A Ghost in the Family Comes of Age

A Ghost in the Family Comes of Age

"Koujie, koujie—"

So bitter, so bitter!

As Gastly muttered under its breath, it gathered two clusters of ghostly blue flames beside itself and hurled them at a nearby rock from two tricky angles.

The flames exploded the instant they touched the hard stone, scattering into specks of blue light that went out completely before reaching the ground.

At the same time, they blasted a sizable crater into the rock and stained it an even darker black.

For a moment, it was hard to tell whether Gastly's mastery of Will-O-Wisp had soared because of the bitterness or the spiciness.

Jing He had long noticed that his Gastly learned quickly and grew quickly. Perhaps it was exceptionally gifted, or perhaps nearly a thousand years of slumber had allowed it to build up its strength before finally bursting forth.

At the same time, the Pokédex visible to Jing He showed Gastly's condition as "excellent."

A good condition was also an important factor in a Pokémon's growth.

It was just that he did not know why.

He had the strange feeling that Gastly was treating that rock as if it were him and venting its anger on it, making him instinctively take two steps away from Gastly.

"Koujie!"

Gritting its teeth, Gastly condensed a ghostly blue flame nearly as large as its head and slammed it heavily into the rock.

Boom!!

Sparks flew everywhere.

This use of Will-O-Wisp clearly went against the original purpose Jing He and Gastly had planned for the move.

But he chose to turn a blind eye.

Gastly needed to vent a little, after all.

Making it eat food it disliked—and its most hated bitter flavor at that—was asking quite a lot of the little fellow. Jing He had not expected it to endure it and had thought he would need to comfort it afterward.

It's grown up.

Jing He suddenly felt the satisfaction of seeing a ghost in the family come of age.

But because the Will-O-Wisp it had condensed this time was too large, the flames scattered in every direction after the explosion, and quite a few landed directly in the surrounding grass.

"Gastly!"

Now Jing He had no choice but to intervene.

If this caused a forest fire, getting invited by Officer Jenny for a chat would be the least of his problems.

"Koujie!"

Fortunately, Gastly still knew its limits and immediately extinguished several of the more dangerous clusters of flame.

But just as it was about to put out a patch that did not seem likely to spread, it heard Jing He suddenly shout:

"Watch out!"

Huh? Though it did not know what was happening, trusting Jing He, Gastly quickly retreated at once.

"Cha!!"

A black shadow shot out from the grass! It was a grim, enormous serpent! Its body was covered in glossy black scales, with sections embedded in golden armor-like plating. Several savage scars crossed its body, and it had sharp crimson fangs and a blade-like tail.

A Poison-type Pokémon, a Hachisnake—cough, a Seviper! But this Seviper was not in very good shape.

One of the Will-O-Wisps Gastly had scattered while venting had happened to land on it.

As a result, a patch on its head had been scorched black, and it had fallen into the abnormal Burn status.

The reason Jing He had spotted it was that when Seviper launched its attack, he happened to see its Pokédex entry.

Seviper

Type: Poison-type

Ability: Shed Skin

Known moves: Bind, Swagger, Bite, Lick, Poison Tail, Feint, Screech, Glare, Poison Fang

Mood: Angry, embarrassed (it had finally found prey and wanted to ambush it)

Status: Good, Burn (ongoing damage caused by Will-O-Wisp)

Friendship: -50 (you had long since become its target)

So, the commotion caused by Gastly training its moves had drawn Seviper over. It had lurked nearby, waiting for an opportunity, only to accidentally get hit by Gastly's Will-O-Wisp.

"Cha!!"

Seviper's eyes reddened as it stared fixedly at Jing He, its body taut as a fully drawn bowstring.

Clearly, Gastly was not on its menu.

"Koujie!"

Noticing Seviper's target, Gastly's expression gradually turned hostile as well.

Suddenly.

Whoosh—

Seviper shot forward, heading straight for Jing He. Its body was like an arrow, incredibly fast!

