Chapter 222

Chapter 222: Chapter 222

Mike had originally assumed that once the academic summit ended, he would finally be free to leave Celestic Town, return to Eterna City, and head from there toward the Mount Coronet range.

Instead, establishing his new research institute delayed him yet again.

At the moment, Mike was sitting in the temporary research camp that had been constructed for the Kleavor project, idly watching two newly evolved Kleavor nearby.

Professor Oak, Professor Rowan, and Professor Kukui were examining the new specimens, while Oleana followed closely behind them, absorbing everything she could.

With Glameow curled comfortably across his lap, Mike stared at the two Kleavor for a while before boredom eventually drove him to open the Pokédex.

{Kleavor}

{Gender: Male}

{Type: Bug/Rock}

{Ability: Sharpness}

{...}

Mike immediately sat straighter.

’Wait. We finally got the Hidden Ability?!’

"Meow?"

Glameow opened her eyes and looked up at him, puzzled by his sudden movement.

Mike gently stroked her head.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep."

Glameow nodded, yawned, and closed her eyes again.

Nearby, Hatenna was holding the pearl from Clamperl between both hands, slowly absorbing the Psychic energy stored inside.

After taking in energy for a while, she suddenly hiccupped and began swaying unsteadily from side to side.

Mike laughed and scooped her up before she could topple over, placing her on his shoulder.

Hatenna happily nestled against his neck and promptly fell asleep.

...

It was now the second day after the academic summit had ended.

Oleana had gone to Sinnoh League headquarters the previous day to discuss the new research institute with Lucian.

She had returned early that morning and, determined to prove herself capable of serving as a Pokémon Professor’s assistant, immediately rushed to the temporary camp to learn from Professor Rowan and the others.

There had been one amusing development on the League side as well.

When Lucian asked Cynthia to return and help deal with accumulated League work, Cynthia just happened to receive a report about unusual activity on Mount Coronet.

Left with no choice, she bid Lucian farewell and went alone to investigate.

Mike pulled out his newly issued Pokémon Professor identification card.

His name and photograph were printed clearly across the front.

He stared at it for a moment, took a picture with his phone, and posted it directly into the group chat.

The chat exploded almost immediately.

[Kianimos: ???]

[Juice Bro: ???]

[Professor Purple: ???]

[Mad Silence: ???]

[Gholdengo Is Number One: ???]

[Mineral Enthusiast: Congratulations, congratulations.]

[Juice Bro: How did you become a Pokémon Professor after we didn’t see you for a few days?!]

[Juice Bro: How much more have you been hiding from us?!]

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: I just happened to have some free time a few days ago, so I attended an academic summit. Then I accidentally won a few fairly prestigious awards, and after that I accidentally ended up receiving the title of Pokémon Professor.]

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: In the past, when you called me a professional procrastinator, I generously chose not to hold it against you. But from now on, please address me as Professor Mike—Professor of Ancient Pokémon Evolution and Moves.]

[Professor Purple: ...]

[Mad Silence: ...]

[Kianimos: ...]

[Juice Bro: ...]

[GholdengoIsNumberOne: ....]

[Everyone Else: ...]

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: In a little while, I’ll probably even be a Pokémon Professor with my own research institute.]

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: So you guys definitely can’t nag me about uploading anymore!]

{System Notice: "GengarStoleMyDrumstick" has been muted for three hours by "IDontWantOvertime."}

[IDontWantOvertime: ???]

[IDontWantOvertime: No nagging? Keep dreaming!]

[NihilNeko: WAHAHAHAHA!]

[Professor Purple: [Clown.jpg]]

Mike stared numbly at the notice announcing that he had been muted.

A private message from Gholdengo Bro arrived a moment later.

[GholdengoIsNumberOne: Are you actually building your own research institute?]

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: I’m discussing it with Lucian right now.]

[GholdengoIsNumberOne: All right. If you need equipment, contact me. I’ll have my company sponsor it in the name of a formal partnership.]

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: Arigato~]

[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: [Gengar Baring His Chest.jpg]]

[GholdengoIsNumberOne: ...]

[GholdengoIsNumberOne: [Get Lost.jpg]]

...

The season was gradually shifting into autumn.

The oppressive heat had completely faded, replaced by a cool, refreshing breeze.

Mike yawned as the wind washed over him, enjoying the warm softness beneath his hand.

He lifted Hatenna from his shoulder, lay back on the blanket, and closed his eyes.

Snivy sat on a nearby tree branch.

She extended a Vine Whip, gently drew a small blanket across Mike’s stomach, then leaned back against the trunk and closed her eyes while absorbing energy from the Leaf Stone hanging around her neck.

Gengar had disappeared somewhere with Beedrill, presumably to terrorize the local ecosystem.

Glameow expertly climbed down from Mike’s legs, slipped into his arms, and wrapped her tail loosely around his wrist before falling sound asleep.

Some time later, Professor Oak and the others finished their latest round of examinations and returned toward the tents.

Oleana walked alongside Professor Rowan, asking him question after question about Kleavor.

Then she noticed Mike.

He was sprawled across a blanket in the middle of the camp, sleeping peacefully while almost everyone around him was busy working.

