The Pinker the Color, the Harder It Hits

Wrapping the little Gengar in his clothes, Xingye mounted Cyclizar and headed home. Before long, the rain finally began to ease.

Riding a Pokémon in the rain was indeed especially inconvenient. Even with his riding talent, he could not avoid getting his clothes splashed wet, and he still had to hold an umbrella. That was how he had been ambushed and knocked over that morning.

Nothing happened along the way, so his luck was not bad. When he returned to Kabukicho, Meowth and the others unusually did not chase after him.

When that bunch was short-handed, they really would not chase him directly. In a sense, after a month and a half, they had gotten somewhat familiar with each other...

Rain did not have much impact on Kabukicho's business. Most of its residents were wild Pokémon and had long grown used to getting rained on.

On the way back, Xingye also realized that Gengar had quite a serious problem. Other than crying out a couple times, it seemed unable to do anything else, like a sound-effect toy.

"You can't move at all, can you?"

"Gengar..."

"Just as I thought... That's a little troublesome. But I have the all-knowing, all-powerful Boss Slowking here. It can definitely help you solve this."

Xingye had not expected the little thing to be like this. No wonder it had stayed inside the claw machine and refused to come out. Since it could not move, it naturally felt safer in there...

The izakaya had good business today. Plenty of Pokémon came out for drinks in rainy weather, and familiar customers like Machoke and Gurdurr were there as well. Xingye smiled and greeted them.

"Alola~"

"Gah~ Ma-Machoke~"

Over this period of time, he had helped some Pokémon solve their troubles through the izakaya.

Of course, he had also gained some Friendship Talents, but they were mostly everyday skills, like increasing his speed at mixing concrete... They ensured that if he ran out of material for his videos, he could still scrape together a living at a construction site.

But the results had been too poor. Between school and work, he simply did not have much time to build good relationships with Pokémon. However, he had saved up almost enough money by now, so it was time to get started.

Seeing him suddenly appear, Slowking, who had been chatting with customers, glanced over and shouted helplessly, "Do you get beaten up every time you go out? Hurry up and pay your rent. Don't end up unable to come back one day."

"I won't pay until the last day. Without some urgency, I don't even have the motivation to make money. Besides, I suddenly have this feeling that I might be about to evolve into a Super Alolan!"

"The fact that you're still hopping around like this means you already are one. So you're here to mooch a meal again? This is a bar. Go to Nae-chan's place if you want food, okay?"

"It takes several minutes to walk there. Downstairs is more convenient."

As he spoke, Xingye walked over and sat at the bar, then placed Gengar on top of it and continued, "Here, take a look at this."

"What is there to look at in a doll... Hm?"

Before Slowking could finish, it instantly noticed something strange. Picking Gengar up, its goofy expression turned to surprise as it said, "This is the real deal. Did the soul of a dead human turn into a Pokémon? That's pretty rare, though not unheard of."

"Huh?"

"This happens more often with Ghost-types and Psychic-types, though there are exceptions. For example, there was a construction worker who passed out from exhaustion after mixing concrete all night, then woke up as a Conkeldurr."

"That's terrifying! Even after turning into a Pokémon, he still had to keep mixing concrete? The fate of construction workers..."

Xingye blurted out the complaint instinctively, but quickly realized that was not the important part and hurriedly asked, "You're saying Gengar was formed from a human soul?"

"Yeah."

Slowking pinched the doll and continued, "I can't tell how old the soul was when it was alive, but it died a long time ago, and its memories are long gone. It probably hazily attached itself to this doll and developed a new consciousness. Look, this tag even has a production date."

"That's its birthday!"

Xingye snatched Gengar back, then instinctively glanced at the tag near its tail. Its birthday was exactly one week before Halloween. In other words, this Gengar was not even a month old yet? It was a baby!

"Gengar?"

Gengar could not understand what they were talking about. Its face was currently full of confusion and curiosity, and Xingye noticed the change in its expression. It was no longer just that eternally unchanged smile.

"Is it adapting to its body?"

"Probably. The soul fused with the doll, but it hasn't completely adapted to its new body yet."

Slowking truly lived up to its self-proclaimed title of all-knowing and all-powerful. It genuinely understood these things. Xingye held Gengar in both hands. With its pink body and little dress, the more he looked at it, the cuter it became. He would take it back and wash it later.

"Then don't rush. Just adapt slowly. By the way, do dolls eat..."

Just as Xingye voiced his question, a panel suddenly appeared before him, complete with a reward effect that caught him off guard.

[Obtained Doll Gengar's Friendship: Pink, Super Powerful (When holding an item or using contact attacks, damage is massively increased, but damage from ranged attacks is reduced. Exclusive to Doll Gengar)]

"???"

