With the arrival of Arcday, my final week here at the PokeCenter began considering that the upcoming Palkiday was the last day of this month and the PokeCenter phase of my practical year. Come Dialday, I had to show up at Celadon City Police Headquarters for the next phase.
I had to admit that I was quite surprised when I read the assignment letter that arrived yesterday and saw that I was actually being assigned to one of the Police HQs instead of being assigned to one of the branches that each major city, city, small city, or town possessed since that was the norm.
As things stood, I would be joining the headquarters of the Celadon Police for the next 6 months, and if I was unlucky that meant a lot of work for me since Celadon City was not only the second most populated city of Kanto, after the capital, Saffron City, but it was also the most popular one due to having achieved something that no other city in Kanto managed to do.
Among all kantonian cities, Celadon City was the only major city that managed to achieve a perfect mix of a green and modern city. Not to mention that it was the fashion, style, and grooming capital of Kanto, while also holding the largest mega mall of Kanto. It was also famous for its game halls/casinos.
All those points attracted a lot of tourists and visitors. Adding those numbers to the city population of close to 2 million, inflated the everyday number of humans present in the city to somewhere between 4 to 5 million.
This naturally meant that the police force was quite active since they had to maintain the peace and order of the city. Still, considering the number of humans congregating in Celadon City, I was presuming that the number of petty and small crimes was not small.
Heck, as much as I would have liked it if it were not true, I was sure that medium and even big crimes were not rare in a city of this size, and significance/value. These assumptions of mine along with my practical experience so far led to my concern that I was going to be swamped with work.
Not that I had a problem with working hard, but I really did not want to go around issuing parking tickets or speeding fines for the whole day, which was a possibility, though it might still be better than being forced to reorganize file cabinets or something along those lines.
Regardless, all that would have to wait until Dialday since I still had four days of work at the PokeCenter to deal with. Ultimately, Arcday ended up passing without any patient being passed to our unit, which meant that the good doctor had me review old cases while questioning my understanding of the procedures employed during the operations, and since she was rather thorough, we had "only" gone through 3 cases by the time I clocked out.
Mewday was similarly quiet on our side, but this time I was not "asked" to review stuff. Instead, the doctor used her influence to send me to other units so that I could join some of the operations she deemed "helpful" enough. "Helpful" in the way that I was able to truly see and maybe even use some of the procedures we had gone over while discussing the older cases of our unit.
I honestly enjoyed being able to do some actual practical work, even if it was just closing up after the leading doctor, knitting some muscles, or fixing up some bones in case of a complicated break. It was not surprising that I was not allowed to lead any of the operations I was permitted to join, no matter how impressive I appeared.
Still, compared to the alternative, I enjoyed the chance to participate in the operations immensely, no matter how small my part ended up being. Sadly, I did not enjoy what followed on Giratiday. Because we had no patients today as well, the good doctor had me do an analysis of each operation I participated in yesterday before debating the pros and cons of the actions performed during the operations.
Well, at least on my final day here at the PokeCenter I was spared any further theoretical assignments. Instead, I was allowed to move between all the units that I had been assigned to during my three months here at the PokeCenter. I made a stop at each one of them and spent some time there. It also gave me the chance to say my goodbyes to those who had been nice to me during my time in their unit.
At the end of the day, I was called to Nurse Joy's office. The head nurse first congratulated me on my outstanding performance during my three months at their PokeCenter before she wished me all the best during the next phase of my practical year.
I honestly thought that was all, but I was taken by surprise when Nurse Joy offered me the chance to an accelerated doctor/nurse apprenticeship with guaranteed employment at the PokeCenter once I finished my training. I naturally felt flattered due to her recognition of my abilities, since she would not have tried to scout me otherwise, but I naturally still declined.
I told her that I was set on setting out on my journey, and she accepted my explanation, likely having already expected me to refuse. She once again wished me all the best, which was the signal that I could leave, so I left the PokeCenter and made my way to the dorm. Since I had already cleaned out the room, all I had to do was hand in the key to the room I vacated today.
Afterward, I headed for Celadon City, and my first stop was not the police station/HQ, but the dorms. I had received the address along with a telephone number when I received the assignment, so I knew exactly where to go. I also called ahead, so they were expecting me.
