Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 148 Return to Pallet Town

Natsume retrieved the sludge truck, Rotom.

Under Apollo's cannibalistic gaze, he left the courtyard.

Back at the Pokémon Center in Viridian City, Ash walked over happily, holding up a green badge.

"I got the green badge!"

As Ash spoke, he held up the green badge shaped like a pine tree and handed it to Natsume.

“Natsume-nii, we all have eight badges now.”

"And there are still more than two months until the Quartz Conference begins!"

Xiao Zhi was extremely proud.

Seeing Ash's state, Natsume subconsciously searched for Gary's figure, but couldn't find him.

"Where's Shigeru?" Natsume asked curiously.

"He received a call from Professor Oak and left in a hurry," Xiaoxia chimed in.

"Let's not delay, let's set off now and head back to Zhenxin Town."

Jiaozi happily approached and hugged Natsume's arm.
Zhenxin Town, Damu Research Institute.

"Oh my, really, why did Mom suddenly go on a trip to the Carlos region?"

In the research institute's living room, Xiao Zhi lay on the sofa, somewhat lost in thought.

"That's right, I bought a lot of food for my aunt. I can only eat it myself."

Xiao Gang took out a box of small cakes, intending to have them for breakfast.

"I was right to think that clothes don't have an expiration date."

Xiaoxia straightened her back proudly.

"Moo—"

Suddenly, a dishwashing puppet holding a broom appeared and began cleaning inside the research institute.

"Mr. Mimic, there's no need to clean this place, or Natsume-nii will be angry."

Seeing this, Xiao Zhi quickly stopped them. There were many documents scattered on these tables, and it was unknown whether any of them were useful.

"even?"

The suction cup puppet was taken aback, but its hands moved even faster.

Seeing this, Xiaozhi had no choice but to push the other party away.

"Alright, sweep up the fallen leaves in these areas," Xiao Zhi said.

He encountered this suction cup puppet at a circus on his way.

The other party followed him all the way and was eventually subdued by him.

Originally, I planned to be my mom's helper with housework.

When Xiaozhi got home, he discovered that his mother had gone on a trip!
It's still as far away as Carlos.

"Mom, really! I'm about to have a competition and she still goes on vacation." Xiao Zhi returned to the living room, feeling a little sad.

"Hey hey hey, someone came back a couple of days ago and was already talking about special training, but he hasn't even started yet."

"Aunt Hanako made the right choice to go on a trip, otherwise you would have driven her crazy."

Suddenly, Gary popped his head out and unleashed a barrage of attacks on Ash.

"What did you say!" Xiao Zhi clenched his fist.

"You think you can be my rival if you say you're unambitious?" Xiao Mao retorted dismissively.

"What do you mean, 'become your rival'? Don't be so narcissistic, okay?"

"Want to fight? Come on!"

"Hey, hey, hey, stop fighting!"

The scene became chaotic. Xiaoxia tried to speak up and stop the two fighting, but to no avail.

"Squeak~"

The door opened, and Natsume walked in, carrying a notebook, wearing a sun hat and durable work clothes.

Behind her, Jiao Zi was dressed similarly.

However, the other person was carrying a large bucket and looked exhausted, as if he had been drained dry.

"Ok?"

Seeing the two wrestling, Natsume was stunned for a moment, then stepped over them.

Behind him, the weary prodigy, not wanting to care about anything else, also stepped over.

"Natsume, those two are fighting!" Kasumi warned.

"I know."

Natsume turned on the communicator next to him without thinking.

"They started fighting, weren't you going to stop them?" Xiaoxia was shocked by Natsume's attitude.

"I know, they've been fighting since they were kids."

As Natsume spoke, his fingers tapped on the keyboard, preparing to contact Professor Oak.

Xiaoxia: "."

"Bang! Bang!" Xiaoxia couldn't take it anymore and landed a powerful punch on each of them. "How old are you? If you want to prove yourself, go battle in Pokémon! What are you doing fighting here!"

Xiaoxia clenched her fist, while Xiaozhi and Xiaoshi stood up, each carrying a large bag on their heads.

