Chapter 148. Return to Pallet Town
Natsume recalled the Sludge Truck Rotom.
Under Archer's man-eating glare, he left the courtyard.
Back at the Viridian City Pokémon Center, Ash came over happily, holding up a green Badge.
"I got the green Badge!"
As he spoke, Ash raised high the green, pine-like Earth Badge and handed it to Natsume.
"Natsume, we're both Trainers with eight Badges now."
"And there are still more than two months before the Indigo Plateau Conference begins!"
Ash was feeling very pleased with himself.
Seeing Ash like this, Natsume instinctively looked around for Gary Oak, but couldn't find him.
"Where's Gary?" Natsume asked, puzzled.
"Him? He got a call from Professor Oak and rushed off," Misty popped her head out and said.
"No time like the present. Let's head back to Pallet Town now," Honora walked up happily and hugged Natsume's arm.
Pallet Town, Professor Oak's Laboratory.
"Jeez… seriously, why did Mom suddenly go on a trip to the Kalos region?"
In the lab's living room, Ash lay on the sofa, a little out of it.
"Exactly. I even bought a bunch of food for Mrs. Ketchum… Guess we'll have to eat it ourselves," Brock said, taking out a box of little cakes to have for breakfast.
"See? I had foresight. Clothes don't have an expiration date," Misty said smugly, straightening her back.
"Moo—oh—"
A Mr. Mime holding a broom suddenly appeared and started cleaning inside the lab.
"Mr. Mime, you don't need to clean here. Natsume will get mad," Ash hurried to stop it, since there were papers scattered all over the tables and who knew if any of them were important.
"Mime?"
Mr. Mime froze for a second, then its hands moved even faster.
Seeing this, Ash could only push it outside.
"Alright, sweep these fallen leaves over here," Ash said.
This Mr. Mime was one he ran into at a traveling circus along the way.
It followed him all the way, and he ended up catching it.
He'd originally planned to have it help with housework for his mom.
But when he got home, Ash discovered that his mom had gone traveling.
And to somewhere as far away as the Kalos region, at that.
"Honestly, Mom… I'm about to compete and you go traveling," Ash returned to the living room, feeling a bit down.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk—someone came back the other day yelling about special training, and you still haven't done any."
"Mrs. Ketchum going on a trip was absolutely the right choice, or you'd make her worry herself to death," Gary suddenly popped out and laid into Ash.
"What did you say!" Ash clenched his fists.
"I said you're not moving forward, and like this you think you can be my rival!" Gary shot back, disdainful.
"What 'be your rival'—don't be so full of yourself, okay?"
"Wanna fight? Bring it on!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't fight!"
Things got messy fast.
Misty tried to step in and stop the scuffling pair, but it had no effect at all.
Creak—
The front door opened.
Natsume walked in wearing a sun hat and rugged work clothes, holding a logbook.
Behind him, Honora was dressed almost the same.
She was carrying a big bucket, looking utterly worn out, like she'd been wrung dry.
"Hm?"
Seeing the two boys grappling, Natsume paused, then stepped right over them.
Exhausted, Honora didn't want to bother with anything either, and followed him by stepping over them.
"Natsume, they're fighting," Misty reminded him.
"I know."
Natsume went straight to a nearby communicator and turned it on.
"They're fighting and you're not going to stop them?" Misty was shocked at Natsume's attitude.
"I know. Those two have been fighting since they were little."
As he spoke, Natsume tapped at the keyboard, preparing to contact Professor Oak.
Misty: "…"
Thunk, thunk!
Misty couldn't take it anymore.
She delivered an iron fist to each of them.
"You're both grown. If you want to prove yourselves, have a Pokémon battle. What are you doing brawling in here!"
With a lump apiece on their heads, Ash and Gary stood up.
Thinking it over, they felt Misty had a point.
"Come to think of it, I haven't battled you yet, Gary!" Ash's fighting spirit ignited.
