Elm and Birch
(Ash POV)
'School has started and I gotta admit this is much more interesting than the elementary school from my previous life. The school teaches more like a college than anything, and the school is divided into two main parts, firstly we have an advisory with Oak where we can ask him general questions, and he brings in special guests to come in and teach us something.'
'Also we got put into advisories of 18 with me, Bianca, Cheren, Chloe, Dawn, Hilda, May, Paul, Rosa, Shauna, Silver, Tierno, Trevor, Wally, Yellow, Barry, Green, and Gary. Man all that's missing is us being called class 1A and a jealous rival class and we got ourselves a school life slice of life anime.'
'Now for my progress, firstly the general required classes are simple even Pokemon biology isn't that complicated, it's more similar to cells and genetics from when I was in college. And Pokemon research hasn't bought anything interesting yet. Also, Fairy type is a thing and so is mega evolution, thankfully it isn't that alternate timeline Nintendo came up with so that they didn't have to make more megas.'
'Next, for electives, I chose to take were; battle studies from the Ace trainer department, move tutoring from the ranger department, and Pokemon research. And because I was asked to do it, care of Pokemon and Pokemon battling.'
'Now for my new classmates, there have been some ups and downs, Paul and Silver avoid talking to anyone mostly. The most interaction I had with them was when we were in Pokemon battling class and it was mostly because Gary approached them. Wally and Yellow are more antisocial but I did get to at least become friends with them during care of Pokemon class'
'Bianca, Cheren, Chloe, and Trevor all became friends, (mostly due to Bianca) in Pokemon research class. I got to become friendly with Dawn, May, and Shauna in the care of Pokemon. I even met Tierno in the move tutoring class and he immediately became my friend when he found out I was interested in learning the dance moves like swords and dragon dance. And I got a bit more friendly with Hilda, Rosa, and became friends with Barry during Pokemon battling class.'
So overall I have been learning some things but nothing too important. The most exciting part that is coming up is that Oak is calling two of his partners from other regions to come and teach us something.' As Ash finished thinking, he realized Gary was asking him something.
"So who do you think Gramps is bringing in as a guest speaker?" Gary asked very bored as he didn't expect much.
"I don't know, maybe he is bringing in some researchers to convince you to go down that path again." Ash said grinding, "Wha, you know that–" Gary was cut off as Rosa jumped in the conversation, "Hey you guys talking about who is coming in, I want to join, I think he will bring in someone from the elite four!" Rosa exclaimed, letting everyone hear the conversation.
"I hope it is Wallace!" Said May much to the excitement of Dawn, and Shauna.
"I hope it is a Pokemon researcher!" exclaimed Bianca
"I-I hope it is a Pokemon," said Yellow but no one heard her, well but me.
As the class was arguing and discussing who would be the guest that would come in, Oak came in to see this mess. He just said, "Ok everyone settles down, as I'm sure you're well aware I am bringing in 2 guests as guest speakers."
As he said that the class calmed down he continued, "I am bringing in my colleagues from other regions to discuss what they study. As you all may know, I study human and Pokemon relationships but I am certainly not the only professor, so I introduce you to my colleague, Elm from Johto, who studies Pokemon breeding and is the best when it comes to the research of Pokémon evolution and Birch from Hoenn who studies pokemon habitats and regional forms" As he finished two relatively young looking men came into the room each holding some supplies.
Professor Elm is a man with short brown hair and gray eyes. He wears a pair of glasses, as well as a white lab coat with two pockets and a collared teal shirt. Professor Elm also wears brown pants with a black belt and brown shoes.
Professor Birch is a tall, large man with fair skin, dark eyes, short and slightly wavy brown hair, and a squarish face with a beard. He wears a navy blue T-shirt under a white lab coat, khaki shorts with a black belt, and tan sandals on his feet.
