Chapter 1. My Name Is Natsume
"Professor Oak, why are you at my house again?"
"Ah-hahaha, it's you, Ash."
"You're setting out on your journey tomorrow, so remember to come early to receive your starter Pokémon, and don't be late."
At the door, Professor Oak left in a flash.
Ash turned his head and looked at Professor Oak, a little confused.
But soon, he pulled himself together.
Tomorrow would be the most critical step toward becoming a Pokémon Master!
Receiving his very own starter Pokémon.
As for Professor Oak's warning not to be late, Ash didn't take it to heart at all.
He had already given Natsume, who worked at Professor Oak's Laboratory, a heads-up.
Natsume would keep an eye out for him.
The next day, at Professor Oak's Laboratory.
"Ah—everything's already been picked!?"
A cry of astonishment rang out, scaring off quite a few Spearow perched in the trees.
Inside the lab, a boy clutched his head, looking utterly frantic.
Beside him, Professor Oak held a little notebook and, seeing the dejected Ash, shook his head slightly and said,
"Honestly, how could you dare let that kid Natsume choose a Pokémon for you?"
"Have you ever seen him wake up before noon?"
Ash: "…"
The mood turned a bit heavy.
Suddenly, a sound tearing through the air broke the silence.
"Bang!"
A Poké Ball smacked Ash squarely on the head with unerring accuracy.
Unfortunately, the device seemed to detect that what it hit wasn't a Pokémon.
The red light from the Poké Ball did not capture Ash inside.
"Ow!"
"Natsume, how many times have I told you, I'm not a Pokémon!"
"Don't keep throwing Poké Balls at me!"
"It hurts!"
Ash, wincing, held his head and looked toward the doorway, where a tall, slender youth walked in against the light.
As the youth came closer, his face came into view.
Dressed in casual athletic wear, with delicate features and fair skin, he exuded a bookish air from head to toe, giving off a well-behaved and easygoing impression.
Floating at Natsume's side was a cellphone sporting a pair of tiny lightning-shaped wings.
At Ash's grousing, he only shrugged.
"Who can say?"
With that, Natsume sighed and picked up the Poké Ball on the floor that was beeping nonstop.
Attempt no. 32 to capture the strongest humanoid Pokémon: failed.
[Ding! D-rank research topic—(Is Ash Ketchum a humanoid Pokémon) has met the decryption progress requirement. Conclusion: No.]
[Reward: Scratch Card ×1!]
Sensing that a scratch card had appeared in his system space, Natsume brightened.
He had finally saved up ten scratch cards.
Just as Natsume was considering heading home, taking a shower, lighting incense, and happily doing a ten-pull, Ash's plaintive voice came from the side.
"Natsume, what about the Pokémon I asked you to pick for me?"
Seeing Natsume standing there in a daze, Ash seemed on the verge of freaking out.
"Come on, don't tell me you forgot!"
"Gary just laid into me at the door!"
"Oh, that?"
Natsume turned to Ash, his face sincerely earnest.
"Of course I didn't forget."
"What I prepared for you is a Pokémon that's different from all the others the new Trainers are getting."
"Very, very rare~"
There was a teasing lilt in Natsume's tone.
Ash blinked, his curiosity piqued.
Natsume worked as Professor Oak's assistant.
If he said so, it had to be at least somewhat reliable.
Unconsciously, Ash's eyes lit up, and he started to look forward to it.
What kind of "different" Pokémon could it be?
Natsume walked behind Ash and pressed a certain switch.
Soon, under Ash's eager gaze, a yellow-skinned little rat was slowly raised up by a mechanical platform.
"Whoa, cool!"
"Looks like a really strong Pokémon!"
Ash's eyes sparkled as he pulled out the Pokédex Professor Oak had given him and pointed it at the yellow little rat before him.
A mechanical voice quickly sounded from the Pokédex:
"Pikachu, the Electric Mouse Pokémon, as common as stray dogs by the roadside."
Ash: "…"
"Natsume, didn't you say this one is really rare… um, Natsume?"
He turned his head, but couldn't find Natsume anywhere.
Looking around, he realized Natsume had somehow slipped out to the doorway.
Natsume pointed behind Ash.
Ash and Professor Oak turned in unison and saw an angry Pikachu.
It seemed the blunt words on the Pokédex had ticked him off.
"Pika—chu!"
A Thunderbolt blasted the two inside flat onto the floor.
"N-Natsume, you're so unreliable…"
Ash lay on the ground, his pajamas charred to a crisp.
He reached out a trembling hand and pointed accusingly at Natsume, who stood safe and sound at the door.
Sigh, silly kid.
Seeing Ash like this, Natsume shook his head.
This Pikachu really was very rare indeed!
[Ding! Special individual detected within the Pikachu population!]
[S-rank research topic issued—"Decrypt Ash's Pikachu."]
As expected, Ash's Pikachu was a special individual.
Hearing the pop-up from his system, a faint smile tugged at Natsume's lips.
After crossing into the Pokémon world, he had bound a Pokémon Research System.
So long as he kept seeking and studying special individuals that stood out from ordinary Pokémon populations, he could obtain rewards without end!
The first that came to Natsume's mind was Ash's Pikachu.
One Thunderbolt and even Arceus would be raising a Plate to block—at that level of power, this Pikachu had to be a special individual.
Watching Ash and Professor Oak twitching on the floor inside, Natsume showed a gentle, "warm" smile.
"Ash, I've already told Mrs. Ketchum I'm traveling with you."
At the main gate of Professor Oak's Laboratory.
A crowd had gathered.
Today was the day five Trainers were setting off from Pallet Town, and everyone had come to see them off.
The first three had already departed.
Now, they were here to send off Ash and Natsume.
In the crowd, Delia Ketchum was holding armfuls of stuff and kept stuffing it into Ash's hands.
"Here's your water bottle, and a tent."
"Rope and rubber gloves might come in handy sometime too!"
"Okay, okay, Mom!"
Ash's hands were almost too full to hold anything more.
Seeing this, Delia smiled, then added warmly,
"And Natsume's heading out with you, too."
"I know that."
"Natsume told me at the lab just now."
Ash scratched his head.
He couldn't tell why, but the neighbors' gazes around them felt unusually enthusiastic.
When they'd seen Gary and the others off earlier, nobody had been this passionate.
"Haha, that's good."
"On the road, keep an eye on Natsume and look after him, okay?"
"Okay, Mom, I'll be good and listen to Natsume—wait, what did you say?"
Ash stared blankly at Delia, pointing at himself with one finger, as if to say:
"You want a ten-year-old kid to look after a grown eighteen-year-old?"
To his surprise, the neighbors didn't find that strange at all, and chimed in one after another:
"Yeah, Ash, we're counting on you to take care of that kid Natsume!"
"You make sure to keep a close eye on him!"
"That's right, Ash."
"Don't forget, Natsume's from Sinnoh, not from Pallet Town like us."
"Be sure to explain that to other people clearly!"
"Uh, okay."
With the neighbors talking over each other, Ash scratched his head, flustered, and could only agree to everything.
Everybody's acting so weird.
Just then, a shout came from afar:
"Ash, over here!"
"Let's head out!"
It was Natsume.
He was wearing a clean, tidy tracksuit and carrying a travel pack, waving to Ash.
Looking at everyone who'd come to see them off, Natsume couldn't help feeling moved.
The five years since he'd moved to Pallet Town washed over him, and he sighed with emotion.
This really was a warm, animated world.
People were so simple and sincere!
Just you wait.
When Natsume becomes a true Pokémon development and research master, he'll come back and repay the folks of Pallet Town!
"Go on, Ash!"
"Don't give up on your dream!"
"That's right, Ash!"
"You're the man who's going to be a Pokémon Master!"
"Before that, make sure you train together with Natsume!"
The crowd urged them on from all sides.
"All right, then I'll take my leave for now!"
"When I become a Pokémon Master, I'll definitely come back to see you all!"
Ash waved, a smile on his face, and after saying goodbye to everyone, he set off on the journey together with Natsume.
In the setting sun, their two shadows stretched longer and longer.
Back at the gate of Professor Oak's Laboratory, as Natsume walked into the distance, the sadness and reluctance on the crowd's faces vanished in an instant.
In their place—unbelieving joy!
"He's gone!"
"He's gone!"
"That devil Natsume finally left!"
Someone shouted with glee.
"Yeah, heaven has eyes!"
"Ever since he moved here from Sinnoh five years ago, my Ponyta hasn't had a single good night's sleep!"
"And my Oddish—Natsume kept mixing its droppings into its food, saying he wanted 'to research whether Grass-type Pokémon could achieve self-sufficiency.'"
"Boo-hoo, by the time I found out, it had been eating poop for over a year!"
"Now it can't even change its taste back!"
"And I don't know who brought that devil here, but my Geodude got hauled off for CT scans every day."
"Now it's afraid whenever it sees light."
"He said it was 'to research whether Geodude could develop kidney stones.'"
"…"
For a time, public outrage boiled over.
Professor Oak hunched his neck within the crowd, not daring to make a sound.
It wasn't just the residents of Pallet Town.
Even the Pokémon filling the lab's back yard took to the sky or scrambled up trees one by one.
Only after they confirmed that the Demon King Natsume had truly left did they cheer as well.
A few Primeape even produced drums and gongs from who-knows-where and started beating them.
In an instant, the drums thundered.
All of Pallet Town felt like it was celebrating a festival—it was lively indeed!
The chorus of drums behind them drifted faintly to Natsume and Ash.
Ash's nose suddenly stung, and he spoke with some reluctance,
"Everyone… everyone seems so reluctant to see us go."
On the road, the faces of his mom and the neighbors seeing them off were etched deep in Ash's mind.
And those blessings, those urgent exhortations—
The corners of Ash's eyes grew a little damp.
"Natsume, maybe we should go back and stay with everyone a little longer."
Ash wiped the moisture from his eyes and looked up at the taller Natsume beside him.
When Natsume first came to Pallet Town, he'd used his patent fees to build several roads for the town and even a power plant.
Clearly, he truly treated this place as his home.
Natsume must be just as reluctant as he was!
Natsume turned to Ash, a strange look on his face.
When all was said and done, Ash was still just a ten-year-old heading out on his first journey.
Thinking of this, Natsume bared a row of bright, youthful white teeth, patted Ash on the shoulder, and boomed encouragement:
"No need to look back, Ash!"
"A real man leaves behind a resolute silhouette!"
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