Fortunately, after the last lesson, he had prepared plenty of antidotes.
Ash breathed a sigh of relief, opened his backpack, and pulled out a bottle of Antidote. He had prepared some for both Pokémon and himself.
Soon, after two doses of Antidote, Natsume stirred awake.
"You're really hard to take down," Misty's faint voice remarked as she looked at him curiously.
Usually, the only thing in the Viridian Forest that could poison someone like that would be a Beedrill swarm. But clearly, Natsume was no ordinary person. He had angered a Weedle and nearly been taken out single-handedly.
"It was hiding in the grass!" Natsume's first words upon waking.
"Alright, got it. Let's keep going," Ash said.
*Pika pika*
Pikachu mimicked Ash, covering his face in sync.
Natsume sprang up, seemingly unaffected, full of energy. He scanned the area, noticed a Bellsprout, and in a blink, it vanished from their sight.
"Hey, make sure you've got a few antidote bottles!" Ash called out urgently.
"Don't worry, I've got them in my backpack!" Natsume's distant voice replied.
Since adding the Pokémon game battle arena, Natsume had stocked up on plenty of potions. Though intended for Pokémon, he could easily use them himself.
Now, Natsume had more pressing matters. From his memory, Ash and Misty's Viridian Forest trip hadn't featured any particularly noteworthy wild Pokémon.
As a Pokémon researcher, he had to publish a journal article every year. This year's paper hadn't been submitted yet. Natsume planned to take this Viridian Forest trip as an opportunity to draft **Viridian Forest Plant Pokémon Resource Survey**.
The goal was to get a year's worth of data in just a week, finishing before heading to Pewter City. A week to compile a year's research—challenging, but perfect for him.
"Rotom, get ready to record!"
"Rotom!"
A quick blur appeared as Rotom, in its floating form with tiny lightning wings, darted through the grass. After finishing a year's worth of data, the Pokémon League would provide a substantial research grant, crucial for Natsume's next Rotom project.
Although the potential for innovation with Rotom battle forms was vast, acquiring the necessary equipment was expensive. Natsume's next project involved studying Motorbike Rotom.
In his previous research with Toy Rotom, he had noticed an interesting phenomenon: the performance and quality of toys affected the base stats Rotom displayed when merged with them. Similarly, even with Rotom's standard forms—like Lawn Mower Rotom or Washing Machine Rotom—their stats varied depending on the device's performance.
Back at the lab, Natsume had experimented by merging Rotom with a variety of appliances.
The highest-stat Rotom he had created was a fusion with the Pokémon Transfer Control Center computer at Professor Oak's lab.
That computer was extremely powerful—hundreds of times stronger than the best consumer-grade PCs. Once Rotom fused with it, it became a Psychic/Electric type. ITS base stats exceeded the pseudo-legendary threshold by 30 points and surpassed every Rotom form in the games by 100 points, reaching an astonishing 630. For comparison, Mewtwo only had 680.
However, the supercomputer was far too large. Once Rotom merged with it, it couldn't move and wasn't battle-suitable. And if he tried to take it, Professor Oak would probably put the whole region on alert. Nevertheless, it was still a groundbreaking discovery.
Not finding a portable high-performance machine now didn't mean it would be impossible later. In fact, Natsume already had a grand plan forming in his mind: he would combine a top-tier supercomputer with a high-performance motorcycle, let Rotom fuse into it, and use the computer to control the motorcycle—creating a *Mecha Rotom*!
**Transform, Autobot!**
It was feasible, at least according to Natsume's current research data. Theoretically, this could work. Real life, after all, gave Rotom far more potential than the games could account for.
At the same time, Natsume coined his observation that Rotom's base stats changed depending on the appliance's performance as the—
**Rotom-Natsume Principle**.
According to this principle, the better the machine, the stronger Rotom would become when fused. Natsume already had a modular, detachable motorcycle-computer prototype; all that remained was the vehicle itself. Once his research grant came through, he'd buy a motorcycle to experiment with.
He absentmindedly fiddled with his pocket while thinking it would be ideal to run into Gary and use his sports car for testing.
Time passed, and before long it was noon. Natsume turned to look for Ash.
*Smack!*
A crisp slap echoed through a clearing. Natsume saw Misty hitting Ash.
So these two kids were secretly playing games behind his back.
"Hey, why'd you hit me?" Ash asked, holding his face.
"Idiot! You can't send Caterpie to battle Pidgey!" Misty snapped. "Pidgey is Flying-type, strong against Bug-type—you should have used Pikachu instead."
"Ah, really?" Ash realized.
"Then go, Pikachu!"
*Pika!*
Under Misty's guidance, Ash successfully caught a future Elite Four candidate. A wide grin spread across his face as he held the Pokéball.
At that moment, a voice called from behind:
"Ash, over here."
He turned and saw Natsume. Approaching, Natsume slapped Ash's face—perfectly mirroring Misty's slap from the other side.
"Ash, are you trying to teach me something too?" Ash asked, holding his face, puzzled.
"Nope. Just felt like it after watching her," Natsume said.
Ash was speechless.
Just then, a familiar voice rang through the sky:
*Prepare for trouble!**And make it double!*
*To protect the world from devastation!**To unite all peoples within our nation!*
*To denounce the evils of truth and love!**To extend our reach to the stars above!*
*Jessie!**James!*
The three of them looked up, noticing that above them, a Meowth-head hot air balloon had appeared out of nowhere.
"Those are the two from the other night!"
Seeing Team Rocket, Ash and Misty quickly pulled out their Pokéballs.
*Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!**Surrender now, or prepare to fight!*
Jessie struck a pose, and James froze on the balloon, doing nothing further.
"What are they doing… performance art?" Misty wondered, looking at Jessie and James.
"Meowth! Meowth, where are you?!" James lowered his voice, trying to locate Meowth.
"Meow! Help! There's a pervert, meow!"
Nearby, Meowth's voice cried out.
Looking down, they saw Natsume holding Meowth high, effortlessly making him float as if weightless.
James and Jessie: ???