Chapter Seven: Professor Oak

Several things happened very quickly, too quickly for Crystal to react to immediately - but Mr. Pokémon moved with practiced speed.

The first thing he did was grab all the blankets on his bed, using them to wrap up and carry the egg. He earned a harsh squeal from Kitsu for that, and the pokémon leapt at him to attack - but he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck as she leapt, walked to the back of his car-house, and opened a trap door with his foot. He stuffed both the blankets and Kitsu in, holding Kitsu down with one hand as he reached into his pocket.

"W…wait!" Crystal shouted, charging down the house-car. "What are you doing to Kitsu?"

"Probably?" He asked as he removed some kind of syringe. He jabbed Kitsu with it and injected her with whatever was inside. "Saving her - and the egg - from him."

Kitsu squealed in pain from the syringe and struggled - but her struggles grew less and less within moments, until finally she passed out. Crystal screamed.

"You killed her!" She shouted, leaping at Mr. Pokémon. But the teenager grabbed her by her arm as she attacked him, and looked straight into her eyes. She froze at the glance.

"She's just sedated," He said, very quietly. "It'll wear off in a few hours."

Mr. Pokémon went back to his bed, pulling sheets out from under it and covering it again, messing them up to make them look slept in. He then pointed to one cabinet, as his Pikachu leapt onto his shoulder.

"Pokéball inside of that one," He said, "Grab it and open it."

Crystal paused a moment, then went to the cabinet he indicated and opened it. Inside was a single pokéball, indicator showing a pokémon inside. Crystal pressed the button, and seconds later, standing in front of her was an Umbreon.

"Got lucky with your Eevee," Mr. Pokémon said as he went to the window, and looked out. The car was still several minutes away. "If anyone asks, that Umbreon is…what'd you say her name was?"

"K…Kitsu," Crystal said, staring down at the Umbreon, who'd sat back on her haunches and waited. "What's going on? Why is Professor Oak here?"

"At a guess?" Mr. Pokémon asked. "He's here for the egg, because he found out about it when he visited Elm Labs." He walked forward and grabbed the pokéball still in Crystal's hand, then snatched the other one from her belt. He went to a back window and tossed both outside, as far as he could, before finally closing the trap door he'd opened and covering it with a rug, which he then sprayed with something else from his other pocket.

"W…wait," Crystal said, sitting down. She suddenly had a headache, as the Umbreon continued to stare at her. "No one would have told him that…not if Professor Elm wanted us to keep it secret…"

"Yeah, but none of you could have stopped yourselves from thinking it." Mr. Pokémon responded, still watching out his window. "Professor Oak surrounds himself with psychics. Any question he asks? They're irrelevant. It's the psychics that give him all the information. Hence Kitsu there. Her presence will mean that the psychics have to try harder to get into our minds, if they can at all."

Crystal was hugging herself. The Umbreon - apparently named Kitsu - hopped up onto the table, still staring at her intensely. "Oh God," She said. "He visited New Bark Town when I was a kid…when I looked at his eyes…"

Mr. Pokémon flinched. "Don't do that!" He exclaimed. "Just…just never look Professor Oak in the eye. He's just wrong, his whole existence, and somehow people can tell that just by looking at his eyes. Kitsu, sit."

The evolved Eevee looked to her trainer, who pointed at the space next to Crystal. She hopped from the table and sat down next to Crystal, staring at her again as soon as she was comfortable.

"Lie down," Mr. Pokémon continued. Umbreon again obeyed the command, lying across Crystal's lap, looking up occasionally at Crystal.

"Probably because you smell like an Eevee," He said, as Peek climbed down from his shoulder and stared out the window, nose twitching. "Don't worry, Kitsu's been trained as a show-pokémon. She's very docile, barely ever fought. I spent every pallet I had getting her when I came to Johto."

"Her name is Kitsu?" Crystal asked incredulously. She didn't realize the name she'd chosen for her Eevee was that unoriginal…

"Actually, it's Nyx, but for the next hour anyway it's Kitsu." Mr. Pokémon said, then looked out his window just in time to see a car stop in front of his house. The teenager breathed in, then out, and smiled.

