Chapter 52
"Gengar."
Mike sat inside the tent, looking at Gengar, who sat in front of him with his head lowered.
"Gar..."
[I’m here...]
"Do you remember what happened back home? You said you’d learned how to make braised pork and insisted on cooking it for me.
I trusted you, ate it, and ended up with an intestinal perforation in the middle of the night. Grandma had to call Officer Jenny to get me to the Pokémon Center."
"Gar..."
[I remember...]
"And this time, I got poisoned by the mushrooms you grilled for me. If Snivy hadn’t been here, I might’ve actually died..."
"Gar..."
[I’m sorry...]
"So can you promise me that you won’t cook anything by yourself from now on? Especially not for me."
"Gar—"
[Okay.]
Seeing how guilty Gengar looked, Mike couldn’t bring himself to keep scolding him.
Still, if he didn’t correct this habit, there was a real chance Gengar might accidentally kill him somewhere along their journey.
Mike sighed.
"How about this, Gengar? Let’s make three rules."
Gengar raised his head and looked at him curiously.
"From now on, you’re not allowed to touch my cooking pot or any ingredients meant for my meals. You’re also not allowed to cook for me—or rather, for me, Glameow, Snivy, or any of the others."
"To make up for it, I’ll cook whatever you want. You’ll get two chances a week to request a dish... No, three."
Gengar’s eyes lit up.
’Three requests!’
"Also, once we reach the next city, I’ll buy you a small cooking pot of your own. You can use it to make food for yourself whenever you want."
"If you really enjoy cooking, can you accept that arrangement?"
A red glow shone in Gengar’s eyes as he nodded wildly.
He hadn’t remembered anything from the first half.
All he knew was that as long as he didn’t cook for Mike, he could request three dishes every week and would even get his own little pot.
"Now go prepare the ingredients for dinner. Hurry!"
Gengar sprang to his feet, scooped up Kakuna, and floated out of the cooking area.
Mike put away the bamboo staff Gengar had left behind, then looked at Snivy sitting nearby and gently stroked her head.
Her skin felt cool and smooth beneath his palm.
"You really saved me today, Snivy. Thank you."
Snivy narrowed her eyes and rubbed her head against his hand.
"Sni~"
[You’re welcome~]
...
After dinner, Mike set up the camera outside the tent before returning inside and taking a seat.
"Gengar, come back and help me start the livestream."
Gengar soon floated into the tent with Kakuna in his arms. He handed Kakuna to Mike, then began adjusting the streaming equipment.
Before long, the livestream was running.
Perhaps because Mike had started without any warning, the viewer count rose rather slowly.
[Route201Camper: What’s this? What have I discovered? Mike is actually live?]
[PiplupSupremacy: ???]
[BerryJuiceAddict: Who are you? Get out of our great photographer’s body! He hasn’t even uploaded a new video. There’s no way he’d livestream first!]
Mike coughed awkwardly when he saw the comment.
"The video is actually already edited. It’s just... How should I put this?"
He hesitated for a moment.
"Fine, I admit it. I forgot to upload it."
[SinnohNetizen: ???]
[MurkrowAfterDark: Shameless! If you don’t upload anything, what are we supposed to watch? You’re disgraceful! Despicable!]
[Tempext: He finished the entire video and somehow forgot the one step that lets people watch it.]
"Stop cursing me! I’ll upload it tomorrow. I promise—tomorrow."
Mike chatted with the viewers for a while until a comment from Gholdengo Is Number One caught his attention.
"Gholdengo Is Number One, you finished work early today?"
[Gholdengo Is Number One: I spent today handling matters related to Gimmighoul.]
[Gholdengo Is Number One: Why did you suddenly start streaming? Is something happening?]
Mike grinned.
"If you’re free tonight, you should stay in the stream. That goes for everyone else too."
"I think tonight will be something you’ll remember for a very long time."
[Gholdengo Is Number One: All right. I’m heading home now.]
[GreatBallGrinder: What does that mean?]
[GlameowFanatic: Seriously?]
[Definitely Not a Fairy-Type Fan: Did you get a girlfriend, or did you somehow become Champion overnight?]
[EarlyRouteTrainer: At least give us a hint.]
[BigmanBlastoise: He’s announcing that he finally remembered his upload password!]
"You’ll find out when it happens. No spoilers."
[Route201Camper: How long do we have to wait?]
[BugTypesAreTheCoolest: Honestly, I’m curious. What could possibly be worth making you stay there for... Let me count. One, two, three... five days?]
[PiplupSupremacy: What time does it start?]
"Uh... Well... I’m not really sure."
Mike scratched his head.
[SilentWatcher: ...]
[BerryJuiceAddict: You don’t even know, yet you called all of us here to wait? The nerve!]
[GlameowFanatic: Someone drag him away and let Glameow host instead!]
[FOR_FUN_SERVANT: We’ve been invited to an event with no schedule, no explanation, and possibly no event....]
"Glameow isn’t hosting today. Snivy will be my assistant instead."
Mike picked Snivy up and placed her beside him.
Snivy had already seen Mike’s streaming equipment at Professor Rowan’s laboratory and had appeared on camera before, so she wasn’t shy at all.
She openly greeted everyone watching.
"Sni~"
[Hello~]
[SnivyRoyalGuard: SNIVY!!!]
[GrassTypeForever: You’re so beautiful! Don’t stay with him. Come with me instead!]
[SnivyRoyalGuard: I hereby declare myself Snivy’s most loyal fan!]
[GlameowFanatic: Weren’t you Glameow’s biggest fan last time?]
