Chapter 50: Meetings
~Azure S. POV~
[Kanto Region, Next Day, Fuchsia City – Pokémon Center]
Waking up bright and early, I prep some breakfast for my wary Pokémon. Pikachu and Eevee are both sleeping on the bed.
Growlithe and Dragonair are huddled in a corner together. Scizor was leaning down on the spare bed, looking chill.
And Haunter was playing with my Arc Phone. I've seen her recently go on the Webtoons App, looking up a comic of The Greatest Estate Developer, reading the journey of Lloyd Frontera as she looked up the most what the fuck traumatizing faces, she could find online which led her to learn the move Scary Face.
I can blame the Guild Master for giving me unlimited access to read those stories in my spare time. But I feel like it's becoming a bad influence for Haunter learning these moves… but if it works well against my enemies, who am I complaining to?
As long as it's effective, then go ahead. Having my permission since then and recommending reading that comic for inspiration, she was hooked on it badly, seeing each face.
Not sure if my advice somehow doomed the fates of my enemies, I began to set up our breakfast in the dining area of the Pokémon Center. I can see other trainers having the same idea as they feed their Pokémon in the area.
But most were looking at my Scizor in confusion. I wouldn't blame them since they've never seen or discovered this Pokémon yet.
While I was feeding my Pokémon and eating my breakfast, a voice rang out, getting my attention, recognizing that voice, "Oi! Azure is that you!"
Turning around, I see Red and his Pokémon. Smiling, letting him join me as he fed his Pokémon, I greeted him happily, "Red! Been a while since we last met. How's the Pokedex filling working out for you?"
As he set his bowls for his Saur, Poli, Pika, Krabby, Snor the Snorlax, and an Eevee. I blinked, somewhat surprised as I asked curiously, "You have an Eevee? Nice, where did you get him?"
Red, taking a seat across from me, explained in an optimistic tone with a smug grin on his face, "I got him from Celadon City before leaving. I got it from some guy at the top of the building after Erika said to find an Eevee just enough for me to challenge her."
I guess Erika still issued the challenge to Red then. But she was gonna do that regardless, as she trusts action over words.
Shrugging my shoulders, continuing to eat, Red looked at my Scizor contently eating as he asked curiously, "Say, what kind of Pokémon is that? He looks cool, and my Pokedex isn't giving me a name for him? Her?"
Chuckling at Red's response, I replied, shocking him with the news, eyes widened, "That's Scyther's evolution from using a Metal Coat. Scizor, the Steel and Bug-type Pokémon. And my ally in my journey."
Scizor nodded, accepting my words with his clippers. Red eyes widened as he muttered in an impressed tone, "Damn! I didn't know Scyther could evolve, and he looks so cool with his red armor!"
Scizor blushed at Red's blunt words, making me smile. Turning around, I see Pika and Partner Pikachu talking with their electricity.
Partner Eevee and Vee Red's Eevee looked at each began playing around happily, being the same species. Krabby gazed at Scizor, clapping their pincers together, being in the crab club or something.
Poli was flexing and talking to Dragonair as she humored the muscular tadpole. Lastly, Haunter is talking to Saur, showing him her Scary Face move, startling Saur badly using Lloyd's faces.
With Snor finishing his meal slumped down sleeping. Red certainly has an interesting crew of Pokémon with him.
Smirking at their interaction, Red then brought up a topic that confused him as he said to me in a baffled tone, "Wait, you said a Steel Type, right? I've never heard of that type before. Do you think Prof. Oak knows?"
Smiling at this, standing up, I responded in a curious tone, getting Red's attention, "Why not ask the man? You know his number, right?"
Agreeing, we finished lunch, recalling our Pokémon, but my Eevee and Pikachu. Pikachu perched over my shoulder, and Eevee claimed my head as her spot.
Red chuckled as we reached the computer, dialing Prof. Oak's number in a humorous tone, eyeing my Partner Pokémon, "Heh. I see your Pokémon likes to stay out of their Poke Ball, too, huh, young man?"
