6 Chapter 6 Training a Wimp and the Reply
Faust woke up to an irritating ruffling of his hair.
'Stop...who the fu- oh yeah the egg hatched.'
"Hey Wimpod calm down. You're gonna end up lobotomising me", Faust tried to get Wimpod off his head but its many claws were clamped on his head in a vice grip.
Sighing Faust got up and emptied a bottle of Moomoo milk in the bowl. The grip on his suddenly loosened and Wimpod scurried off his body to submerge himself into the milk bowl.
'Such a glutton. But that makes it easier to train.'
Faust walked to the bathroom to get ready for the first day of training. The sooner he started the quicker Wimpod would take to training.
Faust pulled up the Daily Item List while showering. Just as he was about to get the carton of Moomoo milk he stopped. He saw a Berry Blender on the list and quickly got it.
'Okay, now things are much easier.'
Stepping out of the bathroom he saw that Wimpod was nowhere to be seen. Looking around he saw his hoodie crawling about on its own. He lifted it and uncovered a startled Wimpod. Just as Wimpod was about to instinctively scurry under the bed he picked it up.
"Okay stop! First things first, I am Faust your trainer and don't go hiding at the slightest thing that happens to you", Faust said looking Wimpod right in the eye. The Wimpod had a curious look on his face as it tried to reach for Faust's face.
"Now let's get you into a Pokeball and then I'll show you something amazing", saying so Faust walked to his desk and took out the Pokeball he had received from the school. Tapping it lightly on Wimpod's head, the Pokeball sucked in the Pokemon and moved slightly before the red light on the button disappeared.
Faust then quickly got dressed and sat down at his desk. He let Wimpod out and as usual, it quickly scurried into the hood of the hoodie Faust was wearing. Taking out a pen and a notebook Faust began to draw.
As Faust kept drawing, the Wimpod was curiously looking at what its trainer was doing. Soon a rough sketch of a Golisopod appeared and Wimpod's eyes widened at the sight of the monster. It buried its head scared of what its trainer had drawn.
"Calm down, it's just a drawing. Moreover, this is what you'll be when you grow up! How can you be scared of your future self?", hearing Faust's words the Wimpod meekly lifted its head and looked at the Golisopod that Faust had drawn. Slowly it came down on the desk and lightly tapped the drawing. Seeing nothing happen, it climbed onto the page and began looking at the Golisopod as if it were memorising what it looked like.
Seeing the curiosity of Wimpod, Faust began talking to it, telling it of how insanely overpowered Golisopod were. Somehow he was able to see that Wimpod could understand him a bit. He spoke of how they engaged in deathmatches with Grapploct and the loser would become the winner's meal. As Faust kept speaking, Wimpod also uttered cries as if saying 'Really!?', 'That's so cool?' and 'I can become one too?'.
Soon a few hours had passed and while Faust wasn't sure if the Wimpod had understood everything, at the very least he knew that it had understood that he could become a Golisopod and that to get there would mean being less of a Wimp.
"So do you see? You can be a Golisopod and as your trainer, I have better resources than anyone else on this planet. If you want to be strong, powerful and big like that you'll have to train and train hard. But that shouldn't be a problem I'll have your back at all times. You just need to trust me and let go of your instinctual urge to Wimp Out", Faust said looking at the Pokemon who looked back at him with a serious look and nodded.
"Good! You're gonna be the strongest Golisopod ever. But before that, we need to see what it is that you're capable of. So let's start training right now?", Wimpod nodded at Faust.
"Okay let's get going!", saying so Faust put Wimpod on the floor and started walking towards the door. Opening it he held it open for Wimpod. Faust waited for a few seconds but Wimpod didn't appear. Turning to check what was wrong, Faust burst out laughing.
The Wimpod was pushing its food bowl and struggling with it. Laughing Faust picked up the Wimpod and put it on his head and then picked up the food bowl he walked out of the room.
While Faust was enjoying the light moments with his new Pokemon, in a Grand Coast City Research Laboratory a mature beauty was impatiently looking at the screen as if waiting for something.
Charlotte Ross had never felt so impatient and frustrated in her life. Last night she was habitually looking through the research papers hoping to find something interesting. She didn't have very high hopes but she persisted for the sake of her research. She believed that a fresh pair of eyes were much needed in the scientific community where older professors had come to grow scales over their eyes. She understood that research and development were only possible through innovation and who was better than the younger generation.
As she was scrolling through her mail, she saw a very interesting paper titled 'Eeveelutions'.
'A very interesting way to refer to the evolutions of Eevee.'
She clicked on it and was surprised to see the size of the document. It was fifty pages long! She had written only fifteen pages in her first research paper about Eevee.
'I hope it isn't just hot air. Whoever you are I hope you don't disappoint me or I will blacklist you from the Researcher's Union.'
