“Ko-gee, ko-gee—”
Inside the counseling office, Nathan Hale sat behind his desk, explaining his understanding of Gastly’s moves while recording notes on its condition.
From his perspective, there really wasn’t anything wrong with Gastly.
He’d also gained a basic understanding of its strength.
Overall, Gastly had learned quite a few moves, but its mastery of them was…
frankly, concerning.
Still, Nathan Hale felt he had plenty of time to train and raise it.
After all, as a Pokémon psychology instructor, even after the university opened for the semester, he would still have plenty of free time.
A day like today, where he’d been busy from morning until night, was exceptionally rare.
Of course, although Nathan Hale had been a seasoned Pokémon enthusiast in his previous life, his knowledge of Pokémon had been limited to the two- and three-dimensional images he’d seen in games and other media.
As for their moves, he only knew their effects and possible combinations.
The real world was obviously quite different.
So Gastly wasn’t the only one who needed to learn.
He also needed to learn how to raise a Ghost-type Pokémon.
Back at his apartment.
One human and one Pokémon were curled up on the sofa, watching a video playing on the old laptop with rapt attention.
“See?
This is how Ghost-type Pokémon fight.”
The video showed a battle from the thirty-fourth Silver University Tournament.
A Trainer specializing in Ghost-type Pokémon was battling a Trainer who specialized in Ice-type Pokémon.
The Pokémon used by the Ghost-type Trainer was none other than Gastly’s evolved form—
Haunter.
Gastly blinked twice.
The mist around its body formed a hand that pointed blankly at the Haunter lying on the ground, completely frozen in ice.
“Ko-gee?”
But it lost.
“Cough.”
Nathan Hale coughed awkwardly.
“That was because its opponent was too strong.
Its battle style itself wasn’t really a problem.”
On the screen, the Pokémon that had defeated Haunter was a Lapras.
And Lapras’s Trainer was a tall, beautiful young woman with long reddish-orange hair, glasses, and a short skirt.
Her name was Lorelei.
One of the future members of the Indigo League Elite Four.
Losing to her was perfectly understandable in Nathan Hale’s opinion.
In fact, the Trainer who’d used Haunter had once been fairly well-known at Silver University.
“Ko-gee—”
Oh…
Gastly nodded as though it understood.
Nathan Hale closed the video.
There were still plenty of other results under his search for “Ghost-type Pokémon battles.”
“You can look through them for a while.
I’m going to make dinner.”
He placed the laptop on the coffee table, tied on an apron, and headed into the kitchen.
Before long, the sound of stir-frying came from inside.
“Ko-gee~~”
Gastly leaned over the computer.
Its eyes swept across the screen, and it quickly learned how Nathan Hale operated the mouse.
With an unusually serious expression, it finally chose a video with an extremely high view count.
“Elite Four Agatha — Fear Is My Weapon”
The moment the video started and Gastly saw Gengar, its eyes lit up.
But as it continued watching, its expression gradually became blank.
“Ko…
ko-gee?”
You can fight like that?!
It was completely stunned.
By the time Nathan Hale had finished making two simple dishes and untied his apron, he found Gastly practically glued to the screen.
“You’re really into it, huh?”
Nathan Hale smiled as he walked over.
At that moment, the video showed an elderly woman with golden-gray hair and a gloomy complexion.
She leaned on a cane as she spoke in a hoarse, low voice.
“The greatest strengths of Ghost-type Pokémon are speed and deception.
You must make full use of—”
“Ko-gee!
Ko-gee!”
Gastly nodded enthusiastically.
“Direct confrontation is a child’s game.
Always remember: if a Ghost-type Pokémon can attack from behind, don’t confront your opponent head-on.
If you can fight from the darkness, don’t fight in the light…”
“Ko-gee?
Ko-gee?!”
Attack from behind?
Fight from the darkness?
I get it!
Gastly looked enlightened.
Elite Four Agatha?
Nathan Hale was stunned when he realized what Gastly had been watching.
And the things she was teaching it…
“Even the brightest day will eventually give way to night.
Even when you light a lamp, darkness will lurk nearby.
Dance within the shadows, and on nights when a cold wind blows, pay extra attention to what is behind you…”
Nathan Hale:
“…”
Why does this sound increasingly wrong?
“Gastly…” he called.
“Ko-gee!”
Hearing a voice behind it, Gastly jolted violently and spun around.
When it saw Nathan Hale, it let out a long sigh of relief.
But the violently shifting mist around its body showed that it hadn’t calmed down yet.
“Ko-gee…”
That scared the life out of me.
Gastly suddenly froze.
Is this…
the power of what’s behind you?
“What is it?”
Nathan Hale waved a hand in front of its face.