I couldn't say much as I said in a helpless chuckle. I replied sheepishly, causing my Pokémon to chuckle happily, "Hahaha… yeah. These two simply like to stay out of their Poke Balls. Pikachu claimed my shoulders, and Eevee claimed my head."
Both of them cried out, agreeing happily, "Pika! Eevow!"
*Beep*
Red simply chuckled as the video screen turned on. Prof. Oak was in the middle of eating noodles again as he said in a friendly tone, "Ah! Red you call at my lunchtime? What can I do for you today?"
Red moved out of the way as I introduced myself properly to Prof. Oak in a calm tone, waving at him, "Hello Prof. Oak, I believe we met before, but haven't given my name. I'm Azure Sky, a pleasure to meet you again."
He took a bit of time to process till his eyes widened as he said in a surprised tone, "Hm… Oh! Now I remember you, young man, you're the one who requested to help get a Pokémon. I'm glad to see you managed to capture that Pikachu. I've heard good things about you, from Blue."
Blushing a bit, embarrassed that Blue of all people is talking about me, makes me feel quite accomplished. Shaking my head, I held Scizor's Poke Ball as I explained, "Thanks, but that wasn't why Red called you Professor. Red wanted me to share with you the Scyther evolution into Scizor. Come out."
*Pop*
Scizor revealing himself out in the open made Prof. Oak's eyes widen. He quickly downed his noodles as he said, examining Scizor in a stunned tone, "Nani! You mean that Pokémon there is an evolution of Scyther!"
Nodding my head, I explained how I had my Scyther evolved from a Scizor, gaining a new typing, startling the old man. I further mentioned how he evolved when I got the item Metal Coat, battling a bunch of Magnemites with Red in Vermillion City.
I can see Prof. Oak's mind thinking as he exclaimed in an excited tone, laughing humorously at my work, "Hahaha!!! Steel Type does exist! And we have our first meeting with such a hardy creature!"
Nodding again, I see Prof. Oak's head turning, examining the situation as he grins happily, saying curiously, "I see such an amazing finding! I've heard from Blue that you know the existence of Dark and Fairy Types, is that right?"
Lightly nodding my head, agreeing was when Prof. Oak brought up another topic as he asked curiously, "Oh, right, I almost forgot. From what I hear them you created new moves for your Pikachu and Pokémon, right? Iron Tail was it along with Zippy Zap to name a few of them?"
Blinking a bit confused on the topic, I nodded as I brought Growlithe, showing a demonstration in a curious tone, "Yeah. Most of my Pokémon can learn how to do it through training. Show 'em Growlithe your Iron Tail."
Growlithe barked happily as his tail turned shiny steel, "Bark!"
I can see Samuel Oak's eyes widen in fascination. He grinned as he suggested while sharing his number with me in an excited tone, "Perfect. I've heard tales of you using unknown moves not registered before. You were able to discover multiple new moves that your Pokémon could use. That's quite an achievement as a newly starting trainer. It's usually only those who have been with their teams for a few years or so who actually figure out how to make new moves, but even then, they are few and far between."
Rubbing the back of my head, I couldn't help but sheepishly say, "Well, I wouldn't say it's all that great…"
Prof. Oak merely chuckled as he continued explaining, gazing at me and my Pokémon with fascination in his eyes, "Don't sell yourself short, Sky. I know of veteran trainers who have trained for years and have never been able to learn a single unique move, but to say you have discovered is something to boast about in fact…"
He grinned even wider as he made a proposition to me, making me freeze on the spot, stunned by his words, "Silph Co and Devon Corporation, have employed many skilled trainers over the past few years to try and discover new moves to add to their Technical Machine listings, most can rarely discover one new move every few months or years, but the companies still keep them on a regular retainer to get access to any new moves they learn for their system, so to have discovered as many as you have with the time given is something else. I'll be blunt, I want to recruit you."
