Chapter Fifteen- WTF is that! Employment?

It was approaching their fourteenth straight day walking, nearly two weeks, since they had last left civilization. Mason's patience was wearing thin, from not only the long journey but from Ash's new habit of going off on proud little rants about everything he had accomplished so far.

"Two badges and a full team of Pokémon," Ash said happily for what Mason was sure was the hundredth time in the past two hours since they had stopped for lunch not long ago, "and I got them all by myself~"

"Oh will you give it a rest already," Mason grumbled as his left eye twitched in irritation, as he held back from berating Ash once again, he found that he had been doing it too much lately and decided to just let him stick his own foot in his mouth.

"Yeah, it's not like you actually properly earned those badges like Mason did," Misty commented, "Brock and I just gave you them because we felt sorry for you."

Besides, why would Mason do so when both Misty and Brock seemed to have caught a couple of his bad habits, and were more than happy to do so for him.

"And you didn't catch your current roster, most of your Pokémon just followed you because they liked you, you only battled one or two of them" Brock remarked as they kept walking.

"Yeah well they are still my Pokémon, so that's all that counts." Ash defended himself.

Brock shook his head, "a six Pokémon team isn't all that impressive, it's not that unusual for a trainer to catch twenty or even thirty Pokémon" he said blandly.

"Yeah take Mason," Misty remarked, "he's got eight Pokémon now, and I bet that your "Rival" Gary has more than even that"

Mason chuckled, "I wouldn't be surprised if Gary has three times my count by now, I'm not actually seeking out more for my team, I have a handful with just training my current roster, and I need to swap out for my other members sooner or later," he mused.

And it was true, over the past two weeks on the road Mason had refined his teams training methods when they were walking and put it into practice when they stopped for a break from walking. Mason had been slowly refining his team and his battling methods for when they reached the next gym, it was the only good thing to come out of the long stint away from civilization, a lack of distractions.

Ash growled as he heard Misty compare him to Mason, and worse Gary, "grr, I'll show you" he said as he pushed past them and started sprinting ahead of the three of them, "I'll show you I can easily catch a Pokémon myself"

Mason sighed, "there he goes again" he remarked as they watched him go, "I don't feel like running after him again."

Brock nodded, "me neither, let him go, we'll catch up to him eventually."

Misty shook her head, "you'd think he was ten years old rather than sixteen with how he acts at times" she remarked as they kept their pace.

As they walked Mason couldn't help but think about both of them, or more specifically, how his presence in this world affected them in terms of changes from their original counterparts. He knew the biggest difference that he could point out off the top of his head were the changes to their teams, Misty was packing a full team of six Pokémon now, with the edition of Oddish, Gyarados and Dewgong, while Brock had a team of five with the additions of Rhyhorn and Sandslash. He didn't know if those changes would prove to be for better or worse down the line but as far as he could tell for now they were working out for the better.

When they stopped to take breaks from walking the three of them joined him to train their Pokémon to various extents, and Brock and Misty showed just why they were qualified to lead Pokémon gyms with their creative methods of training, Mason had been sure to take notes during their sessions and implement various techniques with his own Pokémon.

It didn't take them much longer after that point for them to reach the end of the forest they had been going through, to find themselves on a beach that looked out over the vast ocean ahead of them with the sun a few minutes away from reaching the horizon.

They spotted Ash a ways down the beach lifting up a Pokéball after an apparent successful capture, only for it to teleport away straight out of his hand.

'Um, I guess that was Krabby's Pokéball then' Mason thought to himself recognizing just what part of the canon they were in before looking around to see if he could spot what he was looking for, all the while Ash was panicking about his latest catch disappearing after he had caught it.

Mason just tuned him out while Misty and Brock explained things to Ash. How the idiot didn't know things as basic as that he'd never know or want to know. It took him a moment to see it, but he did, in the distance there was a flash of light and he recognized the outline, a light house… Bill's lighthouse.

"Isn't there any way we could call the Professor to find out if my Krabby is okay?" Ash finally asked.

Mason smirked, "Sure there is," he said, cutting Brock off before he could respond in the negative, "last I checked, most out of the way buildings have phones in case anything happens, and that just looks like exactly that" he said and pointed to the lighthouse.

"Oh boy a lighthouse" Misty said excitedly, "you know what that means" she said her eyes sparkling.

Mason laughed, "we aren't camping out on the hard ground tonight" he said like he was reading her thoughts, "my thoughts exactly, come on." he said and they all started off quickly heading for the lighthouse. The prospects of warm beds for the night, spurring them all forward.

-Time skip-

It took them a while to reach the lighthouse, by the time they finally reached it, night was falling and it was getting hard to see. But there was just enough left that when they reached the front door of the lighthouse Mason could only blink in awe at the size of it.

'Holy hell, who gets a door this big, hell, who needs one this big,' Mason thinks to himself as he looks at the twenty foot high double doors that were in front of them.

