Pokemon : I'm Just a Photographer!

Chapter 125: Chapter 125

Once everyone had finished getting ready, Mike took Gengar and the others out for a proper hot breakfast, making sure they enjoyed it while they still could.

For the next stretch of their journey, meals this fresh and piping hot would be much harder to come by.

By the time they reached the entrance of Oreburgh Gym, Roark was already waiting outside.

He raised a hand when he saw Mike approaching.

"Gym Leader Roark."

Mike walked over and greeted him.

"Morning. Leaving now?" Roark asked.

Mike nodded.

"Yeah. The earlier I start, the better. My fans are already hounding me for another upload, so I’m hoping to collect enough footage today to give them something."

"I see." Roark smiled. "All right, then. I’ll walk you out of the city."

"Thanks."

The two headed toward the outskirts of Oreburgh together.

Once they reached the edge of the city, Roark pointed down the road ahead.

"This road will eventually take you toward Floaroma Town, but I should warn you, it’s not a short trip."

"I know," Mike replied as he looked along the road stretching into the distance. "I’ll take my time. As long as I keep walking, I’ll get there eventually."

"That’s the spirit."

Roark lowered the machine he had been carrying and placed it beside his feet.

Mike glanced at it.

"What’s that?"

The machine resembled a portable industrial generator.

"Oh, this? It’s an old generator. The mine recently replaced some of its equipment, so I’m bringing this one back to the Gym as a spare in case we ever need it."

Roark lightly nudged the machine with his boot.

"A generator..."

Mike immediately thought about all the appliances Gengar had somehow accumulated.

They had plenty of useful electrical equipment, but once they were out in the wilderness, most of it became useless without a power source.

’Maybe I should see whether Floaroma sells portable generators.’

If they bought one, they could use the rice cooker, induction stove, and other appliances even while camping.

Before Mike could think further about it, Roark reached inside his coat.

"By the way, Mike. This is for you."

He held out a piece of amber.

Mike accepted it and stared at him in surprise.

"This is..."

Roark smiled.

"You seemed pretty interested in this amber when we were at the Mining Museum, remember? I told you I’d give it to you, so I’m giving it to you."

He shrugged.

"It isn’t particularly valuable anyway. I’m much more interested in actual fossils, so if you happen to dig up anything interesting during your travels, give me a call."

Mike looked down at the amber, then nodded.

"In that case, I’ll gladly take it. Thanks, Gym Leader Roark."

A mischievous smile slowly appeared on his face.

"And don’t worry. If I happen to see Elite Four Lucian again, I definitely won’t complain about you and suggest that he make your next Gym evaluation extra strict."

Roark: "..."

’He DID hold a grudge!’

Roark forced himself to wave magnanimously beneath Mike’s perfectly sincere gaze.

"Don’t mention it. It’s nothing."

Then his expression flattened.

"Thank you so very much. Now get going."

He waved toward the road.

"Good luck. And if you ever pass through Oreburgh again, come find me. Dinner’s on me."

Mike immediately smiled.

"I’ll remember that."

He carefully put away the amber, waved goodbye, and started down the road.

Roark watched him leave until his figure had grown smaller in the distance, then turned back toward the city.

He bent down to pick up the generator.

His hand closed on empty air.

Roark blinked.

He looked down.

There was nothing beside his feet.

He checked the other side.

Also nothing.

Roark: "???"

"Where’s my generator?"

He spun around.

"Where did my whole damn generator go?!"

His voice echoed along the road.

"WHO STOLE MY GENERATOR?!"

...

Completely unaware of the crisis unfolding behind him, Mike continued along the road Roark had pointed out.

His camera hung around his neck, and he traveled at an unhurried pace, stopping whenever he spotted a Pokémon worth photographing.

Gengar and the others had long since become accustomed to the habit.

Whenever Mike stopped, they automatically slowed down or waited nearby until he had finished taking pictures.

Glameow was noticeably livelier now that they were back in the wilderness.