I blinked at the sudden offer, not having seen that one coming. I asked, not sure what this meant exactly, "Um… recruit me for what exactly?"
Prof. Oak grinned as he explained, adjusting himself proudly as he said in an excited tone, "To be part of my research division. You see, with everything that has been happening these last few years, a lot of opportunities have presented themselves, one of which was a mutually beneficial arrangement that the likes of Silph Co. and Devon Corporation set up for all recognized professors in each of the major regions. They would fund our research projects and sponsor us in certain aspects, and in return, we would turn over aspects of our research to them that they could, in turn, market to sell for the betterment of each region."
I asked, starting to get the bigger picture curiously, "Like?"
Prof. Oak smiled as he continued explaining with his arms crossed, stating the obvious, "Technology, mostly the likes of things like the Pokedex, Pokegear, and currently TM's. It's that aspect that has made me want to recruit you ever since I heard the tales of you using unheard-of moves."
Nodding my head, understanding, I couldn't help but ask in a firm tone with my arms crossed about stopping my journey, "And just what would you be having me do exactly? I'm not exactly pausing my journey so soon to stay in one place."
Sorry, but I'm not gonna follow the Gary Route, thank you very much. I didn't want to become a Pokémon Trainer just to be stuck in a lab.
Prof. Oak, seeing my expression, raised his hand as he explained further, sheepishly reassuring me, "And I wouldn't ask you to. No, what I want from you is to do just as you have been doing, keep traveling, keep growing stronger, and more importantly, keep discovering new moves."
When I heard that, something in my head clicked. Realizing what he wanted, I asked bluntly, wide-eyed in surprise, "You want to be able to distribute the moves I and my Pokémon discovered?"
Prof. Oak nodded as he explained, gazing at my expression in an excited tone, "Precisely, I'm a professor affiliated with Silph Co, as part of my research group you'd be able to sell any moves that you discover to the company through myself and in return reap the benefits by becoming an affiliated field researcher, that's not something for any regular trainer can do."
I frowned in thought, while my knowledge about advanced Pokémon moves from the later generations was useful to keep to myself at times, I knew it was only a matter of time with TM's being a thing before I lost that advantage. I suppose I should see about getting something else from them while I can.
I asked after a few moments to think of my options that the Professor had given me, "What kind of benefits would being an affiliated field researcher give me?"
Prof. Oak smiled as he explained to me the benefits of joining his research team, making my and Red's eyes widen at his words, "Well for a start you'll be paid a monthly retainer salary of 20,000 direct to your trainer's account, along with bonuses for any moves you learn, along with a 2% of any revenue made from the sales of the TM of the moves you discovered. You'll also be given a monthly stipend to allow you to redeem 5 TM's for every month to help you advance your Pokémon's move pools to develop new ones."
I whistled. That was a lot, a set monthly salary with bonuses and royalties on top of that. TM weren't cheap, not in the slightest, as one TM Hyper Beam cost 100,000 Poke Dollars. I was lucky ripping off Team Rocket through the Prize Corner.
If I sold my moves to Silph Co., they would go worldwide, I'd be swimming in cash with just 2% I'd get, plus 5 free TM's would help me to diversify my team's move pool and save me time teaching new Pokémon from scratch.
Smiling at this, I spoke up, feeling extra excited about this as I said happily, "Where do I sign up?"
Prof. Oak clapped his hands together with an eager grin as he said in an excited tone, "Excellent! We'll get you signed up right away!"
Grinning at this, it seems like my issues of being poor would soon be over. I can't wait to get paid with that cash.
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A/N: If you guys noticed, I got this idea inspired by the Pokémon Storm Fanfic idea. It's an old Fanfic, but it gave me some ideas on how the MC can make Poke Dollars inventing new moves that everyone can mooch off of during timeskips, so he can afford to pay for his own Pokémon meals or evolutionary items.