(Third Person POV)
Entering Prof Oak's lab was equivalent to entering to Disneyland for the first time when the magic was still alive.
Several machines Kaori could only guess what they did, lots of notes around in either organized stacks of paper or even a few on the floor carried by the wind, a giant computer screen with several Pokemon data, constantly uploading itself over and over again.
Now, waiting in the middle of the lab, examining some documents sat the man of the moment and one of the greatest Pokemon Professors ever, Professor Samuel Oak.
"Oh, welcome, I didn't hear you enter." Oak smiled as he greeted Kaori and Jay.
"You really need to get your ears checked Prof, I'm not kidding." Jay answered back as he gave Dragonite's Pokeball back.
Oak looked a tad embarrassed by the statement before he coughed in his fist. "Before that, I believe presentations are priority." Oak looked at Kaori and adjusted his lab coat. "I'm Samuel Oak, but everyone calls me Professor Oak, lead Pokémon Professor of Kanto, nice to meet you Kaori." Oak extended his hand for a handshake.
Kaori's face was shown with admiration and respect, on the outside that is, on the inside he was freaking the F out!
'OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!! Professor Oak! In the flesh! Like the actual person and not some 2D image! Ok, ok, ok, calm down Kaori, just play it cool…' Kaori.
"A—Pl-pleasure to-two meet you sir!" Kaori rigidly shook his hand.
'Flawless.' Kaori thought.
"Its always a pleasure to meet eager youngsters like you." Oak didn't mind Kaori's behavior at all and just smiled.
"Well, I better go back to investigate Mt. Moon." Jay announced his departure.
"Thank you for your hard work Jay, notify me of any problems you may have." Oak informed his aide.
Jay left and now only Oak and Kaori remained. Kaori looked around and let out a small awkward laugh as he said.
"Awfully empty for such a large lab, eh?" Kaori.
Oak didn't seemed bothered by it and let out a laugh of his own.
"Yeah, I get that a lot, is just that I have my assistants and aides all over the region to study different habitats and species for research." Oak explained.
Kaori's demeanor changed from fanboy to researcher. "Right, you analyze the information here in order to categorize it. Its still a monumental task considering the amount of information but this way is somewhat efficient." Kaori summarized.
Oak nodded before hinting Kaori to follow him.
"Let me give you a tour first around the lab." Oak.
The two of them started walking around the lab as Oak continued talking.
"I can't express how thankful and how excited I am about having you here, The Star Region going into lockdown is surely a shame." Oak started talking with a somewhat solemn tone before shifting. "Which is why I'm glad that you decided to contact me about coming here." Oak looked back and smiled at Kaori, who returned the smile.
"Do you have any doubts about what you'll be doing in here?" Oak asked.
"Eh…could you go through everything from the top? I don't want to miss anything." Kaori stuttered.
'Because I don't know what exactly I agreed to.' Kaori thought.
"Want to be through with it, huh? I can respect that dedication. Very well, allow me to explain what this internship will be about." Oak stops at a small living room and sits in one couch before Kaori sits across him.
"This internship is test of sorts for me to gauge your overall Pokémon knowledge, there'll be several activities you must complete daily while also aid me in my research subjects. Varying from field research to reviewing notes, by the end of this period I'll get to decide whether you deserve to be called A Pokémon Professor, just as a small reminder, you came up with this idea." Oak explained.
'Huh?' Kaori thought.
"I know that the sudden lockdown of your region may be a tad shocking so I just reminded you in case you forgot." Oak.
'Wexof, why didn't you explained this to me in the note?!' Kaori thought in chaos.
"No worries Professor Oak, I'm ready for anything and everything!" Kaori rose from his seat with, metaphorical, fire in his eyes.
Oak smirked at the teen and took out a clipboard.
"Alrighty then, let's begin with some preliminary questions." Oak.
"On it!" Kaori sat again.
"Full name."
"Kaori, just Kaori."
"Age?"
"Twelve." 'At least I think I'm Twelve, I feel like twelve.'
"Known allergies?"
"None I can think of…but I'm not a fan of bitter food."
"Any phobias or dislikes that may be a problem when researching?"
"None really, ah, I may get sidetracked drawing the Pokémon in question, I really love them." Kaori commented as he gave Oak the unfinished sketch of Dragonite.
Oak inspected the drawing and was impressed by the level of detail it had, it was even more detailed that some books. Oak nodded and gave the sketchbook back before continuing the questions.
"What's your ideal workplace?"
"I honestly just want to study Pokemon as much as I can, just thinking about me makes me excited!"
"Preferred Type?"
"None, I'd like to study all of them."
"In a situation where two alpha Pokémon are fighting for territory in The Rock Tunnel, how would you solve the situation?"
"Which Pokemon are fighting?"
"Machamp and Golem."
"Which side is losing?"
"Machamp's, they have lower numbers."
"What's the reason they're fighting for?"
"Resources. Food, water, shelter."
"How long since the conflict started?"
"A week."
