open and close parentheses
http://wbnv.in(remove this)/a/3ak49Kj