Chapter 196: Mewtwo, the Trainee Researcher
"Alright, if you want to wear this lab coat, then finish the books in here first."
Inside Professor Oak's Laboratory, in a room lined with bookshelves, Natsume led Mewtwo in. A cold blue light flickered in Mewtwo's eyes as its telekinesis probed the surroundings. Ever since entering the facility, it had sensed something unusual.
"I remember reading online that a Pokémon population's density can't be too high. Yours are way over the limit here, so why aren't they having any issues?" Mewtwo sounded a little shocked as it reported its observations.
"That probably applies to the wild. This place has human intervention, so it's different," Natsume yawned.
Mewtwo nodded seriously. Besides, as it passed a room packed with instruments, it got a… strange feeling. Especially because there was an old man in there muttering away about who-knows-what.
"These are Professor Oak's private books. If you finish all of these, you might be the first college student from our village!" Natsume patted Mewtwo on the shoulder.
"I've connected to your human internet. I've read everything in the League's digital library," Mewtwo looked straight at Natsume, the implication obvious.
"Then how come you can't explain the Mewtwo Ball in simple terms?" Natsume rolled his eyes.
"I can manufacture it," Mewtwo spoke and crooked a finger.
In an instant, back in the lab, two Mewtwo Ball shells that were hovering in front of Professor Westwood V rose into the air.
"You're alive too!" Professor Westwood V froze, then the silver spherical shells vanished.
A heartbeat later, two Mewtwo Ball shells appeared in Mewtwo's hand. A cold blue glow flashed in its eyes, and the two shells eerily fused into one, the interior space neatly divided in two. "See?" Mewtwo set the complete Mewtwo Ball in front of Natsume.
"So, what's the principle behind it?"
"I don't know."
Seeing Mewtwo shake its head that honestly, Natsume rubbed his brow in a headache. "What you read before… I'm guessing you brute-forced it all into your mind with raw psychic power, right?"
"Isn't that how it's done?" Mewtwo looked at him, puzzled.
"Of course not. You have to truly understand it—connect the dots and integrate the concepts. Otherwise, it's forever stuck on paper and you'll never develop anything new."
"But I built a Mewtwo Ball." Mewtwo set the sphere in front of Natsume again.
"And the principle?"
"I don't know."
Natsume: "..."
"Just read all the books in here. A lot of what's inside isn't recorded in the League's digital library." As he spoke, Natsume pulled out a book, flipped to a page at random, and said to Mewtwo: "For example, this one—what do you see?"
"I see a bunch of pervy old men shooting arrows without clothes on." Mewtwo nodded.
Natsume froze, then realized he had grabbed Professor Oak's travel photo book by mistake. He had even opened it to the performance-art section—Oak and a group of old buddies were drawing bows, imitating the poses at Cupid Hot Springs.
"This one." Natsume put the book back and took another. "For example, Master Ball: Structural Analysis—you definitely won't find this in the League's digital library."
Mewtwo took the book and gave a slight nod. It indeed had never seen this before. As for books on Poké Ball research online, the highest it had found only went up to Ultra Ball level.
"Aren't you worried criminals will steal these books?" Mewtwo flipped a couple of pages, feeling surprised. The content was detailed—excessively so.
"It's fine. Not many people can actually understand them," Natsume waved it off. Besides, many critical materials for Poké Balls are under League control anyway.
Mewtwo nodded, and instead of using telekinesis to madly record every page like in the past, it cradled the book, found a seat in the study, and began reading quietly.
"While you read, try thinking about the connections between these books. It's pretty fun." Seeing Mewtwo settle in, Natsume waved and stepped out.
Back in the living room, Natsume felt extremely bored. He had thought that once he'd roped Mewtwo back, he could start on a predatory-mode modification for the Master Ball. But from the very first step—when Natsume asked Mewtwo about the manufacturing principle—it had stalled out.
No helping it; he could only have Mewtwo read more, at least enough to grasp how the principles tied together. Otherwise, Mewtwo's explanations would forever be, "Do this, then that, and it works."
"Honora, help me call Sonia!" Natsume recalled Professor Magnolia's reminder.
"Mr. Natsume, she blocked us the day before yesterday." Honora stood from her workstation a bit awkwardly.
"Why? Her grandmother was the one who told me to stay in touch." Natsume was puzzled.
Honora fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly: "Maybe… our messages came off a little abrupt. And a little frequent."
"Abrupt?" Natsume blinked. All he'd done was lay out the situation directly and warmly invite her to join Sunshine Academy. "Frequent?"
Natsume thought it over—he had only made three calls a day to build rapport. He had even asked Professor Magnolia about Sonia's daily routine. He'd taken time zones into account and picked her free mealtimes to call.
So considerate. So thoughtful. And yet he got blocked!
"Beep-beep-beep—Incoming call from Ash Ketchum." On the Rotom Phone, Ash's avatar suddenly lit up.
"Sigh." Natsume heaved a breath. The second Ash is set loose, he's like a perpetual wanderer. He calls three or four times a day to report in.
"Okay, Ash, if this is just about how many Trainers you beat today, you don't need to report it. Call Delia more instead—she still hasn't come back from her trip."
"You mean Mom? I just called her." Ash paused, then said excitedly: "Natsume, guess what we found—you're definitely going to be interested!"
As he spoke, Ash's camera started shifting until the picture stabilized and sharpened. A crystal cavern filled the screen. Not a cave where crystal ore had formed, but one that was bright and gleaming all over—the whole thing looked like a giant crystal hollowed out.
"Where is this?" Natsume's eyes lit up.
"Early this morning, we arrived on a new island and met a super-nice glass artisan who treated us to breakfast!" Ash didn't finish before Misty popped into frame and punched him to the ground.
"Hit the key points, you dope!" Misty fuming, dragged Ash away. Tracey, standing in the back, was instantly pushed to the front.
"Uh… hello, Mr. Natsume." Tracey looked a bit nervous.
"And the person behind you?" Natsume noticed a burly man wearing a headscarf, with tanned skin and muscular arms—the look of a glass artisan.
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