Chapter 188
"That should be Eterna City over there, right?"
Mike looked toward the distant outline of buildings rising beyond the road.
Gengar stood beside him wearing his straw hat, a backpack strapped across his back and the thin bamboo staff he had picked up back in Twinleaf Town held in one hand. He studied the distant city for a moment before nodding.
"Gar—"
"Come on. Once we’re in the city, we’re taking a proper hot bath and then eating until we can’t move."
Mike started toward Eterna City, but halfway there he reached up, lifted Hatenna off the top of his head, and deposited her on Gengar instead.
Then, with complete disregard for Gengar’s opinion, he removed the straw hat from Gengar’s head and put it on himself.
Gengar: Σ(°▽°ノ)ノ
Hatenna: "..."
Ever since joining the team, Hatenna had developed the habit of crawling into Mike’s blankets whenever they slept.
While traveling, she also preferred sitting on his shoulder or directly on top of his head.
She was extraordinarily clingy, almost the complete opposite of Glameow’s aloof personality.
When they reached Eterna City’s entrance, Mike followed his usual routine and stopped for a group photograph.
After taking a picture of everyone beneath the city sign, he immediately posted it in the fan group.
[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: Finally made it to Eterna City.]
[IDontWantOvertime: You’re already in Eterna? Wait there for a bit. I’ll come find you and we can get something to eat.]
[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: OK.]
Mike put his phone away, recalled Beedrill and most of the others into their Poké Balls, and entered the city with Gengar and Glameow beside him.
Eterna City reminded him somewhat of Floaroma Town.
The residents also grew plenty of flowers and greenery, but the atmosphere was noticeably different.
Perhaps because Gardenia, the local Gym Leader, specialized in Grass-types, Eterna leaned much more heavily toward lush green plants than broad fields of flowers.
Mike looked over the busy streets and rolled his neck.
"Let’s find a hotel first. I want a room before we do anything else."
Gengar nodded and followed.
Once Mike found a suitable hotel and checked in, he went straight upstairs, released Snivy and the others, and collapsed face-first onto the bed without moving.
Big Sis Snivy, apparently expecting exactly this outcome, went into the bathroom and prepared a hot bath. Once everything was ready, she came back out and called Mike.
With considerable effort, Mike dragged himself off the mattress and took Gengar into the bathroom with him.
The hot water was glorious!
After they had soaked for a while, Snivy knocked on the bathroom door and pushed it open just far enough to place Mike’s clean clothes on the counter.
Then she looked at Gengar, whose face had already turned pink and whose eyes were beginning to lose focus.
"Sni."
[Don’t pass out in the bath again.]
"I know."
Mike looked at Gengar’s increasingly dazed expression and nodded solemnly.
Snivy gathered Mike’s dirty clothes and left.
Mike climbed out of the tub, changed, then grabbed Gengar and dragged him out as well.
He hauled the completely limp Ghost-type across the floor and tossed him onto the bed.
Gengar bounced twice.
Then he lost consciousness.
Snivy put Mike’s clothes into the washing machine before taking Hatenna and Glameow into the bathroom for their own bath.
Mike watched the three female Pokémon disappear inside and raised an eyebrow.
Friendships between girls were strange.
Glameow hardly spoke to Hatenna while they were traveling outdoors, yet somehow the two of them could happily share a bath.
Mike lay back on the bed and lazily scrolled through his phone.
Someone in the fan group was already asking when the next episode of The Wide World of Pokémon would be released.
Mike checked the footage he still had available and realized he didn’t have enough material left to make another complete episode centered on a particular type.
If he wanted to upload something soon, it would either have to be a special episode using miscellaneous footage or he would need to wait until he had gathered enough material for another type-focused installment.
After thinking about it, he sent a message.
[GengarStoleMyDrumstick: Not sure yet. I’ve been pretty busy lately. There probably won’t be a normal Wide World of Pokémon episode immediately, but I should have some other videos—or maybe a different kind of Wide World episode.]
Almost as soon as Mike sent it, a private message from Lucian appeared.
Mike opened the chat and learned that Lucian had already arrived in Eterna City.
He raised his voice toward the bathroom.
"Snivy, are you guys done? It’s time to eat!"
The bathroom door opened almost immediately.
Snivy walked out with elegant, measured steps, a white towel hanging around her neck.
Behind her, one Vine Whip held Hatenna while another carried Glameow.
Both were completely limp.
Mike stared speechlessly.
"They passed out?"
Snivy nodded.
Mike checked their condition and confirmed that nothing was wrong, then took out the hair dryer and carefully dried them.
Once Hatenna and Glameow were awake again, Mike walked to the bed and patted Gengar.
"Wake up. We’re going to eat."
The word eat had barely left Mike’s mouth before Gengar sprang upright in a perfect kip-up!
"GAR—!"
[FOOD!]
"Come on."
Mike opened the door and headed out.
...
When he reached the location Lucian had sent him, Mike pushed open the restaurant door and spotted Lucian sitting beside a window, drinking tea while staring outside.
Mike walked over and sat opposite him.
"What are you looking at?"
Lucian pulled himself from his thoughts and glanced toward Mike.
"New Trainers starting their journeys."
He looked back through the window.
"Imagine beginning your first Gym challenge and discovering that the first Gym Leader you have to face is Lucian of the Elite Four. How much psychological damage do you think that causes?"
Mike gave him a very particular look.
Lucian’s mouth twitched.
"I do hold back, you know. I also maintain a secondary team specifically for lower-level battles."
