Pokémon: Who told him to come out of Pallet Town!

Chapter 22: Encountering Glass Again

"Natsu-senpai, we'll leave you here for now."

"If you go straight through that cave ahead, you can quickly pass through Mt. Tsukimi."

The two researchers assumed Natsume was just passing by, so they escorted the group to the largest cave entrance, waved goodbye, and left.

"Natsume-nii, can we stay here for a few days?"

Ash looked at Natsume with hopeful eyes. He wanted to stay for a while and challenge that Elite Four Trainer.

"Don't worry, I was planning to stay here for a while anyway."

Natsume waved the identification document in his hand at Satoshi, who was standing next to him:

"I'll go find the person in charge here and apply for a few rooms to stay in temporarily. That shouldn't be a problem."

"Hey everyone, there seems to be a cry for help coming from that cave."

Xiao Gang seemed to have heard something and pointed to a slightly smaller cave nearby.

"Huh? It seems so?"

Xiaoxia listened carefully for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

"Then let's go take a look."

Natsume, a little curious, took the lead and went into the small cave next to him.

Inside the cave, only faint torches hung on both sides, making it difficult to see the ground.

"Natsume-nii, why isn't this place electrified like the main passage? It's just dark with torches hanging around."

Careless Xiao Zhi almost fell over.

"These caves are different from the main passage; they weren't dug by man. They're naturally formed caves, and many Pokémon live in them, most of which are afraid of light."

"I see, but the road is so rough."

Xiao Zhi scratched his head, looking somewhat troubled.

"You can hold Xiaoxia's hand; she's more attentive."

"oh."

"What are you doing?!"

A big bump appeared on Xiao Zhi's head.

Soon, the group arrived at the depths of the cave, where it was pitch black. Xiao Gang took out a flashlight.

"Help!"

Natsume heard a familiar voice.

"There it is!"

Xiao Gang was the first to find the person who had called for help. He shone his flashlight over and saw a researcher in a white coat squatting on the ground with his head in his hands, and a pile of documents scattered around him.

Above him, a number of Pokémon that look like bats were attacking him.

Zubat: A bat-like Pokémon that flies using ultrasonic waves and rarely comes out, hiding in dark caves.

"It looks dangerous, Natsume-nii, let's go rescue him... Huh? Where's Natsume-nii?"

Ash was taken aback, realizing that Natsume was nowhere to be seen.

"He's there."

Xiao Gang pointed to the researcher's side, where Natsume was intently rummaging through a bag.

"Natsume-nii, what are you doing?"

Ash approached curiously.

"I'm checking if there are any Poké Balls containing Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur inside."

"Why does this have to contain a Poké Ball with these three Pokémon?"

Xiaoxia poked her head out, followed closely by Xiaogang.

Natsume's mysterious demeanor caught the attention of the two.

"Stop chatting, help me first!"

Beside him, a familiar voice rang out again, and at that moment Natsume realized why the researcher's voice sounded so familiar.

Instead of finding the Poké Ball containing the starter Pokémon, Natsume found Glass's researcher ID.

Sigh, why isn't it Odori?

"Go, Pikachu, unleash Thunderbolt!"

"Pikachu!!"

With a flash of lightning, the Zubat was startled and flew away.

"Ah, thank you so much! My name is Shoko, and I'm from here... Natsume-senpai, is that you?!"

When Shoko picked up her scattered glasses and saw everyone's faces clearly, she was overjoyed!

"Senior Xia, my paper has been submitted to the Alliance Academy of Sciences and is currently undergoing preliminary review!"

"Well done."

Natsume was not surprised by this. Glass's research was already biased towards theory, and it was just lacking a Rotom for verification.

"Oh, right!" Shoko said, as if she had just remembered something, "My second work uses Natsume-senpai's name!"

In an instant, Natsume froze. For some reason, Ash felt that Natsume's expression at this moment was very similar to Professor Oak's that night.

A moment of stiffness passed quickly, and Natsume shook his head slightly.

Glass was very well prepared, and it was the other party's researcher's graduation thesis. It was very well done, unlike the academic garbage he had produced that day. At least it would not be embarrassing.

Conversely, although the second author is not as good as the first author, Natsume can still get a share of the copyright fees when other journals publish Shoko's article.

If published in a top-tier core journal, the copyright fee is around 100 million to 1000 million yuan per month.

For publication in a second-tier journal, the copyright fee is approximately 50 to 200 million yuan per month.

The copyright fee for publishing in a third-rate journal is approximately 10 to 100 million yuan per month.

The specific copyright fee given to the author depends on the position of the article in the journal's layout; less is given for articles in the corners and edges, and more is given for articles in the center and prominent areas.

