"Hello Lucas, I am Professor Rowan. It is nice to meet you." An older man said with a smile as he knelt to my level and reached out his hand.
He had long sideburns and a big mustache on his face. Long streaks of white hair slowly overtaking his black hair. Rowan was dressed nicely in a buttoned-up shirt and a vest. His eyes were looking at me with a slight hint of interest.
"Hello, Professor. It is an honor to meet you. I cannot wait to learn from you, as it is my dream to become a pokemon champion and a pokemon professor." I said while trying to take my childish charm to 100%
This man was going to be my ticket to the advanced technology of the pokemon world and into the hidden secrets and information that professors held. I didn't mind being a bit of an ass-licker in order to guarantee my position.
To be honest, anything that could get me away from home and let me actually start doing things was a gift from Arceus. There was only so much sitting around watching cartoons I could take, and I had already made my way through all the books in my house. Most of which were mainly about how to become a pokemon coordinator, something I didn't really care much for.
A slight smile appeared on Rowan's serious face as he heard my reply.
"Oh? You are so young yet already have your dreams set. And quite the big goals you have. You said you wanted to learn from me, but I am quite the busy person.
Plus, I think you might be too young to be in a lab like this. Sometimes the pokemon can get a bit agitated and create a bit of a mess." Rowan said with the slight smile still on his face. I could tell that he was testing me with his statement.
"Sir, I am sure I can be of assistance if you let me. I am sure you will need an extra hand here and there to feed the pokemon, or someone to play with them in order to keep them entertained." I said before looking at the bookshelf behind him.
"And if you really don't need any help, I can just sit in a corner and read the books from the library. I can be so quiet you won't even notice me, sir."
At my words the professor burst out in laughter before looking at my mother.
"You weren't lying when you said your son was a weird- I mean, unique one. My friend Oak's grandson is about his age and he is mostly interested in watching the tv or playing with his toys."
Turning back at me he continued.
"Lucas, we can always use extra help with the baby pokemon. I personally focus on studying pokemon evolution and how it works, so I constantly have young pokemon coming and going through.
As long as your mom keeps an eye on you to make sure you don't get hurt you are more than free to come around the lab and help out." Rowan said before reaching out his hand to ruffle my hair.
It was kinda weird but I just shrugged it off, the woes of being a child. At the very least I had secured myself a hobby. And if there ever were some psychic pokemon that came around I would maybe be able to keep one of them.
I would also be able to see firsthand the new technology of this world. As someone who used to be an engineer I couldn't wait to get my hands on some stuff to figure out how they worked. My entire previous life I had spent it tinkering away trying to create new things. So now that I had a brand new opportunity I wasn't going to let it go to waste.
— — —
(Rowan Pov)
Lucas was certainly a weird kid, he didn't behave like one. He had this air of maturity and a slight twinkle in his eye as he watched closely into my research. His affinity with pokemon was uncanny, as he was capable of understanding them without much of an issue.
Months had passed and somehow he had managed to befriend all of the pokemon that swung by the lab and had even bonded with a few of the psychic type pokemon. As the child walked through from place to place you could see an abra, a ralts, and a bronzor following right behind him. It made sense as the child turned out to have psionic abilities.
I had seen him sneak out to the yard with the pokemon to practice lifting stuff and meditate, and I couldn't help but chuckle at seeing his shenanigans. Whenever a human awakened the power of psionics they usually turned out to be quite the eccentric and "unique" people. But I was glad to see that the child had at least gotten a useful quirk. His desire for knowledge and capability of consuming it.
It was interesting to be able to observe a child with psionics developing, as one of the things I was researching related to evolution was the fact that humans also had an innate type. Their type could influence their personality and even give them enhanced skills compared to other humans.
People like Bruno had an innate fighting type that gave them the urge to work out and become stronger allowing them to reach physical strength similar to a fighting type pokemon. People like Lucas had an innate psychic type that let them tap into psionic abilities. Some people had an innate connection to plants that led them to become great grass-type trainers.
In my opinion it was quite rare for a human to be anything other than a "normal" type. But everytime a child was born with an innate typing it was a good sign they could become a great gym leader in the future.
Their innate affinity with their type would allow them to have a better connection with similar pokemon. Another thing I noticed through my years of study was the fact that a person's innate type could influence their own personality slightly. Though just like an Eevee, humans were not set with normal types. From my studies, it seemed as if humans themselves could change their innate type through perseverance.
It was during one of my observations of Lucas that I decided to let him in on some information I had gotten from a newspaper talking about the up-and-coming psychic trainer Sabrina. In it, she spoke about how she began training her psychic powers. I thought it would be good to give some advice to the boy that seemed to be trying so hard to get a hold of his powers.
"Lucas!" I called out for him only for him to show up a few minutes later followed by his three musketeers.
"Yes, Professor, do you need something?" the boy asked while cleaning some of the dirt from his clothes.
"Listen closely. I found some advice that could help you during your training. From what I read someone who is quite the prodigy mentioned that psychic ability is the power to influence people. You close your eyes and clear your mind of excessive thoughts. Then you look hard at your sleeping self. That's it."
I saw his eyes widen as he took in the information. The small spark behind his eye shone as understanding came through before he let out a big smile. I couldn't help but wonder if that was an extension of his psionic abilities or if it indicated something else.
"I was doing it wrong! I was missing the last step. This whole time I have been trying to clear my mind completely but I never thought to try to see the world once I was asleep. It's gotta be some type of astral projection or something like that." He said with excitement.
The pokemon behind the boy nodded their head with understanding as they began to talk amongst each other.
I loudly cleared my throat in order to get the attention back on me before continuing.
"I wasn't done, kid. She finished by saying that true psychics aren't the kind who can move things around with their minds. It's all about controlling your own mind."
Lucas spent some time thanking me before heading home. For some reason, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I felt as if the kid was my own grandson, and I couldn't wait to see what he would grow up to become.
Though that same night I got a phone call from my best friend, and it was time to deliver on my promise.
"Rowan! I did it! The prototype for the Pokedex is complete!" Oak exclaimed with excitement.
I had promised him that once the prototype was complete I would head to Kanto to assist him in improving the Pokedex and taking out any bugs in the software.
I would be a bit sad to leave Sinnoh for some time, but when duty calls you must answer. At least I knew the kid would be in safe hands with the rest of his team in the lab.
~Author's Note~
If you have any ideas for the story let me know in the comments down below. I have some of it planned out but I welcome any suggestions.