A change has been made in the story that MIGHT seem a bit strange to most of you. James Hunt has been changed to Jamissa Hunt (a woman).
The reason for this is that as the story progressed I realized that the author was trying to feminize James and I absolutely loathe anything gay (that's just me, I'm not bashing anyone specifically) so when I went back to check the early chapters I realized that James was actually the first scientist Ethan had talked to but under a different name and I didn't pick up on it because even the Chinese names and gender were different.
So I hope you all don't hate the changes and keep things hetero rated.
...
Ethan arrived at Pokémon Biotech in the morning as usual. However, the atmosphere in the company was completely different than before: the explosive announcement from the previous night had spread to every department. Everyone knew that Ethan was going to clean up the nuclear waste for Japan.
Compared to the great skepticism outside, the chatter inside the company was more unified. They believed in Ethan. Still, the employees couldn't help but gossip. As Ethan walked in, he noticed employees sneaking glances at him from desks and hallway corners.
"Stop gawking and get back to work," he barked lightly.
They scrambled back to their screens. As Ethan reached his office, Annie followed. Once inside, she asked, "Mr. Grave, that announcement yesterday, was it real or just a rumor?"
"It's very real," Ethan replied evenly.
Annie blinked. " You're certain?"
"If I said no, would you believe me?"
"Nope!"
"Then why are you asking?" Ethan chuckled. He rapped his knuckles on the desk and Annie took the cue to go make coffee.
When she returned with two steaming cups, she couldn't contain her curiosity. "But why bother cleaning up nuclear contamination? If it fails, the backlash will be huge."
Ethan sipped his coffee. "If you want to see it, you can come with me to Japan. Then you can see for yourself." He swirled the cup in slow circles. "Remember, great praise comes only from great risk. If we do this right, everyone will celebrate and applaud Pokémon Biotech's achievement."
"So how much do we make, like a couple million?" Annie asked bluntly.
Ethan had just taken another sip, almost spilling the coffee all over his desk. "Ugh. You almost burned me with that question," he said, dabbing at his mouth. "A few million? That's peanuts."
Annie's eyebrows rose. "Okay, so... tens of millions?"
"I see you have no ambitions," Ethan teased, setting the cup down. "We're negotiating with a developed nation; they're hardly poor. We're talking hundreds of millions at least."
Her eyes widened. "Hundreds of..."
"Tens of billions, actually," Ethan clarified. "They've been pouring a fortune into this fiasco every year. So it's not outrageous for me to ask for tens of billions, especially if we solve their biggest crisis."
Annie could barely speak as she looked at the number. "Wow. That's trillions in local currency."
Ethan nodded. "It sounds huge, but think about it: they're spending about 70 billion local currency a year on that problem, with no permanent solution. We'll do it all at once, so they'll actually save money, and they'll be happy to pay if we really solve their problems."
He added with a grin, "And that kind of revenue will catapult our future plans: building the Pokémon Center network, expanding the orchards, mass breeding, and whatever else needs to be done.
"We could even build a huge headquarters, maybe a Pokémon Tower," Annie suggested half-jokingly.
"Pokémon building..." Ethan thought. "Yeah, well, let's get the job done first, then we'll see about permanent offices."
They were still talking when Ethan's phone rang. He answered it, and a security guard from Pokémon Paradise spoke breathlessly: "Mr. Grave, the fruit is falling from the cone trees! We don't know what's going on. Could you come?"
"On my way." Ethan hung up, a wave of excitement washing over him. He'd suspected the cones were almost ripe, now it seemed they were ready.
"I'll be back soon," he told Annie and hurried out the door.
Driving quickly, Ethan reached the park and walked straight up the mountain with a couple of pet Pokémon. A guard at the base of the mountain directed him to the Cone Grove, where Jammisa (TN - formerly James Hunt, name and gender changed) was examining freshly fallen fruit. He had piled them in a bamboo basket.
"Mr. Grave, these strange looking fruits, are they edible?" asked Jammisa. He picked one up and tapped its surface. "It's so hard, like metal."
Ethan chuckled. "Go ahead, take a bite if you want."
Jammisa gave it a tentative nibble and nearly broke a tooth. "Ow!! This is definitely not edible."
Laughing, Ethan picked up another fruit. Though it looked red and white like a manufactured product, it had a distinctive circular button in the center that could be pressed. "These are for catching and storing Pokémon," he explained. "I call them Poké Balls."
Jammisa blinked. "Huh? What do you mean...?"
Ethan pressed the white button and tossed the fruit gently to Timmy, who peered curiously over the bamboo basket. Timmy blinked in confusion, "Why always me?" but had no time to dodge. The fruit made contact with Timmy's head.
In a sudden burst of energy, Timmy disappeared inside the fruit, which snapped shut and shook on the ground. Within three seconds, it was still.
Jammisa's jaw dropped. "What the... Timmy just got sucked in?"
"Now watch," Ethan said, picking up the fruit. He pressed the button again and Timmy reappeared in a flash of light, looking slightly confused but unharmed.
"This is incredible!" Jammisa almost dropped the Poké Ball. "How can it hold a living creature?"
"Remember the meteor shower that left meteor fragments all over the city?" Ethan reminded him. "I discovered that water infused with certain meteor elements had a 'spatial' effect. So I genetically engineered these cone trees to incorporate that power. Once the fruit ripened, each fruit contained a small room inside."
Jammisa stared at the basket of orbs. "So these fruit clusters are basically Pokéballs that store Pokémon? That's incredible! Even the shape is interesting."
Nodding, Ethan tried it on Igneel and Hydro, successfully capturing them in turn. Both reappeared with a push of the button, looking slightly dazed but healthy. Jammisa was speechless.
"This is a revolution in the way people transport and manage Pokémon," Ethan said triumphantly. "No more physically dragging large creatures around, just keeping them in these fruits."
Standing there on the mountain, Jammisa and the guard could only marvel at the "Pokéballs" grown from the genetically modified cone trees. When the outside world learned of this new invention, it would undoubtedly spark another wave of global amazement.