Red Button Shenanigantery: The Youngest Professors

the road to Viridian City

It was finally the day, Missa and I had studied our butts off, and trained our pokémon thoroughly for this and now that we were 10 it was time to begin our new lives. Thanks to Professor Oak supporting us for the last five years we had been able to get everything lined up the way we wanted.
For those that are probably wondering what I am talking about, in the past year we asked Oak to leverage the clout that his position gave and his own trust in us to let us take the exams necessary to become certified professors. We passed them with flying colors and the official recognition came in only a month before we “turned 10” since no one knew our actual birthdays and we really didn't care to celebrate our original ones so instead treated it as an anniversary of our arrival in the pokémon world. With being official professors and having our specialization in the effects of friendship and affection on pokémon announced we made the decision to become traveling professors until we could establish a home lab since working under anyone but Oak didn't feel right and honestly Missa and I were getting a severe case of wanderlust.
Missa had discovered during her training with Vivi that it wasn't a standard one. First it had a strange affinity for evolution stones, almost having a sixth sense for where they are. We found this out the hard way when Vivi discovered the cabinet that Oak kept his teaching tools in, broke into it somehow, and knocked a fire stone out of the cabinet. Missa had been the one to get there first while reacting to the noise and discovered her little Vivi about to touch the stone.
Before she could react, it pounced on the stone and looked at her with a curious expression as if to ask why she was so freaked out. Just as she was feeling relief over her Vivi not evolving too soon, it suddenly burst into flames and tore off through the lab then out into the pasture where it started herding the various pokémon around before the flames disappeared. Suffice it to say that was a weird incident, and we had to reference our own pokedex apps that pulled information from our world. After some research we came to the conclusion that it had to be a rare variant of Eevee that functions like the Let’s Go Eevee where it can use all of its evolutions moves, but with its own twist. It seems that the reality of it was that it absorbed energy from the firestone and used that energy to use its fire type eevee special called Sizzly Slide.
Missa adored the fact that her little shiny baby was even more special now since it would be her eevee forever. But it did throw a wrench into the works at first until we studied up on the Let’s Go type even more. It did luckily have a move called Veevee Volley that seemed to lean into the plan of building friendship since the more they love their trainer the more damage the attack does. Could redirect the experiment into seeing exactly how powerful that attack can get… But that’s an issue to work out after we have a lab. For now we just need to be recording whatever data we can and filter out the useless stuff later.
My training of Gari had gone… swimmingly. Hate me for the pun all you want, I love it. But really they spent most of their time out of the ball, following me around on walks, or hops in their case. We trained thoroughly, though I did wonder why they hadn’t evolved yet, the training should be strenuous enough to raise their level, and it has been nearly a year now so I would have expected them to reach level 20. Maybe there is the special requirement of being angry? A lot of magikarp in the show evolved after being mistreated so that would make sense… No I won’t harm my Gari just to make it evolve, that would be wrong and entirely against the dream Missa and I were pursuing. 
But yeah, I now had a giant magikarp that was about as strong as they were large. I wonder if the lack of evolution has to do with that lump on their side… I really need to get off this topic. With that said, we had our partner pokémon, as non-standard as they may be, and were ready to set off on our journey, two days after Ash had left for the start of his with a Pikachu of all things. While we knew what was going to happen, we still had to feign surprise along with everyone in town. We had at least tried to play up the idea of a Pikachu to him as we grew up.
He had seemed disappointed that we wouldn't be journeying with him but after assuring that we would catch up soon enough he happily took off, dragging his less than willing pikachu with him. In the brief time it had been in the lab, it had minorly bonded with Missa so it was rather shocked that it didn't get to stay with her and instead had to go with this excitable and loud boy. Pikachu would learn soon enough how trustworthy of a trainer Ash really is, but in order for that to happen we had to delay our start so as not to interfere with canon events.
When asked why we didn't go with all the other kids that had started their journeys we just told whomever asked that we had just a little more prep to do and would leave soon. Which wasn't a lie, I had to make sure that our bags were packed properly, that we had the right items necessary to travel, and that our research materials were properly protected from weather. On top of that I had to secure 8 evolutionary stones and a soothe bell in an easy to access pouch for Missa. Whenever I get enough money or we get to Clemont I am definitely getting those added to a launcher of some sort, changing types in the middle of battle wouldn't be easy with the current process.
