Chapter 21: If Our Roles Were Reversed...

“I can let you stay, but we need to set three ground rules,” Hu Yang said to the Gengar.

Once he realized that everything Gengar had said before was merely to scare him, their roles reversed entirely. Now, he no longer had to walk on eggshells around Gengar—rather, Gengar had to worry about his mood.

Gengar seemed nervous. “What do you want me to do?”

“First, no pranks or tricks on others. Second, don’t give me nightmares—can you do that?” Hu Yang asked.

Now that it was seeking shelter, Gengar answered honestly, “I can do that.” Though it was a curse, Gengar was the source and could control it freely.

Hu Yang nodded. “Third, if you can do those two things, I might even help you fulfill your wish.”

“Really?” Gengar sounded a bit surprised.

“So, what do you want me to help you with?” Hu Yang asked.

Gengar grew excited. “Take me back to that ruin!”

“Didn’t you just come from there?” Hu Yang was caught off guard.

Gengar looked confused. “I don’t know, but I can feel something there is calling to me. If you take me back, I can tell you where the treasure is hidden inside.”

Hearing this, Hu Yang raised an eyebrow. “So you didn’t lie to me?”

Gengar had never intended to lie. The day it regained consciousness, Hu Yang had already bought it. Before being sealed, it had suffered at the hands of humans, so instinctively, it didn’t want to trust them. It thought it could threaten Hu Yang into bringing it to the ruins. But it hadn’t expected its bluff to be uncovered so soon.

“It’s just that you’re not strong enough yet,” Gengar said quietly, glancing at Budew. “That ruin is dangerous for you.”

Hu Yang nodded, understanding. Once Gengar finished explaining, he got up to deal with the fish Trumbeak had brought back.

He started the pan, poured in oil, added scallions, ginger, and garlic to bring out their aroma, then placed the prepared fish balls in one by one.

Soon, a mouthwatering fragrance filled the room.

Trumbeak was already standing by, waiting to be fed. Budew, being a Grass-type Pokémon, didn’t like eating meat, so Hu Yang hadn’t prepared any for it.

Although Gengar couldn’t touch anything, it could still smell. When Hu Yang turned around, he saw that purple figure drifting in the air.

He jumped in surprise.

Gengar’s eyes were fixed on the fish balls in the bowl, looking as though it was about to reenact a waterfall cascading from the sky, as if the Milky Way itself was pouring down.

“You can’t eat it,” Hu Yang said.

After thousands of years without food, Gengar almost burst into tears at those words.

Seeing its longing, Hu Yang considered the situation seriously. Gengar was now in its incorporeal spirit form—in simple terms, a ghost. How could a ghost eat food?

Hu Yang thought of those old Chinese vampire movies he’d seen in his past life, and the paper money and offerings people burned for their ancestors.

Could it be…?

With that, Hu Yang took a piece of paper from the drawer and lit it with a lighter. When the paper had turned to ash on the floor, he said to Gengar, “Try it—see if you can touch it.”

Gengar didn’t quite understand, but still reached for the pile of ash, only for its hand to pass straight through the floor.

Hu Yang was silent.

Well, so much for that.

He turned to feed Trumbeak. Crushed, Gengar retreated into its Poké Ball, vanishing from sight.

—

That night, Hu Yang really didn’t have any nightmares.

Gengar had kept its promise, so Hu Yang kept his. He began preparing to help Gengar return to the ruins (and get his hands on the ancient treasure there to sell), which meant special training for Budew.

“Right now, Budew only knows three moves: Stun Spore, Absorb, and Seed Bomb…”

After class, Hu Yang brought Budew to the wooded hill behind the school again. Trumbeak played in the river, while Hu Yang and Budew practiced their moves on the shore.

Battles in the game couldn’t fully translate to reality. Those moves that were guaranteed to hit in-game could still miss here. Real battles required far more skill than in-game.

Moves were like target practice, only the target could move and dodge on its own.

In this situation, certain moves became very difficult to land.

Trainers in this world understood that well. Hu Yang noticed they often put their Pokémon through specialized training.

Of course, there were other forms of training too—speed, strength, and so on, often done through running, weightlifting, and similar methods.

Hu Yang recalled Budew’s three moves: Absorb, Stun Spore, and Seed Bomb.

There were no TM discs in this world. If a Pokémon wanted to learn a new move, there were only three ways:

First, through instruction from other Pokémon.

Second, by understanding it naturally as it grew or evolved.

Third, through the trainer’s creative development.

Biting off more than one can chew never works. Given Budew’s current state, Hu Yang didn’t plan to teach it any new moves. It would be better to push its mastery of these three as far as possible.

“Stun Spore is a control move. If the opponent isn’t resistant and inhales the powder, they’ll be paralyzed instantly,” Hu Yang thought.

He had Budew use Stun Spore at full strength.

With a determined cry, Budew released a wide cloud of pale yellow powder from its flower bud, spreading over the area directly in front of it and reaching out to about three meters.

The flaw was obvious. If the enemy stayed out of range and attacked from beyond three meters, Stun Spore would lose its effect.

Next, he had Budew use Seed Bomb. Again, a large seed, about the size of an adult’s fist, shot from the flower bud.

The seed was brown, glowing faintly green—big, hard, the kind that could probably break someone’s skull open.

But that was only half the point. A “bomb,” as the name implied, explodes—so the real attack was in the explosion after impact.

It was worth noting that Seed Bomb wasn’t like Bullet Seed, which fired repeatedly. In the game’s animation, it showed many small seeds being launched, probably due to technical constraints or maybe the developers were just being lazy.

The Seed Bomb’s flight speed wasn’t very fast either, making it hard to hit quick opponents.

Was there a way to guarantee a hit?

Hu Yang’s gaze returned to Stun Spore.

Both moves had obvious flaws.

But what if he could combine Seed Bomb and Stun Spore?

Then, even if Seed Bomb missed, its explosion would scatter the Stun Spore hidden inside. As long as the enemy inhaled any of it, they’d be paralyzed instantly.