Eric and Gastly made their way toward the exit.
With Gastly scouting ahead, the process became significantly easier. He quietly passed through the walls, and returned with quick, wordless confirmations of clear paths.
They avoided most people.
Well… almost.
A lone policeman stood near the edge of the exit, a Kadabra by his side. The Pokémon's eyes briefly flicked toward Eric, sharp, aware.
For a moment, Eric tensed.
But the officer only gave him a passing glance. His gaze lingered on Eric's worn clothes, his battered state… and then moved on. Eric didn't know why the officer stopped him, but he tried not to think about it right now.
He didn't relax until he was well past him.
They entered the forest without incident.
Dense trees covered the skies, and the air grew eerie.
Eric had Gastly sweep the surrounding area first. Only after several minutes of careful scouting did he finally allow himself to sit, leaning back against the rough bark of a tree.
Only then did he focus on the translucent blue screen that had appeared earlier.
Pokémon: Gastly
Gender: Male
Level: 5
Type: Ghost/Poison
Ability: Levitate
Held Item: None
Potential: Deep Blue
Moves: Lick, Hypnosis, Confuse Ray, Astonish, Disable, Clear smog, Toxic.
"Is this my system?" Eric thought as he observed the screen. As his eyes focussed on the potential panel, new information appeared in the screen.
Grades:
Grey - Bad
Orange - normal
Yellow - Decent
Green - Good
Blue - Great
Purple - Superior
Gold - Supreme
Black - Legendary
Eric tried to do something else but all it did was give more details like telling the base stats of Gastly.
"It's like a more advanced pokedex than a system." Eric thought. He won't complain, it's much better than not having anything.
He knows he needs every advantage that he can get.
"Alright Gastly! We don't have time to waste. While I'm resting, let's get your training started" Eric said with an enthusiasm he didn't know he had.
"For starters, Use Confuse Ray in that direction."
Gastly reacted instantly.
3 glowing yellow orbs formed in front of him, taking about 3 seconds to form. He then shot them towards the rock in front of him. It didn't do any damage, of course.
Eric is excited to see his first pokemon move but he doesn't forget to pay attention as well.
'3 seconds to form the attack, and it takes 2 seconds to travel about 10 Meters. It's too slow, it won't hit anything at this speed.
"Gastly, next use Clear Smog in the same direction."
This time, the attack formed faster, taking about 2.5 seconds.
A pale, mist-like cloud burst forward, swallowing the rock entirely.
The speed of this attack was much better and it covered the entire rock. After the smog cleared, Eric noticed that the rock was slightly corroded.
More than this, Eric wondered how pokemon moves worked at all. Clear smog is an egg move in the games but how does it function in reality? Do pokemon instinctively know how to use Egg moves? Perhaps. But I don't think the same is the case with level up moves. Maybe Gastly can learn shadow ball much earlier.
Eric also wondered how Gastly understood what he meant. The fact that he can understand his language is surprising as it is, but how does he know what I meant by Clear smog?
'Aah whatever. I don't think I'll find the answers to these questions. It makes things easier for me anyways, so I'll chalk this up to Pokemon Magic'
'Gastly. Keep using Clear smog at that rock with an interval of 1 minute between each attack. In that minute, feel what's happening inside your body, understand it. Then make that process happen quicker gradually.
Also, stop when you are starting to feel tired. Don't exhaust yourself completely as we don't know when a Pokemon might appear.'
Eric chose to train clear smog first, as that is Gastly's only damage move that can work on normal types. Lick won't work. And in a forest, normal types like Rattata or pidgey were abundant.
Gastly followed this routine for about 30 minutes, firing 30 clear smogs. Taking a gap of one minute each time made it so that he could recover his strength and continue practicing. If he used clear smog in rapid fire, he could probably do it only 7 or 8 times.
His casting speed went from 2.5s to 2.3s in just 30 minutes! This was the result of analysing what happens to his body when he is using the move 30 times.
Eric was satisfied with this speed of improvement, but he wasn't getting complacent. His brain was already in an alert and calculating mode. He also noticed that his own injuries are healing much faster than they would on Earth. He's recovered quite a bit in just 30 minutes, and that's without food. And he feels a lot more power in his body as well.
Looks like even the humans are much stronger in the Pokemon world.
"Gastly. We are taking a break for 30 minutes. In the meantime, let's look for food." Eric said. His body needed nutrition to function properly. Gastly doesn't need to eat as he takes in the ghost type energy in the environment as food. But he can eat berries which will make him recover energy much faster. To increase his training efficiency, they need to look for berries. .
Fortunately they didn't need to go far as they found an oran berry tree. It's quite lucky to find one without any pokemon nearby
"Gas"
Gastly suddenly moved in front of Eric agitatedly. Looks like I spoke too soon, there was a Pokemon nearby.
Eric, who was already alert, immediately steps back and gets ready when a shadow
runs towards them from a bush besides the tree.
"Gastly, clear smog, and pay attention to its movements while you prepare"
Eric says as he crouches and picks up a wooden stick in his hands, before backing further away
The Pokemon is 15 meters away from him, and seems to be targeting Eric from the get go. Eric moves sideways to dodge it.
Eric notices that it's a Rattata
By the time Gastly prepares the attack, the Rattata is only 7 meters away from Eric, who has now shifted towards the side, out of range from Gastly's clear smog.
As The clear smog reaches Rattata, he tries to dodge to the left, avoiding a direct blow. But Clear smog has a wide area of effect and Rattata is hit by the smog partially.
Rattata is covered in the smog causing him to wince and stop for a second. Eric, who is barely 2 meters away from him now, throws a Pokeball at him immediately before running behind his Gastly.
"Gastly, prepare another Clear smog and fire it immediately if he escapes the Pokeball" Eric said as he reached behind Gastly, observing the Pokeball.
The Pokeball held the Rattata for about 3 seconds, and just as Rattata broke out, Eric ordered Gastly to fire immediately, scoring a direct hit.
"Rata" screams Rattata as he falls back, wounded. Clear smog is a poison type move. It causes a burning sensation all over the body.
"Keep firing Gastly! Don't give it time"
Rattata got up in time but his body was sluggish. He barely dodged a direct hit, but was still caught partially in the attack.
The Rattata then chose to run away instead of continuing to fight.
"That was way too close a call" Eric exhaled, not at all pleased that he almost died to a Rattata.
He then made Gastly scout the area properly, before moving towards the Oran berry tree.