Chapter 26
After finishing dinner with Gengar, Mike stopped by the Pokémon restaurant as usual and ordered two meals to go before heading to the Pokémon Center.
Gengar looked at the bags in Mike’s hands and nodded in satisfaction.
Mike was finally learning!
This time, he had remembered to bring dinner for Nurse Joy too!
Grandma had once told Gengar that whenever someone helped you, you should always find a way to thank them.
That was why he had given Nurse Joy the snacks he had been saving at lunchtime.
After entering the Pokémon Center, Mike first walked to the front desk and handed one of the meals to Nurse Joy.
"Nurse Joy, Gengar brought this for you. He said you might be too busy working to have time for dinner."
Nurse Joy looked at Gengar and found him grinning at her.
Seeing his innocent smile, the exhaustion on her face vanished.
"Thank you, Gengar."
"Gar—"
[You’re welcome—]
Mike then headed toward Glameow’s room with Gengar and Weedle.
Nurse Joy watched them leave, put the crackers in her hand back into the drawer, and opened the meal container.
The delicious aroma made her smile even more brightly.
’What an adorable Gengar.’
This was why she worked so hard to care for Pokémon. So many of them were kind, innocent, and lovable.
(Man i want a Gengar to be my wing man too!)
...
When Mike reached the room, he saw Chansey approaching with a small cart filled with medical equipment.
He stepped aside and greeted her.
"Chansey~"
[Good evening~]
"Good evening, Chansey. Here’s your dinner. Make sure you eat on time."
Mike first handed Chansey her meal, then placed Glameow’s food on the cart.
"Chansey~"
[Thank you~ I’ll take good care of her.]
Chansey looked at the large food container, her eyes curving happily.
"Thanks for your hard work."
Mike looked through the glass and saw that Glameow was asleep, so he turned and left.
Inside the room, Glameow had already heard Mike’s footsteps approaching.
When she heard them moving away again, she opened her eyes and looked toward the door.
Chansey pushed the cart into the room.
Mike and Gengar were not behind her.
Glameow blinked her blue-and-yellow eyes, quietly wondering about something.
"Chansey—"
[Time to change your medicine—]
Chansey first wrapped gauze around Glameow’s other front paw so she could not use it to scratch the injured one.
Then she skillfully removed the old bandages and applied fresh medicine.
Glameow sat quietly and allowed Chansey to treat her.
When Chansey began feeding her, she obediently opened her mouth and ate one bite after another.
...
"You’re leaving already?"
Nurse Joy had only eaten a few bites when she saw Mike, Gengar, and Weedle coming back.
Mike nodded.
"She should eat properly and focus on recovering now."
Thinking about Glameow’s reactions over the past two days, he smiled.
"She probably hates me right now, so I’d better not go inside and make her angry again."
Nurse Joy looked at him and smiled.
No wonder Gengar and Weedle liked him so much.
"I’ll be leaving, Nurse Joy."
"All right. Take care."
Then she looked at Gengar.
"Gengar, you don’t need to bring me breakfast tomorrow. I have the morning off."
"Gar—"
[Understood—]
...
After returning to his room, Mike took a shower.
When he came out of the bathroom, he grabbed Weedle, who was lying on the bed with his round backside in the air while chewing on leaves.
Mike carried him to the bathroom door and tossed him toward the bathtub.
"Gengar, take him with you."
"Gar—"
[Okay—]
"Wee..."
[Bug Pokémon don’t need to—blub, blub... don’t need to take... blub... baths...]
Mike swept the leaf crumbs off the bed, straightened the sheets, then lay down comfortably and took out his phone.
The first thing he did was open Pokétube.
The video he had uploaded seemed to have gone viral since it had already passed one million views.
Mike checked his Viewership Points and found that they had risen above ten thousand.
Most of the comments were discussing the appearance of the Shiny Suicune.
’Including it in the video really was the right choice.’
Not only had he completed the Suicune task, but he had also earned several hundred additional Viewership Points.
Perfect!
{Your Viewership Points have exceeded 10,000 for the first time. To encourage you to continue working hard, choose one of the following rewards: Ten-Pull or Mysterious Draw.}
{Note: The Mysterious Draw grants only one item, but the item is guaranteed to be valuable.}
"A Mysterious Draw? This is the first time I’ve seen that."
Mike looked at the message.
"It’s guaranteed to be valuable? How valuable?"
There was no response.
