“The name’s Nicholas, but call me Nick.”

  “Nice to meet you, Nick. I've been going by Grey.”

  Grey was a trainer older than me, but he was still at the age where he could reasonably be called young. Although he could also technically be called short, he was an inch or two taller than me, and his eyes possessed a certain spirit to them despite their deep bags—this guy obviously didn’t get enough sleep.

  However, as we shook hands, his grip was firm, and he stood with the confidence of an experienced trainer. Honestly, if it wasn’t for how this job had been approved by the Pokémon Center, just seeing this guy made it clear that his request wasn’t a scam. It had all of the hallmarks of being some kind of trap—meeting on a dusty road in the middle of nowhere, the planned time taking place right before sunset, and our destination being an abandoned building—but Grey was so clearly a responsible Pokémon trainer that his messy, dark-purple jacket almost felt like some kind of disguise.

  He has to be strong. If we weren’t here for a job, I’d challenge him to a battle.

  “Just to make sure, you’re the guy who posted the job looking for help in the Pokémon Center, right?” I asked. “The one to do with Ghosts?”

  “Yup,” Grey answered easily enough, looking me over in return as I took him in. “I’m a Ghost-type specialist that works with the Pokémon League, but not officially. I mean, I’m not an Ace Trainer. The League just tends to reach out to me whenever they need help with Ghost-type Pokémon.”

  “Huh.” If the Pokémon League was personally reaching out to him, then Grey had to be a tough trainer. “So, if you aren’t an Ace Trainer, are you... a Wandering Elite?”

  When it came to administration, the Pokémon League handled all things Pokémon, similar to how local and regional governments handled more “mundane” legislation. The Pokémon League was a ruling body, but it was a ruling body that solely determined how trainers and Pokémon should interact. Each region’s Pokémon League was headed by a Chairman, with a local Champion wielding almost as much power. The Elite Four and Gym Leaders were similar, higher-up Pokémon League officials, and tough trainers called “Ace Trainers” essentially served as the rest of the League’s ground forces.

  However, there were some trainers out there that spent all their time traveling, and the level of experience they’d gathered saw them enter a tier of their own. They weren’t Champions or even members of an Elite Four, but they tended to be stronger than Gym Leaders on average. Those trainers, the “Wandering Elite,” belonged to a semi-official role that had been established and then expanded on in recent years. Specifically, members of that group were the trainers who frequently assisted with events that tended to spiral out of control.

  But really, my theory was that the title of “Wandering Elite” was basically just a fancy way to classify a protagonist. I had a feeling that the League created the role to better manage the trainers who constantly got tied up in region-spanning events.

  “A Wandering Elite?” Grey said, blinking in response to my question. “No, but I’m flattered you jumped straight to that. I guess I was offered the role once, but it’s not the job for me—too much travel, y’know?”

  “Yeah. Wandering Elite. I get it,” I said before pausing for a second. “But, if you were offered it... does that mean you’re at the level?”

  I found myself blurting out that question more than I asked it. If Grey had been offered the role, then he had to be someone to be at or near the level of a region’s Elite Four.

  Unfortunately, his answer was disappointing.

  “Maybe?” Grey responded, but he looked unconvinced. It was like he wanted to say yes, but he wasn’t able to and became flushed with embarrassment, instead. “I, uh, haven’t been doing as many Pokémon battles recently. I might be here for the World Series, but I work at a Gym over in Kanto—usually in a more assistive role.”

  His gaze then flicked over to the member of my team standing at my side—Valiant, specifically. Upon laying his eyes on that robotic Pokémon, Grey changed the topic, nodding once in approval.

  “I am glad you accepted the job, though,” he said, smiling once again. “With that Iron Valiant of yours, I can already tell you’re exactly the kind of trainer I need. Follow me.”

  Before I could respond, he turned sharply and started to walk down the road. With his pace, I almost had to run just to catch up.

  Out here to the east of Lentimas Town, the best way I could describe the environment was “badlands.” Almost everything nearby consisted of cliffs and plains that were only broken up by the occasional dying tree.