“Ko…
ko-gee—”
Gastly came back to its senses and hurriedly indicated that nothing was wrong.
One human and one Pokémon then sat down at the dining table.
“Ko-gee?”
Gastly sniffed the food, its eyes lighting up with delight.
But a trace of confusion flashed across its face.
Is that another smell besides the food?
“Tomorrow I’ll buy you some Poké Puffs.”
Nathan Hale didn’t notice anything unusual and simply continued speaking.
Poké Puffs?
Gastly’s eyes lit up.
It had heard the term more than once while watching videos earlier.
As far as Gastly’s condition went, Nathan Hale hadn’t noticed anything particularly wrong with it.
He guessed that its condition might be slightly poor because it had slept for so long and hadn’t received enough nutrition.
He would buy some Poké Puffs tomorrow and see if that helped.
If its condition still didn’t improve, they’d have to visit a Pokémon Center.
Besides, if he wanted to properly raise a Pokémon, supplementary nutrition was ultimately necessary.
Ordinary food could only provide basic nutrition.
It was enough to keep a Pokémon alive, certainly.
But if one wanted a Pokémon to grow stronger…
Ordinary food simply couldn’t provide enough nutrients.
Fortunately, the previous owner worked for half a year and managed to save some money.
It should be enough to get us through for a while.
Nathan Hale had deliberately checked his bank balance today.
Thankfully, it was a respectable five-figure sum.
Still, I’d better find a way to make some extra money.
He already had a few ideas.
“Ko-gee!”
Gastly, meanwhile, was completely absorbed in eating.
It swept through the food on the table like a whirlwind.
Anyone watching would have thought it hadn’t eaten in several hundred years.
After dinner.
Nathan Hale returned to his desk.
He tried searching online for advice on raising Ghost-type Pokémon, especially Gastly.
For most Trainers, this would probably have been a tedious and troublesome task.
For Nathan Hale, however, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Especially once he ignored the simplistic images and videos and went straight to the researcher forums, searching through the countless academic papers posted there.
After several rounds of searching and browsing, he quickly found an older paper.
“A Brief Discussion on Raising Ghost-type Pokémon” — Professor Samuel Oak.
“…That makes sense.”
Nathan Hale hadn’t expected the paper’s author to be the world-renowned Pokémon authority, Professor Oak.
Then again, considering Professor Oak’s relationship with Agatha…
“Those who come after truly stand on the shoulders of giants.”
He opened the paper and began reading, jotting down the information he found useful.
“Ko-gee~~”
Seeing Nathan Hale studying so seriously, Gastly’s eyes rolled mischievously.
It quietly floated toward the kitchen.
Click.
It carefully flipped a certain switch.
Hiss—
Whoosh—
“Gastly?”
By the time Nathan Hale finished reading the paper, more than two hours had passed.
A pure white glow pierced through the black velvet-like clouds outside and streamed through the window onto his desk.
Nathan Hale stretched lazily.
He’d gained quite a lot from the paper.
When he turned around and didn’t see Gastly, he called out.
“Ko-gee—”
Gastly floated out through the wall with an awkward grin.
“Burp—”
It suddenly belched.
Then hurriedly clamped its mouth shut.
( )
“You seem…”
Nathan Hale looked Gastly up and down in surprise.
“Did you get fatter?”
As a gaseous Pokémon, Gastly’s size wasn’t fixed.
Even so, Nathan Hale could swear it looked a little rounder than before.
Gastly kept its mouth tightly shut and shook its head vigorously, its eyes angled forty-five degrees upward.
Did I?
No, right?
Must be a hallucination.
There was no way that expression could fool Nathan Hale.
But he was tired and didn’t bother investigating.
Instead, he asked,
“Want to watch an exciting movie before bed?”
“Ko-gee!”
Gastly answered instinctively.
Its mouth opened, and a cloud of gas immediately drifted out.
“What is that smell?”
Nathan Hale frowned.
Gas?
Realizing what had happened, Gastly hurriedly sucked the gas back in.
The smell faded considerably.
Gastly was a gaseous life-form, so this gas probably came from its body.
Nathan Hale didn’t think much of it.
“Turn off the lights.”
Click.
The room went dark.
The computer screen glowed faintly in the darkness.
One human and one Pokémon huddled together in front of the laptop and started a movie.
“The Secret Between Misdreavus and Me”
“Gastly!!”
The next morning, Nathan Hale walked into the kitchen to make breakfast.
He stared at the gas meter, whose gauge had already dropped to zero.
A vein bulged on his forehead.
He finally understood what Gastly had been sneaking into the kitchen to do the previous night.
“Ko…
ko-gee…”
I swear it just…
disappeared on its own.
Gastly blinked its enormous eyes with an expression of complete innocence.