Two days ter, night, Rented Apartment.

  Natsume looked serious as he Gastly.

  Gastly, equally serious, stared ily at the Pokéblo front of it.

  The Pokéblock was a dark, eerie red, shimmering with a translut amber glow, resembling the color of blood.

  This was the Pokéblock made from the "Petaya Berry," a purple item Natsume had obtained from his sed 10x gacha.

  [Remaining BP Points: 270]

  [Petaya Berry: Stimutes nerves with spicy elements, moderately enhang a Pokémon's Special Attack ability.]

  As a rare berry that could boost Pokémon abilities, the Petaya Berry was quite scar the market.

  From his sed 10x gacha, Natsume had also obtaihe following items:

  [10x Gacha List: Moomoo Milk 3, Oran Berry 3, Beginner Fishing Rod Set 1, Petaya Berry 2, Dive Ball 1]

  Natsume had no immediate pns to catch a Water-type Pokémon, so the Dive Ball and Beginner Fishing Rod Set were set aside for now.

  The main prizes were the twht red Petaya Berries.

  After Natsume went all out and turhe Petaya Berries into Pokéblocks, his neighbor thought a murder had taken pext door and nearly called the police.

  The first attempt failed, and the sed only yielded five Petaya Berry Blocks.

  But the quality of these five Petaya Berry Blocks was exceptionally high, showg Natsume's "Pokéblock Crafting Lv3" skills.

  "Try it," Natsume said seriously. "If it works, I'll start selling these at a stall!"

  "Gastly!"

  Gastly nodded, its trembling tongue h over the Petaya Berry Block for a solid five seds.

  "...Just eat it already!"

  A drop of cold sweat slid down Gastly's fading with a plop on its stiff tongue.

  Taking a deep breath, Gastly quickly ed its tongue around the Petaya Berry Blod began chewing as if preparing for a heroic sacrifice.

  Three seds ter.

  "How do you feel?" Natsume asked eagerly.

  Gastly's dark face visibly turned red.

  It struggled to open its mouth wide, its rge eyes bloodshot.

  "Whoosh—!!"

  As Gastly exhaled, a dark purple fme shot out of its mouth!

  Natsume dodged to the side just in time.

  The bck fme exploded against the wall with a bang, ging to it and burnilessly, turning the entire wall charred bck!

  In the silehat followed.

  Gastly wides i eyes, trying to py cute.

  A drop of sweat rolled down Natsume's forehead.

  "How is the power of this Will-O-Wisp almost on par with Fmethrower?!"

  Will-O-Wisp was usually a faint blue fme with retively low power.

  But after ing the Petaya Berry Block, this Will-O-Wisp had nearly burhrough the wall!

  Natsume couldn't tell if Gastly was naturally talented or if the Petaya Berry Block's effect was just that overp.

  Sweating profusely, Natsume reaffirmed his decision not to bee a Trainer.

  After calming down, Natsume pced his hands on his hips, looking at the scorched wall with a plicated expression.

  Beside him floated a dejected Gastly.

  "It's irely your fault," Natsume sighed. "Looks like we'll o keep experimenting with the recipe."

  "Gastly~~"

  "Huh? You said it actually tasted pretty good?"

  "Gastly!"

  Natsume rubbed his , deep in thought.

  The quality of the Petaya Berry Block was definitely not the issue. What had just happened wasn't a side effect but rather the result of the effect being to.

  "But if the effect is to, I 't sell these!"

  If I cause a few more fires, who's going to believe me?

  Natsume scratched his head and sighed, "Fihe remaining four Petaya Berry Blocks are yours!"

  Gastly grinned, carefully pg the four translut red blocks into a gss jar and stashing it in the cupboard.

  Natsume chuckled, "I'm not going to steal them from you. Why hide them so deep?"

  Gastly g Natsume, "Gastly!" (You never know!)

  That look of disdain cut deep.

  Natsume gritted his teeth, "Just you wait!"

  In his hand appeared a Fire Gem, glowing with a red light.

  Though its energy wasn't as potent as a Fire Stone, fastly, this was still a rare delicacy!

  Gastly immediately opes mouth wide, its crimson tongue hanging out, staring eagerly at the Fire Gem.

  "Gulp—"

  Uo resist, Gastly swallowed hard, looking pitifully at Natsume.

  From Gastly's perspective.

  I'm so cute, how you resist me?

  From Natsume's perspective.

  A sinister Gastly was gring at him, eyes bloodshot, drooling non-stop.

  Shivering, Natsume relutly tossed the Fire Gem to Gastly.

  "Make it st! That thing cost tens of thousands of Pokémon s!"

