บท 8: Can't They Go Together?
"Police station?"
Half an hour later, Professor Cozmo sat in Johan's consultation room, looking troubled as he recounted the recent events.
As it turned out, Professor Cozmo had slept in the consultation room the previous night, and when he woke up, he remembered that it was the day for new student registration, and he had some responsibilities. Since he hadn't slept properly for two days and hadn't changed clothes in a while, he decided to go home to freshen up, thinking he had enough time before heading back, as his home wasn't far from the academy.
But when he got home, he found that his house had been broken into!
Everything was in a mess.
Naturally, his first move was to call the police.
Officer Jenny took him to the Kanaz Police Station for investigation.
Because he didn't want his phone to disturb his sleep, he had left it in his office the night before, assuming he would return quickly. But things didn't go as planned, leading to his disappearance for so long.
"Did you lose anything?" Johan asked, handing Professor Cozmo a glass of water.
Professor Cozmo took the water and smiled wryly. "That's the strange part. After looking around, nothing valuable was stolen, just a few rocks that probably wouldn't interest anyone else."
"Rocks?" Johan was about to respond, but Steven interjected, his reaction a bit more intense. "Those rocks?"
"Yes..." Professor Cozmo replied.
Some of the stones were indeed rare meteorites, but to most people, they were just useless rocks.
What kind of thief would go to such lengths for a few rocks?
However, Johan had a growing suspicion.
Could the thief have been after the stone that once held Gastly?
It wasn't impossible.
If that were the case, and the thief didn't find the stone with Professor Cozmo, they might come after Johan next.
Johan suddenly recalled that, in the original storyline, Professor Cozmo did get involved with both Team Aqua and Team Magma after discovering a meteorite.
Could it be...
Originally, Johan had intended to tell Professor Cozmo that he had the stone containing Gastly and ask if they could make a trade.
But now, it seemed like that conversation would have to wait.
At least, until he could figure out the real intentions behind the thief's actions.
"As long as you're okay," Johan said, offering some comfort.
"Thank you," Professor Cozmo replied gratefully.
Whether it was for letting him sleep well the night before, covering for him during the student registration, or something else, Professor Cozmo seemed genuinely appreciative.
Johan shook his head, indicating it wasn't a big deal.
"Well, I need to stop by the administration office. I saw a lot of missed calls on my phone earlier," Professor Cozmo said with a bitter smile as he stood up.
"I'll go with you," Johan said, also standing up. Seeing the puzzled expressions on Professor Cozmo and Steven's faces, he explained, "My computer's having some issues. I need to see if I can request a new one."
"You don't need to go through the trouble. Just use mine for now. I hardly ever use it anyway. It might take a while for the new one to arrive, and when it does, we can switch it back," Professor Cozmo suggested.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Johan agreed. "That works."
Professor Cozmo left, and the consultation room was once again quiet, with only Johan and a thoughtful-looking Steven remaining.
After a while, Steven seemed to remember something.
They hadn't finished discussing Metang's issue.
After thinking about how to phrase it, Steven spoke up, "Mr. Johan, about Metang..."
Johan snapped out of his thoughts and smiled. "Don't worry. Metang's issue isn't too serious. A little psychological guidance should fix it."
Steven sighed in relief.
He couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.
If he hadn't been so preoccupied with his family's company recently and had paid more attention to Metang, maybe... Metang wouldn't have developed this problem.
At that moment, Steven's mind drifted to the difficult choice that had been weighing on him for some time.
As the heir to the Devon Corporation and a member of the Stone family, Steven knew he had responsibilities to both the company and his family. He wouldn't—couldn't—refuse that duty.
But as a Pokémon Trainer, he also had obligations to his Pokémon and to his own dreams and ambitions.
He knew that a person's energy was limited. If Devon had been a small company, or if his goals as a Trainer weren't so high, balancing the two might not have been such a problem for him.
But...
"Steven."
Johan's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Looking over, Steven saw Johan place the folder with the "doodles" on the desk.
Metang was depicted at a fork in the road.
"To help Metang, we can approach it in two ways: psychological counseling or physical intervention."
