Watch Your Back!

Watch Your Back!

"Koujie, Koujie—"

Inside the consultation room.

Jing He sat behind his desk, explaining his understanding while recording Gastly's condition.

From his perspective, there really did not seem to be anything wrong with Gastly.

He had also gained a basic understanding of Gastly's strength.

Overall, Gastly had indeed learned quite a few moves, but its mastery of them was truly... worrying.

Still, Jing He felt he had plenty of time to train and raise it. After all, as a Pokémon Psychology instructor, even once the academy began, he would still have plenty of free time. Days like today, where he was busy from morning until night, were genuinely rare.

Of course, although Jing He had been a veteran Pokémon enthusiast in his previous life, his understanding of Pokémon had been limited to two-dimensional and three-dimensional images. He only knew their moves' effects and combinations, so there were undoubtedly considerable differences from reality.

So it was not just Gastly that needed to learn. He also needed to learn how to raise a Ghost-type Pokémon.

Inside the apartment.

One human and one Pokémon were curled up on the sofa, intently watching the footage playing on an old laptop.

"See that? That's how Ghost-type Pokémon battle."

On the screen was a match from the thirty-fourth Silver Academy Championship, between a trainer skilled in using Ghost-type Pokémon and another skilled in using Ice-type Pokémon.

And the Pokémon used by the Ghost-type specialist was Haunter, Gastly's evolved form.

Gastly blinked twice. Mist formed into a hand and blankly pointed at Haunter on the screen, lying on the ground frozen into a block of ice.

"Koujie?"

But it lost.

"Ahem." Jing He coughed awkwardly. "That was because its opponent was too strong. Its battle style itself wasn't the problem."

The Pokémon that had defeated Haunter on screen was a Lapras.

Lapras's trainer was a tall, delicate-looking girl with long orange-red hair, glasses, and a short skirt.

Her name was Lorelei! One of the future Kanto Elite Four!

Jing He thought it was perfectly normal for Haunter to lose to her.

In fact, the trainer who used Ghost-type Pokémon had once been somewhat famous at Silver Academy as well.

"Koujie—"

Oh—

Gastly nodded as if it understood.

Jing He turned off the video. Under his search for "Ghost-type Pokémon Battle," there were still many more results.

"Look through them yourself first. I'm going to cook."

After placing the laptop on the coffee table, he put on an apron and headed into the kitchen.

Before long, the sound of stir-frying could be heard.

"Koujie~~"

Gastly floated in front of the computer, its gaze sweeping back and forth over the screen. It quickly learned how Jing He operated the mouse.

With a serious expression, it finally selected a video that appeared to have an extremely high view count.

"Agatha: Fear Is Me"

The moment it clicked on the video and saw Gengar, Gastly's eyes lit up.

But as it kept watching, its gaze gradually became vacant. "Kou... Koujie?"

So it could be used like that?!

It was utterly stunned! When Jing He had simply stir-fried two dishes and removed his apron, preparing to call Gastly over for dinner, he saw it staring fixedly at the screen, its eyes nearly pressed against it.

"Watching that seriously?" Jing He asked with a smile as he walked over.

At the same time.

In the video, an old woman leaned on a cane. Her hair was golden-gray, her complexion dull, and her voice hoarse and low. With a sinister expression, she said:

"The strengths of Ghost-type Pokémon lie in their speed and cunning. You must make full use of them."

"Koujie! Koujie!"

Gastly nodded repeatedly in wholehearted agreement.

"Fighting head-on is child's play. Always remember: if a Ghost-type Pokémon can launch a sneak attack from behind, do not face the enemy directly. If it can stay in the dark, do not remain in the light."

"Koujie? Koujie!"

Sneak attacks from behind? Fighting in the dark?

It understood!

Gastly looked as though it had suddenly been enlightened.

Agatha?

When Jing He saw the video Gastly was watching, he was somewhat stunned.

And what she was teaching... "Even the brightest day will eventually welcome night. Even if you light up the darkness, shadows will still lurk nearby. Dance among the shadows, and on nights when cold winds blow, be especially wary of what is behind you."

Jing He: "..."

Why did this sound more and more wrong?

"Gastly," he called.

"Koujie!"

Hearing a voice from behind, Gastly jolted and spun around. Only after seeing Jing He did it let out a long breath, though the churning black mist showed it had not calmed down so quickly.

"Koujie."

That scared the ghost out of me.

The exhaling Gastly suddenly froze.

Was this... the power that came from "behind"?

