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The sweet scent of a bakery wafted through Striaton City as the morning Mist cleared. Ash and Iris turned the street corner and saw the familiar white lab coat figure at the entrance of the dessert shop.
Professor Oak was holding a magnifying glass, studying the cream cakes in the display window. Hearing footsteps, he turned around, his eyes crinkling into crescent moons: "You've come at just the right time! This shop's Voltorb cream puffs are their specialty!"
The wooden tables and chairs of the dessert shop glowed warmly, and sunlight streamed through the stained-glass window, casting fragmented patterns on the tables.
Iris had just taken a bite of her strawberry sundae when she heard Professor Oak patting Ash's shoulder and saying, "My good disciple." She immediately jabbed her spoon into her bowl, utterly shocked:
"Wait, Professor Oak, you said he's your disciple?"
Her long purple hair swung across the back of her chair as she shook her head, not even bothering to wipe the cream clinging to her hair tips:
"This guy, who can trip into a mud pit while walking, and hit people when throwing a Poké Ball!"
Iris stood with her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow, looking like a ruffled Axew.
Professor Oak, however, put away his playful expression and pulled out a shiny, old badge from his pocket. It was an original Kanto region Gym Badge, which he gently placed on the table:
"Ash is the only closed-door disciple this old man has ever taken in his life."
He looked at Ash with eyes like sunlight falling on a ripe wheat field, full of heavy pride, "He, ah, knows best how to give his heart to his Pokémon. He is a Pokémon's family!"
Ash's ears turned red from the praise. He reached for a cream puff on the table, but Iris slapped his hand away: "No eating! Explain yourself first!"
After Iris was led to the counter by a staff member, Professor Oak's smile faded. He pulled a stack of documents from his bag, the edges of the papers creased from repeated reading.
"Ash, the matter you mentioned last time, the Alliance has responded."
He tapped his fingertip on the words "Trainer Code of Conduct" on the document,
"Those who abandon their partners at will, those who mistreat Pokémon, can no longer be indulged."
Sunlight shone through the glass onto the document, making the word "restraint" particularly clear.
"The Alliance wants to establish a new organization," Professor Oak's voice deepened, "not one that sits in an office stamping official seals, no longer a traditional organization, but one scattered along the journey like dandelion seeds, allowing truly excellent young Trainers to monitor those unqualified ones during their travels. Warn those who need warning, and for those whose qualifications should be revoked, show no mercy.
In other words, mobile enforcers!"
He closed the document, folded his hands on the table, and his gaze, like a searchlight, fell upon Ash's face:
"This organization needs a leader, a young role model who can command the respect of everyone."
Professor Oak paused deliberately, his eyes full of expectation and solemnity as he looked at Ash, "Are you willing?"
Ash's fingers unconsciously rubbed the Poké Ball at his waist. He remembered the abandoned Tepig, so thin it was just bones, and the trembling stray Pokémon hiding in corners. His Adam's apple bobbed, then he looked up, met Professor Oak's gaze, and said, word by word:
"Professor, I am willing."
"But this is no light burden."
Professor Oak continued,
"The old fogeys in the Alliance only recognize strength, and they want to install their own family members. I've heard that currently, the strongest are Trainers at the Elite Junior level.
You'll need to show them what you're capable of to shut them up." His fingertip tapped on the virtual map of Unova region Gyms displayed on his smart bracelet,
"Actually, every Gym hides Elite-level individuals. There's always been an advanced challenge rule: defeat three Elite-level Pokémon, and you can get an Advanced Badge."
"Regular Badges get you into the Alliance Conference," Professor Oak's voice carried a hint of an old mischievous pride, "but Advanced Badges not only get you into the Conference, they also open the doors directly to the Elite Four and the Champion!"
He patted Ash's arm, "This old man is a good judge of character, Ash, you will definitely get all eight of these Advanced Badges."
But the next second, his tone became somber again,
"Once you achieve that, I will join forces with Professor Juniper, Professor Sycamore, and others to jointly recommend you.
But remember, this job will offend people. Those who win battles by mistreating Pokémon, those Trainers who treat their partners as tools, their interests will be threatened by you. Open and hidden attacks will be inevitable."
Professor Oak stared into Ash's eyes, "This path is very difficult. Have you truly thought it through?"
Ash looked at the Pidove flying outside the window, exhaling a long breath. The Mist condensed into small water droplets on the glass.
"Professor, I've seen abandoned Caterpie in Viridian Forest, and I've held starving, trembling Tepig in a warehouse in Unova,"
His voice was soft, yet carried a heavy weight,
"Every time I see them trembling in a corner, I think, if someone had managed those Trainers sooner, would they not have had to suffer so much?"
He turned around, his palm pressed against the documents on the table, his fingertips slightly white from the pressure,
"Those who casually abandon their partners probably don't treat the Pokémon they have any better.
Perhaps what we can do is not just punish, but also help those mistreated Pokémon find Trainers who genuinely care for them."
Sunlight fell on his face, illuminating his pupils.
"I used to think that a Trainer only needed to be good to his own Pokémon," Ash's lips curved slightly, with a hint of embarrassed determination,
"But now I understand that a true Trainer must see the tears of all Pokémon. I want to try, even if I can only change a little."
Professor Oak stroked Ash's head with satisfaction.
Then, Professor Oak took out a piece of stationery with a gilded border and gently pushed it towards Ash:
"The Alliance asked me to write a Trainer's oath, but I think no one understands what to say better than you."
Ash's fingertips traced the patterns on the edge of the stationery. He took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping across the sky outside the window, then returning to the Poké Ball at his waist.
He looked up, his voice not loud, but clear and impactful:
"In the name of a Trainer, I hereby swear this oath:"
"With the Poké Ball as our covenant, we shall protect the faint glow of every evolution. Though the path ahead be thorny, our steps, bound to each other, shall press onward."
He paused, his fingertips gently tapping the table, as if resonating with the heartbeats of countless Pokémon:
"We shall guard this shared wilderness, never overstepping to plunder, never wantonly harming.
Battles are a ladder to growth, not a tool for crushing;
Order is not a shackle, but a retreat for every life."
Sunlight streamed through the glass, weaving a golden halo behind him.
Ash's voice carried the clear tone of youth, yet also held a solemnity beyond his years:
"May the Pokémon in every corner be treated with gentleness, and may every path we walk leave behind footprints of respect."
He looked at Professor Oak one last time, his gaze as firm as a rock:
"By the bond we share, this oath shall never waver!"
Professor Oak quietly turned his face away, wiping the corner of his eye with his sleeve. When he turned back, his eyes behind his spectacles shone as if filled with starlight:
"You rascal, you truly are my disciple. This oath, it carries weight."