  “You aren’t scared of Ghost-types, right?” Grey asked as we moved down the worn, dirt path.

  “I’m fine with them—I train a Rotom,” I said to answer. Grey’s eyes lit up at the mention of a Pokémon that shared his specialty, but I pushed through to ask a question before he could ask one of his own. “But why are you looking for a robotics expert? I mean, you have to be pretty strong, so I can’t imagine why someone like you would be asking for help.”

  “Ah, well, I guess that job listing might have been a bit misleading?” Grey said, awkwardly scratching at the side of his head. “I put it up less to ask for direct help and more about wanting insight from a trainer familiar with robotic species.”

  “So, you need help with a robotic... Ghost-type?” I asked.

  Still striding ahead, Grey replied with an approving nod.

  “Basically,” he said. “It’ll be easier to show you. The place we’re heading to is just down the road. It shouldn’t take us too long to get there.”

  Valiant and I exchanged a look, and then we both hurried after him, picking up the pace.

  Trees with long, hanging branches soon became much more common, and the ground itself turned soft. Partway into a murky forest, the road abruptly changed from a well-tread dirt path to a walkway made of stone that crept through wetter and wetter mud.

  “A few years ago, there was this big mess off the coast of Undella Town,” Grey suddenly said, his voice joining the faint sounds of bugs and distant Pokémon. “Some, uh, criminal elements tried to take control of a Legendary Pokémon, and an entire ancient city was dragged up from the ocean’s depths.”

  “Wait, did this happen during—”

  “No. The attack took place years ago,” Grey interrupted. “It involved... a foreign team. One that tried to butt-in to Unova before any other criminal group could make a big move.”

  “Which team?” I asked. The early games had their share of criminal teams, after all.

  But as I asked that question, Grey’s face twisted up as if just remembering the name was distasteful.

  “Team Rocket," he eventually said.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised that he reacted so strongly to Team Rocket. Grey had already told me that he was from Kanto.

  And then again, Ash Ketchum is a real person who exists in this world, huh? A few years ago would have been right when he was traveling through Unova.

  Last I checked, I had seen an article about him helping a Professor that I’d never even heard of over in Kanto’s Vermillion City. It was weird to think that a character I’d seen on television was a real person, but then again, that had already been true for most of the people I’d recognized from the games.

  “Anyway,” Grey continued, more than ready to get back to the topic at hand, “surfacing those ruins meant there’s now an entire ziggurat out past the coast, and that whole event caused the wind patterns to change. More coastal winds have been making it over the nearby mountain range, and that’s been causing a few places inland to turn swampy.”

  “Wait, so this swamp isn’t that old?” I asked.

  Out in the distance, almost as if to answer me, an amphibian Pokémon let out a resounding croak.

  “It’s almost brand new!” came Grey’s reply. Briefly, he almost sounded cheerful. “Problem is, it’s new enough that most of the local Pokémon are still adapting, and the humidity here has affected other things, as well.”

  I was deeply familiar with how changes in the environment could affect local species—I had met Valiant in Paldea’s Great Crater, and the Paradox Pokémon over there hadn’t exactly had a “natural” introduction.

  Grey’s comments on the changing environment made me even more curious about how a robotic Pokémon related to this situation, but we returned to walking down the road in silence until a shadow started to loom through the trees.

  Ahead of us, at the very end of the road, an old, decaying manor sat at the heart of this swamp. It was a building built very much in the style of the rest of Lentimas, but this place was much taller and looked like an enormous rectangle. The red adobe of its walls made it stand out from the otherwise muted colors of the surrounding swamp. However, despite it being a building meant for humans to live in, it was a building that had not seen use in a long, long time, with patches of its clay discolored from the humid air, and the boards that had once covered up its windows being half-rotted and ready to fall apart.

