Pokemon : I'm Just a Photographer!

Chapter 112: Chapter 112

"How’s it going, Assistant Mike? Find anything interesting?"

Roark’s voice eventually came from behind him.

Mike returned to his senses and looked over.

"So far, we’ve only found a fossilized Leaf Stone."

"Oh?"

Roark’s eyebrows rose.

’They had actually found something?’

’And it was a fossilized Leaf Stone?’

"A Leaf Stone fossil? Mind if I take a look?"

Mike nodded and turned toward Gengar.

"Gengar."

Without even looking back, Gengar reached into wherever he had stored the fossil and casually tossed it toward Roark.

Roark’s expression changed instantly.

He fumbled with it several times before finally catching the fossil securely.

After confirming that it really was a fossilized Leaf Stone, he stared helplessly at Gengar’s back.

Such an unusual fossil, yet that Gengar had thrown it around as though it were an ordinary pebble.

Wasn’t he afraid of breaking it?

Roark carefully examined the fossil from several angles.

"Not bad, Assistant Mike. The excavation work is extremely clean, and the fossil itself hasn’t been damaged at all."

He studied the surface more closely.

"Judging from its condition, it probably dates back quite a long way."

Gengar finally turned around and he stared intently at Roark.

Then slowly shifted his gaze toward Mike.

Mike instantly understood what those eyes meant.

He smiled and asked Roark, "So... is it worth a lot?"

Roark: "..."

He looked at Mike’s expectant face.

Then he glanced around.

Gengar was stilll staring at him.

Beedrill had stopped digging and was staring at him.

Even Snivy had turned slightly in his direction while still holding the camera.

Roark suddenly felt deeply tired.

’Like Trainer, like Pokémon i guess...’

"Fossils themselves are extremely rare and naturally possess considerable value. There are many fossil collectors who enjoy keeping pieces like this in their private collections, carefully preserving and appreciating them for years—"

"So it’s worth money?"

"...Its primary value is as a collectible," Roark answered tactfully.

Mike and his Pokémon: "..."

"All right, then Gengar can keep it."

Mike took the fossil back from Roark and handed it over.

"He dug it out, after all."

Gengar casually tossed the fossil into his mouth for safekeeping before turning back toward the stone wall and resuming his enthusiastic mining.

Roark stared at him for several seconds before deciding not to ask.

"Assistant Mike, you’re not mining anymore?"

Mike rubbed both aching arms.

"I’m exhausted. I barely mined for any time at all, and my arms already feel useless."

Roark laughed.

"Mining is heavy physical work. It takes quite a while to get accustomed to it."

His gaze shifted toward Snivy, who was still holding the camera and keeping it trained on Gengar and Beedrill.

"Are you filming another video?"

"Yeah. I thought this might turn into pretty good material, so I figured I should record everything first."

Mike watched Gengar digging deeper and deeper into one section of the wall.

"If we actually uncover something interesting, I can probably squeeze another episode out of it."

He thought for a moment before calling out,

"Gengar, try changing directions. Dig a little to the right. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find something after a couple of swings."

Then he turned toward Beedrill.

"Beedrill, you try the left side."

Gengar and Beedrill obediently changed directions.

Clang!

Clang!

Gengar had only struck the wall twice when he suddenly stopped.

He stared at the small cavity he had just opened.

Then blinked.

Slowly, he turned his head toward Mike.

"What is it?"

Gengar raised one finger and pointed toward the hole.

Mike immediately stood and hurried over, with Roark following closely behind.

The moment Mike reached Gengar’s side and saw what had appeared inside the stone, his eyes widened.

Roark’s mouth fell open as well.

"You said there might be something there... and there actually is?"

His voice was filled with disbelief.

Embedded inside the stone was a fossil shaped like a claw, clearly resembling part of some ancient Pokémon’s limb.

’Ask and you shall receive?!’

"This is..."

Mike stared at it.

Something about the shape seemed strangely familiar.

A system notification immediately appeared.

{Claw Fossil: A fossil from an ancient Pokémon that lived in the sea long ago. It appears to be part of a claw.}

’A Claw Fossil?’

’The fossil used to revive Anorith?’

Roark finally recovered from his surprise.

He placed a hand on Mike’s shoulder.

"You’re incredibly lucky! Judging from its shape, this should be an Anorith fossil."

Then he looked at Mike and Gengar.

"Want me to excavate it for you?"

Mike thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Gym Leader Roark, could you guide us instead? Gengar and I would like to try excavating it ourselves."

"Of course."

Under Roark’s careful guidance, Mike and Gengar slowly worked around the fossil, removing the surrounding stone bit by bit until they were finally able to extract it without causing any damage.

The fossil was much larger than Mike had expected.

"That’s quite a piece."

