Pokemon: Spiritual Master-Chapter 499: Then Let Me Lick It for You

"Dig a hole, bury some dirt, count one, two, three, four, five..."

Johan, holding a shovel and wearing a sun hat, hummed a little tune while planting sunflower and corn seeds.

Behind him, Larvitar followed along, carrying a watering can nearly its size. Johan planted as it watered.

In the Pokémon world, the soil is fertile enough for Berries to grow wild, let alone ordinary crops. So even without fertilizer, they still thrive nicely.

But to make them grow faster and healthier, fertilizer was a must.

Johan decided to leave that task to Salt King from now on.

After all, it had nothing better to do at home. Might as well help till the soil and apply fertilizer—it wouldn't be difficult at all.

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

"Yoji~ Yoji~"

Larvitar was humming its own little tune too, though Johan couldn't make out what it was singing.

Meanwhile—

Tinkaton and Urshifu were helping build a flowerbed—or more accurately, a small planting enclosure.

After several rounds of testing, Johan had basically mastered the method of planting Ice Radishes and Shadow Radishes. The trick was to lay a thick layer of "fertilizer" under the enclosure.

Such as ice blocks and sludge.

Add in shards of Never-Melt Ice, scraps of Ghost Cloth, and other such materials, and the radishes would grow perfectly.

These radishes were favorites among Ice-type and Ghost-type Pokémon. Even those outside those types loved the radish pies made from them. Naturally, Johan wanted to grow plenty—otherwise, there wouldn't be enough to go around.

Sure enough—

Ninetales, Gengar, Dragonite, and Ceruledge were busy transporting fertilizer from the old beds to the new ones, while harvesting around forty or fifty Ice and Shadow Radishes.

Tonight's radish feast was all but confirmed.

After planting, Johan took a break and casually picked up a Shadow Radish from the ground.

It was pitch black and emitted a Ghost-type aura—an absolute favorite for Gengar, Ceruledge, and Rotom.

He brushed off the sticky black dirt clinging to it.

Then took out a tuft of black mane from his pocket—the hair of Spectrier.

"How the heck am I supposed to make a rein out of these two?" Johan frowned, rubbing his temples as he tried to relax his tired body.

"Cha."

Tinkaton, having just finished the enclosure, perked up upon hearing his muttering and ran over with its hammer in tow.

"You wanna try?"

Seeing Tinkaton's excited expression, Johan chuckled.

"Alright then."

He handed over both the black mane and the Shadow Radish.

"Cha?"

Tinkaton blinked at the materials in its hands.

It really wanted to try—but wasn't confident at all. After all, this wasn't metal. But Johan didn't hesitate even for a moment to hand them over.

"Haha." Johan squatted down and patted the little one on the head. "Who else in our house could even try making this?"

"Besides, it's just an experiment. If it works, great. If not, it's good practice. No pressure."

Even if Tinkaton really did manage to craft the "Reins of Unity," what was Johan gonna do—head off to the Crown Tundra in Galar and try to capture Spectrier?

It was a Legendary, after all.

Calyrex could tame Spectrier partly because of the Reins of Unity—and also because of its own Legendary status and power.

But Tinkaton thought differently.

Johan trusted it—so it had to succeed. It nodded seriously.

"Cha!!"

"Oh, right."

Seeing Tinkaton's determined look, Johan smiled. "Champion Peony went to investigate the Crown Tundra. Maybe he can find some info about the Reins of Unity. I'll ask him for you."

He sent Peony a message, casually inquiring about Calyrex, the Reins of Unity, and Spectrier.

Peony didn't reply immediately, but Johan wasn't worried. He just let Tinkaton take its time experimenting.

Stretching lazily—

"Whew—"

A long day.

His eyes drifted toward the newly built pool.

The early spring water was still a bit chilly,

—"Hot springs it is!" Johan called out.

The little ones, having just finished their tasks, dropped what they were doing and rushed over immediately.

"Ceruledge, fire it up!" Johan waved his hand grandly.

Perfect timing. Now that Ceruledge had evolved, it could finally go into the water—unlike Charcadet, which had to stay by the edge.

Before that, though, Ceruledge had to go under the pool to heat the water from the specially designed space below. It was a bit like... a northern brick bed.

Watching Gengar and Dragonite jump into the water first, Johan's expression turned a bit strange.

A northern brick bed?

No.

This was clearly a hot pot... with himself in it.

Ah, whatever.

Ceruledge wasn't going to keep heating the water nonstop. Once the temperature was right, they'd all soak together.

Soon enough—

Wisps of white steam curled upward, the air warming as the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon and stars appeared in the sky.

Johan leaned back against the custom-built pool wall, head resting on a towel, letting out a long breath.

On the other side—

Gengar and the rest were putting on a "Water Gun" show, playing like wild children.

As long as they didn't start doing Dragon Pulse Water Guns, it was fine... Johan thought to himself.