After getting my keys and being informed of the curfew periods, I checked out my room before heading into the city to find a place to eat dinner. It did not take long for me to spot one of the local KFC stores. I was not in the mood to keep searching for an alternative, so I entered the restaurant and since I felt like eating for real, I went ahead and ate until I was full.
I was pretty sure that I terrified/horrified a few of the younger and less worldly guests with the amount of food I consumed, much to the amusement of some of the other patrons. Regardless, once I downed my 27th family bucket, I patted my slightly bloated belly and left the restaurant under the stares of the other guests.
Afterward, I decided to check out the road from my dorms to the police station I would be working at starting tomorrow, and it turned out that going from one to the other on foot at regular speed took roughly 25 minutes. If I decided to jog instead, it would probably take less than 10 minutes.
It was naturally easier to simply get a teleportation permit and Teleport to the Police HQ. I was not planning to treat the walk as a form of morning exercise this time around, so the permit idea was pretty attractive. Anyway, I made my way to the dorm and went to sleep after checking into Utopia for an hour or two.
The next morning at 6 a.m. I left the dorm and headed to the Police HQ since I had to report in at 6:30 a.m. I made it there with a few minutes to spare, and the officer at the front desk told me to hand him my ID and take a seat in the waiting area after I told him why I had come over.
Only a few minutes later an officer came to my side with my ID in hand, and after handing it back to me, she introduced herself as my guide. It appeared that Officer Toombs was ordered to show me around before reporting back to the chief with me in tow.
Anyway, Officer Toombs brought me around the places she deemed important for me to know such as the offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, the administration area, the rooms belonging to the special police unit (SPU), the criminal investigation division (CID), the patrol officers, the traffic officers, and the regular officers.
We also went around the locker rooms, evidence rooms, training rooms, equipment rooms, temporary holding cells, and interview/interrogation rooms along with a few more areas I was shown just in case I needed to find them.
The police station/headquarters was surprisingly big considering that it was located in the central part of Celadon City. They simply went up and down since they could not expand to the sides. The underground floors were mainly used for vehicles and storage, while everything else was above the ground.
Anyway, once the tour was over, Natalie and I reported to the Police Chief's office. Chief Trenton welcomed me to the force for the next 6 months before asking me if I wanted to do an 11-hour shift with 4 work days or a 9-hour shift with 5 work days. An hour-long break was apparently already included in that time, so the "real" working time was 10 and 8 hours per day not 11 and 9 hours.
Frankly, I believed that the 2nd option was the worse option since it had a higher total work time along with an extra work day, even if the time I had to work each day was 2 hours less than in option 1, so I told the chief that I chose schedule 1. The chief noted that down before informing me that I would be working Arcday to Palkiday from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
He then told me that I would be spending my first week at the HQ at the administration office to ensure that I got acquainted with the various rules and regulations for each department since I would be spending some time with each one as long as everything went smoothly.
However, he did warn me that he could just as well have me on file or traffic duty for the whole 6 months if I acted out of line. I naturally assured him that I had no plans to act out in any fashion. Chief Trenton gave a satisfied nod at that, before turning to Officer Toombs to order her to hand me over to the officers at the administration office.
He dismissed us afterward and Officer Toombs left after she handed me over to another officer who introduced himself as James Jameson. Officer Jameson then proceeded to introduce me to the rest of the officers at the office before pulling out a batch of handbooks.
Unsurprisingly, not all units were equal and that translated to them having different sets of rules and regulations that they had to adhere to. Sadly I had to go through them all, much to the amusement of the others present. Thankfully I possessed an enhanced memory, so I would be able to go through and memorize the books rather quickly.
Once I opened the first book, the others left me to it, and by the end of my shift, I had gone through all six books. Yet, Officer Jameson told me that I still had to spend the rest of my first week with them, which I accepted.
Anyway, after leaving the HQ I headed out to the city and went about doing some exploring. I checked out some of the places that got a good rating on the internet, mainly food joints and restaurants. I also paid the auction house I visited all those years ago a visit, though there was no auction planned for this week. They did however have some stuff for sale.
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