Pokemon : I'm Just a Photographer!

Chapter 114: Chapter 114

Mike approached the machines and carefully examined the newly revived Kabuto and Anorith.

Both Pokémon stared around the laboratory with obvious confusion.

Mike couldn’t resist.

He reached out and lightly poked Kabuto’s shell.

Hard.

Then Anorith’s.

Very hard.

Kabuto and Anorith turned toward him, their eyes filled with curiosity and uncertainty.

’They really are alive.’

Once again, Mike found himself amazed by the ridiculous wonders of the Pokémon world.

Pokémon that had been extinct for ages could simply be brought back.

Admittedly, the revival process looked suspiciously similar to the way villains summoned monsters in those old tokusatsu shows Mike had watched in his previous life.

But regardless of how strange the process looked, Kabuto and Anorith were undeniably alive.

A researcher soon approached and carefully escorted the two Pokémon away.

"They’ve only just been revived, so they’re still confused by their surroundings," Roark explained.

"The researchers will spend some time helping them become accustomed to the modern world."

"Eventually, most of them will also be released into the wild."

Mike nodded.

"I understand."

"Come on. I’ll take you to the habitat area."

Mike obediently followed Roark farther into the facility.

...

The habitat area housed numerous revived fossil Pokémon.

Kabuto.

Anorith.

Lileep.

Omanyte.

Their evolved forms were present as well.

Mike looked around in surprise.

"This entire group will be released into the wild after a little more time," Roark explained.

Mike turned toward him.

"Released?"

"That’s right."

Roark nodded.

"We revive them partly to research ancient Pokémon, but another purpose is to allow these species to exist in the modern world again."

"For Pokémon, the wild is still the most natural place to live."

"Before this group, many others were already released. Of course, some were caught by Trainers instead."

Roark looked across the habitat.

"Either way, there are already quite a few revived fossil Pokémon living in the wild nowadays. Some rarer species are still difficult to encounter, though."

He folded his arms.

"I’ve also heard rumors that several unusually shaped fossil Pokémon have appeared in Galar."

"Apparently, some people believe they were created because the fossils were assembled incorrectly."

Roark frowned slightly.

"I have no idea whether that’s actually true."

Mike remained silent.

’No need to wonder.’

’That’s exactly what happened.’

"All right."

Roark gestured toward the habitat.

"If you want to film them, you can go inside and get closer."

"Just be careful. Some of these Pokémon have fairly aggressive temperaments."

Mike grinned.

"Thanks."

Then he walked into the habitat with his Pokémon.

Several researchers in white coats were already inside, caring for the revived Pokémon.

The entire area was surprisingly large and had been designed to resemble a miniature natural ecosystem.

There was a lake.

A forested section.

Rocky caves.

Open ground.

It was practically a self-contained habitat.

Mike slowly looked around as he walked before eventually approaching a Cradily that seemed to be staring blankly into space.

Cradily was a green, plantlike Pokémon whose body vaguely resembled a barnacle with an extremely long neck.

Mike crouched down and reached toward its head.

The moment his hand got close, Cradily’s neck suddenly stretched several times its normal length and its mouth snapped toward his fingers.

Before it could bite him, one of Beedrill’s long stingers appeared directly inside its open mouth.

Cradily froze.

Slowly, it turned its eyes toward Beedrill.

The enormous Beedrill was staring coldly at it with crimson eyes!

His second stinger gleamed beneath the sunlight, the pointed tip aimed directly at Cradily’s head.

Cradily: "..."

Its mouth immediately closed.

Then, without Mike doing anything, Cradily obediently moved its head into his palm.

Mike stroked it.

The surface felt smooth, slippery, and cool.

Despite being a Rock- and Grass-type Pokémon with a plantlike appearance, Cradily was actually carnivorous.

After convincing Cradily to cooperate for several photographs and video clips, Mike took some raw meat from Gengar.

He had Beedrill slice it into smaller pieces before feeding it to Cradily.

Cradily: "!!!"

Its head immediately pressed firmly against Mike’s palm, as if telling him that it was perfectly willing to continue cooperating!

Mike laughed and patted its head.

"That’s all. The rest is for the other Pokémon."

He stood and continued onward with Gengar and the others.

Cradily remained where it was.

Its eyes stayed locked onto Mike’s retreating figure, and its expression somehow looked like that of someone who had just been abandoned by a heartless lover.

...

Mike spent the rest of the visit photographing the other fossil Pokémon one by one.

Unfortunately, he was still missing Shieldon and Bastiodon.

If he could get footage of those two as well, he would have enough material to put together a full fossil-Pokémon episode of The Wide World of Pokémon.

Once he was satisfied with the footage, Mike gently put down the Omanyte he had been holding and stood up.

