Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Chapter 171

The next morning, after memorizing the location of the stream so they could return easily, Mike turned away from the water and led Gengar and the others deeper into the bushes.

While filming Pokémon, he finally remembered that his Bug-type affinity gave him another option.

He began asking the Bug-type Pokémon he encountered to help look for Nidoking and Nidoran♀.

The idea had only occurred to him after seeing so many Bug types throughout Eterna Forest.

Mike shook his head at himself.

He had wasted an entire day yesterday for nothing.

For the moment, however, he continued following the Seviper ahead of him.

This particular Seviper was enormous, slightly larger than average.

Two long, frightening fangs protruded from its mouth, and scars covered many of its scales.

A particularly noticeable scar ran across its right eye, giving the Pokémon an especially vicious appearance.

Seviper had long since smelled the human following behind it.

At first, it had ignored him.

When it glanced back earlier, the human had merely pointed some strange device in its direction and had made no aggressive move.

Besides, the Pokémon traveling with that human looked troublesome.

Especially the Gengar and Beedrill.

Both of them kept watching Seviper with the sort of eager expressions that suggested they were hoping it would attack first.

Seviper wasn’t stupid.

It had survived alone in the wild for years and knew how to judge danger. Even fighting one of those two might be difficult, let alone dealing with both at once.

Still, the human’s refusal to stop following was becoming irritating!

’Is this human interested in me or something?’

Seviper finally stopped slithering and turned around.

It hissed toward Mike.

’Human, what do you want?’

Mike blinked in surprise.

It was actually asking him directly?

He raised the camera.

"I just want to take some pictures and record you for a while. Is that okay?"

Seviper opened its jaws and gave him a threatening display.

Mike didn’t move.

’If you take the pictures, will you stop following me?’

"Of course." Mike answered immediately.

"That’s the only reason I’m following you."

Seviper hesitated, then lightly tapped its tail against the ground and nodded.

"You agree? All right, I’m coming closer."

Since Seviper showed no objection, Mike cautiously approached.

Beedrill moved ahead first and positioned himself directly in front of Seviper, raising his stingers in a silent warning not to try anything.

Gengar, as the older and supposedly more diplomatic brother, took a different approach.

He brought over a container of Poffins, grabbed a handful, and shoved them directly into Seviper’s mouth.

Seviper’s eyes widened.

’Weren’t we talking about photographs?! Why are you forcing my mouth open? What did you put in there? Are you trying to poison—’

It chewed.

Then paused.

’Wait.’

’What is this?’

’This is actually really good!’

Seviper swallowed and immediately looked at the Poffin container in Gengar’s hands with obvious desire.

Gengar generously grabbed another handful and stuffed it into Seviper’s mouth.

Once Seviper finished that, he gave it another.

Before long, Seviper was eating so happily that its eyes had narrowed with satisfaction.

Only then did Gengar put the container away and point toward Mike and the camera.

"Gar—"

[Cooperate properly and you’ll get more.]

Seviper nodded enthusiastically while still chewing.

Mike looked at Gengar suspiciously.

Since when had this greedy little monster become so generous with food?

Then Mike noticed Gengar’s small, chubby hands and understood.

’Of course.’

’His hands are too small. Each "handful" is only four or five Poffins.’

With Gengar providing the carrot and Beedrill holding the stick, Mike began thoroughly examining Seviper.

The scales felt cold beneath his fingers, and several patches were rougher than others. Some of the scars appeared relatively fresh.

Mike had Seviper produce a sample of venom from its fangs so he could test its toxicity, then examined the bladed tail and recorded several other physical details.

After giving the poor Pokémon a comprehensive inspection, he finally stepped back and indicated that it was free to leave.

Seviper stared at Gengar.

’So... my food?’

Gengar stared back with an innocent expression.

’What food?’

’I don’t remember promising any food to you.’

Seviper: "???"

’You shameless bastard!’

It opened its enormous mouth in fury.

But... a stinger immediately thrust inside it.

Beedrill pressed the spear-like point against the roof of Seviper’s mouth, preventing it from closing its jaws.

His red eyes turned cold.

"Bee..."

[Are you leaving or not?]

Seviper’s gaze shifted toward Gengar.

The Ghost-type who had been cheerfully feeding it moments ago was still smiling, but a Shadow Ball now floated lazily in one hand.

Seviper went completely still.

’Bandits!’

’Every one of you is a shameless bandits!’

It slowly backed away until Beedrill’s stinger slid from its mouth, then immediately turned and fled.

Its large body carved a winding trail through the undergrowth as it disappeared.

Seviper was now convinced it had picked an exceptionally unlucky day to leave home.

"Filming mission accomplished."

Mike hung the camera around his neck and high-fived Gengar.

Snivy, perched on a nearby branch, shook her head and silently offered Seviper a moment of sympathy.

Then she suddenly lifted her head.

Something was moving in the distance.

Gengar and Beedrill noticed it almost simultaneously and immediately positioned themselves on either side of Mike.