Oleana froze.

’He... he’s actually sleeping during active research?’

She cautiously glanced toward Professor Oak and the others, expecting at least some reaction.

There was none.

They simply walked around Mike’s sleeping area without a second thought, entered the tent, and began resting while reviewing and summarizing their results.

Oleana: ’???’

’Professor Mike is that.... powerful?’

’He can sleep right in front of several senior professors while everyone else is working and nobody cares?’

Professor Kukui noticed where she was looking and laughed.

"Don’t worry about him. Spend enough time around Mike and you’ll get used to it."

Oleana looked confused.

"What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that unless we reach a critical stage of an experiment," Professor Rowan supplied, "Mike is either asleep or nowhere to be found."

He paused.

"You’ll eventually get used to his... relaxed personality."

Oleana fell silent.

’Why do I suddenly feel like I’ve made a terrible career decision?’

...

The sounds of battle elsewhere in the camp eventually woke Mike.

He opened his eyes, yawned, and slowly sat up.

"What time is it?"

"Professor Mike, it’s a little after three."

One of the research assistants answered quietly, looking at Mike with unmistakable envy.

He wanted a job where he could sleep whenever he felt like it too.

"I slept for more than two hours? That’s enough."

Mike rubbed his eyes.

Hatenna immediately came running toward him.

Mike reached out and lightly flicked her forehead.

The tiny Pokémon rolled backward across the blanket, almost reaching the edge before managing to steady herself.

"Hatenna, why are you so adorable?"

Seeing the smile she gave him, Mike scooped her into his arms and gently pinched her nose.

"Hatenna~"

She gave an impossibly soft cry and rubbed her cheek affectionately against his.

Glameow opened her eyes, looked at Mike and Hatenna for a moment, then yawned and went back to sleep.

The white, fluffy tip of her tail lazily tapped against Mike’s thigh.

Mike played with Hatenna until Professor Oak and the others returned to the center of camp.

"Are you awake?" Professor Rowan asked.

Mike smiled awkwardly.

"The weather was too comfortable. The breeze is nice and cool, so I got sleepy almost immediately."

"We’ve confirmed Kleavor’s Hidden Ability."

Professor Rowan walked over to the blanket and handed Mike a sheet of paper.

Mike accepted it and glanced over the newly compiled Pokédex information.

Under Ability, one entry stood out.

[Sharpness.]

"Just as we suspected," Rowan explained. "The Hidden Ability is related directly to Kleavor’s weapons. It’s Sharpness."

Mike nodded.

"Sharpness is a pretty good Ability."

Professor Oak took a drink of water before saying, "With that settled, we now have enough basic Pokédex information for both Kleavor and Ursaluna. We can leave the finer details to other scholars."

"The continuing research on those two species can be handed over from here."

"Then we should find a suitable opportunity to formally reveal Kleavor and Ursaluna to the public," Mike suggested.

Everyone nodded.

"We should avoid releasing too many of either species into the wild, though," Professor Oak added.

"Kleavor can be extremely aggressive. If too many gather in one area, they could easily cause serious damage."

"And Ursaluna..."

Oak paused.

"They’re simply too powerful. If an ordinary person encountered one in the wilderness, escaping would already be difficult. Encountering several at once would be considerably worse."

Mike nodded.

Professor Oak had a point.

Running into an Ursaluna capable of using Earthquake in the wild sounded like the kind of problem where running away might not even remain an option.

"One thing working in our favor is that evolution into Kleavor and Ursaluna is controllable," Professor Rowan said.

"So unlike naturally occurring species, we don’t have to worry about their populations suddenly exploding in the wild."

"How many Kleavor and Ursaluna do we currently have?" Mike asked.

Oleana answered immediately.

"Eighteen Kleavor and four Ursaluna."

Mike looked at her approvingly.

She had even memorized the current numbers already.

As expected of the woman who would eventually become Rose’s most capable assistant.

"In that case, how about this?"

Mike considered the problem before continuing.

"For Kleavor, we can release three into suitable areas here in Sinnoh. The remaining Pokémon can be entrusted to researchers who are interested in studying them, or we can work through professors in other regions and establish small populations elsewhere."

"That would reduce the chance of too many Kleavor gathering in one place while also allowing the species to appear outside Sinnoh and broaden the local gene pool."

He paused.

"As for Ursaluna, we can release one in Sinnoh. The other three can similarly be entrusted to interested researchers, relocated to other regions, or taken by any of you professors if you’d like to continue studying them. How does that sound?"

"That works."

Professor Oak nodded.

"In that case, I’ll bring one Kleavor and one Ursaluna back to my laboratory. I’m quite interested in both."

Professor Rowan decided to take one Kleavor and one Ursaluna as well.

Mike looked toward Professor Kukui.

Kukui shook his head.

"I don’t need one. Once I return home, I plan to try evolving them myself."

"But I can ask around regarding the remaining Kleavor and Ursaluna. I’ll see which professors or researchers might be interested in working with them."

"Then I’ll leave that to you."

With the future arrangements for the Pokémon settled, Mike checked the time and began preparing dinner.