Chapter 196
Mike exhaled slowly and muttered, "Okay... that’s actually pretty creepy,"
His heart still pounding hard enough that it felt as though it were trying to punch its way out of his chest.
Once he had calmed down, Mike headed into the kitchen.
He remembered that the kitchen trash can in the game contained an item and, curious whether the real Old Chateau might be the same, leaned over to look inside.
Strangely, the bin was almost completely clean, with only a single bottle of medicine lying at the bottom.
"There really is something here?" Mike muttered as he reached down, only for a Vine Whip to wrap around his wrist before his fingers could enter the bin.
He looked toward Snivy.
Her expression remained perfectly calm as a second Vine Whip reached into the trash, retrieved the bottle, inspected it carefully, and only then passed it to him.
Mike couldn’t help but smile, at this point, he was convinced Snivy was the only thing keeping his entire operation from collapsing into disaster!
"Thanks."
He accepted the bottle, and a system description appeared.
{Antidote: A medicinal item used to cure a poisoned Pokémon.}
"So it really is just an Antidote." Mike slipped it into his pocket and stepped back out of the kitchen, only for something to spring through the wall directly in front of him, obviously intending to scare him.
He barely had time to register the movement before a Vine Whip cracked across his vision and sent the would-be prankster flying across the room.
Mike blinked at the Misdreavus sprawled on the floor.
"Did... you just launch it across the room?"
The entire exchange had taken less than three seconds, far too quickly for Mike to react.
Snivy calmly withdrew her Vine Whip and watched Misdreavus struggle back upright without any change in expression.
When the Ghost-type immediately tried to flee, she extended another Vine Whip, wrapped it around Misdreavus, and dragged it straight back.
Mike crouched in front of the trembling Pokémon.
"Were you trying to scare me?"
Misdreavus stared at him without answering, its body shaking as one thought seemed to dominate its mind.
’What a terrifying human... He wasn’t scared at all...’
Mike studied it for a moment before asking, "Were you the one hiding in that statue earlier?"
The confusion that immediately appeared in Misdreavus’s eyes answered the question for him.
"Guess not."
Mike took out several Poffins he had prepared in advance and offered one to the captive Ghost-type.
Misdreavus ate it, and its frightened expression quickly turned hopeful when Mike held up another.
"If you cooperate with me while I film you, I’ll give you some more. Deal?"
Misdreavus blinked, then gave a small cry.
"Mis~"
Mike had Snivy release it and took several photographs along with some video footage before allowing Misdreavus to move freely again.
Once it drifted away, he followed it deeper into the chateau.
...
The old staircase creaked beneath Mike’s feet as he climbed to the second floor and headed first toward the library.
The moment he opened the door, faint rustling came from somewhere inside.
Mike and Beedrill exchanged a look before Mike glanced toward the wall, where Gengar, still wearing the portable camera on his forehead, immediately slipped straight through it.
Mike watched him disappear and silently acknowledged that Gengar had successfully infiltrated enemy territory.
He had to admire the Ghost-type’s absurd ability to make friends, no matter where they went, Gengar somehow managed to become close with complete strangers in an unbelievably short amount of time.
Since Gengar could handle recording the Ghost-types from within their own group, Mike turned his attention to the library itself.
Very few books remained intact.
Most had been torn apart by the Ghost-type Pokémon that had taken over the building, leaving loose pages scattered across the floor.
Mike picked through what remained and found mostly novels and children’s stories, along with one damaged notebook lying on a table.
He opened it and found only a single fragment still legible.
[That strange... [illegible]... actually carried...]
Mike looked at the familiar incomplete passage and shook his head.
So even that was the same as in the game.
He was about to leave when another damaged book near the corner of the table caught his attention.
Curiosity got the better of him, so he bent down and picked it up.
The cover had been almost completely torn away, but when he opened the book, he found several pages of ancient writing still preserved inside, surrounded by modern annotations explaining portions of the text.
Mike frowned, hung the camera around his neck, took out his phone, turned on the flashlight, and illuminated the page before beginning to read carefully.
[O legendary Deity of Spring... where have you gone? Have you abandoned this land?]
The very first sentence made Mike’s heart jump.
He crouched down, handed his phone to Snivy so she could hold the light for him, and continued turning the pages.
[I do not know exactly when it began. Perhaps it was after that great rainstorm that swept across the whole of Hisui. From then onward, the Deity of Spring never again appeared upon this land. In its place came the Deity of Abundance.]
[We once asked the Deity of Abundance where the Deity of Spring had gone, but whenever we asked, the Deity of Abundance would become angry and leave us...]
Mike’s eyes narrowed as he continued reading.
[The storms and thunderclouds still descend upon our land every year, yet the Deity of Abundance has taken on the duty once performed by the Deity of Spring. It comes to drive away the storms and thunder, then grants abundance to the land. But I have not seen the Deity of Spring for a very long time...]
