The Ghost Specialist

Sam’s alarm woke him up exactly at midnight. It was a compromise from when he had woken up a few hours later the last time he had done something like this. While slightly earlier, it was still deep enough into the night that the moon was at its peak, but this way, he wouldn’t need to sleep in as late the next morning. He'd still have most of the day to do as he wished.

He rolled out of the Pokémon Center bed, stretching to regain wakefulness and grabbing the clothes he’d laid out a few hours before. Tossed over the back of a chair were pants, a shirt, and his usual jacket. They fit him a lot better than the oversized outfit he had worn during the tournament.

As Sam threw on his clothes and let out a yawn, truthfully, he was a little disappointed. It’d been a few days since his team’s victory, and he hadn’t been recognized anywhere near as much as he wanted. He had packed away his tournament outfit and had gone back to wearing his normal clothes while out and about Violet City. Despite placing first in the tournament, that was apparently enough for people to not know who he was. The Violet City Tournament was still just a local tournament. Important battles took place all the time, and given the one he won took place several times a year, it didn’t have the same relative importance as what an annual tournament might have had.

A few people had pointed him out to friends, but they never approached. The rest didn’t even send a glance his way.

I might not be a famous trainer yet, but I guess I’ll be able to enjoy anonymity for a bit longer, I suppose.

Sam didn’t know anyone who didn’t want to be famous. There wasn’t anything wrong with having that fantasy for himself.

Despite that relative lack of interest, his light practice with his team garnered a different kind of reaction whenever he went out behind the Pokémon Center to train. Given they’d spent a week throwing themselves into training, he was only having his Pokémon practice their moves and keep in shape with daily exercises. However, while going through their more relaxed routine, Sam’s Pokémon tended to gather a few observers.

Outside of Hex, he had nothing to hide. Without a tournament over his head—only an upcoming Gym Battle—Sam didn’t feel the need to hide his team’s capabilities on the nearby route. The space behind the Pokémon Center was good enough. A courtyard battlefield hidden by the other buildings of the city block gave them plenty of room to practice.

But other trainers practiced there, and a few of them actually recognized him. Specifically, they realized who he was when he sent out the Pokémon on his team. Most stood off to the side and tried to hide the glances they sent his way, but a few had actually asked him to battle. However, when it came to those matches...

Well, they had won the Violet City tournament for a reason. His Pokémon won every match.

Smiling to himself, Sam zipped up his jacket. He could still feel the warmth that stemmed from the pride of victory. His team had utterly crushed the Violet City Tournament. They were unbeatable! They’d defeat anyone who came their way!

He coughed into a hand.

At least, that’s true for trainers of our current level. We might be taking it easy for now, but we can’t slack on practice for too long. Everyone else is still getting stronger, and there’s still just under half the season to go.

Sam remained staring ahead at the real goal: Johto’s Silver Conference. It’d be embarrassing if he failed to become strong enough to at least make it past the preliminaries.

His quiet musings filling the silence as he slowly woke up, Sam waited to put on his shoes. He needed to make sure his Pokémon were all awake as well. A street lamp outside the room’s window might have provided a soft glow, but the only source of light came from a lamp that he clicked on.

Haunter had been lazily floating in the corner, and the flash of the light caused him to snap his eyes open. He immediately recognized what was going on and started to zip back and forth through the air rather excitedly. Sam had of course informed him of their plans for tonight, and Haunter had been impatiently waiting in a trance that wasn’t quite sleep.

Torpor, maybe?

The rest of the team wasn’t anywhere near as prepared as him.

Quilava was still passed out on the bed. Her paws were stretched out to her front and her back. Unconscious, she smushed her face down into her legs, causing her skin to bunch up to make her look completely different.

Next to her was Misdreavus, who had woken up when Sam had woken up, but she hadn’t left the bed. When Sam rolled away, she moved away from where she had rested on a pillow of her own to lean against Quilava, who had been sleeping pressed parallel to Sam’s legs.

Misdreavus blearily blinked open her eyes, and she started to slowly nudge Quilava awake. He left them there for now, going to Primeape, who had claimed a high-backed chair for himself. Sam poked the Fighting Type, but Primeape responded by flopping a hand up in an attempt to wave him away. A harder poke saw a grumble. Primeape tried to tell Sam to leave him alone.