Roark examined it with obvious interest.

"Judging from the size of this fossil, the original Pokémon probably wasn’t particularly small either."

Mike grinned.

He lifted the fossil with both hands and leaned closer to Gengar.

"Snivy, take a picture for us."

Snivy adjusted the camera with Vine Whip.

Click.

After taking the photograph, Mike looked toward Roark.

"By the way, Gym Leader Roark... this fossil belongs to us, right?"

He deliberately reminded him, "You did say that anything we personally dug up could be taken away."

Roark paused before nodding.

"Of course. You found it yourself, so naturally it belongs to you."

Mike’s eyes immediately brightened.

"Do you want it?"

"Of course I do."

Roark looked at him curiously.

"What? Are you planning to give it to me?"

Mike and Gengar exchanged a glance.

Then both of them grinned and shook their heads.

"We can give it to you, but there’s one condition."

"What condition?"

"Could you take us along when the fossil is revived?"

Mike looked genuinely interested now.

"Neither Gengar nor I have ever seen how fossil revival works before."

"That’s it?"

Roark laughed.

"No problem at all. How about this? We’ll treat it as though I bought the fossil from you, and when it’s time to revive it, I’ll bring you along so you can watch the entire process."

Mike and Gengar exchanged another look.

Then the both of them bowed together.

"Thank you very much."

"Gar—"

Unfortunately, neither of them had bothered coordinating their movements.

As they bowed at slightly different times, the fossil slipped straight out of their hands.

Mike: "!"

Gengar: "!!!"

Roark: "!!!"

The fossil plunged toward the ground.

Just before impact, two vines shot forward and wrapped tightly around it, stopping it in midair.

Mike and Gengar slowly raised their heads, Snivy was staring at them with an icy expression.

The two immediately put on their most innocent smiles.

"Hehe..."

"Gar-[hehe...]"

"Sniiiiiiiii..."

"Bee—"

Beedrill suddenly called out from nearby.

Mike immediately turned around and saw Beedrill was pointing toward the wall in front of him.

Mike hurried over.

The instant he saw what Beedrill had uncovered, his eyes widened for the second time.

Roark noticed his expression and swallowed.

’No...’

’Surely not again?’

He quickly stepped forward.

Then fell silent.

Roark rubbed his eyes once.

Then twice.

Embedded in the stone wall before them was another fossil, this one resembling a piece of hardened shell.

The system immediately provided its information.

{Dome Fossil: A fossil from an ancient Pokémon that lived in the sea long ago. It appears to be part of its shell.}

"G-Gym Leader Roark..."

Mike stared at the fossil, almost unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Does Oreburgh Mine normally have drop rates this ridiculous?"

Roark was beginning to question his entire life.

Normally, he could mine until his entire body ached without seeing even the shadow of a fossil.

Yet Mike and his Pokémon had wandered in, swung their tools around a few times, and somehow uncovered two proper Pokémon fossils in succession.

’High drop rate my ass!’

’Are you sure you haven’t just stumbled into some absurd stroke of luck?’

Roark slowly turned toward Mike.

"Assistant Mike... are you an extremely lucky person?"

"Me? Lucky?"

Mike looked at him as though he had just heard something ridiculous.

"How could I possibly be lucky? I’ve never won anything in the lottery, and whenever I travel in the wilderness, I’m constantly getting chased around by random Pokémon for no reason. Beedrill swarms, for example. Does that sound like good luck to—"

Mike suddenly stopped speaking.

A certain scale flashed through his mind.

Enamorus’s scale.

Roark noticed his abrupt silence.

"What’s wrong?"

"Nothing."

Mike immediately shook his head.

"We probably just got lucky this time."

Then he pointed toward the fossil.

"So, Gym Leader Roark... do you want this one too?"

"Yes!"

Roark answered so quickly that there wasn’t even a moment of hesitation.

With Roark’s help, they carefully excavated the Dome Fossil as well.

Afterward, Mike enthusiastically pointed out several more places and had Gengar and Beedrill try digging there.

Unfortunately, his miraculous luck seemed to have run out.

No matter where they dug afterward, they failed to uncover another fossil.

Eventually, Mike checked the time.

It was getting late.

He handed both Pokémon fossils over to Roark, then left Oreburgh Mine with Gengar and the others and returned to the courtyard to prepare dinner.

During dinner, Mike received another piece of good news.

The marked Stantler had successfully learned Zen Headbutt.

Its control over the move was still rough and far from proficient, but simply managing to learn it was already an important step forward.

Their next task would be to help Stantler steadily refine Zen Headbutt while simultaneously training it to combine several different moves together instead of treating each technique as something completely separate.

Only after it became comfortable blending those abilities would they finally be able to take the next step—trying to recreate the long-lost Psyshield Bash.

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