Chapter 8- Professor Connors
"Let's just get this over with, kid, yes, I'm trying to become a professor, yes, that's how you pronounce it!" I said in exasperation at dealing with an eight-year-old who in no way should be this far from a town on his own. 'Like seriously, where the hell is his parents'
"Find, I'm Joey and this is Bucky!" He said with a laugh as he threw out his Pokemon, a Rattata.
"Elijah Conners and…. This is Noel" I said after some debating that my most energetic member should get dibs on the first 'trainer' battle. 'Wait a minute, is this little annoying bastard….. Younger Joey. How annoying fitting he would be my first battle in this world'
"Bucky, while they are distracted, use a quick attack!" Joey yelled bringing me out of the realization-induced daydream.
Unluckily for him, I may have been zoned out, but Noel wasn't.
Not that it mattered. "Noel jump straight up." She sprang up around ten feet in the air in an instant. Not a moment too soon, the rodent landed on the tree she stood behind. "Water gun now! End it in one blow, girly!" I ordered as her cheeks swelled, and a blast of water slammed the poor rodent against the tree bark. For ten whole seconds, Noel didn't let up. "That's enough," I ordered as the cylinder of water stopped holding the rat against the tree.
Almost comically the poor little guy took a step and immediately fell over.
Instantly, little Noel was jumping circles around me in celebration of our first victory. I couldn't help but pick her up and swing her around a few times.
"Here!" The kid said from behind me. I turned in curiosity to see the kid holding three paper bills out to me; I noticed the '100' in the corner of each one. 'So challengers have to pay money for the other trainer's time if they lose, or does it work both ways?'
Despite his annoying behavior, I held my hand out palm forward.
"Eh, don't worry about it kid. We'll call this one a freebie huh?" I said as flipped his hat off his head and jumped back on Torrent's back.
"And put your damn hat on lip forward, ya look stupid," I said with a laugh as we blasted past the stunned kid, Newbark town was finally in my sights.
'Just ten steps, less if I took larger strides… Dammit, the worst the man can say is get the hell out' I hyped myself up as I walked up to the sliding doors. Minato floated next to me as Torrent felt more comfortable waiting by the entrance of the lab.
I almost walked into the sliding glass doors before a yellow hand-held me by the gruff. It seemed they didn't open automatically. 'Thanks for saving me from looking stupid,' I projected my thoughts to my partner as I pushed a yellow button on the wall.
"Can I help you?" A feminine voice asked from the speaker above my head.
"Oh, yes. I was hoping to speak to Professor Elm about a newly discovered evolution" I said.
"Species?" She asked curiously; it seemed I was speaking with one of his research assistants based on the interest.
"Stantler, he's waiting with me just outside"
"Oh, my." An attractive redhead with glasses said, not from the intercom but from the glass door in front of me. Around five foot two, glasses and nice pair of….
'Please stop projecting your thoughts so loudly' Minatos voice sounded reprimanding but the faint chuckle at the end left me red from the neck up.
"That's certainly a Pokemon I've never seen before" She commented as the sliding doors slid open.
"Please follow me, I'll contact the professor and see if he has time. Oh, and you can bring him along if you want. He should keep the professor interested and talking." She advised.
"Come on buddy, it's time to show your stuff" I waved Torrent to follow us inside the rather large sliding doors.
"You can wait here while I inform the professor. It shouldn't take too long as long as he isn't mid-experiment. Who should I tell him is waiting for him?" She asked with a single dainty raised eyebrow and smile.
"Elijah Conners, professor hopeful," I said with a smile as I held out a hand towards her.
"Oh, an academic? You don't look the type, well, except for the coat… Oh, sorry. I'm Elizbeth Bently, an assistant researcher" She said with a smile as she shook my head and headed towards another set of glass doors.
Ok, what did I know about Professor Elm? He was scattered-brained, a big talker, and disorganized. In the games, he is said to be an 'expert' in evolution, while in the anime, he's more into abilities and the 'essence of life.
So he should be interested enough to hear me out.
"Are you Mr. Connors?" A soft-spoken voice asked from the door Elizabeth walked out of. Hair that looked like it hadn't seen a comb in months, one pocket flapping in the wind of his lab coat. Pens in his breast pockets flipped in an irrational way that would make somebody with OCD crazy. An easy-going smile on a rather plain face. Yep, this was definitely Professor Elm.
"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Elm," I said as I rose to my feet and shook the man's hand.
"A pleasure as well and you as well, Kadabra and …." Elms's eyes were wide as they completely forgot about us and went to examine my Ultimate steed.
