บท 5: Meeting of the Professors

My expression froze in a look of disbelief as I watched the ship steadily approach us, making professor Oak smirk victoriously, though he didn't know the real reason for my shock.

May and Dawn were two of the main heroines of the Pokemon franchise, appearing in both the games involving their respective regions, as well as accompanying the protagonist of the anime, Ash.

May was from the Hoenn region, where in the game her father was the Pokemon professor who gives you your starter and sends you out on your journey, Birch. She then acts like a friendly rival for the most part, encountering you at random points in your journey and challenging you to a battle with her own Pokemon.

Dawn meanwhile was the assistant of the Pokemon professor of the Sinnoh region, who her father also worked for. She wasn't a rival like May in Hoenn, but she did appear at several points in the games, and would get into double battles with you against the region antagonists, Team Galactic.

Seeing the two of them here and now was a huge surprise to me, but it also made sense as I realized who professor Oak's friends that were visiting were.

"Samuel! It's good to see you old boy!" Exclaimed a large man with wavy brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard, as the ship slowly docked at the small pier we had.

"Birch, I see you're as lively as ever." Oak replied with a smile, while the aforementioned professor Birch said awkwardly,

"And ready to get off this tiny ship! I've been bored out of my mind on here..." As he said that a woman with brown hair walked up next to him, and lightly smacked him on the back of the head as she stated,

"That's why you should've used the chance to spend some time with your family Birch!" The Pokemon professor awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he replied,

"Yes Caroline...." As the wife berated her husband, another man next to them called out to Oak,

"Hello Oak, long time no see." Oak smiled up at the man as he replied,

"You too Rowen, I hope the journey wasn't too hard." Rowen, an older looking man with white hair/sideburns, a bushy mustache, and firm expression, smiled slightly as he said,

"Not at all, it was a pleasure to get out of the lab." Oak smiled up at his friends as the gangplank was put into place, while I still couldn't get over my shock at seeing all of them here.

Once they disembarked and made their way over to us though, Oak gestured for Ash, Daisy, Gary and I to come close, and as we did he introduced us to the visitors.

"Birch, Rowen, these two are my grandkids, Daisy and Gary, while these two are my assistants that I'm going to sponsor, Ace and Ash Ketchum. Kids, these two are Birch and Rowen, the Pokemon professors of the Hoenn and Sinnoh regions." There was a round of handshaking as everyone greeted each other, before Birch said,

"And this is my daughter May. She also acts as my assistant and oftens accompanies me into the field."

"It's nice to meet you all." May said while curtsying politely.

May was a slender girl with thick mousy-brown hair that came down on either side of her face like a variant of the twin tail look, while red a scarf tied like a bow held it in place. She was wearing a red tank top with a black undershirt, and white short shorts over black mini-leggings.

Next to her stepped up Dawn with an older woman who shared similar looks with her, that said,

"Hello, I'm Johanna, and this is my daughter Dawn. She's an assistant of professor Rowan alongside her father." Dawn similarly curtsied as she said,

"Nice to meet you everyone." She was wearing a pink miniskirt with a black tank top, and white undershirt. Her navy-blue hair was pulled back while a couple strands were tied to frame her face, and a white beanie sat on top.

As we were introduced to the two girls, Ash immediately stepped forward and began bombarding them with questions.

"You two are from Hoenn and Sinnoh?! What kinds of cool Pokemon are there?!

"Have you caught any yourself?!

"Are there a lot of trainers there?!

"What about-"

"That's enough Ash!" I cut him off suddenly, while also putting an arm in front of him to push him back slightly. I then said to the two girls,

"Sorry about him. Manners aren't one of my brother's strong points, and we rarely get visitors all the way out here, let alone from another region." Sticking my hand out, I added, "I'm Ace, Ash's older brother."

May was the first to take my hand as she shook it, and said,

"Thanks for that. And I can somewhat relate, since this my first time leaving Hoenn. And the only times I've left Littleroot town was when I went to Oldale, which isn't much bigger." Saying the last bit sheepishly, Dawn followed up by similarly shaking my hand, and saying,

"It's sorta the same for me. I've accompanied the professor on his expeditions before, but this is the first time I've gone to a different region."

