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Jetta knocked on the door of the laboratory and waited patiently for someone to answer. She hoped she wasn't too early. It was going on for ten o'clock, so she was sure the professor would be out of bed. There was a chance, however, that he hadn't finished feeding all the pokémon on his land their breakfast. Jetta supposed that if that was the case, she'd just have to wait.
A second later the door was pulled ajar and a tan face looked out to her with a smile. "Hello, can I help you?"
"Hi," Jetta smiled back. "I'm Jetta Moon. I e-mailed a few days ago to ask if I could visit."
"Oh yes, yes, come on in," the man said. He didn't sound like the Professor Oak Jetta had listened to on the radio. Perhaps he was one of the Professor's assistants.
Jetta walked inside as the man pulled the door open. "This place is huge."
"It is on the large side, yes. That's why I'm here--to help out with the upkeep."
"So you're a janitor?" Jetta figured.
"Me? No! I'm an assistant. Don't you see the white coat and glasses?"
"Some janitors wear white coats and glasses. I don't want to stereotype anyone," Jetta explained herself. "Because you're an assistant, does that mean you can help me start my journey?"
"I could," the assistant nodded, "but Professor Oak wouldn't like that. He's enthusiastic about sending new trainers off on their journeys with as much good advice as he can give. I don't think he'd appreciate if I stole that thunder."
"I don't suppose he would," Jetta agreed.
"Come inside and take a seat and I'll get the Professor. I think he's in his research room," the assistant said. He closed the door behind Jetta and led her through the open-plan ground floor, to a lounging area with a couple of sofas around a long coffee table.
Jetta perched on the edge of one of the sofa seats and twiddled her hair around her fingers, while looking around the room. There was a big computer-like terminal against the back wall, with a screen the size of at least four regular PC monitors mounted to the wall, and a regular monitor in the usual place. It looked like there was an e-mail system open, and intrigued to see, Jetta leaned forward to scan for her own name among the 'from' column.
Four of the e-mails were flagged, and Jetta's eyes were automatically drawn to them. The first was from a boy called Reginald Finch, and the subject was 'Reminder: I will visit your lab tomorrow to receive my starte...'. Jetta guessed that in full it said 'starter pokémon', but it was such a long subject it had been truncated. Next one down was from Petra Freiberg with the subject 'Squirtle'. The third flagged message was Jetta's, titled simply 'Dear Sir'. The fourth, which appeared in full, in a sort of preview window, was from 'Solomon', with no surname. From reading the e-mail Jetta got the impression the guy was a spoiled brat, who knew what he wanted and wasn't going to let anyone have any peace until he got it.
As Jetta reached the end of the e-mail she began to wonder whether the others had been and gone yet. Then she heard a ruckus, which answered her query. They were all here, and they were not happy that Jetta had kept them waiting.

"Me?" Jetta asked.
"Her?" Soloman grunted.
"Yes. Jetta was the first to inform me she'd be coming today. Reginald, you were second, Petra third, and Solomon, you're lucky I allowed you to come today, seeing as we were already booked up with three trainers," Oak explained.
Jetta wrapped a finger up in her hair and put it to her mouth nervously. She didn't like the way the other three trainers were looking at her. Now she had to decide which of the three of them she could most risk upsetting. Whichever pokémon she decided on, the trainer who'd already announced their interest in it would be very unhappy.
"Does this mean that one of the three of us will go without a pokémon?" Jetta enquired.
"As a matter of fact, no. I was prepared for this eventuality; I've been in touch with a few of my peers and a couple have some starter pokémon available for transfer to me today. So, rather than having the usual three - bulbasaur, charmander and squirtle - to choose from, the three of you are in the lucky position where you may choose one of those three, or one of chikorita, mudkip, or chimchar. If you three loudred had given me chance to explain that, you'd have known," Oak answered.
"In that case I'd like to revise my choice," Reginald said. Must've been his surname that began with an F, because Jetta was sure that...
"Jetta?" Oak asked.
Jetta stepped forward unsurely and looked up at the computer screen on the wall, which displayed all of the pokémon that were on offer. She'd half decided on a fire type earlier, owing to Gooper's weakness to grass, which would mean a choice between charmander and chimchar. And if Solomon so desperately wanted a charmander, perhaps chimchar would be the best option.
"It's a tough choice, I understand," Oak said sunnily. "I don't know which I would pick for myself, if I were in your shoes."
"Mmm," Jetta nodded. "I think I'd like a chimchar to be my pokémon."
"I see. And you're sure?" Oak asked.
Nice as a chikorita would be, Jetta was sure that a chimchar would be the best addition to her team. She only hoped that it would like her as much as Gooper did. She nodded her head sternly.
"Very good. I'll have Professor Rowan's lab send it over shortly. First things first, though, Reginald? You were saying about revising your choice?"
"I was, but further calculations show my first choice would be more beneficial in the long run," Reginald said. "Bulbasaur is my choice."
"Squirtle!" Petra blurted, as soon as Reginald's decision was voiced.
"Okay, okay," Oak said, handing out the pokéballs to the trainers. "And you, Solomon? I assume you're going to stick with charmander?"
"Of course. It's the best of the bunch," Solomon chuckled, picking the ball up. "The best by far."

