‘Do they think they are being quiet’ Heath mumbled to himself while pretending to not have noticed.

“Hey Heath, what are you doing so early?” The young boy asked. Heath without turning explained.

“Guts woke me up because he was hungry and by the time I came down and fed him. I talked about the pokémon I captured before I save May yesterday with Professor Birch.”

“Guts, who’s that?”

“He’s-”

“What do you mean ‘you saved’ my sister? May said that you were following her like a pervert and that you were asking for her to help you get through the forest. Then she said you were being stupid by yelling and being annoying causing you to be suddenly attacked by a couple of guard Beedrills and that she saved you.” Max asked confused, turning his gaze towards May with a questioning gaze resulting to her turning her head to avoid them seeing her face flush in embarrassment.

“Are you going to tell him or am I? I thought you were ‘sorry’?” Heath whispered just loud enough to spook May. Max was still confused and looked at the both of them like they were crazy.

“Max, I may have fibbed a little bit of my retelling of what happened.” May admitted.

“A little bit” Heath repeated in increasing annoyance

“A little more than a little bit”

“May” Heath called

“Okay, okay!! ALL OF IT was false, Heath saved me looking for a pokémon, I think and he helped ME with the Beedrills…. Right Buddy?!?” May said as she lost all shamelessness and held up a thumbs up with an innocent smile. Heath shook his head with a smile while he finished up feeding all of the pokémon.

“Hey Heath, you think you can catch me a pokemon? With May and you being Trainers I want to try my hands at it” Max murmured shyly.

‘Why is asking for me to catch a pokémon? Couldn’t he ask his dad? Well, he didn’t give him a pokémon in the anime if my memory is correct so that may be why. Plus Max is a little too young to become a trainer but having a pokémon shouldn’t be a problem to connect with while not in danger wouldn’t be problem unless it’s a ghost type’ Heath thought.

“If I could catch you a Pokémon, what would you like?” Heath smiled.

“Heath don’t bother with him. Dad will give him a pokémon as soon as he lets me officially have Torchic” May said with an obvious bitterness.

“Not fair he lets you take Torchic everywhere. He’s practically yours already.” Max complained. The two would continue arguing as Heath thought about what pokémon would suit Max.

‘I guess Munchlax would be an obvious choice, but I wouldn’t even know where to start in hunting that glutton. Plus, I would feel bad for Professor Birch. Hey what about Mudkip’ Heath continued thinking about Max’s question before he heard a door open. He saw that Professor Birch had his creepy smile plastered on his face, so he immediately assumed it was due to the research or had the topic in Pokémon in it.

“Heath, the pokémon you grabbed are amazing. But when did your Piplup get so strong?” Birch questioned. Heath saw Birch’s eyes wonder for the little bird but Piplup has been sleeping in so Heath just shrugged.

“Battling and Training I guess..”

“No way. From my Calculation Piplup would have to grow by at least 63% and even that rate is absurd. It took May 6 months to get Torchic to the strength that it’s at.” Birch countered.

‘Where did he get this data? Could it have been from my fight with May?’ Heath wondered. His train of thought got interrupted when he heard a feminine voice

“Well, we didn’t battle as much as Heath, plus I don’t think I have even tried trained Torchic.” May countered.

“Even so. Heath, I know you don’t want me to test Guts, but can I analyze your Piplup. I’ll give it an Oran berry, and we’ll do nothing excessive. I promise”

“I’m sorry Professor but I really don’t feel comfortable with you testing-”

“analyzing” Birch Corrected

“Analyzing any of my pokémon but you are free to get test anything I give you for the trainers” Heath finalized. Birch could see that the boy wasn’t going to give in and the fact that he was still here was only due out of respect. He knew when to cut his loses, and he felt it was the case in this situation.

“Fine but if you change your mind. We can talk about it” Birch offered.

“Thank you, Professor and speaking about minds. The battle against May and I left a little sour note in my mouth. May I need a rematch to offer you” Heath snickered. A deafening silence was here when heard and everyone looked at May to break it. Seeing this she shouted.

“No wayyyy”

“Why not” The three of them replied simultaneously. While Heath just wanted revenge the other two wanted to see the rumors of explosive strength to believe them. Birch especially, he would never have guessed the growth rate of a Piplup to be so absurd.

“No and that’s final. Max, come on. We have other things to do” May quickly got up and pulled Max along with her and exiting the Laboratory. This left Birch and Heath alone.

“Heath uhm I have a meeting soon but let me tell you the total price of what you gave me.” Birch signaled Heath to follow him into the main area of the lab and so Heath followed and saw Guts nowhere to be seen. Shrugging Heath saw Birch pick up a paper and it read.

1x Nidoran

Rank: Silver

Potential: Silver

= 9K

1x Nidoran

Rank: Copper

Potential: Silver

=8.3K

1x Seedot

Rank: copper

Potential: Gold

= 18K

1x Pidgey

Rank: copper

Potential: Silver

= 7K

1x Poochyhena Carcass

= 3K

1x Rattata Carcass

= 1K

Total

=46.3 K

‘Wow’ Heath thought as his eyes widened. While some of the estimates of what he would get was inaccurate. It was still a lot of money in his eyes.

‘How much do I have right now.’ Heath quickly checks his bank account and it turned out he only had a measly 3,980 Pokédollars. Heath was slightly crestfallen but quickly picked up his saddened mood once he realizes how much more money he could get while doing this.

