Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Chapter 233

After Paul left, Mike turned toward Ash, Dawn, and Brock, letting out a relieved breath now that everything had finally settled down.

"Well, that takes care of that."

As if waiting for the perfect opportunity to make itself heard, Ash’s stomach suddenly let out a loud growl.

Mike, Brock, and Dawn all turned to look at him.

Ash scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed grin and explained, "That battle took a lot out of me, so I’m getting pretty hungry."

Mike shook his head in amusement. "In that case, let’s have dinner. I’ll do the cooking."

"Awesome!" Ash immediately jumped for joy, while Dawn’s expression brightened with anticipation.

"We finally get to eat Mr. Mike’s cooking again!"

"Then I’ll help you prepare everything," Brock offered, his eyes lighting up at the opportunity.

He had been hoping for another chance to study Mike’s cooking techniques, and working alongside him would be far more useful than simply watching from a distance.

"Sounds good. I’ll leave washing and preparing the ingredients to you guys and Gengar, then."

"Leave it to me and Pikachu!" Ash declared confidently, thumping his chest.

With that, Ash and the others followed Gengar to clean the ingredients, while Mike found a suitable spot and spread out a blanket for everyone to sit on.

Once the blanket was ready, Mike settled down and lifted Hattrem onto his lap.

He gently pinched her little cheeks between his fingers, enjoying how wonderfully soft and springy they felt.

’So squishy! This is amazing.’

Hattrem narrowed her eyes contentedly and let out a sweet little cry.

"Hattrem~"

"I’ll be counting on you to protect me from now on too, Hattrem."

"Hattrem!"

She immediately patted her little chest with one hand, confidently assuring him that she would do her very best to keep him safe.

"Aww, how can our Hattrem possibly be this adorable?" Mike laughed, leaning forward to affectionately bump his forehead against hers.

Hattrem was so pleased that her eyes curved into delighted little crescents.

After playing with Mike for a while longer, however, she noticed Ash and the others working on the ingredients nearby.

She hopped down from his lap and hurried over to join them.

"Hattrem~"

[I want to help too~]

Mike watched her go with a fond smile before reaching out to catch Glameow, who had been preparing to wander off.

He gently drew her onto his lap and began scratching her head.

"And our Glameow is incredibly adorable too," he said, rubbing beneath her chin.

Glameow promptly rolled onto her back, exposing her belly and enjoying the attention as though Mike’s sole purpose in life was to serve her.

When she heard his compliment, she lightly patted his hand with one paw in a completely unconvincing attempt at protest.

Mike knew her personality far too well to be fooled.

The more she pretended to resist his affection, the more obvious it became that she was enjoying herself, so he cheerfully improved his petting technique.

It wasn’t long before Glameow was stretched comfortably across his lap, producing a soft, continuous purr.

While keeping one hand occupied with Glameow, Mike looked up at Snivy, who was still sitting on a branch overhead.

"My neck’s going to get sore if I have to keep looking up at you like this."

Snivy glanced down at him before extending her vines and gracefully lowering herself from the tree.

She settled beside Mike and, without needing to be asked, began cracking walnuts for him.

Once she had prepared a small bowl of walnut kernels, she held it out.

Mike made absolutely no attempt to take the bowl with his hands, choosing instead to open his mouth expectantly.

"Ahhh—"

Snivy stared at him for a moment before calmly picking up a walnut kernel and placing it in his mouth.

"Thanks, Snivy." Mike smiled as he chewed. "Seriously, I couldn’t live without you any more than Sinnoh could exist without Dialga and Palkia."

Snivy gave him a gentle, affectionate smile.

Unfortunately, Rotom chose that precise moment to offer an entirely unsolicited opinion.

"According to human standards, Mike, you are already an adult and should no longer require someone else to feed you. Within human society, adults who still need to be fed by others generally fall into one of two categories: individuals with physical disabilities or individuals suffering from severe mental abnormalities—"

"Shut up! Power off."

Mike interrupted without the slightest hesitation.

"owo. Unable to comprehend, roto..."

Rotom obediently shut down and dropped beside Mike.

With the interruption dealt with, Mike turned his attention back to Snivy, who was still carefully cracking walnuts.

"By the way, Snivy, were you about to evolve earlier?"

Her hands paused for an instant.

Rather than answering immediately, she squeezed the walnut she was holding until the shell cracked, carefully extracted the kernel, and placed it in the bowl.

Mike watched her with growing curiosity. "Actually, have you been able to evolve for a while now?"

Snivy picked up another walnut kernel, placed it in Mike’s mouth, and nodded.

"So you’ve been deliberately holding back your evolution this whole time?" he asked between mouthfuls.

She nodded again.

"But why? Is there something you don’t like about evolving?"

Snivy blinked.

"Sni."

[I wouldn’t look pretty anymore. I don’t want to.]

