Chapter 234

Chapter 234: Chapter 234

After quickly tidying the cooking area, Mike joined everyone at the dining setup.

Ash and the others were already staring at the food with such anticipation that they looked ready to start drooling at any moment.

Mike brought his palms together and smiled.

"All right, everyone. Let’s eat!"

"Thanks for the food!"

Ash immediately picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of pork rib, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Hss—! Hot! Hot! That’s hot!"

He desperately fanned his mouth with one hand, but despite how badly the food burned his tongue, he absolutely refused to spit it out.

Dawn was considerably more graceful than Ash, although she was so absorbed in enjoying her own meal that she barely paid any attention to his suffering.

Brock, meanwhile, took the time to sample every dish Mike had prepared.

As he tasted the different flavors and considered the techniques involved, a deeply impressed expression appeared on his face.

’Compared with Mr. Mike, I still have a lot of room to improve. I’ll have to keep practicing.’

Interestingly enough, the Pokémon were displaying better table manners than Ash.

Even Gengar, who had always been extremely enthusiastic about food, made sure to swallow each mouthful before taking another bite.

He certainly ate quickly, but he never stuffed more into his mouth before finishing what was already there.

If even the notoriously gluttonous Gengar could behave himself at dinner, then it went without saying that Snivy and the others, who were much more conscious of their appearances, were eating with considerable elegance.

Mike was occupied peeling shrimp for Glameow.

Once he had removed the shells, he placed the tender shrimp into her bowl and gently said, "Here you go. Eat up."

Glameow lowered her head and began eating.

Mike finally picked up his own chopsticks, intending to start his dinner, only to discover several neatly peeled shrimp already sitting in his bowl.

He looked to his other side in surprise.

Hattrem was sitting beside him with a sweet smile

She carefully finished peeling another shrimp with her small hands and placed it in Mike’s bowl before giving him an affectionate little cry.

"Hattrem~"

Glameow immediately raised her head.

Her crystal-blue eyes shifted toward Hattrem, who was sitting on the opposite side of Mike.

She said nothing.

Hattrem simply returned her gaze with the same sweet, innocent smile.

Beside them, Snivy continued taking small, elegant bites of her dinner.

Her eyes moved back and forth between Glameow and Hattrem, and although she didn’t say a word, the amused curve at the corners of her eyes made it perfectly clear how much she was enjoying the situation.

Caught between Glameow and Hattrem, Mike looked across the table and silently begged Snivy for help.

Unfortunately, she was far too busy enjoying the entertainment to rescue him.

Mike glared at her.

Big Sis Snivy innocently spread both hands before giving him another playful wink.

Having been thoroughly abandoned by the most dependable member of his team, Mike turned toward the two brothers in the hope that one of them might offer some assistance.

Gengar and Beedrill, however, had apparently decided that nothing outside their dinner existed.

Neither showed the slightest interest in Mike’s predicament, remaining completely focused on their food.

As for Rotom...

Forget it.

He might as well let Rotom finish eating and then switch the phone off.

Realizing that none of his Pokémon intended to help him, Mike could only lower his head and concentrate on his meal.

Between Glameow’s persistent stare and Hattrem’s cheerful little cries, he somehow managed to finish dinner despite the increasingly uncomfortable atmosphere.

When Mike finally looked up again, everyone else had already finished eating as well.

"Well, same arrangement as usual," he announced. "I’ll leave cleaning the dishes and cookware to you guys."

"Leave it to us!" Dawn volunteered, raising her hand.

"Piplup! Piplup!"

Dawn and Piplup followed Brock toward the lakeshore to wash the cookware, while Mike remained seated to relax and let his dinner settle.

Ash rubbed his now comfortably rounded stomach.

After such an enormous meal, he felt completely revitalized, and it wasn’t long before he came running over to Mike with a familiar expression of excitement.

"Mr. Mike! Please battle me!"

Mike glanced at him. "Come challenge me after you’ve beaten Paul."

"I’m definitely going to beat him the next time we meet!" Ash declared, clenching his fist with absolute confidence.

"You say that every time." Mike waved him away without sympathy. "Come talk to me once you’ve actually done it."