“It’s a decent start but I to put it should. I need you to become a Pokémon Hunter for the lab, only while you’re here. You spend most of you time outside doing missions right so it shouldn’t be any problem with you catching pokémon. How about you take the day off to rest you and your Pokémon and when I finish my meeting, we can talk about potential raises and your future.” Birch blurted out as fast he could. Heath nodded and Birch excused himself and ran to his office locking it once the door shut.

“He needs better time management.’ Heath murmured. He thought about going upstairs and checking on Piplup and then try to catch some sleep. They would be doing some light training today and he would try to see if he could increase his Pokémon’s strength in the shortest amount of time.

[Birch’s Pov]

‘OH boy I am going to be late. God, I wish they were better in doing this.’ Birch sighed as he quickly entered the video chat. He saw familiar faces but not as many as last time.

“It looks like it’s that time over there. I wonder how good these trainers are going to be this time around” Professor Elm spoke which was rare for him.

“Yeah, I have little hope for most of the people of today but let’s see. I have a new batch coming up myself but there doesn’t seem to be anyone particularly good” Professor Magnolia chirped. She was the only professor who had as many accolades as the found Professor Oak but seemed to play more of a member role rather than executive leader role that she is entitled too. Everyone soon became quiet as Professor Oak came.

“Good morning everyone, how is everyone doing? It’s that time of the turning where everyone is frantic.” Oak beamed a smile that resonated with everyone. Professor Rowan was the first to speak.

“It’s going okay, I’m having a little bit of a problem with being able to supply the increasing number of trainers recently so I might need to hire an assistant.”

“Well, that just means the youth still remains in our young, Rowan you’ll figure it out soon.” Juniper smiled.

“Well how are you Birch? Anyone of interest lately? any developments?” Oak asked. Birch and Oak went awhile, so far that May is actually his goddaughter.

“Well, I just hired a new assistant not too long ago. He’s been piquing my interest lately but I can’t put my finger on It.” Birch hesitated telling Oak and the others the absurd rate of growth that Heath had but trying to respect his employee, an employee that has helped so much since he has come that it led to Birch not saying anything more than that.

“Well, I wish to meet the lad. I’ll be coming within a week or two’s time. I also want to see May and Max, so be expecting a visit. I also have to tell you news of a VIP that will eventually be coming. He won’t be with me this visit but perhaps the next.” Oak smiled and then coughed.

“Well, it’s about time to get ahead of the meeting, Shall we?”

[Meanwhile]

Heath was currently looking at the listing of tm’s on the market currently, and Heath was surprised on how freaking expensive everything.

‘I get Thunderbolt but Calm Mind is around the same price. What is wrong with this world’ Heath put down and looked at this current team. They were currently sparring but Piplup even without the bandana was still ahead of Guts by a fair margin.

“Piplup use Bubble Beam” Heath quickly ordered.

‘I have no choice but to focus this spar on Guts, he so underleveled compared to Piplup and so he should get used to battling stronger foes when possible’ Heath thought. The battle went on for some time until Heath called the spar to an end.

Heath looked at the moves they had currently available to them.

Piplup: Pound, Growl, Water Gun, Aqua Ring, Bubble Beam, Peck

Guts: Peck, Focus Energy, Leer, Fury Cutter, Brick Break, Counter

‘Hmmm, what should I do? I was planning on making at least one of their moves become Minor Mastery but this is more difficult as I have to think about the future.’ Heath started with Piplup first.

‘If I remember correctly Piplup’s evolution line learns Hydro Pump and whirlpool. So Water Gun is a no. Bubble Beam is okay but there I don’t think it needs to be prioritized currently. Peck is good but Aqua Ring is probably the best for right now. If Piplup can instantly be able to sustain itself during a tight situation in match. It would become valuable. Yeah, okay Aqua Ring is the first I’m going to focus on with him. How about Guts?’ Heath gaze refocused on the bird with a leek and immediately thought back to the fight against the Beedrill.

‘If it didn’t take so long Focus energy could be priceless and after that Brick Break would be extremely formidable’ Heath thought.

‘Now how do I go about Minor Mastery?’ Heath looked it up on the internet and found a couple of articles explaining the theory behind getting Mastery.

‘You have to first decided the moves and tell your Pokémon to do them over and over again, fast and powerful, and properly is the key. For non-hitting moves, it’s fast and potent. Results usually show within 3-5 days of continuous practice’ Heath read.

“Piplup, Guts” Heath called. The two pokémon stopped bickering with each which Heath didn’t notice but decided to ignore and gave directions.

“For 3 days, you two will be doing independent. For Piplup you will be practicing Aqua ring, your objective will be to use the move without waste on any energy while also being as quickly as possible.” Heath directed. He pointed to a corner and Piplup immediately went to that spot and start working on Aqua Ring. Heath then directed its focus on Guts.

“Guts for you, the move that I want you to practice is Focus Energy. During the battle you took a while to set up a Focus Energy so if you can get that down pack, we can quickly increase you speed and if we then focus on Brick Break. You will be indestructible” Heath started laughing maniacally which crept Piplup out but Guts just went near a spot that looked comfortable and sat down using the move. Meanwhile Heath tried train his body. He would do a couple of exercises and run till exhaustion to increase his Stamina.

‘I realized how important agility is in this world. Without a base body like this I wouldn’t have made it to May or Guts so training will hopefully alleviate the trouble of my becoming out of breath during a match.’ Heath decided. They would practice that through the day to the night and would continue that process for 4 days.