Dawn broke through the forest, dew clung to the leaf tips, and the cold mist soaked into the morning light.
Natsume stepped out of the tent, stretched with a yawn, and rubbed his eyes. Out of the corner of his vision, he spotted a figure lying by the campfire.
It was Giselle. Her hair was messy, and she seemed to have been asleep for some time, frost gathered on her lashes.
Perhaps from the cold, she was clinging tightly to Misty, who was fast asleep inside her sleeping bag.
*Pii—ka*
Following the sound, Natsume looked over and saw Midchu beneath a nearby tree.
One tiny paw held a syringe aimed at his tail. Supporting the barrel with one hand, Midchu pressed a cotton ball against the other.
The plunger braced against the tree trunk, Midchu slammed his weight forward.
*Pika!*
In an instant, Midchu jumped down clutching his tail, firmly pressing the cotton ball over the injection site.
"Midchu, your dosage control is getting better—you're almost at the theoretical value now."
Natsume picked up the steel solution, held it up to the sunlight, and checked the markings.
Not bad. With training from his Forgetfulness ability, Midchu had learned how to dose itself.
*Pika!*
Midchu angrily pointed toward Giselle, still fast asleep by the campfire.
She had nodded off around midnight.
To avoid waking up with a steel butt, Midchu hadn't dared close his eyes once.
Every hour, it gave itself another shot, even tossing wood into the fire along the way.
"You're right, Midchu, she should have a blanket."
*Pika pi?*
*Pika pika!*
Annoyed by Natsume's deliberate mistranslation, Midchu waved his little arms in protest.
"Alright then, go grab a blanket from my tent for her. I'll go find Ash and the others."
Natsume rubbed Midchu's ear.
*Pika!* Suddenly realizing something, Midchu dashed into Natsume's tent, rummaging loudly inside.
Checking his Rotom Phone, the time showed just past six.
Normally, everyone woke up around eight.
So Ash was probably still asleep.
Natsume thought it would be rude to bother him in person this early—so he made a call.
A small village, beside a stream.
Two sleeping bags, one blue and one green, lay side by side like caterpillars.
*Natsume, what are you doing! Natsume, what are you doing! Natsume, what are you doing! Natsume—*
"Huh? What's going on? I think I hear Professor Oak yelling."
From inside his sleeping bag, Ash shoved away Midchu and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Ah~ maybe I'm still dreaming?"
Half-dazed, Ash dropped back down, ready to keep sleeping.
"Wait, Ash—this isn't a dream."
Nearby, Brock crawled out of his sleeping bag, pointing at Ash's backpack.
"The sound is coming from there."
"Huh?" Ash fished through his pack and quickly found the source.
His Pokédex!
*Natsume, what are you doing! Natsume, what are you doing! Natsume, what are you doing!*
From the screen, Professor Oak's booming voice blasted out, alongside a giant picture of Natsume's face.
"This is… a video call? Ash, your Pokédex can do that? I thought normal ones didn't have that function."
Brock raised an eyebrow, surprised.
"I thought it could only make calls. I didn't even know about this."
Ash scratched his head and answered the video call.
Sure enough, Natsume's face appeared on the screen—he was feeding wood into the campfire.
"How about it, Ash? The special Pokédex I gave you guys is pretty good, right?"
"We…?" Ash caught onto the key word.
"Yeah, this batch of Pallet Town Pokédexes all have my software loaded in. How's that?"
"Oh, so that means Gary can video call me too."
Ash's eyes lit up. He'd been bragged on by Gary for not getting a starter Pokémon.
"Great! I want to video call him and show off my new partner, Bulbasaur!"
"Of course you can. Just check the manual. The contacts for all the Pallet Town trainers are listed there."
Natsume's voice continued.
"Manual? What's that?" Ash looked at him strangely.
"The little booklet I gave you at the start."
"Oh, the booklet…" Ash was thoughtful, but then Natsume's voice came again:
"I think I forgot to give it to you."