"Oh... all right."

Ash immediately deflated.

"Now, go help Brock and Dawn wash the dishes. Right now."

Mike pointed toward the lakeshore.

"YES, SIR!"

Ash answered at the top of his lungs before running off with Pikachu.

He hurried over to Dawn and crouched beside her to help clean the remaining dishes.

Mike rubbed his ear, which was still tingling from the sheer volume of Ash’s response.

’Does that guy really need to be so damn loud?’

By the time Ash and the others finished cleaning up, Snivy and Gengar had already erected the tents they would be sleeping in that night.

...

Night gradually settled over the campsite.

Mike lay on a blanket outside his tent with both hands folded behind his head, gazing quietly at the stars scattered across the dark sky.

Not far from him, Glameow was playing with her favorite red ball of yarn.

Every so often, the Soothe Bell around her neck produced a soft, pleasant chime as she chased and pawed at the yarn.

Snivy and Hattrem lay on either side of Mike, keeping him company as the three of them watched the stars together.

A short distance away, Gengar had gathered an audience around the campfire.

Beedrill, Rotom, Pikachu, Piplup, Croagunk, and several of the others sat in a circle while he recounted his experiences at the Old Chateau.

This time, however, he wasn’t telling one of his usual heroic adventure stories.

He had decided to tell a ghost story.

Gengar lowered his voice until it became a sinister whisper.

"Garrr..."

[Did you know there are ghosts inside the Old Chateau? They never say anything, but they’re always watching you. No matter where you go, they follow without making a sound, and sometimes... they lean close enough to breathe cold air against the back of your neck...]

Piplup was already trembling as he clung tightly to Pikachu.

Even Pikachu, who was usually remarkably courageous, had his fur standing on end, with little yellow sparks occasionally jumping from the electric sacs on his cheeks.

There was no denying that Gengar’s storytelling talents were strangely inconsistent.

When he attempted to tell heroic adventures, the results were often so terrible that they were almost impossible to listen to.

But when it came to ghost stories, he might as well have been an entirely different Pokémon.

Not only could he describe frightening events with remarkable vividness, but he also knew exactly how to create an atmosphere that made his audience’s imagination do half the work.

For instance, as the Pokémon around the fire unconsciously leaned closer together to hear him, Gengar slowly lifted a burning branch and positioned it above their heads.

The shifting light cast his enormous shadow over the entire group, while he continued whispering in a rasping, ghostly voice.

Every so often, a suspiciously cold breeze would brush against the backs of his listeners’ necks.

The blue-purple flames, the grotesque shadows dancing across the ground, the intermittent cold drafts, and Gengar’s increasingly sinister narration combined to make the campsite feel as though something truly supernatural was lurking nearby.

Then, without warning, a hand landed on Pikachu’s head.

Pikachu froze.

For a fraction of a second, he could only stare in horror.

"PIKAAAA!!!"

A tremendous electric discharge erupted from his body and struck the person standing directly behind him.

Mike jerked upright on his blanket, his eyes widening as he watched Ash take the full force of a Thunderbolt.

Ash’s entire body stiffened, and for several seconds he remained frozen in place with one hand still extended in the exact position he had been using to pat Pikachu’s head.

A moment later, however, he recovered as though nothing had happened.

Ash casually exhaled a puff of black smoke, revealing a brilliant set of white teeth as he grinned.

"Pikachu, what’s wrong? Why’d you suddenly use Thunderbolt? Did you want to do some training?"

Pikachu had initially been about to check whether Ash was hurt, but after hearing that last question, he could only roll his eyes helplessly.

"Pika..."

[I really should’ve expected that...]

Mike slowly closed his mouth, which had been hanging open throughout the entire spectacle, and shuddered.

’There it is. The legendary superhuman from Pallet Town!’

Apparently, getting hit by Thunderbolt was nothing more than a convenient method of strengthening Ash’s body.

If Mike tried taking that same attack directly, he was fairly certain he would end up covered in bruises, assuming he remained conscious at all.

He shivered again before lying back down on his blanket.

’Forget it. I’m just going to lie here and try to sleep.’