"Can your secondary team really be compared with the normal teams used by ordinary Gym Leaders?"
Lucian considered that.
"...Fair point."
Then he added, "Still, quite a few Trainers have managed to earn Badges from me recently."
"You’re using Psychic-types?"
"More or less. I’ve been using the Stantler I caught recently, along with a Bronzor and Spoink."
Mike stared at him.
"Lucian, have you ever considered what happens when a Trainer carefully builds a team to challenge a Rock-type Gym... only to walk in and find Psychic-types waiting for them instead?"
Lucian’s teacup stopped halfway to his lips.
Mike continued relentlessly.
"Imagine someone specifically raising Fighting-types because they’re preparing to challenge a Rock Gym, then their opponent sends out Psychic-types."
Lucian slowly lowered the cup.
"I don’t own any Rock-types."
"Roark has plenty of different teams, doesn’t he? Borrow one. At your level, using Rock-types against beginner Trainers shouldn’t exactly be difficult."
Lucian thought for a moment, then nodded.
"That makes sense. I’ll do that."
Mike leaned back.
"Does Roark seriously not care about his own Gym at all?"
"You’ve forgotten what he’s like?"
Lucian adjusted his glasses.
"He’s obsessed with minerals. If he weren’t responsible for Oreburgh Gym, he would’ve traveled around the world digging up rocks years ago."
"Right now I’m watching the Gym for him while he digs through Oreburgh Tunnel, and this time he’s searching for minerals he’s never seen before. He’s enjoying himself so much that I doubt he remembers the Gym exists."
"Fair enough."
Mike nodded.
While they talked, Gengar and the others had already ordered, and before long their dishes began arriving.
After lunch, Mike and Lucian remained seated for a while to rest.
"Do you have plans for today?" Lucian asked. "Going back to the hotel to sleep?"
"Actually, I want to look around Eterna City."
Mike hesitated, then admitted, "To be specific, I want to visit the historical museum."
"The Eterna City Historical Museum?"
Lucian looked puzzled.
"What do you want to see there?"
"I heard the Adamant Orb is kept there. I’d like to see it for myself."
"The Adamant Orb? The legendary treasure said to be connected to Dialga, the deity of time?"
Lucian nodded.
"It is there. If that’s where you want to go, I’ll come with you."
Mike looked genuinely surprised.
"You don’t have to go back and supervise the Gym today?"
Lucian, the man whose entire online identity revolved around hating overtime, somehow had an entire afternoon free?
Was this his day off?
"I closed the Gym today."
Lucian said it as casually as though this were the most natural thing in the world.
"Roark closes it often enough anyway. Since you happened to arrive in Eterna today, I decided to close for one day and reopen tomorrow."
Mike stared at him.
Then he raised a thumb.
"Impressive. You truly will use every available method to avoid working."
Lucian ignored the jab.
"I finished the basic framework for your PowerPoint, by the way. I’ll send it to you tonight. You only need to fill in the actual content when you have time."
Mike froze.
"...What?"
He slowly turned toward Lucian.
"What do you mean you finished my PowerPoint framework?"
Now Lucian looked equally confused.
"Wasn’t I doing it because you asked Cynthia to have me prepare it?"
Mike’s eyes widened.
He pointed at himself, then at Lucian.
"But I asked Cynthia! She told me that if I did a livestream explaining rain teams, she would help me make my PowerPoint framework, and I agreed."
Lucian fell silent.
Mike stared at him.
"So... she outsourced the job to you?"
Lucian remained silent.
"What did she offer you in exchange?"
Lucian still said nothing.
Mike eventually fell silent too.
His eyes drifted toward Lucian’s long purple hair, and an unexpectedly sorrowful thought entered his mind.
Maybe Lucian kept his hair long because there wasn’t enough of it left to risk cutting short.
Poor Lucian!
Mike patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.
"Well, at least she only dumped mine on you. Imagine how miserable you’d be if she made you do hers too."
Lucian slowly looked at him.
He said nothing.
But there was a faint deadness in his eyes.
Mike immediately withdrew his hand, lifted it toward his face, and pretended to cough while secretly covering the grin threatening to escape.
After enjoying Lucian’s suffering for a few seconds, he finally tried to comfort him.
"Well... competent people always get more work."
Then Mike’s grin returned.
"The whole world is basically one giant improvised mess held together by people pretending they know what they’re doing, right, Lucian-san~?"
Lucian took a long breath.
He refused to dignify that with an answer.
Instead, he raised a hand and called the server over for the bill.
Gengar immediately reached for his coin jar, but Lucian stopped him.
"You paid last time. This one is mine."
Gengar looked toward Mike.
Mike nodded.
Gengar put his savings away and flashed Lucian an unusually sunny smile.
"Gar—"
A faint smile appeared on Lucian’s face as well.
After paying, he stood up and headed outside.
Mike followed behind him, watching Lucian’s perfectly straight posture and somehow feeling even sorrier for him than before.
Lucian glanced back.
"Come on. I’ll take you to the museum."
"Thanks."
Mike followed.
Lucian’s attention then settled on Hatenna.
"That’s the same Hatenna?"
"Yep."
Mike bent down, picked her up, and introduced them properly.
"Hatenna, this is Lucian. He’s also a good friend of mine."
"Haten~"
Hatenna greeted him softly.
"Hello, Hatenna."
Lucian gently stroked her head before looking back toward Mike.
"If you run into anything you don’t understand about raising Psychic-type Pokémon, ask me. Psychic-types are one area where I can confidently say I have quite a bit of experience."
"I know. I definitely will."