Following the old Gastly, Cain and his team slowly walked out of the cave, which was as complex as a labyrinth. The Gastly they encountered along the way no longer looked at them with hostility; on the contrary, there seemed to be a sense of familiarity. Even Slowpoke began to feel sympathy for them.
Upon reaching the entrance of a new cave, the old Gastly stopped. Inside, there were many Gastly gathered together.
Cain looked at the old Gastly curiously. By now, they should be guiding them out of the cave, but instead, they had been led to another area.
However, it didn't seem like the Gastly were going to attack them, as there was no need to. If they did try, the Gastly surely knew it would be a fight ending in losses for both sides.
Before Cain could ask, the old Gastly spoke: "I mentioned before that if you helped us with something, we would give you a reward."
Saying this, it floated further inside, gesturing for Cain and his team to follow.
As they entered, the Gastly in the cave curiously watched them, gradually surrounding them.
Seeing the Gastly's behavior, Cain frowned. Although he didn't know what the old Gastly was planning, being surrounded as if they were animals on display made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Here are all our companions willing to join you. You can choose one of them to become your Pokémon," the old Gastly finally said, revealing what the reward was.
"..."
Cain was left speechless. It turned out the reward the old Gastly had mentioned for completing the task was letting Cain choose a Gastly.
For the old Gastly, allowing Cain to take a Gastly was beneficial for both parties.
When the old Gastly was young, it had ventured into the human world and had been a companion to a person. However, at that time, human living conditions were difficult, and due to many lurking crises, that person didn't survive long, dying in an accident. Afterward, the old Gastly returned to the place where it was born.
For the old Gastly, who had visited the human world, humans were not a mystery.
In those days, humans and Pokémon helped each other, and that's how they managed to survive under harsh living conditions.
Typically, wild Pokémon that received help from humans grew at an astonishing rate, much faster than they would have on their own in the wild.
The old Gastly knew that while life here was carefree, it also meant there wouldn't be any special growth. It was difficult for any Gastly to become particularly strong, and even evolving into Haunter was a challenge, let alone reaching Gengar.
Allowing a Gastly to follow a human was an idea the old Gastly had had since seeing the Gengar that ruled over the area where they lived.
Then Cain arrived, and since Cain left a good impression on him, the old Gastly decided to let Cain choose a Gastly as his Pokémon.
The Gastly present had been curious when they saw Cain and his team, as it was the first time they had seen a human.
These Gastly were relatively young and had grown up hearing the old Gastly's stories, so upon hearing about the human world, they felt a certain fascination. Seeing a human for the first time, their curiosity was hard to contain.
Cain's heart was filled with mixed feelings. He never imagined, nor did it even cross his mind, that the old Gastly would allow him to choose a Gastly as his Pokémon.
Gastly was a Pokémon that Cain had always liked, both when he played video games on Earth and in his previous life as a member of Team Rocket.
Although it was a ghost and not particularly pretty, that didn't diminish Cain's enthusiasm for Gastly, or more precisely, for its final evolved form, Gengar.
First, Gengar has very high base stat values in special attack and speed, which perfectly aligns with Cain's growth direction and battle style requirements.
Additionally, Gengar is a ghost and poison-type Pokémon with a highly versatile battle style. Often, with the right strategy, it's possible to defeat stronger opponents.
The most important thing is that Gengar is a Pokémon capable of mega evolving. Upon mega evolving, it becomes a special attack cannon, with terrifying output power.
For now, Slowpoke is the main one responsible for Cain's personal security, but when he enters the human world, there will be places where openly carrying Pokémon won't be allowed. In the event of a surprise attack, there might not even be time to throw a Pokéball.
However, if Cain had a Gastly, it could hide in his shadow and always be ready to protect him, capable of facing any unexpected situation.
When the old Gastly mentioned that Cain could choose a Gastly, it was as if he had read Cain's mind.
Ever since he entered this cave and encountered the Gastly, Cain had been tempted to capture one with good potential for his team.
But as more and more Gastly appeared, Cain suppressed the idea, as capturing one and leaving the cave without issue would be extremely difficult.
Moreover, a Gastly captured under such circumstances would be very difficult to train and might even become uncontrollable.
However, the old Gastly's reward hit the mark, and Cain decided that if among all those Gastly there was one with the potential he was looking for, he would capture it and take it with him.
Of course, if there wasn't a Gastly that met his requirements, he'd rather not take one at all, as he didn't want to waste resources training a mediocre Pokémon.
Cain follows an elite training philosophy, and his standards for Pokémon are high.
Since his resources are not abundant, he prefers to train fewer Pokémon but ensure each one is capable of performing excellently.
Even so, Cain felt he was taking advantage of the Gastly, and seeing them so happy made him feel a little uncomfortable, the first time since his rebirth that a Pokémon had made him feel this way.
Cain nodded toward the old Gastly, who returned his nod with a curious look.
For others, selecting a Pokémon with good potential from hundreds of Gastly might be extremely difficult, but for Cain, who had a system, it was nothing more than scanning several times.
As his eyes scanned the place, multiple data screens appeared before him.
Most of the Gastly had red potential, some orange, and only one or two had pale yellow, all with lower potential than the old Gastly.
Cain's frown deepened. If all the Gastly in this community had this level of potential, it wasn't worth capturing one to train, as it would be a waste of resources.
Seeing Cain frown, the old Gastly asked, "What's wrong? Haven't you found a suitable one?"
With so many Gastly there, the fact that Cain hadn't found one that interested him surprised the old Gastly a bit, though that wasn't the whole group, it represented nearly half.
(End of Chapter)