Piplup had also abandoned the campfire, fleeing straight into Dawn’s arms and burying his face tightly against her chest.

Beedrill and Croagunk, on the other hand, looked as though they would have happily listened to more stories.

Unfortunately, Ash’s interruption had completely destroyed the terrifying atmosphere Gengar had worked so hard to establish, leaving him with no desire to continue.

Gengar returned the burning branch to the campfire and headed toward the tent with Beedrill.

Once there, he picked up his little bamboo basket and thin bamboo staff, then asked Mike to attach the portable cameras to both him and Beedrill.

With their equipment secured, the two brothers disappeared into the forest together.

"Um... Mr. Mike..."

Dawn’s voice sounded somewhat shaky.

Mike turned toward her. "What’s wrong?"

Still clutching Piplup in her arms, Dawn pointed toward the blue-purple campfire burning in the clearing and swallowed nervously.

"Are we really going to leave that kind of fire burning all night?"

The strange flames cast their eerie glow across the surrounding campsite.

From a distance, the place looked less like a group of Trainers camping outdoors and more like a gathering of ghosts.

The effect was so unsettling that not a single wild Pokémon dared approach the clearing.

"If you’ve watched my livestreams or The Wide World of Pokémon carefully, you should already know that one of the most important things when camping outdoors is keeping a campfire burning," Mike explained.

"Fire helps drive away certain wild Pokémon, particularly Bug types, and makes the campsite safer at night."

"I-I know that, but..." Dawn stared at the flames. "Doesn’t the color seem a little...?"

Mike looked toward the campfire, which had been ignited using Will-O-Wisp.

The more he examined the blue-purple flames, the more he felt they actually had a rather beautiful quality.

"It’s fine," he assured her with a casual wave of his hand.

"...All right."

Dawn sighed helplessly and hugged Piplup a little closer.

She was beginning to regret letting her curiosity get the better of her earlier.

If she hadn’t listened to Gengar’s terrifying story, she might not have been nearly so frightened now.

Unfortunately, after hearing that tale, sitting beside a ghostly blue-purple campfire was doing absolutely nothing to help her nerves.

Mike turned his attention toward Brock instead.

"By the way, Brock, when did you join my fan group? I didn’t even know you were in there."

"I joined on the very first day the group was created," Brock answered honestly. "I’ve always enjoyed watching your videos, Mr. Mike."

"Oh, so that’s how it is." Mike grinned. "But you’ve never said anything in the group, have you? You’re one of those people who just lurks and reads everything, huh?"

Brock’s cheeks immediately turned red, and he wisely chose not to answer.

"What group?" Ash asked, his curiosity instantly aroused.

"Mr. Mike’s fan group," Brock explained.

"A fan group?" Ash’s eyes lit up. "Are there lots of strong Trainers in there?"

"Uh... from what I know, Champion Cynthia and Elite Four Lucian are members. Steven Stone is in there too," Brock replied after thinking for a moment.

"Really?!" Ash practically jumped with excitement. "Can you invite me too? Please!"

"Me too!" Dawn immediately raised her hand.

Seeing how enthusiastic they were, Mike took out his phone and added both of them to the group.

They continued chatting for a while longer, but eventually Mike began to feel sleepy.

He covered his mouth as another yawn escaped, then stood and gathered Glameow, Hattrem, and the others before heading toward his tent.

"It’s getting late, so I’m going to sleep. Good night, everyone."

He stopped at the entrance and looked back toward Ash, Dawn, and Brock.

"Good night, Mr. Mike," Dawn replied politely.

Mike nodded, stepped inside the tent, and settled down for the night.

...

By midnight, the campsite had become completely quiet.

The blue-purple campfire had burned low and was on the verge of going out when a dark figure quietly emerged from the surrounding bushes.

Gengar set down his little basket, approached the fading fire, and added a few pieces of wood to keep it burning.

Once he was satisfied that the flames would last a while longer, he collected his belongings and returned to the trees with Beedrill.

The two settled comfortably against the trunk of a tree, and Gengar rested with his thin bamboo staff held close against his body.

Before long, his eyes had drifted shut.

The rest of the night passed without incident.