Having checked, double checked, and triple checked everything we headed out to be greeted by the entire town waiting at the gate. Delia had a little sad smile on her face as she watched us approach. And after a few statements along the lines of things wouldn't be the same without us in the town and to take care of ourselves and to not get too lost in our research, plus a few statements of we were always welcome to return to our home if we needed somewhere to stay, Delia pulled us off to the side and earnestly asked us to keep an eye out for her son on our journey. As much as she trusted the boy she was well aware of how rambunctious he was and how easily he could get into trouble. She didn't even know the half of it.
With a few tearful goodbyes we started on our journey down the road to Viridian City, didn't realize we had made that much of an impact on the people around town but I was never socially aware in the first place. Considering it took me almost a year to even realize Missa had feelings for me, and that I had feelings for her, after she had told me bluntly several times. I’m not the best with social stuff…
Since the forested route we had to walk through to reach Viridian was also connected to Oak’s pokémon pasture we were greeted by the many pokémon friends we had made in the forest over the years. A couple butterfree flitted about, following our path. It was oddly calm and quiet considering we were technically officially two trainers. Normally with this many pokémon around a battle would break out and one of us should be trying to catch one.
Instead there was the gentle flutter, the rustle of bushes and the rhythmic thumps of Gari hopping along behind us. Where was Vivi? Well Missa had borrowed and was later gifted a little baby carrier by Ash’s mom and Vivi was comfortably strapped into it, watching the world go by while strapped to her chest. It was the only way to keep the little chaos gremlin under control.
The path wound on with almost no interruptions, the Pallet Town pokémon who were escorting us kept the other wild ones at a distance for the most part. The only incident I could really mention was a group of particularly rowdy, or possibly angry spearow trying to carry Gari away. And while Missa tried to figure out what to do and the Pallet pokémon panicked, I just calmly told her to use splash. As unsure as I was about it actually working to harm the spearow and free herself, I did figure that she could probably wiggle free of their grip.
Much to everyones amazement she shook loose of about half of them, causing her weight to swing down, then back up and over the spearow who were now in shock at what just happened, shortly followed by a very loud thud as Gari came crashing down not even a foot in front of us, now on top of the spearow. Entertainingly enough, at that exact moment my pokedex app dinged and notified me of Gari officially learning tackle.
“Well, congrats girl, not only did you free yourself but you somehow splashed your way into tackle. Looks like all that work has paid off.” I said while laughing.
The spearow freed themselves from underneath Gari and hobbled off, too shaken up to even fly yet. Vivi was mainly shocked from how close they had been to being caught in the impact, and Missa was checking them over to make sure they didn't get caught up in any collateral.
It was at this moment that the Pallet pokémon suddenly realized exactly how little protection we needed but the two of us reassured them that it was appreciated nonetheless and asked if they would like to accompany us to at least the forest edge. They seemed more than pleased to accept this and return to their self assigned duties.
We chatted between eachother along the way, eating a couple snack bars that I had packed away. Interacting with the pokémon, taking a couple breaks to play with Vivi who was getting antsy being trapped in the carrier. When we came to a river I told Gari to hop in and follow us along the riverbank, she needed to get her scales wet and enjoy swimming again. The pond in Pallet Town and the lake on Oak’s property were too small for Gari to really get exercise from swimming anymore so this was a great opportunity.
Still the path to Viridian was well traveled since it was the closest city to Pallet and Pallet didn't exactly have its own grocery or pokemart or even pokémon center, in fact it was practically a retirement community considering how little there was to do in terms of city life activities.
I look forward to the days when we get to the city centers and get to check out the actual tech systems that wouldn't be extended out to such a rural place. That isn't to say I wouldn't miss Pallet, it was a wonderful town with great people, and would always hold a fond place in my heart. Heck, we wouldn't be able to be professors if we didn't have the chance to study in peace and quiet there.
