Chapter 568: Gluttony

Before coming here.

The shiny Gengar had indeed acted completely indifferent.

What's the difference between one place and another?

Could it possibly be worse than that guy Jarvis?

But upon actually seeing the human who had taken Jarvis down, surrounded by a great many Pokémon that looked extremely unapproachable, it couldn't help but panic and shrink into a ball of shadow.

It wouldn't get beaten up, would it?

After all, it had been forced to do so many bad things for Jarvis in the past.

Clever as it was, the shiny Gengar, during days that could truly be called turbulent and hardship-filled — being captured, testifying in court, and arriving to live in Iron Town — had thoroughly understood its own situation—

It had been a criminal's Pokémon, and its former Trainer had been sent away to plant trees.

Although thanks to the existence of a certain green-haired human it wasn't treated differently, the fact that it and the other members of the Mega Evolution army were feared and shunned by other Pokémon was undeniable.

It only learned later that many Pokémon there had been hurt by human criminals and forcibly brought to this land.

These outsiders like itself, being relatively strong and not showing too much fear or hostility toward humans, had been quietly classified by the other Pokémon as accomplices to evildoers.

Fortunately, the misunderstanding was later cleared up thanks to that green-haired human's explanation.

They were finally able to fit into the new environment.

But the shiny Gengar wasn't satisfied with just that. Although its fate had always been controlled by Jarvis through fear and technological means, the tremendous power brought by Mega Evolution deeply attracted it.

It wanted to become strong.

There was no particular reason, and nothing it especially wanted to do.

It simply hoped to obtain powerful strength, yearning for the might that Mega Evolution brought.

Therefore.

It had agreed to come to All Baimu's side, considering it a chance to abandon the darkness for the light and transform itself.

That green-haired human who understood Pokémon hearts so well had once told it—

There are no good or bad Pokémon in this world, only Pokémon cared for by good people or used by bad people!

The shiny Gengar was determined to shake off the shadow of its past.

And face the future head-on!

"…"

It silently examined the Pokémon that had appeared before it, trying to find its own way to survive in this new environment. These guys looked stronger one after another — they definitely wouldn't be easy to get along with.

"Sha-sang!"

Such fierce Pokémon!

The Hydreigon that suddenly charged over startled the shiny Gengar. It instinctively tried to leave the shadows and pop out to counterattack, but the moment it caught sight of the Dharklines's faintly visible body, its movement froze.

It still vividly remembered how last time, even though it had Mega Evolved, it still wasn't a match for this guy in a single exchange.

The other had only flicked its tail and it had been taken out.

Better forget it.

Fortunately.

The moment the shiny Gengar stopped its little counterattack move, the Hydreigon was also held back by the Aggron beside it.

It breathed a sigh of relief, and its gaze couldn't help but drift.

It recalled that the Aggron that had been a comrade in Jarvis's army had horns a bit longer than this one, but the two couldn't even be compared in terms of stockiness, and this one was clearly larger overall, with a brighter sheen on its metal carapace…

Ah!

Ahhh!

The shiny Gengar's body trembled violently.

Without a doubt, it had spotted the giant Steelix beside the Aggron. The shadow cast as it leaned down was like a small mountain.

A comrade from the army?

Compared to it, the difference was completely that of a baby and an adult!

How could there be such a massive Pokémon… It felt like just its body weight alone could crush it to death.

The shiny Gengar, being too nervous, didn't even notice the Mawile on top of Steelix's head, and quickly looked further to the side at a Blissey, its emotions gradually settling down.

Compared to the fierce and terrifying Pokémon before it, the Blissey with a smile and kindness on its face was simply an angel.

Its mood gradually calmed.

Then it grew curious about the thing the Blissey was holding in its hands — such a big… basin?

The shiny Gengar's gaze shifted again, quickly passing over Porygon2 and Lileep. On one hand, these two little ones really didn't seem to have much presence.

On the other hand.

Its attention turned to the shiny Milotic.

So beautiful!

The shiny Gengar inexplicably felt its face getting a bit hot. It had never had any interest in other Pokémon, so why… ah… it really was so beautiful.

Its gaze was dazed for a moment.

When the shiny Gengar frantically shook its head and pulled itself out of that state, then looked again at the shiny Milotic playing with the Dhelmise, its face was full of terror.

Terrifying!

Even more terrifying than Steelix!

It had almost made it, who had come for power, lose sight of its goal!

The shiny Gengar was terrified beyond measure, and had already mentally classified the shiny Milotic as the object it needed to be most wary of. If the giant Steelix had given it the impression of something to stay far away from, then the former was a terror it couldn't look at a second time!

