Chapter 284: A Total of 150 Species of Pokémon Caught
2024-05-15 Author: Samsung Charmander (Author Name)
"Gary and I laughed our heads off back then, hahaha."
Ash slapped Brock's and Misty's shoulders, laughing so hard at the memory he could barely breathe.
"Back then, Blue was only five. She came to this big river all by herself to play in the mud, but she tripped and fell flat on her face, plunging right into the water. She couldn't swim, and her feet got tangled in the underwater weeds."
The three of them watched Ash, who was practically convulsing with laughter, and frowned deeply.
Are you a monster?
Your companion was about to die and you're laughing?
Of course, Blue was saved by Professor Oak, who happened to be passing by. Aside from a scare, she wasn't seriously hurt. Since nothing bad happened in the end, Ash and Gary could afford to laugh so loudly.
If she had died, I'd cry. She didn't die, so why can't I laugh?
A very simple and crude logic, revealing the sincere and great friendship of the Pallet Town trio.
"So afterward, Blue decided to imitate the ancient fierce beast—Jingwei—and tried to fill up this big river so it couldn't harm anyone else."
Jingwei, the legendary god of misfortune, is an ancient fierce beast much like a Husky. According to legend, she also carelessly fell and drowned in the sea while playing in the mud.
From then on, she transformed into the Jingwei bird, dropping twigs and stones into the water in an attempt to fill the sea. This is often used as a metaphor for someone with great perseverance.
Of course, great perseverance wasn't Ash's main point of comparison; it was simply that they both had face-planted in the water.
"Later, this river, which was five or six meters wide, was reduced to this stream. Blue saw that there were still many Tangela living nearby, and completely filling it in might affect the ecological balance, so she had to leave this one-meter-wide stream."
In order not to break the oath she had sworn, Blue had no choice but to cross out the oath on her wooden sign.
It was only then that Brock and the other two fully understood this piece of history, thinking to themselves that everyone has had it rough.
"Oh, right, just say that Gary was the one who told you all this. I promised Blue I wouldn't tell any outsiders."
Brock and the others: "..."
Professor Oak's Laboratory. The lab was located in a remote corner of Pallet Town, near the Back Mountain.
They arrived at the main gate and looked up. A long, winding staircase led to a building that looked like a research lab. The decor was simple. Behind the lab, a large, fenced-off backyard area stretched out, covering a massive area.
You could say that half of Pallet Town's Back Mountain was within the grounds of Professor Oak's Laboratory's Backyard.
Jungle, grassland, shrubbery, streams, swamps—it had all sorts of terrain. Aside from extreme environments like deserts or snowy areas, you could say it had everything.
A place of this scale was much larger than Professor Cerise's man-made park in Vermilion City.
There was no other reason than that land in the countryside was cheap and plentiful. The property prices in Vermilion City, however, were not low. Who would have such a large area to build a wild habitat?
Therefore, the Pokémon kept here had an extremely vast area to roam, as if they were living in the true wilderness.
Ash rang the doorbell and announced himself. The main door opened, and the four of them entered unobstructed, arriving in the laboratory's main hall.
Ash had often climbed the wall to play here as a child, so he was naturally very familiar with the place, as if he had come home.
"Welcome back to Pallet Town, Ash."
A middle-aged-to-elderly man with short, graying hair walked out from an inner door. He wore a standard white lab coat, looked full of vigor, and had an expression that was both serious and approachable. There was a slight resemblance to Gary in his features.
One of his hands was resting on his lower back, which seemed a bit sore. One could imagine that in his youth, he must have been quite the character, galloping on horseback.
This was none other than the current face of Pallet Town, Professor Oak.
"Hello, Professor Oak."
Ash's reply was quite casual, but the other three wouldn't dare be so careless. They all bowed cautiously and greeted him.
In the current Kanto Region, if you were to say Champion Lance was the strongest in terms of raw power, then in the field of academic research, Professor Oak reigned supreme.
This was the kind of person you could practically put on a pedestal and burn incense for.
"Haha, no need to be so formal, young friends. Any friend of Ash's is a guest in Pallet Town."
Professor Oak said with a laugh. He was the type of person who was only rigorous when it came to academics; in his daily life, he was an unconventional and kind old man.
"Professor, these three are all young talents. Misty will be the strongest Water-type trainer of the future. Brock will be the most famous action-film director of the future. And Todd Snap will be the future lifetime achievement Master Photographer of the Ecruteak Ho-Oh Awards!"
When it came to his friends, Ash naturally spared no effort in his flattery, fast-forwarding directly to the grand finale of this book.
To put it simply, they were the three great generals by the Pokémon Master's side. One was responsible for taking his picture, one for making his biographical documentary, and one for handing him water.
In the future, he could find two more to coordinate Pokémon performances.
Another one to be a backup dancer.
And maybe even a Champion-level trainer.
The Pokémon Master's royal guard, complete.
Hearing this, Professor Oak also nodded repeatedly and said with a smile:
"Oh, a Water-type trainer, a photographer, and an action-film director... Their futures are bright indeed."
"No, no, that's my second choice! My first choice is to be a Pokémon Breeder..."
Brock quickly interrupted, but perhaps because his skin was so dark, no one paid him any attention. At that moment, Professor Oak's hand landed on Ash's shoulder, his tone carrying a hint of comfort.
"You did quite well this time."
This time, a total of four people left Pallet Town. Little Black was gone by the second day.
Blue hasn't sent back any news yet, but she should be back soon.
Meanwhile, both Gary and Ash had collected all eight badges, and their strength had grown rapidly. Perhaps they could really achieve good results at the Indigo League, which would be held in a month and a half.
Pallet Town hadn't had any trainers with outstanding aptitude for a long time.
"As expected, if you cast a wide net, you're bound to catch a big fish."
Professor Oak said with a laugh, but then his expression darkened, and he complained, "But you haven't caught many Pokémon. Those thirty Tauros of yours are ridiculous. Do you think I'm a cattle herder?"
Someone like Gary had already caught over a hundred Pokémon. Although there were some repeat species, the sheer number was there.
Moreover, Gary also traded frequently, and every one of his Pokémon underwent thorough training. They were all battle-ready. But Ash hadn't traded with Professor Oak many times.
That being said, those dozens of Fossil Pokémon with ancient bloodlines, as well as that transitional Aerodactyl that had half-Mega Evolved, had completely maxed out the quality side of things.
"Come, let me see your results."
Professor Oak took Ash's Pokédex and opened the statistics summary. The Pokédex's CPU started to spin up. A loud "whirrr" from its fan made the professor frown; it even took two minutes to get past the loading screen of an app.
"What the hell? It's gotten this laggy after just a few months of use?"
After a long time, the Pokédex made a sound.
"Beep-beep. Pokédex statistics search complete. Total time: 6 minutes and 12 seconds. This is faster than 0% of Pokédexes nationwide. What a great performance!"
Professor Oak: "?"
Seeing that Ash and his group all wore matter-of-fact expressions, he was even more bewildered.
"Beep-beep. Kanto Pokédex, 98 species of Pokémon discovered."
Professor Oak nodded. That was a decent number. It's rare to see Pokémon from other regions in the Kanto Region, so he didn't open the National Pokédex tab, only checking the data for the local region.
Ninety-eight species... It seems he's really seen a lot of Pokémon.
"Beep-beep. A total of 150 species of Pokémon caught."
Professor Oak violently shook the Pokédex.
Is it really broken?
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