"Midchu, use Discharge!"
"Hm?"
By the shore, Natsume, fiddling with his Great Ball, raised his head and looked toward Midchu on the platform.
*So he actually learned Discharge—then Midchu must be at least level 32.*
*Tsk tsk, no wonder he's such a battle maniac. Even with two Pikachu, he managed to raise them this fast.*
*Over level 30 already… looks like I'll have to make a third-tier Enhancement chair.*
*Boom!*
Five minutes later, Midchu landed gracefully, while the opposing Staryu was blasted away by a violent burst of electricity, losing his ability to battle.
*Pika? Pika!?*
For some reason, even though he had won, Midchu still felt a chill run down his back.
"Alright, let's keep up the momentum—wait, Midchu, why are you coming back?"
*Pika pi*
Yawning, Midchu returned. After high-fiving Pikachu, the two stood to the left and right behind Ash.
"…Fine, I get it."
Ash tugged helplessly at the brim of his cap.
Natsume's Pikachu was too lazy. Unless ordered directly by Natsume, whenever Ash wanted him to battle, he absolutely refused to fight consecutively.
A little taste was enough—Pokémon needed rest too.
True to his philosophy of self-care, Midchu pulled a small blanket from Ash's backpack, used Pikachu's tail as a pillow, and started snoring.
"Hmph, without Midchu and Pikachu, let's see how you plan to win now!"
Across from him, Misty once again tossed a Pokéball:
"Go, Starmie!"
*Mie—!*
A star-shaped Pokémon appeared on the water, its chest gem resembling Ultraman's timer.
**Starmie: Water/Psychic. The evolved form of Staryu, a genderless Pokémon.**
"So it's Staryu's evolution? In that case—go, Butterfree!"
Ash's voice rang out. Natsume raised an eyebrow, looking at the battlefield.
*Rotom*
Rotom understood and scanned Butterfree on the field:
**Butterfree, Lv.16**
Seeing its approximate level, Natsume rubbed his temples.
He almost forgot—he still had a research proposal about the relationship between a Pokémon's desire to evolve and its evolution level.
Well, whatever. Following Ash, opportunities were everywhere.
So many of his Pokémon evolved mid-battle—clearly the will to fight often triggered their evolution.
But what a pity. At best, research at this level could only get published in second-rate journals.
Besides, after integrating his Pokéball Rotom theories into articles, he hadn't had the time to take on anything else for a long while.
*Tasteless to keep, wasteful to abandon.*
Thinking this, Natsume shifted his gaze toward the collapsed Brock.
"Brock, training and research go hand in hand. Interested in becoming a researcher?"
He leaned closer. Even if the work only made it into second-rate journals, publishing a few articles could still easily secure him a position in a city-level research unit later.
"Well…"
Brock glanced at Natsume, quickly stood, and shook his head firmly.
"I only want to be a Breeder. Besides, my father's already old. In a few years, I'll have to take over the Gym. I'm afraid I won't have the energy to be a researcher."
"I see…" Natsume lowered his head, then looked again at the Great Ball in his hand.
Maybe he should take on a student?
He had plenty of ideas, but most of them were incomplete. He lacked the motivation to research them himself—but passing them to a student would be just right.
*Boom!*
Suddenly, the walls of Cerulean Gym burst apart as a massive, tank-like machine roared its way inside.
*Prepare for trouble!**And make it double!*
"It's Team Rocket!"
The battle had just ended, and Ash and Misty instantly tensed up.
*To protect the world from devastation!**To unite all peoples within our nation!*
"That damn researcher isn't here, right, Meowth?"
"Meowth, don't ruin our lines!"
*BAM!*
Jessie punched Meowth on the head.
"Meowth, don't—"
Before he could finish, Meowth's body was engulfed in red light.
"Return, Meowth!"
Natsume's Pokéball struck Meowth perfectly, capturing him inside.
James and Jessie stared blankly as the ball fell to the ground, shaking nonstop.
A moment later, they snapped out of it and shouted at Natsume:
"You brat! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Meowth is a member of Team Rocket!"
"Huh?" Natsume spread his hands. "I know. But he's still a wild Pokémon."
"Finally free, Meowth!"
The Pokéball shook violently, and Meowth burst out in a flash.
The instant he saw Natsume, Meowth's fur bristled as he clung to Jessie's leg.
"Let's get out of here, Meowth!"
"Meowth don't give in to him! Don't forget why we came here!" Jessie yanked Meowth off her.
"That's right! We're here to steal all the Water-type Pokémon and hand them over to Boss Giovanni!"
James pulled out a rose from nowhere, speaking dreamily.
"Exactly, Meowth! Start it up!"
Meowth pressed a button on the machine beneath him.
A huge pipe extended from the back of the machine, plunging into the battlefield pool and sucking water at high speed.
"This is bad, stop them!"
Ash was about to throw a Pokéball when Daisy held him back by the shoulder.
"Huh? What are they doing?"
"Except for the Pokémon we use for shows, the rest are all at the Pokémon Center."
"So they're just draining water?"
The Cerulean Sisters walked over.
"That thing looks like it's going to explode. The quality seems awful."
Clutching her backpack, Misty stepped back nervously.
"It's not that bad," Natsume said as he studied Team Rocket's pump-tank, recalling the stolen old pipes and engines from earlier that morning.
For them to build this in less than a day—their hands-on skills were impressive.
"You're always giving them too much credit," Misty muttered, glaring at him.
Natsume didn't answer, his eyes fixed on Team Rocket.
Tch—how could he have forgotten about these three?
In the anime, their ability to build machines was terrifying. They were basically born research-lab workhorses!
"Why's he staring at us like that, Meowth?"
Meowth kept glancing nervously at Natsume, clearly shaken.
"Something's not right, Meowth! Shut the machine down, quick!" Jessie and James had also noticed something was off. There weren't any Pokémon in the pool at all!
"It's fine, Meowth!"
Overly tense, Meowth hit the wrong button. Instead of stopping, the machine began draining water even faster.
"This is bad, Meowth!"
*Boom!*
With a thunderous explosion, the pump-tank blew apart, and Team Rocket blasted off again!
"Ah! My bag is soaked!"
"Hey! Don't blame me for waking you up, Natsume—Midchu bit me!"
"That's strange… where did Natsume go?"
Brock realized Natsume was missing, but his attention uncontrollably drifted back to the Cerulean Sisters.
...
**Cerulean City, outskirts.**
From the branches of a tree, three people dressed as Primeape dangled upside down.
"Meowth, this is all your fault for pressing the wrong button!"
"What are you talking about, Meowth? James hooked up the engine to the wrong pipe."
"Huh? Then why don't you blame Jessie—she didn't do anything at all!"
"What did you say?! Who drew the blueprints?!"
Jessie grabbed James by the collar, spitting in his face as she yelled.
In James's pupils, Jessie seemed to glimpse a shadow.
"Alright, no need to fight. Look at me."
Behind them, Natsume's voice rang out.
Turning around, they saw his face bathed in a holy, benevolent glow.
"The three of you—would you like to become my reserach assistants?"
You can read more (around 50+ free chapters) of Natsume's adventure ad-free at [https ://ravenarchives .com/book/pokemon-who-let-him-leave-pallet-town]. Bulk uploads is a mess here, so updates here might be irregular.