Chapter 110. Motorbike Rotom Chip
After entering the park, Natsume's nose relaxed, and his breathing became much smoother.
"Phew~" Natsume let out a long breath.
By the faint light of the streetlamps, trees could be vaguely seen lining both sides of the road.
Warm amber ground lights outlined the permeable walkway, and the silhouettes of camphor trees swayed.
Not far away, the artificial lake reflected a haloed moon, and the low buildings' windows glowed amber.
The chirping of insects resonated with the hum of servers in the night breeze.
"This place is practically a different world from outside." Natsume muttered to himself.
"This isn't a traditional industry after all." Officer Jenny leading the way said with a smile.
Natsume nodded.
The park he was in was funded by the Pokémon League and was responsible for producing cutting-edge equipment.
Things like chips and instruments were all produced here.
Conveniently, the industrial cluster here provided a very complete supply chain, saving even on transportation costs.
Before long, Natsume was brought into a building.
On the lowest floor, a security guard stopped him again.
"Sir, please show researcher credentials at the Doctorate level or above."
Natsume handed over the application letter Professor Oak had written for him.
The staffer took it and searched for Natsume's information on the computer, the keyboard clacking away.
"You're Natsume, a Student of Professor Oak, and you applied for a lab intelligent-brain-grade chip…"
"Please come this way." The staffer gestured.
Natsume walked over, with Officer Jenny following behind, not leaving his side.
The procedures here were particularly cumbersome, but there was nothing to complain about.
Many cutting-edge research devices were also under the League's control.
Whoever's technology was stronger, whoever made the breakthrough first, would be the one to lead the trend.
The strongest thing about the League was never just those few Elite Four or Champions.
Its greatest strength was that the League had almost monopolized the world's scientific resources.
Experimental equipment, experimental data, the number and caliber of researchers, and even the vetting system for cultivating researchers—the League's were the strongest and most complete.
Thanks to this, the teacher-student ethics, research culture, and academic environment at the League's major institutes were quite good.
This was also one of the main reasons why, after being self-taught, Natsume headed straight to the Oak Laboratory to join Professor Oak.
This park in Gringey City was a place that produced high-end experimental equipment.
Researchers needed to hold a PhD or be guaranteed by a PhD to come here and apply to the League for certain equipment.
Because of several egregious incidents of reselling League equipment in previous years, the reviews had become much stricter in recent years.
Even with Professor Oak as his guarantor, Natsume still had to be accompanied by Officer Jenny the whole time.
Before long, Officer Jenny brought Natsume to the outside of a purely white factory building.
A machine was roaring outside, and Natsume recognized it at a glance as some kind of air-purification device.
The reason the air inside was so fresh, apart from large-scale green coverage, owed not a little to the air-purification units.
For many devices during manufacturing, there could be no dust in the air.
For example, the chip production workshop in front of Natsume.
Even after being purified, the air had to be filtered again.
"Mr. Natsume, please wait."
Standing behind, Officer Jenny held a walkie-talkie and was reporting something.
Before long, a staffer in a white lab coat came out.
In his hands he held a white box about the size of a notebook, which he handed to Officer Jenny.
Natsume craned his neck, only to see Officer Jenny take the box and walk off.
"Alright, Mr. Natsume, we've got it.
Just go fill out a form." Officer Jenny's voice came from afar.
By the time Natsume finished that stack of forms, it was already dawn.
"Phew~" Outside the park, Natsume let out a long breath.
"I'm wiped out.
Once I become a Doctor, I'm making Honora handle this kind of work."
Natsume suddenly felt that Professor Oak really was kind to him.
He'd never let Natsume do this kind of tiring work before!
Even when Natsume volunteered, Professor Oak's face would change, and he'd sternly refuse.
The process was very cumbersome.
However, it was all worth it.
Natsume lowered his head, eyes shining as he looked at the white box in his arms.
Carefully, he opened the box.
