[Snippet] The Ghost King (Pokemon): Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Maybe for anyone else, it would have been terrifying.

Ghosts in this world were…well, ghosts. For the vast majority of people, they treated Ghosts are the same way that Edmund suspected that people back in his original world would have also treated them. Perhaps less eldritch and frightening, but still with significant fear and revulsion.

Ghosts were not nice. Hauntings, pranks, and even the most benign behavior of some ghosts could have a lasting impact and cause harm to people who encounter them. It was human nature to fear the unknown, and out of all Pokemon types, Ghosts were the most ethereal.

Dragons were big and scary but in an overt way. A Gyarados would have people screaming and running away in fear if it popped up at the beach. But those were understandable; a big rampaging dragon is bad.

A ghost was…you didn’t understand it. It was dark and mysterious; it didn’t conform to most people’s understanding of the world.

Yet, Edmund sat there surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of ghosts. They were dancing in the skies above him; ethereal flames flickered above, flowing endlessly as they played excitedly all around.

It was as if a single word from the Elder Gengar had set them all off. As if he had now been acknowledged and become one of the group, and they didn’t need to hold back. 

It was a side of the type that he suspected very few people had ever seen before. No, maybe no one else in the living world had. For one, he had never even heard rumors of a group of ghosts like this living in the region.

Edmund was almost positive that if such rumors began to spread, the League would have spent considerable effort to drive them away. It didn’t matter if they weren’t a danger—ignoring everything else—just the simple fact that there were thousands of ghosts all together nearby; it would have caused absolute panic.

Maybe even people like Professor Oak would have been hesitant to let it happen as well. And even he wasn’t very much put off by the idea of Ghost Types when Edmund talked to him.

It was eerie and spooky; there was an uncanniness to it with each passing ghost that blinked in and out of reality. The little ghostly candles that phased in and out of perception that one moment showed their true form, and the next were just a floating flame—the bizarre sight had a surprisingly opposite effect on Edmund.

Maybe he felt fear initially, but that was mostly due to the danger of suddenly encountering a group of wild Pokémon. Now, though…being surrounded by it all, he was feeling confusingly content and comfortable.

Maybe, for the first time since waking up in this world, he felt fully relaxed?

It was strange because he knew they weren’t harmless and that the reputation of ghosts was, at a minimum, somewhat deserved. But it wasn’t that he felt utterly safe or that he didn’t feel as if they couldn’t harm him. But rather, it felt like he was a fish diving into the water for the first time.

They were celebrating.

He didn’t know what they were celebrating. Maybe it was just their normal behavior? Maybe they were the type to find any reason to celebrate. Edmund had the curious thought, maybe it was a send-off celebration for their little Gastly?

Because the moment that the Elder Gengar seemed to relent, everyone erupted in excitement.

Even the Alpha Shiny Gengar didn’t have that hint of standoffishness to him. The frightening and dangerous feeling didn’t disappear, but rather than being enveloped in it, it was more a fleeting feeling in the distance.

The Elder Gengar watched with a soft smile on his face, like a parent who was enjoying watching his children play. He let them continue for awhile before putting his hands up. “Gengar.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it immediately caused an abrupt halt to the festivities.

Even so, there was no air of tension or disgruntlement. Rather, there was a new sort of excitement that hung above all their heads, a new sort of expectation.

Edmund blinked as all eyes landed on him.

“Gengar. Geng.” The Elder Gengar stated, pointing to Edmund, and as he did, there were cheers as everyone moved again.

Rather than flying around or playing wildly, they all gave the air a wide berth, like an audience taking their seats to watch a show.

Gastly bumped against Edmund’s head. “Gastly!” It grabbed Edmund’s hood with his mouth to pull him up.

Genger held his hand out, then pointed to another Gastly at the side, beckoning him forward.

“Gastly?”

“Geng.”

“Gast!” The other Gastly laughed happily, sticking its tongue out.

The Elder Gengar stood up, and his Gastly floated next to him as he gave Edmund a little smirk. It was in that moment that Edmund understood what was happening.