We then began to make small talk about our own respective regions, with Daisy also asking them a few things about any trending Pokemon styles, while Ash also tried to repeat his questions from earlier. Even as we talked though, I kept an ear on the adults as they discussed shop and worked.

As could be expected, the leading professors didn't come all the way to Kanto region just for a vacation.

Once the ship was docked, and the passengers disembarked, the team being led by Machamp hurried on board to what I could only presume was the cargo bay. Soon they reemerged while carrying several large crates in their arms as carefully as possible, even as professor Oak stated,

"Make sure to be very careful, I don't want any of the eggs to be damaged."

!!!

Pokemon eggs! That was why the two professors were here, they were bringing eggs of what I could only assume were Pokemon from their respective regions for the professor to study!

Thinking about it, I also recalled seeing professor Oak gathering eggs up in the last couple weeks, but he didn't say what they were for. Now it made sense that those eggs were for professor Rowen and Birch, which they would probably take back to their respective regions to study as well.

One topic professor Oak had been discussing with us recently was the pros and cons of the different regional Pokemon that were being introduced into new habitats from numerous causes. For example, a trainer catching a Bidoof in Sinnoh and releasing it in Kanto, or a pack of Rattata sneaking onto a ship in Kanto, and disembarking in Hoenn.

While the newly introduced Pokemon species could potentially upset the balance of the habitat they get introduced into, there were also hopeful pros of the situation as well. One example being the Lapras breeding programs in numerous regions that helped bring the species back from the brink of extinction.

The eggs were probably for the different professors to study the effect each species would have in their home regions, as well as to help them develop possible answers if they were too impactful.

I also overheard them discussing trading some of the notes they had taken to try and get different opinions and ideas, which made me wonder what they'd be willing to do to get their hands on some of the notes I had taken regarding the Legendaries of the different regions. Popular opinion was that they were just myth, but I knew they definitely existed.

Unfortunately my hearing was also sensitive enough to pick up mom talking with Caroline and Johanna, May and Dawn's mothers, who were doing the mom thing as they talked about how 'cute' we all were. And trust me, I REALLY wanted to intervene when they started trying to match Ash and I up with their daughters.

But I just tried to tune them all out, which was easier when Daisy, Ash and I decided to show May and Dawn around town.

***

The next day two girls who were around twelve or thirteen were seen wandering the roads of Pallet town as they headed to a certain house.

Professors Oak, Birch and Rowen were all spending the day visiting and catching up after not seeing each other for a few years, so they were on their way to Ace and Ash's house. Professor Oak said that they usually had the weekend off from their usual duties and lessons, so they should be around town somewhere.

The duo had grown fairly close while they were at sea together, as the only two their age on the ship, and were planning to keep in touch even after they returned to their respective regions. But at the moment they were looking for their new perspective friends from the Kanto region, Ace and Ash.

"Ace seems pretty cool." May casually said, which Dawn nodded to as she replied,

"Definitely, Ash couldn't be any different though." May looked at her friend as she remarked,

"I know! I thought twins would act alike and stuff too, but they're completely different!" Dawn giggled as she said,

"Right? Ash seems kinda childish, but Ace seems more mature like an adult." May nodded in agreement, before she formed a mischievous smile as she remarked,

"You know, I overheard professor Oak saying Ace was one of the best students he ever taught! On top of that Daisy was saying he's a complete natural when caring for Pokemon, AND he's apparently pretty strong and stuff too... I wonder if he'd make a good boyfriend?"

The seemingly harmless question made Dawn pause, before her face began to heat at the thought as she asked,

"Why would you say something like that!?" May looked back at her with a smirk, making Dawn nervous as she said,

"Oh? Why wouldn't I? We're at that age, and no one in my hometown really appeals to me. Gary's a jerk, and Ash is too immature compared to his brother, so wouldn't that leave Ace?"

