"Ow..." Clutching his forehead, Gary felt as though a Snorlax had landed a critical hit right on his head.
Swipe~ A wet sensation swept across his cheek, and Gary groggily opened his eyes.
Eevee was perched on top of a magnificent-looking dog's head.
Wait a second~! A big dog!
"Arwoof~!" Arcanine stuck out its tongue again, enthusiastically washing Gary's face.
Both of Arcanine's front paws were planted on Gary's chest. No wonder he had dreamed about a Snorlax...
"Well, would you look at that. Growlithe, you evolved." Still a little dazed, Gary rubbed the big dog's head in his arms.
"Woof!" Growlithe flicked its tongue, soaking half of Gary's face in one go. That finally woke him up.
Right. Yesterday, he had attended the welcome banquet for the Sinnoh delegation.
He had thought they would simply enjoy an elegant dinner and discuss a few academic questions.
Then old Monet slapped the table and called for booze!
Gary pointed out that he was only ten. Even if that already counted as adulthood, it was still too early for him to drink.
Principal Monet helpfully assured him that champagne hardly counted as alcohol. Wasn't it just grape soda? Drink up!
Rubbing his forehead, Gary sat up on the boat. "Whew~ If anyone ever tells me academics are refined again, I'll smash their head in. They were practically a gang of bandits..."
Who was it that held me down at the end and forced me to chug straight from the bottle...? Right! That sneaky bastard of a student of yours, Professor Rowan!
It felt as though they had planned it together. Gary hadn't managed a single bite of food before they got him completely wasted.
He vaguely remembered Caitlin bringing him back to the office building. After handing his Pokémon over to the three graduate students, he had passed out.
"Wait!" Something suddenly occurred to Gary. He pulled back the covers to check, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. It's still there..."
Looking at Eevee and Arcanine sitting in front of the bed, Gary ruffled his hair, got up, and dressed.
Once he was dressed and washed up, he opened the bedroom door to find three busy figures.
His Pokémon were shoveling down their food.
"Professor Oak, you're awake." Xiaoxue approached with some documents.
"Yeah. Thanks for all your hard work. A few old geezers got me drunk yesterday." Gary waved a hand.
"Uh... You mean Principal Monet, right?" Xiaoxue smiled awkwardly and began her report. "All the materials you requested were delivered by the Logistics Department yesterday afternoon.
"Since you told us before bed that we could make the decisions about raising your Pokémon, we used Evolution stones on Nidorina and Growlithe.
"Their physical assessment results were perfect. Here's the report."
Gary took the report and gave it a quick look. "Mm, excellent. Thanks for your hard work."
Clearly, the three graduate students had put their hearts into it. They must have used perfect-grade Evolution stones, too.
Nidoqueen and Arcanine had made substantial improvements across all their stats.
"Also, two more Pokémon have been equipped with Evolution items, but neither has shown any sign of evolving yet." July brought two big fellows over to Gary.
Gary's lips twitched at the sight of Scyther coated in brass-colored paint and Rhydon wearing a bulky piece of headgear.
"Scyther... Why are you painted up like some African chicken...?" Gary couldn't help sighing.
"Scy~" Wearing a long face, Scyther pointed at July. This woman had been the one who said applying the Metal Coat would let it evolve...
Rhydon scratched its head blankly. Wearing the heavy Protector made it itch all over...
"Never mind. These two are cases we'll be using at the upcoming symposium anyway. As long as they evolve within the next couple of days, that's fine," Gary said after a moment's thought.
After all the training they had done lately, Gary's team had essentially reached an average level of 35.
There was no longer much need to hold back any of his Pokémon's evolutions.
"We've put the remaining Evolution materials that didn't match any of them in the materials cabinet. You can take them whenever you need them." July pushed up her glasses. With her black business outfit, pencil skirt, black stockings, and heels,
she looked every bit the little secretary...
For some reason, Lorelei's image flashed through Gary's mind.
As expected, Lorelei was the true goddess of office wear!
Whoosh! A flash of light shimmered before him, and Caitlin appeared with Teleport, holding two crêpes.
"Young Master Mao, I brought you breakfast~ Cynthia and I spent thirty minutes picking out the fillings!" Caitlin held the crêpes up in front of Gary as though asking for praise.
"Thanks, Caitlin. I was just getting hungry." Gary took a crêpe and bit off a big mouthful.
A base of sea-salt cheese sauce, with banana, sliced almonds, soybean flour, and rice cake. Gary's eyes lit up. An expert's choice~
Watching Gary eat heartily, Caitlin floated beside him with her hands proudly on her hips. "Let me tell you, Young Master Mao, you were so woozy yesterday. Good thing my Confusion was strong enough to carry you all the way back. I even helped take off your... Ahem, I even had Gothitelle take off your jacket."
Gary looked sheepish. "I really fell for Professor Monet's nonsense this time. He's never dragging me into another drinking party again. Thanks for everything, Caitlin."
"Of course~" The blonde, grown-up little girl, legally an adult, planted both hands on her hips, looking like a walking meme of smug self-satisfaction.
"Gol~" With a spoon in its mouth, Golduck sidled over with a mischievous air and quietly snitched through Telepathy. "My foolish Young Master Mao, if I hadn't suddenly shown up yesterday, Caitlin's wicked little hands would have reached your abs~"
"Pfft~ Cough, cough, cough..." Gary flushed and nearly choked to death.
"Are you all right, Professor Oak? Have some tea." Dingxiang had finished tending to the Pokémon and happened to be free, so she hurried over with a warm cup of barley tea.
"Gulp, gulp... Ah~ Saved. Thank you, Dingxiang." After finishing the tea, Gary shot Golduck a fierce glare.
This fellow was gifted and plenty formidable in battle, but its personality was just so obnoxious and lecherous. Gary had no idea how its brain had ended up like that~
According to Golduck, it couldn't be helped. Its IQ and EQ were simply too high, making certain emotions difficult to control.
"You think Slowking isn't trouble? That old fellow just happens to have an innocent-looking face~" That was how Golduck explained it.
"Oh, Professor Oak, the principal left you a message. The academic exchange starts at two this afternoon. Please be there on time," July dutifully reminded him.
"Wow~" Caitlin didn't understand any of that troublesome business. She stood to the side taking little bites of her crêpe and watching the teacup in Gary's hand. That barley tea looked pretty tasty...
Gary gave it some thought. I can't just take this lying down. Professor Monet, you started it, so don't blame me for getting you back~
He picked up the phone, adjusted his tone, and placed the call with a serious expression.
"Hello~ Who is it? Whatever it is, tell me in two hours. I'm sobering up~" Well, well, Principal Monet, you're hungover yourself!
Gary curled his lip and said, "Professor Monet, the Evolution materials I requested earlier have arrived. Next, I may need some Pokémon resources. Can our university's Pokémon Day Care provide them?"
Still feeling woozy, Principal Monet agreed without hesitation. "All right, understood. Just go straight to the Breeding Park and find Director Robert. Tell him I approved it. Whatever Pokémon you need, just take them~"
Gary smiled. That was exactly what he had been waiting to hear. Hanging up, he turned to Caitlin. "Want to visit Rainbow University's own Pokémon Day Care?"
Caitlin's eyes lit up. "Yes, yes! I'll get Cynthia, and we can all go together!"
Gary shrugged. "Ten minutes to get ready. Meet at the entrance."
"At your command, Young Master Mao!" Caitlin agreed adorably, then dipped her head and vanished with a whoosh.
Before you continue