Another entry followed.
[Today I told my little [illegible] the stories of the Deity of Spring again, but she said she did not believe such a deity had ever existed...]
[And perhaps that is only natural. When enough time passes, who will still remember the deeds you once performed...?]
[I...]
Much of what followed had been scratched out, while several other pages had been torn away entirely.
Mike returned to the beginning and began reading the modern notes written beside the ancient passages.
[This appears to describe some kind of divine Pokémon? Connected to life and hope? After reviewing a large number of references, I have provisionally translated the title as "Deity of Spring."]
[Was this Deity of Spring also a Pokémon? If so, why have I never heard this name mentioned in any recent records?]
[No. I need to uncover what happened.]
The more Mike read, the stranger his expression became.
These weren’t really scholarly annotations at all, they read more like another diary layered over the original text.
Because the commentary had been written in modern script, someone in relatively recent times had clearly been researching the Deity of Spring as well
If Mike ever found that person, perhaps they could compare what each of them had learned.
He continued reading.
[Deity of Spring? Another divine title? A completely different god?]
[Abundance... Deity of Abundance?! Isn’t the Deity of Abundance Landorus, one of the three Forces of Nature from Unova?!]
[Could the Deity of Spring actually have been Landorus as well?!]
A later annotation crossed that idea out.
[No. That cannot be right. The text clearly says that the "Deity of Abundance" replaced the "Deity of Spring." Their duties were separate.]
[Could there have been another cloud deity beyond the three Forces of Nature?!]
The handwriting became increasingly excited from that point onward.
[Hahaha! I’m going to find this fourth cloud deity. Once I do, my name will become known throughout the entire world of Pokémon scholarship.]
Mike turned another page.
[...Failure. Why? Why do all the remaining clues lead toward Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina...?]
[No! Another trail has gone cold! I need to find the deities of time and space and the ruler of the Distortion World. I need to learn what happened back then...]
Mike’s expression grew more serious as he reached the final entries, whose tone was noticeably different from everything that came before.
[Someone came to find me. He offered me a place in his organization and promised enough funding to continue my research into Legendary Pokémon. In exchange, he wants me to design devices capable of capturing Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina.]
[He said I might be able to obtain the answers I want from them.]
[I agreed.]
[I have joined his organization.]
The final page contained only a handful of entries.
[He told me to choose a codename.]
[What should I call myself? The last trail of the Deity of Spring led to Giratina... the Renegade Pokémon, lord of the Distortion World...]
[Charon.]
[Yes. Charon will do.]
[Team Galactic—Charon!]
That was where the writing ended.
Mike slowly closed the book and remained silent for a long moment as the implications settled in.
Charon of Team Galactic had once lived in the Old Chateau—or at least used it as a base for his research—and part of that research had focused on the mysterious Deity of Spring.
Charon was one of Team Galactic’s senior commanders, which meant one of the reasons he had become so obsessed with capturing Legendary Pokémon may have been his belief that Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina could tell him what had happened to that long-lost deity.
Mike let out a long breath and murmured, "The Deity of Spring...", before getting back to his feet and rubbing some feeling into his legs after crouching for so long.
He looked toward Snivy.
"Come on. Let’s keep looking."
...
Mike left the library and continued exploring the second floor, completely unaware that numerous Ghost-type Pokémon were hiding within the shadows behind him and carefully watching his every move.
Gastly, Haunter, Misdreavus, Mismagius, Shuppet, Banette, Drifloon, and Duskull had all originally planned to torment their new visitor, but after watching Snivy casually swat Misdreavus across the room, they had collectively decided to postpone the haunting and follow Mike instead while waiting for a better opportunity.
Mixed among them was one suspiciously fat Ghost-type wearing a portable camera on his forehead.
Gengar crouched with his backside sticking into the air, enthusiastically recording the entire group of ghosts as they secretly stalked Mike, apparently having integrated himself so thoroughly into their ranks that none of them questioned why he was filming them!
...
Mike opened another room and immediately noticed a painting hanging on the wall.
Red light glowed from its eyes, which seemed to follow him wherever he moved, so Mike looked toward Hatenna for confirmation.
Hatenna studied the painting for a moment before shaking her head.
Not a Pokémon.
Mike raised an eyebrow, intrigued, but quickly decided there was little reason to worry if the painting wasn’t a Pokémon and showed no intention of threatening him.
After briefly checking the rest of the room, he stepped back into the hallway, where a translucent figure suddenly drifted across his vision.
Mike stopped and watched as the figure floated toward the room at the far right end of the corridor.
It was a young girl, half transparent in the dim light.
She paused before the doorway, looked back at him without saying anything, then passed silently through the door.
Mike followed her, reached the room, and slowly pushed the door open.
Inside, the half-transparent girl turned toward him and gave him a small, adorable smile.
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1 Chapter cause i need to attend a friend wedding in another city for who know may times at this point...