It was a Pokemon battle.

A test? A game? A bit of hazing?

He didn’t know the reason, but he understood the core of it. 

“What are the rules?” Edmund asked.

Gengar chuckled, and he pointed at the fire between them, and a little wisp of it flew out at his command and began to form into letters hovering in the air.

1 V 1

5 minutes to prepare.

It was short and direct.

But more than that, Edmun’s eyes dilated briefly at just the display of power that the Gengar showed. It wasn’t some fantastical display of might; rather, it was a casual action that Edmund was fairly sure was significantly more intricate and difficult than just blowing something up or turning something to ash with flames.

Was it a method of using Will-O-Wisp?

It reinforced Edmund’s understanding of the Elder Gengar. 

He was old, very, very old.

And when it came to Pokemon, with age came power.

Edmund briefly wondered if it wasn’t the fact that the League didn’t know about them, but rather, they left them alone because of the Elder Gengar. He didn’t have much time to dwell on it because he only had five minutes to prepare, which was a short time.

Edmund quickly pulled out a notebook. “Quick, tell me which of these moves you know. You already told me you know Shadow Ball.” Which in and of itself was extraordinary for a fresh little Gastly. 

Gastly went over what he wrote and nudged at the spots on the paper before Edmund just nodded to himself.

“Alright, this can work.” Edmund stood up straight as Gastly floated at his side. “Our first battle, are you ready?” It was their first battle as trainers and Pokemon as partners.

“Gastly!”

“Geng?” The Elder asked as if he was asking if they were ready. He then pointed at a Haunter floating between them.

The Haunter was holding a cloth, a handkerchief, or something of that sort as the Elder pointed at him.

Edmund nodded, understanding.

The fight would start when it hit the ground.

The cloth was let go, and it slowly floated downward.

As soon as it touched the grass, Edmund shouted. “Confuse Ray!”

Gastly responded quickly and shot out the colored light right at the other Gastly.

“Geng.”

The other Gastly sunk down into the shadows, dodging it. It took Edmund only a moment to recognize the move as Shadow Sneak. It was entirely different than what he recalled, but the confusion made way for realization. It was combining more than one move together. 

“Gastly, use Lick behind you into the shadow!” His Gastly turned out, and its tongue shot out, and out of the shadow behind them, the other Gastly appeared, and its own tongue whipped out as the two collided.

“Shadow Sneak into Lick?” Edmund muttered, realizing that those two moves could be combined in that way. The Gastly became part of the Shadow Sneak and used it like a springboard to launch a lick. Lick was a lower-damaging move, but the combination gave up power for versatility.

Shadow Sneak was a move that attacked from the shadows, but he didn’t think the attack method of it could be shifted to Lick.

It was a realization that Moves weren’t so linear. It wasn’t a game where a move did one specific thing, where numerical codes calculated everything. Moves could be altered, they could be combined, they could be twisted.

“Confuse Ray again. Follow up with Shadow Ball!”

“Gengar, Geng!”

The other Gastly let out a Dark Pulse; the curtain of darkness fell down on his own Gastly, causing its Confuse Ray to missfire and get dazed for a moment while also taking a big hit. It then quickly sunk back into the shadows with Shadow Sneak just in time for his own Gastly to recover and throw out a Shadow Ball, missing entirely.

Edmund realized his plan right away.

Hit and run tactics. It wasn’t overly complicated, but it was very effective. And Gastly was breathing a bit heavily from that last attack.

“Hold.” Edmund whispered, just as the other Gastly emerged from the shadows with a Lick.

“Payback!” He shouted.

His own Gastly got smacked by the other Gastly’s tongue, but that triggered the move. Payback wasn't like its game’s counterpart, but the idea was the same. It was an ability that, when you got hit, let you retaliate with increased power.

It was also a Dark Type, doing increased damage on Gastly who was a Ghost type, hitting it hard, dazing it as it took the brunt of the hit head on.