Kaori's mind went blank for a moment before he started to think every possible scenario to fix the problem. Oak only watched, analyzing this young teen and see whether what he saw back then was a fluke or not.
"Golem's evolution line isn't one that require much water, a single drop of water is all they need for 10 whole years, Machamp's on the other hand requires daily doses of water to hydrate after working out. Regarding their food problem, Golem, Geodude and Graveler can sustain themselves by eating raw minerals, as they're their primary source of food." Kaori started explaining.
"Machamp on the other hand requires berries, while its true that they can inhabit caves, these are mostly used just as shelter, not exactly a permanent residence, not just that but considering the conflict's been on for a whole week and the losing side hasn't back down tells me one thing…"
Kaori looked at Oak and smirked.
"This is a paradoxical question." Kaori answered confidently.
"It could happen though." Oak answered back.
"True, but the issue would be solved way earlier than a whole week. Golem and his evo line live in isolated places so that they can roll around freely, Machamp's line also prefers isolation to focus on their training, them fighting over resources makes no sense." Kaori refuted.
"Still, wild Pokemon are quite aggressive you know." Oak replied calmly.
"True, but they're also no fools. If Machamp's side has been losing for a whole week, rather than lose numbers fighting, the leader would just go for another place, like Route 10 for example to ease their food gathering." Kaori.
Oak took a moment to think about it before nodding and laughing.
"HAHAHAHA!! You're right, it was a trick question from the beginning." Oak admitted with a smile. "Everyone falls for those if scenarios and never think from the Pokemon perspective, I'm glad you answered it." Oak.
Kaori looked expectingly. "Does that mean…!" Kaori.
Oak nods. "Welcome to The Oak Foundation, Intern Kaori." Oak stretched his hand.
"YEAH!" Kaori jumped in happiness before shaking Oak's hand. "I promise I'll do my very best!"
Oak laughs and nods.
"Fine, fine, follow me lad, I'll show you around, for real this time." Oak and Kaori started walking around the lab.
Their first stop was a large water tank that was filled with some marine fauna and had a school of Magikarp inside.
"Here's the water tank area, here we conduct experiments on water-type Pokemon. From studying their reactions to new elements to their dietary restrictions, right now I'm studying the Magikarp species." Oak explained as he showed the massive water tank.
"Were these caught in the ocean or river? And if it was the sea, does the tank adjust the saline levels?" Kaori asked as he admired the Magikarp.
"Good question, these were caught in the riverside here in the outskirts of Pallet Town. There was a massive outbreak of Magikarp due to their predators migrating for winter so, I caught a few for myself to study, and yes, the saline levels are constantly checked and changed according to species." Oak explained.
"Good, their scales are not that good, are they freshly caught?" Kaori asked him.
"Indeed they are, less than a month in." Oak.
"Their move sets?" Kaori asked.
"Why ask me that? You know that Magikarp's moves are only Tackle and Splash." Oak inquired.
"You'd be surprised. In the Star region there's proof of Magikarp learning odd moves like Dragon Rage and even Hydro Pump." Kaori answered.
"Fascinating, I guess there's a lot I have yet to learn about Pokemon." Prof Oak admitted.
"Everyone will Professor, so long as Pokémon exist, their mysteries will always be as vast as the oceans and endless as the sky above us." Kaori mused before adding. "Doesn't that make all this research all the more fun and interesting?" Kaori smiled as he started imitating a Magikarp in the tank.
Oak smiled again before moving onto the next area.
The next section has several Pokeballs on shelves as they're all categorized and numbered.
"These here are the Pokeballs in which I've caught or safekeep several Pokémon that trainers entrust me." Oak.
"Cool, are all of them empty I assume." Kaori.
"Indeed they are…with the exception of these three." Oak reaches to one of the shelves and takes the Pokeballs with the numbers 001, 004, 007.
"Based only on the numbers…are these?" Kaori asked with stars in his eyes.
Oak doesn't answer but just threw the Pokeballs upwards.
*FWOOP* *FWOOP* *FWOOP*
From the Pokeballs emerged three different Pokémon.
The first one was a quadrupedal toad-like creature with a bulb or sprout or whatever you want to call that plant lump on its back. The bulb on its back is green while its body is more akin to teal-colored with darker spots around it and has red iris with white pupils and sclerotic.
The next one is a bipedal lizard-like Pokémon that has small claws on its frontal limbs and longer ones on his back limbs, his body is orange color except for the light-cream colored underbelly, has small fangs that are barely seen out of its mouth, its tail is constantly on fire and its eyes' iris are blue that gets darker in color until the black pupil in the middle and a white part of the sclerotic in the upper side of its eye.
The last one is a bipedal turtle-like Pokémon, it is light blue-colored all around its limbs except for the shell that covers most of its middle body being brown on the back side and light yellow on the front side, has a small whirlwind blue tail and has purple iris with a black pupil and a white sclerotic dot on the upper side of its eyes.
"These are Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, the initial Pokémon that I gift to promising trainers at the start of their adventure here in Pallet Town." Prof Oak presented the three starters.