Elm Starts by saying, "Professor I don't think I am the best at evolution, Rowen is far better than me." As he looked at the class, "But Yes I am Professor Elm and I have studied Pokemon Eggs and am credited to have discovered Pokemon eggs, and I also study strange Pokemon Abilities. I even brought an Egg here with me" Elm pulled out a yellow egg with black accents on the bottom.
All the students started at the egg with interest even Paul and Silver seemed more interested than normal.
Elm noted this and continued, "Well this egg will hatch in a few minutes, so while we wait, why doesn't Birch introduce himself."
Hearing this Birch nodded and started, "Hello everyone I am Professor Birch and I study Pokemon habitats and changes in Pokemon because of their habitat." as he pulled out 3 Pokeballs he continued, "This may not seem as important or interesting but this has much more than just where pokemon live"
As he said that he released 3 Pokemon, which were the three wormadam, Plant Cloak Sandy Cloak Trash Cloak, He continued, "You see, these are wormadam, and these three specifically were born, fed, and trained the same way. The only difference was where they evolved, you see wormadam evolve by taking material from their surroundings and making a cloak"
Pushing forwarded the Plant Cloak, "This wormadam evolved near grass"
Pushing forward the Sandy Cloak, "This wormadam evolved near rocks"
Pushing forwarded the Trash Cloak, "This wormadam evolved near trash in cities"
He continued, "Now these changes are more than just a style change, each of their Cloaks have their strengths and weaknesses." Saying that the class seemed a little more interesting. "But it doesn't end there" pulling out two more pokeballs, and releasing what appeared to be Meowth and Alolan Meowth, "you see certain regions have different climates and habitats that cause different Pokémon to change in a variety of different ways." The class was very interested, normal meowth is common everywhere, but they had not seen this different variation of Meowth
Birch continued, "You see there are many different forms of Pokemon but we don't know why all of them change and how the differences change them physically, and we don't entirely know why differences in Pokemon habitats can cause changes in Pokemon."
As he finished the egg started to hatch, and everyone looked at the egg with interest. As the egg was enveloped in a bright light, a little Pichu appeared. Immediately there were a few mesmerized by how cute the little mouse was, and then there were those indifferent and wondering who that Pokemon was.
Elm started to explain, "Well this is a Pichu the pre-evolution of Pikachu, this is actually what gave me the credit for discovering Pokemon eggs. Now I'm sure some of you may be wondering why Pokemon breeding and Pokemon eggs need studying, it seems pretty simple." hearing that some people, cough, cough Paul/Silver, started to wonder what Professor Elm would say to defend his research.
Elm continued, "You see, pokemon don't need to be the same species to breed, they only need to be in similar breeding groups. For example, a rattata can breed with a Pikachu because they are in the Field breeding group. We don't know all the Pokemon breeding groups even after all the research I have done there are still over 100 Pokemon that we still don't know how to breed."
As Elm said this there was some interest but most people seemed uninterested. So he continued, "Now What you all may be more interested in is this Pichu, you see this Pichu is special. There's a thing called Egg moves that Pokemon can only get if they inherit it from their parent, this Pichu was bred using an exceptionally strong Raichu and Pikachu, so it knows a special move called Volt Tackle. Does anyone have questions?" (This is not Ash's Pikachu)
As Elm finished he got bombarded with several questions ranging from "What other movies does it know" to "Can I hold it". Ash raised his hand and asked, "You said something about Egg moves, if pokemon are born normally from eggs then why are there only some that learn these special moves."
Hearing this Elm smiled, "Well If I'm being 100% honest, I don't know. Especially because during rare circumstances some Pokemon can learn those moves. That is why I'm researching Pokemon Eggs and breeding."
As he finished the random questions continued. However, Ash thought in his head, 'Well that doesn't give me a reason as to why Pikachu was able to use volt tackle but never before then'
After some more questions for both Elm and Birch, Oak finally said, "Well that was very informative, however, I'm sure the professors need to continue their research. So let's not hold them too much." As he finished both Elm and Birch waved as they left, even the little Pichu waved a little bit which only made the class even sadder seeing them leave.
But just like that the first year flew by and the next started soon after.