Gardenia stared bnkly at her fallen Breloom.

  As a Grass-type expert, she knew Breloom's habits and battle strategies inside and out. Yet, her oppo's ued move had left her pletely unprepared.

  "Using a Toxic Orb ter Breloom's Poison Heal ability?" Gardenia muttered to herself. "What a bold idea!"

  Iy, the Poison Heal strategy for Breloom wasn't unheard of, but it was usually a passive approach. The toxicity from the Toxic Orb pced a heavy burden on the Pokémon, and even the Poison Heal ability couldn't fully absorb it. That's why most Grass-type trainers opted for Breloom with the Tei ability, enhang its close-bat prowess while maintaining Grass-type sustainability.

  But the strategy employed by "Natsume-sensei" seemed to open a whole new world fardenia.

  "What if the sustainability of Leech Seed could offset the toxicity of the Toxic Orb?" Gardenia's mind raced as she began to piece together the strategy in her head.

  "Then, using Substitute to share the toxicity, Poison Heal could fully absorb the Toxic Orb's poison! Leech Seed, Toxic, Toxic Orb, Substitute... What a daring breedihod!"

  A look of fervor spread across Gardenia's face. "This strategy could actually work in real battles!"

  Her breathing quied as she clicked on Natsume-sensei's profile, eager to learn more.

  "Highest ranking... World number seven?!" Gardenia's eyes widened in shock.

  She g the fan group she had just joined, and her expression shifted.

  "Mr. Red is here too! And Champion Blue Oak! Even they're followers of Natsume-sensei?!"

  Gardenia felt a wave of unease. "Such a famous Grass-type master... Miss Erika must know him, right? Maybe I seek his advice at this year's Type Expert Tour..."

  She opened her Poké Ball, the red light flickering. Gardenia looked at her other Breloom, the oh the Poison Heal ability, and carefully recalled the details of the ret battle.

  "So, he wasn't just taunting me... That's the essence of the Poison Heal strategy, isn't it?"

  Her eyes regaiheir determination as she ched the Poké Ball tightly.

  "I still have a lot to learn."

  After ending the live stream, Natsume's subscriber t had reached 70,000. In just one night, he had earned nearly 2,000 Pokémon s in donations. While the exact amount of his earnings still o be calcuted, it was enough for him to treat himself.

  He grabbed a cold co from the mini-fridge, popped it open with a hiss, and zily leaned ba his gaming chair.

  "System, check my remaining BP Points!"

  [BP Points: 970]

  Thanks to the great performance during the stream, Natsume had gained nearly 200 BP Points. It wouldn't be long before he could try another 10x gacha.

  He walked into the room, where Gastly was still floating ily over a breeding guide, studying it with the focus of a strict teacher. A small bck mist-formed cw held an e berry.

  "Gastly!"

  As if it had just read something brilliant, Gastly nodded in satisfa and took a big bite of the berry, juice dripping everywhere.

  Natsume couldn't help but give a weird look.

  "Good guy, using academic papers as a snack?"

  Hearing the he bck mist quickly closed up. Gastly turs head in surprise, then immediately grinned widely, stig out its too liatsume.

  "Gastly~!"

  Natsume tried to pat Gastly's head, but his hand passed right through the bck mist, leaving a cold, numbiion on his fiips.

  Suddenly, the System's emotionless voice echoed in his ears.

  [Gastly, a gaseous lifeform. If surrounded by its gas, even an Indian elephant would colpse within ten minutes.]

  Natsume's face twitched. "Damn it, why didn't you say that earlier?"

  Fortunately, Gastly seemed to enjoy Natsume's toud sciously trolled its toxins, swirling around Natsume's hand as a harmless mist.

  Natsume let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Want some midnight snacks?"

  Gastly's eyes widened like copper bells, blinking rapidly.

  Gastly: (⊙?⊙)

  "Here, take my phone and order whatever you want."

  Natsume handed his phoo Gastly and picked up the breeding guide, no with saliva. He g the notes on "Gastly's Breeding Guide" and excimed, "Little guy, you even took notes?!"

  "Gastly!" Gastly held the phone in its mouth, proudly raising its head.

  Earlier, Natsume had jokingly asked Gastly to mark down the usage of fuse Ray. Ihan two hours, the guide was filled with wet, sticky underlines—all Gastly's own annotations!

  "You're a damn genius, aren't you?"

  "Gastly~~(?′?`?)"

  Natsume didn't mind much, pg the breeding guide bad chug.

  "Stop grinning and go order some takeout!"

  Move training wasn't something that could be mastered ht. Expeg Gastly to learn fuse Ray in just two hours was wishful thinking. But Natsume didn't have high expectations fastly anyway—his main goal was just to save oricity...

  "Gastly!"

  Gastly carefully pced the phone oable, its eyes gleaming as it stared at the array of delicious dishes on the s. It slurped back its drool but couldn't help showing a perverted grin, lig the image of Farfetch'd on the menu.

  Gastly: （ˉ﹃ˉ）

  "Farfetch'd? We had that st time. Let's try something different."

  Natsume rubbed his . "How about yakiniku? The mb skewers from this pce seem to have good reviews."

  Gastly: (?ω?)

  Gastly's eyes sparkled in agreement.

  "Extra spicy, , ice-cold beer... Perfect!"

  Half an hour ter, Natsume set up a table by the window. The cool evening breeze carried the aroma of the freshly grilled skewers, making his mouth water.

  Gastly, sipping on Moomoo Milk, was red-faced from the spiess but still eagerly licked the oily skewers.

  "Slow down, no one's gonna steal it from you!"

  "Gastly!"

  Though a spectral entity, after dev the skewers, the bck mist around Gastly seemed to thi slightly.

  [ed 'Delicious-grade' Wooloo Lamb. Host gains 40 BP Points.]

  [Remaining BP Points: 1010]

  Natsume took a sip of the cold beer and smiled. "So, how did you end up here anyway? I read ohat Gastly's habitats aren't usually iy."

  Gastly paused, tilting its head in silence for a moment before burying its fa the pile of mb skewers.

  "Don't want to talk about it? That's fine."

  Natsume gently poked the bck mist around Gastly, smiling. "We're family now."

  As the evening breeze blew, Gastly suddenly looked up—its eyes wavy, overwhelmed with emotion.

  "Gastly~?(;′Д｀?)!"

  "Don't wipe your snot on my clothes! No, stop!"

  Natsume narrowly escaped being engulfed by Gastly, almost experieng the "suffog Afri elephant" sario.

  He took out a suspicious blue drink beled [Carbos (Enhanced Version)] from the et, setting it aside as Gastly's breakfast for the day. Natsume theled Gastly on the ceiling, which served as its resting spot.

  Admittedly, waking up to see a grinning ghost every m gave Natsume a strange sense of security.

  "Lights out, Gastly."

  "Gastly!"

  At Natsume's and, Gastly cut off the room's power supply. But even Natsume didn't notice that after he fell asleep, a faint fluoresce began to glow around Gastly, swirling like fireflies.

  It was the move Natsume had asked Gastly to master earlier that day—

  "fuse Ray"!