"Oowoo~~"

Ninetales, in its true form, paddled over and nestled beside Johan, slowly leaning back with him.

Johan smiled gently at the now-much-slimmer Ninetales.

Back when it was just a little Vulpix, bathing it was a war every time—and the water would freeze solid in seconds. A classic bath-time terror.

But now, Ninetales only showed a tiny bit of reluctance—much better.

It had accepted baths, then soaks, and now even hot springs.

The moon grew brighter, casting silver light across the water.

Ninetales snuggled into Johan's side, slowly closing its eyes, its body beginning to glow faintly—gently reflecting the moonlight.

Johan cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention.

"Story time!"

Splash—

The moment they heard it was story time, the little ones rushed over, circling around him quietly.

Even the mischievous Gengar sat quietly.

Johan felt quite proud of himself.

No matter how rowdy they got—one story could settle them all!

"Where did we leave off last time?"

"Garruu!" (Borrowing arrows with straw boats!)

"Bwooo!" (It was clearly the White Bone Demon story!)

"Ka-kaah!" (No no no, you were telling the story of the timely rain!)

"I say Old Cao fighting Zhang Xiu's auntie was the funniest one..."

Every pair of eyes turned to Salt King.

Realizing he'd said the wrong thing, Salt King quickly blub-blub-blubbed and sank under the water.

Johan: "..."

"I told you guys that many stories?"

All the little heads nodded like crazy.

"Ahem." Johan chuckled awkwardly. "Then let's pick up with..."

Time felt like it was slowing down. Every day passed slowly—but meaningfully.

Then again, it also felt like time had flown by—suddenly, more than ten days had passed!

But nothing major had happened. In Johan's eyes, that was a good thing.

He taught when there were classes. When there weren't, he took Pokémon psychology consultation requests from students or online. When he had free time, he trained the little ones, took short trips, or enjoyed a fancy meal.

Maybe his influence was spreading—he could tell that more and more people were starting to care about their Pokémon's emotional well-being.

Which Johan saw as undeniably positive.

The more people valued their Pokémon's feelings, the more they wanted to live in harmony with them.

That was a sign of real progress—and Johan was glad to contribute.

"If I can get trainers to care more about their Pokémon's true inner thoughts... maybe I should put in the effort to become Champion..."

The more famous he got, the more people would ask:

Is Professor Johan this amazing because of Pokémon psychology? Because he genuinely understands Pokémon?

Even if only a few had those thoughts—for Johan, even a spark could become a wildfire.

It was his own way of contributing to the world's progress.

"Ka-kaah~!!"

Johan, lounging on the sofa with Dragonite as his pillow and Ninetales in his arms, reading a book, heard Gengar cry out.

It was sitting in front of a computer, excitedly calling him over.

"What's got you so worked up..." Johan leaned in.

Gengar had clicked on a news article—showing faces Johan was all too familiar with.

Slender figure, stylish clothes, signature headset—wasn't that...

Roxie?!

Huh?

What was there to get excited about?

As a well-known model and the Electric-type Gym Leader of Virbank City in Unova, Johan ahem had more than a few photos of her on his old phone.

Then he looked at the title Gengar was pointing to:

"Roxie Walks the Runway in Mauville City Fashion Show"

Mauville City?

Johan blinked.

Roxie was from Unova's Virbank City. Though popular and a regular at fashion shows, this was apparently her first trip to Hoenn?

No wonder Gengar was hyped—it was one of the few who'd seen Johan's old photos on his phone.

Mauville had once been the headquarters of Greater Mauville Holdings, but after the company went bankrupt, the city's development stalled.

Luckily, Old Wattson took over as Gym Leader and slowly helped the city recover.

It was about the same size as Rustboro—and since Wattson specialized in Electric-types, it wasn't surprising he had ties to Roxie.

"Wanna go?"

Johan asked.

Gengar pointed again—this time at the words "Mauville Gourmet Plaza."

"Ka-kaah ka-kaah~~"

Johan twitched.

Of course it wasn't Roxie's runway show that got Gengar this excited—it was the food.

"Hmm... oh no, my neck's feeling sore..." Johan rubbed his neck meaningfully.

"Ka-kaah!"

Gengar floated behind him and started giving him a shoulder massage.

"Man, I'm kinda thirsty..."

"Ka-kaah!"

Gengar brought him water.

"Now I'm hungry..."

"Ka-kaah!"

Gengar came back with snacks.

"My feet are kinda sore too..."

"Ka-kaah! (▼皿▼)" Gengar pointed at him in protest.

Don't push it, old man!

"Sigh... Gourmet Plaza, huh..." Johan sighed wistfully.

"Ka-kaah..."

Gengar's eyes gleamed slyly—and it stuck out its tongue.

"You—you better not! Gengar! I'm warning you—"

Slurp—

"Ka-kaah~~~"

Heh heh heh...

Then let me lick it for you!

"Ninetales, save me!!"

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Powerstones?

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