A warm breeze stirred the black velvet clouds, and fine strands of rain gently slid down the eaves.
Small puddles ford in the narrow alleyway, reflecting the grayish-white night sky.
A burst of steam, accompanied by a sizzling sound, floated from a small window, adding a touch of warmth and life to the cold night.
Johan lived in an old apartnt building, not far from the school—just a ten-minute walk.
After returning ho, he rested briefly and then made himself a simple but tasty dinner.
The sowhat worn-out sofa had the advantage of being soft and clean, making it perfect for soone to lazily sink into.
With a blanket covering him, he pulled over his old second-hand laptop and started browsing the internet.
Though Johan, as a longti Pokémon enthusiast, was very knowledgeable about Pokémon, he knew very little about the actual Pokémon world.
For example, modern Poké Balls were invented in the year 1925 of the League calendar by Professor Nishinomori from Celadon University.
A thousand years ago, a massive teor struck the Hoenn region, eventually forming today's Sootopolis City. It was during that event that humans in the Hoenn region first encountered the legendary ancient Pokémon, Rayquaza!
More recently:
Several years ago, the Daiziken Holdings Company went bankrupt due to the cancellation of the Neo-Mauville project, leading to the closure of Sea Mauville. At the sa ti, Wattson, the person in charge of the Neo-Mauville project, resigned as one of the Elite Four and beca the Gym Leader of Mauville City.
"Daiziken Holdings, huh... I seem to rember Professor Cozmo's father, Raizoh Cozmo, was also part of that company, wasn't he?" Johan mused.
In addition to these tidbits, he learned quite a bit about current policies the League had regarding Pokémon Trainers.
For instance, how to beco a registered League Trainer, the benefits involved, and the responsibilities that ca with it.
He also browsed the benefits of being a researcher, especially those with independent research labs or even doctorate degrees.
In summary:
The benefits for ordinary researchers were similar to those of average trainers. However, researchers with independent labs or those with Ph.D. degrees enjoyed perks far beyond those of typical trainers.
"It's really cold tonight..."
Halfway through his browsing, Johan felt that it was unusually cold.
He snuggled deeper into his blanket.
At the sa ti, he suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.
Yawning deeply, he placed his laptop on the side table and fell asleep without even making it to his bed.
Once he was asleep, the atmosphere in the room suddenly beca eerie.
The white fluorescent light on the ceiling flickered with a buzzing sound. Although there was no wind, the curtains by the window and the potted plants began to sway.
Bang!
Suddenly, the light went out.
All sounds seed to fall silent.
"Ka-kah..."
A strange voice echoed abruptly in the small room, sounding distant and faint.
Imdiately afterward, countless strands of black mist converged from all directions, forming a ball of dark fog-like substance.
Atop this orb were a pair of bulging white eyes, where the whites occupied most of the space, and a wide, grinning mouth filled with sharp fangs glead faintly. A sweet, eerie scent lingered in the air.
The Pokémon gazed at the sleeping Johan with a sinister smile.
If Johan had been awake, he would have instantly recognized this strange creature—it was a Ghost-type Pokémon, Gastly!
Buzz—
A red light flashed in Gastly's eyes, and a strange energy surged from its body, enveloping the peacefully sleeping Johan.
On the sofa, Johan's calm sleeping expression gradually shifted as his brows furrowed.
"This is... a dream?"
For so reason, Johan had a gut feeling that he was dreaming.
The sky above was dim and oppressive, the clouds so low they seed just ters away. The surrounding dilapidated buildings clearly didn't belong to this era, with overgrown weeds and haphazardly stacked stone piles everywhere.
But what sent chills down Johan's spine the most was the vast plain in front of the houses, stretching endlessly, dotted with small mounds half the height of a person.
Graves.
Johan was finally experiencing what it ant to see "ceteries strewn like stars, tombstones stretching like mountain ranges."
Hooo—
Suddenly.
A low, haunting sound echoed from an indeterminate distance, carried by a bone-chilling wind.
Johan couldn't help but shiver.
It was his first ti experiencing such a realistic dream.
"Pop!"
Out of nowhere!
A mound of earth not far from Johan burst open, and a ghastly white hand shot out.
Imdiately after.
