Gardenia stared at her fallen Breloom, stunned.
She knew Breloom's habits and battle patterns better than almost anyone — she was a Grass-type specialist, after all. Which was exactly why her opponent's move had caught her so off guard.
"Toxic Orb, to trigger Poison Heal?" she murmured. "That's an insane idea."
It wasn't that no one had considered stacking poison healing onto Breloom before — it had always been treated as a passive, defensive gimmick. A Toxic Orb's poison was a heavy burden even for Poison Heal to fully offset, which was why most Grass-type trainers built their Brelooms around Technician instead, stacking it with Close Combat and leaning on raw bulk.
But Teacher Luke's build had just kicked a door open onto something new.
"What if Leech Seed's drain offset the Toxic Orb's damage?" Gardenia was already building the idea out in her head, faster than she could keep pace with it. "Combine that with Substitute to split the damage, and Poison Heal could absorb the Toxic Orb completely."
"Leech Seed. Toxic. Toxic Orb. Substitute." She said it again, slower. "What a build."
Her expression had gone slightly feverish. "This actually works outside the game, too."
She pulled up Teacher Luke's profile, heart racing.
"Seventh… in the world?!" Her eyes went wide.
She checked the fan community she'd just joined — and did a double take.
"Mr. Red's in here."
"So is Champion Blue!?"
"They're both fans of his?!"
Flustered, she muttered to herself, "A Grass-type player this famous — Erika's probably heard of him too. Maybe I could ask him for pointers before the Attribute Expert Tournament…"
She turned the Poké Ball over in her hand, the light on its surface flashing red, and glanced at her other Breloom — the Poison Heal one — replaying the match in her head.
"So he wasn't taunting me on purpose. That's just what a Poison Heal build looks like in practice."
Her grip on the ball tightened.
"I need to train harder."
Luke's stream ended on a high note, subscribers climbing to seventy thousand.
He'd pulled in close to $280 in tips over the course of the night — the final total still pending, but already more than enough to treat himself.
He cracked open a can of iced cola from the mini-fridge and sank back into his gaming chair.
"System, BP check."
BP: 970
Thanks to the stream's performance, he'd picked up almost 200 BP — not far off from another ten-pull.
Back in his room, Gastly was still hovering over the Breeding Manual, poring over it with the seriousness of a strict schoolteacher, while Haze balanced an orange in one tiny paw.
"Kojie!"
Gastly nodded to itself, apparently satisfied with some brilliant insight, then took a huge bite of the orange, juice running everywhere.
Luke's expression flattened.
Who eats a snack while reading an academic paper?
At the sound, Haze startled and Gastly spun around — then broke into a grin and stuck out its tongue to lick him.
"Kojie~!"
Luke reached to pat its head and his hand passed straight through the haze, a cold, numbing sensation prickling his fingertips.
Then the system's flat voice cut in.
Gastly: A thin, gaseous life form. Prolonged close exposure would incapacitate even an elephant within ten minutes.
Luke's face changed.
"You could've mentioned that earlier."
Luckily, Gastly liked being touched enough to consciously rein the toxin in, letting the mist curl harmlessly around his palm instead.
Relieved, he smiled.
"What do you want for a late-night snack?"
Gastly blinked at him, wide-eyed.
(⊙_⊙)
"Here, take my phone and pick something."
Luke handed it over and reclaimed the manual — now damp with saliva.
He flipped through it and did a double take.
"You actually took notes?"
"Kojie!"
Gastly, phone clamped in its mouth, lifted its head proudly.
Luke had only half-meant it earlier, when he'd joked about asking Gastly to mark up every mention of Confuse Ray.
In under two hours, the manual was soaked through with wet, sticky underlines — all of it Gastly's own annotation work.
"You're a genius, you little menace."
"Kojie~~ (`)"
Luke laughed it off and set the manual back where it belonged.
"Stop grinning like an idiot and go order us food."
Mastering something like Confuse Ray in two hours was obviously wishful thinking, no matter how thorough the manual looked.
Luke wasn't holding it to a high bar, though.
His actual goal had always been simpler:
Cut down the electricity bill.
"Kojie!"
Gastly set the phone down carefully on the table, eyes locked on the menu, swallowing audibly at the spread of dishes on screen, then broke into an unsettling grin, tongue extending toward a picture of Farfetch'd.
Gastly:
(￣ω￣)
"Not Farfetch'd, we did that last time. Let's try something else."
Luke rubbed his chin.
"Barbecue? The lamb skewers here have good reviews."
Gastly:
(＾ω＾)
Its eyes lit up in approval.
"Extra spicy, cumin, ice-cold beer — done."
Half an hour later, Luke had a table set up by the window.
A warm evening breeze drifted through, carrying the smell of grilled meat thick enough to make anyone's mouth water.
Gastly, face flushed from the spice — or maybe the beer — kept licking eagerly at the glistening skewers.
"Slow down, nobody's taking it from you."
"Hiss~~ heh!"
Ghost or not, by the time it finished, Gastly's haze seemed to have thickened slightly.
These are actually pretty good—might be Wooloo, Luke thought, taking a sip of his beer.
"So how'd you end up all the way out here, anyway?"
"I read online that Gastly don't usually live in towns."
Gastly went still.
It tilted its head back, said nothing for a long moment, then buried its face in the pile of skewers.
"Not going to tell me, huh?"
Luke prodded gently at the mist drifting around it and smiled.
"It's fine."
"We're family now."
The breeze picked up again, and Gastly looked up suddenly — eyes gone glassy.
Then it was full-on sobbing.
"Kojie, kojie~ (;Д`)!"
"Don't you dare wipe that on my clothes—no—NO—"
Luke barely escaped getting swallowed whole, getting a brief, unwanted taste of what it must feel like to suffocate under an elephant.
Later, Gastly pulled a suspicious blue bottle labeled Speed Boost (Enhanced) from the cabinet, apparently planning ahead for breakfast, and Luke set it up on the ceiling for the night.
Its permanent grin overhead was, weirdly, kind of comforting to wake up to.
"Lights out, Gastly."
"Kojie!"
Gastly cut the power on command.
What Luke didn't notice, once he was asleep, was the faint glow that began drifting around Gastly like slow-moving fireflies—
The very thing he'd asked it to master that morning.
Confuse Ray.