“You know this is the perfect time to practice, right?”

And Primeape hopped off the chair in the very next moment.

He stretched, bringing his arms out and punching the air to wake himself up. He had a smirk on his face, already thinking about the ways he could get stronger. Behind, Quilava let out a soft mumble as Misdreavus finally managed to wake her up.

She raised her head, tiredly trying to open her eyes before snapping them the rest of the way open in sudden remembrance. Sam lunged foward and wrapped a hand around her mouth as excited eyes stared his way. Misdreavus entered the air to look at both of them, more than just confused, but he stopped Quilava from saying anything by holding a finger to his mouth to shush her.

“Not today, alright? I’m getting too old for that.”

Quilava despondently nodded her head, clearly disappointed.

Thankfully, the only other Pokémon who had heard Sam speak was Misdreavus, who glanced between both him and Quilava. He pretended that nothing had happened as he helped Quilava onto his shoulders. She let herself hang around his neck as Misdreavus positioned herself in the air to his side, where she’d be able to stay close and whisper to Quilava whenever she wanted.

Primeape was still shadowboxing to make sure he was awake, and Haunter continued to zip through the air in excitement.

“Everyone ready?” Sam asked, getting several short, excited cries in response. “Stay quiet to not wake anyone up. We’ll be heading out right now.”

After slipping on his shoes, Sam and his entire team crept out of the Pokémon Center hallway to head out into Violet City’s streets. He pulled his jacket tighter around him as Quilava warmed herself up to help ward off the cold. Once again, this was a moment to explore a city at night. It’d be less exciting to do so this “early,” but it was a nice way to start off today of all days.

Violet City wasn’t the same as Azalea Town. The last time they had gone for a middle-of-the-night walk, they had done it in a sleepy little settlement. People were still up, mostly those who had gotten lost trying to find the bottom of a bottle. The usual Pokémon of the witching hour weren’t all present, but there were still a few species that made themselves known now that there were less people about.

Walking through the streets with his team, Sam kept his eyes out. Rattata continued to be ubiquitous. Similarly, Sentret were a species specific to Johto that were almost as common. This time around, there weren’t any Spinarak, and this city wasn’t big enough to sustain maybe more than a handful of wild Houndour, but he did see them occasionally stalking through a wide alley. What he didn’t see, however, were Pidgey, or even Murkrow.

Sure, he saw one or two, but there was a strange lack of Flying Types in a town so dedicated to the Flying Type. The skies were empty save for the occasional Noctowl, but those kept to set paths over the streets. Likely, they were on some sort of nighttime patrol for the local Gym.

There was one flock of Pidgey that slept within the dense branches of a street-side tree, but any more seemed to be absent. Sam found that to be weirdly confusing until he stumbled on something else soon enough.

“Bellsprout. Escorted by Gastly!”

He and his team stepped to the side of the street to watch a parade of Pokémon that had suddenly appeared.

Spindly Grass Types that were more root than leaf walked down the road and picked up the rare piece of refuse that had failed to be thrown away. Gastly drifted above and around them, the Ghost Types behaving as if on protection duty.

Watching them, Sam engraved what he was seeing into his mind. His books never once mentioned anything like this. Haunter and Misdreavus waved to the Ghost Types, receiving wary but respectful nods in return. One Bellsprout split off from the rest to try to grab at Sam’s shoelace, but he took a step back and apologized.

He’d never received a dirty look from a Grass Type before. He almost felt guilty he hadn’t let it steal part of his shoes.

Almost.

“They aren’t trained, but they’ve definitely received some kind of instruction,” Sam whispered as about two dozen Pokémon walked down the road. “They aren’t behaving like a trainer’s Pokémon, but there’s definitely an order to them you don’t really see in the wild.”

Flying Types would have likely gone after the Bellsprout if it weren’t for the Gastly. Meanwhile, while a few following Gastly were obvious, the Bellsprout themselves were enough of a distraction that the more clever Gastly among them could get off a few scares.