After thinking about it, I realized that Xiaoxia was right.

"Speaking of which, I've never battled you before, Gary!" Ash exclaimed, his fighting spirit ignited.

"Hmph, just wait until you beg for mercy!"

The two walked out the door side by side, shoulder to shoulder.

Xiao Gang acted as the referee, while Xiao Xia went to watch the fun.

For a moment, only Natsume and Jiaozi remained in the research institute.

"Mr. Natsume, I'm so tired—"

Jiaozi lay on the sofa, rubbing her aching hands. She realized that there was more to the Pokémon researchers than she had imagined.

Natsume's workload was already quite heavy after feeding all the Pokémon in the research institute.

Most importantly, the Pokémon here run away at the sight of people, as if some ferocious beast is behind them.

Each time, Jiaozi has to go to great lengths to coax these Pokémon back to feed them.

This was with Mr. Natsume by his side; if he weren't there, Jiaozi couldn't imagine how difficult it would be for him to manage on his own!
"If you're tired, go to your workstation and help me organize and categorize the documents."

Natsume pointed to five neatly divided cubicles not far away.

Each cubicle contains a computer.

One of them was a laptop, which Aunt Hanako forgot to take back with her.

These four cubicles belong to Professor Oak, Masahiro, myself, and Aunt Hanako, respectively.

Since there was an extra one as a backup, Natsume assigned it to Takako.

Soon, Professor Oak appeared on the communicator.

After months of exposure to the wind and sun on the island, Professor Oak's skin has become quite tanned.

"Oh, it's Natsume. What's up?"

Professor Oak was on the beach, where the sea breeze was so strong that the other person couldn't open their eyes.

"Is this almost over?"

Natsume was somewhat surprised to see Professor Oak boarding the ship, seemingly preparing to leave the deserted island.

"No, it's because Dr. Mulan has made progress and wants me to go help."

"Oh my, this kind of place should be for young people like you. It's a pity that Zheng Hui went to the Giant Stinger Shui Mu."

As he spoke, Professor Oak winked at Natsume, giving him a frantic hint.

“I also think Shigeru is very suitable.” Natsume nodded.

"."

After a moment of silence, Professor Oak continued:

"I wrote a resource survey, and it turns out that there are quite a few giant mushrooms on this island, replacing your children's magazine article."

"However, you are a second author."

Natsume was taken aback upon hearing this.

There's even a Gigantamax mushroom?

That must be a second authorship in a top-tier journal, no doubt.

Yes. According to the alliance's policy, being a second author in three top-tier journals is equivalent to being a first author in one.

I also wrote the second part of "Proud Son," and I'll ask Senior Brother Zheng Hui to write another one for me.
Natsume suddenly realized that he was missing another chapter.

The pressure has decreased dramatically in the past two months.

"Alright, if this major breakthrough at Mt. Luna goes smoothly, the widespread adoption of Dynamax may be just around the corner in the next few years."

With that, Professor Oak prepared to hang up.

"Wait a minute, I want to use the lab, but it's locked."

Natsume spoke, revealing his purpose.

He discovered that the laboratory was locked and protected by various safeguards, making it impossible for him to even teleport in.

Professor Oak's lab is indispensable for upgrading the Advanced Rotom and developing mature transformation circuits for the Motorcycle Rotom.

And the AI ​​that connects all the equipment in the research institute is also inside.

If he can't get in, Natsume can't use the simple instruments outside either.

"Well, the main concern is getting robbed."

Professor Oak thought about it and still felt a little uneasy.

"Here's what we'll do: you guys go find Dr. Nishino Mori. Hanako's gone on vacation, but he's agreed to look after the research institute for the next few months."

"He knew how to get into the lab."

"With Dr. Nishino Mori watching over us, we don't have to worry about being robbed."

Professor Oak smiled and closed the communication.

Dr. Nishino Mori?
Natsume was taken aback. The other person seemed to be a PhD in Pokémon theory, a participant in the creation of the Pokédex, and had just retired last year.

(End of this chapter)