"Well, at least I'll get something out of this," He said with resignation, as he walked down his trailer, pulling back the brim of his hat so as much of his face could be seen as possible. He stood opened the door to his car-house.

"Professor Oak!" Mr. Pokémon said, smiling and with forced pleasantness.

There was a long moment of silence. Crystal glanced out the window, and saw that Professor Oak, two of his white-coated aides, and a black-haired, severe-looking man wearing loose, dark clothing, were just beginning to get out of the car they had driven here in. On the face of Oak was an expression Crystal didn't think she'd ever see on it again: surprise.

"Yellow?" She heard him ask.

Crystal stared intently at her lemonade bottle. It was her second, her first one having been downed far too quickly when Professor Oak had sit across the table from her. This one she had barely touched. Nyx still sat on her lap, eyes closed in a light nap. She stroked her fur, wishing her headache would go away so as to make this situation a little less bad. Peek, meanwhile, was nowhere in sight. He'd scampered as soon as Professor Oak had entered the house-car, hiding somewhere within it. Oak's aides and the other man remained waiting outside.

"…so given that I only managed to get two badges," Mr. Pokémon - Yellow, apparently, was his real name - continued, "I just…quit. I mean, what was the point, right? You had Red, your champion at last. You had Blue, a second champion. I don't think I was ever Victory Army material."

"No," Professor Oak said, and Crystal flinched, though she was pretty sure she managed to hide it. She read the ingredients to the lemonade again. "No, I suppose not. I'll admit that perhaps I was too enthusiastic about Red and Blue's success. Still…how long have you been in Johto?"

Yellow shrugged. "Five years?" He guessed. "I found it after I managed to get the Volcanobadge, somehow. I realized how out of my league I was and always had been. So I just started walking west. I remembered that our maps were mostly expanding towards the north and east. So I wanted to see what was in the other direction."

Oak was silent for a long time. "And you never reported it," He said. His voice carried a dangerous tone. Crystal cringed.

Yellow laughed - somehow. "I was looking to disappear, remember?" He asked. "Besides, by the time I learned anything worth knowing about Johto, you'd already found it. I…didn't want to disappoint you more."

"Indeed," Oak said. She glanced up, as far as his neck, and saw him lean back. Professor Oak wasn't drinking any of the water that Yellow had grabbed for him. "So," He said. "Unfortunately, this isn't a social call. Professor Elm told me of your rare find."

"Find?" Yellow asked, feigning confusion.

"Yes, yes," Oak said, leaning forward again. Crystal leaned back instinctively, looking at Oak's face - but not his eyes! Yellow's warning was fresh in her mind. She instead concentrated on his mouth. "What this young girl has come here to acquire."

He looked at her. Crystal grasped Nyx tightly. The pokémon stirred from her nap, looking up at her. Crystal's headache got worse.

"The egg," He said simply. "The one that you found. The one that you're hiding and using that Umbreon to prevent my psychics from finding. I've come to collect it, you see. Elm Labs isn't set up to study a find of this magnitude, but my own lab back in Kanto…"

Yellow blanched, Crystal saw from her periphery. "H…hiding?" He asked.

How? How had Oak known about them hiding the egg…

…the egg…one egg…

"It cracked," Crystal said quickly. She wasn't religious, but she began praying to any god, spirit, or passer-by of any variety that she was gambling correctly. She took in a breath, and met his eye, trying to force her willpower forward.

"The egg cracked," She continued. "Before I got here…the pokémon inside died. Mr. Pokémon…Yellow…buried her out back."

That was it, that was all she could do. She looked away, acting saddened by the news - secretly holding back a scream.

His eyes were too old. That was what was wrong with him. Sure, Professor Oak was getting on in years - he seemed sixty or seventy years old. But his eyes spoke of an identity much older than that…and they spoke of a monster dwelling within. Again, all Crystal could envision, as she did so many years before, was one of the horrific Gyrados dragons, somehow compressed into human form.

And she had just lied to him, gambling that she knew Professor Elm well enough to know what he would have said, when he learned that she had left for the egg - as she was certain her mother would have come to him with issues over her choice.

Professor Oak leaned back, letting out a long sigh. "Cracked," He said, sliding from the chair and standing, walking over to the window - and seeing the same small grave that Crystal had.

