139 Professor Fraxinus

After Green was done with Ash she calmed down enough to let him off the hook since she knew he probably wasn't going to tell her, speaking of which Ash was on the table with spirals in his eyes. 

Yellow was waving her hand in front of Ash's face, "Ummm, is Ash going to be ok?"

"Probably not, but you don't have to worry about that Yellow," Green said, giving Yellow a head pat.

Lara also looked down at Ash, "You got him seein' stars, looks like he'll be out for at least an hour."

"You underestimate my power~" Ash mumbled as he slowly got up.

"How are you awake, shouldn't you have brain damage or something?"

"Jokes on you I already have it," Ash said pointing to his chest.

"That's not something to be proud of!!!" Lara yelled.

"Well when you have idiot friends like mine you get used to it," Ash said with spirals still in his eyes.

"Hey x3," the three guilty people said

"Oh shut up you know it's true, Yellow's the only good one that doesn't give me brain trauma," Ash said as he started to get back to normal.

"Thank you?" Yellow said looking confused.

Misty's eye twitched, "You can't say these things out of context people are going to hear you."

"Good, I want them to hear the abuse," Ash responded

"Is.. is this normal?" Janine leaned over to Yellow and asked.

Yellow shrugged, "Kinda, it happens more than you expect if that answers it."

As Ash and Misty were going back and forth, Brock stepped in, "So, what's the plan next, are we going back to Saffron City?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you would need at least one more official badge, you think you can take on Sabrina?" Janine asked.

"Oh, absolutely not," Ash said bluntly, making everyone collectively feel like they got slapped in the face.

"Look, I only steamrolled through this gym battle, because I had 4 extra days of training I wasn't planning on doing, I genuinely don't think I can confidently beat Sabrina."

"Well then, how long are you planning on training?"

"Well considering right now I feel like I could win 3/10 times, I say a week or two of training should be good," Ash said as he rubbed his chin.

"Well then, what's the plan then, I doubt you want to stay in Saffron for two weeks," Brock asked until Misty raised her hand in front of his face.

"Wait wait wait, let's not be hasty here, I think we should list our options before we do something we might regret."

Ash rolled his eyes, "Well I wanted to keep walking to see if we can get to the next port town to see when we could catch a boat to Cinnabar since you know Abra can just bring us back."

"Does Cinnabar even still have a gym, last I heard after it became a tourist attraction?" Green asked

"Well actually Blane still runs the gym but sometimes he isn't there since he is also a scientist and sometimes he does his own thing," Janine said.

"Why do you even want to do that, after you get one more you can just go take on 2 unofficial gyms and be done with it?" Misty asked.

"Because if I get all 8 I can skip the first few preliminary rounds when the Indigo Plateau starts, also clout," Ash responded.

The Indigo Plateau was actually very big, and badges had a 2 year expiration time, meaning you technically have 2 years from getting your first badge to getting your last, if you take longer then it expires and you have to re-battle the gym with their 8-badge team.

And oftentimes more experienced trainers from other regions come to Kanto to participate so there are usually a lot of preliminary battles to weed out the competitions.

"Anyway, besides that not much of a plan," Ash said, stretching his arms back.

"Well, I still think we should see our options to make sure we aren't picking up more than we can chew-" Misty was cut off.

"Cinnabar is right next to the island of Squirtles," Ash said not even looking at Misty.

"Alright, let's pack our bags and go tonight!" Misty said excitedly

"Easy there," Ash said pulling out his dex, "According to reports the next ship shouuu-oh no,"

Everyone saw Ash's worried face and grew concerned, "What's wrong, what happened."

Ash looked over at Janine, "Our battle is trending."

Although Ash doesn't really talk about it, he does have social media, and currently, People are sending him a lot of DMs trying to get answers on what Pokemon he was using and how to get it, he even got one from Professor Oak telling him to call him when he had the chance.

Everyone immediately gave a tired look, "Oh poor you, that must be such a problem."

"Wow don't get too excited," Ash chuckled, "Besides it's not like it's going to be like this for long with such heavy competitors like, 'Flying Master Lance' Wow they are really piling on this interview."

"Oh you mean the Lance interview," Lara said, "Yeah, me and my folks watched it when it came out, gotta say not the way I would have done it."

"I mean to be fair, they were really trying to push the Johto hate onto Lance," Janine said.

