Chapter 209

Chapter 209: Chapter 209

"Wyrdeer, Psyshield Bash!"

"Garchomp, Outrage!"

Garchomp’s enormous tail smashed violently against Wyrdeer’s antlers, the impact cracking and sinking the earth beneath both Pokémon’s feet.

Wyrdeer gritted its teeth and tried to hold its ground, but Garchomp suddenly poured on more force and swept its thick tail across Wyrdeer’s head, sending it flying before it crashed to the ground unconscious.

Lucian exhaled and recalled Wyrdeer into its Poké Ball.

"Not bad, Lucian."

Cynthia walked over, gave Wyrdeer’s Poké Ball a light pat, then looked toward Lucian.

"You’ve managed to train it this far in such a short time."

"Still nowhere near enough," Lucian replied. "It’ll need much more training before it can genuinely stand on the same stage as Elite Four-level Pokémon."

"Mm. Keep at it."

Cynthia returned to her seat.

There really was nothing like starting the morning by dragging one of your subordinates into a battle whenever you had some free time!

Lucian watched her sit down and quietly sighed in relief.

He had initially assumed that he could finally relax during this period, only to discover that Cynthia insisted on battling him every single day, apparently to make sure his strength hadn’t declined.

Declined?

As if his strength could possibly decline.

He wasn’t Aaron.

He might not make enormous leaps forward every day considering how much administrative work he had to handle, but going backward was out of the question.

He was still talented when it came to battling.

Lucian returned to his chair, poured Cynthia another cup of tea, then filled his own and took a long drink.

’Mm. This is actually a pretty good life when I don’t have League paperwork to deal with.’

Cynthia said nothing and simply watched Professor Oak and the others continue their research on Kleavor nearby.

...

At Sinnoh League headquarters, Aaron had barely pushed open the office door when the scene inside made him flinch.

A red-haired man with an explosive afro was staring at him with the hollow expression of someone whose soul had long since departed his body.

"Aaron... you finally came back..."

The moment Flint saw him, tears nearly burst from his eyes.

"Why has there been so much crap to deal with lately...?"

Afraid Aaron might disappear again, Flint immediately lunged forward and pinned him beneath his body.

"You’re not leaving again this time, are you?!"

Aaron: "..."

"Hey, get off me... Air. I need air over here..."

Only when Aaron’s voice had weakened to the point of becoming pitiful did Flint finally release him.

Aaron sucked in several desperate breaths, barely recovering from the near-suffocation, but he had only just climbed back to his feet when Flint grabbed him again, dragged him straight to the office desk, and shoved him into the chair.

Aaron’s brain was still running on an oxygen deficit when a pen was pressed into his hand.

Before he could fully process what had happened, Flint had already sprinted over to the sofa, crawled underneath a thick blanket, and fallen asleep almost immediately.

Aaron: "???"

He stared at the sleeping Flint, then lowered his eyes toward the mountain of documents stacked beneath the desk.

For some reason, he suddenly felt as though he might be better off dead!

...

Back in the forest outside Celestic Town, Professor Oak and the others returned to the rest area while another part of the research group continued testing Kleavor’s moves.

One of the professors raised his cup and took a sip of tea before asking, "Where’s Mike? I haven’t seen him at all today."

"He went out early this morning to film more material and disappeared not long afterward," Lucian explained.

"I see." The professor nodded without asking anything else. "The previous research approach probably felt a little dull to him anyway. With that personality of his, it would be stranger if he obediently stayed here all day."

Professor Oak laughed. "Going out to film isn’t necessarily bad. Knowing Mike, he may stumble over another lost evolutionary method while he’s at it."

"He really did surprise me this time," another professor remarked. "I didn’t expect him to know so much about Pokémon from the Hisui era."

Oak smiled. "If he actually earns the title of Professor Mike one day, what field do you think people will associate him with?"

"Judging from how things are going, he seems to have quite a talent for Pokémon evolution. Perhaps that would be the obvious direction."

Professor Oak: "..."

Lucian: "..."

Cynthia: "..."

Cynthia looked toward the professor who had said it.

Apparently this was the first time Rowan had openly acknowledged Mike’s aptitude that clearly.

As far as she knew, Mike had studied under him for less than half a year, yet there was no denying that whenever Hisuian evolution was involved, Mike demonstrated an instinct that was difficult to explain away as simple luck.

"Forget it for now," Rowan eventually said, waving a hand. "We’ll continue studying Kleavor today. Ursaring’s evolution still has to wait until the full moon anyway."

He had barely finished speaking when a loud commotion erupted from deeper inside the forest.

"Rrrgh!"

Everyone turned toward the sound.

At Cynthia’s signal, Garchomp immediately launched into the air and flew toward the disturbance.

A short while later, she returned and shook her head at Cynthia, indicating there was no serious danger.

Cynthia relaxed.

"If it’s not something dangerous, then Mike probably caused it."

...

She was right.

At that very moment, Mike was racing wildly through the forest with his camera bag bouncing against his body while an entire group of enraged Zangoose charged after him.

