"I'll just take a look." That was as far as Luke's plan went.
But the moment he opened the document, it swallowed him whole—a flood of technical jargon and breeding theory laid out more completely than he'd ever seen. It read like someone handing a green recruit, fresh out of the tutorial and clueless about what came next, a flawless walkthrough from a seasoned expert. Everything about Gastly—diet, habits, training methods—was catalogued in more detail than most academic papers managed, right down to a full list of cited sources.
Professor Oak, On the Possibility of Incorporating Ghost-Type Physiology into Carry Pokémon Studies.
Agatha, The Source of Fear: From Gastly to Gengar.
Somewhere in the acknowledgments, Blue thanked Kanto's own Ghost-type Elite Four member. Agatha apparently had some history with his grandfather, Professor Oak. Blue had built the whole method by fusing Oak's research approach with Agatha's field theory, and from the look of it, he'd originally intended to publish it under Oak's name—perhaps to smooth things over between them.
Nothing had come of it.
Which was how Luke ended up with the paper for free.
"What a good, dutiful grandson," Luke said, almost touched.
"Honestly, if this ever went to auction, the breeding method alone would fetch a fortune."
A manual written by Breeder Blue was Epic quality at the very least. It might not compare to Giovanni's legendary Mysteries of the Earth, but it was still a priceless resource for anyone raising Ghost-type Pokémon.
"Pity none of it's much use to me." Luke sighed before shrugging. "Half of this lines up with what I'd already worked out anyway. Might as well let Gastly have a crack at it."
Breeding had never interested him much. Since the manual would otherwise gather dust, Gastly might as well learn from it.
A flash of red light appeared.
Gastly—a small drifting cloud of purple haze—blinked its enormous eyes and curiously looked around its new home.
"Stay put."
Luke casually sidestepped its outstretched tongue.
"I've got a stream to run."
"Kojie? Kojie?"
"Bored already? Here—read this."
Gastly stared at him as though he'd just said something unbelievably stupid.
Not a single picture.
Every page was packed with dense text, formulas, diagrams, and academic terminology.
"Wait…"
"You can read?"
Luke placed the freshly printed Gastly Breeding Manual in front of it.
"Let's test that."
"How many methods does this paper describe for using Confuse Ray?"
Confuse Ray was one of Gastly's early moves.
According to Blue's research, Gastly born in areas filled with artificial light naturally possessed exceptional talent with the move, leaving tremendous room for further development.
Luke certainly wasn't planning to train it personally.
At the same time, Gastly couldn't keep interrupting his livestreams forever, and locking it inside its Poké Ball all day wasn't exactly humane.
It might as well spend the time learning something useful.
"Kojie!?"
Completely stunned, Gastly turned pale.
It floated motionlessly in the air…
Then suddenly straightened up and dove headfirst into the thick stack of papers.
"Kojie! Kojie!"
I'll understand every single word before tonight!
Luke nodded with satisfaction.
"Oh, right."
"There's fruit in the cupboard if you get hungry."
With everything settled, he sat down at his computer and opened the streaming platform.
"Huh."
"Already past sixty thousand subscribers."
He rubbed his chin.
"Couple more weeks and we'll hit the milestone."
Quest: I Am, in Fact, Not a Beauty Streamer!
Objective: Reach 100,000 subscribers.
Reward: 1,000 BP, one random Skill (Lv. 1), TM: Substitute ×1.
Earlier, Luke had asked the system whether Substitute was actually any good.
The answer hadn't been that it was strong.
Rather…
It was disgustingly effective when combined with certain other moves.
Luke couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
"Here I was hoping for a Killer Queen or Star Platinum, and instead I get handed Substitute."
The instant the stream went live, familiar viewers flooded into chat.
"FOOD'S HERE! FOOD'S HERE!"
"First time catching the stream—is this Fighter's channel?"
"Teacher Luke! Show us the Substitute + Protect + Toxic combo again!"
Luke glanced through the comments.
"We're doing something different today."
He opened the team editor.
Then quietly dragged an ordinary-looking Breloom onto the team.
Immediately, the chat exploded.
"??? Why Breloom?"
"Terrible stats, terrible bulk. It's completely unviable!"
"Venusaur is literally better. Switch it!"
Luke ignored every single comment.
He clicked Matchmaking.
"Oh no…"
"Teacher Luke's about to get destroyed."
His opponent came from the Sinnoh region.
A golden verification badge sat beside the username.
Officially Verified — Eterna City Gym Leader, Gardenia
"HOLY—It's Sinnoh's Grass-type Gym Leader!"
"She's an actual Grass specialist, and he picks Breloom?"
"Wait! She has a Breloom too!"
Gardenia's profile picture appeared on-screen.
She had short orange hair that brushed her ears, wore a light blue shawl over a black top that left her midriff exposed, brown shorts, and stood confidently on a grassy hillside while holding a Poké Ball.
Red light flashed.
Two Breloom faced one another.
Gardenia's was obviously larger, healthier, and far better bred.
"Oh no…"
"This is going to be a massacre."
"Does anyone seriously think he beats a Gym Leader?"
"It doesn't even have a Hidden Ability!"
Gardenia's Breloom moved first.
It blurred forward.
A devastating punch slammed into Luke's Breloom's stomach, launching it backward nearly three meters.
This feels like getting force-fed rice through a fire hose.
"I told you! Just switch to Venusaur!"
Even while being completely overwhelmed, Luke calmly explained,
"That Breloom is running Technician."
He paused.
"Mine is running Poison Heal."
The next punch struck a vital point.
Yet Luke's Breloom refused to collapse.
Instead…
Its body trembled.
It let out a cry toward the sky.
Its wounds visibly began healing.
"Wait… is that Leftovers?"
"How is it healing that fast??"
"No—it's holding a Toxic Orb!"
Poison Heal continuously restores HP while the Pokémon is poisoned.
A Toxic Orb automatically poisons its holder.
Together…
The combination created a recovery speed bordering on absurd.
The two Breloom continued trading punches.
Gardenia's gradually wore itself down.
Luke's recovered almost everything it lost.
"???"
"That's terrifying."
"Do you actually know how to lose?"
Nearly one hundred exchanges later…
With absolutely no remaining path to victory…
A completely demoralized Gardenia surrendered.
As countless question marks flooded the chat, the livestream's viewer count surged past 600,000.
"Teacher Luke isn't human."
"Absolute genius."
"Absolute madman."
"Is this the legendary 'return all poison to sender' strategy?!"
On-screen, Luke recalled his Breloom.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"The poison behind Substitute, Protect, and Toxic…"
"…was never really Toxic's poison."
"It's Poison Heal's poison."
Donations flooded across the screen.
Subscribers climbed rapidly.
Luke's BP continued increasing with every notification.
"Is that even English? That sounded like poetry."
"The Gym Leader actually surrendered?!"
"TEACHER LUKE IS THE GOAT!"