Ghost-type Pokémon

Mt. Pyre, much like the Pokémon Tower in the Kanto Region, the Lost Tower in the Sinnoh Region, and the Celestial Tower in the Unova Region, was a place where the souls of deceased Pokémon were laid to rest.

It also attracted and gave rise to many Ghost-type Pokémon.

When Roy had first arrived at Mt. Pyre, Ghost-type Pokémon jumping into his face had often startled him.

But through daily contact, Roy discovered that Ghost-type Pokémon had minds of their own as well.

Sometimes, they did not mean to scare people. More often, they simply wanted to absorb the energy of fear to fill their stomachs.

That was why Ghost-type Pokémon liked scaring people, and also why some people feared Ghost-type Pokémon.

Not all Ghost-type Pokémon needed to rely on fear energy and life force to survive, either. The Ghost-type Pokémon on Mt. Pyre could all absorb the dense Ghost Power.

Like Roy's Litwick. It had originally sustained the flame atop its head by drawing in the life force, soul power, and fear power of humans and Pokémon.

Now, by absorbing the Ghost Power Roy purified every day, it could keep the flame atop its head burning just as brightly.

During that time, quite a few other Ghost-type Pokémon on Mt. Pyre had wanted to join Roy. In their eyes, Roy, who possessed Ghost Power, was like a soft, sweet succubus.

But Roy politely turned them all down. The Ghost Power he generated each day was only enough to support these two.

If there were any more, he would feel completely drained every day, suffer insomnia, and get dizzy... Definitely not kidney deficiency.

Ghost-type Pokémon seemed to have an unspoken rule among themselves: if they could absorb fear power, they would not absorb soul power or life force.

After all, fear power could be harvested continuously by casually frightening people or Pokémon. But once a human's life force was drained, that person was dead for good.

This allowed Ghost-type Pokémon and humans to form something resembling a symbiotic relationship. Otherwise, they would have long since drawn the attention of powerful humans and been wiped out.

Seen that way, they were actually safer than the Pokémon in the wild that could take your life at any moment.

At the same time, many rumors circulated in reality about Ghost-type Pokémon devouring their Trainers' life force. Those rumors were not entirely baseless, either...

In short, fueled by all sorts of rumors, Ghost-type Pokémon seemed even stranger and more obscure, like ghostly spirits in the darkness of night that made one's blood run cold. As a result, there were very few Ghost-type Trainers.

Still, the strength of Ghost-type Pokémon was beyond question. Since their debut in the first generation, Ghost types had possessed two innate immunities, rendering them immune to Fighting-type and Normal-type moves.

Of course, strength came at a price.

They lacked particularly powerful offensive moves.

It was not until later generations introduced signature moves like Astral Barrage and Phantom Force, along with the arrival of Flutter Mane, who could go toe-to-toe with anyone, that Ghost types returned to the top.

"All right, time to get to work."

Unlike the six floors in the games, Mt. Pyre in reality had ten floors in total, each lined neatly with countless tombstones.

Roy's daily task was to clean those tombstones. It was work the two elders had assigned to him.

While cleaning the tombstones, Roy discovered that his Ghost Power would slowly increase as well.

As his strength improved, Roy had unlocked the first skill within his Ghost Power not long ago: Mind Communication.

It was similar to the ability Pheobe would later gain to communicate with ghosts, and also similar to a psychic's telepathy. It allowed him to understand Pokémon language.

However, Roy's Ghost Power only allowed him to understand the thoughts of Ghost-type Pokémon.

This ability had both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was that he could appear to order his Pokémon to use Flamethrower, while the command he actually gave through Mind Communication was Hydro Pump.

It was the same principle as naming a sword, "Senior, spare me."

There were disadvantages too.

For example, a Gastly had often snuck into his room to sing for a period last year.

Roy had not gotten a single good night's sleep during that time, until Pheobe caught that Gastly—the Haunter that had just given him a Lick.

"Woo woo woo, woo woo woo."

Hearing waves of crying from nearby, Roy merely continued with his work. It was not that he was too cold-hearted; he had simply grown used to it.

Every day, many Trainers came to pay their respects, or brought their departed Pokémon here for burial.

Whenever that happened, it was time for Roy to make money. It sounded like he was profiting off the dead, and in truth, he was.

But Roy had no choice. This involved another one of his side jobs: professional burial attendant.

As a Ghost-type Trainer, Roy appeared no different in most people's eyes from the shamans and charlatans of his previous life. They all kept a respectful distance from him.

Yet when it came to burying Pokémon, they had no choice but to seek Roy out.

After all, Roy looked like the most normal person on all of Mt. Pyre, both in appearance and temperament. Unlike other Ghost-type Trainers, he did not look utterly lifeless.

Roy charged Trainers for helping bury their Pokémon. He only charged 1,000 Poké Dollars per Pokémon, a fair price for manual labor.

Roy had also offered the two elders some suggestions, such as arranging a dedicated service to increase Mt. Pyre's income.

For example, having four ghosts carry a coffin, or having Ghost-type Pokémon carry it. If several of Mt. Pyre's Gengar carried it together, there was no way Mt. Pyre would not become famous.

However, the two elders unanimously rejected the proposal. Their reason was that Mt. Pyre was only responsible for settling the souls of deceased Pokémon and did not need to make things so flashy.

The suits Roy had painstakingly prepared for Haunter and himself never got the chance to be used.

After wiping down the final tombstone on the eighth floor, Roy had completed today's work. Counting the 2,000 Poké Dollars in tips he had just earned from helping dig graves, Roy felt like even the air on the way down smelled sweet.