  To be fair, even the Pokémon of Elite Trainers did as well as Natsume's Gastly.

  It had only been half a month sihe Worldline shift.

  In that time, Gastly had ed 'Moomoo Milk,' 'Carbos,' 'Petaya Berry Blocks'...

  And now, with the Fire Gem, it was living a pseudo-legendary lifestyle!

  Gastly held the Fire Gem in its mouth, watg Natsume's retreating figure with wavy eyes.

  Tears welled up in its eyes. After wandering the city for so long, Gastly once agaihe warmth of home.

  "Gastly!"

  "Whoa, don't suddenly poune! Your Bck Mist is toxic! Stop..."

  Natsume didn't like keeping Gastly in a Poké Ball.

  For one, Ash Ketchum's Pikachu had left a deep impression on him.

  Sedly, Poké Balls somewhat restricted a Pokémon's freedom, making them feel cold and impersonal.

  Of course, pared to the harsh petition in the wild, many Pokémon preferred staying in Poké Balls.

  So generally, Natsume didn't interfere with Gastly's choices.

  The day, Natsume headed to campus for css, while Gastly watched him leave from the door crack.

  "You're not ing with me?" Natsume asked, surprised.

  "Gastly!"

  "Alright, stay safe at home."

  Natsume looked uneasy, "Just don't set anything on fire again!"

  After the st i, Natsume's assets had taken a hit, leaving him with only about 4,000 Pokémon s.

  If he didn't start making some money soon, he'd be broke!

  Gastly looked slightly embarrassed but nodded vigorously under Natsume's suspicious gaze.

  Osume was gone, Gastly sighed in relief and pulled out the Fire Gem from the cupboard.

  Pg it on the flastly flipped open the [Breeding Guide] to the 'Will-O-Wisp' page and nodded slowly.

  The preliminary rounds I signed up for are probably tomorrow.

  Trainer has his own things to do. I 't take up his time.

  I o train hard and make the most of this!

  Gastly absorbed the Fire Gem's energy, the surging fire element infusing its Bck Mist, turning it a deep red.

  Around Gastly, three clusters of cold bck fmes slowly emerged.

  [Corrosion], [Adhesion], [Burning]—these were the basic abilities of Will-O-Wisp as mentioned by Blue Oak in the [Breeding Guide].

  Different Trainers had different builds, like adding [Toxic] to Will-O-Wisp or enhang its power.

  But now, the raging fire element forced the three clusters of bck fmes to reach extreme temperatures.

  The thick bck mist became viscous as Gastly swallowed another Petaya Berry Block.

  The surrounding temperature skyrocketed, and with a bang, the Fire Gem shattered into pieces!

  The three Will-O-Wisps merged in that moment, and amidst the chaos and repulsion, a pilr of fire shot up!

  Will-O-Wisp: Explosion!

  That night.

  Natsume returo his rented apartment with his backpack, only to find the street filled with sirens.

  Firefighters were on dders, direg a Bstoise to help with the fire.

  A crowd of onlookers had gathered. Natsume asked the security guard curiously, "Old man, whose house is on fire?"

  The old man gave Natsume a plicated look, "Sixth floor. Yours."

  Natsume: ???

  Thanks to Gastly's trol, the fire wasn't severe, and the neighbors had called the fire department in time.

  After a round of scolding, Natsume was fined and had to pay 1,000 Pokémon s in pensation.

  The two of them, Natsume and Gastly, slunk bae, the walls still bearing the scorch marks.

  "I'm lucky Misaki-neesan didn't kick me out!" Natsume muttered.

  Gng at Gastly, he noticed it was curled up, trembling in guilt.

  Natsume sighed, f it, "This time it's my fault. I shouldn't have left you alo home."

  "Gastly..."

  "It's alright," Natsume patted the downcast Gastly. "Don't cry."

  "Let's up, and I'll treat you to a te-night snack, okay?"

  "Gastly!?(;′Д｀?)"

  ...

  [Natsume-sensei: My house is on fire (video)]

  [Gold: That's one powerful Fmethrower!]

  [Blue Oak: Judging by the duration, it should be Will-O-Wisp.]

  [Group member 'Gold' has been muted by admin for two hours]

  [Private chat with 'Red']

  [Gold: I just joihe group! Why was I muted?!]

  [Red: ...You really o be more careful!]

  [Gold: Then why wasn't Blue Oak muted???]

  [Red: ...]

  Looking at the darkened avatar.

  Gold, wearing goggles and looking defiant, smmed his pool cue oable, gritting his teeth.

  "Even if it's just a game..."

  "I'm going to beat Natsume-sensei!"