"The Seed Pokémon Grass/Poison-Type, The Lizard Pokémon Fire-Type and The Young Turtle Pokémon Water-Type." Kaori commented as he crouched to their level.
Charmander looked curious but let a small grunt to affirm dominance over the new person, Squirtle was just staring back while moving his head to the sides in confusion, Bulbasaur was the more uninterested one as he decided to just get comfortable on the lab floor and nap.
Kaori stretched his hand and slowly but carefully showed his palm, Charmander and Squirtle started looking at the palm, even sniffing it a little, Kaori then started to gently scratch Charmander's lower jaw, easing the fire-type.
With his other hand, Kaori scratched the base of Squirtle's neck, which brought bliss to the tiny turtle, before long, both of them were already completely tamed and comfortable to be around Kaori.
"Remarkable, they're not that good with strangers yet, how did you do that?" Oak asked amazed.
"Charmander's claws are a tad too sharp to scratch the soft underjaw of theirs, they usually use the palms of their paws to scratch it but it isn't the same so, this really relieves them. Squirtle on the other hand can get itchy around the areas of the neck and joints when left out of water for too long, or too short, it depends on specimen but they still like being scratched there." Kaori explained before looking at Bulbasaur.
He only light tapped the toad's head, making him sleep even more comfortably.
"Due to their docile nature the Bulbasaur species only need some caring to be comfortable around people, there-there little fella." Kaori kept alternating between tapping Bulbasaur and scratching Charmander.
Oak nodded at Kaori playing with the starter Pokémon, such a heartwarming scene that couldn't help Oak but to think about his own Charizard.
After a few more minutes, Kaori and Oak finally left the Starter Squad back in their balls as they went to their final workplace destination. They arrived back at the beginning of the lab with the large screen and other computers around.
"This is where I review, categorize and analyze the information my lab assistants gather for me in the wild." Oak.
"So, like you send them to work and they bring back information or is there more to it?" Kaori.
"Well, this research is part of their overall work so, naturally, I'm the one paying for most of their expenses throughout their journeys. They also bring me some items I require for my tests here but the obtention might be harder than common ones." Oak explained.
"Hm…do the screens work all the time? If so, how to prevent the overheating?" Kaori.
"Thunderstones are great energy batteries and regulators, even though it requires a large amount of electricity, they regulate it without causing any of those side-effects. Regarding the energy consumption, the league sponsors my investigation so it doesn't require any additional taxes." Oak explained.
"Have you ever considered automizing the whole process?" Kaori asked.
"How do you mean?" Oak questioned.
"Well, have you ever heard of a Pokémon called Rotom?" Kaori.
"Electric/Ghost-Type of the Sinnoh Region, why?" Oak.
'So, they still don't know about his multiple forms? Interesting.' Kaori.
"You see, Rotom has the ability to connect itself with several machines like ovens and lawnmowers and control them, so I thought, why not boot him up this PC and help you with your research?" Kaori suggested.
"Fascinating, Rowan hasn't mentioned this to me…perhaps is due to how Rotom's tendency to live in abandoned buildings in Sinnoh…" Oak pondered for a moment about Kaori's suggestion.
'I hope this advance the development of phones, its amazing it took them over a decade to know about mobile phones. Like, thy have cars and other amazing technological advances, yet they never had phones. Well, its not like a priority.' Kaori thought.
"Well, thanks for the input Kaori. Back to the subject, this is everything the lab has to offer, the second floor is mostly personal rooms so there's nothing to talk about them, any questions?" Oak.
"When do I start and do I have a house here or somewhere to sleep or…?" Kaori.
"Today's Saturday so, you'll start on Monday, about housing don't worry, you can take the empty room in the back of the second floor to the right." Oak.
"Cool, is there anything else I should be aware of?" Kaori.
"Hm...oh, yeah, sometimes my grandsons and some kids from round come here to either play with the Pokemon or just pass some time reviewing some of my battle videos so, don't worry about them much but keep an eye on them just in case." Oak.
"Understood." Kaori then remembers his egg. "Oh, by the way, do you have an incubator?" Kaori asked.
"I do, they're located in the storage room, why?" Oak.
Kaori didn't answered but just reached into his bag and took out his Chimchar egg.
"I managed to salvage this Chimchar egg on my way out of Star, I wonder if you could let me borrow an incubator." Kaori.
Oak inspected the egg. "No cracks, that's good, the color isn't off so its been receiving enough heat, still feels warm so the embryo is still safe…alright, bring it here." Oak walked towards the storage and brought an incubator.
In the table in the middle of the main hall Oak placed the Chimchar egg inside the incubator. After turning it on and allowing it to rest for a second, Oak turned to Kaori.
"The egg's vitals are stable, don't worry at all, just leave it there until its ready to hatch." Oak.
"Thanks professor." Kaori.
Before Kaori could ask about his room, someone, or more like some kids, decided to barge into the lab.
"Professor Oak, can we play with your Pokémon again?!"