Yellow looked at Crystal, crossing his arms. With his concealed hand, he gave her a thumbs-up.

"Yeah," Yellow said, and began repeating what he had told Crystal almost word for word. "Cracked open while I was outside sleeping. When I came inside, the pokémon was dead. I think she was malformed and doomed to die anyway…she didn't look whole. I won't give you the details.

"So I took her outside and buried her. Could have probably kept her frozen or something for Professor Elm…or you, Professor Oak…to study, but that didn't seem right. Y'know?"

"In fact, I don't," Oak said, crossing his arms behind his back. "Perhaps you're too little a trainer, too much a handler. Those always seemed unbalanced in you, Yellow."

Crystal could hear anger in his voice, but also acceptance. He was a man who expected command and control over all situations, yet was old enough to realize that even he couldn't have everything - though that wouldn't stop him from trying. "I will be taking the find for study, of course."

Yellow began an objection, but Oak turned around and glared at him. The teenager backed down before even fully forming a word. "O-of course," He said, looking down and pulling his hat over his eyes.

Oak glared at him for a few more moments, then looked to Crystal. She stared at his mouth again.

"Crystal Tsubaki, yes?" He asked. Somehow, hearing him say her name made Crystal shudder. She nodded, again holding onto the Umbreon for strength.

"Professor Elm speaks quite highly of you," He said, then chuckled, looking to the pokémon on her lap. "But not highly enough. Your Eevee has evolved already?"

Crystal nodded, not daring to try and speak another lie.

"Impressive. You must be skilled at directing her in battles. Have you ever considered taking Johto's Gym Challenge?"

"N…no," Crystal said, honestly. "I mean, my friends, Gold Rush and Silver Caliber, left a year ago, but that's kept me so busy at Elm Labs-"

"Gold and Silver?" Oak interrupted, looking up in thought. Crystal used the moment to exhale and inhale sharply, though silently. "Gold and Silver…I think I know those two boys. With a Typhlosion and a Feraligatr, respectively, yes?"

Crystal bit her lip. "W…well, when they left, they just had a Cyndaquil and a Totodile, but…"

"Yes, they're both in Kanto, now." Oak continued. "Kanto has its own series of gyms, you may have noticed myself and Yellow talking about them just now…making quite a name for themselves, I might add. In fact, I've been considering commissioning them as officers in the Victory Army, so that I could keep a close eye on their amazing progress."

Crystal sensed that Oak was saying something else here, but she couldn't make it out beneath the innuendo and subterfuge.

"Yes, it seems they're following in the footsteps of Red," Oak resumed, as he walked over to Yellow's fridge, inspecting some of the magnets and paraphernalia he had hanging there. "You may have heard of Red. A very skilled trainer, looks much like Yellow here - from Pallet Town as well, I might add!"

Crystal thought. She vaguely recalled, in her childhood…

"I…I think a trainer named Red passed through New Bark Town, when I was very young," She said. "But I don't remember him very well…"

Oak stiffened, and Crystal wondered what she had said to make him do that. "Well," He said, "Red was a protégé of mine, my greatest success. The second person to gain a badge from all eight gyms in Kanto and defeat the Elite Four and reigning Champion. The first was my grandson, Blue, but Red defeated Blue within hours of Blue's victory, claiming the title of Champion for himself."

"Where's Red now?" Yellow asked. "I've always wanted to…meet…" Oak looked at him coldly, informing the teen with a stare that he was no longer a part of the conversation.

"S-sounds impressive," Crystal said, looking down at Nyx, who continued to stare at her intently. "I'd like to meet him."

"Yes," Oak said off-handedly, turning fully around and walking back to the table, though not sitting. He reached into his coat, and produced a piece of paper from an inside pocket. "Well, Crystal. I'm sure that you'd like to continue the proud tradition of Gold and Silver, and from everything I've learned about you, I think you were born for this sort of challenge." He offered Crystal the piece of paper.

It might as well have been made of poison, the way Crystal took it, but Oak didn't seem troubled at all as Crystal looked it over once it was in her hand.

By the authority of the President of Johto and the Pokémon League of Johto, Crystal Tsubaki is hereby granted the status of Advanced Pokémon Trainer, and is to be afforded all the rights and privileges that status grants.