Looking closer Mason could make out many intricate carvings of various Pokémon on it, the entire thing was one massive carved work of art, he would bet it would look even better if he could see it in the daytime.

Mason however was pulled from his thoughts when the sound of large bells rang out making him jump from the sudden noise and turn his glare on a sheepish looking Ash who had just pushed the doorbell.

"A little warning next time?" Mason said as the twitch of irritation came back with a vengeance.

Ash chuckled nervously but before he could reply a voice spoke through the speaker above the doorbell.

"Yes, who is it?" the voice asked.

"Um excuse us, sir. We're a group of travelers and we're lost," Brock spoke up first.

"Ah yeah we have a small emergency here and would like to ask to use your phone," Ash said from around him.

"We've been traveling for quite a while, and I sure could do with a nice comfortable bed," Misty said shamelessly, pushing Ash out of the way.

"Seconded!" Mason voiced just as shamelessly, over two weeks of camping out was doing his back in and he wasn't about to pass up the chance to sleep in a bed for a brief bit.

"And I'd like to ask if I could use your kitchen to make some bacon double cheese burgers for our group," Brock asked, apparently not seeing the harm, "and I'd be more than happy to cook you something as well."

"That's great," the voice sounded over the speaker, sounding rather ecstatic, "can you cook without using tofu?" it asked.

"Oh sure I can make a lot of things without tofu," Brock replied plainly.

"Oh that's great, I've been eating nothing but tofu since my cook went on holiday last week, come on in" and with that, the large carved ornate doors gave a creak and began to open up.

Mason had to take a step back as the large doors creaked open before them, Mason looked at the others and was the first to step inside and had to blink a couple of times as he looked around, 'Damn I'd love to get this guys decorator number, this place looks bad ass' he thought to himself looking around at the rather impressive and large interior of the building.

The first thing that caught his eye besides the sheer scale of the place was the fact that the walls had various Pokémon carved into them, and not just Pokémon from Kanto. Mason could make out Pokémon from at least five different regions and blinked even more when he did so, 'I'm pretty sure that those weren't shown in the canon' he thought to himself as they moved further into the building.

"Would you mind if I borrowed your phone?" Ash called as they walked up the long red carpet that ran the length of the room.

"There's a phone right near you," the same voice on the speaker called out from the other room at the far end of the entrance hall.

Ash blinked and looked around, Mason sighed and put his hand on his shoulder before pointing out the computer on the desk at the side of the room, with what looked like a Bellsprout speaker, mic and dial pad.

"Oh it's a video phone, that's handy" Misty commented

"Great, I'll give the professor a ring now" Ash said as he walked over and took up the Bellsprout and began to dial in the number, "hope the professor doesn't mind if I call collect."

Mason snorted, "cheap skate" he mused as they all gathered around the computer screen as the call dialed through.

As the screen flashed on, Professor Oak appeared at a table on screen with a pair of chopsticks as he worked away at a pot that was suspended over a Bunsen burner, looking to be doing some very questionable cooking.

"I'm pretty sure those burners aren't meant for cooking over Professor," Mason jokes, making the old professor look up in shock.

"Oh Mason, and Ash too, now this is a surprise" Professor Oak smiled through the screen at them, "you've caught me just doing a spot of cooking, my cook went on vacation just the other day, so I have to fend for myself"

Mason shook his head, 'what is this, some national holiday for cooks' he mused but didn't doubt there probably was something like that, it was the Pokémon world after all, stranger things have happened.

"Wait, hold on Professor," Ash said as he looked a little green, "you're not eating my Krabby are you?"

"Oh don't worry," Oak said waving his concerns off, "I'm taking good care of your Krabby, it's right here" he said as he moved to the side to show a large fish bowl on the table behind him, with Ash's small Krabby inside it, with a third of the bowl being filled with water.

Ash sighed in relief, but was soon worrying again when Oak continued.

"Anyway, that Krabby of yours is too small to make much of a hardy meal," Oak remarked, making Mason shake his head.

'Well there it is, first proof that people do in fact eat Pokémon in this world…' Mason thought before something crossed his mind, 'wait, does that mean the bacon I've been eating is…' he thought trying to recall any pig Pokémon, 'Tepig, Swinub, Spoink, Grumpig… eh who cares, bacon is bacon'

"On the other hand," Oak continued, "the Krabby that Gary caught would make an excellent meal."

"Wait, Gary caught a Krabby too?" Ash asked with a tone full of dread at Oaks' comparison.

"Oh sure, here take a look," the professor said as he turned the screen over to look at another Krabby in a bowl just down the table from Ash's Krabby, and the difference was as plain as day. Gary's was at least ten times larger than Ash's.