"The facial structure, hives. No, but the antlers tell it, truly an evolution of Stantler. Surely his type has changed as well, no, just added. Psychic if I had to bet based on the Pokemon's history and dex entry. Wondrous… The real question is how do you evolve." Elm's eyes had stars on them by this point as I felt Torrent, the mythical Wyrdeer, let out his psychic power.
.
"With the help of my trainer, a genius if I ever saw one," Torrent said with his now gruff and serious voice. I barely held a smirk at my wingman.
"Wow! Another species of Telepaths right here in Johto!" Elm said with an insane amount of excitement.
"Hm, well, based on that jacket alone, I'd wager you a professor, but, well, no offense. I'd recognize somebody capable of this," Elm said as he gestured to Torrent. I let out a chuckle at his blunt statement before going into one of my bags and taking out my report.
"Well, I'd imagine so, I'm not really from around here. But please humor me, professor," I said as I handed it to him, my big break, this was it. If he approved it could be my ticket to a new identity, a new set of goals, hell an entire new life.
"Hm, now what is this? The Ultimate Steed' a guide to Stantler's Lost Evolution by Elijah Conners, assisted by Minato of …. How daring!" Elm laughed, but he grew silent as he flipped to the next page, then the next. Before long I had to take a seat to rest my legs and watch Professor Elm with a small smirk on my face.
'Hook, line, and sinker' I commented to myself as I watched Elms's eyes turn crazed as he continued to flip through the report with a fever. Only to reach the end and start from the beginning again.
It was an entire half hour later till Elm took a seat next to me and let his eyes leave the report.
"This…. Is amazing. Almost like an adventure novel with a professor as a main character. Did you really live among a stantler herd for a week? Utilizing your Kadabra's telepathy to communicate with an elder of the herd to learn a legend about their lost evolution?" Elm asked with extreme interest.
"Yeah, it was hard to believe at first but I had already decided to catch Torrent at the time after getting to know him. So I decided to pursue the endeavor despite the risks." Torrent seemed to stand just a tiny bit straighter at my proclamation.
"And what a good thing you did. Your theory of 'Move Required Evolution' was ingenious as were your ideas and experiments towards testing it. And then to finish your research in what, two weeks? You have real talent, Elijah." Elm said with an honest smile.
"Thank you, professor."
"But I'm curious as to why you'd bring this to me and not the Indigo League or the Professor Alliance. Surely I'm a part of both of those organizations but with this….. Well, I'd dare say the league would give you a lab in a premier location and a grant to last you a few years of research. You are young, barely a man if I had to guess. What are your goals, ?" Elm asked multiple questions at once which were all loaded to hell.
I sighed as I debated on what to go with but I decided to go with my goals.
"I want to become something of a hybrid of researcher and a trainer. A traveling researcher. If my focus is to be on evolution and discovering them, I'd need to personally train the Pokemon. And nothing would work better than challenging the Indigo League. My goals? Simple, when I die, I'd like to be remembered as revolutionary to this world. And the title of champion would surely fit into that story." I said to Elm as I did not once break eye contact, the fire behind my eyes burning with resolve as I heard Minato gasp from next to me.
It wasn't surprising as this was the first time he'd ever heard my true goals, as I had just resolved what my path in this world would be. Either success or failure, there will be no in-between. Not here, not in this life.
Elm's eyebrows kept rising higher and higher. Before they settled on a small smile.
"Well, nobody could ever call you unmotivated. Based on that, could I assume you will be able to have another breakthrough of this level?" Elm asked the most seriously I'd ever seen the man.
"Within the year," I answered barely a moment after the question.
"Well now…I guess there's a first time for everything." Elm said before he grabbed a large blocky phone from under his lab coat, dialed a few times, and held it up to his ear.
"Elizabeth, will you please bring my league-branded stamp along with the professor's pen?" He hummed and continued. "Yes, both. No hurry dear and yes I'm completely sure."
"Oh and please send over a printer with you as well." With that, he hung up the call and turned back to me.
"I will negotiate with the league on your behalf, get you the best deal I can based on my name and merits. Along with that, by tomorrow, you will officially be Professor Conners, or would you prefer Elijah?" Elm seemed to take my frozen face as something it wasn't. "Well, you don't need to choose now, but if I were you, I'd go with Connors, rolls better off the tongue"
'Wake up, this is real. It's happening.' Minato's voice entered my mind in a whisper, along with a yellow hand grabbing my forearm and lightly shaking it.
