Professor Oak's Laboratory

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Entrance of Oak's Laboratory

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The famous Professor Oak's Laboratory, also called the Oak Pokémon Research Laboratory, is a Pokémon lab located in Pallet Town, in the region of Kanto, that is directed by Professor Samuel Oak and his assistant Tracey Sketchit. It's functions are to research the world of Pokémon, unravel the mysteries of these creatures and study their characteristics and behaviour in a natural environment. Another important job is to take care of the Pokémon that belong to Pallet Town's trainers.

The lab has many different enviroments for the correct development of all types of Pokémon. They are areas of grass, sand, rocks and lakes to promote good interaction between the different classes of creatures. Also, the laboratory has the technology to keep normal and injured Pokémon healthy, and to make the biggest investigations in the country.

In the games

Professor Oak's Laboratory appears in the games Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, FireRed and LeafGreen. It is where Professor Oak gives the player one of three starter Pokémon: a Bulbasaur, a Charmander or a Squirtle. The player also receives the Pokédex at the laboratory as well.

The lab is a small building near to the player's house that has been slightly modified in every game.

• Pokémon Red and Blue: The sign says "Here is the Institute of Dr. Okido.", in the translated version of the original Japanese game, "Oak Pokémon Research Lab" in the English language versions. Inside are three of Professor Oak's Aides, two men and one woman, a couple of shelves full with books, a table with 3 Poké Balls, a computer, two blank encyclopedias (Pokédex), and two tips for the player.
• Pokémon Yellow: Same as Red and Blue except that is only one Poké Ball on the table and next to it is a trash can.
• Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen: Same as Red and Blue, but it also has two plants in the enter, a mysterious machine, books on the floor, and two regular machines in the corner and a window.

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  Red and Green (J)

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  Red and Blue (E) and Blue (J)

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  Yellow

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  FireRed and LeafGreen

Professor Oak's Laboratory also appears in Pokémon Snap, shown as the background of the main menu of the game. Todd Snap reports back here regularly to show his photos to Professor Oak. Assumably, the professor keeps information like the Pokémon Report, Pokémon Album, and all information on Pokémon signs in his laboratory. It appears the same way in this game that it does in the anime.

In the anime

The laboratory debuted in the first episode, Pokémon, I Choose You!, when Ash received his Pikachu. Since then, it has been in a couple of normal episodes, mostly in the start and ending of a region adventure, but also in Pokémon Chronicles and in the movies. The building stands out in Pallet Town for its wind turbine, the three windows of the inner balcony and for the four windows of the second floor. Every time Ash captures a Pokémon when he has six already with him, the new Pokémon is automatically transported here. Ash also has a habit of leaving all of his Pokémon besides Pikachu here each time he leaves for a new region, starting with Hoenn.

Structure

Infrastructure

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Ash and friends talking in the Lobby

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Butch and Cassidy find the storage room.

The "house" is composed by two floors and a inner balcony in the second one. Inside the entrance door is the hall with several doors and to the left are a chest of drawers and the upstairs. Here is a list of the rooms, all of them are in the first floor with the exception of the last one.

• The living room is a space to talk, eat, relax and presumably study. Above a pink, sometimes green, carpet are two couches and a table. To a side are a computer and the first of many stands of books. This is where most scenes in Oak's Laboratory take place.

• There are two scientific rooms with a lot of machines shown in Showdown at the Oak Corral when the professor and Tracey were in search of Team Rocket.

• The Poké Ball Storage Room has the Pokémon of every Trainer born in Pallet Town. This treasure of hundreds of Pokémon, and the fact that the only security system it has is a sliding door, has been the reason for the attempted robbery by Team Rocket.

• Also in the first floor is the library, that is composed of two rooms. One is a study room with a huge stand of books in the wall and a pair of windows. The other in the back is a storage room, full with all kind of books like the old Oak's sketchbook with the sketch he made of Celebi and Pikachu sleeping during Pokémon 4Ever. The full view of the library is only shown in this movie.

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The study room of Professor Oak

• Upstairs is the research floor. Here are all the technological pieces, for that reason this a fundamental room, the brain of the laboratory. To analyze the whole room lets indicate the point of start of the view, the downstairs to the first floor. To the right are several machines for Pokémon testing and a table with chemicals. Nearby is a blue chair. In front of it are the status screen, which shows the health and power of a Pokémon, and Professor Oak's computer, where he records his research. This computer doubles as a videophone, which he uses to communicate with others professors or Trainers. Aside the computer is the Poké Ball Transfer for the transportation of Pokémon to their Trainers in a Pokémon Center.

Stairs lead up to an inner balcony, which has a door and the three large windows that we can see from the outside. Down are a stand of books, a desk with his lamp, a brown seat (the professor sleep in this couch in Spell of the Unown) and a drawing board with parallelogram to make sketches. Next a couple of machines connected to a glass container full of water, possibly to study aquatic Pokémon. And finally is the downstairs again. In the middle of the floor is a huge spotlight for a better observation.

A full view of the research floor

Superstructure

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A small view to the Oak Corral

The Oak Corral is a natural environment for the right development of Pokémon's life. It's divided in regions according the type; some areas are exclusives for rock Pokémon, some with desert scenery are for sand and fire ones, they are regions of grass and several lakes. Sometimes the Pokémon that live in the same or in a near territory have big fights (like Grass ones vs another class of Grass or against Water ones), for that reason are some guards to keep an eye on them, like Ash's Bulbasaur.

In the Pokémon Special manga

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Red in Oak's laboratory

In his search to be the best Trainer, Red goes to see Professor Oak in A Glimpse of the Glow, but the laboratory was deserted and with the door open, so he entered, that's the first view of the lab in Bulbasaur, Come Home!. Is a one-floor building with his own sign, inside are machines, tables, stands of books, the glass container full of water and, of course, a Poké Ball store with a peculiar characteristic, distinctive of the manga version of Pokémon, we can see the miniature creatures from the outside.