Ash's head fell in disappointment. Mason smirked and patted his shoulder, "Guess this is just one of the times that Gary will get the chance to say "his is bigger than yours"," Mason mused, making Ash fall flat on his face.

"Oh by the way Ash, just so you know, Gary has already managed to catch forty five Pokémon already," Oak remarked.

"Forty five!" Ash yelled in disbelief before falling back to the ground again apparently in a depression now at having been shown up so much.

Mason shook his head before looking at the screen again, "Oh Professor while I have you, I wanted to check in and see how my lot are doing."

"Ah Mason," Oak remarked, "you're Pokémon are doing rather well, your Squirtle is doing very well, and the Growlithe that you rescued from that Damien fellow has recovered nicely so far, and she is responding well to the new high protein diet that she needs to recover from the muscle lose she suffered, a few more days and she should be fit enough for me to sign off on her to be battle capable"

Mason nodded, "that's good, thanks for keeping an eye on her, professor," Mason thanked the man.

"Of course Mason my lad, it's the least I could do for such a promising young trainer such as yourself" Oak remarked.

"Professor Oak," the voice from the other room sounded out, "this is Bill here, is this young man the same you told me about a week or so back when we last talked?"

Oak perked up at the voice, "Bill? Oh, so that must mean you all have found your way to his Lighthouse observatory, excellent" Oak remarked before clearing his throat, "why yes Bill, this is the same Mason I told you about, the one who discovered those two new Pokémon moves that we added to the Pokédex database"

Mason blinked at that, the professor talked about him with others… well that was strangely flattering, to think that he and his actions were a topic of discussion between two of the biggest names in Pokémon.

"Oh, splendid," Bill spoke still in the other room, "I had hoped to meet you after hearing so the great Professor Oak talk so highly about you, one second I'll be right there"

They could hear movement from the other room, but Bill was apparently taking his time, as Oak spoke up again. "Oh Bill while I have you, would you mind giving these four youngsters a crash course on what you know, I'm sure they could learn a thing or two from you" Oak requested.

"Well I certainly can't ignore a request from you Professor, don't you worry, I'll see they're properly educated before they leave here in the morning" Bill promised.

"Thanks," Oak began to say only for an egg timer to go off, "oh I've got to go, tofu is done" he said as he plucked one of the blocks of tofu out of the pot and began to blow on it just as the screen cut off.

As the screen cut off, the lights in the room suddenly turned on and the four of them had to blink and rub their eyes from having gone from near complete darkness to a light filled room.

When they could finally see without spots in their eyes again, their attention was drawn to the figure at the other end of the room, the rather large and strange figure that made Ash, Misty and Brock jump.

Mason just stared at the figure and titled his head slightly as he looked at it, "hmm, sweet costume, Bill, do you have one of the evolved version"

"That's a costume?" Ash asked in shock.

"It looks like a jumbo sized Kabuto," Brock remarked.

"Sadly not I'm afraid," spoke the Kabuto Bill, "these costumes take a lot of time and money to make, I'm afraid I haven't quite got around to making a Kabutops costume yet, though it is on my todo list," he said casually, "now, I wonder if I might ask one of you to come up here and lend me a hand, I'm afraid I've come across a design flaw in my costume and can't get out without some assistance."

Mason shrugged and started towards him, "sure just tell me what to do," he asked as he reached him.

The huge Kabuto raised its arm up, "Just push the button down here," Bill explained, "the arms are too short for me to reach it on my own I'm afraid."

Mason nodded and did so before stepping back as the seams around the arms and shell of the Kabuto costume gave out a loud hiss, like compressed air was being released before they detached themselves from the whole and fell away.

As the large shell of the costume hit the ground the man inside straightened up with a sigh of relief, "Oh that's much better, I've been stuck in there for hours, thanks for that"

Mason nodded as he finally got a good look at the man known through both the canon and games as the Pokémon Genius Bill, and he had to say, the canon did not do him justice.

He had a buzz cut of fluorescent green hair, and was somewhat short, maybe only five feet tall, wearing a very loud suit that was deep maroon in color with golden highlights along the collar and cuffs, with a bright blue shirt underneath and a puffy light green neck tie, all in all he somewhat resembled the appearance he had in the anime, but clearly he was a bit older than his canon counterpart, looking to be in his early twenties.

"Did you come from a costume party or something?" Misty asked as the others came up the steps behind Mason.

"Oh no, this is a special costume that I use in my research, I find getting inside the Pokémon helps me get inside their head as it were" Bill explained.

"Yeah I suppose it would be kind of difficult to study an extinct Pokémon any other way," Mason mused.

"Well normally you'd be right about that, but thanks to the latest jumps in technology, it's actually possible for us to resurrect Pokémon from their fossilized remains now," Bill said as he took out a Pokéball from his jacket and tossed it out.

When the Pokéball opened and the Pokémon appeared Mason had to do a double take when he saw the Pokémon, it was an actual Kabuto. He wasn't expecting to come across one for a long time yet.

