The former owner and Pokémon cried for a little while before making Miltank apologize to the Pokemons it had done wrong and finally bidding farewell.
"I didn't expect you to grab Miltank with a free ad."
Professor Oak, alongside Anthony and the two Lopunny that are guarding the gate of the lab, watched as the two men scrolled through their phone, carefully picking what picture to use on which part of their farm, albeit still sniffing their snot. Apparently, the businessmen really wanted a trainer or a coordinator to advertise their farm and gain more buyers of their products; until now, they don't have the funds to buy the faces of those trainers.
_Also, it's apparent that I look like both of my parents... or I'm also well-known because I'm their child..._
Anthony found this quite worrisome, especially since one of the job descriptions of being an associate field researcher is to be a semi-partner of the police to catch poachers. Anthony is so sure that with the personality of his mom alone, the power couple might have created a lot of enemies.
_Well, whatever, I will cross that bridge if I do._
Anthony decided not think about all of these implications and instead looked at the Pokémon Professor.
"Professor, I actually want to ask you for a favor, too."
This made Prof. Oak, who has this perception that Anthony is not an outspoken child, startled. Of course, technically, Anthony just said a few words in the previous negotiations, but the fact that the negotiation is rather strange and unconventional, shameless even as it goes against standard operating procedures of a Pokémon trade, except for the clause of 'no physical money or any money-making favor' in the Pokémon World Law, is not being broken.
Prof. Oak knew that this was not the negotiation skills of someone who doesn't talk a lot, but still, since Anthony is his students' son, he had to hear him out at least.
"What is it?"
Prof. Oak asked, after which Anthony immediately replied.
"Can you give me private lessons on Pokémon battles? I saw your old battle clips fighting against Elite 4 Agatha with a Tauros and winning. That is completely outrageous, so I want to learn how you do it despite the inherent inability of Normal-type attacks to hit ghost types. I also want that level of acumen in bypassing type weaknesses in general."
What Anthony said is not just rumors or any outrageous claim of the old people who want to exaggerate the greatness of their time; it's something that was recorded and uploaded on the internet and was raved as one of the greatest feats of bypassing typing weakness. Prof. Oak frowned immediately and shook his head.
"No, I can't do that; that would be unfair to others."
This made Anthony quite shocked.
_How about your connection with my mom and dad!? It would be unfair to them!_
Anthony can't help but quip in his mind, this is the first time that he, being a son of two of the strongest trainers of recent memory, failed. But then again, he really didn't use such status that much, considering he's just a child and not in the field of Pokémon training officially. Seeing the rather downcast appearance of Anthony as well as his quietness, Prof. Oak immediately added.
"Don't worry, all of my fights should be somewhere on the internet. You can search for them and analyze them yourself. Consider this an additional training for your internship. You can also ask me for advice, but I can't give you private lessons."
Anthony nodded at this and sighed in his heart.
_If I used a video to analyze how an electric type absolutely destroyed a ground type, then I would only see the moves made and the strategy employed. I want to know how they were grown! Furthermore, I want battle practices to know how to act during type disadvantages!_
This is actually Anthony and his dad's next lesson, as Ben noticed that Anthony is already too used to dealing with Flying types, but Anthony can give up on it for now. In any case, his first activity is already a success, which means a sparring partner for Zubat. He just has to make Miltank more disciplined and more exhausted than his daily life to contain the overflowing energy that causes it to be too battle-crazed. In this regard, Miltank can always use battles and the required exercise routine for the interns.
"That's too bad. I was hoping you could make an exception, then, please register Miltank as mine before I go back to the dorm and study how to train it."
Anthony decided not to argue, as he knew that professionals have their own principles and limits on how they would bend them for someone, though he wonders if giving him automatic acceptance in the internship is considered less severe than giving him an in-depth lesson on Pokémon battling.
_Whatever, I'll just find a classmate of mine who has a fighting type... but will a kid be willing to raise a Machop? That would look weird... oh, Normal types don't have any type resistance, maybe I can use that in case of Miltank, that's too durable for its typing._
Thinking of this, Anthony bid farewell to the professor and walked towards the dorm, since this was the only activity of the interns, and no one expected anyone to complete it in under an hour; he was the only one in the dorm of interns. Anthony put his shoes away as well as his clothes and put them in the washing machine before taking a bath. The battle made him sweat all over, and, well, he doesn't want to smell when his classmates are back.
"Don't destroy anything, okay?"
Anthony looked at Miltank and Zubat, which started to make 'Zuu' and 'Mii' sounds with each other as they inched towards the PC table in order to walk to a more comfortable place, briefly look at their trainer, and nod before continuing their Pokemon-only talk.
Anthony, knowing that Zubat's specialty is socializing and also knowing that social Pokemons have a strict grasp of social hierarchy (in this case, Zubat is the 'senior' Pokémon of Anthony), knew his room would be fine.
_I can't make Miltank exhaust all its energy this day, it just battled a lot of final evolution Pokemons and clapped their children hard..._
While going to the bathroom, Anthony frowned.
