The next morning, I awoke to Cha lightly pulling my hair and singing a lovely song about the glory of Pidgey. “I’m up Cha, let’s get the food ready!” I said patting the bird on the back. “Pidg Pidgey!” Cha said happily as he hopped around excitedly. Everyone ate more than usual to make up for waking up late last night, and there was no training for anyone. Taco and Tremor got special treats that Po helped communicate. Taco requested additional eggs, and Tremor wanted to try new rocks and minerals I had acquired. Both of our heroes of the night were very excited with their just rewards and gave out shouts of joy while enjoying themselves.

  Once I finished feeding my Pokémon, Daisy, Ash, and Gary showed up to help with the rest. Daisy asked questions about Pokémon injuries and ways to check for injuries. “Well, first thing you want to do is get a baseline of what is normal for each Pokémon. You want to see what do they normally eat, what does a typical day look like for them, and what is their usual temperament. When we suspect something is wrong physically or emotionally we compare how they are acting to their baseline. Let’s say every morning Po normally jogs around the corrals and is usually very excited, but one day he is walking instead of jogging. What would we want to check?” I explained and asked. “We could check his feet, and his legs?” Daisy asked. “You could ask if he slept enough?” Gary asked. “You could ask if something is wrong?” Ash asked. “Those are all perfect places to start! Does Po have a physical injury on his feet or legs, or maybe his muscles are sore. Did he sleep and eat enough? Maybe something new is bothering him, or he doesn’t like something in his current environment” I said with a big grin. “You guys are picking this up fast” I said cheerfully. Gary asked questions next about gauging how strong a Pokémon is and how to see if they are growing properly. “Another great question that also starts with a baseline measurement. We need to know how strong and how healthy the Pokémon is from day one before we can measure growth and power increases. Do you know about growth rates?” I asked Gary. “I think I have heard about them, it’s how fast a Pokémon grows right?” Gary asked in confirmation. “Yes exactly! Some Pokémon like Bug Type Pokémon grow very quickly and evolve very early. Bug Pokémon that grow and evolve quickly though tend to have lower power compared to slower growing Pokémon though. For example, Weedle becomes a Beedrill much quicker than a Magikarp becomes a Gyrados, but once Gyrados does emerge it is much stronger than Beedrill” I said giving examples of growth. “Now, some people believe that if you train a Beedrill enough and teach it enough strategy it could surpass a Gyrados. What do you all think?” I asked the trio. “I think if the Gyrados just evolved or is still early in its training the Beedrill could win” Daisy said in response. “I agree with Daisy” Gary said. “I don’t know if Beedrill could ever do enough damage to really hurt Gyrados” Ash said in response. “Well we would have to test it out right? An Adult Beedrill that has been fully trained and knows a lot of moves that take advantage of its Typing could maybe beat Gyrados I think personally. Remember too, Beedrill also has the ability to Poison Gyrados with Poison Sting and other Poison Energy moves like Toxic” I said reminding everyone. “Oh yeah! Beedrill could Poison Gyrados and wait for the Poison to weaken it before it tries to fight head on!” Ash said excitedly.

  After answering more questions and feeding all the corrals, we all headed back into the lab to log data on the Pokémon we were tracking for the diet experiments. I had given each one of my students a Pokémon to measure and check, and supervised them while they did so to make sure they did it correctly. “Mr. Austin, can I see the notes on Po?” asked Ash. “Sure, here they are. What are you looking for?” I asked curious to see his thoughts. “I want to see how much he has changed physically since you started. I bet he is a lot bigger and stronger since he has been with you the longest” Ash said reading the notes. “Yeah, Po has grown almost 2 inches and his arms and legs are bigger since you started” Ash said excitedly. “It’s so cool that training your Pokémon and helping them eat healthy has made an impact so quickly” Ash said with a smile. “I’m suprised you could read my notes so easily, but yes Po is getting stronger everyday!” I said very proudly.

  Once everything was logged, the trio headed back to their houses to go enjoy the rest of their day until dinner time. I logged into the Lab’s computer to do some searching for information about Magnemite and Magneton. Sure enough they are still found on that route just East of Cerulean City. While I was reading about the known information about them, Professor Oak arrived for the day. “Good Morning Austin! How did you sleep?” Professor Oak asked cheerily. “Professor I have some good news and bad news” I said turning the chair around to face him. “Oh did something happen?” Professor asked looking concerned now. “Team Rocket tried to attack again last night” I said calmly. “Again?!? Are you hurt? Did they take anything? Wait… you said tried to attack, what happened?” Professor asked panicking. “Well, I’m not 100% sure myself, but I think Team Rocket was trying to break in through the side door of the lab. The good news, is that Taco and Tremor knocked them all out and paralyzed them before they could do anything. Jenny came with her squad and arrested 10 more Team Rocket Grunts” I said scratching the back of my head. “Your little Ekans and giant Steelix knocked out and paralyzed 10 Team Rocket Grunts without waking you up?” Professor Oak asked in disbelief. “That would be correct Professor. Taco used Glare and Tremor used Dragonbreath, another move from Johto” I explained. “How did Tremor learn a Dragon Type Move?” Professor Oak asked. “Honestly, I am not sure. I know he learns several Dragon Type Moves, but I am not sure why. Maybe because he is snake/dragon shaped, but otherwise I am not 100% sure” I told Professor Oak while thinking deeply. “Some Pokémon are able to learn moves that just don’t make sense, yet they are still able” I said shaking my head. “I can give you more examples for research purposes so we could look into it?” I asked Professor Oak. “Yes, that would be an interesting topic” Professor Oak said nodding to himself.

