Sato continued taking Absol around Celadon City for several more days, helping it gain a broader understanding of how most humans and Pokémon interacted.
During this time, Sato inevitably encountered a few street delinquents.
Because Absol still kept a two-meter distance from him, the delinquents even thought about stealing this unfamiliar Pokémon outright.
Of course, Sato wouldn't let Absol suffer any more fright, and Umbreon immediately stepped in to block them. Sato, meanwhile, followed the law and called for Officer Jenny.
Through this, Sato showed Absol that while there were bad people among humans, there were also those who worked hard to uphold peace.
After that incident, Absol no longer kept its distance. It voluntarily walked up beside Sato, walking in step with Umbreon.
Of course, touching was still off-limits.
Sato kept a calm expression on the surface, but inside he was beaming with joy.
With this progress in Absol's behavior, Sato didn't waste any more time. He proactively contacted Celadon University, informing them he had already arrived in Celadon City and was ready to begin his enrollment… or rather, his appointment.
Celadon University had produced an enormous number of elite professionals, spanning nearly every industry in the Pokémon world.
Sato was both enrolling and being hired by the same department within the university: the Trainer Academy.
On another bright and sunny morning, Sato arrived at Celadon University with Absol and Umbreon to complete his registration.
Just as he approached the security office and was about to ask for directions, someone called out to him.
"Hello, are you Gym Leader Sato?"
Hearing his name, Sato turned to look at the person speaking. Before he could say anything, the girl seemed absolutely certain of who he was and excitedly ran over.
"Leader Sato, you're finally here! I watched your final match in the Ace Tournament! It was so, so cool!"
"Uh…"
"I've studied every one of the Pokémon you used. Each of them had their own dedicated battle system! Tyranitar's Rock Domain, Zoroark's Illusion Tactics, Cacturne's Drain Strategy, Ariados's Toxic Web Domain…"
"Um…"
"WOOOW! Is this your Umbreon? Such smooth fur, those sharp eyes, and look at that lean muscle tone… definitely top-tier conditioning!"
Just as she was about to reach her hand toward Absol, Sato finally stepped in and stopped her.
Yes, the person was a girl. The absurdly thick black-rimmed glasses -at least 1500 degrees by his estimation- gave Sato a deep impression of her scholarly background.
"Excuse me. How should I address you?"
"Ah? Um, um…"
The girl finally snapped out of her excited rambling and immediately turned red, like a boiling Corphish…
"Gym… Gym Leader Sato… I'm the advisor assigned to help you with your appointment… P-please come with me!"
With that, she turned and hurried off into the campus at a speed that clearly showed she didn't want him to catch up.
"So…" Sato turned to the equally stunned security guard, "Who was that?"
The guard blankly shook his head. Celadon University was huge, how could he remember every advisor's name?
"…Can I go in now?"
"Uh… maybe wait here for your advisor? She'll probably realize pretty soon that you didn't follow her," the guard replied awkwardly, still sticking to his duties.
"…"
Ten minutes later, the advisor, whose face had evolved into the color of a Crawdaunt, returned awkwardly; so embarrassed she didn't even dare speak.
"Please confirm my onboarding documents and the audit application, and then take me to complete the procedures, Advisor," Sato said softly, doing his best not to embarrass her further.
"Y-Yes, please… follow me."
The advisor registered at the security post, then led Sato inside with her head lowered, occasionally looking back.
Seemingly to make sure he hadn't gotten lost.
Sato: "…"
Because the two Pokémon accompanying Sato weren't commonly seen in the Kanto Region, they quickly drew a lot of attention along the way.
Before long, someone recognized Sato as the Ace Tournament Champion and began excitedly snapping photos from a distance.
Having been in the spotlight before, both Sato and Umbreon remained calm and collected.
Absol, though slightly uneasy, still forced itself to stay composed… it didn't want to lose 'face'.
Seeing how "composed" the trio looked, some students soon identified the girl leading Sato as an advisor from the Trainer Academy.
The onlookers instantly jumped to a bold conclusion!
Was Sato… enrolling as a student?
That would be major news!
Although some time had passed since the end of the Ace Tournament, Sato's championship still held plenty of weight.
Before long, photos of Sato appeared on the Celadon University forums.
Shortly afterward, it was revealed that Sato had been invited to the university both as a lecturer and a student.
What could anyone say? It was, after all, the top university in all of Kanto, its research and intel-gathering capabilities were truly top-tier.
And who in the world cared most about gossip? Naturally, it was college students with too much free time and nothing better to do.
So, by the time the unnamed advisor led Sato to the Trainer Academy's faculty building, a crowd of gossip-hungry students had already gathered both inside and out.
"Whoa, that's really Sato! The guy who beat Wallace!"
"I heard he's here to teach, but isn't he younger than us? I'm seriously feeling attacked…"
"Relax, we've got plenty of geniuses here. You're not the worst one."
"I also heard he's auditing classes. If he's a student like us, I want to challenge him!"
"Brave soul. Farewell!"
"Farewell +1"
"Farewell +10086"
"…"
Listening to the chaotic chatter around him, Sato thought, 'As expected of Celadon University students… their manners aren't bad. At least no one's tackled me yet.'
"Absol, if you're feeling uncomfortable, want to stay in the Poké Ball for a while?"
"Sol!"
Absol snapped its head around, and the moment it heard that, its discomfort immediately vanished.
Sato smiled without minding, then followed the still-unnamed advisor into the office under the gaze of the watching students.
The registration process went quickly. After all, fame really could speed things up sometimes. And with that long buffer of time, the advisor finally managed to compose herself.
"Leader Sato, let me properly introduce myself. My name is Erika. I'm the advisor for first-year students in the Trainer Academy. If you need anything, you can come to me."
"Correction. That was your first introduction, Miss Erika."
The very next second, Advisor Erika turned back into a blushing Corphish; this time on the verge of evolving into a full-fledged Crawdaunt.
.
.
150 PS - CH