Finally at the forest edge, and passing a scorch mark that looked suspiciously like lightning damage, we separated from the Pallet Pokémon and told them we would come back to visit some time. Viridian was visible in the near distance and closing the gap wouldn't take too long. I called Gari back to her pokéball because from this point forward the likelihood of running into a trainer increased exponentially. At most the route we took would see a tourist who got lost or a trainer coming from Cinnabar to the south and heading for Viridian. But those were few and far between since such trainers usually went back the way they came or took one of the zepplins that departed the island occasionally. An expensive way to travel but it did spark a certain feeling of wonder and adventure. It makes me want to work out the specifics of an airship…
At the entrance of Viridian we approached a police checkpoint that we curiously found empty with the gate arm down. I shrugged it off figuring whatever officers were in the town had to be busy with something and suggested we head to the pokémon center. Missa agreed and then decided to follow my lead, putting Vivi in their ball before putting the baby carrier on backwards and stuffing it under her backpack.
We made way down the streets we took last time to get out of town, heading to the pokémon center, intent on spending the night there before continuing our journey the next day by heading into Viridian Forest. With luck we would be able to make it to Pewter the same day, and get in contact with whatever official we were supposed to meet there about the possibility of purchasing a rather large portion of land.
How did we get the money to do so? Well, I never said that we would be operating completely above board did I? There are a lot of products and product ideas that we have in our original world that just don't exist in the pokémon world, and some of those ideas sell for a lot of money. A lot a lot. Like we really don't have to work for the rest of our lives already and are basically active retirees a lot. But thats not how we want to live so we continue with what we love without the worry of money for now. And currently our intent was to buy a large portion of land north of Pewter, and as far west as we could go until bordering Johto, and then as far east as Mt Moon. What did we want to do with the property? We want to make what we have dubbed “The Homestead”, a place where we can follow through with our research but also create a protected habitat for pokémon, we also want to establish a new method for trainers to get their starters or even a new pokémon while learning how to operate in a way that bridges the gap between humans and pokémon all while working towards a better world for all.
Quite the sales pitch right? Yeah, ideals only get you air, the real idea here is to establish a large area that is ours and sets into motion our projects and our goals, which we intend to make happen no matter what. Our old world may be crap and overly willing to tear itself apart but with the advantage of pokémon we have a real chance at creating a cooperative utopia.
Yes, I realize this makes me sound exactly like any of the criminal teams out there, but I refuse to force pokémon to help me, I want to create a future for everyone, including them.
While I organized my thoughts, Missa and I had managed to make our way to where the pokémon center had been when we last visited five years ago. Now it was a barely standing pile of rubble, it looked like team rocket had managed to do the canon event so we avoided screwing up the timeline we know with the alterations we made.
Nurse Joy was directing a couple chansey in the cleanup while holding a conversation with officer Jenny. As we approached they both turned to us to say that the pokémon center was closed but suddenly stopped as they recognized us but couldn't quite tell who we were.
“Long time no see, but I guess thats not important, it looks like a bomb went off in this place.” I said as I looked around.
“Team Rocket, a bunch of wanted criminals, but who are you two? And why do you look familiar?” Officer Jenny replied while closing the gap, clearly she regarded us as potential criminals.
“Professor Andrew Prunus and-”
“Professor Marissa Star” Missa finished as we held out our IDs
“The two kids you escorted to Professor Oaks place five years ago.” I added with a smile.
The two of them stared at us for a few moments before before Joy finally spoke up.
“Oh the orphans, the one who cured that sludge poison and her friend.”
“Yep, thats us.”
“So, you’re professors now? Thats quite the big step to take as children.”
“Yeah, but it's what we want to do, it lets us spend the rest of our lives with pokémon.” I replied with a suppressed grin.
“Good for you two, but I’m guessing you are here for a place to stay overnight since the sun is setting. As you can see that isn't possible.”
“Yeah, that does put a wrench in our plans but we will figure something out.”
“Sorry, we will get the center back up and running as soon as possible.”
Missa made a face while looking around, I could tell that she is thinking the same thing as me.
“Where is the local gym?” She suddenly asked.
“I can take you there, but why do you ask?” Jenny replied.
“The local gym leader is responsible for maintaining the local pokémon center as per league rules, and in the event of the gym city not having a mayor the local gym leader will act as a defacto mayor until one is appointed. Since you didn't mention anything about the mayor helping I assume that’s the situation.” Her tone had shifted to one of business as she looked at the two women in front of her.
“Yes, that is the current situation.” Jenny replied, almost automatically.
“Then we will petition him directly. Officer Jenny, could you please take us there? And Andrew, please put in a call to our friend the Captain, we might need permission to use force, though I would rather not.”