Whenever the mood struck her, she would sneak into the bushes and scare Kricketot that had slipped away from the others for a private little meeting, while at other times she would suddenly leap into the air and swat passing butterfly Pokémon out of the sky with one paw before watching them flutter away in outrage.

Mike quickly noticed how playful she had become, so instead of keeping the camera focused only on the surrounding wild Pokémon, he began filming Glameow as well and recorded all the little things she did along the road.

Gengar and Beedrill were equally impossible to ignore.

The two traveled on either side of Mike like brothers-in-arms, with Gengar using his thin bamboo staff to slash lazily through weeds along the roadside while Beedrill mirrored him with his long stingers.

Wherever those two passed, the vegetation suffered.

Mike glanced behind them at the freshly butchered roadside grass and shook his head.

Those two were practically leaving scorched earth in their wake.

...

Near noon, Mike found a suitable place to stop beside a water source and decided to take a proper break.

Gengar immediately spread out a blanket and began setting up the folding table and chairs, while Snivy took the ingredients for lunch to the water and carefully washed them.

Beedrill disappeared into the leaves overhead to keep watch over the surrounding area, and Glameow curled up on the blanket and began dozing.

Mike sat down beside her and massaged his aching legs.

’Seriously?’

He had only spent a little over a week resting in Oreburgh, yet his body had already begun forgetting what long-distance travel felt like.

While rubbing one thigh, Mike took out the amber Roark had given him that morning.

He held it in front of his eyes and slowly examined the translucent surface.

Back in the Oreburgh Mining Museum, he had vaguely heard the cry of some Pokémon while staring at this very piece of amber.

Was the sound actually connected to it?

Mike turned the amber over several times before silently asking the system to identify it.

{Mysterious Amber: A piece of amber that appears to preserve a fragment of tissue from an unknown Pokémon. Carrying it slightly increases affinity with Grass-type Pokémon.}

Mike’s expression changed.

’So that really is part of a Pokémon wing inside.’

The only question was which Pokémon it belonged to.

If carrying the amber increased affinity with Grass types, then there was a good chance the Pokémon itself had been Grass-type.

A Grass-type Pokémon with wings...

Mike’s thoughts gradually settled on a small, fairy-like figure.

’No way.’

Then he remembered the strange cry he had heard in the museum.

’Was that its voice?’

The guardian of the forest, a Pokémon capable of traveling through time—

Celebi.

"Sni."

Snivy’s voice pulled Mike out of his thoughts.

He looked up and saw that she had already finished washing the ingredients.

"Coming."

Mike put away the amber, stood, and joined her to prepare lunch.

He had only just started cooking when the smell of freshly steamed rice drifted through the campsite.

Mike paused.

He hadn’t cooked any rice yet.

So where was that smell coming from?

He followed the aroma and found steam rising from the rice cooker sitting on the table.

Mike stared at it.

’How is the rice cooker running?’

’We don’t have electricity out here.’

His eyes followed the rice cooker’s power cable down to a power strip.

Then he followed the power strip.

It was plugged into a generator.

Mike stared at the generator.

’Oh. A generator.’

That explained it.

Then his brain caught up.

’Wait.’

’WHERE DID THE GENERATOR COME FROM?!’

Mike slowly stepped closer.

The longer he looked at the machine humming away beside the table, the more familiar it became.

Very familiar.

Painfully familiar.

Wasn’t this the exact generator Roark had been carrying that morning?

Mike slowly turned his head.

Gengar was standing beside the rice cooker, happily fluffing the finished rice with a paddle.

Mike closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before speaking in a frighteningly calm voice.

"Gengar."

Gengar looked up.

Steam from the rice cooker drifted across his face and condensed into droplets that slowly rolled down his round cheeks.

Mike pointed toward the generator.

"I’m going to give you one chance to tell me the truth. Where did you get that?"

Gengar answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Gar—"

[I found it on the ground!]

His voice carried absolute confidence.

Mike: "..."

Of course.

He should have known.

Gengar had forgotten to turn off Auto-Pickup again!

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