Chapter 44
"Can’t... run anymore..."
Mike stood with the Glameow carrier strapped to his chest, both hands braced on his thighs as he panted heavily.
Glameow jumped out of the carrier, stretched, then sat by the roadside and watched him struggle to catch his breath.
Gengar floated in the air with the honey and Kakuna in his arms, panting just as hard.
"You... Why are you out of breath? You didn’t even run!"
"Gar."
[Oh, right. I forgot.]
Gastly and Haunter could fly before evolving, but Gengar lost the Levitate Ability after evolution.
He could only remain airborne using the Ghost energy inside his body and some form of psychic power.
However, Gengar hadn’t learned any Psychic-type moves, so Mike had no idea how he had learned to fly in the first place.
Once Mike had recovered, he looked at Gengar floating nearby and happily eating honey.
"Could you turn off your automatic item collection next time?"
"Gar?"
[What does that mean?]
Gengar stared at him curiously.
Mike was saying strange things he couldn’t understand again.
"I mean, when exactly did you steal the Beedrill colony’s honey?"
"Gar!"
[I didn’t steal it! I borrowed it! Borrowed!]
(.・ˇ_ˇ・.:)
"You..."
Mike covered his head with one hand, already feeling a headache coming on.
Seeing that Mike seemed angry, Gengar glanced at the honey in his hands before carefully approaching him.
He gently tapped Mike’s arm with Kakuna.
"What?"
Mike gave him an annoyed look.
Gengar flashed his usual grin.
"Gar—"
[I was wrong. I won’t take other people’s things again, okay? Don’t be angry.]
Mike stared at Gengar’s sincere expression, then angrily pulled on his cheeks.
"You think that’s why I’m angry?"
"I’m angry because you only took one jar! There’s no way an entire colony had only one jar of honey. You don’t know how to manage a household at all!"
"If you’d taken more, we could’ve—"
Mike stopped as Gengar had placed more than twenty jars of honey on the ground!
The rest of Mike’s sentence became stuck in his throat before he swallowed it.
"Did you rob their entire home?!"
Gengar scratched his round backside and showed a mouthful of white teeth.
"Gengarrrr!"
(͡°͜ʖ͡°)✧
"You took everything?"
Gengar shook his head.
"How much did you leave them?"
Gengar held up one finger.
Mike stared at him.
Just as Gengar thought Mike was about to become angry again, Mike smiled.
"Great job, Gengar! That’s exactly what you should’ve done. They were the ones who frightened us."
"Gar!"
[Exactly!]
"Put them away. Don’t eat too much. Save some so we can make cake next time."
After speaking, Mike looked around.
A small river flowed not far away, and there was a relatively open patch of ground beside the bank.
Several Lombre crouched near the water and drank from the river.
Bidoof and Bibarel ran back and forth between the trees and the water, their tails swaying behind them.
Several Dustox occasionally flew overhead.
Deeper in the forest, evolved bird Pokémon like Staravia were rarely seen. Even Starly and Spearow were uncommon.
There were far more bird Pokémon such as Murkrow.
Mike led Gengar and the others to the clearing, removed the surrounding weeds, and began setting up the tent.
Looking at the Gengar-shaped tent in front of him, Gengar clapped his hands.
"Everyone, we may be staying here for the next few days. Please bear with it if you get bored."
"Gar—"
[No problem.]
Kakuna blinked as well.
Mike looked toward Glameow, who also showed no objection.
He placed their bags inside the tent, then took out his phone and logged into Pokétube.
He left a comment under his latest video saying that he would livestream that evening, pinned it, then tossed his phone inside the tent.
Mike walked straight to the river and checked the depth.
It wasn’t very deep.
He removed all his clothes, leaving only a pair of loose shorts, then dove into the water.
Splash!
Mike raised his head above the surface and spat out a mouthful of water in comfort.
Nothing felt better than washing off an entire day’s sweat with a cold bath.
"Gengar, bring me my towel, shampoo, and body wash."
"Gar~"
[Okay~]
Gengar poured the remaining honey in his hands into his mouth, found both Mike’s towel and his own, and draped them over his head.
He carried the shampoo and body wash toward the river.
When he passed Kakuna, who was sitting there blankly, Gengar casually scooped him up as well.
Kakuna: ’Kakuna don’t need baths!’
The bottles of shampoo and body wash landed in the water in front of Mike, splashing him slightly.
Mike looked at Gengar on the bank and spread his arms.
"Come on, throw him in too."
Gengar grinned, swung Kakuna around, and hurled him toward Mike.
Seeing Kakuna flying straight at him, Mike immediately dove underwater.
Boom!
Kakuna’s sturdy body crashed into the middle of the river and created a huge splash.
Gengar swung the two towels and jumped into the water before walking toward Mike.
After playing catch with Gengar in the river for a while, Mike climbed onto the bank, dried himself with a towel, then found a secluded corner to change out of his wet shorts.
Why hadn’t Kakuna joined them in playing catch?
Maybe.... take a guess who had been used as the ball.
After getting dressed, Mike walked over to Glameow, who was sitting near the bank, and sat beside her.
He looked down at her as she stared at the water.
"Do you want a bath? The river is cool and feels nice."
Glameow turned toward him without answering.
"Don’t little princesses like being clean?"
Mike smiled.
Glameow raised her injured paw toward him.
"Meow~"
[What about this?]
Mike blinked.
"That really is unfortunate. But if you’re willing, I can serve you, Your Highness."
Glameow blinked her beautiful blue eyes before slowly nodding.
Mike carried her to the riverbank and gently wet her fur.
Then he squeezed out some body wash and massaged it all over her body.
Before long, the gray Glameow had been covered in bubbles and turned into a white Glameow.
She smelled the fragrance of the body wash and felt Mike’s hands moving across her body.
Although his technique wasn’t especially comfortable, she still narrowed her eyes and gave a sweet cry.
"Meow~"
Once she was mostly clean, Mike asked her to lift her injured paw.
Then he lowered the rest of her body into the river, allowing the water to wash away all the bubbles.
Mike lifted Glameow out, placed a towel over her, and dried her fur.
Finally, he set her on a small blanket he had prepared.
"Rest here for a while. I’ll get a fresh bandage for you."
Glameow nodded comfortably.
When Mike returned from the tent with the bandage, he saw Glameow instinctively spring into the air.
She raised her injured paw and struck a Dustox flying above her, sending it tumbling away before landing lightly on the blanket.
The entire sequence took less than two seconds.
Mike stared at Glameow’s agile movements without expression.
’How does that look injured at all?’
Glameow sensed something and turned around.
Her eyes met Mike’s.
Glameow: "..."
’Oh no. He saw it!’
Mike, meanwhile, was thinking...
’Should I pretend I didn’t?’
The human and cat stared at each other for a while before Mike spoke first.
He raised the bandage in his hand.
"So... do you still need this?"
Glameow blinked, then gave a quiet cry.
"Meow."
[Yes.]
"All right. I’ll wrap it for you."
Mike walked over and tied the bandage around her paw.
At that moment, the human and cat reached a remarkable agreement.
This was what people called teamwork!
---------
Read more Chapters ahead here... currently at Chapter 71.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator