"Gu ne! Gu ne!"
Gimmighoul lay on top of the coin purse. The moment it saw the gold coins inside, its eyes lit up and it cried out excitedly.
There were 100 gold coins in the purse. This Gimmighoul had never seen so many gold coins in its entire life, so naturally it was overjoyed.
However, at that moment, a red beam of light shot toward it.
"Gu ne!!"
Gimmighoul immediately spun around and saw Gary standing there with Gengar right behind him.
"Gengar!"
Gengar grinned smugly. Little guy, where do you think you're running to?
"Gu ne..."
Gimmighoul immediately realized it had been tricked, but it was still confused. Normally, humans would chase it away the moment they spotted it.
Why was this young man so strange? Instead of driving it off, he had kept it around. For a moment, Gimmighoul was thoroughly puzzled.
Gimmighoul was a Pokémon with essentially no natural enemies. It was only 10 centimeters tall, and no Pokémon considered it prey, so it typically wasn't very cautious. Its only real threats were the guardian Pokémon kept in antique shops and gold shops.
But that only happened if Gimmighoul deliberately approached those places—otherwise, no Pokémon would bother attacking it.
Seeing that Gimmighoul wasn't panicking, Gary decided not to try capturing it through battle. Instead, he tried to persuade it.
"Gimmighoul, become my Pokémon. I can give you all these gold coins, and even more gold coins after that," Gary said.
"What?!"
Gimmighoul was very suspicious, thinking Gary might be trying to trick it into revealing where it had hidden its own stash of gold coins.
Without saying anything more, Gary took Gimmighoul's Coin Purse out of his space backpack.
The moment the purse appeared in Gary's hand, Gimmighoul immediately smelled the scent of the gold coins inside—and these weren't ordinary gold coins. They were coins that had been specially nurtured by other Gimmighoul.
"As long as you're willing to become my Pokémon, I'll give you all the gold coins in this purse," Gary said.
"Gu!"
Without hesitation, Gimmighoul nodded in agreement. After all, it hadn't collected many gold coins of its own. If becoming Gary's Pokémon meant getting access to so many well-nurtured gold coins, why would it refuse?
Seeing Gimmighoul nod so readily, Gary hadn't expected it to be persuaded this easily. It was clear that gold coins held enormous influence over this Pokémon.
Gary put Gimmighoul's Coin Purse back into his space backpack, then took out a Poké Ball and threw it at Gimmighoul.
Gimmighoul had seen how Trainers captured Pokémon before, so it stood still and let the Poké Ball hit it, allowing itself to be drawn inside.
The Poké Ball wobbled on the ground a few times, then stopped.
Gary had successfully caught Gimmighoul.
He walked over quickly, first collecting the scattered gold coins, then picked up the Poké Ball and checked Gimmighoul's data.
[Pokémon: Gimmighoul]
[Type: Ghost]
[Level: 30]
[Potential: Elite-tier]
[Ability: Run Away (Can always escape from wild Pokémon.)]
[Moves: Astonish, Tackle]
[Friendship: 100 (Max 255)]
[Held Item: Gimmighoul's Coin]
Gimmighoul's data was just like this. No matter how many levels it gained, it could only ever naturally awaken two moves.
After reviewing the data, Gary released Gimmighoul again.
"Gu ne!"
Gimmighoul popped out and immediately scurried over to Gary's feet, demanding gold coins.
What a greedy little thing, Gary thought to himself, then took out a Soothe Bell.
"Here, put this in your storage space. I'll bring you gold coins later," Gary said.
Gimmighoul stared at the Soothe Bell, then pulled out the gold coins from its own storage space, stuffed the Soothe Bell inside, and clutched the coins tightly with both hands, as if worried Gary might snatch them away.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to steal your things," Gary said, sighing helplessly. He reached out and touched Gimmighoul's body. It felt cold to the touch, smooth like some kind of special metal.
Gary immediately began teaching Gimmighoul new moves. After going through the available options, Gimmighoul could only learn three additional moves: Rest, Reflect, and Protect.
"Gu ni!!"
Gimmighoul was also quite surprised. It had suddenly gained three new moves without even realizing how. It immediately looked at Gary, understanding right away that this had to be his doing.
"That's one of my abilities. Pretty amazing, right?" Gary said with a smile.
"Gu ni."
Gimmighoul didn't respond to Gary's question at all. Instead, it pointed at the gold coins in its hands, clearly indicating that it wanted more money.
Compared to learning new moves, Gimmighoul cared far more about gold coins.
"You miser, do I still owe you something?" Gary said, exasperated. He took Gimmighoul's Coin Purse out of his space backpack and threw it directly at Gimmighoul.
The moment Gimmighoul saw the purse, its mind seemed to short-circuit. It let the purse hit it, then scrambled to the top, tore open the drawstring, and dove straight inside.
Then—a blinding white light burst out from the purse. The purse itself began shrinking rapidly, visibly deflating before their eyes. At the same time, Gimmighoul's body started growing taller. Although it didn't end up taller than Gary, its size increased to at least ten times that of the original Gimmighoul.
As the light of evolution faded, a Gholdengo appeared, its entire body composed of gold coins.
Although Gholdengo's whole body was golden, it was actually made up of 1,000 individual gold coins. The coins were packed so densely together that it looked like a single solid form. However, if attacked, the impacted area would scatter into loose coins to absorb the damage, and any part of its body could be launched outward as a projectile attack.
"Not bad."
Gary examined Gholdengo and checked its updated data.
[Pokémon: Gholdengo]
[Type: Ghost / Steel]
[Level: 30]
[Potential: Champion-tier]
[Ability: Good as Gold (A Pokémon with this Ability cannot be affected by other Pokémon's status-changing moves.)]
[Moves: Astonish, Tackle, Night Shade, Substitute, Shadow Ball]
[Teachable Moves: Reflect, Rest, Protect]
[Friendship: 255 (Max 255)]
[Held Item: Soothe Bell]
After evolving, Gholdengo's Ability had become Good as Gold, and it had awakened three new moves—two attacking moves and one status move, all of which were quite good.
Gary continued teaching Gholdengo additional moves, since evolving allowed it to learn more skills than before.
After finishing all the teaching, Gholdengo had only mastered a handful of moves total. It had to be said that Gholdengo's natural movepool wasn't very wide, but its signature move, Gold Rush, was still incredibly powerful.
Unfortunately, Gholdengo's current level was too low, and it hadn't awakened that signature move yet.
"I wonder what kind of effect Good as Gold will have once it's strengthened," Gary wondered curiously.
Gholdengo's Good as Gold Ability was somewhat similar to Metagross's Clear Body, but Good as Gold would likely be even stronger once enhanced—potentially even granting immunity to secondary effects attached to attacking moves.