Seeing the reward that seemed to have popped up late, Xingye was utterly dumbfounded. It was truly too unexpected, and this talent...

"Pokémon-exclusive?"

He had not expected that besides the special Friendship Talents obtained due to differences in identity and status, he could actually obtain exclusive Friendship Talents through special Pokémon!

And what was this effect supposed to be? A melee Gengar? Why was it reversed? Was it supposed to use Farmer's Three Punches? And what did holding an item mean?

Xingye did not understand. This had touched upon another one of his blind spots in knowledge. He clearly called himself a Pokémon scholar, so why could he not understand any of this?

However, after gaining Friendship, he could inspect its information. That was at least...

[Pokémon: Gengar (Doll)]

[Type: Ghost + Fairy]

[Height/Weight: 0.31 m/1.6 kg]

[Abilities: Levitate (can leave the ground and fly in the air)/Fluffy (damage from contact moves is halved, but damage from Fire-type moves is doubled)]

[Move: Shadow Punch]

[Status: Doll (A lost soul entered a doll's body, and at that moment, something unbelievable happened. They actually fused into one and truly became a Pokémon. Amazing, right?), Not Yet Adapted (Because its body's former self was a doll, after fusing together, it cannot skillfully control it yet and therefore finds it difficult to move)]

"Why do you have two abilities?! Are you Calyrex? One for the ghost and one for the doll, and this typing..."

Xingye stared in utter shock. This kid... might just become a one-punch super ghost!

But the talent had to be equipped and used only after he caught it. In other words, if he wanted Gengar to one-shot someone with a punch, he still had to become its Trainer first!

"Gengar?"

Gengar did not know why this guy's gaze toward it had changed, but it somehow felt like something was about to happen...

Xingye gently placed it on the bar, then asked seriously, "Little Gengar, do you want to become my Pokémon? Like Cyclizar."

"Gengar?"

Gengar looked toward Cyclizar, which was once again patting Slowpoke's tail, then did not think too much about it. With a happy expression, it replied, "Gengar~"

"Okay!"

Having received its agreement, Xingye took out a Poké Ball he had bought long ago and put Gengar inside. Watching the red-and-white ball shake in his hand, he smiled and said softly, "Don't worry. It doesn't matter if you don't understand anything. We'll take good care of you!"

The moment he finished speaking, the Poké Ball made the sound of a successful capture. He was just about to celebrate when he suddenly noticed Ceruledge standing not far away, coldly watching them. It seemed to have some objections.

"I didn't bully a Pokémon!"

Xingye instinctively panicked. It could be said that in the nearly two months since coming to this world, Ceruledge was the only thing he feared. He was simply scared of it.

"..."

Ceruledge did not speak, but Slowking seemed to understand what it meant and said, "It can help Gengar quickly adapt to its body. Ghost-type Pokémon are highly compatible with each other's spiritual energy."

"Really..."

Xingye was a little surprised. He then let Gengar out, and judging from its expression, the little one seemed not to like the feeling of staying inside a Poké Ball.

"Gengar?"

Gengar stared at Ceruledge as it suddenly approached. After freezing for a moment, its expression immediately turned frightened as well.

But as a surge of spiritual energy swept over it, its hands finally seemed able to move. The other parts of its body could move too, and it could even blink its eyes...

"Gengar!"

Waving its still-unfamiliar body, Gengar instantly became excited. It could finally move! At the same time, some kind of power seemed to well up within it, as though one punch could knock out ten Magikarp!

Seeing this, Xingye, who had just equipped the talent, shouted gratefully at Ceruledge, "Thanks~"

"..."

Ceruledge ignored him and turned to leave. Xingye was already used to its aloofness, though, and continued looking at Gengar. "Now that you can move, let's first test your body's mobility!"

"Gengar!"

Gengar also wanted to move around and get familiar with its body faster. Xingye likewise wanted to see how effective its punches were and whether they were truly powerful, so he began looking for a target.

Cyclizar was out. Shadow Punch could not hit it. As for the other Pokémon nearby, he could not hit any of them either. It looked like he could only use himself.

"It's just a baby, and a doll at that. Its damage is probably soft and squishy right now. Let's see whether it can knock me back with all its strength..."

That was what Xingye thought. After receiving his confirmation, Gengar did as he said, leaping up and throwing a fierce punch. Then, a figure flew backward...

Boom—

Looking at a certain someone twitching in the rain on the street after smashing through the door, Slowking shouted, "Hey! I still have business to run! Don't die in front of my shop! I'm putting the repair costs on your tab!"