"What's wrong?" Jing He waved a hand in front of it.

"Kou... Koujie—"

Gastly came back to its senses and repeatedly indicated that it was fine.

One human and one Pokémon came to the dining table.

"Koujie?"

Gastly sniffed the delicious aroma, looking delighted, but a trace of confusion flashed across its face.

Aside from the smell of food, there seemed to be another scent? "Tomorrow, I'll buy you some Energy Cubes." Jing He did not notice Gastly's oddness and continued speaking to himself.

Energy Cubes?

Gastly looked overjoyed.

While watching videos today, it had heard the term "Energy Cubes" more than once.

Jing He did not think there was much wrong with Gastly's condition. He guessed that its long slumber might have left it somewhat malnourished, so he would buy some Energy Cubes tomorrow to replenish it. If it still did not improve, then they could only go to the Pokémon Center.

Besides, if he wanted to raise a Pokémon, Energy Cubes were ultimately necessary.

After all, ordinary food could only provide Pokémon with basic nutrition. It was enough for simple survival, but if they wanted to grow... that level of nourishment was far from enough.

Fortunately, the original owner had worked for half a year and saved up some money. It should be enough to keep us going for a while.

He had deliberately checked the balance in his bank account today. It was a reassuring five-figure sum.

But it would be best to find a way to earn some extra money.

He already had a general direction in mind.

"Koujie!"

Focused entirely on eating, Gastly cried out happily and swept through the food on the table like a whirlwind. Anyone who did not know better would think it had not eaten in centuries.

After dinner.

Jing He went to the desk.

He tried to search online for advice on raising Ghost-type Pokémon, especially Pokémon like Gastly.

For other trainers, this might have been a very troublesome and tedious task, but for him, it was not particularly difficult.

Especially when he ignored the simple picture and video content altogether, entered the researchers' forum directly, and searched through the countless densely packed papers.

After several searches and a bit of browsing, he quickly found a relatively old paper.

"A Brief Discussion on Training Ghost-type Pokémon"—Professor Oak.

"Uh... reasonable."

Jing He had not expected the author of this paper to be the famous Pokémon authority, Professor Oak.

But when he thought of the relationship between Professor Oak and Agatha... Those who came before planted the trees; those who came after enjoyed the shade.

He opened the paper and recorded the information he needed while reading through it.

"Koujie~~"

Seeing Jing He studying so earnestly, Gastly's eyes rolled around as a hint of slyness appeared on its face.

It quietly floated toward the kitchen.

Click.

Carefully, it turned on a switch.

Hiss—whoosh—

"Gastly?"

Without realizing it, more than two hours had passed by the time Jing He finished reading the paper.

A beam of pure white light passed through clouds like black velvet and shone through the window onto the desk.

Jing He stretched lazily, feeling that he had gained a great deal.

When he turned around and failed to spot Gastly, he called out.

"Koujie—"

Gastly floated out of the wall with an awkward grin.

"Burp—"

It suddenly burped and hurriedly clamped its mouth shut.

()

"You seem..." Jing He looked the little fellow over from top to bottom, then said in surprise, "fatter?"

As a gaseous Pokémon, Gastly had no fixed size, but Jing He still felt as though it had grown noticeably rounder.

Gastly, its mouth tightly shut, shook its head repeatedly, its eyes angled forty-five degrees upward.

Was it?

No, right?

It was an illusion.

How could that movement escape Jing He's eyes?

But he was tired, so Jing He did not pursue the matter. Instead, he asked:

"Before bed, do you want to watch a thrilling movie?"

"Koujie!"

Gastly instinctively shouted. Its mouth opened, and a cloud of gas immediately drifted out.

"What's that smell?" Jing He frowned.

Gas?

Realizing what had happened, Gastly hurriedly inhaled hard, and the smell became much fainter.

Gastly was a thin gaseous life-form, so the gas must have come from it.

Jing He did not think much of it and merely said, "Turn off the lights."

Click.

The lights dimmed.

In the darkness, the computer screen glowed faintly.

One human and one Pokémon leaned close to the computer and clicked on a movie—

"The Secret Between Me and Misdreavus"

"Gastly!!"

Early the next morning, Jing He went into the kitchen to make breakfast. Looking at the gas meter, whose needle had already dropped to zero, veins bulged on his forehead.

He finally knew what Gastly had secretly gone into the kitchen to do last night! "Kou... Koujie..."

If I said it ran out by itself, would you believe me?

Gastly blinked its large eyes with an utterly serious expression.

(,,,,