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  After I showed Professor Oak the crime scene and put him at ease that we were fine, I went to write Jenny her letter for today.

  ________________________

  Dear Jenny,

  Thank you for coming to help arrest the Team Rocket Grunts last night. I hope you were able to rest a little bit today to make up for it. Say “Hi” to your Mom for me, I hope her Pokémon are recovering nicely. Cha is feeling much better he told me and is up to bring you this letter today.

  Let me know if you are thinking about Jolteon or Magnezone for your team!

  Sincerely,

  Austin XOXO

  _______________________

  I gave Cha the letter to deliver and gave him a launch towards Viridian City. Off he went to deliver the letter. “Okay, it’s time to deal with Pinsir…” I said reluctantly. I headed towards the rest of my Pokémon and told them to circle up. “Okay Team, we have a super aggressive Bug Pokémon with sharp menacing mandibles, and a very hard shell. Any ideas how we get her to remain calm so we can talk to her?” I asked my Pokémon. Po, Rapunzel, Taco, and Tremor all looked at each other and began talking. After several minutes of listening to them talk, Po moved towards me and tapped his chest. “Licky Licky” Po said and pointed at Pinsir’s Pokéball. “Should I get some snacks and food ready for it too?” I asked Po. Po nodded vigorously, so I went to grab some honey, tree sap, syrup, meat, berries, and insects for Pinsir to sample. “You sure you are ready for this?” I asked them all. All four formed up in front of me and nodded their heads. Tremor nodded towards his back telling me to get on. “All right, here goes nothing!” I called out and threw the Pokéball out in front of Po. “PINSIR” the Pinsir screamed and immediately started slamming its feet into the ground using Stomp. “Licky Licky” Po said pointing at the snacks in betwee himself and Pinsir. Pinsir looked at the snacks and threw itself at them like it was starving. It ate every single bite and drank every last drop and the fell onto its back. “Maybe it was just hangry?” I asked everyone. “Ekanssss” Taco said rattling his tail. Pinsir sat up once it heard my voice, and her eyes started to glare at me angrily. “PINSIR” Pinsir yelled pointing at me. “Tang Tang!” Rapunzel said back aggressively. “Pins Pins?” The Pinsir asked Rapunzel. “Steel Steelix” Tremor said in a low rumble. Pinsir stopped and looked up at Tremor’s face and then cowered back in fear. “Tremor, I think it is scared of you” I said calmly. “RAWWW” Tremor roared trying to make himself look bigger. “PINS” the Pinsir said and put its head down. “Licky Licky” Po said and motioned for me to come over. Po took my hand and placed it on Pinsir’s hand with his own. “Lick Lick” Po said and he helped Pinsir up. Pinsir was almost the same height as me at 6 foot 2 inches. “Pinsir, we don’t want to scare you, we want to be your friend. You can’t hurt people or Pokèmon for any reason though” I said gently patting her hand with my own.

  After another 2 or 3 minutes of patting, Pinsir finally looked at me with almost a plea in its stare. “Do you want to be friends?” I asked it. “Pins” Pinsir finally said nodding. “Okay, well you are one of us now! You will need a name. Are you a female or male? Sorry, I don’t know how to check with Bug Pokémon” I admitted. “Tang Tang” Rapunzel sad pointing to herself. “You are a girl, so we will need a strong female name. Do you want to be a leader who protects others or a strong solo fighter who stands alone?” I asked her still petting her hand. “Pins Pins Pins” Pinsir said putting her arms out around the group. “This name might sound silly, but how about Mrs. Mandible for how big and strong your mandibles are?” I asked her. She stood up and flexed then slammed her Mandibles together loudly “Pins Pinsir” she said striking a pose. “All right everyone, our new friend is Mrs. Mandible the roughest toughest Pinsir in the world!” I cheered holding her hand up like a prize winning fighter. “Licky Lick!” “Tang Tang” “Rawwww” “Ek Sssssss” everyone cheered. Right as we finished cheering, Cha landed on my shoulder with a letter in his beak. As soon as I took the letter, he cheered too “PIDG PIDGEY” with his wings raised up. While I opened the letter, all the Pokémon were talking and playing together. “Ladies and Gents, may I have your attention please?!?” I shouted to them all. “We will be heading to Viridian City to see Jenny!” I said holding up the letter. Another round of cheers, and we made our way to the bottom of the hill outside the lab. Everyone climbed on Tremor, and Mrs. Mandible found her spot right by Tremor’s neck where it raised into the air. “Hit it Tremor!” I called out. “Rawr Steel!” Tremor belted out and Cha gave out a whistle and we were off.