Better on our own - English

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"Put the container down, Elliot!" Penny told our older colleague when he arrived after us with Merlin, equipped with the RO-gear. I slowly got the names of the vehicles in my mind and I was already allowed to drive the truck, as was Lance, as we called Lancelot, the 2-way vehicle. Penny just didn't let me think about the specifics, like picking up or putting down the containers or driving with Lance on the tracks. But she seemed to have been really honest with me when she promised me that this would come soon too. "Niall, Arnold, you get the injured person out of the car, Trixie takes care of the lighting of the place and Elliot and I stabilize and secure the vehicle," Penny told us the purpose of today's exercise and I knew that I was once again at the forefront because our injured person was once again Tiny. Who needed a dummy when you had a huge dog that weighed just as much as a full-grown man? - And who still scared me precisely because he was just as unpredictable as our station officer when it came to jokes.

"Roger that, Penny!" we shouted as a team and started opening the compartments of the containers to take out the material we would need. It was a routine exercise, but still exciting because we were allowed to practice with the most broken cars in a scrapyard in the industrial area and therefore they all had to be opened differently depending on the type and location of the damage.

Today I was there for the 10th day and the funny Trixie, the smart-ass Arnold and the often brash Elliot had grown quite fond of me. Penny's leadership, as skeptical as I had been, had stood the test of time and I felt like I had been truly embraced and accepted here, while I had come to admire her almost more than Mr. Jones for taking things a little easier and worked more with a learning effect than cold education and punitive service. If I made a mistake, she would explain it to me easily, demonstrate it, or let me try again, and in the end everyone would help me clean up, while Mr. Jones would just clear my head and leave me to clean everything up on my own. It was definitely a lot more fun here than in Pontypandy, even though we didn't have many more missions here than they did.

I had broken the door open in a few minutes with the spreader while Arnold covered Tiny on the folded passenger seat with a blanket from the other side to protect him from splinters. He also talked him down, as we would with a real victim - not that Tiny would need that, because he seemed to be calm himself and when he received an order from Penny, he always followed it until he was told something different.

Arnold and I hoisted the dog onto a stretcher and got him out of harm's way before reporting to Penny.

"Well done team!" Penny praised us and it felt good as every time. There had never been much praise at Pontypandy, at the academy good grades and reviews were the only praise you received and only now did I realize how motivating it was. Trixie cheered in her excitement at the successful exercise and held out her hand for me to slap in. I did so because she had learned after the first time that I wasn't as steadfast as Elliot and so she had knocked me off my feet with such a seemingly inconsequential gesture - of course not on purpose and as much as the other three had laughed at it, she was really embarrassed about it.

"I'm impressed, Niall. You've fit in well with the team and you're learning really quickly!" Penny praised me as I put away the rescue scissor and she put a box of wedges in the compartment of the container next to me. Penny was always there and was never above helping out herself. As unusual as this was for a superior in her position, she also earned a lot more recognition for it - and certainly without meaning to.

"Thanks, Penny."

"I would say we'll do something new today!" she then stated, leaning against the container with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Really? Can I drive Arthus back?" I asked hopefully. After all, it was the only vehicle that I hadn't driven yet.

"Um, no?!" she replied and raised a skeptical eyebrow, but still smiled before she pushed herself off the container and gestured for me to follow her. "But you're going to set Lancelot on the track," she then said and went to the passenger side of the 2-way vehicle.