The annual copyright fees for Natsume's Book of Friends can reach nearly 100 million yen.

But this is useless; the purchasing power of this world's currencies is about the same as that of the Japanese yen.

Moreover, his future "god-making" level laboratory, with its expensive facilities, starts at tens of millions of dollars at the very least.

Moreover, some expensive parts in certain machines are disposable, and using them once can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars – and that's even for the cheaper ones.

With his current income, he'll barely be able to cover the daily maintenance of the lab in the future.

Now, glass has given him another inspiration.

Yes, that means the second author.

"You're not bad, kid. Interested in working for me someday?"

Natsume patted Shoko on the shoulder, finding her more and more pleasing to the eye.

The journal also pays royalties to the second author, although it is usually only one-tenth of that paid to the first author.

But it doesn't matter, Natsume can win with quantity!

He had countless ideas in his mind, but due to his limited personal resources, implementing them was extremely difficult.

"Of course! It would be my honor to work on a project with Senior Xia!"

Glass seemed very excited.

"Okay, I'll try to open a research institute in a couple of years, and you absolutely have to come!"

Upon hearing this, Shoko's expression froze. He had thought that Professor Oak had given him some kind of project and that Natsume was short-handed.

However... getting into a research institute for a future PhD is an incredibly good thing.

"Let's go outside first, this place is so creepy and scary."

Xiaoxia timidly raised her hand and suggested something.

"Okay, I'll take you to the top of the mountain right now. They're already setting up a temporary rest area there."

Shoko realized what was happening, took the flashlight from Kotsukasa, and led the way for everyone.

The caves of Mount Tsukimi are interconnected and form a complex network.

Shoko led everyone through a series of turns, and soon they arrived at the summit of Mount Tsukimi.

"Wow! This mountaintop is so big, it's like a crater on the moon!"

As Xiaoxia emerged from the cave, she exclaimed in amazement.

"There's also a large rock right in the center!"

Ash's focus is clearly very different from Misty's.

"That rock seems to be an enormous moonstone; I've been here several times."

Xiao Gang, who was standing to the side, spoke up to explain.

"That's the temporary rest area we set up. I've already spoken to the person in charge."

Niako pointed to a large cluster of container-like buildings not far away.

Everyone nodded and walked in that direction, but Natsume stood still.

"Senior Natsume, what are your instructions?"

Shoko looked at Natsume.

"Is there a temporary laboratory? I'd like to borrow it."

Natsume fiddled with the red and white balls in his hand, speaking without turning his head.

"Yes, please follow me."

Shoko led Natsume to another area, where researchers were coming and going.

"Alright, I'll borrow them for the night. Please take care of the others."

With that, Natsume closed the door to the makeshift laboratory...

......

At the temporary rest stop, Shoko found Satoshi and his friends. They had already put their things down and were preparing to spend the night.

"Click—"

Suddenly, a soft sound rang out, and the surroundings visibly dimmed.

"What's going on?"

When everyone turned around, they found that all the lights below had been turned off, and even the machines that were running just a second ago had stopped completely.

"Well, since Mount Tsukimi is home to a precious population of Pikachu, and nighttime is their active time, we won't be working on it."

Shoko smiled and explained to everyone, "But don't worry, the power supply here won't be interrupted, so it won't have much of an impact."

"Look where you are."

As she spoke, Shoko pointed to another cave.

"Today is the night of the full moon. The Pipi will come out of that cave to hold a mysterious ceremony!"

Sure enough, as soon as Shoko finished speaking, countless pink Pokémon with cute little chibi wings emerged from the cave.

Clefairy, a Fairy Pokémon, is rare and difficult to spot.

"It's a rare Pokémon! How cute!"

Xiaoxia put away her Pokédex, her eyes sparkling with delight; she had absolutely no resistance to these adorable Pokémon.

"It looks like they're heading towards that giant moonstone," Xiao Gang said, looking at the path the Pipi had taken, somewhat reminiscing.

"There's a legend in Nibi City that these Pippi came in a spaceship, and that the giant moonstone was part of that spaceship."

Meanwhile, Ash's mind was elsewhere; he looked at Shoko and couldn't help but ask:

"Mr. Glass, who is that Elite Four Trainer who came to Mt. Tsukimi?"

"That Elite Four Trainer is—Bang!"

The sound of glass was drowned out by the huge explosion. Turning their heads, everyone looked towards the smoke and dust.

On the enormous moonstone, a giant hot air balloon with a cat's head had appeared out of nowhere.

At that moment, a large net was launched from the hot air balloon, catching Moonstone and all the Pikachu.

"Oh no, it's the Rockets!"