Sam could put the clues together and know that these Pokémon were from Violet City’s famous Sprout Tower. It was as much of a historical site as it was a religious site. The place also occasionally saw low-level Pokémon battles take place in it.

Except it was closed the moment the sun went down. Sam wouldn’t be able to head there and ask about the parade.

Knowing that witnessing something like this could only ever happen in Violet City, Sam watched the train of Pokémon continue on their path through their city. It was only after they were gone and once Sam returned to quiet meandering that he started to see a few Murkrow, Flying Types, start to return.

“My best guess is that this lets the Pokémon of Sprout Tower get some exercise while also helping clean Violet City’s streets,” he whispered to the team.

There was still so much to learn about the Ghost Type. He really wanted to figure out how the monks of the tower set all of this up.

From there, Sam resumed walking with his team, wandering through the city. He quickly ran out of city blocks that contained more office-like buildings, and he started to reach more residential districts containing rows of complexes and houses with people sleeping inside.

He didn’t see much more, but he enjoyed being able to spend this quiet time with his team. Misdreavus stayed by his side. Quilava remained on his neck. Primeape was following along with his eyes closed. He wasn’t sleeping, but he was trying to meditate.

For his last team member, Haunter was off... somewhere, but he was definitely sticking nearby. Getting the feeling he wouldn’t be seeing much else tonight, Sam spoke up, keeping his voice quiet to not disturb the sanctity of the night.

“So I’ve been watching the recordings of our battles and taking notes,” he said, recognizing how their time out was reaching its end. “I think I have some pretty solid ideas for our next goals. Do you want to hear my thoughts?”

Misdreavus bumped into Sam’s arm, smiling at him to encourage him to speak. A noise from above told Sam that Haunter was somewhere above their heads, and both Primeape and Quilava made soft noises to say they were interested.

“Weaker moves,” Sam said. “That’s my biggest takeaway from the tournament. As an overall lesson, I mean. It sounds strange, but I actually think practicing low-level attacks could help you out in a pinch.”

He didn’t plan to incorporate any truly weak attacks in their strategies. No, he wanted his team to have something they could use quickly that didn’t take much effort.

“We used them once or twice across all of our recorded battles, but from what I’ve seen, they can come out fast. At your level, there’s almost no need for a build-up, and they require so little energy that you can use them back-to-back. Sure, something like an Incinerate or Hex might be better for damage, but a surprise Ember? It could make a charging opponent back off.”

Quilava made a noise on Sam’s neck. She’d practiced Ember before she had evolved, but even then, Incinerate, Will-O-Wisp, and Curse were her bread and butter at this point. Similarly, Primeape had moved on from attacks like Karate Chop and Low Kick in favor of his elemental punches and his newly acquired Brick Break and Rock Smash. As for Haunter’s Lick, it had been ignored since day one.

However...

“Lick can cause paralysis,” Sam pointed out, glancing upwards.

Haunter’s eyes widened. He suddenly looked much more ready to practice the move.

“We’ve been taking it easy these past few days, as per Nurse Joy’s orders, but I think we can start picking up the pace. Working on weaker moves can be a decent transition before moving onto individual training.” Sam smiled to himself. “And boy do I have plans for that.”

He asked Quilava to step down for a moment, and he crouched to take out his personal journal from his backpack. He had brought it along specifically for this moment.

“Right now, all of you are strong. We’ve spent months making sure you have a solid baseline, which means we should be fine coasting on passive growth for a bit. The most important thing we can work on is improving what moves you know and continuing to improve our strategies.”

Sam stood up, making sure Quilava could return to his shoulders as he did. He flipped through his journal, reading its pages thanks to a small, rechargeable book light. It was something he had brought from home, and he had many fond memories of using it to secretly read when he should have been asleep in bed.

He looked around before continuing, eyes locking onto a small bench at the side of the road. Sitting, Quilava shifted to lay across his lap, and he used her side to prop up his journal. Everyone else gathered around him.

“We’ll go in order of capture. That means we’re starting with you, Quilava,” Sam said. “For you, your training will be pretty simple: just Flamethrower and maybe Double Team. Flamethrower is a more targeted Fire Type attack than Incinerate, but it’s way stronger. Double Team will help you dodge without needing Detect, and it’d pair well with Haunter and Misdreavus’s Confuse Ray.”