_That sounds wrong._
_____________
After Anthony took a bath and went to the cafeteria, where the interns were already eating with their new Pokemons, he was immediately swarmed and asked what really happened between him and Miltank and how it entered his party. Of course, Anthony knew that this would happen; after all, it involved a mini-stampede where Anthony fought and tamed the perpetrator after all, and of course, they would be curious.
Furthermore, a Pokemon that can start such event is evidently not an ordinary one, and when they learned that it was a battle-ready Miltank, Anthony and Mary were immediately abandoned for Miltank that's silently watching his trainer talk with strangers, it is abnormally quite because it was still not acquainted with the interns and its still down casted because it has to leave its former owners so that it can thrive on what it really wants. Soon, however, with the help of Zubat and because, well, the interns are interested in it, Miltank warmed up and started running around in the cafeteria with Zubat, Skitty, as well as the newly introduced Pokemons.
"Having a social Pokémon as a partner sure is convenient."
Mary said while watching several interns and Pokemons suddenly playing tag like it was not lunch time, actually, those that didn't have a Pokemon to be a long-term project are the only ones that are sitting quietly and crossing out some Pokemon names in their notepad.
_I see, so they wanted to catalogue all Pokémon and choose the best one to showcase their raising acumen while being able to raise it as a future part of their team... I know for a fact that no one will make a deal with Heracross; that's a whole load of honey. Furthermore, Heracross formed a symbiotic relationship with weaker bug types here; they should have enough sense not include it in their options, plus, they might be turned down._
As Anthony was thinking of such, he suddenly asked Mary about her Pikachu, whose cheeks of her Pickachu that seem to have a shy nature, as it just silently watched the Pokemons running around. Apparently, Mary waited for Skitty to be fully rested and made quick work of a negotiation with a Pickachu.
"Are the students not allowed to heal the injured Pokemons back to health and have them as their contracted Pokemons?"
Mary shook her head.
"From what I heard from Ma'am Melissa and Sir Jeremy, every circumstance that will help an intern to get a contracted Pokemon derived from a Pokemon's deeds not owned by interns will be considered void, and since the mass injuring of the Pokemons is caused by a factor not controlled by us, then it's not allowed."
Anthony nodded at this. This is indeed very reasonable because he remembered in the code of ethics of the Pokémon world that Pokemons is considered an entity with its free will and dignity, so if it got contracted because it was injured, it's like treating them like a stray dog in Anthony's world.
"Hmm, I guess that's just right."
Anthony and Mary continued their casual talks from how Miltank ended up being Anthony's Pokémon to how Pikachu agreed to be Mary's since it was so shy. Finally, when lunch was over, Anthony found some peace and decided to explore the town with Mary.
_____________
_Ah... what a long day._
Anthony slumped on his bed after eating dinner and setting up another bed for Miltank with the help of the caretakers of the dormitory. In his hand is a book about Miltank to reinforce his already abundant knowledge about the Pokémon. He sighed again and decided to focus on reading before sleeping.
Ignoring the noise of the two running Pokemons, he formulated his thoughts:
_In the recent years, Whitney, Normal Type gym leader of the Johto region have clenched the title of being the most renowed trainer of a Miltank, she is hailed as a genius and even gave her movepool for her Miltank, this included the main 4: Rollout, Stomp, Attract and Milk Drink... some are meant to cover for other types, which makes it harder to defeat her._
_As expected, Battle-ready Miltank is just a Miltank that wanted to use its energy more actively and knew how to build its own move set. I wonder why it doesn't use Attract, though. Anyway, I can build on these and use TMs and its natural learning ability to cover for my future team's weaknesses._
_For now, I need to make it able to control its impulses by draining its energy regularly and making it battle Zubat every Sunday. Growth is not only about how many moves you were able to master, after all..._
Anthony sighed and finally put down his book, boiled water, put a tea bag on it, and slowly sipped it alongside the portions of Miltank and Zubat before going to sleep. This time, because it has a new friend, Zubat didn't sleep with Anthony but rather with Miltank, acting as its blinds of some sort.
___________
The next day, the official start of the training year for the interns, Anthony put on a sweatband for himself, a small one for Zubat, and a regular one for Miltank. In the morning, the interns are mandated to have a simple running course throughout the whole vicinity of the dorm and lab combined, as well as mountaineering training.
There will also be a time when the interns can add their own routine. In this juncture, Anthony let Miltank and Zubat participate with the clause that Miltank receive a Supersonic every time it tried to attack a Pokémon or compete with one. In the end, despite Miltank promising proudly not cause any trouble, it still received 54 Supersonics, so much for restraining itself. Zubat can barely contain it.
Such is the reason why Miltank is exhausted-looking in its current location while Zubat is sleeping in Anthony's head.
"That's brutal. Miltank was vomiting at the end of the jogging phase."
Mary, the one accompanying Anthony for today's lesson, said while the other one nodded. Anthony replied.
"If it just controlled itself better, then it would not be vomiting like that... Plus, it's recommended to deplete a battle-ready Miltank's energy regularly for it to learn how to control itself."
As Mary, Anthony, and the other kid bantered, Melissa Edison finally arrived in front of them and said.
"Good exercise, guys, today, we will be tending to the Psychic types."