"Hmph, get ready to beg for mercy!"
The two knocked shoulders and walked out the door side by side.
Brock took the role of referee, and Misty went to watch the excitement.
In no time, only Natsume and Honora were left in the lab.
"Natsume, I'm so tired—"
Honora flopped onto the sofa and rubbed her sore hands.
She'd found that a Pokémon researcher's work involved more than she'd imagined.
Just having Natsume lead her around to feed all the Pokémon at the lab had been a huge workload.
What's worse, the Pokémon here ran the moment they saw a person, as if there were some terrifying monster behind her.
Every time, Honora had to spend a lot of effort coaxing the Pokémon back to feed them.
And that was with Natsume around.
If he weren't there, Honora didn't dare imagine how hard it would be on her alone.
"If you're tired, head to a workstation and help me sort and categorize some materials."
Natsume pointed at the five neatly partitioned cubicles not far away.
Each cubicle had a computer.
One of them was a laptop Mrs. Ketchum had forgotten to take home.
Those four cubicles belonged to Professor Oak, Bill, himself, and Mrs. Ketchum.
There happened to be one spare, so Natsume assigned it to Honora.
Soon, Professor Oak's face appeared on the communicator.
After months of sun and wind on the offshore island, Professor Oak's skin had gotten quite tan.
"It's you, Natsume. What's up?"
By the beach, the sea breeze was strong, blowing so hard he could barely keep his eyes open.
"Are you about to wrap up?"
Natsume was a little surprised.
He noticed Professor Oak boarding a boat, apparently preparing to leave the deserted islet.
"No, Professor Magnolia made some progress and asked me to come help."
"Goodness, places like this should be for you young folks. Too bad Bill went off to that Giant Tentacruel case."
As he spoke, Professor Oak winked at Natsume, hinting furiously.
"I also think Gary is very suitable," Natsume nodded.
"…"
After a brief silence, Professor Oak continued:
"I wrote a resource survey. Turns out there are quite a few Max Mushrooms on this island, so it replaces that kids' magazine paper of yours."
"But you're second author."
Natsume blinked in surprise.
There were even Max Mushrooms.
That pretty much guaranteed a second-author paper in a top-tier journal.
Mm… according to the League's policy, three second-author papers in top-tier journals count as one first-author.
Honora's second-author paper also had him on it.
If he could get one more by riding along with senior Bill…
Natsume suddenly realized he was short by just one again.
Over the next two months, the pressure would drop sharply.
"Alright then. If the breakthrough at Mt. Moon goes smoothly, rolling out Dynamax might happen in the next few years," Professor Oak said, getting ready to hang up.
"Wait. I want to use the laboratory, but someone locked it."
Natsume stated his purpose.
He'd found the lab locked, with all sorts of protections in place—he couldn't even teleport in.
For upgrading the Ultra Ball Rotom and developing the mature transformation route for the Motorbike Rotom, Professor Oak's laboratory was indispensable.
Plus, the mainframe that connected all of the lab's equipment was inside.
If he couldn't get in, the simple instruments outside were no use to Natsume.
"That's mainly to guard against thieves," Professor Oak said after thinking it over, still a bit uneasy.
"How about this. Go find Professor Westwood V. With Delia off traveling, he agreed to help me look after the lab for the next few months."
"He knows how to get into the laboratory."
"With Professor Westwood keeping an eye on things, even if there's a thief, it'll be fine."
Professor Oak smiled and ended the call.
Professor Westwood?
Natsume paused.
If he remembered right, Westwood was a Pokémon theory scholar and a contributor to the Pokédex who had retired just last year.
Enjoyed the story? Support me and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at: Patr*eon*.com/Resium
Free members can read 10+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Paid member can read 150+ Chapters Ahead of Release
Stories Available
Honkai? No, This Is Daily Life
Hogwarts Pet Master
Pokémon: Who Let Him Leave Pallet Town!
Scrolling Yu-Gi-Oh! Shorts