The noise grew louder.

A large purple figure burst through the bushes, running with heavy strides while dragging its thick tail behind it.

It tore straight past Mike’s group without looking back.

"Nidoking—"

Mike had barely gotten the name out when a huge swarm of Combee poured from the bushes behind it.

"Oh shit—run!"

The instant Mike saw the swarm coming toward them, he turned and sprinted.

When he looked ahead, Gengar had already put considerable distance between them.

"Gengar, you traitor!"

"Gar—!"

Nidoking reached the stream first and immediately threw itself into the water.

Gengar followed, then Mike, Snivy, and Glameow all jumped in after them.

Several splashes sounded in rapid succession.

The Combee hovered above the water for a while, searching in every direction, before splitting into three groups and flying away.

Only once they were gone did Mike surface and drag in a deep breath.

His Pokémon emerged around him.

Beedrill slowly flew out of the bushes, completely dry, and stared without expression at everyone who had just crawled out of the stream.

"Nido."

[You came!]

Nidoking greeted Mike casually.

Mike climbed onto the bank and peeled off his wet, clingy shirt.

"What did you do to those Combee? Why were they chasing you like that?"

"Nido."

Nidoking reached behind himself and produced a jar of Honey.

Then he gave Mike an honest, cheerful grin.

Mike stared at the jar.

For some reason, the situation felt extremely familiar.

Slowly, he turned toward Gengar.

Gengar: Σ(°∀°ﾉ)ﾉ

’You can’t blame me for this! I didn’t teach him!’

"Nido."

[Last time Gengar took me to steal honey, it was really fun, and the honey tasted great, so lately I’ve been stealing more whenever I find it nearby.]

Gengar immediately pointed furiously at Nidoking.

"GAR!"

[Slander! When did I ever take you to steal honey? We BORROWED it! Borrowed!]

"Nido?"

[Borrowed?]

Nidoking scratched his head.

He clearly had no idea what distinction Gengar was trying to make.

While Nidoking was scratching his head, Mike finally noticed the small figure sitting on his shoulder.

The Pokémon had a tiny, rounded body with pale pink skin, a small mouth, and little feet.

Pale blue hair curled inward across its forehead, while long strands descended along either side of its body nearly to the ground.

Most distinctive of all was the upright tail tipped with a pale blue sphere matching its hair.

From the front, the shape almost resembled a hat perched over its head, complete with markings reminiscent of a party hat or a child’s sleeping cap.

Mike stared.

’Hatenna?’

Wasn’t Hatenna mainly associated with Galar and Paldea?

What was one doing all the way out here?

"Haten?"

Hatenna noticed Mike staring and gave him a curious little cry, its voice soft and clear.

Mike immediately pointed at Hatenna and looked toward Nidoking.

"Nidoking, did you get yourself another wife?!"

Nidoking froze.

"Wake up! You and Hatenna aren’t even in the same Egg Group. You can’t have Eggs together!"

Mike’s imagination immediately ran away with him.

"Don’t tell me you saw someone cute and abandoned Nidoran♀!"

"Nido—"

"You unbelievable bastard! I was wondering why you suddenly started stealing honey, and now I understand. It’s for your new wife!"

"I can’t believe I misjudged you. It hasn’t even been that long and you’ve already abandoned Nidoran♀ for someone else."

"Nido... Nido—"

"I’ll admit Hatenna is adorable and definitely makes people want to protect her, but you need to remember that you’re already a married Nidoking. Besides, you two can’t even have Eggs!"

Nidoking had tried repeatedly to explain himself, only for Mike to interrupt every attempt.

Finally, he snapped.

"NIDOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The force of the roar blasted wind across Mike’s face and stopped him mid-sentence.

Mike stared at him in disbelief.

"You... roared at me?"

Nidoking barely had time to regret it.

A second later, he hit the ground hard as String Shot wrapped around his body, while Gengar expertly followed up with paralysis and a burn.

Above them, Beedrill slowly polished one of his stingers and kept casually measuring the distance between the spear tip and Nidoking’s legs.

Nidoking’s eyes widened in horror.

"Nido—"

String Shot immediately sealed his mouth.

As Beedrill’s stinger drifted ominously closer between his legs, Nidoking began struggling violently.

Hatenna stood nearby staring at everyone in complete confusion.

"Haten."

[What are you all talking about?]

She had no idea why a conversation had suddenly turned into an execution.

Then, just as Beedrill’s stinger was about to become far too intimately acquainted with Nidoking, a familiar cry came from nearby.

"Nina?"

Everyone turned.

Nidoran♀ was standing a short distance away, staring at Mike and Nidoking in confusion.

"Nina?"

[What are you doing?]

Mike blinked.

"Wait. Nidoran♀, you’re still here? Didn’t he abandon you?"

"Nina?"

[What are you talking about? Abandon me how?]

Mike slowly looked toward Gengar and the others.

They looked back at him.

Only then did the possibility finally occur to all of them that they might have completely misunderstood the situation.