What was going on with this "army"?

Could it really obtain new power here? Would that person really treat it well, just as the green-haired human had said?

The shiny Gengar couldn't be sure.

At that moment.

It saw that familiar yet unfamiliar person arrive nearby, half-crouch, and extend a hand.

"Come on out, there are no enemies of yours here. Let's get to know each other, new little buddy."

No enemies of mine?

Buddy?

The shiny Gengar froze for a moment. It had very little contact with humans other than Jarvis, and the green-haired human could communicate with them without relying on human language.

As a result, it couldn't fully grasp the meaning in All Baimu's words.

But at least the goodwill contained in the smile the other party showed at this moment didn't seem fake.

"Gen…"

The shiny Gengar slowly poked its head out, looking at the hand the other party had extended.

It hesitated for a while.

It placed its somewhat stubby ghost claw into it.

To be honest.

The shiny Gengar didn't know whether what it was doing was right. Despite living in human society for so long, it understood far, far too little about human affairs.

"Thank you."

All Baimu held the ghost claw, looked at this grey big fatty whose height was roughly up to his waist, and the smile on his face grew fervent. "From today on, we're teammates. Let's look out for each other from now on."

Recently, the Pokémon he'd tamed were mostly uncooperative, to the point where he was almost forgetting what a willing-to-cooperate Pokémon looked like.

Was the trouble-children playground finally going to welcome a normal Pokémon?

Awesome!

He waved behind him. "Chansey! Bring that thing over!"

"Happy~"

Chansey stepped forward carrying a large basin.

In the shiny Gengar's bewildered expression, the basin stuffed full of food was completely exposed, and the enticing aroma shot straight to its brain.

"Gen? Gen?"

It stared at the large basin in shock, drool unconsciously trickling from the corners of its mouth.

All Baimu gave the shiny Gengar's claw a little shake, then released it and said, "You must be starving, right? This is tonight's welcome gift. Don't be polite, dig in!"

"Gen?"

It pointed at itself in disbelief.

"That's right, it's all for you. Eat as much as you want. If it's not enough—" All Baimu's smile suddenly froze on his face.

Because the shiny Gengar directly picked up the basin, opened its mouth to an extreme size, and swallowed the entire basin whole like a black hole.

Immediately after.

It reached in again and pulled the basin—clean as if it had never held food—from its closed mouth.

Pop~

The crisp sound of air escaping was rather bizarre.

"Gen gen!"

The shiny Gengar raised the large basin, its face filled with a look of utter satisfaction, and kept cackling: "Jie xihihihihi—"

Halfway through its laughter.

It suddenly remembered that All Baimu and the other Pokémon were still around. Its joyful smile immediately faded, and it glanced around somewhat nervously.

What greeted it was All Baimu's admiring applause, and the other Pokémon's various exclamations of amazement.

"Amazing! I thought Lileep's eating speed was already fast, but compared to you it's nothing!"

"Gouhou!"

"Happy~"

"Shasang~"

"Roo~"

This remark received unanimous agreement.

Well then.

Not unanimous yet.

The Galarian Lileep on Porygon-II's back heard this and jolted awake like a startled bear on the spot, its eyes lighting up like blazing flames.

"Sang!"

Working might not be my forte, but when it comes to eating, none can rival me!

How dare a mere newcomer shake my position as the number one food-eater under Boss Rainbow Squad? It's time—

Forget it.

Too much trouble.

The fighting spirit in Lileep's eyes rapidly dissipated, leaving the shiny Gengar baffled.

"Hahahaha, don't mind this guy, it's incredibly lazy."

All Baimu laughed and patted its head, pointing at the other Pokémon as he said, "Come, let me introduce you to the members of this team. First is the ace—Aggron!"

"Gouhou."

Aggron looked calm, greeting the shiny Gengar with a low growl.

"This is Hydreigon. Don't be fooled by its fierce looks—it's actually a simple-minded idiot. Big body, young age. If it offends you somehow, please bear with it."

"Sand voice!"

The Three-Headed Dragon, who had originally been displeased upon hearing that Boscodora was the trump card, broke into a smile.

Its sentences are long!

Won!

"This is……"

As All Baimu introduced things gently and slowly, the shiny Gengar, who only half-understood the words, committed them firmly to memory.

From how, just now, it had recklessly swallowed all the food in one go and yet received not the slightest scolding — instead being praised for its hearty way of eating — it understood it had come to the right place.

This person before it.

These Pokémon before it.

They would surely become the aid it needed to grow stronger!

As long as it stayed with them, it would never have to experience that kind of treatment from the past again!