  “Here we are! Lentimas’s very own haunted house!” Grey declared, and he said it in such a way to make his statement sound like a big deal. “Locals call this place the ‘Strange House.’ It’s here to benefit Lentimas Town. Basically, people don’t want wild Ghost-types to randomly haunt buildings in cities, so some properties are left purposefully abandoned to give those wild Pokémon a dedicated place to haunt and stay.”

  “However,” Grey continued, and his smile vanished as his lips pressed together into a thin line. “The problem is that the swamp is causing this place to fall apart, and no one can enter it for repairs.”

  “I guess that’s where you come in,” I said. “So, you want a robotics expert for... help with repair?”

  “No,” Grey immediately answered, his gaze lingering on the entrance to this building. “I want help with figuring out a certain obstacle. Like I said, it’s easier to show you. Nick, go ahead and try to pass through this place’s front doors.”

  A chill went down my spine. It felt as though something cold had just passed behind me, and I sent a look to Grey.

  “That one was just Gengar. Don’t worry about him. Focus on the building itself, instead.”

  A pair of red eyes opened in Grey’s shadow, and Valiant didn’t hesitate to press their arms together and draw their blade—just in case, of course.

  We probably needed them to be ready, regardless, and I stepped forward onto the path that led into the broken-down manor’s property. A rusted fence divided the place’s overgrown grounds from the rest of the swamp. Grey leaned on one blackened pole as Valiant and I began moving to the front door.

  I called out to where Grey stood behind me. He chose not to follow.

  “Don’t lie to me—is this some kind of prank, or maybe a League-approved joke?”

  “Honestly, I would have liked it if it was,” Grey said. “But, no. This is serious. Please, open the doors.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  He held out a hand to gesture for us to keep moving, and once again, I tried to exchange a look with Valiant. Unfortunately, Valiant was too busy staring at Grey’s shadow, and that Gengar from before was now stretching and squashing the patch of darkness into weird shapes as if just to mess with my friend.

  But Valiant turned away as we crept closer, and the entire world felt darker as it neared the entrance. The sun was just beginning to set, and that meant the swamp was beginning to turn pure black.

  The shadow of the building swallowed us. The structure loomed above our heads.

  “Please don’t attack right away,” Grey whispered.

  I sent him one last suspicious look, but we were already at the front doorway.

  Here, the pink glow of Valiant’s visor was our only source of light. It was unchanging, illuminating how their gaze did not leave our target. At my side, I caught the barest whisper of their hands gripping tighter on the shaft of their crystal blade.

  Despite all of the swampy air around us, the doors’ intricately decorated wood looked to be in perfect condition. The two bronze handles seemed to still be polished, even now.

  I don’t know why, but I swallowed, and that was a strange feeling. I had no clue why I was feeling so tense, especially since I knew just about every Pokémon on my team could handle any wild Ghost type that might have been around. The Ghost type was super effective against the Ghost type, and that meant Rotom’s Shadow Ball would be especially effective. Even more than that, Liepard’s own Dark type and his ability to so easily shut down tricks meant we would always have an advantage, no matter what.

  But the chill in the air seemed to demand our reverence, and it felt as though it took me a full minute to gather the confidence needed to grab the handles of the front door.

  In reality, only a few seconds passed.

  “Never been to a haunted house before,” I said quietly. “It makes me wonder if ghosts are real in this world.”

  Valiant said nothing. Their grip on their blade tightened once more.

  “But, whatever,” I said. “Let’s just do this already.”

  The best way to get past hesitation was to barrel forward.

  Making sure my own grip was firmly secured, I finally tore my arms back to fling the front doors wide open. The bronze handles flashed in Valiant’s light, and the two wooden slabs swung outwards from the building.

  Nothing jumped out at us.

  The only thing here was an interior wall of darkness that stood in our way.

  “...That’s it?” I asked after several seconds of silence. “Do we just—”

  Out of nowhere, Valiant slapped an arm around my chest to tear me away.

  With a metal arm yanking me backwards, Valiant leaped back to place a dozen feet between us and the entrance. Initially, the blow meant I couldn’t tell just why they had taken that action, but I quickly realized just why the entrance had been so dark:

  Something large had been covering up any possible source of illumination from within.

