Chapter 149

Chapter 149: Chapter 149

Professor Oak chuckled.

"Right, right. I got a little carried away."

He returned to the subject.

"Wyrdeer itself is not the endpoint. What we’re really looking forward to is the possibility of more Hisuian Pokémon reappearing in the modern era."

He sighed happily.

"What a wonderful day. It almost makes me want to write a senryū—"

"Professor Oak."

Mike, Cynthia, Rowan, Kukui, and Lucian all interrupted him at almost exactly the same time.

Mike looked toward the screen.

"We’re moving on to audience questions now."

Oak’s disappointment was obvious.

"Oh, right. Go ahead, then."

Mike quietly exhaled and enabled viewer call-ins.

The first request came from a user named Elm.

Mike accepted it.

The image flickered, and a tall, slender middle-aged man appeared on screen.

He had short brown hair with one unruly tuft sticking outward, oval glasses, a loose white lab coat, and a teal-green shirt underneath.

Mike blinked.

The man looked extremely familiar.

Then recognition struck.

’Professor Elm?’

This was Professor Elm of the Johto region, a researcher particularly well known for studying Pokémon Eggs and inheritance.

His work also extended heavily into Pokémon evolution.

Mike immediately greeted him politely.

"Hello, Professor Elm."

"Hello, Researcher Mike, Professor Oak, Professor Rowan, Professor Kukui, Elite Four Lucian, Champion Cynthia, and everyone watching."

Elm rattled through the introductions so quickly that it sounded almost rehearsed.

Professor Oak looked pleasantly surprised.

"Elm! Good to see you."

Professor Oak had always thought highly of him and had once believed Elm had the potential to become one of the leading authorities on Pokémon evolution.

Professor Elm nervously wiped his forehead.

"It’s good to see you too, Professor Oak."

He quickly moved to his question.

"If ordinary modern Stantler struggle so much to rediscover Psyshield Bash, could we approach the problem through breeding instead?"

Every researcher on the call became attentive.

Elm continued.

"For example, what if Wyrdeer were bred with ordinary Stantler? Their offspring might directly inherit Psyshield Bash as an Egg Move, or perhaps even retain a stronger ancestral predisposition toward the move, making it significantly easier for the next generation to learn."

Mike quietly nodded while tossing one of the walnut pieces Gengar had shelled for him into his mouth.

That was exactly the kind of question one would expect from a specialist in Pokémon inheritance.

Professor Oak answered first.

"That possibility is already part of our long-term plan."

He nodded.

"Professor Rowan and I have discussed establishing a broader Wyrdeer restoration project with the goal of allowing the species to establish a sustainable modern population."

"That is one reason Professor Rowan retained one of the evolved Wyrdeer for research. We want to determine whether breeding can strengthen the evolutionary traits in later generations and whether Psyshield Bash can be inherited more naturally."

Oak continued, "We also allowed one Wyrdeer to return to the wild specifically so its lineage would have an opportunity to spread naturally outside laboratories and Trainer-managed populations."

Professor Elm’s eyes immediately brightened.

"Breeding research?"

His excitement became impossible to hide.

"If you’re planning to study inheritance and Pokémon Eggs, I’d be very happy to participate. My primary research already focuses on Pokémon reproduction, genetics, Egg Moves, and inherited traits."

"That shouldn’t be a problem," Professor Oak said. "But you’ll need to ask Mike. Technically, he’s leading the project. Professor Rowan and I are participating as senior collaborators."

Professor Elm froze.

His eyes slowly moved toward Mike.

A worldwide research project was being led by someone barely in his twenties?

And Professor Oak and Professor Rowan—two of the most respected Pokémon Professors alive—were working under the same project framework?

If Elm could join something like that...

Mike was equally stunned.

He pointed at himself.

"Me?"

His expression practically screamed:

’Since when am I leading a research project?’

He genuinely hadn’t known.

From Mike’s perspective, restoring Wyrdeer had been something he happened to figure out and then pursued because it was interesting.

Professor Oak and Professor Rowan saw things very differently.

Mike had proposed the idea, assembled the people necessary to test it, followed the research from beginning to end, and produced the central breakthrough.

As far as they were concerned, the scientific credit belonged to him.

Professor Oak had seen far too much questionable academic behavior when he first transitioned from being a Trainer into full-time research.

Once he and Rowan became leading figures in their fields, both had deliberately worked to promote a more transparent academic environment—one where results were credited to the people who actually produced them rather than being taken by more senior names.

With the Academic Summit approaching, Oak and Rowan had quietly discussed formalizing the Wyrdeer restoration effort as an ongoing research project.

Part of their motivation was obvious.

They wanted Mike to have enough recognized work behind him that he could potentially earn formal recognition as a Pokémon Professor at the upcoming summit.

Mike knew none of this.

He drew a sharp breath.

Well, if Professor Oak was already handing him the job, refusing would almost feel rude.

Mike looked back toward the screen—and nearly recoiled when he saw the intensity in Professor Elm’s eyes.