"I-I guess so..." Dawn uttered in agreement, not quite sure what to say in the current conversation. Thankfully though she had a way out as they approached the front door of Ace and Ash's house, where Delia answered the door after they knocked.

"Good morning!" Delia said when she saw who was there, as May and Dawn parroted,

""Good morning!"" The former then added,

"Is Ace and Ash home?" Delia pondered for a moment before saying,

"Ash is home, but he's busy studying after he didn't do well on the last test they were given. Ace should be somewhere in the woods behind the house, he often spends his days back there when they aren't working with professor Oak." Saying their thanks, the two girls went around the house and into the wooded area behind it, which led up into the mountains.

"Ace?" May called out as they looked for him, but only silence answered them for several moments.

"What's up?" The boy the duo had been looking for suddenly called out, startling them as he dropped down from the trees above.

"Oh my! w-what are you doing?!" Dawn exclaimed, which was only natural considering Ace was currently only dressed in a pair of shorts.

"I do more intense workouts on my days off. I was training my aura when I sensed you two enter the forest." The two girls looked at each other in confusion at Ace's explanation, before they asked at the same time,

""Aura?"" Ace nodded as he told them,

"It's a special skill I have, though I'm not very good at it yet." The two girls slowly nodded their heads at Ace's explanation, even though they barely heard what he was saying as their eyes never left his body. He then grabbed his nearby discarded shirt, and added as he put it on, "only Ash knows about me having it though, so keep it a secret, yeah?"

"Y-yeah..." May uttered, before snapping herself out of the daze she had been in. "A-anyways, we were wondering if you wanted to hang out? The professors are just visiting today, so there's nothing for us to do."

Ace pondered for a moment, before saying, "well we already showed you guys around town yesterday, so I'll show you some of our secret spots today."

""Secret spots?"" The two girls asked, to which Ace said,

"Yep, come on!" He then led them further into the woods behind the house, not at all concerned since professor Oak's Pokemon kept any wild Pokemon that could be dangerous far away from town.

...

While Ace was leading May and Dawn further into the woods, a thundering noise filled the air as a helicopter appeared from the north.

The loud aircraft threw up a small windstorm as it slowly descended into Pallet town, before landing directly in front of professor Oak's lab. And once it was firmly on the ground, a polished leather shoe descended from it, attached to a tall man dressed in a sharp black suit, with short black hair that was slicked back.

As the man stepped away from the helicopter, he was greeted by a trio of men who exited the lab to see what the commotion was.

"Giovanni! I wasn't expecting you to stop by!" Professor Oak exclaimed, though his expression wasn't one of displeasure.

"Well when I heard that the great professors Birch and Rowen were coming, I knew I just had to come and say hello." The man, Giovanni, said with a warm smiled as he accepted Oak's offered hand. He then turned to the previously mentioned professors, and said, "It's an honor to meet the two of you."

Shaking each of their hands in turn, professor Oak explained to them,

"Giovanni is the Gym Leader of Viridian city, just to the north of us, and is usually the last stop for anyone on their way to the Indigo League." Both professors appeared surprised at the information, but before they could say anything a new voice asked,

"Are these the professors you told me about father?" The group turned to see a new arrival, a young woman who carried an uncanny resemblance to Giovanni, except with longer hair and fairer features.

Gesturing to her, Giovanni quickly said,

"My daughter, Giana. She's home from Naranja Academy in Paldea for a few weeks, so I brought her with me to finally meet the esteemed Pokemon professors. Plus I heard that your own assistants were around her age as well?" Both professor Birch and Rowen nodded as the former said,

"My daughter, May."

"And Dawn." Rowen finished, before both looked to Oak questioningly.

"I believe they went to see Ace and Ash, who typically send their days off exploring the forests surrounding town I believe. Not to worry, they should be back sooner or later if you're not in a hurry." Giovanni waved away Oak's question as he replied while sticking his hand in his pocket,

"For such esteemed figures in the world of Pokemon?" As he spoke Giovanni stealthily pressed a button on a remote-like device he had in his pocket, before finishing, "I have all the time in the world."