Quilava nodded. She didn’t need to do anything more than that for Sam to know she’d have no trouble learning those moves.

“Primeape,” Sam said next. “You have a much longer list: Rage. Bulk-Up. Shadow Claw, maybe. Power-Up Punch, an even bigger maybe. You know our true goal is for you to figure out Rage Fist, but I want to set everything else up to make doing so easier.”

Sam had already discussed Shadow Claw in the past; while it was nice if Primeape figured it out, he already was familiar with Ghost Type energy thanks to Curse, and Rage Fist would ultimately replace it. It wasn’t necessarily needed. No, that attack would be a bonus to everything else. The only new goal was the last move he shared: Power-Up Punch.

Like Hex, Sam only knew of it thanks to the New Pokédex.

Power-Up Punch was somewhat like Haunter’s Acid Spray in that successive uses let it hit harder. Something about how the move worked meant it temporarily increased the user’s strength whenever it landed, but outside of how it was unknown, it was also a TM move. Not only would it require extra effort to train, Sam wasn’t sure how it worked either. Still, if Primeape could figure out a move like that out, he could probably also figure out Rage Fist in his sleep.

Sam wanted Primeape to figure out Power-Up Punch for that reason, and he hoped that it would be a good, default attack to rely on before Primeape eventually managed to evolve.

“Think you’ll be able to figure it out?” Sam asked, glancing at Primeape after sharing his thoughts.

Primeape’s determined expression was answer enough; he would do it. His previous goals might have already been difficult enough, and this was yet another goal on top of that, but Primeape wasn’t one to give up in the face of a challenge.

He nodded once, saying his name as he did. Sam knew he could trust his Pokémon to learn it.

“Thank you,” Sam said before glancing up at the pair of Pokémon hovering in the air. “Now for you two—this is what I’m really excited about.”

Two Ghost Types stared back down at him, both Misdreavus and Haunter looked on curiously. Sam didn’t even need his notes for this. He knew the plans for his Ghost Types by heart.

“Haunter, our end goal for you is to make you the ultimate status-setter. We’ll make use of your speed and all of your utility moves to make you an absolute nightmare to fight,” he said, grinning. “And speaking of nightmares, that’s the exact move I want you to learn: Nightmare. That, and Dream Eater. They pair perfectly with how you can put opponents to sleep.”

Haunter grinned, exposing his teeth in an expression befitting a malicious specter. Dream Eater would let him eat the dreams of opposing Pokémon to damage them while simultaneously recovering his stamina. Nightmare, meanwhile, was a passive condition he could inflict on a sleeping opponent. As long as his target remained asleep outside of their Pokéball, the condition would wear away at their health and eventually cause them to faint.

“But Shadow Ball has the priority, first,” Sam said, rubbing his neck.

Haunter deflated. Hex was better for his place in their team’s strategy, but Shadow Ball was needed for their other battles and for when opponents weren’t affected by status conditions.

“And finally, you, Misdreavus,” Sam said, glancing to where she had lowered herself beside him. “Are you excited?”

Her eyes curved up alongside part of a smile as she trilled her name, floating higher in the air. Her voice came out light, almost melodic. The tension that she used to have before joining the team had completely vanished.

“Nasty Plot,” Sam started, locking eyes with her. “Then Will-O-Wisp. Hex. Psybeam.”

Misdreavus cocked her head to the side.

“Psychic. Power Gem. Pain Split. Payback,” Sam continued. “Misdreavus, you’re strong, but we have a lot we need to work on. I have a good idea where you stand, and you’re definitely in pace with the rest of the team. However, what you have in power, you lack in technique. That, and the variety of moves you know. I plan to fix that.”

He cleared his throat before jumping into an explanation.

“Will-O-Wisp pairs well with Hex, and it can devastate a physical attacker. Pain Split and Payback aren’t moves to rely on often, but they’re great at punishing anyone who actually manages to land a hit. Everything else I listed are all attacking moves that would help you with coverage. All of them except for one: Nasty Plot.”