"Oh wow, that's a Kabuto, a real one," Brock said, sounding very impressed by what he was seeing.

"So this Pokémon was brought back from a fossil?" Misty asked, clearly curious as well.

"Indeed," Bill confirmed and gestured around them, "to date there have been eight hundred and ninety three Pokémon identified, fifty nine of which were once thought to have only been legend before, and so far twenty five species of once thought extinct Pokémon have been recorded and recovered. I'm one of the lucky few who are allowed to study them as part of my profession." Bill explained.

"Over eight hundred!" Ash said in shock as he realized just how little he had actually scratched the surface of being a Pokémon master.

Bill nodded, "and of them one hundred and fifty have been recorded to be native to Kanto, though that number is growing in recent years with the help of the other regions taking part in the interspecies exchange that Lance and Steven are heading as their regions current champions. It's hoped that the number of species in each region could swell by twenty five percent in the coming two years"

Mason couldn't help but let out an appreciative whistle, he had of course read up on the regional exchange back in Cerulean City, so he knew what was happening, but he hadn't heard the exact figures, 'damn there goes canon in two years' he thought to himself.

"Truly I envy you lot," Bill said, "to just be starting your journeys now, just as the fruits of their labors are starting to ripen, there truly has never been a better time for young people such as yourselves to start your journeys" he said wistfully, before his stomach rumbled, "eh, it would seem human nature calls" he mused.

Brock chuckled, "no problem, just show me where your kitchen is and I'll get started on those burgers I mentioned right away" he said with a smile.

"Great," Bill said as he recalled Kabuto to its Pokéball, "this way" he said and began to lead them out of the hall and down one of the side corridors of the building.

Looking around Mason could only shake his head, 'definitely have to get his decorators number, whoever can turn the inside of a lighthouse into looking like something like this, can work absolute miracles.'

-Time skip-

It was ten or so minutes later that all of them were gathered around the table, tucking into their dinner, with their Pokémon all out of their own Pokéballs eating theirs as well, aside from those too big to be let out indoors, such as Misty's Gyarados and Brock's Onix.

"So Bill, what is it that you actually research here?" Brock asked as they ate.

"When you're not dressed up as a Pokémon that is" Mason smirked as he commented around his bacon burger.

"I'm glad you asked Brock," Bill said as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin, "while my professorship was focused on the behaviors and natures of Pokémon, which I still dabble in from time to time. My latest focus of my research has been into something known as the King Gene."

"What's that?" Ash asked with a mouth full of burger, only to get a head slap from Misty for his lack of manners.

"Well it is something that has only recently been a hot topic of discussion, until lately it has only been speculation and rumor. But after heavy research and study I have been able to prove that within some Pokémon the King gene exists," Bill stated, "it is rare to come across but it's effects on the Pokémon that carry it are clear for all to see, as the Pokémon that are carriers find themselves much larger and stronger than their counterparts that don't carry it" he explained, "take the Krabby that Professor Oak's grandson caught, I'd need to take some blood and perform some tests, but going by its size alone it's very lightly that Krabby is a carrier of the King gene."

"It must be powerful then," Misty mused, thinking about the water type Pokémon.

"Oh it more than likely is a fair amount stronger than others of its species. There have been numerous reports and recorded captures of Pokémon that are suspected to have the King gene from every other region, I'm in the process of compiling them all and reaching out to get blood samples to document each case to prove my theory and publish my findings, it's a slow tedious process so I study Pokémon behaviors and natures here while I wait for contacts to get back to me" Bill explained.

"But where did it even come from, this King gene?" Brock asked, seeming very interested in the topic being discussed.

"That is something I have a hypothesised on as well," Bill said with a Cheshire cat grin on his face, "and is the other reason as to why I am using this place as my research lab." he stated, "it's my hypothesis that millions of years ago, before Pokémon as we know them existed there existed other much larger species of Pokémon, Pokémon that were massive in size that could crush buildings with a single step, there have been rumor's circulating in other regions about such Pokémon still existing, but being very difficult to find despite their sheer size" he mused, "I have dubbed these Pokémon as Titans, and it is from these Pokémon that I believe that the King gene has been passed down from. Think of them as the progenitors of each Pokémon line if you will."

"Progen-what?" Ash asked, sounding confused.

"Progenitors," Mason sighed, "it means they were the first of their species, and it is from them that all others of their species were born."

"Precisely," Bill said with a nod, "though it is unclear to me yet as to why some Pokémon seem to possess the king gene and others do not, if they all stem from the same progenitor, but that is why we professors do what we do, to find out the whys" he mused.

Mason nodded understanding a bit better now, the whole king gene was something new for him to digest, but he recalled a number of Pokémon in the canon story that were bigger than others and clearly there were titan Pokémon in the canon storyline, the giant Dragonite, Gengar, Alakazam, Jigglypuff and Claydol, were the few that he could recall seeing in the anime, so if they existed there could be others as well.

