The rest of the day, after the swarm had been repelled, Claire and I idled away. After resting for a few hours, we walked around town a bit, neither of us willing to be alone. There was a feeling of nervousness in the air, the people obviously aware that the town had just suffered a sudden attack from a swarm of Pokémon and it especially showed at the Gym. There, a larger group of protesters, led by those same robed figures I had encountered twice, were making their displeasure known. Slaver, Murderer and various other epithephts were hurled at anyone walking into or out of the Gym and if there was nobody to directly target, chants of ‘Break the Chains’ and similar things were used to fill the air.

Neither of us felt brave enough to walk past the angry mob, nor did we have a particular reason to. We finished up our shopping, before returning to the Pokémon-Centre, each of us doing our own reading. If there was a written exam for the local badge, I wanted to be prepared and Claire agreed with my reasoning.

The next day, we headed to the Gym early, as the attendant had informed us our test would be that day. There were still protestors outside the Gym, though their numbers had dwindled somewhat. Sadly, those who were there, seemed to try making up for the lack of numbers, with extra vitriol, spewing their hate at anyone walking towards the Gym’s doors. It was bad enough that multiple Guards were in position, ready to intervene if things got truly ugly.

As we walked up, Claire took my hand, tightly squeezing it when we became the target of their insults. While there was a part of me that wanted to look down, act as if I wasn’t seeing them as I scurried past, a larger part of me wanted to scream defiantly, to scold them for being ungrateful fools that disdained the very people who kept them safe.

Taking a deep breath, and letting it out slowly, I decided to take the middle road. To walk forward proudly, undaunted, head held high and shoulders squared, without giving those yapping dogs any attention. They were not worthy, neither of my time nor of my anger.

A guard gave us a brief glance and nod, as Clarie and I entered the lobby. Inside, the air was filled with a subtle tension, there was nobody lingering and reading, no chatting Trainers, only a brief line at the counter.

As we got in line, Claire let go of my hand, looking back out.

“That was fun.” she quietly muttered, obviously uncomfortable with the situation.

“Ungrateful fools. Without all the Trainers who held the line yesterday, their city would be in ruins today.” I shook my head, pushing down the anger that wanted to surge up.

We didn’t have to wait long, and soon, we were at the front of the line, the attendant giving us a professional smile. It was a little twitchy, but that could be expected, given that the protestors outside were back to their chants of ‘Blood on your hands!’. An ironic chant given that Pokémon didn’t bleed, but maybe I was expecting too much from them.

After a brief exchange with the attendant, the inspection of our trainer-cards was even more intense than it had been the last few days, we were given the plan for the day. First, there’d be a written test, followed by an interview with an experienced trainer and a battle against said trainer. Once those parts were completed, we would receive a task for the road forward.

Under the guidance of the attendant, we were ushered into a relatively large class-room further back in the building. Inside, there were a couple more people, some of whom I recognised from the emergency the night before.

“The test will begin in thirty minutes and will last for two hours. You can leave this room, but please be back when it is time to start.” the attendant told us,

“Hello, Ivie. Farrell.” I greeted two of the people I recognised, giving them a polite smile. Clarie was still following after me and mirrored my greeting.

“Hey.” Ivie gave me a smile and a nod.

“Have you done one of these before? Because I have no real idea what I should expect.” I admitted, after a brief exchange of pleasantries.

“I have.” Farrell replied, getting a raised eyebrow from Ivie.

“In Pastoria, just before I met you.” he explained to her, before focusing back on me, “No idea if the method is the same here, but the test isn’t about solving as many questions as possible or something. It’s about showing you how little you know, while reminding you that there is more to learn.”

“And what sort of questions are going to be asked?” Claire interjected, asking the important questions.

“Anything. There’ll be far more questions than you can be expected to answer. Making a wrong answer is worse than admitting ignorance while writing down a best guess. For example, if the question is about an adverse condition your Pokémon might find itself in, admitting that you don’t know how to solve it, while adding your course of action in an emergency is far better than trying to fake confidence.” As he explained, more people seemed to listen in, much to my amusement.

For the rest of the time, we bantered possible questions about, some of them serious, others pure jokes. The question how many Bidoof it took to change a lightbulb, for example, was most likely not one Ivie expected to see on the test. On the other hand, if it was, her answer of ‘None, they don’t give a dam.’ was probably a good one. Or maybe not.

As we waited, more people trickled in, Cliff and Lucas among them. They joined us, got introduced and we chatted some more, now discussing the emergency, at least the initial parts of it. I doubted any of us was willing to casually mention the parts that had happened after sunrise.

Before we could get into too many details, the door opened and an attendant entered.

“Please, take a seat everyone.” he called out. Everybody obediently sat down at their own tables and the attendant walked around, distributing the exam-papers to us. Once everyone had one, he walked back to the front.

“Now, you have two hours, starting now. If you have questions regarding the exam, raise your hand and I’ll come to you. Remember to add your name and please, no talking.” he announced and the room became silent, with only the soft rustling of paper and the scratching of pens intruding.

A quick glance showed that there were six sheets, all with five questions each, and some space to write down our answers. Briefly scanning through the questions, I realised that the subjects were truly varied. Of the thirty questions, six were regarding the care of caught Pokémon, six dealt with wild Pokémon and their habits and habitats, six focused on legal knowledge, what to do or not do when in town. Another set of six had nothing to do with Pokémon at all, instead they focused on camping and wilderness-survival while the last six were more philosophical in nature, focusing on justifications and understanding of the relationship between Pokémon and Trainer.

The questions regarding the care of caught Pokémon were relatively easy. My education with Joyce had covered most of them, my supplementary reading enough to answer the rest with good confidence. It was rather lucky that the hardest question was about the treatment of Fire-Pokémon, as they had special dietary needs, something that had been a focus for Joyce, to make sure my Prince Charming would always be well cared for.

The legal questions, on the other hand, were a headache. I could answer the first, easiest, one, with some confidence, but didn’t even try to solve the rest, deciding that I’d circle back if I had time at the end.

The questions regarding wild Pokémon were more to my taste. Three of them, I could answer with confidence, two only with somewhat educated guesses, while the last was a pure guess. I noted down my uncertainty, before continuing with the other questions.

The questions regarding camping were overall easier and I was able to answer five with confidence, while the last was a pure guess. Getting chased through the mountains by Robert and having Cynthia come up with creative punishments for mistakes had given me a broad foundation, an experience I would never forget. It certainly helped with the exam.

Last, but not least, the philosophical questions. Given my lack of time at that point, I could only give brief answers. The questions were far too broad to give a nuanced answer, even if I had one. Ultimately, I wrote down what I thought right, what felt good to me. If that was the correct answer, I had no idea, I wasn’t even sure that those questions had such a thing.

Finally, before I could go back to the legal questions, time was up and the attendant collected the sheets.