'You've worked hard for this, take it with pride Elijah' Torrent's reassurances followed Noel's pokeball vibrating under my jacket.
"C…Connors, that does have a ring to it." I replied as my face finally unfroze and smoothed back to normal. It was at that moment the pretty redhead from before came from the double doors with an ornate box with a stamp and inkpad on top.
"Thank you," Elm said as his assistant nodded and turned to leave, though not before sending a wink my way.
"May I?" Elm asked as he pressed the stamp into the inkpad and gestured to a blank corner on the report's front page.
"Uh, sure but what is that?" I asked as Elm pressed the stamp onto the corner when he lifted a picture of Ho-oH and Lugia dancing around what looked like a circle of runes, from DnD.
"The stamp of an executive member of the Pokemon League, you will receive your own in due time. Along with one of these," He said as he undid a few latches on the ornate box. I looked over his shoulder as he opened it up, only to be disappointed by an average-looking black ink pen.
"Now, don't have that look, not everything has to look ostentatious to be a symbol of authority." He said as he sighed his name in cursive under the stamp. "We usually don't let newbies in the alliance use one of these pens, but eh," He said with a shrug as he handed me the pen. "Word of advice: sign in cursive in the most obnoxious and flashy handwriting you have," Elm said with a smile. "Oh, and use your new title, it'll be in effect well before this is published."
With a slightly shaky hand, I wrote Prof. Connors over the entire bottom half of the report with a flourish.
"That pen's ink is made of a secret material from an unknown source. But when shown under a blacklight?" Elm said as my signature, as well as his, turned into a literal rainbow on paper.
"Hm, so much for ostentatious, but I guess it's at least hidden behind an average-looking pen. Security reasons if I had to guess" My question was received with a nod and horror stories of horrible research papers signed under professor's names who had no hand in its inception.
"So, I'd say all I need now is your league identification card, birth certificate, and or your trainer license. Just a copy of each will do." Elm said as he took back the report and began reading over parts, occasionally looking over at Torrent.
'God dammit…I had everything in the palm of my hand'
"A minor problem there, Elm, tell me, have you ever heard of an Ultra Wormhole?" I asked as the man froze, his hand stuck mid-page turn. His neck robotically turning to me.
"Perhaps young Elijah, perhaps, know that what you speak of is a code:black-level threat among the Kanto-Johto-Alolain alliance. What would that have to do with a random young genius who showed up at my door, asking for help…." His eyes kept growing wider and wider as he pieced it all together.
"Let's just say I'm not from around here?" I said with a shaky smile. "Just looking to start a new life before another wormhole swallows me up and spits me out on a barren wasteland."
"Oh…oh!" Elm said in disbelief and started regarding me with even more interest than Torrent received.
"You're surely human. So that rules out a new species, and with your skills and knowledge, you definitely had Pokemon in your world. Hmm, maybe the world is too large a spectrum, maybe just an undiscovered region….. Tell me, what region are you from, Professor Connors?" Elm asked as he sat back down and regarded me with interest.
"Tunod, it was called tunod. An island region much like this one, from what I've gathered, they almost mirror each other." I continued to spot the epitome of bullshit as I name-dropped the region from my favorite rom-hack Pokemon: Glazed. I even went so far as to put the idea of a parallel universe at elms feet, which couldn't be proven or disproven.
I felt bad lying to the man about this as he seemed to genuinely like me and believe in me. But I wasn't ever going to explain my true origin to anyone other than my Pokemon and even then it would be given in a jumbled mess.
"Well, I guess we'll need to add an application for citizenship, a trainer license exam, and well, there's really no reason for a birch certificate if you have both of those. Sadly, you'll have to talk with a few league officials and most likely another member of the Professor Alliance." Elm said as he took out a notebook from his breast pocket and began jotting a few things down.
'What?...just like that'
"Oh, before I leave you to gather all of this, do you have a place to stay here in Newbark?" Elm asked. I slowly shook my head. "Just stay put here, and I'll have Elizabeth put you up in one of our staff rooms. We'll surely talk later, but for now, expect an application to be brought to you and a test of your Pokemon training capability tomorrow, conducted by me, of course. Other than that, expect a league official to visit within the week. I expect all of this should be wrapped up within the week." Elm said as he left me sitting there gob-smacked.
I was nearly zombified as Elizabeth fetched me and showed me to my room, I barely registered my two mon's following us. I mumbled thanks to her as I entered the room fell face-first into a pillow and screamed.
'WE FUCKING DID IT!' I yelled my thoughts out to my two psychic Pokemon, who both grimaced and shook their heads at the volume.