  Just past the open door, two points of light flashed in the darkness, and something big and heavy reached out from within the manor. A hand the size of my head gripped the underside of the doorframe’s rim as if whatever this creature was needed to do so just to ensure that it could squeeze forward.

  Bringing itself out of that darkness was an utter behemoth of a Pokémon. It was a creature wrought from blue clay, its arms and legs supported by rings of bronze. Its sheer size meant it was forced to crouch to maneuver through the manor’s front entrance, but once it brought itself all the way through, it rose to its full height.

  This thing had to be at least nine feet tall.

  As it moved into a proper, upright stance, I immediately recognized what this creature was doing. I'd been around Valiant for long enough to recognize the stiff motions of a robotic Pokémon standing at guard.

  “A Golurk,” I said quietly, naming the living construct that now stood before us.

  Valiant finally released me, using this chance to take a step ahead of me. They crouched slightly, preparing themself for a battle, and the glow of their crystalline blade almost seemed to project an aura onto the ambient mist that surrounded us.

  But nothing happened.

  No moves were exchanged, and the Golurk did not continue its lurch. The enormous Pokémon simply stood there to serve as a hulking defender for the manor.

  “This is my problem,” Grey called out from where he was still leaning on the fence at the property line. “I’m supposed to be here for a job of my own, but this Golurk is making things difficult.”

  Valiant was still on edge with such a massive Pokémon standing before us, but the Golurk continued to make no aggressive moves, and it did not even hint at preparing any attacks.

  “I know a lot about Ghost-type Pokémon,” Grey continued, his voice turning quiet. “After all, I’ve dedicated myself to training and understanding them. All of the recent changes in the environment here have caused the Strange House to be a lot rougher than usual. I’m supposed to help the wild Pokémon understand that the League needs to come in and fix that—but I can’t warn them with this Golurk in our way.”

  “So... what’s the problem, exactly?” I asked.

  Despite making itself known, the Golurk wasn’t going after any of us.

  “Try entering the building!” Grey shouted once more.

  I looked over my shoulder to send him a flat look—there was no way I was going to do that with the Golurk here—and in response, Grey eventually let out a soft chuckle.

  “Alright, fine,” he said with a slight sigh. “Gengar, go do your thing.”

  The moment that Grey gave his permission, his shadow stretched out from underneath him. The sudden motion caused me to yelp, and I hopped out of the way when it tried to connect to my own shadow under my feet. Almost with a hiss, Valiant jumped away as well, but Grey’s Gengar just continued to manipulate that shadow, stretching it further and further to join with the faint shapes of the swamp’s trees that still lingered from the last gasps of the setting sun’s light.

  Red eyes opened up within that darkness once more, and a cheshire grin stretched to be a dozen feet wide. The gathering shadows seemed to take the form of a perfectly flat claw that reached toward the building. It was blatantly obvious that Grey’s Gengar was trying to creep into the manor by moving beneath the Golurk’s feet.

  It was right when the Gengar drew close that the Golurk’s eyes flashed as if in activation.

  Its movements were slow, but they carried a heavy sense of inevitability. The Golurk drew back an arm and tilted forward to aim a punch aimed directly at the earth. Runes carved across its bulging arms and chest glowed with a bright energy. Then, unleashing the attack, its fist sailed toward the Gengar’s unnatural shadow.

  This single punch felt as though it carried the weight of the entire world.

  “And, back!” Grey ordered.

  Just like that, the long claw woven by the Gengar snapped back into its original, mundane shape, returning as if it were elastic. Every path of nearby darkness regained the forms they had possessed before.

  The Golurk stopped. It went stock-still where it had been mid-punch. Moving even more slowly, it brought its fist back to resume standing at attention within its defensive post.

  “So it’s attacking anyone who tries to enter,” I said, walking back over to Grey.