"Hehehehe—"

The shiny Gengar's mouth stretched all the way to its ears; its silver-moon white teeth paired with eyes narrowed into two slits made it look especially cute.

——

Late at night.

Returning from the ecology garden.

The shiny Gengar welcome party, in its later stages, had completely turned into a food-eating banquet.

This fellow's appetite matched its figure perfectly, even surpassing the giant Steelix — which already ate the most due to its size — as it stuffed bowl after bowl into its mouth, and only stopped when All Baimu, thoroughly frightened, really didn't dare feed it any more afterwards.

The Three-Headed Dragon was quite shocked by this.

Its three mouths still couldn't out-eat this fellow's single mouth!

Lanturn was thoroughly beaten into submission, feeling ashamed of its earlier desire to compete with the shiny Gengar for the title of best foodie — this was simply not a heavyweight opponent it could match!

As expected.

Only slacking off is the true meaning of life.

The shiny Gengar naturally had no idea that it had broken a slacker who had barely managed to kindle some ambition.

It only knew that today was the most wonderful night it had ever spent.

So the shiny Gengar in the Poké Ball slept especially sweetly.

"Follow……follow……"

On the other hand.

Although All Baimu very much wanted to let it come out and sleep with the other Pokémon, in an environment with such big changes, the Poké Ball was still what most reassured a Pokémon.

In other words.

All Baimu, who had once prepared a separate room for Mawile, was actually not doing a very good job either.

"Didn't expect it to go this smoothly."

He looked at the Poké Ball in his hand and was genuinely surprised.

The shiny Gengar's personality was completely different from the socially anxious Dragapult and the lazy-bones Lanturn — it was a quite lively and proactive fellow.

It could even quickly become familiar with the Three-Headed Dragon, but for some reason always avoided the shiny Milotic.

Love at first sight too painful to look at?

Hard to say.

Keep observing a while longer and we'll find out.

All Baimu set down the Poké Ball and scrolled through the shiny Gengar's data on his phone.

【Pokémon: Gengar】

【Type: Ghost + Poison】

【Gender: Male】

【Height: 154cm / 41.3kg】

【Ability: Cursed Body】

【Level: 60】

【Moves: Hypnosis / Lick / Mean Look / Curse / Sucker Punch】

【Confuse Ray / Shadow Punch / Shadow Ball / Dream Eater / Dark Pulse】

【Destiny Bond / Nightmare / Sludge Bomb / Psychic / Perish Song】

"Levitate, huh…… It was clearly the ability changed in the seventh generation, so logically speaking, all Gengar from regions before Gen 7 should have Levitate."

He sighed.

The result of GF's irresponsible random changes to Pokémon abilities is that all Gengar in his world have the Cursed Body ability; being able to fly is merely a special ability of Ghost-type Pokémon.

By his original thinking, it should have been adapted to local conditions like regional forms……

It's just that the Gengar Ash caught during his journey was located in Kanto, yet also had Cursed Body, which makes the situation very hard to explain.

Forget it.

No need to dwell on it so much.

Being able to fly is already a huge advantage.

All Baimu understood that the only difference between a means of flight and the Levitate ability was whether it could block Ground-type energy.

And Ground-type attacks are generally released from the ground, so as long as one reacts in time and flies high, the shiny Gengar's means of flight is enough to rival Levitate……

Of course, that's under the most ideal circumstances.

The shiny Gengar's level is neither high nor low, and getting it in sync should be a bit easier than with Dragapult; Mega Evolution will need more time to cultivate the bond, so it probably can't be brought out in the short term.

For a long time afterward, he had no energy to attend to so many things at once.

The grand, spectacular tournament is about to begin!

All Baimu set down his phone, took several deep breaths in a cycle, and used the simulator's memory-viewing to drift off to sleep.

Lately there were only two memories he often watched—

a psychic's meditation, and a gambler's poker sleight-of-hand.

The former went without saying—even meditating within a dream could make his body's fatigue recover rapidly, and even further promote the growth of his constitution.

Quite miraculous.

As for the latter… the sleight-of-hand itself wasn't the point; what drew All Baimu in was the training of finger dexterity and speed, and the techniques for diverting the opponent's attention.

Especially that last one—diverting the opponent's attention. If he could apply it in battle, it would likely create quite a few chances to win.

After the Saiyu Tournament he would be returning to Oreille to fight for the championship.

Any bit of strength he could gain was worth having.

An uneventful night.

Both man and Pokémon slept extremely soundly, until the sun outside gradually rose.

"Time to set off!"

All Baimu's eyes snapped open.