Snivy and the others were desperately buying him time.

Moves tore through the forest in every direction, explosions sounding one after another.

"GAR—!"

[Eat my Dark Pulse!]

A wave of darkness surged outward and blasted several Zangoose off their feet.

"Stop chasing them!" Mike shouted as he ran. "You wanted close-up footage of their courtship, didn’t you?! They were embarrassed and wanted you gone! There’s no reason to start a blood feud over it!"

That only made the lead Zangoose angrier.

Zangoose were already infamous for their explosive tempers, and this particular one had just been preparing to explore the mysteries of romance with a newly acquired boyfriend when someone abruptly parted the grass and shoved a white camera straight into their private moment!

Its boyfriend had fled on the spot.

Now the human responsible actually had the nerve to tell it not to be angry.

’Human! You’re paying for this today!’

With an enraged roar, Zangoose resumed the chase.

Glameow, who had initially been bounding beneath the trees at a leisurely pace, suddenly froze when she heard Mike’s explanation and looked back at him.

’Close-up filming?’

’You were filming that up close?!’

Another Zangoose sprang toward her during the brief distraction, claws flashing, but Glameow twisted aside and immediately counterattacked before continuing to run.

Hatenna stopped for only a moment, gathered Psychic power, and sent a mental shockwave into the two closest Zangoose.

They were knocked backward, after which Hatenna promptly grabbed Mike’s backpack strap and resumed fleeing.

Mike himself was running at the very front alongside Glameow and Snivy, while Beedrill was somehow lagging behind despite supposedly being the heroic knight of the group.

Mike glanced over his shoulder and shouted, "Beedrill! Aren’t knights supposed to step forward whenever danger appears?! What are you doing?!"

Beedrill turned his head.

"Beeeee!"

[There are too many. Run!]

Mike looked back ahead.

"Fair."

Traveling really did require decent stamina.

Mike had been running long enough now that his legs were beginning to feel heavy, but Snivy remained close beside him, calmly sending a Leaf Storm backward whenever a Zangoose came close enough to touch him.

The most enthusiastic of the lot was Gengar, who was throwing attacks around as though energy were free.

"GAR—!"

[Eat my Tornado That Destroys the Parking Lot! Eat my Spider Picking Technique! Eat my—!]

The explosions behind them grew increasingly ridiculous.

Garchomp, approaching from the opposite direction, immediately recognized the unmistakable sound of these familiar idiots fighting someone again.

She landed between the fleeing group and the furious Zangoose, and the pursuing Pokémon skidded to a stop the instant they felt her pressure.

Garchomp slowly looked over her shoulder at Mike.

Mike kept running.

The Zangoose stared at Garchomp.

Garchomp stared back.

The lead Zangoose glanced at the number of Pokémon in its own group, gave an angry roar, then wisely turned around and vanished back into the undergrowth.

They were furious.

But they were not suicidal.

Garchomp casually pulled out a box of Poffins, tipped nearly half of them into her mouth, and flew back toward Cynthia.

Mike eventually stumbled out of the bushes and stopped near the rest of the research group, bent over with both hands on his knees.

"Whew... close one. That was close..."

The Rotom Phone jumped out of its Poké Ball the moment it sensed its Trainer had returned and began scanning the surrounding area.

"Danger assessment complete, Roto—"

Mike immediately shut it down.

"You really know how to read the room..."

"Power off."

"Command understa—Roto..."

Mike stuffed the phone back into his pocket, straightened, and exchanged greetings with everyone.

Cynthia looked him over, taking in his sweat-soaked appearance.

"So... were you fighting something?"

Mike blinked, then reluctantly explained the entire incident.

Professor Oak: "..."

Professor Rowan: "..."

Cynthia: "..."

Lucian: "..."

One of the professors finally spoke.

"Mike... when Nidoran produced that Egg, didn’t you deliberately film that too?"

Professor Oak immediately burst out laughing.

Mike scratched the back of his head, looking completely innocent.

"What? Isn’t that what documentaries are supposed to do? You’re supposed to film every part of a Pokémon’s lifestyle."

Another professor: "..."

"Fine. Next time, just pay attention to the danger."

"No problem. Snivy and the others will protect me!"

Mike found a place to sit down.

The past few days had actually been very productive.

Besides Scyther, he had managed to collect footage of Zangoose and Arbok as well.

While Mike rested, his phone rang.

"Whose call?" Cynthia asked casually.

Mike didn’t answer immediately.

With a sigh, he took out the phone.

"Turn on."

Rotom’s irritated voice emerged from the speaker.

"Hmph. You nearly scared me to death, Roto. It’s Gholdengo Bro calling."

"Connect it for me."

"Fine, Roto."

The call connected, and Gholdengo Bro appeared on the screen.

"Good afternoon, Mike."

"Good afternoon, Gholdengo Bro. Need help with something?"

