Chapter 168

Chapter 168: Chapter 168

Manryo stared at the chest in the corner, its surface buried beneath dust and cobwebs, then hurried over and crouched beside it.

Gardevoir gently used Psychic to sweep away the dirt and webs.

Manryo reached out and opened the lid.

The chest was packed with miscellaneous objects.

He began taking them out one by one: a wooden sword, a broken Poké Ball, a treasure map, several coins, and various other childhood trinkets.

Apparently, his younger self had turned Gimmighoul’s chest into a toy box.

Manryo gently ran his fingers over the old, damaged toys, and memories of playing with Eevee, Ralts, and Gimmighoul began returning one after another.

"Gimmighoul, we found your chest."

He spoke softly to the Pokémon hiding near his neck.

Gimmighoul happily jumped down, hugged a coin against its body, and climbed straight inside.

It pulled the lid shut after itself, and a series of clattering noises immediately came from within.

A moment later, the lid opened again and Gimmighoul poked its head out.

It had returned to its Chest Form.

"Finally."

Manryo smiled at the delighted little Pokémon.

"Gim~"

"Now we just need to give you the rest of the coins, and you’ll be able to evolve, right?"

Gimmighoul nodded.

"Good. Then let’s go."

Manryo stood and looked down at it.

"This time, you don’t need to abandon your chest for me again."

Gimmighoul’s eyes curved into a happy smile.

"Gim~"

It dragged the chest after Manryo with an unsteady shuffle, and faint metallic jingling came from inside as the coins knocked against one another.

"Gim."

Gimmighoul suddenly stopped.

Manryo turned back.

"What is it?"

Instead of answering, Gimmighoul climbed into its chest and shut the lid.

The sound of rummaging came from within, and after a while, it emerged holding a strange object.

"Gim."

Gimmighoul offered it to Manryo.

"What’s this?"

Manryo looked at the dark, irregular lump in confusion.

Gimmighoul shook its head, handed it over, then pulled out an old photograph.

Manryo accepted the picture and immediately recognized it as one of the very few photographs taken during a family trip when he was young.

A married couple and a little boy stood in front of a mine wearing safety helmets.

"I remember this..."

Manryo searched his memory.

"I think my parents took me traveling to another region, and there happened to be some sort of mine activity where visitors could dig for rocks."

He frowned.

"Was that Hoenn?"

"It’s Sinnoh, Master," the butler corrected from behind him.

Manryo turned.

"Sinnoh?"

"Yes, Master. Sinnoh was the only other region you visited at the time. I remember it clearly."

The butler still held the old Pokémon book carefully in his hands.

"I see."

Manryo looked once more at the happy family in the photograph before handing it to him.

"When we get back, find proper frames for this one and the other photograph."

"Yes, Master."

Manryo then took the strange object from Gimmighoul and turned it over in his hands.

"This looks like something I brought home from that trip. Why does it look like a chunk of coal?"

"The owner of the mine told your family it was only a useless piece of rock," the butler explained, "but you insisted on keeping it as a souvenir, so it came home with you."

He added, "That was what the Master told us after you returned."

"You remember everything, don’t you?"

"Anything concerning you, Young Master, naturally deserves remembering."

Manryo continued studying the dark lump.

"Still... why does this look so familiar?"

He was certain he had seen something like it recently.

Gardevoir suddenly remembered as well.

She reached into Manryo’s pocket, pulled out the sheet of paper Mike had given him, unfolded it, and held it up.

"This is..."

Manryo compared Mike’s crude drawing with the object in his hand.

They were similar, although the actual piece was oddly shaped enough that the resemblance wasn’t immediately obvious.

"Gardevoir, are you saying this might be a Peat Block?"

Gardevoir first nodded, then shook her head.

Manryo frowned.

"It looks like one, but you’re not sure?"

Gardevoir nodded.

Manryo stared at it for another moment before shrugging.

"Why am I wasting time guessing? I can just call him."

He took out his phone and started a video call with Mike.

...

After saying goodbye to Forsythia, Mike continued toward Eterna Forest with Gengar and the others.

Along the road, he casually accepted challenges from several Youngsters and Pokémon enthusiasts and happily relieved them of their pocket money through perfectly legitimate Pokémon battles.

When the entrance to Eterna Forest finally appeared ahead, Mike stopped long enough to take a photograph before heading inside.

The road through the forest remained fairly busy. Plenty of travelers were heading from Floaroma Town toward Eterna City, while even more were traveling in the opposite direction.

Floaroma was a tourist destination, after all, so a constant stream of visitors wasn’t unusual.

Pokémon-world travel also came with one particularly dangerous social rule: if two Trainers made eye contact, there was a very good chance one of them would interpret it as a battle invitation.

Mike learned this again almost immediately.

After entering the forest, he was dragged into several more battles, and his progress slowed to a crawl.

