Chapter 26: Variants and Huge Surprise
30 minutes later:
I have already put Gastly inside the Pokeball the second it said out its name. Did not want to make the situation worse like how it happened with Elekid.
"So what now? have you decided? Gastly seems at least a Green grade just by the commotion it caused right after birth," said Ethan rubbing the sweat around his face.
We were in Ethan's room as my room is a big mess due to all the light bulbs.
"Yes, I will check the potential tomorrow in the Academy and then contract it," I said lying. I won't check anything, who would go and declare that I have a blue potential pokemon?
"No, don't go!!" he said immediately.
"Why?" I asked back in surprise. I did not expect him to stop me.
"By the looks of it, Gastly seems like a colour variant. Let me show you the secret about this phenomenon that rarely ever happens," he said going into his room.
He fiddled around for a minute and came back with a clean book that seemed recently bought,
"What's this?" I asked back, looking at the thin book.
"This is a study that was published 10 years ago by a royal researcher. The information is only for the nobles and is strictly prohibited to be shared out," he said in a solemn tone.
"Then, won't you get in trouble?" I asked pointing the fact that I am a Civilian.
"No, your brother is a Royal Knight and your father was a Baron. So, they would give me the benefit of doubt," he said opening the book with extreme care.
"This is a book on colour variant Pokemon that has been widely accepted in the last 5 years," he said showing me all the details.
I was surprised by the information present as it would make me a huge target for anyone who knows I have a shiny.
The information says that colour variants are due to an unfortunate or a fortunate mutation in Pokemon.
It explains further: Some Variants might be poor in the learning ability and some might have insane control over their primary type. It all depends on luck. If the mutation is positive then the Pokemon would have a very high talent in its typing but there are negative mutations where Pokemon might not have the ability to learn any of their type moves.
"By the looks of it, Gastly is surely a positive mutation. That insane Ghost-type energy we felt earlier is a sign that it has enormous talent. So I would suggest you hide the fact that you have a Gastly, at least till you get strong enough," he said closing the book.
"Hide? Will it be that big of a problem?" I asked in frustration.
"Yes, Gengar is considered the best companion to all the assassins in the kingdom. If they know that you have a Color Variant and a highly talented Gastly, I could only imagine the consequences. They would hunt you down in succession without any break. Assassins are usually hired by nobles but in your case, they would compete to assassinate you and steal the Gastly for free of charge," he said making me gulp.
I know what he means, a talented Gastly is rare but a shiny with great control over ghost energy is as rare as a dragon.
"Normally they might be cautious if you are the son of a Duke or Royal Prince but you being a civilian is a bigger motivation for them to take you down. The tournament is an open stadium one. In case you reveal your Gastly in it, you are just showing your juicy product to assassins that lurk behind the scenes," he said making me clench my fingers.
"I just got my second pokemon and now I should hide like a rat huh? Talk about lame," I said gritting my teeth.
"Arthur, it's not that they were no talented civilians in the past, it's just that they couldn't grow old enough to shine. So keep in mind that being cautious is the best solution, you would also have my full support in the future so don't be reckless," advised Ethan patting my weak back.
I understood everything he said but it doesn't feel nice to know how insignificant you are.
I took a deep breath to calm myself and turned towards Ethan,
"Ok, from now on until I have strength, anyone who sees my Gastly dies," I said with resolve.
"Good!! I am glad you are not impulsive. Then let's talk about this later, I am sleepy," he said yawning and immediately pushing me out of his room.
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2 Weeks Later:
Gastly has been barely awake, all she does is drink Pokemon blood and sleep. I always thought ghost Pokemon never sleep but Ethan told me that it's normal for baby Pokemon. Elekid too slept a lot during the first two weeks but not as this much.
So, for now, not much has happened. Knowing that Gastly is a female, Elekid awakened his 'brotherly instincts'. He seemed to like the fact that he is the big brother now.
But Gastly always ignores Elekid giving him a cold look. She only cares about me which in a way is a good thing. I don't know much about her personality as all she does is eat and sleep in my shadow.
Today is the 14th day since she was born. I would know what moves she has and I am very excited. Elekid as a Green grade had two egg moves so I am expecting Gastly to have OP moves. The potential of Gastly is still Half Blue and Half Green as I can still see the Green potential with the Mix of Blue.
Golett has been missing again, I think it is training with Professor Arden as he seemed to be too busy these days.
I could only follow Ethan's instructions on how to train baby Ghost types. Instead of milk, the best food for Gastly is fresh Pokemon blood. Poison type blood is recommended so I have been doing exactly that. The effect of that was obvious as I could see the haze around Gastly gaining more thickness.
On the flip side, our group has completed 2 C-rank missions while I also did 4 solo D-rank missions. That's how I am able to manage feeding both Elekid and Gastly with no burden.