"But what I want to discuss most of al,l is your work Mason," Bill says, pulling Mason from his thoughts.

"Wha-me?" Mason asked unsure as to what he was getting at.

Bill nodded, "Come now, don't be modest. The professor has told me all about how you were able to discover two new moves that your Pokémon could use. That's quite an achievement as a newly starting trainer. It's usually only trainers who have been with their teams for a few or so years who actually figure out how to make new moves, but even then they are few and far between" he explained.

"Well I wouldn't say it's all that great," Mason said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, he really didn't see what the big deal was for the most part, he knew the general workings of the moves from the later games and just had his Pokémon practice to try and figure it out on their own.

"Don't sell yourself short Mason," Brock told him, "I know of veteran trainers who have trained for years and have never been able to learn even a single unique move, to be able to say you have discovered two is something to boast about."

"Indeed, Silph Co and Devon Corporation, have employed many skilled trainers over the past few years to try and discover new moves to add to their technical machine listings, most can rarely discover one new move every six months, but the companies still keep them on a regular retainer to get access to any new moves they learn for their system, so to have discovered two in less than a couple of months is really something else" Bill assured him.

"Three." Mason stated after a moment of thought.

Bill blinked, "beg pardon?" he asked, confused.

"We've discovered three moves, not two," Mason stated, "though the third was on accident during a battle" he said scratching his head, "I haven't had a chance to mention it to the Professor just yet and it slipped my mind to do so earlier, we're calling it Dragon breath," he said as he gestured to Dratini, "my Dratini can use Dragon rage, and when it used it in a sort of flamethrower like attack in battle we kind of rolled with it after, it seemed to be a bit more powerful too." Mason explained.

"Extraordinary," Bill said as his eyes lit up, "three new moves, and not even a full two months into your journey yet, the Professor wasn't exaggerating when he called you a prodigy when he was speaking to me of you."

That actually managed to get a sheepish blush from Mason, at being called a prodigy by someone of professor Oak's standing, at this rate he was going to get a bigger ego than Ash.

-Time skip-

Once they were all finished eating, Bill led them all up to the very top of the lighthouse, to look out over the ocean. It was completely dark out and a thick fog had rolled in from the ocean and the clouds were hanging low in the sky.

"Bill," Brock said as they stepped out, "you mentioned earlier that the reason you are using this lighthouse as your lab is because you are trying to prove your theory on the titan Pokémon, correct?" he asked, "can I ask why here?"

"Certainly," Bill smiled, "you see it was a few years ago that I was passing by the shore below at night, when I heard a strange and wondrous sound calling to me across the water" he explained as he took out a small device from his pocket and pushed a button on it.

As soon as he did so, speakers near the turning lights on the lighthouse began to play out a sound, Mason couldn't help but close his eyes and listen, he knew what it was but that didn't take away from the beauty of what he was hearing, the sweet melody of what met his ears, it really was something else.

""I want to meet you,"" Bill said after a moment of listening, "that's what is said to me" he said as a way of explanation, "I believe that this was one of the titan Pokémon that I have been searching for proof of, and after some time and creativity I modified what I heard to create this" he said as he pressed another button as the sound coming from the speakers changed, ""let's be friends, I want to meet you,"" Bill translate, "and one day I heard the same voice calling back to me from over the ocean, "I want to meet you too, I want to be friends," It was answering me back" Bill said as they all looked at him in realization of what he meant.

"It's my hope that someday soon, that Pokémon will come here to meet a friend that it has been searching for, for a very long time" Bill stated seriously as he stared out over the foggy ocean.

Mason cleared his throat, "so let me get this straight…" he said as they all turned their attention to him, "you've been having a conversation with a Pokémon that is supposedly strong enough to level buildings with one hand, and you invited it to come and visit you?" Mason asked, "Please tell me you at least have a Pokémon of your own that can protect you should things not go to plan" he half asked, half begged.

Bill chuckled, "Of course," he said as he took out another Pokéball and tossed it out onto the balcony as his Pokémon appeared, a very old and very powerful looking Alakazam, "Alakazam here has been my partner since I became a trainer, he was my starter and is my most trusted ally and friend, should anything happen I trust he will be able to protect us, and if he can't he can easily teleport us away from any danger" he explained.

Just as Bill finished explaining that was when it happened. They all heard the sound coming from across the ocean, and all looked to see the source. Mason couldn't help himself as his eyes practically bulged out of their sockets and his mouth fell open at the massive figure that was wading through the waters of the ocean towards the cliff and them.

Giant wasn't even a word that began to describe the sheer size of what he was seeing, that was what Mason decided. Bill couldn't have picked a better name for this classification of Pokémon, Titans they were, in every sense of the word.

