Chapter 245

Chapter 245: Chapter 245

Meanwhile, at the police station in Rondo Town, the chief of police had called Officer Jenny into his office.

"I heard from the higher-ups that the video Professor Mike released yesterday was something you personally asked him to make. Is that right?"

The chief looked across his desk at Officer Jenny, who was sitting opposite him.

"Yes, sir," she answered with a nod. "After seeing the promotional videos that Professor Mike made for Officer Jennys in other cities, I thought it might be a good idea for us to do something similar."

She continued explaining how the arrangement had come about.

"When I met Professor Mike on Mount Coronet that day, I asked whether he’d be willing to help us make an educational video about the Pokémon in the area. He agreed to help."

"Very good. You did an excellent job!"

The chief nodded approvingly, clearly pleased with the outcome.

"League headquarters specifically praised the Rondo Town Police Department for this. They’ve taken notice of the initiative, and that’s certainly something worth being proud of."

He then turned his attention to what needed to happen next.

"Since the video has already been released, I’d like you to handle the promotional arrangements and make sure it gets the attention it deserves. We’ll be counting on you."

"Yes, sir!"

Officer Jenny immediately stood, gave him a firm salute, and left the office to carry out her assignment.

...

By the time Mike reached Froslass’s cave, he was ready to continue gathering footage.

He spent some time filming Froslass before asking her to accompany him on another search of the surrounding area.

With her knowledge of the mountain, he hoped she might be able to help him find some of the Pokémon he’d been talking about that morning.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out as he’d hoped.

They spent a good while searching the nearby slopes, but Mike never encountered any of the rarer Pokémon he wanted to film.

There were ordinary Snover wandering around, along with a few Swinub, but he couldn’t find an Abomasnow, Weavile, Glaceon, or any of the other species on his list.

It was a little disappointing, although at least he’d had another opportunity to film the Pokémon that were already living in the area.

Eventually, they returned to Froslass’s cave.

Since he’d more or less finished what he wanted to do here, Mike decided it was time to tell Froslass about his next plans.

"We’ll probably start looking for those singing Pokémon tomorrow," he said, turning toward her.

"Would you and Snorunt like to come with us?"

Froslass shook her head.

Mike accepted her answer without trying to persuade her.

"All right, that’s fine. Once we find them, we’ll probably continue heading farther up the mountain."

Froslass nodded, indicating that she understood.

"We’re still planning to stay on Mount Coronet for a while, though," Mike continued. "When we’re finished exploring the upper parts of the mountain and come back down, we’ll stop by again before we leave. I wouldn’t want to head off without saying goodbye to you two."

Froslass nodded once more.

Seeing that she understood and didn’t seem to have anything else to say, Mike decided there was no reason to keep bothering her.

He gathered Gengar and the others, then made his way toward the cave entrance.

"Well, see you later."

With that, Mike and his Pokémon left the cave and started walking back toward the Pokémon Center.

Froslass floated over to the entrance and watched them go.

She remained there as Mike and his companions made their way farther down the mountain, her gaze following their retreating figures.

Even after they had disappeared from view, she continued hovering silently at the cave entrance for a long time.

...

September 1st.

The weather was bright and sunny, making it a perfect day to explore Mount Coronet.

After packing up their belongings, Mike picked up his camera and turned toward his Pokémon with a smile.

"All right, everyone! Today we’re finally going to look for those mysterious Pokémon Gengar told us about—the ones with the beautiful singing voices." He glanced at his companions before adding cheerfully, "And while we’re there, maybe we can learn a thing or two about singing from them!"

"Gengar!"

[Yeah! Let’s do it!]

Gengar was immediately enthusiastic about the idea.

Once everything was ready, Mike led his Pokémon downstairs and stopped at the reception desk to let Nurse Joy know they were heading out.

"I’ll keep your room reserved for you," Nurse Joy assured him. "Just make sure you stay safe out there, all right?"

"Don’t worry, we will!"

Mike nodded appreciatively before taking Gengar and the others out of the Pokémon Center.

Rather than heading straight toward the mysterious canyon, they made a detour to Froslass’s cave.

Since they’d been staying in the area for several days, Mike thought it was only right to let Froslass and Snorunt know that they were leaving to explore another part of the mountain.

Froslass listened to his explanation and gave a small nod.

"Fross..."

[If anything happens, remember you can always come back to me.]

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Mike waved a hand casually, looking entirely unconcerned. "Although, if Gengar and the others can’t handle something, I doubt coming back to you would solve the problem either."

Froslass stared at him.

For a moment, she didn’t respond at all.

Then, without the slightest warning, she fired a Weather Ball directly at his feet!

Beedrill reacted instantly.

One of the sharp lances on his arms shot forward, piercing the incoming Weather Ball and bursting it apart before it could reach Mike.

"Sheesh! Someone’s in a bad mood!" Mike muttered.

Naturally, he didn’t stick around to see whether Froslass had another Weather Ball ready.

He turned on his heel and ran, taking his Pokémon with him.

Froslass watched the group retreat into the distance.

After hesitating for a moment, she glanced at Snorunt, then quietly floated out of the cave with the little Pokémon following behind her.

Instead of returning inside, the two began secretly trailing Mike’s group.

"Hattrem~"

Hattrem, who was walking beside Mike, had already detected the two Pokémon behind them with her psychic powers.

She tugged lightly at his attention and whispered a warning.

[They’re following us.]

"Oh, that’s fine," Mike replied, showing no surprise whatsoever. "She’s probably worried about us. Froslass likes to act all cold and distant, but she’s actually really caring. Just pretend we haven’t noticed and keep walking."

In Mike’s opinion, Froslass was rather similar to Snivy when it came to looking after others.

The main difference was that Snivy had never been particularly shy about showing affection, whereas Froslass preferred to maintain her cool, aloof attitude.

Thinking about that, he glanced toward Snivy, who was currently using Vine Whip to swing between the nearby trees.

Snivy noticed him looking and turned her head, giving him a gentle smile.

Mike smiled back, feeling rather pleased with himself.

’Yep. My Snivy really is the best.’

They continued through the snowy mountain forest until they reached the same area Froslass had guided them to a couple of days earlier.

Once there, Mike stopped walking and looked around for a suitable place to set up.

"Gengar, let’s get the equipment ready."

He took the drone out of his bag while Gengar immediately got to work on the accompanying equipment.

By now, the Ghost-type had become quite familiar with the process, and he connected everything together without needing any instructions.

Snivy stopped swinging through the trees and returned to Mike’s side.

After taking the tablet from him, she began operating the drone, carefully adjusting its position until the camera was pointing directly at Mike.

Once she was satisfied with the angle, she called out to let him know.

Gengar also looked toward Mike, waiting for the signal to begin.

"All right, if everything’s ready, let’s go live!"

Mike took a deep breath and adjusted his scarf, pulling it down from his face so that it rested around his neck.

"Gengar!"

Gengar promptly started the livestream and posted the link in their fan group.

The fans who’d been waiting in the group chat were quick to react.

Within moments, people began opening the link one after another, and the number of viewers in Mike’s livestream started climbing rapidly.

"Good morning, everyone!" Mike greeted the camera with a friendly smile.

Snivy glanced down at the tablet.

What she saw on the screen made her roll her eyes.

Instead of Mike’s face, the entire livestream was currently occupied by an enormous purple face grinning directly at the audience.

Snivy turned the tablet around and held it up for Mike to see.

Mike leaned closer and discovered that Gengar, wearing the knitted woolen hat Grandma had made, was happily waving at the camera as though he were the star of the show.

For a moment, Mike simply stared at the screen.

Then he walked over, squeezed his own face into the frame beside Gengar’s enormous grin, and asked with an equally cheerful smile.

"Hey, Gengar? Mind explaining something to me? If the drone’s camera is pointing at ME, why is everyone watching YOU instead?"

Gengar blinked innocently.

Rather than answering immediately, he fiddled with the equipment in his hands.

A moment later, the livestream switched over to the drone’s camera, and Mike’s face finally appeared on the screen.

"Wait a second!" Mike looked at Gengar in surprise. "You actually set up a SECOND camera for the livestream?!"

"Gaaaar~!"

[Hehe! I got Rotom to help me set it up! I noticed that everyone streaming online uses multiple camera angles, so Rotom and I decided to try it too!]

Mike looked at the drone overhead, then back at Gengar.

"Hold on. That drone has more than one camera?"

Gengar shook his head.

"Gar!"

[Dunno!]

Mike was briefly speechless.

’You don’t even know how the equipment works, and you’re already playing around with multiple camera angles?’

Just then, a message appeared in the livestream chat.

[GholdengoIsNumberOne: The drone does have multiple cameras.]

Snivy noticed the message scrolling across the tablet and read it out for Mike.

"Ohhh, so that’s how it works."

Mike nodded, finally understanding what had happened.

He asked Gengar to switch the livestream back to the proper camera angle, then cleared his throat and turned toward the audience again.

"Ahem! All right, everyone, let’s try that again. Good morning!"

[JynxIsMyWife: Oh, NOW you remember you’ve got an audience?]

Mike spotted the comment floating across the screen of the Rotom Phone hovering in front of him.

"Oh? So you’re a Jynx fan?" he asked with obvious amusement. "Well, why didn’t you say so, brother? She’s all yours!"

[hector lyng: What does that guy know?! Female Machamp are the BEST! Nothing beats a female Machamp!]

"Hmm, fair enough!" Mike nodded approvingly. "I think female Machamp are pretty great too!"

The instant those words left his mouth, he felt three distinctly unfriendly gazes settle on him.

Mike slowly turned his head.

Snivy was staring at him through narrowed eyes, her usually gentle expression replaced by an unmistakably icy glare.

Beside her, Hattrem blinked her large, pink-and-white eyes, watching him with an expression full of suspicion.

Glameow, meanwhile, had absolutely no intention of wasting time glaring at him.

Smack!

She slapped Mike right across the face!

[Akabara: WAHAHAHAHA! NICE ONE, GLAMEOW!]

[GlameowIsBest: AAAAAHHH! HOW CAN GLAMEOW BE THIS CUTE?! THERE’S NO WAY A POKéMON THIS ADORABLE SHOULD EXIST!!!]

Mike looked at Glameow, who had already withdrawn her paw into the carrier as though nothing had happened.

"Well, Glameow certainly is adorable," he admitted. "But sorry, everyone. MY Glameow is the cutest in the world!"

He then noticed the other two Pokémon still watching him.

"Of course, Hattrem and Snivy are also the cutest in the world too!" he added immediately.

[Faylan: HAHAHAHA! LOOK AT THAT SURVIVAL INSTINCT!]

[MikeImYourIdol: Mike! Mike! What’s today’s livestream going to be about? From the background, it looks like you’re somewhere on a snowy mountain!]

Mike raised an eyebrow when he read the username.

"You’re MY idol? Then what does that make me?"

After amusing himself with the question for a moment, he finally turned his attention to what the viewers had been asking.

"Anyway, the reason I’m livestreaming today is that I’ve been pretty busy lately. I haven’t had much time to film my usual videos, and I still don’t have enough footage to put together the next episode of The Wide World of Pokémon. That’s why there haven’t been many updates recently."

Mike looked directly into the camera and smiled.

"So, to make it up to everyone, I thought I’d do something a little different today. Instead of a normal video, I’m going to take you all along while we investigate a mysterious incident!"

[Juice Bro: Oh, so you DO know how long it’s been since you last uploaded anything?!]

"Hey, don’t make things up!" Mike protested. "I literally uploaded a video yesterday!"

[Professor Purple: That one doesn’t count.]

[BlackChaosNyx: A mysterious incident? What kind of incident?!]

Seeing that everyone was finally interested, Mike decided it was time to explain.

He glanced around at the snowy forest, then deliberately lowered his voice.

"Well, while I’ve been gathering footage on Mount Coronet recently, I heard a rather strange rumor. Apparently, there’s a canyon somewhere on this mountain where mysterious singing can often be heard."

Mike leaned slightly toward the camera, speaking quietly as though he were sharing a secret.

"And according to the rumor, anyone who hears that singing immediately loses awareness of what they’re doing. Without even realizing it, they start walking deeper and deeper into the canyon."

The chat began moving faster, but Mike wasn’t finished yet.

"Here’s the really strange part. People who wander into the canyon because of the singing eventually turn up outside it again. But when they wake up..."

He paused, making sure the viewers were listening.

"They can’t remember ANYTHING about what happened to them inside!"

As Mike continued his story in a deliberately hushed voice, an eerie howling noise suddenly began drifting through the livestream.

The strange sound combined with his serious tone and the snowy mountain scenery made the whole story considerably more unsettling.

Quite a few viewers found themselves growing nervous as they listened.

Mike, however, already knew exactly where the noise was coming from.

He turned his head and spotted Gengar standing nearby with his hands cupped around his mouth, enthusiastically producing the ridiculous howling sounds himself.

Mike shot him a warning glare.

Gengar immediately stopped, lowered his hands, and gave him an enormous, shameless grin.

[SnivyRoyalGuard: OH MY GOD, THAT SCARED ME! I was wondering where the creepy background music was coming from! Turns out it was just GENGAR making those noises! ...]

[Arche0n: Wait, is this actually real? Can hearing a song really make someone lose consciousness like that?]

[Randomguyno1: The way you’re describing this sounds a lot like those legendary sirens! I’ve heard stories about the waters around Alola, where people sometimes see humanlike Pokémon with fish tails. Apparently, they sing to lure fishermen out to sea, then devour them without leaving a trace!]

[Jambo: Dude, that’s obviously a Primarina! What do you mean, man-eating sirens?! There’s literally no scientific evidence for any of that!]

[Wanderingsock: Actually, speaking of strange incidents, I have a relative who experienced something similar! It was my seventh aunt’s eighth cousin’s great-grandmother’s aunt, and she...]

The discussion rapidly descended into complete nonsense.

One person started talking about sea monsters, another tried to explain everything scientifically, and several others began sharing increasingly questionable stories that had apparently happened to distant relatives.

Mike had originally intended to keep talking about the expedition, but before he knew it, he’d become completely absorbed in reading the comments.

Some of them were so ridiculous that he couldn’t bear to miss a single word.

Whenever the chat scrolled too quickly, he actually dragged the comments backward so he could finish reading whatever absurd story had caught his attention.

He was having a wonderful time.

Meanwhile, Manryo was sitting comfortably on a leather sofa, watching the livestream.

Seeing Mike staring at the comments with such an excited expression, he couldn’t resist sending a highlighted message.

[GholdengoIsNumberOne: Hey, Mike. Are you here to livestream an investigation, or did you just come to read the comment section?!]

Mike blinked when the message appeared.

Then he coughed lightly, straightened up, and adopted a perfectly serious expression.

"Ahem! I’m checking whether anyone has useful information, obviously. This is preliminary research!"

[Juice Bro: Wait, seriously? People have actually been found like that?]

[IDontWantOvertime: It’s true. League headquarters recently received reports about incidents like these on Mount Coronet. We were actually considering sending someone to investigate, but since you’ve already decided to livestream your own investigation, I’ll leave it to you.]

Mike rolled his eyes.

"Wow, Lucian. You really don’t hesitate to dump work on other people, do you?"

[Dracul91: Wait, so it really happened?! Mike, aren’t you worried it might be dangerous?]

"Don’t worry!" Mike assured them. "I’ve got Gengar and the others here to protect me."

Hearing his name, Gengar immediately puffed out his chest and gave it several enthusiastic thumps.

"Gaaaaaaar!"

[Leave it to me!]

His confident declaration earned plenty of approving reactions from the viewers.

Then another highlighted message appeared, this time from a username that nearly everyone recognized.

[ReallyWantIceCream: Sorry to trouble you with this, Mike. If anything happens, just tell us through the livestream. We’ll immediately arrange for someone to come and support you.]