Chapter 9: Watch Your Back!
Chapter 9: Watch Your Back!
Chortle, chortle—
In the consultation room.
Jing He sat behind his desk, explaining his insights while recording the Gengar’s condition.
From his perspective, there was nothing wrong with the Gengar.
He had a basic understanding of the Gengar’s strength.
Overall, the Gengar had learned quite a few moves, but its mastery of these moves was rather concerning.
However, Jing He felt he had plenty of time to train and nurture it. As a Pokemon psychology mentor, even after the academy opened, he still had a lot of free time. Days like today, where he was busy from morning till night, were quite rare.
Of course, although Jing He was a seasoned Pokemon enthusiast in his past life, his knowledge of Pokemon was limited to two-dimensional and three-dimensional images. He only knew the effects and combinations of their moves, which was quite different from the real world.
So not only did the Gengar need to learn, but Jing He also needed to learn how to train a Ghost-type Pokemon.
In the apartment.
Jing He and the Gengar were nestled on the couch, intently watching a video on an old laptop.
“See? This is how Ghost-type Pokemon battle.”
The video showed a match from the 34th Silver Academy Championship, where a trainer skilled in using Ghost-type Pokemon faced off against a trainer skilled in using Ice-type Pokemon.
The Ghost-type Pokemon trainer used a Gengar, which was the evolved form of the Gengar in front of them.
The Gengar blinked, its fog-like hand pointing at the Gengar in the video that had been frozen into an ice block and lay on the ground.
“Chortle?”
But it lost.
“Ahem.” Jing He cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. “That’s because its opponent was too strong, but its battle style wasn’t the problem.”
The Pokemon that defeated the Gengar was a Lapras.
The Lapras’s trainer was a tall, elegant girl with long orange hair, wearing glasses and a short skirt. Her name was Koga!
One of the future Elite Four of the Kanto League!
Losing to her was quite normal.
In fact, the trainer using Ghost-type Pokemon was once quite well-known at Silver Academy.
“Chortle—”
Oh—
The Gengar nodded, seemingly understanding.
Jing He turned off the video and saw that there were many more under the search “Ghost-type Pokemon battles.”
“You can watch some more while I make dinner.”
He placed the laptop on the coffee table, put on an apron, and headed to the kitchen.
Soon, the sound of cooking filled the air.
“Chortle~~”
The Gengar lay in front of the computer, its gaze scanning the screen. It quickly learned how to operate the mouse.
With a serious expression, it chose a video with an extremely high view count.
The Elite Four Koga, Fear is me.
When it clicked the video, its eyes instantly lit up at the sight of the Gengar.
But as it watched, its gaze gradually became blank.
“Chortle, chortle?”
So, this is how it's done?!
It was utterly amazed!
Jing He, after a quick stir-fry of two dishes, took off his apron, and was about to call the Gengar for dinner when he saw it staring intently at the screen, eyes practically glued to it.
“So serious?” Jing He smiled and walked over.
At the same time.
In the video, an old woman with a cane, grayish-golden hair, and a dark, raspy voice, said sinisterly:
“The strength of Ghost-type Pokemon lies in their speed and deceptiveness. You must fully—”
“Chortle! Chortle!”
The Gengar nodded vigorously in agreement.
“Direct battles are for children. Always remember, Ghost-type Pokemon should avoid direct confrontation and strike from behind if possible. If in the dark, stay in the dark—”
“Chortle? Chortle!”
Strike from behind? Fight in the dark?
Got it!
The Gengar looked enlightened.
Koga?
When Jing He saw what the Gengar was watching, he was taken aback.
And what the woman was teaching—
“Even on the brightest day, night will come. Even in the light, darkness lurks in the shadows. Dance in the shadows, and in the cold, windy nights, watch your back—”
Jing He: “.”
Why does this feel more and more off?
“Gengar.” He called out.
“Chortle!”
The voice from behind made it jump. When it saw Jing He, it exhaled in relief, but the rising black mist showed it hadn’t calm down yet.
“Chortle.”
What a scare.
The Gengar, still panting, suddenly paused.
This is the power of “behind”?