It reached all the way down to the ocean floor to break the water's surface and then kept going, all the way up the height of the cliff and even then it's head was taller than the very top of the lighthouse. It had to be a hundred meters tall at the very minimum.

"Ah, Bill," Mason said after a few moments for his brain to reboot from the shock, "if you're going to do something, now would be the time." he remarked.

Bill gave a jerk at that, "Oh right, the signal and cameras," he said before pushing another button on his device and the lights coming from the lighthouse began to cycle through various colors.

At the same time, Mason could make out other smaller lights coming on and he realized, after a second to think, that they were all the power lights of video cameras and various other types or recording equipment.

'Of course, Bill never intended to capture this thing in the canon story, and he can't exactly keep it around, so the best option is to record it from multiple angles to have solid proof of its existence in order to prove his theory on them being real' Mason thought to himself as he process just what he was seeing.

Then the titan began to call out once again, its voice carrying over the cool night air as it responded to the sounds coming from the speakers and the lights showing it the way.

"It's beautiful," Misty said referring to the sounds it was making as she closed her eyes to listen to them.

Mason nodded, "it is," he said before looking at Bill, "is it just me, or does that titan of yours look like a massive Dragonite?" he asked.

Bill nodded quickly as he kept his eyes on the titan that he had been longing to see, "it is, I've never seen anything quite like it, it truly is one of a kind," he said as they watched the titan come even closer, wading through the water towards them.

But just as it came closer, Mason's attention was taken by the sound of something, and a bright flash caught his eye, as something shot up from below the cliffs edge, 'Team Rocket' he scowled, as he realized what he was seeing a second before the rocket that he noticed impact the titan Dragonite in its stomach and explode.

"What on earth is.." Bill began to say before the color drained from his face as the massive titan loomed up with its raised fist.

"It thinks we're attacking it!" Mason called out as the fist began to fall.

Bill realizing the danger frowned, "Alakazam, Reflect!" he called out quickly.

Alakazam nodded as it raised its arms and crossed the spoons in its hands as its whole body flashed with a bright blue energy and a massive reflective barrier appeared in the path of the fist as it came down.

SMASH!!!!

Only for the massive fist to shatter it, seconds after initial impact.

Mason jumped to the side pulling Misty and Bill with him as they were the closest to him. The barrier hadn't stopped the attack, but had shifted it's aim some. Mason remembered how in the cannon the Dragonites attack had taken the whole top off the light house, but this time it had shifted its aim at the last second, taking only part of the balcony and railing off this time.

Another set of rockets were shot up from below the cliff face and Mason's scowl deepened, "We're not going to be able to fix this mess while whoever is attacking keeps it up!" Mason called as the rockets exploded again.

Bill frowned himself and nodded, "Alakazam, find whoever is attacking and get rid of them!" he ordered.

Alakazam nodded and closed its eyes as it seemed to focus for a second or two before something else shot away from the cliffs and Mason could just about make out the three figures of Team Rocket being launched into the sky by a Psychic blast.

But even though those three were gone the damage had been done as Dragonite reared back its head as energy gathered in it's open maw.

'A hyper beam!' Mason thought with shock, before he quickly reached for one of his Pokéballs, this would be a long shot, but it was the only chance they had, they couldn't get out of the blast radius of a Hyper beam that size.

"Dratini, help us quickly!" Mason called as the small dragon Pokémon appeared from its Pokéball and looked around taking in everything and finally laid eyes on the titan.

"Dra Dratini!" Dratini cried out just as the titan looked to be ready to attack.

Dratini's cry made the titan hesitate for a moment before the energy from its maw began to dissipate as it looked in the direction the cry came from.

"Dratini, dra, dratini" Dratini called out again as it seemed to be talking with the massive titan.

Everyone waited on baited breath as they watched on waiting to see what the titans reply would be. Before the large titan gave out a mournful cry as it turned and began to wade back into the ocean.

"Wait, Dragonite, please don't go, I've waited so long to meet you!" Bill called out in shock seeing the titan begin to leave.

Dragonite gave a mournful cry as it paused in its movements and looked back to Bill. They both stood still for several long seconds, until Bill's expectant look faded to one of resignation and he sighed, apparently understanding.

"Alright, you can't stay, I understand," Bill said with a nod, "but please know you can always come back here to visit, I'll always be waiting to meet you once more!"

The Titanic Dragonite then gave one last deep cry before turning and diving into the ocean that caused a massive plume of water to rise up as high as the lighthouse. As the plume fell back to the ocean Dragonite had vanished.

"Well, that was something else," Brock commented, looking a little shaken up.

Misty nodded, "I'll say," she said before looking at Mason, "good call on bringing out Dratini there, I thought we were done for."

Mason nodded as he knelt down and began to scratch under Dratini's chin, "thanks for the save there, partner" he praised the small dragon.