"Gastly, Confuse Ray!"

Jing He remained calm. Rather than retreating, he gave his command.

In his view, Seviper focusing on him was actually a good thing. It would let Gastly perform better.

"Koujie!"

Gastly gave a strange laugh. A small sphere flickering with bizarre light appeared before it, then swiftly shot toward Seviper.

Though the glowing orb looked slow and its trajectory was difficult to predict, it was not slow at all.

But this Seviper seemed to be an experienced hunter. Sensing the threat from Gastly, it suddenly halted, causing the Confuse Ray that had predicted its slithering path to miss.

At that moment, Seviper realized that unless it dealt with Gastly, it might not be able to catch its prey.

So its body coiled up once more, red light glowing over it as it glared furiously at Gastly in an intimidating stance, looking ready to attack again at any moment.

Swagger!

"Gastly, go underground."

Yet before Seviper could lock onto Gastly's position, Gastly gave a "jie jie" laugh and sank beneath the ground.

This left Seviper, which rarely encountered Ghost-type Pokémon, somewhat stunned.

Suddenly.

"Koujie—"

Gastly's voice came from behind it.

Seviper whipped around, foul purple light gleaming over its sharp crimson fangs—Poison Fang!

But what it saw was a face swollen several times larger, with an incomparably gloomy and terrifying expression.

Astonish!

Overwhelming fear filled its heart.

Seviper's movements instantly froze.

Then, it seemed to see spiraling patterns in those eyes. Seviper's eyelids began to droop, and its body gradually went limp.

Hypnosis! But this Hypnosis Gastly used was vastly different from the Hypnosis it had used on Flannery's Houndour. This was a Hypnosis Jing He had refined through guidance.

"It's afraid of Zangoose," Jing He reminded it.

Seviper and Zangoose were natural enemies.

"Koujie!"

Gastly suddenly understood.

It had seen Zangoose before.

Thus.

In its groggy state, Seviper vaguely seemed to see a Zangoose charging toward it. It almost instinctively wanted to fight back.

But before it could make a move.

It realized something else.

That was not just one Zangoose!

There were hundreds of Zangoose, surging toward it like a tide.

"Cha, cha!!"

Bang! Seviper collapsed heavily to the ground.

Its body twitched without stopping.

Foam spilled from the corners of its mouth.

A faint white light appeared around its body, and the signs of Burn were removed by its Shed Skin Ability.

But it still could not wake from its deep sleep.

Because what it had suffered was not merely simple Hypnosis, but even deeper psychological trauma.

In this kind of situation, if one had strong willpower or no natural enemy or weakness, it might be manageable. But if it had a natural enemy, a weakness, and that weakness was known...

Seeing Seviper lose its ability to fight, Jing He glanced around.

Have we gotten a little too far from town if we're already running into wild Pokémon?

"It's time to head back. Let's go, Gastly."

He turned and headed toward Lavaridge Town.

"Koujie—"

Gastly, having returned to its normal size, hurriedly followed after him.

After Seviper's little interruption, the little fellow's resentment had mostly faded, and it felt much better.

"Koujie?"

Weren't they going to do anything about it? Gastly could not help asking.

"It'll probably hide for at least three or four months before it dares leave again. Consider it a lesson," Jing He said with a smile.

After seeing so many Zangoose at once, it would probably find them in its nest even in its dreams.

"Jie jie~~"

Gastly joined in with a wicked laugh.

It looked back at Seviper twitching on the ground, narrowing its "dangerous" eyes slightly.

Then it licked its lips.

Did it think it could treat Jing He as food and get off that easily? About half an hour later, Seviper slowly woke up. Its body was still twitching instinctively. It abruptly widened its eyes and, only after finding no Zangoose nearby, let out a long breath.

But the next second.

"Chaaa!!!"

Seviper's miserable cry rang throughout the area.

Where were its fangs?!