As if triggered by so chanism, all the mounds of earth around him started shifting. Hands, branches, and even heads began breaking through the soil.
They were all Ghost-type Pokémon!
Duskull, Banette, Cofagrigus, Haunter, Sableye...
The scene, combined with the environnt and atmosphere, was enough to terrify anyone.
"Ka-kah—"
From behind a dead tree, Gastly peeked out, watching Johan, whose face remained expressionless, and laughed in glee.
This trick had scared Professor Cozmo so much that he hadn't dared to sleep for days.
But for Johan, who had fallen asleep without Gastly even using any moves or energy, it felt particularly curious.
Gastly licked its lips with its long, crimson tongue, smacking its lips in anticipation.
This person's dream—and the fear in it—should taste quite delicious, right?
However, the next mont, Gastly froze.
It realized that while Johan's face was still stiff, the initial fear in his eyes had been quickly replaced by contemplation.
"So many Ghost-type Pokémon..."
Honestly.
Johan was indeed startled at first.
Despite seeing plenty of Ghost-types in the gas, with many of them even being quite cute, encountering them in real life was an entirely different experience.
The bone-chilling cold that pierced his very core made his hair stand on end.
But after that initial fright, he quickly cald down.
For one, he could sense that this was a dream.
Since it's a dream, what's there to be afraid of?
Secondly, seeing so many Ghost-type Pokémon, he had a thought pop into his head.
"...Why isn't Giratina here?"
Giratina?
"Ka-kah?"
Gastly heard Johan's mumbling and blinked in confusion.
It shook its head violently.
It must be a mistake—yeah, definitely a mistake.
Gastly thought maybe the Ghost-types weren't scary or fierce enough.
"Ka-kah."
Guess it's ti to handle this personally.
Licking its lips again, Gastly took a deep breath, and its body swelled visibly.
anwhile, Johan, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, stared at the "terrifying" Ghost-type Pokémon before him.
"Is this really a dream? It feels so real..."
Everything in front of him—every sll, touch, and sound—was so vivid.
"If it's a dream, then... let's test sothing."
Johan began recalling sothing in his mind.
At the sa ti.
Within the dark clouds above, a massive silhouette began to take shape.
The figure was enormous, dragon-like, and grayish-white in color. Golden rings wrapped around its neck and back. Two ghostly wings extended from its body, with claw-like structures at the tips. Six thick, clawed legs extended from its body.
"Ka-kah!"
Confident, Gastly floated toward Johan, wagging its long tongue and making a deep, eerie noise.
However.
Just as it got in front of Johan, it suddenly looked up.
In the next instant.
Its expression froze.
"Ka-Ka...Ka-kah..."
"Gastly?" Johan noticed Gastly at this mont, following its gaze upwards.
What he saw was a massive creature standing proudly in the clouds.
"Giratina?"
Johan blinked in surprise.
Can this really manifest?
So, it really is a dream.
"Rooooar!!"
A deafening roar swept down like a hurricane.
The surrounding Ghost-type Pokémon scattered like foam, and the enormous Gastly rapidly shrank, the black gas around it seeming to blow away.
"Ka-kah!!"
Gastly jolted in shock.
Crack—
Suddenly.
The scene in front of Johan shattered like a mirror.
The cracks spread out like a web.
Until it finally shattered completely.
In a distant realm.
A massive dragon-like Pokémon, who had been stealthily peeking at sothing through a glass-like portal, suddenly lifted its head.
"Graaah?"
Its blood-red eyes blinked in confusion.
Remote login?
It closed its eyes to sense carefully, but it seed to have been a false alarm. Shaking its head, it resud its sneaky peeking—er, monitoring.
"Ugh..."
Back on the sofa.
Johan slowly woke up, rubbing his temples. His head felt a little fuzzy.
As his vision cleared, he noticed a stunned-looking Gastly hovering not far from him, its eyes full of terror.
"Gastly?"
Perhaps because it heard his voice, Gastly gradually snapped out of its daze.
The two stared at each other from barely a ter away.
A few seconds later.
"Ka-kah!!!"
Like a startled wildcat, Gastly screeched.
It rapidly backed away, as if Johan were the real terrifying ghost.
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