Oak's Lab was far from the tidiest place in Pallet Town: anyone that entered it would have noticed the shelves were filled with books turned upside down, the desks were covered in papers and documents, photos of Pokémon from all over Kanto, along with documentation on their diet, behavior and relation with humans. Oak himself was in the deck furthest from the entrance, putting the finishing touch on his masterpieces: four items of four different colors: blue, red, black and green. Each of those Pokédex was to be given to one of the trainers he had selected… Once he had actually selected them.
"That's the hardest part." He thought, rising his head from the desk and staring at the ceiling – noticing a rather impressive amount of mold on it, his fault for testing the range of a Water Gun attack indoor weeks ago and never opening a window afterwards – and rubbed his forehead. He moved himself along with the entire chair to another desk. There was a list of over a hundred applicants from all over Kanto, although half of them were from Pallet Town. And it was his job to read each of those and figure out who were the best choice to get a Dex. He stared at the one at the top, his nephew. For a second he struggled with the name, then sighed and decided to read it. "Blue Oak." He thought "Those memory gaps are getting worse. I really need to see a doctor. I have spent way too much time locked in here, that's not good on the brain."
But he was so close, he thought turning around to stare at the four Pokédex. The research from Dr. Fuji had allowed him to bring the number to 151, though he still doubted the last two to be real. "Mew and Mewtwo… I guess it doesn't hurt to have them, if the four can't find proof of their existence I can always delete them and tell Fuji he should send further research to have them included again."
Patiently, he started reading the applications one by one. He discarded underage applicants – why would they even bother, who would use kids for a scientific endeavor like this one? – and applicants that did not have the proper grades from Pokémon Training Academies. He needed trainers good enough to be able to survive on their own in the wild, and to take part in the League challenge in order to analyze how competitive training affects the growth of all those involved, human or Pokémon alike. Maybe not the future Champion, but certainly not someone that would give up after the first Gym.
Then there was the matter of personal character. That was hard to gauge from just a basic document he had required from teachers, but at least it helped remove people the experts were unwilling to back up as possible candidates. After four intense hours he was done with his choices. Blue was one, unsurprisingly. Top of the class in Pallet Town Training Academy, all teachers agreed he was both an excellent trainer and a good person, if incredibly arrogant. He sighed again, like he had many times before. His grandson was too full of himself, yes. He hoped this journey would teach him at least a modicum of modesty.
The second and third were from the same Academy too, and the same class as well. "People will think I did it on purpose, but those two are the best candidates, I'd bet my PhDs on it." He thought, looking at the pictures. A boy with brown hair and light blue eyes and a girl with dark blonde hair and the eyes in a shade of green. He pondered for a moment more before nodding. Both had stellar grades, even if a bit lower than his grandson.
Finally, Oak took a look at the fourth one. Lavender Town Trainer Academy, that was a rarity. Most people from Lavender Town would go to the biggest Academy in Kanto, the Saphron City Academy. In fact, Lavender had so few trainees they did the final exam with those from Saphron. And this was the young man that had managed to pass the entire test using only a single Pokémon, quite the stellar achievement. His professors described him as someone "a bit too full of himself with strangers, and sometimes overreacting to relatively low provocation, but a good person under these flaws", and were convinced he would be a good choice. Samuel Oak pondered it for a moment and then finally nodded. Those four would be fine. Something like this was somewhat experimental anyway, if things went badly he could have always declared the Pokédex test a failure.
He quickly checked the clock. 8.30 AM. "Yet another night lost, fantastic." He thought, picking up the phone and starting to make the calls to the three households of the other candidates. Hopefully someone would answer and he could set up a date. As the first phone rang, he looked up at the moldy ceiling again. "Maybe a date after I have cleaned a bit."