Signed,

Claymore Oak, Professor

Lance Redwood, Elite Four

Laurel Turin, President of Johto

"Just add that to your identification book for now," Oak said. "By the time you get back to New Bark Town, a new ID book will be waiting for you, along with complete pokémon trainer gear."

Crystal stared. "But…but I haven't taken the test, and…"

Oak waved off her objections. "I heard about the trouble you had in Cherrygrove the other day," He said. "I'm not certain I agree with some trainers about not keeping pokémon in pokéballs," Crystal could almost hear him add where they belong, though he didn't say it, "But clearly, with an Umbreon under your command, you know what you're doing and deserve this. Someone of your talents shouldn't be a mere handler."

Crystal held the small document in her hands. With this, Kitsu - the real one, the one that was sedated within the trap door - wouldn't ever need to be in a pokéball again, no matter where Crystal went. Even still, it was from Oak - she didn't want it. But how would she…

"Well, I think I'm done here," Oak said, walking towards the door. "I'll have one of my aides remove the find from your backyard, Yellow, and be on my way. Oh…" he stopped at the door, looking down the length of the house-car. "And Yellow…try not to disappear again."

"Of…of course," Yellow said, nodding, then forcing a smile. "Where would I disappear to, anyway? There's nowhere else to go."

"Indeed." Oak noted, and stepped from the car.

Yellow stood slowly, looking out the window as Oak spoke to one of his aides. The man went around the back of Yellow's house, with Yellow watching him approach the small grave. The aide released a Sandshrew from a pokéball at his belt, and ordered it to dig up the grave. Within seconds, the Sandshrew had found a small wooden box, which the aide took from the ground, and opened up. Crystal couldn't see - was glad she couldn't see - what was in the box, but the aide seemed satisfied as he came around to the front of the car and presented the box to Professor Oak.

"Right now he sees a pokémon that never got a chance to live," Yellow said quietly. "Hopefully that'll satisfy him."

It must have, because the four men climbed back into their car, and drove off. They'd only just reached the bottom of the hill that Yellow's house-car was on - all of a fifteen second drive - when Crystal's willpower finally broke, as did the dams holding back her tears.

"You seem unhappy, Koga," Oak remarked to the severe-looking man sitting next to him in the back of the car.

Koga didn't look to his leader, keeping his eyes on the road in front of them. "I am, Professor."

"Why?"

Koga paused, gathering his thoughts. "We should have brought Sabrina, the only psychic in the world strong enough to pierce the veils of Dark-type pokémon, which we knew this 'Mr. Pokémon' would almost certainly have. Failing that, we should have ordered Crystal to stow the Umbreon so that your aides could pierce their minds. We also should have taken Yellow with us and dealt with his betrayal. And I do not understand why you have turned Crystal from a mere handler into an advanced trainer, if what you suspect about her is true."

"Hmm," Oak responded. He normally hated having his orders or motives questioned, but Koga was the exception - that was one of Koga's duties, as Oak himself had defined them. "To meet each of your points: I do not wish to trapeze across this backwater region with two members of the Elite Four, it would make me look weak. Crystal and Yellow were both far too terrified to tell any actual lies, I am quite adept as sorting through them even without psychic help. Yellow is worthless, I don't care if he rots in his salvaged home of debris. And I gave Crystal her new status precisely because of what I suspect. This way, I can keep an eye on her, the same way I'm keeping an eye on Gold and Silver."

Koga bowed his head. "If I may," He said, "My ancestor once said that the individual stones of a wall may be strong, but that wall can still be constructed poorly. Similarly, no one point you raise is incorrect or wrong, but I fear that together, they…"

"Will what?" Oak asked. Not threateningly - he was in fact amused by Koga's caution. "What can a twelve-year-old girl and a failed clone possibly of hidden from us?"

Koga bowed his head. "I do not know. But I am ninja, and your chief of intelligence. What I do not know could kill me."

Oak still smiled as he crossed his arms. "Perhaps. But not today. This was a weekend excursion, a minor trip to pick up a trinket of interest." He shrugged. "We have our prize. Now we can leave this worthless fringe and return to actual civilization."

Koga bowed his head again. "As you will, Professor Oak."

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