Sam gave that a dramatic pause.

“Do you want to guess my plans for your place on the team?”

Misdreavus looked at him curiously but shook her head. She didn’t have any guesses, and Sam stared straight ahead with a small smile on his face. He could already picture how all of their strategies would slot together.

“Quilava wears down our opponents as a special attacker. Haunter inflicts conditions and tires out everyone he fights. Primeape handles anyone they can’t handle with his powerful, melee attacks. But for you? Nasty Plot helps you think of all the little ways you can cause your opponent the most pain with your special moves. It buffs your damage, which means we can combine it with all your other attacks. In other words, I can send you out once our opponents are too exhausted to fight back. With that kind of power, you’ll be able to ‘sweep them up’ and finish off anyone that’s left.”

There were stars in Misdreavus’s eyes. She said her name softly and in awe. She looked at Sam, hesitating for only a single second before rushing forward to press into his chest.

He laughed and easily hugged her back.

After a few seconds, she pulled away, and Sam looked over his team once more. Everyone looked more determined than ever, Sam’s plans for them giving them clear roles to chase after. Their win in the Violet City Tournament wasn’t anything to grow arrogant about. They still had so many more battles they’d face in the future.

“We’ll be fighting Walker soon, but there’s no rush for that. We’ll be able to train as much as we need before signing up. Just continue to trust me, and continue to train. While you work on your skills in battle, I’ll work on my skills as a trainer, and I’ll create a strategy that’ll carry us straight into an easy win.”

When Sam woke up late the next morning, he didn't bother going through his usual routine. He threw on a shirt, put on some pants, and after waking up Quilava, he went for a jog through Violet City's streets.

This wasn't something he did often, but it was something his mother heavily encouraged. While it tended to initially tire him out, going for a run usually woke him up and gave him the energy he’d need for the rest of the day. Outside, he took in the differences between the night’s empty streets and late morning’s lively crowds. He watched people go about their business, and he watched the numerous Flying Types going in and out of the top of Violet City's Gym.

When he got back, he showered before going outside to lightly train his Pokémon. Quilava worked on Ember once again, Haunter tried to harass Primeape with Lick, and Misdreavus practiced one-on-one with Sam. With ease, she fell into the routine of practicing her moves, understanding more about Sam’s strategies, and figuring out the first steps she’d need to take to learn new moves. While neither of them wanted to train Hex while being watched, Sam did try to help her figure out Will-O-Wisp. He also considered asking Redi for help with converting Psywave into Psybeam, as Porygon was an absolute master with that move.

But they didn't train for too long, mostly just getting in a bit of practice and warming up. When that was done with, Sam headed back into the Pokémon Center and found Redi in its lobby, chatting animatedly with another trainer. She waved at him as he moved to stand in line, as it was the norm to give Pokémon a brief check-up after training. He wanted to make sure they were in perfect health, as he did have a few different plans for today.

I'll need to call Mom first, but I definitely want to head back to the library. I've already been using its computers to watch archived battles, but I’ll be able to hopefully find a good book, too. I have a bunch of funds from winning the tournament. I bet there's a bookstore I can find. It'd be a pain to carry a few extra books and the New Pokédex, but it'd be nice to be able to get some light reading done while on a route.

He’d only buy one short series. Maybe two. Though, if he bought too many, he'd need to buy an extra bag. Something he could hold in hand, separate from his back.

Or I can buy a larger backpack?

He considered it as his place in line crept closer to the front counter.

No. Actually, I should buy a crowbar. I don't want to experience something like the Ruins of Alph ever again.

Considering his plans, he eventually reached the nurse on duty in the mornings. He smiled and greeted her, recognizing her as the one who had healed his team at the tournament. As per usual, four Pokéballs were passed over alongside his trainer ID.

Except, he thought of it too late. The moment he realized his mistake, the nurse had already read through a certain set of numbers displayed on the card. She looked up at him and smiled.

“Oh!” she said much too loudly for his liking. “Happy birthday!”

Sam wasn’t able to stop his wince as a gasp rang out from behind. Turning around, he saw Redi marching right at him. The chilling expression on her face told him he had messed up, big time.