Furthermore, tomorrow is the day of the most anticipated Auction of Striaton City. Ethan already booked a VIP box to which I will be a Tagalong.
We have registered the baby Snorunt and Leavanny. So, all we need is to hike the prices with a strategy.
But before all that, I need to check Gastly's new moves. For that, I booked the practice room so that no one can see what I am doing. Practice rooms are costly as they exist only for doing secret practice, it cost 1500 credits for an hour. I booked an hour to check out what Gastly has.
"Arthur, I need you for a moment!!" asked an abrupt voice making me turn back,
What I saw was an orange-haired familiar face but I know this is not Logan. Logan wouldn't smile like that.
"Master Aiden? Good evening. I am just going to try out some moves with Elekid in the practice room upstairs," I said politely.
"Oh?? Secret Room huh? It seems you have been targeting first place in the tournament. But I would advise you to not fly too high, because....." he said and came closer towards my face,
"You need to know your place, it would be bad if our little Genius Arthur went missing or died in the wild right?" he whispered in a very calm and monotonous voice.
I looked surprised at the threat as I never expected him to confront me so directly.
I looked at him and said smiling,
"It seems that Master Aiden is also aiming to win the tournament. I am honoured that Master Aiden is personally requesting me to not try hard, thank you for the compliment."
That was an insult and it seemed to anger him,
"Are you mocking me?" he asked glaring at me.
"No!! how could I disrespect Master Aiden? I know that your father might have high expectations of you. That's the reason you took your valuable time to warn me, right? Sure thing Sir, I will try hard to take the Number 3 or Number 2. I promise you, I won't aim for the Number 1 that has been pre-booked." I said with at most respect.
The visible sarcasm seemed to touch his nerve but he maintained his composure.
"Civilian!! I know that you think Ethan or my brother Logan would protect you but keep in mind that, at the end of the day you are a nobody," he said turning back to his smiling behaviour and walked back.
"Phewww!!"
'my circumstances are provoking my patience' I thought letting out a huge sigh.
It always hits your ego when people think you are a pushover, but what he said is right, in the end, I am still a civilian who no one cares.
'Hmm, need to do something before the year gets over... Plan 'Arden Vickster' should be implemented faster,' I thought walking towards the secret room.
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Inside the Practice Room:
The room was around 500 square metres, it was a huge white space built with a special alloy that can protect the building from high damage. There were also psychic barriers to protect the trainers from getting hurt. The Pokemon practices or demonstrates the moves from the inside of the barrier while the trainer instructs from the outside.
I held out the Pokeball and released Gastly out.
The atmosphere gradually turned grim as a formless gas came out of the Pokeball.
"Gas Gastlyyyy" said Gastly while happily moving around me in circles. She then came closer to me and gave a huge lick sending jitters down my entire body,
"Ahhhh" I yelled twitching,
"St....Stop that!!" I said pulling myself together.
Gastly paid no mind to me and started inspecting the empty room.
[Where are we? this room is too bright and I don't like it, turn off the lights] she said in a cute annoyed voice.
"We will only be here for a bit, as you have entered the Beginner stage, I want to see your moves," I said explaining the reason why we are here.
[Moves? Ohh!!! I can show you all the fun stuff] she said immediately turning into a formless gas and disappeared.
The next second she appeared to my right jump scaring me with her punch, (A/N: Gastly can form hands with its haze)
"What the Fuck!!" I yelled barely dodging it but the punch grazed my shoulder which knocked me down.
[You told me to show my moves] she said flying around with a big chuckle.
"Gggaas Gassss Gasttlyy"
'Here I thought Gastly being female might make my life easier,'
"So we are playing the prank game huh? Let's see.... I was planning to prank my sweet Gastly by forgetting to feed her today, sounds amazing right? how about we try it?" I said making Gastly stop in her tracks.
She gave a sad look at me and came closer,
[No!, No! I am sorry Arthur, I promise I will not repeat that. I promise!!] she said giving me puppy doll eyes while hovering around me.
'Well that surely brings back memories of Elekid's promise on the first day,' I thought not believing in one bit of that sentence.
"We barely have an hour so let's not get distracted," I informed asking her to perform a new move.
[Ok!!] she said nodding and came closer to my left. I immediately pulled my Sword out and said,
"It's not that funny, Gastly!! demonstrate them without any target" I said revealing her prank of trying to perform Lick.
[Hmmm, you are too boring] she said showing me the move Lick.
'Astonish and Lick, let's see what else she has' I thought.
"Next," I said making her think.
She then turned towards the empty area and released a sinister flash of light that slowly hit the wall.
'Flash? No, confuse ray!!' I thought nodding with satisfaction.
