The dream of becoming a Pokémon master

This is Kyosuke's second visit to Professor Oak's lab; the first time was to obtain his starter Pokémon.

He only knew that the Oak family had bought a mountain in Pallet Town for Professor Oak to conduct research, but he had only ever seen the front: a path leading to the top of the mountain and a villa on the mountaintop.

The first time, I simply entered through the main entrance, got the Pokémon in the lobby, and left without studying the layout of the place in detail.

It wasn't until he walked out the back door that Kyosuke realized why he had bought a mountain and also learned the origin of the legendary "Professor Oak's backyard" in Pallet Town: the place where all the Pokémon live on this mountain is just a backyard!

First, all Pokémon will be released in different regions according to their category, attributes, etc.

Kyosuke arrived at the grassland with a large bag labeled "lawn" and released the Pokémon one by one.

Rada, little rada, little rada, rada...

Nidoran, Nidoran, Nidoran, Nidoran... Nidorino, Nidoran, Nidoran... Nidona, Nidoran, Nidoran...

Paras, Paras, Paras...

Oddish grass, odish grass, odish grass...

Huh? There's even a Growlithe?

Because Professor Oak categorizes and manages all Pokémon, Kyosuke roughly understands the skill level of the Pallet Town trainers and the types of Pokémon they possess.

Most of them are Rattata and Rattata, two common but weak Pokémon, followed by Nidoran and Nidoran, but not many evolve (Kyosuke felt a pang of heartache). Grass-type Pokémon like Oddish and Paras are the easiest to catch, but none of them evolve.

The trainers in Pallet Town are really quite ordinary. Kyosuke remarked, never expecting that he would already be considered the "strongest in Pallet Town" after only four months of traveling.

Next is the "lake".

It's impossible for there to be a lake on the mountain, but money can buy anything.

Professor Oak even built an artificial lake specifically for his research on Water-type Pokémon. Water-type Pokémon are a major type, and they can be found almost everywhere, with lakes and streams all around, not to mention coastal cities and islands.

Although Kyosuke doesn't have any Water-type Pokémon right now.

Dr. Oki's research covers a very wide range of areas. Kyosuke realized that he had not yet asked Dr. Oki about his research direction and planned to ask him as soon as he finished his work.

Kyosuke opened the Poké Balls containing Water-type Pokémon one by one and started counting again.

"Goldfish, sea lion, starfish, jewel starfish, mosquito coil tadpole, black seahorse..."

"Whichever one it is, they all have great potential, so why not nurture them?" Kyosuke was increasingly confused.

In the past, he could understand that trainers were too weak to catch powerful Pokémon, but they had all caught high-potential Pokémon, so why didn't they try to train them?

Horsea only needs to evolve into Seadra, and it can then evolve into Kingdra, a Dragon-type Pokémon, by trading with a Dragon Scale. Why would anyone give up on such a fast-growing Pokémon?

Filled with doubt, Kyosuke headed to the next location.

"forest".

"They even have forests?!"

Put the Mankey in the forest, the Ponyta and Rapidash in the stable, and the Pidgey and Spearow on the bird feeder. The first phase of the quest is now complete.

Kyosuke finally understood the level of Pallet Town. It was completely different from the town he had imagined as a child, which was full of reclusive masters. Instead, it was full of ordinary trainers, whom he could hardly meet, but who could be found in large numbers.

Sighing, Kyosuke prepared to start preparing the Pokémon food, first taking out the list prepared by the professor and looking at it.

"Hmm, it's all regular food, plenty of it." Kyosuke, who was used to giving his Pokémon the best treatment, raised an eyebrow when he saw the food the professor had prepared. But since he was raising a whole bunch of Pokémon by himself, it was understandable that he would use the cheapest food. "Mankey is bananas, and Ponyta is fodder?"

By the time everything was finished, most of the morning had passed.

It has to be said that this research institute is really big. Even with hundreds of Pokémon inside, it doesn't feel crowded at all; instead, it feels very well-organized.

"Doctor, I'm done!" Kyosuke returned to the storage room to report to the doctor.

Kyosuke only just realized that this place wasn't just for storing Poké Balls; even the research professors conducted their studies here, and their data was stored on the computers here.

"Huh? Kyosuke finished so quickly? Usually, it takes me all morning to finish this." Professor Oak was organizing data at his computer when he saw Kyosuke come in and couldn't help but be surprised. "You know, you have to admit you're getting old."

Just as Kyosuke was about to complain about how big the backyard was, he stopped himself from speaking.

If even this old man can persist in doing so much every day, what do I have to complain about?

The professor continued looking at the computer, but said to Kyosuke, "Now that you've finished your morning tasks, feel free to ask any questions you have about your training. I can explain them to you."

So this is what benefits are like!

Kyosuke was a little excited. He had guessed that, apart from the final secret, the doctor would give him some pointers in his daily life. He just didn't expect that the way the doctor would answer questions would be the time saved after completing the mission!

"I need to speed things up even more tomorrow," Kyosuke resolved.

Seeing that Kyosuke hadn't responded for a while, Professor Oak turned to look at him and said, "If there are no more questions, then you don't need to ask anymore."

Kyosuke then snapped out of his daze and quickly asked, "Actually, Professor, I'm really curious about what you're researching. You collected all the Pokémon that the trainers in an entire town didn't have with them, but their levels are clearly not high. They shouldn't be of any use in improving battle power or anything like that."

Hearing Kyosuke's question, Professor Oak was also a little surprised. He adjusted his chair and faced Kyosuke seriously, saying, "Pokémon are very mysterious creatures. They possess evolutionary and special abilities; you could say they transcend the boundaries of biology. We must unravel that mystery and coexist harmoniously with Pokémon. The coexistence of humans and Pokémon is the subject of my lifelong research. My first important task is to understand each and every Pokémon. And every Pokémon they send over is an important subject of my research."

"The world of Pokémon isn't just about battles. Their diet, entertainment, and lifestyle are all things I would like to study," Professor Oak concluded.

Kyosuke knew that this was also Professor Oak's "personal insight." These were principles he might never have thought of if he were just traveling forever. But just a casual chat with the professor gave him a new understanding of the Pokémon world.

I'm really looking forward to the days to come.