Two nights later, back at the apartment, Luke sat across from Gastly with a look of grim determination. Gastly matched his expression, staring down the Pokéblock in front of it — a piece of Pokéblock the color of fresh blood, dark red and glassy, with an almost amber shine to it.
This was the Petaya Berry block, made from a purple-tier item Luke had pulled from his second ten-pull.
[Remaining BP: 270]
[Petaya Berry: Stimulates the nerves via capsaicin, boosting a Pokémon's Special Attack. (Word is this thing's actually sweet in some parallel universe. Couldn't tell you.)]
Petaya Berries were genuinely rare on the market — one of the few Berries that actually enhanced a Pokémon's stats. Luke's second pull had also turned up a broader haul:
[Pull results: Moomoo Milk ×3, Oran Berry ×3, Elementary Fishing Rod Set ×1, Petaya Berry ×2, Dive Ball ×1]
With no plans to catch a Water-type any time soon, the Dive Ball and fishing rod went straight into storage. The real prize was the two bright red Petaya Berries.
Making them into Pokéblock had been an ordeal — the noise alone had the neighbors half-convinced there was a murder happening next door. The first batch came out a total failure; the second attempt yielded exactly five blocks, but they were high-quality through and through, proof that Energy Cube Craft Lv3 hadn't been wasted BP.
"Try it," Luke said, dead serious. "If it works, I'm setting up a street stall tomorrow."
"Kojie!"
Gastly nodded and extended a trembling tongue — which then froze about an inch from the block for a solid five seconds.
"...Why aren't you eating it?"
A bead of sweat rolled down Gastly's face and dropped onto its own rigid tongue with a quiet plop. It sucked in a breath, rolled the block onto its tongue in one motion, and swallowed like it was walking to the gallows.
Three seconds passed.
"Well? How do you feel?" Luke leaned in.
Gastly's dark face flushed visibly. Its huge white eyes went bloodshot, mouth stretching open with visible effort.
"Hoo—!!"
A jet of dark purple flame roared out of its mouth. Luke was already mid-dodge before it finished forming — the fire slammed into the wall with a bang, stuck there, and kept right on burning, scorching a black streak across the plaster.
Silence.
Gastly widened its eyes, doing its best impression of innocence.
Sweat rolled down Luke's forehead. "That's Will-O-Wisp? It nearly matched Flamethrower!"
Will-O-Wisp was supposed to be a weak, flickering blue-violet flame — not something that came within inches of taking out a wall. Luke genuinely couldn't tell if Gastly had some hidden talent or if the Petaya block was just that overtuned.
Cold sweat still on his neck, Luke silently re-confirmed his life choice never to become a Trainer.
Once he'd caught his breath, he stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the charred wall while Gastly drooped beside him, thoroughly deflated.
"Not your fault," Luke sighed. "I clearly need to tweak the recipe."
"Hiss-jie~~"
"Hm? You're saying it actually tasted good?"
"Kojie!"
Luke rubbed his chin, thinking it over. The quality of the block itself wasn't the issue — this wasn't a side effect, it was just... too effective.
"But if it's that strong, I can't exactly sell it. What happens when a customer burns their house down and comes looking for a refund?"
He scratched his head. "Forget it — the other four are yours, kid."
Gastly perked right up, scooped the remaining four translucent red cubes into a glass jar, and tucked them carefully into the back of a cabinet.
Luke laughed. "I'm not going to steal them from you. Why hide them that deep?"
Gastly shot him a sideways look. "Hiss-ka!" — you never know.
The sheer contempt in that look stung more than it should have.
"Oh, you want to play it that way?" Luke's eyes narrowed. He pulled something out of his pocket — a fire stone, glowing faint red. Less concentrated than the last one, sure, but to Gastly, still a delicacy beyond price.
Gastly's whole face lit up. Its tongue slid out, eyes locked on the stone, a thin string of drool already forming.
Slurp.
It looked up at Luke with what it clearly thought was an irresistibly pitiful expression. I'm being so cute right now. Surely you'll just hand it over.
What Luke actually saw: a faintly deranged Gastly, bloodshot eyes fixed on him, drooling steadily onto the floor.
He shuddered and tossed the stone over anyway. "Ration it. This stuff isn't cheap."