"Uh... Professor Elm, if you’re willing to join, then of course we’d be very happy to have you."

Elm visibly relaxed.

"There is one issue, though," Mike continued. "We don’t currently have a spare Wyrdeer available to transfer to you. Would you be willing to wait until we successfully evolve another one?"

"I can solve that."

Professor Kukui spoke before Elm could answer.

"I can send my Wyrdeer to Professor Elm."

Mike turned toward him.

"But aren’t you still researching it?"

"My field is Pokémon moves," Kukui replied with a grin. "For my purposes, what matters most is finding a faster and more reliable way for Stantler to learn Psyshield Bash. Raising this Wyrdeer was partly a personal experiment."

He rested a hand on Wyrdeer’s shoulder.

"Besides, Alola’s climate isn’t ideal for Wyrdeer long-term. If Professor Elm needs one for inheritance research, I can transfer this one to Johto."

Kukui continued, "And as more of my Stantler learn Psyshield Bash, I can send some of them over as well."

He smiled.

"I’m also very interested in the Agile Style and Strong Style concepts Mike introduced. While I continue researching Psyshield Bash, I’d like to investigate whether those two battle states can be adapted into modern competitive training."

Professor Elm nodded eagerly.

"Thank you, Professor Kukui. Send Wyrdeer whenever you’re ready. I’ll take good care of it."

"Deal."

Elm’s original question still had no definitive answer—because nobody had performed the experiment yet—but he had now acquired exactly what he needed to find the answer himself.

Mike moved on.

"All right, next caller..."

He accepted another request.

The moment the new participant appeared, Mike almost jumped.

The man on screen looked remarkably similar to Professor Oak.

"Alola! Good afternoon, Researcher Mike—and good afternoon to everyone else as well."

Professor Oak immediately recognized him.

"Samson. So it’s you."

The second caller was Samson Oak, Professor Oak’s cousin from Alola and an expert on Alolan regional forms.

After exchanging greetings, Samson went straight to the point.

"I’d like to travel to Sinnoh and study these Hisuian forms directly. Would that be possible?"

Mike hesitated.

"Well... Wyrdeer is currently the only ancient form we’ve actually restored. The other proposed Hisuian Pokémon are still theoretical, so—"

Before Mike could finish, Professor Rowan’s voice suddenly cut through the call.

"What? Professor Birch?"

Rowan had turned away from his camera.

"Why did Birch come directly here?"

He left his seat, and the livestream audience could hear distant conversation from somewhere inside the laboratory.

A short while later, Rowan returned with another middle-aged man beside him.

The newcomer had short dark-brown hair, a thick matching beard, a white lab coat casually draped over his shoulders, a dark navy shirt, olive-green knee-length shorts, heavy sandals, and a worn field bag hanging from one shoulder.

Mike recognized him immediately.

Professor Birch of Littleroot Town in Hoenn.

’Why is Professor Birch in Sinnoh?!’

Rowan looked at him with much the same confusion.

"Why did you suddenly come all the way here?"

Professor Birch answered with complete sincerity.

"I read the research you published with Professor Oak and the others. I wanted to investigate whether the distribution of Pokémon during the Hisui era differed from modern Pokémon distribution because of habitat change, and whether we can identify patterns in how those populations shifted."

Professor Rowan sighed.

"Our research into Hisui and Hisuian Pokémon has only just begun."

Birch scratched his head.

"I know. I got excited and came over before thinking it through."

He hesitated.

"Should I go back?"

Rowan stared at him.

After a moment, he sighed again.

"You’re already here. You might as well stay. I’ll give you access to the relevant material, and you can investigate whatever you need."

That was Professor Birch for you.

The man had always been impulsive enough about field research that Trainers regularly found him in ridiculous situations, including being chased around by wild Zigzagoon.

On another panel, Samson Oak’s eyes lit up.

"So we can simply go there in person."

Mike immediately sensed danger.

Samson nodded to himself.

"Understood. I’ll head to Sinnoh now."

Then he disconnected.

"Wait—"

Mike barely got the word out before the call vanished.

He stared at the empty panel.

"..."

Were famous Professors always this impulsive?

A worrying thought suddenly occurred to him.

’They’re not all going to show up at Professor Rowan’s lab, are they?’

Mike glanced toward Rowan’s panel.

If that actually happened, Professor Rowan was about to have an extremely busy week.

Fortunately, none of the following viewer requests came from another Pokémon Professor.

The rest were ordinary Trainers, amateur researchers, or people who simply loved Pokémon and wanted to ask questions.

Mike quietly relaxed.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that Professor Rowan and the others were perfectly capable of answering most of the technical questions themselves, he retreated slightly from center stage, took the bowl of walnut pieces Gengar had prepared for him, and happily began eating while the experts handled the rest of the livestream.

At this point, Mike had somehow assembled enough famous researchers on one broadcast to represent a sizable portion of the Pokémon academic world.

And he was perfectly content to sit off to the side eating walnuts while they did the talking.

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