  “It’s completely dedicated to its defense,” he replied, looking behind me to stare at that enormous bulwark of a Pokémon. “This is why I need you—the Golurk is a problem. I’m here to warn the wild Pokémon; I can’t afford to attack them. Usually, I can at least interact with and reason with wild Ghost-types, but that’s because they tend to be pretty emotionally-driven. In this Golurk’s case, however...”

  “It’s not responding to that,” I finished for him. “Let me guess—no matter what you do, it refuses to leave its post.”

  With a solemn look, Grey nodded his head once.

  I turned back to inspect the standing Golurk, and I had to recognize that this Pokémon was a spirit-possessed construct—an ancient robot, essentially.

  Much like Valiant, the Golurk’s face lacked the ability to change expressions, making it seem emotionless. It only had a pair of blocky, glowing lines that served as its eyes, and its head was small, almost not fitting its otherwise hulking body.

  I could see just why Grey thought I’d be helpful for this, but the truth was that I didn’t have an obvious way to help. However, I could at least go through with what he wanted and offer a slight bit of insight.

  “All Pokémon have emotions,” I said, still staring at the Golurk. “They just express them in different ways. I know it wasn’t reacting, but I doubt this Golurk is incapable of feeling. Honestly, I think it was just ignoring you.”

  “...You’re kidding me.”

  Grey actually looked upset.

  Back when I had first met them, Valiant had acted much in the same way. They had their singular purpose of chasing strength, but they had done so while suppressing everything else about them. They had never bothered to develop as an individual, only ever pursuing their singular goal. I’d come to learn that many “robotic” Pokémon tended to fall into that trap—they’d secure themself an objective and then do nothing but chase that.

  This Golurk likely wasn’t ignoring Grey because it disliked Grey. It was ignoring Grey because interacting with him would bring the Golurk away from its chosen task. Metang had almost been similar; this was a Pokémon following a directive to the point that it was even sacrificing independent thought.

  “If it’s defending this building, and if it’s refusing to respond to anything you say, then it’s completely dedicated to this place’s defense. So then, the question is why it’s thinking like that, and...” I looked between the Golurk and Valiant. “It’s weird. I think my best guess would be that it’s following orders.”

  “So you think this Golurk is someone’s Pokémon?” Grey asked with a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

  “Maybe,” I answered. “I don’t know. But there is one way to test and see.”

  Grey searched me for a more specific explanation, and his eyes widened slightly when he realized just what I intended.

  When I looked at this Golurk, I could only see a Pokémon that had fallen into the same trap that both Valiant and Metang had fallen into in the past. To that, I took a step forward. Golurk was a Pokémon solely dedicated to a single task, and as much as I could appreciate that dedication, it was doing so to the detriment of itself.

  “You said you don’t want to get in any fights here, but have you at least battled the Golurk?” I asked Grey.

  “Forcing my way in goes against what I’m trying to achieve,” Grey said. “I’m trying to calm the Ghost types, not beat up their protector and cause them to be enraged.”

  While this was a fight that Grey could easily win, it was also a fight that he was intentionally choosing not to take. Personally, if I was in his place and if Ghost-types were emotionally-driven as he claimed, then I would have fought the Golurk right away and then found a way to make up with any wild Pokémon once I was inside.

  But I wasn’t Grey, and I wasn’t someone trying to calm down these Pokémon. Instead, I was a third party, and I could help everyone here by fulfilling a completely different task.

  “I’m going to try to catch it,” I said.

  “You sure?” Grey asked.

  “Either I get a new member of my team and move the Golurk out of the way for you, or I fail and we confirm that a trainer commanded it to stand there.”

  Silently, Grey stared at me before slowly nodding his head.

  “Alright. Go ahead, I guess, but I’m not too confident that this will work.”

  I was staying in Lentimas Town to catch a fifth Pokémon, and while this Golurk was not a Steel-type, it matched the determined mindset I wanted to have on my team. And, just witnessing that punch from before made it pretty clear to me that this Golurk was capable of landing devastating attacks, but it would need some help training when it came to actually landing them.