Eventually, he solved the problem by borrowing Gengar’s sunglasses.

The effect was remarkable.

Once nobody could tell whether Mike was making eye contact with them, almost no one challenged him, and his traveling speed immediately improved.

By late morning, Mike found a place beside a lake and stopped to prepare lunch.

Eterna Forest was larger than any forest he had traveled through so far.

The trees were dense and enormous, with towering canopies that blocked much of the sunlight.

Even at noon, the forest never became oppressively hot.

Cool breezes occasionally drifted through the trees, and whenever one passed close to Gengar, the temperature dropped another few degrees.

Mike sat on the blanket and completely lost the desire to move.

"This is way too comfortable. I could stay here forever."

His utterly lazy declaration caused several nearby Trainers, who had also stopped to rest, to glance over and laugh among themselves.

Traveling alone was relatively uncommon.

Most Trainers preferred to find several companions with similar goals before setting out, since traveling together meant they could help one another when something went wrong.

That naturally made Mike, who appeared to be traveling entirely by himself, stand out.

As time passed, more and more Trainer groups arrived at the lakeside to rest.

Before long, the area had become lively.

Everyone had spent the entire morning walking and was exhausted.

Most people simply wanted to sit down, chat with their companions, eat lunch, and recover before continuing.

Mike took the opportunity to observe the other traveling groups and quickly noticed that nearly every party had one person specifically responsible for cooking.

Judging from the food being prepared around him, most of those designated cooks were fairly competent too.

While Mike was studying everyone else’s meals, Snivy had already washed their ingredients and Gengar had finished assembling the portable stove.

Mike prepared a simple lunch and sat down to eat with his Pokémon.

Afterward, Gengar took the dishes to the water to wash them while Mike stretched out on the blanket and started playing with his phone.

He shifted closer to Glameow and lightly rubbed his nose against her fur.

Glameow turned and gave him an annoyed look before yawning, closing her eyes, and going back to sleep.

She couldn’t be bothered dealing with him.

The rest of the lakeside gradually quieted after lunch as well.

Conversations became softer so nobody disturbed resting Pokémon or fellow travelers.

Mike scrolled through his phone for a little longer, then yawned. He locked the screen, adjusted his position, pulled Glameow gently into his arms, and closed his eyes for a nap.

Beedrill disappeared into the foliage overhead, remaining hidden among the leaves.

Snivy sat comfortably on a tree branch with a container of Poffins in her hands, treating them as dessert.

Gengar, meanwhile, brought out his gathering basket and had Snivy help secure it to his back.

With his thin bamboo staff in hand, he wandered deeper into Eterna Forest in search of mushrooms.

...

It didn’t take him long.

Before long, Gengar emerged from the bushes humming some incomprehensible tune and floated back toward the blanket with a full basket.

He removed the firewood stacked on top and neatly arranged it to one side so the next group that stopped here could use it.

Then he sat down, overturned the basket, and dumped out a large pile of mushrooms.

Using the tip of his bamboo staff, Gengar carefully separated the ordinary mushrooms from the poisonous ones.

He carried them over to the lake, washed them clean, then found a sunny patch of ground and spread out a small cloth so they could dry.

Once everything was arranged, he sat beside them and occasionally used the bamboo staff to turn the mushrooms over.

At the same time, he held a container of Poffins in one hand and happily shoved them into his mouth by the handful.

Several nearby Trainers began discussing him.

Some commented on how intelligent the Gengar seemed, while others simply thought he was adorable.

Gengar remained completely unaware of the attention. He was far too absorbed in his own little world.

Glameow eventually opened her eyes and noticed Mike’s arm still draped over her body.

She wriggled out from underneath it, turned around, and carefully licked the patches of fur Mike had flattened until they were neat again.

Then she retrieved her red ball of string from the bag and wandered off to entertain herself.

The soft jingling of her Soothe Bell sounded especially pleasant in the quiet afternoon, and several nearby Pokémon visibly relaxed when they heard it.

The movement finally woke Mike.

He opened his eyes, sat up, and checked the time.

After spending a few moments simply staring into space and allowing his brain to wake up properly, he asked, "Everybody rested enough? Want to keep moving?"

Snivy jumped down from the branch and began folding the blanket.

Glameow carried her red ball of string over and handed it to Snivy so she could pack it away too.

Gengar collected the dried mushrooms, floated back to Mike, and put the backpack on without being asked.

Mike patted his shoulder approvingly.

"Look at you, Gengar. I don’t even have to remind you about the backpack anymore."

Gengar shifted his body until the straps sat more comfortably, ignored Mike’s praise, and started floating down the trail on his own.

Mike gave a polite nod to the Trainers who were still resting nearby, signaling that he was leaving, then picked up Glameow and followed after Snivy and the others.