A massive chip lay quietly in the foam.
This chip was what Natsume planned to use to experiment on Motorbike Rotom.
Electric Toy Rotom — Motorbike Rotom — Six-in-One Mecha Rotom.
As the link between the two ends, Motorbike Rotom was the most important step in Natsume's experimental design.
The chip from Electric Toy Rotom had been repurposed into Poké Ball Rotom.
And given a motorbike's size, he also needed a far more powerful chip.
Several months before departing from Pallet Town, Natsume had contacted this place, and today he had just come to pick it up.
Fortunately, his requirement was simply that performance had to be strong, while size didn't matter—after all, it could definitely fit inside a motorbike.
With requirements not so high, production was fairly quick.
Humming lightly, Natsume left the park, in an exceedingly good mood.
A chip of this grade was impossible to buy on the market, and its black-market price would be measured in the billions of Pokédollars, with no upper limit.
But applying through the League only required paying a negligible handling fee.
This was a benefit exclusive to research institutes aligned with the League.
Other research teams, like those fully contracted by private conglomerates, had to buy at high prices.
As for Team Rocket, which was blacklisted…
They could only procure from the black market or through other shell companies.
Pondering what kind of motorbike he should buy for the experiment, Natsume returned to the Gringey City Pokémon Center.
"How odd?
Why do I keep feeling like someone's tailing me?"
At the entrance of the Pokémon Center, Natsume shrugged.
Could it be Team Rocket?
His telekinesis quietly spread out.
Behind him, beyond a section of wall, Natsume detected three Pokémon.
A Primeape, a Drowzee, and a bald Zapdos.
"What are they trying to do?" Natsume was taken aback.
He remembered that Primeape.
It was the one that had snatched Ash's hat the other day and got sent packing by him.
How had they ended up together?
The corner of Natsume's mouth twitched, and he walked into the Gringey City Pokémon Center.
"Ho-wa, ho-wa-wa!"
Clinging to a tree by the wall, Primeape swung its fists angrily at Natsume's back.
It wanted revenge, but its bond wasn't enough yet!
"Gaa—na!"
Zapdos hooked its talons into the gaps of the wall, half-hanging up there with its bald head exposed, staring longingly at the Pokémon Center.
"Mmm~"
Drowzee yawned, looking much more laid-back.
By reflex, it reached into the basket of Berries, only to feel nothing.
"Mmm?"
The Berries were gone.
"Gaa!"
"Ho ho!"
Zapdos and Primeape suddenly cried out and hid.
Drowzee stood up, looking at them in puzzlement.
Turning its head, it saw Natsume's silhouette appear on top of the wall.
What were they doing?
With both hands, Natsume was carrying plates piled high with food, completely at a loss.
A monkey, a tapir, and a bird.
How had they even gathered together?
What kind of new Pokémon social structure was this?
Natsume instinctively thought of a research topic.
After a while, he shook his head.
It was probably a coincidence, and extreme one-off cases couldn't form a project.
"Here.
Eat." Natsume said, placing the plates on top of the wall.
"Mmm."
Drowzee thanked Natsume.
"Thank you."
A voice of telepathy sounded in Natsume's mind.
Natsume glanced at it, raised his brows slightly, and was a little surprised.
To be fair, he was rarely thanked by Pokémon.
Natsume turned and left, not meddling with this curious trio.
After he left, Drowzee looked back and found Primeape and Zapdos giving it the look one gives a traitor.
"Mmm—"
Drowzee used telekinesis to bring the food down and popped it into its mouth to chew.
Honestly, it felt this human was pretty nice.
Seeing Drowzee test the food on itself first, Primeape and Zapdos were both taken aback.
"Ho-wa-wa!"
Primeape gave a thumbs-up.
"Gaa—na!"
Zapdos nodded in approval.
"Mmm?"
Drowzee tilted its head in confusion.
Honestly, it had always felt that its two companions were even stranger than that human.
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