"Dra~" Dratini cried out happily.

Mason chuckled before tapping him against his Pokéball to recall him before he stood up.

"Well I don't know about you guys," Ash said before yawning, "but I could sure use a bed right about now, I think that's enough excitement for one day."

Bill nodded, "quite, I'm so sorry for putting you all in danger like that, had I known" he began to say before Mason cut him off.

"It's fine, you took precautions," Mason told him, "besides you can hardly be blamed for some idiots thinking it was a good idea to attack a Pokémon that size, people like that are their own special kind of stupid"

Bill chuckled, "your right," he said with a nod, "for now though Ash is right, I think it's time we all turned in for the night, Alakazam will show you all to the guest rooms below" he said before looking back out over the ocean.

Alakazam nodded and began to guide them towards the stairs. As Mason got to the door however Bill called out to him, "Mason, could I have a few minutes of your time, there's something I'd like to discuss with you"

Mason looked back and arched an eyebrow in question before he shrugged and looked to the others, "go on I'll catch up," he told them as they all nodded and continued following Alakazam.

Once they were gone Mason walked back to Bill who was leaning on the railing now, looking out over the ocean at where the titanic Dragonite had once been.

"What do you want to talk about Bill?" Mason asked curiously after a few moments of silence.

Bill sighed as he stood up and turned to Mason, "I'll be blunt with you Mason, I want to recruit you"

Mason blinked at the sudden offer, not having seen it coming, "um, recruit me for what exactly?" He asked not sure what this was exactly.

"To be a part of my research division," Bill explained, "you see with everything that has been happening these last few years a lot of opportunities have presented themselves, one of which was was a mutually beneficial arrangement that the likes of Silph Co and Devons Corperation setup for all recognized professors in each of the major regions" he stated, "they would fund our research projects and sponsor us in certain aspects, and in return we would turn over aspects of our research to them that they could in turn market to sell for the betterment of each region."

"Like?" Mason asked as he was starting to get the picture.

"Technology mostly," Bill stated, "the likes of things like the Pokédex, Pokenav, Pokégear, and even the Pokétch. Each of them had a professor of some reputation behind their creation. Though the biggest advancement in the past years has been the technical machine for teaching Pokémon moves quicker" he stated, "it's that aspect that has made me want to recruit you ever since I heard the great professor Oak praise your talents."

Mason nodded he was starting to get it now, "and just what would you be having me do exactly? I'm not pausing my journey so soon to stay in one place," he said firmly, he didn't want to become a Pokémon trainer to just be stuck in a lab.

"And I wouldn't ask you too," Bill assured him, "no what I want from you is to do just as you have been doing, keep traveling, keep growing stronger, and more importantly, keep discovering new moves."

It was them that Mason realized what it was he wanted, "you want to be able to distribute the moves I and my Pokémon discover"

Bill nodded, "precisely, I'm a professor affiliated with Silph Co, as part of my research group you'd be able to sell any moves that you discover to the company through myself and in return reap the benefits by becoming an affiliated field researcher, that's not something just any regular trainer can do."

Mason frowned in thought, while his knowledge about advanced Pokémon moves from the later generations was useful to keep to himself at times, he knew it was only a matter of time, with Technical machines being a thing, before he lost that advanced. He supposed he should see about getting something else from them while he could.

"What kind of benefits would being an affiliated field researcher give me?" Mason asked after a few moments to think.

Bill smiled, "well for a start you'll be paid a monthly retainer salary of twenty thousand direct to your trainers account, along with bonuses for any moves you learn, along with two percent of any revenue made from the sales of technical machines of the moves you discover" he explained, "you'll also be given a monthly stipend to allow you to redeem five technical machines for free every month to help you advance your Pokémon's move pools in order to develop new ones"

Mason whistled, that was a lot, a set monthly salary with bonuses and royalties on top of that. Technical machines weren't cheap, not in the slightest, and if he sold his moves to Silph Co they would go world wide, he'd be swimming in cash with just the two percent he'd be getting, plus those five free technical machines would really help him to diversify his teams move pool and save him time teaching them from scratch.

"And to sweeten the deal even more," Bill continued, "you would be registered as an affiliated field researcher, allowing you to carry eight Pokémon instead of six which is the legal carry limit for new trainers. In order to allow you to train more Pokémon at once. You would have to be an advanced trainer with three years of experience before you could carry that many normally"

And that was just the icing on the cake for Mason, being able to carry more than just six Pokémon, that meant he'd be able to carry his full roster at the moment, and train each of them. He knew he'd been a little zealous catching so many Pokémon right at the start of things, but this would allow him to make up for that easily.

"Alright," Mason grinned, "where do I sign up?" He asked eagerly.

Bill clapped him on the shoulder, "excellent, come with me, we'll go down to my lab and get you signed up right away, we can even register those moves you've learned already and get them sent to Silph Co's database so they can start making you royalties" he said as he and Mason started walking towards the stairs.