I pulled out my phone and started making a call while Jenny radioed into the local station for a temporary relief of duty and to have an officer bring a squad car to transport two individuals.
By the time Jenny had gotten all the details worked out, Captain Joy had given her official backing in whatever we had to do to get this gym leader to talk to us so we could remind him of his duties, so long as we didn't harm anyone bad enough to require a trip to the hospital. Whoever is involved will be able to walk it off… or at least limp it off… Getting sent through a wall doesn't need a hospital visit, right?
Mere minutes later we were already in front of the Viridian City Gym with the police lights running. Once Jenny opened the door and let us out I calmly told her that for her own sake she is going to want to keep her distance so she can tell her boss that she had no idea what was going to happen.
She gave me a puzzled look at first but noticing the hardness of our clenched jaws she started to put two and two together and realized that this probably had something to do with our past and just let us take the lead.
I took point when I saw the guards, two muscular men dressed up as roman soldiers of all things. A pair who clearly prized their muscles. And idiots who were stuck guarding a door and with that much muscle mass tended to prefer speaking to men rather than women, something about misogyny, and even technically being a child, what hung between my legs still elevated me above women in their eyes somehow.
As soon as I got close enough for them to hear me I fixed them with a glare and uttered a simple command “Open the door, I need to speak with your boss.” But neither man so much as budged.
I took a breath and looked at the two of them. “I said, open the damn door.”
“Not without at least seven badges.” One of them replied.
“I am not a trainer, and this is your last chance. Open. The. Door.”
They still refused to budge so using the techniques I had been practicing for the past year I snatched up the pokéball from my waist and immediately threw it while yelling a command “Gari, Tackle, Full Force.”
The guards only managed to get out the beginning of a chuckle thinking I was trying to send some weak and basic pokémon at them, only for a massive golden magikarp with musculature reminiscent of atlas to slam through them and through the wall behind them, taking the door with it.
As I called Gari back to the ball and calmly walked over the rubble, holding out a hand to help Missa as she found her own steady path through I looked down at the two and just said “You were warned.”
As we worked our way past and into the battle area of the gym, Giovanni came storming out of a back room.
“What the hell is this? Why did you assault my guards and damage my gym? I could have you arrested!”
“Bold words for an idiot wearing a suit emblazoned with team rocket’s logo.” I retorted.
He looked down then back at us, his face red with anger.
“Not here to pick a fight, but tweedle dee and tweedle dumb over there refused to open the door when we so kindly asked to be let in.”
“That is their job, to enforce the rules of the gym and not let in any trainers without the pre-requesites being met.”
“Yeah yeah, they tried to say that but refused to listen when I said I am not a trainer, now are you smarter than the two fancy rocks over there or are you another lackey I gotta knock out of the way to talk to the real gym leader?”
“Lackey?!” he sputtered, glaring at me.
“Yes, lackey, useless follower, grunt, sacrificial lamb, piece of trash, need I continue?”
“I will do more than have you both arrested, I will end you both.”
“You can try, but the police are already here. Hi I’m Andrew Prunus, Professor Andrew Prunus, here with the support of the International Police.” I paused and let him absorb those words. It was fun watching all that red drain from his face. But I can only have so much fun.
“What would the international police want with me or need to contact me for?” He seemed to have collected himself, too bad, it would have been fun to poke more buttons.
“Are you Giovanni? Gym Leader of Viridian City Gym?” I asked.
“Yes, what do you want? Spit it out already”
“You’re less impressive than I expected… But that has nothing to do with my job at the moment. Are you aware of an explosion that happened two nights ago?”
“Yes, but I figured it was a trainer battle getting out of hand, I try to keep to my own business, I am a busy man.”
“I would guess as much, three criminals who claim to be members of the criminal organization team rocket attacked and bombed the local pokémon center, fortunately no one was harmed in the incident, but the building was destroyed.”
“And why does this involve me?”
“Aside from the fact that you wear the red R, you should be aware that as the gym leader, as per league rules you are required to aid in the maintenance of the local Pokémon Center because without a Pokémon Center the gym is incapable of operating at full capability.”
“I hardly see why I should be punished for the poor maintenance by an incompetent Joy.”