Ash: "…"
"But next time you see Gary, just check his Pokédex. You can all look up each other's numbers."
"Hurry back. Midchu needs you."
With that, Natsume hung up the call.
Right… that Charmander abandoned on Route 24. To avoid any accidents, the sooner they went, the better.
After all, they had already lost some time at the Pokémon Technical Institute.
If Natsume and the others didn't get there in time and the little guy was gone, that would be a huge problem.
As one of Ash's future mainstays, that Charmander's talent was extremely poor at first.
Even his size was much smaller than a typical Charizard's.
But the strength it showed later was top tier.
Natsume had a hunch—maybe this was tied to a potential system task.
"Like how, under Ash's protagonist aura, a Pokémon's talent gradually increases. Could that be the system?"
**+1**
Natsume pocketed another dollar.
"Ah—!"
Suddenly, Giselle let out a startled cry.
Natsume turned his head and saw her standing up in fright, holding the blanket that had been draped over her—a detailed anatomical chart of a Rhyperior.
*Pika hee hee!*
Beside the tent, the real culprit was covering his mouth, laughing.
"Mr. Natsume, was it you who covered me?" Giselle looked around—aside from Misty, half-asleep after being woken, there was only Natsume tending the fire.
"Yeah." Natsume nodded, taking the blame for Midchu.
He noticed that ever since he gave her those ten *lifelong study* notebooks, her attitude toward him had become strange.
Originally, he expected that with the pressure he applied, their relationship would sour, and ideally she would leave on her own.
Or at worst, when he drove her away a month later, it'd be less of a hassle.
Well, this should've dropped her favorability quite a bit. Even though it was Midchu's prank, he took responsibility.
But when Natsume glanced at her again, the fear on her face was gone.
Instead, a red flush spread across her cheeks, steam rising from her head—burning hotter than the campfire.
Natsume: ???
"Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Natsume! While I continue my studies, I will never neglect raising my Pokémon!"
Giselle carefully rolled up the Rhyperior chart, then stood and gave Natsume a deep bow.
Natsume: "…"
For a moment, he thought maybe, with imagination like this, she really did have potential as a researcher.
"Natsume! We're back!"
In the distance, Ash and Brock's voices rang out.
Natsume looked up in surprise.
*Pika!*
Midchu leapt onto Ash's other shoulder.
"Natsume, I caught a Bulbasaur!"
Ash couldn't wait to pull out a Pokéball and release Bulbasaur.
"That's great, Ash, you finally fulfilled your dream." Natsume clapped his hands in congratulations.
He remembered that before the journey even began, Ash often came to help him feed Pokémon.
Among them, the one Ash liked most was Bulbasaur.
"You came back at the perfect time. I made some really tasty stew yesterday and—huh? Where's my stew?"
Misty's puzzled voice rang out. She turned to find herself holding an empty pot.
"Midchu got greedy and ate it during the night," Natsume said, frantically signaling to Brock with his eyes.
*Pika?*
Midchu scratched his head. He clearly remembered it was Natsume who got up in the middle of the night and dumped that *unidentifiable substance*.
Still, since Natsume took the blame for him, he'd return the favor.
*Pika pika!*
Midchu patted his belly, showing it was delicious and he loved it.
"Really, Midchu? Next time I'll make something just for you!" Misty wasn't angry—in fact, she looked delighted.
"Geez, Midchu, you're such a glutton." Ash rubbed Pikachu's head.
"Ahaha, in that case, I'll handle breakfast today." Brock immediately picked up the cue from Natsume's signals.
"Alright, once we're done eating, we head straight for Vermilion City!"
"Idiot, we have to go to Route 24 first!"
You can read more (around 50+ free chapters) of Natsume's adventure ad-free at [https ://ravenarchives .com/book/pokemon-who-let-him-leave-pallet-town]. Bulk uploads is a mess here, so updates here might be irregular.