But her worry was soon alleviated. Although it wasn't a traditionally formatted paper, the layout was unique. She began reading and the more she read the more engrossing it was. It wasn't until her assistant walked into the room that she reluctantly peeled her eyes away from the screen.
The paper was revolutionary! It had such observations and details that it seemed like an Eevee itself was describing its condition! But she felt strange, it was almost as if the writer knew more than what he wrote but cautiously omitted the critical portions.
'Whoever this Faust is, he is smart. Handing over such valuable information to a famous Pokemon scientist would be academic suicide. Even I want to plagiarize this work.'
Professor Ross quickly read, re-read and made notes on points mentioned in the paper. She then quickly mailed back a response to Faust congratulating them and asking for a meeting.
This had happened sixteen hours, forty-three minutes and seven seconds ago. She had been so eager for a response that she was counting the time down to the seconds.
'Argh! What the hell is this person doing!? Even if he went to sleep soon after he wrote this, he would have to have woken up now after sixteen hours right? Seems like I'll need to educate this Faust person on diligence and urgency once they are here.'
Back in Applegrove Town, Faust who was currently analyzing the proficiency of Wimpod's moves in his parent's basement training field sneezed randomly.
"Fuck! Someone must be cursing me behind my back. I'm sure it's that insecure punk, Joel. Wait for me, I'll seriously fuck you up and that tadpole of yours."
"Pod?", Wimpod poked his head out of the bowl of milk it was devouring.
Unknown to Joel, his fate had already been sealed in stone. Too bad he would never get to prove his innocence.
Faust carried Wimpod upstairs to the main bedroom constantly talking to it about its training.
".....the Metal Claw needs to be improved. If we increase your speed we can use it as a Metal Clampdown as well. But then that would leave you defenceless for a few seconds and that could be fatal. Don't worry though, the supplements will make you strong and large enough to stand on half your legs while using the front half coated in metal energy. So what we should focus on now is....", Wimpod kept letting out cute sounds now and then as if making his suggestions.
The first thing Faust heard was constant message notifications going off on his laptop. Quickly putting down Wimpod only for it to climb back up, he came to his desk and sat down. He saw thirteen new mails and over fifty requests to call notifications. The notifications were still popping up. He quickly clicked on the decline call button. Suddenly there were no more requests. Instead, he received a single mail that said:
'Are you here? That's good. Now please go through the emails.'
Faust didn't reply to the mail and instead began reading from the very first mail.
'Dear Mr Faust,
Congratulations on writing an excellent research paper on the research subject our lab has been working on for quite some time now. I would like to inform you that your paper has been approved and I have personally checked for any technical discrepancies. There are none. I do believe you have the information regarding the benefits of being selected by me. For the sake of convenience, I shall list them out again:
1) I have decided to directly appoint you as an assistant Professor without the need to be approved by the Union. You will have to receive the accreditation from the University but now it's merely a formality and you will have only to show up for relevant examinations.
2) Your carry limit has been lifted. According to your age, you must have just received your Pokemon egg this year or are going to receive it. But even as a Novice trainer your identity as an Assistant Professor supersedes it and hence you may carry any number of Pokemon. I'd still caution against going on a searching or a catching spree.
3) Your remuneration is fixed at 500000 Alliance Credits every month or 6 million a year. This is of course minus bonuses and royalties for any utilisation of your research by any external entity.
4) You shall receive rewards either monetary or other kinds as per your preference as remuneration for your participation in the Eevee Project. The details can be discussed in person.
5) As a Researcher you are entitled to limited subsidies and free services such as free check-ups and healing at PSCs. The details can be obtained when you obtain your Researcher ID.
6) You have free accommodation available at the Researcher's Residence. Details will be provided to you once you receive your ID. Also, there is a daily stipend made available to you to cover living costs and such.
On the research paper, I hope you will not hold back like you did while writing the paper and dedicate your hundred per cent to the Eevee Project. Also, the research if successful would bear your name as a core researcher. I look forward to working with you.
Professor Ross'
Faust took a deep breath. This situation was much better than his estimate of the best-case scenario. He had thought that at most he would be given the title of a Lab Assistant and would have to go through the Researcher University normally. He had underestimated his knowledge and the desperation of Professor Ross.
He quickly typed back a response accepting the offer, with his personal details and apologised for the delay saying he was training with his new Pokemon.
The reply that came through was almost instantaneous and very short.
'We shall meet tomorrow then. Please pack light it isn't as cold by the sea as it is over there in Applegrove Town.'
In Grand Coast City, Charlotte Ross had a satisfied smile on her face.
'Finally, after so many years, Project Eeveelutions has real hope of completion.'
Chuckling at her own unconscious use of Faust's term for his paper she couldn't help but look forward to meeting this genius.
'I can't wait to see what kind of a person you are Mr Faust Williamson.'
She then called for her personal assistant.
"Get the helicopter ready for tomorrow. We are going to Applegrove Town."