He looked toward a nearby tree.

Glameow was standing on one of the branches, clearly considering jumping down.

Then she looked at Mike’s hands.

They were covered in slime.

Glameow immediately stopped.

Her face filled with unmistakable disgust!

Mike understood at once.

He hurried over to the lake, crouched down, and thoroughly washed his hands.

That apparently wasn’t enough.

He had Gengar take out some body wash and scrubbed them again until they were completely clean.

Once he finished, Mike casually wiped his wet hands on Gengar.

Then he removed the camera from around his neck and hung it over Gengar’s head.

Finally, he turned toward Glameow and opened his arms.

"There. All clean now."

His voice softened.

"Come on."

Glameow raised her head proudly.

She gave Mike one long, assessing look before finally jumping from the tree and landing neatly in his arms.

Gengar stood beside them as he stared at Mike in disbelief.

’That rotten bastard!’

’He wiped his hands on me!’

With the camera hanging over his head, Gengar glared resentfully at Mike.

Mike, however, was far too busy carrying the soft, sweet-smelling Glameow toward the exit to notice.

Gengar watched him for another moment.

Then his eyes began spinning thoughtfully as a mischievous grin slowly appeared on his face.

He hurried after Mike.

...

Once they left the habitat, Mike looked around but couldn’t find Roark.

Curious, he stopped a passing researcher.

"Excuse me, do you know where Gym Leader Roark went?"

"Gym Leader Roark?"

The researcher thought for a moment.

"Someone came to challenge the Gym a little while ago, so he went back to handle the Gym battle."

"I see."

Mike nodded.

"Thanks."

Still carrying Glameow in his arms, he left the Oreburgh Mining Museum with Gengar and the others.

...

Meanwhile...

A faint purple glow gathered around Stantler’s antlers as psychic energy spread outward, wrapping around both its antlers and head, and under Lucian’s command, Stantler lowered its body and charged straight toward the boulder ahead.

Boom!

A heavy crash echoed through the forest as the boulder shattered on impact, countless fragments scattering in every direction.

"That was still Zen Headbutt, wasn’t it?"

Professor Kukui sat in a chair nearby, watching the Stantler standing amid the broken stones and shaking its head to clear the dizziness.

"Mm. That was definitely Zen Headbutt."

Lucian folded the sleeves of his shirt neatly up to his elbows before answering.

"It’s already been four days, right?"

Lucian nodded and adjusted his glasses with one slender finger.

Six days had passed since the Stantler first began their training, and four days had passed since they started attempting to combine Zen Headbutt with barrier-type moves in hopes of recreating Psyshield Bash.

Professor Rowan had returned to Sandgem Town the previous day because something had come up at his laboratory.

At the moment, only Mike, Lucian, and Professor Kukui remained in Oreburgh City to continue the project.

Mike still came over every day at the proper times to cook.

After that, however, he vanished.

The actual job of training the Stantler had been almost entirely dumped onto Lucian and Professor Kukui.

"Speaking of Mike, where has that guy been disappearing to these past two days?"

Professor Kukui glanced around but found no sign of him.

"He’s the one who proposed Psyshield Bash in the first place, and he’s also the one who claimed Stantler has an evolved form called Wyrdeer! Yet after starting all of this, he dumped the entire project on us."

Kukui rubbed his chin.

"He could at least come over and offer some guidance on Psyshield Bash. That would still be better than the two of us blindly trying different methods."

His white lab coat remained open as usual, although the muscular lines of his torso were no longer quite as sharply defined as when he had first arrived in Sinnoh.

Mike had been feeding him far too well.

Over the past several days, Mike had developed a habit of dragging both Kukui and Lucian out for late-night snacks whenever he had nothing else to do, and the food he made was almost always rich and high in calories.

Professor Kukui had visibly put on weight.

"I ran into him the day before yesterday," Lucian said as he told the Stantler to take a break and returned to sit beside Kukui.

"He mentioned that he was working on something that might make the Stantler’s training much more effective."

"Judging from his expression, he genuinely seemed to think whatever he was doing would help them learn Psyshield Bash."

Professor Kukui looked unconvinced.

"Seriously? Is it reliable?"

Lucian spread his hands.

"I have no idea. That’s simply what he told me."

"We’ll ask him when he comes over for dinner."

Professor Kukui glanced at his phone and sighed.

He had already been in Sinnoh for almost a week.

During that entire week, apart from helping Lucian train the Stantler and studying how they might recreate Psyshield Bash, the main thing he had accomplished was eating late-night snacks.

For the sake of this research project, he had even canceled several matches as the Masked Royal.

Those matches were supposed to help fund his plans back in Alola!

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