“Gengar.” The Elder Gengar gave his own order, but Edmund saw the pattern.

“Gastly, use toxic on the ground!” His Gastly sprayed the toxic sludge out onto the ground beneath the other Gastly.

It cut off the other Gastly’s retreat into the shadows just as it was about to run away again. Mid shadow-dive, he had to abruptly stop his descent, and it left him open to an attack.

“Now, Gastly, use Lick and smack him into the poison puddle on the ground!” 

“Gastly!” He shouted as his tongue whipped out, colliding with the other Gastly. True to order, the other Gastly got hit on the top of the head and was slammed down into the ground and became poisoned due to getting covered in the goopy pile of sludge left behind.

Gastly were Poison Types, but immunities to types wasn’t a thing in the real world. The concept of just being ‘immune’ to something because of your type was purely a gameplay mechanic from his past life. However, it did translate into having an increased resistance to it.

Poison types were more difficult to poison.

But he was just hit hard with a Dark-Type attack and hadn’t fully recovered from it, letting the Poison attack take hold.

“Geng!”

The other Gastly used Endure, limiting the poison damage it took, but the side effect is that its damage output is reduced accordingly for a brief period.

“Gengar!” 

The Gastly, poisoned and forced to use a defensive move, took a deep breath and then spewed out an encompassing icy wind, chilling everything around them.

“Icy Wind?” Edmund blurted out, recognizing the move but not expecting to see it on a wild Gastly.

Or…was he wild?

It didn’t matter. “Shadow Ball!”

“Gengar!”

The Shadow Ball shot out at quick speeds, but the other Gastly used the chance provided by the slowed speed caused by Icy Winds to dodge out of the way.

“Gastly, make him keep dodging; his Endure has a time limit! Shadow Ball continuously!” Edmund called out.

“Gastly!” His Gastly roared in response. “Gast! Gast! Gast! Gast!” It shot out Shadow Balls with reckless abandon, forcing the other Gastly into a frantic set of dodging maneuvers not giving it any opportunity to retaliate.

In a normal situation, his Gastly would have tired itself out, and it would have been an utterly foolish command. But the other Gastly was poisoned, so it became a game of who would fall first.

It was a wild dance in the air. The two Gastly’s facing off in a game of chicken with Shadow Balls flying through the air and the other trying to dodge.

He saw the other Gastly start to pant, its purple face turning pale as the poison ticked away at its health.

But his own Gastly….

“Gast…” He threw out one last Shadow Ball, but it was smaller and slower.

He began to fall, having trouble staying afloat.

Edmund reached out his hands and caught his Gastly, cradling him in his arms. “We forfeit." He stated, seeing the writing on the wall.

“Gast…” His own Gastly looked unwilling, but Edmund gave him a smile.

“It’s fine. We’ll get better, we’ll train more, and you’ll definitely get stronger next time.” He didn’t know where his own resolve was coming from. It felt almost foreign as this bubbling feeling swelled up in his chest. “This is just the start, okay? Even if we lose, we’ll keep trying.”

The Elder Gastly had caught the other one; as just a few breaths later, he had fallen as well.

They lost by a hair’s breath.

To his surprise, the surroundings erupted again in jovial celebrations. Dozens of different ghosts came flying around Edmund, playfully bumping into him, some patting him on the shoulder as if to give encouragement, others laughing and giving him a thumbs up.

It was like they were all encouraging him and telling him he did a good job.

There was no pain from the loss; the slight feeling of depression had immediately disappeared. Rather, he felt invigorated, the feeling of excitement when he battled, and the desire now to keep going.

It was something he had sorely been missing in his life since arriving here.

The Elder Gengar stepped through the crowd of Ghosts as they slowly made way for him. He looked over Edmund and at the Gastly in his arms, and the expression on his face softened considerably.

“Gengar, geng. Gar.” He reached out, patting Gastly on the head before doing the same to Edmund.