  As for the job here, if I caught it, I could better talk to it, and I could help it understand that Grey wanted to protect this place just as much as it did. And, similar to how I felt about Metang, I had a feeling that this Golurk deserved to learn a bit more about how to live for itself by interacting with my team.

  “Valiant,” I said.

  Valiant was already readying their blade—if not to test themself against this behemoth, then because they recognized their own past behavior in the construct before us.

  “It’s a Ghost and Ground type,” I told them. “Decent defenses. Incredibly slow, however.”

  “You know your stuff,” Grey commented.

  “Use what Liepard taught you,” I said to Valiant, preparing our plan for this battle.

  In reply, my Pokémon lowered their stance and brought their weapon back. Then, in the blink of an eye, they shot toward their would-be opponent.

  Despite being a spirit-possessed robot, the Golurk was still a Pokémon, and it was entirely capable of at least some conscious thought. The very second it saw Valiant rushing forward with their blade drawn, the Golurk was already bringing an arm back to prepare a punch before Valiant could get close.

  When it finally let loose its swing, its punch hurtled forward with a certain gravity to it. The sheer size of the limb made it seem as though it moved in slow motion, but its arm was actually moving with an average amount of speed. The sheer mass just added to its intimidation factor, and that made everything seem as though it slowed down.

  The faintest wisps of shadows twisted around the Golurk’s fist, and it was perfectly aimed right toward where Valiant was trying to run.

  “Shadow Punch,” Grey named for me. Then, under his breath, he added, “a very physical Shadow Punch, at that.”

  Taking advantage of this obvious form of the move, Valiant slammed their blade into the front of the arm, sending out a shockwave and otherwise interrupting the perfect accuracy of the blow. The Golurk had not moved, save for that attack, and even just countering that one attack caused Valiant’s own arms to rattle.

  However, the Golurk’s slow movements meant its arm was left extended, and that gave Valiant the perfect opportunity to continue forward and slip right beneath the Golurk’s defenses.

  “Now!” I shouted.

  Valiant’s blade changed from its pink glow to gleam with the darkness of the growing night. This Night Slash was a move that could have only ever been brought to this level due to personal assistance from Liepard. Dark-type energy would be super effective against a Ghost-type, and the attack sliced through a faint, wispy aura.

  When Valiant’s Night Slash landed, it cleaved straight into the Golurk’s chest.

  “Just like that!” I shouted.

  The Golurk lifted its arms.

  Having landed their attack, Valiant tried to bring back their blade, but they quickly found that their weapon had become far too firmly lodged into the Golurk’s chest. Though the Dark-type energy of Night Slash had dealt super effective damage, it had also meant the strike went too far in, getting stuck in the Golurk’s clay.

  Meanwhile, the heavy Pokémon didn’t even react to the damage it’d taken. The Golurk just held its arms out to the sides while keeping its palms open, facing forward.

  “It’s going to clap!” I yelled in warning.

  However, Valiant refused to ever drop their blade, so even with the pair of massive hands rushing in to smash them, they responded without needing to dodge:

  The darkness of their Night Slash was suddenly replaced by a violent, pink glow.

  Instead of any sudden movement, the edge of Valiant’s blade burst with a powerful Dazzling Gleam, and an entire chunk of the Golurk’s chest was blasted away. The clap never finished; instead, the hulking construct was sent stumbling back.

  Already, the yellow glow of its eyes began to flicker.

  “It took more damage from that Night Slash than you realized,” Grey suddenly said. “It just didn’t react to it. My guess is that a Pokémon like it doesn’t get tired; it only faints due to enough damage causing a deactivation.”

  “Then, that means we’re about to solve your problem!” I cheered, gaining a grin.

  “You can definitely try,” he muttered, still sounding unconvinced.

  As I grabbed one of my last Ultra Balls, Valiant readied their blade once more. I brought the sphere back in my hand and shouted to alert Valiant of my plan.

  “Get ready!” I yelled.

  With the Golurk so damaged, it had stumbled backward, and Valiant was still right there. All but flashing forward, they were able to catch the massive Pokémon in the legs with just a mundane strike, and that base impact was enough to send the construct Pokémon collapsing to its knees.