[SnivyRoyalGuard: Mind your own business, fanatic!]
[Hyperman: Bro changes royal families every time a cute Pokémon appears.]
[Gholdengo Is Number One: I’m home. Waiting for it.]
...
A long time passed.
[Route201Camper: Streamer, hasn’t it started yet?]
[PiplupSupremacy: It’s already ten at night. How much longer do we have to wait? I’m getting sleepy...]
[SilentWatcher: ...]
[RankedBattleVictim: Why don’t you play a couple of matches? That might wake us up.]
"Play a game?"
Mike stroked Glameow, who was lying beside him.
She promptly slapped his hand away with her tail.
Mike nodded as though nothing had happened.
"All right. We’ll play a couple of quick matches."
"Gengar, bring me the gaming equipment, please."
Before long, Gengar returned with the controller and handed it to Mike. Snivy shifted closer and sat beside him again.
Mike skillfully logged into Poké Battle and began editing his team.
[RainTeamEnjoyer: What are we playing today? I heard rain teams are really strong lately. Want to try one?]
[SandstormMain: A sand team would work too...]
"We’re not using a weather team today," Mike said while selecting his Pokémon.
"We’re playing Bug types again!"
He smiled toward the camera.
"Today’s star is the Bug-type queen discovered in Sinnoh—Her Majesty Vespiquen."
[BugTypesAreTheCoolest: Vespiquen? You can actually use that thing?]
[DragonTypeOnly: You’re joking, right? First Kricketune, and now Vespiquen?]
[KricketuneManFan: What do you mean, Kricketune? His name is Kricketune Man!]
After finishing his team, Mike glanced at the comments and smiled.
"Today, we’re using Pressure Vespiquen."
"As everyone knows, Pokémon can only bring four moves into battle, which makes choosing the right moves extremely important."
The moment he finished speaking, matchmaking found an opponent and the battle began.
The opposing player led with a Pokémon that resembled Pikachu.
[GreatBallGrinder: Mimikyu? The opponent brought another disgusting little menace. This match is over.]
"Disgusting?"
Mike smiled.
"You think my strategy isn’t disgusting too?"
His first Pokémon was Gliscor.
"You want to use Thunder Wave? Let’s see how you paralyze me. Toxic Spikes!"
Gliscor scattered Toxic Spikes across the opponent’s side of the field.
Realizing that Thunder Wave couldn’t paralyze Gliscor, the opponent recalled Mimikyu and sent out Dragonite.
"That fat dragon? Why would you send that out?"
[LeaFkis: Dragonite catches one stray insult before it even gets to move.]
[Shadow_Dragon_9805: He saw a round stomach and immediately chose violence!]
Mike considered his options briefly.
"Whatever. Let’s break its Multiscale first. U-turn."
Gliscor struck Dragonite before returning to its Poké Ball.
Vespiquen entered the battlefield.
The opponent’s Encore failed.
"An Encore Dragonite?"
Mike narrowed his eyes.
"Dragonite is faster than me. Vespiquen, use Hex!"
Mike had given Vespiquen Spite, Hex, Defend Order, and Roost.
Dragonite slammed into Vespiquen with Extreme Speed, shaving away part of her HP.
Vespiquen’s Hex struck Dragonite in return but barely scratched it.
The two sides continued exchanging weak attacks.
Whenever Vespiquen’s HP dropped too far, Mike ordered her to use Roost and recover.
Eventually, Mike found an opening and commanded Vespiquen to use Spite.
A message appeared on the screen.
Dragonite’s Extreme Speed lost two PP.
"No more Extreme Speed, right? What are you going to use now? Earthquake?"
Mike smiled.
"That means you have nothing left that can properly hurt Vespiquen."
"Defend Order!"
Vespiquen used Defend Order, raising both her Defense and Special Defense.
Dragonite used Encore before being recalled, and Mimikyu took its place.
The Toxic Spikes poisoned Mimikyu the moment it entered the field, causing it to take damage every turn.
Against a Vespiquen whose defenses kept rising and who could heal whenever her HP dropped, Mimikyu had no choice but to use Curse to cut away at her health.
However, between Vespiquen’s Leftovers and Roost, she slowly wore Mimikyu down until it fainted.
[Omegaderp: Vespiquen has healed more HP than Mimikyu has dealt.]
Dragonite and the opponent’s final Pokémon, Gardevoir, were equally helpless against a Vespiquen whose defenses had already reached their maximum.
In the end, the opponent simply surrendered.
"You wanted to play dirty against me?"
Mike grinned.
"Do you understand the power of Pressure Vespiquen now? You can’t damage me, and I’ll slowly drain every last PP from your moves."
[Dao_Of_The_Turtle: The strongest fortress does not defeat its enemy. It simply waits until the enemy defeats itself.]
[GrandDaoUser: Victory belongs not to the swift, but to the one whose patience outlives his opponent.]
[Ebe_kuma: Oh crap! There are two of them now!]
[DaoistHeartAttack: You called?]
[Blake204: Fuck, they’re multiplying!]
After the match, Mike felt completely refreshed.
The livestream comments flooded across the screen.
[Route201Camper: That was filthy...]
[PiplupSupremacy: So you were the filthy one all along...]
[DragonTypeOnly: That team is disgusting...]
[BugTypesAreTheCoolest: I’m begging you. Please stop using Bug types...]
[Inksorcerer: Kricketune Man destroys bodies. Vespiquen destroys the will to live!]
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Imma take names from power stones ranking and review for now i guess, if your name has not appeared yet then in the next stream!