5 Chapter 5 Hatching and the Research Paper

Faust turned over in his bed to avoid the sunlight that was directly hitting his face. Unable to sleep in the brightness, he finally sat up and opened the system panel. Navigating to the Daily Items he scanned through the list and picked out a collection of mineral supplements that included zinc, iron, calcium and so on.

There were other items on the list worth redeeming but Faust wasn't going to hoard up treasures like a greedy dragon. He didn't have the power to protect his treasures, yet. Moreover, he needed to make the Wimpod strong and he would not compromise on that goal.

He had redeemed a carton of Moomoo milk yesterday and although it had shown up again today, he decided to obtain the mineral supplements simply because they were rare and extremely expensive. There wasn't anything strange about that because, unlike human supplements, Pokemon supplements contained more concentrated and refined forms of the mineral. A pack of zinc tablets cost around 100000 Alliance Credits. 

Faust could make a huge profit selling the items from the system. But he wasn't stupid enough to do that, no matter how anonymously you did it, powerful people could always trace the source of coveted items.

Pushing the useless thoughts to the back of his head, Faust got up and started getting ready for the day. There was a goal he had in mind, to explore the Pokemon Service Centres.

PSCs were similar to Pokemon Centres of the game. However, they provided a more diverse range of services than in the anime or the games including Pokemon health services, trainer health services, selling items related to Pokemon, auctions, acting as guarantors for duels and so on.

By the time Faust stepped out of the house, it was already noon. Walking towards the PSC he scrolled through the news section of the Alliance Broadcasting Network. The AB network was one of the major news outlets in this world and although it had Alliance in its name, it wasn't exclusively run by the Alliance. It functioned more like disinvested Public Sector Company with a large portion of it being owned by powerful families and corporations

As Faust scrolled through the news he saw reports on league battles, battles between famous trainers, entertainment, research and so on. Just as he was about to put it away, he came across a headline that caught his attention.

'Revival of Fossilized Pokemon a Success: Exclusive Interview with the Woman behind the scenes, Professor Charlotte Foss'

Faust opened the link and it redirected to a video. A mature woman wearing a white coat and thick-rimmed glasses was being interviewed by a reporter.

"Professor Foss you have recently submitted a conclusive report on your findings regarding the revival of fossilized Pokemon. The researcher's Union has verified it and plans to make a public announcement soon. What exactly is it that trainers should look forward to?"

Professor Ross smiled slightly and replied," Actually it's quite straightforward. We have managed to revive three fossilized Pokemon and successfully train them to behave just like normal Pokemon hatched from eggs and caught in rifts or the wild do."

The reporter then excitedly asked if she could show the viewers those Pokemon.

"Well since it is going to be public knowledge soon, sure. But I have only one of those Pokemon with me. The others have been given to the two trainers who were involved in the experiments and have asked for their identities not to be disclosed", saying so Professor Ross tossed out a normal Pokeball. After a brief flash of light, a Lileep appeared in front of the camera.

"This is a Lileep. Apparently, it is a grass and rock dual type. We revived it from what we are now calling a Root fossil. While the research is still ongoing about the fossilized Pokemon but by making the revival technology open for use by trainers we hope to discover new species of fossil Pokemon", said Professor Foss, stroking one of Lileep's petals.

"Professor Ross, this is amazing. Now completely off-topic, are you still researching Eevee and the reason how it can evolve into five different Pokemon each with a completely different type?"

Professor Ross sighed and said, "Unfortunately we have hit a snag there, Eevee is a mystery that initially led me to take up research. But even now I am unable to determine conclusively just how it is that it's possible or under what conditions. I mean we know the elemental energies have a role to play as we use elemental stones for evolution but that raises even more questions in the case of Espeon and Umbreon. But do not worry, I have the confidence. Given time and putting multiple minds together we can solve this mystery. That's what research is about."

The reporter nodded and then asked," Does that mean you are looking for a possible partnership with another Researcher? If so, do you have anyone in mind?"

"Yes indeed I am looking for possible research assistants but I'm not limiting myself to just renowned names. Our doors are open to all, be it trainers or civilians. If we are impressed by your ideas we will support you. This is also why my personal e-mail has been put out in the public. I plan to personally screen all research papers that individuals submit for entry into research colleges and universities. If they are impressive enough, I plan to offer them a full ride through University and a spot on my research team. But be warned, I will not tolerate any nonsense and believe me when I say that you will get blacklisted for any obscene or irrelevant content that shows up on my mail", answered Professor Ross.

"Wow, that is quite an olive branch for all aspiring academics and researchers out there. Thank you for your time, Professor. We hope to see you soon again!"

The interview ended with that. Faust was in deep thought, wasn't this a golden opportunity for him. Faust would have originally had to go through a rigorous process of screening but with Professor Ross's help, he could skip all of this. Moreover, the look in her eyes when she spoke of the Eevee research was almost fervent.

Of course, Faust wouldn't completely trust her just from her attitude but he could use her as a springboard. Thinking so Faust looked up her email and saved it. Now he just needed to write the research paper. But first, he needed a laptop.

Faust stepped into the brightly lit PSC and was surprised to see that it was empty. Applegrove Town clearly wasn't a very rich town. Except for a rare few senior trainers and explorers that lived here, no one had the money to spend on expensive Pokemon items.

Randomly browsing around Faust picked out a few Citrus, Razz, Pecha and Oran berries. He saw a few exorbitantly priced TMs but ignored them. There was nothing special about them except for perhaps their price.

Coming to the Item Mart's electronics section he saw a few models of laptops and other accessories. He tried them out and finally decided on the thinnest one. He wouldn't be needing anything heavy-duty since all he needed to do was type a paper. 

Gathering up everything he came to the checkout counter and saw a bored-looking man watching something on his phone. An early-stage Senior Medichamp was next to him either snoozing.

The Medichamp opened its eyes and looked at him before closing them again. Okay...not snoozing, meditating. The cashier billed everything and it came out to be 260000 Alliance Credits.

Faust was surprised at how expensive berries were. Each berry on average cost 2000 Alliance Credits. Surprisingly the laptop was only 90000 credits. But then again, berries grew best inside rifts and rift grown berries just like anything from inside the rift was expensive. 

Faust paid and looked at the remaining balance in his bank account. 200000 credits. He would be getting 40000 credits a month for another year before he officially turned 18 and the Alliance struck his name off the financial support list. 

But Faust wasn't really bothered by the low amount of money. The money would come soon and it would come in very large quantities. Coming back home he checked his egg that would hatch in three days from now and set up his new laptop. Booting it up he opened the word processor and began typing.

'The Pokemon Eevee is a Normal-type.....' Faust had decided to complete a rough draft of his paper in the next few days since he had nothing else to do. His Pokemon egg wouldn't hatch for another 3 days. Faust typed with extreme focus, trying to recall everything he could from the anime, movies and the games about Eevee.

By the time Faust noticed it already was 2 am. He had been typing for nearly 10 hours now and the feeling of exhaustion was washing over him like waves on a sandy beach. Dragging himself to bed he somehow climbed in and fell asleep almost immediately. 

The next few days flew by in a flash and all Faust did was eat, type, repeat. On the fourth day as he was typing a sudden sound of clicking distracted him. Realising what was happening, Faust quickly uncapped a bottle of Moomoo milk and poured it into a large flat bowl. 

In less than fifteen minutes of being ejected, Faust heard a few cracking noises before a white light engulfed the entire room. Shielding his eyes from the intense brightness, Faust couldn't see what was happening. But a few seconds later the light disappeared and a red and white Wimpod was looking at Faust curiously. 

Faust slowly pushed the bowl forward and the Wimpod looked at it for a moment before slowly crawling towards it. As soon as it tasted the milk, its eyes widened before turning into happy crescents and it dived into the bowl. Faust was flustered at this sudden action and was about to pull Wimpod out when he heard slurping sounds. Shaking his head he waited patiently till the Pokemon had had its fill.

Wimpod didn't stop until there was not a drop left in the bowl. Looking around as if it was searching for more milk, the Wimpod noticed Faust and quickly got onto his lap, climbed up his torso and snuck into the hood Faust had pulled over his head. Moving about for a bit, the Wimpod found a comfortable position and settled down. 

Faust heard a comfortable cry from the Pokemon which quickly transitioned into soft rhythmic snoring. 

'Well seems like introductions will have to wait until tomorrow.'

Slowly lifting himself, careful not to disturb Wimpod Faust went back to the chair and began working on the research paper. He had finished writing the entire paper about all evolutions of Eevee and also the genetic instability of Eevee and its extremely efficient adaptability. However, the paper he was going to send to Professor Ross's e-mail was not this one.

The Paper he would send would only contain the general information of Eevee and a few hypotheses about means of evolution. Of course, he would mention a few key points letting Professor Ross know that he knew more but wasn't willing to write. So he opened a new text document in the editor and began writing a shorter paper derived from the much longer original version. 

By the time Faust finished up, his short version was almost 50 pages long with a font size of 7. This was nothing compared to his original which was almost 150 pages.

Admiring his work he first saved it and then encrypted both the files with a password. Looking at the time it was close to 1 am. Faust didn't bother getting up and just lay his head down on the desk drifting into a deep sleep.