Honestly, even a top-tier Trainer's Pokémon probably didn't eat this well. In just two weeks since the world had shifted under him, Gastly had worked its way through moomoo milk, a Speed Enhancer, a Petaya Berry Pokéblock — and now a fire stone on top of it. This was borderline legendary-tier treatment.
Fire stone clamped in its mouth, Gastly watched Luke's back as he turned away, its eyes slowly softening into little wavy lines of contentment. Something in its chest ached in the good way — after who knew how long adrift, it had finally found something like home.
"Kojie!"
"Whoa— don't just tackle me like that! Haze is toxic, don't—"
Luke never kept Gastly in its Poké Ball if he could help it. Partly because Ash's Pikachu had left an impression on him he'd never quite shaken. Partly because a Poké Ball, however you looked at it, put a limit on a Pokémon's freedom — there was something a little cold about it. Not that every Pokémon minded; plenty preferred the safety of a ball to the brutal reality of the wild. But when it came to Gastly, Luke let it choose.
The next morning, Luke headed out for class, and Gastly lay by the crack under the door to see him off.
"You're not coming?" Luke asked, surprised.
"Kojie! Kojie!"
"Alright then. Take care of yourself." Luke paused at the door, giving it a wary look. "And don't set anything else on fire."
Last time had already cost him five hundred dollars in damages, leaving barely four thousand to his name. If he didn't find some fast income soon, he'd be eating instant noodles for a month.
A flicker of guilt crossed Gastly's face. Under Luke's suspicious stare, it nodded so hard it nearly toppled over.
The second Luke was out the door, Gastly relaxed and pulled the fire stone back out of the cabinet.
It set the stone down, flipped its training manual open to the Will-O-Wisp page, and nodded to itself.
The audition I signed up for — that's tomorrow, isn't it. Master's got enough on his plate already; I can't keep taking up his time. I need to make the most of every minute and train.
It began drawing in the fire stone's energy, the raw heat bleeding into its Haze and staining the fog a deep red. Three black flames bloomed slowly around it — corrosion, adhesion, and burning, the three foundational properties of Will-O-Wisp, straight out of Blue's manual. Different Trainers built on the base differently — some layered in Toxic, others focused on spreading the burn further.
The fire elements swirling around it pushed the three flames hotter and hotter. The fog thickened, turned viscous, and Gastly — in a moment of pure impulse — swallowed a whole Petaya Berry Pokéblock on top of it.
The temperature spiked. With a crack, the fire stone shattered into dust. All three Will-O-Wisps collided at once, chaos and heat colliding in a single violent instant, and fire erupted straight up into the air.
Will-O-Wisp: overload.
That night, Luke came home to find the street lit up with police sirens. Firefighters had a ladder up, directing a Blastoise through its firefighting duties. A crowd of onlookers had gathered.
"Grandpa, whose place caught fire?" Luke asked the building's elderly security guard, more curious than concerned.
The old man gave him a long, complicated look. "Sixth floor. Yours."
Luke: ???
Thankfully, Gastly had kept the blaze from spreading, and the neighbors had called it in fast. After a stern lecture from the fire department, Luke paid a fine — a thousand dollars, plus a thousand more in damages.
Man and Gastly trudged home together, thoroughly humbled, fresh scorch marks joining the old ones on the wall.
"It's a miracle Ms. Carter hasn't kicked me out yet," Luke muttered.
He glanced over. Gastly had curled itself into a tight, trembling ball.
Luke sighed and reached out to comfort it. "This one's on me. I shouldn't have left you alone."
"Hiss-ka..."
"Hey. Come on." He stroked Gastly gently. "Don't cry. Clean yourself up and I'll grab us something to eat, alright?"
"Kojie! (;Д`)"
Teacher Luke: my house caught fire (video attached)
Gold: that Flamethrower is insane
Blue: Given how long it lasted, that's Will-O-Wisp, not Flamethrower.
[Group member "Gold" has been muted by the admin for 2 hours]
Direct message with "Red"
Gold: I just joined the group?? Why am I already muted??
Red: ...Maybe pay a little more attention next time.
Gold Then why wasn't Blue muted??
Red: ...
Gold stared at his own darkened chat icon — goggles pushed up, decked out as flashy as ever — and slammed his cue down on the pool table hard enough to rattle the balls, teeth gritted.
"Fine. Even if this is just a game—"
"I will beat Teacher Luke."