“What’s wrong?” Jing He waved his hand in front of it.
“Ghastly, Ghastly—”
Ghastly snapped back to reality, repeatedly assuring Jing He that it was fine.
Jing He and Ghastly made their way to the dining table.
“Ghastly?”
Ghastly sniffed the air, its eyes lighting up with surprise, but a hint of confusion flashed across its face.
There seemed to be another scent mingling with the aroma of the food.
“Tomorrow, I’ll buy you some Energy Orbs,” Jing He said, not noticing Ghastly’s odd behavior.
Energy Orbs?
Ghastly’s face lit up with excitement.
While watching videos earlier, Ghastly had heard the term "Energy Orbs" mentioned several times.
Jing He didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with Ghastly’s condition, speculating that it might be due to prolonged sleep leading to some nutritional deficiencies. He planned to buy some Energy Orbs to help it recover. If that didn’t work, they would have to visit a Pokemon Center.
After all, to properly train Pokemon, Energy Orbs were essential. Ordinary food could only provide basic nutrients, which were sufficient for survival, but not for growth.
‘Fortunately, the previous owner saved some money over the past six months, which should last for a while.’
He had checked his bank account earlier and was relieved to see a five-figure balance.
‘But it’s best to find some side jobs to earn extra cash.’
He already had a few ideas in mind.
“Ghastly!”
Ghastly, focused on eating, happily called out, devouring the food on the table as if it hadn’t eaten in centuries.
After the meal, Jing He sat down at his desk.
He tried to find some tips online on training Ghost-type Pokemon, especially Ghastly.
For other trainers, this might be a tedious and challenging task, but for Jing He, it wasn’t too difficult.
Especially when he bypassed the simple images and videos and delved into the researcher forums, sifting through countless dense academic papers.
After a few searches, he quickly found an early paper.
"A Brief Discussion on Training Ghost-type Pokemon" — by Professor Oak.
“Reasonable.”
Jing He was surprised to find that the author was none other than the renowned Pokemon authority, Professor Oak.
Considering Professor Oak’s relationship with Gym Leader Blaine, this made sense.
“Those who plant trees provide shade for future generations.”
He opened the paper, browsing through it and jotting down the information he needed.
“Ghastly~”
Seeing Jing He engrossed in his studies, Ghastly’s eyes twinkled with mischief.
It quietly floated toward the kitchen.
Click.
It carefully turned on a switch.
Sss—Hh—
“Ghastly?”
Unbeknownst to Jing He, two hours had passed as he read through the paper.
A beam of pure white light pierced the dark, velvety clouds and shone through the window onto the desk.
Jing He stretched, feeling quite satisfied with his findings.
Noticing Ghastly was missing, he called out.
“Ghastly—”
Ghastly sheepishly floated out from the wall.
“Burp—”
It quickly clamped its mouth shut.
“Did you—” Jing He glanced up and down at the little Pokemon, surprised. “—get fatter?”
As a gaseous Pokemon, Ghastly’s size wasn’t fixed, but Jing He still felt it had grown a bit.
Ghastly shook its head vigorously, looking away.
Did it?
No, it didn’t.
Just an illusion.
Jing He, feeling tired, didn’t press the matter further. Instead, he asked:
“Want to watch a thrilling movie before bed?”
“Ghastly!”
Ghastly instinctively called out, and a puff of gas escaped its mouth.
“What’s that smell?” Jing He frowned.
Gas?
Ghastly quickly inhaled, making the smell fainter.
Since Ghastly was a gaseous life form, the gas likely came from it.
Jing He didn’t think much of it, just said:
“Lights out.”
Click.
The room darkened, and the computer screen glowed faintly in the darkness.
Jing He and Ghastly huddled in front of the computer and opened a movie—
"The Secrets I Must Share with My Gastly"
“Ghastly!!”
The next morning, as Jing He prepared breakfast in the kitchen, he noticed the gas meter was at zero, and a vein popped on his forehead.
He finally understood what Ghastly had been up to last night!
“Ghastly, Ghastly”
“Do you believe it was already empty?” Ghastly blinked its big eyes, looking serious.
(End of Chapter)
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