“I thought you would say that. As per the agreements between the league and the local governing body of Kanto, if a city lacks a mayor then the gym leader is the defacto mayor and will assume mayoral responsibilities but not power until such a time that a mayor is elected. So in short, no one gives a damn what your opinion is as to how well Nurse Joy does her job, you are required to provide aid, whether it be physical or monetary to repair the public health facility, have I made this clear?”
“Crystal” he replied through gritted teeth, openly glaring at me.
“Now, I suggest next time you learn to control your men better, wouldn't want them blowing up at the slightest provocation now. Oh and you can stop the glaring, I have stood my ground in front of a charging gyarados, a petulant man-child isn't going to intimidate me.” I grabbed Missa’s hand and quickly made my way for the exit, dragging her along.
I would have never been able to say any of that if I didn't have her backing me up so I was trying to quickly separate from the situation before my nerves gave out on me but trying to move slow enough so it didn't look like I was fleeing.
Outside Jenny just stared mouth agape at the situation, she had apparently caught little bits of the conversation, I may have been shouting a little in my anger. I guess I never mentioned that even without the false backstory I hate Giovanni as a character, hate them with a passion and to my core.
“Are you sure you two can get away with all of that?”
“Get away with what?” Missa asked innocently.
“You destroyed part of the gym and incapacitated two of its guards, he could press charges you know.”
“In order to do that he would have to prove that we don't have the backing of the international police. He wont try anything. Will he Captain Joy?” She asked with a wicked grin while holding up her phone that was connected in a call with speaker phone on.
“No he won’t, in fact he will find it rather hard to try to do much of anything in the near future as he and all of his actions will be under investigation just because of what I heard.” Replied the elderly woman on the other end of the line. She had apparently called the Captain during us approaching and had her listen in on everything.
“Is this the Captain Joy that got after my cousin from Saffron?” Officer Jenny asked, as if there could be more than one Captain Joy.
“Yes I am, and I am guessing this is the Jenny from Viridian City. Do you have something to say in defense of your cousin?”
“Nothing, I think she got what she deserved, she was getting a little too high and mighty thanks to her position. And yes ma’am I am Viridian City’s Jenny.”
Captain Joy laughed for a few seconds before replying “I’m glad we’re on the same page. Tell your Chief that my team will be coming down to run a special investigation on Giovanni, we don’t want to step on any toes so if they have their own investigation already running then we would like to step in as support. As for the two young Professors, congratulations again to you two by the way, find them someplace safe to stay the night, one bed is fine, they can’t sleep when separate apparently. They more than earned a little extra support with what they just pulled, especially since they just put their necks on the line and targets on their backs.”
“They can try whatever they want, if all goes to plan I will be practically untouchable to them in the near future.” I boasted with false bravado. I didn’t like making an enemy of team rocket this early but it needed to happen to support Joy since all the money we have was currently tied up in the attempted land grab for The Homestead.
“I’ll see what kind of favors I can call in, I’d rather not force them to camp out on their first night away from home.”Jenny agreed with the request.
“Thanks, I’ll owe you one. Go ahead and hang up now Professor, we will see each other soon.”
“Okay Captain, bye.” Marissa responded and cheerfully cut off the call.
By now the sun was setting and Jenny just motioned for us to get in the car.
“Fortunately for you two there is a nap room in the main station to help keep our officers alert but its rarely used so it should be available overnight. You can stay there tonight and I will inform the Chief of everything that happened, afterwards you can continue your journey in the morning. Sound good?”
“Sounds great to me, how about you Missa?”
“I wish we had access to a bath but I can work with this. Oh and can I let out my pokémon without anyone seriously freaking out?”
“Why would anyone freak out?”
“He’s a shiny…”
“I’ll notify the Chief, he will probably forbid access to the room but that wont really stop anyone, if anyone does peek in and cause a scene just tell the Chief when you see him in the morning, or tell me if you can’t find him.”
“Thank you.”
With everyone in the squad car, Jenny drove us to the station and started explaining everything that had happened to the Chief, along with explaining about her shiny pokémon. Things went exactly as she had guessed, he forbade access but it seemed like all the officers were willing to listen to this command, something in his eyes was terrifying. The rest of the night was uneventful ending off with me cuddling Missa who was cuddling Vivi who after trying for almost an hour to escape her embrace had finally given up and fallen asleep.