Johan drew two paths on the paper, labeling one as "Psychological Counseling" and the other as "Physical Intervention." He then looked up at Steven and asked casually, "Which path do you want to take first?"
Without thinking, Steven responded, "Can't they go together?"
Johan smiled and drew lines connecting the two paths, merging them into a single wide road. With a meaningful tone, he said, "Exactly. Can't they go together?"
As he stared at the now-combined paths, Steven felt a jolt. He stiffened and looked at Johan.
For some reason, he felt that Johan's words carried a deeper meaning.
The feeling intensified when he met Johan's knowing gaze.
But Johan had already closed the folder and leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee. "It's late today. How about we start tomorrow?"
Steven hesitated, but then smiled warmly. "Alright."
After Steven left, Johan added one final note to the paper.
Steven Stone: Perfectionist to the extreme.
"Gastly, what kind of stone do you think this is?"
Back in the quiet consultation room, Johan pulled out the mysterious stone again.
The more he looked at it, the more convinced he became that the robbery at Professor Cozmo's house was somehow connected to it.
"Ka-kah?"
Gastly floated down from the ceiling.
Seeing that Johan wasn't upset about the broken computer, Gastly let out a sigh of relief.
It then floated over to examine the stone but soon wore a puzzled expression.
It had no idea what the stone was either.
Maybe it once knew, but by now, it had forgotten why it chose that particular stone to sleep in.
"Could it be a fossil?" Johan guessed, trying to think of a reasonable explanation.
If it were the fossil of an Anorith or a Lileep, it could have significant value.
"Ka-kah?"
Gastly hovered around the stone, inspecting it closely, but still couldn't figure it out.
"Maybe I should return this to Professor Cozmo?" Johan mused aloud, looking at Gastly.
If the stone really was the cause of all the trouble, returning it to its original owner seemed like a good option. Even though it might be a bit irresponsible, he would at least give Professor Cozmo a heads-up.
But Gastly vehemently shook its head, pointing at the stone and then at itself, insisting that it was the rightful owner of the stone.
Johan chuckled. "Alright, alright. It does belong to you, after all."
"Ka-kah!"
Gastly formed a misty hand and patted Johan's shoulder, as if to say, "You're learning."
Johan rolled his eyes but didn't argue. Instead, he focused once more on the stone.
"Maybe I'm overthinking it. Maybe they've already taken what they wanted..."
Do you really believe that? Gastly's eyes seemed to ask.
Johan decided not to dwell on it too much. After all, he wasn't in control of the situation from the start.
"Gastly, do you feel unwell at all?" Johan asked, recalling that Gastly's Pokédex entry had indicated that it wasn't in peak condition.
"Ka-kah?"
Gastly tilted its head in confusion.
Unwell?
Not at all.
Johan frowned.
Whether it was Pokémon or humans, the biggest issue was often when they couldn't feel that something was wrong with their own bodies.
Though Johan had learned some basic Pokémon medical knowledge as part of his psychology studies, diagnosing hidden issues like this was beyond his expertise.
Especially with a Ghost-type Pokémon like Gastly, which required a different approach.
'Should I take it to a Pokémon Center?'
But then Johan remembered how expensive it was for non-registered Trainers to get treatment at a Pokémon Center, and his head started to ache.
Money...
It wasn't just the cost of treatment. Raising Gastly would also require a significant amount of money.
And there was no real limit to how much could be spent.
Johan sighed.
Thankfully, he had a stable job. Raising Gastly alone should be manageable... right?
"Let's pick up where we left off."
Gastly had only demonstrated the start of its moves earlier, before they were interrupted. Now, they finally had time to continue.
"Ka-kah!"
Gastly floated up, eager to continue.
"Most of your moves are straightforward enough. But when it comes to Hypnosis, I do have some tips..."
"As for Will-O-Wisp, I believe it's more about subtlety than speed—though speed is important too."
"And with Confuse Ray, you should focus more on speed, since it's harder to conceal. But maybe you can try combining Confuse Ray with Will-O-Wisp..."
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