Glint followed Oak into the Lab, down a corridor and into a big room at the back of the building. There were all sorts of fancy machines in there - though the room still had a homely feel to it - and Glint recognised one that could help Gruff. He hurried over to it, with Professor Oak more ambling than anything else.
"Any chance we can get on with this?"
"First you'll have to present the parcel you've brought," Oak said.
Glint had forgotten again. It wasn't usually his thing to forget, but it'd been a pretty crazy few days--and a pretty crazy few minutes, too.
"Sorry. Here," Glint said, sort of leaning his hip out so that Oak could untie the string for himself.
The professor opened the package up and took a metal rod from inside. He then proceeded to approach the machine that could heal Gruff and screw the rod into a hole. Turned out it was a handle.
"Broke the previous handle! This one will do nicely," Oak explained. "Now here, let me see your growlithe."

Glint focussed on the machine and getting Gruff healed while Oak and Kai met. At first he felt a little guilty for not introducing the boy, but then he hadn't even introduced himself. His primary concern had to be getting Gruff back to full health rather than formalities.
Thankfully with a little spray of super potion Gruff's injured back looked to be feeling much better. He jumped down to the floor and sat down happily, looking up to Glint to confirm that he was fighting fit. "Gruff ruff."
"Phew," Glint sighed. He crouched and gave Gruff a stroke, then looked up and listened in on Oak and Kai's conversation.
A new trainer with a chimchar... that sounded familiar. "You're talking about Jetta Moon, right, Professor?"
"That's right," Oak replied. "I take it you've met?"
"Yeah, in Viridian Forest. A boy had abandoned a zangoose in a cave with an underground lake. It had attracted some seviper, and they'd spat poison into the water, which was affecting the plants and wildlife on the surface."
"Well that sounds terrible! We have to--"
"No, it's okay, I sorted it. Well, Jetta and I, with some help from a suicune," Glint interrupted.
"A suicune? I doubt that, Glint," Oak laughed.
"So would I, but Jetta's pokédex recorded it. It fell from her pocket and recorded it. I tried to chase it down and record it for myself but it was too fast. It was gone before I could even see it, if I'm honest," Glint explained.
"Well that is astonishing. I'll have to contact Eusine and let him know..." Oak said. He turned away and looked as if he was about to rush off to the videophone straight away.
"Uh, Professor?" Glint said, standing up. "Uh, 'The Legendary Pidgey'?"
"Oh! Yes! Of course!" Oak laughed, turning back to his guests. "There's a pidgey, I believe it was nesting in Viridian Forest, causing all sorts of trouble. Well, it seems its flock finally had enough of it and chased it off. Well now it's running amuck. There have been reports of it attacking trainers all over the region. It seems to come and go as it pleases, causing some quite terrible damage as it rampages."
Glint had trouble grasping what the professor was saying. "But... a pidgey?"
"I understand your doubt, but my research suggests that this is an incredibly ambitious little pokémon. It seems to have been involved in thousands of battles, and probably won them all, even against electric pokémon. It is a ferocious little thing, with a lot of pent up anger. When it first arrived in the area I tried to reason with it - talk to it and befriend it - but I soon learned that, for the moment at least, it is beyond talking to. It has a lot of tension to work out, and it appears it can only do that by attacking anything that comes near to it. I developed a sonic emitter, that I'll send copies of to major cities, to keep it at bay, but you'd best be careful. There's no knowing when, where or who it might attack next!"

"We don't have any more plans in Pallet," Glint said in response to Kai. "In fact we don't have any plans at all. I fought Brock a couple of days ago, though, so I can show you the way there. It'd be cool if I could sit in and watch, even."
"I thought you were focussed on breeding, Glint?" Oak asked, seeming a little confused.
"Oh I am. But Brock said battling might help me learn, so I gave it a shot. I lost - he wiped the floor with me in all honestly - but it was enlightening," Glint replied. Then a thought came to mind. "Uh, wait. Sorry, Professor, but how did you know I'm a breeder?"
"Oh come now, I know your grandparents. They help me with their studies sometimes," Oak answered.
"Well yes, but--"
"You think they wouldn't talk about you? Of course they do. And I think it's good that you're travelling and learning from gym leaders. The best way to learn is through practice! So go on, off with you both. I have work to do!"