"Anyway, it seems like I'm going to have to deal with this later, but that's a future problem. We have a festival to enjoy." Ash said with a goofy smile.

Then he looked over at Green and snapped his fingers, from out of his shadow Gastly came out holding a smaller Gastly, "By the way I think this is yours, next time don't make it so obvious."

"Whaaaaat, I have no idea what you're talking about…" Green said looking innocently at the ground, "But if you're offering me a Gastly that looks like it was hatched from a special egg then who am I to refuse~"

Ash rolled his eyes as the Gastly retreated to Green, and his Gastly went into his shadow again.

{A few hours later}

It was late, the festival stuff had already died down and People were already taking everything down, Lara decided to go back to her hometown and Janine went back to the Gym.

Everyone else already went over to their rooms to get some rest but Ash was currently at one of the computers and was dialing Oak's number, and almost immediately got a response.

Oak appeared on the screen looking frantic like he was studying something or trying to get into contact with someone, before he could even greet the professor he spoke up first.

"Ash! That Pokemon you have, you must let me study it!"

"Wow, a hello might have been good," Ash said dryly

Immediately Oak strengthened himself, "Right, right sorry I just got excited after seeing that Pokemon you had, Annihilape was it?"

"Um yeah, he evolved from a Primeape,"

"Yes yes, I've heard about it, stories about new evolutions came from over in Paldea, but I haven't been able to get into contact with the Professors, in fact, no one has," Oak explained.

"Interesting, so that makes me the first person outside of Paldea to use one of these Pokemon." 

"Yes, it is quite remarkable, when Grace showed me the video of your Gym battle I was shocked."

"Grace, you mean that cute researcher girl Gary has a thing for?"

"Well, I would have put it differently, but I suppose that is an accurate description of her," Oak coughed.

"But back on topic, you must let me study Annihilape, and if you can tell me how you managed to get it to evolve."

Ash crossed his arms and looked like he was in deep thought, "That's a tough thing, you see I was planning on using him for my next gym battle,"

"When is it I can help you train it," Oak immediately said

Ash smiled internally, "Tell you what, I can give him to you and I can tell you how I evolved, or at least how I think I did, but I want two things."

"Alright name them,"

"Firstly I'll give you a week then I want him back so I can train him, but after I'm done I can give him back so you can study him more."

"Alright, what's the second?"

Ash smiled, "I want in on the report you're going to write."

Oak had the surprised Pikachu face, "What."

"Come on, don't tell me that you think I don't know why you want to study him, shouldn't it be fair that I also receive royalties."

"I suppose... that makes sense." Oak scratched his chin.

"And besides," Ash said as a smile grew on his face as he spread his arms, "I managed to find a new evolution with no help or guidance in a little less than 5 months, imagine what I could do if I was given more time and proper funding."

The professor looked seriously at Ash, "Are you saying you're planning on becoming a Professor as well?"

Ash just smiled, "No, if anything it might be a secondary thing. Being a trainer is my priority, but that doesn't mean I can't do some independent research of my own."

Oak sighed and nodded, "I suppose, your requests are reasonable, but will you be using your name or an alias?"

Ash took a moment to think before looking back at Oak, "Call me, Professor Fraxinus."

–

{With Ashtwo}

Ash was sitting at an empty table in the lunch room with a computer, and Drowzee was next to him finally enjoying actual food since he finally removed all the chemicals from his body.

His malnourished form was starting to fill up again and he was recovering, at the moment he was eating some Pokeblockes Ash gave him and reading a book on dreams.

As for Ash, Porygon has infiltrated the computers of the Saffron base and has been gathering information.

A lot of information was easier to get than others, for example, some crime reports that Grunts created and Admin orders, but the better stuff was more encrypted.

Thankfully with the upgrade Porygon got, it was eventually able to get in and gather more information, Weapons, Pokeballs, embezzlement in businesses in Saffron, a list of undercover Team Rockets, etc. Even activity from the black market was all there, but even then there was a 3rd wall that not even Porygon could get into.

And this was just in Saffron, this isn't even Team Rocket's main base, which was in Viridian City, nor was it his main target like Celadon. But it had a lot of information.

Speaking of which he did find Team Rockets funds which were unsurprisingly in the Billions, he didn't wire anything out yet, he was having Porygon investigate patterns of when the financial team took out money, and investigate previous employee records to see the differences in how much got taken out.

