In the Name of Science

"For too long, trainers have been forced to catch pokémon by hand. For too long they have risked life and limb to obtain those quite willing to risk those things for them. Well, no more I say! Finally, those days are at an end! Finally, trainers can catch pokémon safely! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…the poké ball!"

A rush of "oohs, "aahs," and more extreme declarations of astonishment rippled throughout the crowd. For his own part however, Dale remained quiet. For the first ten minutes of the presentation, Professor Bill (he insisted on his forename being used for some reason) had been yammering on about how difficult it was to capture pokémon, let alone take them with you. For his own part, Dale had never had a problem with it. Then again, he'd only briefly been a trainer before going into research, so what would he know?

"The poké ball!" Bill declared, a schematic of the device appearing on the lecture slide behind him. "A multi-purpose device, used for both capturing, and storing pokémon!"

Dale watched as the slide changed before him, showing an image of a trainer facing a rattata, with the words "wild rattata appeared!" below them. Why that warranted an exclamation mark he didn't know.

"Now granted, as in the past, pokémon will have to be weakened before being officially 'caught' by trainers," Bill said. "Though of course, a pokémon could easily feign subservience and then escape if the trainer was not to their liking."

The slide went into a quick animation as a bulbasaur tackled the rattata, causing a red line in the top-right corner of the image to diminish. After that, another box appeared, representing the trainer reaching for his poké ball.

"So, as you can see, this trainer has his…er, balls."

Awkward laughter rippled throughout the crowd. Dale still remained silent. It was already conspicuous enough that an info-graphic was representing this discovery rather than the actual thing, and-

"Ohh! Ahh!"

And never bloody mind then.

All the other scientists were wearing white. Like mareeps, the kind who were content to lounge around in fields rather than partake in battles or be captured. Animals that Dale doubted would have given a single "baa" about a ball hitting the rattata in the screen, capturing it, and then being followed by some upbeat music.

"And with that, the pokémon is caught!" Bill declared. "Ready to be released at will. Anytime, anywhere! Even…well, right here!"

Dale watched as the professor reached into his pocket. Years of bad action movies had trained him to expect a gun or something, but instead, it was a ball. Or red and white grenade, but he was willing to give Bill the benefit of the doubt. Especially when he threw the ball forward, and in a flash of white light, a rattata appeared. One that clearly wasn't wild.

"Ooh! Ahh!"

Dale leant forward on his chair. Unlike the rest of the sheep, he was still silent. But for the first time in this lecture, he was interested.

"Rattata! Return!"

And even more so as a beam of red light hit the rattata, drawing it back into the ball. Applause rang out through the auditorium, and some of it, Dale realized, was his own.

"The Pokémon League is still finalizing the parameters of this new technology," Bill continued, after the applause died down. "Though I am authorized to reveal that trainers will be able to carry up to six pokémon at a time."

"Six? Why only six?"

"Yeah? And what happens if a trainer catches more?"

"Well, if that happens, the poké ball will automatically teleport to the trainer's storage place of choice," Bill answered. "Pokémon will be kept in digital form."

"Like a digimon?"

Dale watched as some security guards appeared to take away the scientist who had mentioned the forbidden word. It was but a drop in the ocean though, as more and more scientists shot forward questions at Bill, even as a new info-graphic appeared on the screen, showing a trainer exchanging one poké ball for another.

"What, trainers have gotta do that at pokémon centres? If the poké balls can teleport out in the field, why can't they teleport in?!"

"What if hackers get at them? You know what Team Rocket's up to these days!"

"Professor Bill, you-"

Another flash of white light consumed the stage, one that faded to reveal a charizard. A particularly angry looking charizard. A charizard that silenced the crowd instantly, even after Scott drew it back in.

"Gentlemen…and ladies, please," he said. "I accept that all new technology carries a degree of risk with it. I accept that a lot will have to be considered before these devices are put into widespread use. But I am willing to take questions-"

"Professor Bill, you-"

"One at a time! And hands only!"

Dale's hand shot up. So did the right hand of every scientist in the auditorium. Heck, even a few left hands joined their counterparts. And Dale's was among them.

"Um…you there. Up the back."

And he blinked as Professor Bill chose him.

"Yes kid, I choose you."

Choose you…heh…got a ring to it?
"Well, do you have a question or not?"

"Oh, um, yes," Dale said. "I was just thinking, I mean, I know this technology's in the early stages and yes, it could change pokémon training as we know it. But while it isn't necessarily your field, I have to ask, have you thought about applications for this technology outside pokémon?"

Bill raised an eyebrow. Half the scientists in the auditorium turned to look at Dale, and half of them had raised an eyebrow as well. Bill cleared his throat and carried on.

"I mean, think about it," he continued. "In an instant, you've developed teleportation, and matter-energy conversion."

"So?" Scott asked. "What's your point?"

"Well, my point is, this could have ramifications far beyond just pokémon!" Dale leant forward in his chair. "Think about it! We could teleport a human from Kanto to visit relatives on Jhoto, then teleport him back to his hometown in time for tea! Warehouses could be made a thing of the past, as we store objects in digital rather than physical form! I mean, well, this could change the very fabric of society!"

The scientists just stared at him. Sweat trickled down the back of Dale's neck. Professor Bill had turned as pale as a ghost.

"Mad…" he whispered. "Completely mad…"

"Huh?" Dale asked. "But I…"

"Using this technology on things other than pokémon…madness…"

"But…but…"

"Guards!" Bill yelled. "Madness! We have scientific madness! Remove him from my sight!"

"The hell?"

Dale felt hands grabbing him by the shoulders. He tried to struggle, but a taser to the back of his neck prevented him from resisting. Dimly he could hear the cries of derision from all the other scientists, Scott included.

"Teleporting humans? Storing things other than pokémon? Good grief boy, do you not respect the limits of science at all!?"

Dale wanted to answer, but he couldn't. And given the yells of fury coming from the crowd, he suspected that maybe, silence was the best course of action.

And that maybe, if this didn't blow over, it would be best to move his own lab to somewhere a bit more isolated.

Update (28/08/2013): Changed sheep to mareep, raised rating to k-plus.