  I finally threw the Ultra Ball at that sight; the Golurk was in no position to continue to battle. The yellow-and-black sphere soared through the air, and I knew that if it was sucked inside, the Golurk would not have the energy to leave.

  Thus, the ball did hit the Golurk.

  Except, everyone here had underestimated this Pokémon.

  Everyone here but Grey.

  He did not look surprised in the slightest when the Golurk’s eyes flashed with a new light. When the ball hit, it hit the Golurk’s raised, open palm, and the Pokémon clenched a fist to ensure the sphere could not open.

  Then, with a single squeeze, the Ultra Ball was reduced to nothing more than a fine dust.

  “...I didn’t even know that was possible,” I mumbled.

  Valiant leaped back to make more room between them and this Pokémon, and, still kneeling, the Golurk reached into the nearby mud to slather a glob into the gash on its chest. Though discolored, the gunk sealed the wound, beginning to merge and shift to better match the rest of the Pokémon’s clay.

  From there, the Golurk returned to its feet. Already, its missing chunks were reconstituting.

  “I had a feeling this would happen,” Grey said, pushing up and off the fence. “At least we now know it’s a wild Pokémon. If it had been caught already, it wouldn’t have needed to catch that ball.”

  “I still have one more Ultra Ball on me,” I said quickly. “We can try agai—”

  “No,” Grey interrupted. “No, for now, it’s better to just... leave this Golurk alone.”

  “So we’re giving up? Just like that?”

  And Grey shook his head.

  “Not now. Not yet. I still need to get into the building, and this Golurk problem still needs to be solved. However, we also know attempts like this won’t work, so it’s better for us to head back to Lentimas Town,” he said.

  “I’ll buy you dinner as thanks, but my job here isn’t over yet,” he continued. “So far, you helped me gather information, and now, we need to make a plan.”

  Everything about the ruined city is a direct reference to a pair of anime episodes, found and . It came up in the Type Specialist, but I’m bringing part of it back because I liked that arc.

  Strange that it’s the winds causing all of this, though.

  Timeline-wise, I haven’t worked out the specific math just yet, but I would say that the Type Specialist happened perfectly between the Ghost Specialist and the Tech Specialist. As a result, there’s almost a decade of difference between Sam and Nick’s journeys—maybe even more, from a certain perspective.

  ALSO: I have finally included a proper Team Summary! Apologies for taking so long with it; I've been wavering on how many details to include. There is a chance that I've missed moves shown off in the story so far, so please don't hesitate to correct me if I've failed to include something.

  Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:

  Gengar

  Nick’s Team:

  Current Placement: Great Rank

  (Note: Low-level moves have been omitted.)

  Iron Valiant (Valiant) (Fairy / Fighting type, Genderless, Serious Nature, +-n/a)

  Abilities: Quark Drive

  Moves: Fury Cutter, Feint, Dazzling Gleam, Psycho Cut, Night Slash, Close Combat, Shadow Claw, Electric Terrain

  Rotom (Electric / Variable type, Genderless (Male), Quirky Nature, +-n/a)

  Available Forms*: Default (Ghost type), Fan (Flying type), Wash (Water type)

  Abilities: Levitate

  Moves: Charge, Thunder Wave, Discharge, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Electric Terrain, Variable*

  Variable Form Moves*: Air Slash (Fan), Hydro Pump (Wash)

  Liepard (Dark type, Male, Naughty Nature, +Atk/-SpD)

  Abilities: Limber, Prankster

  Moves: Assist, Snarl, Fake Out, Bite, Torment, Hone Claws, Slash, Taunt, Night Slash, Shadow Claw, Psycho Cut, Encore, Foul Play

  (Steel / Psychic type, Genderless (Male), Adamant Nature, +Atk/-SpA)

  Pokéball: Ultra Ball

  Abilities: Clear Body

  Moves: Take Down, Metal Claw, Confusion, Zen Headbutt, Magnet Rise, Iron Head

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