It sounded complicated but in reality, it boiled down to, seeing how much embezzlement went on and when he could wire money out, he already created an offshore account under a fake name in preparation.

As he was looking through the information, suddenly an arm slapped on the back catching him by surprise until he heard the voice, "Hey Bro, long time no see!"

Looking behind him he saw Jay giving a goofy smile, "Good to see you D. I see your as busy as ever, and you got a new Pokemon,"

"Uhh yeah-"

"Ohh are those Pokeblockes they sell here where did you get them!"

"Well, I-"

"Hey, I got an Idea why don't I show you my team I got 2 new Pokemon!" Jay said as he threw out 3 Pokeballs.

Out of them came 3 Meowth, One had a red bowtie, and had a fierce look of a wild tiger. The other adorned a giddiness only seen in playful children, with a yellow bowtie to match. And the last one looked depressed with its light blue bowtie.

"Meet Moody, Rudey, and Todd, Rudey here is the first one I got, Moody is always grumpy, and Todd is Todd," Jay said pointing at red, blue, then yellow in that order.

Ash raised his eyebrow, 'Did he really name his Meowth Moody, Rudey, and Todd? …I kinda feel bad for Todd.'

As Jay was enthusiastically introducing his cat squad, a certain white-haired girl was watching and clicked her tongue as a small green bird was hiding in her bag.

It was Enid and she walked up to the two discussing, more specifically Ash, in her opinion, Ash was purposefully one-upping her and then acting like nothing happened, how could she the main character ignore such a blatant stepping stone for her path to power.

"Hey!" Enid shouted, getting the attention of the two.

"Oh hey Enid how have you been, wanna see my new Pokemon, I've been working on a super secret technique so let's have a rematch I'll beat you this time for sure!" Jay said enthusiastically.

But Enid ignored him and looked at Ash, who was currently closing the laptop he had and seemed to wanna leave, "Hey, D. I want a rematch."

Ash looked at her and just bluntly said, "No,"

Then without a word he got up and walked away, Drowzee was still eating until he noticed Ash walking away so he ran after leaving behind his Pokeblockes, Rudey the Meowth tried to help himself to the Pokeblockes but Drowzee came back and slapped the cat's hand before grabbing the plate and running to try and catch up.

Enid looked shocked, how could a side character say no to the honor of being the main character's stepping stone, she shook her head and looked to her bag, [Natu, what can you see off them,]

[As you wish, young lady,] the green bird said as his eyes glowed and he tried to look at Ash and Drowzee, and almost immediately he had to take a gasp of air with bags forming under his eyes.

[No, nobody should suffer like that!] Natu communicated to Enid.

[What do you mean, what did you see?]

[No I can't tell you, young lady, what I saw can only be described as torture, how can someone experience something that terrible, to be used as a test subject, as an expendable piece of flesh for someone else's enjoyment, it is horrifying.]

Of Course, Natu was referring to Drowzee, he couldn't even see anything from Ash, but Enid thought differently. She thought Natu was referring to Ash so she looked in the direction he left and wondered what Natu saw.

—

{Kanto international police headquarters}

Looker was working on a computer filling out some final reports, it was currently pretty dark outside so the office was empty.

As he was about to finish up he felt a slap on his back and the sound of a girl's voice, "Hey common Looker you almost done?"

Looker sighed, "Anabel, why are you still here?"

"Come on grumpy pants, don't you remember you said you were going to invite me somewhere when I can finally take on actual police work instead of desk duty," Anabel said

Looker sighed a bit, then he got up and grabbed his coat, "I suppose, how do you feel about Barbecue? I know a good place."

Looker reached down and was about to press the button to turn off his computer when suddenly the screen went black, and a pair of red eyes looked back from the scene.

"What a surprise, I was only expecting Looker but to also get the infamous Anabel, truly I am lucky."

"Who are you and how did you get into my computer?" Looker demanded, he needed to see if whoever this was was a threat, in the worst case he would have to delete everything on his computer.

"Relax, If I wanted to steal information from the international police, don't you think I would have remained hidden."

That didn't seem to make Looker or Anabel relax in the slightest, "The question still stands who are you and what do you want."

"My name? I'm going by D. right now. And right now, I am a part of Team Rocket."

---

I'm done with tests! I can relax for a bit, but in all reality, I'm just saying that to myself so I can cope I have more tests in like 2 weeks

Can I get some stones for motivation?