Oak's lab was by no means the neatest place in Pallet Town: anyone who entered it would have noticed that the shelves were filled with upside-down books, the desk was covered with papers and papers, photos of Pokémon from all over Kanto along with documentation of theirs. diet, their behavior and their relationship with humans. Oak was at the point furthest from the entrance, taking to give the final touch to his masterpieces: four objects, each of a different color: blue, red, black and green. Each of those Pokédexes had to be assigned to one of the trainers he had chosen ... After actually choosing them.

'Now for the hard part.' he thought as he raised his head and looked up at the ceiling - noticing a rather staggering amount of mold on it, it was his fault for testing the range of an attack. Water Gun indoors weeks ago, never opening a window afterwards - and he rubbed his forehead. He moved his entire chair to another desk. There was a roster of over a hundred candidates from all over Kanto, although half of these came from Pallet Town. It was up to him to read each of them and figure out who was the best choice to get a Pokédex. He stared at the one at the top of the list, his grandson. For a second he tried to remember its name, then sighed and decided to read it. 'Oak Blue.' he thought. 'These memory lapses are getting worse. I really need to see a doctor. I've spent too much time locked up here, it's not good for the brain. '

But he had come so close, he thought and then turned to look at the four devices. Dr. Fuji's research allowed him to bring the number to 151. He read his friend's email.

'I wanted to write to send you the data of our works. I don't know if you want them or not after what I did, but I hope you can do something good that way. And I hope you are not angry with me for using your secret for my projects. But know that I made sure it was fine, I couldn't stand it either. My sincere apologies. - Minoru Fuji. '

Oak sat down. He was mad at Fuji, of course. He will ponder what to do. Regarding the creation of Mewtwo, it was known, but what happened to it after the events on Cinnamon Island was unknown. It was now common opinion that it was just a hybrid created to prove Mew's existence, but Oak was certain it wasn't, and then there was ... 'Mew ... I guess it doesn't hurt anyone to put it on, if the four could not find any evidence of its existence I can always delete it ... Maybe it would be better actually ... '

He patiently began to read the requests one by one. He discarded the minors' ones - why would he care? Who would ever use children for scientific research like this? - and those who did not have the proper grades from the Pokémon Trainer Academy. He needed trainers who were good enough to survive on their own and who could take part in the League challenge to analyze how competitive training can affect the growth of all involved, both humans and Pokémon. Maybe not the future Champion, but certainly not someone who would give up after the first Gym, as many did in the first month outside the Academy.

Then there was the question of personal character. This was difficult to assess from just a simple document he had requested from teachers, but at least it helped to discard those the teachers were unwilling to support as possible candidates. After four intense hours he had made his decisions. Blue was one of them, predictably. First of his class of his at Pallet Town Trainer Academy, all the teachers agreed that he would be an excellent trainer and a good person, even if incredibly arrogant. He sighed again, as he had done countless times before reading such stuff. His grandsone was too sure of himself, no doubt. Not even when he wanted to be an exchange student in Kalos had he changed him, the year before. He hoped this journey would teach him at least a minimum of modesty.

Four other candidates were from the same academy and also from the same class. 'People will think I did it on purpose, but they are among the best candidates, I'd bet my PhDs.' he thought, looking at the photos. A dark brown-haired boy always with a hat and eyes of the same hair color, a girl with long straight brown hair and eyes, a boy with uncombed brown hair, blue eyes and glasses, and a girl with dark blond hair and eyes with a particular shade of green. He thought for a moment and then nodded. All had stellar grades, even if a little lower than those of his grandson. The initial idea was to choose at least the first two, but then he decided on the third and fourth. Now the last one was missing. He discarded the idea of using another Pallet Town candidate.

Oak finally took a look at the last of the best candidates. From the Lavender Town Trainer Academy, a rarity. Most of the inhabitants of Lavender Town went to study in the largest Academy of Kanto, that of Saffron City. To tell the truth, there were so few trainers from Lavender Town that they had to take their final exam together with the students from Saffron City. And this was the trainer who managed to pass all the tests with a single Pokémon, a rather impressive result. His teachers described him as "a little too sure of himself with strangers, who sometimes overreacted even to slight provocations, but a good person despite these flaws", and they were convinced that it would be a good choice. Samuel Oak thought for a moment and finally nodded. Those four were fine. On the other hand, all this was nothing more than an experiment, if things had gone wrong he could always have declared the test for the digital Pokédex a failure.

He quickly checked his watch. 8:30 in the morning. 'Another lost night, fantastic.' he thought, picking up the phone and starting to call the three families of the candidates. Hoping someone would answer so we can make an appointment. When the first person answered the phone, he looked up at the moldy ceiling. 'Maybe an appointment until I've cleaned up a bit.'