"Great, that's three moves already. Good job Gastly, do you have more?" I asked in expectation.
[Yes, Two more. Wait!! No, three more. But I need a target] she said hovering around.
"Fine," I said not doubting her as some moves always require a target. I took a Pokeball from my pocket and released Elekid out.
He immediately inspected the surroundings and looked at me with confusion,
[Where's this?] he asked.
I explained to him about our business here and he nodded in excitement,
[Let me show you how powerful this big brother is] he said releasing electric sparks.
"Good. Gastly, demonstrate the moves," I instructed to which Gastly playfully looked at Elekid.
[Here I go], she said and put her gaseous hands together. She then released black circles that expanded as they moved towards Elekid.
Elekid seemed to notice the move Hypnosis, he battled against Munna numerous times so he is very familiar with it. He immediately used a quick attack and dodged it, surprising the smirking Gastly,
[Hehehe, you have 100 years before you pull that move on me, ] he said grinning like a cocky big brother.
Gastly turned a cold eye to him and released her next move with anger. She came directly in front of Elekid and spit out a huge wave of poison drenching him completely,
[What the...? Ahhh] said Elekid not expecting a poison move.
"Great!! that's venoshock" I exclaimed in happiness while making sure Elekid was not poisoned.
Elekid seemed to get triggered from that move and released a tiny thundershock knowing Gastly is just a beginner pokemon.
'At least he knows to not go all out' I thought nodding.
Sensing the yellow bolt and having no way to dodge it at close range. Her eyes immediately shined in pink and her whole gaseous body turned bright yellow.
"Booommmm" was what I heard when the electric bolt came in contact with Gastly.
At that exact moment, I felt something in my body change but couldn't understand what exactly happened. I turned towards Gastly to see if she was ok.
To both Elekid's and my surprise, she was alright and seemed perfectly fine.
"What was that?" I asked gazing at the bright yellow haze around her round body. I did not know what move that was but it was able to minimize the Thundershock.
[I don't know but it's a move that makes me change the property of my haze, ] she said explaining the minor details.
I immediately went through my memory of all the Gastly egg moves that I read on Earth. After ten whole seconds, I came up with a conclusion,
"It's Reflect type," I said with pure bliss. I couldn't conceal my joy as I had an insane hypothesis.
[Reflect type?] Elekid asked in confusion while Gastly too seemed curious about the details.
"It's a move that can change the Pokemon type to Opponent's primary type," I said in excitement.
[Ohh!! that's how she handled the Thundershock? good move, but why do you seem happier than her?] asked Elekid looking at me with a weird face.
"No, it's not just that, the moment she changed to Electric-type, I felt like something inside me has been lost. Like the Ghost ability to turn invisible maybe? " I said explaining.
[Thats seems like a bad thing] said Gastly, looking at me with concern.
"No, I already have the reaction speed obtained from Electric-type so I did not feel any changes when you turned to Electric-type," I said gulping my saliva. I then looked at Gastly with a deep look,
"If my guess is right then this move might be too overpowered. Imagine reflecting a Grass-type or flying-type pokemon, it might give me fast recovery or high movement speed temporarily. Invisibility is useless while battling but this move called 'Reflect type' can grant me the abilities of the type of Pokemon you reflect for a temporary period," I said going on a big rant making Gastly confused but Elekid kept nodding at me in understanding.
This one move can be used to build a whole set of tactics to the way I fight, I can't imagine the versatility.
I can go from high attack power to instant defence in a second. Gastly should first learn to use reflect type at a rapid pace with great precision.
'Timing is the key, but I need to check it with a different Pokemon,' I thought thinking about Munna.
"Let's put it to test," I said turning towards Gastly and Elekid.
"If I can temporarily use Telekinesis when you reflect Munna's psychic type, it should be considered a success," I said making Gastly nod in realization.
I immediately ran out of the room to get Ethan while asking Elekid to look after Gastly.
'No, absolute bad idea' I thought and got back into the room returning both the trouble makers into the Pokeball.
"Now, I can get Ethan," I said and sprinted out to test the hypothesis.
-------Chapter End-------
Note: I hope you guys understood why I chose Gastly as his second Pokemon. The world rules that I established say that I can only have 6 abilities out of 16 so I found a temporary solution to satisfy you all.
Reflect type can only be learned by a handful of pokemon (I think only 3 can learn it with the exception of two legendaries) and is a very rare and useless game move. Luckily Gastly is one of them that learns it, making it perfect for the story.
I hope my explanation made sense to everyone, if you have doubts then comment below. This chapter is a prewritten one, that's why it has around 3000+ words. I planned to split it into two by writing more but whatever... I got my booster and there won't be a chapter for two to three days.
Shout out to Reader Asura for helping me in coming up with the idea.
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