Edmund was still getting used to Pokemon, understanding what they’re saying. But he could sort of feel it was the same, that the Elder Gengar was giving them encouragement, saying they did a good job and not to dwell on the loss. 

But most of all, it felt like Gengar was giving a heartfelt blessing.

Go, travel, see the world.

A glint of something metallic caught Edmund’s eye, and the Elder Gengar pulled out, from who-knows-where, a Pokeball.

Not like Edmund’s secret found Pokeball that he picked up in the wild that was a bit weathered. This one looked…relatively new, or at least it had been well taken care of.

He handed it over to Edmund, and Edmund understood the meaning. He tapped it against Gastly, who showed a big grin with his long tongue sticking out.

Gastly turned into a bright light before being sucked up into the Pokeball.

And finally, Edmund caught his first Pokémon and gained his partner.

[Line Break]

“Shit, shit shit!” Edmund was running along the path to the city, barely registering the cities’ gates as he ran through them.

He had lost track of time.

He could faintly hear Gastly laughing in his ear.

For Ghost Pokemon, staying in a Pokeball was a suggestion most of the time. They could basically go in and out as they pleased, rather than like other Pokemon who had to force themselves out if they didn’t want to be inside.

He was nearly out of breath as he stepped on the porch at the front door. Just as he was about to push the door open, it swung open by someone else's hand, and a pair of unamused parents were staring at him.

"Um…sorry I’m late? I was caught up—"

Before he could finish, his mom pulled him into a big hug. “We’re so proud of you!”

Even his father showed a rare smile. “We already heard the news. You got accepted by Professor Oak and became a sponsored trainer! That’s going to open so many doors for you.”

“Y-yes?” Admittedly, he had been focused more on the army of ghosts outside the city than on his meeting with Julian. “You’re not mad that I’m late?” Because his parents would have been normally furious that he had been out this late without so much as a heads-up.

“It’s alright; that nice researcher already called and told us that you might be a bit late. Make sure to properly thank him tomorrow for escorting you back home.” His mom replied.

“...I will?” He would definitely thank Julian for covering for his ass.

He barely stepped into the room, and his brothers were there too.

“There’s the man of the hour.” Benjamin smiled brightly at his younger brother.

And his other, eldest brother, Barty, was there too. Like his father, he was a bit cold on the surface usually, perhaps more reserved, but he showed a rare smile too. “We’re proud of you, Edmund.”

“Come on, let me see that Pokedex; I’ve never gotten to hodl one before.” Benny put an arm around his neck playfully.

“What started? Did you choose? There are many respectable pseudo-legendaries that are rumored to be selectable under Professor Oak’s sponsorship.”

“Uh, I…uh, I didn’t choose a starter yet?” Edmund quickly reorientated himself. “I get it tomorrow…my Pokedex too.” That last part technically wasn’t a lie. He would be picking up his Pokedex tomorrow from Julian after he fixed one up.

"Alright, boys, don’t hound your brother.” His mom playfully swatted at both their shoulders.

It was strange; the sense of happiness that came then quickly disappeared as he realized that it was all built on a lie.

Edmund’s father cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should do that now rather than waiting until morning. I fear we may have another Benjamin situation if we wait.”

Benjamin laughed awkwardly. “How was I supposed to know you had something planned?”

Their mom shook her head in exasperation before putting her arms on Edmund’s shoulders. “We wanted to do a little…event before you head out. It’s tradition at this point. Benjamin here; the moment he woke up that morning on the first day of his journey start date, he bolted out the door before we could even say a word.”

Their father sighed. “We had to mail him the gifts we were going to give them.”

Barty snorted, holding back a small smile as well as he recalled it.

“Alright, alright, how many times do I have to apologize? I even looped back around early to come visit.” Benjamin rolled his eyes. “We all got you a couple things to help out on your journey. Nothing…too much. You know it’s tradition not to weigh you down with anything extravagant or ridiculous. Part of the journey is roughing it a bit and making your own way.”

“You start first, then we’ll do it in reverse order.” His mom put her hands on her hips.