Mike fell silent.

’Wait... she doesn’t want to evolve because she thinks Servine looks ugly?’

Now that he thought about it, was Servine really that bad-looking?

He personally thought the evolution looked perfectly fine.

"Not pretty? I think Servine actually looks pret—"

Mike stopped when he noticed the sudden chill in Snivy’s gaze and immediately changed direction.

"Actually, no matter what you look like, Snivy, I’ll always love you exactly the same."

That answer earned him a satisfied nod.

"Snivy~"

[I wouldn’t be as cute after evolving, and I don’t want that! I’m already so adorable~]

To emphasize her point, Snivy gave Mike a playful wink.

It had to be said that although Snivy’s wink and Gengar’s wink produced very different emotional reactions, their overall effectiveness was remarkably similar.

Both were capable of killing someone on the spot.

After recovering from Snivy’s devastating display of cuteness, Mike lowered his gaze toward Glameow, who was still resting in his arms.

Glameow opened her eyes and stared back at him.

For several seconds, neither moved.

Then, apparently understanding exactly what Mike was hoping for, she rolled over, hopped down from his lap, and walked to his backpack.

She retrieved her red ball of yarn and began playing with it as though Mike no longer existed.

Mike could only stare after her in silence.

Snivy covered her mouth and began giggling.

"Snivy?"

[What were you thinking? You actually expected Glameow to wink at you?]

Mike looked back at her and hesitated before making another request.

"Then... could you do it again?"

Naturally, Snivy was more than happy to indulge him.

She gave him another charming wink, and Mike nodded in deep satisfaction before finally returning to the matter of her evolution.

"Does suppressing your evolution make you uncomfortable? If it’s difficult, I could find you an Everstone."

Snivy shook her head.

"Snivy~"

[There’s no need. I can handle it.]

"All right, then. But if it ever becomes uncomfortable, make sure you tell me."

Mike didn’t press her any further.

Since Snivy clearly knew what she wanted, he had no intention of forcing her to evolve against her wishes.

She responded to his concern with another warm smile and a soft "Snivy."

Mike affectionately stroked her smooth little head before opening the Viewership Points Shop.

The appearances of Kleavor and Ursaluna had earned him five thousand Viewership Points.

Combined with the smaller amounts that continued trickling in from his older videos and the points he had already saved, he had enough to exchange for an Everstone priced at 5,888 points.

He purchased it and placed it in his System Inventory.

For now, Snivy could continue suppressing her evolution herself.

If she eventually reached a point where she could no longer comfortably hold it back, he would give her the Everstone.

And if she ever changed her mind and decided that she wanted to evolve after all, the stone wouldn’t go to waste.

He could always let Glameow carry it instead.

Knowing Glameow’s personality, Mike seriously doubted she would ever want to evolve into Purugly.

After all, if she became a Purugly, she wouldn’t be able to curl up and sleep with him the way she did now.

"Gar—!"

[Everything’s cleaned and ready!]

Gengar’s call snapped Mike out of his thoughts.

He gave Snivy’s cheeks one last affectionate squeeze before getting to his feet and heading toward the cooking station Brock had prepared.

"Coming!"

Brock handed him a spatula, and Mike immediately set a wok over the stove, poured in the oil, and began cooking with the ease of someone who had repeated the process countless times.

While Mike prepared dinner, Dawn brought Piplup and Buneary over to sit beside Snivy, happily chatting with her as they watched the activity around the campsite.

Piplup initially tried approaching Glameow, apparently hoping to make friends.

Unfortunately, he completely ignored her warning when she made it clear she didn’t want him getting too close, so Glameow eventually solved the problem by sending him flying with a single swing of her tail.

Ash, meanwhile, took Pikachu and his other Pokémon to an open area nearby for some training.

His method was relatively simple: he called out instructions while having his own Pokémon battle one another, repeatedly practicing familiar moves and combinations.

Brock remained beside Mike throughout the cooking process, assisting with ingredients and carefully asking questions whenever he noticed a technique he didn’t understand.

Mike made no attempt to hide anything from him, explaining each step in detail and answering every question as thoroughly as he could.

By the time the final dish of sweet-and-sour pork ribs came out of the wok, a familiar notification suddenly appeared before Mike’s eyes.

{Cooking Lv. 5: Food prepared by you now has a chance of attracting rare wild Pokémon. This effect applies only when cooking outdoors.}

Mike blinked in surprise.

’Huh? Reaching the maximum Cooking level gives me an additional effect?’

That was interesting, but it also raised another question.

His Photography skill had reached its maximum level ages ago, yet he had never received any special bonus from it.

’Does that mean these effects are random?’

Unable to make sense of the System’s apparent inconsistency, Mike decided not to dwell on it.

He transferred the sweet-and-sour pork ribs onto a serving platter and asked Brock to carry it to the table.