-Time skip-

It was half an hour later that Mason slumped forward at the desk he had sat down at in Bill's lab when they had first started to sign him up as an affiliated field researcher. Little did he expect they'd be at it for so long.

"Sorry about that, but you can't expect to get a job with such great perks without a large amount of paperwork that needs to be seen too, luckily that's the only time you need to do any of this" Bill said as he entered in the last of his details into his computer, "there and done, you should be getting your notification any second…" Bill began to say when Mason's Pokédex began to vibrate, "now."

Mason took out his Pokédex and flipped it open and hit the enter button that brought up his trainers ID, where before it had him listed as a beginner trainer with two badges, now he was listed as an AF Move Researcher.

"Sweet," Mason said with a grin, "that was fast."

Bill nodded, "indeed, but seeing as the Pokédex central database in Kanto is monitored and operated out of Silph servers you can expect it to be a simple task for them to make changes quickly" Bill said as he got up and walked over to take up what looked to be a large headset, that looked far too big to sit on a human head, "Alakazam!"

At Bills call, Alakazam suddenly teleported into the room in front of Bill as the young professor held out the headset to him, "prepare to extract some new move data if you would"

Alakazam nodded and the next second it's eyes glowed as the headset lifted out of Bill's hands and floated over to land softly on Alakazam's head.

Mason blinked, 'so they use psychic Pokémon to extract data for technical machines?' He thought to himself before standing up as Bill turned to him.

"If you'd be so kind as to call out your Pokémon, Alakazam will use his amplified psychic powers to copy their knowledge of the moves you have discovered and prepare it for transfer" Bill told him, "it won't harm them in any way."

Mason nodded as he took Dratini, Scyther and Spearow's Pokéballs from his belt and called his three Pokémon out, before he explained to each of them what was going on.

The three Pokémon just exchanged glances before looking at Alakazam and nodded as one. The powerful Psi Pokémon nodded back to them before closing its eyes as the headset began to come to life on its head as lights turned on and it began to work.

One by one each of Mason's Pokémon began to glow with a psychic aura slightly before fading after a few seconds, starting with Dratini and moving on to Spearow and then Scyther.

As the last of the Auras faded away Bill went over to his main computer and began to start up a sequence on it, "ready to receive data now" he spoke as Alakazam began to glow itself.

After recalling his Pokémon to their Pokéballs, Mason watched as the data began to appear on the screen in various mathematical formulas that he couldn't make heads or tails of but apparently Bill could as he seemed to get more and more ecstatic as the upload finished.

"Splendid, absolutely fantastic," Bill said as he typed away at the computer, "these moves are very impressive, I can already tell that Silph Co is going to be very happy with these three, and you can expect a big bonus with your first monthly payment comes in"

"Well that will be something to look forward to then," Mason grinned.

"Indeed," Bill agreed, before he snapped his fingers, "oh yes, before I forget," he said before turning back to his computer and hitting a few more keys to set something else in motion before he got up and ran out a side door a few second before another machine in the lab came to life and began to work away.

After a few moments Bill came running back in, carrying some things and made his way over to the machine and retrieved a few things out of it before he walked over and presented them all to Mason.

"Here we go some things a field researcher should never be out in the field without," Bill said as he handed the items to him.

Mason took them instantly, recognizing them both, the first was something he had only ever seen a few times in the Pokémon anime, "a Pokégear" he said as he looked at the device, it was mostly silver but had black detailing around the sides, it looked sweet.

"Yep, the latest model, and I took the Liberty to adding mine and professor Oak's numbers to the contacts in it, so you can call in any time you think you have discovered a new move," Bill explained, "if it turns out you have something I'll be able to send Alakazam right over to get the new data right away, I've been to every major city in Kanto so as long as you have your Pokégear on you Alakazam will be able to come right to you"

Mason nodded before looking to the next thing he was handed and instantly recognized if from the games, a Technical machine case, opening it he could see three disks already inside it.

"To carry any TMs you buy in the future," Bill explained, "and I took the liberty of pushing out a disk for each one of the moves you discovered to start your collection off."

Mason didn't know what to say, things were just getting better and better. If things stuck to what he knew that meant he just got three Technical machines for free that would have originally sold for nine thousand in all on top of a Pokégear which he had no clue what it was worth, but was willing to bet it wasn't cheap.

Looking at Bill Mason held his hand out and the young Professor took it as they shook.

"A pleasure doing business with you Bill, I'm looking forward to working with you" Mason grinned excited at this turn of events.

Bill nodded as he matched his grin with one of his own, "likewise, something tells me that our business together will be very profitable for the pair of us"

"Oh and one more thing?" Mason asked after they finished shaking hands, "can I get your interior decorators number, from what I've seen the guy does great work~"