“Fine, let me go get the thing. You guys get yours too.” Benjamin walked out of the room as everyone else went to go grab some things they wanted to give him.

Edmund hadn’t said a word because he was still processing what was happening, even as everyone recovered not minutes later.

They were all holding wrapped boxes.

“Alright, Edmund, open mine first.” Benjamin all but pushed it into his arms.

Edmund hesitantly untied a string on it and opened it up to see a spool of fishing line.

“Before anyone gives me a look or calls me cheap, let me explain.” Benjamin put his hand up very quickly to avoid certain looks. “That’s a very special fishing line. You know those fishing poles that are used to fish up Gyarados?”

“The very illegal ones?” Their eldest brother asked.

“First, they just need a permit…and permission from the League…and six badges.” Benjamin cleared his throat. “Anyways, this is the fishing line they used. Which—" He held his finger up. “Is technically not illegal or restricted. It’s just…uh, difficult to get your hands on. Its tensile strength is off the charts, so it can be used in a lot of emergencies, not just for fishing. You have your collapsable fishing pole, so this will work with that too, but it’s not needed for anything unserious. If you want to try and catch certain water Pokémon, nudge nudge.”

“Don’t put thoughts in his head!” Their mom harumphed. “I swear to your grandmother six feet under, bless her soul, if you try to fish up a Gyarados, I will pull you back from your journey by your ear.”

Benjamin just laughed as Edmund found himself smiling.

“Thanks, Benny, I’ll put it to good use.” There were a thousand different ways that something like this could be used. Setting traps, tying up a knocked-out Pokémon, etc., etc. If it was strong enough to wrangle a Gyarados up out of the water, the applications were endless.

“This is mine, Edmund.” The eldest brother spoke rather directly with no fanfare, handing a box to Edmund.

He opened it up to see a journal with Barty’s name on it, somewhat faded. “It’s the journal I kept for my journey. It has my notes on places I went and some locations of certain Pokémon and such.”

A Trainer’s personal journal was, well, personal. It had sightings of Pokemon; it had notes on where they traveled, hardships they encountered, and risks and benefits of paths they took. 

No one said anything, as Barty wasn’t the type to overexpress himself, but they all understood the significance of passing it on like this.

Edmund opened it up, feeling a space between the pages, and he saw a few hundred Pokedollars tucked away secretly in the pages.

Barty also noticed Edmund having found it, and when he looked up, he only saw a small smile on his brother’s face.

“Thank you, I will take care of it.”

“Your father and I got you one together.” His mother pat their father’s shoulder. “Give it to him, dear.”

“We gave the same gift to your brothers in the past.” Their father spoke.

Edmund took it, feeling it a bit heavy and opened it up. It was a pocket knife, though not the type that could fit on a keychain. It was weighty and had several other components on it.

“It’s a standard survival knife with additional pieces. The knife can handle some proper use. There’s a flint and strike on it. Scissors for emergencies, a screwdriver, and even a laser light that you can shine up into the sky at night. It’s a known signal, so if someone sees it, they’ll come running.”

“Thank you, Mom, Dad…" Edmund spoke, still feeling how strange it was to say that to his parents. 

“Oooh, I don’t want you to go!” Before he could utter another word, his mom wrapped him up in a big hug. “My last little boy is all grown up now, about to go off on his own journey."

He looked to others for help, but they all just turned away and ignored him.

It was warm and made his heart feel at ease. Unfortunately, there was still a pit in his stomach knowing that everything now had been built on a lie.

His only option was to keep moving forward. Maybe he could make the lie into a reality before he sees them again? Did it matter what Pokémon he had, who his sponsor was, if he managed to reach the League?

No, as long as he proved his worth, then nothing else would matter in the end.

[Line Break]

A/N

Had a bunch of people asking me for another Ghost King lately, so I figured it was as good a time as any to pump one out. MC is starting to open up and embrace the world, finding his own place in it. He’s still rough around the edges and maybe not the most moral or pure-hearted person, but he’s getting better.