"I’m asking you! How valuable is it?"
{As valuable as something valuable.}
"...Great explanation. You might as well have said nothing."
Mike already understood what kind of system he had, so he decisively chose the Ten-Pull—Or rather, he did not.
"Mysterious Draw i choose you!"
The text in front of him began flashing.
A strange purple orb appeared before him.
{Toxic Orb: A mysterious orb that releases toxins upon contact. A Pokémon holding it will become badly poisoned.}
"A Toxic Orb? This is your valuable item?"
Mike looked disappointed.
"I thought it would be something incredible.. like Arceus plate for example!"
The Toxic Orb was placed into the system’s storage, and the system fell silent again.
"A Toxic Orb... If I remember correctly, the toxins inside can be absorbed."
Mike thought for a moment.
"It can be a toy for Gengar and Weedle."
He wrapped the Toxic Orb in a tissue, took it out, and placed it on the table.
He planned to let Gengar and Weedle have it once they finished bathing.
Ding.
Mike’s phone chimed.
He checked the message and saw that it was from Gholdengo Is Number One.
[Gholdengo Is Number One: Mike, do you know much about Pokémon evolution?]
"Pokémon evolution? Is one of his Pokémon about to evolve?"
[Mike: Do you have a Pokémon preparing to evolve?]
[Gholdengo Is Number One: It should have evolved a long time ago, but its health isn’t very good. I was worried something might happen during the evolution, so I kept stopping it...]
[Gholdengo Is Number One: But lately, it seems especially determined to evolve.]
[Gholdengo Is Number One: It refused to eat anything all day because of it.]
[Mike: Evolution... I’m not confident enough to give you an answer.]
Mike did not know exactly how evolution worked in this world.
In the games, a Pokémon only had to glow with white light.
But in reality, Pokémon with health problems really could fail to evolve.
[Gholdengo Is Number One: I see. All right, I’ll ask someone else.]
Mike suddenly remembered that Professor Rowan was an authority on Pokémon evolution, so he quickly typed another message.
[Mike: Is it urgent? If it can wait until tomorrow, I can ask a professor who specializes in Pokémon evolution and see whether he can help.]
[Gholdengo Is Number One: Really? That would be wonderful! Thank you very much, but please don’t feel any pressure.]
[Mike: All right. Don’t worry, I’ll ask him tomorrow.]
After ending the conversation, Mike looked toward the bathroom.
Why were Gengar and Weedle taking so long?
He stood, walked over, and opened the door.
A wave of steam immediately hit his face.
The bathroom was filled with mist.
Gengar and Weedle were lying at opposite ends of the bathtub with hot towels resting on their heads.
Weedle had insisted that Bug Pokémon did not need baths, yet now he looked completely relaxed.
Mike stared at him.
’Wait...’
’Why does Weedle look like that?’
’Did he pass out from the heat?’
Mike rushed inside.
Ignoring Gengar, who hurriedly covered himself with a towel, he reached out and patted Weedle.
There was no response.
Mike checked his breathing.
Fortunately, he was still alive.
Gengar floated over and looked at Weedle’s tightly closed eyes in panic.
"Gar!"
[Mike... Weedle didn’t... die again, did he?!]
Mike took a deep breath.
Then—
"GENGAAAAAAAAAAR!"
...
Sitting on the bed, Mike looked at the two troublemakers in front of him and flicked each of them on the forehead.
"Next time you take a bath, leave some ventilation! Don’t block everything off! Do you understand?"
"Gar!"
[Understood!]
"Wee!"
[Understood!]
"I swear... one of these days, you two are going to make me die from anger."
Mike covered his forehead helplessly.
After calming down, he pointed at the Toxic Orb on the table.
"That’s a Toxic Orb. It’s a toy for you two. Take it and play with it. I’m going to sleep."
Mike lay down and closed his eyes.
Gengar picked up the Toxic Orb, turned off the light for Mike, then carried Weedle into a corner.
The two carefully examined the purple orb.
"Gar—"
[What is this? Can we eat it?]
"Wee?"
[Should we try?]
Gengar shook his head.
"Gar."
[No. Mike said we shouldn’t eat random things. What if we get poisoned?]
"Wee—"
[But Boss, aren’t we already Poison-type Pokémon?]
Gengar’s eyes lit up.
That’s true!
With that thought, Gengar tossed the Toxic Orb into his mouth.
"Gar—"
[I can’t bite through it...]