"It’s like this. We finally found the chest for Gimmighoul. I’ve also been helping it recover physically during this period. Today it’s been circling around me nonstop, and I think it’s finally too impatient to wait any longer to evolve. I’m just worried something unexpected might happen during the evolution."

He hesitated before continuing.

"So I wanted to ask whether you’ve been free recently. Could you come over to Paldea? You studied under Professor Rowan for a while, so you know quite a bit about Pokémon evolution, and you were one of the people who led the research into Wyrdeer’s evolution."

"I was hoping you could supervise Gimmighoul’s evolution for me."

"Gimmighoul is going to evolve?"

Mike was surprised.

Gholdengo nodded.

Mike had originally intended to agree immediately, but then remembered that the next full moon was only a few days away.

Ursaring’s evolution experiment was approaching as well, and there was no guarantee he could make a trip to Paldea and return in time.

He thought for a moment.

"I probably can’t leave Sinnoh right now. The full-moon experiment for Ursaring is about to start."

Gholdengo nodded in understanding.

"If you can’t come, that’s fine."

"Actually, come to Celestic Town instead. You funded the first Peat Block, didn’t you? You originally said you wanted to personally witness an Ursaring evolve into Ursaluna. You can come watch that, and we can supervise Gimmighoul’s evolution while you’re here."

"That works too. I’ll finish what I need to handle today and come over tomorrow. You’re still in Celestic Town, right?"

"Yeah. Just come straight here."

"Got it."

Mike ended the call and got up to prepare lunch.

After everyone had eaten and settled back into their chairs to digest, one of the professors sighed.

"Mike’s techniques are getting more and more underhanded."

"They hate being interrupted."

Mike hugged the sleepy Glameow in his arms and smiled.

"With the full moon approaching, should we do what we did with Wyrdeer and Kleavor and invite specialists in Ursaluna’s types to help guide the research?"

Professor Kukui’s suggestion immediately drew several nods.

"That makes sense," Professor Oak agreed. "When we were working on Wyrdeer, Lucian helped enormously. Generally speaking, specialists in a Pokémon’s type understand things the rest of us may overlook."

Lucian heard that and subtly adjusted his glasses, suppressing the upward twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Professor Rowan looked toward Mike.

"Ursaluna’s Hisuian evolution should be what type?"

"Most likely Ground/Normal," Mike answered.

"If Ground is involved, we can invite Bertha," Cynthia said. "She’s Sinnoh’s Ground-type Elite Four member."

"And for Normal-types," she continued after a moment, "what about Norman from Hoenn? He’s an expert on Normal-type Pokémon and is said to possess strength comparable to the Elite Four."

Mike looked over.

"But would Gym Leader Norman really come all the way here?"

Cynthia shrugged.

"Let’s just ask."

She stood up, walked aside, found the number for Steven Stone, the former Hoenn Champion, and called him.

"Good afternoon, Champion Cynthia."

The connection opened to the familiar sound of metal striking rock.

"Good afternoon, Champion Steven. Are you still mining?"

"Of course. Finding rare and mysterious minerals is one of life’s great pleasures!"

Steven’s voice came through with unmistakable enthusiasm.

"Did you need something?"

"It’s like this..."

Cynthia explained the situation with Ursaring and asked whether Steven could find out if Norman had enough free time to come to Celestic Town and advise them during Ursaluna’s evolution experiment.

"So you want me to ask Gym Leader Norman whether he can spare the time to come over and provide guidance on Ursaring’s evolution?"

"Yes."

"If I remember correctly, the Ursaluna you described in your earlier paper is an evolution of Ursaring from the Hisui era?"

"Right."

"And you still haven’t worked out the exact evolution method?"

"Not yet. We’ll conduct the practical experiment on the night of the full moon."

Cynthia hesitated, then casually added, "If you’re interested too, Champion Steven, perhaps you could come have a look. After all, Ursaring evolves using what appears to be an ordinary mineral."

The sound of mining on the other end stopped instantly.

A few seconds passed.

Steven finally spoke again.

"Champion Cynthia... are you telling the truth?"

Cynthia laughed.

"When have I ever lied to you? Besides, Peat Block isn’t the only mineral involved in these Hisuian evolution methods. We’ve discovered another one as well. You might find that interesting too."

"Please wait for me, Champion Cynthia. There are still several days before the full moon. I’ll arrive tomorrow!"

Steven’s voice was suddenly filled with anticipation.

"Wonderful. We’ll be glad to have you."

Cynthia ended the call and returned to the group.

"Besides Norman, former Hoenn Champion Steven will also be coming."

Mike stared at her.

"Steven? The heir of Devon Corporation?"

He blinked.

’He’s coming too?’

Lucian nodded. "Bertha has already agreed as well. She’s on her way here now."

He hesitated for half a second before adding, "She’s coming by jeep."

Cynthia: "..."

"I’ve already told her. At her age, she really should stop driving herself everywhere..."

Mike looked between Cynthia and Lucian.

Why did the way they were talking make it sound as though Bertha’s driving skills were absolutely terrible?

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